WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS (30TH APRIL-6TH MAY) INTERNATIONAL NEWS Africa summit: Xenophobic attacks loom large Attacks on migrant workers living in South Africa threatened to overshadow a regional summit in Zimbabwe when leaders gathered to promote industrial growth. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has expressed “shock and disgust” at the xenophobic violence in Johannesburg and Durban in which at least seven people have been killed. But he avoided the issue in his opening address to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit, where South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was among the delegates. Thousands of immigrants in South Africa were displaced by the unrest earlier this month as local mobs targeted workers from countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. The Presidents of all three of those countries were among the 10 heads of state at the one-day event in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Many member countries of SADC, which seeks to promote economic, political and security cooperation, are rich in minerals. China hits back over South China Sea The war of words between China and its two main detractors in the South China Sea — Vietnam and Philippines — became shriller after Beijing, accused of reclamation work on disputed islands, charged Manila and Hanoi of illegal construction. “For a long time, the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries have been carrying out reclamations on the Chinese islands they are illegally occupying in the Nansha Islands, building airports and other fixed infrastructure, even deploying missiles and other military equipment,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, during his daily briefing. Mr. Hong was referring to Spratly islands, called by China as Nansha islands. Detailing his accusations, Mr. Hong said that the Philippines is building an airport and expanding a wharf on Thitu Island. Turning to Vietnam, the Foreign Ministry said that Hanoi has been building docks, runways, missile positions, office buildings, barracks, hotels, lighthouses and helicopter pads on more than 20 islands and shoals. ‘Stop the infringements’ “China is resolutely opposed to these illegal activities and demands the relevant countries immediately stop their infringements on China’s sovereignty and rights,” Mr. Hong observed. “China’s construction in the Nansha Islands is totally within the scope of our sovereignty; it is reasonable, fair and lawful.” Pak. must open Wagah for trade: Ghani Signalling that Afghanistan is upset with Pakistan over its refusal to allow direct trade with India via the Wagah border, President Ashraf Ghani says that if the deadlock continues, “We will not provide equal transit access to Central Asia [for Pakistani trucks].” Mr. Ghani, who was in India on his first state visit, told that it was a question of “sovereign equality”, and Pakistan must accept the “national treatment” clause agreed to in the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement (APTTA), signed in 2011, which gives each country equal access up to the national boundaries of both. At present, Pakistan allows Afghan trucks carrying goods meant for India only up to its last checkpoint at Wagah, and not to the Indian checkpoint at Attari, less than a kilometre away. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was keen on a trade agreement with Afghanistan that would include India in the APTTA. Mr. Ghani met representatives of Indian chambers of commerce and leading businessmen, who expressed similar problems with land trade. Making a strong call for India and the rest of the region to unite against the Islamic State, or Da’esh, which he said had challenged countries from “India to Russia”, Mr. Ghani said the IS threat was different from that posed by groups such as the Taliban, which wanted to “overthrow the state”. “Now the prize is not the state, it is destruction. Our territory is being made the battleground. Our people are being killed brutally to show a spectacle. We all need to mobilise as a region,” he said. He denied downplaying the threat from Pakistan-based groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, saying the “drivers have changed”. US retains India on Priority Watch List, no OCR this year The US has retained India on its Priority Watch List for nations on intellectual property concerns even as it softened its stand on the country's improved IP environment. India will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2015, but with the full expectation that the new channels for engagement created in the past year will bring about substantive and measurable improvements in India's IPR regime for the benefit of a broad range of innovative and creative industries, said the 2015 Special 301 Report. The annual report draws attention to the increased bilateral engagement in 2015 between the US and India on IPR concerns, following the 2014 Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) of India on this issue.
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In 2014, the US Trade Representative (USTR) in its annual 301 report had expressed its deep concerns over the IP environment in India and had announced to do an Out-of-Cycle review for India. Thirteen countries - Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela - are on the Priority Watch List. These countries will be the subject of particularly intense bilateral engagement during the coming year, said the report. Countries on the Priority Watch List present the most significant concerns this year regarding insufficient IPR protection or enforcement. Vietnam and the US test their hard-won friendship After tanks from communist North Vietnam burst through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon 40 years ago, Washington imposed a punitive economic embargo that kept Hanoi from receiving assistance even from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank. For decision-makers in Hanoi and Washington, an anniversary more significant to relations today comes this summer: The countries restored diplomatic relations in July 1995. Then-President Bill Clinton also lifted the embargo and brokered a bilateral trade agreement in 2000. The countries' ties, though strained on issues such as human rights, has grown since then, thanks in part to a mutual rival: China. Bilateral friendship was formalized in 2013, when Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang visited the White House and with President Barack Obama launched a "Comprehensive Partnership" for cooperation in political and diplomatic relations, trade and economic ties, defense, the war legacy and many other issues. The two countries pledged respect for "each other's political systems, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity." Both countries regard with wariness the offshore territorial claims by Beijing in the South China Sea, includin g in traditionally Vietnamese waters. Washington frames its South China Sea policy in terms of freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes, but its credibility as a Pacific power rests on showing a little muscle and tightening military allian ces. It would like to have Hanoi as a partner. But an actual alliance with the United States would antagonize China, Vietnam's big brother both ideologically and historically. After Vietnam offended China by invading Cambodia in 1978, Beijing launched a brief but bloody border war. Such a crude response is unlikely today, but China — Vietnam's biggest trading partner — has other tools at hand. Shared interests in boosting business have also been a big factor in the evolution of relations. Hanoi and Washington both see benefit in Vietnam joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial and yet-to-be-finalized regional trade pact. ‘Berlin deleted 12,000 NSA spying requests’ The German intelligence service BND, which is accused of helping U.S. spy on EU leaders and companies, had actually “deleted 12,000 requests” targeting European officials, according to edition of the Der Spiegel weekly. The BND has come under fire after German media reported that it spied on French and EU officials. But the Spiegel said that in fact, a BND agent had in August 2013 sifted through requests made by the NSA to the BND, as part of the two agencies’ anti-terror cooperation agreement, and found 12,000 which he referred to his managers. Russia signs up to $100 bn BRICS fund to rival IMF Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified an accord to set up a $100-billion reserve fund for the so-called BRICS -the five leading emerging economies that include Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. Moscow is expected to contribute $18 billion to the reserve, well behind the $41 billion China has promised to pour into the fund that was set up after an agreement signed in July 2014 in Brazil. The emerging economies also plan to form their own international bank based in Shanghai to challenge western dominance over international money markets. "The accord on the creation of a common reserve fund for BRICS countries has been ratified," a document from the Kremlin quoted by RIA Novosti news agency said. The fund is meant to shield the BRICS against "short-term liquidity pressures" and promote greater cooperation between the five member countries. Russia -- which has suffered huge currency fluctuations since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine -- sees the fund as an alternative to international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank that are dominated by the United States. The BRICS countries between them account for 40 percent of the world's population, and a fifth of the planet's GDP. China says U.S. welcome to use civilian facilities in South China Sea The United States and other countries will be welcome to use civilian facilities China is building in the South China Sea for search and rescue and weather forecasting "when conditions are right", China's navy chief has told a senior U.S. officer. China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas, with overlapping claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
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Recent satellite images show China has made rapid progress in building an airstrip suitable for military use in the disputed Spratly Islands and may be planning another. In a teleconference with the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert, China's navy chief Wu Shengli said China's building work in the South China Sea would not affect freedom of navigation or overflight. "Instead, it will improve the ability in these seas of public services like weather forecasting and maritime search and rescue, fulfilling international obligations to maintain the security of international seas," Wu said, according to a Chinese Defence Ministry statement released late. "(We) welcome international organizations, the United States and relevant countries to use these facilities in the future when conditions are right, to have cooperation on humanitarian search and rescue and disaster relief," Wu added. Disputes over how to tackle an increasingly assertive stance by China - an ally of several Southeast Asian states - in the strategic South China Sea make the issue the region's biggest potential military flashpoint. China accused Vietnam, the Philippines and others of carrying out their own illegal building work. While the militaries of China and the United States have worked hard to improve communication and cooperation, there is still deep mistrust. In 2013, a U.S. guided missile cruiser narrowly avoided a collision with a Chinese war ship in the South China Sea. US: China, India overtake Mexico as top immigrant-sending countries Next-door neighbor Mexico is no longer the top supplier of immigrants to the United States. It’s been beaten to it by not one but two countries: China and India, and in that order. China became the top sending country of immigrants to the US according to numbers computed for 2013, and announced in a new study of immigration trends released. China was the top sending country with 147,000 followed by India with 129,000 and then Mexico with 125,000, according to census bureau’s American Community Survey for 2013. Numbers for Indians and Mexicans were not “statistically different” in 2013, said the study done by census bureau researchers, though Mexico was Number 1 in 2012. And this is likely to hold as a trend, according the study: “The contribution of immigration to overall population growth will be greater for Asians than for Hispanics Immigration from India to the US has been traced back to early 19th century — documented in pictures at the Smithsonian — with the first bunch arriving to work on railroads. Most of them landed on the west coast. And California became home to them, and it remains to hold the largest concentration of Americans of Indian descent, ahead of New York. While Hispanics remains the largest racial or ethnic minority group, a larger percentage of Asians was foreign born (65.5) compared to Hispanics (35.1) in 2013. The earliest wave of immigrants came to the US from northern and western Europe, followed by a phase dominated by those coming from southern and eastern Europe. The most recent wave of immigrants, the researchers said in an abstract of the study, has largely been from Latin America, and to a lesser extent, Asia. But does this recent trend signal to a “new and distinct wave” of immigrants remains to be seen, they added. With eye on world record, Tunisians unfurl huge flag Tunisians have unfurled a national flag the size of 19 football pitches in a bid to set a Guinness world record and promote patriotism in the face of Islamist extremism. Hundreds of people turned out for the event at Ong Jmel in the southern desert. An honour guard of troops saluted the red and white banner as it was unfurled on the sand to the strains of the national anthem. Organisers said that it took 80 km of fabric to make the 1,125,302 square foot flag which weighed 12.6 tonnes. Spokeswoman Raya Ben Guiza said the project was the brainchild of a local textile manufacturer who was shocked by a 2012 incident at the Manouba arts faculty outside Tunis in which a hardline student tore down the national emblem and replaced it with a black Islamist flag. India scrapes bottom in freedom of press list As the United Nations observed World Press Freedom Day, an assessment of the state of press freedom across the world placed India in the 136th spot among 180 countries. Reporters without Borders tracked attacks on press freedom and ranked every country according to its press freedom index. Scandinavian countries such as Finland, Norway and Denmark topped the list. China, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia were at the bottom along with many Asian and African countries where press freedom is dwindling. RWB said attacks on media — Indian’s five-day ban on Al-Jazeera for displaying “incorrect” maps of J&K; attacks on journalists in J&K during coverage of the 2014 general polls and arrest of Jitendra Prasad Das for publishing a picture of the Prophet Mohammed — last year were identified as the major issues for India’s low score. The Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, ranked countries according to the number of journalists killed in the line of duty till May 2015. Twenty-one journalists were killed this year with France topping the list after eight scribes were shot in a terror attack on Charlie Hebodo. Since 1992, 1,123 scribes have been killed. Iraq tops the list with 166 journalist killings; India is at 9th position with 34 deaths.
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Argentina invokes Gandhi over disputed islands with Britain With Argentina still going through sovereignty disputes to reclaim the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas with Britain, the South American country is applying the way of Mahatma Gandhi's 'ahimsa' - truth, love and fraternity - that brought independence to India. "Argentina has learned from Gandhi to be patient and to wait. We have learned from him that in the end people will get what is theirs and get what they want despite the amount of time it may take," Daniel Filmus, Argentina's secretary of affairs related to the Malvinas Islands, South Georgias, South Sandwich Islands and the Surrounding Maritime Areas in the South Atlantic, told. "He is a peace icon and an example for world peace. That is what we are going to do to fulfill our purpose despite the consistent refusal by the British government for dialogue". The UN General Assembly Resolution 40/21 adopted Resolution 40/21 on November 27, 1985, commending the Argentine government for its concrete contributions to the peaceful and lasting solution of problems pending between Buenos Aires and London. "India strongly supports the position of Argentina in several multi-lateral organisations," Filmus said. "We reaffirm the need for the governments of Argentina and the UK to resume negotiations on the 'Malvinas Islands question' in conformity with the principles and objectives of the United Nations and pertinent resolutions, so as to find a timely, peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute related to the 'Malvinas Islands question', which seriously harms the economic capacity of Argentina, and the need for both sides to abstain from making decisions that involve the introduction of unilateral modifications to the situation, while the Islands are in the middle of the process recommended by the UN General Assembly", reads the Falklands/Malvinas paragraph of the resolution. "India actually signed on the G77 plus China resolution in June last year. That resolution also talks about the sovereignty rights of Argentina over hydrocarbon as well as other natural resources of the area," the Argentine official said. According to the secretary, Argentina gives a great deal of importance about strengthening ties with India especially in scientific development process and trade. Lately, commercial relationship between India and Argentina has grown exponentially and Buenos Aires is paying special attention in areas of information technology and communication and nuclear power. In Argentina, there are 14 Indian companies, seven of which are in the IT and IT-enabled services sector, employing some 7,000 individuals, and the rest in various manufacturing areas, from pharmaceuticals to cosmetics to agrochemicals. India and Argentina, he said, enjoyed warm and friendly relations based on shared values of dem ocracy, rule of law and inclusive growth. During the fiscal year 2012-13, bilateral trade between the two countries was estimated at about $1.8 billion. Chinese Ecologists Calls for Halt in Dam Projects in Tibet Chinese ecologists have called for a halt in construction of dams, including one claimed to be the world’s biggest, in Tibet close to Arunachal Pradesh citing adverse impact of hydropower stations over the potential habitat of newly discovered species of a macaque in the area. "Construction of hydropower stations would result in the destruction and flooding of extensive areas of forest along the rivers, the potential habitat of white-cheeked macaques, the researchers wrote in their paper," Chinese researchers said. "The immigration of a large number of people into the area to construct the hydropower stations also will result in an increase in the bush meat trade, deforestation, new roads, and the construction of housing for workers, all of which will have a negative impact on conservation of the new species," they were quoted as saying by state-run China Daily. Modog, located close to Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as southern Tibet, forms part of the Grand Canyon reserve forest where China plans to build the world's biggest dam over Brahmaputra which sparked concerns India. Li Cheng, an amateur naturalist a Fan Pengfei and one of China's leading primatologists who works at Dali University in Yunnan province and his colleague Zhao Chao, a dedicated wildlife photographer discovered the new monkey species at junction of the Eastern Himalaya and the Indo-Burma region. "I only encountered the monkeys and got their photos and videos through camera traps in unspoiled primitive forests in Modog," Li told state-run China Daily. The new primate is distinguished from the other four macaque species in the region-Assam, Tibetan, Rhesus, and Arunachal-by the rounded glans of its penis and a dark, hairy scrotal sac, the American Journal of Primatology said. The new discovery inhabits a wide range of habitats, from tropical forests at 1,395 meters above sea level, to primary and secondary ever-green broad-leaved forests at 2,000 meters,and mixed forests of broad-leaves and conifers at 2,700 meters. Liu Yang, a biologist from Sun Yatsen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said: "The unexpected discovery of the white-cheeked macaque means more secrets may be hidden in bio-diverse southeastern Tibet". France signs Rafale deal with Qatar French President Francois Hollande sought to boost ties in the Gulf as he oversaw the signing of a warplanes deal with Qatar and headed to Saudi Arabia for a summit. Mr. Hollande was to be the first Western head of state to attend a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during the meeting in Riyadh.
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GCC summit The summit comes at a crucial time for the six-nation GCC, with a Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen, concerns over the rise of Islamist militants and regional worries over a potential final nuclear deal with Iran. With Mr. Hollande in attendance, the CEO of French aerospace firm Dassault, Eric Trappier, signed the €6.3 -billion ($7-billion) deal with Qatari defence officials in Doha. The agreement includes an order for 24 Rafale fighter jets, with an option on a further 12. Having struggled for years to sell any Rafales abroad, Dassault has recently scored several lucrative high -profile contracts with Egypt, India, and now Qatar. First edition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel stolen The first edition copy of late Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s most acclaimed book “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was stolen from international book fair of Bogota. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was first published in Spanish in 1967 and is considered a literary masterp iece. Also, it is one of the most translated books across the world, Xinhua news agency reported. Wanted by the US, Roman Polanski Gets Film Award in Poland Filmmaker Roman Polanski has received a film award and pressed his palms into plaster for the hall of independent cinema stars in Krakow— the same Polish city where a court is weighing a U.S. request for his extradition. Polanski attended the opening of the 8th edition of the PKO off Camera film festival and was awarded the "Against the Current" award for independence in art. Polanski, who spent his childhood in Krakow, jokingly said he was happy to be award there "at long last." In February, the Oscar-winning director appeared in a Krakow court for a hearing related to a U.S. request for his extradition concerning charges of sex with a minor, a case that has haunted him since 1977.
NATIONAL NEWS 100 cities to turn smart also, 500 cities will soon be rejuvenated The Union Cabinet cleared one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most favoured projects — 100 smart cities spread across the country — and a new urban renewal mission named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, replacing the existing one named after Jawaharlal Nehru, with a total outlay of nearly Rs. 1,00,000 crore. The meeting, chaired by Mr. Modi, approved the Smart Cities Mission for development of 100 smart cities and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) of 500 cities, which replaces the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, with outlays of Rs. 48,000 crore and Rs. 50,000 crore, respectively, said highly placed sources in the Urban Development Ministry. The smart cities mission is aimed at “recasting the urban landscape of the country by making cities more liveable and inclusive, besides driving economic growth,” Ministry sources said. Each selected city under the ambitious scheme would get Central assistance of Rs. 100 crore a year for five years. The mission aims to release funding depending on multi-pronged progress of the projects and makes citizen participation an integral part of the planning of these cities. Changes in Act will make graft ‘heinous crime’ The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, that provide for classifying corruption as a heinous crime and longer prison terms for both bribe-giver and bribe- taker. The proposed amendment will also ensure a speedy trial, within two years, for corruption cases. “The proposed amendments would fill in perceived gaps in the domestic anti-corruption law and also help in meeting the country’s obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption more effectively,” an official privy to the decision said. The measures approved include penal provisions being enhanced from minimum six months to three years a nd from maximum five years to seven years. “The seven-year imprisonment brings corruption to the heinous crime category,” the official said. The ambit of the existing Act will be enhanced to make commercial entities liable for inducement of public servants. Under the present law, only individuals are liable. The proposed amendment bill also provides for issue of guidelines to commercial organisations to prevent persons associated with them from bribing a public servant. Non-monetary gratification Non-monetary gratification will also be covered within the definition of the word gratification in the PCA 1988.
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The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 19, 2013, and subsequently referred to the Standing Committee. The committee submitted its report on the Bill to the Rajya Sabha on February 6, 2014 but the Bill could not be passed. The views of the Law Commission of India were also sought on the proposed amendments. The new amendments proposed by the Cabinet are based on the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its 254th Report. The latest Cabinet decision further amends the Bill based on the reports of the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Law Commission of India on the earlier Bill. In November 2014, the Cabinet decided to seek the views of the Law Commission on the amendments. The Commission, which was approached in January this year, submitted its report to Union Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on February 12. “In view of the short span of time available with us to submit our views, we carried out a study of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and other relevant statutes and case-laws of India and the U.K., and a draft of the report was given shape,” Justice A.P. Shah, Chairman of the Commission, wrote to Mr. Gowda. “This was further subjected to extensive deliberations and in-depth study by the Commission,” he added. States will get at least a smart city each Urban Development Ministry sources said the States get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the needs of identified smart cities and in their execution and monitoring. “States will only submit State Annual Action Plans to the Centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released. In a significant departure from JNNURM, the Central Government will not appraise individual projects,” the sources said. Top Ministry sources said the two projects together would get at least Rs. 200,000 crore in the next five years because the cities are expected to raise their own matching resources. The Cabinet also approved central funding under AMRUT to the projects sanctioned under JNNURM and not completed. JNNURM projects sanctioned during 2005-2012 and which have achieved physical progress of 50 per cent or more will be supported till March 2017. Smart City aspirants will be selected through a ‘City Challenge Competition’ intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to achieve the mission objectives. Each State will shortlist a certain number of smart city aspirants as per the norms to be indicated and they will prepare smart city proposals for further evaluation for extending Central support. According to the decision taken, all States will get at least one such smart city. A Ministry official said 10 per cent of Budget allocation will be given to States and UTs as incentive based on achievement of reforms during the previous year. A reform matrix with timelines would be circulated to States in the guidelines. This mission will be implemented in 500 cities and towns each with a population of one lakh and above, some cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few capital cities and important cities located in hilly areas, islands and tourist areas. Cabinet delinks Assam from new border pact The Union Cabinet approved the long-pending – and controversial – Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, ahead of bringing the Constitution Amendment Bill associated with it in Parliament. However, in a major departure, it has de-linked Assam from the agreement for now. Top ministerial sources told that the decision was taken after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed her colleagues on the “amended” agreement and told them that the changes had been conveyed to the Bangladesh government. The latter had agreed to these amendments, these sources said, stressing that the Sheikh Hasina-led government had acquiesced to the changes as it was constantly being accused by its political rivals in the country of being pro -India and yet not deriving any advantage from that association. Minimum pension to continue The government decided to continue its Rs.1,000 minimum monthly pension scheme in perpetuity, a move which would benefit over 20 lakh pensioners under the social security scheme run by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation The scheme was initially effective only till March. Retirement fund body EPFO had suspended the scheme from April 1 in the absence of any direction from the government to continue with this benefit beyond March 31. The scheme hiking the pension amount to a flat Rs. 1,000 per month was launched last September. “Providing a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000 per month is an effort to provide meaningful subsistence to pensioners who have served in the organised sector. The present proposal is likely to benefit approximately 20 lakh pensioners under EPS 1995,” the release said. India not to criminalise marital rape India will not make marital rape a crime because of cultural and religious values and society’s belie f that marriage is a sacrament, the government said.
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DMK MP Kanimozhi, through a question submitted in the Rajya Sabha, asked Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary whether the government would bring in an amending Bill to the Indian Penal Code to remove the exception of marital rape from the definition of rape in the light of the U.N. agencies’ findings and recommendations. Mr. Chaudhary, in his written reply, said that while the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Discrimination ag ainst Women had recommended that India criminalise marital rape, India’s Law Commission had not recommended this, and the government had no plan to bring in an amendment. “It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors — e.g. level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, mindset of society to treat marriage as a sacrament, etc,” Mr. Chaudhary said. “I accept that the institution of marriage is an integral part of our social structure. Many people across many faiths hold it sacred. But it has not stopped us from bringing the anti-dowry law or domestic violence legislation,” Ms. Kanimozhi told. “Today, we are more receptive to women’s rights and issues. This is not against our culture. It is about protecting our women from violence and abuse,” she said. She has also introduced a Private Member Bill seeking the removal of the marital rape exception from the Indian Penal Code. Appointment of judges: 34-year stop-start battle of interpretation The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) signifies a paradigm shift in the manner that judges of the higher judiciary have been appointed in the last 22 years. The government’s actions have been perceived by some in the legal fraternity as an attempt to interfere with the independence of the judiciary. The government received the overwhelming support of Parliament and state legislatures in framing the law, which must now pass muster with the Supreme Court. Notably, the appointment of judges has reached the top court for adjudication earlier too. Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution have been subjected to scrutiny and interpretation. Article 124 says the President should appoint Supreme Court judges after consultation with such judges of High Courts and the Supreme Court as he/she may deem necessary. The Chief Justice of India is to be consulted in all appointments barring his/her own. Article 217, which deals with the appointment of High Court judges, says the President should consult the CJI, Governor, and Chief Justice of the High Court concerned. Neither of the provisions speaks about a collegium. Article 124 came up for interpretation for the first time in 1981. In S P Gupta Vs President of India, also known as the ‘First Judges Case’, the SC ruled that the recommendation made by the CJI to the President can be refused for “cogent reasons”, thereby tilting the scales in favour of the executive. The judgment showed that Article 124 was amenable to interpretation by distinguishing between the role and authority of the executive and judiciary — and that one of them could be seen as having a greater say. The judgment was called in for reconsideration in what is called the ‘Second Judges Case’. The decision by a ninejudge bench in the Supreme Court Advocates-on Record Association vs Union of India case in October 1993 led to the creation of the collegium system. The majority verdict written by Justice J S Verma said “justiciability” and “primacy” required that the CJI be given the “primal” role in appointments. It overturned S P Gupta, saying: “The role of the CJI is primal… because this being a topic within the judicial family, the executive cannot have an equal say… Here the word ‘consultation’ would shrink in a mini form. Should executive have an equal role and be in divergence of many a proposal, germs of indiscipline would grow in the judiciary.” In 1998, President K R Narayanan issued a Presidential Reference to the Supreme Court over the meaning of the term “consultation” under pertinent constitutional provisions. The question was whether “consultation” required consultation with a number of judges in forming the CJI’s opinion, or whether the sole opinion of CJI could by itself constitute a “consultation”. In response, the Supreme Court laid down 9 guidelines for the functioning of the coram for appointments and transfers — this has come to be the present form of the collegium, and has been prevalent ever since. This came to be known as the ‘Third Judges Case’. The NJAC is the second attempt by an NDA government to change the way judges are appointed. The BJP-led government of 1998-2003 had appointed the Justice M N Venkatachaliah Commission to opine whether there was need to change the collegium system. The commission opined in favour of change, and prescribed an NJAC consisting of the CJI and two seniormost judges, the law minister, and an eminent person from the public, to be chosen by the President in con sultation with the CJI. When the NDA came to power with a thumping majority last year, it had NJAC as one of its priorities, and got the constitutional amendment and NJAC Act cleared swiftly. A clutch of petitions were subsequently filed in the SC, arguing that the law undermines the independence of the judiciary, and the basic structure of the Constitution. The case, currently before a five-judge bench, may well land up before an 11-judge bench.
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India extends e-Tourist Visa scheme to 31 more countries India will provide e-Tourist Visa to 31 more countries, including France and Canada, enabling the citizens of these nations easy entry to the country. The e-Tourist Visa had been launched in November last year for 45 countries from nine designated Indian airports. With the latest addition, the total number of countries under this scheme will go up to 76. According to reports, the scheme will be extended to more countries in a phased manner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre further intends to extend the scheme to 150 countries by the end of this fiscal year. Community radio stations now face the heat After the crackdown on NGOs, the government has turned the heat on 179 Community Radio (CR) stations operational in the country by ordering them to throw open their content for scrutiny on a daily basis. In an order, dated April 30, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has proposed that this should be done on an email. The Ministry ordered the radio stations, that broadcast anywhere between eight and 20 hours to mail their content every day. With the Supreme Court examining a petition filed by NGO Common Cause, which seeks the court’s direction to allow news on radio, operators are currently barred from broadcasting their own news. Many operators believe the government is preparing the ground for control of content. As of now, CR operators have no option but to broadcast Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat — despite the government’s own ban on news! Many radio operators fear that their radio stations are increasingly been viewed as a platform for propagating government programmes. Panel urges new criteria for SC/ST applicants in technical jobs The Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in its latest report on action taken by the government, has recommended that eligibility criteria be amended to facilitate influx of meritorious SC/ST candidates in the scientific and technical field. It had in the earlier report on the review of representation of SCs and STs in senior government positions noted that even today the community is not considered qualified enough for scientific and technical posts. In its reply, the government said only those scientific and technical posts which are required for conducting research or for organising, guiding and directing research and also fulfilling the certain stipulated requirements are exempt from the purview of reservation orders. However, the conditions do not apply to posts in the Department of Space and in the Department of Electronics and in regard to the recruitment of trainees at the training school under the Department of Atomic Energy. Government clears proposal for setting up of 'integrated border management system' to reduce infiltration at LoC In what may escalate tension with Pakistan on the international border, the government is learnt to have cleared the proposal for setting up of 'integrated border management system' to reduce infiltration through riverine stretches on the international border. The new system, comprising thermal imaging, fiber optics communication, radars scanner and sensors, will be installed at the eight rivulets along the IB, said officials. "An investigations into the movements of the terrorist killed in encounters with security forces revealed they came through these riverine stretches," said a senior official. Muslims, Christians not eligible to contest from reserved seats for scheduled castes: Haryana High Court Haryana High Court has ruled that a Muslim or a Christian cannot contest elections from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, restricting eligibility to Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs only. However, Muslim or Christian candidates will be eligible to contest if they embrace Hinduism, Buddhism or Sikhism and prove that their forefathers originally belonged to a Scheduled Caste and had (forefathers) professed to either of the three aforesaid religions. The historic ruling, the first on the issue of conversion by any court in the country, could trigger a d ebate on the larger issue of reservation in education and jobs for Muslims and Christians. Delivering the judgment, Justice NK Sanghi held that "the conversion from one religion to another would dis-entitle the person to carry his caste with him after conversion". The court relied upon relevant clause of the Constitution to hold that Muslims and Christians cannot derive any benefit meant for the Scheduled Castes. Dhaka in the dark on land deal The Union government says it would like to bring a Constitution Amendment Bill on the revised Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh to Parliament. But officials in Dhaka say they have received no “official communication” about the revisions, which propose leaving Assam out of the agreement for now. The Union Cabinet cleared the revised Bill after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed it on the changes and reportedly said they had been cleared with the Bangladesh government. “The agreement was negotiated as a package. It would create complications if any part of the package is taken out,” he said. The agreement was reached in 1974, and the protocol signed in 2011 would only be “implemented as agreed.”
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The new formula involves handing over land or “adverse possessions” and enclaves from Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal, totalling 1,999 acres, but will not include approximately 268 acres from Assam, officials said. Lay citizens cannot select judges, says SC The Supreme Court questioned the BJP government’s attempt to include laymen as members of the National J udicial Appointments Commission, saying the idea may work well for appointments to entry-level courts but not for the highest judiciary. Article 124A of the 99th Constitution Amendment Act, 2014 allows two “eminent persons” to be selected from civil society to be members of the NJAC. The duo is selected by a three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha. The Article does not define term “eminent persons”. ‘Lay members in NJAC a blow to judicial independence’ Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan submitted that Article 124A of the 99{+t}{+h}Constitution Amendment Act 2014 allowed “random lay people to be appointed by a three-member panel whose majority is politico.” “If this is not interference with judicial independence, what is?” Mr. Dhawan asked, arguing before a Bench of the Supreme Court hearing arguments challenging the validity of the National Judicial Appointment Committee (NJAC). Justice J.S. Khehar, who heads the Bench, asked how lay men can be expected to possess specialised knowledge as to which judge is corrupt and which not or evaluate the ability and knowledge of a High Court judge. “And remember, the NJAC will be deciding on judicial appointments and transfers across the length and breadth of the country,” Justice Khehar said. Justice A.K. Goel, another judge on the Bench, orally observed that such a mechanism of including lay people could be employed in appointing persons for the lowest judiciary. “It can be done at the entry point. For appointments at the highest level, the actual performance of the judge should be known,” Justice Goel said. Mr. Dhawan pointed out that the government, through proviso (d) in Article 124A, has reserved the position of one of the eminent persons for women, Minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. “Why on earth should there be reservation in this? This proviso is a total farce,” Mr. Dhawan said. Agreeing with Mr. Dhawan, Justice Kurian Joseph, a judge on the Bench, said the judiciary would be “compromised” if “interests” happen to govern the appointment of eminent persons, especially when they wield veto powers over judicial appointments. Chief Justice H.L. Dattu recently declined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to sit with the panel to decide on the “eminent persons.” The CJI had written to Mr. Modi that it would be “inappropriate and undesirable” on his part to the join the three member panel when the Constitution Amendment is under the Supreme Court’s scrutiny. ‘A.P. High Court must function within State’ A Division Bench of Hyderabad High Court ruled that a separate High Court for Andhra Pradesh cannot function outside the geographical boundaries of Andhra Pradesh and asked the Union Government to expeditiously release funds for creation of a separate High Court. The Bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothisen Gupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was disposing of a case complaining of ‘inordinate delay’ in formation of separate High Courts for the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 stipulates that the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad shall be the common High Court for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh till a separate High Court for the State of Andhra Pradesh is constituted under Article 214 of the Constitution. The Act merely says that the principle seat of the AP High Court shall be at such a place as notified by the President. The Bench maintained that in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, there is no provision for a separate High Court for AP to function outside the territory of AP. High point in Indo-French strategic ties The 14th edition of the Indo-French naval exercise (Varuna) concluded with Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, along with Vice-Admiral SPS Cheema, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, reviewing the progress of the exercise from the French Navy’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The 10-day exercise started on April 23 and included both a harbour and a sea phase. The exercise goes a long way in enhancing interoperability between the two navies and showcases the close ties between the two countries. Varuna started with the arrival of four French naval ships. Representing the French Navy is Charles de Gaulle, the destroyers Chevalier Paul and Jean de Vienne , replenishment tanker Meuse and a maritime patrol aircraft, Atlantique 2 . Charles de Gaulle carried its complement of the fighter aircraft Rafale M, strike aircraf t Super Etendard, E2C Hawkeye AWACS and helicopters Dauphin and Alouette 3. The aircraft carrier INS Viraat , destroyer Mumbai , stealth frigate Tarkash , guided missile frigate Gomati , replenishment tanker Deepak , submarine Shankul and a few fast-attack craft participated from the Indian side. Lakhvi’s release: India seeks U.N. help
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India has sought U.N.’s intervention in the release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind and LeT commander Zaki -ur Rehman Lakhvi, saying it was in violation of the norms of the global body and it should raise the matter with Pakistan. In a letter to the current Chair of the UN Sanctions Committee Jim McLay, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukherjee said Lakhvi’s release by a Pakistani court was in violation of the 1267 UN resolution dealing with designated entities and individuals. Nepal aid: govt. working to amend PM’s relief fund rules The meeting of the Crisis Management Committee, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, discussed the ongoing relief operations in Nepal launched by the Indian government. The government will now move from sending supplies by air to using the land route, and is discussing how to change the rules of the PMNRF to help more Nepali citizens. According to the rules of the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund and the tax exemption granted to donors, the fund can be used to provide relief only to the citizens of India. The PMNRF website (pmnrf.gov.in) says “contributions wherein the donor mentions that the amount is meant for the foreign citizens/calamities abroad, are not accepted in the fund.” This has hampered the government’s plans to use the fund to help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Nepal. The confusion deepened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on April 27 that he would donate one-month salary “for assistance to those affected by the recent earthquake”. The Prime Minister’s decision spurred hundreds of Indians to follow suit, including Members of Parliament who too donated a month’s salary to the fund. Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray tweeted, “All Shiv Sena MPs will give their 1 month's salary to the Prime Minister's relief fund for the Nepal earthquake relief.” As the rules stand now, however, the PMNRF money can only be used for the earthquake victims in India, where more than 50 were killed, or for affected Indian citizens in Nepal, where at least 70 were killed. If the government agrees, Mr. Modi could use his discretionary powers to extend the fund for Nepali citizens, given that the India-Nepal Friendship Treaty (1950) accords them “national treatment,” and they are treated on a par with Indian citizens with regard to property and commercial rights. Contributions to the PMNRF would only be a small part of the massive total package of assistance that th e government is providing to Nepal, and intends to provide for the reconstruction process. Even so, the change in rules would allow thousands of Indians to contribute to the work India is doing in Nepal. Centre to develop northeast state capitals as smart cities The capitals of all North-eastern states — Agartala, Shillong, Aizawl, Imphal, Kohima, Itanagar and Gangtok — will be developed as smart cities under the government’s flagship programme. The proposal to develop 100 smart cities, which was cleared by the cabinet, makes not only cities in the one to four million population range eligible to be developed as smart cities, but also capitals of smaller states which have less than one million people. The criteria, urban development ministry (UD) officials said, would de-facto make the capital of all North-eastern states eligible. “Almost all capitals also happen to be the largest cities in their respective states,” said an official. The population criteria will also make Delhi, Srinagar, Goa, Shimla, Dehradun, Puducherry, Ranchi, Kavaratti, Chandigarh, Silvassa and Port Blair eligible to be developed. Though these cities will be eligible to selected in stage one, they will also have to qualify the ‘city challenge competition’ to make it to the final list. If they do not qualify the first time, they can reappear after making the necessary improvements in their proposals related to city development. “The Centre will provide the necessary hand holding so that their proposals make the cut,” said a source. It is, however, the bigger states that stand to gain the most. According to the formula worked out by the UD ministry, the more populous a state is, the maximum number of smart cities it will get. The formula gives a 50:50 weightage to a state’s population and the number of statutory towns it has. This will benefit bigger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat and West Bengal. However, of the eligible cities, only those that qualify in the competition will finally get sele cted. The Centre will give Rs 48,000 crore for five years for the programme. Each city will get Rs 100 crore per year. A matching fund of Rs 48,000 crore will have to be contributed by states from their internal resources/ market borrowing and through private sector participation. E Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Adjudged World's Best Airport Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the world's best airport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum, officials said. Airports Council International (ACI) presented the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award to IGIA at a ceremony of the ACI Asia-Pacific/World Annual General Assembly on April 28 in Jordan. IGIA bettered its ranking from second position for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 to emerge on top in 2014. ASQ is the key to understanding how to increase passenger satisfaction and improve business performance, said Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World. IGIA hosts six domestic carriers, 56 international carriers and also has the capacity to handle the gigantic Airbus A380 aircraft. The airport serves as a hub for leading Indian airlines Air India, IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet.
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Delhi International Airport Private is a joint venture between the GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad. The airport was developed under the public-private partnership mode with the mandate for DIAL to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the Delhi airport for 30 years, with an option to extend it for another 30 years. ACI, founded in 1991, is a trade association of the world's airports. Longest bridge in India provides a quick link to LAC At 9.15 kilometres, the country’s longest bridge, between Dhola and Sadia in Assam, is slated for commissioning later this year; about five years after construction commenced on the Rs 876 crore strategic project that would drastically improve road connectivity to the border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Road connectivity is crucial, as the state does not have a single operational airport along its 3488-km border with China. It just has an operational heliport near Itanagar.
China, on the other hand, has vastly improved roads and is building or extending air strips on its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “Currently, armed forces have to enter Arunachal Pradesh via Tezpur (about 186 km from Guwahati) in Assam. There is no bridge fortified for passage of tanks around Tinsukia from where troops can cross over to Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge is 3.55 km longer than the sea link over the Mahim Bay in Mumbai — the longest bridge in the country so far. “Strategically this bridge is of great importance as it will significantly improve connectivity from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. At present, Tinsukia (about 350 km east of Tezpur), on the eastern edge of Assam, is the closest access point to cross over to Lohit, and then to Anjaw district in Arunachal Pradesh. “The Dhola-Sadia bridge has been reinforced for the passage of T-72 tanks. Once the bridge is commissioned, it will take 30 minutes to cross over to Sadia, which is near the Lohit border. The Army has a cantonment at Walong, about 180 km from the district headquarters of Tezu in Lohit. A little ahead, the strategically important town of Kibithu (in Anjaw district) is located, with China to the north and Myanmar to the east. China has a sizeable deployment of troops opposite Kibithu Tatu, Tithang and at Rongtu Chu valley west of Tithang. There have been repeated incursions by Chinese troops in the fish-tail area — called so because of the unique shape of the LAC there — in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh. In August 2013, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly crossed the LAC and occupied territory 20 km around Chaglagam in Anjaw district for nearly four days. PLA soldiers make no efforts to remove evidence of their intrusions as China doesn’t recognise Arunachal Pradesh as Indian Territory. Senior government officials said while the process of raising a mountain strike corps has begun, India lacks infrastructure on its side of the LAC as compared to China. “Our troops have to be moved by air to advanced landing grounds and then walk several miles to the border posts. They are supplied by mule trains. While the construction work on the bridge started in November 2010, the letter of appointment was handed over in June 2011. The scope of the work includes construction of the 9.15 km bridge and 16.65 km of approach roads. No scope for reform of convicted official: SC There is no scope for a public official convicted of corruption to reform, and his punishment under the country’s anti corruption law is meant to reflect the public’s abhorrence to his crime, the Supreme Court has held. In a short judgment analysing the penological philosophy behind punishment for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988, the apex court observed that there is no room for sympathy or leniency towards a public servant convicted of corruption. The verdict, authored by Justice Joseph for the bench, said courts cannot risk not making the punishment “appropriately deterrent”. Any suspicion of leniency or sympathy from the court to a convicted public servan t would compromise the public’s faith in judiciary, the Supreme Court cautioned.
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“The judgment on sentence shall not shock the common man. It should reflect the public abhorrence of the crime. Misplaced sympathy or unwarranted leniency will send a wrong signal to the public, giving room to suspect institutional integrity, affecting credibility of its verdict,” Justice Joseph observed. The 1988 Act was amended last year to increase the punishment for corruption. Minimum punishment under Section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration) of the Act has been raised from six months to three years and maximum punishment from five years in jail to seven years. Under Section 13 (criminal misconduct by a public servant), the punishment was raised from one year to four years and the maximum to 10 years and fine. The judgment dealt with the case of a police officer who was caught red handed taking a bribe of Rs. 25,000 in January 2001. In fact, the 1988 statute does not even give scope for a corrupt public servant to reform, it said. ‘No second chance’ The 11-page verdict delivered recently reasoned that once a public official is convicted under the PCA, he automatically loses his job. This situation affords him no second chance to redeem his conduct in public life. The Bench, comprising Justices T.S. Thakur, Kurian Joseph and R. Banumathi, said the only objective of punishment under the PCA is deterrence and denunciation. Judicial activism is our duty against legislative adventurism: SC judge In an atmosphere of unease caused by jibes at judicial activism by the executive and legislature, a sitting Supreme Court judge asserted that it is a solemn duty performed by judges to curb “legislative adventurism and executive excesses.” Justice Kurian Joseph reiterated the importance of judicial activism even as a low-intensity conflict is simmering between the judiciary, legislature and executive on various issues, including the National Judicial Appointments Commission law and the long-dormant Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently asked the judiciary to be wary of delivering verdicts driven by “five -star activists.” Justice Joseph, who is one of the five judges on the Constitution Bench considering the validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission law, said when the legislature’s law proves to be inadequate to administer justice, “courts dare and ought to say what the law is and what the law should be.” Judicial response Delivering the 5th Lala Amarchand Sood Memorial Lecture on Judicial Legislation organised by the Bar Association of India in Shimla, Justice Joseph said: “Such judicial response is not the special attribute of an activist judge but a solemn role or function or duty of a judge, who is seen popularly as the court. Judicial activism is the obligatory response of the institution, the court, against injustice.” He reminded the audience of the Supreme Court’s interventions in the 2G spectrum and the coal block allocation scams in this regard. “The Supreme Court took upon itself, in public interest, the duty to make up for the lapses on the part of the executive. He said the Supreme Court, by pioneering Public Interest Litigation petitions (PILs), had made constitutional social rights to housing, education, food, health and livelihood indivisible from the fundamental rights to life, equality and religion. Addressing the criticism that judicial activism disturbed the “delicate balance of separation of powers,” Justice Joseph said: “Adoption of separation of powers is partial and not total. Legislature and judiciary are independent, yet judiciary can interpret, review and implement laws made by the legislature.” He said for years the judiciary made up for the lackadaisical approach of the executive and elected representatives. The honourable judge pointed out that it was through judicial activism that the Supreme Court in 2001 ordered States to provide mid-day meals to schoolchildren. “Today about 100 million children get a cooked meal at school, making this the largest mid-day meal programme in the world. It paved the way for the landmark National Food Security Act, 2013,” he said. The law to prevent graft: the problem is implementation When did the anti-corruption law come into force? The first direct and consolidated law on corruption was the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1947, enacted to supplement the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In 1988, a new PCA was passed, repealing the 1947 Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1952. What is “corruption” under the Act? What is the punishment? As per Section 7, a “public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act”. Sec 8 is about “taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant”; Sec 9, “taking gratification, for exercise of personal influence with public servant”; Sec 11, “obtaining valuable thing, without consideration from person concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant”. May attract up to seven years in jail and fine. Has the PCA been deterrence to corruption? The conviction rate has been poor. PCA has been more effective when applied along with departmental proceedings. After registering a case, the investigating agency often recommends the officer’s suspension, which is up to the department concerned to accept.
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48 hours or more in custody leads to deemed suspension. An officer may face both trial under PCA and departmental action under service rules; in some cases investigating agencies recommend departmental action. Officials have faced prolonged suspensions, stopping of promotions and sensitive postings, etc. What are the safeguards for bureaucrats under the Act? Prior government sanction is needed to prosecute any officer. Till last year, officers of the rank of joint secretary and above were protected from probe, and sanction was needed even to register a preliminary inquiry. In May 2014, the Supreme Court struck down Section 6A of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, saying it was violative of Article 14. In fact, government officials can be investigated, but can’t be prosecuted without prior sanction from the government. In February 2015, the SC said a suspension order could not extend beyond three months if the chargesheet is not served by then. How does the political leadership view the Act? Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that efforts were on to ensure officers are free to make objective, honest decisions. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a CBI programme that, “We need to revisit provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act”. As prime minister and finance minister, Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram too had expressed similar views. What is the ‘supply side’ of corruption? On April 29, the cabinet approved the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 to target supply-side corruption, i.e. punishment for the bribe-giver. It is also proposed to extend the protection of prior sanction for prosecution to public servants who cease to hold office due to retirement, resignation etc. Sanction for inquiry and investigation of offences related to the discharge of official duties would have to come from the Lokpal/Lokayukta. How have things worked in practical terms? While recent utterances by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister reflect the concern that the PCA has been shackling decision-making by bureaucrats, the bigger problem lies in the poor implementation of the law. Delay in the disposal of cases and prolonged departmental proceedings lead to harassment and victimisation of officers. The draft amendment Bill approved provides for completion of trial in two years. Over the last four years, trial in cases under the PC Act has stretched to more than eight years on average. Salwa Judum-2 is born in Bastar Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma’s son Chhavindra Karma and former leaders of the anti-Maoist militia formed “Vikas Sangharsh Samiti” in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, which will carry forward the work of Salwa Judum in Bastar. “I had invited all the leaders and workers associated with the Salwa Judum for a meeting. The new samiti will strive to bring peace to Bastar,” Chhavindra Karma told. Asked if it could be called Salwa Judum part two, Mr. Karma said, “Yes, you can call it so. The new outfit will undertake padyatra (marches) in various parts of Bastar to spread awareness against Maoism. We will seek the help of the State government so that our awareness campaigns would be followed by development works in the region.” The Supreme Court had declared the Salwa Judum “illezgal and unconstitutional” and had ordered its disbandment in 2011. “Peaceful movement” Led by former Congress leader Mahendra Karma, the anti-Maoist militia was blamed for large-scale “forcible displacement” of Bastar tribals and extra-judicial killings. “The Salwa Judum part two will be peaceful. Our main aim is to finish Maoism in Bastar and bring development. Already more than 18 village panchayats have banned the entry of Maoists in their villages,” claimed Mr. Karma. Assam included in Bill for land swap with Bangladesh Faced with opposition from Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the Congress in Parliament as well as unhappiness from the Hasina government in Dhaka, the Centre reversed its decision on excluding Assam from the purview of its Bill on exchanging land with Bangladesh. The Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013, which will allow the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement, was cleared by the Cabinet. The envisaged exchange of land includes enclaves and “adverse possessions” from West Bengal, Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam, Director-General (Media & Communication) of the Government, Frank Noronha, told. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Gogoi had urged him to put aside political considerations and include Assam in the agreement for a permanent solution to the outstanding issue, adding that “construction of border fencing will also prevent illegal infiltration of foreigners and subversive elements, smuggling, etc. by sealing the porous border.” According the agreement, India is to receive 2,777.038 acres and transfer 2,267.682 acres to Bangladesh, much of which has already been effected on the ground. An earlier plan by the government to exclude Assam from the land swap arrangement because of fierce resistance from the BJP’s State unit ahead of the Assembly elections next year has now been shelved. FIR against M.P. Governor quashed In a major relief for Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, the High Court quashed the FIR filed against him in connection with the MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam, holding that he enjoyed immunity while in office. 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“While dealing with the primary question of extent of immunity and privilege extended to the Head of a State, during his term of office, which answers the jurisdictional fact, we proceed to quash the impugned FIR against the petitioner [Governor] on that count alone, with liberty to police to proceed in accordance with law after the petitioner ceases to be the Governor,” a Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Ju stice Rohit Arya, observed. Earlier on April 18, the High Court had in an interim order stayed the FIR filed on February 24 against the Governor by the Special Task Force (STF) in connection with the recruitment scam, asking the prosecuting agency not to t ake any “coercive action” against him. Task force allegation The STF had filed the FIR against 88-year-old Mr. Yadav, possibly the first against any Governor of Madhya Pradesh, alleging his complicity in the forest guard recruitment scam. Thereafter, Mr. Yadav had petitioned the High Court. “For, the immunity and privilege is only during the term of office. At the same time the immunity and privilege extended to the Governor will not impair or whittle down the powers of the police to investigate the criminal case registered against other accused who cannot claim such privilege and in the process, record statement of the petitioner, if required,” the judges said India, Palestine agree to better ties India and Palestine have identified areas of further cooperation and identified mechanisms to improve existing relations. At the end of the first round of Foreign Office consultations between India and Palestine in Ramallah, New Delhi said it “continued support” to the Palestinian cause and is extending assistance to the latest developments in the Middle East peace process. Palestine has reiterated its support to the efforts and aspirations of India to obtain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. To ensure impartiality, govt. should not select judges: SC The five-judge Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar, deciding the validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission law contested Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi’s opening argument that there was not a word about judicial primacy in the original Constitution drafted by the founding Fathers. Further in 1998, the Supreme Court, on a reference by President K.R. Narayanan, reinforced the collegium system by forming nine guidelines of procedure and by also increasing the strength of the collegium, Mr. Rohatgi said. Justice Khehar recounted that the government had accepted the CJI’s primacy “first thing” after the 1993 judgment in the Second Judges case and post the Presidential Reference. “But 20 years have gone by and such a stand by the court now is very dangerous,” Mr. Rohatgi said. “You are dangerous if you keep changing your positions,” Justice Khehar retorted. Justice Khehar said his Bench was sitting to decide the validity of the NJAC law “and here it is not enough to prove that the 1993 judgment about the CJI’s primacy is wrong.” He said the government would only succeed if it proved that its new NJAC law is “equally independent”. “The citizen of the country is not worried about the salary of a judge or the house in which he lives or who the CJI is. He is only worried about whether a judge is impartial. For this, the government, the largest stakeholder, should not participate in selection of judges,” Justice Khehar observed. Assam inclusion paves the way for boundary pact What led to the cabinet clearing the Bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)? Territories in Assam are now part of the agreement along with those in West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya — this is key step forward. An earlier plan to exclude Assam — the result of resistance from the BJP’s Assam unit — has now
been dropped. Assam’s Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to set aside politics and include Assam in the deal.
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What happens now? Including Assam gets the Congress on board, and improves chances of the Bill going through. The Bill comes in Rajya Sabha, where an earlier Bill (excluding Assam) has been pending since December 2013. Mamata Banerjee said that the Trinamool supports the Agreement “because the people are in favour of it”. The constitutional amendment Bill will require ratification by at least 50 per cent of state legislatures as well. Related India Bangladesh border swap deal evokes sharp reactions in Assam Assam in, Govt OKs India-Bangladesh border swap deal Delhi’s turn What is the genesis of the Land Boundary dispute? India and Bangladesh have a 4,096.7-km land boundary. The boundary (with erstwhile East Pakistan) was determined by the Radcliffe Award of 1947. Disputes arose out of provisions of the award. What was the LBA of 1974? It was signed on May 16, 1974 to solve the problems in the complex border demarcation. Bangladesh ratified the agreement, but India didn’t, because it involved seceding territory, and indicating those areas on the ground. Under the 1974 agreement, India would retain half of Berubari Union No. 12, and Bangladesh would keep the Dahagram and Angarpota enclaves. India would lease in perpetuity to Bangladesh the so-called “Tin Bigha Corridor” to connect Dahagram and Angarpota to the Bangla mainland. The 1974 LBA was implemented in full — even though India did not ratify it — except for three issues related to undemarcated land boundary of approximately 6.1 km in three sectors: Daikhata-56 (West Bengal), Muhuri RiverBelonia (Tripura) and Lathitila-Dumabari (Assam); exchange of enclaves; and adverse possessions. What is the issue of enclaves? The flawed partition left 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh (17,160.63 acres) and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India (7,110.02 acres). Their inhabitants do not enjoy full legal rights as citizens of either country, or facilities like electricity, schools and healthcare. Law and order agencies do not have proper access to these areas. A joint headcount estimated the population in the enclaves to be around 51,549 (37,334 in Indian enclaves within Bangladesh). An India-Bangla delegation that visited the enclaves in May 2007 found that residents on either side would rather be in the country where they had lived all their lives. So, not much peoples’ movement is likely. What about land “in adverse possession”? Indian “adverse possession” refers to territory within Indian control, but which is legally part of Bangladesh. Residents of these adverse possessions are Indian citizens. The same applies to Bangladeshi adverse possessions. India is to receive 2,777.038 acres in respect of adverse possessions, and transfer 2,267.682 acres to Bangladesh. The reality, though is that the area is already in Bangladeshi possession, and its handing over is merely a procedural acceptance of the de facto situation on the ground. What happened after the LBA was signed in 2011? The protocol addressed the unresolved issues of the 1974 LBA, without departing from it on any point other than the maintenance of status quo on adverse possessions. How might the passage of the Bill impact New Delhi-Dhaka relations? Modi might visit Dhaka in June; India will look for transit through Bangladesh to connect with Northeast; counterterror cooperation will get a fillip; Teesta water-sharing agreement will be the next on agenda; and Atal Bihari Vajpayee could get the top Bangla honour. ECONOMY Three Indian firms get USFDA approval U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved the first generic versions of Abilify (compound aripiprazole) used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Hetero Labs, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals from India and Teva Pharmaceuticals of Israel have received USFDA approval to market generic aripiprazole in multiple strengths and dosage forms, a USFDA statement said. Generic aripiprazole is a typical antipsychotic drug approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. A fillip to clean power Lending by banks under priority sector category to help SMEs and individuals to set up RE projects. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to grant special status to the renewable energy sector, among others, under priority sector lending, is expected to accrue large benefits for the sector. This is also expected to ensure energy security of the country, which is currently betting big on renewable energy with a target to achieve 100 GW of green energy by 2022. “RBI’s move is indeed progressive. It will help contribute to India’s renewable energy portfolio. This will boost investments from the SME sector in renewable space as finance will be available at a competitive rate as bankers have separate allocation and priority for the sector,” said Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, Suzlon Group, which is into wind energy.
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The move will help SMEs to grow and expand their manufacturing capacity as they would become competitive due to availability of low cost of energy for the next 25 years. According to experts, the RBI’s move should help in rapid installation of roof-top solar panels across the country to harness solar energy for local applications. “It is a welcome move. Now since funding is in place, the government should primarily focus on popularising roof top applications to augment renewable energy,” said Sunil Khanna, President and Managing Director, Emerson Network Power India. In solar, a paradigm shift can be expected when rooftop solar systems would be allowed to come up en-mass through coordinated policies as opposed to fragmented State-by-State trial and error learning curves, which causes irreparable damage to confidence and commitment of investors and technology providers. As per RBI’s notification, Renewable Energy has come under priority sector lending along with medium enterprises and social infrastructure. Now commercial banks need to extend loans of up to a limit of Rs.15 crore to borrowers for setting up solar based power generators, biomass based power generators, wind mills, micro-hydel plants and for non-conventional energy based public utilities such as street lighting systems and remote village electrification. For individual households, the loan limit will be Rs.10 lakh per borrower. Foreign contributions to National Skill Development Fund exempted from FCRA In a big boost to funding for vocational training courses, foreign contributions to the National Skill Development Fund have been exempted from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. This would ensure smoother contributions into the NSDF that is under the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, would not require government approval for taking foreign contributions. “The Central government…exempts the NSDF from the operation of provisions of Section 11 of the FCRA,2010 to accept foreign contribution in cash or kind,” said an order by the ministry of home affairs. The NSDF that was set up by the government, receives contributions by government agencies as well as private sector contributors to skill youth by various sector specific programs through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Contributions to NSDF are also eligible for income tax benefit under section 80G. However, the contributions would be subject to conditions that they would be received in an exclusively designated bank account and a separate set of records would be maintained by the NSDF for such funds. The order has also cautioned the NSDF must make “due diligence” to ensure the identity of the contributors before accepting funds from them. The exemption is expected to help more funds come in for skill development as the government looks to train nearly 11 crore workers by 2020. Sources said the ministry would now try also initiate discussions with analysts and foreign investors on the issue. Though the ministry and the NSDC have deployed funds into skilling programmes along with some private sector companies but big-ticket investments are yet to come in the sector. Flipkart acquires Appiterate Online marketplace Flipkart said it has acquired Delhi-based mobile engagement and marketing automation company Appiterate. The acquisition is part of City-based Flipkart's new strategy of focusing more on the mobile segment. “This acquisition strengthens Flipkart’s presence in the area of mobile technology,” the company said in a statement. Appiterate started as an A/B testing product for native mobile apps later on expanded into a full-fledged mobile marketing automation platform. The company, in the past, has helped leading e-commerce companies combine the power of mobile apps and big data to allow them to do one-on-one targeting of their users though push notifications and in-app messages. Post the acquisition, Appiterate's mobile marketing automation platform will be integrated into Flipkart’s mobile app. Jaitley rolls back proposal on public debt Following a measured pushback from Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, the Government withdrew its budget proposals aimed to take away from the RBI and give to a new independent agency the task of managing the Centre’s borrowings and to strip it of the authority of regulating government bonds. He, however, did not offer any reasons for the rollback. Finance minister offers breather to FIIs on minimum alternate tax Finance minister Arun Jaitley clarified that minimum alternate tax (MAT) would not be applicable on foreign companies earning from capital gains on securities, royalty, fee on technical services and interest, providing a huge breather to foreign investors. The finance minister said that the exemption would apply prospectively only in those cases where the normal tax rate is
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below the MAT rate of 18.5 per cent, even as he assured the taxpayers to replace the 14-page long ITR with an “extremely simplified” income tax return (ITR) form. The minister also clarified that the MAT would not be applicable on sale of units of real estate investment trusts (REITs). The development will bring cheers to foreign investors earning income from interest on bonds, and private equity earning capital gains. Net neutrality: RJio seeks security norms for voice, messaging apps Reliance Jio Infocomm has called for a regulatory framework for voice and messaging apps which will ensure that the likes of WhatsApp comply with all security guidelines that mobile phone operators need to follow, thus supporting key proposals of rivals like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea. In its submission to the sector regulator's consultation paper on net neutrality, the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco said national security as well as the consumer's security, safety and privacy cannot be compromised at any cost. Most of the over-the-top (OTT) providers offering communication services "have their servers outside the country, which leaves Indian security agencies powerless to exercise their right," Jio said. In its letter to Trai, Jio gave the example of the revelations of Edward Snowden " a contractor with US Nation Security Agency who revealed details of the US surveillance programme " to highlight the security concerns regarding apps which provide voice and messaging services, such as the ones provided by the likes of Skype and WhatsApp. It also backed other operators while saying that this is the right time to put in place a regulatory frame work, especially for communication apps. Arvind Subramanian to head panel to fix data issues The government has formed a Coordination Committee under chairmanship of Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian to address issues while reporting Government Finance Statistics (GFS) data. "Currently, numerous constraints are being faced in reporting GFS data which include manual compilation of data from detailed demand of grants for economic and functional classification and a time lag of more than two years to get final data. To address these constraints so as to enable timely reporting of GFS data to IMF, it has been decided to constitute a Coordination Committee on GFS," a finance ministry's office memorandum read. The composition of the committee will have representation from RBI, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), among others. The GFS year book is an annual publication of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that collects data of the public sector from member countries. The terms of reference of the committee include putting in place a mechanism for integration of vast electronic data so that the monthly and annual numbers can be compiled and reported at the earliest. The mandate is also to outline steps to cut down the timeline for completion of state finance statistics to one year from the current three years, it added. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said a high -level committee on tax laws that were set up in November last year has invited various stakeholders to present their suggestions in order to ascertain areas where clarity is needed. Amnesty banks on Indians to avoid govt scrutiny The India arm of the global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has shunned all foreign donations in order to root out any possibility of facing any government action under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) that governs any funding from abroad. The entity has not got itself registered under the FCRA to receive foreign funds. “The FCRA was, and is, a much – abused law,” Amnesty India’s Chief executive G Ananthapadmanabhan told. He said the FCRA was being used too often to curb the freedom of expression of NGOs especially those that work on issues that hold up the mirror and demand accountability from the powers that be. Amnesty operates here through two entities- a tax exempt charitable trust – Indian for Amnesty International Trustand a tax-paying limited company- Social Sector Research Consultancy and Support Service (India) Private Limited – that undertakes human rights research projects and consultancy jobs on a contractual basis. The trust also has secure overdraft facilities from Indian banks to meet any immediate expense like paying bills. “The issue of ‘foreign funding’ of Indian NGOs has always been controversial. Starting with Dr. Manmohan Singh’s attack on NGOs in 2012 to (Prime Minister) Mr Modi’s recent comments on five – star activists, the issue has acquired new heat,” said the chief executive. Shelving warning system for frauds, govt bets on SFIO arm The much-hyped early warning system (EWS), developed in the aftermath of the Satyam scam, for early detection of fraud has been shelved and now the government is instead working on implementing a new mechanism to detect frauds at the initial stages through its research unit in the serious fraud investigation office (SFIO). Official sources told that the Market Research Analysis Unit (MRAU) set up by the SFIO will be the “new mechanism for brining in certainty and finality in instituting effective fraud prediction and prevention model. This will help in generating alerts for detecting cases of potential fraud and malfeasance”. The software-based fraud detecting system, EWS, was tested in-house to scan unusual developments in companies and alert the ministry of corporate affairs of any possible wrongdoing.
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The EWS sent signals if a company was found to be faltering any of the 40 parameters set by the MCA including more than 5 per cent of domestic sales through related party transaction, or more than half of the company’s directors resigning in a year, or if there was a discrepancy in earning-per-share ratio. However, the sources said that the system showed “unsatisfactory results” and was therefore shelved. “Now a fraud detection module has been prepared by the SFIO while the MRAU is being revamped to have greater surveillance over corporate frauds through examination and analysis of media reports, scrutinising quarterly results of companies, their public announcements, filings with exchanges, and tax returns,” the sources said adding that a forensic lab with some basic forensic tools has also been set up in the SFIO. An analysis shows that most of the fraud cases have been reported in West Bengal (82) and Delhi (66) even though Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka account for almost 50 per cent of total companies in India. To strengthen the fraud detection, the ministry has taken measures including mandatory Directors Identification Number for every existing and prospective director, verification of details of a new company by professionals, who will have to personally visit the premises ADB says will maintain standards when cooperating with AIIB The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that it was ready to work with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) so long as standards were met, while also announcing changes to boost its own lending capacity by billions of dollars. China has said 57 countries have signed up to become founding members of the AIIB, but so far the United States has chosen to remain outside the bank, seen as a rival to the U.S.-dominated World Bank. Giving reasons for not joining, the United States has cited what it called a lack of transparency, doubts about lending and environmental safeguards, and concerns over Beijing's influence. Japan, which has a lead role in the ADB, has also cited a lack of transparency at the Beijing -based AIIB for not joining by a March 31 deadline, but has said that it would be desirable for the ADB to work with the AIIB. Addressing a media conference at the start of the multilateral lender's annual meeting of its board of governors in Azerbaijan, ADB President Takehiko Nakao said the bank wanted to cooperate with AIIB, provided criteria were met. "ADB is happy to cooperate, including co-financing, with the AIIB," Nakao said in Baku. "With the AIIB, if we cofinance, we will study how we do things, but I don't have any intention to lower our standards." The four-day meeting comes amid much discussion of the future of global development architecture as more countries, including most shareholders of the ADB, commit to becoming founding members of the AIIB. To boost its own lending capacity, the ADB also announced a merger of its Asian Development Fund and its ordinary capital resources balance sheet. "The merger will boost ADB's total lending and grant approvals to as high as $20 billion - 50 percent more than the current level," it said in a statement. L&T deal key to viability of Areva’s Jaitapur N-plant A deal signed between engineering firm L&T and French nuclear vendor Areva for maximising the localisation of critical components for the proposed 10,000-MW nuclear power plant at Jaitapur marks a desperate attempt to prune the cost of each of the six 1,650 MWe (mega watt electric) reactors to be deployed at the site in Maharashtra to about $4 billion. This is expected to translate into a generation cost equivalent of about Rs 7 per unit. The meeting of this price cap imposed by the government during the ongoing technical negotiations, officials said, holds the key to the viability of the Jaitapur project, especially in light of Areva’s chequered track record at implementing EPR reactor-based projects elsewhere in the world. The targeted cost of $4 billion (approx Rs 25,000 crore) per reactor is roughly the same as the Areva offer to the Chinese for the two EPR reactors under construction at Taishan in China, which is believed to incorporate an engineering joint venture, unlike the Indian project proposal. The L&T venture for localised production is key, especially in light of the Taishan (EPR project in China) experience, he said. The EPR, or European Pressurised Reactor, is a new-generation pressurised water reactor, built to resist the impact of a commercial airline crash. At 1,650 MWe a reactor, it has come under fire for being too big and too expensive and Areva has been forced to book billions of euros in provisions due to cost overruns. Areva’s EPRs are being deployed at two sites in Europe — Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland, apart from the two in Taishan,China. The construction of the Finnish reactor being built at Olkiluoto since 2005 has repeatedly suffered from serious delays and cost overruns. The other EPR reactor at Flamanville in France is also having problems. Construction was started in 2007 and was supposed to generate power by 2012. That, too, is delayed and is now scheduled to start in 2016. The L&T deal signed earlier this month is expected to get orders for making heavy and critical components such as pressure vessels and steam generators and these orders will be executed by L&T Special Steel and Heavy Forgings, a joint venture between L&T and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. This venture has a manufacturing facility in Hazira, Surat. “Localisation is the only way to bring down cost, especially as the NPCIL has been driving a hard bargain on tariffs being capped at Rs 7 per unit (kWh),” a company official said. The pact with L&T comes at a time when Areva is under fresh fire over weak spots in the steel of the EPR nuclear reactor it is building for utility EDF in Flamanville, according to findings released by French nuclear regulator ASN.
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In India, the cost benchmark for new imported light water reactors such as the EPR are derived broadly from the two Russian designed VVER-1000 reactors which are to be deployed at the Kudankulam site. The two new VVER reactor units (KKNPP 3 & 4) to be set up in Tamil Nadu, which would come up at the Kudankulam site where two identical units (KKNPP 1 & 2) are nearing commissioning, entail a sanctioned project cost of Rs 39,849 crore for the two new reactors. Mylan launches Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi tablets in India Sovaldi is indicated for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection, a blood-borne infectious disease, as a component of a combination antiviral treatment regimen. It is estimated that approximately 12 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C in India. “Mylan has a long-standing history of partnering with Gilead to tackle key public health issues in India and around the world, beginning with expanding access to high quality, affordable HIV/AIDS antiretrovirals and now extending our partnership to include hepatitis C treatments. We are proud to continue our work together with the launch of Sovaldi as it supports our joint commitment to meeting the unmet medical needs of patients in India.” Auto-component maker Ashok Minda group forms JV with US-based VAST Auto components maker Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group formed a joint venture with US-based Vehicle Access Systems Technology (VAST) with an aim to widen global presence. The 50:50 joint venture is between Minda Management Services Ltd -- an affiliate of Minda Corporation and Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group -- and the VAST Group. The new entity, Minda VAST Access Systems Pvt Ltd (Minda VAST) will have operations in Pune and Delhi-NCR, the company said in a statement. VAST will support to the JV for locksets, steering column locks, latches, strikers, socket bows, handles, immobilises, passive entry, start systems, ignition switches, hinges and power access, among others, it added. VAST is one of the global market leaders in the access systems business with annual sales of about $1.2 billion. Its member organisations, include WITTE Automotive, Germany; STRATTEC Security Corp US and ADAC Automotive, US. It has manufacturing facilities in Germany, Mexico, Czech Republic, US, China and Brazil. India loses $9.8 billion every year due to disasters India loses USD 9.8 billion every year due to multi-hazard disasters as its 58.6 per cent land is prone to earthquake and 8.5 per cent area is vulnerable to cyclone. As per the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's (UNISDR) Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) 2015, risk profile of India estimates that Average Annual Loss (AAL) from multi-hazard disasters in India is approximately $9.8 billion per year, according to a Home Ministry note. A Home Ministry official said the Central government has not appointed any agency to estimate economic losses from disasters. The damage and losses due to natural disasters are assessed by the state governments concerned, as they are primarily responsible for management of natural disasters. As per the vulnerability Atlas of India published by Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation), India is vulnerable to various types of disasters like 58.6 % of its land is prone to earthquake, 8.5% is vulnerable to cyclone and 5 per cent vulnerable to flood, the Home Ministry's note said. CBDT forms data security panel before FATCA deal with US The CBDT has constituted a high- level committee to secure confidential tax data, obtained under mutual exchange with US authorities, as part of India's compliance measures for signing the much awaited Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The seven-member panel will be headed by the Member (Income Tax) of the Central Board of Direct Taxes who is a Special Secretary-rank in the Finance Ministry. "The panel, called Information Security Committee (ISC), is part of necessary compliance norms required to be in place mandatorily before India signs the FATCA in a full-fledged manner with the US," a senior official told. "The ambitious agreement between the two countries is very important and the most important tool to combat black money cases," he said. Under FATCA, US government has Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) for sharing of information with various countries where American individuals and companies have accounts and other assets. Under the pact, the exchange of information between the countries will be subject to a confidentiality clause. Also, overseas financial institutions need to provide details about accounts held by Americans or foreign entities where the US taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest, as also about all major transactions. If a financial institution does not comply to FATCA, it would have to pay 30 per cent penalty tax on all its US revenues, including dividend, interest, fees and sales. The committee, according to the Terms of Reference (ToR) issued by the CBDT, will "ratify information, security policies and procedures" with regard to the dealing of a tax case in the I-T department and CBDT. "Once information is shared under FATCA about an entity, its confidentiality is the most important virtue as the data obtained under exchange will travel under different verticals in the board and the department. The Committee, will hence ensure that accountability and responsibilities are fixed at each stage of a case under exchange or probe and see that no breach occurs while handling of this secret data," sources said.
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CBDT, the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department, by way of ISC has also brought together all its business and e-data heads on one platform for seamless and sabotage-proof information ranging from the PAN database to the Income Tax Returns of an entity whose case is exchanged under FATCA. The ISC will also have a Chief Information Security Officer (CSIO) whose main role will be to "ensure that responsibilities are defined for and that procedures are in effect to promptly detect, investigate, report and resolve security incidents" among other tasks related to coordination of the panel. India will both obtain and provide information in case of tax matters under this agreement with the US. Government Clears 19 FDIs Worth Rs 2,165 crore The government approved 19 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals involving an amount of Rs 2,165.04 crore. The proposals approved include those of Bharti Axa Life Insurance Company Ltd and Bharti Axa General Insurance Company Ltd involving foreign investment of Rs 858.60 crore and Rs 431.40 crore respectively. Together, AXA’s FDI in Bharti group will be worth Rs 1,290 crore. In the case of Bharti Axa Life Insurance Company Ltd, the government clearance is for Axa India Holdings to acquire 26.78 per cent stake (of this life insurer) from Bharti Insurance Holdings Private Ltd. In the case of Bharti Axa General Insurance Company, the government approval is for SocieteBeaujon to acquire 26.78 per cent stake (of the private general insurer) from Bharti Insurance Holdings Private Ltd. These are the first FDI proposals cleared after the passage of the Insurance Bill in March that allowed raising of foreign investment cap from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. Based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting , the Central government has approved 19 FDI proposals amounting to Rs 2,165.04 crore approximately, a Finance Ministry statement said. The other foreign investment proposals that have received government approval include those of Mylan Laboratories Rs 128.77 crore, Par Formulations Rs 124 crore, Touchstone Trust Rs 29 crore, Augure Wireless Broadband Rs 9 crore, Curatio Healthcare India Rs 93.43 crore, RLG Retail Rs 31 crore and FCC Clutch India Rs 444.50 crore. Demystifying India's poverty line: Here's everything you need to know The poverty line defines a threshold income. Households earning below this threshold are considered poor. India’s official poverty line — a vital economic statistic — has always been a widely debated issue. What is a poverty line? The poverty line defines a threshold income. Households earning below this threshold are considered poor. Different countries have different methods of defining the threshold income depending on local socio-economic needs. Who brings out the poverty estimates in India? The erstwhile Planning Commission used to release the poverty measures. How is it measured? Poverty is measured based on consumer expenditure surveys of the National Sample Survey Organisation. A poor household is defined as one with an expenditure level below a specific poverty line. What’s the Indian poverty line? Earlier, India used to define the poverty line based on a method defined by a task force in 1979. It was based on expenditure for buying food worth 2,400 calories in rural areas, and 2,100 calories in urban areas. In 2011, the Suresh Tendulkar Committee defined the poverty line on the basis of monthly spending on food, education, health, electricity and transport. According to this estimate, a person who spends Rs. 27.2 in rural areas and Rs. 33.3 in urban areas a day are defined as living below the poverty line. For a family of five that spends less than Rs. 4,080 and Rs. 5,000 in rural and urban areas respectively is considered below the poverty line. This has been criticised for fixing the poverty line too low. According to a committee headed by former Reserve Bank governor C Rangarajan, there were 363 million people, or 29.5% of India’s 1.2 billion people, who lived in poverty in 2011-12. The Rangarajan panel considered people living on less than Rs. 32 a day in rural areas and Rs. 47 a day in urban areas as poor. Why has there been so much criticism about the poverty line in India? According to critics, the government has deliberately kept poverty line low. A low poverty line has enabled the government to show that millions have moved out of poverty. This, critics say, is factually incorrect as the definition of poverty line is disputed. They also say that the data lacks statistical rigour and has been released to gain political mileage. How do other countries define the poverty line? Economists set a poverty line to fix a threshold income in order to get a headcount of poor people in a country. Households earning below the threshold, or the poverty line, are considered poor. Different countries have different methods of defining the threshold income depending on local socio-economic needs. How is poverty measured in Europe? In most of Europe, a family with a net income of less than 60% of the “median net disposable income” — a broad measure of the national average income net of taxes — is counted as poor. This would imply that a family in the United Kingdom would be poor if its current net income is less than £250 (about Rs. 22,500) a week. A poverty line “relative” to the national average also gives an idea about the state of inequality. A sharp jump in the income of the richest will set the poverty line higher by pulling up the national average income. This could make the poor appear even poorer though their incomes may have risen.
