weekly 22 to 28 april 2013

22ND APRIL 2013 TO 28TH APRIL, 2013

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WEEKLY CURRENTAFFAIRS BULLETIN

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[ 2 ] Weekly Current Affairs 22nd April to 28th April, 2013

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Current Affairs Notes for IAS PT 2013

UPSC: The central recruiting agency in India, nowadays emphasizing more on applicable part ofknowledge. GS syllabus has undergone an overhaul from the past few years and requiresmultidimensional approach to handle this. The paper concentrates more on concepts related togeneral awareness i.e. what we see around us.

Its recruiting pattern wants an IAS aspirant to have grip on socio-economic problem-solving-skills; applicable knowledge of science; ability to logically analyse the situations and interpretthe outcomes accordingly.

Thus CHRONICLE IAS ACADEMY is launching a comprehensive material which includes:Important Bills; Committees; Reports; Current affairs of the past one year.

This will provide a "trustworthy and time saving guide" for all IAS aspirants preparing forPrelims.

Topics Covered :-

1. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION SUMMITS

2. Bills in Parliament

3. Biotechnology-1

4. Constitutional news

5. Environmental news

6. Health News

7. Important Reports 2012-13

8. INDIA - HDR 2011

9. International News

10. Science and Technology

11. Prelims Special Part-1

12. Prelims Special Part-2

13. Prelims special Part- 3

Package Fee

Current Affairs Notes for PT 2013 for Weekly E-Magazine Subscriber (Printed) ........... 2000.00Current Affairs Notes for PT 2013 (Printed) ............................................................................ 2500.00

Weekly Current Affairs 22nd April to 28th April, 2013 [3]

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Programme Assistance:

Email id:[email protected] Assistance : Sushil SinghEmail id: [email protected]: 9582948810, 9953007628Mail: [email protected]

productivity, Microirrigation, Urbanization,Government Initiatives......

Indian Economy Basics, Planning & Trade1. Industry Services, Agriculture, Energy.....2. Balance of Payments. Foreign Direct Investment.......3. Growth, Development and Other Issues.........4. Poverty Estimates, Impact of Poverty........5. Exchange rate. Role of RBI.....6. Nature of Planning - Five Year Plan, Planning after

1991 (LPG), Inflation.....

Governance and Contemporary PoliticalDevelopments: Development Politics, Political andAdministrative Institutions, Good Governance, InternalSecurity....

SECTIONAL TESTS(PAPER I & II)

1. Ecology and environment2. Comprehension3. Polity and Governance4. English Language Comprehension + Logical

Reasoning5. Geography6. Decision Making and Problem Solving7. General Science and Science and Technology8. Mental Ability, Basic Numeracy, Data

Interpretation and Data Sufficiency9. History10. Indian Economy

FULL MOCK SCHEDULE31st March ...... Mock 1 Paper 1, Mock 1 Paper 27th April ......... Mock 2 Paper 1, Mock 2 Paper 221st April ........ Mock 3 Paper 1, Mock 3 Paper 228th April ....... Mock 4 Paper 1, Mock 4 Paper 2

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Infrastructure & Resources1. Transportation infrastructure: Road and Highway

Networks, Mass Transit Systems, Railways,Waterways, Ports....

2. Energy infrastructure:- Thermal Power Generation,Natural Gas Pipelines & Petroleum Pipelines, NuclearEnergy, Renewable Energy......

3. Water management infrastructure:- Drinking watersupply, Sewage Collection and Disposal of Wastewater, Flood Control, Water Harwesting.....

4. Communications infrastructure:- Television andRadio Transmission, Internet, Social Network, SearchEngines, Communications Satellites......

5. Solid Waste Management6. Economic Infrastructure: Manufacturing Infrastructure,

including Industrial Parks and Special Economic zones,Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Infrastructure....

7. Resources: Water Resources, Forest Resources, LandResources, Energy Resources, Minerals, ResourceManagement.....

Demography : Population Composition, Density, Literacy,Sex Ratio...

Environmental Problems & Global EnvironmentalGovernance : Deforestation, Pollution: Air, Water, Land,Noise, Desertification, Biodiversity Depletion, GlobalWarming, SD.......

Human Development, Social Sector Initiatives andProgrammes & Policies1. Concept of Human Development, Development

vs. Growth, Human Development Index, MPI,Innovation.....

2. Social Inclusion, Child Welfare, Women Welfare....

Agriculture, Urbanisation, Health : Agriculture andGDP, Agricultural Regionalization, Production and

Fee Structure :

All India Complete Test Online ......................................6000/-

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40 Qs of IAS 2012 prelims paper were close and directly from Chronicle’s 2012 test series. When it comes to matching the

format of question in the exam it was 100% identical. Have you ever heard of such claim in IAS exam, indeed we

do it habitually! After all it is a matter of experiences. Testimonial is available at chronicleias.com as well in the public domain,

since it was conducted in 22 cities of India. We don’t claim your success, but our performance. Lets begin...


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NATIONAL••••• Foreign tourists in groups to get collective

landing permits

With a view to encourage foreign tourist arrivalsthe Government has decided to provide collectivelanding permits. According to the revised procedure,foreign tourists in groups of four or more arrivingby air or sea and sponsored by Indian travel agenciesapproved by the Ministry of Tourism and with apre-drawn itinerary may be granted collectivelanding permit for a period not exceeding 60 days,with multiple entry facilities to enable them to visitneighbouring countries. In order to avail of thisfacility the tourists or travel agencies shallmandatorily fill in an application online.

A complete list of members along with printedvisa application and their itinerary whould besubmitted by the tourists or travel agencies to theForeigner's Regional Registration Office/Foreigner'sRegistration office at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,Kolkatta, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram, Calicut, Goa and Lucknowconcerned 72 hours in advance. The tourists or travelagencies shall also give an undertaking to conductthe group as per the itinerary and extend a furtherassurance that no individual would be allowed todrop out from the group at any place.

This will help in boosting group travel to India,and would also give a boost to the tourism industryin the country.

••••• Government abused powers in coal blockallotments, says panel

Parliament's Standing Committee on Coal andSteel under the chairmanship of Trinamool CongressMP Kalyan Banerjee has indicted the governmentfor "totally abusing its powers" in allotting coalmines between 1993 and 2010 through the "mostnon-transparent procedure" to "few fortunate onesfor their own benefit".

The report recommended that allotment of allblocks where production was yet to start should bescrapped on the ground that the "entire procedurewas unauthorized" and "no one should be allowedto enjoy the benefit of illegal auctions".

Raising the pitch on crony capitalism throughsubsequent regimes, the report rejected the

government's contention that the ScreeningCommittee - with representative of the coal, statewhere a mine being allotted was located and theadministrative ministry of the industry for which amine was being allotted - acted fairly whiledistributing blocks between 2004 and 2009.

The panel also noted only 30 of the 195 blocksallotted by the government had come intoproduction and sought a list of companies to whichblocks were allotted without end-use projects. It saidthe small number of operational blocks puts aquestion mark on the performance and efficiency ofallocatee companies, especially private companies,which have a major share in allocation. Coal blockallottees failed to start production so far which raisesapprehension that they were considered withouttaking into account the techno-economic feasibilityof the end-use projects, past track record, of thedevelopers in execution of projects and theirtechnical and financial capabilities

The report pointed out a bias in favour of theprivate sector to bolster its argument. Sector-wiseallocations show that out of a total of 81 blocksallocated to power sector, 27 were given to privatefirms, 12 to UMPPs (Centre's showcase ultra-megapower projects) and 42 to government entities.

Similarly for steel sector, only two blocks wereallotted to state-run companies against 61 blocks toprivate entities.

The report did not quantify the loss, saying noinformation was made available either on thequantity or value of the mined coal. Last year, thefederal auditor had said that the governmentextended windfall gains of Rs 1.86 lakh crore toprivate entities by allotting blocks to them withoutbidding.

••••• Parliamentary panel opposes automaticpromotion under RTE

Opposing the provision of automatic promotionstill Class VIII under the Right of Children to Freeand Compulsory Act, 2009, a Parliamentarycommittee has asked the Ministry of HumanResource Development to "rethink" the policy as astudent may not be motivated to work hard ifpromotion was guaranteed.


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Expressing concern over the quality ofeducation under the RTE regime and the learningoutcome, the panel has asked the Ministry to ensurea minimum set of cognitive skills among students.

A sub-committee set up under the CentralAdvisory Board of Education is already examiningthe issue after academics and parents expressedreservations over the clause. The major drawbackof the policy will be that a child may not be matureenough to understand the implication of beingrequired to sit for formal examination from classIX onwards and obtain the minimum benchmark.

••••• CAG report on MGNREGA

An audit report of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGS) has slammed the State governmentfor non-performance and poor maintenance ofrecords in implementing the scheme from 2007 to2012.

The performance audit report of the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) has shown significant decline in perrural household employment generation in the lasttwo years.

CAG conducted door-to-door survey to identifypersons willing to register under the MGNREGSwas not conducted in 39 grama panchayats andtampering with muster rolls was noticed in allgrama panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram. Delayin wage payment from 23 to 138 days was reportedin all grama panchayats. Besides, payment ofRs.12.86 lakh was made without measuring theworks and wage slips were not generated in 37 ofthe 39 grama panchayats. Details of the wages paidwere not recorded on the job card at most of thegrama panchayats,.Significant irregularities are:a) The per rural household employment has

declined from 54 days in 2009-10 to 43 days in2011-12.

b) There is a substantial decline in the proportionof works completed in 2011-12. The worksamounting to around Rs 4,070 crore wereincomplete even after one to five years oflaunching. It points to impermissible worksundertaken to the tune of about Rs 2,252 crore.

c) The audit report also observes that Bihar,Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh whichconstituted 46 per cent of the rural poor utilisedonly 20 per cent of the total funds releasedunder the Scheme. This indicated that thecorrelation between poverty levels andimplementation of MGNREGA was not veryhigh, the report states.

d) The CAG audit blames the ministry for relaxingall conditionalities and releasing a sum of Rs1,960.45 crore in March, 2011 to the states,contravening norms of financial accountability.An amount of Rs 4,072.99 crore was released bythe ministry during 2008-12 to states for use inthe subsequent financial year, in contraventionof budgetary provisions and General FinancialRules, the report states.

MGNREGA was enacted with the objective ofenhancing livelihood security in rural areas byproviding at least 100 days of guaranteed wageemployment in a financial year, to everyhousehold whose adult members volunteer to dounskilled manual work.

The Act initially came into force in 200 districtswith effect from 2 February 2006 and was extendedto cover all the rural districts by 1 April 2008.

••••• House panel wants shield for netas againstphone tap

Amid a growing unease among politicians whoaccuse the Centre of misusing its power ofmonitoring phones of individuals, a parliamentarypanel has suggested that phones of MPs should betapped by security agencies only after takingpermission from presiding officers of the Houseconcerned. And, in case of other political leaders,their respective party chiefs have to be informed.

In its report, tabled in Parliament, the panel alsotook note of incidents of illegal phone tapping andobtaining call data records (CDRs) of someprominent individuals, including politicians, for"ulterior motives", and said such incidents shouldnot occur in future.

••••• Visa-on-arrival in 5 more airports

In order to promote tourism, Tourist Visa onArrival (TVOA) scheme was introduced for thenationals of five countries, namely, Japan, Singapore,Finland, Luxembourg and New Zealand with effectfrom 01.01.2010 for one year. The scheme has beenfound to be useful by the foreign nationals. TheGovernment of India has extended the Tourist Visaon Arrival (TVOA) scheme for the nationals of abovementioned five countries. Further, TVOA scheme hasbeen introduced for the nationals of Cambodia, Laos,Vietnam and Philippines with effect from 01.01.2011;and for the nationals of Myanmar and Indonesiawith effect from 28.01.2011.

