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CURRENT AFFAIRS: JANUARY 2012

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

State of Education Report

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER),

2011, the grim tale of Indias school education has gotgrimmer, with new evidence surfacing to show that families

across rural India have been ignoring the guaranteed Right to

Education to seek private paid education.

Though a whopping 96.8 per cent children aged 6 to 14 years

(the age group the RTE Act covers) are now enrolled in

school, childrens attendance is declining and so is their

ability to read simple text and do simple mathematical

calculations.

Almost half (48.1 per cent) of Indias rural primary school

students are either attending private schools or seeking paid

tuition. Across the nation, private school enrolment for

children aged 6 to 14 years rose from 18.7 per cent in 2006 to

25.6 per cent in 2011.

The survey, which covered 6.5 lakh children in 16,000

villages of 558 districts, found that one in every four rural

children was attending private schools. In Kerala and

Manipur, over 60 per cent children go to private schools. The

percentage of students going to private schools is 71.1 for

Manipur; 39.6 for Punjab, 43.4 for Haryana, 37.7 for Jammu

and Kashmir and 29.6 for Himachal.

In UP, 45 per cent students were found to be going to private

schools in 2011, as against 22 per cent in 2005. In Tamil

Nadu, 35 per cent are attending private schools as against 16

per cent in 2005. And the percentage of students seeking paid

tuitions is rising. The figure was 22.5 in 2010 and is 23.3 per

cent today.

The ASER report further found levels of reading abilities to

have declined in several States. Except in Punjab, Gujarat and

Tamil Nadu, reading abilities declined pan India, where the

percentage of fifth graders able to read Class II text dropped

across the nation from 53.7 per cent in 2010 to 48.2 per cent in

2011. Except in Himachal, Standard III children showed

decline in ability to read Class I text across India.

In arithmetic, the situation is worse. As for the nation, the

percentage of Class III graders who can do two-digit

subtractions with borrowing dropped from 36.3 per cent in

2010 to 29.9 per cent in 2011. The decline was seen

everywhere except in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,

where the situation improved. The percentage of Class V

children who can solve subtraction problems declined from

70.9 in 2010 to 61 this year.

SC sets deadline for government nod for prosecution of

civil servant

In a landmark verdict, Supreme Court, on January 31, 2012,

upheld the right of a private citizen to seek sanction for

prosecution of a public servant for corruption, while setting a

deadline of four months for the government to decide the issue

of giving sanction for prosecution of public servants facing

corruption charges.

A bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and and A.K. Ganguly said,

There is no provision either in the 1988 Act (Prevention of

Corruption Act) or the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

(CrPC) which bars a citizen from filing a complaint for

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Dutch government approves burqa ban

On January 28, 2012, the Dutch government approved a ban on

face-covering clothing, such as a burqa, a niqab, a forage cap, ora full face helmet. People going on the streets with one of these

now risk being fined for up to 380 euros ($499).

It is very important that people in an open society meet each

other in an open way, Minister of Interior Affairs Liesbeth Spies

said after the cabinet meeting.

In April 2011, France had introduced a burqa ban and become the

first European country to ban people from concealing their faces

in public in any manner.

IMF seeks $500-billion boost to lending resources

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is proposing to raise its

lending capacity by $500 billion to insulate the global economy

against any worsening of Europes debt crisis.

The Washington-based lender currently has about $385 billion

available to lend and wants to lift that to $885 billion after

identifying the potential for a $1 trillion global financing gap in

the next two years. To incorporate a cash buffer, that means

asking its membership for $600 billion.

The Washington-based lender is pushing China, Brazil, Russia,

India, Japan and oil-exporting nations to be the top contributors.

Options for raising the IMFs resources include opening a trust

fund or not rolling back a 2009 increase.

DO YOU KNOW

Latest data shows that an Indian girl child aged 1-5

years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy,

making this the worst gender differential in child

mortality for any country in the world.

Indias per capita income grew by 15.6 per cent to Rs

53,331 per annum in 2010-11, crossing the half-a-lakh

mark for the first time. Per capita income is the earnings

of each Indian if the national income is evenly divided

among the countrys population of around 120 crore.

