February PDF

CONTENT
Title
Page No
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
03
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
21
INDIA AND WORLD
29
POLITY
37
ECONOMY
62
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
102
ENVIRONMENT
124
OTHERS
127
Editorial Board
Sivarajavel. S
Sadik. M.A
Sub - Editor
Anandhi. H
Co-ordinator
R. Senthilkumar
No. 9, Plot No. 2163,

(Behind Hot Chips)
12th Main Road, Anna Nagar West,.
Chennai-40 Tel:044-43525468/
7200010122/9176787980.
www.smartleadersias.com
SMART LEADERS IAS: FEBRUARY 1-29
LETTER TO ASPIRANTS
Mountain of Life
In The Mountain Of Life the higher you go the easier to live, the
easier to breathe and the lower you go the harder to live and the harder to
breathe.
When a child is born (He or She) is, brought into existence on a
predestined starting point in life which none but one holds the complete
control over. From starting at a point where you have two options up or
down, high or low which way would you like to go?
Everything controlled by one sustainer, one creator. The good the
bad all from one but when we are rewarded with our actions bad is our
choice it is not the eternal being to be blamed, none but our selves and
what we have caused within our own actions. We as transgressors have
forced it upon our selfs to degrade to a lower point on our own mountain
of life.
Descending down a hill with a bicycle has very little need to
peddling even kicking a ball down a hill all this with no effort. Once you
have built the momentum there can on be on way, down to the lowest
peak of the mountain.
When very hard to breathe and no oxygen from where we stand.
Some give in to more down motion. At this point in life it can only be us as
people that give up on life and give in to the altitude, which consistently
pulls us down for none at fault but us being negligent as ungrateful people.
At the lowest point of this mountain is like being at the lowest
point in life. With no persons here to support, or no tools to carry ones self.
We have been weak for so long that being weak is no more optional. The
only choice it is only to be strong. Relying on whom which we should of
from the staring point, the supreme controller of depth and altitude.
Climbing from the bottom to the top again is like learning how to
walk again. Setting goals with strength and determination and
steadfastness and knowing where all defects along the way to the top sit
upon, voiding all the mountains downgrading and faults.
Only wanting for what is better for you and everyone else around
you. Pleasing your sustainer, maker can only benefit you and everyone
around. To please He is of great reward and benefit, which we can only
see, threw the climate of our own eyes.
There is only one option that is to be strong, there is now only one
direction that is up. The reward for act goodness can only be goodness,
bringing thy self higher on the mountain to achieve ultimate success and
the pleasure of thy creator.
Regards,
ANANDHI. H
FACULTY
(SMART LEADERS IAS)
Smart Leaders IAS - Smart News
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
CHINA
China sends missiles to contested South China Sea Island
Taiwan calls on interested parties to work together to maintain peace and
stability in the region.
China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of
the disputed islands it controls in the South China Sea.
The missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island. The island is part
of the Paracels chain, under Chinese control for more than 40 year but
also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.
News of the missile deployment came as Obama and leaders of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California,
where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the region but did not
include specific mention of China's assertive pursuit of its claims in the
South China Sea.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5
trillion in global trade passes every year, and has been building runways
and other infrastructure on artificial islands to bolster its claims.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations discussed the need for
tangible steps in the South China Sea to lower tensions including a halt to
further reclamation, new construction and militarization of disputed
areas.
The United States has said it will continue conducting "freedom of
navigation patrols" by ships and aircraft to assure unimpeded passage
through the region, where Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and
Taiwan have rival claims.
Woody Island
Woody Island, also known as Yongxing Island and Phu Lam Island, is the
largest of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
It is part of the Amphitrite Island Group in the eastern Paracels.
The Chinese Qing dynasty, France, Japan, Vietnam and the Republic of
China have all established a presence on the island and other islands of
the Paracel Islands archipelago.

Woody Island has been under the control of the People's Republic of
China since 1956.
Under PRC control, it is administered by the Yongxingdao
Neighborhood Committee and is the seat of Sansha, a prefecture-level
city of Hainan province.
In June 2014, UK newspaper The Independent stated that the island had a
population of 1,443.
As part of the Paracel Islands, Woody Island is also claimed by
the Republic of China (Taiwan) and by Vietnam.
Djibouti, Myanmar, Sri Lanka anchor Silk Road
A military base in Djibouti along with major port development projects in
Myanmar and Sri Lanka are defining the contours of Chinas Maritime Silk
Road an oceanic connectivity project, of which, the Indian Ocean is the
core.
China will soon commence work on the naval base.
The Horn of Africa nation is strategically located on the junction of the
Indian Ocean and the Red Sea a gateway to the Suez Canal via the Strait of
Bab Al-Mandab.
Djibouti would become an ideal location for securing sea lanes, in the
vicinity, which radiate from this area towards Africas Indian Ocean
coastline and the Arabian Sea.
China says it is establishing naval support facilities in Djibouti, which
has the ambition of emerging as another Singapore, leveraging its position
at the intersection of busy shipping lanes.
The Chinese facility will be established at Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port a
$590 million project that is being steered by China Merchants Holdings
International in the south of the country.
The Chinese Navy would use one of the berths.
Recently Mr. Guelleh signed a deal with China to build a new free trade
zone, whose first phase would open later this year. China is also providing
the bulk of the $12.4 billion that Djibouti intends to invest by 2020.
Raising stakes in Myanmar
China has also quietly signed a deal to develop an Industrial Park and a
deep water port in Kyaukphyu in Myanmar.
The facility in the Bay of Bengal amplifies Beijings pitch to deepen its
stakes in Myanmar in order to lower its dependence on the Straits of
Malacca a strategic commercial channel, dominated by the U.S. sixth fleet.
Xinhua has reported that a consortium led by the China International
Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), a construction company, has
won the bid towards the end of last year to develop the two projects.
The deep sea enterprise includes development of 10 berths at the Maday
Island Terminal and the Yanbye Island Terminal. It will be completed in
four phases spanning a period of 20 years.
Maday Island has already emerged as a major pillar of Chinas energy
security.
Last year, a pipeline from the island transited oil sourced mainly from
West Asia and Africa to Chinas Yunnan province, thus avoiding the
Malacca trap.
The oil channel complemented the gas pipeline, which starts at
Kyaukphyu, bringing methane purchased from a proposed railway project
from Kyaukphyu to Kunming, capital of Yunnan province has been
shelved.
Colombo port city
Sri Lanka has added another dimension to Chinas Maritime Silk Road
(MSR). Chinese bloggers are pointing to improved prospects of the revival
of the stalled Colombo port city project under new conditions, and the
establishment of an SEZ in Humbantota both projects feeding into the
gradual unfolding of the ambitious MSR.
China is already steering the Gwadar to Kashgar economic corridor,
adding another node to its growing Indian Ocean profile.
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in Northeast Africa. It juts hundreds of
kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of
the Gulf of Aden.
The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred
to in ancient and medieval times as Bilad al Barbar ("Land of
the Berbers"), the Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the
countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

It covers approximately 2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi) and is inhabited
by roughly 115 million people (Ethiopia: 96.6 million, Somalia:
10.4 million, Eritrea: 6.4 million, and Djibouti: 0.81 million).
Regional studies on the Horn of Africa are carried out, among others, in
the fields of Ethiopian Studies as well as Somali Studies.
Iran in the Belt and Road loop as first train from China arrives
The first train from Chinas trading hub of Yiwu has arrived in Tehran
recently, signalling Irans firm integration in the Beijing led-Belt and Road
connectivity initiative along the New Silk Road.
The train ferrying 32 containers completed its 14-day journey, covering
over 10,399 km, after passing through the arid landscape of Kazakhstan
and Turkmenistan in Central Asia.
The train, covering 700 km a day, had demonstrated that it was possible
to substantially slash transit time for goods arriving in Iran from China.
Compared to the railway option, cargo ships, setting sail from Shangahi
take nearly 45 days to arrive at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
Analysts point out that by joining China on the railway map, Iran was
establishing solid structural linkages with Eurasia along the Silk Road
Economic Belt.
Yin Gang, a West Asia researcher the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
anticipates that Iran would become an active participant in the Belt and
Road initiative.
Iran is currently in desperate need of investment for infrastructure
construction. However, as oil prices are low now, Irans revenue in this
sector has seen sharp decrease. At the same time, China is promoting the
belt and road initiative. Iran is expected to become one of the major
participants of that initiative.
In China, there is anticipation that with the recent lifting of sanctions,
Irans energy infrastructure, including its trans-border pipeline network,
will grow a move that is likely to further deepen Tehrans strategic
linkages with Eurasia.
Iran is expected to play a crucial role in the Belt and Road as an energy
hub and access to extensive delivery routes connecting to the Middle East
and Eurasia.
During the sanctions phase, Chinas energy giants Sinopec and China
National Petroleum Corporation had provided technical support to

Iranian firms for the development of the giant South Pars gas fields and
the oil fields of Yadavaran and North Azadegan.
Chinas ongoing technical support is likely to further reduce the rail
transit time between China and Iran.
A China-led consortium has started electrifying the rail track between
Tehran and Mashaad, a major pilgrimage city.
Xis China digs into Maoist roots
A woman looks at souvenir plates bearing
images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (left)
and late leader Mao Zedong at a shop in
Beijing.
Analysts say the Chinese leadership is
working to ensure that the disruption caused
by its raging anti-corruption campaign that
has felled influential tigers is countered by steps that unite the CPC
under Xis watch.
China appears to be digging into its Maoist roots by reinforcing the
guiding principle of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in steering the
countrys economic and political transition under President Xi Jinping.
Analysts say the Chinese leadership is working on a double track to
ensure that the disruption caused by its raging anti-corruption campaign
that has felled influential tigers is countered by steps that unite the CPC
under President Xis watch.
Mr. Xi, who wears three hats, is also the General Secretary of the Central
Committee of CPC and the Chairman of the powerful Central Military
Commission (CMC).
The anti-corruption drive, following Mr. Xis arrival at the centre-stage in
late 2012, has targeted powerful figures, including Ling Jihua, a wellknown protg of former President Hu Jintao.
The axe has also fallen on Zhou Yongkang, Chinas former security Tsar, as
well as Xu Caihou, the former vice-chairman of the CMC.
Xinhua had earlier identified Mr. Zhou as the kingpin of the so-called
Petroleum clique. The network included Jiang Jiemin, a former chairman
of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, who was also
adviser to Mr. Zhou.

China muzzles tycoon for criticising media controls
Chinese authorities shut down the social media accounts of a tycoon
nicknamed The Cannon after he criticised the ruling Communist Partys
tightening grip on the media.
The Internet regulator ordered the microblogging platforms of Sina and
Tencent to shut down Mr. Rens accounts for spreading illegal
information.
Cyberspace is not a lawless field and it should not be used to spread illegal
information by anyone.
Mr. Rens accounts were closed after netizens reported that he had
regularly posted illegal information, resulting in a vile influence.
Ren, nicknamed the Cannon for his provocative opinions and blunt
defences of economic inequality, was the target of twin columns in the
state-affiliated news portal Qianlong for questioning on social media
whether public money should be spent on party propaganda.
SRI LANKA
UN commissioner calls for return of land, de-militarisation in Sri Lanka
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al
Hussein urged the Sri Lankan military to accelerate the return of land to
rightful owners and reduce its size in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
According to the Sri Lankan government, about 3,000 acres have been
returned since January 2015 and 2,329 families resettled.
The size of the military in the two Provinces could be reduced to a level
that is less intrusive and intimidating.
Mr. Hussein acknowledgement
Acknowledging that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes recent
statement that all the disappeared persons were probably dead had
created great distress among their families, Mr. Hussein said rapid
action should be taken to identify precisely who is still alive and who has
died or been killed, properly account for their deaths identify the location
of their remains, and provide redress.
He acknowledged that the Sri Lankan government had sovereign right to
take decisions on the participation of foreign judges in the proposed
judicial mechanism issues.
At the same time, he also emphasized that international participation
could guarantee an impartial and independent judicial mechanism.

PAKISTAN
Hindu Marriage Bill approved in Pakistan
After decades of delay and inaction, the Hindu minority community in
Pakistan will soon have a marriage law as a parliamentary panel has
unanimously approved the Hindu Marriage Bill.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice passed the
final draft of Hindu Marriage Bill 2015, where five Hindu lawmakers were
specially invited.
The committee adopted the bill unanimously after making two
amendments to fix the minimum age of marriage at 18 and making the
law applicable to the whole country.
The bill will now be tabled in the National Assembly where it has fair
chances of being passed as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) party is supporting it.
War of words over F-16 deal
War of words continued, Pakistan said it was surprised by Indias
response to the American decision to supply eight F-16 fighter jets to the
Pakistan Air Force.
Their army and arsenal stock is much larger and they are the largest
importer of defence equipment. As regards F-16 sale, Pakistan and the
United States closely cooperate in countering terrorism.
A U.S. spokesperson clearly announced that the sale is to enhance
precision strike capability.
Strategic commentators were quick to find fault with the statement from
the Pakistan Foreign Ministry.
India is not the largest importer of arms. India is one of the big importers.
Our weapons acquisition policy is also different from other countries and
we cannot, therefore, be slotted with others in purchasing of weapons.
U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma described the sale as part of a
legacy announcement made several years ago.
There are technical processes like the Congressional ratification. There is
a big counter-terrorism insurgency component as well. Over the years U.S.
assistance to Pakistan has been a mix of both civilian and military
equipment.

Despite threats, thousands join anti-polio drive in Pakistan
More than 100,000 health workers fanned out across Pakistan, stepping
up a drive to eliminate the polio virus this year from one of its last
bastions, despite continuing militant threats to vaccination teams.
Pakistan accounts for more than 70 per cent of the worlds cases of polio,
a virus that can cause lifelong paralysis and is now endemic in only two
countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistans polio cases are declining, with just 54 cases of wild polio virus
reported last year, down more than 80 per cent from 2014, when the
country suffered a large spike in cases.
The latest immunisation push aims to finish vaccinating every child in the
country by the end of May.
Efforts to eliminate polio in Pakistan have been complicated in recent
years, as polio workers have faced attacks by militants who say the health
teams are Western spies, or that the vaccines they administer are
intended to sterilise children.
UNITED STATES
Obama launches cyber-security action plan
President Barack Obama unveiled a new cyber-security national action
plan calling for an overhaul of aging government networks and a highlevel commission to boost security awareness.
The announcement responds to an epidemic of data breaches and cyber
attacks on both government and private networks in recent years, and
passage last year of a cyber-security bill that aims to facilitate better
threat sharing.
Mr. Obama asked for $19 billion for cyber-security efforts in his budget
request, a 35 per cent increase from current levels, with $3 billion
earmarked to help modernise the patchwork of computer systems used in
government agencies.
The moves come after disclosures last year that personal data from some
20 million federal employees, contractors and others had been leaked in a
massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management.
Mr. Obama issued an executive order creating a 12-member cybersecurity commission to make recommendations to both the public and
private sectors.
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U.S. sends more troops to Afghanistan
Hundreds more U.S. troops are headed for Afghanistans strife-torn
Helmand province to shore up security forces who have struggled in the
face of sustained Taliban attacks.
The core of the new force will provide more security and act as advisers to
the Afghan armys 215th Corps.
Security forces in the southern province have been plagued by high
desertion and casualty rates, corruption, and leadership problems, and
the army corps recently saw more than 90 general officers replaced in a
major shakeup.
This was a planned deployment of additional personnel to both bolster
force protection for the current staff of advisers and to provide additional
advisers to help with ongoing efforts to re-man, re-equip, and re-train the
215th Corps.
The NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan declared its combat mission over at
the end of 2014, and the new troops in Helmand would be there to train,
advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts, and not to participate in
combat operations.
RUSSIA
Russians raise stakes in Syria
For months now the U.S. has insisted there is no military solution to
the Syrian civil war, only a political accord between President Bashar
Al-Assad and the fractured, divided opposition groups that have been
trying to topple him.
But after days of intense bombing that could soon put the critical city
of Aleppo back into the hands of Mr. Assads forces, the Russians may
be proving the U.S. wrong.
Secretary of State John Kerry faces as he enters a critical negotiation
over a ceasefire and the creation of a humanitarian corridor to
relieve starving Syrians besieged in more than a dozen cities, most by
Mr. Assads forces.
The Russian military action has changed the shape of a conflict that
had effectively been stalemated for years. Suddenly, Mr. Assad and his
allies have momentum, and the U.S.-backed rebels are on the run.
11
If a ceasefire is negotiated here, it will probably come at a moment Mr.

Assad holds more territory, and more sway, than since the outbreak of
the uprisings in 2011.
Mr. Kerry enters the negotiations with very little leverage: The
Russians have cut off many of the pathways the CIA has been using for
a not-very-secret effort to arm rebel groups.
Mr. Kerrys supporters inside the administration say he has been
increasingly frustrated by the low level of U.S. military activity, which
he views as essential to bolstering his negotiation effort.
Mr. Kerry is circumspect about his dilemma. His colleagues in the
administration, however, fear that a three-month-long effort to begin
the political process is near collapse. If it fails, it will force Kerry and
President Barack Obama, once again, to consider their Plan B: a far
larger military effort, directed at Mr. Assad.
But that is exactly the kind of conflict that Mr. Obama has spent five
years trying to avoid, especially when any ground campaign would
rely on forces led by a fractious group of opposition leaders that he
distrusts.
Without a political solution or a stepped-up military effort, the U.S. is
not only left with little influence over the course of the Syrian civil
war, but without a viable strategy to bring all of the warring parties
together to fight the Islamic State.
An open breach erupted with the Turks, who charge that the U.S. is
empowering the Kurds, with whom Turkey believes it is in an
existential struggle.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the countrys President, denounced
Washington for failing to declare a Syrian Kurdish rebel group as a
terrorist organisation.
U.S., Russia agree on Syria ceasefire plan
World powers agree to immediately start delivering humanitarian aid
to besieged communities.
Diplomats agreed to work toward a temporary cessation of
hostilities in Syrias civil war.
The deal appeared to be the result of a compromise between the U.S.,
which had wanted an immediate ceasefire, and Russia, which had
proposed one to start on March 1.
12
Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support

Group managed to seal an agreement to accelerate and expand
deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities.
Their failure to agree on a ceasefire leaves the most critical step to
resuming peace talks unresolved. It was not clear from their
comments afterward if deep differences regarding the truce and
which groups would be eligible for it could be overcome.
The real test is whether or not all the parties honour those
commitments and implement them.
Russia to continue targeting rebels
The Turkish army shelled Kurdish militia in northern Syria; while
Russia made clear it would continue bombing Syrian rebel targets,
raising doubts that a planned ceasefire would bring much relief.
Major powers agreed to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria but
the deal does not take effect until now and was not signed by any
warring parties the Damascus government and numerous rebel
factions fighting it.
Russian bombing raids directed at rebel groups are meanwhile
helping the Syrian army to achieve what could be its biggest victory of
the war in the battle for Aleppo, the countrys largest city and
commercial hub before the conflict.
The situation has been complicated by the involvement of Kurdishbacked combatants in the area north of Aleppo near the Turkish
border, which has drawn a swift military response from artillery in
Turkey.
The Kurdish YPG militia, helped by Russian air raids, seized an exmilitary air base at Menagh recently, angering Turkey, which sees the
YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group that waged a bloody
insurgent campaign on Turkish soil over most of the past three
decades.
Turkey began shelling while demanding that the YPG militia withdraw
from areas it has captured from Syrian rebels in the northern Aleppo
region in recent days, including the Menagh air base. The
bombardment killed two YPG fighters, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.
13
The Syrian Kurdish PYD party rejected Turkish demands for

withdrawal, while the Syrian government said Turkish shelling of
northern Syria amounted to direct support for insurgent groups.
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President
Barack Obama had agreed to intensify cooperation to implement the
agreement on Syria struck in Munich.
Provisional deal reached on Syria ceasefire
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that a provisional agreement
has been reached on a cease-fire
The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed.
Fighting has intensified in Syria during recent weeks and an earlier
deadline to cease military activities was not observed. The United
States, Russia and other world powers agreed on February 12 on a
deal calling for the ceasing of hostilities within a week, the delivery of
urgently needed aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace
talks in Geneva.
UN envoy Staffan De Mistura halted the latest Syria talks on February
3, because of major differences between the two sides, exacerbated by
increased aerial bombings and a wide military offensive by Syrian
troops and their allies under the cover of Russian air strikes.
The humanitarian situation has only gotten worse, with an estimated
13.5 million Syrians in need of aid, including 6 million children.
Peace is better than more war, Mr. Kerry said. A political solution is
better than then a futile attempt to try to find a military one that could
result in so many more refugees, so many more jihadists, so much
more destruction, and possibly even the complete destruction of Syria
itself.
BRAZIL
Brazil enlists army in campaign against Zika
Brazils government launched a nationwide campaign to fight the Zika
virus, with President Dilma Rousseff and Cabinet Ministers personally
visiting homes and handing out leaflets along with 220,000 troops.
Under a scorching sun in the neighbourhood of Zepellin in the
outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Olympic Games in
August, Ms. Rousseff said everyone needed to take part in the battle
14
against the mosquito carrying Zika, suspected of causing the birth

defect microcephaly.
The so-called National Day for Zero Zika is focused on raising
awareness about the disease.
Other operations specifically aimed at spreading larvicides and
eliminating breeding spots will be launched later.
The Zika outbreak is affecting large parts of Latin America and the
Caribbean and is likely to spread to all countries in the Americas
except for Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization has said.
Zika virus
Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted by
Aedes mosquitoes.
People with Zika virus disease usually have symptoms that can
include mild fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain,
malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available.
The best form of prevention is protection against mosquito bites.
The virus is known to circulate in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the
Pacific.
IRAN
Iran exports first oil shipment to Europe after sanctions lifting
Iran exported its crude shipment to Europe for the first time since it
reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
The shipment was the first after five years.
The shipment A new chapter in Irans oil industry but did not
elaborate.
Several western tankers have loaded Irans oil in recent days.
Iran plans to add one million barrels to its oil production following
implementation of the nuclear deal, which lifted international
sanctions in exchange for Iran restricting its nuclear activities.
Iran expects an economic bonanza after the lifting of sanctions, which
will allow it to access overseas assets and sell crude oil more freely.
15

Components made by Indian firms used in IS explosives, finds study
Residents gather at the site of
suicide bombings carried out by the
Islamic State near Damascus in
January.
Though components made by
Indian firms were used in
explosives used by the extremists,
there was no illegality on the part of
the companies.
Products from at least seven Indian companies figure in a large supply
of components that have ended up in explosives used by Islamic State
terrorists.
The European Union-funded 20-month-long study by the Conflict
Armament Research (CAR) states that the seven Indian companies
manufactured most of the detonators, detonating cord, and safety
fuses documented by their field investigation teams.
However, there was no illegality on the part of the Indian companies.
Under Indian law, transfer of this material requires a licence. All
components documented by CAR were legally exported.
The study established that 51 companies from 20 countries produced
or sold more than 700 components used by IS to build improvised
explosive devices (IEDs). Companies from other countries such as
Turkey, Brazil and the United States also appeared on the list.
The report said the IS is now producing IEDs quasi-industrial scale,
using both regulated components and easily available items such as
fertilisers and mobile phones.
With 13 companies, Turkey is the most important source of
components used in the manufacture of IEDs by the IS. The
components include chemical precursors, containers, detonating cord,
cables, and wires.
Some of these Turkish companies have also sourced materials from
companies in India and elsewhere, before the procured items that
landed up in IS hands.
During the siege of Kobane, a Syrian Kurdish town, last year, Kurdish
YPG militias captured detonating cord from IS.
16
17
Solar Industries, India, produced one spool of detonating cord on 27

February 2014 and exported it to the Turkish company lci, Ankara.
Two months earlier, on 31 December 2012, Gulf Oil Corporation,
India, had produced a spool and exported it to the Turkish company
Nitromak Dyno Nobel, Ankara. Solar Industries, India, produced a
further two spools, on 21 and 23 October 2012, and exported them to
the Lebanese company Maybel, headquartered in Beirut.
However, all those Indian products landed up with the IS through
some intermediaries.
CAR also documented that Solar Industries produced detonating cord
that IS forces used to make IEDs on the Makhmour front line in Iraq at
the end of 2014.
In February 2015, a CAR investigation team in Kobane documented a
spool of detonating cord produced by Premier Explosives Ltd, India.
Premier Explosives has confirmed that it sold 6 million metres of
detonating cord to the Mechanical Construction Factory, Syria, in
2009 and 2010.
In December 2011, the European Union placed the Mechanical
Construction Factory on a sanctions list for acting as a front company
for the acquisition of sensitive equipment by the Syrian governments
Scientific Studies and Research Center.
CAR investigators also found Premier Explosivess detonating cord
among items that Kurdistan Regional Government security forces
seized from an IS cell in early December 2014 in Erbil, the capital of
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Premier Explosives has told CAR that it never supplied explosive
components to Iraq.
In Kobane, a spool of detonating cord produced by Rajasthan
Explosives and Chemicals, India, was found. The company was yet to
respond to the questionnaire from the CAR team.
In the investigations into explosives used by IS in Kobane, they also
saw spool of safety fuse produced by the Indian company Chamundi
Explosives.
In the absence of serial, batch, and lot numbers, and of a
manufacturing date, CAR is unable to document the items full chain of
custody.
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Chamundi Explosives has stated that the company had not supplied
any product to either Iraq or Syria.
In Kobane, Kurdish forces captured plain detonators from IS forces
that were manufactured by Indian company Economic Explosives.
Conflict Armament Research
CAR investigation teams work on the ground in active armed conflicts.
The teams document weapons at the point of use and track their
sources back through the chains of supply.
CAR teams investigate weapons in a variety of conflict-related
situations be they recovered by state security forces, surrendered at
the cessation of hostilities, cached, or held by insurgent forces.
By aggregating data on thousands of individual weapon transfers, CAR
provides the evidence-based information required to develop
effective arms control and counter-proliferation strategies.
IED
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and
deployed in ways other than in conventional military action.
It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an
artillery round, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are
commonly used as roadside bombs.
IEDs
are
generally
seen
in
heavy terrorist actions
or
in unconventional
warfare by guerrillas or commando forces
in
a theater of operations.
In the second Iraq War, IEDs were used extensively against US-led
invasion forces and by the end of 2007 they had become responsible
for approximately 63% of coalition deaths in Iraq.
They are also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and have
caused over 66% of coalition casualties in the 2001present
Afghanistan War.
IEDs were also used extensively by cadres of the rebel Tamil
Tiger (LTTE) organization against military targets in Sri Lanka.