The TVOA is allowed for a maximum validity of30 days with single entry facility by the ImmigrationOfficers at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata


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Airports on payment of a fee of US $ 60/- orequivalent amount in Indian rupees per passenger(including children). TVOA is allowed for amaximum of two times in a calendar year to aforeigner with a minimum gap of two monthsbetween each visit. TVOA shall be non-extendableand non-convertible.

The government has extended the visa-on-arrival(VoA) facility for tourists at five more internationalairports, besides Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata andChennai.

The new ports are: Goa, Thiruvananthapuram,Bangalore, Hyderabad and the Kochi airports.

••••• Ministry of Housing and Urban PovertyAlleviation has proposed NULM

The Ministry of Housing and Urban PovertyAlleviation has proposed to launch a "NationalUrban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)" in 12th FiveYear Plan, which will replace the existing SwarnaJayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY). NULMwould focus on the primary issues pertaining tourban poverty such as imparting skill training,enabling entrepreneurship development, providingwage employment and self-employmentopportunities to the urban poor.

About NULM:

According to the concept note NULM willestablish Service Centres or Aadhar Kendras, whichwill act as "one-stop shop" for those seeking servicesfrom the informal sector as well as for the urbanpoor promoting their services and products orseeking information relating to employment andtraining. Aadhar Kendras can also act as information,facilitation and counselling centres, where the poorcan access information on market demand/placement opportunities and skills trainingprogrammes offered by reputed institutions,including IITs, NITs, industry associations,engineering colleges, management institutes,foundations and other reputed agencies run by theGovernment, private or voluntary organisations andindustry associations to secure salaried employmentwith enhanced remuneration. For those seeking toestablish and sustain self-employment ventures, theAadhar Kendras can also facilitate necessaryguidance and counselling support. They can also be

used for imparting training on basic skills such aslife skills, language skills and computer skills.Further, they can be used as demonstration/saleoutlets for products manufactured by the self-employed urban poor. The beneficiaries registeredwith Aadhar Kendras for offering services to citizenswill be issued Identity Cards by the Urban LocalBody at the time of registration.

The number of Aadhar Kendras in a city willdepend on demand. NULM envisages that oneAadhar Kendra be set up at zonal/city level to caterto a population of about 100,000 persons. To startwith, Aadhar Kendras may be established in citieswith a population more than 300,000 as per the 2011Census. The central support for each centre would belimited to Rs. 5 lakhs subject to State/Urban LocalBody making building available. This amount can beused for rent (where building is not available),furniture, basic training facilities and equipment likecomputers, product demonstration outlets, telephoneand other operational expenses, including staffingsupport on contract basis for 2 years. The AadharKendras will be run on PPP mode or throughpartnerships of federations of the poor with NGOs/CBOs/resource institutions. They may eventuallyoperate on a revenue-generating and self-sustainingmodel. Urban Local Bodies may consider additionalsupport to these centres from their own resources.Proposals for Aadhar Kendras will be approved bythe State Urban Livelihoods Mission Management Unit.

••••• New health mission for urban areas to belaunched

The government would soon launch a NationalUrban Health Mission to address healthcare needsof the urban population. The new scheme has beenformulated by the ministry of health and familywelfare as a sub-mission under an overarchingNational Health Mission (NHM) to be launchedduring the 12th Five Year Plan.

The proposed scheme aims to improve the healthstatus of the urban population, particularly slumdwellers and other vulnerable sections by facilitatingequitable access to quality healthcare with the activeinvolvement of the urban local bodies (ULBs).Itproposes to cover 779 cities and towns, including 7metros with population of 50,000 and above.

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••••• Israel to end white phosphorous use

The Israeli army claimed that it used whitephosphorus inside smoke bombs used to createsmokescreens as cover for the movements of theIsraeli army during the war and denied that it usedincendiary bombs against civilian targets.

As Article III of the Geneva Convention on theuse of non-conventional weapons prohibits the useof incendiary weapons against civilian targets,Israel's army has announced that it will stop usingmunitions containing white phosphorus, for whichit was internationally condemned during a militaryoperation against Gaza in 2008-2009. On January15, 2009 the military fired white phosphorous shellsin the vicinity of a compound of the United Nations'(U.N.) agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) inGaza City to obscure Israeli troop positions fromHamas fighters in the area.

The Israeli artillery has developed a newmunition which can create smoke screens and thatuses only gas. This will replace the current munitionswhich contain small amounts of phosphorus.

International law prohibits the use of whitephosphorous shells in heavily populated civilianareas, but allows them in open spaces to be used ascover for troops. A Human Rights Watch reportclaimed Israel committed war crimes in its use ofair-burst white phosphorus artillery shells

Israel launched a 22-day offensive on the GazaStrip on December 27, 2008 in response to rocketfire from the Islamist Hamas-run territory. The warkilled 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, and itsparked widespread international criticism of Israelfor using disproportionate force.

••••• Serbian government approves deal withKosovo

The Serbian government has approved apotentially landmark agreement to normaliserelations with breakaway Kosovo that could endyears of tensions and put the Balkan rivals on apath to European Union membership but thousandsof Kosovo Serb demonstrators has rejected the deal.

The Serbian government approved the dealunanimously at an extraordinary session and

INTERNATIONALordered ministries to implement it that would giveKosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership authority overrebel Kosovo Serbs. In return, the minority Serbswould get wide autonomy within Kosovo.

The agreement could end years of tensions andput the Balkan rivals on a path to EU membership.

Kosovo, which is considered by nationalists tobe the medieval cradle of the Serbian state andreligion, declared independence in 2008. Serbia hasvowed never to recognise it, and Serbian officialsinsist that the latest agreement does not meanBelgrade has de-facto recognised Kosovo's statehood.

It is not clear how the deal will be implementedon the ground in northern Kosovo where hardlineSerb leaders vehemently reject any authority comingfrom Pristina's ethnic Albanians and consider theregion a part of Serbia.

After the Serbian approval, the EU's executiveCommission recommended that the bloc should startmembership negotiations with Serbia. TheCommission said in a report that "Serbia has takenvery significant steps towards visible and sustainableimprovement in relations with Kosovo."

Ending the partition of Kosovo between theAlbanian majority and the Serb-controlled north -about a fifth of the country - is a key condition ofSerbia's further progress toward EU membership.

••••• EU ended sanctions against Myanmar

Foreign ministers from the 27 nations in theEuropean Union agreed in Luxembourg to lift tradeand economic sanctions against Myanmar inrecognition of the country's ongoing democraticreforms, but arms embargo would stay in place.

Earlier hundreds of people were targeted by a travelban and asset freeze, while on the economic front theEU had barred investments and banned imports of thecountry's lucrative timber, metals and gems.

Whereas In April last year, the European Unionbegan easing sanctions against Myanmar as themilitary, in power for decades, progressively cededpower to civilians and implemented reforms of theeconomy. The Foreign ministers had agreed to a one-year suspension of measures targeting almost 500individuals and more than 800 firms.


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Now after removing the sanctions - the EU willalso look at the feasibility of a bilateral investmentagreement, as well as more development assistanceto assist Myanmar's economy.

But still there were significant challenges to beaddressed," in particular an end to hostilities inKachin state and improving the plight of theRohingya people. HRW has in a new report accusedauthorities in Myanmar, including Buddhist monks,of fomenting an organised campaign of ethniccleansing against the country's Rohingya Muslimminority that killed hundreds of people and forced125,000 from their homes. While state security forcessometimes intervened to protect fleeing Muslims,more often they fuelled the unrest either by standingby idle or directly participating in atrocities.

In western Myanmar, the crisis goes backdecades and is rooted in a highly controversialdispute over where the region's Muslim inhabitantsare really from. Although many Rohingya have livedin Myanmar for generations, they are widelydenigrated by majority Buddhists as foreignintruders who came from neighbouring Bangladeshto steal scarce land. The U.N. estimates their numberat 800,000. The government does not count them asone of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and likeBangladesh denies them citizenship.

Thus to help Myanmar in dealing with inter-communal violence, the EU is studying thepossibility of assisting reform of the police service,in partnership with its Parliament.

••••• S Korea, US extend nuclear pact

The U.S. and South Korea are extending for twoyears their current civilian nuclear agreement andpostponing a contentious decision on whether Seoulwill be allowed to reprocess spent fuel as it seeks toexpand its atomic energy industry. The current pact,signed in 1974, had been due to expire next year.

South Korea is the world's fifth-largest nuclearenergy producer and is planning to expand domesticuse of nuclear power and exports of nuclear reactors.South Korea argues that it needs to produce its ownnuclear fuel to feed the 23 reactors that provide one-third of its energy needs and to deplete stockpilesof spent fuel rods which it says are reaching fullcapacity.

The United States has refused on proliferationgrounds, as reprocessing creates stockpiles ofseparated plutonium that can then be enriched toweapons-grade. South Korea has proposed pyro-processing, a new technique which is consideredless conducive to proliferation as it leaves separatedplutonium mixed with safer fissile materials.

The issue of allowing South Korea to produceits own nuclear fuel has become more vexed in thelight of North Korea's advancing nuclear weaponsprogramme. This has led to growing calls from aninfluential minority in South Korea for the countryto have its own deterrent, rather than to keep relyingon the US nuclear umbrella.

The extension was agreed to allow morenegotiations on the heated topic of allowing theSouth to reprocess spent fuel rods.

••••• UK bans caste bias

Dalits in the United Kingdom have recorded alandmark victory after the British parliament finallyagreed to outlaw caste discrimination.

The House of Commons, which had earliertrashed an amendment to include caste among otherforms of discrimination, finally voted for legalprotection for the four lakh dalits living in the UK.This makes the UK the first country outside SouthAsia to legislate against caste discrimination.

The amendment is part of the Equality Act 2010.Till now, the Act prohibited race discrimination,harassment and victimisation in the workplace. Thedefinition of "race" within the Act includes colour,nationality, ethnic or national origin but does notspecifically refer to caste.

Campaigners had said legislation will upliftthousands of people, who has suffered abuse andprejudice because they were considered low caste.

The issue has divided the Indian diaspora in theUK. While groups like Caste Watch UK had beenrallying to urge MPs to introduce legal protectionfor those from traditionally lower-caste backgrounds,the Hindu Alliance has called for a boycott of theamendment. According to the 2011 census, there are816,633 Hindus based in the UK.

••••• Security Council approves new UNpeacekeeping mission in Mali

The Security Council approved a 12,600-strongUnited Nations peacekeeping operation to take overfrom the African-led mission in Mali on 1 July andauthorized the blue helmets "to use all necessarymeans" to carry out security-related stabilizationtasks, protect civilians, UN staff and culturalartefacts, and create the conditions for the provisionof humanitarian aid.

MINUSMA's core task is to support the politicalprocess in Mali, in close coordination with theAfrican Union and the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS). The mission will


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help the Malian authorities to implement thetransitional roadmap towards the full restoration ofconstitutional order, democratic governance andnational unity. This includes the holding of electionsin July, confidence building and facilitation ofreconciliation at the national and local levels.

MINUSMA troops will not be on the grounduntil 1 July, when they will take over from theAfrican-led force (AFISMA) and begin an initial 12-month mandate. That start date is subject to reviewand could be delayed in the event of a majorinternational military operation or a continued threatfrom terrorist forces on the civilian population orinternational personnel, according to the resolution.

