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Budget 2015

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Foreign Minister level talk

MAY, 2015

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Budget 2015Budget 2015Budget 2015Budget 2015Budget 2015

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Union government presentedits first full budget in the parliamenton 28th feb 2015. This years budgetwas aimed at high growth, providinginvestment friendly conditions andimproving the physical infrastructure.Along with above objectives budgethas also focused on improving thefiscal discipline and making legislativeand tax reforms. This was the firstbudget presented after Centreaccepted the Finance commissionrecommendation. Union governmentaccepted the recommendation ofFinance commission to increase thestates tax pool to 42 percent fromcentral taxes, earlier this used to be32 percent. Taking all transferstogether, about 62% of the moneyavailable (including non-plan grantsand loans, central assistance to statesand UTs and centrally sponsoredschemes) to be spent now in Indiawill be with the states. Increase in thesize of the states revenue reduces thefinancial space of the Centre. Severalkey sectors like education, health etc.will not have a one size fits all policyfrom central government rather stateswill have the resources and the policyaccording to their needs.

Some important facts andpolicies presented in the budget:-

Headline Numbers

In the interim budget presentedlast year government set the target tocontain the fiscal deficit below 4.1percent. While the target for 2015-16 was set at 3.5 percent and for thenext fiscal year target was reducedto 3 percent. In this years budgetgovernment has achieved the targetfor this year but it has increased thefiscal deficit target to 3.9 percentnext year and 3.5 and 3 percent infollowing years. In this waygovernment will get to the FinanceCommission recommendation of 3%fiscal deficit a year later than planned.This has been done to provideadequate public spending in theinfrastructure sector and not for thesubsidization. Budget documentexpects consumer inflation to remainclose to 5 percent by March, openingroom for more monetary policyeasing. The GDP growth projectionsare higher at 8%-8.5% for the nextyear. But these numbers are also dueto change in method of calculatingGDP along with change in base yearfor calculating GDP.

Taxation

Government has tried to makethe taxation system simple and morefriendly to the investors.

The Wealth Tax has beenabolished but an additionalsurcharge of 2 percent hasbeen imposed on those whohave the net taxable incomeabove one crore. Wealth Taxused to get in total around1000 crore, which is very lessas compare to the overall taxcollection in India.Administrative cost to collectwealth tax was equivalent tothe amount what governmentused to get from total wealthtax. The 2% surcharge beinga surcharge and not anincrease in the marginal rate can be taken off at any time ifthe overall tax collectionsstabilize and look positive.

The Corporate Tax rate will bereduced from 30% to 25%over 4 years starting next.Reduction in corporate taxwould be accompanied byremoving the exemptionsgiven to corporates. At presentmost corporate entities pay taxin the range of 20-23% afterexemptions. And lot oflitigation also happen due toexemptions given, so this stepwill reduce the litigations ofcorporates as well.

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Service Tax has beenincreased from 12.36% to 14%to bring the rates in line withthe proposed GST rates..... Thiswill help in smooth transitionfrom present tax system toproposed GST in 2016.

The General Anti AvoidanceRules or GAAR implementationis deferred by 2 years and alsoit will not be usedretrospectively.

Agriculture

The Government fully supportAgriculture Ministrys organicfarming scheme Paramparagat KrishiVikas Yojana.

Pradhanmantri Gram SinchaiYojana is aimed at irrigating thefield of every farmer andimproving water use efficiencyto provide Per Drop MoreCrop , Governmentproposed allocation of Rs.5,300 crore to supportmicro-irrigation, watersheddevelopment and the PradhanMantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.

In order to support theagriculture sector with thehelp of effective agriculturecredit and focus on small andmarginal farmers, the FinanceMinister proposed to allocateRs. 25,000 crore to thecorpus of Rural InfrastructureDevelopment fund (RIDF) setup in NABARD, Rs.15,000 crore for Long TermRural Credit Fund; Rs.45,000 crore for Short TermCooperative Rural CreditRefinance Fund; and Rs.15,000 crore for Short TermRRB Refinance Fund.

Infrastructure

Government proposedincreased outlays on both theroads and the gross budgetarysupport to the railways, by Rs.14,031 crore and Rs. 10,050

crore respectively. TheCAPEX of the public sectorunits is expected to be Rs.3,17,889 crore, an increase ofapproximately Rs. 80,844 croreover RE 2014-15.

Government also proposed toestablish National Investmentand Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)with an annual flow of Rs.20,000 crore.

Tax free infrastructure bondsfor the projects in the rail, roadand irrigation sector.

Atal Innovation Mission(AIM)will provide InnovationPromotion Platform involvingacademicians, and drawingupon national and internationalexperiences. A sum of Rs. 150crore is proposed to beearmarked for the mission.

Government also proposes toset up 5 new Ultra MegaPower Projects each of 4000MWs in the plug-and-playmode.

Legislative Decisions

In order to promote investmentin the country, the Ministerproposed to set up a PublicDebt Management Agency(PDMA) which will bring bothIndias external borrowingsand domestic debt under oneroof.

Government proposed tomerge the Forwards Markets

Commission with SEBI tostrengthen regulation ofcommodity forward marketsand reduce wild speculation.

Comprehensive new law onblack money to specificallydeal with such money stashedaway abroad. The key featuresof the bill will includepunishment of rigorousimprisonment up to ten yearsfor concealment of incomeand assets and evasion of taxin relation to foreign assets.Penalty for such concealmentof income and assets at therate of 300 per cent of tax shallbe levied. Non-filing of returnor filing of return withinadequate disclosure offoreign assets will bepunishable with rigorousimprisonment up to sevenyears.

As regards curbing domesticblack money, a new and morecomprehensive BenamiTransactions (Prohibition) Billwill be introduced in thecurrent Session of theParliament. Quoting of PAN isbeing made mandatory for anypurchase or sale exceedingthe value of Rs.1 lakh. Toimprove enforcement, CBDTand CBEC will leveragetechnology and have access toinformation in each othersdata-base.



Finance CommissionFinance CommissionFinance CommissionFinance CommissionFinance Commission


Article 280 of the constitutionof India gives President of India thepower to constitute the financecommission every five years. If thePresident thinks it is required earlierit can give the order to constitute iteven earlier as well. The FinanceCommission is required torecommend the distribution of thenet proceeds of taxes of the Unionbetween the Union and the States(commonly referred to as verticaldevolution); and the allocationbetween the States of the respectiveshares of such proceeds (commonlyknown as horizontal devolution).Though recommendations of financecommission are non-binding, theCentre generally accepts therecommendation of the expert body.Fourteenth finance commissionunder the chairmanship of former RBIgovernor Y.V.Reddy has submitted itsreport for the period of 2015-2020.Report was submitted to centralgovernment with a dissent note fromAbhijit sen and central governmenthas accepted the recommendation.

Highlights of theRecommendation

States share from the net

proceeds from the central taxcollection to be 42percentage, which is a hugejump of 10 percent from the32 percent recommended bythe 13th finance commission.As compared to the totaldevolutions in 2014-15 thetotal devolution of the Statesin 2015-16 will increase by over45%. This change in share hasbecome possible becauseplanning commission has beenabolished and its funds havebeen transferred to financecommission and ministries.

FFC has taken the view that taxdevolution should be primaryroute of transfer of resourcesto States. The government hasaccepted therecommendations keeping inmind the spirit of NationalInstitution for TransformingIndia (NITI). It may be notedthat in reckoning therequirements of the States, theFFC has ignored the Plan andNon-Plan distinction.

Tax devolution with in thestates will be based on thefactors of Area, population,

Demography, Incomedistance and forest cover.Individual weight among thoseis- 50 per cent is given todistance from the highest percapita income district,followed by population (1971census) at 17.5 per cent,changes of population since1971 at 10 per cent, area at 15per cent and forest cover at 7.5per cent.

Finance commission hasrecommended that FiscalDeficit of Union governmentshould be 3.6 per cent of GDPin 2015-16 and 3 per cent theyear after. Three percentagefiscal deficit should be kept forthree following years. Financecommission has alsorecommended that revenuedeficit to come down from 2.9per cent in FY15 to 2.56 percent in FY16 and thenprogressively reduce to 0.93per cent by 2019-20.

