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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
National
Act.
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ing the constitutional validity of the new law passed by potential to affect free maritime traffic in Southeast Asia.
Parliament allowing suspects aged 16 years of age and Brunei briefed us on the negotiation under way for the
above to be tried as adults if they commit heinous of- Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. India supports
a negotiated settlement of Bruneis maritime dispute with
co
fences such as rape and murder.
The petition filed by activist TahseenPoonawalla con- China, said Mr. Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East), following
tends that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of the conclusion of a bilateral defence agreement between
Children) Act, 2015 is arbitrary and in violation of the fun- India and Brunei. The pact is aimed at ensuring uninter-
damental right of right to equality enshrined in Article 14 rupted energy lanes between India and Southeast Asia.
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of the Constitution. An Indian military source in Brunei said the defence co-
The petition sought the court to judicially review Section operation will provide both sides the institutional founda-
15 of the 2015 Act which provides an option for a juve- tion for more collaborative work on maritime security and
nile offender aged above 16 to be tried as an adult if the secure Indias energy lanes to Brunei.
Juvenile Justice Board gives its consent on a preliminary Bruneis main port, Muara one of the main ports in
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for tracking the sex of a foetus and that compulsory de- The programme includes opening vyayamshalasin mi-
nority areas, making National Cadet Corps (NCC),
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
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and making coordinated efforts and policies in 13 sec- tion with the Association of Indian Universities and the
tors, including education, sports, urban planning, law and Ministry Youth Affairs and Sports is holding the five-day
order, skill development, women and child, social justice, cultural extravaganza. The Senate Bhavan, B.M. Sri Hall,
co
and health. EMRC Hall, and Humanities Hall will host the events.
Government resolution Prof. Rangappa said over 1,100 participants from 75 uni-
Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis has approved the pro- versities from across the country would participate in the
posal and passed a government resolution on it. The pro- event.
posed responses drawn up against the threat of home-
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grown extremism include: plans to teach religious texts Vizhinjam: apex court lifts stay on NGT
from all sects in minority schools and teaching merits
of democratic States and demerits of dictatorships as a proceedings
separate chapter in the Urdu textbooks. The Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted the stay on the
proceedings before the National Green Tribunal (NGT)
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The Academic Council of the University of Mysore has re- The apex courts decision comes a day after a Bench led
solved to offer free education to children of farmers who by Chief Justice T.S Thakur remarked that a huge project
allegedly committed suicide during last year. like this is expected to ruffle some feathers.
Children can avail themselves of undergraduate and The Bench, also comprising Justices A.K. Sikri and R.
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postgraduate education for free during the 201617 aca- Banumathi, asked the top green tribunal to complete the
demic year on the university campus or in colleges com- proceedings in six weeks time, giving no room for any
ing under its jurisdiction. adjournments.
Besides, the council also resolved to provide hostel ac- No interim orders
commodation to the needy children. The apex court further asked the tribunal not to pass any
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The meeting, presided over by Vice-Chancellor K.S. Ran- interim orders till it gives its final verdict.
gappa, took a unanimous stand in backing the State gov- The direction came on the appeals filed by Vizhinjam
ernments move on free education to the children of the International Seaport Ltd (VISL) and the Kerala govern-
deceased farmers and resolved to support the farmers ment against a decision of the Principal Bench of the
families. Prof. Rangappa said children of the deceased NGT to review the environmental clearances given to the
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private and autonomous colleges. They can opt for either Supreme Court stay
undergraduate or postgraduate courses, or other cours- In January 2015, the Supreme Court had stayed a judg-
es. The fee will be borne by the university. ment of the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribu-
The council also resolved to constitute a committee, fol- nal to review the constitutionality of a 2011 Coastal Regu-
lowing the directions from the government, for bringing in lation Zone notification which exempted coastal areas of
transparency in the process of conferring honorary doc- outstanding natural beauty like the Vizhinjam-Kovalam
torate by the universities on eminent personalities every sector in Kerala from protection.
year. The July verdict of the tribunal Bench led by NGT chair-
Annan for centenary fete person Justice Swatanter Kumar had spelt trouble for the
The Vice-Chancellor informed the meeting that the for- project. A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
H.L. Dattu on January 21 passed the stay order on a plea tions also confirmed that India and Thailand will soon
by the project proponents against the tribunal decision. hold naval exercises in the Andaman Seas.
The NGT had claimed that it has the complete and com- That apart, both sides agreed to fast track the ongoing
prehensive trappings of a court to exercise the limited trilateral land corridor project connecting Thailand-Myan-
power of judicial review to examine the constitutional va- mar and India.
lidity/vires of the subordinate legislation. These bilateral and multilateral infrastructure and se-
The NGT order was based on an application by two curity projects will receive further boost in the coming
Thiruvananthapuram-based environmental activists, Wil- months when the entire top brass of the Thai leadership,
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fred J. and V. Marydasan, asking the tribunal to direct including Prime Minister Gen. Chan-o-cha, is expected
that coastal areas throughout the country, including the to visit New Delhi.
Vizhinjam coast, be preserved and no activity be under-
taken which would damage such areas. Accept Lodha report, fall in line: SC to
India, Thailand firm up maritime
cooperation
Indias Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Wednesday told
co
BCCI
Describing the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee report on
overhaul of BCCI as straightforward, rational and un-
derstandable, the Supreme Court on Thursday sternly
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the leadership of Thailand that India-Thailand collabora- advised the cricket body to fall in line with the recom-
tion is necessary to ensure freedom of navigation and mendations and save itself further trouble.
connectivity in the Southeast Asian region. Your members have been wielding power for long...
As maritime neighbours, we have a shared interest in There will be no second innings here, Chief Justice of
the security of international sea lanes of communication India Tirath Singh Thakur said, making the Supreme
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and commerce. Our resolve to strengthen our bilateral Courts resolve clear to the top cricket body.
engagement in the areas of security and defence will These recommendations deserve respect. They have
or
help the region as a whole and promote regional eco- come from the most respected members of the legal
nomic integration and connectivity, Mr. Ansari said while community. They have done extensive deliberations
addressing the state banquet hosted in his honour by the with all stakeholders, Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, accom-
Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha. panied on the Bench by Justice F.M.I. Kalifulla told the
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During the ongoing tour of Southeast Asia, the Indian del- BCCI in a specially convened hearing.
egation led by Mr. Ansari has expressed Indian concerns Without saying, we respect the recommendations. It is
about freedom of navigation in the region due to growing not that we fail to see the writing on the wall, but these
maritime disputes between China and several other re- are sweeping changes... we need time to respond, sen-
gional countries over South China Sea. Our position on ior advocate ShekharNaphade, representing the BCCI,
resolving the South China Sea dispute is well known and submitted.
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we want it to be settled peacefully. Thailand has been Mr. Naphade said the recommendations had to be first
the country coordinator of ASEAN-China relations and deliberated with its 30 members and implementation of
took useful steps towards solving the dispute. We hope these sweeping reforms in full would give rise to all sorts
Singapore, too, [the current coordinator] will take similar of complications.
steps, said Mr. Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East), in course
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Cobra Gold 2016 The Supreme Court on Friday started hearing argu-
We confirmed that India will participate in Cobra Gold ments on the anti-defection law, which disqualifies MPs
2016 [multilateral amphibious exercise] and Operation for crossing the floor. A three-judge Bench, headed by
Maitri [counter-insurgency] operations, said Mr. Wad- Justice RanjanGogoi, heard preliminary arguments and
hwa. posted the case for February 12. The issue cropped up
India and Thailand recently held a joint task force meet- after Amar Singh and Jaya Prada, who were members
ing in Delhi to deepen maritime and defence cooperation of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, respectively,
which covers a range of issues, including ocean safety, moved the court on their expulsion from the Samajwadi
disaster management and anti-terror drills. The delega- Party on February 2, 2010, anticipating ouster from Par-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
liament. the worlds oldest aircraft carrier on its last voyage, stood
As per the interpretation of the anti-defection law by the majestically even as the baby of the Indian Navy, ASW
Supreme Court in 1996, a member elected, or nominat- INS Kadmatt , formed part of the Indian fleet.
ed, by a political party continues to be under its control The review with Mr. Mukherjee sailing on the indigenous-
even after expulsion. They felt this impinged upon the ly built naval offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra began
fundamental rights of the expelled members, including with sail training ship INS Tarangini and went past the
their rights to equality. Indian fleet, including destroyers, carrier ships, frigates,
offshore patrol vessels, missile boats, training ships and
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India has a pivotal maritime role: Pranab three submarines and ships of the Indian Coast Guard as
The International Fleet Review, the second in the country, a part of the review.
on the vast expanse of the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapan- USS Antietam , HMS Defender , HMAS Darwin , Provence
co
am on Saturday provided a big opportunity to the Indian of the French Navy, one each from Japan and Russia and
Navy to showcase its might, even as its ships anchored two ships from China were among the foreign ships that
alongside foreign vessels in a spirit of camaraderie and participated.
bonhomie. The Navy also showcased its air prowess with a fly-past.
Forty-five naval aircraft formed 15 formations. Chetaks,
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President Pranab Mukherjee, Supreme Commander of
the Armed Forces, reviewed the fleet on the Presiden- Sea Kings, helobatics by advanced light helicopters
tial Yacht INS Sumitra , accompanied by Prime Minister Dhruvs, Kamov-31, Coast Guards Dornier craft, Sea
Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Dragon, long-range reconnaissance aircraft P8I, Sea
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Robin K. Dhowan. Governor Harriers and MiG 29Ks zoomed past the Presidential
Yacht in formation.
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the Indian Navy and navies across the globe dotted the President
seascape in six columns with their sailors clad in white in Inaugurating a two-day conference of Governors at the
grand salutation. There were 24 foreign ships, 65 Indian RashtrapatiBhavan here on Tuesday, President Pranab
Navy ships, three submarines, two Coast Guard ships Mukherjee said those holding constitutional posts should
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and three merchant marine ships. Fifty-one navies sent maintain the sanctity of the Constitution.
either their ships or delegations to the IFR. Calling upon Crediting the nations strides since Independence to ad-
navies to re-focus their efforts on countering the rising herence to the values of the statute, Mr. Mukherjee said:
tide of non-traditional maritime challenges in view of the It is primarily due to our steadfast adherence to the prin-
global nature of political and economic environment, Mr. ciples enshrined in our Constitution. It is an enduring
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Mukherjee said the country had established a credible document that reflects our aspirations and the avenues
record of cooperative initiatives to promote stability of the to achieve them, in an inclusive manner. It is incumbent
oceans by realigning its maritime strategy. Mr. Mukher- on us all who hold constitutional positions to maintain the
jee said Indias geographical location on major shipping sanctity of this sacred text.
routes of the Indian Ocean gave it a pivotal maritime role, This advice to the Governors comes at a time when many
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and the Indian Navy played a central role in ensuring the have questioned the role of Arunachal Pradesh Governor
safety of the vital sea lines of communication across the
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
He, however, insisted that peaceful dialogue was the way Did he get into the character of the Speaker? What
out. At the same time, we have to continue our efforts was the urgency to remove the Speaker? Justice Dipak
at resolving all outstanding international issues through Misra, on the Bench also comprising Justices Madan B.
peaceful dialogue and negotiations, he said. Lokur, P.C. Ghose and N.V. Ramana, asked.
Calling attention to the problem of climate change, he Referring to its past judgments, the apex court said a
said: Its ill-effects are visible in the abnormal behaviour Governor could not assume constitutional discretion un-
of nature in recent times. The unprecedented floods that less such powers were expressly provided in the specific
submerged Chennai in December last resulted in untold Articles of the Constitution.
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human suffering and economic loss. We must make our Since Article 174 (1) was silent on whether the Governor
disaster management systems more scientific... should consult or not the State Cabinet before advanc-
He said pollution breached the peoples right to lead a ing dates of the Assembly session, it was presumed that
healthy, happy and productive life. aid and advice of the Chief Minister and Council was re-
ister Nitin Gadkari said at an event organised by the As- changing the rules of the game.
sociated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India To this, the Bench asked if it was part of the duty of the
(Assocham) here on Wednesday. Governor to sit in appeal on whether the Speaker was
or
Last year, Mr. Gadkari said the government had planned doing his constitutional duty or not. Was yours a con-
to build one smart city each at 12 major ports at an es- stitutional apprehension at all? Were you not indirectly
timated cost of Rs. 50,000 crore. The ports Kandla, passing a restriction on the powers of the Speaker? Jus-
Mumbai, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Mormugao, tice Misra observed.
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Visakhapatnam, Cochin, Chennai, New Mangalore, En- Mr. Andhyarujina said the Governor is no great constitu-
nore, V.O. Chidambaranar, Paradip and Kolkata have tional lawyer, but he had instincts.
264,000 acres of land around them. These ports handle
61 per cent of the cargo traff
ic. Each port will construct one smart city. We are try- India near bottom of intellectual property
index
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The government has planned to build wider roads, ad- when the government is close to finalising a National
vanced townships and special economic zones, along Intellectual Property policy to improve the IP regime,
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
with ship-breaking and ship-building centres, as part of increase IP awareness and strengthen enforcement of
smart port cities. rules.
The U.S. was ranked first, followed by the UK, Germany,
Discretion or whim, asks SC France and Sweden. Indias peers in the BRICS group-
The Governor said he was not bound by the aid and ad- ing were all ranked ahead with Russia ranked 20th, Chi-
vice of the Chief Minister and his Cabinet. na (22nd), South Africa (26th) and Brazil (29th). The 38
December 9 also saw the Governor send a message to economies benchmarked in the 2016 Index accounts for
the House, directing it to list the subject of removal of the nearly 85 per cent of the global GDP.
Speaker as the first item on its agenda. The Index -- produced by the Chambers Global Intel-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
lectual Property Center (GIPC) -- is based on 30 crite- jarat High Court order upholding a clampdown on mobile
ria critical to innovation including patent, copyright and Internet access under Section 144 of the Criminal Pro-
trademark protections, enforcement, and engagement in cedure Code (CrPC) during the Patidar agitation as only
international treaties, the Chamber said. India remains at minimal restriction and not a violation of free speech
the bottom of the Index for the fourth year in a row, the which extends to Internet access.
GIPC report said. It becomes very necessary sometimes for law and or-
It said patent protection in India remains outside of in- der, Chief Justice Thakur remarked while rejecting the
ternational best practices, adding that Indian law does appeal.
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not provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to ef- The dismissal of this appeal gives full credence to the
fectively combat online piracy. Indias score would have Gujarat High Courts view that blocking of Internet mobile
increased if the government had not suspended imple- facility is an appropriate action in situations prone to
mentation of Final Guidelines for Computer Related In- aggression. The High Court had opined that the State
ventions (CRI), according to the report. The GIPC report
found that among Indias key areas of weakness was
the use of compulsory licensing (CL) for commercial and
non-emergency situations, and the expanded use of CL
co
should be left to figure out an effective approach like
blocking Internet on mobiles in order to maintain law and
order.
The Division Bench had reasoned that rioting had taken
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being considered by the Indian government. CL relates place in several parts of the State and it was only natural
to the government allowing entities to manufacture, use, that the government would be zealous to control a vio-
sell or import a patented invention without the permis- lent situation. Further, the High Court had reasoned that
sion of the patent-owner. Another area of weakness was only mobile Internet service was blocked and not Wi-Fi
poor application and enforcement of civil remedies and and broadband facilities.
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criminal penalties. Had there been a complete ban on Internet access, may
While we have been encouraged by the Modi adminis- be through mobiles or may be through Wi-Fi, the matter
trations rhetoric to improve Indias IP environment, we might stand on a different footing and different considera-
or
have yet to see it translate into concrete action, said Da- tions, the High Court order said.
vid Hirschmann, president and CEO of GIPC.
The Index was created so that countries such as India Is spirituality the exclusive domain of
can hear directly from the business community on the
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cess to sharing of IP and technology. Such forced-local- them, spirituality is the exclusive domain of men, and if
ization policies tend to undermine the overall innovation women are incapable of attaining the spiritual self.
ecosystem and deter investment from foreign IP-inten- A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra P.C. Ghose and N.V.
sive entities, it said. Ramana took on the State of Kerala and the Travancore
Devaswom Board, asking whether the Vedas, Upani-
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mobile Internet access: Supreme Court Is spirituality solely within the domain of men? Are you
The Supreme Court agreed with a lower court decision saying that women are incapable of attaining spirituality
that the State can use its curfew powers to block Internet within the domain of religion, Justice Misraasked.
access on personal mobile phones if there is apprehen- Can you deprive a mother? Justice Misra asked at one
sion that a public agitation can turn aggressive and dis- point during the hearing on the tradition that bars the en-
turb public tranquillity. try of women of a certain age into the temple.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on Senior advocate Indira Jaising, intervening on behalf of
Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by law student an association of law students in a batch of petitions chal-
Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas against a September 2015 Gu- lenging the ban, said there are women brahmacharis too
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
m
tan Dharma and includes one and all without discrimi- ak, former Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
nation of sex, caste and gender, Justice Misra observed. On February 9, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri Pachauri was
Appearing for the State government, senior advocate V. appointed as executive vice-chairman of The Energy and
Giri submitted that over centuries, this prohibition has Resources Institute (TERI) a specially created des-
been ingrained in the minds of the devotees.
Earlier, the Bench asked Mr. Giri why his client had now
turned a somersault from its earlier position in favour of
allowing women entry into the temple.
co
ignation and, according to a previous report in The
Hindu, was set to play an active role in the expansion of
TERI in India and abroad.
Ashok Chawla, former Chairman of the Competition Com-
m.
The God is a celibate. The men who go there to wor- mission of India, who has been appointed as chairman of
ship are called swamy, senior advocate K.K. Venugo- the governing council, confirmed that he was present at
pal added. Fridays meeting of the governing council, which lasted
Why this discrimination? four hours, but he could not comment on the nature of
So is this tradition of prohibition bound to stay on despite the discussions and whether the student protests and
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the fundamental right of equality envisaged in the Con- fresh sexual harassment charges against Mr. Pachauri
stitution? If discrimination is not there in the Vedas, the triggered the reshuffle.
Upanishads, tell us when this kind of distinction started in In the next 10 days, the Director-General [Ajay Mathur]
or
history? Justice Misra asked. and I will come up with more details about reforms within
A temple is a public religious phenomenon and its func- the organisation, he said.
tions should come within the constitutional parameters, The governing council of TERI supports the rights of
Justice Misra observed. women and has consistently ensured the provision of a
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The court granted Mr. Venugopal six weeks to file an af- secure environment and a safe workplace for its employ-
fidavit which he said would contain information on the tra- ees, a TERI statement said. It added that a third of the
ditions of the temple dating a thousand years, in support organisation, and 10 of its 14 directors, were women.
of the prohibition. On Wednesday, a woman who had worked in TERIs
It said the case would require in-depth research on legal, magazine division between 2003 and 2004 made public,
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constitutional and even spiritual questions and appointed through her lawyers, the harassment she had allegedly
senior advocate Raju Ramachandran as an amicus cu- suffered at the hands of Mr. Pachauri during her tenure.
riae . Then, students at TERI University refused to accept their
convocation degrees from him, citing his promotion and
Details about reforms in TERI in 10 days: a criminal case pending in court. On Friday, the faculty of
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Following protests by students and activist organisations, their unhappiness with Mr. Pachauris presence in execu-
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, executive vice-chairman and tive positions at TERI.
former Director-General of The Energy and Resources TERI reiterated that Mr. Mathur would operate with full
Institute (TERI), was asked to go on leave from all posts executive powers.
at the organisation. Full executive powers have been B.V. Sreekantan, a member of the council for over 40
transferred to the new Director-General, Ajay Mathur, years, resigned as chairman opposing the elevation of
who has also been inducted as the member of the gov- Mr. Pachauri.
erning council. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who stepped down from the
Ashok Chawla, former Chairman of the Competition council last year assuming moral responsibility for the
Commission of India, has been appointed as chairman
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
sexual harassment charge against Mr. Pachauri, told The Kanhaiya Kumar, son of a poor anganwadi worker from
Hindu that he [Pachauri] had lost an opportunity to clear Bihar, has suddenly captured national attention after be-
his name by not stepping down on his own and going on ing charged with sedition.
leave instead. This has also brought the spotlight on the universitys stu-
It seems to me now Mr. Pachauri is digging his own dent politics, once considered an ideal model for institu-
grave, she added. tions but now being seen by many on the social media
with acute suspicion.
Govt. acts tough, JNU student leader The legal implications of the police crackdown on the
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campus apart, JNU student politics over the decades has
charged with sedition been unique in two ways: its freedom from money and
As the Centre hardened its position, a Delhi court on muscle, and its propensity to see ideological debates and
Friday remanded Jawaharlal Nehru University Students dissent as an integral part of politics.
Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in three-day police
custody. He was arrested on the charge of sedition, after
anti-India slogans were allegedly raised at the univer-
sity during a recent protest meeting in memory of Afzal co
In how many universities today can children of working
class people hope to contest and win an election without
money being spent or goons being brought in to deter
rivals? a research scholar pursuing PhD in the School of
m.
Guru, hanged in 2013 after his conviction in the Parlia- Social Sciences wondered.
ment attack case. JNU politics has a unique character. Campus prob-
A case of sedition against several unknown students was lems apart, the debates veer around to discussing the
lodged at Vasant Kunj (North) police station on Thursday. strengths and flaws of capitalism, visions of nationalism
It was registered under IPC Sections 124A (sedition), or the rights of minorities. This culture of debate has not
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120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several just produced bright leaders from the left camp like Sita-
persons with a common intention). Five more persons ram Yechury and Prakash Karat, but also ideologically
are absconding in the case. helped the Hindutva camp.
or
The university also initiated action, barring eight students The BJPs journals and publications department con-
from academic activity pending an enquiry, though they venor Shiv Shakti Bakshi, who was RSS-affiliate ABVPs
would be allowed to stay as guests in the hostels. JNU unit president more than a decade back, has a PhD
The police struck after the videos of the protest went vi- from the university. Even the RSS mouthpiece Organiser
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ral. Home Minister Rajnath Singh talked to Delhi Police s Editor PrafullaKetkar is from the JNU and has an ABVP
Commissioner B.S. Bassi on Thursday night and Friday background.
morning. The campus heats up politically as October comes, with
On Friday, Mr. Singh gave a statement while boarding a organisations like AISA, SFI, AISF, ABVP and NSUI de-
flight to Gorakhpur: If anyone raises anti-India slogans, ciding their candidates and also their main issues for the
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
rather than 3.5 hours. This marked another step in Indias (UNEP) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
race to roll out high speed rail across the country. published a study on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai train line
High Speed Rail means different things in different con- last year. The report points out that the region in ques-
texts. tion is highly active economically. It is also a high den-
One widely accepted definition applies to new lines run- sity corridor (18 million passengers in 2010); connecting
ning at 250 kmph and above, and existing lines that are dense urban areas has been a key success factor for
able to run at 200 kmph and above. High speed rail pro- high speed rail in China and Europe. Travel demand be-
grams have been successful in Japan, China and sev- tween 2010 and 2050 is expected to increase four-and-a-
m
eral European countries such as France, Germany and half times to 58.2 billion passenger kilometers according
Spain. The benefits include reduced journey times that to the study. To determine the effects of the bullet train,
impact individuals and business, connectivity benefits to the study presents two scenarios over the 2010 2050
populations and markets, increased passenger comfort, horizon; a Business As Usual (BAU) scenario and a High
mode shifts from more polluting air and road transport
and consequently, lower road congestion. High speed
rail can create agglomeration benefits i.e., benefits that
accrue from the clustering together of firms and labour
co
Speed Rail (HSR) scenario.
The results of the simulation indicate that conventional
rail use increases, albeit insignificantly, in the BAU situ-
ation; better roads increase road usage, especially for
m.
markets, and regeneration benefits for an area. The ac- inter-city travel. Overall, road transports share reduces
tual construction also provides an opportunity for employ- because road trips by bus and car between Mumbai and
ment and the potential for technology transfer. Ahmedabad fall with an increase in relative travel time
The high speed lunch, like all other lunches, is not free. compared to other modes; this fall is partly offset by in-
Environmental degradation along the route, dislocation of creased intercity travel.
u
people, noise pollution, as well as regionally imbalanced In the HSR scenario, high speed trains cater to one-fifth
development are potential pitfalls that need to be care- of the total travel demand in 2050, and the growth rate of
fully negotiated. How the high speed line interacts with air travel slows, because of competition from high speed
or
existing transport choices is also crucial for the strength trains. The HSR solution is also cleaner; CO2 emissions
of the overall case. in 2050 are also lower by 0.2 MT and further emission
India has been toying with the idea of high speed trains drops are possible with decarbonisation of electricity, ac-
for fifteen years. The High Speed Rail Corporation cording to the UNEP. In general, per passenger km, high
ntf
(HSRC) of India was set up by the government in 2012 to speed rail has lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
design and implement the countrys high speed projects. than road or air transport. It also supports lower emissions
Through this, feasibility studies for various segments of over the longer term as road and air passengers shift to
the Diamond Quadrilateral, a proposed high speed net- trains. However, as the UNEP-DTU study says, there is
work spanning the country, connecting Delhi, Mumbai, currently debate on the impact on short term emissions,
ira
Chennai and Kolkata, were initiated. which may be high owing to embedded emissions (in the
Simultaneously, the government has pushed ahead with construction and manufacturing process). The country
plans to develop a Rs.980 billion, 505 km segment be- definitely needs high speed rail and is already late in that
tween Ahmedabad and Mumbai on which it will run bul- regard, but the cost and speed need to be carefully con-
let trains, as high speed trains are often called. A joint sidered, according to VivekSahai , former Chairman of
asp
feasibility study was submitted by the Indian Railways the Railway Board and currently based in Mumbai with
and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
the Japanese governments official aid agency, in Sep- Do we really need a train speed of 350 kmph? Speaking
tember last year, and a pact signed between Prime Minis- as a technocrat, I say we should discover the speed at
ter Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo which the train is profitable. If it is 350 kmph then go for it,
Abe, during Mr. Abes visit to India in December 2015. I have no problems with that, Mr. Sahai told The Hindu.
Tickets will cost approximately Rs.2,800 and the journey Factoring in distances, travel patterns, ticket costs and
will take approximately two hours. purchasing power, Mr. Sahai feels that high speed trains
This bullet train has brought into focus the parameters in India are likely to be more successful if they had aver-
associated with high speed rail that need careful con- age speeds in the 200-250 kmph range, as opposed to
sideration. The United Nations Environment Program the planned 320 kmph speed of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
bullet train. This will extend the duration of the trip by a cannot just focus on one high speed line and do nothing
marginal amount, but will bring down construction and with the rest, because the system is not going to work
operation costs significantly, since these costs increase efficiently, Mr. Tessier said, explaining the Alstom chiefs
rapidly for speeds above 250 kmph . The GHG impact comments.
above speeds of 250 kmph is also not known with cer- For instance, if the first 500 kms is covered in two hours
tainty. using a high speed train and the remaining 50 kms via
Higher speeds imply higher costs which may then neces- another mode is covered in another two hours, then it
sitate higher ticket prices so that the service is commer- weakens the case for using high speed rail for that trip,
m
cially viable. This, ironically, could mean a loss of rider- when a flight may be a better option, time and price con-
ship to air travel, making the train less profitable. sidered.
In terms of timetabling as well, Mr. Sahai said, running Increasing the operating speed of existing lines would be
a high speed train at slower speeds, for instance in the one possible way forward for transforming Indias rail sys-
200 225 kmph range over longer distances (such as
Delhi-Mumbai or Delhi-Kolkata) will allow them to be run
as sleeper services rather than tedious daytime journeys
with awkward departure times. If the government goes
co
tems, according to Mr. Tessier. High speed lines require
huge investments and cause long term demographic and
economic impacts. Their success depends on getting a
comprehensive, context-specific optimal solution; at the
m.
ahead with its Diamond Quadrilateral plan, there will be very least this means getting speed, pricing, and distance
high speed links in the 1,300-1,450 range, such as Delhi- right.
Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata and Mumbai-Chennai as well as Anti-national slogans wont attract
links of around 2,000 kms (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-
Kolkata). A significant difference in distance alters the sedition charge
u
economics and business case for high speed rail mark- Merely raising anti-national slogans does not merit sedi-
edly. tion charges, retired Supreme Court Judge Asok Kumar
Long distance routes compete with air travel; individuals Ganguly said here on Tuesday.
or
willing to pay for a long distance high speed rail ticket are Commenting on the recent arrest of a student at Jawaha-
likely to prefer a flight, given the journey time savings. rlal Nehru University (JNU), Justice Ganguly said, I do
If the 500 km journey between Ahmedabad and Mum- not agree with the slogans that were being raised but just
bai is about Rs 2,800, then the Delhi-Chennai journey raising the slogans does not amount to sedition. Without
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is likely to cost Rs.11,200. A one way flight for this jour- an overt act sedition charges cannot be brought.
ney booked ten days in advance costs in the ballpark of Speaking to The Hindu , Justice Ganguly said he had
Rs.4,000, suggesting challenges for the Delhi-Chennai gone through the speech of the arrested JNU Students
high speed model. Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and found nothing anti-
Each country and environment has its own constraints, national in it.
ira
tion depends on your return on investment compared to launched a new e-platform for non-tax receipts.NTPC
other means of transportation. Alstom, which developed
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
years Budget speech, Mr.Jaitley had said that one major We are of the view that it is essential to peruse the original
way to curb black money is to discourage cash transac- record pertaining to the disqualification of the 14 MLAs.
tions in favour of electronic transactions. The record pertaining to the proceedings conducted by
the Speaker NabamRebia, under the Tenth Schedule of
Disconnect between Govt., Tax Dept: the Constitution pertaining to disqualification of the 14
MLAs, held on December 14 and 15, 2015, be produced
Vodafone in this court in a sealed cover at the earliest, preferably
The arbitration process does not stop the Tax Depart- by 10.30 a.m. on February 18, 2016, the Bench ordered.
m
ment from going ahead and seeking dues that it feels are The Centre said that a constitutional vacuum and a state
legitimate demands, said a tax consultant. of dormancy could not prevail in Arunachal Pradesh be-
B.K. Sinha, Commissioner of Income Tax (C&S), CBDT, cause the Supreme Court was testing the legality of the
told The Hindu : These cases are from respective juris- emergency declared on January 26.
diction and notices are sent from respective assessing
officers so its not centralised. I am not speaking specifi-
cally for tax demand on Vodafone but a legitimate tax
demand as per this bible (IT Act) is not tax terrorism. For co
Attorney-General MukulRohatgi had assured the Bench
that even if a new government was formed, the Supreme
Court could later on annul everything if it struck down
the proclamation of emergency as unconstitutional. Mr.
m.
any action the government takes it is called tax terrorism, Sibal had countered that when Presidents rule is with-
Mr. Sinha said. If any search is done, where we have drawn, the government earlier in power automatically re-
enough evidence of tax evasion, you call it tax terrorism. vives. The hearing will continue on Thursday.
Vodafone is one of the largest overseas corporate inves- PTI reports:
tors in the country. In a week when Prime Minister Modi When the apex court resumed the proceeding after lunch,
u
is promoting a tax-friendly environment for foreign inves- Mr.Nariman and Mr.Sibal mentioned that Union Cabinet
tors - this seems a complete disconnect between govern- had, earlier in the day, recommended revocation of Presi-
ment and the Tax Department, Vodafone said. dents Rule in the State.
or
bly records on the disqualification of 14 rebel Congress Minister and his Council of Ministers even when the As-
MLAs by former Speaker NabamRebia hours after the sembly was in suspended animation.
Union Cabinet recommended the withdrawal of Presi- He said the Gauhati High Court should not have stayed
dents rule in the border State. the disqualification of the 14 MLAs as the chief whip of
The decision by a Constitution Bench led by Justice J.S. the party was not impleaded in the case.
ira
Khehar came on a plea by Arunachal Congress party Counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for some rebel Con-
leaders, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal gress MLAs, opposed the plea and said that the petition
and Fali S. Nariman, who said Governor J.P. Rajkhowa was not maintainable.
should be restrained from swearing in a new government
till the court decided the constitutionality of the Presi- Sedition charge against Kanhaiya may
asp
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
evision channels seeking raw footage of the event on equal level-playing field with the foreign and new airlines
February 9. which had started operations in India, according to a re-
There is some video footage available with the police, lease issued by Mr. Singhs office.IndiGo President Adi-
but the audio component is missing. It is not clear wheth- tya Ghosh, Jet Airways Senior Vice President Narayan
er Kanhaiya actually shouted anti-national slogans. If Hariharan, SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director
there is no evidence, then the Delhi Police will have to Ajay Singh and GoAir Managing Director JehWadia sub-
drop the sedition charge when the charge sheet is filed, mitted a memorandum to the minister during the meeting.
the official said. According to the statement, the airlines complained that
m
According to officials, the video footage of the event was no country allowed substantial ownership and effective
made available to news channels by certain students. control of its airlines to be taken over by foreign airlines.
