MISSION 2015PIB 16th-31st OCT

DTE 31st OCT Issue

FRONTLINEOCT Issue

IDSAOCT

THEUNDERCOVERISSUE:02

16 oct 14

Elderly population an asset of the Nation

says Minister for Social Justice &

Empowerment

JeevemaSharadahaShatam, “Active &

Healthy Ageing”

In order to ensure the protection of the

legitimate right of the parents and senior

citizens, the Government had enacted the

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and

Senior Citizens Act in 2007. Implementation

of the Act is envisaged through the State

Governments and Union Territories.

Although some State Governments are yet

to implement the Act fully, majority of the

States have implemented the Act. This Act

has made the right to maintenance in

respect of a parent/senior citizen justifiable.

This Act has helped in achieving speedy and

inexpensive justice to the parents and

senior citizens in matters connected with

rights to maintenance and protection of

their own property. The National Policy on

Older Persons (NPOP) was announced in

1999 under the Policy, several measures for

promoting the rights and protection of the

aged persons have been implemented. The

Policy framework of the National Policy on

Older Person is also proposed to be suitably

revised, in order to cover the present and

emerging issues.

It is “Make In India” In Space, Said Dr

Jitendra Singh Soon After the Successful

Launch of Pslv-C26

this is not only the 27th consecutive

successful PSLV launch but this has also

successfully placed in the sky the third

Navigation Space Satellite prepared by

Indian scientists through indigenous means

and with the launching of the fourth such

Navigation Satellite scheduled in December,

it would be possible to initiate navigational

operations by India successfully through its

own self-sufficient means. This, thus, truly

personifies Prime Minister NarendraModi’s

“Make in India” dream in the Space. There

are four more such navigation satellites to

be placed in the sky and with the

completion of all the seven in the series of

Indian Research Navigation Space Satellite

(IRNSS),the Indian space scientists will be

able to focus on the region comprising India

and surrounding areas, which would also

give it a leadership role in the area of Space

Technology in the Indian subcontinent,

After the lift-off of PSLV-C26 with the

ignition of the first stage, the important

flight events, namely, stage and strap-on

ignitions, heat-shield separation, stage and

strap-on separations and satellite injection,

took place as planned. The `XL`configuration

of PSLV was used for this mission. IRNSS is

an independent regional navigation satellite

system designed to provide position

information in the Indian region and 1500

km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS

would provide two types of services,

namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS)

- provided to all users – and Restricted

Services (RS), provided to authorised users.

Prime Minister Inaugurates

ShramevJayate, Ushers in A Slew of Labour

Reforms

The five main schemes launched by ShriModi included: · A dedicated ShramSuvidha Portal: That would allot Labour Identification Number (LIN) to nearly 6 lakhs units and allow them

to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws · An all-new Random Inspection Scheme: Utilizing technology to eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory · Universal Account Number: Enables 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible · Apprentice ProtsahanYojana: Will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training · Revamped RashtriyaSwasthyaBimaYojana: Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes

Details of the schemes launched by Prime Minister are given below:

Dedication of ShramSuvidha Portal and Labour Inspection Scheme in Central Sphere:

Multiplicity of labour laws and the difficulty in their compliance cited as an impediment to the industrial development. The World Bank annual report for year 2014 in a comparative study on Indian Labour Laws has established the fact that the Indian states with flexible labour laws and easier compliance mechanism have fared better in terms of Industrial development . Ease of compliance has also been found to be important for the growth of organized sector. Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Commerce and Industry are both working in close coordination to fulfill the mission of “Make in India”. it is needed to amend the labour laws and make them flexible for the present circumstances Amendments to three major labour laws were presented to Parliament during this

Monsoon session of the Parliament. Ministry has developed a ShramSuvidha Portal in central sphere to create a conducive environment for industrial development. The 4 main features of this Portal are: a. Unique labour identification number (LIN) will be allotted to Units to facilitate online registration. b. Filing of self-certified and simplified Single Online Return by the industry. Now Units will only file a single consolidated Return online instead of filing 16 separate Returns. c. Mandatory uploading of inspection Reports within 72 hours by the Labour inspectors. d. Timely redressal of grievances will be ensured with the help of the portal. This will bring in the necessary ease in compliance of provisions related to labour and will be a step forward in promoting the ease of doing business. The complete database available centrally at unified portal will also add to the informed policy process. The portal will be operative in 4 central organizations namely Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employee Provident Fund and Employees’ State insurance Corporation. In this endeavor of the Ministry, complete information of all 11 lakh units for these organizations has been collected, digitized and de-duplicated reducing the total number to 6-7 lakh. It is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 lakh units. Labour Inspection Scheme: So far the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective criteria. To bring in transparency in labour inspection, a transparent Labour Inspection scheme is being developed. The four features of the inspection scheme are: (i) Serious matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list. (ii) A computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly based on pre-determined objective criteria.

(iii) Complaints based inspections will also be determined centrally after examination based on data and evidence. (iv) There will be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious cases in specific circumstances. A transparent Inspection Scheme will provide a check on the arbitrariness in compliance mechanism. Immediately on inauguration, ansms/email were sent to 1800 Labour inspectors of these enforcement agencies on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Dedication of Portability through Universal Account Number (UAN) for Employees Provident Fund:

Under the scheme complete information for approximately 4 crore subscribers of EPF has been centrally compiled and digitized and a UAN has been allotted to all. The UAN is being seeded with Bank account and Aadhar Card and other KYC details for financial inclusion of vulnerable section of society and their unique identification. Camps are being organized to facilitate opening of bank account and Aadhar card for those subscribers who have no bank account or Aadhar card as on date. This will ensure portability of the Social Security Benefits to the labour of organised sector across the jobs and geographic areas. The EPF account of employee will be now be updated monthly and at the same time he will be informed through sms. Finally it will ensure that each of the 4 crore or more EPF account holders have direct access to their EPF accounts and will also enable them to consolidate all their previous accounts (approximately Rs 27000 Crore are currently lying with EPFO in inoperative accounts). By 16th October, 2014, approximately 2 crore subscribers will have the benefit of portability through UAN. Subscribers have been informed through sms/email immediately on inauguration. The minimum pension for employees has been introduced first time so that employees’ pension is not

less than Rs. 1000 per month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 per month to ensure that vulnerable groups are covered under EPF Scheme.

Recognition of Brand Ambassadors of ITIs :The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country are the backbone of the vocational training system, only source of supply of skilled manpower to manufacturing industry. There are 11,500 ITIs having about 16 lakh seats. But this is grossly inadequate for supplying skilled manpower to Indian industry. Only 10% of the workforce has got formal or informal technical training. Only one fourth of this is formally trained. Whereas in South Korea, Japan, Germany, the percentage of workforce having received skills training is 96, 80 and 75 respectively. There is also another big imbalance. The intake capacity of undergraduate engineering colleges was more than 16 lakh in India which was almost same as seating capacity of ITIs. Whereas we need about at least 10 shop floor workers for an engineer. Therefore we need to rapidly expand certificate level vocational training if we have to succeed in our mission of ‘Make in India’.

However, as a general trend, pass outs from education system do not take admission in the ITIs as their first choice. Mostly end up in ITI after exhausting all other options for higher education. This is because; blue collar work is not respected and regarded in the society. For meeting the skill needs of our industry and for enhancing employability of our youth, we need to attract more youth to it is by enhancing dignity of vocational training. Over 60 years of existence ITIs have given excellent technician, mechanics, entrepreneurs and professional leaders. Manufacturing sector is reservoir of this success. They have brought name and fame in the country and abroad. It is proposed to compile these success stories and publish in print and electronic form. These success

stories shall be used for motivating youngsters and their parents. We would like to showcase such successful ITI graduates as National Brand Ambassadors of Vocational Training. This will be taken as communicator and catalyst, taking the message of ITI vocational training to every section of society. This will also improve the brand image as well as social acceptance of the vocational training. The Prime Minister has released this publication and felicitate few of these Brand Ambassadors. This will send a good message in the society and help in giving honour and acceptability, removing social stigma from vocational training and skilled work. Best wishes for a successful career will be sent on behalf of the Prime Minister to 4 lakh ITI students through SMS.

All India Skill Competition:

The Ministry of labour conducts competitions to foster the healthy spirit of competitiveness among the trainee Craftsmen/ Apprentices. Winning spirit brings pride to world of skills, improves changing work habits to be more organized, goal setting to achieve goals, and simply performing higher quality work. They are: a) All India Skill Competition for Craftsmen among trainees admitted under Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS). It is conducted once in a year. On the basis of marks obtained in skill competition by trainees, the award is given to BEST CRAFTSMAN-cash prize and merit certificate, BEST INSTITUTE – a merit certificate and the BEST STATE –a shield. b) All India Competition for Apprentices among trainees admitted under Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS). It is conducted twice every year. The award is given to the BEST Apprentice- cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a merit certificate and Runner Up Apprentice- cash prize of Rs 25000 and merit certificate in each Trade, and the BEST ESTABLISHMENT on all India basis- a trophy and certificate by President of India.

Trade covered in Competition: Both the competitions are conducted in 15 trades i.e. Fitter, Turner, Machinist, Welder (G&E), Mechanic (Motor Vehicle), Mechanic (Diesel), Instrument Mechanic, Draughtsman (Mechanical), Draughtsman (Civil), Electrician, Electronic Mechanic, Cutting & Sewing, Foundry Man, Computer Operator & Programming Assistant (COPA), and Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic. Launch of Apprenticeship ProtsahanYojna : The Apprentices Act 1961 was enacted for regulating the Apprenticeship Training Scheme in the industry for imparting on-the-job training to apprentices. Presently, there are only 2.82 lakh apprentices undergoing training against 4.9 lakh seats. Apprenticeship Scheme has huge potential for training the large number of young person’s to make them employable. If properly revamped, it could also significantly contribute to ‘Make in India’ Mission. Similar schemes have been highly successful in countries like Germany, China and Japan where the number of apprentices are stated to be 3 million, 20 million and 10 million respectively. Present framework tightly regulates the number of apprentices trade-wise, and is not attractive to youth because of low rate of stipend. Further the industry is averse to participate because the scheme is not viable for the small industries. There are a large number of establishments including MSMEs where training facilities are available but could not be utilized so far. A major initiative has been undertaken to revamp the apprenticeship Scheme in India after extensive consultation with industry, states and other stakeholders with the vision of increasing apprenticeship seats to more than 20 lakhs in next few years. There are four components of this initiative, which are given below: a. Making the legal framework friendly to both, industry and youth. The necessary Bill amending the Act was placed and passed in LokSabha on 14.8.2014.

b. Enhancing the rate of stipend and indexing it to minimum wages of semi skilled workers. c. Apprentice ProtsahanYojana which will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training. d. Basic training component (mainly class room training part) of the curricula is being restructured on scientific principles to make it more effective, and MSMEs will be supported financially by permitting this component in government funded SDI scheme. The Apprentice ProtsahanYojana will support one lakh apprentices during the period upto March 2017. Selected Apprentices and the Establishments ready to participate in this scheme from various states will be invited and it is proposed that Prime Minister will give sanction letters to these to mark the launch of the new scheme. Effective Implementation of revamped RashtriyaSwasthyaBimaYojana (RSBY) for labour in the unorganized sector were also launched today. PM's remarks at the PanditDeendayalUpadhyayShramevJayateKaryakram Compassionate approach will ensure that "Shram Yogi" becomes "Rashtra Yogi" and "RashtraNirmaata" · We must see labour issues through the perspective of labourers · ShramevJayate initiatives will boost confidence and build skills of youth, while providing ease of doing business · Government must trust its citizens – allowing self-certification is a step in this direction. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh says

terrorism is the biggest challenge to

civilized world

NSG’s objective is to assure India and its

citizens a life of peace, dignity and honour.

The powers of the chiefs of the Central

Armed Police Forces including the NSG have

recently been enhanced significantly to

facilitate swift induction of new weaponry

and technology, the Union Home Minister

said. The Government is considering raising

the strength of women commandos in the

elite force. Since the induction of women

began in 2003, the NSG today has 25

women commandos.

Earlier the Director General, NSG JN

Choudhury said his priority is creating

infrastructure for the four NSG regional

hubs approved by the Government in recent

times.

National Financial Literacy Assessment Test (NCFE-NFLAT 2014-15) for students of Class VIII, IX and X

National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) invites all school students from Class VIII to X to participate in the NCFE- National Financial Literacy Assessment Test (NCFE-NFLAT 2014-15) being conducted on 6th and 7th December 2014. National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) an educational initiative of SEBI has been identified as the nodal agency for implementation of the National Strategy for Financial Education. In this regard, NISM has set up the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) with the support of all the financial sector regulators i.e. Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and Forward Markets Commission (FMC), to further the cause of financial literacy and inclusion in India. Speech by the President of India, ShriPranab Mukherjee at the State Banquet Hosted by the President of the Republic of Finland on October 15, 2014

In 2013, our bilateral trade crossed the one billion dollar mark. However, given the relative size of our economies and the wide convergence of interests in many areas, the present level of trade and investment needs to be substantially enhanced which I have no doubt, it will.we remember Finland for the Helsinki Summer Olympics of 1952, where India won a Gold medal in Hockey, our national game, and a bronze medal in Wrestling. We also recall that our great philosopher and poet, Guru Rabindranath Tagore, referred to Finland in one of his poems titled ‘Apaghat’ (Bombshell) written during the Second World War. I am pleased that Gurudev Tagore’s work has been translated into the Finnish language and has been widely appreciated in Finland. We welcome the interest of the Finnish people in our culture and heritage. We invite them to visit India. Finland is one of the countries to whose citizens we are extending the visa on arrival facility. India is happy to be an Observer of the Arctic Council. India will continue to deploy its significant polar research capabilities and scientific understanding for strengthening the work of the Arctic Council. India very much looks forward to intensifying the exchanges between our peoples. Our Parliamentarians and the India- Finland Parliamentary Friendship Group can, and must, play an instrumental role in this process. India has included Finland among the countries for whose citizens tourist visas can be issued on arrival. We have set up institutional mechanisms to encourage exchange of economic and commercial information, identify possibilities of investments and tie-ups in different areas, disseminate information on the diversification of trade and to acquaint the business community of both countries about commercial opportunities. The Indo-

Finnish Joint Commission is one such forum. In addition, there are several sector- specific initiatives like a Memorandum of Cooperation in the Road Transportation sector, S&T Cooperation Agreement and an MOU between the Department of Science and Technology of India and TEKES- the Finnish funding agency for technology and innovation. An Indo-Finnish Working Group on Innovation was created in 2011. Both countries have also signed an Agreement for cooperation in the field of Information Security. A Joint Working Group (JWG) on Environment has been holding regular meetings and another Joint Working Group on Clean Technology and Waste Management has been set up. Finland`s "India Action Plan" launched in April 2013 is a testimony of Finland`s initiative for expanding economic cooperation with India. Opening of a Fin-Node Centre in Delhi in September 2011 is another indication of the importance the Government of Finland attaches to bilateral economic relations. Cabinet Secretary reviews preparedness in the wake of emerging global crisis on Ebola The protocol/ preparedness measures including infection control practices to be followed by the States/UTs have already been communicated to the states. A tracking system has been put in place under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). State Governments informed that in accordance with the protocol, they have identified hospitals and isolation ward for Ebola treatment. Central teams have been asked to inspect the adequacy of preparations in these hospitals. A training of trainers is being organised by the Health Ministry from 19th-21st October, 2014 at Delhi. This training will include demonstrations and mock drills. National Institute of Virology at Pune is fully equipped to handle the testing work relating to Ebola virus and the National Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC), Delhi,

for molecular diagnosis. 10 other laboratories in various places including Delhi, Dibrugarh, Port Blair, Kolkata, Manipal, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Jaipur and Agra will be strengthened to handle this work.. Immigration officers have been trained and crew members of flights have also been sensitised on the measures to be taken by the airline crew and on the standard operating procedures for passenger screening at the airports by Airport Health Organisations. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has been asked to make inflight announcement regarding the virus and its symptoms. A health screening card and advisory for passengers has also been prepared and information is being collected from the passengers arriving from/transiting through the affected countries. Some State Governments expressed the need for supply of adequate number of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) gear. 50,000 PPE gear procured earlier and available with the Central Government will be distributed to the States.

17 Oct 2014

Media statement by the President about

the State visit to Norway and Finland en

route from Rovaniemi to New Delhi

theme of visit to both countries was

expanding cooperation in education,

research, innovation, trade and

investment.

During this visit six governmental

agreements concluded in Norway for

cooperation in the fields of earth sciences,

culture, scientific research, medicine and

defence, as well as consular matters.

In Finland, four governmental agreements

in the fields of collaboration and research

in renewable energy, bio-technology, civil

nuclear research and meteorological issues

were concluded.

Established institutional tie-ups with

Norwegian and Finnish Universities.

Eight MoUs between educational

institutions were signed during the visit in

Norway and seventeen in Finland with a

view to promoting faculty, student and

research exchanges.

also interacted via a video-link with our

scientists currently undertaking projects at

India’s Research Station in the Arctic,

‘Himadri’ as well as with our researchers at

the Svalbard University Centre.

This was the first Head of State visit ever

from India to Norway. King Harald V and

Prime Minister Erna Solberg both expressed

deep appreciation for this visit and termed

it historic.

In discussions with Prime Minister Erna

Solberg, scope for further collaboration

existed in the fields of research and

development, education, science and

technology, innovation, clean technologies

and renewable energy as well as in polar

research was agreed.

In Finland, extensive discussions on

bilateral, multilateral and global issues with

the Finnish leadership was concluded. The

visit provided an opportunity to discuss our

cooperation in the Arctic and in Polar and

glacial research in both Norway and Finland,

which are members of the Arctic Council.

In Norway and Finland, recent policy

initiatives of the new government such as

the “Make in India” campaign was discussed

and presented India as an attractive

investment destination, including by the

Norwegian sovereign Global Pension Fund.

India announced that Norway is on the list

of countries to which Tourist Visa on Arrival

facility will soon be extended.

PM’s Address at the Combined

Commanders Conference

Prime Minister NarendraModi addressed

the Combined Commanders` Conference

2014 in New Delhi. India`s Armed Forces,

which represent the world`s largest

democracy, were second to none in

professionalism, valour, commitment,

service and duty. Thanked the Armed Forces

for their extraordinary service to the people

during the floods in Jammu and Kashmir

and the cyclone on the East Coast.

Prime Minister emphasized that an

atmosphere of peace and security was

essential to enable India to achieve its

goals of economic development. For this

purpose, he said, his Government has

focused on creating a favourable external

environment and on strengthening India`s

security. India had to be prepared for a

changing world, which demanded new

thinking on our part with regard to

economic, diplomatic and security policies.

Prime Minister noted, that "beyond the

immediate, we are facing a future where

security challenges will be less predictable;

situations will evolve and change swiftly;

and, technological changes will make

responses more difficult to keep pace with.

The threats may be known, but the enemy

may be invisible. Domination of cyber

space will become increasingly important.

Control of space may become as critical as

that of land, air and sea. Full scale wars

may become rare, but force will remain an

instrument of deterrence and influencing

behavior, and the duration of conflicts will

be shorter." (Cyber Domination important)

He also said, “When we speak of Digital

India, we would also like to see a Digital

Armed Force,” and asked the Services to

give serious thought to upgrade

technological skills for effective projection

of power by men. The most important task,

Prime Minister observed, was to transform

our defence forces. He called for increased

jointness and urged the three wings of the

Services to work as a team all the way from

the lowest levels of the Services to the top.

Kharif rice coverage has increased to

380.06 lakh hectare as compared to 376.74

lakh hectare as per the date released by

Directorate of Economics & Statistics

Illegal Import, Possession and Sale of

Fireworks of Foreign Origin

Fireworks in India have been declared as

restricted item under ITC (HS) in respect of

import by Director General of Foreign

Trade. The manufacture, possession, use,

sale, etc. of any explosive containing

sulphur or sulphurate in admixture with any

chlorate is banned in the country.

It has been brought to the notice of the

Government that fireworks of foreign origin

are being illegally brought into India under

false declarations. Various Fireworks

Associations have informed that these

smuggled items include the chemical

`Potassium Chlorate` which is a dangerous

and hazardous chemical and can ignite or

explode spontaneously. The Tamil Nadu

Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers’

Association (TANFAMA) has also informed

that illegal fireworks of foreign origin have

penetrated into our country in large

quantities and they are likely to be sold

through retail outlets extensively during

coming Diwali season.

Communications Minister meets CEOs of

LG and Samsung. He invited them to

participate in “Make In India”.

The Minister for Communications and

Information Technology and Law & Justice,

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad on a visit to South

Korea to attend the Plenipotentiary

Conference 2014 of the International

Telecom Union, today held meetings with

the top companies of South Korea working

in the field of electronics to attract business

into India.

The minister met the CEO and VP of LG Mr.

Bon Joon Koo, and he highlighted the great

potential that India holds in the field of

electronic manufacturing. He also shared

the Make in India initiative of Government.

He shared the vision of Government of India

for promoting solar power as a clean source

of energy and emphasised upon the great

potential of India’s fast growing mobile

market. This holds great investment

opportunity for LG Chemical to expand its

existing operations in India.

The Minister also met Mr.JongKyun Shin,

President & CEO, Samsung IT and Mobile

Communications. Sharing the Digital India

vision and “Make In India” initiative with

him, the Minister mentioned about

National Optical Fiber Network programme

and Smart City plan being envisaged in

India. Samsung CEO said that India is one of

the biggest Research and Development

hubs for Samsung. He placed on record

great appreciation for Indian engineers in

making Samsung such a big success across

the world. He also expressed great hope in

the India’s 4G mobile market and expressed

his desire to make big investments in India.

Both the meetings with CEOs of electronic

giant companies were an extremely

positive.

National Optic Fibre Network Programme

The Indian government approved a cabinet

note on the scheme to create the National

Optical Fiber Network dated 25 October

2011. The implementation framework,

budget, technology architecture and other

issues related to NOFN were worked out by

a high level committee constituted by the

Department of Telecom (DoT) under the

chairmanship of an adviser to the Prime

Minister and Chairman UIDAI (constituted

on 26 April 2011). The Special-Purpose

Vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Limited

(BBNL) was incorporated to execute the

project, implemented by three prominent

telecom PSUs. To grant right of way, a draft

tripartite memorandum of understanding

(MoU) among the government of India, the

SPV and the State governments of India was

sent to the state governments and Union

Territories for their concurrence.

The Office of Adviser announced they would

work on applications for rural broadband in

collaboration with Ministries of Rural

Development, Panchayati Raj, HRD, Health

and the Prime Minister’s National Council

on Skill Development so that even as

hardware connectivity is under progress,

applications also get addressed. Building

public information infrastructure requires

coordination between the geographical

information system plan, UIDAI, National

Informatics Centre and others to build

platforms, applications and portals which

include developing India’s version of

Data.gov under the aegis of the Department

of Information Technology.

The National Informatics Centre ( NIC) was

assigned a project by DOT/USOF for

geographic information system (GIS)

mapping of the existing OFC network of the

various telecom operators such BSNL, Rail

Tel, Power Grid, etc. The mapping of the

existing OFC will enable to calculate the

incremental length of the cable required for

connecting all the 2.5 lakh panchayats with

OFC. The State Government will have the

role of providing free Right of Way (RoW)

for laying OFC. The project envisaged

signing a tripartite MoU for free Right of

Way (RoW) among the Union Government,

State Government and Bharat Broadband

Network Limited (BBNL).

