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2012-09-30T17:02:00.003+05:30

Hello Friends
As PCS exam is out again , i am reviving by blog to help u all.
Thanks and keep visiting

Naandi Foundation’s HUNGaMA (Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition) report,

2012-01-21T18:16:00.000+05:30

pdf file is available at
www.naandi.org/CP/HungamaBKDec11LR.pdf

Malnutrition in India

2012-01-21T18:11:00.002+05:30

A COUNTRY truly concerned about its development would put its children’s health on a higher priority than the GDP. For, population of over a billion can add strength to a country, only, if it is healthy and productive. If one in every three most malnourished children live in India, as is reported by UNISEF, it is a cause of worry. Because, such a populace can become a liability in the coming years, frustrating all growth plans. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has all the reasons to describe this alarmingly high rate of children’s malnutrition — which is 42 per cent — a ‘national shame.’ In fact, the survey conducted by Hyderabad based Naandi Foundation in the 100 most backward districts of BIMARU states and Jharkhand, with a sample size of over one lakh children — found that 59 per cent children have stunted growth, 42 per cent are underweight and about 11 per cent children between the age group of 0 to 5 suffer from wasting disease.

Sunken eyed, with swollen belly and shrivelled skin, these listless, lifeless children also suffer from learning deficiency, because they are fed on — if at all — on inadequate nutrients required for a healthy development of body and mind. The problem of children’s malnutrition also has its roots in the perpetually anaemic women who keep on producing children, in total disregard to their own health. Around one-third of all adult women are underweight in India.
Surveys conducted in the past have shown that malnutrition among children is lowest in Kerala, where literacy rate of women is the highest in the country. Malnutrition in the first five years of a child leads to serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. An educated mother not only understands the relevance of nutrition, she also practices hygiene and knows how to access health facilities. These issues stem in our social complexity; girls are more at risk of malnutrition than boys because of their lower social status, and they become mothers. The government has to address this issue at several levels.

PAKISTAN - A FAILED STATE

2012-01-10T18:57:00.001+05:30

A visit to Pakistan lays bare the uncertain future facing this troubled country despite much bravado and whistling in the dark. The economy is in parlous condition with growth no more than 3 per cent, 12 per cent inflation, falling FDI, IMF support withdrawn and repayments due next March, public enterprises bleeding, power cuts, a gas shortage, unemployment, a continuing low HDI performance resulting in failure to meet several Millennium Development Goals. With the implementation of the 18th Amendment, a structural problem has arisen with increased revenues going to the provinces and “inflexible” expenditures remaining with the federal government. The “War on Terror”, howsoever calculated, is said to have cost the country $ 60-70 bn whereas US aid has been no more than $ 18 bn.
The saving grace has been buoyancy in the rural economy with bumper production of wheat, cotton, sugar and milk and a transfer of income from the towns to the countryside. Defence expenditure accounts for 18 per cent of the revenue budget and internal security an additional 10 per cent. The tax-to-GDP ratio is low and collections lower. Poor governance, mismanagement and corruption are held responsible for this sorry state of affairs. The extensive 2010 and more limited 2011 floods devastated large swathes of the Indus basin. Independent surveys attribute this not merely to aberrant rainfall, deforestation and consequent heavy erosion in the upper catchments, but also to poor maintenance of barrage and canal infrastructure that gave way and have yet to be fully repaired. Despite all of this, opulent (urban) and feudal life-styles have not been affected.
Pakistan continues to be afflicted by political turbulence and military assertiveness in governance. The Memogate crisis (following an alleged missive drafted by the former Pakistan Ambassador in Washington, Hussain Haqqani, at the instance of President Zardari and handed over to the US military by a controversial Pakistan-born US businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, pleading for US pressure on General Kayani to avert a coup after the inglorious and incomprehensible Osama bin Laden episode, in return for a more zealous Pakistani role in the War on Terror) incensed the Army and has given it greater ascendancy over the civil government. The Foreign Minister, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar, admitted that Memogate had provoked questions. The Army had “played a larger-than-life role in the history of Pakistan” and the assertion of civil power in the existing democratic set-up had to be an “evolutionary process”.
It was at this delicate moment that US-NATO forces bombed a border post, killing 24 Pakistan military personnel. Outrage and fury marked nationwide demonstrations denouncing the Americans for deliberately and repeatedly violating Pakistan’s sovereignty with drone attacks along the AfPak border. The engagement lasted two hours with ascending ferocity despite US-ISAF commands being informed. The Americans aver they were given permission by Pakistan to engage a Taliban raiding party, but the Pakistanis assert they were provided the wrong coordinates. The other theory is that the Taliban decoyed the US into action by firing on its aircraft. Both sides have ordered inquiries, pending which Obama has refused to apologise, though senior US officials have regretted the loss of life.
Many issues arise. US forces have not infrequently been responsible for “collateral damage”, while Pakistan has a long record of violating Indian (and Afghan) sovereignty through well-established cross-border strikes. Despite its protestations of innocence about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan Army had sheltered him under its eye in Abbottabad. Since the Army does not admit to singular incompetence, complicity alone explains what happened.
As in Abbottabad, so in the Mohmand border post strike, the Pakistan Air Force or ground forces did not engage the intruders? Why not? In both cases the Pakistan military presumably thought discretion the better part of valour as it feared escalation would cost it dear. However, Pakistan has closed all US supply routes to Afghanistan and ordered the US to vacate the Shamsi air base in Balochistan from where it has mounted drone attacks on targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Curiously, but typically, the Shamsi base was leased to the UAE (for what ?) which had in turn sub-leased it to the US. So much for sovereignty!
Pakistan has declared that it is reviewing its entire relationship with the US. It will huff and puff but is unlikely to break its military-strategic alliance with Washington. China is not willing, nor militarily able just yet to take on the US role of playing military godfather and banker to Pakistan. It is already getting all it wants strategically from Islamabad by providing it military supplies, nuclear reactors and assistance to upgrade and extend the Karakoram Highway, build the Neelum-Jhelum and Diamer-Bhasha dams and undertake mining projects in Gilgit-Baltistan. It has also proposed a trans-Karakoram rail link from Tibet and Xinjiang to Gwadar and an oil/gas pipeline along a similar alignment.
With its economy on drip, Islamabad needs US aid as much as the US needs Pakistan’s cooperation to sustain an effective presence in Afghanistan. Therefore, the current stand-off is likely to be followed by a rapprochement, continuing US aid and more elbow room for Islamabad to position itself as top-dog in Afghanistan when US-ISAF militarily pull out in 2014. Pakistan is talking to its own Taliban as a first step. Its formal boycott of the Bonn conference on Afghanistan will not necessarily detract from that meeting. The fact is that the US is part of the problem rather than of the solution in Afghanistan. The best option would be to secure a truce in Afghanistan, regionalise a reconciliation and reconstruction programme for it (with Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and others), with US-European and World Bank backing. The object should be to rebuild its infrastructure and economy and restore to a neutral Afghanistan its traditional role as a thriving crossroads and international commercial hub.
Unfortunately, Pakistan is still caught in a hate-India identity crisis, reflected in its uncorrected school textbooks, and the fetishism it has developed about J&K. The last week of November saw the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) take schoolchildren from Faisalabad to Lahore to protest the US/NATO Mohmand air strike. The speeches spoke of plans to Talibanise Pakistan, wreak vengeance on “Christians and Americans” and wage jihad against the US and India.
The decision to extend most-favoured nation treatment to India and promote trade and investment is greatly to be welcomed. But tolerance for JuD hate rallies suggest that, for some, this could be no more than a tactical move to tide over a difficult time. Hopefully, the opening of trade and investment will be truly transforming. Some weeks ago, the widow of Moshe Dayan, the Israeli hero of the 1967 war, wrote, “Zionism has run its course.” The same is true of the “Ideology of Pakistan”, born of a hollow and divisive two-nation theory. A recent article in Friday Times, Islamabad, commented, “By now everyone in Pakistan should at least suspect that being “not Indian” isn’t a strong enough foundation on which to build a country.” How true