Fourteenth FinanceCommission(FFC) hasrecommended distribution ofgrants to States for localbodies using 2011 populationdata with weight of 90% and

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area with weight of 10%. Thegrants to States will be dividedinto two, a grant to dulyconstituted Gram Panchayatsand a grant to duly constitutedMunicipal bodies, on the basisof rural and urban population.FFC has recommended grantsin two parts; a basic grant, anda performance grant, for dulyconstituted Gram Panchayatsand municipalities. The ratio ofbasic to performance grant is90:10 with respect toPanchayats and 80:20 withrespect to Municipalities.

The Finance Commission hasalso reviewed the presentarrangements as regardsfinancing of DisasterManagement with reference tothe National CalamityContingency Fund and theCalamity Relief Fund. FFC hasrecommended that up to 10percent of the funds availableunder the SDRF can be usedby a State for occurrenceswhich State considers to bedisasters within its local

context and which are not inthe notified list of disasters ofthe Ministry of Home Affairs.

FFC have recommendedPost-Devolution RevenueDeficit Grants of a total of Rs.1,94,821 crores, for the fiveyear period. The States ofAndhra Pradesh, Assam, J&K,Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Tripura and WestBengal (a total of 11 States)have been identified forreceiving these revenuedeficit grants. Plan revenueexpenditure of States isfinanced by States ownresources, borrowing and Plangrants from the Union. The Plangrants include normal Centralassistance, which isuntied,additional Centralassistance for specific-purposeschemes and transfers,specialPlan assistance,special Centralassistance,Central Planschemes and CSS.

The total grant recommendedby the Fourteenth finance

commission for panchayatsand municipalities is 2.8 lakhcrore for a five-year. Of this, Rs2,00,292.20 crore will be givento panchayats and Rs87,143.80 crore tomunicipalities.

Eight centrally sponsoredschemes will be delinked fromsupport from the Centre.Various centrally sponsoredschemes will now see achange in sharing pattern, withstates sharing a higher fiscalresponsibility forimplementing the schemes.As Chief Economic Adviser

Arvind Subramanian said thatrecommendations of Financecommission are watershed in thehistory of Indian federalism. Thesuggestions will provide more fiscalautonomy to states and ultimatelybenefit the common man.Recommendations will provideadequate autonomy to states to makethe policy suitable to their ownneeds. It will be big change from theearlier one size fits all strategy.



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FCI & PDSFCI & PDSFCI & PDSFCI & PDSFCI & PDS


The Food Corporation of Indiacame into existence in 1965 underthe Food Corporations Act of 1964.It came in a situation where foodproduction in India was extremelylow and India was not self-dependent for food grains. In 1964 -65, Indias wheat production was12.26 million metric tonnes (MMT)and India had to import 6.57 MMT ofwheat that year. Imports of wheatamounted to almost 54 percent ofdomestic production and on top ofthat India had a extremely low totalforeign exchange reserve of only US$524 million and the price of wheatin the international market was$66.81/MT. That foreign exchangereserve was only enough for theimport of wheat at this year. Indiastarted importing low quality PL480from US at low cost, mostly as an aid.In order to make the situation betterin 1965, the Agricultural PricesCommission was rolled out to give aboost to positive price policy,recommending minimum supportprices (MSPs) for basic staples,especially wheat and paddy (rice).The FCI was to ensure that farmers

get this MSP so that they areencouraged to increase theproduction of basic staples.

Situation in India regardingfood production and foreignexchange is far better now ascompare to the time when FCI wasformed. During the Financial Year2012-13 (FY 2013) and 2013-14 (FY2014), India has emerged as thelargest exporter of rice in the world,with more than 10 MMT of exportseach year. Total cereal exports(basically rice, wheat and corn)amounted to 22 MMT in FY 2013 andanother 21 MMT in FY 2014, therebyamounting to 43 MMT of cerealexports in two years, which India hasnever done in its entire recordedhistory. Grain Stocks with the publicagencies is far more than thelegislative requirement. Public stockof grains and cereals is more than 80MMT while the legal requirement isonly 32MMT. The foreign exchangereserves in the country are safelybeyond the 300$ Bln, and foreignreserve can easily handle any shockin production and situation of imports.

As stated above The Food

Corporation of India came intoexistence at a time when India wasgoing through many challenges. TheFood Corporations Act of 1964provides some objectives whichneed to be fulfilled by the Foodcorporation of India. Theseobjectives of FCI are given below:

provide effective pricesupport operations tosafeguard the interests of thefarmers;

to distribute foodgrainsthrough-out the country forpublic distributionsystem(PDS);

to maintain satisfactory level ofoperational and buffer stocksof foodgrains to ensureNational Food Security.

Performance of FCI

First and foremost objective ofFCI is to provide effectiveprice support to farmers tosafeguard their interests. GoIannounces MSPs for 23commodities, out of which FCIbasically concentrates onwheat and rice, either directly

FCI & PDS



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or through state agencies.Almost 90 percent ofprocurement of wheat andpaddy today is being donethrough state agencies.

The primary channel whereFCI unloads its procured grainsof wheat and rice is PublicDistribution System (PDS).PDS has a long history, and hasexpanded over years, and iscurrently also sought to be theprimary vehicle forimplementing National FoodSecurity Act (NFSA), 2013.The total requirement for PDSand other welfare schemes is61.2 MMT per year. While statesdo much of the procurementof wheat and paddy, FCIs rolecomes in accepting rice, andtransporting it from surplusstates to deficit ones in a timelyand smooth manner so thatultimate beneficiaries of PDScan avail of the benefits ofsubsidized food.

NFSA promises to givespecified quantities of rice/wheat/coarse cereals at Rs 3/2/1/Kg to 67 percent ofpopulation. The quantitypromised under the Act is35kg/month for Antyodyahouseholds, and 5kg/perperson for priority households.As the current average size of14 the family in India is around5, this will work to 25kg/household per month. Thetotal budgeted subsidy in FY2015 is Rs 1.15 lakh crores, withpending dues of more than Rs50,000 crores.

As stated already that thecondition in India has changeddrastically since we have setup FCI. In order to look in tothe role of FCI in changedcircumstances Government ofIndia has setup a High LevelCommittee (HLC) in August

2014 with Shri Shanta Kumaras the Chairman, six membersand a special invitee tounbundling of FCI with a viewto improve its operationalefficiency and financialmanagement. Majorrecommendations of thecommittee are given below:

HLC recommends that FCIhand over all procurementoperations of wheat, paddyand rice to states that havegained sufficient experiencein this regard and have createdfor procurement. These statesare Andhra Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Haryana, MadhyaPradesh, Odisha and Punjab(in alphabetical order). FCIwill accept only the surplus (ofthe states under NFSA) fromthese state governments (notmillers) to be moved to deficitstates. FCI should move on tohelp those states where farmerssuffer from distress below MSP,and which are dominated bysmall holdings, like EasternUttar Pradesh, Bihar, WestBengal, Assam etc.

Negotiable warehouse receiptsystem (NWRs) should betaken up on priority and scaledup quickly. Under this system,farmers can deposit theirproduce to the registered say

80 percent advance frombanks against their producevalued at MSP.

GoI needs to revisit its MSPpolicy. Currently, MSPs areannounced for 23commodities, but effectivelyprice support operatesprimarily in wheat and rice andthat too creates highly skewedincentive structures in favourof wheat and rice.

HLC recommends gradualintroduction of cash transfersin PDS, starting with large citieswith more than 1 millionpopulation~ extending it tograin surplus states, deficitstates to opt for cash orphysical grain distribution.

HLC recommends that FCIshould outsource its stockingoperations to various agenciessuch as Central WarehousingCorporation, StateWarehousing Corporation,Private EntrepreneurGuarantee (PEG) scheme, andeven state governments thatare building silos throughprivate sector on state lands.

HLC recommends total end toend computerization of theentire food managementsystem, starting fromprocurement from farmers, tostocking, movement.



National IssuesNational IssuesNational IssuesNational IssuesNational Issues


NATIONAL ISSUESPwC manInvolved in Spying: CBI

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation, which hasarrested five suspects in thecorporate espionage racket,said that the investigation hadrevealed the alleged role of arepresentative ofPricewaterhouseCoopers Indiain obtaining information fromthe Department of EconomicAffairs.

The agency produced accusedParesh Chimanlal Buddhadev, apartner in Chitale & Associates,before a Mumbai court thatgranted his transit remand forbeing brought to Delhi.Another accused, Ram Niwas,Assistant in the FinanceMinistry, was also sent to fivedays CBI custody.