However, as of today, MINUSMA will assumeresponsibility for the mandated tasks being carriedout by the UN Office in Mali (UNOM), whichdeployed in January and provides good officesaimed at facilitating contacts between theGovernment and those groups that wish to take partin the search for a political solution to the crisis.

In the resolution, the Security Council called onMember States to provide troops and police withadequate capabilities and equipment in order toenhance the capacity of MINUSMA to operate, anddischarge its responsibilities effectively.

The Council also authorized Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon to approve inter-mission cooperationbetween MINUSMA and the UN Missions in Liberia(UNMIL) and Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) for temporarysharing of troops, assets, and logistic andadministrative support without endangering theoperational capabilities of those missions and alsoto maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of themissions in West Africa.

It also requested Mr. Ban to appointexpeditiously a Special Representative for Mali whowould also head MINUSMA. This envoy would alsobe responsible for coordinating the activities of theUN agencies, funds and programmes in Mali, aswell as use his or her good offices and coordinatethe activities of the international community insupport of the mission's mandate.

Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter,the Council authorized the UN's newestpeacekeeping mission to "use all necessary force" to"stabilize the key population centres, especially inthe north of Mali… to deter threats and take activesteps to prevent the return of armed elements tothose areas," as well as to support the transitionalauthorities to extend and re-establish Stateadministration throughout the country.

On the humanitarian front, the UN troops havethe right to use force "to create a secure environmentfor the safe, civilian-led delivery of humanitarianassistance, in accordance with humanitarianprinciples, and the voluntary return of internallydisplaced persons and refugees in close coordinationwith humanitarian actors."

The Council also authorized the use of force toassist the transitional authorities in protecting fromattack the cultural and historical sites, in coordinationwith the UN Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO).

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamistsafter fighting broke out in January 2012 betweenGovernment forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflictuprooted hundreds of thousands of people andprompted the Malian Government to requestassistance from France to stop the militaryadvance of extremist groups.

[ 1 0 ] Weekly Current Affairs 22nd April to 28th April, 2013

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••••• Centre orders SFIO probe into chit fund firms

In the wake of an alleged fraud involvingthousands of crores by Kolkata-based Saradhagroup, the Centre ordered a SFIO (Serious FraudInvestigation Office) probe into suspected misuseof the public money by various chit fund companies.However State governments are the appropriateauthorities for regulation of such chit fundcompanies and schemes under the Chit Fund Act,1982.

A Special Task Force has been set up under theSFIO to carry out all investigations into suchcompanies.

The decision was taken in view of a larger publicinterest involved in these cases, and concernsregarding misuse/laundering by such companies ofthe ill-gotten wealth and the possibility that thepromoters of these companies may strip thesecompanies.

The Task Force would also co-ordinate withother law enforcement agencies and regulatorswherever required in its investigations. TheSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) hasalready passed an order against one group entity,Saradha Realty India, asking it to wind up allcollective investment schemes and refund the moneycollected from investors. Besides, SEBI is probing atleast ten other Saradha entities for raising fundswithout the regulator's approval. The Income TaxDepartment would also soon start its investigationsinto the activities of this group.

••••• PMEAC sees 6.4% growth in 2013-14

The Economic Advisory Council to the PrimeMinister (PMEAC), headed by former Reserve Bankof India governor C Rangarajan stated that theeconomy is expected to grow 6.4% in the currentfiscal powered by an improvement in the farm,industry and services sectors but sustained reformsin critical areas is needed to accelerate expansion.Further according to PMEAC controlling the currentaccount deficit (CAD) remains the main concern nowalthough he estimated it to narrow to 4.7% of grossdomestic product in 2013-14 compared with 5.1% ofGDP in the previous year.

ECONOMYRangarajan's growth estimate is nearly in line

with the government's forecast of 6.1% to 6.7%growth in 2013-14. Growth is estimated to haveslowed to a decade low of 5% in 2012-13 due to theimpact of the global economic slowdown, highinterest rates and policy delays. But Rangarajn saidthe reform measures begun in the second half oflast year and the union budget have improved thesituation and strengthened expectations. But hecautioned that much ground still remains to becovered.

The PMEAC said inflation continues to remainhigh but there are definite signs that the headlineWPI inflation is coming down. "As inflation comesdown, it will create more space for monetary policyto support growth. Inflation in 2013-14 would bearound 6%.

The report further stated that the governmenthas shown its determination to contain the fiscaldeficit but the current account deficit remains aconcern. The council also identified vital reformsneeded to sustain high growth. It called for speedyproject clearances, reducing the current accountdeficit, managing the capital account, improving netenergy availability, containing inflation, reforms inagricultural marketing and supply chains, moreattractive saving products.

••••• New procurement policy unveiled by DefenceMinistry

With the twin objective of infusing greaterefficiency in the procurement process andstrengthening the defence manufacturing base in thecountry, the Defence Acquisition Council, the apexdecision making body of the MoD, amended DefenceProcurement Procedure (DPP).

The salient features of new policy are:

a) Preference for indigenous procurement in theDefence Production Policy 2011 has now beenmade a part of DPP through an amendment thatprovides for a preferred order of categorisation,with global cases being a choice of last resort.The order of preference, in decreasing order,shall be: (1) "Buy (Indian)"; (2) "Buy & Make(Indian)"; (3) "Make"; (4) "Buy & Make with ToT";and (5) "Buy (Global)". Any proposal to select a


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particular category must now state reasons forexcluding the higher preferred category/categories.

b) The armed forces will have to explain to theMinistry when they do not prefer to buy fromIndian sources or are excluding the highercategory.

c) The financial powers of the Services chiefs andthe chief of the Coast Guard have been enhancedfrom Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 150 crore for capitalacquisition cases.

d) To avoid scams such as the AgustaWestlandchopper deal and enhance transparency, theMinistry also approved a proposal under whichServices headquarters would be required tofreeze specifications of the desired productsbefore they are approved by the DefenceAcquisition Council (DAC).

e) PSUs and ordnance factories in the defencesector will not be automatically nominated formaintenance and repair of systems procuredfrom abroad, private firms will be allowed totake part in these contracts.

f) Private and public sector firms can tie up withforeign vendors and produce the equipmentrequired by the armed forces within the country.

g) The DAC approved release of a public versionof its 15-year perspective document (LTIPP), for2012-2027 outlining the 'Technology Perspectiveand Capability Roadmap' (TPCR). "The TPCRwill provide useful guidance to the Indiandefence industry for boosting its infrastructuralcapabilities and directing its R&D andtechnology investments.

h) The DAC also approved an amendmentmandating consultations to begin sufficiently inadvance of actual procurement by Services, sothat capital acquisition plans can be translatedinto national defence Research and Developmentand production plans.

i) A high-level Committee has also beenconstituted for simplification of 'Make'procedures, with a view to unleash the fullpotential of this important category

j) Ministry has also approved draft securityguidelines for the private sector firms to adoptunder which they will have to maintain aminimum-required security perimeter for theirfacilities.

k) In order to ensure regular supply of funds toMedium and Small Enterprises involved in

manufacturing of defence products, SIDBI hasdecided to earmark an amount of Rs. 500 crorefor providing loans.

••••• SEBI, RBI and ED to join forces againstinvestment frauds

A large number of fraudulent schemes have cometo the fore in recent months, wherein gullibleinvestors are promised huge returns of up to 100per cent in a year or two through 'bizarre andinnovative' methods. The investors being taken fora ride include the poor daily-wage earners trying tosave a few hundred rupees a month, the middle-class seeking to invest their hard-earned income fordecent returns, as also the rich and sophisticatedHNIs looking to grow their wealth by investing inproperty, artworks and the financial markets.

Investigations of Securities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI) have also found that many of theseschemes are being used for the purpose of moneylaundering and to channelise illicit funds into thefinancial system. Many cases have come up in theeastern states of West Bengal and Assam, whereinhuge returns are being promised on real estate andhospitality investments. Besides, many such schemesare there in the northern states of Delhi, Rajasthan,Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

SEBI on its own lacks full-fledged powers to actagainst all kinds of 'money-pooling' frauds, althougha proposal to strengthen its arsenal is awaitinggovernment's clearance. Thus SEBI is joining forceswith other agencies, including RBI, SFIO,Enforcement Directorate and state policedepartments, to tackle the menace.

SEBI at present is also investigating a casewherein an organised syndicate of fraudsters issuspected to have defrauded a large number ofpeople in the name of investments made by theirdeceased family members. The syndicate typicallycalls up the target investors to inform about a mutualfund or insurance product purchased by his or herdeceased relatives and promises impressive returnsif some fresh investments are made. In the process,fraudsters earn fat commissions for sale of mutualfund or insurance products.

Thus SEBI has sent a proposal seeking greaterpowers from the government for handling variousinvestment frauds and misdoings. SEBI is also facingchallenges in recovery of penalties, regulation ofpooling of monies from public by various schemes.Besides, SEBI has also listed the lack of direct powersfor attachment of assets, to conduct search andseizure and to call for information from any person


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in relation to its inquiry and investigations. As ofnow, SEBI mostly needs to seek relevant judicial orexecutive orders on case-to-case basis for suchpowers.

Consequently, SEBI has proposed that anypooling of funds under an 'investment contract'involving a corpus of Rs 100 crore and above shouldbe deemed as Collective Investment Scheme underthe SEBI Act. Besides, it has also sought powers tospecify the parameters for determining as to whatconstitutes pooling of funds from public for thepurpose of treating such schemes as CollectiveInvestment Scheme. It is necessary to enhance SEBI'spowers to make it better equipped to deal with'innovative' collective schemes that are designed toavoid regulation.

••••• Finance Ministry suggested new formula forgas pricing

The Finance Ministry has rejected the naturalgas pricing formula suggested by the RangarajanCommittee and has instead suggested an alternativeformula based on wellhead prices charged bysuppliers in the region (Oman, Qatar, Abu Dhabiand Malaysia) for long-term contracts. Experts saythat the prices calculated as per the alternativeformula may be lower than the RangarajanCommittee figure.

Wellhead prices do not take into accounttransportation costs - a significant price escalator inthe case of Liquified Natural Gas. The ministry willsend its suggestions for the consideration of theEmpowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), decidingthe road map for gas pricing.

The Finance Ministry's stand of rejecting thereport got support from others in the government,with the Ministry of Power and Ministry ofFertilizers outrightly rejecting the linking of domesticnatural gas prices with international prices, ademand made by Mukesh Ambani-owned RelianceIndustries Limited (RIL) (seeking international pricesof around $12.5 mbtu for domestic natural gas, whichis currently priced at $4.2 mbtu )and supported bythe Planning Commission recently. The RangarajanCommittee had called for freeing of gas pricing andindexing it with international prices, which mayresult in the pricing coming close to the RIL figure.

The rejection of the report comes close on theheels of strong resistance by the Association of PowerProducers (APP) who have argued that any massivehike in gas prices will lead to rise in costs oftransportation run on CNG mode, hike in tariffs forpower produced by number of gas power plants

across the country, rise in cost of fertilizers to thefarmers and a possible further hike in prices of LPGcylinders.

The Finance Ministry has asked the Petroleumand Natural Gas Ministry to place before theEmpowered Group of Ministers (EgoM) analternative formula based on wellhead prices ofsuppliers in the region, including the Gulf countriesfor long-term contracts.

••••• Review of the Economy 2012-13 - Highlights

Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman, EconomicAdvisory Council to the Prime Minister released thedocument 'Review of the Economy 2012-13'.