“Inclusive Growth: Two Decades of Economic Liberalisation

2012-01-09T19:52:00.003+05:30

I feel proud of the achievements of our nation and of Indians. I am using the word “Indian” to mean much more than nationality. The gathering today is a symbol of the larger idea of Indian identity. This is an identity that goes beyond nationality. It refers to our common history and heritage. In that sense this is a gathering of family members who have spread all over the world but who nevertheless share a deep common bond. I welcome you to our motherland
This larger concept of internationalism was repeatedly stressed by our founding fathers. In 1961 Pandit Nehru had reminded us: “Ultimately … nationalism will prove a narrowing creed, and we shall all be citizens of the world with a truly international vision. … The nationalism that we build in India should have its doors and windows open to internationalism.” Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore showed us how India might be intensely national and at the same time international with her thought and sympathy embracing the world.
Today India has begun playing a global role unlike ever in the past. Our economy had been relatively stagnant during the initial years after India’s independence. Then from the early 1980s the growth rate picked up. It rose further after the economic reforms of the early 1990s. And since 2005 there has been no looking back. The economy grew for three successive years at rates over 9 per cent. Even during the global recession of 2008-09, India’s GDP grew by nearly 7 per cent.
The year 2011 has been an eventful one. In terms of the time line in the economic history of the country its passage marks two decades on the path of economic liberalisation. Though we have witnessed ups and downs, this period has transformed our country and catapulted it into the centre stage in the world. India is viewed as belonging to the group of the fastest growing nations of the world. We are widely recognized as a major driver of global growth. India is a member of the G20 and, within the G20, it is considered a part of the systemically most important 7.
India’s integration into the world has had a long history. In the colonial era we had witnessed the migration of large numbers of our fellow Indians, often in pursuit of economic opportunities in agro-produce rich colonies. Others moved to pursue business goals. Then in the post-colonial era the trend turned to a movement towards the industrialised nations. When in the 70s a large number of highly qualified Indians were moving abroad, we were warned of the severe consequences of the brain drain. Contrary to conventional, and in hindsight myopic opinions, luckily we made no attempt to stop the flow. Today we are better off due to that.
The movement of the diaspora is no longer unidirectional as it was in the past. What started as a brain drain, has now become a brain gain, not just for India but the world as a whole. Today mobile Indian professionals and entrepreneurs are contributing across the global economy and enhancing its resilience in these troubled times. Many have also returned to the home turf and are engaged in its socio-economic fabric. Still others have set up enterprises or professional relations that span national boundaries.
This movement of global talent has had many consequences. First of all, it has brought in many global best practices into the Indian economy. At the same time, it has created networks and linkages which serve as channels for flows of ideas across boundaries. This has given the Indian economy an edge in the seamlessly connected global economic environment.
The global success of the Indian diaspora in the spheres of science, economics, education, business, public life and the arts is a matter of great pride for us all. The ‘pravasi bharatiya’ has contributed significantly to India’s ‘soft power’ and global image in a multidimensional manner. This has no doubt contributed to its attractiveness as an investment destination. The entrepreneurial skills of the Indian business community settled abroad are a matter of envy for other nations. Foreign firms are increasingly aware of the sharp business acumen of the Indian entrepreneur and managers. They have come to respect our business houses and practices.
I believe however that much still remains to be done. We have not yet reaped the full benefits of India’s great diaspora. The most obvious area remains that of investment and entrepreneurship. For instance, in China a large chunk of foreign direct investment has come from overseas Chinese. I am aware that there have been large ticket investments by non-resident Indian entrepreneurs. But I think it is far less than the potential and perhaps too concentrated on the formal sector. Rather, we must pursue an alternative model. One that is more balanced and holistic in a socio-economic sense.
For this we must rightly turn to the inspiration behind the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The 9th of January, marks the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India. The subsequent new vigour he granted our freedom movement is well known. But the Mahatma also brought with him a new outlook and social vision: one that gave great emphasis to the dignity of labour, the importance of our rural sector and social equity. He was intensely aware of the need for social inclusion and had great faith in the ability of the rural economic system to provide a balanced, equitable and optimal solution to the issue of economic development and social equity. His model of development was based on the harmonious self sustaining village economy which put minimal pressures on scarce resources while maximizing livelihood and well-being. In today’s parlance what he was aiming for was inclusive development coupled with sustainable growth.
India’s economic achievements over the last few years have been commendable. The broad-based growth has brought improved opportunities for livelihood and employment across a wide range of skills. There is also a significant increase in public resources through better tax mobilisation. It has created, perhaps, for the first time in India’s post-independent history, the means to bridge the chronic deficits in social and economic attainments and reducing the disparities across different population groups and between the regions. But on our social indicators much remains to be done. In his respect there is need to engage in social enterprises in a proactive manner.
We have tried to evolve a model of development, which is more inclusive and people centric. It has sought to improve the access of the poor and the vulnerable to vital public services by creating entitlements backed by limited legal guarantees. This includes the right to information, the right to work in rural areas, the right to education and the right to food which is in the process of being enacted. There is progress, in all spheres including education, healthcare, financial inclusion and financial literacy, skill development and mainstreaming of hitherto marginalised sections of society, but there is still a long distance to traverse.
It is here that the pravasi bharatiya can probably make the biggest contributions. This requires not just financial contributions, but rather dedication of time, ideas and endeavour. From the agenda of the pre-conference seminars I am aware that discussions have been held on ‘Solar Energy- Investment and R&D’ and ‘Social Entrepreneurship-Water’. These are extremely relevant topics for our development. I hope some new ideas will emerge from your deliberations.
The Indian inclusive growth model – within the framework of democracy and human rights and freedoms, within a diverse and heterogeneous culture – is being recognized the world over as a viable paradigm. The strong diversity also has to be ‘included’ in the agenda for reforms. And though, as we have seen, it may tend to slow down things a little, as long as the direction is positive and forward looking, we can derive some satisfaction. Every incremental step which comes about with consensus is better than imposing big bang reforms without consensus.
Let me conclude by reiterating that a strong foundation is being created through a pro-active policy framework in both economic and social sectors. It should help form the springboard for the inclusive involvement of the overseas Indian in India’s development and its destiny. India presents an opportunity for the world as a whole. Our overseas Indian family with its multifaceted talents, excellent capacity for adapting to and ability to operate within different cultures and environments should make a concerted effort to connect with India’s growth and its prosperity in the times to come.

The Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010

2012-01-09T19:50:00.000+05:30

The Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, introduced in the Parliament has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development.
Sexual Harassment at the workplace is a violation of women’s right to equality, life and liberty. It vitiates the work environment and serves to discourage women from participating in work, gravely affecting women’s social and economic empowerment.
In 1997, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that sexual harassment at the workplace is a form of discrimination against women and that it violates the constitutional right to equality. Despite its direction to the government to enact a suitable legislation for prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace, it took more than 13 years for the government of India to introduce the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill in the Lok Sabha on 7 December 2010. This, despite the repeated demands for such a legislation by trade unions, women’s organisations and other sections, since the incidents of sexual harassment at the workplace have increased at a rapid pace, often with tragic consequences.
The Bill introduced in the Parliament has several shortcomings which tend to defeat its very purpose. Several changes need to be incorporated to make it effective in achieving its objectives.
The workplace should include all premises where women are employed, including houses and homes where women domestic workers work. But, the draft bill specifically excludes domestic workers, thereby leaving out a huge number of working women who comprise around 30% of the female workforce in the service sector. These women are especially vulnerable for abuse since they work in a private, restricted space as has been evidenced by many recent cases highlighted by the media, in India and abroad. Their economic compulsions often force them to work in difficult conditions, at odd hours, in the solitary company of males, and there are many reported cases of sexual abuse and harassment of domestic workers in this sector. Domestic workers should be included in the ambit of this legislation.
The first part of section 14 (1) woman will prevent women from lodging a complaint, since the situation is often one in which a subordinate has to muster up the courage to complain against her superior in the workplace, and also has to face social stigma from the others in her workplace. Hence it should be deleted. The section also goes against the Supreme Court judgement which had stated clearly that no action should be taken against a woman for making a complaint. If any complaint by a woman is found to be false or malicious, then it can be dealt with as per the service rules prevailing in that workplace. This need not be incorporated in the Bill.
The Bill should specify the nature and range of punishment for different forms of sexual harassment– from minimum to maximum, commensurate with the degree of gravity of the offence.
Further, the Bill should specifically incorporate a provision that if the moral character of the complainant is challenged there should be strong punishment for the respondent.
The process of conciliation, if requested by the aggrieved woman, should be a part of the enquiry proceedings of the Internal Complaints Committee/Local Complaints Committee, with a record maintained by it of all such proceedings. In case of violation of the settlement, the complainant should have the right to reopen the complaint.
The compensation should be determined not only on the basis of compensating the victim on the counts mentioned, but should be a heavy fine which can act as a deterrent.
Since the Bill states that every employer shall provide a safe working environment at the workplace which shall include safety from the persons coming into contact at the workplace, punishment should be prescribed for employers/administrative heads that do not form the redressal mechanism at the workplace. Punitive measures and penalty should also be imposed on those employers/administrative heads/district officers who try to shield or defend perpetrators of sexual harassment and those who take vindictive action against complainants.
The aggrieved woman should be allowed the option to have someone to assist her in the conduct of the enquiry by the Internal Complaints Committee/Local Complaints Committee, in case she is in need of such help and requests it.
Time limits should be set for imposition of the punitive measures on the perpetrator/s and delivery of the compensation to the victim. The mechanism for recovery of the compensation should be specified.
Trade unions, as representatives of workers and committed to the protection of workers’ rights, have an important role to play on the entire issue of sexual harassment at the workplace. Trade unions should be involved at every stage in the effort to prevent sexual harassment at workplace and provide a safe and democratic work environment to working women – in the formulation of policies, in their implementation and in monitoring their implementation. However, where no trade unions exist, NGOs that have experience/expertise in dealing with cases of sexual harassment may be associated with complaints committees. Sensitisation on the issue and creating awareness among the workers/employees and employers, both men and women, is of crucial importance in preventing sexual harassment.

INDIA 2011=USA 1980

2012-01-09T19:45:00.002+05:30

Globally, outrage and the ensuing chaos, as witnessed in India in recent months, have often been the harbinger of order for many countries. One such country that has been there and done that is the US and it has important lessons for us. Recent events notwithstanding, the US has, for the greater part of this century epitomised success- a country where the government delivers and true talent, innovation and entrepreneurship usually get rewarded.

Striking parallels

And yet it wasn’t always so. The crucible of such efficiency lay in circumstances, in the early 1900’s, which were remarkably similar to those that the Indian polity finds itself in now. Widespread corruption, lackadaisical governance and politician-businessmen nexus was commonplace.
Just as in India, there were allegations that the government often rewarded business houses with unfair advantages and contracts. There were business tycoons who, it was alleged, routinely bought seats in the House of Representatives. They manipulated legislatively determined pricing of critical national commodities (such as Gold and rail freight- the historical equivalent of telecom spectrum) in return for favors for the President’s family members.
In fact, some of the best known American universities were sponsored by individuals who were tainted with allegations of political graft. Noted political scientist, Fred W Riggs, might as well have been speaking of India when he described this state as a ‘Prismatic’ society-where prices could be determined by the reciprocal power of the trading partners and not due to the more impersonal relationship between supply and demand. Also, political control could be grabbed through coercion, violence, money, or charismatic rule, but not always through consistent application of constitutional law. Just as the recent scandals have led investors to doubt the Indian growth story, the American crises of 1894 and 1907 led foreign investors to doubt if a corrupt US governance system would ever get its act together. American democracy took time to mature and at times seemed just as inept and chaotic as the Indian governance appears today.

The turn-around

Given the striking parallels in the initial conditions, it is natural to think of the key causes for the American turnaround and the possible path that India might adopt going forward.
In the late 19th century, the US banking system was dependant on political patronage to receive licenses - not unlike the licensing raj that existed in India. The Regency Democratic Party held monopoly over the licensing regimen and used it extensively to fill party coffers.
However, reform emerged with the opposing Whig party’s desire to restrict the Democrat’s monopoly over these rents of patronage. Their intention behind deregulating the banking sector was more to end their rival party’s monopoly on bribes than to act against corruption itself.
Similarly, it was a rogue splinter group of the Democratic Party, the Equal Rights Party, composed of traders and entrepreneurs, which rose against its leadership. They did so only when it became apparent to them that a heavily regulated banking sector threatened their own economic interests. Personal gain and political brinkmanship played a bigger role in prompting reform than any sanctimonious regulation ever could.
In India, we have already seen some of this happen with the opposition having to clean its own tainted stable to maintain pressure on the government. Also, new interest groups, such as those led by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, have risen to take advantage of the ideological gap.

