LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED

BUSINESS STANDARD

DECCAN HERALD

ECONOMIC TIMES

HINDU

HINDUSTAN TIMES

INDIAN EXPRESS

STATESMAN

TELEGRAPH

TRIBUNE

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CONTENTS

CIVIL SERVICE 3-12

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 13-15

EDUCATION 16-17

HEALTH SERVICES 18-19

HISTORY 20-22

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 23-24

PRESIDENTS 25-29

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 30-31

RAILWAYS 32

STATE SECURITY 33

TRANSPORT 34-36

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 37-40

WOMEN 41-42

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CIVIL SERVICE

HINDUSTAN TIMES, JAN 29, 2016Perform or perish: Modi govt reshuffles secy-level officers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday carried out a bureaucratic reshuffle to bring in new officers to head crucial departments such as agriculture, telecom and information technology and moved out others who were unable to match the government’s expectations.

A government official suggested the reshuffle, originally necessitated due to some retirements, reflected the government’s commitment to closely watch the performance of civil servants too and take corrective steps.

“You will also notice that the intention is to post the best man for the job in crucial sectors, even if he or she is not amongst the senior most,” he added.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister told senior officers to act against officers indulging in corruption and those who did not bother to redress public grievances. This action, he added, could include sacking them.

In all, 10 officers were appointed on Friday.

Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer JS Deepak has been appointed as the telecom secretary and replaced Rakesh Garg who will now head the minority affairs department.

Garg, who is two years senior to 1982-batch Deepak, was one of the first few officers to be appointed by the NDA government soon after Modi took charge. Sources said Garg had been asking for a change.

Deepak, who earlier was the IT secretary, will still be reporting to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who holds the charge of both the IT and the telecom departments. He shall hand over the reins of the IT department to Aruna Sharma, who is also a 1980 batch officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre.Sharma had landed into a controversy, during her previous stint at the Centre as Doordarshan’s director general, for awarding contracts for broadcasting rights to UK-based SIS Live for the

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2010 Commonwealth Games. But she emerged unscathed and was cleared for holding a secretary-level post by the Modi government.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also appointed Karnataka cadre IAS officer Shobhana K Pattanayak as the next secretary of the agriculture department. Avinash K Srivastava, special secretary in the agriculture ministry, has been appointed to head the food processing ministry.

Vinod Agrawal, secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and Shyam S Agrawal, secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, have been moved up and appointed secretary of the disabilities department and the tribal affairs ministry.

Arun Jha, a 1981 batch Bihar cadre officer, was moved out as the tribal affairs secretary’s. Jha has now been appointed as the secretary of the commission for scheduled castes.

INDIAN EXPRESS, JAN 29, 2016Bureaucrats ‘suspended’: Jain directs reduced pay as standoff continues

Sources said Jain had been told the ‘suspension’ was declared without authority of law by the

Union home ministry.Written by Pragya Kaushika 

The standoff between bureaucrats and AAP ministers continued Thursday, with Delhi Home

Minister Satyendar Jain directing that two DANICS cadre officers he suspended last month be

given subsistence allowance till reinstatement.

Sources in the government said the officers replied to the minister and called the order of

subsistence allowance and suspension “illegal”. The Centre has declared the Delhi government’s

decision to suspend the two officers ‘non est’ (does not exist) and said they should be deemed to

be on duty. The officers are performing their duties as usual, said sources.

Jain wrote to the general administration department that the officials should get “subsistence

allowance” at an amount equal to that of leave salary. “… Shall be entitled to a subsistence

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allowance at an amount equal to the leave salary which the government servant would have been

drawn… till revocation of his suspension,” he stated .

Sources said Jain had been told the ‘suspension’ was declared without authority of law by the

Union home ministry.

ECONOMIC TIMES, JAN 28, 2016Sack erring government officials who don't mend ways, PM Modi tells secretaries NEW DELHI: In a stern message to government officials refusing to mend their ways despite repeated complaints, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked secretaries to carry out assessment of such employees and recommend action, including dismissal and slashing their pension.

The PM also asked all central government departments, which have to extensively deal with the public, to set up a grievancemonitoring mechanism.

Thed PM's warning came as he reviewed grievances relating to the excise and customs department during his monthly interaction with central government secretaries and chief secretaries of states through ProActive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), a webbased interface, sources said.

"Though he (the PM) specifically asked the excise and customs department to identify and take action against such officials, he said the message is for all secretaries and chief secretaries," a secretary level official told TOI.

The department of personnel and training ( DoPT) rules specify the circumstances under which an a government officer can be "retired" in "public interest". Rule 56(J) of Fundamental Rules says, "Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, the appropriate authority shall, if it is of the opinion that it is in public interest to do so, have the absolute right to retire any government servant by giving him notice of not less than three months in writing or three months' pay and allowances."

Employees attaining 55 years can be impacted under this rule.

Similarly, Rule 48 of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rule says, "At any time after a government servant has completed 30 years qualifying service, (a) he may retire from service or (b) he may be required by the appointing authority to retire in public interest, and in case of such retirement, the government servant shall be entitled to a retiring pension."

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As per rules, the government can initiate disciplinary action against any employee for dereliction of duty, and his pension and other benefits can be withheld pending investigation.

In an official release, the PMO said that taking strong exception to public complaints and grievances related to the customs and excise department, the PM asked for "strict action against responsible officials. He urged all secretaries whose departments have extensive public dealing, to set up a system for toplevel monitoring of grievances immediately".

Officials said though the Central Board of Excise and Customs said it had already been initiating steps to warn errant officials and installed CCTV cameras to keep tab on them, the PM observed that they must take quick action in such cases.

Sources said Modi also asked top bureaucrats to work together and resolve prickly issues quickly and get out of the "government way of doing business" by passing files from one to another.

This was Modi's ninth such interaction through PRAGATI.

TRIBUNE, JAN 28, 2016HimachalBureaucrats give go-by to norms for foreign jauntsNotice issued to erring officers

The selfie taken by an officer with another Himachal cadre IAS officer, currently working with the Asia Development Bank in Manila, brought the matter to the notice of the governmentThe Department of Personnel has issued notices to two officers from the Department of Education and PlanningIt has also asked all officers to seek permissionOfficers have been travelling abroad without cadreclearance from the Personnel DepartmentPratibha ChauhanCraze for selfies is not just confined to youngsters. A bureaucrat out on an official foreign visit without prior permission of the government had to face action as his colleagues lodged complaint with the Department of Personnel after seeing his pictures on social media.

This is not just a stray case. There have been many such instances in the recent past when lured by foreign trips, the ever-interested babus decided to proceed abroad without seeking the mandatory permission from the Department of Personnel.

Not willing to let go such instances, the department has issued notice to two such erring officers from the Department of Education and Planning and issued directives to all officers to seek prior approval.

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The selfie taken by the officer with another Himachal cadre IAS officer, currently working with the Asia Development Bank in Manila, brought the matter to the notice of the government. Following this, the Department of Personnel decided to issue strict directions in this regard. There have been similar instances of officers from the Rural Development Department travelling abroad, without cadre clearance from the Personnel Department.

The Department of Personnel has been forced to issue notice to two officers. It has also issued a missive to all IAS, Himachal Administrative Service (HAS) Officers and Heads of Department (HOD) to strictly adhere to the directions. “Since the Department of Personnel is the cadre controlling authority, the names cannot be recommended for any training, visit or programme directly by any officer. This is highly irregular and violative of the service conduct rules,” the directive from Tarun Shridhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Personnel and Power reads.

Even though it was only the HAS officer posted in the Education Department who travelled to Manila but even his senior, also a bureaucrat in the planning department, has been issued notice. He has been asked to explain why he did not seek the approval of the Personnel Department before the officer was allowed to go abroad.

The two have already filed their reply, taking the plea that the permission from the Chief Minister had been sought.

Sources said though Srikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Finance, was to travel to Manila he could not go because Assembly was in session. “The permission from the CM had been taken for ACS (Finance) and not the other officer who proceeded without permission from the government,” he said.