Only a couple of TV channels were present at the event. India has permitted some airlines to operate despite be-
The FIR filed by the Delhi Police says a police team was ing effectively controlled by their foreign parent.
present when two groups of students were leading a
march at the JNU. According to the standard operating
procedure, it is mandatory for the police to record any
protest or gathering where they perceive trouble.
co
The Federation of Indian Airlines, which lobbies for the
incumbent airlines, had earlier alleged that substantial
ownership and effective control (SOEC) norms were be-
ing flouted by the foreign partners of new airlines.
m.
The official said the metropolitan magistrate did not have While AirAsia Bhd owns 49 per cent in the Indian carrier,
the power to grant bail in cases of sedition. If Kanhaiya Tata Sons has 41 per cent stake and the rest is with Arun
wants to apply for bail, his lawyer would have to approach Bhatias TelestraTradeplace. Vistara is the joint venture
the sessions court. between Tata Sons (51 per cent) and Singapore Airlines
Jadavpur varsity incident (49 per cent).
u
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said on Wednes- The airlines said the governments move to abolish the
day that a report had been sought from the West Bengal 5/20 rule, which requires an airline to have five years of
government after a similar incident was reported at Ja- domestic flying experience and 20 aircraft in its fleet be-
or
davpur University in Kolkata. fore it can fly to overseas destinations, will be an injus-
On Wednesdays violence at the Patiala House Courts, tice.
Mr. Mehrishi said action would be taken against anyone While, for the already operating domestic airlines, the
violating the law. condition laid down by the Civil Aviation Ministry is to
ntf
I have spoken to the Delhi Police Commissioner and serve for at least five years and own at least 20 aircraft
asked him to send a detailed report today itself, he said. before applying for rights to fly abroad, the new policy is
As for the attack on media persons on Monday, Mr. said to exempt the new airlines from this obligation which
Mehrishi said an investigation was on and two FIRs had will amount to injustice towards the already operating
been registered. airlines, according to the press statement.The airlines
ira
demanding level-playing field with foreign and new air- airlines from India would be at disadvantage because it
is they who came forward to operate in sensitive areas
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
lines.
.The airlines, which lobbied for keeping the contentious including J&K and Northeast, it said.
5/20 rule for flying abroad, alleged effective control of In- The airlines also opposed the civil aviation ministrys pro-
dian airlines by their foreign partners and opposed other posal to auction bilateral rights saying no country in the
proposals in the draft aviation policy. world auctions its sovereign right to others.
They sought governments intervention to incorporate The airlines said that as they represent 90 per cent of the
some of their concerns while finalizing the National Civ- aviation industry, their views deserve to be heard before
il Aviation Policy (NCAP) being prepared by the Union finalising any policy.
Ministry of Civil Aviation. They said this was essential to Mr. Singh assured that their concerns will be taken up
avoid discrimination against them and provide them an with the civil aviation ministry, according to the statement.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
National flag to fly at all universities It said the first tier would include the destitute and peo-
Nationalism by order was the outcome when the Vice- ple below the poverty line, the second tier would have
Chancellors of 42 Central universities agreed to fly the workers in the unorganised sector who may be covered
national flag on their buildings to counter the rising tide under a subsidised scheme and the third tier would cover
of what they perceived as anti-nationalism sweeping the workers who can, with the help of employer, can make
campuses. contribution to the schemes.
The proposal of the Vice-Chancellors, who met in Sura- The fourth tier would include people who are compar-
jkund, Haryana on Thursday, had the endorsement of the atively affluent and can make their own provisions for
m
Ministry for Human Resource Development. meeting contingencies or risks as and when arise.
They said it was the outcome of an informal discussion The note visualised that the social assistance pro-
with HRD Minister SmritiIrani, who chaired the confer- grammes for the first tier shall be based on tax revenue.
co
ence. The Vice-Chancellors of Jadavpur University, and
Jawaharlal Nehru University now witnessing protests
against the arrest and assault of JNU students union
Time to amend sedition charges
leader Kanhaiya Kumar were among those present in drastically
the meeting called by the Ministry. Contending that Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code
m.
Confusion prevailed over the dimensions of the flag. The or sedition charges were being slapped on people, who
Vice-Chancellors said details are to be worked out. It is challenged the basic falsehoods of a regime, former Gov-
learnt the tri-colour will fly on 207-ft. high masts. ernor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi has urged
that Parliament must now drastically amend if not end
this outdated, outmoded and outrageous provision.
Ministry moots National Social Security
u
The functions of the authority should be mainly to formu- Accreditation Council (NAAC) ranking in 2012 the high-
late the National Policy on Social Security and to co-or- est ranking for any educational institution in the country.
dinate the central and state level programmes and to en- Observing that the attack on JNU was an attack on the
sure that the objectives of the policy are achieved within idea of India as originally meant to be in the Constitu-
the time frame prescribed, according to the note. It said tion, she said the freedom of speech and spirit of inquiry
asp
the proposed Social Security Department within the La- were the essence of academic pursuit. Nationalism is of
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
bour Ministry will provide policy inputs and secretarial the people, of the communities coming together, it cant
services to the body. be imposed by a State, which, in a democracy, is an in-
The idea comes at a time when the trade unions have an- strument of the people. Thats why governments should
nounced fresh nationwide protests on March 10 against respect the voice of the people and protect the right to
the governments anti-labour policies. dissent, she said. Dr. Parthasarathy also released a
The note proposes a four-tier system to cover the entire booklet containing the Vemulas note and Kanhaiya Ku-
population of the country, including both formal and infor- mars speech, and the first copy was received by Con-
mal sector workers, through a common Social Security gress spokesperson KhushbooSundar.
Code. It said the current social security programmes and Former Vice-Chancellor of ManonmaniamSundaranar
schemes can be strengthened and universalised.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
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University V. Vasanthi Devi discussed how the idea of USIBC working hard to protect Indias
nationalism was being misused by certain groups. With
a national flag in hand, it looked as if anything can be IPR status
justified. Former JNUSU general secretary Elangovan- Hectic lobbying is underway by the US-India Business
Kaniappan spoke. Council (USIBC) to prevent the risk of a downgrade in the
Special 301 report that identifies trade barriers to U.S.
companies and products due to a foreign governments
Scheme for projects in Naxal zones intellectual property regime.
m
extended In a submission before USTR, USIBC President Muke-
The Environment Ministry has extended to December shAghi has argued that the in the last 12 months there
2018 a scheme granting default Forest Department ap- has been substantive improvement in Indias IP environ-
proval for public utility projects in Naxal-affected regions. ment.
Such a scheme has been in place since 2011 in 117 dis-
tricts, including those in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tel-
angana.
Sundays directive is an extension of this programme that
co
We are encouraged by the way things are trending, he
said. USIBC members greatly appreciate the willingness
of the Government of India to work with Industry over the
past year.
m.
lapsed in December 2015. The office of the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) pre-
Clearances needed pares the report annually and the Government of India
All projects require separate forest and environmental does not engage with the process as it considers it an
clearances, given the specific circumstances of a project. infringement on the countrys sovereignty.
Various utilities Indian official sources pointed out that the categorisation
u
A statement by the Environment Ministry noted that the is arbitrary and mostly a political decision, in order to re-
general approval was granted, keeping in view the im- ward or punish a target country.
portance of creation of public utility infrastructure such USIBC efforts are to ensure that the India retains its cur-
or
as schools, dispensaries/hospitals, electric and telecom- rent position, i.e on the priority watch list, which has
munication lines, drinking water projects, water/rainwa- countries of major concern to the U.S. Government.
ter harvesting structures, minor irrigation canals, non- There are two categories worse than this as per the Spe-
conventional sources of energy, skill upgrade/vocational cial 301 ranking and Indias faces the risk being down-
ntf
training centres, power substations, rural roads, commu- graded. The lowest category will face U.S sanctions.
nication posts, police establishments like police stations/ IP index
outposts/border outposts/watch towers in sensitive areas The U.S Chamber of Commerce International IP Index
identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs. released recently had India at the lowest but one among
They also include underground laying of optical fibre ca- 38 countries ranked.
ira
bles, telephone lines and drinking water supply lines in Venezuela was the only country below India. The USIBC,
Left-Wing Extremism-affected areas. which has 350 companies investing India as members, is
However, this default approval is only eligible for projects also part of the US Chamber of Commerce. It is now try-
that take up no more than five hectares. ing to avert a potential setback at the USTR.
Successful projects Mr. Aghis submission lists of a series of measures by
asp
Some of the successes that have resulted from this the Indian government that he said strengthened the IP
scheme, according to the Ministry, are, a government pol- regime in the country.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
ytechnic at Bagodhar in Giridih, Jharkhand; the construc- He pointed out that the government did not appeal against
tion of a KendriyaVidyalaya at Deogarh, Odisha; Sloni- the Delhi High Courts decisions in MSD (Merck) v. Glen-
Kanya Ashram Project and Magarlodha Boys School mark and Roche v. Cipla. These decisions also reflected
Project in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh; women ITI training the increased capacity and competency of Indian judges
centre in Kanker, Chhattisgarh; construction of a govern- to resolve patent infringement cases, assess damages,
ment medical college at Kudwa, Gondia, Maharashtra; and order injunctive relief, he said.
Vocational Bamboo Research and Training Centre at Mr. Aghi said in 2015 Prime Minister Narendra Modi made
Chandrapur, Maharashtra; and establishment of Telan- several public statements reaffirming his commitment to
gana School of Horticulture in Medak, Telangana. a strong and robust intellectual property regime. USIBC
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
also took notice that the Government of India has denied State of Travancore, would address the meeting. The
several compulsory license applications, providing inves- next meeting of the boards representatives for coordi-
tor certainty and predictability that their patents will be nating the functions of the boards would be held at Gu-
upheld in India, according to the submission. ruvayur. The meeting asked Mr. Gopalakrishnan to take
The passage of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Di- forward the initiative.
vision and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Mr. Gopalakrishnan said special prayer sessions had
Bill in December 2015 was also listed as proof of the been planned in all temples under the board on March 7
Modi governments commitment to stronger IP regime, in connection with the Sivarathri celebrations. It had also
m
as this would help speedy adjudication of IP disputes. been proposed to hold a meeting soon of all organisa-
The submission also pointed out that the government has tions involved in AyyappaSeva.
also started a scheme for facilitating start-ups IP rights. M.P. Bhaskaran Nair, president, Cochin Devaswom
USIBC told the USTR that it might amend its filing once Board; PanampillyRaghava Menon, chairman, Koodal-
India releases its National IPR Policy which Mr. Aghi said,
will further articulate the governments intentions to in-
crease the protection of IPR.
USIBC urged the USTR to not alter Indias position in the
co
manickamDevaswom Board; Ajay Tharayil and P.K. Ku-
maran, members TDB; C.P. RamarajaPrema Prasad,
Commissioner, TDB; V.S. Jayakumar, secretary, TDB;
V.T. Surendran, member, Malabar Devaswom Board;
m.
report until that time. E.A. Rajan, member, Cochin Devaswom Board; K.
Gopinathan, member, GuruvayurDevaswom Board; R.
Issue not discussed as it is pending in Sangamesh Varma, representative of Zamorin, were
among those who attended the meeting.
SC
u
priests of various temples in Kerala held here on Mon- ment on Tuesday, President Pranab Mukherjee dwelt on
day, under the aegis of the Travancore Devaswom Board the governments programmes, especially those aimed
(TDB), expressed their concern over altering the custom at financial inclusion and the agricultural sector, includ-
and rituals. ing the recently launched Pradhan MantriFasalBeemaY-
ojana.
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impede the smooth functioning of the boards. The President said amendments to the Prevention of Cor-
The meeting resolved to resist such moves. No one ruption Act to make it more stringent were on the anvil.
should aspire to curb the functioning of the boards, he While on the one hand, my government has taken meas-
said. ures to eliminate the scope for corruption, on the other,
The meeting decided to evolve a system for coordinating it has been unsparing in punishing those who are found
the functioning of all devaswom boards in the State. A guilty of corruption. Stringent amendments to the Preven-
meeting would be held here on February 27 to discuss tion of Corruption Act are also on the anvil to address the
the significance of custom and rituals in temples. Gouri perceived gaps in the anti-corruption law, he said.
Lakshmi Bayi, member of the royal family of the erstwhile
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Government to unveil IPR policy in a fort- ents developed at the level of educational institutes.
The policy will also suggest incentives such as tax ben-
night efits and fee waivers to encourage R&D and IP creation
The government is likely to announce its National Intel- to strengthen the Make In India/Start-up/Digital India ini-
lectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy within a fortnight. tiatives.
The policy -- which will be entirely compliant with the To protect small inventions developed especially in the
World Trade Organisations agreement on Trade Relat- informal / unorganised sectors, the policy will promote
ed aspects of IPRs (TRIPS) -- will, as per Prime Min- utility patents (with lower compliance burden and shorter
m
ister Narendra Modis suggestion, have a special thrust period of protection, when compared to the normal pat-
on awareness generation and effective enforcement of ents) only for mechanical innovations. This utility pat-
IPRs, besides encouragement of IP commercialisation ents may not be extended to the pharmaceutical sector
through various incentives. considering the sensitivities involved in ensuring the ef-
However, the policy will not suggest any changes in the
existing Indian IPR laws or other related policies on the
patent-disabling Compulsory Licencing (CL) and the pro-
vision-preventing ever-greening of drug patents (done
through minor modifications of an existing drug).
co
ficacy of the drugs.
Act) as well as Section 3(d) of Indias Patents Act (pre- our focus on to local vendors rather than going for big
venting ever-greening of drug patents) comes even as food chains , a senior Railway Ministry official said.
the European Union and the US have been pressing In- At present, Indian Railways e-catering service, known
dia to make changes in this regard to boost innovation, as Food on Track, is available on 1,516 trains and at
research and development (R&D) and foreign investment 46 railway stations. Passengers can book food through
in India.
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cy) saying it will discourage investment and innovation. com and food portal FoodPanda have tied up with Indian
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
As regards Section 3(d), the U.S. and EU firms had said Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation to provide
the so-called additional filter in the form of improvement food on train.
in therapeutic efficacy for grant of patents was inconsist- Former Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said
ent with WTOs TRIPS agreement, a charge which India that there were many start-up companies that could de-
has denied. velop a mobile application for passengers to track the e-
As per Mr. Modis suggestion, the IPR Policy will focus catering facility. I have seen a lot of queries from start-up
on creating IPR awareness at school/college level by companies that are interested in developing a mobile ap-
making it a part of syllabus/curriculum, and promote or- plication for e-catering. If I pass through Rajasthan, why
ganisations such as the National Research Development cant I have sarsokasaag or bajreki roti at the stations
Corporation to help commercialise the inventions / pat- where train stops. Why should I take the same food that
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
I always have from the pantry? Mr. Kumar had said in a gent need for banks to reduce their stressed assets and
pre-budget discussion. clean up their balance sheets lest they become a drag on
Railway officials also said that promoting helpline num- the economy, the committee said.
ber for e-catering will be another priority area for the In- The committee also recommended that specially-tasked
dian Railways as many passengers are unaware about committees be mandated to continually monitor the sta-
the present scheme. tus of large loan portfolios and submit periodical reports
It has been observed that people are often not aware to government and Parliament on the findings.
about our e-catering service. We will need to promote our Since diversion of funds by promoters to unrelated busi-
helpline service so that passengers know on which sta- nesses and poor pre-sanction due-diligence have been
m
tions they can order food through e-catering, the official cited as key reasons for bank loans turning toxic, the
said. committee said it was of the view that forensic audits
should be made mandatory for specific class of borrow-
co
Make names of wilful defaulters public: ers.
Total credit off-take of public sector banks as on Decem-
panel ber 2014 stood at Rs. 60,60,699 crore and as on Sep-
The Standing Committee on Finance recommended that tember 2015, the net NPAs were Rs. 2,05,024 crore, ac-
state-owned banks make public the names of their re- cording to the report.
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spective top 30 stressed accounts involving wilful default- The gross NPAs were Rs. 3,69,990 crore. Certain esti-
ers. mates, the committee notes, indicate that the gross NPAs
This will act as a deterrent and enable banks to with- could reach Rs. 4 lakh crore by the end of this fiscal year.
stand pressure and interference from various quarters in The stressed assets ratio (gross NPAs plus restructured
dealing with the promoters for recoveries or sanctioning standard advances to gross advances) for the system as
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further loans, the committee said in its report tabled in a whole exceeded 11 per cent at the end of March 2015
Parliament on Wednesday. compared to March 2014.
For this, the committee recommended the government
or
The sharpest increase in NPAs in the banking industry despite various measures taken by the government and
was observed in mid size corporates (Rs.25 crore the Reserve Bank of India from time to time, the NPA
Rs.100 crore exposure to commercial entities) as they problem threatening the stability of the banking system
rose to 9.7 per cent in September 2015 from 6.4 per cent is far from over.
in March 2014. Instead of declining, the cumulative net volume of NPAs
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Retail loans saw an industry-wise reduction to 4.7 per of all banks and financial institutions are only increas-
cent from 8.8 per cent.The committee said it was alarm- ing every year.Such high incidence of NPAs obviously
ing that as on September 2015, nearly Rs. 6.8 lakh crore raises serious questions on the credibility of the mecha-
worth of bank loans were in the stressed category as nism to deal with NPAs and stressed loans, it said.
against Rs.5.91 lakh crore in the previous year.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
merable new initiatives to make life easier for passengers study released on Thursday.
and proposed an ambitious capital outlay of Rs. 1.21 lakh The European Union-funded 20-month-long study by the
crore for 2016-17, a jump of 21 per cent over this year. Conflict Armament Research (CAR) states that the seven
While the Railway Minister didnt refer to a sharp 50 crore Indian companies manufactured most of the detonators,
shortfall in his passenger traffic estimates for 2015-16 detonating cord, and safety fuses documented by their
the Railways is expected to carry just 810 crore passen- field investigation teams.
gers down from 860 crore that he had projected in the However, there was no illegality on the part of the Indian
last budget he sought to win back passengers by offer- companies, the report says. Under Indian law, transfer
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ing some airplane-type features like on-board entertain- of this material requires a licence. All components docu-
ment and travel insurance options at the time of booking. mented by CAR were legally exported, the report says.
The Minister also signalled a fresh approach to woo in- The study established that 51 companies from 20 coun-
dustry from alternative modes of transport that have tries produced or sold more than 700 components used
chipped away a large share of its freight traffic over the
years, by moving away from the typical focus on increas-
ing revenues through tariff hikes.
We want to challenge our conventional thinking on
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by IS to build improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Com-
panies from other countries such as Turkey, Brazil and
the United States also appeared on the list.
The report said the IS is now producing IEDs quasi-
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freight policies to win back our share in the transportation industrial scale, using both regulated components and
sector, Mr. Prabhu said. We will exploit new sources of easily available items such as fertilisers and mobile
revenue so that every asset, tangible or non-tangible, phones.
gets optimally monetised, he said, referring to potential With 13 companies, Turkey is the most important source
revenues that could accrue from advertising and moneti- of components used in the manufacture of IEDs by the
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sation of the Railways vast land holdings. IS. The components include chemical precursors, con-
Chairman of the Railway Board A.K. Mittal later said the tainers, detonating cord, cables, and wires.
Railways is looking at bringing down its freight rates for Some of these Turkish companies have also sourced
or
the first time in the coming year, in a bid to increase rev- materials from companies in India and elsewhere, before
enues through higher volumes. the procured items that landed up in IS hands.
While Mr. Prabhu reiterated the governments commit- The report said that during the siege of Kobane, a Syrian
ment to rev up the economy through public investments, Kurdish town, last year, Kurdish YPG militias captured
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8,720 crore this year, the Minister promised to increase a spool and exported it to the Turkish company Nitromak
cost optimisation in diesel, electricity and other expens- Dyno Nobel, Ankara. Solar Industries, India, produced a
es. With an optimistic outlook for the economy we further two spools, on 21 and 23 October 2012, and ex-
hope to generate revenues of the order of Rs. 1,84,820 ported them [on an unspecified date] to the Lebanese
crore next year, 10.1 per cent higher than the revised tar- company Maybel, headquartered in Beirut, the report
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
mier Explosives Ltd, India. Premier Explosives has con- flags as is done in Hindu temples. Similarly, the Chera-
firmed that it sold 6 million metres of detonating cord to man mosque has an oil lamp which is always lit. I am glad
the Mechanical Construction Factory, Syria, in 2009 and that the Muziris Heritage Project seeks to bring alive this
2010, the report said. wonderful mosaic of cultural influences in a holistic way.
In December 2011, the European Union placed the Me- The Muziris project would open up to Indian and foreign
chanical Construction Factory on a sanctions list for act- tourists a new destination, bringing economic benefits to
ing as a front company for the acquisition of sensitive the people of the region as well as knowledge and enjoy-
equipment by the Syrian governments Scientific Studies ment for the visitors, he said.
and Research Center. The President also launched the website of the Muziris
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CAR investigators also found Premier Explosivess deto- Heritage Project.
nating cord among items that Kurdistan Regional Gov- Governor P. Sathasivam presided over the function.
ernment security forces seized from an IS cell in early Chief Minister OommenChandy, V.D. Satheesan and
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December 2014 in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. T.N. Prathapan, MLAs, K.V. Thomas MP, Chief Secretary
Premier Explosives has told CAR that it never supplied Jiji Thomson, and Kerala Tourism Secretary Kamala Var-
explosive components to Iraq, the report said. dhana Rao were present.
In Kobane, a spool of detonating cord produced by Ra-
jasthan Explosives and Chemicals, India, was found. The Centres nod for Bank Board Bureau
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company was yet to respond to the questionnaire from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday approved the
the CAR team. setting up of the Bank Board Bureau with former Comp-
In the investigations into explosives used by IS in Kob- troller and Auditor-General of India Vinod Rai as its first
ane, they also saw spool of safety fuse produced by the Chairman.
Indian company Chamundi Explosives. In the absence
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custody. Chamundi Explosives has stated that the com- banks and advise them on ways to raise funds and how
pany had not supplied any product to either Iraq or Syria, to go ahead with mergers and acquisitions.
the report says. With a view to improve the governance of public sector
In Kobane, Kurdish forces captured plain detonators from banks, the government had decided to set up an autono-
IS forces that were manufactured by Indian company
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President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first phase The bureau was announced last August as part of the
of the Muziris Heritage Project at the International Re- seven-point Indradhanush plan to revamp these banks.
search and Convention Centre, KKTM College, Kodun- It will constantly engage with the boards of all 22 public
galloor, on Saturday. sector banks to formulate appropriate strategies for their
Mr. Mukherjee said that being the largest conservation growth and development.
The bureau, led by Mr Rai, will select the heads of public
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
pointment as a CAG cannot hold a government office vate players are in a better position, Mr. Joseph said.
post-retirement, former senior civil servants say the role In India, our focus isnt so much to run fiscal surpluses,
is advisory in nature and a part-time position. The gov- which may be the focus, say, in Australia but because of
ernment release said the appointments have been made our other social sector priorities and heavy subsidy ele-
for a period of two years. ment; our focus is on balancing the budget somehow or
The bureau will have three ex-officio members and three the other and remaining within fiscally prudent levels of
expert members, in addition to the Chairman. deficit, he said.
Another issue with adopting accrual accounting is the
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Be cautious on new accounting system: cost and time involved. There are heavy costs involved.
Also, experience shows the timeframe for implementa-
CGA tion is around 10-15 years for a government of our size.
The Controller General of Accounts has asked the gov- And then there is the issue of the states. If the Cen-
ernment to be careful in adopting the accrual method of
accounting considering the costs involved as only a few
of its departments can benefit.
We should tread this subject in a careful manner. There co
tre moves to the accrual system, what happens to the
states? Do you have a dual set of statements? Or will you
get all the states on board, the CGA asked.The Twelfth
Finance Commission had pointed out several problems
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is no such thing as a big-bang approach. And even with the current cash-based accounting system followed
if youve heard of some advanced countries that have by the union and state governments and made clear the
made this transition, like Australia, New Zealand, South importance of shifting to accrual accounting, something
Africa, UK, you must understand that the background to reiterated by the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
the introduction of accrual accounting was not that it was We endorse the view that the transition to accrual based
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ability and a greater need for operations of the govern- tory work and capacity building of accounting personnel,
ment to be on commercial lines, Controller General of the Fourteenth Finance Commission report said.
Accounts M.J. Joseph told The Hindu in an interview. The CGA also pointed towards inadequacies in the way
The Fourteenth Finance Commission had strongly rec- the budget heads of accounts are currently classified,
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ommended the adoption of the accrual system of ac- saying that they need to be modernised.
counting.Accrual method is the standard accounting The present classification system goes back to around
procedure for most medium and large companies. The 1974. It has undergone some minor changes, nothing
method, according to experts, provides a more accurate major.
picture of the companys current financial position. How- Whats happened is that with the greater complexities of
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ever, it is a more complex accounting system than cash the governments fiscal operations, the need for greater
accounting, which the government uses currently and so transparency of information and its correct depiction has
is more expensive and time-consuming to implement. also become very, very important, he said.
While cash accounting recognises a transaction only A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
when money changes hands, accrual accounting recog- had found that the archaic classification system had re-
nises the transaction at the time it is made, thereby pro-
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Its relevance to certain departments becomes crucial and where the money had been spent.
but most government departments and ministries are pol- They had simply been classified as other expenditure.
icy-oriented ministries. So what if you knew about their This classification system, called the Chart of Accounts,
assets and liabilities? Accounting information must have is like the DNA of the budgetary system, Mr. Joseph said.
relevance. he said.
Accrual accounting, however, can be useful in some spe-
cific cases such as comparing the cost of public hospitals
with private hospitals, for example and in ascertaining
why the government is so uncompetitive and why the pri-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Economy
regional between the U.S. and the European Union) ex-
cluded African countries, the Minister said India would
also have to focus on improving its trade with African
countries. Meanwhile, India is also considering engag-
ing with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries
to ensure that it did not miss out on the emerging trade
Trans-Pacific pact may impact exports dynamics, she said.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or the mega-re-
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gional free trade pact led by the U.S. and including 11
other Asia-Pacific countries, is likely to indirectly impact TRAI for PPP model for Bharat Net
Indias exports in several industrial sectors such as tex- Project
tiles, plastics, leather, clothing, cotton and yarn, besides The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on
the countrys regime on investment, labour standards, in-
tellectual property rights (IPR), government procurement
and State-owned enterprises (SOE), according to Com-
merce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Minister said on Monday that the challenges arising
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Monday recommended public private partnership (PPP)
model for the roll out of the Bharat Net project that has
been marred by delays.
Bharat Net seeks to connect all of Indias households,
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particularly in rural areas, through broadband by 2017,
from the TPP which has set very high standards for the forming the backbone of the governments ambitious Dig-
international trading regime could be similar to those ital India programme.
experienced by India post the 1991 economic liberalisa- as rural broadband provision is prone to market fail-
tion. Ms. Sitharaman said the External Affairs Ministry ures as well as government failures (as is evident by the
would soon do a study in the context of TPP and inform
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The TPP agreement (which India is not a part of) was lator recommended.
reached in October last year and the member countries At present, a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband
have two years to ratify the pact. In the meantime, the Network Ltd (BBNL), under the telecom ministry is han-
Indian government will have to consider improving the dling the roll out of optical fibre network. The project is
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countrys standards in areas such as labour laws by hold- being executed by BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid.
ing stakeholder consultations, Ms. Sitharaman said. The A PPP model that aligns private incentives with long-
investor-State dispute settlement mechanism adopted by term service delivery in the vein of the Build-Own-Oper-
the TPP was also a concern from Indias point of view. ateTransfer/Build-Operate-Transfer models of implemen-
She said some of the TPP standards were higher than tation be the preferred means of implementation, TRAI
that of the WTO norms, including on IPR and possible
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said.
ever-greening of patents, which could hurt Indias phar- The concessionaires should be handed over task of de-
ma sector. The operations and the production methods of ployment and implementation of the optical fibre cable
Indias public sector units (or SOEs) could also be con- and other network infrastructure as well as operating the
strained due to the TPP, she said network during the period of contract, it said. Conces-
Several Indian export sectors such as cotton and yarn sionaires shall be entitled to proceeds of revenue from
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could be affected as trade may be diverted to the TPP dark fibre and/or bandwidth, the regulator said.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
region due to its benefits of low or nil duties. She said There is no doubt that private sector participation should
Indian companies may have to consider investing in the be there. It should be used for executing the project be-
TPP-region countries and start producing from there. sides marketing and monetising it. The viability of a rural
Ms. Sitharaman was speaking at an event organised by broadband is less compared to urban broadband. The
the industry body CII to launch a book, TPP and India: demand risk should be with the government not private
Implications of Mega Regionals for Developing Coun- players, Neel Ratan, Leader- Government and Public
tries, edited by Harsha Vardhan Singh, former Deputy Sector at PwC India said.
Director-General, World Trade Organisation (WTO). The regulator has also suggested that contract period
Pointing out that the TPP, RCEP and the Transatlantic should be of 25 years, which can be further extended in
Trade and Investment Partnership (a proposed mega- block of 10, 20 or 30 years.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
The UPA Government had approved Rs. 20,000 crore for permit receipt of deferred consideration and enabling an
laying optical fibre network in 2011. However, it missed escrow/indemnity arrangement. These clauses are gen-
all the deadlines. The new NDA Government re-exam- erally insisted upon by an investor and the regulatory re-
ined the project status with a deadline of 2016 end. A strictions (under the current regime) acts as a roadblock
committee set up by the DoT proposed increasing the for the start-ups, said Mr. Gupta.
scope and scale of the project at an estimated cost of RBI also said certain proposals are been considered and
over Rs.70,000 crore and extending the deadline to De- consulted with the government.
cember 2017. These proposals include, permitting start-up enterprises
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TRAI has also said that the task of rolling out broadband to access rupee loans under External Commercial Bor-
network should be given to a concessionaire selected rowing (ECB) framework with relaxations in respect of
through reverse bidding. The funding should be done eligible lenders, issuance of innovative FDI instruments
to bridge the loss incurred due to higher operational ex- like convertible notes by start-up enterprises and stream-
penses and lower commercial accruals.
foreign venture capital investments. It would be interest- improve investor participation and also help start-ups to
ing to see whether the free pricing regime as available for raise capital at low cost, said Amarjeet Singh, Partner
investments in VCF and IVCU would also be extended Tax, KPMG in India.
for investment in start-ups, Mr. Gupta added. RBI also said certain issues that are permissible under
The central bank also permitted, in case of transfer of the existing regime shall be clarified like issue of shares
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ownership of a start-up enterprises, receipt of the con- without cash payment through sweat equity or against
sideration amount on a deferred basis as also enabling any legitimate payment owed by the company remittance
escrow arrangement or indemnity arrangement up to a of which does not require any permission under FEMA
period of 18 months. and collection of payments by start-up enterprises on be-
Cross-border deals half of their subsidiaries abroad.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
tude. This needs to be maintained so that the foundations liquidity deficit well in excess of the prescribed one per
of stable and sustainable growth are strengthened, RBI cent of net demand and time liabilities currently. With
Governor Raghuram Rajan said while announcing the revised Liquidity Coverage Ratio kicking in and deposit
last bi-monthly policy review of this financial year. growth lagging, RBI may have to be proactive in man-
The government is targeting a fiscal deficit of 3.9 per cent aging the liquidity deficit through tools available at its
for the current financial year and 3.5 per cent for FY17. disposal, said Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State
RBI gave clear indications that it would like to wait until Bank of India.
governments annual budget announcement, due at the Going ahead in 2016-17, RBI said growth is expected
end of February before taking additional measures, said to strengthen gradually, notwithstanding significant head-
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Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank. winds and projected the gross value added growth for the
The central bank has reduced interest rates by 125 bps next fiscal at 7.6 per cent.
since January 2015.