Popular angst

Ultimately, in a functioning democracy, popular angst usually creates enough political space for new political parties (and old parties with new found ideologies) to cash in on emerging public opinion. Reform doesn’t always need legendary leaders with far reaching vision, but invariably needs a critical mass of popular angst. And a hitherto stable equilibrium of mutually beneficial silence unravels into a game or a jostle for the newly emerging popular mandate- ultimately leading to sustained reform.
Secondly, it was the emergence of a truly independent judiciary and civil service that bucked the existing trend. Earlier in its history, the US had followed a system of political patronage for government jobs. Thousands of appointments were made purely as political favour to those who demonstrated loyalty to the ruling party. Even judicial appointments were heavily influenced by the choices that the ruling party made.
However, growing inefficiency and public disgust with corruption finally forced congressional action to create a separate civil service cadre. These were purely expeditious political decisions driven by short term factors. The decision makers never truly intended them to have the far reaching consequences that they did.
In India, we are already witnessing a resurgent judiciary, unafraid to test the government’s conviction in going after the corrupt. However, actions of the bureaucracy have so far remained muted. Indeed, historically we have seen it regress from being the steel framework supporting India’s democracy into a favor seeking extension of the political machinery. Provided these institutions can remain independent in thought and action, it is entirely conceivable that in India too, these institutions, along with the media, will raise the cost of corruption to a level where it outweighs the marginal benefits of being corrupt.
Crucially, in the US, neither of these reforms was borne out of an explicit vision or conviction to root out corruption. And yet these reforms emerged because the system, for all its ills, was one that allowed popular mandate to fully express itself. Subsequently, the invisible hand of selfish political survival guided the various players into reactions that inadvertently led to sustainable change and reform.
The current chaos engulfing Indian governance and policy making, seems utterly incapacitating. However, it would bear well to remember that it is part of a broader narrative, a journey that culminates in the emergence of hugely successful societies.

RESPONSE TO FDI ISSUE IN PUNJAB

2012-01-09T19:36:00.001+05:30

Political rhetoric aside, a large cross-section in Punjab is batting for FDI in retail. Being one of the most progressive agrarian economies, Punjab will be a major sourcing state for any foreign retailer who sets up shop in India.
The ruling party in the state, SAD, may have been forced to take a U-turn on its support for allowing FDI because of political considerations, but in private, SAD leaders agree that it will help the state's sagging agro economy. However, concerns about small traders and farmers persist.
There is almost a consensus on the need for a regulator for the foreign retailers and some protectionist policy for the small domestic companies.
The Tribune spoke to some prominent politicians and an industry representative, asking them about FDI and whether it would help carry the growth story of Punjab's farm sector forward. Here is what they had to say:-

On FDI in retail sector

Amarinder Singh: Allowing FDI in retail will augur well for the farmers of Punjab and all other food producing states. The foreign players entering the Indian market in multi-brand retail will not only pay better prices to farmers but also help bring quality and good manufacturing practices in agriculture.
Navjot Sidhu: I believe that FDI in retail sector is in nobody's interest, be it consumers, farmers or traders. The Indian economy is dominated by the services sector which accounts for 58 per cent of the country's GDP. Allowing foreign players, with deep pockets, will kill competition and lead to loss of jobs. International retailers operate on the principle of buying internationally at cheapest prices. A majority of items to be sold by international retailers are going to be sourced from cheaper manufacturing economies like China.
Mohinder Aggarwal: The FDI in retail sector will be in nobody's interest, except big foreign companies that will get access to a huge Indian market. The government cannot allow foreign companies to flourish at the cost of thousands of small retailers and businessmen. All middlemen and small traders will be eliminated when foreign companies set their stores here, thus leading to unemployment.
Amarjit Goyal: Opening of FDI in retail will be beneficial for all, provided the government allows it with some riders. The government should enhance the limit of sourcing from local SMEs to 50 per cent (from the present 30 per cent), and it should be done only from Indian SMEs. Also, the government should ensure that the benefits reach farmers by putting a clause that the farmers be paid more than the actual cost of crop production.

On advantages for Punjab

Amarinder Singh: Punjab is one of the top food producing states. The state's experience with agri conglomerates, be it Bharti Wal-Mart, Tata Khet Se, or Pepsi Co, has proved that farmers supplying their produce to these companies are earning much more than those selling in mandis. In latter's case, it is the middlemen who are making profit. The corporate sector has also brought better agriculture practices by providing better seeds, educating farmers on efficient use of fertilisers/ pesticides; and helped them improve post-harvest technology.
Navjot Sidhu: Without getting into what the SAD is saying, I would like to reiterate that the FDI will not benefit the farmers. Those advocating FDI say the farmers will benefit. I only want to ask what do they have to say on the plight of sugarcane farmers who sell their produce right at the gate of sugar mills. If the farmer does prosper on account of international retailers then why it is that the farmers in the US and the European Union have to be subsidised to an extent of $1 billion per day.
Mohinder Aggarwal: The government is favouring FDI in retail, saying that it will help improve infrastructure. But that may not be the case. Two years ago, the government opened FDI in construction of cold storages, but it failed to attract any foreign player. The government has to realise that infrastructure development will have to be the joint responsibility of the state as well as the Central Government. As far as benefiting farmers in Punjab, even the big agri houses who are currently sourcing their produce from here, are paying only a small percentage of fixed profit to these farmers.
Amarjit Goyal: Punjab will be a major state for sourcing of food grains and vegetables. This will not only help improve the economic condition of farmers, but also help in crop diversification as more farmers will grow vegetables for these companies. We have already seen the benefits reaching those farmers who are supplying to big cash and carry stores in the state.

On parties playing politics

Amarinder Singh: There is no doubt that the hue and cry on FDI is merely to gain political mileage. The UPA has taken a step in the right direction to help recover the country's economy. Opening FDI in retail will also help curtail inflation, as it would bring better supply chain management. The fear allayed by the Opposition that the entry of foreign companies will ease out the mom and pop stores has no basis. Everywhere in the world, neighbourhood retail stores have coexisted with big retailers.
Navjot Sidhu: We were never for the FDI in its current form. We are not against FDI but want a regulator to keep a check on predatory companies so that they don't get a free hand to source from cheaper manufacturing economies like China. We are also against the government allowing the companies to have 51 per cent stake in FDI as it will allow these companies to have a say in policy determination.
Mohinder Aggarwal: A forceful Opposition is beneficial in the larger interest of the public, as it keeps a check on the government's functioning and also raises the concern of the common man. One cannot ridicule the BJP for taking up the cause of thousands of traders.
Amarjit Goyal: I would not like to comment on this. But a healthy opposition will obviously augur well for all stakeholders. The government will gain in the form of higher VAT returns through these retailers, consumers will get better quality of goods, and farmers will get higher prices for produce.

AIDS AND INDIA

2012-01-09T19:34:00.001+05:30

Ever since the first case of AIDS virus came to light in 1986 and HIV infection became a major health crisis facing the country, the spectre of AIDS has loomed large. What has been more worrisome is that it affects the vulnerable sections of the population i.e. women and children, too. But as December 1 marked World AIDS Day, there was less cause for gloom. India has not only made considerable progress in tackling the scourge but has also led the decline globally. In the decade between 2000 and 2010 fresh HIV cases in the country were down by 50 per cent. Now, the news that more men in Punjab are opting for safe sex is reassuring as well.

Safe sex practice plays one of the most crucial roles in checking the spread of HIV, particularly among women. Of the total HIV cases in India, nearly 40 per cent are women and many of whom get the cases from their husbands. Safe sex offers protection against transmission of the virus to those women who are at risk. It’s heartening that Bollywood celebrities too are raising their voice for the cause and advocating safe sex through various social platforms. Aggressive awareness drives and high literacy rates do lead to a decline in infections.
Nevertheless, while the decline in infections needs to be welcomed, there is no cause for complacency. Even today India has 2.5 million HIV positive people and the challenges are many. UNAIDS has already cautioned India against being complacent. In the light of global donors backing out and the danger of new infections lurking by, it has asked the government to step up investment. Indeed, India, which has done a commendable job in fighting the menace of HIV/AIDS, cannot afford to fritter away the gains. Concerted steps and the early passage of the HIV Bill can not only ensure that the battle against AIDS is won; even the human rights of HIV infected can be protected. Zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths may become more than an aspirational goal.

US-AUSTRALIA- INDIA? A DREAM

2012-01-09T19:32:00.002+05:30

India has demonstrated that it has its own independent views on regional and global issues by categorically telling Australia that it cannot be part of any multilateral security arrangement. This has been the country’s policy ever since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, when India decided to chart a nonaligned course. The necessity to restate the fact arose when Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd declared in a media interview that India was ready to join the US-Australia security pact meant to keep a check on China’s moves in the Asia-Pacific region. Mr Rudd’s statement — the response of “the Indian government has really been quite positive” — has no meaning when India is “not aware of any such proposal”. Perhaps, he took India’s “positive” response for granted, as he is scheduled to be in New Delhi soon for talks with Defence Minister A.K. Antony when he is expected to convey his country’s desire to revoke the ban on uranium exports to India. India needs uranium from Australia and is also interested in reaching agreements on fighting terrorism and maritime security. But these are separate issues, having nothing to do with the US-Australia defence architecture.
The US and Australia have their own calculations as far as China’s rise as the dominant player in the Asia-Pacific region is concerned. The US is working overtime to stop China’s growing influence in the region and beyond. Washington’s new military base in Australia is aimed at implementing its policy of containing China. Interestingly, the US supported Vietnam when China protested against the India-Vietnam cooperation pact for exploring oil and gas in the South China Sea. Washington’s Myanmar policy also appears to be undergoing change as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited that country this week and appreciated the political reforms being undertaken by the ruling military junta.
But why should India become a part of the US Asia-Pacific strategy? New Delhi is, of course, concerned about China’s String of Pearls policy to strengthen Beijing’s presence in India’s immediate neighbourhood. But it has to plan its moves the way it suits India’s national interests. There is no point in demonstrating that India is competing with China. It is wiser to go in for cooperative diplomacy as can be seen in India’s Look East policy. It has resulted in considerable gains for India in East Asia.