Technology

National Optic Fibre Network uses Gigabit

passive optical network (GPON) technology

indigenously developed by Centre for

Development of Telematics (C-DOT). A

passive optical network (PON) brings fibre

cabling and signals to the home using a

point-to-multipoint scheme that enables a

single optical fibre to serve multiple

premises. Encryption maintains data

security in this shared environment. The

architecture uses passive (unpowered)

optical splitters, reducing the cost of

equipment compared to point-to-point

architectures. The GPON standard differs

from other passive optical network

standards in that it achieves higher

bandwidth and higher efficiency using

larger, variable-length packets. GPON offers

efficient packaging of user traffic, with

frame segmentation allowing higher quality

of service (QoS) for delay-sensitive voice

and video communications traffic. The main

components of GPON technology are OLT,

ONT/ONU, Splitters, OF cables etc. ITU

standard G-984 series as well as TEC spec

GR no.PON-01/02 Apr 2008[10] define

GPON technology. C-DOT has also inked

technology transfer pacts with six Indian

vendors which include ITIBSE 3.26 per cent,

Tejas Networks, VMC, Sai Systems, United

Telecoms and SM Creative to manufacture

the gear on winning the contracts.

National rollout

All the Service Providers like Telecom

Service Providers (TSPs), ISPs, Cable TV

operators etc. will be given non-

discriminatory access to the National Optic

Fibre Network and can launch various

services in rural areas. Various categories of

applications like e-health, e-education and

e-governance etc. can also be provided by

these operators. The project is proposed to

be completed in two years and the

nationwide rollout is expected as early as

2014. (Source Wikipedia)

India Conducts Successful Flight Trial of

'Nirbhay' Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile

India`s first indigenously designed and

developed long range sub-sonic cruise

missile ‘Nirbhay’ was successfully flight

tested from the Integrated Test Range (ITR),

Balasore, Odisha. The entire mission, from

lift-off till the final splash down was a

perfect flight achieving all the mission

objectives.

The cruise missile Nirbhay, powered by a

solid rocket motor booster developed by

the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL)

took off majestically from a mobile launcher

specifically designed for ‘Nirbhay’ by the

Vehicles R&D Establishment, (VRDE). As it

achieved designated altitude and velocity,

the booster motor got separated, the

turbofan engine automatically switched on

taking over the further propulsion and the

wings opened up by the commands

generated by the onboard computer (OBC)

stabilising the flight. Guided by a highly

advanced inertial navigation system

indigenously developed by Research

Centre Imarat (RCI) the ‘Nirbhay’ continued

its flight that lasted a little over one hour

and 10 minutes. Throughout its path, the

missile was tracked with the help of ground

based radars and it`s health parameters

were monitored by indigenous telemetry

stations by a team of professionals from

DRDO`sITR and LRDE (Electronics & Radar

Development Establishment). Additionally,

the performance of ‘Nirbhay’ was closely

watched by an Indian Air Force aircraft.

This was the second launch of ‘Nirbhay’

cruise missile. The maiden launch last year

in March was a partial success achieving

most of the mission objectives. The maiden

flight had to be terminated for safety

reasons due to malfunction of a

component, after deviation from intended

path was observed. Earlier, the launch

preparations and plans were authorised

after thorough review by experts.

National Air Quality Index (AQI) launched

by the Environment Minister AQI is a huge

initiative under ‘Swachh Bharat’

AQI to act as ‘One Number- One Colour-

One Description’ to judge the Air Quality

for Common Man: ShriPrakashJavadekar

The Minister stated that the index

constituted part of the Government’s

mission to introduce the culture of

cleanliness. Institutional and infrastructural

measures were being undertaken in order

to ensure that the mandate of cleanliness

was fulfilled across the country. As a part of

the process, he mentioned that clean air

would be a part of Peoples’ campaign to

take up the issue in a mission mode. In

order to widen the ambit of the culture of

cleanliness, the Ministry proposed to

discuss the issues concerned regarding

quality of air with the Ministry of Human

Resource Development in order to include

this issue as part of the sensitization

programme in the course curriculum.

An effort had been made to include a

comprehensive set of parameters. While

the earlier measuring index was limited to

three indicators, the current measurement

index had been made quite comprehensive

by the addition of five additional

parameters

Air pollution has been a matter of

environmental and health concerns,

particularly in urban areas. Central Pollution

Control Board along with State Pollution

Control Boards has been operating National

Air Monitoring Program (NAMP) covering

240 cities of the country. In addition,

continuous monitoring systems that provide

data on near real-time basis are also

installed in a few cities.

. Air Quality Index (AQI) is one such tool for

effective dissemination of air quality

information to people. An Expert Group

comprising medical professionals, air quality

experts, academia, advocacy groups, and

SPCBs was constituted and a technical study

was awarded to IIT Kanpur. IIT Kanpur and

the Expert Group recommended an AQI

scheme.

There are six AQI categories, namely

Good, Satisfactory,

Moderately polluted,

Poor,

Very Poor, and

Severe.

The proposed AQI will consider eight

pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO,

O3, NH3, and Pb) for which short-term (up

to 24-hourly averaging period) National

Ambient Air Quality Standards are

prescribed.

Ministry of External Affairs to Launch

Country-Wide Passport Seva Camp

Programme for the people located far

away from the Passport SevaKendras.

Major Government Initiative to Combat

Unaccounted Money and Tax Evasion

A delegation led by ShriShaktikanta Das,

Revenue Secretary and consisting of Shri

K.V. Chowdary, Chairman, CBDT and

ShriAkhileshRanjan, Joint Secretary (FT&TR)

visited Switzerland on 15.10.2014 and held

discussions with Swiss Finance and Tax

Authorities on issues relating to Exchange of

Information in tax matters. The Swiss

delegation was led by Mr. Jacques de

Watteville, Secretary International Financial

Matters, Switzerland. The discussions were

substantive and useful.

From India’s point of view, there are four

positive and significant outcomes from the

above meeting. They are as follows:

(i) Switzerland has indicated

willingness to provide information in

respect of cases where investigations have

been carried out by our IT Department

independently from what Swiss

Government considers as stolen data.

This development is very significant because

there are a number of cases of account

holders included in the HSBC list which were

investigated by our Income Tax Department

independent of the HSBC list obtained from

the French Government. Earlier, the Swiss

Government had not agreed to provide any

information on names which were included

in the HSBC list on the ground that these

were stolen data and have been obtained in

breach of Swiss law.

(ii) The Swiss Federal Tax

Administration has agreed that their

competent authority would assist India in

obtaining confirmation of genuineness of

bank documents on requests by the Indian

side and also swiftly provide information on

requests relating to non-banking

information.

This willingness on the part of the Swiss

authorities would help in our tax

investigations.

(iii) The Swiss authorities have also

agreed to provide the requested

information in a time bound manner or else

indicate the reasons why the cases cannot

be answered within the agreed timeline.

(iv) Switzerland has also assured that

they would commence talks with India for

concluding an Automatic Exchange of

Information (AEOI) Agreement between

India and Switzerland at the earliest, after

completion of their domestic procedures.

This is the first time that Switzerland has

agreed to commence discussions on a

bilateral agreement on AEOI.

The above developments are very

significant and would assist the Income Tax

Department in its investigations. These

developments are significant steps in the

context of Government’s resolve to combat

unaccounted money and tax evasion.

Dr Harsh Vardhan wants 5 New AIISH-like

institutions across India

Performs “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan” in

Mysore Medical College grounds

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister,

has announced plans for setting up five new

national level institutions along the lines of

the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing

(AIISH), the premier centre at Mysore.

Silent Diwali: a nationwide campaign

Dr Harsh Vardhan, suggested the Delhi

authorities the need to observe a “silent

Diwali” free of noise making crackers,

reiterated the need for a nationwide

implementation of the Supreme Court’s

2005 order banning firecracker bursting in

neighbourhood areas. In this connection, he

instructed the faculty of AIISH to issue a

statement alerting the nation on the

harmful effects of noise pollution.

Dr Harsh Vardhan assures toning up of

blindness control schemes. At World Sight

Day event lauds “Vision Ambassadors”

concept

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister,

has decided to review the progress of the

National Programme for Control of

Blindness (NPCB) with a view to toning up

its implementation. The Minister, remarked

that he would ensure that the funds

earmarked for NPCB for the 12th Plan

period (2012-17) are utilised optimally and

that he would raise the matter with the

state governments.

NPCB was launched in 1976 as a 100

percent Centrally- funded scheme with a

goal to reduce the prevalence of blindness.

However, the rate has not shown much

appreciable difference even after 28 years,

the Minister noted. The Rapid Survey on

Avoidable Blindness conducted during 2006-

07 showed a reduction in the prevalence of

avoidable blindness from 1.1 percent in

2000 to 1 percent in 2006. NPCB has now

targeted to bring down the prevalence of

blindness to 0.3 percent by 2020 from the

present level of 1 percent.

The Minister, who has himself pledged his

entire body, said the government will be

working with NGOs in promoting the

concept of eye donation. The launch of the

“Vision Ambassador” scheme of The Project

Vision, Bangalore will be based on the work

of volunteers who will be called “Vision

Ambassadors”. They would act as the link

between donors and eye banks which is

missing at present. More than 10,000

people have already pledged their eyes with

The Project Vision and 1,000 people have

been declared “Vision Ambassadors.”

Saarc Countries Finalized Framework

Agreement for Energy Cooperation

The 5th SAARC Energy Ministers Meeting

has finalized the SAARC Framework

Agreement for Energy Cooperation

(Electricity). This is a significant

achievement of the Ministers’ meeting, as

this Agreement has been pending since

2010 and is a crucial step towards

developing a SAARC Market for Electricity

(SAME) on a regional basis.

India proposed to host the Seminar on

“Sharing Experiences on Energy Pricing

Mechanism in the SAARC Region”. India

also proposed to host the Second Meeting

of the Expert Group on

Technology/Knowledge Sharing (including

Energy Efficiency, coal, etc.) in 2015.

Bangladesh will convene the Meeting of

Energy Regulators /Bodies in SAARC

countries by December 2014.

The Meeting noted that all the four Expert

Groups have already finalized their ToR and

Work Plans and urged the lead Member

States to continue convening of Expert

Group meetings regularly, preferably on

annual basis. The Member States apprised

the Meeting of the initiatives taken with

regard to Renewable Energy projects. The

Meeting referred the matter to the Expert

group on Renewable Energy for further

deliberations.

The meeting approved the 8 reports of

earlier meetings of the Working Group on

Energy, separate Expert Groups on

Electricity, Technology and Knowledge

Sharing, Renewable Energy and the reports

of the Inter-governmental Meetings on

“Study on South Asian Regional Power

Exchange”, organized by ADB.

The next meeting of the SAARC Energy

Ministers’ will be held in Nepal.

Enormous Potential of SAARC Nations and

SAARC can be Regional Economic

Powerhouse

SAARC Energy Ministers meets in New

Delhi

The Power Minister stated that the

economic sustainability of SAARC region is

pillared on energy security as 30% of the

region’s energy demands are met through

imports. In order to resolve this, he

advocated a three pronged strategy by

leveraging

Harnessing conventional and

renewable sources of energy

building inter-connected

transmissions grids and

forging efficacious power trading

agreements.

SAARC is a robust market but constraints

are primarily on the supply side as there are

pockets where deficits persist.

SAARC has always played an important role

in India’s foreign policy but the commitment

was reaffirmed and revitalized after the

formation of new Government led by Prime

Minister ShriNarendraModi. Our

Government recognizes the enormous

potential of SAARC nations and we believe

SAARC can be regional economic

powerhouse.

Textiles Minister Inaugurates

‘KachchhMahotsav’

The exhibition focuses on Kachchh crafts

such as Soof, Mirror work, Rabari, Ahir,

Patchwork and other embroidered

products, Ajrak, Tie & Dye, Batik and Block

Printed Textile products, Hand woven

Embroidered Shawls, Wooden Lacquerware,

Wood Carving, Copper Coated Iron Bell,

Embroidered Leather Accessories, Mud/

Clay Work, Rogan Painting.

In an endeavour to promote Indian

handicrafts and handlooms, the Union

Government had announced setting up of a

Handicraft mega cluster in Kachchh. The

mega cluster will focus on handcrafted

items and craft based textiles from the

region.

Kachchh is known for its distinctive

traditional crafts, from embroidery to

jewellery-making and carving. Using simple

materials, the artisans create objects of

great beauty. The Mahotsav includes

Kachchi crafts range from Block printing on

textiles, Bandhni of the Khatris, Patch work

of Bhirandiyara, leather creations by

Meghwal artisans, besides traditional wood

and lacquer work and Rogan, the extremely

fine lacquer work on cloth produced by the

artisans of Chobari and Nirona villages,

Ajrakh printing from Khavda village to the

exquisite beadwork of Rabari women. The

folk embroidery of Kachchh is an ongoing

and dynamic tradition. Some of the villages

and communities have specialised for

generations in certain crafts and thereby

create masterpieces that delight a

connoisseur.

Inter-Linking of Rivers Can be Achieved

within Seven to Ten Years says Uma Bharti

First Meeting of the Special Committee for

Inter-Linking of Rivers Held

Inter-linking of rivers is the dream project of

NDA government. This was stated by Union

Minister for Water Resources, River

Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Sushri Uma Bharti while presiding over the

first meeting of the special committee for

Inter-linking of Rivers. She sought

cooperation of various states in the inter-

linking of rivers. Referring to the

apprehensions expressed by some

environmentalists, the Minister said that

the Government will ensure that there is no

loss to the environment due to this project.

The inter-linking of rivers will be a mile

stone in the development of the nation. She

said success of this project will prove that

environment and development can go

together. She expressed the hope that the

30 interlinking projects taken up by her

Ministry will be over within a period of

seven to ten years.

Ministers were of the opinion that the

linking of peninsular rivers with Himalayan

rivers should be taken up on priority basis.

Water should be transferred from one river

basin to another only when there is surplus

water in one basin.

18th Oct 2014

18 october 2014

India's participation in the development of Chahbahar port in Iran The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister gave its approval for the framework inter-Governmental (MoU) that is to be finalised by the Government of India with the Government of Iran. India’s presence at the Chahbahar port would give it a sea-land access route into Afghanistan through Iran’s eastern borders. Background Iran`s Chahbahar port located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Iran`s south-

eastern coast is a port of great strategic utility for India. It lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India`s western coast. From Chahbahar port using the existing Iranian road network, one can link up to Zaranj in Afghanistan which is at a distance of 883 km from the port and then using the Zaranj-Delaram road constructed by India in 2009, one can access Afghanistan`s garland highway thereby establishing road access to four of the major cities of Afghanistan; Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. Deregulation of Diesel Prices Revision of Domestic Gas Prices salient features of the new Gas Pricing Policy are follows: (i) As per the formulation approved by the CCEA today, upward revision in gas prices will be approximately 75% less as compared to the price arrived at using Rangarajan formula. (ii) Approximately 80% of the additional revenue due to revision in gas price will go to the Government companies. (iii) Government will get additional revenue of approximately Rs. 3800 crore per annum on account of higher royalty, higher profit petroleum and higher taxes. After the new Government took over, a decision was taken to defer the Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014 and to get the matter re-examined. For this purpose, a Committee which, included, Secretaries of the Ministries/Departments of Power, Expenditure and Fertilizer as Members with Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Member Secretary was appointed. The Committee has recommended an approach for gas price determination, which is based on the modification to the Rangarajan formula by: (i) Removal of both the Japanese and Indian LNG import components in the formula.

(ii) Consideration of Alberta Gas Reference price in place of Henry Hub Prices for Canadian consumption. (iii) Consideration of Russian actual price in place of National Balancing Point price for the Russian consumption considered under Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. (iv) Consideration of appropriate deductions on account of transportation and treatment charges, etc., for different hub prices. (v) The options of bi-annual and annual price revision instead of quarterly revision may be considered. the Committee also drew attention to the fact that although in India gas is historically being priced on National Calorific Value (NCV), the input prices being used in the Rangarajan formula are based on Gross Calorific Value (GCV). For all discoveries after this decision, in Ultra Deep Water Areas, Deep Water Areas and High Pressure-High Temperature areas, a premium would be given on the gas price to be determined as per the prescribed procedure. In the NER region, the 40% subsidy would continue to be available for gas supplied by ONGC/OIL. However, as private operators are also likely to start production of gas in NER, and would be operating in the same market, this subsidy should also be available to them to incentivize exploration and production. Modified direct benefit transfer scheme to be relaunched in the country salient features of the Modified DBTL scheme are as follows: The subsidy per domestic subsidized cylinder shall be fixed. All LPG consumers who join the modified DBTL scheme in future can receive LPG cash subsidy: - By linking Aadhaar number to the LPG and bank database as the primary option. OR

- Directly into the bank account without necessarily linking it with the use of Aadhaar as the secondary option. This will ensure that no consumer is denied LPG subsidy for want of Aadhaar number. All LPG consumers who had already joined the scheme solely based on Aadhaar number will start getting subsidy in their Aadhaar linked bank accounts after scheme is launched. LPG consumers will get a Grace Period of 3 months during which consumers who have joined the scheme will get subsidy in bank account and others will continue to get cylinders at subsidized price. LPG consumers who do not join the scheme after the 3 month grace period, will be eligible for an additional subsidy Parking Period of 3 months. During this period, LPG cylinders to all such consumers will be supplied at market price, but the subsidy due on all LPG supplies will be credited to the bank account as soon as consumer joins the scheme in this period and as per entitlement. LPG consumers who will now join the modified scheme in future will get a permanent advance towards the purchase of the first market priced cylinder equal to the fixed subsidy per cylinder. A revamped grievance system to attend to consumer grievances will be put in place. The Modified DBTL scheme will ensure that entitlement of LPG consumers is not diverted for ineligible purpose . DrJitendra Singh Launch’s ‘Jammu Kashmir Arogya Gram Yojana’ Under CSIR CSIR (Council for Scientific & Industrial Research), affiliated with the Ministry of Science & Technology, will identify thousand villages in Jammu & Kashmir for the growth of aromatic plants with active participation of local farmers and owners of the land. agricultural land with the potential for growth of aromatic plants will be identified and CSIR scientists as well as aroma experts from different parts of the country will educate and train the local farmers to bring up this cultivation. This will

not only enable the local farmers to usher in a new area of cultivation but will also prove economically beneficial to them. one of the important reasons to start this new scheme from Jammu region was that the IIIM (Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine), Jammu has been actively pursuing research and production of aromatic medicinal and perfumery products for several decades and some of the products produced from this laboratory are of international export quality. Once the new scheme gets going successfully from its initial start in Jammu & Kashmir, the same will then be extended to other States and also other parts of the country as well,

Environment ministry launches national air quality indexterming it “one number, one colour, one description” measure which will widely classify daily air quality and inform people in a simple manner. Javadekar referred to it as one of the initiatives under the Swacch Bharat Mission of the government. The index is classified into six categories — good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor, and severe — with colour coding ranging from green to dark red. This index transforms various air pollution levels into a single number for a simple description of air quality to citizens. The AQI is aimed at quickly disseminating air quality information real-time that entails the system to account for pollutants which have short-term impacts. The AQI will prompt the local authorities to take quick action to improve air quality and is aimed at people's participation in the process. Citizens can avoid unnecessary exposure to air pollutants, the union environment ministry said.The proposed AQI will map eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3 and Pb) for which short term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

20 October 2014

indian Naval Ship Teg, a Stealth Frigate of

the Indian Navy, is scheduled to make port

calls at Simon’s Town and Cape Town

between 20th October and 10th November

2014. The ship will participate in the fourth

edition of the biennial India-Brazil-South

Africa Maritime (IBSAMAR) Exercise.

Bankruptcy Reforms Committee Finance Minster in his Budget Speech of 2014-15 announced that an Entrepreneur friendly legal bankruptcy framework would be developed for SMEs to enable easy exit. Pursuant to the above announcement, a Committee has been set up under the Chairmanship of Shri TK Vishwanathan, former Secretary General, LokSabha and former Union Law Secretary, to study the corporate bankruptcy legal framework in India and submit a report by February next year. The Committee will examine the whole gamut of issues relating to bankruptcy including the following specific areas: i. Why bankruptcy matters? ii. Early detection and resolution of finacial distress iii. Protection of interest of stakeholders iv. Study the rescue mechanism and suggest ways of improving it v. Examine the role of the institutions engaged in the process of rescue and liquidation vi. Liquidation procedurefor smaller companies vii. Any other aspect relevant to the subject PM to inaugurate World Ayurveda Conference on November 6 the brand new All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) coming up at Jasola, Delhi, will admit the first batch of post-graduate students during the academic year 2015-16. AIIA will emerge as a Centre of Excellence dealing with fundamental research, drug safety evaluation, standardisation, quality control and scientific validation of Ayurveda medicines.

The Payment of Bonus Act enacted in the year 1965 (25th September, 1965) to provide for the payment of bonus to persons engaged in certain establishments on the basis of profits or on the basis of production and for matters connected therewith. The Act is applicable to whole of India. The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 provides for payment of bonus to the employees of ‘factories’ and ‘establishments’ employing 20 or more persons, excluding some categories of employees in Life Insurance Corporation, Seamen, Dock Workers, University employees, as per section 8 of the Act, every employee shall be entitled to be paid by his employer in accounting year, bonus, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, provided he has worked in establishment for not less than thirty working days in that year. eligibility limit and calculation ceiling under Sections 2(13) and 12 of the Act, were last revised from Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 10000/- p.m. and Rs 2500/- to Rs. 3500/- respectively in the year 2007 and made effective w.e.f 1.4.2006. Textiles Minister inaugurates “Silk Fab” exhibition handloom sector of India employs 65 lakh persons directly or indirectly which is next only to agricultural sector in the country. The art of handloom weaving has traditional values attached to it and each region has exquisite varieties. The uniqueness of silk products such as Pochampalli, Paithani, Kanjivaram, Banarasi, Jamdani, Baluchari, and Ikkat, to name a few attracts customers across the globe with exclusives weaves, designs and traditional motifs. Through these exhibitions, handloom agencies not only market their products at reasonable rates but also get to know customers’ choice with regard to colour, design and weaving for future improvement of the product. Government of India has launched the “Handloom Mark” scheme for

handloom products and “Silk Mark” for genuinity of silk products, to encourage and give a distinct identity to the products, apart from highlighting the uniqueness of the products. It also serves a guarantee for the buyer that the product being purchased is genuinely handwoven. All the exhibitors at the Silk Fab have been encouraged to display the ‘Handloom Mark’ and ‘Silk Mark’ tag on the products and thus aim to improve the earnings of the handloom weaver community. Indigenous Breed of Cow Has Great

Potential to Increase Farm Income

The indigenous breed of cow being disease

resistant and tolerant to tropical weather

conditions as compared to cross-bred cow

has great potential to increase the income

of our farming community. For this purpose,

only the present Government has launched

the RashtriyaGokul Mission for

improvement of indigenous cattle. The

project will yield rich dividends. The Mission

aims to conserve and develop indigenous

breeds in a focused and scientific manner,

for which breeding facilities will be set up

for breeds with high genetic potential.

‘A well thought out cattle breeding policy

which was in place 50 years ago which

included selective breeding of indigenous

milch cattle breeds in their breeding tracts

and to use them for upgrading local cattle.

However, the policy was not followed in

letter and spirit and indiscriminate

crossbreeding was done which has resulted

in erosion and dilution of our rich

germplasm of high yielding indigenous milch

breeds,’ said Dr Balyan.

Bankruptcy Reforms Committee

Finance Minister in his Budget Speech of

2014-15 announced that an Entrepreneur

friendly legal bankruptcy framework would

be developed. Pursuant to the above

announcement, a Committee has been set

up under the Chairmanship of Shri TK

Vishwanathan to study the corporate

bankruptcy legal framework in India and

submit a report by February next year.