NORTH KOREA
Kim pushes for more satellite launches
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has promised to put more satellites
in space, even as the international community prepares to punish his
regime over a long-range rocket launch.
North Korea sparked international anger with the launch of the
Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, which came just a month after its fourth
nuclear test.
The launch, which most in the international community viewed as a
disguised ballistic missile test, violated multiple UN resolutions.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, a top ruling party official called for the
country to develop its own nuclear deterrent to combat the threat
from the North.
U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn from South Korea in
late 1991, though the country remains under the protection of the U.S.
nuclear umbrella.
U.S. imposes new unilateral sanctions on North Korea
U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a piece of legislation
passed by Congress imposing new sanctions against North Korea for
testing a nuclear device on January 6 and launching a satellite on
February 7 using ballistic missile technology.
New unilateral sanctions by the U.S seek to sharpen and expand the
scope of existing sanctions against the North, but with its neighbour
and closest ally China opposed to it, the efficacy of the move remains
ambiguous at best.
The new sanctions regime will require the President to mandatorily
investigate and designate persons and entities for violations.
The law will also give more tools to the administration to enforce
secondary sanctions which are restrictions on a third country from
doing business with the North.
The bill also now covers some activity not targeted for sanctions
before, such as North Koreas metal and coal exports, and gives the
U.S. government greater tools to implement so-called secondary
sanctions.
Since North Korean entities are often difficult to sanction directly, this
could be a more effective way to cut off North Koreas third-country
support networks, streams of foreign revenue, and supply chains.
The law also provides for $50 million to support humanitarian
programmes and transmit radio broadcasts into the North.
North Koreas main supply lines are from China, which has been
unwilling to be harsher with sanctions.
U.S.s unilateral push could further add to the tensions with China,
heightened in recent days over disputes in South China Sea.
19

UNITED KINGDOM
Brexit referendum campaign begins in U.K.
Nearly 200 business leaders and unions representing 6 million
workers come out in support of the Stay campaign.
The campaign on Brexit has begun in the U.K., with Prime Minister
David Cameron receiving early backing for his call for the country to
remain in the European Union from opposite ends of British society.
Even as the pound, which had taken a plunge recently in response to
the Brexit uncertainty, slowly recovered ground, nearly 200 business
leaders employing over 1.2 million people, and U.K.s Trade Union
Congress representing six million workers came out in support of the
Stay campaign.
198 business leaders, including the
heads of 36 companies from FTSE
100, plus Francis OGrady, General
Secretary of the Trade Union
Congress, made the case for staying
within the EU.
Britain needs unrestricted access to
the European market of 500 million
people in order to continue to
grow, invest and create jobs.
If the Brexit camp gets their way,
many vital workplace benefits that the EU has given us paid
holidays, extra maternity rights and better conditions for part-time
workers could be for the chop.
That may prove attractive to unenlightened business leaders, but it
will not win the hearts and minds of working people buckling under
the strain of insecurity and reduced living standards.
Leave campaigners allege that the business bosses some of them
Conservative Party funders who have signed up to the letter
comprise just a third of the FTSE 100 companies. Initiated by the
Britain Stronger in Europe campaign and the Prime Ministers Office,
it includes heads of business houses like Marks and Spencer, British
Telecom, Vodafone, and ASDA, although equally big businesses have
not signed.
The political divide over Brexit could not have been more evident in
the House of Common, when David Cameron presented his case for
staying in a reformed Europe. It was an unusual Commons debate
not least because the two opposing groups did not face each other as
occupants of Treasury and Opposition benches usually do.
The debate is poised to become more intense and confrontational
once the campaign groups hit the road. The in-out referendum on
Britains future in the EU will be held on June 23.
20
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION
WHO issues $56 million plan to combat Zika virus
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that $56 million were
needed to combat the Zika virus until June, including for the fasttracking of vaccines, diagnostics and research studies into how it
spreads.
The funds, including $25 million for the WHO and its regional office,
would also be used to control the mosquito-borne virus that has
spread to 39 countries, including 34 in the Americas.
The WHO expects the funds to come from member states and other
donors and said that in the meantime it has tapped a new emergency
contingency fund for $2 million to finance its initial operations.
India near bottom of intellectual property index
India was ranked 37 out of 38 countries, with only Venezuela scoring
lower, in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-International Intellectual
Property Index.
The U.S. was ranked first, followed by the UK, Germany, France and
Sweden. Indias peers in the BRICS grouping were all ranked ahead
with Russia ranked 20th, China (22nd), South Africa (26th) and Brazil
(29th). The 38 economies benchmarked in the 2016 Index accounts
for nearly 85 per cent of the global GDP.
The Index produced by the Chambers Global Intellectual Property
Center (GIPC) is based on 30 criteria critical to innovation including
patent, copyright and trademark protections, enforcement, and
engagement in international treaties.
India remains at the bottom of the Index for the fourth year in a row.
It said patent protection in India remains outside of international best
practices, adding that Indian law does not provide adequate
enforcement mechanisms to effectively combat online piracy.
Indias score would have increased if the government had not
suspended implementation of Final Guidelines for Computer Related
Inventions (CRI).
21
Among Indias key areas of weakness was the use of compulsory

licensing (CL) for commercial and non-emergency situations, and the
expanded use of CL being considered by the Indian government.
CL relates to the government allowing entities to manufacture, use,
sell or import a patented invention without the permission of the
patent-owner.
Another area of weakness was poor application and enforcement of
civil remedies and criminal penalties.
The Index was created so that countries such as India can hear
directly from the business community on the IP-related issues
important to them when considering investing in new markets
The report said Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Russia introduced
or maintained policies that tie market access to sharing of IP and
technology.
Such forced-localization policies tend to undermine the overall
innovation ecosystem and deter investment from foreign IP-intensive
entities.
What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as
inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names
and images used in commerce.
IP is protected in law by, for example patents, copyright and trademarks,
which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from
what they invent or create.
By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and
the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment
in which creativity and innovation can flourish.
Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC)
The Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) was established in
2007 as an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Today, the GIPC is leading a worldwide effort to champion intellectual
property rights as vital to creating jobs, saving lives, advancing global
economic growth, and generating breakthrough solutions to global
challenges.
22

Strengthen peacekeeping under U.N. to counter new threats
Weeks after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar spoke about sending
troops to fight the IS in Syria, India told the United Nations Special
Committee for Peacekeeping Operations that it recognises the need
for flexibility on international anti-terror operations if they are
backed by U.N. authorisation.
Syed Akbaruddin, the Permanent Representative of India to U.N.
The High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO)
report has expanded the scope of counter-terror operations beyond
the traditional U.N. peacekeeping operations by recommending that
ad hoc coalitions authorised by the U.N. Security Council can
undertake counter-terror operations with the intention of
peacekeeping and peace-enforcement.
Diplomatic sources told that the HIPPO report recommendations will
be implemented after cost-benefit analysis for India.
However, military experts have argued that India, which is one of the
largest troop-contributors to the U.N. peace missions, has been
looking for a flexible agenda to help it coordinate the peace operations
better under the U.N.
Mr. Akbaruddin also highlighted that peacekeeping under the U.N.
needs to be strengthened in view of the expanding international
networks of terrorism.
That apart, India welcoming the U.N. report has triggered a debate
with experts suggesting that the mention of ad hoc coalitions
authorised by the U.N. Security Council, has opened up possibilities of
Indias participation in foreign anti-terror operations to safeguard
Indian interests.
BRICS bank set to fund green energy projects
The New Development Bank (NDB) a multilateral lender with a focus
on the Global South of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa
(BRICS) grouping is all set to fund more than a dozen projects this
year that will focus on renewable energy.
President of NDB is K.V.Kamath.
The initial focus of the bank would on green energy projects.
23
24
The lending will commence in April, would fund a project each from
the five member grouping. 10-15 projects are in the pipeline for the
remaining part of the year.
The NDB President Sighned the Headquarters Agreement with the
Chinese government that will officially launch the bank for operations
clarified that the lender was not geared to issue soft loans.
On the rate of interest, they will not be lending on concessional terms.
That was not the intent at all. They will need to factor their own cost
of funds and add an appropriate margin.
Cost of funds would be determined by their actual experience in the
market. So they will function as a prudent bank should.
The NDB would include market borrowing to raise capital, but
stressed that bonds in local currency, rather than hard currency,
would be favoured.
NDB will be resorting to bond issues, it will raise it in local currencies
where it is feasible and of course it will supplement where it is
required in with dollar bond issues.
The NDBs initial capital has been fixed at $50 billion, and the total
paid in capital would be $10 billion. Analysts point out that following
the 2008 financial crisis, the NDB and the China-led Asian
Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) both geared towards
infrastructure development in Asia and the Global South are
reshaping the global financial architecture, a field that had been
monopolised by western backed International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
With Africa also one of its focal points, the NDB is set to open an
African Regional Centre, headquartered in Johannesburg, by the
second half of this year. It would aim to develop a project pipeline
for the continent.
The NDB will soon become a strong and well-respected international
financial institution, playing a leading role in the changing
international financial architecture.
On the eve of its operational launch, the NDB has bagged a AAA
institutional rating from domestic credit rating agencies in China,
where the China Development Bank and the Bank of China have been
appointed as rating advisers.
Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs are in the saddle as

international rating advisors.
Survey questions Indias stand at WTO
The economic survey questioned Indias unequivocal stance at the
World Trade Organization (WTO)-level negotiations on the need for
developing countries to have an effective and easy-to-use Special
Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) to protect poor and very vulnerable
farmers from import surges and price dips.
The SSM is a tool, which, if given, will permit developing nations like
India to temporarily hike tariffs to counter import surges or price falls
of farm products.
Differences between the developing and the developed world over the
SSM issue had even led to the WTO talks breaking down in July 2008.
Though WTO members agree that developing countries should have
an SSM, the differences are on allowing developing nations to hike
tariffs above the commitments they (developing nations) made in the
WTOs 1986-94 Uruguay Round talks.
Pointing out that as per the Uruguay Round decisions, countries
including India, could raise tariffs up to a very high level even
without the SSM.
The Nairobi Ministerial Declaration had incorporated the right of
developing nations to have recourse to an SSM. The declaration also
said SSM negotiations will be pursued in dedicated sessions of the
Committee on Agriculture in Special Session.
During the Nairobi meeting, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
had said the SSM was important for developing nations to address
import surges and price dips due to heavily subsidised imports of
farm products from rich nations.
Pointing out that an instrument similar to the SSM was available to a
select few WTO members (including rich nations) for over two
decades, therefore, the demand for SSM for developing nations was
reasonable and pragmatic.
The survey said Indias real need for SSM arises in relation to few
items including some milk and dairy products, some fruits, and raw
hides.
25
26
On these items, the survey said, Indias tariff bindings (commitments

at the WTO) are around 10-40 per cent which can be uncomfortably
close to Indias current tariffs, limiting Indias options in the event of
import surges.
What is Special Safeguard Mechanism under WTO?
WTOs Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) is a protection measure
allowed for developing countries to take contingency restrictions
against agricultural imports that are causing injuries to domestic
farmers.
The contingency measure is imposition of tariff if the import surge
causes welfare loss to the domestic poor farmers. The design and use
of the SSM is an area of conflict under the WTO.
What are safeguards?
In WTOs terms, safeguards are contingency or emergency
restrictions on imports taken temporarily to deal with special
circumstances such as a surge in imports.
Contingency restriction means imposition of an import tax if the
imports are causing injuries to domestic agricultural sector. The
original GATT itself allows such restrictions to protect domestic
economy.
Doha Development Agenda and the origin of the SSM
At the Doha Ministerial Conference, the developing countries were
given a concession to adopt a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM)
besides the existing safeguards (like the Special Agricultural
Safeguard or the SSG).
This SSM constituted an important part of the promises offered to the
developing world at Doha (known as Doha Development Agenda) and
the Doha MC became known as a development round.
As mentioned, the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) allowed
developing countries to raise import duties on agricultural products
in response to import surges.
Difference between SSM and other safeguards under
Agreement on Agriculture
The SSG was available to all countries- both developing and
developed whereas the SSM is allowable only to the developing
countries.

It is to be mentioned that the SSG was available as it was inducted
under the GATT agreement; whereas the SSM was the invention of
the Doha MC.
Conflict among WTO members about the structure of the SSM
But the design of exact rules of the SSM created conflict among the
WTO members. Setting the conditions for putting restrictions on
imports and the amount of tariff imposition became contentious
issues and it caused the delay in the implementation of the entire
Doha Development Agenda.
Powerful negotiating countries at the WTO, the US and India had
conflicting versions about the structure of the SSM. Other countries
joined the two sides later. The G33 supports Indias stand whereas the
advanced countries and some agricultural exporting countries like
Brazil supports the US stand.
Both groups differed substantially on many aspects of the SSM.
Following are the main issues which created the conflict.
1. What should be the trigger factor that allows a developing country to
put restrictions (raising tariff) on imports?
2. What should be the level of tariff that can be imposed on injurious
imports
India argued for higher level of tariff and lower import surge for
making the SSM. On the other hand, the US and allies argued for
lower tariffs and higher imports for using the SSM. In 2008, the trade
discussions got to a standstill because of the above conflicting views
on SSM; especially due to the difference among the US and India.
Basically, the underlying cause of the disagreement among members
was the inability to distinguish between import surges that do
not threaten the livelihood conditions of developing country farmers
and those that do. Much of the debate has focused on the
circumstances under which the SSM could be evoked and how high
safeguard duties could rise.
The developed countries want developing nations, including India, to
agree to use SSM instrument when imports surge on a sustained
basis by 40% over the previous year. On the other hand, India and the
G33 insist that the mechanism can come into play if imports rise by
about 10%.
27

After G20 stalemate, focus turns to signs of growth
The Group of 20 economies were unable to agree on a joint push for
new stimulus measures, turning attention instead to upcoming
business surveys from China, Japan, Europe the United States.
Central banks in Europe and Japan may inject a little more stimulus
into their economies later in March.
But the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England look likely to sit
tight for now, meaning hopes for a period of calm in the world's
volatile financial markets lie largely with the indicators.
It seems economic data will have to bear the burden of stabilizing
sentiment.
Euro zone inflation
A first reading of inflation in February for the euro zone will help
shape expectations of how much further below zero the European
Central Bank is likely to push its deposit rate the following week.
Euro zone inflation picked up in January but is expected to have fallen
back to zero in February.
If there is also a weakening of the monthly purchasing manager
indexes for Germany and other leading euro zone countries, the ECB
may consider increasing its bond-buying programme as well as
cutting rates on March 10.
There is a growing chance that the ECB will do more at its March
meeting than simply lowering its deposit rate.
U.S. payrolls figures may help ease fears about the world's biggest
economy, which appeared to stumble soon after the Federal Reserve
felt confident enough to hike interest rates for the first time in nearly
a decade in December.
Solid U.S. job growth and pay growth are seen as the best antidote to
the upheaval in global financial markets which has hurt confidence
and even raised questions about whether the United States was
heading back into recession.
U.S. inflation
Markets have turned calmer in recent days, helped by stronger-thanexpected U.S. inflation figures. But the impact of plunging share prices
has shaken the confidence of many households and businesses in rich
countries.
28
Economists at Citi have cut their forecast for global economic growth
this year to 2.5 percent from 2.7 percent due to slowing activity in
developed economies.
They said growth could come in below 2 percent equivalent to a
global recession because of the chance of weaker growth among
emerging economies.
INDIA AND WORLD

INDIA AND CHINA
India, China hold first joint tactical drill on border
The border troops of India and China held their first joint tactical
exercise in the Chushul-Moldo area along the northern border.
This is part of the ongoing initiatives taken by India and China to
ensure greater interaction between troops stationed along the Line of
Actual Control, and thereby ensure peace and tranquillity along the
border.
As previously agreed by both countries, the exercise focussed on
actions to be coordinated to tackle jointly aspects of humanitarian aid
and disaster relief.
The 30-member Indian Army team was led by Colonel Ritesh Chandra
Singh, while the Chinese delegation with an equal strength was led by
Colonel Qu Yi.
This exercise complements the Hand-in-Hand series of India-China
Joint Exercises and the recently conducted joint exercise in Sikkim.
Chushul
Chushul is a village in the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
It is located in the Leh tehsil, in the area known as "Chushul Valley".
INDIA AND UAE
India, UAE sign nine agreements
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed nine agreements
covering cooperation in the fields of currency swap, culture,
investments in the infrastructure sector, renewable energy, space
research, insurance supervision, cyber security, skill development and
commercial information sharing.
29
The Ministry of External Affairs initially announced four agreements

but revised the list later adding five more agreements.
However, the much anticipated agreement on India accessing UAEs
Sovereign Fund was not declared. India should carry out some
structural changes in its economy to facilitate such an agreement.
India and the UAE had begun a dialogue that would firm up a Free
Trade Agreement between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The SWFs wanted the Indian government to be a strategic partner for
safety of their investments, besides an assurance of a conducive
business environment.
INDIA AND BELGIUM
Belgium keen on joining Clean Ganga drive
Belgium is keen on taking part in the Clean Ganga campaign, and a
Belgian mission with companies specialising in sanitation will meet
Indian government officials soon.
A Belgian Research Institute, Vito has developed a technology not only
to clean sewage water but also to produce electricity out of it
First is cleaning up the actual pollution there are certain companies
that specialise in that. The second is preventing pollution; that is a
huge effort.
Belgium also wants to diversify its trade with India in the diamond
business, which contributes to a large part of the bilateral trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Belgium as part of
his EU tour in March.
INDIA AND EU
Modi to attend summit of EU, India in Brussels
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Brussels for the EU-India
summit on March 30, which is being held after a long gap of four years
that have also seen the suspension of talks on the Bilateral Trade and
Investment Agreement (BTIA).
Sources also say that there will be one more meeting on the FTA on
March 30 at the level of Commerce Ministers on the sidelines of the
PMs visit.
According to officials there are still some obstacles preventing the
resumption of the India-EU FTA talks that were suspended in 2013
after 16 rounds of negotiation.
30
To begin with, the EU is learnt to have asked India to substantially

bring down the high duties on automobiles as a pre-condition for
resumption of the FTA negotiations.
Indias import duty on cars range from 60-120 per cent as against the
EUs 10 per cent.
INDIA AND SRI LANKA
Storm over Sri Lankan deal with India
The Opposition and sections of professional organisations here have
kicked up a storm over the proposed Economic and Technology
Cooperation Agreement between India and the island nation.
Calling the pact a fresh variant of the Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was aborted earlier, the Joint
Opposition, a coalition of seven parties and groups owing allegiance to
former President Mahinda Rajapakasa, said the deal had to be
abandoned due to lack of public support.
Professional bodies representing doctors, engineers and lawyers took
out a rally against the proposed pact a few weeks back.
Critics have said the deal would pave the way for Indian professionals
and semi-skilled and unskilled persons to flood Sri Lankas labour
market.
The governments response has also been forceful.
Indian delegation to visit Colombo
A delegation of officials from India will visit Colombo on March 4 to
hold talks with Sri Lankan officials regarding the proposed Economic
and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).
In the event of any shortage of professionals in Sri Lanka, the
proposed agreement would be amended after consulting stakeholders
concerned.
The new pact would cover areas such as financial services, promotion
of trade and investment, e-commerce and tourism.
Sri Lankan industry split over economic pact with India
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has come out in support of
the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement
(ETCA) with India even as certain sections of society in Sri Lanka
continue to express reservations over the issue.
31
For the island nation, being a small economy with a limited domestic
market, trading more with the world and welcoming more business
and investment partnerships from abroad is our only path to
prosperity.
In this, greater openness to trade in services cannot be ignored, owing
to its strong and growing link to goods trade and investment.
Services liberalisation needs to be pursued, within a mutuallybeneficial framework and following stakeholder discussions,
according to the 177-year-old CCC. It also cautioned the Sri Lankan
Government against protectionism.
The Chamber stated that the country in the last 15 years became
more closed and more inward looking than before with a falling
share of global exports and a declining exports-to-GDP ratio.
INDIA AND U.S.
U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to visit India in April
U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will be visiting India in April and
focused efforts are underway to make progress in concluding the
three outstanding defence agreements between the two countries.
India and the U.S had in January last year announced a joint strategic
vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region even as the U.S.
continues to accuse China of militarising the region.
The recent North Korean nuclear adventurism has prompted U.S allies
such as South Korea and Japan to seek higher U.S presence in the
region.
Termed foundational agreements, the Communications and
Information Security Memorandum of Agreement, Logistics Support
Agreement and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for geospatial intelligence have been pending for at least a decade now and
will be the focus during Mr. Carters visit.
The U.S has signed these agreements with most of its strategic
partners. Dominant sections within the political and strategic
community in India have argued that signing of these agreements will
lock the country in an irreversible embrace with the U.S.
India and the U.S. have already signed one foundational agreement
the General Security of Military Information Agreement.
32
For India-U.S. defence cooperation to be effective and optimal, these

agreements can be of great help.
INDIA AND IRAN
India approves $150 million Iran port plan
India approved a $150 million project to develop the strategic Iranian
port of Chabahar, which includes a transit route to Afghanistan
bypassing neighbouring Pakistan.
New Delhi signed a multi-million-dollar memorandum of
understanding with Tehran last May to develop the port on its
southeastern coast, but the deal had been stuck since.
The project would provide opportunities to Indian companies to
penetrate and enhance its footprint in the region, adding: Cabinet
approves provision of credit of $150 million USD to Islamic Republic
of Iran for Chabahar port development.
INDIA AND PAKISTAN
India moving U.N. to blacklist Masood
In its biggest diplomatic move after the Pathankot attack, India
approached the United Nations to include the Pakistan-based terror
mastermind Maulana Masood Azhar on the list of globally designated
terrorists.
Officials said India would formally request the 1267 Sanctions
Committee, which consists of 15 members, to schedule a discussion
on Masood Azhar.
The decision is significant since it is the second time in less than a
year that India will attempt to isolate an international terrorist
through the anti-terror committee.
In June 2015, India moved the committee in the United Nations,
demanding an explanation from Pakistan for its decision to release
the 26/11 attack plotter Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi from jail.
The attempt to isolate Pakistan, however, failed at the last moment
because of Chinas opposition. Officials said that this year too, Chinas
attitude would be watched.
However, according to experts, the attempt to isolate Masood Azhar
has a greater possibility to succeed at the 1267 Sanctions Committee.
India has already given actionable intelligence and technical
intercepts that connect Masood Azhars organisation to the Pathankot
33

attack. The technical inputs are likely to be presented before the UN
committee.
INDIA AND FIJI
40 tonnes of relief material airlifted to cyclone-hit Fiji
India recently dispatched relief material to cyclone-hit Fiji as part of
its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in the
neighbourhood.
A C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force took off
from the Palam air station to Fiji, via Chennai, with 40 tonnes of relief
material.
The consignment includes food, medicines and tents. Fiji was hit by
the massive Cyclone Winston recently, leaving at least 44 dead.
The island nation has requested foreign aid. India has already
announced aid in the aftermath of the disaster.
Reaching out to a friend in need. India extends $1 million in
immediate assistance to Fiji after devastating Cyclone Winston hits.
INDIA AND NEPAL
NDO-Nepal Battalion Level Combined Military Exercise Surya Kiran IX
The Indo-Nepal Combined Military Exercise Surya Kiran IX held at general
area, Pithoragarh. The Nepal Army is being represented by officers and
troops of the elite Shree Rudra Dhoj Battalion while an Infantry Battalion
is participating on behalf of Indian Army. The Combined Battalion Level
Exercise is being conducted under the aegis of Panchshul Brigade of
Central Command.
This is the Ninth Indo-Nepal Combined exercise, emphasis would be laid
on upgradation of tactical and practical skills by sharing each others
experiences and also on enhancing interoperability in Jungle Warfare and
Counter Terrorism operations in mountain terrain. The role and
importance of Armed Forces in disaster management in both the
countries has assumed increasing significance in recent years. Focus will
also be laid on Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief Operations which
also includes medical and aviation aspects.
Both the armies have a lot to learn from each other especially in our
approach towards handling the modern day challenges of addressing
terrorism and also in disaster management as it has been one of the most
important challenges for both countries after the recent calamities. Senior
34