The directives from ACS Personnel also clearly mention that there have been instances when officers have been recommending the names of juniors and seek the permission from the Department of Personnel only after their nominations get accepted

HINDU, JAN 28, 2016The stained steel frame

The sensational arrest, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January 18, of the Regional Provident Fund (PF) Commissioner, Chennai, and some of his staff, as also a few private individuals belonging to a group of educational institutions in the city, does not surprise me. The episode is very much part of a pattern that became established a few decades ago — the escalation of corruption from the bottom of the bureaucratic hierarchy to its higher echelons. A sum of Rs.14.5 lakh was recovered from the PF Commissioner when he was trapped accepting a

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bribe in consideration of favours shown to the administrators of a Chennai-based educational trust, which runs a deemed university offering medical, dental and engineering courses. This comes against the background of CBI investigations against senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, and arrests of top public sector bank, customs as well as income tax officials. Relevant to recall here is the case of an IAS couple of Madhya Pradesh, hauled up a few years ago for being found in possession of property and bank accounts worth several crores of rupees. They were subsequently dismissed from the IAS. What is apparent in all these happenings is a growing fearlessness of the law in segments of the bureaucracy, giving rise to the impression that whatever has been done by governments and courts till now does not deter the daring offender, who does not mind being named and shamed. Unchecked, this trend could lead to a total erosion of public confidence in bureaucratic fairness and objectivity.

The rot begins at the top

It is sad that the levels of integrity of public servants are plummeting rapidly at a time when the Union government is in the process of implementing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, that would bring to every Central employee at least a 15-20 per cent rise in emoluments. The rapaciousness that is evident in critical sections of the civil service therefore lends strength to the popular belief that it is greed rather than need that impels many in the bureaucracy to resort to extortion and unabashed corruption.

The common man should therefore be asking the question as to how any increase in the wages of government employees was justified at all in the context of the continued high levels of corruption in the civil service. Also, what can be done to increase deterrence so that government officials at all levels are made to be afraid of punitive action that would not only embarrass them but also invite the ire of their own kith and kin?

While we should worry about the lack of integrity in the whole civil service, what is depressing is that the higher echelons are not setting an example to those below. It is lamentable that corruption among the elitist All India Services (IAS, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service) has shown no signs of abating, despite the many checks and balances introduced by successive governments.

The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988 and its subsequent amendments have had only a marginal impact. One aspect of the problem is the well known, unethical conduct of those holding ministerial positions. Their unabashed browbeating of senior government officials, particularly those at the level of secretary, is certainly a factor. But then, if the latter cave in to ministerial pressure, they have only themselves to blame. What is even more obnoxious is that some of them are known to join in to share the loot accruing to a minister! The inability to stand up to ministerial pressure is one thing, but to benefit squarely from the misdeeds of those in the political firmament is an entirely different proposition.

Near-immunity for bureaucrats

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I quite appreciate the plea for protecting the honest senior government official, who should be able to discharge his duties without fear or favour. I am also quite aware of some investigating agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and State Vigilance Directorates sometimes hounding a few straightforward officers on flimsy grounds at the instance of a minister annoyed with an honest official for refusing to fall in line with a dishonest decision. It is this desire for transparency and objectivity that saw the issue of the Single Directive by the Union government, which required government permission to the investigating agency to initiate a preliminary inquiry against an official at the level of joint secretary and above. However well-meaning this directive was, it did result in certain licentious conduct by a few in the higher bureaucracy. The directive was struck down by the Supreme Court of India in the hawala case (1997) as unconstitutional. However, from a purely executive order, it became law through an appropriate provision, both in the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, from which, incidentally, the CBI derives its powers to investigate. In 2014, on a challenge by Subramanian Swamy and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, the Supreme Court struck down the Single Directive — as embodied in Section 6A of the DSPE Act — as discriminatory and violative of the constitutional principle of equality before the law.

Any fresh attempt to give life to the Single Directive through legal subterfuge under pressure from the senior bureaucracy will only send the wrong signal to those pursuing graft at the very top in government. In a large number of States, known for high levels of corruption, the anti-corruption directorates still require government permission to proceed even on a preliminary inquiry against a senior officer. This mandatory provision protects and preserves the unholy nexus between a dishonest minister and the secretary to the department the former presides over.

The requirement of government sanction to prosecute an official found by an investigating agency to have violated the PCA or the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has similarly blunted endeavours to bring an erring official to book. While I admit that an application of mind at the government level — after an agency has established guilt through assiduous investigation — is required to prevent miscarriage of justice, many ministries and State governments are known to have misused this in order to protect dishonest officials who had either misbehaved on their own or in concert with a minister. A downright refusal to sanction prosecution or dilatory tactics in taking a decision on the matter encourages permissiveness. Courts have come down on this rather heavily. After repeated expression of displeasure by the Supreme Court on the matter, the Union government has proposed an amendment to the PCA, making a decision mandatory within three months of a request for sanction. When this amendment is approved by Parliament, one can expect expeditious disposal of requests by investigating agencies.

Punitive action as deterrent

One effective step to stem bureaucratic dishonesty is to deny to the offender benefits of living on proceeds of corruption. While bank accounts suspected to have been parking places for illegal income can be frozen by an investigating agency, enough has not been done in respect of

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immovable properties acquired by an unscrupulous official. The Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944, permits attachment of property believed to have been purchased with the help of illegally obtained money. Such property will be forfeited under a judicial order to the state by an accused convicted under the PCA, to the extent determined by the criminal court that has convicted him. Such acts of attachment and forfeiture lend some deterrence to prevent corrupt civil servants from converting ill-gotten wealth into various forms of property. Increasing resort to this kind of punitive action could be a disincentive to buying property out of tainted money.

In the final analysis, the fight against corruption in public service is extremely problem-ridden, because the canker has spread to the higher echelons of the civil service. The hands of investigating agencies have been tied not only by non-cooperation at levels that matter, but also by legal constraints. Very little can be done to substantially alter the unfortunate situation. Stronger legislation to plug the loopholes in the current law — an amendment to this effect is in the pipeline — is not the answer. Political will combined with greater courage on the part of senior officials to stand up to unethical pressure from above can do a lot to stem the rot. Public vigilance coupled with media support will help greatly.

(R.K. Raghavan is a former CBI Director.)

HINDU, JAN 25, 2016‘Nominal increase in Muslims in govt. jobs during Mamata rule’SHIV SAHAY SINGH

For all the claims of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government about the development of minorities in West Bengal, statistics tell a different story.

Data revealed by a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI) Act 2005 shows that the number of Muslims employed with the Kolkata Police has increased only by 0.3 per cent in the past eight years, of which the TMC had been at the helm for the last four years.

The statistics show that in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the increase in the number of Muslims employed has been a mere 0.32 per cent during the same period.

Details of the RTI reply accessed by researcher and activist Sabir Ahamed points out that till March 30, 2015, there have been only 2,585 Muslims working in the Kolkata Police where the total strength is 27,388. This brings the percentage of Muslims employed in Kolkata Police to 9.43 percent.

A similar RTI query filed by Mr. Ahamed during the Left Front regime in 2007, (after the report of Sachar Committee reflected the poor status of Muslims in the State) showed that the percentage of Muslims in the Kolkata Police was 9.13 percent then.

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During that period, the total number of employees in one of the oldest police force in the country was 24,840, of which only 2,267 were Muslims.

The representation of Muslims in KMC tells a similar story, according to the RTI replies.

Till March 2015, the percentage of Muslims in the KMC was 4.79 percent, which in 2007 stood at 4.47 percent. While in 2015, the number of employees of the municipal body stood at 27,125, with 1,301 Muslims.

The KMC in 2007 employed 34,731 employees, which included 1,555 Muslims. Mr. Ahamed said the statistics painstakingly compiled over a decade reflect the status of Muslims in West Bengal.

“If this is the tardy pace of increase of Muslim representation in important institutions like the Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, then it is going to take more than 60 years for Muslims to have proportional representation in West Bengal,” the researcher said.

HINDU, JAN 25, 2016Civil services officers seek fair representation on pay panel

Seeking to challenge the dominance of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), a confederation representing thousands of officers of 20 Civil Services, including Indian Police Service, has sought fair representation on an empowered committee that will examine the Seventh Central Pay Commission recommendations.