The Committee will examine the whole

gamut of issues relating to bankruptcy

including the following specific areas:

i. Why bankruptcy matters?

ii. Early detection and resolution of

financial distress

iii. Protection of interest of

stakeholders

iv. Study the rescue mechanism and

suggest ways of improving it

v. Examine the role of the institutions

engaged in the process of rescue and

liquidation

vi. Liquidation procedure for smaller

companies

vii. Any other aspect relevant to the

subject

21 OCT 2014

PM expresses joy on India being re-elected

to UNHRC

The United Nations Human Rights Council

(UNHRC) is a United Nations System inter-

governmental body whose 47 member

states are responsible for promoting and

protecting human rights around the world.

The UNHRC is the successor to the UN

Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR,

herein CHR), and is a subsidiary body of the

UN General Assembly. The council works

closely with the Office of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

and engages the United Nations' special

procedures.

The UN General Assembly elects the

members who occupy the UNHRC's 47

seats. The General Assembly takes into

account the candidate States’ contribution

to the promotion and protection of human

rights, as well as their voluntary pledges and

commitments in this regard. The term of

each seat is three years, and no member

may occupy a seat for more than two

consecutive terms. The seats are distributed

among the UN's regional groups as follows:

13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern

Europe, eight for Latin America and the

Caribbean (GRULAC), and seven for the

Western European and Others Group

(WEOG). The General Assembly, via a two-

thirds majority, can suspend the rights and

privileges of any Council member that it

decides has persistently committed gross

and systematic violations of human rights

during its term of membership. The

resolution establishing the UNHRC states

that "members elected to the Council shall

uphold the highest standards in the

promotion and protection of human rights".

India was re-elected to the United Nation’s

main human rights for the period of 2014

to 2015, receiving highest number of votes.

PM chairs meeting on urban development

issues.

• PM: Revamp Urban Governance

• Align Urban Renewal with Digital India

Mission

Revamping urban governance should be at

the core of the vision of the Ministry of

Urban Development.

In order to realize this mission, need to

institutionalize special training programmes

for urban administrators to systematically

improve the quality of urban governance in

India. The Prime Minister called for

complete synergy between the Digital India

Mission, and the urban renewal mission.

This should include objectives such as

mobile governance, e-governance, solid

waste management, waste water

management etc.

The programmes should be implemented

in close consultation and coordination with

states, generally based on the PPP model.

Corresponding human resource

requirements should also be projected.

The Prime Minister said the Swachh Bharat

Abhiyaan should be linked to urban

development in a big way, so that there is a

demand from the grassroots for total

sanitation in cities. On Heritage cities, the

Prime Minister spoke about HRIDAY –

Heritage City Development and

Augmentation Yojana. He said that while

conserving the city`s heritage, care should

be taken that the people of heritage cities

get access to modern facilities. In the name

of conserving heritage, people of heritage

cities should not be kept deprived of

modern amenities.

Radha Mohan Singh emphasizes the need

to increase Productivity of Milch Cattle

India ranks first among the world’s milk

producing nations since 1998 and accounts

for about 17% of the cattle population and

64% of the buffalo population. However,

there is a great need to increase the

productivity of our milch cattle.

The milk production in India has reached

137.6 million tonnes in 2013-14 as

compared to 17 million tonnes in 1950-51.

During the last five years, the rate of

increase in milk production has remained at

4.2% which is higher than the growth rate of

population. As a result, per capita

availability of milk which was 130gm per

day during 1950-51 has increased to 302gm

per day during 2013-14 which is more than

186gm estimated for Asia and the world

average of 294gm. About 60% Indian

farmers are small and marginal, who

collectively own almost 75% of the female

bovines but only 40% of farmland.

Government of India has started

RashtriyaGokul Mission with the objective

of enhancing the milk production and

productivity of indigenous bovines, as also

to distribute the disease-free, high genetic

merit bulls of indigenous breeds for natural

service.

Issues raised were:

The issue of making strategy to

remove the dearth of green fodder.

steps to decide the milk pricing

policy and

Also equal priority to cross-breeding

of animals.

marketing facility for cow products,

vaccination of cattle on regular

basis, simplification of procedure for

loan by institutes like NABARD and

Milk Credit Card at minimum rate of

interest, setting up Gobar Bank and

Steps to improve the condition of

semen bank.

the need for making collection

centres for urine of cow so that it

becomes an additional source of

income for farmers.

Steps to control the slaughter of

milch cattle.

The issue of shortage of veterinary

doctors, veterinary colleges and

universities.

Government should look into export of

fodder in spite of the fact that our own

cattle are malnourished. A Feed Security Bill

on the lines of Food Security Bill should be

introduced to ensure availability of high

quality fodder for our cattle. The by-

products of cow should be properly tapped

so that it becomes an additional source of

income for the farmers.

Government should mount Awareness

Campaigns about nutritional and medicinal

value of milk of Indian breed. Good quality

indigenous breed centres should be

Performance Management & Delivery

Unit (PEMANDU) was formally

established on the 16th of September,

2009 and is a unit under the Prime

Minister's Department. PEMANDU's

main role and objective is to oversee

the implementation, assess the

progress, facilitate as well as support

the delivery and drive the progress of

the Government Transformation

Programme (GTP) and the Economic

Transformation Programme (ETP).

Chairman of the PEMANDU board is

the Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB

Dato' Sri MohdNajib Bin Tun Abdul

Razak.

available at every 200-300km distance so

that small farmers can also get benefitted.

Indian Delegation to the ITU Conference

Lead by Communications and Information

Technology Minister Shri Ravi Shankar

Prasad called for Democratisation of Global

Affairs of Telecommunications and Internet

Governance

India wants democratisation and broad-

basing of the global affairs of

telecommunications and internet

governance the main message at the

inaugural of the International

Telecommunications Union (ITU)

Conference at Busan in South Korea. India’s

point is that ITU should take leadership

and partner with UN and other

International/Regional organizations in

executing the Information and

Communication Technology projects and

programs in developing countries. India

also wants the ITU to be the supervisory

authority of Space Assets. India expressed

its desire that ITU should play a more active

role in the global Internet governance as

envisaged during the World Summit on

Information Society (WSIS).

The Indian delegation has been participating

in The Plenipotentiary Conference, which is

the top policy-making body of the 193

member strong International

Telecommunications Union. It meets once

in every four years. India has also been

pitching for a re-election into the ITU

Council.

Project Report on “DRISHTI” Submitted to

Finance Minister

The Government constituted a High

Powered Committee (HPC) on “DRISHTI” -

(Driving Information System for Holistic

Tax Initiatives) in February 2014.

The Committee has finalised the Report

after holding extensive discussions with the

departmental officers, technical experts,

taxpayers and other stake holders to

understand the present business practices,

IT initiatives and stakeholders expectations.

The Report, after examining the existing

business processes and the current status of

IT Systems in CBEC, has highlighted the

areas for improvement. The

recommendations of the Committee aim at

leveraging IT for improving the quality and

extent of taxpayer services, encouraging

voluntary tax compliance and detecting tax

evasion.

The Strategic Recommendations of the

Committee include the following:

o Creation of National Taxpayer Services

Directorate, National Assessment Centre

for Customs & National Processing Centre

for Central Excise & Service Tax Returns,

National Targeting Centre & Directorate of

International Customs

o Setting up of specialised function-based

units for Data Analytics & Business

Intelligence, Tax Dispute Resolution and

Litigation, BPR, etc

o Leveraging Service Oriented

Architecture for IT Applications

o Merging different Customs IT

Applications into a Single System

o Enabling Mobility solutions in Business

Workflows

o Introduction of Entity-based Risk

Management System

o Introduction of IT Centric HR Policy

Minister of Food Processing Industries

Reiterates the Need to Strengthen further

Indo-French Cooperation in Agro-

processing Sector.

Government of India has reiterated the

need to strengthen Indo-French

cooperation in agro-processing sector

during her recent visit to France.

SIAL (Salon International de l`Alimentation)

is one of the largest food fairs in the world

and it is held every two years in Paris.

Dr Harsh Vardhan spells out Ebola action

plan

India has put in place the same surveillance-

tracking systems for checking the dreaded

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which has

succeeded in Nigeria leading to the African

nation being declared “Ebola-Free” by

World Health Organisation yesterday.

Minister said all international airports and

sea ports will soon be fitted out with

thermal scanners and other EVD detection

equipment for 24x7 deployment.

The use of thermal scanners, which has

made Nigeria’s success possible, is widely

prevalent in most of the 15 major airports,

often two to each. A further lot of scanners

will be purchased and installed over the

next few days. These scanners, which

resemble the radar guns used by police

officers to catch speeding motorists, can

detect high body temperature among

people queued up before immigration

counters. Fever is one of the commonest

symptoms of EVD.

Electronic Toll Collection: A Uniform

Standard of Service to Commuters

With the inauguration of Electronic Toll

Collection (ETC) System a uniform and

acceptable standard of service to the

commuters would become a reality. ETC has

already been installed at 55 Toll Plazas and

their integration with Central Clearing

House (CCH) operators has almost been

completed. A pilot project for Interoperable

ETC system of 10 toll plazas between

Mumbai (Charoti) and Ahmadabad has

already been tested and seamless ETC on

this section is successfully in operation.

The Central Government has issued orders

to incorporate ETC lanes as a mandatory

clause in the contracts awarded for all the

Highway projects in future. Action will be

taken to include ETC system by means of

supplementary agreement in those projects

which have not yet been started. For

implementing ETC across the country, a new

Company under Company`s Act 1956, with

equity participation from NHAI (25%),

Concessionaires (50%) and Financial

Institutions (25%) has already been

constituted. The name of the new company

is “Indian Highways Management Company

Limited”.

The objectives of the proposed new

company are collection of toll through

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System and

to manage the project strategically,

administratively, legally, technically and

commercially, providing services of central

ETC system which includes toll transaction

clearing house operations, helpdesk support

and setting up of call centres for incident

management, intelligent transport systems

among others. A Service Provider

Agreement for Central Clearing House

Services for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)

between Indian Highways Management

Company Ltd. (IHMCL) and ICICI Bank along

with Axis bank, has been signed.

The Government of India has embarked on

an ambitious plan for building India’s

highway network through various phases of

the National Highways Development Project

(NHDP) which are being financed largely

through user fees collected from the users

of the improved highways. The existing

National Highways need regular

maintenance and upgradation for which

fund mobilisation is an important factor.

This underlines the need for a large scale

tolling of the highways. The common

method of toll collection is by having a

vehicle pass through a toll plaza where it

pays the toll. The user fee (toll) for the

National Highways is levied as per the

National Highway Fee (Determination of

Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008 and its

amendments.

At present there are some problems in

collecting tolls. These are by way of not

having a uniform rate throughout various

sections of National Highways in India.

Secondly, BOT (Toll), BOT (Annuity) and

Public Funded Projects have different toll

collecting agencies, which is an impediment

for a uniform acceptable standard of service

to the commuters. There are many

complaints of overcharging and

undercharging. There are many complaints

of non-reporting/under-reporting of the toll

fee collected by the agents who are

entrusted with the job. The problems

include congestion and crowding of vehicles

at toll booths leading to wastage of time

and fuel.

In order to remove the bottlenecks and

ensure seamless movement of traffic and

collection of toll as per the notified rates,

Government had constituted a committee

on Electronic Toll Collection technology for

use on National Highways under the

chairmanship of ShriNandanNilekani,

Chairman, Unique Identification Authority

of India. This Committee`s mandate was to

examine all technologies available for ETC

and recommend the most suitable

technology for local conditions.

Ministry of Steel to set up “Steel Research

& Technology Mission of India”

Ministry of Steel will set up a “Steel

Research & Technology Mission of India”

(SRTMI) to promote collaborative research

programmes in steel sector. SRTMI will be

steel industry’s contribution to ‘Make in

India, Made in India’ initiative. Investment

on Research & Development in the steel

sector must increase from present level of

0.2-0.3 % of turnover to international

benchmark of 1-2 % of turnover by the

leading companies.

SRTMI is to be formed as a registered

society in close cooperation amongst the

steel companies, academia and relevant

institutions in the country. SRTMI will be

governed by a Governing Board of CEOs of

steel and associated companies. SRTMI will

carry out R&D in priority areas of national

importance covering best usage of available

raw materials & conservation of natural

resources, optimum energy conservation &

minimum emissions leading to innovations

and in-house development of design,

engineering & manufacturing facilities of

key steel plant equipment. The task force

further proposed that SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW

Steel, JSPL, Essar Steel, RINL, NMDC &

MECON will be the initial participating

companies who will sign MOU besides

Ministry of Steel.

22nd Oct 2014

Former Chief Election Commissioner, Shri N

Gopalaswami appointed as Chairman of

Kalakshetra Foundation Chennai

The Government has appointed Shri N

Gopalaswami as Chairman of the Governing

Board of the Kalakshetra Foundation in

Chennai. N Gopalaswami has been

appointed as the Chairman for a term of 5

years from the date of publication of the

notification. ShriGopalaswami was former

Chief Election Commissioner of India.

Kalakshetra is a cultural academy dedicated

to the preservation of traditional values in

Indian art, especially in the field of

Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda

music. The academy was founded in January

1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale. Under

Arundale's guidance the institution achieved

national and international recognition for its

unique style and perfection. In 1962,

Kalakshetra moved to a new campus in

Besant Nagar, Chennai, India, occupying 40

hectares (99 acres) of land and kalakshetra

foundation as a whole consists of

Rukmanidevi college of fine arts,

besantarundale senior secondary school,

besantthesophical higher secondary school

and a weaving unit. In January 1994, an Act

of the Indian Parliament recognised the

Kalakshetra Foundation as an 'Institute of

National Importance.

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Launches All India Survey on Higher

Education (AISHE) 2014-15

the All India Survey on Higher Education

(AISHE) 2014-15 was launched by the

MoHRD. The survey, undertaken as an

annual, web-based, pan-India exercise on

the status of Higher Education since 2010-

11, covers all the Higher Educational

Institutions in the country.

The annual survey collects data on several

parameters like teachers, student

enrolment, programmes, examination

results, education finance, infrastructure,

etc. Such parameters and the data collected

under these come in handy for making

informed policy decisions and conducting

research in education development.

RashtriyaEktaDiwas

The Government has decided to observe

the birth anniversary of SardarVallabhbhai

Patel as the ‘RashtriyaEktaDiwas’ (National

Unity Day) on 31st October every year. This

occasion will provide an opportunity to re-

affirm the inherent strength and resilience

of our nation to withstand the actual and

potential threats to the unity, integrity and

security of our country.

All the Government Offices, Public Sector

Undertakings and other Public Institutions

will arrange a pledge taking ceremony to

observe the RashtriyaEktaDiwas. The

Ministry of Human Resource Development

has been requested to issue suitable

instructions that the students of Schools

and Colleges may be administered the

RashtriyaEktaDiwas Pledge to motivate

them to strive to maintain the unity and

integrity of the country.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises gets ISO 9001: 2008 Certificate

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises has been awarded ISO

9001:2008 certification, demonstrating the

Ministry’s mission of promoting the growth

and development of Micro, Small and

Medium Enterprises with dedication and

commitment. ISO standards will enable the

Ministry to identify areas for improvement

and also bring in transparency and

accountability in the functioning.

The award of ISO 9001:2008 certification

indicates that the Ministry has implemented

a quality management system that enables

it to consistently provide services that

meets customer and applicable statutory

and regulatory requirements, and to

enhance customer satisfaction through the

effective application of the system,

including processes for continual

improvement of the system and the

assurance of conformity to customer and

applicable statutory and regulatory

requirements.

TUV India Ltd was engaged as the Certifying

Body for audit of Quality Management

Systems of the Ministry as per ISO

Standards.

24th Oct 2014

DIPP Constitutes IPR Think Tank to Draft

National Intellectual Property Rights Policy

Department of Industrial Policy and

Promotion has constituted a IPR Think Tank

to draft the National Intellectual Property

Rights Policy and to advice the Department

of Industrial Policy and Promotion on IPR

issues.

The terms of reference of the IPR Think

Tank will be as follows;

To draft National Intellectual

Property Rights Policy.

To identify areas in the IPRs where

study needs to be conducted and to

furnish recommendations in this

regard to the Ministry.

To provide views on the possible

implications of demands placed by

the negotiating partners.

To keep the Government regularly

informed about the developments

taking place in IPR cases which have

an impact upon India`s IPR Policy.

To advise the Government on best

practices to be followed in

Trademark Offices, Patent Offices

and other Government Offices

dealing with IPR in order to create

an efficient and transparent system

of functioning in the said offices.

To prepare periodic reports on best

practice followed in foreign

countries.

To highlight anomalies in the

present IPR legislations and to

advice possible solutions to the

Ministry.

To give suggestions on the steps

that may be taken for improving

infrastructure in IP offices and

Tribunals.

To examine the current issues raised

by industry associations and those

that may have appeared in media

and to give suggestions to the

Ministry on such issues.

Dr Harsh Vardhan offers cooperation to

Pakistan to end polio on World Polio Day

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister,

has offered the Government of Pakistan full

cooperation in helping eradicate polio from

that country. Pakistan today accounts for 85

percent of the world’s polio cases today, a

cause for concern for India, her immediate

neighbour to the east.

On the occasion of the World Polio Day, Dr

Harsh Vardhan welcomed Pakistan Prime

Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif’s recent

declaration of adoption of a “National

Emergency Action Plan-2014”. The

programme will be fully State funded till

2018.

Recalling the Joint Statement issued at the

end of the Foreign Minister-level talks in

September 2012, Dr Harsh Vardhan pointed

out that the two countries had already

talked of institutionalising cooperation on

polio eradication through the mechanism of

a Joint Working Group. There is also a

technical level working group in the area of

Health cooperation. However, there was no

significant progress on this front. India

achieved full freedom from polio in January

2014 due to the fact that not a single new

case had been detected since January 2011.

In the context of Pakistan and Afghanistan,

polio is just a bus ride away. Dr Harsh

Vardhan said that special measures have

been put in place at border crossings. These

include vaccination facilities for travellers

travelling both ways to Pakistan and having

emergency response plans in place along

with teams to execute them. The Ministry of

Health is taking steps to introduce the

injectable polio virus in the Universal

Immunisation Programme from 2015. This is

in line with the Global Polio Eradication

Initiative’s action plan to replace oral

vaccines with the injectable variety.

Electronic Toll Collection System to be

Inaugurated on October 31, 2014

The launching of the Electronic Toll

Collection (ETC) system has been installed

at 55 Toll Plazas and their integration with

Central Clearing House (CCH) operators has

almost been completed on the Delhi-

Mumbai route via Haryana, Rajasthan,

Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

A pilot project for Interoperable ETC system

of 10 toll plazas between Mumbai (Charoti)

and Ahmadabad has already been tested

and seamless ETC on this section is

successfully in operation.

The Central Government has issued orders

to incorporate ETC lanes as a mandatory

clause in the contracts awarded for all the

Highways projects in future. Action will be

taken to include ETC system by means of

supplementary agreement in those projects

which have not yet been started. For

implementing ETC across the country, a new

company under Company`s Act 1956, with

equity participation from NHAI (25%),

Concessionaires (50%) and Financial

Institutions (25%) has already been

constituted. The name of the new company

is“Indian Highways Management Company

Limited”.

The objectives of the proposed new

company are collection of toll through ETC

and to manage the project strategically,

administratively, legally, technically and

commercially providing services of central

ETC system which includes toll transaction

clearing house operations, helpdesk support

and setting up of call centres for incident

management and intelligent transport

systems among others. Necessary

amendments have already been made in

the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 for

fitment of Radio Frequency Identification

(RFID)tag on vehicles for ETC.

At present there are some problems in

collecting tolls. These are by way of not

having uniform rate throughout various

sections of National Highways in India.

Secondly, BOT (Toll), BOT (Annuity) and

Public Funded Projects have different toll

collecting agencies, which is an impediment

for a uniform acceptable standard of service

to the commuters. There are many

complaints of overcharging and

undercharging. There are many complaints

on non-reporting/under-reporting of the

toll fee collected by the agents who are

entrusted for the collection. There is

congestion and crowding of vehicles at toll

booths leading to wastage of time and fuel

etc.

In order to remove the bottlenecks and

ensure seamless movement of traffic and

collection of toll as per the notified rates,

Government had constituted a committee

on Electronic Toll Collection technology for

use on National Highways under the

chairmanship of ShriNandanNilekani,

Chairman, Unique Identification Authority

of India. This Committee`s mandate was to

examine all technologies available for ETC

and recommend the most suitable

technology for local conditions. Considering

user convenience, rate of acceptance and

ease of implementation, passive Radio

Frequency Identification (RFID) based on

EPC, Gen-2, ISO 18000-6C Standards for ETC

technology was adopted by the

Government.

25th Oct 2014

Commemorative Postage Stamp on

AnagarikaDharmapala

Department of Posts, Ministry of

Communications & IT has brought out a

Commemorating Postage Stamp on

SrimathAnagarikaDharmapala, the great

Buddhist thinker and visionary from Sri

Lanka.

The release of the commemorative postage

stamp on AnagarikaDharmapala is expected

to contribute towards further strengthening

the bilateral ties between India and Sri

Lanka and bring the two nations closer.

Buddhism, one of the major religions in the

world began in India and is a faith based on

non-violence and pursuit of spiritual

excellence rather than material

aggrandizement. It’s principles continue to

have great relevance even in this age.

Buddhism promotes peace and stability and

strongly advocates the spirit of compassion

and tolerance. It aims to wean the humanity

away from war and skirmishes and inspires

people to channelize their collective energy

towards the betterment of society.

This stamp release on one of the apostles of

Buddhism, once again reminds us to work

relentlessly and collectively to ensure an era

of peace, stability and friendly bilateral and

multilateral ties in order to create an

enabling environment for the rapid socio-

economic development of the people.

AnagarikaDharmapala, was one of the

founding contributors of Sinhalese Buddhist

nationalism and was also a pioneer in the

revival of Buddhism in India. He not only

embraced Buddhism but also lent it

Sinhalese nationalist character. He waged a

protracted struggle to protect and conserve

the foundations of Buddhism in its place of

birth, India. He joined the Theosophical

Society and spearheaded the reform and

revival of Ceylonese Buddhism and its

propagation. He later entered the order of

Buddhist monks as Venerable Sri

DevamittaDharmapala and is considered a

Bodhisattva in Sri Lanka. He was ordained a

bhikkhu at Sarnath in 1933 and he died

there in December of the same year.

In 1891, AnagarikaDharmapala went on a

pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple at

Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha had attained

enlightenment. He decided to work towards

restoring its glory. Accordingly, the Maha

Bodhi Society at Colombo was founded in

1891 and one of its primary aims was the

restoration to Buddhist control of the

Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya.

Many people remember

AnagarikaDharmapala for his religious zeal.

But there was another aspect to this

towering figure - his practical vision

regarding the alleviation of poverty. The

voice of AnagarikaDharmapala was also a

significant factor in Ceylon’s historical

struggle for freedom from the British Raj.

He spoke of the importance of a firm

educational and economic foundation if the

struggle for freedom was to succeed. He

also concentrated on establishing schools

and hospitals in his country. He had a vision

of a newly emerging Ceylon, which could

effectively link up with other countries and

forge ahead. In 1893 Dharmapala was

invited to attend the World Parliament of

Religions in Chicago as a representative of

"Southern Buddhism" - which was the term

applied at that time to the Theravada. There

he met Swami Vivekananda and like him, he

was also a great success at the Parliament.

PM rededicates Sir H.N. Reliance

Foundation Hospital and Research Centre

in Mumbai. PM: Just as this hospital has

undergone kayakalp (renewal), India too

can undergo kayakalp (renewal). PM:

India`s health indicators need

improvement - let us all contribute to the

best of our ability. PM: India should

manufacture state of the art medical

equipment. PM: Focus on holistic

healthcare. India can serve not only its own

people but others as well.