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How is it measured in the US? The US uses a much simpler method. The poverty line represents the basic cost of food for a family multiplied by three. The threshold level is adjusted for inflation every year. A family is counted as poor if its pre-tax income is below this threshold. In 2011 — the latest year for which data is available — the poverty threshold for a family of four stood at $22,811 (about Rs. 11 lakh then). There were 46 million such poor families accounting for 15% of the US population. Counting the poor, however, isn’t as organised in developing countries such as India, partly because of a bustling cash economy that makes it difficult to capture income data. Instead, policymakers rely on data on family spending on essentials such as food, health and basic utilities such as electricity. Economists point out that in least developed and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, consumption expenditure serves as a reliable proxy of income, assuming the poorest of the poor people spend their entire earnings on survival. How does the Indian poverty scenario compare with the African countries? A comparison shows that India poverty line is abysmally low. For instance, South Africa had three poverty lines — food, middle and upper — and all three were higher than that of India. The food poverty line in Indian rupees was Rs. 1,841 per capita per month in 2010, middle poverty line was at Rs. 2,445 and upper poverty line was at Rs. 3,484. Per capita poverty line of a rural adult Rwandian in Indian terms comes out to be Rs. 892 per month, slightly more than Rs. 816 for a person in rural India. One should not forget that prices of food items in Rwanda are less than in India.
SCIENCE AND TECH Russia loses control of spacecraft Russia said that it had lost control of an unmanned spacecraft taking supplies to the International Space Station and it is plunging back to Earth but is likely to burn up in the atmosphere. The loss of the Progress supply ship, a Soviet design known for its reliability, is the latest embarrassment for Russia’s space programme that has been recently hit by a series of mishaps. “Most likely it is some sort of unforeseen situation related to the separation of the ship from the carrier,” Alexander Ivanov, deputy chief of the Roscosmos state agency, told reporters. NASA said none of the equipment on board was critical for the U.S. section of the ISS, and that the astronauts have plenty of provisions, enough to last for months. Unmasking the Secrets of Mercury The Mercury Atmosphere and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument aboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft was designed to study both the exosphere and surface of the planet Mercury. To learn more about the minerals and surface processes on Mercury, the Visual and Infrared Spectrometer (VIRS) portion of MASCS has been diligently collecting single tracks of spectral surface measurements since MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit on March 17, 2011. The track coverage is now extensive enough that the spectral properties of both broad terrains and small, distinct features such as pyroclastic vents and fresh craters can be studied. To accentuate the geological context of the spectral measurements, the MASCS data have been overlain on th e monochrome mosiac from the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), an instrument with wide- and narrow-angle cameras to map the rugged landforms and spectral variations on Mercury’s surface. Click on the image to explore the colorful diversity of surface materials in more detail! The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the solar system's innermost planet. In the mission's more than four years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER's highly successful orbital mission is about to come to an end, as the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surface of Mercury near the end of April 2015. Tracking Ebola virus genomes with ultra-small device When poor countries, with limited infrastructure, experience disease outbreaks – as happened with Ebola in West Africa – a device about the size of a small chocolate bar could offer a way to sequence the genomes of viruses and other pathogens right in those countries. The device, MinION, has been developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a U.K. based company, and utilises a proprietary method for doing the sequencing. During a talk at the Molecular Virology Meeting that took place in Thiruvananthapuram recently, Thomas Hoenen, a postdoctoral researcher with the Laboratory of Virology at NIAD, in the U.S., gave a quick glimpse of using the device to sequence Ebola virus genomes in Liberia, one of the West African countries badly hit by the current outbreak. Such genome sequence information was “very important” for a number of reasons, he pointed out. Molecu lar diagnostic techniques used nowadays relied on detecting telltale genetic signatures of the virus. So it was necessary to check whether those genetic markers continued to hold good. Moreover, some Ebola therapeutics currently being tested were aimed at counteracting specific viral genes.
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Besides, getting the viral genome sequences “teaches us a lot of virus evolution during this outbreak, which is really unprecedented in its length,” he said. However, there were only limited genome sequences available from the current Ebola outbreak. A major reason for this was that it was “extremely politically and logistically challenging” to bring patient samples out of the affected countries to laboratories where the virus could be sequenced. MinION is “an incredibly small device” and also very simple to use. The device, along with all the chemicals and materials needed for it, “can easily be brought into a country by a single person just using checked luggage on a commercial airplane,” he said. Earlier this year, he took the MinION, along with its necessary paraphernalia, to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. “I then spent about two and a half week testing this technology,” sequencing viruses found in 15 samples taken from patients. A key motivation for field testing MinION was to have a technology that can be very rapidly taken into countries affected by future disease outbreaks, Dr. Hoenen later told. Messenger crashes into Mercury NASA’s Messenger spacecraft has crashed into the surface of Mercury, ending its historic 11-year mission that provided valuable data and thousands of images of the planet. Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland confirmed that the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (Messenger) spacecraft impacted the surface of Mercury, as predicted. Messenger, launched on August 3, 2004, began orbiting Mercury on March 18, 2011. The spacecraft completed its primary science objectives by March 2012. Last month — during a final short extension of the mission referred to as XM2 — the team embarked on a hover campaign that allowed the spacecraft at its closest approach to operate within a narrow band of 5 -35 kilometres above the planet’s surface. With no way to increase its altitude, Messenger was unable to resist the perturbations to its orbit by the sun’s gravitational pull and slammed into Mercury’s surface at around 14,000 kmph, creating a crater up to 52 feet wide. Centre’s nod for India’s associate membership in CERN The Centre has approved the long-standing demand of Indian scientists that the country be an associate member of CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), a senior official of the Ministry of Science and Technology said. Currently, India has observer status in CERN, which has 21 member states. CERN is the world’s biggest laboratory of particle physics and operates the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).“The Centre has approved India’s associate membership of CERN. The approval came in late March. But it will take a year for the formalities to be completed,” the official said on condition of anonymity on the sidelines of a programme at the Bose Institute. In February, the Director-General of CERN, Rolf Dieter Heuer, said India was in the last iteration of applying for CERN’s associate membership. An associate member of CERN is represented in the council, which is responsible for the crucial decisions of the organisation. Army gets Akash missile The Army inducted the first regiment of the indigenously-developed Akash surface-to-air missile system, capable of targeting a multitude of aerial threats up to a range of 25 km. Akash has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and is being built by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). It was originally planned as part of the five missiles under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme initiated in 1984. “The capability that we have with this system will ensure that it takes care of the vulnerability of our asse ts. Akash is a step towards self-realisation of indigenisation,” Army chief General Dalbir Singh said during a formal dedication ceremony. An Air Force variant of Akash has already been inducted. The Akash system can simultaneously engage multiple targets in all weather conditions and has a large operational envelope from a low altitude of 30 metres to a maximum of up to 20 km and can also engage Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in addition to helicopters and fighter planes. At 96 per cent indigenisation, it represents a major capability development for a crucial weapon system. “Unlike the Air Force version, the Army variant of Akash is designed for high mobility and can be quickly moved to any operational theatres based on necessity,” V. Udaya Bhaskar, Chairman and Managing Director of BDL, told. Liver institute becomes WHO partner The government – run Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) became the first global WHO Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) on liver diseases and the second centre after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in USA on Viral Hepatitis. Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the government will soon set up four more ILBS centres in the city.
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ENVIRONMENT 100 yrs on, Wegener plates move and kill The devastating earthquake in Nepal marked the centenary of Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift or plate tectonics, which explains seismic activity in the Himalayas. India impinges upon Asia at the rate of 2 cm per year, buckling the seabed of the ancient Tethys Ocean which stood between and throwing up the Himalayas. The velocity may be infinitesimal but it’s a whole subcontinent on the move, generating titanic forces. In his rather short lifetime (1880-1930), Wegener was appreciated for his work at the confluence of meteorology, climatology and polar research. But science remembers Wegener for an intuitive insight — he noted that the continents fit with each other like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. India from the Malabar coast up to Gujarat could comfortably nestle up against the western shores of Africa, with the island of Madagascar sandwiched in between. And the western seaboard of Africa, from the Cape to the Bight of Benin, is like a mirror image of the eastern coast of South America. The match suggests that aeons ago, the continents were joined at the hip. In his 1915 work, Wegener proposed the existence of a gigantic Urkontinent (Hellenised in the literature as Pangaea), a supercontinent whose plates disarticulated and drifted apart in the world ocean to produce the present continents. And then they barged into each other, creating volcanic and seismic activity — and mountains like the Himalayas. Initially, continental drift was severely contested. Tectonic plates were mapped after his lifetime, establishing the validity of his theory. India to be 2nd biggest carbon emitter by 2030. India’s per capita carbon emissions in 2030 will be less than the global average in 2011 even though the emerging economy will be second biggest emitter of green houses gases, said a new study released by Centre for Policy Research (CPR). A comparative review of seven recent studies focused on India said that the country’s per capita green house emissions would be between 2.8-3.6 gegatonnes (Gt) by 2030- which would be less than the global per capital average 4.6 Gt in 2011. Currently, India’s per capita emissions is1.9 Gt but in the next decade, India will be the second biggest carbon dioxide emitter, surpassing the United States, which is second largest contributor to global warming after China. The study also said that the biggest contributors to India’s increase in green house gases would be the industry and the transport sector, which is of now are being blamed for high air pollution in Indian cities. Emissions from industry are expected to grow by 7.5% and from the transport sector by 7.4% . However, the share of emissions from buildings will fall by 2030, the study said. The study also said that by 2030 the share of coal in electricity output would range from 56% - 90% as compared to 70% in 2012. Radhika Khosla from CPR said India would achieve its emission intensity target 20-25% of the 2005 level by 2020 and would further reduce emission intensity by 40-45% by 2030. India in 2010 had committed to reduce its emission intensity of its GDP by 20-25%. The reference studies have projected India GHG emission tarjectory on the GDP growth assumption between 7% and 8.5% per annum. These were analyzed to ascertain what could be India’s economy – wise intended domestically determined contribution (INDC) to reduce carbon emissions under the United Nations climate framework. India is expected to submit its INDCs by October before the Paris climate summit in December 2015. Govt inks pact to ease fund flow for green projects In keeping with the Centre’s ambition of setting up 175 gigawatt (GW) green energy in the country by 2022, the government’s renewable energy financing arm has inked a pact to provide easy funds for such projects. The agreement between the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will help standardise the steps that lenders take when co-financing projects with IFC, and create a mechanism for short – time finances, an IREDA statement said,”. The partnership will help IREDA increases its portfolio in financing renewable energy projects, “said KS Poplo, chairman and MD of IREDA. IFC, a World Bank group, helps fund projects in developing countries. Virtual Harappans to come alive Marriage of genetic and software tech to project their likeness Using the DNA to be extracted from the four full-sized skeletons excavated from a Harappan site at Rakhigarhi in Haryana and a novel software developed in South Korea, archaeologists of the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune, are confident of projecting, in a few months, how the Harappans looked like 4,500 years ago — their build, the colour of their skin or hair, their facial features and so on. In a joint excavation, archaeologists of the Deccan College, a deemed university, and Haryana’s Department of Archaeology excavated the skeletons in March. They belonged to the Mature Harappan period (2600 BCE-1900 BCE). The skeletons were those of two men, one woman and a child. The tests will be done by the college staff and forensic scientists of Seoul National University, South Korea.
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Rakhigarhi is a big Harappan site, 25 km from Jind in Hisar district. Twenty-one trenches, besides four burial pits, were dug during the excavation that began on January 23 and lasted till April-end. Dr. Shinde, who is a specialist in Harappan civilisation and has excavated Harappan sites at Farmana, Girawad and Mitathal, all in Haryana, said the chemical tests would be done on the bones to find out what kind of health the Harappans enjoyed, the diet they had and the causes of their death. The four burial pits with the skeletons had a variety of ritual pottery. The 21 trenches yielded typical Harappan painted pottery, including goblets, terracotta figurines of wild boar and dogs, and furnaces and hearths that provided evidence of a bangle- and bead-making industry. India home to 48 species of bumblebees India is home to 48 of the 250 known species of bumblebees, the only pollinators of vegetation in high -altitude regions. This has been revealed in a recent publication Indian Bumblebees written by entomologist M.S. Saini and co-authors Rifat H. Raina and Harpeet Singh Ghator. Mostly characterised by black, yellow and reddish body hair, and often striped, bumblebees are generally found on altitudes of 2,000-15,000 feet along the entire Himalayas, from Jammu & Kashmir to Nagaland. Crucial role Bumblebees are important to the ecosystem, as without them seed setting and fruiting will not take place in many plants. They pollinate vegetables, fruit trees, cash crops and even ornamental and medicinal plants high in the Himalayas. Social insects Like the honeybees, bumblebees are social insects and live in colonies — the size of which depends on the species. “The founder of the colony is the queen that hibernates throughout winter.
PLACES IN NEWS Buenos Aires is world’s bookstore capital All across Argentina’s capital, lodged between the steakhouses, ice cream shops and pizzerias, is an abundance of something that is becoming scarce in many nations: bookstores. The city has more bookstores per capita than any other major city in the world, according to a recent study by the World Cities Cultural Forum, an organization that works to promote culture. With a population of 2.8 million people within the city limits, there are 25 bookstores for every 100,000 people, putting Buenos Aires far above other world cities like London, Paris, Madrid, Moscow and New York. The closest is Hong Kong, which has 22 bookstores per 100,000 people. PERSONS IN NEWS R&B Legend and 'Stand By Me' Singer Ben E. King Dies Legendary R&B and soul singer Ben E. King passed away, his publicist confirmed to the Telegraph. His publicist says the singer -- best known for his 1961 hit "Stand By Me" -- died of natural causes. King first started his career as a member of The Drifters, co-writing and singing on classics like "There Goes My Baby," "Save the Last Dance for Me" and "That Magic Moment." He went solo in 1960, with successful hits, like "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand By Me." "Stand by Me" was eventually voted as one of the "Songs of the Century" by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and was ranked 122nd on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. It's been covered multiples times, and was even sampled in Sean Kingston's 2007 hit "Beautiful Girls." Crime and mystery writer Ruth Rendell dies at 85 Prolific crime and mystery writer Ruth Rendell, perhaps best known for her Chief Inspector Wexford novels, died . She was one of Britain’s most popular crime novelists and authored dozens of books, including many written under the pen name Barbara Vine. Rendell was a member of the House of Lords who had received wide recognition and many awards throughout her long career. Her Inspector Wexford series was made into a popular TV series, winning her many new fans and accolades. She began her literary efforts by writing some “very bad” novels that were never published, she told The Associated Press in a 2005 interview. Once she found her way, Rendell produced novels at an astonishing pace more than 60 books over four decades, including 20 featuring Chief Inspector Wexford. Rendell lived in recent years in the scenic Little Venice neighbourhood of London, which is known for its canals and colourful houseboats, but the pleasant surroundings did not alter her hard-eyed view of human nature. Her official title was Baroness Rendell of Babergh. Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Michael Blake Dies at 69 Michael Blake, who won an Oscar for writing the script of Dances with Wolves died at the age of 69, his manager and production partner Daniel Ostroff confirmed, reports. Mr Blake wrote the novel Dances with Wolves in 1988, before it was turned into an Oscar-winning feature film. The book went on to sell more than 3.5 million copies and was translated into 15 languages.
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Mr Blake most recently wrote a screenplay based on German novel Winnetou for Constantin Films in 2011.
AWARDS Japan Government's Highest Civilian Award to Professor C.N.R. Rao: Highest Civilian Award of Japan, that is conferred on academicians, politicians and military officers - the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, will be conferred on Professor C.N.R. Rao for his 'contribution to promoting academic interchange and mutual understanding in science and technology between Japan and India'. He had been bestowed with about 70 honorary doctorates and had received the highest civilian award of India, Bharat Ratna. Professor C.N.R. Rao is a National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru , an autonomous institution supported by the Ministry of Science & technology, Government of India. Professor Rao had made substantial contributions to the development of Science in India and the Third World. President presents national film awards President Pranab Mukherjee presented the 62nd National Film Awards at a glittering ceremony studded with talent representing the diversity of the Indian film industry,to the winners including the best feature film to debut director Chaitanya Tamhane and best actress to Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut for her role in Queen . Shashi Kapoor, honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award this year. It also saw performances by 62nd National Film Award winners — Sukhwinder Singh, who won the best male playback singer award for the song ‘Bismil’ from Haider , and Uttara Unnikrishanan, who bagged the Best Playback Female Singer for the song ‘Azhagu’ from Tamil movie Saivam . The President and the Minister, while praising the film industry for its evolved content over the century, called it an integral part of India’s “soft power” internationally. His contribution to cinema has been tremendous. He is a true living legend. He began his career as a child artist in the films ‘Aag’ and ‘Awara’, and then we saw him as a flamboyant hero in many blockbuster films.” Kangana Ranaut received the best actress honour from the President. The Best Actor award was p icked up by Vijay for his “subtle and non-stereotypical playing of a woman trapped in a man’s body”, in Kannada film Nanu Avanalla Avalu. Kangana, 28, won her career’s second National award in the Vikas Bahl’s coming-of-age drama. The actress said movie sets were her film school. She received Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000. ACJ institutes investigative reporting award To recognise exemplary efforts in the field of investigative reporting, the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) has instituted the ‘ACJ Investigative Journalism Award’ from 2015. The award will be given to the best investigative work in two categories: ‘Print and Online’ and ‘TV and Radio,’ Sashi Kumar, Chairman, Asian College of Journalism, announced at the Convocation of the 2015 batch. “The best work in each category will receive prize money of Rs. 2 lakh, and the first awards will be handed over during the next convocation on May 3, 2016, which is also World Press Freedom Day,” Mr. Sashi Kumar said. Unesco award for jailed Syria activist The U.N.’s cultural body will award its annual press freedom prize to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist and rights activist who has been jailed by the regime for more than three years. Mr. Darwish was arrested on February 16, 2012 along with Hani Zaitani and Hussein Ghreir, his colleagues at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression. They are accused of “promoting terrorist acts.” ‘Personal sacrifice’ At a ceremony in Latvia to mark World Press Freedom Day, Unesco was to award its prize to Darwish “in recognition of the work that he has carried out in Syria for more than ten years at great personal sacrifice, enduring a travel ban, harassment, as well as repeated detention and torture.” SPORTS African-American golf pioneer Peete dies at 71 Calvin Peete, the most successful African-American professional golfer on the PGA Tour prior to Tiger Woods, has died at 71 in Atlanta, the PGA Tour said. The straight-hitting Peete, who overcame physical hardship as a youngster and took up golf at the advanced age of 24, won 12 PGA Tour events, 11 of them claimed between 1982 and 1986. He was the fourth African-American to win on the PGA Tour, joining Pete Brown, Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder. "Calvin was an inspiration to so many people," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. "He started in the game relatively late in life but quickly became one of the tour's best players. Peete was a member of U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 1983 and 1985, compiling a 4-2-1 record, won the Vardon Trophy for lowest stroke average in 1984, and in 1985 added the The Players Championship to his wins list. World Women Chess: Harika wins silver, bronze for Humpy D Harika and Koneru Humpy came up with fine individual performances to win silver and a bronze, resp ectively, even as the Indian eves finished fourth in the women’s world team chess championship in Chengdu,China .
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Harika’s silver and Humpy’s bronze though were a big consolation for the team, overall it was a disappointing show by the Indian girls given the missed opportunities. Considering that the Indian team entered the tournament as a wild card, a fourth-place finish can be justified as a pretty decent show. However, the medal was within the grasp as the team finished just one point shy of China, which bagged the bronze. China was beaten in the final round by Georgia, who finished the event with an impressive 17 points to clinch the gold medal. Georgia drew just one and won the remaining eight matches in this round-robin contest. In the final game, Harika made mincemeat of Lilit Galojan, who played black. Humpy was as usual clinical but a bit unlucky not to pluck the silver as she ran out of time in a balanced middle game. Results final round: Indian (10) beat Armenia (8) 3-1 (Lilit Mkrtchina beat Koneru Humpy; D Harika beat Lilit Galojan; Maria Kursova lost to Padmini Rout; Soumya Swaminathan beat Susanna Gaboyan); China (11) lost to Georgia (17) 1.52.5; Kazakhstan (9) drew with Poland (6) 2-2; Russian (15) beat USA (5) 3.5-0.5; Ukraine (10) beat Egypt (0) 3.5-0.5. ITTF becomes world's largest sports body The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has become the world's largest sports body in terms of membership. At the Annual General Meeting, the ITTF formally decided to give membership to Sao Tome and Principe and South Sudan. With the formal acceptance of these two countries the number of national associations affiliated with ITTF grew to 222. As per available records, this is the highest membership commanded by an international sports association. FIVB, with 220 members, is the second largest sports body. "As the President I am very proud that the ITTF has achieved the number one status in terms of membership, as our goal is not just to be among the top five sports overall but also in each area. This is then another milestone on the path to achieve this goal." said a delighted ITTF president Thomas Weikert. Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Bahamas are the four countries with National Olympic Committees who do not have national table tennis associations. ITTF is currently in contact with the NOC of these countries. Ding regains world title Top- seeded Ding Ning of China battled back from an injury scare to regain her world table tennis championship title by beating second seeded compatriot Liu Shiwen 711, 15- 13, 11- 7, 11- 9, 9- 11, 4- 11, 11- 8 in a dramatic women’s singles final. Trailing 2- 0 in the deciding seventh game Ding, the 2011 world champion, fell awkwardly turning her ankle but gallantly limped on and recovered sufficiently to secure a brave win before being rushed to hospital. Ding, who beat 2013 champion Li Xiaoxia in the semifinal, became China’s 11th straight women’s single world champion. Bindra, Chain Singh win double gold medals India's top rifle shooters, including Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, warmed up in style for the upcoming World Cup in Fort Benning, USA, by returning a rich haul of three gold and two bronze medals at the International Shooting Competition of Hannover. The tournament, held at the National Shooting Center in the German city, featured more than 1000 shooters from around the world. Beijing Games gold medallist Bindra won both the individual and team gold in his pet 10m air rifle event, while upcoming talent Chain Singh added the 50m men's rifle prone yellow metal to his 10m air rifle team gold, which he won alongside Bindra and London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang. Narang also won the bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event. Rising rifle shooter, Apurvi Chandela, who recently helped India bag an Olympic quota place in Korea, too won a bronze medal in women's air rifle event. Paddler Sharath Kamal jumps 12 places to career-high 32 in world rankings India's top table tennis player Sharath Kamal has jumped 12 places to reach a career-high 32 in the latest ITTF rankings and joining him in the top-100 for the first time is young compatriot Soumyajit Ghosh, who has moved up to 95. Sharath's steep rise in the world rankings comes at the back of an impressive sixth place finish at Asian Cup in Jaipur where he beat three top-20 players. Ghosh, on the other hand, has moved up nine places from No.105. He had reached the second round of the worlds in China. It is rare for two Indians to figure in the top-100 in a sport dominated by players from China, Japan, South Korea and Germany. OPINION MGNREGS as insurance With unseasonal rain laying waste vast areas under the rabi crop in north India earlier this year and the threat of a deficient monsoon looming, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme could act as a real salve for distressed farm workers and labourers.
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The World Bank’s brief statement on the scheme to this effect, as part of its latest India Development Update, concurs with recent empirical research that has revealed that the MGNREGS has acted as an effective substitute in the absence of crop and weather insurance to poor farm households in some States lately. The National Democratic Alliance government would do well to heed this timely suggestion from the World Bank, which has released a volume on the scheme based on research done in 2009 and 2010. The Bank goes on to say that the MGNREGS can be a better-targeted scheme than even a cash transfer programme. Yet, reports reveal that there is much unmet demand for labour provided under the MGNREGS over the past year, due to poor implementation by some State governments and a general apathy shown by the NDA regime since last year. This is evident in the reduced outlays for the scheme (as acknowledged by the Finance Minister, yet addressed only with a promise of additional budgetary support subject to the availability of revenues), and delays in transfer of monies to State governments which has led to tardy wage payments. All this has resulted in an unresponsive set of conditions that has not encouraged demand for labour provided under the scheme. The government’s effort to identify the poorer districts for higher allocations has only seemed to curtail demand in the other districts, which number much higher. The MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme, but the fact that it requires adequate conditions for its effective implementation is self-evident. The laxity in the implementation of the scheme over the past year has meant a reduction in the number of workdays as compared to previous years. There are certainly a number of improvements that are required to be made. These include better and more productive asset-creation through work done, improved administrative management, provision of information to and sensitisation of the public as the World Bank also points out, and checking leakages. But the fact that the MGNREGS has provided succour to India’s poorest sections in rural areas is something that has been acknowledged and acclaimed, as the World Bank statement also shows. Considering that the benefits of the scheme outweigh the drawbacks, it would be an act of poverty if the government does not utilise the MGNREGS to bring relief during a time of significant agrarian distress in a number of States. India’s urban challenges The Union Cabinet’s nod to the 100 smart cities project and a new urban renewal mission is an im portant first step toward dealing with an old problem that has only got progressively worse over the years: urban liveability. A shade less than a third of India’s population now lives in urban areas, overcrowded cities and towns with infrastructure bursting at the seams. This problem will only worsen with little or no intervention happening. Cities are engines of growth, and as a result attract a lot of people. The country’s urban population contributes over 60 per cent of India’s GDP; in 15 years this will be 70 per cent. On the other hand, there is little incentive for people to migrate out of cities. Earlier attempts at providing better urban infrastructure or at creating new townships have not been able to deal with the issue of liveability satisfactorily. Even successful special economic zones have had to contend with the issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually means access to avenues of education, health, arts, sports, and so on. There are numerous definitions of a smart city but the government’s idea of one usefully encompasses institutional infrastructure (governance), physical infrastructure, as also social infrastructure. Countries such as Japan, Singapore and Germany, among many others, have evinced interest to be a part of this. Yet, in its scale and complexity the project will be second to none. The official estimates of per capita investment requirement is Rs.43,386 for a 20-year period, or a total investment of Rs.7 lakh crore. Creating a smart city isn’t just about creating the physical infrastructure — roads, clean water, power, transport and so on, things India finds difficult to deliver to its citizens nearly seven decades after Independence. It is hoped that public private partnerships (PPP) will deliver but the mechanism seems to need a lot of tweaking in order for it to work, a fact acknowledged in the recent Budget. The big challenge will be to create self-sustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources wisely and also train people. This also means more autonomy for these cities. Foreign Hand Again In quick succession, the government has painted itself into two embarrassing corners. By putting the Ford Foundation on a prior permission watchlist in the interest of national security, it is inviting international ridicule. Earlier, it had amused the international community by imposing travel restrictions on a Greenpeace activist, an approach to managing dissent that fell from grace with the close of the Middle Ages, and which must reliably fail in the age of pervasive communications. In pursuit of its stated aim of building capacities and institutions, the Ford Foundation provides financial support for research programmes in at least 10 institutes of national importance, including an IIT, an IIM, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. In addition, its earliest interventions in India included the development of physical infrastructure like Kennedy Hall at the Aligarh Muslim University. To suggest that the foundation’s interests are spurious or disreputable brings all these institutions — and senior staffers handling funds — into similar disrepute. And since the Indian government has
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frequently contributed to these projects or founded the organisations in which they run, the interests of government officials who okayed the Ford Foundation’s financial support begins to look suspect, too. This is a tricky corner for a government to be in. If a government which seeks to engage with the world and prepare India for a global role conducts itself in a seemingly xenophobic manner, the dissonance can be striking indeed. A government whose first instinct is to stifle dissent instead of persuading the dissenter is sadly anachronistic, and a handicap for a nation in search of a larger international role. Equally out of time is the convention barring non -profit organisations from indulging in or promoting “political” activities. The idea of what constitutes politics has been expanded sharply by 20th century reform movements like feminism. Today, the personal is the political. A political dimension may be read into almost every act, and these acts are performed in a world that is essentially borderless. In this globalised milieu, to insist that non-profits must be unwaveringly non-political is unrealistic, and anxieties about the “foreign hand” are symptomatic of medieval paranoias that last reared their head prominently in Indira Gandhi’s regime. But it is not just the Modi government. Its predecessor too was deeply disconcerted by non-governmental activity. This trend is dangerous and can end up isolating India in an increasingly open world. Local politics in foreign policy When it comes to foreign policy, India is one whole, not the sum of its parts. Which is why the government’s plans to introduce a Constitutional amendment in Parliament in order to operationalise the India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement (LBA) for the three States of West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura, but not for Assam, is an unwholesome precedent. Simply put, of all the 162 enclaves and 5,044 acres of land in ‘adverse possession’ that have been carefully analysed and agreed to for the land swap on both sides of the border, the 268 acres that Assam is due to hand over will not be included. The reasoning for this exclusion seems to be political: ahead of the Assam Assembly elections this year, the ruling BJP doesn’t wish to be seen “giving away” land to the neighbour, Bangladesh. Equally political is the reaction of the Opposition Congress party, that rules the State of Assam, which now opposes the government move simply because it doesn’t want to give it a political advantage ahead of elections. Both have over the past decade allowed these short-sighted calculations to turn an important bilateral agreement into a game of political football. Even though former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had, after several delays, signed the protocol for the LBA in 2011, the UPA government never made it enough of a priority to clear it through both Houses of Parliament during its tenure. Now, the NDA government, that had promised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that the bill would be tabled in the winter session, plans to introduce it at the fag end of the budget session, and that too in truncated form. Each of these delays don’t just put off an agreement to resolve a crucial issue between India and Bangladesh, they chip away at India’s credibility in the neighbourhood. Four decades later, India seems no closer to completing an agreement that had been all but signed and sealed, and even ratified by Bangladesh in 1974. And it is no closer to putting the roughly 51,000 people living in these ar eas out of their uncertainty and misery. What seems to be even more troubling is the Bangladesh government’s claim, as spelt out in an interview by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to The Hindu in Dhaka that it was yet to be formally notified abou t the revised plan for the bill. If the NDA government is indeed serious about its neighbourhood policy, such a lapse of communication is unhealthy, as its handling of this issue will be a key indicator to all neighbours about how India will attempt to resolve issues with them in the next few years. The government and the Opposition must put their political differences aside to build bipartisan support for the original agreement they have both at various points acceded to. Bilateral accords are built on the principle that the government of India speaks for all States and all parties within the country. Delhi’s turn India must keep its word to Bangladesh and push through the Land Boundary Agreement. More than three and a half years after India and Bangladesh signed the protocol for the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka in September 2011, the Union cabinet has cleared the constitution amendment bill that would allow Parliament and the states to ratify the LBA. Once it is operationalised during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, expected next month, the LBA will enable the exchange of Indian and Bangladeshi enclaves in each other’s territory as well as “adverse possessions”. The bill, likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha this week, is consequential for several reasons. A humanitarian solution to the plight of the practically stateless people trapped in the enclaves has been due since Partition. While nationalistic posturing would readily tag these people as Indian or Bangladeshi, the fact remains that neither country can reach “its people” in the enclosed spaces, depriving them, thereby, of the benefits that flow from citizenship, be it in terms of basic documentation, school education or access to healthcare. But the LBA is, above all, a primary instrument of consolidating India’s ties with Bangladesh that have experienced a turnaround after Sheikh
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Hasina took office as prime minister in Dhaka and chose to deepen security and economic cooperation with Ne w Delhi. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is still waiting for India to deliver on both the LBA and the Teesta water pact — held up till now for many reasons, including the intransigent stand taken by the Trinamool Congress, and the BJP’s internal divisions. Delhi now has the opportunity again to match its words with deeds. For the NDA government, this moment calls for a demonstration of pragmatism and responsibility, in contrast to the BJP’s obduracy in opposition, when it refused to back both the LBA and Teesta deal. The challenge for the government, however, remains in how it puts its own house in order. By all accounts, it had, under pressure from the BJP’s Assam unit, decided to de-link Assam from the bill, which includes territories in West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya. But faced with criticism from the Opposition as well as Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, it now appears to have included enclaves in Assam within its ambit — as laid out in the 2011 protocol to the 1974 bilateral agreement. Modi himself had argued late last year that the re-drawing of the border would benefit Assam. In fact, even given the BJP’s traditional tendency to look at the problem only through the lens of security and immigration, opposing a rationalisation of the border makes no sense. While an earlier bill has been pending in Parliament since December 2013, the Modi government has done well to indicate its willingness to bring all parties, including and especially the TMC, on board.
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WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS (7TH -13TH MAY) INTERNATIONAL NEWS Nepal’s Rastrapati Bhawan declared unsafe for use Nepal’s Rastrapati Bhawan, a British-era structure, has been declared unsafe for use by a technical team after the building developed cracks due to the devastating temblor. The rear part of the presidential building, popularly known as ‘Sheetal Niwas’, has been declared unsafe for use by technicians from the Department of Urban Development and Building, according to an official. The engineers’ teams classify the houses in three categories — the house with a red mark is not suitable for stay, with yellow mark needs maintenance and those marked with green colour are appropriate for living. President Ram Baran Yadav has moved to a safer place following the incident. He had stayed in makeshift tents for six days after cracks appeared on the residence due to the temblor. Built by Rana Prime minister Chandra Shamsher for his son Krishna Shamsher in 1923, it was handed over by Krishna Shamsher Rana, a Rana aristocrat, to the Government of Nepal in 1961. The government decided to make it the presidential residence in 2008. Saudi Arabia proposes ceasefire in Yemen Saudi Arabia proposed a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen to allow aid deliveries, and the United States called on Iran-backed Huthi rebels to accept the offer. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose country is leading a coalition conducting air strikes on the Yemen rebels, announced the proposal after talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Mr. Jubeir said he had informed his American counterpart of “the kingdom’s idea of a five-day ceasefire in Yemen to coordinate with international organisations to deliver aid to Yemen if the Huthis and their allies commit to this and do not carry out acts of aggression”. Ebola deaths pass 11,000 mark The number of deaths from the Ebola epidemic now exceeds 11,000, figures from the World Health Organization showed. In the three countries worst affected — Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — 26,593 people were infected, and 11,005 had died, the WHO said. The worst ever outbreak of Ebola began in southern Guinea in December 2013 before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Liberia has recorded the most deaths with 4,716, while 3,903 have died in Sierra Leone and 2,386 have died in Guinea. Although the number of cases has topped 11,000, the WHO is due to declare on May 9 that the epidemic is over in Liberia, unless there are any new cases in the country before then. The numbers of new infections are also dwindling in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Only nine new cases were recorded in each country last week, the lowest figures for almost a year. Quake strikes off Papua New Guinea A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, but a tsunami threat passed and there were no reports of major damage, seismologists said. The quake hit at 0710 GMT at a depth of 23.2 km, some 144 km southwest of Panguna in PNG and 642 kilometres from the Solomons capital Honiara, the US Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said initially that hazardous waves for coasts within 300 km of the epicentre were possible, but later called off the tsunami threat. — AFP Nepal to provide interest-free loans for rebuilding houses Nepal’s Parliament unanimously passed a resolution committing to work together in the reconstruction work in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated central and eastern hilly parts of Nepal. The earthquake on April 25 and another one the following day — of 7.9 and 6.7 magnitude — have claimed 7,765 lives and have left over 16,000 injured. The relief efforts of the government, supported by countries such as India, China, the United Kingdom and the United States, have attracted criticism for being “slow.” Local reports have come out with accounts of many affected villages yet to see any relief and rescue efforts. Meanwhile, Nepal Rastra Bank, the regulatory authority, announced interest-free loans from the bank of up to NRs 25 lakh in the Kathmandu Valley and NRs 15 lakh for those outside the capital for house reconstruction. The central bank also said the commercial banks and financial institutions could take a maximum interest of 2 per cent under home loan for such purposes. The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control said bread from India and noodles from Singapore were inedible.
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Chemical attack reported in Syria Syrian activists and a doctor reported of new suspected chemical attacks in the northwestern province of Idlib, leaving several dozens of people suffering from asphyxiation. Mohammed Tennari, a doctor who testified before the U.N. Security Council earier after treating a number of victims in Idlib from an earlier chemical attack, said there were at least three separate attacks in the province that injured nearly 80 people. Dr. Tennari, who spoke with AP, shared field reports from doctors in the three villages of Janoudieh, Kansafrah, and Kafr Batiekh that were reportedly hit by barrel bombs containing chlorine. Tropical storm warning issued for parts of the Carolinas A tropical storm warning was issued for parts of North and South Carolina as Ana approached the U.S. coast, kicking up rough surf and rip currents ahead of what was forecast to be a rainy weekend. The storm formed nearly a month before the Atlantic Hurricane season officially kicks off June 1. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Ana's maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph (75 kph) with slight strengthening forecast during the next day or so. The storm is centred about 170 miles (275 kilometres) south-southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Hurricane Center says it's been nearly stationary over the last few hours but is expected to move north-northwest later in the day. The tropical storm warning is in effect from the south Santee River in South Carolina to Surf City, North Carolina. Ana is currently a subtropical system, meaning it has characteristics of both a tropical storm, which gets its energy from warm ocean waters, and a traditional storm system driven by temperature changes. May storms aren't unusual, with one forming every few years or so. But Ana marks the earliest subtropical or tropical storm to form in the Atlantic since another storm named Ana in 2003, the Hurricane Center said in a tweet. South Korea gets Asia’s first Google “campus” Google formally opened its first Asian start-up “campus” in Seoul — a marquee-name nod to South Korea’s aspirations as a regional hub for a new generation of tech entrepreneurs. Opened by President Park Geun-Hye, Campus Seoul is housed in the capital’s upscale Gangnam district which has become a focal point for the Korean start-up community. As well as providing a space for people to work and network, it offers mentoring and training by Google teams and experienced entrepreneurs, as well as access to other start-up communities in Asia and beyond. “We feel we’re at a tipping point where Korean start-ups will begin going global,” said Jeffrey Lim, who heads the Seoul Campus operations. It’s a point that has been touted as tipping for some time, nudged by a highly educated, hard-working community in a country with some of the world’s fastest broadband speeds and highest smartphone penetration rates. There are a variety of reasons, including a lack of funding and know-how, well-intentioned but overly regulated government involvement, and the absence of any real role models. Fear of risk and failure There are also challenges that are particular to South Korea because of its recent history. The Asian financial crisis that rocked the country in the late 1990s and the bursting of an initial dotcom boom in 2001 served to reinforce the widely held view that taking risks and running your own business was to invite volatility, insecurity and potential bankruptcy. The Google campuses are not-for-profit projects that the US tech giant says carry the over-arching benefit of widening the Internet eco-sphere. The Seoul outpost is modelled after similar facilities in London and Tel Aviv, and soon to be Warsaw and Sao Paulo. Basic membership is free and space is provided at very low rates. Google has no financial stake in the start-ups that use the Seoul campus, although it clearly doesn’t hurt to have a close eye on what might become the next Twitter or Uber. SNP sweeps Scotland The Scottish National Party put up a spectacular performance, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish parliamentary seats, and putting an end to the domination of the Labour Party, which suffered heavy losses to the SNP in the region. Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, who led his party to a poor finish, winning only eight seats, down from 57 in 2010, has stepped down. The Democratic Unionist Party of Ireland won eight. The Labour party must now choose a new leader. Ed Miliband, who fought a spirited campaign on the promise of reversing the anti-austerity policies of previous coalition government, in his resignation message took “full responsibility” for the defeat of his party. Liberia is free of Ebola, WHO declares The World Health Organisation announced that the country had had no new cases of the disease in the past 42 days. Ebola killed more than 4,700 people in Liberia, which was the nation worst affected by the disease’s dramatic emergence in West Africa last year. The outbreak, which reached its peak in August and September, brought nightmare scenes to the nation and its capital city of Monrovia: gates were locked at overflowing treatment centers, patients died on hospital grounds, and bodies were sometimes not collected for days.
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At one point, virtually no treatment beds for Ebola patients were available anywhere in the country, WHO revealed. Flights into and out of the country were cancelled; fuel and food ran low; and schools, businesses, borders, markets and most health facilities were closed. Fear and uncertainty dominated the national mood. However, a strong community response backed by international aid has combined to combat the disease, according to WHO. Health teams moved from village to village, challenging chiefs and religious leaders to implement an effective response. Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, told the BBC: “We will celebrate our communities which have taken responsibility and participated in fighting this unknown enemy and finally we’ve crossed the Rubicon. Liberia indeed is a happy nation.” Liberia’s neighbours, Guinea and Sierra Leone, continue to fight the outbreak. In its statement, WHO said Liberia’s last case was a woman in the greater Monrovia area who developed symptoms on 20 March and died seven days later. The source of her infection remains under investigation but 332 people who may have been exposed to the patient have been identified and closely monitored. None have developed symptoms and all have been released from surveillance. By contrast, Guinea and Sierra Leone each reported cases of the disease over the past week. As a result, WHO has recommended that Liberia maintain an additional three months of “heightened surveillance” for Ebola because of the continuing outbreak across its borders and because of the possibility that Ebola could re-emerge via sexual transmission from survivors. The critical issue for Liberia now is the reaction of foreign companies. Many fled the country during the outbreak and left the nation’s economy badly dented. British Airways and several other airlines stopped flying to Liberia, for example, and have still not resumed services. North Korea successfully test-fired ballistic missile from a submarine North Korea said it has successfully test-fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in what would be the latest display of the country’s advancing military capability. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally attended the test launching of what he described as a “world-level strategic weapon,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim praised the test launch as an “eye-opening success” and declared that the North Korea now has a weapon capable of “striking and wiping out in any waters the hostile forces infringing upon the sovereignty and dignity of (North Korea).” On Kim’s orders, the submarine submerged and after a while a missile soared into the sky from underwater, the agency said. South Korea’s defense ministry said last year that it believed North Korea was developing technologies for launching ballistic missiles off submarines. A US research institute said in January that such capability posed a potential new threat to South Korea, Japan and US bases in East Asia, although North Korea’s submarines tend to be old and would be vulnerable to attack. Presence of Pranab, Xi appreciated Apart from President Xi Jinping and President Pranab Mukherjee, prominent leaders attending Russia’s Victory Day celebrations included Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev and Egyptian President Abdel Fateh Al- Sisi. The commemoration event has also seen the emergence of the RIC (Russia-India-China) bloc at a time the West has not only shunned President Putin’s grand parade, but imposed major financial sanctions on Russia. These have led to a significant weakening of the Russian Rouble, and restrictions on banks and oil companies have crippled Russia’s key export industries. At this time, the presence of Chinese and Indian Presidents has been appreciated in Russia as a strong signal of solidarity. President Mukherjee’s meeting came a day after Mr. Xi met Mr. Putin and finalised infrastructure deals worth an approximate $6 billion. Russia and China signed 32 agreements and MoUs including high-speed rail projects and the construction of a pipeline for Russian gas major Gazprom. India a driver behind China’s nuclear modernisation, says Pentagon report India’s nuclear force is an additional driver behind China’s nuclear force modernisation, a report by the US Department of Defence has said. The Pentagon report, titled Military and Security developments involving People’s Republic of China, was presented to the US Congress. It has said China is likely to continue investing considerable resources to maintain a limited, but survivable, nuclear force to ensure that the PLA can deliver a damaging responsive nuclear strike despite its No First Use policy. “China’s nuclear weapons policy prioritizes maintaining a nuclear force able to survive an attack and respond with sufficient strength to inflict unacceptable damage…Similarly, India’s nuclear force is an additional driver behind China’s nuclear force modernization,” the report says. According to the report, China’s nuclear arsenal currently consists of 50-60 Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles besides nuclear capable ballistic missile submarines — four commissioned and one under development with an eventual ability to carry ballistic missiles with a 7400 km range. In what may interest India, the report suggests that China is pursuing “long term, comprehensive” military modernisation programme to fight “short duration, high-intensity regional conflicts”. “China is seeking high-profile leadership in the region and globally and is taking initiatives to establish multi-lateral mechanisms such as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank,” says the report. Weekly News and Analysis Byju’s Classes-9873643487 2015CA_007,008,009,010,011,012,013
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It observes that while the Chinese leadership officially supports the Deng Xiaoping dictum to “observe calmly, secure position…hide capabilities, maintain low-profile”, Chinese interests from “Deng’s era have changed”. Xi’s interpretation of Deng’s dictum is China defending its interests “especially territorial sovereignty,” the report notes. The 93-page report which pegs the Chinese potential conflict with Taiwan briefly mentions the September 2014 standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh that coincided with the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping. It also refers to the increasing Chinese presence in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and notes that in 2014, PLA Navy deployed its Shang-class nuclear submarines in IOR, a fact that demonstrates its capability to operate in the region to safeguard its interests. The report adds that China, with an estimated military budget of USD 165 billion growing at 9.5 per cent per annum is modernising its military hardware, organising its military force structure and augmenting its cyber warfare capabilities to ensure that its footprints are felt in its areas of interest like the South China Sea, IOR—two regions that are significant for India too. The report underlines that Pakistan remains China’s prime partner in exports After 252 years, English warship to be recovered A sunken English warship, perhaps holding a treasure chest of gold coins onboard, will be raised from its watery grave off the coast of Uruguay after being submerged for some 252 years, a treasure hunter announced. The Lord Clive, sunk by the Spaniards in 1763, was discovered by adventurer Ruben Collado in 2004. Mr. Collado announced he had received permission from the Uruguay government to bring up the remains of the 60gun privateer from off the coast of Colonia del Sacramento. The Lord Clive was sunk by fire from the shore as the British and Portuguese tried to bombard and take the city from the Spanish during the Seven-Years War that saw colonial powers square off around the globe. The Spanish held Colonia del Sacramento but would eventually have to return the city to the Portuguese under a treaty signed the same year. The ship, outfitted to wage war for three to four years, may be carrying extensive amounts of gold, as well as barrels of rum and mercury. But before the explorers can examine the wreckage and possibly display it for the public, they must overcome numerous obstacles in the River Plate. Muddy waters, fast currents and tons of rock present a serious challenge for recovering the wreckage, Collado said. Antarctica’s research stations in icy grip More than 50 scientists are gathering in Hobart in Tasmania for a series of workshops on techniques to more accurately forecast sea ice levels in the polar region, aiming to save millions of dollars in shipping costs. They will also hope to avoid a repeat of the problems suffered by the Akademik Shokalskiy, the research vessel caught in a sudden freeze in December 2013. Rod Wooding, from the Australian Antarctic Division, said last year ships “couldn’t get anywhere near” the Australian research site, Mawson station, requiring a year’s worth of supplies and fuel to be flown in by helicopter. “[That] is inadequate for the long-term sustainability of the station,” Wooding said. “Other national programs have had similar problems, the French in particular, the Japanese also.” Scientists were initially puzzled by the increasing sea ice around the continent, which reached record levels in September 2014, but have concluded it is “very largely driven by changes in wind,” Tony Worby, the chief executive of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, said. “Those changes of wind are driven by the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere and the increasing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.” The El Nino phenomenon, too, “drives changes in pressure which drives changes in wind which drives changes in sea ice,” he said. Antarctica is also surrounded by ocean, leaving sea ice “completely free to expand however it wants to,” in contrast to the Arctic region, which is landlocked by Russia, Greenland and northern Canada. Australia is tendering to replace its icebreaking vessel, the 25-year-old Aurora Australis. Worby said more accurate forecasts would help to understand what level of “ice breaking capability” would be needed in the future. “It’s quite hard to forecast but whatever effort we put in to improving our ability to forecast sea ice will ultimately pay dividends in terms of savings for national programs,” he said. Mission Mangroves in Sri Lanka More than half the world’s mangroves have been lost over the last century, but all of those surviving in Sri Lanka, one of their most important havens, are now to be protected in an unprecedented operation. The organiser of the project, the biggest of its kind, sees the role of women as the key to its success.
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Mangroves are an important protection against climate change as they sequester up to five times more carbon than other forests, area for area. They protect coastlines against flooding and tsunamis, and provide a vital habitat for marine animals, especially crabs, shrimp and juvenile fish. In an initiative designed to prevent any more being cut down in Sri Lanka and to boost some of the poorest communities in the world, women will be offered small loans and training to start businesses. In return for the microloans, the 15,000 women, including thousands of widows from the civil war, will be expected to stop using the trees for firewood and to guard the forests near their homes. Conservationists behind the scheme, which is backed by the Sri Lankan government, believe the focus on women will bring huge benefits to living standards in coastal communities. “We have discovered that if you want a project to succeed, have the women of the community runs it,” said Anuradha Wickramasinghe, chairman of the Sri Lankan NGO Sudeesa. “Other conservation organisations have found the same thing. It’s in our culture. The mother is the central.” The £2.2-m initiative announced is designed to save mangroves covering 21,782 acres (8,815 ha) in 48 lagoon systems and involves women from 1,500 communities. Women involved in the scheme will protect mangroves by ensuring no one in their communities, or from outside, cuts down the trees.
NATIONAL NEWS GST Bill sails through LS, Congress walkout helps With 352 votes in favour, the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) sailed through the Lok Sabha. The fierce opposition displayed by the Congress, the BJD and the CPI(M) did not translate into hurdles for the government. The Bill proposes to empower both States and the Centre to levy the GST, which will subsume the services tax, excise duties, stamp duties, entry tax and central sales tax. It proposes that the Centre be empowered to tax sales of goods and States get to tax services. It has been estimated that the efficiency and savings from the shift to a well-designed GST regime can boost India’s growth by up to 2.5 percentage points. Cabinet clears amendment to Whistle Blowers Protection Act Hours after Congress president Sonia Gandhi attacked the government for its false promises on transparency, the Union Cabinet met to approve an amendment that would effectively dilute the scope of the Whistle Blowers Protection Act of 2011. The amendment incorporates ‘necessary provisions’ to keep issues of national security out of its purview. Anti-corruption activists have argued that the new provisions could weaken the fight against corruption in key sectors like defence. In the past, several dubious deals like the Bofors, Scorpene, Tatra truck and AgustaWestland scams have been exposed by whistle blowers. New schemes The Union Cabinet also gave approval to three major social security initiatives that will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9. The schemes — the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)— will be launched in Kolkata where Assembly elections are due next year. An official release said the decision on APY will benefit 2 crore subscribers in the first year, and that on the PMSBY and the PMJJBY will provide affordable personal accident and life cover to a vast population. These initiatives, announced in the government’s budget, are aimed at providing a universal social security net that will be linked to individual user's bank accounts. The PMSBY will offer a renewable one-year accidental death-cum-disability cover of Rs. 2 lakh for partial/permanent disability to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18-70 years for a premium of Rs. 12 per annum per subscriber. The PMJJBY on the other hand will offer a renewable one year life cover of Rs. 2 lakh to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18-50 years, covering death due to any reason, for a premium of Rs. 330 per annum per subscriber. Most welcome, says Dhaka Bangladesh welcomed the passage of a Bill by India on Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) to settle the decades-old boundary dispute. The passage of the Bill was “most welcome,” said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam. He said that with the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, it had crossed a major hurdle on way to its implementation. Mr. Alam told journalists that Bangladesh was ready to discuss about the implementation of the LBA if New Delhi sought any help from Dhaka. The Bill will now be moved to the Lok Sabha to facilitate exchange of enclaves, transfer of adversely possessed areas and demarcation of un-demarcated border. Celebration time Meanwhile, there were reports of celebrations from many of the 111 enclaves which India will transfer to Bangladesh once the LBA is implemented.
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Under the LBA, 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, all located in Cooch Behar of West Bengal, comprising 7,110 acres of land and a population of 14,215, will be transferred to India by Bangladesh. Brushing aside concerns of large land parcels being lost to Bangladesh, Ms Swaraj said of the total 730 acres that are with Bangladesh as per the Protocol of 2011, India will get 268 acres in Assam. On the issue of rehabilitation of the people in the enclaves on the Indian side, Ms. Swaraj said the Centre has met West Bengal’s demand for a Rs.3008.89-crore package, which can be used for as many as 35,000 people. ‘1993 verdict of SC upset equilibrium of powers’ The Centre pressed its onslaught against the 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court, ushering in the collegium system of judicial appointments, saying the 22-year-old verdict created animperium in imperio (empire within an empire) within the apex court. The Centre said the 1993 majority judgment (Second Judges case) by a nine-judge Bench managed to upset the delicate “equilibrium” achieved by the Constitution makers by giving the CJI primacy over judicial appointments. The apex court countered that the government had never been shy of “putting its foot down” all these years despite the collegium. On the second day of arguments before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar, AttorneyGeneral Mukul Rohatgi persisted that a larger Constitution Bench should hear the batch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission, replacing the collegium system. Having not yet begun to defend the legality of the NJAC law, Mr. Rohatgi instead focused his attack on the judgment of 1993 which, according to him, “thrust the pendulum” in favour of the CJI. Mr. Rohatgi persisted with his argument despite Justice Khehar making it clear that even if he proves the 1993 judgment wrong, he would still not succeed as long as the government does not prove that the NJAC is as “equally independent” a mechanism for judicial appointments as the collegium system it substitutes. Final word The AG argued that the Second Judges case and the Presidential Reference of 1998 (popularly called the Third Judges case) effectively made the CJI the final word on judicial appointments. “When the CJI says there is no ground to block an appointment, the executive, despite having objected, will have no further say,” Mr. Rohatgi said. Power of executive Justice Kurian Joseph, however, disagreed, responding that the executive had put its foot down whenever it wanted. “The executive had the power to say ‘no this appointment is wrong… it is violative of guidelines’,” Justice Joseph observed. Checks and balances But the A-G argued that the 1993 judgment was oblivious to the checks and balances imposed by Parliament in the pre-collegium days. Noting that separation of powers is flexible, Mr. Rohatgi pointed out how the executive plays a cardinal role in the appointment of important constitutional functionaries, including the Chief Election Commissioner. “Can you say that just because the appointment procedure involves the executive, the post is susceptible to potential abuse? Independence comes after appointment. The pivotal feature of independence comes after a person is appointed a judge,” the A-G submitted. U.S. sounds caution as India inks port deal with Iran In a deal of significant strategic importance, India and Iran signed an inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding India’s participation in the development of the Chabahar Port in Iran. “With the signing of this MoU, Indian and Iranian commercial entities will now be in a position to commence negotiations towards finalisation of a commercial contract under which Indian firms will lease two existing berths at the port and operationalise them as container and multi-purpose cargo terminals,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Cautioned against rush To a question on the deal, Richard Verma, U.S. Ambassador in India, cautioned against “rushing in” with investments as the nuclear deal being negotiated was not final and said there was need “to maintain the international solidarity that has brought this hard fought diplomatic victory, but we are not over the finish line yet.” Reduces transit time Chabahar which is located close to the strategic Persian Gulf will impart significant strategic leverage to India giving it access to Afghanistan and to the energy-rich Central Asia bypassing Pakistan. It also cuts down transit time by a third accruing significant time and cost savings. India, which has invested over $2 billion in Afghanistan, plans to link the Chabahar port with the Zaranj-Delaram road, the garland highway, India built in Afghanistan by upgrading the Chabahar-Milak road opening alternative access to sea port for Afghanistan’s connectivity to regional and global markets. India has already committed $100 million to develop the port.The distance between Chabahar and Gujarat is less than Delhi and Mumbai.” The Chabahar deal has been long pending due to U.S. pressure on India in light of the severe sanctions imposed on Iran.
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Centre cites Justice Kannadasan case to question collegium system The Centre highlighted how the Supreme Court Collegium backed Justice N. Kannadasan's appointment as a judge of the Madras High Court in the past, despite fierce opposition from both the government and the President. This was cited as an instance of the highest judiciary overwhelming the executive’s objections over judicial appointments for the past 22 years. The Bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission law replacing the collegium system. Mr. Rohatgi recounted this instance while responding to a query from the Bench whether there was any situation in which the President had opposed the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation of a name. The A-G has been using such past instances of judicial appointments to insist that the question of the constitutionality of the NJAC law should be referred to a larger bench of nine or 11 judges. He submitted that the nine-bench judgment in the Second Judges case of 1993 triggered an opaque mechanism of judicial appointments which stifled democracy. Parliament puts seal of approval on Land Boundary Agreement In a rare show of bipartisanship, Parliament unanimously approved The Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, operationalising the Land Boundary Agreement -- swapping territories between India and Bangladesh -- 41 years after the 1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rehman pact. Earlier, the Centre, announced a package of Rs. 3,008 crore for West Bengal in exchange for the Trinamool Congress' support to the Bill. Parliament's ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement was not just a historic occasion but an emotional one, especially for Bengalis, on both sides of the border. K.N. Ramachandran (AIADMK) utilised the occasion to make a pitch for getting Katchatheevu island back from Sri Lanka. Huge diplomatic success: Hasina The passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill in India paving the way for the implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh has drawn a positive response across Bangladesh’s political and social circles. Most major newspapers have highlighted the passage of the Bill and wanted the border pact implemented early. Terming the adoption of the Bill “a huge diplomatic success,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina commended all those involved in the process. Adult laws will cover 16-18 year olds The Lok Sabha passed a bill that provides for trying juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous crimes under laws for adults, with the government insisting that it had tried to strike a “fine balance” to ensure that no injustice was done to the innocent. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill was passed after the government agreed to delete a controversial clause which said that if a minor commits a crime at an age between 16 and 18, but is caught when he has turned 21, should be tried under the Indian Penal Code and not juvenile laws. At least 42 official amendments were moved by the government to the bill, which were adopted, but all amendments moved by Opposition members were negated. Opposition members opposed the proposal to raise the age bar, expressing apprehensions over misuse and violation of rights of children by the new law, which is being enacted against the backdrop of the involvement of a 16-year-old in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case. However, Minister for Women and Child Develoment Maneka Gandhi said she had tried to be “pro-child” and had made efforts to strike a “fine balance” between justice to the victims and rights of the children. Justifying the need for the law, she said that according to the National Crime Records Bureau, around 28,000 juveniles had committed various crimes in 2013. Of them, 3,887 had allegedly committed heinous crimes. She cited a recent Supreme Court order wherein the court favoured a relook at the law in view of the growing number of juveniles involved in heinous crimes. Govt aims to get unions on board for labour reforms The government is hoping to get trade unions on board to table a new industrial code legislation, a major labour reform initiative which seeks to usher in a new regime of easier
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retrenchment and tougher norms for forming unions, in the monsoon session of Parliament even as workers' representatives have red-flagged the proposals. The draft Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2015, which combines Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, has proposed that companies with up to 300 workers can lay off employees without government permission, instead of 100 currently. Another proposal talks that 10% of workers or 100 employees are needed for registering a trade union. At present, seven members form a union, irrespective of the size of the establishment. Government officials defended the proposal on laying off employees, saying it would enable companies to deal with business cycles. He contended that the proposed hike in severance package would help employees in re-skilling for the new job. Instead of just 15 days of (salary as) compensation, the employer has to give 45 days of compensation for every year an employee has served the organization. However, trade unions are up in arms against the reforms and have rejected the proposal for a small tripartite committee to deliberate the issue further. ‘India will always support Russia’ India “will always reciprocate” Russia’s support in its “difficult moments,” President Pranab Mukherjee told an audience of diplomats, officials and scholars. “India-Russia relations…will not be affected by the winds of transient global political trends. Russia has been a pillar of strength at difficult moments in India’s history... India will always reciprocate this support,” Mr. Mukherjee said, shortly after he received an honorary doctorate at the prestigious Diplomatic Academy in Russia. Boycott by U.S., EU The President’s words hold special meaning given that Russia is facing a period of “difficulty” at present, and Mr. Mukherjee is here to attend the Victory Day parade that has been boycotted by all but a few countries. The U.S. and the European Union have led the boycott protesting President Putin’s actions in Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea last year, for which they have also imposed sanctions on Russia. As a result, only about 25 of the more than 60 countries expressly invited, accepted to send a government delegation to the V-Day parade, and Mr. Mukherjee is one of just 16 Presidents expected to attend. Among those attending are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Cuban President Raul Castro, BRICS partners Dilma Rousseff and Jacob Zuma and a clutch of neighbouring countries. Absentees Most notably, several former Soviet States have refused to attend, leading Russian opposition leaders to criticise President Putin for “antagonising everyone,” while the English daily Moscow Times said President Putin had been “humiliated” by the non-attendance of countries, whose leaders had come to the commemoration in past decades. As a result, India’s participation in the event is being particularly noted.
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The gesture hasn’t been lost on Russia’s younger generation either, for whom the Victory Day celebration this year has become as much a symbol of defiance as it is a day to celebrate the Soviet Union’s victory over the Nazi regime and to pay homage to more than 26 million who died in World War II. President Putin is also banking on the hope that the angry feelings on Moscow streets will translate into a boost for his own popularity ratings. As a result, the parade is being planned as a grand spectacle, with Russia’s infantry, tanks, and air force out on full display, and at least nine other armies, including India’s Grenadiers taking part. However it isn’t the military might in Red Square, but Russia’s strategic and economic might that is being challenged by the empty chairs in the visitors’ stands, even as old friendships that are being reaffirmed by countries like India. Centre’s insistence on larger Bench draws flak The Centre’s insistence that a larger Bench of nine to 11 judges should hear the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the new National Judicial Appointments Commission law replacing the Supreme Court Collegium came under flak. In the last session of the marathon hearings before a five-judge Bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar, senior advocates like Fali Nariman, who represents the lead petition in the batch challenging the new law and the 99th Constitution Amendment, said the Centre’s persistent demand would hold up court proceedings for no reason. Mr. Nariman said the Centre’s plea for a larger Bench to hear the petitions came too late, and even after the petitioners had concluded their arguments. If the Centre wanted to press for a larger Bench, it should have done so on the very first day Justice Khehar’s Bench took up the case. Earlier, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had countered that the Centre was entitled to seek a reference to a nine or 11-judge Constitution Bench. It said the primary point for seeking reference was to have the Supreme Court reconsider the 1993 judgment in the Second Judges case delivered by a Bench of nine judges. The 1993 judgment had introduced the collegium system of judicial appointments. The Bench had at this point asked the Centre as to why it wanted the 1993 Second Judges case reconsidered when it had already claimed that the NJAC would wipe away the previous collegium system and usher in a new third chapter of judicial appointments system. “The Centre’s stand is that the Second Judges case is gone after Article 124A (brought by 99th Constitutional amendment). But they ask for its reconsideration by larger Bench which is the dichotomy.” A historic first for Grenadiers It’s a historic day for a historic regiment of the Indian Army: the first time a contingent of the Nine Grenadiers regiment will march in an international military parade, as part of Russia’s Victory Day commemoration. The 75-member contingent has been practising at an army facility outside Moscow since April 25, and will be part of 10 militaries, including Russia’s Red Army and China’s PLA, to take part in the May 9 parade. While Russia marks the day each year for the defeat of Hitler’s army in 1945, this year is special as it is the 70th anniversary, and President Pranab Mukherjee is one of about 16 presidents expected to attend the parade. At six feet in their ‘safas’ or turban headgear, the Grenadiers, with their long and twirled moustaches, will cut a distinctive figure in the parade. Their uniforms are also more traditional, in tune with their home States of Haryana and Rajasthan. Their officers tell that their marching style also stands out as the armies of Russia, China, Mongolia, Serbia and other countries normally goose-step and don’t swing their arms. “If there was a trophy for the best and most popular contingent, we would win it hands down,” laughs their commander Col. Digvijay Singh. Col. Digvijay Singh says each of the men marching in columns of eight by eight has been hand-picked, and put through extra marching drills for the past six months. Interestingly, if there has been a cause for unease, it has been over the food in Russia, as the Grenadiers are traditionally vegetarian, and they say their Russian hosts have had to go to considerable lengths to arrange vegetarian food for them. The first Grenadiers battalion was raised in 1775, and they took part in the British war against French forces in Egypt in 1801. Pranab meets Putin, signals solidarity President Pranab Mukherjee met Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the full range of India-Russia ties, officials said. Indian soldiers take part in the Victory Day parade at Red Square in Moscow. “They had a wide-ranging review of bilateral cooperation, including in energy and defence sectors,” Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said, briefing the media. According to Mr. Jaishankar, the two Presidents discussed all the initiatives agreed to when President Putin visited Delhi in December, including ongoing talks on joint development of the Ka-226T helicopters as well as MoUs with ONGC for Sakhalin oilfields and Arctic explorations as well as GAIL for gas pipelines from Russia. President Putin and President Mukherjee agreed that current trade levels of about $10 billion must be raised to $30 billion and investment levels to $15 billion, and talked about developing the North-South trade route at the earliest. Mr. Putin told Mr. Mukherjee that his presence at the commemoration day parade was a “special demonstration of our special and privileged strategic relationship.”
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Russia celebrates Victory Day also called V-E day for the day Nazi forces were defeated in Europe, as opposed to the victory over Japanese forces in Asia that came some months later in 1945. Ironically the boycott by U.S. and European countries has turned this year’s event into a celebration with Russia’s Asian neighbours instead. As President Pranab Mukherjee took part in the Russian military parade in Moscow alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany, India — for the first time — was represented at the parade with an Indian Army contingent, the Grenadiers. While India’s presence has raised some eyebrows in the Western diplomatic community, the Indian strategic establishment says that New Delhi has been represented previously as well — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the 60th anniversary in 2005 and Mukherjee, in his earlier avatar as external affairs minister, had attended the 50th anniversary. New projects will spur job opportunities, says Modi The Prime Minister inaugurated a mega steel plant at village Dilmili in Dantewada and an extension of the 140-km Rowghat-Jagdalpur railway line (second phase) . Highlighting the need for employment to the youth of Bastar, Mr. Modi said no parents would like their children to go thousands of kilometers away in search of employment. He stressed on the need to produce steel in India rather than exporting iron ore and blamed previous governments for “slow progress” in utilizing Bastar’s rich resources. Schemes will empower poor, says Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata to launch three social security schemes and inaugurate a new steel plant in Asansol. Speaking on the occasion after handing over insurance certificates to recipients, Mr. Modi quoted from a 1906 poem of Rabindranath Tagore, and said the schemes have been launched “to give more power to the needy.” For 27-year-old housewife Ruma Chakravarty, struggling to cope with a disabled husband, Saturday was a red letter day. She was the first recipient of the certificates of the Prime Minister’s insurance schemes from Narendra Modi . “My husband met with an accident and is paralysed from waist down. If his condition deteriorates, I will get at least Rs. 1 lakh, ” she told The Hindu . Two of the schemes launched — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana — are insurance schemes, while the Atal Bima Yojana would address old age income security needs. Belgian varsity honours Tagore with his statue Belgium’s most prestigious and largest university in the city of Leuven, 26 km from Brussels, has honoured India’s world renowned poet, artist and humanist Rabindranath Tagore by erecting his statue in the university premises. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) presented a sculpture of Tagore to the City of Leuven and India House Leuven. It was erected in the Literary Garden of the Faculty of Arts in the Catholic University of Leuven in an inaugural ceremony to mark Tagore’s birthday . Luk Draye, dean of the Faculty of Arts, in his welcome speech described Tagore (1861—1941) “as a freedom fighter and bridge builder between cultures and peoples. And one of India’s most exquisite and versatile artists”. “We are standing here at a place where Tagore would have felt at home,” he said. Mohamed Ridouani, alderman of Leuven, said “this bust of Tagore is a symbol in many ways. It is a symbol of friendship between the Leuven community and India”. He noted that India House Leuven was established in 2012 to make the friendship with India and Leuven even stronger. TN, Karnataka: Again Cauvery runs through it
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What is the Mekedatu dam controversy? Karnataka has proposed two dam projects across Cauvery near Mekedatu, in Ramanagaram district. The project is expected to help the state store 48 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water. In November 2014, the state government invited Global Expression of Interest for a feasibility study on construction of two reservoirs at Mekedatu, in the Cauvery basin. The project is envisaged to ensure adequate drinking water supply to Bengaluru and to recharge the ground water tables in the region. In the March 2015 budget of Karnataka, Rs 25 crore was allotted to prepare a detailed project report. Why is Tamil Nadu objecting? Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court arguing that Karnataka is trying to alter the course of flow of the river by constructing two reservoirs on it, and this would “result in impounding of the flows”. Tamil Nadu also says the project is a violation of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. What is Karnataka’s response? CM Siddaramaiah told the state Assembly they would go ahead with the dams, adding, “We are giving them (Tamil Nadu) 192 tmc ft as per the (Cauvery Water Disputes) tribunal order. The construction of Mekedatu hydro electric project is within the rights of Karnataka.” Why do Karnataka and Tamil Nadu keep arguing over Cauvery? The 498-km-length river has over 44,000 sq km basin area in Tamil Nadu and 32,000 sq km area in Karnataka. In the 1880s, the Madras Presidency opposed plans of then Mysore king to revive irrigation projects in his territory with the river. Karnataka believes the old agreement was drafted in favour of then Madras presidency. Has the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal order helped? Its interim order decreed Karnataka to release 205 tmc each year to Tamil Nadu. In its final verdict in February 2007, the tribunal recommended 419 tmc to Tamil Nadu (against a demand of 562 tmc), 270 tmc for Karnataka (that sought 562 tmc), 30 tmc for Kerala and 7 tmc for Pondicherry. However, the tribunal’s order has been met with review petitions and petitions seeking further clarifications, keeping the dispute alive. Lions’ roar grows louder in Gir There is more good news for wildlife enthusiasts in India. After a tiger census earlier this year found a jump in the numbers of the big cat, the population of Asiatic lions too has been found to have increased considerably in the Gir wildlife sanctuary — from 411 during the last census in 2010 to 523 in 2015. Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel released the much-awaited census data at a function held at Sasan in Gujarat. The Gir forest is the only place in the whole of Asia where the Asiatic lion is now found. Pat for Maldharis C.N. Pandey, Principal Conservator of Forests, Gujarat, told that the members of the Maldhari 2500 EVAACUATED community living next to the forest area had been of great assistance to the Forest Department in their conservation efforts. He said under a government programme, some 300 Vanya prani saathis (friends of the forest animals) had been recruited to ensure that lions were not attacked if they strayed into any nearby villages. India asks Maldives to ensure space for dissent Amid growing clamour for India’s intervention in the ongoing political turmoil in the Maldives, New Delhi has asked the island nation to ensure that space for legitimate political dissent is safeguarded and safety and security of foreign workers is secured. India’s statement, made at the Universal Periodic Review of Maldives at the 22nd Session of the Working Group on UPR of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, follows reports of human rights violations and impingement on press freedom in the island nation. “We have seen reports by U.N. agencies that press freedom is being abridged. The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has also reported their increased politicisation. Maintaining public trust requires strong adherence to due process. The space for legitimate political dissent must be safeguarded,” India has said. However, India is yet to respond to the demand from pro-democracy and human rights activists to put pressure on the current leadership in Male to consider the release of the former President, Mohammed Nasheed, and other political detainees. ‘Missed the chance’ Former Ambassador Kuldip Sahdev, who headed the MEA’s Maldives division, said India had already missed the chance to intervene when the coup took place. Referring to the strategic importance of the Maldives, he said the international community, particularly India, had a role to play in restoration of democracy. “Things will only get worse in the Maldives in the coming days; now India needs to sit up and take notice and carve out a role for itself,” he said. ‘Effective water management immediate solution for water crisis’ Renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh strongly felt that effective water management was the solution for water crisis.
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The Stockholm Water Prize and Magsaysay Award winner was addressing the gathering at a function organised by the Rotary Club of Coimbatore to bestow the Amruthavarshini Award to Siruthuli. Doubting if Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would reach terms for the Cauvery water dispute, resulting in Tamil Nadu getting water from the river, he stressed the need to save water. “We should identify the source of water, the path in which it flows and clear the blockages disturbing the natural course of flow,” he said. Mr. Rajendra Singh said that opportunities should be made for seeping water to the ground. More tanks should be built to save available water. He observed that in many places storage points for preciously saved water had also turned out to be a collecting point for sewage. He pointed out that 80 per cent of water in River Ganga was used for irrigating sugarcane fields. He added that good water could be used for drinking while sewage could be used for irrigation. The conservationist also stressed on the need to depend on indigenous knowledge – that is rich in India – to solve water related problems. Mr. Rajendra Singh and president of the Rotary Club G. Karthikeyan handed over the Amruthavarshini Award to Siruthuli. Lok Sabha clears black money Bill The Lok Sabha passed The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015, after the government once again turned down the Opposition’s demand for referring the new piece of legislation to a standing committee; this time on the premise of urgency to have a deterrent law for those “secreting” their income and assets abroad. In making his case against legislative scrutiny by a parliamentary committee, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley used the Opposition’s repeated jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party for failing to keep its poll promise of addressing the problem of black money at the earliest. Most of those who spoke during the discussion were one in pointing out that the Bill does not prevent the generation of black money in the country and some members, including B. Mahtab (Biju Janata Dal), were apprehensive that this could become another tool in the hands of enforcement agencies to harass innocent people. Also, the government was at the receiving end for failing to deliver on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election promise of bringing back all the black money stashed by Indians overseas and depositing Rs. 15 lakh in the accounts of each family within 100 days. The Bill includes a limited-offer voluntary disclosure scheme for those with undisclosed assets abroad as per which they can legalise what they hold by paying a 30 per cent tax and equal percentage penalty. Once the compliance period closes, the tax component remains at 30 per cent but the penal provision triples to 90 per cent along with criminal prosecution. Governors appointed for four States President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governors for four States, bringing down the number of Governors who had been holding the additional charge of more than two States for the past few months. Droupadi Murmu, former Odisha Minister, has been appointed Governor of Jharkhand, whereas J.P. Rajkhowa has been given the gubernatorial post of Arunachal Pradesh. Tathagata Roy, former president of the BJP’s West Bengal unit from 2002 to 2006 and member of the party’s national executive, has been made the Governor of Tripura; whereas V. Shanmuganathan has been appointed Governor of Meghalaya. Lieutenant General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, has been transferred and appointed Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term. Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed has been transferred and appointed Governor of Manipur for the remainder of his term. SIT detects unaccounted-for income The third report by the Special Investigation Team on black money revealed statistics of both domestic and foreign unaccounted-for income unearthed in investigations conducted by enforcement agencies. In a report submitted before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu, the SIT informed that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) detected unaccounted-for income of Rs. 7,078 crore during 2013-14, and again stumbled on Rs. 4,456.96 crore from then to February 2015. The investigation was done on the basis of suspicious transaction reports disseminated by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Union Finance Ministry to various law enforcement agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the CBDT Investigation Wing and the CBI, who investigate separately. The SIT is headed by two former Supreme Court judges — Justices M.B. Shah and Arijit Pasayat. ECONOMIC NEWS Closing in on biggest tax reform The passing of the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2014, in Lok Sabha will facilitate implementation of the goods and services tax. It will cut the cascading effect of several levies and allow industry to take benefit of taxes already paid thereby bringing down cost for consumers.