NRI'S AND PUNJAB

2012-01-03T21:45:00.001+05:30

IN October this year, the Punjab Legislative Assembly amidst pandemonium passed 11 Bills without any discussion. As a result, Punjab State Commission for NRIs Act, 2011 was enacted with a generous state government providing Rs.50 lakh during the current year for paying the salary of employees of the five-member Commission.
While Non Resident Punjabis generally descend here to reconnect with their roots, there has been a role reversal this year. With Punjab going to the hustings in 2012, Ministers in waiting and poll managers have flown in advance to UK, USA and Canada to lobby for support and seek greenbacks. Indigenous vote banks in rural Punjab are also influenced by the thinking of philanthropic and cash-rich NRIs in the matter of casting the ballot. Hence the scramble to woo them.
This regardless of the fact that only 38 NRI voters have actually registered themselves for casting votes, for which they will have to be physically present in Punjab. For wooing this perceived vote bank, the political competition and compulsion is about which party can devise the best mechanism for resolving the problems of the NRIs in Punjab.
About 5 million Punjabis, it is estimated, are settled abroad and are bound by family, property and business interests back home. Their problems do need solutions. Conventional laws and slow, tardy procedures do leave them disenchanted.
Who is an NRI or a PIO or an OCI for that matter?
Section 2 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) defines a person resident in India and a person resident outside India but does not define the term NRI. However, a notification defines NRI to mean a person resident outside India who is either a citizen of India or is a person of Indian origin. Under FEMA, a person “resident” in India is one who resides in India for more than 182 days in the preceding financial year and who comes or stays in India for any purpose and a “non-resident” is merely defined as a person who is not a resident in India. Therefore, an NRI can be summed up as an Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian passport.
PIO: It means a foreign citizen who at any time held an Indian passport; or he/she or either of his /her parents or grandparents or great grandparents was born in and was permanently resident in India; or he/she is a spouse of a citizen of India or of a person of Indian origin. PIO card holders can visit India without visa for 15 years and will be required to register with Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) in India when the stay exceeds 180 days continuously. PIOs enjoy parity with NRIs in respect of certain facilities but have no political rights and can apply for Indian citizenship after residing in India for a minimum of seven years.
OCI: A foreign national who was eligible to become a citizen of India on January 26, 1950, or was a citizen of India on or at any time after the said date or belonged to a territory that became part of India after August 15, 1947 and, his / her children and grandchildren are eligible for registration as OCIs. They enjoy multiple entry multipurpose lifelong visa for visiting India, are exempted registration with FRO/police authorities for any length of stay in India and are entitled to benefits notified under Section 7 B of the Citizenship Act. An OCI registered for 5 years and residing in India for one year can be granted Indian citizenship but have no political rights.
The Punjab State Commission for NRIs Act, 2011 is stated to be “An Act to provide for the constitution of the Commission for NRIs in the State of Punjab with a view to protecting and safeguarding the interests of the NRIs in the State of Punjab, and to recommend remedial measures to State Government."
It defines a “complaint” by stating that it “means all petitions/communications received in State Commission for NRIs from an NRI or any other person on his behalf, in person, by post, by telegram, by fax or by any other means whatsoever, alleging, disputes or violations or abetment thereof or negligence in the prevention of such dispute or violation, by a public servant or a private person or the material on the basis of which the Punjab State Commission for NRIs takes suo motu cognisance."
The flaws
The law however, does not define what is an “NRI dispute” or a “NRI violation". Consequently, the authority, jurisdiction and powers of the Commission, remain hazy and undefined.
Though the proposed body has extensive investigative powers through the existing official machinery, its capacity to provide practical relief and pass effective orders remains questionable. The NRI Commission cannot usurp the powers of courts and may well turn out to be unworkable.
Amusingly, the focus of the law enacted is more on the members of the Commission and what they will get as benefits. The actual emphasis on what the body in making would actually do and how it would dispense justice in relation to a defined arena of NRI disputes or violations is blissfully missing.
The grievances of NRIs revolve around family law related issues, property disputes, immigration related questions and trysts with criminal law. But then the system of Civil and Criminal Courts mandates that all disputes shall be adjudicated by Courts of competent jurisdiction as per statutory laws made by Parliament and applicable throughout India. Consequently, identifying an “NRI dispute” for being heard and decided by a different authority will clearly fall foul of the system of prevalent adjudication by existing courts. The aggrieved NRI will still need to invoke the powers of a competent Court for actual relief as a NRI Commission cannot enjoy parallel statutory adjudication powers.
In case the NRI Commission is meant to be a recommendatory body, the Law Commission of India and Punjab State Law Commission are already saddled with this exclusive role of suggesting changes in laws. In any case, no major exercise is needed to identify where amendments are required as both the problems and desired solutions are well known. Most of them relate to Central Laws within the ambit of Parliament. Hence, any state level exercise to achieve independent changes will be an exercise in futility.

PROBLEMS OF NRI'SIN INDIA

2012-01-03T21:43:00.001+05:30

There is a huge Indian diaspora, numbering nearing 30 million strong and spread in 130 countries abroad. They increasingly come up with unique family law problems, which existing Indian matrimonial legislations find difficult to address. Hence, judicial innovation to carve out individual relief in distinct NRI family disputes is necessitated on a case to case basis. But there are few or no consistent and statutory remedies.
The response from the Government range from creating an NRI Commission, constituting NRI Cells, deputing designated authorities for NRI problems and forming special NRI Committees. However, all such administrative measures soon fade away and resurface with the arrival of the NRIs again in the following year.
NRIs seek resolution of their problems from an Indian legal system not designed and created for resolving their new age issues. Times have changed but statutory Indian laws have not kept pace. Most NRI problems are neither defined nor recognised by Indian laws but our legislators have no time to amend or even address them.
Thus, creating NRI Cells, Commissions, Committees or other bodies will not help. No such authority without statutory powers will have any credibility in the framework of the existing legal system. Parallel set ups without statutory sanction are meaningless. Such administrative bodies will at best be recommendatory officers whose decisions will need judicial sanction. The aggrieved NRI or affected party will still need to invoke powers of a Court of Competent Jurisdiction for actual relief.
The Parliament, therefore, needs to enact new laws or amend existing laws to define the NRI problem and prescribe solutions. One such example can be found under Section 13 of The East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949. Its amendment in 2001, created a special class of NRI landlords who had a special right to recover immediate possession from tenants occupying their premises by a special summary procedure. Likewise, in the family law arena, limping NRI marriages, abandoned spouses, abducted children, overseas adoption and surrogate relationships need statutory solutions. Family laws for NRIs need an exhaustive overhaul. Either, all existing family law legislations be amended or one single comprehensive Indian legislation should be enacted for all family related legal problems of NRIs.
Similar is the situation in the field of property laws. Tenancy, succession, registration, investment & transfer of ownership of property form a bulk of NRI problems. But scattered and outdated legislations serve no purpose. Thus, there is again a dire need for multiple amendments or for enacting a new NRI property law dealing with their problems comprehensively. Special Courts will have to be created and empowered to deal with these lissues. A complete responsive machinery must be evolved under proper rules to be made under the newly enacted or amended NRI laws.
The answer is not in creating toothless bodies. Only enacting appropriate NRI laws, making corresponding procedural rules to implement them and vesting authority in Competent Courts to adjudicate NRI disputes will provide an effective remedy. This must naturally be done on an all India basis because piecemeal State legislations will not do.

WHY GROWTH RATE IS FALLING?

2012-01-03T21:39:00.001+05:30

FROM aspiring to achieve a double-digit growth rate to actually slumping to 7 per cent or even less, if private predictions are to be believed, is quite a fall for the country, once widely seen as an emerging economic power. The latest official data shows the economy grew by just 6.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal and it is the slowest in the last nine quarters. While the growth of manufacturing fell to 2.7 per cent, mining actually witnessed a contraction, shrinking by 3 per cent due to a ban on mining of iron ore following scams encompassing Karnataka, Orissa and Goa. Despite a normal monsoon the agricultural growth shrank to 3.2 per cent from a healthy 5.4 per cent last year. The slowdown in investment and private consumption shows that the troubles are here to stay.
The chief culprit for the dismal scenario is, no doubt, untamed high inflation. For too long policymakers kept predicting inflation would ease soon and delayed the RBI response. Then the government left the job of controlling inflation entirely to the apex bank and failed to address the supply side constraints. Low agricultural productivity, poor state investment, rising input and capital costs have subdued farm growth and pushed up food inflation. The belated attempts to open up multi-brand retail to foreign direct investment, which is expected to cut food waste and streamline the supply chain, are being scuttled by misinformed opposition. Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu has blamed “slowdown in decision-making” for the economy’s poor performance. There are other factors: high interest rates, policy paralysis, major scandals, needless political standoff and uncertainty in global economy.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has tried to shore up the sentiment by pointing to the deterioration in the global economic scenario and held out the hope that the country’s growth rate would pick up soon, but economists and industrialists are less optimistic. They feel exports, which have remained robust, will lose the advantage of a depreciating rupee to the loss of orders from Europe and the US. Dark clouds loom on the horizon

WHERE THE LOKPAL IS STUCK

2012-01-03T21:34:00.000+05:30

Anand Marriage Act.

2011-12-28T20:02:00.002+05:30

The Union Cabinet is set to consider the provision of independent registration of Sikh marriages under the Anand Marriage Act. Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, talking to TNS, said his ministry had made two proposals following complaints by the Sikh community that the amendment to the Act in 2008 did not address their concerns.
The amendment in the Anand Marriage Act in 2008 allowed for a separate register to record Sikh marriages. However, there was criticism that the Anand Marriage Act continued to be part of the Hindu Marriage Act:1955 and should be made a separate Act.
Salman Khurshid said: “We have proposed a Central Act providing for registration of births, deaths and marriages. Under this, certificates submitted under the Anand Marriage Act could be registered. Alternatively, the provision for separate registration could be provided under the Anand Marriage Act itself.” The Law Minister said that both the proposals had been forwarded to the Home Ministry for consultation.
The ministry was expected to elicit the opinion of various ministers as well as Punjab leaders in Punjab. “Once this is done, the matter will be forwarded to the Cabinet for a decision”, he explained.
The Anand Marriage Act came into being in 1909 following a proposal by Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha.
Later, the Act became part of the Hindu Marriage Act that grouped Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism as offshoots of Hinduism. Hardeep Singh, SGPC member, said the amendment in 2008 was a mere eyewash .
He said even Pakistan and Bangladesh had separate Anand Marriage Acts and that India should follow suit.
However,Rajya Sabha nember Tarlochan Singh said amending the Hindu Marriage Act would be difficult and that the present amendment met the aspirations of the Sikhs and should be retained as such.