In a memorandum submitted to Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha and Expenditure Secretary Ratan P. Watal recently, it demanded that the representation of any one service be restricted to 25 per cent of the total strength of the committee.

On January 13, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for setting up an empowered committee of Secretaries under the Cabinet Secretary to process the recommendations of the pay panel.

The Confederation of Civil Services Association (COCSA) has highlighted the “apprehensions” shared by a “majority” of officers and requested for a fair representation to other services on committee, said senior IRS officer Jayant Misra, its convener.

Memorandum given

The COCSA had in December forwarded a memorandum and sought an appointment with the Cabinet Secretary to explain to him the “concern” of these officers.

“We are still waiting for an opportunity to meet the Cabinet Secretary. We have submitted fresh memoranda dated January 19, 2016 to the Cabinet Secretary and also to the Expenditure Secretary, reiterating our demand that equitable representation be given to various services in all

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the bodies or committees etc. looking into or implementing the recommendations of the seventh CPC, so that there is no domination by any particular service,” Mr. Misra pointed out.

Confederation voices concern over domination of IAS and IFS on committees

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

TRIBUNE, JAN 25, 2016Sushma RamachandranA dismal economic scenarioBoost investor confidence while reducing agrarian distress

Barely 20 months after the Narendra Modi government came to power, the stock markets have plummeted to a level lower than at that time. The rupee has crashed to Rs. 68 to the dollar. Exports are falling with consistent regularity over the last 13 months and the index of industrial production contracted by 3.2 per cent last November, the lowest level in four years. The agrarian crisis seems to have worsened as farmers' suicides have not subsided at all. Overall inflation has fallen but food prices, especially of pulses, continue to remain high. Simultaneously, the banking sector continues to face pressure with huge levels of non-performing assets (NPAs). All in all, a somewhat dismal scenario as the government gears up for the next budget.

This is despite the great expectations from the new leadership as it followed several years of so-called policy paralysis by the UPA government. Corporate India was agog with excitement at the thought that a large mandate and a strong leader meant that decisive actions would be taken to carry out economic reforms and improve ease of doing business in the country. The hope also stemmed from the perception that Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat had made the state an investor-friendly destination. Leading business houses regularly endorsed his style of governance at the annual state investor conferences. The stock market indices surged simply on the optimism of industry that good times - "acche din" -- were now on the horizon.

On the contrary, the good times seem to be far away right now. Substantial reforms are not yet visible and investor confidence has yet to return to the economy. The big-bang reform widely expected was the introduction of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) but this has been stymied by the Opposition in Parliament. The ease of doing business indicators have not improved much despite the decisions to set up special cells to fast-track investment from Japan and the US. The fact is that ease of doing business entails cutting down on red tape at the ground level. This has not actually taken place as yet and investors are not finding much relief as yet from the multiplicity of clearances.

To give credit to Mr. Modi, he has been trying to send the signal down to his lieutenants that red tape needs to be cut down. Monthly meetings are being held to clear hundreds of billions of dollars of stalled projects.  The systemic flaws in the bureaucracy, however, are not so easy to eliminate in the central government as in a smaller entity such as a state. A dynamic prime minister is no replacement for a dynamic team as far as governance of a nation is concerned. No

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wonder then that India has moved up only marginally in the ease of doing business global rankings. 

The latest Startup India initiative engendered hopes that entrepreneurs may be given some help and some benign neglect from the government. The feel-good factor, however, was quickly demolished by a news report subsequently that the Enforcement Directorate has launched a probe against leading e-commerce companies for technical foreign exchange violations related to products inventory. Red tape is clearing winning the battle even though founders of some of these e-retail firms were on the dais with the Prime Minister at the event.

The long-awaited cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of  India has also not yet translated into improved investments largely because few banks have passed on the benefits of these reductions to customers. Besides, there is a sense that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is more involved with being a political trouble shooter than in running his crucial ministry. The first two budgets of the NDA government have not been significantly different from those of the previous UPA regime.  

At the same time, this administration has the great advantage that external factors have ensured that indirect tax revenues are buoyant. The spectacular crash of world oil prices has more than halved the country's large oil import bill. India is the third largest oil importer after the U.S. and China as it needs to buy as much as 80 per cent of its crude needs. Prices which were ruling at over $100  per barrel in mid-2014 have now plummeted to $28 per barrel.

The benefits of the reduced prices have not, however, been passed on to the consumers in the form of significantly lower prices for petrol or diesel. Instead, the government has made only marginal cuts in prices while raising excise duty levels to ensure that sufficient revenues flow into the exchequer to help keep the fiscal deficit under control.

One must concede there are other external factors which are not so helpful. The major one being the slowdown in China as well as the rise in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve.  The first has led to a decline in prices of metals like steel, copper and iron ore which has affected exports from this country. Plus markets around the world have been roiled by the potentially disastrous effect of a recession in China that could infect the global economy. Indian markets have not been immune to these developments. Besides, there has been a withdrawal of funds by portfolio investors from the Indian stock markets as a result of the positive interest rate regime in the U.S. 

Despite the economy appearing to be in crisis mode, projections are still being made that growth will reach 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal. Whether these are being made on the basis of correct

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data or not, is the question. Given the existing scenarios in both countries, China's expectation of 7 per cent and India's for 7.4 per cent growth are now being looked at skeptically by many analysts.

To sum it up, the Modi government needs to review economic policies and come up with an effective game plan that will boost investor confidence while reducing agrarian distress. The budget may be the right time for making a much-needed course correction for bringing the economy on the right track.

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EDUCATION

INDIAN EXPRESS, JAN 25, 2016Teachers can be sent abroad for training to improve quality of education: Manish Sisodia

Stating that government school teachers were only “getting to attend seminars” at State Council

Educational Research and Training, the minister stressed on the need for making teachers

undergo leadership training.Written by Shikha Sharma 

Manish Sisodia

The Delhi government has opened up new avenues for school principals and teachers by

announcing that they would be sent to foreign institutions of academic repute to improve the

quality of teaching in government schools.

“Principals and teachers in Delhi government schools will also get to undergo training akin to the

way teachers in the best schools of the world are trained. For this, they can be sent to foreign

universities, they can be sent to IITs, IIMs… teachers’ training will be done in the best

institutions in the world, so that they also feel that their training is being invested in,” said

Education Minister Manish Sisodia.

Stating that government school teachers were only “getting to attend seminars” at State Council

Educational Research and Training, the minister stressed on the need for making teachers

undergo leadership training.

“A teacher is a leader for at least 40 children. They will get leadership training here,” said the

minister while speaking at a meeting of School Management Committee (SMC) members in

Patparganj.

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Stating that the government had worked hard on improving the infrastructure of government

schools in its first year, Sisodia said the government will now focus on improving the quality of

education in Delhi government schools through teacher training.

Sources in the government said that while teachers and principals will be sent to visit some of the

best universities abroad, teachers from outside will also come to Delhi as part of exchange

programmes.

“Anyone can make roads and baraat ghars. If the 23 government schools in Patparganj can

become better than the private schools in the area, then I will consider my becoming an MLA of

this area a success,” Sisodia said.

The Delhi government, had last year, conducted SMC elections in all government schools in the

Capital.

Stating that the members had become his eyes and ears, Sisodia said he does not wait for the

director now to get information.

“Every school has at least five to six parents from whom I can seek information. Earlier, I would

ask the director who would ask the Deputy Director… now, I can get information about any

school I want within an hour… This was tested in December when SMC teams inspected

schools… I remember telling the department… now you won’t tell me how many schools are

clean, now I’ll tell you which schools are dirty and you will get them cleaned,” he added.

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HEALTH SERVICES

INDIAN EXPRESS, JAN 25, 2016Health dept plan for staff: Give early proof of pregnancy for maternity leave

The health department took the lead to work on this plan for itself after Gurgaon depicted a

rather skewed child sex ratio compared to other places in Haryana, said a senior district

administration official.Written by Sandali Tiwari 

The Gurgaon district health department is working on a plan for women employees of civil hospitals, primary and secondary healthcare centres to give early proof of pregnancy to avail of maternity leave, said officials. The move aims at stopping female foeticide and preventing prenatal sex determination tests, added the officials.