Following are the highlights of the document:

a) The Advance Estimates of CSO have pegged thegrowth of Agriculture at 1.8% in 2012-13. Inexpectation of normal or mostly normalmonsoon, the farm sector growth is likely toimprove and is projected to grow at 3.5% in2013 14.

b) The Advance Estimates of CSO have pegged thegrowth of Industry (including manufacturing,mining and quarrying, electricity, gas, watersupply and construction) at 3.1% in 2012-13. Itis projected to grow at 4.9% in 2013-14.Manufacturing sector is projected to grow at 4%in 2013-14.

c) The Advance Estimates of CSO have pegged thegrowth of Services at 6.6% in 2012-13. It isprojected to grow at 7.7% in 2013-14.

d) Global growth although projected to pick up in2013 would continue to remain at modest levels.In such a scenario India's projected growth rateof 6.4% is relatively high and respectable.

e) Domestic savings rate is estimated to be around30.8 % of GDP 2012-13. The decline in thedomestic savings rate over the past few years isowing to the increase in the negative savings bythe Government, the decline in profitability ofprivate corporates, and decline in net financialsavings of households.

f) Current Account Deficit is estimated to be $94billion (5.1% of GDP) in 2012-13 and is projectedto be $100 billion (4.7% of GDP) in 2013-14.

g) It is estimated that for 2012-13 the net inflow ofFDI was $18 billion ($26 billion inbound and $8 billion outbound). For 2013-14 EAC hasprojected higher inbound flows of the order of$36 billion. Outbound FDI is also expected toincrease, resulting in net FDI inflow of $24billion.


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h) In 2013-14, the headline WPI inflation is expectedto be around 6.0 %, with primary food inflationaround 8%, fuel at about 11% and manufacturedgoods at around 4%. The provisional figure forinflation at the end of 2012-13 is 5.96%.

i) The fiscal deficit of the Centre for 2012-13 isestimated to be 5.2% of GDP. It was Rs 520,924crores in 2012-13 as per revised estimates, andis expected to be Rs 542,499 crores in 2013-14 asper budget estimates.

j) The total Central subsidies stood at Rs. 257,654crores (2.6% of GDP) in 2012-13 but, are expectedto go down to Rs 231,084 crores in 2013-14largely owing to the pruning down of petroleumsubsidies which have been the major cause ofmissing our fiscal deficit targets in the past.

Issues need to be addressed:

a) Speedy project clearances: While theConstitution of the Cabinet Committee onInvestment has helped in speeding up projectclearances, more needs to be done in the comingmonths so that new investment can be facilitated.In the current context, achieving the productionand capacity creation targets in the keyinfrastructure sectors such as coal, power, roads,railways and ports, which are largely in thepublic sector or public-private partnership (PPP)domain, will act as a great stimulus to privateinvestment and faster growth.

b) Reducing CAD: Net oil imports and gold,account for bulk of the increase in merchandisetrade deficit. Price and subsidy reforms inpetroleum products need to be completed tocontrol our oil import bill. It is also vitallynecessary to encourage exports of bothmerchandise and services. As inflation is broughtunder control, peoples' appetite for gold will alsodiminish. Maintaining an attractive return infinancial assets will also help in bringing downthe demand of gold.

c) Managing the capital account: To ensure thatthe CAD is comfortably financed, capital inflowswill need to be encouraged and, wherenecessary, procedures streamlined.

d) Improving Net Energy Availability: There is aclose link between our dependence on importsof oil and natural gas and our external paymentssituation. Hence, steps should be taken toimprove the energy economy in all aspects-production, transformation and final use.Facilitating an increase in domestic coalproduction will make a substantial difference.

The conditions for exploration and productionof hydrocarbons must be improved to increasedomestic supply.

e) Containing inflation: Both supply sidemanagement and the approach to administeredpricing have to be informed about the urgencyin regard to stabilizing primary food inflation ata lower level.

f) Reforms in Agricultural Marketing and SupplyChains: The Agricultural Produce MarketingCommittee Act (APMC Act) prevailing in anumber of states limits the freedom of farmersto sell, and this has prevented the modernizationof the supply chain and also contributes toprimary food inflation. Regulatory obstacles inthe way need to be cleared.

••••• Coal Production Touches 557 MT

The total production of raw coal in the countryduring 2012-13 was 557.5 MT which was 97% of thetarget production and exhibited a growth rate of3.3% over the previous year (2011-12) when thegrowth rate was 1.4% over 2010-11.

On the recommendation of the ReviewCommittee and the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG),the Government has so far de-allocated 47 coal blocksmainly an account of lack of progress of developmentof the blocks. Out of the 47 de-allocated bocks, 2blocks were allocated again, 3 blocks were assignedto Coal India Limited and in respect of 5 blocks de-allocation letters were withdrawn.

The Government has taken various steps toincrease the production of coal during the 12th Planin order to meet the growing demand as also toreduce dependency on import. These steps includeemphasis on implementation of new projects andexpansion of existing projects, improving coalevacuation and movement, involvement of privatesector and achieving close coordination with variousline agencies for clearances of projects. However,despite these measures, it is expected that there willremain a gap between domestic demand andproduction by the terminal year of 12th plan (2016-17) which will need to be met through imports.

The Union Government has envisaged that oneof the ways forward to reduce the dependence onimports is to devise a Public Private Partnership(PPP) policy framework with CIL as one of thepartners in order to increase the production of coalfor supply to power producers and other consumers.Pursuant to the aforesaid policy, the Ministry of Coalhas set up a Committee to devise a PPP Policy


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framework with CIL as one of the partners in orderto increase production of coal.

••••• Finance Minister Launches Medi Claim Facilityfor Farmers

India is one of the most under insured countryin the world as non life insurance sector has apenetration of only 0.7 percent in the country.Thus to increase the penetration and coverage ofthe non life insurance in the country FinanceMinister has launched Medi Claim Facility forFarmers.

This facility will be available to KCC holder ofDena Bank and his/her spouse and two childrenunder tie up with UIIC under Group Healthinsurance cover. The cashless facility will beavailable at around 4200 hospitals all over thecountry. Dena Bank, celebrating its PlatinumJubilee year, has as an initiative under CSRlaunched a Nobel scheme for its 2,25,000 KCCholder farmer customers covering their familymembers under Mediclaim with maximum coverup to Rupees Thirty Thousand.

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INDIA AND THE WORLD

••••• India asks China to revert to status quo inLadakh

During the flag meeting in Daulat Beg Oldi sectorIndia has asked China to revert to the status quoposition in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in Ladakhwhere troops of both countries were in a face-to-face situation after Chinese forces intruded nearly10 km inside Indian Territory eight days ago. Thisis the second meeting since the incursion. The firstone was held on 18th April.

According to the protocol if the border personnelof the two sides come in a face-to-face situation dueto differences on the alignment of the line of actualcontrol or any other reason, they shall exercise self-restraint and take all necessary steps to avoid anescalation of the situation. Further both sides shallalso enter into immediate consultations throughdiplomatic and/or other available channels to reviewthe situation and prevent any escalation of tension.

The term "face-to-face" is referred in 2005Protocol for implementation of CBMs in militaryfield in the LAC in India-China border areas.

••••• India and UAE Sign MoU on Air Services

India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) HASsigned an MoU on Air Services, following the two-day bilateral negotiation at Abu Dhabi.

The UAE had urged India to allocate additional40,000 seats per week, grant Goa, Pune, Amritsarand Lucknow as additional points of calls, removethe maximum cap prescribed from each point of callin-term of seats/ frequency per week and allow 3rdcountry /domestic code share facility.

India was looking at the negotiations in overalleconomic interest of India and Government's policyof liberalization for attracting foreign investment inIndia, including civil aviation sector. The Indian sidehad requested the UAE side to grant change of gaugefacility at Abu Dhabi to Indian carriers in additionto ensuring full 5th freedom rights from UAE.

As per the present Air Service Agreement, thedesignated carriers of both sides have existingentitlement of 13,330 + 2% flexibility (total 13,600)Seats per week with eleven points of call availableto UAE . After present negotiations both sides have

agreed to allocate an additional entitlement of 36,670seats per week spread over a period of 3yrs; 11,000seats per week in year 2013, 12,800 seats per weekup to winter schedule 2014 and 12,870 seats per weekup to winter schedule 2015. Both sides have alsoagreed to extend 3rd country and domestic codeshare facility.

However Indian side has not agreed to therequest of UAE for any additional point of call andremoval of cap in terms seats/frequency from eachpoint of call.

The additional 2% flexibility on total entitlementhas been removed. Both sides have agreed to extend3rd country code share and domestic code share ofdesignated airlines of either side. The UAE haveagreed to Indian request of change of gauge facilityand both sides have agreed to allow designatedairlines of each side to have the option to changethe aircraft in the territory of the other party.

The enhancement in the present capacity spreadover 3yrs would allow the carriers of both thecountries to plan their future operations.

The change of gauge facility will provideoperational/commercial flexibility to Indian carriersto enable deploy equipment corresponding to marketdemand. This will help in enhancing internationalconnectivity for Indian passengers and also facilitatelocal and international route networking. (In airtransport change of gauge for a passenger or cargomeans a change of aircraft without the change offlight number).

••••• India ranks 8 among 27 most powerful nationsin world

The study, conducted by the New Delhi-basedFoundation for National Security Research(FSNR)have placed India at the eighth position among agroup of 27 most powerful countries in the world.

It has judged "national power" by various indices,including energy security, population, technologicalcapability etc.

The index of national power was also judged by"foreign affairs capability", which includes self-reliance in defence, membership of multilateralgroupings, and role in global rule-making and soft


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power. Interestingly, though China comes out as thesecond most powerful nation in the world after theUS, Chinese foreign affairs' capability is comparableto India's, even though in terms of total power NewDelhi comes way below Beijing.

The Group of Experts evolved a criterionconsisting of the following elements for the selectionof countries which could be regarded as actually orpotentially the most powerful: (i) Population above50 million; (ii) GDP above US$ 500 billion; and (iii)defence expenditure above US$ 5 billion.

The US is by far the world's most powerfulnation, several notches ahead of its nearestcompetitor, China. The study observes, "China isstill much lower than the US in energy security,technological capability and foreign affairs capability.Even in economic and military fields, the indexedvalue of China's capabilities is much lower than thatof US. Therefore, any notion that China will pose athreat to the supremacy of the US in the near futurehas to be tempered with caution."

According to the study, "India's economiccapability stands at the eighth position and militarycapability at the seventh position. In technologicalcapability, it ranks low, at the 17th position, and inenergy security still lower at 20th position." Despiteboasting a formidable array of foreign policy experts,the study found that in foreign affairs capability,India holds the 11th position and has a long way togo "(to) be able to discharge responsibilitiescommensurate with its large size and geopoliticalimportance."

India ranks very low in "military equipment,power projection, cyber and space security, as wellas in its capability pertaining to doctrinal issues.Again, with regard to technological capability,particularly in the area of control over criticaltechnology, India ranks extremely low."

The study gives India high marks for populationcapabilities, but does not specify that the nation'sso-called "demographic dividend" could turn out tobe a liability if India does not invest in its people. Inthe "manpower index" China scores much higherthan India - 100 to India's 87.5 - while on theequipment index, India scores a pathetic 50. Chinascores a full 100 on being able to create an educatedlabour force, while India stands at 16. Certainly bythis measure, India's position as one of the morepowerful countries can be contested.

On deterrence and power projection, Chinascores 75, while India stands way behind at 60. Chinaalso invests a lot more than India on "strategic and

doctrinal orientation", lending credence to thegeneral criticism against India for a lack of strategicculture.