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THE JOURNEY SOFAR In Budget 2007-08, the then finance minister P Chidambaram announced the implementation of GST from April 1, 2010. The deadline is missed as no consensus could be achieved on the Constitution Amendment Bill. Another deadline of April 1, 2012, is announced. Opposition – ruled states refuse to budge from their demands of fiscal autonomy and the second deadline is missed too. The BJP – ruled government in 2014 sets a new deadline of April 1. 2016. Bill is introduced with some changes in December 2014. Bill passed in the Lok Sabha on May 6, 2015, where the government has majority. CONSUMING VS MANUFACTURING STATES GST will be levied on buyers of goods and services, or where the service is consumed. This means big consuming states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala could get a high share of the taxes at the expense of manufacturing states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu. To compensate for this, the bill provides for 1 percentage point extra tax on goods for at least two years. This extra revenue will go to the state from which the goods is deemed to have originally manufactured. THE ROAD AHEAD The bill has to be passed by two-thirds majority of the Rajya Sabha as well, where the government does not enjoy a majority. Following the passage in the Upper House it has to be ratified by 50 per cent of states. After ratification, the centre and states have to pass GST law, which will provided the framework for the new tax. A GST council will be formed which will decided on issues including tax rates, exemption list and threshold limit among other things. IT infrastructure has to be readied before April 1, 2016, for making the new regime operational. CONTENTIOUS POINTS INSTEAD OF the proposed one per cent additional levy for two years, manufacturing states want two per cent additional levy beyond two years. SOME STATES are worried over the reduction of the pool size due to additional 1% promised to manufacturing states. FEW STATES like West Bengal want tobacco to be outside the purview of GST. ORIGINAL CONCERNS like keeping purchase tax and entry tax in lieu of octroi outside the GST, taxation of petroleum, period of compensation for probable losses on account of implementation of the new indirect tax regime among other, remain. India’s first rock cavern to store crude oil ready for commissioning The first among three underground rock caverns built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) to store crude oil with an investment of Rs.1,178 crore is ready for commissioning at Lova Gardens in Vishakapatnam, in the close vicinity of LPG cavern. ISPRL, a special purpose vehicle wholly-owned by Oil Industry Development Board, is on verge of completing two other caverns at Mangaluru and Padur (Udupi) at a cost of Rs.1,227 crore and Rs.1,693 crore respectively. The three caverns will have a total capacity to store 5.03 million tonne as a cushion in the event of external supply disruptions as part of energy security. The work on construction of Mangalore and Padur caverns were nearing completion. They would be commissioned once evacuation facilities with the laying of cross-country pipelines were completed. The Visakhapatnam facility has two chambers with the HPCL owning one with a capacity of 0.33 million tonne. Cyclone Hudhud, which battered Visakhapatnam severely in October last year, did not have any impact on the cavern as it was designed to withstand any blast, earthquake or cyclonic storm. ISPRL had completed detailed feasibility study for construction of four more crude caverns at Rajkot (Gujarat), Padur (Karnataka), Bikaner (Rajasthan) and Chandikhol (Odisha) with a capacity of 12.5 million tonne. Finance Minister sets up panel to study MAT on FIIs The Centre announced that it will set up a high-level panel to examine the issue of minimum alternate tax (MAT) on foreign institutional investors(FIIs), a move aimed at calming jittery foreign investors, along with other "legacy issues". The tax department's notice to FIIs to pay MAT on capital gains had triggered a row with angry FIIs writing to the Centre to have a rethink. The tax department had moved swiftly to contain the damage saying that MAT on the capital gains made by overseas funds in Indian stock markets would not be applicable, if the money is routed through countries such as Mauritius, Singapore and others with which India has signed double taxation avoidance agreements. The government has maintained that the decision to levy MAT on foreign portfolio investors was taken not by the government but by quasi-judicial bodies. The finance ministry had said that these rulings can be contested in higher courts, which will respect due process and have the power to quash faulty decisions. Some FII's have approached the courts. Along with MAT, the "retrospective amendments" introduced by UPA have come back to haunt the government as the tax department issued notices to some companies, such as Cairn Energy.
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The fresh notices, which the government has described as "legacy issues", have been termed as "tax terrorism" by investors and have dented the feel-good mood generated by a series of steps taken by the tax department to project a friendly image. RBI introduces ‘red flag’ to clamp down on loan frauds With fund diversion by corporates and non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks on the rise, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to introduce the concept of a Red Flagged Account (RFA) in a bid to minimise fraud risks. An RFA account is one where a suspicion of fraudulent activity is thrown up by the presence of one or more early warning signals (EWS). These signals in a loan account should immediately put the bank on alert regarding a weakness or wrong doing which may ultimately turn out to be fraudulent. The threshold for EWS and RFA is an exposure of Rs 50 crore or more at the level of a bank irrespective of the lending arrangement (whether solo banking, multiple banking or consortium). No restructuring or grant of additional facilities may be made in the case of RFA or fraud accounts. Making penal provision stricter, the RBI said the provisions as applicable to wilful defaulters would apply to the fraudulent borrowers including the promoter director and other whole time directors of the company insofar as raising of funds from the banking system or from the capital markets by companies with which they are associated is concerned, etc. In particular, borrowers who have defaulted and have also committed a fraud in the account would be debarred from availing bank finance from banks and financial institutions for a period of five years from the date of full payment of the defrauded amount. The initial decision to classify any standard or NPA account as RFA or fraud will be at the individual bank level and it would be the responsibility of this bank to report the RFA or fraud status of the account on the CRILC platform so that other banks are alerted. Thereafter, within 15 days, the bank which has red flagged the account or detected the fraud would ask the consortium leader or the largest lender to convene a meeting of the Joint Lenders Forum (JLF) to discuss the issue. The account would be red flagged by all banks and subjected to a forensic audit commissioned or initiated by the consortium leader or the largest lender under multiple banking arrangement. The forensic audit must be completed within three months from the date of the JLF meeting authorising the audit. Within 15 days of forensic audit, the JLF will reconvene and decide on status of the account. In case the decision is to classify the account as a fraud, the RFA status would change to fraud in all banks and reported to RBI and on the CRILC platform within a week. RBI plans Central Fraud Registry o The RBI is in the process of designing a Central Fraud Registry, a centralised searchable database, which can be accessed by banks. o The CBI and the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) have also expressed interest in sharing their own databases with the banks. Centre, states agree on free flow of GST credit on inter-state trade The union and state governments finalised the framework for goods and services tax on inter-state commerce (IGST) aimed at removing all irritants that businesses face at present in paying taxes using the credits they have earned on taxes paid previously on raw materials and services. The framework would be formalised as a central IGST Act. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers have discussed the finer points of the proposed Central enactment on Central GST (CGST) as well as the model state GST (SGST) law that states would adopt. Kerala finance minister and chairman of the Empowered Committee, KM Mani, said in his opening remarks that the two-day meeting would discuss reports of sub-committees on IGST, GST on imports and issues such as registration of traders, returns, tax payments and refund. “Broadening of the GST tax base and subsuming various Central and state indirect taxes into GST are expected to be revenue neutral both for Centre and states,” Mani said. Madhya Pradesh finance minister Jayant Malaiya too said the revenue neutral rate of GST ought come down from the 27 per cent discussed earlier. The Committee approved the IGST report facilitating the union government to levy and collect IGST (which would be equal to the sum of CGST and SGST rates on inter-state supply of goods and services) and its sharing between the Centre and the states as recommended by the proposed GST Council. Consuming states would get the proceeds of the SGST component of it. Manufacturing states will not get any share but would have the right to levy an extra 1 per cent non-Vatable tax. Under the proposed IGST, states will not have any right to restrict input tax credits on interstate transactions as the idea is to facilitate free flow of tax credits and thus move towards a common national market. Cross utilisation of CGST or SGST credit will be allowed for payment of IGST. The agreed framework will ensure that no tax on inter-state commerce would stay with the manufacturing state as GST is a destination based consumption tax. The rules will ensure that funds of companies will not be blocked due to one state’s refusal to comply with credit set off. Under the new indirect tax regime, imports into the territory of India will also be deemed as inter-state commerce and attract IGST. IGST on imports, however, will not include basic customs duty, safeguards duty and anti-dumping duty.
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India home to 56 of the world’s 2000 powerful companies: Forbes India is home to 56 of the world’s 2000 largest and most powerful public companies, according to the Forbes’s annual list which is topped by the US with its share of 579 companies. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 56 Indian companies in the 2015 Forbes ‘Global 2000’ list. The list gives a snapshot of the world’s largest companies, and shows the dominance of the US and China in the current global business landscape. The two countries split the top 10 spots for a second year in a row. Forbes said that for the first time, China’s four biggest banks own the top four spots and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of the world’s largest companies, adding more spots than any other country in the world and surpassing Japan for the first time. With 218 companies, Japan slid to the third spot. India has added two companies to its last year’s tally. Reliance Industries is ranked 142 on the list, down from last year’s 135th spot, with a market value of 42.9 billion dollars and 71.7 billion dollars in sales. Reliance is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 152 and has a 33 billion dollars market value. The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 183, Tata Motors (263), ICICI Bank (283), Indian Oil (349), HDFC Bank (376), NTPC (431), Tata Consultancy Services (485), Bharti Airtel (506), Axis Bank (558), Infosys (672), Bharat Petroleum (757), Wipro (811), Tata Steel (903) and Adani Enterprises (944). This year’s Global 2000 companies hail from 61 countries and account for combined revenues of USD 39 trillion, profits of USD 3 trillion, with assets worth USD 162 trillion, and a market value of USD 48 trillion. The United Kingdom kept its fourth place with 95 companies. Europe overall lost 20 spots to finish with 486 companies this year, falling further behind Asia (691) and North America (645) in continental rankings. France fell out of the top 5 countries, ceding its spot to South Korea while Argentina and Cyprus made their debut on the list this year. There are 200 newcomers to this year’s list including some household names like travel company Expedia and luxury jewellery retailer Tiffany. Forbes said the most notable gainers on the list include Facebook, which jumped more than 200 ranks this year thanks to rising revenue and profits. With 121 spots, construction overtook utilities as the third leading industry this year, in part thanks to the more upbeat global economic outlook, Forbes said. HDFC among world's top 10 list of consumer finance firms Mortgage lender HDFC has emerged as the only Indian company among the world's 10 biggest consumer financial services firms, after giants like American Express, Visa and Mastercard. HDFC is ranked 7th on the list, compiled by business magazine Forbes, where American Express is placed on the top, followed by Capital One Financial, Visa, Discover Financial Services and Orix in the top-five. Mastercard is ranked sixth. HDFC is followed by CIT Group of US at eighth position, Taiwan's Hua Nan Financial at 9th and China's Franshion Properties is at the 10th place. Others ranked lower include Samsung Card, Kaisa Group, Orient, Nelnet, Jabal Omar Development and KWG Property. The list is part of Forbes' annual compilation of 2,000 biggest and most powerful companies globally, which includes a total of 56 companies from India across various sectors. In the overall list, HDFC is ranked 485th, while Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of the Indian companies at 142nd overall position. Among other sector-specific lists, there is no Indian entity on the list of biggest major banks topped by China's ICBC. For the regional banks, China Construction Bank tops the chart, while India's SBI is ranked 22nd, ICICI Bank is at 29th place and HDFC Bank is at 40th position. For Oil and Gas sector, Reliance Industries is ranked 15th globally, while ExxonMobil is on the top. In Computer Services, Google tops the list and India's TCS is at 7th place, followed by Coginzant at 9th and Infosys at 10th position. The overall list is dominated by the companies from the US and China. India has added two companies to its last year's tally. Among Indian companies on the overall list, Reliance Industries is followed by SBI, ONGC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Indian Oil, HDFC Bank, NTPC, HDFC, TCS and Bharti Airtel, among others. Forbes said the list ranks the companies on the basis of a composite score of their revenues, profits, assets and market value. Tata Communications joins hand with China Telecom Global Tata Communications announced a video network partnership with China Telecom Global to enable and manage media content for customers in China as well as globally.
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"We are excited to leverage China Telecom Global's video network in China and to offer our customers access to this key region, connecting broadcasters, media and entertainment providers, news bureaus and service providers across the globe," said Brian Morris, vice president and general manager, global media and entertainment services, Tata Communications. According to reports, mobile video will generate more than 69 percent of mobile data traffic by 2019. Tata Communications' video network covers more than 300 media hotspots in 125 cities globally. The network inter-connects between Tata Communications and China Telecom Global is located in Hong Kong. Apple overtakes Xiaomi in the Chinese market Apple is now the largest vendor of smartphones in one of the world’s largest and important smartphone markets. Apple’s popularity in the Chinese market has been a huge problem for Samsung in recent months, and it seems the Cupertino giant has now overtaken another big player in the country. According to IDC’s latest report, Apple is now the largest smartphone vendor in China and has overtaken Xiaomi – Apple devices managed to grab 14.7 percent of the market share in the first quarter of 2015, with Xiaomi smartphones following with 13.7 percent share. The larger iPhones have been making huge waves in the Chinese market, and it certainly looks like the interest is huge enough to propel Apple to the top of the ranks. That’s not to say the iPhone maker will be able to easily hold its number one spot – in the last five quarters, China has seen different manufacturers at the top, including Samsung and Lenovo. But it’s still impressive that the company was able to get ahead of Xiaomi, even though it remains to be seen if the next quarter will also see Apple with the highest market share. Huawei, Samsung and Lenovo took the spots after Apple and Xiaomi (in that order). Only Huawei was able to register growth on a year-on-year basis, with Samsung losing more than 50 percent market share. Banks told to appoint internal ombudsman In a move to further beef up the quality of customer service, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised all public sector banks and some private and foreign banks to appoint an internal ombudsman. The internal ombudsman would be designated Chief Customer Service Officer (CCSO). The apex bank, however, has made it clear that the CCSO should not have worked in the bank in which he/she is appointed as CCSO. The RBI is keen to ensure that there is undivided attention to resolution of customer complaints in banks. Hence, it has suggested the appointment of an internal ombudsman. While all public sector banks will have to appoint a Chief Customer Service Officer, the private sector and foreign banks which have been told to appoint such officers (or internal ombudsman) are: ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank N.A. and HSBC Ltd. These banks have been selected on the basis of their asset size, business-mix, etc, said a release. The Reserve Bank introduced the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS) in 1995 to provide an expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of their complaints relating to deficiency in banking services provided by commercial banks, regional rural banks, and scheduled primary co-operative banks. From a total of 11 grounds of complaints, when the scheme was introduced in 1995, today BO Scheme provides for 27 grounds of complaints/deficiencies in bank services. The Reserve Bank operates the BOS, free of cost, so as to make it accessible to all. The bank’s internal ombudsman will now be a forum available to bank customers for grievance redressal before they can even approach the Banking Ombudsman. GST: Most important tax reform since 1947? What is the Goods and Services Tax (GST)? Why is it needed? A destination-based, indirect tax that will be levied on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services. Will subsume all central and state indirect taxes and levies, including excise duty, additional excise duties,
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service tax, additional customs duty (countervailing duty, special additional duty of customs), surcharges and cesses, value added tax, sales tax, entertainment tax (other than the tax levied by local bodies), central sales tax (levied by the centre and collected by states), octroi, entry tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, and taxes on lottery, betting and gambling. Currently, tax rates differ from state to state. GST will bring uniformity, reduce the cascading effect of these taxes by giving input tax credit. Will have a comprehensive tax base with minimum exemptions — will help industry, which will be able to reap benefits of common procedures and claim credit for taxes paid. This is expected to reduce the cost for consumers. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley estimates GST will help increase India’s GDP by around 2 per cent. What is the constitutional status of GST? Currently, states don’t have the power to levy service tax, while the Centre does not have the power to levy tax beyond the factory gate, i.e. VAT, sales tax, etc. To facilitate this, a constitutional amendment is required. The UPA government brought a Bill in Lok Sabha in 2011, but failed to get it passed. The NDA government introduced a “slightly modified” version of the Bill in Lok Sabha last December. It was cleared on May 6, but for GST to become a reality, the Bill must be cleared by two-thirds majority by both Houses, and ratified by 50% of states. It is now pending in Rajya Sabha. So, why is the Bill stuck? The government does not have a majority in Rajya Sabha, and the opposition wants the Bill to be referred to a Select Committee, which the government is not keen on. Also, many states do not want to give up their fiscal autonomy. In Budget 2007-08, then finance minister P Chidambaram announced GST’s implementation from April 1, 2010. The empowered committee of state finance ministers led the discussions. Punjab and Haryana were reluctant to give up purchase tax, Maharashtra was unwilling to give up octroi, and all states wanted to keep petroleum and alcohol out of the ambit of GST. BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat took hard positions. Despite the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha, most of the original concerns of states remain. Gujarat and Maharashtra want the additional one per cent levy extended beyond the proposed two years, and raised to two per cent. Punjab wants purchase tax outside GST. If it is finally passed and ratified, then? The Centre and states have to frame and pass GST laws — Central GST and State GST — which will provide the framework for the new tax. The IT infrastructure has to be ready before April 1, 2016, the scheduled date for implementation of the new tax. A GST Council will be formed, which will decide on issues including tax rates, exemption list and threshold limit. Sub-groups formed earlier to prepare blueprints for business, payment and refund processes, revenue-neutral rate, threshold limit, and dual control and GST laws, have submitted reports. While the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and sub-group have suggested a rate of 27% for both states and the Centre, the Finance Minister has made it clear this is too high. India eyes $1.1 billion solar loan from German bank KFW German development bank KFW could lend India $1.1 billion for rooftop solar projects, on top of another loan it has extended to help the Asian country fund its ambitious green energy plans, a top renewable energy bureaucrat told. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to quintuple India's renewable energy capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022, making clean energy part of his fight against climate change without necessarily committing to a timeline for emission cuts. KFW has already offered India a loan of about 1.38 billion euros ($1.55 billion) to help build a "green corridor" of power lines through nine states, and Modi’s recent visit to Germany helped advance talks on the rooftop plans. India's renewable energy investments rose to $4 billion last fiscal year to March 31 from $3.4 billion a year earlier. India reckons its renewable energy industry could generate business opportunities worth $160 billion in the next five years, making it a lucrative market that has already attracted big global players such as Sun Edison and First Solar. Money has also started to flow in from China, and more deals are likely when Modi goes there in his first visit to the bigger neighbour since taking office a year ago. Cushman & Wakefield to merge with DTZ Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ have reached a definitive agreement to merge and are set to become one of the largest global real estate services companies. The new company, which will operate under the Cushman & Wakefield brand, will have revenues over $5.5 billion. Brett White will assume the role of Chairman and CEO of the combined entity. Stuck in the pipeline: A $4-billion deep-sea gas project
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A UN resolution last March has dashed India’s hope for a natural gas pipeline from the Middle East. Internal assessment is that a proposed deep-sea gas pipeline from Oman and Iran would run into a diplomatic roadblock following the UN approval. The $4-billion deepwater pipeline was proposed by South Asia Gas Enterprise (SAGE) from the Middle East — bypassing Pakistan — after the onland Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline got stuck on New Delhi’s decision to backpedal on the project because of geopolitical and security reasons. The sea route was outside Pakistan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to transport up to 1.1 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas from Chabahar in Iran and Ra’s al Jifan in Oman to Porbandar in Gujarat state with a spur line to Mumbai later. “Route under finalisation for the proposed pipeline will have minimal political risk,” SAGE had claimed in a presentation to the Petroleum Ministry in May last year. However, that situation has changed after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) extended Pakistan’s seabed territory by another 150 kms on March 19. The extension of the continental shelf from 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles would give Islamabad special rights with regards to exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production in the area under its jurisdiction, also described as its EEZ. India’s assessment is that Pakistan, which is not a beneficiary of the sub-sea pipeline, was unlikely to allow the pipeline to cross its exclusive economic zone as in 1995 when Islamabad blocked a proposed deep-sea pipeline from Oman to India because it crossed its exclusive economic zone. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal nations are allowed economic control of the waters and seabed up to 200 nautical miles from their shores. They can further claim an extended shelf up to 350 nautical miles from the baseline of sea if they prove that the claimed area was a natural prolongation of their land. The second problem that could crop up is that the SAGE project hinges on an offshore gas compression station on Qualhat Seamount (Murray Ridge), about 300km from the Omani coast. The seamount could now fall under Pakistan’s control and the station can be set up with Islamabad’s approval, said officials. The onland IPI pipeline has not taken off despite negotiations since 1995. India withdrew from the project in 2009 over security issues, gas pricing and gas volumes. Iran blames India of dropping out under pressure from the US.
SCIENCE AND TECH SpaceX tests astronaut escape feature SpaceX launched the first flight test of the emergency astronaut escape feature on its Dragon spaceship, which aims to carry people to low-Earth orbit as early as 2017. The California-based company headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk described it as “the first critical test in preparation for our first human missions.” No astronauts were on board for the brief demonstration flight.
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A new concept called ecological engineering to reduce pests Erode district alone has 32,000 hectares under paddy cultivation. The district runs across the Cauvery and Bhavani river basin. Due to unfavourable climatic conditions pest infestation such as rice stem borer, leaf folder, ear head bug, gall midge, rice thrips — all common in paddy cultivation — create havoc every season leading to nearly 30 per cent yield loss. Many farmers mostly rely on chemical pesticides (insecticide and fungicide) for managing both pests and infestations. If they are advocates of organic farming then they use bio pesticides to keep the menace under control. Biodiversity Presently a new technology called Ecological engineering for pest management has been introduced by National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad to aid farmers maintain the biodiversity and keep pests under control while at the same time maintaining the paddy eco-system. Since in southern Tamil Nadu, it is season for paddy cultivation efforts are currently in progress to popularise this concept for promoting bio-intensive integrated pest management method. The specialist team conducted an analysis to study the pest defender ratio for plant health and found that the natural enemies are able to maintain the pest population which are infesting the paddy crop. Natural predators “In normal situation we use to go for chemical spray, sometimes even three to four sprays to control pests and diseases. By adopting this technique no chemical spray is required. Natural enemies which prey on the pests are allowed to flourish in the fields. By adopting this method I could save nearly Rs.5,000 for a hectare towards the cost of purchase of chemical pesticides during one cropping season,” says Mr.Haridas another farmer. The trial has been implemented for different crops such as blackgram, cowpea, green gram, mustard, sesame, marigold, tulsi, castor and sunflower and found effective. The Kendra initiated a capacity building programme for farmers in the district and on farm training was given on production of bio-control agents and bio-pesticides to ensure the timely availability of bio-inputs at the farmer level. Pesticide free The community approach on this ecological engineering is expected to bring the region as pesticide free zone and enhance the soil microbial activity in the paddy eco system. Plans are on to introduce this method in other crops like cabbage, cotton and groundnut in the coming season. Researchers produce jet fuel compounds from fungus Washington State University researchers have found a way to make jet fuel from a common black fungus found in decaying leaves, soil and rotting fruit. The researchers hope the process leads to economically viable production of aviation biofuels in the next five years. The researchers used Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010 to create hydrocarbons, the chief component of petroleum, similar to those in aviation fuels. The fungus produced the most hydrocarbons on a diet of oatmeal but also created them by eating wheat straw or the non-edible left overs from corn production. Fungi have been of interest for about a decade within biofuels production as the key producer of enzymes necessary for converting biomass to sugars. Some researchers further showed that fungi could create hydrocarbons, but the research was limited to a specific fungus living within a specific tree in the rainforest, and the actual hydrocarbon concentrations were not reported. Ahring's group has previously been successful in using standard Aspergillus fungi to produce enzymes and other useful products, which have been patented and are under commercialization, so they decided to look into A. carbonarius ITEM 5010's potential for biofuels. Fungi are complex microorganisms and are not always easy to work with, Ahring said. They have a complex biology that is often poorly understood. Using fungi for hydrocarbon and biofuels production is better than other methods because they do the work themselves, bypassing multiple complicated chemical processes required by other biofuel production methods. Fungi also have great potential to create the fuel at low cost, Ahring said. The researchers are now working to optimize the fungi's hydrocarbon production and improve biochemical pathways through genetic engineering. Astronomers Discover Most Distant Galaxy Ever Astronomers have found the most distant galaxy in the universe, measured at 13.1 billion light-years from Earth. The exceptionally luminous galaxy, EGS-zs8-1, was originally identified based on its particular colours in images from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. The astronomers led by Yale University and the University of California-Santa Cruz determined its exact distance from Earth using the powerful MOSFIRE instrument on the WM Keck Observatory's 10-metre telescope, in Hawaii. They found the galaxy lies 13.1 billion light-years from Earth, the largest distance ever measured between Earth and another galaxy, 'Space.com' reported. The new distance measurement also enabled the astronomers to determine that EGS-zs8-1 is still forming stars rapidly, about 80 times faster than our galaxy. The new observations establish EGS-zs8-1 at a time when the universe was undergoing an important change: The hydrogen between galaxies was transitioning from a neutral state to an ionised state.
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"It appears that the young stars in the early galaxies like EGS-zs8-1 were the main drivers for this transition, called reionisation," said Rychard Bouwens of the Leiden Observatory, co-author of the study. Taken together, the new Keck Observatory, Hubble, and Spitzer observations also pose new questions. They confirm that massive galaxies already existed early in the history of the universe, but they also show that those galaxies had very different physical properties from what is seen around us today. TB treatment programme may be generating more MDR cases The Joint Monitoring Mission 2015 has come down heavily on the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for their inability to handle the MDR-TB crisis in the country. The report reflects on the findings, conclusions, and recommendations made by it in 2012. Despite its inability to diagnose drug-resistant TB, the national programme’s heavy dependence on the century-old, insensitive smear microscopy as a primary diagnostic tool has been strongly criticised. Besides the lack of sensitivity, the microscopy is ill-equipped to diagnose drug-resistant TB. This is particularly worrying as the number of drug-resistant cases is steadily increasing. The Standards for Tuberculosis Care in India (STCI) — a document drawn up by the Central TB Division in consultation with the WHO and national TB institutes — advocates drug sensitivity testing for all presumed MDR-TB cases. However, this may not become a reality in the near future. “Progress is threatened by slow uptake of the new molecular test” the JMM says. “Procurement of these tests is unaccountably delayed.” “The RNTCP currently treats patients without knowing their resistance profile,” states the Joint Monitoring Mission report. This along with its current regimen of thrice weekly drugs even to those with prior resistance has been associated with “failure and amplification” of resistance to rifampicin drug. “It is therefore likely, under programme conditions, to be generating more MDR cases,” it says. While private doctors treat patients with daily dosing, the RNTCP follows a thrice weekly strategy. The report has emphasised the need to “accelerate implementation of the transition to daily dosing.” According to the report, turning to “universal drug susceptibility testing and switching to a daily regimen with adherence support” can go a long way in addressing the problem of unwittingly exacerbating TB drug resistance in the country. Another failing of the TB programme pertains to the mandatory TB notification by the private practitioners. “In spite of mandatory notification, TB patients [treated by private doctors] are not notified to the RNTCP,” the report says. It wants the Ministry to develop e-Nikshay, an advanced version to the existing Nikshay system for notifying TB patients. The national strategic plan (NSP) for TB control for 2012-17 developed by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had raised the bar for tackling the rapidly growing TB epidemic in the country. The main goals of the strategic plan are to provide universal access to early diagnosis and treatment and improve case detection. Due to faltering on both counts, the JMM reports that the “implementation of the NSP for 2012-2017 is not on track — projected increases in case detection by the RNTCP have not occurred, vital procurements are delayed and many planned activities have not been implemented.” Worse, about two-thirds of the recommendations made by the Joint Monitoring Mission 2012 have “not been fully implemented.” For the most part, the Central TB Division has “completed the policy work requested. Work is held up for lack of timely decisions, especially at central level,” it states. Recommendations With the cost of treating a person with TB going up to 39 per cent of the household’s annual expenditure, the report has recommended that the Ministry of Health minimises the out-of-pocket expenditure by families by “supporting the cost of TB testing and [providing] free drugs.” It also wants the government to eliminate taxation on TB diagnostics and drugs considering TB as a public health emergency. In order to ensure that patients receive the standards for TB care for India, the JMM has recommended that the government establishes a “state-of-art TB surveillance system for capturing all TB cases, public and privately-treated.” This is essential for the country to “capture and respond to local and focal epidemics.” Living biobank, a new hope in cancer research Tissue grown from biopsies shown to closely mimic patients’ tumours, allowing researchers to study specific mutations and identify most promising drugs Scientists have created the world’s first “living biobank” of patients’ tumours and used the tissue to identify the most promising drugs for each person’s disease. Tiny biopsies of the patients’ tumours were grown into clumps of cells and kept alive in the lab, so researchers could study their specific mutations and subject the tumours to more than 80 anti-cancer drugs. Geneticists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge said the work marked a step towards more personalised medical treatments that target cancer tumour by tumour in individual patients. The researchers grew what they call 3D organoids from both cancerous and healthy tissue biopsies taken from 20 patients with bowel cancer. All of the patients had received surgery to remove their tumours and were not having further treatment.
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Tests on the organoids showed that they closely mimicked the patients’ tumours in many ways, including their genetic profiles, the variety of cells they contained, and the structures they formed. “The beautiful thing here is that we’ve shown we can grow these organoids in the lab and they look a lot like the tissue from which they were taken, so they should be much better models for studying cancer,” said Mathew Garnett , a researcher at the Sanger Institute. About 41,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year. Doctors use a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to treat patients, but anti-cancer drugs work better in some patients than others. “Cancer is a very diverse disease and we often find that some patients respond to a drug while others don’t. The reasons are often poorly understood, but we can use the organoids to try and understand that better,” said Mr. Garnett whose study is published in the journal, Cell . “Ultimately this living biobank should enable us to identify populations of patients that we can predict will be most likely to benefit from a specific drug,” he added. But the drug screening also raised hope for some patients. One tumour that carried a mutated RNF43 gene was swiftly destroyed by a drug that blocked a protein called porcupine. Researchers now hope to build up a library of living tumours to help them find drugs for a broader range of cancers. The results from the drug tests were not used to influence the patients’ care because they had already been treated, but the work demonstrated how the procedure might help other patients in the future. American doctor declared free of Ebola finds the virus in his eye months later For the first time, Ebola has been discovered inside the eyes of a patient months after the virus was gone from his blood. Ebola has infected more than 26,000 people since December 2013 in West Africa. Some survivors have reported eye problems but how often they occur isn't known. The virus also is thought to be able to persist in semen for several months. The new report concerns Dr. Ian Crozier, a 43-year-old American physician diagnosed with Ebola in September while working with the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone. He was treated at Emory University Hospital's special Ebola unitin Atlanta. A report on his case, published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, gives a detailed account of his near-fatal ordeal. Crozier suffered "multiorgan system failure" and spent 12 days on a ventilator. Two months later, however, he developed an inflammation and very high blood pressure in one eye, which causes swelling and potentially serious vision problems. Not only that, Crozier told his infected eye turned from its normal bright blue to green, which can be a rare consequence of severe viral infections. Crozier returned to Emory, where ophthalmologist Dr. Steven Yeh drained some of the fluid and had it tested for Ebola. The fluid contained the virus, although Crozier's tears and tissue around the outside of his eye did not. That suggests that casual contact with an Ebola survivor poses no public health risk, but shows that survivors need to be monitored for the eye problem, Yeh said. 'US move to put India on Priority Watch List unilateral' India termed the US move to retain it on the 'Priority Watch List' on intellectual property rights (IPRs) concerns as a "unilateral measure" and it is inconsistent with the established norms of the WTO. "India continues to be placed on the Priority Watch List under the US Special 301 on account of USA's assessment of Indian IPR protection being inadequate," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. She said the report issued by the US is a "unilateral measure to create pressure on countries to enhance IPR protection beyond the TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement". She said that under the WTO regime, any dispute between two countries needs to be referred to the dispute settlement body of the WTO and "unilateral actions are not tenable under the regime". "Special 301, which is an extra territorial application of the domestic law of a country, is inconsistent with the established norms of the WTO," she added. Countries in this list, according to the US, are not able to protect and properly enforce intellectual property rights. The US government has always raised concerns on India's IPR policy, saying it discriminates American companies. However, India has maintained that its patent policy is in compliance with global obligations. Replying to a separate question on cotton exports, the Minister said the textiles ministry has written to Indian High Commissions/Embassies in cotton-deficit countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand to explore new avenues for export of cotton for stabilising the prices in India. Scientists discover human marrow version in fruit fly Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have claimed a breakthrough discovery in the field of stem cell development research. In a paper published in the prestigious US-based journal Developmental Cell, the scientists claim to have discovered a simpler version of the human bone marrow in the adult fruit fly, a finding with potential implications for advances in stem cell biology, immunity, treatment of blood-related disorders such as leukemia, wound healing and the study of ageing.
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The scientists found the stem cell activity in the fruit fly to be identical to the one found in the human bone marrow, one of the few known sources of stem cells. The activity could be easily observed in the fruit fly because of its simple genetic system. The scientists said the findings could be applied to vertebrates, including humans, as the stem cell activity in the fly is actually a scaled down version of the human bone marrow. “Just like an architect prepares a model before the construction of a building, the fruit fly presents the perfect model. It is a simple organism with all its 5,000 genes identified… Extracting human bone marrow is difficult and presents ethical issues, while studying the process in mice has its own complications. In the fly, you can mark and monitor each cell by colour-coding it, without having to dissect it,” explained Sudip. India test-fires BrahMos advanced version India successfully test-fired an advanced version of the BrahMos land-attack cruise missile from the Car Nicobar Islands. “The land-to-land configuration of BrahMos Block-III version was test launched from a Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) for its full-range of 290 km. The supersonic cruise missile hit the designated land- based target with the desired accuracy. A similar test too concluded successfully. The BrahMos missile has been jointly developed by India and Russia. The multi—mission missile, having a range of 290—km and a Mach 2.8 speed, is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub—sea and air against sea and land targets. The air version of the BrahMos is being readied for flight trials soon on Indian Air Force’s Su-30 MKI strike fighter. Rosetta spacecraft begins to listen out for Philae contact The European Rosetta spacecraft began to listen out for its robotic lander amid hopes that the comet-riding probe may soon have enough solar power to wake from hibernation. The Philae lander has not been heard from since its batteries ran out three days after its dramatic and bouncy landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November. The lander touched down on the comet exactly where mission controllers had planned, but when anchoring harpoons failed to fire, Philae bounced off the surface twice and finally came to a rest against a cliff face that cast a shadow over its solar panels. Unable to recharge its batteries, Philae went into hibernation. But as the comet speeds towards the sun, mission controllers hope that the probe might receive enough sunlight to awaken and call its orbiting mothership. Rise and shine: Rosetta's Philae probe could be awake within weeks The scientists at the European Space Agency switched on Rosetta’s receivers in case the probe stirs to life in the coming days. Until May 17, the lander will be in sunlight twice a day when the Rosetta spacecraft is overhead and able to pick up its signals. “It’s almost certainly still too cold for Philae to recharge its batteries, but it may be able to make contact during the short time it is illuminated twice a day,” Stephan Ulamec, the Philae lander manager, told the Guardian. The rotation of the comet means that Philae has an hour and twenty minutes of sunlight twice a day during which it could call the orbiter. Mission controllers tried without success to contact Philae in March and April, but the lander was getting so little sunlight that the odds of Philae rousing from its sleep were low. The electronics onboard Philae need to be warmer than -45 Celsius to operate properly, but they may still be too chilly to work, Ulamec said. After 17 May, Rosetta will fall out of position to communicate with Philae until the end of the month, or later in June. Even the most basic housekeeping data sent back from Philae would be valuable for the Rosetta scientists. The information could help pinpoint the final resting place of the lander, and reveal how much its batteries could recharge as the comet hurtles towards the sun. Only when mission controllers have an idea of how much power the lander has, can they decide what it should do next. Philae could take simple temperature measurements of the comet surface, snap more pictures of its surroundings or attempt more energy-hungry experiments, such as drilling into the comet surface, to analyse its composition. “The most demanding instruments require battery charging and that means higher temperatures,” said Ulamec. “But we are preparing them because the worst thing would be for the lander to wake up and we are not ready.” The £1bn Rosetta mission blasted off from Earth 11 years ago and travelled more than 6bn kilometres on its journey to catch up with the comet, which orbits the sun at 135,000 kilometres an hour. Measurements taken by Rosetta and Philae have given scientists an unprecedented insight into the nature of comets. The discovery earlier that the comet has no magnetic field has overturned one of the leading theories of how comets and the precursors of planets formed in the early solar system. Tejas has limited capability: CAG In critical observations pertaining to national security preparedness, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-I Tejas being inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) has limited capability and does not meet the force’s operational requirements.
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In a second report, it pointed to the ammunition shortage in the Army’s war reserves. The IAF had issued Air Staff Requirements (ASR) in 1985 for a light-weight multi-mission fighter aircraft to be inducted in 1994 to replace the MiG-21s in service. But LCA achieved initial operational clearance only by December 2013 and final operational clearance is expected only by 2018-end. 53 significant shortfalls “LCA Mark-I does not meet the ASR. The deficiencies are now expected to be met in LCA Mark-II by December 2018,” the CAG said in the report. The initial operational clearance version has “53 significant shortfalls” in meeting ASR, resulting in reduced survivability and operational employability, it observed. The aircraft was developed by DRDO, and Aeronautical Development Agency had put the indigenous content at 70 per cent, but CAG said it “actually worked out to about 35 per cent” as of January this year as critical systems were imported. This delay, the CAG said, had forced the IAF to undertake “alternate temporary measures” such as upgradation of other aircraft and revise the phasing out of MiG-21s. The project was sanctioned in 1983 at a cost of Rs. 560 crore, but has eventually ballooned to Rs.10,397 crore. In the second report on ammunition management of the Army, the CAG pointed to the massive shortage in war wastage reserves of ammunition which is equivalent to 40 days of intense period. Even the Minimum Acceptable Risk Level (MARL), which is 20 days, was not maintained. Robotic eel to explore Europa NASA is planning a “robotic eel” to explore the icy waters of Jupiter’s moon Europa, where it will derive energy from the local magnetic fields. Part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts programme, the soft-robotic amphibious rover will resemble an eel or a squid. The robot will use innovative means to power itself, as even solar panels could be unreliable. It will be equipped with unusual antenna that can derive electrical charges from locally changing magnetic fields. Earlier this year, NASA examined the concept of sending a submarine drone to explore the icy methane seas of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. NASA rover captures stunning blue sunset on Mars, tweets ‘let us go you and I’ NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has captured stunning images of the Sun setting on the red planet, showing blue hues of the serene sundown over the Martian horizon. The Sun dips to the Martian horizon in a blue-tinged sky in images sent home to Earth last week from Curiosity, NASA said. Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to record the sunset during an evening of sky-watching on April 15. The imaging was done between dust storms, but some dust remained suspended high in the atmosphere. The sunset observations help researchers assess the vertical distribution of dust in the atmosphere. “The colours come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently,” said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, the Curiosity science-team member who planned the observations. “When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the Sun than light of other colours does. The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the Sun,” said Lemmon. Just as colours are made more dramatic in sunsets on Earth, Martian sunsets make the blue near the sun’s part of the sky much more prominent, while normal daylight makes the rusty colour of the dust more prominent. Since its August 2012 landing inside Mars’ Gale Crater, Curiosity has been studying the planet’s ancient and modern environments. Online tool to protect blue whales Satellite data from NASA will be used in a new online tool to protect endangered blue whales. The WhaleWatch tool, set to be released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will help decrease whale mortality due to collisions with shipping and fishing gear. About a fourth of the roughly 12,000 blue whales in the world today live in the Pacific Ocean. The tool will be used to address conflicts between humans and whales based on tagging data of four whale species and satellite observations from NASA and other agencies. “The real way to reduce the risk of a whale getting hit is to reduce the overlap (of whales and vessels),” said Monica DeAngelis, marine mammal scientist at NOAA. Water-borne diseases awareness drive launched in Delhi
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Titled "Swachh Bharat Swasth Bharat", the campaign has been launched in association with water purifier brand Kent RO. Each summer, the city sees a spike in water-borne diseases. However, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to educate and bring in a positive change this summer with ‘one slum at a time.’ Under the awareness drive, volunteers of the two organisations will visit rural areas of the country and make people aware about safe drinking water besides educating them about how this can help in preventing water-borne diseases. "Though it is the primary duty of the states to provide clean and safe drinking water(Article 47 of the Constitution of India) to the people, yet three lakh children in India die due to diarrhoeal disease every year before the age of three," said K.K. Aggarwal, honorary secretary general of IMA. These deaths could be very easily prevented by the elimination of unsafe drinking water, Aggarwal said. According to the World Health Organisation, water-borne diseases account for around 4.1 percent of the total global diseases burden causing 1.8 million deaths annually. Of the total, 8.8 percent is attributed to unsafe water supply and bad sanitation and hygiene. On this occasion the IMA announced it would adopt a model slum area in Delhi and the national captial region (NCR) where a community RO plant will be placed for six months to study its impact on the reduction of water-borne diseases.
ENVIRONMENT Pollution: particulate matter in India higher than WHO limit In 2010, air pollution killed nearly 600,000 people in India, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The situation has not changed in the last five years. A recent study shows that a significant population of Indian subcontinent breathes air with much higher particulate matter that is lesser than 2.5 micrometre (PM2.5) in size than the limit set by the WHO. Outdoor air pollution as a whole, especially the particulate matter, has been declared as class-1 cancer-causing agent (carcinogen) in 2013 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the WHO. Besides, it causes other respiratory and heart diseases. The PM2.5 is particularly dangerous and can cause adverse health effects owing to its greater penetrability into the human respiratory system and eventual accumulation in human organs and blood.
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Rural women, children and elderly population are more prone to diseases caused by air pollution. Rural women, in particular, face a greater risk from indoor pollution — locally made mud stoves fuelled by solid biofuel emit a far greater amount of finer particulate matter. Air quality of any area depends on local emissions, long-range transport, local and regional weather patterns, and to some extent the topography of the region. Due to increased buoyancy and efficient ventilation in summer, pollution plumes rise effortlessly to the free atmosphere. This leads to a reduced level of surface level PM2.5 concentration in our breathing zone. The problem gets aggravated during winter. Adverse conditions during winter help trapping of pollution leading to elevated level of surface PM concentration. Compared with peninsular India and coastal regions, the situation is far worse in the Gangetic Basin, especially during winter months. The Himalayas act as a barrier to dissipation of pollution plumes emanating from the cities located in the Basin. As a result, cities in the Basin are more prone to sustained bad air quality. Evidence is emerging that shows a strong positive relationship between increased pollution levels and occurrence of dense fog episodes. This clearly demands far more stringent emission norms in the cities located in GB if we have to achieve air quality to prescribed National Index. Although water is acknowledged as a precious resource, the air that we breathe is still not given a similar importance. It is time that an Air Resource Board be created, to begin with in a specific affected region of the country, which is equipped with larger and well-trained staff, technologists and legal aids, and has advanced monitoring stations — stationary and mobile — under it. The state of California was infamous for its worst air quality in the U.S. in early 1950s due to large emissions and valley-like topography that allows trapping of pollution. However, with science-based policies, appropriate technologies and strict regulations, residents of California enjoy better air quality today despite a steady growth in transportation sector and continued industrialisation. The State made effective use of diesel particulate filter (DPF) that does not allow emission of PM2.5 into environment in vehicular exhaust system. Refineries were augmented to produce low-sulphur fuel, a necessity for DRF installation. Recent epidemiological studies show reduced mortality and hospital admittance due to air pollution. The level of soot (therefore PM2.5) in California has reduced drastically over the last three decades, as a recent study reveals. India has begun taking steps in the right direction. The National Air Quality index, introduced recently, has created greater awareness of air pollution amongst the people. Recently, plying of diesel vehicles older than 10 years has also been prohibited. But the situation demands more action in order to restore good air quality and clear visibility. The economic gain due to avoidable loss of human life is too huge to be ignored. Technical intervention through efficient cooking stoves can significantly improve the lives of rural women. Improved power situation, especially in cold days, together with better handling of municipal waste and trash, can also help in achieving better air quality in the cities. Securing clean air, without compromising development, is achievable and sustainable. Environment protection is a challenge that has to be addressed more comprehensively. Central Pollution Control Board can be divested into various regional air boards that will be responsible for securing the environment in a more proactive manner. If mandatory, more laws need to be enacted and strictly enforced to accomplish these goals. Outreach on social media against illegal trade of lesser-known species A digital media campaign on illegal trade in lesser-known and non-charismatic wildlife species — including pangolins, owls and mongooses — that ended this past week, claims to have reached out to nearly 1.4 million people on Facebook, Twitter and Google. The growing demand for wildlife from India that threatens the existence of the tiger, elephant, rhino and various other flagship species has been well publicised. However, illegal trade in non-charismatic or lesser known species like pangolins, monitor lizards, tokay gecko, turtles and tortoises, lorises, birds, corals, sea cucumbers and others has remained largely unreported. “With little knowledge and understanding about the population status, numbers poached, illegal wildlife trade hubs and dynamics of these non-charismatic species, it is difficult to ascertain the impacts of illegal trade on their population status. El Nino has emerged, India stares at crop damage In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. A closely-watched forecast by Japan confirmed its return this year. A strong El Nino will roil economies heavily dependent on agriculture, particularly India, which is already reeling from bad weather. It would also unhinge supply chains of commodities such as rice, corn and palm oil. The El Nino, or a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa. This year, the El Nino arrived in spring and is likely to continue into autumn, said the Japan meteorological agency. The last El Nino led to billions of dollars in economic damages in the Asia Pacific. This year, a strong El Nino could take an even bigger toll in certain countries, analysts said.
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For India, it would be a double whammy. Several farmers have already committed suicide after damage from unseasonal rains this year. If the summer rains are below normal, rural discontent will deepen. The monsoons are vital as half of India’s croplands lack irrigation while the farm sector accounts for 14% of its economy. The weather bureau has forecast weaker rainfall this year, citing a 70% El Nino probability. “Soybean and cotton are under El Nino watch for being sown mainly in rainfed conditions,” said KK Singh, the head of agricultural meteorology division of the Met department.India’s rice crop will also be hit.
PLACES IN NEWS Typhoon Noul kills 2, forces 3,400 to evacuate in Philippines Heavy rains and strong winds flattened houses on coastal areas as Typhoon Noul crashed into the northeastern tip of the Philippines, killing two people and prompting more than 3,000 residents to move to shelters. The typhoon weakened slightly after hitting land, with winds of 160 km/h near the centre and gusts of up to 195 km/h. British-based Tropical Storm Risk downgraded Noul to category four typhoon from category five. Noul made landfall in the rice- and corn-producing province of Cagayan about 400 km north of the capital, Manila, toppling trees and cutting power in wide areas of the province. It is now hovering 185 km north of the town of Aparri in Cagayan. More than 3,400 residents from Cagayan and Isabela provinces were moved to evacuation centres in schools, gymnasiums and town halls before the typhoon, officials said. Despite the destruction wrought by Noul, it also brought much needed rains to rice and corn farms that had been hit by intense summer heat. "The rains brought by Dodong (local name of Noul) helped our farmers greatly," said James Geronimo, public information officer of Isabela, the country's top corn producer and the second biggest rice-growing province. An average of 20 typhoons crosses the Philippines annually, with the storms becoming fiercer in recent years. More than 8,000 people died or went missing and about a million were made homeless by Haiyan, another category 5 typhoon that struck the central Philippines in 2013, bringing 5-metre high storm surges. Hyderabad to host global pharma summit Hyderabad will play host to a four-day global pharma expo and summit from July 23. With ‘Innovation and Advances’ as its theme, the event will deliberate on a range of issues, from pharmaceutical technology to education, indigenous drugs and drug regulatory affairs, besides serving as a platform for joint ventures and project collaboration. Renowned pharmaceutical experts will be addressing the Indo-Global Pharma Expo and Summit 2015, being organised by Indus Foundation, in association with FTAPCCI and OMICS group, according to S.B. Anumolu, president of the Foundation. PERSONS IN NEWS Kamath to head BRICS bank India has named private banker K. V. Kamath as the first head of the new development bank the BRICS group of emerging market economies is setting up. “Mr. Kamath has been appointed as the head of the BRICS bank. India has conveyed the decision to nominate Mr. Kamath for the BRICS bank presidency to other BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. Mr. Kamath’s five-year term is to be followed by a Brazilian and then a Russian. The BRICS had agreed to set up the $100 billion development bank last year, a step that was at the time seen as one that could challenge the dominance of the West in the international financial system. The focus of the international financial system, however, has since then shifted to China’s initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The BRICS nations had also agreed last year that the New Development Bank, which will fund infrastructure projects in developing nations, would have its headquarters in Shanghai. Mr. Kamath, a veteran banker, with an eight-year stint at the Asian Development Bank, spent 13 years as ICICI Bank’s head during which it went on to become India’s second largest bank. He retired as ICICI Bank’s CEO and Managing Director in 2009. At present, he is Non-Executive Chairman for ICICI Bank and also software services company Infosys. Mr. Kamath is credited to have nurtured Indian banking sector’s top female bankers, including ICICI Bank’s current head Chanda Kochhar. A mechanical engineer, he holds a degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and was honoured with the Padma Bhushan title in 2008. The BRICS bank will start with an initial paid-in-capital of $50 billion. Each BRICS country will contribute $10 billion. The bank will fund infrastructure projects in developing nations, and will have a $100-billion currency reserve arrangement (CRA) for helping out countries facing short-term liquidity pressures. Historian Ninad Bedekar dead Noted historian and orator Ninad Bedekar, known for his studies on the Maratha king, Shivaji, and his extensive research on the forts of Maharashtra, passed away aged 65 at a hospital in Pune.
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A prolific writer in his mother-tongue Marathi, he is credited with popularising the history of Maharashtra.In 2003, Mr. Bedekar, along with the right-wing Shiv Sena, was instrumental in bringing about the ban on American scholar James Laine’s book on Shivaji titled Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India . Mr. Bedekar had written to the Oxford University Press seeking a ban. A well-travelled historian, he visited and researched over 100 forts not only in Maharashtra, but in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Bedekar learnt Arabic, Persian and French to decipher material pertaining to the Maratha era. He was a lifetime member of the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal and an honorary member of the Maharashtra government fort renovation and beautification committee. Mr. Bedekar’s last rites were performed on Monday. Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed NHRC acting chief National Human Rights Commission Member Justice Cyriac Joseph authorised to act as the Chairperson of the Commission until the appointment of a new Chairperson in place of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan who has completed his tenure. Justice Joseph, hailing from Kaiphuza village of Kottayam district in Kerala, was a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2008 to 2012. New initiatives Justice Balakrishnan, the former Chief Justice of India, completed his tenure as the sixth and the longest serving NHRC Chairperson. During his tenure, he was instrumental in charting out several new initiatives towards promotion and protection of human rights in the country. An NHRC spokesperson said Justice Balakrishnan laid emphasis on increasing the outreach of the Commission to build awareness about human rights. Starting of open hearings of complaints on the problems of Scheduled Castes and atrocities against them in different States was one of his major initiatives. AWARDS Hebdo presented with PEN award The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo , under armed security and a cloud of conflicted opinions and emotions, was presented a freedom of expression award from the PEN American Center. Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard and critic-essayist Jean-Baptiste Thoret accepted the Freedom of Expression Courage Award to a standing ovation following a weeklong debate alternately thoughtful and divisive over whether the honour was deserved. Salman Rushdie and Neil Gaiman were among hundreds of writers, editors and others from the publishing world cheering for Hebdo at the American Museum of Natural History, where awards also were given to playwright Tom Stoppard, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle. In accepting the award, Mr. Biard noted the magazine’s history of shocking readers with its irreverent drawings of religious figures. ‘Being shocked’ “Growing up to be a citizen is to learn that some ideas, some words, some images, can be shocking,” he said. “Being shocked is a part of democratic debate. Being shot is not.” While virtually everyone stood and clapped for Hebdo , not everyone was an admirer. The Iranian-born novelist Porochista Khakpour, a table host said she had no plans to applaud even as she affirmed her support for PEN’s mission. Agnes Varda to receive Palme d’Or French director Agnes Varda will be honoured with the prestigious Palme d’Or at the upcoming Cannes International Film Festival for the global impact of her body of work. The 86-year-old becomes the first woman to be selected for this distinction. Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others wins Encore prize Neel Mukherjee’s story of a young man who is drawn into extreme political activism in 1960s Calcutta, The Lives of Others, has won him the £10,000 Encore award for the year’s best second novel. Already shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, where it missed out to Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and the Costa, Mukherjee’s novel “immensely impressed” judges with its “ambition and depth”, said chair of the panel Alex Clark. It beat second novels by authors including Will Wiles, Deborah Kay Davies and Amanda Coe to win the Encore, an award which was founded by Lucy Astor 25 years ago, and which has been won in the past by major names including Ali Smith, Anne Enright and Colm Tóibín. Mukherjee, who lives in London, called the Encore “a burst of light in what is usually considered to be dark, damp, bleak territory – the dreaded second novel”, and said he was “thrilled by my good fortune and, looking at the list of past winners, both humbled and deeply honoured” to win. 25 years of the Encore award: a cure for second-novel syndrome The Lives of Others tells the story of Supratik Ghosh and his family, after he leaves home to join the Communist party of India, Marxist and mobilise the peasants against their landlords.
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“I am leaving to find some air, some place where I shall be able to purge myself, push back against the life given me and make my own. I feel I live in a borrowed house. It’s time to find my own,” writes Supratik in the note he leaves before he goes. His mother, he later learns, takes to her bed on his departure, “shrivelling up like leather in the sun”. Clark said that Mukherjee managed to make “a suburban house in 1960s Calcutta … reflect the political and social convulsions of an entire society”. “Ranging from the mass hunger of the Second World War to independence and the emergence of the Maoist Naxalbari movement, Mukherjee chronicles these extraordinary years in Indian history through the piercingly observed story of one family,” she said. “As we read further into the story of the Ghoshes – their lives thrown into crisis by an absconding activist son – we became increasingly convinced of the book’s immense qualities and its ability to inform and provoke at the same time as it entertains.” Mukherjee’s first novel, A Life Apart – published in India as Past Continuous – won him an Indian prize, the VodafoneCrossword award for best novel of 2008, jointly with Amitav Ghosh. In the UK, the novel won the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award for best fiction.
SPORTS Government rewards Saina The government has rewarded badminton star Saina Nehwal with Rs. 25 lakh for reaching the final of the prestigious All England Open championship in March. “Cash award has been given to Ms. Nehwal from the Ministry’s Scheme of Special Awards to Medal Winners in International Sports Events and their Coaches,” a release from the Sports Ministry said. The 25-year-old Saina had become the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the finals of All England Open badminton championships but lost to Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-16, 14-21, 7-21 in the summit clash. Archers win WC bronze in China India compound archers Abhisekh Verma, Rajat Chauhan and M Chinglensana Luwang bagged the team bronze at the World Cup in Shanghai, beating France 234-230 in the third-place playoff. While they lost the semifinals to Iran 227-223, the Indians upset the reigning world champions USA 23-226 in the quarterfinals. OPINION Patent pressures In its 2015 Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Rights, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has retained India in its “Priority Watch List”, noting however that bilateral engagement between the two countries on IPR concerns had increased over the past year. The USTR had done an Out-of-Cycle review of India in 2014, mentioning the improvement in trade ties, and this year ruled out another immediate review. The U.S. wants India to bring its IPR regime closer to norms that the former seeks and has been uncomfortable in particular with the clauses in the Patents Act of 2005. The Act provides for a high standard of patentability, allows for compulsory licensing provisions and pre- and postgrant objection to patents. The progressive Act has been invoked in several judgments recently in relation to pharmaceutical patents — for example, the Supreme Court upheld the sale of a generic version of the cancer drug Nexavar in December 2014, and upheld the Indian patent office’s rejection of Novartis’s application for a patent for its anti-cancer drug, Glivec. It must be mentioned that patent laws in India are compliant with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The restrictive patenting laws have protected a thriving generic pharmaceutical industry producing low-cost drugs in India. The industry has gradually become export-driven, resulting in these companies becoming keen to tie up with major pharmaceutical companies abroad by seeking voluntary licensing arrangements. Other countries have also looked at India’s Patents Act as a model, with affordability of pharma products and drugs being a key concern. It is in this context that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement in New Delhi on April 24, asking for aligning India’s patent law with “global standards”, is a cause for concern. The refrain of the Central government over the past year on this issue is that a strong IP regime is necessary for economic growth and investment. This is clearly a misplaced concern, as such an emphasis is being pushed by big pharmaceutical companies that are uncomfortable with the “health safeguards” in the Patents Act and that have lobbied with the USTR to keep India under “priority watch”. Last year the government had agreed to the creation of a high-level bilateral intellectual property working group with the U.S. While these arrangements with the U.S. may be useful to mitigate any prospective attempts by the USTR to impose trade sanctions, the government must retain its own position on IP and the patents regime in India, and should not allow any dilution of its patent laws that safeguard the public interest. ‘South Asia suffers more during quakes due to poor infrastructure’ Interview with geologist Michael P. Searle, who, two years ago, predicted a disaster in Nepal.
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“Kathmandu is a disaster waiting to happen. We don’t know when, but an earthquake will definitely happen at some stage. It might be tomorrow, it might be 10 years, it might be 100 years; but when it happens, it will be devastating,” Michael P. Searle, Professor of Earth Sciences at Oxford University, had stated in 2013 in an interview with the interviewer. One of the leading geologists working in the Himalayas, Professor Searle is the author of Colliding Continents: A Geological Exploration of the Himalaya, Karakoram and Tibet. The book documents over 30 years of field experience ranging from Oman and Indonesia to various other seismically unstable regions. In the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015, Professor Searle explains the nature of the quake and its relevance in a larger narrative of continents, oceans and an ever restless earth that fuels it all. Excerpts: Could the earthquake in Nepal have been predicted? Geologists can map the structures on the Earth’s surface and determine the distribution of earthquakes at depth. They can then predict where future earthquakes are likely to go off, but cannot predict exactly when. Before the Nepal earthquake, there was a big seismic gap (roughly centred around Kathmandu) that had not experienced a big earthquake for 80 years since the devastating one in 1934 in eastern Nepal-Bihar. Kathmandu is built on an old lake bed that runs across the entire Valley. Seismic waves would transform the sediment into a liquid-like substance, which would cause intense shaking by surface waves, similar to the earthquake that devastated Mexico City in 1985. In Colliding Continents, you write that the Himalayan range came into being through a series of earthquakes. As continental plates collide, the rocks are shortened by folding and thrusting. When the rocks break along a fault, earthquakes release the built-up stress. During large earthquakes, the rocks can move 5 or even 10 meters instantly. The Himalayas were formed by a series of earthquakes such as these. Has the height of the mountains altered after this earthquake? The mountains may have risen above the thrust fault, but it is not possible to accurately quantify this. After 25 years of continuous GPS, we know the horizontal motions very accurately, but vertical motions are more difficult to quantify. Satellite radar interferometry data suggests that the land surface rose one meter to the north of Kathmandu. Has this earthquake impacted the flow of rivers? No, the course of rivers takes longer to change. Rivers started flowing south as soon as the Himalayas started rising, probably over 40 million years ago. As the Himalayas rise, the rivers will cut back by headwall erosion. Some larger rivers like the Arun have cut a long way north beyond the main Himalayan axis. Although a majority of the earthquakes occur on the fault line, the Bhuj and Latur earthquakes were far away from any active fault lines. Can you explain? As the Indian plate flexes down beneath the Himalayas, it forms the great arch and the adjacent Siwalik basin, along which the Ganges flows. The Bhuj earthquake may have been related to this large-scale flexure, but it is not certain. Please explain the geological blueprint of this earthquake. The Indian Plate collided with Asia about 50 million years ago, closing the Tethys Ocean that lay between. India has since continued to push north into Asia, under-thrusting the Himalayas and pushing the mountains up. The Nepal earthquake is the latest in a series of such events that are caused by thrust faulting on the interface between the down-going Indian plate and the rising Himalayas. The active thrust fault dips about 5-10 degrees to the north of the Himalayan front. The earthquake depth, about 15 km beneath the Gorkha region, was on this rupture. The earthquake ruptured about 120 km length of the fault from the Gorkha region eastward. The maximum amount of slip along the fault that ruptured may have been 4-5 meters but the fault did not break to the surface. The region is still experiencing tremors. Big earthquakes will have many aftershocks; some of extremely large magnitude, even 6, can be expected. Small aftershocks are likely to continue for weeks, months, even a year afterwards, as the plates readjust. It is possible that about 5 meters of slip may have resulted at 15 km depth on this earthquake. The fault does not seem to have ruptured the surface, so the strain may still be greater at depth. There is potential for an increased number of smaller earthquakes in the region to the south of Pokhara and Kathmandu, where the fault rises towards the surface and also to the west of the epicentre from Gorkha to Pokhara along the axis of the Himalayas. Geographically how far and wide were the consequences of the earthquake felt? The earthquake epicentre was beneath Gorkha-Lamjung. The fault appears to have ruptured eastwards for nearly 120 km. The damage was worse in the regions of the quake, in the Gorkha-Lamjung region, the Burhi Gandaki valley and Ganesh Himal. Kathmandu was badly hit because it is built on old lake sediments that are highly susceptible to shaking. Videos of the time the earthquake went off show waves passing over the surface almost like an ocean wave. The devastating rockfalls and avalanches in Langtang and Everest were caused by the earthquake shaking loose rocks high up on very steep slopes.
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Are you aware of potentially dangerous activities taking place over geologically unstable areas connected to the fault lines in Asia? Certainly. Two years ago I visited a valley in eastern Tibet in Sichuan province where Kangding was devastated by an earthquake. At Kangding, the Chinese have rebuilt an entire city with 20-storey buildings right along the same active fault (Xianshui-he fault). Kangding is another disaster waiting to happen. Will an earthquake always be viewed as a natural disaster by society at large? The quote geodesists like to use is “earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do”. We have to learn to live with earthquakes. People in countries like Japan, California and Taiwan already do. Buildings are built to sway and can withstand magnitude 5 or 6 quakes without damage. Nepal, Pakistan and other countries always have far more deaths during earthquakes mainly due to poor infrastructure. Juvenile injustice The Lok Sabha’s decision to pass the juvenile justice bill that, apart from other amendments to the existing law, contains the drastic proposal to try 16- to 18-year-old serious offenders as adults has cemented the recriminalisation of juvenile delinquency in India. In India, as per National Crime Records Bureau data up to 2013-14, juvenile criminality is still under 2 per cent of total crime. The amendments to the law could expose 16- to 18-year-olds to the possibility of imprisonment till the end of their natural lives or even the death sentence, if convicted for an offence under Sections 376D and 376E. This would mean that, though such offenders are labelled “juveniles”, they would be subjected to the harshest punishment on the statute books. In this context, it is curious that the bill has kept undisturbed Section 15(g), which limits the period of custodial sentence to three years. The drafting committee of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, had originally proposed a custodial sentence of up to eight years, but the period was abruptly reduced to three. But the government could now have easily considered the enhancement of the period of custodial sentence. This could satisfy the clamour for harsher measures and also those who genuinely care for the ultimate rehabilitation of juveniles. The undue haste to press ahead with these reforms in the face of democratic dissent is intriguing for the following reasons: o First, it means overturning more than nine decades of thought on juvenile justice, evolved through legislative debates and judicial argumentation. o Second, it reverses commitments to the UN, flowing from several conventions and guidelines to which India is a signatory, particularly recommendations 79 and 80 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which specifically desire India to “ensure that persons under 18 are not tried as adults, in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination contained in Article 2 of the Convention”. o Third, it turns down the unanimous recommendation of the joint parliamentary committee, which had strongly favoured the continuation of the existing law. The 16-18 age group targeted by the new bill needs to be understood better in the light of NCRB data. The Crime in India 2012 report (2013 and 2014 data are unlikely to be different) revealed that the number of juveniles between 16 and 18 arrested for heinous offences was 3,273. This relatively small number could be weaned away from a life of crime through more sustained individual care and preventive programmes, rather than being pushed into an adult life of crime. Section 2(l) defines a “juvenile in conflict with law” as one who is alleged to have committed an offence. This does not permit an arbitrary division of offences into heinous and non-heinous categories, much less the classification of offences on the basis of the juvenile’s consciousness or lack thereof. Getting federal transfers right The Fourteenth Finance Commission’s recommendation to increase tax devolution to 42 per cent of the shareable pool of taxes has increased the flow of untied resources (or resources transferred without condition) to States. Although this increase in the share of untied funds is a marked improvement in the structure of a transfer away from a conditional to an unconditional one, it is time that attention is paid to reform the transfer system by focussing on non-Finance Commission transfer to enable States to effectively utilise the enhanced untied fiscal space. This can only be done by reforming the coverage, content and architecture of the non-Finance Commission transfers and a further consolidation of schemes. Budget and non-FC transfers: A major issue, post Budget 2015-16, is the sharp decline in allocations to the social sector in the form of various conditional grants to the States. This decline has happened to accommodate a large increase in tax devolution This decline in grants has happened in two categories: in a specified list of schemes where the Centre’s contribution has been reduced, implying a corresponding increase in contribution by the States and for a set of schemes where Central support has been withdrawn. o Important schemes in the first category are the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan and allocation for elementary education under the midday meal schemes and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) financed by the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS).
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Major schemes delinked from Central support are the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the Backward Regions Grant Fund and Normal Central Assistance. The Union Budget does not provide the details of the additional contributions States have to make for schemes where Central support has been reduced. This change in the structure of grants has also to be viewed in the context of a restructuring of Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS). Despite this emphasis on restructuring and recommendations made by various committees in this regard, nothing much has happened on the ground. In fact, CSS and other conditional grants as a percentage of GDP have increased from 0.67 per cent in 2000-01 to 1.39 per cent in 2015-16. Post the 14th Commission’s recommendation, the reduction in grants to accommodate a large increase in tax devolution — of which many are CSS — is certainly a step in the right direction. However, this reduction in grants in quantum without clarity on the design, architecture and sharing pattern between the Union and States has the following implications for States: o reducing the share of contribution of the Centre to CSS has the potential to reduce untied fiscal space available from higher tax devolution as States have to make a higher contribution to these schemes now; o this reduction does not automatically imply that States are insulated from the conditionalities and ‘one size fits all’ CSS intervention and the uncertainties associated with CSS fund flow. Why restructuring is critical: In the last decade, the proliferation of big-ticket CSS has emerged as the key fiscal strategy to transfer grants to States to achieve a certain outcome in a specific sector, especially in health, education, agriculture and rural development. Though the money allocated under CSS has declined, these schemes, if not reduced in numbers, and, in many cases, consolidated and restructured, may result in States having to fund these schemes with a higher matching contribution. And, they may have to bear the same burden of CSS conditionalities, reducing fiscal autonomy and the available untied fiscal space. Restructuring is not only important from the perspective of State finances. It is also about getting the expenditure priorities right for both the Union and the State governments. Expenditure functions under the Union List fall predominantly under General and Economic Services. The share of expenditure on these has progressively declined from 66.3 per cent in 2001-02 to 53.2 per cent in 2014-15(BE). One of the primary reasons for this is the proliferation of CSS, especially in the social sector and on right-based spending. For better service delivery outcome, these need to change as most of these functions are primarily in the functional domain of the States. The Union government should move its focus from spending on overlapping functional domain to subjects that squarely fall in the functional domain of the Union, as in the Union List, and limit its intervention on the ‘State List’ and ‘Concurrent List’ on subjects of national priority having a consideration of externality. There are 34 schemes listed in the category where Central support is fully provided for in the Budget. Full Central support is not 100 per cent Central funding. In these schemes, States have to make a matching contribution as per the existing fund sharing arrangement. The distribution of resources allocation across these schemes shows that out of 34 schemes, 70 per cent of the total allocation is for four schemes, namely, the National Social Assistance Programme, externally aided projects, schemes financed from the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with a total allocation of Rs.82,775 crore. Since resources are thinly distributed with a tiny allocation across many schemes, it is time these schemes are consolidated and made into a few national schemes in key sectors; minor schemes can be devolved down to the States with funds. Principles of restructuring: Also, with significantly higher tax devolution to the States, much of the expenditure priorities would have to align in a manner as envisaged in the Constitution. Sectors where significant State spending rather than a “one-size fits all” Union government scheme would be more appropriate are health, education, agriculture and rural development. Now, the larger question crops up. When States are the major spending entities in these sectors, as these functions fall primarily in the functional domain of States, should they not be given the fiscal autonomy to carry out their own programme to address differential needs? In this context, should one be too worried about the decline in spending in the Union Budget for some of these sectors? Instead, the focus should be to reform the non-finance commission transfers to make the transfer system transparent, efficient and fiscally non-intrusive unless required. It is also time we take a comprehensive view of spending by taking the Union and State interventions in sectors where States are the primary provider of services rather than focussing on what is allocated by the Union Government. Finally, this is not to argue that Central intervention does not have a role to play in development spending. Rather, such interventions should be limited to a few national priorities. o
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The 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations have left a fiscal space to the tune of around 15 per cent of the shareable pool for the Union government’s intervention on subjects of a national priority in the social and economic services. This fiscal space, as argued in the report, should be used in the framework of “cooperative federalism” with the active involvement of States on the design, architecture and implementation framework of such schemes to avoid the proliferation of a ‘one size fits all’ CSS, as was the practice in the past. The new juvenile law There was never any doubt that the progressive juvenile law enacted in 2000 was not being implemented properly and that there was a need to revisit its provisions. In many ways, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2015, passed by the Lok Sabha, is a forward-looking and comprehensive enactment that provides for dealing with children in conflict with the law and those requiring care and protection. However, its laudable features have been overshadowed by one provision that states that children in the 16-18 age group will henceforth be tried as adults if they are accused of committing ‘heinous offences’. The government believes that the provision will help address public disquiet over the perception that young offenders are getting away with light punishment after committing crimes such as murder and rape. However, child welfare activists have been saying there is no need to carve out an exception for children in a particular age group solely based on the perceived heinousness of the offence. The division into two groups — one below 16 and another above 16 — goes against the core principle that all children should be treated as such till the age of 18. This age has been fixed based on studies in child behaviour and the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child. A parliamentary Standing Committee opposed the change, noting that subjecting juveniles to the adult judicial system would go against the objective of protecting all children from the rigours of adult justice. It noted that the Supreme Court had not agreed with the view that children involved in certain offences should be tried as adults. In response to criticism, the government has made some changes before getting the Act passed in the Lok Sabha. It has dropped a patently unconstitutional section (Clause 7 in the Bill) that sought to treat as adults, children allegedly committing an offence after the age of 16 but getting arrested only after they are 21. Also, the government has tweaked the wording involved, saying that what the Juvenile Justice Board will hold is a “preliminary assessment” rather than a “preliminary enquiry” into the mental and physical capacity of the child to commit such an offence. It has added by way of explanation that it is not a ‘trial’, obviously to address concerns that the procedure to assess the child’s capacity itself may amount to a regular trial. The prospects of the government making further changes before the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha appear to be bleak. The question before the legislature, and society at large, is this: do we preserve the scope for rehabilitation among young offenders through a benign juvenile law, or derive satisfaction from long prison terms for them? The view from India At an election results breakfast given by the British High Commissioner Sir James Bevan this morning, a journalist said to me, “You remember the old days, Mark.The British elections were a huge event here. They don’t seem to matter much now.” I wouldn’t say they don’t matter. Even though the polling and the results have been competing with the national obsession about the Salman Khan case and Parliament is in session, I, like other foreign journalists, have been kept busy in television studios and at least one network sent a top correspondent to London to cover the elections. I am not sure whether elections in any other country except the U.S. would warrant this sort of coverage. So, I think there is still considerable interest in how Britons vote. But it is not surprising that interest has decreased in an India that is reaching out to the world. In the past there have been issues between the two countries which made the relationship interesting, particularly the relationship between two Prime Ministers. During the Indo-Pakistan war, the normally mild-mannered Lal Bahadur Shastri was outraged by Harold Wilson’s condemnation of the decision to escalate the battle by sending Indian troops across the international frontier. Until that time the war had been confined to attacks across the cease-fire line. Mr. Wilson made matters even worse by telling Mr. Shastri that no weapons that Britain had sent to India to fight against China should be used against Pakistan. Although Mr. Shastri died soon afterwards, the collapse of his relationship with Mr. Wilson continued to impact relations between Britain and India. It left the impression that the Labour Party, previously considered a friend of India, was hostile. Mr. Wilson’s successor, James Callaghan, did a lot to put that right by his joviality when he visited India. On landing at the airport he told ministers, diplomats, and journalists, “I am delighted to be in this great country,” then after a pause and with a big smile, he went on, “I hasten to add that doesn’t mean I have come to re-establish the British Raj.” When the Thatcher neo-liberal evolution was taking place in Britain, Indira Gandhi was following hergareebi hatao socialist policies so it would have been natural to think that relations between the two Iron Ladies would be difficult, and that would have had an impact on relations between the two countries.