The health department took the lead to work on this plan for itself after Gurgaon depicted a

rather skewed child sex ratio compared to other places in Haryana, said a senior district

administration official.

“We are working on the plan. It is however, difficult to track each case of sex determination.

According to the plan, pregnant women employees will have to get themselves registered within

the first eight weeks of pregnancy to avail of maternity leave,” said Dr Saryu Sharma, Deputy

Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

According to data released by the state government, Gurgaon reported a worse sex ratio at birth

(852) than predominantly rural and less literate districts such as Mewat (913) and Sirsa (914) in

2015. According to 2011 census data, the literacy rate of Gurgaon was 84.7 per cent, the highest

in Haryana, while it was 54.08 per cent and 68.82 per cent in Mewat and Sirsa, respectively.

During the release of the statewide sex ratio figures, in Chandigarh on January 16, Chief

Minister Manohar Lal Khattar praised health department authorities for effecting an upward

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trend in sex ratio for the first time in 10 years. Gurgaon, however, did not show any

improvement in this regard over the previous year in absolute terms.

The Gurgaon health department, however, feels it has come a long way. “District health officials

have been conducting raids in accordance with the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic

Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 to check illegal prenatal sex determination,” said Dr Sharma,

who is also the head of the PNDT Act team in Gurgaon district. “From July last year till now, we

have conducted nine raids across Gurgaon district. Of these, six were successful and the culprits

were caught.”

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HISTORY

TELEGRAPH, JAN 24, 2016Moments in Noakhali- Kanu Gandhi's photographs of M.K. Gandhi

Malavika Karlekar

Mahatma Gandhi leaving a building damaged in the riots, November 1946, Noakhali, East Bengal. Photograph by Kanu Gandhi/ ©Gita Mehta, heir of Abha and Kanu Gandhi

Apart from the thousands whose lives he touched and often changed through his mass meetings, writings and speeches, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had significant relationships with a range of people at different phases of his life. In the last years, two Bengalis and a grand-nephew became very close to Gandhi. They were Sudhir Ghosh, the anthropologist, Nirmal Kumar Bose, and the amateur photographer, Kanu Gandhi. It was also a time when events in Bengal, particularly the horror of Noakhali, occupied Gandhi greatly. While Kanu took many photographs of these days, some years after his assassination, Sudhir Ghosh wrote Gandhi's Emissary, and, in My Days with Gandhi, Nirmal Bose described in detail Gandhi's mental anguish during those dire weeks at Noakhali. A close reading of the books, together with the photographs, provides little known insights into a crucial time for Gandhi and the country as well.

Serendipity brought the two men to Gandhi's door, while Kanu's love for photography led his grand-uncle to organize equipment for him. After his stint at the University of Cambridge, Ghosh became close to the Quakers, and with Horace Alexander and other pacifists, he came to Bengal to do cyclone and post-famine work. In course of time, Gandhi met him and decided that he should be involved in his work in the region. More important, Ghosh became a part of the informal channel of communication between the Cabinet Mission and Gandhi at a time when crucial talks were on about the transfer of power. Nirmal Kumar Bose was his secretary in the mid-1940s and accompanied Gandhi to Noakhali, as his "companion and interpreter".

Following Direct Action Day in August 1946, the region had seen untold violence, many deaths, rapes and forced conversions. On October 19, after a report from Bidhan Chandra Roy on the situation, Gandhi decided to go to Noakhali. In early November, he started his tour, which took seven weeks of walking barefoot through 47 villages. His base was a half-burnt dhobi's house in the village of Chandipur, where he stayed till January 1, 1947. Ghosh who needed to meet him to discuss some letters that the leader had wanted to write to Lord Pethick-Lawrence and Sir Stafford Cripps, both of the Cabinet Mission, did not find it easy "to discover the washerman's house in the deep darkness of the Noakhali village in the midst of a forest of 'supari' trees; but a village boy guided [him] ultimately to the right place". Although on arrival, Ghosh told Gandhi that he was also carrying letters from Nehru and Patel for him, he was first asked whether he had brought his mosquito net with him. "I had to admit that I had not. So he went for me. 'You were born in Bengal; don't you know that it is impossible to sleep in these Noakhali villages without a mosquito net?'" Soon, Manu Gandhi helped out and the conversation turned to the letters. After he had heard them read out by Ghosh, he said, "So they want me to go back to Delhi, do they?' He pondered the letters and the request for a while, but

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decided,"No, my place is here, I will stay here".

Sudhir Ghosh spent a few days with Gandhi, who was walking barefoot from village to village, looking at hundreds of burnt and destroyed homesteads and buildings [photograph], sleeping wherever he was given shelter and eating the food offered to him. Ghosh commented that "his only concern was to heal the wounds - not to apportion blame". As he walked, he appealed to both communities to keep the peace. He asked villagers to pledge that they would not attack one another, and in order to see whether people abided by it, he would wait for a few days in the particular village. With him were Manu and "a Bengali interpreter". This was none other than N.K. Bose.

Apart from Manu and Kanu who had come to record Gandhi's Noakhali padyatra, Bose was the other constant factor in the run-down hut. Spinning occupied an important place in the daily routine, and this was usually at two in the afternoon. Gandhi used to spin half a hank or 430 yards every day and while he sat spinning, Bose wrote, "We used to read out the daily papers to him, because the post arrived in Noakhali not earlier than midday." Those days were full of introspection if not remorse and Gandhi was deeply distressed at the ambiguous role of H.S. Suhrawardy, chief minister of Bengal. He told Bose, "Never in my life has the path been so... dim before me... today my intelligence is beaten (mera dimag har jata hai). I do not know how to deal with him [Suhrawardy]". Bose continued, "I heard him muttering to himself several times during the day, 'What should I do! What should I do! (kya karun? kya karun?).'"

Some years ago, a German researcher discovered a cache of Kanu Gandhi's photographs of the last decade of the Mahatma's life. Through his Nazar Foundation, the photographer, Prashant Panjiar, has brought these into the public domain in Kanu's Gandhi. Although he was a deeply saddened man, Gandhi did not stop Kanu from photographing what was to be his last major public assertion that violence needed to be countered with a different kind of engagement. A number of the photographs of Gandhi's Noakhali days are blurred, out of focus. It is possible that the photographer was moving fast and perhaps even running to be able to get the right angle as the small procession moved along, or someone shook his arm. However, neither Kanu nor Sanjeev Saith, editor of the collection, discarded these images: they recorded a far too significant period in the 77-year-old man's life. It was a vital challenge to his moral authority, and that he succeeded was more important to him than to be at talks in New Delhi. Kanu was well aware of the need to represent Noakhali to the world - and, as on many other occasions, his camera recorded the moment by, as Panjiar commented in his biographical note, an "unconventional use of the foreground, breaking many of the accepted rules of composition". As Kanu was not to be judged by professional standards, blurred images or those with double exposure "find pride of place, lovingly pasted by his own hands in the few pages of his albums that survive", in Panjiar's description. Clearly, the photographer, an insider in every sense of the term who was well aware of the narrative behind each image, was reluctant to edit out any of them.

As a member of his personal staff at the Sevagram Ashram, Kanu started photographing Gandhi in 1936; he was able to buy a Rolleiflex and a roll of film with the Rs 100 given to him by the industrialist, Ghanshyam Das Birla, on the request of Gandhi. Aware of the teenager's compelling interest, Gandhi allowed him to take photographs, laying down a protocol, much of

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which was to be followed by all photographers - no flash, no posed images - and in this case, no funds from the ashram to fund Kanu's photography.

Of the close to a hundred photographs in the slim volume, there are some that stand out, not necessarily for their quality but for what they convey - the occasion, the ambience, the mood. There are many images that are historic, the dramatis personae being important players in the country's future. Others are of the Sevagram days, of the quotidian and everydayness of ashram life: then there are many images that only an insider could take - those of Gandhi resting and the one taken at 4 am, where with his head covered, he is reading a letter. It is in Sodepur ashram near Calcutta and it is 1946. It is November and it is cold, the bright light in the corner highlighting Gandhi and catching Sushila Nayar in chiaroscuro. Or there is the one of him looking out of a train window; His hands are folded and he looks pensive. Kanu was obviously standing close to him, inside the compartment.

