Issue 4

1 Current Affairs NotesJTS Institute

15 January - 21 January 2013

CURRENT AFFAIRSCLASS NOTES: 22 Jan -28 Jan, 2013(Compiled from 11 Newspapers & 7 Magazines)

Issue-3/2013 (22 nd January to 28th January)

Union for telecom services.

3. “We have set up a lab in thecountry so that mobile phones canbe tested here for electromagneticradiations,” Mr.Sibal said.

4. He added more such labs will beset up across the country startingwith Mumbai.

5. The TelecommunicationEngineering Centre SAR lab, whichhas been commissioned at a costof Rs 2.5 crore, is the first lab in thecountry for independent audit ofSAR value, self-certified by mobilehandset manufacturers andimporters in India.

6. The lab is capable of makingSAR measurement for CDMA, GSM2G and 3G mobile handsets in thefrequency band of 800 MHz, 900MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz.

7. The lab is also capable ofmaking measurement of SAR valueagainst the InternationalCommission on non-IonisingRadio Protection (ICNIRP) limit of 2Watt per kg measured over 10gram of tissue as well as therecently adopted 1.6 watt per kgmeasured over 1 gm of tissue.

8. Mr.Sibal also commissioned aNext Generation Network (NGN) labin TEC, which serves the objectivesof testing and certification as wellas network related study for anyInternet Protocol (IP) basedequipment.

Concept: 4GIn telecommunications, 4G is thefourth generation of mobile phonemobile communicationsstandards. It is a successor of thethird generation (3G) standards. A4G system provides mobile ultra-broadband Internet access, forexample to laptops with USBwireless modems, tosmartphones, and to other mobiledevices. Conceivable applicationsinclude amended mobile webaccess, IP telephony, gamingservices, high-definition mobile TV,video conferencing and 3Dtelevision.

Two 4G candidate systems are

commercially deployed: the MobileWiMAX standard (at first in SouthKorea in 2006), and the first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE)standard (in Oslo, Norway since2009). It has however beendebated if these first-releaseversions should be considered tobe 4G or not, as discussed in thetechnical definition section below.

Alarm in China over highgender imbalance

1. The gender imbalance in Chinahas remained at an alarmingly highratio of 117 newborn boys for 100girls in 2012, officials said onTuesday.

2. The imbalance, which hasremained far higher than thenormal 103 to 107 ratio, hasprompted renewed promises fromthe government to crack down onillegal selective abortions, whilealso triggering strong calls forChina to discard its unpopularfamily planning restrictions.

3. According to census datareleased on Tuesday by theNational Bureau of Statistics, thegender ratio was 117.7 newbornboys for every 100 girls in 2012, theofficial Xinhua news agencyreported.

4. The report said China’s genderimbalance had widened afterultrasound examinations werewidely available in the 1980s. Theratio reached a record 120.56 in2008, the report added.

5. In 2011, the government hadpunished 13,000 people followinga campaign to monitor selectiveabortions, she said. Thegovernment has announced atarget to bring down the imbalanceto 115, from the current 117, by2015.

6. The widening gender imbalance,coupled with concerns overChina’s ageing labour force, hasrenewed calls for the governmentto relax family planning policies.Enforced in the early 1980s, andknown widely as the “one-childpolicy” although the rules are more

India committed toimplementing TAPIProject by 2017

President Pranab Mukherjee saidIndia is fully committed toimplementing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)Project by August 2017.

During his interaction with DeputyPrime Minister and Foreign Ministerof Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov atRashtrapatiBhavan here onMonday, Mr. Mukherjee said India isdeficient in energy resources,whereas Turkmenistan is rich inhydrocarbon resources.

Concept: TAPI The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (also knownas Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline, TAP orTAPI) is a proposed natural gaspipeline being developed by theAsian Development Bank. Thepipeline will transport Caspian Seanatural gas from Turkmenistanthrough Afghanistan into Pakistanand then to India. The abbreviationcomes from the first letters of thosecountries. Proponents of the projectsee it as a modern continuation ofthe Silk Road. The Afghangovernment is expected to receive8% of the project’s revenue. GAILIndia may become a part of TAPIproject.

Bangladesh is also keen to join theTAPI project.

Govt to auction 700Mhzspectrum for 4G servicesnext year

1. The government on Monday saidit will auction spectrum in 700 Mhzband, which is used for offeringhigh-speed Internet servicesthrough fourth generationtechnologies, in 2014.

2. The 700-Mhz spectrum bandranges from 698 Mhz to 806 Mhzand has been identified by theInternational Telecommunication

22 January 2013



complex, the measures have beenseen as a major reason behind thefast-widening gender imbalance.