Fateh Burj

2011-12-28T20:01:00.000+05:30

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today inaugurated a Rs 35-crore Baba Banda Singh Bahadur war memorial at a colourful ceremony here
Amidst confetti and fireworks, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, led by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, dedicated the 328 ft-tall victory tower (Fateh Burj), the tallest monument in the country, to the people. The monument was a tribute to the valour and sacrifices made by the Sikh warriors for the sake of humanity, the Chief Minister said.
All through the ceremony as the Nihangs, referred to as ‘Guru ki fauj’ , displayed their martial skills, the CM, accompanied by Giani Gurbachan Singh, Sri Keshgarh Sahib Jathedar Giani Tarlochan Singh and Damdami Taksal chief Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, took the distinguished dignitaries on a round of the 21 acre war memorial complex in open Gypsies..

FDI IN RETAIL--- YES OR NO --- ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR

2011-12-28T19:58:00.000+05:30

Parliament is debating the issue of the Cabinet decision on multi-brand foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail market in cities with a population of one million persons and above. Direct investment in economic reckoning is labelled as good investment because it is stable investment and better than the fly-by-night kind — portfolio investment which is liberally allowed in our stock markets. The FDI is considered good investment because it goes, if not wholly, at least partly into the creation and development of infrastructure and cannot be taken out easily. The investor gains and suffers with the economy of the host country and has, therefore, interest in the growth of the economy.
Portfolio investment, on the other hand, can cause serious problems at the time of slump in the stock market. The volatile behaviour of investors can make the stock market go spinning in downslide, specially if the country does not have enough foreign exchange reserves to protect itself against the flying-out capital. Thus, the first aspect of FDI that needs to be appreciated is that it is a stable investment which endures with the economy in its thick and thin phases. Now we are faced with the question of this investment in the retail market and that too in multi-brand retail and with 51 per cent share-holding.
It is little realised that apart from the demand and supply gap, which may be there or not, the retail market, dominated by small shops and vendors, is the major culprit in giving vent to escalating inflation in the country and it needs to be disciplined through the creation of effective competitive alternatives. Corporate food stores and multi-brand stores for other products can be the only alternative in a free economy. When farmers were hardly able to get 60 paisa per kg of muskmelon in the wholesale market recently, the vendors in Ludhiana did not lower their retail price below Rs 10 per kg. Here it is a more than 17 times margin which cannot be justified by any standard. Today, in several wholesale markets of Punjab, potato is being sold by farmers at less than even Re 1 per kg. Yet the vendor sells it at Rs 10 per kg. In a Reliance store the price is Rs 5 per kg.
Just another example from the NCR — cauliflower in corporate stores sells at Rs 5.80 per kg and in the unorganised market the price is between Rs 8 and Rs 9 per kg depending upon quality. Comparative figures are Rs 6 and Rs 15 per kg for spinach, Rs 18 and Rs 25 for carrot, Rs 120 and Rs 150 for apple, and Rs 28 and Rs 40 per kg for mosambi in corporate stores and the unorganised market respectively. In fact, the unorganised market is a misnomer. It is so highly organised, in spite of a large number of vendors, that they are united to charge almost the same price for the same quality of the product. Prices may differ somewhat due to the quality differences. Even the vendors sell the products door to door at the same price.
Is it not an irony of fate for producers that after investment and the tiring effort for four to six months for vegetables and for a full year for fruits, with all the production risks suffered, they should hardly receive 10 per cent and the maximum 20 per cent of the consumer price! The retailer with no risk and only with a small place advantage with least investment should appropriate 80 to 90 per cent of what the consumer is forced to pay! Here the middleman does not do any processing to convert the produce into a new product. He sells the same raw produce and fleeces both the producer and the consumer with impunity because he has monopoly through a virtual cartel of small shopkeepers and street vendors in the absence of effective competitive alternatives.
The retailer in the country is such a bad conductor of the pulses of demand and supply that the benefit of high prices is not allowed to flow to the producer and that of low prices to the consumer. Breaking this unwholesome nexus will be possible only through the reduction of profit margins on the strength of a high volume of business by corporate stores in place of high margins on low volumes charged by vendors and small shopkeepers. What is true in the case of vegetables is equally true for other commodities, including food and non-food items.
Thus, the corporate sector must be freely allowed to enter the retail market in the interest of producers as wells as consumers. Second, since the retail market is extensive and requires billions of dollars to provide quality services to consumers, it is essential that the necessary infrastructure must be developed to reach small producers and consumers to provide a sustainable connect. Also, modern technology and infrastructure for an efficient conduct and performance of the market are a must to efficiently operate in the domestic and international markets.
Our corporates alone are not as yet in the financial and knowledge position to operate single-handed. Collaborative retail market projects can be of tremendous value for us to improve our retail market conduct to fulfil the aspirations of the consumers in the emerging economy of the country. The government in this respect has played its role very diligently and within safe margins. The mandatory provision of investment in infrastructure, including cold stores and warehouses as well as cold chains, etc, will improve not only the retail sector but also wholesale markets on a stable basis. Further, the condition of more than 30 per cent purchase of commodities from small producers is the right decision and a good safeguard. As markets develop, this provision of 30 per cent will automatically increase as producers get accustomed to and trained in quality production as demanded by corporate stores.
As to the fate of small shop owners and vendors, they have their niche markets where customers are used to do bargaining and are treated on a personal level. Nowhere in the world have small shop owners and vendors gone out of business in the presence of corporate openings so far. It is a misplaced fear. The only change that has occurred so far is that an element of price discipline has entered into their approach, which needs to be increased significantly through the creation of an alternative competitive market on an extensive scale.
One wonders why the government is restricting the spread of corporate retail and foreign direct investment to the cities having one million and more population only! It is unfortunate that opposition parties in our system of democracy are attuned to opposing any move by the government, howsoever good it might be for the public. Opposition for the sake of opposition is not good for any stakeholder. But who listens to logic in a vote-bank-oriented polity!

COP17

2011-12-28T19:53:00.000+05:30

Coming in the backdrop of a worsening sovereign debt crisis in Europe and a political standoff in the US over debt and taxes, the Durban global conference on climate change does not inspire much hope, with top leaders, including US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, staying away. Only the heads of government of some African countries are present at “COP17” as the 17th conference of the parties to the UN convention on climate change is called. Unlike last year’s Cancun (Mexico) conference, which produced a pact to set up a fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change and evolve mechanisms for the transfer of clean-energy technology, the Durban negotiations remain a low-key affair.
Some 20,000 delegates from 194 countries meeting in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9 will try to save the Kyoto protocol, which is the only legal regime mandating emission cuts by industrialised countries. The protocol is set to expire in 2012 unless the negotiators reach a pact to extend its period. China, Brazil, South Africa and India favour its extension. Some major countries, including Canada, Russia and Japan, are reluctant to see a second protocol through and are reneging on emission targets and climate-change financing. The Kyoto protocol, they feel, has made the industrialised countries cut CO2 emissions, while leaving the developing countries out from any commitment. The US is not even a party to the Kyoto protocol and has refused to ratify it because of what it calls “asymmetrical obligations”.
Backed by China and Brazil, India has taken the stand that the climate summit should work on providing equitable access to sustainable development, technology transfer and unilateral trade measures. India and China are under pressure to agree to a binding commitment on emission cuts. The fate of the talks remains uncertain

Indian road network

2011-08-24T21:36:00.000+05:30

Indian road network is the second highest with 42.36 lakh km of length. It comprises 70,934 km National Highways, 1,54,522 km of State Highways, 25,77,396 km of Major District Roads and other District Roads & 14,33,577 km of rural roads .
The National Highways serve as the arterial network of the country. The development of National Highways is the responsibility of the Government of India. The Government of India has launched major initiatives to upgrade and strengthen National Highways through various phases of National Highways Development project (NHDP) Phase-I to Phase-VII which are briefly as under:

Phase I
NHDP Phase I approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in December 2000 comprises mostly of GQ (5,846 km) and NS-EW Corridor (981km), port connectivity (356 km) and others (315 km). Under Golden Quadrilateral only 19 km remain to be completed.

Phase II
Approved in December 2003 comprises mostly NS-EW Corridor (6,161 km) and other National Highways of 486 km length, the total length being 6,647 km. The total length of Phase II is 6,647 km. Phase-II is targeted for completion by December 2011. 5733 km (80.2 %) of NS-EW corridor is completed till June 2011.

Phase III
It consists of upgradation and 4 laning of 12190 km of National Highways. Construction of 2351 km under NHDP-Phase-III is completed till June 2011. The target for NHDP Phase-III for completion is December 2013.

Phase IV
Under this 20000 km planned to be constructed as 2 – laning with paved shoulders. Out of this, the Government has approved in July, 2008 the proposal upgradation/ strengthening of 5,000 km of single/intermediate/two lane NHs to 2-lane standards with paved shoulders under NHDP Phase-IVA on BOT (Toll) and BOT (Annuity) basis at an estimated cost of Rs. 6,950 crore. So far, 5 projects aggregating to 719 km length has been awarded by NHAI and 1 project of 108 km length has been awarded by Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC). In addition to the above identified list of 5,000 km under NHDP-IVA, about 15,000 km have been identified so far by this Ministry on the basis of recommendations received from various State Governments, NHAI and inter assessment. Phase-IV is targeted for completion by December 2015 as per the financing plan.

Phase V
It comprises six laning of 6,500 km includes 5,700 km of GQ and other (800 km) stretches on Design Build Finance and operation (DBFO) basis. Phase-V is targeted for completion by December 2012. 619 km of six laning is completed under NHDP-Phase-V till June 2011.

Phase VI
The Government has approved construction of 1000 km of Expressway under NHDP Phase-VI at a cost of Rs. 16,680 crore on DBFO basis. NHDP Phase-VI is targeted for completion by December, 2015.

Phase-VII
It includes construction of 700 km of ring roads/bypasses and flyovers and selected stretches. NHDP Phase-VII is targeted for completion by December, 2014.

