Millet Fest inaugurated

A three-day exhibition of millets and their products Millet Fest was inaugurated
on Friday at NTR Stadium by Agriculture Minister Kanna Laxminarayana. It is org
anised by the Agriculture Department and the faculty of home science of Acharya
N.G. Ranga Agricultural University.
After going round the 30 odd stalls in the exhibition, the Minister said a simil
ar event in Guntur recently had drawn large crowds and resulted in good business
as the awareness about millet consumption grew among public. Millets production
and usage enhanced nutrition value. The lower nutrition levels in people contri
buted to their poor health.
Agriculture Commissioner K. Madhusudhan Rao and university vice-chancellor A. Pa
dmaraju were present. The students of home science set up a stall to test the pe
rception abilities of visitors while a kitchen cooking only millet items served
food at reasonable rates.
IUCN flags threat to sharks, rays
An update of the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) shows that a quarter of the worlds shark and ray species are at risk of ex
tinction.
The update is based on the findings of the first-ever global analysis on these s
pecies by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG). The conclusions of the study ha
ve been reached after assessing the conservation status of 1,041 shark, ray, and
closely related chimaeras species.
302 experts
The study has been conducted by a team of 302 experts from 64 countries. Sharks,
rays, and chimaeras are known as cartilaginous fish as their skeletons are made
of cartilage rather than bone. They are one of the worlds oldest and most ecologi
cally diverse groups of animals.
The report has been published in the journal eLIFE. The researchers have found t
hat sharks, rays, and chimaeras are at a substantially higher risk than most oth
er animals and have the lowest percentage of species considered safe with only 2
3 per cent categorised as Least Concern by the IUCN.
The study says that overfishing is the main threat to these species.
Nick Dulvy, co-chairman of the IUCN SSG, says: Our analysis shows that sharks and
their relatives are facing an alarmingly elevated risk of extinction. In greate
st peril are the largest species of rays and sharks, especially those living in
shallow water that is accessible to fisheries.
Bycatch issues
Unintentionally caught sharks and rays account for much of the catch, yet develo
ping markets and depleting fishery targets have made this bycatch increasingly wel
come.
Intentional killing of sharks and rays due to the perceived risk that they pose
to people, fishing gear or target species is contributing to the threatened stat
us of at least 12 species.
In food
The study says that the demand for shark fin soup is a major factor in the deple
tion of sharks and some rays. Sharks, rays, and chimaeras are also sought for me
at. Other products from these species include a Chinese tonic made from manta an
d devil ray gills and pharmaceuticals made from deep sea shark livers.
According to the study, rays are worse off than sharks and the most threatened f
amilies of the rays are saw fish, angel sharks, wedgefish, sleeper rays, whiptai
l stingrays, and guitar fish.
Deputy chairman of the SSG Sonja Fordham said sharks, rays and chimaeras tend to
grow slowly and produce few young ones, which leaves them particularly vulnerabl
e to overfishing.
Findings based on first-ever global analysis of these species by IUCN Shark Spec
ialist Group.
Beyond Mullahs and Marxists
A Hindu friend once told me, even as he profusely apologized for his bluntness,
that there was only one kind of Muslim the fundamentalist kind. The idea of a lib
eral Muslim was a misnomer according to him. Such a person was first and foremost a
liberal who also happened to be a Muslim because of the sheer accident of havin
g been born in a Muslim family.
Their liberalism doesnt derive from Islam. It has nothing to do with their being M
uslims. They are liberals despite being Muslims and not because they are Muslims
. I have yet to meet a devout Muslim who doesnt have fundamentalist views. And mi
nd you, Im 70 plus and have known at least three generations of Muslims, he said.
The notion that a practising Muslim cannot be liberal has become conventional wi
sdom. And, to be honest, I have often found myself broadly agreeing with this vi
ew. Working in Delhi as a journalist until the late 1990s, I had a hard time fin
ding sane, liberal voices, even in educated Muslim circles, on issues such as fr
ee speech, Muslim personal law, womens rights, and secularism. There were either
the agnostic/atheist, mostly left-wing secular Muslims who felt almost embarrass
ed to be defined by their religious identity, or there were mainstream devout Musl
ims defensive, insular, intolerant and deeply suspicious of their secular peers
contemptuously dismissing them either as communists or government stooges.
There is no doubt that all faith groups are divided along liberal/fundamentalist
lines (Hindus, Sikhs and Christians have their own share of fundamentalist mulla
hs) but the divide among Muslims was particularly stark. It was as if these were
not two sections of the same community but two separate communities with paralle
l and irreconcilable world views. The future looked bleak and, like many of my g
eneration, I had written off any possibility of a change in the Muslim mindset i
n my lifetime.
But over the past decade it has all changed. Now, there is a world beyond mullah
s and Marxists, and the notion of a liberal Muslim does not sound so alien any m
ore. It is amazing how much the Muslim mood has changed in recent years. Alas, m
y friend who had never known a practising liberal Muslim is no more. Im sure he w
ould have been as pleased as I am to have been proved wrong in assuming that Mus
lims were beyond change. He would have enjoyed meeting the likes of Aqeel Ahmed,
Meher Rahman, Nasir Zaidi, Saba Bashir, Arif Ahmed to name just a few of the nu
merous young, educated and progressive Muslims I came across in the course of wr
iting this book who see no contradiction between religiosity and secularism, and
whose faith in Islam does not stop them from being secular Indians. Many dont li
ke the minority tag which, they say, suggests as though they are on the fringes of
Indian mainstream.
I routinely hear people lament that the Muslim mindset is still stuck in the 198
0s and 1990s, mired in self-pity and a corrosive sense of victimhood with no roo
m for introspection or debate. Apart from being extremely patronizing, such a vi
ew is lazy stereotyping of a whole community, and betrays a huge amount of ignor
ance and prejudice. For the reality is quite different.
During my travels I found young Muslims vigorously debating the challenges facing
Indias 170-million-strong Muslim community, and what it should do to haul itself
out of the hole it is in. What particularly struck me was their courage to ackno
wledge what previous generations had doggedly refused to namely, the communitys o
wn role in its destruction. For the first time there is a willingness to face up
to the fact that many of the wounds the Muslims suffered, and for which they bl
amed others, were actually self-inflicted.
Suicidal is how young Muslims describe the tactics of successive post-partition ge
nerations. They believe they have been handed a legacy that speaks of their elde
rs profound failure to produce an enlightened and credible leadership. And they a
re angry.
Muslims are architects of their own misery, said Aamir Shahzad, a religiously devo
ut postgraduate history student of Lucknow University, with barely suppressed fu
ry. I hate to say it but my father and grandfathers generations have failed us. Th
eir priorities have been wrong and we are paying for their mistakes. They allowe
d mullahs to become our spokesmen. And look where we are today.
As an illustration of wrong priorities, many cite the fight that the community p
icked up over Babri Masjid. I am not saying that it was not an important issue bu
t if we had made the same sort of noise over discrimination that Muslims face in
everyday life, and in demanding good education and jobs, it would have made mor
e sense, argued Meraj Haider who runs a successful real-estate business in centra
l U.P.
Challenge and priorities were two terms I heard frequently in my interactions with t
he Muslim youth. The community, I was told, must get out of its siege mentality;
stop seeing enemies everywhere and start on a new slate. There is a deep genera
tional divide, especially in the 18-25 age group. They believe that their parent
s generation had been too defensive about its Muslim identity and, for all its appa
rent secularism, tended to see India essentially as a Hindu country and Muslims as
a persecuted minority. Its perception of its Muslim identity was too negative, ac
cording to them.
I have some sympathy with this view though the theory, especially popular in the
academia, that Muslims have always suffered from a deep existential identity cri
sis as to who they were Muslims first or Indians first (an agonized debate on this
has raged for as long as I can remember) is vastly exaggerated, as Ive argued in
another chapter.
The identity issue has its roots in Partition. Not many Muslims will acknowledge
this but lets be honest: it is a myth that every Muslim who chose to stay back i
n India was prompted by a sense of nationalism or was against the idea of Pakist
an. Many stayed back simply because they found the sheer logistics of migration
too daunting; others held back because of the fear of taking the plunge into an
unknown and uncertain future; some tested the waters and decided that it was saf
er to hang back; and, indeed, quite a few including some progressive Muslims act
ually moved to Pakistan and returned when they discovered that it was not the pr
omised land it was cracked up to be.
So the post-partition generation struggled with a massive historical baggage tha
t, among other things, made it deeply conscious of its identity and its place in
a Hindu-majority India an infection that it passed on to successive generations.
Muslims from that generation admit to suffering a Muslim complex, as some put it.
But they attribute it to the political climate of the time.
We were a product of our time. There was a climate of suspicion of Muslims becaus
e of Partition, and so on. There were communal riots every now and then, Urdu wa
s being crushed because they said it was the language of Muslimsit was not easy t
o forget that you were a Muslim, said Ahmed Qadri, who ran a library of Urdu book
s and journals in Old Delhi in the 1960s. He was forced to close down the librar
y as Urdu publications and their readers declined, leaving him with few books to
lend and even fewer customers to lend to.
What happened to me happened because I was a Muslimso how could I not be conscious
of being a Muslim? he asked.
Muslims of his generation say that the Hindu Right made it impossible for them t
o forget their minority status. They were regarded as lower orders who should kno
w their place.
For the younger generation of Muslims, on the other hand, Partition has no speci
al resonance. It is something they read about in history books and feel no need
to obsess about, as one young Muslim woman put it. Nor do they feel any special af
finity towards Pakistan, which, if anything, they regard as a failed state and a
n embarrassment. All this makes them less conflicted about their identity and mi
nority status. They see themselves as any other Indian citizen except that they
happen to be Muslims. They argue that Muslims are not the only minority group in
India and there is no reason why they should put themselves in a special box.
But heres the paradox. Precisely because they dont suffer from the sort of identit
y crisis their parents did, they feel less inhibited about flaunting their Muslim
-ness. That explains the proliferation of beards and hijabs ; and the rush to the
masjid , a growing global trend among young Muslims. But they insist that this
assertion of their Islamic identity does not diminish their Indian-ness, which is
what ultimately defines them. Allama Iqbal wrote, Hindi hain hum watan hai , Hind
ustan hamara . And that pretty much sums up the modern Indian Muslim. Damn the be
ard.
Indias Muslim Spring Why is Nobody Talking about It? Hasan Suroor, Rainlight, Rup
a Publications India Pvt. Ltd, 2014
There is no doubt that all faith groups are divided along liberal/fundamentalist
lines but the divide among Muslims was particularly stark.
Good laws, bad implementation
In the last two years the highest courts in the country have responded to a mass
call for more protection for women. Alongside, there have been many judgments f
rom non-constitutional decision-making bodies like khap panchayats and kangaroo
courts sanctioning violence against particular women or curtailing womens freedom
in significant ways. Why is it that while there has been a legal expansion of w
omens rights in India, the societal trends that maintain a violent order against
women have remained intact?
Recently, a 20-year-old Santhal tribal woman was raped by 12 men in West Bengal
on the orders of a kangaroo court called a salishi sabha . Her crime was to have
fallen in love with a man outside her community. The couple were tied up and tri
ed and asked to pay Rs.25,000 as payment. The man was able to pay but the woman c
ould not. The headman reportedly decreed that she could be enjoyed by several men
and that they could have fun with her.
The tone of this diktat parrots what Nirbhayas rapists said they were out to have
some fun and a good time. She later died after having sustained massive injuries bu
t left behind a mass political movement calling for more rights for Indian women
.
Societally sanctioned rape and sexual assault is not new in India. It has been r
epeatedly established that Indian men assert a claim over the bodies of women be
cause somehow, families believe that in Indian society a woman exists as an appe
ndage to some man in her life father, brother, son or husband. If a woman steps
across an invisible line ( lakshman rekha ), where her behaviour is seen as outr
ageous and unacceptable, then many people still believe that she is opening hers
elf up to sexual assault. The most recent such pronouncement came from Ms Asha M
irje, a member of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women who stated: Rapes ta
ke place also because of a womans clothes, her behaviour and her presence at inap
propriate places. In other words, for many people in society (including many wome
n) such a woman deserves what she gets.
Over the years, violence against women in various forms has reached epic proport
ions. An estimated 30 to 70 million girls are missing in India since 1950, i.e., t
hey dont make it out of the birth canal. In 2011, the International Men and Gende
r Equality Survey (IMAGES) on gender attitudes showed that 68 per cent of the In
dian men surveyed (n=810) agreed that women should tolerate violence to keep the
ir families together, while 65 per cent believed that sometimes a woman deserves
to be beaten; 37 per cent of men (n=929) had physically assaulted their intimat
e partner at least once; 24 per cent had committed an act of sexual violence aga
inst someone in society and 20 per cent had committed sexual violence against th
eir partners. The most interesting finding from the TrustLaw study was this one
92 per cent of those surveyed knew of the laws pertaining to violence against wo
men. What does this figure tell us about what is happening in India to women?
Rights and resentment
The figure quoted above tells us that legislation alone is not going to stop vio
lence against women from occurring. For every piece of progressive legislation t
hat has upped the ante on womens rights in India, there is still the struggle aga
inst first responders who are often reluctant to register a case of rape or sexu
al assault. The reporting of rapes is very low in India. Most women do not repor
t assault for a variety of reasons. Last year, Indias National Crime Records Bure
au data revealed that in 2012, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India. Out
of these, 24,470 were committed by parents/family, relatives, neighbours and ot
her known persons. This leaves us with a total of 453 cases of stranger rape. In
essence, men known to the victim committed 98 per cent of reported rapes. This
itself is a staggering figure.
A second cause of concern that emerges from the data is that we have to think ab
out why, despite far-reaching legislation, rape and sexual assault is still comm
on. Romit Chowdhury suggests that for Indian men the demonstration of masculinit
y, which has always problematically rested on harassing women, has now also beco
me linked to breaking the laws that protect women.
Rape and sexual assault are not only occurring in homes, streets and offices, bu
t also take on a unique group dynamic in situations of communal riots where a wo
mans body become a site of violence in the battle between caste or religious grou
ps. Sexual violence was a strong component of the rioting in the 2013 Muzaffarna
gar riots in Uttar Pradesh; 13 rape and assault cases were reported. It is suspe
cted that some cases have not yet been reported because the women, now in refuge
e camps, have refused to step forward as they are afraid of losing their honour.
Last year, the landmark Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 expanded the definiti
on of rape to include more than just vaginal penetration. Stalking, voyeurism, a
cid attacks were brought under the Act as punishable crimes. The age of consent
was raised to 18 years, below which all penetrative sexual acts will now constit
ute statutory rape. A rape shield clause was included, where the character of th
e victim was rendered irrelevant to establishing her consent. However, marital r
ape did not find its way into the Act and neither was rape and sexual assault re
moved from the purview of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
Imperfections notwithstanding, these are still very far-reaching changes. Howeve
r, for every such legislation passed by the Lok Sabha and courts, there has been
a gradual stripping away of the rights of women as well. In fact, the gender si
tuation in India needs to be understood through this process of rights expansion
and the pushback it gets from society.
Women in rural India
One of the agents of mass pushback against womens rights is kangaroo courts in In
dia. These clan-based khap panchayats and sabhas have had a long history in Indi
a. Khaps are unconstitutional and informal law-giving bodies that have captured
much rural terrain in north and eastern India. Why they have re-emerged recently
as strong political bodies is still a mystery but one that suggests that they h
ave more than just traditional authority. Khaps in rural India have been asserti
ng much power over the lives of people in rural India, the weakest of whom are w
omen of all communities.
In the last two years alone, khaps have sanctioned several honour killings and h
ave suggested a level of misogyny that is completely at odds with what the leadi
ng courts in the country are articulating. For instance, in the State of Haryana
, there are several local khaps . Two such jat caste bodies imposed dress codes
on women, and one even said that girls are agents who pollute society and bring a
bad name to the community. For these bodies, policing women is easy. In rural In
dia, police presence is low and many local notables have links with local law en
forcement agents. These notables are also involved in the functioning of khaps .
So, they are reasonably confident that their diktats policing womens behaviour w
ill not be challenged.
What is transpiring in contemporary India is a backlash against an expansion of
rights for women that stops women from building capabilities, economic careers a
nd acquiring some independence from male figures in their lives. Second, since k
hap diktats are singular statements that send messages to all women, they instil
l fear in young women and families with daughters, successfully silencing any pr
otest that could arise against their rulings. The Indian state has been quite re
ticent in initiating any action against khaps even though it is apparent that kh
ap diktats are blatantly undercutting womens rights and thereby contradicting the
verdicts of the highest constitutional law-making bodies.
A mismatch
This process giving rights with one hand, while the other takes it away shows th
at people resent an expansion of rights for women and go to extreme lengths to m
ake sure that the law of the land has no stronghold in their local communities.
The Indian state may make many laws that protect women. However, none of this me
ans much unless law enforcement agencies actually implement the law.
This mismatch between the existence of good laws and their actual implementation
is itself a commentary on state capacity in India. Many years ago, Francine Fra
nkel and M.S.A. Rao drew our attention to social structures of dominance in Indi
a and how they inhibit, negotiate or encourage state power. The Indian state has
failed Indian women by allowing khaps to issue diktats that contradict constitu
tionally sanctioned rights women have. In ignoring the khap question and not tak
ing them head-on as groups that violate human rights, the Indian state seems to
be saying that its job is done when it passes good legislation. Rights may be ap
parent or self-evident and constitutionally secured; however, they do not automa
tically implement themselves.
(Vasundhara Sirnate is the chief coordinator of research for The Hindu Centre fo
r Politics and Public Policy.)
Rights may be self-evident and constitutionally secured; however, they do not au
tomatically implement themselves
Cyber-warfare specialist to head NSA
U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Vice-Admiral Michael Rogers, a Navy cy
ber-warfare specialist, to be the next Director of the National Security Agency
(NSA).
Mr. Rogers, whose nomination was announced by Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on T
hursday, will wear two hats, as he also will, subject to confirmation by the U.S
. Congress, be the boss of the Pentagons Cyber Command.
He will take over from the current NSA Director Keith Alexander, who is set to s
tep down in March. Mr. Hagel also announced the NSAs new Deputy Director would be
its current Chief Operating Officer, Rick Ledgett.
Mr. Rogers may well face a trial by fire as he takes over at a time of deep publ
ic and congressional concern over whether the Agency is violating privacy rights
.
Mr. Ledgett would lead the taskforce assessing the damage done by the revelations
and make internal changes that could prevent a repeat .
However, he raised eyebrows recently when he said in a television news interview
, It is worth having a conversation about giving Mr. Snowden amnesty from prosecuti
on in return for a full accounting of what he took from the NSA.
U.N. targets wildlife traders in Africa sanctions
The U.N. Security Council has targeted illegal wildlife traffickers for sanction
s in a pair of resolutions against African armed groups, a step conservationists
called unprecedented and a major shift on a problem that has morphed from an en
vironmental issue into a security threat.
A resolution that renewed an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes against
armed groups in Congo included individuals who support those groups through illi
cit trade of natural resources, including gold or wildlife as well as wildlife p
roducts. The Security Council approved the resolution on Thursday, two days after
including similar language in a sanctions regime imposed on armed groups in the
Central African Republic.
The conservation group WWF said the resolutions represent the first times that th
e U.N. Security Council has specifically named illicit trade of wildlife and wil
dlife products in sanctions regimes.
The move follows years of warnings from advocates and U.N. officials that wildli
fe trafficking, particularly elephant ivory, has increasingly become a source of
financing for armed groups.
Its a huge step forward, said Wendy Elliott, WWF species programme manager. Wildlif
e traffickers are funding the armed groups that are causing the human rights viol
ations, but it is still treated as an environmental issue and that is just not g
oing to work out.
Britain, which will host a summit on illicit wildlife trafficking next month, ap
plauded the Security Council for approving a sanctions regime which includes targ
eting those who fuel instability by illegally exploiting wildlife.
A source of conflict
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said, In recent years, wildlife trafficking has be
come a lucrative business and a source for conflict, so its a sign of progress th
at the Security Council recognises the link between stopping poaching and advanc
ing peace. In their report, the U.N. experts said the slaughter of elephants in C
ongo is one of the most tragic consequences of years of war and poor governance.
In Garamba National Park, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a census show
ed fewer than 2,000 elephants were left in 2012, compared to 22,000 in the 1960s
. The report said the Lords Resistance Army which originated in Uganda and has wa
ged one of Africas most brutal rebellions maintains bases in the park, has engage
d in firefights with park rangers, including a shooting in May 2013 that left tw
o girls dead.
In a report last year, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there were signs
that the illegal trade in elephant ivory constitutes an important source of fund
ing for armed groups including the LRA, whose fighters moved into Congo, South S
udan and Central Africa Republic after Ugandan troops flushed them out of their
country.
Conservationists say a thriving ivory trade market in Asia is helping fuel the w
orst poaching epidemic of African elephants in decades. Ms Elliot said one chall
enge in implementing the sanctions will be proving the connection between poache
rs, traffickers and armed groups. AP
Keeping people and tigers safe
As conservation of wild species becomes more successful, higher levels of human-
wildlife conflict are being reported in many parts of the country. The outcome o
f such encounters is a distressing number of human lives lost, and the tragic el
imination of the wild creatures involved in the attacks. The man-eating tiger inci
dent in Dodabetta in the Nilgiris, which ended in the gunning down of the cat, b
rings to the fore the dilemma of ensuring a safe distance between wild animals a
nd people. Evidently, there are no easy answers to this question, not just in In
dia but in several other countries that have well-protected wildlife. Two strate
gies often adopted to prevent conflict rely on modification of human and animal
behaviour. Farmers are encouraged to switch to cash crops to avoid attracting el
ephants, while forest departments provide access to water within protected areas
to stop animals from moving out. Wild creatures in turn learn to avoid places r
endered inaccessible through trench-digging and building of fences. Yet, these a
re by no means fail-safe interventions. It is necessary to identify areas for in
tensive protection, and encourage forest-dwelling communities to move out of cou
rse, with sufficient attention devoted to their rehabilitation at a new location
.
Removal of problem animals often becomes unavoidable if there are human casualti
es and there is a prospect of more people being killed. It would appear ironic,
but conservation advice in such circumstances is usually to swiftly eliminate th
e lone animal, such as the Dodabetta tiger, rather than attempt slow capture and
risk negative public attitudes to tigers as a whole. Unfortunately, it is not e
asy to identify the individual tiger or leopard, and the conflict may continue e
ven after one animal is shot dead. In Chikmagalur district, for instance, 17 leo
pards had to be shot in 1995 before the problem of attacks on people stopped. Re
search evidence supports a strategy that relies on spatial separation of people an
d animals as a more rewarding means of conflict reduction. If isolated villages
and free ranging cattle are moved out of the small land area that makes up Indias
protected forests, the risk of an encounter with fierce creatures can be brough
t down. The problem today is that successfully managed national parks and sanctu
aries are witnessing a rise in tiger and leopard numbers, leading to the dispers
al of old and injured animals towards habitations on the periphery and even beyo
nd. Future conservation strategies would have to rely on well-administered wildl
ife sanctuaries, and equally on a voluntary resettlement programme for forest co
mmunities.
It is in Pakistans best interests to help stabilise the situation in Afghanistan
The day before 9/11, Abdullah Abdullah had almost given up hope: his mentor, Afg
han resistance leader Ahmad Shah Masood had been assassinated; the Taliban was b
attering down the last walls of opposition. In the years since, though, he becam
e one of the architects of the new Afghanistan that emerged, serving as its Fore
ign Minister. Later, however, he fell out with President Hamid Karzai and has em
erged as a key opposition leader. In the 2009 elections, characterised by large-
scale malpractice, Mr. Abdullah came in second. This time around, he hopes to th
e front runner, though some commentators believe the perception that he is not P
ashtun he is in fact of mixed Pashtun and Tajik heritage will cost him votes in
an ethnically-divided society. Excerpts from an interview given to Praveen Swami
, where Mr. Abdullah spoke on his assessments of the prospects for Afghanistans
upcoming elections.
Looking at events as they are unfolding, are you confident presidential election
s will be held in 2014, and how confident are you they will be fair?
The concerns are there; they are real. The first priority is that elections be h
eld on time, in the early months of 2014. There is no doubt they will be very di
fferent elections. The security situation, of course, is one obvious concern. Th
en, there is the fact that large parts of the country will still be in the grip
of winter when elections are held. Finally, the kinds of electoral reforms we ha
d hoped for have not occurred. We hope, though, that the electoral bodies, and t
he Electoral Complaints Commission, understand how enormous their responsibiliti
es are. This is not just an election to choose a President, but to build a democ
ratic Afghanistan.
The pre-election situation will obviously become more complicated if the Bilater
al Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States is not signed soon. There are
even fears that the International Security Assistance Force may then pull out b
efore the elections, and that western aid might be cut sharply.
Whatever President Karzais reasons are for not signing the BSA and I think they a
re not the stated reasons, but personal ones, which I do not want to go into I d
o not feel what he is doing is in the interests of the country. Let us face it:
there is no ideal agreement that will satisfy all the desires of the Afghan peop
le, and there will not be an ideal agreement tomorrow. To say, as President Karz
ai is saying, let the United States bring peace today and we will sign is meaningl
ess. The negotiations were done; a text agreed on. To question the merit of sign
ing it now will obviously generate a lot of concern, and the Afghan people are p
aying the costs. Food and fuel prices have shot up on panic buying. The little m
oney investors were bringing in has been put on hold. Now, because this element
of uncertainty about the post-2014 situation has been gratuitously injected on t
his situation, there is even volatility.
There have been some fears that in addition to all these problems, ethnic tensio
ns are mounting, and that the election may end up contributing to the fragmentat
ion of the nation. Do you share these concerns?
There are some people who want exactly this to happen. There are people who are
instigating violence through hate speech, which inevitably provokes a response,
pre-planned or spontaneous. I am not, however, concerned about the people. Afgha
ns have learned that national unity is the key to our survival. So, while there
are efforts to incite tensions, I think there is also a deep wisdom among the pe
ople, which will prevail.
A year ago, there were hopes that the election process would become more inclusi
ve with the reconciliation process, which hoped to bring the Taliban, or a secti
on of them, on board. Is there still any life in these hopes?
Whatever our desires or wishes might be, I do not see that the elements are ther
e to make peace with the Taliban. While we should keep doing whatever is needed
to work towards peace, realistically, the prospects of the desired outcome are n
ot high.
Do you think, therefore, the election will be marred by violence? There are all
kinds of conflicting reports on the reach of the Taliban.
It is how you look at these reports the truth is that there are improvements in
the security situation in some areas, and setbacks in others. I should candidly
say that, yes, there are risks. It would be highly misleading if we say there is
no security risk to the elections. Hopefully, though, with the joint efforts of
the Afghan security forces and the people, we can have a good election.
Finally, in your view, is greater Indian involvement in Afghanistan something th
at is desirable, or does it hinder things by getting Pakistans back up?
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs government has sent the right signals and used the r
ight words. Im not going to be quick to judge though about what this means, but i
t is always good to hope for the best. Now, I think it is in Pakistans best inter
ests to help stabilise the situation in Afghanistan. They cannot, for this, clai
m a veto over Afghanistans relationship with India. It is for Afghanistan and Ind
ia to decide what their relationship should be like. It is for Afghanistan and P
akistan to decide what their relationship should be like.
praveen.swami@thehindu.co.in
Imagining Gandhi
Whether you worship, revere, respect, fault or even detest him, the Mahatma, Gan
dhi, or as his British Indian Passport saw him, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, rema
ins a character of great, if intriguing, relevance.
Among his numerous contributions, one of the greatest is his redefining of the i
dea of struggle, of revolt and the role in these of violence. Each of these conc
epts has traditionally invoked hurt, suffering, and even death, very often to th
e oppressor himself.
In Gandhi, the hurt and the suffering were self-inflicted. In fact, the more the
hurt and suffering, the higher the risk of death, the purer for him was the strug
gle, the more justified the revolt.
For Gandhi, his work, his passion, which found such intensity in struggle, was n
ot a question of good vs. evil but a series of battles within the site of the goo
d itself. Each mass movement gave a paradigm of change, which was about more than
just the immediate objective. Both by intent and method, he left behind an alte
red scene in which both oppressed and oppressor stood challenged, transformed.
Every January 30, at 5.17 pm, we revisit the moment of his silencing with silence.
At that moment not only was he killed but a wholly new vision that he had creat
ed evaporated. The sense of loss that engulfed the nation was about more than th
e loss of a person. A whole world crumbled at that instant, something only he re
presented, something only he was.
Gandhi was saint, social reformer and freedom fighter, but what intrigues me is
why he was different, not just in degree but in his whole being, from the many o
thers who struggled for exactly the same causes. Like many before him he too tra
versed the country. But Gandhi did not travel to observe or learn from India in
the ordinary sense. He became the laughter, tears, drudgery, suffering, friendsh
ip, anger and hope. The observer became the observed. Every experience moved him
closer to who he was, leading to revelations that were not always pleasant, but
were the truth. What he saw as the future was very different.
The difference lay in his imagination, in his visualising sensibility. Yet what
he saw as Indias destiny was anything but imaginary, it was tangible. It was not
just about social inequalities and the depressing conditions, but he saw deep in
side these external actualities, the hidden fire of tomorrow, the fire that woul
d burn not to destroy but to recreate. This was the imagination of a master visi
onary, not a delusion of Mohandas.
He knew that he had to address Today for a Tomorrow. But he also immediately rea
lised that no one can address reality without imagining the future. To imagine s
omething for oneself is one thing, but to make every other person imagine it at
the same time is completely another.
What of his own did Gandhi create in the actuality of Indians lives? The most mag
nificent creation was the possibility of a future in which violence, bloodshed, hu
rt, and destruction were not part of the edifice. It was not a passive vision, r
ather an active, dynamic, even aggressive force that sought to change the weakne
sses of a violent today for a morally mature tomorrow.
He made an entire people envision something radically new. They were imagining a
future without blood on their hands. This was the creation of the Mahatma.
Was the identification of India with Gandhis vision of India self-deceptive, or,
worse, was it false, a dream?
As much as Gandhi may have tried to transfer his imagination to the people, it w
as essential that they feel his imagination, his vision within themselves as the
ir own imagination and their own impulse and feeling. It was essential that they
make Gandhis vision of the future, their India of the future, for which they too
k responsibility. They did try to do this, earnestly, emotionally, intellectuall
y, with utmost loyalty. They felt the empowerment, happiness, joy and a possible
future in equality in independent India. This was the master at work. This emot
ional world was charged using created action. The actions were not just about th
eir political or social impact but about creating an emotional anchor. This was
not the Mahatmas personal anchor; it was the collective foundation for all. But t
his left everyone believing that Gandhis vision was their own.
This connection existed only till the creator of the vision lived. His imaginati
on of a future India was like a painting, which he made with his own life. The p
ainting was his life and his life was the painting. Until he remained, the futur
e as he envisioned was within everyones embrace. But with him gone, the illusion
disappeared; what seemed to be their future, created by him, but collectively ow
ned, existed no more.
The memory of it lingers, of course, but it evokes nostalgia rather than the act
ive, living participation he wanted. So, was his imagination a waste of his ener
gy, of Indias time? The problem lies in the fact that everyone else is living in
the imagination of these thought leaders and not imagining for themselves. Every i
ndividual must imagine and work for true change in society. We took shelter with
in Gandhis imagination, forgetting that his greatest gift was the idea of imagina
tion itself, which he did not own.
Gandhis use of creative imagination is fascinating. He created from his experienc
e and skills a certain vision which, like a piece of art, arose from within him,
and then tried to envelop every individual around him. He also gave his persona
l vision a collective personality, by investing it with an objective quality, li
ke an artist would his work of art.
Was the Mahatma an artist? He would have been happier being called an artisan. W
hat distinguishes the two? Nothing but this, that while an artist hopes to creat
e art, an artisan is untroubled by the thought Am I creating art?
But is every one of us an artist? An artist lives within everyone, but we need t
o have the sensitivity to receive the world, the strength to question it, and emot
ions beyond the self to make of our experience what Gandhi did, namely, to prese
nt a new imagination that goes beyond the person who is imagining it. For a beau
tiful world, we all need to be artists in life and not live within the creations
of others.
Sudden sea surge sets alarm bells ringingA part of footpath on the Beach Road ne
ar the Kursura Submarine Museum collapsed on Saturday due to high tides and mass
ive beach erosion.
Erosion has been causing panic among scores of people frequenting the beachfront
for the past few days.
After senior engineers from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Greater
Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authori
ty inspected the area, Commissioner GVMC M.V. Satyanarayana consulted experts of
National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and professors of AU and decided to ad
opt a two-pronged strategy to arrest erosion undertake permanent measures in two
to three months.
Mr. Satyanarayana said they had decided to construct a geo-grid to stop immediat
e erosion. In two to three months, geo-tubes for shoreline protection would be i
nstalled as a permanent measure, he stated.
The exact reason for the sudden sea surge has become a subject of debate.
While some say the method followed for building Kursura museum, the first submar
ine museum of South Asia, could be the reason, scientists of NIO, Visakhapatnam
Regional Centre contend that it could be due to impact of cyclones Phailin, Hele
n and Lehar.
When contacted, Principal Scientist in-charge of NIO V.S.N. Murty said the damag
e caused to the footpath is an offshoot of continuous erosion caused by cyclones
hitting the Bay in quick succession during 2013.
Area cordoned off
GITAM University president and former MP M.V.V.S. Murthi alleged that massive co
nstruction in the outer harbour aggravated the problem and sought a grant of Rs.
100 crore by Visakhapatnam Port to protect the beachfront.
To prevent onlookers thronging the area, the authorities cordoned off the area a
s the threat of the remaining extent of footpath caving in loomed large.
Residents of the area expressed concern over the rapid erosion and sought curbs
on construction on the beachfront.
Now the time has come to strictly enforce Coastal Regulation Zone restrictions, J.
V. Ratnam, an environmental activist, said.
Controversial festival begins at historic Mohenjodaro site
The controversial Rs 450 million Sindh Festival, being held at the ancient Mohen
jodaro heritage site in southeast Pakistan, opened on Saturday amid fears among
archaeologists that it could damage the ruins.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party that rules Sindh, is
organising the high-profile event at Mohenjodaro, where one of the largest sett
lements of the Indus Valley civilisation existed almost 5,000 years ago.
This evening, the entire world will be sent a message that we are capable of taki
ng care of our own heritage, said Saqib Ahmed Soomro, secretary of the Sindh gove
rnments Culture Department.
The opening of the 15-day event was attended by Bilawal, his sister Bakhtawar, f
ormer Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, several lawmake
rs and diplomats, and members of foreign media organisations.
In an interview to Newsweek Pakistan , Bilawal said the budget for the event was
Rs. 450 million. The broad aim of the festival is to preserve, promote, and prot
ect our cultural heritage, which is also under threat. The festival is also a pr
ocess where we hope to help fight for the societal space that has been ceded to
the extremists, he said.
A Pakistani private news channel on Saturday evening showed Bilawal and his Bakh
tawar singing a folk song to promote Sindhi culture. The song had been recorded
ahead of the much-publicised festival, seen as part of efforts to raise the youn
ger Zardaris profile on the national political stage.
It is nothing but insanity says archaeologist Asma Ibrahim, who is a member of the
Management Board for Antiquities and Physical Heritage of the Sindh government.
She says the stage and sound and light show could damage walls. Farzand Masih,
another senior archaeologist who heads the University of Punjabs archaeology depa
rtment, says he was not attending the festival in protest. PTI, AP
Obamas fence-mending trip to Saudi Arabia on the cards
Seeking to mend a frayed relationship with a major U.S. ally in West Asia, Presi
dent Barak Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March for a meeting with Kin
g Abdullah, an official with knowledge of the planning said on Friday.
Mr. Obama, the official said, will seek to reassure the king of U.S. support aft
er a tense period in which the Saudis and other Persian Gulf allies of the Unite
d States have grown increasingly frustrated with U.S. policies toward Iran and S
yria.
Saudi officials have deep reservations about the interim nuclear deal the United
States and other major powers struck with Iran. They worry that it could presag
e a broader shift in U.S. alliances from the Sunni monarchs in the gulf toward t
he Shia mullahs in Iran.
Saudi Arabia has also been frustrated by Mr. Obamas unwillingness to do more to s
upport rebel forces in Syria. The Saudis have funnelled weapons and other equipm
ent to the rebels, in part because they view the civil war there as a proxy batt
le between Sunni Arabs and Shia Iran, which is an important backer of the Syrian
President, Bashar Al-Assad.
These frictions have occurred during a long period in which U.S. ties with Saudi
Arabia have loosened, in part because of reduced U.S. dependence on Saudi oil a
nd in part because of the upheavals of the Arab Spring, which have tested U.S. a
lliances.
In particular, Mr. Obamas decision in 2011 to withdraw its support for Egypts emba
ttled President, Hosni Mubarak, rattled the Saudi royal family, which feared sim
ilar popular unrest in its country.
Mr. Obama will add the stop in Saudi Arabia to a trip to Europe that will includ
e a nuclear security summit meeting in the Netherlands, a summit meeting of the
United States and the European Union in Brussels, and a meeting with Pope Franci
s at the Vatican.
There are no plans for the President to meet with other Persian Gulf leaders, th
e official said, but that could change. The Wall Street Journal first reported M
r. Obamas plans for the stop in Saudi Arabia. The White House declined to confirm
the Presidents travel plans.
Mr. Obama last visited the West Asian region in March, stopping in Israel for me
etings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that were dominated by concerns ab
out Irans nuclear program. He also travelled to the West Bank to meet the Palesti
nian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II
and toured the ancient cave city of Petra.
In two weeks, the President will meet the Jordanian king at Sunnylands, the dese
rt estate in Rancho Mirage, California, which belonged to Walter Annenberg, the
late publisher, philanthropist and ambassador. Mr. Obama last used Sunnylands to
meet with President Xi Jinping of China.
For Mr. Obama, the trip to Saudi Arabia will thrust him into a very public role
overseas, as a defender of the nuclear negotiations with Iran. The Saudi king ha
s warned U.S. officials that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia wil
l seek to do so as well. New York Times News Service
Shrivelled salt water lake could presage water crisis in Iran
After driving for 15 minutes over the bottom of what was once Irans largest lake,
a local environmental official stepped out of his truck, pushed his hands deep
into his pockets and silently wandered into the great dry plain, as if searching
for water he knew he would never find.
Just an hour earlier, on a cold winter day here in western Iran, the official, H
amid Ranaghadr, had recalled how as recently as a decade ago, cruise ships fille
d with tourists plied the lakes waters in search of flocks of migrating flamingos
.
Now, the ships are rusting in the mud and the flamingos fly over the remains of
the lake on their way to more hospitable locales. According to figures compiled
by the local environmental office, only five per cent of the water remains.
Iran is facing a water shortage potentially so serious that officials are making
contingency plans for rationing in the greater Tehran area, home to 22 million,
and other major cities around the country. President Hassan Rouhani has identif
ied water as a national security issue, and in public speeches in areas struck h
ardest by the shortage he is promising to bring the water back.
Experts cite climate change, wasteful irrigation practices and the depletion of
groundwater supplies as leading factors in the growing water shortage.
In the case of Lake Urmia, they add the completion of a series of dams that chok
ed off a major supply of fresh water flowing from the mountains that tower on ei
ther side of the lake.
Only some years ago the water here was 30 feet deep, Mr. Ranaghadr said, kicking u
p dust with each step on the dry lake bed.
In the distance, spots of land once islands where tourists would spend vacations
in bungalows overlooking the blue waters were surrounded by plains of brown mud
and sand. We just emptied it out, he said with a sigh, stepping back into the car
.
Irans water troubles extend far beyond Lake Urmia, which as a salt lake was never
fit for drinking or agricultural use. Other lakes and major rivers have also be
en drying up, leading to disputes over water rights, demonstrations and even rio
ts.
Major rivers near Isfahan, in central Iran, and Ahvaz, near the Persian Gulf, ha
ve gone dry, as has Hamoun Lake, in the Afghanistan border region. Dust from the
dry riverbeds has added to already dangerously high air pollution levels in Ira
n, home to four of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, the United Nations
says.
But nowhere is the crisis more pronounced than at Lake Urmia, once one of the la
rgest salt lakes in the world at 90 miles long and roughly 35 miles wide, it was
slightly larger than Great Salt Lake in Utah. Environmentalists are warning tha
t the dried salt could poison valuable agricultural lands surrounding the lake,
and make life miserable for the three million people who live in its vicinity.
Most people in the area blame the half-dozen major dams the government has built
in the region for the lakes disappearance. The dams have greatly reduced the flo
w of water in the 11 rivers that feed into the lake. As an arid country with num
erous lofty mountain chains, Iran has a predilection for dams that extends to th
e reign of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Half an hours drive into the mountains above the city of Urmia stands the mighty
Chahchai Dam, collecting water that would otherwise have reached the lake. The d
am, finished during Mr. Ahmadinejads first term, now holds a huge lake itself, wh
ich local farmers use for irrigating their lands.
Besides producing badly needed electricity, the dams are intended to address the
water shortage. But too often, the water is wasted through inefficient irrigati
on techniques, particularly spraying, Mr. Ranaghadr and other experts say.
In recent decades, the amount of land dedicated to agriculture in the region, th
e countrys heartland, has tripled, with many farmers growing particularly thirsty
crops like grapes and sugar beets, Mr. Ranaghadr pointed out.
His department has calculated that about 90 per cent of all the water that shoul
d end up in the lake is sprayed on fields.
In a 2005 book that he wrote on national security challenges for Iran, Mr. Rouha
ni estimated that 92 per cent of all of Irans water is used for agriculture, comp
ared with 80 per cent in the United States (90 percent in some Western states).
The lake has also been attacked from underground. As part of the governments driv
e to promote local agriculture, large landholdings were divided into smaller plo
ts, and most of the new owners promptly dug new wells, soaking up much of the gr
oundwater.
Back in Mr. Ranaghadrs office, the Department of Environment, officials sounded l
ike soldiers on a doomed mission. They had drawn up no fewer than 19 plans to sa
ve the lake, ranging from the sensible (educating farmers in new irrigation tech
nologies) to the fanciful (seeding clouds to increase rainfall).
While Iran is shooting monkeys into space to advance its missile program, the Ro
uhani government, low on funds because of the impact of the international sancti
ons against Irans nuclear program, has not made any money available for efforts t
o restore the lake.
Even if it were, officials say, it is probably too late to save Lake Urmia. All
the money in the world can be poured into the lake, one of the officials said, b
ut in the most optimistic projections, it would take decades, if ever, for the w
ater to reach its old levels. There are simply too many problems, too many compe
ting interests, for the rescue to be feasible.
Not doing anything, or not enough, will still create many problems. In 2010 and
2011 violent protests over the lake erupted in Urmia, and security forces had to
be flown in to restore order.
Mr. Ranaghadr, who grew up around the lake, said he spends free time battling po
achers in the hills around it. You know what the real problem is? he said. Everybod
y across the world is only thinking of money. We did, too, and now our lake is g
one. New York Times News Service
No more bank clones
The Reserve Bank of India has for the last several years persistently pursued fi
nancial inclusion as a core agenda. However, it continues to remain a challenge.
The traditional banking models in India have failed to penetrate the low-income
and self-employed segment for various reasons: non-accessibility; the lack of w
ell-defined revenue streams; the informal nature of the market; a lack of docume
ntation and of a history of credit behaviour or formal savings; the high cost st
ructure of full-service banks; and the high risks associated with this segment.
The recent report of the Nachiket Mor Committee has made several recommendations
that could make it more viable for banks to pursue the financial inclusion agen
da. First, banks may be permitted to create a subsidiary dedicated to this segme
nt. This would allow banks to have the desired focus with a customised business
model and differentiated cost structure suitable to cater to this segment. Secon
d, it is proposed that the banking correspondent (BC) model may be made more fle
xible by permitting NBFCs to act as BCs, removing restrictions on the distance b
etween the bank and BCs, and changing outsourcing guidelines to allow banks to d
etermine risk-sharing arrangements with their agents. Third, the criteria for a
qualifying branch under the rural branching mandate may be more flexible. Fourth
, the recommendation to mandate universal reporting to credit bureaus for all lo
ans would help create a proper credit history for borrowers and improve the lend
ing appetite of banks. Sixth, on priority sector lending, the proposal to have w
eights based on sub-sectors and geographies should be beneficial to the banks in
two ways - one, this ensures that each bank is not forced to lend to all sub-se
ctors and allows fungibility for the banks based on their core competencies and
two, it incentivises banks doing business in less banked geographies.
In addition, the recommendation to allow banks to freely price farm loans based
on their risk models would allow banks to price them suitably based on risk and
cost-to-serve, making it viable for them to offer products and providing the bor
rower with an alternate to high-cost informal sources. Finally, the recommendati
on to permit banks to purchase portfolio-level hedges against rainfall and commo
dity price risk would improve the risk management ability of the banks.
One of the recommendations of the report is the introduction of 'payments banks'
focused on offering savings and payments products. The additional note submitte
d by two members of the committee states that while creation of such banks is a
step forward and shall improve accessibility, some concerns remain. First, what
purpose would be served by these banks when the goal is to provide all products
to customers, including credit? While it is true that access to credit is a crit
ical part of financial inclusion, because of the low risk in savings and payment
s it may be prudent to isolate the latter in order to accelerate the process. Cr
edit cannot be pushed beyond a point, whereas savings and payments can be made u
biquitous. The resultant rich data on customer transaction and savings behaviour
can be mined and used by lenders for credit due diligence and improve credit up
take as well.
The second issue is that creation of this new category would de-focus the existi
ng Bank-BC model. The present level of usage of formal institutions for small sa
vings and payments is much smaller than that of the informal channels, mainly du
e to lack of accessibility and convenience. Given the scale of the task ahead, m
ultiple models should be encouraged.
The report also proposes that the existing banks may also be permitted to set up
payments bank subsidiaries. A question that arises is the viability of these ba
nks, given that they would be permitted to deploy their funds only in short-term
SLR securities. Additionally, as with all banks, 'payment banks' would need to
meet the CRR and capital adequacy requirements and comply with full KYC norms. W
hile payments banks would be free to pay interest on deposits to their customers
, this segment is not very sensitive to interest earned. It is more important to
eliminate hidden costs in the form of travel and time cost, and opportunity cos
t, if money is not accessible all the time or if there are restrictions like min
imum balance and limit on number/value of transactions. The key to the success o
f this model would be: ubiquitous presence and easy access. Banks would need to
extensively leverage technology to provide balance between convenience and cost-
to- serve. The low cost on deposit balances, combined with earnings on SLR inves
tments and fees from customers, would provide an adequate revenue model to the p
ayments banks, apart from saving hidden costs for the customers. Setting up of '
payments banks' would move more savings into the formal sector, provide better s
afety to customers and also de-risk the financial inclusion strategy of banks.
The report envisages many different types of banks co-existing - full-service ba
nks (scheduled commercial banks), small-loans focused banks (wholesale banks), s
mall-savings focused banks (payments banks). This would allow banks to choose th
eir own niche based on their area of expertise and risk appetite, rather than be
ing clones of each other. The banks need to realise that this is where the futur
e of banking lies and unleash their creativity to make it happen.
MGNREGS wage rate to go up
Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said here on Sunday that the
wage rate of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNR
EGS) would be increased from April because of inflation. The notification will b
e placed in the Parliament session beginning this week.
At the ninth MGNREGA Divas, the Minister said the wage rate had already been lin
ked to the consumer price index, and the yearly revision followed from it. Mr. R
amesh acknowledged the need for parity between the MGNREGS wage rate and the min
imum wage in 14 States. For instance, in Jharkhand, the minimum wage was higher.
The Minister wanted the officials to motivate and help small and marginal farmer
s to level their lands and launch irrigation schemes under the MGNREGS.
He said only 10 per cent of the farmers had benefited from this provision.
At the moment, there is a decline and it is a slightly dull phase for MGNREGA, bu
t the programme has huge potential to go beyond just employment generation, Jean
Dreze, eminent economist and activist, told The Hindu .
Mr. Dreze acknowledged bottlenecks in ensuring timely payment of wages and impro
ving the quality of works.
In run-up to polls, Centre racing to announce people-friendly schemes
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is set to consider on Tuesday c
learance to an ambitious, youth-friendly project that will create sports facilit
ies in each of the countrys 6,545 blocks spread across 634 rural districts.
The cost to the exchequer? An estimated Rs. 12,808 crores, spread over a period
covering the remainder of the current 12th Plan period and the 13th Plan.