••••• India's Foreign Minister attends conference onsecurity and cooperation in Kazakhstan

India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshidattended the Third Ministerial Conference on theIstanbul Process on regional security and cooperationand met Kazakhstan President, NursultanNazarbayev.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev invitedIndia to integrate into this region's politics of oil,gas and communication links. These ideas areenjoying resurgence with plans to roll back westernmilitary presence in Afghanistan and Iran planningto let its territory become a transport corridor tolandlocked Central Asian countries such asKazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

During the meet India and Kazakhstan discussedthe concept of an ambitious pipeline that wouldbring hydrocarbons to the country via severalcountries. The two sides had first broached thesubject during Kazakh Foreign Minister ErlanIdrissov's India visit last month. The 1,500 km-longpipeline was described by Mr. Idrissov as a"philosophical concept" will be longer than TAPIwhich will serve as the role model.

The Kazakh pipeline, proposed by India, willoriginate from the former Silk Road caravanseraicity of Shymkent, an oil refining hub, and head intoUzbekistan. From there it will snake its way toAfghanistan and then follow the route to be takenby TAPI pipeline into India.

This pipeline will, like TAPI, be on a north-southaxis, providing a new route to South Asia forhydrocarbons extracted from Central Asia.

During his 48 hours stay here, Mr. Khurshid hasalso interacted with the U.S., Kazakhstan,Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Swedish, Latvia and theUnited Kingdom, all with different perspectives onthe shape of geopolitics in the region and bound bythe common desire to improve on the existing buttenuous connections in energy, trade, security andtransportation links.

Though the focus during his first engagement(along with Prime Minister's Special Envoy onAfghanistan Satinder Lamba) with U.S. DeputyAssistant Secretary of State William Burns was onAfghanistan, the interaction provided a snapshot ofthe work-in-progress to develop communicationlinks with South Asia.


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Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are planning toinaugurate a new rail link in mid-May, which inturn will be linked to Afghanistan's rail system.Turkmenistan is also developing a link toAfghanistan and then through Afghanistan toTajikistan. There is also progress in projects such asthe Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India GasPipeline. Parallel to this is the North-South Corridorproject being backed mainly by Russia, India andIran for supplementary links that from New Delhi'sperspective will bypass Pakistan and parts ofAfghanistan.

The 'Heart of Asia' meeting is the thirdministerial-level meeting of the Istanbul Process andaround 14 countries in the neighbourhood and 16others participated in the conference.

••••• India's requests for Web censorship increase

The seventh transparency report of Googleaccounts for a 90 per cent rise. Further the Indiangovernment nearly doubled its requests to Googlefor removal of content in the second half of 2012 ascompared to the first six months.

The report noted that governments around theworld are seeking censorship on the Web more thanever before. Between July and December 2012,Google had received more than 2,285 governmentrequests to delete 24,149 pieces of information. Inthe first half of 2012, Google received 1,811 requeststo remove 18,070 pieces of information.

The number of requests in the second half of2012 went up by over 90 per cent compared to thefirst half of the year.

The Indian government was among 20 countriesto request for the removal of the controversial filmInnocence of Muslims from YouTube. (The videothough listed is not available for streaming in India).

Google also revealed that during the "period ofdisturbance in the North-East region" last year, itreceived five requests from the Computer EmergencyResponse Team to remove content from Google+, aBlogger post, 64 YouTube videos, and 1,759comments associated with some YouTube videos,that cited laws covering disruption of public orderand ethnic offence laws.

Google did not comply with all the requests itreceived.

The report noted that there was also a spike inrequests from the Brazilian and the Russiangovernments. In Brazil, the requests coincided withthe municipal elections where the government notedthat several contents had to be removed becausethey were violating the electoral code. In Russia, therequests for removal of content followed theenactment of a new Internet blacklist law thatallowed authorities to take down content withouttrial.

••••• India-Saudi Arabia Joint Group to ResolveLabour Issues

India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to set up ajoint working group to address "all immediateproblems" facing the Indian community includingissues related to overstaying Indian workers and theKingdom's new labour policy. The two sides agreedthat the first meeting of this joint group will held onMay 1. The visit is aimed at exchanging views withthe Saudi leadership on the welfare of the Indiancommunity in the context of its Nitaqat programme.The visit also aimed at briefing the Indiancommunity in Saudi Arabia on the specific stepsthat the Indian government has taken for therehabilitation of the returning Indians andaddressing their concern in this regard.

The Saudi government was implementing theNitaqat law to cut unemployment in the country.The 'Nitaqat' law makes it mandatory for localcompanies to hire one Saudi national for every 10migrant workers. There has been widespreadperception that the new policy will lead to denial ofjob opportunities for a large number of Indiansworking there.

The India-Saudi Arabia Joint Working Group onLabour has been constituted to discuss the MoUand other related issues. Both India and SaudiArabia would work closely to make the process ofrecruitment of workers more transparent which isin the interest of both the workers and theemployers.

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••••• Toxins leading to genital abnormality innewborns

A medical study conducted among 1,000 childrenborn in a Navi Mumbai hospital could be anindicator of the growing effect of environmentaltoxins on the human reproductive system. The studyshowed there is a growing incidence of genitalabnormality among boys possibly because of theincreasing exposure to endocrine disruptorchemicals. Known as phthalates and bisphenol-A,these chemicals are used in plastic bottles, foodwraps, cosmetics, toys, etc. Experts say chemicals inpesticides, painkillers and cigarettes too can disruptthe hormone system.

The study was conducted by Dr Arbinder Singal,a paediatric urologist with MGM Hospital in Vashi.His team checked 1,154 children on first or secondday of birth for genital abnormalities, but 1,148 wereincluded in the study.

An increase in incidence of male reproductivedisorders has been noted all over the world. Suchdisorders are thought to be the result of chemicalexposure that interfere with the sex hormones duringdevelopment and sex differentiation which happensduring 8 to 12 weeks of foetal development.

In 70% of the cases, testes descend within thefirst few months of life. But what is worrying is that30% will need surgical correction. An extrapolationof the result suggests that about 7 lakh babies wouldbe born in India with undescended testes. Even ifthere is natural correction in 70% of the children by6 months of age, there would still be 2.1 lakh babiesevery year who will need surgery in India. If thiscondition is not treated, it could lead to fertilityproblems, torsion and cancer formation.

••••• Indigenous GSLV to be moved to Sriharikotaby May 15

Ahead of its crucial and long-awaited launch inJuly or August, fully indigenous satellite launchvehicle GSLV-D5 is being readied to be shifted tothe Sriharikota launch port by May 15, according toIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)Chairman K. Radhakrishnan.

GSLV-D5, powered by indigenous cryogenicupper stage, is being given final touches at theMahendragiri centre in Tamil Nadu.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

GSLV-F06, launched in December 2010 andpowered by a Russian cryogenic stage engine, failed.Before that, the GSLV-D3, flown with a home-growncryogenic stage engine, also failed in April 2010.

Since then, ISRO has made many modificationsand corrections in the engine. It has conducted 35ground tests and a simulated high-altitude test tillas recently as March.

An Indian GSLV that can lift communicationsatellites weighing up to two tonnes into orbit isbadly needed to keep up the satellite capacity fordifferent users and the country's self-reliance inlaunching its own communication satellites.

After a review next week, the spacecraft wouldbe moved to Sriharikota. This would be followed bylaunch of meteorology satellite INSAT-3D andadvanced communication spacecraft GSAT-7 - fromKourou, French Guiana.

••••• NASA launches smartphone satellites

NASA has successfully launched threesmartphones into space by the maiden flight ofOrbital Science Corporation's Antares rocket fromNASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia tosnap images of Earth. The handsets may prove to bethe lowest-cost satellites ever flown into space.NASA engineers has kept the total cost of thecomponents for the three prototype satellites in thePhoneSat project between USD 3,500 and USD 7,000by using primarily commercial hardware andkeeping the design and mission objectives to aminimum.

Each smartphone is housed in a standard cubesatstructure, measuring about 4 inches square. Thesmartphone acts as the satellite's onboard computer.Its sensors are used for attitude determination andits camera for Earth observation.

The goal of NASA's PhoneSat mission is todetermine whether a consumer-grade smartphonecan be used as the main flight avionics of a capable,yet very inexpensive, satellite.

Transmissions from all three PhoneSats havebeen received at multiple ground stations on Earth,indicating they are operating normally. The PhoneSat


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team at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field,California, will continue to monitor the satellites inthe coming days. The satellites are expected toremain in orbit for as long as two weeks.

Satellites consisting mainly of the smartphoneswill send information about their health via radioback to Earth in an effort to demonstrate they canwork as satellites in space. The spacecraft also willattempt to take pictures of Earth using their cameras.

Amateur radio operators around the world canparticipate in the mission by monitoringtransmissions and retrieving image data from thethree satellites. NASA's off-the-shelf PhoneSatsalready have many of the systems needed for asatellite, including fast processors, versatile operatingsystems, multiple miniature sensors, high-resolutioncameras, GPS receivers and several radios.

The hardware for this mission is the Google-HTC Nexus One smartphone running the Androidoperating system. NASA added items a satelliteneeds that the smartphones do not have - a larger,external lithium-ion battery bank and a morepowerful radio for messages it sends from space.The smartphone's ability to send and receive callsand text messages has been disabled.

••••• Scientists want Higgs boson to be renamed

Some leading scientists want the elusive Godparticle, called Higgs boson after its discoverer PeterHiggs, to be renamed to also credit the otherresearchers involved in its discovery.

Scientists argue that Higgs, the genial butreclusive Edinburgh University physicist whopredicted the existence of the 'God particle' in a 1964paper, was just one of six researchers involved. Theothers should also be credited. A variety of nameshave been suggested as replacements.

One is to call it the Brout-Englert-Higgs, or BEH,particle, to reflect the roles of Belgian physicistsRobert Brout and Francois Englert, whose paper onthe topic came out just before that of Higgs. Anotheris to rename it the BEHGHK (pronounced Berk)particle, with the extra letters representing GeraldGuralnik, Carl Hagen and Tom Kibble, based atImperial College London, whose joint paper followedHiggs's by a few weeks.

The debate has raised tensions within the physicscommunity. Last month, at a conference organisedby The European Organisation for Nuclear Research(Cern), speakers were told not to use that name butrefer to the BEH boson. The programme for themeeting in France also referred to it as the SM Scalarboson.

••••• New wild banana species found

A team of researchers from the University ofCalicut has reported the discovery of a newsubspecies of wild banana that could be developedas an ornamental plant for tropical gardens.

The plant Musa velutina subsp. markkuana wasdiscovered from the forests of Arunachal Pradeshand is characterised by smooth skinned fruits, purplepseudostems, erect maroon-coloured inflorescenceand pink fruit. It has been named after MarkkuHakkinen, an international expert on wild banana,attached to the Finnish Museum of Natural History,University of Helsinki, Finland.

The plant grows in the forests as undergrowthin marshy areas. The plant could be promoted as anornamental variety. It also held commercial valuefor the cut flower industry.

Further the plant could be crossed with otherspecies to improve the ornamental value. The seed-producing nature of the tropical species made it easyto propagate.


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2 - MARKERS••••• ICGS Rajdoot Commissioned in Kolkata

Indian Coast Guard Ship 'Rajdoot', designed andbuilt by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers,Kolkata was commissioned at Kolkata.

The fifty-mtr 'Rajdoot', the sixth in the series ofeight Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPVs) displaces 300 tonsand can achieve a maximum speed of 34 Knots. It iscapable of undertaking multifarious tasks such assurveillance, interdiction, search and rescue andmedical evacuation. The ship is fitted with state-of-the art communication and navigation equipmentlike Integrated Bridge Management System and 30mm CRN-91 gun as main armament.