Port Connectivity
The NHDP inter alia includes port connectivity projects for improvement of roads connecting 12 major Ports in the country. Programme for connectivity to Major Ports was approved in December, 2000 for 393 km (connectivity to Kandla for 56 km on NH-8 was on-going. Hence, total length is 449 km).
The Government under its various phased programmes sanctioned an amount of Rs.1896 crore on 10 major projects in the country for port connectivity. These phased programmes also include one project for four-lane connectivity to the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Cochin at a cost of Rs.557 crore. Similarly, another project on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis, at a cost of Rs.1655 crore, was sanctioned for construction of an elevated road for Chennai Port to Maduravoyal. Most of the major ports in the country were likely to be connected by four lane connectivity projects. Among these projects, the JNPT Phase-I and II, Paradip Port in Odisha and Visakhapatnam project in Andhra Pradesh have been completed. The projects, at the remaining ports, are at various stages of completion. Kolkatta Port connectivity project was dropped since the proposed alignment was passing through defense land which was not made available. Mumbai port connectivity project was also dropped since the proposed alignment was passing through salt pan areas. Therefore, out of 12 major ports 2 (Kolkata and Mumbai) were dropped, on one (Kandla) the work was already in progress and now it has been completed. In the remaining projects the work is either complete or in progress at various stages.
The Government has given top priority to the development of national highways which will facilitate the overall development of road infrastructure and transport sector at a faster rate.

New Initiatives
The Ministry has taken initiatives to develop 6,700 km of single lane/intermediate lane NHs to minimum 2 lane standards on corridor concept keeping in view the targets stipulated in the Eleventh Plan for accelerated efforts to bring NHs network to a minimum of two-lane standard. The program is targeted to be completed by 2014. A length of 3770 km (33 Stretches) is proposed to be funded from a World Bank loan of US $ 2.96 billion and the balance length is proposed to be taken up through budgetary resources. A preparation of DPR for all the 33 stretches is nearing completion. Stretches having length more than 25 km in plain terrain or more than 15 km in hilly/rolling terrain and costing less than Rs 150 crore are being considered for taking up through budgetary provisions.

Road Development in Extremism Affected Areas
The Government has approved approved in February 2009 scheme estimated to cost about Rs. 7,300 crore for development of NHs and State roads in Extremism affected areas. It includes 34 districts in eight States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. Under the scheme, development of identified stretches of NHs (1202 km) and State roads (4363 km) to two lane standards are planned to be taken up in a phased manner. An allocation of Rs. 1,200 crore has been made from GBS under Annual Plan during 2011-12 for this programme. The total additional fund requirement for this programme for the Eleventh Five Year Plan is Rs. 5,376 crore. Sanction has been issued so for 186 works for 4,967 km costing Rs. 6,629 crore. Out of these, 146 works for 3,889 km length costing Rs. 4,827 crore have been awarded.

Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East Region (SARDP-NE): Phase ‘A’ of SARDP-NE approved by the Government envisages improvement of about 4,099 km length of roads (2,041 km NHs and 2,058 km State roads). The SARDP-NE Phase-A is expected to be completed by March, 2015. Phase ‘B’ of SARDP-NE, covering 3,723 km (1,285 km NH and 2,438 km State road), has been approved for DPR preparation only and so far DPRs for about 450 km has been completed. So far, about 742 km length has been completed under SARDP-NE Phase-A till May 2011. It is targeted to complete 270 km roads during 2011-12.
The Arunachal Pradesh Package for Road and Highways involving development of about 2,319 km length of road (1,472 km is NHs & 847 km is State/General Staff/Strategic roads) has also been approved by the Government. Projects on 776 km are to be taken up on BOT (Annuity) mode and the balance 1,543 km is to be developed on EPC basis. The entire Arunachal Package is targeted for completion by June 2016. The status of Projects under this Programme is as follows:
BOT(Annuity) Projects – 2 Projects awarded in 58 km costing Rs. 1,553 crore; tendering for 3rd time completed for remaining 2 projects for balance 718 km & projects are on the verge of award.
EPC Projects –sanctioned 359 km; under tendering 25 km; under process for sanction 118 km; DPRs under preparation for balance 900 km; target for award of all civil works – March, 2012.

Progress of works under Major Projects
In order to make a visible impact, the Ministry has targeted to accomplish construction of National Highways at the pace of 20 km per day keeping in view the requirement to achieve the quantum jump from the current pace of construction. At present works on over 10,500 km is in progress and to achieve the target of completing 20 km per day, works of about 20,000 km should be in progress at any point of time. As on 1/4/2011 works were in progress is about 15,600 km length under NHDP, Spl. Programme for development of roads in extremism affected areas and SARDP-NE including Arunachal Pradesh package. It is being targeted to award works in a total length of about 11,050 km and complete works in about 3,570 km under these programmes. With this, it is being targeted to have works in progress in about 23,079 km length as on 1/4/2012. Thus, it is being targeted to progressively build up the works in progress

G.S TITBITS

2011-08-24T21:34:00.000+05:30

The train services in operation between India and Pakistan are i) Samjhauta Express (from Attari-India to Lahore-Pakistan via Wagah). This route is also opened for the movement of freight trains and ii) Thar Express (from Munabao-India to Zero Point Railway Station near Khokrapar –Pakistan).

Cruise tourism has the potential to attract both domestic as well as foreign tourists in the country.
Initially, five ports namely Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi have been identified for cruise tourism including development of cruise terminal.The Government of India has approved the Cruise Shipping Policy in June 2008. Some salient features of this policy include conducive fiscal regime, development of facilities at Ports and connectivity through rail, road transport, air and metro, quick completion of immigration formalities, hassle free custom clearance and proper waste disposal system ensuring cleaner ocean. An Inter Ministerial Steering Committee with Secretary (Shipping) as Chairman was constituted in June, 2010 to address issues relating to development of cruise shipping. Other steps taken for development of cruise tourism include production of a CD and participation in cruise shipping conventions.

The present installed capacity for generation of power from biomass including paddy husk and bagasse based cogeneration in sugar mills is 1045 MW and 1742 MW respectively. As per the National Biomass Resource Atlas prepared by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore under a project sponsored by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, the estimated power generation capacity from biomass including paddy husk is about 17,536 MW. Besides, a surplus power generation capacity of about 5000 MW through bagasse based cogeneration in sugar mills has been estimated in the country.the installed capacity of a biomass power project varies between 6 MW to 10 MW depending upon the availability of biomass, whereas the installed surplus capacity of a bagasse cogeneration project in a sugar mill varies from 6 MW to 25 MW depending upon their daily cane crushing capacity.the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has been implementing various schemes during the 11th Five Year Plan, to encourage setting up of projects for generation of power from various biomass residues including bagasse and paddy husk for power generation based on combustion/ cogeneration and gasification technologies. Against a target of 1700 MW, a capacity addition of 1645 MW has been achieved which is 96% of the planned target.

The Atomoic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) has established the presence of 1,71,672 tonnes of Uranium (U3O8) as on last month of June. This is a constituent unit of the Department of Atomic Energy Commission. The indigenous Uranium resources are adequate to fuel reactors of the capacity of about 10,000MWe.At present AMD is exploring uranium deposits at Tumallapalle-Rachkuntapalle,Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, Rohil, Sikar district in Rajasthan, Wahkut and Umthungkut in Meghalaya, Gogi, Gulburga district in Karnataka, , Sinridungari –Banadungri and Bangurdih, Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.Out of these deposits,63,269 tonnes of uranium (U3O8) have been established during the XI Plan Period. In Rohil, the Exploratory Drilling done till date has established 5,100 tonnes of uranium (U3O8).In About 19,738 tonnes .4,682 tonnes and 50,987 tonnes of of uranium(U3O8) has been established in Meghalaya , Gogi and Jharkhand respectively. There are number of smaller deposits in Chhattisgarh, UP and Katnataka.

Why is India Suddenly so Angry about Corruption?

2011-08-24T21:24:00.000+05:30

Corruption is not exactly new in India. Quite apart from the extensive historical evidence of its spread, during and after the "mixed economy" period of state planning, the "licence-permit raj" was regularly accused by commentators of breeding graft, constraining economic activity and forcing citizens to be at the mercy of corrupt officialdom at all levels.

So if this is an old problem, why has it suddenly become such a hot political issue? Has Indian society now come of age, as the citizenry demands official transparency and freedom from corruption? This is partly true: the movement for the Right to Information (which culminated in a law) does reflect to some extent the social mobilisation and citizens' awareness necessary in mature democracies.

But this does not explain the recent eruption of either the problem of corruption or the social reaction to it. All indicators suggest that economic illegality, fraud and corrupt practices have ballooned in recent times in India. Increasingly, this is felt as a great betrayal by a populace that had been told that the era of neoliberal economic policies would end vices that were supposedly associated with greater government involvement in economic activity.

Scams and scandals have become a staple of the economic environment. The numbers keep growing, as hundreds of billions of rupees are extracted in various ways: through government spending on mega-projects or big events (such as the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi); through often illegal and inadequately compensated expropriation of land to benefit large private players (for industries and real estate projects); through the gratuitous takeover and handing to favoured parties resources ranging from water and minerals to spectrum (the allocation of which was at the centre of one recent high-profile scam).

One reason for the public anger is that the period of market-oriented reforms has delivered higher aggregate growth but also significantly increased economic inequality and material insecurity for the majority of India's population. As the elites and burgeoning middle classes become more confident, they become more brazen in flaunting their consumption to a population that is generally denied any such access and may even be facing worsening prospects. So the collusion between economic power and political/bureaucratic power that leads to the rapid enrichment of a few is resented even more.

Many recent analyses of such corruption have seen it as a brake on India's growth potential. In fact, however, such graft and the "crony capitalism" associated with it have been an integral part of India's growth trajectory. The last two decades have seen strongly "corporate-led" growth, with huge rises in the ratio of profits and interest to GDP. Much of this is related to what Marx called "primitive accumulation" – the use of extra-economic means to extract resources and surpluses. The Indian state has played a crucial role in this.

The animal spirits of entrepreneurs tend to be unleashed by such avenues of surplus generation, and this contributes to buoyant economic growth. But this is raw, wild west-style economic dynamism – unfettered by adherence to any rule of law that treats all citizens as equal, and reliant on close relations between capital and the state to ensure high levels of surplus extraction.

The extreme dependence of large corporate capital on these relations, and therefore the extent to which they are deeply implicated in the corruption that they openly deplore, is usually missed by observers. Most of the media and even the citizens' movements against corruption add to the obfuscation, by presenting the problem solely in terms of the corrupt behaviour of politicians.

Consider the two protests that are currently exercising the media and the government in Delhi. One of them is led by Anna Hazare, a self-styled Gandhian social worker with some success in water harvesting and other development activities in his village of Ralegan Siddhi, in Maharashtra. He combines personal integrity with a puritanical, and even slightly authoritarian, streak. Hazare went on a fast to demand (eventually conceded by the government) to be part of a panel to draft a bill for a public auditor to monitor the activities of top officials.