And the name? Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan.
If the CCEA gives its approval, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Mini
ster Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are likely to launch the pr
oject later this month at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. As the countdown to the
notification for the general elections slated early next month begins, the UPA g
overnment is racing to announce as many people-friendly schemes as possible. If
the major objective is to reach out to the rural youth through this project, the
re are plans to give it a special emphasis in the troubled north-east and in the
Left Wing Extremism-affected districts in the hope that engaging the youth in s
ports activities will not only help utilise their talents but also wean them awa
y from those drawing them towards extremism. By launching it so close to the gen
eral elections, sources said, it was hoped to enhance Mr. Gandhis image as a yout
h icon: indeed, the Congresss pre-election ads are centred round him.
The financing for the scheme is complicated and envisages convergence of a part
of the funds allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarante
e Scheme (Rural Development Ministry), Backward Region Grants Fund (Panchayati R
aj Ministry), Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (Development of North Easte
rn Region Ministry), Additional Central Assistance for LWE districts (Planning C
ommission) and the to-be-created Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan of the Youth and Spor
ts Ministry, the nodal ministry, headed by the youthful MP from Alwar, Jitendra
Singh, who is part of Mr. Gandhis inner circle.
The project plans to hold Special Area Games in the northeast and give cash ince
ntives to the three States that will perform the best. The expenditure for the s
cheme is to be shared by the States: while the forward States will have to shell
out 25 per cent, the backward one will contribute 10 per cent, while the Centre
will pick up the entire tab for the union territories. The object, says a gover
nment note, is that availability of special infrastructure at the block level wil
l be a motivating factor.
Project to be named Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan
Objective is to reach out to the rural youth
In run-up to polls, Centre racing to announce people-friendly schemes
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is set to consider on Tuesday c
learance to an ambitious, youth-friendly project that will create sports facilit
ies in each of the countrys 6,545 blocks spread across 634 rural districts.
The cost to the exchequer? An estimated Rs. 12,808 crores, spread over a period
covering the remainder of the current 12th Plan period and the 13th Plan.
And the name? Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan.
If the CCEA gives its approval, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Mini
ster Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are likely to launch the pr
oject later this month at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. As the countdown to the
notification for the general elections slated early next month begins, the UPA g
overnment is racing to announce as many people-friendly schemes as possible. If
the major objective is to reach out to the rural youth through this project, the
re are plans to give it a special emphasis in the troubled north-east and in the
Left Wing Extremism-affected districts in the hope that engaging the youth in s
ports activities will not only help utilise their talents but also wean them awa
y from those drawing them towards extremism. By launching it so close to the gen
eral elections, sources said, it was hoped to enhance Mr. Gandhis image as a yout
h icon: indeed, the Congresss pre-election ads are centred round him.
The financing for the scheme is complicated and envisages convergence of a part
of the funds allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarante
e Scheme (Rural Development Ministry), Backward Region Grants Fund (Panchayati R
aj Ministry), Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (Development of North Easte
rn Region Ministry), Additional Central Assistance for LWE districts (Planning C
ommission) and the to-be-created Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan of the Youth and Spor
ts Ministry, the nodal ministry, headed by the youthful MP from Alwar, Jitendra
Singh, who is part of Mr. Gandhis inner circle.
The project plans to hold Special Area Games in the northeast and give cash ince
ntives to the three States that will perform the best. The expenditure for the s
cheme is to be shared by the States: while the forward States will have to shell
out 25 per cent, the backward one will contribute 10 per cent, while the Centre
will pick up the entire tab for the union territories. The object, says a gover
nment note, is that availability of special infrastructure at the block level wil
l be a motivating factor.
Project to be named Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan
Objective is to reach out to the rural youth
FSLRC recommendations vital
Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday said that the country had to imp
lement the recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commissio
n (FSLRC) at the earliest.
We will implement non-legislative recommendations in the coming weeks and months
and if we come to power we will implement its legislative recommendations in the
year 2014, said Mr. Chidambaram while addressing the 50th anniversary celebratio
ns of UTI here.
Centre asks States for data on beggars
Concerned over the glaring increase in the number of beggars across all major ci
ties and towns in the country, the Centre is now focussing on preventing begging
.
To begin with, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has asked the Stat
es and Union Territories to inform the Centre about schemes and welfare measures
taken by them to check beggary.
Although various State governments and Union Territories have enacted anti-beggar
y legislations or adopted measures through executive orders, not much informatio
n regarding the status of their implementation is available, wrote the Ministry t
o the States.
Begging is considered a crime in India under the Bombay Prevention of Begging Ac
t, 1959, rather than a social issue. An individual found begging can be sent to
a begging shelter home or even jail without a trial. Several States have adopted
this Act.
Begging is a social problem and has multifarious ramifications, especially in me
tropolitan cities and towns. It has become a major concern, needing immediate at
tention for its prevention in a multipronged manner, the Ministry said, while de
manding data from States on anti-beggary measures adopted by them.
The Centre and State governments and the National Crime Records Bureau have no d
ata on the number of beggars in the country.Identification is complex
Identifying beggars is a complex thing. Any individual who looks like a beggar shab
bily dressed and unkempt is considered a beggar, even if he is of unsound mental
frame, said Amod Kanth, former chairperson of the Delhi Commission on Protection
of Child Rights and the vice chairperson of the Apex Committee set up by the De
lhi High Court to supervise the running of the 207 shelter homes in the national
capital.
Worse, homeless people and landless labourers who migrate to bigger cities in sea
rch of livelihood, destitute people and other categories of people fall into the
category of beggars and it is extremely difficult to differentiate [them], he ad
ded.
Only 10 per cent of the people living in 207 shelter homes in Delhi are actually
beggars. All others are working people who have no place to live. Old and ill p
eople also co-exist in these shelter homes. This can also, at times, result in p
eople becoming drug addicts or alcoholics, he said.
No mechanism for rehabilitation
In fact, there is no mechanism to rehabilitate these destitute people or even bri
ng them under the ambit of the Right to Food Act, Mr Kanth said.
Centre, States and the NCRB have no data on the number of beggars in the country
Any individual who looks like a beggar is considered a beggar
Khasi ritual: thousands scale 1,344-metre peak
Thousands of Khasi tribal people on Sunday climbed a 1,344-metre high peak, refe
rred to as navel of heaven, to offer their obeisance to God as part of a ritual.
Belief
The indigenous Khasis, a major tribe in Meghalaya, believe that heaven and earth
are connected by a navel and the two are even linked with a metaphorical umbili
cal cord, a golden ladder symbolised by a tree atop the Sohpetbneng peak where t
hey believe the navel lies.
Annual pilgrimage
These indigenous Khasi tribal people undertake this pilgrimage every year on the
first Sunday of February in what they call the Kiew eh-rngiew which means the asc
ent for good luck and good fortune in the coming days of the year.
The Khasi sub-tribes Khynriam, Pnar, Bhoi, War, Maram, Lyngngam of Meghalaya are
collectively known as Ki Hynniewtrep, which literally means Seven Huts, referri
ng to the seven families the first settlers on earth according to the legend.
Dances, songs
As part of the annual pilgrimage, traditional rituals and rites, dances and song
s are also performed atop the peak besides the Seng Khasi elders distributing ri
ce and water for good luck. PTI
They undertake this pilgrimage in the Kiew eh-rngiew the ascent for good luck for
the coming days
Integrating IT and BT
Beyond the rhyming of the terms IT (Information Technology) and BT (Biotechnolog
y), there can indeed be a valuable integration between the two which is yet to b
e optimally exploited in the country. Many government departments deal with thes
e sectors together, but essentially without any connection. IT, at least to star
t with, grew with initiatives in the private sector, whereas the growth of BT ha
s been mostly due to government support. There was hype around BT at one stage t
o the extent that parents were prepared to pay expensive fees to get their child
ren admitted to BT courses, only to find that their employment opportunities, un
like in the IT sector, did not hold much promise. The backlash led to such cours
es losing their sheen. There were not many industries to absorb the candidates,
who were also found to be unemployable in terms of knowledge and training. Howev
er, the sector seems to have now stabilised and is on the growth path. The BT in
dustry is growing at around 20 per cent which is quite significant in the contex
t of a general industrial deceleration. The present turnover is estimated at $5
billion with a projection of $100 billion by 2025. The IT industry is valued at
$100 billion with a projection of $300 billion by 2025. However, the scope of th
e BT sector is very large and can even eclipse the IT sector in terms of employm
ent opportunities and reach to the economy and social sectors. The sector permea
tes health and disease, food and agriculture, environment and industry. A more a
ppropriate strategy would be to integrate IT and BT seamlessly, wherever applica
ble, and aim for the $500 billion mark by 2025.
There is a fundamental difference between the two sectors in India. The IT/ITes
(IT-enabled Services) industry has become a major growth engine for the countrys
economy. It is stated that it contributes to around 5.6 per cent of GDP and dire
ct employment to 2.3 million people and much more indirectly. The projection is
to provide jobs to 20 million people by 2020. The main verticals utilising IT ar
e BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), telecom, manufacturing, medi
a, construction and utilities, airlines and transportation, health services, etc
. The fulcrum is services, be it IT or ITes/BPO (Business Process Outsourcing ba
sed on Internet) or engineering services. India is identified with software serv
ices and there is now an effort to generate products (software) and work out str
ategies for the global and internal markets. To remain competitive, strategies l
ike cloud computing and Platform-BPO strategies are becoming the options. The we
akest link is hardware, be it the IT or electronics sectors.
Academia-industry link
The limitations are raw material, technology and skilled human resource. Both ra
w material and technology need to be imported. Unlike the software industry, ava
ilable human resource is not skilled enough to compete with the Asian giants in
the field. Interestingly, BT is grounded in a hardware equivalent, be it vaccine
s or drugs, or diagnostics or monoclonal antibodies or agri-biotech or biomass-b
ased products including the energy sector.
The establishment of the National Biotechnology Board in 1982 that led to the es
tablishment of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in 1986 by the government o
f India is primarily responsible for the growth of life sciences and biotechnolo
gy in the country. The initial phase of building competence in academia is now l
eading to resurgence in the industry. The best thing that could have happened is
the starting of the schemes such as the Small Business Innovative Research Init
iative (SBIRI) and the Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP) in th
e last seven or eight years.
More recently, all these initiatives, along with additional ones, have come unde
r the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Section 25 c
ompany set up by the DBT. There are around 400 biotech companies in the country
and the numbers are growing. BIRAC supports around 300 projects with loans and g
rants to around 180 companies. A positive development is the evolving strong aca
demia-industry interaction and intellectual property rights (IPR) filing in thes
e projects, that has already led to development of some innovative products. A f
ew representative examples are JE/pneumococcal/rotaviral vaccines, follicle stim
ulating hormone for infertility treatment, a microPCR platform diagnostic kit fo
r parasite/viral infections, integrated navigation and training platform for tum
our ablation, and a software platform for using mobile phone to analyse blood gl
ucose strips. The vaccine sector is growing very strongly with a potential for I
ndia to assume global leadership. As is the case with the drug sector, where gen
erics (out of patent drugs) are our strength, the BT sector is dominated by Bios
imilars (erythropoietin, growth factors, monoclonal antibodies, insulin, industr
ial enzymes, etc.) besides conventional and recombinant vaccines. The only produ
ct in agri-biotech is Bt cotton. Many indigenous molecular diagnostic kits have
been developed. There is perceptible activity in terms of medical instrument dev
elopment.
In innovation
The integration of IT and BT will help India make a mark in the innovation space
. New drug discovery is one such major area which will help India move beyond Ge
nerics/Biosimilars. Bioinformatics is one such area, which can help in drug desi
gn. Unfortunately, most IT professionals have very little appreciation of biolog
y. There are a large number of steps that need to be taken before the molecule d
esigned on the computer can become a drug. This needs a full appreciation of the
biological/clinical aspects involved. But, with the evolution of systems biolog
y (mathematical biology) and synthetic biology, an entirely new horizon is being
made available to discover new drugs or do pathway engineering to design new mi
crobial/plant products. This is, perhaps, the approach that would be needed to s
tudy brain function or evaluate biodiversity potential in nature.
An analysis of complex variables is needed for successful stem cell therapy or t
o understand cancer prognosis or evaluate QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) in crops
that govern yield, pest and drought resistance, etc. While BT can develop simpl
e diagnostic tools, automation and telemedicine will be needed for village commu
nities to reap the benefits. If stethoscopes can become outdated, the day is not
far off when portable ECG and MRI machines can reach the bedside. IT and BT nee
d to integrate to streamline the manufacturing process of biotech products. We n
eed integrated manpower, since skilled human resource is scarce in the area. The
need of the hour is the evolution of IT (Dry lab) and BT (Wet lab) integrated c
ompanies in the areas of health, agriculture and industrial products.
(G. Padmanaban is INSA senior scientist, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Inst
itute of Science, Bangalore.)
New drug discovery can help India move beyond the production of generics and bio
similars into bioinformatics
Why energy needs a big-picture view
The word energy is missing from the executive and legislative vocabulary. It is, o
f course, liberally used, and issues like energy independence and energy security ar
e part of any official statement on economic policy. But it has not been officia
lly defined. There is no national policy on energy endorsed or supported by Parl
iament. Nor is there an official body authorised and accountable for overseeing
the countrys energy policy. So here are two proposals that the various political
parties should consider in the run up to the elections.
First, the introduction of a bill in Parliament on energy responsibility and sec
urity, a la the fiscal responsibility and food security acts. This bill should d
efine the interlinkages between energy, food, water, environment, technology, in
frastructure, conservation and efficiency, and lay out the roadmap to energy ind
ependence, energy security and energy sustainability. It should define measurabl
e metrics for progress towards these objectives, and make explicit Indias global
obligations and commitments.
Second, the creation of a department of energy resources and security in the pri
me ministers office. This department should supplement and not replace the existi
ng five core ministries engaged with energy (that is, petroleum, coal, power, no
n-conventional and atomic ). It would be too difficult and time-consuming to und
ertake a radical institutional overhaul. It should be headed by a person of cabi
net rank and supported by a multidisciplinary cadre of specialists in finance, t
echnology, energy and environment. Its mandate should be to deal with the issues
that fall into the cracks between the five ministries. There are five such issu
es:
One, the formulation and implementation of an integrated energy policy and the d
evelopment of clear, transparent and measurable monitoring and evaluation system
s. No executive body currently has this mandate.
Two, the development of an international energy strategy. The department should
be the focal point for ensuring that all initiatives by the companies involved w
ith international matters that is, OVL for upstream petroleum assets, IOC for do
wnstream oil supply deals, GAIL for LNG contracts, ICV for coal supplies operate
within an agreed strategic framework, and that as and when required, the resour
ces of India Energy Inc are leveraged to maximise international competitiveness.
Three, the creation and implementation of an integrated energy R&D strategy. Ene
rgy companies currently spend too little on R&D, and what is spent is often misd
irected. This department should identify areas of research, develop relevant par
tnerships, incubate new ideas and ensure that resources are sensibly allocated.
It should act as the fount of government support for universities, research labs
and companies. It should become, in effect, the single-point driver for energy
technology and innovation.
Four, the streamlining of energy regulation. There are currently a plethora of r
egulatory bodies. Some, like the CERC and the PNGRB, have been established by ac
ts of Parliament and fall under the umbrella of the Central government; some lik
e the state regulatory commissions report to the state governments, and others l
ike the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the Power Exchange of India (PEI) and the
National Power Exchange (NEP) fall between several stools and have an indirect d
otted-line linkage with Central and state governments. There is overlap, and on
occasion, contention over matters like the setting of prices and tariffs. This d
epartment should become the energy regulators ombudsman, with a mandate to surfa
ce the cross-cutting and common issues that underlie energy regulation, to strea
mline the existing processes, to create a database of energy regulations worldwi
de, to build a cadre of specialised energy regulators and, in essence, to strike
the right balance between the Centrally appointed regulators and their state an
d local counterparts.
And five, the development of a communication strategy. At present there is littl
e, if any, effort to educate the public about the energy market, its pricing dynam
ics, the industry structure, environmental issues and political, social and econ
omic inter-relationships of energy policy. This department should correct this s
hortcoming and become the nodal agency for the dissemination of information on e
nergy policy. Its objective should be to enhance public understanding and to mak
e it easier for governments to take economically sensible decisions.
Queen Elizabeth asked an assemblage of economists at the official opening of an
extension to the London School of Economics on November 5, 2008, just weeks afte
r the US investment bank Lehman Brothers had collapsed, why none of them had ant
icipated the economic and financial crisis. The academics convened a conference,
and in July 2009 they replied to the Queen. Their letter contained a catalogue
of well-known reasons for the crisis the macroeconomic imbalance, lack of regula
tory rigour, excessive risk-taking, greed but it also said that while everyone se
emed to be doing their own job properly and on its own merit, there was no one who u
nderstood the risks to the system as a whole. There was no one who saw the whole
picture and appreciated that whilst individual risks may rightly have been small t
he collective impact of these risks could well trigger a systemic collapse.
These comments (taken out of context) distil the essence of Indias energy challen
ge. Everyone knows what is wrong; they know what should be done; they are doing
what they can and in the main, they are doing their job responsibly. But no one
has the mandate and therefore, the time and possibly the inclination, to look at
the whole picture. No one is asking the question: what are the small risks of l
ooking at energy through a narrow prism? What might be the collective impact of
these risks? The thrust of the above two suggestions is to get people to look at
the whole picture and to ask precisely these sort of questions.
The writer is the chairman of Brookings India and senior fellow, Brookings Insti
tution
First National Wind Energy Mission to begin by mid-2014
NEW DELHI: The government will launch its first wind energy mission this year to
give a boost to the renewable source and putting it in the same league as the h
igh-profile solar mission. The 'National Wind Energy Mission (NWEM), which would
be launched around the middle of the year, would give incentives to invest, eas
t land clearances and regulate tariffs. But unlike the flagship 'National Solar
Mission' it would not involve projects for bidding. It would act as a "facilitat
or", officials said.
"We wish to coordinate separate lines of action in the wind sector and involve a
ll the stakeholders. Wind energy led to the establishment of renewable based pow
er in the country but lately it has been marred by several issues," said Alok Sr
ivastava, joint secretary (wind) in the ministry for new and renewable sources o
f energy.
Under the proposed action plan, MNRE would strengthen grid infrastructure for wi
nd power, identify high wind power potential zones, ease land clearances for the
projects, regulate wind power tariff and incentivise investment in the wind sec
tor.
"The proposed NWEM would be placed in the cabinet soon and we wish to kick start
it in the next 6 months," said Srivastava. He also said that all stakeholders i
n the wind sector, ministry of power, Powergrid corporation, central and state e
lectricity regulators, planning commission, private and public sector project de
velopers would be a part of the mission, with MNRE acting as a key facilitator a
nd moderator amongst all of them. "A national program would uproot the scattered
impediments faced by the wind sector and spur it towards the second phase of gr
owth," said Srivastava.
Grid connected wind based power in India has been in existence from almost 20 ye
ars now while solar made its debut just 4 years back with the national solar mis
sion. India is the fifth largest wind power producer in the world with an instal
led capacity of 19 GW.
Caught in the policy net, capacity addition in the wind sector fell to decade lo
w during last & current fiscal. The industry, especially the private sector has
also complained about the lack of proper grid infrastructure for evacuation of w
ind power.
There have been delays in payments by the states to the power developers due to
the same. Through this mission, government aims to have a generating capacity of
100 GW of wind power by 2022. The potential of wind based power in the country
is estimated to be 300 GW.
MNRE also plans to extend the 'generation based incentive (GBI)' for the project
developers for five years. This would amount to a total expenditure of .`18,000
crore. Budgetary allocation for GBI in the current fiscal is .`800 crore.
GBI was notified in the union budget 2013. Under this financial scheme, governme
nt would pay wind power developers Rs 0.50 for every unit of power generated fro
m the wind facility.
Till April 2012, wind sector enjoyed two fiscal benefits. Accelerated depreciati
on (AD) has been in force for the wind industry since 2003 till 2012 when its wa
s withdrawn. GBI, announced in 2011 was discontinued in 2012, only to be reintro
duced in 2013 in the union budget.
German President to renew focus on green energy corridor
German President Joachim Guack will arrive here on Tuesday on a six-day visit du
ring which he will pick up the threads of discussions held between Prime Ministe
r Manmohan Singh and Chancellor Angela Merkel last April, especially on the sett
ing up a green energy corridor in India, German Ambassador Michael Steiner told
mediapersons here on Monday.
Dr. Singh and Dr. Merkel had described cooperation in renewable energy as a majo
r focus of bilateral cooperation. After having decided to shun nuclear power, Ge
rmany developed expertise in renewable energy, Mr. Steiner said. More importantl
y, it was able to transport this energy from southern Germany to the northern pa
rts with minimum transmission loss.
This is something Germany will seek to bring to India through a financial-techni
cal agreement of Euros 1 billion that is at an advanced stage of discussion. As
the joint statement of April last noted: The integration and evacuation of renewa
ble energy into their respective national grids plays a pivotal role with major
technological and physical challenges. To support India in addressing these chal
lenges, the German government expresses its intention to assist the establishmen
t of Green Energy Corridors in India through technical as well as financial develo
pment cooperation.
Mr. Guack, a product of street protests and activism in the former East Germany
( German Democratic Republic) is keen on meeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kej
riwal. Asked whether the two might meet, Mr. Steiner said: I read the reports [ab
out Mr. Kejriwals reported reluctance] as everybody did in the quality press in I
ndia. I do not want to comment further.
According to reports, Mr. Steiner met Mr. Kejriwal at a reception and drew his a
ttention to the Chief Ministers office turning down the German Presidents request
for a meeting.
Ex-IB chief: anti-Indian forces may use Maoists in NE as pawns
Maoist presence in a sensitive region like the Northeast has the potential of cr
eating serious strategic security complications and the possibility of forces in
imical to India using the outlaws as a pawn would have to be factored in by the
security establishment.
This was stated by former Intelligence Bureau Chief and presently a member of th
e National Security Advisory Board P.C. Haldar while delivering keynote address
at a seminar on Responding to Maoist Spread in Indias Northeast organised by the Ce
ntre for Development and Peace Studies here on Monday.
In the Northeast, the focus of the Maoists is on areas in upper Assam and a few p
ockets in the interior areas to set up its bases, particularly upper Assam and t
he adjoining areas as they seemed attracted towards areas that allow an operatio
nal advantage due to jurisdictional divides.
Apart from being forested and remote like other traditional haunts of the Maoist
s elsewhere in the country, the locations in upper Assam provide a proximity to
international border and traditional ingress-egress routes of armed groups of th
e region to [and from] their bases in Myanmar, said Mr. Haldar, who is also the C
entres interlocutor in the peace processes with a number of insurgent outfits in
Assam including the United Liberation Front of Asom and two factions of the Nati
onal Democratic Front of Boroland.
At science meet, PM pitches for GM crops
Underscoring food security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday favoured gen
etically modified crops, urging the people not to be swayed by unscientific preju
dices.
Use of biotechnology has great potential to improve yields. While safety must [al
so] be ensured, we should not succumb to unscientific prejudices against Bt. cro
ps, he said, inaugurating the 101st session of the Indian Science Congress here.
Dr. Singh urged scientists to engage more with society and explain socially prod
uctive applications of biotechnology and other alternatives. The government rema
ined committed to the use of biotechnology and other new technologies for agricu
ltural development.
The government would soon come out with another national mission on high perform
ance computing on an outlay of Rs. 4,500 crore and was planning to establish a n
ational geographical information system on an outlay of Rs. 3,000 crore. India w
ould soon join, as an associate member, the European Organisation for Nuclear Re
search, CERN, where international projects such as research on god particle was go
ing on. It was planning to host the third detector for the global Gravitational
Wave Experiment. A national mission on teaching to enhance the esteem of our teac
hers is also being launched.
The Prime Minister announced the names of five eminent scientists, selected for
the recently instituted Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowships.
The fellowship is open to scientists who are either Nobel Laureates or Fellows o
f the Royal Society, or members of the United States or French academies of scie
nce. The selected scientists are entitled to a fellowship of $1,00,000 and a res
earch grant of Rs. 55 lakh. They will have to do research in an institution in t
he country for 12 months, and the money can be spent in instalments over three y
ears. The host institution would also get a grant of Rs. 10 lakh for providing l
aboratory and other facilities for research.
The scheme provides for 25 fellowships. The five have so far been selected. They
are mathematical scientist Professor Srinivasa Varadhan of New York University,
computational biologist Professor M. Vidyasagar of the University of Texas, lif
e scientist Professor Azim Surani of the University of Cambridge, astronomer Pro
fessor Srinivas Kulkarni of Caltech, and geo-scientist Professor Trevor Charles
Platt of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Four of the winners are Fellows
of the Royal Society and one is an Abel medallist.
Seeking to project the achievements of his government over the past 10 years in
science and technology, he noted that the Sixth Pay Commission had improved the
conditions for academics and scientists. International surveys have shown that In
dia scores well in structures for scientific personnel. Our gross expenditure pe
r full-time R&D personnel is increasingly comparable in purchasing power parity
terms to some of the more developed R&D systems of the world.
Science and Technology Minister Jaipal Reddy said the government would soon laun
ch a Rs. 250-crore scheme for scaling up innovations to serve the needs of the c
ommon man, and an overseas scholarship programme for bridging gaps in critical a
nd frontier areas of research. His Ministry proposed to set up virtual institute
s in advanced manufacturing and climate change.
Panel recommends 50% quota for women in decision-making bodies
Making out a strong case to formulate a National Policy and Action Plan to end v
iolence against women, a government-appointed panel has recommended 50 per cent
reservation for women in all decision-making bodies and an overhaul of the crimi
nal justice system to ensure justice for women.
Suggesting that a separate panel be appointed by the government to study the sta
tus of Muslim women in the country, the High Level Committee on the Status of Wo
men in India, in its preliminary report, said upgrading the Minister of Women an
d Child Development to Cabinet rank would reflect the governments concern on wome
ns issues.
Calling for an increase in resources, the panel said a large amount of resources
was being directed towards child development in the Ministry.
It said the Parliamentary Committee on the Empowerment of Women must examine the
gender implications of all proposed legislation and the National Commission for
Women, as an apex body responsible for and answerable to 50 per cent of the pop
ulation, must go beyond reactive interventions to fulfil the proactive mandate of
studying, recommending and influencing policies, laws, programmes and budgets to
ensure full benefits to the stakeholders.
The government had in February 2012 set up a High Level Committee to undertake a
comprehensive study to understand the status of women since 1989 and evolve app
ropriate policy interventions based on a contemporary assessment of womens needs.
The 14-member committee, headed by Pam Rajput, submitted a preliminary report to
the Ministry here on Monday.
Focussing on the need to bring about major changes in the criminal justice syste
m, the report suggests initiatives ranging from a more gender sensitive enforcem
ent machinery to greater awareness of different legislation and their inter-conn
ectedness, along with accountability for securing womens rights.
Panel for a separate law against female infanticide
Recommends that a campaign spreading awareness against gender violence be includ
ed in school, college curriculum
India to donate $4 million to GAVI Alliance
India has committed itself to contributing $4 million over the next four years t
o GAVI Alliance to immunise children worldwide against life-threatening diseases
.
GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership of members, including the World He
alth Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio
n.
Speaking to The Hindu , Seth Berkley, Chief Executive Officer, GAVI Alliance, sa
id: India has become a donor to GAVI for the first time. We have an agreement wit
h the Finance Ministry to donate $4 million over the next four years That is some
thing we are happy about.
He added: India has three roles to play: It has the largest number of unimmunised
children in the world; it is our [GAVIs] largest supplier of vaccines 55 per cen
t of our vaccines come out of India and now it is a donor as well.
The funding has come at a critical time as GAVI is stepping up its efforts to sa
ve children by increasing access to immunisation in the poorest countries, an an
nouncement on its website acknowledges.
With 21 international donors ploughing funds into its kitty, the largest funding
for GAVI came from the United Kingdom, followed by the Gates Foundation, and th
e Norwegian and other governments, including the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany
and Japan, Dr. Berkley said.
With this, four of the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
) nations have become donors of GAVI. India has been receiving support for its i
mmunisation programme from GAVI since 2002.
As a result of the donation, India will be offered some time to engage with the
donor constituency, to sit with donors and discuss issues. It allows India to be
part of the global dialogue. We hope India will take advantage of that and we su
spect it will, Dr. Berkley said. This will not affect our work in the country, or
the purchase of vaccines from the country.
Funding will boost GAVI's efforts to increase access to immunisation in poorest
countries
Germany lukewarm on Britains EU treaty plans
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave a lukewarm reception Monday
to Britains hopes of EU treaty change, days after France poured cold water on an
y renegotiation of Londons membership.
Speaking after he met his British counterpart William Hague, Mr. Steinmeier said
Europes economic powerhouse Germany appeared to have different views on the issu
e of changing the 28-member EUs treaties.
Prime Minister David Camerons hopes of renegotiating Britains relationship with th
e EU had largely rested with Germany, after President Francois Hollande of Franc
e said last week that treaty change was not a priority.
It would be an exaggeration to say that the U.K. and Germany are pulling in exact
ly the same direction, Mr. Steinmeier told a joint news conference with Mr. Hague
.
That is obviously not the case, but it is not just to do with the U.K. and German
y.
Under pressure from eurosceptics in his Conservative party, Mr. Cameron has prom
ised to renegotiate Britains position in the EU and put the new deal to a referen
dum in 2017, provided that he wins the next election in May 2015.
Mr. Cameron in particular wants to repatriate some powers from Brussels, as well
as giving extra legal powers to protect the 10 member countries including Brita
in that do not use the euro currency.
Asked if Germany thought treaty change was possible by 2017, Mr. Steinmeier said
: I cant make any predictions on this.... The opinions vary that much so I really
cant try to predict anything.
Mr. Hague said he understood that treaty change will not be the top priority of e
very government.
Britain is not in any way disheartened by Mr. Hollandes statement, made during an A
nglo-French summit held at an airbase in southern England, he added. The French g
overnment... does not rule out the kind of reform we are seeking, Mr. Hague told
the news conference.
Germany and France have together formed the economic engine and political axis a
t the heart of Europe for decades, but they have differed recently on issues inc
luding treaty change. Germany had seemed to be more inclined to reform the treat
ies to strengthen joint economic governance in the bloc following the euros debt
crisis.
Corruption a concern
Corruption across the European Unions 28 countries costs about 120 billion ($162 b
illion) per year a breathtaking sum equal to the EUs entire annual budget, EU Home
Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said Monday.
Ms. Malmstroem said the actual figure could be even higher, despite the estimate
amounting to a little less than one percent of the bloc's total economic output
. The extent of the problem in the EU is breathtaking, Ms. Malmstroem wrote in an
op-ed piece in Swedish newspaper Goeteborgs-Posten . Corruption undermines faith
in democratic institutions, drains the legal economy of resources and is a breed
ing ground for organised crime.
Presenting the European Commission report, the blocs first, Ms. Malmstroem emphas
ised the figure was an estimation and said the actual amount is probably... much hi
gher. She called on member states to do more to stamp out the problem, saying: The
price of not acting is simply too high.
The report does not rank the countries as to the seriousness of the problem nor
suggest legal remedies.
While Ms. Malmstroem refused to point the finger at any particular country, the
EU has had longstanding concerns about corruption in Bulgaria and Romania, espec
ially over their use of EU funds, and both were put under a special monitoring m
echanism when they joined the bloc in 2007. AFP
Interpreting a federal Constitution
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, which creates the State of Telanga
na, has been decisively rejected by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and
Council. This rejection, together with the recording of 9,072 amendments and exp
ression of views on its various clauses by its MLAs, and 1,157 like suggestions
by its MLCs, has brought the process of the creation of new States in India into
renewed focus. As has been opined previously in the pages of this newspaper, th
e constitutional position in this context is straightforward: Article 3 of the C
onstitution vests Parliament with the power to form a new State, provided that t
he Bill creating such a State is introduced on the recommendation of the Preside
nt and he has referred it to the legislature of the affected State for expressing
its views thereon. This would suggest that the views of the Andhra Pradesh Assem
bly will have no legal effect; the formation of Telangana is solely the prerogat
ive of the government of India. While this may indeed be the position of the law
as it stands today, the unprecedented nature of the rejection of the Bill by th
e Andhra Pradesh Assembly requires the legal interpretation of Article 3 be reco
nsidered. Such reconsideration is also prompted by the changing nature of Indian
federalism, aptly demonstrated by the curious situation of a Congress governmen
t at the State level defying its counterpart in power at the Centre.
Unprecedented rejection
The key distinction between this instance and earlier disputes raised in relatio
n to the formation of a new State lies in the fact that never before has an Amen
dment Bill been rejected by the State legislature in question. Both in Babulal P
arate (Supreme Court) and Pradeep Chaudhary (Supreme Court, 2009) seminal judgme
nts of the Court dealing with the creation of Bombay and Uttaranchal respectivel
y, the issue before the Court was whether it was open to Parliament to amend the
final Bill after the State legislature had expressed its views on an earlier, u
namended version. In both cases, the Supreme Court, adopting a literal interpret
ation of Article 3, held that there was no requirement that an amendment to a Bi
ll forming a new State would also have to be referred to the State legislature c
oncerned. Such interpretation is arguably correct the proviso to Article 3 simpl
y states that the Bill must be sent to the State legislature concerned for expre
ssing its views within a specified period. The provision is silent on whether la
ter amendments have to be referred, as well as on the effect that the views of t
he State legislatures will have. Thus read literally, even a wholesale rejection
of the Bill can be ignored by Parliament, since Article 3 merely gives State As
semblies a consultative role their views are not binding on Parliament in any wa
y.
However, to treat the States views as carrying merely formal value, as has been w
idely suggested, would render the constitutional process of consultation entirel
y nugatory in a matter of national importance. The current proviso to Article 3
was introduced by the Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act, 1955. Before this amen
dment, the President could only introduce an Amendment Bill in Parliament after
referring it to the State legislatures concerned for their views. This was a tim
e-consuming process, allowing States to vacillate in responding, thereby frustra
ting the efforts of the government of India. This amendment was necessary to lay
the groundwork for the smooth passage of the States Reorganisation Commission Re
port that recommended a radical redrawing of State boundaries and creation of ne
w States. By adequately circumscribing State power, it was felt that no single S
tate could hold up the process of reorganisation.
But what if a State rejected the proposal to create a new State outright? Both t
he proviso to Article 3 as well as the Rajya Sabha debates prior to its passage
are silent on this specific question. The reason for such silence is aptly demon
strated in a speech by MP Professor N.G. Ranga who said in the House, I am glad r
eally now that this Bill has come to be introduced instead of the Congress Party
trusting itself to its capacity to get the local majorities, which are also Con
gress majorities, to express the views of the legislatures. (Rajya Sabha Debates,
December 15, 1955). The proviso was thus brought in at a time when such disagre
ement between the Centre and States was not a real possibility. Neither did Parl
iament envisage nor did it legislate for such a situation. The rejection of the
Telangana Bill by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly is evidence of a dramatically chan
ged time. For the legal interpretation of Article 3 to ignore such change would
be an anachronism. It would also be inconsonant with the Supreme Courts character
isation of the Constitution as a living tree capable of continuous growth with con
comitantly changing scenarios.
Bommai case
Such reinterpretation of provisions of the Constitution that have bearing on its
federal character has precedent. In terms of the legality of the imposition of
Presidents Rule in States under Article 356, the Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai v.
Union of India (Supreme Court, 1994) overruled its own precedent in the case of
State of Rajasthan v Union of India (Supreme Court, 1977). While holding that th
e power of the President to impose Presidents Rule is not above and beyond judici
al review entirely, the Court narrowed down the circumstances and the manner in
which such powers could be exercised. The premise of this shift in constitutiona
l jurisprudence was that the principle of federalism was part of the basic struc
ture of the Constitution, and this principle could only be deviated from in exce
ptional and extraordinary circumstances, i.e. where constitutional rule was not
possible in the State. In doing so, the Court recognised the pitfalls of a liter
al minded construction of the Constitution as was done in the Rajasthan case. In
the absence of any checks on the exceptional power of the President to impose P
residents Rule and give federalism a go-by in the name of upholding the Constitut
ion, the Court recognised that the Constitution itself could be subverted.
The Supreme Courts course correction in Bommai has a deeper lesson. That Indias co
nstitutionally envisaged federal structure has a strong centralising tendency is
beyond question. Such a tendency is not unique to India. Federal states the wor
ld over Canada, the United States, Australia all display discernible centripetal
forces irrespective of differences in their federal structure. But the decision
in Bommai and now the Andhra Pradesh Assemblys rejection of the Telangana Bill m
arks a significant change in this dynamic. It provides recognition to a more bal
anced union, with Centre and States seen increasingly as coordinate entities. At
a time when the Chief Minister of West Bengal trumps the decision of the govern
ment of India to sign an international accord, the sole prerogative of the Centr
al government, and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu prevents Sri Lankan crickete
rs from playing in Chennai despite them having valid visas for travel in India,
such a reworked understanding of federalism in India is both realistic and pragm
atic.
Towards a new federalism
In the face of such changes, to merely parrot an originalist constitutional visi
on of a strong Centre while interpreting legal provisions is to take a blinkered
view. The centralising tendency in Indias federal structure was adopted at a tim
e when it was necessary to weld Indias disparate elements together into a nation.
This was a task for which the government of India was uniquely positioned and r
equired a supporting constitutional architecture. Thus, the federal provisions o
f the Constitution were as much lofty vision as political strategy. Such strateg
y now requires a careful recalibration since such a tool for nation-building, if
used unthinkingly, will be seen purely as central hegemony. Such forced unitari
ty will be more harmful than a genuine recognition of a more equal federal struc
ture that is perfectly consonant with the idea of India.
This does not in any way mean that the Andhra Pradesh Assemblys views on the Tela
ngana Bill should be the last word on the matter. Such an inference would be pla
inly unconstitutional. However, it is necessary that the Central government be r
equired in law to adequately take into consideration the reasons why the Andhra
Pradesh Assembly rejected the Telangana Bill. This obligation should be discharg
ed in writing, demonstrating a proper application of mind with accompanying reas
ons as to why each recommendation has been accepted or rejected. Without such co
nsideration, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, if passed, would seri
ously lack legitimacy and be inconsonant with the dynamic federal spirit of the
Constitution.
(With inputs from Sakshi Aravind)
(Arghya Sengupta and Alok Prasanna Kumar are research director and senior reside
nt fellow respectively, at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a New Delhi-based lega
l policy think tank.)
The rejection of the Telangana Bill by
the Andhra Pradesh Assembly must not be dismissed as having no legal consequence
s as that would render the constitutional process of consultation entirely nugat
ory
Pressure on farmland
The government, it appears, is yet to find ways to address conflicting demands o
n land. Instead of quickly charting a comprehensive approach to land utilisation
, it continues to speak in different voices and at cross purposes. The latest ad
dition to the policy confusion is the move to consider Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in agricultural land bought for real estate purposes. Existing Foreign Ex
change Management Act regulations prohibit the use of FDI funds to buy farmland.
However, real estate companies have tried to bypass these restrictions. Last ye
ar, the Enforcement Directorate imposed a fine of Rs. 8,600 crore on Emaar MGF f
or allegedly using foreign funds to buy agricultural land. The Ministry of Urban
Development now wants to ease these restrictions, and the government has consti
tuted a three-member Cabinet committee to look into it. The reasoning behind thi
s move is that 100 per cent FDI is already permitted in developing townships, ho
using and other infrastructure projects. Hence, it would be only logical to exte
nd it and allow the purchase of agricultural land for construction purposes. The
other arguments are that restrictions create bottlenecks and delay projects, an
d that buying of agricultural land on the outskirts of a city is inevitable and
necessary.
On the face of it, relaxing FDI norms may appear to be a rational step, but in t
he absence of a clear-cut land use policy and plans, it will hasten unrestricted
acquisition and unplanned conversion of farmland and lead to hoarding of land.
In 2013, the Ministry of Rural Development published a draft National Land Utili
sation Policy. It convincingly argued that the shrinkage of per capita ownership
of agricultural land and the demand to produce more food 245 million tonnes in
2013 to 307 million tonnes in 2020 necessitates the protection of fertile land.
The National Policy for Farmers, announced in 2007, insisted that the government
conserve productive land and allow any change in use only under exceptional circ
umstances. These two policies make no distinction between foreign and local inves
tment. The government has not acted on a recommendation to revive land use board
s, which could provide guidelines to State governments. Nor has it implemented t
he idea of delineating and integrating land utilisation zones under the developm
ent plans. These measures are necessary to map the availability of land and coor
dinate demands for it. It is imperative to correct any institutional deficiencie
s and strengthen local level land-management plans to ensure an orderly process
of urban development and prevent detrimental effects on agriculture and environm
ent.
Does the military threaten democracy?
At the emotional high point of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speec
h last Tuesday, he turned to Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg, an army ranger
seated next to Michelle Obama. The president invoked Sergeant Remsburg, blind in
one eye and riddled with shrapnel from a roadside bomb on his tenth combat depl
oyment in Afghanistan, as a reminder of the price paid to uphold America's value
s. Sergeant Remsburg's father helped him to his feet. The audience rose and chee
red, many cheeks wet with tears.
Two days earlier, on Republic Day, India's leaders had paid homage to our martyr
s. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drove in a heavily protected convoy down Rajpat
h to lay a wreath impassively at what serves as a national war memorial. Later,
President Pranab Mukherjee, without a flicker of emotion, handed a medal and cer
tificate to Karunam Venkatam, the 67-year-old father of Sub-Inspector K Prasad B
abu, an Andhra Pradesh policeman who died last April fighting Maoists. Mr Venkat
am, who struggled not to break down, was clearly alone in his personal encounter
with a patrimonial, uncaring state.
It is no secret that India's political and bureaucratic class is oblivious to it
s armed forces; nor can one expect better from a governing class whose indiffere
nce to its starving and undernourished millions has been described in these page
s as a crime against humanity. Still, the instinct for self-preservation alone s
hould focus our rulers' attention on the military's dire financial and organisat
ional state, which - appallingly - is due at least partly to the fear that too m
uch nurturing and strengthening might turn the armed forces into a threat to our
own corrupt elites rather than to those ill-disposed towards India.
Several articles in this newspaper (most recently, "Arms acquisitions languish w
ithout funds or coordination", February 3) have highlighted the worrying state o
f military modernisation. This year the military got just Rs 2,955 crore for new
equipment, while Rs 64,680 crore of the modernisation budget went towards insta
lments for weaponry bought during previous years. Next year, there could be even
less for new buys.
More funds would be welcome, but India's fiscal position limits military expendi
ture. Yet it costs nothing to optimise expenditure by co-ordinating between the
army, navy and the air force. With the services competing, as organisations do,
to build their respective empires, roles, responsibilities and capabilities are
wastefully duplicated. Yet politicians and bureaucrats fear appointing a tri-ser
vice chief who could co-ordinate budgeting and long-term planning to curb wastef
ul expenditure. In 2001, a group of ministers (India's strongest version of a co
mmittee) recommended appointing a five-star "chief of defence staff", or CDS, wh
o would command all three services. In 2012, a warier Naresh Chandra Task Force
recommended appointing a "permanent chairman, chiefs of staff committee", or per
manent chairman COSC - a significantly less powerful, four-star, tri-service chi
ef whose role would be limited to tri-service planning, long-term budgeting and
acquisitions.
Yet senior bureaucrats say they would never allow a tri-service chief, since tha
t would concentrate too much power in the hands of a military commander. An inse
cure political class, with little knowledge of the military, has unquestioningly
internalised the fear that a powerful tri-service chief would threaten democrac
y. The last army chief, V K Singh, bolstered this nonsensical argument by facing
off with the government because of his desire for another year in office.
The politicians and bureaucrats miss the point that V K Singh could never have c
redibly threatened democracy. Army power is distributed amongst six field armies
, each headed by a lieutenant general; a successful coup would require support f
rom all six army commanders. There are five operational air force commands, each
with the firepower to stop a coup. The navy has another three operational comma
nds. The idea that a rogue tri-service commander could subvert three service chi
efs and 14 field commanders is incredible and mischievous.
Indeed, the Naresh Chandra recommendation to appoint a permanent COSC - a fourth
four-star general to supplement the existing three service chiefs - diffuses, r
ather than concentrates, military power. Currently, the senior-most service chie
f, General Bikram Singh, ex-officio chairs the COSC. Appointing a permanent chai
rman would obviously lessen his power, while strengthening tri-service functioni
ng.
To justify their inaction on appointing a tri-service chief, the last two govern
ments - the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance - h
ave both cited the need for "political consultations". Since 2001, each time the
Prime Minister's Office has enquired about this issue, the ministry of defence
has truthfully - and deceitfully - reported that there was no consensus. A forme
r top bureaucrat once told me, "Stalling is easy because complete political cons
ensus is impossible. As long as, say, the Khobragade Group of the Republican Par
ty of India has not actively committed support, I can truthfully say we have no
consensus yet."
Stalling tri-service reform is a cynical disservice to every soldier, sailor and
airman; to national security; and to those who pay the opportunity cost for our
fiscal inefficiency in defence. It is ironic that one of the world's most ineff
ective and self-serving bureaucracies and a deeply corrupted political class fee
l threatened by a military that is consistently cited as India's most admired an
d respected institution. Defence Minister A K Antony should see the writing on t
he wall: if he fails to appoint a tri-service chief in his last days in office,
his (probably non-Congress) successor probably will. Mr Antony still has the tim
e to do what is obviously right.
A new breeze
The government's plan to put wind energy in the same league for policy support a
s solar energy is a much-needed and overdue step. An unwarranted apathy towards
wind power caused a needless deceleration in capacity addition in this sector in
recent years. In the 10th and 11th Five-Year Plans, the wind power sector excee
ded the targets set for it. In the last two years, however, two key fiscal induc
ements - an accelerated depreciation subsidy and a generation-based incentive sc
heme - were withdrawn. The latter was later reintroduced, but the sector was sti
ll effectively derailed.
However, with the government's decision to launch a national wind energy mission
later this year and to extend wind power production beyond the country's shores
to capitalise on ocean winds, this sector may hope to see better times ahead. O
ffshore wind power, which is likely to be promoted with the co-operation of the
Global Wind Energy Council, is relatively capital-intensive but it gives higher
and steady power yield without the hassles or costs involved in acquiring land.
India is a land-constrained country; its long coastline, thus, offers good prosp
ects for offshore wind power production in the longer run. Countries like the Un
ited States, Germany and China have invested heavily in offshore wind electricit
y. The national wind energy mission, meanwhile, will identify high-wind zones, e
ase transmission constraints to facilitate grid connection, assist in land acqui
sition, and regulate tariffs for wind power. These measures will hopefully spur
investment; remember, it's wind energy that accounts for the bulk of India's tot
al installed capacity in clean power production. Still, India's present installe
d wind power capacity of around 19.9 GW (one gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts) is
small compared to the 75.5 GW in China and 60 GW in the US. By some estimates,
300 GW could be economically produced by the wind power sector.
Both wind and solar power are useful. Wind energy has managed to attract more in
vestment so far, thanks to the local availability of tried and tested technology
and equipment. That it needs less land helps, too, as does the fact that much o
f the land in wind farms can be gainfully utilised for agriculture and other pur
poses to supplement revenue. On the other hand, the technology and equipment for
solar power generation are undergoing rapid advances, which is gradually bringi
ng down production costs. But in order to take advantage of the emerging technol
ogies, investors need to periodically update their projects. Nevertheless, solar
power comes in handy for energising remote rural hamlets or operating tube well
s - or even for supplementing power supply to urban buildings through rooftop so
lar power generation. The real and formidable barrier for both sectors remains t
he inadequacy of the infrastructure that can link them to a grid designed for th
ermal power plants. This has adversely affected the growth of the wind energy se
ctor even in a state like Tamil Nadu, which has been relying substantially on re
newable energy for overcoming electricity shortage during its long, hot summers.
This issue needs to be addressed to let wind power play its due role in ensurin
g energy security.
A jolt for Aadhaar
The decision by the Union Cabinet to put "on hold" the transfer of subsidies to
households using cooking gas through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts is unfortunate
, and should be reviewed. It is certainly the case, as this newspaper has previo
usly argued, that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dilly-dallied over Aadha
ar for too long and eventually gave itself too ambitious a timetable for its rol
l-out in the hope of making it a major political point in this year's general el
ections. It was always going to be difficult to scale up direct benefit transfer
s in time. However, at the very least, that was being ambitious. What now appear
s to be a retreat, in the face of mounting problems with linking bank accounts t
o Aadhaar, is not a sensible strategy. The problems being faced in giving all be
neficiaries bank accounts and linking them to Aadhaar are the basic teething tro
ubles the programme was likely to face. They should have been foreseen; and even
if they take time to overcome, that does not mean the scheme should be subjecte
d to a review at a crucial stage of its implementation.