The RBI also highlighted that retail inflation, though hav- DBT regime may evolve into a social
ing evolved along the projected trajectory, could face the
risk of upward momentum due to factors like 24 per cent
salary hike proposed by the seventh pay commission.
RBI has projected five per cent retail inflation by the end
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security platform
The government has drawn up an ambitious plan to scale
up the present regime for direct transfer of benefits to
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of the financial year 2016-17. the poor under various welfare schemes, by creating a
unified national database of beneficiaries that can be up-
dated in real-time and automatically trigger new benefits
such as vaccine shots for a newborn baby.
The blueprint drawn up over the past three months aims
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policy stance as hawkish. However, the governor said, from them, such as a vaccine for a baby [once her or his
Broadly, it is not fair to read that we have been more birth is registered], or nutritional support for lactating and
hawkish over time. I think the positives are balanced by expectant mothers, said Peeyush Kumar, Joint Secre-
the negatives, Dr. Rajan said. tary in charge of DBT at the Cabinet Secretariat.
Yield on the 10-year benchmark government bonds end- There is a need for a social security platform, which we
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ed six bps higher at 7.85 per cent on Tuesday. Equity have been looking at for the last 2-3 months. This has
markets also fell by about one per cent on Tuesday. How- been under discussion for some time within the Finance
ever, it was mainly due to global queues and crude oil Ministry, and later, in the Cabinet Secretariat, Mr. Kumar
prices falling again. said at a day-long workshop hosted here by the secre-
While Dr. Rajan reassured, during an interaction with an- tariat and the Centre for Digital Financial Inclusion.
We realised early on that having a bank account alone
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option of effecting an inter-meeting rate cut. But such a have any household data and is a portable identity so
step is usually taken only in the case of a great sense of cannot be linked to the taluka and tehsil levels. So we are
urgency to signal a change in policy direction. looking at a unified beneficiary database that captures
We will see what the government does and react accord- and links the bank accounts, Aadhaar number and mo-
ingly, Dr. Rajan said when asked if there could be a rate bile number with households, he said.
cut after the budget. While the trinity of Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile
Bankers said while the policy was on expected lines, they connectivity, referred to as JAM, would still play a key
expected some steps to address liquidity which had been role, the government believes there are still several oper-
tight. ational issues with the three elements that will take time
On liquidity front, there remains a concern with systemic to sort out. For instance, improvement in mobile network
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
coverage and higher enrolments under Aadhaar would negative financing cost due to the interest accrual on ad-
take time. vances from Defence Customer for the huge order book,
So we have about 18 months time till these are sorted says the latest report on aerospace sector, submitted in
out. Like a Hindi movie cop, we dont want to arrive after April 2014 and written by a team of officers led by Air
the event, so we are looking at what could be the shape Marshal M. Matheswaran.
of government services then, with a social security plat- HAL is an engineering company in the aerospace sector.
form, Mr. Kumar said. It should, by and large, make profits from manufactur-
A committee in the Cabinet Secretariat is also working ing and sale of aeronautical products and allied services
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with the Finance Ministry to create a network of 2 mil- in MRO HAL has very little incentive to create profits
lion cash points such as kirana stores, chemists and Gra- through quantity, quality and innovation, the report says.
meen Dak Sewaks in 6 lakh villages by March 2017, so How it makes profit is an eye-opener. The HAL receives
that getting the cash in hand isnt an ordeal for the rural advance from the military, almost three times its annual
poor.
Official studies have been conducted in recent years into money; it is meant to be an aeronautics engineering com-
Indias ambition to emerge as a major aerospace manu- pany, the Matheswaran report points out.
facturer that can design and build its own aircraft and re- It points to large scale contribution [more than 70 per
or
lated systems. All those reports remain confidential, and cent] of other income [interest on advances etc.] in the
the government has taken almost negligible action on profitability of the company. The companys income has
them to improve the situation, according to an assess- been rising mainly from non-core activities. In the last ten
ment by The Hindu . years, other income from interest etc. has grown nearly
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The studies show that the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, eight times whereas the net profit after tax has appreci-
Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bharat Dynamics Ltd and Mishra ated only 2.8 times, the report says.
Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) all of them enjoying With a captive customer base, and no government de-
virtual monopoly in defence aerospace sector have mand on performance improvement, HAL has become
been booking profits over the years not from their busi- an predominant assembler of systems for the Indian mili-
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nesses. Instead, they take huge advances from the mili- tary. Its exports have remained negligible: In 2012-13 it
tary against future deliveries, earn interest on them, and exported just Rs. 382 crore worth of systems, the report
show them as profits. Then they award a significant part points out.
of the so-called profit to their majority shareholder, the The huge advances against future orders are collected
government. at a time when DPSUs have order books that extend be-
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With annual defence budget growing at a healthy rate, yond 15 to 20 years. In theory, at current rates of produc-
tion and overhaul, HAL would need several decades just
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
orders and large advances from MoD. Its sales/turnover Amendment) Bill meant for the rollout of the Goods and
have been rising consistently along with profits, the re- Services Tax (GST) would also be passed in the Budget
port points out. More than 70 per cent of its income has session itself.
been coming mainly from non-core activities. The report Mr. Jaitley was addressing the two day India Investment
points out that BELs income from other sources, espe- Summit 2016 organised by the Finance Ministry.
cially against advance taken from the military, almost Inviting foreign investors in roads, highways, oil and gas,
doubled between 2010 and 2013. In 2012-13, other in- urban infrastructure and railways, Mr. Jaitley said that
come of BEL stood at Rs. 723.35 crore. whenever there was a global economic turmoil in the
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Bharat Dynamics Ltd past, India had always shown resilience, including during
A manufacturing base for guided weapons systems, BDL the period of global financial crisis in 2008-09.
has been the prime production agency for the Integrated To establish the credibility of Indian economy it was im-
Guided Missile Development Programme. portant that we not only reform but continue reform only
Like other DPSUs, the profitability of the company is
mainly due to heavy advances received from MoD. In
fact, other income of BDL has been more than the profit
of the company.
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in one directionin last 19 months we have opened
gates of India for investment.
Ahead of the start of the summit, an Indian delegation
led by Mr. Jaitley held a bilateral meeting with the UAE
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The report points out that the company has been making Official Delegation led by Abu Dhabi Investment Author-
losses in its core activities and has been showing profit ity Managing Director H.H. Sheikh Hamid Bin Zayed Al
only due to large order book & advances received from Nahyan on the sidelines of the summit. He also held
the Government. closed-door discussions with several potential inves-
In 2013, the company had a turnover of Rs. 1,074.71 tors including european investment banks and sovereign
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crore, had taken an advance of Rs. 4,899 crore from the funds of countries such as Singapore.
government and earned almost Rs. 522 crore on it, and At a later session, Minister of State for Finance Jayant
booked it as other income. Sinha stressed upon prioritising the provision of univer-
or
It also says that BDL is overbooked far beyond its ca- sal pension security including income security, health and
pacity with the requirement of ATGM (anti-tank guided life insurance and taking advantage of the large number
missile) and SAMs (surface to air missiles). It almost en- of young people in the country who would otherwise be-
joys a monopoly in missiles production within India due come dependent on the State and society in the old age.
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to government restrictions. Against an annual turnover of He said that he believed in the philosophy to empower
just Rs. 1,100 crore the total value of AON (acceptance of Indians with tools and knowledge to take ownership of
necessity) with the company was over Rs. 35,000 crore. their own retirement.
It is the right time when the advantage of young India
with its demographic dividend and the growing economy
Report on insolvency and bankruptcy
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March, with passage of the reform legislation possible dress said that the Government was committed to pre-
serve the economic strength of the country. Outlining the
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
(SBI) received the award for highest number of accounts ner. Pointing out that CL was a matter of concern for EU
sourced. Andhra Bank was adjudged the Best Perform- investors, Mr. Dambois said the conditions for granting
ing Bank in the category of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) a CL in India were not clear, especially the usage of the
and Tamilnad Mercantaile Bank in the category of private term worked in India in the NMP. He doubted whether
banks. Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank was picked in the cat- such conditions can be complied with for products im-
egory of regional rural banks and Kottayam District Co- ported into India. It is because the term could mean that
operative Bank in that of cooperative banks. if an invention / product is not manufactured in India but
Also present at the summit were Financial Services Sec- imported, it would be a reason to impose a CL. The NMP,
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retary Anjuli Chib Duggal, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bh- however, states that such CLs will be issued only within
attacharya and senior Ministry officials. Representatives the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. According to the
of various sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and in- NMP, reasonable royalty will be paid to the patent holder
stitutional investors both domestic and international, are in such cases.
also participating.
tors can act as a deterrent for investments, from abroad One way to access technology, in case the patent owner
and within India, Denis Dambois, First Counsellor and is not interested in working the patent in India or produc-
Head of Research and Innovation Delegation of the EU ing commercially in India, is to grant a CL to any Indian
or
to India, told The Hindu. company which is willing to do so, Mr. Dhar said.
The officials comments come in the backdrop of the im- He said permitting CL does not mean confiscating the
minent finalisation of Indias National Intellectual Prop- patented technology but effecting technology transfer by
erty Rights (IPR) policy as well as the EUs resumption paying the patent holders reasonable royalties.
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of bilateral meetings on a proposed free trade agreement The U.S. had also sought clarity from India regarding
(FTA). CL is the grant of permission by the government the CL decision-making process saying it was affecting
to entities to use, manufacture, import or sell a patented American stakeholders.
invention without the patent-owners consent. The pro- The U.S. had said India was trying to multi-lateralise the
posed India-EU FTA would include provisions on IPR pro- approach of promoting CLs in green technology through
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tection of which CL is an aspect. The IPR policy is also proposals in the negotiations under the United Nations
expected to cover CL as the Patents Act (of India) also Framework Convention on Climate Change. Such ac-
deals with CL. CL is permitted under the WTOs TRIPS tions would discourage investment in and dissemination
(IPR) Agreement provided conditions such as national of green technologies, U.S. officials had argued.
emergencies, other circumstances of extreme urgency
and anti-competitive practices are fulfilled.
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Indias National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) also sup- Policy to scrap old vehicles to be sent to
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
we are going to submit these policies to the Cabinet, Mr. Pension (OROP) Scheme.
Gadkari said at the inauguration of Auto Expo 2016 in One major suggestion by the Committee regarding taxa-
Greater Noida. tion was to raise the tax exemption limit for middle and
The auto industry has been demanding a uniform policy salaried class from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh. In addition,
in this regard for a long time. Scrapping of old vehicles greater emphasis is to be laid on widening the tax base
will not only create a market for new vehicles but also and punishing tax evaders.
help in reducing the pollution to some extent. The Committee also suggested that the threshold limit
With the government pushing for introducing of BS-VI for mandatory PAN card requirement for transaction be
m
emission norms by 2020, Mr. Gadkari on Thursday told raised to Rs.5 lakh and above from the current limit of
the automakers not to worry about the availability of suit- Rs.2 lakh and above. Further, it was suggested that the
able fuel but focus on developing engines to meet the service tax exemption limit be raised from Rs.10 lakh to
guidelines. Rs.25 lakh.
We are going to make these norms mandatory. Dont
bother about the fuel. That will be my responsibility and [I
am] following it up with the petroleum ministry and at any
cost, we will see to that, he said.
co
Other important suggestions made by the Committee
included more allocations for agriculture sector and the
setting-up of an Indian Council for Veterinary Research
(ICVR) to boost to milk production.
m.
Automobile manufacturers have expressed doubts on Another suggestion was to bring in more clarity to and
whether BS-VI compatible fuel would be available in time awareness about the governments new crop insurance
as the entire country is yet to be covered by BS-IV, al- schemes.
though it was introduced in 2010. Regarding the environment, the Committee suggested
that the forthcoming budget give relief to industries to set-
u
Low oil, commodity prices helped spur up sewage and effluent treatment plants. Other sugges-
tions included more allocations for drip irrigation systems
growth pace: FM to save water.
or
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India remained one of Some members also suggested that greater focus be giv-
the fastest-growing economies in the world despite the en on providing employment opportunities in rural areas.
global economy remaining uncertain.
There was still potential for India to grow at a faster pace,
Taxpayers warned against sharing
ntf
he added.
All the major economic organisations, including IMF, sensitive information
have predicted low growth for the world economy in the The Income Tax Department has warned taxpayers
coming year, Mr. Jaitley said on Friday. These devel- against revealing sensitive information such as their pin
opments have implications on Indias economy as our numbers or passwords under any circumstances, saying
ira
exports are also affected. However, the silver lining is that it does not ever ask for such information through e-
low international commodity and oil prices which, in turn, mail or SMS.
have helped in a better macroeconomic situation in the To ensure that taxpayers are aware that the Department
country, he said while making the opening remarks at does not seek any confidential or financial information of
the first meeting of the consultative committee of the Fi- the taxpayer over e-mail, the below mentioned advisory
nance Ministry. has been prominently displayed on the national website:
asp
Regarding the fiscal deficit, Mr. Jaitley said that the gov- The Income Tax Department NEVER asks for your PIN
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
ernment was on track to meet the 3.9 per cent of GDP numbers, passwords or similar access information for
target set for the financial year. credit cards, banks or other financial accounts through
This was the first time that the real expenditure amount e-mail, the IT Department said on Friday.
was higher than the budget proposal. This year we have The Department also said that it had displayed a notifica-
spent more but still we will very well manage our deficit tion on its website appealing to taxpayers not to share
targets, he said. information relating to their credit card, bank and other
Mr. Jaitley said that during 2016-17, the government had financial accounts.
to make provision for around Rs. 1.10 lakh crore to meet Further, it has implemented best practices such as SPF
the liabilities on account of implementation of Seventh (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (Domain Keys Iden-
Pay Commission recommendations and One Rank One tified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Au-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
thentication, Reporting & Conformance) for its email do- one-day start-up fest at Udaipur, promoting entrepre-
mains, it added. neurship and giving a boost to start-ups in the state. The
The Department has also issued a set of guidelines that event was a sequel to the states first start-up fest, held
users can follow to ensure that they do not succumb to in Jaipur in October last year, where the government un-
phishing attempts. veiled its maiden start-up policy.
The event, organised by Rajasthan State Industrial De-
Government imposes minimum import velopment and Investment Corporation (RIICO) along
with its incubation centre Startup Oasis, saw participation
price on 173 steel items
m
from 100 start-ups, 30 start-up mentors and 15 venture
The government has imposed a minimum import price capital investors.
(MIP) ranging from $341 to $752 per tonne on 173 steel Startup Oasis, since its establishment in 2013, has ca-
products to provide relief to local steel makers hurt by an tered to start-ups across the State.
increase in cheap imports of these items.
A notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade
(DGFT) said, MIP is introduced against 173 HS Codes
(iron and steel products). co
Training 1,000 students
Speaking at the event, Veenu Gupta, Principal Secretary
Industries with the Rajasthan Government and Managing
Director of RIICO, said, Since 2013, Startup Oasis has
m.
The MIP conditions are valid for six months from the date trained, through their workshops, more than 1,000 stu-
of the notification (February five) or until further orders, dents, supported more than 100 start-ups and incubated
whichever is earlier, it said. However, the MIP will not be 58 start-ups.
applicable on imports under the advance authorisation However, within months of unveiling the policy, the es-
scheme and high-grade pipes used for pipeline transpor- tablishment of start-ups and their execution in Rajasthan
u
tation systems in the petroleum and natural gas industry. have become fast-paced, Chintan Bakshi, COO of Start-
The notification said imports/shipment contracts (under up Oasis, said.
Letter of Credit) entered into before February five are While the event witnessed pitches of start-ups from young
or
also exempted from the MIP conditions. entrepreneurs, few pitches that were awarded and pro-
However, the user industry objected to this decision. En- vided initial financial support from the state government
gineering goods exporters body EEPC India said the included one on wearable NFC (Near Field Communica-
MIP will lead to further erosion in engineering exports. It tion) devices for infants which can track their vaccination
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sought from the government a compensatory mechanism record, another on rural e-commerce method for a rural
to make up for the increased raw material price which supply chain system, one on developing an app for virtual
the distressed exporters, mostly in the SME segments, farming which is linked to real farm products and an idea
will be made to bear following the protection given to the on wireless stethoscope through which doctors could di-
large steel manufacturers. agnose a patient in remote areas.
ira
The MIP will raise the cost of raw materials for engineer-
ing products by about 6-10 per cent. This will severely
hurt engineering exports that have already declined by Fertiliser Industry is best candidate for
15 per cent in the first nine months of this fiscal, Mr. T. S. direct benefit transfer
Bhasin, Chairman of EEPC India said. With regard to the Fertiliser Industry, I have the following
The Advance Authorisation route is not used by the suggestions:
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MSME sector and unless a price reimbursement mecha- * There is a need to increase the urea price by at least 15
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
nism is worked out for engineering exporters, there will per cent. The current selling price of urea which is highly
be no revival of exports in the next six months, he said. subsidised is almost one-fourth the world price. There
Indian Stainless Steel Development Association wel- is a potential over the next four years to increase urea
comed the move but said stainless steel products should price every year gradually so that the subsidy levels are
also have been given the benefit of the MIP. reduced. Further due to the product being very cheap,
there is excessive use of urea and this affects the soil.
Rajasthan government gives boost to By increasing the price this can lead to more balanced
fertilization and lower subsidy outgo.
start-ups * The Fertiliser industry is the best candidate for direct
The Rajasthan Government on Saturday organised a benefit transfer (DBT). Currently, the subsidy is paid
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
through the fertiliser companies. This is totally unneces- subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 lakh, for any violation
sary. If the farmers are given subsidy directly, this will not of these regulations. An exemption, however, has been
only stop leakage but will also avoid unnecessary paper made for offering emergency services. Ruling out case-
work and red-tapism. by-case approval for plans that might be priced different-
* Currently in the phosphatic sector, there is a cumber- ly, the regulator said a clear policy should be formulated.
some procedure to reclaim subsidy and freight. It is desir-
able to have freight merged into the subsidy so that there
is only one stage of disbursement. A weighted average Sugar mills want cane policy overhaul
m
freight can be used for this purpose. Currently, freight Tamil Nadu, the countrys fourth largest sugarcane pro-
bills have to be submitted separately and verified and ducing state, needs to overhaul its policy and rationalise
then paid. All these results in a lot of paper work delay. taxes to ensure the mills are profitable, a top official of
* The current move of the Government to grant support to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said.
organic compost is a welcome move as this ensures re-
placement of carbon into the soil thereby making it more
conducive for farming.
* The major challenge in the farm sector relates to irri-
co
The current policy puts the burden solely on the mills
which is both unreasonable and unaffordable as this
leads to mounting cane arrears said Abinash Verma,
ISMA Director General.
m.
gation as the percentage of land under irrigation is still The policies on sugarcane and sugar, including the by-
less than 20-25per cent and majority of Indian farmland products should be reviewed and carefully re-formulated.
is rain-fed or monsoon dependent. Investment in linking With over three lakh hectare under sugarcane cultivation,
of rivers and building of canals to systematically increase Tamil Nadu was the fourth largest sugar producing state
irrigated area every year should be part of the budget. in the country, he said.
u
* Single Super Phosphate (SSP) is the appropriate fer- Sugarcane prices must be determined in relationship to
tiliser for the small and marginal farmers. The current the sugar mill revenues, he said If still there a gap be-
system of subsidy is not conducive to promotion of SSP tween what the mills can pay (for the cane) and the state
or
usage. Countries like Brazil have used this cheaper al- governments State Advised Price, it should be filled
ternative with some support rather than depend on im- bythe state.
ported di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). The whole policy The state had four lakh farmers and 45 sugar mills. Tamil
towards SSP needs to be relooked. At least 3 million tons Nadu accounts for seven to nine per cent of the countrys
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of SSP can be used in addition to the current usage. This total sugar production of 260 lakh tonne.
will bring down imports of DAP by at least 2 million tons For the 12-month period ended September 2015, it pro-
annually. duced nearly 12 lakh tonne against its production capac-
The author is the Executive Chairman of the Murugappa ity of 30 lakh tonne sugar. The area under sugarcane cul-
Corporate Board and the Chairman of EID Parry (India) tivation had reduced to 50-60 per cent of what it was a
ira
Monday barred telecom service providers from charging munerative Price fixed by the Centre. This was the high-
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
differential rates for data services, effectively prohibiting est in the country, if one considered the sugar recovery
Facebooks Free Basics and Airtel Zero platform in their ratio, he said.
current form. At an average of 9.2 per cent sugar recovery rate in the
No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory state, the production cost per quintal of sugar works out
tariffs for data services on the basis of content, the regu- to Rs.3,100.
lator ruled in its Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Compare this with the current ex-mill sugar price in Tamil
Data Services Regulations, 2016. It said the prohibition Nadu of around Rs.2,850 per quintal, and one would un-
was necessary to keep the Internet open and non-dis- derstand how bad the situation is for the sugarcane mills
criminatory. and sugarcane farmers, Mr. Verma said.
TRAI said a fine of Rs. 50,000 would be levied per day, According to ISMA, sugar mills in Tamil Nadu were locat-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
ed close to the port and had quick access to Sri Lanka. dren, senior citizens and people below the poverty line.
But out of about six lakh tonne of white sugar imported I believe the finance ministers budget speech will cover
by Sri Lanka, India was able to meet about 50 per cent. all these issues. While he is also likely to touch upon
The balance was met by Brazil. India was unable to take burning economic issues such as the Goods and Ser-
advantage of the situation because of high sugarcane vices Tax (GST), I do not expect the government to meet
costs. its deadline of April 1, 2016 to roll out GST.
Mr. Verma urged the state government to develop a mod- While increased social and infrastructure spending could
el followed by other states to ensure that the sugarcane threaten the achievement of the governments fiscal defi-
farmers got their payments on time and if required, assist cit targets, a supportive factor is the continuously falling
m
the mills in the payment especially when the revenue re- prices of global commodities particularly crude oil.
alisation was poor. As far as the more popular expectations relating to per-
Calling for removal of five per cent VAT on sugar, he said sonal taxation are concerned, I expect the finance minis-
co
it raised the cost of sugar produced in Tamil Nadu, which ter to disappoint. The widely anticipated enhancement of
was already high due to low sugar recovery. It thus made the minimum threshold for Income Tax may not material-
it all the more uncompetitive as revenue loss for mills was ise and personal tax rates are likely to be left unchanged.
over Rs.200 crore a year. Strained tax receipts given the general economic slow-
down, implementation of the seventh pay commission,
m.
Expect FM to encourage first-time equity need to boost the rural economy after two years of sub-
normal monsoon and necessity of infrastructure and
investors social investments place increased demands on the ex-
The Modi-led government has taken several steps to stim- penditure side.
ulate growth since it assumed office. I believe this trend As a result, there is little scope for relaxations on the rev-
u
will continue in this years budget with the announcement enue side. I do not expect significant concessions on the
of measures aimed at raising public spending and stimu- taxation front. In fact, there could be attempts to bolster
lating private investment. The finance minister will take
or
frastructure but also provide large scale employment op- I expect the thrust on Make in India to continue. The
portunities. Also, as private investment has an imperative encouragement to local manufacturing may, however, be
role to play in enhancing economic growth, the govern- more by discouraging cheap imports and minimizing red
ment is likely to encourage private investment too. Finan- tape rather than by providing fiscal incentives.
cial inclusion has been a key focus area for the govern- Given the diverse expectations on the expenditure side
ira
ment and I expect further progress in this area. and limited options to increase revenues, the fiscal defi-
The government seems keen on greater flow of savings cit targets may have to be revised upwards. While that
into equities. I expect the finance minister to encourage would be worth doing in the interest of wholesome growth
equity investments, especially by first-time investors. and sustainable development, too much deviation from
Past measures such as the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings the fiscal consolidation path could cost the economy
asp
Scheme have only met with limited success. The finance dear. It will be a tight rope walk for the finance minister.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
minister could come up with innovative alternatives Wisely planned social and infrastructure investments,
though tax incentives on investments in equity-linked possibility of a good monsoon following two consecutive
savings schemes are unlikely to be raised. Demands years of subnormal rainfall and continuation of the be-
such as lowering of securities transaction tax (STT) or nign global commodity price trend augur well for India.
removal of dividend distribution tax might also remain un- I believe the consequent revival in economic activity will
met. further bolster Indias position as one of the fastest grow-
The government has been dwelling on social issues such ing economies in the world.
as upliftment of the rural sector, mitigation of adverse
weather effects on agriculture, creation of more employ-
ment opportunities and enriching the lives of women, chil- Adopt open source for connectivity: TRAI
A day after it took a tough stance on discriminatory pric-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
ing for data services, effectively blocking Facebooks permits around airports and monuments by developing
Free Basics from India, the telecom regulator on Tues- colour-coded maps in a bid to give fillip to urban growth,
day hinted that technology-driven connectivity ventures a spokesman for Urban Development Ministry said on
such as the ones being pursued by Google and Face- Tuesday.
book would be acceptable only if they followed an open Developers have to get permits from Airport Authority of
source framework. India (AII) in New Delhi to build projects around the coun-
While Facebook is working on a venture that deploys trys airports. It took a hell lot of time, said spokesman,
drones in remote and rural areas to provide Internet con- Aishwar Rao. At AII, the process of clearing such appli-
nectivity, Googles Project Loon envisages the use of he- cations is manual.
m
lium-filled balloons to provide data connectivity in remote AII has come out with colour-coded zonal map, said Mr.
regions. Rao. The airspaces used by jetliners for landings and
The two are trying these approaches as alternative mod- take offs are highlighted in the map. No construction will
co
els to reach data connectivity aerially to users instead be allowed in such spaces. Construction would be al-
of the traditional route of installing towers and optic fibre lowed in those areas that fall out of colour coded zones,
cable networks. he said.
Vendor lock-in Developers dont have to come all the way to Delhi to
I dont like to comment on a specific product. But India get building height clearances among others. The gov-
m.
has adopted an open source policy and open API [ap- ernment will soon empower urban local bodies to follow
plication program interface] policy. The whole objective is the colour-coded zonal maps and authorise real estate
that there should not be a situation of a vendor lock-in, development accordingly, he said.
Ram Sewak Sharma, chairman of TRAI, said in response Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday
to a query about Project Loons prospects at the India chaired a high-level meeting on the issue in which De-
u
Digital summit. This is because any service cannot be fence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Civil Aviation Minister
held hostage to a technology, Mr. Sharma told the sum- Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister of Environment, Forests
or
mit, hosted by the Internet and Mobile Association of In- and Climate Change Prakash Javdekar and Minister of
dia. Tourism and Culture Mahesh Sharma were present. Mr.
Any technology that is deployed for connectivity must be Naidu urged other ministries to simplify the authorisation
interoperable and broadly, the open standards framework of construction permits around airports and other ecologi-
and the principles it entails are extremely important, he cally or culturally sensitive areas.
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explained. In July 2015, Mr. Naidu had reached out to all the min-
Google hopes to launch the Loon project in India and istries, asking them to amend the laws that hamper the
wants to start testing for it soon, but the government has real estate growth across the country. The ministries had
flagged some concerns such as possible interference responded positively, agreeing to fix the gaps by the end
with cellular network transmissions due to the frequency of 2015.
ira
band it seeks to use. Jaipur International Airport is the first one to develop a
In a visit to India in December 2015, Google CEO Sundar colour-coded map. All the other civilian airports across
Pichai had said the company had tonnes of data from India, including 28 defence airports that are being used
its tests in Sri Lanka and Indonesia to demonstrate that for civilian purposes, will have their maps ready by De-
Project Loon created no such interference and would be cember 2016.
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sharing it with the government. Ministry of Civil Aviation has also commissioned im-
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
Google is keen on working with telecom operators in the proved version of online NOCAS (No Objection Cer-
700 Mhz-900 MHz spectrum band for Project Loon. tificate Application System) to help applicants calculate
According to Google, each balloon can provide connec- permissible heights in airport zones.
tivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a Similarly, the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with
wireless communications technology called 4G. ISRO is developing colour-coded maps for 281 monu-
ments that fall in construction zones.
Government to ease norms for real Ministry of Culture has launched a mobile app that en-
ables online approvals for construction around monu-
estate business ments in just 72 hours. Our goal is to give momentum to
he government is easing rules for granting construction
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
the urban growth, said Mr.Rao. Among private sector banks, ICICI Bank faced the heat,
reporting a 70 per cent year-on-year increase in gross
non-performing assets to Rs.21,149 crore.
Reserve Bank tells banks to set aside The Indian banking sector, particularly the public sector
more for stressed loans banks, have seen a sharp rise in their non-performing as-
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed commercial sets in the last three years.
banks to accelerate provisioning requirement, from April According to RBI data, stressed assets, that is gross NPA
1, for the existing stock of restructured loans that are plus standard restructured advances, as a percentage of
gross advances moved up to 11.1 per cent as on March
m
showing signs of stress.
RBI has identified bank specific accounts in which respec- 2015 as compared to 9.2 per cent two years back. Pub-
tive lenders have to make higher provisioning from April lic sector banks share a disproportionate burden of the
1. These accounts were restructured earlier. Banks have stress.
provided only 5 per cent for these restructured loans, but
now the central bank has directed them to increase the
provisioning by 2.5 per cent every quarter so that by March
31, 2017, provisioning reached the 15 per cent level in
line with sub-standard accounts. However, banks are not
co
New arbitration law to strengthen NBFCs
The year 2016 appears to have begun on a positive note
for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with the
m.
Centre notifying the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amend-
allowed to classify these accounts as non-performing as- ment) Act, 2015 on the first day of the New Year.
sets. The Act is deemed to have come into effect from October
The central bank has given four quarter to banks, start- 23, 2015. It has brought in certain changes to the Arbitra-
ing April 1, to make full provisioning for the identified ac- tion and Conciliation Act, 1996.
counts, so that a bank is not hit in one go. Several bank
u
The central banks move comes in the back drop of RBI with the modifications to the Act.
Governor Raghuram Rajans drive to clean up banks bal- Empowering the arbitral tribunal to pass interim orders,
ance sheets by March 2017. fixing time-limit for passing an award and fast-tracking ar-
In February 2014, the central bank issued a set of guide- bitral procedure, among others, are the salient features of
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lines on joint lenders forum and laid out a corrective ac- the amended Act.
tion plan with the objective of revitalising distressed assets Sec. 17 of the original Act has been strengthened. The
in the banking system. In that circular, RBI had said that amended Act now allows, rather empowers, an arbitral
banks have to face accelerated provisioning if the bor- tribunal to pass interim orders. And, it has made it clear
rowers account continues to show weakness. The step to that the arbitral tribunal will have the same power for
increase provisioning is seen in line with the accelerated
ira
making orders, as the court has for the purpose of, and
provisioning requirement, bankers said. in relations to, any proceedings before it. Such orders
Banks are already facing profitability pressure due to high- should, however, reflect the orders of the court. This new
er provisioning for bad loans. RBI had identified several provision will avoid costs, namely court fee and other ex-
accounts during an asset quality review and asked banks penses. Besides, it will also save undue delay, said T.
to classify those as NPA in the third and fourth quarter of K. Seshadri, a corporate lawyer with over five decades
asp
As a result, five out of eight public sector banks that have are still empowered to grant interim relief either before
announced October-December quarter results, reported the commencement of an arbitration or even after the
heavy losses. commencement if it is shown that an order from the arbi-
These are Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank, Dena tral tribunal was efficacious. The amended Act also pro-
Bank, Allahabad Bank and Central Bank of India. The oth- vides for a time-frame to pass an award. A new section
ers who reported profit are also not in good shape. Pun- has been added to ensure that an award is passed within
jab National Bank, for example, which reported only Rs.51 a year. This means that the arbitrators will not be able to
crore profit despite a Rs. 909 crore tax write back, saw its grant much time to the parties, and are under an obliga-
gross NPA climb by Rs.10,000 crore during the quarter. tion to pass awards within a year, he said. Nevertheless,
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
the Act allows for a six-month extension. This will act crore detected in 2010 to Rs. 4.18 crore detected per
as a deterrent against borrowers/guarantors who drag on survey in 2012, it increased to Rs. 16.96 crore in 2014.
the proceedings, he pointed out. The arbitral tribunal is During this period, a total of 9,957 surveys were carried
empowered to fast-track the procedure in certain cases out by the DGIT (Investigation) across the country, while
and decide the dispute based on documents and submis- 2,167 groups were searched with assets worth Rs. 3,100
sion sans oral hearings within six months. crore seized by tax sleuths. The data was collected from
Before the amendments, filing of an application for set- 18 field formations of the DGIT (Inv) and DGIT (I&CI) lo-
ting aside of the award itself operated as an automatic cated in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandi-
m
stay, preventing NBFCs from filing execution proceed- garh, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, Bangalore, Bhu-
ings for recovery of the awarded amount, he said. In the baneswar, Bhopal, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kanpur,
amended Act, there is no such automatic stay of the en- Pune and Patna.
forcement of the award upon filing of application by the Most of the action was taken through direct enquiry re-
borrower for setting aside an award. Stay can happen
only if courts grant it, and on terms, including that of de-
positing part-sum of the award, set by them. This, he felt,
will provide scope for recovery as the courts may pass
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garding investment and expenditure under Section 131,
surveys under Section 133A and searches under Section
132 of the Income Tax Act.