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There were very real differences too, for instance over Mrs. Gandhi’s demand that the British police take sterner action against supporters of Sikh separatism in Britain. When she came to India, I certainly got the impression that Mrs. Thatcher had no love for her counterpart. At one stage I found myself standing beside her husband Dennis. After some casual conversation, he said to me with some distaste, “They tell me Indira Gandhi is a bit of a Leftie.” However, I was told by Mrs. Gandhi’s trusted information adviser that, in fact, the two ladies got on very well with each other. He went so far as to say, “They have established a mutual admiration of each other.” I confirmed that during the last interview I did with Mrs. Gandhi on the eve of the Delhi Commonwealth Summit in Delhi. The unlikely friendship between the two Iron Ladies prevented their differences derailing the relationship between the two countries. Will Modi visit the U.K.? David Cameron’s relationship with Narendra Modi got off to a good start. When he was still Chief Minister of Gujarat, the British High Commissioner was the first Western diplomat to call on him, breaking the social boycott that followed the 2002 riots. When Mr. Cameron came to power in 2010, the first foreign country he visited was India. He has visited twice since. So he has clearly demonstrated the importance he gives to India, which is always a way to the heart of Indian leaders, and indeed Indians. But so far this has not been reciprocated by the globe-trotting Mr. Modi. He has visited Germany and France on his travels but he hasn’t crossed the channel to Britain yet. Perhaps he has been waiting for the election to be over. Now may be the time for Mr. Cameron to lure him to Britain with the promise of a Wembley Stadium packed with cheering British Indians. That will certainly notch up Indian interest in Britain for a short time. But for the long term it will be the capitalist leanings of the two Prime Ministers that will give them something in common. If they maintain good personal relations, they could build on their common conviction to increase investment and trade. That will not revive the old love-hate relationship, which added such interest to the relationship, but it could be much more beneficial to both countries. (Mark Tully is the former bureau chief of BBC, New Delhi.) Breakthrough in India-Bangladesh ties The passage of the Bill ratifying the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) is a sign that India’s ‘neighbourhood-first’ policy is beginning to work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deftness in reversing course on this issue within his party and winning support from all others enabled him to fulfil the assurance he had extended to his Bangladeshi counterpart last September in New York. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hailed the event as a new milestone in bilateral relations. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in the name of its Chairperson, Khaleda Zia, described the passage of the Amendment “an important day in our national life.” Significance of LBA India’s relations with Bangladesh had already taken a distinctly positive course since Sheikh Hasina’s 2010 visit to New Delhi. The LBA’s unanimous endorsement is seen in Bangladesh as an affirmation of the general attitude of friendliness towards it in India. “What it has done,” says Shamsul Bari, a prominent resident of Dhaka, “is to create a positive image for India in Bangladesh.” It reflects the resolve of India’s leadership to be fair towards a country that has demonstrated goodwill for India by taking action against insurgent leaders sheltering within its territory, as also its readiness to partner India on mutually supportive connectivity and infrastructure initiatives. India’s decision to opt for international arbitration to settle her maritime boundary with Bangladesh was a similar gesture of goodwill. It signified a deliberate, a priori relinquishment of its claims on the disputed waters, nearly 80 per cent of which have gone to Bangladesh. Negotiations could never have settled this matter since the India-proposed median line was drawn in a way – taking account of the concave configuration of the coast – that the Bangladeshi waters got confined to a narrow triangle between India and Myanmar. By establishing its ability to resolve sensitive, sovereignty-related issues of its land and maritime boundaries and displacement of peoples, India has signalled, just prior to Mr. Modi’s visit to China, that the Sino-Indian border may be ripe for a similar settlement. India’s inability to ratify a 41-year old LBA, which addressed issues of a lesser magnitude than the McMahon Line, had given reason to China to continue to keep on hold the settlement of the boundary dispute with India. India’s land and maritime boundary agreements with Bangladesh also show that intractable issues can be wrapped up between neighbours within an overall relationship of growing trust and friendship. It is also instructive for the issue of Jammu & Kashmir, which can be resolved as a function of improved IndiaPakistan relations, and not the other way around, as sought by Pakistan. Developments in Bangladesh After gaining its freedom, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress. At a time when Bangladesh was emerging from a quarter century of neglect and the trauma of war, and it was derisively dismissed as “an international basket case”,
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few could have imagined its evolution as a flourishing multiparty democracy and, arguably, as the most socially dynamic South Asian country. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had prophesied this at her public rally in Dhaka in March 1972: “I am confident that you will go forward step-by-step, and that with each step Bangladesh will become stronger, and that the progress you will achieve will not be limited to a few people, but extend to all your people and reach every doorstep whether in villages and towns. It is then that your country will become ‘Sonar Bangla’ — Golden Bangladesh.” In the 20 years following 1990, Bangladesh has reduced absolute poverty almost by half, from nearly 60 per cent to just over 30 per cent, together with improved child health and nutrition, reduced infant and maternal mortality, greater access to drinking water and sanitation, and gender parity in primary and secondary education. There has been a sharp decline in the fertility rate, and steady growth in women’s employment. Targeted industrial development has made Bangladesh the fourth largest garment exporter globally. A disquieting element is the periodic visitation of political violence in Bangladesh, whose latest bout was inspired by BNP, with storm troopers provided by the Jamaat-e-Islami, which has still not come to terms with the logic of 1971. Many of its leaders have been sentenced in the war crimes trials that have targeted the Razakars — employed by the Pakistan Army against the liberation movement. If Islam-pasand forces regain political space within Bangladesh, they could replicate the mayhem that exists today in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Any regime change that places power in their hands will result in the Inter Services Intelligence’s re-establishment in Bangladesh and terrorist attacks in India from Bangladeshi soil. The promise of partnership With Bangladesh’s growing prosperity, trade with India has grown. Indian exports more than doubled over the past five years, from $2.7 billion to $6.1 billion in 2013-14. Bangladeshi exports last year were at $462 million. A World Bank estimate places illegal trade at three-fourths of regular trade, mostly constituted by Indian exports of consumables. The barbed wire fence constructed by India is permeable to all manner of goods, including live animals. The transaction costs of trade remain extraordinarily high, with forced transshipment of goods at the border and the absence of coastal shipping. Customs and documentation requirements are not up to international standards. India could redress the trade imbalance with greater facilitation, further reducing non-tariff barriers, and promoting Bangladesh’s industrialization. All these issues are now receiving attention. The three prime areas of economic cooperation and investment between India and Bangladesh are energy, infrastructure, and connectivity. The 71-kilometre Baharampur-Bheramara transmission grid now carries 500MW of electricity to Bangladesh. This supply will soon double. Partnership in energy has been a two-way process. Bangladesh facilitated the transportation, by the riverine route, of the two 300-tonne gas turbines for the Palatana power project in Tripura, along with 88 other packages of overdimensional cargo — virtually impossible to carry through the serpentine, single-lane roads of northern Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura. Now, 100MW of power will flow to Bangladesh from Palatana. When additional hydropower becomes available from Bhutan and, later, from India’s northeast, Bangladesh will benefit from these, while wheeling electricity through its grid for supply to other Indian states. India is promoting Bangladesh’s energy security by encouraging investments in power generation. On the anvil are a 1,320MW coal-fired plant in Rampal, and a 130-kilometre long ‘Friendship Pipeline’ from Siliguri for supply of one million tonnes of diesel annually. For countries that share so much in common across densely populated frontiers, more people-to-people initiatives are needed to stoke shared memories, including revival of railway routes (such as between Kolkata and Khulna) and bus connections (between Shillong and Sylhet, effectively connecting Guwahati and Dhaka). India could strengthen Bangladesh’s short term liquidity by offering it a currency swap facility similar to the one provided to Sri Lanka. Fresh credit commitments will be needed for road, railways, and waterways connectivity projects. Bangladesh will require help to ensure navigable depth for the Inland Water Protocol routes, and to develop Ashuganj as a transshipment point, with a railway link from Akhaura to Agartala. Bangladeshi business and industry will gain from connectivity and infrastructure investments, as also India’s northeast. The linking of Nepal, Bhutan, and India’s northeast to Bangladeshi ports might help make Bangladesh the natural bridge between South and Southeast Asia. India and Bangladesh are seminal to each other’s progress and prosperity. By the smooth passage of the 119th Amendment Indian parliamentarians have conveyed to the people of Bangladesh that India wishes them well and is ready to work with them cooperatively as their preferred partner. To China with a clear strategy Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to China, is of considerable interest not only to peoples inhabiting the two countries, but also to leaders and strategic analysts globally. In China, Mr. Modi will be visiting Xian, Beijing and Shanghai over three days, before leaving for Mongolia and South Korea. Mr. Modi’s visit follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to India in September 2014. There is a great deal hinging on its outcome with China being viewed today as a pivot-state, and India the only nation in the region capable of maintaining the balance in the region.
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For his part, Mr. Modi has, no doubt, indicated that trade and economic ties with China would be his main priority. However, there is much more to an Indian Prime Minister’s visit to China than economic relations — unstated though this may be. This visit is again taking place at a time when China has unveiled a new strategic vision, and elements of the strategy conform to Sun Tzu’s principle of “winning without fighting”. It implicitly includes rewarding nations that it perceives as “friends” and, by implication, excluding nations that stand in its way. New security paradigm China is also currently affording an opportunity to nations in the region to become a part of a Beijing-contrived “security alliance”, holding out the promise of a new Asian security paradigm, previously embedded in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Code of Conduct for Asia” (2014). The latter contained a veiled “warning” to countries forging military alliances to counter China. Perhaps, having waded too far out by its references to the issue of maritime disputes in the South China Sea at various regional fora, and more explicitly in the Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region following the U.S. President Barack Obama-Modi meeting in New Delhi in January this year, the Prime Minister may, hence, need to indulge in some intricate balancing acts to win the confidence of his hosts. Many Western analysts believe that China is presently demonstrating a degree of “strategic autism”, resulting from its growing power. The Indian side needs to factor this in its calculations. Under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, China had, by and large, displayed a benign face. It was during this period, in 2008, that India and China unveiled a “Joint Strategic Vision for the 21st Century”. This was considered unusual even then for China generally finds it difficult to endorse a common vision. Under Mr. Xi, China has moved away from Deng Xiaoping’s injunction “to hide our capabilities and bide our time and never claim leadership”. It now countenances the employment of diplomacy as an instrument for the effective application of Chinese power in support of China’s ambitious and long-term foreign policy agenda. Effectively, therefore, the 2008 “Shared Vision Concept” is all but buried, and it would be useful to see what happens next. The Indian side must avoid falling into any kind of trap of arriving at decisions on strategic issues, made seemingly easy by the Chinese employing very simplified, schematic representations of highly complex realities. Meanwhile, current realities in the region are becoming more complex having entered a period fraught with change. The emergence of new dangers in West Asia, the uncertainty in Afghanistan, with the Islamic State (IS) now siding with the Taliban, tensions among different nations in South-East Asia and East Asia, and evidence of increasing Chinese assertiveness, have produced an unstable equilibrium. Impact of developments Consequently, while there are many issues that would be uppermost in Mr. Modi’s mind, the visit provides an excellent opportunity for him to assess, at first hand, where China is headed. It will give him a chance to estimate the potential impact of recent developments on Sino-Indian relations. The Prime Minister could begin by making a realistic appraisal of China’s “Defence Posture” and the kind of threat this poses to India. Rising defence budgets (the 2015 defence Budget is estimated at $141.5 billion — the 26th year of normal double digit increases since 1989), unveiling of a host of new state-of-the-art weapons such as the DF-21D “Carrier Killer” antiship ballistic missile (the Assassin’s Mace according to the United States) and the J-20 stealth fighter aircraft, employment of asymmetric tactics which conform to Sun Tzu’s precepts, all send out a clear message that China is no longer willing to watch from the sidelines where its immediate and long-term security interests are concerned. ‘Outreach’ programme Mr. Modi would also have the opportunity to understand, first hand, the implications of China’s “Outreach Programme”. The launch of the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has already demonstrated Beijing’s determination to build an alternative financial architecture. The “One Belt, One Road” initiative (inclusive of a Silk Road Development Fund) aims to boost connectivity with China’s Central Asian neighbours, and establish a Eurasian land corridor from the Pacific Coast to the Baltic Sea, which possibly signals China’s determination to undermine the U.S. Pivot to Asia. The ‘Maritime Silk Road’ concept is possibly an even more audacious move, with plans to connect more than 50 countries via the sea and build a network of port cities along the Silk Road. This could well result in circumventing and circumscribing India’s own outreach diplomacy. The ambit of China’s “Public Diplomacy” including the rapid expansion of Confucius Institutes (there are over 415 such institutes around the globe including around 15 in India at present) also merits the Prime Minister’s attention. The interconnecting links between these Institutes and the authorities in China are matters which require to be better understood in the context of China’s current “soft power” offensive. As in the case of China’s “Peaceful Rise”, there is room for worry and concern. China has already notched up several diplomatic successes — some of these will have an adverse impact on India’s external relations. The transformation in China-Russia relations is clearly one. This has been facilitated by the $400 billion gas deal, but it should not be overlooked that Russia was possibly the first overseas destination for Mr. Xi.
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What should specially concern India and Mr. Modi, is that China and Russia are now determined to deepen their “comprehensive strategic partnership” and “contribute to lasting world peace”. Likewise, China has gained a strategic beachhead in West Asia with its Iran connection. China is reaping the reward of standing by Iran. This will clearly put India on the back foot in a region which it has carefully nursed for a long time. China-Pakistan connection However, it is the further deepening of the China-Pakistan connection that should be cause for graver concern, and Mr. Modi could seek from his Chinese host what exactly China’s intentions are. The $46 billion promised by China for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which would link western China with the Gwadar port in Pakistan through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), by itself is worthy of India’s attention, but it is also apparent that the quid pro quo includes China gaining strategic access to the Gwadar port. The “pivot” to Pakistan in recent months, reflects Mr. Xi’s personal preferences after the equivocation of the Hu-Wen period. All in all, it might be useful for the Prime Minister to tread with caution lest unexpected consequences follow improbable causes. This is especially true when matters relate to the rules of engagement between neighbouring states that have witnessed troubled relations in the past. The underlying reason for concern is that China seems to be maximising power without purpose. The “logic of strategy” of such situations is that it inevitably provokes a confrontational atmosphere. In China’s evaluation, it is already the predominant power in the region. It now seeks to translate its power into influence. Sharing power is farthest from its mind, and “strategic altruism” is not a quality that China — or for that matter most countries — possesses. India must remain alert to these eventualities when matters concerning strategic realities are discussed. The combination of an excess of nationalism, belief in exceptionalism, and of the inevitability of a Sino-centric world that is being fostered under President Xi Jinping, does have inevitable consequences which countries like India cannot overlook. This requires Mr. Modi to focus clearly on the strategic aspects of the relationship, and less on trade and economic ties. It is the strategic content that heightens the importance of a meeting of minds when the leaders of India and China meet. Exclusionary intent Taking a cue from a pending case in the Supreme Court the BJP government is all set to formalise a policy for granting citizenship to Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh while it will continue its battle to rid India of ‘infiltrators’ from that country. This reduction of a complex history of migration across India’s eastern border into this loaded formulation was articulated repeatedly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election. In a speech made in Assam in February 2014, for instance, he said: “We have a responsibility towards Hindus harassed in other countries. Where will they go? We will have to accommodate them here.” In another speech made later the same month in West Bengal the target was a different type of immigrant. “Those who are taking away jobs here have to leave. The priority is jobs for the youth of this country. That is our first responsibility,” he said. More recently, BJP president Amit Shah has made the granting of citizenship to Hindu immigrants, and the expulsion of illegals, a key poll promise as the BJP gears up for the Assam Assembly elections. These statements are underscored by a broader ideological position, as mentioned in the BJP election manifesto, that India should be the natural home for persecuted Hindus who could seek refuge here. This has overtones of exclusionary doctrines like the Law of Return in Israel that gives Jews the right to live and seek citizenship there. During the NDA’s last stint in power an amendment to the Citizenship Act was affected in 2003 that made it easier for Hindus who had come from Pakistan and were residing in Gujarat and Rajasthan to be given citizenship. Attempting something similar for eastern India, however, will prove more problematic. Since the Supreme Court case covers the period from 1971 the government will have to specify a time period during which it feels that Hindus and other minorities faced persecution in Bangladesh. Depending on which period is chosen this could complicate ties with Bangladesh as that would amount to casting aspersions on its ability to protect minorities. Given that this is a good moment in the confidence-building process between the two countries, with India just having passed the Land Boundary Agreement; such a partisan move could rock the boat again. Rather than make these calculations it would have been infinitely better if India had a national policy on refugees or was a signatory to the 1951 refugee convention under which signatories are obliged not to send refugees back to where they have a well-founded fear of persecution. In the absence of a coherent policy such issues will continue to be decided in an ad hoc manner, driven by ideologicalpolitical considerations. For a ‘Look northwest’ policy The uneventful visit of the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani to New Delhi last month has further strengthened the widespread belief that India is losing strategic influence and geopolitical standing as far as its northwestern frontier is concerned especially Iran and Afghanistan.
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Just a year ago, during the Karzai presidency, India was the “most favoured nation” in Afghanistan. Today, there is a perceptible change in the new Afghan government’s attitude towards India. For instance, no major agreements were signed during Mr. Ghani’s visit and the India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement of 2011, hardly figured in the agenda. Indeed, India’s new northwestern strategic environment, in which the relegation of the Indo-Afghan strategic partnership is merely one element, is undergoing a grand geopolitical transformation, but New Delhi seems to be clueless about how to engage with it. Moreover, it is worrisome that while the most formidable challenges to India’s national security invariably originate from its northwestern frontiers, both historically and presently, the focus of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has primarily been on the global stage and the country’s southern and eastern neighbours. Regional power vacuum The most important element of the new strategic landscape in Southern Asia is the ongoing withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan and the resultant power vacuum, as well as the subsequent rebalancing of forces in the region. China has begun the process of filling the post-American power vacuum, albeit without military involvement for the moment. The withdrawal by the U.S. and the attendant strategic uncertainty could also provide a favourable environment for forces like the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) to enhance their influence in the region. This clearly worries Kabul. Given the American withdrawal and India’s unwillingness to involve itself militarily in Afghanistan, Mr. Ghani is left with no choice but to engage both Pakistan and China. Moreover, he realises that Beijing is perhaps the only actor today that has some traction in Islamabad. It is this that has led to a flurry of activity among the three countries. On the one hand, China is enhancing its influence in the region with the unveiling of its innovative ‘New Silk Road’ strategy and by offering economic and developmental assistance to Pakistan, while on the other Beijing is also increasingly engaged in regional “conflict management” initiatives by mediating between Kabul and the Taliban, and organising trilateral strategic engagements with Afghanistan and Pakistan. In November 2014, for instance, representatives of the Taliban from its Doha-based office met in Beijing for talks. In February this year, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Liu Jianchao, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, and the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Hekmat Karzai, met in Kabul for the inaugural round of a new trilateral strategic dialogue. New Delhi has been disappointingly quiet in the face of these strategically significant developments, unable and unwilling to contribute towards stabilising the region. Af-Pak rapprochement The second significant component is the newfound warmth between Kabul and Islamabad. Abandoning the trend of public spats, they are now on a path of cooperation and friendship, or so it seems. Immediately after assuming office, Mr. Ghani signalled a desire for reconciliation with Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In his September 2014 “five-circle” foreign policy speech, not only did he place Pakistan in the first circle of countries that are most important to Afghanistan (with India in the fourth circle), but also took the unprecedented step of visiting the Pakistan Army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, a gesture signifying the deep policy changes under way in Kabul. Pakistan has also been making efforts to strengthen its relationship with Afghanistan; its Army and the intelligence chiefs have already visited Kabul to discuss joint counter-terrorism measures and to enhance the fight against terror. More importantly, given Chinese concerns about terrorism and its increasing influence on its borderlands, the Af-Pak rapprochement will most likely be superintended by China. While this in itself need not concern New Delhi, Islamabad is deeply suspicious of any cooperation between India and Afghanistan. Therefore, the worry in New Delhi that the Af-Pak rapprochement could have zero-sum implications for India is indeed a legitimate one. The third major driver is the mainstreaming of radical Islamist terrorism in the form of the rise of the IS and the resurgence of the Taliban. While the West Asian region is currently the hotbed of Islamist terrorism, the Southern Asian region would not only be a potential target of such forces but also a fertile breeding ground. There are already reports of growing support for the IS in the region and its focus there. The IS has reportedly made some inroads into Pakistan and some Pakistan-based terror outfits have offered their allegiance to the organisation. While there may not be any ideological unity among them, the IS has the dangerous potential of providing a “wave of the future call” to the disparate terror outfits in the region. The IS has also been making recruitments from India; the speech by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in July last year specifically referred to the “atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir”. For India in particular, the potential resurgence of the Taliban and the rise of the IS have dangerous implications. The belief, in this context, that by merely strengthening its borders, India would be able to survive the scourge of terrorism is a mistaken one. Iran as game changer The fourth major variable is the mainstreaming of Iran into the contemporary international system. Israel and Saudi Arabia have not made peace with the idea of a normalised Tehran-West relationship, and the nuclear deal between
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P5+1 and Iran is still being finalised. Yet, Iran is potentially the new game changer in West Asian geopolitics. A strong, self-confident and internationally mainstreamed Tehran could help stabilise the region, and the world is increasingly cognisant of that: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made a smart move by visiting Tehran last month. Western companies are already courting Tehran to advance their business interests. The question is whether India would be favoured by Iran as it has not been a supporter of Tehran in the recent past. New Delhi’s votes against Tehran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) still remains a blot. Given the huge strategic stakes New Delhi has in Iran, it should have been playing a proactive role by facilitating Iran’s mainstreaming, or at the least maintained an “independent” Iran policy. It is indeed encouraging that New Delhi has reached out to Tehran by inking a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the Chabahar port which could be India’s gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia. India did the right thing to ignore the unsolicited advice of the U.S. Under Secretary, Wendy Sherman, who told New Delhi to “wait for a final nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers before actively engaging with Tehran”. Southern Asian realignment The last variable is the Chinese ability to realign the balance of power equations in the South, West and Central Asian regions, and the manner in which it would go about doing so. The U.S. may or may not be on the decline, but its standing and influence in the Southern Asian region certainly is. The country that is increasingly willing and able to take the responsibility of being the regional balancer is China. This is evident in the flurry of high-level visits between China and countries in these regions to discuss development assistance, trade, arms sales and technical assistance. India’s engagement with China focusses on bilateral trade and border incursions. While they are important, it is also important to engage China at the broader regional level in the larger Southern Asian region. Explaining the non-strategy One of the major reasons why India is unable to devise prudent and timely strategies to engage the northwestern region is due to its obsession with great power diplomacy. New Delhi takes great pride in engaging the great powers of the international system and this is often done at the expense of engaging its northwestern neighbourhood. With the relatively small corps of diplomats that it has, New Delhi can only do so much. Hence, if much of the attention is diverted to great power diplomacy, there would be no space for important neighbours in connection with the government’s strategic agenda. A cursory comparison of the BJP government’s engagement with the U.S. and other great powers with say Afghanistan, Iran or Pakistan, would clarify the point being made. Second, Indian diplomacy seems to be trapped in compulsive bilateralism wherein it is unable to think beyond bilaterally engaging the neighbours, or the great powers. While there has been engagement with Beijing on a variety of bilateral issues, India has not been able to join forces with China and other neighbours in fighting terror, stabilising Afghanistan, addressing the IS threat or even mainstreaming Iran. Why, for instance, does New Delhi not find it useful to join the regional fora aimed at stabilising Afghanistan or even initiate such a forum with like-minded countries? The third reason is in its unwillingness to have a sustained dialogue with Pakistan. One way or another, due to geostrategic reasons, Pakistan plays a crucial role in the Southern Asian subsystem. Given the absence of a dialogue between the two adversarial sides, Islamabad will continue to harm Indian interests in the region, be it Afghanistan or with China. If New Delhi wishes to proactively engage its northwestern neighbourhood, it needs to engage Pakistan, bilaterally and multilaterally. Finally, New Delhi should realise that the remedies to the region’s problems lie within the region, and not in the Western capitals. Therefore, Mr. Modi needs to spend more time in the neighbourhood. New Delhi also needs to articulate a “pivot to northwest” policy.
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WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS FROM MAY 14TH TO 20TH, 2015 2015 INTERNATIONAL NEWS Vatican recognises State of Palestine The Vatican has concluded its first treaty that formally recognises the State of Palestine, with an agreement on Catholic Church activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, according to the Holy See. The agreement "aims to enhance the life and activities of the Catholic Church and its recognition at the judicial level", said Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, the Vatican's deputy foreign minister who led its delegation in the talks. Vatican officials stressed that although the agreement was significant, it certainly did not constitute the Holy See's first recognition of the State of Palestine. "We have recognised the State of Palestine ever since it was given recognition by the United Nations and it is already listed as the State of Palestine in our official yearbook," Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesperson, said. On November 29, 2012, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognising Palestine as an observer non-member state. This was welcomed at the time by the Vatican, which has the same observer non-member status at the UN. During a three-day visit to the Middle East a year ago, Pope Francis delighted his Palestinian hosts by referring to the "state of Palestine", giving support for their bid for full statehood recognition. Hindus’ population share in U.S. doubles in 7 years The proportion of Christians in the U.S. population dropped by ten per cent over the last seven years, even as Hindus and Muslims nearly doubled their share, according to a recent study. In its report on “America’s Changing Religious Landscape” released, the Pew Research Center said that while the U.S. remained home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and roughly seven out of ten Americans continued to identify with some branch of the Christian faith, “growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.” The Pew study found that while the proportion of Christians across sub-denominations dropped from 78.4 per cent in 2007 to 70.6 per cent in 2014, the figure for Hindus rose from 0.4 to 0.7 per cent during that period, and similarly for Muslims it rose from 0.4 to 0.9 per cent. Well educated The report also shed light on attributes of specific religious communities within the U.S., noting for example that more than one in ten immigrants identified with a non-Christian faith, such as Islam or Hinduism, and that Hindus and Jews continued to be the most highly educated religious traditions. Thirty-six per cent of Hindus said their annual family income exceeded $100,000, compared with 19 per cent of the public overall, and 34 per cent of the community made between $50,000 and $99,999. The population of U.S. Hindus also appeared skewed towards younger cohorts, with 56 per cent of them falling within the age range of 30-49 years and 34 per cent within the 18-29 categories. Unsurprisingly an overwhelming majority, 91 per cent, of U.S. Hindus were of Asian origin, with only four per cent or lower percentage each being white, black, Latino or mixed. Japan has the WC wired, global acclaim pours in Japan is readying to lift the lid on what could be its most effective global marketing gimmick yet: the high-tech toilet seat. Few foreign visitors make it through their first day in Japan without singing praises of this epitome of Japanese know-how: a contraption that offers both comforting warmth and a frighteningly accurate bidet jet. Now the government appears ready to capitalise on the enthusiasm and is set to talk up toilet technology as it launches a worldwide drive to promote Japan’s prowess in innovation for the smallest room. Clean toilets equipped with various features “will be a plus for tourism”, and will be included in a growth strategy to be compiled this summer. The government will consider installing more high-tech toilets in areas frequented by tourists, such as airports, it said. The nation might also produce promotional videos for foreigners in a bid to showcase the comfort of Japanese toilets ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the newspaper said. Nearly every household in Japan and most public restrooms are equipped with a powered seat. At their most basic, they simply get warm, while at the other end, they boast motion sensors, high-power odour-neutralisers and variable water jets, all tailored to conserve energy and water. The seats are also among the most popular items targeted by Chinese tourists, ranking alongside high-spec rice cookers and cosmetics. Motion sensors, high-power odour-neutralisers and variable water jets, all tailored to conserve energy and water
Modi, Xi get down to tackling tough issues Using the historical backdrop of Xian and the shared link of Buddhism between their countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping discussed how to build better cooperation and trust between India and China. Difficult issues dominated the discourse between the two leaders, including the boundary row, balance of trade, cooperation on tackling terrorism and also the issue of trans-boundary rivers. No mention was made of China’s Silk Road initiative and the economic corridor in Pakistan which will run through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
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Beijing hopes New Delhi will extend e-visa facility A large part of the conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping revolved around enhancing trade ties, especially India’s concern over the growing trade deficit which is more than $40 billion in China’s favour, as well as China’s concerns on India’s “investment climate,” which includes connectivity, red tape, unhappiness over visa and security restrictions for Chinese businessmen. Aamir, Jackie Chan to star in Kung Fu Yoga Chinese film regulators announced three China-India co-production films featuring Bollywood star Aamir Khan and kungfu star Jackie Chan, coinciding with the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kung Fu Yoga, a perfect combination of Chinese martial arts and Indian culture, will star Jackie Chan and Aamir Khan. All the three films are commissioned under a filmmaking agreement between China and India, signed during President Xi Jinping’s 2014 India visit. Co-production films will help Indian films gain access to China by circumventing a quota system for imported films. It is also expected to benefit Chinese films. Though no match for the success of Hollywood, Bollywood films have also gained popularity in China in recent years. Overture to Tamils: No more ‘Victory Day’ The Sri Lankan government, in yet another demonstration of its approach to provide healing touch to Tamils, announced that May 19, regarded as Victory Day for the last five years to mark the LTTE’s defeat, would no longer be observed so. Instead, it would be a day of remembrance for all those who died in the Eelam War-IV and who became disabled for the unity of this country, irrespective of ethnicity. It would be a day that culminated the end of separatism. However, on the day, there would be a military parade to be held in Matara in the south. 800 migrants rescued off Indonesia About 800 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants have been rescued off Indonesia, as Myanmar undermines calls for a co-ordinated response to Southeast Asia's human-trafficking crisis by threatening to boycott a planned summit. Hundreds more migrants were aboard a boat that was intercepted offshore by Indonesia's navy, a military spokesman said, while authorities worked out what to do with it. The Indonesian and Malaysian policy of turning away stricken boats filled with Bangladeshis and ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar has been met with outrage, including from Washington and the United Nations. Activists estimate up to 8000 migrants may be at sea in Southeast Asia, with horrific tales emerging of passengers abandoned by abusive smugglers, horribly cramped conditions, starvation and death. In his first public comments on the issue, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was 'very concerned with the plight of migrants' but gave no indication of a policy shift on an issue that has caused regional finger-pointing. 'We are in contact with all relevant parties, with whom we share the desire to find a solution to this crisis,' he said in a statement, without elaborating. It was not clear whether those 'relevant parties' include Myanmar, which faces harsh criticism of its treatment of Rohingya and snubbed neighbouring Thailand's call for a regional meeting on the problem on May 29. The unfolding humanitarian crisis appears to have been precipitated by a Thai police crackdown that has thrown busy people-smuggling routes into chaos just as a surge of migrants has taken to the sea. Regional governments have been roundly chastised for what Human Rights Watch described as a deadly game of 'human ping pong' in rejecting migrants. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was 'appalled' at the migrant boat pushbacks 'which will inevitably lead to many avoidable deaths'. Libya's official government bans Bangladeshi workers from entry Libya's official government has banned Bangladeshi workers from entering the country because many were trying to travel on illegally by boat to Europe, a government spokesman said. The North African country, gripped by violence and a breakdown of state authority four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, has turned into a major hub for human traffickers smuggling African migrants by boat to Italy. "Bangladeshi workers will be banned from entry into Libya," said Hatem Uraibi, spokesman for Libya's internationally recognised government, which has been based in the east since losing control of the capital Tripoli last year. "They come for work for Libyan firms but then embark on illegal migration (to Europe)," Uraibi told Reuters. "The ban is part of government efforts to fight illegal emigration." As many as 900 people may have died last month off Libya's coast when their packed boat capsized as they were trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa. The U.N. refugee agency says 51,000 migrants have entered Europe by crossing the Mediterranean so far this year. The flow has prompted European Union plans for naval and air operations to target smuggler vessels. Libya is mired in conflict with the two rival governments allied to former rebel groups which helped topple Gaddafi but now fight each other in a complicated struggle involving tribes, competing regions, Islamists and political parties. In 2 decades, 55% jump in Indians drinking alcohol India is now the third largest consumer of alcohol in the world, according to a global report on alcohol consumption patterns. And this has medical professionals and healthcare workers in India worried about the health repercussions of drinking.
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The per capita consumption of alcohol in India increased by a whopping 55% in the 20-year period from 1992-2012, according to a report by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The report, released on May 12, also points out a sharp increase in risky drinking behaviour (such as binge drinking), particularly among young people and women. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, an oncologist at the Tata Memorial Hospital, pointed out that the rapid rise in alcohol consumption is an alarming statistic for public health. "So far, alcohol has not been considered a public health problem and we lack alcohol control policies from a public health perspective. These reports and studies clearly underline the need for a comprehensive national policy on alcohol control." He noted that alochol consumption is casually related to cancers of the mouth, oropharynx, liver, oesophagus and breast. "It is sad that such a toxic and carcinogenic compound is being brazenly advertised and consumed by ever increasing number of youngsters without any warning," said Dr Chaturvedi. The OECD report is not the first one to highlight the dangers of alcohol consumption. Earlier, in XXXX, the Mumbai Cohort Study, which studied 35,102 men aged 45 years and older for five years, noted that alcohol consumption increased the risk of mortality from several types of cancers, heart disease and liver cirrhosis. "The study also demonstrated that the risk multiplies when alcohol is consumed along with tobacco, another lethal consumer product that is easily available," said Dr PC Gupta, director, Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health. Globally, alcohol consumption results in approximately 3.3 million deaths each year (WHO Global Status Report on alcohol and health, 2014). It is the third largest risk factor for disease and disability in the world. Alcohol is known to be the leading risk factor for death among the economically and socially productive age group of 15-49 year old men and has grave implications in terms of a society's over all development. Alcohol abuse amounts to huge annual losses due to alcohol-related problems at workplaces. Nearly 25 per cent of all road accidents in India occur under the influence of alcohol. Guyana swears in new president who ended foes' 23-year rule A retired army general was sworn in as Guyana's new president after his multi-ethnic opposition coalition won the South American country's general elections and ended a 23-year reign by the People's Progressive Party. David Granger said that Guyana's democracy has been fortified and that he views himself a president for all of the people as thousands of supporters clad in the party's yellow-and-green colors cheered him outside Parliament. His party has pledged to end racial divisions that long have marked politics in Guyana, a country of nearly 746,000 people who are mainly of Indian and African descent. Granger, 69, became Guyana's eighth president since the country gained independence from Britain in 1966. Guyana's elections commission said Granger's Partnership for National Unity-Alliance for Change Coalition won 207,200 votes. WHO: Under-5 mortality down 50% since 1990 Almost half the child deaths worldwide are still caused due to under-nutrition despite substantial progress made to reduce under-five mortality, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat has said. Between 1990 and 2013, under-five mortality declined by 49%, falling from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1,000 live births to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births. The global rate of decline has also accelerated significantly, from 1.2% per annum between 1990 and 1995 to 4% per annum between 2005 and 2013. About 17,000 fewer children died every day in 2013 than in 1990. "Despite the evidence of progress, the gains remain insufficient to reach the target of a two-thirds reduction from 1990 levels of mortality by the year 2015," the report. The report also pointed to at the slower decline in neonatal mortality rate and its increasing proportion in total underfive deaths. In 1990, neonatal deaths accounted for 37% of the total under-five children deaths, and the share increased to 44% in 2013. The observations are significant with 22% of the total under-five deaths occurring in India. Estimates show that in 2013, over 15 lakh under-five children died in India. Child mortality is also high in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. However, the report observed India's efforts to control deaths due to diarrhoea and pneumonia, which contribute almost 24% of the total under-five deaths. The annual Health Assembly, a supreme decision-making body of WHO, will be attended by delegations from 194 WHO member countries, who will review activities of WHO through the year and set priorities for the future. This year, India has assumed presidency at the global event after a gap of 19 years. The report, titled 'Monitoring of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals', lists other issues such as maternal mortality, people suffering from hunger, reproductive health as well as spread of HIV. Saudi Arabia advertises for eight new executioners as beheading rate soars Saudi Arabia is advertising for eight new executioners, recruiting extra staff to carry out an increasing number of death sentences, usually done by public beheading. No special qualifications are needed for the jobs whose main role is “executing a judgment of death” but also involve performing amputations on those convicted of lesser offences, the advert, posted on the civil service jobs portal, said.
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The Islamic kingdom is in the top five countries in the world for putting people to death, rights groups say. It ranked third in 2014, after China and Iran, and ahead of Iraq and the United States, according to Amnesty International figures. Saudi authorities have not said why the number of executions has increased so rapidly, but diplomats have speculated it may be because more judges have been appointed, allowing a backlog of appeal cases to be heard. Political analysts say it might also reflect a tough response by the judiciary to regional turbulence. EU Approves Military Plan to Target Migrant Traffickers European Union nations approved plans for a naval operation to go after the human trafficking networks that are sending thousands of migrants weekly across the Mediterranean toward Europe or to their deaths. NATO said it stood ready to help out if needed. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she expects the operation to be fully launched next month after Britain, France, Italy and other nations pledge military equipment. More than 10,000 migrants have been picked up alive from Mediterranean waters in recent weeks as they attempted to enter Europe from Libya. The International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly 1,830 migrants have died on the sea route this year compared to 207 in the same period last year. The first phase of the EU plan centers on intelligence gathering and surveillance of smuggling routes leading from Libya to southern Italy and Malta. After that, EU ships would start chasing and boarding the smugglers' boats in a second phase. The 28-nation bloc is still seeking a U.N. resolution that would give them full legal protection as they destroy the smugglers' boats in a third phase of the plan. "The fundamental point is not so much the destruction of the vessels but it is the destruction of the business model of the traffickers," said Mogherini. Given that the summer high season for trafficking is rapidly approaching, she said speed was of the essence. Beyond saving the lives of desperate migrants, an effective operation against traffickers might also deal terrorism a blow, she said. "If you look at business model of the traffickers and the flows of money involved in trafficking, it may be that that money is financing terrorist activities," she said. Stressing the same point, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said "one of the problems is that there might be foreign fighters, there might be terrorists, also trying to hide, to blend in" on the smugglings vessels trying to cross over into Europe. Despite the show of unity on the military action, the EU showed increasing divisions on the plan for mandatory quotas for member states to take in refugees, with Spain now joining France, Britain and Hungary speaking out against it. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the proposed quota for Spain doesn't take into account the nation's sky-high jobless rate of 24 percent and its efforts to prevent illegal migration from African nations. The EU has been under increasing pressure to take action to clamp down on the trafficking networks that have allowed thousands to die in Mediterranean waters over the past few years. To support its naval operation, the EU is looking for U.N. backing to make the anti-smuggling effort as comprehensive as possible. The operation becomes tricky as soon as the boarding and seizure of smuggled vessels in international waters comes into play. A U.N. resolution would likely become even more imperative if EU nations start destroying smuggling vessels, sometimes in Libyan territorial waters. To tackle Make in India, Beijing unveils Made in China 2025 After India’s launch of the high-profile ‘Make in India’ campaign last year, championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China unveiled its ‘Made in China 2025’ plan endorsed by Premier Li Keqiang. The state media said the plan was the “country’s first action plan focusing on manufacturing” and quoted officials as saying it has been put in place to tackle competition from “emerging economies like India”. Official news agency, Xinhua quoted Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology (MITT), as saying that the realisation of the plan means “by 2025 ... China will basically realise industrialisation nearly equal to the manufacturing abilities of Germany and Japan at their early stages of industrialisation”. Manufacturing sectors in China and India are at very different levels of development. Though the sector is showing signs of slowing, China continues to be considered the manufacturing hub of the world while the sector in India is underdeveloped. Chinese manufacturing accounts for about 20% of the world’s total but clearly the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), led by President Xi Jinping, realises the economic road ahead is far from smooth. China’s new plan seems to have been drawn up to ensure it continues to have the edge in manufacturing even as cost of production rises, demand decreases and competition increases, eating into its list of comparative advantages. The new plan focuses sharply on innovation. Some of the key sectors the plan will focus on are new information technology, robotics, aerospace, ocean engineering, railway, new energy vehicles, power, medicine and agricultural machinery. The plan will be market-oriented but guided by the government.
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NATIONAL NEWS India way behind on WHO health targets India has met only four of ten health targets under the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), and has made next to no progress on another four, according to new data from the World Health Organisation. The deadline for achieving MDGs runs out this year.The WHO’s annual World Health Statistics for 2015 were released in Geneva. The report finds that globally, life expectancy at birth has increased by six years for both men and women since 1990. “By the end of this year if current trends continue, the world will have met global targets for turning around the epidemics of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and increasing access to safe drinking water. It will also have made substantial progress in reducing child undernutrition, maternal and child deaths, and increasing access to basic sanitation,” the report says. Infant mortality Progress in child survival worldwide is one of the greatest success stories of international development, the WHO says, and pre-term birth complications have replaced neo-natal complications and disease as the biggest source of mortality for children under the age of five. Since 1990, child deaths have almost halved — falling from an estimated 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46 deaths per 1000 live births in 2013. Yet the world will not achieve the MDG target of reducing the death rate by two-thirds. “Less than one-third of all countries has achieved or is on track to meet this target by the end of this year. The top killers of children aged less than 5 years are now: pre-term birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia and diarrhoea,” the report says. In India, life expectancy grew by eight years between 1990 and 2013. While India has sharply reduced its infant mortality between 2000 and 2013, it still contributes for the most infant deaths globally. Non-communicable diseases are the top killers, followed by communicable diseases and injuries. In September, countries will decide on new goals for 2030. “In addition to finishing the MDG agenda, the post-2015 agenda needs to tackle emerging challenges, including the growing impact of non-communicable diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, and the changing social and environmental determinants that affect health,” it says. Politicians lose space in govt. ads In a landmark judgment holding that taxpayers’ money cannot be spent to build the “personality cults” of political leaders, the Supreme Court restrained the government from publishing the photographs of political leaders, Ministers or prominent persons in government advertisements. The court said such photos tended to portray a government project as the achievement of a particular individual and thus paved the way for a “personality cult.” Such personal glorification and image-making at public expense was a “direct antithesis of democratic functioning,” it held. And that too, pointed out the judgment by a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana, when not a day goes by without one government ad or the other being published to coincide with some event or occasion. The court, however, drew an exception to this restraint in the case of the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. In their case, the judgment said, they have to decide for themselves whether or not their photographs should appear in a government advertisement. By this, the judgment, in a way, makes them personally accountable for the publication of their photographs. Besides this leeway, the judgment only gives space for publishing the photos of “acknowledged personalities” like Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate their anniversaries. Guidelines The verdict relies on guidelines on ‘Content Regulation of Government Advertising’ framed by a three-member committee, led by legal academician N.R. Madhava Menon. The panel was set up by the Supreme Court in 2014. Some modifications The judgment, while accepting the panel’s guidelines that covers all forms of advertising, including on the Internet, introduces modifications, too. In fact, the Madhava Menon Committee wanted the exemption accorded not just to the President, the PM and the CJI but also the Governors and the Chief Ministers. Again, the judgment differed with the recommendation to impose a special curb on government advertisements on election eve. Drawing a distinction between “government messaging” and “politically motivated ads” in this context, it said such a curb is unnecessary on election eve provided the advertisement serves the public interest and facilitates dissemination of information. Cultural parks planned to lift Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai spirit They will be setup in Beijingand Bengaluru China and India are establishing two sister cultural parks — in Beijing and Bengaluru — to boost the soft power content in, and impart a holistic dimension to, a rapidly evolving relationship.
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Dana Schuppert, founder of the Beijing-based 21st Century China India Centre for Culture and Communication, is the driving force behind the initiative. Fully backed by the Chinese government, the concept of setting up large-scale cultur al hubs flows from the Joint Statement signed during President Xi Jinping’s visit to India last September. “My point was, if we can have big industrial parks, why not also establish large cultural and educational parks,” said Dr. Schuppert . She said Buddhist studies would be part of the curriculum at the park at Beijing Normal University. “Land has already been allocated at Beijing Normal University, and the Chinese government would invest in an international area. An Indian hotel and a convention centre would be established, within a zone where knowledge of Sanskrit, Ayurveda, Vivekananda and Yoga would be imparted.” At the Bengaluru centre, a railway college will be set up. Nod for Bill to check benami transactions In a bid to tackle generation of black money within the country, the Cabinet approved the new Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Bill to curb unaccounted-for wealth stashed away in foreign bank accounts “The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 provides for attachment and confiscation of benami properties and imposes fine with imprisonment. This is one more initiative to fight the menace of black money inside the country,” an official statement said. Apart from confiscation, the Bill provides for prosecution and aims to act as a major avenue for blocking generation and holding of black money in the form of benami property, especially in real estate. In the Budget, the government announced that it would come out with a new and more comprehensive Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act was earlier enacted in 1988, but the rules could not be formulated. Companies Act Parliament passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014, after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the amendments moved by the government sought to remove the “shortcomings” in the 2013 Act. The amended Bill provides for severe punishment for those raising illegal deposits from the public. Under the new norms proposed, the paid-up capital criteria have been scrapped, while the threshold limits for various transactions for getting shareholders’ nod have been stipulated. Centre, Assam delaying border fencing: SC The Supreme Court accused the Centre and the Assam government of “dragging its feet” on fortifying the country’s “porous” eastern border with Bangladesh despite its judgment last year that security chinks along the border are posing a threat to the lives of ordinary citizens. Deciding to have an independent look at what is happening on the ground, a Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi appointed a court commissioner to visit the border and report back on the state of fencing and roads along it. In a December 17, 2014 judgment, the court directed the Centre to build motorable roads alongside the international border and install floodlights to prevent incursion and cross-border trafficking. It noted that the estimated number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India as on December 31, 2001 was 1.2 crore. The court appointed senior lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika as the court commissioner to visit the border and submit an interim report in three weeks. He would file his final report by June 30. Foreigners Tribunal The court further asked the Guwahati High Court to set up a Foreigners Tribunal by August 10, 2015. The judgment questioned the government’s resolve to secure the eastern border even after 67 years of Independence. “The western border with Pakistan, being 3,300-km-long, is not only properly fenced but properly manned too and not porous at any point,” the court said. The ruling came on a batch of petitions filed by NGOs — Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, Assam Public Works and All Assam Ahom Association — contending that large influx of people from Bangladesh led to clashes in border areas. The petitions challenged the validity of Section 6(3) & (4) of the Citizenship Act, accommodating migrants from East Pakistan between January 1966 to March 24, 1971 as deemed citizens of the country. Total ban on child labour soon In a significant overhaul of child labour laws, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to ban employment of children aged under 14 in all kinds of commercial enterprises. The Child Labour Prohibition Act, 1986, imposes the ban on only 18 hazardous industries. However, keeping in mind the “social fabric” of the country, the Cabinet has made an exception for work done in family enterprises and on farmlands, provided it is done after school hours and during vacations. The proposed amendment Bill will be in sync with the Right to Education Act that guarantees children aged between six and 14 the right to go to school.
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Also, children working as artists in the audiovisual entertainment industry, including advertisement, films, television serials or any such other entertainment or sports activities, except circus, have been granted exemption, provided “such work does not affect their school education.” The Cabinet has barred employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in hazardous occupations and processes in the chemical industry and mines. Stricter punishment The changes provide for stricter punishment for employers for violation. While there is no penalty for parents for the first offence, the employer will be liable for punishment even for the first violation. Child rights activists had argued that the definition of family enterprises can include matchbox making, carpet weaving and gem-polishing industries where child labour is in high demand. They have also argued that the new norms can be used to deny education to the girl child who will be stuck with household work. Deals for U.S. howitzers, Russian copters approved Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, cleared major long-pending defence deals, including an Avro replacement programme, M-777 howitzers and Kamov-228 light utility helicopters from Russia. For the M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers, the original deal under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme with the U.S. government has been approved for 145 guns worth Rs. 2,900 crore. The lone bid by Tata-Airbus under the long-delayed Rs. 12,000-crore Avro replacement programme for 56 aircraft has been cleared. While 16 aircraft will come in fly-away condition from the original manufacturer, the remaining 40 will be manufactured in India by Tata under Transfer of Technology (ToT). It has been held up due to single vendor situation. “It will create the necessary infrastructure in India for aerospace development,” defence ministry officials said. A deal for 200-plus Kamov-228 helicopters from Russia as light-utility helicopters (LUH) for the Army and the Air Force has got the go-ahead. Cost and the modalities of the deal will now be negotiated with Russia. The deal will involve 100 percent ToT, defence sources said. The decision for building helicopters in India was announced during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India last year. The DAC has allocated Rs. 30 crore for commencement of “preparatory work” for construction of Indigenous Aircraft CarrierII. This is in-principle approval for IAC-II for design and evaluation, officials informed. The Indian Navy will get six additional units of BrahMos cruise missiles for six of its frontline warships worth Rs. 2,700 crore to replace older missiles onboard. Other deals include installation and operationalisation of telemedicine, onboard Indian Navy ships and establishments, developed by Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and handed to a private vendor and conversion of two Boeing 777ER aircraft of Air India into VVIP configuration for use by the Prime Minister. With these decisions all major pending modernisation deals of the armed forces have been cleared, officials added.
Free speech is not an absolute right: SC Noting that free speech is not an absolute right, the Supreme Court held that poetic licence does not mean having nationally revered figures like Mahatma Gandhi mouth obscene words. The apex court said in its judgment that when the name of Mahatma Gandhi is alluded to or used as a symbol speaking or using obscene words, the test of “contemporary community standards” of what is vulgar and obscene language becomes applicable with more vigour. A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P.C. Pant set these standards while considering the plea of Devidas Ramachandra Tuljapurkar, who was charged with publishing the “obscene” Marathi poem titled Gandhi Mala Bhetala (I Met Gandhi) in which the Mahatma is a character. The poem was published in 1994 in an in-house bank magazine. ‘Subject to limitations’: The verdict said freedom of speech and expression has to be given a broad canvas, but it is also subject to inherent limitations within the constitutional parameters. Budget Session most productive in 15 years The recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament was the most productive session in 15 years, data compiled by the PRS Legislative Research show. While the Lok Sabha worked for 123 per cent of its scheduled time, the Rajya Sabha worked for 102 per cent. Question Hour: The Question Hour, which has been a particular victim of disruptions in the recent past, functioned better than it has in 10 years; 135 questions were answered orally in each House, double the average until now. Bills amending ordinances made up a third of all Bills introduced during this session. Unusually, nearly a quarter of the Bills had recorded voting after calling for a division; typically Bills are passed through a voice vote. India keen on Chinese knowhow The Indian side is looking for a deeper collaboration in infrastructure development especially railways. The feasibility study on the Delhi-Chennai high-speed Railway has commenced, but a big ticket announcement on possible Chinese participation on this project is still far away. Skill development: India is looking for Chinese support on skill development, either in railways or training of Indian workers who can then have the know-how to handle the state-of-of the art equipment that would be used within the Make-in-India framework.
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India is also looking for a major Chinese contribution in clean energy, to help fulfill the target of 100,000 MW of renewable energy by 2022. Specific projects: As of now India is ready to work with China on specific projects within the “road and belt” framework including the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor. The two countries are also aligned on creating a new global financial architecture, manifested by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which is expected to contribute to the development of infrastructure in Asia. The Chinese are also the key players in the development of the proposed bank steered by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which India is expected to join later this year. Supreme Court upholds validity of Company Law Tribunal Clearing decks for making tribunals functional to exclusively deal with company law matters, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the 2013 Companies Act’s provisions for establishing National Company Law Tribunal and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. These tribunals would adjudicate cases which were so far being dealt by high courts, Company Law Board, Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. A Constitution Bench however held a few provisions as invalid. It noted that the selection committee was made a fivemember body under the 2013 Act even though previous judgement held that it should have four-members, comprising the CJI or his nominee, a senior Judge of the Supreme Court or high court chief justice and Secretaries in Ministry of Finance and Company Affairs and in Ministry of Law and Justice. Explained: Targeting illegal wealth through new Benami law To deal with the problem of black money, especially in the real estate sector, the government has introduced a Bill to target transactions that are carried out in other people’s names. What is a ‘benami’ transaction? A transaction is considered benami (literally ‘nameless’ or ‘without a name’) when the consideration for a property that is transferred to a person or is held by him/her is paid by another person. In such transactions, the person who pays for the property is the ultimate beneficiary of the property, directly or indirectly, in the future. Such a property is considered benami, and is illegal under the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015. The Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 13th May 2015, also includes property transactions carried out in fictitious names, or where the owner of the property denies knowledge of ownership, or where the person paying the consideration for the property is not traceable or is fictitious. What does the Bill intend to do? A Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act was passed in 1988 to put an end to such transactions, and to empower the government to recover such property. The Act, however, had several inherent loopholes — including the absence of an appellate mechanism, and lack of provisions for vesting of the confiscated property with the Centre. Owing to these infirmities, the Rules for the Act were also not framed. The new Bill seeks to ensure that if any person enters into a benami transaction in order to evade tax or avoid payment to creditors, the ultimate beneficiary owner and persons who abet or induce any person to undertake such a transaction, suffer rigorous imprisonment. What penalities are proposed for the guilty? Those found guilty of having violated the provisions of the proposed law face rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than one year, but which may go up to seven years, along with a fine which may extend to 25 per cent of the fair market value of the property. If any person who is required to furnish information under this Act knowingly furnishes false information, he/she will face rigorous imprisonment of not less than six months, but which may extend to five years, along with a fine of 10 per cent of the fair market value of the property. Govt launches USTAD in Varanasi Union Minister Najma Heptullah launched 'USTAD', a welfare scheme aimed at upgrading and promoting the skills of artisans from the minority community. "We call those people 'Ustad' for whom we carry the utmost respect in our hearts and craftsmen of the city are actually Ustad because of their excellent work". Upgradation of Skills and Training in Ancestral Arts/Crafts for Development (USTAD) was announced in 2014 with the Finance Ministry allocating Rs 17 crore for the scheme. The programme is linked to the 'Make in India' campaign that seeks to help weavers and artisans connect with buyers both nationally as well as internationally. After the scheme, the artisans or craftsmen will not only earn a good livelihood but their life will be full of confidence and dignity. It will also empower women from the minority communities socially and economically. A portal dedicated to the programme was also launched to help artisans to log in and get connected to potential buyers world-over. The National Institute of Design along with a host of other bodies would be associated with this mission and improve designs of the produce, if needed. New urea policy could lead to its excessive use, impact human health
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The government's decision not to hike urea price for the next four years under its new policy approved, may help this nitrogenous fertilizer remain the king among fertilizers, but the move has the potential to further fuel its excessive use eventually leading to soil degradation, groundwater and air pollution. This could have a serious impact on overall productivity and human health. Though excessive use of Urea is mainly noticed in states having strong irrigation network like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, there have always been deep concern about its excessive use elsewhere too. While urea is selling at Rs 5,360 per tonne, DAP costs about Rs 24,000 and grades of NPK fertilizer cost about Rs 22,000. The skewed ratio in favour of nitrogenous fertilizer (N) in the overall fertilizer basket has always been resisted by the experts including agriculture scientists due to its long-term adverse effect on soil and environment. Urea, being the most common nitrogenous (N) fertilizer, is indiscriminately used irrespective of scientific prescriptions. Its excessive use leads to several adverse implications on soil, crop quality and overall eco-system. However, the government's move to provide 'Soil Health Cards' to all farmers across the country in next three years may help them take "judicious decision based on nutrient-related information for different soil types". The efforts to create awareness among farmers about excessive use of urea and certain policy intervention on supply side through pricing will help in the long run. Though the experts have long been demanding policy intervention to encourage balanced use of Urea in the N, P and K basket, any bold step in terms of price hike of urea has always been resisted by successive governments due to its possible political fallout. It is however suggested that steps to maintain the balance on supply side through production and pricing decisions can be taken in a phased manner (staggered over years) so that it may not impact farmers immediately. The government should rationalize the overall fertilizer subsidy. It may reduce the subsidy on urea and increase the subsidies on Potassium (K) and Phosphoric (P) fertilizers by transferring the same amount without any impact on exchequer. It can be done in phased manner so that farmers do not feel the pinch of it. Keeping low price of Urea is not good for farmer and the soil. The only best solution is to give direct subsidy to him (farmer) and let him decide how much N, P or K he is going to use for his yield. The current price of urea is quite low and subsidy given at that price is not helping our farmers, as they are not using it in judicious way. All those farmers who used maximum urea suffered the maximum damage during recent unseasonal rains than farmers who used urea in a balanced way. States free to scale the Great Wall: PM Setting aside their border dispute, New Delhi and Beijing signed 24 agreements, which would, for the first time, spur a pervasive dialogue among Indian and Chinese states, cities and businesses as they become the key drivers of foreign policy with China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s introduction of a bottoms-up approach towards India’s engagement with China was evident from his remarks during the launch of the India-China Forum of State Provincial Leaders, with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra present at the event. “A number of decisions can be taken quickly by the State governments. These interactions also make the State governments more sensitive and aware of the international dynamics and requirements,” the Prime Minister observed. Mr. Modi described India’s relationship with China as “one of our most important strategic partnerships”. The forum, which seeks China as a partner to draw State-level businesses into the global mainstream, was launched after India made it plain that it wanted “to develop a more positive narrative of our relationship, and to build higher level of trust.” The omnibus communiqué, which emerged after the talks between Mr. Modi and his counterpart, Li Keqiang, at the Great Hall of the People, focussed on confidence-building measures that would ensure that the borders remain calm, while the Special Representatives of the two countries continue their marathon talks on resolving the boundary issue. Jaitley seeks Swiss help
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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley requested visiting Economic Affairs Minister of Switzerland, Johann SchneiderAmmann, to help extend Swiss cooperation in providing evidence about Indians who have unaccounted-for assets and accounts in banks in Switzerland. “I have made a request to Switzerland to expedite the process of confirmation of the details that we have sought [on black money cases] … now as Switzerland has also agreed to join the mainstream in the fight against unaccounted-for money … as soon as Swiss are ready, India is ready to enter into a bilateral arrangement with Swiss on that effect,” Mr. Jaitley told presspersons after a meeting with Mr. Ammann. Sharing info Earlier, Mr. Ammann told presspersons that Switzerland was prepared to follow Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regulations on the black money issue, and the Swiss Parliament was scheduled to take up during the second half of 2015 changes in laws to look into the possibility of sharing information in cases being investigated on the basis of stolen data of bank accounts. “Switzerland has decided to follow international standards, including those framed by the OECD, in sharing information and providing assistance to foreign countries investigating such cases, but we have to ask our Parliament to make changes in our laws, but India should take note of the fact that we have a parliamentary process and the Swiss government can only give its proposal,” Mr. Ammann said. He said that while he agreed that time was a factor, procedures had to be followed. He was responding to a question on the sums held in the accounts of Indians there were dwindling. “Now there is a will to clarify. We can’t say as yet that it would be done or it would be done within such time period. The stolen data issue has to be discussed in Parliament,” he said. Free trade pact In his meeting with Ms. Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister, he discussed the long-pending Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association, of which Switzerland is a member. “The negotiations team will continue its discussions and reach some conclusion on sensitive issues such as data protection and IPR [Intellectual Property Rights],” he said indicating no progress was made on the pacts being negotiated. India grants e-visas for Chinese nationals To the cheers from the audience of students at Tsinghua University, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India had decided to “extend electronic tourist visas to Chinese nationals.” The announcement had been anticipated for some weeks, and it was reported earlier of the Chinese government’s repeated requests to India to cut some of the security and visa regulations for Chinese businessmen and tourists. The Prime Minister said it was part of a concerted effort by his government to bring the “world’s two largest populations in closer contact.” “Thirty-three per cent of the world is either Indian or Chinese, and yet we know so little about each other,” he said. The e-visa announcement will boost a MoU on tourism cooperation, as 2015 and 2016 have been designated ‘Visit India’ and ‘Visit China’ years respectively, given that Chinese tourists to India now number less than two lakh a year. The e-visa facility would enable Chinese applicants to apply for visas online a few days before they travel. India, China to set up hotline between Army HQs The omnibus communiqué, which emerged after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People, said a hotline between the two Army Headquarters would be established and additional points along the frontiers would be opened to enable local border commanders to hold crisis-management meetings. Annual exchange visits between the two military headquarters and neighbouring military commands would continue. During talks, Mr. Modi “reiterated the importance of clarification of Line of Actual Control (LAC)”. The joint statement made it amply clear that outer space and nuclear energy are emerging as new areas for collaboration in the future. A Space Cooperation Mechanism had been established, which would steer a five year “outline” for partnership, which would also cover lunar and deep space exploration, between the Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) and the China National Space Administration. Nuclear energy The two sides would engage in peaceful use of nuclear energy — a decision that led to a conversation on China’s stance towards India within the ambit of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) during the talks. ‘Support our bid for a permanent UNSC seat’ Pressing China to back India’s bid for a permanent seat in a reformed U.N. Security Council and membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said such a move will take bilateral ties to a new level and give Asia a stronger voice. Earlier, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told the media that China for the first time said it had taken note of India’s interest to become a member of the 44-nation NSG which controls the civil nuclear technology trade regime. On the UNSC, China reiterated that it backed India’s aspiration to play big role in the world body. China is the only veto-wielding permanent member which is yet to come out in support of India’s interest to become a permanent UNSC member. Modi overrules security fears
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Shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the extension of e-visa facility for Chinese nationals, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that “no decision” had been taken on the issue yet; leading to speculation that Mr. Modi had overruled objections within the security establishment to announce the move. Building on the theme of closer contact between populations, among the 24 agreements signed after the official meetings, at least 13 MoUs mention strengthening “people-to-people ties,” including the “sister-city” relationships between Hyderabad and Qingdao and Aurangabad and Dunhuang, while setting up consulates in Chengdu and Chennai, and building ties between India and yoga colleges in Kunming and Yunnan. Another MoU between Doordarshan and China’s state-run CCTV raised eyebrows in the wake of controversies over CCTV’s depiction of the Indian map without Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh in it. CCTV International itself now has about six Indians working in its newsroom, including Vikram Gopinath, who says, unlike other international channels, CCTV is not dominated by British or American employees. He told, however, that news from India is often based on reports from other channels, and there should be direct exchanges. After the Nirbhaya case, and several cases of tourist rapes in India in particular, he said many here are scared to go to India, he said. “If you want to increase tourism, you have to correct the impression through media exchanges.” Yoga, Taichi amazing medium to connect our cultural heritage, says Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a joint Yoga-Taichi event in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and asserted that the disciplines are a unique medium to connect the cultural heritage of the two countries. Modi, who held bilateral talks with Li earlier in the day, visited the Temple of Heaven where the joint Yoga-Taichi event took place. "I appreciate Prime Minister's choice for this programme as this is the Temple of Heaven and if you want to attain heaven, body and mind need balance. Yoga is an art to balance our body and mind. Today frustration is looming large on every part of the world and yoga is the way to tackle this problem," Modi said while addressing the students at the event. Indian and Chinese children performed Yoga and Taichi as the two premiers looked on. "This is an amazing coincidence that Chinese children are performing Yoga whereas Indian children are performing Taichi. This is an amazing medium to connect our cultural heritage. We have to take this further," Modi said. Modi, in his address, also made a mention of the International Yoga Day, saying, "On June 21, world will understand the real meaning of Yoga and holistic care." "I put forward a resolution about the International Yoga Day in the United Nations in September last year with 177 nations being co-sponsors and passed in minimum days," Modi said and noted that China was a co-sponsor of the resolution. "Yoga is a remedy. Whether it is Yoga or Taichi, they have the potential to give a new life to the human mind that is under distress," he said. Weapon deals to help boost artillery power of the Army The Rs.2, 900-crore deal to procure M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) from the U.S. through the foreign military Sales (FMS) route will lead to investments of over $ 200 million under offset requirements. This deal and other gun upgrades will boost the Army’s firepower, which is critically short of guns, and will give an impetus to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. “This envisages investments in approximately 40 Indian defence suppliers across the country as well as an offer to establish an Assembly Integration & Test facility for the weapon system in India in partnership with an Indian industrial company,” John Kelly of BAE Systems told. Dhanush set for induction Meanwhile, the indigenously upgraded Bofors gun ‘Dhanush’ is all set for induction with all evaluations successfully completed. The upgrade was done by the Ordinance Factory Board based on the design of the original Bofors gun acquired in the 1980’s and is 80 per cent indigenous. The Army’s Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan formulated in 1999 envisages inducting around 3,000 guns of various types to equip its 220 artillery regiments. No new gun has been acquired since the 1980s, when 400 Bofors guns were procured from Sweden. 21 MoUs to bring in $22 billion “A green light has been switched on,” is how one businessman described the interest shown by Chinese businessmen in investing in India following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit and meeting with top CEOs, including Jack Ma of Alibaba and Lin Min of Xiaomi, in Shanghai.
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At the meeting, followed by a conference of Indian and Chinese CEOs, 21 agreements or MoUs estimated at a total of $22 billion were signed. Funding from Chinese banks ICBC and China Development Bank for Airtel, Adani Power Company and Jindal Steel and Power accounted for the major part of the agreement total, as did tie-ups for renewable energy companies. The Adani Group, in particular, bagged several MoUs for its Mundra port, including a “sister-port” agreement with the Guangzhou Port Authority. “I want to tell you to make in India,” Mr. Modi said in his opening lines to the businessmen, adding that as China is the world’s manufacturing base and India runs the “back-offices,” it would be best if the two collaborate on digital commerce. “We are very excited about India, ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India,’” said Mr. Ma, the owner of the world’s biggest online commerce company which processed transactions of $248 billion last year. Aligarh Muslim University launches e-mail, phone-based medical service for diabetics Aligarh Muslim University launched an e-mail and cell-phone based medical service scheme for diabetes patients, claiming it to be the first of its kind in the country. The service has been launched by AMU's Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology in collaboration with US-based Diabetes Education and Awareness Program (DEAP) and is sponsored by a private trust formed by a group of US-based AMU alumni. The AMU centre and the DEAP had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project. Speaking at a function to mark the scheme's launch at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Director of Rajiv Gandhi Centre Jamal Ahmad said under the project patients being treated here will be in touch with a team of doctors at a special cell designed for this purpose. Registered patients would be provided instant inputs, assistance and nutritional guidance by these experts ensuring emergency health services, he said. Jamal said a similar service is being provided to diabetes patients in Korea and Germany. "Today, diabetes poses a very serious health threat and by the year 2030 there would be an estimated 80 million diabetics in the country. The situation calls for a nation-wide awareness programme for introducing lifestyle changes to combat it," he said. Ghazala Khatoon, the US-based alumna of AMU who came up with the idea to start the project, said she was motivated to launch this project here after one of her family members became victim of this disease a few years back. Meanwhile, AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen (Rtd) Zameer Uddin Shah led a two-km symbolic walk today to highlight the importance of daily walk in preventing and controlling diabetes, which is mainly a lifestyle-borne disease. UP to have country’s 1st highway patrol force Uttar Pradesh will soon have the country’s first highway patrol force, with the state government having worked out the configuration and deployment of the proposed force. Named the UP Highway Police (UPHP), the 24x7 force comprising over 750 personnel who will be trained at the Royal New Zealand Police College will be deployed on two pilot corridors — NH2 (from Mathura-Ballia) and NH25 (KanpurLucknow). The UPHP will be required to respond to crimes and accidents — by controlling the accident site and administering first aid to victims — and also collect and report accurate data. The establishment of the UPHP aims at building a proactive and visible force to act as a deterrent to crimes and help reduce road accident deaths along the identified corridors. The New Zealand government is assisting UP to establish this force with the World Bank giving a Rs 300 crore loan for the project. “New Zealand has been able to drastically reduce the number of road accidents with the help of the vigilant highway police,” the sources pointed out. Mongolia gets $1-bn credit gift India announced a $1-billion credit line to Mongolia for infrastructure development as they upgraded their ties to “strategic partnership” and agreed to deepen defence cooperation besides exploring potential for tie-ups in areas such as the civil nuclear sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Mongolia, the first by an Indian Premier, held wideranging discussions with his Mongolian counterpart, Chimed Saikhanbileg, and the two leaders pledged to take bilateral economic partnership to a new level. “I am pleased to announce that India will provide a Line of Credit of $1 billion to support expansion of Mongolia’s economic capacity and infrastructure,” Mr. Modi told a joint press interaction with Mr. Saikhanbileg at the State Palace here. “Today, Mongolia is also an integral part of India’s Act East Policy,” he said. “The destinies of India and Mongolia are closely linked with the future of Asia Pacific region. We can work together to help advance peace, stability and prosperity in this region,” Mr. Modi said, pitching for close bilateral ties amid China’s push for increasing its regional influence. After their talks, the two signed a joint statement committing to consolidate ties and upgrade the comprehensive partnership to “strategic partnership” and agreed to renew their Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation.
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The two sides inked 13 other pacts that include one on enhancing cooperation in border defence, policing and surveillance, air services, cyber security and new and renewable energy. Ties with Mongolia based on spiritual links, ideals: Modi At a banquet hosted in his honour at Ulaanbaatar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Ours is a relationship that is not measured on the scale of commerce or driven by competition against others. It is a relationship of immeasurable positive energy that comes from our spiritual links and shared ideals.” 25 years of democracy “So, as we celebrate 25 years of democracy in Mongolia and 60 years of our diplomatic relations, we know that the best for our relationship lies ahead of us,” he said. India and Mongolia support the evolution of open, balanced and inclusive security architecture in the Asia Pacific region based on collected efforts, considering legitimate interests of all states of the region guided by respect for norms and principles of international law, the joint statement by the two Prime Ministers said. After signing the agreements, Mr. Modi said: “I was very pleased with my discussions with the Prime Minister. We have strong convergence of views on bilateral relations and our regional and international partnership.” “The agreements that we have just signed speak of the depth of the relationship. These cover economic relations, development partnership, defence and security, and people-to-people contacts,” the Prime Minister added. SIT cites report of agency funded by Ford Foundation The Union government may have put the Ford Foundation on watch citing national security concerns, but the Special Investigation Team on black money appointed by it has cited reports of an agency funded by the Foundation to highlight the issue of illegal financial outflows from India. The SIT in its latest report on black money — submitted to the Supreme Court — has quoted reports by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DC-based research and advisory organisation. The agency, according to its website, is funded by U.S.-based Ford Foundation, apart from the United Nations Development Programme, international financial transparency coalitions and financial institutions besides individuals and governments of Denmark, Finland, Nigeria and Spain. The SIT has quoted a GFI-2013 report stating that illicit financial flows from India – ranked fifth out of 142 countries — remains uncontrolled and that in 2011, it stood at $94,933 million. The cumulative illicit outflow over the decade was estimated at $4,39,587 million and instead of the fifth rank, as per the 2013 report, last year’s GFI report ranked India fourth out of 145 countries. The latest GFI report puts India among the top five exporters of illicit capital over the past decade, and it is also the fifth in the list of 20 largest export under-invoicers with the respective proceeds requirements (2003-12). Invoices manipulated It states that Asia accounted for 40.3 per cent cumulative illicit financial flows from the developing world during 20032012 and that the vast majority of such outflows, amounting to 85.3 per cent, were due to trade misinvoicing (manipulating the price, quantity, or quality of a good or service on an invoice so as to shift capital illicitly across borders). Taking up the issue of over/under invoicing, the SIT discussed the GFI reports with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), asking the agency to conduct a study of some transactions with one or two countries for some items. Subsequently, the DRI submitted a preliminary study report on the trade mismatch between India and China, establishing a pattern of under valuation to avoid import duties in India. The Ford Foundation, which has been accused by the Gujarat government of interfering in the country’s internal matters and abetting communal disharmony, was put on the Union Home Ministry “prior approval” watch list last month. Eye on China, India and Japan look at rare earth minerals Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overarching message during his recently concluded China tour was that of ramping up the level of engagement between the two countries, a strategic collaboration between India and Japan for the production of rare earths, floated primarily to counter the Chinese hegemony in this sector, is set to break fresh ground. Rare earths are crucial due to usage in most modern technology items ranging from smartphones and laptops to avionics and defence equipment. State-owned Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL) and Toyota group firm Toyota Tsusho Corporation are learnt to have finalised the modalities of jointly harnessing mixed rare earth chloride — the starting commodity used to extract individual rare earths that can be used for both civilian and military, including nuclear, applications. The pact marks a first step towards commercializing the Indo-Japanese partnership, which aims to counter the overwhelming dominance of China — a country that currently meets about 95 per cent of the world’s rare earth needs.
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The venture also marks India’s re-entry India and Japan look at rare earth deal into the production of rare earths, nearly What are Rare Earths Minerals? a decade after it stopped production in Rare earths, as the name implies, are less abundant minerals 2004 due to lack of market found in low-concentration deposits. There are 17 rare earth competitiveness. The IREL-Toyota elements in nature. Tsusho partnership is also significant Lighter rare earth elements: cerium, lanthanum, praeseodymium considering that the world’s only nonand neodymium. Chinese producers of rare earths are Heavier rare earth elements: scandium, yttrium, gadolinium, Australia’s Lynas Corp and US firm samarium, europium, promethium, terbium, ytterbium, erbium, Molycorp. holmium, lutetium, dysprosium and thulium. According to a senior Department of Monazite is the only commercial mineral source for extraction and Atomic Energy (DAE) official, a crucial production of rare earths in India. Other countries like China, US pact for fixing the price of mixed rare and Indonesia produce rare earths form mineral sources like earth chloride for supply to TTC’s plant bastnaesite, xenotime and ion-absorption clay, all of which are in Andhra Pradesh from IREL’s plant at non- radioactive. Odisha is nearly ready and is awaiting approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The India-Japan venture is being viewed as crucial by both partners as China, in 2010, had curtailed its export of rare earth minerals, a move that triggered a sharp spike in rare earth prices and created a scare in the high-end electronics and defence industries in India, Japan and the US. China had imposed export restrictions and raised tariffs in 2010 as it sought higher prices to help cover the environmental costs of production and tried to encourage the growth of domestic industries that use rare earths. The World Trade Organisation ruled last year that China’s restrictions were discriminatory and told it to scrap the quotas and export tariffs. While China is reported to have relaxed its export ban earlier this year, both India and Japan are sticking to their resolve to push through with the partnership on rare earths amid continuing uncertainity over supplies from China, officials said. It is under the framework of a broad agreement signed between the DAE and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan on co-operation in the field of rare earths in Novermber 2012 that both sides have fixed the terms of the proposed JV and finalised comprehensive details of technology sharing. IREL, which is the only firm in India authorised to extract rare earths, had set up a 10,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) monazite processing plant at its unit in OSCOM, Odisha to produce about 26 tpa of nuclear grade ammonium di-uranate. IREL has retrofitted its facilities at Aluva, Kerala to process about 5,000 tpa of mixed rare earth chloride and to produce separated high pure rare earths. Further, IREL has entered into a MoU with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory for developing technology to produce rare earth metals and magnets. Whistleblowers seeking protection can only reveal public information An amendment to the Whistleblowers Act, 2011, cleared by the Lok Sabha will ensure that whistleblowers seeking protection can only disclose information that can be accessed under the right to information law. The Whistleblowers Act was pushed through Parliament by the Congressled UPA government in 2014. But the law was never brought into force by the Modi government that came to power soon after, insisting that it needed some changes to address concerns related to national security. The Whistleblowers Act seeks to protect whistleblowers who report corruption, abuse of power or a crime to the government’s designated authority. For most government servants, the Central Vigilance Commission is the designated authority to whom whistleblowers have to send their disclosures. Under the amendments, whistleblowers cannot seek protection under this law if this disclosure contains any information that cannot be accessed under the right to information law. “If a person will be treated as a whistleblower if he only passes on information accessible under the RTI, he might as well file an RTI and send the response to the CVC,” said a government official. The bill also removes the provision allowing a person to provide secret information to the designated authority irrespective of the restrictions in the Official Secrets Act as long as public interest is served. In a single stroke, this restriction will not protect whistleblowers disclosing information related to big-ticket procurement, including defence purchases. It will also not shield the Defence Research Development Organisation where a scientist — who blew the whistle on his superiors for allegedly wasting public money and got into trouble — had to move the Bombay high court. The demand to enact a law to protect whistleblowers had gained momentum after a National Highways Authority of India engineer Satyendra Dubey was killed in 2003 after complaining of corruption. Anxious that it be seen to be acting on Dubey’s death, the Vajpayee government had created a mechanism for the Central Vigilance Commission to receive complaints from whistleblowers. In June last year, the Modi government ordered that vigilance heads of each department also be allowed to receive complaints from whistleblowers. A special gift from Mongolian PM
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a special gift — a brown race horse — from his Mongolian counterpart, Chimed Saikhanbileg, on his historic visit to the country. The horse, named Kanthaka, was gifted to him at the ‘Mini Naadam’ sporting festival. “Striking a new chord in the relationship with Mongolia. @narendramodi tries 2 understand intricacies of morin khuur,” Mr. Swarup tweeted. “In Japan, he tried his hand on the drum. In Mongolia PM @narendramodi tries his hand on the morin khuur.” The ‘morin khuur’, also known as horse-head fiddle, is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. Later, Mr. Modi also tried hand at the Yoochin, a box zither-dulcimer with 13 double-wire strings. The strings in this traditional Mongolian instrument are struck with two wooden sticks, so-called little wooden hammers and are similar to the santur. Mr. Modi presented Elbegdorj a specially commissioned reproduction of a rare 13th century manuscript on the history of Mongols, considered by many as the first world history. Called Jamiut Tawarikh , this work was one of the grandest projects undertaken by the Ilkhanate king Ghazan Khan. The king’s wazir Rasheeduddin Fazlullah Hamedani wrote it in Persian and chronicled the history up to the reign of Oljeitju (1304-1316). The manuscript from the Rampur Raza Library, Rampur (Uttar Pradesh), has over 80 fine miniature illustrations. It is a part of Volume 1 of the work and no other copy of it is known to exist. The breadth of coverage of the work often caused it to be dubbed as the first world history. India now a key member of BRICS, says Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Indian economy had started looking up after his government took over. Addressing the Indian diaspora during a reception at the Kyung Hee University, he referred to economic experts saying that in the five-member BRICS grouping India was struggling, but since last year things had changed. “Since the last one year, the world is now saying that I [India] is an important segment of BRICS and the grouping cannot be imagined without I [India],” said Mr. Modi, who arrived here from Mongolia on the last leg of his threenation tour. He also said the mood and perception about India had changed in the last one year. “There was a time when people left India saying the country is no good. These people are ready to come back,” the Prime Minister said, adding that India is being seen as the fastest growing economy of the world. Meanwhile, South Korea has offered to provide $10 billion to India for infrastructure, development of smart cities, railways, and power generation as the two countries agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to a “Special Strategic Partnership.” In India, debate on euthanasia has not yet moved forward Over four years after Aruna Shanbaug’s case led to a Supreme Court verdict legalising passive euthanasia in India, nothing seems to have moved forward. The verdict that gave thousands of patients living in a vegetative state the right to have artificial life-support systems withdrawn to end a life of misery under “guarded conditions” was hailed as landmark by jurists and activists alike. But four years later, no law has been enacted on the subject to replace the SC guidelines. This despite the Law Commission recommending to the government in October 2012 to take steps to enact a proper law for allowing passive euthanasia, subject to certain safeguards. The commission had suggested that the uncertainty over the issue may be removed and procedure prescribed by the SC may be refined at the earliest. It prepared a draft Medical Treatment of Terminally-ill Patients (Protection of Patients and Medical Practitioners) Bill for the government’s consideration. Those demanding legalisation of euthanasia have been contending that “right to die with dignity” was included in the “right to live with dignity” guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. They also cite Indian cultural and religious traditions in Jainism and Hinduism that justify taking away one’s own life under certain circumstances. But given the fact that successive governments have been evasive over the issue, the ball is now again in the court of the judiciary. Acting on a petition filed by Common Cause, an NGO, the Supreme Court in July 2014 issued notices to all states asking them to articulate their response to the important issue. A five-judge constitution chose to ignore attorney general Mukul Rohatgi’s submission that the issue entirely concerned the legislature and the judiciary should not take it up.