It is unfortunate that the single good, big idea of the UPA in its second term a
ppears to have become the victim of politics. First the implementation of Aadhaa
r was delayed due to inter-ministerial warfare, in which the home ministry batte
d instead for its rival ID system, the National Population Register, which has v
ery different aims. In the process, much of the elegance of the original Aadhaar
idea - which relied on a lightweight enrolment process with minimal "verificati
on" - had to be dropped. That has contributed to the problems visible in the rol
l-out of Aadhaar-linked transfers today. Subsequently, the government neither pr
e-empted nor properly fought the various legal challenges mounted by those who d
o not wish to see Aadhaar come to fruition for various reasons. And, finally, ju
st as the system is being partially tried out, the general elections and the Con
gress' disarray have spooked the government into virtually giving up on the proc
ess. A combination of internal warfare, poorly fought legal battles and politica
l cowardice has put on hold the use of Aadhaar for transfer of subsidies for coo
king gas - a good illustration of exactly what has gone wrong with UPA-II.
It is worth remembering exactly why Aadhaar is crucial - more now than ever. Fir
st of all, there is little doubt that India's subsidy regime is ruinously expens
ive and unsustainable. It is leaky and fails to help those whom it should. This
is precisely why Aadhaar needs to become a feasible alternative for providing di
rect transfers. In addition, financial inclusion is now no longer an option; it
is clear that household savings need to be mobilised and more people need to be
brought into the formal financial net. Aadhaar is a crucial instrument for makin
g that happen. Both these imperatives, of subsidy reform and financial inclusion
, are even more urgent today than when Aadhaar was first suggested. Instead of h
olding the use of the programme in abeyance, what was needed from UPA-II was a s
trong statement of commitment to the unique ID and to expanding its scope. After
all, even if in one or two underbanked districts the linkage of cooking gas sub
sidies to Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts was a problem, that is no reason to hold
up the entire programme. To do so at this late stage reveals that the UPA canno
t even show commitment to its own good ideas.
PM assures Northeast people of safety
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday promised the people of the Northeast li
ving in Delhi that the government would provide them effective protection.
He gave this assurance to a delegation which called on him to express concern ab
out the treatment meted out to the people of the Northeast in the capital.
The delegation was led by Union Minister of State Ninong Ering.
Dr. Singh said the actual cause of the death of Nido Tania, a student from Aruna
chal Pradesh, after a fight here would be established only after the autopsy rep
ort was received. The death has brought into focus the discrimination against th
e people from the Northeast.
He pointed out that it was affirmed by all parties in Parliament that every Indi
an should ensure that fellow citizens from the Northeast felt safe and every par
t of the country welcomed them. What is at stake are human values, amity, and the
unity and integrity of the country, he said.
Speaking specifically about Delhi, Dr. Singh said the city was enriched by peopl
e from all over the country. People from other parts of the country, including th
e Northeast, are as much a part of the city as anyone else.
At 10 years, FB copes with growing pains
As Facebook celebrates its 10th anniversary, the world's biggest social network
is finding its path as a maturing company, adapting to an ageing user base.
In its short history, Facebook has become a part of daily life for more than a b
illion people around the globe.
"More than 20 per cent of all time spent on the Internet is spent on Facebook,"
says Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund. Yet in some ways, FB could
be the victim of its own success.
Its initial core base of teens and university students has expanded, and Faceboo
k is now widely used.
An iStrategyLabs study of US Facebook users found a 25 per cent drop in the numb
er of users in the 13-17 age group, along with an 80 percent jump in the number
of users over 55. "People joke that for the teen, Facebook isn't cool when your
mom is on it," Kerner said. "I think it's not even your mom any more, now it's a
lso your grandmother." AFP
Blue Star: U.K. suggested surprise attack with helicopters
A U.K. military adviser visited India between February 8 and 17, 1984 and did a
recce of the Sri Harmandir Sahib temple complex where militants had holed up. Th
is was revealed in Secretary of State William Hague in his statement in the Hous
e of Commons on the countrys involvement in Operation Blue Star.
On February 13, the military adviser told Indian authorities that armed interven
tion should be the last resort. He recommended a surprise attack with helicopters to
drop troops in as a critical part of the plan.
Mr. Hagues statement was based on the conclusions of the U.K.s inquiry into the tra
gic events at Amritsar in 1984, based on a scrutiny of 23,000 documents, out of w
hich only a limited number were related to the Operation.
In the event, the inquiry notes, there were significant differences between the a
ctual June operation, and the advice from the U.K. military officer in February.
The actual strategy, as made public by India on 13 June 1984, was a ground assaul
t, preceded by a warning, without a helicopter-borne element, which became a ste
p-by-step clearance supported by armour and light artillery.
The influential though politically divided Sikh community has responded in diver
se voices to Mr. Hagues statement.
Ajit Sat-Bhambra, writer and publisher of Asian Affairs, Panjabilok and Urdu Tah
zeeb.net said, This is a storm in a tea cup. If Sinn Fein armed terrorists had st
ormed St Peters Cathedral in Falls Road, Belfast, holding people hostage, Mrs. Th
atcher would have responded in the same way, and quicker.
Jaswant Singh Thekedar, head of the Dal Khalsa, told The Hindu he was happy with
the statement adding Operation Blue Star was a planned murder of innocent Sikhs.
We will never forgive the Indian government for this.
Thinning of Arctic lake ice shortens winter ice season
Researchers have revealed that Arctic lakes have been freezing up later in the y
ear and thawing earlier, which is creating a winter ice season about 24 days sho
rter than was in 1950.
The research also reveals that climate change has dramatically affected the thic
kness of lake ice at the coldest point in the season: In 2011, Arctic lake ice w
as up to 38 centimetres thinner than it was in 1950.
The research team used satellite radar imagery from ESA to determine that 62 per
cent of the lakes in the region froze to the bottom in 1992. By 2011, only 26 p
er cent of lakes froze down to the bed, or bottom of the lake. Overall, there wa
s a 22 per cent reduction in what the researchers call grounded ice from 1992 to 2
011.
Researchers were able to tell the difference between a fully frozen lake and one
that had not completely frozen to the bottom, as satellite radar signals behave
very differently, depending on presence or absence of water underneath the ice.
Radar signals are absorbed into the sediment under the lake when it is frozen to
the bottom. However, when there is water under the ice with bubbles, the beam b
ounces back strongly towards the radar system. Therefore, lakes that are complet
ely frozen show up on satellite images as very dark while those that are not fro
zen to the lake bed are bright.
Researchers used the Canadian Lake Ice Model (CLIMo) to determine ice cover and
lake ice thickness for those years before 1991, when satellite images are not av
ailable.
The model simulations show that lakes in the region froze almost six days later
and broke up about 18 days earlier in the winter of 2011 compared to the winter
of 1950. Shorter ice-cover seasons may lead to shifts in lake algal productivity
as well as thawing of permafrost under lake beds.
The research has been published in journal The Cryosphere. ANI
Arctic lake ice was up to 38 centimetres thinner than it was in 1950
Condemned to die, but not to wait
On Tuesday, January 21, 2014, a three-judge bench of Indias Supreme Court reaffir
med the value in due process of law, even in its application to those whom we as
a society have shunned, by commuting to life imprisonment the sentences of 15 c
onvicts on the death row. The commutations, in Shatrughan Chauhan v. Union of In
dia , were primarily ordered on grounds of delays by the President in disposing
of petitions filed by felons praying for mercy. The Court held that to execute a
person who has been kept on death row for years on end with no answer to his or
her plea for clemency, is an act of torture that violates the prisoners fundamen
tal right to life. Such acts of clemency would have hardly occasioned in most ot
her civilised societies where the death penalty has been abolished. However, giv
en that the cry for capital punishment keeps cropping up in India like some unkil
lable movie gorgon, to borrow a phrase once used by Nicholas Jenkins in The New Y
orker , the decision is a welcome reminder of the constitutional values that we
most cherish.
Assimilation of settled law
The legal issue at stake in Chauhan was simple: are the powers of pardon vested
in the President and the Governors under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution
amenable to judicial review? The Court held that these powers carried with them
a concomitant constitutional duty for the authorities exercising the powers to
conform to due process. Therefore, in exceptional cases, where the authority con
cerned may have abdicated its responsibility in acting contrary to requirements
of due process, its decisions would be amenable to judicial scrutiny.
In Chauhan , the Court was confronted with instances where mercy petitions filed
before the President and various Governors had been kept in abeyance for severa
l years, with no answer forthcoming from the authorities. There were also other
cases where the convict in question had developed serious mental illness during
the period of his or her incarceration, raising substantial doubts over the fitn
ess of the prisoner to be subjected to an execution. The Court ruled that such d
elay or mental illness constituted supervening circumstances, requiring the Presid
ent or the Governors to exercise their constitutional duty in granting pardon. W
hen they fail to do so, as was the case with 15 convicts on death row, it become
s incumbent upon the Court to intervene in the interests of preserving the due p
rocess of law.
In many ways, this conclusion in Chauhan is not particularly novel; it is rather
an assimilation and reaffirmation of settled law, specifically as laid down by
the Supreme Court previously in T.V. Vatheeswaran v. State of Tamil Nadu (1983)
and Triveniben v. State of Gujarat . But Chauhan makes the important point that
an inordinate and inexplicable delay in execution would preclude carrying out th
e sentence even in cases where the convict in question had committed an offence
of terrorism. In so deciding, the Court has overruled its own recent decision in
Devender Singh Bhullar v. State of NCT Delhi . In Bhullar , decided in May 2013
, a two-judge bench had ruled that a delay in disposing of a mercy petition was,
by itself, insufficient ground for commuting the sentence of those convicted to
death under anti-terrorism statutes. In correcting this anomaly, Chauhan reiter
ates a long-standing constitutional value: the Constitution demands that the sta
te treats all those subject to its powers as having equal status; when there is
no constitutional basis for differentiating between convicts found guilty of off
ences such as murder and convicts found guilty of terrorism offences, any delay
in execution is to be treated equally, as a violation of due process, irrespecti
ve of the offence committed.
At the core of the Courts finding is the now well-established notion that to keep
a death row convict inordinately waiting for his or her turn to enter the gallo
ws is an act of torture in this case, an act, virtually, of state-sanctioned tor
ture. Take, for example, Praveen Kumar, 55, one of the writ petitioners before t
he Supreme Court. He had been convicted of a quadruple murder and had been sente
nced to death in February 2002. In October the following year, the Supreme Court
confirmed his sentence. Soon after the sentence had reached finality, Kumar pet
itioned the President seeking mercy on the grounds that he had been subjected to
solitary confinement ever since the trial court had found him guilty. In Decemb
er 2003, the Presidents office forwarded Kumars request to the State Governor conc
erned for consideration under Article 161. The Governor, having reviewed the var
ious judgments of the courts, declined to exercise his power by a decision dated
September 30, 2004, following which the President was once again seized of the
petition. It ultimately took the President until March 26, 2013 to decide and di
smiss the plea for mercy. As a result, Kumar, who had been sentenced to death in
February 2002, had spent 11 years and 10 months in custody at the time of filin
g his writ petition. Capital punishment, in most civilized societies is regarded
rightly as an abomination; but to keep a prisoner sentenced to death for an add
itional period of punishment is neither envisaged by law nor is it protected by
the Constitution. As the Court rightly held in Chauhan , the right to life and p
ersonal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 includes within it a right to be treate
d with a certain dignity, even if you are a convict on the death row. Article 21
which now by interpretive design recognises a right to due process is applicabl
e not merely to you, me and every other average citizen, but also to those conde
mned to the gallows. Any inordinate, unexplained delay in determining the merits
of a mercy petition filed by a convict on the death row would be an infraction
of that right. It is easy to wonder why the most brutal of men and women deserve
the protection of the law; but when due process is disregarded for monstrous cr
iminals, it also becomes simpler to disregard it for the rest of us.
Internal conflict
The decision in Chauhan , while a timely reminder of the importance of preservin
g our most cherished ideals, however also reveals a glaring internal conflict in
the Courts approach to civil rights jurisprudence, particularly in its applicati
on of comparative constitutional law. It seems, as the law scholar Nick Robinson
has previously argued, there are many Supreme Courts of India. This is most evi
dent when the approach in Chauhan is compared to the decisions in Bhullar and mo
re recently in Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation , which concerned the crim
inalisation of homosexual acts. In Chauhan , the Court was visibly receptive to
protecting the human rights, even of condemned prisoners (including convicted te
rrorists), and considered foreign legal precedent with an open mind. In fact, th
e Court went as far as to find that decisions of the United Kingdoms Privy Counci
l have received the same respectful consideration as the decisions of the Indian S
upreme Court. In contrast, in Bhullar , the Court spoke deprecatingly of the band
wagon which espouses the cause of terrorists and raises the bogey of human rights.
And in Koushal , the Court similarly chastised the Delhi High Court for extensiv
ely relying upon the judgments of other jurisdictions in its anxiety to protect the
so-called rights of LGBT persons.
This fractured and vacillating approach of the Supreme Court is of grave concern
, especially given that it affects the most crucial aspect of its judicial funct
ion: the protection of our fundamental rights. As the highest constitutional cou
rt of the country, it is imperative that the Court adopts consistent practice in
its adjudicating; one way to achieve this is to ensure that important constitut
ional questions are settled by a bench of no less than five judges of the Suprem
e Court. For now, however, it appears that we must make the best of what appears
to be a one step forward, two steps back approach of the Supreme Court.
(Suhrith Parthasarathy and Goutham Shivshankar are advocates in the Madras High
Court.)
At the core of the Supreme Courts finding is the now well-established notion that
to keep a death row convict inordinately waiting for his or her turn to enter t
he gallows is an act of torture in this case, an act of
state-sanctioned torture
A tale of two Taliban
What are the linkages between the two Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan across
the Durand Line? Is there a hierarchy or chain of command between these two, or
are both two different organisations with different objectives, ideologies and
targets? Is there a communication link between the two leaderships in terms of o
perational activities, or are they more of a rhetoric?
The more one analyses the linkages between the Afghan Taliban and the Tehrik-e-T
aliban Pakistan (TTP), the more differences one could trace between the two orga
nisations in terms of history, objectives, ideology and operational targets.
Given the lack of documentational support and evidence, along with interviews wi
th the top leadership on both sides, most of the understanding will have to be c
onjectures based on an informed guess. A larger debate is needed on this subject
.
The 10-year gap
There are adequate writings and historical accounts of the Afghan Taliban; from
Ahmed Rashids magnum opus on the Taliban, to multiple publications during the las
t decade, there is a clear historical account of how Mullah Omar from a madrasa
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) ended up becoming the Amir of
Afghanistan.
The Afghan Taliban was founded and supported by Pakistan in the 1990s to achieve
a particular objective in Kabul. To use Admiral Mike Mullens proposition much la
ter, the Afghan Taliban in the 1990s was a veritable arm of Pakistan both the po
litical leadership and the military establishment. There is adequate literature
available today explaining why Pakistan founded and supported the Afghan Taliban
in the 1990s. Of course it was not referred to as the Afghan Taliban then; it was
just the Taliban. The founders of the Taliban would have never expected or even
dreamt that there would be a parallel organisation east of the Durand Line with
in Pakistan.
The TTP, referred to loosely as the Pakistani Taliban, came into being in 2007 w
ith its headquarters in Waziristan. But who founded it and who supported it? Mor
e importantly, for what reasons?
The Pakistani Taliban was certainly not founded by the security establishment in
Pakistan, which was responsible for the birth of the Afghan Taliban. Ironically
, the TTP was founded to fight the Pakistani establishment. This could be seen f
rom a series of attacks that the TTP carried out; from suicide attacks to high p
rofile attacks on military targets in Rawalpindi, Karachi and elsewhere, one cou
ld easily conclude that the primary target of the TTP remains Pakistan.
Given the targets and the time span that the TTP is a post-2007 phenomenon, it w
ould be safe to conclude that the Pakistani Taliban was established by the al-Qa
eda, rather than Mullah Omar. Though the initial leadership of the TTP, especial
ly Baitullah Mehsud, claimed Mullah Omar as his leader, in operational aspects h
e was supported by the al-Qaeda network such as the Uzbeks, rather than the Afgh
an Taliban.
Ever since the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership and base shifted into Pakistan af
ter international troops landed in Afghanistan, there was much pressure on Gen.
Musharraf to go against the militants in Pakistan, who were using the FATA as a
base to carry out operations against the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF). While Gen. Musharraf faced serious pressure and at times even sanctions
and threats from the U.S. to do more, there was also equal resistance from his
own establishment to going against their boys. How can they, for they are seen as
their trump card in Afghanistan?
As a result, Pakistan was selective in apprehending and neutralising the militan
ts on its soil. More al-Qaeda leaders were either captured and handed over, or n
eutralised. Even today, Pakistan is more than willing to sacrifice the al-Qaeda
leadership, but not the Afghan Taliban. There is enough literature available on
the number of al-Qaeda leaders either captured and handed over to the U.S. silen
tly by Pakistan vis--vis the Afghan Taliban. The establishment of the TTP should
be interpreted in this background; it was more a creation of the al-Qaeda than t
hat of the Afghan Taliban under Mullah Omar. The U.S. should be aware of this, a
nd is perhaps willing to live with this; it is no coincidence that the drone att
acks have targeted more of the al-Qaeda and TTP leadership in Pakistan, but not
the Afghan Taliban!
Operational linkages?
There appears a clear divide between the two, in terms of operational areas and
targets. The Afghan Taliban led by the Quetta Shura (of Mullah Omar) and the Haq
qani network, in spite of having their bases in Pakistan (in Balochistan and FAT
A respectively), target primarily the Karzai government and international securi
ty forces in Afghanistan. There have been no major operations by these groups ag
ainst the Pakistani establishment east of the Durand Line. Nor have there been a
ny major statements or threats. Perhaps, that is why the government and military
in Pakistan do not see the Afghan Taliban as a threat.
On the other hand, the TTP has been continuously targeting the government, socie
ty and military within Pakistan. Except for Mullah Fazlullahs faction, referred t
o more as the Swat Taliban, and its earlier avatar the TNSM (Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-S
hariat-e-Mohammadi) established by Sufi Muhammad (Fazlullahs father-in-law), the
Pakistani Taliban, especially those factions under the leadership of the Mehsuds
(both Baitullah and Hakimullah) did not fight much in Afghanistan; they always
targeted Pakistan and operated within the country.
In terms of links between the leadership, though the Pakistani Taliban claimed M
ullah Omar as its leader, it was more rhetoric. In reality, it was led by the Me
hsuds in Waziristan aided by a Shura, rather than commanded by Mullah Omar. In fac
t, the Pakistani Taliban is not a monolithic organisation; it has evolved into a
franchisee, with the Mehsuds as the core in Waziristan along with the Swat Tali
ban, Bajaur Taliban and later, even a Punjabi Taliban.
The larger question today would be, are the linkages between the two groups like
ly to change in 2014, with the withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, and the chang
e in the TTP leadership from the Mehsud tribes in Waziristan to Mullah Fazlullah
in Swat? We need a larger debate on and analysis of how the linkages between th
e two are likely to change in 2014.
(D. Suba Chandran is director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.)
The Afghan Taliban was founded and supported by Pakistan in the 1990s to achieve
a particular objective in Kabul Even today, Pakistan is more than willing to sa
crifice the al-Qaeda leadership, but not the Afghan Taliban.
Heavy burden on the young
With one million more young people joining the ranks of the jobless in 2013, the
worlds youth are facing a disproportionate burden, says the latest report of the
International Labour Organisation. The Global Employment Trends report 2014 als
o records slow progress of late in reducing levels of vulnerable employment and
working poverty, a result of the continued impact of the 2007-08 financial and e
conomic crisis. The 13.1 per cent rate of unemployment in the 15-24 years age-gr
oup globally is more than twice that among the adult population. This is a parti
cular concern in India where people below 25 years of age constitute more than 5
0 per cent of the population. Equally worrying is the finding that the number of
youth who are neither in employment nor in education or training is on the rise
in many countries. Again for India, the overwhelming majority (around 90 per ce
nt) of the workforce in the unorganised sector lacks even the basic social prote
ction that is necessary for the reproduction of labour. The whole scenario has t
o be viewed against the ILOs projection that employment will continue to expand a
t a slower pace than the labour force, resulting in a shortfall of some two mill
ion jobs annually over the next five years. As much as 45 per cent of all new jo
b-seekers will be from East and South Asia, the region that already lags behind
on several indicators that are critical to human development.
The year 2013 seems to have been especially bad, with as many as five million pe
ople joining the ranks of the jobless. The figure also lends greater substance t
o claims regarding uneven recovery from the crisis in the last decade. One compa
rison in the report is instructive: whereas monetary stimulus in the aftermath o
f the crisis induced aggregate demand, a rising share of the additional liquidit
y has not been feeding into the real economy. It is almost axiomatic that slow g
rowth and low levels of job creation reinforce one another, a fact overlooked by
fiscal conservatives. If anything, the need to make provision for unemployment
and other relevant benefits for large segments of society that are out of work p
ut paid to attempts by governments to balance budgets not to mention other delet
erious consequences. Strong social protection measures will not only promote the
overall interests of the workforce and the economy in general in the medium ter
m, they will also lay the foundation to face the demographic transition over the
next two decades. This is expected to result in a large increase in the numbers
of the elderly as a proportion of the overall population, presenting new challe
nges for policymaking.
UPA puts its weight behind caste reservation
The Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government on Wednesday strongl
y defended caste-based reservation in response to criticism from its cadre and t
he Opposition of party general secretary Janardan Dwivedis call to end the quota
system.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the caste quota, introduced and strengthened by
her party, would continue to be championed by it. The government clarified that t
here was no question of its replacing the current caste-based reservation system
with an economic criteria-based regime.
The government is not considering any proposal to provide reservation based on ec
onomic criteria. Reservation as it stands today will continue as per constitutio
nal provision, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla told the
Rajya Sabha. He made the statement after the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samjawadi
Party and the Janata Dal (United) MPs disrupted the House to protest Mr. Dwivedis
call.
The statement, however, failed to pacify the angry MPs.
In the post-lunch session, BSP members stormed into the well of the House forcin
g adjournment for the day. Outside Parliament, BSP leader Mayawati refused to ac
cept the claim that Mr. Dwivedis remarks were his personal opinion. She said: A se
nior Congress leader has given a statement on reservations; this cant be an indiv
iduals opinion, but the partys stand. We strongly condemn it. The party must clari
fy its position, she said. The LJPs Ram Vilas Paswan asked: Mr. Dwivedis remarks are
against the Constitution. This kind of statement will only strengthen the Oppos
ition. We demand the Congress to condemn it so that a wrong message should not g
o to the people.
Government forced to defer Communal Violence Bill
The UPA government faced a major embarrassment on the first day of the extended
winter session of Parliament on Wednesday as a united Opposition forced it to de
fer the Communal Violence Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
As the Opposition parties, including the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the CPI(M), t
he AIADMK and the DMK, stepped up their attack on the government, accusing it of
going against the spirit of federalism and encroaching upon States rights, Deput
y Chairman P.J. Kurien deferred the Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to J
ustice and Reparations) Bill, 2014, in view of the mood of the House.
The Bill was to replace the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilit
ation of Victims) Bill, 2005, withdrawn by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Earlier, the House had a brief debate on whether Parliament had the jurisdiction
to pass such a Bill that violates the spirit of federalism. Leader of the Oppos
ition Arun Jaitley and Law Minister Kapil Sibal engaged in heated arguments. Mr.
Jaitley said: The Central government has absolutely no jurisdiction to bring in
such a Bill ... This Bill is entirely beyond the legislative competence of Parli
ament.
I am ... convinced that objections raised by Opposition have ... substance. Mr. S
ibal said the Bill would not violate the federal structure and that any action b
y the Union government under the Bill would be with the consent of State governm
ents. He attacked the BJP by referring to the 2002 Gujarat riots, and said the B
ill was necessary to tackle state-sponsored communal activity... like it happened
in Gujarat. If it is state-sponsored communal activity, then it is not a law-and-
order issue ... Like what happened in Gujarat is not a law-and-order issue, he sa
id. Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) said the Bill could not be introduced as the l
egislative competence of the Centre was in question. The Trinamool Congress Derek
OBrien said that the UPA has butchered the concept of federalism.
Rallies mark Kashmir Solidarity Day
Protest rallies and human chains accompanied by vociferous demands to free Kashm
ir from India marked Kashmir Solidarity Day on Wednesday.
In the capital, Jamaat-e-Islami, Difa-e-Pakistan Council and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD
) held separate rallies to protest the atrocities in Kashmir by Indian security ag
encies and demand that the Kashmiris be given the right of self-determination. In
dia ka ek iIaj, al Jihad al Jihad (only one solution for India and that's Jihad)
shouted flag waving members of the JUD while speakers said that Kashmir could o
nly be freed with a holy war. India teri maut aayi, Lashkar aayi Lashkar aayi(Indi
a your death has come, the fighters have come) screamed the modest crowd.
Abdullah Gul of the Anjuman Naujawan-e-Pakistan said there should be no trade or
MFN status for India and it was time for the rise of Islamist forces. Dukhtaraa
n-e-Millat founder-chairperson Syed Asiya Andrabi, who addressed the JUD gatheri
ng on telephone, said India could capture Kashmir but not the hearts of its peop
le. Kashmir can never be a part of India and she called on Pakistan to free it f
rom impure India. She asked the Pakistan government to tell India that Kashmir was
an integral part of Pakistan. Kashmir will be part of Pakistan, she declared.
The former ISI chief Lt. Gen. (retd.) Hamid Gul, said Kashmiris should be given
the right to self-determination and they only had to choose between Pakistan and
freedom. They will never opt to go with India, he said.
Self-determination Kashmiris right
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said India should accept Kashm
iris right to self-determination, and invited it to resolve the issue peacefully
through dialogue.
Addressing a joint sitting of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and Kashmir Co
uncil on Kashmir Solidarity Day in Muzaffarabad, Mr. Sharif said his government
was ready to discuss all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir. He in
vited India to engage in a comprehensive sustained and result-oriented dialogue p
rocess.
Unless the Kashmir issue was resolved, there would be uncertainty in the region,
he said. He hoped India would respond positively to this invitation for a dialo
gue and fulfil the Kashmiri peoples aspirations to decide their fate. Fundamental
rights and self-determination needed to be enforced, the Prime Minister said, a
dding the struggle of the Kashmiris was a reaction to the atrocities committed by
Indian security agencies.
Bringing in the role of the international community, he said it could not be sil
ent over the matter and Pakistan would continue to raise the issue until people
got their rights.
Pakistan had initiated confidence-building measures to ease the plight of the Ka
shmiris, including trade across the Line of Control.
The government had proved its sincerity in 1998 and it again invited India for a
dialogue to take things forward, Mr. Sharif said. Oppression and good ties coul
d not go hand in hand.
Mr. Sharif assured the Kashmiri people of Pakistans support and said the issue sh
ould be resolved in keeping with the United Nations resolutions.
PM invites India to engage in result-oriented dialogue
Kashmiris struggle, a reaction to atrocities by security agencies
Join hands in Indo-Pacific region, says Navy Chief
The Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral D.K. Joshi, on Wednesday urged navies in t
he region to prepare a framework for swift and sufficient responses to natural d
isasters.
In his keynote address at the biennial multi-naval engagement, Milan, on the the
me of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), he said Indo-Pacific w
as the locus of natural disasters, with the Indian Ocean accounting for 70 per c
ent of them.
Common challenge
As this posed a common challenge to the nations and navies in the region, they s
hould develop capacity and common procedures for rapid deployment of forces to h
elp the suffering. While individual nations needed to integrate internal agencie
s, pooling of resources and efforts at the international level was also required
.
Indian Ocean naval forum to take in more members
The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a regional forum of maritime forces for
med at the insistence of the Indian Navy, will open up in phases to more members
and accord observer status to some others once its charter of business is firme
d up, probably at its meeting in Australia next month.
Even some developed nations have requested membership and inclusion as observers
, the Naval Chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi, said at a brief interaction with The Hind
u on the sidelines of the multilateral naval engagement, Milan, that got under w
ay here on Wednesday with the participation of 16 friendly navies.
While both IONS and Milan grew substantially over the years, the Indian Navy loo
ked at Milan as complementary to IONS with a limited charter and mandate. This wa
s why it was more seminar-oriented, with very little exercise. We wanted it to b
e a meeting of minds for benign tasks like humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief, he said.
Admiral Joshi said Milan was conceived as a forum of the navies in the Bay of Be
ngal rim but with every subsequent edition, more requests for inclusion came in.
U.N. watchdog slams Vaticans child abuse record
The Vatican was denounced in a devastating report on Wednesday for failing to st
amp out child abuse and called upon the Church to remove all clergy suspected of
raping or molesting children.
The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said tens of thousands of children
worldwide had been abused systemically for years within the Catholic church.
It urged the Holy See to immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual
abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement aut
horities for investigation and prosecution purposes.
In a hard-hitting report, the committee said the Roman Catholic Church was falli
ng far short of its stated commitment to stem abuse by priests and lay employees
, including in schools.
The Committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the ext
ent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cas
es of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and p
ractices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of
the perpetrators, it added.
It blasted the practice of transferring abusers to different parishes within cou
ntries, and even across borders, in an attempt to cover up their crimes and remo
ve them from the clutches of justice.
Offenders mobility, which has allowed many priests to remain in contact with child
ren and to continue to abuse them, still places children in many countries at hi
gh risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be
still in contact with children, it said. The report followed a landmark hearing l
ast month during which members of the committee made up of 18 independent human
rights experts from around the globe grilled senior Churchmen and repeatedly que
stioned the Vaticans resolve.
Like other signatories of the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, t
he Vatican agrees to be scrutinised by the panel.
It appeared before the committee in 1995, but that was prior to the abuse issue
bursting into the spotlight.
Since 2001, Church abuse cases from around the globe have been dealt with intern
ally by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the Vaticans justice depar
tment.
The Vaticans permanent observer to the United Nations, however, accused the U.N.
of distorting facts in its damning report.
The report failed to take into account the fact that the Vatican had made a serie
s of changes for the protection of children, and its efforts at reform were fact,
evidence, which cannot be distorted, Silvano Tomasi said in an interview with Vat
ican Radio. AFP
Interrogating the anti-graft platform
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced its intention to fight against corrupt l
eaders from all parties in the coming general election. So, anti-corruption seem
s to be its main plank since it has not yet announced anything else. Its success
in the recent Delhi Assembly election was largely on an anti-corruption plank.
Even the promises of cheaper/free water and electricity to the electorate were b
ased on ending corruption in the provision of these services. Beyond these and a
few other issues, the AAPs vision regarding India has yet to emerge. Given the p
ent-up anger of the electorate against inflation and corruption, a limited agend
a was enough in Delhi. Would a purely anti-corruption plank also work at the nat
ional level for the same reason?
Other political parties have been forced to adopt an anti-corruption stance. Cle
arly, the AAP has succeeded in changing the political discourse in the country.
The rapid adoption of the Lokpal Bill, the promise of passing other pending anti
-corruption bills and the buzz around selecting clean candidates points in that
direction.
Corruption has become a key issue since it results in daily hardships for the aa
m aadmi whether it concerns employment, prices, education, drinking water, elect
ricity, dealing with the police, the bureaucracy, the judiciary and so on. The n
ation faces crucial problems both at the macro and the microeconomic levels. Tac
kling these problems requires addressing their wider economic, political, social
and institutional contexts and not just corruption. Another impression being cr
eated is that problems can be resolved by bureaucratic or political fiat.
Implications of black economy
To tackle corruption, its cause needs to be correctly identified. The basis of c
orruption is the growing black economy propelled by widespread illegality in a v
ariety of economic activities and the disruption of the democratic institutions.
It has grown from four-five per cent of GDP in 1955-56 to more than 50 per cent
of GDP now. As an offshoot, corruption has become rampant. Given its all-pervas
ive character, the black economy has become systematic and systemic and that is wh
y it has widespread macroeconomic, social, political and institutional implicati
ons. These cannot be tackled only by checking corruption.
The macroeconomic aspects of the black economy result in wider inefficiencies of
the system. It leads to poor quality of goods and services and higher costs. It
causes wastage so as to create shortages so that higher profits can be generate
d through speculation. It reduces the rate of growth of the economy much below i
ts potential, leading to missed development. Expenditures do not lead to outcomes
and targets are not fulfilled in say, education. It leads to a flight of capital
so that a poor country faces a shortage of capital.
In India, businesses have formed a nexus with politicians and the executive to g
enerate black incomes. This triad has turned politics on its head. It manipulate
s policies to suit favoured businessmen who make extra profits and share it with
the other two. The gains of this small group are at the expense of all others a
nd this aggravates disparities. Representation has lost much of its meaning sinc
e the elections have largely thrown up those who take the vote of the people but
after winning, work for vested interests and against the interests of the peopl
e they represent. Even the leaders of the most deprived sections have quickly tu
rned corrupt after coming to power. No wonder people have lost hope in the syste
ms capacity to deliver to them and become more and more sectarian and divided alo
ng caste, community and regional lines. Today, hope has revived and people are l
ooking for new, clean leaders. Corruption is associated with the public sector w
hile the private sector is portrayed as its victim. So, less of government is su
ggested for reducing corruption. Businesses support such a policy since it gets
them greater freedom in the market which translates into a higher degree of mono
poly, a capacity to fix prices and boost profits. The flip side of such a policy
is that the aam aadmi has to depend more on the markets. While this may be welc
omed by those who gain from the markets, it is detrimental for the poor who are
marginal to it, like, women, Dalits and Muslims.
Businesses and anti-corruption
The markets often cannot cater to the basic needs of the poor (not just those be
low the poverty line) because of their low incomes relative to the prices. Today
, 23 years after the largely market-based policies were introduced after 1991, t
he marginalised face shortage of work, low wages because of massive underemploym
ent, reduced subsidies resulting in higher prices and increasing costs of educat
ion and health. Further, advertising is resulting in changing tastes and demand
for newer products thus causing the poverty line to rise. There is the paradox o
f increasing poverty in spite of rising incomes.
In brief, a business-led anti-corruption agenda would benefit the aam aadmi inci
dentally; to the extent of reduction of waste. But, because of a tilt of policie
s towards businesses, they would lose much more and in the net, would be worse o
ff in spite of the reduction in corruption. For example, most government schools
today provide indifferent education. If an anti-corruption regime privatises th
ese schools which will charge higher fees, the poor would not be able to afford
them and would be worse off. Even the somewhat better off middle class would lose
since it also has limited purchasing power and confronts a situation similar to
the poor. The issues of the marginals may get marginalised.
Why are businessmen in India, who have gained through crony capitalism and pro-b
usiness policies, interested in an anti-corruption plank? They want to safeguard
the massive amount of capital they have accumulated in the last two decades. Th
ey have rapidly invested their surpluses into land (say, SEZs), other natural re
sources like mines, forests, spectrum and so on.
Since 2010, exposs of big scams threatens these investments. Movements have sprun
g up against large projects, from POSCO to Kutch and Kudankulam to Haryana. So,
businesses want to legitimise their gains and launder their image by distancing
themselves from those who have been caught in the scams. Further, they want effi
cient capitalism to multiply their capital rapidly. Hence, a section of business
men support the anti-corruption movement. They also see an opportunity in the pr
esent anti-corruption mood of the public to legitimise capitalism by diverting a
ttention to corruption in government they do not want reformed capitalism or a w
elfare state. But, can there be efficient capitalism without tackling the black
economy of which businessmen are the dominant part? So, the fight against corrup
tion alone can only be a limited one.
A pro-business anti-corruption programme can only have a short-run perspective.
Over time, as it leads to greater inequity, a slowdown in the economy and social
discontent, the rulers would have to turn authoritarian to quell rising social
and political discontent. What is the alternative?
Tackling the black economy through a pro aam aadmi programme would make the gove
rnment functional rather than minimal. It would lead to a positive sum game and
be neither pro- nor anti-business. It would lead to an appropriate mix of state
and market-led development which would cater to the marginalised sections of soc
iety without promoting sectarianism. Tackling the black economy would also help
overcome the deep macroeconomic imbalances current account deficit, fiscal defic
it, inflation, slow growth, stagnating industry and so on.
Flight of capital would decline, turning the current account deficit into a surp
lus. The fiscal deficit would turn into a fiscal surplus, generating enough reso
urces in the budget for improving social and physical infrastructure education,
power and so on. It would lead to reduction in costs (as overinvoicing declines)
and a fall in inflation. As more direct taxes are collected, less of indirect t
axes would be required and this would lead to lower prices. Also, as the fiscal
deficit falls, government borrowing would fall thereby reducing its interest bur
den, the largest single item of expenditure. Finally, as policies begin to work,
inequity declines and the investment productivity rises, the rate of growth of
the economy would rise. Thus, tackling the black economy would be a long term an
d equitable solution. To check the growing black economy requires political will
to cut the triad, make institutions functional and promote movements for greate
r democratisation.
There are then two paths for checking corruption. A short run limited microecono
mic and ahistorical plank which would be a zero sum game that would marginalise
the poor. The other would be a democratic path and positive sum game along which
the black economy would be tackled and many of Indias macro and microeconomic pr
oblems resolved.
(Arun Kumar is Sukhamoy Chakrvarty Chair Professor, Centre for Economic Studies
and Planning, School of Social Sciences, JNU, Delhi.)
A pro-business anti-corruption programme can only have a short-run perspective.
Over time, as it leads to inequity, slowdown in the economy, and social disconte
nt, the rulers will have to turn authoritarian
Nadella at the top
Tuesdays announcement by Microsoft appointing India-born Satya Nadella as its CEO
is the culmination of a five-month-long search that began when Steve Ballmer an
nounced his retirement in August last year. After considering some well-known na
mes such as Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally and Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg,
the company seems to have made a safe choice by settling for Mr. Nadella, a Micr
osoft veteran of 22 years. Mr. Nadella is known to be strong in technology, havi
ng headed less-glamorous but high tech businesses such as the Bing search engine
and the cloud and enterprise business solutions. His appointment has elicited p
ositive reactions from analysts and long-time observers of the company, but Mr.
Nadellas challenge has only begun. Microsoft, once an agile corporation quick on
its feet, is now a lumbering giant that is playing catch-up in the market. The p
roliferation of hand-held devices such as tablets and smartphones at the cost of
personal computers is posing a major threat to Microsoft. The $78 billion giant
has but a marginal presence in operating software for mobile hand-held devices,
which prompted it to acquire Nokias mobile business recently. Integrating this b
usiness with Microsoft seamlessly will be among Mr. Nadellas first challenges. He
has to wrest back a share of the consumers mind-space and wallet that Microsoft
held during the glory days of the personal computer, grappling with the likes of
Apple and Google.
In India, the reaction to the appointment has been on predictable lines with the
media and the masses alike complimenting themselves on the elevation of one of t
heir own to the top of the technology empire. While there is reason to be proud g
iven that Mr. Nadellas early education was in India and his parents still live he
re, it would be wrong to scream from the roof-tops that this is yet another even
t that marks the arrival of India on the world stage. To be sure, Mr. Nadella is
not the first person of Indian origin to head a blue-chip American corporation,
and nor will he be the last. We should also remember that Mr. Nadella has spent
half his life in the U.S. and earned his spurs there. We need to introspect whe
ther this story of an individual forget an immigrant rising to the top at so you
ng an age through sheer merit would have been possible in the Indian system. Mr.
Nadella and other Indian immigrants before him in the U.S. could succeed thanks
to the meritocracy that is the corner-stone of the American system. While we ma
y have our occasional quibbles with America, we need to appreciate and learn fro
m that country on how to respect and reward talent and merit, in any field of hu
man endeavour.
Why UNSC reform is an uphill task
My friend Kishore Mahbubani makes a good and no doubt sincere case for Indias cla
im to permanent membership of the UN Security Council (`To the new order, strate
gically, IE, February 4). His analogy of Sisyphus, however, is not quite apt, bec
ause Indias efforts have so far not taken us anywhere near the top of the mountai
n.
Mahbubani wants India to be cunning if it is serious about its ambition. Indeed, h
e wants many countries, including the US, Israel, Palestine and others to be cunn
ing if they want to achieve their respective goals. But, as far as India is conce
rned, his prescription of cunningness will meet with the same fate as the presen
t approach of Group of 4 neither will succeed.
Mahbubani advocates a 7-7-7 formula for UNSC reform seven permanent members, sev
en semi-permanent members and seven non-permanent members. This formula has the
attraction of sounding simple, neat and reasonable. But it does not enjoy any ad
vantage over other approaches. According to him, the seven permanent members wil
l be the US, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Nigeria and one more. He does not men
tion who the seventh would be. He has not advocated that either the UK or France
give up their privileged position. If all the P5 have to retain their membershi
p, there is no room for India, since he makes an even stronger case for Brazil a
nd Nigeria. If India has to be inducted as a permanent member, the number goes u
p to eight.
Mahbubani does not mention the candidates for semi-permanent seats, except Pakis
tan. One can make ones own list, but one would like to know the authors preference
s. What is the duration of these seats?
As for non-permanent seats, there are 10 seats at present. Why should the vast m
ajority of the membership give up three seats? There is huge interest in non-per
manent seats among smaller countries. One indication of this is the fact that in
the Asian group, candidatures have been announced up to 2035.
Africa wants three permanent seats, but might settle for two. The African nation
s are not able to agree on which two countries should have the seats; will they
ever agree to one? Further, they will never agree to Nigeria alone. The criterio
n is not how many students a country has in Harvard; in that case, Japan would s
urely top the list. Even South Korea would fare better. And do not forget the Ar
ab countries. Will they ever agree to this formula?
Mahbubani is right about being cunning. The P5 are cunning. They coordinate amon
g themselves which one of them should declare support for which candidate and wh
ich ones should oppose them. Not a single one of the P5 wants a single addition
to their ranks, even without the right of veto. US President Barack Obama is bei
ng cunning when he says that he would support Indias claim in a reformed security cou
ncil; he does not declare support for reform, nor does he say that he or his cou
ntry will actively work for reform. He got a good round of applause in Parliamen
t for his cunningness. The UK has supported India and has earned Indias appreciat
ion, perhaps even gratitude, but knows that the reform cannot and will not take pl
ace when each of the P5 has veto power. In comparison, China is more forthright.
It openly opposes Japan and repeats the same mantra about India namely that it
supports Indias aspiration to play a more active role at the UN. Russia too is ci
rcumspect.
Reform of the SC needs an amendment of the Charter, and the P5 are simply and to
tally opposed to it. Sixty-nine years after the end of World War II, the P5 are
still not prepared to delete the article regarding enemy states.
The writer is Indias former permanent representative at the UN, is adjunct senior
fellow, Delhi Policy Group. Views are personal
The right to clean air
On February 10, the Supreme Court will hear a plea on Delhis worsening air pollut
ion, on which much has been written of late. The capital citys poor air quality i
s an urgent public health problem. But the prescription is not as simple as taki
ng a pill and getting some rest.
The reason that India, China and other countries struggle with air pollution is
that its sources are numerous and closely linked to economic activity. Effective
policy on air pollution therefore has to act in coordination across many sector
s, from industry and power to transport and even cooking, and without damaging t
he benefits these sectors bring to the economy. So what can policy do to address
such a daunting problem?
First, one has to size things up by measuring the sources of air pollution. In 2
011, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) published a source apportionment
study of six cities. This study found nearly all cities in violation of the nat
ional ambient air quality standards for respirable particulate matter, and attri
buted this pollution to a mixture of industry, transport and environmental facto
rs that varied city by city and even within cities, often with hotspots in indus
trial clusters or heavily trafficked locations.
While this was an important step, we believe environmental regulators could be d
oing more to measure the scope of the problem. Indias Central and State Pollution
Control Boards should develop the capacity to run such studies in-house, and sh
ould do them frequently and widely across the country. Ground measurement of air
quality should also be augmented by recent advances in the satellite measuremen
t of pollution. Researchers at Yale University as well as IIT Delhi have used sa
tellite data to reveal the startling fact that fine particulate pollution levels
, owing to long-range transport by winds, is now high across much of the country
. The costs of air pollution therefore, are being borne not just by those of us
in the metros, but also by large sections of our rural population.
In addition, environmental regulators could also more effectively tackle industr
ial pollution if they had better information on who is emitting how much. Many i
ndustrial plants are tested by pollution control boards at best a couple of time
s a year, meaning that we know extraordinarily little about how much pollution a
factory actually generates. With limited data, it also becomes difficult to ide
ntify and prosecute those who emit too much.
One bright spot is an effort by several state pollution control boards (SPCBs),
including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, to use automated, digital polluti
on measuring devices (continuous emissions monitoring systems) to report emissio
ns from factories in real time over the internet. Armed with this data, SPCBs co
uld learn more about which plants are really responsible for air pollution emiss
ions and target regulations accordingly. The CPCB has recently released Indias fi
rst official standards and guidelines for such technology. This innovation shoul
d be applauded, but it is equally important that we put these technologies to wi
despread use in the field.
Finally, data on air pollution both on levels in the air and on emissions from i
ndividual sources such as power plants must also be made transparently available
to the public. Air quality rating programmes based on such data can inform the
public, as well as put pressure on high polluters. High calibre information on a
ir quality also allows people to take simple preventive actions that may have si
gnificant health benefits for example, infants and toddlers could be kept indoor
s when it is highly polluted.
Yet, measurement is just the beginning. Unfortunately, in the case of cities lik
e Delhi, better data alone will not do the job. Targeted policies across fuel, t
ransport, power and industry are urgently needed. The low-hanging fruit in this
regard is to begin by reducing the subsidies for diesel fuel and encouraging cle
aner fuels such as natural gas or electricity. These subsidies have led to much
higher use of diesel in transport than is economically efficient or environmenta
lly sensible. Indeed, subsidised fuel is burned not just in Delhis rapidly growin
g population of diesel cars, but also in the thousands of diesel gensets that do
t the National Capital Region. In the case of diesel power generation, the damag
e from subsidies is two-fold. Not only is the air directly polluted, but alterna
tive cleaner energy sources (including rooftop solar systems) are severely disad
vantaged.
As these subsidies are removed, we also need to invest heavily in public transit
so that buses and the metro can compete against private vehicles. Delhi has mad
e progress here by introducing the metro, but bus services have not improved in
quality and safety. Feeder services to the metro remain poor. The state governme
nt of Delhi should make it a goal to remove these flaws and create a transit net
work in the city that is fast and comfortable enough to compete against private
cars. By reducing congestion, such policies would also benefit those vehicles th
at do remain on the road. And while this has no direct relation to air pollution
, in the era of the Aam Aadmi Party, it is also worthwhile to remind ourselves o
f the egalitarian nature of public transit. The Delhi metro, for instance, carri
es side by side corporate employees and office workers, students, mothers and ch
ildren, daily labourers, maids, etc.
There is one final point worth making. We are repeatedly told by political parti
es that environmental pollution reflects the costs of growth, a bitter pill that
we must swallow if we want jobs, industry and a vibrant economy. This claim is
simply untrue. It is true that our environmental laws have weaknesses that lead
to reduced investment, poor enforcement and high costs. But the solution to this
problem is not to give up on clean air and water. Rather, the answer lies in re
forming our regulatory framework.
With the information from advanced pollution monitoring for example, it is possi
ble to make market-friendly environmental policies that encourage industry and p
ower plants to pollute less. Such regulation has been advocated by numerous expe
rts and environmental economists, including in committees set up by the ministry
of environment and forests. The MoEF, CPCB and several states have now begun a
pilot to test a market-based regulatory mechanism to control particulate air pol
lution. The importance of such pilots cannot be over-emphasised. Repeatedly test
ing innovative new ways to reduce pollution and scaling up the ideas that seem t
o work is the only long-term strategy likely to help India solve its environment
al challenges.
The writers are Sustainability Science Fellows at Harvard Kennedy School, US
Delhi Lokpal Bill unconstitutional without Centres approval
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals move to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in th
e Assembly without the Centres approval will be a violation of the constitutional
mandate and the provisions of the Transaction of Business of the Government of
National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993.
Legal opinion
This is the legal opinion Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran has given to Lt. Gov
ernor Najeeb Jung.