The Prime Minister expressed concern over

India`s health indicators such as infant

mortality and maternal mortality. He said

medical equipment was gaining increasing

importance in the field of healthcare, and

the need of the hour is for India to

manufacture such equipment, as part of the

`Make in India` programme, so that it

became available to the poorest of people

even in remote corners of India. Referring

to the Digital India programme of the Union

Government, he said one of the primary

aims of this programme was to ensure

advanced healthcare in remote areas

through telemedicine, and access to the

best education for poor.

27th Oct 2014

‘Promoting Good Governance and

Accountability through Public Audit’

In 1858, CAG, the supreme audit authority

was called the Accountant General. The

authority was re-designated four times

before the adoption of the Constitution

when the term Comptroller and Auditor

General (CAG) of India was provided. Under

Article 148 of our Constitution, the CAG is

an independent constitutional authority

which is neither a part of the legislature nor

the executive. Article 151 prescribes that

the reports of the CAG relating to the

accounts of the Union and the States are

submitted to the President or the Governor

of the State respectively and they shall

cause the reports to be laid in the

Parliament or the State Legislative

Assembly.

Evidently, the founding fathers of our

Constitution had envisaged a prominent

role for public audit in our country’s

governance and accountability framework.

The concept is not new. In the old treatises,

ancient texts of administration, particularly

Arthashastra, Kautilya prescribed extensive

arrangements for accounting and auditing.

The organizational structure for financial

management comprised two distinct

hierarchies - a Treasurer and a Comptroller-

Auditor – both were directly responsible to

the King. He placed high premium on public

audit conducted by incorruptible officials.

Good governance is the exercise of power,

within the framework of the Constitution,

for efficient and effective management of

our economic and social resources for the

well-being of the vast multitude of the

people, through the institutions of state.

But it has to be nurtured. Audit institutions

play an enabling role in ushering in good

governance in democratic functioning.

Accountability of public functionaries is an

integral part of any good governance

framework, more so in a democratic polity.

Accountability of public servants extends to

maintenance of probity in official dealings,

compliance with legal obligations and

commitment to efficient delivery of public

service. In recent years, there has been a

global surge in demand for accountability of

those entrusted with governance. In a

parliamentary democracy like ours, the

executive is held accountable to the

Legislature. The reports of the CAG

submitted to the Legislature play a seminal

role in the enforcement of accountability.

The audits by the Indian Audit & Accounts

Department under the CAG cover the three

tiers of government and other

instrumentalities of the State. The CAG is

also the only supreme audit institution with

an accounting mandate as well. The

Constitution has placed this institution at a

vantage point providing it with insight into

performance of different agencies engaged

in financial administration of our country.

The broad audit mandate provides the CAG

access to programme and project

implementation at national and sub-

national levels. CAG scrutinize the allocation

and flow of public funds between different

implementing authorities. Thereafter,

evaluate and report on their prompt and

effective utilization, disseminate good

practices and stimulate course correction

through identification of bottlenecks. The

perspective available to CAG by virtue of

auditing multiple governance entities

provides valuable inputs for promotion of

good governance in the country.

Audit is a means to an end rather than an

end in itself. While audit findings are a

barometer of good governance, their utility

is manifested only when all the

stakeholders, particularly the Executive,

Legislature and citizens believe in the

credibility of these findings and use them

for enhancing the quality of governance.

This casts a great responsibility on the

public auditor to conduct audit

professionally with utmost diligence and

independence, and to report in a fair and

balanced manner. Both the public auditor

and the audited entity have to recognize

that the objective of audit is ultimately to

improve the implementation of governance

strategies. Towards this end, audit should

be considered a tool for improvement.

Accountability of the Executive stems from

the requirement of rendering of an account

to the Legislature that authorized it to tax

and expend. Here I would like to mention

that more time needs to be devoted in

Parliament for detailed scrutiny of financial

proposals and financial matters. The Audit

report is a valuable input for the authorities

empowered to hold a public functionary to

account, in making judgments on their level

of performance and recommending

improvements. In India, this responsibility is

vested with the Public Accounts Committee

and Committee on Public Undertakings that

act on behalf of the Legislature. Effective

functioning of these legislative committees,

and close association between them and

the audit authorities are a blueprint of audit

effectiveness, and through it, of governance

practices.

There is no static finality about the scope

and objective of public audit. They are

shaped by societal concerns which find

expression through legislative enactments

and judicial pronouncements. The frontiers

of public audit have been the subject of

public debate and litigation in our country

recently. Judicial verdicts have underscored

the paramount role of our audit institution

in ensuring parliamentary accountability in

use of public resources by any entity,

whether in the public or private domain.

The right of CAG to carry out performance

audits of government entities and to verify

underlying transactions of even private

concerns to provide assurance about the

State receiving its legitimate share of

revenues arising out of the use of public

resources is now well established. This

paradigm shift in your audit mandate

encourages development of appropriate

policies and procedures to govern audit

process. It calls for substantial capacity

development in the Department.

The platforms used for delivery of public

service influences the conduct of audit. As

‘Digital India’ becomes the backbone of

government functioning, it calls for

transformation in the traditional methods of

audit. The leverage that e-governance can

provide for improving efficiency, cost and

coverage of audit have to be utilized well by

revisiting standard operating procedures.

In States where the CAG has an accounting

role, there is scope to improve services

without compromising on due diligence.

CAG must proactively engage with the

States in their programmes for

modernization of government accounts and

financial management systems.

Partnerships already initiated by CAG have

to continue to make accounting an effective

tool for accountability.

Time-bound delivery of goods and services

by public functionaries is the right of

citizens. It is not a bounty from the State.

Many States have legislated for prompt

delivery of public services. The institution of

CAG can facilitate successful

implementation of this legal right by

reporting through its compliance audits the

achievement of these performance

standards by public authorities.

Sir Walter of Henley’s 13thCentury Treatise

of Housebandry mentions and I quote:"The

Auditors ought to be faithful and prudent,

knowing their business…. It is not necessary

so to speak to the Auditors about making

audits for they ought to be so prudent, and

so faithful, and so knowing in their business,

that they have no need of others’ teaching

about things connected with the accounts”

(unquote).

The value of an audit system, where no

outsider prescribes as to how to go about

auditing, is universally recognized. The

institution of CAG of India is no exception.

Such trust in the capability and

independence of your institution also casts

a huge responsibility on you to keep your

knowledge up-to-date and to uphold

highest professional standards. Public

auditing is a knowledge-based venture.

Knowledge is fast multiplying. I am

confident that you will be up to the task in

keeping yourself abreast of latest

developments in diverse fields of

contemporary relevance.

As watchdogs of national public finances,

the institution of CAG has a positive and

pre-eminent role in accelerating national

development.

Dr Jitendra Singh Administers Vigilance

Awareness pledge in PMO

As a part of "Vigilance Awareness Week",

Union Minister of State (Independent

Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth

Sciences, MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh took

pledge against corruption along with

officers and staff members of Prime

Minister’s Office (PMO).

Eradication of corruption is one of the top

priorities of the NarendraModi Government

and ever since the new Ministry took nearly

five months ago, wide range of measures

have been contemplated for the eradication

of corruption and bringing to book those

found guilty in different scams. Corruption

in high places works as a fountain head of

corruption percolating to the lower rungs of

administration and therefore, the process of

eradication of corruption must start from

the top, he said.

Pertinent to mention here that the theme of

Vigilance Awareness Week this year is

“Combating Corruption – Technology as an

enabler”.

The week long awareness programmes will

seek to focus on adoption of technology to

enhance transparency, making procedures

less cumbersome and reducing delays in

decision making. There will also be

interactive sessions on Information and

Technology aimed at making the process

faster and less prone to corruption.

US India Business Delegation Meets

Agriculture Minister

An executive level delegation of US India

Business Council having representatives

from Food and Agriculture sector today met

Union Agriculture Minister. Detailing the

purpose of their visit the delegation said

that they have come to express their

commitment to advancing agricultural

development in India and discuss areas

where the Government and industry can

collaborate. India’s minister stated that

India is aiming for increasing the

productivity.

In this regard Government have started

new initiatives like Irrigation Scheme, Soil

Health Card, and Mobile Soil Health Lab etc.

All these measures are proposed to be

taken in a mission mode. Under Soil Health

Card Scheme, the nutritious ingredients of

soil will be measured so that appropriate

fertilizer may be used for different types of

soils. This scheme aims to cover 14.5 crore

farmers during next 3 years.

Emphasizing the need for encouraging

organic farming the Minister said that

certain states, which have soil rich in water

content and other nutrients, are proposed

to be developed as a hub of organic

farming. Today agriculture includes

horticulture, dairying, fisheries and animal

husbandry also for which, government is

taking steps to develop all these sectors and

necessary research and development work

is also being undertaken in this regard.

Two IARI institutes will be set up in Ranchi

and Assam and 639 KVKs are also being

strengthened to give necessary inputs to

the farmers. Government have also

sanctioned setting up of horticulture

university one each in Rajasthan and

Haryana.

To avoid wastage of perishable goods like

fruits and vegetables, Government has

given emphasis on cold chain development,

rural storage and abolition of Mandi Act.

Minister apprised the delegation about the

blue revolution in fisheries sector.

Government is committed to strengthen

communities to fight challenges posed by

Climate Change

Minister for Environment, Forests and

Climate Change has said adaptation,

capacity building, and strengthening rural

communities would be the top priority for

the Government to address the challenges

posed by climate change. The Government

would shortly be finalizing a comprehensive

Action Plan on the Climate Change

Adaptation Fund introduced in the Union

Budget

Climate change is a comprehensive issue

needed to be addressed at the Global,

National, Regional and even at the local

level i.e. at the State and District level.

While at the global level the focus was on

emission cuts and mitigation, India’s

perspective had focused on financial and

technological support, information sharing

and technology transfer for the developing

communities to scale up adaptation

strategies.

On the issue of climate change adaptation

he emphasized that, community-based,

participatory approach and emphasized that

efficient watershed management and water

budgeting, soil health cards, and disaster-

risk mitigation strategies were of

paramount importance.

Three Day International Cross Regional

Conference on “Increasing Financial

Outreach of the Youth Population, 2014-

Postal Savings Bank Forum and 90th

Anniversary of World Thrift (Savings) Day”

to begin here tomorrow; Focus on Defining

Youth, their Finance and Savings needs at

Different Life Stages and the role of

Financial Education in Motivating the

Youth to Save

The importance of public savings was

realized by the international community and

as per the decision taken in the year 1924,

during the International Savings Congress

held in Milan, Italy, the International

Savings Banks Institute, now known as

World Savings & Retail Banks Institute came

into existence. WSBI is an apex body of

savings and retail banks from all over the

world with 109 Members from 78

countries. The Institute works for

promotion of savings and organizes various

conferences, workshops, seminars through

sharing of experiences and information on

products and services available in the

Member countries for replication by making

amendments / modifications suited to the

local conditions.

India has got highest rate of young

population i.e. 65 % of the population is

below the age of 35 years. At present there

are no products and services which can

cater to the specific need of youth

population. There will be an exchange of

information about the products and services

being offered by different savings and retail

banks from all over the world. Through

marketing of these products we can also

promote the virtues of thrift and savings

among the youth population and thereby

help in containing inflation to some extent

and increasing domestic savings rate.

NEW INITIATIVES TAKEN BY THE

GOVERNMENT TO PROMOTE SAVINGS

To arrest the declining trend in savings rate

and to create a congenial atmosphere for

development of savings habit among the

people, the Union Finance Minister

ShriArunJaitley, in his Budget speech

announced revitalization of small savings

and new initiatives have been taken by the

Government :

Deposit limit under Public Provident

Fund Scheme has been enhanced

from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakhs.

KisanVikasPatra – a popular savings

scheme, which was discontinued

w.e.f. 1.12.2011 has been re-

launched and a notification in this

regard is being issued. Under the

said scheme, the investment will

double in 100 months.

To address the concerns of

education and marriage expenses of

girl child, a new savings scheme has

been designed and the same is likely

to be launched shortly.

To provide social security through

savings, a new savings certificate

scheme with insurance component

is also being designed and will be

launched shortly.

To enhance the outreach of the

schemes to the people, the new

schemes being launched will also be

made available to the investors,

through the authorized branches of

nationalized and commercial banks.

A massive programme for bringing

operation of the savings schemes in

Post Offices on CBS platform has

been launched by the Department

of Posts and the schemes have

already been put on CBS platform in

more than 600 Post Offices.

Dr Harsh Vardhan to issue global call for

fighting TB. Significant MoU with Spain on

organ transplant knowhow transfer on

anvil

“Moving out of the Box to end Global TB

epidemic: with post-2015 strategy.” Was

the title of Ministers address in Barcelona.

In his address to international health

experts, Dr Harsh Vardhan will stress the

importance of community driven solutions

to TB, the disease which is considered the

biggest killer worldwide. Its incidence is the

highest in India, a country which reports

230 cases per 1 lakh population.

Another significant aspect of the Minister’s

tour is his using the forum to

unambiguously state India’s opposition to

e-cigarette marketing and consumption as

research has shown that it eventually leads

to more people surrendering to tobacco.

Dr Harsh Vardhan has already attracted

international attention for advocating the

highest ever tax hike on tobacco products as

implemented through the Union Budget

2014-15. In fact the symposia agenda

planned for the event is expected to include

“The impact of cigarette tax increases on

tobacco consumption in India”.

Cabinet Secretary ShriAjit Seth reviews the

preparedness in the wake of impending

cyclonic storm ‘Nilofar’

Centre gears up to provide every assistance

to Gujarat Government

Additional Information

RashtriyaGokul Mission

The “RashtriyaGokul Mission” aims to

conserve and develop indigenous breeds in

a focused and scientific manner.

Scheme involves :

a) establishment of Integrated Indigenous

Cattle Centres viz “Gokul Gram”;

b) Strengthening of bull mother farms to

conserve high genetic merit Indigenous

Breeds;

c) Establishment of Field Performance

Recording (FPR) in the breeding tract

d) Assistance to Institutions/Institutes which

are repositories of best germplasm;

e) Implementation of Pedigree Selection

Programme for the Indigenous Breeds with

large population;

f) Establishment of Breeder’s Societies:

GopalanSangh

g) Distribution of disease free high genetic

merit bulls for natural service

h) Incentive to farmers maintaining elite

animals of indigenous breeds;

i) Heifer rearing programme; award to

Farmers (“GopalRatna” ) and Breeders’

Societies (“Kamadhenu” );

j) Organization of Milk Yield Competitions

for indigenous breeds and

k) Organization of Training Programme for

technical and non technical personnel

working at the Institute/Institutions

engaged in indigenous cattle development.

Gokul Gram:

Under this component it is proposed to

establish Integrated Indigenous Cattle

Centres or Gokul Grams in the breeding

tracts of indigenous breeds

Gokul Grams will be established in

the native breeding tracts and near

metropolitan cities for housing the

urban cattle.

Gokul Gram will act as Centres for

development of Indigenous Breeds

and a dependable source for supply

of high genetic breeding stock to

the farmers in the breeding tract.

The Gokul Gram will be self

sustaining and will generate

economic resources from sale of A2

milk, organic manure, vermi-

composting, urine distillates, and

production of electricity from bio

gas for in house consumption and

sale of animal products.

The Gokul Gram will also function

as state of the art in situ training

centre for Farmers, Breeders and

MAITRI’s.

Each Gokul Gram will be set up by the EIA

and function under the auspices of the SIA/

EIA or in a PPP mode. The Gokul Gram will

maintain milch and unproductive animals in

the ratio of 60:40 and will have the capacity

to maintain about 1000 animals. Nutritional

requirements of the animals will be

provided in the Gokul Gram through in

house fodder production. Disease free

status of Gokul Gram will be maintained

through regular screening of animals for

important diseases like brucellosis, TB and

JD. An inbuilt dispensary and AI centre will

be an integral part of the Gokul Gram. Gokul

Gram will also be set up near to

metropolitan cities for managing urban

cattle. Metropolitan Gokul Gram will focus

on genetic upgradation of urban cattle.

Blue Revolution

Blue Revolution means the adoption of a

package programme to increase the

production of fish and marine products. The

Blue Revolution in India was started in 1970

during the Fifth Five-Year Plan when the

Central Government sponsored the Fish

Farmers Development Agency (FFDA).

Subsequently, the Brakish Water Fish Farms

Development Agency were set up to

develop aquaculture. The Blue Revolution

has brought improvement in aquaculture by

adopting new techniques of fish breeding,

fish rearing, fish marketing, and fish export.

Under the Blue Revolu-tion programme,

there had been a tremendous increase in

the production of shrimp. Andhra Pradesh

and Tamil Nadu have developed shrimp in a

big way. The Nellore District of Andhra

Pradesh is known as the 'Shrimp Capital of

India'.

There are more than 1800 species of fish

found in the sea and inland waters of India,

of which a very few are commercially

important. The important sea fish include

catfish, herring, mackerels, perches,

mullets, Indian salmon, shell fish, eels,

anchovies, and dorab. Similarly, the main

fresh water fish include catfish, loaches,

perches, eels, herrings, feather backs,

mullets, carps, prawns, murrels, and

anchovies.

Soil Health Card

Soil health needs to be assessed at regular

intervals so as to ensure that farmers apply

the required nutrients while taking

advantages of the nutrients already present

in the soil.

Government has launched a scheme to

provide every farmer a Soil Health Card in a

Mission mode. The card will carry crop wise

recommendations of nutrients/fertilizers

required for farms, making it possible for

farmers to improve productivity by using

appropriate inputs.

A Soil Health Card is used to assess the

current status of soil health and, when used

over time, to determine changes in soil

health that are affected by land

management. A Soil Health Card displays

soil health indicators and associated

descriptive terms. The indicators are

typically based on farmers' practical

experience and knowledge of local natural

resources. The card lists soil health

indicators that can be assessed without the

aid of technical or laboratory equipment.

Nilofer Cyclone

India has six categories of tropical storms

based on wind speeds and damage

expected, with Nilofar falling into category

five, the second from top.

On Friday, the coastal areas Saurashtra and

Kutch will see heavy rains and gales and the

sea will turn extremely rough, warned the

Met Department, which says all fishermen

must return to the coast urgently.

The storm, currently packing winds of up to

155 kilometres per hour, will weaken before

it hits land, with the wind speed expected to

slow down to about 100 kilometres per

hour.

Met department officials say that means

that before landfall, Nilofar is likely to be

downgraded from its current status of "very

severe" cyclonic storm.

In Gujarat, officials are working on

evacuating villages in the coastal areas of

Kutch district that is expected to bear the

brunt of the storm.

The National Disaster Response Force has

been put on alert in Gujarat.

"We are preparing for the worst to happen,

let us also pray that cyclone Nilofar gets

subdued and doesn't bring serious

damage," said Gujarat Chief Minister

Anandiben who has been reviewing

preparations.

Nilofar is the second cyclone to hit India this

month; Hudhud slammed into the Andhra

Pradesh coast on October 12 and killed

nearly 20 people in the state.

Nilofar is expected to pass Goa within the

next one day; the state has seen unseasonal

showers for the last three days.

India, particularly its east coast, and

neighbouring Bangladesh are routinely hit

by bad storms between April and November

that cause deaths and widespread damage

to property.

28th Oct 2014

Joint Statement on the State Visit of Prime

Minister of the Socialist Republic of

Vietnam to India

Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at

the progress made in defence cooperation

including exchange of visits, annual Security

Dialogue, service to service cooperation,

ship visits, training, capacity building and

cooperation at the regional fora including

on Humanitarian Mine Action under

ADMM-Plus.They called for early

implementation of US$ 100 million Line of

Credit Agreement for defence procurement

extended by India to Viet Nam. They

expressed hope that the ongoing robust

defence and security cooperation between

India and Vietnam will continue to be

strengthened through regular exchanges at

high level.

They welcomed the strong growth in

bilateral trade in recent years particularly

after the implementation of India-ASEAN

Trade in Goods Agreement and noted that

the conclusion of India-ASEAN Trade in

Services and Investment Agreements would

further boost economic cooperation

between India and ASEAN in general and

Vietnam in particular. They instructed

officials on both sides to utilize established

mechanisms such as the Joint Sub-

Commission on Trade as well as closer PPP

and B2B contacts for furthering our shared

trade and investment objectives. They also

called for close cooperation towards

realization of Regional Comprehensive

Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

They agreed to take measures to

significantly expand and diversify bilateral

trade for mutually beneficial results and

agreed to enhance the trade targets to US$

15 billion by 2020. They urged that events

like the India-CLMV Business Conclave

should be utilized by business leaders and

decision makers to achieve this target. They

agreed to utilize the Customs Cooperation

Agreement and Maritime Shipping

Agreement between the two countries for

facilitating more intensive economic

engagement. Prime Ministers welcomed the

signing of the Agreement between ONGC

Videsh Limited and PetroVietnam for

exploration of new oil and gas projects in

Vietnam. Prime Ministers welcomed the

approval by the State Bank of Vietnam for

the opening of the Bank of India branch in

Vietnam.

Prime Ministers emphasized the importance

of connectivity between India and Vietnam

and welcomed the code share arrangement

between Jet Airways and Vietnam Airlines

leading to commencement of Jet Airways

flights to Ho Chi Minh City from 5 November

2014 onwards. They expressed hope that

Vietnam Airlines will also commence flight

services to India shortly.

The Prime Ministers welcomed the signing

of the MoU on conservation and restoration

of Cham monuments at My Son by the

Archaeological Survey of India. They also

welcomed signing of the MoU on Nalanda

University as a symbol of Buddhist heritage

shared by India and Vietnam. Prime

Minister Modi thanked Prime Minister Dung

for the establishment of the India Study

Centre at the Ho Chi Minh National

Academy of Politics and Public

Administration in Hanoi and welcomed its

collaboration with the Indian Institute of

Public Administration. The Prime Ministers

appreciated the convening of the 3rd Round

Table of the ASEAN-India Network of Think

Tanks in Hanoi in August 2014.

Prime Ministers welcomed ongoing

cooperation in the establishment of

capacity building institutes in Vietnam on IT,

English language training, entrepreneurship

development, high-performance computing

and other areas and called for early

finalization of development partnership

projects currently being planned by both

sides including the establishment of

Vietnam-India English and IT Training Centre

at the Telecommunications University in

NhaTrang, the Centre for Excellence in

Software Development and Training at Ho

Chi Minh City, the Satellite Tracking and

Data Reception and Imaging Centre at Ho

Chi Minh City. They also agreed to continue

cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear

energy and explore cooperation in the field

of space, including in the launch of

satellites.

They agreed that freedom of navigation and

overflight in the East Sea/South China Sea

should not be impeded and called the

parties concerned to exercise restraint,

avoid threat or use of force and resolve

disputes through peaceful means in

accordance with universally recognized

principles of international law, including the

UNCLOS-1982. They also welcomed the

collective commitment of the concerned

parties to abide by and implement the 2002

Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the

South China Sea and to work towards the

adoption of a Code of Conduct in the South

China Sea on the basis of consensus. They

called for cooperation in ensuring security

of sea-lanes, maritime safety and security,

combating piracy and conducting search

and rescue operations. The following

Agreements were signed in the presence of

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister

Dung: (i) MoU on the Establishment of

Nalanda University; (ii) MoU on

Conservation and Restoration of the World

Heritage Site of My Son, Quang Nam

Province, Vietnam; (iii) MoU on Establishing

the Centre for English Language and

Information Technology Training at the

Telecommunications University; (iv) Cultural

Exchange Programme 2015-17; (v) MoU on

Exchange of Audio-Visual Programmes; (vi)

HoA between OVL and PetroVietnam; and

(vii) MoU between ONGC and

PetroVietnam.

also agreed to increase our cooperation in

Space, including in space applications and

launch of Vietnam`s satellites, and in

peaceful uses of civil nuclear energy.

Financial inclusion brought about through

the postal network is called postal

financialinclusion. India has about 1.55

lakh post offices, which is more than the

combined branch strength of commercial

banks (about 1 lakh). The number of

savings accounts held in post offices in

India is about 31 crore, which is more than

that of any commercial bank in the

country.