The final sequence, that of his stay in Noakhali, is a chilling reminder of the horror and suffering of communal violence. Kanu Gandhi had stayed behind in Noakhali on Gandhi's instructions, and though he was not there on the fateful January morning, the book ends with images of the blood-spattered cloth and memorial plaque at Birla House. If Sudhir Ghosh and N.K. Bose were able to convey with candour Gandhi's political acumen and doggedness in sticking to his experiments, Kanu Gandhi's interestingly composed photographs document important aspects of his life - meetings, travel, fasts, walks through troubled areas, political negotiations and moments of rest and communion with Kasturba. Text and image match to record the action-packed last years of a man whom his friend, C.F. Andrews, referred to as "a saint of action rather than of contemplation".

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

HINDU, JAN 27, 2016Politics, impropriety and President’s Rule

It is unfortunate that Arunachal Pradesh, a sensitive border State, should find itself in the throes of an artificial constitutional crisis. After seeking some clarifications from the Union government, President Pranab Mukherjee has approved the imposition of Central rule. The proclamation will have to be approved by both Houses of Parliament and the validity of President’s Rule may be considered by the Supreme Court, but it is difficult not to discern a discredited political pattern behind the crisis that led to the current situation. The pattern involves dissidence within the ruling party, the opposition joining hands with the rebels, confusion over the likelihood of a floor test, and the Governor intervening in a partisan manner. It is in similar circumstances that Article 356 of the Constitution has been misused in the past. And it was in such circumstances that the Supreme Court declared in 1994 that the only place for determining whether a Chief Minister has lost or retained majority is the floor of the House. Yet, the country is still witnessing the sad spectacle of partisan politics overshadowing constitutional propriety. It is a poor commentary on the Narendra Modi government that instead of finding ways to facilitate a floor test it has imposed President’s Rule in the midst of an ongoing hearing before a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. The Congress in the State is also to blame because, having obviously failed to address the dissidence in its camp against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, it appears to be avoiding a floor test as it has not sought interim orders to that effect from the court.

Undoubtedly, there is a constitutional impasse because six months have elapsed since the last time the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly met. That itself is a valid ground for Central rule. But it cannot be forgotten that events were manipulated in such a way that the divided legislature never got an opportunity to meet and test the government’s majority. The crisis was precipitated when Governor J.P. Rajkhowa advanced the session scheduled for January 14, 2016 to December 16, 2015, and fixed a motion seeking the removal of the Speaker as the first item on the agenda. In that controversial sitting at a makeshift venue, the Speaker was ‘removed’ and a ‘no-confidence motion’ adopted against the Chief Minister. The Gauhati High Court has ruled that the Governor was justified in advancing the session by acting on his own discretion if he had reason to believe that the Chief Minister and the Speaker were stalling a particular motion. The constitutional question of whether the Governor can summon the legislature on his own and whether he can send a message to the Assembly on what motion it should take up is now before the Supreme Court. An authoritative pronouncement is necessary on this question, but what must not be forgotten is that political processes followed should be rooted in norms of democracy, and not be at the mercy of any discretionary powers of constitutional functionaries.

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HINDU, JAN 27, 2016Pranab gives assent to Central rule in Arunachal PradeshVIJAITA SINGH

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday evening approved the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for the imposition of President’s rule on Arunachal Pradesh.

The assent was given right after he hosted the traditional ‘At Home’ or reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan for French President Francois Hollande as part of the Republic Day celebrations.

Sources at Rashtrapati Bhavan said Mr. Mukherjee signed on the dotted line after being satisfied that the law and order situation in the border State was sensitive to this uncertainty in government.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met the President on Monday afternoon to explain the reasons for the recommendation. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, told The Hindu that apart from the rule under which an Assembly has to meet every six months, the deadline for which expired in Arunachal Pradesh on January 21, there were other compelling reasons to impose President’s rule.

“The Governor [Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa] has been sending multiple reports that even the Raj Bhavan was not safe and had been seized by Congress MLAs and there was no law and order in the State,” Mr. Rijiju said. Sources said it was this argument on law and order that weighed on Mr. Mukherjee. The Ministry of Home Affairs appointed two retired civil servants — G.S Patnaik and Y.S Dadwal as advisers to the Governor.

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PRESIDENTS

BUSINESS LINE, JAN 28, 2016PM to meet all ministers last Wednesday of each monthTo take stock of the impact of government policies on the ground

More women Union ministers in 2015: Report PM hosts dinner for colleagues India's farm growth in FY16 could be marginally better despite poor monsoon: CRISIL MSME secretary asks entrepreneurs to focus on food processing sector Extend farm benefits to plantations also: Planters' body to govt

With his government having completed 20 months in office on Wednesday, which is a third of

its five-year tenure, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi told his council of ministers that he will

hold a meeting with them on the last Wednesday of every month to take stock of the impact of

government policies on the ground.

The PM met his entire 64-member council of ministers. The focus at Wednesday’s meeting were

ministries of agriculture, rural development, consumer affairs, food and public distribution,

chemical and fertiliser and water resources. With a slew of Assembly elections on the anvil,

particularly the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in early 2017, and the Budget session of

Parliament scheduled for end-February, the government is said to be keen to showcase its

initiatives in the farm sector.

The PM expressed concern over the soaring prices of pulses. Modi spoke about long-term

measures to increase production of pulses and proposal to create ample buffer stock of pulses

through price support scheme and price-stabilisation fund. He also talked about the need to take

measures against hoarding. The PM asked all ministers to do their homework on the

government's schemes and policies so they are better able to communicate these to the public.

The focus on the farm sector could also help the Bharatiya Janata Party counter opposition

propaganda that the Modi government is anti-farmer, particularly as it prepares for state polls in

Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Assam by April 2016, and to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh

polls by early 2017.

On Namami Gange, the PM said there was need for taking on board 'out of box' ideas to increase

people's participation. He also reveiewed Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana and

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production subsidy to sugar mills and soft loans to sugar mills. Sources said the agrarian crisis in

Bundelkhand was also discussed.

The dinner meeting came on the heels of meetings with senior bureaucrats, including one in the

morning where Modi took strong exception to people's complaints and grievances related to the

Customs and excise sector and directed strict action against the officials responsible.

The PM’s holding end-of-the-month meetings will both be to bridge gaps in government’s

policies and programme implementation and remove delays due to inter-ministerial overlap. The

meetings will also help the PM get feedback from his ministers about the obstacles they might be

facing and whether the Prime Minister’s Office could intervene to ease these. The ministries and

departments would be encouraged to give presentations about their work.

The evening meeting with the ministers also took stock of the progress made on revival of three

fertiliser plants — Sindri, Barauni, and Gorakhpuar — and setting up of an agriculture university

in Bihar. Financial restructuring of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL)

and setting up of an ammonia urea complex on the premises of BVFCL Namrup were also

discussed, along with fixation of nutrient-based subsidy rates for phosphatic and potassic

fertilisers for 2015-16. Officials said some other issues that cropped up were corporatisation of

Delhi Milk Scheme and state of Krishi Vigyan Kendras.  

"The prime minister also gave a pep talk to secretaries and ministers on maintaining timeline for

implementation of the cabinet decisions," sources said. According to sources, the PM

emphasised there should not be any delay in moving fresh proposals for Cabinet approval and

the timeline should be maintained for implementation after the nod.

Earlier in the day, the PM chaired the ninth meeting of Pragati (Pro-Active Governance and

Timely Implementation), an information technology-based multi-modal platform under which he

interacts with top officials of central departments and state governments via video conferencing.

There he asked all secretaries to the government, whose departments have extensive public

dealing, to set up a system for top-level monitoring of grievances immediately, a statement from

the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The PM reviewed the progress of vital infrastructure projects in the road, railway, coal, power

and renewable energy sectors, spread over several states, including Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar

Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the

statement said.

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Among the significant projects reviewed were the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, the Delhi

Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the Jal Marg Vikas Project from Allahabad to Haldia, it

said. The Prime Minister also reviewed the progress of the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana

(UDAY). He also took stock of the implementation of the National Old Age Pension Scheme and

emphasised the need to ensure that beneficiaries receive the payment on time.

