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INSIGHTS CURRENT
EVENTS MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2014
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INSIGHTS
INSIGHTS CURRENT EVENTS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014
FOOD SECURITY::
“To provide for food and nutritional security in
human life cycle approach by ensuring adequate
quantity of quality food at affordable prices to
people to live a life of dignity and for matters
connected therewith.”
The Food Security Act- an initiative to avert
malnutrition
The act enshrines freedom of right to food and
nutrition.
Food security refers to household’s physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious
food that fulfills the dietary needs and food
preferences of that household for living an active
and healthy life. It includes at a minimum
Salient features of the Act-:
NATIONAL & SOCIAL ISSUES
Ready availability of nutritious and safe
foods.
An assured ability to acquire food in socially
acceptable ways.
Definition of food security by WHO.
It defines food security with three
ingredients:Food availability-: it is, having available
sufficient quantities of food in homogenous
way.
Food access-:it is, having sufficient resources
both economic and physical to obtain
nutritious diet.
Food use-: It is the appropriate use based on
knowledge of basic nutrition, care, water and
sanitation.
The fourth ingredient of stability of these
three ingredient has been added up by FAO.
Ensuring the food security continues to be a
challenging issue of vital importance in countries
like India
The National Food Security Act 2013
One of the major initiatives towards providing the
food security to the people of the country,
government’s most ambitious bill recently passed in
Parliament on 10th sep, 2013.
Objective:
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The act promises to cover 67% of population which
covers 75% rural populations and 50% urban
population
The beneficiaries are to be able to purchase 5 kg of
food grains per person per month through Targeted
Public Distribution System (TPDS) at the following
prices
(Rice at Rs 3/kg, Wheat at Rs 2/kg, Coarse
grains(millets) at Rs 1/kg)
In case of any unavailability of entitled quantities of
food grains, the eligible beneficiaries to receive Food
Security Allowances from respective state
government.
Special focus on nutritional support to Women and
Children, Pregnant women and Lactating mothers
by ensuring nutritious meals as per requirement
along with maternity benefit of not less than Rs
6000.
Eldest women not less than 18 yrs of age shall be the
head of the household for the purpose of issue of
ration cards thus promotes women empowerment.
Special focus on women, children and other
destitutes living in starvation.
Challenges on food security implementation:
Reforms in Targeted Public Distribution System:
TPDS in our country needs reform such as
improvement in application of information and
communication technology, Unique identification
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“AADHAAR” should be used properly to identify
targeted beneficiaries to ensure transparency.
The working network of PDS in states like Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and Chattisgarh is of great example to
learn from as PDS working in these states are most
effective. In states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu 95% of
the population is presently covered by the PDS
whereas in Chattisgarh, certain and simple exclusion
from the population has made the proper
identification of targeted beneficiaries possible with
minimum errors of inclusion or exclusion. Same
approach should be adopted by the other states too.
Availability of Resources: The implementation of
Food Security Act will require resources in cash and
kind. It follows then that fiscal allocations will have
to rise if the Act to be implemented properly.
The Economic Survey of India 2013 states that the
food subsidy bill is” putting huge stress on fiscal
side” which has rarely exceeded 1% of the GDP over
three decades as defined by GOI’s budget. Therefore
1 or 2% of GDP is not a high cost to incur to end
malnutrition.
In addition nutritional poverty can be identified
from the results of National Family Health Survey
(NFHS). But unless there is political commitment
backed by financial resources, the Food Security will
not lead to major changes in existing Food Insecurity
in the country.
Since the proposed legislation ensures paradigm shift
from the welfare approach to rights based approach
, the definition of priority or targeted population
needs to be kept flexible. All these can make this
program a flagship programme in the country and
can help to avert hunger and malnutrition.
Report on the Functioning of TPDS
much of the opposition to the recently passed Food
Security Act has been in the background of
inefficient Public Delivery System- as it is, no one
can in principle oppose food security to the poor
in this context, it is important to analyse the entire
PDS system- its processes, challenges, issues and
most importantly the need to reform
Analysis of issues surrounding the TPDS :
Promotion of sustainable agriculture: Provisions have
to be made in terms of production of rice, wheat
and other cereals. Adequate investment will have to
be made in enhancing agricultural production
including in research and extension with special
attention on coarse cereals like Sorghum and millets
which have been termed as nutri-cereals by M.S.
Swaminathan.
Strengthening the local Authorities : It is necessary to
meet the obligation of the Food Security Act and
the role of gram sabha is very crucial in this regard.
The 12th five year Plan has also taken steps to
identify beneficiaries of various schemes specific to
each scheme. The Social And Economic Caste
Census (SECC) is an integral part of this objective.
It has also built provisions of authentication and
validation by the participation of Gram Sabha
which is likely to reduce errors of inclusion and
exclusion.
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1.Procurement of food grains- It is necessary to have
enough grains available for the purpose of
distribution to the entitled
To induce farmers to produce more grains,
government provides for MSP(minimum support
price)
MSPs, though is a great assurance of fair returns to
farmers has its own problems
it has been criticized for having kept prices of the
grains artificially high despite huge production
levels- logically increased production and availability
should lead to decrease in prices
MSP has been blamed to be the cause of preventing
the farmers to respond to the market demand- we
know that the diet pattern of Indians is changing
and shifting towards fruits, vegetables, pulses and
other protein based food products- MSP prevent
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farmers from diversifying to these items-thereby
leading to shortage of these items and a spiralling
high prices- as we know, fruits and vegetables
substantially contributes towards inflation
also, food grains are water intensive crops and MSP
has induced farmers to go grow water intensive
crops like rice in regions which naturally and
traditionally has not been suited for it
E.g. rice cultivation by farmers is Punjab and
Haryana- is said to be the main culprit behind
ground water depletion; additionally, this practice
also leads to soil degradation and poses a risk on the
future of agriculture
the present act requires procurement of around 61
million of food grains- the availability of such huge
quantity is easier in years of increased production
but is under question but in years of domestic
shortage, for varied reasons , the government will
have to rely on large scale imports of grains thereby
leading to significant increase in prices
the recent act thereby raises question on
government ability to procure food grains without
affecting the open market prices and subsidy bill (a
very pertinent point in the context of high fiscal
deficit and recessionary growth of Indian economy)
2.Storage of food grains- FCI(food corporation of
India)is the main agency responsible for storage of
food grains
food grains normally stored in warehouse, silos on in
the open- storage capacity has been insufficient and
FCI hires storage space from centre and sate
warehousing corporations as well as private parties
inadequate and inefficient storage
compromises the quality of food grains
Transportation of food grains to state warehouse is
carried out by the centre while its distribution to
end consumers is taken care by the states. Here, the
problem relate to those of leakages to open markets
errors of inclusion exclusion adulteration of grains
etc.
MECAHNISM TO STRENTHEN TPDS
Role of AADHAR- may help in eliminating
duplication
or
ghost
beneficiaries;
make
identification more accurate
However, 100% enrolment and subsequent
renewal, admission of newborns etc. will depend on
the efficiency of this system
TECHNOLOGY based reforms- this becomes
important in light of the fact that manual recording
of eligibility of beneficiaries is prone to errors and
tampering
Some examples:
Digitalisation of ration cards
This allows for online entry and verification of data
regarding storing of monthly instalments, no. of
dependents, off take of grains from fair price shops
etc.
Computerised allocation to fair price shops(FPS),
declaration of stock balance, web based truck
challan's etc.- this allows for quick and efficient
tracking of transactions
Use of GPS technology to track movement of trucks
from state depots
severely
SMS based monitoring-citizens to receive sms alerts
during dispatch and arrival of TPDS commodities
besides, there is imbalance in availability of storage
capacity across states and whatever space is available
that is not optimally utilised (as reported by CAG)
Web based citizens portal to publicise the grievance
Redressal mechanism
3 .Distribution of food grains- responsibility for
distribution is shared by both centre and the state.
The above mentioned mechanisms are already in
operation in different states and hence can easily be
emulated across the country to make PDS efficient
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Alternatives to PDS
Universal PDS- here errors of identification and
inclusion exclusion can be eliminated completely;
Tamil Nadu has an efficient universal PDS; Cash
transfers
This helps in reducing administrative costs and
allows for efficient, quick and leak proof
mechanism- however has been strongly opposed by
food rights activists on certain grounds such as:
The fact that cash can be used for other things;
Women and children are disadvantaged as the head
of the family is usually the men who get to decide
on the area where cash is to be spent;
100% financial inclusion is yet to be achieved
Cash transfers
fluctuations
do
not
guard
against
price
Food coupons-food coupons could be bought in lieu
of money which could be used to buy food grains
from any grocery store.
This has certain advantages such as - Freedom of
citizens to choose where it wants to buy grains from
-increases incentive for competitive pricing and
assures the quality of food grains the disadvantage is
that it is gain not indexed to inflation.
Seven States/UTs Get Allocations Under National
Food Security Act
• With the implementation of National Food
Security Act in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh also, the
National Food Security Act has taken off now in
seven states/ UTs- Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal
Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh .
• The Government of India has made foodgrain
allocations to these States/UTs as per requirements
projected by them for the implementation of the
Act. Uttrakhand and Chandigarh are also expected
to
join
this
group
soon.
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• The people as identified beneficiaries by the
State Governments will now get foodgrains at highly
subsidized prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat
and coarse grains. Each beneficiary will get five Kg.
foodgrain
per
month.
• However, existing entitlement of Antyodaya
Anna Yojana (AAY) households’ which is 35 kg. of
per household per month will be protected, since
AAY
constitute
poorest
of
the
poor.
• With the implementation of the Act now
pregnant women and lactating mothers and children
in the age group of 6 months to 14 years will be
entitled to meals as per prescribed nutritional norms
under Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal (MDM) schemes.
• Higher nutritional norms have been prescribed
for malnourished children upto 6 years of age.
•
Beside this pregnant women and lactating
mothers will also be entitled to receive maternity
benefit
of
not
less
than
Rs.
6,000.
• The Act will also give significant contribution in
the women empowerment in the country with its
provision of declaring eldest woman of the
household of age 18 years or above as the head of
the household for the purpose of issuing of ration
cards.
• The Government has notified the National Food
Security Act, 2013 on September10, 2013 to further
strengthen the efforts to address the food security of
the
people.
• The Act provides for coverage of upto 75% of
the rural population and upto 50% of the urban
population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under
Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus
covering about two-thirds of the population.
•
The Act also has a special focus on the
nutritional support to women and children.
ENERGY SECURITY::
Power Grid in India
Electric Power is the biggest power in the world,
without it no power like political power, economic
power or technological power, could not work.
Electric Power acts as blood of economy, with the
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growing size of economy, power consumption is
also increased and same situation is with India at
present.
49.5 Hz to 50.2 Hz is the permissible band for grid
operations in India. It is supposed that a bigger grid
is more stable than smaller ones.
India is one the power hunger country, so to deal
with it, India has started power reform. So in this
article we will discussing various issues regarding the
power in India under various headings.
Grids collapse due to two basic reasons. One is the
failure of the equipment, like it happened a decade
ago in 2002 when the northern grid collapsed, due to
fog/pollution. The second trigger is power suppliers
drawing excessive power from the grid. Which
results in the balance of power generation and
supply goes haywire with a cascading effect. This is
probably the reason why the grid failed this time.
Power Grid and its failure reason:
The power grid refers to generating stations which
are connected through an interconnected network
of transmission lines and substations. These
generating stations supply power through these
transmission lines. The companies responsible for
distribution take the power coming through these
lines and forward it to the consumers.
The stability of the grids depends on a delicate
equilibrium of demand-supply chain. The amount of
load is directly proportional to the amount of power
generated. When the equilibrium between power
generated and consumed gets disturbed and the load
becomes more, it leads to tripping of the line. It is
duty of the power distributors to maintain the
equilibrium intact so that not trigger a grid failure.
A power grid consists of three sections –
stations which produce electricity from fuel (fossil
or non-combustible),
There are various reasons why an excessive
withdrawal
of
power
happens.
Weather
phenomenon and change in sudden climate is one
reason. Most of them cannot be controlled
physically but can be minimized by keeping a close
check.
There is a penalty clause: ‘Unscheduled Interchange’
rate – whenever the discoms draws more than
necessary power, the UI rate goes up as a penalty.
Northern states of India, like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
Haryana and Jammu Kashmir, have been found to
be habitual violators. The UI penalty has – as is
evident – not been able to deter the violators.
Presence of heavy industries and fast growing cities
has necessitated the need for more power. But the
production has not been able to cope up with the
required distribution.
Power Grids Status in India:
the transmission lines which carry the power to the
substations from the plants and
lastly the transformers which keep a check on the
voltage.
A schedule is declared by the generating plants for
injection of power to the grid operators. Similarly a
schedule is also drawn by the distribution stations
according to which they are supposed to draw
power and distribute it further.
The stability of a grid is determined by keeping a
check on the demand and supply, as per the drawn
schedule. According to the Indian Electricity Code,
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So to avoid such grid failures and in case of grid
failure, for recovering the situation single national
grid would be helping India. India has five electricity
regional grids – Northern, Eastern, North Eastern,
Southern and Western. All of them are now got
inter- connected.
Advantages with the National Grid (One nation-one
grid)—
It will be a synchronous grid so it will augment
inter-regional power transfer capacity of the states
in the south.
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It will also relieve the congestion in some
transmission corridors.
It will solve frequency problems of Tamil Nadu and
also would help in getting sufficient power in
shortage case.
Besides these advantages, now complexity of the
grid management has been increased. So there is
high need to use efficient tools to manage it so that
total blackout like in 2012 in northern India could be
avoided. This need to enforce discipline amount the
states in drawing power from the grid.
One nation one grid is a step toward reforming
power sector in India. Presently power sector is
having huge problem in the distribution side. So
there is need of reducing of distribution leakages in
the power sector in India. This could be solved by
SMART GRID.
A smart grid is modernized electrical grid which
with the help of ICT technology keeps track of
power consumption and distribution in automated
fashion. This will help in increasing the efficiency
and reliability.
Besides this major success in integrating the grids,
India still need reforms in generation, transmission
and distribution. This could be achieved by
increasing competition and having a political will.
Courtesy
http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/power-gridfailure-how-does-it-happen_3584.html
–
http://www.powergridindia.com/_layouts/PowerGri
d/User/ContentPage.aspx?PId=78&LangID=english
CHILD WELFARE::
(Year End Review of Ministry of Women and Child
Development)
CHILD
WELFARE:
LEGISLATIVE
PROGRAMMATIC MEASURES
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AND
Legislative Measures:
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,
2012:
Model Guidelines under the POSCO Act, 2012 were
issued by the Ministry on 18th September, 2013
under Section 39 of the POSCO Act. State
governments are required to make guidelines for the
use of professionals to assist the child in pre-trial
and trial stage. On request made by several state
governments, the MWCD prepared model
guidelines through consultations. Five Regional
conferences on Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, 2012 were held from July to
September, 2013 to spread awareness on the Act.
The conferences covered all States/UTs. The
participants including officers from Women Child
Department, Health Department, Education
Departments, SCPCRs, State Judicial Academy,
Police Academy, CWC members and officers of
Prosecution Administrative Academy.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006:
Government of India has brought in a more
progressive Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
that includes punitive measures against those who
perform, permit and promote child marriage. This
Act came into effect in November, 2007.As per
Section 16(1) of the Act, the State Government
shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint
for the whole State, or such part thereof as may be
specified in that Notification, an officer or officers
to be known as Child Marriage Prohibition Officers
(CMPO) having jurisdiction over the area or areas
specified in the notification. Under Section 19(1) the
State Government may, by Notification in the
Official Gazette, make Rules for carrying out the
provisions of this Act. The Ministry of Women and
Child Development has been pursuing with the
State Governments for appointment of CMPOs and
Notification of Rules. As per information received
from States/UTs, so far, 20 States and 5 UTs have
framed Rules and20 States and 6 UTs have
appointed Child Marriage Prohibition Officers
(CMPOs).The draft Plan is under finalization.
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Programmatic Measures:
Open Shelters for children in need of care and
protection in Urban and Semi Urban Areas;
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
Scheme
The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
Scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the
Government of India and represents one of the
world’s largest and unique programmes for early
childhood care and development. It is the foremost
symbol of country’s commitment to its children and
nursing mothers, as a response to the challenge of
providing pre-school non-formal education on one
hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition,
morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality
on the other. The beneficiaries under the Scheme
are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant
women and lactating mothers.
Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)
Family Based Non-Institutional Care
Sponsorship, Foster Care and Adoptions.
through
Scheme for the Welfare of Working Children in
Need of Care and Protection
The scheme is being implemented since January,
2005 with the objective of providing non-formal
education, vocational training etc. To working
children to facilitate their entry/re-entry into
mainstream education in cases where they have
either not attended any learning system or where,
for some reason, their education has been
discontinued, with a view to prevent their future
exploitation.
Sabla- ‘Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of
Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)
Ministry of Women and Child Development is
implementing this comprehensive Centrally
Sponsored Scheme since 2009-10 through the State
Government/UT Administrations on predefined
cost sharing financial pattern. The objectives of the
Scheme are to contribute to the improvement in the
well being of children in difficult circumstances, as
well as reduction of vulnerabilities to situation and
actions that leads to abuse, neglect, exploitation,
abandonment and separation of children from
parent.
ICPS provides preventive, statutory care and
rehabilitation services to children who are in need of
care and protection and children in conflict with law
as defined under the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and its
Amendment Act, 2006 and any other vulnerable
child. It provides financial support to State
Governments/UT Administrations for running
services for children either themselves or through
suitable NGOs. These services include
The ‘Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of
Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)–‘Sabla’, a Centrallysponsored scheme introduced in the year 2010-11 on
a pilot basis. Sabla aims at all-round development of
adolescent girls of 11-18 years(with a focus on out of
school girls) and is being implemented in 205
districts from all the States/UTs.
The
scheme
has
two
major
components: Nutrition and Non
Nutrition
Component. While the nutrition component aims at
improving the health & nutrition status of the
adolescent girls the non-nutrition component
addresses the developmental needs including IFA
supplementation, health check-up & referral
services, nutrition & health education, ARSH
counseling /guidance on family welfare, life skill
education, guidance on accessing public services and
vocational training (only 16-18 year old adolescent
girls).
Homes of various types for children;
National Youth Policy
Emergency Outreach services through Childline;
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Government of India is in the process of introducing
a new national youth policy with the vision of
empowering the youth of the country to achieve
their full potential. The new youth policy focuses
on:
WATER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY was set up
to carry out technical studies to examine the
feasibility of 30 links= 14 Himalayan + 16
peninsular.
Issues hindering the projects:
Developing the youth into a productive work force,
by providing them the right to education and skills
and promoting entrepreneurship.
(1)practicability and necessity
(2)hydrological and technical feasibility
Developing a strong and healthy generation through
effective healthcare and promotion of a healthy
lifestyle and sports.
(3)rehabilitation and resettlement
(4)general environmental concerns
Promoting social values and spirit of community
service.
Effectively engaging with the youth and facilitating
their participation in government process.
(5)cost and benefit analysis
(6)lack of clear vision from government
Benefit from the projects:
Inclusive policies to take care of disadvantaged
sections of youth and the youth with special needs.
The government of India through the proposed new
national youth policy also intends to promote ‘social
entrepreneurship’ as an attractive employment
proposition. This would facilitate setting up of social
ventures in India by the overseas Indians.
In India, 27.5% of the population belong to the 15-29
year age group while 41.3% are in the 13-35 years age
group.
By the year 2020, the population of India is
expected to have a median age of 28 years only as
against 38 years for US, 42 years for china and 48
years for Japan; making India one of the youngest
nations in the world.
availability of water to drought-prone regions
relief to areas routinely ravaged by floods
Rational approach:
(1)while environmental concerns deserve the utmost
consideration, interlinking should not be served
down merely because of the vague and unscientific
feeling that it constitutes an interference with
Mother Nature.
(2)consider projects on individual meritfactoring in the cost and time for implementation
River interlinking projects
Recently government defer a decision on
interlinking the Ken-Betwa rivers,the first of 30 such
projects.
The idea of interlinking river projects first initiated
in 1972 as a ‘garland canal’ with the Ganga-Cauvery
as its central component. In 1982, NATIONAL
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(1)transfer of water from surplus basins to deficit
basins-serves two purpose-
extent of land to be submerged
logistics for resettlement
evolving mechanism for dispute settlement between
the ‘receiving’ and ‘donating’ river States.
Conclusion:
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(1)concept is not new- diversion of river waters has
taken place since Mesopotamian times.
(2)in India, the Periyar-Vaigai link,the KurnoolCuddapah canal and the Beas-Sutlej projects have all
involved inter-basin transfers.
(3)abroad, Colorado-Big Thomson
successful .
Handloom Reservation Act, had recommended the
modifications in definition of handloom as
“handloom means any loom, other than powerloom;
and includes any hybrid loom on which at least one
process for weaving requires manual intervention or
human energy for production”.
projects are
Supreme court orders states to probe all acquittals
(4)Supreme Court- in 2002 and 2012- directed the
implementation of river-interlinking projects in a
time-bound manner.
(5)Come again to Ken-Betwa project-
Far reaching implications for law enforcement and
the criminal justice system
Every criminal case with accused being acquitted
will have to be examined by state governments to
ascertain whether there were any lapses by police
and the prosecution or if accused were deliberately
framed
one of priority peninsular link
detailed project report has been completed
tripartite memorandum has been signed between
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the Centre.
Status Quo in the Definition Of Handloom Under
Handloom Reservation Act
6 months time has been given to state governments
to put in place a mechanism to examine all acquittal
orders and record reasons for failure of prosecution
cases. It also suggested a standing committee of
seniors officers of police and prosecution
departments be vested with aforesaid authority and
penal action for erring officers
The apprehension of a change in definition of
‘handloom’ has triggered speculation and insecurity
amongst a section of weavers and handloom
activities.
Also ordered governments to evolve a concrete
procedure so that only those against whom
sufficient evidence if available shall undergo rigors
of criminal prosecution
It has given a mistaken impression on handloom
activists that Government has taken a decision to
allow the introduction of automatic machines to
replace handlooms and that the Government
intends to change the definition of ‘handlooms to
include such mechanized looms’.
An acquittal means either police or prosecution
failed to secure justice for the victims or the accused
has been framed
In this regard, it is clarified that no change is
contemplated by Ministry of Textiles, in definition
of ‘handloom’, which has been defined as “any loom
other than powerloom” under the Handlooms
(Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985.
Realistic tiered timelines to grant forest clearances
depending on requirement of forest land and
Explanation by state governments in case of delay
along with appropriate action against the responsible
officials.
To improve the productivity and reduce the manual
labour on loom, the Advisory Committee on
More relaxed and shorter forest clearance procedure
for exploratory/prospecting projects. Earlier these
project has opposition from with in Union cabinet.
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MoEF set to notify new Forest conservation rules
2013 replacing 2003 rules
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projects through entire forest clearance procedure as
full-fledged mining projects
societies, apex societies and other handloom
organizations.
Under new rules the total timeline including at
central and state levels is 140 days for diversion of
forest land up to 5ha and it goes up to 300days for
projects involving forest land diversion more than
100ha
Nirbheek, India’s first gun for women, launched
CPM opposed these rules saying that the MoEF is
trying to circumvent Forest Rights Act and give all
powers to bureaucracy as against gram sabhas with
regard to settlement of rights involved in projects
that require diversions of forest land
India’s first gun for women, Nirbheek was launched
on 9 January 2014.
It is a tribute to the gang rape victim of December
2012, Nirbhaya.
Gun has been manufactured by the Indian Ordnance
Factory, Kanpur.
CCEA approved renaming of Mill Gate Price
Scheme as Yarn Supply Scheme
It is a 0.32 bore light weight revolver which has been
developed to give more power to women to defend
themselves.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) approved the renaming of Mill Gate Price
Scheme (MGPS) as Yarn Supply Scheme (YPS).
It only weighs 500 grams and is made of titanium
alloy. Besides, being the lightest revolver, Nirbheek
is also the smallest revolver made in India.
The CCEA also approved the continuation of the
MGPS with the new name in the 12th Five Year
Plan (2012-17) and allowed 10 percent subsidy
component with modifications.
For it simple mechanism and light frame it has been
described by arms experts as an Indian hybrid of a
Webley & Scott and Smith & Wesson.
The Scheme has been allotted an outlay of 443 crore
rupees in the 12th Plan.Under the Scheme, the target
for the 12th Plan is to supply 3506 lakh kg yarn
worth of 4364 crore rupees.
Besides, the Scheme aims to provide the services to
identified beneficiaries. 23 lakh handloom units have
been identified as beneficiaries.
The Scheme provides subsidized yarn to the underprivileged weavers and vulnerable groups so that
they can compete with the powerloom and mill
sector.
Mill Gate Price Scheme (MGPS): The MGPS was
launched in 1992 by the National Handloom
Development Corporation under the Union
Ministry of Textiles. The Scheme is to make yarn
available to handloom weavers at mill gate price by
reimbursing transportation charges to depot
operating agencies, primary weavers cooperative
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SC directed Centre to appoint a National Regulator
to oversee implementation of Forest Policy
The Supreme Court of India directed the
Government of India to appoint a national regulator
to oversee the implementation of forest policy. The
court rejected the contention that there is no need
for such a body.
The Supreme Court Bench of three judges, which
was headed by A K Patnaik and comprised justices
SS Nijjar and FMI Kalifulla, while hearing a PIL, also
ordered the Centre to file an affidavit on
compliance of its order by 31 March 2014.
The bench also observed that directing the
implementation of the national regulator is must as
the present system under the central government
was deficient.
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The bench of the Court in its order said to the
Union of India to appoint a regulator with its offices
in as many states as possible.
The judgment was passed after rejecting the plea of
the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)
that there is no need to need to appoint such a
regulator to oversee the implementation of forest
policy.
In its order the Court made it clear that the
regulator will see the implementation of the Forest
Policy of 1988, while the clearances will be made
under the Forest Act by the MoEF only.
the New Exploration Licensing Policy for the
potential investors. Might be possible that the
development of the formula will help in
development of the new fields, which were missed
out by the companies that doesn’t know about the
revenue can be generated from the gas fields. Effects
of the formula on prices of other materials:
This formula will lead to raise the subsidy on
fertilize and will enormously raise the costs of the
power plants fired with gas. The fertilizer and
power firms lobbying exercise failed to be in effect
with the raise of the domestic gas prices.
DISABILITIES
The national regulator will deal directly the
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification
of 2006 for every project.
Government notified new natural Gas Pricing
Formula
The Government of India notified the new natural
gas pricing formulae, which will be in effect from 1
April 2014.
As per the newly issued notification, the rate of all
domestically produced fuel will be almost doubled
to 8.2 to 8.4 dollar per unit.
The notification of the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Ministry said that the prices of the gas will be the
average price of liquid gas imports into India and
benchmark global gas rates.
This formula will be in applicable for the next five
years from the date of its being into effect. The rates
will be changed every quarter on the basis of the 12
month average of global rates and LNG import
price.
This formula will be applied to all gas produced by
both the public sector firms like ONGC and the
private companies.
The formula was announced during the Petrotech
Conference, where the government interacts with
the industry leaders and markets the next round of
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According to Census 2011, the number of disabled
in India amount to 2.21 percent of population that is
26.8 million. Disability activists opine the count is
grossly underestimated as no. of disabled in a
country on an average roughly amount to 5-6
percent of the population.
India has ratified the UN Convention on Rights of
Persons with Disabilities. It requires the nations
which are party to the treaty, to provide an enabling
atmosphere so that disabled enjoy the status as full
and equal members of the society with human
rights. It enjoins the states to provide disabled
friendly voting machines for their right to vote, to
promote good standards of living through access to
poverty reduction programs, with right to health,
education and work without discrimination based
on disability. It prohibits compulsory sterilization of
disabled persons and their right to adopt children. It
is also gender sensitive.
All the four disability-specific legislations i.e. The
Mental Health Act 1987, Rehabilitation Council of
India Act 1992, Persons with Disability (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act 1995 and the National Trust Act
1999 — would have to be harmonized with the
letter and spirit of the UNCRPD after India ratified
it.
The most marginalized and vulnerable sections of
the population has been excluded out of the
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millennium development goals agenda till 2015. The
disability activists are pressing for an inclusion in
post 2015 development agenda. Full inclusion of the
disabled in the mainstream of the nation necessitates
absence or removal of physical barriers to them.
Disability is not only a Human Rights issue, it is a
Developmental issue as well.
Disabilities directly impinge on the poverty. They
often go together. Families with Disabled persons in
a household will lead of loss of income from the
caretaker. Girls with disabilities are more prone to
sexual abuse and are forced sterilization in hospitals
are they are assumed incapable of maintaining
menstrual hygiene. They were not medically
necessitated. Also parents of mentally disabled
fearful of rape, sexual abuse or unwanted pregnancy
consider hysterectomy as a solution. They are not
considered fit to assume the traditional familial roles
and they are conditioned to being dependent on
someone unable to take care of themselves, which
in turn makes them more vulnerable. Disability
activists press for Gender sensitive disability law.
There is a need to recognize the reproductive rights
of the disabled.
Children with Disabilities aren’t even guaranteed an
admission in the school despite the legal provisions
in the Right to Education Act. They are considered a
part of the disadvantaged where the Act necessitates
mandatory 25 percent reservation in private and
public schools. The elders with disabilities cannot
lead a life of dignity in the absence of a supportive
social security system. Many are not aware of the
govt. programs for the disabled. Many in India resign
their disabilities to their fate/karma.
Mentally Disabled are even more vulnerable. They
figure out at the bottom of hierarchy in the
disability category. They are not even entitled to the
reservations in govt. services that physically disabled
enjoy. They do not enjoy the Right to Vote that a
billion other people in India enjoy. A person who is
mentally unsound and stands so declared by court
isn’t entitled the right to vote according to the
Representation of People Act 1951. Mental
unsoundness also limits a person from marriage and
family according to our marriage laws.
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A disabled person in developed nations might have
far better opportunities than for a normal person in
India. It is lack of the opportunities to lead a life of
dignity that disempowers them. The effects of
disabilities is negated by the presence of an enabling
societal atmosphere. It is the Universal access and
education that empowers them. It is the society that
disables them, that denies them the physical access
to the workplaces, public places etc. due to lack of
enabling environment. It is lack of equal
opportunities that they are treated as liability, but
indeed they are an asset to the nation if provided
enabling atmosphere.
Failings of the PWD Act :
The PWD Act 1995 is the principal legal instrument
concerning the limited rights available to persons
with disabilities and the obligations of the State.
This is not a rights based legislation. The Act fails to
impose mandatory obligations on the appropriate
government and leaves the realization of
opportunities to the discretion of the various state
governments.
The implementation of provisions pertaining to
non-discrimination and physical access depends on
the state government’s “limits of economic capacity
and development”. This absolves the state govt. of
any responsibility.
The Act is not appreciative of Gender concerns of
reproductive rights. It does not prescribe
punishment for forced abortions or sterilization
The PWD Act does not internalize any of the core
principles of the Disability Convention, which is
Disabled persons are right holders and that they are
not merely passive recipients of govt. scheme.
The rights the disabled enjoy according to the
convention are the Rights of Women and Children
with Disability to full and equal enjoyment of
human rights, right to privacy, reproductive rights,
right to family, health care, prohibition of
discrimination on grounds of disability in
employment, political rights of right to vote and
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contest etc. which are not taken care adequately in
the Act
The Disabilities according to the Act is narrowly
defined and includes only blindness, low vision,
leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, locomotor
disability, mental retardation and mental illness. As
opposed to this, the Disability avoids listing specific
conditions and severities and broadly casts “persons
with disabilities” to “include those who have longterm physical, mental, intellectual or sensory
impairments which in interaction with various
barriers may hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with
others.”
No penal provisions for the non-implementation of
the law resulting in inaction by govt. in ensuring a
disabled friendly schools, hospitals, public transport,
pedestrian pathways etc.
Highlights of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Bill that overrides the Persons with Disabilities
(Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act of 1995
It raises the reservation to the Disabled in the Govt.
jobs from 3 to 5 percent
Every person with disability who fulfils eligibility
requirements is entitled to be registered as a voter.
He/she should not be disqualified from exercising
the voting right on the grounds of disability,
irrespective of any stipulation to the contrary in any
law for the time being in force.
Provides incentives/disincentives to the Private
sector for presence/absence of employing persons
with disability less than 5 percent. An employer can
deduct from his taxable income, an amount equal to
the salary of the disabled employees above the 5 per
cent or add to the taxable income salary of the
disabled employees falling short of the 5 percent
requirement
Any person who is unable to vote in person due to
disability or because of admission to hospital for
treatment is entitled to opt for postal ballot. It
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requires the Election Commission to ensure that all
polling stations are accessible to persons with
disabilities.
Recognizes the right to fertility to the mentally
unsound women making the bill take into account
the gender concerns
Prescribes punishment for forced abortions or
hysterectomy
The latest Supreme Court judgment for disabled in
the State, Central govt. and Public Sector
Undertakings has scrapped the different basis for
reservations across the Group A, B, C and D posts
and held that 3 percent reservation to be notified
across all the Groups. The ruling also held that
reservation be calculated on the total number of
vacancies in the cadre strength rather than only the
vacancies in the “identified” posts fit for the
disabled. This ensures that whoever is capable for a
job can try and qualify for it and is not denied
opportunity for a particular job on the grounds of
disability.
Prevention of communal and targeted violence
(access to Justice and reparations) bill, 2011 and
subsequent amendments
WHY DO WE NEED A SPECIFIC LAW FOR
PREVENTING COMMUNAL VIOLENCE?
Long history of communal violence:
Communal violence has wracked India for decades.
Partition of the subcontinent in 1947 was
accompanied by horrific violence between Hindus
and Sikhs on the one hand and Muslims on the
other, leaving a million dead and over 10 times that
number homeless.
Since independence, there have been countless
instances of communal violence. In the 2005-09
periods alone, 648 people were killed and 11,278
injured in 4,030 such incidents, according to the PRS
Legislative Research website. Communal clashes
during this period peaked in 2008 with 943 cases
being reported that year.
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Some of the worst communal pogroms have
occurred in the past three decades.
1984 Anti Sikh riots:
In 1984, following the assassination of prime
minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards,
mobs led by politicians from the ruling party incited
and organized the burning and looting of property
and killing of Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of
North India. Around 3,000 Sikhs were killed. The
government did nothing to halt the violence for at
least three days.
1992 Hindu- Muslim riots following demolition of
Babri Masjid:
When the Babri Masjid, a famous mosque in
Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu nationalists in
December 1992, riots broke out in various parts of
the country. Mumbai suffered the worst with
around 900 people killed, about 575 of them
Muslims.