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The Centre contended that passive euthanasia was against public policy and a form of suicide which could not be allowed. Permitting voluntary passive euthanasia would amount to abetment to suicide and attempt to commit suicide – which are criminal offences, Rohatgi had argued. While the legislature inadvertently abdicates its responsibility of making laws on important issues in a rapidly changing Indian society, citizens are forced to look up to the Supreme Court even for matters that squarely fall in the legislature’s domain. Clean Ganga project seeks corporate, NRI participation The Rs. 20,000 crore Namami Gange project is spread over five years and covers 41 tributaries of Ganga. Rs. 7272 crore has been set aside for interventions in existing, defunct projects while Rs. 12,728 crore has been allocated for new initiatives. This is a four-fold increase since the new government came to power. Since 1985, Rs. 4168.55 crore has been spent on cleaning the river. The National Mission for Clean Ganga that has been assigned the task of cleaning the river, is focussed on abatement of pollution and has designed its interventions around this. However, it is seeking partnerships and is tailoring its projects so that state governments, local municipalities and panchayats have a stake and take ownership of the projects for sustainability. To speed up the process of cleaning the river, the Mission has sought the participation of institutions, donors, overseas Indians, business and corporate houses to donate their might and money for projects or sponsoring projects to clean up the river . Already pilot projects have been launched in eight cities. The challenge is to set up a drainage system in thickly populated cities. The urgent need is to bring down lean season BOD levels in the river to 10 mg/litre/day, the Total Suspended Solid levels to 10 mg/litre/day and Total Faecal Coliform to 100 mg/litre/day. These levels run into over lakhs at present. “Stopping pollutants from coming into the Ganga are a priority,’’ say senior officials of the Mission. Donors and philanthropist agencies can take their pick in tackling surface pollution and can contribute, say, for river surface cleaning equipment which range from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 12 crores. They can sponsor improved electric or wood-based crematoriums . Ahluwalia to head panel on land Bill Former Union Minister and BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia was appointed chairman of a Joint Committee of Parliament that will go into the provisions of the controversial land acquisition Bill. Almost the entire Opposition and even some allies of the ruling NDA such as the Shiv Sena and the Swabhimani Paksha, are against the various provisions of the amendment Bill brought by the government. The Congress and the Left parties have been specially targeting the Modi dispensation as anti-farmer and procorporate. The 20 members of the Lok Sabha who are on the joint panel include K.V. Thomas, Rajiv Satav (both Congress), Anand Rao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Kalyan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), B. Mahtab (BJD), Mohammad Salim (CPI-M), Chirag Paswan (LJP) and Udit Raj, Anurag Thakur and Ganesh Singh (all BJP). It’s now Act East policy: Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at previous governments which practised a ‘Look East’ policy, saying India has had enough of it and it’s time to ‘Act East.’ “We now have an ‘Act East Policy’ — a key component of my government’s foreign policy,” Mr. Modi told the Indian diaspora during a community reception at the Kyung Hee University. The ‘Look East’ policy was first coined by the Narasimha Rao government in the 1990s and has been followed by successive governments. Earlier, Mr. Modi who arrived from Mongolia on the last leg of his three-nation tour, said: “We consider Korea a crucial partner in India’s economic modernisation.” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said ties between the two countries had progressed substantially and the two sides were committed to improving the business environment. The two sides signed seven agreements and Memorandum of Understanding including one on Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income. A joint statement issued at the end of the talks said India sees Korea as an “indispensable partner” in its “Act East” strategy and that both countries “recognise the value of the bilateral partnership and its contribution to bringing peace, stability and security in the Asia Pacific Region.” Modi, in his press statement said India considers South Korea "a crucial partner in India's economic modernization" and it can be a leading partner in India's focus on infrastructure and developing a world class manufacturing sector. He said that both countries have agreed to hold their diplomatic and security dialogue in the "2 plus 2 format" -between their foreign and defence secretaries. Japan is the other country with which India holds such a dialogue. "I welcome the decision to have regular cooperation between our National Security Councils. We have also agreed to expand cooperation between our armed forces," said Modi. A lengthy joint statement said that South Korea is to offer $10 billion for mutual cooperation in infrastructure projects in India, including smart cities, railways, power generation and transmission. Both sides are to cooperate in the AsiaPacific Region.
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President Park, in her remarks, said both leaders have found complementarities between India's 'Act East' and her country's Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI). As part of the Special Strategic Partnership, both would hold annual summit meetings; hold annual joint commissions led by the their foreign ministers; boost cooperation between their defense education institutions; hold regular consultations between their National Security Council on matters of security, defence and cyber issues, hold the defence and foreign affairs dialogue in the "2+2" Format and also boost cooperation between their shipyards for defence needs, the joint statement said. Modi said both sides intend to deepen their cooperation in defence technology and manufacture of defence equipment in India. India is to set up a channel for the purpose - Korea Plus - to facilitate investment and operations in India. Modi said that besides defence equipment, he has invited Korean investments in areas like ship building, including LNG tankers and both would set up a Joint Working Group on shipbuilding. Both welcomed the signing of the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement and to begin negotiations to amend the CEPA by June 2016, the joint statement said. Both sides are to explore cooperation in the steel sector to develop mutually beneficial projects. "I offered India's support to Korean people for peaceful re-unification of Korean Peninsula," Modi said. On regional issues, both discussed their engagement in the East Asia Summit and with ASEAN. Both sides agreed to work together and with other countries in the region "to ensure freedom of navigation and safety and security of sea lanes of communication," he said. Seoul also expressed support for India's early membership of the four multilateral export control regimes - the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement - "based upon consensus within each regime". Both agreed to work towards UNSC reforms to reflect contemporary realities and include major developing countries, the statement said. Modi later met UN chief Ban Ki-moon and also attended a dinner banquet hosted by President Park. He gifted Park with two finely woven pashmina stoles in which Rabindranath Tagore's poem for Korea is hand-embroidered, he tweeted. Gangnam style At a banquet hosted in his honour by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Mr. Modi said: “Our destinies are linked with the future of Asia and the Pacific. We will prosper when the region is peaceful and our sea lanes are secure and free. We know that we must be secure in our cyber world and safe in our physical world.” He said Korea was part of India’s daily life with Indian people using Korean phones, cars, computers and games. “When cricketers in India celebrate their victory in Gangnam style, you know that Korea is now firmly on Indian minds and limbs,” he said in a lighter vein. India seals co-production deal, signs up for its pop culture too India and South Korea signed a film and television co-production agreement, as part of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Seoul, a move that reflects the East Asian giant’s entertainment prowess and a popular culture (or pop culture)wave sweeping through Asia, from Manila to Hong Kong. This pact ranks alongside a similar one signed with China last year. New Delhi and Seoul hope to harness investment potential in the entertainment sector. Products of Korea’s fiercely competitive television and music production sectors have found enthusiastic reception from global audiences. Gangnam Style, the tongue – in cheek hit by Psy, had become one of the most viewed music videos online in India. According to an FICCI-KPMG report, India’s television industry is estimated at Rs. 417 billion in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16%. A bulk of that boost will come from foreign investment, the government hopes. The information and broadcasting ministry had long been eyeing the “Korean wave” and Modi’s trip has given the right window of opportunity. The agreement will be between the two governments but it aims to bring the broadcasting and entertainment sector together. From digital media to animation and films, there is a huge potential for mutual benefit in employment and invest, “I & B secretary Bimal Julka said. Korea’s phenomenal cultural allure has created new benchmarks in popularity and in business. A recent academic book on Korea’s entertainment industry, The Korean Wave: Korean Popular Culture in Global Context, called Gangnam Style the “turning point in global entertainment”. South Korean boy and girl bands and singers BoA and Rain are hits in US markets while movies like Old Boy and Secret Sunshine have been art- house hits and festival – nominated. As China rail link nears Nathu La, red tape holds up Sikkim line India’s long-pending plan to put Sikkim on the railway map is stuck in a procedural muddle even as China has made rapid progress with its rail line that will reach close to Nathu La, the strategic border post in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to give the Rs 4,170-crore project a push, seven years after it was conceived, as issues linked to three Union ministries and the governments of West Bengal and Sikkim stand in the way.
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The 44.96km Sivok-Rangpo line was aimed at connecting the Himalayan border state with the country’s rail network and providing an alternative transportation link. A single national highway serves as the lifeline for the state and it often gets blocked by landslides during the monsoon. “Even as China has been rapidly constructing the 253km Lhasa-Xigaze line that will reach close to Nathula, India’s plan to provide a railway line to Sikkim is caught in complex administrative tangles. There is little possibility of the project moving forward in the near future,” an official said. Land acquisition has been a hurdle as the route will cut through Mahananda wildlife sanctuary, forests in West Bengal and revenue land in Sikkim. Official correspondence between Union ministries, departments and states reveal a lack of urgency to put the strategic project on track. West Bengal maintains that “no clearances are pending with it”, the Union ministries of environment and forests, tribal affairs and law have been unable to arrive at a consensus on pending issues. ‘PAC can’t take suo motu notice of CAG report’ The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament cannot take suo motu notice of any Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, chairman K.V. Thomas said. According to Prof. Thomas, the PAC would have to wait for one of the two Houses of Parliament to refer the report to his committee. He was responding to questions on whether the PAC would look into CAG naming Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as one of the “promoters and/or directors” of Purti Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, a company reportedly sanctioned a loan of Rs. 84.12 crore by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency in violation of guidelines. Clarity needed on Lt. Governor's powers Article 239AA (3) (a) of the Constitution reserves only two matters under the State List which allows the LG to use his discretionary powers – police and land. This Article was incorporated into the Constitution by the 69th Amendment in 1991, by which the Union Territory of Delhi was called the ‘National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi’ with the Lt. Governor as its “administrator.” In matters of police and land, the Union ministries of Home Affairs and Urban Development is in direct charge. For example, the LG is the chairperson of the Delhi Development Authority or DDA, and he does not act in tandem with the Chief Minister, but uses his discretion. “The matter is very simple. Land and police are reserved subjects under Article 239AA of the Constitution. Only in these two, the Lt. Governor has jurisdiction. In all other matters, including the appointment of senior bureaucrats, the parliamentary system of governance prevails. That is, the LG has to abide by Section 41 and act according to the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. He has no discretion,” K.T.S. Tulsi, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP, said. But former Solicitor General and senior advocate Mohan Parasaran calls Delhi a “hybrid” State where the LG is vested with overriding powers. He said the LG can use his discretion on appointment of officials as long as his decisions are proved “bonafide.” Mr. Parasaran points to the arguments in a pending case before the Delhi High Court on plastic ban, which touches on the power equations between the LG and the Chief Minister. “The LG implements the notification by the Central government for the ban without the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. The decision is considered to be bonafide. The ban was subsequently upheld by the National Green Tribunal,” Mr. Parasaran points out. Experts point to how Section 44 of the 1991 Act left it to the President to frame the procedure in case there is a “difference of opinion” between the LG and the Council of Ministers. They also point to how the same provision provides that “all executive action of Lieutenant Governor whether taken on the advice of his Ministers or otherwise shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the Lieutenant Governor.” On the other hand, Section 45 mandates that it is the “duty” of the Chief Minister “to communicate to the Lieutenant Governor all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the affairs of the Capital and proposals for legislation.” “Delhi is a restricted State,” senior advocate Harish Salve said. Former Additional Solicitor General of India A.S. Chandhioke agrees that the LG can appoint senior bureaucrats as the “administrator of Delhi.” “The Union Territory of Delhi is actually governed by the LG, but certain powers are given to the Legislative Assembly. Laws passed by the Assembly are subservient to Central laws. However, it is time that this legal issue is sorted out once and for all,” Mr. Chandhioke said. ECONOMY NEWS Suven Life Sciences secures patents in Europe and Hong Kong Suven Life Sciences has been granted one product patent from Europe (2758394) and one product patent from Hong Kong (1173140) corresponding to the New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with neurodegenerative diseases. The granted claims of the patents include the class of selective 5-HT compounds discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents and are useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative
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disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Huntington’s disease, parkinson and schizophrenia. With these new patents, Suven has a total of 16 granted patents from Europe and 17 product patents from Hong Kong. These granted patents are exclusive intellectual property of Suven and are achieved through the internal discovery research efforts. Reliance Jio inks $750 m loan deal with K-sure Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (RJIL), a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), has signed a $750 million loan backed by Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) to finance goods and services procured from Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp, which are being sourced for the infrastructure roll out of RJIL. The loan has been guaranteed by RIL. This is the first facility by K-sure with RJIL, and is the second round of financing for RJIL from Korean ECAs. It is also K-sure’s largest deal in India. “It has a door-to-door tenor of 12 years, including a 2-year availability period and 10-year repayment period thereafter,” RIL said in a statement. The facility is funded by nine relationship banks of Reliance, including The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd., Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Banco Santander, S.A., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, ING Bank and DZ Bank AG. Cabinet nod for IOC, NTPC stake sale The Central Government will sell its 10 per cent stake in blue-chip Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and five per cent in power producer NTPC to mop up about Rs.13,600 crore in this fiscal’s first disinvestment approval. The approvals are part of Rs.41,000 crore disinvestment target for the current financial year. Buoyed by diesel price deregulation, the government is looking at selling stake in Indian’s largest fuel retailer IOC for the second time in 13 months. A decision to stake sale in IOC and NTPC was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said. The government currently holds 68.57 per cent in IOC and 74.96 per cent in NTPC. India, a victim of e-waste crime Much of the 40 million tonnes of electronic waste produced around the world — old smartphones, TVs, laptops and obsolete kitchen appliances — finds its way illegally to Asia and Africa every year, says a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Close to 90 per cent of the world’s electronic waste — worth nearly $19 billion — is illegally traded or dumped each year, to destinations half way across the world. While the European Union, the U.S. and Japan are the primary origins of e-waste shipments, China, India, Malaysia and Pakistan are the main destinations, says the report. In Africa, Ghana and Nigeria are the biggest recipients of e-waste. Destination India Illegal trade is driven by the relatively low costs of shipment and the high costs of treatment in the developed countries. Quoting an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, the UNEP report says that exporting e-waste to Asia worked out 10 times cheaper than processing it in within these countries. The Indian subcontinent has turned into an important destination for European waste. This goes beyond e-waste to include household waste, metals, textiles and tires — which are exported to India and Pakistan, says the report “Waste Crimes, Waste Risks: Gaps and Challenges in the Waste Sector.” “There is a significant trade in compressors to Pakistan. These should be depolluted prior to export, but waste operators seeking to avoid expense often omit this step,” the report notes. ‘Toxic time bomb’ The vast majority of illegal e-waste ends up in landfills, incinerators, and in ill-equipped recycling facilities. “The waste is dumped in areas where local residents and workers disassemble the units and collect whatever is of value... What is not reusable is simply dumped as waste, creating immense problems and leading to what has been described as a ‘toxic time bomb’.” While Europe and North America are by far the largest producers of e-waste, Asia’s cities are fast catching up as consumers of electronic goods and as generators of e-waste. Forecasts say that in just two years, the total quantum of e-waste generated around the world will be 50 million tonnes.
RBI relaxes norms for IDF-NBFCs In a bid to ensure flow of funds to infrastructure projects, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed Infrastructure Debt Fund-Non-Banking Financial Companies to invest in public-private partnerships (PPPs) and infrastructure projects which have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operation. The maximum exposure that an IDF-NBFC can take on individual projects will be at 50 per cent of its total capital funds. Additional exposure: An additional exposure up to 10 per cent could be taken at the discretion of the board of the IDF-NBFC. The RBI, however, could permit additional exposure up to 15 per cent (over 60 per cent) “subject to such conditions as it may deem fit to impose regarding additional prudential safeguards.” Bad loans situation may not have peaked yet, says Rajan
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The Indian banking system may not yet have seen the peak in bad loans, the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, adding the central bank was working with lenders to recognise and resolve these non-performing assets. The ratio of bad loans at Indian banks has doubled over the past three years on the back of an economic slowdown — a worry for a country that is hoping to spur a revival in credit to key sectors such as infrastructure. That has prevented banks from lending more, despite two interest rate cuts by the RBI this year totalling half a percentage point. Mr. Rajan also said that the RBI was not against the idea of an independent public debt management agency (PDMA) and that there was no difference of opinion between the central bank and the government on the issue. The RBI currently manages the government’s debt. India 100th on global human capital index; Finland tops India was ranked at a low 100th position on a global Human Capital Index, which measures the countries in terms of the economies leveraging their human capital, where Finland has topped the 124-nation list. On the list, compiled by World Economic Forum (WEF), other emerging economies such as Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa are ranked ahead of India. In the top-ten, Finland is followed by Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium. The list has been compiled on the basis of 46 indicators about "how well they are developing and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment". "It aims to understand whether countries are wasting or leveraging their human potential.” Among BRICS nations, Russia comes on the top at 26th position, followed by China at 64th, Brazil at 78th place and South Africa at 92nd. WEF said that 14 countries have reached 80 per cent human capital optimisation, while 38 countries score between 70 per cent and 80 per cent. A further 40 countries score between 60 per cent and 70 per cent, while 23 countries score 50-60 per cent and nine countries remain below 50 per cent. After China and India, the region's third most populous nation, Indonesia, holds the 69th spot. Iran is ranked 80th. Tata Motors inks distribution pact with Vietnam’s TMT Tata Motors has entered the Vietnam market by signing a distribution agreement for commercial vehicles with TMT Joint Stock Company. This follows the Indian company’s recent ventures in the Asean region, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Tata Motors will supply completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles and completely built units (CBU) to TMT. The deal, which also includes technology licence and supply agreements, will help TMT expand its vehicle assembly business and distribution network in Vietnam, the company said in a statement. In April last year, Tata Motors entered the Philippines market by exporting passenger and commercial vehicles such as the Manza sedan and Xenon pickup trucks. In April 2012, Tata Motors signed an agreement with DRB-HICOM in Malaysia and later in 2013 it launched a range of passenger cars in Indonesia through a wholly-owned subsidiary. TMT is into manufacturing, assembly and distribution of commercial vehicles in Vietnam, while Tata Motors is India’s largest automobile company with consolidated revenue of ₹2,32,834 crore ($38.9 billion) in 2013-14. “It is indeed an honour for us that Tata Motors, known to be among the world’s top truck and bus manufacturers, has chosen to partner with TMT JSC to start this new chapter in their engagement with the Vietnam market,” said TMT Chairman Bui Van Huu. Modi in China: India, China to set up task force to address trade gap In a bid to address Indian concerns on market access in China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed to form a high-level task force that will cover the entire gamut of issues. Modi said, “President Xi and Premier Li were very receptive to the specific concerns I had raised on our growing trade deficit. We look forward to early impact on the ground.” “We have agreed to create a high-level task force to develop a strategic road-map to expand economic relations. It will cover a broad range of areas including infrastructure, IT, pharma, agriculture and manufacturing,” he added. Modi said that “to maintain this partnership over the long run, we must also improve the access of Indian industry to the Chinese market. I am encouraged by President Xi’s and Premier Li’s commitment to resolve this problem”. While there were no details available about the composition of the task force, secretary-rank officials are expected to be part of the panel. Foreign secretary S Jaishankar said that the task force was being formed because there are “not enough movement” on India’s demands for more access to pharma and IT markets identified by the Indian officials. The trade deficit between India and China is estimated to be about $40 billion, and Indian government has been seeking better market access in China for its products in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, IT and agriculture. The two sides resolved to take joint measures to alleviate the skewed bilateral trade so as to realise its sustainability, said a joint statement.
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“Such measures will include cooperation on pharmaceutical supervision including registration, speedier phytosanitary negotiations on agro-products for two-way trade, stronger links between Indian IT companies and Chinese enterprises, and increasing services trade in tourism, films, healthcare, IT and logistics,” it said. The two sides also decided to have a special mechanism to discuss issues related to World Trade Organization talks as both have the same approach on these. Modi also said, “Bilateral cooperation was a very important part of our discussion. We have set a high level of ambition for our economic partnership. We see enormous bilateral opportunities and many similar challenges, like urbanisation.” “This includes cooperation in the Railways, where we have identified specific projects, and the two Chinese industrial parks in Gujarat and Maharashtra,” he said He said that both Chinese leaders were “very supportive” about increased Chinese participation in the Make in India mission and infrastructure sector. Modi inaugurates ICICI Bank’s first branch in China ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank has launched its first branch in China. The Shanghai branch was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The initiative marks a significant milestone for the Bank's international operations. In March 2003, ICICI Bank had set-up a representative office in Shanghai to develop strong relationships with Chinese banks and corporates for their India linked banking needs. The representative office has been upgraded to a branch keeping in mind the rising trade volumes between India and China. With this branch, the Bank aims to provide greater support to Chinese and Indian corporates in their crossborder business interests. The new branch will engage in banking activities permitted under the guidelines of the China Banking Regulatory and will also facilitate international trade between China and other countries, support of Chinese Corporates / EPC contractors bidding for infrastructure, business expansion of Indian joint ventures and subsidiaries of Indian entities in China, and remittances from China to India. ICICI Bank's international footprint consists of subsidiaries in United Kingdom and Canada, branches in the US, China, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai, international Finance Centre; and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Bank's UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany. Bharti Airtel gets credit line of $ 2.5 b from Chinese banks Bharti Airtel has received financing commitments of up to $ 2.5 billion from top Chinese banks as it tries to invest in the growth of data networks across its global operations. Bharti Airtel, which operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, said that China Development Bank had committed a $ 2 billion credit line, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has offered a $ 500 million credit line. The company signed the term sheets for the financing options in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on an official visit to China. The transaction needs approvals, including from the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI), it said in a statement. SC upholds validity of Company Law Tribunal The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and its appellate forum under the Companies Act of 2013. A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, however, quashed Section 409(3)(a) and (c) and Section 411(3) of the Act providing for qualifications of technical members. It held that for appointment of technical members to NCLT, directions contained in the 2010 judgment should be “scrupulously followed.” The 2010 decision held that persons below the rank of a Secretary or Additional Secretary should not be appointed as a technical member to NCLT. It also held as invalid Section 412 of the new Act, which contemplates selection by a committee consisting of two Judges and three secretaries. The court directed the Centre to ensure that the bodies are adequately manned and start functioning at the earliest. Govt contains FY15 fiscal deficit at 4% beats target Despite an ambitious target, the Centre managed to contain its fiscal deficit at 4 per cent of the GDP or Rs 5,01,880 crore in 2014-15, overcoming a shortfall in tax collections. This is marginally better than the target of 4.1 per cent of the GDP for the fiscal deficit in 2014-15 and amounts to 98 per cent of the projected figure in revised estimate. The revenue deficit was also contained at 2.8 per cent of the GDP or Rs 3,58,306 crore, partially lower than the targetted 2.9 per cent of the GDP last fiscal. The finance ministry said this was possible through prudent fiscal policies adding, “The government is firmly committed to path of fiscal consolidation and this is a step forward.” For 2015-16, Jaitley has aimed to contain the fiscal deficit at 3.9 per cent of the GDP and the revenue deficit at 2.8 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal.
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According to the data release by the finance ministry , gross tax collections grew 9 per cent in 2014-15 and stood at Rs 12,45,037 crore, partially lower than the revised estimate of Rs 12,51,391 crore. GMR Infra, GIIC ink MoU for Kakinada SEZ Kakinada SEZ Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd., has signed an MoU with Guizhou International Investment Corporation (GIIC) to set up industrial park for Chinese equipment manufacturing companies. A consortium of three Chinese manufacturing firms, GIIC plans to set up 2,000 acres industrial park in Kakinada SEZ for Chinese high-end equipment manufacturers. Investment GIIC would invest $500 million in developing the infrastructure and various facilities of the industrial park. In addition, Chinese companies that would set up units at the park would additionally invest $2-3 billion on their operations over five years. GMR Infrastructure Ltd., Business Chairman (Transportation and Urban Infrastructure) BVN Rao said the MoU would help in economic development of the region and the State. KSEZ is a port-based multi product special economic zone, spread over about 10,500 acres. The MoU was signed by Kakinada SEZ President Challa Prasanna in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Rao and senior officials of GIIC, the release said. Reliance Jio signs pact with Huawei for 4G devices Telecom arm of Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio), has signed a pact with Chinese firm Huawei for sourcing various 4G devices. “Reliance Jio and Huawei have signed an agreement for 4G devices which includes smartphones, tablets and mifi dongles. It has signed agreement with a couple of other Chinese device maker as well,” an industry source said. On May 7, RJio raised a $750 million (nearly Rs.4,500 crore) loan to procure goods and services from South Korean firms Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp. While Ace Technologies provides telecom equipment, Samsung has its portfolio spread across technology vertical. As per the licensing agreement, August 31, 2015, is the deadline for all companies, which won BWA spectrum in 2010, including RJio, to roll out the services in at least 90 per cent of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom will have the right to withdraw the radiowaves. RIL raises $200 m via Formosa Bonds from Taiwan Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has raised $200 million through issuance of 20-year long-term bonds in Taiwan at a fixed interest rate of 5 per cent per annum with interest payable semi-annually in arrears. The funds will be utilised for the company’s ongoing capital expenditure. “These notes, denominated in U.S. dollars, have been issued primarily to Taiwanese life insurance companies and are proposed to be listed on Taipei Exchange (formerly known as GreTai Securities Market),” RIL said in a statement. Such notes are commonly known as Formosa Bonds. This is the first ever Formosa Bonds issued to any energy company globally, and RIL is the first company from India to issue such bonds. The notes are being issued at par, and will also have an annual call option at par starting June 5, 2020, the company said. Deutsche Bank AG, Taipei Branch and HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd. acted as joint book runners and lead managers on the transaction. Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc. acted as the structuring agent on the transaction. Using gold deposit to meet CRR, SLR needs As per the draft guidelines, minimum gold deposit is proposed at 30 gm and the interest earned on it would be exempt from income tax as well as capital gains tax. The Central government is considering allowing banks to utilise gold mobilised under the monetisation scheme for meeting mandatory liquidity requirements set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). “To incentivise banks, it is proposed that they may be permitted to deposit the mobilised gold as part of their CRR/SLR requirements with RBI. This aspect is still under examination,” a draft guidelines on Gold Monetisation Scheme said. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the portion of the total deposits, which has to be kept with RBI in cash, while Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) is the portion of deposit compulsorily parked in government securities. CRR is 4 per cent while SLR is 21.5 per cent. So, 25.5 per cent of the cash deposit mobilised by banks are locked in these two statutory ratios. So, if mobilised gold is considered for meeting the CRR and SLR requirements, then banks would have additional cash for lending purposes. If gold mobilised through scheme is allowed to meet CRR/SLR requirements, the value of the metal will be considered as deposits for meeting the reserve ratios. The government issued a draft scheme under which a person or entity can earn interest by depositing the yellow metal with banks. A person or institution holding surplus gold can get it valued from BIS-approved hallmarking centres, open a Gold Savings Account in banks for a minimum period of one year and earn interest in either cash or gold units, the draft said.
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The gold monetisation scheme, which is proposed to be initially introduced only in selected cities, was announced in the Budget this year by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Goce gravity boost to geothermal hunt The hunt for sources of geothermal energy is getting a boost from new observations of the Earth made from space. Information about variations in gravity across the planet could help prospectors find promising locations where subsurface heat can be exploited to generate electricity. The data comes from Europe’s Goce satellite. It mapped Earth’s gravity field from 2009 to 2013 at high resolution. This keen sensing is now expected to narrow the search for prime spots to put future power stations. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released the information in a special global atlas. Although a large potential resource, geothermal currently accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s electricity generation. Part of that comes down to the huge costs of exploration. But Goce’s maps are expected to shortcut some of the effort by pinpointing regions of the world with the best characteristics, such as where the continental crust is at its thinnest. As it flew around the planet, the satellite was able to observe very subtle differences in the pull of gravity from one place to the next a function of the uneven distribution of mass beneath it. This variation in the gravity signal is most obvious over large mountains and over deep ocean trenches. New treatment for diabetes in offing: study Australian researchers have discovered a link between protein intake and improved control of blood glucose in mice, opening the way for potential new treatments for diabetes in human beings. Lead researcher Stefan Broer of Australian National University (ANU) said the findings show mice, with a reduced capacity to digest and absorb protein, are highly efficient at removing glucose from blood after a meal. “This is precisely what individuals with diabetes fail to do. This research has significant potential for the design of new drugs to treat type 2 diabetes,” said Professor Broer, from the ANU Research School of Biology. Prof. Broer said the mice lacked a so—called transporter in the intestine that moves amino acids, the breakdown products of protein digestion, from the lumen of the intestine into the blood. This reduces the intake of protein and indirectly improves their efficiency at removing glucose from the blood. With Multi-Object Tracking Radar, India joins big league In its bid to acquire advanced technologies, India has joined the select group of countries that have rare and the latest technologies for tracking multiple objects moving in space with the help of a highly-sophisticated radar. Dr. M.Y.S. Prasad, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Sriharikota, said the radar would be used along with the existing six small radars available at SHAR for ensuring precision in rocket launches. “As of now, only one object is tracked throughout the launch process with the available radars. Henceforth, even burnt-out debris in phase one and two of a rocket launch can be tracked with the latest technology,” Dr. Prasad said. Incidentally, he spearheaded the formal commissioning of the Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) at Sriharikota, which is the main launch facility for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). With the new facility, India will be joining nations like the US, Israel, Japan and Canada, which have similar advanced technology. MOTR can track 10 different objects simultaneously with a range of nearly 1,000 km. The existing radars have a range of 300 to 400 km. MOTR former Project Director V. Seshagiri Rao said the equipment would be very useful during minor deviations in the trajectory of a just-launched vehicle, as immediate remedial measures could be taken. Unlike conventional radars, MOTR has a stationary antenna, which has electronic beam steering capability. Isro has faced the issue of changing the path of its satellites nearly 12 times in the past when the space debris moved closely to these objects. Space debris data is mostly taken from the National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) but the newly acquired technology will help in keeping a watch on Isro’s space assets on a daily basis. SC bars Glenmark from selling anti-diabetes drugs The Supreme Court restrained Indian firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals from manufacturing and selling its antidiabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met. “At this stage, we would not like to enter into a detailed discussion of the merits of the order of the Division Bench of the High Court and our primary concern would be to balance the equities between the parties while maintaining public interest,” the Bench, led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said. It further said that “going by the prima facie satisfaction recorded by the High Court, we are of the view that the unfinished formulation of Sitagliptin Phosphate Monohydrate [SPM] which is to be processed in the petitioner’s factory/factories will not be undertaken for the present and until the next date fixed.” To finish stock The apex court, however, allowed Glenmark Pharmaceuticals to continue selling existing stock of its anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met in the market.
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“In our view, in the present case, the above [balance of equities] would be best served if the existing stock of the two products viz. Zita and Zita-Met are allowed to be sold in the market which, according to the petitioner itself, can take care of the current demand in the market for five to six months, ” the Bench said. HC restraint The Delhi High Court, on March 20, restrained Glenmark from manufacturing, marketing or selling its anti-diabetes drugs, saying it had “prima facie” infringed the patent of U.S. drug major Merck Sharp and Dohme. Isro, Nasa to jointly study global ecological changes The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Nasa are jointly working on the NISAR satellite designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides. Isro chairman Dr Kiran Kumar said, “Our target is 2020-21. The satellite will be built by us and will be launched here. The payloads will be built by Nasa.” The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite. The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used for remote sensing to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth. Data collected from NISAR will reveal information about the evolution and state of the Earth’s crust, help scientists better understand our planet’s processes and changing climate, and aid future resource and hazard management. Moving beyond satellite launches and planetary explorations, Isro is also aggressively working with many government departments on how to optimise usage of space tools and data. India’s eye on universe ready for tests A fully assembled Astrosat, India’s first space observatory, is ready for intensive tests before its launch around October. The Indian Space Research Organisation said that the 1,650-kg spacecraft would orbit Earth equatorially at 650 km and study distant stars, galaxies, black holes and other cosmic objects. Elite status The space-based observatory was built at the ISRO Satellite Centre to operate for five years and will provide useful data for the country’s astronomy community. It will put India in an elite orbit with the U.S., Europe, Russia and Japan. Although previous national satellites carried small astronomy-related devices, “Nothing on this scale, with a dedicated satellite, has been done before [at ISRO]. It should be of immense benefit to our scientists, who have depended on inputs from other agencies and sources like the Hubble [US-European space telescope],” the official said. In the coming days, Astrosat will undergo a host of environmental tests — electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal vacuum, vibration and acoustics and so on. Later, the satellite will be shipped to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, for launch. ISRO developed the six payloads in partnership with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru; and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune. ENVIRONMENT Camphor- scented leaves found in Western Ghats A new tree species that gives out strong smell of camphor when its leaves and stem are crushed has been reported from southern Western Ghats. The species, which is endemic to the Ghats region of Kerala, was named as Cinnamomum agasthyamalayanum after the type locality, Agasthyamala hills, from where it was reported. The find attains significance as this is considered the only endemic species that gives out the smell of camphor. Now, the challenge is to find out whether camphor can be distilled from the plant at commercially viable level. While natural camphor is extracted by distilling the leaves and bark of Cinnamomum camphora, a native to China, Taiwan, southern parts of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, it is also synthetically produced. Camphor oil is extracted by steam from the chipped wood, root stumps and branches of the camphor tree. It is then rectified under vacuum and filter pressed, explained scientists. Camphor has a wide range of medicinal applications especially in Ayurveda. Camphor has pain- relieving effect. It is an ingredient in a few externally applied oils to relieve muscle spasm. It also has mild mucolitic property. It is also used in mild dosage in internal medicines. Though Cinnamomum camphora would grow in Indian climatic conditions, it need not yield camphor at commercially viable levels. The new species can grow up to 8 metres in the dense wet evergreen forests of the Ghats at an altitude between 500m and 1400m, said scientists. It was found “distributed in the windwards evergreen forests of Agasthyamalai phytogeographical region of southern Western Ghats. The population was found to be very low in all regions which were surveyed. Manipur’s Ngapang revealed to world as new catfish species Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered a new species of catfish, Glyptothorax senapatiensis , in the Chindwin river drainage in Senapati district of Manipur.
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The people of the region have been having the six-cm-long freshwater fish as food for long, calling it Ngapang. “It is a small but edible fish with high nutritional value and a lot of oil content,” ZSI scientist Laishram Kosygin told. The fish has a thoracic adhesive apparatus that helps it cling on to the rocky riverbed in mountains against strong currents. All Glyptothorax-genus fish have this characteristic. Scientists say the Northeast has a rich aquatic biodiversity, with 361 of the 816 fish species found in India present there. Several important species of catfish, a diverse group of ray-finned fish with prominent barbells resembling cat whiskers, are found there. Manipur has a high diversity of aquatic fauna because of the two important river drainage systems. “The western half is fed by the Barak-Brahmaputra drainage and the eastern and centrals valley are crisscrossed by the Chindwin river drainage, and these account for the variety in the aquatic fauna,” Mr. Kosygin said. Combating climate change: India, China ask developed nations to take the lead India and China came up with a joint document on climate change and asked the developed countries to raise their pre-2020 emission reduction targets, and also honour their commitment to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 to developing countries. The document, unveiled after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, came as a surprise to many as both countries earlier have taken positions on climate change which were not always on the same side. The joint document comes ahead of the crucial UN climate conference in Paris later this year. It said the two countries recognise that climate change and its adverse effects are the common concern of the mankind and one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century, which needs to be addressed through international cooperation in the context of sustainable development. As the two biggest developing countries, China and India are undertaking ambitious actions domestically on combating climate change through plans, policies and measures on mitigation and adaptation despite enormous scale of their challenges in terms of social and economic development and poverty eradication, the joint statement noted. “China and India are fully engaged in their domestic preparations for their respective intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) in the context of the 2015 agreement and will communicate their INDCs as early as possible and well before the Paris Conference,” it said. They decided to further “promote bilateral partnership on climate change and enhance the role of this partnership in their overall strategic cooperation partnership through the implementation of this joint statement”. They stressed that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol are the “most appropriate framework” for international cooperation for addressing climate change. “They reaffirm the principles of equity and common, but differentiated responsibilities and call for the leadership of developed countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing finance, technology and capacity building support to developing countries,” it said. The two sides said that they would “work together, and with other parties, to advance the multilateral negotiations to achieve a comprehensive, balanced, equitable and effective agreement under the UNFCCC in 2015, with a view to ensuring the full, effective and sustained implementation of the UNFCCC.” The joint document said the 2015 agreement shall be in full accordance with the principles, provisions and structure of the UNFCCC, in particular the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, reflecting different historical responsibilities, development stages and national circumstances between developed and developing countries. The 2015 agreement shall address mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity building and transparency of action and support in a comprehensive and balanced manner. India asks developed nations at climate talks to finalise pre-2020 action plan Environment minister Prakash Javadekar asked rich countries to commit on the present and come up with emission reduction targets for the pre-2020 period in order to have a successful climate conference in Paris this winter. A new agreement is to be signed for the post-2020 period but experts say commitment to emission reduction in the pre-2020 period is extremely weak under the second phase of the existing climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol. “It will be ironical if we formulate post-2020 architecture without finalising the pre-2020 action plan,” Javadekar said at the St Petersberg Climate Dialogue organised by the German government to formalise a negotiating text for the 196-nation climate summit later this year. Three years after the United Nations-led climate conference decided to extend the Kyoto Protocol to 2020, it has not been ratified by enough countries to make it an international agreement. The United States, Canada, Japan and Australia are among the major carbon emitting countries that have refused to be a part of Kyoto-2. India’s move to ask for more commitment on pre-2020 targets is clearly aimed at putting pressure on countries like the United States which have submitted their emission reduction target only for the post-2020 period without any commitment for the interim period. It also deflects the pressure on India and China to accept carbon emission reduction goals. “In this regard, the pre-2020 actions would be an important signal to the world about our commitment on climate change issues,” Javadekar said, while elaborating on India’s voluntary action to fight climate change. Weekly News and Analysis Byju’s Classes-9873643487 2015CA_014,015,016,017,018,019,020
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He also outlined an eight-point charter that included a renewable energy goal of 175 GW by 2022, an increase in cess on coal to fund clean technologies, a new scheme for faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles, more money to state governments to create carbon sinks by afforestation and a plan to develop 100 smart cities. Javadekar raises concern on feasibility of carbon market mechanism A proposal to have a global carbon trading mechanism or carbon tax and a “lean” negotiating draft by October saw India raising eyebrows at the St Petersberg Climate Dialogue that ended without meeting its objective of building a consensus on a draft for the Paris climate conference this winter. Both German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande spoke of carbon pricing -- based on the 'polluter pay' principle -- finding a place in the Paris agreement to encourage investments in cleaner technologies. “Devise new instruments to get more funds to encourage investments. There is a question of carbon pricing. We can build a world market for carbon,” Hollande said. The European Union (EU) in 2012 had suspended its proposed carbon tax on emissions from airlines crossing Europe after stiff resistance by India and China. The EU plans to revive the plan and embed it in the Paris climate deal on the grounds that the revenue generated from the mechanism would be provided for climate adaptation in the most vulnerable, least developed and island nations. Hollande described it as a “financial resource to compliment” the $100-billion contribution assured by wealthy nations to the developing world by 2020, apparently aimed at isolating India and China but winning over poorer nations. Indian environment minister Prakash Javadekar was quick to ask whether the suggested market mechanism, whose contours were not clear, was a “feasible” way out and how it would pan out in the near future. Hollande replied that it would help maximise public finance to fight climate change. Later, his foreign minister Laurent Fabius invoked high pollution levels in the developing world (read India and China) to justify the proposal. Javadekar sought a separate two-day session before the negotiating draft for the Paris climate summit is finalised. India wants clarity on the tricky issues surrounding the Paris conference such as the binding nature of the new agreement and what the differentiation among rich and developing countries would mean. India is against its domestic commitments becoming binding and open to review by the global community. The dialogue had environment ministers from 35 countries, who discussed the nature of the new climate agreement for 13 hours over a day. But, they failed to narrow down their differences as countries stuck to their old stands. The only consensus was on trying to have a negotiating text ready for negotiations by October. CSE welcomes proposed changes in emission norms The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has welcomed the step taken by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to tighten the pollution norms for coal-based power plants in the country. CSE deputy director general Chandra Bhushan said: “We welcome this move. It will have an impact on the pollution caused by the thermal power sector in India.” The MoEF&CC had published a draft notification to tighten norms for emissions of particulate matter (PM), SO2, NOx and mercury and cut water use by coal-based thermal power plants. India currently has no standards for SO2, NOx and mercury emissions from this sector. Earlier this year, CSE had released its environmental rating of the coal-based thermal power sector, under its Green Rating Project. Forty seven plants — adding up to 55 per cent of the nation’s capacity — were rated: the sector ranked poorly on all the parametres. Of the total pollution from the sector, the coal-based power sector currently accounts for approximately 60 per cent of particulate emissions, 45-50 per cent of SO2 emissions, 30 per cent of NOx emissions and more than 80 per cent of mercury emissions. There are currently no standards to curb emissions of SO2, NOx and mercury. The ministry’s proposed changes, if implemented, may go a long way in safeguarding public health and environment, say CSE experts. Go Green Proposed standards for new plants (after 2017) will cut down emissions of particulate matter by 25%, sulphur dioxide (SO2) by 90%, nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 70% and mercury by 75% compared with the state-of-the-art plants Existing plants will need to meet tighter standards CSE’s Green Rating Project recently released a report on the thermal power sector, finding most plants to be performing way below global standards. PERSONS IN NEWS ‘King of the Blues’ BB King dies at 89 B.B. King, the great bluesmen and one of the most important electric guitar players of all time, died. Although he had continued to perform well into his 80s, the 15-time Grammy winner had been in declining health during the past year. He cancelled the final shows of his 2014 tour last October after he collapsed during a concert in Chicago.
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Tirelessly performing his distinct brand of blues during a career spanning nearly 70 years, the Mississippi native and his sidekick “Lucille” — Mr. King’s signature Gibson electric guitar — earned worldwide acclaim, a Yale doctorate, two Presidential medals and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him among the greatest guitar players of all time. Along with that of Howlin’ Wolf, King’s music heavily influenced the sound of British rock acts such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. King released the seminal blues concert album, “Live at the Regal in 1965 and followed it up four years later with the hit single, “The Thrill is Gone.” Mainstream success was hard-earned for B.B. King. Early on, King struggled for acceptance not only as a black musician but as a blues musician. The blues was often seen as the devil’s music by many of the more pious in the black community. At best it was considered a gangly, unsophisticated country cousin of big-city jazz and rhythm and blues. He became the first blues musician to tour the Soviet Union in 1979; and a household name in the U.S. with appearances in commercials for Burger King, Texaco and Southwest Airlines. His 2000 album with Eric Clapton, “Riding With the King,” was the most successful of King’s nearly 50-year career, selling 4.5 million copies around the world. Having sung with the gospel choir at the local Baptist church, he bought his first guitar when he was 12. A preacher uncle taught him to play, and he honed his technique in abject poverty in the Mississippi Delta, the birthplace of the blues. Indian-origin boy working with Microsoft for Braille printer A 13—year—old Indian—origin boy, who invented a low—cost portable Braille printer, is now working with technology giant Microsoft to integrate it with Windows to make it easily accessible to the visually—impaired and plans to launch it commercially in November. Shubham Banerjee, an eighth—grade student in Santa Clara, California, was invited by Microsoft to showcase his Braigo 2.0 printer at a tech fair organised by the company here. “Our relationship with Microsoft will help Braigo achieve a seamless experience for a visually—impaired person who wants to use a computer at home or at the office to print documents for offline reading,” Banerjee said in Microsoft blog post. Morsy gets death penalty An Egyptian court sentenced the ousted President, Mohamed Morsy, and over 100 others to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and later brought Islamists to power for the first time in Egypt. As is customary in passing the capital punishment, Judge Shaaban el-Shami referred the death sentence to the nation’s top Muslim theologian, or mufti, for his non-binding opinion. PLACES IN NEWS Xian offers a historic backdrop for Xi-Modi tryst Before leaving for this ancient city, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Chinese media that his visit would set a “new milestone” for Asian relations. To begin with, Xian is in Mr. Xi’s native Shaanxi province, where his family hails from, and is a way of returning Mr. Modi’s gesture when he invited the former to visit Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar first. Xian is also replete with historic significance for the India-China relationship. It is the place where China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who unified China and constructed the first Great Wall, was buried. Emperor Qin reigned in China from 221 BC, around the time King Ashoka ruled over most of South Asia and Buddhism spread from India. Silk route Xian is the starting point of the ancient Silk Route that stretched from Ch’angan, as it was known (city of eternal peace), to Istanbul, and is Mr. Xi’s most important project at present. The Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Route that make up the “belt and road” initiative that China is preparing to spend billions on is yet to receive India’s approval. In fact, visibly discomforted over the project that will reach out to all India’s neighbours, Mr. Modi has set about with his own neighbourhood initiatives in the Indian Ocean (Mausam project), and land connectivity (through SAARC). Finally, on the Prime Minister’s sightseeing list are the Little Goose and Big Goose Pagodas that became the home of traveller Xuan Zang, who returned to Xian in AD 652 after spending 18 years in India studying Buddhism. Xuan Zang’s legacy is immense in China, and Mr. Modi has taken a keen interest in finding the places where he lived in India, especially an excavation site next to his hometown of Mehsana. “In so many ways Buddhism brought India and China together for thousands of years of peace, so why not now? If there is a ‘Made in China’ [product] in every Indian home, there is a ‘Made in India’ place for Buddhism in every Chinese home,”. Ancient manuscripts Officials say Mr. Xi will show Mr. Modi some of the ancient manuscripts prepared by six visiting Indian scholars that are kept at the Big Goose Pagoda as well.
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Mr. Modi will be signing of several bilateral agreements. The agreements include railway lines, providing trains as well as a rail academy for skill development, a joint venture in outer space and cultural ties. Deals estimated at $10 billion would be signed, Chinese Ambassador Le Yucheng said.
SPORTS Hsu downs fighting Vaishnavi to clinch title Top seed Ching-Wen Hsu of Taipei edged out fifth seed Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy of India to lift the singles title in the USD 10,000 NIWEC-ITF Women's Tennis Championships. Lodha Committee Sends Questionnaire to BCCI Over Reforms The Supreme Court-appointed committee headed by former CJI RM Lodha, who has been assigned to make administrative reforms in BCCI, has sent out a questionnaire containing more than 80 queries under seven sub-heads to office-bearers of the cricket body. The committee, comprising Chief Justice of India (Retd) RM Lodha along with former SC judges Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran, has enquired on various issues related to BCCI ranging from conflict of interest, audits, accounts, finance to oversight and transparency. The questionnaire that has seven specific heads are as follows: I) Organisation, Structure and Relationship, II) Offices, Committees and Elections, III) Commercial engagements, Contracts and Services, IV) Audit, Accounts and Finances, V) Player Welfare and Dispute Resolution, VI) Conflict of Interest, VII) Oversight and Transparency. Some of the significant questions asked by the committee come under the 'conflict of interest' section. Under section VI, sub-head 6.1, SC appointed committee enquired: When a player/team official of an IPL team is the employee of the franchisee / owner of another team, does BCCI perceive a Conflict of Interest? What steps are taken prevent such situations? The answer provided states, "Only after the present case of conflict of interest with respect to India Cements/CSK/N.Srinivasan has the public been aware of such an arbitrary attitude prevailing in the BCCI." However, there are two more questions on the issue that went unanswered. They are 6.2: What steps have been taken by BCCI / IPL and the constituents to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between those who govern each of these entities and those are involved in their professional management? What sanctions have been laid down for suppressing information regarding the above? and 6.3) Have steps have been taken to ensure there are no conflict of interest issues and that Board/IPL representatives do not have relatives/associates selected for garnering these contracts? Himachal to host paragliding World Cup The hill State is to host the first paragliding World Cup in India from October 23 to October 31 at Bir Billing in Kangra valley. State Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma, who is also the president of the Paragliding Association, said efforts are on to develop world-class infrastructure for the event. Mr. Sharma said paragliding athletes from over 50 countries were expected to participate in the championship and 47 countries have already confirmed their participation. Mr. Sharma said that after hosting the paragliding pre-World Cup successfully, the Paragliding World Cup Association, France, had given the opportunity to the hill State to host the world championship now. The Minister said hot air ballooning activities would also be held during the championship. Live tracking systems will be put in place for safety. Yuki Bhambri, No. 1 among Indian men Yuki Bhambri has a lot to celebrate. For the first time ever, the 22-year-old Delhi lad played the final of a clay court Challenger. The effort helped him reach 158 in the latest world rankings, the best for an Indian at the moment, ahead of Somdev Devvarman (172) and Saketh Myneni (196). Also, Yuki is inching closer to his career-best rank of 143 that he had reached in February last year. This is a rare occasion that three players figure in the top-200 of world rankings. This projects a healthy image of Indian tennis, especially in the light of the Davis Cup tie scheduled against New Zealand in Christchurch in July. Qualifying for the Australian Open and playing a good match against Olympic champion Andy Murray had set the tempo for Yuki this season and he did well to notch the big points from the two finals of Challengers in Delhi and Samarkand. From being ranked 414 in February, it has been a fabulous sail for Yuki, who had affixed his stamp of class in the Asian Games last year in Incheon with bronze medals in singles and doubles with Divij Sharan. Despite the favourable winds, Yuki was in no mood to celebrate, as he conceded that he was just happy to be consistent. Yuki said that he was looking forward to playing more tournaments in Korea before moving to the grass events in the UK in preparation for Wimbledon. For sure, Yuki has a healthy attitude and a stable head on his strong shoulders, as he goads his legs to take him into the top-100 in singles, a milestone achieved only by Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman among the Indian men in the last two decades.
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AWARDS Trio wins aeromodelling contest in Turkey A team of three mechanical engineering students from Mumbai-based Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) has secured a third position in an international aeromodelling competition in Turkey. The highlight of their triumph is the fact that they competed with participating teams from military institutions and designed the lightest aircraft model weighing just 1.46 kg. Hosted by the Turkish Air Force Academy and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, the Future Flight Design (FFD 2015) was held from May 8-10 and themed around designing a mothership aircraft capable of releasing several Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs or smaller gliders) while airborne. Indian team came third behind teams from China, which won the competition, and host Turkey. The competition involved flying three missions which tested the participants in fields of aircraft design, mechanism design and development for release of MAVs. A third year mechanical engineering student of VJTI, Nimish along with batchmates Dinesh Kene and Madhav More formed the Indian team christened Vayuputras. The trio also won a cash prize of 3,000 Turkish Lira (about Rs. 73,000). The competition was tough with teams from air force and other military institutions from countries like China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and universities from Poland, Romania, Hungary, France and Turkey. The Mumbai team scored a design report of 90.67 per cent, and designed the lightest aircraft in the contest. The team attributes its triumph towards its light-weighted structure, which secured their winning points because of being least expensive. Their efforts in manual fabrication of an efficient design were highly appreciated.
Indian American Teen Wins 'Young Scientist' Award For Inventing Device That Shuts Down Undersea Oil Spills An 18-year-old Indian-American boy has won the prestigious Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award in the US for inventing a device that quickly shuts down undersea oil spills. Karan Jerath of Friendswood, Texas, claimed the USD 50,000 top prize at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF). Jerath was also one of the five students selected for the Intel and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum Visit to India Award. Jerath designed a sturdy device that can collect the oil, gas and water spewing from a broken well on the seafloor. "Sensors inside the 350-ton device would measure the temperature, pressure and density of the mix of gases and fluids erupting from a well," Karan said. "A computer would then calculate how valves in the gadget should be adjusted so that the gas and oil can be collected. That should stop a spill in its tracks. The device could help prevent an ecological catastrophe. It also would reduce cleanup costs." The top position was shared by two other teen researchers. One developed a technique to more quickly diagnose infections by HIV. The other used sophisticated software to improve the flow of air inside aircraft cabins that could reduce the transmission of disease among passengers. Maya Ajmera, an Indian descent who heads the Society for Science and the Public that conducts the IISEF, congratulated the winners and said, "These talented young students are the problem solvers and innovators of their generation." Scores of Indian-American students won awards in various categories, five of them getting the first award in their specialisations, biochemistry, behavioural sciences, environmental engineering, mathematics and energy physics. The IISEF honours the world's most promising high school student scientists, inventors and engineers selected through rigorous competitions held around the world. 6 Indian-Americans receive prestigious award in US Six Indian-Americans and a British-Indian were among nearly 100 individuals who were presented prestigious 2015 Ellis Island Medals of Honor in the US for their contributions to America. Indian-American winners include Meera Gandhi, founder of The Giving Back Foundation, Rajdeep K Dhami, Chad P Gehani, Rahul M Jindal, S Mona Sinha, chairperson of the Asian Women's Leadership University (AWLU) Project, and K V Kumar. Baroness Sandip Verma, member of the House of Lords, and a former junior minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the UK, also received the award presented recently in New York. Gandhi's The Giving Back Foundation is geared towards alleviating illness, poverty and suffering while also addressing education issues which affect women and children around the world. Gehani, former president of the New York State Dental Association, lives in Queens, New York.In November 2006 Gehani was honored by the New York State Dental Foundation with the Foundation of Excellence in Community Service Award. Jindal who is currently a Staff Transplant Surgeon at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and professor of Surgery and Global Health at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2013, Jindal received the Leadership Award by the International Leadership Foundation in Washington. The same year he also received the Outstanding American by choice award by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.He was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair to carry out research and teaching in India. Sinha who is a founding member of the Asian Women's Leadership project, focused on empowering women as future leaders of Asia.
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She is a trustee of Smith College, her alma mater and also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School and the Global Mental Health Program at the Columbia School of Public Health, and as a trustee of All Souls School in New York. Kumar who is the managing partner of Kumar & Talvadkar Associates, a Management Consulting Company. The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations which pays homage to the immigrant experience and the contribution made to America by immigrants and their children. The medals are awarded to native-born and naturalized US citizens.
OPINION A long march to a new relationship In 1950, the year of establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, the Indian Sinologist, Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, offered this summation of their “thousand year” relationship: “To Friends in China:..The road is long, so do not mind the smallness of the present. We wish you may accept it.” This note of forbearance is not easily assimilated in either country today, populated as both of them are by young “dreams”, incandescent nationalisms, and power in the process of being restored. As the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, goes to China, bearing his message of INCH (India and China) towards MILES (Millennium of Exceptional Synergy), he is in tune with the synergy of that earlier millennium in relations between the two countries, conscious of the smallness of the present in India-China interaction, and the length of the road ahead as the two countries seek to build harmony in the midst of differences. In the tradition of his ancient Indian forebears in China, when he lands in Xian, from where the Silk Road stretched westward into India, Mr. Modi, ever the pragmatist who also dares to dream, will approach the challenge of China, aware of the complexities that crowd the relationship, but also conscious of the potential it holds. Not brothers but partners The India-China relationship today is marked by low levels of mutual trust, pervading ambivalence in each country’s approach to the other, and the lack of knowledge of the other among the people of either country. Mr. Modi’s test is to introduce more rationality and coherence into the relationship than there is today, and to convince his Chinese interlocutors of the need for the same. The two countries that gave the world Panchsheel, cannot live in mutual exclusion. Indians and Chinese cannot be brothers, but they can be partners. Deng Xiaoping said that for China, “Development is the hard truth”. That dictum applies equally to India. It is only a strong, secure, economically developed India that can successfully achieve the goal of being a leader on the global stage. A partnership for development between India and China is a win-win partnership and neither side can lose in such a transaction. India, which has distances to cover in its development marathon, aims well to draw in investment and infrastructure-creating expertise from China. This is pragmatic and we must drop apprehensions of Chinese companies as Bond villains stroking Persian cats on a desert island and unleashing deadly viruses on people. India is big and strong enough to deal with such entities and get what it wants. Policy moves, as reported by the media, to ease visas for Chinese nationals visiting India for tourism and business purposes are logical. India is increasingly a good business destination for Chinese investors and companies. From being ranked 19 in China’s export markets in 2001, India was ranked number 6 in 2013. The Indian consumer is literally the next-door neighbour for Chinese businesses today, a neighbour who is seeking several “home improvements” that a Chinese supplier or investor can help with. Take Xiaomi, known to Indian consumers as just Mi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer that in just under a year has seen India become its largest overseas market. Mobile phones are our single largest item of import from China. Tapping trade and tourism The business of diplomacy is business. Our trade with China has grown phenomenally in the last decade and so has our trade deficit ($44.7 billion at last count). The Chinese market has been resistant to entry by our pharmaceutical exports and our service industries. An unequal relationship is an uneasy relationship. Mandarins in the Chinese Commerce Ministry need more strategic direction from the top decision-making echelons in the Politburo and the State Council on this aspect of legitimate concern for Indian businesses. This is a point the Prime Minister will have to emphatically make. Another area of focus must be tourism. Tourist arrivals from China are minuscule. Chinese views of India are mired in images of poverty, dirt and chaos. There is much to be done in terms of changing that view, and attracting young Chinese particularly to our Buddhist sites, our backwaters and rainforests, and our Hindu and Islamic heritage. Given the millions who are fans of yoga in China, there is obviously a vast, untapped section of the Chinese travelling public that will make India a favoured destination if we market our tourist attractions in a focussed and “smart” manner. State visits are occasions for signing agreements, joint statements and declarations. The path of bilateral relations is strewn with the headstones of such documents. Concretely, India and China must move forward with more purpose in areas like their strategic economic dialogue, on issues of military-to-military cooperation (itself a solid confidence-building measure), better connectivity which is the spine on which trade and investment is positioned (a positive measure would be direct air connectivity between New Delhi and Beijing), consultations on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control (a welcome first round was held in Beijing last month), state-to-state relations between our provinces and China’s (the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has returned recently from a very useful tour of China), and consultations on the regional situation, especially on Afghanistan. China-Pakistan ties
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China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative (the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank — the AIIB — is another), bearing the stamp of the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, himself, is a clever way of redrawing the map of the region on a Chinese-driven projection. The Maritime Silk Road, which traces its genealogy to the ancient southern silk route, essentially provides a catchy name to China’s 21st century foray into the waters of the Indian Ocean, building ports and staging points in key stations along the way, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, northern Kenya, and Gwadar in Pakistan. The benefits to India are difficult to assess, as we legitimately seek to consolidate our time-tested ties and create our own organic connectivity with the islands and coastal lands of the Indian Ocean. The Prime Minister’s tours in the region are a reflection of this reality. As part of its Belt initiative, China is working with Pakistan to construct a Sino-Pakistan Economic Corridor across the Karakoram ranges into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and connecting with the Arabian Sea at Gwadar. The alignment of this corridor is largely parallel, when seen on the map, with our Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The “all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation” between China and Pakistan (Mr. Xi is freshly returned from a visit to our western neighbour), continues to flourish unimpeded, despite reports of the troubles in Xinjiang fomented by East Turkestan Islamic Movement groups ostensibly trained in terror camps in Pakistan. The Sino-Pakistan relationship will not be far from the Prime Minister’s thoughts, and is a source of fundamental dissonance in our interface with China. It will not go away. China’s selective approach to the issue of Kashmir, where its actions in PoK signal implicit acceptance of Pakistani jurisdiction, vis-à-vis avoidance of contacts with India on Jammu and Kashmir and entities based there, is another source of difference. There is no reason why China should not encourage contacts between Xinjiang and Jammu and Kashmir, or even an aviation link between Urumqi and New Delhi. Old Kashmir and Chinese Xinjiang were intimately linked. A 21st century Silk Road initiative should explore these connections. The boundary question The gorilla in the room is predictably, the boundary question. It is somewhat caged although it rattles the door rather persistently when transgressions occur along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and a hyperventilating media in both countries (and a larger social media universe) agitates it further. Let it not be forgotten that the areas along the LAC in the India-China border areas have remained clash-free since October 1975. Since 1993, various agreements to maintain peace and tranquillity, and confidence-building mechanisms between border security personnel on both sides, have kept the peace effectively, despite doomsday predictions. One hopes for adequate reserves of good sense on the part of both governments to ensure that peace prevails. Recrudescent nationalisms in either country should not drive the debate to a point where well-calibrated mechanisms for stability are rendered non-functional. In an interview on the eve of Mr. Modi’s visit, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that settling the boundary question “as early as possible is the historical responsibility that falls on both governments”. This is not an impossible goal but will require the political strength, confidence, conviction and fibre to accept mutual adjustment and accommodation so that an agreed boundary line demarcates the long frontier between India and China. Are out-of-the box solutions possible, ones that will enable a biosphere beyond borders for the people who inhabit the frontier areas? These have been explored and found possible in similar situations across the world. For a start, border trade needs more of a fillip from both governments, as also the opening of more pilgrimage routes. The route from Demchok in Ladakh to the holy sites of Kailash and Manasarovar is one such example. Opening the route will certainly create a radically new normal in the area, allowing for a people-centred dispensation to ringfence a territorial dispute. Here, the ball is in China’s court. Mr. Modi’s joining Weibo, the Chinese social media network, is an astute move. Even if it does not move mountains, it will awaken millions of Chinese, the young and educated especially, to an interest in India. We need that awakening. As a leader of the free world, Mr. Modi’s can be a powerful presence in China. That is as it should be. Preparedness as the key The recurrence of a major earthquake on May 12 — this time measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale — with its epicentre near Kodari in Nepal, barely a fortnight after the devastating temblor in the landlocked country, has once again raised questions about preparedness for such disasters in the subcontinent. India is divided into five seismic zones, with Zone 5 being the most active and earthquake-prone. The Himalayan regions, the Assam and Burma region, and the Bhuj region in the west fall in this category. While the time of occurrence of a big earthquake cannot be predicted accurately with existing technology, the foreknowledge of potential danger areas can help mitigate the impact of a disaster. The reason for earthquakes occurring in Nepal is known: the movement of the Indian tectonic plate against the Eurasian plate. Along the Himalayas lie two fault-lines: the Main Boundary Thrust and the Main Central Thrust. Running parallel to the Himalayan ranges to a width of 100 km to 120 km, this region has a history of earthquakes. In the last 120 years, there have been four major events: 1897 (Shillong), 1905 (Himachal Pradesh, Kangra), 1934 (NepalBihar border), 1950 (Arunachal Pradesh, then a part of the North East Frontier Agency or NEFA). The movement of the Indian tectonic plate against the Eurasian plate has created accumulated stress. This stress is released in a manner that makes predicting earthquakes impossible.
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When a major event happens, part of the stress is released at that point but accumulates in a different part of the belt. Thus there is no natural escape for the region from susceptibility to earthquakes. The best-laid plans for disaster mitigation following quakes can go awry, but some lessons can be learnt from the past. However, as the gap between the occurrence of major earthquakes in a given region could stretch over more than a lifespan, memories can fade and mitigation plans may not be grounded in lived experience. The real advancement that has been made recently in India is, for instance, the setting up of many seismological stations, especially after the Bhuj earthquake of 2001. Measurements from these stations and global positioning system data now tell us the Indian plate is moving north at a speed of 5 centimetres a year. This would contribute to stress accumulation and to seismic activity even in Zones 2, 3 and 4. We need to accept earthquakes as a reality and do everything in our power to redefine development plans, especially in terms of building quakeresistant buildings. There should be systematic resort to “disaster drills” to educate the public on what to do during an earthquake. Preparedness is the key to managing any more such disasters.
Crisis at sea One of the world’s most beautiful regions, the seas of Southeast Asia is becoming a scene of a mass atrocity. Thousands of refugees from the persecuted Rohingya minority in Myanmar, fleeing modern concentration camps at home, have fled to sea in boats, and many have drowned. Fearing a crackdown, smugglers have abandoned some of those boats at sea, and neighbouring countries are pushing the boats back to sea when they try to land. The Andaman Sea is about to become a floating mass grave, and it’s because of the failure of governments. “Not only is there not a search-and-rescue operation going on right now — with thousands out to sea — but governments are towing these people out from their shores back to open sea, which is tantamount to mass murder.” Rohingyas are a Muslim minority reviled by the majority Buddhist population in Myanmar. The United Nations says more than 1,30,000 Rohingyas have fled by sea since 2012. Many fall prey to human smugglers who torture, rape and starve them in Thai camps until relatives pay ransom. Fear behind the apathy: Governments are probably uninterested in rescuing refugees for fear they would then have to take them in. Thailand has long had a policy of sending refugee boats on their way, and Indonesia recently pushed two ships carrying hundreds of Rohingya back to sea. As for Malaysia, it won’t let any foreign boats come in. Europe also has a refugee crisis, but at least European countries are mounting search-and-rescue operations to try to save lives. What South-East Asian governments are doing is the opposite. As a first step, U.S. President Barack Obama should call the leaders of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, urging them to rescue and shelter refugees. The United States can also use military and intelligence assets to locate drifting refugee ships and assist with search and rescue. Back in black The government has finally managed to ensure the passage of important legislation, including the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Bill, 2015, fulfilling its promise to curb tax evasion and discourage money laundering. It also introduced the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Bill in the Lok Sabha, aimed at checking domestic black money. The two bills provide for stiff jail terms for failure to disclose assets, punishment for every person responsible to a company for any offence and a monetary penalty of up to 25 per cent of the market value of the property. The tough new law may have unnerved some sections of industry, which fears that this could be a tool for harassment by taxmen. To allay concerns, the government would offer a compliance window of a few months to come clean — sort of an amnesty. The new law cannot discount fears voiced by certain lawmakers, among others, on potential misuse of the law. In a way, it reflects a mindset where a person is, prima facie, assumed to be guilty. The government must recognise that, globally, efforts to counter evasion are centred on robust information gathering and exchange based on extensive use of technology, not through raids and fishing expeditions. These laws may be a deterrent but a durable solution could lie in the form of the GST, which will subsume many other taxes and help change the way the real estate industry operates, by providing a set-off on transactions and stamp duty only on the value added part. That and a reform of political funding in India are what the government should expend its energies on. Raising our policy sights We see again the possibility of higher growth. The RBI governor has raised our sights by saying we should aim at capital account convertibility. In the final versions of the Eighth Plan and the Ninth Plan, we had stated that capital account convertibility was the lasting objective of that stage of the reform process. We had said that by that time, in large measure for foreigners investing in India, the rupee was convertible, so they could repatriate capital and earnings almost without restrictions. But this was, and is, not so for Indians. Indeed, this creates a major handicap for Indian multinationals. Operating on a global plane, they have to get all kinds of clearances because they are Indian companies, while their competitors do not have these handicaps. This is much like negative protection, only now, it is on the capital account.
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Negative protection, which we had documented in the 1980s, arose when, in a partially liberalised economy, you were globally efficient in a real sense. But since your global competitor did not have to buy inputs from protected industries, even when he was relatively inefficient in real terms, he was at an advantage in money cost. In long-term costs, which include capital costs, you may be more efficient, but your competitor will score over you in financial costs and have the advantage of greater agility. So the RBI governor is right. In 1997-98, there were three preconditions to work on for capital account convertibility. The first was a low inflation rate. We are almost there now, although food inflation remains a thorn. The second was high exchange reserves. That is now passé. The third was dynamic exports. Questions remain there, but globally, in terms of comparisons in the recent period, we are all right. So now, almost a decade and a half later, we should start making timetables with different phases built in and set up a credible monitoring mechanism. That should be the Niti Aayog’s big job. If prices are to be kept stable, the RBI must manage debt as an instrument of policy, and not the finance ministry. While details have to be worked out, it is not sufficient to have an annual inflation rate of 5 to 6 per cent. For the rupee to be globally acceptable for transaction and holding purposes, its value has, at worst, to be competitive with other global currencies — and, at best, stable. It is only then that others apart from the diaspora will also hold rupees. On exports, there have to be at least three to five speciality exports on a required scale. Software and gem polishing are examples. Stable wages and improved infrastructure are critical, including market development strategies. Right to have a childhood The Union Cabinet’s approval of a set of amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 raises serious doubts and concerns. One of these proposes to ban the employment of children below 14 years in all occupations except family enterprises and the audio-visual entertainment industry, on condition that such work does not interfere with their education. One amendment proposes to regulate “adolescents” in the 14-18 age group by prohibiting their employment in hazardous occupations unsuitable to their age. There is no doubt that the 1986 Act itself needs to be amended. First, the law has proved to be weak and ineffective in curbing child labour. Second, it is in contradiction with Article 21-A of the Constitution and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that makes schooling compulsory for all in the age group of six to 14 years. Third, the 1986 Act does not regulate adolescent labour as mandated by ILO Conventions 138 and 182. Although the government’s intention to amend the Act is to be appreciated, what is deeply problematic is its intention to exempt from the ban employment in family enterprises. It is suggested that poverty and socio-economic conditions in India justify children helping their families in certain occupations where the possibility of any harm coming upon them does not exist, provided that they balance the work with schooling. This may sound reasonable but may prove unworkable. The law potentially opens loopholes that will sustain or even encourage child labour, creating a regulatory nightmare. Here the government fails to recognise that family enterprises can also prove to be exploitative and oppressive for children. ‘Family enterprises’ fall in the unorganised sector, making them an amorphous legal category that is hard to govern. Such a law will adversely affect girl children who are often forced into domestic work, or Dalits and those from the minorities who work out of dire poverty but are ultimately denied the joys of childhood. Moreover, instead of just tinkering with the 1986 Act, the government needs to comprehensively overhaul it, focussing on the rehabilitation of children rescued from traumatic working conditions. This requires an interlinking of ‘rescue, rehabilitation and schooling’ through greater coordination among Ministries and organisations, and the inter-locking of the provisions of existing laws such as the RTE Act, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976; the Factories Act, 1948; the Beedi and Cigar Workers Act, 1996 and so on. It is meanwhile also disheartening that the budget allocation for the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been reduced from Rs.18,588 crore to Rs.10,382 crore. For The Record: Asia’s voice will be stronger if India and China speak in one voice, says Narendra Modi It is not surprising that China’s economic growth and its new leadership in research, science and technology have taken place together. I particularly like the old Chinese saying, “If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of 10 years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.” In India, too, the ancient saying is “Vyaye krate vardhate eva nityam, vidhya dhanam sarva dhan pradhanam (the wealth that increases by giving, that wealth is knowledge and is supreme of all possessions)”. This is one example of how our two nations are united in their timeless wisdom. There is much more, though, that links our two ancient civilisations. I began my journey in China in Xian. In doing so, I retraced the footsteps of the Chinese monk Xuanzang.
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He travelled to India from Xian in the 7th century in search of knowledge and returned to Xian as a friend and chronicler of India. The world’s first largescale educational exchange programme took place between India and China during the Tang dynasty. Records talk of about 80 Indian monks coming to China and nearly 150 Chinese monks returning after their education in India. And yes, this was in the 10th and 11th centuries. Mumbai’s rise as a port and shipbuilding centre is because of cotton trade with China. So, the centuries-old story of our relations has been of spiritualism, learning, art and trade. It is a picture of respect for each other’s civilisation and of shared prosperity. It is reflected in the human values of Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis, who treated soldiers in China… Today, after difficult and sometimes dark passages of history, India and China stand at a rare moment of vast and multiple transitions in the world. Perhaps, the most significant change of this era is the re-emergence of China and India. The world’s two most populous nations are undergoing economic and social transformation on a scale and speed unmatched in history. China’s success over the past three decades has changed the character of the global economy. India is now the next frontier of the economic revolution. Like China, urban renewal is both a necessity and a means to add energy to our economy. In many ways, our two countries reflect the same aspirations, similar challenges and the same opportunities. We can be inspired by each other’s successes. And, in the global uncertainties of our times, we can reinforce each other’s progress. Our changing world has created new opportunities and challenges. We both face instability in our shared neighbourhood that can threaten our security and slow down our economies. The spreading tide of extremism and terrorism is a threat we both face; for both, its source is in the same region. India and China conduct their international commerce on the same sea lanes. The security of sea lanes is vital for our two economies and our cooperation is essential to achieve it. Equally, we both seek to connect a fragmented Asia. But geography and history tell us that the dream of an interconnected Asia will be successful when India and China work together. Today, we speak of Asia’s resurgence. But it is also an unpredictable and complex environment. We can be more certain of a peaceful and stable future for Asia if India and China cooperate closely. Asia’s voice will be stronger and our nations’ role more influential, if India and China speak in one voice — for all of us and for each other. Simply put, the prospects of the 21st century becoming the Asian century will depend in large measure on what India and China achieve individually and what we do together. The rising fortunes of 2.5 billion pairs of joined hands will be of the greatest consequence for our region and humanity. This is the vision I share with President Xi and Premier Li. This is the impulse that is driving our relationship. If the last century was the age of alliances, this is an era of interdependence. So, talks of alliances against one another have no foundation. Neither of us can be contained or become part of anyone’s plans. Above all, as we look ahead, we must build more bridges of familiarity and comfort between our peoples. About 33 per cent of the world’s population is either Indian or Chinese. Yet, our people know very little of each other. We must seek inspiration from the pilgrims of ancient times, who braved the unknown in search of knowledge and enriched us both. So, we have decided to extend electronic tourist visas to Chinese nationals. We are celebrating the Year of India in China in 2015. Not only are our dreams interconnected, our future is also deeply interdependent. India and China are two proud civilisations and two great nations that will fulfil their destinies. We each have the strength and will to choose our own paths to success. But we have the ancient wisdom to know that our journey will be smoother and our future brighter when we will walk together, confident of one another, and in step with each other. (Edited excerpts from Modi’s speech at the Tsinghua University, Beijing, delivered on May 15.) Taking a comprehensive view of quakes The Nepal earthquake of April 25 is the largest in the Himalayan region since the 1934 quake which measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and destroyed not only parts of central Nepal but also the plains of northern Bihar in India. Mahatma Gandhi, shaken by the Bihar tragedy, wrote in the Harijan that the earthquake was “providential retribution to India’s failure to eradicate untouchability”.