ICGS "Rajdoot", literally meaning"RoyalMessenger" will be based at New Mangalore underCoast Guard Region (West). The ship will enhancethe Indian Coast Guard's capability to undertakeoperations to further Maritime and Coastal Securityon the Western Seaboard.

••••• Best Performing States and PanchayatsAwarded

On the occasion of the National Panchayati RajDay, "Panchayat Empowerment and AccountabilityIncentive Scheme" (PEAIS) and "Rashtriya GauravGram Sabha Puraskar" (RGGSP)) were conferredupon the best performing States and Panchayats.

18 top ranking Gram Panchayats were awardedwith "Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purskar. 193Panchayats were also received awards for bestperformance.

The Panchayat Strengthening Index Awards (PSI)were given to States this year. Under the CumulativePSI Awards 1st Prize is won by Maharashtra, while2nd Prize is bagged by Karnataka, 3rd Prize Keralaand 4th Prize Tripura.

Under the Incremental PSI Awards 1st Prize iswon by Karnataka, 2nd Prize Rajasthan, 3rd PrizeMaharashtra and 4th Prize is won by Odisha. Theprize money for "Rashtriya Gaurav Gram SabhaPuraskar" award is Rs. 10 lakhs. The Award moneywill be utilized by the Panchayats for publicpurposes such as augmentation of civic services likeprimary education, primary health care, safe

drinking water, public utilities; provision ruralinfrastructure in the Panchayat jurisdiction.

••••• India gets first English lifestyle magazine inBraille

India's first lifestyle magazine in English 'WhitePrint', will have sections on food, travel, gadgetry,even politics-everything that sighted people take forgranted in the multiple publications that serve them.Where other periodicals have book reviews, this onewill review audio books instead.

The monthly will be printed at the Braille pressof the National Association for Blind (NAB) in Worlias NAB has software to translate English into Braille.

••••• Singer Shamshad Begum passes away

Shamshad Begum was one of the first playbacksingers in the Hindi film industry. She had adistinctive voice and was a versatile artist, singingover 6000 songs in Hindi and the Bengali, Marathi,Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi languages.

••••• Horacio Cartes (56) won Paraguay's presidentialrace

A powerful businessman accused of drugtrafficking and cigarette smuggling was electedParaguay's new president. Horacio Cartes (56) wasdeclared winner after taking almost 46 per cent ofthe poll, beating the ruling Liberal Party candidateby 10 points. The victory marks the return to powerof the populist Colorado Party, which ruled the poorlandlocked country for six decades before beingdefeated by former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugoin 2008 elections.

Paraguay, population 6.5 million and with 40percent of the population living in poverty, isplagued by drug trafficking, smuggling and piratingof copyrighted materials like music and movies.

••••• Justice J.S. Verma

Justice J.S. Verma was the 27th Chief Justice ofIndia, holding the position from March 25, 1997, untilhis retirement on January 18, 1998. Thereafter, heremained the chairman of National Human RightsCommission, from 1999 to 2003, and became the faceof judicial activism in India.


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••••• Ajay Devgn, Runa Laila Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: new SAARC ambassadors for HIV/AIDS

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, Bangladeshisinger Runa Laila and Oscar-winning Pakistanifilmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy have beennamed as SAARC Goodwill Ambassadors for HIV/AIDS.

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The selections were based on criteria of regionalstature and eminence; appeal to the target audience;relevance in delivery of message; likely commitmentof the candidate and innovative ways that could beutilised in promoting advocacy and awareness incombating HIV/AIDS.

The SAARC goodwill ambassador for HIV/AIDS programme was commenced in January 2009with actress Shabana Azmi as its first mascot.


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EDITORIALS••••• Can legal measures root out chit fund frauds?

YESChit funds, one of India's oldest indigenous

financial institutions, are regulated by the Chit FundsAct, 1982, a central statute, and various State-specificregulations. Further, the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) regulates the operation of'collective investment schemes' (CollectiveInvestment Schemes) through the SEBI 1999Regulations (CIS Regulations). However, Section 11AA of the Securities and Exchange Board of IndiaAct, 1992 specifically excludes a chit fund business(as defined under Section 2 (d) of the above ChitFund Act) from the purview of the CIS Regulations.

The chit fund scheme, floated by the WestBengal-based Saradha Group, has been in the newsrecently for allegedly mopping up close to Rs 1,200crore through its bogus operations, duping gullibleinvestors. SEBI, on April 23, issued an order againstSaradha Realty India Ltd. directing the latter and itsManaging Director, Sudipta Sen, to wind up thecollective investment schemes, refund the moneycollected by it under the schemes with returns whichare due to the investors, and submit a winding-upand repayment report to SEBI in accordance withthe CIS regulations.

However, as chit funds do not form part ofcollective investment schemes, SEBI cannotsystematically regulate such activities in accordancewith the CIS Regulations.

In the present case, we can reasonably concludethat Saradha Group ran a 'collective investmentscheme' in the guise of a chit fund to circumvent themore stringent CIS Regulations.

The order examines and concludes that the'activities of the noticee' company fall within theambit of 'collective investment schemes' and as suchthe scheme must mandatorily comply (includingobtaining requisite registration) with the terms ofthe CIS Regulations.

The present case drives home the point that whilewe have a robust legal and regulatory machineryfor administering CIS or, for that matter, chit funds,we must ensure that the powers given to appropriateauthorities have the necessary 'bite' to ensureenforcement and prosecution under applicable laws.

There also appears to be a need to bring suchschemes under one principal regulator that willoversee all cases where pooling of money is involvedand investments are being made.

From time to time, the financial world has beenrocked by stings involving multi-level marketingcompanies, art funds, time-sharing schemes and,maybe one day, a Bernard Madoff-inspired Ponzischeme.

Such schemes will not always come under theexpress domain of any regulatory authority orstatute. Given the popularity of such money-makingschemes, our legal framework must keep pace withsuch hybrid investment arrangements and methodsof raising funds from the public.

NO

There can be no denying the need for a legalframework to ensure that the likes of Saradha donot take the entire financial system for a ride. Butthat said, there will always be greedy investors,willing to be taken in by the tall promises ofunscrupulous operators. The latter's task is madeeasier by loopholes in the law.

Hence, Ponzi operators used the legal loopholesgoverning investments in time shares, gold or bulliondeposits, and, to an extent, even commodity trading.They were able to outwit the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) by running unauthorisedcollective investment schemes. To sidestep SEBI, theyused the complex judicial procedures to their benefit,getting stay orders whenever it suited them.

These loopholes certainly need to be plugged.But would that rule out future scams? Now, for somesobering truths. First, there is no escaping the factthat the regulatory mechanism is up against a largecash economy. A money trail, therefore, becomeshard to establish. Ponzi scheme operators,encouraging transactions in cash, use this fact totheir advantage.

Second, the poor penetration of the authorisedfinancial services sector and low bankability of largesections of people open the doors to unscrupulousoperators.

But the bigger concern lies somewhere else: Lackof will to implement existing provisions in the law.


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A close scrutiny of the Saradha Group fiasco wouldsuggest that the culprits could have been brought tobook even within the existing framework. The group,operating through 160 companies, became ahousehold name in West Bengal in just a couple ofyears.

Saradha's rise was, in fact, more marked since2010, when, ironically, both the economic offenceswing of the then Left Front government in WestBengal and the capital market regulator expressedmisgivings about its source of funds. In the nexttwo years, Saradha pumped money into the media,a high cost sector that takes a long time to generatereturns.

It splurged money on advertisements and insponsoring events, including those organised by theWest Bengal Government. It even acquired a loss-making two-wheeler factory with a Rs 180-crore bankloan. The automobile factory has not produced asingle two-wheeler. The loan amount turned bad asearly as in 2011.

In the two years since 2010, its disclosures withregulatory authorities did not match the high spends.There were discrepancies in the income-tax filingstoo.

Isn't all this enough for Saradha to be bookedunder the existing laws? This only goes to showthat the best laws can fall by the wayside in theabsence of political will to implement them. Thatpolitical personages lend legitimacy to dubiousactivities only makes implementation of the law thatmuch more difficult.

Source: Business Line

••••• Three nations & the Ganga

A TRIPARTITE agreement between India, Nepaland Bangladesh has been announced in the last fewdays, aiming at joint exploitation of the hydropowerpotential of the Ganga, with the three countriesexpressing readiness to cooperate with each otherin developing and financing projects in the watersthey share between them. India has already set upa working group to act together with counterpartbodies in the other two countries, and an elaboratestructure of experts and officials is to be established,with the respective ministers at the top, to identifythe goals and procedures to be adopted by the newinter-governmental body. Important objectivesinclude augmentation of water and power supplies,and their equitable distribution.

This tripartite initiative represents a significantnew development in an area that has been plagued

with suspicion and disagreement. Historically, Indiahas always sought to deal with its neighboursbilaterally rather than in a multilateral forum likethat now established. From the point of view of thesmaller countries on India's periphery, bilateralismcan look like a means of denying a collective effortby them to push India towards a softer line onmatters of interest to them, such as a more liberaltransit regime across Indian territory. For India, thereare security considerations to deal with as well asthe perpetual apprehension that smaller countriesmay group together to embarrass it internationally.These are long-standing problems that haveovershadowed the benefits that would flow fromthe agreement now concluded, but until now therewere many inhibitions to prevent closer cooperation.This was not for want of trying.

At one stage, when the sharing of the Gangawaters at Farakka had become a major South Asianissue, Bangladesh had pressed India to bring Nepalinto the process, with the aim of building storagesin that country to stabilise lean season flows in thegreat river. Rajiv Gandhi in the course of a meetingwith Bangladesh leaders had even shown inclinationto look favourably at the idea, to the discomfiture ofhis officials. But in the end it came to nothing, notleast because Nepal demurred at the building ofstorages on its territory for the primary benefit ofthird parties. On another occasion, there was aregional meeting under the auspices of SAARC tolook at the augmentation issue, which broughttogether Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, togetherwith India, at a conference in Kathmandu ~ this,too, reached nowhere, in this case because othermembers of SAARC were loath to see a smallergroup of its members become a functional body thatwas not explicitly under the close direction of theentire membership.

Yet, despite the problems, various collective stepswere taken in pursuit of common regional causes.In 1996 the dispute over the sharing of the Gangawaters at Farakka was finally settled; this hadendured for over half a century and at times hadseemed virtually impossible to resolve. India alsoreached agreement with Nepal on the sharedexploitation of the Mahakali river, which marks theborder between them. These were both bilateralarrangements, in line with India's establishedapproach, and had a salutary impact on India'srelations with Bangladesh and Nepal respectively,though the treaty on the Mahakali has remainedonly on paper.


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Perhaps the most striking success is to be seenin the many India-Bhutan arrangements for powergeneration, as a result of which both countries havegreatly benefited, and the latter has gained access tovery substantial resources that are transforming itseconomic and social development. In addition tothese, there are several other useful agreements forcooperation in water and power, though they havenot embodied the kind of conceptual change nowpromised under the new agreement.

This agreement comes at a time when concernsabout the environment and the river flows in SouthAsia are on the increase. This is especially so inPakistan where the water stress seems to be mostmarked, and while the situation in that country isnot affected by the implications of the recent India-Bangladesh-Nepal agreement, there may be lessonsto be shared among all the countries of the region.One of the new concerns within the region is toevaluate the impact of cascading run-of-the-riverschemes along the length of a single river. Underthe authorisation of the Indus Waters Treaty, Indiais planning some such structures on the westernrivers of the Punjab in their upper reaches as theyflow through Kashmir. Legal sanction apart, thereis growing realisation that river management worksshould take due account of ecological factors, so thatflows are maintained at a level that does notadversely affect the life of the river itself. Thesecomplex technical matters are the domain of theexpert but they now come up more frequently ininternational negotiations on environmental issues.For India, there is a new edge to the discourse owingto the recent revelations about Chinese plans toconstruct more than one hydropower scheme on theupper reaches of the Brahmaputra.