Nepalese Army officials are also likely to attend the combined exercise
along with their Indian Counterparts during the validation phase of the
exercise.
INDIA AND INDONESIA
Indo-Indonesia Joint Training Exercise Garuda shakti IV
Indo-Indonesia Joint Training Exercise GARUDA SHAKTI is conducted as
part of military diplomacy between Indian and Indonesian Army
alternatively in India and Indonesia respectively. The exercise is
conducted on a reciprocal basis and its first edition was conducted in the
year 2012 in India. The second edition was conducted in Indonesia in
2013 and third in India in 2014. The exercise is aimed at building and
promoting positive relations between the two Armies of India and
Indonesia.
Indonesia in which an Indian Army platoon strength contingent will carry
out cross training with a platoon from the Airborne battalion of the
Indonesian Army. The selected Indian unit has had varied operational
experience in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorist operations in the
Northern, Western and Eastern theatres. The Indian Contingent has been
put through a rigorous training schedule to prepare it for the exercise
which includes combat conditioning, firing, tactical operations, tactical
skills and special heliborne operations training.
The operational part of the exercise commenced with individual Armies
training in respective countries and this would translate in exchange of
expertise during the Joint Training Exercise in Indonesia. The Indian
contingent will reach the exercise location at Magelang, Indonesia,
familiarize with the weapons, equipment, tactical drills and orient
themselves to the terrain.
The exercise will be conducted as joint Counter Insurgency operations
exercise in urban and rural scenario and encompass various facets of
tactical Counter Insurgency operations. The aim of the exercise is to build
and promote positive relations between the armies of India and Indonesia
and to enhance the ability of Indian and Indonesian Army to undertake
joint tactical level operations in a Counter Insurgency environment under
United Nations Charter.
The scope encompasses visualization of insurgency related crisis situation
in rural / urban setting in Counter Insurgency environment, learn each
other's Counter Insurgency doctrines, tactics and share experience of
35

Counter Insurgency operations. It also includes the ambit of identifying
areas of expertise/ specialization of each other, evolution of combat
tactical drills for conduct of tactical Counter Insurgency operations and to
undertake combined training for neutralization of insurgency threat.
INDIA AND SWEDEN
MoU signed between India and Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Rail
Sector
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between
Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation of the
Kingdom of Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector.
Following cooperation areas are identified in the MoU:
(a) Benchmark Railways policy development, regulations, organization
and specific characteristics for each country.
(b) Exchange of knowledge, technical expertise, innovation, technology,
sustainable solutions and research.
(c) Other cooperation projects agreed between the participants, such as,
tilting coaches/trains, capacity allocation (time tabling) and
optimisation of maintenance and improved freight/combination
traffic.
(d) Training and continuing education program in reliability and
maintenance of Rail transport system for Railway engineers and
managers.
Main objectives of MoU is to develop cooperation activities in the Railway
area to promote efficiency and sustainability and achieve concrete results
with regard to bilateral trade, investment, research and technology
transfer.
MoU will remain in force for 5 years from the date of signing. It can be
extended for a further period of 5 years with the written consent of both
sides.
INDIA AND GERMANY
Joint Declaration between India and Germany on the extension of the
tenure of the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre
A Joint Declaration between the Ministry of Science & Technology and the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany on the extension
of the tenure of the Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC).
The Declaration is for the extension of tenure of the bilateral IGSTC for a
period of five years beyond 2017 till 2022. It provides for enhancement of
funding allocation from 2 million Euros per year to a maximum of 4
million Euros per year by each side. The committed funding will be based
36
on the principles of activity matching funding for supporting collaborative

research partnerships of industrial relevance.
The joint research projects involving academia and industry from both
countries will aim towards creation of new scientific knowledge base and
the application of research results for technology development and
application.
This new declaration will enable IGSTC to further enhance, strengthen and
improve research and technology cooperation of industrial relevance
through cooperation between laboratories, academia and industry of both
the countries. IGSTC will support and fund selected R&D projects linking
research laboratories and industry (2+2 scheme) from India and Germany
and assist in mobilizing resources to carry out collaborative industrial
R&D projects.
Background:
The IGSTC was established under an agreement between the two
Governments in October 2007 and started operation in 2011. Presently
IGSTC is supporting joint industrial R&D projects in areas such as (a)
advanced manufacturing (b) biomedical devices & healthcare (c)
nanotechnology (d) automobile engineering (e) water sensors (f) clean
energy technology and (g) information and computing technology.
POLITY
Was it discretion or mere whim, Supreme Court asks Governor
The Supreme Court questioned Governor J.P. Rajkhowas use of his
constitutional discretion to advance the sixth session of the
Arunachal Pradesh Assembly by over a month, asking whether it was
backed by sound constitutional principles or based on a mere whim.
Advancing the session from its scheduled date of January 14, 2016 to
December 16, 2015 in order to remove Speaker Nebam Rebia
triggered the entire political crisis leading to the imposition of
Presidents Rule on January 26.
The Benchs questions pertained to the order issued by Mr. Rajkhowa
on December 9, 2015 to advance the Assembly session without
consulting Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and his Council of Ministers
under Article 174 (1) of the Constitution.
37
The Governor was acting on resolutions sent to him by majority

rebel Congress MLAs and Opposition lawmakers for the removal of
the Speaker. They claimed that the Tuki government was in minority.
Instead of calling a floor test, the Governor invoked Article 174 (1) of
the Constitution and ordered the session to be advanced for
facilitating the House to expeditiously consider resolutions for
removal of Speaker. In the order, the Governor claimed complete
discretion.
Discretion or whim, asks SC
The Governor said he was not bound by the aid and advice of the Chief
Minister and his Cabinet.
December 9 also saw the Governor send a message to the House,
directing it to list the subject of removal of the Speaker as the first
item on its agenda.
Referring to its past judgments, the apex court said a Governor could
not assume constitutional discretion unless such powers were
expressly provided in the specific Articles of the Constitution.
Since Article 174 (1) was silent on whether the Governor should
consult or not the State Cabinet before advancing dates of the
Assembly session, it was presumed that aid and advice of the Chief
Minister and Council was required to be taken. If you have a
discretionary power, the Constitution will say so.
The Governor is the defender of the Constitution. He is the protector
of Constitutional principles.
Article 174(1) in The Constitution Of India 1949
The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each
House of the Legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as
he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting
in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next
session
Kerala jobless rate 3 times the national average
At 7.4 per cent, Kerala has the highest rate of unemployment among
the major States in the country, says the Economic Review.
It puts Keralas unemployment rate at three times the national level
(2.3 per cent). Among all States, only tiny Nagaland and Tripura have
a higher unemployment rate.
38
Unemployment rate is higher in rural areas as compared to urban

areas, and feminisation of joblessness is evident with females
accounting for a much higher rate of joblessness as compared to
males.
The rate of unemployment among those aged between 15 and 29 is
21.7 per cent in rural areas and 18 per cent in urban areas.
The situation is worse in the case of Kerala women, who log an
unemployment rate of 47.4 per cent, as compared to 9.7 per cent of
men.
Jobs in the organised sector are getting scarcer in Kerala. The number
of those employed in the organised sector fell from 12.26 lakh in 2000
to 11.4 lakh in 2005 and then to 10.88 lakh in 2013, a reduction of
11.3 per cent over 13 years.
This, the Review says, was mainly due to the fall in the number of jobs
in the public sector. There was some respite in the downward trend
over the past two years with the number of those employed in the
organised sector rising to 11.29 per cent in 2014 and further to 11.36
lakh in 2015. Private sector employment has been rising steadily in
the State since 2011.
Ernakulam and Wayanad accounted for highest and lowest
employment levels respectively.
The employment data also suggests that the dependence on
agriculture is falling whereas dependence on the service sector is
going up.
Employment in agriculture fell from 7.5 per cent in 2004-05 to 5.9 per
cent in 2014-15, while the relative share of employment in
community, social and personal services increased from 44.7 per cent
in 2004-05 and 50.43 per cent in 2014-15.
The manufacturing sector in the state accounted for only 20.4 per cent
of the total employment.
HC Registry seeks SC intervention on issue raised by its judge
The Madras High Court Registry authorities made an urgent plea to
the Supreme Court to intervene following a letter shot off by its sitting
judge, Justice C.S. Karnan on February 10, accusing Madras High Court
Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of caste discrimination.
39
40
The Registry,
represented
by
senior
advocate K.K.
Venugopal
and advocate
Nikhil
Nayyar,
sought
an
early hearing
before
a
Bench led by
Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, who agreed to list the plea.
The Chief Justice, without elaborating, said a decision was taken on
the issue at a meeting held recently. The Registry brought to the apex
courts attention a letter addressed by Justice Karnan to Chief Justice
Kaul about the alleged removal of his name from the Board of
Governors at the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy.
Justice Karnan also said there were no representatives from the
Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and his name was removed
from the inaugural function of the Regional Centres of the Academy at
Coimbatore and Madurai on February 21.
The letter ends with a direction to the High Court Registry to number
the letter as a suo motu writ petition. It was copied to 13
Constitutional authorities and political leaders.
Staying Justice Karnans order of April 30, 2015, passed in suo motu
proceedings, was in relation to the appointment of officers of lower
judiciary.
The Supreme Court had ordered that Justice Karnan should be
restrained from either hearing or issuing any further directions in the
case.
The judicial hierarchy turned turtle when Justice C. S. Karnan of the
Madras High Court stayed the Chief Justice of Indias proposal to
transfer him to the Calcutta High Court, forcing the Supreme Court to
authorise a freeze on his functions as a judge.
41
Justice C.S. Karnan sent copies of his letter to the President, the Prime
Minister, Union Law Minister, Minister for Consumer Affairs Ramvilas
Paswan, former U.P. chief minister Mayawati, National Commission
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Chairperson and Congress
party president Sonia Gandhi.
In the letter, he acknowledges receipt of the transfer proposal on
February 12, but says he is unable to comprehend why the CJI wants
him transferred. He proceeds to ask the CJI to file, through his
subordinates, a written statement by April 29, 2016 to explain
himself.
The High Court judge then stayed any move to transfer him to Kolkata,
asking the CJI not to interfere in my jurisdiction, as I am in the
process of finalising an order on merits.
He even suggests to Chief Justice Thakur to look up the Second Judges
case law of 1993 delivered by a nine-judge Constitution Bench. The
1993 case law had said that judges should be transferred only in
public interest i.e. for promoting better administration of justice
throughout the country.
The Supreme Court then left it to Madras High Court Chief Justice
Sanjay Kishan Kaul to decide whether or not to assign future work to
Justice Karnan.
It will be open to the Chief Justice of the High Court not to assign any
further administrative/judicial work to him. This would imply, that
no other orders shall be passed by Mr. Justice C.S. Karnan, suo motu or
otherwise, in any matter not specially assigned to him.
Justice Khehar, who is a member of the Supreme Court Collegium
which met on February 11 to decide on large-scale transfers of High
Court judges including Justice Karnans, said it is left to the High Court
judge to state his case against the transfer before the apex court, if he
wants to.
Justice Karnans judicial journey
Justice C.S. Karnan was appointed judge on March 30, 2009. He has
often gone public with his complaints about the judiciary.
He first hit the national headlines in November 2011 when his
complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC),
42
alleging that he was being harassed and victimised by brother judges

because he was a Dalit.
In his complaint, he alleged that there was an attempt to reduce his
role to one of subjugation. Justice Karnan even charged that at a
marriage function, a brother judge crossed his leg deliberately
touching mine.
NCSC Chairman P.L. Punia forwarded the complaint to then Chief
Justice of India Justice S.H. Kapadia as the latter was the ultimate
authority in the judiciary.
Two years later, in January 2014, in an unprecedented act, Justice
Karnan entered a court hall where a Division Bench was hearing a
public interest litigation petition relating to names recommended for
the post of judges and declared that the selection [of names] is not
fair and that he would file an affidavit on the issue.
The Supreme Court in March 2014 condemned Justice Karnans
behaviour observing: The sudden unfamiliar incident made us fume
inwardly on this raw unconventional protest that was unexpected,
uncharitable and ungenerous and, to say the least, it was indecorous.
In mid-2015, he accused a sitting judge of the High Court of sexually
assaulting an intern in his chambers.
Likewise, he suo motu stayed an administrative order of then Madras
High Court Chief Justice S.K. Kaul regarding selection of civil judges
and said he would direct the NCSC to initiate proceedings against him
under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Finally the apex court
intervened and stayed his interim order for undermining the
authority of the Chief Justice.
Justice Karnan had also dubbed autocratic the collegium system of
selecting judges.
In November 2015, he went on long leave, dissatisfied over the
allocation of insignificant or dummy portfolios to him.
The proverbial last straw for him came this month when the Madras
High Court Registry sought the Supreme Courts intervention after
Justice Karnan accused the sitting Chief Justice of caste discrimination.

Jat protests revive Maratha reservation issue
With Jats on the reservation rampage, the long-pending Maratha
reservation issue has got a shot in the arm with leaders launching
fiery rallies all over the State raising the demand again.
The new entrant to the already crowded bandwagon of leaders
cutting across party lines is Congress MLA Nitesh Rane, son of
former Chief Minister and senior party leader Narayan Rane.
Mr Rane has been camping all over the State, from Kolhapur to
Latur and from Phaltan to Tuljapur, joining hands with the
Sambhaji Brigade, an aggressive Maratha organisation, preparing
for the future agitation, which he claims will escalate in next two
months. While the Congress has maintained a distance from his
actions, party sources said it was Rane familys attempt to become
politically relevant, as it had faced a series of defeats in the last
elections.
Currently, the Dr Sadanand More committee is studying all aspects
of the issue, particularly if Maratha is a caste or their caste is
Kunbi, which falls in the backward class.
Of the 17 Chief Ministers in Maharashtra since 1960, as many as 10
have been Marathas, including YB Chavan, NCP chief Sharad
Pawar, Vasantdada Patil and Vilasrao Deshmukh. Many of States
educational institutes and sugar factories are run by Marathas.
The BJP too has been supporting the demand and had even made it
a major election issue in the 2014 Assembly polls. However, it is
yet to fulfil its promise.
Maratha is not a caste, but the real caste is Kunbi. They should be
given reservation as the community is backward. The Maratha
community, which accounts for a third of the States population,
traces its lineage to the warrior king Shivaji.
It is considered a caste cluster including both Kshatriya
warriors and the agricultural peasantry.
The community has traditionally supported the Congress and its
offshoot, the NCP. However, over time, deprived sections of this
vote bank drifted to the Shiv Sena and later to the BJP.
43

Ministry moots National Social Security Authority
The Labour Ministry has mooted the idea of forming a National
Social Security Authority, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, and a separate Social Security Department within the
ministry to provide social security to the entire population in a bid
to prop up the governments pro-worker credential.
The authority may have all the ministers and secretaries of all
ministries dealing with social security programmes along with
state government officials as members.
The functions of the authority should be mainly to formulate the
National Policy on Social Security and to co-ordinate the central
and state level programmes and to ensure that the objectives of the
policy are achieved within the time frame prescribed, according to
the note.
The proposed Social Security Department within the Labour
Ministry will provide policy inputs and secretarial services to
the body.
The note proposes a four-tier system to cover the entire
population of the country, including both formal and informal
sector workers, through a common Social Security Code. It said the
current social security programmes and schemes can be
strengthened and universalised.
The first tier would include the destitute and people below the
poverty line, the second tier would have workers in the
unorganised sector who may be covered under a subsidised
scheme and the third tier would cover workers who can, with the
help of employer, can make contribution to the schemes.
The fourth tier would include people who are comparatively
affluent and can make their own provisions for meeting
contingencies or risks as and when arise.
The note visualised that the social assistance programmes for the
first tier shall be based on tax revenue.
Act against Devadasi system, SC tells States
Condemning the prevalence of the illegal practice of dedicating
young girls as Devadasis, the Supreme Court on Friday described
44

the practice as an evil done to women, who were later even
subjected to sexual exploitation and pushed into prostitution.
Taking a stern view, a Bench of Justices F.M.I. Kalifulla and S.A.
Bobde directed all States and Union Territories, especially
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, to strictly enforce the
Centres to check undesired and unhealthy practice of forcing
young girls to serve as Devadasis.
Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand claimed that State-level
legislation such as the Karnataka Devadasis Prohibition of
Dedication Act, 1982, and Maharashtra Devadasis Abolition Act,
2006, had completely abolished such practices.
Besides, Section 372 of the IPC, which prohibits selling minors for
purposes of prostitution, and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,
1956, also makes prostitution an offence in or in the vicinity of
public places.
Advisory issued: The Union government has issued advisory to all
States and UTs to stop illegal activities of subjecting young girls
into the Devadasi system. Having regard to its laudable objectives,
we refer it to all States and UTs to strictly implement the directives
to check such unethical practice.
The court also allowed any incidents regarding the system of
Devadasi prevailing in Beriya and Nat communities to be
brought to the notice of the State authorities concerned.
Aid for rescued bonded labourers may go up
To liberate crores of children, transgenders and others trapped in
human trafficking, beggary or any such forms of forced labour, the
Union government has proposed a major revamp of the rehabilitation
scheme for rescued bonded workers, raising aid from the present Rs.
20,000 to Rs. 3 lakh.
The government has finalised a proposal to institute a three-tier
rehabilitation funding scheme, under which a rescued transgender or
disabled person will get Rs. 3 lakh, women or children Rs. 2 lakh and
adult men Rs. 1 lakh. Now, Rs. 20,000 goes towards rehabilitation of a
bonded labourer with an equal contribution from both the Centre and
the States.
45
It is estimated that 1.4 crore workers in the country are bonded

labourers, one of the highest in the world, according to the Global
Slavery Index of 2014 released by the Australia-based Walk Free
Foundation.
Official estimates show the State governments had rehabilitated 2.80
lakh workers till March 2015. A person becomes a bonded labourer
when his or her labour is demanded as a means of repayment of a
loan.
To ensure a sustainable flow of money, a significant chunk of the
rehabilitation sum will be credited to the bank accounts of the rescued
persons in the form of fixed monthly deposits.
The total entitlement, transgender and disabled people will get Rs. 2
lakh in the form of monthly deposits signed by the District Collector.
Mysuru retains cleanest city tag
Mysuru city in Karnataka retained the top position in Swachh Bharat
Rankings for 2015 that were released recently by the Ministry of
Urban Development.
Compared to the 2014 rankings, Chandigarh has replaced
Tiruchirapalli of Tamil Nadu in the second rank while Dhanbad of
Jharkhand is reeling at the 73rd slot, the lowest rank.
Cities from south and west continue to do well overall. But those in
other parts of the country, particularly in the north, are beginning to
catch up with the traditional leaders.
The survey was more participatory and evidence based as all the
featured cities were informed two months in advance about the
methodology.
Compared to the previous rankings, NDMC of New Delhi has moved

upward from rank 7 to 4, south MCD from 47 to 39 and North MCD
from 47 to 43. Each MCD, however, has gone downhill from 47 rank in
2014 to 52 in 2015.
In a year-long survey, the researchers studied 476 first-tier cities with

two parameters: one, how minimal open defecation was in the city;
two, how robust the municipalities were with the solid waste
management system. Mysuru was found impressive on both the
counts.
46
Launched in October 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the

Swachh Bharat Mission is the flagship sanitation programme of the
National Democratic Alliance government, which aims to bridge the
gap between sewerage and solid waste management and construct
several million toilets in the urban centres.
With a Central funding of Rs.14,623 crore, the government aims to

build 1.4 crore household toilets, 2.5 lakh community toilets and 2.6
lakh public toilets by 2019.
Let peoples court decide on euthanasia: SC
The Supreme Court said Parliament or the people's court should be

the final judge to decide the legality of passive euthanasia and Living
Will.
The Centre agreed with the apex court and illustrated the complexity
of medically taking a person's life by pointing at how Formula One
legend Michael Schumacher is being kept alive for years in the hope
he will wake up from his coma one day.
A Constitution Bench, led by Justice Anil R. Dave, said it will wait till
July 20 with the unwritten hope that the government or Parliament
will finalise a law on passive euthanasia, the act of withdrawing
medical treatment with the deliberate intention of causing the death
of a terminally-ill patient.
Ultimately it is whether you want a verdict from this court or a

peoples court's verdict. Such issues are better decided by the
people's court.
On legalising the Living Will an advance directive to physicians for

end-of-life medical care the Bench asked whether the concept was
fundamentally against a person's instinctive urge to live.
It asked whether such a person should be given every minute chance

to recover without alien intervention.
SC refuses to disclose data on pending verdicts
Fifteen years after its verdict that the confidence of litigants would be
shaken if judgments were kept pending for years, the Supreme Court
dismissed a plea to maintain the data on its pending judgments and
make the information public under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
47
The courts refusal to be made accountable under the RTI Act is

despite the decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) to
disclose the number of pending or reserved judgments. The
Commissions decision was upheld by a single judge of the Delhi High
Court in a case in which the Supreme Court itself was an opposing
party.
However, the single judges order was set aside by a Division Bench
on January 7, 2016 following an appeal by the Registrar representing
the Supreme Court.
A Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy decided to dismiss RTI
applicant Lokesh Batras appeal against the Division Benchs
judgment.
The CIC had directed the Supreme Court to maintain its record in such
a manner that RTI applicants could be informed of the number of its
reserved judgments.
The CICs decision was based on the SCs 2001 judgment in Anil Rai vs.
State of Bihar. The ruling had also pointed out that the confidence of
the litigants in the results of the litigation is shaken if there is an
unreasonable delay in rendering a judgment after reserving the
same.
CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to
Information Act is the authorised body, established in 2005, under
the Government of India to act upon complaints from those
individuals who have not been able to submit information requests to
a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information
Officer due to either the officer not having been appointed, or because
the respective Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State
Assistant Public Information Officer refused to receive the application
for information under the RTI Act.
The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 8th Annual
Convention of Central Information Commission (CIC) on 2 September
2013.
The Commission includes 1 Chief Information Commissioner (CIC)
and not more than 10 Information Commissioners (IC) who are
appointed by the President of India.
48

Ive brought government closer to people: Modi
PM had launched Rurban Mission in Dongargad, a town in
Rajnandgaon district.
The Rurban Mission was aimed at reducing the burden of migration
to the cities.
It is the culmination of rural and urban. Development should be in
such a way that its soul should be in the villages and the cities should
be its body. The mission will reduce pressure on cities and provide a
new avenue to people living in villages.
Under the mission, around 300 urban growth centres would be
developed in different parts of the country for proper economic
development.
Mr. Modi made a special mention of Ambagad village in Rajnandgaon
for levying a tax on open defecation.
Rajnath meets Jat heads; panel under Naidu to look into quotas
A committee under Union Minister and senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah
Naidu will look into all aspects of reservation for Jats and submit a
report to the Centre on the issue.
The decision was taken at a meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh with leaders of some Jat khap panchayats.
While the committee will prepare a comprehensive report on Jat
reservation, the Haryana government will introduce a Bill in the State
Assembly to provide for reservation for Jats in the State.
Meanwhile, Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has
gone on a fast for peace to return to the State.
While Jats have reservation in some States though not in Haryana
they are not on the central list of those accorded reservation. The
Army and paramilitary forces are out in large numbers to control the
grim situation in Haryana.
Venkaiah Naidu panel starts work, but violence continues
Committee headed by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.
Venkaiah Naidu to look into the demands of the Jat community for
reservation in government jobs in Haryana held its first meeting
recently even as violence continued in the State.
The first option is to give the community reservation through the
Backward Classes (BC) category, which is for agrarian communities.
49