Among key cases in 2014, the DGIT found that a leading
m.
an order for stay subject to certain conditions, which may developer accepted Rs. 25,000 crore from the public to
include a substantial payment, and may even discourage develop land on their behalf but recorded false develop-
parties from challenging the awards, he said. ment expense of Rs. 11,000 crore in the books over six
years. Nearly 99 builders who had a sub-contract of Rs.
Detection of black money soars 300 crore each with this developer did not carry out the
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The nationwide crackdown on black money has meant land development. The IT sleuths later traced Rs. 3,700
a steady increase in detection of undisclosed income, crore of land development expenses to an entry operator
which has jumped 15.5 times over the past five years. in Kolkata.
or
nates and the countrys leading pharma companies com- would be all you need to transact.
ing under the taxmens scanner as national undisclosed The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and
income jumped from just Rs. 5,894 crore in financial year software product think-tank ISpirt are ready for the tech-
2011 to Rs. 90,391 crore in 2014. nical roll out of a new Unified Payment Interface, that
The undisclosed income detected in 2012 was Rs. 6,573 would allow people to people or P2P transactions from
ira
crore and Rs. 19,337 crore in 2013. any bank account to another, using a mobile phone app.
The data for 2015 has not been fully collated but the num- Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who is now an advi-
ber stood at Rs. 1,900 crore in the first couple of months sor to the NPCI, told The Hindu that this inter-operable
of the financial year, tax officials said. mobile payments system would revolutionise the way
More and more companies are involved in making bogus P2P payments are made.
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entries in their accounts. It is referred to as jamakharchi Think about it as introducing the equivalent of the roam-
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
or accommodation entry business. Under it, paper en- ing facility for mobile phones, for your bank account, Mr.
tries are made in account books to facilitate cash move- Nilekani said, adding that eventually the system would
ment. allow mobile to mobile payments (without any bank ac-
The IT officials compiled data containing 38,586 records counts involved) and payments to an Aadhaar number
and found that 19,349 of them pertaining to 3,500 parties or a virtual address if people are not comfortable sharing
were bogus accommodation entries on purchases made their bank account details.
during this period. The sale volume for these entries was The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) project was initi-
Rs. 25,000 crore in the past five years, the report reveals. ated last February by Reserve Bank of India governor
The undisclosed income detected during each survey, Raghuram Rajan, and over the past year, the application
too, shot up drastically during this period. From Rs. 1.51 program interface (API) has been developed that allows
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
payments from any bank account to another. in India Week that India was blessed with Democracy,
The technical introduction launch of the interface, built on Demography, and Demand. His government had added
an open source framework, is in Bengaluru on Saturday. Deregulation making it a four-dimensional India waiting
Over 500 representatives from start-ups, banks, and ven- for foreign investment and manufacturing companies.
ture capital funds keen on exploring possibilities it throws Spelling out the potential of the market before foreign
up for new applications, are likely to attend. investors, Mr. Modi said, 50 of our cities are ready for
The UPI is a new layer on top of the IMPS (Immediate setting up metro rail systems. We have to build 50 mil-
Payment Service) that has been used by banks for elec- lion houses. The requirement of road, rail, waterways is
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tronic fund transfers for about five years. This will allow enormous. There is no time for incremental changes. We
seamless, inter-bank connection using a mobile app that want a quantum jump.
can be used to pay merchants as well as make other Harnessing growth
proximity payments on an offline basis, said Mr Nile- He said India was committed to harnessing its growth po-
kani, who is the mastermind behind Aadhaar and was
the first chairman of the Unique Identification Authority
of India.
There is a very simple API that would provide for both
co
tential in a cleaner and greener way.
That is why we have made a commitment to the world
community at the recent COP-21 meeting in Paris. Hence
we are going for renewable energy in a big way 175
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push and pull payments. So I can send money to you or gigawatts, Mr. Modi said, flagging off the first ever such
you can send me a request to pay, as merchants may do event since he launched the Make in India initiative in
if I buy something from them. I can approve the request September 2015, at the National Sports Club of India sta-
on my phone, Mr Nilekani explained. dium at Haji Ali in South Central Mumbai.
This is a big leap from the old system for credentials, The Prime Minister said he laid great emphasis on zero
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where you give your card to the merchant and there is a defect and zero effect manufacturing.
security risk. In this model, everything happens through We place high emphasis on energy efficiency, water re-
or
your own phone, your credentials are established and cycling, waste to energy, clean India and river cleaning.
payment is approved, he said, adding that many new These initiatives are directed at improving quality of life
phones come with biometric iris or fingerprint scanners in cities and villages. These initiatives provide you ad-
so Aadhaar authentication is possible on these devices. ditional avenues for investment in technologies, services
A billion people can use this, its completely open so it and human resources, he said at the end of a colour-
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is critical for Indias digital independence. We saw in the ful ceremony punctuated with cultural performances by
net neutrality debate that increasingly, you will end up dancers.
with large players becoming gatekeepers. With an open Explaining his governments attempts to put into prac-
stack, even a two-person start-up in a garage can create tice his slogan minimum government, maximum gov-
a payment product as good as Apple Pay, he said. ernance, Mr. Modi said his government at the Centre,
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Mr. Nilekani expects a billion people to have Aadhaar and various State governments had taken several steps
numbers by this March or April (from 970 million as of since September 2015 to make their regulations indus-
now) and said the entry of 21 new banks and the surge in try-friendly to encourage foreign direct investment and
smart phones and bank accounts offers the potential to manufacturing.
build all sorts of apps. FDI inflows
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The UPI has a level playing field with no gatekeepers. India is perhaps the most open country for FDI. Most
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
We can use it to fundamentally change the way we do of the FDI sectors have been put on automatic approv-
business or improve any government service or pro- al route. Our FDI inflows have gone up by 48 per cent
cess, adding that the UPI could do to P2P transactions since the day my government came into office. In fact,
what direct benefits transfer has done for government to FDI inflow in December 2015 was the highest ever in this
people transactions. country. This is, at a time, when global FDI has fallen
substantially.
India, a land of great opportunity: Modi He said the initiative had started yielding results, with In-
Showcasing India as a land of immense opportunities, dia achieving highest ever electricity generation, produc-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday told repre- tion of motor vehicles, highest software exports in 2015
sentatives from 68 countries participating in the Make and had jumped several ranks in global indexes as the
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
most attractive destination for investment. It is estimated that nearly $1 trillion will be required in
He said the manufacturing growth rate had improved from the next few years for development of ports, roads and
1.7 per cent in April 2014 to 12.6 in the current quarter. airports.
In order for this investment to enable economic growth,
Implement key structural reforms such revamping of laws to enable faster resolution of disputes
and up-gradation and modernization of existing infra-
as GST structure.
Over the last two years, the Government of India has Exports
m
taken several steps in the right direction. We have seen Finally, priority on exports to be accorded to make our
notable reforms both in the power sector as well as the trade deficit into a trade surplus. Exports from India have
infrastructure sector. It has also made commendable ef- declined precipitously over the last 15 months, partially
forts towards ease of doing business in India, specifically due to a fall in both input prices and therefore in output
to make India amongst the top 50 countries in the world
in this regard.
The major thrust to Make in India and Startup India are
welcome, especially the focus on manufacturing which is
co
realisation as well.
This has been further accentuated by fierce Chinese
competition and the commodity-led foreign exchange cri-
sis in Africa, Asia and South America.
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slated to account for 25% of Indias GDP by 2025. Given the current global economic crisis, a crying need
The last two budgets from this government have led to an is for the government to urgently increase the duty draw-
improvement in the fiscal deficit. backs for manufactured exports that would help increase
This has inspired great confidence globally, leading to the competitiveness of exports from India in the face of
consistent improvement in FDI making India the largest very low priced competition from other emerging markets.
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destination of FDI in emerging markets over the last year. The long-term goal for any robust economy is to create a
At this stage, it is crucial to keep this momentum going. favourable environment that promotes transparency, en-
First, the government has to ensure consistency and sta-
or
Second, the need of the hour is to successfully imple- structural reforms matched with a rigorous implemen-
ment key structural reforms that can reduce inefficiencies tation to move up these rankings and make India a fa-
that have a multiplier effect on overall growth. voured destination for businesses.
This includes the passage of the GST, which is the basis Since the government is committed to long-term growth,
for creating a common market that will replace multiple it is imperative that it stays the course and remains an-
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levels of cascading taxation. I hope all sections of polity chored in values of fiscal prudence and governance. This
will reach a consensus soon to pass this most significant will prepare us for further policy changes that will unleash
tax reform since Independence. the full potential of the Indian economy. The focus must
Third, there must be a strong thrust given to the rural remain on developing consistent and stable policies that
economy. Considering the current state of rural India, will build confidence in investors for the future.
asp
directed support to the distressed farming community is The author is Chairman and Managing Director of TVS
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
in India seminar in Mumbai on Monday. manage its finances is the increasing push towards e-
Our government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi payments, with the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme taking
is always willing to talk, always willing to accommodate centre-stage.
sensible ideas, always wanting to take forward the devel- The big story is the DBT. The PFMS (Plan Fund Man-
opment of this country in the interest of 125 crore Indi- agement System) portal in our office has become the
ans. All our actions are to create consensus on GST. You agency through which all DBT transfers take place in the
will appreciate that every party, except one, is on board. country. This fiscal we have added some seven crore
Every party of different ideology is supporting it, and then beneficiaries on the PFMS portal since April. Once this
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there is some ulterior motive, why is one party trying to has happened, there was a lot of pressure from other
stall the whole process? asked Mr. Goyal. ministries, state governments and union territories to on-
board other schemes onto the portal, Mr. Joseph said.
However, before the DBT scheme can be expanded fur-
co
ther through electronic payments, the software systems
in place will need to be upgraded, he said.
The CGA also expressed concerns about ramping up
electronic payments as connectivity was poor across the
m.
country.
You can push through greater amount of payments
through e-payments, but connectivity is an issue. We are
dependent on the available backbone of connectivity in
the country. We have addressed the department of elec-
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The Budget session of Parliament is likely to start on tronics if they can strengthen the connectivity system up
February 23. to the district level in all 630 districts in India, Mr. Joseph
Addressing the seminar on opportunities in the power said.
or
and coal sector, Mr. Goyal said $1 trillion worth of invest- The CGA has already completed the development of its
ments were expected in the power sector by 2030, of non-tax portal, which will provide systematic, electronic
which $250 billion would be committed in the next five data on the governments non-tax revenue, which is
years. around Rs. 2.1 lakh crore in this Budget.
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that this is wasteful expenditure and that government de- the government will meet its fiscal deficit target this year,
partments just spend money so as to exhaust the budget. Mr. Joseph was quite scathing towards economists who
But this year if you look at the trend of the spending, youll have been advising the government to miss the target in
find that even up to the six-month period, expenditure was favour of increased public spending.
more or less 48-50 per cent of the budgeted amount, Mr. Its a vicious cycle. Its nice for economists to say that
Joseph told The Hindu in an exclusive interview. public spending has to be stepped up to boost demand.
The present government has taken the right decisions to But if that happens then the fiscal deficit target goes out
ensure that funds are released right upfront, in the begin- the window. Whos going to be held accountable? Are the
ning. This requires decision-making, he added. economists going to be held accountable? Governments
Another factor that is helping the government better dont take decisions because some economists felt that
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
that was the best thing to do. We have enough and more facilitates the growth and expansion of MSMEs.
economists who say the wrong things, he said. There needs to be a level playing field and an easy frame-
work of regulations for the entry and growth of small in-
Not desirable to use exchange rate to dustries, he said.
Lack of infrastructure and logistics, lack of access to mar-
spur economic growth, says Rajan keting, difficulty and the expense in acquiring land and
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government dont financing are some of the impediments faced by MSMEs.
favour undervaluation of the exchange rate as a means to It is necessary that large companies handhold MSMEs
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spur economic growth, RBI Governor Raghuraman Rajan for the latters growth, Dr. Rajan said.
said. It is also necessary to have a safety net for the workers in
There are those who argue that in countries such as Chi- small business firms, the RBI governor said.
na, Japan and Korea business enterprises grew via an Kerala, with its literacy rate and educational achieve-
undervalued exchange rate, Dr. Rajan said at the India
MSME Summit-2016 organised by the Confederation of
Indian Industry(CII) on Monday. Such people want the
same to be tried out in India. However there are a lot of
problems with undervaluing the exchange rate and some
co
ments, is quite capable of triggering a revolution on the
MSME front, he added.
long period of time is not a feasible or desirable strategy. programme and said it was part of the governments com-
Which is why I firmly believe that the RBIs philosophy of mitment to turn the country into a world class hub for capi-
tal goods. Mr.Geete said the objective of the policy was to
or
12, the currency completed its biggest weekly decline by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partner-
since mid-January as overseas funds fled the nations ship with Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
stocks amid a global equity rout. (DIPP) and the Government of Maharashtra, Mr. Geete
The RBI wants the exchange rate to be reasonably pre- said, The aim is to create game-changing strategies for
dictable and reasonably stable, Dr. Rajan said. the capital goods sector.
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The advantage to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Some of the key issues addressed include availability of
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
(MSMEs) should come from their capabilities, cost-effec- finance, raw material, innovation and technology, pro-
tiveness and innovative ideas rather than from underval- ductivity, quality and environment-friendly manufacturing
uation, he pointed out. MSMEs can act as a means of practices, promoting exports and creating domestic de-
social empowerment where disadvantageous sections of mand.
society can be empowered with money and wealth. The key policy recommendations include strengthening
However, the idea should not be to reserve entire sectors the existing scheme of the DHI (Department of Heavy
for MSMEs. Industry) on enhancement of competitiveness of capital
This would only ensure that they remain small always. goods sector by increasing budgetary allocation and in-
There is a need to figure out a regulatory environment that creasing its scope to further boost global competitiveness
in various sub sectors and enhancing export of Indian
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
made capital goods through a Heavy Industry Export and The Boards Financial and Investment panel had rec-
Market Development Assistance Scheme (HIEMDA). ommended 8.95 per cent interest that would have left
It has also made provision for introducing a Technology a surplus of Rs. 91 crore, said Prabhakar Banasure, a
Development Fund, upgrading existing and setting up a member of the Financial, Investment and Audit Commit-
new testing and certification facility, making standards tee (FIAC) of the EPFO who was present in the board
mandatory in order to reduce sub-standard machine im- meeting.
ports and at the same time providing opportunity to local This is unacceptable. In the past, the Board always
manufacturing units by utilising their installed capacity adopted the recommendations of the FIAC. We asked
and unveiling scheme for skill development for capital the Minister to wait for the audit of the 2015-16 balance
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goods sector. sheet before declaring the interest rates. However, he
Sumit Mazumder, President, CII said the government has didnt agree, he added.
taken unprecedented and innovative steps with multi-
co
dimensional endeavour to boost manufacturing and im- Six rail projects get nod
proving ease of doing business. he government, a week ahead of the Railway Budget,
cleared six proposals for doubling and construction of a
8.8% interest proposed on EPF third railway line worth Rs 10,793 crore.
m.
Even as the Finance Ministry decided to pare interest The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved
rates on several small savings schemes to foster a lower construction of six railways lines and a railway bridge for
interest rate regime, the board of trustees of the Employ- increased passenger and freight needs. Most part of ex-
ees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday penditure will be met through extra budgetary resources,
recommended an 8.80 per cent rate of return on Rs.10 a government press statement. The projects will be built
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lakh crore of retirement savings under its watch for 2015- using the Rs 1.5 lakh crore investments by Life Insurance
16. Corporation of India in the Indian Railways.
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya who announced the The projects include doubling of 190 km long Hubli-
or
decision on Tuesday after a meeting of the EPFO board Chickajur railway line (Karnataka) worth Rs.1,294 crore,
in Chennai, however, said this rate was meant as interim 160 km long Ramna-Singrauli railway line (covering
relief for workers and the board would meet again later Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh) worth
to discuss the possibility of a further interest rate hike. Rs.2,675 crore and 261 km long Katni-Singrauli railway
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Trade unions not happy line (Madhya Pradesh) worth Rs.2,084 crore.
Although the rate for this year is a notch higher than the Other projects approved includes construction of a third
8.75 per cent paid out in 2014-15, trade unions were dis- railway line on 132 long Wardha (Sewagram)-Ballarshah
appointed as the Finance and Investment panel of the route at the cost of Rs.1,443 crore and a 165 km long
EPFO board had earlier recommended a higher interest line between Anuppur-Katni in Madhya Pradesh worth
ira
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
governments commitment to fiscal targets, Commission also driven by its own perspective and primary focus on
Member M. Govinda Rao told The Hindu. monetary policy. A Fiscal Council would be a very impor-
He said the Congressional Budget Office in the U.S. and tant body especially when controversies on issues like
the Office for Budget Responsibility in the U.K. performed fiscal deficit thresholds arise as there is no independent
similar functions. body to suggest a road map, Mr. Mundle said.
Mr. Rao said while the union government monitors fis- I am afraid that I have to say I am disappointed that the
cal targets of states nobody oversees its own fiscal deci- government has taken no steps or indicated any intent to
sions. act on this so far, said Mr. Mundle.
The Centre opts for creative accounting, pauses or sim- In the past few years, states have been fiscally prudent
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ply doesnt follow the targets it has submitted to Parlia- but the Union has been skipping its own deficit targets.
ment under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Man- This is why we had recommended an independent Fiscal
agement (FRBM) Act of 2003, he said. Council to act as an oversight body on the finance minis-
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States have constraints in managing their finances as try that would report to the Parliament, he said.
the RBI controls their deficit and cannot float a bond on
a states behalf without the Centres approval. Since the Satyarthi urges govt. to invest more on
2003 FRBM law came into effect, there have been four
pauses in the deficit targets enshrined in it and a few oc- children in budget
m.
casions where the targets have been flouted, he said. Though children below 18 years of age constitute 41 per
The Commission had recommended a sharp increase cent of the countrys population, the budgetary allocation
in allocations to state governments in its report released for them remains dismal, child rights campaigner and No-
last February, which the government accepted. It had bel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi said here on Saturday.
also mooted an Independent Fiscal Council as an over- Urging the Union government to invest more on children
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sight body over the finance ministry. The council would in the coming Union budget, he said: India is proud of be-
report to the Parliament on how realistic government pro- ing the youngest society in the world We all talk about
demographic dividend but when it comes to investment
or
intended purpose would be met or more funds should be Satyarthi said no country could accomplish inclusivity
provided, and the deficits are in line with projections. For and sustain development, along with social development
example, in the Seventh Pay Commission it could assess and peace, unless it gave priority to the health and edu-
if provisions are realistic, pointed out Sudipto Mundle, a cation of its children.
Commission member. In six of the last eight years, rev- Speaking on the proposed amendments to the existing
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enue forecasts of the government fell short by around 10 law on child labour, he expressed the hope that Parlia-
per cent, due to overestimation. ment would pass a progressive law. We demand that
The public should know if the estimates for schemes child labour be completely prohibited up to 14 years of
such as One Rank, One Pension are realistic as no one age and employment of children be prevented in any
has worked out the total liability. Wrong estimates also hazardous profession between 15 to 18 years of age,
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hurt expenditure and states that now get 42 per cent of he said.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
revenues also get hit, Mr. Rao said while explaining that While the existing law identified 83 hazardous occupa-
shortfalls from projections translate into funding cuts in tions prohibiting children from working, Mr. Satyarthi said
the middle of the financial year for all schemes and pro- the proposed amendment reduced the number of haz-
jects. ardous occupations only to three.
Such an independent council could also weigh in on the The child rights activist said he would soon launch a cam-
debate over the fiscal deficit that the budget should strive paign 100 million for 100 million. A 100 million children
for that is currently being driven by only government who are in schools and colleges and have access to edu-
officials, myriad commentators and the RBI. cation and other facilities will make a difference to the
The government is always under pressure to breach the other 100 million who are not so fortunate, he said.
fiscal deficit target. The Reserve Bank of Indias view is The campaign would be both online and on the ground
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
and he was trying to reach the media groups and univer- ing more in EPF or GPF is not a good idea and it would
sities. be unfair to deprive an investor of the income that ac-
Though he refrained from giving a direct answer to the crued on his investments. EPF savings are pooled and
recent developments at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, deployed in various instruments, including government
he said youths all over the world were getting frustrated debt.
and disillusioned with institutions. The returns on EPF savings involve no largesse from
the government. They pay out what they earn on their
Govt. may penalise higher PF savings portfolio, said a senior EPF official who stressed that
m
he upcoming Budget may penalise voluntary investments the EPFOs trust has a fiduciary responsibility towards its
of more than Rs.1.5 lakh parked in the Employees PF members, as defined in the Indian Trusts Act.
and General PF accounts in a bid to channelize savings In last years Budget, the government said it will use
Rs.6,000 crore of unclaimed deposits lying in EPF ac-
co
to other alternatives such as the National Pension Sys-
tem. counts to subsidize new social security schemes for
While investments into tax-saving small saving schemes senior citizens. This hasnt been implemented, precisely
like the Public Provident Fund are restricted to Rs.1.5 because it is not legally tenable to forfeit an employees
lakh a year, it is possible for employees to top up their savings just because he hasnt turned up to claim it, the
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EPF and GPF contributions beyond that limit. Though official said.
such investments dont lower an individuals taxable in- Since 2011, the government stopped paying interest on
come beyond the Rs.1,50,000 allowed annually under EPF accounts that were idle for three years. The money
Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act, the interest earned parked in these accounts continues to earn income, but it
on them remains tax-free. hasnt been used to raise the EPF rate payouts for other
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The GPF is offered to government employees, while members owing to similar considerations about whether
EPF benefits are mandatory for all organisations with 20 this would be legally permissible.
This is not a good idea. In a country where pensions
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ments this time, said a top government official aware of through a period of convergence, said Amit Gopal, sen-
the deliberations on the matter. One alternative being ior vice president at India Life Capital.
considered is to offer a lower interest rate on investments A part of EPF savings are invested into the stock market
over Rs 1.5 lakh, he said. since August 2015, just like the NPS has been offering
This is part of an attempt by the Finance Ministry to to its investors. Mr Gopal said it would be imprudent and
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change peoples investment preferences and nudge impractical to offer differential rates for EPF savings up to
them towards the relatively new National Pension Sys- Rs.1.5 lakh and those beyond.
tem (NPS) administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory PFRDA chairman Hemant Contractor said that some of
and Development Authority (PFRDA). the growth in NPS accounts, which grew from 87 lakh in
The PFRDA currently has assets of Rs 1.10 lakh crore March 2015 to 1.15 crore by this month, could be attrib-
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under its watch and reports to the Finance Ministry, while uted to this tax sop that takes the tax-deductible invest-
ments under NPS to Rs.2 lakh a year.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
these banks reported loss in the October-December The party (Vodafone) can always approach assessing
quarter. officer with a request to stay the demand as per law. In
These banks are Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank case assessing officer does not agree, party can go to
of India and UCO Bank. Indian Overseas Bank posted a next higher authority and get a stay, Revenue Secretary
loss of Rs.1,425 crore during the third quarter while Cen- Hasmukh Adhia had said.
tral Bank of India posted a loss of Rs.837 crore and UCO
Bank Rs.1,497 crore during the quarter. The agency also Fiscal metrics remain weak: Moodys
downgraded rating of various borrowing programmes of ndias economic growth at more than 7 per cent may be
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Bank of India (BoI). faster than that of its peers, but subdued rural demand
and weak corporate profitability will contribute to hamper-
Centre trying to resolve Vodafone tax is- ing fiscal consolidation in the upcoming Budget, Moodys
co
sue: Prasad Investors Service said.
Amid a controversy over Rs.14,200 crore tax reminder The credit rating agency said that even if the February 29
notice to Vodafone for an issue under arbitration, Tele- budget shows deficit targets are being met or surpassed,
com Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said the fiscal metrics in India will remain on a weaker footing than
other countries with similar sovereign credit ratings.
m.
government was trying to resolve the issue.
When an Indian company goes to England, it pays tax- Even if budgetary consolidation continues, Indias fis-
es. Pharma companies pay taxes in the US. The Prime cal metrics will remain weaker than rating peers in the
Minister has said taxes cannot be levied on retrospective near term, because of the relatively high level of Indias
basis. But tax liability issue still remains. They are saying state and central government deficits and debt. The fiscal
weakness is partly due to structural factors, according to
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pability by limiting it to the Vodafone case.On February sure for subsidies and development spending, while high
4, the I-T Department issued Vodafone a reminder over debt levels (63.8 per cent of GDP in 2015-16) restrict fis-
its Rs.14,200-crore tax demand and threatened to seize cal flexibility.
assets in the case of non-payment.The notice, sent to Indias credit rating will not just depend on the forecasts
for fiscal management but the specific measures the
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represented a complete disconnect between the govern- Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das acknowl-
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
ment and the tax department and ran contrary to Prime edged these fiscal constraints on Monday and indicated
Minister Narendra Modis promise of tax-friendly environ- that the government would neither go overboard with
ment for foreign investors. public spending to jumpstart the economy as some peo-
The Indian government stated in 2014 that existing tax ple have suggested, nor stick tightly to the fiscal deficit
disputes, including ours, would be resolved through the goalposts. The reality is somewhere in the middle, he
existing judicial process, Vodafone had said.The gov- said. Indias fiscal deficit stood at 4.1 per cent of GDP in
ernment had defended the reminder notice as a routine 2014-15 and the government has committed to a target
exercise of sending collection notice to all those whose of 3.9 per cent for this fiscal and 3.5 per cent for 2016-17,
dues are not stayed by any Court. deviating from an original target to bring the deficit down
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
to three per cent of GDP by then. sioning for bad loans. While the government has commit-
Whether the central government deficit meets, mod- ed Rs.70,000 crore capital infusion in four years (starting
estly outperforms or slightly underperforms current tar- from this financial year) that amount may be inadequate,
gets, Indias fiscal position will remain weaker in the near several rating agencies had pointed out.
term than its peers, Moodys said. The shift in the road- Earlier, the government had estimated an amount of
map made last year underscores the agencys expecta- Rs.2.8 crore as capital infusion for the public sector
tion that even with very modest deficit reduction goals, banks by 2018.
fiscal consolidation will be difficult to achieve though the Public sector banks are constraint to raise equity capital
government is committed to it over the medium term. from the markets as most of them are trading at a sig-
m
While it may or may not be a part of the Budget speech, nificant discount to their book value. For example, price
clarity on the Goods and Services Tax regime would pro- to book value of State Bank of India is 0.68, while that is
vide insight into how revenues could evolve over the long- Canara Banks is 0.23, and Bank of Indias 0.17.
co
er term. On the expenditure side, the Budget will reveal Valuations of public sector banks are subdued. Increase
how the government allocates current and capital spend- in FII cap will certainly attract portfolio investment if the
ing in the context of the recommendations of the Seventh cap is raised, said a senior banker from a public sector
Pay Commission and , the still sluggish outlook for capital bank.
investment and efforts to strengthen state-owned banks Profitability of public sector will come under pressure in
m.
balance sheets, according to Moodys statement. the Jan-March quarter bad loans will further rise.
The rating agency did highlight one silver lining for India Most public sector banks reported weak earnings in
compared to its peers lower reliance on foreign curren- Q3 after Reserve Bank of India (RBI), found in its asset
cy debt, even though its public debt to GDP ratio is higher quality review (AQR) that certain accounts needs higher
than similarly rated countries like Indonesia, Philippines, provisioning and asked the lenders to classify those ac-
u
Romania and Turkey. counts as non-performing and gave the lenders two quar-
This insulates government finances from gyrations in the ters Q3 & Q4 to complete the task. Most banks have
or
exchange rate, which have been particularly severe in classified 50 per cent of the RBI identified accounts in Q3
the last few years, and will continue to be so. Emerg- and remaining will be identified in Q4, which will result in
ing markets with a higher reliance on foreign currency further rise in NPAs.
financing have witnessed sovereign borrowing costs rise Apart from provisioning for bad loans, public sector
as global risk appetite diminishes, said the Moodys note banks will also require capital to comply with the Basel-III
ntf
to 49 per cent crease the cap, then this will mean the central bank has
The government is considering a proposal to increase changed its mind, said a banker.
the cap on foreign institutional investment in public sec-
tor banks to 49 per cent from 20 per cent.
The move comes at a time public sector banks need eq- Public-private partnerships to fuel future
asp
uity capital while their stocks have taken a hammering growth of Indian Railways
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
after reporting huge losses in the third quarter due to a he Railway Budget has laid emphasis on Public Private
sharp rise in non-performing assets, banking industry Partnerships (PPP) to implement initiatives such as rail
sources said. connectivity for ports, station-redevelopment, rail-side
According to present regulations, a single non-banking logistics parks and warehousing as well as satellite ter-
institution cannot hold more than 10 per cent in a bank minals.
while one bank can hold maximum 5 per cent stake in an- A committee appointed for the purpose of revamping the
other bank. These stipulations, however, may continue. ministrys PPP cell has submitted its report and the initia-
The public sector banks will need to raise tier-I capital as tive is under implementation, Railway Minister Suresh
their capital positions have depleted due to higher provi- Prabhu said. The cell will be strengthened as part of or-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
ganisational restructuring process to improve ease of do- ernment is also considering availing multilateral financial
ing business with the Indian Railways, he said. investments for the development of certain other stations
The capital expenditure for the next financial year, pegged and partnering with states.
at Rs.1.21 lakh crore, calls for abandoning the business- As inadequate warehousing and transportation facilities
as-usual approach and continually innovating to develop have kept potential customers away from the railways,
new frameworks for PPP, Prabhu said. Prabhu proposed to develop rail-side logistics parks and
Abhaya Agarwal, partner and PPP leader, EY, however, warehousing to complete the transportation chain.
said relying heavily on PPP at present may be a wrong These logistic parks and warehouses would be created
approach as many infrastructure developers had taken through public-private partnership model mode to bring
m
on too much debt. the required efficiency and investment, as well as to at-
Well have to wait for 2-3 years for the market to revive tract greater traffic to the railways, he said.
and for PPPs to take off, Mr. Agarwal said. Around 10 goods sheds will be developed by the Trans-
co
Foreign investors from Spain and France were keen on port Logistics Company of India in 2016-17, he said, add-
dedicated freight corridors (DFC) projects provided they ing that the focus will be on providing last mile connectiv-
were structured properly in terms of financial returns and ity for freight business and significant reduction in logistic
risk-allocation and mitigation, he said. Land acquisition costs. More satellite terminals, to de-congest terminals in
for dedicated freight corridors could take a long time. big cities, are being planned in PPP mode, Prabhu said.
m.
Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner (infrastructure and govern- Also, the Rail Ministry will invite FM Radio stations to pro-
ment services), KPMG in India, said failure of PPP to vide entertainment.
deliver large infra projects was mainly due to inappropri-
ate structuring of the concession agreement, which was Urgent need to improve corporate
heavily loaded against the concessionaire (developer).
u
transparent system to ensure opportunities are given to mental spending in the infrastructure sector and specific
relatively unknown players too, he said. steps to kick-start domestic investment which remains
The railway minister said his ministry would take up dedi- stubbornly stagnant.
cated freight corridors and implement it in a time-bound However, what is concerning is that none of the discus-
manner through innovative financing mechanisms, in- sions focus enough on the poor governance standards
ira
Port connectivity was important for seamless logistics to Regulators, investors and lenders,who continue to apply
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
boost imports and exports, he said, and as a part of the traditional risk management tools and believe that they
ongoing coastal connectivity program, the government can conduct business-as-usual in India, are sticking their
plans to undertake implementation of rail connectivity for heads in the proverbial sand.
the ports of Nargol and Hazira under the PPP model dur- The new Companies Act (the Act), which was intro-
ing the next financial year. duced in 2013, places significant emphasis on gov-
Referring to the Cabinet approval for redevelopment of ernance through the board and board processes. Our
400 stations through PPP, Prabhu said on the basis of a experience on-the-ground suggests that many Indian
bankable structure for private participation, the govern- companies are following the tenets of the Act much more
ment will undertake a bidding process for a few large and in letter than in spirit. The spirit of the Act is to constitute
medium stations during the next financial year. The gov- boards where directors are engaged and expected to
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
consistently ask difficult questions to the management. mined Contributions (INDCs) will require huge financial
In contrast, we find this practice to be prevalent only in resources which cannot be met through budgetary sourc-
a handful of companies. One reason is that the require- es alone. Leveraging private finance along with public
ment in the Act to have both independent and women finance, both international and national, will be critical,
directors applies only to listed companies and specified says the chapter on climate change and sustainable de-
classes of public companies. Amongst this category, a velopment in the Survey.
number of companies have appointed friends or family to The SDGs set by the United Nations last September lay
fulfil the criteria outlined by the Act which puts into ques- the onus on countries to make significant progress on a
m
tion the true independence of such directors. On the oth- wide range of goals including ending poverty and hunger
er hand, there are numerous private companies who do and combating climate change. The INDCs are plans by
not have to follow these requirements, but who are wilful governments communicated to the United Nations cli-
defaulters of banks or have defrauded their equity inves- mate change council regarding the steps they will take to
tors. Experience suggests that in these companies, the
loss to investors and lenders can be greatly attributed to
the lack of good corporate governance practices such as
fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency.
In fact, a number of top private equity investors in India
co
address climate change domestically.
Green technology
India, the Survey adds, could benefit from the renewed
global focus on adopting and developing green technol-
ogy but there could be international pressure to commit
m.
will now tell you that picking companies with good gov- to a date beyond which its emissions wouldnt increase.
ernance standards is one of the key factors to investing This is one of the sticking points between the U.S. and In-
successfully in India. dia and China on doing more to contain their greenhouse
Among other stakeholders, external auditors are a crucial gas emissions. As part of its domestic climate commit-
u
element of good governance as they are responsible for ments, India has said it would source nearly 60,000 MW
providing independent evaluations of the performance of of its energy by wind-power and 1,00,000 MW megawatts
companies and investors and lenders rely on them be- via solar power by 2022. The latter is extremely ambitious
or
fore they make decisions. And yet, several investors and considering that as of today only 5% of this proposed so-
lenders in India have suffered from the lack of good qual- lar capacity has been installed. The Survey also notes
ity financial information as evidenced by the numerous that a mission on Climate Change and Health mooted
accounting scandals and investment disputes in India. since early 2015 is being developed and a National
ntf
Despite that, no external auditors or, for that matter, other Expert Group on Climate Change and Health has been
advisors have been held accountable. The Act has intro- constituted.
duced several measures to improve the independence
and quality of auditing standards such as mandatory ro- Stung by criticism, govt. swings into dam-
tation of external auditors, although the effectiveness of
age control mode
ira
had asked the Delhi Police for a report on the JNU row.
Private finance vital for India to reach They were also planning to send them another missive,
climate goals: Survey asking why the police relied on video footage provided by
The Economic Survey finds that India will find it hard to a private news channel to register an FIR regarding the
meet its variety of obligations to tackle climate change pro-Afzal Guru event organised there.
without substantial help from the private sector. As reported by The Hindu earlier, though a police team
Successful implementation of the Paris Agreement, the was present when two groups of students were lead-
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ambi- ing a march in JNU on February 9, an FIR of sedition
tious targets set out in the Intended Nationally Deter- was registered two days later when Zee News aired the
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
show where some people allegedly raised anti-India slo- ndia is far from being a full tax-paying democracy with
gans. As per the standard operating procedure (SOP), it about 5.5 per cent of the people who earn paying tax
is mandatory for the police to carry their own recording and only 15.5 per cent of the net national income being
device whenever they have gone to attend a protest or reported to the tax authorities, according to the Economic
gathering. Survey tabled in the Parliament on Friday.
When contacted, Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi con- The survey estimated that just four per cent Indias voters
firmed that they had sent a report to the MHA. He told are taxpayers, though it should be closer to 23 per cent,
The Hindu, the video recording was only incidental, we and 85 per cent of the net national income fall outside the
m
have other evidence to prove the case. tax net.
When asked why wasnt the Delhi Police carrying their The tax to GDP ratio at 16.6%, as a result, is well below
own camera and relied on the footage provided by Zee that of the emerging market economies of 21 per cent
News, Mr. Bassi said, the cameras Delhi Police have are and OECD average of 34 per cent. The survey, however,
amateurish. The video footage shot by you [news chan-
nels] people are done in a professional manner and they
are of high quality. As I said earlier, video footage is only
one of the evidence we have.
Officials in the Home Ministry said they would do a
co
pointed out that the democracies with higher ratios took
a long time to strengthen tax capacity. Any harsh judge-
ment of Indias performance must be tempered by his-
torical differences in the evolution of India compared with
other democracies.
m.
course-correction on the JNU matter and would try to fix On the expenditure side, Indias spending on human cap-
responsibility for mishandling the entire situation. They ital, education and health, to the GDP ratio is the lowest
added that the violence at Patiala House was completely among BRICS and lower than the OECD and emerging
avoidable and it unnecessarily embarrassed the govern- market economies averages. They are in fact, lower than
u
mishandled the entire episode. We have asked them for Indias human capital development, the survey called for
a report on the entire episode and will be seeking fur- bringing rich farmers into the tax net, raising property tax
ther clarifications on the conduct of the policemen on the rates and phasing out tax exemptions.
court premises, said a senior Home Ministry official. There should be reasonable taxation of the better-off,
ntf
Mr. Bassi said they had sent a factual report to the MHA. regardless of the source of their incomes, whether it is
He said, It was a factual report and we have told the from industry, services, real estate, or agriculture, Chief
government that everything is fine at our end. Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian told reporters af-
He said the forensic report of the Zee News footage had ter the survey was tabled.
not arrived yet. The police had sent the video footage The survey also seeks to address the question French
ira
for examination amid allegations that a doctored version economist and author of best-selling book Capital in the
was aired. Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty raised during his
Vishwa Deepak, a news producer associated with the recent trip to India: Should not Indian elite pay more taxes
channel, had resigned as a mark of protest against the to provide for greater spending on health and education?
biased coverage of the incident. If the UPA Government had not raised in the 2012-13 the
In his resignation letter posted on his Facebook page, threshold level of personal income tax, the survey cal-
asp
Mr. Deepak said, A video which did not even have the culated that an additional 1.65 crore income tax payers
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
slogan of Pakistan zindabad was still aired continuously. would have got incorporated.
How did we blindly believe that these voices which came The tax-GDP ratio would have been 0.32% higher as
in the dark were of Kanhaiya or his friends? Instead of Rs.31,500 crore additional tax revenue would have been
Bhartiya Court zindabad, they heard Pakistan zindabad collected.
and spoilt some peoples career, hopes and led their fam- The survey also seeks to analyse the levels of inequality
ilies to destruction. in India, which Prof. Piketty said during his visit, he is un-
able to assess owing to unavailability of data.
Only 5.5% who earn are tax payers: According to the survey fast growing years in the 2000s
were in fact associated with rising inequality at the very
Economic Survey top end of the Indian income distribution.
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
m
to that in the U.K. and lesser than in the United States. Large foreign banks, which have so far been operating
under the branch licensing norms, had approached the
banking regulator for separate licenses, one for a retail
India has 3rd largest base of start-up subsidiary and another for corporate banking under the
firms
Within a year, the number of technology start ups in the
country has grown by 40 per cent to over 4,200, making
India the third largest base of technology start-ups in the co
branch route.
However, the RBI is not keen on dual licensing and wants
foreign banks to operate only under the WoS route, said
people directly involved with the matter, who didnt wish
m.
world, according to the Economic Survey 2015-16. to be named.
This has further helped create about 80,000-85,000 jobs The global financial crisis of 2008 had prompted the cen-
during 2015. India, home to a new breed of young start- tral bank to tighten the rules that govern foreign banks in
ups, has clearly evolved to become the third largest base India. As a result, in 2013, RBI had released norms for
of technology start-ups in the world. Within one year, the setting up a wholly owned subsidiary for overseas lend-
u
number of start-ups in India has grown by 40 per cent and ers. While the central bank had not made it mandatory for
crossed the 4200 mark, an addition of nearly 1200, creat- existing foreign banks to convert their Indian operations
ing 80,000-85,000 jobs in 2015, the survey said. Sepa- into a subsidiary, the regulator had expected voluntary
or
rately, the survey also stated that as of January 2016, adoption. This was because, the RBI had assured foreign
there were 19,400 technology-enabled start-ups in India, banks that subsidiaries would be treated on par with local
of which 5,000 had been started in 2015 alone. One part banks, in terms of branch licensing.
of the economy that is witnessing unusual dynamism is While branch licensing for domestic banks has been lib-
ntf
the start-up sector, focused on e-commerce and financial eralised allowing them to freely open branches subject
services, according to the survey. to certain conditions, foreign banks collectively are given
The survey added no less than 2000 of the start-ups about 15-20 branch licences in a year.
have been backed by venture capital/angel investors Also overseas lenders were promised stamp duty bene-
since 2010, of which 1005 were created in 2015 alone. fits and told they would be allowed to acquire local private
ira
Indian start-ups raised USD 3.5 billion in funding in the banks, if they opted for the subsidiary route.
first half of 2015, and the number of active investors in However, large foreign banks like Standard Chartered,
India increased from 220 in 2014 to 490 in 2015, it said. Citibank and HSBC, have so far shown little interest in
As of December 2015, eight Indian start-ups belonged adopting the WoS route.
to the Unicorn club i.e had valuations greater than USD The overseas lenders contend that converting to subsidi-
one billion, it said. aries will affect their ability to find the resources to write
asp
The survey added that it is important that start-ups, too, big ticket loans since the units, unlike branches, wont be
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
see exit, which would take the form of these compa- able to leverage their parents balance sheet.
nies being listed, allowing the original private investors to Till now, only a few smaller lenders like DBS Bank and
cash in on the initial investment, and plough it back into SBM Bank (Mauritius), have opted to convert their
other similar ventures. branches into a subsidiary.
Exit valuations low As a middle-path, the large foreign lenders had proposed
Exit valuations in India are still low but are expected to a dual licence arrangement one for retail banking op-
increase as the impact of new SEBI policies on listings erations under the subsidiary format and another for
comes into effect, and as equity markets in general revive branches to do wholesale banking, an executive from a
from current low valuations caused by a sense of gloom foreign bank said on the condition of anonymity.
in the global economy. But the central bank isnt enthused by the idea of dual
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
licencing because they are not convinced that foreign banks will be serious about retail operations, where margins
and business volumes are low, sources said. They may not be focussing on retail business, which is essential to
increase banking penetration in the country, said a person familiar with the matter.
The wholly owned subsidiary route was proposed mainly for protecting local retail depositors. The RBI is of the view
that local incorporation provides effective control to the regulators, according to the sources.
m
co
u m.
or
ntf
ira
asp
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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News and Events of February 2016
International
of tightened borders along the path to Germany.
The situation in Idomeni is but a taste of what Greece
could look like if Europe decides to suspend Greece from
the Schengen area or seal the border with Macedonia.
When Macedonia shut the border with no warning for a
Greece resists its role as European day last week, migrants piled behind the razor wire fence
Unions gatekeeper and a Pakistani man was fatally stabbed amid the chaos.
In November, hundreds of migrants on the Greek side at-
m
On a recent weekday, 40 buses jammed into the parking
lot of a gas station near the Macedonian border, carry- tacked the Macedonian police with stones amid fears that
ing thousands of refugees who had survived a perilous they might not be allowed to pass.
crossing on wintry seas from Turkey. Over the past few days, the official camp has become
more orderly, with aid groups running shelters and hand-
Now they were approaching ground zero in the intensi-
fying debate over how to curb the unceasing stream of
men, women and children from war-ravaged and poor
nations in West Asia and Africa to the safety and prosper-
ity of Europe. After trying and largely failing to persuade
co
ing out food and clothing. Still, an overflow of refugees
was stuck about 12 miles away at the Eko gas station, a
waiting room for those hoping to continue north.
m.
Turkey to stem the flow, Europe has reached a critical Organisers confident Zika will be under
point in the migrant crisis. With few options left short of
halting the war in Syria, much of the Continent is coa-
control before Rio Olympics
Rio Olympics organisers said on Tuesday they are con-
lescing around proposals that would harden the border
cerned by the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, but
with Macedonia and effectively turn Greece into a giant
u
ways for migrants on the path north and the site of oc-
the Games, Rio 2016 organising committee spokesman
casional violence between the authorities and frustrated
Mario Andrada said.
migrants Greece has played that filtering role to some
Earlier, International Olympic Committee president
degree for months. In theory, Greece is allowing only
Thomas Bach welcomed measures being taken to tackle
ntf
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
cooler climate significantly reduces the presence of mos- beyond. Trade is a good thing. But trade has got to be
quitoes. fair. And the TPP is anything but fair, said Bernie Sand-
Pregnant women at risk ers, the Senator from Vermont, who is challenging Hillary
Pregnant women should not travel to Brazil for the Olym- Clinton for the Democratic Partys presidential nomina-
pics because of the risk posed by the Zika virus, sus- tion.
pected of causing foetal brain damage, President Dilma U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the deal
Rousseffs chief of staff said on Monday. AFP, Reuters could add $100 billion a year to U.S. growth. However,
critics say that the pact would export U.S. jobs to other
m
member states. The TPP is also being strongly criticised
62,000 lanterns light up Beijing for Spring for threatening to extend restrictive U.S. intellectual prop-
Festival erty (IP) laws globally.
The BBC is reporting that, The U.S.-led initiative is a
Chinese government workers have decorated 174 ave-
nues, 27 parks and tourist attractions, and 28 commercial
areas in Beijing with 62,000 lanterns ahead of the Lunar
New Year festivities.
The Municipal Commission of City Administration and
co
key part of Mr. Obamas so-called pivot to Asia wide-
ly seen by Beijing as President Obamas double-edged
doctrine of Chinas military and economic containment.
The Chinese spokesman, countering Mr. Obamas as-
m.
Environment said on Thursday that it had also laid out sertion, pointed out that instead of a single nation, defin-
more than 730,000 metres of landscape lighting across ing international trade rules was the responsibility of the
the city, Xinhua news agency reported. World Trade Organization (WTO). We have always been
Wu Yamei, deputy director of the commission, said it advocating and maintaining the World Trade Organiza-
had followed official guidelines on frugality in designing tions leading role in formulating global trade rules. We
u
the decorations. We used normal materials like silk and hope major trade countries and major economies can
plastics to make the lanterns, Wu said. commit themselves to maintaining the WTOs status in
or
The Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, which falls this regard. He stressed that the assumption that China
on February 8 this year, is Chinas biggest public holiday. would like to define the rules of international trade was
The commission said the festival lights will be turned on flawed.
from 6 p.m. to midnight every night between February 6 We never believe that China alone determines the for-
mulation of the agenda and rules of global trade of the
ntf
and 13
21st century, neither do we believe its possible for any
other country alone to do so, Mr. Lu observed.
Dont politicise TPP, China tells U.S. An editorial in the state-run tabloid Global Times pro-
China has warned the United States not to politicise inter- posed that instead of feuding with the Americans, China
national trade following comments by President Barack must continue to strengthen its own economy a move
ira
Obama as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a U.S.- that will force the TPP to adapt.
led free trade deal in the Asia-Pacific that excludes Bei- China cannot compete with the U.S. in rule-making and
jing, was signed. its advantage lies in whether it can push forward the
Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Friday countrys economy. As long as the Chinese economy
urged relevant countries and governments not to politi- keeps growing, the newly emerged economic volume
asp
cise economic and trade issues, and avoid leading peo- and trade opportunities will be so prominent that the TPP
ple to the conclusion that the U.S. has been promoting
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
in some way has to adapt. China will be better off with its
the TPP out of certain political consideration. own economic performance than racking its wits to com-
Mr. Lu was responding to remarks by President Obama pete with the TPP, the write-up observed.
on Thursday as the TPP was signed by 12 countries in
Auckland that TPP allows America and not countries
like China to write the rules of the road in the 21st Pakistans intelligence is the key
century. manager of jihadi forces
Mr. Lu said such comments were interesting. Pakistans powerful intelligence service has long acted
After several years of negotiations, the TPP has emerged as the manager of international jihadiforces and it may
as a controversial document, both within the U.S. and have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State (IS), a
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
leading U.S. daily today said, in a stinging commentary thirds of South Korean airspace. When pursuing its own
on Pakistans intervention in a number of foreign con- security, one country should not impair others security
flicts. interests, said Ms. Hua.
Underlining that experts have found a lot of evidence Regional peace
that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive, an op-ed in She stressed that the deployment of these weapons
The New York Times said, This behaviour is not just an would escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula. In turn,
issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a number this would undermine regional peace and stability, and
of foreign conflicts. set back efforts to address the current situation.
m
Its intelligence service has long acted as the manager On Monday, Chinas state-run daily Global Times esca-
of international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni lated the attack on the decision by Seoul and Washing-
extremists, and there is even speculation that it may have ton to start dialogue on the deployment of the THAAD
been involved in the rise of the Islamic State. system. In an editorial, the daily asserted, citing military
It said that though Pakistan denies harbouring the Tali-
ban and al-Qaeda, and points out that it, too, is a victim of
terrorism, many analysts have detailed how the military
has nurtured Islamist militant groups as an instrument to
co
experts, that once THAAD is installed, Chinese missiles
will be included as its target of surveillance, which will
jeopardise Chinese national security.
The write-up pointed out China has been strictly opposed
m.
suppress nationalist movements, in particular among the to the THAAD deployment in South Korea, and in the
Pashtun minority, at home and abroad. light of such opposition, South Korea had not deployed
Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard. Deter- it so far.
mined not to let its arch-rival, India, gain influence there, The abrupt attitude shift at a confusing moment caused
and to ensure that Afghanistan remains in the Sunni Is- by North Koreas test of a long-range missile is a decision
u
lamist camp, Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, of no strategic vision. For the sake of its security, Seoul
promoting those who further its agenda and cracking took an impetuous action, giving no consideration to the
down on those who dont, writes Carlotta Gall for NYT . long-term strategic impact, the editorial observed.
or
She goes on to say there are reports that Pakistan had Will cause more trouble
a role in the rise of the Islamic State. [I]t might come as The daily warned that the deployment will not put an end
a surprise that the regions triumvirate of violent jihad is to the vicious interaction of varied forces in the region,
living openly in Pakistan, Ms. Gall said as she listed out only causing more troubles to northeast Asia.
ntf
top terrorist leaders living openly in Pakistan. In this regard, China has echoed Russias concerns,
First, theres SirajuddinHaqqani, the leader of the aired ahead of North Koreas satellite launch. South Ko-
Haqqani network. Then there is the new leader of the reas Yonhap news agency quoted Alexander Timonin,
Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour Finally, Al Russias Ambassador to Seoul, as stating earlier this
Qaedas leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, enjoys sanctuary in month that Moscow stood opposed to the deployment of
ira
Pakistan, Ms. Gall wrote. the THAAD system as it could destabilise the region. Mr.
Timonin pointed out that Russia and China share nearly
Beijing, Moscow slam U.S. missile plans identical views on resolving the nuclear issue.
China and Russia have slammed the possible deploy- On the other hand, Washington is of the view that fol-
ment of an American anti-missile defence shield in South lowing North Koreas nuclear test in January, the THAAD
asp
Korea following North Koreas satellite launch. system would be required to protect the 27,000 American
troops that have been deployed in South Korea.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
China has also made clear Chinas stance to the U.S. nounced the most sweeping government reorganisation
side through diplomatic channels, Ms. Hua, the spokes- in their countrys 44-year history, which included the crea-
person, observed. tion of the two new Ministers of State.
The announcement was made with all the trappings of a
Obama launches cyber-security action royal decree by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Mak-
toum, the ruler of Dubai and the countrys Prime Minister
plan on Twitter.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a new cy- It is the beginning of a new journey of achievement and
m
ber-security national action plan calling for an overhaul giving to the people, and we ask God to help us serve
of aging government networks and a high-level commis- and take care of them, Sheikh Mohammed said in one
sion to boost security awareness. post in Arabic.
The announcement responds to an epidemic of data Happiness and tolerance were the highlights of an other-
breaches and cyber attacks on both government and
private networks in recent years, and passage last year
of a cyber-security bill that aims to facilitate better threat
sharing. co
wise bureaucratic shake-up, which also put another gov-
ernment body, the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, in charge
of The Future.
The rulers of the United Arab Emirates like to do things
m.
Mr. Obama asked for $19 billion for cyber-security efforts in their own way.
in his budget request, a 35 per cent increase from cur- Along with the worlds tallest man-made structure and the
rent levels, with $3 billion earmarked to help modernise fastest roller coaster, the country has recently claimed
the patchwork of computer systems used in government accolades for the most nationalities washing their hands
agencies. at the same time, the largest number of people eating
u
It is no secret that too often government IT is like an Atari cereal in one place and the worlds biggest breakfast ta-
game in an Xbox world, Mr. Obama said in a column in ble (the last two were achieved simultaneously at one
The Wall Street Journal . landmark event.)
or
The moves come after disclosures last year that personal The Ministry of Happiness sounds sort of Orwellian and
data from some 20 million federal employees, contrac- sinister given that this is a surveillance state, but it is in
tors and others had been leaked in a massive breach at line with their quite high self-regard, said Nicholas Mc-
the Office of Personnel Management. Geehan, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.
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Mr. Obama issued an executive order creating a 12-mem- The government remains dominated by unelected royals,
ber cyber-security commission to make recommenda- and those who criticise them or engage in political activity
tions to both the public and private sectors. risk arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.
The panel is to issue a report to the President by Decem- You can be happy as long as you keep your mouth shut,
ber 1 Mr. McGeehan said. That is the sort of social contract
ira
idea. They decided to name a minister of happiness. ness measure, an alternative to gross national product,
It seems that being the nation known for building the big- although the Asian nations current Prime Minister, Tsher-
gest indoor ski slope and an island that looks like a palm ingTobgay, has largely abandoned it.
tree just was not cutting it anymore. At least not in the
happiness department. Oh, and it seems that tolerance
is also in short supply. Syrian rebels sense U.S. support fading
So the government will appoint a minister of tolerance, The United States and its allies have spent many millions
too. of dollars backing Syrian opposition fighters they deem
The sheikhs who rule the United Arab Emirates have an- relatively moderate and secular, and civilian groups
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
whose work on small businesses and local councils they Russians raise stakes in Syria
billed as the cornerstone of Syrias future. For months now the U.S. has insisted there is no mili-
But the very Syrians who benefited and risked their tary solution to the Syrian civil war, only a political accord
lives in the process now say that investment in danger between President Bashar Al-Assad and the fractured,
of going down the drain, and they see little urgency from divided opposition groups that have been trying to topple
Washington, diplomatic or military, to save it. him.
What are you going to do, other than statements? Za- But after days of intense bombing that could soon put the
kariaMalahifji, the political chief of one of the largest rebel critical city of Aleppo back into the hands of Mr. Assads
groups, demanded in a recent message to contacts at
m
forces, the Russians may be proving the U.S. wrong.
the French Embassy. There may be a military solution, one senior U.S. official
In nearly five years of war and insurrection, many Syr- conceded on Wednesday, just not our solution, but that
ians have been repeatedly disillusioned by what they saw of President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
co
as a mismatch between tough American rhetoric against That is what Secretary of State John Kerry faces as he
the Syrian government and comparatively modest efforts enters a critical negotiation over a ceasefire and the crea-
to aid some of its opponents. President Barack Obama tion of a humanitarian corridor to relieve starving Syr-
said President Bashar Al-Assad must go, and drew a red ians besieged in more than a dozen cities, most by Mr.
line over the use of chemical weapons, but backed off on Assads forces.
m.
both, diminishing anti-government Syrians trust. The Russian military action has changed the shape of
But the confusion and despair has reached a new level a conflict that had effectively been stalemated for years.
during the last week, as forces backing Mr. Assad have Suddenly, Mr. Assad and his allies have momentum, and
pushed farther north into Aleppo province, sending tens the U.S.-backed rebels are on the run.
of thousands of new refugees to the Turkish border. With Assad has the upper hand
u
insurgent groups losing troops and territory, their villages If a ceasefire is negotiated here, it will probably come at a
shattered by Russian warplanes, civilians and fighters moment Mr. Assad holds more territory, and more sway,
or
have in recent days used phrases like no hope, its fin- than since the outbreak of the uprisings in 2011.
ished and its over. Mr. Kerry enters the negotiations with very little leverage:
The Obama administration has said for months that there The Russians have cut off many of the pathways the CIA
is no military solution to the conflict in Syria, and that its has been using for a not-very-secret effort to arm rebel
plan for confronting the chaos inside the country was to
ntf
to change the dynamic on the ground. are all very, very aware of how critical this moment is, he
Secretary of State John Kerry was left berating Russia said on Tuesday.
publicly for failing to live up to its commitments to pursue His colleagues in the administration, however, fear that
a ceasefire and allow humanitarian access inside Syria, a three-month-long effort to begin the political process is
while making a frantic round of phone calls to Sergey V. near collapse. If it fails, it will force Kerry and President
asp
Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, to try to salvage the Barack Obama, once again, to consider their Plan B: a
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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News and Events of February 2016
An open breach erupted with the Turks, who charge that Ukraine.
the U.S. is empowering the Kurds, with whom Turkey In Moscow, the Russian news media made little effort to
believes it is in an existential struggle. RecepTayyip Er- hide the governments role in enabling the historic en-
dogan, the countrys President, denounced Washington counter. In an editorial this week, Vedomosti , a business
for failing to declare a Syrian Kurdish rebel group as a newspaper, said: The meeting would not be possible if
terrorist organisation. Are you on our side or the side of the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church did not co-
the terrorist PYD and PKK organizations? Mr. Erdogan incide with those of the Kremlin.
said in an address to provincial officials in the Turkish The Cuban setting was the result of months of negotia-
m
capital, Ankara, referring to U.S. support for members tions, abetted by Mr. Castro. It met the demands of the
Kurdish rebels in their fight against the Islamic State (IS). Russian side for a neutral meeting place while dovetail-
At the core of the U.S. strategic dilemma is that the Rus- ing with Pope Francis trip to Mexico.
sian military adventure has been surprisingly effective in For decades, the Vatican has sought a meeting with the
helping Mr. Assad reclaim the central cities he needs to
hold power, at least in a rump-state version of Syria.
Having announced the meeting only a week ago, Pope isolate Russia with sanctions after the Ukraine conflict.
Francis landed in Havana about 2 p.m., for a stopover ex- Mr. Putin has sought to portray Russia as a defender of
beleaguered Christians in West Asia, including in Syria
or
sponded, It is clear now that this is the will of God. In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa,
Symbolic meeting entire families of our brothers and sisters in Christ are
The meeting was richly symbolic: Pope Francis, leader of being exterminated, entire villages and cities, a 30-point
the worlds 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, stood with Patri- joint declaration they signed said.
arch Kirill, leader of the largest church in the Eastern Or-
asp
thodox world, with an estimated 150 million followers. But U.S. seeks Congressional nod for
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
it was also about geopolitics, rivalries among Orthodox financing F-16 sale to Pakistan
leaders and, analysts say, the manoeuvrings of President After notifying Congress of its intention to sell eight F-16
Vladimir Putin of Russia who is closely aligned with fighter planes to Pakistan, the Obama administration has
the conservative Russian church. quickly moved for Congressional approval for financing
For Pope Francis, the meeting was an ecumenical and the deal under the countrys Foreign Military Financing
diplomatic coup that eluded his predecessors but that (FMF) scheme. U.S. administration proposes to pay the
also opened him to criticism that his embrace of the Rus- bulk of the $699 million cost of the deal while Pakistan is
sian patriarch would indirectly give a boost to Mr. Putin required to pay $200 million.
as he wages a war in Syria and continues to meddle in The administrations request to Congress is for the first
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
tranche of money, though the exact amount sought was Iran and six other nations last summer was fulfilled.
not immediately known. While the notification itself does Contingency plan
not need a positive approval from Congress, spending by Nitro Zeus was part of an effort to assure President Ba-
the administration requires legislative approval, which is rack Obama that he had alternatives, short of a full-scale
not going to come easily. war, if Iran lashed out at the United States or its allies in
While it is my intention at this time to clear the sale of the region. At its height, officials say, the planning for Nitro
eight F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, I do not plan to support the Zeus involved thousands of U.S. military and intelligence
expenditure of the very limited FMF account to finance personnel, spending tens of millions of dollars and plac-
m
this deal, now or in the future, Senator Bob Corker, chair- ing electronic implants in Iranian computer networks to
man of the powerful Senate Committee on Foreign Rela- prepare the battlefield, in the parlance of the Pentagon.
tions, had said in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry The U.S. intelligence agencies developed a cyber plan
last week. to disable the Fordo nuclear enrichment site, which Iran
Bipartisan resistance
Sources familiar with the developments pointed out that
given the resistance being bipartisan this is not one of
the Republicans versus Democrats stalemates that rou-
co
built deep inside a mountain near the city of Qum. The
attack would have been a covert operation, which the
President can authorise even in the absence of a con-
tinuing conflict.
m.
tinely block Obamas moves the administration will find Fordo has long been considered one of the hardest tar-
it tough to win a vote for financing the deal. Lockheed gets in Iran, buried too deep for all but the most powerful
Martin, the manufacturers of F-16s, continues to lobby bunker-buster in the U.S. arsenal. The proposed intelli-
hard for the deal with the argument that it will create jobs gence operation would have inserted a computer worm
in America. into the facility with the aim of frying Fordos computer
u
But the argument that American taxpayer cannot finance systems effectively delaying or destroying the ability
a deal for arming Pakistan has turned out to be lethal and of Iranian centrifuges to enrich uranium at the site. It was
has taken the administration by surprise, a source said. intended as a follow-up to Olympic Games, the code
or
Meanwhile, an official of the U.S. State Department reit- name of a cyber-attack by the United States and Israel,
erated its commitment to sell F-16s to Pakistan. We sup- which destroyed 1,000 centrifuges and temporarily dis-
port the proposed sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan to assist rupted production at Natanz, a far larger but less protect-
Pakistans counterterrorism and counterinsurgency op- ed enrichment site.
ntf
erations. Pakistans current F-16s have proven critical to Under the terms of the nuclear agreement with Iran, two-
the success of these operations to date These opera- thirds of the centrifuges inside Fordo have been removed
tions reduce the ability of militants to use Pakistani terri- in recent months, along with all nuclear material. The fa-
tory as a safe haven for terrorism and a base of support cility is banned from any nuclear-related work and is be-
for the insurgency in Afghanistan. These operations are ing converted to other uses, eliminating the threat that
ira
in the national interests of Pakistan, the United States, prompted the attack plan, at least for the next 15 years.
NATO, and in the interest of the region more broadly, the The existence of Nitro Zeus was uncovered in the course
official said. of reporting for Zero Days , a documentary film slated
to be shown at the Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Alex
U.S. had cyber-attack plans for Irans Gibney, who is known for other documentaries including
asp
In the early years of the Obama administration, the Unit- the West in the years leading up to the agreement
ed States developed an elaborate plan for a cyber-attack
on Iran in case the diplomatic effort to limit its nuclear pro-
gramme failed and led to a military conflict, according to a Iphone access: tech companies bat for
forthcoming documentary film and interviews with military privacy
and intelligence officials involved in the effort. After a federal court ordered Apple to help unlock an iP-
The plan, code named Nitro Zeus, was designed to disa- hone used by an attacker in a December mass shooting
ble Irans air defences, communications systems and key in San Bernardino, California, the companys chief execu-
parts of its power grid, and was shelved, at least for the tive, Timothy D. Cook, penned a passionate letter warn-
foreseeable future, after the nuclear deal struck between ing of far-reaching implications beyond the case.