Highly placed sources said the Lt. Governor sought the law officers opinion after
the Chief Minister wrote to him on January 31, indicating that his government p
lanned to bring in the Bill in the Assembly. Mr. Jung wanted to know from the So
licitor-General whether its introduction without sending the legislative proposa
l to the Centre accorded with the Transaction of Business of the GNCT of Delhi R
ules, 1993, whether the proposal involves any constitutional infraction and whethe
r it was in tune with the mandate of Article 239AA (special provisions with resp
ect to Delhi).
Mr. Parasaran replied that Parliament had passed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,
2013, and many of the provisions would obviously be overlapping with the Jan Lok
pal Bill sought to be presented before the Delhi Assembly.
Since there is already an existing law made by Parliament, the Jan Lokpal Bill has
to be necessarily placed by the Lt. Governor for consideration and grant of asse
nt by the President to avoid any repugnance. In the absence of presidential assen
t, the law could never come into force, Mr. Parasaran said.
A Bill, if enacted and if it involves expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of t
he Capital, shall not be passed by the Assembly unless the Lt. Governor has reco
mmended to the Assembly the consideration of the Bill.
Its provisions will overlap with the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, Solicitor-Genera
l tells Lieutenant Governor
Finance Ministry rejects subsidy cushion proposal for power projects
The Finance Ministry has rejected the Power Ministrys proposal for a nearly Rs.25
,000-crore subsidy cushion and instead asked it to work on gas price pooling and
pass on the tariff to distribution companies (discoms) or consumers.
The Finance Ministrys move comes at a time when the domestic gas price is set to
double from April 2014.
The Power Ministry had sought the subsidy on grounds that the gas-based capacity
would come to a standstill as it would become unviable to operate with gas cost
ing around $10 million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) without passing on th
e massive hike in tariffs to the discoms or consumers. We had proposed subsidisin
g the high cost of imported RLNG (re-gasified liquefied natural gas) and domesti
c gas price hike in the offing through pooling but the Finance Ministry turned i
t down, according to Power Secretary P. K. Sinha.
The Power Ministry has submitted that gas pooling mechanism with an acceptable t
ariff of Rs.5.50 per unit in 2013-14, Rs.7 in 2014-15 and Rs.7.50 in 2015-16 wou
ld require the government to provide a subsidy of Rs.2,498 crore, Rs.10,992 cror
e and Rs.10,849 crore respectively. But after the rejection of its proposal, the
Power Ministry is toying with the idea of asking the states to bear the subsidy
burden of Rs.25,000 crore between now and till 2015-16 to keep power tariffs lo
w from power projects which will use the mix of domestic gas and RLNG. The proble
m is that the upcoming gas projects do not have power purchase agreements (PPAs)
in place and will have to access gas at $10 mmBtu. On one hand, the government
is giving the financial restructuring package to discoms and on the other, it is
putting huge burden on them. Power plants will not be able to bear the gas pric
e burden of more than $5 mmBtu, Associated Power Producers (APP) Director-General
Ashok Khurana said.
The Power Ministry has argued that subsidy is required to provide respite to abo
ut 18,714 MW of existing and around 8,000 MW of upcoming new capacities being op
erated or constructed by public and private sector companies. In the absence of
proper supply of domestic gas, while existing gas-based stations are running at
an average plant load factor of 27.8 per cent, a large number of private sector
projects stand completely without fuel supply. Reworking on the proposal, the Po
wer Ministry feels that States should help such units by providing subsidy to ke
ep tariffs low at around Rs.5-6 /kWh, a proposal unlikely to find support among
the States which are already facing severe financial crunch.
Asks the Power Ministry to work on gas price pooling and pass on the tariff to d
iscoms or consumers
India-Indonesia sea patrol will become joint exercise
The next round of Ind-Indo Corpat, coordinated patrol of the international marit
ime boundary line by the Indian and Indonesian navies twice a year, is growing i
n scale.
Lieutenant Colonel Amrin Rosihan, commanding officer of the Indonesian anti-subm
arine warfare vessel KRI Sutanto, docked at the Haddo Wharf here as part of the
ongoing Milan series of interactions, said on Thursday that from the cycle of pa
trol in April this year, it would turn into a joint exercise with more vessels p
articipating from either side.
The exercise will help to develop interoperability and strengthen navy-to-navy ti
es, Lt. Col. Rosihan told The Hindu on board the vessel.
Held every April and October, the Corpat has so far had both navies dispatch two
ships each for joint patrol of the seas against piracy, armed robbery, poaching
, illegal immigration and drug and human trafficking. The Commander-in-Chief of
the joint Andaman Nicobar Command will declare the joint exercise open.
Launched at the turn of the millennium in line with Indias Look-East policy and ren
ewed interest in strengthening ties with countries in South East Asia, the India
-Indonesia naval exercise will take place on the heels of a multilateral maritim
e exercise, Komodo, hosted by the Indonesian Navy at Batam between March and Apr
il. A total of 18 navies will take part in the exercise aimed at strengthening m
aritime cooperation.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Syahnaz bin Abas, executive officer of the Royal
Malaysian Navys new generation patrol vessel KD Kelanto, told The Hindu that hum
an trafficking was a serious concern for navies in South East Asia.
Dont spare bribe-giver either: MPs panel
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Department of Personnel, Public Grie
vances and Law and Justice, which examined the Prevention of Corruption (Amendme
nt) Bill, 2013, has suggested that not only bribe-takers but also bribe-givers b
e punished with imprisonment and fine. Its report was tabled in the Rajya Sabha
on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference here, Committee Chairman Shantaram Naik said: Bribe
-giving, an implicit offence in the Act, will now become an explicit offence.
Some of the witnesses who appeared before the committee said bribe is paid out of
compulsion.
However, the panel is of the view that those who are forced to pay bribe are duty
-bound to report the matter to appropriate authority. No one is free to give bri
be and then take shelter under the pretext that he/she was compelled to pay brib
e, Mr. Naik said.
The Committee has recommended that the minimum punishment for the habitual offen
ce of corruption be enhanced to five years from three years to synchronise the p
rovisions with those of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013. It has also suggeste
d that the provision for seeking sanction of an appropriate authority for prosec
ution of a public servant accused of corruption be extended to retired government
servant.
Such a shield, he said, was required to prevent frivolous complaints against publi
c servants.
High-speed rail has immense strategic military value: China
Chinas rapidly developing high-speed train network spanning the length and breadt
h of the giant nation could prove to be of immense strategic military value for th
e rapid movement of forces and missiles, an official media report said.
Chinas high-speed rail lines are becoming a major transport force for the Peoples
Liberation Army (PLA), allowing the rapid movement of military forces throughout
the country, a recent state-run news report said.
While bringing convenience to the lives of the masses, high-speed rail also plays
a military role that is growing more prominent by the day, the article states.
A lightly equipped division could be moved on the Wuhan-to-Guangzhou line about 6
00 miles (965 km) in five hours, a fairly rapid mobilisation in military terms, t
he China Youth Daily said outlining military benefits of the countrys six high-sp
eed rail lines.
The report says that Chinas high-speed rail network will provide immense strategic
military value.
And the Second Artillery (missile forces) could use the high-speed rail network t
o quickly deploy short-range missiles in a certain strategic direction presumably
from inland locations to coastal regions near Taiwan or Japan, the Washington Tim
es quoted the Dailys report as saying.
Other key rail lines include the XianBaoji and XiamenShenzhen connections that are
part of the network that has made China a world leader in high-speed rail.
Since 2009, the PLA has reportedly been using high-speed trains to move troops i
n exercises. In 2011, the military conducted a rapid troop transfer on the Beiji
ngShanghai line.
The PLAs ability to move troops to the border due to a highly developed rail, roa
d and air infrastructure, including in the rugged Tibetan region, has long raise
d concerns in the Indian Army prompting the Indian government to initiate its ow
n rapid infrastructure development along the Chinese border.
The January 14 report in the Daily said China will eventually set up a high-spee
d network of eight lines extending in all directions.
A typical military train includes 16 high-speed rail cars that can carry 1,100 l
ightly armed soldiers.
With the daily improvement in Chinas high-speed rail network, transferring a 100,0
00-strong army might be possible within half a day in the future, the report said
, adding that the military will use highspeed rail to project mobile combat forces
in various strategic directions.
It said, the use of high-speed trains as mobile missile launch platforms for stra
tegic weapons is also a good idea.
China is reportedly planning rail-mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (IC
BMs) using a separate system that is not built for high-speed travel but for hea
vy transport.
The speed with which vehicles change direction is less than in road manoeuvring a
nd is suited to testing work during manoeuvring to reduce the time required to p
repare for firing.
In addition, it is possible to manoeuvre and shift more than a thousand kilometr
es at once, making it easier to escape enemy tracking, the report said. PTI
Paralysis in science policies
In the last few years, the government has announced a number of policies in scie
nce and technology which include bills on patents, specialised innovation univer
sities and regulatory measures. These are supposed to power Indias growth engine
via science and technology and, at the same time, enable the country to keep pac
e with the comity of nations. Unfortunately, the Manmohan Singh governments polic
y paralysis is not just confined to the social and economic sectors, but also ma
nifests itself quite prominently across various segments of science and technolo
gy institutions including research in universities. The failure of the governmen
t in this area stems from poor governance mechanisms, as from low priority accor
ded to science and technology in the overall budget.
Falling behind R&D
Ever since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power, Dr. Singh has pr
omised to increase the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (G
ERD). He committed two per cent of GDP and reiterated it every year since 2007 a
t the annual session of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA). In the l
ast nine years, Indian GERD to GDP either stagnated at 0.9 per cent or even rela
tively declined adjusted to inflation; 58 per cent of GERD is consumed by the st
rategic sectors (atomic energy, defence and space research) and about 29 per cen
t is met by the private sector. So, what is left for civilian R&D, spanning a do
zen or so science agencies, is rather pathetic. Look at what is happening in Asi
a! The Chinese GERD witnessed a dramatic increase from one per cent to 1.84 per
cent of GDP in the last decade. In 2012, Japan spent 3.26 per cent, South Korea
3.74 per cent, and Singapore 2.8 per cent. After a decade, the government announ
ced a new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 or STIP 2013. The scien
tific community and the nation were left disappointed as the government had fail
ed to fulfil its earlier commitment. There has been no commitment to increase pu
blic R&D. The government will only match the private R&D investment to bring it
to the level of two per cent of GDP. When is this going to happen?
Realistic goals?
The new policy envisages positioning India among the top five global scientific p
owers by 2020, increasing the number of full-time research and development person
nel by two-thirds within five years, and increasing publications from the curren
t 3.5 per cent of global share to around seven per cent by 2020. Not only this,
the policy aims at increasing the publication record in the worlds top one per ce
nt of journals fourfold. India has already fallen behind China and emerging econ
omies on these indicators. For instance, India produced three times the science
output of China in the 1990s with a comparable GERD. Today, China has overtaken
India by more than three times. It is the same in the case of patents. Why have
we fallen behind so much? This is not unrelated to massive R&D investments by Ch
ina in the last decade. The continuing policy paralysis in science and technolog
y is visible across various segments of S&T. Even after the Fukushima disaster,
Dr. Singh has been relentlessly batting for new nuclear plants costing several b
illions of dollars in the coming decade. The newly inaugurated plant complex at
Gorakhpur, Haryana, is estimated at Rs.23,502 crore. According to research studi
es, just 25 per cent of the future nuclear budget for renewable energy sources (
wind, solar, biomass etc) will generate almost double the energy planned in a mo
re sustainable manner. Ninety per cent of water in India is consumed by agricult
ure, yet we have no inclusive energy-water policy. The list runs across several
sub-sectors. Let us look at two of them.
R&D in higher education has been the prime victim of policy paralysis. There are
over 600 universities and 30,000 colleges with a GERD of around 18. Though univ
ersities contributed 52 per cent of the total national research publication outp
ut in the last decade, they were allocated a dismal 4.1 per cent of GERD. In fac
t, this has been the case for six decades since independence. Universities in th
e Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 25 countries acc
ounted for 20 per cent and Japanese universities accounted for around 15 per cen
t of GERD in the last decade. Even Chinese universities increased their share of
GERD from five per cent in the 1990s to 12 per cent currently. The neglect of r
esearch in higher education has led to very low research intensity; 90 per cent
of our universities end up as teaching institutes where research is given a low
priority for lack of funds. Policy measures to increase research intensity in un
iversities and nurture them to attain world-class standards in China, South Kore
a, Singapore and Japan were a part of their respective national innovation strat
egies since the 1990s. Such policies enabled two to six universities in these co
untries to be listed in the Worlds Top 100 University Rankings in recent years. I
ndia could not register even one. Just four to five universities figure in the l
ist of 400 or 500. STIP 2013 is silent on strengthening research in higher educa
tion. Ninety per cent of the National Knowledge Commissions recommendations remai
n unimplemented as much as the proposal to create 14 innovation universities. Un
til the higher education sector is given its due importance in the national inno
vation system and allocated at least 10 per cent of GERD, it will continue to re
main sub-critical at the national level and we will fall behind our Asian neighb
ours.
Innovation
After the President of India declared 20102020 the Decade of Innovation, STIP 2013
proposed new schemes such as the Risky Idea Fund and Small Idea Small Money. The gov
ernment launched the India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) under the Public-Pri
vate Partnership (PPP) model, with the government chipping in with just two per
cent of the budget. But private partners have hardly evinced any enthusiasm to i
nvest in this scheme. Is the government serious? The policy paralysis in science
and technology innovation can be seen from the dismal amount of money allocated
to a dozen innovation schemes under the Department of Science and Technology (D
ST) and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Out of the
total budget of Rs.2,998 crore given to the DSIR in 2011, only Rs.155 crore went
to innovation schemes. And, of the Rs.2,349 crore given to the DST in 2012, onl
y Rs.57 crore went to innovation schemes.
With 90 per cent of Indian labour in the informal sector and faced with dwindlin
g fortunes of rural agricultural activity, millions will migrate from the rural
to urban areas in the coming decade. The UPA government launched a number of sch
emes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme; Bhar
at Nirman; Indira Awaas Yojna; Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission;
Health Mission, among others. Besides problems underlying their governance and i
mplementation, which are well known, they lack an institutional framework to inf
use employment potential with skills, training and grass-root innovation. There
is hardly any serious policy perspective or thinking to create institutional ave
nues for vocational training to infuse skills to labour in the informal sector.
There are about 7,500 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) with the overall int
ake capacity of 75,000. With the growing demand for technicians and an expanding
informal sector, one can imagine the task ahead. Long-term solutions to problem
s here are so complex and are becoming even more interconnected. We have so far
failed to evolve any strategy to connect with these schemes at the bottom of the
pyramid. IIIF is a good scheme if it gets off the ground with a full budget. In a
ny case, such schemes managed by corporate fund managers are relevant more at th
e middle of the pyramid and not the bottom. We urgently need to build and strengthen
intermediary institutions to forge linkages between formal and informal institu
tional structures. It is time the government wakes up to addressing the impendin
g S&T policy paralysis before it is too late.
(V.V. Krishna is professor in science policy, Centre for Studies in Science Poli
cy, School of Social Sciences, JNU, Delhi. )
Neglect of research in higher education has led to very low research intensity.
Ninety
per cent of our universities end up as teaching institutes where research is giv
en
a low priority for lack of funds
Dealing with a toxic legacy
President Barack Obamas recent statement of his Afghanistan policy has again reve
aled the intractable situation the United States has faced since it led the inva
sion of that country in 2001. In his State of the Union address to Congress on J
anuary 28, Mr. Obama said the mission there would be completed by the end of the
year, and that thereafter the U.S. and its allies would support a unified Afghan
istan as it took responsibility for itself. With the agreement of the Afghan gove
rnment, a small force could remain to train and assist Afghan forces and carry out
counterterrorism operations against any al-Qaeda remnants. Washington has withd
rawn 60,000 of its troops from Afghanistan since Mr. Obama took office in 2009,
but 36,500 remain, with 19,000 from other countries in the NATO-ISAF coalition.
Western plans are for a residual force of 8,000 to 12,000, two-thirds of them Am
erican, but sections of the U.S. military have suggested a U.S. strength of 10,0
00, with 5,000 from the rest of the coalition. Mr. Obama is discussing the optio
ns with senior officers.
The President wants to avoid a repeat of Iraq, which with the exception of Kurdi
stan has become a battleground between Sunni and Shia leaders, claiming over 7,0
00 lives in 2013 alone. But over Afghanistan he is caught in a cleft stick. Afgh
an President Hamid Karzai is yet to sign the deal for NATO-ISAF troops to stay;
he would prefer his successor to sign the agreement after he leaves office in Ap
ril 2014, but the successor will not take office until September. Secondly, Mr.
Karzai has infuriated Washington by planning to release 37 Taliban detainees, by
blaming American forces for terrorist attacks on civilians, and by calling the
U.S. a colonial power. Yet the Afghan National Security Forces, which include the
police, number 334,000, or about 20,000 below the numbers envisaged for them, an
d the U.S. Department of Defense has reported to Congress that the ANSF cannot o
perate on their own. The U.S. public have little wish to continue the war, but t
he military may have its own agenda. The September 2013 quarterly report by the
Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction shows that of nearly $100 bi
llion in reconstruction aid, $97 billion went towards counter-narcotics, securit
y, and other operations; only $3 billion was used for humanitarian aid. If the P
resident feels hemmed in, it is because of the toxic legacy of his predecessor G
eorge W. Bush who went into the country in search of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaed
a. At the end of 12 years of American occupation, Afghanistan has not emerged as
a more secure place; nor has the U.S. had much of a success in nation-building.
Immunisation as a matter of justice
Immunisation is not an election issue. It should be. Seth Berkley, CEO, GAVI Allia
nce, is not known for mincing his words. Throw in the immense experience he brin
gs in from the area of vaccination, and he is easily the most articulate global
proponent of immunisation. In India recently to meet with the heads of governmen
t and to bring together leaders of society to pitch into the vaccine effort, Dr.
Berkley spoke with The Hindu on a range of issues germane to universal immunisa
tion, Indias recent polio success, and the plan of action for the future.
The GAVI Alliance is an international organisation that works at saving childrens
lives and protecting peoples health by increasing access to immunisation in poor
countries. With funding from governments across the world, it takes forward its
agenda of making vaccines available to children, assisting developing nations t
o gain access to vaccines at affordable rates, with the firm belief that immunisa
tion is a matter of justice.
The critical issue here in India since we now have permission to roll out the pen
tavalent (the combo protection against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP), hepat
itis B, Haemophilius influenzae type b) vaccine throughout the country is to get
coverage levels up. It is essential to create a demand for vaccines and, at the
same time, deal with irresponsible stories that talk of side effects without any
validation.
This is one of the ideas behind creating an Advisory Council for GAVI in India: t
o get a group of people from all sectors to discuss how we might help in these i
ssues, besides being voices in Indian society to counter any negative voices out
there, Dr. Berkley explains. He is also thrilled that India has recently committ
ed to being a donor to the international vaccine effort; promising GAVI $4 milli
on over the next four years.
Indias anti-polio programme
He doles out much praise for India, clearly astounded by its recent success with
eradicating polio. It is believed that Indias achievement of stopping the transm
ission of the wild polio virus by immunising all children between 0-5 years, pro
vided a big boost for the global effort to defeat polio. It is incredible! It sho
ws to me what India can do when it focusses. The world thought it was impossible
, India did it on a scale that no one can imagine: mobilising front-line workers
volunteers, NGOs, local politicians.
Also, the spin-offs from the polio effort for the country have been momentous. If
you look at a place like Bihar that had incredibly low immunisation rates, we h
ave already seen polio teams turning their attention to routine immunisation, se
en coverage going up from the low 30s (percentage) to about the 60s (percentage)
. In places like that we can take it higher. Ideally, about 90 per cent of the c
ommunity must be immunised. While in the South we have a coverage rate of about
85-90 per cent, in the North, it hovers around the 30s. Clearly, a nation cannot
remain content with an average immunisation of 60 per cent.
So, the challenges indeed remain huge, despite the massive mobilisation for poli
o that seems to have paid off. For Dr. Berkley though, his calling and work depe
nds on remaining hopeful, in believing that more children will continue to be co
vered, and not be felled by vaccine-preventable diseases. In that vein, he says,
Let me start out with the positives. Five years ago, India had more cases of pol
io than anywhere in the world, but it was able to mobilise and reach every child
, in essence. This should have emboldened India in terms of what should be done;
it shows what is possible and what can be done today.
Lessons learnt and vaccinations
Of course, routine immunisation is a little more complicated routine, injections
[unlike the oral polio vaccine] need more trained health workers, and people ha
ve to come to a facility instead of doing it door-to-door, as with polio. Remembe
r, that is also the system that is needed to ensure that polio does not get back
into the country. As you know, your neighbours have not done as well as you. So
, while we have to keep polio coverage levels up, we must be able to use the ski
lls, micro plans, and social mobilisation from that exercise for a range of othe
r vaccinations which will have a dramatic effect on childrens lives.
He goes on to add, We recently approved a grant of over $100 million for India, t
o work on improving the delivery of vaccines, and that is going to focus on some
of the least-performing districts, trying to transition some of the polio worke
rs to do a better job on routine vaccination, improve surveillance and get a bet
ter understanding of the supply chain.
The task at hand is urgent and the country cannot allow it to be beset by doubts
spiralling into controversies over the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Dr. Ber
kley says, In a place like India we fool ourselves, or, we are completely isolate
d from our population to say these diseases are not real; they dont occur. When y
ou roll out vaccines, you have a dramatic effect on morbidity and mortality. It
is true that in places these diseases have almost disappeared, but people move a
nd organisms move, but until we end up eradicating an organism, it is essential
to protect children.
He adds: My understanding is that if you look at any of the leaders in India in s
cience, there is no controversy. There is absolutely incontrovertible proof of b
oth the burden of disease and the effect of vaccine. Indeed, there are a few peo
ple who continue to bring up these questions. They are isolated, but that is not
to say they havent been listened to by the media.
The roll out of the pentavalent vaccine has been hotly debated in India, and the
re are claims that children have died after being vaccinated, and consequently t
he demand to shelve the vaccine. Dr. Berkley does not dismiss this outright. Ins
tead, he explains that there is a component in the pentavalent vaccine that can
cause fever in children, but that is even true of the older DPT vaccine. So you c
annot say there arent any side effects, but they are not significantly worse than
they were with the DPT. Usually, the side effects come from the tetanus compone
nt, not from [additional] Hepatitis B or HIB components. One thing you can do is
to educate parents that children will sometimes have fever after vaccinations;
after all they are learning how to fight off a bad infection.
Dr. Berkley also thinks one of the key ways to take this fight on is through the
National Rural Health Mission, which will build systems to guide such efforts. I
hope that assurance will survive an election. India has not stepped up in terms
of financing health as it could have. We are not talking of absolute amounts, b
ecause the economy is growing, but the relative amount, because India is low, in
comparison with the other countries in the region. He pauses, and then allows a
sentence to hang in the air, as ominous as the future it signifies, When a child
dies of preventable diseases it is a tragedy, but when thousands die because we
are not rolling out tools that we have that are inexpensive, and are available .
ramya.kannan@thehindu.co.in
Make border areas a bridge, says China
Looking to turn the page from last years heightened tensions along the disputed b
order, China on Friday said it hoped to make border areas a bridge and bond with I
ndia as its top diplomat travels to New Delhi next week.
State Councillor Yang Jiechi, the Chinese Special Representative (SR) on the bou
ndary question, will visit the Indian capital between Monday and Wednesday, offi
cials here said. During his visit, Mr. Yang and National Security Adviser Shivsh
ankar Menon will hold the 17th round of negotiations on the long-running boundar
y dispute.
The boundary talks are currently in the second of a three-stage process. The cur
rent stage seen as the most difficult involves agreeing on a framework to settle
the dispute in western, middle and eastern sections of the disputed border.
The first stage involved agreeing on political parameters and guiding principles,
and was concluded in 2005, two years after the current Special Representatives m
echanism was introduced.
Asked about widely held perceptions that the slow-moving negotiations had remain
ed deadlocked since 2005, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Friday
that China was of the view that both sides had done a lot of work towards achievin
g a settlement.
Over the years, the two sides have done a lot of work to achieve settlement of th
e issue, in particular through the establishment of the mechanism of SRs in 2003
, he said. There have already been 16 such meetings. At the high level, we have ex
changed in-depth views on the issue and positive progress has been achieved.
He said both sides had reiterated that the boundary question should not overshado
w overall ties.
An early settlement serves interests of both China and India, and it is a strateg
ic objective set by the two governments, Mr. Hong said. China is ready to work wit
h the Indian government to advance the process of negotiation so as to achieve a
fair, reasonable framework acceptable to both sides so as to make the border ar
eas into a bridge and bond between the two peoples to facilitate their exchanges
and communication.
The previous round of border talks took place in June last year, only two months
after Chinese troops triggered a three-week-long stand-off by pitching a tent i
n Depsang, in eastern Ladakh.
Addressing tensions, rather than taking forward negotiations, subsequently emerg
ed as the focus of last years talks, with both countries saying after the last ro
und they had discussed ways and means of strengthening existing mechanisms for co
nsultation and coordination on border affairs and methodology to enhance the eff
iciency of communications between the two sides.
In November, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Beijing, both sides sign
ed a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) aimed at expanding on-the-groun
d engagement and formalising patrolling rules to prevent recurrence of stand-off
s.
This years talks take place as the new Chinese leadership attempts to recalibrate
Chinas neighbourhood diplomacy, an effort reflected in renewed diplomatic outreach
to a number of countries in the region. Even as China has intensified pressure
on Japan over disputed East China Sea islands and issues relating to wartime his
tory, Beijing has recently attempted to woo its South and Southeast Asian neighb
ours. Tensions over the South China Sea that surfaced during the last years of t
he previous Hu Jintao administration have since subsided, with President Xi Jinp
ing and Premier Li Keqiang both visiting Southeast Asia in October and signing l
andmark economic deals, including an agreement for joint exploration with Vietna
m.
Indian officials and analysts have also noted a particular keenness to ensure th
at ties with India remained stable. This has been reflected in what one Asian di
plomat described as Beijings notable silence as India, last month, prominently hono
ured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by hosting him as the chief guest in the
Republic Day parade. In recent months, the Chinese leadership has also pushed a
ttempts to revive a long-dormant Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor
plan, with the first official-level talks held in December in southwestern China
.
DRDO chief: cyber threat possible from imported defence systems
India faces a major cyber security challenge from imported defence products whic
h can come laden with snooping virus or malwares and should thus get involved wi
th the production of weapon systems from their nascent stage, chief of Defence R
esearch and Development Organisation (DRDO) Avinash Chander said on Friday.
Addressing the media at Defexpo 2014 here, Mr. Chander, who is also the Scientif
ic Adviser to the Defence Minister, said cyber security could be enhanced by get
ting involved with the software of the projects from the time they were develope
d so that cocoons could be built around them.
For real security, the answer lies being involved with it from the design stage, h
e said, adding that similar control could not be possessed over a system that is
procured from outside.
Responding to a question on Indias ability to check for malware in advanced syste
ms like the C-17 and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft procured from the United Sta
tes, Mr. Chander said, When an equipment is bought from outside, you have no cont
rol.
Stressing the need to protect the countrys military equipment from hacking, he sa
id there was a need to ensure that hackers were unable to target the critical or
core systems.
Noting that a major reason for the threat posed by malwares was that it was diff
icult to assess them in an integrated system, Mr. Chander said the problem was com
pounded by the fact that most foreign countries do not provide the source code f
or the equipment sold by them.
He said the problem behind unsecured procurements also had its genesis in the fa
ct that many agencies took their own decisions concerning foreign purchases of e
quipment. He called for having guidelines to protect systems against subversion.
Cyber security is our biggest security challenge and requires a new paradigm in p
urchase processes. When we buy, we must buy with security in mind, he said.
DRDOs UAVs to hunt down Naxals
The Defence Research and Development Organisation is developing Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles for the Central Reserve Police Force for use in Naxal-hit areas of Chha
ttisgarh and Jharkhand. It would demonstrate the operational capability of the f
irst vehicle, Nishant, in a couple of months in Jagdalpur.
These UAVs will help the forces trace and track down the rebels even in thick fo
rests, DRDO chief Avinash Chander said during a media interaction at Defexpo 201
4 here on Friday.
To begin with, the CRPF had expressed a desire to procure 16 UAVs. The force was
earlier using the UAVs of the National Technical Research Organisation and the
Indian Air Force, which, however, were not very effective in dense forests. Mr.
Chander said DRDO scientists the CRPF have worked closely on the configuration re
quired for operation in such difficult areas.
He said that for UAVs meant to operate in thick forests, the DRDO was working on
lower frequency radars.
India among key players in generic drug market
India was among key players in generic drug market with eight of its companies f
iguring among the top 25 companies in the world that accounted for 28 per cent o
f global generics market.
The global generic market in 2012 was estimated at $ 225 billion, a meeting orga
nised by the Confederation of Indian Industry with the Department of Pharmaceuti
cals of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers was informed.
Presentation
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India which made a presentation
at the meeting said generics constituted 25 per cent of total pharmaceutical mar
ket which was valued at $ 962 billion in 2012.
The market was growing at 2.4 per cent on year to year basis.
Regulated markets
The Indian exports of pharmaceuticals in 2012-13 was $ 14.6 billion and imports
$ 5.6 billion. Over 55 per cent of Indian exports were to highly regulated marke
ts.
The Director of Department of Pharmaceuticals B.K. Singh who inaugurated the mee
ting said the process to frame a bulk drug policy for the country was initiated
recently with the aim to bring under one umbrella Ministries of Health, Power, E
nvironment - State government and the regulator.
It would be part of a promotional activity for bulk drug industry.
Bulk drug exports
The bulk drug exports were to the tune of $ 4.5 billion in 2012-13 and imports $
3.5 billion.
Jayant, president, Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association of India, and Manni Kanti
pudi, chief executive officer, GVK Biosciences, were present.
Asia and the two world wars
The First World War began a century ago the Second World War drew to a close nea
rly 70 years ago. As the world prepares to mark these anniversaries, the two gre
at wars have acquired a peculiar political resonance in East Asia.
In a region where China is flexing its impressive military muscle in multiple ma
ritime territorial disputes with its neighbours and Japan is reclaiming its plac
e in the Asian sun, the presumed lessons from the two wars are being evoked wide
ly to describe the dangers of the current tensions in the region.
In an interview to the New York Times this week, the president of the Philippines,
Benigno Aquino compared China to Nazi Germany and warned the world against appe
asing China by accepting its aggressive territorial claims in the contested wate
rs of East Asia.
As the Philippines lost control over some of the waters it claims to the Chinese
navy over the last couple of years, neither Manilas regional partners in the ASE
AN nor the United States, its long-standing military ally, were ready to stand u
p and be counted.
No wonder, Aquino was recalling the Western acceptance of Germanys territorial de
mands in the run up to the Second World War. At what point do you say, Enough is e
nough? Well the world has to say itremember that the Sudetenland was given in an a
ttempt to appease Hitler. China reacted angrily by denouncing Aquinos remarks as s
enseless and calling the Filipino president as ignorant of both history and reali
ty.
Beijing, of course, is not averse to using the Second World War to justify its t
erritorial claims against Japan in the East China Sea. Amidst the mounting tensi
ons with Tokyo over small islands called Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu in China,
Beijing has argued that accepting Japanese claims will be tantamount to overthro
wing the peace arrangements that followed the Second World War.
North Korea, meanwhile, has called the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as Asi
as Hitler in a reference to Japans efforts to revitalise its military capabilities
. Many in South Korea, which rarely agrees with the North, are as vehement in de
ploring Abes policies.
On his part, Abe has argued that the growing distrust between Japan and China to
day is similar to that between Britain and Germany in the First World War. Abe w
as drawing attention of the world business community at Davos last month to the
prospects for an unwanted war between Japan and China as their militaries try to
stare each other down in the East China Sea.
Scholars of international relations point to the dangers of simplistic evocation
of historical analogies. Circumstances separated by time, space and geography
are unlikely to produce similar outcomes. That, of course, has never stopped pol
itical leaders from trying to use history for immediate political ends.
India, which contributed a big part in shaping the outcomes of the two wars, see
ms blissfully unaware of the importance of the two anniversaries and is paying l
ittle attention to the arguments in East Asia. Turning a deaf ear to the nationa
list passions in East Asia is not going to save India from the consequences of n
ew Asian wars that now seem increasingly probable.
(C. Raja Mohan is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and
a contributing editor for The Indian Express)
Moment of truth for India
For the first time in the history of independent India, a high official of its i
ntelligence services stands indicted for cold-blooded killing in the service of
the Republic. Thursdays Central Bureau of Investigation charge sheet against form
er Intelligence Bureau Special Director Rajinder Kumar and his subordinates for
the alleged extra-judicial execution of Maharashtra residents Ishrat Jahan Raza
and Javed Sheikh, as well as two alleged Pakistani Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives, m
arks an unprecedented challenge for Indias national security system. The CBIs char
ge sheet has blown the lid off the comforting fiction that extra-judicial killin
gs are aberrations, crimes carried out by brutish policemen and villainous provi
ncial politicians. In this case, the Gujarat Police might have played executione
r, but the charges against Mr. Kumar give reason to believe that the death warra
nts were signed, so to speak, in North Block. Loud and acrimonious political deb
ate has broken out on whether the four victims were linked to terrorism or not,
which really is an irrelevant issue. Instead, political leaders must introspect
on the role of governments in encouraging murder as a tool of national security,
and demonstrate the legislative will needed to set wrongs right.
India is exceptional among democracies in having no legal framework for its inte
lligence services, nor a system of oversight and accountability for covert opera
tions. For individual officers, the absence of a regulatory law for covert opera
tions creates perverse incentives for wrongdoing: who, after all, would want vic
tims of their criminal acts to tell the story in court? In its absence, kidnappi
ng has been substituted for legal detention, torture for criminal investigation,
and the bullet delivered to the back of the skull, for trial. Leaders of all pa
rties, though, have been loath to change the system. For years now, figures like
Union Minister Manish Tewari, and former intelligence chiefs, have campaigned f
or the legal regulation of the intelligence services, arguing that the status qu
o will end up undermining national security. To continue to ignore these voices
will ensure the destruction of the intelligence services, and threaten the secur
ity of the republic they are charged with defending.
This article has been corrected for a mis-statement
Divesting to bridge the deficit
The Special Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI, for short), formed specif
ically to take over the regular income schemes of the Unit Trust of India, has b
een in the news recently. Reversing an earlier decision to form an asset managem
ent company to take it over, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs recently
decided to encash some blue chip shares held by it. The earlier proposal, while
being technically and theoretically sound, would be time-consuming and will not
suit a government in a great hurry to raise money to bridge its deficit by March
, A divestment of some of SUUTIs prized shareholdings, on the other hand, will be
a quicker way to meet fiscal targets. The government holds through SUUTI 20.72
per cent of Axis Bank with a market value of over Rs.8,060 crore. It also owns 1
1.3 per cent of ITC (Rs.19,800 crore) and 8.2 percent of L&T (Rs.6,640 crore). A
sale of these would fetch the government over Rs.34,500 crore at current prices
. Assuming that the modalities of the sale could be gone through in the remainin
g less-than two months of the current fiscal year, the disinvestment target of R
s.40,000 crore will be very nearly met. Though the 2G spectrum auctions are on c
ourse to exceed initial expectations, the boost in disinvestment proceeds will s
trengthen government finances and make the target of reining in fiscal deficit a
t less than 4.8 per cent of GDP that much easier.
That said, it is important to choose the correct method of selling these shares.
The objective is not only to meet financial targets but also fulfil some of the
broad objectives of the disinvestment programme. Over the years, the government
had adopted ingenious methods to meet its disinvestment targets, including sale
to state undertakings, buybacks, cross-holdings, special dividends and setting
up of exchange-traded funds. None of these benefit the common man. The disinvest
ment programme has theoretically espoused retail investors interests. The vision
statement of the Department of Disinvestment seeks to promote peoples ownership of
shares through disinvestment and spread the equity culture. Over the years, howe
ver, the government has ignored retail investors, offering them mere token incen
tives such as a small discount in the few share offerings of public sector compa
nies. In contrast, large investors have benefited substantially. In fact, the ca
pital market regulator SEBI introduced new schemes that completely bypassed smal
l shareholders. The government could recompense retail investors by selling its
shares in SUUTI exclusively to them. That way, retail investors will get to own
some blue chips, and the capital market will get some depth.
A lonely fighter lost among patriarchs
Rani Gaidinliu does not appear in Indian history textbooks. In the pantheon of I
ndian freedom fighters, revolutionaries and liberators her name remains unfamili
ar. She is unknown to most Indians, a fading memory and myth to her own people.
Rani Gaidinliu was a spiritual leader, a reformer, a guerrilla warrior and a fre
edom fighter who served 14 years, making her one of Indias longest incarcerated p
olitical prisoner.
Gaidinliu was born on January 26, 1915 at Nungkhao, a Rongmei village in Manipur
. She was 16 when she became the leader of the Heraka movement after its charism
atic leader Jadonang was executed by the British. While the Heraka movement was
long aware of the civil disobedience movement in British India, it was Gaidinliu
who first used Gandhijis name and identified her peoples struggle against oppress
ion and self-determination with the larger national movement gaining ground in I
ndia. Through armed resistance, she quickly transformed a religious-indigenous r
ebellion into a revolutionary movement for independence. In a note recorded in J
une 1932, C.P. Mills, Deputy Commissioner, Naga Hills, stated that, The real dang
er of the movement is the spirit of defiance.
The Empire fearing the spirt of defiance launched a manhunt for the 16-year-old
rebel leader. The Assam Governor-in-Council authorised the overwhelming force of
the 3rd and 4th Assam Rifles and the entire Manipur Police force. After a year
long search and capture operations, Gaidinliu was arrested on October 17, 1932.
She was tried and convicted on a charge of murder, waging war against the Britis
h crown and sentenced to life imprisonment. When Nehru met Gaidinliu, she had al
ready been imprisoned for five years. Nehrus efforts and subsequent failure to se
cure Gaidinlius release from the British is well documented. She would remain a p
risoner for another decade, before being released from Tura Jail on October 14,
1947, after India became independent. The newly independent Indian State quickly
recognised Gaidinlius potential as a symbol of Naga separatism. Upon her release
the Indian government imposed severe restrictions on her movement and she was n
ot permitted to return home to her people till 1957. The Naga National Council (
NNC) leaders found her ideology, vocal opposition to the insurgency and Christia
n missionary presence an obstacle to the Naga separatist struggle. With the grow
ing NNC threat against her life she went underground once again in 1960. She was
honoured as a freedom fighter and awarded a Padma Bhushan, but toward the end o
f her life she became a neglected figure. Rani Gaidinliu died alone and disillus
ioned in 1993.
Insiders and outsiders
Year after year, volumes are written and continue to proliferate the public spac
e about patriarchal figures like Gandhiji and Nehru. Indian history, even when w
ritten as a history of struggle, continues to exclude figures like Rani Gaidinli
u. The Rani and many like her remain absent from our books, our memory, our poli
tics, our public spaces and our discourses. We have treated their history as som
eone elses history or even, not history at all. Their absence is ubiquitous.
History plays a powerful constitutive in determining an individuals sense of pers
onal identity. It contributes to citizenship, that implies full membership to de
mocratic exercise and the ability to influence ones destiny by having a significa
nt voice in decisions. But, historically the Indian rectitude of citizenship has
distinguished between insiders and outsiders. In the last 67 years we have cele
brated the glorious self-images of the dominant, those who look a certain way, s
peak a certain language, make a certain claim of belonging and peddle a certain
kind of hatred justified in the name of nationalism. If we are to write the hist
ory of Indian citizenship from the point of view of the others and the outsiders, it
would be the story of systematic disaggregation of their citizenship, lost not
at the point of a gun but rather by legislative action that has institutionalise
d prejudice.
The most important right we possess is the right that we shall be governed only
by laws we have given consent to; and this is the great guarantee of our freedom
enshrined in the Constitution. One that India has persistently denied to its ci
tizens of the Northeast. For instance, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AF
SPA) has been in effect in the seven Northeastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, A
ssam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya since September 11, 1958
. AFSPA empowers the Indian security forces with unilateral power to detain, tor
ture and kill to maintain order, alongside a legal immunity for extra-judicial k
illing.
Here the law operates in and through its own suspension, and legitimacy always t
rumps disproportional use of lethal force. The grey areas of State authority gra
nt the licence to kill and legitimises it through a judicial process. Normal law
s of the state do not apply here, the state can transcend and transgress the rul
e of law in the name of larger public welfare. AFSPA violates Articles 21 and 22
of the Constitution that guarantee the protection of life and personal liberty
and protection against arbitrary arrest and detention. What exactly does equalit
y before law mean, when individual citizens of the same Republic are subject to
different laws and rights?
Rani Gaidinlius life is an allegory of the larger problems confounding Indias Nort
heast. If history is the narrative of our past, of who we are and how we came to
be, then the Indian state has successfully excluded 44 million Indians who live
in Indias Northeast from the historical, political and cultural memory of what i
t means to belong. The greatest repression, perhaps, is to deny and deprive peop
le of their history. Today, the Northeast has a new national and local conscious
ness, along with a new history. Not of its valiant resilience, egalitarian commu
nities, but forever the disturbed region, the countrys buffer, infamously connect
ed to insurgencies, violence, persistent backwardness and a place of exclusion.
In it are the terrible predicaments rising out of mainland Indias predilections,
and even prejudices. Any rapprochement with the Northeast must begin with Indias
recognition that equal citizenship, along with the idea of belonging transforms
a state into a Nation. The human need to belong is not simply intangible, it is
also an irrevocable condition.
(Suchitra Vijayan, a lawyer and political analyst, previously worked for the U.N
. war crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia and Rwanda.)
Her life is an allegory of the larger problems confounding Indias Northeast Today
, the region has a new national and local consciousness, along with a new histor
y
Japans ex-Premiers campaign for Tokyo polls on an anti-nuclear plank
Waging an impassioned political campaign, two retired Prime Ministers, including
one of Japans most popular politicians, have tried to turn a local election in T
okyo into what they call Japans first referendum on the future of nuclear power s
ince the accident in Fukushima nearly three years ago.
But as the vote on Sunday approaches, political analysts say the two aging leade
rs have not yet been able to persuade enough voters to back their quixotic bid a
gainst nuclear power. Analysts say the message of the election results for Tokyo
Governor is likely to be muddled in any case, with the anti-nuclear vote split
and the pro-nuclear governing partys candidate trying to blunt his rivals message
by saying he supports an eventual phase out of nuclear power.
Both of the former leaders are major figures from Japans political past. Morihiro
Hosokawa (76), who was Japans first opposition Prime Minister 20 years ago, is r
unning for Governor. The other, Junichiro Koizumi (72), has tried to bring his s
tar power to bear by campaigning vigorously for Hosokawa. Their effort is aimed
not at their local opponents, but squarely at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has
vowed to turn nuclear plants back on to secure low-cost electricity as part of
his plan to revive economic growth.
At a campaign stop, Mr. Hosokawa, who was helped by aides up a ladder to a platf
orm atop a truck, made a forceful appeal about how a vote for him could stymie M
r. Abes plans.
This is not only Tokyos election! bellowed Mr. Hosokawa, who had stunned Japan by a
nnouncing he would come out of a nearly two decades of retirement as a potter to
run as an anti-nuclear candidate. If Tokyo says no to nuclear power, it can chan
ge the future of Japan! The whole world in watching! It wants to know, can Japan
change?
The anti-nuclear campaign is remarkable not only for drawing two of Japans best-k
nown reformist leaders out of retirement, but also for highlighting their very p
ublic apostasy: both were former believers in nuclear power who say they turned
against it after the Fukushima disaster exposed its dangers. Both were also from
rival parties.
The two men have run a single-issue campaign in which they promise to declare th
at Tokyo, the capital, will never again use nuclear-generated electricity, and i
nstead get as much power as possible from renewable sources like solar.
Because of public concerns about safety, Japans 48 operable commercial reactors w
ere idled in the months after the triple meltdown in March 2011 that was caused
by an earthquake and tsunami. But Mr. Abe and other nuclear supporters say Japan
cannot recover from its long economic slump without cheap power.
But analysts say the two former Prime Ministers appear to be having trouble pers
uading enough voters to take their attempt seriously. Polls this week showed the
governing party candidate, Yoichi Masuzoe (65), a former labour minister who is
backed by the governing partys powerful vote-gathering machine, ahead with just
a few days to go, though many voters still appear undecided. Mr. Hosokawa also a
ppears to have lost voters to another antinuclear candidate, backed by the Commu
nist Party.
Mr. Abe has largely stayed aloof, intervening only to question whether a local e
lection is an appropriate forum for deciding national energy policy.
India for code of conduct in South China Sea
Until a solution is found to defuse tensions in the South China Sea, India would
like to have a code of conduct for all countries with stakes in the region so t
hat the situation does not escalate, Air Marshal P.K. Roy, Commander-in-Chief of
the joint services Andaman and Nicobar Command, has said.
Maintaining that freedom of navigation was valid for everyone, he said many coun
tries had economic interests in the region. While India had issues with China on
the land border, they shared a strategic partnership and had tremendous scope f
or economic partnership, the Air Marshal said at a media interaction a day ahead
of the closure of the biennial multi-naval interaction, Milan 2014, on Saturday
.
Asked if southeast Asian countries saw India as a natural partner in countering
Chinas aggressive posturing in the region, he said India and China were growing r
apidly, and looked to harvest oceanic resources. If you look at it as a threat, w
e will not reach anywhere, he said.
India was, however, building capabilities and capacities to safeguard its intere
sts, the Air Marshal said.
To a query, he said while development of a runway on the [Myanmar-controlled] Co
co islands neighbouring the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago had come to Indias no
tice, there was no report on Chinese presence there.
Human trafficking
Air Marshal Roy said despite attempts on the part of the command to curb human t
rafficking, it was on the rise. If the figure was 300 people in 2011, it went up
to 1,300 last year, he said adding it included those rescued by Indian forces whi
le in distress at sea, those who drifted into Indian waters while on the way to
the East and those who landed on the islands.
We provide support to those in distress and let them go if they are in internatio
nal waters. Whenever there is a sudden rise in such instances, we press into ser
vice additional surveillance mechanisms. Those rescued by us are handed over to
the civil administration, he said.
(Instances of trafficking of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar to southeast
Asian countries have been widely reported recently.)
On the measures adopted by the command to beef up security in the region, he sai
d India conducted periodic joint patrols with Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar. S
urveillance of the northern and southern groups of the island chain was ensured
by way of regular patrol by ships and deployment of maritime reconnaissance airc
raft and helicopters.
Four coastal security sensors would be activated along the islands shortly to fu
rther bolster surveillance. Military infrastructure, with more jetties and airst
rips, including extension and strengthening of the existing ones, was being prov
ided. The region being an ecologically sensitive zone and as contractors and mat
erials were from mainland India, the works were moving slow. But they will move n
onetheless, he said.
Air Marshal says freedom of navigation is
valid for everyone
East Nepal is now a hideout for Indian criminals
Jhapa, Nepals easternmost district bordering West Bengal, has become a haven for
members of Indian armed outfits and criminal groups, the Nepal Police have said.
On January 26, the Indian police in plainclothes arrested three senior militants
of the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) near Kakarbhitta in Jhapa. The KL
O has been waging an armed struggle for a separate state made up of districts in
West Bengal and Assam.
On Thursday, the Nepal Police arrested KLO vice-chairman Tom Adhikary from Bhadr
apur, the headquarters of Jhapa. Also arrested was another top KLO leader Ninamb
ar Rajbanshi.
Adhikary is wanted by the Indian police for the Bojrapara blast that killed six
people. The militants arrested near Kakarbhitta Tarun Thapa, Pratip Raya and Ram
shankar Prasad were wanted for their involvement in a bomb blast in Jalpaiguri d
istrict of West Bengal on December 26, 2013, The Kathmandu Post reported on Frid
ay.
Last year, the Indian police arrested two senior leaders of the Peoples Revolutio
nary Party of Kangleipak from Kakarbhitta.
Members of Indian underground outfits in West Bengal, Assam, Manipur and Nagalan
d have taken shelter in Kakarbhitta, Bahundangi and Bhadrapur of Jhapa, say sour
ces. Indian authorities have mobilised plainclothesmen in Jhapa to arrest these
militants.