The official briefing on the tripartite agreementmakes a mention of a coordinated approach by India,Bangladesh and Bhutan to obtain optimum benefitfrom the Brahmaputra basin. This is indeedsomething innovative, for while sporadic efforts havebeen made for collaborative exploitation in theGanga basin, nothing of this sort has been mootedfor the Brahmaputra. It could thus represent animportant step towards an integrated approach tothe Himalayan waters that sustain life in South Asia.

For the immediate, the attention of theparticipating governments will no doubt be directedprincipally towards the Ganga basin where the majorpopulation centres are to be found. It is also a regionof poverty where lack of sufficient cooperationbetween the riparian states has inhibited growth andprogress. The hydropower potential is sufficient to

transform the area but even the agreements that havebeen achieved after hard effort, like that relating tothe Mahakali, have languished in the absence ofsustained political commitment. Nor has it beenpossible to make progress on some projects thatcannot be undertaken except on a multilateral basis,such as the damming of the Kosi in Nepal ~ Indianengineers have long looked for means to tame theKosi, 'Bihar's sorrow', which is subject to devastatingfloods that cannot be controlled without upstreamstorages in Nepal. If such joint projects can comeinto being, they may bring with them more flexiblearrangements for the regional trade in electric power,which is what the producers seek. These are onlysome of the many potential benefits that can flowfrom the removal of the bilateral straitjacket on waterand power, and the newly announced agreementmerits welcome for removing conceptual barriersand thereby opening the way to concerted utilisationof the area's most important natural resources.

Source: The Statesman

••••• Land acquisition Bill will work for industry,farmers if leases are preferred over acquisitions

Many fear that the proposed land acquisitionBill will greatly harm economic progress throughskyrocketing land prices, rewarding speculatorswhile eroding India's global competitiveness.Fortunately, the government has now accepted anopposition suggestion to make long land leases analternative to outright acquisition. This is a hugeimprovement, and must become the preferred route.

The Bill aims to ensure "fair" compensation tofarmers. Land prices are typically understated in saledeeds to evade stamp duty. Most state governmentsfix a minimum price for each area to limitundervaluation, but actual prices often exceed thisminimum.

In the past, the local collector typically fixed theacquisition price at 30% above what he judged wasthe market rate. Farmers complained that this wasoften less than the true market rate. Besides, landprices typically shot up after acquisition anddevelopment, and farmers wanted part of theappreciation that accrued with development. To meetthese grievances, the new Bill provides forcompensation at double the market price in urbanareas and four times the price in rural areas.

However, this threatens to convert a problem ofundervaluation into gross overvaluation. Already,every politician and rural grandee is into landspeculation in a big way, getting insider knowledgeof future projects and then buying up all the land in


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the proposed development area. So, land prices oftenshoot up well before acquisition. Paying four timesthis already inflated price will be crazy.

To reduce speculative purchases, the new Billproposes that in the case of recent purchases, halfthe appreciation on acquisition will go to the originalowner. This will help at the margin. But it won'treverse prices already at stratospheric levels that bearno relationship to the land's productive value. Landthat rents for 30,000 per acre in Punjab is being soldor acquired for 50 lakh to 1 crore per acre,representing an annual rental return of a pathetic0.6% to 0.3%. That is a measure of how ridiculouslyinflated land prices have become, thanks to rampantspeculation.

UNREALISTIC LAND PRICES

The multiple-payment principle of the Billpromises to reward speculation even more, furtherinflating land prices. In Punjab, for instance, landacquisition has already been done at Rs 1 crore peracre. If the government now has to pay Rs 4 croreper acre for future acquisitions, this will becometotally unaffordable by any industry.

India today suffers from a record current accountdeficit, reflecting a loss of competitiveness. Insteadof restoring the old competitive edge, high costs ofland acquisition will permanently blunt that edge.There is no earthly reason why land in India shouldbe far more costly than in competing neighbourslike Thailand or Indonesia, which have a higher per-capita income than India.

Besides, it has commonly been observed thatwhen farmers get a large lump sum for their acquiredland, they often blow it up in conspicuousconsumption, and can soon be left with almostnothing. Having already lost their main asset andlivelihood, this puts them in a sorry state. Only afew invest their money wisely in other assets andinvestments yielding a regular income.

Finally, owning land in rural areas bestows socialstatus on the owner. The landless have no status. Afarmer whose land is acquired loses not just his landbut also status (save for the few who buy land withcompensation money). This is an important reasonfor resistance to acquisition.

LANDLESS TO RICH LANDLORD

Compulsory leasing, instead of acquisition, willsolve most of these problems. The farmer will get alump sum upfront, followed by steady rental incomein years to follow, ensuring he does not blow up hiscash gains. Instead of becoming landless, he will bea landlord, and the company that leases his plot

will become his tenant. Having Tata or Ambani ashis tenant will bestow status on a farmer, whereasoutright acquisition will reduce his status to that ofthe landless.

We need to create a new climate in which farmersare stakeholders in industrialisation. This cannot beachieved by acquisition, but through long leases for,say, 30 years, renewable on mutually-agreed terms.

CHEAPER LAND FOR INDUSTRY

A farmer who has leased his land to industrystill owns it, can sell it and can bequeath it. Heremains a man of property, and richer than before.He or his children will get another lump sum andhigher rent after 30 years. If the rent is fixed at, say,double the typical farm income, this should bewelcome to the farmer.

In the bargain, this will make land much moreaffordable to industry, improving its globalcompetitiveness. Companies will not have to makelarge upfront payments for land, paying just areasonable rent. They will happily renegotiate leasesevery 30 years. It will be a win-win situation.

Whatever legislation may emerge from NewDelhi, the states will ultimately decide how toimplement it. They need to enact their ownlegislation facilitating long leases, and then gowholesale for the lease option.

Source: Economic Times

••••• SOCIAL DISTORTIONS MUST BE TACKLED

Commoditification of women as objects ofpleasure and commercialisation of the female bodyin the media, facilitate heinous crimes such as rapes

It is hardly surprising that the demonstrationsconvulsing Delhi over the rape of a five-year-oldchild a few days ago have targeted Delhi Police; thelatter is directly responsible for preventing anddetecting crime and successfully prosecutingcriminals. Anger against it for the alarming rise inthe incidence of rape in the most savage form in thenational capital, is all the more understandablebecause one had expected the police to become morealert and serious in responding to crimes againstwomen following last December's gang rape of ayoung woman and the explosion of public fury thatfollowed. Its utterly callous reaction to the child'srape and the vicious slapping of a young womanprotester by a uniformed officer, suggests thatnothing of the sort has happened.

A police force, however, is one of the severalagents, albeit a very important one, active in acountry's criminal landscape. While good policing


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has a critical deterrent role in crime prevention, socialand cultural conditions which conduce to criminalityin individuals also constitute a vital factor. It is timethat people both in Government and the civil societygave serious thought to the matter, bearing in mindthat no uniform causative pattern can hold good foran extremely diverse country like India. In the caseof rape, the causes accounting for it are often verydifferent in rural and urban areas.

In urban areas, an important source of crime,including rape, are the increasingly large floatingpopulations of rural migrants in search of livelihood.This is because the fear of familial and societaldisapprobation that inhibit delinquent behaviour invillages is often absent in urban areas. Even when amigrant becomes a part of a group from his ownarea, members of the latter are often too preoccupiedwith their own very considerable problems of copingwith life's many challenges to keep an eye on newarrivals. Often, older migrants themselves havesuccumbed to the temptations that urban life offersand to which they, sans the restraining factors athome, are vulnerable. In such cases, they initiatenew arrivals into less inhibited city life and evencrime where they themselves are involved in it.

In the cases of migrants, anonymity is animportant contributing factor to crime. The chancesof being identified while committing a crime arerelatively fewer in the city where they are notrecognised in most parts of its vast sprawl, than intheir villages where they are known by their facesand names. The realisation emboldens some people.Besides, there are the questions of recognition andidentity.

By instinct humans are gregarious, seekrelationships with others and abhor loneliness. Anidentity not only gives one a sense of worth but itis also the basis of recognition which, in turn, is thestarting point of relationships. Unfulfilled desire forhuman relationships and recognition can sometimeslead to sub-conscious efforts to extract recognitionin the form of violent criminal action and theephemeral sado-masochistic relationship itestablishes with the victims. Rape is one of the mostsavage forms of sadistic domination.

The commoditification of women as objects ofpleasure and the commercialisation of female bodyin advertisements, films and television serials,facilitate rape. It is robbery of a woman's inviolabilityas an individual human being. In the sense of itsbeing the most horrific form of robbery, rape is anextension of robbery whose incidence, along withthat of theft, has been constantly rising with the

growth of advertising, the cutting edge of the marketeconomy, which not only stokes the desire forpossession and consumption but makes bothmeasures of a person's worth.

One must, therefore, give a cold, hard look atthe forms of entertainment flooding big and smallscreens and of advertisements flooding media. Theargument that any curb would be contrary to thenorms of sexual and creative freedom will not wash.Sexual freedom and commercial exploitation of sexare totally different things. The former is essentiallya question of choice within the ambit of personalmorality and consensual relationships. If anything,mass commercialisation of sex distorts the socialcontext in the midst of which that choice is exercised.

Source: The Pioneer

••••• Succumbing to the bogey of fear

In the Bhullar case, the Supreme Court hascreated a category of 'terrorists' among thosesentenced to death without providing aconstitutional basis for it

Writing on extra-judicial killings in the Economicand Political Weekly in March 1996, K.G. Kannabirannarrated a very interesting anecdote from hisexperience on the Civil Rights Committee appointedby Jayaprakash Narayan to investigate fakeencounters orchestrated during the Emergencyagainst naxalites. While interacting with people inGiraypalli village (where some of the killings hadtaken place), Kannabiran suggested to them that thekilling of four naxalites by the police was perhapsjustified by the fact that the naxalites had killed alocal moneylender. Kannabiran recollected an"undernourished, half-naked shepherd" replying,"sir, what are the courts there for?"

Kannabiran contrasted the nuanced response ofthe shepherd to a question posed by four youngadvocates in the Bar Association at the AndhraPradesh High Court the very same day. In responseto their question why naxalites should be given theprotection of the very Constitution whose legitimacythey deny, Kannabiran's reply was "their parentshad wasted hard-earned money on educating them."

Not Nuanced

Unfortunately, the argument of the four youngadvocates also lies at the heart of the decision by atwo-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in DevenderPal Singh Bhullar v. State of N.C.T of Delhi. TheSupreme Court in Bhullar was asked to decidewhether a delay in deciding a mercy petition underArticles 72 or 161 of the Constitution would, by itself,


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be a sufficient ground for commuting a sentence ofdeath to life imprisonment. There were many waysin which the Court could have decided that centralquestion but what is on display in its judgment iscertainly not a rigorous and nuanced constitutionalreasoning. In paragraph 40 of the judgment the Courtholds the jurisprudence developed by earlier judicialdecisions, that undue delay could be one of thefactors that leads to commutation, to be inapplicablefor those sentenced to death under TADA andsimilar anti-terror legislation. In effect, the holdingof the Court is that undue delay in execution has noimpact on the death sentence for 'terrorists' but hasconstitutional relevance for everyone else sentencedto death. The Court sees a paradox in 'terrorists'seeking mercy under the Constitution when theyshowed no mercy themselves. The Court of courseoffers no reasons for viewing that as a paradox whileadjudicating constitutional rights or why that verysame consideration does not apply to non-terroristssentenced to death. Apart from invoking rhetoricthat is familiar to us from shallow television debates,the Supreme Court's decision in Bhullar raisessignificant constitutional concerns and is difficult toreconcile with its earlier decisions.