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
The response from other technology companies? A Its much more important to get this right than to do any-
mix of carefully calibrated support and crickets. Late thing in a rush, he said.
on Wednesday, SundarPichai, the chief executive of Talks were going down to the wire on Mr. Camerons four
Google, said on Twitter that law enforcement demands key demands welfare restrictions to help curb immi-
to hack customer devices and data could be a troubling gration, safeguards for non-euro Britain, increasing EU
precedent. Not long afterward, Reform Government Sur- competitiveness and an opt-out from closer EU integra-
veillance, a coalition formed by Apple, Google, Microsoft tion.
and Facebook, released a broad statement that did not All of the demands are controversial, and EU president
m
mention the Apple case or Mr. Cooks letter but said tech- Donald Tusk, who will chair the two-day summit, warned
nology companies should not be required to put back that the talks were crucial to the future of the crisis-hit
doors the equivalent of a tech entryway into their union. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker
products. said he was quite confident of an agreement.
The range of reactions highlights the complicated set of
factors influencing tech companies responses to gov-
ernment demands for customer data in the era after rev-
elations by Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence
co
U.S. imposes new unilateral sanctions
on North Korea
U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a piece
m.
contractor, of widespread government surveillance.
Some companies may be keeping their heads low to of legislation passed by Congress imposing new sanc-
avoid becoming targets during the raucous presidential tions against North Korea for testing a nuclear device on
campaign, while others may fear that being too vocal will January 6 and launching a satellite on February 7 using
jeopardise government sales and relationships with law ballistic missile technology.
u
day he will walk away from a make or break Brussels last week, there has been no agreement between the
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
summit if he does not get the deal he wants to avoid his two countries on the nature of the measures to be taken
country becoming the first to crash out of the EU. against a defiant North. As a result, negotiations at the
Mr. Cameron wants a deal on reforms to the 28-nation UN for new multilateral sanctions are stuck. China has
European Union before holding a referendum as early as opposed the unilateral sanctions announced by the U.S.
June, but faces opposition from member states hostile to The new sanctions regime will require the President to
Britain getting special treatment just to keep it in the bloc. mandatorily investigate and designate persons and enti-
Ill be battling for Britain. If we can get a good deal Ill ties for violations. The law will also give more tools to the
take that deal but I will not take a deal that doesnt meet administration to enforce secondary sanctions which
what we need, Mr. Cameron told reporters as he arrived are restrictions on a third country from doing business
for the meeting. with the North.
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Previous executive orders, and other pieces of Congres- kilometers. The government-owned State Grid Corpora-
sional legislation, covered many of the sanctioned activi- tion says that its present move is part of an ambitious
ties contained in the new law. However, sanctions des- plan.
ignations were largely discretionary in the hands of the By 2020, the company hopes to build 10,000 rapid charg-
President, State Department, and Treasury Department. ing stations and 120,000 charging posts across 202 cit-
The bill also now covers some activity not targeted for ies and 36,000 kilometer of expressways. Aware of the
sanctions before, such as North Koreas metal and coal herculean task, the firm issued a statement on Friday,
exports, and gives the U.S. government greater tools to inviting private and public investors to join it as partners.
m
implement so-called secondary sanctions. Since North Electric vehicles are part of the vanguard of Chinas in-
Korean entities are often difficult to sanction directly, this novation-based new normal economy, which is meant to
could be a more effective way to cut off North Koreas combat the slowdown in its low-tech manufacturing and
third-country support networks, streams of foreign rev- drop in exports.
enue, and supply chains, according to Lisa Collins, fel-
low with the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C.
The law also provides for $50 million to support humani-
co
Chinas State Council or Cabinet wants one million green
cars to hit the domestic market by 2020. Over the next
five years after that market share should jump to 80 per
cent, when three million electric vehicles are produced,
m.
tarian programmes and transmit radio broadcasts into the according to plans. High speed trains, robotics, manufac-
North. North Koreas main supply lines are from China, ture of computer numeric control (CNC) machines, bio-
which has been unwilling to be harsher with sanctions. medicine, aerospace industry, ocean engineering and
U.S.s unilateral push could further add to the tensions shipping are other focal areas that are meant to lift the
with China, heightened in recent days over disputes in Chinese economy to the next level.
u
State Department Spokesperson John Kirby urged China that a charging post with 10 chargers costs approximate-
to desist from militarising the South China Sea. [T]his ly $767,000, excluding land-use fees.
is a relationship thats too important. We want to see and In parallel, Chinas innovation hub, Shenzhen, the start-
welcome a peaceful, prosperous rise of China. Theyre a ing point of the countrys reforms in 1979, is likely to be-
ntf
regional leader and a global leader in a rapidly growing come one of the headquarters for the manufacture and
economy. And they have and can exert positive leader- distribution of electric cars. Three companies Harmony
ship and influence. Futeng, the electric carmaker from the stables of Tencent
And you know we talked a lot about North Korea and Holdings, the internet giant famed for its Wechat messag-
a role that China can play there a very useful role ing app along with Taiwans Hon Hai Precision Indus-
ira
that, frankly, no other nation in the region can play. And try Company, and China Harmony Auto Holding, a luxury
thats what we want to focus on, is working through these car dealer , may converge in Shenzhen to form the new
tensions and trying to strengthen what could be a very venture.
strong relationship with a very powerful nation. And these The financial newspaper 21st Century Business Herald
kinds of activities arent doing anything to help us get to reported that Tencent is already headquartered in the city
asp
that end, Mr Kirby said. and Hon Hai has production facilities in Shenzhen.
Harmony Futeng has already showing signs of joining the
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
China steps up electric vehicle drive to big boys, by hiring Carsten Breitfeld, former BMW i8
project manager, as the company CEO. Daniel Kirchert,
lift nations new normal economy former China head of premium brand Infiniti has joined
hina appears focused on rapidly developing an ecosys- him as Chief of Operations (COO). The company wants
tem for electric vehicles, which includes a surge of charg- to start mass production by 2018, but meeting that tight
ing points on its expressways and a hi-tech manufactur- time line may not be easy, the daily reported. Neverthe-
ing upgrade. less the new venture is showing good promise, with Hon
Some of the countrys top rated expressways, including Hai expected to pool in its expertise in design and manu-
the Beijing to Shanghai corridor and the Beijing to Macau facturing. Tencent has already established strengths in
link via Hong Kong will host charging stations every 50
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Internet features, while China Harmony will lead in the ian opposition group gave its conditional acceptance
sales and promotion pitch. to the deal late on Monday. But after several previous
The electric vehicle segment could soon become a failed attempts, few had serious expectations for a lasting
crowded field. For instance, the Beijing-based streaming ceasefire.
company Letv has is leveraging its linkage with a Silicon-
Valley start-up, which has unveiled its concept electric Beijing deploys fighter jets in South
car in the United States.
China Sea
m
China has deployed fighter jets to the same contested
U.S. secretly agreed to North Korea island in the South China Sea to which it also has sent
talks surface-to-air missiles, US officials said.
The U.S. government secretly agreed to talks with North Citing two unnamed U.S. officials, Fox News said US in-
Korea aimed at formally ending the Korean War just days
before Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test, The Wall
Street Journal reported.
The talks were offered despite a longstanding condition
co
telligence services had spotted Chinese Shenyang J-11
and Xian JH-7 warplanes on Woody Island in the disput-
ed Paracel Islands chain over the past few days.
Navy Captain Darryn James, a spokesman for U.S. Pa-
m.
that North Korea first move to cut its nuclear arsenal. In- cific Command, confirmed the report but noted that Chi-
stead the nuclear weapons program was to be part of the nese fighter jets have previously used the island.
talks, the Journal said in its Monday edition. The 1950- Contested island
1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, but no formal Woody Island, which is also claimed by Taiwan and Viet-
peace treaty was signed. nam, has had an operational airfield since the 1990s but
u
The U.S. State Department acknowledged the exchange, it was upgraded last year.
insisting that it was in accordance with U.S. goals. To be
clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing Democracy at stake in Maldives
or
a peace treaty, State Department spokesman John Kirby Maldives is steadily sliding towards authoritarianism
told the Journal . with flagrant disregard to the rule of law, human rights
We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear and good governance, according to the Commonwealth
that denuclearization had to be part of any such discus-
ntf
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the government would ple of separation of powers and constitutionally protected
continue to fight both those groups as well as other ter- human rights; cease assaults on civil society, journalists
rorists, while agreeing to stop other military operations and activists through repressive laws and practices;
in accordance with the announcement. ensure impartiality and accountability of the police; re-
The deal calls for a cessation of hostilities between lease all political prisoners; and rectify the poor state of
forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opposition the judiciary.
groups that would take effect overnight Friday-Saturday Another NGO, Amnesty International, said in its annual
in Damascus. report that the government of the Maldives had failed to
The High Negotiations Committee the leading Syr- defend the independence of the Human Rights Commis-
sion in the country. It had also failed to address the issue
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
m
co
u m.
or
ntf
ira
asp
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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News and Events of February 2016
The World
India and Sri Lanka, Sushma Swaraj and Mangala Sa-
maraweera, respectively, were present.
The workshop would also address issues concerning
regulations and procedures, Renu Pall, Joint Secretary
Russia encouraging Provinces to (Indian Ocean Region) in the Ministry of External Affairs
m
of the Indian government, told reporters after the meeting
develop ties with India of the Commission.
In a bid to take ties with India beyond the defence sector, The initiative was in response to criticism from certain
Russia is giving more freedom to its Provinces to engage
co
quarters that the proposed agreement would take away
with Indian States directly, Russian Province-level lead- jobs of Sri Lankan professionals.
ers told The Hindu . In early December, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
There is growing competition among Province like Astra- informed Sri Lankan Parliament of his governments res-
khan, Mordovia, and Bashkortostan to take advantage of ervations about allowing Indian professionals in Sri Lanka
m.
the positive trend in India-Russia ties, Vladimir Mazov, under any new agreement. Later that month, Commerce
Minister of Economic Affairs of Mordovia told The Hindu . Secretaries of the governments of the two countries met
Looking beyond Moscow in New Delhi and held preliminary discussions.
Russia under President Vladimir Putin has been show- Ms. Pall announced that the 500-MW Sampoor thermal
casing developments taking place in its Provinces, said power project, a joint venture involving Sri Lanka and
u
Mr. Mazov, highlighting that some of the recent initiatives India, was granted environmental clearance a few days
like the July 2015 Ufa summit of the BRICS and Shang- ago.
hai Cooperation Council (SCO) was aimed to attract at-
or
cooperation, said Mr. Mazov underlining that his Prov- 2020. Pointing out that Sri Lanka was importing coal from
ince has begun to promote Yoga as a visible sign of co- Indonesia, South Africa and Russia, Mr. Wijayapala said
operation with India. any one of the sources would be tapped for the Sampoor
India and Russia had, during the inter-governmental project, too.
discussion in October 2015 agreed to ramp up bilateral On the rehabilitation of the Kankesanthurai harbour in the
ira
investment from $15 billion to $30 billion by 2025. In a conflict-devastated Northern Province, Ms. Pall said four
promotional step Mr. Putin too has been highlighting his phases had been completed [by the Indian authorities]
visits to the Provinces. President Putin has gone hiking and the RITES would send a delegation to Sri Lanka very
in the mountains of Bashkortostan with the idea of publi- soon.
cising the tourism industry of the region to the internation- The issue of setting up a special economic zone in Trin-
asp
al community, Sergey Novikov, Minister of Economic De- comalee for India was also raised, she said, adding that
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
velopment of Bashkortostan told The Hindu on Saturday. the reconstitution of CEOs forum, a mechanism on trade
Bashkortostan which is the home of a flourishing defence and investment linkages between the two countries, was
industry has enjoyed cordial ties with India. But now we underway.
are looking at introducing another facet of our state which
is home to the MiG fighter jets, said Mr. Novikov.
India assures Sri Lanka of support for
India ready to address Sri Lankas reconciliation
India has expressed support for Sri Lanka on its recon-
concerns on economy pact ciliation and development policies. External Affairs Min-
India will hold a workshop later this month in Colombo on ister Sushma Swaraj, who was here on a two-day visit,
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
conveyed this to President Maithripala Sirisena when Indian Ocean region a policy priority:
she discussed a number of matters with him nearly for an
hour on Saturday morning. Modi
She also expressed Indias appreciation of Mr. Sirisenas Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday invited inter-
address to Parliament last month when a resolution on national companies to make in India and make for India
constitutional reforms was introduced, a release issued under a drive launched by his government. He wanted
by the Presidents office said. the youth of the coastal areas to join the endeavour to
On Ms. Swarajs meeting with the Tamil National Alliance make India a Blue Economy. Speaking at the Interna-
tional Fleet Review 2016 here in the evening, he talked
m
(TNA) leader, R. Sampanthan, Indias High Commis-
sioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha said Mr. Sampanthan and about reigniting the manufacturing sector with the Make
other TNA leaders apprised the Minister of various efforts in India campaign. Defence and shipbuilding were its fo-
made since January 2015 in moving forward on the rec- cus areas.
co
onciliation and political processes. They expressed their Pointing out that India is a maritime nation, Mr. Modi un-
readiness to work with the government in fulfilling aspira- derscored the importance of the Indian Ocean region to
tions of all people of Sri Lanka. the country.
Mr. Sampanthan, also Leader of Opposition in Parlia- The Indian Ocean region is one of my foremost policy
ment, later told The Hindu that while his party would con- priorities. Our approach is evident in our vision of Sa-
m.
tinue to work with the Sri Lankan government towards gar, which means Ocean and which stands for Security
finding an acceptable solution to the Tamil question, India and Growth for All in the Region. We would continue to
should remain concerned in getting the issue resolved in pursue and promote our geo-political, strategic and eco-
a reasonable way and in an amicable manner. nomic interests in the seas, especially the Indian Ocean,
he said.
u
said the Minister was for carrying out the process of con- in Paradip, the Odisha PCC blamed the erstwhile NDA
stitutional reforms expeditiously. government for non-completion of IOCs Paradip refinery.
Fishermens issue Mocking at the Prime Ministers statement that he would
Mr. Sampanthan also raised the problem being faced by have been happy had the project been completed 15
years ago, PCC president Prasad Harichandan said Mr.
ntf
health and education of people living in estates who ndia has sought clarity from the U.S. government on the
were essentially of the recent Indian origin, to which Ms. ramifications of a recent adjudication, which gave rise to
Swaraj favourably responded. apprehensions that the medicines procured by the Ameri-
Mano Ganesan, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) chief, can government should be only from companies making
wanted India to show as much concern for persons of even the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) either
the recent Indian origin as for Tamils in the Northern and locally or in certain designated nations such as European
asp
IT park inauguration India and China account for about 80 per cent of the
Inaugurating an exhibition on digital India in the city, Ms. U.S.s requirement of API (drug raw materials). The de-
Swaraj announced Indias offer to set up an IT park in termination of the U.S. Homeland Security Department
Sri Lanka that could attract investments, and said this which seemed to imply that the drugs that contained
had figured in her meeting with her counterpart Mangala APIs imported from India and China are ineligible to be
Samaraweera. Both sides agreed to explore this issue sold to the U.S. government is likely to directly and in-
further. she said. directly hurt Indias API exports to the U.S., according to
a preliminary assessment by Indias commerce ministry.
India has flagged the issue to the U.S. at the highest
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
level, as it is of concern to us, a senior government The decision was taken as per the provisions under the
official told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. The U.S. Trade Agreements Act (TAA). The U.S. TAA ap-
U.S. decision has major implications on generic drugs, plies Americas international trade agreements with other
affordability of medicines and on efficient sourcing. An countries and the World Trade Organisations Govern-
inter-ministerial meeting will be held shortly to assess the ment Procurement Agreement (GPA) to the U.S. govern-
impact of the U.S. move. ment procurements.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (or CBP, which As per the interpretation of the U.S. TAA, in cases of U.S.
comes under the Homeland Security Department) that government procurement, medicines need to be made
m
made the determination in November 2015, said any in the U.S., or in certain designated countries (such as
party-at-interest may seek judicial review of this final de- some EU-member countries and Japan, which are also
termination before the Court of International Trade. signatories to the GPA) if they are to be given the benefit
The matter relates to the U.S. CBP determination that of waivers from Buy American restrictions.
the API in Carlsbad Technology Incs drug Acyclovir was
manufactured in India and China. The drug was meant
for U.S. government procurement. It is used against her-
pes viruses. The matter came to the Indian governments
attention after Pharmexcil (a lobby group of the pharma-
co
India and China are not in this list of designated coun-
tries. India is not a signatory to the GPA and does not
have a free trade pact with the U.S.
m.
Bandhan Bank targets NRI remittances
ceutical industry) approached the commerce ministry Bandhan Bank has introduced NRI banking services to
earlier this month, asking them to intervene and help re- tap overseas remittance business, Chandra Shekhar
solve the issue. As a trade promotion group, it is our job Ghosh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
to bring such issues to the governments notice before said.
u
the matter snowballs. We are worried that this order can The bank has also started offering international debit
become a precedent, said Dr P.V. Appaji, Director Gen- cards in a tie up with VISA International Debit Cards.
eral, Pharmexcil. There is a demand for these cards from customers based
or
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in West Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and remit-
said FDA requirements that govern the approval of drugs tances are flowing in from London, the U.S. West Asia
for marketing in the U.S. have not changed. and Europe, Mr. Ghosh said. The remittance business is
Christopher C. Kelly, Press Officer, Office of Media Af- currently pegged at $ 70 billion.
ntf
fairs, U.S. FDA said a report, published by The Hindu Talks were on to finance vehicles to be operated by taxi
stating that the U.S. government had made it mandatory aggregators like Ola and Uber, he said. The bank had
for APIs to be manufactured locally in the context of gov- started talks with the chief of Ola. However, these are
ernment procurement, was false. very preliminary level talks.
The FDA does not require APIs to be manufactured in The bank, which commenced operations in August 2015,
ira
the U.S., and there are no new requirements to that ef- is hoping to have a total of one million new customers by
fect, Kelly said in an e-mail interview. year end.
FDA requirements that govern the approval of drugs It now has 82 lakh accounts, including eight lakh new
for marketing in the U.S. are the same for both foreign- accounts.
sourced and domestic-sourced API. Kelly also did not It is targeting a 35 per cent growth in business next fis-
comment on specific questions regarding the U.S. CBP
asp
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
credit risk of the folio. dia, from China (due to the slowdown there) but my only
concern is that this should not be the only place where
India, UAE sign nine agreements we (India and China) do battle, he told delegates at a
Following discussions held at the Hyderabad House Make in India conference.
between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the visit- Echoing Mahindras views Mr. Birla said: We need to
ing Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin learn a lot of new skills for making global brands including
Zayed Al Nahyan, India and the United Arab Emirates miniaturization. We are sometime away from that. How-
ever, this is right time to start learning new skills.
m
(UAE) on Thursday signed nine agreements covering
cooperation in the fields of currency swap, culture, in- Making Indian brands global is something that requires
vestments in the infrastructure sector, renewable energy, patience, time and product quality, Birla said. I think we
space research, insurance supervision, cyber security, are yet to see any brand coming out of India that is truly
global.
skill development and commercial information sharing.
Earlier in the day, Sheikh Bin Zayed was given a ceremo-
nial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sheikh bin Zayed also had a restricted meeting at 7, Race
Course Road, with Mr.Modi. The Ministry of External Af-
co
Right now the opportunity is for consumer brands. I think
we have a great brand in Idea Cellular. It will be our start-
ing point. However, currently we are focusing on the do-
mestic market.
m.
fairs initially announced four agreements but revised the India economically, was in a sweet spot at this stage be-
list later adding five more agreements. ing one of the fastest growing major economies in the
Anwar Gargash, UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Af- world with strong foreign direct investment, Mr. Birla said.
fairs, told The Hindu that both sides had reached an un- It is important to understand that India has a strong track
derstanding on a wide range of issues and the agree- record in manufacturing, whether it be petroleum refiner-
u
ments signed on Thursday were the beginning of a new ies, textile and cement plants, he said.
era of bilateral cooperation. When Edward L Monser, President of the U.S.-based
Emerson Electric Company advocated for focused busi-
or
India needs to offer global brands to Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday said his
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
compete with China maiden visit to India this week is aimed at bringing bilat-
Kumar Mangalam Birla and Anand Mahindra want Indian eral ties back on track by clearing misunderstandings
companies to establish global brands to compete with even as he defended the new Constitution, opposed by
China. Madhesis, as inclusive and democratic.
If we have to build brand India, India will need to build There were some misunderstanding in the relations with
global brands. We have to leapfrog China and start doing our neighbour (India) and we have to correct the misun-
that quickly, said Mahindra Group Chairman Mr. Mahin- derstanding and bring back the relations on track. For
dra. There will be migration of some low-cost work to In- that I am visiting India soon, Mr. Oli said ahead of his
eight-day visit to India starting on February 19.
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Mr. Olis much-anticipated visit to India at the invitation of government is showing a lot of political will to reform, to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes days after agitating make it more business-friendly. There are certain meas-
Madhesis, largely of Indian-origin, ended their crippling ures to be taken, certain measures are already good, Mr.
protests and blockade that had soured the bilateral ties. Luykx said.
My visit to India is aimed at normalising the past uneasy Mr. Vandeweyer, however, added that the government
situation and also to further promote our age-old ties, Mr. had to have a business-friendly climate with good regula-
Oli said in his address at the International Conference tions and a good legal system.
of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) special workshop on He called for a predictable tax regime for investors.
m
Democratic Transition in Nepal. not [on] Day 1, you ask so many taxes, day 2 you in-
The year 2015 remained a landmark in our history as crease it is important to have predictability because
we were able to promulgate the new Constitution despite they [businesses] invest for 20-30 years. If you do that,
the hardship facing the people due to the five-month-long businesses will come. India is a huge emerging market
blockade in the countrys southern border, even after suf-
fering from the devastating earthquake that hit the coun-
try 10 months ago, he said.
The new Constitution promulgated on September 20,
co
and the economy is growing, he said.
Belgium also wants to diversify its trade with India in the
diamond business, which contributes to a large part of
the bilateral trade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ex-
m.
2015 was inclusive and democratic as it has all the fea- pected to visit Belgium as part of his EU tour in March.
tures of a democratic Constitution including guarantee of It is work in progress. There will be nice outcomes from
human rights, independent judiciary, social justice and this visit, Mr. Luykx said.
equality, he asserted.
Strengthen peacekeeping under U.N. to
u
Belgium is keen on taking part in the Clean Ganga cam- about sending troops to fight the IS in Syria, India on
paign, and a Belgian mission with companies specialising Tuesday told the United Nations Special Committee for
in sanitation will meet Indian government officials soon, a Peacekeeping Operations that it recognises the need for
top Belgian official said. flexibility on international anti-terror operations if they
ntf
We have specific solutions which are unique. A Belgian are backed by U.N. authorisation.
Research Institute, Vito has developed a technology not Presenting Indias position on the HIPPO (High Level
only to clean sewage water but also to produce electric- Independent Panel on Peace Operations) report, which
ity out of it, Joren Vandeweyer, spokesperson for the is aimed at countering international terror groups, Syed
Belgian Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Pieter De Akbaruddin, the Permanent Representative of India at
ira
Crem, said. the U.N., said: We understand that these issues [re-
Asked about the challenges, Mr. Vandeweyer said: First sponse to counter-terrorism operation with U.N. authori-
is cleaning up the actual pollution there are certain sation] need to be viewed with flexibility in response to
companies that specialise in that. The second is prevent- emerging challenges.
ing pollution; that is a huge effort, but that will come. The HIPPO report has expanded the scope of counter-
asp
Asked whether the current events in the country, includ- terror operations beyond the traditional U.N. peacekeep-
ing the student protests, would hamper foreign invest- ing operations by recommending that ad hoc coalitions
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
ments in India, Jan Luykx, Belgium Ambassador to India, authorised by the U.N. Security Council can undertake
said protests were a part of democracy. counter-terror operations with the intention of peace-
Recalling the number of protests that happen in the Eu- keeping and peace-enforcement.
ropean Union and Brussels, Mr. Luykx said, As part of Diplomatic sources told The Hindu that the HIPPO report
democracy, this [protests] happens. Thats not a drama. recommendations will be implemented after cost-benefit
People protest, there is a little bit of chaos on the streets. analysis for India. However, military experts have argued
This is healthy in a way. that India, which is one of the largest troop-contributors to
Mr. Luykx and Mr. Vandeweyer said the government was the U.N. peace missions, has been looking for a flexible
making the right efforts with regard to the economy. This agenda to help it coordinate the peace operations better
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
m
million remittances-generating Indian citizens in various
Arab countries. However, it is understood that any action For some time we believed the leads provided by In-
in that direction will have to factor in the fate of the 39 dia were insufficient, but the application of the strict anti-
Indians who are missing in Iraq since June 2014. terror law proves Pakistan has been able to move ahead
co
That apart, India welcoming the U.N. report has triggered on the leads it received from India or perhaps discovered
a debate with experts suggesting that the mention of ad on its own, the former Pakistan High Commissioner to
hoc coalitions authorised by the U.N. Security Council, India, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, told The Hindu .
has opened up possibilities of Indias participation in for- The announcement came amid growing expectations
that the Foreign Secretary-level talks, which were post-
m.
eign anti-terror operations to safeguard Indian interests.
poned after the attack, will be held soon.
Attack not an issue
India-U.S. carrier group concludes While both sides maintained that the officials concerned
were in touch with each other and a date would be an-
second meet nounced soon, Pakistan on Thursday said it was in fa-
u
right direction.
discussed and a joint statement was signed, the Navy
War of words
said in a statement. The discussions were spread over
Reacting to a comment by Pakistan on a number of is-
three days from February 15 to 18.
sues, including the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and
India envisages having a three-carrier Navy. It is carrying
the ongoing student protests at the JNU, the govern-
out feasibility studies for the second Indigenous Aircraft
ment said that the developments in Jammu and Kashmir
ira
miral Thomas J. Moore, Programme Executive Officer, Experts want body to oversee budget
Aircraft Carriers in the U.S. Navy.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
governments commitment to fiscal targets, Commission also driven by its own perspective and primary focus on
Member M. Govinda Rao told The Hindu. monetary policy. A Fiscal Council would be a very impor-
He said the Congressional Budget Office in the U.S. and tant body especially when controversies on issues like
the Office for Budget Responsibility in the U.K. performed fiscal deficit thresholds arise as there is no independent
similar functions. body to suggest a road map, Mr. Mundle said.
Mr. Rao said while the union government monitors fis- I am afraid that I have to say I am disappointed that the
cal targets of states nobody oversees its own fiscal deci- government has taken no steps or indicated any intent to
sions. act on this so far, said Mr. Mundle.
The Centre opts for creative accounting, pauses or sim- In the past few years, states have been fiscally prudent
m
ply doesnt follow the targets it has submitted to Parlia- but the Union has been skipping its own deficit targets.
ment under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Man- This is why we had recommended an independent Fiscal
agement (FRBM) Act of 2003, he said. Council to act as an oversight body on the finance minis-
co
States have constraints in managing their finances as try that would report to the Parliament, he said.
the RBI controls their deficit and cannot float a bond on
a states behalf without the Centres approval. Since the Satyarthi urges govt. to invest more on
2003 FRBM law came into effect, there have been four
pauses in the deficit targets enshrined in it and a few oc- children in budget
m.
casions where the targets have been flouted, he said. Though children below 18 years of age constitute 41 per
The Commission had recommended a sharp increase cent of the countrys population, the budgetary allocation
in allocations to state governments in its report released for them remains dismal, child rights campaigner and No-
last February, which the government accepted. It had bel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi said here on Saturday.
also mooted an Independent Fiscal Council as an over- Urging the Union government to invest more on children
u
sight body over the finance ministry. The council would in the coming Union budget, he said: India is proud of be-
report to the Parliament on how realistic government pro- ing the youngest society in the world We all talk about
demographic dividend but when it comes to investment
or
intended purpose would be met or more funds should be Satyarthi said no country could accomplish inclusivity
provided, and the deficits are in line with projections. For and sustain development, along with social development
example, in the Seventh Pay Commission it could assess and peace, unless it gave priority to the health and edu-
if provisions are realistic, pointed out Sudipto Mundle, a cation of its children.
Commission member. In six of the last eight years, rev- Speaking on the proposed amendments to the existing
ira
enue forecasts of the government fell short by around 10 law on child labour, he expressed the hope that Parlia-
per cent, due to overestimation. ment would pass a progressive law. We demand that
The public should know if the estimates for schemes child labour be completely prohibited up to 14 years of
such as One Rank, One Pension are realistic as no one age and employment of children be prevented in any
has worked out the total liability. Wrong estimates also hazardous profession between 15 to 18 years of age,
asp
hurt expenditure and states that now get 42 per cent of he said.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
revenues also get hit, Mr. Rao said while explaining that While the existing law identified 83 hazardous occupa-
shortfalls from projections translate into funding cuts in tions prohibiting children from working, Mr. Satyarthi said
the middle of the financial year for all schemes and pro- the proposed amendment reduced the number of haz-
jects. ardous occupations only to three.
Such an independent council could also weigh in on the The child rights activist said he would soon launch a cam-
debate over the fiscal deficit that the budget should strive paign 100 million for 100 million. A 100 million children
for that is currently being driven by only government who are in schools and colleges and have access to edu-
officials, myriad commentators and the RBI. cation and other facilities will make a difference to the
The government is always under pressure to breach the other 100 million who are not so fortunate, he said.
fiscal deficit target. The Reserve Bank of Indias view is The campaign would be both online and on the ground
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
and he was trying to reach the media groups and univer- Prime Minister said.
sities. Assuring the House that his government would be trans-
Though he refrained from giving a direct answer to the parent on the proposed pact, Mr. Wickremesinghe said
recent developments at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, unlike in the now-aborted Comprehensive Economic
he said youths all over the world were getting frustrated Partnership Agreement (CEPA), there would not be any
and disillusioned with institutions. provision in the ETCA for movement of natural persons
[also known as Mode 4].
Storm over Sri Lankan deal with India In the event of any shortage of professionals in Sri Lanka,
m
The Opposition and sections of professional organisa- the proposed agreement would be amended after con-
tions here have kicked up a storm over the proposed sulting stakeholders concerned.
Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement be- The new pact would cover areas such as financial ser-
tween India and the island nation. vices, promotion of trade and investment, e-commerce
Calling the pact a fresh variant of the Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was
aborted earlier, the Joint Opposition, a coalition of seven
parties and groups owing allegiance to former President
co
and tourism.
Explaining the rationale behind the pact, the Prime Min-
ister said: We cannot capture the world market on our
own. We need support [from other countries].
m.
Mahinda Rajapakasa, said the deal had to be abandoned He reiterated that the ETCA would be beneficial to the
due to lack of public support. country and none in Sri Lanka would be adversely af-
Professional bodies representing doctors, engineers and fected. The proposed pact would pave the way for gen-
lawyers took out a rally against the proposed pact a few eration of employment opportunities and investment, he
weeks back. added. Later, when members of the Opposition raised
u
Critics have said the deal would pave the way for Indian questions why an Indian firm was roped in for implement-
professionals and semi-skilled and unskilled persons to ing the Emergency Ambulance Health Protection Service
flood Sri Lankas labour market. [a variant of the 108 Emergency Response Services], Mr.
or
The governments response has also been forceful. A Wickremesinghe challenged them to cite an example of
week back, President Maithripala Sirisena said the ruling one local service provider and he said he was willing to
dispensations rivals were spreading false rumours. assign one province to any such agency.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday clari-
ntf
fied that he was not for the reintroduction of the CEPA India approves $150 million Iran port plan
and the services sector would not be thrown open. At the India approved a $150 million project to develop the stra-
same time, he accused the critics of seeking to sabotage tegic Iranian port of Chabahar, which includes a transit
employment opportunities for young Sri Lankans, by op- route to Afghanistan bypassing neighbouring Pakistan, a
posing the latest initiative. government statement said on Wednesday.
ira
Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha De Silva told The Hindu New Delhi signed a multi-million-dollar memorandum of
on Sunday that what we are discussing [with India] is understanding with Tehran last May to develop the port
about the framework for a bilateral cooperation. Only af- on its southeastern coast, but the deal had been stuck
ter reaching an understanding on this matter, we will take since.
up the content of the agreement. The approval came at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime
asp
Indian delegation to visit Colombo The statement said the project would provide opportuni-
A delegation of officials from India will visit Colombo on ties to Indian companies to penetrate and enhance its
March 4 to hold talks with Sri Lankan officials regarding footprint in the region, adding: Cabinet approves provi-
the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation sion of credit of $150 million USD to Islamic Republic of
Agreement (ETCA), Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesin- Iran for Chabahar port development.
ghe told Parliament on Tuesday.