The agency earlier arrestedMumbai-based accusedChartered AccountantKhemchand Gandhi, who hadallegedly been procuring thedocuments, Ashok KumarSingh, Under Secretary in theDepartment of Disinvestment;and Lala Ram Sharma, SectionOfficer in the Department ofEconomic Affairs. The three arein CBI custody.

SC gives onelast chance to Sahara

The Supreme Court granted theSahara group a last opportunityto raise bail money to its chiefSubrata Roy and two directorsin jail since March 2014.

A Special Bench of Justices T.S.Thakur, Anil R. Dave and A.K.Sikri, at one point, said the courthad lost its patience withSaharas repeated assurancesthat they would sell their assetssoon to pay security forsecuring bail.

The Bench stopped short ofgoing ahead and appointingcourt receivers to take overfrom Sahara and initiate saledeals in a transparent manner.

But Saharas counsel and senioradvocate Kapil Sibal prevailedover the court and requested togive his client one last chanceto sell their assets and collectRs. 6000 crore more required forbail security.

Earlier the court had asked 65-year-old Roy to pay a total Rs10,000 crore to get bail.

During the hearing, the Saharagroup blamed Mirach Capital forthe failure of the secondproposed deal for selling ofoffshore properties.

Haryana set toBan Cow Slaughter

Haryana is all set to bringlegislation for banning cowslaughter and making it apunishable offence. The moveis not only likely to have anadverse impact on the cuisineand business of premier hotelsin the State but also thelivelihood of a large number ofpeople dependent onbutchery, especially in theminority-dominated districtof Mewat.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vijsaid that the State Governmentis framing a stringent law toclamp a complete ban on cowslaughter which would help inthe protection and promotionof cows.

Following Maharashtras ban onbeef, Haryana now looks all setto follow suit. HaryanaAgriculture and AnimalHusbandry Minister Om PrakashDhankar had also confirmedthat stringent punishmentwould be handed out for cowslaughter and sale and storageof beef in the State.

You sat on Rape videos,SC tells Home Ministry

The Supreme Court pulled up





the Home Ministry for sitting oncrucial video material about agang rape highlighted in theShame the Rapist campaignlaunched by activistSunitha Krishnan.

The Social Justice Bench ofJustice Madan B. Lokur andJustice U.U. Lalit found theMinistry made no move to handover the video evidence to theCBI for over 20 days.

It received the videos onFebruary 10 from Ms. Krishnan,but chose to pass them on tothe CBI only on March 5.Despite repeated queries fromthe Bench to explain itsconduct, the Ministry hadnothing to offer.

So between February 10 andMarch 5, you just sat on thesevideos. You people did not doanything ... only yesterday youfiled the FIRs, Justice Lokurtold Additional Solicitor-General Maninder Singh, whoappeared for the Ministry.

The court directed Mr. Singh toname the officer who receivedthe video evidence from Ms.Krishnan, and demanded a fullexplanation on What you weredoing all that time till March 5.

The court, during the previoushearing on February 27, tooksuo motu cognisance of a letterby Prajwala, a non-governmental organisation ofMs. Krishnan, highlighting theexistence of the videos and theimmediate necessity to nab theculprits. The Bench hadordered the CBI investigation.

In the videos, five men are seensmiling into the camera aftertaking turns at sexuallyassaulting their victim.

Mr. Singh said the videosshowed a total of 12 clips, ofwhich three were repeats. He

said eight FIRs had been filedand a preliminary inquiry hadstarted on one.

The court ordered the Ministryto share the photos with theDirectors-General of Police inOdisha, West Bengal and U.P.where these men may hail from.

MHA tells States, UTs not to usenational flag made of plastic

The Union Home Ministry haddirected all State Governmentand Union Territories not to useNational Flag made of plastic forany function as these are notbiodegradable and thus theirappropriate disposal isnot possible.

The letter, which has been sentto all State governments andUnion Territories, noted thatNational Flag made of plasticare being used in place ofpaper flags on importantfunctions. Since plastic flags arenot biodegradable like thepaper flags, these do not getdecomposed for a long timeand are harmful to theatmosphere. Further, ensuringthe appropriate disposal ofnational flags made of plasticwith the dignity of the flagis a problem.

Therefore, the MHA said Stategovernments and others shouldensure that on importantnational, cultural and sportsevents, only flags made by thepaper are used in public.

It cautioned that offencepertaining to showingdisrespect to the National Flag

can invite up to three years jailterm, fine or both.

Process on to implement OneRank One Pension scheme

The modalities forimplementing One Rank OnePension (OROP) scheme forarmed forces are underconsideration and the financialimplication could be calculatedonce the details are finalisedand approved by thegovernment, Lok Sabhawas informed.

Minister of State for DefenceRao Inderjit Singh said in awritten reply that the principleof OROP for the armed forceshas been accepted bythe government.

He was asked whether theimplementation of the schemehas been delayed.

Responding to another part ofthe question on removingdisparities in pension of variousex-servicemen, he said possibleamendments to the pensionpolicies are being examinedwith a view to reduce litigation.

Explaining the reasons behindthe delay, the Minister had said,The methodology ofcalculating the One Rank, OnePension is an issue pendingbetween the Services and theDefence Ministry.

The scheme, which seeks toensure that a uniform pension ispaid to defence personnel whoretire at the same rank with thesame length of service,irrespective of their date ofretirement, has been a long-standing demand of the overtwo million ex-servicemen inthe country. It is important tonote that, earlier Army ChiefDalbir Singh Suhag said that thescheme will be implementedby the April and this year.





way, the government is keenthat legislation is in place andthe Opposition parties are onboard on this.

But because of differences onthe Land Bill, the government ishaving a rethink on its strategy.

Ban on airingIndias Daughter to Continue

Remarking that media trials tendto influence judgements, theDelhi High Court said thatalthough it had no objection toscreening the BBCdocumentary IndiasDaughter, the matter couldonly be decided post a verdictregarding the fate of theconvicts, from theSupreme Court.

The Division Bench further saida decision on lifting the bancould only be taken by anappropriate Chief JusticesBench.

It also refused to pass anyinterim orders on the appealasking for the ban to be lifted.Had it been originally placedbefore us, we would have askedyou to place material before uson why the ban should be lifted.

But it has come here from theroster bench of the ChiefJustice, so we will not pass anyinterim orders. Let the rosterbench decide it, the court said.

The judges spoke at length overthe subject of media trialsinfluencing court decisions.Media trials do tend to

Law panel bats for stronger EC

Law Commission has pitched fora stronger Election Commissionby giving equal constitutionalprotection to all members of thepoll body and appointing theCEC and the two ECs by a high-powered collegium.

In its report on electoral reformssubmitted to the Law Ministry,the law panel has alsorecommended creation of apermanent, independentSecretariat for the EC.

The law panel said Article324(5) of the Constitutionshould be amended to equatethe removal procedures of thetwo Election Commissionerswith that of the Chief ElectionCommissioner.

The President appoints ChiefElection Commissioner andElection Commissioners afterthe Law Ministry initiates the filefor their appointment.

The Chief ElectionCommissioner can be removedfrom office only throughimpeachment by Parliament.The government can removethe ECs based on therecommendation of the CEC.

The Law Commission said theappointment of all the ElectionCommissioners, including theCEC, should be made by thePresident in consultation with athree-member collegium orselection committee, consistingof the Prime Minister, the Leaderof the Opposition of the LokSabha (or the leader of thelargest opposition party in theLok Sabha) and the Chief Justiceof India.

It said elevation of an ElectionCommissioner should be on thebasis of seniority, unless thethree member collegium or a

committee, for reasons to berecorded in writing, finds suchCommissioner unfit.

The precedent is to appoint thesenior-most EC as the CEC.

Govt. rethinking strategy onLand Bill

In a major shift in stance, thegovernment will not bring thecontroversial Land Acquisition(Amendment) Bill in the firsthalf of the Budget Session ofParliament ending on March 20.

It may either allow theordinance to lapse orrepromulgate it after Parliamentis prorogued.

This was indicated by UnionParliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu to party leadersduring the meeting of the RajyaSabha Business AdvisoryCommittee.

On the face of it, thegovernment maintains that itneeds to confer with theOpposition to build aconsensus, but withtremendous pressure from theRSS and its affiliates andfarmers organisations, the BJPis reframing its strategy onthe Bill.