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Although this statement dismayed the rationalist in Jawaharlal Nehru, it was Rabindranath Tagore who dared Gandhi by sending a letter to the Harijan saying, “Physical catastrophes must have origin in physical facts”. When Tagore, always far ahead of his times, made this insightful statement, the science of earthquakes had not developed. It was only in the 1960s that plate tectonics explained the origin of earthquakes. Like other Himalayan quakes, the Nepal temblor is a dramatic manifestation of the ongoing tectonic convergence between the Indo-Australian and Asian tectonic plates that have built the Himalayas over the last 50 million years. A product of millions of years of crustal shortening, the Himalayas are under immense tectonic stress and occasional temblors. The last 200 years in the region have seen four great earthquakes. But central Himalaya has been an exception, researchers warn, and is considered to be susceptible to great temblors. The Nepal quake is a painful reminder of what is in store for the communities that live in the region and in the adjoining Indo-Gangetic plains. Sadly, lessons after such tragic events are often short-lived in public memory. This quake, too, opens an opportunity to learn and understand the threats of great earthquakes which may occur in the vulnerable region of North India and we must retain these lessons. Why was it so devastating? The Nepal earthquake was devastating due to many factors. The source of the quake was shallow and the fault plane extended right up to densely populated Kathmandu. Added to this, Kathmandu is on a primitive lake basin that amplifies seismic wave energy. The slip of 1 to 3 metres recorded along the 160-km-long rupture showed strain built up over a century. Research implies that this segment has seen no great earthquakes in the last 700 years. Thus, the unspent accumulated slip needed to be released through this quake and will further be released through future quakes. This means that the segment, which includes parts of Uttarakhand, is capable of witnessing more damage. The Nepal earthquake rupture probably did not move towards the Indian plains in the manner that it did in the 1934 quake. But India may not be so lucky next time. As India’s northern territory is interfaced with a 2,400-km-long seismically potential Himalayan arc, it needs to develop a workable strategy to lessen the impact of earthquakes in populated areas. The ability to minimise damage and prepare for the aftermath of an earthquake has to come from a deeper insight on earthquake processes, and analyses of large amount of data that will enable us to study the source and effects of a quake. The latest advances in seismic sensor technology, data acquisition systems, digital communication and computer hardware and software facilitate developing real-time earthquake information systems. In rapid data dissemination, India needs to learn from the U.S. Geological Survey. India’s close proximity to an active plate boundary makes rapid dissemination of seismic data necessary. India should give priority to not only install but also sustain dense networks of observatories for both weak and strong motion data — like Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. do. Using such data to understand source characteristics is one way of helping the seismological community understand and constrain the manner in which faulting occurred and its probable extent. This data can also be exploited to develop an earthquake alert system, which essentially uses the travel time difference between the body waves and surface waves. For example, a resident in Delhi can be given a few minutes of alert on a major Himalayan earthquake, originating about 250- km away, using the difference in travel time lag between the body waves and the damaging surface waves. Better building practices This would also allow us to quantify reasonably the expected ground motion in any region, which can be the basis for designing earthquake-resistant buildings. Our experience in the Himalayan towns, of moderate earthquakes (the 1996 Chamoli and the 1991 Uttarkashi earthquakes, for example), indicates that better building practices are major factors in lessening the impact of destructive events. Another learning experience is the historical example of the 1803 Uttarkashi earthquake which generated distant liquefaction in Delhi and Mathura and triggered landslides that smothered Himalayan villages. The top part of Qutb Minar toppled, too. Yet, we haven’t made headway in risk assessment, the core database for disaster management. Risk assessment requires intense field studies, developing models that use data on the frequency and severity of a particular type of natural hazard that strikes an area, and combining this information with the nature and class of vulnerable structures. It would be prudent to calculate the earthquake risk in the region if such an earthquake were to happen in Uttarakhand. According to a study in 2000, if a 1905 Kangra earthquake were to occur today in the Himalayas, direct losses would amount to Rs.51 billion, cost around 65,000 lives and 4,00,000 houses. If all the houses were made earthquake-resistant, this would reduce to Rs.19 billion. The extra cost of retrofitting would be about Rs.19 billion, the loss of life would be reduced to one-fifth and the number of ruined houses would be reduced to one-fourth. It is also true that many new buildings in earthquakeprone areas do not comply with seismic codes because certificates of safety are easy to procure. People living in the hills should be encouraged to follow traditional building practices rather than concrete monstrosities.
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Laurie Baker, the legendary architect, had some meaningful suggestions to strengthen traditional houses in the Himalayas. Some of his pencil sketches, preserved in archives, will be useful in this regard. But it is also true that traditional stone houses using rounded boulders in the Himalayas are known for very poor performances during the earthquakes. The Indian Standard IS: 13828 (1993) suggests several methods to improve their design and construction to make them earthquake-resistant. We need to focus not only on earthquake engineering but also on seismological research. For this to happen, along with an ambitious vision for a seismic network, we need trained manpower to conduct high-level seismological research. One way to reinvigorate both institutional and university-based research is to develop a strong framework where both can interact. Research without teaching and teaching without research are failed models, but we continue to follow this path. Seismology is a global science and interacting with the global research community should be encouraged. Our researchers must conduct research on equal footing with the international community. The Himalayas are a fantastic natural laboratory where earth processes can be captured live for new insights. Tackling future natural disasters will require a healthy mix of technology, scientific studies, trained and committed manpower, professionalism and the development of engineering skill and public awareness. Caution and optimism In the last two decades, the diplomatic emphasis in India-China relations has been on working on a strong economic relationship that would whittle down the strategic differences and feeling of adversarial relations that have piled up over time. The three-day visit to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed true to that script, but clearly built on the bonhomie generated during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s India visit in September 2014. If the emphasis during that visit was on building a “closer developmental partnership”, the reciprocal visit by Mr. Modi has been all about enhancing that relationship, mostly relating to trade and economics. This is evident in the joint statement issued after bilateral talks between Mr. Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The statement also seeks to address some of the concerns over the nature of the economic relationship. The magnitude of two-way trade has risen to $71 billion, but there has been a corresponding rise in the trade deficit. The statement suggests that both countries are cognisant of this deficit and are taking steps to address this, over and above those decided during Mr. Xi’s visit. The signing of 26 agreements detailing commercial investments worth $22 billion between companies also signifies the growing economic ties. The joint statement on climate change that reiterated the principles of “equity and common but differentiated responsibilities” to address issues of climate change and reiterated support for the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol, was also timely. This would clear some doubts about China’s position following its joint communiqué with the U.S. on cuts in emission levels. That said, the strategic distance remains: the joint statement and also Mr. Modi’s remarks during the visit recognise this fact. The boundary dispute finds mention in the joint statement; while progress in talks has been glacial ever since they began, there is the assurance that both sides will seek to maintain peace at the border as they work towards a solution. Mr. Modi’s delegation gave no indication that India is keen to participate in China’s ambitious “one belt, one road” initiative; the joint statement limited the reference to cooperation on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor. This suggests a degree of caution on India’s part over China’s role in India’s near and extended neighbourhood. Yet, Mr. Modi struck all the right notes in his speech engagement at Tsinghua University, suggesting the need to overcome strategic differences even while acknowledging the complexities as India seeks to build concomitant ties with other world powers. It is to be hoped that this emphasis, and ongoing engagement between the two leaderships at the highest levels would build further momentum to truly realise a strong India-China partnership for the 21st century. At sea Migrant crisis in the Mediterranean finds a tragic echo in the plight of the Rohingyas. The appalling spectacle of thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees drifting in the Andaman Sea, denied succour and refused safe landing, should be a moment of deep shame for Southeast Asia. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia — the countries to whose shores the Rohingyas are fleeing — are increasingly hostile, pushing the migrants back to sea when they do manage to make landfall in their rickety, overcrowded boats. They must be made to do their humanitarian duty and, at the very least, provide food and water to refugees in their territorial waters. But these governments are also correct in protesting that they cannot be expected to bear this burden alone, particularly if the problem worsens — as it is bound to do if the Rohingyas’ shameful treatment at the hands of the Myanmar government does not end. The Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group stripped of citizenship in their native land of Myanmar, have been persecuted for decades and branded Bengalis, vestiges of Myanmar’s troubled colonial past.
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They are accused of having invented the Rohingya identity and bearing no particular loyalty to Myanmar. As a result, even as Yangon has opened up to the world, the oppression faced by the Rohingyas has intensified since 2011, with anti-Rohingya violence breaking out in June and October 2012. They have no land rights, cannot vote and are subjected to forced labour. If this discrimination continues unchecked, many more of the 1.3 million-strong community will have no choice but to risk putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and human traffickers. More immediately, neighbouring countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia must be made to recognise their moral responsibility towards these people. So far, for all the talk of Southeast Asian cooperation, the region has done little more than dither and bicker as the crisis deepens. Ultimately, only Myanmar can provide a lasting solution to this mess. But until then, these countries must take emergency action to prevent a catastrophic and tragic loss of life. Go forward on India-EU talks The European Union’s Ambassador to New Delhi, Joao Cravinho, last week expressed keenness to pursue the IndiaEU Free Trade Agreement talks. The desire is mutual. Despite the vigorous pace that the Narendra Modi government has marked in the matter of foreign relations in general, this process has remained in suspended animation for two years now. Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman had assured the Ambassador in March of India’s willingness to resume talks. As Mr. Cravinho mentioned, the meeting of the OECD countries scheduled for June offers an opportunity for both sides to draw up a road map. The EU identified India as a ‘strategic partner’ in 2004. A Joint Action Plan was signed in 2005 and negotiations on the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) were launched in June 2007. Eight years down the line, some contentious issues still remain. In the backdrop of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France and Germany in April came the cancellation of the India-EU summit, apparently for “logistical” reasons. Issues such as the EU ban on import of mangoes from India announced in May 2014, and the legal proceedings in India involving the Italian Marines, are also factors that have left the relationship strained. The EU is one of India’s largest trading partners and a major source of FDI. The value of EU-India trade grew from €28.6 billion in 2003 to €72.5 billion in 2014, while trade in commercial services rose from €5.2 billion in 2002 to €23.7 billion in 2013. India has concluded agreements with ASEAN, Japan, Singapore and Korea. With the EU the scale of the deal is more ambitious, and consequently the disagreements. For instance, the EU is unhappy with India’s protectionism in the automobile sector, and wants steep cuts in duties, and tariff cuts in things such as wine, spirits and dairy products. But tariff cuts in the agricultural sector would mean Europe’s heavily subsidised agro industry will dump its surplus here, hitting Indian farmers. India’s generic drug market also raises intellectual property concerns for European pharmaceutical corporations. India, on the other hand, is unhappy with the EU not recognising it as a “data secure nation”, and with what the EU has to offer in the area of IT/BPO/KPO services (Mode 1) and the movement of skilled professionals (Mode 4). But the EU is no doubt keen on partnering with India in programmes such as Make in India, Swachh Bharat and Smart City projects. Another criticism levelled against the FTA talks has been over lack of transparency and inadequate consultations with civil society participants. These concerns will also have to be remedied in future rounds of dialogue. It is to be hoped that the whole process would now gain momentum and lead to a negotiated deal.
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WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS (21st -27th MAY) INTERNATIONAL NEWS Palestinians’ new tack against Israel: Soccer sanctions The Palestinian grievances against Israel are familiar ones — hampering travel, blocking import of equipment, rampant racism and the treatment of settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli response is also a repeat — security concerns, mostly. But this round of the conflict is over the soccer pitch. The Palestinians have placed a proposal to suspend Israel from Fifa on the agenda for the organization's annual congress in Zurich. It would be a severe sanction against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, and one with wide resonance on both sides of the unofficial border, for unremitting devotion to soccer is something these enemies deeply share. "Soccer is a language that is known to all," said Dima Yousef who plays midfield on the Palestinian national women's team. "It's easier for people to get connected with something that deals with soccer, versus a political point." It is, of course, as much about politics as sport, a novel arena in the Palestinians' broader campaign to leverage membership in international institutions to punish Israel. Israel argues that soccer should be a bridge for coexistence, not a diplomatic weapon. PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned that "the thing that could destroy the football association is politicizing it" Malaysia, Indonesia to let 'boat people' come ashore temporarily Malaysia and Indonesia said they would offer shelter to 7,000 "boat people" adrift at sea in rickety boats but made clear their assistance was temporary and they would take no more. More than 3,000 migrants have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia. Together with Thailand, they have pushed away many boats that approached their shores despite appeals from the United Nations to take them in. In a joint statement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Indonesia emphasized that the international community also had a responsibility to help them deal with the crisis. The migrants are mostly Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshis - men, women and children who fled persecution and poverty at home or were abducted by traffickers, and now face sickness and starvation at sea. Both countries said they would offer "resettlement and repatriation", a process that would be "done in a year by the international community". The United Nations, which has been calling on governments in the region to rescue those drifting at sea, welcomed the move and urged that people be brought to shore without delay. The United States was prepared to provide financial and resettlement aid to help deal with the crisis, Acting State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf told a briefing in Washington. Washington was also prepared to take a leading role in any multi-country effort organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resettle the most vulnerable migrants, she said. Half of Syria now under Islamic State’s control Islamic State now controls over half of Syria’s landmass after its seizure of Palmyra, where it has begun massacring a rebellious tribe and faces no opposition to its entry and sacking of the historic city’s ancient ruins. IS seized Palmyra after a week-long siege by the forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad collapsed, drawing IS closer to the President’s strongholds of Homs and Damascus. IS has also and severed supply lines to Deir Ezzor in the east, which already faces an overpowering IS crackdown. Tribe massacred: The group has also massacred members of the Shaitat tribe, which had railed against it in Deir Ezzor, a rebellion in which the militant group killed 800 members of the tribe. Control of Palmyra leaves IS with unopposed access to the city’s magnificent ruins, amid fears that they will destroy significant chunks of Syria’s heritage as they did in Iraq. With its seizure of the Arak and al-Hail gas fields near Palmyra, it also controls much of the country’s electricity supply. Those two fields power much of the Syrian regime’s strongholds in the west. IS also controls the vast majority of Raqqa province, its de facto capital, most of Deir Ezzor, parts of Hassakeh and the Aleppo countryside, most of the Syrian desert as well as parts of the Homs countryside and the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus. Palmyra, once a Silk Road hub and also one of the cultural centres of the ancient world that had given mythological status to Syria, is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved ruins of antiquity, including the Temple of Bel, built in the first century. IS considers preservation of such historical ruins a form of idolatry and has destroyed temples and historic artefacts, as well as ancient Assyrian sites in Nineveh in Iraq, after conquering the province last year. The group has profited from looting such treasures, in addition to scoring propaganda victories by the wanton destruction of archaeological sites, and Palmyra is likely to face a similar fate. The fall of the city raises questions about the fighting capability and cohesion of Assad’s troops and allied militias, whose rapid collapse surprised observers, given the close proximity to supply lines and also the strategic importance of Palmyra. The government forces are stretched thin after a string of losses to rebels in Idlib in the north, who are backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
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Malaysia orders search-and-rescue operation for stranded migrants Four Malaysian navy ships began searching the seas for stranded boat people in the first official rescue operation since desperate migrants started washing onto Southeast Asia’s shores, and a formerly reluctant Myanmar agreed to attend a regional meeting aimed at easing the crisis. The announcement by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was the latest in a series of breakthroughs, including an offer by his country and Indonesia to provide temporary shelter to the desperate men, women and children until a more permanent solution is found. Myanmar, which earlier hinted it would skip a regional meeting in Thailand bringing together representatives of more than a dozen nations, changed course, saying it would attend. The decision was made after an invitation letter arrived. Myanmar noted that it did not imply Myanmar was solely responsible for the problem. Myanmar officials refer to members of the religious minority as “Bengalis,” implying they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in the country for generations. The United States responded quickly, saying it was prepared to take a leading role in any multi-country effort organized by the U.N. refugee agency to resettle the most vulnerable refugees. The tiny African country of Gambia has also said it is willing to take in Rohingya refugees. EU targets Thailand in resolution European lawmakers urged Thailand to crackdown on smugglers and corrupt officials it said were responsible for the thousands of migrants stranded at sea, many Muslim Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Myanmar meanwhile “must change policy and end the persecution and discrimination” targeting the Rohingya and allow full citizenship to the minority, the MEPs said. Cameron’s plans: Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to crack down on illegal immigration and tighten Britain’s borders as new official figures showed a significant rise in the number of migrants. Prabhu for boosting ties with Dhaka A partnership between New Delhi and Dhaka to save the rare ecosystem of the Sundarbans and that agreement should be signed in a boat — that was Union Minister Suresh Prabhu’s suggestion as Environment Minister in 1998 to his counterpart in Dhaka which could not be carried out. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, who now holds the portfolio of Railways, said his earlier suggestion could still be followed up with more such agreements between the two nations on various other fronts including climate change, transportation and agriculture. Having ratified the four-decade-old India-Bangladesh Land Border Agreement, New Delhi is keen to extend its partnership with Bangladesh to areas such as climate change, energy and transportation, he said. Pitching for a joint water management between the two countries, Mr. Prabhu said: “It will be a great advantage to do joint water management, and save us from natural disasters; floods cause more damage than draught. If we put up a joint water management front with India, Bangladesh and even Nepal, without taking away anyone’s water, we can meet the challenge of climate change.” He suggested collaboration even in the field of agriculture, and setting up of a grid for energy cooperation. “India and Bangladesh are trying to work together in the sector of railways, I have extended an invitation to my Bangladeshi counterpart,” he said. Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay wedlock through popular vote The Republic of Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote, passing a referendum on the issue with a resounding 62.1 per cent ‘Yes’. In a country where 84 per cent of the population is Catholic, the overwhelming sentiment in favour of same-sex marriage makes the referendum significant. The voter turnout was 60.5 per cent. The Catholic Church’s once dominant role in Irish politics and society today stands greatly diminished, and the overwhelming popular endorsement for gay civil marriage will further erode its influence. Several priests have voted in the referendum in favour of legalising gay marriage, according to Irish media reports, despite the well-known position of the Church. It is perhaps in view of the strong popular support for gay rights that the Church has been circumspect in its opposition to the referendum, and has refrained from telling its supporters how to vote. Despite a significant move forward on gay rights, Ireland remains stubbornly conservative and unchanging on the issue of abortion. Earlier this year, a proposal to change the abortion law to legalise terminations in fatal foetal abnormality cases was rejected by the Irish parliament. A minor change in the abortion law was effected after the death of Savita Halappanavar, the 31-year-old Indian dentist who died of septicemia in an Irish hospital in 2012, a week after her request for an abortion was turned down. After that incident, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was introduced, which allows abortion if the mother’s life is threatened during pregnancy. In Malaysia, mass graves of trafficking victims found Malaysian authorities said that they have discovered a series of graves in at least 17 abandoned camps used by human traffickers on the border with Thailand where Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar have been held. The finding follows a similar discovery earlier this month by police in Thailand who unearthed dozens of bodies from shallow graves in abandoned camps on the Thai side of the border. Weekly News and Analysis Byju’s Classes:9873643487 (2015MAY_CA 021,022,023,024,025,026,027)
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The grim discoveries are shedding new light on the hidden network of jungle camps run by traffickers, who have for years held countless desperate people captive. Most of those who have fallen victim to the trafficking networks are refugees and impoverished migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, part of a wave of people who have fled their homelands to reach countries like Malaysia, where they hope to find work or live free from persecution. China sets up Silk Road gold fund China, the world’s biggest gold producer, has set up a gold sector fund involving countries along the ancient Silk Road which is expected to raise $16.1 billion. The fund, led by Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), is expected to raise an estimated 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) in three phases. It is said to be the “largest fund” set up by China. China stalls India’s move on Salahuddin: officials Despite commitments on fighting terror in the joint statement between India and China during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing, officials say they are “concerned” over a series of moves by the Chinese government to stall India’s proposals at the United Nations. Since December 2014, India’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. has filed at least three separate proposals on Pakistanbased terrorists, each of which has been reportedly delayed or stopped by China at the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee on Al-Qaeda and associated entities. The request is a part of an Indian government initiative for years against Salahuddin, who is wanted for several Hizbul Mujahideen attacks. The United Jihad Council that he heads includes the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. In 2008, just two weeks after the Mumbai terror attacks, Salahuddin was photographed praying along with 26/11 key accused Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The Indian request to list him came after a public speech by Salahuddin in Muzaffarabad in July 2014, where he called on Al-Qaeda and Taliban cadres “to fight Indian security forces in Kashmir.” Diplomats said they are puzzled by China’s move in the case as it has asked for more proof of Salahuddin’s links with the Al-Qaeda. Bangladesh ratifies boundary pact protocol The Bangladeshi Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ratified the protocol on the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with India. The ratification was the last of the approvals needed for the implementation of the protocol for exchange of enclaves. The Indian Parliament ratified it recently. Under the protocol, 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi ones inside India were to be exchanged. Bangladesh will also get 2,777 acres of land, while India will get 2,267 acres. Indignados win big in Barcelona, Madrid Spain’s indignados made the move from city squares to the halls of power in municipal and regional elections that saw an anti-poverty activist elected as Mayor of Barcelona and the ruling People’s party battered at the ballot box. Ada Colau, the 41-year-old anti-eviction activist who leads Barcelona En Comu was elected Mayor of the Catalan city. A grassroots movement of several leftist political parties, including Podemos, and thousands of citizens, Barcelona En Comu vowed to return decision-making in the city to the people, promising to do away with home evictions, increase public housing and redistribute the city’s wealth. The strong showing of the leftist coalitions in Madrid and Barcelona suggest that the agendas of Spain’s two largest cities will be driven by the priorities of anti-establishment parties with roots in Spain’s indignado movement. Modi to sign key agreements on Dhaka visit Several key agreements, including one on Teesta water sharing, bus services between India and Bangladesh, and a new $2 billion line of credit are expected to be announced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Dhaka on a twoday trip. Both Prime Ministers are expected to flag off a Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service, even as they announce other services from Dhaka to Guwahati, Agartala and Shillong. In keeping with his visits abroad and in the neighbourhood, Mr. Modi is expected to give a public address at Dhaka University, which has historical importance from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war. Mr. Modi is expected to visit the famous 12th century Dhakeshwari Temple. The tone for Mr. Modi’s visit was set earlier this month, after the NDA government cleared the constitutional amendment bill to ratify the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with a unanimous vote in Parliament. The Bangladesh cabinet also ratified the protocol for the LBA, clearing the way for Mr. Modi and Ms. Hasina to sign the historic agreement that will resolve the border issue that has been pending between India and Bangladesh for 40 years with an exchange of 162 enclaves. In defence plan, China eyes bigger role in open seas China unveiled an aggressive military strategy to expand its naval power as part of an assertive bid to re-define the roles it has set out for its Army, Navy and the Air Force. The white paper on defence, released in Beijing, underlines China’s intention to become a maritime power and reiterates its plans to increase its footprints in open seas while ensuring territorial sovereignty. Citing that the strategic centre of gravity is shifting ever more rapidly to Asia-Pacific region with the US carrying out a “rebalancing” strategy and enhancing its military presence in the region, the paper makes a direct reference to Japan
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saying, “Japan is sparing no effort to dodge the post-war mechanism, overhauling its military and security policies. Such development has caused grave concerns among other countries in the region.” In a broader reference that may also involve India, the paper says, “Some external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs… a tiny few maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China. It is thus a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests.” India has consistently advocated freedom of navigation in the South China Sea where China is involved in disputes.
NATIONAL NEWS LAC, PoK issues block full blooming of India-China ties India and China have established a detailed framework of partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, but the delay in clarification of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Beijing’s proposed forays into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are hampering the full development of ties. Diplomatic sources said the Prime Minister had been forthright in conveying to his hosts that the process to clarify the LAC, stalled since 2005, should be resumed. The sources pointed out that the LAC clarification should be seen as part of an evolving architecture of confidence-building measures, which have been put in place to ensure peace along the border. “We need to have the clarification of the LAC as the basis of the management of the border,” the sources said. During his address at Tsinghua University, arguably his most important speech during his China visit, Mr. Modi stressed that LAC clarification could be done “without prejudice to our position on the boundary question”. That allays apprehensions among a section of the Chinese establishment that India would insist on turning the LAC a permanent border once it was clarified. Minimalist expectations The sources pointed out that in the context of the LAC clarification, the minimalist approach would be to have a shared perception of each other’s positions, which alone would contribute immensely in easing tensions. During talks, India has stated with clarity its objections to the making part of the proposed Pakistan-China economic corridor pass through the PoK. Economic corridor Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated the Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor as part of China’s “belt and road” connectivity initiative for integrating the economies of Eurasia. India’s core concerns that are restraining ties, which include LAC clarification and the use of PoK territory in defining the Pakistan-China economic corridor, were covered in remarks by the Prime Minster at the Great Hall of the People. Mirage lands on expressway • A Indian Air Force (IAF) Mirage 2000 fighter landed on the Yamuna expressway near Mathura for the first time. The landing was part of trials to use national highways for emergency landing. • All facilities like make shift Air Traffic Control (ATC), safety services, rescue vehicles, bird clearance parties and other requirements were set up by personnel from Air Force Station Agra. • A 3 km stretch on the expressway identified by the IAF was converted into a road runway. • While this is India’s first road runway for use by the IAF, both neighbours China and Pakistan have such runways. • The IAF has plans to activate more such stretches on highways in the future. Why has it been done now? A practice drill to ascertain possible landing options in case of emergencies. Real aim is probably to identify and prepare alternative “away from base” bases for times of war and possible destruction of airfields. Have others done this? • Hitler’s Luftwaffe pioneered the designation of sections of the Reichsautobahn system as airstrips during World War II. • The British RAF has trial-landed Jaguars on the M55 motorway between Preston and Blackpool. • Polish Air Force regularly practises such landings in an annual highway strip exercise called DOL. • Pakistan Air Force has used the M1 and M2 Motorways to land fighter and military transport aircraft. • Sweden, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Cyprus, Serbia and Switzerland too have experimented with highway landings of fighters. Where can a fighter land? • For a military jet to land on it, a highway must have a straight, debris-free stretch of about 3 km, and adequate width.
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It must be free of electric cables, pilons, road bridges, signages and other obstructions. Surroundings need to be bird-free. • The surface needs a thicker base with concrete reinforcement to sustain weight, especially during take-off. • Using a highway as a wartime airstrip means it can’t be used simultaneously to move men and material. Now French aerospace investors eye Hyderabad • Soon after Google announced that it would set up its biggest campus outside the U.S. in Hyderabad, Brand Hyderabad is set to get bigger with French investors evincing interest in opening units in several sectors in Telangana. • An announcement is expected soon on the setting up of a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility near the Shamshabad International Airport as part of investments proposed in the aerospace sector by the French investors. • The facility would give a big boost to the aerospace sector. • At present, about 200 aircraft operated in India by Airbus and Dassault Falcon aircraft have to fly out of the country for overhaul in the absence of a major MRO facility. • Furthermore, more French aircraft will come to India as it recently ordered 36 Rafale jets. • The delegation indicated that it also identified food processing, solar energy, renewable energy, electronics and IT, pharmaceuticals and logistics support for investment across India. PM’s Dhaka visit to yield road, port connectivity • India and Bangladesh will sign a series of agreements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June, ushering in plans for road, rail and port connectivity and energy tie-ups. • Mr. Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, will flag off a Kolkata-Dhaka-Tripura bus service. • The two countries are in talks to set up bus links from Dhaka to Shillong and Guwahati, and may sign energy pacts to share power generated in the northeastern States. • Dismissing concerns about China, which had reportedly decided to invest in the Pyra deep-sea port project, as “seeing ghosts in the neighbourhood”, the Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to India said Bangladesh wanted a “consortium of countries to invest in, and benefit from, the deep-sea port”. ‘Ad order undermines federal structure’ • The Tamil Nadu State government has argued in its review plea of a recent Supreme Court order banning use of political images in government advertisements that the order contradicts the federal structure and the concept of parity between the Centre and State governments as the Prime Minister, President and CJI have been exempted from the rule, whereas the Chief Ministers and Governors have come under the prohibition. • The order also gave an impression that the judiciary was intruding into the functions of the executive, the petition said. MEA rejects Geelani’s application • The External Affairs Ministry has rejected the passport application of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani as he had not mentioned his nationality in the form. • He had not met the prerequisites for seeking a passport, including payment of the application fee and submission of biometric details and photographs. • Mr. Geelani told “I have not filled the nationality column and left it blank as we live in an internationally recognised disputed territory.” • The Hurriyat leader said he could not submit the biometric details as he was under house arrest and was not allowed to move out to complete the requisite formalities at the passport office. • Mr. Geelani’s passport was first frozen in 1981 after his return from the United States. He was, however, allowed to travel for the Haj pilgrimage on a special Haj visa in 2006. • Though the government issued a fresh passport to him in 2007 for treatment in the U.S., he was denied a visa by U.S. agencies Training for skills from Class IX is new plan • Skill training courses from Class IX onward in at least 25 per cent of all schools in the country over the next four years and national universities for skill development — these are the key priorities of the proposed national policy on skill development and entrepreneurship, in line with the government’s efforts to integrate vocational training with formal education. • The policy also focuses on imparting vocational training to school dropouts and enhancing the social status of such workers. • With just 2.3 per cent of the country’s workforce having formal skill training is also in sync with Make in India campaign. • The government has set itself a target of skilling nearly 12 crore workers by 2022 to meet manpower demands in 24 key sectors. • All vocational training courses would be aligned to the National Skills Qualification Framework by 2018, while polytechnics and community colleges would also provide a Bachelor’s degree in vocational studies. This would ensure common standards in courses run across the country. • Further, the government would also provide scholarships and skill vouchers to help students pay their fees. • The new policy, which would replace the 2009 policy on skill development, also plans to modernise industrial training institutes and polytechnics, rename new ITIs as multi-skilling institutes in sync with industry requirements, and locate them near industrial hubs. • The proposed skill development universities would also provide training to the trainers.
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Prior learning of candidates would be assessed and certified while soft skills and basic IT and financial literacy would also be included in the courses. • The draft policy proposes to encourage private sector participation in skilling programmes. • It would be the government’s responsibility to create awareness through special initiatives such as the Skill Express, a television channel and community radio dedicated to skilling. • Meanwhile, to ensure jobs for skilled workers, the government will also set up a Labour Market Information System that would track the employment status of trainees. June 30 deadline to enforce road safety orders The Road Safety Committee formed by the Supreme Court to check lax enforcement of road laws has set the States a June 30 deadline to enforce 13 of its directives. They include removal of roadside advertisements and posters that obstruct the view of drivers or distract them and a ban on sale of liquor on National and State highways. The panel has asked the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry to introduce uniform crash tests for all category of vehicles so that manufacturers do not discriminate between the base and higher models in the provision of safety features. The committee directed that every State government has to formulate a road safety policy and set up a road safety council by June 30. The States have to draw up a protocol to identify “black spots” (where accidents are frequent) on roads and remove them. They should strengthen law enforcement to prevent drunk driving, speeding and jumping of signals and ensure use of helmet and seatbelt laws. The directives include tightening of road patrols on highways, setting up of a road safety fund to which a portion of traffic fines would go to finance road safety expenses and removal of encroachments on pedestrian paths. Another directive is to introduce automatic headlights for two-wheelers. The panel has pointed out serious lapses by the States in the implementation of safety laws, leading to a rise in number of road fatalities — 1,37,572 people were killed in accidents in 2013, going by Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics. With just one per cent of the vehicles in the world, India accounts for a “staggering” 10 per cent of deaths related to road accidents. Being Maoist is No Crime, says HC • In a major verdict that is bound to create ripples in the state, the Kerala High Court held that being a Maoist was not a crime. • The court made it clear that the police cannot detain a person merely because he is Maoist unless the police form a reasonable opinion that his activities are unlawful. • “Being a Maoist is no crime though the political ideology of Maoist would not synchronise with our constitutional polity. It is a basic human right to think in terms of human aspirations. The freedom of thought and liberty of conscience is a natural right and cannot be surrendered by any human being and that freedom is ingrained in human mind and soul,” the court observed. • The judgment stated that the activities of Maoists have to be curbed if it’s an affront to the law of the land. National Company Law Tribunal gets all-clear from Supreme Court • The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the National Company Law Tribunal, clearing the way for a significant reform in the framework for resolving corporate insolvency. • The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will replace the Company Law Board and the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, and be an overarching body for resolving insolvencies. It will be the main component of the proposed bankruptcy code as well. • The apex court's nod for the proposed quasi-judicial body, which came with certain riders, could help significantly improve India's ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business as it will speed up rehabilitation and winding up of sick companies, according to the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). • The Supreme Court has asked the government to make certain amendments in the Companies Act 2013 related to selection and eligibility criteria for National Company Law Tribunal ((NCLT) members to operationalise it.
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As per the judgement, only those officers who have held the post of additional secretary or a higher rank will be eligible for appointment to the NCLT benches. The Companies Act had allowed officers at the level of joint secretary or higher to be appointed to such benches. • Currently, for company-related issues, there are four different bodies — Company Law Board (CLB), Official Liquidator (OL), Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), and the Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR). NCLT will subsume all these bodies. • With the Supreme Court's approval for NCLT, the government will also be able to bring in the proposed bankruptcy code which will have NCLT as its main component. • In the World Bank's Doing Business Report of 2015, India is ranked 137th out of 189 countries on resolving insolvency parameter, which evaluates the legal framework for rehabilitation and winding up of companies, along with the time taken and percentage of estate recovered during the process. Cleaning the Ganga: How sewage is turning it into less of a river and more of a toxic waterway • As the Ganga makes its nearly 2,000 km journey through the plains of north India to the Bay of Bengal, it carries much more than the famed silt responsible for the fertility of the Indo-Gangetic plains. • The holy river becomes a carrier of untreated industrial waste, garbage, agricultural run-off and municipal waste. • By all accounts, the water in the Ganga is not fit for bathing, let alone consumption or farming. • It has a high presence of total coliform and fecal coliform, a group of closely related bacteria -- an indicator of the level of contamination of a water source or body -- except in the upper reaches. • The worst stretches are between Kanpur and Varanasi and then again in West Bengal beyond Dhakineswar. • It is in the stretch from Kanpur-Unnao to Rai Bareli to Allahabad and Varanasi that the Ganga ceases to be a river and becomes a flowing body of filth. • The Central Pollution Control Board, which is the apex body entrusted with tackling water pollution, reported in July 2013 that Uttar Pradesh contributes 76% of the Ganga's pollution load. • Successive governments since 1985, when the Rajiv Gandhi government launched the Ganga Action Plan, have sought to restore the river to its pristine form, or, to use Indian speak, ensure its "nirmal dhara." • Some Rs 4,000 crore later, the dhara (flow) is no more nirmal (clean) than it was before. • In fact, in the three decades that have passed, the Ganga has taken in more waste than it did before 1985. • Experts attribute rising pollution in the river to untreated domestic waste, industrial effluents and religious practices like cremation. Also, they add growing population, poverty, unregulated urbanisation and improper agricultural practices. • In its 2014 order, the Supreme Court referred to studies to stress on the need to focus on curbing the flow of untreated waste, saying that industrial discharges were 10 times more noxious than domestic waste. • The government is focusing on addressing municipal waste and industrial effluents to stem the tide of muck that makes it into the river. • At present, some 7,300 million litres of sewage is generated every day in towns, cities and villages along the river. Sewage treatment plants can handle only about 2,126 million litres a day. Plants with a cumulative capacity of 1,188 million litres a day are under construction or in approval stage. • Even after discounting any increase in the quantity of sewage generated, the treatment capacity would still be far lower than required. • Another problem is under utilisation of capacity. In 2013, the CPCB reviewed 51 sewage treatment plants and found that while 15 of them were non-functional, the remaining 36 operated at 59% of capacity, hampered by factors such as lack of electricity. • The government has asked authorities in 118 urban centres that account for half the sewage generated to prepare and implement management and treatment plans. These centres -- a mix of different classes of towns and cities including Haridwar, Varanasi, Patna, Allahabad, Kolkata and Rajmahal -- generate over 3,636 million litres of sewage per year. • An Indian Institute of Technology consortium set up for designing the clean-up operations advises adopting decentralised treatment of sewage with many small-capacity plants. • It also suggests limiting the use of fresh water for drinking and bathing, while for everything else, the aim should be to first use treated water. • To this end and to limit pollution of the river, the government has been pushing industry to implement a system of zero-liquid discharge. • However, a wastewater market is yet to be established in India. • With the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court taking active interest in addressing pollution of the Ganga, the government has made it mandatory for industries across 17 sectors to put in place online monitoring and zeroliquid discharge systems by June 30, a three-month extension over the previous deadline. • The Ganga's pollution problem may be exacerbated by reduced water flow from the large number of hydropower projects in the upper reaches in Uttarakhand, which lowers its selfcleaning ability and curbs dilution of waste. • The government has told the Supreme Court that it intends to maintain a flow of 1,000 cubic metres a second in the river. • Local involvement: Officials at National Mission for Clean Ganga say that past efforts to clean the river failed because it didn't involve local bodies, businesses, citizens' groups or public participation.
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Problems and solutions with earlier efforts to clean the Ganga Issues Solutions Huge gap in sewage treatment capacity Increasing capacity to bridge gap with some redundancies 144 major drains discharging untreated sewage into Tapping of drains-intercepting and diverting the Ganga untreated sewage to treatment plants Open defecation 100% sanitation coverage for 1657 gram panchayats Small industrial units discharging toxic untreated Sops for pollution abatement to industries effluents Ineffective interministerial & centre- state coordination Three-tier monitoring mechanism Delays in execution & implementation Execution through PPP and SPV mode Insufficient funds-states unable to give their share 100% funding by the central government Inefficient operation & maintenance A 10 – year provision for O & M by the centre, after which state to provide funds for O & M for 5 years Inadequate participation by local government Involving urban local bodies, gram panchayats, institutions collectors Inadequate public participation Involving public, ex-servicemen living in areas adjoining the Ganga, businesses Heat wave claims over 220 lives in A.P., Telangana Vast swathes of the country reeled under the heat wave which has claimed 223 lives in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana even as the scorching sun continued to drive the mercury upwards with Delhi recording its hottest day of this season. While 128 persons died in Telangana, the toll increased to 95 in Andhra Pradesh, where 15 more persons succumbed to the heat wave. Severe heat wave conditions prevailed over parts of Adilabad, Warangal, Hyderabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts of Telangana. The heat wave also intensified in Odisha as the mercury inched above the 40-degree mark at 19 places in the State, while three more deaths due to the sweltering conditions were reported, taking the toll to 26. After polio, India set to win battle against tetanus at childbirth A year after obtaining WHO certification for the elimination of polio, India is on the verge of crossing another milestone in public health. It has eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus — an infection that at its peak killed an estimated 2 lakh adults and children every year — and is expecting an official certification from WHO within two months. Confirmation of the breakthrough came after a joint team of WHO and UNICEF recently conducted field visits in Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Meghalaya, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which were the last four hotspots where incidence of the infection had remained above acceptable levels. UPSC notifies Civil Services exam The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) notified 1,129 vacancies for civil services in 24 categories with major changes in the exam format. The notification was delayed by a few days to incorporate the changes meant to ensure a level playing field for aspirants from all streams of education. There are significant changes in the pattern of the examination. Under the new criteria, the preliminary stage would continue to have Civil Services Aptitude Test General Studies (CSAT GS paper II) paper as well as the Preliminary (General Studies Paper). However, only those candidates who score a minimum of 33 per cent CSATGS paper II would be taken up for evaluation. Students from rural background had petitioned that CSAT, with English, Mathematics and reasoning, was working against their advantage. It became a major issue in Parliament with several MPs demanding that CSAT paper be scrapped. Besides, all aspirants who had appeared at the 2011 examination have been granted another attempt. There are not many changes with regard to number of attempts or the upper age criteria and it would be similar to last year. The maximum age limit is 32 years for general category, 35 years for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 37 years for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students. As before, the number of attempts for general category stands at six while the OBCs can appear nine times. There is no limit on the number of attempts for the SCs and STs. However, differently-abled aspirants have been allowed a relaxation of 10 years and nine attempts. At the Mains level, there is no significant change in the format and the syllabi. The emphasis on the marks to be scored in the qualifying paper ‘Modern Indian language’ in the Main examination has been reduced from 30 to 25 per cent.
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Reveal travel expenses of Ministers: CIC panel Noting that voluntary disclosures of information have been “below par,” a panel formed by the Central Information Commission has said that details of domestic and foreign visits of Union Ministers should be proactively disclosed and kept updated. The committee said this against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s Office not disclosing information about expenses incurred on foreign visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PMO has been refusing to disclose the information, citing various excuses such as terming the records being sought “vague”. The panel referred to the September 11, 2012 circular issued by the Ministry of Personnel where it asked all departments to disclose proactively expenses incurred on the foreign and domestic visits of Ministers. “These disclosures should be updated once in every quarter,” the committee said asking the government to disclose other details such as places visited and the institutions/individuals interacted with, names of the members in the official delegation, mode of conveyance, travel expenses and source of funding and outcome of the visit. Army to get 114 Dhanush guns in three years The Army’s quest for new artillery is nearing completion with the indigenous gun upgraded by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) clearing trials. After the Pokhran fiasco with one barrel-burst, Dhanush barrels were tested in Sikkim under cold conditions and in other temperatures — and came out with flying colours. A Dhanush prototype suffered a barrel burst during firing trials at Pokhran in August 2013 which delayed the process. The Dhanush is an upgraded version of the Swedish 155-mm Bofors howitzers bought by India in the mid-1980s based on the original design. It is a 155-mm, 45-calibre gun with a maximum effective range of 38 km in salvo mode compared to the 39-calibre, 27-km range of the original guns. It is 80 per cent indigenous, with the APU (auxiliary power unit), electronic dial sights and a few other small items being imported. Paramilitary personnel killed in action set to get ‘martyr’ status The personnel of Central police organisations, killed in the line of duty fighting Naxals or insurgents in the Northeast or Jammu and Kashmir, will finally get “martyr” status. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has cleared a long-pending proposal by the Central police organisations to prefix the names of personnel killed in action with “shaheed.” The Army gives the status to its men killed on the border, but no such scheme existed for Central police personnel deployed in areas affected by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE), along the Pakistan border, in insurgency-hit J&K as well as in the North-East. Though the status would not entail any financial benefits for the kin of the martyred personnel, officials said it was being done to boost the morale of the 10 lakh-strong Central forces. It has been decided that “shaheed” will be used in the salutation scroll, read out at the homage ceremony of personnel killed in line of duty. On an average, at least 350 Central police personnel are killed in line of duty. On several occasions, various state governments give benefits like petrol pumps, land to personnel on the basis of the shaheed status. It becomes easier for the kin of the killed personnel to avail the benefits as the scroll is an official document. The Central police organizations like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and NSG have made representations to the Union Home Ministry that ‘shaheed’ salutation is being demanded by the personnel of these forces. Move to make Nagpur a multi-modal logistics hub The logistics sector is being given a leg up to support the sudden growth in e-commerce as well as the government’s Make in India initiative. The Maharashtra Government, which is taking a lead in this initiative, has lined up plans to expedite an earlier programme to develop Nagpur, the central point of India, as a multi-modal logistics hub. The state government has also decided to set up an integrated logistics park near Mumbai. As India embarks on a massive manufacturing activity and is developing dedicated freight corroders as well as giving boost to inland waterways and coastal shipping, the freight forwarders, an important stakeholder in logistics industry, are gearing up to seize the opportunity. High alert in Bihar districts after landslip in Nepal river Following the massive landslip in a Nepal river, five districts of Bihar were put on high alert. The landslip in the Kali Gandak river at Benibazaar in Myagdi district of Nepal has created a huge artificial lake. Any breach in that lake will cause a dramatic rise in the water level of the Gandak river which flows through five districts of Bihar — East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan and Saran. The State Disaster Management department has asked district officials to start evacuation of people living near the embankments of the Gandak.
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Pulses supplies will be shored up to bring down prices, says Jaitley To cool off prices of pulses, that have run up by up to 64 per cent in the last one year with falling domestic production, the government plans to shore up supplies with imports through state-owned trading firms such as MMTC. The production of pulses, the government estimates, fell to 18.43 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop-year from 19.78 million tonnes in the previous year. India imports about 4 million tonnes every year. Court comes down heavily on Centre The Delhi High Court came down heavily on the Union government for issuing a notification last July that sought to limit the powers of the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB). The court, in its judgment, examined the executive powers of the Centre vis-a-vis the Delhi government and the powers of the Lieutenant-Governor since the notification was issued in his name. It observed that the State government was empowered to make laws in respect of matters on the Concurrent List and as such, with regard to entries 1 and 2 (Criminal Law and Code of Criminal Procedure), the Lieutenant-Governor could not act in his discretion and was bound to act upon the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. Thus, the Union government could not have issued the notification seeking to restrict the executive authority of the Delhi government to act on complaints through its ACB under the Prevention of Corruption Act only in respect of its officers and employees. “Members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the citizens from territorial constituencies in the NCT of Delhi, and the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly. The mandate of the people, with whom the sovereign power resides, must be respected by the Lieutenant Governor,” the court said. Modi launches DD Kisan Channel Making a strong pitch for growth of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country cannot move forward without their progress and called for increase in crop productivity by 50 per cent. Launching DD Kisan Channel, which would provide information about best agricultural practices and related content Mr. Modi lamented that present system had left farmers to fend for themselves. Linking the issue of malnutrition with low production of pulses, he noted that the country was dependent on imports to meet its requirement of edible oil and pulses and urged scientific community to work with farmers to ensure that there was enough production to meet domestic demand by 2022 when India celebrates its 75 years of independence. Act on graft complaints against officials within 60 days: PMO With Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a crackdown on corruption, his office has directed all central departments on time-bound action within 60 days to enforce the “rule of law”. Ministers have been told to sanction prosecution or order disciplinary action within 60 days against officials found to have indulged in act of corruption or misconduct respectively, after a vigilance inquiry. All corruption cases or complaints that have been dangling in departments for reference to the vigilance section are also to be sent for inquiry within the deadline so that an outcome against the alleged offenders is identified and implemented accordingly. The directive introduces a new norm for officials manning sensitive posts. Sources said each department would have to identify desks handling secret or confidential issues on national and economic security, and annually rotate officials handling them on a pre-decided date. In sectors and services where public interface is high or which impact the daily affairs of the masses, the direction is that there should be zero-overhang of licence or other applications beyond a prescribed time period. The PMO has also instructed officials to identify and crack down on areas where middlemen were suspected to be operating, especially in the municipal and urban development sections. Supreme Court to hear plea on A-G’s selection Even as the government justifies the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) as a transparent replacement for the collegium system of appointing judges, the Supreme Court has decided to hear a petition questioning the “unaccountable and non-transparent” manner of appointment of the government’s top law officer, the Attorney-General of India. The petition, which makes Attorney-General (A-G) Mukul Rohatgi a party along with the Union of India, contends that the appointment of the top law officer has been based on a “pick-and-choose” policy at the behest of political masters. The petition says only a person who has all the qualifications to be a Supreme Court judge can be considered for appointment as A-G. “The qualifications required for appointment of a Supreme Court judge and the Attorney-General of India are the same, but the procedure for appointment adopted is completely different. The office of a Supreme Court judge is fully accountable, transparent, with oath, under public scrutiny and with an age bar, whereas the office of the AttorneyGeneral is completely unaccountable, non-transparent, without oath, without any age bar,” it says. Explained: In the Supreme Court, some questions of Life and Death Which crimes entail capital punishment in India? Grave offences such as murder, rape with injuries that may result in the death of a victim and a repeat offender, waging war against the State, and terrorism-related offences causing death are some major crimes punishable with death under the Indian Penal Code. What has the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutional validity of the death sentence?
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Article 21 of the Indian Constitution ensures the Fundamental Right to life and liberty for all persons. It adds no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. This has been legally construed to mean if there is a procedure, which is fair and valid, then the state by framing a law can deprive a person of his life. While the central government has consistently maintained it would keep the death penalty in the statute books to act as a deterrent, and for those who are a threat to society, the Supreme Court too has upheld the constitutional validity of capital punishment in “rarest of rare” cases. It said that if capital punishment is provided in the law and the procedure is a fair, just and reasonable one, the death sentence can be awarded to a convict. This will, however, only be in the “rarest of rare” cases, and the courts should render “special reasons” while sending a person to the gallows. What would constitute a “rarest of rare” case? The principles as to what would constitute the “rarest of rare” have been laid down by the top court in the landmark judgment in Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980). The Supreme Court formulated certain broad illustrative guidelines and said it should be given only when the option of awarding the sentence of life imprisonment is “unquestionably foreclosed”. It was completely left upon the court’s discretion to reach this conclusion. However, the apex court also laid down the principle of weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances. A balance-sheet of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in a particular case has to be drawn to ascertain whether justice will not be done if any punishment less than the death sentence is awarded. Two prime questions, the top court held, may be asked and answered. First, is there something uncommon about the crime which renders the sentence of imprisonment for life inadequate and calls for a death sentence? Second, are there circumstances of the crime such that there is no alternative but to impose the death sentence even after according maximum weightage to the mitigating circumstances which speak in favour of the offenders? What has been the Supreme Court’s view on mandatory death penalty? The Supreme Court has always said that the death sentence should be given rarely. In Mithu vs State of Punjab (1983), the Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory death penalty is unconstitutional. It struck down Section 303 in the IPC, which entailed a mandatory death sentence for a person who commits murder while serving a life term in another case. The Supreme Court ruled Section 303 violated Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life) since an unreasonable distinction was sought to be made between two classes of murderes. It said all murders would come under the ambit of Section 302, where a court would have the discretion to award life term or death sentence. What are the avenues available to a death-row convict? After a trial court awards the death penalty, the sentence requires to be confirmed by a High Court. The sentence shall not be executed till the time the High Court confirms it, either after deciding the appeal filed by the convict, or until the period allowed for preferring an appeal has expired. If the High Court confirms the death penalty and it is also upheld by the Supreme Court, a convict can file a review petition and a curative petition, if the review petition is nixed, for reconsideration of the judgment. A Constitution Bench ruled last year that a review petition by a death-row convict will be heard by a three-judge bench in open court. Such cases were earlier being heard by two-judge benches in the judges’ chamber. A curative petition is still heard in judges’ chambers. Opening another avenue, the Supreme Court, by yet another path-breaking verdict in 2014, ruled that unexplained delay in execution was a ground for commutation of death penalty, and an inmate, his or her kin, or even a publicspirited citizen could file a writ petition seeking such commutation. Does the executive have a role in clemency? Yes. If the Supreme Court turns down the appeal against capital punishment, a condemned prison can submit a mercy petition to the President of India and the Governor of the State. Under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution, the President and Governors have the power “to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence”. This power was without any conditions until the last year’s verdict by the Supreme Court, which held that judicial clemency could be granted on the ground of inordinate delay even after a mercy petition is rejected. How is the execution of death sentence carried out in India? Execution is carried out by two modes, namely hanging by the neck till death, and being executed by firing squad. The Code of Criminal Procedure calls for the method of execution to be hanging. Death by shooting is contemplated under the Army Act, Navy Act and Air Force Act. They provide for the discretion of the Court Martial to either provide for the execution of the death sentence by hanging or by being shot to death. Can an order of execution be challenged in a court of law? Yes. The procedure for carrying out the execution must also fulfill certain conditions as stipulated by the Supreme Court in Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India (2014), and by the Allahabad High Court in Peoples Union for Democratic Rights vs Union of India (2015). The guidelines hold that a death-row prisoner must get free legal aid for drafting a mercy petition and, if it is rejected, an intimation to the prisoner and his family is imperative.
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A minimum 14 days’ notice for execution must be given to let him “prepare himself mentally for execution, to make his peace with god, prepare his will and settle other earthly affairs”, besides also allowing him “to have a last and final meeting with his family members.” An execution can be stopped owing to a convict’s physical or mental ill health, the top court has held. Further, the convicts still had the legal remedies of filing review and curative petitions, apart from moving clemency petitions. When was the last execution carried out in India? The last execution to take place in India was in February 2013, the hanging of Afzal Guru who was convicted of plotting the 2001 attack on India’s Parliament. While the courts sentenced more than 1,400 persons to death between 2001 to 2011, only four have been hanged since 1995. Many of these cases are under the consideration of the Supreme Court and the President for clemency. According to data compiled by the NGO Amnesty International, Indian courts handed down at least 64 death sentences in 2014, but no executions took place. A report by the Death Penalty Research Project of the National Law University in Delhi indicated that at least 270 people were on death row after exhausting all remedies available to them under the law. State of reservoirs better this year, thanks to unseasonal rains Thanks to the unseasonal rain in March, the main reservoirs of the country currently contain above-average water levels, filled 35 per cent more than what is expected at this time of the year. The 91 major reservoirs, monitored on a regular basis by the Central Water Commission, together have about 45 billion cubic metres of water in them, which is about 28 per cent of the total capacity of these reservoirs. At this time of the year, these reservoirs together are expected to be filled up to 21 per cent of their total capacity, the average of the last ten years. Healthy water levels in the reservoirs are crucial in a year in which the monsoon is predicted to be below normal. The Met department had last month said that India was expected to receive only 93 per cent of normal rainfall during the four-month season from June to September. The water in the reservoirs is used not just for irrigation or drawing power, but also for drinking in several states. Authorities regulate the usage of water in such a way that reservoirs get filled near to their full capacities by the end of the monsoon season in September. How much rain water flows into the reservoir depends not only on the amount of rainfall but also whether rain has taken place in the catchment areas. Of the 91 reservoirs, 67 currently have water up to more than 80 per cent of their normal levels. Another 10 have water between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of their normal storage. As of now, reservoirs in the north, east and central India are in a better position than those in the south. The reservoirs in the basins of the Ganga, Indus, Narmada, Godavari, Mahanadi, rivers of Kutch, and west-flowing rivers of south India all have more water than normal. Tapi and Cauvery, and the east-flowing rivers of the south, too are close to normal. Only the reservoirs in the basins of the Sabarmati and Krishna rivers are deficient. ECONOMY NEWS India’s growth to overtake China’s in 2016, says UN The United Nations have said in a report that India's economic growth is expected to surpass that of China in 201516. The mid-year report of the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) released said that India's economy is projected to grow by 7.6 per cent this year and 7.7 per cent next year. China's growth is projected at 7 per cent in 2015 and 6.8 per cent next year. The report called South Asia's economic outlook as "largely favourable" as most economies are expected to experience a strong growth in 2015-16, thanks to robust domestic consumption and investment and a rise in exports. South Asia's Gross Domestic Product is also predicted to grow by 6.7 per cent in 2015 and 6.9 per cent in 2016, which is more than the estimated 6.3 per cent in 2014. In the United States, economic recovery has remained on track and the short-term outlook looks relatively favourable, the report said. SBI inks deal with Amazon SBI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Amazon. SBI is also scheduled to sign MoUs with Snapdeal and PayPal. As per the MoU between Amazon India and SBI, both organisations will identify areas of cooperation to meet the aspirations online buyers and small businesses. The MoU was signed by Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI and Amit Agarwal, Vice President and Country Manager, Amazon India at the SBI headquarters. Norms eased for investments by NRIs, PIOs, OCIs • In a bid to increase capital flows into the country, the Union Cabinet, announced a major shift in foreign direct investment policy by categorising non-repatriable investments by non-resident Indians (NRIs), overseas citizens of India (OCIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs) as domestic investment.
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Increased inflow: The measure is expected to result in increased investments across sectors and greater inflow of foreign exchange remittance leading to economic growth of the country. • The proposal was floated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the government had formed a committee to deliberate on this matter in 2014. The government, which has liberalised the FDI policy for sectors such as defence, railways, construction development, medical devices and insurance, is keen to tap NRIs, OCIs and PIOs. • Revival of urea plants: In another decision the Cabinet also approved the revival of closed urea plant in Sindri, Jharkhand, and setting up of a new fertilizer plant in Namrup in Assam at a total investment of Rs.10,500 crore. • The government also extended the timeline for completing the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infra Project (NATRIP) by three years. • The extension of timeline will help the project to be completed as per the objectives, and ensure that state-of-the-art automotive testing, homologation and R&D facilities are made available in India, an official release said. RBI wins battle to keep debt management role • With the Union Finance Ministry reworking its proposal for setting up the Public Debt Management Authority, the Reserve Bank of India has won its biggest battle in its 80-year history. • The watered-down proposal no longer envisages the RBI to relinquish control over the task of managing the Centre’s borrowings. Instead, the proposed authority, to be housed in the Finance Ministry and staffed mainly by government officials, is being given “limited functionality”. • It will take over merely the “front office” for the management of the Centre’s borrowings, while the control over the “back office” will remain with the RBI. • The authority will be set up through an executive order. Ease of doing business: RBI hints at simplified forex rules • The Reserve Bank is working with the government to simplify and liberalise procedures related to foreign exchange regulations to facilitate ease of doing business in the country. • Even at present, no approval is given by the Reserve Bank for receiving FDI in India. The applicants only have to submit certain documents for verification and record. • The RBI and the government also took steps to reduce the external sector vulnerabilities. RBI allows companies to borrow in rupees offshore from overseas lenders • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed rules for Indian companies to raise money in rupees from overseas lenders. • The overseas lenders will have to enter into currency swap transactions with their overseas banks which in turn will provide rupees by tapping a bank in India for extending funds in rupees to the corporate. • Earlier, an Indian corporate offshore had no access to borrow in rupees from overseas market and had to first take a dollar loan and then converts the same into rupees which included undertaking the foreign currency risk. • However, under the relaxed rules, the forex risk will shift from Indian corporate to the lender of that fund offshore. • The back to back swap arrangement between the offshore lender, the overseas bank and the bank in India will be subject to underlying external commercial borrowing rules. Japan unveils massive $110 billion plan for Asia’s infrastructure to counter China • Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a $110 billion investment plan for infrastructure projects in Asia in an apparent counter to China's move to launch a new development bank. • Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will boost their assistance by 30 per cent to offer the massive investment aid under a five-year public-private partnership vision. • The sum is just slightly higher than the expected $100 billion capital of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that Beijing and more than 50 founding member states are establishing. • Japan and the United States were the biggest standouts earlier this year when Beijing began courting members for the AIIB. • Critics say AIIB will not demand the same good-governance and environmental standards imposed by other international bodies, such as the ADB, a long-established body in which Tokyo plays a key role. • However, supporters say fears over undue Chinese influence are overblown, and that the participation by more than 50 countries, including ones as diverse as Britain and Iran, will dilute Beijing's power. • Few observers doubt there is a need for billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure in Asia. • The region also offers rich opportunities for countries with strong infrastructure industries, like Japan. • But political and other risks in doing business in Asia have discouraged some businesses from making long-term investments. Need fresh outlook to growth: Rajan • Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan has said countries need to adopt policies that add to growth rather than ones that shift growth from one region to other. • He called for the need to have well-capitalised multilateral organizations with widespread legitimacy and better international safety nets.
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“Even as we create conditions for sustainable growth, we need new rules of the game, enforced impartially by multilateral organizations to ensure that countries adhere to international responsibilities,” he said. • Dr. Rajan said that there was no appetite in a number of countries to look for what made sense for the globe. Countries were too focused on what made sense for themselves. • He argued that there was tremendous pressure for growth on both industrial countries and emerging markets. • While growth was yet to pick up despite various efforts, there was a trend of countries stealing growth from each other i.e. shifting demand by depreciating exchange rates rather than creating own demand through appropriate policies. “If you have crises, you undertake policies and the crisis shift to other region. That region, too, resorts to policy initiatives and crisis shift somewhere else,’’ he added. • These kinds of policies that shift growth from other countries had the effect of creating new social instabilities, he said.Of course, such instabilities had not occurred now. It had occurred at least three times in different parts of the world in the past two decades, he pointed out. • Dr. Rajan asserted that there was a need to create better safety nets in the world in order to make sure that countries were self-insured. • Countries were building reserves as part of safety net measures. But it would be a waste for each one to build reserves since all of them would not be used at the same time. There should be collective resources with mutual guarantees, he added. RBI working to make JLF more transparent, says Deputy Governor • The Reserve Bank is working to bring more transparency to the joint lending forum (JLF), which was set up to revitalise distressed assets, Deputy Governor SS Mundra said. • Bankers have been complaining about lack of transparency in the newly-created JLF, which replaced the CDR Cell. • With a massive increase in non-performing loans and the resultant spike in restructuring, the RBI had last year released a framework for revitalising distressed assets and replaced the previous corporate debt restructuring cell (CDR), which it feared was being misused both by lenders as well as by borrowers, with JLF. • The JLF framework outlined a corrective action plan that would incentivise early identification of problem cases, timely restructuring of stressed loan accounts which are considered to be viable, and taking prompt steps by banks for recovery or sale of unviable accounts. • It proposed that the RBI would set up a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) to collect, store, and disseminate credit data to lenders. • The framework advised that when an account is reported to the CRILC as Special Mention Account-2 (SMA-2), which has principal and interest payment overdue between 61 and 90 days, the banks should mandatorily form a committee to be called Joint Lenders Forum (JLF), if the aggregate exposure in that account is Rs 100 crore and more. • In the JLF, lenders with small exposures have complained about lack of transparency and the logic of the decision taken by the big lenders in the forum. • Bankers have been demanding detailed minutes and logic behind the decision taken by the JLF for a particular account. Centre keen to get more banks, insurers in IFSC The Finance Ministry has asked the banks and insurance companies to consider setting up operations at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), the country’s first International Finance Centre (IFSC) coming up near Ahmedabad. Expecting big tax breaks on the lines of Dubai and Singapore, a host of banks and insurers like SBI, Bank of India, New India Assurance, GIC Re, United Insurance and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and SBI Life have already decided to have their presence in the GIFT City. There are big expectations among lenders and insurers about a low tax regime in IFSC in order to compete with other Asian IFSCs. Dubai has no tax, Malaysia 10 per cent and Singapore has three per cent tax. GIFT is planned as a financial central business district (CBD) between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. It is designed as a hub for the global financial services sector with state-of-the-art connectivity, infrastructure and transportation access being integrated into the design of the city. The current account paradox Recent trends in India’s current account and their impact on the balance of payments and the larger economy, present an interesting study. The current account deficit (CAD) is the difference between the sum total of imports and all outward remittances on the one hand and the sum total of all exports and inward remittances on the other. An obvious observation from recent CAD data is that it is so comprehensively dependent upon external factors over which Indian policy makers have so very little control. For instance, global oil prices have a large say on India’s CAD. During the period 2011-13 the CAD rose from below three per cent of the GDP to above five per cent. This made India particularly vulnerable to shocks. The exchange rate of the rupee fluctuated violently and posed challenges to the RBI. Even before the American taper induced depreciation the Indian currency fell by 20 per cent. In the wake of the taper — the U.S. authorities announced the end of their ultra soft monetary policy — it lost another 20 per cent. Thanks to some deft moves by the RBI and the imposition of quantitative restrictions on gold imports by the government, the rupee rallied during the second half of 2013-14.
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The rupee derived a lot of strength from the vastly improved sentiment that has come about with the change in the government. During the first half of the financial year, the positive trends continued. Petroleum prices continued to fall. The government seemed to embark on a series of reform measures. Pacts were signed with a number of countries. These promised more trade and a larger FDI investment. The logjam over coal appeared to be getting resolved with not a little help from the Supreme Court. Puffed up market seemed to indicate all was well with the economy. The crucial dependence of the current account on short-term, volatile flows — which might reverse anytime — has once again been blithely brushed aside. The window of opportunity that the government had to carry out the more difficult reforms might have been missed. Specifically for the external sector, the following developments are ominous: One: Oil prices are up again. The geopolitical situation remains fluid. The public sector character of the oil marketing companies might have prevented them from hedging their oil purchases. Two: Gold imports have surged partly due to low prices and partly due to pent up demand. The new gold monetisation, still at the draft stage, has certain welcome features. Even small quantities of gold can be accepted as deposits. Banks can pay the interest in gold. However, in common with the schemes it replaces, the new scheme has one major weakness. It is highly unlikely that individual households will surrender their ornaments for investing in a gold deposit. Normally households do not stock gold bars. Jewellery has a sentimental value that cannot be made good by a deposit scheme, however well designed. It is conceded, however, that the new scheme has to be given a fair trial for the sake of luring investors away from the lure of holding physical gold. Three: Despite the success of coal auctions, India will remain a net importer of coal well into the foreseeable future. Four: Exports have fallen on a year on year basis — contracting in April by 14 per cent to 22 billion dollars. A sharp appreciation in the rupee is one of the causes as also a drop in petroleum prices. (India is a major exporter of refined petroleum products.) To sum up, one has to take note of the apparent paradox in looking at the BOP. The CAD was at 1.7 per cent in 201314 and 1.9 percent during the first half of 2014-15.Those are by no means small feat considering the runaway deficits of the earlier years. Yet there is no scope for complacency. Factors influencing the CAD are beyond the control of the government. Loan recovery eludes banks, but growth beats China A recovery in India’s credit growth could elude the country’s banks until early 2016, despite an economy that in the first three months of this year is expected to have outpaced China. India’s firms have seen debt levels nearly triple in the past five years and are struggling to digest debt already on their balance sheets after two years of weak economic expansion. Although bank loans still account for bulk of the credit in India, another factor that has weighed on bank loans is cheaper availability of funds through commercial papers and bonds. Commercial paper issuances jumped more than 80 per cent last fiscal year, according to estimates from rating agency ICRA. Including commercial papers, bonds and overseas borrowing, total credit available in the system grew 14.5 per cent last year — outpacing growth in bank loans. Paytm to sell Chinese products Jack Ma-led online retail giant Alibaba’s marketplace AliExpress will start selling Chinese goods to Indian consumers from June through mobile wallet company Paytm. Alibaba, through Ant Financial Services, had acquired 25 per cent stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm. With the launch of the service, Alibaba will get an entry into the booming Indian e-retail market. AliExpress, launched in 2010, is the global marketplace of Alibaba and it lists Chinese businesses offering products to international online buyers. In the first phase, AliExpress, through Paytm, will bring fashion products, fashion accessories, general merchandise such as Chinese toys, bags, home decor and unstructured category, including electronic accessories to Indian consumers. According to the company, the payment can be made only through Paytm wallet. The delivery of items will be done to the consumer directly. On Paytm, the Chinese products will be priced in Indian rupees. China's yuan 'no longer undervalued': IMF "Appreciation over the past year has brought the exchange rate to a level that is no longer undervalued," according to an IMF statement. China's yuan, also called the renminbi, has risen about 0.5% against the U.S. dollar in the last year. The IMF's take on this marks a significant shift, and comes as Beijing continues to promote the yuan as a global reserve currency for central banks -- an alternative to the dollar. China has historically kept tight control of its currency -- favorable exchange rates have helped boost exports and manufacturing over time. But China has continued to draw ire from the U.S. government for keeping it artificially low. China continues to set its daily exchange rate, allowing the yuan to fluctuate within a fixed range.
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Beijing has begun to loosen its grip -- last year, the central bank doubled the permitted trading range for the yuan. Still, the IMF is urging China to achieve an effectively floating exchange rate within two to three years and greater flexibility, with intervention limited to avoiding disorderly market conditions or excessive volatility. Overall, the IMF is fairly optimistic that China is moving in the right direction, even as it forecasts slower economic growth at 6.8% this year, which is below the government's own 7% target. A gradual slowing in the pace of growth is a by-product of moving the economy away from the unsustainable growth pattern of the past decade. Centre forms panel to revitalise PPP projects in infra The government constituted a committee to revitalise the public private partnership (PPP) mode for infrastructure development. The 10-member panel to be headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar has been entrusted to suggest ways on improving capacity building within the government for effective implementation of PPP projects. The panel’s terms of reference also include reviewing the experience of PPP policy, analysis of risks involved in such projects in different sectors and existing framework of sharing of such risks between project developer and government. It would also deliberate upon design modifications to contractual arrangements of PPP, examine international best practices as well as institutional context. The panel is likely to consult various stake holders in private sector, government sector, legal experts, banking/financial institutions and academia while firming up recommendations. SCIENCE AND TECH Astra missiles test-fired successfully After being postponed twice, two indigenously developed beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, Astra, were successfully launched from Su-30 MKI fighter jet in two developmental trials conducted at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha. In the first trial, the supersonic missile was released when the fighter jet was performing a “very high-g manoeuvre.” In the second trial, the g manoeuvre was higher than in the first exercise. With this tests, seven developmental trials were conducted and the missile is expected to be inducted by 2016 after a few more tests. The 3.8-metre tall Astra is a radar homing missile and one of the smallest weapon systems developed by the DRDO. Israel will partner India to develop missile system India is close to finalizing another mega military project with Israel, which will further bolster the already expansive but secretive defence cooperation under way between the two countries since the 1999 Kargil conflict. Defence ministry sources said the contract negotiation committee had now virtually sealed the joint development of a medium-range surface-to-air missile system (MR-SAM) for the Indian Army through collaboration between DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries. Incidentally, Israel is among the top defence suppliers to India, having already inked deals and projects worth around $10 billion over the last 15 years, which range from spy and armed drones to sophisticated missile and radar systems. During his visit to India in February, Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya'alon had even offered the advanced Iron Dome interceptor, which was used to intercept the flurry of rockets fired into his country last year, for PM Narendra Modi's Make in India policy. The DRDO-IAI-BDL model is identical to the SAM projects already under way for the Navy and IAF, which are together worth around Rs 13,000 crore. While the interception range of IAF-Navy versions is 70-km, the one for the Army will be 50-km. Such SAM systems are basically "area defence weapons" that locate, track and destroy incoming hostile aircraft, drones, missiles and helicopters. They are the advanced versions of the Israeli Barak-I "point antimissile defence systems" with a 9km range, which were fitted on 14 Indian warships several years ago. But it's only now that an Indian warship — the 6,800-tonne destroyer INS Kolkata commissioned by Modi in August
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last year — is gearing up for the actual test-firing of the SAM system for the first time. After its HOT (home on target) tests were completed in Israel last year, the SAM has also been fitted in another destroyer INS Kochi, which will be commissioned later this year. The story has been similar for the Rs 10,076 crore SAM project sanctioned in February 2009 for IAF to plug the existing gaps in air defence coverage of the country. Impact of urban areas on agriculture Many water channels like rivers are loaded with domestic sewage and industrial pollutants are the main source of irritation for irrigation. Polluted water pollutes the crops grown. Especially in the peri urban areas and those close to urban areas high intensive agriculture of leafy vegetables, vegetables, grass as fodder for milch animals, etc. becomes a big problem. In recent years, small rivers or sewages have become perennial and the total flow of pollutants has tremendously increased. Leafy vegetables Farmers in the peri urban areas are cultivating throughout the year i.e., harvesting three to four crops a year. The heavy metal contaminants from these polluted waters are reaching the consumers through the food chain. Especially in the leafy vegetables the heavy metal contaminants and biological pathogens are finding their way into them. As the domestic sewage systems have heavy loads of phosphates and nitrogen apart from other nutrients the farmers need to invest very little on the fertilizer inputs. The overall yield of some of the crops grown is very high. Some grasses are highly adapted to these polluted waters, but loaded with pollutants affecting the quality of milk and other products. Also the demand for water in the urban areas is very high. The farmers dependent on the groundwater are having great difficulty. The ground water, as they go deeper, is saline and when applied to the fields over a period increases the alkalinity of the soil. Recent times The leachates from the solid waste dumpyard sites pollute ground water. In recent times people are producing compost from city waste. The city waste compost has highest number of the pollutants including plastics which are carcinogenic. Some farmers buy these materials for soil amendment / growth regulator for getting high yield of the crops. But these pollutants find their way into the food chain and finally in the products consumed by people. There are no regulatory mechanisms. There is an urgent need to explore the possibilities of how urban areas could also support the farmers than instead of seeing urban areas affecting agriculture. LHC breaks energy record • The world’s largest particle smasher broke the record for energy levels in a test run after a two-year upgrade. • Protons collided in the Large Hadron Collider [LHC] at the record-breaking energy of 13 TeV [teraelectronvolts] for the first time. • The LHC’s previous highest energy for collisions was eight TeV, reached in 2012. • Experiments at the collider are aimed at unlocking clues as to how the universe came into existence.
ENVIRONMENT Real-time identification of algal blooms a reality Without venturing into the sea and through in-situ observations, ocean researchers can now quickly understand how parts of North Arabian Sea turn deep green and straw yellow at times. The real-time assessment and species identification of algal blooms, which add colour to the oceanic waters, has been made possible by using a satellite-based remote sensing technique. Researchers have also developed an algorithm for the process. A group of ocean scientists from the Centre for Marine Living Resources (CMLRE), Kochi, of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, who had been tracking the algal blooms in many water bodies, claimed to have perfected the algorithm for identification of Noctiluca scintillans, the algal bloom and a diatom, which gives dark green colour to the oceanic waters. The team led by R. Dwivedi of CMLRE consisted of researchers from CMLRE, the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa, and Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, has described the “approach for detection of bloom-forming algae N. scintillans and its discrimination from diatoms using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer in a mixed species oceanic environment.” Efforts on The new approach will help ocean researchers in quickly identifying algal blooms without venturing into the water. Efforts are on for identification and discrimination of more algal blooms and associated diatoms, he said. The capability of “species identification in near real time can help in planning field campaigns for guiding the ship to an appropriate location for in situ measurements”, the research paper said. The bloom, also known as green tide, occurs during the winter–spring (mid February–end March) and spreads to the entire northern half of the basin.
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Researchers had been regularly monitoring the bloom since 2009. During their cruises, researchers had found the colour of water was remarkably dark green in ocean depths exceeding 2,000 metre. Though not toxic, it is classified as harmful algal bloom as its spread can lead to depletion of dissolved oxygen in the bloom region. The decay of the high biomass can lead to the release of ammonia and steep reduction in dissolved oxygen, which may force other marine organisms to move to safe regions, he said. Nelong Valley opens for tourists first time since 1962 • The picturesque Nelong Valley near the India-China border, which was closed for civilians after the 1962 war, has been opened for tourists. • The valley, 45 km ahead of the border, falls under the Gangotri National Park in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. • Foreigners are not allowed in the valley. • Cold desert: At 11,600 feet, the valley is a cold desert, home to the snow leopard and the Himalayan blue sheep and offering a view of the Tibetan Plateau. • After the 1962 war, villagers were shifted out of the valley and Indo-Tibetan Border Police checkpoints were set up in the villages. PERSONS IN NEWS Economist Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri dead Eminent economist, noted academic and policy adviser Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri, who inspired generations of students at the Delhi School of Economics passed away at his residence. ‘MDC’ as Professor Chaudhuri was popularly known, studied with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen in Shantiniketan and furthered his education at Kolkata’s Presidency College before completing his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he studied modern economics under the legendary Paul Samuelson, whom Dr. Chaudhuri personally regarded as “the greatest economist of the 20th century”. A major influence on planning through his numerous prescient papers, Dr. Chaudhuri’s works are said to have significantly influenced former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. A mathematical mind falls silent John F. Nash Jr., a mathematician who shared a Nobel Prize in 1994 for work that greatly extended the reach and power of modern economic theory and whose decades-long descent into severe mental illness and eventual recovery were the subject of a book and a 2001 film, both titled A Beautiful Mind, was killed, along with his wife, in a car crash in New Jersey. Mr. Nash was widely regarded as one of the great mathematicians of the 20th century, known for the originality of his thinking and for his fearlessness in wrestling down problems so difficult few others dared tackle them. Mr. Nash’s theory of non-cooperative games, published in 1950 and known as Nash equilibrium, provided a conceptually simple but powerful mathematical tool for analysing a wide range of competitive situations, from corporate rivalries to legislative decision making. Mr. Nash’s approach is now pervasive in economics and throughout the social sciences and is applied routinely in other fields, like evolutionary biology. Mr. Nash also made contributions to pure mathematics that many mathematicians view as more significant than his Nobel-winning work on game theory, including solving an intractable problem in differential geometry derived from the work of the 19th century mathematician G.F.B. Riemann. AWARDS Hungarian author awarded Man Booker International Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai was presented the Man Booker International Prize for 2015 at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The 61-year-old writer was on the shortlist of 10 names, which included Amitav Ghosh. The literary prize, worth £60,000 (around Rs. 60 lakh), is given to a living author of any nationality who has published fiction either in English or in English translation. Unlike the annual Man Booker Prize for fiction, the international prize, given once in two years, is in recognition of a writer’s body of work and overall contribution to fiction rather than of a single novel. Mr. Krasznahorkai’s novels are known to be complex and demanding — a single sentence can run to a page — and deal with dystopian and apocalyptic themes in which an impending civilisational crisis threatens the world. His novels include Satantango (1985, English translation 2012), The Melancholy of Resistance (1989, English translation 1998), and Seiobo Down Below (2008, English translation 2013). Satantango was later adapted for a film, in collaboration with the Hungarian film-maker Bela Tarr. In the 1990s, Mr. Krasznahorkai began spending more time in East Asia, notably in Mongolia, China and Japan, and his writing began to feature themes from the aesthetics and literature of these countries. The Prisoner of Urga and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens are books on his experiences in China and Mongolia. Mr. Krasznahorkai’s translator George Szirtes, who was present, was given a translator’s prize of £15,000.