During the discussion, the two countries would exchange India moving U.N. to blacklist Masood
their draft, and Parliament and all parties would be tak- In its biggest diplomatic move after the Pathankot at-
en into confidence before finalising the agreement, the tack, India will approach the United Nations on Friday to
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
include the Pakistan-based terror mastermind Maulana to 150. The new additions are Albania, Austria, Bosnia &
Masood Azhar on the list of globally designated terrorists, Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde,
official sources told The Hindu on Thursday. Comoros, Cote dlvoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Den-
We will be moving the 1267 Sanctions Committee to also mark, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea,
include the name of Masood Azhar on the sanctions list. Iceland, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Moldova,
It is a great anomaly that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Namibia, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slo-
is listed but not its leader, Vikas Swarup, spokesperson vakia, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan,
of the Ministry of External Affairs, said, pointing out that Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia and Zimbabwe, an official
m
Azhar remained unsanctioned though his group, JeM, statement said.
was included by the 1267 Sanctions Committee on the TVoA (tourist visa on arrival), enabled by electronic trav-
list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations in 2001. el authorisation, popularly known as the e-tourist visa
Officials said India would formally request the 1267 scheme, was launched on November 27, 2014. Since
Sanctions Committee, which consists of 15 members, to
schedule a discussion on Masood Azhar on Friday. The
decision is significant since it is the second time in less
than a year that India will attempt to isolate an interna-
co
then, more than 7.5 lakh such visas have been issued.
At present, on an average, 3,500 e-TVs are granted daily.
The attempt to isolate Pakistan, however, failed at the is all set to fund more than a dozen projects this year that
last moment because of Chinas opposition. Officials said will focus on renewable energy.
that this year too, Chinas attitude would be watched. NDB President K.V. Kamath revealed at a media confer-
or
However, according to experts, the attempt to isolate ence that the initial focus of the bank would on green
Masood Azhar has a greater possibility to succeed at the energy projects. I think it would be safe to say that more
1267 Sanctions Committee. than half the projects both in number and value would be
India has already given actionable intelligence and tech- green and that is something that we are consciously do-
ntf
nical intercepts that connect Masood Azhars organisa- ing and we are heartened by the response we are getting
tion to the Pathankot attack. The technical inputs are like- from various governments in proposing such projects,
ly to be presented before the UN committee, Gen (retd.) Mr. Kamath observed.
Ved Prakash Malik said. He added that the lending, which will commence in April,
Gen. Malik said Pakistans recent action arresting indi- would fund a project each from the five member group-
ira
viduals connected to the Pathankot attack might also be ing. But he added that 10-15 projects are in the pipeline
cited by India to strengthen the case against Masood. for the remaining part of the year.
He said India also had a better chance of getting more
support at the U.N. Security Council from members like
France who might help in convincing Pakistans strategic
asp
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
On the rate of interest, we will not be lending on conces- facing serious challenges, senior diplomatic sources told
sional terms. That was not the intent at all. We will need The Hindu on Saturday.
to factor our own cost of funds and add an appropriate Indicating at a longer waiting period for Indias plans to
margin. acquire the amphibious aircraft, US-2, in a deal involving
He added the cost of funds would be determined by our 12-18 aircraft, senior diplomatic sources from Tokyo said
actual experience in the market. So we will function as a on Saturday that Japan had no immediate plans for sell-
prudent bank should. ing or delivering the capacity-multiplier aircraft to India.
Mr. Kamath explained that the NDB would include market There is no decision about its delivery nor did the For-
m
borrowing to raise capital, but stressed that bonds in local eign Secretaries discuss the timing of the delivery, Yas-
currency, rather than hard currency, would be favoured. uhisa Kawamura, Director General of Press and Public
We will be resorting to bond issues. As has been said Diplomacy of Japan told The Hindu after India and Japan
earlier, we will raise it in local currencies where it is feasi- held Foreign Secretary-level talks in Tokyo on Friday. Mr.
ble and of course we will supplement where it is required
in with dollar bond issues.
The NDBs initial capital has been fixed at $50 billion,
and the total paid in capital would be $10 billion. Ana-
co
Kawamura said that though Fridays bilateral dialogue,
which was held on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting
of India, Japan and Australia, discussed a wide range of
maritime security-related issues, the issue of supplying
m.
lysts point out that following the 2008 financial crisis, the US-2 amphibious aircraft to India did not come up during
NDB and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Develop- the talks.
ment Bank (AIIB) both geared towards infrastructure The absence of diplomatic progress on India acquiring
development in Asia and the Global South are reshap- the aircraft is significant in view of the fact that during
ing the global financial architecture, a field that had been Prime Minister Shinzo Abes visit to India in December
u
monopolised by western backed International Monetary 2015, the two countries had concluded agreements on
Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Transfer of the Defence Equipment and Technology, and,
Bank (ADB). Security Measures for the Protection of Classified Military
or
With Africa also one of its focal points, the NDB is set to Information, aimed at deals such as the one on the US-2.
open an African Regional Centre, headquartered in Jo- The joint statement issued during Mr. Abes visit had
hannesburg, by the second half of this year. It would aim also mentioned that both sides were to work on the US-2
to develop a project pipeline for the continent, a press deal. The US-2 aircraft has been part of a long-pending
ntf
also steered Fridays media interaction. He pointed out Sea as well as security-related issues of the Indo-Pacific
that the G-20 countries had now to mainstream the role Ocean.
of institutions such as the NDB and the AIIB in shaping The Ministry of External Affairs, however, refused to re-
the global economy. spond to Mr. Kawamuras comments on the aircraft deal.
On the eve of its operational launch, the NDB has bagged However, strategic affairs commentators sense a loom-
asp
a AAA institutional rating from domestic credit rating ing crisis regarding the deal.
agencies in China, where the China Development Bank
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
and the Bank of China have been appointed as rating New Development Bank an assertion of
advisers. Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs are in
the saddle as international rating advisors. BRICS political sovereignty: Kamath
The formation of the New Development Bank (NDB)
of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS)
Japan non-committal on supply of grouping is an assertion of the Global South and its sig-
strategic amphibious aircraft to India nificance would be felt beyond the economic domain,
Indias plans to acquire amphibious aircraft from Japan, K.V. Kamath, the banks President told The Hindu .
in the first big military deal between the two countries, is To put it another way, it is the rise of the South, and so
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we are talking about countries of the South coming to- very close in terms of working together at the presidential
gether and very humbly saying that we can set up an level.
institution on our own and thereafter we (can) take it for- Ultimately it is how you act and behave rather than any-
ward. As we go along, we will clearly look at membership thing documented which leads to a strong working re-
on a wider framework, but I think these countries can be lationship. The NDB President also praised the World
justly proud that this was an effort from the South to start Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for being ex-
with. The New Development Bank was not an economic tremely open in terms in giving their support and help.
instrument alone, but an initiative that also symbolised On neoliberal thinking that markets play a self-corrective
an assertion of political sovereignty of the five emerging and self-regulatory role, Mr. Kamath said that the quanti-
m
economies, Mr. Kamat said. You are absolutely right. For tative easing phenomena, and fixation of sub-zero inter-
instance, if you look at the currency reserve arrangement est rates are all interventions, and not market interven-
that is in place in the BRICS context, it is a commitment tions. He said that the 1997 Asian financial meltdown
co
of another 100 billion dollars. Plus, when we have looked was a result of profligacy, and the 2008 crisis was the
at the markets, including the domestic and the financial result of greed of a different sort. Currently the situation
markets, it is clear that there is depth in the markets of is the result of a whole set of different factors. To me this
the five member economies to raise money locally. I think is to me a case of a huge learning process. We do not
all his comes together to signpost something that is sig- know how this spinning wheel will stop.
m.
nificantly more than just economic change.
Mr. Kamath said he fully supported the Belt and Road Sri Lankan industry split over economic
connectivity initiative taken by China to establish new
growth engines along the Eurasian corridor. pact with India
We are looking at this initiative taken by China very posi- he Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has come out
u
tively, because the act of investment will create growth for in support of the proposed Economic and Technology
all countries that are touched along the Belt and Road. Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India even as cer-
tain sections of society in Sri Lanka continue to express
or
taken the lead, and this case it is China. prosperity. In this, greater openness to trade in services
Asked if the Belt and Road initiative should be viewed cannot be ignored, owing to its strong and growing link
through the geopolitical prism, Mr. Kamath said: To me it to goods trade and investment. Services liberalisation
is not being seen in political terms at all. It is an economic needs to be pursued, within a mutually-beneficial frame-
initiative and it is an economic initiative for the good of work and following stakeholder discussions, according
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all of us. to the 177-year-old CCC. It also cautioned the Sri Lankan
When asked to comment on the relationship between the Government against protectionism.
NDB and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment The Chamber stated that the country in the last 15 years
Bank (AIIB), of which, India is also a founding member, became more closed and more inward looking than be-
Mr. Kamath said the two institutions are complementary fore with a falling share of global exports and a declining
asp
I think you have hit the nail on the head. Thats the point
I have been trying to make. We will play a complementa-
ry and cooperative role. The competition comes in when
you are actually in a challenging situation in a scarce
market place. Here if we look at the infrastructure market,
let us put it at 1 trillion dollars a year. The total NDB fund-
ing to this market is 100 billion. So actually I dont think
the word competition should be in our vocabulary. Mr.
Kamath stressed that the NDB and the AIIB have been
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Science,
high UV (ultra-violet) exposed, dry ecosystem with Mars
analogue topological features that tell us heaps about
the origin and evolution of our planets topological fea-
tures
Tech. and Before its Mars Mission, the ISRO has Chandrayaan 2
planned to the moon, in 2017, that too hopes to set a
lander on the surface of the moon.
Environment
The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, which has ex-
m
pertise in studying ancient climate and life, will be coordi-
nating the travel of scientists and researchers from sev-
eral countries who will be part of the 10-day expedition.
co
Along with research experiments, the group would also
NASA, India join hands for astrobiology meet school students and organise sessions on how as-
mission trobiology missions work, the evolution of life on earth as
Even as India prepares for a second mission to Mars, well as on how space missions work, Mr. Pandey added.
a team of scientists from the National Aeronautics and
m.
Space Administration (NASA), the Mars Society Australia
and the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, IIScs invention powers up nanoelectron-
will mount an expedition to Ladakh this August to study ics industry
the similarities of certain parts of the regions topography An invention by Bengaluru-based scientists at IISc is all
and microbial life to Martian surroundings. set to make inroads into the billion-dollar nanoelectronics
u
include a lander or rover remote controlled vehicles reduce the cost of the existing state-of-the-art e-beam li-
which can ostensibly better analyse a planets surface. thography and optical lithography. This invention is a new
This is the first time that India is part of the Spaceward way to etch thin lines on a substrate using electrodes,
Bound programme, said Siddharth Pandey, who is termed electrolithography.
among the coordinators of the expedition and we hope
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serts such in Atacama, Chile; Mojave, California; Arka- come in useful not just in the industry but in academia,
roola, Australia as well as the Arctic and Antarctica, or- too, with more colleges being able to afford research in
ganised since 2006. nanotechnology.
Low-cost Mars mission The people behind this are Dr Praveen Kumar of Depart-
The success of Indias low-cost mission to Mars, in 2014, ment of Materials Engineering, Professor Rudra Pratap,
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has led to heightened international interest in collabo- Chairperson of Centre of Nanoscience and Engineering,
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
rating with Indias upcoming space missions. India now and Santanu Talukder, their PhD student. Once this tech-
has an orbiter thats still circling Mars and taking pictures nology is developed into a prototype for commercial use,
with five instruments on board in hopes of finding it can vie with, and, as the researchers claim, even sur-
methane, carbon dioxide and the effect of solar winds on pass, the existing state-of-the-art technology and break
its surface. Ladakh has been studied before but this time into the billion-dollar, nanoelectronics industry.
were going to be looking at some very specific experi- Since it does not require high currents or vacuum atmos-
ments, said Mr. Pandey an engineer from India and phere it is a relatively more environment-friendly method
whos previously worked at the NASA. We will be testing than existing ones. The group has filed for the patent in
a rover that will collect samples and analyse some of the December 2014.
high altitude springs etc. In the process of taking their invention from the lab to
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
the industry, the scientists will have to recruit mechanical performed a series of experiments to understand its fun-
engineers and electrical engineers to help them develop damentals.
the prototype. Once we got the science behind the phenomenon we
Technically the main steps they have to take will be in started working on the invention of electrolithography, he
putting the whole assemblage into a black box which can says.
be easily operated using the proverbial push-button. It can work well in making trenches that are microns thick
The usual challenges of getting people to adopt it may as well as those that measure only nanometers in thick-
not be difficult, as IISc organises various workshops, at- ness.
m
tended by academicians as well as people from industry,
where the product may be showcased. Not just that, the Wi-Fi deployment gains momentum amid
Centre for Nano-Science and Engineering, at IISc, has
several industry affiliates who can understand the power shortage of mobile phone bandwidth
of the invention and communicate its worth to others.
The process of lithography is straightforward. You take a
transparent glass plate, coat it with a layer of a suitable
polymer.
co
free high-speed public Wi-Fi service was unveiled at
Mumbai Central Station by RailTel in partnership with
Google in January. In Karnataka, BSNL set up a high-
speed Wi-Fi service at 20 popular spots last week. In No-
m.
On top of this, add a layer of chromium, then you dig a vember last year, Facebook said it was partnering with
trench of the desired pattern on the chromium layer so BSNL to create 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in rural India.
that parts of the polymer layer are exposed. Using ac- Not surprising, considering the increasing number of con-
etone, dissolve the exposed polymer and remove those nected devices and clogging of airwaves.
parts of it. This caused a gap to be formed in the polymer- In September 2014, 3G data consumption surpassed 2G
u
tered on to this sandwich, it will go and occupy the gap net and Mobile Association of India, the number of mobile
thats been created and directly fall on the glass plate. internet users in India is expected to be 314 million by
In this way, the desired pattern using a metal of choice next year, up from 173 million in December 2014.
can be formed. This pattern will have a width equal to the Among the players in this emerging domain is an 11-year-
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width of the trench and thickness equal to the polymer old Sunnyvale, California-headquartered company,
layer. Ruckus Wireless. Riding on cutting-edge technologies
The crucial difference between existing processes and and burgeoning business opportunities, the company
this one is in the manner of digging the trench. has seen rapid growth. In the most recent quarter, its op-
Here, the researchers use electrodes that are widely erating income grew 46 per cent Q/Q and revenue by
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separated from each other. The very thin cathode, when 16.4 per cent Y/Y.
it moves like a nib over the chromium layer, causes the An enabling medium
metal to heat up, dissolve and flow out. This makes a Wi-Fi is the story. Already its the indoor data technol-
trench whose width is nearly that of the electrode tip. ogy, says CEO of Ruckus Wireless Selina Lo, who was
Other techniques, the e-beam lithography which is very recently in Bengaluru, where it has an R&D Centre. LTE
and Wi-Fi will converge. We also have VoLTE. Many op-
asp
as this set up could be assembled at a cost price of some she says. Long-Term Evolution, marketed as 4G, is a
Rs20 lakhs. standard for wireless communication of high speed data
Dr. Kumar says it was serendipitous! for mobile phones and data terminals.
We were working on a method to enhance the sensing Ruckus Wireless, besides ramping up operations, also
property of a piezo-resistive material. We had developed plans to manufacture in India. In villages, capacity is not
a method to create controlled damage in a metallic struc- as important as coverage. We are designing something
ture [While doing this] we got interested in understand- on those lines for India, said Ms. Lo, who is known for in-
ing this liquefaction of the chromium layer and the flow novation, identifying new markets and building products
of the liquefied chromium away from the cathode. We for them.
Mini Vasudevan, who was formerly with Nortel and Er-
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
icsson and has played an active role in development of a long time, they have experience, and they have devel-
wireless standards, says the rapid growth of Wi-Fi is in- oped some tools to deal with issues that affect connectiv-
evitable since providing wireless to a growing number of ity.
people is a challenge. In the emerging Internet of Things They have also positioned themselves well in the space.
scenario, anything that can be connected is connected, Worlds first robot-run farm to open in
and Wi-Fi is enabling that, she says. While 3G and 4G
arent able to handle mass volume of bandwidth, Wi- Japan
Fi provides it, says Ajay Srivastava, Head, Information A Japanese firm said on Monday it would open the
m
Technology, Spice Retail Ltd (Devices). Its a solution not worlds first fully automated farm with robots handling al-
only for mobile devices but also for multiple services in most every step of the process, from watering seedlings
smart city projects. to harvesting crops.
Interference and security Kyoto-based Spread said the indoor grow house will start
One of the challenges networks face is interference,
caused by radio frequency signals from devices nearby.
A way to get around it is BeamFlex, says Selina Lo. Its
a first of its kind adaptive antenna technology that fights
co
operating by the middle of 2017 and produce 30,000
heads of lettuce a day.
It hopes to boost that figure to half a million lettuce heads
daily within five years.
m.
interference and maximises signal coverage throughput The farm, measuring about 4,400 square metres, will
and network capacity. It can steer every packet to a path have floor-to-ceiling shelves where the produce is grown.
that has the least interference in real time. Seed planting by people
Security is another issue. Ms. Lo says Cloudpath is more Seed planting will still be done by people, but the rest of
secure as it is encrypted and not password-based. the process, including harvesting, will be done (by indus-
u
When a device signs on, we do a one-time authentica- trial robots), company official Koji Morisada said.
tion. After that, the network will push a certificate on to The move to robot labour would chop personnel costs by
the device. It can be managed by the company that runs about half and knock energy expenses down by nearly
or
the Wi-Fi. They can revoke it or specify the duration of one third, he added.
the contract. The pesticide-free lettuce will also have more beta caro-
Ms. Lo is confident of being in a space that has players tene than other farm-grown lettuce, the company said.
like Cisco, HP, Aruba, Ericsson and Motorola. When we Robot-obsessed Japan has repeatedly turned to auto-
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moved from residential to enterprise segment in 2008, mated workers to fill labour shortages that are projected
we were aware of the big challenges. We selected the to get worse as the country rapidly ages.
mid-tier market as our focus. Everyone was focusing
on Fortune 500 so we said we are going to address the GM mustard study to be out soon
unfortunate 50,000. The company has over 70 per cent The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC),
ira
market share among four and five star hotels, besides which examines the scientific merits of releasing geneti-
a number of clients in the educational and medical care cally modified seeds into the environment, will consider
segments, she says. making public, immediately, the results of tests and stud-
A rapidly growing market like India is wide open for adop- ies so far conducted to test the safety of transgenic (or
tion, says Mini Vasudevan. What is important is product GM) mustard.
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differentiation and effective solutions. Ajay Srivastava Multiple sources told The Hindu that a decision to com-
says Ruckus, one among the top Wi-Fi companies, has
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
mercially release the seed was still some time away. Sev-
made investments in India and is a key partner in large eral members of the GEAC whom The Hindu contacted
projects initiated by telecom firms. refused comment saying that they had signed an oath of
Karthik Ayyar, who has experience in setting up Wi-Fi confidentiality.
networks, says public hotspots is in early stages in In- This comes even as several farmers groups and environ-
dia. We will see more people getting involved, especially mental activist organisations have alleged that the GEAC
the mobile service providers, since our population den- plans to allow GM mustard on farmer fields. There is a
sity is high and everyone wants to stay connected. He scientific panel of experts thats considering this there
says pure play companies like Ruckus have a role in the is a lot of data but there are still some outstanding ques-
emerging scenario. Ruckus has been in this industry for tions. We will take our time on this, said a top official
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
in the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate for all of Greenlands outlet glaciers is at least equal to
Change, requesting anonymity citing the sensitivity of the some of the worlds largest rivers, such as the Mississippi
issue. The GEAC is constituted by the Environment Min- in the US and the Amazon in Brazil.
istry. Also, if most of the phosphorus found in meltwater from
Another official, who also didnt want to be identified, said all of Greenlands glaciers reaches the sea, it would be
a risk assessment body affiliated to the Ministry had equal to about 400,000 metric tonnes per year, the study
analysed the results of toxicity studies; the odds of gene revealed. The amount could increase as the climate
flow into the environment, and the results of studies on warms and more ice melts.
m
animals. However, how much phosphorus makes it from the melt-
The data is voluminous and there have been meetings water into the open oceans is not yet known, pointed out
earlier this month discussing this , he added. the researchers.
Jupiter doesnt shield Earth from comet impacts: Study
Greenland ice sheet releasing large All the aerospace reports accessed by The Hindu are
scathing in their indictment of agencies such as the De-
amount of phosphorus fence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
or
Glacial meltwater has been known to contain phospho- and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. over the way they have
rus, but as Greenland ice sheet melts, it could be releas- handled joint development programmes involving foreign
ing more of phosphorus a key nutrient that can enrich partners, or produced aircraft in India under transfer of
waters of the oceans, potentially stimulating the growth of technology.
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We found greater amounts of phosphorus in the waters Security (CCS) with undertaking licence production of
of the Leverett Glacier in Antarctica than had been de- 140 Sukhoi-30 fighters under transfer of technology from
tected at previous study sites, which have looked mostly Russia, with conditions including: indigenous manufac-
at smaller glaciers, said Jon Hawkings of the University ture of the aircraft at a cost lower than that of the im-
of Bristol. ported aircraft.
The large Leverett Glacier, however, is more representa- The IAF entered into four different contracts with HAL for
tive of the glaciers that contribute the bulk of meltwater supply of the 140 aircraft, and later two contracts for 40
coming from the Greenland ice sheet, he said. and 42 additional fighters. Thus a total of 222 S-30 MKI
The researchers found that the annual phosphorus input were to be assembled by HAL. When HAL began to as-
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
semble, however, the story was different. Contrary to technology (ToT) has been taken as part of the contract.
projection in the CCS note, where it was estimated that We will remain dependent on IAI for its share, the re-
the indigenous aircraft production cost would be lower port points out, adding that the intellectual property rights
than that of the imported aircraft cost the actual cost of (IPRs) remains with the design authority. The report also
phase IV aircraft has always been higher than that of the tears into the Department of Defence Production.
imported aircraft, the report says. The DDP, which on behalf of the Services and the MoD
In the production year 2014-15 in phase I, when aircraft would have been the instrument of indigenisation, be-
was directly imported from Russia, the average cost per came primarily a custodian of a large collection of ord-
m
fighter was Rs. 270.28 crore. In phase IV, when aircraft is nance factories and de-facto owner of shipyards, aircraft
manufactured by HAL from raw material, the cost is Rs. factories etc. This resulted in a conflict of interest, the
417.85 crore. report says
The report also indicts HAL for taking 2-3 times more
man-hours than those taken by Russians.
An audit of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) project
of HAL from 2001 to 2009 carried out by the Controller-
General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) pointed out: As
co
Scientists use Hepatitis virus shell for
cancer treatment
Scientists at a US university have found a way to use an
m.
against the envisaged indigenisation level of 50 per cent, empty shell of a Hepatitis E virus to carry anti-cancer vac-
about 90 per cent of the value of material used in each cines or drugs into the body.
helicopter is procured from foreign suppliers. Hepatitis E virus is feco-orally transmitted, so it can
The audit said that during the production of the helicop- survive the passage through the digestive system, said
ter, despite gaining experience of making 90 of them, the Marie Stark, a graduate student working with professor
u
labour hours remained almost double of what was pre- Holland Cheng of the department of molecular and cell
scribed by the consultant. The consultant said it should biology at the University of California-Davis.
take 38,500 man-hours for the first ALH, but the defence Using proteins
or
PSU ended up taking 88,768 man-hours. By the time the Mr. Cheng, Ms. Stark and colleagues prepared virus-like
50th ALH was made against prescribed 30,000 hours, particles based on Hepatitis E proteins.
the public sector unit ended up using 58,367 man-hours. The particles do not contain any virus DNA, so they cant
The Air Marshal Matheswaran report on the aeronauti- multiply and spread and cause infections.
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cal sector points out that the Shakti engine used in the Such particles could be used as vaccines that are de-
helicopter only has an indigenous name with hardly any livered through food or drink. The idea is that you would
self-reliance or technology control. drink the vaccine, and after passing through the stomach
The Matheswaran report points out that in 2003, a deci- the virus-like particles would get absorbed in the intestine
sion was taken to allow the services to meet their op- and deliver vaccines to the body.
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erational requirements of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), But the particles could also be used to attack cancer.
till 2010, by acquiring through the buy global route Ms. Stark and Mr. Cheng did some tinkering with the pro-
because the development of the indigenous Akash and teins, so that they carry sticky cysteine amino acids on
Trishul missile systems was delayed. the outside. They could then chemically link other mol-
Scathing indictment ecules to these cysteine groups.
They worked with a molecule called LXY-30, developed
asp
(IAI) started development of a long-range SAM (LRSAM) Centre, which is known to stick to breast cancer cells.
for the Navy in 2005. In 2007, they started work on devel- The technique was tested in rodents as a way to target
oping a medium-range SAM (MRSAM) for the IAF under breast cancer.
a separate contract. Incidentally, LRSAM & MRSAM is Marking cancer cells
the same missile, the report says. In a scathing indict- By using a fluorescent marker, they could show that virus-
ment of the entire project, the report says IAI remains the like particles carrying LXY-30 could home in on breast
design authority for the complete system. IAI is doing the cancer cells both in a laboratory dish and in a mouse.
role of supplier and the DRDO is the buyer, which is con-
trary to the DRDO role of design agency. No transfer of GSI says it is custodian of meteorite falls
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In the wake of two suspected meteorite falls in Vellore Earth and the nearest galaxy Andromeda, which is 2.5
district in the last fortnight, the Geological Survey of In- million light years away, to hair-width precision.
dia (GSI) has written to the State government seeking a This is what the upgraded or advanced LIGO, which
direction to all District Collectors that any such cases be began its first run only in September 2015, achieved
reported to GSI and any finds handed over, as it was the and within days it made this spectacular literally earth-
only nodal agency authorised to possess and carry out shaking discovery. The gravitational wave signal struck
research on meteorites in the country. the detector on September 14, 2015, and the signal had
We came across media reports about the two incidents the unmistakable stamp of a black-hole binary merger, a
one on January 26 and another on February 6. Though phenomenon that has been extensively studied through
m
it is officially not established whether they were cases of simulations.
meteorites falling, we are not aware who is in posses- The LIGO is the most precise instrument that has ever
sion of the items now. As GSI is the nodal agency in the been built. It consists of two identical L-shaped laser in-
co
country, the respective district administration should alert terferometer systems, one at Hanford in Washington and
and hand it over to us, GSIs Deputy Director-General S. one at Livingston in Louisiana. There are two systems
Raju tol The Hindu . He said suspected meteorite cases to ensure that detection at both the instruments that are
have been reported mostly in Vellore and Dharmapuri about 3000 km apart with the calculated time delay en-
districts. In 2008, a 105-kg meteorite fall was reported sures that the detected signal is not due to any spurious
m.
in Sulagiri near Krishnagiri; the piece is in the GSI gallery seismic signal or any other local vibration.
in Kolkata now. Each of the arms of the L is a 4 km tunnel in which laser
beams bounce back and forth between two highly sensi-
Gravitational wave astronomys finest tive suspended mirrors. The laser beams are tuned to
be perfectly in opposite phase so that there is total in-
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was a proud moment for the Indian gravitational wave oscillatory compression of one arm and elongation of the
community as well. other is that there is no total cancellation of the interfering
Groups at IUCAA and the Raman Research Institute laser beams and a net signal gets through to the photo-
(RRI), Bangalore, have made significant contribution in detector.
the analysis of the LIGO data, which has enabled it to be According to Gabriela Gonzalez, the chief spokesperson
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pinned down to a coalescence of two black holes consist- of the LIGO at Livingston, the signal was received pre-
ent with Einsteins theory. As many as 34 Indian scientists cisely 7 miliseconds later as calculated. The coincidence
are contributing authors in the landmark paper about the is remarkable she said.
discovery that has been published online in the journal- The total signal lasted for about 0.4 s with the ringing
Physical Review Letters . down that is characteristic of two orbiting black holes
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Although indirect evidence for the existence of gravita- in-spiralling towards each other, shrinking of the orbit,
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
tional waves had been seen from the decaying orbital merger of the two, coalescence and finally settling down
period of objects called binary pulsars which Russel as a single black hole, he said.
Hulse and Joseph Taylor discovered in 1974 and for The data is consistent with one black hole with 36 solar
which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 a masses merging with another of 29 solar masses giv-
direct detection of gravitational waves had till now proved ing rise to a single black hole of 62 solar masses. A total
to be extremely difficult. This required enormous advanc- energy of 1049 watts, equivalent to the missing 3 solar
es in technology to enable instruments with sensitivity masses, has been radiated away as gravitational waves.
sufficient to detect distortions of space-time as tiny as 10- This would be the most luminous astronomical source
18 m, which is a thousandth of the diameter of a proton, ever observed noted P. Ajith of the International Centre
and less. That is like measuring the distance between the
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for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore, who is part of LIGO An Indian-origin scientist has developed a smart chip
collaboration and was involved in the analysis. that can be paired with neural implants for efficient wire-
According to him, the probability of it being a false alarm less transmission of brain signals thus alleviating the
is less than 2x10-7. debilitating symptoms of Parkinsons disease or giving
The biggest victory for the Indian gravitational wave as- paraplegic people the ability to move prosthetic limbs.
tronomy community as a result of Thursdays discovery Assistant professor Arindam Basu from Nanyang Tech-
has been the in-principle approval from Prime Minister nological University, Singapore, said the research team
Narendra Modi for setting up of the Indian component has tested the chip on data recorded from animal models
of the advanced LIGO, which has been hanging fire for which showed that it could decode the brains signal to
m
more than three years since the proposal was approved the hand and fingers with 95 per cent accuracy.
by the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. What we have developed is a very versatile smart chip
that can process data, analyse patterns and spot the dif-
co
ISRO to use electric propulsion system ference, Prof. Basu said.
Currently, neural implants when embedded in the brain
on satellites in two years need to be connected by wires to an external device out-
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans side the body.
to use electric propulsion system on satellites for station For a prosthetic patient, the neural implant is connected
m.
keeping and orbital manoeuvre in two years. to a computer that decodes the brain signals so the arti-
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the two-day 10th ficial limb can move.