Meanwhile, Nepali officials have said the Nepal police have been helping their I
ndian counterparts make arrests in border areas, sometimes the Indian police ent
er Nepal without information and permission. Deputy Superintendent of Police Raj
aule of Jhapa district says the Indian police do not coordinate with the Nepal p
olice while arresting militants and criminals in Nepalese territory.
In Nepalgunj last year, the Indian police in uniform arrested a Nepali citizen,
sparking a diplomatic issue. A CBI team, without informing Nepals law enforcement
agency of its mission, had spent a month in Jhapa and Ilam, searching for Nikka
l Tamang, but had to return as it could not find the suspect. IANS
U.S. vows to defend Japan
Secretary of State John Kerry vowed on Friday that the United States would defen
d Japan against attack including over islands claimed by China as tensions boil
between the Asian powers. Mr. Kerry, who announced that he would visit China on
a trip starting next week, met in Washington with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumi
o Kishida and reaffirmed the 1960 treaty that commits the United States to prote
ct its ally.
I... underscored that the United States remains as committed as ever to upholding
our treaty obligations with our Japanese allies. That includes with respect to
the South China Sea, he said, before correcting himself to say the East China Sea
.
Fears of conflict rose in November when China imposed an Air Defense Identificat
ion Zone over much of the East China Sea, requiring planes to report to Beijing
when crossing islands administered by Tokyo known in Japanese as the Senkaku and
in Chinese as Diaoyu.
The United States neither recognises nor accepts Chinas declared East China Sea AD
IZ and the United States has no intention of changing how we conduct operations
in the region, Mr. Kerry said.
The United States and its allies have been increasingly concerned that China wil
l take similar action in the South China Sea, where the Philippines in particula
r has voiced worries about Beijings maritime claims.
Mr. Kishida, for his part, extended an invitation for President Barack Obama to
make a state visit to Japan. Diplomats say that Mr. Obama is likely to visit Jap
an on an April tour of Asia, although Mr. Kerry is not expected to stop in Tokyo
on his upcoming trip. AFP
New Indian Ocean exercise shows reach of Chinas Navy
The Chinese Navy has conducted rare exercises in the Lumbok Strait in the Indian
Ocean near Indonesia, with the drills seen by analysts as underlining Chinas exp
anding capabilities in carrying out operations in waters far beyond its borders.
A three-ship flotilla of the South Sea fleet, which included the large amphibiou
s aircraft Changbaishan and two destroyers, conducted 10 exercises, including anti
-piracy, search and rescue, and damage control drills, over a five-day exercise
starting January 29, based out of the Lombok Strait, a narrow strip of water tha
t runs from the Java Sea, near Indonesia, and is north of Australia.
On Monday, the ships left the Indian Ocean for drills in the West Pacific Ocean,
the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The Lombok drills also included simulations for warfare to test the response of
command systems and soldiers combat skills.
The drills arent Chinas first in the Indian Ocean: the Peoples Liberation Army Navy
(PLAN) has carried out 16 drills, but mostly in the western Indian Ocean near t
he Gulf of Aden. As with the Gulf of Aden exercises, the drills focused on anti-
piracy and search and rescue measures.
However, last weeks drills were seen by analysts as being significant by breaking
new ground in several ways.
This was the first drill of this nature in the Lombok Strait, and also marked th
e first time the PLAN had in its drills charted a new route from the South China
Sea to the Indian Ocean.
In earlier drills, ships sailed up the much-traversed Malacca Straits, a signifi
cant waterway for global trade that opens out near the Andaman Sea and is a cruc
ial link between the Indian Ocean and East Asia.
This also marked the first deployment of the Changbaishan, Chinas largest landing
ship which is equipped with advanced weapons systems, in a drill of this kind.
Srikanth Kondapalli, an expert on the Chinese military at Jawaharlal Nehru Unive
rsity, said the drill may have been a signal from China about the South China Se
a dispute, whose waters and islands are contested by a number of countries.
The drill took place in Lombok, which is beyond the nine-dotted line [that reflec
ts Chinas claims]. This is something new and suggested that the PLAN may be demons
trating its capabilities to access the disputed region from another direction fro
m behind.
A second signal was tied to the Malacca Straits, which are a key route for Chinas
energy imports.
The dependence on the narrow strait led former leader Hu Jintao to warn of Chinas
Malacca dilemma, triggering fresh initiatives by Beijing to establish alternative
routes for imports, such as through ports in Myanmar and on-going projects in B
angladesh and Pakistan.
A third message, Professor Kondapalli added, is that they can come closer to the An
daman & Nicobar joint command through Lombok, and not just through Malacca.
Microfinance industry coming back to life
After more than three years, the microfinance industry is attracting new players
. In six-eight months, at least six new microfinance institutions (MFIs) have go
t membership of industry body MFIN (Micro Finance Institutions Network).
The six are Kolkata-based Jagran Microfinance, Mumbai-based Svasti Microfinance
and Jagdhan Investment Finance, Bhopal-based Sahayog Microfinance, Lucknow-based
Margadarshak Microfinance and Bhubaneswar-based Annapoorna Microfinance.
MFIN, which had 49 members as of 2010, saw a fall in membership to 39 by 2011 du
e to adverse market conditions. With the new entrants, it is now a 44-member bod
y.
SIGNS OF REVIVAL
30% Industry gross loan portfolio growth in Q2 FY14 over Q2 FY13
54% Portfolio growth of MFIs other than CDR MFIs
300% Growth of funding to the industry in Q2 FY14 over Q1 FY14
50% Rise in total loan disbursals compared to Q2 FY12
Lending rises significantly in states such as Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and
UP
The MFI industry is expected to grow by at least 55 per cent this financial year
due to a favourable business environment, says Alok Prasad, chief executive offic
er, MFIN. The gross loan portfolio of the MFI industry registered 30 per cent gr
owth in 2013 till September over the same period of the previous year. The amoun
t of loans disbursed in the second quarter of this financial year increased by 5
0 per cent over the same period of the previous year, according to MFIN. Funding
to the industry during the second quarter grew by close to 300 per cent compare
d to the first quarter, according to MFIN.
Annapoorna Microfinace, in its earlier avatar as Peoples Forum, worked as a self-
help group set up in 1995. With a decline in the self-help group movement, the o
rganisation decided to covert into an NBFC (non-banking financial company) in 20
09-10. But it started full-fledged operations only after 2012. An NBFC-MFI since
October 2013, Annapoorna now has a gross loan portfolio of nearly Rs 142 crore,
making it one of the largest homegrown MFIs in Odisha, according to Satyajit Da
s, the companys CFO. Bandhan, the largest MFI in the country, expects 40 per cent
growth in its gross loan portfolio by the end of this financial year, entailing
additional bank funding of nearly Rs 4,000 crore over the previous year.
A boost to the industry was facilitated by the Reserve Bank Indias decision to ac
cord Self Regulatory Organisation (SRO) status to the industry association for n
on-banking financial companies engaged in microfinance (NBFC-MFIs). MFIN, workin
g on the draft for the SRO, expects to submit a report on that to the central ba
nk by next week, says Prasad. The central bank had on Friday relaxed regulations
further by removing a 26 per cent interest rate cap on loans given by MFIs, and
instead linked the interest rate to the cost of funds.
A feature of MFI growth has been a shift in industry focus from southern to nort
hern states. MFIs in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have seen
significant portfolio growth in the recent past. In the second quarter this fisc
al, Uttarakhand saw the highest gross loan portfolio growth, followed by Rajasth
an and Punjab.
Out of cash
The modernisation of the Indian military will not come cheap. And now, it appear
s it won't come on time, either. When Defence Minister A K Antony announced that
the $16-billion deal (about Rs 1 lakh crore) to buy 126 Rafale medium multi-rol
e combat aircraft, or MMRCA, from the French company Dassault could not be final
ised this financial year, the reason he gave was financial constraints. Essentia
lly, although the entire payment was not to be made upfront, even the signing fe
e was beyond India's budget at the moment. The reason is easy to see: capital ex
penditure budgets have remained largely static, even as various deals have been
entered into. This means that "committed liabilities" have eaten into the capita
l expenditure budget, leaving much less than 10 per cent most years for new deal
s. This financial year, just Rs 2,955 crore out of a capital expenditure budget
of Rs 73,444 crore was available for new contracts. The Rafale plane would have
cost at least Rs 15,000 crore upfront.
Naturally, many of the purchases that have been made are important. But other bi
g gaps remain to be filled. Aside from the MMRCA, the army needs, for example, t
owed artillery - which, also, is out of the budget this year. Nor is it clear wh
en any such purchase could be made. Clearly, major problems exist with the plann
ing and prioritisation of defence purchases. The general constraints are twofold
. One is, of course, the urgent need to restore macroeconomic stability by bring
ing down the fiscal deficit - keeping it within the finance minister's "red line
" of 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product. This is in any case hard to achieve
. Politically, cutting many subsidies has proved difficult. But defence modernis
ation must not be seen as an easy target for cuts, either. Instead, greater effi
ciency and saving in spending need to be worked on.
The second constraint is the continued confusion and lack of co-ordination when
it comes to planning purchases. Here, too, saving would have been possible if gr
eater indigenisation had been forced on the services earlier, or if the various
branches of the service had been compelled to share weapons platforms. Sadly, th
is has not happened. The armed forces need to realise that a budget constraint m
eans that they will have to deal with Indian sources for arms - even if it appea
rs that they are not the best available. This will, of course, have major nation
al-security payoffs in the medium to long term. And, finally, better co-ordinati
on would mean that there is no duplication of expensive purchases, such as that
of electronic warfare systems. But that would require a combined planning staff.
In other words, the best thing that the government could do in order to decreas
e the pressure on the defence budget is to move forward with the long-standing p
roposal for a chief of defence staff, who could ensure that the doctrine of "joi
ntness" - bringing all three uniformed branches closer together - pays dividends
in terms of spending. This is an overdue move. Either way, military modernisati
on cannot be put off to some halcyon future in which there will be enough money.
Asia is unsettled now, not in the distant future. India's military needs to be
brought up to the mark.
The politics of particles
Chulhas - cook stoves of poor women who collect sticks, twigs, leaves and every
other biomass material they can find to cook meals - are today at the centre of
failing international action. The concern is that women are breathing toxic emis
sions from the stove and that these same emissions are also adding to the world'
s climate change burden. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 established tha
t indoor air pollution from cook stoves is a primary cause of disease and death
in South Asia. As many as 1.04 million premature deaths and 31.4 million disabil
ity-adjusted life years - a measure of years lost owing to ill-health, disabilit
y or early death - are related to exposure to biomass burning in poorly ventilat
ed homes.
But what has really spurred action is the science that there is a connection bet
ween local air and global air pollution. The particles formed during incomplete
combustion either from diesel cars or from cook stoves are seen to be powerful c
limate forcers, because they absorb light and convert that energy to heat. These
particles or aerosols have also been found to interact with clouds, affect rain
patterns, and fall on snow or ice surfaces and make them melt faster.
This is not to say that science is completely agreed on the matter of how seriou
s the contribution of particulate or black carbon in global climate change is. T
his is because there are good aerosols (which cool the planet because they refle
ct light) and bad aerosols (which warm the planet). But what is emerging is that
aerosols could be good or bad depending on the source of pollution. While open
burning or biomass burnt in cook stoves has a higher proportion of organic carbo
n that scatters sunlight, emissions from fossil fuel have a higher proportion of
black carbon, which absorbs light and forces heating. In this way, diesel used
for road transport and for non-transport purposes, with low sulphur, has the hig
hest net positive radiative forcing - it warms, not cools.
So the politics of particles differentiates between the cook stoves of the poor
(survival emissions) and the diesel SUVs of the rich (luxury emissions).
But this is where action on cook stoves is failing so badly. Currently, the worl
d cares about cook stoves because it sees them as low-hanging fruit in its fight
against climate change. Therefore, action is based on the need to improve cook
stoves by introducing more efficient equipment in homes that will reduce emissio
ns. The models mostly involve new cooking contraptions, which use briquettes and
other raw processed biomass material. This is not bad per se, because it will a
lso reduce deadly exposure to toxic particles that is the cause of poor health i
n poor households. But the problem is that these solutions are half-baked and ev
en counterproductive, because action is primarily driven by the global climate c
hange agenda and not local health concerns.
The fact is that, however much countries like India - and many parts of China an
d Africa - may have modernised, the bulk of cooking in villages is still done us
ing firewood and twigs. In India, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) colle
cts data on energy sources in Indian households for cooking and lighting. Its 66
th round of data collection during 2009-2010 was the eighth such survey and its
findings are shocking. In 1993-94, as many as 78 per cent of households in rural
India used biomass for cooking fuel; in 2009-10, 76 per cent still did. Therefo
re, in this period, while urban India moved to liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG (
from 30 per cent to 64 per cent), rural India remained where it was - cooking on
highly inefficient and dirty stoves.
There is a definite correlation between wealth, availability and cooking methods
. The NSSO data reveal that only in the highest class of monthly per capita expe
nditure does the household make the transition to LPG in rural India. In urban I
ndia, in contrast, even households at the lower level of monthly per capita expe
nditure make the LPG-grade. This is because LPG is highly subsidised and availab
le in these areas.
Therefore, it is poverty that is at the root of the chulha conundrum. This is wh
ere the knots on climate change get tangled.
The fact is that LPG is a fossil fuel, available in vast parts of the world as a
clean cooking medium. Therefore, advocating the use of this fuel to meet the ne
eds of poor women in vast parts of the world will only add to greenhouse gas emi
ssions. The other problem is that any programme to reach the poor will necessari
ly require subsidies. The world frowns on a subsidy for fossil fuel - which is p
artly why our governments are scrambling to remove it from kerosene and even LPG
. So, what is the way ahead?
Clearly, the option would be to recognise that the transition from dirty fuel fo
r cooking is a huge health benefit and so it must be supported and subsidised. I
f LPG is subsidised and available for urban populations, then it should be so fo
r rural households as well. And if we want double gains, then the option would b
e to increase subsidies for cleaner methods of electricity - from biomass gasifi
cation to solar energy - to provide clean benefits to health and climate. But th
ese are not cheap options. That is what needs to be loud and clear.
Bill for whistleblowers safety demanded
A large number of protesters, including the families of several whistleblowers w
ho paid with their lives for exposing corruption in various government departmen
ts, gathered at India Gate to demand the passage of the Whistleblowers Protectio
n and Grievance Redressal Bills.
They said the Grievance Redressal Bill (the Right of Citizens to Time-bound Deli
very of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill) and the Whist
leblowers Protection Bill have been pending in Parliament for several years and
if the long overdue Bills are not passed in the ongoing session of Parliament, t
hey will lapse.
Among the protesters were the family of Satyendra Dubey, an engineer posted with
the National Highways Authority of India who was murdered a decade ago for expo
sing irregularities in road contracts.
I lost my brother 10 years ago. He was killed for exposing corruption in the NHAI
. Leaders of every political party assured my family that a mechanism to protect
whistleblowers would be put in place. Its been 10 years. When will they pass the
law? How many more Satyendra Dubeys will be killed before our MPs pass the Whis
tleblowers Protection Bill? said Dhananjay Dubey, Satyendras brother.
The protesters were holding photographs of Satyendra as well as Ram Thakur, Nand
i Singh and Shimbu Bishnoi, who were killed for exposing corruption. The protest
ers marched from India Gate to Jantar Mantar, where they held a candlelight vigi
l.
Anjali Bhardwaj of the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI)
said that NCPRI, along with the families of the whistleblowers, had met with le
aders of all parties, all of whom had assured them that these Bills were top pri
ority and that their parties would support their passage.
All the parties assured us that given the critical nature of these Bills, they wo
uld support their passage. Some key amendments are required to strengthen the Bi
lls. If Parliament functions for even half a day, it can easily discuss and pass
the Bills. Both the Bills have already been through Standing Committees, she sai
d.
Families of whistleblowers who lost their lives want the law passed soon
Afghan womens gains fragile but reversible
Advocates say that womens rights and security in Afghanistan are under mounting a
ssault from all sides the Taliban insurgency and the government putting at risk
12 years of hard-won gains for women here.
The countrys Parliament is about to approve legislation that would strip away cru
cial legal protections, and the insurgents have mounted a string of violent atta
cks on female officials. Advocates for women are deeply worried by the news that
President Hamid Karzai has been negotiating secretly with the Taliban, who enfo
rced hard line, fundamentalist restrictions on women during their years in power
.
The advocates see two potential disasters looming for Afghan women this year. On
e would be the failure to complete a long-term security agreement with the Unite
d States, which could lead to the departure of U.S. and other international forc
es and aid agencies, by far the strongest proponents for women here. The advocat
es see the other threat as the election in April to choose Mr. Karzais successor.
The slates of many of the 11 candidates for President are dominated by warlords
and fundamentalists who share the Talibans view that women should never be allow
ed out of their homes.
Women are not on the agenda now, said Huma Safi, an activist with Equality for Pea
ce and Democracy, an advocacy group. Every time we turn around, theyre passing ano
ther law against women.
The killings of four female police officers since July and the abductions of and
assassination attempts against female members of Parliament and their families
in Ghazni province last year have aroused concerns that the Taliban are singling
out women for violence and intimidation, though all government officials, male
or female, can expect to become targets.
The attacks on womens rights that have arisen in Parliament seem surprising, advo
cates say.
One of the proposed laws would have repealed a requirement that one-quarter of t
he seats on provincial councils be reserved for women. After intense lobbying, a
ctivists managed to get the bill amended to partly preserve the quota, at 20 per
cent instead of 25. That bill has been passed and now awaits the Presidents sign
ature.
The sworn enemies of women almost got the quota eliminated, said Soraya Sobhrang,
representative for women on the national Human Rights Commission. They have the p
ower to pave the way for whatever law they want.
Another proposal would make it easier for a father to arrange child marriages, g
iving fathers guardianship rights over children that trump those of mothers and
the courts. A third proposal would prohibit the nations courts from hearing testi
mony of one family member against another, a rule that would make it almost impo
ssible to prosecute domestic violence and abuse cases. Both measures are seen as
likely to pass, though the President could refuse to sign them.
Manizha Naderi, head of Women for Afghan Women, a group that runs a network of s
helters and counselling centres for abused women and children, said the law on t
estimony virtually provides impunity to abusers within the family. Women at the sh
elters her group and others run include victims whose in-laws, husbands, fathers
and sons have broken their arms and legs, chopped off lips, tongues and noses, p
ulled out fingernails, sold them, stabbed them and left them for dead, Ms. Naderi
said. The proposed law would prohibit even the victims in cases like those from
testifying.
Human Rights Watch, in the section on Afghanistan in its worldwide report for 20
13, said, With international interest in Afghanistan rapidly waning, opponents of
womens rights seized the opportunity to begin rolling back the progress made sin
ce the end of Taliban rule.
One of the biggest supporters of the bills that would reduce womens gains is a me
mber of Parliament from Herat, Qazi Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, who derides female activ
ists as women of low morals who are un-Islamic.
Ms. Naderi said she was anxious over Mr. Karzais pursuit of a deal with the insur
gents. If the Taliban come back, theyre going to come back with a vengeance, and t
heyll take it out on the women, Ms. Naderi said. With 28 facilities helping abused
women and children in 10 provinces, Women for Afghan Women would be especially
vulnerable, she said, Our staff will be the first on the Talibans list to set an e
xample for others.
Other activists were not quite that alarmed, at least not yet.
We are worried, but we are not without hope, said Hasina Safi, head of the Afghan
Womens Network, an umbrella group of activist organisations. We are much bigger in
our numbers now; we have established networks, and we are not as isolated as we
were in the Taliban time.
Activists from the womens network and other groups have held a round of meetings
with Western embassies over the past three weeks, and they received what Ms. Saf
i said were oral assurances that financial assistance to Afghan womens groups wou
ld not be cut; nearly all such groups depend on money from international donors.
In all, more than $100 million a year in aid to Afghanistan is earmarked for wo
mens issues, the United Nations (U.N.) estimates.
Ms. Safi said the absence of women from Mr. Karzais talks with the Taliban was a
major concern. Although women are on Afghanistans High Peace Council, they had be
en paid little heed, Ms. Safi said, and the council, itself, is not closely invo
lved in the Presidents talks with the Taliban. Ms. Sobhrang called the gains wome
n have made since the ouster of Taliban rule in 2002 fragile, but reversible, a ph
rase often used by U.S. military leaders in a broader context. We still havent bro
ught fundamental change to the lives of women in Afghanistan, she said.
Four weeks ago, the country got its first female police chief, Col. Jamila Bayaz
, who was given command of the sprawling District 1 headquarters in Kabul. Col.
Bayaz, who is one of 2,000 women who have joined or rejoined the police force si
nce 2002, said she was aware of the concerns about retaining the gains women hav
e made. She began her career 32 years ago, when women were as numerous in the po
lice force as they are now, an accomplishment interrupted by civil war and the a
scent of the Taliban. She does not think that will happen again. Im sure our inter
national friends will not abandon us, the colonel said . New York Times News Serv
ice
Emerging markets should look within
In recent weeks, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine and Thailand have endured plunging c
urrencies, capital flight and political disruptions in varying combinations. Whi
le they have all been affected by global economic tides, these nations are facin
g crises because of problems in their national governance. And if we look elsewh
ere around the world, we find that governance has been re-emerging as a major fa
ctor behind success or failure in many emerging nations.
Its not that macroeconomic quandaries have gone away in all of those countries. T
here are still many such issues: how to deal with current account deficits, for
example, or how to face the consequences of tighter U.S. monetary policy.
But these concerns were foreseeable, and some countries have been meeting them,
if imperfectly, while others are letting these problems push them over the preci
pice. In this context, good governance means directing political energies at str
engthening the economy rather than trying to cement power and keep down the oppo
sition.
This new world contrasts with two earlier waves of change. The first started in
the 1990s, when a rising China bought and invested in raw materials at an unhear
d-of pace.
The second major wave was the recent global recession, which damaged the commerc
ial prospects of many nations. For instance, in the first quarter of 2009, the g
ross domestic product of Singapore fell at an annualised rate of 8.9 per cent. T
hat wasnt because Singapore had bad economic policy but because exports were hit
by a global downturn beyond the countrys control.
These waves, though not quite over, have slowed. Many of the advanced economies
have returned to financial normalcy, albeit with stunted employment. And the Chi
nese growth juggernaut is slowing.
Lets consider the role of governance in four countries facing some of the most pr
essing crises:
Argentina: Not long ago, Keynesian economists were heralding Argentinas economic
policy as an example of successful economic stimulus. But the government continu
ed to inflate the currency excessively, legally suppressed accurate economic sta
tistics to cover up this inflation and confiscated pensions to pay the governmen
ts bills. The results have been a currency crisis and a haemorrhaging of reserves
.
Turkey: Its once-heralded political turnaround turned out to have serious flaws,
including a government that imprisons many journalists and is arguably heavily
influenced by secret internal cliques that are sometimes called shadow states. Tur
key has a well-diversified and fairly productive economy, but its central bank i
s facing speculative attacks on the currency as market confidence in Turkish pol
icies has plummeted.
Ukraine: Having rejected a European trade deal, the country accepted Russias guar
antee of part of its budget, temporarily stemming a financial crisis. Now Ukrain
e is torn between building closer ties to Russia or to the European Union. There
is political chaos and violence, possibly to be followed by a financial crisis
after all.
Thailand: Like Turkey, Thailand was widely considered a middle-income country th
at had turned the corner on governance and sustained economic growth.
Yet now there is regular violence in Bangkok, and significant political forces w
ant to suspend democracy. Tourists and foreign investors are growing wary of the
country, which probably faces an economic slowdown and possibly worse.
What is striking about these stories is how rooted they are in each countrys dail
y internal struggles. Indonesia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia also app
ear vulnerable and, again, its largely because of an inability to solve domestic
problems. Its not primarily because they have been whipsawed by unstoppable globa
l trends.
But by no means are all countries headed down such dangerous paths. Chile, Mexic
o and Malaysia are a few more positive examples. They have persistent problems,
but the economic data in each case indicates a brighter future. New York Times N
ews Service
Swiss vote to curb immigration from EU
Switzerland voted on Sunday to impose curbs on immigration by European Union cit
izens, in a nail-bitingly close referendum that threatened to ignite a row with
Brussels.
Final results showed that 50.3 per cent of voters had backed the Stop Mass Immigr
ation proposal pushed by right-wing populists, even though it could mean the demi
se of a raft of deals signed in 1999 with the EU including on the economic front
. This is a turning point in our immigration policy, said Toni Brunner, head of th
e Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), which piloted the referendum campaign in a country t
hat has steadfastly resisted joining the EU.
Switzerlands seven-member multiparty government, the Federal Council, in which th
e SVP has one cabinet post, had opposed the measure on the grounds that it could
hit the economy and undermine the countrys credibility as a negotiating partner.
However, in Switzerland, the people have the last word on a huge range of issues
in referendums, and the government acknowledged that. The Federal Council will w
ithout delay begin the work needed to implement the decision of the people, it sa
id in a statement.
It added that it would examine over coming weeks how to recast relations between
Switzerland and the EU, underlining that the current rules would remain in force
until a new version has been drawn up. AFP
Immigration bill grasps the wrong end of the stick
The British Minister for Immigration who was responsible for last years Go home or
face arrest mobile billboard campaign to target illegal immigrants resigned on S
aturday when it transpired that the domestic cleaner he had engaged was an illeg
al immigrant.
In his resignation to Prime Minister David Cameron, Mark Harper (43), an anti-im
migration hardliner and one of the Conservative partys rising stars, said: Althoug
h I complied with the law at all times, I consider that as immigration minister,
who is taking legislation through Parliament which will toughen out our immigra
tion laws, I should hold myself to a higher standard than expected of others.
Mr. Cameron accepted the resignation saying that he enormously appreciated Mr. Har
pers stand.
Mr. Harper is an ardent supporter of the new Immigration Bill draft which went t
hrough its third reading in the House of Commons last month and which the presen
t government hopes to put in place by May this year. The bill introduces several
stringent new measures to check illegal immigration.
In the event, Mr. Harpers resignation is already being used to prove the point th
at the government has been pressing all along illegal immigration is so widespre
ad that even the most careful of employers can be caught on the wrong foot.
The issue of immigration lies just beneath the surface of the political debate i
n the U.K. and rises to the top every time an incident of illegal immigration, r
eal or otherwise, comes to light.
There are several intertwining strands in the debate. The first is the issue of
controls on immigration in general in the context of this governments promises to
reduce net migration levels to the tens of thousands. The website Migration Watch s
ays that net migration in 2012 was 176,000, down from 252,000 in 2010.
The second relates to immigration from Bulgaria and Romania on which restriction
s were lifted on January 1 this year in compliance with European Union (EU) regu
lations. The establishment argument is that immigrants from these relatively poo
r EU countries will swamp the U.K., claiming benefits that they have not worked
for. Under pressure from ultra-conservatives Mr. Cameron announced that job-seek
ers from these countries would not be entitled to any work or health benefits fo
r the first three months after their arrival.
The third strand in the immigration debate is linked to terrorism and the policy
towards those immigrants who have acquired U.K. citizenship but have suspected
links with terrorist organisations.
Last but not the least is the question of how immigration policies have affected
overseas students seeking to study in world-class institutions of higher educat
ion in the U.K. Despite assurances from British leaders that they want to attrac
t the brightest and the best from India, unreasonable visa and residential require
ments combined with high fees and living costs have made the U.K. a less-favoure
d destination for Indian students. There has been a drop of 25 percentage points
in the numbers of Indian students in the U.K. between 2010-11 and 2011-12. With
drawing the post-study work rule that allowed students to work in the U.K. for a
year after graduation to pay back student loans has hit students hard.
These singular but connected elements of the immigration scenario, fed by misinf
ormation and fear, have come together to create a potentially explosive politica
l cocktail.
How does the new immigration bill seek to address these issues? By grasping the
wrong end of the stick it would appear, as the amendments are mostly punitive an
d less concerned with mechanisms of restricting illegal immigrants from entering
. For example, landlords and employers will be empowered to check the immigratio
n status of tenants/employees with fines up to 3000 as punishment if they fail to
do so. Second, short-term migrants will have to pay for the services of the NHS
. The right of appeal of any immigration decision will be withdrawn except on gr
ounds other than asylum or human rights, and those who are deported may only app
eal after their deportation. These are but a few of the changes sought.
The reality is that the overwhelming majority of the U.K.s informal economy, and
a significant segment of its formal economy, consists of immigrants, old and new
. The last census figures state that 55 per cent of Londons population is non-whi
te.
From doctors, lawyers and bankers at one end of the spectrum to domestic workers
, cleaners, construction labour, shop floor workers and assistants, and even Hea
throw immigration personnel at the other, the U.K. is healthily and vibrantly di
verse. It is surely one aspect of Britains colonial legacy that should be embrace
d and not surrendered.
Indias missing women
On her arrival in India recently, the words of Gloria Steinem, American feminist
and leader of the womens liberation movement, sounded like bells tolling for all
women in todays modern Indian society. I came [to India] and what was here a half
-a-century ago is still here and yet there is everything else. Studying data on th
e sex ratio in India over 60 years supports her grim observation. In this essay
we provide a political economy explanation for the persistence of gender inequal
ity in Indian society over the long run.
The much debated Womens Reservation Bill proposes to reserve a third of all legis
lature seats for women, at national and State levels in India. If passed, this B
ill would uplift the general mood of the nation which has been engulfed by a hei
ghtened sense of gender inequality over the last year. Following the brutal rape
and murder of a 23-year-old student of physiotherapy in Delhi last year, there
was massive and prolonged outpouring of public anger across the nation. India ha
s never looked more unsafe for women. The Bill is going to assuage a hurt popula
tion. It is, however, unlikely to solve the fundamental problem that Indian wome
n suffer from.
Within a democratic system, policies are implemented by a government that is for
med by the consent of the governed. In India, even though fair elections are held
at regular intervals for State Assemblies and the National Parliament, they do n
ot reflect the true consent of the people because a large number of women voters
are missing from the electorate. We estimate that more than 65 million women (app
roximately 20 per cent of the female electorate) are missing and, therefore, the
se elections reveal the preferences (or the will) of a population that is artifi
cially skewed against women.
Worsening sex ratio
The phrase missing women was coined by Amartya Sen when he showed that in parts of
the developing world, the ratio of women to men in the population is suspicious
ly low. The worsening sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in countries
such as India and China reflected the gross neglect of women. He estimated that
more than 100 million women were missing due to gender discrimination. It was c
ommonly believed that boy preference at birth and the mistreatment of young girls
were the main reasons. Some careful and subsequent data work by Anderson and Ray
showed that excess female mortality is a more universal phenomenon which holds
for all age groups in these countries. They provided detailed decomposition of t
he missing women by age and cause of death and a particularly sinister observati
on was that the number of excess female deaths from intentional injuries or report
ed violence was disturbingly high in India.
There is unanimous agreement among experts that this phenomenon is one of the mo
st momentous problems faced by the developing world in modern times. The general
sense is that it can be corrected by political action and public policy. It is
in that regard that we explore the role of democracy in solving the missing wome
ns problem. We analyse Indian electorate data over 50 years and study whether sol
utions to this dangerous trend can emerge from within such a political system.
Using Dr. Sens methodology, we compute the sex ratio in the electorate across all
the States in India over 50 years. The electorate includes all the people who a
re registered to vote in elections. In the next step, we use Kerala, the State w
ith the best sex ratio in the electorate, as a reference for all the States to c
ompute the number of missing women. This simple analysis throws up three shockin
g facts.
First, in the last 50 years of Indian democracy, the absolute number of missing
women has increased fourfold from 15 million to 68 million. This is not merely a
reflection of the growth in the overall population, but, rather, of the fact th
at this dangerous trend has worsened with time. As a percentage of the female el
ectorate, missing women have gone up significantly from 13 per cent to approxima
tely 20 per cent.
Second, the adverse sex ratio of the electorate in India has not changed signifi
cantly over the last 50 years. In fact, when we look at different States, we see
that it has become worse for most of the large backward States like Uttar Prade
sh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. This disappointing trend
means that there are many more missing women voters in the population. Hence, fe
wer female voters will voice their opinions through elections. Political decisio
ns which are based on election outcomes therefore underrepresent the female popu
lation. They are not a true reflection of the female policy preferences.
Third, with the exception of a very few States such as Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
, the sex ratio in the electorate is far worse than the general sex ratio in the
population. This means that not all the women who are eligible to vote in India
n elections are registered to vote and, therefore, they are missing from the ele
ctoral list. In backward States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, this difference is
as high as 9.3 and 5.7 percentage points which translated into millions in abso
lute numbers.
The worsening sex ratio of the Indian electorate has deep and long lasting conse
quences given the democratic system of governance. Within a democracy, politicia
ns compete to get elected and though it is well recognised that men and women di
ffer in their policy preferences, the adverse sex ratio of the electorate will m
ake it unlikely that the preferences of women get significant attention.
Competitive electoral politics
In fact, because of the missing women, the competitive electoral process will pe
rpetuate gender-biased policies in India. The problem here is that the politicia
ns respond to the preferences of the existing electorate in the population and n
ot to the counterfactual.
If the 65 million missing women were present within the electorate, they would h
ave an important influence in shaping government policies. What is troubling in
a democratic system of governance is that even if a politician is not biased aga
inst women in his policy preferences, the electoral competition will ensure that
he chooses policies in favour of his average electorate which is increasingly m
ale-dominated in India. This is why gender-biased practices and policies will be
perpetuated over the long run in a democratic system like Indias unless there is
an exogenous shock to this system.
This problem is akin to a market failure for democracy. Indeed, this could poten
tially explain why the existing political framework is inadequately equipped to
address this pressing concern and why gender bias has persisted in Indian societ
y. It is also not surprising that even though India has had a very good track re
cord of holding regular elections and a democratic form of government, it remain
s one of worst performers in the Gender Inequality Index (GII) of the World Bank
. The GII captures the loss in achievement within a country due to gender inequa
lity and is based on measures of health, labour force participation and empowerm
ent. In the Human Development Report, 2012, India performs more poorly than neig
hbouring Pakistan in the GII despite having a higher per capita income and a dem
ocratic government. More strikingly, it is ranked 133rd out of 146 countries and
even lags behind war-torn countries such as Iraq and Sudan.
Mixed results
To what extent, then, can womens reservation in Parliament and the State Assembli
es address the gender bias problem in India? In our opinion, this will have a ve
ry limited impact. The underlying assumption with the Womens Reservation Bill is
that women as policymakers are more sensitive to women-related issues. However,
it is crucial to note that India has experimented with womens reservation at the
level of the panchayat or village councils since the mid-1990s. This has generat
ed very interesting research on whether womens reservation has had any impact on
the allocation of resources towards women. So far, the evidence from this experi
ment is mixed some find evidence in favour of a positive impact while others do
not find any impact of this reservation.
The impact of the reservation, I believe, will depend on the exact nature of the
reservation policy. For example, if seats are reserved on a quick rotation basi
s then there might be no long-term policies favouring women and thereby having m
inimal impact. On the other hand, if seats are reserved for a certain number of
election rounds then the impact would depend on the basis of the reservation at
the constituency level. Here, we are inclined to propose a reservation policy ba
sed on the gender ratio in the constituency reserve those seats where the gender
ratio of women to men is the worst. The fundamental reason for this is that an
adverse gender ratio is a measure of neglect of women in that society. So, if th
e objective of womens reservation is compensatory justice then it should start with
those constituencies where the neglect is the highest.
The competitive electoral process, however, is likely to undo the impact of any
womens reservation policy. The logic of this is that if both men and women have e
qual rights to vote, then even in reserved constituencies where there are fewer
women compared to men, women political candidates who compete with each other to
get themselves elected might choose policies which favour men. Once again, the
competitive electoral process even in the presence of womens reservation, might p
erpetuate gender-biased policies.
In a nutshell, the competitive electoral process in Indian democracy with or wit
hout womens reservation will fail to deliver policies that are not gender-biased.
In the presence of missing women, whose consent cannot be taken into account in
the electoral process, democracy will fail to deliver policies that promote wom
ens welfare (especially in those situations where there is a divergence in opinio
n between men and women). India can begin to address this disaster by first reco
gnising that an adverse gender ratio is a human rights problem which is an outco
me of the sustained, gross neglect of women. And the solution for this lies outs
ide the competitive democratic system.
(The writers are professors at the Indian School of Business. Shamika Ravi is al
so a Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, India Center, New Delhi.)
Even though fair elections are held at regular intervals for State Assemblies an
d Parliament, they do not reflect the true consent of the people because a large
number of women are missing from the electorate
A toxic employment benefits regime
Indias economically questionable employee benefits regime means that the take-hom
e salary of someone earning Rs 55,000 per month is only 9 per cent less than the
ir gross salary, while the take-home salary of a person who earns Rs 5,500 a mon
th is 49 per cent less than their gross salary.
While labour law reform is often equated with the ability of employers to freely
hire and fire their employees, India will benefit more from fixing the current
regressive benefits regime, which requires six-times greater deductions for a pe
rson earning a 10-times lower salary, is not competitive, and has ensured that 1
00 per cent of net job creation since 1991 has taken place in the informal secto
r. This war on formal employment has poisonous consequences lower tax collection
, uneven productivity, poor working conditions, lack of minimum wage enforcement
and small firm size (80 per cent of Indias garment production takes place in uni
ts employing less than 15 people while 80 per cent of Chinas takes place in units
with more than 200 employees). Formal employment growth will be explosive if on
ly five changes are made.
One, the mandatory 12 per cent employee provident fund contribution must be abol
ished. That provident funds are a means of providing social security is a myth.
The median retirement amount in India is Rs 25,000. Poor management and harassme
nt by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has created 50 million or
phan accounts and unclaimed balances that are no longer being credited with inte
rest. The myopia argument that low wage workers need to be protected from themselv
es is superfluous because payroll deduction rates cant be higher than the savings
rate. Instead of raising the salary cap, abolishing this 12 per cent will raise
take-home incomes and eliminate employees reluctance for formal employment.
Two, the employee pension scheme must be scrapped and we must move back to the p
re-1995 status. In 1995, the EPFO diverted 80 per cent of employer contributions
towards the poorly designed employee pension scheme (EPS). EPSs liabilities were
, at last count, officially estimated at Rs 50,000 crore more than its assets. T
he EPFOs attempts to fill this hole by reducing benefits are a default, and emplo
yees should be allowed to opt out of EPS and revert back to pre-1995 defined con
tribution accounts. EPS not only has the birth defect of benefits and contributi
ons being defined but it also provides a lower monthly pension relative to a def
erred annuity from LIC or bank interest on the retirement lump sum. Making the m
inimum pension Rs 1,000 as was done last week is election politics. It will only
make things much worse.
Three, employees must be allowed to choose between the EPFO and the national pen
sion scheme. The EPFO is the most expensive government securities mutual fund in
the world with costs equivalent to 4.4 per cent of contributions. Most gilt fun
ds even public sector ones charge 0.25 per cent of contributions. Giving employe
es an option to pay their monthly provident fund dues to either the EPFO or the
national pension scheme will create a portable back-pack pension with higher com
petition and lower costs.
Four, employees must be allowed to choose between the Employees State Insurance
Corporation (ESIC) and health insurance. The health insurance programme run by t
he ESIC provides poor value for money, with only 48 per cent of contributions be
ing paid out as benefits. Most private and public health insurance plans have a
100 per cent-plus claims ratio. The unfair payout ratio has allowed ESIC to unfa
irly accumulate Rs 28,000 crore in reserves, which are currently invested in gov
ernment securities and bank deposits. Employees must be given an option to opt o
ut of the ESIC programme and pay their monthly contributions to any IRDA-regulat
ed health insurance plan.
Five, the five-year limit must be abolished or gratuity must be removed. Gratuit
y is a defined benefit lump sum payable at the time of retirement to the employe
e. It gives the employee 15-days of salary for every year of service. But this b
enefit is only applicable after five years of service, and as the employment con
tract has morphed from a lifetime contract to a taxicab relationship, most emplo
yees with short tenures do not get gratuity benefits. The political optics of ab
olishing gratuity make that infeasible. It is better to remove the five-year lim
it and create a monthly or annual payment option to create transparency and fair
ness since gratuity is built into most cost-to-company calculations.
Benefits regimes are innovating globally because of demographic challenges and a
realisation that employee benefits are not over and above gross salary but come o
ut of it. Chrysler is owned by retirees who got their stake in lieu of unfunded
pensions. Britain recently introduced a new employment contract for employee owne
rs who surrender the right to redundancy payments in exchange for capital gains-e
xempt equity. This scheme will probably fail for reasons similar to why equity fo
r land failed in India what the price should be, who bears project-failure risk,
who gives liquidity, etc. But policymakers trying to catalyse job creation in Fr
ance, Spain, USA, Japan, Brazil and China agree that one size does not fit all a
nd are experimenting with giving employees more control over how they are paid.
Informal employment is the slavery of the 21st Century. Only 8 per cent of Indias
labour force gets minimum wages, employment benefits, safe working conditions a
nd leave benefits. Increasing formal job creation is Indias biggest challenge and
the right place to start that tricky journey is fixing our toxic employment ben
efits regime.
The writer is chairman, Teamlease Services
Disquieting process
In a country and in a region that has witnessed prolonged conflict, there can be
no quarrel with the proposition that the smallest chance for peace has to be gr
asped. But the recently launched talks between the Pakistan government and the T
ehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan give rise to too many disquieting questions, including
about the kind of peace Pakistan wants, and the Pakistani states vision of itsel
f. After months of contradictory statements, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs accepta
nce of the TTPs long-standing offer of talks came in the midst of a ruthless bomb
ing campaign by the militants from Karachi to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and right afte
r 20 soldiers were killed near the North Waziristan tribal area. Representatives
of the two sides have already met once to plan a roadmap for the negotiations. Th
e TTP is not participating directly, but through interlocutors in two of Pakista
ns Islamic parties, the Jamat-i-Islami and one faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Isla
m, almost as if these were its political wing. One of the TTPs negotiators is the
former head of the Lal Masjid, the Islamabad mosque that under him became a ter
rorist stronghold. These representatives will be accountable to a 10-member Tali
ban committee. Through its own interlocutors, the government has said that talks
must be held within the framework of the countrys Constitution and that their sc
ope be limited to insurgency-affected areas. It wants the TTP to stop its terroris
t attacks, and a time frame fixed for talks. It is yet not known if the Taliban
and the government are on the same page on these points.
This is not the first time that Islamabad has tried to make peace with the milit
ants. Every previous effort failed because the Taliban refused to submit to the
states writ. Each time they came back stronger, their network of militancy in Pak
istan expanding constantly, while the states own confusion on militancy and jihad
helped Islamists occupy a large share of the national mindspace. It has come to
a point where the Taliban now dictate terms, confident too with their brethren
Taliban in Afghanistan on the ascendant. If Pakistans political leadership and it
s security establishment had at all absorbed the lessons of 2001, they would hav
e been doing everything to prevent a repeat of history after the drawdown of for
eign troops from Afghanistan. Instead, what appears to have trumped again is Pak
istans desire for influence in Afghanistan, plus the delusion that it can somehow
control the Taliban and other militants on both sides of the Durand Line. It is
hard to escape the feeling that the regions instability is going to get worse. I
ndia has to be on guard.
Retrograde avatar of repressive traditions
Each time a political leader makes a benign comment on North Indias infamous khap
panchayats, it gives these archaic residues of community-based justice systems
a life-saving booster shot. This time it is the turn of the party with a differe
nce. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) turned a soft gaze on them when its leader, Arvind
Kejriwal, said recently that there is no need to ban these bodies because they
serve a cultural purpose.
He was countered by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who, while speaking t
o students of the Shriram College of Commerce said that khap panchayats are retr
ograde organisations that cannot be a part of Indias culture. I am appalled to see
somebody say it is a part of Indias culture, he said. But his fellow Congressman
and the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was quick to defend th
ese bodies that have drawn adverse national attention on his State time and agai
n through their approval of honour killings and misogynistic diktats. Mr. Hooda
told reporters at a function in Haryana that khap panchayats are like NGOs who wor
k in the social sphere, and are certainly a part of our culture.
Political indulgence
Both Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Hooda, who hail from Haryana the State that has the la
rgest and most belligerent concentration of khaps know what they are talking abo
ut because khap panchayats have certainly been around since the Seventh century
and perhaps even earlier. They are said to have coronated the 12-year-old Harsha
vardhan, who in turn gave them their saffron flag with a deep red sun in the mid
dle. In the 13th century, khap panchayats came to the aid of Raziya Sultan and h
elped her fight off an attack from her rebellious Turkish nobles. She rewarded t
hem with 60,000 buffaloes. Her tomb lies on the outskirts of Kaithal, deep in Ha
ryanas khap country. Khaps are also believed to have given men and materials to t
he Marathas against Ahmed Shah Abdali, during the third battle of Panipat. They
came up as dispute resolving, village-based bodies, dispensing cheap and quick j
ustice in matters relating to debts, contracts, adultery and inheritance of prop
erty. Their decisions were taken as the voice of god, but all that changed when, i
n the second half of the 19th century, the British displaced them by establishin
g statutory, local, self-governing bodies at the village level and judicial cour
ts for legal relief.
In the olden days, khap panchayats were more inclusive and Sarvkhaps comprised p
eople of all castes and communities. Today, with their clout diminished to the r
ealm of social traditions, marriage practices and customs, khap panchayats repre
sent the dominant Jat community in Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajast
han. They have become undemocratic, oppressive and in conflict with the law. But
because Jats comprise almost 25 per cent of the population in Haryana, politica
l parties are indulgent towards them. The AAP which aims to form a government in
Haryana later this year it turns out is no different from the other parties in
this respect.
To say that they serve a cultural purpose is debatable in the modern, liberal demo
cratic country that India now is. The politicians who are soft on khap panchayat
s with an eye on Jat votes have perhaps forgotten the 2011 judgment of the Supre
me Court that declared these bodies as illegal and unconstitutional.
Besides approving honour killings, in recent years, khap panchayats have mounted
a campaign against the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 that gives equal i
nheritance rights to women. Last July, a khap in Jhajjar forbade a farmer from g
iving his daughter some money in return for withdrawing a legal case that she ha
d filed to get her share of the familys ancestral land. The reasoning being that
it would embolden other girls to follow suit. Activists in Haryana have for long
been saying that the opposition to same gotra or inter caste marriages by khaps
is actually aimed at preventing the economic empowerment of girls because those
who choose their own marriage partners are more likely to go on and demand thei
r share of ancestral land.
Against the marginalised
At the height of the Manoj and Babli honour killing case, when the khaps threate
ned to disrupt law and order in Haryana if the mastermind behind the killings wa
s arrested (he was honoured with the award of Jat Gaurav) they got their first tas
te of the political clout they have come to wield. A helpless administration wat
ched a succession of khap panchayats being held in support of the killers. But t
he adverse publicity that the khaps got as a result of their support for honour
killings, triggered some course correction and there is now, a conscious effort
to refurbish their much dented image by projecting a socially responsible facade
. But this change is more cosmetic than fundamental.
One such effort was undertaken last June in Bibipur village in Jind district whe
re the local sarpanch held a women driven sarvkhap panchayat comprising several
major khaps of Haryana. The agenda was to combat female foeticide and scores of
women were invited to participate. But as soon as some women activists tried to
raise the issue of equal share of girls in ancestral property and how women are
being denied this right, they were shooed off the stage. It is another matter th
at Mr. Hooda presented the Bibipur panchayat with Rs. one crore for its efforts.
A spate of similar panchayats on female foeticide followed, prompting Dada Balj
eet Malik, head of the Malik khap to say, We hope that now none will term us as T
alibanic or kangaroo courts. Some khaps have also decreed against extravagant mar
riages and alcoholism.
But when it comes to substantial issues of womens rights, or to supporting the ca
se of an oppressed woman against her husband and family members, khap panchayats
almost always take the patriarchal view. Neither does a khap panchayat ever opp
ose Dalit oppression or atrocities against the marginalised. On the contrary, kh
aps have stood against Dalits in the couple of incidents of violence against Dal
its that took place in Haryana in the last few years. Says D.R. Chaudhary, acade
mic and prominent crusader against khaps , Mere passing of resolutions against so
cial evils will not make a difference. Instead of imposing restrictions on girls
, khap panchayats should fight the anti-social elements responsible for crime ag
ainst women and support the right of girls to choose their life partner and ensu
re them a share in their parental property.