Significantly, Prime MinistersMan ki Baat radio talk on March22 is on farmers issues.

He has invited comments fromfarmers, saying he would like tohear them.

According to sources, thegovernment is keen that theCoal Mines (Special Provisions)Bill and the Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation)Amendment Bill be approvedby the Upper House after theyare returned by the respectiveSelect Committees on March 18.

Since coal auctions are under





influence judges.Subconsciously, a pressure iscreated and it does have aneffect on the sentencing of theaccused. Whether he [theaccused] has shown remorse ornot would be considered at thetime of his sentencing. Why notwait till the Supreme Courtdecision?

Make paid news a poll offence:Law panel

The Law Commission hasrecommended that newspaperadvertisements on the eve ofelections be banned. In areport released on Thursday,the commission wantedIndependent candidates to bebarred from contestingelections, and paid news madean electoral offence leading todisqualification.

Headed by Justice A.P. Shah,the commission submitted its255th report, on the issue ofelectoral reforms, to the UnionLaw Ministry.

Noting that the ban onbroadcast of election matter 48hours prior to an election wasrestricted to the electronicmedia now, the commissionrecommended suchprohibition for the print mediaalso.

The report recommendsregulating opinion polls andmaking disclosures about themethodology mandatory.The commission, whilestopping short ofrecommending state funding ofelections or limits to politicalparties expenditure onelections, recommendedseveral changes to electionfunding legislation.

Noting that the current system

tolerates, or at least does notprevent, lobbying and capture,where a sort of quid pro quotranspires between big donorsand political parties/candidates, the reportrecommends making itmandatory for all parties todeclare donations of even lessthan the current Rs. 20,000 limit,if the total of such contributionsadds up to Rs. 20 crore, or makesup 20 per cent of the partysincome, whichever is lower.

Welcoming many of therecommendations, JagdeepChhokar, co-founder of theAssociation for DemocraticReforms, whose work the reportrefers extensively to, said,however, that the organisationwould continue to press forlimits on political partiesexpenditure.

Independent candidates areoften dummy candidates, thecommission said. It criticisedcompulsory voting, recentlyintroduced during localelections in Gujarat, and did notsupport the right to recall or amove to proportionalrepresentation.

The report recommendedmeasures to strengthen theElection Commission and for acollegium or selectioncommittee, which includes theLeader of Opposition, toappoint commissioners.

Citizen ID systems tend toexclude marginalised: WB

Despite heavy investment onlarge-scale citizen identificationsystems, akin to the UID-Aadhaar project, these oftenrun the risk of increasedexclusion of the mostvulnerable and marginalised

groups, a new World Bank studycautions.

While the study, titledIdentification systems dontalways serve the bottom 40%,does not specifically discussAadhaar, it analyses similarsystems in several Asian andAfrican countries and finds lessthan robust evidence to justifytheir multi-million dollarbudgets.

It cautions of a real risk in over-selling development benefitsof identification systems,especially those related toservice delivery, which isprimarily what the Indiangovernment intends to useAadhaar for.

Attracted by the promise ofnew technology, countries anddevelopment partners ... haveinvested heavily inidentification systems ...[however] rigorous evidence onthe link between registration/documentation anddevelopment outcomes islimited and mixed, the studysays.

Authors Megan Brewer,Nicholas Menzies and JaredSchott argue that strengtheninglarge-scale identificationsystems could result in severalperverse consequences thatundermine developmentgains.

Since registration amongmarginalised groups, like ruralpoor, could be significantlylower than national averages,using such data fordevelopment planning couldresult in further exclusion ofthese groups, the researcherssay.





NGO seeks CBI, ED probe intoAditya Birla group

Common Cause, the NGOwhose PIL plea led to thecancellation of coal blockallocations, moved the SupremeCourt accusing Aditya Birlagroup of hawala transactions,money laundering and briberyand sought a CBI andEnforcement Directorateprobe.

The application filed byadvocate Prashant Bhushan forthe NGO cited how coalextracted from a captive blockallocated to the Sasan ultramega power project wasallowed to be diverted,resulting in a huge post-biddingconcession worth Rs. 29,000crore to Reliance Power Limited(a Reliance ADAG company).

It alleged that huge amounts ofcash were routed throughhawala by the Birla Group.

The application also pointed toalleged recovery ofunaccounted Rs. 25 croreduring the raids on thecompany office.

SC upholds life term inManjunath murder case

A decade after he was gunneddown for fighting the oiladulteration racket in UttarPradesh, IIM-Lucknow alumnusand Indian Oil Corporationmanager ManjunathShanmugham won justice, with

the Supreme Court confirmingthe life imprisonment of sixpersons accused for his death.

In a judgment, a Bench ofJustices S.J. Mukhopadhaya andN.V. Ramana quoted theprosecution about how thebrutal death of the youngKarnataka-born manager hadshaken the nations conscience.

The judgment reproduces theprosecutions submissionsabout the lonely battle wagedby Mr. Manjunath, who was shotdead at Gola area of LakhimpurKheri district on November 19,2005 after he threatened tocancel a petrol pumps licencefor selling spurious fuel.

Though the trial court hadsentenced him to death, Mr.Mittals punishment wascommuted to life imprisonmentby the Allahabad High Court.

RTI Act applies to A-Gs office

Stating that even undercommon parlance the office ofthe Attorney General of Indiahas always been understood tomean a constitutionalauthority, the Delhi High Courtrefused to accept that this officewas outside the ambit of theRight to Information Act andfurther directed it to reconsiderthe RTI application that it hadrejected on these grounds.

The issue came into questionwhen a petition challenging anorder by the Central InformationCommission was up for hearingbefore the single Bench ofJustice Vibhu Bakhru.

The CIC had held that the officeof the AGI was not a publicauthority under Section 2(h) ofthe RTI Act.

The petition was alsochallenging a letter by the AGI

refusing all information to thepetitioner under the RTI act.

An office that is establishedunder the Constitution wouldclearly fall within the definitionof Section 2(h) of the RTIAct, said Justice VibhuBakhu while rejecting AGIsarguments.

Land BillClears Lok Sabha hurdle

The controversial LandAcquisition (Amendment) Billwas approved by the Lok Sabha, but not before the Modigovernment reached out tounhappy NDA allies andunattached parties such as theBJD and the AIADMK to seektheir support for thiscrucial legislation.

The Congress, the TrinamoolCongress, the Samajwadi Party,the RJD and the BJD walked outof the House while NDA allyShiv Sena abstained as the Billwas passed by voice vote.

In the official amendments itmoved, the governmentaccommodated some concernsof the Opposition and allies,such as dropping socialinfrastructure from the fivecategories of land useexempted from theconsent clause.

However, other key points ofcontention the Social ImpactAssessment and the restorationof the consent clause remained unresolved as the Bill





moves to the Rajya Sabha,where the government isoutnumbered and theOpposition plans to force theBill to a Select Committee.

Barring the Swabhiman Pakshaand the Shiv Sena that held itscounsel during the meeting, allthe other allies agreed to backthe government if it addressedtheir concerns.

SC unhappy with fund use forTaj zone green project

Noting its unhappiness with theUttar Pradesh government, theSupreme Court came to thebrink of ordering a CBI probeinto the alleged irregularities inits utilisation of funds meant forcompensatory afforestation atthe Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ)in Agra.

Justice Thakur considereddirecting a CBI probe into theirregularities, but said thecourt would give thegovernment one lastopportunity to fulfil itscommitment to plant saplings toreplace trees felled across theland spread over severalhundred hectares.

It said the only explanation fordiscrepancy and failure fromthe officials was non-releaseof funds.

Calling their attitude cavalier,the court asked why theseofficials could not haveapproached the court had theirintentions been in earnest.

A Bench gave the State fourweeks to comply with its orders.The States AdditionalAdvocate-General GauravBhatia promised that the courtorders would be complied withand a better affidavit, removingall discrepancies on the numberof trees uprooted and thenumber of trees planted.

Mumbai to come under CCTVsurveillance, says Governor

The installation of CCTV-basedsurveillance systems for Mumbaiis expected to be completedwithin 90 weeks and theproject is already beingimplemented in Pune,Maharashtra Governor C.Vidyasagar Rao told the jointsession of the MaharashtraAssembly on the opening dayof the budget session.

It is proposed that GPRS-basedsystem will be installed in Meruand other Private Taxis and thefront seats reserved in sharetaxis in Mumbai for women, hesaid to underline the measuresfor improving the safety andcomfort of women commutersin Mumbai.