The Jats are the only agrarian community left out of the Mandal
recommendations. It has a provision of 11 per cent reservation within
the OBC category.
The second option is to make a special category reservation for them
as Haryana has a total of 47 per cent reservation in jobs (20 per cent
for scheduled castes, and 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes),
and therefore has a 3 per cent headroom before breaching the 50 per
cent limit for reservation set by the Supreme Court.
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had tried to push through
the first option, but without any consultation with the National
Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). That order had been
struck down by the courts, which is why we are in this position.
The options will be put before the state committee that is to look into
the matter, and the State government will be bringing a Bill in the
Assembly session in March to finalise which arrangement is to be
followed.
Patidars to intensify protest in Gujarat
A BJP MP from Gujarat, Vithal Radadia, has supported the demand of
the Patidar community for OBC status and reservation in education
and government jobs on the similar lines of the Haryana governments
decision to offer quota benefits to the Jats, who launched a violent
agitation forcing the authorities to impose curfew and call in Army in
major towns.
Meanwhile, taking a cue from the Jat agitation in Haryana, which
forced the government to offer them reservation, the Patidar
community in Gujarat is also set to intensify its agitation demanding
OBC status and quotas in the jobs and universities.
Patidar
The Patidar are a caste found primarily in the state of Gujarat, India.
They were formally recognised as a separate identity in the 1931
census of India, having previously been classified as Kanbi.
They are among the most studied of Indian castes and the process
leading to their recognition is a paradigmatic example of the invention
of tradition by social groups in India.
50

Now Rajputs warn of agitation in Rajasthan
Drawing from the ongoing Jat agitation in Haryana, Rajput
organisations in Rajasthan have decided to launch a nation-wide
agitation if their demands for reservation remain unmet.
The agitation would begin by the end of February and would be
launched simultaneously in Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and
Himachal Pradesh.
Venkaiah panel meets Haryana CM
The Venkaiah Naidu committee
looking into the issue of Jat
reservation in Haryana, an
agitation that left 18 persons
dead and scores wounded, had its
second meeting, this time in the
presence of Haryana Chief
Minister M.L. Khattar.
The meeting went into several socio-economic and legal issues
concerning granting quota for Jats in the State, including how the past
Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had dealt with the issue in
courts, since the reservation had been thrown out by courts last year.
The committee realises that it has to tread a very fine line on this
matter, not just because of the violence of the agitation, but also the
complicated legalese involved in it and the fact that there were threats
of demonstrations by other 35 non-Jat communities in the State,
against Jat reservations.
Jats account for nearly 30 per cent of the States population, but unlike
in western Uttar Pradesh, they preferred to back the Indian National
Lok Dal and the Congress rather than the BJP in Haryana in both the
2014 Lok Sabha polls and the Assembly polls subsequently, according
to figures available with the Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies.
Scheme for projects in Naxal zones extended
The Environment Ministry has extended to December 2018 a scheme
granting default Forest Department approval for public utility
projects in Naxal-affected regions.
51
Such a scheme has been in place since 2011 in 117 districts, including
those in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Telangana.
Recent directive is an extension of this programme that lapsed in
December 2015.
All projects require separate forest and environmental clearances,
given the specific circumstances of a project.
The importance of creation of public utility infrastructure such as
schools, dispensaries/hospitals, electric and telecommunication lines,
drinking water projects, water/rainwater harvesting structures,
minor irrigation canals, non-conventional sources of energy, skill
upgrade/vocational training centres, power substations, rural roads,
communication
posts,
police
establishments
like
police
stations/outposts/border outposts/watch towers in sensitive areas
identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
They also include underground laying of optical fibre cables,
telephone lines and drinking water supply lines in Left-Wing
Extremism-affected areas.
This default approval is only eligible for projects that take up no more
than five hectares.
Some of the successes that have resulted from this scheme, according
to the Ministry, are, a government polytechnic at Bagodhar in Giridih,
Jharkhand; the construction of a Kendriya Vidyalaya at Deogarh,
Odisha; Sloni Kanya Ashram Project and Magarlodha Boys School
Project in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh; women ITI training centre in
Kanker, Chhattisgarh; construction of a government medical college at
Kudwa, Gondia, Maharashtra; Vocational Bamboo Research and
Training Centre at Chandrapur, Maharashtra; and establishment of
Telangana School of Horticulture in Medak, Telangana.
PDP seeks a larger package for flood relief
With talks between the ruling alliance partners gaining pace in Jammu
and Kashmir after BJP leader Ram Madhav paying a less-publicised
visit to Srinagar to meet PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, several issues
were thrashed out between the two parties.
The first was about re-examining the financial package announced
earlier for flood relief in the State. The second was the handover of
National Hydroelectric Power Corporation projects in Dulhasti and
52

Uri to the State. The Centre may grant funds to the State government
to buy into these projects and take a majority stake.
The third issue was the inclusion of Srinagar in the Centres flagship
Smart City plan.
Govt. softens stand on foreign trips by officials
MHA sources say that the language of the memorandum when it
comes to allowing foreign governments/agencies to pay for officers
international travel is also problematic and can expose them to
being courted by those agencies.
In particular, Section 19 says There shall be no objection in accepting
international air travel costs and hospitality from an international
body of which India is a member, if the visit abroad is covered under
bilateral/multilateral agreement or under a regular exchange
programme.
The big worry, is if an international lobby firm, NGO, or health or
education agency that has a vested interest in Indian projects, could
use this clause to reach out to or lobby with Indian officials
through a foreign government programme.
According to officials in the Home Ministry that has in the past few
years shut down more than 10,000 NGOs for a lack of accountability
on foreign funding, the January 5 O.M. is troubling because for the first
time it puts in explicit language that Cash allowance and other
allowances could be accepted as offered by the foreign
government/sponsors.
While Finance Ministry officials explain this as a way of ensuring the
government doesnt have to reimburse officials especially where
Indian allowances are higher than those of say the IMF/World Bank or
UN agencies, the language of the new notification is in stark contrast
to the past.
Centre drafts Bill to decriminalise beggary
The government has drafted a Bill that seeks to decriminalise beggary
and offer a life of dignity to the beggars, homeless and others who live
in poverty or abandonment.
Begging is currently a crime under the Bombay Prevention of Begging
Act, 1959. Under the Act, a person found begging can be sent to a
shelter home or even jail without trial.
53
The draft The persons in destitution (protection, care and

rehabilitation) Bill 2015 looks at the issue as a social menace.
In the Bill, destitution refers to a state of poverty or abandonment,
arising from economic or social deprivation and persons in
destitution include the homeless, beggars, people with physical and
mental disabilities, the old and infirm.
MNCs demand for patent irks patients
Recently, hepatitis C patients have been protesting outside Indias
patent office in Dwarka here,
against
the
American
multinational
pharmaceutical
major Gilead Sciences and the
United States government for
pressuring
the
Indian
government to blindly and
speedily grant patents.
The patent office has been
hearing the companys patent
claim on the blockbuster drug Sovaldi, which is priced at a staggering
$84,000 (about Rs.57 lakh) in the U.S.
The proceedings will have major implications for millions of hepatitis
C patients across the world who will be able to access the drug if open
generic production of sofosbuvir is possible in India.
Gilead is charging exorbitant prices in many countries and using
patents to block people in other countries from buying low-cost, yet
equally effective versions of this medicine.
On January 14, 2014, Indias Deputy Controller General of Patents had
rejected the companys patent claim, allowing generic drug makers to
manufacture affordable versions of the drug.
The verdict was set aside by the Delhi High Court on January 30.
It is estimated that 150 million people are infected by hepatitis C
globally, and 700,000 die of the disease each year. Untreated, it can
cause liver cirrhosis and cancer.
54

Patent
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an
inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for
detailed public disclosure of an invention.
An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a
product or a process.
Patents are a form of intellectual property.
The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the
patentee, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between
countries according to national laws and international agreements.
Typically, however, a granted patent application must include one or
more claims that define the invention.
A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a specific
property
right.
These
claims
must
meet
relevant patentability requirements,
such
as novelty, usefulness,
and non-obviousness.
The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right
to prevent others, or at least to try to prevent others, from
commercially making, using, selling, importing, or distributing a
patented invention without permission.
Under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be
available in WTO member states for any invention, in all fields of
technology, and the term of protection available should be a minimum
of twenty years.
Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable subject
matter from country to country.
Govt. acts tough, JNU student leader charged with sedition
As the Centre hardened its position, a Delhi court remanded
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya
Kumar in three-day police custody.
He was arrested on the charge of sedition, after anti-India slogans
were allegedly raised at the university during a recent protest
meeting in memory of Afzal Guru, hanged in 2013 after his conviction
in the Parliament attack case.
55
A case of sedition against several unknown students was lodged at

Vasant Kunj (North) police station.
It was registered under IPC Sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal
conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons with a common
intention). Five more persons are absconding in the case.
The university also initiated action, barring eight students from
academic activity pending an enquiry, though they would be allowed
to stay as guests in the hostels.
IPC Sections 124A (sedition)
Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible
representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred
or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards.
The Government established by law in India shall be punished with
[imprisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with
imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be
added, or with fine.
Explanation 1-The expression "disaffection" includes disloyalty and all
feelings of enmity.
Explanation 2-Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures
of the attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not
constitute an offence under this section.
Explanation 3-Comments expressing disapprobation of the
administrative or other action of the Government without exciting or
attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not
constitute an offence under this section.
Muslims in West Bengal more deprived, disproportionately poorer:
Amartya Sen
Muslims, who form 27.01 per cent of West Bengals population,
constitute a very large proportion of the poor in the State.
Amartya Sen was releasing a voluminous report on the condition of
Muslims in West Bengal titled Living Reality of Muslims in West
Bengal.
The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer
and more deprived in terms of living conditions is an empirical
recognition that gives this report an inescapable immediacy and
practical urgency.
56
He released the report with long chapters dedicated to education,

health, economic conditions and gender of Muslims of Bengal who
constitute a majority in 65 of 341 blocks in the State.
The survey the most extensive one on Bengals Muslims was carried
out in 325 villages and 75 urban wards from a sample of 81
community development blocks and 30 municipal bodies.
The 368-page report was produced by two Kolkata-based research
organisations, Association SNAP and Guidance Guild, in association
with Prof. Sens trust, Pratichi India.
Though the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has claimed to have
played a significant role in the uplift of Muslims in Bengal since 2011,
the report points to little improvement in areas such as literacy,
health or participation in work. For example, Muslims have a literacy
rate seven per cent lower than the States average.
Around five per cent of those who discontinued education admitted
lack of motivation as the factor behind dropping out of school as they
did not see any future benefits from education.
In the health sector, the condition of, Muslims is no better and the
report observes on the basis of State government data and field-level
survey that when Muslim population percentage increases in the
blocks, the hospital facilities dwindle down.
As a result almost double the number of hospital beds is available in
blocks with less than 15 per cent population share of Muslims in
comparison with blocks having 50 per cent or above of (Muslim
population). Such discrimination is underscored in nearly every page
of the report.
Firstly, the number of Muslim students clearing West Bengal Civil
Services is much higher than in earlier years. It is 24 this year.
Secondly, Aliah University, started during the Lefts time, was given a
grant of Rs. 300 crore and many hostels for Muslim girls were built in
the districts.
Observe Matribhasha Diwas on March 3: UGC
Universities and colleges across the country will now have to mark
March 3 on their calendars. While educational institutions thought
they do not have to conduct any activities on Matribhasha Diwas on
February 21 as it happens to be a Sunday, the University Grants
57

Commission (UGC) has asked them to observe the day on March 3
instead.
Matribhasha Diwas is otherwise observed as International Mother
Language Day across the world. The theme for 2016 is Quality
education, language(s) of instruction and learning outcomes.
According to an earlier letter by the UGC to education institutions,
they are expected to organise elocution, debating, singing, essay
writing competitions, painting competitions, music and drama
performances, exhibitions, online resources and activities as well as
events exploring the cognitive, economic, social and cultural activities
of multilingual society.
SC refuses plea for CAG audit of intelligence agencies
The Supreme Court refused a plea by an NGO to subject intelligence
agencies to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General and other
independent scrutiny.
Trying to get into intelligence agencies can create a dent into our
security.
The court refused to entertain the plea despite contentions raised by
Mr. Bhushan that the intelligence agencies in the United Kingdom
were put to independent audit of their accounts.
The NGO had raised a question mark over the functioning of the
Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and National
Technical Research Organisation on the ground that there was no
statute to govern them. The court should refrain from interfering in
their functioning, the Bench remarked.
Now, e-visa for tourists from 37 more nations
Electronic tourist visas (e-TVs) will be extended to citizens of 37 more
countries, taking the total number to 150.
The new additions are Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cote dlvoire,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,
Greece, Guinea, Iceland, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi,
Moldova, Namibia, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia,
South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Trinidad & Tobago,
Zambia and Zimbabwe.
58
TVoA (tourist visa on arrival), enabled by electronic travel

authorisation, popularly known as the e-tourist visa scheme, was
launched on November 27, 2014. Since then, more than 7.5 lakh such
visas have been issued. At present, on an average, 3,500 e-TVs are
granted daily.
Nai Manzil to Enable Minority Youth to Seek Better Employment
The scheme will benefit the minority youths who do not have a formal
school leaving certificate, i.e., those in the category of school-dropouts
or educated in the community education institutions like
the Madarsas, with a view to enabling them to seek better
employment in the organized sector and thus to equip them for better
lives. Scheme has been approved with the cost of Rs. 650 Crore for
five years.
The World Bank has approved the funding of US$ 50 million and
recommended the scheme to countries in Africa faced with similar
developmental challenges.
USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts
for Development) was formally launched on 14th May, 2015 at
Varanasi (U.P.). The scheme aims at capacity building and updating
the traditional skills of master craftsmen and artisans. The scheme
will also set standards for traditional skills. The trained master
craftsmen/artisan will train the minority youths in various specific
traditional arts/crafts.
Ministry has also engaged National Institute of Fashion Technology
(NIFT), National Institute of Design (NID) and Indian Institute of
Packaging (IIP) to work in various clusters for design intervention;
product range development; packaging; exhibitions, fashion shows
and publicity; tying up with e-marketing portals to enhance sales; and
brand building. Out of earmarked Budget of Rs. 17.01 crore for 201516, Rs. 15.29 crore has been released.
An Online portal for Management Information System (MIS) for
Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs), trainees, trainers, location of
projects etc. has been launched by the Ministry.
Establishment of Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS),
a special purpose vehicle, to address all skill development needs of
minority communities, award of about 86 lakh Scholarships.
59
During 2014-15, Padho Pardesh, for providing interest subsidy on

educational loans taken from Banks by minority students for higher
studies abroad, unique initiative of Hamari Dharohar aimed at
preservation of rich heritage and culture of minorities, by supporting
curation of iconic exhibitions, calligraphy, preservation of old
documents, research and development, restructured Multi-sectoral
Development Programme or Jan Vikaas Karyakram, for area
development programme , Nai Roshni for Leadership Development
of Minority Women by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for
interacting with Government systems, banks and intermediaries at all
levels, concessional loans by National Minorities Development &
Finance Corporation(NMDFC for self-employment, activities and
initiatives of the National Waqf Development Corporation
(NAWADCO) .
During 2014-15, the Budget of the Ministry was Rs.3711 Crore, which
was further increased to Rs. 3712.78 crore for 2015-16. Ministry of
Minority Affairs was created on 29th January 2006 for formulation of
policies for welfare and socio-economic development of 6 (six)
notified minority communities namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, which constitute more than 19% of Indias
population.
Jeevan Pramaan- A Hit With Pensioners
Jeevan Pramaan provides a big relief to all pensioners. A pensioner
can now digitally provide Annual Life Certificate to the authorities for
continuity of pension instead of presenting himself physically or
through a Life Certificate issued by specified authorities every year.
Lakhs of pensioners on various schemes are already benefitting from
it.
Launched by the Prime Minister on 10th Nov 2014, nearly 12.5 Lakhs
pensioners have registered for Digital Life Certificate (DLC) in about a
year. Interestingly the enrolled pensioners come from different
districts of the country showing the interest the facility has generated
all over the country including in far flung rural and hilly districts.
Started with Civil pensioners of Central Government only, several
other pensioner schemes have adopted Jeevan Pramaan and provide
this facility of Digital Life Certificate to these pensioners. Presently
60

apart from civil Central Government employees, Defence services,
Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Post Offices,
Railways, Defence Pensioners Disbursement Office (DPDOs), several
PSUs including Mumbai Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust and New Delhi
Municipal Council are providing this service.
State Governments have also recognized the potential of Jeevan
Pramaan and adopted the service. State Governments of Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab,
Pondicherry, Odisha, Andaman & Nicobar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand
have already started providing these services.
Jeevan Pramaan service is provided by NIC through a Central Portal
developed on Open source. The platform is highly scalable. Developed
using in-house manpower, the portal has been developed and
maintained free of cost to all the user agencies and is also free for
pensioners.
In Jeevan Pramaan a pensioner can digitally show that he or she is
alive using his/her biometrics. Biometric devices are available in
CSCs, Bank branches, Pensioner associations, Govt. offices etc. More
over any citizen can also purchase a finger print scanner and do the
identification from home. A typical finger print scanner currently
costs around Rs. 2600/- only and the prices are expected to come
down in future. The usefulness of Jeevan Pramaan will increase even
further as the biometric authentication device gets integrated with
mobile phones.
All pension disbursing organizations, which have a requirement of
periodic life certificate to continue disbursing pension are welcome to
join this free offering.
Swachh Paryatan Mobile App Launched
Swachh Parayatan Mobile App was launched by Dr. Mahesh Sharma,
the Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture and Minister of State
for Civil Aviation. This project is being implemented by the Ministry of
Tourism, Government of India through DeGS and NIC.
This Mobile App is available on Google Search Engine as Swachh
Paryatan and initially it is available on Android Phones and very soon
it will be available on Apple and Microsoft also. This mobile app shall
61
be monitored by the Project Monitoring Unit of Swachh Bharat

Mission in Ministry of Tourism.
To start with, 25 Adarsh Smarak Monuments protected
by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been identified for
inclusion in the app. The application would be scaled up to include
more monuments as the campaign expands.
This mobile app enables a citizen to take photograph of garbage at the
monument and upload the same along with his/her remarks. The
application then sends an SMS to the ASI Nodal Officer concerned with
the monument upon receipt of which the Nodal Officer gets the
garbage cleared/removed. The Nodal Officer thereafter sends
confirmation about the redressal of the complaint through an SMS to
the complainant.
ECONOMY
PUBLIC FINANCE
Angel investors need tax sops
Indias macroeconomic fundamentals augur well, accentuated by the
confidence placed by global leaders, as was evident in Davos recently.
Increasingly, we are witnessing some of the new-age tech companies
coming out of India and building disruptive solutions for the country,
which can also be mirrored in other parts of the globe. It is an apt
moment in history to make an exhortation to the government to
support the ecosystem which nurtures innovative thinking.
Start-ups
Digital India, Make in India and the like, are mammoth-sized visions
which require start-up participation for its success. Emboldened by
their presence (4200-odd) as we are, and yet the threat of flight of
capital cannot be simply wished away, albeit diluted after Jan 16 when
the Startup India action plan was unveiled the concerns still persist.
Once again we reiterate that dual levies of VAT, ST and 10 per cent
TDS through indirect taxes cause cash flow constraints and distort
trading and channel distribution, and needs simplification. This has a
negative impact on the software product ecosystem in India.
62
63
Its common enough that investment in start-ups is fraught with risk.

To make life easier, domestic angel investors should be relieved of the
tax burden accruing on account of Fair Market Value norms and
associated income tax implications for unlisted companies. In
addition, harmonization of tax rates with long-term capital gains and
continuation of the holding period of short -term capital assets to
remain at 12 months are recommended. Start-ups, due to their low
asset base have limited access to debt funding and angels are often the
only recourse.
The conditions for allowing carry forward of losses is constrained.
NASSCOM has recommended that for the purpose of capital infusion
in start-ups, the condition of change in ownership structure needs to
be relaxed.
E-commerce
It is a sector which is growing at almost 30 per cent annually and
generates employment opportunities very rapidly. The landscape
remains dotted with internet-driven start-ups, and so the issues
highlighted above also apply. Further, there are many state-level
initiatives to tax e-commerce consignments higher thereby
introducing biases and making electronic transactions less favourable,
contrary to the intent of the government looking towards encouraging
electronic transactions.
Proliferation of this sector is often a factor of ease of online payment
mode. We have suggested this earlier as well that in card not
present category, thresholds in two factor authentication (2FA)
should be appropriately introduced to enable online transactions.
What constitutes an online marketplace has been fodder for animated
discussions. In continuation, taxation across states for online
marketplaces must be made uniform, and anomalies removed.
Service Providers
Multi-national companies want to extend their global footprint and
the IT industry is at the forefront as it leads the Indian MNCs journey
abroad.
The idea behind tax reforms is laudable, but concerns arise as draft
plans are being discussed. R&D investment in software platforms and
product development is warranted, and incentives on the lines of
international best practices should be continued.
The din on removal of MAT grows louder every year and government
should provide a clearer road map along with the road map for
rationalization of income tax, education cess and surcharge to bring
down the effective corporate tax rate.
ANGEL INVESTOR
An angel investor or angel (also known as a business angel, informal
investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an
affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up,
usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small
but increasing number of angel investors invest online through equity
crowd funding or organize themselves into angel groups or angel
networks to share research and pool their investment capital, as well
as to provide advice to their portfolio companies.
Fertiliser Industry is best candidate for direct benefit transfer
There is a need to increase the urea price by at least 15 per cent. The
current selling price of urea which is highly subsidised is almost onefourth the world price. There is a potential over the next four years to
increase urea price every year gradually so that the subsidy levels are
reduced. Further due to the product being very cheap, there is
excessive use of urea and this affects the soil. By increasing the price
this can lead to more balanced fertilization and lower subsidy outgo.
The Fertiliser industry is the best candidate for direct benefit transfer
(DBT). Currently, the subsidy is paid through the fertiliser companies.
If the farmers are given subsidy directly; this will not only stop
leakage but will also avoid unnecessary paper work and red-tapism.
Currently in the phosphatic sector, there is a cumbersome procedure
to reclaim subsidy and freight. It is desirable to have freight merged
into the subsidy so that there is only one stage of disbursement. A
weighted average freight can be used for this purpose. Currently,
freight bills have to be submitted separately and verified and then
paid. All these results in a lot of paper work delay.
The current move of the Government to grant support to organic
compost is a welcome move as this ensures replacement of carbon
into the soil thereby making it more conducive for farming.
64
The major challenge in the farm sector relates to irrigation as the

percentage of land under irrigation is still less than 20-25 per cent
and majority of Indian farmland is rain-fed or monsoon dependent.
Investment in linking of rivers and building of canals to systematically
increase irrigated area every year should be part of the budget.
Single Super Phosphate (SSP) is the appropriate fertiliser for the small
and marginal farmers. The current system of subsidy is not conducive
to promotion of SSP usage.
Countries like Brazil have used this cheaper alternative with some
support rather than depend on imported di-ammonium phosphate
(DAP). The whole policy towards SSP needs to be relooked. At least 3
million tons of SSP can be used in addition to the current usage. This
will bring down imports of DAP by at least 2 million tons annually.
Interest rate on small savings may come down
Interest rates for small savings schemes, such as Post Office Savings
Account, Public Provident Fund and Post office Fixed Deposit Scheme,
may be reduced by the government to align them more closely with
the market rates.
The new rates would be applicable from April 1, 2016. The rates for
the long-term schemes and those for the girl child and senior citizens
will remain unaffected by the decision.
The Reserve Bank, over the last one year, has reduced interest rates
by over a percentage point. At present, the small savings rates are
linked to government securities and are readjusted every year.
The smalls saving schemes include Post Office Monthly Income
Scheme (MIS), PPF, Post Office Fixed Deposit Scheme, Senior Citizens
Savings Scheme, Post Office Savings Account and Sukanya Samriddhi
Accounts.
While the rates for the girl child and senior citizen schemes will also
be adjusted every quarter, the spreads they have over the G-Sec rates
will be left unaltered.
Policy for capital goods introduced
The government introduced a National Capital Goods Policy to spur
capital goods sector and the Make in India initiative.
The objective of the policy was to increase production of capital goods
from Rs. 2.30 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 7.50 lakh crore in 2025 and
65