Last year, after a couple was brutally hacked to death in Rohtak for defying mar
riage norms, a large khap panchayat banned girls in their area from using mobile
phones and wearing jeans. The khap heads decided that such a restriction will e
nd honour killings as it will prevent young girls from interacting with boys. No
such restrictions are imposed on the boys.
So, whenever a politician justifies their activities by terming them as cultural
institutions rooted in the past, s/he gives them a new lease of life. What was
a dying institution a decade ago, has been revived and given some legitimacy by
vote bank politics to enable it to emerge in a retrograde avatar. Now, Mr. Kejri
wal too has a hand in this endeavour.
chander.dogra@thehindu.co.in
When it comes to substantial issues of womens rights, or to supporting the case o
f an oppressed woman against her husband and family members, khap panchayats alm
ost always take the patriarchal view.
Two more attempts at cracking UPSC exam
Civil service aspirants will soon get two additional attempts at cracking the UP
SC examination along with a relaxation in the upper age limit.
The Central government has approved two additional attempts to all categories of
candidates with effect from Civil Services Examination 2014, with consequential
age relaxation of maximum age for all categories of candidates, if required, a st
atement by the Department of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said.
As per the existing rules, a general category candidate is permitted a maximum o
f four attempts. The maximum age limit for such candidates is 30.
There is no restriction on number of attempts by candidates belonging to the Sch
eduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs).
As for aspirants belonging to Other Backward Classes, seven attempts are permiss
ible, according to a notification issued for Civil Services Examinations, 2013.
The relaxation comes after months of protests, dharnas and knocking at the doors
of politicians by the students.
We last protested on January 30, which was our 10th protest in the city. We met R
ahul Gandhi on that day and he assured us that this would come about, said Vikas
Kumar, who will now be getting two additional chances to crack the exam.
The last time in the 1970s when the changes were incorporated, there was an incre
ase in the number of attempts as well as an increase in the age limit. There is
very short notice, we usually spend years preparing for an exam and the notice o
f two months was simply not enough, said Sunil Kumar, another aspirant who now ha
s two more attempts to crack the exams. The exact age relaxation, however, has n
ot been clarified, which has some students worried. This is very worrying and it
has stopped us from feeling truly relaxed.
The aspirants had demanded an increase in the age limit and additional attempts
so that those disadvantaged by the changes could catch up.
Law needed to deal with corruption in sports
The Supreme Court-appointed panel, which probed charges of betting and spot-fixi
ng in the IPL, has recommended enactment of a substantive law to deal with corru
ption in sports.
The status of law in regard to betting and fixing has created operational impedim
ent to investigating and prosecuting agencies in combating these corrupt influen
ces in sport. It is imperative to enact a substantive law making all forms of ma
nipulation of sports, corruption and malpractices of sports a criminal offence.
The law must be applicable uniformly in the country, the report said.
The law must provide for stringent and deterrent punishments. This is necessary b
ecause [the] influx of hawala money and involvement of terrorist elements in bet
ting and fixing of sports are causing a serious threat to national security. The
report said: The fact that the Mumbai police did not accept the role of Dawood Ib
rahim in the betting racket in Mumbai shows that the Delhi Police and the Mumbai
Police are working at cross purposes in so far as the link to Dawood Ibrahim is
concerned. In such a grave matter of national security, the two top police orga
nisations cannot be permitted to work at cross purposes.
The report said: It is incumbent upon the IPL Governing Council and the BCCI to s
end a clear and emphatic message that dishonesty in cricket will not be tolerate
d and the most effective way of conveying this message is imposition of severe a
nd stringent punishment It is important to inform players that an act of miscondu
ct shall be referred to the police It is desirable that the various forms of puni
shment be delineated, from the lightest to the most severe.
Poultry comes out of its shell
India's poultry sector has transformed from a backyard activity into a technolog
y-intensive vibrant industry. This metamorphosis is unique in some respects. A n
otable feature that sets this sector apart from its counterparts in other develo
ping countries is its total self-reliance in technology generation as well as th
e production of needed equipment and inputs. It also has world-class infrastruct
ure for breeding poultry birds, diagnosing diseases, producing vaccines and proc
essing poultry products. Significantly, both the public and private sectors have
contributed to this progress.
Unlike dairying, where the bulk of growth has been in the unorganised sector, co
mprising small milk producers owning four or five cattle or buffaloes each, the
poultry revolution is driven chiefly by the proliferation of organised sector po
ultry farming. Over 70 per cent of the country's poultry output comes from the o
rganised sector and is sold mostly in the cities.
An unwarranted consequence of the urban orientation of the poultry industry is t
he wide disparity in the availability and consumption of poultry meat and eggs i
n rural and urban areas. Official estimates indicate that while the annual per c
apita availability of eggs in big cities is as high as 170 eggs, in rural areas
it is merely 20 eggs. The consumption of poultry meat is similarly skewed.
Another striking feature of the country's poultry sector is that despite the adv
ancement on the production front, the consumer preferences have tended to remain
, by and large, unchanged. Most buyers still prefer to buy live birds and get th
em dressed in their presence. Broiler chickens with colourful plumage, resemblin
g the conventional desi (native) chicks reared as range birds in the countryside
, get priority, and also price premium, over the white birds produced in the org
anised sector poultry farms. The same is true of eggs with customers willing to
pay higher prices for those having a brownish tinge.
Catering to the consumer's choice is, therefore, one of the objectives of the po
ultry breeders. They are trying to evolve breeds that resemble the indigenous mu
lti-coloured birds and produce brown eggs. The public sector poultry breeders, o
n the other hand, have an additional objective of popularising poultry farming a
s a backyard activity, which can be achieved by evolving high-performing breeds
of multi-coloured birds capable of adapting to backyards as well as factory farm
s.
In recent years, several such widely adaptable breeds have been bred by the poul
try research facilities of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) an
d state agricultural universities, besides the private sector poultry breeders.
The Izatnagar (Bareilly)-based Central Avian Research Institute (CARI) alone has
developed over a dozen of coloured chicken breeds, many of which are dual-purpo
se types, suitable for both meat and egg production. Some of these have already
been passed on to the commercial poultry farms as well as rural households.
Some new poultry breeds, evolved at different research centres, are also ready f
or commercialisation. The details of these breeds have been outlined in a bookle
t brought out by ICAR as part of its new series of publications on commercialise
d and commercialisation-worthy technologies in different fields of agriculture.
The volume on technologies in the animal sciences sector lists about 20-odd bree
ds of coloured chicks that have either been given to poultry farmers or are read
y to be passed on to interested entrepreneurs for commercial production. ICAR De
puty Director-General (animal sciences) K M L Pathak maintains that the availabi
lity of such breeds will help popularise poultry in rural areas and, at the same
time, strengthen linkages between research organisations and small and large co
mmercial poultry enterprises. Prominent among the new breeds on offer are Vanara
ja, Gramapriya, Krishbro and Madhavaram chicken-1. These are meant largely for b
ackyard free-range poultry farming and small-scale commercial units in and aroun
d rural areas. Birds of all these breeds have good marketability because of thei
r multi-hued plumage and brownish eggs. Some of them, notably Krishbro, can easi
ly be sold as desi chicken to claim higher prices. Its meat, too, resembles that
of native birds. Its broilers gain 1.5 to two kg in six weeks. Such breeds can
help small and marginal farmers to take up poultry farming as a supplementary ac
tivity to earn additional income.
A national problem
India has a long history of strangling formal employment. The reasons for this a
re many, but the consequences are unarguable: the National Commission for Enterp
rises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) said that 86 per cent of the workforce w
as employed in the informal sector, with all the paucity of benefits and protect
ions that entails. Other similar estimates are equally worrying: that employment
growth in the unorganised sector saw a continuous decline from 1972-73 till 200
4-05; and that, since liberalisation in 1991, a large portion of the net job cre
ation happened in the informal sector. In other words, the vast majority of Indi
ans in the workforce have no access to minimum wage laws, to safe working condit
ions, and to basic leave and health benefits. Under the United Progressive Allia
nce (UPA), the record has been particularly problematic. According to a study by
the National Sample Survey Office, only 53 million jobs were created in the UPA
's tenure till 2012, compared to 60 million in the years before when the Nationa
l Democratic Alliance was in power. True, the government has claimed that under
the UPA's tenure, the unemployment rate dropped from 8.4 per cent to 5.6 per cen
t. But, even then, the International Labour Organisation says that most of these
were, in effect, informal jobs in the casual sector - ways of getting around la
bour protections, and a continuation of the casualisation of even the formal wor
kforce.
This is largely a product of government failure. For one thing, existing labour
laws are restrictive and only arbitrarily applied. The NCEUS' seven-year-old pla
n to ensure that contract labour get benefits on a par with regular employees, m
eanwhile, has foundered on the back of resistance - not just from private employ
ers, but more effectively from the public sector. But another source of distorti
on is India's benefits regime. As Manish Sabharwal pointed out recently in The I
ndian Express, it is both regressive and exclusionary. Mr Sabharwal calculated t
hat deductions from a salary of Rs 5,500 a month meant that take-home pay was 49
per cent less than their cost to the company - as against only nine per cent le
ss for a salary for Rs 55,000 a month. Naturally, this will lead to an unwilling
ness to expand formal employment at the lower end of the pay scale. Forced savin
gs through schemes of provident funds that allow such distortions are a major pa
rt of the problem. While provident funds may remain an option, employees should
have greater choice in how they save.
It is certainly true that the baseline requirement for a larger formal sector is
more up-to-date labour law. The contrast with other countries, with more flexib
le labour law, that are greedily taking up the jobs that China is losing as the
People's Republic increases income, is stark. And political pressure to labour l
aw reform must surely be eroding, even though Congress Vice-President Rahul Gand
hi is willing to argue for a change. But, even if making that change is not poss
ible in the short term, at the very least the benefits regime must be examined a
nd reformed. The scandalous state of formal employment in India is a national tr
agedy.
We will defend it in WTO, says India
The World Trade Organisation dispute on Indias National Solar Mission (NSM) that
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman raked up on Monday pertains to contract
s for 375 MWs, a miniscule proportion of the total solar generation capacity bei
ng bid out nationwide.
The USTR is crying foul over NSM Phase-II, in which of the total 750 MWs on bid,
half is open to global solar power developers, including Americans, highly placed
government sources told The Hindu . The balance 375 MWs is reserved for domestic
players, and that is what the USTR is threatening action over.
The sources said this batch of 375 MWs would be defended at the WTO as it was a
permissible government procurement scheme and it addressed Indias energy security c
oncerns. In any case, it is a tiny proportion of all the solar power projects bei
ng bid out and developed in India.
U.S. developers had dominated NSM Phase-I with U.S. Exim Bank-tied funds, the sour
ces said.
Indias total solar power installed capacity is 2,000 MWs, up from 2 MW three year
s ago. At the next NSM meeting scheduled for February 26, Prime Minister Manmoha
n Singh is expected to approve a goal of 100,000 MWs for 2022. The USTR is trying
to rake up issues at this stage though it has no case at the moment to create s
pace for its industry in Indias big-potential solar market, the sources said. It is
also possible they had provocation on some other political or policy front, and
this was an easy issue.
A year ago, the U.S. initiated WTO dispute consultations on NSM Phase I. India ha
s already presented its case, but the U.S. is yet to seek a panel on it, as requ
ired by the process, the sources said.
Solar storm hits India-U.S. relations
Wounds from the Khobragade affair had scarcely begun to heal when the India-U.S.
relationship again witnessed a spike in tension this week, as U.S. Trade Repres
entative Michael Froman has announced that Washington is initiating consultation
s with New Delhi over a World Trade Organisation dispute pertaining to Indias Nat
ional Solar Mission (NSM).
Addressing journalists here on Monday, he said: These domestic content requiremen
ts [in NSM Phase II] discriminate against U.S. exports by requiring solar power
developers to use Indian-manufactured equipment instead of U.S. equipment, and th
e U.S. informed Indian officials in New Delhi, Geneva and Washington that it was
challenging this requirement.
He said such unfair requirements militated against WTO rules and the Obama adminis
tration was standing up today for the rights of American workers and businesses, a
nd in particular disputing Indias proposed rules under both Article II: 4 of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and trade (GATT) and Article 2 of the Agreement on
Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIM).
Mr. Froman characterised the request for WTO consultations as a serious step, unde
rscoring that under WTO rules if the matter was not resolved through consultatio
ns within 60 days of the request, the U.S. might ask the WTO to establish a disp
ute settlement panel.
He also focussed on the question of costs linked to this clean energy source, ar
guing: These types of localisation measures are not only an unfair barrier to U.S.
exports but also raise the cost of solar energy, hindering deployment of energy
around the world, including in India.
According to attorneys for the USTR, close to 10,000 American jobs may be at sta
ke in the solar industry if India carries through with the local content, and U.
S. exports, which stood at nearly $119 million before these criteria kicked in,
have fallen off precipitously since then.
The attorneys particularly drew attention to the vast size of Indias solar energy
market, which under the NSM is estimated to increase 20-fold in the coming deca
de. India was thus a very important [and] second largest market for U.S. solar exp
orters, [which was the reason behind] the substantial concern, at the local conten
t rules.
The latest objections by the USTR follow from a previous round of dispute consul
tations initiated here in February 2013 regarding Phase I of the NSM.
On the broader course of bilateral ties, the USTR attorneys ruled out any link t
o the arrest on December 12 last of Devyani Khobragade, Indias former Deputy Cons
ul-General in New York, following which New Delhi took retaliatory measures agai
nst U.S. diplomats. The relationship went into a tailspin.
Parliament has 130 pending Bills
With only two Bills introduced in the middle of commotion in the Rajya Sabha and
one in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the number of Bills pending before Parliament
has climbed to 130.
Key social sector legislation, including the Grievance Redressal Bill and the Wh
istleblower Protection Bill, will lapse if they are not passed in the next 10 da
ys.
At the beginning of the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha, 126 Bills were pendi
ng before both Houses, the oldest among them dating back to 1987, according to d
ata compiled by PRS Legislative Research, an independent, non-partisan parliamen
tary research group. Another five date back to 1990-2000 and 30 to 2001-2010.
Some Bills have been passed by one House but not the other, one of the most nota
ble of them being the Womens Reservation Bill, passed in 2010 by the Rajya Sabha.
Bills introduced in the Upper House will survive the end of this Lok Sabha, but
those introduced in the Lok Sabha will lapse if not passed in this session.
Important pending Bills include the Disabilities Bill and the Judicial Appointme
nts Bill.
Of course, there needs to be discussion and passage of contentious Bills like the
Communal Violence Bill and the Telangana Bill, Nikhil Dey of the National Campai
gn for the Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI) told The Hindu .
But at the very least, Parliament must pass Bills on which there is consensus lik
e the Grievance Redressal Bill and the Whistleblowers Bill, he added.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi appealed to the Opposition for cooperation
in the passage of six anti-corruption Bills, with the Bharatiya Janata Party ins
isting that it is keen to pass legislation if the government is able to get the
House to run.
The 15th Lok Sabha has passed only 165 Bills so far, making it the least deliber
ative full-term Parliament ever.
In the five sittings since the beginning of this session, the Lok Sabha has lost
95 per cent of its time to disruptions, while the Rajya Sabha has lost 91 per c
ent of its time. The session ends on February 21.
Key Bills in social sector face the threat of lapse
Memorial excesses
The Congress government in Maharashtra is gripped by memorial mania. It has sanc
tioned Rs.100 crore to build a grand memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Marat
ha ruler, on an islet in the Arabian Sea, about 2.5 km off Nariman Point in Mumb
ai. The State government approved this project in 2009, called for designs and e
ven planned to spend Rs.350 crore on it. However, the project did not move forwa
rd. If the approaching election is one reason behind the revival of the project,
the commencement of work on a 182-metre-tall statue of Sardar Patel, in the adj
oining State of Gujarat, is another. The Patel statue, which it is claimed would
be the tallest in the world when completed, has provided the Narendra Modi gove
rnment and the Bharatiya Janata Party high political visibility. The Gujarat gov
ernment is aggressively pursuing the project. This in turn seems to have created
a sense of urgency in the Congress. It appears that the Maharashtra government,
which originally planned a 94-m-tall Shivaji statue, is planning to increase th
e height significantly. Though the government has not yet announced the revised
financial estimate for the Shivaji memorial, the final figures are bound to matc
h the grandeur of the Rs.2,063-crore Gujarat project. Political one-upmanship be
tween the two parties is on, and the casualty is public money and space.
For many years, political parties have indiscriminately imposed statues of leade
rs on Indian cities. They have not spared road junctions, traffic islands and ev
en footpaths, leading to hardships and safety issues. It was only in January 201
3 that the Supreme Court ordered the State governments not to permit any more st
atues that would affect traffic in public spaces. In a similar way, the construc
tion of large memorials too requires regulation. Their claim to serve a public p
urpose must be tested. Governments often try to legitimise memorial projects as
efforts to create public spaces. They point to amenities such as exhibitions, mu
seums, auditoriums and parks built along with them. Any attempt to improve and e
xpand public spaces is to be welcomed, but parties in power cannot use it as an
excuse to install statues and symbols, which would only serve their agenda. Inst
alling memorials in urban spaces is a colonial legacy, and this practice has to
be discontinued. Only genuine collective remembrance of people and events, such
as the Bhopal gas tragedy, can be encouraged. The government too has to get its
priorities right. For instance, in Maharashtra, many heritage structures are in
need of protection and assistance. Instead of mindlessly spending money on gigan
tic memorials, it would serve the public good if it is spent on conserving negle
cted heritage structures.
Big Pharma's profiteering protests
The US Chamber of Commerce has recently asked the Barack Obama Administration to
designate India a Priority Foreign Country. This is the worst classification gi
ven to foreign countries that "deny adequate and effective" protection of intell
ectual property rights. The US industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has expressed a similar view. Last year, the ch
amber wrote to Obama urging him to hold detailed discussions with the Indian pri
me minister on the issue.
According to US lobbyists, India has failed to recognise international intellect
ual property rights, which is deterring investments in the country. During a hea
ring, "A tangle of trade barriers"' before the US Energy and Commerce Committee
in June 2013, the Chief Intellectual Property Officer of Pfizer Inc criticised d
evelopments in India's intellectual property regime. Some critics have gone to t
he extent of stating that there is potential cause for a World Trade Organisatio
n (WTO) complaint against India for violating intellectual property treaties.
The pressure from the US lobby is not unexpected. In the history of Indian paten
t law, 2013 will be best remembered for the Supreme Court judgment in the Novart
is AG case, in which the patent for the cancer drug Glivec was rejected. In the
same year: (a) the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) rejected a paten
t application for GSK Pharma's popular breast cancer drug Tykerb; (b) Swiss phar
ma major Roche Holding AG decided not to pursue the secondary patent for its bre
ast cancer drug Herceptin in India; and (c) IPAB upheld the grant of a compulsor
y licence (CL) to Natco Pharma on Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar.
The decisions have made western pharma players apprehensive over the extent of m
onopoly that they can enjoy in India within the current patent regime.
The Indian patent regime has always been a thorny issue among western companies.
The original Patent Act of 1970 did not allow any patent on a pharmaceutical pr
oduct. Only process patents were allowed. As a result, any Indian company could
manufacture a product as long as the process for manufacturing it was not under
patent. This "reverse engineering" allowed the domestic pharma industry to grow
tremendously. It also kept the prices of drugs reasonable. In 2001, Ciprofloxaci
n, a popular wide-spectrum antibiotic, was being sold exclusively by Bayer in th
e US at $0.95 a tablet. In India, multiple competitors kept the price down to $0
.04.
However, once the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Ri
ghts (TRIPS) came into effect from January 1, 1995, India was bound to align its
patent regime with TRIPS. India's reluctance to amend its law resulted in adver
se rulings from the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on complaints filed by the US an
d the European Community. As a result, India was forced to amend the patent law
in 1999, with retrospective effect from 1995 and allowed exclusive marketing rig
hts for pharmaceutical substances for which a claim could be made under the amen
ded Act.
The Act was amended again in 2002 and reflected a fine balancing act. The amendm
ent expanded the definition of "invention" to include micro-organisms. At the sa
me time, the provisions relating to CL and revocation of patent were strengthene
d. The Indian law still did not grant patent for pharmaceutical products.
Around the same time, as a result of pressure by several developing countries, t
he "Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health" was adopted at the WTO Ministerial C
onference in 2001 at Doha. The Doha Declaration acknowledged that public health
problems in many countries were, in part, a result of the intellectual property
regime under TRIPS. This was followed by a decision of the TRIPS Council in 2003
to allow an exporting country to grant CL to meet public health requirements in
the importing country.
Against this backdrop, the Indian law was further amended in 2005, to make India
fully complaint with TRIPS within 10 years of the latter coming into effect. Th
e 2005 amendment allowed patents for pharmaceutical products. The most significa
nt amendment was to Section 3 (d), as a result of which unless "a new form of a
known substance" does not result in "enhancement of the known efficacy of that s
ubstance", it would not amount to "invention". The purpose of Section 3 (d) is t
o prevent the "evergreening" of patents. The objective is to disallow patents fo
r trivial changes made to an existing product and claiming it as a new invention
.
The judgment in Novartis related to the interpretation of Section 3 (d). The Sup
reme Court noted the shift in Novartis' stand during the patent application proc
ess. Initially, Novartis had claimed that the modified version of imatinib (the
chemical in question) had better physical properties than the original family of
compounds - as a powder, its grains flowed more easily over one another, it dec
ayed more slowly and absorbed less moisture from the atmosphere. However, in the
amended filings, it was stated that the modified version of imatinib had higher
"bioavailability," a measure of how much of any given dose of a drug reaches it
s target issue.
Likewise, IPAB revoked Glaxo's patent for Tykerb because it was found to lack en
hanced efficacy over its original form. It was held that Tykerb was only the sal
t form of labatinib, the original compound, and was not an invention since there
was no proof of enhanced therapeutic efficacy.
On the other hand, a CL was granted on Bayer's cancer drug Nexavar since it had
failed to work the invention in India. Not only was the drug available at an exo
rbitant price of Rs 2,80,000 a month, Bayer had not imported the drug till 2008
and done so only in small quantities in 2009 and 2010. At the same time, IPAB in
creased the amount of royalty payable by Natco to seven per cent.
Thus seen, no significant change has been made to the Indian law in 2013. The la
w is the same as it was enacted in 2005. The current regime is in sync with Indi
a's international obligations.
The Indian legal system has also worked fairly. This is clear when a CL applicat
ion filed by BDR Pharma against Dasatinb, an anticancer drug patented by BMS, wa
s rejected. News reports say the government may grant a CL for only one anti-can
cer drug as against three sought by the health ministry. The developments cannot
in any way be treated as a concerted attempt to thwart global pharma companies
in India.
The lobbying against the Indian regime has been made to appear as though no pate
nt would be granted at all under Indian law. Merely because Big Pharma has not b
een allowed to indulge in unconscionable profiteering cannot be a reason for cha
nging the regime.
In this context, it is significant that patents for some of the big selling drug
s will continue through 2016. By a rough estimate, medicines that currently gene
rate $133 billion in US sales alone will face generic competition.
Big Pharma is trying its best to ensure that its dominance continues. The injunc
tion sought by Roche from the Delhi High Court against Biocon-Mylan, from launch
ing a bio-similar drug to herceptin for breast cancer treatment, even though the
patent has expired, is part of the same strategy.
The current lobbying by US pharma companies should not be seen in isolation. If
the Indian government succumbs to its demands, it would be seen as ignoring the
domestic industry as well as the general public. It would also have global ramif
ications. India needs to show the way globally, as it has done so far, by enforc
ing provisions that take into account the interests of various stakeholders.
Unsafe at any time
Even if all car manufacturers in India succumbed to a fit of conscience and inst
alled the best safety equipment in their models as a matter of course, more than
70,000 people are still likely to die in road accidents in India every year. Th
at's because cyclists, two-wheeler drivers and pedestrians account for more than
half the 143,000 road deaths in India (perhaps as many as 85 per cent). India l
eads the world by a long margin on this particular parameter. India attracted ye
t more negative global press recently following the news that five small cars ma
de in the country signally failed an independent global crash test conducted by
the United Kingdom-based Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP). The findin
gs only underlined what everybody had long suspected: that car manufacturers, wh
ether Indian or multinational, cut corners on safety in India. The fact that the
introduction of the expensive dynamic crash test has been delayed in India - so
me say under pressure from the major manufacturers - is testimony to this, and i
t enables companies to dissemble by insisting their cars pass Indian safety norm
s.
But airbags, safety belts and better crumple zones address only part of the prob
lem; despite more cars and more roads, the issue of road safety is largely missi
ng in the public discourse and, therefore, public policy. That large numbers, pr
obably the majority, of people continue to die on Indian roads owing to speeding
, drunk driving, light-jumping and general rule-breaking - not to forget the chr
onic habit of jaywalking - points to the collective indifference to the issue an
d, following from that, the lack of coherent policy. Consider this: more people
die in road accidents here than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together
. The 10th Plan outlay for the three diseases put together was Rs 3,320 crore. F
or road safety? Rs 187 crore. Although it is true that road safety is largely a
state issue, the Centre could play a proactive and constructive role in promotin
g it. In the United States, the federal Highway Safety Act required each state t
o have a safety programme as far back as the 1960s. In India, the Sundar Committ
ee's many sensible recommendations for an integrated approach drawn from global
best practices have been quietly ignored.
Yet the solutions are hardly rocket science - whether they involve more stringen
t enforcement (Delhi's drunk-driving campaign is a pointer to the benefits), edu
cation (so that pedestrians learn to cross at the appropriate signal), better fa
cilities for pedestrians and non-motorised transport (the introduction of no-sig
nal zones has considerably added to deaths) or dedicated emergency medical servi
ces. But in populous India, where life is cheap and people have infinite faith i
n their immortality, the courts can be importuned to exempt women pillion and tw
o-wheeler drivers from a basic safety device like a helmet. When the players the
mselves are largely indifferent to their own safety, public servants are unlikel
y to bestir themselves to remind them.
The shadow of Afghanistan
Any new political dispensation in New Delhi will soon have to grapple with the o
ngoing political and security transition in Afghanistan with the prospect of bei
ng faced, once again, with a renewed and reinvigorated jihadi terror machine nes
ting in the ungoverned and ungovernable regions of that country. These bases and
sanctuaries across its borders will give Pakistan the deniability it had claime
d in the pre-9/11 era in engaging in cross-border terrorism against India as an
instrument of state policy.
Much will depend on whether the ongoing political transition in Afghanistan take
s place in a reasonably smooth manner. There will be presidential elections late
r this year and parliamentary elections in 2015. It remains to be seen whether t
hey are free, fair and credible. Also, who will emerge as Afghanistan's new pres
ident and what political consensus is he able to forge across the country's comp
lex ethnic and tribal spectrum? What role the current president sees for himself
in the post-election scenario and how his obvious anxieties concerning his own
security may be addressed are also difficult questions to answer.
President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the status of forces agreement with t
he United States. The agreement would allow a residual force of some 10,000 Inte
rnational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) personnel to remain in the country af
ter the troop drawdown envisaged to be completed by the end of this year. He wan
ts a new president to take this decision. After threatening Kabul with a so-call
ed "zero option", the Americans seem to have reconciled themselves to concluding
the agreement with a new Afghan leader. Virtually all the presidential candidat
es have expressed themselves in favour of the agreement and that is a good sign.
The US wishes to leave behind a viable political dispensation and a relatively p
eaceful security situation in Afghanistan through a political agreement with the
Taliban, even if this proves to be a temporary palliative. According to reports
, what may be on offer to the Taliban could be several governorships in the Pash
tun belt in the south and east of the country, and some important ministerial an
d governmental positions at the centre. Fearful of what the Americans may be coo
king up behind his back in direct talks with the Taliban, Mr Karzai appears to h
ave opened his own channels with them, thereby giving the Taliban more bargainin
g power than they would normally possess.
What this may lead to is an eventual domination of the political stage by the Ta
liban with all the attendant dangers this will pose to both India and other coun
tries in the region. This would also imply that any residual ISAF will not targe
t the Taliban even if they make advances into the country, since they would now
carry a "nationalist" tag, no longer labelled a terrorist entity or a sponsor of
terrorism.
The argument being made in Washington is that there is no reason to target the T
aliban as long as they do not act as an affiliate of Al Qaeda. This ignores the
fact that today Al Qaeda has morphed into an interconnected network of jihadi gr
oups, sharing a similar - essentially Sunni fundamentalist - ideology. It will o
nly be a matter of time before, given the opportunity, the Taliban begin to act
on a larger regional and global agenda. The US will find itself as much a target
of this network as India is likely to become.
The chief beneficiary of any Taliban advance into Afghanistan would indisputably
be Pakistan, where the Taliban's Quetta Shura has been based for the last sever
al years, protected and nurtured by the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Int
elligence. The Pakistanis claim they have learnt their lesson from their earlier
misadventure in Afghanistan and are now committed to peace and stability in the
country. They also point to the threats they face from groups like the Pakistan
Taliban, based in the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands, and the possible links
these groups may have with the Afghan Taliban. All this may be true. However, in
the calculations of the Pakistani political and security elite, these risks are
still considered less than those likely to confront the country if India become
s entrenched as a major presence in Afghanistan.
Should India not talk to Pakistan with a view to promoting some understanding co
ncerning the future of Afghanistan? Are there ways in which India can assuage so
me of Pakistan's security concerns? As early as 2006, as foreign secretary, I wa
s authorised to propose to my Pakistani counterpart a bilateral dialogue on Afgh
anistan. I offered to give the Pakistani side a complete read-out of our presenc
e in Afghanistan and the various projects and activities we were engaged in. I a
lso referred to Pakistani statements that Pakistan was committed to contributing
to Afghanistan's political stability and economic recovery and offered to do so
me joint projects in infrastructure, education and health as demonstrating our c
onvergent objectives. There was no response then, and I believe subsequent and s
imilar efforts by my successors have similarly yielded no results. The reality i
s that Pakistan sees 2014 as an opportunity to get back into a position of strat
egic advantage vis-a-vis India, which it considered itself to ha
ve lost since 9/11. That the situation today is different, that the risks to Pak
istan are greater, is no deterrence.
If the above analysis is valid, then India-Pakistan relations are in for a rough
ride and we should not become complacent because of progress in trade and some
other areas that seems likely in the near future. These ought to be pursued, bec
ause they do have a value in themselves; but we should be prepared for a phase o
f increased tensions in our relations thanks to the evolving situation in Afghan
istan. In order to safeguard our interests, we may have to take measures in Afgh
anistan that would inevitably sharpen the differences between India and Pakistan
.
A decade on the rails with UPA
When the Railway Minister presented the Vote-on-Account in Parliament on February
12, for the first time in more than three decades, Indian Railways (IR) would ha
ve completed almost 10 years under one political dispensation, albeit a coalitio
n. How far has this decade of relative political stability impacted positively (
and negatively) on the performance of the Railways? Further, at a time when most
of the major political parties must be honing their election manifestos ahead o
f the election in April/May 2014, are there any lessons for the new government t
hat will be in power after the general election this year?
IRs performance has become closely linked to the personality of its political hea
d, namely the Minister of Railways. Continuity at that level therefore becomes c
rucial for any meaningful enunciation of long-term goals and implementation stra
tegies. While the tenure of the first incumbent lasted the full term of UPA-1, t
hereafter the turnover has been rather rapid for various reasons, progressively
reducing from two years to an average of about seven months each for the four mi
nisters that followed. One minister was unceremoniously sacked in the midst of a
budget session for daring to raise passenger fares. Another had to step down in
ignominy under a cloud of corruption charges; surely not the ideal way a crucia
l economic ministry and the countrys premier transport organisation should have b
een handled. Any future government needs to treat the railways portfolio with gr
eater seriousness and certainly not as a sop for managing coalition pressures.
Impressive performance, but
Despite the relative turbulence at the top, particularly over the last five year
s, the physical performance of IR has not been inconsiderable. Compared to 2004-
05, originating freight loading is set to increase by 74.4 per cent in 2013-14,
freight net tonne km by 62 per cent and passenger km by 93.9 per cent. 712 train
s were extended and frequencies of 306 trains were increased. All this while the
track km increased by 38 per cent and the route km by only 3.1 per cent, indica
ting a thrust on doubling rather than new lines. The number of accidents dropped
sharply by 48 per cent from 234 during 2004-05 to 121 in 2012-13 and 87 up to D
ecember 2013.
The performance appears impressive, yet when viewed against Railways own Vision 2
020, it lags far behind (except in the case of accidents). For example, Vision 2
020 had projected an originating freight loading of 2,165 MT by 2019-20, which m
eans an asking rate of about 150 MT incremental loading annually from now till 202
0 a virtual impossibility. The case was similar for other performance parameters
.
The decade that has gone by has perhaps seen a record number of reports by vario
us Committees and sundry other documents. Starting with the One Man Committee (2
004) on the Godhra train fire (Disclosure: this writer was one of the technical
experts that assisted that Committee) whose final report (2006) has never seen t
he light of the day, there was Vision 2020 (2009), a White Paper (2009) to clean
up the accounting legerdemain of the previous regime, the Kakodkar Committee Re
port on rail safety (2012), closely followed by the Sam Pitroda Committee on mod
ernisation of Railways (2012). Going back a few years, there was the Rakesh Moha
n Committee Report on organisational restructuring and the report of the Railway
Safety Review Committee (Khanna Committee) around the turn of the millennium, a
part from a clutch of Status Papers and White Papers. All the wisdom necessary i
s available in these reports.
Lesson for any new government: Do not appoint any more committees and waste publ
ic funds. Also never appoint a committee to score political points.
Nothing exposed the influence of politics recent popular lore as the turnaround mi
racle of the organisation, roughly spanning the period 2005-2008. A spurt in the
freight earnings by loading wagons beyond their marked carrying capacity was cel
ebrated as a revolutionary breakthrough and management wizardry, instead of seei
ng it as what it essentially was: an emergency one-time measure that boosted fre
ight earnings over a limited period. Unfortunately the success of this initiative
also spawned some very imaginative accounting practices that culminated in proje
cting a cash surplus of almost Rs.90,000 crore at the beginning of 2009. It is a
nother matter that the regime that followed commissioned a White Paper exposing
the discrepancies in the accounting procedures.
Further, amidst the euphoria generated, two important factors that helped the tur
naround were ignored (i) the fact that the extra loading would have been unthinka
ble had the huge backlog of track renewals not been overtaken by that time, help
ed to a large extent by the extra funds made available through the Special Railw
ay Safety Fund, a singular initiative of the preceding administration and; (ii)
the wholly fortuitous circumstance of a booming economy.
The fickleness of the turnaround was quickly exposed once the impact of the Sixth
Pay Commission began to be felt accompanied by a downturn in the global economy.
An oft-repeated promise made, but never fulfilled (fortunately) by successive R
ailway ministers, was to fill all vacancies within a particular time frame, say on
e year. It may be relevant to mention that the increase in traffic over the last
decade referred to earlier was handled even as the staff on roll reduced from 1
4.2 lakh in 2004-05 to 13.1 lakh by March 31, 2013, a reduction of more than 1 l
akh.
Why is it that despite a fairly impressive performance in physical terms there i
s a persisting dissatisfaction with the Railways performance amongst the public?
There are several reasons: Poor quality of service in terms of cleanliness, punc
tuality, promptness, courtesy and disaster management; inadequate capacity on th
e passenger front, which hopefully will ease somewhat with the commissioning of
the Dedicated Freight Corridors; and the eagerness to introduce new train servic
es, which has stretched the Railways resources literally to breaking point. While
it may be politically inexpedient to put a total embargo on new trains (as reco
mmended by the Kakodkar Committee), it will be a wise policy for the new governm
ent to restrict the number to the bare minimum each year with the condition that
a new service will be introduced only after a corresponding withdrawal of poorl
y patronised train services.
Three recent reports that deal with investments are the Vision 2020 (2009), the
Kakodkar Committee Report (2012) on rail safety and the Sam Pitroda Committee Re
port on modernisation. The first two reports envisage an annual Gross Budgetary
Support (GBS) from central exchequer of Rs.60,000 crore. With the highest GBS re
ceived so far (2013-14) being a little over Rs.27,000 crore (less than 50 per ce
nt of the projected figure), the impracticality of the projections made in these
two reports should be obvious.
The looming crisis
Finally, a note of warning for the immediate future: gear up for a major financi
al crisis in the Railways around 2016-17 when the effects of recommendations of
the 7th Commission will kick in. While the Dedicated Freight Corridor projects n
eed to be progressed on top priority, it is highly unlikely that the boost in fr
eight revenues therefrom will be available in time to neutralise the effects of
the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. So, prepare right now for a bail-out pac
kage, as was done through the Special Railway Safety Fund more than a decade ago
.
(K. Balakesari is former Member Staff, Railway Board.)
The government needs to treat the Railways portfolio with greater seriousness an
d not as a sop for managing coalition pressures
Interest burden set to overshoot subsidy bill
The burden of interest on the UPA governments borrowings is estimated to grow at
the rate of 17 per cent this fiscal. The Finance Ministry estimates that the Cen
tres expenditure on interest payments on its debt will grow 17 per cent to Rs. 3,
64,244 crore in 2013-14, according to the economic and functional classification
(EFC) of the Union Budget released here on Wednesday. This is even greater than
the UPA governments subsidy bill for the year, estimated at Rs. 2,42,255 crore b
y the Finance Ministry in the EFC.
A rate of growth of interest payments that is faster than the rate of growth of t
he economy is not a good trend, highly placed Finance Ministry sources told The H
indu .
Interest payments are growing at a rate that is 5 percentage points faster than
the rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Central Statistical
Offices estimate for the rate of growth of GDP for the year at current prices is
12.3 percent.
India launches HIV salvage therapy
India on Wednesday launched third-line drug therapy for people living with HIV/A
IDS and extended free anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to more of them by revising
the eligibility norm.
The third-line therapy, sometimes called salvage or rescue therapy, is prescribe
d for people who have limited drug options left after the failure of at least tw
o drug regimens and with evidence of HIV resistance to at least one drug in each
line or the latter cause alone. The highly expensive therapy will be provided f
ree.
Announcing these measures at the launch of the National AIDS Control Programme P
hase IV (2012-2017) here, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the third-
line therapy would enhance longevity and improve the quality of life of patients
.
For receiving free ART, the minimum CD4-count limit had been reduced from 500 to
350. The count is a measure of the viral load.
Bill in Rajya Sabha
Meanwhile, the government tabled the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Acquired Immun
e Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014, in the Rajya Sabha. I
t seeks to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and protect the human rights of people
living with it.
At present, India is estimated to have 2.39 million people living with HIV/AIDS.
The Bill seeks to prohibit any kind of discrimination against the infected perso
n for instance, denial or termination of employment or occupation, unfair treatm
ent, denial of access to any sector and forcible HIV testing.
New phase will accelerate epidemic reversal, strengthen epidemic response
Discrimination against infected prison will attract 2-year jail
At peace with the world, for the first time in a century
When British forces pull down the union jack for the last time in Afghanistan th
is year, it will be a hugely symbolic moment. It is not just that the departure
marks the end of 13 years of British involvement in combat in that troubled coun
try. The surprise is that it could also signal the end of a century or more of u
nbroken warfare by British forces.
Next year may be the first since at least 1914 that British soldiers, sailors an
d air crews will not be engaged in fighting somewhere the first time Britain is
totally at peace with the rest of the world.
Since Britains declaration of war against Germany in August 1914, not a year has
passed without its forces being involved in conflict. It is a statistic that has
been largely overlooked, and not one about which the government is likely to bo
ast.
The past 100 years have seen two world wars, large-scale conflicts in Korea and
Iraq, and small-scale actions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. There have be
en punitive operations in defence of empire, cold war operations, post-9/11 supp
ort for the U.S., and the Troubles in Ireland.
No other country, even those with similarly militaristic traditions, has been en
gaged continuously over such a long span.
Britains generals and politicians anticipate that 2015 may be a year finally with
out conflict and are planning accordingly. Senior military staff describe this a
s a strategic pause.
Assuming agreement is reached with the Afghanistan government before the end of
the year, a few hundred soldiers will be left behind to help with training at th
e army academy, and a few others in a consultative role but not for combat.
Special forces could be deployed but no one in the Ministry of Defence is going
to go public on that.
The potential absence of war is attributed to a number of factors: lack of publi
c support for the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts; cuts in the size of the army,
making it harder to mount similar operations; an increasingly multicultural Brit
ain that could make intervention in Muslim countries more problematic; and antip
athy among the present generation of politicians to interventions, as demonstrat
ed by last years Commons vote against action in Syria.
A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies this week showed B
ritain dropping from fourth place to fifth in the world in terms of budget spend
ing on defence. The army is to be cut from 102,000 to 82,500 by 2018.
The former Labour defence secretary Lord Browne said: The British public have mad
e it clear that there is very little support for new expeditionary wars of choic
e, even where there is a national security dimension. They may tolerate long-ran
ge support of oppressed people, but intervention by U.K. troops is for now off-l
imits.
The British position contrasts with that of France, which has been enthusiastica
lly mounting interventions in Africa. There appears not to be the same war-weari
ness in France, which did not take part in the Iraq invasion.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and a pa
rticipant in many other interventions, from Northern Ireland through to the Balk
ans and Iraq, said the Syria vote suggested a higher threshold for British engage
ment in combat operations in the short term following our experiences in Iraq an
d Afghanistan.
A senior British defence official described a year without military action as a
problem.
He anticipated action in the future: I think after the election the Prime Ministe
r will have the appetite to get on to the horse again, though we have to make su
re it is the right horse. I would be surprised if nothing happens a year and a h
alf or two from now. It could be joint action with the French rather than the Ame
ricans, he added.
Professor Richard English, a historian at St Andrews University who studies war
and terrorism, said that although many British Muslims had been greatly concerne
d that their country was waging war in Muslim countries, Britains war-weariness w
as a more complex and extensive phenomenon.
He added that war-weariness was a cyclical affair. It is always easy between conf
licts to forget how nasty they are, and this amnesia is one of our worst enemies
. Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014
Taking a long view on Syria
The 50th anniversary of the Munich Security Conference this month was a celebrat
ion of the power of the democratic vision in Europe one that now stretches all t
he way toward Ukraine. But there was a sense of defeat in the room, almost of co
llective shame, when the subject turned to Syria.
The international alliance that won the Cold War has been bootless in the case o
f Syria. Thats partly the fault of an indecisive Obama administration, but its rea
lly a much larger problem. The United Nations system for resolving disputes is f
ailing in Syria, as it did in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo. The United States, this
time, hasnt been willing to organize a coalition of the willing to do the dirty wo
rk.
Things are bad and getting worse, said Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy for Syria,
who seemed near despair as he described the failure last month of his latest med
iation effort, known as Geneva II. He is continuing his fraught mediation effort
this week.
The Syria tragedy embodies a deeper intellectual failure. The Cold War was, at b
ottom, the triumph of an idea. Whats missing in Syria is an animating strategic f
ramework that could power a U.S.-led coalition. Instead, we have a conflict driv
en by sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, which in turn is fuelle
d by the rivalry of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Diplomatic efforts are blocked by Rus
sia, which still imagines itself as Americas rival.
What to do? In the short run, the U.S. should step up its training and assistanc
e for the moderate Syrian opposition. This has multiple benefits: A stronger opp
osition can fight the Bashar al-Assad regime, push back al-Qaeda and safeguard h
umanitarian corridors. Perhaps it will eventually be strong enough to win a ceas
e-fire. But this is a formula for reducing the bloodshed, not for settling the c
onflict.
Breaking the Syria deadlock will require a strategy that defuses the sectarian w
ar ravaging the Middle East. Ive been hearing versions of this approach recently
at the White House, from senior British analysts, from a few farsighted Gulf Ara
bs, and even from Iranians. They all recognize that bridging the Sunni-Shiite sc
hism requires a regional security accord that reconciles the interests of Saudi
Arabia and Iran, the engines of the conflict. This regional balance, in turn, re
quires an understanding between the U.S. and Russia.
Lebanon offers a lesson in how sectarian conflicts can be stabilized. This may s
ound paradoxical, given that Beirut always seems a few minutes from chaos. But t
he Lebanese usually avoid disaster with their compromise formula of neither victo
r nor vanquished.
My Lebanon tutorial came in a conversation with Prime Minister Najib Mikati. He
explained that the Taif Agreement of 1989, which ended the Lebanese civil war af
ter 15 years, was possible because of two breakthroughs: a regional agreement an
d U.S.-Russian cooperation. There were many diplomatic false starts along the wa
y in peace talks at Geneva, Lausanne and Cairo. It helped that the Cold War was
ending, for until there was consensus at the top, Mikati notes, the Lebanese mil
itias kept fighting.
A surprising public articulation of this approach came in Munich from Iranian Fo
reign Minister Javad Zarif. Iran and Saudi Arabia share a common interest in a se
cure environment, he told the conference. Neither one of us will benefit from sect
arian divisions, neither one of us will benefit from extremism. Its hard to take Z
arifs statement at face value when Iran is pumping Hezbollah fighters and Iraqi S
hiite militiamen into Syria. But its the right concept.
To get Syria right, policymakers should ask themselves what they want the Middle
East to look like in five or 10 years, and then reverse-engineer from that mode
l.
A truly stable future will be possible only with a security balance that can acc
ommodate Shiite Iran and the Sunni Gulf states. To be accepted as a regional pow
er, Iran will have to reverse its nuclear program. The Sunni nations, meanwhile,
will have to embrace reforms that can break the power of Muslim extremism. This
Sunni empowerment will require a new Egyptian president whos confident enough to
stop jailing journalists, and a Saudi Arabia thats prepared to move ahead under
the next generation of leaders. Authoritarian tactics will be a sign of Sunni we
akness, not strength.
Heres a group snapshot of a more stable future: The U.S., Russia, Iran and Saudi
Arabia sitting around a table to draft a deal that can stop the Syrian nightmare
. Leaving it to the Syrians to resolve this tragedy is a cruel folly. 2014. Wash
ington Post.
To get Syria right, policymakers should ask themselves what they want the Middle
East to look like in five or 10 years
Sebi to consider new corporate governance code tomorrow
Capital markets regulator Sebi will tomorrow consider a proposal for new corpora
te governance code for listed companies and their top executives, among other is
sues.

The new corporate governance code would require listed companies to justify high
executive salaries, put in place an orderly succession plan, adopt a whistle-bl
ower policy for employees and limit the number of directorship a person can hold
on company boards.

Various other measures to safeguard the interest of minority shareholders are al
so part of the proposed norms.

These norms, along with an overhaul of nearly two decade-old insider trading nor
ms, would be taken up by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in it
s board meet tomorrow, scheduled to take place in Delhi.

Under the proposed norms on insider trading many new categories of persons, incl
uding public servants, regulatory officials, judiciary and government officials,
dealing with unpublished price-sensitive information, are being brought under t
he purview of insider trading.

At the same time, new norms would also seek to clearly differentiate between 'in
nocent mistakes' and genuine transactions of company executives from the unlawfu
l and serious trading offences.

Besides, to help the mutual fund industry create more understanding and better p
ositioning of products amongst investors, the market regulator will also conside
r a long-term policy for mutual funds, in its meeting tomorrow.

Other issues likely to be discussed include additional fund-raising avenues in c
apital markets, including through real estate and infrastructure investment trus
ts. A final decision on these fronts, however, is expected only after the govern
ment decides on tax treatment for such instruments.

The new corporate governance code is being put in place after taking into accoun
t public comments to draft corporate governance norms released by Sebi earlier t
his year as well as the related provisions in the new Companies Act, 2013,

The draft norms were issued in January 2013 which also seek to grant greater ove
rsight by minority shareholders and independent directors and check any unjustif
iable payments to related parties.

It is also proposed to introduce a new concept of 'Corporate Governance Rating'
by independent agencies to monitor the level of compliance by the listed compani
es, in addition to regular inspection by Sebi and stock exchanges.

The new norms also talk about a greater alignment of CEO salaries with the perfo
rmance and goals of the company, as also mandatory disclosure of ratio of remune
ration paid to the each of their directors and their median staff salary. Simila
r provisions have been made in the new Companies Act.
Another lost year
A vote-on-account Budget is meant to provide for routine expenditure for a short
period until a new government that takes over after elections is in a position
to take steps to plan for the future. In the interim Railway Budget for 2014-15,
while passenger and freight rates have not been changed (they now have an in-bu
ilt mechanism to take care of changing fuel prices), 65 new passenger trains hav
e been announced. These are mostly loss-making and will add to routine expenditu
re and deficit. If a new railway minister, when he presents his regular Budget i
n a few months, does not pass up the opportunity to introduce his own set of new
passenger trains, then this does not augur well for the future financial health
of the Railways on which depends its ability to offer safe and efficient servic
e.