Based on 2004-05 prices, the Indian economy expanded

by 8.4 per cent in 2010-11. The GDP at constant (2004-

05) prices in 2010-11 has been estimated at Rs

48,85,954 crore, as against Rs 45,07,637 crore in 2009-

10.

Indias agriculture sector recorded a 7 per cent growth

in 2010-11. The services sector grew by 9.3 per cent in

the same year, while construction sector grew by 8 per

cent and manufacturing grew by 7.6 per cent.

According to the 2012 Environmental Performance

Index, India is ranked a lowly 125th in addressing

pollution control and natural resource management

challenges. Switzerland has been ranked number one.

Thailands Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was

the Chief Guest at the 2012 Republic Day parade.


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prosecution of a public servant who is alleged to have

committed an offence.

The two judges also turned down the argument that the issue

of sanction for prosecution of a public servant arises only at

the stage of taking cognizance of the case by the court.

While prescribing a four month time-limit for decidingwhether to grant sanction for prosecution of a public servant,

Justices Singhvi and Ganguly, who wrote separate judgments,

said sanction would be deemed to have been granted if the

competent authority failed to take a decision within the period.

The order coincided with a growing feeling that sanction for

prosecution of public servants facing corruption charges are

deliberately delayed to kill the probe.

100% FDI in single-brand a reality now

On January 11, 2012, the Union government notified the rules

allowing 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-

brand retail, paving the way for international furniture

maker Ikea and several fashion brands such as Louis

Vuitton to set up stores in the country, and also boost sourcing

from local manufacturers. Before this, 51% FDI was permitted

in this segment of retailing which was opened to foreign

players almost six years ago.

Apart from the entry of new players into the market, the

decision is also expected to result in several existing players,

who are operating via tie-ups with Indian companies, to

convert their existing ventures into wholly-owned

subsidiaries.

Visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, during her

visit to Agartala on January 11, 2012, urged the Indian

government to be liberal in the efforts to resolve water issues

between the two countries, as well as to remove the prevailing

bilateral trade imbalance.

Addressing the India-Bangladesh conclave, Hasina, said,

Improved bilateral trade relations hold the key to remove

poverty, the common problem of both the countries.

She said the trade imbalance between the countries was in

favour of India and this needs to be balanced. Bangladesh

imports goods worth about $4.5 billion from India every year,

compared to Indian import from Bangladesh worth about $521

million.

Calling upon Indian businessmen to invest more in various

sectors like power, telecommunication, textiles, health care

etc, Hasina, at the same time, appealed to Bangladesh industry

captains to improve their output to make inroads into the vast

Indian market at this juncture when the government of India

was opening it up for them.

With the current regime in Bangladesh showing keen interest

in consolidating economic cooperation with India, it is

advantage Tripura, that shares an 856-kilometre-long land

boundary with Bangladesh.

Tripura was economically hard hit by the Partition of India as

back then, its surface and sea routes linking the State with the

rest of the country had, all of a sudden, snapped. Twelve-hour-

long Agartala-Kolkata road journeys became more than 24-

hour-long journeys via Guwahati and North Bengal.

Now, with Sheikh Hasina making it clear during her visit to

Agartala that her government wants to pay India, especially

On January 24, 2012 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

infused more liquidity into the system by lowering the

cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points from 6 per

cent to 5.5 per cent.

The Union government has fixed the import duty ongold at 2 per cent of the value, instead of the earlier Rs

300 per 10 grams. Excise duty has been fixed at 1.5 per

cent of the values, as against the fixed rate of Rs 200 per

gram earlier. Silver will now attract import duty of 6 per

cent, as against Rs 1,500 per kg earlier. Diamonds too

will now attract an import duty of 2 per cent.

Yarwng is the name of a 95-minute feature film made

in Kokborok, the most popular tribal language in

Tripura. Yarwng means roots in English.

The first nuclear materials security index, compiled by

a US nuclear think-tank Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)

and Economic Intelligence unit (EIU), is a rating and

ranking of the security framework in 32 nations thatpossess one kg or more of weapons-usable nuclear

materials. It ranks India a poor 28, just above Iran,

Pakistan and North Korea. Australia is ranked one.