International High Energy Materials Conference and Ex- These external wires are not only cumbersome but the
hibition here on Thursday, Director of the Vikram Sarab- permanent openings which allow the wires into the brain
hai Space Centre (VSSC) K. Sivan said besides VSSC, increase the risk of infections. The new chip can allow
u
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) and ISRO the transmission of brain data wirelessly and with high
Satellite Centre (ISAC) were working on developing elec- accuracy.
tric propulsion system for use on satellites.
or
Director of High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, a based LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave
DRDO facility, K.P.S. Murthy said their lab was develop- Observatory), Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have
ing a table-mounted explosive detection kit, which could tweeted his support for a similar detector in India but
be used for detecting explosives, including deeply con- such a project is at least eight years away, said scientists
cealed ones. He said the Advanced Centre of Research familiar with the project.
asp
in high Energy Materials, University of Hyderabad, was This is not counting the time it will take the Central gov-
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
collaborating in the project. The kit could be used in air- ernment to clear the proposal, estimated to cost around
ports and other places. Rs. 1,200 crore, and is further premised on the project not
Earlier addressing the conference, Dr. Satish Kumar, Di- running into environmental or State-level hurdles. Anoth-
rector-General (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO, er ambitious mega-science project, the Indian Neutrino
said rapid changes were taking place in warfare technol- Observatory (INO) project a proposed, underground
ogy and called upon researchers to work on developing observatory in Tamil Nadu to detect ephemeral particles
insensitive munitions. called neutrinos had been cleared by the Union gov-
ernment in 2015, after several years of deliberations, but
Indian-origin scientist develops smart has been stalled for over a year due to protests by activist
groups, concerned over its environmental impact.
chip for wireless neural implants Scientists associated with the India-LIGO project (called
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
INDIGO) say that they have, since 2009, done consider- Universes primordial soup recreated
able work in identifying suitable sites in India and met Scientists have recreated the universes primordial soup
officials in several States. I have met the Chief Sec- in miniature format by colliding lead atoms with extremely
retary of Karnataka and others in many States they high energy in the worlds most powerful particle accel-
are quite favourable to it [hosting a detector] said Tarun erator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Souradeep, a key co-ordinator of INDIGO and physicist The primordial soup is a so-called quark-gluon plasma
at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astro- and researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute in Den-
physics (IUCAA). Eight years is our timeline based on mark, among others, have measured its liquid properties
extensive planning though it is possible to do it sooner
m
with great accuracy at the LHCs top energy.
too, he told The Hindu . A few billionths of a second after the Big Bang, the uni-
INDIGO will be a replica of the two LIGO detectors and verse was made up of a kind of extremely hot and dense
many of its components have already been built and are primordial soup of the most fundamental particles, espe-
co
ready to be shipped from the United States. cially quarks and gluons. This state is called quark-gluon
The project was initially to be located in Australia but, plasma. By colliding lead nuclei at a record-high energy
since 2011, scheduled to be located in India. At least 25 of 5.02 TeV in LHC, the 27 km-long LHC at CERN in Ge-
sites were considered for the detector that will, most sali- neva, it has been possible to recreate this state in the
ently, have two L-shaped four-kilometre-long arms. All ALICE experiments detector and measure its properties.
m.
of north India is ruled out [as a potential site] because of The analyses of the collisions make it possible, for the
its seismicity, as are the deserts of Jodhpur because of first time, to measure the precise characteristics of quark-
sandstorms the Deccan Plateau is best suited, said gluon plasma at the highest energy ever and to deter-
Mr. Souradeep. mine how it flows, said You Zhou, who is a post-doc in
Third detector the ALICE research group at the Niels Bohr Institute.
u
Other than the benefit of having a third detector, which The focus has been on the quark-gluon plasmas col-
will likely improve the chances of spotting gravitational lective properties, which show that this state of matter
or
waves, an India detector would improve the chances of behaves more like a liquid than a gas, even at the very
novel, exciting discoveries being made out of India and highest energy densities.
being made by Indians. The new measurements make it possible to determine
Indian scientists have, over 30 years, contributed sub- the viscosity of this exotic fluid with great precision.
stantially to the gravitational wave discovery that was an-
ntf
In later years, Anand Sengupta of the Indian Institute of centre of this extremely hot droplet and the surface var-
Technology, Gandhinagar, developed methods to ensure ies along the different axes.
that both the LIGO detectors separated by 3,000 kilo-
metres have caught the same gravitational wave, and
Sanjib Mitra of the IUCAA, has found ways to tell apart ISRO upbeat as indigenous cryo engine
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Naba Mondal, coordinator of the INO and a physicist Indian Space Research Organisations (ISRO) bid to ac-
at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, said the quire the capability to launch heavier satellites into orbit
INO being built a kilometre-and-a-half deep under received a boost on Friday with the successful hotbed
the ground and also employing a novel design was test of the cryogenic engine for the upper stage of the
a slightly more challenging project than INDIGO. The GSLV Mark 3 rocket.
delays we have faced so far are due to unfounded ob- The long-duration test at the ISRO Propulsion Research
jections by some activist groups. These projects are im- Centre at Mahendragiri lasted 640 seconds.
portant for the future of Indian science but require lot of Using Liquid Hydrogen at -253 degrees C and Liquid
support from government. Oxygen at -193 degrees C as propellants, the high-thrust
cryogenic engine (CE20) generates power of approxi-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
mately 2 MW. their equity, the lender will make money on their loan, Mr
Developed at the Liquid Propulsion System centre Shah said. But if the developer cuts corners, then lender
(LPSC) here, the engine had already undergone two may have exposure to risk. In my view, though, lender ex-
short-duration tests for engine ignition and steady state posure is not very high in solar since solar projects dont
performance. face the same kinds of input fuel risks as thermal plants
Last year, the first developmental engine completed dif- do, Mr. Shah said.
ferent hot tests in various operating regimes. The third The key to boosting rooftop solar adoption something
engine identified for flight use will be vacuum tested in that has been sluggish so faris to make the power dis-
m
the high altitude test facility as part of the flight accept- tribution companies (discoms) more financially secure,
ance test. he said.
ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar termed the test as a The challenge has been that rooftop solar has been vi-
phenomenal achievement in the shortest time. able only for industrial consumers whose power tariffs
Earlier in the day, Mr. Kumar said preparations were un-
der way for the first developmental flight of the GSLV
Mark 3 in December 2016. He was talking to the media
on the sidelines of a workshop organised by the VSSC
co
are on the higher side. It is not viable for residential users
at the moment whose tariffs are lower. When commercial
and industrial users install rooftop solar, this displaces
the electricity they are buying from the discoms. Because
m.
and the Society for Aerospace Quality and Reliability they buy less, the discoms are earning less from their
(SAQR). The biggest rocket made in India, the Mk3 will highest-paying consumers, he said.
be capable of launching four-tonne satellites into geosyn- At a time when the health of the discoms is so poor, they
chronous orbit. dont particularly favour people going for rooftop solar
and buying less from the grid, Mr Shah said, adding that
u
ding that developers have done. They must have good to a bulk buyer like a discom. So, by the time the plant is
reasons for it. But I think those bids have very tight as- commissioned, the developer needs clarity on the tariffs
sumptions and if any one assumption moves adversely that will be available, the fact that the discoms will be
even a little before the commissioning of the project, then willing to sign a PPA, and that any incentives that the
it could be a very risky project, Mr. Shah said. government might have for the industry will be available
ira
For example, he explained, if developers are banking by the time the project is commissioned, he said.
on the fact that module prices have been falling and so The upcoming Budget must also have a provision for
will fall in the future, then this could work adversely for solar equipment to be exempt from value added tax, Mr
them since module prices have already started plateau- Shah said, echoing a view voiced by several industry
ing. Similarly, if the developers have not hedged against leaders recently.
asp
the depreciation of the rupee, then that too could render At the moment, the country has 34 GW of operating wind
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
ing and recording of the blackbuck, or Indian Antelope, in The solution makes it easy for people to add a new de-
the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Kollegal. vice to their Wi-Fi network: they simply pull the wand from
It was recorded from Mambetta Reserve Forest area of a USB port on the Wi-Fi access point, carry it close to the
the Hannur Wildlife Range, Hannur, on February 8. Dep- new device and point it at the device. Within a few sec-
uty Conservator of Forests P. Ramesh Kumar said it was onds, the wand securely beams the secret Wi-Fi network
photographed by the field staff during their regular patrol- information to the device.
ling duty. The findings will be presented at the IEEE International
This reporting of the blackbuck in the Cauvery wildlife Conference on Computer Communications in San Fran-
sanctuary will add cheer to the conservation efforts of the cisco in April
m
Forest Department in the backdrop of the possible decla-
ration of Cauvery wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve in Indias pollution levels beat Chinas:
the near future, said Mr. Ramesh Kumar.
study
co
He said the blackbuck is a new addition to the existing list
of ungulates in the Cauvery wildlife sanctuary and it defi- The average Indian was exposed to more particulate
nitely becomes an additional prey base to the top preda- matter than the average Chinese citizen in 2015 the
tors such as the tiger and leopard. first time that has happened in the 21{+s}{+t}century
The species has so far not been sighted and documented according to a report released here on Monday.
m.
in the Cauvery-MM.Hills-BRT Sanctuary belt. Greenpeace analysed NASAs satellite data of particulate
Incidentally, there is a proposal before the government to matter from 2003 to 2015 in India and China, and found
develop about 1,504.39 acres of land at Ummathur and that the pollution levels in China peaked in 2011 and then
Bagli villages in Chamarajanagar district to sustain the started to gradually reduce. India, however, saw a spike
blackbuck population. At present, the blackbuck conser- over the past decade, the last year being the worst on
u
vation reserves in the State are at Ranebennur in Haveri record. The study looked at the aerosol optical depth,
and Jayamanagali in Tumakuru which is the amount of fine solid particles and liquid drop-
lets in air.
or
.
After a public outcry, China implemented a national air
Digital magic wand for healthcare, pollution action plan in 2013 that included stricter emis-
cyber-security sion norms for coal-based power plants and industries
Researchers have developed a digital magic wand and greater enforcement of standards. The results of
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hardware device to improve home healthcare and pre- these measures show in the satellite data: there is a
vent hackers from stealing your personal data. slight reduction in pollution in Central and Eastern China.
Wireless and mobile health technologies have great po- The levels in India have increased over the years, North
tential to improve access to care, reduce costs and im- India being the most polluted part of the country. The big-
prove health, said one of the researchers David Kotz, gest jump was seen in West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh
ira
professor of computer science at Dartmouth College in and the National Capital Region. With a population-
the U.S. weighted analysis, the report found that the average citi-
But these new technologies, whether in the form of soft- zen in India was exposed to more pollution in 2015 than
ware for smartphones or specialised devices to be worn, his or her Chinese counterpart.
carried or applied as needed, also pose risks if theyre The report said that the AOD levels in Indian cities Pat-
asp
not designed or configured with security and privacy in na, Kolkata, New Delhi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur and Varanasi
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
mind, Mr. Kotz said. all went up from 2005 to 2015. But not all of the highly-
One of the main challenges is that most people do not polluted big cities are covered by the air pollution moni-
know how to set up and maintain a secure network in toring network. There are 89 cities with a population of
their home, which can lead to compromised or stolen more than 5 lakhs, but only 17 have continuous air quality
data or potentially allow hackers access to critical devic- monitoring systems. The National Air Quality Index cov-
es such as heart rate monitors or dialysis machines. In ers 23 cities with 39 stations, as opposed to 1,500 moni-
the new Dartmouth-based project, the researches devel- toring stations in China. Among the most polluted cities
oped Wanda, a small hardware device that has two an- that lack continuous monitoring data are Durgapur, Gora-
tennas separated by one-half wavelength and uses radio khpur, Asansol, Shiliguri, Bareilly and Ludhiana.
strength as a communication channel. Meanwhile, Chinas actions led to a 17 per cent reduc-
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
tion in PM2.5 from 2010 to 2015, while India saw a 13 supply, Li-Fi offers a viable alternative, according to its
per cent increase over the same period. In comparison, promoters.
the United States saw a 15 per cent decrease. Compar- We are going to connect our coffee machine, our wash-
ing the situation in India and China, Greenpeace East ing machine, our tooth brush. But you cant have more
Asia air pollution specialist Lauri Myllyvirta said: China than ten objects connected in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without
is an example of how determined policies and tougher interference, said Mr. Topsu.
enforcement can turn the tide on air pollution to peoples Deepak Solanki, the founder and chief executive of Es-
benefit. tonian firm Velmenni which tested Li-fi in an industrial
Mr. Myllyvirta, one of the authors of the report, said In- space last year, said he expected that two years down
m
dia too needed to adopt strict and time-bound measures. the line the technology can be commercialised and peo-
Sunil Dahiya, a campaigner with Greenpeace India, said ple can see its use at different levels. Analysts said it
India should set a deadline for meeting air quality stand- was still hard to say if Li-Fi will become the new Wi-Fi.
Still in the works
co
ards.
It is still a laboratory technology, said Frederic Sarrat,
Internet by light promises to leave Wi-Fi an analyst and consultancy firm PwC.
Much will depend on how Wi-Fi evolves in the coming
in the shade years, said Gartner chief analyst Jim Tully.
m.
Connecting your smartphone to the web with just a lamp Wi-Fi has shown a capability to continuously increase its
that is the promise of Li-Fi, featuring Internet access communication speed with each successive generation
100 times faster than Wi-Fi with revolutionary wireless of the technology, he said.
technology. Li-fi has its drawbacks it only works if a smartphone
French start-up Oledcomm demonstrated the technology or other device is placed directly in the light and it cannot
u
at the Mobile World Congress, the worlds biggest mobile travel through walls.
fair, in Barcelona. As soon as a smartphone was placed This restricts its use to smaller spaces, but Mr. Tully said
under an office lamp, it started playing a video.
or
23 DVDs in one second, the founder and head of Oled- setting up a large field, or outdoor test range, for indig-
comm, Suat Topsu, said. enous electronic warfare (EW) devices that later get fitted
Li-Fi allows speeds that are 100 times faster than Wi-Fi on war planes, ships and army tanks.
which uses radio waves to transmit data, he added. The Hyderabad-based Defence Electronics Research
A digital Morse code Laboratory (DLRL) is due to work out its details within a
ira
The technology uses the frequencies generated by LED year, according to G. Satheesh Reddy, top defence sci-
bulbs which flicker on and off imperceptibly thousands entist and Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.
of times a second to beam information through the air, An EW test range is among the [national defence] priori-
leading it to be dubbed the digital equivalent of Morse ties for the coming years, Dr. Reddy said on the sidelines
Code. of an annual EW conference here on Tuesday.
DLRL, it is learnt, has more or less identified Orvakal in
asp
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
EW, yet public and private manufacturers and research Very few countries have legislation pertaining to space.
entities need to step up efforts in a fast-changing global However the number of countries as buyers of satellites
technology scene. or solutions has increased. In space, anything can hap-
DLRL and the Defence Avionics Research Establishment pen. And it is more about what can happen collision,
in Bengaluru are in an advanced stage of developing in- accidents, damage from or to a satellite.
digenous seekers and AESA radars. Some of the EW ar- So a law is necessary for the government to spell out how
eas may not require imports in the near future, he said. it will deal with issues, untoward incidents. It will help the
A.K. Kalghatagi, Director (R&D) of co-host Bharat Elec- government in how it will approach commercial use of
m
tronics Ltd., said the EW devices market was globally es- space, international collaborations and international trea-
timated at $30 billion, and nationally at Rs. 30,000 to Rs. ties; and state regulatory mechanisms.
40,000 crore. The other two policies will continue to be available as
Some 300 delegates are participating in the fourth EW independent policies. And I dont think it is going to make
conference organised by the India chapter of the Asso-
ciation of Old Crows and DRDO. AOC is a body of pro-
fessionals engaged in military intelligence technologies.
co
any major change in our overall approach.
There has been an increased start-up activity
in space related areas. How does the Depart-
ment of Space view the aspirations of start-
m.
Space Act will be in place soon, says ups and engage with them?
It is fantastic. In fact, we want to develop through aca-
ISRO Chairman demia, industry and others some of our requirements
The governments new endeavour is to inject satellite- which we cannot do as we are tied up with our activities.
based technology into governance and numerous com- Before this year-end, we plan to bring out two separate
mon uses. In this interview given to Madhumathi D.S. in
u
of Indian Space Research Organisation, talks about new What is ISROs broad plan for industrys par-
shifts in Indias space activities in satellite and launcher ticipation in its programmes?
areas. Excerpts: Globally a thousand satellites are estimated to be put up
A space law has been in the offing. What is its in the next four years. There are opportunities for Indian
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Satellite Communication Policy and Remote mans programme them to do. But today, they can be
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
Sensing Data Policy? trained to learn from their experiences and perform com-
Today, space-related activities are done [as per] business plex tasks.
rules. The process to be adopted by the government for This is possible as vast amounts of diverse data in dispa-
these activities has to be defined because the govern- rate locations can be accessed and analysed often in real
ment is responsible for any object put up in space and time, giving us mind-boggling insights.
for what happens to it in orbit or because of it. With a Not surprisingly, machine learning is being widely adopt-
law, all activities will be done under the Space Act. As ed. The government of Andhra Pradesh uses Microsofts
we enable more and more industries in space activities, cloud-based predictive analytics service, Azure Machine
we also want clarity on what they can do and what the Learning, to find out the students who are at a high risk
limitations are. of dropping out.
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Wipro Holmes, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform de- cent) besides the four quarter-finals and two semi-finals.
veloped by the IT major, can mimic human actions and is In the womens singles, too, Bing got the four quarter-
being used by financial institutions to automate tasks like finals and both semi-finals right besides 86 of the 127
KYC and credit-risk appraisal. matches (67.72 per cent).
IBM has opened up its Watson ecosystem for business In last years Cricket World Cup, Bing correctly predicted
in India, by announcing partnership with two companies Australia would win the final and the outcome of 6 of the
that will use cognitive technologies for tasks like identi- 7 knockout stage matches. Overall, Bing correctly called
fying employees with leadership capabilities and getting the winner in 40 of 48 matches (83 per cent accuracy).
m
real-time reports on factors that influence a companys In the Scottish Referendum of 2014, Bing correctly pre-
brand strength. dicted Scotland would vote to stay with the UK.
Better routing of resources: Machines, a threat?
The project with Andhra Pradesh Government involves While artificial intelligence and cognitive computing have
collecting and analysing data on particulars like teach-
ers, school infrastructure, students socioeconomic back-
ground etc and training a model based on the data.
We keep tweaking it to make it more accurate, and vali-
co
made our lives easier in many ways, there is also con-
cern as to where it will all end up.
Physicist Stephen Hawking, addressing the Zeitgeist
2015 conference in London in May last year, sounded a
m.
dating it. Now, we have more than 93 per cent accuracy word of caution. Computers will overtake humans with AI
on this model, said Anil Bhansali, Managing Director, at some point within the next 100 years. When that hap-
Microsoft India (R&D). About 6.50 lakh students of tenth pens, we need to make sure the computers have goals
standard have been covered. aligned with ours,TechWorld quoted him saying.
The insights can help the government allocate resources Musk sees AI as threat
u
this school has students likely to drop out, I can target my our biggest existential threat is, its probably that... Im
interventions better, he said. increasingly inclined to think that there should be some
The AP Government has now asked Microsoft to do the regulatory oversight just to make sure that we dont do
exercise across all classes. Principal Secretary, Second- something very foolish, he said.
ntf
ary Education Department, Andhra Pradesh, R.P. Siso- AI, a bane or boon? Perhaps the clue lies in the ubiqui-
dia, said, We now have a 360-degree view of students, tous autocorrect feature on our phones while the de-
mapped to close to 100 variables. Through this solution, vice prompts the next word, its up to us to use it.
the AP Government has 90 per cent confidence levels in
predicting dropouts and is confident of acquiring a more
ira
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News and Events of February 2016
Misc. News
case, said: a woman cannot be discriminated as far as
the maternity benefits are concerned, only on the ground
that she has obtained the baby through surrogacy.
and Events
Though the petitioner did not give birth to the child, the
child was placed in the secure hands of the petitioner as
soon as it (child) was born. A newly-born child cannot be
left at the mercy of others, the judgment said.
m
Woman having child through surrogacy WHO may declare Zika a health emer-
entitled to maternity leave gency
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Central
World Health Organization (WHO) experts began emer-
Railway (CR) to grant three months maternity leave to its
employee who became a mother by using a surrogate.
A Division Bench of Justice Anoop Mohta and Justice
G.S. Kulkarni gave this verdict while hearing a petition
filed by a nurse working at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
co
gency talks on Monday on whether a Zika virus outbreak,
suspected of causing a surge in serious birth defects in
South America, should be declared a global health emer-
gency. The UN health agency warned last week that the
m.
mosquito-borne virus was spreading explosively in the
Railway Hospital in Byculla East. She moved court after
Americas, with the region expected to see up to four mil-
the CR refused to grant her leave on the ground that the
lion cases this year.
Railways had no rule that allowed leave.
The court ruled that a mother enjoys the same benefits of
maternity leave as any other working woman under the
u
Guillain-Barre syndrome.
the Indian Railway Establishment Board that provides for
In a bid to forge a response to the outbreak, Ms. Chan
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
m
to get dual citizenships. and territories in Americas from where the transmission
However, it will not be applicable to Bangladeshis in My- of Zika virus has been reported. Speaking to The Hindu
anmar, Israel and countries in the SAARC. , Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of the
Final approval company, said the two candidates were in an advanced
The final approval to the draft of the Bangladesh Citizen-
ship Act 2016 came at a regular weekly meeting of the
Cabinet on Monday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
in the chair.
co
stage of development and could be ready soon. In the
coming two weeks, we will be able to start animal tests of
one of them. Since this is a pandemic situation, we are
hoping that the Indian government will move quickly to
m.
Foreign nationals married to Bangladeshis will have to give approvals for the trials, he said.
reside in Bangladesh for at least five years to qualify. The Bharat Biotech submitted necessary information to the
government may also confer honorary citizenship on in- Indian Council of Medical Research four days ago. The
dividuals. company is now planning to seek Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modis help in expediting regulatory clearances.
u
India readies to take on Zika When Ebola vaccine candidates were being discussed,
In a press release, the Ministry said: The NCDC, Delhi, the company had skipped Phase-II trials and went on to
Phase-III with a small sample size. Given the urgency
or
affected countries and to be in constant touch with the working on chikungunya, and our hypothesis was that the
WHO for updates. Public health experts say poor vector same vector transmitted this disease, so we thought we
control in India could lead to a possible outbreak. Since needed to look at this aspect as well, he said.
India has the mosquito [ Aedes aegypti ] responsible for
the spread of the virus, the same one that causes dengue With Zika, Indian firm scales up trials for
asp
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Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
Company (Mahyco) that first brought Bt cotton to India, of Nebraska-Lincoln. We shouldve anticipated it. When-
has been breeding male mosquitoes. These mosquitoes ever the planet has faced a major climate change event,
contain genes which when passed on to its progeny ren- man-made or not, species have moved around and their
der them unable to mature unless they have access to pathogens have come into contact with species with no
tetracycline, a compound that is not naturally available in resistance.
the environment. The idea is that once enough of these A redrawn landscape
laboratory-bred mosquitoes mate with the disease-carry- Its still not clear what role rising temperatures and altered
ing females in an open environment, they would reduce rainfall patterns have had on the spread of Zika, which
m
the regions mosquito population. is mainly spread by mosquitoes; the increased global
The technology licensed from Oxitec, a University of movement of people is probably as great an influence as
Oxford company is being tested in Malaysia and Bra- climate change for the spread of infectious diseases. But
zil, which has seen the highest number of Zika cases. the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared a
The strain of mosquito, called OX513A, is sourced from
Oxitec and introduced into local sites. According to GBIT
scientists, international evidence so far shows the strain
can reduce the number of mosquitoes in a place by 90
co
public health emergency over the birth defects linked to
Zika, is clear that changes in climate mean a redrawn
landscape for vector and water-borne diseases.
According to WHO, a global temperature rise of 2-3 de-
m.
per cent in three or six months. gree C will increase the number of people at risk of ma-
About two weeks ago, we got permission to conduct larg- laria by around 3-5 per cent, which equates to several
er trials but still within the laboratory, said Usha Barwale hundred million.
Zehr, Chief Technology Officer, Mahyco. Depending on In areas where malaria is already endemic, the seasonal
our findings, we will conduct experiments in villages of at duration of malaria is likely to lengthen. Aedes aegypti,
u
least three States. The key element being investigated the mosquito that carries Zika and other diseases, is ex-
is whether female mosquitoes do indeed choose to mate pected to thrive in warmer conditions.
with the genetically altered males over normal ones. As climate change reaches almost every corner of the
or
Ms. Barwale said such tests would progress quickly as Earths ecology, different diseases could be unleashed.
the life span of the Aedes aegypti mosquito was 15 days Increased precipitation will create more pools of standing
and the company expected the governments permission water for mosquitoes, risking malaria and rift valley fever.
to start larger trials later this year. Deforestation and agricultural intensification also height-
ntf
Last week, Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based vaccine ens malaria risk while ocean warming, driven by the vast
maker, said it had two promising vaccine candidates to amounts of heat being sucked up by the oceans, can
contain Zika, but would require a vigorous push by the cause toxic algal blooms that can lead to infections in
Indian government. humans.
GBITs S.K. Dasgupta, who is leading the trials, told The We know that warmer and wetter conditions facilitate the
ira
Hindu that the company was following guidelines speci- transmission of mosquito-borne diseases so its plausible
fied by the Bio-safety Unit of the Department of Biotech- that climate conditions have added the spread of Zika,
nology. This is a first of its kind experiment, and there are said Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a lead scientist on
WHO [World Health Organisation] guidelines that have climate change at WHO.
been adapted by India. There will be some similarities to In a world where we are disrupting the climate system
asp
how GM crops are evaluated, he said. well have to pay the price for that.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
Is climate change helping Zika spread? 100 acres handed over in Mysuru village
The outbreak of Zika virus in Central and South America for Film City project
is of immediate concern to pregnant women in the re- The long-cherished dream of Sandalwood the Film
gion, but for some experts the situation is a glimpse of the City project has cleared the first step with the State
sort of public health threats that will unfold due to climate government handing over 100 acres of land at Immavu
change. village, near Mysuru, to the Department of Information
Zika is the kind of thing weve been ranting about for and Public Relations for establishing the facility.
20 years, said Daniel Brooks, a biologist at University The proposed site comes under Varuna constituency,
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
represented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Leg- article The mystery of reincarnation, published in early
islative Assembly. 2013 by researchers A.K. Nagaraj, R.B. Nanjegowda and
Now, plans are afoot to rope in experts and talented de- S.M. Purushothama, from the Department of Psychiatry,
signers, including those from Hollywood, to conceptual- Mysore Medical College and Research Institute. It has
ise the Film City proposed to be developed as a one- been reported and found that the article contains over-
stop destination for the A to Z of film- making. lapping text sections from Wikipedia. Therefore, on the
An important task had been cleared with the land being grounds of duplicity of text, the article in concern is being
handed over to the department. Now, we need to design retracted, says the retraction notice published by editor
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the concept and develop it as one of the most modern of the journal, T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao.
film cities in the country, said S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, Large chunks of the study were found to have been lifted
chairman, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy. from an older version of a Wikipedia entry on reincarna-
Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, he said: tion.
We have plans to develop the Film City in such a way
that an entire film can be produced within the campus. It
will have the infrastructure essential for making a film.
He said Ashok Amritraj, the Indian American film produc-
co
While Retraction Watch an online portal that keeps
an eye on plagiarism in scientific journals cites two
large paragraphs that have been taken from the Wikipe-
dia page, a simple online plagiarism tool shows that at
m.
er, who was at BIFFes in Bengaluru recently, had been least one-fourth of the study matches with the entry. The
requested to assist towards making the Mysuru Film City authors of the study did not respond to numerous calls
a most modern facility where even Hollywood films can made by The Hindu .
be shot. The work on establishing the Film City will be Our journal is audited by Medknow (among the largest
taken on public-private partnership (PPP) model. The medical open access publishers) and they pointed out
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first phase of the project needs at least Rs 150 crore. the plagiarism. This process takes two years, and we
Therefore, private support was essential in making it hap- took serious action once it was known we allow for
pen, he replied. language matching of around 5 per cent, but in this case,
or
Asked whether the government had consulted enterpris- it has exceeded that, says Mr. Rao.
es interested in investing on the film city, Mr Babu said Asked how the article was published without checks,
consultations are yet to begin since the land was recently the editor says: This was a supplement and did not go
handed over to the department. The next step will be to through the process of being reviewed by at least three
ntf
lay foundation stone and thereafter begin talks with inter- peers. This is a learning process and we have strength-
ested players. ened our checks.
There are many players in Bengaluru who are actually He believes that with increasing pressure on research-
providing digital and graphic content to many Hollywood ers to produce studies for promotions and better oppor-
films. And world-renowned studios had also been found- tunities, incidents of plagiarism have become rabid in
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ed. If such players come and establish their base at the journals.
Film City, it will help in realizing the project soon, he felt. Those in the scientific community agree, believing that
Mr. Babu said film-making had gone digital with no more Indian journals have a reputation for accepting inferior,
use of film rolls. There was tremendous opportunity for often plagiarised material.
young film-makers, as short films could be made using P. Balram, former director of Indian Institute of Science,
asp
latest digital devices and uploaded online for identifying who was the editor of Current Science for nearly two dec-
their talent. ades, believes the blame lies in the quantity-over-quality
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
Art of Living diplomacy next on MEAs the coastal districts of the State. The CRZ notification
2011 mandates that coastal States should have a plan in
agenda place, which will decide on the land use near waterbod-
After projecting yoga and Baba Ramdev through the In- ies.
ternational Day of Yoga, the government is now set to The CZMP details the geo-morphological and ecologi-
highlight the Art of Living of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a cal features of each coast while marking the high tide
mega festival from March 11-13 in the Capital. and low tide lines from where the CRZ regime begins.
The collaboration between the Ministry of External Affairs The specialities of each coast, including the presence
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and the Art of Living Foundation is unprecedented as the of mangroves, intertidal zones, various other ecological
MEA has never supported an event of this scale by a and sensitive areas zones, and no development zones
single private party. would also be marked in the plan.
Highlighting the Art of Living has also raised questions Once the plan is approved, it would serve as the base
about promoting more contemporary forms of spirituality,
which are different from classical cultural traditions like
Buddhism and yoga. The event World Culture Festival
is also drawing criticism from those who oppose mix-
co
document for identifying the areas in which the develop-
ment activities would be regulated.
A four-member committee has been constituted to look
into the complaints regarding the plan. The committee
m.
ing diplomacy with new age spirituality. will have N.R. Menon, Eapen Varghese, K.V. Thomas,
The agenda of the Ministry of External Affairs should not and Kamalakshan Kokkal as its members. Coastal com-
include Art of Living. Moreover, all the diplomatic dele- munities have been complaining that the CRZ norms re-
gates coming for the conference also have led lives that strict the construction and even repair and reconstruction
have been far from spiritual. So why this collaboration of the dwelling units.
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between the MEA and the Art of Living? asked former Several local bodies along the coast had demanded that
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh. they be excluded from the purview of the CRZ notification
Officials told The Hindu that Sri Sri Ravi Shankars inclu-
or
tween the leadership of India and Nepal. Sri Sri Ravi body during the driest part of summer, the coastal area
Shankar also emerged as a unique connector between adjoining the waterbody would come under the ambit of
India and Pakistan because of the popularity of Art of the CRZ.
Living in Lahore and Islamabad. (Pakistans National Se- Vembanad violation
curity Adviser Sartaj Aziz is reported to have attended Art Meanwhile, a move to identify the CRZ violations along
ira
of Living meetings in Pakistan.) Vembanad Lake have met with limited success. Though
Consultations have begun between the volunteers and the authority had identified around 5,000 land modifica-
the MEA officials on how to ensure an incident-free fes- tions along Vembanad Lake and asked the local bodies
tival, which will feature CEO of Afghanistan Abdullah concerned to verify them, only a few responded to it. It
Abdullah, former President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Raja- was following an order from the Supreme Court that the
asp
paksa, former Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani and a authority identified the modifications, sources said
host of other dignitaries.
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
.
No patents for standalone software
Complaints on Keralas Coastal Mere computer programmes those not in conjunction
Regulation Zones to be reviewed with a novel hardware will not be granted patent in In-
dia, according to the latest guidelines of the Office of the
Complaints on demarcation of Coastal Regulation Zones
Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks
(CRZ) in coastal areas of Kerala will be reviewed shortly.
(CGPDTM). The Office of CGPDTM supervises the work-
The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KC-
ing of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws in India.In
ZMA) has received around 200 complaints on the draft
the guidelines released on February 19, the CGPDTM
Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) prepared for
agreed with a Parliamentary panel which had observed
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Hindu and PIB Crux
Vol. 18
News and Events of February 2016
that computer programmes as such are not intended to be granted patent.The fresh guidelines issued by the CG-
PDTM follows its stay on its August 2015 guidelines which had given rise to some confusion in this regard owing
to certain ambiguities regarding whether Computer Related Inventions (CRIs) are patentable. The new guidelines
have been aligned to the Patents Act. The objective of the guidelines is to bring out clarity in terms of exclusions
expected under sub-section 3(k) of the Patents Act so that eligible applications of patents relating to CRIs can be
examined speedily, the CGPDTM said. The sub-section 3(k) says mathematical methods or business methods or
computer programme per se or algorithms are not patentable. The CGPDTM asked the patent examiners to rely on
a three stage test in examining CRI patent applications. Properly construe the claim and identify the actual contribu-
m
tion; If the contribution lies only in mathematical method, business method or algorithm, deny the claim, it said.The
computer programme in itself is never patentable... If the contribution lies in the field of computer programme, check
whether it is claimed in conjunction with a novel hardware and proceed to other steps to determine patentability with
respect to the invention, it added.
co
Prasanth Sugathan, counsel, at the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), a non-profit organisation, told The Hindu
The implication of these guidelines is that start-ups and software developers will continue to have the freedom to
innovate without worrying about litigation in this area and infringement notices. Ambiguous guidelines, like those pub-
lished in August last year, would have resulted in a patent minefield like in the U.S.
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asp
Vol. 18 Feb. 2016
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