2002 Gujarat riots:
help and refuse to register cases filed by victims. If
communal violence occurs and is not controlled
immediately it is because the police and local
authorities refuse to do their duty impartially.
In majority cases of Communal violence seldom
have the guilty been brought to justice. According
to Harvinder Singh Phoolka, a senior Supreme Court
advocate who has been fighting for justice on behalf
of victims of the 1984 riots, “Out of 2,733 officially
admitted murders [in the anti-Sikh violence of
1984], only nine cases led to convictions.” Twentyseven years since the pogrom, just over 20 of the
accused have been convicted – a conviction rate of
less than 1%.
Therefore it is imperative to have such a legislation
which hold government executive responsible.
Inadequate relief and reparation:
Another incontrovertible truth is that rarely victims
have received the relief they are entitled to or
whatever they have received is insufficient
compared to loss of lives, property etc.
A decade later, Gujarat convulsed with communal
violence when mobs led by ministers and politicians
of the state’s ruling Party and its fraternal
organizations attacked Muslims and destroyed their
property. Government did little to stop the
violence.
Communal clashes are different from Ordinary Law
and Order problem
In fact, police were reportedly instructed at a
meeting that they allow Hindus to “vent their anger”
against Muslims over an “attack” on a train, the
Sabarmati Express, which was set alight a few days
earlier, resulting in the death of around 59
passengers, mainly Hindu.
Whatever the immediate trigger for communal
clashes, they are engineered and sustained by
chauvinist and anti-social elements in both the
majority and minority communities.
The communal riots in Gopalgarh, Dhule and
Muzaffarnagar are the recent examples.
Given that larger public sentiments are involved,
Communal clashes are starkly different from
ordinary law and order disturbances.
Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice
and Reparations) Bill 2011, seeks to address some of
the problems associated with communal violence in
India, and put in place an institutional mechanism for
redress.
Institutional Bias:
In some instances of communal violence,
Institutional bias against minorities and oppressed
sections has been shown up. Police ignore calls for
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SOME IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE
BILL:
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It describes “Communal and targeted violence” act
that includes any act or series of acts, whether
spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm
to the person and or property, knowingly directed
against any person by virtue of his or her
membership of any group which destroys secure
fabric of nation. Such acts include sexual assault,
hate propaganda, torture and organized communal
violence.
The bill provides for the right to relief, reparation,
restitution and compensation not only to not only
to religious and linguistic minorities, Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes but also to nonminorities and non-Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes affected by communal and targeted violence.
The bill creates a National Authority for Communal
Harmony, Justice, and Reparation, charged with
preventing acts of communal violence and
monitoring investigations into incidents. The law
also makes it obligatory that at least four of the
seven member posts in the National Authority for
Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation belong
to a minority community.
It gives Centre to unilateral power to deploy forces
during the incidents of communal violence if the
Centre feels State has failed in its duty.
It also covers the punishment of officials (10 years
imprisonment
for
breach
of
command
responsibility) who fail to discharge their duties in
an unbiased manner during outbreaks of such
violence and it also holds their superior accountable.
WHY HAS IT MET WITH OPPOSITION?
CONTROVERSIAL PROVISIONS AND THEIR
SUBSEQUENT
AMENDMENTS,
REVISED
DRAFT, 2013:
According to a key definition on the people who are
presumably the focus of targeted violence, “group”
means a religious or linguistic minority, in any state
in the Union of India, or Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST)….” This provision of bill
was criticized widely by some political parties. They
objected to the way it set the defaults in favour of
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religious and linguistic minorities, its prior assigning
of victimhood and agency. They are arguing why
violence against the majority community should not
be considered communal. However, after much hue
and cry, this provision was amended and has now
been made neutral between all groups or
communities.
Earlier, the centre was given unilateral powers to
send Central paramilitary forces during the outbreak
of communal violence without consulting the state
government. Given that law and order is state
subject, States were seeing this provision as
encroachment on jurisdiction of States and claimed
that it endangers federal structure of country. After
much opposition, the powers of intervention of the
Centre in the event of riots have also been diluted
in the revised bill as a result of which the Union
government will not have any perceived overriding
powers anywhere. The fresh draft says, “if the state
government is of the opinion that assistance of the
Central government is required for controlling the
communal violence, it may seek the assistance of
the Central government to deploy armed forces of
the Union for such purposes…”
3.
An earlier draft of the bill had irked secular
sections as well. It had defined communal violence
as that which has destroyed India’s secular fabric.
This prompted criticism that the bill raised the bar
for violence to be regarded as communal too high
rendering it meaningless. After all it is arguable
whether any incident of communal violence has
actually destroyed India’s secular fabric. In the
revised draft the term “India’s secular fabric” has
dropped.
Some has pointed out that many of the provisions
are worded vaguely, open to wide subjective
interpretation, and hence misuse.
Instead of a sharp focus on communal violence, the
bill proposes to target “hate propaganda” too.
Thus, anyone who disseminates any information
“that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate
an intention to promote or incite hatred” could
attract the penal provisions of this law. In the
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absence of specific phrasing, there is scope for
misuse by subordinate law enforcers.
Significantly, a large section of minorities is also
averse to legislation of this kind, which will facilitate
fundamentalist forces to whip up frenzy against
them. Their cynicism also stems from the fact that,
despite an exemplary Constitution and a plethora of
stringent laws, there has been no let-up in
communal riots. They believe that rigorous
implementation of the existing laws is needed, not a
new law.
The new draft of the bill has scrapped the proposed
national authority and entrusted the functions of
overseeing communal harmony to the NHRC. Some
people are also arguing that How would such a
toothless recommendatory body contribute to
ensuring justice and communal harmony? Also it
will out huge burden on the already burdened
NHRC.
Many of the bill’s clauses tread the same ground as
the Indian Penal Code. There is already an array of
laws on inciting hatred, spreading propaganda, and
duties are clearly laid out for the police and
administration. Many sections are arguing that what
would it add new?
While there is no denying that India needs special
legislation to deal with communal violence, but is it
is equally important that the bill is redrafted to
ensure a sharper focus on the specific issues of
prevention of communal violence and reparation.
Questions from Secure 2014
1.How does the proposed Prevention of Communal
Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill
proposes to deal with communal violence in the
country? Why is there controversy regarding the
bill? Do you think objections raised against the bill
are justified? Comment. (200 Words), 5/12/2013
2.The Prevention of Communal and Targeted
Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill,
2011 was opposed by several states on several
grounds. Why did many states oppose the bill? Do
you think legislation is a right approach to prevent
communal
clashes?
Comment.(200
Words),17/12/2013
The constitution (120th amendment) bill, 2013, and
the judicial appointments commission bill, 2013
APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES TO
SUPREME COURT- PRESENT SYSTEM
THE
Some are also opposing the timing of introduction
of bill just before the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
They are claiming that govt. is trying to woo
minorities.
Constitutional provision:
Conclusion:
“every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be
appointed by the President by warrant under his
hand and seal after consultation with such of the
Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High
Courts in the States as the President may deem
necessary for the purpose and shall hold office until
he attains the age of sixty-five years:
The proposed bill ignores the deep pathological
distrust and incomprehension that today appears to
separate the Hindu and Muslim communities. A
legal solution cannot solve the distrust and
incomprehension between two communities.
For now the major thrust of Government should be
on rigorous implementation of existing laws, better
policing and administrative precautions. The
Government should also think of ways to promote
fraternity among communities, which is the need of
the hour.
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Article 124(2): Clause (2) of Article 124 inter
alia says that:
Provided that in the case of appointment of a Judge
other than the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of
India shall always be consulted.”
Under our constitutional scheme, the President is
the constitutional head. In exercise of the powers
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vested in him by the Constitution, he acts upon the
aid and advice of Union Council of Ministers. So far
as the executive power of the Union is concerned, it
is exercised by the Union Council of Ministers in
the name of the President.
Clause (2) of Article 124 speaks of ‘consultation’,
whether it be with the Chief Justice of India, Judges
of the Supreme Court or with the Judges of the
High Court. The expression is not “concurrence”.
Practice followed till 1981: A practice had developed
over the last several decades according to which the
Chief Justice of India initiated the proposal, very
often in consultation with his senior colleagues and
his recommendation was considered by the
President (in the sense explained hereinabove) and,
if agreed to, the appointment was made. By and
large, this was the position till 1981.
Collegium of judges: In a decision rendered by a
seven-judge Constitution Bench in S.P. Gupta vs.
Union of India, the majority held that ‘consultation’
does not mean ‘concurrence’ and ruled further that
the concept of primacy of the Chief Justice of India
is not really to be found in the Constitution. It was
held that proposal for appointment to High Court
can emanate from any of the four constitutional
functionaries (President, Chief Justice of India, the
Governor of the State, the chief Justice of the High
court) mentioned in Article 217 – and not
necessarily from the Chief Justice of the High
Court. This decision had the effect of unsettling the
balance till then obtaining between the executive
and judiciary in the matter of appointment. The
balance tilted in favour of the executive. Not only
the office of the Chief Justice of India got
diminished in importance, the role of judiciary as a
whole in the matter of appointments became less
and less. After this judgment, certain appointments
were made by the Executive over-ruling the advice
of the Chief Justice of India. Naturally, this state of
affairs developed its own backlash.
Advocates-on-Record Association Vs. Union of
India case
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In 1993, a nine-Judge Constitution Bench of the
Supreme Court in Supreme Court Advocates-onRecord Association Vs. Union of India over-ruled
the decision in S.P.Gupta.
The nine-Judge Bench (with majority of seven) not
only overruled S.P. Gupta’s case but also devised a
specific procedure for appointment of Judges of the
Supreme Court in the interest of “protecting the
integrity and guarding the independence of the
judiciary.”
For the same reason, the primacy of the Chief
Justice of India was held to be essential. It held that
the recommendation in that behalf should be made
by the Chief Justice of India in consultation with his
two senior-most colleagues and that such
recommendation should normally be given effect to
by the executive.
In short, the power of appointment passed into the
hands of judiciary and the role of the executive
became merely formal. The 1993 decision was
reaffirmed in 1998 in a unanimous opinion rendered
by a nine-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court on a
reference being made by the President under Article
143 of the Constitution. All the basic conclusions of
the majority in the 1993 decision were
reaffirmed. There was, however, some variation. It
was held that the recommendation should be made
by the Chief Justice of India and his four seniormost colleagues (instead of the Chief Justice of
India and his two senior-most colleagues) and
further that Judges of the Supreme Court hailing
from the High Court to which the proposed name
comes from must also be consulted. In fact, the
Chief Justice of India and his four senior-most
colleagues are now generally referred to as the
‘Collegium’ for the purpose of appointment of
Judges to the Supreme Court.
THE CONSTITUTION (120TH AMENDMENT)
BILL,
2013,
AND
THE
JUDICIAL
APPOINTMENTS COMMISSION BILL, 2013
The former CJIs M.N. Venkatachaliah and the late
J.S. Verma; the retired Supreme Court judge, Justice
Ravindaran, and Professor Madan Gopal expressed
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concern over the appointments made to the High
Courts under the present collegium system in
which, they said, lobbying was rampant and the
most eligible were often ignored. They strongly
advocated the setting up of a JAC to select eligible
and meritorious candidates as High Court judges
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013,
seeks to reform the appointment of High Court and
Supreme Court judges by establishing a Judicial
Appointments Commission (JAC). Simultaneously,
a constitutional amendment providing for the
recommendation of the JAC for appointment of
judges to the government is proposed to be made by
the Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill, 2013.
The proposed Bill provides for the constitution of
the Judicial Appointments Commission, comprising
of —(a) the Chief Justice of India, an ex officio
Chairperson; (b) two other Judges of the Supreme
Court next to the Chief Justice of India in seniority
as ex officio Members; (c) the Union Minister in
charge of Law and Justice as ex officio Member; and
(d) two eminent persons, to be nominated by the
collegium consisting of the Prime Minister, the
Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition
in the House of the People, as members.
The JAC would recommend to the government
persons for appointment to the offices of Chief
Justice of India, judges of the SC, chief justices of
the high court and other judges of the high court.
The proposed Bill would enable equal participation
of Judiciary and Executive, make the system of
appointments more accountable, and thereby
increase the confidence of the public in the
institutions.
Modeled on the U.K. Judicial Appointment
Commission- Why?
The proposed JAC in India is modeled on the U.K.
Judicial Appointment Commission. The U.K. JAC,
in contrast, expressly excludes politicians and those
connected with politics from being part of the JAC.
This is done in order to secure the independence of
the judiciary.
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There are several models to choose from. But
seeking a broader collegium on the lines of the
United Kingdom Model needs a serious exploration.
The appointments procedure in the United States is
far too politicised: it requires politicians to both
nominate and approve appointments. The intense
political manoeuvering in the U.S. system has
created a phenomenon “where judges rarely oppose
outcomes that are philosophically in accordance
with the party which nominated and confirmed
them.”
In Germany, the U.S. system of political
partisanship is whittled down by the requirement of
a two-thirds majority for the approval of a
candidate.
Therefore, the candidate must necessarily be
acceptable to divergent political segments and hence
the chances of political partisanship are eliminated
to a great extent.
South Africa’s Judicial Services Commission is
highly politicised. With 15 politicians and eight
lawyers, it has the ingredients necessary for the
erosion of judicial independence.
The JAC of the U.K. has a clear edge to secure the
independence of the judiciary as its composition is
dominated by non-politicians.
There are also serious defects in the proposed
legislation.
1) The JAC has the Chief Justice of India and two
senior most judges. Then there is the Law
Minister and two “eminent persons,” bringing the
non-judicial component to three out of six
members.
The selection of eminent persons risks the taint of
political appointments, given the fact that the
selection is made by the Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition constituting a total of two,
and reducing the judicial component consisting of
the Chief Justice to one.
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2) The constitutional amendment bill, which
provides the constitutional support for the JAC
bill, does not incorporate the composition of the
JAC.
The composition of the JAC has to be entrenched
in the Constitution itself; otherwise it could be
subject to changes by any ordinary law by the
government of the day. This is also the view of the
standing committee.
3) The JAC is vested with the power to recommend
persons for appointment of the Chief Justice of
India — which means the rule of seniority has been
given the go-by.
Every eligible senior judge will now face a direct
threat to being superseded from being appointed as
Chief Justice.
To seek the opinion of the government and the
Chief Minister of the State in the appointment
process again raises the risks of political
appointments — which in turn jeopardizes
independence.
Under the JAC bill, the JAC has been entrusted
with the formidable task of not only appointing 31
SC judges, but over 800 judges in 24 high courts.
To be effective, such a commission has to be a fulltime institution.
It is impossible for it to operate part-time with exofficio judges of the SC, who have full-time court
work, and the law minister, who has other duties, in
charge.
In the UK, the judicial appointments commission
has 15 commissioners and is a permanent institution
working day-to -day with a large secretariat to
support it
Under the JAC bill, the JAC would have the
onerous task of appointing SC judges as well as the
high court.
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As the criteria for selection for SC judges is different
from that of high court judges, and considering the
importance of SC judges, there should be a separate
commission for appointments to the SC, as in the
UK.
A serious lacuna in the bill is that the selection of
judges is to be determined by regulations made by
the commission to “shortlist” candidates.
There is no indication of how candidates will be
shortlisted and by whom.
In the absence of definite objective criteria, the
short listing could be highly subjective and even
arbitrary. This has also been noted by the standing
committee in its report.
The standing committee has suggested public
notifications be issued inviting applications for
appointment to the post of judges of the high court,
as is the practice in the UK. However, this is
unlikely to work well in India.
Advertising for a judicial post is likely to deter wellqualified candidates from accepting appointments
because they will be apprehensive of the impact a
rejected application could have on their reputation.
In the UK, next to the consideration of merit for
appointment as a judge, the JAC considers diversity
of appointments with respect to appointment of
women and judges from different communities.
This is an important consideration, which is absent
from the JAC bill. The bill only requires the JAC to
recommend persons of “ability, integrity and
standing in the legal profession”, with no regard to
diversity.
Responding to the criticism, the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Law and Justice has
recommended that the structure and functions of
the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) —
which will replace the present collegium system —
be mentioned in the Constitution itself so as to
protect the basic structure of the Constitution.
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The committee suggested that there should be three
eminent persons in the commission, instead of only
two as provided for in the Bill. At least one of the
three
members
should
be
from
SC/ST/OBC/women/minority, preferably by
rotation.
It has also suggested the government to consider the
feasibility and practicability of creation of a Statelevel commission so as to reduce the JAC’s
responsibility to select 800-odd judges of 24 High
Courts
The committee wants the government to
incorporate amendments in the Bill as suggested by
it.
Conclusion:
The JAC opens up the selection process, giving the
executive, legislature and citizens greater say
while maintaining the primacy of the judiciary. It
balances diverse interests, making it difficult for
any one group to railroad its preferences. But to
be a truly worthwhile improvement, the JAC
should also lay out clear criteria for the shortlist and
for final selection. Given the magnitude of its
responsibility, it should also have the infrastructure
and ability to seek full information about
prospective judges, including public feedback
Forest STs to get additional 50 days wage
employment under MGNREGA .
The Union Ministry of Rural Development decided
to provide an additional wage employment of 50
days beyond the stipulated 100 days under Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,
MGNREGA for Scheduled Tribe (ST) households
in forest areas.
This means that the ST households in forest areas
will receive the wages of 150 days.
As per the Rural Development Minister those
tribals who have received the land rights under the
Forest Rights Act 2006 will be eligible for the
additional benefit.
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The additional man-day payment through
MGNREGA also allows the households to
undertake work on their land.
Under the Forest Rights Act 2006, about 14 lakh
individuals and community titles were distributed
and of them about 8 lakh titles as individuals were
given in Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattishgarh and
Andhra Pradesh.
The Forest Rights Act has been included under the
Indira Awaas Yojana for assistance.
Battle against sexual harassment at the work place
still continues
It was in a village in Bassi and some NGOs in Jaipur
and Delhi, 21 years ago, that the battle against sexual
harassment at the workplace began. The case of the
government aid worker who was raped and fought
back with the help of the NGO, however, has
travelled a long way since.
Historic Jugdement of SC in Vishakha and others
Vs State of Rajasthan and others
Bhanwari Devi was a village-level social worker
employed as a Saathin under the Women’s
Development Project (WDP) run by the
Government of Rajasthan since 1985. In 1992, as
part of the organizations work, Bhanwari Devi, with
assistance from the local administration, tried to
stop the marriage of influential village man’s infant
daughter. However, the marriage went ahead and
she was subjected to social boycott. The influential
Gurjar community felt that the police interference
in their affairs must have been a consequence of
Bhanwari’s report to the police.
To get revenge on Bhanwari Devi, Five men of the
Gurjar community raped her while she was at her
workplace. Despite discriminatory and derogatory
behaviour by police and doctors, determined to get
justice, she lodged a complaint against the accused.
However, in the absence of adequate evidence, the
accused was acquitted by a trial court.
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Many social organisation and women activist took
up Bhanwari Devi’s fight for justice. Realising that
Bhanwari’s ordeal stemmed from the work she did
as part of a government initiative, women’s rights
activists decided to take up her case as an example
for the need to protect working women from sexual
harassment. Finally, together, they filed a PIL in the
Supreme Court under Vishakha and Others Vs
State of Rajasthan and Others.
action by complaining with the appropriate
authority.
In August 1997, the apex court took cognisance of
the case and delivered the historic Vishakha
guidelines that held that sexual harassment of
women at the workplace, which is against their
dignity, is violative of Articles 14, 15 (1) and 21 of
the Constitution. Sexual harassment, in other
words, was held as a violation of fundamental
rights.
THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT
WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION
AND REDRESSAL) ACT 2013
The Supreme Court observed, “The immediate
cause for the filing of this writ petition is an incident
of alleged brutal gang rape of a social worker in a
village of Rajasthan… The incident reveals the
hazards to which a working woman may be exposed
and the depravity to which sexual harassment can
degenerate; and the urgency for safeguards by an
alternative mechanism in the absence of legislative
measures.”
The guidelines were named Vishakha, on the
Jaipur-based NGO who have petitioned with other
four women’s activist group.
Vishakha guidelines, 1997
Sexual harassment includes such unwelcome
sexually determined behaviour as physical contact
and advances; a demand or request for sexual favors;
sexually colored remarks; showing pornography; any
other unwelcome physical, verbal or non- verbal
conduct of sexual nature.
Sexual harassment as defined at the work place
should be notified, published and circulated.
Where such conduct amounts to a specific offence
under law, the employer should initiate appropriate
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Victims of sexual harassment should have the
option to seek transfer of the perpetrator or their
own transfer.
An appropriate mechanism should be created for
redressal of the complaint.
It took the government 17 years to pass the law
against sexual harassment in the workplace earlier
this year, in the wake of the Delhi gang rape last
December, when the Supreme Court had in 1997
laid down the Vishaka guidelines on the matter.
The Act includes many provisions of the Vishakha
guidelines, which first called for the formulation of
“a code of conduct for work place”. Building on the
Vishakha guidelines, the Act calls for the formation
of an internal complaints committee and a local
complaints committee at the district level.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at
their place of work in a much wider sense.
The Bill was first introduced by women and child
development minister Krishna Tirath in 2007 and
approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2010. It
was tabled in the Lok Sabha in December 2010 and
referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee
on Human Resources Development. The
committee’s report was published on 30 November
2011. In May 2012, the Union Cabinet approved an
amendment to include domestic workers. The
amended Bill was finally passed by the Lok Sabha on
3 September 2012 The Bill was passed by the Rajya
Sabha(the upper house of the Indian Parliament) on
26 February 2013. It received the assent of the
President of India on April, 2013 and finally came
into force on December 9, 2013.
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Some important provisions of the Act:
The Act defines sexual harassment at the work
place and creates a mechanism for redressal of
complaints. It also provides safeguards against false
or malicious charges.
The definition of “aggrieved woman”, who will get
protection under the Act is extremely wide to cover
all women, irrespective of her age or employment
status, whether in the organized or unorganized
sectors, public or private and covers clients,
customers and domestic workers as well.
While the “workplace” in the Vishaka Guidelines is
confined to the traditional office set-up where there
is a clear employer-employee relationship, the Act
goes much further to include organisations,
department, office, branch unit etc. in the public
and private sector, organized and unorganized,
hospitals, nursing homes, educational institutions,
sports institutes, stadiums, sports complex and any
place visited by the employee during the course of
employment including the transportation.
Every employer is required to constitute an Internal
Complaints Committee at each office or branch
with 10 or more employees. The District Officer is
required to constitute a Local Complaints
Committee at each district, and if required at the
block level.
The Committee is required to complete the inquiry
within a time period of 90 days. On completion of
the inquiry, the report will be sent to the employer
or the District Officer, as the case may be, they are
mandated to take action on the report within 60
days.
The Complaints Committees have the powers of
civil courts for gathering evidence.
The Complaints Committees are required to
provide for conciliation before initiating an inquiry,
if requested by the complainant.
Penalties have been prescribed for employers. Noncompliance with the provisions of the Act shall be
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punishable with a fine of up to 50,000. Repeated
violations may lead to higher penalties and
cancellation of licence or registration to conduct
business.
Has anything changed?
It has been 21 years when Supreme Court had first
delivered the historical Vishakha guidelines. What
has changed over the years and can be called our
biggest achievement is that the victim is believed
and the case is taken forward on the premise that
her word is the truth, unlike 21 years ago when
Bhanwari’s biggest battle was to prove she was not
lying. Today victims are heard and prominent
actions are being taken on the complaint.
Twenty-one years later, the Vishakha guidelines
springing from Bhanwari’s case are now at the centre
of two high-profile incidents (Tarun Tejpal and
Retired Justice Ganguly case) which have renewed
focus on sexual harassment at the workplace in
India.
Vishaka envisaged that women might finally go to
work with the legitimate expectation that their
workplace would be free of any of the overt or
implied sexual harms— that women would be
accepted as colleagues and equals.
And that the responsibility for ensuring that women
no longer have to dodge the offensive sexual
proclivities of colleagues and superiors would lie
with the employer or those in positions of
responsibility.
Sixteen years later, those projecting themselves as
the custodians of such basic and fundamental
expectations, be it a Tehelka, the Supreme Court
of India or even the state, have barely, if at all,
complied with Vishaka.
Had they done so, the law intern and the journalist
would have entered a workplace that prioritized the
prevention of workplace sexual harassment,
encouraged its employees or members to speak up
about it and cultivated an environment supportive
of their claims.
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They would have been equipped with language that
understood sexual harassment as a violation of
constitutional equality at work and hailed leadership
that promptly condemned sexually inappropriate
behaviour (irrespective of the offender’s status).
As a last resort, they would have had access to a
trained, skilled and capable complaints committee,
with third party expertise, to hear their complaint
empathetically and through an informed lens. They
got none of this.
In the absence of any institutional compliance, both
women were subjected to ad hoc responses based
on systemic sexist assumptions.
Summoned before a panel of judges, seven
meetings and three affidavits later, the law intern
described the experience as “being looked at with
suspicious eyes”.
As for the journalist, she made her complaint to the
managing editor, a proclaimed feminist, only to find
the language of her sexual violation publicly diluted
into an “untoward incident”, as a covert means to
“protect the institution”.
The most challenging adversary to changing
women’s experiences of sexual harassment in the
workplace is not the actual offender, it’s the noncompliant institution.
In its failure to educate its own, to inform and stake
itself on building a culture intolerant of sexual
harassment, such an institution plays the same role
as the passive bystander, who fosters hostile sexual
environments by simply doing nothing.
Two persevering and articulate women, with
everything to lose, and little to gain, remind us of
one thing — doing nothing, which perpetuates a
sexist status quo, need no longer be our systemic
truth. It need not be the way things are.
That both incidents came to light at all is due solely
to the remarkable clarity and confident expression
with which each documented her experience of
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workplace sexual harassment by men in positions of
power.
National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) (will
be rolled out across the country in the coming
months.)
The NULM is actually an improved version of the
earlier poverty alleviation programme for the urban
poor titled Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana
(SJSRY) which was found to be wanting for a
variety of reasons.
Having identified the problem areas in the
implementation of the SJSRY and recognising the
need to address the needs of the growing population
flocking to cities in search of a better livelihood, the
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
(HUPA) re structured the old scheme and unveiled
it in its new avatar as the NULM.
It has also expanded the beneficiaries of urban poor
to include the homeless and street vendors who are
invariably ignored in government programmes.
A special provision has been made for the funding
of all-weather 24/7 shelters with all essential
facilities for the urban homeless. In addition, up to
five per cent of the NULM budget has been
earmarked to provide support to urban street
vendors which will include skill up gradation and
development of vendor markets.
Under the improved programme urban poor,
especially women, will be organized into self-help
groups (SHGs), while infrastructure and trained
manpower will be provided to upgrade their skills
in keeping with the requirements of the market. In
addition, beneficiaries will be helped to secure loans
if anybody wants to set up his or her own
enterprise.
This will be first time that women in cities will be
organised into thrift and credit-based SHGs to meet
their financial and social needs. This is the main
emphasis in NULM. The concept has been
borrowed from the rural areas where this
experiment has proved to be extremely successful.
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SHGs are typically small groups of 10-20 women
who are bound by a common agenda. Not only are
these groups an effective mechanism to improve the
livelihood of its members but they are also found to
be an excellent support system for the women and
increases their levels of confidence and self-esteem.
There are innumerable studies from rural areas
which also show how involvement of women in
SHGs has empowered them to play an active role in
community matters like provision of adequate
drinking water facilities and children’s education.
Although municipal committees have been
identified as nodal bodies for the implementation of
NULM, they have been provided special funding to
hire technical experts and also to draft civil society
groups in the management of the programme since
the local bodies do not have the expertise to do so.
These professionals will mobilise the women into
SHGs and encourage them to develop a corpus
through their savings which can be used by a
member for a personal need or for setting up a small
business. In addition, the women will be helped to
open bank accounts so that they have access to
credit. A provision of Rs. 10,000 has been made for
the formation and activities of each SHG for the
initial two years.
Now, he said, individuals and groups can get
financial assistance under the mission’s SelfEmployment Programme (SEP) at a subsidized
interest rate to set up their own micro-enterprises.
In addition, beneficiaries can also avail credit for
other activities like carrying out repairs to their
house or funding a child’s education through their
SHG’s.
Being uneducated and having no skills, the urban
poor are particularly vulnerable as they are forced to
work as maids, cooks, guards or in sweat shops
where they toil in poor working conditions, often
being denied minimum wages. The framers of the
NULM have decided to give them an opportunity
to learn new skills so that they can command a
better salary or set up self-employed ventures.
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Since it is a critical component of the mission, 50
per cent of the budget is to be spent on the training
of 2.8 million urban poor in the current five year
plan. While training institutions will be set up for
this purpose, the skill training providers will also
place them in remunerative jobs and keep tabs on
them for the first six months to guard against any
exploitation.
“The skills imparted can range from retail to nursing,
depending on what the market requires and on
completion of the programme, each person will be
given a certificate.
The NULM is indeed an ambitious programme as
nobody has, so far, focused on improving the
livelihood of the urban poor. If implemented well, it
could have a far-reaching and visible impact on the
lives of those eking out a living in the slums of the
country’s urban centres.
India registered an increase of five years in life
expectancy rate
India registered an increase of five years in the
average life expectancy rate. The average life
expectancy rate increased from 63.9 years in 2004 to
69.6 years in 2014.
The increase in the life expectancy was the result of
consistent investments in public health sector by the
government.
Life expectancy is defined as the average number of
years a person born in a given country would live if
mortality rates at each age were to remain constant
in the future.
As per the census of 2011, the life expectancy in
India was 65.48 years as compared to the global
average life expectancy of 67.88 years.
Japan, Switzerland, San Marino are the countries
with highest average life expectancy of 83 years.
On the other hand, poor countries of Africa like
Somalia, Lesotho have an average life expectancy of
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50 years with Sierra Leone having the least life
expectancy at 47 years.
The beneficiaries can avail treatment in 160
hospitals, including 14 hospitals outside the State.
Although India has improved its performance but it
still has a life expectancy rate which is relatively
very low in South Asia.
The scheme will cover cardiovascular diseases,
cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy and
radiotherapy), neurological diseases, renal diseases,
burns, poly-trauma cases not covered by motor
vehicle insurance and neo-natal cases.
For instance, Bhutan has the life expectancy of
65.79 years while Pakistan has managed to improve
its overall Life expectancy to 67 years.
The cost of Universal Health Coverage is estimated
to be 120 crore rupees annually.
China’s life expectancy rate is 72.90 years,
Bangladesh has life expectancy of 70 years and Sri
Lanka has life expectancy of 75 years.
Among the BRICS countries also India fares badly.
For instance, Brazil’s life expectancy rate stands at 74
years, Russia’s life expectancy is 69 years and South
Africa has a poor life expectancy of 58 years.
Karnataka first State to provide Universal Health
Coverage
Karnataka became the first State in India to provide
Universal Health Coverage to its population.
It achieved the distinction with the launch of Rajiv
ArogyaYojana. The Scheme entails the beneficiary
to pay only 10 percent of the cost of treatment or
procedures. It aims at providing subsidized
healthcare to virtually every citizen in the State
with Above Poverty Line (APL) card.
The BPL families are already covered under health
scheme through Vajpayee ArogyaSree programme.
Under the scheme, APL family members are
entitled for health check up to 1.5 lakh rupees per
annum.
In special cases, if the expenditure exceeds 1.5 lakh
rupees, the government grants another 50000
rupees.
The scheme covers 447 procedures and 50 follow-up
packages.
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Basic Features of the Narcotic
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
Drugs
and
The Act is designed to fulfill India’s treaty
obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs, Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and
United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
The NDPS Act 1985 sets out the statutory
framework for drug law enforcement in India. The
main elements of the control regime mandated by
the Act are as follows:
The
cultivation,
production,
manufacture,
possession,
sale,
purchase,
transportation,
warehousing, consumption, inter-State movement,
transshipment and import and export of narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances is prohibited,
except for medical or scientific purposes and in
accordance with the terms and conditions of any
license, permit or authorization given by the
Government.
The Central Government is empowered to regulate
the cultivation, production, manufacture, import,
export, sale, consumption, use etc of narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances.
State Governments are empowered to permit and
regulate possession and inter-State movement of
opium, poppy straw, the manufacture of medicinal
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opium and the cultivation of cannabis excluding
hashish. (Section 10).
All persons in India are prohibited from engaging in
or controlling any trade whereby narcotic drugs or
psychotropic substances are obtained outside India
and supplied to any person outside India except
with the previous authorisation of the Central
Government and subject to such conditions as may
be imposed by the Central Government.
The Central Government is empowered to declare
any substance, based on an assessment of its likely
use in the manufacture of narcotics drugs and
psychotropic substances as a controlled substance.
Assets derived from drugs trafficking are liable to
forfeiture
Both the Central Government and State
Governments are empowered to appoint officers for
the purposes of the Act. Narcotics Control Bureau
was set up by the Central Government in 1986 with
the broad remit to coordinate drug law enforcement
nationally.
The NDPS Act is in effect a comprehensive code
not only for the control and regulation of Narcotics
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances; but also for the
control of selected chemicals – commonly known as
precursors – which can be used in the illicit
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances, as well as for the investigation and
forfeiture of drug related assets.
ENFORCEMENT
Given India’s size and the federal nature of our
polity, a number of agencies both at the Centre and
in the States have been empowered to enforce the
provisions of the Act.
These agencies include the
Department of Customs and Central Excise,
the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence,
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the Central Bureau of Narcotics and
the Central Bureau of Investigation at the Central
level and
State Police and Excise Departments at the State
level.
The Union Ministries of Social Justice and
Empowerment and Health are responsible for the
demand reduction aspects of drug law enforcement
which broadly covers health-care and the deaddiction, rehabilitation and social reintegration of
addicts.
Section 4(3) of the Act envisages the creation of a
Central Authority to coordinate the activities of the
various Central and State agencies involved in drug
law enforcement, to implement India’s obligations
under various international conventions, and to
coordinate with international organizations and
authorities in foreign countries in the prevention
and suppression of the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances.
In terms of this provision, the Narcotics Control
Bureau was set up by the Central Government in
1986 with the broad remit to coordinate drug law
enforcement nationally.
The empowerment of a large number of agencies
under the NDPS Act ensures that India’s drug laws
are enforced effectively on the ground. The NCB
basically functions as the national coordinator
international liaison and as the nodal point for the
collection and for dissemination of intelligence. This
system assures coordinated implementation within
the parameters of a broad national strategy.
INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURES
The act empowers officers duly authorized by the
Central Government or a State Government to issue
warrants, to enter and search premises, to stop and
search conveyances, to seize narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances, to take statements and to
arrest persons suspected of having committed an
offence, punishable under the Act.
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LICIT OPIUM CULTIVATION
Criticism
India is the largest licit producer of opium in the
world, which is both exported as well as used by the
domestic pharmaceutical industry. The licit
cultivation of opium in India is regulated and
controlled by the Narcotics Commissioner of India
in terms of the provisions of Sections 8, 9 and 5 of
the NDPS Act. The Central Government announces
an opium policy each year which sets out the terms
and conditions subject to which licenses for the
cultivation of opium shall be given, the areas where
cultivation shall be allowed, the prices at which the
opium crop shall be purchased by the Government
and the minimum qualifying yield for a license in
the ensuing crop year. The crop cycle runs from
October to May. Based on this policy, the Narcotics
Commissioner of India issues licenses to individual
cultivators for specified tracts of land. The key
elements of the licit opium control regime in India
are as follows:
The NDPS Act has been criticized for clubbing
marijuana, hashish and bhang with hard drugs like
heroin, cocaine and crack.
Opium can be cultivated only on fields specifically
licensed for the purpose.
ii) The entire crop must be tendered to the Central
Government at prices fixed by the Government.
iii) Failure to tender the minimum qualifying yield
can disentitle the cultivator to a license in the
following crop season.
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
Offences can be tried by Special Courts and the
punishments prescribed range from imprisonment
from 10 to 20 years for first offences to 15 to 30
years for any subsequent offences together with
monetary fines. The Act was amended in May 1989
to mandate the death penalty for second offences
relating to contraventions involving more than
certain quantities of specified narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances.
The Act, however, makes a distinction between
possession for personal consumption and trafficking,
the punishment for the former being limited to
between six months and one year only.
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Source: http://narcoticsindia.nic.in/NDPSACT.htm
Elderly in India
The demographic transition from the young to the
aged is happening faster than anticipated. Fertility
rate in the India is decreasing and for the first time
in census 2011, the population in the age category of
less than six years declined by a little over 5 million
between 2001 and 2011. By 2050, India will be home
to one out of every six of the world’s older persons,
and only China will have a larger number of elderly
people, according to estimates released by the
United Nations Population Fund. This shall soon
result in too few hands supporting many elderly, the
problem which should concern the policy makers in
India. With the feminization of the elderly and
many of elderly below the poverty line (30 percent),
the concerns stand compounded. The ‘elderly’ or
‘senior citizen’ is a person aged 60 and above
according to the Maintenance and Welfare of
Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and National
Policy for Older Persons 1999.
As the roots of joint family system are eroding in
India, the elderly are more vulnerable now. Analysis
of two rounds of the National Family and Health
Survey shows that the proportion of elderly living
alone or with their spouse only jumped from 9 per
cent to 19 per cent in just over a decade. This is
because number of migrations due to employment
for men and marriage for women are on the rise.
After the enactment of the Maintenance and
Welfare of the Senior Citizens and Parents 2007
Act, it had become not only moral responsibility but
also legal responsibility for children/ relatives to
take care of their parents/ senior citizens. The Act
provides the senior citizens to claim monthly
maintenance from their children/relatives by
Maintenance tribunal. It also enables the state in
taking care of them by way of constructing old age
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homes and others. The Act is to be implemented by
the State govt.
cases. To treat the elderly requires good
understanding of Geriatrics which only few private
colleges and govt. colleges are offering an MD.
The critiques of the Act include
It is the responsibility of the State to provide health
care and assistance to the elderly, as is noted in the
Article 41 of Directive Principles of State Policy.
The state is absolving of the above said
responsibility which is also seen, in the “may”
construct old age homes etc. which is not
mandatory.
In India, the Pension system is almost non- existent.
The formal pension system covers only few,
whereas more than 90 percent of the workforce are
in informal sector and aren’t covered under the
formal pension system. There is a need for Universal
Old Age Pension in India. The social security system
in India fares worst even when compared some of
the developing countries with low per capita
income.
It is doubtful if parents who are suffering shall take
their children to the maintenance tribunals due to
the social factors involved.
Negatives of the Pension System in India
The act doesn’t apply to those parents who do not
have children, or those who do not have property.
Being arbitrarily based on BPL criteria. ( IGNOAPS)
Not universal
Based on contributions from the beneficiaries (NPS)
Elderly are a heterogeneous section. They are less
vulnerable in rural areas as compared to their urban
counterparts, due to the still holding values of the
joint family system. The elderly in India are much
more vulnerable because of the less govt. spending
on social security system. Senior Citizens allowed to
travel on a concessional price on railways. The
general concerns of the elderly include lack of
financial support for livelihood, emotional support
from their children, ill health and others. In India,
the state support of the elderly is minimal as
compared to other countries, this combined with
the Patriarchal system results in parents preferring
sons as they can depend on sons later in life. This
could be one of the many reasons for the skewed
sex ratio in favor of males in India.
One of the issues affecting old persons also involve
the denial of active euthanasia in India. There is a
right to live, but no right to die in India. A person
suffering a chronic disease and is unable to live a life
of dignity, which is also an enormous financial strain
on the family with no resources, continues to live in
that state as India doesn’t allow active euthanasia.
However, in 2010, a Supreme Court judgment in
the famous Aruna Shanbaug case had with some
safeguards allowed passive euthanasia in specific
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Not present in India as a matter of right.
Wherever allocated, the amount is not adequate.
The informal sector which makes up for bulk of the
population had played a crucial role in the India’s
growth story last decade, they have been denied the
benefits from state in form of social security. There
has been a Dharna in May 2012 in Delhi by
organizations from across 20 states supporting a
Universal, non-contributory pension system as a
matter of right, not based on some arbitrary criteria,
and not as charity. They opine that it is the
responsibility of the State to provide the social
security to those who are in need of it the most, the
informal sector that comprises percent of
population, not to those which are in need of it the
least. The unorganized sector which has been the
backbone of India’s growth story and which
accounts for the bulk of the labor force cannot be
neglected in a democratic nation.
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is the
nodal agency for policies and programmes
concerning the elderly. It has formulated the
National Policy on Older Persons in 1999 to better
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the welfare of the elderly in India. To oversee the
implementation of the policy, National Council for
Older Persons has been constituted in 1999, chaired
by the Minister of SJE. It is the highest body to
coordinate with govt. and help in formulation and
implementation of policies and programmes on
elderly. The implementation of the policy failed and
a new National Policy on Senior Citizens is drafted
under Mohan Giri Committee.
For elderly who might suffer from physical, financial
and emotional distress, what is needed is not just
support from the children at the individual level and
community levels, but state has to support the
elderly in leading a life with dignity by instituting
social security systems in place, by providing
affordable housing, health care, formalization of
employment etc.
References
An Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP)
is being implemented since 1992, which is revised in
2008, with the objective of improving the quality of
life of senior citizens by providing basic amenities
like shelter, food, medical care and entertainment
opportunities and by encouraging productive and
active ageing through providing support for capacity
building of Government/ Non- Governmental
Organizations/Panchayati Raj Institutions/ local
bodies and the Community at large. Under the
Scheme, financial assistance up to 90% of the
project cost is provided to non-governmental
organizations for establishing and maintaining old
age homes, day care centres and mobile medicare
units etc.
The National Programme for Health Care for
Elderly in 2010, with the main objective of the
Programme is to provide preventive, curative and
rehabilitative services to the elderly persons at
various level of health care delivery system of the
country. Other objectives are, to strengthen referral
system, to develop specialized man power and to
promote research in the field of diseases related to
old age. The major components of this programme
are establishing geriatric departments in eight
regional geriatric centres and strengthening health
care facilities for the elderly at various levels in 100
districts.
The social assistance provided by the National Old
Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) by the Ministry of
Rural Development is inadequate and distinguishes
between BPL and non BPL categories which is quite
arbitrary. And there are many who are in need of
genuine assistance not just BPL, for poverty line in
India is equated with destitution line, it ignores the
real pictures.
http://insightsonindia.com
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/for-auniversal-oldage-pension-plan/article3401455.ece
http://kafila.org/2012/05/18/resisting-the-secondchildhood-towards-universal-pension-in-india/
POVERTY AND POVERTY ESTIMATION IN
INDIA
DEFINING POVERTY
Poverty, droughts, underdevelopment, different
sorts of inequalities and domination have been the
age old problems or phenomena observed from the
past to the present and across the time and space.
Poverty is a very vague concept with varied
connotations and facets.
Traditional definition of poverty is constructed with
one dimensional approach of income and food
intake capabilities.
Social Scientists distinguish between ‘relative’ and
‘absolute’ poverty.
Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined
and dependent on social context, hence relative
poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually,
relative poverty is measured as the percentage of
population with income less than some fixed
proportion of median income.
Absolute poverty, extreme poverty, or abject
poverty is “a condition characterized by severe
deprivation of basic human needs, including food,
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safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health,
shelter, education and information. It depends not
only on income but also on access to services.
Absolute poverty occurs when people fail to receive
sufficient resources to support a minimum of
physical health and efficiency, often expressed in
terms of calories or nutritional levels.
The World Bank defines poverty as “the inability to
attain a minimal standard of living”. The World
Bank website on ‘Poverty Reduction and Equity’
defines poverty in comprehensive manner, saying,
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty
is being sick and not being able to see a doctor.
Poverty is not having access to school and not
knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is
fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty
is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean
water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of
representation and freedom.”
UN definition of poverty: Fundamentally, poverty
is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation
of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to
participate effectively in society. It means not
having enough to feed and clothe a family, not
having a school or clinic to go to; not having the
land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn
one’s living, not having access to credit. It means
insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of
individuals, households and communities. It means
susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living
in marginal or fragile environments, without access
to clean water or sanitation.
UNI-DIMENSIONAL VS. MULTIDIMENSIONAL
CONCEPT OF POVERTY
Uni-dimensional idea of poverty
This traditional idea of poverty associates it with
lack of sufficient money, so it tries to measure
poverty in terms of shortage of income. It is a onedimensional approach focused on income or lack of
it.
headcounts of the poor so that some number can be
attached with poverty. This gave birth to the
concept of monetary poverty lines – people with
income below the poverty line came to be labeled
poor.
But, Human well-being is a complex issue and is
affected by many factors – both material and nonmaterial. In fact, people’s well being depends upon a
plethora of factors that can be psychological, social,
cultural, political and environmental. Any
oversimplified measure can provide convenience
but can’t ever present the complete picture. So, the
one-dimensional poverty concept is inadequate.
Multidimensional concept of poverty
The modern multidimensional approach is
characterised with a broader view and considers
poverty as a deprivation of essential productive
assets and opportunities to which every human
being should be entitled. This approach believes
that defining poverty in terms of consumption
expenditure misses the point. Assets and its
distribution are the key factor.
There are two approaches that define poverty as a
state of multiple deprivations. One is the basic
needs approach (BNA) which views poverty as
“deprivation of consumption” and the other is the
capability approach (CA) in which poverty is seen
as “deprivation of opportunities.”
The Basic Needs Approach (BNA)
This approach aims to provide the opportunities for
the full physical, mental and social development of
people. Although it aims to provide conditions for
comprehensive fulfillment of human life (material,
social, cultural and political), in operational terms it
primarily focuses on the minimum requirements for
a decent life – health, nutrition and literacy – and
the goods and services needed to realize it, such as
shelter, sanitation, food, health services, safe water,
primary
education,
housing
and
related
infrastructures.
Poverty researchers, in their efforts to quantify
poverty, came up with the clearly tangible idea of
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This is the most popular idea behind state’s welfare
programs which are designed so that people’s basic
minimum needs (as prescribed) are met.
Amartya
Approach:
Sen’s
capability
Amartya Sen’s capability approach provides a more
useful alternative to understand poverty.
Capability approach to understanding poverty goes
beyond income and emphasizes the whole range of
means, available to achieve human capabilities like
literacy, longevity and access to income.
entitlements and many hurdles in the well being of
human beings are included in the category of poor.
There are many other social dimensions of poverty
like caste, untouchability, bondages, gender
discrimination, social exclusion, domination and
violence against the downtrodden.
OBJECTIVES OF POVERTY ESTIMATION
To build awareness on poverty and to keep it in the
agenda of discourse;
To design policies, programs and institution to
alleviate poverty
From this perspective, poverty is seen as the failure
of some basic capabilities to function- a person
lacking the opportunity to achieve some minimally
accepted level of these functionings.
To monitor and evaluate these policies, programs
and institutions that are associated with it.
The functionings relevant to his analysis include
According to World Bank, Extreme poverty is
defined as average daily consumption of $1.25 or less
and means living on the edge of subsistence, while
the daily consumption of $ 2 defines moderate
poverty.
Physical ones as being well nourished, being
adequately clothed, and sheltered
Social achievements such as taking part in the life of
the community, being able to appear in public
without shame and so on;
The opportunity of converting personal incomes
into capabilities to function depends on a variety of
personal circumstances including age, gender,
proneness to illness, disabilities and so on; and Social
surroundings.
The notion of poverty thus goes beyond income and
basic services. People who are under empowered,
who are unable to participate in making the
decisions, who are deprived of basic education,
health care, nutrition, water and sanitation,
employment and wages and who pass many
different inabilities and adversities like inequality of
asset, unequal distribution, ignorance, corruption,
lack of political power, lack of political will, natural
calamities, inadequate governance, lack of
opportunities of development, inappropriate public
policies and programmes, lack of access to
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INTERNATIONAL POVERTY ESTIMATION
OFFICIAL POVERTY ESTIMATION IN INDIA
Poverty estimates in India, since 1979 has been done
by the Planning Commission using data from NSS
surveys(National sample survey) on household
consumption expenditure.
The major developments in this regard are as
following:
In 1962, the Planning Commission constituted a
working group to estimate poverty nationally, and it
formulated separate poverty lines for rural and
urban areas – of Rs 20 and Rs 25 per capita per year
respectively.
VM Dandekar and N Rath made the first
systematic assessment of poverty in India in 1971,
based on National Sample Survey (NSS) data from
1960-61. They argued that the poverty line must be
derived from the expenditure that was adequate to
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provide 2250 calories per day in both rural and
urban areas. This generated debate on minimum
calorie consumption norms while estimating poverty
and variations in these norms based on age and sex.
In 2005, another expert group to review
methodology for poverty estimation, chaired by
Suresh Tendulkar, was constituted by the Planning
Commission to address the following three
shortcomings of the previous methods:
Alagh Committee (1979)
In 1979, a task force constituted by the Planning
Commission for the purpose of poverty estimation,
chaired by YK Alagh, constructed a poverty line for
rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional
requirements. It recommended 2400 kilocalories for
rural areas and 2100 kilocalories for urban areas.
Poverty estimates for subsequent years were to be
calculated by adjusting the price level for inflation.
Lakdawala Committee (1993)
In 1993, an expert group constituted to review
methodology for poverty estimation, chaired by DT
Lakdawala, made the following suggestions:
Consumption patterns were linked to the 1973-74
poverty line baskets (PLBs) of goods and services,
whereas there were significant changes in the
consumption patterns of the poor since that time,
which were not reflected in the poverty estimates;
There were issues with the adjustment of prices for
inflation, both spatially (across regions) and
temporally (across time); and
Earlier poverty lines assumed that health and
education would be provided by the State and
formulated poverty lines accordingly.
It recommended four major changes:
Consumption expenditure should be calculated
based on calorie consumption as earlier;
A shift away from calorie consumption based
poverty estimation;
State specific poverty lines should be constructed
and these should be updated using the Consumer
Price Index of Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) in
urban areas and Consumer Price Index of
Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL) in rural areas; ( earlier
it was based on wholesale price index) and
A uniform poverty line basket (PLB) across rural
and urban India;
Discontinuation of ‘scaling’ of poverty estimates
based on National Accounts Statistics. This assumes
that the basket of goods and services used to
calculate CPI-IW and CPI-AL reflect the
consumption patterns of the poor.
Incorporation of private expenditure on health and
education while estimating poverty.
This method, in turn, received its share of analysis
and criticisms. These criticisms centered on the
method used for price adjustment, the rural urban
differentials in poverty and inter-alia the continued
relevance of the 1973 basket for poverty
comparisons. The main concern was the undercounting of the poor specifically from the view
point of targeted programs.
The Tendulkar panel had redrawn the poverty line
at a daily consumption expenditure of Rs 22.42 per
person in rural areas and Rs 28.65 in urban areas.
A change in the price adjustment procedure to
correct spatial and temporal issues with price
adjustment; and
Planning commission accepted the recommendation
of Tendulkar committee in 2011.
According to the new estimates, there has been a
sharp reduction in both absolute numbers of poor,
as well as the poverty ratio. The poverty ratio has
declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per
cent in 2004-05. (Table)
Tendulkar Committee (2009)
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That methodology, as well as the poverty estimates
arrived at using it, were widely criticised for under
reporting poverty by fixing the consumption levels
too low. (The Committee has lowered the calorie
intake requirement from 2100 kcal per day for
urban areas and 2400 kcal per day for rural areas to a
single norm of 1800 kcal per day and has kept the
daily consumption expenditure very low)
The new estimates, revised based on the
consumption expenditure survey, have revised the
Tendulkar numbers upwards, but only slightly. The
new poverty line pegs daily per capita consumption
expenditure at less than Rs 33.33 in cities and Rs
27.20 in villages.
Faced with hue and cry over the issue, the panel
now supports the idea that entitlements for the
poor should go beyond the poverty line benchmark
and de-linked from the poverty line.
Percentage and Number of poor estimated by
Poverty Ratio (%)
Rural Urban Total
1. 1993-94 50.1 31.8
45.3
2. 2004-05 41.8 25.7
37.2
3.2011-12 25.7 13.7
21.9
Annual
0.75 0.55
0.74
average
decline:
1993-94 to
2004-05
Annual
2.32 1.69
2.18
average
decline:
2004-05 to
2011-12
Tendulkar method
Rangarajan Committee
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Number of poor
(million)
328.6 74.5 403.7
326.3 80.8 407.1
216.5 52.8 269.3
The Planning Commission subsequently appointed
another committee, headed by Chairman of the
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, C.
Rangarajan, which is expected to submit its report
in 2014.
Objectives:
To provide an alternate method to estimate poverty
levels and examine whether poverty lines should be
fixed solely in terms of a consumption basket or if
other criteria are also relevant;
To examine divergence between the consumption
estimates based on the NSSO methodology and
those emerging from the National Accounts
aggregates;
To review international poverty estimation methods
and indicate whether based on these, a particular
method for empirical poverty estimation can be
developed in India, and
To recommend how these estimates of poverty can
be linked to eligibility and entitlements under the
various schemes of the Government of India. The
Committee is expected to submit its report by 2014.
National poverty line:
While the Opponents criticizes the Planning
Commission for using a formal definition of poverty
that ensures the percentage of people below the
poverty line is lower than what it ought to be, the
government has begun moving to a broader and
more realistic de facto definition that will include
roughly 65 per cent of the population. (in the wake
of passing of ordinance on food security bill (in July
2013 ) which entitles subsidized food grains to 67%
population of country)
This notional poverty line will stand at a per capita
expenditure of around Rs. 50 per day in rural areas
and Rs 62 in urban areas.
By covering 67 per cent of the population, the
government is in effect drawing the poverty line 85
per cent higher than what it is currently drawn at
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By 2011-12 consumption expenditures, this works
out to roughly Rs.1,506 monthly per capita
expenditure — or Rs. 50 per day — for rural areas,
and Rs. 1,850 per month — or Rs. 62 per day — for
urban areas. While India’s poverty line has usually
corresponded with the World Bank’s definition of
extreme poverty, which is $1.25 (in Purchasing
Power Parity terms) per person per day, the new
notional poverty line would correspond more
closely with the Bank’s definition of moderate
poverty.
decided to withdraw from circulation all currency
notes issued prior to 2005.
“The public can easily identify the notes to be
withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not
have on them the year of printing on the reverse
side,” the RBI said.
From July 1, however, those wanting to exchange
more than 10 pieces of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes in
a bank where they do not have an account will have
to provide proof of residence and identity.
Announcement of 12 subsidised cylinders
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s appeal to
raise the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders could
force Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to relax the
expenditure ceiling his ministry had imposed on the
Oil Ministry.
If the government raises the annual cap from nine to
12, the higher subsidy outgo will force the Oil
Ministry to breach the ceiling, sources said. The
Ministry estimates the additional burden at nearly
Rs. 7,000 crore.
Asked for its reaction, Finance Ministry sources said
they would take a call on relaxing the expenditure
ceiling on receiving the Oil Ministry’s proposal.
Under the current LPG cylinder regime, 89.2 per
cent of the 15 crore LPG consumers are covered.
The remaining 10 per cent buy the additional
requirement at the market price.
If the quota is raised to 12, about 97 per cent of the
consumers will be covered.
Increasing the limit to 12 cylinders is likely to result
in an additional fuel subsidy burden of Rs. 3,500 5,800 crore.
The government already incurs an expenditure of
Rs. 46,000 crore per annum as subsidy on LPG.
In a move that is likely to hit currency hoarders and
counterfeiters, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
http://insightsonindia.com
The move will flush out black money, according to
bankers.
Notes issued after 2005 have added security features
that make counterfeiting difficult.
The UPA government has formed a three-member
Cabinet committee to examine the possibility of
opening up agricultural land to Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), following a proposal by the
Urban Development Ministry on letting foreign
realtors buy agricultural land.
The committee includes Urban Development
Minister Kamal Nath, Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram and Commerce and Industry Minister
Anand Sharma.
At present, FDI is banned in farm land. Further,
Indian banking rules disallow loans for the purchase
of farm land even for domestic investors — except
in the case of large-scale projects — to safeguard
against speculative land acquisition and hoarding.
The Ministry’s argument is that as farm land is
already being acquired for township development,
FDI would only help raise more funds for the
purpose. Real estate developers would in any case
be applying for land use change after acquiring farm
land, the Ministry said.
SC’s direction to UGC on faulted deemed
university
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The Supreme Court has directed the University
Grants Commission to consider afresh the status of
44 deemed universities which were sought to be derecognised on the basis of the Tandon Committee
report.
More than 19 crore children are covered under this
scheme in 11 lakh habitations. 98% of habitations in
this country have elementary schools within 1 km
and 92% have upper primary schools within 3 km of
their locations.
Passing the order on Tuesday on a writ petition filed
by advocate Viplav Sharma seeking regulation of the
deemed universities, a Bench of Justices K.S.
Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen asked the UGC
to examine the reports of the Tandon Committee
and the Committee of Officers with notice to all 44
institutions.
The programme has been implemented in order to
narrow down gender and social gaps in elementary
education. Special efforts have been made to reach
out to girls and children belonging to SC/ST and
Muslim minority communities.
“The institutions are free to raise their objections to
the reports and the UGC has to consider the same
and take an independent decision in accordance
with law, if necessary, after affording them a
hearing, within two months.”
The UGC would then tender its advice, which
though not binding on the Centre, would have to be
given due weight as it is an expert statutory
authority.
“We make it clear that we have not given our stamp
of approval to any of the reports and it is for the
UGC to consider all the reports…,” the Bench said.
The Tandon Committee had recommended denotifying the deemed university status to 44
institutions but they demanded that the panel
report be discarded.
Right To Education (RTE) Act
Right to Education (RTE) is by far the most historic
development in universalisation of elementary
education in the country. Enacted in 2010, it implies
that every child in the age group of 6 to 14 years has
Right to elementary education. They are entitled for
free and compulsory education.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the main
vehicle for implementation of the RTE Act. It is one
of the largest programmes of its kind in the world. It
is primarily funded from central budget and it
covers the whole country.
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Over 3500 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas
(KGBV) have been set up as residential upper
primary schools for girls from SC, ST, OBC, Muslim
communities and BPL girls in the educationally
backward blocks. Free boarding / lodging, books,
stationary and uniforms are being provided to the
children in these schools.
Under SSA, special attention has been given to
urban deprived children, children affected by
periodic migration and children living in remote and
scattered habitations. Attempts have also been made
to reach out to children suffering from autism. It
involves their identification, preparation of
individualized Education Plan, teacher training on
Autism and therapeutic support.
As part of the scheme, steps have been taken to
improve the standard of elementary education in the
country. It includes improvement in infrastructural
facilities and sanctioning of new teacher posts in
government schools. Free textbooks are being
provided to all children in government and
government aided schools.
Last year, the centre released more than 23800 crore
rupees and during the current financial year (201314), in the first eight months, over 16000 crore
rupees have been released.
This increased funding has led to massive creation
and improvement of infrastructure at school level.
About 95% schools have drinking water facilities
and 90% schools have toilets. Similarly about 75%
upper primary schools have furniture. More than 3
lakh new school buildings with toilets, drinking
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water facilities and electricity have been created
under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a flagship
programme of UPA government to implement RTE.
Since the enactment of the Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009,
the enrolment of children at the elementary level
has increased from about 19 crore in 2008-09 to
about 20 crore in 2012-13 as per District Information
System for Education (DISE) data. A total of over
forty three thousand five hundred schools, seven
lakh additional classrooms, five lakh forty six
thousand toilets and thirty four thousand six
hundred drinking water facilities have been
sanctioned to States/UTs under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA) programme to meet the objectives
of the RTE Act.
The enrolment among the SCs has increased from 3
crore to 4 crore during 2008-09 and 2012-13. Similar
positive trends have been noticed among STs and
minorities also. Thirteen states have also admitted
children belonging to disadvantaged groups/weaker
sections in private unaided schools as per the RTE
Act.
Along with the Mid Day Meal Scheme, the Right to
Education Act has made substantial impact on
universalisation of elementary education, reduction
in dropout rates and fighting classroom hunger.
The improvement is reflected in the Net Enrolment
ratio in Primary Education. It was 99.89% in 2011-12.
There has been a substantial drop in dropout rate
among the kids at the elementary level. The
number of out of school children has come down
sharply from more than 1.34 crore in 2005 to 29 lakh
in 2012-13.
Several new measures have been taken for
improving quality under RTE, in letter as well as in
spirit. About 20 lakh additional teacher posts have
been sanctioned under SSA upto 2012-13. Out of
this twelve lakh forty thousand posts are reported to
have been filled. After RTE, it is compulsory that
only those people who are able to clear the Teacher
Eligibility Test may be appointed as teachers.
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To improve quality of learning, children are
provided free text books upto class 8. Continuous
and comprehensive evaluation system is being
promoted. Curriculum reforms are made to make
learning
more
children
friendly
and
inclusive. Training for in service teachers and head
masters are being incentivized.
The focus of all HRD Ministry schemes under the
11th Five Year Plan was access and growth whereas
quality is the key under the current Five Year Plan.
Source: special feature-PIB
‘Nirbhaya’ card
To curb growing incidents of crime against women
in trains, North-Central Railway is distributing
’Nirbhaya Card’, which has contacts of Railway
Police and other helpline numbers inscribed on it.
The ATM-sized card is being distributed to all trains
passing through Kanpur station, GRP sources said.
The card has numbers of Uttar Pradesh women’s
helpline, GRP police control room, GRP Lucknow
Control room as well as of police stations under
North—Central Railway division.
If a woman faces harassment in the train, she can
dial the numbers given on the card and lodge her
complaint. A team of GRP police in the next station
would come to her help.
Bill on quota for disabled
The government will table for passage in the
upcoming Parliament session a new bill for the
disabled persons that provides for five per cent
reservation in public sector jobs.
Inaugurating ‘Samarth-2014’, a program organized by
the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment ,
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said the Disability
Act of 1995 was being amended to meet the norms
of the UN convention on the rights of persons with
disabilities.
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The Union Cabinet had approved last month the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill to replace the
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of
1995.
The bill covers a variety of issues relating to the
disabled persons such as physical, mental and
multiple disabilities.
New land policy for major ports
The Shipping Ministry
land policy guidelines
country that will help
development projects
basis.
unveiled the much-awaited
for 12 major ports in the
them to undertake various
on a tender-cum-auction
The new policy guidelines provides for a transparent
mechanism for leasing and licensing of land in
possession of major ports inside the custom
bounded areas for short term licenses (from 11
months to five years) and outside the custom
bounded areas on long term leases (for a maximum
of 30 years).
Till recently, major ports were not permitted to
allot lands on long term licenses or leases, whereas
the minor ports were not having such problems.
Currently, the Chennai Port has 200 acres in custom
bound area and can be allotted through the new
method. Having exhausted the available land, the
Ennore Port is in the process of acquiring 735 acres
from the Salt department for expansion activities.
One of the salient features of the new policy states
that the land can be allotted to government
agencies, public sector undertakings and statutory
authorities on nomination basis. It cannot be given
to religious institutions or political institutions. The
policy also provides guidelines for mortgages, subleases, transfer and right of way permissions.
Unique Identification Authority of India
http://insightsonindia.com
The Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) assigns Unique Identification Number
“Aadhaar” to residents of India on voluntary basis
The Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) is an agency of the Government of India
responsible for implementing the Aadhaar Identities.
The agency was established in January-2009, and
owns and operates the Unique Identities database.
The Unique Identification Authority of India has
been established under the Planning Commission
The agency provides a unique identification number
to all persons resident in India on voluntary basis,
but not identity cards. The agency maintains a
database of residents containing biometric and other
data, and is headed by a chairman, who holds a
cabinet rank. Nandan Nilekani is its first chairman
since Jun-2009.
About Rs. 35 billion (Rs.3,500 crore) was spent on
Aadhaar program from beginning (January-2009) till
September2013
UIDAI is the Registrar of Identities i.e. it registers,
assigns and verifies the unique identities. It is
supposed to register two types of unique identities:
Residents of India (called Aadhaar)
Corporate entities (Corporate-UID) for company,
bank, NGO, trust, political party etc.
Corporate-UID has been provisioned within 12-digit
UID number system. Corporate-UID is supposed to
produce the similar effect as Aadhaar for corporate
entities i.e. identification and traceability of
transactions. It is supposed to bring transparency on
financial transactions, donations; and to prevent
corruption, money laundering, benami transactions
(i.e. under a fictitious name), allocation of natural
resources like land, spectrum, mining of sand, ironore, coal-blocks, etc.
UIDAI owns and operates the main database server
called the Central Identity Data Repository
(CIDR).
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Reserve Bank of India has planned Aadhaar-linked
bank account for all adults of India by January-2016
as its commitment of nation-wide Financial
Inclusion.
Rationale and goals
In order to avail social security benefits as well as
government-regulated services (e.g. bank account,
insurance, mobile SIM, driving license, vehicle
registration etc.); compliance to Know-YourCustomer (KYC) conditions are mandatory. The
minimum KYC consists of 3 proofs:
Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an
individual and will remain valid for life. Aadhaar
number will help you provide access to services like
banking, mobile phone connections and other
Government and Non-Government services in due
course.
Aadhaar will be:
Easily verifiable in an online, cost-effective way
Unique and robust enough to eliminate the large
number of duplicate and fake identities in
government and private databases
Proof of Identity (name with face photograph),
A random number generated, devoid of any
classification based on caste, creed, religion and
geography
Proof of Age (date of birth or estimated age),
Proof of Residence (presently staying).
Financial Inclusion
Provide social security benefits
Aadhaar-platform is aimed at providing social
security benefits / subsidies based on eligibility thru
direct benefit transfer. It provides access and options
to rural and poor people. It helps bring transparency
and eliminate corruption, leakage and inefficiency.
What is Aadhaar?
Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification
number issued by the Unique Identification
Authority of India on behalf of the Government of
India.
This number will serve as a proof of identity and
address, anywhere in India.
Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who
is a resident in India and satisfies the verification
process laid down by the UIDAI can enroll for
Aadhaar.
Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who
is a resident in India and satisfies the verification
process laid down by the UIDAI, can enroll for
Aadhaar.
http://insightsonindia.com
Aadhaar-enabled Bank Account (AeBA) is a Basic
savings account (zero-balance) where a Debit-card is
issued and Aadhaar number is used as the account
number. It can be instantly opened (like prepaid
bankcard). Transactions operate with fingerprint
authentication only; as indicated by Aadhaar-logo on
the card. PIN is not issued to zero-balance AeBA
because it is aimed at financial inclusion of
unbanked, illiterate and rural people. Bankcard
operates at micro-ATM and other ATMs equipped
with fingerprint scanner. Presently passbook is not
issued to these accounts due to infrastructure
problem. Transactions like deposit, withdrawal,
transfer, and balance-check can be performed.
AeBA is used for direct payment of social security
benefits such as pensions, scholarships, NREGA
wages, healthcare, and subsidy for LPG, kerosene,
PDS ration, fertilizers etc.
Generally, a micro-ATM consists of a laptop
computer or smart-phone equipped with 2Ginternet, fingerprint scanner, receipt-printer, speaker
and power backup (solar / battery). It is humanoperated by commission agent called Banking
Correspondent (BC) so that illiterate customers do
not face problems of ATM machine operations. BCs
are generally chemist-shops, provision shops or
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mobile-vans. It is similar to the commission agent
model of prepaid mobile phone recharge.
Some banks issue photo-bankcards that are boon to
rural people and migrant workers because it works
not only as bankcard but also as identity card. RuPay
card by Indian payment-bridge NPCI and Saral
Money Visa are two prominent AeBA bankcards.
Once bankcards become common in rural areas,
then whole India will become a nation of cashlesstransactions with higher transparency and
accountability.
Aadhaar-enabled Service Delivery
Various financial as well as non-financial services are
being made Aadhaar-enabled, called Aadhaarenabled Service Delivery (AeSD) in phased manner
Another objective of Aadhaar Number (AN) is to
use it as an effective governance tool – to bring
transparency, efficiency and weed out the bogus
beneficiaries from social security programs e.g. social
security pensions, scholarships, public health,
NREGA, subsidy on PDS Ration, Kerosene, and
LPG etc. Thus Aadhaar is expected to save public
exchequer from bogus beneficiaries up to Rs. 1.1
Trillion (Rs. 1100 billion) by the year 2020 as per
study report of National Institute of Public Finance
and Planning.
In 1980s pointing towards the widespread
corruption in social security programs in India, the
then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had made a
famous statement in Parliament that only 15% of
benefits reach the poor people; the remaining 85%
are eaten-away by the corrupt officials and
middlemen. Similarly, the World Bank Chief said
that Aadhaar will help eradicate poverty in India.
Aadhaar-DBT
Aadhaar-Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is an
Aadhaar-enabled financial service used for direct
payment of social security benefits into the bank
account of the Aadhaar-holder.