Hazare's associates pride themselves on being "apolitical" (as if that itself were a badge of honour), and persist in seeing the problem entirely in terms of the government – politicians and bureaucrats – without noting the connection with corporate power. Their demand for yet another law conveniently ignores the point that the lack of genuine implementation of existing laws is often the most obvious way in which corruption occurs.

Recently, another figure has emerged. Baba "Swami" Ramdev is an entrepreneurial yoga instructor who has built up a significant business empire based on yoga camps, traditional medicines and TV channels. Unlike Hazare, Ramdev openly declares political ambitions and plans to float a political party, and he has a large mass following. Many businessmen and bureaucrats are also impressed with his skills, despite his often socially reactionary views.

The central government behaved in an extraordinary fashion with Ramdev. First, they greatly elevated both him and his demands by sending four senior cabinet ministers to meet him at Delhi airport and whisk him off for private talks. Then – when this did not succeed – within two days they sent riot police to break up his peaceful camp of tens of thousands of followers, injuring women and children.

Such peculiar and often contradictory responses of the central government have been attributed to the possibility that senior figures in the administration and the ruling Congress party are deeply involved in many scandals and is reportedly stashing "black money" in accounts abroad.

But it might be that these strange responses reflect a deeper and genuine dilemma. Perhaps the government knows something that is not yet explicitly recognised in the media: that the Indian growth story has been reliant on corruption, and that reining this in will also rein in the extravagant growth that has become so necessary not just for the survival of the government but for the self-image of the country's elites.

The Urbanisation Challenge

2011-08-24T21:22:00.000+05:30

One of the features of the provisional results of Census 2011 that has already captured a lot of media attention is the apparent increase in urbanisation. At one level, this may not seem to be all that significant, with urban residents going from 27.81 per cent of total population in 2001 to 31.16 per cent in 2011, or an increase of only 3.35 percentage points over a decade. This is not really a very major shift, and certainly a rate of urbanisation of less than one-third of the population is significantly less than in many other developing countries, even those at similar levels of per capita income.

Nevertheless, it has created some excitement, because for the first time since Independence, the decadal increase in the size of the urban population (by 90.99 million people over 2001-11) was greater than that of the rural population (90.47 million). It is not only in the smaller states that urbanisation appears to be proceeding apace. In some larger states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the proportion of urban to total population is already approaching nearly half, while Maharashtra and Gujarat are not too far behind.

This finding has quickly generated reactions in the policy making community. The Planning Commission has already noted that ''addressing the problems posed by the urban transformation that is likely to occur'' is among the four key challenges posed for the next Five Year Plan. (The others are described as those of managing energy and water and of protecting the environment.) Other commentators have talked about the need to put much greater emphasis on urban infrastructure creation and management, and on the need to ensure that the growing cities are ''livable''.

The implicit assumption in much of the discussion seems to be that the expansion of urban population is occurring largely in the bigger towns and cities, as well as the apparently unstoppable metros. But is this supported by the evidence?

Urban population increase reflects the outcome of three separate forces: the natural increase in population within the urban areas; the migration of rural dwellers to urban areas; and the reclassification of settlements from rural to urban. All three have been at work over the past decade. While we still do not have access to the detailed Census data that would allow for the disaggregation, we do know that the last factor is likely to have played a major role, simply because there has been a significant, even remarkable increase in the number of urban conurbations in the latest Census. The number of urban settlements has increased from 5161 in 2001 to 7935 in 2011, an increase of 54% that dwarfs the 32% growth in urban population.

The 2011 Census classifies an area as urban if it fulfils any one of two conditions. Firstly, any area that comes under a corporation, municipality or town panchayat is automatically classified as urban, and is defined as a ''statutory town''. Secondly, a location is considered to be urban if it contains a population of 5,000 or above, has a density of at least 400 persons per square km and 75 per cent of the male work force employed in non-agricultural occupations. It is then defined as a ''Census town''.

Table 1: Urban Settlements in 2011
	Per cent urban population in 2011	Total urban settlements in 2011	Increase in number since 2001
	Per cent urban population in 2011	Total urban settlements in 2011	Statutory towns	Census towns	Total
India	31.16	7935	242	2532	2774
Jammu & Kashmir	27.21	59	0	2	2
Punjab	37.49	217	4	56	60
Uttarakhand	30.55	116	0	30	30
Haryana	34.79	154	-4	52	48
Rajasthan	24.89	297	1	74	75
Uttar Pradesh	22.28	915	10	201	211
Bihar	11.3	199	14	55	69
Assam	14.08	214	8	81	89
West Bengal	31.89	909	6	528	534
Jharkhand	24.05	228	-4	80	76
Orissa	16.68	223	0	85	85
Chhattisgarh	23.24	182	93	-8	85
Madhya Pradesh	27.63	476	25	57	82
Gujarat	42.58	348	27	79	106
Maharashtra	45.23	535	5	152	157
Andhra Pradesh	33.49	353	8	135	143
Karnataka	38.57	347	-6	83	77
Goa	62.17	70	0	26	26
Kerala	47.72	520	-1	362	361
Tamil Nadu	48.45	1097	0	265	265

Table 1 >> Click to Enlarge

As the table shows, one of the significant processes that has been at work in India over the past decade is the very significant increase in ''Census towns'' – that is, those places that are not recognised in a statutory sense as urban areas but fulfil the criteria laid down by the Census. These account for more than 90 per cent of the increase in the total number of urban settlements. In a few states (such as Karnataka, Haryana and Jharkhand) the number of statutory towns has actually fallen, while the number of Census town has increased very sharply. Overall all, the number of Census towns has increased by more than 180 per cent, while there has been more than threefold increase in their numbers in Bihar, Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

It is also likely that a very significant part of the ''urbanisation'' that is being talked about is actually a reflection of this reclassification of settlements, rather than of rural-urban migration per se. This will only be clear when further Census 2011 results are provided, but it is obvious that such a large increase in the number of Census towns must have had a counterpart in the number of people defined as living in urban areas.

This brings into play a set of entirely new issues around the phenomenon of urbanisation, and it is surprising that these have not yet come up in any significant way in the policy discussion. How exactly do we define ''urban''? When villages grow in size and start including a greater proportion of work force engaged in non-agricultural activities, they will increasingly be considered as ''urban'' in this sense, but they will be outside of the administrative and policy framework that is designed to deal with urban areas. And this leads to a huge range of new questions and problems.

In the absence of the institutional framework of a municipality, how are the standard problems relating to urban infrastructure, utilities like electricity and water, sanitation and the provision of other basic services to be dealt with? To what extent has the planning process (and policy making generally) incorporated the needs and requirements of these areas? Indeed, are there any plans at all for such settlements, including the standard plans relating to land use, provision of schools, health care centres, community services and the like? What about spatial provisions like sufficient open spaces, public parks and playgrounds, and avoiding congestion?

It could well be that currently these ''Census towns'' are simply off the radar of most policy makers and implementers, because they do not fall into the statutory definition of urban and are still included in ''rural'' areas for administrative purposes. Yet there are 3,894 such towns according to Census 2011, and they are bound to account for a significant (and possibly growing) part of the urban population as described in the Census. Ignoring the specific needs of these areas and their residents is likely to create many problems in the future.

So this clearly amounts to another major challenge posed by ''urbanisation'', but one that has still barely been recognised in official circles.

It is worth adding to this another feature that has emerged from the other important official dataset that has just been released – the employment and unemployment data of the National Sample Survey round of 2009-10. That reveals that rates of employment generation have slowed down dramatically in both rural and urban areas (though it is not clear whether they have included only statutory urban areas in their definition).

So we have a potentially deadly combination: growing population in small urban areas, with poor or possibly non-existent facilities, no urban planning to speak of to ensure liveable conditions, and inadequate employment generation especially for the increasing numbers of young people that are part of the demographic bulge. The potential for social tensions and conflict as well as instability of various sorts, hardly needs to be reiterated given our unfortunate history with such issues.

In this context, it is surprising that the Planning Commission did not list adequate good quality employment generation as a major challenge for the coming Plan period. Ignoring this very formidable challenge is perilous, because the adverse implications are not long term or even medium term: they are likely to come and bite us only too soon.

Does India Need A Second Green Revolution?

2011-08-21T17:03:00.002+05:30

In his Independence Day speech Manmohan Singh has emphasised on the need for a second green revolution and the Food Security Bill. While making these comments, he has completely ignored the Supreme Court’s proposal to distribute surplus food rotting in the open among the poor

Political observers, who watch the Congress-led ruling coalition’s moves with suspicion, are somewhat alarmed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refrain of launching a second green revolution, as well as the implications of the Food Security Bill. He stressed the need for a second green revolution in his Independence Day speech as well. Baffled commentators have since long been pointing out that before initiating this exercise, which requires enormous investment, policy-makers should try and implement the Supreme Court’s proposal that surplus foodgrains be distributed free or at minimal cost to the poor and hungry, instead of rotting in warehouses or wherever.

It is a national scandal, with the media routinely reporting about sacks of foodgrains being left out in the open, in school rooms, beside roads, anywhere, exposed to the elements and assaults by rodents and pests. If the UPA Government is serious about feeding those who lack food security, it should have heeded the apex court’s suggestion.

Instead, last August Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar had stated that it was not possible to distribute food grains free. But the Government was buying wheat at Rs 16 per kg and selling it for Rs 2 a kg to the poorest of the poor. It is difficult to ascertain whether such wheat is reaching all the targeted people. So far as storage of foodgrains is concerned, a large quantity continues to rot in the absence of proper facilities.

One might have assumed that after the ineptitude of the Food Corporation of India in this matter was exposed, remedial action would immediately have been initiated. That is expecting too much. Last August, seven FCI open godowns in Haryana’s Kalyat, Kaithal district, were found full of mud. More than 10 lakh bags of wheat were reported to be rotting inside. The godowns were private, and had been hired by the FCI with the State Government’s help. The colossal waste was replicated this year, with TV channelHeadlines Today reporting:

“Hundreds of tonnes of wheat and rice are rotting in godowns across the nation — the reason being there is simply no space. So, while paddy sacks are dumped inside classrooms in Andhra Pradesh, wheat is left to rot on the roadside in Kurukshetra and sacks can be seen lining up parking lots of residential areas in the fertile wheat belt of Punjab and Haryana.”

This is a criminal waste. The Prime Minister must explain to the nation why we need a second green revolution when India is said to be self-sufficient in foodgrains. The report estimates that foodgrains production including wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals will go up to a record 235.88 tonnes. The earlier record was 234.47 million tonnes in 2008-09. The report adds that the current storage capacity is 62.8 million tonnes, which is proving inadequate.