raising direct and indirect employment from the current 8.4 million to
30 million. The policy envisages making India a net exporter of capital
goods and aims at facilitating improvement in technology across subsectors, increasing skill availability, ensuring mandatory standards
and promoting growth and capacity building of MSMEs.
Some of the key issues addressed include availability of finance, raw
material, innovation and technology, productivity, quality and
environment-friendly manufacturing practices, promoting exports
and creating domestic demand.
The key policy recommendations include strengthening the existing
scheme of the DHI (Department of Heavy Industry) on enhancement
of competitiveness of capital goods sector by increasing budgetary
allocation and increasing its scope to further boost global
competitiveness in various sub sectors and enhancing export of
Indian made capital goods through a Heavy Industry Export and
Market Development Assistance Scheme (HIEMDA).
It has also made provision for introducing a Technology Development
Fund, upgrading existing and setting up a new testing and certification
facility, making standards mandatory in order to reduce sub-standard
machine imports and at the same time providing opportunity to local
manufacturing units by utilising their installed capacity and unveiling
scheme for skill development for capital goods sector.
Collect health insurance cess
Since independence India has come a long way in terms of improving
the health of its citizens. In just three decades, the country has added
at least 11 years to the average life expectancy at birth, raising it from
only 55 years in 1980 to 66 in 2013.
Robust investments and expansion by the private sector has had a
significant role to play in the development apart from other related
factors especially innovations in medical technologies.
A recent report by KPMG and FICCI states that India spends 4.2 per
cent of its GDP on healthcare out of which only 1 per cent is
contributed by the public sector.
The Indian governments expenditure in healthcare is amongst the
lowest in the world due to tight fiscal discipline. However, even
without adequate public sector funding, the healthcare segment,
66
67
which was at $73.92 billion in 2011, is projected to grow at a

compounded annual growth rate of 16 per cent to reach $280 billion
in 2020 thanks to efforts by the private players. Moreover, every $1
invested in the healthcare industry helps to generate $4 through its
ancillary industries also by way of creating jobs through the value
chain.
Public sector funding may be way below par and it would be
impractical and nearly unfair to expect the government alone to
bridge the infrastructure gap, which today stands at a deficit of about
5 lakh beds.
To meet the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO),
we need investments to the tune of $50 billion. What is required is not
massive increase in public funding but a functional and enabling
ecosystem to create and sustain the required physical and access
infrastructure.
Great clinical quality comes at a cost and this has to be understood by
all players, be it providers or payers. Concurrently, the average cost of
healthcare has been going up in the country, making it unaffordable to
the masses.
According to WHO, only 33 per cent of the Indian healthcare
expenditure in 2012 came from government sources. Of the remaining
private spending, around 86 per cent was out of pocket, which
means citizens spent their own money to the extent that scores of
families ran into bankruptcy. On the other hand, in the developed
economies, most of the spending is from the government sector and
third parties.
One viable way to do this is by collecting a health-insurance cess for
general citizens including people below the poverty line and
mandating subscription-based contributions from the organised
sector. We need health savings funds, as part of salary savings, to
create a corpus for individuals that would accrue over the long term
without adding to their financial burdens.
Lastly, India has a burgeoning opportunity in the medical tourism
space, which was valued at $10.5 billion in 2012 (Transparency
Market Research) and is projected to grow to $32.5 billion with a
CAGR of 17.9 per cent by 2019. We are considered a leader in the

market but our share continues to be in the low single digits. Other
low-cost destinations including Thailand, Singapore, Brazil, South
Korea and Philippines are aggressively competing to grow their
shares. India offers medical facilities including critical care, at onetenth the cost of the same in USA; one-fifth of it in Singapore and onethird of that in Thailand.
The Centre and state governments along with the ministries related to
the sector such as ministry of Home, Health and Family Welfare,
Tourism and External Affairs have to work together and in tandem to
make India a global healthcare destination. It is imperative to keep in
mind that medical tourism does not only contribute to the GDP but
also helps to create a world-class ecosystem that can provide services
with the highest of standards to our fellow citizens.
Great healthcare delivery makes both eminent economic sense, and
social sense. It touches the core of what we as human beings need to
provide to the next generation a safe and healthy ecosystem.
FM inaugurates non-tax revenue e-portal
With the Prime Minister's Office setting a target to switch at least 90
per cent of all official transactions to paperless mode by the end of
2016, Finance Minister launched a new e-platform for non-tax
receipts. NTPC made the maiden payment on the portal developed by
the Controller General of Accounts, by remitting Rs.989 crore as an
interim dividend to the government.
This has a lot of advantages and will reduce a lot of the manual work
now and almost instantly enable the payment at the different
categories.
The major sources of non-tax revenue for the government are from
dividends paid by public sector companies, the Reserve Bank of India,
etc. During the previous year's Budget speech, Finance minister had
said that one major way to curb black money is to discourage cash
transactions in favour of electronic transactions.
Inclusive growth a key factor
The one motto that underpins the current governments economic
policy is inclusive growth.
The government must take tangible measures to improve the
performance of the agriculture sector as it is already bearing the
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brunt of drought for over two years and its performance affects the
entire economy.
Last year, the government allocated sizeable funds to support microirrigation, watershed development and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchai Yojana.
The Budget should look at raising the momentum through enhanced
budgetary allocation for increasing the area under irrigation along
with expanding the insurance net to protect the farmers from natural
calamities.
The government also needs to invest in supporting agricultural
research and empowering the farmers to acquire relevant skills, take
up entrepreneurship and link up with the markets.
Private sector participation in the infrastructure sector has been
lukewarm for various reasons. One of the ways it could consider is to
devise innovative financing schemes to fund this sector. Clear
direction on implementation of the Kelkar Committee
recommendations will help attract investor interest.
Harmonisation of various industrial park regimes can supplement the
infrastructure push being given in industrial corridors to make
manufacturing competitive in India. The third area that the
government must focus on is banking, where enhanced allocation for
re-capitalising banks that are exposed to the vulnerabilities of the
economy is the need of the hour.
The thrust on job creation in contradistinction to job seeking is
welcome. It displays deep confidence on the resilience of the countrys
economy as well as the trust that is reposed on the capacity of the
youth to rebuild India.
The novel Start-up India action plan announced recently was a move
in that direction. Some areas for improvement include providing for
tax exemption to angel investors, seed capital funds and stock options
offered by start-ups to employees.
Last but not the least; the government must look at increasing the
tempo of tax reforms. Some areas that require clarification are:
Minimum Alternate Tax, not subjecting share capital investments to
transfer pricing, hastening dispute resolution, alternative dispute

resolution methods, keeping track of transactions through extensive
use of PAN and giving effect to recommendations of the TARC.
Experts want body to oversee budget
Members of the XIV Finance Commission have questioned the
governments failure to act on its recommendation to constitute an
Independent Fiscal Council that objectively evaluates budget
announcements and forecasts, stressing that such an institution was
critical to improve the governments credibility on fiscal management.
The Centre opts for creative accounting, pauses or simply doesnt
follow the targets it has submitted to Parliament under the Fiscal
Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act of 2003.
States have constraints in managing their finances as the RBI controls

their deficit and cannot float a bond on a states behalf without the
Centres approval. Since the 2003 FRBM law came into effect, there
have been four pauses in the deficit targets enshrined in it and a few
occasions where the targets have been flouted.
The Commission had recommended a sharp increase in allocations to

state governments in its report released last February, which the
government accepted. It had also mooted an Independent Fiscal
Council as an oversight body over the finance ministry. The council
would report to the Parliament on how realistic government
projections are, citing similar independent budget and fiscal
management monitoring offices in 35 countries.
The Auditor General has to monitor the FRBM Act but thats a postfacto assessment. The Council can react after the budget comes out
and give a view whether the intended purpose would be met or more
funds should be provided, and the deficits are in line with projections.
Such an independent council could also weigh in on the debate over

the fiscal deficit that the budget should strive for that is currently
being driven by only government officials, myriad commentators and
the RBI.
The government is always under pressure to breach the fiscal deficit

target. The Reserve Bank of Indias view is also driven by its own
perspective and primary focus on monetary policy. A Fiscal Council
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would be a very important body especially when controversies on
issues like fiscal deficit thresholds arise as there is no independent
body to suggest a road map.
In the past few years, states have been fiscally prudent but the Union
has been skipping its own deficit targets. This is why we had
recommended an independent Fiscal Council to act as an oversight
body on the finance ministry that would report to the Parliament.

Strategic debt restructuring initiated
The government has initiated strategic debt restructuring (SDR) in 10
to 12 cases comprising bad loans worth Rs 1 lakh crore.
Government has given banks the freedom to fix the projects that were
causing bad loans through strategic debt restructuring. They were
given the option of even replacing the promoters of the project if need
be. So far there are around 10 to 12 cases under SDR with loans worth
Rs 1 lakh crore.
Strategic debt restructuring is a new mechanism introduced by the
Reserve Bank of India in June last year so that banks and financial
institutions can more easily recover non-performing assets.
Cabinet nod to incentivise cashless transactions
The Union Cabinet approved several steps to promote cashless
transactions, which include mandatory card-based or electronic
payments beyond a prescribed threshold.
Some of the other major steps approved by the Cabinet include the
withdrawal of any additional charge currently imposed on card or
digital payments by various government entities and the introduction
of the required infrastructure for digital payments in all government
offices.
The Cabinet also approved the rationalisation of the merchant
discount rate (MDR) on card transactions and telecom service charges
for digital financial transactions to promote mobile banking.
Promotion of payments through cards and digital means will be
instrumental in reducing tax avoidance, migration of Government
payments and collections to cashless mode, discourage transactions in
cash by providing access to financial payment services to the citizens
to conduct transactions through card/ digital means and shifting
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payment ecosystem from cash dominated to non-cash/less cash

payments.
In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that one
way to curb the flow of black money is to discourage transactions in
cash. Towards this, he proposed to introduce several measures that
would incentivise credit or debit card transactions.
Later in the year, the government also proposed to levy a nominal
cash handling charge on cash transactions above a specified level,
though this was not included in the steps approved by the Cabinet.
MERCHANT DISCOUNT RATE

The rate charged to a merchant by a bank for
providing debit and credit card services. The rate is determined based
on factors such as volume, average ticket price, risk and industry. The
merchant must set up this service with a bank, and agree to the rate
prior to accepting debit and credit cards as payment.
Scrutinise FDI from Singapore, Mauritius
A close scrutiny of foreign direct investments from Singapore and
Mauritius is needed as both the nations accounted for about 60 per
cent of the $30 billion worth of FDI in India during the first three
quarters of the current fiscal year.
A detailed examination is needed to find out if they constitute actual
investments or whether they are diversions from other sources to
avail tax benefits under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement
(DTAA) that India has with these two countries, according to the
Economic Survey released.
According to government data, of the $29.5 billion FDI into India
during April-December 2015 in 2015-16, around $11 billion was from
Singapore, while $6.1 billion was from Mauritius.
Also, of the $278 billion worth FDI India received during April 2000December 2015, a whopping $93.6 billion (or 34 per cent of the total)
was from Mauritius, while $43.2 billion (16 per cent of the total) was
from Singapore. These two countries together accounted for half of
the total FDI inflows into India during the15-year period.
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A recent note on FDI prepared by the New Delhi-based Institute for

Studies in Industrial Development (ISID) said though successive
governments have put FDI at the centre-stage of India's development
priorities for over two decades, detailed and systematic analysis of the
nature of FDI inflows and its likely implications, including the
differing developmental impacts, have not been made so far.
Analysis of critical operational aspects of FDI companies is often
based on small sets of easily available companies ignoring the fact that
a majority of FDI companies are unlisted and are registered as private
limited companies, according to the institute.
Half of the FDI inflows during 2004-2014 cannot be termed as
realistic FDI, and inflows into the manufacturing sector accounted
for a low proportion of the total reported inflows.
However, tax experts and consultants said Mauritius and Singapore
being one of the leading foreign investors is not a new phenomenon
and that the government has been aware of this trend for a long time.
So long as these investments are within the framework of the law, the
government should not be concerned about where the FDI is coming
from. Referring to the huge investments from Singapore into India, he
said several companies including from India had taken advantage of
the concessions given by the Singapore government to set up regional
headquarters there. These companies had also raised money in
Singapore to in turn invest in India and other countries.
Most of the FDI coming into India through Mauritius, Singapore and
Cyprus are actually from the U.S. or from India-related investors.
The Mauritius route is used for availing tax benefits and for ensuring
anonymity. FDI from Mauritius is however sector-agnostic unlike FDI
from countries like Japan, Germany and France, which are mostly in
manufacturing-related sectors.
The Singapore route is used mostly by Indian entities with a regional
office.
CBDT Signs Two Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) With
United Kingdom
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into two
bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with United Kingdom.
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With this signing, CBDT has concluded three bilateral APAs the first
one being a bilateral APA signed with Japan in December, 2014.
The two bilateral APAs were signed with two Indian group entities of
a UK based Multi-National Company (MNC). The APAs have been
entered into soon after the Competent Authorities of India and United
Kingdom finalised the terms of the bilateral arrangement under the
Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) process contained in the IndiaUK DTAA.
The APAs cover the period 2013-14 to 2017-18 and also have a
Rollback provision for 2 years (2011-12 and 2012-13). Transfer
pricing disputes on the same transaction were recently resolved
under MAP for each of these two companies for the years 2006-07 to
2010-11.
With the signing of the bilateral APAs, the two Indian companies have
been provided with tax certainty for 12 years each (5 years under
MAP and 7 years under APA). This is a significant step towards
providing a stable and predictable tax regime.
The two APAs are also significant because they address the issues of
payment of management & service charges and payment of royalty.
These transactions generally face prolonged and multi-layered
transfer pricing disputes.
With this signing, CBDT has so far signed 41 APAs out of which 38 are
unilateral and 3 are bilateral.
Tax Administration Reforms Commission
The Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC) headed by Dr.
Parthsarathi Shome. The Report has four volumes containing a
number of tax administration reforms. The broad recommendations
inter-alia include changes in structure, improvement in taxpayers
service, enhanced use of information and communication technology,
exchange of information with other agencies, strengthening of human
resource management, key internal processes, customs capacity
building, impact assessment, expansion of base, compliance
management, revenue forecasting, predictive analysis and research
for tax governance etc. These recommendations are at various stages
of examination/ acceptance/ implementation.
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A number of steps have been taken to facilitate the direct tax payers
which inter-alia include measures aimed at reducing litigation, setting
up of a dedicated structure to deal with grievances of the taxpayers,
simplification of procedures, enhancement of e-facilities including
electronic verification of income tax return, e-sahyog etc.
Further, for the welfare of indirect tax payers the following steps have
been taken:
Establishment of 24X7 customs clearance facility in 17 airports
and 18 seaports.
Customs Single Window Clearance Project for faster customs
clearance.
Implementation of e-BRC (BRC-Bank Realization Certificate)
module
Establishment of Help Desk at prominent places at international
airports for facilitating passengers including business travelers.
Reduction in number of export and import documents required by
customs from 5 to 3 so as to reduce transaction cost.
Integrated customs EDI SEZ Online system to facilitate paperless movement of export and import goods between SEZs and
Gateway ports.
Customs Accredited Client Programme (ACP) reviewed with a
view to allow a graded re-entry to disqualified ACP clients to
facilitate major importers.
Rationalization of penal provisions in Customs, Central Excise and
Service Tax.
New Central Excise/Service Tax registrations to be given within
two days of filing of application, with post facto verification, if
required.
E-payment of service tax and central excise made mandatory for
all assesses/taxpayers to reduce the cost of compliance for the
trade and industry.
Acceptance of digitally signed invoices and providing for
maintenance of electronic records with duly authenticated digital
signature.
Direct dispatch of goods allowed for job workers as well as
registered dealers and importers.

Time limit for availing Cenvat Credit increased from 6 months to 1
year.
Circular issued extending facility to pay arrears in installments
extended and for amendment of Garnishee order.
Rules amended to provide clarity regarding valuation of goods in
Central Excise when the transaction value is below the cost of
manufacture of goods.
MONETARY MANAGEMENT
Banks balance sheet clean-up imperative for growth
The RBI had conducted an asset quality review (AQR) of banks and
identified specific accounts, which banks have to identify as nonperforming in two quarters, October-December and January-March.
As a result, bad loans have hit banks profitability in the third quarter
with most of them posting heavy losses in Q3.
State Bank of India reported 62 per cent drop in its net profit on the
back of over Rs. 20,000 crore rises in non-performing loans or bad
loans.
Private Banks, which is in a much better shape on the asset quality
front, saw their business growing much more than their public sector
counterpart, he said.
Non-food credit growth from public sector banks, the more stressed
part of the system, grew at only 6.6 per cent over the calendar year
2015. In contrast, non-food credit growth in private sector banks was
20.2 %, per cent.
There are two polar approaches to loan stress. One is to apply band
aids to keep the loan current and hope that time and growth will set
the project back on track. An alternative approach is to try to put the
stressed project back on track rather than simply applying band aids.
This may require deep surgery.
Justifying the move to ask banks to classify loans that were identified
during the AQR as bad loans, loan classification is merely good
accounting it reflects what the true value of the loan might be. It is
accompanied by provisioning, which ensures the bank sets aside a
buffer to absorb likely losses. If the losses do not materialize, the bank
can write back provisioning to profits.
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The Indian banking sector is seeing rise in stressed assets over the
last three years. According to RBI data, stressed asset, that is gross
NPA plus standard restructured advances, as a percentage of
advances moved up to 11.3 per cent as on September 2015 as
compared to 9.2 per cent in March 2013.
Market participants who are worried about the amount of bad loans
that will be added to the system.
There are some wild claims being made by some financial analysts
about the size of the stressed asset problem. This verges on scaremongering. Our projections are that any breach of minimum core
capital requirements by a small minority of public sector banks, in the
absence of any recapitalization, will be small.
The banks will need government equity or preference share infusion.

On its part, RBI will provide whatever liquidity is needed by any bank.
Not desirable to use exchange rate to spur economic growth
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government dont favour
undervaluation of the exchange rate as a means to spur economic
growth.
There are those who argue that in countries such as China, Japan and
Korea business enterprises grew via an undervalued exchange rate.
However there are a lot of problems with undervaluing the exchange
rate and some of these problems are reflected in the economic
condition that these countries find themselves in today.
The Indian rupee is one of Asias worst performing currencies against

the U.S. dollar this year amid renewed concern about the health of the
world economy and dwindling investor confidence in Prime Minister
Narendra Modis ability to push through economic reforms. On
February 12, the currency completed its biggest weekly decline since
mid-January as overseas funds fled the nations stocks amid a global
equity rout.
The RBI wants the exchange rate to be reasonably predictable and

reasonably stable.
The advantage to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

should come from their capabilities, cost-effectiveness and innovative
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ideas rather than from undervaluation. MSMEs can act as a means of
social empowerment where disadvantageous sections of society can
be empowered with money and wealth.
Lack of infrastructure and logistics, lack of access to marketing,

difficulty and the expense in acquiring land and financing are some of
the impediments faced by MSMEs. It is necessary that large companies
handhold MSMEs for the latters growth.
It is also necessary to have a safety net for the workers in small

business firms. Kerala, with its literacy rate and educational
achievements, is quite capable of triggering a revolution on the MSME
front.
Govt. to tap CSCs for rural banking access
The government is looking to leverage its Common Services Centres

(CSCs) to enable easy access to banking services, particularly in rural
areas.
Government had a target of making 40 lakh people digitally literate in

four years. In less than one year 39 lakh people were made digitally
literate, indicating popularisation of digital India, the next target is to
create banking access point in every village using CSCs.
The withdrawal facility has already been introduced at the CSCs

whereas opening of accounts is being worked out with the banks and
is likely to be rolled-out shortly. With the CSCs, the government aims
to make one person in every family digitally literate in four years.
CSCs the entrepreneurs have earned a total commission of Rs.438

crore till now on e-services such as pan cards.
Officials should see to that the CSCs provided Internet connectivity on

priority basis. The CSCs should take the lead role in spreading ecommerce in rural India and in promoting local artisans. To
incentivise village level entrepreneurs, three best performing
entrepreneurs would be rewarded Rs.2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000
each.
CSCs play important role as an interface between the government and

the beneficiaries of e-services, thus reducing corruption and delay the
women village-level entrepreneur who will help every person in a
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panchayat area to get digitally literate will be sent on an all expense
paid trip to Singapore this year and then Silicon Valley to showcase
changing India.
COMMON SERVICES CENTERS
Common Services Centers (CSC) are multiple-services-single-point
model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single
geographical location. The main purpose of these centres is to provide
a physical facility for delivery of e-Services of the Government of
India to the rural and remote locations where availability
of computers and Internet is currently negligible or mostly absent.
The introduction of eGovernance on a massive scale is part of the
Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the UPA-II (2009-2014)
government of India. The CSC project, which forms a strategic
component of the National eGovernance Plan was approved in
September 2006. It is also one of the approved projects under
the Integrated Mission Mode Projects of the National eGovernance
Plan.
Fiscal metrics remain weak: Moody's
Cyclical and unanticipated developments would heighten Indias fiscal
pressures
India's economic growth at more than 7 per cent may be faster than
that of its peers, but subdued rural demand and weak corporate
profitability will contribute to hampering fiscal consolidation in the
upcoming Budget, Moody's Investors Service.
The
credit
rating
agency said that even if
the February 29 budget
shows deficit targets
are being met or
surpassed,
fiscal
metrics in India will
remain on a weaker
footing than other
countries with similar
sovereign credit ratings.
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Even if budgetary consolidation continues, Indias fiscal metrics will

remain weaker than rating peers in the near term, because of the
relatively high level of Indias state and central government deficits
and debt. The fiscal weakness is partly due to structural factors,
according to a statement issued by Moodys.
Low per-capita incomes limit the tax base and raise pressure for
subsidies and development spending, while high debt levels (63.8 per
cent of GDP in 2015-16) restrict fiscal flexibility.
India's credit rating will not just depend on the forecasts for fiscal
management but the specific measures the Budget takes to expand the
revenue base, at a time when tax collections are tapering off, and
insulate government expenditure from economic shocks.
Separately, cyclical and unanticipated developments would heighten
fiscal pressures and any improvements in the fiscal deficit are likely
to be limited in the near-term, the agency stressed, referring to a rise
in food subsidy costs owing to a drought, revision of civil servant
salaries next year and the need to recapitalise public sector banks.
Indias fiscal deficit stood at 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2014-15 and the
government has committed to a target of 3.9 per cent for this fiscal
and 3.5 per cent for 2016-17, deviating from an original target to
bring the deficit down to three per cent of GDP by then.
Whether the central government deficit meets, modestly outperforms
or slightly underperforms current targets, Indias fiscal position will
remain weaker in the near term than its peers, Moodys said. The shift
in the roadmap made last year underscores the agencys expectation
that even with very modest deficit reduction goals, fiscal
consolidation will be difficult to achieve though the government is
committed to it over the medium term.
While it may or may not be a part of the Budget speech, clarity on the
Goods and Services Tax regime would provide insight into how
revenues could evolve over the longer term. On the expenditure side,
the Budget will reveal how the government allocates current and
capital spending in the context of the recommendations of the Seventh
Pay Commission and , the still sluggish outlook for capital investment
and efforts to strengthen state-owned banks balance sheets,
according to Moodys statement.
The rating agency did highlight one silver lining for India compared to
its peers lower reliance on foreign currency debt, even though its
public debt to GDP ratio is higher than similarly rated countries like
Indonesia, Philippines, Romania and Turkey.
This insulates government finances from gyrations in the exchange
rate, which have been particularly severe in the last few years, and
will continue to be so. Emerging markets with a higher reliance on
foreign currency financing have witnessed sovereign borrowing costs
rise as global risk appetite diminishes.
RBI must redeploy its capital in state-owned banks
With the government under pressure to meet its fiscal deficit target
over the medium term, the economic survey, released by the finance
ministry, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should deploy some of its
capital in the public sector banks (PSBs).
The survey highlighted the ratio of shareholder equity to assets (total
equity as a percentage of balance sheet) for RBI is very high among
various central banks, at 32 per cent, only after Norway and well
above that of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England whose
ratios are less than 2 per cent.
If the RBI were to move even to the median of the sample (16 per
cent), this would free up a substantial amount of capital to be
deployed for recapitalizing the PSBs.
Public sector banks are in need of capital as bad loans have surged in
the last few years and also to meet Basel-III norms. The finance
ministry estimates public sector banks will need Rs.1.8 lakh crore
capital infusion for four years ending March 2018-19 while the
government plans to infuse only Rs.70,000 crore during the period.
The survey said the option that government sells its non-financial
assets to infuse capital in public sector bank is a well understood
proposition but what is less appreciated is that RBI could do the same.
Banking industry experts said the idea may not go well with the RBI
which insists that its regulation is ownership neutral.
The survey said any such move would need to be initiated jointly and
cooperatively between the government and the RBI.
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The survey also pointed out that stress, which is emanating from both
banks and corporate sector, is a major impediment to private
investment and a full-fledged economic recovery.
RAILWAY BUDGET
Passenger is king in Railways revised menu
While the fares have not been raised, and there will be an increase in
quota of lower berths for senior citizens and women and middle bays
reserved in coaches for women. In 2016-17, the Railways will increase
the senior citizen quota per coach by 50 per cent, resulting in almost
120 lower berths per train for senior citizens.
All stations will be made disabled-friendly and at least one disabledfriendly toilet in all platforms in A1 Class stations will be built in the
next financial year. One-time registration for the persons with
disabilities for availing concessions while booking tickets online was
also announced along with online booking of wheelchairs & Brailleenabled new coaches.
Childrens menu
As a pilot, the Railways will make available childrens menu items on
trains along with baby foods, hot milk, hot water and changing boards
for babies in train toilets.
The Railways will make available local cuisine of choice to passengers
while adding 10 IRCTC-operated, mechanised, sophisticated base
kitchens.
Sale of tickets
The Railway Minister proposed to make booking and cancellation of
tickets simpler.
The Budget suggests sale of tickets through hand-held terminals on
suburban or short distance travel and sale of platform tickets through
ticket vending machines with credit/debit cards as accepted payment
modes besides cash. Further, the e-ticketing facility will be extended
to foreign debit/credit cards for foreign tourists and NRIs.
Helpline
For cancelling a ticket, it is proposed that a customer can simply call
the 139 helpline instead of going to a booking window to avail the
refund.
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With rising number of complaints over rightful passengers being

denied tatkal train tickets, the Railway Budget proposes to ensure
closed circuit TV coverage at all counters and put in place a system of
third party periodic audits and certification of security features of the
PRS website.
The Ministry is working with insurance companies to offer optional
travel insurance for rail journeys at the time of booking.
It has been proposed to ensure quota in catering units to SCs, STs,
OBCs, women and persons with disabilities. The Railways is exploring
the feasibility of providing an option for drinking tea in kulhad.
More powers to zonal railways
More powers have been delegated to the zonal railways for faster
decision-making. This includes defining key result areas (KRAs) for
general managers and divisional railway managers to evaluate their
performance. A single official would be made accountable for each
trains on-board experience to address passenger concerns, even as a
third party audit will be conducted to ensure the quality of services on
trains and stations.
While the government stuck to its stand on not announcing new train
routes in the Rail Budget, it however committed to expediting critical
projects to connect the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir with the
rest of the country.
The Railway Minister also announced three new dedicated freight
corridors to connect North-South (Delhi to Chennai), East-West
(Kharagpur-Mumbai) and East Coast Corridor connecting Kharagpur
to Vijayawada.
Apps, wi-fi services in pipeline
The Railways intends to bring out two mobile apps, one dealing with
all ticketing issues and the other for receipt and redress of complaints
and suggestions. A new service Clean my Coach service will also be
introduced Pan-India through which a passenger will be able to
request cleaning of his/her coach/toilets on demand through SMS.
The budget also proposes to install information boards in trains
enumerating onboard services along with GPS-based digital displays
inside coaches to provide real time information regarding upcoming
halts. The Railway Ministry, in partnership with Google, will start Wi-