An existing bank account can be enabled as AeBA
by seeding (linking) it with Aadhaar number.
Seeding makes mapping information stored onto
NPCI payment-gateway that facilitates the subsidy
payment. The seeding helps identify the genuine and
eligible beneficiary, and prevents duplicate and nonexistent (fake, dead) persons.
Eligibility of beneficiary is applied based on rules
and is cross-checked with other related databases
which are also Aadhaar-linked. This approach is
designed to improve the audit trail, add efficiency;
prevent corruption, middlemen and delayed
payments; eliminate non-existent, duplicate and
ineligible beneficiaries. It results in direct benefit
access to the eligible people; and saves multi-billion
rupee from corruption annually.
E-governance
http://insightsonindia.com
The stand-alone databases of social security services
cannot interact with each other due to lack of a
unique identifier like AN. Thus stand-alone
databases do not have ability to detect and prevent
fictitious and ineligible beneficiaries. Therefore, AN
is aimed at eliminating retail corruption in the
public domain which has affected social security
programs since independence. In India, about 750
million (60%) people starve every day for at least
one meal.
Prevention of corruption
Although Aadhaar can prevent retail-corruption to
much extent, yet it is not capable of preventing
wholesale-corruption like allocation of coal-blocks,
2G spectrum, mining of Iron-ore, sand, onion
hoarding etc. Corporate-UID is required to prevent
such wholesale-corruptions and this provision is
already inbuilt in UIDAI Number System, yet
implementation is pending.
Prevention of identity fraud
Identity frauds such as identity theft (using the
identity of another person, dead or alive) and
identity document forgery (fake IDs created on
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fictitious person, also called benami) have been a
common practice in India. The scan, superimposition and color-print functions of ubiquitous
printers have made paper-based and plastic cardbased frauds much easy. Identity fraud is committed
for financial gain or due to compulsion. Identity
fraud committed for financial gains are mostly
benami companies and benami bank accounts used
for bribery and money laundering. Identity fraud
committed on compulsions is either due to lack of a
person’s own ID documents, or due to the intention
of not using one’s own ID.
Existing IDs and problem areas
Traditionally existing IDs in India have been tokenbased i.e. paper and plastic-based driving license,
passport, PAN card, voter ID etc. None of these IDs
have the feature of being lifetime digital identity
that can be verified instantly in public domain at
any time anywhere for uniqueness and real
existence. Moreover, as of 2013, only 150 million
hold driving license, 50 million people hold passport
and 30 million pay taxes, and these are mutually
inclusive. These IDs do not qualify the generic allpurpose ID for life. These IDs expire at certain
intervals, for various reasons, and need to be reapplied with payment for fresh-issuance or renewal.
Ration cards are issued one per family, and every
family does not hold one. It is not verifiable online
instantly in public domain. It does not help migrant
workers when they move to another location.
Millions of ration cards are either fake or defunct,
yet these are used as ID.
Voter ID cannot be issued to a person below 18
years. It is not verifiable online instantly in public
domain.
Although PAN is issued for the holder’s lifetime, yet
it is meant only for income tax payers. It is not
verifiable online instantly in public domain. There
are only 30 million income tax payers, yet 170
million PANs have been issued.
http://insightsonindia.com
Obtaining a passport is costly and lengthy process,
and only 50 million hold it. It is not verifiable online
instantly in public domain. Fake passports also exist.
The driving license cannot be issued to a person
below 18 years. It is not verifiable online instantly in
public domain.
UIDAI versus NPR
UIDAI has been mandated to enroll 600 million
people in its assigned territory. Similarly, the Census
Operations group (under the Ministry of Home
Affairs) has been mandated to enroll the remaining
650 million people in its assigned territory under the
National Population Register (NPR) program.
Effects
As the public databases are getting inter-linked one
by one through Aadhaar Number (AN) in various
states (particularly Delhi, Maharashtra and Andhra
Pradesh), middlemen and officials in those regions
now find difficult to continue with corruption in
social security programs like pensions, scholarships,
health, NREGA, PDS Ration, subsidized kerosene
and LPG.
Ineligible, duplicate and fictitious beneficiaries are
getting eliminated from social security programs.
Corrupt people are finding difficult to buy and sell
benami land and building (i.e. Under fictitious
name), to open and operate benami companies for
money-laundering. They are also finding difficult to
open and operate benami bank accounts for keeping
criminal proceeds. Tax-evaders are finding difficult
to evade taxes, and impersonation and proxy are
getting difficult to commit due to online biometric
validation.
Criminals and terrorists are getting detected and
tracked through inter-linked databases of mobile
phone numbers, bank account numbers and travel
documents. Illegal immigrants are similarly detected
and tracked through these databases. Records are
becoming accessible to police from any state of
India. It is getting difficult to obtain new driving
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licenses and arms license from another state, once
one is impounded in another state.
the Central
entitlements.
government
for
disbursal
of
Impedance:
The purpose is to use Aadhaar as a platform to
increase efficiency of benefits and subsides
Pending bill
The Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister of
India has cleared the UIDAI Bill-2010 on 08-Oct2013. It is expected to be tabled in Parliament during
winter session.
The Supreme Court of India passed an Interim
Order on 23-Sep-2013 that no public services such as
LPG be denied to public due to lack of Aadhaar.
Overview on Aadhaar Payments Bridge System
(APBS):
A centralised electronic benefit transfer system to
undertake direct mandates from accredited bank
attached to various government departments for the
purpose of disbursing entitlements using Aadhaar
numbers
Millions of people are unable to receive the financial
benefits in timely and efficient manner.
Privacy concerns
India has a law called Information Technology Act
2000 that protects, together with other laws, all
types of information including the Aadhaar data
from theft and misuse
Financial inclusion is expected to be a key
application of Aadhaar authentication.
Aadhaar is the biggest anti-corruption platform
To enable same, UIDAI has partnered with various
stakeholders including RBI, NPCI, IBA and banks to
develop two key platforms:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account (AEBA).
Aadhaar
Payment
Bridge
(APB)
National Payments Corporation of India.
Direct Benefit Transfer
Aadhaar Payments Bridge (APB) – A system that
facilitates seamless transfer of all welfare scheme
payments to beneficiary residents’ Aadhaar Enabled
Bank Account (AEBA)
Trident Group became the first corporate to use
Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) for disbursal of
salaries to its employees.
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) – A
system that leverages Aadhaar online authentication
and enables AEBAs to be operated in anytimeanywhere banking mode by the marginalized and
financially excluded segments of society through
micro ATMs
The lack of identity gives way to duplication. UID
through its detailed database removes duplication
thereby avoiding leakages and corruption.
APB is a system that facilitates seamless (smooth or
without seems or obvious joints) transfer of
payments to Aadhaar Enabled Bank Account
(AEBA).
It is a payment gateway platform created by
National Payments Corporation of India.
The APB was used for the first time on January 1,
2013, when Direct Benefit Transfer was launched by
http://insightsonindia.com
Objectives of Aadhaar Payment Bridge System
(APBS)
Aadhaar Payment Bridge Solution (APBS) will be
used to
Credit disbursements based on UID number,
To sub-serve the goal of Government of India
(GOI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in
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furthering Financial Inclusion by way of processing
government disbursement using Aadhaar number,
To support various Schemes like NREGA, Social
Security Pension, Handicapped Old Age Pension
etc. of any Central or State Government bodies, to
send financial details to the beneficiary using
Aadhaar number.
Aadhaar Enabled Payments
etc.) provides APB File containing details of
Aadhaar number, welfare scheme reference number
and the amount to be paid to its bank (called
sponsor bank).
Sponsor bank adds bank IIN (Institute Identification
Number provided by NPCI to participant banks) to
the APB file and uploads onto NPCI server.
NPCI processes uploaded files, prepares beneficiary
bank files and generates settlement file
What are the benefits of Aadhaar Payment Bridge
(APB) System?
Eliminates inordinate delays, multiple channels &
paper-work involved in the existing system.
Transfers benefits & subsidies in a seamless & timely
manner and directly into the Aadhaar Enabled Bank
Account.
Customer not required to open multiple bank
accounts for receiving benefits and subsidies of
various social welfare schemes – Customer just need
to open one account and seed his/her Aadhaar
number in the bank account to start receiving
benefits and subsidies directly into his/her Aadhaar
Enabled Bank Account.
Aadhaar Payments Bridge
APB is a repository of Aadhaar number of residents
and their primary bank account number used for
receiving all social security and entitlement
payments from various government agencies. APB
requires using Aadhaar number as the primary key
for all entitlement payments. This would weed out
all fakes and ghosts from the system and ensure that
the benefits reach the intended beneficiaries. This
benefit has an even greater ramification as more and
more social security programs are moving from inkind to in-cash subsidies.
Destination banks can download the incoming files
for credit processing after the settlement file has
been processed.
The Report of the Committee on Financial
Inclusion chaired by Dr. C. Rangarajan made two
important observations:
Technology has to enable the banks to go where the
customer is present, instead of the other way
around.
Technology should allow interoperability among
different systems adopted by different banks.
AEPS empowers the marginalised and excluded
segments to conduct financial transactions (Credit,
Debit, Remittances, Balance Enquiry, etc) through
micro ATMs deployed by Banks in their villages.
AEPS Process Steps
Resident provides his/her Aadhaar number; details
of financial transaction sought and fingerprint
impression at the micro ATM device.
Digitally signed and encrypted data packets are
transferred via Bank Switch to NPCI to UIDAI.
UIDAI processes the authentication request and
communicates the outcome in form of Yes/No.
APB Process Steps
Service delivery agency that needs to make
payments to its beneficiaries (such as MGNREGA
wages, scholarships disbursement, old age pension
http://insightsonindia.com
If the authentication response is yes, bank carries
out the required authorization process and advises
micro ATM on suitable next steps.
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Benefits to Various Stakeholders
RBI
Residents
Sub-serves goal of furthering Financial Inclusion by
processing government disbursements through
Aadhaar number Promotes digitisation of retail
payments through a secure mechanism
Obviates need for multiple bank accounts for
different schemes
Faster channel for receiving all welfare payments
without any middle-men Access to micro ATM in
villages saves bank trips, thus reducing opportunity
and access costs
Will help in more usage of formal banking system
for managing savings and borrowing Online and
interoperable architecture of AEPS ensures anytimeanywhere access of bank accounts which can be a
boon especially for the migrant population
estimated to be 100 million Empowerment of
individuals especially women
Aadhaar and the PDS
The Unique Identification number (Aadhaar) was
conceived by the Indian government as a means for
residents to clearly and uniquely verify their identity
anywhere in the country.
Perhaps the greatest value of Aadhaar for the PDS
stems from how it can be easily integrated into the
existing infrastructure.
Using Aadhaar solely for identification would enable
clear targeting of PDS beneficiaries.
Government Departments
Use of Aadhaar as primary key eliminates ghost
beneficiaries and leads to better targeting Sub-serves
goal of furthering Financial Inclusion by processing
government disbursements through Aadhaar
number
Reduces time and cost in payment processing
Provide electronic audit trail and end-to-end
visibility for all payments
Banks
Reduces the credit and operational risks in the
branchless banking model
Enables Banks to rely on BCs to reach the unbanked
population, eliminating the need for a physical bank
branch or ATM’s in remote areas
Will provide an impetus to electronic payments and
thus reduce cash management costs
The inclusion of marginal groups, and expanded
coverage of the poor through the elimination of
fakes and duplicates.
Implementing
Aadhaar-based
authentication
across PDS would enable the government to
guarantee food delivery to the poor.
powerfully streamlining PDS processes, an
Aadhaar-enabled MIS would make possible a
more transparent, flexible system, and enable the
government to fulfill the objective of food security
in times of crises.
Areas for PDS reform
The Indian government and the Department of
Food and Public Distribution have pinpointed
critical aspects of the PDS that need reform, for
the program to function more effectively. These
include:
Different financial products through micro ATMs
can be an additional source of revenue for banks and
for the BC model
http://insightsonindia.com
INSIGHTS
Beneficiary identification and addressing
inclusion/exclusion errors
Addressing diversions and leakages
Managing food grain storage and ensuring
timely distribution
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Effective accountability and monitoring, and
enabling community monitoring
Mechanisms for grievance redressal
Ensuring food security
A role for Aadhaar within the PDS
The following features of the number would
be instrumental for delivering food entitlements
to the beneficiary:
Electronic benefit transfers: Aadhaar authentication
at the delivery point the FPS would enable
governments to transfer entitlements to residents
through an electronic system. Beneficiaries could
have an online food account on the PDS
system, which would enable governments to
directly
communicate
details
of
food
entitlements to residents.
One Aadhaar = one beneficiary: Portability in
identification:
Aadhaar-based
authentication
to
entitlement delivered to the beneficiary:
confirm
Aadhaar-based authentication to track food grain
movement:
Aadhaar-based
authentication
can
be
implemented across the supply chain, which
will enable governments to track food grain as
it is exchanged between PDS intermediaries.
This would curb diversions, and help identify
bottlenecks in delivery.
Aadhaar-enabled cloud-computing infrastructure:
The use of Aadhaar-based authentication across the
supply chain gives governments the opportunity to
link such authentication to a cloud-based
management information system (MIS) within the
PDS.
An Aadhaar-linked MIS would enable the PDS to
address broader procurement, storage and
monitoring
challenges.
Registration
and
procurement orders could be managed online,
enabling
decentralized,
and
more
local
procurement Inventory management could be
streamlined and handled online in real-time. This
would also enable the PDS to implement state wide
information systems that link all ration shops in a
state, and give beneficiaries more flexibility in
how they collect their entitlements, and from
which ration shop.
http://insightsonindia.com
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government would help Indian diplomacy to sort
out decade old contentious issues.
INTERNATIONAL
INDIA'S FORIGN POLICY & IT'S
ANALYSIS
India’s foreign policy is often criticized for lacking
pragmatism and realism. From the days of Gujral
doctrine, Indian foreign policy have never been
defined except the much touted Look east policy.
Recently Dr. Manmohan singh provided an insight
into the depths of Indian foreign policy by
highlighting the following principles as its
foundation:1) India’s relation with the world are increasingly
being shaped with both the developed and
developing world by its development priorities. The
single most important objective of Indian foreign
policy is to pursue the interests of Indian
development by making the geo-political &
economic environment conducive.
2) India would benefit from better integration with
world economy and thus opening up Indian
economy and investing in other countries is a natural
choice which Indian foreign policy should work on.
Reforms are not an event but a process and Indian
foreign policy should create friendly relation with
foreign countries keeping this aspect in India.
Greater economic integration would provide Indian
diplomats with better leverage.
3) India seek stable, long-term and mutually
beneficial relationship with all major powers
including China. This would help India in realizing
its potential and would better the prospects of
millions of its destitute citizens.
4) Indian subcontinent’s shared destiny requires
greater regional cooperation and integration. Many
projects like East Asian expressway, Kaladan Multi
Modal transport link etc are being chalked out
under this principle. Better connectivity &
cooperation among sub-regional people &
http://insightsonindia.com
5) India’s foreign policy is based on the values
cherished by its people namely democracy,
secularism and liberalism. We shall thus continue to
support these events in other countries like we are
doing it in Afghanistan, Sri-Lanka, Nepal etc. This
would prosper the entire Asian region to achieve its
fullest potential.
India is far away from becoming a world super
power and probably would have to satisfy itself by
remaining only a regional super power. Thus, instead
of competing against china it should develop
friendly/neutral relationship with it. China’s
growing heft in International arena would help India
to realize its greater potential in the same way as
Japan alliance with USA helped the former. This is
an option worth looking into.
Analysis of India’s foreign policy
India’s foreign policy is often accused of lacking
realism and pragmatism in the era where it is
regularly confronted by China who is following the
policy of realism to develop friendly relationship
with all its neighbor and has been successful to some
extent in developing excellent relationship with all
India’s neighbors through its policy of string of
pearls and cheque diplomacy.
In this context, the relatively successful
implementation of India’s look east policy is worth
mentioning. India has been generous in dealing with
its comparatively small neighbors and has become
realistic in handling its diplomacy. From the recent
controversy marred elections in Maldives to Nepal
and Bangladesh, India has made it well-known that
they are ready to do work with any political party
that comes to power. This a drastic change from its
earlier policy of taking moral high ground and
dealing with only democratically elected
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governments which were
sanctimonious by others.
often
viewed
as
In contemporary times India’s relationships with
most of its neighbors are bedeviled by its lack of any
coherent vision making Indian foreign policy as
reactions to individual events and not based on any
principles. Though Manmohan Singh recently
provided some clues to basic principles on which
India’s south block base its decision on but the same
has been derided by intelligentsia as mere rhetoric.
India’s relationship with its neighbors is analyzed
below:1) Afghanistan: – One of the biggest investor in
Afghanistan, India has pumped in more than 2
billion $ and is also building key infrastructure
projects including its parliament. India has been
trying to build key institutions in Afghanistan and is
also training its army to help the later in checking
the rise of Taliban. It dramatically increased its
efforts after Obama prematurely announced USA
troop’s withdrawal in 2014.
While Afghanistan considers India as its close friend,
it considers Pakistan as its brother and is
precariously trying to maintain good relationship
with both of them. With the imminent withdrawal
of USA forces, India would have to face real
challenge in keeping Afghanistan secure and in turn
peace at her own border.
2) Pakistan: – India’s relationship with Pakistan was
supposed to hit new highs when for the first time a
democratically elected government passed baton to
other. With a new Prime Minister at helm, hopes
were high but nothing good happened. While
Nawaz Sharif is known for his pro India views, there
were marked increase in ceasefire violations by
Pakistan along with beheading of Indian soldier with
each event pointing to the string role Army plays in
Pakistan decision-making. Thus, it is expected that
the going forward, India’s position would be to
maintain status-quo while going through back
channel diplomacy to work out agreements between
the two nations starting with more people to people
contact and the pending issue of granting MFN
(Most favored nation) by Pakistan to India.
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3) Sri-Lanka: – India has never faced such strong
negative scenario in Sri-Lanka. While on one hand,
Sinhalese government of Mahinda Rajapaksa is
slowly using its 2/3rd majority to amend the
constitution in order to dilute the provisions of 13th
amendment which provides autonomy to tamilian
dominated north Srilanka. Further damage was done
when Indian PM instead of going to CHOGM meet
in Colombo and using the occasion to put pressure
on Sri-Lanka PM of divulging more powers to tamillankans and constituting an independent Truth and
Reconciliation tribunal to account for war crimes
bowed to the pressure of regional political parties
and skipped the meet.
China has been able to foray deeply into Sri-lanka
due to such decisions of India and is already
constructing Hambantota port & power equipments
apart from contracts to supply defence equipments
to Sri-Lankan Army. Thus, India would have to
muster all its might to woo its neighbor and for that
should actively encourage India Inc. to invest in Srilankan economy.
4) Bangladesh:- India have failed to make much
progress with Bangladesh even though the present
regime of Awami League is considered pro India
having done a lot to stop Anti-India terror camps in
its territory. Indian government heckled by regional
party Trinamool Congress have failed to ink key
agreements like Teesta water treaty and Land
boundary agreement which could have bound India
& Bangladesh into strategic ties. Due to this,
Bangladesh could not sign an agreement with India
to use its territory to link with India with its NorthEast states. This could prove to be a strategic fauxpas in coming years and would choke India’s north
east from realizing its vast potential. Again we can
see that the principle elaborated by Dr. Manmohan
Singh that India’s foreign policy should focus on
helping India’s grow economically and integrate with
world economies remain mere rhetoric.
5) Myanmar: – Myanmar ruled by military
government since last 4 decades have mixed
relationship with India. Myanmar have vast amount
of non-renewable sources of energy which India
failed to use due to its policy of not dealing with
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military government. The result was that China and
its companies made significant inroads in its
economy which could pester India in long term as
the boundary shared by both countries is often used
by anti-India camps to spread terror in India through
Myanmar.
In recent times, Indian foreign policy showing
maturity have started dealing with Military
government while also backing nascent democratic
movement being led by Indian educated Aung San
Sui Kyi. As a result of this both the governments are
mutually executing a project named Kaladan Multi
Model Transport project which could provide India
an alternative route to its north-east states apart
from the chicken neck. Also, the trade between
both the countries is growing at a good pace and has
recently crossed 2 Billion US$. Thein Sein lead
military government could be further prodded by
Indian government to successfully allow democratic
elections which could further provide impetus to
strategic relationship between both the countries.
6) Bhutan: – Bhutan King was chief guest at last year
republic day parade signifying the close relationship
both countries have. Bhutan’s have recently
transformed its governing system from monarchy to
democracy and is constantly nudged by India to
develop further reforms. Recently both countries
have signed agreement to develop Bhutan
hydroelectric power potential in order to export the
surplus to energy deficient India’s north-east states
which could prove to be win-win for both the
countries. Also, Bhutan’s strategic location near
chicken neck corridor makes it strategically
important for India to maintain close relationship
with.
7) Nepal: – India and Nepal always have a factitious
relationship due to the flexing of economic &
military muscle by China. The transition going on in
Nepal from monarchy to democracy is littered with
problems and this is creating problem for Indian
diplomacy to develop a sound strategy to push
forward Indian interests. Recently the elections to
elect 2nd constitution assembly has been completed
successfully with CPM (UML) and Nepali Congress
gaining majority of the required seats in turn
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pushing UCPM (M) to 3rd position. This is good
news for India as Maoist was often seen as
supporting naxalism in India through the long
porous border both country share.
Nepal is strategically important for India as it acts as
a buffer between India & China. Also, being upper
riparian states for some rivers, India must keep
Nepal in good books and see that its transition to
democracy is successful.
8) China: – Well let’s talk about elephant in the
room. China, the only country with which India
have fought an unsuccessful war is often portrayed
as its competitor, an observation which given a
modicum of common sense seems unjustified. China
is well on its way to become a new world super
power and India might have to satisfy itself with
only being a regional economic power. In that case,
it would be best if India could develop a
relationship with India which could help the latter
to take advantages of China’s growing might in
International diplomacy such as India candidature
for permanent seat at security council needs china’s
approval to the controversial issue of Aksai-Chin
and China’s claim of Arunachal Pradesh being its
territory should be sorted out with diplomatic
channels. Both the countries could join hand to
usher a new era in world politics but for that to
happen, they would have to sort out their
differences and join hands.
As Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh once
said that we can choose our friends but not
neighbors, India would have to live in
a increasingly neighborhood where warmongering,
pseudo-diplomacy would be call of the day and if
India would have to course its chart through this
very territory only if it has to bring prosperity to
multitude of its poor and destitute people.
Devyani Khobragade Case
What was the issue?
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On December 12, American Authorities arrested
Indian consular officer Devyani Khobragade. She
was subjected to handcuffing, strip-searching and
she was treated like an ordinary criminal. This
followed a louder protest by Indian Government
and the intense national outrage.
India’s stand: question of diplomatic and consular
immunities and privileges.
The intense national outrage at the arrest and
humiliation of Devyani Khobragade is justified.
Indian society was deeply shocked that a senior
Indian official was subject to a strip search. This also
created a deep sense of cultural outrage.
There was no reason for the American authorities
to treat her like an ordinary criminal, even if they
believed she had breached US criminal laws and her
actions were not covered by the immunity
provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations (VCCR).
By handcuffing, strip-searching and locking her up
with criminals, the Americans clearly violated the
provisions of the VCCR, which requires that
consular officials be treated, at all times, with
respect.
Question of diplomatic and consular immunities
and privileges.
Among the many issues brought into focus by
Khobragade’s arrest is the question of diplomatic
and consular immunities and privileges
These are codified in the Vienna Convention on
Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) and the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR).
These conventions provide the formal basis for the
conduct of diplomatic and consular intercourse
among nations.
The VCDR provides complete immunity from any
criminal action to accredited diplomats. It also
ensures that embassy premises as well as homes of
diplomats are secure, and cannot be entered by any
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person of the receiving country. The VCDR also
protects the communications of diplomats, though
it is well known that intelligence agencies try to
clandestinely pry into them.
The VCCR provides all the immunities to consular
officials that diplomats enjoy, except that it
significantly excludes immunity against grave
crimes.
The reason for this vital difference lies in the fact
that the representative status of the consular
officials is circumscribed to commercial, economic,
cultural and scientific work, apart from looking after
the interests of their nationals and servicing
passports and issuing visas.
Immunities and privileges are meant to ensure that
the conduct of diplomacy and consular work can
take place without impediment and harassment and
in a conducive environment.
The main objective of diplomats and consular
officials is to foster good and beneficial bilateral
relations through cultivating the government and
opinion-makers of the countries of their postings.
In addition to the formal framework of the VCDR
and the VCCR, there were informal customs and
understandings that sought to ensure that aberrant
or disturbing behaviour of diplomats and consular
officials was managed in a discreet manner, so that it
never reached a point where it cast a direct shadow
on relations between countries.
In extreme cases, diplomats and consular officials
were declared persona non grata and asked to leave.
As the diplomatic world is governed by the
principle of reciprocity, their countries asked an
equivalent number of their counterparts to leave as
well, and the matter ended there.
US’s Stand:
According to US officials, Devyani Khobragade had
signed an agreement to pay her domestic help,
Sangeeta Richard, $9.75 an hour. Instead she paid her
only $3.31 an hour.
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As Khobragade had violated US laws, it was both
legal and legitimate for the US attorney, Preet
Bharara, to have her arrested and charged.
US’s double standards exposed:
In the past there were cases when American
government has literally whisked away their citizens
from prosecution in foreign countries e.g. Raymond
Davis, a CIA contractor, was whisked away from
the Pakistani judicial system after shooting and
killing two Pakistani citizens.
It is normal for American diplomats to receive
diplomatic immunity. Rather abnormally, the
American government expects that even its nondiplomats should receive immunity.
American
government
allows
no
foreign
government officials, including a powerful person
like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the
International Monetary Fund, any immunity from
American laws. Yet it expects its government
officials to be — in theory and in practice —
immune from other countries’ legal courts.
Whenever any US government official faces the
threat of prosecution in a foreign legal court, he or
she is quietly whisked away, as few governments
can withstand bilateral pressure from the US
government.
Cheer India cheer….!!!!!
All governments in the world are aware of this
double stand attitude of the US government. On
one hand, the US government is second to none in
defending the rule of law at home. On the other
hand, the US government is second to none in
defending immunity for its officials from all foreign
legal courts and judicial procedures.
This double stand attitude of the US government
explains why virtually every other government in
the world was quietly cheering on the Indian
government as it insisted on total reciprocity in the
treatment of Indian and American officials.
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They hoped that India would finally succeed in
persuading the US government to accept a level
playing field in dealing with other countries. The
Indian government’s success in persuading the
American government to allow Khobragade to
return home and not face charges in an American
court will therefore be cheered all around the world.
Most countries realise that they would not have had
the weight to shift the US government. India is one
of the few who could do so. And in doing so, India
has also enhanced the rights and standing of other
foreign diplomats on American territory.
INDIA-CHINA
CHINA’S PEACEFUL RISE – IS IT SO?
China’s peaceful rise or sometimes referred to as
China’s “peaceful development” is an official policy
in China under the leadership of Hu Jintao. The
term was implemented to rebut against the “China
threat theory”. As China emerged as a great
political, economic and military power, China
wanted to ensure other countries that its rise will
not be a threat to peace and security. China
implements this policy by internally harmonizing
China’s society and externally, promoting a peaceful
international environment. It seeks to characterize
China as a responsible world leader, emphasizes soft
power, and vows that China is committed to its
own internal issues and improving the welfare of its
own people before interfering with world affairs.
The term suggests that China seeks to avoid
unnecessary international confrontation.
For roughly a decade, the Chinese government has
spared no effort in trying to convince the rest of the
world that china’s rise will be peaceful. The issue of
China’s peaceful rise has always been remained a hot
topic of debate between the realists and Liberal
minded intellectuals.
Realists argue that China would behave like a
traditional great power (that means may be she use
its financial and military power to dominate others)
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Liberal minded analysts hope that, given the right
incentives, such as the economic benefits of
globalization, China will behave responsible and
become a stakeholder in the existing international
order.
Chinese stand on Arunachal Pradesh (Staple visa
controversy and protest following the visit of
President), China’s controversial intrusion into the
Indian territories inside the Line of Actual Control
and recently announced controversial Air defense
identification zone in East China sea have made the
China’s peaceful rise doubtful.
As Chinese foreign policy began to grow more
assertive, particularly on territorial disputes, realists
who insisted that China would behave like a
traditional great power gained greater credibility.
Really, Is China behaving like a traditional great
power? Answer lies in Announcement of East
China Sea ADIZ
With the most recent escalation of tensions between
China and Japan over the ownership of a group of
small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea,
there is little doubt that advocates of China’s
peaceful rise are losing the debate. What makes the
latest round of escalations special is the way Beijing
chose to challenge Japan’s sovereignty claims over
the Senkaku Islands, as Japan calls them (they are
called the Diaoyu in China).
At the heart of the dispute are eight uninhabited
islands and rocks in the East China Sea. To be sure,
this particular dispute began in 1972, when the
United States handed over administrative authority
(but not legal ownership) to Japan. For four
decades, China and Japan had adhered to a tacit
agreement over the status of the islands: Japan
would retain administrative control and claim
sovereignty, and China would contest the
sovereignty but not challenge Japan’s administrative
control.
This understanding broke down in late 2012 when
Tokyo was forced to “nationalise” the islands in
order to prevent an extremist right-wing leader
from purchasing some of the islands from their
private owners, a development the Japanese
government thought would lead to a confrontation
with Beijing. China regarded this as a step
tantamount to formally establishing sovereignty
claims over the islands.
As part of its response, Beijing has gradually
escalated. After repeatedly sending ships and planes
into the territorial waters and airspace of the islands
to challenge Japanese claims of exclusive
administrative control, On November 23, 2013 Chain
announced the East China Sea Air Identification
Zone covering most of the East China Sea.
The Chinese announcement of ADIZ met with
strong protest from Japan, US, South Korea and
other ASEAN countries.
Even though sovereign nations are not prohibited by
international law to set up ADIZs, and more than a
dozen countries have done so (including Japan and
the US), China’s ADIZ in the East China Sea
overlaps with those of Japan and South Korea. Most
alarmingly, it also covers the airspace over the
disputed islands.
Beijing’s intentions are crystal clear. By setting up
an overlapping ADIZ over the disputed islands, it
has mounted a legal challenge to Tokyo’s claims of
administrative control. Under the rules announced
by Beijing, all aircraft flying through China’s ADIZ
must com
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Moreover, International community is worried
about three consequences.
First, Beijing’s attempts to enforce the ADIZ in
future could result in accidental military clashes
with Japanese and US military aircraft in the zone,
thus starting a conflict no one really wants. Similar
attempts could also lead to aviation disasters similar
to the infamous KAL 007 incident (when a Soviet
MiG shot down a South Korean jumbo jet in 1983).
municate their flight plans and identify themselves
to the Chinese military, which will enforce the
ADIZ. Obviously, Beijing views compliance with
these rules as recognition of China’s legal control
over the airspace over the islands and, by
implication, the islands themselves.
Japan’s Response:
Beijing’s escalation has infuriated Tokyo, which
promptly announced that it would not recognise
China’s ADIZ, and instructed its civilian airlines not
to comply with China’s rules.
Japan also openly challenged China by sending
military aircraft through China’s ADIZ without
notifying the Chinese military (South Korea has also
dispatched military jets into the Chinese ADIZ).
US’s Response:
Caught in the middle is the US, a treaty ally of
Japan.
Eager to show solidarity with Japan but reluctant to
allow the dispute to escalate further, Washington
has opted for a middle course.
It has flatly rejected China’s new ADIZ and sent
two unarmed B-52s through the Chinese ADIZ
almost immediately after Beijing’s announcement.
However, to avoid potential catastrophic accidents
in the zone, the US government has also “advised” its
civilian airlines to comply with the Chinese ADIZ.
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Second, encouraged by this precedent, China could
set up a similar ADIZ in the South China Sea, using
the same tactic to assert its maritime claims.
Third, emboldened by the lack of a unified response
from the international community to its unilateral
move, China might be tempted to flex its muscles
even more recklessly in future.
The ultimate question to ask is whether China gains
or losses more in this case.
Tactically, we must concede that Beijing’s move is
brilliant: it is controversial, but not illegal.
Its new ADIZ should help China achieve its
objective of contesting Japan’s sovereignty claims
through clever legal manoeuvres.
But strategically, we would find it hard to deny that
Beijing has lost more.
China has lost credibility of its claim of peaceful
rise and it has also pushed Asian nations, bound by
their fear of an assertive China, closer to each other
and to America.
Image URL
http://rt.com/files/news/taiwan-us-china-japan919/map-locating-disputed-south.jpg
http://cdn.staticeconomist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/origin
alsize/images/2013/11/articles/main/20131130_ldm222.p
ng
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Reference : Based on editorial published in Indian
Express, wikipedia
wants a military doctrine that will leverage the
Japanese lead in technology, focus on Chinese
vulnerabilities and let Tokyo stare in the Beijing in
the Eye.
CHINA’S ASSERTIVE FOREIGN POLICY AND
JAPAN’S GROWING MILITARIZATION
The second most important development in this
regard is release of country’s first-ever national
security strategy. This comes just weeks after China
declared a new air-defense identification zone in the
East China Sea, covering the disputed islands that
Japan calls the Senkaku and the China the Diaoyus.
Abe has underlined the importance of a “dynamic
deterrence” and “active defense” against the
growing Chinese military challenge. Japan will now
develop a marine corps of its own, integrate
unmanned drones into defense plans, strengthen its
capacity for real-time military intelligence, and
respond effectively and immediately to Chinese
intrusion into the disputed air and maritime spaces.
China’s growing nationalism and assertive foreign
policy particularly over territorial disputes have
made Tokyo to think over its pacifist constitution
particularly article 9.
The constitution, also known as the “postwar
constitution or the “peace constitution”, is most
characteristic and famous for the renunciation of
the right to wage war contained in article 9.
The constitution was drawn up under the Allied
occupation that followed World War II and has
intended to replace Japan’s previous militaristic and
absolute monarchy system with a form of liberal
democracy. Currently, it is a rigid document and no
subsequent amendment has made to it since its
adoption. Due to this pacifist constitution, Japan
relies on US for external security matters.
After returning to power in 2012, Abe has set about
transforming Japan’s foreign policy. He has
emphasized on three pillars of Japan’s foreign policy,
which are strengthening the Japan-U.S. Alliance,
deepening cooperative relations with neighboring
countries, and strengthening economic diplomacy as
a means to promoting the revitalization of the
Japanese economy.