7. Ma Jiantang, head of theNational Bureau of Statistics (NBS),said at a press conference onFriday that the government wouldneed to come up with “anappropriate and scientific” familyplanning policy to address theageing labour force.

8. The government says the policyprevented 400 million additionalbirths since the 1980s, and sparedChina a burden on resources itcould not afford to bear. The policynow covers two-thirds of thepopulation. In rural areas, familiescan have a second child if theirfirst-born is a daughter, whilemembers of China’s 55 minoritygroups are also exempt from therestrictions.

1 in 6 cases of adult asthmacaused by workplace environments

There are many occupations thatare thought to cause asthma inadults, according to researchers.

In a new study, the start of asthmain adulthood was clearly linked to18 types of job, and the strongestevidence seems to be for jobsinvolving cleaning or cleaningagents.

The researchers base theirfindings on the job histories up tothe age of 42 of almost 7,500British adults born in 1958, all ofwhom were taking part in theNational Child Development Study,which is tracking the long termhealth of more than 11,000 peopleliving in Britain.

‘Ugly’ cholesterol maytriple risk of heartdisease: study

1. People with high levels of ‘ugly’cholesterol face three timesincreased risk of developingischemic heart disease, the mostcommon cardiovascular disease.

2. Cholesterol is divided into ‘thegood’ HDL cholesterol, ‘the bad’LDL cholesterol and ‘the ugly’cholesterol. It is the so-called ‘uglycholesterol’ - also called ‘remnantcholesterol’ - that can be reallyharmful.

3. “LDL cholesterol or ‘the badcholesterol’ is of course bad, butour new study reveals that the uglycholesterol likewise is the directcause of atherosclerosis resultingin ischemic heart disease andearly death,” said Professor BorgeNordestgaard from the

University of Copenhagen.

4. “By examining 73,000 persons,we found that an increase in theugly cholesterol triples the risk ofischemic heart disease, which iscaused by lack of oxygen to theheart muscle due to narrowing orblocking of the coronary arteries,”he said.

5. “I hope that this new knowledgewill lead to better preventivetreatment including lifestylechanges, as more than one in fiveindividuals in affluent countriessuffers from high ugly cholesterol,”he said.

6. “We also hope that thepharmaceutical industry willdevelop new drugs targetedspecifically at raised uglycholesterol levels,” heemphasises,” he added.

7. “High ugly cholesterol is theresult of high blood levels ofnormal fat (triglycerides). The mostimportant cause of high uglycholesterol is overweight andobesity. Persons with high uglycholesterol should therefore beadvised to lose weight, but drugssuch as statins and fibrates mayalso lower levels of ugly cholesterolin the blood,” saysBorgeNordestgaard.

Auroras also occuroutside our solar system:scientists1. Auroras occur on several planetswithin our solar system, and thebrightest on Jupiter are 100 timesbrighter than those on Earth.

2. However, no auroras have yetbeen observed beyond Neptune.

3. A new study led by University ofLeicester lecturer Dr JonathanNichols has shown that thisphenomenon is not limited to oursolar system.

4. Researchers found thatprocesses strikingly similar tothose which power Jupiter’sauroras could be responsible forradio emissions detected from anumber of objects outside oursolar system.

5. In addition, the radio emissionsare powerful enough to bedetectable across interstellardistances - meaning that aurorascould provide an effective way ofobserving new objects outside oursolar system.

6. Auroras occur when chargedparticles in an object’smagnetosphere collide with atomsin its upper atmosphere, causing

them to glow. However, beforehitting the atmosphere, theseparticles also emit radio waves intospace.

7. It found that the radio emissionsfrom a number of ultracool dwarfsmay be caused in a very similar, butsignificantly more powerful, way toJupiter’s auroras.

8. “We have recently shown thatbeefed-up versions of the auroralprocesses on Jupiter are able toaccount for the radio emissionsobserved from certain “ultracooldwarfs” - bodies which comprisethe very lowest mass stars - and“brown dwarfs” - ‘failed stars’ whichlie in between planets and stars interms of mass,” Nichols said.

9. “These results strongly suggestthat auroras do occur on bodiesoutside our solar system, and theauroral radio emissions arepowerful enough - one hundredthousand times brighter thanJupiter’s - to be detectable acrossinterstellar distances,” Nichols saidin statement.

10. The radio emission couldprovide key information about thelength of the planet’s day, thestrength of its magnetic field, howthe planet interacts with its parentstar and even whether it has anymoons, researchers believe.