Union Culture Minister,

ShriShripadNaikinaugurats festival of India

in Japan

The yearlong festival to cover 20 cities in

Japan

Festival of India in Japan is being conducted

in two phases – the October phase-I

comprises of a series of dance productions

being presented in Japan, till date, the

Kalakshetra Foundation, the Manipur Dance

Academy and the Kuttiyattam Kendra have

presented performances in Japan. The

February 2015, phase-II will comprise of the

Buddhist Art exhibition which will be

presented in the Tokyo National Museum.

The other events include, a Buddhist

conference being conducted by the

International Buddhist Council of India and

Buddhist exhibitions by the Nava

NalandaMahavihara. Plans are afoot to

conduct the Film Festival and Food Festival

during the Festival of India in Japan.

While promoting savings it has to be realized that Government acts as the custodian of the pooled savings of some very under privileged sections. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that such household savings are completely secure, earn a good return to the investor

and the money is available to the investor at the time of his or her requirements . Further this pooled wealth is channelized for the purpose of creating durable assets in the country. To address these challenges, the first regulatory framework in India dates back nearly 130 years with the enactment of Government Savings Bank Act. In the post colonial period, Constitution enjoined upon the State moral responsibility to bring in economic equality and provide avenues for economic prosperity to all its citizens. Savings is one vehicle to usher in economic prosperity. Responding to the responsibility placed by the constitution Government expanded the legal framework for small savings instrument to meet the enhanced requirement. To mobilize savings through Savings certificates, Government enacted a Savings Certificate Act in 1959 and to provide a social safety net to those working in the un- organized sector a Public Provident Fund Act was brought in 1968. India has taken various measures to encourage savings in the recent past. “Jan DhanYojana” of financially including those who are left unbanked is a major step in this direction. Further, Government has significantly expanded the bouquet of small savings scheme. A special scheme for the Girl Child will be shortly announced by the Government to address the gender imbalance. Bangalore Railway Station Becomes the First Station in the Country to Have Wifi Facility JualOram Launches VanbandhuKalyanYojana

scheme been launched on pilot basis in one block each of the States of AP, MP, HP, Telangana, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Under

the scheme centre will provide Rs. 10 crore for each block for the development of various facilities for the Tribals. These blocks have been selected on the recommendations of the concerned States and have very low literacy rate. Speaking on the occasion ShriOram said this scheme mainly focuses on bridginginfrastructural gaps and gap in human development indices between Schedule tribes and other social groups. He said VKY also envisages to focus on convergence of different schemes of development of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments with outcome oriented approach. Initially the blocks having at least 33% of tribal populationin comparison to totalpopulation of the block will be targeted.

ShriOram informed the meeting that his Ministry has taken up initiatives for strengthening of existing institutions meant for delivery of goods and services to tribal people i.eIntegrated TribalDevelopment Agencies /Integrated Development Project and creation of new ones wherever necessary.

Referring to the situation where Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is more often than not determined by the traders instead of self sustained process of demand and supply. The Minister said his Ministry has taken note of the situation and has implemented a scheme to ensure that such forest dwellers are not deprived of their due. Under the scheme maximum selling price for MFP is being implemented in schedule V States initially. He said a web based portal has also been developed which indicate current price of MFPs on real time basis across different mandis of the States. 12 MFP products have been included in the programme namely (i) Tendu Leave (ii) Bamboo (iii) Mahuwa Seeds (iv) Sal Leaf (v) Sal Seed (vi) Lac (vii) Chironjee (viii) Wild Honey (ix) Myrobalan (x) Tamarind (xi) Gums (Gum Karaya) and (xii) Karanji. The

Minister also referred to the Forests Rights Act asa landmark legislation to recognize the pre-existing rights of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers and informed that out of 37.69 Lakh claims filed by the intended beneficiaries about 14.57 Lakh individual rights title and more than 22,200 community forest rights titles have been distributed as on June 2014.

He said that in order to facilitate infrastructure for provision of quality education to the tribals, the Ministry has sanctioned about 184 Eklavya Modal Residential Schools. The Minister said these schools are intended to be equipped with requisite infrastructure and conducive environment for ensuring delivery of quality education among the tribals.

29th Oct 2014

School of Planning and Architecture Bill,

2014

bring all three Schools of Planning and Architecture(SPAs) within the ambit of the School of Planning and Architecture Bill, 2014. The Bill would adhere to Government policies on reservations fromtime to time. The proposed Act will empower these Schools toaward degrees through an Act of Parliament. This would enable the School of Planning and Architecture to become centres of excellencelike IITs, NITs and help fulfill the need of the country for quality manpower in the field of architecture and planning. All the money spent from public exchequer will be accountedfor and audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General ofIndia. Annual Report and Audited Accounts of each SPA willbe placed before Parliament.

Review of Foreign Direct Investment policy on the Construction Development Sector The amendments in the relevant paragraphs of the extant FDI policy as contained in the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular 2014 are as follows: I. 100 percent FDI under automatic route will be permitted in the construction development sector. II. Investment will be subject to the following conditions: (A) Minimum area to be developed under each project would be: i. In case of development of serviced plots, there is no condition of minimum land, ii. In case of construction-development projects, a minimum floor area of 20,000 sq. meters. iii. In case of a combination project, any one of the aforestated two conditions will need to be complied with. (B) The investee company will be required to bring minimum FDI of US$ 5 million within six monthsof commencement of the project. Subsequent tranches of FDI can be brought till the period of tenyears from the commencement of the project or before the completion of the project, whicheverexpires earlier. (C) The investor will be permitted to exit on completion of the project or after three years from the date of final investment, subject to development of trunk infrastructure. (D) The Government may, in view of facts and circumstances of a case, permit repatriation of FDI or transfer of stake by one non-resident investor to another non--resident investor, before the completion of the project. These proposals will be considered by FIPB on case to case basis.

(E) The project shall conform to the norms and standards, including land userequirements and provision of community amenities and common facilities, as laiddown in the applicable building control regulations, bye-laws, rules, and otherregulations of the State Government/Municipal/Local Body concerned. (F) The Indian investee company will be permitted to sell only developed plots. Forthe purposes of this policy "developed plots" will mean plots where trunkinfrastructure including roads, water supply, street lighting, drainage and sewerage, have been made available. These measures are expected to result in enhanced inflows into the Construction Development sector consequent to easing of sectoral conditions and clarification of terms used in the Policy. It is likely to attract investments in new areas and encourage development of plots for serviced housing given the shortage of land in and around urban agglomerations as well as the high cost of land. The measure is also expected to result in creation of much needed low cost affordable housing in the country and development of smart cities. Note: 1. It is clarified that FDI is not permitted in an entity which is engaged or proposes to engage in real estate business, construction of farm houses and trading in Transferable Development Rights (TDRs). "Real estate business" will have the same meaning as provided in FEMA Notification No. 1/2000-RB dated May 03, 2000 read with RBI Master Circular that is dealing in land and immovable propertywith a view to earning profit or earning income therefrom and does not include development oftownships,construction of residential/ commercial premises, roads or bridges, educationalinstitutions, recreational facilities, city and regional level infrastructure, townships.

2. The conditions at (A) to (C) above, will not apply to hotels and tourist resorts; hospitals; Special Economic Zones (SEZs); educational institutions, old age homes and investment by NRIs. 3. The conditions at (A) and (B) above, will also not apply to the investee/joint venture companies which commit at least 30 percent of the total project cost for lowcost affordable housing. 4. An Indian company, which is the recipient of FDI, shall procure a certificate from an architect empanelled by any Authority authorized to sanction building plan to the effect that the minimum floor area requirement has been fulfilled. Projects using at least 60 percent of the FAR/FSI for dwelling units of Carpet Area not more than 60 sqm.will be considered as Affordable Housing Projects. In addition, 35 percent of the total number of dwelling units constructed should be of carpet area 21-27 sqm for EWS category. Such projects can have a mix of EWS/LIG/Higher Category DUs and commercial units. Provision of servant`s quarter along with the main dwelling unit will not be counted as dwelling units for EWS/LIG under Affordable Housing (AH) project. It is clarified that 100 percent FDI under the automatic route is permitted in completed projects for operation and management of townships, malls/ shopping complexes and business centres. Background Investment in the construction development sector has a multiplier effect on the economy by way of infrastructure creation; substantial employment generation over the entire spectrum from unskilled workers to engineers, architects, designers as well as financial and other

supporting services. Further, it creates demand for the products of a number of related industries including those in the manufacturing sector like cement, steel, fittings and fixtures and others. Besides its employment and income generation potential, greater investment in the sector would help to augment the available housing stock including affordable housing and built up infrastructure for different purposes. Enhancement of the affordable housing stock is an urgent need in order to stem the proliferation of slums in and around the cities. The sector witnessed steadily rising FDI from 2006-07 to 2009-10 after which the levels of inflows have been much lower. Therefore in order to step up investment in construction development with its backward and forward linkages for many other sectors of the economy, it is felt that some liberalization and rationalization of the FDI policy on construction development could be the necessary catalyst to give a boost to the sector. (MoU) for cooperation in the field of oil and gas between India and Mozambique Offshore gas discoveries in 2010 in two adjacent offshore blocks have seen the emergence of Mozambique as a significant hydrocarbon rich nation. MoU seeks cooperation in the areas of upstream and downstream oil and gas sector; encourage and promote trade and investment between the parties or through their affiliated companies Acquisition of a Polar Research Vessel Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi, has approved the acquisition of Polar Research Vessel (Ice-breaker, Research cum Supply Vessel) by the Ministry of Earth Sciences at a total cost of Rs. 1051.13 crore within a period of 34 months. Ministry of Earth Sciences felt necessary to have the country`s own polar research vessel considering the need to sustain two Indian research bases in Antarctica (Maitri

and Bharti); dovetailing research initiatives in the Southern Ocean domain with those in the proximal regions of the Antarctic continent; widen the thrust on Arctic research disciplines undertaken through Indian StationHimadri, and to provide a suitable research platform for other tropical sea programmes. Such a vessel, it is envisaged, can not only perform dual functions, research and logistics, in the polar region but can also serve as a research platform for scientists to undertake scientific research in the ocean realm including the Southern Ocean. In the context of India having expanded its scientific presence to the Arctic as well and the country`s growing strategic interests in the polar and ocean domain, a polar research vessel would certainly serve as the perfect vehicle for building up on India’s sustained presence and increased visibility in the ocean sector. Background: Indian Antarctic expeditions have been undertaken every year onboard ice-class vessels/ice-breakers chartered from the international market. These vessels have largely been cargo ships capable of transporting men and material and unable to serve as a research platform. With increased demand for cargo vessels and their dwindling availability, the charter charges of these vessels have been escalating over the years. The First Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica was launched in 1981. From 2004, India embarked on its scientific endeavors in the Southern Ocean realm. In addition, since 2007, Indian scientists have had a sustained presence in the Arctic. With India`s entry into the Arctic Council as an Observer along with China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, it has become strategically important to have increased visibility in the Arctic too. This will facilitate India to

assume a lead role among Asian nations active in the polar regions. ECI is Elected Chair of Association of Asian Election Authorities (AAEA) Mr. V.S. Sampath accepted the responsibility of Chair, and thanked the members for the trust and confidence reposed in ECI. He underlined the importance of Asia as home of more than 60% of the world population and some of the strongest economies in the world. He stressed that AAEA should maintain a prominent profile in the fields of democracy and election management. He shared his vision of expanding AAEA and making it truly representative by admitting several Asian countries, which are eligible to become members. He also reiterated ECI’s commitment to experience sharing and capacity building of EMBs in the region. India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management (IIIDEM) also made a presentation about its capacity building programmes, and use of technology in Elections by ECI.delegateswere particularly impressed by the demonstration of the Electronic Voting Machine and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail equipment used by ECI. India is a founding member of AAEA which was established in 1998. The organisation’s vision is to promote and institutionalise open and transparent elections, independent and impartial election authorities, professionalization of Asian election authorities, citizen participation in the electoral and civic process, information sharing, and the development of resources for election-related information and research. Currently around 500 young potential sportsmen are undergoing extensive training at the five Mission Olympic Nodes under the Mission Olympic Programme of the Army. Ratification of the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur supplementary protocol on liability and

redress to the Cartagena protocol on biosafety by India The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi, today gave its approval for ratifying the `Nagoya-KualaLumpur supplementary protocol on liability and redress to the Cartagena protocol on bio-safety` by India. The proposed approach provides for an international regulatory framework in the field of liabilityand redress related to living modified organisms that reconciles trade and environment protection. The Supplementary Protocol would promote sound application of biotechnology making it possibleto accrue benefits arising from modern biotechnologywhile minimizing the risk to the environment and human health. The proposal is based on the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, both internationally negotiated and binding legal instruments. It will promote innovation in agricultural and healthcare research and development that is safe for the environment and human beings. India favours ban on e-cigarettes Union Health Minister, is in favour of a complete ban on e-cigarettes and all products described as “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)”. Dr Harsh Vardhan ruled out their acceptability in the light of research findings by experts which have held that they are no less unsafe than the “real thing”. he mentioned India’s recent climbing to the first position among countries notifying mandatory printing of warnings on the largest surface area of packages containing cigarettes and other forms of tobacco. The new rules demand pictorial health warnings on 85 percent on both sidesof tobacco packs. The government’s clamping of the highest ever rates of taxes and reduction ofduty free allowance on all tobacco products has in fact become a test case of State

intervention. Harsh Vardhan said that he had a definite road map for the future. This includes institutionalising a 24-hour telephone helpline (to be called “Quitline”) to counsel tobacco users who are fighting the habit. Also on the anvil are five tobacco testing laboratories at the national and regional levels, setting up 27 new state tobacco control cells during the present financial year and Amendments to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 to ensure better implementation and enforcement. India and Oman Sign Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement The Agreement provides for substantial engagement in the areas of pursuing and eliminating transnational crimes and terrorism in its different forms. The Memorandum of Agreement also contains provisions for transfer of documents, records and objects, search and seizure, availability of persons to give evidence and assist in investigation. Curbing the Tendency Amongst Sportspersons for Giving Preference to Playing in Prize Money Tournaments Rather in Tournaments Where India Participates for Medals it was noticed, while finalizing the Indian contingent for the Incheon Asian Games 2014, that senior and rank holding sportspersons of some sports disciplines decided to pull out, preferring to play in prize money tournaments instead of participating in the Asian Games giving the impression that such sportspersons do not take these sports competitions seriously. Multi-sports events are held once in 4 years and the nation takes pride in the number of medals won in these prestigious sports events. Therefore, it is again reiterated and made clear to all recognized National Sports Federations that individual players will be able to avail grants given to NSFs by the

Ministry only if they undertake to play in the Indian team when called upon to do so without reservations. If there are specific exigencies because of which they are unable to play, this should be verified by the concerned NSF which thereupon can make an exception at their discretion. The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) was set up by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India on 24th January 1997 as a company not for profit under section 8 of Companies Act 2013 with the objective of serving as a catalyst in the economic development of PwDs. NHFDC functions as an apexfinancial institution of the country and provides financial assistance, in the form ofconcessional loans, to Persons with Disabilitiesfor self employment ventures, higher education and other activities. The fund is channelized through the State ChannelizingAgencies (SCAs) nominated by the respective State/ UT Government(s) Also, the concessional loan of NHFDC is made available through some Public Sector Banks (Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank, IDBI Bank and Bank of Baroda) for self employment and higher education. NHFDC provides Self Employment Loan : UptoRs. 25 lakh (Interest rate of 4-8% p.a); Education Loan : Study in India (Rs. 10 lakh), Rs. 20 lakh (abroad) interest rate @ 4% p.a; Skill Training to PwDs : Free of cost and stipend of Rs. 2000 per month; Scholarships : 3000 scholarships for professional courses. 30th Oct 2014 People of Afghanistan rated India as No. 1

in matter of mutual trust.

NCDC- read about it Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi to hold first round of Regional Consultations on BetiBachaoBetiPadhao Scheme

primary agenda of this consultation is to deliberate on the implementation modalities of District Action Plans under this Scheme. The Nodal Ministry for this Joint Initiative is Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Partner Ministries are Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development. BBBP initiative lays focus on strict enforcement of PC & PNDT Act by MoHFW, ensuring girl child friendly standards in schools including strengthening of School Management committees (SMCs), creation of forums like BalikaManch to encourage participation of girls, reenrollment of drop-out girls in secondary schools, ensuring availability of functional toilets by MoHRD (School Education) and capacity-building and sensitization of concerned government officials, grassroots functionaries, elected representatives, promote early registration of pregnancy by motivation & incentivizing mothers to register their pregnancy in the first trimester among others. Japan offers assistance in promoting Intelligent Transport Systems. 9th meeting of the India-Japan Joint Working Group on Urban Development will be held in Japan next year. Ministry of HRD to Host 2nd Meeting of SAARC Education Ministers They will discuss the progress made by the SAARC countries on the SAARC Development Goals on Education and the strategy for Education beyond 2015.South Asian University established at New Delhi was also one of the outcomes of SAARC process of Development and a presentation will also be made on its different programmes and its future strategy. For ending TB, Dr Harsh Vardhan calls for “Power of belief” He pointed out that concerted action is already causing a discernible decline. The World Health Organisation’s Global Tuberculosis Report-2014 has pointed out

that TB is slowly declining each year and estimates that 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and 2013 through effective diagnosis and treatment. Government Announces Measures for Fiscal Prudence and Economy; Every Ministry / Department to Effect A Mandatory 10% Cut in Non-Plan Expenditure; Utmost Economy to be Observed in Organizing Conferences/Seminars/Workshops; Ban on Purchase of Vehicles; in all Cases of Air Travel, the Lowest Air Fare Tickets Available for Entitled Class to be Purchased/Procured. Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure has been issuing austerity instructions from time to time with a view to containing non-developmental expenditure and releasing of additional resources for priority schemes. 31st Oct 2014 General Election to Legislative Assemblies

of Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir 2014 -

Allotment of Broadcast/Telecast time to

Political Parties – regarding

At the time of General Elections to the LokSabha in 1998, a new initiative for State funding of recognized political parties through free use of the State owned Television and Radio was introduced under directions of the Commission videits Order, dated 16th January, 1998. The said scheme was subsequently extended in all the General Elections to the State Assemblies held after 1998 and General Elections to the LokSabha in 1999, 2004, 2009& 2014. With the amendments to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 vide "Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003" and the rules notified thereunder, equitable time sharing for campaigning by recognized political parties on electronic media now has statutory basis. all such broadcasting media which are owned or

controlled or financed wholly or substantially by funds provided to them by the Central Government as the electronic media for the purposes of that section. The telecasts/broadcasts on Doordarshan/AIR will not permit: (a) criticism of other countries; (b) attack on religions or communities; (c) anything obscene or defamatory; (d) incitement of violence; (e) anything amounting to contempt of court; (f) aspersion against the integrity of the President and Judiciary; (g) anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the Nation; (h) any criticism by name of any person. The Eight Core Industries comprise nearly 38% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Department of Commerce calls for creative participation for India’s participation at Hannover Messe Invites inputs for theme, tagline and logo Hannover Messe scheduled to be held from April 13-17, 2015. Hannover Messe is the largest engineering exhibition held each year and India has been declared the Partner Country for Hannover Messe 2015. Hannover Messe 2015 will be jointly inaugurated by ShriNarendraModi, Prime Minister of India and Dr. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Partner Country status offers India an opportunity to position itself in the global business world. More than 300 engineering, manufacturing and technology companies from India will be participating at Hannover Messe 2015. Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a voluntary and co-operative initiative between 35 countries of the Indian Ocean Region, which has served as an ideal forum

for sharing of information and cooperation on maritime issues. E-kuber-Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution SRB to be raised by 10 basis points every year government has planned to improve child Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 10 basis point per year. This was stated by Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi while inaugurating the first Regional Consultation of District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners on the District Action Plan of BetiBachaoBetiPadhao Scheme here today. The government has chosen 100 districts, each of which will be given uptoRs. one crore rupees for this scheme this year, she said. The Minister said that the Ministry has come out with Action Plans for Village level, Block level as well as district level so that the number of girl children registers an ongoing increase, as also their educational levels go up. The steps she mentioned in this regard include promoting early registration of pregnancy in the first trimester, institutional deliveries and 100% birth registration. The Minister said that sarpanches need to be the nodal person in this endeavour and his/her role and responsibilities need to be defined. success of this scheme depended on changing people’s mind-set and social behavior. In order to tackle this, a media plan has been evolved whereby several short films are being prepared in regional languages, Electronic Toll Collection System makes Delhi-Mumbai Drive Faster and Cheaper system would evolve into newer technologies and facilities like touch-card, debit card etc. in the near future which will contribute to the nation’s growth. The FASTag is a passive RFID tag affixed at the centre of the windscreen. All you have to do is Recharge your Tag Account and drive through FASTag Lanes at the toll plazas, and

appropriate toll would automatically be deducted from your balance. SMS alerts will be sent on the registered mobile number giving information on toll fee deducted and low balance. Currently FASTag services are available at 24 toll plazas on Delhi-Mumbai section, and simultaneously, work is in progress to implement FASTag on all National Highways. Also, FASTag shall be extended for fuel payments and entry fee payments at State Border check posts in near future. The new ETC system will save commuters time, fuel, money and reduce pollution. This will go a long way in taking forward the nations growth especially when it is extended to other roads across the country. In order to remove the bottlenecks and ensure seamless movement of traffic and collection of toll as per the notified rates, Government had constituted a committee on Electronic Toll Collection technology for use on National Highways under the chairmanship of ShriNandanNilekani. This Committee`s mandate was to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable technology for local conditions. Considering user convenience, rate of acceptance and ease of implementation, the passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based on EPC, Gen-2, ISO 18000-6C Standards for ETC technology was adopted by the Government. To standardize the process of data collection and creating of central data repository, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways envisaged automating the process of traffic surveys on National Highways and Indian Highways Management Company Ltd. (IHMCL) has been entrusted to execute this project. This project includes conducting seven-day traffic surveys, twice annually, at more than 1600 location on all National Highways across India. These traffic surveys would be conducted using portable Automatic Traffic Counter and Classifier (ATCC) systems, which do not require any human intervention. Also the

video of the Vehicular movement during the survey shall be captured and used for verification of survey data. A Control Centre would be established for the purposes of creating central repository of traffic data and for compilation, verification and analysis of data generated from traffic surveys. Through this project, crucial and reliable traffic data and analysis will be available at the fingertips, which can be further used for better infrastructure planning and traffic management. Institute of Driving Training & Research to be inaugurated tomorrow at Pune IDTR at Pune has been set up on PPP basis with Tata Motors Limited acting as a private partner. IDTR has state-of-the art facilities including spacious classrooms equipped with audio-visual facilities, driving range for imparting driving practice on road for various maneuvers. training will be conducted by well-trained driving instructors to impart practical, systematic and scientific training to new drivers as well as in-service drivers along with trainers. The IDTR also proposes to train exclusive batches of the women drivers for city cabs. highlight of IDTR at Pune is the camera based innovative driving testing system which will ensure a technology based assessment of the driving quality on the various tracks of the IDTR without human intervention. This technology will enable promotion of a corruption free platform for grant of driving licenses and selection of drivers ensuring the quality of the applicant. 2nd Meeting of SAARC Education Ministers Held South Asian University which is funded jointly by all the member countries and has started functioning nearly 4 years ago in New Delhi. A New Delhi Declaration on Education was also adopted at the conclusion of the Meeting identifying SAARC Perspectives on the Post-2015 Education Agenda and Regional Priority Areas of Action and it was agreed to expand the scope of cooperation.