TELEGRAPH, JAN 27, 2016A tale of two presidents- Hollande's visit to India is more important than Obama's was

DiplomacyK.P. Nayar

The contrast between the presence of the French president, François Hollande, at the Republic Day celebrations and a similar visit last year by Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, is emblematic of how misplaced India's public perceptions are of where its core interests lie. Without an iota of doubt, France represents the most important diplomatic relationship for this country at its present stage of growing up. Here are a few examples that cover a large expanse of India's foreign engagement. Fifteen years ago, Capgemini - a pioneering company founded by the legendary entrepreneur, Serge Kampf, in the French city of Grenoble in 1967 - employed a mere hundred Indians. As Hollande and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, reflect within a few months on their decisions made in New Delhi this week, Capgemini's work-force in India would have crossed one lakh men and women.

Aadhaar is now a household word in India. Even the poorest of the poor, who may still not have the national identity card, have heard Aadhaar mentioned at some point. Aadhaar, which is fundamentally changing the way transactions of all variety in daily life are being conducted, would not have become a reality without help from a French company, Safran Morpho, founded in 1924 under its original name of Sagem. This company uniquely developed for India's "unique identification number" project the necessary biometric technology: it was one of the biggest challenges of its kind in the history of the human race, registering over a billion people under one scheme.

In these times of terrorist threats all round when even one's own shadow can be suspect, Safran Morpho helps keep India safe. It supplies explosive, narcotic and threat detection systems for this country's major airports. It also helps secure the Indian air force, the ministries of home and external affairs in addition to public sector undertakings which have a security component, such as the Electronics Corporation of India Limited in Hyderabad. When Hollande told Modi in a conversation in Chandigarh on Saturday that one in every three Indians is able to telecommunicate because of a Safran Morpho subsidiary, Syscom Corporation, the prime minister thanked the visiting president for the parent French company's role in helping to run the national rural employment guarantee scheme and the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna.

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It is an irony in political terms that Modi, who is attempting to transform manufacturing in India into a national mission with his "Make in India" slogan, is finding that Bihar, where his party recently got a thorough drubbing, is forging ahead significantly in creating factory jobs. It is a French company, Alstom Transport, which will manufacture 800 electric locomotives for Indian Railways at a new plant it will build in Bihar's Madehpura. To start with, jobs are guaranteed there over the next ten years that it will take to supply these locomotives. Investment in this project is estimated at Rs 19,800 crore. Alstom Transport was the first firm to offer foreign direct investment in rail projects after the government liberalized foreign direct investment in the railways.

Similarly, after the Modi government raised permissible FDI in the insurance sector from 24 to 49 per cent, France's AXA was the first to respond. It immediately applied to the government to enhance up to the new limit its stake in the joint ventures with the Bharti group, bringing in fresh foreign capital.

There has lately been criticism that the National Democratic Alliance government is neglecting public health and is insensitive to the welfare needs of the poor. In pharmaceuticals, even the previous United Progressive Alliance has been under pressure from big pharma to dilute India's self-reliance on medicines for those who cannot afford the high cost of vaccines and drugs. Therefore, it is refreshing that last month, Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical giant, announced that it will manufacture an injectable polio vaccine in Hyderabad, not only for domestic use, but also for export. For such activities, Sanofi made Shantha Biotechnics an Indian affiliate of the parent French company in 2009. For those unfamiliar with Sanofi, it was originally the multinational, Hoechst, which has been operating in this country since 1956.

Notwithstanding such an impressive French record in helping India meet its vital needs, Hollande's visit did not generate even a fraction of the public interest that Obama's visit generated at this time last year. Weeks before Obama was to arrive for last year's Republic Day celebrations, everybody who thought of himself as 'important' left no stone unturned and went to incredible lengths to secure an invitation to attend President Pranab Mukherjee's banquet in honour of the US president.

The pressure on Rashtrapati Bhavan was so intense that Mukherjee's staff had to shift the banquet from the usual ornate and historic hall to a new facility, which was far less impressive but many times larger. State banquets, by their very nature, cannot be carnivals, so invitations for the Obama dinner had to be limited. Those who were disappointed then tried for invitations to the president's traditional "At Home" on January 26 so that they could get a glimpse of Obama, even if they could not get to shake his hands and those of the First Lady.

The listing above of Indo-French engagement is only a partial enumeration of how important Hollande's visit is. The strategic nature of Indo-French relations has been dwelt upon in this column in great detail since France was the only big power - not even Russia, initially - to support Atal Bihari Vajpayee's decision as prime minister in 1998 to conduct the Pokhran II tests, which eventually ended India's nuclear winter. For that reason, it deserves no repetition.

It was commendable that the foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, made it a point to emphasize on

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Monday that "France is the original strategic partner of India. It was the first country to be so designated. We have very close relations with them in defence, nuclear energy, space..." It is a sad reflection on the state of strategic thought outside the government in this country that until the foreign secretary said so, none of the pundits who become highly voluble at a passing mention of the White House thought it necessary to mention the unique nature of political relations between New Delhi and Paris.

Similarly, when history was made at Tuesday's Republic Day parade with a foreign military contingent - French - marching along with Indian soldiers, none of the live television commentators, most of them retired high-ranking military officers, could explain its context, history or relevance. For Mukherjee, although he is now out of active policy-making in Rashtrapati Bhavan, this must have been a moment of intense satisfaction. As defence minister in the Manmohan Singh government, it was he who opened up India's military to greater international engagement that went beyond routine joint military exercises or goodwill port calls by naval vessels.

It is worth remembering with Hollande in our midst that India is today in the club of developed-cum-emerging nations, the Group of Twenty, because of what the French initiated in 2003. On a balmy June morning that year, thanks to the far-sighted and out of the box invitation of Jacques Chirac (then president), Vajpayee tentatively took his seat at a meeting of eight industrialized countries, collectively known as the Group of Eight, at the historic Hotel Royal in the resort town of Évian-les-Bains on the banks of Lac Léman. Chirac's invitation set in motion a train of events that culminated in the creation of the G-20, of which India is now a full member.

With rare exceptions like the nuclear deal, the Americans only make promises that are short on delivery. But it is the French who either deliver for India or show how what they cannot deliver themselves can be realized.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

BUSINESS STANDARD, JAN 25, 2016E-governance to increase efficiency: Pranav Sayta

ICDS - Quest for harmony Same difference Ease of doing business: from 130 to 50 Pranav Dhanawade: 15-year-old superman Committed to ensure ease of doing business

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The committee set up by the government in October 2015 has done a commendable job by

issuing its first batch of recommendations in a short span of less than three months. The

recommendations are on issues, which are simple but need immediate attention, in the areas of

curbing litigation and ease of doing business. The recommendations are open for public

comments, reflecting an appreciated consultative approach on the part of the government.

The committee has suggested various measures to avoid delays in issue of refunds, such as

granting of refunds without awaiting completion of assessments, higher interest on delays and

precluding set-off of refunds against demands without dealing with taxpayers' objections.

Taxpayers struggling to receive timely refunds would surely applaud these recommendations.

The recommendations around enabling disclosures in the return form and providing protection

from penalty in cases of bonafide claims, also aim to curb needless litigation. Permitting fresh

claims during assessment proceedings will provide opportunities to correct inadvertent

omissions, and lead to fair taxation.

The classification of securities as investments or stock-in-trade based on the period of holding

should bring clarity on this heavily litigated issue. Allowing deduction to shareholders for

expenses incurred for earning dividends that have suffered distribution tax in the hands of the

company (and other similar cases) should bring relief to a large number of taxpayers. The bar on

re-opening of assessments based solely on audit objections will also avoid multiplicity of

proceedings, which are otherwise also generally struck down by courts.

Withholding tax at 20 per cent in the absence of providing PAN deters non-residents from doing

business   with India. Accepting, for this purpose, the identification number issued in the home

country is a welcome step for boosting international trade. Simplification of withholding tax

provisions by rationalising threshold limits, reducing rates and relaxing timelines are likely to

ease compliance for deductors as well as improve liquidity of deductees. The suggestion to defer

implementation of ICDS   (Income Tax Computation & Disclosure Standards) too is a positive

move.E-governance   of taxation processes should increase efficiency in administration.