There were record rice and wheat stocks of 65.6 million tonnes in godowns in early June. The problem is expected to become worse after the kharif harvest arrives by September-October. Clearly, what ails India is a lack of will to create better storage and ensure that the hungry get access to foodgrains at an affordable rate, even free, during hard times.

Our cattle, too, should be fed the surplus since that would mean better milk yield. Non-dairy cattle can be saved from slaughter houses and deployed to till fields and for providing natural fertilisers, in place of agrochemicals. That is also a cheaper option for farmers, otherwise forced to borrow from banks to buy costly and toxic pesticides and fertilisers. The grain yield would be healthier without chemical residue, with people in southern Punjab reportedly afflicted by a range of cancers, infertility, neurological and other maladies, resulting from sustained use of agrochemicals.

Bumper harvests are negated by letting grain rot or be devoured by pests. The public distribution system, the ubiquitous ration shops of the socialist era, are rife with malpractices, with commodities being diverted to the open market, hoarded and misused. The Supreme Court had ordered enhancing storage facilities. There really would be no need for the food security legislation if the concerned agencies could ensure proper storage and distribution of foodgrains.

Mr Pawar has already voiced reservations about the mammoth cost and burden of the proposed legislation. He is reported to have written to the Prime Minister, suggesting direct cash transfer to target groups, in place of cereals and foodgrains. But such cash transfers are likely to reach the pockets of middlemen, in part or whole, just as essential commodities under the public distribution system are often diverted. Under the Food Security Bill, framed by the National Advisory Council, an extra constitutional body, the state will give 35 kg of foodgrains to each household below poverty line every month at Rs 3 for rice, Rs 2 for wheat, and Rs 1 for millets. General category households will be entitled to 20 kg of foodgrains at half the minimum support price.

The Government will undertake an agricultural survey, like the economic survey, before tabling the Bill. The second green revolution presumably will be launched to fulfil the commitments made in the Bill, with the Government expressing worry about the successive failure to achieve the targeted four per cent growth in agriculture in the last three Five Year Plans.

However, cynics interpret this as a prelude to letting in agro MNCs, with the second green revolution hinging on the latest agrochemicals, patented seeds and genetically engineered inventions, available at great cost. Traditional farming methods, more congenial to health and the economy, would perish.

DOPING IN SPORTS

2011-08-21T17:00:00.000+05:30

These have been athletics’ darkest decades. Evidence of doping, or the use of banned performance-enhancing substances, has been lengthening its shadow on track and field events ever since Canada’s Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympics 100m gold medal almost within hours of breaking the world record at Seoul in 1988. With improvements in diagnostic tests and more proactive investigations, others too have been retrospectively relieved of their titles — most notably American Marion Jones, once hailed as the greatest athlete of her generation, who lost the three gold and two bronze medals she had won at the 2000 Olympics. The prevalence of doping — or the suspicion of it — is so overwhelming that now even those who have cleared tests are viewed with suspicion, and at the great championships sprinters have lost their celebrity status.

The Indian sport establishment cannot affect surprise at the instances of doping that have come to light these past few days, with one after another athlete testing positive for anabolic steroid use. Among them are Ashwini Akkunji, the golden girl of the moment with her medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year, and her colleagues on the celebrated 4x400m relay squad. With the scale of possible offences growing, coach Yuri Ogorodnik and two of his assistants have been sacked. The athletes claim that they did not intentionally consume banned substances, and that it could be that their nutritional supplements had been contaminated. Cases will, as they must, be investigated individually, but the number indicates complicity and callousness at many levels. In fact, suspicions have been rampant not just about widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs, but also about a systemic support for the practice.

Enforcing a zero-tolerance regime of surprise checks is an obvious requirement. But athletes and their support staff also need to be updated constantly on training practices. Just the other day athletics was India’s good news story, a story of aspiration. That it’s changing so fast is sad. It must also serve as an alarm that we can no longer postpone the enforcement of best practices.

Shri Ajay Maken, Union Minister of State ( I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports has outlined various steps to inquire into whole doping episode and curb this menace. At the press conference here today, Shri Maken gave the details of the six point directions issued to the officers of Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) to inquire into doping episode.

In light of the positive dope tests of eight athletes, M/s Mandeep Kaur, SiniJose, Joanna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Tianna Mary Thomas (4*400 m), HariKrishnan (long jump), Sonia (shot put) and Priyanka Panwar ( 400 m) and the ongoing inquiry thereof, it is directed that the Department/ SAI should take note of and focus on the role of the personnel support infrastructure behind these athletes, Shri Maken said.

Shri Maken further stated that while every doping incident involves personaldisgrace , banning and even threats of medals getting withdrawn from the accused athletes; the role of supporting coaches , doctors officials and other needs to be inquired, ascertained and suitably disposed. Accordingly, the Government/SAI should;

Withdraw/ relieve the foreign coach/ coaches attached to these athletes with immediate effect.
Seek a report from Sports Authority of India (SAI) about any vigilance lapses and availability of such drugs/ dope on NIS, Patiala premises. DG, SAI should seek and submit this report within three days.
Immediate provisions be made for changing/ rotating Doping officers frequently.
Seek a report from the Athletics Federation of India ( AFI) regarding the issue.
Examine provisions for increasing the strength of Doctors at NIS, Patiala to at least three, including one Lady Doctor. And,
An inquiry headed by a Retd. High Court Judge or Chairman, Disciplinary hearing Panel of NADA be constituted to look into and establish the reasons leading up to such state of affairs, its effect, prevalence and modus operandi. The inquiry may also suggest concrete measures to ensure that such events/ issues do not emerge in future.

The Sports Minister also gave the details of the various measures announced by the National Anti Dope Agency (NADA) in the last two days to prevent the occurrence of dope in sports. These are

1. Increase in frequency of Dope Test.

2. Tie up with the customs authorities to detect the import of such banned food supplements /drugs.

3. Track movement of drugs in and around the campus area of TrainingCentres.

4. Increase the session of counseling of the players.

5. Greater surveillance of coaches, doctors and support staff through their employers.

6. Conduct frequent searches of room/s of the players, coaches and support staff.

Why Cricket Succeeds In India And Other Sports Don’t

2011-08-21T16:58:00.000+05:30

There's a perennial complaint in India's Olympic sporting circles that cricket has destroyed, or rather harmed, the Olympic sporting fraternity. Sponsors inevitably queue up to pay for the gentleman's game, television broadcasters give cricket a lot more airtime and print media publish cricket news as the lead sports item. These facts, more often than not, are correct.

However, the reasons behind such stepmotherly treatment of Olympic sports have hardly been delved into by the administrators of these disciplines, for these would tend to expose their own deficiencies and amateurish work ethic. A comparison between the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and the forthcoming cricket World Cup 2011 makes clear the fundamental differences in the governance structure of cricket and Olympic sports in India.

In contrast, World Cup merchandise is already on sale in India and elsewhere in the subcontinent. The range is impressive and the sales options easy to manoeuvre. One can buy official merchandise from the International Cricket Council (ICC) website and also from the kyazoonga.com website, official ticketing agents for the World Cup. By allowing Kyazoonga to sell merchandise, the ICC, in a smart marketing move, has enabled customers who buy tickets to also pick up merchandise. Says Neetu Bhatia, co-founder of Kyazoonga, "There's a huge demand for cup tickets and merchandise. While all games in Bangladesh are near sold out, all India games will see packed stands.Such is the demand that phase two of the ticketing in Bangladesh, which opened in early January, was an unprecedented success. For two days, the country came to a standstill with people queuing up for tickets all day and night. Interestingly, only 34% of the tickets were picked up by people from Dhaka and 15% by cricket fans in Chittagong while a whopping 51% of the tickets were bought by fans from across the 62 districts of Bangladesh. In India too, tickets have been available online from June 1, 2010 and matches such as the England-India contest at the Eden Gardens, now under a cloud of controversy, witnessed an unprecedented number of online hits.It is the professionalism associated with cricket, evident also from the way the Eden Gardens and Wankhede under-preparedness issues have been handled and hard measures taken, that explains the tremendous interest in the event across sectors of the Indian economy and society. In the case of Eden Gardens, the BCCI was never in trouble to come up with an alternate venue and the Cricket Association of Bengal was forced to realise that unless it gets the work completed by February 7, it stands to lose all its share of World Cup games. Interestingly, Eden Gardens' iconic status did not pre-empt the ICC or the BCCI from dealing with it professionally.

Unfortunately for the Delhi Commonwealth Games, ticket sales and distribution were a complete mess. While retail outlets had 'all sold' signs, stadiums were never more than half full in the competition's first week. Problems over ticket distribution for the opening and closing ceremonies had also resulted in numerous mini skirmishes at the organising committee headquarters.

The process of contracting cricketers as television experts for the World Cup started in July 2010. Agents seeking to make the most of the opportunity enlisted cricketers from across the world on the promise of getting them lucrative deals from Indian media networks. Barring the stars who will be doing commentary for the host broadcaster, many cricketers have been lured by the opportunity of earning anywhere between $800-1,500 a day, standing to earn anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh from the tournament.

Interest in the World Cup isn't confined to just sponsors and marketers. For the media as well, it is the first big event in 2011, a platform to catch eyeballs and garner high TRPs. Knowing full well that the World Cup will have to be covered from start to finish with the same intensity, most networks have already finalised their line-ups for the extravaganza. And in so doing, they have ensured that even lesser known cricketers end up making huge amounts of money as experts from the six-week gala.

Unlike in the Commonwealth Games where tourist interest had dwindled to minimal due to the disastrous build-up, tour operators from across the world are looking at the World Cup to make a killing. Especially for Indian tour operators and planners, this is being looked upon as their best opportunity to sell packages to NRIs who will inevitably make their way back home to catch the World Cup action.

In the final analysis, then, the World Cup is much more than a cricket competition. It is a battle for TRPs, a platform for rival brands to leverage the opportunity and for marketers to make hay. And all because it is a professionally managed and run event unlike the 2010 Delhi games.

The best way to drum up interest before a mega event is through sale of merchandise. For the Commonwealth Games, a full-scale merchandise programme was never launched. There was no sale of games merchandise at outlets throughout the country, no official agent appointed till the very end and the few samples produced were sold out within minutes of the start of the games on October 3, 2010. The result - a huge revenue earning opportunity lost.