Emphasising several measurestaken by the Devendra Fadnavisgovernment to decongestMumbai and improve itsinfrastructure, Mr. Rao said thegovernment has expedited thework of Navi MumbaiInternational Airport Project, thesecond international airport forthe city, and has receivedconsent letters from ProjectAffected People (PAP) for landacquisition.

On the plan to decongestMumbai by developing newsmart cities, Mr. Rao said thegovernment has proposed anew city on an area of 600 sqkm around the Navi Mumbaiinternational airport, and the citywould be christened NAINA.

World War ICommemorations begin

Over 74,000 Indian soldiers laiddown their lives fighting thewar.

The Centenary Commemoration

of the First World War (1914-1918), in memory of the 1.5million Indian soldiers whofought in the war, began withPresident Pranab Mukherjeelaying a wreath at Amar JawanJyoti in India Gate.

The commemoration, fromMarch 10-14, is also in memoryof the over 74,000 soldiers wholaid down their lives fighting thewar, whose names are etchedin stone on the walls of IndiaGate. They fought in severaltheatres across Asia, Africa andEurope.

The centenary commemo-rations will continue till 2018.

March 10 coincides with theBattle of Neuve Chapellemarking the British offensive inthe Artois region of France, inwhich the Garhwal Brigade andthe Meerut Division of theIndian Corps participated.

Between 1914 and 1918,around 90,000 Indian soldiersfought on the French soil, morethan 8,500 of whom perished.

General Jean-Pierre Bosser,Chief of Staff of the FrenchArmy, is currently on an officialvisit in India to pay tribute to thesacrifice of Indian soldiers wholaid down their lives for Francesfreedom during World War I.

The highlight is an exhibition atManekshaw Centre in whichthe moments and conditions ofWorld War I have beenrecreated.

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in the exhibition will have oldletters and an old home withbelongings of soldiers while theSacrifice Hall includes replicasof Indian memorials and

paintings of Victoria Crosswinners in India and abroad.

The Army has also created areplica of a World War I bunkershowcasing the livingconditions of the soldiers then.

the Union Ministry of HomeAffairs on the lynching of aperson from Assam in Dimapuron March 5.

The report, it is understood, saysthe police and prison securitystaff were overwhelmed by thehuge crowd.

Police could not open fireinitially since there were anumber of women and childrenamong the protesters.

A 7000-strong mob hadstormed the jail on March 5 andpulled out Syed Sarif Khan, whowas accused of raping a Nagastudent. He was stripped anddragged all the way and whenpolice caught up with the mob,the accused was already dead.

Ruskin Bond lends a hand toSwachh Bharat campaign

Celebrated author Ruskin Bondhas joined the Swachh Bharatcampaign, wielding a broomspecially made by the studentsof the Moran Blind Schoolin Assam.

Actor Victor Banerjee whoruns the school at Moranhat inupper Assams Dibrugarhdistrict handed over thebroom to the famous storytellerat the latters residencein Mussoorie.

Indias Daughterdocumentary: HC refusesurgent hearing on PIL to lift ban

The Delhi High Court refused togive urgent hearing to a PIL

Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu top in girls education

Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu areIndias best-ranked States interms of gender-relatededucation indicators, new datafrom the Ministry of HumanResource Development andUNICEF, shows.

Using district-level indicators ofgirls education, health andsocial disadvantages, thegovernment aims to identify themost backward pockets of thecountry, requiring the mostattention.

While the atlas uses data earliercollected by other governmentagencies, it also creates a newcomposite index using 21indicators to do with girlseducation, along four axes access, infrastructure, teachersand outcomes. Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Delhi and Punjab are inthe top 25% of the indexsrange for elementary education,and the two Southern states and

Delhi make the top quarter ofthe index for secondaryeducation as well. Central andnorthern States, includingRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andBihar, are among the worstperformers.

The atlas also creates aVulnerability Index of factorswhich impinge on girlseducation, including thelikelihood of joining theworkforce early andearly marriage.

The two southern States, alongwith Delhi and HimachalPradesh, are the bestperformers here, with Gujarat,Rajasthan and the central andnorthern States among theworst.

Nagaland submits report onlynching

The Nagaland government hassubmitted an interim report to





seeking lifting of the ban ontelecast of a controversialdocumentary featuring aninterview of one of the fourconvicts in the December 16gangrape case.

A bench of justices B.D. Ahmedand Vibhu Bakhru said there isno so urgency in the matter andit will be heard on March 11.

The courts response came aftertwo law students ArunMenon and Kritika Padode in their public interestlitigation (PIL) sought urgenthearing, saying the ban on thedocumentary is a clear violationof their fundamental rightsunder Article 19 of theIndian Constitution.

The duo approached the HighCourt after a trial court on March4 had banned until furtherorders the broadcast of theinterview of December 16,2012 gangrape convict MukeshSingh, which was allegedlyconducted in July 2013 insideTihar jail in New Delhi.

Earlier, a trial court hadrestrained the media frombroadcasting or publishing theinterview of Mukesh Singh afterthe Delhi police moved courtfor a restraining order against hisinterview.

The Information andBroadcasting Ministry has alsoissued an advisory to alltelevision channels to notbroadcast the documentary onthe victim.

The government has also soughtan explanation from Tihar jailauthorities over how the convictwas interviewed while being injudicial custody.

A similar petition was filed lastweek, by a law student, who hassought lifting of the ban on theground that it is nothing but ahonest look at the mind and

mindset of one of the convictedrapists of the young woman.

The plea also said that adirection be issued to theSupreme Court registry toconstitute a three judge specialbench to hear the appeals of thefour death row convicts, whichis pending since August25, 2014.

Initially the apex court in Julyhad stayed the execution of thefour convicts in the gang-rapeand murder case.

The other petition, prepared byVibhor Anand, had also said thatit is legally wrong to opposethe screening of the film aftergiving it legal approval and afterthe documentary-makersfulfilled all legal commitments.

It claimed that the parents of thegangrape victim have also notobjected to the telecast of thedocumentary.

It also said that as per socialmedia the public at largewanted to see the documentaryas within 24 hours of its beingput up on YouTube, it wasviewed by more 2.86lakh people.

The victim, a physiotherapystudent was raped andassaulted with an iron rod aftershe was tricked into boardingan unregistered private bus togo home after watching a moviewith a male friend on December16, 2012.

Worlds firstSolar-powered Aircraft

The Swiss solar-poweredaircrafts flight got delayed by aday due to bad weatherconditions in the UAE.

Solar Impulse, claimed to be theworlds only solar-poweredaircraft, will make a stop over inAhmedabad as a part of itsmaiden global journey.

After making a landing here, thesolar-powered aircraftsfounders and pilots BertrandPiccard and Androrschberg arelikely to stay in the city for twodays before leaving for Varanasiin Uttar Pradesh, therelease said.

The Swiss solar-poweredaircrafts flight got delayed by aday due to bad weatherconditions in the UAE. Theaircraft was scheduled to landin Ahmedabad .

Piccard and Borschberg, duringtheir stay in the city, will reachout to the government, NGOs,universities and schools tospread the message ofclean technologies.

The aircraft is also likely to hoverabove river Ganga in Varanasi tospread the message ofcleanliness and clean energy,an official associated withthe project said.

Solar Impulse is claimed to bethe first aircraft to fly day andnight without a drop of fuel,propelled solely by the sunsenergy, as per theprojects website.

The single-seater aircraft madeof carbon fibre has a 72 metrewingspan, larger than that ofBoeing-747 and weighs just2,300 kg, equivalent to theweight of a car.

The 17,248 solar cells built intothe wing supply electric motorswith renewable energy. Thesolar cells recharge four lithium





polymer batteries totalling 633kg each, which allow the aircraftto fly at night and thereforehave virtually unlimitedautonomy, it said.

This round-the-world flight willtake-off from Abu Dhabi andmake a halt at Muscat (Oman),Ahmedabad and Varanasi inIndia, Mandalay in Myanmar andChongqing and Nanjingin China.

After crossing the Pacific Oceanvia Hawaii, the aircraft will flyacross the US stopping atPhoenix, the Midwest and NewYork City, said the website.

The test flight of the aircraft wasconducted in the US in 2013.