As a whole, the recommendations bring out a refreshing mindset that encourages simplicity,

fairness and accountability. This would indeed foster trust and confidence in taxpayers and

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promote ease of doing business. The report is surely a forerunner to more elaborate guidance

from the committee in the future.

(Views expressed are personal)

RAILWAYS

DECCAN HERALD, JAN 29, 2016One person can buy 6 online rail tickets a month

A new rule, to be operational from February 15, a person can only book a maximum of six railway tickets from one email ID in a month. Currently, an individual user can purchase up to 10 tickets on IRCTC website.

The decision has been taken to prevent touts from misusing the online ticketing facility, said the railway ministry on Thursday.

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In a monitoring exercise, the IRCTC has found that 90 per cent of e-ticket buyers book less than six tickets a month. Only 10 per cent were found to be booking more than six tickets a month.

There are some other rules which are also in operation in using IRCTC website. According to these rules, Quick Book Option remains disabled from 8 am to 12 noon.

All types of ticketing agents (YTSK, RTSA, IRCTC agents etc) have been debarred from booking tickets during the first 30 minutes of opening of booking. Booking is not allowed through e-wallet and cash cards from 8 am to 12 noon.

There is also only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 8 am to 12 noon. In another decision, unreserved tickets for less than 199 kms journey will be valid only for three hours. The decision has been taken to prevent misuse of the tickets. 

STATE SECURITY

STATESMAN, JAN 25, 2016Seasoned suggestion

The defence minister did well to offer some details of the review underway of security systems at military installations, but only to confirm that the joint “audit” with the home ministry falls short of a comprehensive re-look at border management - necessitated by the failure at Pathankot. While it may serve the government’s immediate political interests to make light of criticism from Opposition parties and the media, it will not be serving the larger national interests if it also

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ignored the observations of NN Vohra who just days ago highlighted serious deficiencies in border control. As Governor of Jammu and Kashmir now, and previously the home and defence secretary, as well as principal secretary in the PMO he has the requisite credentials to take a professional “call”. He contended that had the terror strike at the Dinanath Nagar police station in Gurdaspur, and five or six previous forays at other places been effectively investigated the strike at Pathankot might have been averted. It would be over-simplistic to conclude that since he was addressing the National Investigation Agency he was playing to that specific gallery, for it must be noted that he also pointed to shortcomings in the manner in which the international border with Pakistan was being policed. A similar point has been made by the Punjab government which has been demanding border-management that matches the effort in J&K and the North-east. The contention of inept border management is backed up by the drug traffic in Punjab: as well as the “buzz” that the senior police officer under the scanner was involved with the smugglers and “misled” into letting terrorists exploit the contrived loopholes. Is a review of security at “vulnerable” installations an adequate response?

Unlike others who find fault but offer no remedies, Vohra recalled that years ago he had recommended the central government create a separate ministry, carved out of the home ministry, to handle security-related issues. To tackle situations such as the Pathankot attack, he said a dedicated pool of specialised officers with expertise in various aspects of national security should be created. He had advocated it be named the National Security Administrative Service. A general criticism of Indian policing is that for every “new” crime a new law is enacted, followed up by a specifically created agency: an outcome being multiplicity of authority, divided duties and responsibilities. Vohra’s recommendation does fall into that bracket. Border management is a specialised task, police offers who are shifted from one central or state force to another cannot be expected to “deliver”. The cadre of border-management officers need not be large, their singular focus would upgrade the services of the BSF, ITBP, SSB etc. Any takers?

TRANSPORT

ECONOMIC TIMES, JAN 25, 2016Delhi government makes 20point agenda to augment public transport

NEW DELHI: Working towards augmentation of public transport infrastructure in the capital, Delhi government has prepared a 20point agenda for the current year including installation of CCTV cameras, GPS, eticketing machines in buses and a common mobility card. Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai will unveil early next week the 20point agenda on which the

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government will be working on. The Arvind Kejriwal government wants to ensure augmentation of public transport before implementation of the OddEven scheme at regular intervals. "We have prepared the blueprint of the 20point agenda to boost public transport infrastructure under which several steps, including purchase of new buses, will be taken in this year," Rai told PTI. An official said that as part of this agenda, installation of CCTV cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS), construction of cycle tracks will be done. Common mobility card through which a person can travel in both DTC buses and Metro may also be part of this agenda. At present, there are around 46,00 DTC and 1500 Cluster buses plying in the national capital which are insufficient to take load of the lakhs of commuters. The transport minister further said that under 20point agenda, government will ensure the overall development of public transport infrastructure so that people don't have to face problem while using public transport. As per the plan, the AAP government will add 3,000 new buses out of which 1000 will be for the elite class and its fare will be higher in comparison to normal bus service. Besides, government will also develop cycle tracks across the city and give a subsidy on purchase of cycles to promote cycling in the national capital.

BUSINESS LINE, JAN 27, 2016There’s another way out for Delhi’s trafficSUBODH MATHUR

I propose a people-friendly, incentive-based alternative to the Delhi government’s odd-even automobile scheme. It will impose less burden on the people while achieving the same objective, which is to reduce the number of vehicles on Delhi’s roads.

Let’s look at the basic concept underlying the scheme. Start with 30 days in a month. On taking out four free Sundays, we get 26 regulated driving days a month. The odd-even scheme allows you to drive only on 13 regulated days. Thus, the basic concept of the current scheme is to issue 13 ‘right-to-drive’ certificates each month to each car. No physical or electronic certificate is issued; instead, the certificate is linked to the last digit on the car’s licence plate.

The problem area

It is this link to the licence plate that creates problems for drivers. The main constraint is that there are 13 specified days when you just cannot drive your car, and each permitted day comes after skipping a day. This is easily a major disruption. For example, if you are involved in a three-day event — a crucial office meeting, an illness in the family, a social gathering — then there is a good chance that you may not be able to drive your car for two of those three days, and it is sure that you will not be able to drive for one of those three days. Not acceptable on a sustained basis.

The proposed solution is to break the link to the licence plate. Instead, the government would issue ‘right-to-drive’ certificates, and let people choose the days on which they want to drive. Specifically, the government would issue electronically, 13 right-to-drive certificates valid for

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one day each, every month, to each vehicle. Then, each driver is free to choose the 13 days on which to take out the vehicle based on need and preference. Under the current scheme, a car without a valid certificate attracts a hefty fine.

The certificates would be non-lapsable and transferable. Non-lapsable means that you can save your certificates for use in the future. Transferable means that you can transfer them to another car. In order to transfer, you would have to drive on fewer days, and give or sell your ‘surplus’ certificates to someone else, who wants to drive more frequently. This provides a financial incentive for those who can take out their vehicle on fewer days, to do so, while allowing those who need to take it out on more than 13 days, to do so. The government would set up a convenient electronic marketplace to facilitate these transfers and sales. It could charge a small fee for each transaction. None of these transfers would increase the number of cars on the road because the number of certificates will not change when a transfer takes place.

Room for improvement

This basic concept of issuing non-lapsable, transferable, right-to-drive certificates is open to refinement. First, there is no compelling reason to issue exactly 13 free certificates a month. The government could adopt a 10/3 formula — 10 free certificates, and an option to buy 3 more at a low price. This would provide the government with some revenue to operate the scheme. Second, instead of exempting select groups, the government could issue a larger number of monthly certificates to them. For example, for women drivers, who were exempted from the January scheme, the government could adopt a 15/5 formula — 15 free certificates with an option to buy 5 more at a low price. And why not apply the same 15/5 formula to private two-wheelers? Let everyone make some contribution to the solution.

Cars from outside Delhi could be easily accommodated under this scheme. Drivers in adjacent areas that are virtually part of Delhi, such as Gurgaon and Noida, could be offered some free and some low-cost certificates each month. Drivers from further away would have the option of buying some, say 3, low-cost certificates, when they enter Delhi.