National Youth Day is observed on January 12.

National Girl Child Day is observed on January 24.

National Electorate Day is observed on January 25.

World Hindi Day is observed on January 10, to mark

the first Hindi conference held in Nagpur in 1975.

Martyrdom Day is observed by India on January 30

every year.

According to a report released by Hong Kong-based

Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., Indian

bureaucracy is the worst in Asia, with a 9.21 rating out

of 10. Singapore remains the best with a rating of 2.25,

followed by Hong kong, Thailand and Taiwan. India

fared worst than Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and

China.

The Union government has allowed Qualified Foreign

Investors (QFIs), including overseas individuals, to

invest directly in Indian stock markets. So far, the QFIs

were permitted to invest only in mutual fund schemes.

The World Sanskrit Conference was held in New Delhi

in January 2012. The first such conference was held in

India in 1972. It has since been held every three years,

even in countries like Japan and Finland where Sanskrit

would not appear to strike any chord. This year, the

conference had a special theme: The re levance of

Sanskrit in the modern technologies world.

IIIT, Hyderabad has used Sanskrit grammer to create

computer software for inter-language translation

scientists and scholars, to tap the tech potential of the

language.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has discovered

about 4-trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves off the

Daman coast, which can provide 7-million cubic metres

a day of gas in four year times.


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Tripura and its people back for the support they provided to

the liberation war of Bangladesh, it is a great opportunity for

the government of India to restore landlocked N-E States old

communication links with mainland India through

Bangladesh.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar publicly announced his

governments proposal to provide Bangladesh with 100 MW

power to be generated by the upcoming 726 MW Palatana

power project of the ONGC, out of Tripuras allotted share of

196 MW power.

Hasina offered to buy all surplus power, if any, from Tripura

and proposed Bangladeshs investment joint venture in future

power projects in Tripura.

Tripura government is also looking forward to regular

uninterrupted Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata bus service, perpetual

transit facilities through Bangladesh via Tripura to mainland

India and more Land Customs Stations (LCS) to come up

along the border with Bangladesh.

India, China set up border mechanism

Seeking to end flare-ups on the Line of Actual Control (LAC)

from time to time, India and China, on January 17, 2012,

established a working mechanism for consultation and

coordination on the boundary issue to maintain peace and

tranquility along their border.

The agreement was signed between the two sides at the end of

the 15th round of talks between the Special Representatives

(SRs) of the two countries. The Indian delegation was led by

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon while the

Chinese team was headed by State Councillor Dai Bingguo.

The working mechanism, to be headed by a Joint Secretary-

level official from the Ministry of External Affairs and a

Director General level official from the Chinese Foreign

Ministry, will comprise diplomatic and military officials from

the two sides.

It was agreed that the working mechanism, which was mooted

by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, would study ways and means

to conduct and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between

military personnel and establishments of the two sides in the

border areas and will also explore the possibility of

cooperation in the border areas.

Both sides also agreed that the working mechanism would

undertake other tasks that are mutually agreed upon by the

two sides, but would not discuss the resolution of the

boundary question or affect the SR mechanism.

It will hold consultations once or twice every year alternately

in India and China. Emergency consultations, if required, may

be convened after mutual agreement.

Visit of Prime Minister of Thailand

On January 25, 2012, India and Thailand signed six accords,

including one on defence cooperation, as the Southeast Asian

nation acknowledged Indias credentials for a permanent seat

in the UN Security Council. The accords were inked after

wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

and visiting Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra,

who was also the Chief Guest at the 2012 Republic Day

Parade.

The other accords were: treaty on transfer of sentencedprisoners; second protocol to amend the framework agreement

for establishing a free trade area between the two countries;

The 99th Indian Science Congress was held in

Bhubaneshwar.

Business News

Starbucks Corp of USA, in a 50:50 JV with Tata Global,

will open its first cafe outlets in India in August or

September 2012. The formal launch of its foray into India

comes a year after it signed a deal with Tata Global to buy

coffee from India and open retail outlets in India.