Fi services at 100 stations this year, increasing it to 400 more stations
in the next two years, the Minister said.
A partnership with FM Radio stations and introduce Indian Railways
bi-lingual magazine Rail Bandhu to all reserved classes of travellers in
Mail/Express trains.
The magazine will be made available in all regional languages. By
2020, the Railways would work towards meeting long-felt desires of
the common man, including use of high-end technology to
significantly improve the safety record, elimination of all unmanned
level crossings and increasing punctuality to almost 95 per cent.
Four new categories of trains announced
Railway Minister announced four new categories of trains one for
unreserved passengers and three for reserved passengers.
The Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast
train service, for the common man, to be operated on dense routes.
Also add two to four Deen Dayalu coaches to some long-distance
trains for unreserved travel to enhance our carrying capacity for the
masses.
Announced a fully third AC train, called Humsafar. The Tejas category
of trains will run at 130 km an hour, with entertainment, local cuisine,
Wi-Fi and other amenities on board. The final category is UDAY
(Utkrisht DoubleDecker Air-conditioned Yatri), which will be
overnight trains plying on the busiest routes to increase capacity by
40 per cent.
National plan welcome
The National Rail Plan (NRP 2030) for providing integrated rail-road
intermodal transport planning. Its a very good step that aims to
integrate the railway network with other modes of transport.
Additionally, Suresh Prabhu is the first Minister who has spoken
about accountability. He has presented what he promised last year
and what he has actually achieved.
This is something I personally feel is a very good step vis-a-vis others
who promise a lot of things with no accountability of implementation.
Further, he talks about periodic audits by a third party for ensuring
better quality of services, which again is a huge positive. For example,
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he proposes putting up GPS devices, but what if they stop working
after 5 days? Audit is a very good step.
While a lot of ministers earlier have talked about reorganising the
Railway Board but Mr Prabhu is the first one to spell out how it is to
be done.
Mr.Prabhu does identify main issues that are needed to be looked at,
but the budget needs to have numbers.
Railways to use drones to monitor projects
Government intends to use the latest drone and geo-spatial-based
satellite technology for remotely reviewing the physical progress
across major projects. Monitoring of dedicated freight corridor will be
operationalised through this mode in 2016-17.
The railways had already started using social media for resolving
issues faced by the travellers, bringing transparency in its working.
There will be extensive usage of this medium.
The railway ministry has also set apart Rs.50 crore for providing
innovation grants to employees, start-ups and growth-oriented small
businesses to support internal and external innovation.
The minister also proposed to set up a R&D organisation for
developing strategic technology and bringing in holistic advancement.
Government will set up a R&D organization, a Special Railway
Establishment for Strategic Technology & Holistic Advancement,
SRESTHA.
The new R&D organization, Research Design and Standards
Organisation will now focus only on day-to-day issues while SRESTHA
would drive long-term research.
The Indian Railways will also install 20,000 screens across 2,000
stations to provide real-time information to passengers. He also said
the ministry will boost security at various stations through CCTVs and
helplines.
Public-private partnerships to fuel future growth of Indian Railways
The Railway Budget has laid emphasis on Public Private Partnerships
(PPP) to implement initiatives such as rail connectivity for ports,
station-redevelopment, rail-side logistics parks and warehousing as
well as satellite terminals.
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A committee appointed for the purpose of revamping the ministrys

PPP cell has submitted its report and the initiative is under
implementation. The cell will be strengthened as part of
organisational restructuring process to improve ease of doing
business with the Indian Railways.
The capital expenditure for the next financial year, pegged at Rs.1.21
lakh crore, calls for abandoning the business-as-usual approach and
continually innovating to develop new frameworks for PPP.
Foreign investors from Spain and France were keen on dedicated
freight corridors (DFC) projects provided they were structured
properly in terms of financial returns and risk-allocation and
mitigation. Land acquisition for dedicated freight corridors could take
a long time.
The railway minister said his ministry would take up dedicated freight
corridors and implement it in a time-bound manner through
innovative financing mechanisms, including PPP.
The corridors will to cater to rapid expansion of freight business. Most
contracts for civil engineering works regarding the DFCs will be
awarded by this March-end.
Port connectivity was important for seamless logistics to boost
imports and exports, and as a part of the ongoing coastal connectivity
program, the government plans to undertake implementation of rail
connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira under the PPP model
during the next financial year.
Referring to the Cabinet approval for redevelopment of 400 stations
through PPP, on the basis of a bankable structure for private
participation, the government will undertake a bidding process for a
few large and medium stations during the next financial year. The
government is also considering availing multilateral financial
investments for the development of certain other stations and
partnering with states.
As inadequate warehousing and transportation facilities have kept
potential customers away from the railways, ministry proposed to
develop rail-side logistics parks and warehousing to complete the
transportation chain.
These logistic parks and warehouses would be created through

public-private partnership model mode to bring the required
efficiency and investment, as well as to attract greater traffic to the
railways.
Around 10 goods sheds will be developed by the Transport Logistics
Company of India in 2016-17, adding that the focus will be on
providing last mile connectivity for freight business and significant
reduction in logistic costs. More satellite terminals, to de-congest
terminals in big cities, are being planned in PPP mode.
ECONOMIC SURVEY
Invest in welfare, undertake reforms
Shunning last years over-optimism, Economic Survey 2015-16
projects that the real GDP growth for the current financial year and
for 2016-17 will be in the range of 7-7.75 per cent.
The Central Statistics Office estimates that growth this year will be 7.6
per cent, lower than the 8.1-8.5 per cent projected in the last Survey.
Improved
investments
in
education
and
health,
where
India fares the
worst
among
BRICS nations, the
survey says, and
adequate
attention
to
agriculture could
realise
the
potential. In the wake of four seasons of weak rainfall and
consequent adversity, agriculture has served a wake-up call,
demanding attention from policy makers.
The medium-term potential can be realised over the next two to five
years, if the retrievable setbacks and the unfinished agenda are
undertaken.
In the unfinished agenda, listed the Goods and Services Tax, strategic
disinvestment, de-stressing of the balance sheet of both banks and
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private companies, and the rationalisation of subsidies. Stretched
corporate and bank balance sheets are affecting prospects for reviving
private investments, and so the underlying stressed assets must be
sold or rehabilitated, he said.
The survey makes a
case for unpopular
reforms, such as
bringing agricultural
incomes in the tax
net, rationalisation of
fertiliser
subsidies
estimated
at
Rs.
75,000
crore
(excluding arrears)
and the withdrawal of
tax benefits which, he argued, benefit mainly the rich.
Restricting the cooking gas subsidy to 10 cylinders from 12 at present,
raising the levels of property tax and desisting from raising the
income tax threshold.
Rich feed off subsidies
Indias rich feed off subsidies worth over Rs.1 lakh crore a year that
are meant for the poor, according to the Economic Survey. And this
figure only considers the subsidies on six commodities, two public
utilities the Railways and electricity and one small savings scheme,
the Public Provident Fund.
There are a fair amount of government interventions that help the
relatively better-off in society. In many cases, this takes the form of
explicit subsidisation, which is surprisingly substantial in magnitude,
the Survey said in a provocatively titled chapter Bounties for the
Well-off.
The Survey classified the population on the basis of consumption data
collected by National Sample Surveys. Poor refer to the bottom 30 per
cent of the population and the rich the top 70 per cent. This
categorises a sizeable portion of the non-poor as rich.
These numbers are striking and have one policy implication: any tax
incentives that are given, for example, for savings, benefit not the
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middle class, not the upper middle class but the super-rich who
represent the top 1-2 per cent.
The Survey, argued that most commodities primarily consumed by the
rich have a very low tax rate, in effect subsidising them at the cost of
the poor. For example, the rich consume 98 per cent of the gold in the
country, and yet gold is taxed at only 1-1.6 per cent (the Centre and
the States combined).
The rich avail of an 88 per cent subsidy on kerosene, amounting to Rs.
5,501 crore and 86 per cent subsidy on LPG, amounting to Rs. 40,151
crore.
Only 5.5% who earn are tax payers
India is far from being a full tax-paying democracy with about 5.5 per
cent of the people who earn paying tax and only 15.5 per cent of the
net national income being reported to the tax authorities, according to
the Economic Survey.
The survey estimated that just four per cent Indias voters are
taxpayers, though it should be closer to 23 per cent, and 85 per cent of
the net national income fall outside the tax net.
The tax to GDP ratio at 16.6%, as a result, is well below that of the
emerging market economies of 21 per cent and OECD average of 34
per cent.
The survey, however, pointed out that the democracies with higher
ratios took a long time to strengthen tax capacity.
On the expenditure side, Indias spending on human capital, education
and health, to the GDP ratio is the lowest among BRICS and lower than
the OECD and emerging market economies averages. They are in fact,
lower than those of comparable per-capita GDP economies such as
Vietnam, Bolivia and Uzbekistan.
To widen the tax net and raise revenue for spending on Indias human
capital development, the survey called for bringing rich farmers into
the tax net, raising property tax rates and phasing out tax exemptions.
There should be reasonable taxation of the better-off, regardless of
the source of their incomes, whether it is from industry, services, real
estate, or agriculture.
The survey also seeks to address the question French economist and
author of best-selling book Capital in the Twenty-First Century
89

Thomas Piketty raised during his recent trip to India: Should not
Indian elite pay more taxes to provide for greater spending on health
and education.
The tax-GDP ratio would have been 0.32% higher as Rs.31,500 crore
additional tax revenue would have been collected.
According to the survey fast growing years in the 2000s were in fact
associated with rising inequality at the very top end of the Indian
income distribution.
As in many countries, there has been a growing concentration of
income at the top: in 2013-14.
The top one per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent of people in the
overall income distribution (the three highest income groups)
accounted for 12.4 per cent, 9.4 per cent and five per cent of the entire
income of the Indian economy.
At these levels, inequality in India, it said, is comparable to that in the
U.K. and lesser than in the United States.
DBT jammed by last-mile challenge
The governments big push for scaling up Direct Benefit Transfer
subsidies using the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile
number) is unlikely to work in rural India in the short to mediumterm.
The JAM agenda is currently jammed by the last-mile challenge of
getting money from banks into beneficiaries hands, especially in rural
India, says the Economic Survey 2015-16.
The survey adds there is still some way to go before bank-beneficiary
linkages are strong enough to pursue Direct Benefit Tranfer (DBT)
without committing exclusion errors despite the huge
improvements seen in financial inclusion due to Jan Dhan Yojna.
The government must invest in last-mile financial inclusion by further
improving banking correspondent (BCs) networks and promoting the
spread of mobile money. The recent licensing of banks will help.
Regulations governing the remuneration of BCs may need to be
reviewed to ensure that commission rates are sufficient to encourage
BCs to remain active.
90
To measure states preparedness to implement JAM-based DBT, an

index has been constructed based on factors such as Aadhar
penetration, basic bank account penetration and BC density.
The Urban DBT preparedness index finds there is significant variation
across states. Some states like Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh show
preparedness scores of about 70 per cent, while others such as Bihar
and Maharashtra, have scores of only about 25 per cent.
The binding constraint here is basic bank account penetration paying
beneficiaries is the issue, not identifying them, according to the
survey. The DBT rural preparedness scores are significantly worse
than the urban scores, with an average of 3 per cent and a maximum
of 5 per cent. It is clear that last-mile financial inclusion is the main
constraint to making JAM happen in much of rural India.
The Economic Survey suggests incentivising states by sharing fiscal
saving from DBT to help fully implement JAM. It adds that policy areas
that appear most conducive to JAM are those where the central
government has significant control and where leakages are high.
The example of MGNREGS highlights that delivering withingovernment transfers via JAM can help other centrally sponsored
schemes reduce idle funds, lower corruption and improve the ease of
doing business with government. While BC network is developed and
mobile banking spreads, the survey recommends use of Biometrically
Authenticated Physical Uptake (BAPU), wherein beneficiaries verify
their identities through scanning their thumbprint on a POS machine,
to reduce leakages.
BAPU preparedness is much better that Rural DBT preparedness with
average state preparedness being 12 per cent.
Electric vehicle components, e-cycles may get sops in Budget
Providing incentives to boost domestic manufacturer of components
such as Lithium-Iron batteries would in turn reduce the cost of evehicles and benefit consumers, the Road Transport & Highways
Ministry and the Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Ministry had
argued during inter-ministerial consultations on the issue.
Expediting steps, including through the budget, to push indigenous
manufacture and design of components for electric/hybrid vehicles is
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also in line with the governments Make In India initiative and the
Automotive Mission Plan.
Concerned over the high cost of imported Lithium-Iron batteries,
these Ministries had said development of locally made and patented
Lithium-Iron batteries could substantially reduce the price of the
crucial component in e-vehicles.
At inter-ministerial consultations, there were arguments over the
logic of providing sops for e-cycles when ordinary cycles themselves
were environment-friendly and not consuming any fossil fuel at all.
However, the worries over increase in the use of cars and SUVs
worsening pollution and the need to gradually reduce the reliance on
imports of e-cycles and JVs with foreign firms were the arguments in
favour of providing incentives for local development and manufacture
of e-cycles.
As for solar water pumps, it was brought to the governments notice
that many farmers could not afford them because they were
expensive (around Rs. five lakh). Because providing subsidy worth Rs.
Five lakh to every farmer would be impractical, the Centre may go in
for a subsidy-sharing arrangement with the States, or eliminate some
of its existing ineffective incentives to ensure a fair allocation for
subsidies on solar water pumps.
Also, though many States were supplying power to farmers virtually
free of cost, the quality of power was poor with outages and a sudden
drop in voltage damaging the farmers water pumpsets. Helping
farmers with subsidies could ensure that they switch to solar water
pumps, thus doing away with the need to provide free power.
NPS option for EPF members
About 8.5 crore employees whose retirement savings are managed by
the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) could get an
option to transfer over a third of their EPF contributions to the
National Pension System, regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory
and Development Authority or PFRDA.
In Budget 2016-17, the government is likely to announce a proposal
to amend the Employees Provident Fund Act of 1952 to make
contributions to the employees pension scheme (EPS) managed by
the EPFO optional.
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93
Present contribution
At present, 24 per cent of salary of employees earning up to Rs.
15,000 a month is deducted towards their EPF savings, of which 8.33
per cent is diverted to the EPS, which offers a monthly income to
retirees, recently enhanced to a minimum of Rs. 1,000 a month.
A decision has been taken to give employees the choice to transfer
that 8.33% of their salary that is currently diverted to EPS, into the
National Pension System [NPS].
It is not clear if the government will also pay its share of subsidy to
the EPS [1.16% of salary up to Rs. 15,000 a month] into the NPS, for
those who choose to exercise such an option.
This is yet another proposal to promote the NPS which was set up in
2004 by the Finance Ministry with a new pension fund regulator. Last
year, the Budget had announced an additional Rs. 50,000 tax
deduction for investments into NPS, after exhausting the Rs. 1.5-lakh
limit under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act.
Optional
Budget 2015-16 had also promised that EPF contributions for
employees below a certain threshold of monthly income, would be
made optional, while employers would be required to continue their
share (12 per cent of salary) of contributions. But the government
hasnt yet moved on legislative amendments to bring that into effect.
The PFRDA is administered by the Finance Ministry, while the EPFO
works under the control of the Labour Ministry, with the Finance
Ministry having the veto power on its annual rate of return to
members.
Consequently, NPS accounts grew from 87 lakh in March 2015 to 1.15
crore by this month, according to PFRDA officials. However, its assets
under management are Rs. 1.10 lakh crore, while the EPFO has over
Rs. 10 lakh crore under its administrative control.
Officials also said that the government might allow micro, small and
medium enterprises to halve the statutory EPF contributions (from 24
per cent of salary to 12 per cent) on behalf of their employees, in
order to promote job creation in the formal sector.

Survey finding
The Economic Survey has pointed out that a large reason for the
creation of more informal jobs even in the organised industrial
sectors is the high level of statutory contributions to social security
schemes like the EPF and the ESIC that reduce the take home salaries
of entry-level and low-income employees and induce them to work on
informal contracts instead.
SCHEMES
Prime Minister Modi urged to make reality match Make in India hype
Major wins
Make In India has scored major wins, including a pledge by
Taiwans Foxconn to invest $5 billion in a new electronics
manufacturing facility.
That has helped foreign direct investment to nearly double to $59
billion last year, the seventh most in the world, according to the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Yet in critical aspects, India remains far behind its goals. The
proportion of manufacturing to gross domestic product has been
stuck at around 17 per cent for five years, below the governments
goal to ramp it up to 25 per cent, according to the Boston
Consulting Group.
Manufacturing jobs
India has only created 4 million manufacturing jobs since 2010,
according to Boston Consulting. At the current rate, India may only
create 8 million jobs by 2022, well below the governments goal of
100 million.
India was ill-suited for a Chinese-style export boom, because it lacked
the infrastructure and the skills for its exports to compete
internationally. It should not be called Make in India but Make In
Spite of India, of Johns Hopkins University, advising the Indian
government to scale back its ambitions and focus on its growing
domestic market.
India has 3rd largest base of start-up firms
Within a year, the number of technology start ups in the country has
grown by 40 per cent to over 4,200, making India the third largest
94

base of technology start-ups in the world, according to the Economic
Survey 2015-16.
This has further helped create about 80,000-85,000 jobs during 2015.
India, home to a new breed of young start-ups, has clearly evolved to
become the third largest base of technology start-ups in the world.
Within one year, the number of start-ups in India has grown by 40 per
cent and crossed the 4200 mark, an addition of nearly 1200, creating
80,000-85,000 jobs in 2015. Separately, the survey also stated that as
of January 2016, there were 19,400 technology-enabled start-ups in
India, of which 5,000 had been started in 2015 alone.
One part of the economy that is witnessing unusual dynamism is the
start-up sector, focused on e-commerce and financial services.
The survey added no less than 2000 of the start-ups have been backed
by venture capital/angel investors since 2010, of which 1005 were
created in 2015 alone.
Indian start-ups raised USD 3.5 billion in funding in the first half of
2015, and the number of active investors in India increased from 220
in 2014 to 490 in 2015.
As of December 2015, eight Indian start-ups belonged to the Unicorn
club i.e had valuations greater than USD one billion.
The survey added that it is important that start-ups, too, see exit,
which would take the form of these companies being listed, allowing
the original private investors to cash in on the initial investment, and
plough it back into other similar ventures.
Exit valuations low
Exit valuations in India are still low but are expected to increase as the
impact of new SEBI policies on listings comes into effect, and as equity
markets in general revive from current low valuations caused by a
sense of gloom in the global economy.
Northeasts first smart village along Indo-Bhutan border
A remote nondescript, insurgency-ravaged village in Assam along
Indo- Bhutan border has earned the distinction of being the areas
first smart village.
Barsimaluguri, about 11 km from the Indo-Bhutan border, in Baksa
district has been turned into a model smart village with 100 percent
toilets, solar power and pure drinking water, following an initiative
95

taken by a few individuals under the aegis of Nanda Talukdar
Foundation (NTF).
There are more than 20,000 villages in Assam with government
schemes being implemented, but none has been transformed into a
smart village. They decided to concentrate on one village and turn it
into a model village, independent of government schemes.
TRANSPORT
Govt. plans to set up 2,000 waterport
Government plans to set up 2,000 waterports as well as RoRo
services at five select places to transport goods and vehicles. Besides,
there is a plan to develop 1,300 islands and 280 light houses as major
attractions for tourists.
The government will soon start RoRo (Rollon Rolloff) service
at five places including Haldia, Patna, Varanasi and Sahibganj with the
World Bank assistance.
Once they are operational, trucks could be transported till the points
leading to huge savings which in turn would boost economy.
Government is also constructing waterways on a 1,620 kilometer
stretch on the Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia and 30 water ports
would be constructed there.
Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj will be developed as multi-modal hubs
with roadways, waterways and railways.
EMPLOYMENT
Unemployment down in urban centres, but persists in rural areas, says
survey
The unemployment rate in urban areas reduced from 4.5 per cent in
2004-05 to 3.4 per cent in 2011-12, new data from the National
Sample Survey Office show. In rural areas, the rate has been stable at
around 1.7 per cent during this period.
According to the survey, which was conducted in 2011-12 and
released, the unemployment rate across all the religious groups in
rural areas was on the lower side than those in urban areas for both
males and females.
Unemployment rate is defined as the number of persons unemployed
as a proportion of the labour force (persons who are either working
or seeking or available for work), not the total population.
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Christians have the highest rate of unemployment in both rural (4.5

per cent) and urban (5.9 per cent) areas in 2011-12. The rate in urban
areas for Christians stood at 8.6 per cent in 2004-05 while the rural
rate stays constant.
Unemployment level in India is highest among those people who are
richer and more educated. The reason is that poor people cant afford
to stay unemployed, and hence, opt for any kind of work, irrespective
of the nature of the job. The better off have the capacity to be
unemployed as they look for the right job. Christians are the most
educated group, hence unemployment rate is higher among them.
Data from the report supports the claim.
Among the persons of age 15 and above, the proportion of people who
are not literates was the lowest for Christians. Also, the proportion of
persons with educational level secondary and above is highest for
Christians.
While the unemployment rate in rural areas has decreased for Sikhs
(from 3.5 to 1.3 per cent) now the lowest across all religious groups, it
has slightly increased for Muslims (from 2.3 to 2.6 per cent). At 3.3
per cent, Hindus have the lowest unemployment rate in urban areas.
Casual labour
Self-employment is the major source of income for almost half the
households, across all religious groups, in rural areas, followed by
casual labour.
In urban areas, the proportion of households deriving major income
from regular wage or salary earnings is the highest. Half the Muslim
households in urban areas have self-employment as major source of
income, the highest among all religions, while regular wage or salary
earnings was the highest for Christians with 45.8 per cent households.
WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION
India studying impact of market economy status for China
Indias Commerce Ministry is assessing the implications of the
likelihood of China being granted Market Economy Status (MES)
from December this year under the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
norms.
This comes against the backdrop of instances of India's manufacturers
in steel, chemicals, electrical and electronics sectors being severely
97
98
hurt by unfairly low-priced imports from China, and the extensive