Preliminary discussions make it clear that there would be no problem in setting up this entire issue-transfer-sale system to operate on smartphones as well as on older phones. In fact, instead of a single government-issued app, it may make sense to permit multiple, private, authorised firms/apps to be offered to drivers.

There is no doubt that a serious effort would have to be made to work out the technical and administrative details. But it would be worth it because there is little doubt that the proposed scheme would keep the desired number of cars off the road without imposing frustrating disruptions on Delhi’s drivers.

The writer is an adjunct professor of economics at American University, Washington, and a consultant with the World Bank

(This article was published in the Business Line print edition dated January 27, 2016)

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URBAN DEVELOPMENT

BUSINESS STANDARD, JAN 25, 2016France will partner India to build three 'smart' citiesKomal Amit Gera

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The Rafale deal with France will happen: Rakesh Sood France to give €2 billion for smart cities Kenneth Rogoff:   The French exception? Story in numbers: India at 67 Nitin Desai:   The judgement of Paris

France   will help India   develop Chandigarh, Nagpur   andPuducherry   as smart cities. Agence

Française de Developpement   (French Development Agency) signed memoranda of

understanding with the government of Union territory of Chandigarh, and government of Union

territory of Puducherry and the Maharashtra government here on Sunday in the presence of

French PresidentFrancois Hollande   and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chandigarh, designed by the French architect Le Corbusier   half a century ago as a model city, is

spread across 114 sq km and the urban infrastructure and green belt of the city provide it a

distinguished status among India's planned cities.

On January 26, Modi is set to announce the official list of 20 smart cities   to be developed in the

first phase.

A delegation of 26 CEOs from France travelled toChandigarh   with Hollande and had discussions

on CEO forums to explore partnerships in renewable energy, defence, information technology

and aerospace.

Modi said French companies can exploit India's trained and affordable manpower to expand their

manufacturing operations in the country. The French president committed annual investment to

the tune of €1 billion to strengthen business relations with India.

An agreement between Airbus and Mahindra was also inked under Indo-French cooperation to

manufacture helicopters within the Make in India initiative.

French companies will also collaborate with public sector firm Engineering Projects India to

provide integrated railways solutions. The railway stations of Ambala and Ludhiana will also be

redeveloped with French partnership.

The French delegation evinced interest in the areas of renewable energy, infrastructure, transport,

defence, and water treatment.OTHER PROMISES & PACTS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi   says controversial retrospective taxation a thing of the past; this chapter will never be opened again in India, he tells investors, assuring them of predictability in the tax regime 

French President Francois Hollande says will discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the inter-governmental agreement on 36 Rafale fighter planes 

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Mahindra Defence and Airbus Helicopters signs pact to form a joint venture to produce military helicopters in India; statement of intent signed by representatives of both companies 

Memoranda of Understanding in urban development, urban transport, water and waste treatment and solar energy 

Pact for joint venture between Indian SITAC group and EDF Energie Nouvelles to acquire 50 per cent stake in its renewable energy business in Gujarat 

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment in partnership with France-based Julie Gayet's Rouge International and Elisa Soussan's myFamily to produce actor Serge Hazanavicius' movie n0mber 0ne

HINDU, JAN 29, 2016Centre hand-picks 20 smart cities for first phase of planMEHBOOB JEELANI

A new chapter in India’s urban history has started with the Smart Cities Mission finally taking some material shape. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday announced the list of 20 cities that have qualified to build smart infrastructure with Rs. 200 crore each from the

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Central government’s first phase of funding. The Ministry has given top rating to Bhubaneswar for its robust Smart City plan.

Urging the country’s mayors to “work hard” for the improvement of their municipalities, Mr. Naidu said the government would soon introduce the credit rating system for cities so as to attract foreign investors. “Every city should follow credit rating. Otherwise no one will come and invest from outside,” he said, after announcing the 20 names here.

Mr. Naidu said the government would grant every winning city a sum of Rs. 500 crore as “overall cache of start-up funds” and expects the State governments to provide an additional Rs. 500 crore.

According to mission guidelines, the total State and Central financial assistance for each smart city would be Rs. 1,000 crore.

“This is the first time that an urban mission of such scale and ambition has relied so little on the decision-making by the Government of India,” said Mr. Naidu, adding that unlike the previous urban development schemes the government had adopted the “bottom-up approach.”

With an aim to achieve “inclusive growth”, the mission promotes integrated city planning, where the government’s policies such as Swachh Bharat Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation complement each other.

Outside agency

The Central government has created an outside agency named Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be headed by a CEO, and will be given powers to “execute” the proposed developments and projects.

“The professionally managed SPV will be empowered to execute the smart city projects in a timely and cost-effective manner while ensuring that the quality of the outcomes is benchmarked against global standards,” the Minister said.

Since June 2015, the government hosted several workshops and training programmes for mayors and municipal commissioners.

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WOMEN

TRIBUNE, JAN 27, 2016AAP govt sets up panel on 'unheeded' complaints of women

The Delhi Government has appointed a Commission of Inquiry to address "unheeded" complaints of women by the police and tasked it to recommend action in cases of crime against women and amendments to existing laws.

The three-member commission, to be headed by retired district judge Dinesh Dayal, will receive complaints, including on violence, sexual harassment, stalking and voyeurism against women since February 2013.

The appointment of the probe panel was notified by Delhi Women and Child Development Department on January 19.

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The Arvind Kejriwal government had in August called a one-day assembly session, which had passed a resolution to set up the commission following the brutal murder of a 19-year-old girl in Anand Parbat area here on July 16, last year.

The tenure of the commission shall be for a period of two years and it will submit its report to the government every three months from the date of its first sitting.

According to the terms of reference of the panel, it will receive "unheeded" complaints of crimes committed against women since February 2013, that is, subsequent to amendments made to IPC (1860) and CrPC (1973) on the basis of some recommendations made by Justice Verma Committee and to suggest action to the state government.

"Its scope of work also includes suggesting necessary amendments to relevant laws, if any. It will also need to recommend to the government if any case of negligence or collusion is made out prima facie in the cases examined," a senior official said.

Among others, the panel is expected to recommend measures to expedite all the proceedings in such criminal cases, propose steps for proper implementation of existing laws and the Verma committee recommendations so as to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

"It is also expected to recommend welfare measures for improving the working condition of the real foot soldiers in the law enforcing agencies and address any other issue which it may find relevant during the course of its inquiry," the official added. —PTI

DEC CAN HERALD, JAN 29, 2016Longer maternity leave empowering

Women working in the private sector will be entitled to longer maternity leave, with the labour ministry accepting the Women and Child Development Ministry’s proposal in this respect. The proposal is to extend maternity leave from the current 12 weeks to 26 weeks. Women in government service get six months maternity leave and those in the private sector should also have the same entitlement. The government intends to amend the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 for this very soon. The proposal is welcome because it will be a socially and economically useful and empowering measure for women. Companies which employ women will also benefit from the measure. The proposal is based on the fact that six months of breastfeeding is needed to combat malnutrition, diarrhoea and other diseases among children and to lower infant mortality rate. Breastfeeding practices are poor in India, compared to even other South Asian countries. More than half of the over 26 million children born in the country every year are considered to be deprived of optimal feeding practices.

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A longer maternity leave will help in better breast-feeding of children. It has been observed all over the world that it will result in lower infant mortality rates and better infant health. Women’s health also improves when they have more days to take care of themselves post-delivery. It also creates a better environment for women in offices. Many women sacrifice their careers or make compromises at their workplace to be able to look after their children. They also absent themselves disruptively from work to look after ailing children. A longer maternity leave will help them. Companies will also benefit. Women will not have to leave their jobs for child birth as many do now. That will reduce turn-over which only hurts companies. Companies will have more women’s representation and gender diversity. Women’s participation in the workforce in India is much below the world average and it has to improve.

It is wrong to assume that companies will be reluc-tant to employ women because they will have to be given longer maternity leave. They will actually be better off with a stable, satisfied and less anxious workforce. Many companies in India offer up to six months of maternity leave even now without the law mandating it. Over 40 countries in the world offer more than 18 months of maternity leave and some give one year of fully paid leave. The government should consider how women workers in the unorganised sector can also benefit from the measure. 

 

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