A belief in the values protected in the IndianConstitution is not a condition precedent to invokingthe protections contained therein. Nor is an activedenial of the legitimacy of the Constitution a groundfor denying constitutional guarantees. It is the verybasis for a rule of law society and a Constitutionwould be meaningless if it were to be otherwise. Inthat context, it is surprising that Justices Singhviand Mukhopadhaya view mercy petitions and theclaim for commutation due to delay as a paradoxwhen filed by 'terrorists.' The only reason thejudgment provides for viewing it as a paradox isthe nature of the acts committed by the 'terrorists.'In the judgment there is no critical engagement withproblematic trends in prosecutions under variousanti-terror laws and the abuse of such legislation.What seems to be in play is the rather un-nuancedassumption that all those who are sentenced to deathunder anti-terror legislation are these evil individualswho planned, plotted and executed mass murder.Even a cursory glance at the convictions under anti-terror legislation will show that the sentence of deathis imposed for far less.

The judgment invokes the imagery of terroristskilling hundreds of innocent civilians, policepersonnel and soldiers losing their lives, waging waragainst the state, using bullets, bombs and otherweapons for mass murder, demonstrating complete

lack of respect for human life and utter disregardfor the extremely tragic consequences for the kin ofthe people they kill. All of those images are true ofIndia's struggle against terrorism but none of thatjustifies the conclusion of the Supreme Court thatundue delay in execution has no constitutionalsignificance for 'terrorists' sentenced to death. TheSupreme Court does admit that undue delay inexecution is a relevant factor for commutation in allcases other than terrorism. What the judgment failsto do is show us the constitutional basis for such adistinction. For large sections of our society, acts ofterrorism might come attached with a much higherdegree of moral abhorrence than other crimes thatattract the death penalty, but the judgment providesno reason why this popular sentiment must find itsway into constitutional reasoning.

A rather obvious constitutional concern is thebasis on which the Court has drawn a distinctionwithin the category of individuals who have beensentenced to death. In reaching the conclusion thatundue delay in execution is irrelevant whileconsidering commutation of death sentences of'terrorists,' the Court had the obligation todemonstrate why 'terrorists' must be placed in aworse-off position compared to other death rowprisoners. The larger issue is the impact of the unduedelay in execution on death row prisoners as such.

The Court needed to do at least one of two thingsto establish the distinction that it has ended upmaking: i) show that the 'terrorists' on death roware not in the same category as others on death rowand by virtue of that are entitled to lesserconstitutional protection in the context of unduedelay, or ii) show that the physical and mental effectsarising from undue delay in execution impacts'terrorists' differently when compared to others ondeath row. Clearly, the Court has not chosen to gowith the second option because that is an impossibleargument to make. That argument would take usvery close to the dangerous argument that 'terroristsare not human beings' and the Court is not willingto bite that bullet. It chooses to base its reasoning onthe first option and does so without sufficientconstitutional rigour. It lacks constitutional rigourbecause the Court ends up creating a super-categoryof 'terrorist' death row prisoners within the largercategory of all death row prisoners. It is a categoryunknown to Indian constitutional law and criminaljurisprudence. Indian death penalty jurisprudenceand the judicial decisions on the effects of unduedelay on death row prisoners do not recognise anysuch different category within death row prisoners.


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All death row prisoners, irrespective of whether theyare 'terrorists' or not, are deemed to have committed'rarest of rare' crimes. And once that is established,they are subject to the same deprivation of libertiesand protection of the Constitution as everyone elseon death row.

Three cases decided by the Supreme Court beforeBhullar are relevant to the discussion on the impactof undue delay in execution for commutation. InT.V. Vatheeswaran v. State of Tamil Nadu (February1983), Justices O. Chinnappa Reddy and R.B Misraheld that a delay in execution of the death sentencebeyond two years would entitle the death rowprisoner to a commutation under Article 21.However, in March 1983, a three-judge bench of theSupreme Court in Sher Singh v. State of Punjab over-ruledVatheeswaran on the limited point that it wasnot possible to lay down a rigid time period afterwhich undue delay in execution would entitle adeath row prisoner to commutation. The judgmentin Sher Singh was clear that undue delay in executionwould continue to be one of the important factorsand along with that the Court would also look intothe nature of the offence, impact on contemporarysociety, motivation of the crime, etc., before finallydeciding the issue of commutation. A five-judgebench in Triveniben v. State of Gujarat (February1989) confirmed the ruling in Sher Singh and heldthat undue delay in execution would not, by itself,entitle a death row prisoner to commutation.

Precedent Misapplied

The judgment in Bhullar misapplies theseprecedents because the ruling in the cases is used tocome to the conclusion that undue delay in executioncannot be taken into consideration for thoseconvicted under anti-terror legislation. Thejudgments in Sher Singh and Triveniben require thatevery claim for commutation is considered in itsparticular context and within the framework of therelevant considerations. It strongly reinforces theneed for individualised consideration and certainlydoes not support the conclusion that undue delayin execution is an irrelevant factor for a certaincategory of death row prisoners. The Court foundthe two-year rule in Vatheeswaran to be problematicbecause it did not allow for individualisedconsideration and the judgment in Bhullar commitsthe same error by taking away undue delay as arelevant factor for all 'terrorists' sentenced to death.

If one were to go by what Justices Singhvi andMukhopadhaya state in the last line of paragraph40 of the judgment, this article might well be joining"the bandwagon to espouse the cause of terrorists

involved in gruesome killing and mass murder ofinnocent civilians and raise the bogey of humanrights." The extremely strong suggestion that thecause of protecting the constitutional rights of'terrorists' must not be espoused is unbecoming ofthe Supreme Court of the world's largest democracy.Irrespective of whether one subscribes to theextremely conservative opinion of the Justices onprotecting the human rights of 'terrorists', the aboveanalysis demonstrates the constitutional infirmitieswith the opinion in Bhullar.

Source: The Hindu

••••• Power of the rurban

An expanding segment of the population is votingand consuming robustly

The fast expanding grey area between India'surban and rural segments - you could call it semi-rural or rurban - is increasingly determining theshape of India's democracy as well as marketeconomy. This aspirational segment has grown fasterthan you could imagine and the people here areconsuming and voting robustly. The 2009 NationalElection Study by CSDS found that the much touted"urban voter apathy" was a misnomer in the semi-rural areas with urban characteristics. This segmentnot only recorded, on average, 10 per cent highervoting than metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,Chennai and Bangalore, it also saw higher votingthan the rural constituencies.

So the rurban voter, who is participating in adynamic market economy, is voting with a lot morepassion than seen before. The outcome of the 2014general elections will be shaped in some ways bythis growing segment. To get an idea of how thisrurban segment has grown over the past decade,one has to just see the increase in the number ofcensus towns that do not have a municipal set-upand are administered by panchayats. India'spopulation census shows that in 2001, there were alittle over 5,000 towns, of which about 1,200 werecensus towns with a rurban character. A decade later,in 2011, the total number of towns was 8,000, ofwhich 4,000 were census towns. So, 90 per cent ofthe increase in urbanisation over this decadehappened in the form of census towns underpanchayat administration. This is the mostfascinating and unique aspect of India'srurbanisation.

An extensive study of this phenomenon by theglobal investment firm, Credit Suisse, says "ameaningful part of urbanisation in India is justvillages growing larger, merging together, moving


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away from agriculture, and thus being classified astowns". These new rurban entities appear to haveevolved organically and have assumed a life of theirown. In some ways, they may approximate theGandhian notion of a highly decentralised villageeconomy. In contrast, Karl Marx had envisaged thatthe forces of capitalism would herd togetherscattered village populations into dense and optimalproduction and consumption centres. India doesn'tseem to be strictly following this pattern, witnessedin the West through the spread of 20th centurycapitalism. It may be partly because in the mid-20thcentury you could naturally build a brand new townwith half a million population just around a big steelmill that employed over 1,50,000 workers. Today,technology advances ensure that the same steel millcan be run by less than 10,000 workers. So, massivetechnology change itself could be resulting in Indianot creating more steel townships like Bhilai orBokaro, which Nehru had conceptualised.

Instead, we seem to have a growing number ofvillage clusters coming together to create viable

production and consumption units, moving awayfrom agriculture, into services and smallmanufacturing. Some economists may be temptedto dismiss this as a highly unviable and lowequilibrium economy caused by lack of policyplanning. But this is not just about pure economicsand there are deeper tendencies - social and cultural- that need to be studied before rejecting India'sgrowing "rurban" base out of hand. And mind you,the complexity of this tendency may vary from stateto state. Gujarat may have a very differentframework from Uttar Pradesh or Orissa. Gujaratmay be less complex in this regard and probablythat is what gives so much confidence to NarendraModi when he speaks of development with suchclarity. Modi, perhaps, believes that such clarity oneconomic development can be easily brought tostates like UP and Bihar. As a purely hypotheticalexercise, it might be interesting to imagine NarendraModi and Nitish Kumar switching jobs for a fullfive-year term.


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On a more serious note, rurban markets in Indiahave shown a very interesting pattern oftransformation. Village clusters begin to have urbancharacteristics when a large number of people startmoving away from agriculture. One definition ofurban is places where less than 25 per cent of thepopulation is engaged in agriculture. Anothercriterion is a minimum density of 400 persons persquare kilometre in a population of 5,000. If onegoes by these two parameters, the transition awayfrom agriculture has accelerated over the past fiveyears. According to the Credit Suisse study "the dropin male employment in agriculture over the last fiveyears is equal to the shift away over the previous 27years. Further, over 75 per cent of new factoriesduring the last decade came up in rural India,contributing to 70 per cent of new manufacturingjobs. Manufacturing in rural India is now 55 percent of India's manufacturing GDP. Growth inservices is equally robust in rural India".

Also, a decade ago, agriculture was about a halfof the rural GDP. Today it is just 25 per cent of therural GDP. This also reflects the organicrurbanisation happening in the countryside. A smallexample at the micro level might illustrate the macrotendency better. I spoke to a taxi driver, AshokKumar, who has a 3.5 acre piece of farmland nearBulandshahr in western UP. He earns about

Rs. 10,000 a month, working for the taxi service,and sends about Rs 6,000 home for his wife and twokids. He spends about Rs 900 a month on theschooling of both children, including their dailypocket money of Rs 10. Grain and vegetables largelycome from the farm. Interestingly, much of the farmactivity is outsourced. How? Ashok's youngerbrother hires a tractor and the required labour forthe sowing and harvesting. Ashok says farmers inthe nearby villages have begun to aggregate theirsmall farms to collectively outsource the hard workof sowing and harvesting through mechanisedmeans. This is the big change. Earlier, they wouldphysically do the back-breaking work and have noleisure time. Now Ashok's brother, after outsourcingthe farm work, has enough time to study at atechnical training institute. Soon, the family becomesa multiple income earning entity, instead of justdepending on agriculture. There is a new divisionof labour happening in rural India. This is what isbeing captured as the new aspiration emerging fromthe highest-voting rurban segment as framed by theCSDS national election study.

It is this class - largely made up of non-uppercastes - that will also decide how future governmentsare voted into power.

Source: Indian Express

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weekly 22 to 28 april 2013

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