Major Focus of the Government is to Bring Back the Growth Momentum: Finance Minister Finance Minister ShriJaitley enumerated the steps taken by the present Government in order to boost the growth which includes setting-up of Expenditure Management Commission(EMC) to bring about expenditure reforms, fillip to industry and infrastructure sector such as extension of the 10 year tax holiday for the power sector projects, reduction and rationalization of excise duty, emphasis on resolving current impasse in mining sector, measures to raise low-cost long term foreign borrowings by Indian companies, measures for promoting FDI in selected sectors, emphasis on development of smart cities, scheme for developing new airports in Tier I and Tier II cities, setting the target of housing for all by the year 2022, thrust on skill development including in rural areas and multi-skill programme called ‘Skill India’ and deregulation of diesel prices among others.

Articles from PIB

Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security

for All – A priority Agenda for the Nation

From a grain deficit country to a surplus

producer of wheat and rice within a span of

four decades or so, India notwithstanding

its huge population has managed to feed

them without resorting to imports. Since

independence from the British-rule in 1947,

India, having the second biggest population

in the world, faced two key economic

challenges: achieving food security and

alleviating poverty.

In a country which relies predominantly on

agriculture, the focus was to promote

growth in agricultural sector to meet both

of these challenges. Agricultural promotion

programmes were initiated to increase food

production for feeding close to 30 crore

people in the 1950s. It was the time (1950s

and 60’s) when India faced huge food

shortage and had to receive food under PL

480, a programme initiated by the United

States for providing assistance to countries.

Dependence on agricultural imports till

early 1960s convinced planners that India's

growing population, as well as concerns

about national independence, security, and

political stability, required self-sufficiency in

food production. This led to formulation of

measures such as agricultural improvement

called the Green Revolution, the public

distribution system and price supports

system for farmers.

From a net importer of food since 1950s,

India has transformed itself in the

production of food grains (mainly rice,

wheat, coarse cereals and pulses) during the

last few decades. From a mere 50 million

tonne of annual food grain production in

1950s, India last year (2013-14) has

produced an all-time record 264 million

tonne of food grains, mainly attributed to

the significant jump in rice and wheat

output. In the last few years, India has also

emerged as the world’s biggest exporters of

rice after shipping more than 10 million

tonne of grain annually.

The introduction of high-yielding varieties of

seeds and the increased use of fertilizers

and irrigation under the 'Green Revolution'

initiative in late 1960s resulted in rapid

expansion of agricultural land and boost in

agricultural production. The Green

Revolution continued with the policy of

expanding cultivable land. The striking

feature of green revolution was taking up of

double-cropping which implies planting two

crops per year on the same agricultural

land.

The Indian Council for Agricultural Research

(ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture

played a crucial role in the Green Revolution

era of the late 1960s. ICAR developed new

strains of high yield value seeds, mainly

wheat and rice, millet and corn. The most

noteworthy seed was the K68 variety for

wheat which pushed up food grain

production significantly during the

subsequent decade.

The ‘Green Revolution’ resulted in a record

grain output of 131 million tons during

1978-79. This established India as one of

the world's biggest agricultural producers.

No other country in the world which

attempted the Green Revolution recorded

such levels of success. India also became an

exporter of food grains during the same

time.

Public Distribution System (PDS): a key

instrument in poverty alleviation

Public Distribution of essential commodities

had been in existence in India since

independence. PDS, with its focus on

distribution of food grains in urban scarcity

areas, had emanated from the critical food

shortages of the 1960s. The distribution of

subsidised food grains through PDS had

substantially contributed to the

containment of rise in food grains prices

and ensured access of food to urban

consumers. As the national agricultural

production had grown in the aftermath of

Green Revolution, the outreach of PDS was

extended to tribal blocks and areas of high

incidence of poverty in the 1970s and

1980s.

PDS, till 1992, was a general entitlement

scheme for all consumers without any

specific target. The Revamped Public

Distribution System was launched in June

1992 in 1775 blocks throughout the

country. The Targeted Public Distribution

System (TPDS) was introduced with effect

from June, 1997.

The scheme when introduced, was intended

to benefit about 6 crore poor families, for

whom a quantity of about 7.2 million tonne

of food grains was earmarked annually.

TPDS also envisaged subsidized distribution

of food grains to poor families -- classified in

India as Below Poverty Line, Above Poverty

and poorest of poor families identified as

Antyodaya Anna Yojana - AAY.

Initially, the Antyodaya families were

provided 25 kg of food grains per family per

month at the time of launch of the scheme

in December, 2000. The scale of issue of

foodgrains under APL, BPL and AAY has

been revised to 35 kg per family from the

beginning of fiscal year 2002-3 with a view

to enhancing the food security at the

household level.

The central issue price for rice to be

distributed under TPDS for BPL and APL

families in the states was fixed at Rs 5.65

and Rs 8.3 per kg respectively while in the

case of wheat it had been fixed at Rs 4.15

and Rs 6.10 per kg respectively.

The Antyodaya families get the rice and

wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 a kg respectively.

However the state governments have

prerogatives to provide cheaper food grains

below the central issue price under TPDS by

contributing their own financial resources.

The government currently allocates grain to

6.52 crore BPL families besides 2.43 crore

chronic-poverty-affected families under the

Antyodaya families under TPDS. The TPDS

also covers around 8 crore APL families

For ensuring uninterrupted supplies of

foodgrains mostly consisting of wheat and

rice and ensuring sufficient buffer stocks,

the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was

setup under an act in 1964. The key

objective of the FCI was to also ensure

effective price support operations for

safeguarding the interests of the farmers

through providing Minimum

Support Price (MSP) to farmers. Since its

inception, FCI has played a significant role in

India's success in transforming the crisis

management oriented food security into a

stable security system.

However since last few years, the

government was contemplating providing

legal status to the food security to large

mass of people. After debate and

deliberations in and outside parliament, the

National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 was

passed last year. Under the NFSA, each

person in identified households will get the

5 kg of grain a month at heavily subsidised

prices — Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 for wheat

and Rs 1 for coarse grains.

NFSA will expand the base of TPDS to

around 84 crore population from the

current coverage of around 48 crore

population. The government is expected to

incur an expenditure of more than Rs 1.2

lakh crore annually after NFSA is rolled out

nationally.

Meanwhile, the government has asked

states to roll out NFSA by April, 2015. Till

now eleven states and union territories –

Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,

Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi

and Chandigarh have so far implemented

the Act — some of them fully and others

partially.

However, many of the larger states,

including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,

Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and

Telengana, with a substantial poor

population, have yet to take the plunge.

Due to increase in Foodgrains production

and procurement by FCI, the government

agencies have huge foodgrain stocks which

far exceed the requirement. On October 1st

this year FCI along with state government

owned agencies had a grain stocks of more

than 52.3 million tonne (32.2 million tonne

wheat and 20.1 million of rice). These huge

grains stocks are against buffer stocks and

strategic reserve norms of 21.2 million

tonne.

Impact on poverty reduction:

As far as India is concerned, it has taken a

substantial leap on the Global Hunger Index.

According to a recent report, India has gone

up to the 55th position as compared to last

year's 63rd. This means that there has been

significantly lesser number of hungry and

malnourished people across the country.

The credit goes to the several government

programmes including TPDS that were

rolled out to tackle malnutrition.

Experts say that the government must in

collaboration with states plug loopholes in

the TPDS so that grains reach the targeted

population. Computerization of TPDS and

beneficiaries lists have been going on a fast

pace.

The government at present has its task cut

out for creating huge modern infrastructure

for storing and transporting food grains.

More than 15 million ton of food grains

storage capacity would have to be added

during next few years. For saving food

grains from vagaries of weather, the

government needs to take up food grains

storage creation in a mission mode so that

access to the food grains could be

improved. Better stocks management would

also lead to keeping prices under control

and ensure smooth supply of grain under

NFSA.

‘Promoting Good Governance And

Accountability Through Public Audit’

(Press Release on 27th Oct 2014)

In 1858, CAG, the supreme audit authority

was called the Accountant General. The

authority was re-designated four times

before the adoption of the Constitution

when the term Comptroller and Auditor

General (CAG) of India was provided. Under

Article 148 of our Constitution, the CAG is

an independent constitutional authority

which is neither a part of the legislature nor

the executive. Article 151 prescribes that

the reports of the CAG relating to the

accounts of the Union and the States are

submitted to the President or the Governor

of the State respectively and they shall

cause the reports to be laid in the

Parliament or the State Legislative

Assembly.

Evidently, the founding fathers of our

Constitution had envisaged a prominent

role for public audit in our country’s

governance and accountability framework.

The concept is not new. In the old treatises,

ancient texts of administration, particularly

Arthashastra, Kautilya prescribed extensive

arrangements for accounting and auditing.

The organizational structure for financial

management comprised two distinct

hierarchies - a Treasurer and a Comptroller-

Auditor – both were directly responsible to

the King. He placed high premium on public

audit conducted by incorruptible officials.

Good governance is the exercise of power,

within the framework of the Constitution,

for efficient and effective management of

our economic and social resources for the

well-being of the vast multitude of the

people, through the institutions of state.

But it has to be nurtured. Audit institutions

play an enabling role in ushering in good

governance in democratic functioning.

Accountability of public functionaries is an

integral part of any good governance

framework, more so in a democratic polity.

Accountability of public servants extends to

maintenance of probity in official dealings,

compliance with legal obligations and

commitment to efficient delivery of public

service. In recent years, there has been a

global surge in demand for accountability of

those entrusted with governance. In a

parliamentary democracy like ours, the

executive is held accountable to the

Legislature. The reports of the CAG

submitted to the Legislature play a seminal

role in the enforcement of accountability.

The audits by the Indian Audit & Accounts

Department under the CAG cover the three

tiers of government and other

instrumentalities of the State. The CAG is

also the only supreme audit institution with

an accounting mandate as well. The

Constitution has placed this institution at a

vantage point providing it with insight into

performance of different agencies engaged

in financial administration of our country.

The broad audit mandate provides the CAG

access to programme and project

implementation at national and sub-

national levels. CAG scrutinize the allocation

and flow of public funds between different

implementing authorities. Thereafter,

evaluate and report on their prompt and

effective utilization, disseminate good

practices and stimulate course correction

through identification of bottlenecks. The

perspective available to CAG by virtue of

auditing multiple governance entities

provides valuable inputs for promotion of

good governance in the country.

Audit is a means to an end rather than an

end in itself. While audit findings are a

barometer of good governance, their utility

is manifested only when all the

stakeholders, particularly the Executive,

Legislature and citizens believe in the

credibility of these findings and use them

for enhancing the quality of governance.

This casts a great responsibility on the

public auditor to conduct audit

professionally with utmost diligence and

independence, and to report in a fair and

balanced manner. Both the public auditor

and the audited entity have to recognize

that the objective of audit is ultimately to

improve the implementation of governance

strategies. Towards this end, audit should

be considered a tool for improvement.

Accountability of the Executive stems from

the requirement of rendering of an account

to the Legislature that authorized it to tax

and expend. Here I would like to mention

that more time needs to be devoted in

Parliament for detailed scrutiny of financial

proposals and financial matters. The Audit

report is a valuable input for the authorities

empowered to hold a public functionary to

account, in making judgments on their level

of performance and recommending

improvements. In India, this responsibility is

vested with the Public Accounts Committee

and Committee on Public Undertakings that

act on behalf of the Legislature. Effective

functioning of these legislative committees,

and close association between them and

the audit authorities are a blueprint of audit

effectiveness, and through it, of governance

practices.

There is no static finality about the scope

and objective of public audit. They are

shaped by societal concerns which find

expression through legislative enactments

and judicial pronouncements. The frontiers

of public audit have been the subject of

public debate and litigation in our country

recently. Judicial verdicts have underscored

the paramount role of our audit institution

in ensuring parliamentary accountability in

use of public resources by any entity,

whether in the public or private domain.

The right of CAG to carry out performance

audits of government entities and to verify

underlying transactions of even private

concerns to provide assurance about the

State receiving its legitimate share of

revenues arising out of the use of public

resources is now well established. This

paradigm shift in your audit mandate

encourages development of appropriate

policies and procedures to govern audit

process. It calls for substantial capacity

development in the Department.

The platforms used for delivery of public

service influences the conduct of audit. As

‘Digital India’ becomes the backbone of

government functioning, it calls for

transformation in the traditional methods of

audit. The leverage that e-governance can

provide for improving efficiency, cost and

coverage of audit have to be utilized well by

revisiting standard operating procedures.

In States where the CAG has an accounting

role, there is scope to improve services

without compromising on due diligence.

CAG must proactively engage with the

States in their programmes for

modernization of government accounts and

financial management systems.

Partnerships already initiated by CAG have

to continue to make accounting an effective

tool for accountability.

Time-bound delivery of goods and services

by public functionaries is the right of

citizens. It is not a bounty from the State.

Many States have legislated for prompt

delivery of public services. The institution of

CAG can facilitate successful

implementation of this legal right by

reporting through its compliance audits the

achievement of these performance

standards by public authorities.

Sir Walter of Henley’s 13thCentury Treatise

of Housebandry mentions and I quote:"The

Auditors ought to be faithful and prudent,

knowing their business…. It is not necessary

so to speak to the Auditors about making

audits for they ought to be so prudent, and

so faithful, and so knowing in their business,

that they have no need of others’ teaching

about things connected with the accounts”

(unquote).

The value of an audit system, where no

outsider prescribes as to how to go about

auditing, is universally recognized. The

institution of CAG of India is no exception.

Such trust in the capability and

independence of your institution also casts

a huge responsibility on you to keep your

knowledge up-to-date and to uphold

highest professional standards. Public

auditing is a knowledge-based venture.

Knowledge is fast multiplying. I am

confident that you will be up to the task in

keeping yourself abreast of latest

developments in diverse fields of

contemporary relevance.

As watchdogs of national public finances,

the institution of CAG has a positive and

pre-eminent role in accelerating national

development.

AGRICULTURE - IN AN ERA OF SELF-

SUFFICIENCY

The present Indian agriculture scenario

gives a picture of satisfaction and optimism.

Today, India is the largest producer of fruits

in the world and second largest producer of

vegetables. The country which is self

sufficient in food production is also one of

the largest producer of milk. With a record

production of more than 198 million metric

tonnne of foodgrains last year, a fourfold

increase over the output in 1947, India has

indeed come a long way from the drought

years of the mid-1960s when survival

depended on ship loads of food aid.

Agrarian Reforms

The feudal order inherited from the colonial

administration at Independence was stifling

agriculture growth. Stratification of rural

society into several layers of tenants,

subtenants and rentier landlords, almost

completely alienated the cultivator from the

land. There was scarcely an incentive to

invest in land and increase productivity.

Agrarian reform to abolish the old order

and empower the tiller of the land was

initiated by several States in the early 1950s

through Land Reform legislation. Multiple

land tenures were replaced by a simplified

uniform system, whereby, almost all

cultivators were accorded proprietary

rights. The abolition of zamindari was a step

towards a more equitable agrarian

structure, one that encouraged investment

in land and therefore, led to gains in

productivity.

Another major step in agrarian reform was

the consolidation of fragmented

landholdings through legislation by various

States. The Ceiling on Land holding Acts of

the 1960s which placed a ceiling on

ownership of different categories of land

ensured redistribution of surplus land to the

rural landless. Land reforms of 1970s

provided for redistribution of and leasing

out of surplus common village lands to the

poor and landless in the rural areas,

especially the scheduled castes and tribes.

Green Revolution

The agricultural growth in the country saw

three phases with the Green Revolution as

watershed. The pre-Green Revolution phase

was characterised by production gains

achieved largely through area expansion.

The Green Revolution, marked by

productivity increases through the use of

high yielding technology and modern

inputs, has been the major instrument

behind the impressive gains in foodgrain

output in India. Foodgrain production

increased almost four-fold from about 50

million at Independence to more than 198

million metric tonnne in 1996-97. Per capita

availability rose from 395 grams per day to

578 grams in the same period.

Wheat output rose ten times from 6 million

to 69 million metric tons in the past five

decades. Rice output was relatively modest

with only a fourfold increase from 20 million

to 80 million metric tonne. Pulse production

rose from about 8 million to nearly 15

million metric tonne. Despite variations in

the performance of individual crops and

regions, total foodgrain production

maintained a growth of 2.7 per cent per

annum, which kept ahead of population

growth at about 2.2 per cent per cent per

annum. In addition, the danger of severe

food scarcities became a thing of the past as

also the dependence on imports. Unlike the

droughts of the mid-1960s, severe droughts

in 1979-80 and 1987-88 were tided over

largely from reserve domestic stocks. The

country could take care of its food security.

White, Blue and Yellow Revolution

The third phase of agricultural growth is

emanating from the diversification and

commercialisation of agriculture to high

value crops, horticulture, floriculture,

animal husbandry, fisheries and sericulture.

There has been commendable progress in

the field of dairy, oilseeds, sugarcane and

cotton. With 69 million tonne India is one of

the largest producers of milk in the world.

Milk production quadrupled from 17 million

at Independence to 69 million metric tonne

at present (popularly known as the White

Revolution). Fish production rose from 7.5

million to nearly 50 million metric tonne

during the last five decades (Blue

Revolution). Oilseed production increased

five times from around 5 million to 25

million metric tonne since Independence

(Yellow Revolution).

Sugarcane production has risen fivefold

from 57 million to 270 million metric tonne.

Cotton production has registered an

increase from 3 million to 15 million bales.

India is the largest producer of fruit in the

world and the second largest producer of

vegetables.

Use of Modern Inputs

The High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of seeds

formed the core of the modern agricultural

technology. Public sector institutions, such

as the National Seeds Corporation, the State

Farms Corporation of India and the State

Seeds Corporations are engaged in the

production and multiplication of improved

seed and planting material. As a result, the

quantity of certified and quality seeds

almost negligible at the time of

Independence has shown a quantum jump

and is currently placed at 7 million quintals.

In addition, over 500 private seed

companies are engaged in their own

research and also supply seed and planting

material to the farmers.

The modern HYVs required associated

inputs of irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides

to be effective. The Indian farmer was quick

to adopt the new practices. The

consumption of fertilizers which was less

than 70,000 metric tonne in 1950-51, shot

to about 15 million metric tonne. Gross area

under irrigation increased three times from

22 million hectare. Institutional Credit to

agriculture was a mere Rs.240 million at

Independence, it is now about Rs.290,000

million.

Price Policy and Market Support

Agricultural production received a further

impetus from the Agriculture Price Policy of

the Government which aims at ensuring

that the farmer gets a remunerative price

for his produce and that there is no

occasion for distress sale. Enforcement of

this policy has insulated the farmer from

major price fluctuations and provided an

assured market for his surpluses. Minimum

Support Prices for as many as 24 major

agricultural commodities are fixed on the

basis of recommendations of the

Commission for Agricultural Costs and

Prices and the Government organises price

support operations through the Food

Corporation of India, National Agricultural

Cooperative Marketing Federation, Cotton

Corporation of India and the Jute

Corporation of India.

Research and Extension Work

Most of the technologies that have fuelled

the Green and other revolutions of the past

decades have been generated and

disseminated from a research and extension

institutional network painstakingly built up

in the last fifty years. The national

agricultural research system in India, with

some 30,000 scientists, is one of the largest

in the world. At present, there are 49

Central Research Institutes, 30 National

Research Institutes, and several other sub-

programmes functioning under the Indian

Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Two

international agricultural research centres,

the ICRISAT and International Centre for

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

(ICGEB) are also based in India. In addition,

there are 26 State Agricultural Universities

and 262 KrishiVigyanKendras (KVKs)

engaged in the generation, assessment and

refinement of technologies.

The story of extension services in the

country is replete with innovations and

unrelenting desire to reach the farmers. For

dissemination of these technologies to the

farmers there are some 110,000 extension

personnel in the State governments.

Besides, a National Agricultural Extension

Management Institute, four regional

Extension Education Institutes and State

level Farmer Training Centres and

agriculture schools conduct farmers training

in the new technologies. Information

support to agricultural extension has been

developed through exhibitions, print media

as well as the electronic media. Regular

programmes for farmers, including news,

weather and price bulletins and other

market information are aired through All

India Radio, Doordarshan, as well as local

radio and Television stations.

Weak Areas

Spectacular, as these achievements have

been, several worrying issues have surfaced.

Among these are the relative tardiness in

the rate of growth in comparison to other

countries and the uneven spread of benefits

of development across crops, regions and

sections of the rural populace. The indices

of agriculture production with 1989-91=100

as base year, only 116 in the case of India in

1996, 147 for China, 151 for Myanmar and

123 for Pakistan.

Again, as in other areas, we are not free

from problems thrown up in the wake of

prosperity. Second-generation worries

plague us, concerning the sustainability of

the use of our natural resources,

particularly, land and water. There are also

in place adhoc mechanisms such as market

intervention scheme which address similar

problems relating to perishable

commodities, specially horticultural

commodities. Though these interventions

are fairly effective, the sheer magnitude of

the task suggests that the issues of price

and market support require special

attention in future.

Looking Ahead

While the greatness of our very

considerable achievements is a cause for

pride and pleasure, the responsibility that

we have now to shoulder to overcome the

systematic weaknesses and to consolidate

upon the inherent strength of the

agriculture sector is of a sobering

magnitude.

More than 300 million people remain

undernourished, despite all our advances,

and in the 21st century food needs of a

population over billion people will have to

be met. Moreover, the role of agriculture

cannot be limited to fulfilling food

requirements of the people, but would have

to address the issue of providing enhanced

incomes to farmers through higher value

addition to their produce. Concerns of

environmentally sustainable agricultural

growth must necessarily be integrated into

future development strategies. New

agricultural technologies such as those

provided by bio-technology will need to be

generated, harnessed and rapidly

disseminated, if these challenges are to be

met.

It is estimated that by 2007 foodgrain

requirement will be of the order of 285

million metric tonne if we are to feed a

population of about 1102 million. Future

strategies to ensure a minimum growth of

4.5 per cent per annum will envisage

implementing agricultural reforms through

policy and institutional changes.

New Management Approach

The Central Government may have to move

away from what currently appears to be a

programmatic approach to a Macro

Management mode. While the States must

focus on the primary initiatives for the

development of agriculture, the Central

Government may supplement and

complement these efforts and also

undertake independent initiatives in areas

directly in its purview.

Northeast states, their resources and

conflicts b/w center, states and the

communities.

The Centre, states and communities in the

Northeast are fighting for a slice of the

natural resources pie. The region has landed

in this peculiar situation because of a

complex history of imposition of modern

laws over the customary ones.

Communities have traditionally owned and

controlled vast tracts of land in the region.

Although each community has its own

agricultural and land-use system, they have

one thing in common, and that is

ownership of land and its resources is

vested in the community structures.

Since the British times, governments

have respected the autonomy of the

communities. After India became

independent, the Centre decided to protect

their autonomy by introducing several

provisions in the Constitution which led to

the creation of autonomous local

governance bodies. The hilly areas of

Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram

were brought under the Sixth Schedule of

the Constitution, which required

autonomous district councils (ADCs) and

regional councils to be elected by

communities to govern areas under their

jurisdiction. These councils were

authorised to make local laws, including

the ones on land use. “But the Sixth

Schedule does not formally recognise or

codify customary structures of

communities, nor does it define their

relation with ADCs,

Superfast charging and long lasting

batteries

In the new NTU-developed battery, the

traditional graphite used for the anode

(negative pole) in lithium-ion batteries is

replaced with a new gel material made

from titanium dioxide.

Titanium oxide, which is naturally found in

spherical shape, has been transformed into

nanotubes, speeding up chemical reactions

taking place in the new battery, allowing

superfast charging.

Lithium-ion batteries usually use additives

to bind the electrodes to the anode, which

affects the speed in which electrons and

ions can transfer in and out of the

batteries. However, new cross-linked

titanium dioxide nanotube-based

electrodes eliminate the need for these

additives and can pack more energy into

the same amount of space.