As tensions rise,Assam on alert to Protect Nagas

The Assam government has putits administration on high alertfollowing the lynching of a rapeaccused, Syed Sarif Khan, fromthe State by a mob afterdragging him out of theDimapur jail in Nagaland .

The government has asked theDeputy Commissioners, theSuperintendents of Police andthe Divisional Commissioners toprovide security to people fromNagaland living in the State andto ensure the safety of travellersbetween the two States.

Parliamentary Affairs MinisterRockybul Hussain listed thesteps in a statement in theAssembly after the Oppositionraised the issue.

The government informed theAssembly that Nagalandpromised to arrest the guilty andinstituted a judicialinvestigation, besidessuspending three officials.

Mr. Hussain said Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi had written to his

Nagaland counterpart, T.R.Zeliang, requesting that thosebehind the lynching be arrestedand the lives and property ofAssamese be secured.

The Chief Minister had writtento Union Home Minister RajnathSingh to take up the matter withthe Nagaland government.

He said Sarif Khan, 28, fromBhanga village in Karimganjdistrict had been living inDimapur for over two years aftermarrying a Naga woman.

Mr. Gogoi told presspersonsthat it was important to fixresponsibility for securitylapses. The Union governmentowed an explanation becausethe Central Reserve PoliceForce was deployed for jailsecurity.

The movement of lorries toNagaland remained suspended.Members of the All-AssamGoods Carrier Truck Drivers andHandyman Union staged aprotest in the city.

Mufti ordersRelease of political prisoners

Senior separatist leader MasaratAlam was released from prisonjust days after Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister MuftiMohammad Sayeed directedthe police to release politicalprisoners against whom nocriminal charges hadbeen registered.

Earlier in the day, police sourceshad confirmed that he hadbeen moved from the Baramullaprison to a police stationin Srinagar.

Head of the Muslim League inthe State, Mr Alam was amongthe main organisers of pro-Azadi protests in the Valley in2010. He was arrested along

with several other leaders afterthose protests and remainedone of the few senior leadersstill behind bars.

Arrested under the PublicSafety Act (PSA) apreventive detention law in J&Kwhich gives a DeputyCommissioner the authority totake anyone in his district intopreventive custody for up totwo years without trial if he feelsthe person poses a threat to thesecurity of the State Mr. Alamhas been in various prisons formore than four years now.

Police sources said since 2010,more than six consecutive PSAcharges had been slappedon him.

Reacting strongly to the releaseof Masarat Alam, the BJP said thedecision was anti-national,unacceptable and detrimentalto the coalition.

Nirbhaya film: Bar councilissues notice to defence lawyers

Even as the Bar Council of Indiainitiated suo motu proceedingsfor professional misconductagainst two defence lawyers inthe Nirbhaya gang-rape case fortheir alleged derogatory remarksagainst women in the BBCdocumentary Indias Daughter,senior members of the legalcommunity said lawyers, aboveall, should be sensitive to theequality and dignity of women.

They said the proceedings gives





the BCI, the highest regulatorybody for legal practice, anopportunity to amend rules tocheck lawyers from makingunsubstantiated, off-the-cuffremarks, especially when theyrepresent sensitive casesinvolving crimes againstwomen.

The two lawyers Manohar LalSharma and A.P. Singh represent the four persons ondeath row for the brutal gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi inDecember 2012.

New Kailash Mansarovar Yatraroute by June

The new route for KailashMansarovar Yatra through NathuLa in Sikkim will beoperationalised during this yatraseason beginning in June,Minister of External AffairsSushma Swaraj informed theParliament.

The route through Nathu La willaugment the capacity andreduce the hardship enablingmany pilgrims, particularly agedones, to undertake the yatra,the government said.

The understanding for the newroute was reached betweenIndia and China during the visitof Chinese President Xi Jinpingto India last year.

The new route was necessitatedas the current route throughLipulekh pass in Uttarakhand iscumbersome and also thenumber of pilgrims increasing.

In the last three years about1700 pilgrims had visitedMansarovar. With the additionof the second route, 1000pilgrims are expected toundertake the yatra thisyear alone.

As per the understanding, fivebatches of 50 pilgrims each areexpected to travel throughNathu La this year.

A dedicated website has beenset up and the applicationprocedure has been simplified.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi isscheduled to visit China in Maybut External Affairs Ministryofficials have denied reportsthat he would travel to KailashMansarovar.

Activists continue bid to postIndias Daughter on the Web

Free speech activists continuedefforts to make available IndiasDaughter on the Internet,demand grew more vocal for arevocation of the ban on thecontroversial documentary onthe December 16, 2012 gangrape in Delhi.

Though the hour-longdocumentary, aired on BBCFour on Wednesday evening,could not be accessed onYouTube for much of the day,at least one URL (UniformResource Locator) provided itfor watching in the evening.

On clicking the YouTube link tothe video, the video-sharing sitethrew up a black screen for themost part of the day with amessage, This content is notavailable on this country domaindue to a court order.

Asked if the government hadissued any new communicationto pull down more URLs, aGoogle India source said:There was no update. The filmwas, however, accessible onother video-sharing websites aspeople found ways ofcircumventing the ban to sharethe film.

As more people managed to

access the film, the clamour forrevoking the ban grew, resultingin more endorsements for anonline petition to the UnionHome Minister to reverse thedecision and celebrateInternational Womens Day(March 8) by shining a light onthe problems our country faces,instead of shying awayfrom them.

The decision to ban the film,which the government said waspart of an internationalconspiracy to defame India,drew world media attentionwith most leading media housesreporting on it or carryingeditorials.

Ex-editor of RSS organ replacesNBT Chairman

The Government appointedBaldev Bhai Sharma, formereditor of RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sanghs weeklymagazine, Panchajanya, as thenext Chairman of the NationalBook Trust (NBT) cutting shortthe term of incumbent A.Sethumadhavan better knownby his pen name Sethu bysix months.

Officially, the Ministry of HumanResource Development (HRD)was filling a vacancy that fellopen last week.

According to Mr.Sethumadhavan, he had put inhis papers last week after hewas called to the Ministry by thejoint secretary overseeing NBTaffairs and given a clearindication that the Governmentwanted to appoint someoneelse.

Conceding that it was theGovernments prerogative toreplace him, Mr.Sethumadhavan said he had





hoped to complete his three-year term as there had been nointerference from the Ministrysince the change of guard atthe Centre.

He had been appointed NBTChairman on September 12,2012, for three years, and had alittle over six months to go.

Centre to amend RBI Act to setup monetary policy panel

An agreement between theCentre and the Reserve Bank ofIndia last month formalised apolicy that the central bank hadbeen following since January2014, of prioritizing controllingprice rise.

The Centre would amend theRBI Act for the setting up of theproposed monetary policycommittee, a key element of thenew framework.

Replying to a query, Mr. Mehrishisaid the budget announcementabout proposed strategicdisinvestment in public sectorunits would enable the Centreto induct private strategicpartners.

Nanditha Krishna, M.D.Srinivas in ICHR

The Union MHRD hasreconstituted the Indian Councilfor Historical Research,inducting 18 new members.

Included in the restructuredCouncil is C.I. Issac, formerHead of the Department of

History at CMS College,Kottayam, Kerala and author ofThe Evolution of ChristianChurch in India, whichquestions the origins ofChristianity in India fromSt Thomas.

Jadavpur University ProfessorPurabi Roy who has workedextensively on Subash ChandraBose also joins the Council.

The new nominees to theCouncil include Dilip K.Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritusof South Asian Archaeology,Cambridge University,

Nanditha Krishna, Director ofC.P. Ramaswami AiyarFoundation, Chennai,

Michel Danino, Guest Professorat the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Gandhinagar, andauthor of books onancient India,

M. D. Srinivas, chairman ofChennai-based Centre forPolicy Studies,

Cambodia-based Sachchi-dananda Sahai who authoredthe five-volume Lao Ramayanaand helped restore AngkorVat, and

Rahman Ali, Head of theDepartment of the School ofStudies in Ancient IndianHistory, Culture andArchaeology at VikramUniversity, Ujjain.

PDP gets10 Cabinet berths, BJP six

Among the 24 legislators swornin as Ministers in Jammu andKashmir, 16 will join the MuftiMohammad Sayeed Cabinet. While 10 of the PDP are in theCabinet, the BJP has six,including Peoples Conferencechairman and party allySajjad Lone.