usage of anti-dumping duty by India to offset the losses caused to the
local manufacturers due to dumping.
Of the 535 cases where anti-dumping duties were imposed by India
from 1994-2014, a maximum of 134 has been on goods from China.
Beijing has cited the 2001 agreement on China joining the WTO to say
that WTO-member countries had then decided to deem China as a
'market economy' from December 2016 while adjudicating antidumping cases.
The main impact of China being granted MES would be on 'antidumping' cases; the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied
Duties (or DGAD, an autonomous body under the commerce ministry)
has begun consultations with stakeholders including international
trade experts and lawyers on the issue.
Unfair trade
Dumping is an unfair trade practice of exporting goods to another
country at a price lesser than what is paid in the exporting nation or
their normal production cost, thereby distorting international trade
and causing injury to the domestic manufacturers of the goods in the
importing country.
As per the 2001 agreement (Protocol on the accession of China to the
WTO), in calculating the 'normal value' of the exported goods while
adjudicating anti-dumping cases, the WTO member nations could for
15 years (that is till December 2016) ignore selling price and
production costs in China.
They could instead calculate the dumping margin on the basis of a
comparable export price to an appropriate third country and by
'constructing' the production cost with 'reasonable' additions.
This permission to compare prices or costs with external benchmarks
to calculate the 'normal value' and 'dumping margin' has often led to
many countries using the anti-dumping route extensively against
China and imposing high anti-dumping duties.
The 15-year time period was given to China to carry out internal
reforms and transition into a 'market economy.' Like India, the
European Union (EU) is also undertaking stakeholder consultations
on the ramifications of granting MES to China.
Once China is granted MES, it will severely limit India's ability to

resort to anti-dumping as the authorities (DGAD) will have to accept
the production costs and selling price in China as the benchmark. It
will in turn mean lesser chances of anti-dumping duties being
imposed or lesser anti-dumping duties even if they are imposed.
To deny China the 'MES, India and others such as the US and the EU
have been saying that unlike in 'market economies' where prices are
mainly determined by market forces (of demand and supply), there is
significant government influence in China that in turn causes
distortions in international trade.
These countries have also been citing factors such as huge Chinese
government subsidies, 'price fixing', 'absence' of proper business
accounting standards, besides lack of transparency in not just loan
rates, but also in minimum wages and property rights in China
Government to unveil IPR policy in a fortnight
The government announced its National Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR) Policy.
The policy, which will be entirely compliant with the World Trade
Organisations agreement on Trade Related aspects of IPRs (TRIPS)
will, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suggestion, have a special
thrust on awareness generation and effective enforcement of IPRs,
besides encouragement of IP commercialisation through various
incentives.
However, the policy will not suggest any changes in the existing
Indian IPR laws or other related policies on the patent-disabling
Compulsory Licencing (CL) and the provision-preventing 'evergreening' of drug patents (done through minor modifications of an
existing drug).
The government had in November 2014 said it has set up an IPR
think-tank to draft the IPR policy. However, despite the think-tank
submitting the final draft in April 2015, the announcement of the
policy was delayed as the Cabinet note on it had to be circulated
among 29 ministries for their suggestions.
The move to retain the provisions on CLs (in the National
Manufacturing Policy and Section 84 of India's Patents Act) as well as
Section 3(d) of India's Patents Act (preventing ever-greening of drug
99

patents) comes even as the European Union and the US have been
pressing India to make changes in this regard to boost innovation,
research and development (R&D) and foreign investment in India.
According to Section 3(d), besides novelty and inventive step,
improvement in therapeutic efficacy is a must for grant of patents
when it comes to incremental inventions.
The EU and U.S. had objected to India's adoption of CL in industrial
sectors (in the National Manufacturing Policy) saying it will
discourage investment and innovation.
As regards Section 3(d), the U.S. and EU firms had said the so-called
'additional filter' in the form of improvement in therapeutic efficacy
for grant of patents was inconsistent with WTO's TRIPS agreement, a
charge which India has denied.
The IPR Policy will focus on creating IPR awareness at school/college
level by making it a part of syllabus/curriculum, and promote
organisations such as the National Research Development
Corporation to help commercialise the inventions / patents developed
at the level of educational institutes.
The policy will also suggest incentives such as tax benefits and fee
waivers to encourage R&D and IP creation to strengthen the Make In
India/Start-up/Digital India initiatives.
To protect 'small inventions' developed especially in the informal /
unorganised sectors, the policy will promote 'utility patents' (with
lower compliance burden and shorter period of protection, when
compared to the normal patents) only for mechanical innovations.
This 'utility patents' may not be extended to the pharmaceutical
sector considering the sensitivities involved in ensuring the efficacy of
the drugs.
OTHERS
India adds 27 new billionaires
India added 27 new billionaires with Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of
Reliance Industries (RIL), emerging at the top with a personal wealth
of $26 billion, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2016.
Cumulative Indian billionaires wealth stood at $308 billion,
registering a 25 per cent growth over last year. Mr. Ambani, who is
100
ranked 21st globally, was followed by Sun Pharma promoter, Dilip

Shanghvi , with personal wealth of $18 billion.
India is home to 111 billionaires and most of them are from Mumbai,
according to the report.
Indias e-commerce leaders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal of
Flipkart, with wealth of $1.4 billion, were ranked amongst the 69
billionaires under the age of 40. Globally, 99 new billionaires were
added to the list in 2016 to take the total billionaire rich list to a
record of 2,188, 50 per cent more than 2013.
Chinas rich
The rich in China overtook their U.S. counterparts to make Beijing, the
`billionaire capital of the world for the first time, according to Hurun.
In China real estate generated most number of billionaires (117),
followed by manufacturing and technology with 94 and 68
respectively.
Led by Beijing, five Chinese cities make the top 10 cities for super
wealth creators. Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and
Hangzhou are home to 100, 64, 50, 46 and 32 billionaires respectively.
Average age of the billionaires is 56.
China is the number 1 in the world in terms of generating self-made
billionaires akin to rags to riches, according to the report.
Total billionaires wealth increased by nine per cent to $7.3 trillion,
more than the GDP of Germany and the U.K. combined and coming
close to half that of the U.S.
The Hurun Rich list saw 729 individuals wealth declining while 102
fell out of last years list.
Russian billionaires
Russian billionaires lost $130 bn on the back of a further 19 per cent
drop in the Russian rouble and with lacklustre performance of mining,
metals and energy sector.
Commodity price correction dragged down the wealth of metal &
mining billionaires. Lakshmi Mittal, 65, lost US $7 bn owing to iron ore
price correction of 40 per cent as per IMF commodity price data
China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the
world last year, mainly on the back of new listings. Growth in
billionaires for the rest of the world was held back by a slowdown in
the global economy, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar and the drop
101
in oil prices. The number of billionaires, however, has jumped 50%

since 2013.
Hurun Report released the Hurun Global Rich List 2016, a ranking of
the US dollar billionaires currently found in the world.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEFENCE
Troops will stay on in Siachen, says Parrikar
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ruled out any troop withdrawal
from the Siachen glacier after the last weeks avalanche claimed the
lives of 10 soldiers.
Recently, a major avalanche hit a post on the northern glacier at a
height of 19,600 feet being manned by soldiers of the Madras
Regiment.
India and Pakistan have lost over 2,000 soldiers in the last three
decades, most of them to extreme and unpredictable weather events.
Time and again proposals have been put forward to demilitarise the
glacier but India has refused any such move without proper
delineation and acceptance of the current positions.
Ten soldiers buried by an avalanche may have been victims of global
warming.
It is a testimony to the accelerating pace of human-induced climate
change and is the likely culprit behind increased disasters on the
glacier.
Glaciers across the globe are melting faster due to a rise in surface
temperatures induced by global warming. The biggest enemy the
Indian Army is battling in Siachen today is the weather.
Elaborate weather monitoring and forecasting mechanisms are in
place across the glacier and alerts are sent to troops positioned there
on a daily basis.
The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) based in Leh, an
institute under the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO), is responsible for this.
Siachen which means the land of roses also has the dubious
distinction of being the worlds highest battlefield.
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Indian Army sits at heights of 12,000 feet at the Base Camp to 21,000
feet at Bana post on the glacier, a triangular bit of land between
Pakistan occupied Kashmir and the part ceded by Pakistan to the
Chinese.
India occupied the glacier in April 1984, narrowly thwarting
Pakistans plans.
BAE Systems picks Mahindra as partner for artillery gun deal
The U.S.-based BAE Systems has picked the Mahindra group as a
partner for the M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzer (ULH) deal under which
an assembly, integration and test (AIT) facility is to be set up in India
under the governments Make in India initiative.
The selection was based on a detailed assessment of several Indian
companies on their capabilities.
This development coincides with developments on the government
front. The deal for 145 guns, which is expected to cost $700 million, is
being discussed as a government-to-government deal under the
Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.
The U.S. government is expected to issue the Letter of Acceptance
(LoA) to India this week, formalising the deal.
BAE Systems officials had earlier said that the deal envisaged
investing in 40 Indian defence suppliers across the country with an
emphasis on the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) and the
MSME (Medium, Small & Micro Enterprises) sector in addition to the
AIT facility.
M-777 guns, weighing just about 4 tonnes, are the only ones in this
category and can be transported by helicopters, which is crucial for
the Armys mountain strike capabilities on the eastern sector
bordering China.
Captive flight trials of anti-radiation missile soon
Captive flight trials of an advanced, state-of-the-art Anti-Radiation
Missile (ARM) are planned for April-May this year, and the maiden
flight test by year-end by the missile technologists of the Defence
Research and Development Organisation.
The air-to-surface tactical missile being developed by Defence
Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) will target the
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enemys air defence capabilities by attacking radars and

communication facilities.
The range of the missile is 100 to 125 km and it will be mounted on
combat aircraft Sukhoi (Su-30) and Tejas-Light Combat Aircraft.
The missile picks up the radiation or signals of radars and
communication facilities and homes on to the targets to destroy them.
According to DRDO sources, scientists will evaluate the performance
of the seeker, navigation and control system, structural capability and
aerodynamic vibrations during the captive flight trials.
These will be followed by ground testing and the missile will be fired
from Su-30 during the actual flight trial by year-end. Instead of thrust
propulsion, the missile uses dual pulse propulsion system as in the
case of LR-SAM.
The dual pulse propulsion will widen the envelope as well as the
engagement capability of the missile. After coasting the missile for the
required duration by firing the first pulse, the second pulse will be
initiated just before interception of the target or during the terminal
phase.
The entire missile is being developed indigenously, including the
seeker. The missile will be inducted in about two years after
conducting a number of developmental trials.
Only a few countries, including the U.S. and Germany, have ARMs at
present.
The dual pulse propulsion system could be configured with other airto-surface and air-to-air missiles.
Meanwhile, the induction of LR-SAM (Long Range Surface-to-Air
Missile), jointly developed by India and Israel, will begin SeptemberOctober this year.
It was successfully test-fired from INS Kolkata to intercept an aerial
target last year and the missile is slated to be launched from warships,
INS Kochi and INS Chennai, for similar trials later this year.
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SPACE
Scientists spot elusive space-time ripples
The highly elusive gravitational waves have finally been detected.
Understandably, and justifiably, there is great elation within the
global physics community, astrophysicists and cosmologists in
particular.
After decades of search for these ripples in space-time, which Albert
Einstein predicted exactly 100 years ago, scientists working with the
gigantic optical instruments in the U.S. called LIGO [Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory], have detected
signals of gravitational waves emanating from two merging black
holes 1.3 billion light years away arriving at their instruments on the
Earth.
That is to say, this cataclysmic event of two black holes merging
occurred 1.3 b yrs ago, when multi-cellular organisms were just
beginning to form on the Earth, the gravitational waves from which
are being received now on the Earth.
The announcement was beamed across all the laboratories of the
world participating in the LIGO Science Collaboration (LSC). LSC
comprises about 1000 scientists from 16 countries.
Groups at IUCAA and the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore,
have made significant contribution in the analysis of the LIGO data,
which has enabled it to be pinned down to a coalescence of two black
holes consistent with Einsteins theory.
Although indirect evidence for the existence of gravitational waves
had been seen from the decaying orbital period of objects called
binary pulsars which Russel Hulse and Joseph Taylor discovered in
1974 and for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 a
direct detection of gravitational waves had till now proved to be
extremely difficult.
This required enormous advances in technology to enable
instruments with sensitivity sufficient to detect distortions of spacetime as tiny as 10-18 m, which is a thousandth of the diameter of a
proton, and less.
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That is like measuring the distance between the Earth and the nearest
galaxy Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away, to hair-width
precision.
This is what the upgraded or advanced LIGO, which began its first run
only in September 2015, achieved and within days it made this
spectacular literally earth-shaking discovery.
The gravitational wave signal struck the detector on September 14,
2015, and the signal had the unmistakable stamp of a black-hole
binary merger, a phenomenon that has been extensively studied
through simulations.
The LIGO is the most precise instrument that has ever been built. It
consists of two identical L-shaped laser interferometer systems, one
at Hanford in Washington and one at Livingston in Louisiana.
There are two systems to ensure that detection at both the
instruments that are about 3000 km apart with the calculated time
delay ensures that the detected signal is not due to any spurious
seismic signal or any other local vibration.
Each of the arms of the L is a 4 km tunnel in which laser beams
bounce back and forth between two highly sensitive suspended
mirrors.
The laser beams are tuned to be perfectly in opposite phase so that
there is total interference when the beams arrive at the intersection of
the arms and no light passes through the beam splitter at the
intersection into the photo-detector behind.
But when a gravitational wave passes through the detector, the spacetime gets distorted much like a squeezed ball, oscillating between the
two states compressed in one direction and elongated in the other.
So the effect of this oscillatory compression of one arm and elongation
of the other is that there is no total cancellation of the interfering laser
beams and a net signal gets through to the photodetector.
The total signal lasted for about 0.4 s with the ringing down that is
characteristic of two orbiting black holes in-spiralling towards each
other, shrinking of the orbit, merger of the two, coalescence and
finally settling down as a single black hole.
106
The data is consistent with one black hole with 36 solar masses
merging with another of 29 solar masses giving rise to a single black
hole of 62 solar masses.
A total energy of 1049 watts, equivalent to the missing 3 solar masses,
has been radiated away as gravitational waves.
This would be the most luminous astronomical source ever observed
noted P. Ajith of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences,
Bangalore, who is part of LIGO collaboration and was involved in the
analysis.
The probability of it being a false alarm is less than 2x10-7.
In a galaxy far, far away
The scientists detected their cataclysmic event using an instrument so
sensitive it could detect a change in the distance between the solar
system and the nearest star four light years away to the thickness of a
human hair.
And they did so within weeks of turning on their new, upgraded
instrument: it took just 20 milliseconds to catch the merger of two
black holes, at a distance of 1.3 billion light years, somewhere beyond
the Large Magellanic Cloud in the southern hemisphere sky, but it
then took months of meticulous checking of the signal against all the
complex computer simulations of black hole collision to make sure the
evidence matched the theoretical template.
The detector was switched off in January for a further upgrade:
astronomers still have to decipher months of material collected in the
interval. But given half a century of frustration in the search for
gravitational waves what they found exceeded expectation: suddenly,
in the mutual collapse of two black holes, they could eavesdrop on the
violence of the universe.
The finding completed the scientific arc of prediction, discovery and
confirmation: first they calculated what they should be able to detect,
then decided what the evidence should look like, and then devised the
experiment that clinched the matter.
Astronomers have already exploited visible light, the infrared and
ultraviolet, radio waves, x-rays and even gamma-rays in their attempt
to understand the mechanics of stars, the evolution of the galaxies and
107
the expansion of the universe from an initial big bang 13.8 billion
years ago.
Einsteins heroes
Einstein, when he came to write down his theory of gravity, his two
heroes were Faraday and Maxwell.
He tried to write down laws of the gravitational field and he wasnt in
the least surprised to discover that his predictions had waves,
gravitational waves. The LIGO discovery signals a new era in
astronomy.
Just think of radio waves, when radio waves were discovered we
learned to communicate with them. Mobile communication is entirely
reliant on radio waves. For astronomy, radio observations have
probably told us more than anything else about the structure of the
universe. Now we have gravitational waves we are going to have a
whole new picture of the universe, of the stuff that doesnt emit light
dark matter, black holes.
Indian gravity wave detector 8 years away
With the discovery of gravitational waves by the U.S.-based LIGO
(Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory), Prime
Minister Narendra Modi may have tweeted his support for a similar
detector in India but such a project is at least eight years away, said
scientists familiar with the project.
This is not counting the time it will take the Central government to
clear the proposal, estimated to cost around Rs. 1,200 crore, and is
further premised on the project not running into environmental or
State-level hurdles.
Another ambitious mega-science project, the Indian Neutrino
Observatory (INO) project a proposed, underground observatory in
Tamil Nadu to detect ephemeral particles called neutrinos had been
cleared by the Union government in 2015, after several years of
deliberations, but has been stalled for over a year due to protests by
activist groups, concerned over its environmental impact.
INDIGO will be a replica of the two LIGO detectors and many of its
components have already been built and are ready to be shipped from
the United States.
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The project was initially to be located in Australia but, since 2011,

scheduled to be located in India. At least 25 sites were considered for
the detector that will, most saliently, have two L-shaped fourkilometre-long arms. All of north India is ruled out [as a potential site]
because of its seismicity, as are the deserts of Jodhpur because of
sandstorms the Deccan Plateau is best suited.
Other than the benefit of having a third detector, which will likely
improve the chances of spotting gravitational waves, an India detector
would improve the chances of novel, exciting discoveries being made
out of India and being made by Indians.
C.V. Vishveshwara and Bala Iyer, formerly of the Raman Research
Institute, Bengaluru, were among the first to solve Einsteins
equations to derive a mathematical model to explain how colliding
blackholes would look and what tell-tale signals they emitted.
In later years, Anand Sengupta of the Indian Institute of Technology,
Gandhinagar, developed methods to ensure that both the LIGO
detectors separated by 3,000 kilometres have caught the same
gravitational wave, and Sanjib Mitra of the IUCAA, has found ways to
tell apart gravitational waves from various exotic stars.
Naba Mondal, coordinator of the INO and a physicist at the Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research, said the INO being built a
kilometre-and-a-half deep under the ground and also employing a
novel design was a slightly more challenging project than INDIGO.
The delays we have faced so far are due to unfounded objections by
some activist groups. These projects are important for the future of
Indian science but require lot of support from government.
ISRO to use electric propulsion system on satellites in two years
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to use electric
propulsion system on satellites for station keeping and orbital
manoeuvre in two years.
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) and ISRO Satellite Centre
(ISAC) were working on developing electric propulsion system for use
on satellites.
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NAVY
INS Viraat makes a final splash
In what is probably her last port of call, INS Viraat, the oldest
operational aircraft carrier in the world, dropped anchor in Chennai.
Commissioned as HMS Hermes as part of the Royal Navy, she was in
the thick of action during the Falklands campaign in 1982.
After serving the United Kingdom for almost 28 years since 1959, the
carrier was inducted into the Indian Navy as INS Viraat in 1987.
INS Viraat would go to Mumbai, her home port. She is expected to be
decommissioned by the end of this year.
INS Viraat
INS Viraat is a Centaur-class aircraft carrier in service with the Indian
Navy.
INS Viraat was the flagship of the Indian Navy INS before Vikramatiya
was commissioned in 2013. The last British-built ship serving with
the Indian Navy, she is the oldest aircraft carrier in service in the
world and is one of three carriers based in the Indian Ocean region.
Viraat was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal
Navy's HMS Hermes and was transferred to India in 1987. She was
commissioned on 12 May 1987.
In 2009, unnamed Navy officers reported that, following a refit that
year, the carrier might be kept in service until 2020, as two
Indigenous Aircraft Carriers (IACs) seemed likely to be fully
operational by then.
However, the warship's age and cost of maintenance later prompted
naval headquarters to consider decommissioning Viraat by 2017 or
sooner.
In
February
2015,
the
navy
announced
plans
to
decommission Viraat in 2016, and began the process to obtain
Defence Ministry clearance for the carrier's decommissioning.
In February 2016, the navy confirmed Viraat would be
decommissioned in June, after which she would be turned over to
the Andhra Pradesh state government for conversion into a floating
tourist attraction and luxury hotel.
110

HEALTH
With Zika, Indian firm scales up trials for GM mosquitoes
Even as panic spreads worldwide over the Zika virus, harboured by
the mosquito species that spreads dengue and chikungunya, a
Maharashtra company is getting ready to scale up trials to find out
whether genetically engineered mosquitoes can be a useful tool to
check the growth of the insect.
Gangabishan Bhikulal Investment and Trading Ltd. (GBIT), a sister
company of the Maharashtra Hybrid Company (Mahyco) that first
brought Bt cotton to India, has been breeding male mosquitoes.
These mosquitoes contain genes which when passed on to its progeny
render them unable to mature unless they have access to tetracycline,
a compound that is not naturally available in the environment.
The idea is that once enough of these laboratory-bred mosquitoes
mate with the disease-carrying females in an open environment, they
would reduce the regions mosquito population.
The technology licensed from Oxitec, a University of Oxford company
is being tested in Malaysia and Brazil, which has seen the highest
number of Zika cases.
The strain of mosquito, called OX513A, is sourced from Oxitec and
introduced into local sites.
According to GBIT scientists, international evidence so far shows the
strain can reduce the number of mosquitoes in a place by 90 per cent
in three or six months.
U.S., India lead Zika vaccine race
Suspected links between the Zika virus and two neurological
disorders, microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barre syndrome,
should be confirmed within weeks, the WHO said.
A sharp increase in birth defects in Brazil has triggered a global
health emergency over the virus.
The WHO said U.S. government scientists and an Indian biotechnology
firm were currently frontrunners in the race to develop a vaccine and
for the first time it advised pregnant women to consider delaying
travel to Zika-infected areas.
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Lifestyle modifications could prevent vascular dementia
In the next 15 years the burden of Alzheimers disease is expected to
double in India, with an estimated 70 lakh people being diagnosed
with it. Currently around 35 lakh people have the disease, which is
around 11 per cent of the total population in the world which suffers
from it.
While the disease burden is worrisome, in India the condition could
still be modified as more people here suffer from vascular dementia.
With better clinical diagnosis the progression of the disease could be
checked.
Lifestyle modifications, including moderate exercise of 150 minutes
per week had shown to improve cognitive function.
Ageing need not be a passive process. Staying intellectually active,
being involved in social work would prevent ageing of the brain.
Studies of brain scans had shown how the brain cells decay and die.
Now know that Alzheimers disease is defined by plaques and tangles
in the brain.
Now able to determine whether people are predestined to develop
Alzheimers disease much earlier in life as we pick up patterns and
signals of plaques and tangles through techniques such as imaging,
CAT scans and spinal taps.
Timely and accurate diagnosis not only helps doctors manage the
symptoms but also slows the decline of memory and other cognitive
impairments.
Risk factors such as obesity, smoking, high blood pressure and
diabetes should be controlled between the ages of 40 and 50 years
rather than wait for the onset of the disease.
Revamped, safer, and with greater punch
A potent vaccine against tuberculosis is getting readied at the Punebased Serum Institute of India Limited.
The institute started a Phase 2b clinical trial in neonates in South
Africa late last year using a novel, recombinant BCG (bacillus
Calmette-Gurin) vaccine.
The new TB vaccine (VPM1002) is based on the BCG vaccine in use
today, but what makes it more powerful is that it contains a gene
112
which makes it easier for the vaccine to be better recognised by cells

of the immune system.
The Phase 2b trial will be studying 416 babies (newborns) whose
mothers are HIV-positive and negative. A single dose will be
administered to babies immediately after birth and will be followed
up for a year.
The trial, to be completed by mid-2017, will study safety and the level
of cellular immune response (which does not involve antibodies)
produced by the vaccine.
India-based trials
A Phase III trial involving newborns will begin in India once Phase
2b ends. By the end of this year, the institute also plans an
independent Phase III trial, again in India, involving nearly 2,500
adult TB patients who have been successfully treated.
The rationale for targeting this high-risk subset of the adult
population is because each year in India, TB recurrence (reinfection
and relapse) is seen in at least 2,00,000-2,50,000 people who have
been successfully treated.
According to the medical director at the institute, it will be easy to
clinically prove the vaccines efficacy as the study will be restricted to
a relatively fewer number of people.
Studies in two separate Phase I human clinical trials in 80 adults in
Germany (2009) and 50 adults in South Africa (2010) and one Phase
2a trial in 50 newborn infants in South Africa in 2012 have confirmed
safety and sufficient strengthening of the immune system against TB,
thus raising hopes for a higher efficacy vaccine.
The recombinant BCG vaccine is intended to protect children and
possibly adults against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB.
The hope is that the vaccine will be able to protect against pulmonary
and extra-pulmonary TB. In comparison, the classical BCG vaccine can
only protect against severe forms of the disease in children but cannot
prevent pulmonary TB in all age groups, including children.
The recombinant BCG vaccine has been found to be superior safetywise.
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Unlike the currently used vaccine that causes BCG-related disease in