To counter the rising dominance of China on Asia
Pacific, Abe has put stress on transforming Japan’s
military strategy and forming close alliances with
US, ASEAN, India, Australia and South Korea.
Japan’s growing militarization
Abe has proposed a 5 percent increase in defence
spending to $240 billion for the next five years. As
Abe is very well aware that Tokyo can never match
Beijing’s rapidly growing defense budget or the size
of the PLA (People’s liberation Army), he therefore,
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Abe is complementing changes in the military
strategy with policy change and institutional
innovation. He wants to lift the ban on Japan’s arms
export in order to strengthen the domestic defense
industrial base. He is also trying to dismantle the
many self-imposed political constraints on Japan’s
ability to cooperate with other nations in securing
the region from military threats.
Alliances
Abe is very well aware that Japan on its own can’t
balance China, whose comprehensive power is
growing by day. Therefore he is focusing on making
closer alliances with US, India, ASEAN, and
Australia. Alliances, therefore, are central to Abe’s
strategy, specially the longstanding one with the
US.
As the China’s dominance on the region is growing
and that of US is declining, some in Japan are indeed
questioning the overreliance on US for security.
Some in Japan also doubts the US commitments.
Will the US defend Japan against China, when
Washington’s stakes in a good relationship with
Beijing have risen so much in recent years?
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Abe is now focusing more on developing strategic
partnerships with key ASEAN neighbors. In an
intense round of diplomacy over the last year, Abe
travelled to all the 10 countries of Southeast Asia
and held a summit meeting with the leaders of
ASEAN in Tokyo in December. The message from
Abe was that Japan was not going to stand by and
quietly watch Southeast Asia slide into China’s
sphere of influence.
China and Korea have reacted harshly to this
development while the ASEAN countries are eager
to see Japan contribute actively to the construction
of a stable regional balance.
http://www.simplydecoded.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-securitydiamond.jpg
Reference: Based on Editorials published on Indian
Express.
INDIA-SRILANKA
India and Sri Lanka: Reshaping and Revamping the
Bilateral Channels
In the run-up to the January 20 this year meeting
here between fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Sri
Lanka, 275 Tamil fishermen lodged in various
prisons in Sri Lanka would be released from January
13.Tamil Nadu will in turn release 179 Sri Lankan
fishermen as requested by the Indian government to
facilitate the talks.
Abe’s “Democratic Security Diamond”
India-Sri Lanka Relations have traditionally been
cordial save a few hiccups from time to time. With
the near annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Sri Lankan forces with
tacit help from India, the relations have been
improved.
The day after Shinzo Abe was elected for a second
time as Prime Minister of Japan, He proposed
“Democratic Security Diamond” in Asia Pacific
whereby Australia, India, Japan and the US form a
diamond to safeguard maritime commons stretching
from Indian Ocean to the western Pacific.
Some has marked this attempt as a revival of his
controversial and short-lived 2007 initiative, the
quadrilateral dialogue or quadrilateral cooperation.
The proposal was not materialized at that time
because of strong protest from Beijing.
Image url:
http://insightsonindia.com
But there is an issue which needs frequent strong
diplomatic remedial measures, that is the “Constant
Trespassing of Indian Fishermen in Sri Lankan
Waters and Their Continuing Arrest and
Detention”.
Learning from the past in 2008, a Joint Working
Group (JWG) has been established in order to
identify the causes of frequent firing on Indian
Fishermen who mistakenly crossed over into Sri
Lankan waters.
In the JWG meeting, It was agreed by both sides
that high priority must be accorded to the issue of
fishermen and their livelihoods, which depend upon
fishing, and often tempt them to drift into the
island-nation territorial waters in the lure of a richer
catch.
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It was clearly mentioned in the JWG statement
that, “To ensure security and safety of fishermen,
both sides agreed that use of force cannot be
justified under any circumstances”
NEPAL
Further, the bordering countries had “Agreed to put
in place practical arrangements to deal with bona
fide Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen crossing the
International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL)…
keeping in mind the humanitarian and livelihood
dimensions of the fishermen issue”.
Learning from the directives of the Supreme Court
of India, now Nepal is all set to celebrate its New
Year with a set of electoral reforms into its
democratic system.
It may be uncharitable to link the earlier Sri Lankan
position to their perceived dependence on India at
the height of ‘Eelam War IV – just as it is improper
to link the recent spate of arrests to perception of
hostility in Tamil Nadu, or to India’s vote against Sri
Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva, twice in a row. Sri
Lanka has repeatedly indicated that their putting
pressure on the Tamil Nadu fishers is a result of
their own Tamil fishermen in the North and the
East of the country taking to their traditional trade
in a big way, in the months and years after the war.
Intermittently, there have been suggestions from
sections in the Colombo dispensation that spoke
about issues of sovereignty, territorial integrity and
State security.
Earlier a draft MoU on Development and
Cooperation in the field of fisheries was discussed
and the two sides agreed that such discussions will
continue.
Also regulatory measures for managing fishery
resources in the waters of the two countries were
discussed. Both sides recognised the need for a road
map to ensure security sustainability, livelihood
issue, safety and security of fishermen of both
countries.
The preparation and implementation of such a road
map will go long distance in sorting out the problem
relating to fishermen.
Reference: Based on editorials published in The
Hindu, Indian Express, http://www.PRSindia.com
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Nepal: Celebrating this
Empowering Democracy
NEW
YEAR
by
“For democracy to survive, it is essential that the
best available men should be chosen … for proper
governance of the country. This can be best
achieved through men of high moral and ethical
values who win the elections on a positive vote.”
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of
Nepal in its joint bench of justices Kalyan Shrestha
and Prakash Wasti issued the order responding to a
writ petition filed by two advocates.
With this decision, the ballot papers in coming
elections will now have a separate option “None of
the above or NOTA” to allow voters to cast
negative votes during the parliamentary or local
elections.
Citing the provisions enshrined in the interim
Constitution, which upholds sovereignty of the
people, the writ petitioners had demanded that
voters must be allowed to cast negative votes in
election. “The current provision infringes on the
people’s right to reject a candidate,” the writ
petition said.
The court in its order has asked the Prime Minister’s
Office, Election Commission and the Ministry of
Law
Justice,
Constituent
Assembly
and
Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) to ensure negative
voting provision in the electoral process.
Following the apex court’s decision, Nepal has
become the 15th country to ensure negative voting
in elections. India, South Africa, Sweden, Finland,
France, Belgium, Brazil, Bangladesh, Greece, among
others, have introduced negative voting provision in
their election laws.
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Giving right to a voter “Not to vote for any
candidate” while protecting his right of secrecy is
extremely important in a democracy. Such an
option gives the voter the right to express his
disapproval of the kind of candidates being put up
by the parties.
Gradually, there will be a systemic change and the
parties will be forced to accept the will of the
people and contest candidates who are known for
their integrity. This will accelerate effective political
participation in the present state of the democratic
system and the voters will in fact be empowered.
The right to cast a negative vote, “at a time when
electioneering is in full swing, will foster the purity
of the electoral process and also fulfil one of its
objectives, namely, wide participation of people.”
INDIA-NEPAL BORDER SECURITY ISSUES
Why do we need to concentrate on India-Nepal
border security issue?
The arrests of two high profile terrorists, Adul
Karim Tunda and Mohammed Ahmed Sidibappa
alias Yasin Bhatkal have brought the India-Nepal
border into sharp focus. Differences of opinion,
however, exist as to the exact location from where
these two terrorists were arrested. While India
maintains that Tunda was arrested at the BanbasaMahendernagar border point and Bhatkal in Raxual,
some media reports indicate that Tunda was
arrested from Kathmandu Airport and Bhatkal was
picked up from a hideout in Pokhara during a joint
operation with Nepalese law enforcement
authorities. Whatever maybe the case, these arrests
highlight the fact that terrorist and criminal groups
are increasingly using Nepal as a base because the
open border with India allows them to enter and
exit India with ease.
The seeds for an ‘open’ border between India and
Nepal can be found in the Treaty of Peace and
Friendship which the two countries signed in 1950.
Articles VI and VII of the treaty specify that
citizens of both countries have equal rights in
matters of residence, acquisition of property,
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employment and movement in each other’s
territory, thus providing for an open border between
the two countries. These provisions allowed the
citizens of India and Nepal to cross their shared
borders without passport and visa restrictions.
During the colonial times, the British required
Gorkhas for the Indian army and the Nepalese
market for their finished goods. These requirements
necessitated unrestricted cross-border movement of
both goods and people. After independence, India
continued with the practice of an open border with
Nepal.
The open border has been misused by terrorists and
criminals. Likewise, human trafficking and
smuggling of Ganja from Nepal and pharmaceutical
preparations from India is also quite rampant. More
recently, the Indo-Nepal border has also become a
route for smuggling of gold from Tibet into India.
The problem is further aggravated by intelligence
inputs that Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)
has been using Nepalese territory to carry out antiIndia activities since the 1990s. Encroachments in
the no-man’s land by removing or damaging border
pillars have added another dimension to the
problem. Security agencies believe that the buildings
which have come up in the no man’s land could be
used as a hideout as well as for storing arms and
explosives.
Steps taken by both the countries related to this
security issue.
Transforming the border from an ‘open border’ to a
‘closed border’ would severely damage these ties
with disastrous consequences for the citizens and
economies of both countries. It would therefore be
prudent to keep the border open but manage it
more effectively by strengthening security through
effective law enforcement, installing screening and
detection devices at the check points, and enhancing
intelligence networks.
Policymakers in India have taken note of the
deteriorating security situation along the IndiaNepal border and have undertaken a number of
measures in response. For instance, the presence of
the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) along the Indo-
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Nepal border has been further augmented with the
construction of five additional Border Out Posts
(BOPs). The SSB has been granted the powers to
search, arrest and seizure under the Criminal
Procedure Code as well as powers to arrest under
the Passport Act. In addition, 1,377 km. of strategic
roads are also being built along the border to
facilitate the easy movement of the border guarding
personnel. The SSB is also installing surveillance
cameras along the border. For addressing the twin
objectives of security and trade facilitation, two
integrated check posts with state of the art
detection and screening devices as well as support
facilities are being constructed at Raxual and
Jogbani.
The Nepalese security agencies had conducted a
study and identified 18 types of crimes that are
widespread along the India-Nepal border including
human, arms and drugs trafficking, unauthorised
trade, smuggling of counterfeit currency,
kidnapping, robbery, and extortion. They have also
prepared and enforced a Cross-Border Crime
Control Action Plan 2013 to curb trans-border
crimes. But more needs to be done. India and Nepal
have to collaborate and coordinate their efforts to
improve the situation along their border by setting
up joint task forces to investigate cross-border
crimes, sharing real time intelligence, conducting
coordinated or joint patrolling, re-installing missing
border pillars and repairing the damaged ones and
jointly developing infrastructure along the border.
INDIA-MAYNMAR
Myanmar – India’s Entry Ticket Towards the
ASEAN
India and Myanmar share special ties of culture,
language, trade and tradition rooted in historical
linkages through India’s North East. India sees a
direct relationship between peace and stability
across the borders with Myanmar with development
and prosperity of its own North Eastern region.
Over the past year, India’s close and multifaceted
relationship with Myanmar has been further
http://insightsonindia.com
strengthened through an exchange of visits at the
highest level.
The State visit of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan
Singh to Myanmar in May 2012, the first visit by an
Indian Prime Minister after a gap of 25 years, was a
major milestone in bilateral relations. During the
visit, 12 Agreements and MoUs were signed,
including on the US$ 500 million Line of Credit; Air
Service Agreement; border area development.
Earlier, the President of Myanmar, U Thein Sein,
had paid a State visit to India in October 2011. India
is working closely with Myanmar on various
infrastructure development and cooperation
projects, including in the field of roads, waterways,
power, health, education and industrial training,
telecommunications, and others.
Myanmar is also central to India’s Look East Policy.
Being the only ASEAN Country with which India
shares a land boundary, Myanmar is India’s gateway
to the larger ASEAN Community. India is actively
engaged with Myanmar in improving cross border
connectivity and expects that the direct and smooth
road connectivity to South East Asia through
Myanmar will be materialized by the end of this
decade greatly facilitating trade, tourism and travel
in the region.
The significant political and economic reforms
instituted by the Government of Myanmar over the
past year have led to an increased international
interest in Myanmar. India remains committed to
extending all possible assistance and support to the
process of national reconciliation and the further
strengthening of democracy in Myanmar.
Further, it is pertinent to mention that there are no
contentious issues looming over India-Myanmar
bilateral channels. A number of agreements for
enhancing bilateral cooperation have been signed
between
the two
countries. Institutional
mechanisms for facilitating regular dialogue on a
range of issues of bilateral interest have also been
established. Indian Consulate General in Mandalay
was re-opened in 2002 and the Consulate General of
Myanmar was set up in Kolkata. India has been
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responsive to the needs of friendly people of
Myanmar and has been providing relief materials
and assistance.
2. An Advanced Centre for Agricultural Research
and Education (ACARE) along with a Rice Bio Park
at Yezin Agriculture University Nay Pyi Taw.
The recent exchanges of visits between both
countries at political and other levels had imparted a
new momentum to the bilateral relationship.
Recognising the importance of connectivity, India in
coordination with Myanmar is implementing the
various connectivity projects:
Recent Visit: October 2013
Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport
Project, building/upgrading 71 bridges on the
Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo road; pledged to
construct/upgrade
the
Kalewa-Yargyi
section of the trilateral highway which
envisages seamless connectivity between
India, Myanmar and Thailand by 2016.
Gen. Bikram Singh is on a two-day official visit to
Myanmar. President Thein and Gen. Singh held
discussions on the two countries’ bilateral friendship
forged
through
successive
governments,
implementation of the agreements signed during the
latest visits of the Myanmar president and Indian
prime minister to each other’s country and India’s
assistance to Myanmar’s human resource
development.
Government of India is also closely working
with Government of Myanmar to
implement the MOU on Border Area
Development where India has granted an
assistance of USD 5 Million each year for
next five years. The first year project is
under implementation and under which 21
schools, 17 health centres and 8 bridges are
being built in Chin State and Naga self
Administered Zone of Myanmar.
They also touched on cooperation between the two
countries’ armed forces, India’s offer of scholarships
for Myanmar trainees, its assistance for modernising
Myanmar’s armed forces, Myanmar’s help in
cracking down on Indian rebels on the Indian
border, patrolling for border security and signing of
an agreement on cooperation in boundary affairs.
An India-Myanmar Industrial Training
Centre has been set up by HMT(I) in
Pakokku with the assistance of GOI, a
second centre is being set up in Myingyan.
Gen. Singh’s visit to Myanmar came after Indian
Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s tour to the country
in January this year.
Myanmar-India Centre for English Language
(MICELT),
a
Myanmar-India
Entrepreneurship Development Centre
(MIEDC) and an India-Myanmar Centre for
Enhancement of IT Skills (IMCEITS) have
been set up under GOI assistance and are
running successfully. GOI has again decided
to upgrade the IMCEITS with state of the
art equipment.
Positive Aspects:
Major Indian Projects in Myanmar
Development cooperation is a key of our
relationship and we have offered technical and
financial assistance for projects in Myanmar, both in
infrastructural and non- infrastructural areas.
These include:
GOI has also agreed to extend assistance in
setting up a Language Laboratories and EResource Centre at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw.
1. A national centre of excellence- The Myanmar
Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) being
set up at Mandalay;
Other projects include—
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Restoration of the Ananda Temple in Bagan,
Upgradation of the Yangon Children’s
Hospital, Sittwe General Hospital along with
proposed upgradation of Monywa General
Hospital.
Commercial and Economic Relations
There has been steady expansion of bilateral trade
from US$ 12.4 million in 1980-81 to US$ 1.92
million in 2012-13. India’s imports from Myanmar
are dominated by agricultural items (beans, pulses
and forest based products from 90% of our
imports). India’s main exports to Myanmar are
primary & semi-finished steel and pharmaceuticals.
India is the fourth largest trading partner of
Myanmar aster Thailand, Singapore and China. The
two countries have set a target of $3 billion by 2015.
At the institutional level, an Agreement for setting
up of a Joint Task Force between UMFCCI and CII
was signed in 2004. A Bilateral Investment
Promotion Agreement (BIPA) and a Double
Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) were also
signed in 2008.
India and Myanmar are both signatories to the IndiaASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, which was
signed in August 2009.
Myanmar is also a beneficiary country under India’s
Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for LDCs.
There has been regular interaction between CII,
FICCI and other important chambers of commerce
from India and the Union of Myanmar Federation of
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI).
The Joint Trade Committee (JTC) chaired by the
respective Commerce Ministers was set up in 2003
and has been effective in reviewing and setting
policy objectives for bilateral trade between the two
countries.
During the visit of Prime Minister to Myanmar,
Joint Trade and Investment Forum (JTIF) chaired
by prominent businessmen from both sides was set
up. The 1st JTIF was held in Yangon in June 2013.
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles and
http://insightsonindia.com
Myanmar Minister of Commerce also attended and
addressed the 1st JTIF.
Border Trade
India and Myanmar signed a border trade agreement
in 1994 and have two operational border trade
points: Moreh-Tamu and Zowkhatar –Rhi on the
1643 km long border.
A third border trade point is proposed to be opened
at Avakhung- Pansat/Somrai.
The border trade between India and Myanmar had a
quantum jump during the year 2012-13 touching
US$ 36.2 million from US$ 15.4 million. First
meeting of the India-Myanmar Border Trade
Committee was held in Moreh (Manipur) on
November 8, 2012. The meeting reviewed the
current status of border trade and discussed border
trade points/LCSs along with the proposed
expansion of items under border trade.
Trade Fair & Market Promotion
Recent trade promotion events include visit of the
Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) delegation to
Myanmar (26-31 August 2012), Federation of Indian
Export Organizations (FIEO) (3-7September 2012)
for ‘India Show’, EEPC delegation (13-19 January
2013), Bengal Chambers of Commerce (18-22
February 2013), Indian Chamber of Commerce and
FICCI (4-9 March 2013) and Calcutta Chamber of
Commerce (4-7 April 2013). India-Myanmar
Business and Investment Conclave in Monywa in
May 2013. Marker events including Business seminar
and b-2-b meetings were organized in Yangon and
Sittwe during the visit of Indian Naval Training Ship
– Sudharshini from March 6-9, 2013.
Training programmes
Myanmar is a beneficiary of training programmes
under different schemes such as
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Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation
(ITEC) Programme, Technical Cooperation
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Scheme (TCS) of Colombo Plan and also
various scholarships offered by the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) like
the General Cultural Scholarship Scheme
(GCSS),
Mekong
Ganga
Cultural
Scholarship Scheme (MGCSS), Ayush
Scholarship to BIMSTEC member countries.
A night of India & Myanmar Dance was organized at
National Theatre in collaboration with students of
the Art and Culture University of Yangon. India is
also working on the restoration/preservation of
Ananda Temple in Bagan.
A large number of participants from different
Ministries of Myanmar Government attended
various courses offered under the ITEC/TCS
scholarships. In 2012-13 the slots under ITEC/TCS
were doubled to 500 from 250, which has again
been enhanced to 525 for this year because of the
enthusiastic response from Myanmar.
The origin of the Indian community in Myanmar is
traced back to the mid-19th century with the advent
of the British rule in Lower Burma in 1852. The two
cities of the Myanmar namely Yangon and Mandalay
had a dominating presence of Indians in various
fields such as civil services, education, trade and
commerce during the British rule. According to 1983
official census of Myanmar the number of Person of
Indian origin (PIOs) in Myanmar is 428428. A large
number of the Indian community (nearly 150,000)
live in Bago (Zeyawaddy and Kuayktaga) and
Tanintharyi Region and Mon State and are primarily
engaged in farming. The NRI families in Myanmar
mainly live in
The
specialized
training
programme
for
Parliamentarians and Parliamentary secretariat were
also organized where 42 MPs and 30 staff attended
the training course. Myanmar diplomats have also
been attending training courses at the Foreign
Service Institute of India along with other foreign
diplomats.
urban/cities and are engaged in export import
business or are employees of MNCs based in India,
Singapore and Thailand.
Cultural Exchange
The cultural wing of the Mission has been
organizing regular cultural activities besides having
active Yoga & Bharatnatyam classes with dedicated
instructors from India.
An International Conference on Buddhist Cultural
Heritage was organized on the sidelines of which,
Buddhist Cultural Heritage Photo Exhibition and
Book on Buddhism was organized in Shwedagon
Pagoda. The Sarnath Style Buddha Statue donated
by GOI to people of Myanmar and installed at the
Shwedagon Pagoda premises was also unveiled in
Yangon in December 2012.
Other cultural events include a Carnatic Music Nite
by Padmashri Sudha Ragunathan, book reading
function by famous author, Dr. Amitav Ghosh, an
Odissi dance performance by a leading troupe from
India and local dances by Myanmar troupes in
connection with the ASEAN-India Car Rally.
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Indian Diaspora
Air links with India / Convenient Travel Routes
1. Thai Airways flies daily to various cities in India
via Bangkok;
2. Indian Airlines flies Kolkata-Yangon (to-and-fro)
twice a week on Monday and Fridays.
Cooperation between India and Myanmar in the
regional/sub-regional context
ASEAN:
Myanmar became a member of ASEAN in July
1997. As the only ASEAN country which shares a
land border with India, Myanmar is a bridge
between India and ASEAN. A few proposals for
cooperation have been implemented and some are
under discussions with Myanmar within the
framework of ASEAN’s IAI programme.
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BIMSTEC:
Myanmar became a member of BIMSTEC in
December 1997. Myanmar is a signatory to the
BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement. Myanmar is the
lead country for the energy sector. Myanmar trades
mostly with Thailand and India in the BIMSTEC
region. Myanmar’s major exports to India are
agricultural products like beans, pulses and maize
and forest products such as teak and hardwoods. Its
imports from India include chemical products,
pharmaceuticals, electrical appliances and transport
equipment. The 13th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting
was held in Myanmar in January 2011. The 3rd
BIMSTEC Summit meeting is expected to be held
in Myanmar during the year.
Mekong Ganga Cooperation:
Myanmar is a member of the Mekong Ganga
Cooperation (MGC) since its inception in
November 2000. MGC is an initiative by six
countries – India and five ASEAN countries namely,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam –
for cooperation in the fields of tourism, education,
culture, transport and communication. The
chairmanship of MGC is assumed by member
countries in alphabetical order.
SAARC:
village near Moreh but they were persuaded
not to do so until a joint survey between the
two is conducted. India has asked Myanmar
to setup a Joint Border Working
Group(JBWG) to address the issue of
demarcation of border, extends to over
1,600 km, between, the two countries. As
per the understanding, there cannot be any
construction within 10 metres from the
boundary.
Future Potential and Prospects:
1. Geopolitically, Myanmar is important for India in
order to counter Chinese presence in South East
Asia by creating its own sphere of economic zones.
As, India’s Investment in Myanmar is around $275
million. India should use this opportunity to earn
the confidence of the people as well as the
government of Myanmar.
2. The border trade and investment facilitation as
well as cooperation in services and technology must
be addressed with greater economic potential. Both
countries should also evolve measures to capture the
attention of private players.
3. It is believed that tax free markets will come up
along the borders. For this, a preliminary agreement
has been inked between Chin State of Myanmar and
the Govt. of India to open such markets, which will
allow merchants to trade around 40 commodities.
Myanmar was given the status of observer in
SAARC in August 2008.
Negative Aspects
INDIA - JAPAN
1. India and Myanmar trade relations have
improved at an appreciable rate, but still
China is its largest trading partner and also
the potential source of foreign Investments.
2. Myanmar has raised its voice against the
large scale poppy cultivation by the
Manipuri People in Myanmar and hope that
this issue of environmental harm would be
resolved very early.
3. Recently, Myanmar troops had attempted to
construct a base camp next to Holenphai
http://insightsonindia.com
(A comprehensive
relationship)
coverage
of
India-Japan
BEGINNING OF NEW ERA IN INDIA JAPAN
RELATIONS POST 2000
Visit of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to India- A
new beginning
After 1998 nuclear tests, India and Japan relations
remained nearly frozen for three years. However, a
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turnaround in the ties was achieved shortly
afterwards, when Japanese Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori visited India in August 2000. He
urged both countries to build a new global
partnership that would address a wide spectrum of
international issues like nuclear disarmament, antiterrorism, the restructuring of the UN, maritime
safety, technology transfer, environment, etc. In
particular, he wanted both India and Japan to take
advantage of the IT revolution in building a new
partnership.
The same point was reiterated by the Indian prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he visited
Japan in December 2001. The Joint Communique
he issued with his Japanese counterpart Koizumi
Junichiro on 10 December provides a
comprehensive framework for the future directions
of Indo-Japanese relations. Both leaders recognized
that “unbounded opportunities exist especially in
the area of Information and Communication
Technology in which there are extraordinarily
strong complementarities between Japan and India.”
They wanted their two countries to help bridge the
digital divide so that the benefits of IT revolution
could be shared by all.
Reasons that compelled Japan to conclude global
partnership with India
1. During the 1990s, there was considerable
misunderstanding in Japan on President Bill
Clinton’s overtures to China and many
Japanese leaders wondered whether it would
be wise for Japan to continue to depend
solely on its alliance with the US.
2. This skepticism was further deepened at the
time of the currency crisis in 1997-98 in
Southeast Asia. During the crisis, Japan’s
proposal to create an Asian Monetary Fund
(AMF) with a capital of US $10 billion for
assisting the countries affected by the crisis
was turned down by the US, as it did not
entertain a prominent role for Japan in the
region.
3. It is relevant in this context to note that
Japan at the same time was promoting
ASEAN+3, a new institutional mechanism
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that would bring greater coordination with
China and South Korea and link it up with
ASEAN countries.
All these developments indicated Japan’s anxiety to
increase its diplomatic options outside the ambit of
US Japan alliance. It is in this backdrop of Japan’s
quest for seeking a broader Asian arena to
safeguard its own interests that Mori’s call for a
global partnership between India and Japan was
made.
Towards Annual summitscooperation
Building greater
The idea of global partnership received a fresh
impetus from the top leaders of the two
countries. The visit made by Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi in 2005 was a landmark that set
in motion a process by which the Prime Ministers of
the two countries would meet annually in either of
the countries. Since then eight annual summit
meetings have been held. The joint statement
contained an eight-point agenda which provided a
new direction to the bilateral relations. One of its
objectives was to develop a well-structured
framework for security dialogue and cooperation
between the two countries. It was agreed that both
countries would pursue their partnership at three
levels.
1. Bilaterally, they would strive to strengthen
the prevailing political and
economic
links.
2. At the regional level, they would promote
peace and security in Asia by contributing to
regional cooperation in such areas as
maritime security and energy selfsufficiency.
3. At the global level, both would cooperate in
areas such as UN reforms, nuclear
disarmament, counter terrorism and
environment.
Beginning of India-Japan strategic and Global
Partnership
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The second summit was held in Tokyo in December
2006 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met
his new Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. He was
keen to establish a close rapport with Abe who, on
his side, was strongly desirous of cultivating closer
relations with India. Their joint statement entitled
‘Towards India-Japan Strategic and Global
Partnership’ constitutes a long and detailed
roadmap for building a multilayered network of
bilateral relations. Broadly, it proposed that
following actions be taken:
a) Holding annual summit meetings between the
top leaders of the two countries;
b) Institutionalizing strategic dialogue at the level of
foreign ministers;
c) Pursuing negotiations for the conclusion of a
bilateral
economic
partnership
agreement/comprehensive economic cooperation
agreement;
d) Establishing of a business leaders forum;
e) Cooperating in the field of science and
technology;
f) Encouraging of people-to-people exchanges;
g) Cooperating in multilateral fora like the UN,
SAARC, EAS and ARF and;
h) Cooperating in areas like energy, environment
and global trade.
Eighth bilateral summit in Tokyo in 2013 –
reflecting a new trend
The Bilateral annual summits started since 2005
have been conducted regularly till now and we have
been successfully completed sixty years of
diplomatic ties.
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Japan
in May 2013 to conclude eighth Annual summit in
Tokyo. The Tokyo summit took place at a time
when both countries face serious territorial frictions
http://insightsonindia.com
with China. The Ladakh crisis arising out of China’s
controversial intrusion into the Indian territories
inside the Line of Actual Control demonstrated the
unpredictable nature of their bilateral relations.
Though China agreed to withdraw to its earlier
position after India’s rather tough stance, the
incident left a long trail of bitterness. Many believe
that Beijing’s withdrawal was due to its concern to
see that Prime Minister Li’s scheduled official visit
to India was not affected in any way.
Japan continues to face tremendous pressure from
China in the maritime sphere, particularly since
2010 when a Chinese ship rammed a Japanese coast
guard vessel. China’s relentless pursuit of its claims
to the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands became far more
intense after September 2012 following the Japanese
government’s purchase of three of the islands. On
almost a daily basis China’s surveillance ships
intrude into Japan’s territorial waters around the
islands and Chinese air forces have also violated
Japanese air space in the area.
For a long time, the partnership was centered on
economic matters such as development loans, trade
and investment. But it has diversified to cover a
wide spectrum of interests including security,
counter terrorism, sea-lanes, UN reforms, energy
security and climate change. This year’s bilateral
summit in Tokyo reflects this trend.
India’s look east policy and mutual interests with
Japan
New Delhi has optimally utilized its Look east
policy to foster its deeper relations with Japan
particularly with regard to forging the foundations
of a potentially far-reaching economic and strategic
partnership with Japan. As pointed out by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, “Our relationship with
Japan has been at the heart of our Look East Policy.”
In addition to their shared concerns about growing
financial and military strength of China, New Delhi
and Tokyo have found mutual interests in their
engagement of Southeast Asia. Both are working
actively to support Burma’s political and economic
opening; investing in regional trade frameworks for
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open economic exchange with member states of
ASEAN; and engaging strategically important
Indonesia and Vietnam. Both are playing a greater
role in ASEAN-led institutions not only to boost
regional webs of economic connectivity, but,
importantly, to prevent regional clubs from tilting in
a sino-centric direction.
India is emerging as a favored destination in Asia for
Japanese FDI. DIPP (Department of Policy and
Promotion) statistics show that Japanese companies
have made actual investments of $14.85 billion to
India between April 2000 and August 2013. This
accounted for 7% of total FDI inflow into India and
made Japan the 4th largest investor in India (top
three being Mauritius, Singapore, U.K.).
INDIA – JAPAN Economic Relationship:
END OF COLD WAR ERA AND INDIA’S
ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION
The launching of the economic liberalization
programme in India in 1991 was a landmark
development in the post-independent economic
history of India. The new policy had placed India on
the road to free and market economy.
Japan, which had always entertained deep
misgivings about India’s earlier inward-looking
economic strategy based on import substitution,
welcomed the liberalization policy.
Japanese foreign direct investment into India
The Economic reforms coincided with a period of
global surge in FDI outflows. Investment outflows
from Japan also registered an impressive rise even
from the 1980s. During this period, US, Europe,
China and ASEAN countries remained top
destinations of investment for Japanese companies.
Though economic liberalization policy of India was
welcomed by Japan, Investments in India remained
far below compared to other countries. The reasons
were numerous i.e. issues related to infrastructure,
custom clearance, taxation, land acquisition, official
bottlenecks in India and cheap labour and
investment friendly climate in others countries.
The period following the nuclear tests by India in
1998, Japanese companies hesitated in investing in
India. The diplomatic relations remained nearly
frozen during this period and so the economic
relations. It was only after the visit of Japanese
Prime Minister Mori, the relations became normal.
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According to the Japanese External Trade
Organization, (JETRO), Japanese firms increasingly
prefer India as an investment destination over
China. The availability of a large market and
abundance of semi-skilled and skilled workforce
make India an attractive destination.
In the private sector, Japanese investments in India
have been mainly in the form of mergers and
acquisitions( M & R), as is evidenced from JapaneseIndian companies ties like Ranbaxy-Daiichi Sankyo,
Hero-Honda, Tata- DOCOMO, etc. which have
made sizeable investments in India.
The majority of investments have been in traditional
fields like automobiles, auto parts and electronics,
although some companies have invested in
businesses like pharmaceuticals (EISAI), health
drinks (Yakuruto), pulp (Nihon Koso) and rice
processing (Yanmar). Japan’s small and medium
enterprises have also started to discover India as the
new growth market.
Share of Japan in FDI equity inflows from April
2000 to august 2013
1. Rank: Japan ranks 4
2. Percentage share of total FDI inflows: is
7.36%
3. Total FDI Inflows from Japan: are US$ 14.85
billion
Top sectors that attracted FDI equity inflows (from
April 2000 to August 2013), from Japan, are:
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1. Services Sector (19%)
2. Construction Development: Townships,
Housing, Built-Up Infrastructure and
Construction-Development Projects (11%)
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Japanese exports to India picked up momentum
after the CEPA came into effect, but India’s exports
to Japan have not seen much of an increase.
3. Telecommunications (6%)
4. Computer Software & Hardware (6%)
5. Drugs & Pharmaceuticals (6%)
Portfolio investment and its growth
Another trend that deserves to be noted is the
steady increase in the number of portfolio funds
through which the Japanese could invest in the
Indian stock market. The India Portfolio Fund that
was started only in 2004 has already attracted huge
Japanese investments into the Indian stock market.
The total asset of the Japanese portfolio investment
funds amounted to $8.2 billion in March 2007.
Bilateral trade
Trade between Japan and India had never been
impressive. Japan has always enjoyed favorable
balance of trade with India except in 2001 and 2002.
Improving bilateral trade between India and Japan
has always been a priority agenda for both the
countries.
There has not been any significant change in the
composition of trade and the major items of
India’s exports to Japan continue to be gems
and jewellery, marine products, minerals, iron
ore and textiles whereas Japan’s exports have
been mainly centred on machinery, transport
equipment, electronic goods, chemicals and
metal products. In other words, Japan’s exports to
India consist of products that are on the higher side
of the value chain, but India’s exports to Japan
cover only the lower levels of the value ladder. Any
significant breakthrough in the bilateral trade can
occur only if India is able to diversity its exports.
In 2012-13 India-Japan bilateral trade touched US$
18.6 billion. Indian exports to Japan were at US$ 6
billion, and imports at US$12.5 billion. In effect,
India’s exports and deficit were nearly equal.
Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Realizing this in November 2004, the then Prime
Minister of Japan, Mr. Junichiro Koizumi and the
Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh agreed
to set up a Joint Study Group (JSG) to study all
aspects and give its recommendations on
strengthening economic relations between the two
countries. The JSG in its Report of June 2006
concluded that there was a huge potential to deepen
and expand existing bilateral economic relations.