Vodafone has won a major battle in the Supreme Court

which turned down the demand to pay Rs 11,000 crore by

Income tax authorities, towards capital gains for purchasing

Hutchison Ltds Indian mobile business in 2007. The SC

Bench said that the Indian tax authorities had no jurisdiction

over transactions done abroad.

Japanese insurance major, Nippon Life Insurance, will buy

a 26 per cent stake in Reliance mutual Fund for about Rs

1,450 crore. This is the single-largest FDI in the MF

industry, and also the largest deal in the sector.

Eastman Kodak, the photography icon that invented the

hand-held camera and helped bring the first pictures from

the moon, has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping a

prolonged plunge for one of USAs best-known companies.

Jerry Yang,Yahoo Incs co-founder, has resigned

following opposition from the shareholders. He had co-

founded the company in 1995. Yahoo Inc. has named Scott

Thompson, president of eBay Inc.s PayPal division, as its

new CEO.

HyAlfa, is the worlds first hydrogen-powered three-

wheeler. It has been developed under a joint project by the

UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO),

International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies,

Mahindra & Mahindra and IIT Delhi.

Reliance Industries Ltd. and Network18 have announced a

multi-layered deal, adding momentum to the convergence of

media and telecom in India. With the help of funds from

RIL, Netwrok18 will gain broadcasting access to 11

vernacular language channels and expand its overall

portfolio to 25 channels. Network18 runs channels such as

CNBC TV18 and CNN-IBN.


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programme of cooperation in science and technology; cultural

exchange programme for 2012-2014 and an MoU between

Chulalongkorn University and ICCR for setting up a chair at

the India Studies Centre of the university.

In a joint statement the two leaders unequivocally condemned

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed that

there could be no justification for the menace. Both sides alsoexpressed desire to further enhance their valued partnership

and cooperation in the context of India-ASEAN relations.

Counter-terrorism centre gets government nod

More than three years after the November 2008 Mumbai terror

attacks, the Union government, on January 12, 2012, finally

cleared the much-awaited National Counter-Terrorism Centre

(NCTC), albeit a watered-down version of the original plan

that was to subsume all intelligence agencies and even have an

operational wing.

The NCTC is an ambitious plan of Union Home Minister P.

Chidambaram to set up an intelligence hub to collate and

analyse inputs on terror activities in India.

This body will be the fourth major anti-terror setup after the

National Investigation Agency (NIA), National Intelligence

Grid (NATGRID) and additional hubs of the National

Security Guard (NSG). The NCTC, modelled on the US

NCTC, is aimed at combating terrorism by analyzing threats,

sharing the inputs and information with other agencies and

converting these into actionable data.

The counter-terrorism agency will be a separate body under

the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NCTC will

be the nodal agency for all counter-terrorism activities and

will coordinate with intelligence agencies such as Intelligence

Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Joint

Intelligence Committee (JIC) and State intelligence agencies.

The NCTC will connect the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC),

which would be subsumed into the NCTC, and all agencies

reporting to it in Delhi and State capitals.

The NCTC will not have any foot soldier to collect

information, but will depend on other agencies.

The head of the body, an additional Director General-level

police officer, will report to the Union Home Secretary.

India inks global pact to check tax evasion

India has signed a multilateral convention on mutual

administrative assistance in tax matters aimed at combating

tax avoidance and evasion. The convention not only facilitates

the exchange of information, but also provides for assistance

in the recovery of taxes. This will give a fillip to the

governments efforts in bringing the Indian money illegally

stashed abroad.

This instrument, earlier available for the members of OECD

and Europe, was amended in 2010 and opened for all

countries in June 2011.

By signing the convention, India and the other 31 signatories

encourage more countries to join, sending a strong signal that

countries are acting together to ensure that individuals and

multinational enterprises pay the right amount of tax, at the

right time and in the right place.

The multilateral convention provides for simultaneous tax

examinations and participation in tax examinations in other


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countries. This will allow tax officials to enter into the

territory of the other country to interview individuals and

examine records.

The convention also provides for automatic exchange of

information and spontaneous exchange of information, as also

allows exchange of past information in criminal tax matters.

Present signatories to the amended convention are Argentina,

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland,

France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland,

Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain,

Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United

States.

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