As the revised estimates for the current financial year (2013-14) show, it has b
een another lost year despite the intra-year measures to compensate for the rise
in fuel costs. The operating ratio - which indicates how much of the earnings h
ave been consumed by expenses - has risen (that is, become adverse) to 90.8 per
cent, thus missing by a wide mark the target of 87.8 per cent contained in the B
udget estimates, and is poorer than the 90.2 per cent recorded in 2012-13. Any a
ttempt to aggressively raise freight rates will only lead to a loss of an alread
y declining market share vis--vis road haulage. The villain of the piece, in term
s of rising costs, appears to be expenditure on account of pension and dearness
allowance. In such a situation, a key aim should have been to reduce headcount.
But this has actually been raised since last year, thus reversing a positive dow
nward trend set in the 1990s.
Worse, funds for safety and capacity expansion in the coming year are scarce. Th
e annual Plan outlay for 2014-15 has been pegged at about the same level of Rs 6
4,000 crore as the current year's budget, but in the event Plan spending (revise
d estimates) fell short by six per cent. This might happen again. What has taken
away resources, even if marginally, is a rise in dividend payment by one percen
tage point, which will help the Union finance minister meet his fiscal deficit t
arget - but not the Railways. The minister has highlighted the fact that fund ba
lances, which had returned to the black last year at Rs 2,391 crore, are likely
to end this year at a substantially higher level of Rs 8,018 crore. A healthy su
rplus of Rs 12,728 crore has been projected for the coming year, but this may tu
rn out to be illusory. The minister has noted that the Indian Railways has succe
ssfully weathered the drain on resources inflicted by the last Pay Commission, b
ut in view of the fact that another has been announced the beast will return to
torment the system again. More worrying is the state of railway safety, which in
the long run is clearly linked to the right kind of investment to renew ageing
assets. But funds for such investment are not in sight.
Will Asian growth rebound?
For much of the last decade, Asia's growth was seen as inevitable and unstoppabl
e. This was reflected in the projections of all manner of global bodies, includi
ng the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, t
he Asian Development Bank as well as professional forecasters in the private sec
tor. The resilience of many emerging markets, notably China and India, in the af
termath of the Lehman shock further strengthened this sense of manifest destiny.
In the space of less than a year, this widespread optimism has been replaced by
equally pervasive caution. The immediate source of this shift in mood has been t
he prospect of a return to more normal monetary policy in the United States (and
so far only the US: the euro zone and Japan continue to battle deflation). This
has coincided with slowing growth in many large emerging markets both inside an
d outside Asia, and with political stress in several of them, including Turkey,
Thailand and Brazil.
It would be natural and tempting to see these difficulties as largely short-term
and cyclical, and that has been my own firm view. But commentators in the finan
cial press and in major banks are increasingly projecting a fundamental break in
the growth prospects of poorer countries. So far this sentiment does not seem t
o have spread to the investment decisions of multinationals, or to forecasters i
n the official sector, but arguably these follow, rather than lead, shifts in se
ntiment.
So, are the financial sector pessimists right in asserting that we are at an imp
ortant inflection point where Asian growth is concerned? To examine this we firs
t need to define what we mean by Asia, and then we need to define the time horiz
on for analysis.
I will take "Asia" to include the arc of maritime Asia that starts with the Indi
an subcontinent in the west and extends east to the Korean peninsula, taking in
the archipelagos of Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. This is an expanse tha
t includes roughly half the world's population. In practical terms, our concern
is with "developing Asia", which would exclude Japan and Taiwan and the city sta
tes of Singapore and Hong Kong. As always, the classification of Korea is proble
matic: it is now as affluent as some Northern European countries, but with econo
mic and financial institutions still evolving.
As for time horizons, it is useful to distinguish between the near term (say, th
ree years), where output is shaped primarily by demand (exports, investment and
consumption), and the longer term, where output (strictly speaking, potential ou
tput) is driven by the performance of the supply side of the economy. This inclu
des the size and quality of the labour force, the size and growth of the capital
stock, innovation, institutions and the like. This framework is perfectly gener
al, and in principle applies to the advanced countries as well. But since develo
pments on the supply side in those countries tend to be relatively smooth, it is
demand management that dominates the discussion, although this has changed sinc
e the financial crash.
The optimism about emerging markets as a group over the long run, and certainly
those in Asia, has originated on the supply side. It has been driven by a belief
in what economists call "convergence". This is the view that, in an integrated
global economy, poor countries with abundant labour can raise the productivity o
f that labour relatively quickly by acquiring technology developed in the rich c
ountries. At the same time, the limits on demand that arise from relatively poor
domestic consumers can be bypassed through exports to the rich countries.
This convergence doctrine emerged about 20 years ago. The applicability of this
theory (or "model", as economists prefer to call it) in turn rests on several pi
llars. The first is the availability of a workforce that possesses at least basi
c skills. The second is the existence of conditions in the home economy that are
friendly to the absorption of new technology. In Japan and Korea, this was larg
ely a matter of licensing; in the case of China (and before China, in Southern E
urope Malaysia and Thailand), it was openness to foreign direct investment.
Finally, there is the importance of trade, both exports and imports. As already
noted, exports are important to get around the demand constraint, but a number o
f empirical studies have also demonstrated important intangible benefits in entr
epreneurial development from exposure to trade. Imports are important as a way o
f embodying modern technology, while the domestic trade regime (tariffs and quot
as) plays an important role in ensuring that imports act as a disciplining devic
e by providing competition to domestic production. While macroeconomic managemen
t is largely associated with the demand side of the economy, through its effect
on the real exchange rate it also matters for trade success.
It is this conceptual model that is now being questioned by a variety of critics
, both within and outside the emerging economies. There are those (such as Ruchi
r Sharma) who believe that convergence, if not a sham, was vastly oversold, and
that there are important areas of the world (particularly Latin America) that in
aggregate have not succeeded in riding the convergence escalator beyond the fir
st floor. The Latin American experience has led to the suggestion of a "middle-i
ncome trap": the idea that many countries flounder after the initial growth burs
t, and that sustaining steady growth in per capita incomes, even with the inevit
able cyclical ups and downs, is much harder (and rarer) than simple convergence
theory would suggest.
A third critique comes from the altered state of the rich countries following th
e crisis. With their own economic models under severe stress on both growth and
distribution, politicians in the advanced countries are under considerable press
ure to retreat from their commitment to open trade and finance, and to being wil
ling markets for cheap goods produced by multinationals in poor countries. Only
time will tell whether this is a temporary or a long-lasting phenomenon.
Ultimately, though, the new scepticism seems to me at heart to be a comment on t
he domestic politics of the emerging markets and their willingness to stay the c
ourse. The view seems to be that the emerging markets, India included among thes
e, will find it hard to manage the politics of sustained rapid growth in the new
global environment. The sceptics may turn out to be right, but I see little to
suggest that this outcome is preordained.
University plans a 10-volume encyclopaedia on folk traditions
The Karnataka Folklore University will launch an ambitious project from March 1
to document folk traditions and arts from all over the world in a 10-volume ency
clopaedia in Kannada.
Vice-Chancellor Ambalike Hiriyanna said that it was perhaps the first time that
a project of this magnitude was being undertaken in a regional language. The pro
ject was expected to take five years to complete and would cost between Rs. 3 cr
ore and Rs. 4 crore. Each volume will run into about 1,000 pages, he said.
The project is being headed by H.T. Krishne Gowda, who was associated with the 1
4-volume Kannada encyclopaedia project of the University of Mysore for nearly fo
ur decades until he retired as executive editor earlier this year. He told The H
indu that two of the 10 volumes would be on Karnataka, three on India and the re
maining five would be on folk arts and traditions from across the world.
The Kannada Sahitya Parishat had brought out a two-volume encyclopaedia on Karnat
akas folk traditions in the eighties. The University of Mysore had published a on
e-volume subject encyclopaedia on folk traditions. But nothing of this magnitude
and scope has been attempted in Kannada or any other regional language in India
, Prof. Krishne Gowda said.
He said the first preliminary meeting on the project had been held. A number of
folklorists and scholars from across Karnataka would be roped in for the project
.
On the other projects of the university, Prof. Hiriyanna said the Karnataka Gram
a Charitra Kosha project, which aims to bring out 30 volumes on the 36,000 villa
ges in the State, was under way. The project would cover the historical, geograp
hical, social, economic, infrastructural and cultural aspects of every village.
The university had also initiated short-term research projects in all the 30 dis
tricts of Karnataka to document folk practices and identify arts that need suppo
rt.
Project expected to take five years to complete
It will cost
Rs. 3-4 crore
Womens progress in the last 20 years has been unequal and fragmented: U.N.
Twenty years after a landmark U.N. summit meeting in Cairo called on countries a
round the world to allow women greater control over their health and destiny, wo
men worldwide have fewer children, are less likely to die of childbirth and have
made great strides in literacy, according to a major report released on Wednesd
ay by the world body. But a closer look at the reports numbers reveals marked dis
parities. For instance, in the poorest communities, womens status, maternal death,
child marriage and other indicators of womens well-being have seen little progress
in the last 20 years, the report concludes.
In low- and middle-income countries, for instance, pregnancy and childbirth are
the leading causes of death among young women ages 15 to 19. Women continue to b
e paid less and they are more likely to work in jobs that are less secure and wit
h fewer benefits, according to the report, by the U.N. Population Fund. Men have t
o change, Babatunde Osotimehin, the funds executive director, told reporters here.
They have to accept gender equality.
One study, cited by Mr. Osotimehin of Nigeria, said that worldwide, 1 in 3 women
reported being physically or sexually abused. In Asia, a separate study last ye
ar found that nearly half of the 10,000 men interviewed reported using physical
and or sexual violence against a female partner, while one-fourth of them said t
hey had raped a woman or girl, with the vast majority saying they faced no prose
cution. It cited another survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 1 in
3 men reported having engaged in sexual violence.
The gains were most striking in education. In a majority of countries, there was
gender parity in primary education, though there were abiding gaps in secondary
schools and college. Maternal mortality fell by 47 per cent over the last 20 ye
ars, though, the report pointed out, 800 women continue to die every day while g
iving birth.
The report concluded: Progress has been unequal and fragmented.
The changes have come at a time when the world has prospered overall, though wom
en in the poorest countries, along with poor women in some richer countries, hav
e not seen their lives improve, the report said.
In conditions of structural poverty, the report said, the threats to womens survival
are especially acute, due to the lack of access to health services, particularl
y sexual and reproductive health services, and the extreme physical burdens of f
ood production, water supply and unpaid labour that fall disproportionately on p
oor women.
It also documents a marked demographic tilt, with much of the industrialised wor
ld inexorably aging and the worlds youth concentrated in the developing world. li
ve
Despite plummeting fertility rates and the greying of Europe and East Asia, ther
e has never been a larger generation of young people. That age group accounted f
or 28 per cent of the global population in 2010 and higher in South Asia and Afr
ica.
Their needs will have to be central to any development agenda, and not just beca
use of their sheer numbers. They will have to be self-sufficient because they ar
e likely to have fewer children to later support them and because most of them a
re in poor countries. Those countries like India and Nigeria that have a high pr
oportion of young people and declining fertility levels can take advantage of th
at temporary demographic bonus, the report says, but only if it can educate its yo
uth and offer access to work. New York Times News Service
Fusion, ultimate green energy source
Scientists have moved a step closer to achieving sustainable nuclear fusion and
almost limitless clean energy. U.S. researchers have achieved a world first in a
n ambitious experiment that aims to recreate the conditions at the heart of the
sun and pave the way for nuclear fusion reactors.
The scientists generated more energy from fusion reactions than they put into th
e nuclear fuel, in a small but crucial step along the road to harnessing fusion
power. The ultimate goal to produce more energy than the whole experiment consum
es remains a long way off, but the feat has nonetheless raised hopes that after
decades of setbacks, firm progress is finally being made.
Fusion energy has the potential to become a radical alternative power source, wi
th zero carbon emissions during operation and minimal waste, but the technical d
ifficulties in demonstrating fusion in the lab have so far proved overwhelming.
While existing nuclear reactors generate energy by splitting atoms into lighter
particles, fusion reactors combine light atomic nuclei into heavier particles.
In their experiments, researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawre
nce Livermore National Laboratory in California use a bank of 192 powerful laser
s to crush a minuscule amount of fuel so hard and fast that it becomes hotter th
an the sun.
Complex process
The process is not straightforward. The lasers are fired into a gold capsule tha
t holds a 2mm-wide spherical pellet. The fuel is coated on the inside of this pl
astic pellet in a layer as thin as a human hair.
When the laser light enters the gold capsule, it makes the walls of the gold con
tainer emit x-rays, which heat the pellet and make it implode with extraordinary
ferocity. The fuel, a mixture of hydrogen isotopes called tritium and deuterium
, partially fuses under the intense conditions.
The scientists have not generated more energy than the experiment uses in total.
The lasers unleash nearly two megajoules of energy on their target, the equival
ent, roughly, of two standard sticks of dynamite. But only a tiny fraction of th
is reaches the fuel. Writing in Nature , the scientists say fusion reactions in
the fuel released at best 17 kilojoules of energy.
Though slight, the advance is welcome news for the NIF scientists. In 2012, the
project was restructured and given more modest goals after six years of failure
to generate more energy than the experiment consumes, known as ignition.
Results from the NIF facility will help scientists work out how to build a fusio
n reactor, but the centre is funded primarily to help the U.S. understand how it
s stockpile of nuclear weapons is ageing. The experiments help to verify compute
r models that are used in place of nuclear tests, which are now banned.
Omar Hurricane, the lead author of the report, said the latest improvement came
by controlling the implosion of the spherical pellet more carefully. In previous
experiments, the pellet distorted as it was crushed, which seemed to reduce the
efficiency of the process. By squashing the fuel more softly, helium nuclei tha
t are produced in the fusion reactions dump their energy into the fuel, heating
it up even further, and driving a cycle of ever more fusion.
We are finally, by harnessing these reactions, getting more energy out of that re
action than we put into the DT fuel, Mr. Hurricane said. The report appears in th
e journal Nature .
A long way to go
The dream of controlled fusion remains a distant hope, and Mr. Hurricane said it
was too early to say whether it was even possible with the NIF facility. The re
searchers need to get a hundred times more energy from the fusion reactions befo
re the process can run itself, and more for it to deliver an overall surplus of
energy.
Steven Cowley, director of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy near Abingdon in
the U.K., said the study was truly excellent and began to address the core challen
ges of what is known as inertial fusion in the lab. He said the team may need a
bigger laser, or a redesigned capsule that can be squashed more violently withou
t becoming unstable. Livermore should be given plenty of time to develop a better
capsule. We have only just begun to understand the fusion regime, Mr. Cowley sai
d.
The Culham lab has taken a different approach, called magnetic confinement. The e
ngineering milestone is when the whole plant produces more energy than it consum
es, Mr. Cowley said. Guardian Newspapers Limited
Wrong debate on economic inequality
The trouble with blaming economic inequality for many of our economic ills is th
at the theory doesnt fit the facts. The theory (or one popular version) is that g
rowing inequality caused many low and middle-income Americans to over-borrow so
they could keep up with wealthier Americans. This borrowing allegedly led to the
credit bubble and the Great Recession. The recovery has been plodding the theor
y continues because so many strapped households dont earn enough to dig their way
out of debt. A skewed income distribution is at the core of our problems.
Its a seductive argument because hardly anyone champions todays extreme inequality
. But that doesnt settle the issue. As I pointed out in a recent column, blaming
inequality for the credit bubble fails a rudimentary test of logic. Even if most
Americans were aware of growing inequality a decade ago doubtful, because the s
ubject is highly technical and wasnt widely discussed it doesnt follow that they c
ould automatically borrow whatever they wanted. The crucial link between credit
growth and the economic collapse stemmed more from the enthusiasm of lenders tha
n from the eagerness of borrowers.
Now it turns out that the economic evidence doesnt vindicate the theory either. I
ts true that Americans took on more debt in the 2000s. But what isnt true is that
borrowing was driven by growing inequality a need by poorer Americans to keep up
with the Joneses. If this had been the case, cities, counties and states where in
equality was greatest would have experienced the largest increases in debt among
lower-income households. A just-released study from the National Bureau of Econ
omic Research (NBER), a scholarly group, concludes that this didnt happen.
Our main finding is that low-income households in high-inequality regions borrowe
d relatively less than similar households in low-inequality regions, report the e
conomists. If peoples main motive in borrowing was catching up, then debt increases
should have been greatest in areas where there was the most catching up to do.
Just the opposite occurred.
The study NBER working paper 19850 was done by economists Olivier Coibion of the
University of Texas, Marianna Kudlyak of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond,
and Yuriy Gorodnichenko and John Mondragon of the University of California, Berk
eley. They examined household debt, income and inequality on a geographic basis
through several large databases that cover home mortgages, auto loans, student l
oans and credit card debt.
Inequality is highest, they say, in the South, California and the Pacific Northw
est. Its lower in the Midwest. From 2001 to 2008, the debt of low-income borrower
s in areas with less economic inequality rose about 15 percent relative to simil
ar borrowers in areas with higher inequality, the study finds. Lenders lent less
to low-income borrowers in high-inequality areas, the study says, because they
were more skeptical that theyd be repaid.
No one denies Americans recent borrowing binge. But the explanation is not that t
he added loan demand reflected a spontaneous reaction to stagnant living standar
ds that lenders met by providing whatever borrowers wanted. The actual story is
the reverse: Lenders relaxed credit standards, and borrowers took advantage of t
he easier access to loans.
The debate over why credit standards were relaxed was it greed by bankers pursui
ng fees, or misguided government policies promoting home buying, or a false sens
e that the economy was more stable? still rages. It is the right debate, as oppo
sed to a politically convenient focus on inequality. 2014. The Washington Post.
The crucial link between credit growth and the economic collapse stemmed more fr
om the enthusiasm of lenders than from the eagerness of borrowers
Spare honest officers for bona fide mistakes: PM
Even as the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government ordered a probe into allegation
s of irregularities in pricing of natural gas obtained from the KG basin, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh cautioned law enforcement agencies against trivialising
complex policy decisions, stating honest officers should not be harassed for bon
a fide mistakes.
There is need for moderation in the public debate about corruption In the past fe
w years we have been witnessing a very vigorous public debate on matters relatin
g to corruption, with accusations flying thick and fast. While an informed discu
ssion on such matters is certainly desirable, much too often we see a trivialisa
tion of complex public policy issues, Dr. Singh said at the golden jubilee celebr
ations of the Central Vigilance Commission here on Tuesday.
The ultimate aim of any anti-corruption mechanism is to contribute towards improv
ement of the processes of governance and delivery of services. This can happen o
nly when we encourage bold and innovative decision-making.
Reiterating that the CBI enjoyed autonomy, Dr. Singh said the government was wil
ling to do more to insulate the agency from extraneous influences, though with a
caveat that the political executive should exercise oversight over investigatin
g agencies.
President Pranab Mukherjee, who inaugurated the event, recounted that the CVC wa
s constituted by the government through a resolution in 1964 following a debate
in Parliament in 1962. [The] then Home Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri set up a comm
ittee to look into the matter [corruption in public administration] under the ch
airmanship of MP K. Santhanam.
The Santhanam Committee identified four major causes: administrative delays; gov
ernment taking upon itself more than what it could manage by way of regulatory f
unctions; scope for personal discretion in exercise of powers vested in governme
nt servants; and cumbersome procedures in dealing with matters of importance to
citizens in their daily affairs.
The sad reality is that none of these problems have gone away, said the President,
listing the anti-corruption measures taken over the years by the legislature, th
e executive and the judiciary. We have all been witness to the huge public outcry
over corruption in recent times. The air is thick with despair and cynicism the
fact that corruption has proved to be intractable should not make us lose confi
dence in our abilities to address this problem. He said efforts should be redoubl
ed on a war-footing to address the issue.
The President emphasised the role of civil society and the media, especially the
new media, as initiators of positive change as well as force multipliers in the f
ight against corruption.
Keywords: Central Vigilance Commission, CVC golden jubilee, bona fide mistakes
Over $100 bn in revenue but sector battles evolutionary challenges
A glance at this years agenda of the National Association of Software and Service
s Companies (Nasscom)s Leadership Forum will tell you the information technology
(IT) sector is crying for change.
The first session after the inaugural one was on data analytics and the next on
entrepreneurship. The former is part of the emerging technologies, known as SMAC
(social media, mobility, analytics and cloud), that have consumed the chiefs of
companies in the sector as they try to regain their entrepreneurial spirit amid
economic challenges. Top on their minds is to prepare a sustainable blueprint f
or the future of the sector clocking over $100 billion in revenue annually.
For the next financial year, the sector is expected to add $15-17 billion of inc
remental revenue, growing at 13-15 per cent. Though that signals robust growth o
ver the year, the consensus among chief executives and experts is that after dec
ades of capitalising on the lower costs and cheaper labour in the country, the s
ector needs to alter its business model. Staring at it are challenges ranging fr
om new technologies such as SMAC, saturation of traditional IT spending, regulat
ory hurdles for offshoring and rise of artificial intelligence. The latter will
further dent the labour advantage enjoyed by India.
India will have to change its game if it has to maintain its dominance in the tec
hnology field, said Gary Matzusak, global chairman (technology, media and communi
cations) at auditor and consultant KPMG. Historically, IT services have been Ind
ias sweet spot; now, countries such as China have started rising in this area, he
added.
According to a report by KPMG, Indias IT and business process outsourcing sector
will have to depend on innovation to achieve its projected growth of $300 billio
n by 2020. Creating, managing and monetising intellectual property (IP) is expec
ted to drive the industry in the coming decade. According to various reports, In
dian IT firms spend around only around two per cent of their total revenues on r
esearch and development (R&D) against seven-eight percent by North American comp
anies.
Pradeep Udhas, head (IT and IT-enabled services), KPMG India, said: It is a Catch
-22 situation. Most Indian IT companies are listed and the markets expect a certa
in level of profits. If the companies invest towards innovation and in turn repor
t lower profits, the markets dont realise the long-term perspective and react neg
atively.
Of the top 500 companies globally by R&D spending, 228 have centres in India, sh
ows a study by consultant Zinnov. But investment by Indian-origin companies on r
esearch remains minuscule. Indias largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy S
ervices, spent Rs 777 crore last financial year on R&D against Rs 603 crore in t
he previous year, while Infosys spent Rs 913 crore last financial year against R
s 660 crore in 2011-12. As a percentage of total revenue, it is only 1.23 per ce
nt for TCS and 2.5 per cent for Infosys.
To be fair to the companies, TCS is considered a frontrunner in identifying tech
nologies of the future. Infosys is reportedly considering hiving off its product
s division and Cognizant has already reported revenue of $500 million from SMAC.
Wipro chief T K Kurien said on Wednesday the company had invested in two techno
logy start-ups. There is innovation capability lying outside the organisation and
there is a need to invest in the same, he said.
However, experts argued if these companies have to move up the value chain, they
will have to innovate more. Cognizants executive vice-president of strategy and
marketing, Malcolm Frank, agrees but says the dominant sector view that the trad
itional delivery model is no more relevant is spurious and there are still a lot o
f underserved markets in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
However, SMAC does provide a lot of opportunities for intellectual property crea
tion, he adds. Moreover, the spread of automation technology tools with robotics
replacing the need for humans is further threatening Indias traditional business
model, heavily dependent on people.
Chip Wagner, chief executive of outsourcing consultant Alsbridge, said autonomic
s or automation of labour is the oncoming wave. We are already seeing a 20-30 per
cent downward swing in pricing in contracts where autonomics is at play. But it
is just scratching the surface right now, he added. Most Indian IT players are a
lready toying with the idea. TCS chief N Chandrasekaran said use of artificial i
ntelligence is still internal but the company could look at tie-ups in the future.
What the sector needs is to take stock of the situation, C P Gurnani, chief of T
ech Mahindra, told a TV channel recently. The sector needs to move to the next l
evel quickly, he added. The disruptive forces are not going to sit idle for long.
On the sidelines
TCS digital shift
The sectors digital shift is posing a challenge for Tata Consultancy Services. It
is hiring 55,000 in the current financial year, including 25,000 freshers. And,
it has 300,000 people already on its rolls in 55 countries. Ajoy Mukherjee, glo
bal head and vice-president (human resources), said, The sector is too dynamic in
technology, business model and domain. So, we need to continuously build skills
. After digitisation, the leadership has to be prepared for such skills. Though M
ukherjee said wages would be raised in April, he did not reveal by how much.
English Vinglish
Taking a cue from the innovation theme of this years Nasscom Leadership Forum, th
eres hardly any senior without a take on how to move up the value chain. But few
seem to have a clue on what actually needs to be done. One at a large-cap firm t
alked of cloudification, wisecracking that nobody was stopping Indians from at lea
st innovating English with neologisms.
The worlds way
Nasscom has been trying to invite professionals from other fields to learn somet
hing from their experiences. Speaking on excellence and ambition, Indian cricket
commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle said it was important to know what one
was playing for. He said the world had a nice way of rewarding those who excel
despite odds, instead of those who have set their eyes on the reward for their e
xcellence.
Economic governance needs a lighter touch
There is much lamentation in India about the lack of governance in general, and
about poor economic governance in particular. It is important to place things in
context as we try to evaluate how we have fared in this regard.1
Economic governance cannot be disassociated from political governance. In his 19
89 essay, Francis Fukuyama argued that while there might be many competing forms
of social and political organisation, none could claim to be superior or more d
urable than the idea of a liberal democracy. He went further to make the case th
at liberal democracy works better with, and is bolstered by, free markets. Since
then the global economy has suffered the Asian financial crises of 1997 and the
so-called global financial crisis of 2008. This has reignited the debate about
the role of markets, their efficacy, and their contribution to growing inequalit
y. In parallel, the world has seen the spectacular economic success of the Chine
se model of state capitalism. Was Fukuyama not premature in declaring the "End o
f History"?
Turning to India, let us first ask the question: are we a successful democracy?
Whether it is life expectancy, health, nutrition, poverty or any other metric, I
ndia has not delivered as effectively as China. Does this mean that Indian democ
racy has failed? If China, without a free political system, can deliver substant
ially greater economic prosperity than India, does this mean that democracy has
not been good for India? This line of reasoning may be logical, but it is troubl
esome. Our notion of what is good for our society must surely be anchored in som
e moral and philosophical value system, one in which we as Indians attach value
to freedom of choice. In fact, the importance of being able to choose who govern
s us cannot be measured. The success or failure of governance in India cannot an
d must not be gauged only in terms of our economic performance. Such an evaluati
on must also take into account what else we have achieved.
What is the record of political governance in India? At the time we became a rep
ublic, the probability that most ascribed to India surviving as a democracy was
close to zero. Recent empirical research using data on emerging democracies sugg
ests that the wealthier the country at the time of "democratisation", the likeli
er it is to survive as a democracy. India has proven to be quite the exception.
We had the lowest per capita income of any democracy at the time we embarked on
our political journey. That we remain a vibrant democracy with the largest elect
orate in the world today is a remarkable achievement.
It is incontestable that Indian democracy has become more representative over ti
me. Scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes comprise some 6
5 to 70 per cent of the population. The influence and participation of these his
torically disadvantaged communities in decision-making today is dramatically gre
ater than before we got universal suffrage. For a society that has been burdened
for centuries by the insufferable rigidities of the caste system, this would co
unt as a significant success.
From a sociological perspective, social equality and dignity are equally, if not
more, important than economic equality. We may not have been as successful as m
any would wish in delivering economic equality, but we have surely made material
progress in delivering greater respect and recognition for the socially oppress
ed, even though we still have much further to go in this regard.
Thus, our political system may appear dysfunctional and corroded by corruption,
but it has actually delivered quite robustly on political governance in the sens
e that it has greatly enhanced the representation of, participation by, and dign
ity for, disadvantaged segments of our society.2
Now let us come to the question of economic governance. Although we started our
post-Independence political journey wholeheartedly embracing liberal democracy,
we did not start our economic journey with the same enthusiasm for markets. On t
he economic front, we started with the so-called "mixed economy" model. During t
he first 45 years after Independence, we created a most elaborate system for man
aging and administering the economy, one that relied very much on state interven
tion. Over the years, our bureaucracy and judiciary became conditioned to that w
ay of functioning. As a result since we started the economic reform process in 1
991, we have not been very successful in changing the paradigm of state engageme
nt with the private sector from how it was in the era of "command and control" t
o what it should be in the era of deregulated markets.
Twenty years after "liberalisation" the extent of state participation in the eco
nomy remains stubbornly large. For example, the share of public sector undertaki
ngs (PSUs) in the combined sales revenues of all listed companies actually rose
from 41 per cent in 2003 to 43 per cent in 2013. In infrastructure, the entire e
lectricity supply chain, with the exception of generation, remains dominated by
government companies. In agriculture, the pricing of sugar, the procurement and
exports of food grains, the marketing of agricultural commodities, are all still
subject to pervasive state controls. The state continues to play an invasive ro
le in land markets and PSU institutions still account for more than three-quarte
rs financial sector assets. This widespread government participation in economic
activity has been used to pursue the state's political agenda in a manner that
has distorted markets and undermined economic governance. Directed lending to ag
riculture from PSU banks, free electricity through state electricity boards, sub
sidised petroleum products through the oil distribution companies are but some e
xamples.
Being in a half-way house where the state is reluctant to give up economic space
and the private sector is eager and anxious for more space has made effective b
usiness regulation difficult. An effective regulator must be independent and aut
onomous. But in an economy where the state itself competes with the private sect
or, how does one ensure that the regulator is independent? Our country is replet
e with examples of sectors where we have an inherent conflict with the governmen
t competing with the private sector while also playing regulator. With a few not
able exceptions, regulators such as the state electricity regulators, are typica
lly retired civil servants that act largely to protect the political interests o
f the governments that appoint them.
As elsewhere, economic policy in India is hugely influenced by special interest
groups. But in part, because of the widespread footprint of government in econom
ic activity, lobbying has deteriorated into "crony capitalism". While our politi
cs has become more fiercely contested over time, increasing fragmentation of pol
itical power has made the Centre-state dynamic harder to harness in service of e
conomic reforms of national importance, and pressures of coalition politics have
contributed to greater populism in economic policy-making.
That economic decision-making in our country is heavily politicised may not be g
ood from an economist's perspective of delivering optimum economic outcomes. But
this is in a sense the price we pay for democracy, the value of which cannot be
measured in economic terms. The bottom line is that we cannot improve our econo
mic governance by wishing away its underlying political drivers. To improve the
quality of our economic management our bureaucracy particularly, but also our ju
diciary and other institutions, must evolve to higher levels of sophistication,
competence and autonomy such that they facilitate, regulate and adjudicate econo
mic activity, rather than supervise it or participate in it.
Revival of a failed idea
A visitor to the Indian Capital, feeding mostly off television news and the buzz
on the streets, is likely to come to two conclusions about the 2014 general ele
ction. That the Bharatiya Janata Partys Narendra Modi and the Congresss Rahul Gand
hi will face off in a gladiatorial prime-ministerial contest. And that just mayb
e, the two will be given a run for their money, muscle and marketing by the newe
st sensation in the political bazaar the Aam Aadmi Partys Arvind Kejriwal.
The irony is: Together, the BJP and the Congress have suzerainty over only a fou
rth of a total of 38 recognised political parties that have a presence in the cu
rrent Lok Sabha. The AAP, for all the raucous attention it has gathered, is not
even a factor in the lower House.
For the first time since 1998, the BJP and the Congress will each go into a gene
ral election with a coalition that would be hard to recognise as one. The Nation
al Democratic Alliance (NDA) which touched a peak of 22 constituents under Atal
Bihari Vajpayee is a rump today. Mr. Modis arrival hastened the NDAs fragmentation
though recently there has been some consolidation with the Marumalarchi Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) already on board and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) expe
cted to follow suit. There could be a few more small conquests but not enough to
return the NDA to its previous glory.
The once formidable United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has unspooled into a ricke
ty, unsure five-member coalition. The Congresss two largest allies, the Nationali
st Congress Party and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, have eight and
three Lok Sabha seats respectively, but this has not stopped them from getting a
ggressive with the senior. The partys probable new allies, the Rashtriya Janata D
al and the Lok Jan Shakti Party, are themselves fighting comeback battles.
Furthering national ambitions
So two months to the election, the biggest newsmakers are two almost non-existen
t coalitions and one energetic, live-wire of a party that has thrown away its on
ly government in the city-state of Delhi. Nonetheless, the trio have got discuss
ed and dissed, trashed and backed as if there was no world outside of their proc
lamations and protestations.
In truth, the largest number of political parties, representing a diverse range
of interests, exist outside the command areas of the two biggies and the bright
young rebel. Last year, 14 of them came together on a non-Congress, non-BJP plat
form. More recently, there has been some indication of a revival of the third alt
ernative. The news has attracted weary disinterest but for one matter: Will the n
ew bloc nominate J. Jayalalithaa for Prime Minister? Unsurprisingly, the questio
n irritated the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. In a hard-to-miss snub intended at Mr
. Modi, she said it was futile for any party to announce a prime ministerial can
didate without knowing the shape of the new Lok Sabha.
She is right. Technically, all 38 parties in the current Lok Sabha, and even tho
se with no Lok Sabha seat, can nominate their own prime ministerial candidates.
A gaggle of 38 or more self-declared PM-aspirants will be comical, of course. Bu
t the unlikely eventuality would also reflect an inescapable political reality:
Every regional satrap, from Ms Jayalalithaa through Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yada
v, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik and Nitish Kumar, is today a shadow Prime Min
ister in his or her own perception.
In fact, the larger national ambition of these leaders is one reason why the thir
d alternative idea has resurfaced. Any political leader who is part of either the
NDA or the UPA is automatically ruled out for the top executives post. Mr. Modis
sectarian image is not the only roadblock against the NDAs expansion. His being n
amed the coalitions prime ministerial candidate is itself a deterrent against sig
nificant additions to it. The case of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhag
am (AIADMK) illustrates this. The AIADMK was considered a sure bet for inclusion
in the NDA. The process was halted by Mr. Modis emergence as PM-in-waiting. Why
should Ms Jayalalithaa or for that matter any of the other regional leaders, for
eclose his or her own prime ministerial possibility by peremptorily accepting Mr
. Modis leadership? From a regional perspective, the presumptive NaMo versus Rahul
projection, so favoured by pundits, could seem an insult to Indias federal spirit
and diversity.
And yet the very ambition that makes the third alternative a seasonal election-eve
occurrence also robs it of its credibility and renders it unattractive compared
to two other options that have caught the electorates imagination this season: M
r. Modi himself and the phenomenal AAP. For a media in search of revenue-spinnin
g news, Mr. Modi and Mr. Kejriwal are obviously better TRP-pullers than a recycl
ed third plank spouting the virtues of secularism even as its members freely changed
sides.
Metaphor for change
Mr. Modi and Mr. Kejriwal have each become a metaphor for change in an environme
nt sullied by political corruption and opportunism. Confronted with the problem
of leading a near-defunct NDA, Mr. Modis strategists came up with mission 272+ a se
at maximising project focussed on the Gujarat model. However, Mr. Kejriwals arriv
al, broomstick in hand, forced a change in the script. In the face of the AAPs ob
sessive, dramatic and hugely impactful clean-up campaign, Mr. Modi could hardly
sell development as if untouched by corruption. The BJPs own unedifying record on
corruption, and niggling questions around corporate support for the Gujarat mod
el, made Mr. Modis task that much more difficult.
The Gujarat Chief Minister has circumvented the challenge by a mix of strategies
, among them assuming the avatar of the macho man, standing head and shoulders abo
ve his own party. Mr. Modi has also made the most of his humble tea-boy origins, s
eizing gleefully upon a fatal faux pas made by the Congresss Mani Shankar Aiyar i
n this regard. The tea-boy redefinition has opened new vistas, and helped Mr. Modi
attempt an identification with the Hindi- belt poor which he could not do as an
interloper from Gujarat. Which poor person will not bask in the reflected glory
of a tea-boy reaching the pinnacle of power as Prime Minister?
Mr. Modi has since opened a line to the OBC castes citing his own OBC antecedent
s and kept the Hindutva flame burning via trusted aide Amit Shahs calibrated refe
rences to the Ram mandir and covert backing of ground-level communal animosities
. So, Mr. Modi is now a poor tea-boy of OBC origins, endowed with a 56-inch ches
t, and a frame large enough to stand between India and its problems. In this tow
ering nationalist incarnation, he will deliver development as he will the Ram ma
ndir. Given this all inclusive package, who will the poor, the OBCs and upper ca
ste Hindus vote for?
The Gujarat Chief Ministers protective giant is the polar opposite of Mr. Kejriwa
ls ubiquitous, small man. The fact that he is running for Prime Minister means th
at Mr. Modi wants power. The AAP conveners catchline, on the other hand, is power
to you, not me. When Mr. Kejriwal said he will throw his government for the Jan L
okpal legislation, he meant it because his calling card is his detachment from p
ower. Many of the AAPs ideas are problematic. Its treatment of politics is simpli
stic, positing those on the side of governance as an undifferentiated evil and t
hose outside of it as a pure, virtuous monolith. Yet, thanks to popular disillus
ionment with todays politics, the AAP comes off sounding earnest even when it say
s the most outlandish thing. Of course, the AAP is a very small player. The larg
er point is that there is excitement around both Mr. Modi and Mr. Kejriwal, with
both being seen as change agents and for that reason sharing common voters.
Against this backdrop, it is no surprise that the third alternative seems so much
like the re-enactment of a failed idea whose objective was and is to unite for p
ower. A fundamental problem with the grouping is that it is not a structural, in
terdependent alliance whose members can enhance each others seat-gaining potentia
l. Mr. Nitish Kumar is of no relevance in Odisha and Mr. Patnaik is of no releva
nce in Tamil Nadu. So, the third alternative will really kick in only after the el
ection. But it is anybodys guess what happens then. In the absence of a binding s
tructural relationship, members can go where they please: to the NDA, to the UPA
or to a coalition of their own.
Even should the third alternative get the largest tally of seats, it is unlikely t
o be able to form a government of its own. Except in 1977, when the Jan Sangh me
rged into the Janata Party, there has never been an Indian Lok Sabha where the n
on-Congress, non-BJP/Jan Sangh parties had a majority. This has meant a critical
dependence on the BJP or the Congress for any third plank government. The BJP sup
ported the 1989 V.P. Singh government and the Congress propped up the 1979 Chara
n Singh government, the 1990 Chandra Shekhar government and the 1996 United Fron
t government.
The Congress pulled down two governments and forced a third to quit. The BJP did
the same with the V.P. Singh regime a history that makes the third alternative ev
en less of an alternative.
vidya.s@thehindu.co.in
The third space in Indian politics is the largest and the most diverse, and yet
the third alternative has remained an unfulfilled experiment
WPI inflation falls to eight-month low
Indias wholesale price-based inflation eased to an eight-month low in January as
food prices moderated, offering some relief to policymakers who have long battle
d to get a handle on surging prices.
The wholesale price index, regarded as the main inflation measure, rose 5.05 per
cent last month, data showed on Friday, compared with a 5.80 per cent jump fore
cast by economists in a Reuters poll.
But in a worry for Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, core WPI infla
tion inched up to 3 per cent last month, which analysts said was its highest lev
el since April 2013.
Fridays data will offer some relief to the Congress after opinion polls predicted
major losses for the ruling party, in part for sagging economic activity and it
s failure to control inflation.
Reuters
Only one word: decentralisation
The year was 1967 and the US economy and polity were on the cusp of change. Tech
nological change was happening, civil rights for blacks would soon begin to be a
reality, the womens movement was gaining momentum, the anti-war movement was on
the verge of take-off; and social attitudes towards sex, marriage and life were
soon to be permanently altered. On the screens appeared Mike Nichols movie The Gr
aduate, easily one of the classiest movies of all time. (His first movie was Whos
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). In that movie, there is one exchange that still res
onates today, and with the same shock, and urgency, and prophecy. The exchange i
s between a very young man, Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman), who is being advised abou
t his and the countrys future by an elderly businessman Mr McGuire (with whose wi
fe and daughter Benjamin has an affair).
Mr McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?
The year is 2014, and India, analogous to the US in 1967, may be on the cusp of
a major change politically, economically and socially. The most important one wo
rd in India might just be: decentralisation.
As Benjamin asked, exactly what do I mean? The following.
It is hard to imagine anyone in India not arguing for increased power to the peop
le. The AAPs surprise victory in the Delhi elections is just the latest proof of t
his demand for change sweeping across the world. Change being brought about beca
use the ruling order (politicians or otherwise) talks, without actually speaking
, and hears, without actually listening.
Of course, decentralisation can be taken to an extreme. In Delhi, the AAP demand
s that not only economic decisions but also foreign policy decisions be taken by
the people. One can demur on that as one can demur on, consistent with the AAP th
eology, that Khaap panchayats can take a vote on censuring what women can do, we
ar, or say. So what do I mean by decentralisation?
I mean economic decentralisation, and power to the states. Some start in this di
rection has already been taken by the Congress-led UPA government (one of the fe
w correct decisions they took in the last 10 years). When FDI in retail was allo
wed, it was with the condition that each state would have the right to allow, or
not allow, FDI in retail. The same logic needs to be followed across the board
on most economic decisions.
For starters, a new state rights law can be passed that stipulates that all Centra
l government expenditures pertaining to poverty alleviation would be decided upo
n by individual states. At present, around Rs 480,000 crore, slightly above 4 pe
r cent of GDP, is spent on subsidies pertaining to food, fuel, fertiliser, keros
ene, LPG, mid-day meals and employment guarantee schemes. That is around Rs 4,00
0 per person and around Rs 20,000 per poor person. These subsidies are decided u
pon by the Central government, and in the last 10 years, by the theology of Soni
anomics.
Given regional inequalities, we need to decide how this money is to be divided a
mong the states. The Planning Commission has its methods, the Finance Commission
has its calculations, and even the finance ministry has chipped in with its own
(somewhat shaky) recommendations. Arriving at which state obtains how much is s
omething a few rigorously tested quasi-academic studies can easily, and quickly,
establish.
The first policy change will be, should be, that there are no more Centrally spo
nsored schemes, let alone any in-the-name-of-the-poor corrupt adventures. There
will be the immediate benefit of the removal of politically inspired names (the
Nehru this and the Gandhi that) for schemes meant to primarily help the poor. Th
e states will be able to do what they wish with this money. Bihar should be able
to obtain at least Rs 60,000 crore (out of total subsidies of Rs 480,000 crore)
to spend as it wishes. At present, Bihars total budget is around Rs 100,000 cror
e, with non-Plan expenditures around Rs 50,000 crore. The allocated Bihar budget
for Centrally sponsored schemes (like MGNREGA) is only Rs 5,000 crore.
If Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wants to spend this money on bicycles, computers
and mobiles for girls (but beware of khaaps!), he would have every right to do s
o. Alternatively, Nitish would have the right to spend this money on schools, ho
spitals, or for digging underneath every temple in Bihar to look for gold, as Ut
tar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav may also do. And alternatively, yet ag
ain like Akhilesh, Nitish might choose to take MPs on a fact- and gold-finding t
rip to Australia.
What will Nitish have to do in exchange? Short of not violating national laws, n
othing. But he would have to agree to the following. His government would have t
he right to come up with new labour laws, which can be even more retrogressive t
han our existing 19th century laws, or with progressive laws that benefit his Bi
har economy.
He would have the right to make a decision on what property tax rates to set, wh
at fuel subsidies to allow, and whether to have caste reservations. His state ca
n follow affirmative action policies (as his policy in benefiting the girl child
), or he can increase caste reservations to 67 per cent of the population (as in
Tamil Nadu). The half-pregnancy Supreme Court ruling on reservations (no more t
han 50 per cent allowed, as if people can be divided into halves) will be ruled
unconstitutional, hopefully by the SC itself. If not, the people, through a refe
rendum, can demand that there be a new constitutional commission, provided a two
-thirds vote is obtained.
The costs of implementing new states rights are negative, that is, they are bene
fits. Let us assume that Nitish actually looks for gold. The citizens of Bihar w
ill vote with their feet. Either they will leave Bihar for greener pastures, or
they will kick him out. There are no costs involved in moving towards a more fed
eralist structure called the United States of India only benefits.
The writer is chairman of Oxus Investments, an emerging market advisory firm, an
d a senior advisor to Zyfin Research, a leading financial information company.
Will India Join Chinas Maritime Silk Road?
India is apparently ready to join Chinas grand ambition to construct a maritime s
ilk road linking the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans according to a Pres
s Trust of India report from Beijing on Friday evening.
Seriously! The outgoing UPA government might have a hard time selling the idea t
o the Indian strategic establishment that has long been wary of Chinese navys ris
ing naval profile in the Indian Ocean and viewed with much suspicion Chinese con
struction of port infrastructure in Pakistan (Gwadar) and Sri Lanka (Hambantota)
.
The PTI report cited Chinese officials to say that Beijing extended the offer to
India in the just concluded round of talks in Delhi between the Special Represe
ntatives of the two countries, Indias National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon
and the Chinese State Councillor.
Although there has been no word yet from the Indian side, the idea of a maritime
silk road has been right up the Chinese President Xi Jinpings foreign and security
policy agenda. Like most great powers in the past and as one of the worlds great
est trading nations China wants to be great maritime nation.
Xis predecessor, Hu Jintao put the idea of Beijings maritime destiny at the centre o
f Chinese grand strategy in the 21st century and oversaw the dramatic expansion
of the PLA Navy. Hus naval assertion, however, frightened Beijings neighbours, fro
m Japan to India through the Association of South East Asian Nations and increas
ed maritime tensions in Asias waters.
Xi is now trying to promote a broader framework to make Chinas naval rise less th
reatening. Central to Xis strategy has been extension of the Silk Road concept that
has largely been discussed in relation to Chinas policy towards Central and Inne
r Asian regions to the maritime domain.
During a visit to South East Asia last October, Xi articulated the concept of th
e maritime silk road and insisted that the region could gain from expanded maritim
e cooperation with China. In January this year, Xi proposed the maritime Silk Ro
ad project to a senior delegation from the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Cou
ncil.
This week, the idea came up in the discussions between the Sri Lankan foreign mi
nister G.M Peiris and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing. According to r
eport issued by the official Xinhua agency, Sri Lanka response was enthusiastic.
Beijing and Colombo now hope to build their maritime cooperation in a variety o
f areas ranging from connectivity to fisheries and environmental protection.
From the Chinese perspective, it was smart move to invite India to join the mari
time Silk Road project. But Delhi is likely to be torn between two competing ide
asone is working together with China in the maritime domain and the other is the
long-standing goal of limiting Beijings influence in the Indian Ocean. If the onu
s of rejection is on India, the last word on this is unlikely to come from the U
PA government.
(The writer is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Delhi
and a contributing editor for The Indian Express)
Barack Obama and deterring China
In my last column, I argued that to ensure China chooses the "trading state" str
ategy as it rises geopolitically, rather than one based on aggression, it was im
perative that the United States, as the sole superpower, follow a policy of dete
rrence. As Stanford University's classical historian Victor Davis Hanson, who ha
s been surveying the parallels between the earlier rise of Germany and Japan, ha
s succinctly observed, wars with rising powers are caused by an absence of deter
rence, which "encourages adventurism, as aggressive powers are unsure of their r
elative strength (or the will to use it) of their rivals and thus believe they m
ight gain an advantage by risking or even inviting war. War, then, becomes a lit
mus test for verifying which nations or alliance of nations were the most powerf
ul all along. Peace returns when such clarity is re-established, as the weaker,
defeated party accepts post-war subordination".1 Has US President Barack Obama l
earned the lesson of deterrence of rising powers to avoid the litmus test of war
?
Prima facie it seems so, with the recent toughening of the US' stance on China's
territorial claims in the South China Sea, and its warning that it could move m
ore forces into the Western Pacific if China declares a new air defence zone in
the South China Sea. But how seriously is China likely to take these protestatio
ns against its testing of the US' resolve in maintaining its military superiorit
y in the Pacific, and honouring its treaty obligations?