The Cabinet Ministers from thePDP are Haseeb Drabu, HaqKhan, Imran Raza Ansari, AbdulRehman Bhat (Veeri), JavedMustafa Mir, Basharat Bukhari,Choudhary Zulfikar Ali, GhulamNabi Lone, Altaf Bukhari andNaeem Akhter.

The PDP has three Ministers ofState Abdul Majeed Padder,Ashraf Mir and Asiya Naqash.

The six Cabinet ministers fromthe BJP are Mr. Lone, NirmalSingh, who will be Deputy ChiefMinister, Lal Singh, Bali Bhagat,Sukhnandan Kumar andChander Prakash.

The party has five Ministers ofState Shirin Dorji, Sunil KumarSharma, Abdul Gani Kohli, PriyaSethi and Independentcandidate Pawan Kumar Gupta.

Mr. Sayeed described as abreakthrough the joining of Mr.Lone, who formerly held aseparatist position, in thegovernment, but refrained fromsuggesting that it wouldbecome an example for otherseparatist leaders.

Pakistani singer Adnan Samiapplies for Indian citizenship

Pakistani singer-musicianAdnan Sami has applied forIndian citizenship for a secondtime despite an earlier plea ofhis having been rejected by theCentre.

The 43-year-old singer - whoseearlier request was rejected





some two years back - has madehis application to theForeigners Division of theHome Ministry.

Last month, Home Ministry hadasked Law Ministry as towhether Sami can be grantedIndian citizenship. But LawMinistry refused to entertain therequest, saying that the powerof granting Indian citizenshiplies with the Home Ministryunder the Citizenship Act.

The Law Ministry, however, saidthat it can help Home Ministrywith the interpretation of anyprovision of the Citizenship Actto enable it to decide the case.

Under the Indian CitizenshipAct, a foreigner is entitled toreceive citizenship providedthat he or she has rendereddistinguished service to thecause of science, philosophy,art, literature, world peace orhuman progress.

Nai Manzil to bridge lack ofskills in minorities

The Nai Manzil schemeannounced in the budget issomething that the MinorityAffairs Ministry has been talkingabout ever since the ModiGovernment assumed office lastyear.

In reply to a question in theRajya Sabha on July 16, 2014,the Ministry had listed NaiManzil as one of the stepsbeing taken by theGovernment for the welfare ofminorities.

It was billed as a bridge courseto bridge the academic and skilldevelopment gaps of the deeniMadrasa passouts with theirmainstream counterparts.

Seven-and-a-half months later,Mr. Jaitley flagged Nai Manzilas a scheme that will be

launched this year to enableminority youth who do not havea formal school-leavingcertificate to obtain one andfind better employment.

The other minority community-related programme that heflagged in the Budget speechon Saturday pertained to show-casing the civilisation andculture of Parsis. TheGovernment will support anexhibition The EverlastingFlame, he said.

The allocation for the Ministryis being protected with anestimate of Rs. 3,738 crore. Lastyears budget had allocated Rs.3,734 crore to the Ministrywhich was cut down to Rs.3,165 crore in therevised estimates.

A bulk of this is for the MultiSectoral DevelopmentProgramme for Minorities andthe other main claimants to theallocation are the pre-matricand post-matric scholarships forminorities.

Vistara to have fleet size of 20aircraft by 2018

Vistara, a joint venture betweenTata Sons and SingaporeAirlines, said its fleet size will beincreased to 20 by 2018, fromfive at present.

Phee Teik Yeoh, ChiefExecutive Officer, Vistara (TataSIA) Airlines Ltd also said thatthe aviation industry in India isfacing challenges such as high

fuel cost and a high tax regime. The airlines launched its first

flight from Hyderabad to NewDelhi. Having started with itsoperations on January 9, with 68frequencies weekly, Vistara nowoperates 164 flights in a week.

Replying to a query onchallenges that the IndianAviation Industry is facing, Mr.Yeoh said government shouldwork on addressing the issuessuch as high aviation turbinefuel coast which is 40-60 percent more expensive than othercountries.

He also said that governmentmust remove the 5/20 rule five years of flying experience,and a fleet size of 20 forallowing domestic airlines to flyglobally.

Justifying the launch of flightsfrom Hyderabad, he said it isdue to the low sales tax on ATFwhich formed one of the keyconsideration to expand thenetwork from the capital ofTelangana.

E-commerce transactions onaggregator platforms turncostly

E-commerce transactionsthrough websites and mobileapps based on aggregatormodel, including for cabservices and online shopping,may turn expensive as thoseproviding such services undertheir own brand are beingbrought under the service taxnet.

The Finance Bill has proposedchanges in the Service Tax ruleswith respect to certain ecommerce transactionsinvolving aggregator model,which may impact onlineaggregator taxi services likeUber and Ola Cabs.





There are also many online retailwebsites that followaggregator model. Under thismodel, an entity does notproduce or warehouses anyproduct itself, but collects oraggregates information ongoods or services on one singleplatform from several sources.

The aggregator drawscustomers to its platform andallows them an easy comparisonof prices and specifications ofproduct or service offered byseveral sellers.

As per the Finance Bill 2015,presented by Finance MinisterArun Jaitley in Parliament, Inrespect of any service providedunder aggregator model, theaggregator, or any of hisrepresentative office located inIndia, is being made liable topay Service Tax if the service isso provided using the brandname of the aggregator inany manner.

If an aggregator does not haveany presence, including that byway of a representative, in sucha case any agent appointed bythe aggregator shall pay the taxon behalf of the aggregator.

In this regard, appropriateamendments have been madeto the Service Tax Rules, 1994,it said, while adding that thechange has come into effectimmediately, that is witheffect from today.

As a result, such services willturn expensive once theaggregators decide to pass onthe service tax levy to theconsumers.

According to leading law firmKhaitan & Company, In respectof certain ecommerce servicetransactions, the person liableto pay Service tax has now beenclearly specified.

For services offered underaggregator model, theaggregator, or its representativeoffice in India would be nowmade liable to pay Service taxif the service is provided byusing the brand name of theaggregator in any manner.

If an aggregator does not haveany presence, then its agent willhave to pay the tax, the lawfirm clarified.

States will haveMore spending Freedom: CEA

Chief Economic Adviser ArvindSubramanian said thatcalculations showed that thetotal transfers from the Centreto the States as a percentage ofthe divisible pool of its net taxrevenue would remain nearlythe same even after theacceptance of the 14th FinanceC o m m i s s i o n srecommendations.

However, transfers from theCentral government would nolonger be scheme-and-grant-based, and it would rather bedevolution-based, leading tomore spending freedom for theStates and that would be awatershed change in the storyof Indian federalism.

In a presentation to reportersafter Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley tabled theEconomic Survey 2014-15 inParliament, Dr. Subramaniansaid that in the last three years,the Centre transferred, on anaverage, 64 per cent of thedivisible pool of its net taxes tothe States under various heads.

This included the States shareof 32 per cent of the pool onaccount of the 13th FinanceCommissions award and theCentres assistance to the States

by way of plan transfers. The Centre would have had to

transfer to the States fundsamounting to 65 per cent of thepool had the recommendationsof the 14th Finance Commission(which is for a 42 per centStates share against the 13thFinance Commissions 32 percent) applied in the currentyear, he said.

The 14th Finance Commissionsrecommendations do not applyin the current year; they will beapplicable for the five-yearperiod starting April 1.

With the share for the States inthe pool rising, the Centresplan transfers to the States byway of assistance woulddiminish, the Economic Surveyindicated. Balancing theenhanced fiscal autonomy ofthe States with preserving fiscalspace of the Centre entails areduction in the Centralassistance to the States, it said.

The Survey said the biggestgainers from the 14th FinanceCommissions award in absoluteterms under the generalcategory States are UttarPradesh, West Bengal andMadhya Pradesh. Jammu &Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh andAssam are the most benefitedin the special category.

The 14th Finance Commissionsrecommendations would addsubstantial spending capacityto the States budgets, theSurvey said.

SC moved for CBI probe intoEssar leaks

The Centre for Public InterestLitigation, NGO whichsuccessfully fought the 2GSpectrum scam case, movedthe Supreme Court for a CBI



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investigation into the nexusbetween multi-billion dollarEssar Group and topbureaucrats, journalists andpoliticians, including TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari and a hostof UPA leaders.

The petition is based on internalemails and documents leakedfrom Essar by a whistleblower.

The petition, supported by ahost of annexures, mostly emails,alleged that Essar not onlysponsored high-end gifts butalso luxury travel of politiciansand their family members.