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The former winners of the Man Booker International Prize include the late Chinua Achebe of Nigeria, the American author Philip Roth, and Alice Munro from Canada, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013. Masaan wins critics prize at Cannes In a huge boost to Indian cinema, debutant director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan won the prestigious critics prize in the Un Certain Regard category, which runs parallel to the competition for the main prize, Palme d’Or, at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Masaan , a joint production of Manish Mundra, Macassar Productions, Arte France Cinema, Sikhya Entertainment & Phantom Films, stars newcomers like Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, along with Sanjay Mishra and Richa Chadda. OPINION State of flux in Delhi Partial statehood, Delhi’s peculiar constitutional situation, has posed challenges before every government that has ruled the national capital since 1993, the year an elected Vidhan Sabha was reinstated in Delhi. Central to this is the prickly issue of an elected government being forced to share powers with a non-elected Lieutenant Governor. So it is that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), armed with a sweeping mandate to govern Delhi and with a newfound sense of assertiveness, now finds itself in an almighty tussle with the LG over the appointment of an Acting Chief Secretary. This may appear to be a relatively minor issue, but at its heart is an attempt to make sense of the laws that define the issue of who runs Delhi. Article 239 (AA and AB) of the Constitution appears to grant the LG more discretionary powers than Governors in other States. Clause 4 of this Article says that there shall be a Council of Ministers in Delhi to aid and advise the LG “except in so far as he is, by or under any law, required to act in his discretion”. There is no specific provision, however, for the appointment of a Chief Secretary. Under the clause, should the LG have a difference of opinion with his Ministers the matter should be referred to the President. Pending a decision by the President, the LG can take immediate action if, in his opinion, the matter is urgent. But according to the Transaction of Business Rules for the Delhi government, the process of initiating the appointment of a Chief Secretary has to be done by the Council of Ministers. No such move was initiated in this particular instance, and so there should have been no difference of opinion to begin with. This is a significant grey area, and the real surprise is that it has taken this long for a proper debate on it to happen. Partial statehood, by its very premise, involves some compromises in governance. The big political parties are able to deal with this by going through the ‘right channels’ to prevent a given situation from escalating. It helped that for several years Delhi was ruled by the same party that was in power at the Centre. Such a situation would never work for the AAP, which simply does not do political diplomacy. Delhi is also the only State the party governs, and it is understandably keen to push for more control for itself. Inevitably, things have taken an ugly turn with various civil servants caught in the crossfire, a sense of fear gripping the administration and many officers wondering who to listen to. It is imperative that the rules and laws governing Delhi are reviewed and areas of potential overreach by the Central government are eliminated quickly enough. Failure to do so could lead to a situation where government in the national capital is thrown into a state of flux again. March of the IS • The Islamic State’s recent takeover of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, followed by its seizure of the historic city of Palmyra in Syria suggests that rumours of the impending demise of the armed group are vastly exaggerated. • Months of aerial bombing by United States-led forces may have weakened the spine of the insurgent organisation and led to the loss of some of the vast areas it holds across Iraq and Syria. • The resistance shown by Kurdish fighters both in Syria and Iraq — belonging to the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Regional Government respectively — has forced the IS to retreat from places such as Kobane and the adjoining Kurd-held territory close to Mosul in Iraq. • The group has also suffered significant losses in Tikrit, the former stronghold of ex-President Saddam Hussein. • But these losses apart, the resilience of the group has been evident in its capture of Ramadi in the largely Sunnipopulated and vast desert province of Anbar. • Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s resort to help from the radical Shia militias might have the support of the Sunni councils in Anbar, but this could only exacerbate what is clearly a conflict that has its origins in heightened sectarian violence in post-U.S.-invasion Iraq. • The Syrian regime has been fighting too many battles against a variety of rebel forces. It lost some to rebel groups supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Idlib recently, and its tactical retreats from IS-held territory in the past have come to haunt Bashar-al Assad’s forces with the loss of Palmyra. • It is clear that the parcelled form of offensive action against the IS is not working well. • The IS is bound to implode; it cannot forever sustain itself against a multiplicity of forces — the Syrians, the Iraqi army, the Kurds and the U.S.-led allies (even if they are only engaged in aerial bombing).
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But as long as there is no concerted action from all these forces targeting the IS in any cohesive manner, it will remain resilient and leave even more brutal trails of destruction in its wake than it has until now. The Salman Exception • Two significant events relevant to the issue of undertrials have occurred in the past few weeks. • The first was a Supreme Court order drawing attention to the plight of 2.78 lakh undertrials in Indian jails. • The second was the conviction of and subsequent bail for Salman Khan in a hit and run case. • As an undertrial, Khan spent about a week in judicial custody over 13 years. As a convict, he has managed to avoid jail so far, securing two bail orders in three days. • Contrast that to the lives of nearly three lakh undertrials, whose guilt, unlike Khan’s, remains unestablished. • But they are behind bars, fighting poverty and disease, facing social stigma and loss of employment. • Some may have completed more than the maximum sentence they would face if convicted. • According to NCRB data, as of December 2013, over 67 per cent of the inmates of Indian jails were undertrials. • Over 62 per cent of undertrials had been detained for more than three months. • Over 23 per cent had spent between one and five years in judicial custody. • Access to timely, quality legal aid, guaranteed by the Constitution and international law, could have produced the relief granted to Khan. • Poor awareness of rights and flawed prison record management also contribute to excessive pre-trial detention. These factors were addressed by the SC in its April 24 order. • First, the SC directed the home ministry to review the “Prison Management System” in Tihar jail. • This order will have significant consequences as many states have adopted the Tihar software, designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). • Second, the SC clarifies how Section 436A must be interpreted. It states that when an undertrial is charged with multiple offences, she is eligible for release under this section “after half the sentence of the lesser offence is completed”. Given that undertrials are typically charged with multiple offences, the court’s progressive reading of the law is likely to have a positive impact. • Finally, the court expressed shock at the number of undertrials “who are unable to furnish bail and are still in custody for that reason”. • Directing state legal service authorities to act immediately on these cases, the court held that “poverty cannot be a ground for incarcerating a person”. • Both the speedy bail granted to Salman Khan and the SC order highlight the inequities in our criminal justice system. Until this is recognised and challenged, justice and equality will elude us. Incremental reform on urea not enough • The ‘comprehensive New Urea Policy 2015’ is clearly incremental change meant to rev up energy efficiency, economise on rail freight and boost domestic production a bit. • The norms would lead to direct and indirect savings on the fertiliser subsidy bill by about Rs 4,800 crore over the next four years. • The way ahead, surely, is to rationalise subsidies in agriculture and, instead, step up allocations for capital investment and infrastructure so as to shore up productivity and gainfully increase incomes in the large and underperforming farm sector. • The perverse system of urea price controls, with prices barely changed in an entire decade, has wrongly incentivised and jacked up usage of the nitrogenous fertiliser, and negatively affected soil health. • And it is a glaring misallocation of resources to set aside nearly 1 per cent of GDP for the purpose. The subsidy calls for major overhaul. • The Centre seems to be hoping that with its higher budgeted outlay, despite the drop in crude oil and urea feedstock prices, it would be in a position to foot the fertiliser subsidy bill and, thus, maintain urea price control indefinitely. • But this is same status quo. Such a policy of incrementalism would invariably lead to diminishing returns. • The Centre needs to cap the urea subsidy and change over to market-determined prices in a phased manner. • In parallel, we need to shore up urea production in locations where feedstock is cheap, like Oman and Iran. • The usage of chemical fertilisers can also be checked with biofertilisers and innovative seeds. Licence to skill • Much has been said about India’s potential demographic dividend, where much of its population — 62 per cent — is 15 to 59 years of age, and more than half are under 25 years of age. • Already, there is a gap between the demand for skilled labour and its supply. • Studies find that the lakhs of students coming out of colleges and universities are ill-equipped to meet the requirements of a modern economy, falling behind when competing in an increasingly global and interlinked job market. • Central to the government’s plan to rectify this situation is the proposed national policy for skill development and entrepreneurship, expected to be finalised soon. • The draft version of the policy exhibits the right impulses. It recognises that one of the biggest challenges is to change the perception that enrolment in vocational training and skills programmes indicates an inability to progress in the formal academic system.
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Creating an appreciation for skilled manual work, such as carpentry or plumbing, requires a small socio-economic revolution. It also proposes beginning skill training courses early, in Class IX, to integrate vocational training and school-based learning in a manner that makes the former an attractive option. • The policy also makes the right noises regarding the need to bring industry and potential employers on board and designing curricula that can nimbly adapt to the changing requirements of the labour market. • But it fails to outline how employers and other partners can be incentivised to maintain a high degree of engagement and ownership in such initiatives. • At the same time, safeguards have to be in place to ensure that the short-term needs of employers do not trump broader educational and economic goals. • Another important aspect of a successful skill development policy is the creation of pathways that allow people to transition in and out of school or training programmes and the labour market as required, by, for instance, enabling school dropouts to enter the education system again. That means mobility between certificates, diplomas, associate degrees and full degrees. • It is not enough to pay lip service to the idea; the government must establish institutional mechanisms to facilitate this without placing unnecessary hurdles along the way. Re-skilling skill development • Over the next few decades, India has an opportunity to reap a potential demographic dividend. The working-age (1559 years) population is growing. India’s median age is 27 years — a decade less than China’s. • As per a recent UNFPA report, 356 million Indians are in the age group of 10-24 years — more than the total population of the US. • India needs to equip this large youth pool with industry-relevant skills. Failing to do so could lead to a huge demographic burden. • To grab this opportunity, the government has set an ambitious target of skilling 500 million youth by 2022, a number first predicted by C.K. Prahlad in 2007, and thereafter adopted as the target in the National Policy for Skill Development (NPSD), 2009. • The present government has gone a step further by creating a ministry for skill development and entrepreneurship. The skills mantra has caught on, with the government soon to launch a national skills mission. • State skill development missions are busy meeting their own targets. But in some states, the missions exist only on paper. • The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is striving to meet its target of skilling or up-skilling 150 million people by 2022. • But are these programmes working? Are they leading to better employment opportunities and wages? Are they increasing the productivity of firms? • The success of most government schemes is judged by whether input and output targets are met — numbers enrolled and numbers of trainees certified. • The government is yet to develop a central system for tracking outcomes. There are no central checks to verify whether placements reported are accurate, no monitoring system to see what wages are earned or whether jobs are commensurate with training and aspirations. • There is a need for a more nuanced understanding of the impact of vocational programmes on labour market outcomes. However, there is a dearth of such rigorous evaluation in developing countries. • A lot more rigorous research is needed in India to unbundle what makes certain training programmes more effective than others. Evidence on programmes that work is critical for developing effective models. • The Tamil Nadu government is conducting a survey to adopt an evidence-based approach to designing vocational training programmes, in collaboration with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). The survey seeks to better understand industry’s willingness to engage with the government’s skilling programmes and the value it sees in hiring passouts. It is expected to enable the government to design, test and improve these programmes. • Another ongoing study focuses on evaluating the National Employability Through Apprenticeship Programme, a PPP of TeamLease Skills University, the CII and NSDC, under the human resource development ministry’s National Employability Enhancement Mission. The study will evaluate the returns to apprenticeship training as well as its potential benefits to firms. • These are examples of the evidence-based approach to designing development programmes that India needs. • Rigorous evaluation is critical to ensuring that we develop a fuller understanding of the skills training most likely to work — so that we don’t end up spending public funds on expanding vocational programmes merely to meet ambitious targets, without ensuring that these translate to better outcomes in terms of jobs, wages, improved quality of life and productivity. • The NPSD sadly failed to emphasise this crucial component. • Most ministries rely on retrospective evaluations that are often unable to isolate the real impact of programmes on outcomes, thereby making decisions on continuation and improvement difficult. The border deal can open many doors in South Asia The decision to put into operation the border agreement with Bangladesh, breaking a deadlock which has lasted 20 years, sends out a signal to other countries of the region that India is prepared to overrule domestic political considerations to gain the trust of a neighbour. Modi had assured Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina she could trust him and he’s proved that.
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According to a World Bank paper, South Asia is the least integrated region in the world in terms of trade. Why does that matter? Regional integration leads to dramatic increases in trade and economic growth. The border agreement holds the promise that instead of the circuitous route through the Siliguri gap Indians living in the NorthEast will soon be able to travel across Bangladesh to Kolkata. Indians are all too well aware of the negative role lack of regional integration has played in the fight against terrorism. Sheikh Hasina’s willingness to co-operate with India has already shown results in the action she has taken against Assam and Tripura separatist leaders based in her country and their camps. Lack of trust between India and its neighbours has been the main cause of the dismal state of regional integration in South Asia. India had so little faith in its neighbours’ goodwill that it opposed the creation of Saarc. During the Saarc summit in Thimpu, the Bhutanese prime minister took his Nepali counterpart to see a hydro-electric plant built with Indian collaboration and generating power sold to India. He suggested it was foolish of Nepal to allow suspicion of India to come in the way of developing its hydroelectric potential. The chronic lack of trust between India and Pakistan denies the two counties almost every advantage they could gain from being neighbours. Because of its size India is feared in the neighbourhood. It must remove that fear if South Asia is to reap the rewards of regional cooperation because the burden of responsibility lies on its shoulders. However, the neighbours must learn to trust India. Neighbouring politicians have all too often used India as a whipping boy. Pakistan is the obvious example. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Sheikh Hasina’s main opponent, was founded on anti-Indian nationalism. In Nepal domestic politics has played a role in the country’s failure to follow the Bhutan prime minister’s advice although it would be wrong to ignore the impact Indian politics has had on water and power negotiations. So bearing in mind the dismal history of regional integration in South Asia, is it foolish to believe that settling the boundary issue with Bangladesh and probably reaching agreement on the Teesta waters when Modi visits Dhaka in June is the beginning of a radical change in India’s attitude to its neighbours? If India does downsize, will the smaller countries of South Asia come to trust their so much bigger neighbour? A negative answer to those questions will mean South Asia remains a hostage to history, divided by the animosity and lack of trust that has held the region back ever since India became independent. If the answer is positive, things could change so radically that the shadow of India-Pakistan hostility would no longer hang over South Asia because the people of both countries would come to see the immense advantages of mutual trust. Misplaced plea The Tamil Nadu government’s move to approach the Supreme Court seeking a review of its recent judgment barring the use of pictures of political leaders in government advertisements is retrograde and unnecessary. The court’s verdict restricting the list of dignitaries whose photographs are permissible on government advertisement material to the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, is a significant step in eliminating the partisan use of government resources to gain political mileage. Indeed, if there is a flaw in the judgment, it is in the exception made in favour of the holders of these three offices. Even though it says the President, Prime Minister or CJI could themselves decide on the inclusion of their pictures in advertisements, there really is no need for anyone’s image in such material if disseminating information is the sole purpose. It is indeed an attractive argument if one contends that the same privilege should be extended to the Governor, Chief Minister and Chief Justice of the High Court so that there is Centre-State parity. However, the spirit of the verdict is to take government advertising out of the domain of partisan politics. In course of time, the apparent disparity should also give way to a universal prohibition of the use of pictures of any dignitary. It is disappointing that the court did not accept a key recommendation made by a three-member committee that there should be special curbs on government advertisements during election time. This could have been an important guideline that would further purify the election process. The court may be confident that if the government adhered to norms there will be no need to adopt special, electioneve restrictions, but it should have taken note of the propensity of the political class to seek to gain mileage by delivering politically loaded messages using the official machinery during election time. In a democracy, the main reason for a government to issue advertisements is dissemination of essential and useful information about its functioning, its schemes and projects and their benefits. There is no real need to confer on any individual the privilege of being projected in official publicity material to give the impression that a scheme or measure owes its existence to the generosity of that individual. From intellectual property to Internet access, here is how US pushes mega trade pacts in pincer movement If you thought the current demands of US corporations on intellectual property and other contentious areas were excessive, even unreasonable, wait till they come at India from 40 different directions. The US is steering two mega trade pacts spanning Europe and much of Asia-Pacific that are designed to cater to the maximalist demands of corporations on everything from patents to copyright to Internet access to financial regulations to dispute settlement.
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The US-led Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 countries from Canada and Mexico to Japan and Malaysia are designed to change the trade order. Together the two pacts span 40 countries, 60% of the world’s GDP and a billion people. India is not in either pact. The move is geopolitical and economic, the idea being to firmly re-establish western leadership by stringing together an array of countries — some tiny enough to be smothered into believing and others happy to believe — into gigantic trading blocs. Trade is not just trade anymore for the US but an element of its defence policy, according to the 2015 national security strategy released in January. The TPP is the lynchpin of the “pivot” to Asia and TTIP the firming of the Trans-Atlantic alliance. The first casualty will be the WTO, the last place where the weak had a slim chance of raising a voice. It will be rendered irrelevant as new “global standards” are set. Developing countries would suffer as their exports decline because they wouldn’t meet the new “standards.” Is it the end of days for the multilateral trading system as we know it? The two juggernauts are surely gathering force on either side of India. The two trade pacts “will determine the direction and content of international standards across global value chains.” Their rules would be “impossible for any multilateral system or commercial activity to ignore.” TTIP and TPP will cut tariffs among member countries, which would give an advantage, for example, to Vietnamese textiles (a member of TPP) over Indian textiles in the US market. Patents would last longer, “evergreening” would be officially blessed and generics would be less tolerated. The only silver lining — the people. Those living in the TTIP and TPP countries see the pacts as “the biggest corporate power grab” in a decade. They worry about the larger public good (affordable medicines, clean water and air) because the governments would essentially lose some of their power to the corporations. A large number of public interest and citizens’ groups in Europe and the United States are actively lobbying against the two agreements. Some of ideas in the trade deals are staggering — forced privatisation, mandatory standards and a system of dispute settlement that would give more power to corporations than sovereign governments. Corporations could sue a government in tribunals if they thought its policies were detrimental to their business interests.
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WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS FROM MAY 28TH TO 3RD JUNE, 2015
2015
INTERNATIONAL NEWS World football rocked Seven of the most powerful figures in global football faced extradition to the United States on corruption charges after being arrested in Switzerland, where authorities also announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups. The world’s most popular sport was plunged into turmoil after U.S. and Swiss authorities announced separate inquiries into the activities of the game’s powerful governing body, FIFA. U.S. authorities said nine football officials and five sports media and promotions executives faced corruption charges involving more than $150 million in bribes. Swiss police arrested seven FIFA officials who are now awaiting extradition to the United States. The FIFA officials appeared to have walked into a trap set by U.S. and Swiss authorities. Separate from the U.S. investigation, Swiss prosecutors said they had opened their own criminal proceedings against unidentified people on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to the awarding of rights to host the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The international governing body of football collects billions of dollars in revenue, mostly from sponsorship and television rights for World Cups. Work permit for H-4 visa holders With a new rule that provides work authorization to H-4 visa holders entering the implementation phase this week, over 179,600 potential applicants are said to be waiting in line to enter USA, many from India, for what they are calling their “Independence Day.” The change in the policy toward H-4 visa holders came about through action proposed by the Obama administration, initially in 2013 and then finally made a reality in May 2014, when the Department of Homeland Security announced the formal publication of the new rules. The ruling had particular salience for visa holders with Indian citizenship, particularly those working in the IT sector, as India receives the highest proportion of H-1B visas from the U.S. every year. In 2013, its citizens received 99,705 H-1B visas, of a total of 153,223 issued globally, slightly over 65 per cent. Immigration specialists noted many “thousands” of H-4 visa holders were still excluded and could not work, as their spouses were not on track to receive a green card. Germany still hopeful of selling Eurofighters to India Even as India and France begin negotiations to conclude a deal for direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, Germany is still actively pushing for the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to India. The matter came up for discussion between visiting German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and her Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in addition to cooperation on submarines. This assumes importance as Mr. Parrikar had on several occasions indicated the possibility of procuring another fighter aircraft, in addition to the 36 Rafale jets and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), to make up for the shortfall in fighter strength of the Air Force. Germany is one of the contenders for the Navy’s new line of six submarines under Project-75I estimated at over Rs.50,000 crore to be built by an Indian shipyard under technology transfer. Asked about the ‘Make in India’ initiative, Ms. Leyen expressed willingness to collaborate on manufacturing of submarines. ‘Natural partners’: Calling India and Germany “natural partners”, Ms. Leyen in her discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had strongly pitched for deepening cooperation, particularly in the fields of cyberspace and maritime security. “The Indian Ocean, between the Suez Canal, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Malacca, is one of the key highways of globalisation…The Indian Ocean is becoming more and more crucial for our security policy,” she said. Adding that the two countries also have a common interest in a stable Afghanistan, she said, “The uncertainty in the international system is greater than it has been in a long time. Both Europe and India need to react to that. We are both facing major challenges.” UK unveils EU referendum plan Britain’s first Conservative-only government in nearly two decades unveiled its legislative agenda, confirming plans for tougher immigration policies, a referendum for the EU membership by the end of 2017 and more autonomy for Scotland. It is now official that the UK government will try to reform Britain’s relationship with the European Union (EU) and then offer the public a yes or no referendum on leaving the union. China’s Guizhou province opens doors to Indian IT firms • Big Data is the focus of the Information Technology (IT) plan conceived by the Guizhou local government, which wants Indian IT majors to take care of the software end. • At the first meeting of the newly formed China and India IT Industry Development Forum, in the Guian New Area (GNA), Chinese officials stressed that they were rapidly building infrastructure required for Cloud Computing and Big Data. • But support from Indian IT firms was required to create a human talent pool, along with software input, so that the accumulating hardware assets could be fully utilised. • India’s IT majors have responded positively to the GNA initiative.
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Chinese IT heavyweights, including Foxconn and Baidu, have already opened shop in the GNA’s Electronic Information Industrial Park. • Last month, the Guizhou Maritime Silk Road International Investment Corporation (GIIC) signed a framework MoU for setting up an industrial park in Kakinada SEZ in Andhra Pradesh. Mamata to accompany PM during Bangladesh visit • In a significant development, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to accompany Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Bangladesh in June 2015. • The visit assumes significance as Ms. Banerjee had refused to accompany former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Bangladesh in September 2011. Despite much persuasion from the Centre Ms. Banerjee had opted out of visit at the eleventh hour expressing reservations over not being consulted over the proposed Teesta water sharing treaty which she had described as against the interests of farmers of the State. • While the Chief Minister has already given her nod to the implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement she has also softened her stand regarding the Teesta water sharing treaty. India to set up IT listening posts in Bangladesh • The signing of a memorandum of understanding for the setting up of Information Technology centres in Bangladesh is expected to be announced during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi beginning June 6, 2015. • Apart from imparting training to the Bangladesh police forces in the use of modern technologies, it is learnt that the centres would operate as a hub for intelligence gathering and detecting cyber-based offences, including terror activities and intrusions. • India had announced in 2012 to set up IT labs in 64 model schools and IT centres at the Military Institute for Science & Technology, Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre and Bangladesh Police Academy. • A recent example of the increased level of cooperation between the two countries in security affairs is information exchange on the Bardhaman blast case being probed by the National Investigation Agency in India. • As part of the agreement, Indian agencies would assist their Bangladeshi counterparts in constructing buildings from where the IT centres would function. They are also expected to provide the necessary equipment for the centres. The government plans to rope in cyber experts from various enforcement agencies to impart training to Bangladeshi security forces. U.S. removes Cuba from terror blacklist The United States removed Cuba from its blacklist as a state sponsor of terrorism, in a landmark move aimed at paving the way towards normalising ties frozen for half a century. U.S. President Barack Obama had notified Congress earlier this year that he intended to remove Havana from the list, giving lawmakers 45 days to object, which elapsed on 29th May 2015. “While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a state sponsor of terrorism designation.” The decision means that Cuba will now have better access to U.S. banking facilities and American aid, as well as removing an international stigma which it has long contended was groundless and unfair. In a ground-breaking move, Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in December to restore relations frozen for five decades. Reopening embassies: So far teams from the two countries have met four times seeking to work out the terms for reopening their embassies, which would be the first step towards normalising ties. SE Asia vows to rescue 'boat people' • Southeast Asian nations agreed to intensify search and rescue efforts to help vulnerable "boat people" stranded in the region's seas, as Myanmar said its navy had seized a vessel off its coast with more than 700 migrants aboard. • More than 4,000 migrants have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh since Thailand launched a crackdown on people-smuggling gangs this month. Around 2,000 may still be adrift in boats on the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, the United Nations said. • Countries affected by the crisis agreed at a meeting in Bangkok to set up an anti-trafficking task force and approved a wide-ranging list of recommendations to tackle the "root causes" of the crisis - although the plan was carefully worded to avoid upsetting Myanmar, which denies it is the source of the problem. • While some of the migrants are Bangladeshis escaping poverty at home, many are members of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim minority who live in apartheid-like conditions in the country's Rakhine state. • Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya citizens, rendering them effectively stateless, while denying it discriminates against them or that they are fleeing persecution. It does not call them Rohingya but refers to them as Bengalis, indicating they are from Bangladesh. • The final statement from the meeting included a paragraph that called for addressing factors in the areas of origin of migrants, including "promoting full respect for human rights" as well as investing in economic development. • Officially called the Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean, the gathering took place against the grim backdrop of Malaysia's discovery of nearly 140 graves at 28 suspected people-smuggling camps strung along its northern border. • Thai authorities had found 36 bodies in abandoned camps on their side of the border at the start of this month, which led to the crackdown. • When the Thai crackdown made it too risky for traffickers to land migrants, they abandoned thousands at sea, triggering the crisis.
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Regional governments have struggled to respond, although images of desperate people crammed aboard overloaded boats with little food or water prompted Indonesia and Malaysia to soften their initial reluctance to allow the migrants to come ashore. • Malaysia says it has already taken 120,000 illegal immigrants from Myanmar, and Indonesia said last week they would give temporary shelter to those migrants already at sea, but that the international community must shoulder the burden of resettling them. • Thailand has refused to allow the boats to land, saying it is already sheltering more than 100,000 migrants from Myanmar, but has deployed a naval task force to offer medical aid at sea. • Thailand said it had given the United States permission to fly surveillance flights over Thai airspace to identify boats carrying migrants. • The U.N. called for a “comprehensive response” to the large scale humanitarian crisis of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, of which nearly 2,000 are still believed to be stranded in the perilous sea across the Bay of Bengal. Greece crisis dominates G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting • Greece’s debt crisis dominated talks of the Group of Seven finance ministers, with the United States and Japan pressing Europe to reach a deal with Athens to avoid rattling the eurozone and the global economy. • The three lenders are demanding that Greece push through economic reforms in return for bailout funds. • Greece was a key topic as time runs out for Athens to reach an agreement with its international creditors. • The Greek government has sent mixed signals about how close the two sides are to a deal. On the one hand it has suggested that an agreement could be reached. Powerful 7.8 quake shakes Japan • A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Japanese coast, geologists said, shaking buildings in Tokyo and setting off car alarms. • Despite the huge power of the quake, there was no risk of a tsunami, The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre reported. • The epicentre was 676 kilometres below the Earth’s surface. It was centred on a remote spot in the Pacific Ocean around 870 kilometres south of Tokyo, the US Geological Survey said. • A massive undersea quake that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeast coast. • Japan sits at the meeting place of four tectonic plates and experiences around 20 percent of the world’s most powerful earthquakes every year. Kerry, Zarif begin key n-talks • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif began high-stakes talks in Geneva to try and hammer out a historic nuclear deal ahead of a June 30 deadline. • U.S. officials warned the coming negotiations would be intense, vowing to “keep the pressure on” to force the Iranians and everyone at the table to make the “tough decisions” needed to end a 12-year standoff and put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran’s reach. • After an interim accord struck in Geneva in November 2013, Washington and Tehran are trying to fine tune the final details of a ground-breaking agreement that would see Iran curtail its nuclear ambitions in return for a lifting of crippling international sanctions. • Sealing a long-elusive deal with the Islamic republic could give U.S. President Barack Obama his biggest foreign policy achievement yet. • After three decades of enmity, it would also pave the way to bringing Iran back into the international fold and create fresh impetus to resolve a host of conflicts in the Middle East. • On April 2, Iran and the “P5+1” — as the U.S. and its partners are known — agreed in the Swiss city of Lausanne to the main outlines of a nuclear deal, with Tehran agreeing to rein in and mothball large sections of its nuclear programme. Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus trial run The trial run of the much-awaited Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service will begin on 1st June, 2015. The service, aimed at easy movement of people of two Indian States separated by Bangladesh, is likely to be inaugurated when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Dhaka on June 6 and 7. This is the first bus service to connect the two north-eastern States through Bangladesh. The Dhaka-Kolkata service was introduced in 1999 and the one between Dhaka and Agartala in 2003. The cross-Bangladesh service was approved at a recent meeting between Bangladesh Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader and his Indian counterpart Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. It had been sought for long by the people of Tripura and other adjoining States for travelling through Bangladesh without changing vehicles. It takes nearly three days to travel from Kolkata to Agartala, the capital of Tripura, a 1,650-km distance by land. Now, the journey will take less than 24 hours. The two countries recently completed a trial run of the Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati service. It is also expected to be opened during Mr. Modi’s visit. Modi to be first Indian PM in Israel Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Israel, making him the first Indian Premier to visit the country, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.
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Stapled visa issue with China still unresolved External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj admitted that the issue of China granting stapled visas to Indians from Arunachal Pradesh remains “unresolved.” She said this issue, along with the pending ones of land border agreement, recognition of the Line of Actual Control and of sharing hydrological data, had been taken up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Beijing. Much to India’s chagrin, China continued to grant stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, claiming it to be a part of its territory. In 2012, during the UPA government’s tenure, China agreed to stop stapling visas of Jammu and Kashmir residents. For its part, India announced the decision to grant e-visa to Chinese tourists during Mr. Modi’s recent visit to China. The Minister also said India had objections to the Pakistan-China economic corridor only if it involved activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India had also told China that there should be freedom of navigation and trade in the South China sea and use of threat was not good. Mauritius’ first woman President • The government of Mauritius designated Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as the Indian Ocean island nation’s new President, making her the first woman to hold the ceremonial position. • The appointment of Ms. Gurib-Fakim (56), an internationally-renowned scientist and biologist, is subject to Parliament approval, due to take place on 4th June, 2015. Bangladesh Cabinet approves three pacts • The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, approved drafts of three agreements which will be signed during Mr. Modi’s visit. • The deals are expected to boost trade between the two countries. • The agreement includes an understanding with Bangladesh Standard Testing Institution (BSTI) and Bureau of Indian Standard on cooperation in the field of standardisation and conformity. With this, goods made in Bangladesh or India can be certified by either BSTI or BIS and will not require further verification. • The other two agreements are protocols for passenger bus services between Kolkata and Agartala via Bangladesh and from Dhaka to Guwahati via Shillong. • Like his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr. Modi will be accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will arrive a day ahead on June 5. • Significantly an MoU on Passenger Movement in the Inland Water Routes and on the Coastal Shipping Routes will be signed by the two Prime Ministers. • An instrument related to the Land Boundary Agreement, ratified by Parliament recently, will also be exchanged during the signing ceremony. India, Sweden to resume strategic talks • India and Sweden agreed to re-start the bilateral strategic dialogue after a gap of four years besides finding ways for investment by the Nordic country in India’s defence sector under the ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative. • It was agreed that the two countries would re-start their strategic dialogue between the two National Security Advisers. • The official informed that Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist would be in India for two days beginning June 10 during which he would explore the possibility of engaging with New Delhi in the defence sector. • With changed Foreign Direct Investments rules and the ‘Make in India’ campaign, it is expected that the Swedish government would look for India as a manufacturing base. Myanmar escorts 700 migrants towards Rakhine Myanmar’s navy escorted a boatload of more than 700 migrants towards its western state of Rakhine, authorities said, five days after it was found adrift in the Bay of Bengal. Around 3,500 migrants, mainly Rohingya from Myanmar or economic migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, have come ashore in Southeast Asia in recent weeks in an ongoing migrant crisis. Some 2,500 more are believed still trapped at sea, heaping pressure on both countries to take back the migrants and improve living conditions to stem the outflow. Myanmar describes its persecuted Rohingya Muslim community living in the western state of Rakhine and numbering around 1.3 million as “Bengalis”. Most have no citizenship and are considered to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s Border Guard also said it had been told by its neighbour that the passengers would be taken to Maungdaw in Rakhine. But in a warning to Myanmar, a coast guard official said Bangladesh would block any attempt to push them across the frontier. Meanwhile, Thai authorities said an arrest warrant has been issued for a high-ranking army officer over human trafficking, the first military figure in junta-ruled Thailand to be implicated in the grim trade in migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
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China cruise ship with 458 people sinks Chinese authorities have mounted an energetic effort to rescue passengers of a ferry, carrying 458 people on board, which sank in the Yangtze river. More than 1,000 armed police officers, carrying 40 inflatable boats, have been dispatched to the site of the disaster. Local fishing boats have also joined the effort. The ship, named Dongfangzhixing, or Eastern Star, sank after being caught in a cyclone in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River. E-visa for Swedish nationals soon: Pranab India will soon extend e-visa facility to Swedish nationals, President Pranab Mukherjee said as he invited the Nordic country to be a part of government’s flagship programmes like the ‘Make in India’ initiative. NATIONAL NEWS Relief for Greenpeace, can operate 2 accounts In a major relief to Greenpeace India, the Delhi High Court allowed the NGO to operate two of its domestic bank accounts and liquidate its existing fixed deposits. It can receive fresh donations or contributions from within the country. The government reiterated its earlier statement that Greenpeace India had violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by merging its foreign donations with domestic ones. France to Fund Bangalore, Kochi Metro Projects Metro projects of Bangalore, Kochi and Nagpur are likely to receive funding from France, which has decided to increase the credit line to 2 billion euros following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in April, 2015. A delegation of Agence Francaise de Developpment (AFD), the country's bilateral financial institution, is on a two-day visit to discuss about projects that could be funded, especially in the areas of sustainable urban development and smart cities. The French have also shown interest in other projects which are related to Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan. This includes a solid waste management plant for Puducherry. The cooperation between AFD and India started in 2008 starting with 1 billion euros. However, after Modi's visit to France, the credit line has been increased to 2 billion euros. Francois Richer, French ambassador to India, said cooperation between the two countries in field of smart cities and sustainable urban development is a very "important endeavour". Referring to the pre-engineering agreement and an MoU between Areva and Larsen and Tourbo in the field of nuclear energy and in the field of railways, Richer said it is critical to both the countries. High job potential sectors will be opened up for FDI: Modi Hinting at opening up of more sectors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said areas with high employment potential and strong local talent will be the focus to woo foreign investment and expressed confidence that reform measures like the GST and Land Acquisition Bills will be passed in “a matter of time”. Infra fund: “We have created the National Infrastructure Investment Fund. This is a major step which will increase the flow of foreign investments into all infrastructure sectors, without needing separate sector-by-sector approaches,” he said. Ties with States: Modi said there was a good beginning on bridging the trust deficit between Centre and States. “The NITI Aayog is acting as a catalyst to build a vibrant Centre-State partnership to take the nation forward. This spirit of partnership and team work is gradually increasing and the fruits will be seen in the coming years,” he said. Government revives Bill to make sector regulators accountable to Parliament The Centre has revived the Regulatory Reforms Bill mooted by the previous UPA government that aims to make regulators accountable to Parliament. A team of officials at NITI Aayog is finalising the first draft of the bill that the government intends to bring about a cogency of approach across various sectors of infrastructure. The key provisions of the bill pursued by the previous government included an institutional framework for regulatory commissions, their role and functions, accountability to the legislature and interface with the markets and the people. Besides, it had proposed that the overall functioning of the regulators could be subject to scrutiny of Parliament on a yearly basis and their decision could be challenged before the appellate authority. The bill had also recommended adoption of a fair and transparent process for selection of regulators to ensure that the regulatory system remains insulated from political interference. It is expected that the bill, if enacted, will supplement the existing sector-specific laws that set out sectoral objectives. The bill is extremely essential to formulate a common set of guidelines for all regulators to minimise the complexities arising out of multiplicity of regulatory bodies and the lack of common approach and philosophy in the regulatory arrangement. The regulatory reforms bill will be applicable to key sectors such as electricity, oil and gas, coal, telecommunication and internet, broadcasting and cable television, posts, airports, ports, waterways, railways, mass rapid transit system, highways and water supply and sanitation, some of which are related to the government's flagship programmes. There is no legislation at present to monitor the functioning of a large number of regulatory authorities existing in the country.
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The idea of such a law was first mooted by UPA government in 2009 to ensure orderly development of infrastructure services, enable competition and protect the interest of consumer through these regulatory authorities while securing access to affordable and quality infrastructure. However, the bill could not see the light of the day during the UPA's term. Govt rescues Athena hydel project in Sikkim The power ministry has stepped in to rescue the country's largest public-private hydel project with a deal that would see a joint venture of the Sikkim government and central utility NHPC buying out the Athena group and partially mopping up stake of six global private equity funds in Teesta Urja, a special purpose vehicle implementing the project. The deal, sewed up by power minister Piyush Goyal, would prevent the 1,200 MW project in the Himalayan state from turning into a bad investment and reassure overseas investors at a time when the Modi government is making efforts to attract FDI. The SPV was formed by Athena and public sector Power Trading Corporation (PTC) to implement the project. Rural Electrification Corporation is the lead lender with an exposure of Rs 4,000 crore. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Everstone Capital and Norwest Venture Partners of the US and Ashmore Investment Management of the UK together have 50% equity, having invested some Rs 1,200 crore in a consortium under the banner of Varuna Investments. The deal envisages the Sikkim government-NHPC joint venture operating and maintaining the project for 25 years once it is completed. Sikkim will raise its stake in the project from 26% to 51% by buying out the Athena group and PTC, which formed the SPV. Thereafter, the six international investors will partially dilute their stake to 40-42%. Over 94% of the project is ready but it ran into trouble after promoters failed to put in money in the wake of cost overrun to the tune of over Rs 600 crore. Funds diverted from Swiss banks After Switzerland initiated measures to regulate its banks, most of the unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks is suspected to have been diverted to countries like Mauritius and Singapore. The Special Investigation Team on black money has taken cognisance of the issue raised by the enforcement agencies. It is learnt that agencies engaged in probing black money cases have informed SIT about the findings which suggest that a significant portion of unaccounted money was pulled out from the European nations by account holders and diverted to Singapore. “Over the years, Singapore has virtually adopted the Swiss model which extends banking secrecy and confidentiality to account holders. The model encouraged foreign investments by offering very low tax rates to individuals and corporations. The offshore bank accounts are not taxed. Also, it is very easy to incorporate a company there,” said an official. According to Indian government figures, the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Singapore stood at Rs. 26,246 crore during April-December in the last fiscal. Mauritius, however, became the largest source of FDI during the period, recording an inflow of Rs. 35,647 crore. The enforcement agencies suspect that funds earlier stashed in Swiss banks were also transferred out through Mauritius in a bid to bring the money back to India in the form of FDI. Several Hong Kong-based firms have also been found to be involved in routing unaccounted money originating from India. “Efforts are being made to amend the Double Tax Avoidance Treaties with several countries to ensure that we get prompt information on suspected black money cases,” said the official. The Swiss List: Why, why now, and what next Why have the names come out now? o The Swiss government, following negotiations with a high-level Indian delegation, agreed October, 2014, to provide information on deposits in cases where the Indian Income-Tax Department had carried out independent, evidence-backed investigations. Indian requests for information on suspected tax evaders appear to have finally worked. o The next key step will come when the two countries sign a treaty for Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), for which talks are on. Switzerland signed an AEOI with the EU. Why are the names being put out in a public gazette in Switzerland? o Following recent changes in Swiss laws, the Berne government has to intimate the account-holder that information on the country of origin or residence is being revealed. Names are published in the gazette apparently if addresses are not available, with the accountholder then getting the opportunity to contest the sharing of more information with the country that has sought it. Is this the first time such a list is being released? o Not globally. The ‘India’ list in the Swiss Federal Gazette is part of a global list that has names of Russian, British and Spanish nationals as well, indicating that these countries too would have sought information based on their tax agreements with the Swiss. A list of over 3,000 names was given to France earlier, complete with details of bank accounts. Before that, the US had forced the Swiss to give information on Americans trying to evade tax in the US. Will things change with an AEOI?
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Significantly, because the two countries would then have committed to automatically pass on to each other any information or details on violation of tax laws, without need for a specific request. Such a treaty will end so-called “fishing expeditions”, and allow flow of information by default. o Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that by 2017, India would be in a position to obtain information on illegal funds stashed abroad in real time. What is the backdrop to the global crackdown on tax evasion? o Much of it gained momentum after the 2008 global financial crisis. With several national governments in financial trouble, and amid increasing agitation over rising inequality, moves to close in on tax havens were accelerated. o The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a grouping of well-off nations, flagged the issue and put out standards which it said other countries would have to comply with. o A “grey list” of countries seen as supporting tax evasion or not cooperating with OECD was released, along with potential threats of action. The list had Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland and several other countries, forcing them to fall in line. o Also, in August 2009, the G20, which includes the world’s most influential and economically powerful countries, moved against attempts by countries to support or aid attempts to evade taxes, despite protests by Switzerland. o Even greater pressure was put by the US, which had, over four years ago, enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), under which all foreign financial institutions had to automatically pass on information on US citizens seen to be evading taxes in their home countries. o India is now set to sign the FATCA — and financial sector regulators and institutions are gearing up to meet compliance standards set by the US. o The US Justice Department too turned on the heat, by probing — and later fining — banks, including marquee names such as Credit Suisse and UBS for aiding tax evasion. A fine of $ 780 million was slapped on UBS. “Right to dignity also extends to the death row convicts”; SC quashes warrant for execution of death sentence issued in undue haste While quashing the death warrants issued by a UP Sessions Court for hanging of the couple Shabanam and Saleem, a Supreme Court Bench held that death convicts cannot be denied Fundamental Right to Life. Shabanam and Saleem were convicted of killing Shabnam’s seven family members who were opposing the relationship. The murders had been executed in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. On May 15, the Apex Court had upheld the death sentence awarded to the couple. Maintaining the judgment awarded by the Trial Court which was confirmed by the Allahabad High Court, the three judge Bench confirmed the sentence. The Sessions Court of Amroha then issued the death warrants within a week, without waiting for mandatory 30 days to allow the convicts to avail judicial remedy of filing petitions for a review of the 15 May judgement. The bench held that the death warrants were issued in undue haste and were unwarranted. They were of the view that issuing the death warrants only six days after the death penalty for Shabnam and Saleem was confirmed by the Supreme Court, ignored the legal and constitutional options (open court review petitions and mercy petitions before the Governor of Uttar Pradesh and the President of India) available to them. He should therefore be given enough time to seek a review of the verdict, and also file a mercy petition before the Governor and the President. The bench ruled that the Government cannot hang convicted prisoners without first giving them a notice and allowing them to meet their family members. The Court observed, “Right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution does not end with the confirmation of the death sentence. The basis to the right to dignity also extends to the death row convicts. Therefore, the sentence of death has to be executed with total dignity.” With this order the Supreme Court has laid down a very clear procedure that must be followed by all the states and the Centre once the death sentence is confirmed. No death warrant can now be issued until all legal and constitutional options have been exhausted. Further, the court noted that even when death warrants are sought, principles of natural justice and the due process of law cannot be ignored. Along with the recent judgments in Shatrughan Chauhan v. Union of India and Mohd. Arif v. Registrar, Supreme Court of India and this judgment is another step towards effective protection of rights of prisoners sentenced to death. WHO singles out air pollution as major health hazard Putting air pollution on global priority, the World Health Organisation has adopted a resolution on health impacts of air pollution, and urged its member countries to implement its guidelines on air quality. The 68th World Health Assembly, the top decision-making body of WHO which meets every year in Geneva, adopted the resolution. The resolution highlights the health risks presented by air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, and the kind of steps governments need to take to improve air quality in their respective countries. This is the first time that air pollution and its associated health risks have been discussed at the highest forum of WHO. Adoption of such a resolution by the WHO means that air pollution would not just be seen as an environmental problem but also as a major health hazard. It would also energise efforts being made to curb pollution and encourage donors and funding agencies to channelise money towards these efforts. o
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The WHO resolution notes that about 8 million premature deaths happened in 2012 because of bad air quality, making it the world’s single largest environmental health risk. Of this, 4.3 million deaths could be directly attributable to exposure to indoor air pollution, arising mainly out of combustion of solid fuels like wood and coal. The rest, 3.7 million deaths, were caused by outdoor air pollution. Almost 90 per cent of the deaths were reported in low and middle-income countries. The resolution asks member countries to “redouble their efforts” to identify, address and prevent the health impacts of air pollution in their own regions and also contribute to global response. The resolution says countries need to encourage and promote measures that will lead to meaningful progress in reducing levels of indoor air pollution such as clean cooking, heating and lighting processes and efficient energy use. It urges the member countries to develop air quality monitoring systems and health registries to improve surveillance for all illnesses related to air pollution. India recently unveiled a composite air pollution index to monitor air quality in some of its cities. The initiative will be subsequently expanded to include other smaller cities as well. The resolution asks the WHO to strengthen its technical capabilities to provide help to member countries in implementing guidelines on air quality. Diseases resistant to drugs on WHO radar The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted a new global strategy to fight drug-resistant diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, urinary tract infection and even HIV at the 68th World Health Assembly. It endorsed a global action plan to tackle anti-microbial resistance (AMR), including antibiotic resistance, which has emerged as big concern. India, which assumed presidency of the assembly after 19 years, was represented by Union health minister JP Nadda, who played a key role in passing the resolution on AMR. While the global plan presents a blueprint with specific actions and timelines for WHO, the 194 member countries of the organization, including India, will also have to frame a national action plan on AMR. The resolution asked countries to frame plans by May 2017 and align them with WHO's global strategy. While all countries are struggling with the problem of rising drug resistance, India is primarily coping with antibiotic resistance which is posing an increasing threat to treating infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in medicine. Currently, over 700,000 deaths each year are attributed to drug resistance. For instance, while India accounts for the highest number of tuberculosis cases, it is also the hub of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. Out of the estimated global annual incidence of 9 million tuberculosis cases, India accounts for 2.3 million. WHO's global plan sets out five key objectives: improve awareness and understanding of anti-microbial resistance; strengthen surveillance and research; reduce incidence of infection; optimize use of anti-microbial medicines; and ensure sustainable investment in countering AMR. The UN General Assembly is also expected to hold a high-level segment on AMR in 2016 to further highlight the need for comprehensive implementation of the WHO plan. The plan also covers use of anti-microbial medicines in animal health and agriculture, apart from human health. After 18 years, Tripura govt lifts AFSPA The Tripura government on Wednesday decided to lift Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the state, where the controversial law was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said “We have reviewed the situation of the disturbed areas of the state after every six months and also discussed the issue with the state police and other security forces working in the state. They suggested that there is no requirement of the Act now as the insurgency problem has largely been contained”. This Act was imposed in the state on February 16, 1997 following spurt of violence by the ultras. India tops world hunger list with 194 million people • India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world, at 194 million, surpassing China, according to United Nations annual hunger report. • At the global level, the corresponding figure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15, from 1 billion in 1990-92, with East Asia led by China accounting for most of the reductions, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report titled ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015.’ • India too saw a reduction between 1990 and 2015, it added. In 1990-92, those who were starved of food in India numbered 210.1 million, which came down to 194.6 million in 2014-15. • However, China stood out as the reduction in the number of hungry people was much higher than in India, which came down to 133.8 million in 2014-15 from 289 million in 1990-92. • “A majority — 72 out of 129 — of the countries monitored by FAO have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, with developing regions as a whole missing the target by a small margin,” the report said. • The overall analysis suggested that inclusive economic growth, agricultural investments and social protection, along with political stability, can eradicate hunger, the report added.
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Peace talks with ULFA hit a snag • Even as the ongoing peace talks between the Centre and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) enter their last leg, the only major obstacle to a resolution is the objections raised by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the Tribal Affairs Ministry to the demand that six additional communities be granted tribal status. • ULFA has demanded that the Moran, Tai Ahom, Sootea, Koch-Rajbongshis and 36 Tea tribes — currently listed as other backward classes — be granted tribal status as part of an initiative to protect the indigenous people of Assam. • The grant of tribal status to these six communities will also, after fresh delimitation, lead to a significant increase in the number of ST seats in the 126-strong Assam State Assembly, making it a tribal-dominated State. The Assembly currently has 16 ST seats. • The NCST has raised concerns that granting tribal status to these communities would eat into the quota for the existing STs. The MHA is therefore exploring alternatives to ensure that the share of the existing STs is not affected. • Plea to update citizen’s register: Earlier, ULFA leaders demanded that the ongoing exercise to update the National Register of Citizens-1951 (NRC) be given priority in order to curb illegal influx of Bangladeshi nationals. The process to update the citizen’s register — by asking people to prove their citizenship by establishing their domicile in Assam till 1971, — was launched in the second week of May. ISRO mulls tie-up with industrial partners • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to magnify the role of its industry partners by starting joint ventures with them and readying them to do entire tasks like satellite launches, its Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar has said. • The agency has sounded out its commercial arm, Antrix Corporation, to explore such opportunities for specific projects. Internal teams are being formed to draft a plan. • For one, Antrix might form ventures with public or private entities that had already been supplying for the space programme. • One reason is the backlog of communication satellites that urgently need indigenous GSLV launchers to put them in space. • In mid-May, the government sanctioned 15 smaller PSLV launchers, worth Rs. 3,090 crore, which would be built during 2017-20. • The ISRO now plans to do two GSLV launches, one commercial and two to three PSLV launches in a year, all requiring intensive engagement with the industry. • Furthermore, if the industry took on bigger roles the ISRO could focus on developing superior technologies for nextgeneration satellites and launch vehicles. • Already, about 80 per cent of the stages and systems of the PSLV and the GSLV are being made by Godrej, L&T, MTAR, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or Bharat Electronics. The ISRO centres assembled them. • The ISRO would like industries to do the entire chain all the way up to the launch. It may straightaway rope in a reliable partner to work with it through the whole launcher process and ready it for the task in a couple of years — as it is being done in the West. • For instance, HAL’s Aerospace Division is now making liquid rocket engines. The ISRO wants it to make the GSLV’s GS2 stage and the PSLV’s PS4 stage and then do all the stages. HAL is also partner for the GSLV cryogenic engine. Govt picks new DRDO chief, scientific advisor to defence minister • The government appointed S Christopher, 59, as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development-cumDirector General, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). • G S Reddy, 51, has been appointed as scientific advisor to the Defence Minister. • With this, the government executed its decision to split the two portfolios that were so far being held by the same individual. • Dr S Christopher is a distinguished scientist & programme director (Air-borne Early Warning & Control Systems) and director, Centre for Air-borne Systems, DRDO. • Dr G S Reddy is a distinguished scientist and director, Research Centre Imarat & programme director, MRSAM (Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile), DRDO • The appointments were spearheaded by a high-level committee appointed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. • In Reddy, the government has appointed a young scientist from among those under consideration. • The appointment will make way for crucial decisions that have been suffering in the absence of a full time head at DRDO. • At least six major projects were stuck due to lack of decision-making in DRDO over the past three months. Explained: Why we need to sharply raise MSP for pulses • Finance Minister has blamed the price spike in prices of pulses on supply disruptions, which “is an issue with pulses these days”. • Overall pulses production is officially estimated to have fallen from 19.25 million tonnes (mt) to 17.38 mt in 2014-05. • India is today the world’s biggest producer as well as consumer of pulses. • It also imports some 4 mt annually — mainly yellow/green peas (matar) from Canada and Russia, chana from Australia, lentils (masoor) from Canada, urad and moong (green gram) from Myanmar, and tur from Myanmar, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. • But unlike edible oils, wheat, corn or sugar, there aren’t really too many global suppliers of pulses. As a result, international prices tend to shoot up the moment there are supply concerns in India.
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Given the limits to world supplies, this means there is simply no alternative to increasing domestic production to meet India’s pulses requirements that will only grow in the years ahead. • This is an opportune time to announce a sharp increase in minimum support prices (MSP). It should be done immediately, ahead of the monsoon’s onset, and well before kharif plantings begin, so as to send the right signals to growers. • Bridging the domestic demand-supply gap — India’s pulses imports were valued at $ 2.79 billion in 2014-15 — is, however, not the sole reason why MSPs need to be substantially hiked to boost production. • Being leguminous plants whose root nodules harbour bacteria that naturally “fix” atmospheric nitrogen, pulses can save roughly one bag of urea per hectare for the succeeding crop. Promoting pulses cultivation is, therefore, good both from the standpoint of soil rejuvenation and correcting nutrient imbalance through reduced consumption of oversubsidised urea. • There is also the equity dimension. Pulses are largely grown in marginal lands prone to moisture stress. • Offering remunerative prices would not only help the less well-off producers of these regions, but may even induce farmers in irrigated areas to switch from more water-guzzling paddy and sugarcane to tur, or from wheat to chana. That is not a bad thing when the country is sitting on surplus wheat, rice and sugar stocks, even as dal prices have gone through the roof for want of supply. • But merely announcing higher MSPs isn’t enough. The government should commit itself to procuring pulses at the announced MSPs, as it has done for wheat with even 10 per cent shriveled and broken grains and 50 per cent lustre loss content this time. • If 30 mt each of wheat and rice can be bought by state agencies every year, there’s no reason why 3-4 mt of pulses cannot be purchased and sold through the public distribution system for the protein-starved masses. Explained: Tripura junks the controversial AFSPA, where do the other states in Northeast stand? • Tripura has withdrawn the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), but the law continues to be in force elsewhere in the Northeast, besides in J&K. • Tripura imposed AFSPA in February 1997 after a spate of killings and kidnappings by the National Liberation Front of Tripura, bringing two-thirds of its then 42 police station areas under its provisions. • NAGALAND: Older than state • AFSPA was enacted in 1958, before the birth of Nagaland in December 1961. AFSPA came in the context of the Naga rebellion in what was then the Naga Hills district of Assam — and has refused to leave more than 50 years after the new state was created, thanks to continued insurgencies by multiple rebel groups. • But the situation has changed dramatically since the NSCN(M) — “the mother of all insurgencies” — began peace talks over 14 years ago, and most civil society groups in Nagaland are now opposed to the continuation of AFSPA. • MANIPUR: Police equally brutal • In Manipur, where the clamour for the repeal of AFPSA has been loudest — with Irom Sharmila on a hunger-strike since December 2000 — the government, on August 12, 2004, withdrew the Act in seven assembly constituencies comprising the Imphal municipal area. • And yet, there have been several instances of the state police force getting involved in brutal extra-judicial killings of civilians, including a pregnant woman, in the capital. • ASSAM: Outfits weaken, but AFSPA renewed • Assam was the first state to have the AFSPA in 1958. The Act returned to present-day Assam on November 27-28, 1990, when the state was declared a Disturbed Area in the wake of largescale violence by the ULFA. • AFSPA has been in force without a break ever since, except in the Guwahati municipal area, from where it was lifted about a decade ago. • In November 2014, the union Home Ministry extended the application of AFSPA in Assam for one more year in view of “violent incidents caused by the underground outfits viz ULFA(I), NDFB(S) and the border areas of the state of Assam by underground outfits like GNLA, KPLT, UALA, ULFA (I), NDFB(S), NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K)”. • MEGHALAYA: Hot pursuit from Assam areas • AFSPA is not in force in Meghalaya despite a series of violent acts by armed insurgent groups including the most dreaded Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA). • But areas within 20 km of the state’s boundary with Assam are under the purview of the Act. The Home Ministry has declared this 20-km belt “disturbed”, and armed forces deployed in Assam are permitted to go into this area in hot pursuit of rebel groups. ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Fresh extension • Three districts of the state — Tirap, Changlang and the newly-created Longding — had been under AFSPA since 1991, and the Centre on March 27 brought the whole state under it. • But strong protests by the state government and civil society organisations forced the central government to subsequently limit its application to the districts bordering Assam. That leaves seven districts of Arunachal Pradesh out of AFSPA. • But even before the March 27 notification — in fact, since 1990 — a 20-km stretch inside the state along the border with Assam had been under AFSPA. • MIZORAM: An island of peace • Curtains fell on the insurgency in Mizoram on June 30, 1986, with the signing of the Mizo Accord, said to be the only successful accord in the country so far.
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The signing of the accord simultaneously led to the withdrawal of AFSPA, which had been imposed on the state since the time it was the Lushai Hills district of Assam in the mid-1960s. GDP grows by 7.3% • India grew 7.3 per cent during 2014-15, the first financial year presided over by the Modi government, failing to overtake China as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. • During the January-March quarter, however, India grew 7.5 per cent beating China’s 7 per cent. • Capital formation remained lower at 28.7 per cent of the GDP against 29.7 per cent during 2013-14. Fishermen stage ‘sea rally’ • In a unique protest, hundreds of fishermen from the vicinity of the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) sailed in the sea around the project site in their boats and staged the first-ever ‘sea rally’ against the project. • More than 200 boats with banners opposing JNPP and nuclear power were mobilised for the protest. • Protesters from Sakhari Natye, Natye, Tulsunde and Sagve villages launched their boats from the opposite side of the project site, three km away, and encircled the site. • Though this is the first ‘sea protest’ by fishermen against JNPP, a similar agitation was carried out in 2012 by fishermen against the commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. • Earlier last week, gram sabhas of Madban and Mithgavhane had passed a resolution against project. The resolutions said that the villagers have accepted compensation packages from the government since they were left with no other option. Sikkim at 40: Small state with surprising success • In the 40 years since Sikkim became India's 22nd state, the erstwhile Himalayan kingdom has been flying under the radar in accomplishing the near-impossible. • Its impressive record in literacy, poverty alleviation, sanitation and organic farming makes it nearly unparalleled not just in the region but in, perhaps, all of Asia. • With a population of just 6,10,000 Sikkim, the least populated state in India, has its per capita GDP growing in double digits since 2004-05 : similar-sized northeastern states barely registering 5% growth. • Sikkim slashed its poverty ratio by 22% to 51,000 (8.2%) in 2011-12 from 1.7 lakh (30.9%) in 2004-05. In 1994, it stood at 41%. The reduction catapulted Sikkim into the nation's top five states in battling poverty. Only Goa (5.1%), Kerala (7.1%) and Himachal (8.1%) fared better. • Sikkim's literacy rate shot to 82.2% from 68.8% in 2001, among the country's highest. Male literacy 86.6%, female literacy 66.4%. Its rural literacy rate of 79.8% surpassed the national rate of 68.9%. The state aims to make Sikkim India's second 100% literate state. • Sikkim's evolution into a fully organic state since embracing the mission in 2003 received a fillip from PM Narendra Modi earlier this year. Speaking at a reception by Indian expats in Germany, Modi waxed eloquent on huge advances made by Sikkim in organic farming. Of the state's 60,000 ha farmland, 40% is organic. • The UN hailed Sikkim for its Human Development Report indices as a global best-practice in February 2014. Terming its achievements as 'incredible', UN's India representative Lise Grande said there was no other government under similar conditions that had achieved such success, acknowledging the tiny state's 15% growth in less than a decade as among the highest for all Indian states and one of Asia's highest. • Sikkim was also declared to be the first state to achieve 100% sanitation coverage becoming completely free of public defecation on December 8, 2008, in a country where large parts of the population still defecate in the open. Seven years jail, Rs 10 cr fine to make industries clean up act • Shifting gears to accelerate the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the government, besides levying spot fines on people polluting public places, will crack down on industries causing “substantial damage” to environment with minimum imprisonment of seven years and a fine of Rs 10 crore and above. • This will be over and above the monetary penalty imposed on the basis of the extent to which the damage has occurred. Different rates have been proposed, based on the extent of the area which gets polluted. • The proposed Environmental Laws (Amendment) Bill inserts “substantial damage” as an act of violation, omission or negligence by which the community at large is affected due to pollution damage to land, air or water. • Depending on its extent, a monetary penalty will be imposed by an adjudicating officer appointed by the Centre. • At present, the state government has powers to close or cancel the authorization to run a polluting factory or hospital. Or stop its supply of electricity, water or any other service. • This penalty can be appealed at the National Green Tribunal within 90 days of the adjudication but only after depositing 75 per cent of the fine into the Consolidated Fund of India. • A new provision will be brought in to make non-payment of the monetary penalty a criminal offence and the polluting company and its officials will be held responsible. • A company will have to pay at least Rs 5 crore and, in case of continued failure, an additional fine of Rs 50 lakh per day. In case of individuals, non-payment will lead to imprisonment for at least a month, extendable up to three years, with the same quantum of monetary fine. • Section 17 specifies that the head of the department/ in-charge of a small unit may be liable for punishment if the owner/ occupier produce enough evidence of innocence. • The rationale behind introducing hefty fines first is to ensure monetary deterrent for violators and compliance to pollution norms.
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“The Environment (Protection) Act does not allow civil financial penalties to usher in active enforcement of environment laws. And the existing criminal settlement alone is not proving effective. Industries find it easier to defy and violate pollution control measures rather than comply,” sources said. Govt. for re-promulgation of land ordinance • The Union Cabinet has recommended re-promulgation of the controversial land acquisition ordinance for the third time in five months. • The decision has immediately drawn a sharp response from the Congress and the CPI (M), who along with other Opposition parties, have been stalling the Bill’s passage in the Rajya Sabha. • Opposition leaders stressed that it was improper to recommend re-promulgation of the ordinance as a 30-member Joint Committee of Parliament was currently deliberating on changes sought to be made in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. Former Singapore Minister to be new Chancellor of Nalanda varsity • The Centre has announced the appointment of former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo as the new Chancellor of Nalanda University, months after Noble laureate Amartya Sen withdrew his nomination, accusing the NDA government of not being inclined to give him a second term. • The decision to appoint Mr. Yeo, who is currently a member of the governing body, was announced by the Ministry of External Affairs, the nodal Ministry for the university. • A recipient of Padma Bhushan for his contribution in the field of public affairs, Mr. Yeo, who has been part of the prestigious institution since its inception, will take over from Prof. Sen in July. • In February, Nalanda University hit the headlines when Prof. Sen announced the withdrawal of his candidature for a second term as Chancellor, pointing out that the delay in ratifying his appointment by President Pranab Mukherjee, Visitor to the University, was an indication of the government’s reluctance to give him a second term. • Located at Rajgir in Bihar, the university was set up for the revival of an ancient centre of learning in Nalanda. The first academic session began on September 1, 2014. Nalanda University, exclusively a postgraduate and doctoral school, is a non-profit public-private partnership institution with significant contribution from the Centre. Foreign governments and entities too have made voluntary contributions. • In October 2013, India signed agreements with seven countries, Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Lao PDR and Myanmar who pledged their commitment to the Nalanda University project. These MoUs were signed at the East Asia Summit in the presence of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. • The idea to revive Nalanda University was first mooted in 2005 by then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Monsoon progress sluggish, says IMD • The onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala has been delayed from the date forecast by the Met Department due to its “sluggish” pace. • The normal date for onset of monsoon over Kerala is June 1. It also marks the official onset of rains in the country. • According to Skymet, a private forecasting agency, monsoon arrived over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 16, three days prior to the onset date. Since then, the advance has been slow. • By May 21, the southwest monsoon advanced over the Bay of Bengal, touching southern parts of Sri Lanka. But here on, the monsoon has stagnated for a week. • “The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon made very slow advance and is yet to reach the extreme southern tip (Kerala) of India,” Skymet said. • But pre-monsoon rain is still being observed in Karnataka and Kerala. PUCL plea in SC questions delay in implementation of the Right to Food Act • The Centre’s resolve to rid the country of hunger will be tested with a petition being filed in the Supreme Court challenging the year-long delay in implementing the Right to Food Act and validity of three administrative directions issued by the government, postponing food and cash entitlements from reaching the poor. • A petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), asks the Supreme Court to intervene with the government for the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013, and publication of the ‘final lists’ of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 to identify priority and Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households under the Act. • The PUCL contended that the 2013 Act was supposed to be implemented by July 5, 2014, but three successive administrative instructions on June 30 and October 14, 2014, and March 24 this year had delayed it. • Besides, a period not exceeding 365 days was given to the State governments to identify the eligible households for foodgrain entitlements. This deadline expired on July 4, 2014. • The PUCL petition in 2001 for enforcement of the poor’s right to food had seen the Supreme Court pass repeated directions to the government to provide food security. The litigation had largely influenced the 2013 Act, according to the fresh petition. • The petition highlights several pitfalls for the apex court to consider in the government’s proposals to implement the Act. • Section 4(b) of the Act requires that pregnant and lactating women be paid a cash benefit of a minimum of Rs. 6,000 through the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY). The petition said a revised proposal for IGMSY is with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. As per the proposal, IGMSY would reach all districts only by 2016-17, and that too if financial resources permit.
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In the second instance, the Act wants free meals to be provided through anganwadis to pregnant and lactating women and children up to the age of six years. The government proposes to do this through the existing Integrated Child Development Scheme, which has low coverage. • Again, the Act entitles children aged between six and 14 to have cooked meals at government schools. The government proposes to do this through the prevalent mid-day meal scheme. However, the petition said, 3.9 crore of the 13.9 crore children under this scheme are deprived of this entitlement. • It said both schools and anganwadi buildings suffer in terms of lack of basic infrastructure like kitchens, drinking water, sanitation facilities for proper implementation of the statute’s objectives. Parrikar says India will buy 36 Rafale jets from France instead of 126 India would buy only 36 Rafale warplanes from France, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said, ruling out the possibility of acquiring more of these fighters for the air force that is battling a depleted fleet. The minister said the previous government’s proposed $25-billion deal for 126 Rafales was economically unviable. New Delhi had in April scrapped the Rafale deal –- billed as one of biggest in the country -- more than three years after Dassault, the manufacturer of the fighter jet, was declared the lowest bidder, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi opting to buy 36 of these planes in a fly-away condition through a government-to-government deal. The deal for 126 fighters was too expensive and would have scuttled other modernisation plans, the minister said. India requires 45 fighter squadrons to counter a combined threat from China and Pakistan, but it has only 34 squadrons with about 18 planes each. Also, 14 of these squadrons are equipped with vintage MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighters. Parrikar has in the past questioned the medium-multirole combat aircraft tendering process, picking holes in the method employed to determine Dassault Aviation as the lowest bidder. He has indicated that India could go for large-scale manufacturing of the light-combat aircraft or combine some other requirements and opt for a medium-weight fighter under the Prime Minister’s Make in India initiative. India, world’s biggest importer of arms, desperately needs to modernise its military still equipped with Soviet-era hardware. The Modi government’s move to hike to 49% the foreign direct investment in the defence sector is yet to yield results. Corporates ignore Clean School call According to the progress report card of the Swachh Vidyalaya Swachh Bharat (Clean School, Clean India) campaign, prepared by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry, only 16 corporates, big and small, have shown some interest in the endeavour. Between them, they have taken up the responsibility of 5,134 toilets, building them or repairing dysfunctional ones. Some corporate funding could have gone into the Swachh Bharat Kosh. But the corporate involvement in the campaign is small given that the Kosh is supporting only 5,345 of the 4,19,092 toilets which need to be built or repaired. The corporates’ involvement is in sharp contrast to the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). In all, 69 PSUs have taken up the responsibility of 1,66,255 toilets across the country. The completion rate in both cases is way off the mark; given that the Prime Minister had set this year’s Independence Day as the target for ensuring that no school in India is without separate functional toilets for boys and girls. Week-long events to push Digital India “The idea is total digitisation of society. During the week-long event that will be held across the country, a number of new applications/portals will be launched to bring government services to citizens digitally.” Adding the aim is to ensure that people see a visible change in governance by the end of the year. The campaign will involve multiple partners and stakeholders, including ministries and government departments, industry, school and academic institutions, gram panchayats and civic bodies. These applications include tele-medicine and e-hospital applications for delivering healthcare services and eschoolbags application for education services, among others.
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As a part of the Digital India initiative, the government will also be launching a portal to exchange information on missing and found children. Explained OROP: Emotive issue for veterans and soldiers, but reasons for caution Put simply, OROP means that every soldier who retires in the same rank gets the same pension, irrespective of his date of retirement. As of now, soldiers who retired more recently receive more pension than those who did earlier, because pensions are dependent on the last salary drawn — and successive pay commissions have hiked salaries. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence and Rajya Sabha Committee on petitions have recommended holistic implementation of OROP. The debate over what constitutes OROP – and the formula to fix the OROP pension – has exercised the defence services and defence ministry. Even soldiers who retire in the same rank do not usually draw the same last salary. This is because one Brigadier could spend more time in the rank of Brigadier while another Brigadier may take longer to get promoted, thus getting less pay as Brigadier — or one could reach retirement age earlier than the other. The formula prepared by the defence ministry, with the concurrence of the three defence services, overcame the problem of variations in rank and last pay drawn by creating standardised slabs for each rank with a certain length of service. Whether Rs 8,400 crore or 14,000 crore, that will be only the current expenditure. It is bound to increase every year and with every successive pay commission – a constant escalation of the implicit pension debt on the government. Moreover, as military personnel retire at a younger age compared to their civilian counterparts, defence pensions are paid for a much longer period. This fear of an increasingly unsustainable defence pensions bill – which is already at 54,500 crore this year without OROP – is perhaps holding the government back. The government also seems worried that OROP could lead to a similar demand from civilian pensioners, which, if fulfilled, would spell a fiscal doom for the central and state governments. Conscious of its ballooning pensions bill, the government had moved its civilian employees to a contributory pension scheme in 2004. The demand of these employees to revert to the old fixed pensions regime will be bolstered by grant of OROP. Notwithstanding the merits of these arguments, OROP is a demand supported by all political parties. It remains a very emotive issue for veterans and soldiers. ICDS: Costs and ‘sentiment’ in way of eggstra nutrition for children • What is the ICDS? • Launched in 1975, among the oldest running supplementary nutrition programmes for children aged 0-6 years, and pregnant and lactating mothers. • Basic unit of implementation is anganwadi centre, which is also responsible for immunisation, health check-ups, some pre-school education of children, and nutrition and health education of women of reproductive age. • Aim is to have an anganwadi centre in every community development block, irrespective of population. Blocks with over 2 lakh population should have at least two centres. • ICDS has been criticised for being corrupt, unmonitored — and its failures are manifest in the fact that 40 years after the scheme was launched, an estimated 30-40 per cent of India’s children remain malnourished. • Who funds ICDS? • It is a centrally-sponsored scheme that is implemented through the states. • Until about a decade ago, states paid only for supplementary nutrition, Centre for everything else including establishment costs. It subsequently became 50-50, but the sharing pattern for supplementary nutrition has been 9010 for the Northeast since 2009-10. • Many anganwadis function out of ramshackle, makeshift premises. The last Budget cut allocation for ICDS from Rs 16,316 crore to Rs 8,000 crore. • Who decides what children get to eat in an ICDS meal? • The central government decides the calorific composition and per-beneficiary expenditure. Currently, children of 6 months to 6 years get 500 Kcal daily, from 12-15 g protein apart from other foods. Severely malnourished children in the same group get 800 Kcal, with 20-25 g protein. For pregnant and lactating mothers: 600 Kcal, at least 18-20 g protein. • Because the implementation is with the states, and because food habits vary widely even within a state, the menu is decided by the district administration. • So, if a chief minister takes a strong view on what, or what not, to serve, that may be expected to be decisive. • Governments have tried some unconventional options like “fortified biscuits” in the anganwadis, but hot cooked meals is now the norm. • The budget is a limiting factor, so in many cases an option such as egg loses out to, say, lentils, chana or soybean. • How are ICDS meals different from the Mid-Day Meal scheme?
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There is no connection. ICDS aims to improve nutrition levels of children of pre-school age. MDM, which started in 1995, is the world’s largest school meal programme, and is essentially about enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance of children. • However, while drawing children to school with a meal as an incentive, a well-run MDM scheme should improve nutrition levels as well. • All children in Classes 1-8 in government/aided schools and education centres, and unrecognised madarsas/maqtabs supported under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, are beneficiaries. Currently, nutritional norms for MDM are: 450 calories and 12 g of protein for Classes 1-5; 700 calories and 20 g protein for Classes 6-8. Explained: New in new defence procurement procedure • The Defence Ministry is set to revise the Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP). DPP was drafted in 1992, comprehensively reviewed in 2002, and revised in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013. • The latest revision is expected to be different — Defence Ministry wants it to simpler, and in tune with ‘Make in India’. A role for agents — banned now — and a revision of the blacklisting policy are among the expected changes. • Procurement Procedure: • The DPP is the master manual of capital defence procurements in India. • The latest version categorises defence acquisitions into four sub-categories: ‘Buy Indian/Global’, meaning outright purchase from Indian/foreign manufacturers; ‘Buy and Make’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’, meaning buying from foreign/Indian vendor followed by Transfer of Technology and production in India; and ‘Make (Indian)’, meaning development of the product in India from scratch. • DPP 2013 for the first time listed buying from within the country as priority. • Offsets: • The DPP mandates that for any contract above Rs 300 crore in the ‘Buy’ and ‘Buy and Make’ categories, offsets corresponding to 30 per cent of the value of the contract are compulsory. Which means the vendor has to invest 30 per cent (of the cost of the contract) in Indian industry so as to have indigenous content in the product. • This has not yielded great results over the past decade, given that the Indian defence industry is still in a nascent state and has been unable to absorb state-of-the-art technology that defence offsets require. • Foreign vendors have been discharging offsets that do not build the capability of Indian industry, thus killing their very objective. • The offset policy is under revision; the government is of the view that they should be measured as percentage of technology gained, instead of in terms of money. • Middlemen: Agents/representatives/consultants/middlemen are not allowed in the existing DPP. This is slated to change. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has articulated a place for “representatives” in defence procurement, and a legal framework for this is likely. Climate change is stalling monsoon: Harsh Vardhan The unusual heat wave in May, followed by the delay in the monsoon by a week, is a definite manifestation of climate change, Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said. Announcing the likelihood of a deficient southwest monsoon this year, Mr. Vardhan said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had downgraded its earlier April prediction from 93 per cent to 88 per cent this month. The IMD’s June forecast comes with a margin of error of 4 per cent of the long period average, and is considered more accurate than the April prediction. He said northwest India was likely to receive 85 per cent rainfall with a margin of error of 8 per cent. He launched the supercomputer ‘Bhaskara’ to better compute climatic changes at the National Centre for Medium Range Forecasting. Inland waterways Bill to be tabled in winter session of Parliament A Bill to develop an additional 101 inland waterways will be tabled in the winter session of Parliament, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, said. India currently has five inland waterways while only three are operational. Mr. Gadkari said this has been a neglected sector due to lack of focus and policy measures. ‘Operators may face disincentives for call drops’ The government could soon direct telecom operators to compensate cellphone users with a free call for every call dropped. This is one of the solutions the Ministry of Telecom is weighing for frequent mobile call drops problem, especially in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. Asked about kind of measures that could be put in place, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg cited an example of a telecom operator that offers a free call for every call that gets dropped due to network issues. India scores a mixed bag India figures in the top 50 countries in the world for an effective criminal justice system, according to a new study that ranks countries on how the rule of law is experienced by citizens. However, the study finds that it is among the worst performing countries when it comes to civil justice. The Rule of Law Index 2015, released by the U.S.-based World Justice project, analyses 102 countries worldwide using a survey of over a 1,000 respondents from three big cities, along with local legal experts, in each country.