The negotiations for Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA) commenced in
January 2007 and were concluded after fourteen
rounds in September 2010. The Japan- India
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
finally came into effect in August 2011.
It covers such areas as trade in goods and services,
investments, intellectual property rights, customs
procedure. CEPA goal is to abolish tariffs over 94
per cent items bilaterally traded over a period of
next ten years.
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The ODA has been the core component of the
bilateral partnership for decades now and India was
the first country to receive Japanese assistance
(1958), following Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s
historic visit to Tokyo in 1957.
In 1990s Japan became the largest donor to India.
Even at a time when Japan’s overall ODA volume
has shrinking to declining economy after 2003, its
assistance to India markedly increased. This indicates
the importance that Japan attaches to its partnership
with India.
In general terms the basic objective of Japanese
ODA loans is to facilitate long-term, low interest
funds for the self-help efforts of developing
countries for their socio-economic infrastructure
development.
Japanese ODA has three categories- bilateral loans,
grants and technical assistance. Loans are extended
at the government to government level on the basis
of extensive negotiations and consultations. These
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loans are repayable within a prescribed time and
carry a fixed rate of interest.
Today the ODA loans are totally united and project
related. The sectors that benefitted most were
electric power, gas, transportation, irrigation and
environment. Some of the important projects that
received ODA were Delhi Mass Rapid Transport
system, Kolkata East-West Metro project, Chennai
Metro project etc.
India’s flagship projects and Japanese assistance:
Japan is closely associating itself with India’s three
mega power projects which would give a huge boost
to investment and industrial progress. The projects
are:
1) Delhi Mumbai Industrial corridor
Extremely cost competitive
There is a lot to do!!!!
The growing presence of Japanese companies in
India are obvious, as India offers a large domestic
market base, but mutual synergies between
businesses in the two countries are also driving
initiatives. Japan is a relatively labour-scarce, capital
and technology abundant country that complements
India’s rich spectrum of human capital.
India’s prowess in the software sector lends synergy
to Japan’s excellence in the hardware sector. India’s
abundance of raw-materials and minerals matches
well with Japan’s capabilities in technology and
capital
to
produce
knowledge
intensive
manufactured goods.
2) The dedicated fright corridor project
But still Japanese companies have apprehensions
about underdeveloped infrastructure, policy
bottlenecks, red tapism, Land acquisition problems,
Labor laws etc. It is imperative for India to ally these
apprehensions to tap the unrealized potential of
Indo- Japanese economic cooperation.
3) Chennai Bangalore Industrial Corridor
India-Japan complementarities
Japan:
Surplus capital with businesses and
technology powerhouse
Limited investment opportunities and
stagnant domestic demand
Aging population – 23% above 65 years
Limited availability of skilled and technical
manpower
High tech hardware and technological
capabilities
High cost economy
India:
Requires capital in all areas and technology
Many investment
opportunities with strong
domestic demand
Young population
Easy availability of scientific,
Technical and skilled personnel
Global powerhouse in software solutions
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INDIA-JAPAN DEFENSE AND SECURITY TIES
In July 2001, the first comprehensive bilateral
security dialogue was held in Tokyo to discuss
security and defence policies, the Asian security
environment and nuclear non-proliferation. The
dialogue was institutionalized as an annual event.
This was followed by greater military-to-military
cooperation between the two countries. Japan’s
participation in the International Fleet Review
held in Mumbai in February 2001 was an
important event followed by the visit of a
Maritime Self-defence Force (MSDF) squadron to
Chennai in May 2001.
Such mutual visits have been taking place regularly
since then, in addition to exchange of visits by
service chiefs.
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India and Japan also set up another mechanism on
counter-terrorism within the bilateral security
framework.
JOINT
DECLARATION
COOPERATION
ON
SECURITY
A truly epoch-making development in Defense and
Security arena took place on October 22 2008,
when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his
Japanese counterpart Taro Aso signed the Joint
Declaration on Security Cooperation on the
sidelines of third annual summit. This is a historic
document in that Japan has such arrangements
only with Australia and the US.
Undoubtedly, it was an outcome of the continuous
efforts made by the top leaders of both countries
over a long period. A study of the document shows
that it embodies almost all the pledges and
assurances made by them in various joint statements
and other official meetings since 2001.
One significant aspect of the Declaration is the
emphasis placed on the need for bilateral policy
coordination in regional affairs, as well as
bilateral cooperation within multilateral fora in Asia
such as the EAS(East Asia Summit), ARF(Asean
regional forum) and RECAAP (Regional
cooperation Agreement on combating piracy and
armed robbery).
The Declaration essentially seeks to build on the
existing tempo in defence ties, while attempting to
broaden the framework with a view to influencing
the emerging security architecture. In this context, it
has also envisaged an action plan that would define
specific measures to concretize security cooperation.
ACTION
PLAN
COOPERATION:
ON
SECURITY
In 2009 Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama visited
India and the two significant outcomes of this visit
were signing of an action plan to strengthen bilateral
security cooperation and initiation of 2+2 security
dialogue at the cabinet/official level.
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The Singh-Hatoyama action plan lays out a
comprehensive agenda that mentions specific
measures to be taken by the two countries in nine
areas, including strategic and defence cooperation
mechanisms, maritime security, safety of transport,
cooperation at the UN, disaster management,
and cooperation on disarmament and nonproliferation.
MARITIME SECURITY:
SHARED INTEREST
STRENGTHENING
As noted earlier, the India-Japan Action Plan pays
considerable attention to maritime security as
a critical area in the bilateral relations.
Both countries share identical interests and concerns
on the need to ensure the safety of the sealanes of communication (SLOCs) in the Indian
Ocean area. Maritime security in the Indian Ocean
calls for systematic efforts at multilateral levels in
view of the diverse and overlapping interests of
numerous countries involved.
In this context, it is imperative for both Japan and
India to jointly address several issues such as ocean
piracy, maritime environment, transport of weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) and the safety of
Malacca Strait. Indo-Japanese cooperation should
become a key component in the whole Indian
Ocean security mechanism.
Why does it hold great importance for Japan and
India?
Japan is a maritime nation depending on the
Ocean for its basic resources and external trade.
More than seventy per cent of its energy resources
are transported by sea from the Middle East and any
disruption to its energy supplies could seriously
affect its economy. Indian Ocean security is directly
linked to the well-being of the Japanese economy.
With a coastline of 7,500 kilometers, India too has a
vital stake in the security of the Indian Ocean.
Since the end of the Cold War, India has pursued a
comprehensive
maritime
strategy
that
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emphasizes the development of modern ports
and harbours, exploitation of marine resources,
expansion of shipping, and modernization of fishing
industry. Following the implementation of the UN
Convention on Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS), it set
up its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and went on
to widen the framework of its maritime strategy.
Equipped with warships, aircraft carriers,
submarines and minesweepers, India has one of the
strongest and most sophisticated navies in the AsiaPacific region. India also has a highly developed
Coast Guard whose main function is to protect life
and property at sea against piracy and terrorism.
With India’s commercial and trade relations growing
with East and Southeast Asia, the need for ensuring
the safety of the SLOCs has assumed much greater
importance. More than 90 per cent of India’s
external trade is sea borne. India also depends on oil
supplies from the Middle East to the extent of
seventy five per cent. There is therefore a strong
convergence of mutual interests between India and
Japan. They share many common perceptions on
the evolving security situation in the Indian Ocean.
Since piracy is one of the most serious threats to the
SLOCs, they have already started cooperating with
ASEAN countries. The India-Japan Action Plan
talks about strengthening cooperation between the
navies and Coast Guards of the two countries. Both
countries have held periodical antipiracy joint
exercises in the Bay of Bengal.
Compelling interest in freedom of the sea
India and Japan share a compelling interest in
freedom of the seas. The three common areas of
interests are:
1)
The Indian armed forces’ exchanges and jointexercises with not only Japan but also with
Vietnam, Indonesia, and South Korea require
unimpeded access through these waters. China’s
2012 warning not to penetrate the South China Sea
littoral for an Indian Navy vessel’s port call in
Vietnam was seen as unwarranted interference in
India’s relationship with a third country with which
it has long enjoyed ties.
2)
Western Pacific
The Western Pacific is another maritime domain of
vital concern to both India and Japan. These waters
connect both nations to their principal military
partner, the United States, and its major hubs of
power projection in Guam and Hawaii, while
carrying exports to North America. Chinese
dominance of these waters would put at risk the
security of the air and sea lanes and the US military’s
ability to operate freely in waters that bind together
the economies of East Asia and North America.
New Delhi has demonstrated its strategic interest in
the freedom of these distant sea lanes by holding
naval exercises with both Japan and the United
States east of Okinawa.
3 ) Indian Ocean
The third maritime domain of special interest to
both India and Japan is the Indian Ocean, which
carries a majority of both nations’ energy imports
from the Persian Gulf and is, therefore, intrinsically
important.
It is the home sea of India, whose balancing role in
East Asia is growing, as attested by the development
of security partnerships with Japan, Vietnam,
Indonesia, and other regional powers.
South China Sea:
Both India and Japan are dependent on freedom of
passage through the South China Sea for trade flows
and access to naval partners in Southeast Asia.
(Nearly 60 percent of Japan’s energy supplies are
shipped through there.) One-third of all global trade
passes through the South China Sea.
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Civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between
India and Japan and controversial issues
India plans to build about 20 nuclear power plants
to increase the share of nuclear power in supply
from the current 4% to 25% by 2050. To meet its
energy needs, India would like to partner Japan on
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Following the
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Us-Indo Civil nuclear agreement, 2008, India and
Japan has also started talks on the same line.
The talks have been stalled since the nuclear
disaster at Fukushima on 2011. As the only nation to
have faced the fury of nuclear weapons, Japan
remains sensitive about concluding a nuclear pact
with a nation that is not a signatory to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and as such wants
additional guarantees from New Delhi.
But, the discriminatory nature of NPT has refrained
India from signing the treaty. As far as CTBT is
concerned, India has unilaterally declared a
moratorium on testing, but wants the world to
move categorically towards nuclear disarmament in
a credible time- bound manner. FMCT (Fissile
Material Cut off Treaty), which aims to stop further
production of fissile material for weapons purposes,
India’s stand is that it will accept anything which is
universal, non-discriminatory, and effectively
verifiable in nature.
Civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between
India and Japan is vital also because all the US and
French firms, which have bagged contracts to build
nuclear plants in India are either partly or, wholly
owned by Japanese companies. As Japanese firms
have very advanced capabilities in the nuclear field
and play a very important role in the global supply
chain, it will not be possible for these companies to
use Japanese technology, because of Japan’s ban on
the transfer of military and arms related technology
since 1976. For example, French firm Areva depends
upon Japan Steel Works, the world’s main forger,
and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, for the
manufacturing of equipments that are installed in
Areva’s nuclear power plants.
India, on the other hand, argues that it has already
given a number of assurances in its civil nuclear
pacts with other nations, which should work for
Japan as well.
( The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons, commonly known as the NonProliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international
treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of
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nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to
promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear
energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear
disarmament
and
general
and
complete
disarmament.
The Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty by which
states agree to ban all nuclear explosions in all
environments, for military or civilian purposes.)
Reference: Contents are taken from relevant articles of
The Hindu and IDSA website.
INDIA- JAPAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COOPERATION
Until recently, mutual interests between India and
Japan were primarily limited to economic matters
like development assistance and trade, but today
they are more diversified and cover a wide range of
subjects, the salient ones being nuclear disarmament,
maritime security, energy cooperation, climate
change, counter terrorism, UN reforms and regional
community building.
Moreover Science Technology is also one of the
fields where the two countries showed active
interest in building a new relation. Realizing this
potential, the two leaders launched a joint
committee on Science and Technology Cooperation
in 2000. They stressed on areas such as modern
biology, biotechnology, health care, agriculture,
hydrocarbon fuels, environment, information and
communication technology, robotics, alternative
sources of energy, etc
Since then India and Japan have cooperated in
various fields and have taken initiative in rare earth
production, Technology transfer in various fields’
especially non renewable energy, Nuclear energy,
information and communication technology,
interaction at various ministries level on science and
technology upgradation etc.
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In the following areas two countries have been
cooperating:
implementation. Japan is giving financial and
technical aid for the project.
1)
The project aims to develop an environmentally
sustainable, long lasting and technological advanced
infrastructure utilizing cutting age Japanese
technologies and to create world class
manufacturing and investment destinations in this
region.
Development of rare earth industry in India
India and Japan have signed the memorandum of
understanding in November, 2012 to develop rare
earth industry in India. The MOU also enables Japan
to import rare minerals from India. They would also
work to develop a joint venture in other countries.
Japan is the world’s largest importer of REE, mainly
because of its major industrial base in electronics
and the consequent demand for a significant amount
of REE. REEs are required for computers, laptops
and televisions. They also have significant usage in
mobile telephony and Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI) equipment.
Given that the majority production of rare earth
materials (over 97 percent of the world’s REE
market) is controlled by China it is imperative for
Japan to diversify sources for REE import (a
potential safeguard against a possible embargo by
China amid the Japan-China territorial dispute over
the Senkaku Islands).
India is known to be the second largest producer of
REEs. According to one estimate made in 2010,
China produced 1.3 lakh tonnes of REEs while
India’s output was 2,700 tonnes. India could supply
around 4,100 tons a year, equivalent to roughly 10
percent of Japan’s peak annual demand
Indian Rare Earth Limited, a company affiliated
with India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE),
and Toyotsu Rare Earths India Pvt. Ltd have already
made some progress in the production of rare earth
material.
2) DMIC project and Smart Community Projects
Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor
India’s ambitious $90-billion DMIC project is aimed
at creating mega industrial infrastructure along the
Delhi-Mumbai Rail Freight Corridor, which is under
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The two countries are also working on upcoming
Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridor project.
Smart Community projects:
India and Japan has also agreed to promote a Smart
Community initiative under Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial corridor project that aims to create an
eco-friendly society with focus on renewable energy,
recycling and efficient power management system.
(Smart communities – cities, towns, neighborhoods
and villages that reduce their energy demand and
generate their own power from renewable sources)
3) Energy cooperation:
Since 2006, The Energy and Resource Institute
(TERI) in association with NEDO (New Energy
and Technology Development Organization has
been co-hosting the India-Japan Energy Forum
which provides an opportunity to the Indian and
Japanese
stakeholders
to
discuss
various
technological and policy related issues in the field of
energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Indo-Japan Relations and Issue of China
One of the main contributing factors to the question
of peace and security in the Asian region is the
phenomenal growth of China. These include the rise
of China as an economic power. This rise in the last
decade has also led to increased military spending by
China, creating one of the most sophisticated armed
forces in the world. Consequently, China has used
its military and economic power to assert its
dominance in Asia.
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For both India and Japan, China is a challenge as
well as an opportunity. China’s claim over the
South China Sea makes the security environment in
the East Asian region fragile. Despite tensions
between India and China, and Japan and China,
their bilateral economic relations have flourished.
China’s position in the world clearly demonstrates
the importance of having financial power. Japan
cannot afford to derail the process of deepening
economic ties with China. Similarly, any irritants
between India and China, in the political domain,
have not deterred strengthening of economic ties
between the two. Engaging China, rather than
infuriating it by designing a strategy of containment,
would be in the larger interests of securing peace
and stability in Asia because the Chinese have spent
significant dollars on military expenditures.
Chinese military expenditures were almost 1.5 times
more than the defence outlay which stood at 788.0
billion yuan in the year 2010. This expansion of
military power is a cause of concern for both
countries as they are engaged in talks with China
over Arunachal Pradesh and Senoku Islands.
Way forward
Every relationship has its ups and downs and the
Indo-Japan relationship is no exception.
Over the past year, Indo-Japanese relations have
gained new momentum. In the words of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh “the time has come for
India and Japan to build a strong contemporary
relationship, one involving global and strategic
partnership that will have a great significance for
Asia and the world as a whole”. In Abe’s words “a
strong India is in the best interest of Japan, and a
strong Japan is in the best interest of India”. Given
the Shared areas of interest and mutual issues of
concern, Both the countries have a long way to go
together. Might be in near future, they will emerged
as a global players in real sense.
K.V.Keshavan from http://www.eastasiaforum.org
website
of
ministry
of
external
affairs
articles from international policy digest
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
(Structure, Functions, Objectives, and Resources)
IMF came into being on December 27, 1945 when 29
countries of the world signed on ‘’Articles of
Agreement’’. It started functioning in march 1947.
Structure:
the board of governors is the supreme body of IMF,
which is headed by governor and an alternate
governor who are appointed by the members of the
fund. The of governors deals with the entry of new
members, determination of quotas and distribution
of SDRs. Board of governor consists of one governor
from each of its 188 members. There is an annual
meeting of the fund which is held once in a year all
members participate in it.
The other big authority in the IMF is ‘Executive
Board’. It has a Managing director who is the
chairman of the executive board and controls dayto-day matters of the fund.
Objectives:
reference:
All articles covering indo-japan relations from The
Hindu, IDSA website, Indian express. Articles of
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INSIGHTS
1. To increase international cooperation by
providing consultancy services regarding
international monetary issues.
2. To assist in the balanced growth of world
trade, which will be helpful in raising the
efficiency, employment and income of the
world.
3. To stabilize the exchange rate and
discourage the tendency of competitive
devaluation.
4. To abolish those restrictions which are
obstacles in the way of world trade and
create a multilateral system of payments.
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5. The countries facing deficit in their balance
of payment can borrow from IMF to finance
temporarily.
6. To reduce the volume and time period of
disequilibrium in balance of payment.
Functions:
1. To maintain stable exchange rate policies.
2. Surveillance: it is responsibility of the fund
to see whether members are serious
regarding their functions and responsibilities
thus under this function there is regular
dialogue and policy advice which IMF offers
to each member. Hence IMF makes an
appraisal of each member’s economy
3. Exchange restrictions: no country can put
any type of restrictions on the payment
regarding current account. However a
country can impose restrictions on the
movement regarding capital amount. Again
no country can impose restrictions that the
transactions will be made in certain
currencies.
4. Consultation and Technical Assistance: fund
provides technical assistance to its members
regarding strengthening their capacity to
design and implement effective policies.
Fund assists in the area of fiscal policy,
monetary policy exchange rate, banking and
financial system etc.
5. Lending for BOP difficulties: basically fund is
aimed to provide assistance to those member
countries which suffer from BOP difficulties.
But to the poor countries it also assists in the
attainment of growth and alleviation of
poverty.
respect to the institution that how member country
would access international liquidity. After
consultation quota was assigned to member
countries in accordance to their relative economic
power and their credit to IMF. Further members
were provided voting rights in proportion to their
quotas. Hence there is conflict between developed
and developing countries regarding their voting
rights as developing nations have lesser say in major
decisions of IMF.
SDRs: SDRs are supplementary foreign exchange
reserve assets defined and maintained by the IMF. it
is not a currency instead represent a claim to
currency held by IMF member countries for which
they may be exchanged. The value of SDR is
defined by a weighted currency basket of four major
currencies: the US dollar, the Japanese yen, the Euro
and British pound. The central bank of member
countries held SDR with IMF and it can be use by
them to access fund from IMF in case of financial
crisis in their domestic market.
Resources:
The main source of the fund is those subscriptions
which are paid by the members in the form of
quotas and SDRs. In order to enhance its resources,
the fund can borrow from the official as well as
non-official sources.
Special Drawing Rights and IMF quota:- the big
question at the Bretton Woods conference with
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ECONOMICS
purpose. Real estate developers would in any case
be applying for land use change after acquiring farm
land, the Ministry said.
RBI’s initiative to tackle black money
In a move that is likely to hit currency hoarders and
counterfeiters, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
decided to withdraw from circulation all currency
notes issued prior to 2005.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
TELE-MEDICINE
“The public can easily identify the notes to be
withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not
have on them the year of printing on the reverse
side,” the RBI said.
From July 1, however, those wanting to exchange
more than 10 pieces of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes in
a bank where they do not have an account will have
to provide proof of residence and identity.
The move will flush out black money, according to
bankers.
Notes issued after 2005 have added security features
that make counterfeiting difficult.
Cabinet to take decision on FDI in farm land
The UPA government has formed a three-member
Cabinet committee to examine the possibility of
opening up agricultural land to Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), following a proposal by the
Urban Development Ministry on letting foreign
realtors buy agricultural land.
What is Telemedicine and its scope& initiatives in
India?
Telemedicine is medical information exchange
between one site to another using the high end and
sophisticated
communication
networks.
Telemedicine facilitates the provision of medical aid
from a distance. It is an effective solution for
providing specialty healthcare in the form of
improved access and reduced cost to the rural
patients and the reduced professional isolation of
the rural doctors. Telemedicine can enable ordinary
doctors to perform extra-ordinary tasks.
In India, TELEMEDICINE :Healing Touch Through
Space is an initiative by ISRO (Indian Space
Research Organisation) enabling specialty healthcare
to the rural and remote population of India.
At present, FDI is banned in farm land. Further,
Indian banking rules disallow loans for the purchase
of farm land even for domestic investors — except
in the case of large-scale projects — to safeguard
against speculative land acquisition and hoarding.
India is a vast country having an area of 3.2 million
square km. To provide the basic medical facilities to
all including privileged ,rural and residents spread
along various geographical locations had been a
major concern for the administration. Having a
scoop of policies on health, still quality healthcare is
limited to the Urban areas. It is known that 75% of
the qualified doctors practice in urban centres,
whereas the vast majority of India’s population lives
in the rural areas. With the advent of
Communication Technology, especially the Satellite
Communications (SatCom) combined with
Information Technology, we have means to extend
the benefits from the advanced medical sciences
even to the remote and inaccessible areas.
The Ministry’s argument is that as farm land is
already being acquired for township development,
FDI would only help raise more funds for the
Through its Telemedicine projects, ISRO has
successfully linked hospitals and healthcare centers
in remote rural areas with specialty hospitals in
The committee includes Urban Development
Minister Kamal Nath, Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram and Commerce and Industry Minister
Anand Sharma.
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cities through INSAT satellites. Thus, connectivity
between patients at remote end and the specialist
doctors at urban centers has been effectively
established. With a large and skilled medical
community receptive to new ideas, a modest
beginning in Telemedicine was made by ISRO in the
form of a Telemedicine Pilot Project in the year
2001, linking Apollo Hospital at Chennai with the
Apollo Rural Hospital at Aragonda village in the
Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh. Later in March
2002,the Karnataka Telemedicine project linked the
Narayana Hrudayalaya, a super specialty hospital for
cardiac care at Bangalore with the district hospital,
Chamarajanagar and the Vivekananda Memorial
Trust Hospital at Saragurin south interior Karnataka.
The valuable experience gained during these Pilot
Projects encouraged ISRO to further endeavour for
enabling specialty healthcare delivery to the rural
population.
Explain the working of TELEMEDICINE
Telemedicine is confluenced by Communication
Technology, Information Technology, Bio-medical
sciences and Medical Sciences. The network is
having Hardware and software at both ends with
some of the diagnostic equipments like ECG,XRAY,PATHOLOGY
CAMERA/MICROSCOPE
provided at the patient end. They are connected
through a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT)
system and controlled by the Network Hub Station
of ISRO. Through the telecommunication using
small computer at patient end, Data consisting of
Images, Reports can be sent to specialist doctors in
form of Digital Data Packets. These packets are
received at the specialist centre, the images Medical
data packets sent Video.
Conferencing signals sent & received and other
information is reconstructed so that the specialist
doctor can study the data, perform diagnosis,
interact with the patient and suggest the appropriate
treatment during a Video Conference with the
patient end.
Telemedicine facility thus enables the specialist
doctor and the patient separated by thousands of
kilometers to see visually and talk to each other.
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This enables the specialist doctor to assess the
physical and psychological state of the patient and
suggest treatment.
This remote tele-consultation and treatment is
much more valuable in case of post operation (Post
Surgery) follow up since the patient is not required
to travel unnecessarily and hence saving money and
time. In this way, the systematic application of
Information and Communication Technologies to
the practice of healthcare rapidly expands the
outreach of the healthcare system.
What are the Future Prospects of TELEMEDICINE
in India ?
ISRO’s Telemedicine endeavour is expanding its
outreach and has the potential to open up new
frontiers for facilitating rural healthcare in India.
Encouraged by the steady growth of its
Telemedicine programme, ISRO has also envisioned
the development of “HEALTHSAT”, an exclusive
satellite for meeting the healthcare and medical
education needs of the country at large. This
satellite, when deployed along with wireless and
terrestrial communication links, can bring a large
change in augmenting the present healthcare
delivery system in the country. Specialty TeleConsultation access to large Population
Due to the untiring efforts of various departments
like the Department of Space and the Department
of Information Technology, State Governments,
NGOs and
Private and Corporate Hospitals/Agencies, the
majority of the rural population all over the country
will stand to benefit from Telemedicine Technology
that can usher in a revolution for transforming the
face of Healthcare in India.
Thus, Telemedicine can enlarge the gap between life
and death and can extend quality Healthcare to the
needy and the under privileged rural, semi rural and
urban population at large.
“Criticality” and safety in a Nuclear Power Plant
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When the fission reactor of a nuclear power plant is
operating normally it is said to be “critical” or in a
state of “criticality. The word often describes
situations with potential for disaster. Nevertheless,
in the context of nuclear power, “criticality”
indicates that a reactor is operating safely. Criticality
is a balanced state.
Nuclear reactors use uranium fuel rods to create
energy through fission. Fission is the process of
splitting the nuclei of uranium atoms to release
neutrons that in turn split more atoms, releasing
more neutrons. Criticality means that a reactor is
controlling a sustained fission chain reaction where
each fission event releases a sufficient number of
neutrons to maintain an ongoing series of reactions.
In the balanced state of criticality, fuel rods inside a
nuclear reactor are producing and losing a constant
number of neutrons, and the nuclear energy system
is stable. In a nuclear reactor, the neutron
population at any instant is a function of the rate of
neutron production (due to fission processes) and
the rate of neutron losses (via non-fission absorption
mechanisms and leakage from the system). When a
reactor’s neutron population remains steady from
one generation to the next (creating as many new
neutrons as are lost), the fission chain reaction is
self-sustaining and the reactor’s condition is referred
to as “critical”. When the reactor’s neutron
production exceeds losses, characterized by
increasing power level, it is considered
“supercritical”, and; when losses dominate, it is
considered “subcritical” and exhibits decreasing
power.
Controlling criticality: When a reactor is starting up,
the number of neutrons is increased slowly in a
controlled manner. Neutron-absorbing control rods
in the reactor core are used to control neutron
production. The control rods are made from
neutron-absorbing elements such as cadmium,
boron, or hafnium. The deeper the rods are lowered
into the reactor core, the more neutrons the rods
absorb and the less fission occurs. Technicians pull
up or lower the control rods into the reactor core
depending on whether more or less fission, neutron
production, and power are desired. If a malfunction
occurs, technicians can remotely plunge control rods
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into the reactor core to quickly soak up neutrons
and shut down the nuclear reaction.
What is “super criticality”?
At start-up, the reactor is briefly put into a state
that produces more neutrons than are lost. This
condition is called “supercritical” state, which allows
the neutron population to increase and more power
to be produced. When the desired power
production is reached, adjustments are made to
place the reactor into critical state that sustains
neutron balance and power production. At times,
such as for maintenance shutdown or refueling,
reactors are placed in a “subcritical” state so that
neutron and power production decrease.
India’s Future projects in Space Technology
India has made remarkable progress in Space
Technology and Planetary Exploration in the last
decade and took major strides in utilizing the
operational space systems in various fronts of
national development – commercial, strategic,
societal and economic.
The major focus will be on the development of next
generation launch vehicle GSLV Mk III, which
currently is in advanced stage. GSLV Mk III will
provide the capability to launch 4 T class
communication satellite into orbit. Research and
Development on critical technologies related to
Semi-cryogenic engine, Re-usable Launch Vehicles,
Air breathing Propulsion and Human Space Flight
will pave the way for realisation of advanced launch
vehicles.
Satellite Navigation is an emerging area of Space
Applications. The first of the Indian Regional
Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS-1A) has been
successfully launched in July 2013. The completion
of the IRNSS constellation with seven satellites will
lead to the introduction of satellite-based
positioning and timing services in the country. The
Satellite Communication services in the country are
planned to be expanded with more powerful
INSAT/GSAT satellites operating in new frequency
bands.
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Earth Observations are planned with the
development of Geo imaging Satellite (GISAT) to
provide near real time images of large areas of the
country and hyper spectral imaging systems for
natural resources survey and disaster management
applications.
GSLV-D5 has successfully put a communication
satellite GSAT-14 into a precise GTO orbit. The
health of the satellite is normal.
Mars Orbiter Mission
Achievements made by department of Space in the
last decade which are as follows:
India’s first inter planetary mission, the Mars Orbiter
Spacecraft was successfully launched on November
5, 2013 onboard PSLV-C25. The voyage of the
spacecraft towards Mars, following crucial orbital
maneuver of Trans-Mars Injection on December 01,
2013, made India to become one of the four nations
in the world to send space mission to Planet Mars.
Mars Orbiter spacecraft has been realized on fast
track mode in a record time of less than 18 months
to meet the earliest launch opportunity (the next
opportunity would have been only after 26 months).
Mars Orbiter Mission is mainly intended to establish
the Indian technological capability to reach Martian
orbit and to explore Mars surface features,
morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere by
indigenous scientific instruments. Besides the
scientific and technological challenges, Mars Orbiter
Mission is a vital step in enthusing the younger
generation in the country in scientific research in
general and planetary exploration in particular. The
injection of the spacecraft in to Mars Orbit would
take place on September 24, 2014.
Indian Cryogenic Engine & Stage and GSLV – D5
PSLV – A Workhorse Launch Vehicle
The successful flight testing of indigenous cryogenic
stage onboard GSLV-D5 Flight on January 5, 2014
was a major land mark technological milestone in
achieving self-reliance in India’s Cryogenic Launch
Vehicle technology. Geosynchronous Satellite
Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is capable of placing 2
Tonne class communication satellite into
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and India is
one among six countries in the world to
demonstrate such launch capability to GTO with
the use of complex cryogenic technology. This
success, coming after two consecutive failures of
previous flights of GSLV-D3 and GSLV- F06 in
2010, has demonstrated the ability of the
organization to cope-up with setbacks, implement
objectively
the
corrective
actions
with
determination and accomplish the goal.
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), with
a proven track record of 24 successful flights, has
provided the country the crucial autonomy in
‘access to space’. During the last decade, PSLV had
15 successively successful flights and has placed 23
Indian satellites and 31 foreign satellites into orbit.
The versatile vehicle PSLV has been successfully
used for launching lighter communication and
navigation satellites into GTO, apart from launching
remote sensing satellites to Low Earth Orbit and
Interplanetary missions. PSLV, to its credit, has the
successful launch of India’s first Inter-planetary
Mission to Mars in November 2013 as well India’s
first Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1 earlier in
September 2008. PSLVs launch capability has been
progressively enhanced with ability to place
multiple satellites into varied orbits. A noteworthy
Space technology is a powerful catalyst for social
development in the areas of natural resources
management, food security, rural development,
education and literacy, health-care and environment.
Innovations in space based communications and
earth observations will be pursued to achieve faster
delivery of information to remote areas and finer
observation of planet earth.
Several exciting missions in Space Science and
Planetary Exploration have been planned in the near
future including Chandrayaan-2, with a lander and a
rover intended for in-situ investigations of the Lunar
Surface; multi-wavelength Astronomy observatory
satellite ASTROSAT-1 for observation of celestial
objects covering optical, UV and X-ray bands and
India’s first space- borne solar coronagraph mission
ADITYA-1 for studies on coronal mass ejections.
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achievement of PSLV is the successful launch of
TEN satellites into multiple orbits during PSLV C9
flight in 2008 demonstrating the versatility of the
vehicle.
Space Capsule Recovery
A leap-frog in Indian Launch Vehicle Technology
was achieved in 2007 through the Space Capsule
Recovery Experiment Mission SRE-1 which
established India’s technological capability to
recover an orbiting satellite with precise re-entry
trajectories. SRE-1, demonstrated several advanced
technologies such as thermal protection system,
deceleration and recovery system, etc.; of relevance
for future Human Space Flights.
India’s Mission to Moon
India’s maiden moon exploration mission
‘Chandrayaan-1’ was launched in October 2008 for
mapping the lunar surface with high resolution
remote sensing and study the chemical and
mineralogical composition. This mission has enabled
to detect the presence of Hydroxyl (OH), a
molecule consisting of oxygen and hydrogen atoms
and water molecules on the lunar surface, which has
set new directions of lunar explorations in the global
community.
Remote Sensing and National Natural Resource
Management System
The Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) System,
with currently 11 satellites in orbit, is one of the
largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in
operation in the world today. It provides inputs for
management of natural resources and various
developmental projects across the country using
space based imagery. IRS Satellites provide data of
varied spatial resolutions and improved repeativity
to suit many spectra of applications.
During the last decade, 13 remote sensing satellites
have been launched and operationalized. The
imaging technology of the country witnessed a
quantum jump with the successful launch of Radar
Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) in 2012. RISAT-1 gave
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the all-weather day and night imaging capability for
the country, crucial for applications in Agriculture
and Disaster Management. The advanced
cartography satellite, Cartosat-2 launched in 2007,
enhanced the imaging capability to sub-meter high
resolution in tune with the global trend and
provided immense services for cartographic
applications. To study the climate of tropical
regions, a joint Indo-France satellite MeghaTropiques was launched in October 2011. With the
launch of advanced meteorological satellite INSAT3D in July 2013, an atmospheric sounder payload has
been placed over the Indian Ocean for the first time
which enabled detailed climatic studies over this
region. The Scatterometer on Oceansat-2 satellite
launched in September 2009 is the only operational
instrument providing data not only for India, but
also for the global agencies like NASA and NOAA
(National
Oceanographic
and
Atmospheric
Administration) of US. Data from IRS satellites are
used for meeting varieties of societal needs –
locating sources of drinking water in remote areas,
potential fishing zone advisories, environmental
monitoring, agricultural crop forecasting, disaster
management – to name a few. The fact that data
from IRS satellites is also received and marketed
through international ground stations across the
world is a testimony for the quality products
generated by IRS.