Under both George W Bush and Mr Obama, the US has made some serious mistakes in
maintaining the US' role as the sole superpower. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, t
he initial military campaigns were resoundingly successful and showed how, with
the revolution in military affairs, the US is an unmatched military power. But s
erious mistakes were made in maintaining and securing the peace. The resultant i
nsurgencies required further expenditure of men and materiel to quell them. This
has drastically reduced domestic support in the US for muscular military action
.
But the quelling of the insurgencies by the respective military "surges" in the
two countries that should have been followed by maintaining some residual US for
ce to exercise continuing American influence in the two countries has been belie
d by Mr Obama's haste in withdrawing troops from Iraq without an agreement as pl
anned by the Bush administration. This could have acted as guarantor of a multie
thnic state. Instead, Iraq has again descended into a civil war, which - with th
e ongoing conflict in Syria (where Mr Obama's "red lines" turned out to be writt
en in water) - is threatening to create a Shia-versus-Sunni civil war across Wes
t Asia, foretelling another battle of Karbala. While in Afghanistan, Robert Gate
s, former secretary of defence, in his recent memoir said this about Mr Obama's
professed strategy: "The president doesn't consider the war to be his. For him i
t's all about getting out."
Added to these perceptions about Mr Obama's credibility in maintaining a robust
military stance are the various other missteps, such as withdrawing the missile
shield aimed at Iran under Russian pressure without getting anything in return;
"leading from behind" in Libya; the shilly-shallying on Egypt; the dilution of t
he "red line" on the Iranian nuclear bomb. Clearly it would not be unreasonable
for the Chinese to deduce that the US is unlikely to use its superior military p
ower to check their ambitions in the Pacific.
In fact, Mr Hanson sees in these seeming US foreign policy misadventures under M
r Obama a hidden strategic Obama Doctrine. It is a gradual retreat from the US s
uperpower role, with the resulting vacuum filled by regional powers. "The curren
t global maladies - Islamist terrorism, Middle Eastern tensions, Chinese muscle-
flexing, Russian obstructionism, resurgence of Communist autocracy in Latin Amer
ica - will fade once the US lowers its profile and keeps out of other nation's b
usiness." But this withdrawal is to be accompanied "by the semblance of power. T
hat is rhetoric, loud deadlines and red lines, and drones can for now approximat
e the old US presence, as America insidiously abandons its 70-year role as archi
tect of a global system that brought the world unprecedented security and prospe
rity. "'No option is off the table' tells most foreign leaders that probably no
option ever was on it."2 This retreat into isolationism also fits the current US
popular mood: weary of war and still suffering from the consequences of the Gre
at Recession, in an eerie replay of the interwar years.
What can India do in this increasingly dangerous world? First, it must return fr
om its current stagflation to the robust growth its fundamentals allow. Second,
it must maintain its current naval edge over China, while shoring up its norther
n defences. Third, it must continue with Manmohan Singh's "Look East" foreign po
licy, and seek to build a coalition against Chinese assertiveness with Japan, Ru
ssia, Australia and - hopefully - Iran. Fourth, following the British example in
countering Wilhelmine Germany's rise, nothing would send a stronger signal to c
ontain China's hubris-fuelled drive for global hegemony than an Indian rapproche
ment with Pakistan.
Whether this will be possible - even though the current stars are maybe favourab
ly aligned - will ultimately depend on the Pakistan military realising that thou
gh India may be its enduring enemy, a rapprochement with India offers the route
to prevent it from becoming a vassal of China in its age-old imperial tradition.
But, despite the growing signs of American isolationism, its superior economic a
nd military power must not be written off. Mr Obama seems more and more to resem
ble a Democratic predecessor, Jimmy Carter, who followed another period of war-w
eariness after the Vietnam War. I was in Washington when the Soviets marched int
o Afghanistan; Mr Carter's prime-time broadcast is seared into my memory. There
was the ashen-faced president of the US - the defender of the free world - sayin
g he had been assured by the Soviet president that they would not go into Afghan
istan!
But a great virtue of the US political system is that a limp Jimmy Carter was so
on followed by a robust Ronald Reagan, who restored the US' superpower status. G
iven that the US still has all the means to remain a superpower, it would be a s
erious error for its competitors to believe that there will be no turn in the po
litical wheel, which brings a more assertive administration to power to restore
its superpower status, recognising that deterring rising revanchist powers is es
sential to maintain peace.
Failing the smell test
Such is the general preoccupation with domestic issues, economic and political,
that even business people are mostly unaware of how much the rest of the world's
(especially American) perceptions of India have changed in the last couple of y
ears - in particular, its loss of attractiveness as a place for doing business.
This is not because of one or other isolated issue; rather, it is a range of iss
ues that have come to sour the international business mood - from policies that
mandate local sourcing to massive tax disputes, from the violation of intellectu
al property rights to poor quality regulation, and from delayed and/or arbitrary
government decision making to (yes) widespread corruption.
Each time an issue has erupted, India has scrambled to address it, but usually n
ot fully. It has modified and limited some (not all) local sourcing requirements
, and it has pushed back some contentious tax changes or simply dropped them. On
other issues (as with the compulsory licensing of drugs, ignoring the patent ho
lder), it has argued that it is within its rights, in this case under the agreem
ent on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). While that
is true, the fact is that India has begun to fail the smell test at just the ti
me when its plunging growth rates have made it a less attractive market. As the
finance minister said not long ago, many of the complaints would disappear if In
dia could show eight per cent economic growth (which is one reason why you don't
hear loud complaints about China's many infractions). The unhappy fact, though,
is that eight per cent is not on our horizon, so the complaints have got more v
ociferous. Indeed, they were aired on Thursday at a special hearing mandated by
the US Congress (the third in a year!), where the once overwhelmingly pro-India
mood began to moderate after the perceived failure to pass domestic liability le
gislation that would facilitate US companies getting orders for nuclear power eq
uipment. If India does not heed the warning signs, some real damage could be don
e.
What has caused more heartburn than anything else are the tax disputes. A recent
report said that tax disputes over transfer pricing in India accounted for a ma
ssive 70 per cent of the global total, by number of cases, with the tax demands
under this category totalling a staggering Rs 70,000 crore for just one year (20
12-13). In comparison, the report by the Indian Council for Research on Internat
ional Economic Relations said, the US had only six pending cases, while places l
ike Germany and Singapore had none. The companies India has targeted have marque
e names that resonate around the world - IBM and Nokia, Vodafone and Shell. It i
s no one's case that international businesses don't play clever tax games, but I
ndian tax officials have acquired a reputation for the most aggressive interpret
ation of the rules, a hostile attitude to the taxpayer (sounds familiar, doesn't
it?), and the lengthiest dispute settlement procedures anywhere.
The irony is that, often enough, India has a case to make, or an equally valid c
ounter-complaint; but ham-handed overreach gives the other side the opportunity
to demonise Indian actions, and put the country on the defensive. For instance,
the same US tech companies that complain about India's rules on local content ha
ve lobbied in Washington to impose visa rules that put Indian software companies
at a disadvantage - ie protectionism through immigration rules. Also, Indian co
mpanies with operations in the US pay about a billion dollars each year as socia
l security benefits to employees who do not stay in the US long enough to enjoy
any social security. The US has done "totalisation" agreements with other countr
ies to take care of the issue, but won't do it with India. As things stand, thou
gh, such issues are on the back burner, while the heat is turned on India.
Structural woes ail manufacturing
Manufacturing activity, required for boosting employment and perking up economic
growth, has taken a hit due to structural issues such as low returns on investm
ent and infrastructure bottlenecks, say economists.
"There is adequate amount of investment, but the return on investment is poor an
d that is a problem," said Anis Chakravarty, senior director at Deloitte India.
He blamed the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tight monetary stance for raising bo
rrowing costs and said the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment is the wor
st hit.
RBI has refused to go by industry's demand to cut the repo rate time and again.
In its policy review last month, it raised the rate by 25 basis points while mar
kets had expected a status quo.
Pronab Sen, chairman of the National Statistical Commission, said: "A lot of pr
ojects are operating at sub-optimal level and there are other supply-side issues
as well. Once those constraints are removed, we will get back to the growth tra
ck."
Pointing out to the paradigm shift in growth cycle, Abheek Barua, chief economis
t at HDFC Bank, said: "In the early 2000s, services was the sector which led to
expansion, now the burden has fallen on the manufacturing sector to push this cy
cle."
Barua said infrastructure issues have hit the sector the most. Lack of adequate
supply of infrastructure facilities such as road and power has led to usage of m
ore capital in order to produce a single unit of output, he pointed out.
Earlier, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, had said that although the
investment rate is still high, a lower incremental capital output ratio (ICOR) -
the number of units required to produce a single unit of output for the economy
- could have given a healthier growth. "Because investment rate is still high,
ICOR of four could very easily have given 7-7.5 per cent economic growth. Delay
in completion of projects was responsible for slowing of manufacturing growth,"
Rangarajan had said.
The ICOR for the Indian economy stands at 5.8 for 2013-14, according to the adva
nce estimates. Historic data suggests when India's GDP grew around nine per cent
, the ICOR stood at around four.
According to some analysts, merchandise exports have to be pushed up to spur eco
nomic growth.
"One of the solutions to boost the (manufacturing) sector is through exports," s
aid Chakravarty.
Barua said with the emergence of quality issues in sectors such as pharmaceutica
ls, regulatory barriers have hit exports in this area, which was quite predomina
nt before the global crisis of 2008.
Even as advance economies are showing signs of recovery, India's exports grew ju
st in single digit for three consecutive months - November, December and January
.
US economy, one of India's largest trading partners, clocked 4.1 per cent and 3.
2 per cent growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2013, respectively. Also,
the widely-tracked HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed that output in t
he Euro zone economy expanded for the seventh successive month in January. At 52
.9 points, PMI posted its highest reading since June 2011.
Manufacturing production declined in six months out of nine months of the curren
t financial year, for which data is available. In December 2013, it contracted 1
.6 per cent, taking the total fall to 0.6 per cent in the first nine months.
In value terms, manufacturing is officially projected to contract this financial
year for the first time in over two decades.
According to advance estimates by the Central Statistics Office, the manufacturi
ng sector, which occupies the maximum share in industries, will contract by 0.2
per cent in 2013-14 against 1.1 per cent growth in the previous year. This is th
e first time since 1991-92 that the sector has witnessed a decline in output.
Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed concern at inadequate numbe
r of jobs being created by the manufacturing sector. According to the Planning C
ommission's 12th Plan document, employment in manufacturing fell by five million
persons between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
Misplaced priority
Indians are taught early that science is only a means to an end. All the bright
young people who enter the "science stream" of various schools are told to have
their eyes set not on that ever-receding horizon of scientific discovery, but on
the more mundane, if more monetarily rewarding, prospect of a career in enginee
ring. Lost in this mindset is this basic fact: for a country, basic science is a
s essential as engineering. If anything, for a country struggling to lift itself
up the value chain, basic science is perhaps more important than engineering. S
adly, the present state of Indian science does not measure up to its potential.
Nor is it quite as much of a priority as it should be. The recently-held 101st s
ession of the Indian Science Congress bore this out amply - it largely failed to
generate the same kind of interest in scientific circles and the media as many
of its predecessors. One possible reason: a perceptible drop in the participatio
n of outstanding scientists from across the globe, as well as in the quality of
papers presented there. And, if there's a root cause for this, it's that the Ind
ian state has for many years failed to prioritise basic science properly. Dismay
over state apathy and meagre funding for science and technology was recently ar
ticulated, with great emotion, by the distinguished scientist C N R Rao - himsel
f chairman of the Prime Minister's scientific advisory council - soon after bein
g conferred the country's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna. He squarely blamed t
he bureaucratic stranglehold over science policy and scientific institutions.
India's total R&D expenditure has seldom touched even one per cent of its gross
domestic product (GDP). This compares poorly with not only the developed countri
es but also with some of India's rapidly-growing developing-country competitors,
such as Brazil and China. The average annual R&D expenditure in the past ten ye
ars comes to merely 0.9 per cent of GDP, though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ha
s been stressing the need for raising it to at least two per cent since at least
2007 - and his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, suggested it in his address t
o the science congress in 2000. And over half of the meagre R&D expenditure goes
to just a handful of sectors: space, defence, atomic energy, pharmaceuticals an
d automobiles. Many other vital areas, particularly fundamental research, remain
woefully underfunded. The emerging science of biotechnology, too, is a victim o
f policy inertia - the all-important regulatory reform might be a casualty of th
e inability of this Parliament to pass any laws. Worst of all, universities - wh
ich account for a sizable part of total research effort as reflected in research
publications - get less than five per cent of the country's overall R&D expendi
ture.
The problem, however, extends beyond the public sector. Indian enterprise has al
so been stepmotherly about research. A recent study by Business Today found that
six of the ten top companies in terms of R&D spending have tended to slash thei
r expenditure on this count in the past few years. An aversion to capital risk a
nd inadequate fiscal and other incentives for investing in R&D are among the maj
or reasons for this. The Planning Commission, too, has observed that the current
tax benefits have led to only marginal results. Besides, the linkage between ac
ademic research and industry is rather weak in India. In most scientifically adv
anced countries, a good proportion of technological innovations comes from indus
try-sponsored research projects at universities and research institutions.
This apart, most research institutions in India lack intellectual freedom and ac
ademic environment conducive for creative work. Faulty promotion policies, unfai
r academic practices, sycophancy, substandard publications and brain drain are a
mong other formidable drags on the quantity and quality of their output. Unless
such issues are suitably addressed, the country's research base will remain weak
. And India's brightest will continue to see science as an activity fit only for
schoolchildren.
Employment in a time of high growth
Employment is a much-discussed subject today, as indeed it should be. Unfortunat
ely, there are plenty of misconceptions about the nature of employment in India,
which often render the discussions pointless or misleading. For example, a peri
od of slow growth of employment is often seen as a period of jobless growth when
in reality it merely is a period of slow growth of labour force. Or, an observe
d decline (increase) in the rate of growth of employment between two periods is
often interpreted to mean a slowdown (acceleration) in the pace of job creation
when in reality it only reflects a deceleration (acceleration) in labour force g
rowth. Or the rate of unemployment is taken to be an important indicator of labo
ur market conditions when in reality unemployment is a luxury good that only the
"rich and educated" can afford. Or a rise (fall) in wages is taken as an indica
tor of tightness (slackness) of labour markets when in reality wages are not det
ermined through demand-supply equilibrium.
India's is a dual economy with surplus labour. Only a tiny proportion of the wor
kers is in formal employment (i.e., in regular wage-paid jobs endowed with emplo
yment security and provisions for non-wage benefits and social protection) in go
vernment or in modern enterprises - public and private - which together constitu
te the organised sector. Another small proportion is in regular-informal employm
ent, i.e., in regular wage-paid jobs with no provisions for employment security,
non-wage benefits or social protection. Though mainly in households and small e
nterprises, which constitute the unorganised sector, such employees are also fou
nd in the organised sector. The bulk of India's workers are either self-employed
or in casual employment in the unorganised sector. In these types of employment
, there is a lot of scope for work-sharing; the same amount of work can be perfo
rmed by a variable number of workers. Work-sharing is the mechanism through whic
h surplus labour is accommodated; it manifests itself in underemployment of the
employed. Unemployment is not an option for most workers who must work to surviv
e even if the work they can find is not particularly remunerative. Growth of lab
our force, in the absence of matching growth of demand for labour, results in in
creased underemployment and not in increased unemployment.
Thus employment growth in India basically reflects labour force growth. Any obse
rved slowdown or acceleration in employment growth, therefore, says nothing abou
t changes in the pace of job creation. Also, unemployment reflects queuing for "
good" jobs and as such tends to be low and confined to young educated persons fr
om relatively well-off households. Finally, there is an excess supply of labour
in both organised and unorganised sectors, in the organised sector because most
workers outside it would prefer to be in it and in the unorganised sector becaus
e there is substantial underemployment of the employed. So wages cannot be deter
mined through demand-supply equilibrium, which simply is not a possibility, and
must be given exogenously. A change in wages, therefore, says nothing about tigh
tness or slackness of labour markets.
Some of these points are well illustrated by the data presented in Table 1. Thes
e data refer to persons of working age (15-59 years) who are either in employmen
t or are looking/available for employment for the major part of a year. These ar
e the core workers whose employment conditions matter most; better employment co
nditions for the core workers mean lower labour force participation of non-core
or secondary workers - children, older persons and those who seek employment for
only a few days in a year. What do these data tell us? That employment growth t
ends to equal labour force growth; that unemployment rate is low and stable; and
that unemployment is confined to the educated.
How, then, do we judge if employment conditions in 2012 were better or worse tha
n what they had been in 2000? The short answer is: by examining changes in emplo
yment structure. A rise (decline) in the share of formal employment as also of o
rganised sector employment in total employment means an improvement (deteriorati
on) in employment conditions because such employees enjoy higher labour-incomes
and better working conditions than those employed in the unorganised sector. A f
all (rise) in the share of casual wage employment in total wage employment means
improvement (deterioration) in employment conditions because wage earnings of r
egular employees are higher than those of casual employees. Independently of str
uctural changes of this kind, moreover, a positive trend in output per worker in
the unorganised sector also indicates improvement in employment conditions, as
this means either a fall in underemployment or a rise in unit labour-income or b
oth.
The data in Table 2 tell us that employment conditions actually improved very su
bstantially between 2000 and 2012. The share of formal employment in total emplo
yment increased as did the share of organised sector employment. And the share o
f casual wage employment in total wage employment declined. The data in Table 3
strengthen the conclusion: output per worker in the unorganised sector showed im
pressive increase and, consequently, incomes of the self-employed rose and casua
l employees experienced both decline in underemployment and rise in real wage. N
ot all was well, of course; the share of formal employment in organised-sector e
mployment declined from 63 per cent in 2000 to 49 per cent in 2012, indicating d
eterioration in average job quality in the sector. Nevertheless, the gaps in lab
our-incomes and working conditions between the sectors remain wide.
Employment in a time of high growth
mployment is a much-discussed subject today, as indeed it should be. Unfortunate
ly, there are plenty of misconceptions about the nature of employment in India,
which often render the discussions pointless or misleading. For example, a perio
d of slow growth of employment is often seen as a period of jobless growth when
in reality it merely is a period of slow growth of labour force. Or, an observed
decline (increase) in the rate of growth of employment between two periods is o
ften interpreted to mean a slowdown (acceleration) in the pace of job creation w
hen in reality it only reflects a deceleration (acceleration) in labour force gr
owth. Or the rate of unemployment is taken to be an important indicator of labou
r market conditions when in reality unemployment is a luxury good that only the
"rich and educated" can afford. Or a rise (fall) in wages is taken as an indicat
or of tightness (slackness) of labour markets when in reality wages are not dete
rmined through demand-supply equilibrium.
India's is a dual economy with surplus labour. Only a tiny proportion of the wor
kers is in formal employment (i.e., in regular wage-paid jobs endowed with emplo
yment security and provisions for non-wage benefits and social protection) in go
vernment or in modern enterprises - public and private - which together constitu
te the organised sector. Another small proportion is in regular-informal employm
ent, i.e., in regular wage-paid jobs with no provisions for employment security,
non-wage benefits or social protection. Though mainly in households and small e
nterprises, which constitute the unorganised sector, such employees are also fou
nd in the organised sector. The bulk of India's workers are either self-employed
or in casual employment in the unorganised sector. In these types of employment
, there is a lot of scope for work-sharing; the same amount of work can be perfo
rmed by a variable number of workers. Work-sharing is the mechanism through whic
h surplus labour is accommodated; it manifests itself in underemployment of the
employed. Unemployment is not an option for most workers who must work to surviv
e even if the work they can find is not particularly remunerative. Growth of lab
our force, in the absence of matching growth of demand for labour, results in in
creased underemployment and not in increased unemployment.
Thus employment growth in India basically reflects labour force growth. Any obse
rved slowdown or acceleration in employment growth, therefore, says nothing abou
t changes in the pace of job creation. Also, unemployment reflects queuing for "
good" jobs and as such tends to be low and confined to young educated persons fr
om relatively well-off households. Finally, there is an excess supply of labour
in both organised and unorganised sectors, in the organised sector because most
workers outside it would prefer to be in it and in the unorganised sector becaus
e there is substantial underemployment of the employed. So wages cannot be deter
mined through demand-supply equilibrium, which simply is not a possibility, and
must be given exogenously. A change in wages, therefore, says nothing about tigh
tness or slackness of labour markets.
Some of these points are well illustrated by the data presented in Table 1. Thes
e data refer to persons of working age (15-59 years) who are either in employmen
t or are looking/available for employment for the major part of a year. These ar
e the core workers whose employment conditions matter most; better employment co
nditions for the core workers mean lower labour force participation of non-core
or secondary workers - children, older persons and those who seek employment for
only a few days in a year. What do these data tell us? That employment growth t
ends to equal labour force growth; that unemployment rate is low and stable; and
that unemployment is confined to the educated.
How, then, do we judge if employment conditions in 2012 were better or worse tha
n what they had been in 2000? The short answer is: by examining changes in emplo
yment structure. A rise (decline) in the share of formal employment as also of o
rganised sector employment in total employment means an improvement (deteriorati
on) in employment conditions because such employees enjoy higher labour-incomes
and better working conditions than those employed in the unorganised sector. A f
all (rise) in the share of casual wage employment in total wage employment means
improvement (deterioration) in employment conditions because wage earnings of r
egular employees are higher than those of casual employees. Independently of str
uctural changes of this kind, moreover, a positive trend in output per worker in
the unorganised sector also indicates improvement in employment conditions, as
this means either a fall in underemployment or a rise in unit labour-income or b
oth.
The data in Table 2 tell us that employment conditions actually improved very su
bstantially between 2000 and 2012. The share of formal employment in total emplo
yment increased as did the share of organised sector employment. And the share o
f casual wage employment in total wage employment declined. The data in Table 3
strengthen the conclusion: output per worker in the unorganised sector showed im
pressive increase and, consequently, incomes of the self-employed rose and casua
l employees experienced both decline in underemployment and rise in real wage. N
ot all was well, of course; the share of formal employment in organised-sector e
mployment declined from 63 per cent in 2000 to 49 per cent in 2012, indicating d
eterioration in average job quality in the sector. Nevertheless, the gaps in lab
our-incomes and working conditions between the sectors remain wide.
Groundswell of support for demolition man
A week after the Maharashtra government transferred Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal C
ommissioner Shrikar Pardeshi, citizens and Opposition parties are continuing the
ir protest demanding his reinstatement. The official, known for his stringent ac
tion against corrupt officials and demolition of illegal buildings, has served o
nly half his tenure in the twin township near Pune.
Anna Hazare, anti-corruption crusader, has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan asking why Mr. Pardeshi was transferred. If honest officials a
re stopped from doing their duty, people should come out on the streets and prot
est, Mr. Hazare said.
Mr. Pardeshi, who ordered the demolition of 487 illegal structures after he took
charge on May 19, 2012, has earned the name of demolition man. He disconnected ov
er 200 water connections provided to illegal constructions and drainage lines of
170 constructions. He filed criminal cases against more than 2,000 people for i
llegal construction.
Sources in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) say Mr. Pardeshi ha
d been under constant pressure from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to slow
down his actions which sought to break the corporator-contractor nexus. Last year
, he even complained of threats.
He transferred 1,500 officials who had been working in the same department of th
e Corporation for several years. He suspended more than 40 employees under disci
plinary action. To implement e-governance, he introduced the Sarathi helpline, thr
ough which citizens can register complaints of civic works, challenging the corp
orators clout.
Calling his transfer a cowardly action, Vijay Kumbhar, RTI activist, said the Chie
f Minister had buckled under pressure from the NCP. He is an honest official. We,
as citizens, are disappointed that politics interfered with honesty, Mr. Kumbhar
said.
However, the State government said it was a regular administrative process conduct
ed without bias.
Antibodies themselves can cause diseases
What happens when antibodies, a class of proteins generated by the immune system
to neutralise foreign bacteria and viruses, attach themselves to the membrane p
rotein of a human cell and try to destroy it?
Autoimmune diseases are the result. It was these auto-antibodies that were the s
ubject of the 34th T.S. Srinivasan Endowment Oration, delivered here on Saturday
by Professor Angela Vincent, Emeritus Professor of Neuro immunology at Oxford U
niversity.
Some brain diseases caused by antibodies come on quite quickly and can become sev
ere quickly. But they can be treated, and the patient gets better. Sometimes, th
e disease burns itself out and the patient can even go off treatment, she said.
Speaking about myasthenia gravis, marked by weakness of select muscles, she said
that in this disease antibodies bind themselves to acetylcholine receptors, whi
ch lead to reduced signalling between nerves and muscles. Patients have mobility
problems, sometimes they cant keep their eyes open, in some cases they cant swallo
w or drink. But with treatment, under which the patients blood is removed through
a centrifuge and put back minus the plasma containing the antibodies, there can
be a remarkable improvement in just two days.
Sometimes, such diseases appear and disappear quite suddenly. Why does this happ
en though? While in some patients tumours, a preceding infection or a preceding
allergic reaction is thought to have led to the disease, this may not always be
the case. It may just be bad luck if you make one of these particular antibodies,
she said.
In India, probably 10 patients per million per year could be diagnosed with dise
ases caused by antibodies. The earlier the disease is diagnosed and treated, the
better the chances for the patient are, she said.
One interesting question researchers are now looking into is how frequently anti
bodies are the cause of common diseases such as epilepsy or dementia, she said.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Motor Company, delivered the presidential address
. Timothy A. Pedley, president, American Academy of Neurology; and E.S. Krishnam
oorthy and Krishnamoorthy Srinivas, both of The Institute of Neurological Scienc
es, VHS in Chennai, spoke.
In India, probably 10 patients per million per year could be diagnosed with dise
ases caused by antibodies
Helping rice fight flood, salinity
Scientists at the Rice Research Station, Vyttila, an institution under Kerala Ag
ricultural University, have registered initial success in the development of new
varieties of paddy tolerant to submergence and salt water intrusion, two major
challenges faced by rice farmers in the lowlands of the State.
The project involves the introduction of specific chromosome fragments into popu
lar paddy varieties such as Jyothi, Uma, and Jaya to make them tolerant to salin
ity and submergence.
The long-term breeding programme is based on the introgression method which is d
istinct from both simple hybridisation and transgenics.
The scientists have introduced Sal Tol, the saltwater-tolerant gene found in the
Pokkali rice variety, into Jyothi rice. The Sal Tol gene is the donor for salin
ity- tolerant rice breeding programmes all over the world. Cultivated in the wat
erlogged coastal areas of Alappuzha, Thrissur, and Ernakulam, Pokkali rice is ri
ch in antioxidants.
With Pokkali farms shrinking due to urbanisation and other factors, the Vyttila
station of KAU has taken up research activities to sustain and promote the uniqu
e rice variety. It has already developed eight high-yielding varieties.
Simultaneously, efforts are on to introduce the Sub-1 gene, characteristic of th
e FR-13A rice variety in Orissa, also into Jyothi. We are running six separate pr
ogrammes to introgress the two genes into the three popular rice varieties in th
e State, says K.S. Shylaraj, Professor in Plant Breeding, RRS, Vyttila.
Introgressive hybridisation is a technique used in plant genetics to move a gene
from one species into the gene pool of another by the repeated backcrossing of
an interspecific hybrid with one of its parent species. It is a long-term proces
s taking many hybrid generations before the backcrossing occurs through a comple
x mixture of parental genes. Introgression is a preferred method of genetic vari
ation because it contributes to adaptation.
Vice Chancellor P. Rajendran said KAU had launched efforts to reorient its rice
research programmes by developing new technologies and refining existing ones to
suit the changing needs of farmers. Development of stress-tolerant rice varietie
s for less favourable environments assumes top priority in our research agenda.
Emphasis will be on drought resistance, tolerance to submergence and saltwater,
and resistance to adverse soil and weather conditions.
Director of Research T.R. Gopalakrishnan said the university would provide resea
rch facilities to establish climate prediction and dissemination centres with sh
ort-term weather forecasting.
The rice research stations of KAU have developed more than 100 rice varieties, m
ost of them high-yielding. Vysakh, a new variety from the university, has been d
eveloped for upland farming, says Dr. Leenakumary, Professor in charge of the Pa
ddy Mission.
Specific genes introduced into popular rice variants
Eight high-yielding varieties of Pokkali developed
D voters await clearance by foreigners tribunals
About 1.43 lakh D (doubtful/disputed) voters in Assam would be able to apply for i
nclusion of their names in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) but t
heir names would be finally included only when the foreigners tribunals declare t
hem as non-foreigners. This was one of the modalities for updating the NRC 1951
which were mutually agreed upon by the Centre and the Assam government.
The State government on Wednesday tabled on the floor of the Assam Assembly a le
tter from the Ministry of Home Affairs listing 12 modalities including the one o
n D voters.
In 1997, during intensive revision of electoral rolls, the Election Commission h
ad ordered that the letter D be written against names of those voters who failed t
o provide proof of their citizenship and cases of all those were referred to the
foreigners tribunals. The D voters have been not allowed to cast votes in all elec
tions held since then.
There has been a political consensus in the State that the updating of the NRC 1
951 by taking 1971 rolls as the basis was the only solution to the vexed foreign
ers issue in the State and the updated NRC would be an effective means to protec
t genuine Indian citizens from harassment in the name of detection and expulsion
of foreigners.
On March 17, 2010 the Assam Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to up
date the NRC 1951 by taking 1971 electoral roll as the basis towards finding a p
ermanent solution to the vexed problem of foreigners illegally residing in Assam
. The Supreme Court has set a timeframe of three years from the date of issue of
notification for updating the NRC, 1951. The State government informed the Assa
m Assembly that the Centre had issued a gazetted notification on December 6, 201
3 for updating the NRC within three years.
The State Government also informed the House that as on January 6, there were 1,
43,227 D voters in Assam. Sonitpur district accounts for the highest number with 2
4,909 D voters followed by Barpeta with 22,814 D voters, Nagaon with 15,642 and Dhub
ri with 13,303. Assam has total 1,87,22,435 voters including 96,94,051 male vote
rs and 90,283,84 female voters, according to final photo-electoral roll 2014 pub
lished on January 3.
The Assam government has sought Rs. 440 crore for updating the NRC. The Centre h
as so far released Rs. 25 crore.
Russia marks anniversary of Afghan pullout
Russia remembered the 25th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
with low-key ceremonies as the country tries to forget its failed military adve
nture. On February 15th 1989, the last Soviet army column crossed from Afghanist
an to Uzbekistan ending nine years of massive military involvement that failed t
o contain the Islamist insurgency there. Russias Defence Ministry Sergei Shoigu s
et the tone for numerous memorial meetings by praising Afghan veterans as true pa
triots, but refusing to pass a judgment on the war, which he said is remembered w
ith mixed feelings. According to Mr. Shoigu, more than 14,000 Soviet soldiers died
and about 50,000 were wounded in Afghanistan.
A recent poll conducted by the independent Levada centre found that 68 percent o
f Russians do not think the Soviet Union should have got militarily involved in
Afghanistan, while 44 percent think it was a criminal venture. The Russian Defen
ce Ministry rejected a call from the Afghan Veterans Union to revise the Soviet
Parliaments condemnation of the war.
Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said it would be inappropriate to give a pol
itical assessment to the war today, a quarter of a century later. President Vladi
mir Putin has made no statement on the Afghan war anniversary, but three years a
go he said in an interview the Soviet war in Afghanistan was a mistake.
The Taliban marked the Soviet withdrawal anniversary, which is a national holida
y in Afghanistan, with a triumphant statement that likened the ongoing drawdown
of the NATO forces to the escape of the Soviet invaders. Today America is facing the
same fate as the former Soviets and trying to escape from our country, the Taliba
n said in an email.
Pepper spray incident before Lok Sabha Privileges panel
Speaker Meira Kumar on Sunday referred the pepper spray incident in the Lok Sabh
a to the Committee of Privileges, which has powers to recommend punitive measure
s.
The use of pepper spray by expelled Congress MP L. Rajagopal even as the Telanga
na Bill was being introduced on February 13, plunged the House led to the hospit
alisation of three MPs, apart from pandemonium.
The matter has been referred to the committee under Rule 227 of the Rules of Proc
edure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha. Where a question of privilege is
referred to the Committee by the Speaker, said a Lok Sabha Secretariat release.
The Privileges Committee has Congress leader P.C. Chacko as Chairman and consist
s of 15 members nominated by the Speaker. It has the powers to recommend impriso
nment and even expulsion.
Its function is to examine every question involving breach of privilege or contem
pt of the House or of the members of any Committee thereof referred to it by the
House or by the Speaker, the release said.
EC for making e-filing of nomination mandatory
The Election Commission of India will allow candidates contesting Lok Sabha elec
tions to electronically file their nominations as well as affidavits containing
financial, educational, and legal information on their backgrounds and will cons
ider making e-filing mandatory for wide dissemination of all information related
to candidates, said Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma.
Addressing the two-day 10th annual national conference on electoral and politica
l reforms organized by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National
Election Watch (NEW) here on Saturday, he said While the Election Commission off
icers are often pressed for time to verify the details submitted in affidavits b
y candidates a few days prior to elections, making this information available on
line will allow other individuals and organisations to access this information,
and this may make verification quicker.
Responding to questions on a series of criminal cases for corruption against Raj
ya Sabha candidates from Jharkhand, Mr. Brahma said the government should consid
er making a minimum period of prior residence in a State a criterion for accepti
ng nominations.
We will recommend that RS candidates should genuinely be residents of the States,
not like current cases where candidates acquire a residence in a State a few mo
nths prior to RS elections, he said.
Representatives of eight national and regional political parties active in Jhark
hand participated.
Jharkhand's first Chief Minister Babulal Marandi suggested that given that elect
ions had become contests of money and clout among candidates fielded by differen
t political parties, proportional representation system could be an alternative.
Political parties or the State can consider funding elections. All parties and th
e EC should consider the implications of money from corporate houses to parties
even in instances of this money being given by cheques. If a corporate house giv
es Rs.10 crore by cheque to my party, will they not place any requests when it c
omes to say, allocating a mine? said Mr. Marandi.
Attukal Pongala celebrated at temple
Thousands of women from across Kerala and the neighbouring States thronged the A
ttukal Bhagavathy temple here to offer the annual pongala.
The women, arriving in groups and individually, started pouring into the city as
early as Friday, with Saturday night seeing several camping by the roadside, bo
oking spaces on the pavements to set up their hearths.
On Sunday, the rituals began at 10.30 a.m. sharp as signals of the ceremonial he
arth at the Attukal temple being lit were passed on. Braving the scorching sun,
stoking the smoking hearths, the women waited, eyes locked on the sweet rice con
coction brewing in their pots.
Said to be one of the largest religious congregations of women in the world, the
event saw boundaries of religion blur in several places as religious institutio
ns, including the Manacaud Valiapally and churches, made arrangements to help th
e women make the offering.
Citizen welfare committees, residents associations, youth clubs, and a host of no
n-governmental and religious organisations offered a helping hand to the women,
several of whom fainted during the course of the day and had to be hospitalised.
Arrangements were in place for the event, with over 3,000 police personnel manni
ng the streets, and keeping a strict vigil on the proceedings. Railways and the
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation arranged for special services to the cit
y and the Attukal temple as well. Long-winding traffic jams were witnessed for a
couple of hours from 3 p.m. as the women finally gathered their belongings and
left for their homes.
Excitement and concerns
For a sector that is deep in trouble, the show that the automobile industry put
up at the 12th Auto Expo that ended in Delhi last week was a grand one indeed. W
ith 70 new vehicles being unveiled or launched across the spectrum from two-whee
lers to cars and heavy vehicles, presence of all the big players in the global a
uto industry and milling crowds the final weekend alone attracted more than 2,00
,000 visitors according to industry body SIAM it may be difficult to believe tha
t this is an industry in recession. Yet the truth is that sales of commercial ve
hicles have been falling for the last two years and were down 20.93 per cent in
the first ten months of this fiscal year. Passenger car sales are at their worst
in a decade, having fallen 9.34 per cent in the April-January period. And with
high costs of financing, falling freight volumes and adverse sentiment, only the
brave can predict a quick turnaround for the industry. What the celebration at
the biennial industry jamboree underlines though is the potential that auto comp
anies, especially those producing cars, see in the growing Indian market. This i
s also proved by their launching vehicles specifically designed for local consum
ers. Some of the big multinationals such as Suzuki, Hyundai and Ford have turned
their Indian operations into bases to produce for markets abroad.
In addition to the growth slowdown, the industry is up against a couple of other
challenges. The government has notified fuel efficiency norms that will kick in
from 2017 based on average fleet weight for passenger cars. While this is good
news for buyers, who can look forward to cars with higher mileage than what is a
vailable now, for manufacturers this means a re-look at their strategies. They h
ave to push out more high-mileage vehicles to counterbalance the sale of fuel-gu
zzling SUVs. They will also have to develop more efficient engines and associate
d technologies, which could mean higher costs. Passing on such costs may not alw
ays be possible in a competitive market. Car manufacturers will also have to foc
us on designing safer vehicles. A recent study by a U.K. agency pointed out how
some of the most popular, high-selling models in India failed crash tests. Car b
uyers are not going to buy the argument that average vehicle speeds in India are
much lower than in the West and hence those safety standards are not applicable
here. Along with the industry, the government needs to do some soul-searching a
s the exploding numbers of vehicles is causing chaos on the roads, especially in
the cities. At least the metros need to have well-thought-out public transporta
tion policies that will obviate the need for citizens to take their personal veh
icles out on a daily basis.
Tyagis cousins under CBI scanner again in VVIP chopper case
The three cousins of retired Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi are being examined aga
in by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection after Guido Ralph Haschk
e, one of the three alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal be
ing tried in an Italian court, said that funds were paid to the family.
For their part, the former Air chief and his cousins, Julie, Docsa and Sandeep,
have denied their involvement in the deal. Mr. Haschke recently told the Italian
court that another alleged middleman, Christian Michel, explained to him in 200
8 the financial provisioning according to which 14 to 15 million euros were alle
gedly to be paid to Mr. Tyagis family.
However, he has not clarified whether the money was to be paid for the VVIP chopp
er deal or under some other contract. We have to ascertain for what exactly the
funds were allocated to the Tyagis and whether the amount was indeed transferred
to them, said a CBI official.
During recent court proceedings, the Italian prosecutors presented some notes se
ized from Mr. Haschkes office indicating that 6 million euros were allegedly paid
to pol [politicians], 8.4 million to bur [bureaucrats] and 6 million to some Indian
Air Force (Af) officials. The notes were allegedly written in early 2008 at the L
ondon office of Mr. Michel, as disclosed by Mr. Haschke.
Centre draws flak over Health Secretarys transfer
The Centre has drawn flak from the public health community over the transfer of
the former Health Secretary, Keshav Desiraju, last week.
Medico Friend Circle, a national network of medical professionals and health act
ivists, has demanded transparency in the governments handling of sensitive matter
s having wide-ranging implications on public health policies.
The forum said it was deeply disturbed by the sudden transfer. The claim that thi
s is a routine transfer does not hold water given the recent events overseen by
Mr. Desiraju for ensuring public and national health security interests are prot
ected, the forum said in a statement issued at its 40th annual meet here.
It alleged that clinical trial and stent manufacturer lobbies were keen to see M
r. Desirajus exit.
Sunil Kaul, convenor of the MFC, said the former Health Secretary stood for stro
nger regulation of clinical trials.
Such upright stands appear to be the cause of his transfer. It is against the spi
rit of the Supreme Court directive for a fixed two-year term for bureaucrats. Tr
ansfer at this crucial juncture sends the wrong signal to the people who look up
to the government for cleaning up the chaotic and venal situation in medical ed
ucation and health care, N. Sarojini, former MFC convenor, said.
Mr. Desiraju and his colleagues were working on the governments plans for a total
reform of the Medical Council of India.
What regulation, when man is vile?
Last week, Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Adm
inistration (FDA), delivered a tough message to the Indian pharmaceutical sector
. Inspections carried out by the FDA of drug manufacturing plants in India had a
llegedly uncovered major quality issues, triggering this step. Last May, Ranbaxy
Laboratories pleaded guilty to felony charges related to drug safety and agreed
to pay half a billion dollars in civil and criminal fines under a settlement ag
reement that had been in the works since late 2011. One might have thought that
this tough stance would have signalled what lay ahead unless the Indian pharmace
utical industry and its regulator got their act together. If so, one would be mi
staken.
More than half of the warning letters issued by the FDA pursuant to its global i
nspection of drug manufacturing facilities have been addressed to Indian drug ma
nufacturers, including Wockhardt, Strides Arcolab and RPG Life Sciences. And if
there are serious quality issues with plants that export to the US, rest assured
that quality control in plants that manufacture only for the Indian market is l
ikely to be even more compromised. The response of G N Singh, Drug Controller Ge
neral of India, is revealing: "I am not worried about issues of quality Indian ph
armaceutical companies cannot be judged by American standards." Indeed he claime
d that if US standards were applied to Indian drug manufacturing plants, almost
all of them would shut down. Instead, presumably, they should be judged by our l
ow standards. Aim low, hit lower.
By coincidence (although some argue not), the United States Federal Aviation Adm
inistration (FAA) downgraded India's air safety rating to Category II (from cate
gory I) earlier this month, below Pakistan and equal to Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Once again, this was hardly a bolt from the blue. In two audits conducted last y
ear, the FAA had clearly intimated to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) the existence of a backlog of sufficiently qualified officials to oversee
safety norms. The DGCA chose to slumber.
Yet, these two cases of regulatory weaknesses in India actually represent the mo
re positive stories. Since both cases are in the tradeable sector, sectoral regu
lators in foreign jurisdictions, who are more competent and are relatively less
prone to political and financial pressures, can highlight weaknesses. Also, sinc
e Indians are so sensitive to foreign criticism, the government can be shamed in
to taking action - at least to some degree. Given that a former civil aviation m
inister is intent on intimidating through libel laws the author of a book examin
ing his stint as a minister, an influential member of Parliament is bankrupting
his airline but preserving his personal fortune and the incumbent is comfortable
with the DGCA asking private airlines to offer special privileges to MPs, only
the scrutiny of an external regulator puts some pressure on the system.
Contrast this with the situation in the non-tradeable sector, where there is no
external scrutiny, and the outcomes are correspondingly much worse. Take road an
d rail transport, which, unlike air transport, are non-tradeables. Annually, rou
ghly two per cent of all deaths in India - or about 200,000 - are the result of
road traffic accidents. With railway ministers intent on keeping fares low and s
tarting new - and unfinished - lines, railway safety has been the collateral dam
age. Thus, it is little wonder that a high-level safety review committee set up
by the government in 2011 found that about 15,000 people were killed in accident
s involving the Indian Railways every year. "No civilised society can accept suc
h a massacre on their railway system," the report stated. Not really. This socie
ty does; the estimated Rs 50,000 crore required to replace all railroad crossing
s with bridges or overpasses will not be available, since the regulator is the m
inister(s) whose interests need not be congruent with the requirements of a "civ
ilised society".
The health sector offers another example. Even as the FDA inspection story was p
laying itself out, the health minister transferred the health secretary, Keshav
Desiraju, stating that "these are administrative things ... officers' and minist
ers' portfolios change - it is a regular affair". Sure. Of course. Irregularity
is now indeed so regular.
The key reason for the removal of a bureaucrat widely respected for his integrit
y and effectiveness was apparently his refusal to the re-induction of Ketan Desa
i as a member of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the apex regulator of the m
edical profession. One might think that a profession governed by the Hippocratic
oath would be very careful in re-inducting a member who had earlier served as i
ts chairperson for nearly a decade, whose conduct led to his arrest by the Centr
al Bureau of Investigation on corruption charges, who had been charged by the De
lhi High Court for turning the MCI into a "den of corruption" and whose licence
was once suspended by the MCI. But one would be wrong.
The case of the health sector exemplifying the intensity of regulatory failures
in the non-tradeable sector is manifest in spades in the higher education sector
. Multiple regulators created a de facto licence raj and the outcomes are only t
oo obvious.
If one wants to observe just how much a government cares about its commitment to
a well-regulated sector, it is not in its rhetoric, the Bills it passes or the
institutional rules per se. Those do matter, but what matters the most is the se
lection of the regulator. Compare the person selected to be the Reserve Bank of
India governor with the head of the University Grants Commission and right there
one knows the future of monetary policy in India and the fate of higher educati
on. And when a Keshav Desiraju is eased out to accommodate a Ketan Desai, it is
a reminder of B R Ambedkar's prediction about the Indian Constitution: "If thing
s go wrong the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will h
ave to say is that Man was vile."
Why a government that has so eloquently championed the social sectors on the one
hand undermines them by selecting regulators of such modest attributes on the o
ther can only be speculated on. Unfortunately, these are also largely non-tradea
ble sectors and will not be subject to the scrutiny of external regulators.
The dilemma continues
The numbers for December's index of industrial production (IIP) and January's co
nsumer price index (CPI), released last Wednesday, showed that industrial growth
was not happening, while inflation was moderating, albeit at a rather slow plac
e. The numbers for January's wholesale price index (WPI), released on Friday, pr
ovide a somewhat more positive picture as far as the softening of inflation is c
oncerned. The inflation rate in January was 5.05 per cent - the lowest in eight
months, more than a percentage point below December's 6.16 per cent and apprecia
bly lower than the seven per cent-plus clocked during September and November 201
3. A major reason for the divergence between the CPI and the WPI is the former's
higher weight on food items. On this front, both indices show that the substant
ial deceleration in vegetable price increases contributed significantly to the s
oftening in headline inflation. Onions, the main culprit over the past several m
onths, saw their prices increase by a now-negligible 6.6 per cent, while many ot
her past drivers, particularly proteins, have shown considerable moderation over
the past few months. The main driver of food inflation, despite the good monsoo
ns and kharif production, is rice, whose prices rose by 13.4 per cent. The point
has repeatedly been made, but ignored by the government, that this is one food
item whose prices can very quickly be brought under control by releasing even a
small portion of the very large stocks it has accumulated. Its failure to do so
is inexplicable.
Moving beyond food, however, the CPI-WPI gap underscores the dilemma faced by mo
netary policy. Core CPI inflation - that without food and energy prices being co
unted - persisted at above eight per cent, strongly suggesting that inflationary
pressures were still persistent. On the other hand, core WPI inflation (non-foo
d manufacturing), though slightly higher this month, has been at or below three
per cent for some time now. This reflects the relatively weak pricing power of p
roducers of goods, who are unable to pass on the higher prices of their inputs t
o their customers. Taken together with the IIP numbers, this reflects a classic
business cycle pattern, in which growth and inflation simultaneously decelerate
in the face of worsening demand conditions. The appropriate monetary response to
this is to provide stimulus to demand by lowering interest rates. However, the
stubbornness of core inflation in the CPI, which the Reserve Bank of India is no
w using as its policy benchmark, points to why the central bank is maintaining i
ts tight monetary stance, which will, quite obviously, further weaken growth imp
ulses.
The divergence can perhaps be explained by the services component of the CPI, wh
ose rate of price increase is closely linked to wage increases, which, in turn,
are predominantly driven by food prices. If this is the correct explanation, the
n the economy is caught in the so-called wage-price spiral, to which a tight mon
etary policy stance is a necessary but insufficient response. The close correlat
ion between food prices and rural wages certainly supports this explanation and
puts the onus firmly on the government to take some immediate steps to relieve f
ood inflation - sales of rice stocks being a case in point - apart from the stru
ctural measures to improve agricultural productivity that are so necessary. Othe
rwise, the fight against inflation may be lost.
No space for Dalits in media: Sainath
Indian mainstream media has failed to accommodate enough number of Dalits and Ad
ivasis in editorial roles, noted journalist and Magsaysay award winner P. Sainat
h has said.
Delivering the N.N. Sathyavrathan Memorial Lecture on Structural Compulsions of C
rony Journalism at the Kerala Press Academy here, Mr. Sainath said casteism and e
xclusionism still existed in a vast majority of media organisations in the count
ry.
He called for better democratisation of media, adding that it was the only way t
o protect the interests of the masses and project their struggles. Coming down h
eavily on medias promotion of corporate interests, Mr. Sainath said Aam Aadmi Par
ty was the darling of Indian media initially. But the media started painting AAP
as a villain after it started attacking the Ambanis and other corporate groups w
hich plunder precious natural resources, he said.
There was a severe disconnect between mass media and mass reality in India, Mr.
Sainath said. It was time Indian journalism was liberated from corporate stenogr
aphy. Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai was covered by 612 accredited journalists but
only half a dozen journalists covered farmers suicides in Vidharbha, he said.