Mars mission to boostIndia’s global credentials

1. India’s proposed Mars missionin November would boost NewDelhi’s credentials to become apartner in international ventures ofsuch kind in the future besidesachieving its scientific objectivesand demonstrating capability,veteran space scientistK Kasturirangan said.

2. Planning Commission MemberKasturirangan, who was alsoformer Chairman of Indian SpaceResearch Organisation, said whilethe mission is indeed a logicalextension of the country planetaryexploration programme, it morethan just a “technical bonanza.”

3. “Once you show an affordablescale of the activity, then you qualifyyourself to be a partner ofinternational programme. So, whenfuture manned missions or evenfuture important missions to Marstake pace, India would be part ofthe global community because youhave already demonstrated that youhave reached the place (Mars),”Kasturirangan he said.

4. According to ISRO officials, theproposed mission to demonstrate



India’s capability to reach Martianorbit is planned to be completed by2015-2016. The Mars orbiter isplanned for launch using India’sPolar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV-XL) from Satish DhawanSpace Centre, Sri harikota. It will beplaced in an orbit of 500 x 80,000km around Mars and will have aprovision for carrying nearly 25 kgof scientific payloads onboard, theysaid.

5. On concerns in sections of theIndian space establishment aboutChina “forging ahead” in the area ofspace, with New Delhi “laggingbehind”, Kasturirangan dismissedsuggestions of a space racebetween the two countries. “Wehave never been at competitionwith China. We have our own pace.We have our own priorities. Thereare many things in which we havescored very high in terms ofinternational reckoning, the use ofspace for socio-economic sectors,and we are one of the wellorganised systems in the world interms of getting mission benefitsout a shoe-string budget”, he said.

6. Kasturirangan underlined thatIndia’s space programme isguided by the country’s ownrequirements and the nation hasworld-class remote sensing andcommunication satellites androcket developments arecontemporary in nature.

Scientists discover newtype of underwatervolcanic eruption

Scientists have uncovered apreviously undocumented type oferuption in underwater volcanoes -by looking at tiny original bubblespaces trapped in volcanic rocks.

Volcanic eruptions are commonlycategorised as either explosive oreffusive but researchers from theUK and New Zealand haveuncovered a new type of eruption inunderwater volcanoes.

Inside volcanoes, gases aredissolved in the molten magma asa function of the very highpressures and chemistry of themagma.

In the same way that gasesdissolved in carbonated drinksbubble up when the lid is taken off,when magma is erupted as lava,the pressure is relieved and thegases exsolve to form small gasbubbles or so-called “vesicles”.

In explosive eruptions thesevesicles expand so quickly theyfragment the magma, violentlyejecting lava, which cools and

degasses to form solidified pumicethat can be sufficiently light to floaton water.

In air pumice is obviouslyassociated with violent, explosiveeruptions. Consequentlyunderwater volcanoes flanked byhighly vesicular pumice have, todate, also been interpreted ashaving erupted explosively.

But the results of the new study byVictoria University, Wellington andthe National Oceanography Centrein Southampton indicate that thereis a third eruptive style unique tounderwater volcanoes, which isneither effusive nor explosive.

“By documenting the shape anddensity of bubbles in pumicesgenerated by an underwatercaldera volcano in the southwestPacific Ocean - the Macauleyvolcano - we found largedifferences in the number andshape of ‘bubbles’ in the samepebble-sized samples, different toanything previously documented,”said Professor Ian Wright of theNational Oceanography Centre,who co-authored the paper.

“This range of bubble densitiesdistinct in these pumice samplesindicates that the lava erupting fromthe caldera was neither vigorousenough for an explosive eruption,nor gentle enough for an effusiveflow,” Wright said in a statement.

The study proposes that rather thanexploding in the neck of thevolcano, the formation andexpansion of bubbles in themagma created a buoyant foam,which rose to the seafloor and thenbuoyantly detached from thevolcano as molten pumiceballoonsbut with chilled margins.

During its ascent to the seasurface, the vesicles within themolten interior would havecontinued to expand as thepressure reduced.

“These processes explain theunique bubble structure seen in thesamples analysed, which couldhave only occurred with anintermediate eruption style and inan underwater setting,” said Wright.

The authors proposed that thisstyle of eruption be namedTangaroan, the Maori god of thesea, and name of the researchvessel used to collect the samples.

UK scientists to mimicplants to make zero-carbon fuel

British scientists seeking to tapmore efficient forms of solar power

are exploring how to mimic the wayplants transform sunlight intoenergy and produce hydrogen tofuel vehicles.