INSAT System
INSAT system has grown as one of the largest
domestic communications satellite constellations in
the Asian region, providing services of
telecommunication,
television
broadcasting,
meteorology and disaster management to a cross
section of users in the country including strategic
sector. In the last decade, INSAT system has been
augmented with the launch of 12 INSAT/GSAT
communication satellites providing together 232
transponder capacity covering C, Ext-C, Ku and S
bands for meeting national demands for
communication transponders. A vital application of
INSAT system in the last decade has been in the
field of education with the launch of thematic
satellite EDUSAT in 2004. EDUSAT was specially
designed to spread education (formal and informal)
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at all levels and regions of the country and about 25
States were covered by the footprint of EDUSAT
with more than 55,000 EDUSAT class rooms.
INSAT system was also instrumental in taking the
benefits of space technology to the doorsteps of
common man through the initiatives of Telemedicine and Village Resource Centres in the
country.
customers – contracts bagged by Antrix against
tough competition. Additionally, the data from
Indian Remote sensing satellites are commercially
disseminated to users globally. Antrix leases
transponders of the INSAT system for commercial
purpose.
Satellite Navigation
India’s maiden mission to moon Chandrayaan-1
carried six scientific instruments from USA and
Europe. Two satellite missions viz. (MeghaTropiques and SARAL (Satellite with ARgos and
ALtica) were realized through India-France Cooperation. YOUTHSAT, a satellite for space
weather studies has been realized by young scientists
of India and Russia. India has co-operation with Jet
Propulsion Laboratory of USA for ground stations
support for Mars Orbiter Mission and India and
USA together are planning to develop a dual band
Radar Imaging Satellite to be launched by 2019-2020.
During the last decade India has signed 10 new cooperative instruments with various countries and
space agencies.
A vital space technology initiative of the last decade
has been the Satellite based Navigation System.
India is pursuing satellite navigation programme to
provide position and navigation information for
various applications. Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS) is being developed to
provide accurate position information service to
users in India as well as the region extending up to
1500 km from its boundary. The first satellite of this
7-satellite constellation, IRNSS 1A was successfully
launched in July 2013. In addition ISRO and
Airports Authority of India have jointly taken up
GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN)
programme, as a forerunner for the operational
Satellite based Augmentation System (SBAS) over
the Indian Airspace. GAGAN payloads are already
incorporated in GSAT 8 and GSAT 10 satellites.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
has provisionally certified the GAGAN system, so
as to enable the aircraft fitted with SBAS equipment
to use GAGAN signal in space for En-Route
Navigation and Non-Precision Approaches over
Indian air space.
Space Commerce/Antrix
India’s Space capability is being marketed globally
by Antrix Corporation Limited. As the commercial
and marketing arm of ISRO, Antrix is engaged in
providing Space products and services to
international customers worldwide. By using the
launch services of ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle,
PSLV, 31 satellites belonging to 17 countries have
been launched on commercial terms during the last
10 years. An important achievement of the last
decade is realising two high power communication
satellites, viz. W2M and HYLAS for European
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International Co-operation
The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India
Bill 2013
What is Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of
India:- a proposed regulatory authority to regulate
the research, transport, import, manufacture and use
of organisms and products of biotechnology.
Why we need Biotechnology Regulatory Authority
of India:- because India has signed “US convection
on biodiversity” and “Cartagena protocol on Biosafety ” which make regulatory authority necessary.
Current status: Currently biotechnology is regulated
by “Ministry of Environment and Forests” and
“Department of Biotechnology” under “Ministry of
Science and Technology”.
Highlight of bill:
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regulate products and processes of
Biotechnology and certify that the product is
safe.
Doesn’t specify for any liability, the tribunal
and the court will decide the liability.
Field trials of the modified products will
only be conducted after permission from
BRAI.
For a drug or vaccine with elements of
biotechnology, the Central Drugs Standard
Control Organization (CDSCO) will forward
the application to BRAI to assess whether it
is safe to proceed with a clinical trial.
BRAI UNITS:Risk Assessment Unit (RAU): The RAU will
undertake science based safety assessments
of the applications.
Product Rulings Committee (PRC): The
report of the RAU will be forwarded to the
PRC
and
the
PRC
will
make
recommendations regarding the safety of the
product or organism.
Environmental Appraisal Panel (EAP): BRAI
may refer an application to the EAP, in case
of products or organisms having an
environmental impact.
COPYRIGHT
It is a right available for creating an original
Literary and dramatic work.
Musical or artistic work.
Cinematographic films (Soundtracks, Video
films, Disc/Tape/Roll recordings.
Computer software/ Programs (within
definition of literary work.)
Berne Convention
India is a member of Berne convention. Under this
international treaty, registration of copyright is not
an essential requirement for protection of right.
Thus, a copyright or a work created in India would
be automatically and simultaneously protected in all
the member countries.
Transfer of Copyright
The owner of a copyright may assign to any person,
the copyright either wholly or partially
For the entire world or for a specific
nation/territory.
For the full term of copyright or a part
thereof.
Relating to all the rights or only a part of
such right.
Opposition :The states are objecting that Center is trying
to interfere in state right because the Bill
brings the regulation of biotechnology under
the powers of the center. The Centre claims
that the states still have the powers in issues
like GM technology as agriculture belongs to
the State list
The bill bypasses the RTI under the garb of
being
“Confidential
Commercial
Information”.
Conflict of Interest : this bill seen as a quick
one-stop clearing house to benefits GM
corporation as a committee of just 5
scientists will be empowered to clear the
patented technology for use in whole
country.
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INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
The external design, colour scheme or
ornamentation of a product plays a key role in the
market acceptability of the product.
These rights intend to protect the external design of
a product from imitation.
Definition of Design—The Two dimensional or
Three dimensional features of
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Shape
Configuration
Pattern
Ornamentation
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Pattern of lines or colors
The given quality, reputation and other
characteristics of goods is essentially attributable to
its Geographical origin.
Requirements of Design
New or original
Should
relate
to
features
of
shape/configuration/pattern/ornamentation
Should be applicable to a production by
mechanical process
Should appeal to and judged by eye only
Should not include any trademark/ property
mark/artistic work
Should not contain obscene or scandalous
matter
This concept is new in India and came in limelight
after India signed Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). According to
TRIPS
A GI is applicable and protected in all the
member countries
A GI not protected in the country of origin
will not be protected anywhere else.
Conditions for Homonymous GI (Ex:
Wines) will be determined by the state
Provision for principals of national treatment
and fair competition
Provision for seizure of goods indicating false
GI
Note: It does not include any mode or principle of
construction or anything which is in substance, a
mere mechanical device.
TRADEMARK
A distinctive sign, which identifies certain goods or
services as provided/produced by specific
person/enterprise
May consist of drawings, symbols, 3-d signs, shape
colors used as distinctive features
PROTECTION OF INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
LAYOUT DESIGN
It provides protection for semiconductor IC layout
design including a transistor layout and other
circuitry elements like lead wire designs.
An IC layout design can’t be registered if it is
Certificate Trademarks indicates that the goods are
of
Certain quality or
Manufactured in a particular way or
Come from a specific region or
Use some specific material
Maintain a certain level of accuracy
Not original
Commercially exploited anywhere in India
or World
Inherently not distinctive
Terms of various IPRs
Patent—20 years (From the date of filing
application)
Copyright:
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
Applicable to agricultural, natural or manufactured
goods
Goods
originating
or
manufactured
(Production/Processing/Preparation)
in
the
particular territory of a country or region or locality
in that territory
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 Literary/Dramatic/Artistic/Musical work—
Lifetime of the author +70 years from the
year of death of the author
 All others—50 years from the date/year of
application
o Industrial design— 10 years (Can be
extended up to 5 years)
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o Trademark—–10 years (Can be
extended by 5 years)
o Geographical Indications— 10 years
(Can be extended by 5 years)
Legislations Covering IPRs
Patents
The Patent Act (1970)
Copyright
The Copyright Act (1957)(Amended ’83, ’84,
’93, ’94 ‘99)
The Copyright Rules (1958)
Nuclear security around the world
Trademark
The Trade and Merchandise Marks Act
(1958)
The Trademark Act (1999) (Supersedes the
former, waiting enactment)
Industrial Deign
The Designs Act (1911)
The Designs Act (2000) (New, supersedes
the former)
IC layout design
The Semiconductor Integrated Circuit
Layout Design Act (2000) (Waiting
enactment)
In 2009 President Obama delivered a speech in
Prague in which he called nuclear terrorism one of
the greatest threats to international security. With
that in mind, US hosted the first Nuclear Security
Summit (NSS) in Washington DC in 2010, in order
to draw attention, at the highest possible level, to
the need to secure nuclear material and thus prevent
nuclear terrorism.
Forty-seven countries and three international
organisations participated in the first Nuclear
Security Summit, held in Washington in 2010. The
aim of the summit was to improve worldwide
nuclear security by enhancing cooperation and to
make concrete agreements aimed at better securing
nuclear materials and facilities.
Commitments made in Washington in 2010:
Geographical Indications
The Geographical Indications of Goods
(Registration and Protection) Act 1999
(waiting enactment)
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DEFENCE & SECURITY
Leaders jointly affirmed the seriousness and urgency
of the threat posed by nuclear terrorism.
The participating countries agreed to work to secure
all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide.
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The participating countries agreed to shoulder their
responsibility for securing nuclear material within
their own borders.
The participating countries agreed to work together
as an international community to improve nuclear
security.
In 2012 the second NSS was held in Seoul. Fiftythree countries and four international organisations
were invited. The first summit was concerned with
making political agreements, while the follow-up in
Seoul focused on the progress made on
implementing those agreements.
New ambitions were added to the Washington
Work Plan: the participants recognised the need to
increase synergy between nuclear safety and security
and better protect radiological sources from theft
and misuse. Radiological sources may not be usable
for a nuclear weapon, but they are well suited for
making a ‘dirty bomb’, which can release radiation
and cause social upheaval.
Nuclear Materials Security Index has been
introduced, which surveyed the precautions, each
country had in place and ranked them based on
their security practices
The 2014 summit(Third NSS summit) will chart the
accomplishments of the past four years, identifying
which of the objectives set out in the Washington
Work Plan and the Seoul Communiqué have not
been met and proposing ways to achieve them.
The Netherlands will focus on the following
achievable and visible goals:
optimal security for and, if at all possible, a
reduction in the use of highly enriched uranium and
plutonium.
Ratification of the amended Convention on the
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material by more
countries to ensure that the amendment enters into
force as soon as possible.
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More frequent reviews of state security structures
by IAEA advisory missions.
National registration and protection of highly
radioactive sources (e.g. medical equipment).
Greater role for industry in nuclear security, to
enhance the security culture and existing
regulations.
States should provide information to their own
people and the international community to
demonstrate that they are taking appropriate
measures to maintain the security of their nuclear
material and facilities. These confidence-building
measures will increase trust in the international
protection system.
Gift baskets
Certain countries involved in the NSS are interested
in taking a specific security theme a step further.
These countries are being given the opportunity to
offer a ‘gift basket’, an extra initiative. The idea is for
presenters of such gift baskets to acquire the
backing of as many countries as possible, which will
in turn function as role models for a given aspect of
security.
For example, the Netherlands, with the help of the
highly respected Netherlands Forensic Institute
(NFI), has taken the lead in further developing a gift
basket that fosters expertise and cooperation in the
field of nuclear forensics (forensic analysis of
incidents involving nuclear or radiological materials)
and international cooperation in this field.
In a US based study, it has found that India has one
of the weakest nuclear securities in the world.
Number of nations having material for making
nuclear bombs has been reduced by 25% over the
past 2 years.
But there remain weak links which could be
dangerous as these could be exploited by terrorists.
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Study used various factors such as accounting
methods, physical security and transportation
security etc for finding safety of nuclear material.
Israel, Pakistan, India, Iran and North Korea are the
weakest link in nuclear security.
Study has ranked Australia as having the best
nuclear security arrangements, followed by Canada,
Switzerland, Germany and Norway. The US is at
11th rank.
Australia was able to do so by reducing its quantity
of nuclear materials and by ratifying a treaty that
commits countries to criminalise acts of nuclear
terrorism and to cooperate in bringing nuclear
criminals to justice.
Belgium improved by passing new security
legislation, joining a treaty and decreasing its
quantity of materials.
Canada ratified treaties and issued new regulations
on the transport of atomic materials for improving
its score
Japan has made sweeping nuclear upgrades after the
2011 Fukushima reactor disaster, including the
formation of a regulatory body to address nuclear
safety and security. It rose from 23rd in the rankings
to 13th.
As per the study, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine,
Vietnam, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary
have removed all or most of the weapons-usable
nuclear materials on their territories since 2012.
The drop in the number of countries possessing
such materials could be seen as encouraging for
President Barack Obama’s declared ambition to lock
down all of the world’s highly enriched uranium and
plutonium.
North Korea remained in last place.
There are an estimated 1,400 tons of highly enriched
uranium and almost 500 tons of plutonium stored in
hundreds of sites around the world.
http://insightsonindia.com
The 2014 and 2016 meetings will provide
opportunities for the moments of accountability for
states to show progress on their own nuclear
materials security and their commitment to working
toward a robust global nuclear security system.
Source- http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-indiadangerous-weak-link-in-nsecurity-/1217093/0
https://www.nss2014.com/en/nss-2014/about-the-nss
Defence Technology
Indigenisation
Indigenisation
Guised
Over the last three decades, India has evolved
significant design capabilities, as evident from its
missile programme, its nuclear propulsion
programme, a series of light helicopters, the Tejas
light combat aircraft (LCA), the Arjun tank, and an
array of naval technologies that drive warship
building. Safeguarded technologies in electronic
warfare, combat management systems and secure
communications have also been developed.
However, analysts and government watchdogs like
the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are
critical. In August 2010, the CAG criticised the
Dhruv helicopter, pointing out that 90 per cent of
its systems and sub-systems are sourced from
abroad. The Tejas LCA and the Arjun tank also
have a high percentage of foreign components.
While the warship building programme has made
indigenisation a priority, some 60 per cent of the
weapons and sensors in most Indian-built warships
continue to be sourced from abroad, including in the
recently launched aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.
What does Indigenization Mean?
In 2001, a growing ministry of defence (MoD)
realisation that the public sector could not meet
India’s defence needs triggered the entry of private
companies into this sector. But that laudable policy
change was not accompanied by a clear, holistic plan
for indigenizing defence production. A dozen years
later, there is no clarity about what indigenisation
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means. Instead, indigenisation has been reduced to a
slogan – India’s current equipment ratio of 30 per
cent indigenous and 70 per cent foreign equipment
must be reversed to 70 indigenous and 30
foreign.We could indigenize 70 per cent and still
have no real control over a product that we build a
large part of. That is because we continue focusing
on components and numbers rather than design
expertise. If we build most of a system in India, but
cannot tweak, modify or export it, how can we say
we have indigenized it?”
Indigenisation, in a broader sense is being able to
master; develop technologies and being proficient in
externally acquired technology rather than just
production of all defence equipment within India
without the knowledge of related technologies.
The Kelkar Report states: “There is an urgent need
to review the whole concept of indigenization and
self-reliance and it is time to go beyond the idea of
looking at indigenization purely as import
substitution of components, sub-assemblies, etc.
within the country from raw materials. Today
indigenization as a concept will need to involve
capability
enhancement
and
development,
increasing know-why, design and system integration,
rather than having numerical targets.”
Indigenization involves the Defence Research
Development Organisation (DRDO), Defence
Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), and Ordnance
Factory Board (OFB), private sector, the Services
and the civilian leaders.
Procurement including transfer of technology
India has been manufacturing Russian fighter aircraft
and tanks under license for many years, the Russians
never actually transferred weapons technology to
India. Although the country has now diversified its
acquisition sources beyond Russia to the West and
Israel, recent deals have failed to include transfer-oftechnology (ToT) clauses. India never had a
relationship in defence production beyond buyerseller or patron-client, with Russia or any other
nation except in the production of BrahMos
missiles. India’s efforts to sign contracts with foreign
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companies that include both licensing as well as
transfer of technology were never fruitful as the
trade policy in those countries strictly restricted the
companies to only licensing and sale of equipment,
denying the transfer of technology.
Whatever India procures now must be procured
with a ToT clause being built into the contract even
if it means having to pay a higher price. The aim
should be to make India a design, development,
manufacturing and export hub for defence
equipment in two to three decades.
Role of Defence Research and Development
Though it seeks to encourage public-private
partnerships, privately the government continues to
retain its monopoly on research and development
and defence production through the DRDO, the
ordnance factories and the defence PSUs (DPSUs).
Since its inception in 1958, the DRDO has achieved
some spectacular successes like the missile
development programme, but also has many failures
to its name. Programmes like the Light Combat
Aircraft (LCA) and the Main Battle Tank (MBT)
Arjun have suffered inordinate delays and time and
cost overruns.
However, to its credit, the DRDO worked under
extremely restrictive technology denial regimes and
with a rather low indigenous technology base. The
DRDO is now in the process of implementing the
report of the P Rama Rao committee that had asked
it to identify eight to 10 critical areas that best fit its
existing human resource pool, technological
threshold and established capacity to take up new
projects. And, it must scrupulously stay out of
production as the private sector has shown its
readiness and technological proficiency to take up
the production of weapons and equipment designed
by the DRDO and must be trusted to deliver.
Required strategy for Indigenization
The DRDO must now concentrate its efforts on
developing critical cutting edge technologies that no
strategic partner is likely to be willing to share; for
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example, ballistic missile defence (BMD)
technology. Other future weapons platforms should
be jointly developed, produced and marketed with
India’s strategic partners in conjunction with the
private sector. The development of technologies
that are not critical should be outsourced
completely to the private sector. Also, the armed
forces should be given funding support to undertake
research geared towards the improvement of inservice equipment with a view to enhancing
operational performance and increasing service life.
Gradually, the universities and the IITs should be
involved in undertaking defence R&D. This fivepronged approach will help to raise India’s
technological threshold over the next two decades
by an order of magnitude.
As the largest importer of arms and equipment in
the world, India has the advantage of buyers’ clout.
This clout must be exploited fully to further India’s
quest for self-sufficiency in the indigenous
production of weapons and equipment. In all major
acquisitions in future, India should insist on joint
development, joint testing and trials, joint
production, joint marketing and joint product
improvement over the life cycle of the equipment.
The US and other countries with advanced
technologies will surely ask what India can bring to
the table to demand participation as a co-equal
partner. Besides capital and a production capacity
that is becoming increasingly more sophisticated,
India has its huge software pool to offer.
Today software already comprises over 50 per cent
of the total cost of a modern defence system. In the
years ahead, this is expected to go up to almost 70
per cent as software costs increase and hardware
production costs decline due to improvements in
manufacturing processes.
In 10 to 15 years India must begin to acquire most of
its defence equipment needs from Indian
companies—with or without a joint venture with
an MNC. Only then will the era of self-reliance in
defence acquisition truly dawn on the country. It
will be a difficult quest, but not one that a great
nation cannot realize.
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With the defence budget languishing at less than
two per cent of India’s GDP – compared with
China’s 3.5 per cent and Pakistan’s 4.5 per cent plus
US military aid – it will not be possible for the
armed forces to undertake any meaningful
modernisation in the foreseeable future.
India is expected to spend approximately USD 100
billion over the 12th and 13th defence five-year plans
on military modernisation. As 80 per cent of
weapons and equipment are still imported, there is
an urgent need to further refine the defence
acquisition process and insulate it from the scourge
of corruption that has afflicted all other national
endeavours, including major development projects,
while simultaneously encouraging self-reliance and
indigenisation.
India cannot leap-frog to a higher defence
technology
trajectory
virtually
overnight.
Transforming a low technology base to a higher
plane will need time, patience and large scale capital
investment. It will also need strong support across
the political spectrum.
Defence Procurement Procedure undermining the
role of Private sector and MNCs
The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) manual
was introduced in 2005. Since then it has been
revised and modified several time. The Defence
Production Policy unveiled in 2011 with major
objective of self-reliance in design, development
remained wishful as at present most weapons and
equipment continue to be imported.
The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was
amended once again in April 2013 to reflect the
current thinking on ‘buying Indian’. However, in
effect it still favours the defence PSUs over the
private sector. MNCs are allowed to bring in only
up to 26 per cent FDI as against 74 per cent for nondefence sector joint ventures.
Required amendments to DPP
The defence production process must provide a
level playing field between defence PSUs and Indian
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private sector companies forming joint ventures
with MNCs where necessary.
The amount of FDI that MNCs can bring in must
be raised to 49 per cent immediately and to 74 per
cent in due course to make it attractive for MNCs.
However, no MNC that is unable to provide
transfer of technology – either due to the home
country’s restrictive laws or due to proprietary
considerations – should be considered for future
defence acquisitions.
Beyond the release of large amount of
radioactive materials in the air and water, the
reactor core had melted and burned through
their containers into the base of the building.
Although the worst was avoided, but the total
release was equal to half the amount of
radioactive materials as was released in
Chernobyl. The apparent impact of disaster on
Japan’s coastal biota is still a concerning matter.
The exact death toll is still unknown, and may
be Japan escaped the immediate numbers game,
but studies suggest that there might be upto
1300 resultant cancer deaths, with extremely
small noticeable effects in Asia and North
America.
ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY
International Repercussions:
Environment: Japanese warning and Critical
analysis of Fukushima Disaster.
The current visiting Japanese delegation has
warned India on the critical issue of equilibrating
the priorities of development and its
environmental impact.
According to Mr. Natsuo Yamaguchi, Japan has
experienced a catastrophic nuclear bomb
explosion and a recent nuclear accident, which
has instilled a greater sensitivity in the Japanese
psyche.
In Germany, all the old nuclear reactors were
closed and it was decided to completely phase
out the rest by 2030.
In Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, there was a
major referendum against the goverment’s plan
to build new nuclear plants and the respective
governments had no other option left except
conceding defeat.
Malaysia, Philippines, Kuwait and Bahrain
abandoned their nuclear plans while Taiwan had
to drastically change its nuclear aspirations.
A critical analysis of Fukushima Disaster
Even after more than two years, the ghost of
Fukushima haunts the social and economic face
of Japan.
Although the devastating effect of the
concurrent Tsunami was far greater, still the
nuclear crisis provided an acutely distressing
scenario, leaving some 50 workers as heroes,
TEPCO as villain and more than 1,60,000
civilians as the victims.
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In France, the strongly pro-nuclear govt. was
defeated with 70 % people opposing the nuclear
energy projects. The present govt. promised to
radically reduce dependence on the same.
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China decided to first suspend and then restart
its nuclear program with a reduced intensity of
approving lesser number of nuclear projects.
Moreover, there is an impetus on completely
replacing the total nuclear energy contribution
with renewables by 2020.
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In US, some proposed projects collapsed and the
proportion of renewable energy generation has
already overtaken that of nuclear sources.
killed and China has been acting as the dumping
ground of their tusks
Rare Odonate species found.
Still Countries like UK, Russia, South Korea and
India are planning major expansion with a large
nuclear program in spite of severe public
oppositions in many of these countries.
In Southern Western Ghats, a rare Odonate
species was spotted. Odonates are mainly
aquatic insect groups who flourish in rivers,
perennial streams and meadows.
Final Words:
Canine Distemper Virus(CDV)
For a country like Japan, which was planning to
expand its nuclear program from 26% to 45% of
total electricity by 2030, a shift to zero seems
too steep a cliff. It would be very significant and
would involve major changes, especially when
the challenge is to reduce the Green House Gas
emission by 23 to 25%, from 1993 levels, by 2030.
A whole new field of renewable options ranging
from solar to geo thermal will be explored with
a significant up gradation of technology.
Japanese track record of technological
innovation is almost incredible and considering
that, Fukushima Disaster might have had a
destructive effect on Japan, but it might turn
into a beacon light for a cleaner and greener
future ahead.
Scientists at Indian Veterinary Research
Institute(IVRI) have found Canine Distemper
Virus(CDV) in the blood samples of dead
animals from Dudhwa Tiger reserve, Patna zoo
and many parts of West Bengal. According to
them CDV is causing deaths of endangered
Tigers, Red Panda and Lions.
CDV is a common disease in domestic dogs.
It affects nervous, respiratory and immune
system.
Spreads in animals which eat infected dogs and
use infected water sources.
Rare bird Indian Pitta
Note: For more details on exact sequence of
events in the accident, please refer Wikipedia.
China’s ivory crushing.
Two months after US destroyed its stockpile of
ivory, China took a significant step towards
discouraging ivory trade and poaching, by
destroying 6.15 tonnes of ivory seized, in public.
It is being interpreted as a move towards
shedding its image of as the world’s biggest
market for smuggled ivory, which figuratively
sits at 70% of global demand.
Conservationists welcomed the move as it sent
out strong message to the potential customers as
well as symbolically enhanced public awareness.
Every year huge no. of African elephants are
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INSIGHTS
At Aravalli diversity park in Delhi, an endemic
species of colorful bird Indian Pitta was spotted
after 60 yrs. Usually found in Himalayan
foothills and Western Ghats, it is distributed all
over Asia, Africa and Australia.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Tropical storm One hit the coasts of Sri Lanka
on 5th Jan. The storm with wind velocity of
100km/hour struck the East coast of
Triconamalee.
The Disaster management center evacuated
people from nearby coastline zone as US Navy
and Air force Joint Typhoon warning center
forecasted about the storm.
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What is a Tropical Storm?
Spiral arrangement of the thunderstorms.
Before dwelling any further, it is necessary to
disburse the presumption that in Indian context,
forests are the pristine vast stretches of greenery,
flora and fauna as in the case of Amazons or
Africa. Rather it should be noted that a huge a
chunk of tribal population live inside the areas
declared in law as forests.
Produces heavy rain.
Lump sum purpose of the Act
Forms over large warm water bodies and derives
energy from water evaporating from the Ocean
surface.
To grant ownership of those forest lands to
tribal dwellers, which were already under
cultivation, subject to a maximum of 4 hectares.
Tropical Storm Risk (TSR)
To grant tribal dwellers with the usage rights of
minor forest produce, grazing zones etc..
Rapidly rotating storm system.
Low pressure at the center.
TSR is a venture developed that has been
developed from UK govt. supported Tsunami
initiative project on seasonal tropical cyclone
prediction.
TSR forecasts to benefit basic risk awareness and
aid Disaster management.
To grant them with proper resettlement and
rehabilitation in case of any kind of necessary
eviction (either developmental or for
conservation purposes).
To protect forest and wildlife
community conservation programs.
through
Reasons behind legislation: A critical analysis.
General Studies-III [Awareness in the fields of
IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, bio-technology and issues relating to
intellectual property rights ]
The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act 2006.
On 8th Jan, at Balumath, Jharkhand, a group of
250 tribal villagers staged firm protest against the
coal mining projects of Tata Steel and Adhunik
Power and Natural Resources Ltd..
They emphatically claimed that they were being
forcibly denied their forest rights. Moreover they
got little cooperation from local officials and
were being threatened by a local pro-mining
naxal outfit.
Analysis of The Recognition of Forest Rights
Act (2006)
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In India forests are mainly governed by two
laws, The Indian Forest Act (1927)(IFA) and
The Wildlife Protection Act(1972). The IFA
empowers the government to declare any area as
forest (Reserved, Protected or Village) and the
WPA empowers the government to constitute
any area as protected area (National Park,
Sanctuary or Reserve), based on studies, reports
and recommendations.
The IFA aims to bring all forests under the
centralized control of forest department and
take over the lands and rights of people living
over there.
Before Independence, the justification for the
Act was give as necessary step for higher timber
yield, Post-independence for nation’s Industrial
requirements and in current era as a necessity for
conservation.
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Thus by law, a Forest Settlement Officer is
supposed to survey and settle the rights of
people in the area which is going to be declared
forests. To no big surprise, these settlement
officers either did nothing or recorded the rights
of only those who were powerful.
As a result, millions of people, mostly tribals
were declared encroachers in their own homes.
They became vulnerable at any time to
extortion, jail, assault or eviction. Those who
opposed destruction of forests due to Industries,
Mining etc. were jailed or evicted.
Moreover, the serious concern over conservation
and the resultant rehabilitation of tribals was not
being addressed properly.
Thus, there was need for a set of rules which
could address the grievances of these troubled
forest dwellers in a more comprehensive and
better way. The Forest Rights Act aims at reinvigorating the lost confidence of these people
in governance, administration, bring them back
in the mainstream development process and
help them avail their basic fundamental rights,
from which they have long been denied, owing
to suppression and exploitation.
Moreover it gives communities the legal rights
to prevent forests and wildlife, instead of
destroying them, as presumed.
Note: For more details on exact provisions of the
act and procedures involved, please refer
Wikipedia.
POLAR VORTEX
What is POLAR VORTEX?
Polar vortex is large frigid air mass. It is located
near the earth’s geographical poles. It is low
pressure area continuously circulating cold air in
counter clockwise direction. When the air is
being circulated it becomes more cold and
denser. It is strongest in winter season and
weaker during the summer. It moves very slowly
or even stays stationary. Also known as SubPolar cyclone or Circumpolar Whirl.
Controversy and Misinterpretation:
A huge section of Indian media and
Environmentalists protested against the Forest
Rights Act when it was first staged for
enactment. And the reason was a gross
misinterpretation of the provisions.
It was wrongly interpreted that the FRA intends
to entitle the ownership of forest lands to the
tribals in huge proportions, which eventually
would result in deforestation and will have
devastating effects on flora and fauna.
But it has to be understood that there is no
provision for entitlement of new forest lands.
Rather to grant ownership of only those lands,
which are already under use. (Cultivation,
grazing etc.)
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INSIGHTS
Where is the Polar Vortex?
Northern Hemisphere: On earth it hovers for
year around the Arctic with two centers. i.e. 1.
Canada’s Baffin Island. 2. near Siberia.
Southern Hemisphere: It is located near the edge
of Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica
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Why is polar vortex making this winter so cold
in U.S.?
The air(prevention and control of pollution)
Act, 1981
It’s normal for some of frigid air moves
southward but these times it proves
exceptionally by dragging piece of vortex
towards U.S. U.S. Scientist have been told that
in the past it occurred at the frequency of 20
years. Scientist have begun to study whether
there is link between the effect of climate
change and the extreme weather conditions.
The Environment(protection) Act,1986
Polar vortex and Ozone depletion:
The chemical reaction between nitric acid of
polar stratospheric clouds reacts with CFC to
form chlorine which acts as catalyst for ozone
depletion. It is observed generally on the
Antarctic Polar vortex.
National Green Tribunal Bill 2009
The Public Liability Insurance Act,1991
The Biological Diversity Act,2002
Tribunal consists of both judicial and experts
members. Judicial members should have been
judges of high or supreme courts and expert
member should have good technological
background and essential practical knowledge.
Bill states that order of tribunal shall be final and
contains no provision for appeal.
5.Bill was introduced by the Ministry of
Environment and Forests in response to the
supreme court and recommendations of law
commission.
Highlights:
Key Issues:
1.It aims to establish specialized environmental
courts in country. Bill replaces the existing
National Environmental Appellate Authority
and gives wider jurisdiction.
Bill allows to hear complaints of “substantial
question” relating to the environment. Here
“substantial questions” means those which
affects the community not individual or group
of same and which causes significant damage to
the environment.
“Substantial questions” relating to environment
under the following law can raised in these
tribunal:
Water (prevention and control of pollution)
Act,1974
Meaning of “substantial question related to
environment” is open to interpretation and does
not give exact meaning.
It may reduce the access to justice in
environmental matters by taking away the
jurisdiction of civil courts. All cases under these
law will be handled by these tribunal which is
benched at limited location(initially only five).
It does give the tribunal jurisdiction over some
environmental issues.
Mainly the judicial members qualification is
same as it was for NEAA.
The Water Cess Act, 1977
Bill does not give any clear idea about the
composition of tribunal and selecting
committee.
The Forest(conservation) Act 1980
References:
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1:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tpnational/ministry-uturn-may-clear-hurdles-formanipur-project/article5551594.ece
IDENTIFICATION of the consequences of the
proposal.
PREDICTION of the extent of consequences.
2.www.prsindia.org
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
EVALUATION of the predicted consequences.
(Significant or not)
WHAT is EIA?
MITIGATION of the adverse consequences.
It is a study to evaluate and identify the
predictable environmental consequences and the
best
combination
of
economic
and
environmental costs and benefits of the
proposed project.
DOCUMENTATION to inform
makers what needs to be done.
On the basis of EIA, an Environmental
Management Plan (EMP) is prepared, which is a
description of the means by which the
environmental consequences as pointed out in
the EIA will be mitigated. Together the whole
draft is termed as EIA-EMP report.
Issues related to EIA
Though it seems a very simplified process, but
the whole process of EIA encompasses
numerous structural and procedural flaws. All
the associated issues can be classified in two
categories.
Report Issues
WHO does EIA?
Public Hearing Issues.
The project proponent or Independent agencies
like NEERI, TERI, WAPCOS, E & Y, NCAER
etc.
Report Issues.
WHY is EIA conducted?
To systematically examine both beneficial and
adverse consequences of the proposal.
To ensure that those consequences are taken
into account during project design.
To identify possible environmental effects of the
proposal and means to mitigate them.
To predict whether there will be significant
adverse effects even after the mitigation.
To lessen conflicts by promoting community
participation and informing decision makers.
How is EIA done?
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INSIGHTS
decision
Screening and Scoping not well defined—-In the
EIA notification 2006, there is a lack of clarity in
overall conductance of the Screening process. As
it is discretion of the State Level committee to
decide which projects are B1 and which are B2,
many a times the bias of respective State
Governments come into play. The Scoping
process faces same types of issues because of
lack of clarity in guidelines.
Misleading EIA reports—Sometimes the EIA
reports lack the expected degrees of honesty,
owing to bias, corruption, exaggeration and
wrong claims. Due to poor knowledge of the
project area the agencies lift paragraphs and
sentences from other sources, thus presenting
contradictory, inconsistent and outdated
information. Moreover there is no process for
punishing the agencies tabling such dishonest
EIA reports.
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Insufficient EIA reports—-Agencies or project
proponents also prepare incomplete EIA reports,
which include incomplete surveys, arbitrary
demarcation of EIA study area and
unsubstantiated statements. Sometimes the
impact with respect to flash floods, landslides,
peak precipitation etc. round the year is grossly
ignored in reports.
Poor quality of EIA professionals— This
happens mostly when the proponents
themselves conduct the EIA. They intentionally
hire local and incompetent professionals to save
cost over the whole process or some other
vested reasons. These poor professionals prepare
a poor quality of EIA reports.
Over
involvement
of
Public
hearing
consultants— In the public hearing meeting, the
consultants should not be allowed to have a
dominant say, except responding to the issues of
the people. On the contrary, they get involved in
public hearings beyond requirements and thus
mislead the local people.
Unaddressed issues persist—-The issues raised
by people in public hearings remains
unanswered and they do not know what
happens to the issues, nor do they know if the
issues raised are reflected in public hearing
reports that is presented to Ministry of
Environment and forests.