Electric vehicles to get boost

Long lasting and fast charging

batteries to cut cost of operation.

Less no. of batteries to dump

Commercialization

In a couple of years.

Nagoya Protocol comes into effect.

At the 12th COP of CBD, after ratification by

50 signatory states Nagoya Protocol has

come into effect.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic

Resources and the Fair and Equitable

Sharing of Benefits Arising from their

Utilisation—to give its full and self-

explanatory title—comes none too soon.

Biopiracy is the misappropriation of bio-

resources and traditional knowledge by

companies or institutions that use it to

manufacture products which are then

marketed with protection of the

intellectual property rights (IPRs) of the

usurpers.

Where it fails?: For one, it fails to provide

clear text on how the CBD should deal with

intellectual property and biopiracy

allowing developed countries to raise

objections in other forums such as

WIPOabout measures calling for the

disclosure of origin of genetic resources.

Yet, the Nagoya Protocol is quite a since it

enjoins members to “take into

consideration indigenous and local

communities’ customary laws, community

protocols and procedures … with respect to

traditional knowledge associated with

genetic resources.”

Roads, Environmental impacts and other

issues

India plans to construct over 0.8 million

kilometers of roads by 2025 to connect

every habitat in the country, as per the

targets outlined in the government's Rural

Road Development Vision. Worldwide, 25

million kilometers of roads are proposed to

be constructed by 2050—a 60 per cent

increase in road length from 2010—and

nine-tenths of this new construction is

expected in developing countries such as

India. But construction of roads often

harms biodiversity and destroys wild

habitat

Indian Context

Unplanned road construction has many

environmental impacts,e.g. 23 leopards

have died in road accidents in Karnataka in

the past five years. He says environmental

impact assessments done before laying new

roads often ignore ecological issues

resulting in loss of biodiversity and animal

habitat. But this can be easily avoided.

It has been shown that tigers in India can

move across large areas of settled and

semi-settled land between tiger reserves-

dispersing hundreds of kilometresin some

cases. With increasing roads and

agricultural intensification, the settled

lands between reserves will become more

hostile for wildlife such as tigers.

Also, of course, India has a number of

exceptionally important environments

where new roads can cause a lot of damage.

Some examples would include the country's

national parks, rainforests of the Western

Ghats, parts of the Himalayas, and tropical

and higher-elevation forests in Arunachal

Pradesh.

However, there is much potential in India

to improve agriculture. Road

improvements, such as paving, can

contribute to agricultural productivity by

better linking farmers with markets and

making fertiliser and agricultural

technologies more accessible.

GRIHA, LEED, BEE- Star labelling

programme

Most green buildings and very high

energy consumption

Govts. have been doling out sops for

the developers of such buildings.

Rating agencies award green labels

to buildings on the basis of their

design and construction and not on

actual performance and resource

saving. And most buildings after

receiving their green label stop

worrying about their consumption

Proper monitoring of energy and

water use on after certification is

needed.

Delinking design efficiency with

performance is a flawed

approach(Better design but

inefficient & wanton usage ).

Buildings should be designed to

meet a performance and this can be

done by making star rating

mandatory. India should also look at

introducing mandatory energy and

water audits and consumption-

based energy and water billing to

improve operational efficiency of all

buildings. This can be done by

introducing a legal framework for

post-construction performance,

accountability and transparency.

Finally, the country should make it

obligatory for all buildings to

publicly disclose the data on annual

energy and water usage along with

built-up area.

Why Delhi failed in implementing rain

water harvesting and Chennai succeeded

(Can be used in an answer on rain water

harvesting)

Chennai's success rests on effective

implementation of rainwater harvesting

laws. This remains the biggest challenge for

the capital

Delhi

Complicated approval systems and

poor implementation

Rainwater harvesting structures

mandated for only new buildings with

100 sq m roof area

Awards for individuals and institutions

discontinued after 2007 which has

resulted in lack of motivation

At least 18 government institutions,

including the Delhi Jal Board, are not

conserving rainwater

Lack of technical knowledge among

government officials

Virtually no penalty for defaulters

Chennai

All new buildings irrespective of the

size should have a proposal for

construction of rainwater harvesting

structures

Rainwater harvesting structures also

mandatory for all buildings that need

new water and sewer connections

It is the responsibility of the

owners/occupiers of the buildings to

maintain rainwater harvesting

structures

Water supply is stopped to buildings

that do not have proper rainwater

harvesting structures. It is resumed

once the provisions are met

Most of the water go down the

storm drains, with little falling

on the green area.

Barriers in climate negotiations

North-South divide: The West argues that

the current political-economic reality

cannot be equated to that of 1992 when

UNFCCC came into existence. The huge

economic differences between the

developed North and the underdeveloped

South were reflected in the form of

principles of Equity and Common But

Differentiated Responsibilities and

Respective Capabilities in UNFCCC.

Currently, the debate is centred on

developed countries pushing for binding

commitments for all and the developing

countries advocating their right to growth.

Equity: This is one of the most tempestuous

issues in climate negotiations. India worked

hard to get equity in the climate agenda at

the Doha Summit in 2012 against the wishes

of the developed countries. But the

mechanism to share the burden of climate

change among countries remains

contentious. Different models have been

floated based on parameters such as

responsibility, capability and development

needs. India has put forth the argument

that historical emissions should be the sole

criterion of assessing equity.

Finance and technology transfer: Finance

and technology transfer from the developed

to developing countries continues to be an

unresolved issue. The developing countries

have sought financial assistance of $15

billion in 2014, but the developed countries

are reluctant. There has been no

breakthrough in transfer of technology

either.

Boundary dispute between Assam and

Nagaland

CLASHES in areas under B-Sector of the disputed stretch of the boundary between Assam and Nagaland on August 12 and 13 came not only as a grim reminder of similar violence in the past (the clashes at Merapani in 1985 being recorded as the worst among them), but also reinforced the hard reality that the boundary issue has been one of the most intractable conflicts of the north-eastern region in the past five decades. The meeting called to discuss a land dispute between one EkonthungLotha and Simon Sama, an Adivasi farmer, took four decisions to maintain peace in the disputed areas. They are: 1) EkonthungLotha will allow Sama to cultivate on the plot of land on a sharing basis temporarily for a period of one year. The tenancy term may be extended subject to Lotha’s satisfaction over the deal. 2) EkonthungLotha will erect temporarily a thatched shed for cultivation during the cultivation period. 3) They will maintain peace and harmony and will not resort to any unlawful activities. 4) If any person violates the terms, the Sector Commander, CRPF; the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Bhandari; and the SDPO, Sarupathar, will take action as per law.

The boundary dispute started in 1963 following the creation of Nagaland as the 16th State of India.Assam insisted on retaining the constitutional boundaries that are defined by the 1962 State of Nagaland Act. The boundaries of Nagaland comprise two units—the Naga Hills district of Assam created in 1866, whose boundaries were defined in precise terms through a notification of 1925, and the Tuensang areas as per the Naga Hills-Tuensang Areas Act, 1957. Nagaland insists on the restoration of the “historical boundaries” and demands re-transfer of 12,882 square kilometres of Assam’s land to Nagaland on

the grounds that the colonial government excluded these “Naga areas” from the erstwhile Naga Hills district “without the knowledge and much less the consent of the Nagas”.

Tension started building up in the area in the first week of August with residents of Ralan accusing Simon Sama of violating the decisions taken at the July 27 meeting and attacking them along with a group of Adivasi youth in order to prevent the construction of a thatched house.

Assam Chief Minister TarunGogoi and Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang met in Guwahati on August 21 on the sidelines of a Conference of the Chief Ministers of the North-Eastern States, convened by the Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region, and agreed to put in place a joint mechanism for regular coordination between their officials to prevent recurrence of violence over the boundary dispute.

ON August 11, the Tamil Nadu government moved two Bills in the State Legislative Assembly seeking to amend The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982), called “The Goondas Act” in short, to include in it two more categories of offences—cybercrimes and sexual offences.

Alarming act

The original Act,had been widely criticised, even in courts of law, for the scope for human rights violations offered by its provisions. There were enough laws in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and myriad other pieces of legislation to deal with crimes covered by the amended Act. They insist that better policing and scientific investigation of cases are required, not frequent amendments to preventive laws.

The term “first-time offenders” in the proposed amendment has been criticised. Critics point out that the term was inserted in place of “habitual offenders”, against whom the Goondas Act is primarily used. The amended law can be used to detain even a first-time offender for an offence that, according to the state, “may have a propensity to disturb public order”.

Introducing the amendment Bills in the Assembly, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Natham R. Viswanathan said businesses and even the government administration could be affected or even brought to a halt by cybercriminals such as hackers, while sexual offences against women were prejudicial to public order.

The Goondas Act violates the lofty principles that are enshrined in Articles 19 and 21 of our Constitution,” said A. Marx, Chennai-based rights activist. These amendments, he added, would empower the state to detain any person, even a first-time offender, on a “mere suspicion” up to a year “with a view to preventing anyone from acting in any manner or making preparations for engaging in any activity prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”. Even those who in the view of the State police are “preparing to post offensive materials that endanger public order on any social media” and those who commit offences listed in Chapter XI of the Information Technology Act can be detained under the Act.

There is NSA on preventive detention but most States prefer not to use the National Security Act (NSA), the Central legislation on preventive detention, as frequently as they resort to the Goondas Act, mainly on political considerations. The fear that New Delhi will interfere once the NSA is evoked has prompted many to script their own preventive laws under the provisions of Article 22 of the Constitution which allow Parliament and the State Assemblies to enact such laws but with “certain safeguards mentioned in Clauses 4 to 7”.

Justice K. Chandru, a former judge of the Madras High Court, said preventive detention “tramples upon the personal liberty of a citizen without giving him a chance to opt for judicial scrutiny”. He said that preventive laws functioned against the principles of the rehabilitative criminal justice system and well outside the established provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, which is based on the principle of justice and fairness.

“Vague terms like sex offenders and cybercriminals provide room for sly manoeuvrability and exploitation. Youth who believe that they are free to express their views on social media need to be extra cautious. Their freedom of expression is at stake. Any content that is posted and found to be ‘objectionable’ by the state may attract detention under the Act

The Act, he said, should be used only under

exceptional circumstances in cases of grave

and imminent threat to public safety and

order.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, in constitution assembly

during debate defended preventive laws,

but that was because during his time the

country witnessed mayhem and violence

that accompanied Partition. Justice

Chandru, however, was not convinced by

claims of the effectiveness of preventive

laws. “In 2011, 1,364 persons were detained

under the Goondas Act, and in 2012 that

number was 1,896. It jumped to 3,125 in

2013. Has the crime ratio come down?”

marginalised people, mainly Dalits, were

usually the victims of such preventive laws

and claimed that the recent amendments

would further dehumanise the legislation.

One of the main principles of legal

jurisprudence is that any person accused of

any offence should be given an equal

chance to be heard and to defend himself in

the courts of law,” said Justice Chandru.

This preventive law denies the detained

person this chance.

Justice as Governor?

It is the first time that a former CJI has been

appointed the Governor of a State by the

President on the recommendation of the

Central government. It has led to legitimate

apprehensions that a post which has so far

been considered inappropriate for a retired

CJI by both the executive and the judiciary

might become a handy tool for the

executive to woo those members of the

judiciary who are close to retirement. This

has ominous portents for the independence

of the judiciary, which is a part of the basic

structure of the Constitution.

Govt. has already introduced NJAC bill

which will alter the process of selection of

judges in SC. The NJAC will consist of six

members, namely, the CJI, the two senior-

most judges of the Supreme Court, the

Union Law Minister, and two eminent

members to be chosen by a committee

comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and

the Leader of the Opposition (where there

is no designated Leader of the Opposition,

the leader of the largest opposition party),

with one of the two eminent members

being from the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled

Tribes/Other Backward

Classes/Minorities/Women. Despite these

safeguards, the Bill’s provision that any two

members of the NJAC could exercise a veto

over the commission’s recommendations is

looked at with suspicion by those who fear

that the primacy of the judiciary in the

appointment process may be compromised

so as to threaten the independence of the

judiciary.

It is not wrong per se for judges to accept

post-retirement jobs. Indeed, it is perfectly

legitimate for former CJIs to be considered

for the post of the Chairperson of the

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC),

which is a statutory body, with a provision

in the Act creating it reserving the post to

former CJIs. The chairperson and other

members of the NHRC are chosen by a

selection committee comprising, among

others, the Prime Minister and the Leader

of the Opposition. Former judges are also

eligible for a number of other posts, such as

chairmanships of various tribunals and

commissions of inquiry.

In contrast, the appointment of a Governor

of a State is completely in the hands of the

Central government, which has always

considered it a patronage to be distributed

among its senior party members in

recognition of their services to the party.

But this does not detract from the fact that

Justice Sathasivam’s acceptance of the

Governor’s post sets a wrong precedent.

True, there is no express legal bar on a

former judge accepting such a post.

However, the issue must not be reduced to

technicalities but be judged on the basis of

people’s perceptions of the credibility of a

judge.

Mirage of inclusion

THE PradhanMantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY), announced on August 15, is the latest in a series of efforts taken by the government to ensure that financial services are extended to a larger proportion of the population. While the NarendraModi government tries hard to sell the PMJDY as

its own, the scheme is largely a continuation of the financial inclusion policy co-authored by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after 2005. Consequently, much of the systemic fragilities in the UPA government’s policy are retained in the PMJDY as well.

Data from the Census of India show that only 58.7 per cent of Indian households accessed banking services in 2011. In rural India, it was even fewer, at 54.4 per cent. The Census definition includes households with dormant bank accounts too. Studies show that about 50 per cent of the deposit accounts in the country are not operated at all. As a result, the actual extent of household-level financial exclusion is significantly higher than what the Census data show. Data from the RBI show that only 46,126 out of the 640,867 villages in India were covered by banks in March 2014. The RBI claims that it has covered an additional 337,678 villages under its Banking Correspondent (BC) programme. However, a large proportion of the BCs are non-existent on the ground. As a result, the geographical spread of banking services is significantly lower than what the RBI claims.

The Jan DhanYojana

According to the official brochure released by the Department of Financial Services, the programme for financial inclusion under the PMJDY is based on six pillars:

1. The country will be divided into a number of sub-service areas (SSA), each with 1,000-1,500 households. One banking outlet (branch or BC) will be established within a distance of five km from every SSA by August 2015;

2. One bank account will be ensured for every household by August 2015, along with a RuPay debit card and an accident cover worth Rs.1,00,000. If the credit history is satisfactory during the first six months, the account holder will become eligible for an overdraft worth Rs.5,000;

3. Financial literacy programmes will be expanded by August 2015 to spread awareness about financial services;

4. A Credit Guarantee Fund will be created before August 2018 to cover potential defaults in overdrafts;

5. All willing and eligible persons will be provided with micro-insurance by August 2018; and

6. Pension payments under the SwavalambanYojana scheme for workers in the unorganised sector will be paid through bank accounts by August 2018.

The responses to the PMJDY have been

wide-ranging. The Governor of the RBI,

RaghuramRajan, implicitly warned the

government against exposing banks to risks

similar to the subprime risks in the West. He

was referring to the overdrafts of up to

Rs.75,000crore that banks may have to

provide under the PMJDY. Rajan also

appeared piqued that Modi had preferred

the PMJDY model, and not the RBI’s new

market-oriented vision for financial

inclusion outlined in the January 2014

report of the NachiketMor Committee.

Financial inclusion policy after 2005

If the nationalisation of banks in 1969 was India’s first major effort at financial inclusion, the era of financial liberalisation which began in 1991 reversed many of the achievements of nationalisation.

Firstly, 922 rural bank branches were closed down between 1995 and 2005 in the name of branch rationalisation. Out of these, 757 branches were closed down between 1998 and 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was in power.

Secondly, a large proportion of the rural poor were shut out from the public banking system and forced to depend on informal sources like landlords or moneylenders.

Thirdly, the cost of credit in rural areas increased sharply. In 2005, the RBI announced its financial inclusion initiative. The RBI noted that it was “recognising the concerns in regard to the banking practices that tend to exclude rather than attract vast sections of population”.

Banks were urged to review their practices and align them with the objective of financial inclusion. At this point, the RBI defined financial inclusion as just the opening of “no-frills” accounts.

The concept of financial inclusion was expanded in 2008 by the RBI’s Committee on Financial Inclusion, chaired by C. Rangarajan. This committee specified the constituent parts of financial inclusion:

(a) a basic no-frills bank account to make and receive payments; (b) a savings product; (c) money transfer facilities; (d) small loans and overdrafts; and (e) an insurance product.

It also suggested that financial inclusion should be prioritised under a “National Mission on Financial Inclusion”. It was this refined definition of financial inclusion that the UPA government used when it launched its financial inclusion campaign in 2010-11.

The UPA government’s financial inclusion

policy after 2005 differed from the post-

1969 bank nationalisation policy in at least

three ways.

Firstly, true to the principles of financial

liberalisation, banks were urged to

approach financial inclusion not as a social

task but “as a business opportunity”. Banks

were encouraged to develop viable financial

products for the poor that would also

ensure adequate profits.

Secondly, private microfinance institutions

(MFIs) were actively encouraged to expand

financial inclusion. It was in the sphere of

microfinance that “inclusion as business”

was sought to be fully realised. In the 2000s,

the average interest rates on lending by

private MFIs were between 24 and 36 per

cent per annum. The MFI bubble finally

burst in 2010; today, the private MFI model

of financial inclusion stands thoroughly

discredited.

Thirdly, there was considerable reliance on

“branchless banking” through the BC model.

The BC model became an important

medium to practice financial inclusion in a

cost-effective manner. Instead of opening

rural branches, BCs were appointed as

intermediaries between banks and

customers and were paid a

salary/commission for their service. In 2010,

to make the model more attractive, the RBI

permitted the appointment of “for-profit

companies” as BCs. There are many reasons

for the failure of the BC model. Corruption

was pervasive among BCs. Further, the only

way the BC model could stay viable was by

being expensive. Banks complained that the

commissions for cash transfers through BCs

were too low.

The UPA’s financial inclusion policy achieved

very little owing to its multiple infirmities

and the urge to view inclusion as business.

These infirmities have been imported into

the PMJDY as well.

Firstly, upon directions from the then

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2011,

banks had identified about 73,000

unbanked habitations in India with a

population of above 2,000. In 2012,

Mukherjee announced “Swabhimaan”, a

multimedia campaign to inform, educate

and motivate people to open bank

accounts. Under Swabhimaan, there were

also plans to “extend insurance and other

services to the targeted beneficiaries”. In

fact, by 2012, banks claimed to have

covered about 70,000 habitations with

banking facilities. The Modi government has

just renamed the Swabhimaan scheme as

PMJDY, extended the scheme to urban

areas and made certain concrete

announcements on adding insurance

products to the scheme.

Secondly, both the Swabhimaan campaign

and the PMJDY rely on the failed BC

model. The Modi government’s plan is to

make the BC model viable by (a) raising the

salaries of BCs to at least Rs.5,000 a month;

and (b) increasing the commission to BCs.

Thirdly, following the UPA government, the

Modi government also wants to use the DBT

scheme as part of the PMJDY. The PMJDY

brochure notes: “It is proposed that DBT,

including DBT in LPG, should be pursued to

make the programme of financial inclusion a

success.” The DBT scheme of the UPA

government had invited much public

criticism. The introduction of DBT in LPG

cylinder purchases and the proposed effort

to convert in-kind food subsidies into cash

subsidies had raised fears of a collapse of

the subsidy system itself. Concrete benefits

for India’s poor may have to wait until the

policy of financial inclusion frees itself from

the grip of financial liberalisation.

Passing the buck

Reserve Bank of India Governor RaghuramRajan has been railing against the monetary authorities in the developed economies for some time now. Initially, his complaint was that they unilaterally decide on infusing liquidity or withdrawing it through their “quantitative easing” and “taper” policies, even though this move affects “emerging markets” such as India. The resulting inflows and outflows of capital into and out of these countries make monetary and exchange rate management difficult. Rajan wanted coordination between central banks so that these

measures could be calibrated, hopefully to suit all. With an emphasis on austerity in economies performing both moderately well and poorly, monetary policy had to replace fiscal policy as the principal means to address the crisis. This required more liquidity infusion into the system, over and above what is needed to save the banks and return them to profitability. What became clear over time was that a little bit of money did not go far enough in addressing the crisis—the system had to be flooded with cash.

The result was the decision to pump large volumes of liquidity into the system through versions of the quantitative easing (QE) policy. QE essentially involves purchase of bonds, normally from banks but also from other agents. The consequences of such purchases are threefold. First, it infuses liquidity into the system, allowing banks to lend more because they have accumulated reserves and because they have transferred risk off their balance sheets by the sale of securities. Secondly, it raises the price of assets because of the increased demand for securities in the “market”. Thirdly, since the corollary of a rise in asset prices is a fall in yield, the move results in a decline in interest rates. The resulting cheapening of credit, it is expected, would spur demand and combat the recession.

What was remarkable is that this huge infusion of liquidity had not sent prices soaring in the United States economy because of “too much money chasing the available goods”. Nor was there any significant increase in production as a result of increased capacity utilisation driven by credit-financed demand. The reason was that with households and businesses already heavily in debt, they were (and are) not willing to borrow more even at lower interest rates, and banks were cautious about lending to over-indebted clients. The expectation that increased liquidity in the system would translate into increased consumer, housing and investment credit

proved misplaced. But the absence of inflation encouraged staying with the QE policy.

So where did the money go? Part of it remained in the books of the banks, which were happy to have got rid of the excessive volumes of risky assets they held. But another part was flowing into assets like equity, bonds and gold, both within the U.S. and abroad. The result has been huge asset price inflation.

Stock markets globally are at record highs (witness the movements in the Sensex). As financial analyst Michael Hieise puts it: “The collateral damage from ultra-loose monetary policy is accumulating. Risks to financial stability are growing as investors are piling into riskier assets in search of higher returns. Already, some assets such as junk bonds are trading at what look like inflated prices.”

It is not only the stock market that is showing signs of pre-crisis-type buoyancy.It is true that such policies affect developing countries, as illustrated by the sudden slide of the rupee when the taper was first announced in the middle of 2013. But Rajan needs to look to policies he can adopt, and not to those he could advise his developed country counterparts to pursue. He needs to find ways to reduce the overhang of footloose finance in India’s capital markets, and slow the inflow of capital that was not needed to finance the balance of payments. That would at least partially insulate India from the whimsical decisions of foreign financial investors. But to consider such options amounts to going against his own ideological inclination. Here again Rajan is appealing to the self-interest of the developed. So, if they do not respond, as is likely, it is not because of a lack of effort. Perhaps it is time to stop passing the buck and invest that energy in exploring policy alternatives that developing countries can implement. Maybe finding ways of shutting out at least some of the capital inflows and

addressing India’s vulnerability may be a better way to go.

EVERYONE recognises that erosion of the autonomy of national policymaking (or briefly put, some loss of “policy space”) has been among the important effects of various processes of economic globalisation and the institutional arrangements that have accompanied them. There are broadly two schools of thought in this regard. One sees this as both a necessary and a virtuous outcome of global integration, which forces governments to do what is “ultimately best” for them and for others, notwithstanding possible short-term pain. The second view not only contests the notion of one-size-fits-all policy direction but sees it as a significant loss of sovereignty and flexibility and an unfortunate reduction in the ability of governments to identify and pursue the most appropriate mix of economic and social policies to achieve equitable and sustainable development in their own national contexts, even as they remain part of an interdependent global economy.