HIV-positive babies (as they have reduced immunity), the
recombinant vaccine is expected to be safe in this population.
Better safety of the new vaccine was demonstrated even during
animal trials immuno-compromised mice died when the existing BCG
vaccine was administered but not when the recombinant vaccine was
used.
Researchers strongly believe that a difficult pathogen
like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which expresses some 3,000
different antigens, cannot be dealt with by a vaccine containing one or
a few antigens.
Since BCG shares almost all antigens with tuberculosis, they decided
to improve BCG with respect to its ability to provoke an immune
response. Indeed, our strategy has been termed by others as [a]
rational vaccine design.
The hypothesis was that the vaccine would induce broader cellular
immunity (that does not involve antibodies) but something
unexpected happened.
Antibody response was also seen in animals. This was unexpected and
is good.
The vaccine being tested is intended to replace the current BCG
vaccine and will be administered to young children to protect them
against tuberculosis. Adults may also be able to benefit from it later.
Since its use in 1921, BCG has become the most widely administered
vaccine in history with approximately 4 billion doses administered
worldwide.
With a capacity of 100 million doses, the Pune institute meets the
global demand for BCG vaccine and is well equipped to supply the
new vaccine when the trials are completed.
This will mark the end of a long journey that began when the
recombinant vaccine was constructed in the late 1990s and tested in
different animal models to determine its safety and protective effect.
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BCG
Bacillus CalmetteGurin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used
against tuberculosis.
In countries where tuberculosis is common one dose is recommended
in healthy babies as close to the time of birth as possible.
Babies with HIV/AIDS should not be vaccinated.
In areas where tuberculosis is not common, only babies at high risk
are typically immunized while suspected cases of tuberculosis are
individually tested for and treated. Adults who do not have
tuberculosis and have not been previously immunized but are
frequently exposed to drug resistant tuberculosis may be immunized
as well.
It is also often used as part of the treatment of bladder cancer.
Rates of protection against tuberculosis infection vary widely and
protection lasts between ten and twenty years. Among children it
prevents about 20% from getting infected and among those who do
get infected it protects half from developing disease.
The vaccine is given by injection into the skin.
Additional doses are not supported by evidence. It may also be used in
the treatment of some types of bladder cancers.
Serious side effects are rare. Often there is redness, swelling, and mild
pain at the site of injection. A small ulcer may also form with some
scarring after healing.
Side effects are more common and potentially more severe in those
with poor immune function.
It is not safe for use during pregnancy. The vaccine was originally
developed from Mycobacterium bovis which is commonly found in
cows. While it has been weakened, it is still live.
The BCG vaccine was first used medically in 1921.
It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines,
the most important medication needed in a basic health system.
The wholesale cost is $0.16 USD a dose as of 2014.
In the United States it costs $100 to $200 USD. Each year the vaccine
is given to about 100 million children.
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Fund crunch hits Indian drug trial
Three years after the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR) said it would conduct a drug trial to test a novel drug-regimen
for tuberculosis (TB), lack of funds is throttling the project.
In January 2014, the Drug Controller General of India the referee
for drug trials in the country approved a phase 2b trial (a limited test
of a prospective drug in humans to prove its potency) to test a
combination of three TB drugs to treat multi-drug-resistant
tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
The promise of this combination called PaMZ (PA-824 + moxifloxacin
+ pyrazinamide) is to cut treatment time by at least a third. Moreover,
it was purportedly effective even when tested on HIV patients.
The drug, developed in collaboration with the international Global
Alliance on Tuberculosis, was to enter phase 3, or large-scale trials
last year in South Africa.
However, there are reviews that are reconsidering these trials on the
grounds that it hasnt worked as well as it was supposed to in HIV
patients.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB kills an estimated 1.5
million people annually, and is one of the worlds deadliest diseases.
There were also approximately 190,000 deaths from MDR-TB in 2014
and more than half of these patients were in India, China and the
Russian Federation.
Currently, people with MDR-TB require 18 to 24 months of treatment,
with several pills and daily injections for at least six months.
Apart from the health benefits, the drug trial would have been the first
such attempt by the CSIR-led Open Source Drug Development (OSDD)
consortium an initiative to discover and test new drugs for infectious
diseases that are widespread in poor countries by using expertise
outside the confines of traditional pharmaceutical companies to test a
new drug in India.
Most drugs that are available in India are reverse-engineered versions
of drugs developed in Europe or the United States. Since 2015,
however, the OSDD has been shut down as a CSIR project.
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Shri J P Nadda launches the National Framework for Elimination of
Malaria
The Health Minister launched the National Framework for Malaria
Elimination (NFME) 2016-2030, which outlines Indias strategy for
elimination of the disease by 2030.
This framework has been developed with a vision to eliminate malaria
from the country and contribute to improved health and quality of life and
alleviation of poverty. The NFME document clearly defines goals,
objectives, strategies, targets and timelines and will serve as a roadmap
for advocating and planning malaria elimination in the country in a
phased manner. Necessary guidance is expressed for rolling out the
strategies and related interventions in each State/UT as per respective
epidemiological situation.
Terming the launch of the national framework for elimination of Malaria
by 2030 as historic in view of the public health challenge posed by
mosquito-borne illnesses. Eliminating Malaria will result in cutting down
on expenditure on diseases control programme, and will help in reducing
out-of-pocket expenditure too. India has sturdy health systems with
trained manpower, and the learning from the Polio and Elimination of
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus will help in eliminating Malaria too.
The objectives of the NFME are to: 1) eliminate malaria from all low
(Category 1) and moderate (Category 2) endemic states/UTs (26) by
2022; 2) reduce incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000
population in all States/UTs and the districts and malaria elimination in
31 states/UTs by 2024; 3) interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria in
all States/ UTs (Category 3) by 2027; 4) prevent re-establishment of local
transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and to
maintain malaria-free status of the country by 2030. The milestones and
targets are set for 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2027 and 2030 by when the
entire country has sustained zero indigenous cases and deaths due to
malaria for 3 years and initiated the processes for certification of malaria
elimination status to the country.
The NFME 2016-2030 also defines key strategic approaches such as
programme phasing considering the varying malaria endemicity in the
country; classification of States/UTs based on API as primary criterion
(Category 0: Prevention of re- introduction phase; Category 1: Elimination
117
phase; Category 2: Pre-elimination phase; Category 3: Intensified control

phase); district as the unit of planning and implementation; focus on high
endemic areas; and special strategy for P. vivax elimination. An enabled
environment and necessary resources would remain critical to realize the
objectives in the pathway to malaria elimination.
In the short-term, i.e. by end of 2016, all states/UTs are expected to
include malaria elimination in their broader health policies and planning
framework; by end of 2017, all states are expected to bring down API to
less than 1 per thousand population; and by end of 2020, 15 states/UTs
under category 1 (elimination phase) are expected to interrupt
transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due
to malaria.
It is also envisaged that in states with relatively good capacity and health
infrastructure, such as, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, accelerated
efforts may usher malaria elimination sooner - within two to three years.
As per the targets under the 12th Five Year Plan, the country is to achieve
API<1 at state and district level by 2017 and pave way to malaria
elimination in subsequent years.
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Adopt open source for connectivity: TRAI
A day after it took a tough stance on discriminatory pricing for data
services, effectively blocking Facebooks Free Basics from India, the
telecom regulator recently hinted that technology-driven connectivity
ventures such as the ones being pursued by Google and Facebook
would be acceptable only if they followed an open source framework
While Facebook is working on a venture that deploys drones in
remote and rural areas to provide Internet connectivity, Googles
Project Loon envisages the use of helium-filled balloons to provide
data connectivity in remote regions.
The two are trying these approaches as alternative models to reach
data connectivity aerially to users instead of the traditional route of
installing towers and optic fibre cable networks.
Google hopes to launch the Loon project in India and wants to start
testing for it soon, but the government has flagged some concerns
such as possible interference with cellular network transmissions due
to the frequency band it seeks to use.
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In a visit to India in December 2015, Google CEO Sundar Pichai had

said the company had tonnes of data from its tests in Sri Lanka and
Indonesia to demonstrate that Project Loon created no such
interference and would be sharing it with the government.
Google is keen on working with telecom operators in the 700 Mhz-900
MHz spectrum band for Project Loon.
A
c
c
o
r
d
i
n
g
t
o
G
o
o
g
l
e
,
each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in

diameter using a wireless communications technology called 4G.
LED bulb could connect you to Internet
Imagine an LED bulb doubling up as an access point for connecting to
the Internet and ordinary light being used as a medium to carry data.
A whole new world wherein a bulb would not only give us light but
also help us access the Web might not be too far away, if a new
technology called Li-Fi (or Light-Fidelity) goes mainstream.
119
Prof. Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh, who coined the term
Li-Fi in 2011, demonstrated the new technology to a packed
auditorium at the Wipros Electronics City campus.
A video from the Internet on a laptop using light from an LED bulb to
access the Web.
Li-Fi was a disruptive technology that could transform business

models, create new opportunities, and was poised to be a $113 billion
industry by 2022.
The RF (radio frequency) spectrum would not be enough considering

the rate of growth of wireless data communication.
The use of the light spectrum for Li-Fi overcomes the issues in
traditional wireless communication, like the shortage of spectrum and
network disruption because of interference.
In Li-Fi, anyone who has access to light can access the Internet. The
system also allows users to move from one light source to another
without losing their network connection.
What about connecting to the Internet in the night? The stream of

photons can be reduced to a minimal level that wont produce visible
light but enough to carry data.
Though the inability of light rays to pass through walls and similar
structures is seen as a major drawback of this technology.
It is an advantage since restriction by walls provides more security to

the network and eliminates the risk of the signal leakage to
eavesdropping.
The Li-Flame, described as the worlds first true Li-Fi system, was
displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March last
year.
The third generation of the product has now been developed and will
be on display at the MWC later this month.
LED lamp
An LED lamp is a light-emitting diode (LED) product which is

assembled into a lamp (or light bulb) for use in lighting fixtures.
LED lamps have a lifespan and electrical efficiency which are several
times longer than incandescent lamps, and significantly more efficient
120

than most fluorescent lamps, with some chips able to emit more than
100 lumens per watt.
The LED lamp market is projected to grow by more than twelve-fold
over the next decade, from $2 billion in the beginning of 2014 to $25
billion in 2023, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25%.
Like incandescent lamps and unlike most fluorescent lamps (e.g. tubes
and compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs), LEDs come to full brightness
without need for a warm-up time; the life of fluorescent lighting is
also reduced by frequent switching on and off.
The initial cost of LED is usually higher. Degradation of LED dye and
packaging materials reduces light output to some extent over time.
Some LED lamps are made to be a directly compatible drop-in
replacement for incandescent or fluorescent lamps.
An LED lamp packaging may show the lumen output, power
consumption in watts, color temperature in kelvins or description
(e.g. "warm white"), operating temperature range, and sometimes the
equivalent wattage of an incandescent lamp of similar luminous
output.
Most LEDs do not emit light in all directions, and their directional
characteristics affect the design of lamps, although omnidirectional
lamps which radiate light over a 360 angle are becoming more
common.
The light output of single LED is less than that of incandescent and
compact fluorescent lamps; in most applications multiple LEDs are
used to form a lamp, although high-power versions (see below) are
becoming available.
LED chips need controlled direct current (DC) electrical power; an
appropriate circuit is required to convert alternating current from the
supply to the regulated low voltage direct current used by the LEDs.
LEDs are adversely affected by high temperature, so LED lamps
typically
include heat
dissipation elements
such
as heat
sinks and cooling fins.
121

Li-Fi
Light Fidelity (Li-Fi ) is a bidirectional, high speed and fully
networked wireless communication technology similar to Wi-Fi.
The term was coined by Harald Haas and is a form of visible light
communication and
subset
communications (OWC)
and
could
of optical
be
wireless
complement
to RF
communication (Wi-Fi or Cellular network), or even a replacement in

contexts of data broadcasting.
It is so far measured to be about 100 times faster than some WiFi implementations, reaching speeds of 224 gigabits per second.
It is wireless and uses visible light communication or infra-red and
near ultraviolet (instead of radio frequency waves) spectrum, part of
optical wireless communications technology, which carries much
more information, and has been proposed as a solution to the RFbandwidth limitations.
Kerala students to take digital literacy to the masses
The Kerala-wide Digital Empowerment Campaign, which seeks to

bridge the digital divide and maximise the potential of ICT
(Information and Communication
Technology) in day-to-day life, is all
set to be rolled out recently.
Student police cadets from as many

as 280 schools in all 14 districts
will be enlisted for the campaign,
which is expected to help 3 million
people in the State.
Equipped with tablets preloaded with special software, the students

will train at least one member in each family in the catchment area of
a school extending up to a radius of 3 km.
122
The Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM), the nodal agency for the project,
is readying as many as 5600 tablets to be distributed to the cadets.
Interestingly, one can monitor the training process on real time basis
using the software. A programme monitoring unit will also be set up
at KSITM.
More than 10 lakh people will be digitally empowered in the first

phase of the campaign over a period of four months.
The initiative is aimed at making them capable of using e-mail,

accessing online government services, making online utility payments
and bank transfers and doing online shopping.
The training will also cover mobile services and information security.
The second phase will utilise the services of both NSS volunteers and
NCC cadets to reach out to more citizens.
Taken up under the Digital India initiative, the campaign seeks to

build on the achievements registered through Akshaya and IT@School
projects.
KSITM
Director
told that
high
mobile
penetration,
internet
subscription base, optic fibre network coverage, e-governance

initiatives and the rise in e-commerce activities justified a higher level
of digital empowerment in Kerala.
Assuming that 50 per cent of the States population in the age group of
30 to 60 years has already been digitally empowered through
Akshaya and IT@School programmes, the campaign seeks to reach
out to the remaining 60 lakh people.
The pilot phase of the campaign last year had utilised student police
cadets from 10 schools in Thiruvananthapuram to train 10,000
citizens.
The President is also expected to declare Kerala a Digital State on the

strength of its digital infrastructure and e-governance initiatives.
123
ENVIRONMENT
CLIMATE CHANGE
In a first, IMD to bring out summer forecast
For the first time in its history, the India Meteorological Department
best known for its monsoon forecasts will issue a summer forecast for
April, May and June.
Those involved say that though such a forecast may not be of much
help to farmers who rely on IMDs rain forecasts to make sowing
decisions and dont plant their crops in these months the information
would be useful to power companies, several service-sector industries
and state planners whod like a heads-up on possible water shortages.
In mid-March, the IMD will send out a colour-coded map of India,

showing how temperatures in different regions of the country are
likely to deviate from whats normal, during summer months.
These numbers would be updated every five days. The IMD reports to
the MoES.
El Nino and heatwave
The IMDs initiative comes even as India bears the brunt of one of the
longest and severest El Ninos ever experienced. Said to be responsible
for two consecutive droughts as well awry winter patterns in North
India, the El Nino a meteorological phenomenon marked by an
unusual warming of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean and
associated with droughts is likely to continue for a couple of months
more.
While this may mean more heatwaves, it would not affect this years
monsoon.
The IMD does give warnings about imminent heatwaves and dry
weather but these are no more than five days ahead.
124
The key factor to forecasting weather a few months ahead is in

ensuring that the computerised weather models are consistently able
to simulate the weather as it actually plays out.
Last month, the IMD officially expunged the word drought from its
vocabulary, months after it correctly forecast one of Indias severest
monsoon deficits last year.
Private finance vital for India to reach climate goals: Survey
The Economic Survey finds that India will find it hard to meet its
variety of obligations to tackle climate change without substantial
help from the private sector.
Successful implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) and the ambitious targets set out in the
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will require
huge financial resources which cannot be met through budgetary
sources alone.
Leveraging private finance along with public finance, both

international and national, will be critical says the chapter on climate
change and sustainable development in the Survey.
The SDGs set by the United Nations last September lay the onus on
countries to make significant progress on a wide range of goals
including ending poverty and hunger and combating climate change.
The INDCs are plans by governments communicated to the United

Nations climate change council regarding the steps they will take to
address climate change domestically.
India, the Survey adds, could benefit from the renewed global focus on
adopting and developing green technology but there could be
international pressure to commit to a date beyond which its
emissions wouldnt increase.
125
This is one of the sticking points between the U.S. and India and China
on doing more to contain their greenhouse gas emissions.
As part of its domestic climate commitments, India has said it would

source nearly 60,000 MW of its energy by wind-power and 1,00,000
MW megawatts via solar power by 2022.
The latter is extremely ambitious considering that as of today only 5%

of this proposed solar capacity has been installed.
The Survey also notes that a mission on Climate Change and Health
mooted since early 2015 is being developed and a National Expert
Group on Climate Change and Health has been constituted.
SPECIES CONSERVATION
Kashmirs lovebirds thriving
There is good news for Kashmirs endangered and vulnerable

lovebirds, the black-necked cranes, known for their loyalty to mates.
Only a few pairs were sighted in the Ladakh region in 1980s but the
number has now gone up to 95, the highest-ever recorded in a survey
so far.
According to the latest census by the State Department of Wildlife

Protection, the bird population at 22 wetlands in Ladakhs high
plateaus has gone up from 38 in 1997 to 95, including 14 breeding
pairs.
In the past, only two wetlands were known in Ladakh where these
birds were sighted. In 2013, a satellite-based telemetry study on
black-necked cranes was carried out in Changthang Cold Desert
Sanctuary and around 22 wetlands have been identified as their
habitats now.
Once a black-necked crane chooses its partner, the couple stays

together for life.
126
OTHERS
The morbid practice of facilitated deaths in TN
The inhuman and illegal practice of Thalaikoothal a form of

geronticide or involuntary euthanasia where the elderly are forced to
undergo the procedure against their will continues to be practised in
the State, a study conducted in Madurai, Virudhunagar and Theni
districts reveals.
According to the study titled A Study on the Victims of Geronticide in

Tamil Nadu, India conducted by M. Priyamvadha, Assistant Professor
in the Department of Criminology of Madras University, about 30 per
cent of the respondents of the study acknowledged that geronticide
was being practised as a ritual killing in the State, while 22 per cent of
the respondents acknowledged that death-hastening ceremonies were
bring performed to terminate the life of the elderly.
The offenders choose from a range of 26 different methods to kill. The

respondents have cited a variety of reasons for the illegal practice
including concern for their parents, irreversible physical or mental
condition (of the elderly) and poor economic situation. .
But there have also been instances that suggest other factors at play.
In one case at Theni district, a son has killed his elderly father so that
he could join the government service, states the study.
The study sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC)

involved 602 respondents to whom 59 specific questions were posed
in three parts.
The inhuman and illegal practice of Thalaikoothal also seems to have

spawned a network of middlemen. For instance, in Virudhunagar
district, quacks seem to play a major role in the illegal practice,
charging anywhere between Rs. 300 and Rs. 3,000 for administering a
poisonous injection.
In Theni district, the practice is most often a ritual and generally

happens within the four walls of the victims home. Often, midwives
127

or middlemen are employed to commit the crime. In one instance,
the study came across a person known as Society who is generally
hired by family members to kill the elderly.
The study also went into the socio-demographic profile of the victims,
risk factors and causes, and examined different methods adopted to
kill the elderly, the decision makers and whether geronticide was
being practised as a ceremonial slaughter or ritual killing. Among the
respondents, 67.8 per cent relied on agriculture and other related
occupations.
To completely eradicate this practice, there must be a paradigm shift

in the way the elderly are viewed. They should not be treated as a
burden and we should acknowledge their economic and social
contribution to society.
It further suggests stringent punishment for offenders under the

Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.
Gates Foundation on Centres radar
The Indian government will closely scrutinise the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundations (BMGF) methods of donations in India after an
international report accused the worlds biggest philanthropist of
influencing
government
policies
in
favour
of
multinational
pharmaceutical companies.
Unlike other international donors, the BMGF is not registered under

the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), leaving its funding
out of the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which is the
regulatory authority for NGOs and associations who receive foreign
funds.
The foundation instead operates as a Liaison Office under the

Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as approved by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In June last year, the Modi government cracked down on NGOs

receiving foreign funds, cancelling licences of over 10,000
128

organisations. The Gates Foundation was not affected as it is not
registered under the FCRA, which in itself is a violation.
Since it is not registered under the FCRA, the funding of NGOs doesnt
come under the governments watch list.
It is not clear where and what they are funding. It is a loophole and it
can open gates for other NGOs as well to use this route to escape
scrutiny.
The RBI allows liaison offices to operate in India and the central
bank does not want to give up this power. This is being exploited by
many foreign associations and organisations to route undetected
foreign funds.
Though the RBI gives LO permits, it does not regulate them as there
are no such rules. No inspections can take place and thus no taxes are
paid. The BMGF works as a marketing office for U.S. pharmaceutical
vaccines pushing only WHO pre-approved manufacturers, all of whom
are either USA or EU based.
In Ford Foundations case, MHA first put it under a watch-list

category as it funded Gujarat-based activist Teesta Setalvads NGOs.
Ford was neither registered as a society nor under FCRA. After the
governments crackdown, Ford registered itself under FEMA last
month. Officials say the international NGO will soon be taken off the
watch-list.
The Centres move on BMGF comes after a 54-page report by Global

Justice Now, a U.K.-based organisation, stated that the foundations
policies are, directly benefitting big business by using their influence
to push industry friendly policies, particularly in the health and
agriculture sector.
In the health sector, the BMGF is accused of altering aid priorities by

legitimizing the role of multinational pharmaceutical companies by
pushing for public-private-partnerships (PPPs).
According to Global Justice Now, both the BMGF-funded Global Fund

to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and the GAVI
Alliance, are PPPs and have questionable associations with the
pharmaceutical industry.
129

Thousands of transgenders throng Medaram for Sammakka jatara
Thousands of transgenders gathered at the Sammakka Sarakka jatara
at Medaram village in Warangal district of Telangana.
Laila, who heads a large group of transgenders in Telangana, said they
come for the jatara with devotion to patronise goddesses.
Transgenders from various parts of the country gathered in the village
raising temporary sheds all over.
They were seen moving in good numbers, dancing, invoking goddess
unto them and going in a procession to offer their prayers.
The transgenders adorned their settlements with portraits of
Sammakka and Sarakka and offered prayers before proceeding to the
altar.
The Sammakka Sarakka jatara came to a close with the tribal priests
performing the ritual called vana pravesham, where the deities are
taken back to their places symbolising the closing of the fair. The next
jatara will be held in 2018.
Dr.D.J. Pandian appointed as the Vice-President, Chief Investment Officer
(AIIB)
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced the
appointment of India's nominee, Dr. D.J. Pandian, as the VicePresident, Chief Investment Officer of the newly formed USD 100
billion multilateral development bank.
The primary responsibility of the Chief Investment Officer is leading
the planning and supervision of the Banks infrastructure investment
by promoting sustainable investment throughout Asia that is
consistent with the Banks vision, goals, and strategies, and by
ensuring the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of AIIB
operations.
Dr. Pandian has had an extensive career spanning 30 years with the
Indian Administrative Service (IAS), holding key positions at the State,
National, and International levels in the energy (oil and gas, power,
renewable), infrastructure, finance, and industry sectors. Dr. Pandian
was instrumental in liberalizing the policy regime to attract
international investment to crucial infrastructure sectors including
power, airlines, ports and telecoms.
130

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CONTENT

INDIA AND WORLD

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

No. 9, Plot No. 2163,

SMART LEADERS IAS: FEBRUARY 1-29

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If a ceasefire is negotiated here, it will probably come at a moment Mr.

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Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support

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The Syrian Kurdish PYD party rejected Turkish demands for

Smart Leaders IAS - Smart News

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against the mosquito carrying Zika, suspected of causing the birth

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Solar Industries, India, produced one spool of detonating cord on 27

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Among Indias key areas of weakness was the use of compulsory

What is Intellectual Property?

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Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs are in the saddle as

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On these items, the survey said, Indias tariff bindings (commitments