A series of emails details that Mr.Gadkari and his family usedEssar vice-chairman Ravi Ruias280-feet super luxury personalyacht Sunrays for cruise in2013 when he was BJPpresident.

Liberalise FDI in retail for farmsector: Survey

The Economic Survey said thatby adopting what it called theJAM Number Trinity Jan DhanYojana accounts seeded withAadhaar numbers and operatedthrough mobile numbers would allow the States todeliver the subsidies to the poorin a targeted and less distortedmanner.

Pointing to the lop-sidedness ofpolicies, it said Indias publicexpenditure on agriculture wasa fourth of the subsidy bill onfood and fertilizer.

In its recommendations for farmsector reforms, it saidliberalisation of foreign directinvestment (FDI) in retail couldhelp fill the massive investmentand infrastructure deficit whichresulted in supply-chaininefficiencies.The NarendraModi governments stand has

been to disallow FDI in multi-brand retail.

The Survey also found thatIndias manufacturing was skill-intensive, which was not in linewith the countrys comparativeadvantage in unskilled labourand recommendedrebalancing of policies:

While Make in India occupiesprominence as an importantgoal, the future trajectory ofIndian Development dependson both it and Skilling India.

SCO: Russia to push for Indiasfull membership

Russia will push for Indias fullmembership in the ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) during the upcomingmeeting it is hosting in July, saidSergey E. Naryshkin, Chairmanof the Russian State Duma. Indiais currently an observer in themultilateral grouping.

The SCO, founded in 2001,comprises Russia, China andseveral Central Asian republicsand is seen as a counter to theNorth Atlantic TreatyOrganisation (NATO).

Russia is also pushing for deeperengagement among the BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) group as well asthe Russia-India-China(RIC) troika.

Mr. Naryshkin said it was logicalto turn BRICS into a full scalestrategic forum for discussingissues of mutual interest.

Russia is scheduled to take overchairmanship of the BRICSgrouping and the next summitwill be held in Russia in July.

Govt. digs in heels on landordinance

A day after Surface Transport

Minister Nitin Gadkari sought tomake out a case for thegovernments land ordinance ata press briefing, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley made aspirited defence of the landreforms that have beendenounced as anti-farmer andpro-corporate by a unitedOpposition and civil societygroups.

Mr. Jaitleys speech in the RajyaSabha is being read as thegovernments definitive stand,the position that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has decided totake on this controversial issue.

Mr. Modi is absolutely clear thathe will not allow major changesto what he sees as one of hiskey reforms.

In discussions with Cabinetcolleagues on how to tackle thedissent, Mr. Modi indicated thatan all-party meeting wouldserve little purpose since theOpposition had shown no signsof softening.

Worse, BJP allies Shiromani AkaliDal, Shiv Sena and Lok JanshaktiParty also expressed theirreservations. Now it is learnt thatanother NDA partner, theRashtriya Lok Samata Party, ispoised to do the same.

Against this backdrop of ahardened stand, Mr. Jaitleymade a frontal attack on theCongress, under whose watchthe Land Acquisition Act thatthis government is seeking toamend was enacted in 2013.





President clears Amitava Royselevation as SC judge

Flagging it as proof that there isno friction between thegovernment and the highestjudiciary in appointment ofjudges, the government hasacted quickly to get thePresidents approval for theelevation of Chief Justice ofOrissa High Court Amitava Royas a Supreme Court judge.

The notification on hisappointment would be issuedas soon as the papers reachedthe Law Ministry from thePresidents office.

Union Law Minister V.Sadananda Gowda said thejudicial appointments throughthe collegium system wouldcontinue for the time being.

The apex court had two morevacancies and there wereseveral vacancies to fill in thevarious High Courts.

With the appointment of 62-year-old Justice Roy, thestrength of judges in theSupreme Court climbs to 29.The sanctioned strength is 31.

Bureaucrats reshuffled

The Narendra Modi-ledAppointments Committee ofthe Cabinet approved a seriesof Secretary-level transfers.

Secretary, Department of Healthand Family Welfare, BhanuPratap Sharma, has been givenadditional charge of

Department of Health Researchfor three months, whereas SirajHussain has been shifted asSecretary, Department ofAgriculture and Cooperationfrom the Ministry of FoodProcessing Industries.

Special Secretary, Departmentof Agriculture and Cooperation,Ranglal Jamuda, has beenappointed Secretary, Ministryof Food Processing Industries,in place of Mr. Hussain.

S.M. Vijayanand, SpecialSecretary in the Department ofRural Development, has beenmade Secretary, Ministry ofPanchayati Raj, whereas JugalKishore Mohapatra, Secretary,Department of Fertilisers, hasbeen appointed Secretary,Department of RuralDevelopment.

Irom Sharmila gets SthreeShakti award

Activist Irom Sharmila, who hasbeen on an indefinite fast sinceNovember 4, 2000, demandingthe repeal of the Armed Forces(Special Powers) Act, has beenconferred with the SthreeShakti award.

The award is in recognition ofher extraordinary courage anddetermination, M.L. George,managing trustee of SmaraksSthree Trust, Kochi, toldreporters.

Section 66A a necessarydeterrent, says government

The government argued before

the Supreme Court that Section66A of the InformationTechnology Act should beinterpreted on a case by casebasis.

In arguments which continuedthrough the day before a Benchled by Justice J. Chelameswar,the government was addressingthe courts view that the penalprovision was too vague.Section 66A prescribes a three-year jail term to a person foundguilty of causing annoyance orinconvenience through socialmedia.

The court had asked thegovernment to explain whatconstituted grossly offensive.The government maintainedthat the provision was anecessary deterrent and couldnot be cast away on theapprehension that it would bemisused to affect the freedomof speech and expression.

The court is hearing a bunch ofpetitions challenging thevalidity of certain provisions inthe 2000 Act. One of thepetitions filed is by ShreyaSinghal, a law student, whichdeals with the arrest of two girls,Shaheen Dhada and RinuShrinivasan, in Thane,Maharashtra, in connection witha comment against theshutdown in Mumbai followingShiv Sena leader BalThackerays death.

Panel against trying juvenilesas adults

A Parliamentary StandingCommittee has taken on boardcivil societys apprehensions oftreating 16-to-18-year-olds asadults in cases of heinouscrimes, and called for a reviewof this provision in The Juvenile





Justice (Care and Protection ofChildren) Bill, 2014, introducedin the Lok Sabha in August.

This amendment to the JJ Act isamong the slew of changes thatthe UPA Government hadinitiated in various laws of thecountry following the hugepublic outcry over the Delhigang rape.

A juvenile was among theaccused and the brutality of hisactions prepared the ground forproposing differentialtreatment to juveniles in the 16-18 age group in case of heinouscrimes.

In its report in the Lok Sabha,the Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Human ResourceDevelopment recommendedthat all relevant clauses dealingwith Childrens Courts, anddifferential treatment ofchildren between 16 and 18years need to be reviewed assubjecting them to an adultjudicial system goes againstArticles 14 and 15(3) of theConstitution.

Under pressure, governmentagrees to consult all parties

A united Opposition, backedby sustained protests outside,compelled the Modigovernment to agree to consultleaders of all parties to find away out of the Land AcquisitionBill imbroglio.

However, the government,despite pressure from both theOpposition and RSS affiliates,sources said, is reluctant to givein and make all the changessuggested, as then, the finalproduct will resemble theoriginal Land Acquisition Act.

At BJP parliamentary partymeeting, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi urged MPs toexplain the Bills provisions totheir constituents to counter theOppositions criticism.

The government-Oppositionstand-off in Parliament on fiveother ordinances continued,with each side registering aminor victory of its own.Simultaneously, the NDAsparliamentary managers tried tocreate public opinion to use theinfrequently deployedprovision of a joint session.

Swachh Bharat, food subsidyneed huge funds

If an allocation of Rs. 40,000crore is made in the UnionBudget for 2015-16 for theSwachh Bharat Abhiyaan asrequired, there will be enoughmoney to build toilets for Indias12.3 crore households withoutthem, but if this will achieve zeroopen defecation is a differentstory.

Not everyone with a toilet isconvinced of the need to useone, yet the share of publicoutreach in the recast schemesBudget fell to under 10 percent, Payal Hathi of the ResearchInstitute for CompassionateEconomi

2015 - civil services mentor - may

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