Latest Trade and Development Report (TDR) from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (“Global governance and policy space for development”, UNCTAD, Geneva 2014). It highlights important dimensions in which policy space is affected: through the regimes that govern cross-border trade and affect the possibility of industrial policies; through the effects of capital movements in the form of both financial flows and foreign direct investment (FDI); and through the limitations on fiscal policy, particularly taxation, that are created by international interdependence. But the era of globalisation has brought with it a combination of more intense multilateral commitments by governments and less power to deal with other cross-border flows, particularly of finance and investment. This in turn has generated more constraints on such government actions and a greater sense of powerlessness among

states and civil society alike in relation to apparently invincible market forces. Consider just some of the constraints faced by developing countries today that prevent them from using strategies that were important tools for structural transformation in the past. Subsidies were a preferred instrument to incentivise certain types of investment and production but are now circumscribed by the WTO’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM). Performance requirements on foreign investors for exports, domestic content and technology transfer that were important to create linkages between foreign investors and local manufacturers are limited by the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs). The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) prevents countries from encouraging reverse engineering and imitation which were critical in all previous cases of successful industrialisation.

Surprisingly, WTO restrictions are often less onerous than those demanded by regional trade agreements (RTAs) and economic partnership agreements, which have become ever more comprehensive in recent times. Similarly, bilateral investment treaties and investment chapters in RTAs play at best an ambiguous role in attracting more FDI. But the lack of transparency and the perceived pro-investor bias of the tribunals associated with some of these agreements have made many countries wary of their implications.

So why are developing countries still

seeking to sign agreements that severely

constrain national policy autonomy? The

desire for greater market access into

developed markets and the fear of exclusion

when other developing countries are signing

them are potent reasons, along with the

hope of becoming more attractive

destinations for foreign investment.

The possibility of domestic firms becoming

integrated into global value chains that

reflect international production networks is

undoubtedly a major instigating factor for

many developing countries. But the TDR

2014 notes that this is not always a win-win

situation: it runs the risk of generating

adverse terms of trade effects on countries,

particularly those at the lower ends of

production chains, and it creates few

domestic linkages and technology spillovers.

There are still some flexibilities in tariff

policy, so differences between actual and

bound tariffs can be exploited to some

extent to orient domestic production in

certain directions. Some subsidies that

promote research and development and

innovation are still allowed by the WTO.

In the TRIPS agreement, compulsory

licensing (whereby governments can allow

companies other than the patent owner to

use the rights to a patent) and parallel

imports still provide some flexibility despite

recent attempts to limit them.

Fiscal space has clearly been hit by

globalisation, which has affected the ability

of governments to mobilise domestic

revenues. Trade tax collections have come

down because of trade liberalisation, while

greater capital mobility has generated tax

competition between countries, leading to

reduced direct taxation. At the same time,

there has been more blatant use of tax

havens by multinational firms and wealthy

individuals.

The TDR 2014 contains a fascinating

description of the proliferation of off-shore

financial centres, tax havens and secrecy

jurisdictions that enable tax avoidance or

evasion of billions, if not trillions, of dollars.

Further, trade mispricing, including through

transfer pricing (involving cross-border

transactions by various constituents of

multinational companies), has become the

evasion mechanism of choice for many

companies. In addition to this, “thin

capitalisation” allows a company to mix and

match intra-group debts and interest

payments across its subsidiaries to minimise

tax payments and generate higher overall

profits.

while a multilateral approach to dealing

with this is essential, there are still some

steps that national governments can take.

For example, “aggressive” tax schemes can

be declared illegal when challenged in

courts. Transfer mispricing in trade can be

controlled by using reference pricing for a

number of homogeneous traded goods. In

many developing countries, the financing of

development could rely heavily on rents

from natural resources, especially from the

extractive industries. But thus far, public

gains from resource rents have lagged far

behind their potential. This can only partly

be blamed on corruption: the main reason

has been the overly generous royalty

policies and taxation regimes that were

established at a time of low prices, typically

with the hope of attracting foreign

investment to these sectors. But now many

governments—both from developed and

developing countries—have begun to revise

their policies relating to the extractive

industries and have taken measures such as

renegotiation or cancellation of existing

contracts, increasing tax or royalty rates,

introducing new taxes and making changes

in the degree of state ownership of the

extractive projects. while measures can be

taken at the national level, multilateral

cooperation in this area is clearly of the

essence. This suggests that there is a role

for the international community that goes

beyond the simple framing of development

goals and targets to providing the enabling

conditions for development in the first

place. The ensuring of national policy space,

including fiscal space, should clearly

become prominent elements of the post-

2015 development agenda.

Indo-Japan Relation

The visit led to an agreement to work on a number of initiatives: economic, defence and cultural. The major focus was on infrastructural projects. Japan pledged $500 million towards a public-private infrastructure financing project to India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL). Japan also agreed to double its current investment to $35 billion over the next five years. The infrastructural development will start with building smart cities in six States along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor. This is not really new as it has been on the cards. If it is implemented, there are huge opportunities for both Indian and Japanese businesses. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Japan Bank of Industrial Cooperation (JBIC). But there was no deal on cooperation to develop civil nuclear energy; rather, the two countries agreed to develop clean coal-fired power plants. India could have taken this as an opportunity to work out an agreement to explore cooperation in green technologies. An agreement was reached by which Japan, as part of the infrastructural development plan, would provide technical, financial and operational support to build a Shinkansen (literally new trunk lines) or a bullet train system for India, starting with a line connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai for which joint feasibility studies are being conducted. While infrastructural development and connectivity is important and high-speed train services are necessary,

it is highly debatable whether the Japanese Shinkansen system is a solution or is even workable at this stage. The Japanese have operated the Shinkansen system since 1964 without an accident and to date the whole system has not been exported. The Shinkansen system requires expertise at various levels both to produce and operate sophisticated technologies and, even more importantly, well-trained manpower, which India lacks. The Indian railway system has many shortcomings and needs to be improved, but it provides cheap transport to many. The cheapest Shinkansen ticket for a 1,300-kilometre, nearly five-hour trip between Beijing and Shanghai in the fastest train, is over Rs.5,000, twice that for a first class ticket. A flight takes two hours and costs around Rs.7,000. In Japan, if a Shinkansen journey is over four hours, people prefer to take a plane. As in Europe, where equally fast trains have been introduced, budget travellers take planes and the rich can take the superfast trains as they are convenient and fast though expensive. These high-speed trains have their drawbacks: noise pollution, the need for dedicated corridors, high costs and the gradual phasing out of cheaper trains. The heavy costs incurred in building such a system to gain half an hour are hard to justify when improving air travel would seem to provide a cheaper and faster way to travel. The second major area where agreements have been reached is defence. A Joint Working Group will coordinate the development of the US-2 amphibian aircraft and explore other areas for cooperation in the Indian aircraft industry. Japan, it is hoped, will transfer aircraft technology to India. This again is a project that was in the pipeline. Defence equipment produced in Japan has very high per unit cost because it only supplies its own limited needs. Defence export has become a new area for a struggling economy and an important arrow in Abe’s quiver of economic policies.

Japan’s entry as an exporter of weapons has benefits for the Japanese economy, but these exports to India and other countries in the region are based on the idea that China is a growing military threat and can only be countered by strengthening defence. This creates the climate for an arms race in the region. Modi himself had not too long ago proclaimed that India should not depend on the import of weapons for security, that it should become self-reliant. In fact, he even said that India should export defence equipment to smaller countries.

Smart city was another keyword in the agreements. Smart cities promise the use of technology to provide a more rational, efficient and environment-friendly way to manage large urban conglomerations. But as critics have begun to note, the way these ideas are transforming cities is much the way car travel did in an earlier time. The urban landscape was transformed by the construction of highways and roads. Equally, though not so obviously, technology will have a strong impact that needs to be publicly debated. Increasingly, private companies build and operate the public services. The huge amount of data that are gathered can be used to reduce energy consumption or track crime, but it can also be used for unregulated surveillance. For instance, sensors can gather data about how you travel through automated licence recognition. Urban designers have warned that the smart city model fits well with authoritarian ideas. The problems faced in our cities, of poverty, social inequality, inadequate public educational facilities and environmental pollution, cannot be solved from a single command centre but need the active engagement of the citizenry. The really smart way to build a smart city would be with more citizen engagement.

India has also agreed to the export of rare earths, which Japan has imported from China, a country that has some 85 per cent of the world’s rare earths. But in 2010,

China restricted exports. The extraction of rare earths is done using chemicals that seriously damage the area and harm the people, and in China, because of lax environmental regulations, this has adversely affected the health of people and the environment. The United States and Australia are developing more environment-friendly mining techniques, and substitutes are being developed. It remains to be seen how the mining of rare earths will be regulated in India. But given the prevailing view that environmental restrictions hinder economic growth, it does not look hopeful. There is speculation that India did not upgrade the talks with Japan, keeping Chinese sensibilities in mind. China is a much larger trading partner than Japan—four times larger—and is of greater geopolitical importance. Modi perhaps sees that he cannot let the India-Japan relationship be embroiled in the China-India relationship.

The India-Japan relationship has a long history, and since the mid-1980s it has been growing slowly but steadily. Even though Modi’s trip was projected as if there was a momentous change in the relationship, the fact is that it has stayed very much in the well-established framework.

Democracy in Fiji

FIJI will elect a democratic government on

September 17, eight years after its last

elected government was overthrown in a

bloodless military coup in 2006. The long-

awaited election is taking place under a new

Constitution, with a new scheme of voting

under a proportional representation system

for the 50-member National Assembly. It

will be held on the basis of “one person, one

vote, one value”, according to the Fijian

Elections Office (FEO).

The 2013 Constitution did away with Fiji’s

race-based electoral system which was part

of the Constitution adopted in 1970 when

Fiji gained independence from British rule.

The county’s multiracial population

comprises indigenous Fijians (56 per cent),

people with Indian ancestry (37 per cent;

they are descendents of Indian workers

brought to Fiji over a century ago), people

of European descent, and other Pacific

islanders.

Under the new Constitution, there will be

no race-based seats or geographically

delineated constituencies. People will vote

on a single ballot listing the names of all

candidates. The new Constitution gives

equal rights to indigenous Fijians and

Indians and terms all Fiji nationals as Fijians

instead of identifying them by race.

Civil society organisations and student

activists have not been allowed to set up

election observer groups, and human rights

groups have not been allowed to campaign

in the elections. However, the government

has invited election observers from a select

group of countries. It has signed an

agreement for a Multinational Observer

Group which will be co-led by Australia,

India, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia and

will include 10 other countries: Israel, South

Africa, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Japan, South

Korea, Iran, the United Kingdom and New

Zealand. According to the agreement, the

multinational group will observe and

evaluate the voting and counting processes,

resolution of disputes and “assess whether

the voter process of the FEO facilitated and

assisted the Fijian voters to exercise their

rights to freely vote and whether the

outcome of the 2014 Fijian general election

broadly represented the will of Fijian

voters”. The re-registration of political

parties and the condition that parties

should have members spread throughout

Fiji have had the significant result of making

the parties multi-ethnic in nature. That will

help reducing the ethnicity-based appeals

that some political parties resorted to in

earlier elections.

Nuclear Power in India

THE mood in Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) now is upbeat. The fifth unit of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-5) at Rawatbhatta achieved a record continuous operation for 765 days at its full capacity of 220 MWe on September 6, the second best achievement for a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) after the 540 MWe seventh unit at Pickering Nuclear Generation Station in Canada achieved a world record in 1994 by running continuously for 894 days. Both RAPS-5 and Pickering-7 are PHWRs, which use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as coolant and moderator. RAPS-5 is an indigenous reactor built by NPCIL, a public-sector undertaking (PSU) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

The Kudankulam units are Light Water Reactors (LWRs) imported from Russia but assembled by NPCIL in civil works completed by it. They use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as coolant

The DAE’s target is to generate 20,000 MWe

by 2020 but it is possible for the installed

nuclear power capacity to reach 12,080

MWe by 2020. This will be far short of the

target of 20,000 MWe. Excavation of natural

uranium from Andhra Pradesh and

Meghalaya will have to be stepped up to

drive the 700 MWe indigenous PHWRs

under construction and those in the

pipeline. Whether it can be done, given the

strong opposition to uranium mining

projects from the Lambadi tribal people,

naxalites and the local people in Andhra

Pradesh, and the Khasi Students’ Union in

Meghalaya, is a moot question.

India’s three-stage nuclear electricity generation programme

India has envisaged an inter-linked three-stage nuclear electricity generation programme. In the first stage, India already has 18 PHWRs which use natural uranium as fuel. The spent uranium from these reactors is reprocessed to obtain Plutonium-239. The second stage aims at building breeder reactors using this Plutonium-239 and uranium as fuel.

By March 2015, India will enter the commercial domain of breeder reactors when its 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, reaches criticality. BharatiyaNabhikiyaVidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), another PSU of the DAE, which is tasked with building breeder reactors, will build four more breeders, including another two at Kalpakkam.

In the third stage, Uranium-233 and thorium will drive the advanced thorium reactors. The DAE plans to build a 300 MWe Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), which will use thorium as fuel.

India right now has 21 reactors with a total installed capacity of 5,780 MWe. This is a mix of 18 PHWRs and three LWRs (two at Tarapur and one at Kudankulam).

Earth Overshoot Day

AUGUST 19 was Earth Overshoot Day: an

estimate of the moment in a 12-month

period when humans have consumed more

natural resources than the biosphere can

replace and created more waste than it can

absorb. To put it simply, in less than eight

months of 2014, the annual supply of land,

water and trees and the planet’s ability to

deal with waste products, including carbon

dioxide, have been used up. This means that

humanity is already living off next year’s

supplies, which in turn means that next

year’s supplies will end even sooner than

this year’s. No wonder Earth Overshoot Day

is also called Ecological Debt Day. Earth

Overshoot Day does not follow the standard

practice of having a fixed commemorative

day and is more of a countdown. It was first

commemorated on December 19, 1987,

when humanity was 11 days in debt. Since

then, the ecological debt has been

accelerating.

Global Footprint Network (GFN), a 10-year-

old international think tank that works to

“advance sustainability”, carries out the

calculations for humans overshooting

budgeted supplies. Using a novel resource-

accounting tool called the Ecological

Footprint, it “measures how much nature

we have, and how much we use”.

Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel

and William Rees at the University of British

Columbia, the Ecological Footprint is now in

wide use by groups as diverse as scientists,

businesses, governments, agencies and

institutions. The Ecological Footprint

represents the productive area required to

provide the renewable resources humanity

is using and to absorb its waste. The

productive area currently occupied by

human infrastructure is also included in this

calculation, since built-up land is not

available for resource regeneration.” In

simple terms, the Footprint “addresses

whether the planet is large enough to keep

up [with] the demands of humanity”.

The obvious conclusion is that the planet

certainly does not have the capacity to keep

on satisfying the current rate of human

demand. Using the Footprint to explain the

extent of humanity’s “overshoot”, the GFN

draws the attention of governments,

investors and opinion leaders and

demonstrates to “the advantages of making

ecological limits central to decision-

making”.

BCIM-EC: Bangladesh, China, India,

Myanmar-Economic Corridor

Connects South Asia with SE & East

Asia; a multimodal project.

Region accounts for 9% of world’s

geographical area, 7.3% of GDP and

440 million people.

Will originate from Kunming in

China’s Yunnan province and pass

through Yangon and Mandalay in

Myanmar, Chittagong-Dhaka-Sylhet

in Bangladesh before entering

North Eastern states, Bengal and

ending in Kolkata. A revival of

southern silk route connecting China

and India in the 12th century.

Initial emphasis is on building

infrastructure projects in the four

states and interconnecting their

respective regions. Will open up the

entire North Eastern region to

Southeast and East Asia. Under the

BCIM initiative, the North East in

general and Manipur and Barak

valley of Assam are projected as

the major beneficiaries since the

proposed economic corridor will

pass these states. Currently, most of

the landlocked states of the region

are paying higher transportation

price for not having easy access to

sea ports. Lack of proper

infrastructural facilities has led to

economic isolation of the region.

Why BCIM is important?

NE has been a hitherto neglected

region in national policy making;

security and strategic concerns have

largely shaped center’s policy

towards NE states; NE gained some

space in the national policy only

after India’s Look east policy of

1990s.

Among NE states, only Assam has

elaborate transportation links, it

accounts for 60% of NEs GDP. Huge

potential remains untapped.

NE lost its rail, road and river links

of the region after independence,

BCIM will restore that; India has not

had a cordial relationship with any

of the NE neighboring states except

Bhutan, this makes BCIM important;

NE states have trade links mainly

with Bhutan, Bangladesh and

Myanmar ; huge potential lies in

services,tourism,health

,transportation

Natural resources rich NE can

become the game changer in India’s

and region’s economy.

Many other projects proposed for

linking NE states with neighboring

countries:

India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway,

Mekong-India Economic Corridor and Moreh-New Delhi-Hanoi rail link.

India has taken the initiative of developing Kaladan Transport Corridor which connects North East with Sitwee port in Myanmar.

Plans are underway to set up 2000 acres Special Economic Zone at Moreh in Manipur.

Similar schemes have been proposed at Sitwee and Champai (in Mizoram).

Projects to connect NE with India’s other part

LumdingBadarpur broad guage rail line(expected completion 2015)

East-West Corridor (Silchar to Gujarat)

Interlinking these with BCIM with unleash the true potential of NE states.

Special beneficiary with Mizoram , Tripura which are dependent solely on the abovementioned rail link for essentials. Concerns about BCIM: Impact on cultural, environment and biodiversity of the region.

ISIS and the politics of West Asia.

ISIS is basically an anti-Shia organization.

Syrian Bassad regime is a Shia regime, but the opposition, Free Syrian Army (FRA) has been routed by ISIS which has emerged as the most prominent opposition in Syria.

3 objectives of US policy in West Asia. First is the safety and security of Israel. Second is the unimpeded free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf and the third is that in order to

attain its objectives the US will use force; if necessary.

To eliminate the risks of an IRAN(Shia) centric US wants Sunni dominance in IRAQ(which comprises three regions viz. southern Shia, Western Kurds and the NE Sunni) ; Sunni Monarchies like Saudi also don’t want a Shia regime in IRAQ , so there hasn’t been much effort to split IRAQ in the three regions(Kurds have been demanding Kurdistan from contigious regions of IRAQ,Turkey and Syria for along time).

Turkey has been implicitly supporting ISIS to exterminate as many kurds as possible , who have put up a brave front againt ISIS. Way out to kill ISIS?

A moderate Sunni govt. in Iraq and Syria to fight against ISIS and not upsetting the political order in the region.

Cooperation with Syrian Bassad regime.

Help to Kurds from the Turkey state.

Domestic Defence manufacture , what needs to be done in the wake of “Make in India” campaign.

Learn from China to leapfrog in technological prowess.

Restructuring of Standing committee on defence in parliament.

9 committees on indigenization of defence manufacturing have submitted report since 2001

A defence industrial base by the end of this decade.

A separate Department of Defence Production under a cabinet minister,

with indigenisation and modernisation of existing R&D and the manufacturing assets as its primary responsibilities.

The three Services and the private sector must be integrated with this Department with appropriate representation. The DRDO, suitably reorganised, should also be part of this organisation. The Scientific Advisers to the three Chiefs must be made more accountable. The Army and the Air Force must have integral design and development organisations like the Navy’s Weapons Engineering Electronics Systems Establishment (WEESE).

A National Security and Strategic Review should be regularly presented in Parliament prior to discussions on the defence budget, just like the Annual Economic Survey is released before the presentation of the Finance Bill.

A separate cadre for Defence technology ; to work for encouraging extensive coordination between best global & Indian R&D institutions

Eliminate bureaucratic lethargy for timely execution of projects.

Border dispute with Nepal and Bangladesh and the resolution

While border disputes with China and Pakistan would be difficult to resolve in immediate future given the intense rivalry and huge territorial claims, borders disputes with Nepal and Bangladesh can be settled amicably in the coming years as the disputes are positional in nature, i.e. relating to the alignment of the boundaries and frameworks for their settlement have already been agreed upon

India and Nepal constituted a Boundary Working Group(BWG) in

july2014 involving Surveyor Generals of the two countries to resolve the border dispute bilaterally including disputes over kalapani and Susta; A joint team has been formed with task of construction and restoration of new and damaged boundary pillars, their GPS observation, developing procedures for resolving encroachments as well as crossholdings along the boundary, and providing technical inputs to the foreign secretaries of India and Nepal for resolving outstanding boundary issues

The team will conduct survey of the border pillars based on the strip maps prepared by the Joint Technical Level Nepal-India Boundary Committee (JTLNIBC). The JTLNIBC was set up in 1981 to demarcate the India-Nepal border and after years of surveying, deliberations and extensions, the Committee had delineated 98 per cent of the India-Nepal boundary, excluding Kalapani and Susta, on 182 strip maps which was finally submitted in 2007 for ratification by both the countries. None of the countries has ratified the strip maps. Nepal has denied ratification without including Kalapani and Susta in the maps while India awaits Nepal’s ratification.

A survey on JTLNIBC’s strip maps in still a positive step, showcasing flexibility of both India and Nepal’s front.

A tentative deadline of three years has been finlised by the joint survey team for the demarcation of the boundary(including Kalapni and Susta).

Similarly, the entire border of India and Bangladesh has been delineated in strip maps in 2011 by the works of Joint working group I & II in 2001

and the census of 2011 for surrender of adverse possession and alignment of undemarcated boundaries.

Subsequently, in September 2011 additional protocol to the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) concerning the demarcation of land boundary between India and Bangladesh was signed and in February 2013, the strip maps of the boundary were exchanged. Unfortunately all efforts to arrive at a final resolution of the boundary dispute came to a naught as India failed to ratify the LBA. Efforts to ratify the LBA had been undertaken when the previous government introduced the 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on May 7, 2013. The Bill, however, could not be passed due to oppositions from members of the AsomGanaParishad and the Trinamool Congress.

Geo-strategic Implications of the

Asian Infrastructure Investment

Bank

Why in news?

The Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated

the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank [AIIB] at Beijing along with

21 other member countries, including India

What is AIIB?

The AIIB will be a multilateral development

organization for Asia established on

intergovernmental lines, and it will function in

accordance with the models and principles of

other multilateral development banks. It aims

to boost economic development and regional

economic cooperation by supporting

investment in infrastructure and other

projects in Asian countries. The new bank will

become a professional and highly efficient

investment and financing platform for

infrastructure facilities, and will meet the

demand for further development.

Reaction of U.S

US sees the establishment of the AIIB

as an attempt by China to pull South-

East Asian countries closer to its orbit

and a soft-power play that promises

economic benefits while refurbishing

its image among its Asian neighbours.

This is despite the fact that neither

the World Bank nor the ADB are in a

position to cater to the rising

demands of Asian countries for

infrastructure funding.

In 2009 the Asian Development Bank

estimated that the Asia-Pacific region

would need as much as US$8 trillion

in investments for physical

infrastructure by 2020 — an amount

that exceeds what the ADB or the

World Bank can muster

Politics behind establishment of AIIB

The US virtually enjoys a veto in the major

decisions and policies of the existing

international lending institutions by being a

major contributor, especially the IMF. Thus

the polices framed by these agencies are

heavily tilted towards serving the interests of

the developed nations and geared to

strengthening the existing global economic

order.

The US and its allies view the establishment of

AIIB as a threat to the existing international

financial institutions. They fear that the

establishment of AIIB will relax their hold on

the economies of the developing countries of

Asia and undercut international institutions

like the World Bank, IMF and ADB by relaxing

fiscal discipline and good governance.

The US reportedly also used its influence with

Australia and a few other countries of the

region to stay away from the venture.

It is not in the public domain whether the US

pushed hard with India not to join the AIIB

and what had been the Indian response.

However going by the fact that India was one

of the 21 countries present at the signing

ceremony at Beijing; the response to the US

request, if any, would obviously have been

negative. The moot point however to note is

whether India sees this as a purely economic

event or whether it attaches any political

connotations to it; as have the US and its

close allies in Asia.

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