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The data, collected in 2013, measures how the rule of law is experienced in practical, everyday situations using 47 indicators across eight categories — constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice. According to the Index, India’s overall rule of law performance places it in the third position out of six countries in the South Asian region, 10th out of 25 among lower middle income countries, and 59th out of 102 countries worldwide. The top overall performer in the WJP Rile of Law Index 2015 was Denmark while in the South Asia region, the top performer was Nepal. India’s performance for criminal justice places it at 44 rank globally, Number 1 in South Asia and number 4 among lower middle income countries. The surveys analysed whether the criminal investigation and adjudication system is effective, whether it was impartial and free of corruption and whether the rights of the accused were protected. In stark contrast, the corresponding ranking in civil justice for India is 88 globally. The survey looked at accessibility to civil justice, which inlcudes general awareness of available remedies, availability and affordability of legal advice and representation, and absence of excessive or unreasonable fees and hurdles. It also asks if the civil justice system is free of discrimination and corruption and whether it is subject to unreasonable delay. India ranks high in the category of Open Government, placing it 37th globally and at three among lower middle income countries. The open government index uses four dimensions to measure government openness — publicised laws and government data, right to information, civic participation and complaint mechanisms. The country performs worst however, in the category of order and security, placing at 90 worldwide, fourth in South Asia and 20 among lower middle income countries. The measures used for this category are absence of crime; absence of civil conflict, including terrorism and armed conflict; and absence of violence as a socially acceptable means to redress personal grievances. Driving down India’s score are the perceptions of corruption, of the effectiveness of the civil justice system, the regulatory enforcement environment and the criminal justice system, all of which reflect that less than half of the respondents showed faith in these systems’ ability to deliver justice. Telangana powers BHEL with Rs 17,950-cr thermal plant deal Public sector equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) announced that it had bagged a Rs 17,950 crore order from the new state — the single-largest order in BHEL’s 51-year history and one of the biggest orders ever placed in the country’s capital goods sector — for setting up a new thermal power project in the state. The order placed by the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Ltd (TSGENCO) for setting up a new 4,000 MW supercritical thermal project comes on the back of two other big-ticket orders won by BHEL late last fiscal — to set up Telangana’s first supercritical thermal power plant of 800 MW rating at Kothagudem in December 2014, and an order for a 1080 MW thermal power station at Manuguru in Khammam district in March 2015. New govt portal to track missing kids The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology launched a website for tracking missing children. Khoyapaya.gov.in is the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had in last June asked officers to create a portal where citizens could upload information about missing children. Khoya Paya will have information regarding missing and found children. We have another portal named ‘Track Child’ that belongs to the Ministry of Home Affairs, but in that portal only police communicate with police. So it is a limited portal, whereas in the new portal everybody can participate. As per the information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau, the number of missing children every year is nearly 70,000. Polls in PoK an attempt to ‘camouflage forcible occupation’: India to Pakistan India said that Pakistan’s move to conduct elections in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) was an attempt to “camouflage the forcible occupation” of the region. “The entire state of Jammu and Kashmir which includes regions of Gilgit and Baltistan is an integral part of India. The election under the so called ‘Gilgit Baltistan Empowerment and Self Government Order’ is an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its forcible and illegal occupation,” said MEA spokesperson.
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ECONOMY NEWS Infosys to face trial in U.S. Infosys Technologies will now have to face a trial in the U.S. district court as the court dismissed its plea to dismiss a case filed against the company. According to reports, the U.S. court has accepted the case filed by four American IT workers alleging Infosys was showing discrimination in hiring. In the suit filed, they identified themselves as “Caucasians of American national origin,” and said Infy discriminated them as “they are not of the South Asian race or Indian, Bangladeshi or Nepalese national origin.” As per reports, the plaintiffs has used U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) workplace demographic data and said 94 per cent of Infosys employees are Asians. In October 2013, Infosys had paid around $34 million as settlement amount for settling a visa-related issue with the U.S. government. Real time money transfer volumes see a huge surge; IMPS transactions rise to 13 million Real-time funds transfer isn't a mystery any more, welcome to the world of Immediate Payment Services (IMPS), a real-time funds transfer mechanism, developed by National Payment Corporation of India. Transaction volume has surged to 13 million a month from 3 million a year ago, while the value of transactions increased to Rs 10,550 crore in April 2015 from Rs 2,154 crore in March 2014. IMPS is a platform that meets the need. IMPS transactions can happen directly or indirectly and you can do it using your bank's online or mobile applications. Also, one can go to any local agent or retail outlet of any pre-paid instrument (PPI) companies such as GI Tech, Oxygen, ItzCash, PayWorld and many others. One of the advantages of IMPS over other online transaction facilities is that it is real time. Moreover, it has a wider reach because transactions can be conducted on mobile phones which have a wider reach and penetration than internet. In the past 12-18 months, NPCI has included 11 PPIs along with 85 banks, which are part of the entire network. PPIs have formed about 40% of transaction values. Power deficit at record low in our one year: Minister India achieved its highest addition in power generation capacity in the past one year, leading to the country's power deficit falling to a record low of 3.6 percent, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said. "This has come on the basis of an increase in coal production." He explained that the deficit reduction had come on the back of a record addition of 22,566 mega-watt (MW) of generation capacity in the last one year. He said there had been highest ever increase in transmission line capacity of 22,100 circuit kilometres and the highest ever increase in sub-station capacity of 66,554 MW last year. The minister said state miner Coal India also produced a record 32 million tons of the fuel and is looking at producing 100 million tons by 2020. The government's plans include raising renewable energy capacity by more than five times to 175,000 MW by 2022 and five ultra-mega power plants totalling 20,000 MW, he added. RBI plans to introduce PPI for mass transport system • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed to introduce a separate category of semi-closed Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS). • The PPI-MTS can be used within the mass transit systems and will have a minimum validity of six months from date of issue. • Such PPIs will be re-loadable instruments subject to an outstanding limit of Rs.2,000 at any point of time, RBI suggested in a draft circular for public comments. • PPI for mass transit systems, which handle a large number of small value cash payments, will facilitate the migration to electronic payments in line with the country’s vision of moving to a less-cash society, the RBI added. • The RBI said that it has been receiving requests from various segments, including providers of mass transit services, such as, metro train and road transport services, indicating the need for PPIs catering to the requirements of this segment to enhance commuter convenience. • Guidelines on NSFR • The Reserve Bank of India also proposed to make Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) applicable to banks in India from January 1, 2018. • RBI released draft guidelines on NSFR under Basel III Framework on liquidity standards for banks. • The objective of NSFR is to ensure that banks maintain a stable funding profile in relation to the composition of their assets and off-balance sheet activities. • The NSFR limits over-reliance on short-term wholesale funding, encourages better assessment of funding risk across all on- and off-balance sheet items, and promotes funding stability. Australia keen on ‘specially-tailored’ trade pact • Faced with a slowing domestic economy and a sharp moderation in the growth rate of its major trading partners such as China, Australia has indicated its willingness to have a “specially-tailored” package for tiding over thorny issues such as visa norms and dairy exports to wrap up a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
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With dairy being one of Australia’s leading industries, employing over 1,43,000 people directly and indirectly, Canberra wants greater market access for its dairy products to India. However, the Indian dairy industry is uncomfortable with the issue. Australia wants to enter the high-end dairy product segment, something which India does not have expertise in. • The indication comes at a time when both the sides are preparing for the 8th round of negotiations for comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) to be held in first week of July. • In the CECA negotiations with India, while Canberra wants enhanced access for auto components, financial services, pulses, wines, meat and dairy, New Delhi wants access for professionals, textiles, leather, auto parts, pharma, among others. • However, while India is willing to cede ground on some of the issues like auto components, high-end wine and meat, it is unwilling to budge on issues including movement of natural persons (mode 4) and agriculture. Framework notified for MSMEs rehabilitation • The Centre notified a framework for revival and rehabilitation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which mandates banks to form a panel to chalk out a corrective action plan to be adopted for units having stressed accounts. • The salient features of the framework are identification of incipient stress; formation of committees for distressed MSMEs; and a Corrective Action Plan by the Committee. • “Pending a detailed revision of the legal framework for resolving insolvency/bankruptcy, there is a felt need for special dispensation for revival and exit of MSMEs. • Under the framework, before a loan account of an MSME turns into a non-performing asset (NPA), banks/creditors are required to identify incipient stress in the account. • Any MSME may also voluntarily initiate proceedings if enterprise reasonably apprehends failure of its business or its inability or likely inability to pay debts and before the accumulated losses of the enterprise equals to half or more of its entire net worth. Under the Corrective Action Plan, the Committee may explore various options to resolve the stress in the account. Revamp on cards • An expert panel set to expedite roll out of broadband in rural areas has suggested revamp of national optical fibre network (NOFN) initiative, increasing the scope of the project that will entail three fold increase in cost to Rs.72,778 crore from about Rs.20,000 crore approved earlier. • “The original project report on NOFN…in 2011 estimated a uniform broadband speed of 100 Mbps across all gram panchayats in the country. However, the growing demand for data and the proliferation of video — for both, utility and entertainment purposes — as also the booming digital economy point to the need for higher broadband capacities in the country.” • Besides, the ambitious vision of Digital India necessitates reliable, secure and fast connectivity across the length and breadth of the country. • “It is these considerations of the enhanced role and needs of a nation-wide broadband network that have prompted the committee to re-examine the original architecture, capacity, reliability and design of NOFN and to evolve this into the proposed BharatNet.” • The committee stresses on involvement of States, besides private players, for speedier implementation of the project that has fallen far behind its planned schedule. • Seven States have proposed to come up with their own model to roll out broadband network under BharatNet programme. Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have already been talking about it. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal too agreed to develop their own model for broadband network rollout, while Haryana said that it was exploring possibility of State-led model for the project. • The NOFN project was approved by Cabinet in 2011 and deadline to connect all panchayats was fixed by end of 2013 then deferred to September 2015 by UPA government. • The Narendra Modi-led government re-examined project status and set target to complete roll out in 50,000 village panchayats by March 31, 2015, and another 1 lakh by March 2016 and the rest by end of 2016. DMIC: govt clears Rs 4,318 cr to construct trunk infrastructure • Government approved Rs 4,318.28 crore for constructing roads and basic amenities at two industrial regions in Gujarat and Maharashtra under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project. • The Cabinet Committee, chaired by Narendra Modi, has approved the construction of trunk infrastructure components of Phase-1 of the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) in Gujarat and Phase-1 of the Shendra Bidkin Industrial Area (SBIA) in Maharashtra under the DMIC Project. These projects are likely to be completed in three to four years. • The total cost of the DSIR project is estimated to be about Rs 2,784.83 crore, which will be invested by DMIC Trust as equity in the city/node SPV. • For this region, the trunk infrastructure components are — roads and services, building complex, water and sewage treatment plant and common effluent treatment plant. • The total cost of the SBIA project is 1,533.45 crore and the trunk infrastructure components under this project include road and utility services, rail over bridges, sewage and common effluent treatment plant, solid waste management and district administrative building for SBIA.
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The value of land brought by the state government would be the equity contribution of the state government. The share of centre through DMIC Trust is 49 per cent and the remaining 51 per cent is held by Maharashtra through Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. • India’s ambitious USD 90 billion DMIC project is aimed at creating mega industrial infrastructure along the DelhiMumbai Rail Freight Corridor, which is under implementation. • Japan is giving financial and technical aid for the project, which will cover six states totalling 1,483 km. • The project is being implemented jointly by central government and respective state governments. • Eight investment areas or industrial regions have been identified for development in the first phase of DMIC across six states of Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Credit co-operatives face crackdown, SC to regulate activities • Tightening the noose around credit cooperatives and multi-state cooperative societies, the Supreme Court has decided to regulate their activities and to further examine whether acceptance of deposits from public would come under the ambit of ‘banking activity’. • A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Uday U Lalit restrained cooperative societies in Rajasthan from carrying out any ‘banking activity,’ as defined under the Banking Regulations Act, and further imposed restrictions on accepting desposits from general public. • The court noted that several such societies accepted deposits from nominal members as well as from public without obtaining a license for a banking business from the Reserve Bank of India. • This practice continued though the government and Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies has last year written to the Registrar, Cooperative Societies of all states informing that RBI is of the view that acceptance of deposits from nominal members by credit cooperative societies may have to be construed as accepting deposits from public and carrying out banking activity. • The RBI also instructed them to stop accepting such deposits, noted the court. • The court had noted investments by public were not covered under any protection and that a number of cooperative societies offering lucrative ‘Ponzi’ schemes had run away with their money. The SC issued notices on appeals by the societies, which argued they would not come under the Banking Regulation Act and hence no question of obtaining licenses could arise. Centre notifies simpler income tax forms The Union Finance Ministry came out with a simplified income-tax return (ITR) form, replacing the controversial 14page form that had sought information on foreign trips and dormant bank accounts. The last date for filing returns has been extended till August 31 against the normal practice of July 31, as the software for these forms is under preparation. Form ITR-2 is needed to be filled by individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUF) having income from more than one house property and capital gains. Observing that majority of individuals/HUFs who file Form ITR-2 do not have capital gains, the government has introduced new form ITR-2A for individuals who have income from more than one residential property but no capital gains from them. Modi government cuts social sector allocations to states by half to promote cooperative federalism As the central government devolves more fiscal freedom to the states, they seem to be cutting allocations to social sectors, especially agriculture and allied areas in response, according to the initial findings of a study. The Narendra Modi administration wants to empower states further as part of a push toward cooperative federalism. Budget 2015-16 cut allocations to the states by more than half in 15 central agricultural schemes such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture and irrigation and watershed management programmes. Finance Minister Jaitley said this wouldn't leave the schemes without money because the states would chip in from the additional funds they receive as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission — 42% from the divisible pool of central taxes. Most states, including Bharatiya Janata Party led Madhya Pradesh and Congress-led Karnataka, have slashed allocations to farm and related sectors. Amid agrarian distress due to bad weather and last year's patchy monsoon, this could throw the food, fish, milk and allied sectors into greater crisis. A few states that showed a marginal increase in outlay had already announced these before the Centre said it would be cutting its own spending. The states will get an extra Rs 63,941 crore as their increased share of taxes, money that needs to be shared out among programmes on agriculture, education, housing, water sanitation and health. Also, the central grant to states in the budget only covers capital expenditure, which means states now have to bear revenue expenditure such as salaries that are the bulk of the cost of development programmes. The Centre has cut its grant to the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, for instance, to Rs 4,500 crore from Rs 9,864 crore last year. That scheme is targeted at boosting agricultural productivity. The total allocation for the scheme has dropped to Rs 2,958 crore from Rs 7,889 crore. The states have not filled the gap as the Centre expected them to. The biggest agricultural states such as Punjab, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka - although facing an acute drop in productivity - have substantially reduced their investment in the programme.
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The move toward effectively transferring key social sector programmes along with an increase in their autonomy over budgetary resources can work only if state governments have adequate overall spending capacity. Australia, New Zealand back Japan's regional trade pact to bat for FDI in e-commerce in India • Australia and New Zealand have joined Japan in trying to persuade India to open up its rapidly growing ecommerce sector, forecast to reach $300 billion by 2030, to overseas investment. • Both countries have backed Japan's proposal to include e-commerce in the 16-nation regional trade pact, RCEP, that's being negotiated. • India is opposed to this for various reasons. Among them is the need to ensure that homegrown online retailers are protected. • On the other hand, e-commerce companies have sought to get around the restriction on overseas capital by turning themselves into marketplaces that connect vendors with buyers. That's led to protests by brickand-mortar retailers, which say they're facing stiff curbs on taking foreign money. Companies such as Ebay and Amazon have meanwhile been lobbying the Indian government to open up e-commerce to foreign investment. • There is rising global interest in India's e-commerce market that Goldman Sachs says will grow 15-fold from the current $20 billion to $300 billion. It cited "hyper growth in affordable smartphones, improving infrastructure, and a propensity to transact online" as key drivers. • India does not allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment but 100 per cent FDI is allowed in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, marking the difference in rules for retail and wholesale. • It allows 49 per cent FDI in multibrand retail but with restrictions. • The government has come under pressure to spell out its policy on the e-commerce sector in light of the stance of brick-and-mortar retailers. The latter filed a case in the Delhi High Court on the matter, following which the government was asked to resolve the issue in four months. • Japan had in February floated a discussion paper to include e-commerce as a separate chapter in the RCEP negotiations. India is not in favour of this. • The RCEP pact seeks to include goods, services, investments, competition and intellectual property. • In the previous round of negotiations in New Delhi, Japan had asked for most favored nation (MFN) status and national treatment to be accorded in the ecommerce sector. Japan has not made a distinction between B2C and B2B, the way e-commerce is regarded globally. It has pushed for minimum barriers in ecommerce seeking harmonization of the regulatory framework. • National treatment and MFN will mean providing foreign companies the same treatment you give to domestic players. Core industries’ output dips 0.4 % in April • Output of the eight core industries shrunk 0.4 per cent in April against growth of 5.7 per cent during the same month last year. Growth in production has declined every month since November 2014. • The contraction in April, mainly on account of the poor generation of electricity and declining output of cement, refinery products and fertiliser, came on the back of March’s marginal decline of minus 0.1 per cent. • Coal and steel were only two sectors in which output grew. Coal production grew 7.9 per cent, steel output grew but at 0.6 per cent in April as against 6.9 per cent in the same month last year. • The eight sectors contribute 38 per cent to the overall industrial production. • Output of the core sectors had contracted 6.7 per cent in November 2014, which fell to 2.4 per cent in December 2014 and then to 1.8 per cent in January and 1.4 per cent in February. • The output of crude oil declined 2.7 per cent in April. Natural gas production was 3.6 per cent lower. Electricity generation shrank 1.1 per cent and cement output fell 2.4 per cent. The production of refinery products declined 2.9 per cent and fertiliser output shrunk marginally by 0.04 per cent. To level the playing field, govt withdraws sops for defence PSUs • To woo private investments and encourage foreign players to explore business opportunities in the country, the government withdrew the Customs and excise duty exemptions that were applicable to products manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) and defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs). • While the decision — which was announced in the Budget — is justified by the government as one that will offer “level playing field” to private players, OFB and DPSUs have cited that the decision will shoot up the defence budget “significantly.”
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In contrast to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, the statement further added, “With this initiative, the government has also fulfilled demand of foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems etc. who are actively exploring the scope of future investments in India.” • The mainstay of supplies to the defence ministry comes from 39 ordnance factories. Government, in a bid to boost efficiency of these factories, had set a turnover target of Rs 20,000 crore to OFB over the next three years from the existing Rs 15,000 crore. • OFB imported components worth Rs 15,443.01 crore in 2010. A CAG report last month pegged OFB’s defence supplies at Rs 3,677 crore in 2012-13. Such expenses will now be subject to customs and will be borne by the defence ministry. National Pension System: Investments in PE, VC funds, 75% in equity in the works • The National Pension System is set to provide a whole new range of choices to its subscribers including option to invest in instruments such as private equity and venture capital funds, real estate investment trusts as well as a higher exposure of up to 75 per cent to equities. • The pension regulator — Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority is examining the recommendations of the expert panel led by former Sebi chief GN Bajpai that had recommended greater flexibility to NPS subscribers for their investments. • The PFRDA is also considering the committee’s suggestion for increasing the equity exposure for both government as well as private sector subscribers of the NPS. “Currently, there is a cap of 50 per cent for the private sector and 15 per cent for the government.” • Additionally, the PFRDA is also in talks with the government to allow government servants to decide on their investment portfolio on the lines of that provided to private sector members of the NPS. • At present, there is only one default scheme for government employees who are part of the NPS, that provides for investment of up to 55 per cent of the corpus in government securities, up to 40 per cent in debt securities, up to 15 per cent in equities and a maximum of 5 per cent in money market instruments. • Meanwhile, the PFRDA is also considering providing two more default options under the NPS for private citizens. One option would permit allocation of up to 75 per cent of the corpus in equities, whereas the exposure to bonds would be higher in the other. • The expert group was set up in September 2014 to review the investment options for the private sector NPS and it submitted its report to the PFRDA in April 2015. • Apart from recommendations on addition of new investments, the expert group said that the PFRDA is also reviewing the committee’s suggestions on the asset liability management structure, the method of evaluation of pension fund managers and valuation method for pension funds. • The NPS has cumulative assets under management worth Rs 83,917.12 crore and 91,21,588 subscribers as on April 30, 2015. RBI cuts repo rate, airs worries The Reserve Bank of India cut the policy rate (repo) by 25 basis points, the third time this year, to 7.25 per cent from 7.5 per cent. The repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to banks. But the move comes with a message that any further cut this year is unlikely. Articulating the concerns of the RBI over the expected poor monsoon and crude oil prices, Governor Raghuram Rajan expressed fears that a monsoon shock could push up food prices and challenge its control over inflation. The RBI cut rates by 25 basis points each in January and March from a peak of 8 per cent. But the benefits of these cuts did not reach consumers fully, as banks showed reluctance to pass on the benefits. CRR or repo cut, which is more beneficial? asks Rajan Dismissing IBA’s demand for a CRR cut to better help banks reduce lending rates, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the mandatory ratio would continue to fetch them zero interest, and cutting the key repo rate in fact helps them better to reduce cost of funds. “If you want to reduce the cost of capital and reduce lending rates, the more direct instrument to use is the policy rate which we have used,” Mr. Rajan said, adding that a 1 per cent cut in the CRR would help improve a bank’s cost of funds by 0.08 per cent, while similar reduction in the repo rate had the potential to reduce it by an equal measure. The Governor added that the mandatory cash reserve ratio (CRR), under which the banks have to park 4 per cent of their deposits with the RBI as a mandatory solvency measure, would continue to fetch no interest for them. “We have surplus liquidity in the system as there has not been much credit offtake so repo window does not give banks any advantage as we don’t borrow from banks at this point. So, the CRR window helps us bring down cost of funds. We expect and will request 0.5 per cent cut in CRR which would release about Rs.40,000 crore in the system,” Mr. Bhasin said. There was a very strong exchange of words between the past SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri and the former RBI Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty regarding the same. Mr. Chaudhuri had even demanded abolition of the CRR terming it as dead money.
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First list of new licences by end of August: Raghuram Rajan The RBI may announce at least one set of new bank licences —either small banks or payments banks— by the end of August, governor Raghuram Rajan said. Earlier this year, the central bank said that it had received 72 applications for small finance banks and 41 applications for payment banks after it issued guidelines for such entities in November. Payment banks and small finance banks are “differentiated” banks in the sense that they can’t offer the full scope of services as a regular commercial bank. A payment bank is one which can take deposits up to a maximum Rs 1 lakh. It can’t give any loans or issue credit cards. It has to park a minimum 75 per cent of such deposits in government securities and the rest with regular commercial banks. They are aimed at providing basic banking services to millions of India’s unbanked. A small finance bank will be able to lend and provide savings products for small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and other unorganised sector entities. These banks have to lend 75 per cent of their loans to the priority sector and half their loan portfolio should consist of loans less than Rs 25 lakh. Need to move towards plastic currency, says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today made a case for greater use of plastic currency even as he stressed that development of new facilities at Hoshangabad and Mysore would help in reducing reliance on imports for printing of currency notes. "The developed world has moved substantially to plastic currency and payment gateways.” The minister said that the country needed to get rid of "obsolete methodologies" and catch up with the technologies of future to promote industrialisation and create jobs. The plastic currency refers to the usage of credit and debit cards. It also reduces reliance on paper currency notes. Jaitley recently inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line with an annual capacity of 6,000 tonnes at the Security Paper Mill (SPM) at Hosanghabad. He said a cashless economy can facilitate volumes of transactions through a variety of institutions -- telecom operators or postal service-- and do transactions at a tremendously low cost. India’s import regime still complex: WTO India continues to have a very complex import regime, notwithstanding the steps taken by it to streamline customs procedures, a World Trade Organization (WTO) report has said. According to the WTO, though India has continued to implement trade-facilitation measures, its “import regime remains complex, especially its licensing and permit system, and its tariff structure, which has multiple exemptions, with rates varying according to product, user or specific export promotion programme.” The WTO report also pointed out the structural bottlenecks like delays in project approval, ill-targeted subsidies, low manufacturing base and low agricultural productivity, difficulty in land acquisition, strict labour regulations and skill mismatches which “remain a barrier to achieve high growth”. The country has, however, taken a slew of steps to modernise its intellectual property rights regime, the report said. It amended the Copyright Act to implement the 1996 Copyright Treaty of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and issued guidelines on patents for biological materials. India’s IPR remains a contentious issue with the US trade representative questioning the country’s patent regime. The USTR had last year initiated a unilateral probe into the country’s patent laws following concerns raised by lobby groups. The Special 301 report 2015 of the US ranked India under the priority watch list. Following the concerns raised, the government last year announced that a national IPR policy would be framed to safeguard India’s interest. Easing of visa rules may fill forex coffers The government’s recent push to ease visa rules augurs well for the economy, if official data are any indication. From 1991 to 2013, India’s foreign exchange earnings from tourism grew 891 per cent from $1,861 million to $18,445 million, Tourism Ministry figures show. During the period, tourist arrivals grew 311 per cent (from 1.7 million to 7 million) and departures 755 per cent (from 1.9 million to 16.6 million), while the GDP increased by more than 15 times from Rs. 5,79,009 crore to Rs. 9,92,1106 crore. Since the Modi government took charge, India has eased visa norms for 43 countries, and plans are afoot to expand the list soon. In effect, tourists from these countries will be able to apply for visas online, receive the go-ahead within four days and collect their visas on arrival in India. Under the old system, citizens from only 12 countries had this privilege. Several reports show that India has a long way to go before it enters the big league of tourist destinations. The country came 65th out of 140 countries in a World Economic Forum ranking on travel and tourism competitiveness conducted in 2013. Easing visa norms is just the first step. SOCIOLOGY Prejudice disguised as politeness • Padma Iyer, mother of Mumbai-based gay rights activist Harrish Iyer, was in the eye of a storm recently for placing a matrimonial advertisement that read: “Seeking 25-40, well placed, animal loving, vegetarian groom for my son 36, 5’ 11’ who works with an NGO caste no bar (though Iyer preferred)”.
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Does choosing to marry someone from one’s own caste make one casteist? It is useful to look at what the law says. The Indian Constitution bans the practice of untouchability, but it is not unlawful in India to show preference for or take pride in one’s own caste. This is also the reason why caste associations continue to flourish across the country’s vibrant public sphere. It is important to make a careful distinction between pride, or preference, and prejudice — pride in one’s own caste may be a form of ethnocentrism or an in-group preference; prejudice stems from hate or disgust. Taking pride in or preferring a particular caste, either in the case of marriage or while voting for a candidate during elections, is not necessarily considered prejudice in India. Ms. Iyer’s advertisement goes against these in that she is willing to transgress the caste barrier, while only stating a particular preference. The advertisement may fit sociologist Dipankar Gupta’s thesis of identity over system, wherein he says the caste system has collapsed but has given rise to caste identities. What remains, Professor Gupta says, is the prominence of jatis as an indicator of identity. The preference for one’s own caste, exemplified in Ms. Iyer’s case, may have less to do with hierarchy and more to do with subjective socio-political choices in private and public life. Traditionally, endogamous, arranged, and hetero-normative marriages played a significant role in retaining the purity of caste. They also invariably controlled women’s choices, particularly, and sexuality. For B.R. Ambedkar, the superposition of endogamy on exogamy meant the creation of caste and caste hierarchies. But now, there appears to be some change, even if it’s barely perceptible. According to the findings of the India Human Development Survey, close to 5 per cent of Indian marriages are now inter-caste. Such exceptions, including caste-no-bar advertisements, may not end caste hierarchy but they are worth noting, as they could be baby steps in challenging the notion of purity in caste and sexual control. Two forms of prejudice: A preliminary analysis of matrimonial advertisements that show preference for a particular caste reveals two forms of predominant prejudices. Most of the advertisements exclude Other Backward Castes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from their purview. For instance, an advertisement seeking a groom for a girl from a Maratha caste in Maharashtra says she is born of “an inter-caste alliance” and that her “family values are liberal”. The advertisement states a preference for a goodlooking man who earns well. Yet, while seemingly progressive so far, it goes on to note the preferred castes: Hindu Brahmin Deshastha, Hindu Brahmin Gaud Saraswat, Hindu Brahmin Koknastha, Hindu Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu, and Hindu Maratha. The choice here is for Marathas and those above Marathas in hierarchy. It further clearly specifies in brackets, “OBC, SC/ST, please excuse” — clearly seeking to follow the older order of keeping the “untouchables” out of the varna system, but in a new form wherein all other castes on the ladder above the SCs, STs and OBCs are seen as marriageable. But this is not the whole story, and emphasising this could undermine the dynamic nature of caste. Much is changing for some of the lower castes — they are increasingly being considered acceptable for purposes of marriage and commensality by the upper castes, with even caste-no-bar advertisements from Brahmins increasingly excluding SCs and STs but accommodating OBCs. However, this is only limited good news, because it unfortunately aggravates the prejudice against Dalits and Adivasis. Thus, caste, far from losing its hierarchical biases in marriage alliances, seems to have found a newer form and vocabulary. It is not surprising that most of the prejudice is against SCs and STs. The ascending scale of reverence and descending scale of contempt that is fundamental to caste, and that Ambedkar was wary of, continues to affect inter-caste marriage choices. Matrimonial alliances through caste-no-bar advertisements are breaking certain codes of the traditional caste hierarchy by not sticking to strict endogamy rules, but in the process they are creating new ideas of caste purity. They are seeking horizontal unity just above a new purity line that marks SCs and STs as undesired partners. Castes in the middle of the ladder resort to the ‘SC/ST, please excuse’ disclaimer as they seek to climb up the hierarchy and unite with the higher castes by denoting SCs and STs as lower. Most puzzling, though, in this new dynamic is the use of constitutional categories created to promote social justice (OBC, SC, ST) to universally practice prejudice, albeit in a polite form. Part of the problem could be with the way our Constitution defined untouchability. The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) may hold some lessons. Article 14 on untouchability in Nepal bans any demonstration of superiority or inferiority of any person or a group of persons belonging to any caste, tribe or origin; such demonstrations are seen as linked to the practice of untouchability. Article 17 of our Constitution, on the other hand, by merely abolishing untouchability and its practice in any form seems to have failed to foresee the prejudice hidden both in preference and in politeness.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY QUESTION CORNER What is the difference between a national park, protected area, sanctuary and biosphere reserve? o Due to enormous pressure of the exploding human population, the area of the forests is shrinking and many of the flora and fauna are on the verge of extinction.
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Accordingly, efficient in-situ conservation strategy has been organized to conserve ecologically important areas by regulating human intervention and thus efforts have established a protected area network. o National park is an area with enough ecological, geo-morphological and natural significance with rich fauna and flora, which is designed to protect and to develop wildlife or its environment. The rights of the people living inside this Category 2 type of protected areas are tightly regulated and activities like grazing, hunting , forestry or cultivation, encroachment, destruction of habitats and other activities are strictly prohibited. But most national parks provide outdoor recreation, camping opportunities and are designed to educate the public on the importance of conservation activities. o Protected areas are at the core of efforts towards biodiversity conservation, providing habitat and protection from hunting for threatened and endangered species and are key to buffering unpredictable impacts of impeding climate change. o Thus, protected areas are geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature and cultural values. In protected areas human occupation and exploitation of resources is limited. o Wildlife Sanctuaries or wildlife refuges are home to various endangered species of wild animals and these animals are safe from hunting, predation or competition and safeguarded from extinction in their natural habitat. o In Wildlife sanctuaries harvesting timbers, cultivation, collection of forest products are allowed with permission. o Biosphere Reserves are areas of terrestrial and coastal ecosystems which are internationally recognized within the framework of the Man and the Biosphere ( MAB) programme of the UNESCO and are not formed according to the guidelines of the Wildlife (protection) Act, 1972 and may have one more national parks or wildlife sanctuaries in it. o Under the MAB programme, there is a World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR ) and within this network, exchange of information, experience and personnel is allowed. Scanning kidneys becomes easy Thanks to software developed by IIT Hyderabad researchers, semi-skilled persons can use an ultrasound imaging device to perform preliminary diagnosis to classify a kidney as either normal or abnormal in terms of stones, cysts, or bacterial infection. When fully functional, the imaging system developed by a team led by Prof. P. Rajalakshmi, IIT Hyderabad can provide a fillip to healthcare in rural and remote areas where lack of trained sonologists has become a norm. Unlike in the case of the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure measuring instrument) or ECG, only skilled people can use an ultrasound probe to get the desired information. The very objective of Prof. Rajalakshmi’s work was therefore to turn the device into one that can be operated by semi-skilled people. To do that, a six-second ultrasound video is converted into images — 15 frames per second. An organ validation algorithm developed by the team then checks each frame to see if useful information has been acquired. Once the organ validation is performed, a CAD algorithm does a Power of isotopes preliminary diagnosis to classify the kidney as normal or abnormal. The abnormality could be a stone, a cyst or bacterial infection. The Isotope sterilization technologies algorithm only classifies the organ as normal or abnormal and does not have been used for decades, not say what the abnormality is. only in Russia, but also in another The valid images are uploaded to the cloud and information on whether 40 countries. The Russian nuclear the kidney image is normal or not is also tagged along with the image. sector supplies international Explained: Toxin overload, how heat kills? • As deaths attributed to heat soar countrywide, experts point to two facts: customers with isotope products one, excessive heat retention in the body can lead to fatal conditions at that are used in such equipment. high temperatures and, two, after a certain temperature, things get Russia also exports medical difficult to manage, and need ICU care. isotopes that are used for the early • Excessive heat increases metabolic activity, leading to a drop in blood diagnosis of diseases in 30 pressure and increased sweating. The resulting dehydration and countries, including the USA, Great electrolyte imbalance can be corrected by giving cold fluids and Britain, Australia, China, South electrolytes. • Clinically, a heat stroke occurs only after body temperature crosses 104 Africa, and Brazil. At the same degrees F, when excessive metabolism leads to a sharp fall in blood time, it should be noted that pressure and oxygen levels, a condition called hypoxia. competition in this market is quite • “Increase in metabolism primarily puts pressure on the heart in a very strong – as many developed short time. It causes expansion of vessels, a major drop in blood pressure, countries also have isotope and hypoxia. Metabolism goes haywire, creating a toxin overload which production sectors. Gamma rays affects multiple organs.” • Prolonged exposure to even moderate heat, and poor nutrition and help not only to preserve food, but hydration levels in these circumstances, too can lead to hypoxia, experts also ancient books and archival say. documents. • Those with pre-existing metabolic disorders like diabetes, the obese or the elderly, are more vulnerable. • “Hypoxia affects kidneys, liver and blood. 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renal failure; it also affects the heart and brain and, eventually, multiorgan failure. Muscles start to break down, a condition called rhabdomyolosis. This releases an additional toxin which leads to electrolyte imbalances”. • Hypoxia also causes blood components to disintegrate, which can lead to either clotting or coagulation, or excessive bleeding. • Humidity, as in coastal areas, aggravates symptoms. Indo-Russian nuclear venture to help farmers Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and Hindustan Agro have established a joint enterprise for the products and storage of agricultural irradiated by isotopes: vegetables, fruits, cereals, and legumes. Radiation technologies will help save crops even during periods of draught. The companies plan to open 25 factories for the irradiation of food products with low doses of cobalt – 60 over the next five years. It is planned to locate refrigeration capacity in India, Mauritius, the Near East, and Malaysia. According to Anil Kakodkar, the former head of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, isotope production essentially increases the shelf life of perishable food products, which makes it possible for farmers to enhance their presence in the market and balance out prices. Experts have found out that the isotope processing of agricultural produce significantly increases yields and protects it from destruction. Isotope sterilization technology has been used all over the world for dozens of years. Irradiated objects, including produce, do not become radioactive and they can be used immediately after the process. Usually, products that are grown are irradiated by isotope sources; for example, grains, spices, dried herbs, potatoes, and other root vegetables. After such treatment, the products can be stored for a very long time and do not spoil. In 2009, a project began in Russia to irradiate grain seeds with gamma rays. During the course of the experiment, 120 tonnes of seed material was irradiated which after being planted yielded 20 per cent more than conventional seeds, and this is not even the limit. “This method, long applied in developing countries, can ensure a rich harvest even during abnormal draught,” says an expert. ENVIRONMENT Pollution: Government in a rush to upgrade emission norms but…Where’s the engine, where’s the fuel? • For the auto sector, the progressive shift towards tighter emission norms is somewhat akin to managing the impossible trinity
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of economics — or three objectives: the readiness of auto firms to shift up through the stages, the task of getting oil refining firms to make the requisite fuel available in time for this transition, and simultaneously ensuring that this does not drive up vehicle prices and running costs. In question is the Bharat stage emission standard that regulates the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. India has been following European emission norms, though with a time lag of five years, with BS-IV norms currently applicable in 33 cities where the required grade of fuel is available while the rest of the country follows BS-III standards. The government has in recent months reiterated its plan to advance the timelines for rolling out BS-VI fuel norms across the country by skipping a stage (BS-V) entirely. Auto firms have flagged their concerns as jumping directly to BS-VI would not offer enough time for the design changes to be instituted. While they have questioned the ability of oil marketing companies to provide fuel, these firms, in turn, are worried about the funds to get this done. Directly aping the Euro norms might be yet another problem, considering that driving conditions peculiar to India might require the adaptation of two critical components —a diesel particulate filter and a selective catalytic reduction module — to work in these conditions, which restrict running speeds to much lower than in Europe. Plus, the rollout model of introducing higher-grade fuel and vehicles in cities has fundamental drawbacks, as was evident in the BS-IV implementation. In the periphery of designated BS-IV cities, BS-III vehicles could be registered; BS-IV vehicles (especially heavy duty vehicles) were more expensive and BS-III fuel was cheaper than the BS-IV equivalent. And inter-state trucks and buses — the biggest polluters — had to stay on with BS-III engines as the fuel available outside cities does not conform to BS-IV. Stage by stage India first introduced vehicular emission norms in 1991 and tightened those in 1996, with most vehicle manufacturers made to incorporate technology upgrades such as a catalytic converter to reduce exhaust emission. Fuel specifications based on environmental considerations were notified for the first time in the country in April 1996, to be followed by 2000. Based on a Supreme Court order of April 1999, the Centre that month notified BS-II and BS-I norms, broadly equivalent to Euro II and Euro I, respectively for the metros and for the rest of India. In line with the Auto Fuel Policy of 2003, BS-III norms were introduced from April 2005 for 13 major cities while the rest of the country followed BS-II. BS-IV and BS-III norms were introduced simultaneously from April 2010, again for 13 major cities and the rest of the country respectively. As per the original timeline in the Auto Fuel Policy, BS-IV is to be adopted across the country by 2017, BS-V by 2020 and BS-VI by 2024. Many Western countries have already graduated to Euro VI, BS-VI is its equivalent. As per an agreement reached at a meeting earlier this year between the ministries of Road Transport & Highways, Environment & Forests and Heavy Industries, and Automotive Research Association of India, the government is set to recommend to the Supreme Court that BS-V fuel be rolled out by 2019 and BS-VI be notified and implemented by 2023. At the same time, it has set about moves to introduce BS-VI directly. The vehicle Car makers have been insisting on a phased rollout. “In BS-V, vehicles have to be fitted with a diesel particulate filter, which needs to be optimised for Indian road conditions. In stage VI, selective catalytic reduction technology has to be optimised. Given the complexity of the process, these technologies can only be optimised in series and not simultaneously. It is not possible to skip BS-V.” The diesel particulate filter: The diesel particulate filter (DPF) for removing particulate matter is a cylindrical object that has to be mounted inside the engine compartment. In India, where small cars are preferred, fitting DPF into the limited bonnet space would involve major redesign. The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) module is used to reduce oxides of nitrogen. When the exhaust is moving, an aqueous urea solution (AUS 32) is injected into the system. AUS 32 contains ammonia, which reacts with and reduces the nitrogen. The industry estimates an investment of Rs 50,000 crore for upgrade from BS-IV to BS-V. The fuel Oil companies have said they would be in a position to make BS-VI fuel ready by 2020, which would allow BS-V to be skipped. Auto industry sources, however, say the oil firms have indicated that even in 2017, they would not be able to supply BS-IV fuel across the country, with the Northeast left out. BS-IV petrol and diesel contain far less sulphur than BS-III fuel. Sulphur in fuel makes it dirtier and lowers the efficiency of catalytic converters, which control emissions.
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Explained: Monsoon forecast tweak – stronger El Nino, neutral IOD The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued the second long-range forecast for this year’s monsoon season, revising its prediction for expected rainfall from 93% to 88%. The revision has been pegged to oceanic phenomena. The El Nino in the equatorial Pacific has gained in strength, while the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), nearer home, has been getting neutral. The IMD makes two long-range forecasts each year, in April — generally in the third week — and June. The April forecast gives the likelihood of the amount of rainfall for the country as a whole for the four-month monsoon season from June to September. It updates this forecast in June, and gives likely regionwise and month-wise distribution of rainfall. In April, scientists were unsure exactly how the El Nino would shape up. There is a strong correlation between an El Nino — the abnormal rise of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific off the coast of South America — and a weak monsoon. But this year, El Nino conditions are not just strong, there is also a 90 per cent probability that it would continue throughout the monsoon season, the IMD has said. A similar oceanic warming feature, the IOD, sometimes neutralises the effect of an El Nino. A temperature gradient between the eastern and western Indian Ocean sea surfaces has contrasting impact on the monsoon. A positive IOD, in which the western Indian Ocean gets warmer, helps the southwest monsoon gather more moisture and push northward towards the Indian mainland. In April, IMD noted “slight negative” IOD conditions. This has turned neutral now, but is unlikely to turn positive. IMD has said there is a 50 per cent chance that neutral IOD conditions might continue. Government fully prepared to tackle poor monsoon: Radha Mohan Singh, Agriculture Minister India will be fully prepared to tackle the effects of a poor monsoon, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said. The ministry will ensure that farmers are given adequate support and production doesn't drop. Over the past three months, officials have been drawing up contingency plans for districts, working closely with states and with other ministries from food to power, he said. With the India Meteorological Department revising its forecast, is the ministry prepared for a drought situation? In 2014, there was only a 2 per cent drop in planting and 3 per cent fall in production. To ensure that the 2015 kharif production is not hit owing to a weak monsoon, our research institutions have made a number of contingency plans and we are closely working with the state governments. For the past three months, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been preparing and upgrading contingency plans for over 580 districts in the country in close coordination with the state governments. In addition, by June, plans for 30 more districts in the northeast will be prepared. For each state, a joint secretary-level officer in Delhi has been appointed who will coordinate with states during a drought-like situation. Agriculture ministry has also started coordinating with officials from other ministries like power, food supplies and rural development. What immediate steps will be taken if the monsoon is delayed or weak? To minimise the effect of deficit or uneven rain, the government gives diesel subsidy, financial assistance for crops, seed subsidy and additional schemes for fodder development. Apart from subsidies, technical know-how and new varieties of seeds will be made available to farmers in case there is a delay in the monsoon or if there is a break in the season. Availability of drought-resistant seeds is always a big issue. Have you started stocking seeds? ICAR has been working on increasing production and creating stocks, so as to enable farmers to sow and get remunerative rates, even if it rains less. With over 60 per cent of arable land being rain-fed, the monsoon has a significant role to play in the economy. The finance minister in this budget allocated Rs.5,300 crore to support micro irrigation watershed programmes and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana. Will these schemes help farmers this year? Sinchai Yojana (irrigation programme) will lay stress on end-to end solutions in the irrigation supply chain from water sources, distribution network and farm-level applications. A lot of work has been done in Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP and Chhattisgarh by state governments.
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PERSONS IN NEWS P.K. Sinha appointed Cabinet Secretary • Prime Minister approved the appointment of Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, as the next Cabinet Secretary. • Mr. Sinha, who has been serving as Power Secretary since July 2013, will succeed Ajit Seth whose term ends on June 13. SPORTS Three legends drafted into BCCI advisory panel • The new regime of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had set its priorities on assuming power and the first step in this direction was taken when Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman were drafted in as advisors on purely honorary basis. • This is the first in a series of steps the Board is set to initiate to give the administration a professional look, with the emphasis on involving former greats in different capacities. • Their role, presently, is, “to provide guidance to our National team as we set out to enhance our performance on overseas engagements, provide direction to improve our talent pathway and take steps to strengthen domestic cricket to better prepare our players to handle the rigours of international cricket.” Waiting for a sub-10 man of our own • China’s Su Bingtian had become the first Asian-born athlete to break the 10-second barrier in the 100m. • The 25-year-old Asian champion had clocked 9.99s while winning the bronze in the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene, USA, blazing a trail for Asian sprinters. • Well, how long will India have to wait for a sub-10 sprinter of its own? Is there anyone around now who shows promise? • What is stopping a country that has produced stars like Lavy Pinto, a 100m and 200m semifinalist at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, or Milkha Singh who narrowly missed the 400m bronze at the Rome Olympics eight years later? • While Milkha reckons the current bunch does not work hard enough, Ramasamy Gnanasekharan, the last Indian male to win a 100m medal at the Asian Games (a silver in Bangkok, 1978), feels that Indians lack the natural talent for short sprints. • While Milkha and Gnanasekharan paint a gloomy picture, Kerala’s 100m National record holder Anil Kumar, who came closest to the milestone with a 10.21s in Bengaluru in 2000, feels that quality international coaching could do the trick. • The 100m is an event dominated by athletes of African descent. Blatter resigns as FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigned as FIFA president in the face of a U.S.-led corruption investigation that has plunged world soccer’s governing body into the worst crisis in its history. Blatter, 79, announced the decision at a news conference in Zurich, six days after the FBI raided a hotel in the city and arrested several FIFA officials and just four days after he was re-elected to a fifth term as president. OPINION Building on strategic reserves In 1990, as the Gulf war engulfed West Asia, India was in the throes of a major energy crisis. By all accounts India’s oil reserves at the time were adequate for only three days. While India managed to avert the crisis then, the threat of energy disruption continues to present a real danger even today. To address energy insecurity, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government mooted the concept of strategic petroleum reserves in 1998. Today, with India consuming upwards of four million barrels of crude every day (January 2015 figures), the case for creating such reserves grows stronger. It is unlikely that India’s energy needs will dramatically move away from fossil fuels in the near future. Over 80 per cent of these fuels come from imports, a majority of which is sourced from West Asia. This is a major strategic risk and poses a massive financial drain for an embattled economy and its growing current account deficit. In March, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies launched a military operation in Yemen against the Houthi rebels. An end to the conflict does not appear to be on the horizon. This impacts India and it continues to bear the brunt of uncertainty of global crude supply and pricing. A case in point is the March 2014 test sale of five million barrels of crude from the U.S. emergency oil stockpile, the first since 1990, which saw global oil prices dip by $2. While it sent a powerful message to Russia, it also delivered a subtle warning to India. Oil being the vital commodity that it is, mere ‘intent’ can affect supply-demand dynamics considerably — an issue that oil importers like India simply cannot ignore. However, opportunities to change this tide do exist. With a stable political situation and readily accessible markets, India is in a good position to address some of its disadvantages.
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India has been slow in getting off the starting block. Its strategic oil reserve project was mooted in 1998 and commissioned in 2003. After extensive land acquisitions and tackling site suitability, security and design-related issues, it was only in February this year that the country began filling up a strategic storage facility. With the government planning to add storage capacity to the tune of 39 million barrels in the future, India stands poised to cover only a 10-day supply of imports (January 2015 figures). This is well short of Vision 2020 that envisages 90 days of imports, conservatively pegged at almost 360 million barrels of oil, according to 2014 figures. But all this capacity building is expensive. For instance, 10 days of imports are pegged at almost Rs. 4,000 crore for infrastructure and subsequent storage costs work out to $17-18 per barrel. Moreover, there is also a time delay involved. Adding 12.5 million tonnes of stockpile would take at least five years. Despite these constraints, recent moves by countries like China, Japan, South Korea or even relative minnows like Kenya and Malawi make India’s dilly-dallying inexplicable. However, there is a silver lining for India. While China has a head-start on India, evident by its incessant stockpiling since the supply glut began, India’s open governance structures and its convenient trade-geography as well as its historic trade links with the Persian Gulf may help its cause. The fact that India imports almost 80 per cent of its oil and boasts of a world-class high-capacity refining infrastructure makes the possibility of commercially-led but strategically regulated storage alternatives a no-brainer. This is where ‘commercial agreements’ come to the fore. By getting into commercial ‘forward’ agreements with exporters/ refiners, India can benefit from closer access to the commercial reserves while reducing the cost of access. This can be done by inviting investment in the stockpile programme, and through tie-ups with Gulf producers. In 2005, Saudi Aramco had mooted a similar plan, but nothing came of it. Reassessing such initiatives under the current geopolitical circumstances could result in a cost-efficient and time-bound plan that reconciles capital, energy and infrastructure in the most effective manner. Beyond such commercial engagements, agreements around obligatory sharing mechanisms during emergencies could help address India’s critical energy security concerns. Such clauses can be instituted for national contingencies, or as goodwill gestures with our neighbours to service their needs during exigencies. Finally, considering the government’s interest in boosting infrastructure development and its focus on reclaiming the geopolitical high-ground, this initiative can symbolise a great milestone — a pragmatic Vision 2020 towards creating a semblance of ‘control’ in an area over which it has traditionally enjoyed very little. This will ensure that India will never have to see the dire days it saw during the 1990 crisis. search of a clear policy The last one year has seen India’s military modernisation process slowly picking up pace in terms of clearances for critical military hardware, with an emphasis on ‘Make in India’. But the much-needed policy frameworks to provide direction for long-term military modernisation and build a domestic military-industrial complex still appear elusive. The implementation of the government’s election-time pitch of ‘One Rank, One Pension’ for military personnel too, while cleared in principle, has been delayed, and this has caused considerable anguish among ex-servicemen. The government’s single biggest decision on the military front pertains to the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, which effectively scraps the long-delayed Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract for 126 fighter jets. Several long-held-up deals including those for Kamov utility helicopters, Avro aircraft replacement and artillery guns that have been identified as critical have been approved. In fact, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had personally intervened to clear the purchase of critical necessities such as snow boots and bulletproof vests for troops operating in high-altitude regions and involved in counterinsurgency operations. In all, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cumulatively cleared deals worth over Rs.1,00,000 crore in the last one year. In another move with long-term operational and financial implications, the government has downsized the new mountain strike corps stationed on the border with China, pruning the numbers from 90,000 to 35,000, citing reasons of financial prudence. With the government’s ‘Make in India’mantra , the emphasis is on involving industry in a big way and creating a defence and aerospace ecosystem that would help reduce imports and move towards technological sovereignty. Towards that end, Mr. Parrikar has promised a major revision of the DPP and a separate policy for ‘Make in India’ — which are yet to materialise. This delay is causing disillusionment in several quarters, including in the private sector, which never had a level playing field in the defence sector, dominated as it is by public sector undertakings. Another critical aspect in developing domestic military capability involves reforming the defence R&D laboratories and production facilities. While a lot has been said on revamping and making accountable the public sector, the fact that the top R&D body, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has been without a full-time head for several months now, reflects poorly on the intent. With some major inductions set to give a significant capability boost to the armed forces, a clear policy direction and overhaul of the existing institutions to enable that shift is required at the earliest so as not to lose the momentum.
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An officer and an expert Can leadership ability and communication skills supersede domain knowledge for a senior-level civil service job? This is one of the most important questions the Seventh Pay Commission needs to ask. Emolument structures are concerned not just with what pay is appropriate for a particular rank, but also what qualifications and skills are needed for it. For decades, the basic assumption in the civil service has been that as a generalist service, it need only build up manmanagement capabilities and leadership skills. But increasingly, the complexities of day-to-day administration are such that senior civil servants are often handicapped by a lack of in-depth knowledge of the subject. An excessive reliance on consultants is often the result. But there is no substitute for in-house knowledge. Even in the private sector, cross-industry changes are rare. In the civil service, by contrast, these are a daily affair. This is not to question the idea of a generalist civil service. But each sector has its own defining features and groundlevel realities that the official working in that sector must be conversant with. A generalist civil service should not equate to a near-absence of domain expertise. Unfortunately, over the years, with some exceptions, this is what has come to characterise the IAS. Lack of knowledge is the single biggest roadblock in our socio-economic development. The political executive depends on the civil service for in-depth knowledge that is rarely forthcoming, which is why so many policies bite the dust. Few officers have the capacity to analyse a sector, identify its leverage points and devise an implementation strategy accordingly. The present system does not require officers to acquire such knowledge. There are many civil servants who do develop domain expertise on their own. States like Maharashtra have even experimented with posting officers in the same sector for many years at a stretch, with good results. Witness the plethora of hollow contracts and unimplementable policies. We do not discount the two-year training provided by the Mussoorie Academy to IAS officers. That training sufficiently equips an officer for land records administration and working with local self-government bodies, which is what most IAS officers do in the first decade of their career. What the Mussoorie training cannot possibly equip officers for is the kind of domain expertise that policymaking jobs require. This is a problem long recognised by the department of personnel and the Mussoorie Academy. The departmental solution to provide two- to eight-week training courses is not adequate. The fact remains that in a developed economy, each sector requires a depth of knowledge that such short-term courses cannot hope to address. An officer working in public health, for instance, needs to know what a risk-adjusted mortality rate is. But such knowledge is generally not required to get the job. The simple means to address this problem would be to devise postgraduate diplomas for different sectors in public administration. Officers should be asked to complete a diploma in whatever sector they desire a posting in. This way, the government would ensure a minimum level of knowledge in the incumbents of policymaking jobs. And senior policymaking positions should require both the diploma and some years of work in that sector. There is no reason why the Indian public and economy should suffer the ill results of lack of knowledge among senior civil servants. It is high time the pay commission changed these basics of how the civil service functions. Modi says genetically modified crops will benefit Indian agriculture Favourable View: Be open to GM crops Prime Minister supported the idea of genetically engineered crops. India, given its large population, cannot afford to shut out technological innovations in agriculture. Indian agricultural technology will remain in a rut unless it gets high level political backing, which is why Modi’s comment is salient. Introduction of genetically modified cotton in India enhanced both output and yield. But this initial experience has not been followed by the introduction of GM food crops on account of alarmist protests. GM crops are subject to intense regulatory scrutiny and are not introduced unless they pass through multiple filters. With over two decades of experience across the world, fears have proven unfounded. Unless India is open to the introduction of cutting edge agricultural technology, inadequate farm yields will be hard to improve. GM food may even be healthier than the pesticide-laced food we normally eat, as pest-resistant varieties would reduce the necessity of spraying crops with pesticide. COUNTERVIEW: Too risky at this stage The prime minister’s unstinted support for GM crops is unfortunate as they offer no magic wand to boost agriculture productivity. In fact they are downright dangerous as safety issues still remain a big question mark. Experts worry that extensive use of GM crops can wipe out crop diversity and ecosystems. Moreover, the health implications of long term consumption of GM foods are still a big unknown. Evidence shows that though GM crops have been gaining acceptance their use still remains highly skewed. Only 29 countries allow commercial cultivation of GM crops while a similar number also allow their import. And most of the 170 million hectares under GM crops are in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India and China.
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Moreover 98% of GM cultivation falls under four main crops: soyabean, maize, cotton and canola. Experts also say that GM technologies will continue to focus on these crops for some time. Dependence on GM crops is a risky proposition in such a scenario. India needs to tap the potential of other technologies. As pointed out by a parliamentary committee India has better options for increasing productivity, like molecular breeding and integrated pest management, that can serve it in good stead for the time being. Inclusion and opportunity • It has been nearly 10 years since the term “financial inclusion” started gaining currency in Indian banking. The achievements over the last 10 years have been considerable. • There has been an increase in banking access points (through physical branches, business correspondents, mobile phones and the internet) and the use of technology-driven solutions and intermediaries for scaling up. “Know your customer” rules have been simplified, facilitated by Aadhaar, and there have also been phenomenal improvements in the payment systems. The opening of more than 11.5 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) in less than a year is no doubt a tremendous achievement. The three social security schemes launched by the government — the Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana — are aimed at providing security in old age as well as accident and life insurance. They have been designed in a way that is simple to understand and lend depth to financial inclusion. These policies do not have any element of subsidy, which makes them sustainable. • Handholding JDY customers to enrol in these schemes will be a singular service that bankers could perform for society. • Another initiative is the Mudra (Micro Units Development Refinance Agency) Bank. • To start with, it will be a subsidiary of Sidbi (Small Industries Development Bank of India) and is intended to enhance credit access for small entrepreneurs in the unorganised sector. • But in order to be a catalyst for inclusive growth, financial inclusion has to be viable and sustainable. • The decision to move towards transferring subsidies and entitlements directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts is welcome. However, banks must be fully reimbursed for the cost of such transactions — capital and operational expenditure — if they are to be sustainable. • From the perspective of the poor, the benefits of using such accounts should outweigh the costs of accessing them. • Mobile technology has penetrated rural areas and e-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds. However, mobile banking has not grown in the same way. This is something that needs to be given a push, as part of sustainable financial inclusion. • Currently, cash dominates the payments system. The cost of moving and storing cash is huge. We need to move towards becoming a “cash-lite” economy. • The use of mobile phones for payments, e-wallets as well as swipe and contactless cards is the way forward but there have to be incentives to go there. There are worries that becoming part of the electronic payments system may trigger roving enquiries from investigative authorities. • Simultaneously, cash management systems have to be made more efficient. • Financial inclusion can emerge as a profitable opportunity only if banks are able to mobilise savings. • A popular misconception is that the poor do not save. Field evidence indicates the exact opposite. • The poor are borrowing as well as saving. Huge amounts of savings, mostly from the poor, are mobilised by fly-bynight operators and are vulnerable to loss. • Banks need to woo the low-income customer who has taken to the mobile phone in a big way. • But they need appropriate products that can be easily understood and accessed with little documentation. Usage can be facilitated through visual and pictorial methods. ATMs should be more user-friendly and employ audio-visual communication methods. • Business correspondents are a huge help for customers who are not used to formal banking and can be a win-win delivery model if appropriate incentive structures are worked out. • Meaningful financial inclusion can only take place when loan products are offered. • But there is some reluctance to do this. Why? First, there could be attitudinal reluctance to lend to the poor. • Second, it is perhaps the case that returns on these loan products are not sufficient to compensate banks for the fund, transaction, risk and capital costs. • Timely and adequate availability of credit is more important than its cost. Unless there is a change in public policy perceptions that loans to the poor have to be at very low rates, financial inclusion can never be sustainable. • It is well known that the poor currently access informal markets at rates ranging from 36 per cent (for collateralised loans) to 120 per cent for non-collateralised loans. • In this context, so long as commercial banks are transparent about their rates of interest, there should be public acceptance of their charging commercial rates that cover their costs and leave some margin. Rates of 18 to 22 per cent per annum should not be regarded as usurious. • Another concern of banks is loan recovery. Risk-mitigation products like insurance will help in better recovery and more such products need to be devised. • In general, the poor fail to repay loans only when they are struck by calamity. The government should not announce write-offs and should actively promote a credit culture.
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FIFA under a cloud • The arrest of some current and former FIFA officials by the Swiss police for extradition to the U.S. over federal corruption charges, and a subsequent raid in Zurich in a parallel investigation into the allotment of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights to Russia and Qatar respectively, have brought to the fore yet again the worst-kept secret in the sporting world — that football’s governing body is steeped in endemic corruption. • Since the days of João Havelange, who was FIFA president from 1974 to 1998, and then through the tenure of the incumbent, Joseph S. Blatter, charges of financial misconduct have been routinely levelled. • But they merely shook the edifice; none actually hit the top of the hierarchy. However, the current round of charges are grave. • The U.S. Department of Justice has alleged a “24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer” and booked people for fraud, racketeering and money laundering conspiracies. • One revelation is of an alleged $10-million payment to some FIFA executive committee members to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. • The other consequence of this scandal concerns the choice of Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts. • The race to host them was chaotic and controversial. Of the 24 voters who were to decide the claims of the two cities in 2010, two never made it to the board room, following bribery allegations. Now almost half of them stand discredited. • Also, the choice of Qatar as a host was made despite concerns over its summer weather and widespread reports of its poor treatment of migrant workers. • FIFA might now say the investigation was a result of its own report submitted in November 2014, but it is a fact that the organisation’s ethics committee had closed its investigation into the bidding process, ruling that breaches, if any, were only of “very limited scope”. • Football is perhaps the only truly global sport, and it is loved by millions of fans as the beautiful game. For it to remain that, the need is for democratic governance and not the current, allegedly corrupt, fiefdom that has seen just two presidents in four decades. Over the Barrel: Year 2 must be greener The government’s policy pronouncements over the past year have thrown into sharp relief the conflict between its energy policy and its green agenda. It should endeavour to settle this conflict over the coming year. The government has announced that it will treble coal production from the current 500 million tonnes per annum to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2022. Coal is the dirtiest fuel in the energy basket. Separately, it has committed to increasing solar energy capacity from the current 2.5 gigawatt (GW) to 100 GW, and wind energy from 25 GW to 50GW (approximately), also by 2022. This is in line with the prime minister’s commitment to push economic development on to a low-carbon growth path, and his call for a saffron (solar) revolution. The chief economic advisor has reinforced this “green” message by arguing that India has moved from a regime of “carbon subsidisation” to “carbon taxation”. He has based his argument on the fact that the benefit of low oil prices has not been fully passed on to the consumer. His logic could be challenged, but it is important to note the use of the term “carbon taxation” by a government official. Read separately, each of these pronouncements is defensible. India sits on the fifth largest reserves of coal in the world and the goal to provide secure, reliable and affordable energy to the public on a 24/7 basis cannot be achieved unless these indigenous deposits are harnessed. But India is also highly vulnerable to global warming. One hundred and fifty million people live along its 7,500 km coastline. Their livelihoods would be severely impacted if sea levels rose. Further, there are millions of farmers in north India who are dependent on the waters from the 10,000-plus glaciers that mark the Himalayas. Were these glaciers to recede, the impact on agricultural output could be severe. The point is that coal offers the least-cost option for energy security, and cannot but be encouraged. Equally, the green agenda has to be accorded high priority. We can no longer afford the option of developing first and cleaning up later. The commitment to push the dirtiest fuel in the energy basket does not sit comfortably with the commitment to move the economy on to a low carbon, clean energy and environmentally responsible growth path. The claim of “carbon taxation” gets knocked on the head by a distortionary pricing mechanism that discourages investment in the exploration and production of the environmentally more benign natural gas. What must the government do to reconcile these understandable but conflictual objectives? The following steps are suggested for consideration in the coming year. o One, the price of natural gas should be aligned to trade parity levels. The current price has been administratively set at below market levels. This has discouraged the flow of risk capital into exploration and choked the development of discovered reserves. Natural gas is a relatively clean fossil fuel and pending the shift to renewables, it should o be seen as the transitional bulwark of our fossil fuel-based energy system. o Two, carbon taxes should be explicitly acknowledged and integrated into our pricing mechanism. The final price of products should reflect the external costs on society of carbon emissions. It should not be, as is suggested by the CEA, an implicit claim on the peg of a revenue-generating exercise.
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No one likes taxes and few governments have bitten this particular bullet. But now that the notion of such a tax has been publicly aired, it might make sense to derive the tax by direct reference to levels of emissions. o Three, the measurement of carbon emissions by different industries and economic segments must be sophisticated, and the data held in a centralised bank. Lack of accurate and reliable data is an impediment to effectively tackling environmental pollution. o Four, old power plants running on subcritical and inefficient turbines rank amongst the heaviest emitters of greenhouse gases. State governments should be persuaded to either upgrade or close down these plants. o Five, the present grid infrastructure is not strong enough to absorb a massive influx of variable and intermittent renewable energy. The requisite “smart” capacity cannot be built quickly. The focus next year should be on decentralised power and, in particular, small-scale solar. o Six, urban air pollution has now reached deathly proportions. Thirteen of our cities rank amongst the most polluted in the world. One reason is the exponential increase of vehicular traffic. o There are a number of excellent studies that have suggested a number of non-exclusive actions to reverse this trend. These range from strengthening public transport to discouraging city driving to influencing behavioural change towards matters like car-sharing. o Seven, demand-side management is a powerful instrument to tackle the problem of energy deficit and energy sustainability. So far, it has not been effectively deployed because of pricing distortions and subsidies. Kerosene, LPG, power, water and urea are still heavily subsidised. These distortions will have to be corrected to effectuate this instrument. o Eight, emissions norms, building standards and efficiency standards have not been comprehensively implemented because of weak and ill-defined regulatory structures. These structures must be strengthened. o Nine, the clean energy fund is flush with cash, but its management is opaque. This should be corrected and the money effectively and transparently deployed to leapfrog old technologies. o Finally, it must be recognised that energy policy and the green agenda are two sides of the same coin. They have to be tackled conjointly. The institutions of governance must be redesigned to reflect this fundamental reality. House For Ms Qadri Recent cases of alleged discrimination in Mumbai — a diamond firm refused a job to MBA graduate Zeshan Ali Khan and Misbah Qadri was denied a flat, reportedly because of their religion — once again lift the veil of cosmopolitanism that sits uneasily on the ugly reality that corrodes the constitutional pillar of secularism. While in these specific cases, the National Commission for Minorities was approached and inquiries and penal action initiated, the larger question that needs to be addressed is: How should we tackle religion-based discrimination, and not just its symptoms? One study shows that in the secondary and tertiary sector, the share of Muslims between 16 and 64 years of age in regular and casual employment is lower than that of SCs and STs. In the public sector, the situation is equally dismal, with Muslims having a share of just 2.5 per cent in the civil services. Housing, like employment, is another area where Muslims face discrimination. A comprehensive account of this can be found in the Sachar Committee report, not to mention the media stories that emerge periodically from urban centres like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Noida. Discrimination usually revolves around stereotyping. Political and media narratives that portray Muslims as “love jihadis” deepen pre-existing prejudice. .This type of discrimination is a sophisticated form of untouchability and social boycott and drives Muslims to find jobs and houses only in “their areas”. It leads to ghettoisation and foments a greater sense of insecurity, which is then tapped into by the spineless practitioners of identity politics on all sides. Ghettos, Hindu or Muslim, are easily identified and sitting targets during riots. They are vulnerable to targeted deprivation of civic amenities and infrastructure. For instance, a report shows that 40 per cent of all Muslim concentration areas lack hospitals and schools. We need a fair housing law that prohibits discrimination in housing, along the lines of the legislation that protects African-Americans from such practices in the US. It must make blockbusting illegal, incentivise developers to create inclusive habitations and ensure that the language used in real estate advertisements is non-discriminatory. Such a law would not only protect Muslims but other vulnerable groups, too. On the employment and education front, India needs the equal opportunity law to be passed with the consent of state governments. Disallowing discriminatory human resource and hiring policies, prescribing affirmative action on economic parameters and mandating the creation of equal opportunity commissions at the state and national levels to monitor practices and ensuring implementation are important steps that must be taken. While the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, aims at penalising discrimination, these new-generation anti-discrimination laws aim at reforming societal attitudes and breaking stereotypes by breeding familiarity. It incentivises people of all orientations and communities to live and work together. The more that happens, the less likely it is that people will fall prey to false propaganda. With high dropout rates and limited access to schools and skill development centres, the Indian Muslim is severely handicapped. The Indian state cannot afford to neglect its second largest group of citizens and their aspirations. o
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A deadly wave Over 2,000 deaths due to the heat wave have been reported across the country, most of them from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where summer has peaked with temperatures rising four to five degrees above normal. Many of these deaths could have been avoided if the state governments had contingency plans to face the summer heat. Barring Ahmedabad, no Indian city — or state — has a heat wave action plan (HWAP), or a system of protocols and procedures to initiate administrative action in the event of a heat wave as well as to facilitate long-term planning. Most heat wave deaths are a result of direct and sustained exposure to the sun and hot winds and the resultant dehydration. Taking basic precautions during heat wave conditions — keeping away from the sun and drinking water or liquids like butter milk — and ORS treatment in the event of a crisis, would help. But a more organised effort may be needed to reach out to vulnerable groups, mostly the elderly, the malnourished, children and manual labourers. After an unprecedented heat wave in 2003 caught Europe by surprise and resulted in thousands of deaths — 15,000 people died in France alone — most European countries have worked out HWAPs to ensure that warnings go out early and the administration is prepared to deal with the consequences. Though HWAPs vary according to local conditions, they focus on three aspects: building public awareness and community outreach, initiating early warning systems and training healthcare workers to deal with emergencies. In India, the Met department releases advance data on weather, but in the absence of an action plan, the import of the data is lost. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where over 1,300 died, did not have a plan. Public announcements must be made on radio, TV, newspapers and social networking sites as soon as the Met department predicts the onset of a heat wave. Police patrols and hospitals must be put on alert to handle emergencies. Long-term planning aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change by building green belts, better designed buildings and transport policies should be worked on. In the interim, high risk areas should be mapped and monitored, and uninterrupted power and water provided to sensitive zones like hospitals. Modi's upcoming Israel tour: An overdue visit to a steady ally Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel, though the dates have yet to be set. There have been ministers galore visiting Israel, but when it has come to the highest quarter India has always seemed to quail. Mr Modi has visited Israel but that was in his capacity as Gujarat CM in 2006. India-Israel ties extend from defence to agriculture and from cyber to diary. Bilateral trade, excluding defence, in 2014 was at $4.5 billion and this is set to grow. Under the second phase of the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project, 28 centres that use Israeli technology to increase agricultural productivity have been set up in nine states. Ten more states have expressed interest to be included in the third phase, which rolls out in the next few months. There is increasing cooperation in the IT sector and counter-terrorism, especially cyber terrorism. Cooperation in the defence sector is on a steady rise over the years, with the relationship moving from that of a buyerseller to joint production and joint R&D. A majority of the Barak 8 missiles, jointly developed by India and Israel, is manufactured in India. Though India established diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992, there has always been an unnecessary fear, based on misplaced apprehensions, that the Muslim community in India would not welcome closer ties with Israel. Many nations in West Asia have relaxed their hostility towards Israel, with Egypt, Jordan and Turkey establishing full ties. Govt has put to rest the fears that India is building its ties with Israel at the expense of its equation with Palestine by saying that there would be “no change in India’s policy towards Palestine”. India has had good relations with both Israel and Palestine, and if required this could be used to further peace in the region. However, for now, the Modi government’s focus will be on bilateral ties with Israel. Repromulgation game The Narendra Modi government has repromulgated the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 a second time. Originally introduced on December 31, 2014, the ordinance was repromulgated on April 3, 2015, and then again on May 30. Article 123 of the Constitution authorizes the President to promulgate ordinances if a law is “immediately necessary” and at any time, except when both Houses of Parliament are in session. But ordinances aren’t permanent. They lapse unless they are converted into Acts within a specified duration. The Land Ordinance would have lapsed on June 3. To avoid that, the Modi government repromulgated it. But the question is, is this legal? This is not a new question. The Supreme Court addressed it in D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar(1986), when it held that it is unconstitutional to repromulgate ordinances, unless in exceptional circumstances.
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Weekly News and Analysis 2015CA_028,029,030,031,001,002,003
Byju’s Classes-9873643487
Ordinances themselves are an exception, the Court noted. The primary authority to enact legislation is the legislature. It is only to tide over a temporary urgency that the executive resorts to an ordinance. But to repromulgate it is to circumvent the legislature’s primacy; it is an underhanded way of prolonging the life of an ordinance. At Centrethe practice began only in 1992 when the Narasimha Rao Cabinet resorted to it, thus starting a trend. During the 1990s, 196 ordinances were promulgated in all; almost 25 per cent of them (53 ordinances) were repromulgated. How could a practice that had already been declared unconstitutional, a fraud no less, be so common? This was because, unfortunately, the general rule in the Wadhwa verdict came with an exception. It was stated that the government may, occasionally, be unable “to introduce and push through” a Bill to convert an ordinance either because “the Legislature [has] too much legislative business” or the time at its disposal is short. In such a case, the verdict stated, the President may “legitimately find that it is necessary to repromulgate the Ordinance”. And such “repromulgation of the Ordinance”, the Court said, “may not be open to attack”. This makes little sense. In our system of government, the executive has complete control over parliamentary sessions, their durations, and the business agenda. Ministers (occasionally in consultation with the Speaker, Chairman and others) decide which legislative matters to list and when. If there are important matters to be dealt with, surely the proper response is to lengthen the parliamentary session and not resort to ordinances? Because of the Wadhwa exception, the executive today may justify repromulgating an ordinance by simply withholding it from a parliamentary vote and then declaring that time was too short to deal with it in Parliament. The formula is simple: don’t present an ordinance before the two Houses, and keep the sessions short. The Wadhwa verdict has encouraged, rather than prohibited repromulgations, and incentivised shorter parliamentary sessions. The 1990s speak for themselves. After P.V. Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee ran minority coalition governments. Unable to enact legislation properly, given their lack of numbers, these governments took to Article 123 as an alternative. Political expediency, not legislative urgency, motivated and spiked these ordinances. The Wadhwa exception must be reconsidered, an opportunity for which is at hand. A petition challenging the constitutionality of the Land Ordinance 2015 is pending before the Supreme Court. The petitioners argue that the ordinance was repromulgated in April simply because the government didn’t have the numbers to properly enact it. The Court must settle the issue. And in doing so, it would do well to remember that Parliament is a not a constraint on the lawmaking process; rather, it is the only way by which laws may be properly made.
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Weekly News and Analysis 2015CA_028,029,030,031,001,002,003
Byju’s Classes-9873643487