Understanding
Assessment (EIA)
Public hearing issues
Lack of awareness—-There is a gross lack of
awareness among the local people, about the
process of EIA, its significance for them, role of
various players and their own rights and
responsibilities.
Moreover
there
is
a
communication gap between authorities and
local people because the notice for Public
hearing is issued in local newspapers only and no
separate notices are sent to individual concerned
panchayats. Most of the times local people are
unaware of the Public hearing meetings.
Unavailabilty of EIA in local languages— Most
of the time EIA reports are unavailable in local
languages, thus local people are unable to
decipher the reports, and are misled by the
proponents. This can be interpreted as a clear
violation of the right to information on their
part. The irony is local people are totally
unaware of such implications.
Ignorance of officials—The concerned officials
for example those in Public Hearing committee
are ignorant of their roles and responsibilities.
Sometimes they don’t even get a copy of EIA
report and it is passed without their consent,
owing to gross corruption of the system.
Environmental
Impact
Recently the Ministry of Environment and
Forest granted environmental clearance to
POSCO’s Steel plant, while rejected the
proposal of Vedanta’s Bauxite mining projects.
What was the procedure and why one was
granted clearance while the other was not?
What is their relation with the Environmental
Impact Assessment?
To answer these questions, there is a need to
analyze the entire process of Environmental
clearance and the Environmental Impact
Assessment Notification 2006.
Environmental Impact Assessment Notification
(EIA) ,2006.
The EIA notification categorizes all kinds of
developmental projects in various schedules.
The project proponent/investor has to identify
to which schedule his proposed project belongs
to. All the projects coming under Schedule 1
require environmental clearance. Schedule 1
contains two Categories A and B, Category B is
further classified as B1 and B2 by respective State
Level Expert Appraisal Committee.
The EIA notification establishes four stages for
obtaining Environmental Clearance.
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SCREENING
complies with the prescribed effluent and
emission standards. If so, a NOC is granted.
SCOPING
PUBLIC HEARING
APPRAISAL
NOTE:
NOTE:
B1 Categories project require Environmental
Impact Assessment while B2 category projects
are exempted from EIA.
Public Hearing is exempted for projects like
modernization of irrigation, expansion of roads
and highways, all B2 category projects etc.
NOTE:
Technically, this is the first step for A category
projects,
which
requires
Environmental
clearance from Central govt. along with B 1
projects, while B 2 projects need clearance only
from state governments.
The proponent has to now conduct EIA and
submit the report to State Pollution Control
Board (SPCB) and State Forest Department
(SFD) (If the project covers forest lands).
The SPCB and SFD evaluates the report
qualitatively and quantitatively to assess if it
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Understanding Intellectual Property Rights
WHAT are Intellectual Property Rights?
· Broadly IPR are rights granted to creators and
owners of works that are results of
human intellectual creativity.
· These works can be in industrial, scientific,
literary and artistic domains, and in the form
of an invention, a manuscript, a suite of software
or a business name.
· IPR as a collective term includes the following
IP rights
a) Patent.
b) Copyright.
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c) Trademark.
d) Registered Industrial Design.
e) Protection of IC layout design.
f) Geographical Indications.
g) Protection of undisclosed information.
WHY do we need Intellectual Property Rights?
· Due to globalization, geographical barriers to
trade among nations are collapsing,
leading to emergence of multilateral trade and a
new economic order.
· The new knowledge economy places a tag of
urgency, as the time for grasping
knowledge has become an important parameter
to determine the success of an
institution, enterprise, government and industry.
· The face of changing trade environment is
characterized by global competition, high
innovation risks, short product cycle, need for
rapid changes in technology and high
investment in R&D.
· Thus the complexity of global trade would be
on the increase with introduction of more
and more variables. Many product and
technologies are simultaneously marketed and
utilized in many countries.
All such products and technologies are
susceptible to infringement leading to
inadequate
returns to the creator of knowledge. Developers
of such products and technologies would like
to ensure the R&D costs and other associated
costs are recovered and enough profits are
generated to invest in future R&D. Hence there
is a need for Intellectual Property Rights.
NATURE of Intellectual Property Rights
· Largely territorial except Copyright, which is
global
· Awarded by the state and are monopoly rights.
· Have to be renewed from time to time.
(Except Copyright and Trade Secrets)
· Have fixed term. (Except Trade Secrets,
Geographical indications and Trademark which
have indefinite life)
· Can be assigned, gifted, sold and licensed like
any other property.
· Can be simultaneously held in many countries
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INSIGHTS
at the same time.
· Can be held only by legal entities.
PATENTS
· Exclusive rights granted by a country.
· Granted to the owner of an invention.
· Granted for making, using, manufacturing and
marketing the invention
· Available for a limited period.
· Territorial in nature, i.e. inventor needs to file
separate patent applications for different
nations.
Definition of Invention
i. A new product or process involving an
inventive step and capable of industrial
application
ii. New invention means any invention which
has not been anticipated by any publication
in the country or elsewhere in the world.
iii. An invention must be :
NOVEL (Undisclosed in public, through any
publication, anywhere in the world)
NON OBVIOUS (Not obvious to person
skilled in the subject matter of the patent)
USEFUL
IPCC Summary for Policy Makers (SPM)
What is IPCC- SPM?
Every six years or so, IPCC publishes assessment
reports on science, impact and mitigation of
climate change.
This is the 5th IPCC-SPM. The last (4th) report
was published in 2007.
Important Impacts of Climate Change
Snow cover in the northern hemisphere in June
has reduced by 11.7% per decade since 1967.
That means the snow cover in that month over
the northern hemisphere has fallen to half of
what it was less than 50 years ago.
Permafrost- The frozen soil that extends several
million square kilometers along the high
Northern latitudes has warmed by staggering 3
degrees Centigrade in Northern Alaska since
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early 1980s and by 2 degrees Centigrade in the
Russian European north sine 1971
Monsoon retreat dates will likely be delayed in
many regions.
The earth’s surface cover over each of the last
three decades has been warmer than any
preceding decade since 1850 and has warmed by
.85 degrees Centigrade since 1880.
COMPREHENSIVE ARTICLE on WILDLIFE
OF INDIA
Between 1901 and 2010, the sea levels rose by 19
cm on an average worldwide. In recent years, the
rise has increased to 3.2 mm a year.
Causes
Of the total Green House Gases (GHGs)
emission, 44% or little less than half
accumulated in the atmosphere, and rest almost
equally being taken up by oceans and land based
ecosystems.
As
a
consequence,
the
atmospheric
concentration of three main GHGs has risen to
levels unprecedented in at least 8,00,000 years.
Even the oceans absorbing GHGs have become
more and more acidic.
Possible Impacts on India
The increasing concentration of GHGs in
atmosphere will further aggravate the increase in
atmospheric temperature as it will rise by a
further 0.3 to 0.7 degrees Centigrade in 20162035.
The increase in seasonal and mean temperatures
is expected to be larger in the tropics and
subtropics than the mid-latitudes.
The tropics are home to huge number of world’s
known species, and which have historically
evolved and been used to relative narrow
temperature band. A small rise will mean that
many tropical species have to migrate or become
extinct.
In the longer term, it is seriously alarming that
much of North-west and Central India would be
4 degrees to 5 degrees warmer by 2081 -2100.
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INSIGHTS
Apart from a handful of the major farm animals
such as cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry and sheep,
India has an amazingly wide variety of animals
native to the country.
It is home to Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pythons,
Wolves, Foxes, Bears, Crocodiles, Rhinoceroses,
Camels, Wild dogs, Monkeys, Snakes, Antelope
species, Deer species, varieties of bison and not
to mention the mighty Asian elephant.
The region’s rich and diverse wildlife is
preserved in 89 national parks, 18 Bio reserves
and 400+ wildlife sanctuaries across the
country.
India has some of the most biodiverse regions of
the world and hosts three of the world’s 34
biodiversity hotspots – or treasure-houses – that
is the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas
and Indo- Burma.
Since India is home to a number of rare and
threatened animal species, wildlife management
in the country is essential to preserve these
species. According to one study, India along with
17 mega diverse countries is home to about 6070 % of the world’s biodiversity.
India, lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, is
home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of
avian, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.0% of flowering
plant species.
India’s forest cover ranges from the tropical
rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western
Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous
forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes
lie the sal-dominated moist deciduous forest of
eastern India; teak-dominated dry deciduous
forest of central and southern India; and the
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babul-dominated thorn forest of the central
Deccan and western Gangetic plain.
land for agriculture, development of towns and
cities, construction of dams, or other purposes.
In recent decades, human encroachment has
posed a threat to India’s wildlife; in response, the
system of national parks and protected areas,
first established in 1935, was substantially
expanded.
Climate Change or global warming
The Indomalaya ecozone is one of the eight
ecozones that cover the planet’s land surface. It
extends across most of South and Southeast Asia
and into the southern parts of East Asia.
Introduction of Exotic Species
Also called the Oriental Realm by biogeographers,
Indomalaya
extends
from
Afghanistan through the Indian subcontinent
and Southeast Asia to lowland southern China,
and through Indonesia as far as Java, Bali, and
Borneo
Human activities such as the burning of fossil
fuels, have altered the Earth’s atmosphere and
have resulted in global climate changes.
Accidental and intentional introduction of nonnative species into regions never before
occupied by the species have resulted in the
extinction of numerous endemic species.
Pollution
Pollutants (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) released
into the environment are ingested by a wide
variety of organisms.
Threats
Over-Exploitation of Resources
In recent evolutionary history, threats facing
many organisms have been driven primarily by
the effects of a single species: humans. The
extent to which humans have altered this planet
has effected countless species and has initiated
extinctions on such a vast scale that many
scientists believe we are now experiencing a
mass extinction (the sixth mass extinction in the
history of life on earth).
Preventable Threats
Exploitation of wild populations for food has
resulted in population crashes (over-fishing, for
example).
Hunting, Poaching, Illegal Trade of Endangered
Species
Some endangered species are targeted for their
value on illegal markets.
Accidental Deaths
Since man is indeed part of nature, man-made
threats are merely a subset of natural threats.
But unlike other natural threats, man-made
threats are threats that we can prevent by
changing our behavior.
The Types of Man-Made Threats
Habitat Destruction & Fragmentation
The destruction or splitting up of once
continuous habitat to enable humans to use the
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INSIGHTS
Car hits, window collisions (birds), collisions
with ships (whales).
Invasive Species
When a new and aggressive species is introduced
into an ecosystem, it might not have any natural
predators or controls. It can breed and spread
quickly, taking over an area. Native wildlife
may not have evolved defenses against the
invader or they cannot compete with a species
that has no predators.
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Oil Spills
Conservation of Wildlife In India
Conservation
The National Wildlife Action Plan provides the
framework of the strategy as well as the
programme for conservation of wildlife. The
first National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) of
1983 has been revised and the new Wildlife
Action Plan (2002-2016) (File referring to
external site opens in a new window) has been
adopted. The Indian Board of Wildlife, headed
by the Prime Minister, is the apex advisory body
overseeing and guiding the implementation of
various schemes for wildlife conservation.
The need for conservation of wildlife in India is
often questioned because of the apparently
incorrect priority in the face of direct poverty of
the people.
However,
Article 48 of the Constitution of India specifies
that, “The state shall endeavour to protect and
improve the environment and to safeguard the
forests and wildlife of the country” and Article
51-A states that “it shall be the duty of every
citizen of India to protect and improve the
natural environment including forests, lakes,
rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for
living creatures.”
Large and charismatic mammals are important
for wildlife tourism in India, and several national
parks and wildlife sanctuaries cater to these
needs.
Project Tiger, started in 1972, is a major effort to
conserve the tiger and its habitats. At the turn of
the 20th century, one estimate of the tiger
population in India placed the figure at 40,000,
yet an Indian tiger census conducted in 2008
revealed the existence of only 1,411 tigers. 2010
Tiger census revealed that there are 1700 tigers
left in India. The passing of the Forest Rights
Act by the Indian government in 2008 has been
the final nail in the coffin and has pushed the
Indian tiger to the verge of extinction. Various
pressures in the later part of the 20th century led
to the progressive decline of wilderness resulting
in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats. At the
International Union for the Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) General
Assembly meeting in Delhi in 1969, serious
concern was voiced about the threat to several
species of wildlife and the shrinkage of
wilderness in India. In 1970, a national ban on
tiger hunting was imposed, and in 1972 the
Wildlife Protection Act came into force.
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INSIGHTS
Project Tiger (External website that opens in a
new window), now renamed as the National
Tiger Conservation Authority, was launched in
1973 with a mandate to conserve tigers in a
holistic manner. Its mandate was to be fulfilled
by facilitating focused, concerted management
of eco-typical reserves in various states,
constituted on a core-buffer strategy through
funding the technical support including sitespecific inputs to elicit local community support
for conservation. The project has put the tiger
on an assured course of recovery from the brink
of extinction, apart from conserving the floral
and faunal genetic diversity in some of our
unique and endangered wilderness ecosystem.
Under the Project Elephant (External website
that opens in a new window), which was
launched in February 1992, States that have a
free-ranging population of wild elephants are
being given financial as well as technical and
scientific assistance to ensure long-term survival
of identified viable populations of elephants in
their natural habitats. Elephant Task Force
Report, Gajah, lays out a comprehensive action
agenda for protecting elephants in the wild and
in captivity, and for addressing human-elephant
conflict.
Established in 1982, Wildlife Institute of India
(WII) (External website that opens in a new
window) offers training programmes, academic
courses and advisory in wildlife research and
management. The Institute is actively engaged in
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research across the breadth of the country on
biodiversity related issues
Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI)
(External website that opens in a new window)
is a statutory body under Section 4 of the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960
with its headquarters at Chennai. Its basic
mandate is to advise the Government on animal
welfare issues, and create awareness regarding
animal welfare. AWBI gives financial assistance
to the eligible Animal Welfare Organisations for
Shelter Houses, Model Gaushalas, for setting up
Bio-Gas Plants, Famine/Drought Relief,
Earthquake Relief, etc., in the various states.
Zoological Survey of India (External website
that opens in a new window) is a nodal
organization under Ministry of Environment and
Forests which plays a significant role in fulfilling
India’s commitments under various international
conventions. This organisation is a vast
repository of National Zoological Collection in
the form of various types and reference
collections needed for the bio-systematic
research and conservation strategies.
CITES ,Convention
Endangered Species.
on
Illegal
trade
in
Legal Framework for Wildlife Conservation in
India
The Government of India has introduced
various types of legislation in response to the
growing destruction of wildlife and forests.
These are:
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Last
amended in 2006)
The Wildlife (Protection) Act (WLPA), 1972 is
an important statute that provides a powerful
legal framework for:
Prohibition of hunting
Regulation and control of trade in parts and
products derived from wildlife
Management of zoos.
The WLPA provides for several categories of
Protected Areas/Reserves:
National Parks
Wildlife Sanctuaries
Tiger Reserves
Conservation Reserves
Community Reserves
National parks and Tiger Reserves are by law
more strictly protected, allowing virtually no
human activity except that which is in the
interest of wildlife conservation.
Grazing and private tenure rights are disallowed
in National Parks but can be allowed in
sanctuaries at the discretion of the Chief
Wildlife Warden.
The amended WLPA does not allow for any
commercial exploitation of forest produce in
both national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and
local communities can collect forest produce
only for their bona fide needs.
No wild mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, fish,
crustacean, insects, or coelenterates listed in four
Schedules of the WLPA can be hunted either
within or outside protected areas. On
conviction, the penalty for hunting is
imprisonment for a period ranging from a
minimum of three to a maximum of seven years
with fines not less than 10,000 rupees.
Community reserves and conservation reserves
are two new categories of protected areas that
have been included under the WLPA. These
Protection and management of wildlife habitats
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Establishment of protected areas
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two categories provide a greater role for local
communities, stakeholders and civil society as
well as the opportunity to protect many areas of
conservation value that cannot be designated
under strict categories such as wildlife
sanctuaries or national parks.
The statute prohibits the destruction or
diversion of wildlife and its habitat by any
method unless it is for improvement or better
management and this is decided by the state
government in consultation with the National
and State Boards for Wildlife.
authorized officers of the forest department and
police officers.
The Indian Forest Act (1927) and Forest Acts of
State Governments
The main objective of the Indian Forest Act
(1927) was to secure exclusive state control over
forests to meet the demand for timber.
The Act facilitates three categories of forests,
namely
Reserved forests
The WLPA contains elaborate procedures for
dealing with legal rights in proposed protected
areas and acquisition of any land or interest
under this law is deemed as an acquisition for a
public purpose. However, with the enactment
of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights)
Act, 2006, compliance of various provisions
relating to tenure and community rights must be
ensured.
Apart from protected area establishment, other
important aspects of the WLPA include
procedures for the appointment of state wildlife
authorities and wildlife boards, the regulation of
trade in wildlife products and the prevention,
detection and punishment of violations of the
WLPA.
The 2006 amendment introduced a new chapter
(IV B) for establishment of the National Tiger
Conservation Authority and notification of Tiger
Reserves (before this amendment, Tiger
Reserves were not defined under the law, but
were merely administrative designations to
enable funding under Project Tiger).
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB)
was constituted vide the 2006 amendment to
monitor and control the illegal trade in wildlife
products.
The WLPA provides for investigation and
prosecution of offences in a court of law by
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INSIGHTS
Village forests
Protected forests
Reserved forests are the most protected within
these categories. No rights can be acquired in
reserved forests except by succession or under a
grant or contract with the government. Felling
trees, grazing cattle, removing forest products,
quarrying, fishing, and hunting are punishable
with a fine or imprisonment.
The Forest Conservation Act (1980)
In order to check rapid deforestation due to
forestlands being released by state governments
for agriculture, industry and other development
projects (allowed under the Indian Forest Act)
the federal government enacted the Forest
Conservation Act in 1980 with an amendment
in 1988. The Act made the prior approval of the
federal government necessary for de-reservation
of reserved forests, logging and for use of
forestland for non- forest purposes.
The Environment (Protection) Act (1986)
The Environment Protection Act is an
important legislation that provides for
coordination of activities of the various
regulatory agencies, creation of authorities with
adequate powers for environmental protection,
regulation of the discharge of environmental
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pollutants, handling of hazardous substances, etc.
The Act provided an opportunity to extend
legal protection to non-forest habitats
(‘Ecologically Sensitive Areas’) such as
grasslands, wetlands and coastal zones.
The Biological Diversity Act (2002)
India is a party to the United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity. The
provisions of the Biological Diversity Act are in
addition to and not in derogation of the
provisions in any other law relating to forests or
wildlife.
National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016)
National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016)
replaces the earlier Plan adopted in 1983 and was
introduced in response to the need for a change
in priorities given the increased commercial use
of natural resources, continued growth of human
and livestock populations, and changes in
consumption patterns.
The Plan most closely represents an actual
policy on protection of wildlife. It focuses on
strengthening and enhancing the protected area
network, on the conservation of Endangered
wildlife and their habitats, on controlling trade
in wildlife products and on research, education,
and training.
The Plan endorses two new protected area
categories: “conservation reserves,” referring to
corridors connecting protected areas, and
“community reserves”, which will allow greater
participation of local communities in protected
area management through traditional or cultural
conservation practices.
National Forest Policy (1998)
DBT’s(Department
Of
BioTechnology)
Biotechnology Programs in North East India :
What is Biotechnology: Use of living systems
and organisms to develop useful products. Ex.
Brewing i.e. production of beer (one of the early
application of biotechnology).
Some major area of application:
Healthcare (eg. Pharmaceutical drug discovery)
Crop production and agriculture(eg. Genetically
modified crop )
Industrial use of crop (eg. Vegetable oil, biofuel
)
Various terms related to Biotechnology:
Bioinformatics:- address biological problems
using computational techniques and make the
process of biological analysis fast.
Blue biotechnology:- use to describe the marine
and aquatics applications of biotechnology.
Green biotechnology:- Describe the agricultural
use of biotechnology .
Red biotechnology:- describe the medical use of
biotechnology.
The National Forest Policy, 1988, (NFP) is
primarily concerned with the sustainable use
and conservation of forests, and further
strengthens the Forest Conservation Act (1980).
It marked a significant departure from earlier
http://insightsonindia.com
forest policies, which gave primacy to meeting
government
interests
and
industrial
requirements for forest products at the expense
of local subsistence requirements. The NFP
prioritizes the maintenance of ecological balance
through the conservation of biological diversity,
soil and water management, increase of tree
cover, efficient use of forest produce,
substitution of wood, and ensuring peoples’
involvement in achieving these objectives.
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White biotechnology:- describe the industrial
use of biotechnology.
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Issues related to biotechnology: There are
various issues related to biotechnology.
have developed genetically modified products,
is providing correct information or not.
Cost: Biotechnology products cost are relatively
high because they require high investment for
initial research. There may be high risk of
failure, which further increase its cost.
So it must be compulsory to submit test results
and there must be a separate agency whose task
is to check whether the company are providing
correct result or not. In case of any violation,
appropriate action should be taken.
Ethics: debates over the ethics of biotechnology
are raising. Ethics related concern include
cloning and genetic modification of organisms.
Laws: there are very few laws there address
biotechnology practices.
Uncertainty:
the
biggest
issue
with
biotechnology is the uncertainty in its long term
effects. Their immediate advantages are clear
,but their long term effect is still hide because
most of the research have been done since mid
1990s. for example biotechnology developed
genetically modified crops which solved the
problem of hunger, increase the plants resistance
to disease but still it is not clear that the same
GM crops is safe to human health.
So what we need is Regulation , currently
bioengineered plants food fall under the
jurisdiction of three agencies, the US Food and
Drug Administration, the US Department of
Agriculture and the Environmental Protection
agency.
The US Food and Drug Administration
determine whether the new plant variety will
adversely affect the environment.
The Environmental Protection agency regulates
pesticides and determine tolerance level in
human and animal.
The US Department of Agriculture determine
the safety of genetically modified plants.
But still there is a problem , the problem is that
the companies are asked to voluntarily submit
their test results, it is not compulsory. There is
no way to check whether the companies that
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INSIGHTS
North East Region (NER) of India: [Consist of
Seven sister state -Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland and Himalayan state of Sikkim]
8% of the total geographical area of the Indian
subcontinent but 50% of the floristic wealth of
the country.
house of exceptional natural beauty, floral and
faunal biodiversity and abundant mineral, water
and forests resources.
ideal climatic conditions for agriculture,
plantations and sericulture(i.e. silk farming).
Reason for rich biodiversity: High rainfall and
plenty of sunlight coupled with unique biogeographical positioning.
Because Of This(Rich Biodiversity) NER(North
East Region) Provide Unique Opportunity For
Biotechnology Based Interventions For Overall
Development Of The Region.
Started In the year 2009-10:- DBT had set up a
North
Eastern
Region-Biotechnology
Programme Management Cell (NER-BPMC)
through Biotech Consortium India Limited
(BCIL) for coordination and monitoring of
biotechnology programme in the North Eastern
States of India.
Then NER-BPMC has
biotechnology programme in
States of India(since DBT
BPMC, so ultimately this
running by DBT) as follows:-
initiated FIVE
the North Eastern
has setup NERprogrammes are
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INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY/PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT:Mainly
focused
on
programme that lead to product development In
order to ensure economic development of NER.
Example includes:Biotechnology Led Organic Farming in the
NER
Twinning Programme (joint venture, between
two or more institutes, where one of the
institute is from North East India. )
A value chain on Jackfruit and its value added
products .
Creation of infrastructure facility of labs at
NEIGRIHMS, Shillong
4.HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT:- In
order to develop human resource, following
activities has been initiated.
Overseas
scientists
Fellowship/Associateship
for
NER
Award of Biotechnology National Associateship to
Scientists working in North Eastern States .
Entrepreneurship Development in NER
MD/MD Thesis Grants
Value chain development in Citrus.
Star College Scheme
CAPACITY BUILDING:- Some initiatives were
taken towards building capacities of the
institutions in NER by supporting infrastructure
facilities, high speed internet bandwidth, high
end IT equipment, access to high impact ejournals, etc. some of the projects implemented
are:North Eastern Bioinformatics Network
Online human resource repository of Biotechnology
and Bioinformatics resources of North East India
(BABRONE)
Development of Digital Database of Bio-resources
of NE(North East) India
Training program on utilization of bio-pesticides
and bio-fertilizers in NE states .
5. SETTING UP OF CENTRES OF
EXCELLENCE: For strengthening agrobiotechnology research in NER, DBT has been
set up Center of Excellence at Assam
Agricultural University, Jorhat
The major focus of the centre will be
a). Basic research-Gene technology, molecular
breeding and microbial gene prospecting
b). HRD component
programme and
with
strong
Ph.D.
The Establishment of Biotech
DBT’s e-Library Consortia (NER-DeLCON)
c). Extending technology benefits through
enhanced production of bio inputs etc
3.INFRASTRUCTURE
DEVELOPMENT:Since the infrastructure is the key of growth,
Following programme has been initiated to
support & create infrastructure facilities.
Recently The DBT has decided to spend 10% of
its total budget (148.50 crores) for the year 201314 to promote biotechnology activities in the
North Eastern Region of India.
DBT Nodal Centre, Tezpur
Practice questions-
Development of Infrastructural
National Research Centre on Yak
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Facilities
of
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Expected Question for mains:
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What is biotechnology? Write down its major area
of application.(50 words)
What are various issues related to biotechnology.
What steps has been taken to tackle these issues.
(200 words)
Explain the rich biodiversity of North East India.
What are the factor behind it.(100 words)
“Department of Biotechnology(DBT) has recently
focused on rich biodiversity of NE Regions of
India.” What was the reason behind this? Also
write down some steps taken by DBT in this
regard. (200 words)
Reference:1)
Department
BioTechnology(DBT)
http://dbtindia.nic.in/index.asp
Of
website
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnolog
y
A Date Wise Synopsis of
Environmental Current Affairs:
Important
Jan 4
Ministry of Environment and Forests granted
environmental and Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ) clearance to multi-crore Vizhijam
Seaport project in Kerala. MoEF instructed the
state government to ensure that
Hazardous wastes are disposed in the project
area.
No hazardous wastes and solid wastes are stored
in CRZ.
No ground water is extracted from CRZ.
Mango City of Kerala, Muthalamada, has
become the first victim of climate change in the
state. With nearly 4500 hectares Mango
cultivation, Muthalamada is known for its early
mango harvest. In fact besides this Mango city,
mangoes ripen in January only in Peru and
Bolivia. So it is a first to hit the international
market and mangoes fetch good export orders
and high prices. Flower bloomed late last year
due to heavy southeast monsoon and the
previous year owing to severe drought.
Jan 3
Jan 5
Shashi Tharoor was named Person of the year by
PETA (INDIA), for taking steps towards animal
protection and conservation. Mr. Tharoor
recommended NCERT to ban use of animals in
training teachers for dissection and other
academic activities.
The Kerala government has expresses
apprehensions over the K.Kasturirangan
committee report on Western Ghats,
demarcating flaws in the identification of
Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) under
Environment Protection Act. The panel report
has recommended declaring 37%of Western
Ghats area as ESA.
Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP)
declared the K. Kasturirangan Committee report
as anti- environmental and said that the report
was prepared without considering the opinions
of local people. They claimed that the report
will give opportunities to mafia to exploit the
ecologically sensitive areas of Western Ghats.
Moreover they said that the committee has a
hidden agenda to sabotage the recommendations
of Gadgil report, which promotes sustainable
development.
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Jan 6
A Pollution Monitoring system was installed on
Periyar River, at Elore, Kerala. The system will
continuously monitor Edayar Industrial Area and
results of water quality will be displayed live on
a display board. The Kerala State Pollution
Board will also install 8 surveillance cameras
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along river banks to monitor changes in color
and turbidity.
Supreme Courts of India ordered the setup of a
National Regulatory Body, for processing
environmental clearances for industrial projects
and implementation of forest policy. The
regulator will have offices in most of the states
and is a must since the present system under
central govt. is deficient. The National regulator
will directly deal with Environmental Impact
Assessment notification (2006) for every project.
the project, declaring it as an Ecologically
sensitive area. The proposal in Saranda,
Jharkhand is inside notified Singhbhum Elephant
Reserve.
Jan 9
A rare discovery of conjoined Gray whale calves
in the lagoon, Baja (California) is exceptional as
till date, any precedent of such a whale has not
been found. Siamese whale found were 4 meter
long and linked at the waist with the two full
heads and tail fins.
Jan 7
Sunederbans, the IPCC recognized major climate
hot spot fights the destructive implications of
climate change without any robust model yet.
The team of 50 scientists led by Robert Nicolls
(Southampton University) visited Sunderbans to
develop a climate change model that can be
adapted to secure water supply, health and food
security for millions residing along the belt.
Every year water rises up to 7 mm in
Sunderbans, which may result in large scale
migrations.
Jan 8
An expert committee setup by Maharashtra
Pollution Control Board, under the directions of
National Green Tribunal (NGT), will decide the
standards of multi-tone vehicle horns and sirens.
Ironically, while NGT wants regulation to frame
guidelines for multi-tone horns, the Central
Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) bans all kinds of
multi-toned horns strictly. CMVR restricts any
kind of multi toned horn which produces any
unduly harsh, shrill, loud or alarming noise.
The Forest Advisory Committee, a statutory
authority under Forest Conservation Act,
headed by Director General of Forest will
reconsider the project proposals awaiting forest
clearances. The proposal in Singaruli (M.P.) is in
close proximity to the Sanjay Dubhri Tiger
reserve. The National Tiger Conservation
Authority (NTCA) has already advised against
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A report was released on Gangotri, one of the
largest Himalayan glaciers in Uttrakhand by G.
B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and
Development. The report states the retreating of
Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas with a
shrinkage in its volume and size. Report also
highlights disintegration in the upper region of
the glacier due to tectonic activities.
Jan 10
A 800 MW hydroelectric project in Arunachal
Pradesh, The Tawang-2 and a 12 MT Steel plant
by POSCO, the South Korean Steel giant, were
granted environmental clearance by the Ministry
of Environment and Forests. The proposal by
Vedanta in the Niyamgiri hills was
simultaneously rejected. Though POSCO’s
proposal is still being probed by National Green
Tribunal.
On a PIL seekingdirection to halt discharge of
effluents into the river Ganga, the Supreme
Court issued notices to Central government,
Central
Pollution
Control
Board
and
governments of Uttrakhand, UP, Bihar,
Jharkhand and West Bengal. The petitioner
contended the unrestricted discharge of
untreated sewerage, industrial waste and
invasion of his fundamental rights to practice
religion as well as right to healthy environment
(Art 21 and 25 respectively.)
Jan 11
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Taking serious note of a letter from a member of
National Ganga River Basin Authority, PMO has
asked the Union ministry of Environment and
Forests to probe the reasons for increasing
pollution levels in Ganga despite thousands of
crores being spent on the cleaning of the river.
Ranchi. Already 6 regional centers are working
at Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Shillong,
Lucknow and Chandigarh.
Jan 20
Chilika for UNWTO project.
Jan 13
The climate changes caused by severe cyclonic
storm Phailin, which was followed by rains in
October is believed to have brought changes in
the sojourn of numerous migratory birds this
winter as their number has fallen considerably.
Chilika, the brackish water lagoon in Orissa is
vital destination of these migratory birds and a
major winter birding site.
Chilika, Orissa, has been chosen as one of the 8
global sites for development of sustainable
tourism and livelihood of local communities to
maintain its status as a destination for migratory
birds by United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO). At Chilika, the only
site in Asia to be selected, UNWTO would help
develop strategies for protection of migratory
birds through creation of innovative tourism and
livelihood products.
Jan 14
Jan 21
Increased Pollution levels in Yamuna river
owing to release of untreated industrial wastes
through Panipat drain in Haryana was noticed.
The rise in pollution was attributable to high
concentration of industrial and domestic wastes
being discharged in Yamuna.
Jan15
The Parliament of Europe has approved new
CO2 restrictions for commercial vehicles that
will slash the emission by 28 % . The Climate
Commissioner of Europe stated that the set
target of emission is achievable and is not too
expensive for manufacturers.
Jan 19
More regional centers to monitor environmental
projects
No El Nino, still warm 2013
According to NASA and US governments’
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration, 2013 one among the warmest
years, since the temperature records began in
1880. Important fact is that in 2013, there was no
El Nino. Usually due to El Nino, a weather
event leading to warming of Central Pacific, the
average temperatures are boosted every year.
Jan 22
At Davos, Switzerland, top leaders at the World
Economic Forum have emphatically made it a
top priority to push to reshape the Global
economy and cut Global warming by shifting to
cleaner energy sources.
Jan 23
According to information revealed in an affidavit
filed by MoEF in Supreme Court, the
government is planning to open 4 more regional
centers
to
strengthen
monitoring
of
environmental projects in different sectors,
including mining. The new centers will be
located at Chennai, Dehradun, Nagpur and
http://insightsonindia.com
INSIGHTS
Green Rain In Mumbai
At Dombivili, Mumbai, environmentalists and
conservationists were forced to take note of the
Green Rain and the larger pollution problem in
Mumbai. Air pollutants reacting with rain water
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INSIGHTS CURRENT EVENTS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2014
may have resulted in Green Rain, thus causing
water and soil pollution. There are a total of 450
industrial plants in and around the area, majority
of which deal in chemical and hazardous wastes.
Local people regularly complain of foul smell
and choking gases emission from these plants.
The lump sum monetary is given at the rate
of 1 lakh, 60k and 40k to the 3 categories.
Source:http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/mainpage.as
px
Jan 24
The International Crops Research Institute for
Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), has identified 40
Germplasm of chickpea, resistant to extreme
weather conditions like drought, high
temperatures and salinity. The latest finding is
the result of 14 year effort by a team led by Dr.
Hari D. Upadhyay, head of Gene bank at
ICRISAT. Chickpeas are rich in Protein, Starch,
Fibers, Minerals, Vitamins and is an important
legume in the world
MISCELLANEOUS
Jeevan Raksha Padak Awards-2013
The president of India has approved the
conferment of Jeevan Raksha Padak awards2013.
These awards are given to a person for
meritorious act of human nature in saving
the life of a person.
The award is given in 3 categories namely
1.Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak ;
2.uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak ; 3.jeevan
Raksha Padak.
Persons of either sex in all walks of life are
eligible for these awards.
The award can also be conferred
posthumously.
The decoration of the award (medal,
certificates signed by home minister &
demand draft for lump sum monetary
allowance) is presented to the awardee in
due course by the respective state
government to which the awardee belong.
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INSIGHTS
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