They will join other researchersaround the world studying artificialphotosynthesis as governmentsseek to cut greenhouse gasemissions from fossil fuels.

The research will use syntheticbiology to replicate the process bywhich plants concentrate solarenergy to split water into hydrogenand oxygen, which is then releasedinto the atmosphere.

“We will build a system for artificialphotosynthesis by placing tiny solarpanels on microbes,” said leadresearcher Julea Butt at theUniversity of East Anglia (UEA).

“These will harness sunlight anddrive the production of hydrogen,from which the technologies torelease energy on demand arewell-advanced.”

Hydrogen is a zero-emission fuelwhich can power vehicles or betransformed into electricity.

“We imagine that ourphotocatalysts will prove versatileand that with slight modificationthey will be able to harness solarenergy for the manufacture ofcarbon-based fuels, drugs and finechemicals,” she added.

The 800,000 pound ($1.3 million)project will be undertaken byscientists from UEA andCambridge and Leeds universities.

The scientists believe copyingphotosynthesis could be moreefficient in harnessing the sun’senergy than existing solarconverters.

CUTTING CO2

Many countries have deployed atleast one kind of renewable energy,such as solar, wind power orbiofuels, or use a mixture to seewhich becomes most competitivewith fossil fuels.

But as carbon dioxide emissionscontinue to rise, some expertsargue more extreme methods areneeded to keep the average rise inglobal temperatures below 2degrees Celsius this century, athreshold scientists say wouldavoid the most harmful effects ofclimate change.

“Many renewable energy supplies,such as sunlight, wind and thewaves, remain largely untappedresources. This is mainly due tothe challenges that exist inconverting these energy forms into



fuels from which energy can bereleased on demand,” said Butt.

Some of the more extrememethods which are being studiedare controversial, such asremoving large amounts of carbondioxide from the atmosphere andgeo-engineering techniques suchas blocking sunlight using artificialclouds or mirrors in space.

Such technology is far from beingemployed on a large scale and thecosts are enormous.

Critics argue these techniquesmanipulate the climate, are toocostly, take too long to prove andgovernments should concentrateon more mainstream renewableenergy sources.

23 January 2013

Nowcasting of WeatherThe Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) under theMinistry of Earth Sciences hasoperationalised its location specificnowcasting weather servicesthrough Earth System ScienceOrganization (ESSO)-IMD acrossthe country. This includes the webbased inputs. Under this serviceactivity, that covers 117 urbancentres currently on experimentalbasis,nowcast of severe weather(Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall fromlows/depressions over the land) in3-6h range is issued. Origin,development/movement of severeweather phenomena are regularlymonitored through all availableobserving systems (AutomaticWeather Stations-AWSs; AutomaticRain Gauges-ARGs; DopplerWeather Radars-DWRs; AutomaticWeather Observing Systems-AWOS; satellite derived windvectors, temperature, moisturefields etc.) are assimilated togenerate predictions (preparedboth in text as well as in graphicalform) on 3h time range. Web GISrendering of the nowcast productsis implemented for enhancedspatial representation of the severeweather intensities associated withwarnings.

With the commissioning of thestate-of-the-art observing (675 Nos.of AWSs; 955 Nos. of ARGs; 15-DWRs), monitoring/early warningand data visualization/informationprocessing and communicationtechnologies under the Phase-I ofthe modernization of IMD, severalmanual operations have been fullyautomated. All the manpower thatwas engaged earlier for suchmanual operations have been

provided due orientation, trainingand skill developmentopportunities not only to attainappropriate operating skills ofadvanced technological platformsbut also contribute efficiently to thequality enhancement throughcustomization of sector specificwarning and forecasting services.

Commissioning of the HighPerformance Computing (HPC)system at the ESSO-NationalCentre for Medium Range WeatherForecasting (NCMRWF) and ESSO-IMD has provided opportunity toassimilate satellite radiance datain to the global/regional forecastsystems and to enhance thespatial resolution of the globalforecast systems from about 50kmgrid scale to about 22km gridscale. The performance evaluationof the new global forecast systemhas demonstrated enhancedforecast skill quantitatively.

In order to capture thecharacteristics of the severeweather in real time, state-of-the-art 24X7 monitoring systemcomprising 14-DWRs, located atAgartala, Chennai, Delhi-Airport,Delhi-Lodi Road, Hyderabad,Jaipur, Kolkata, Machilipatnam,Nagpur, Patna, Visakhapatnam,Lucknow, Patiala and Mohanbari ismade functional. DWRs at Mumbaiand Bhuj are undergoing siteacceptance tests while it is undercommissioning at Bhopal. DWRscommissioning is put on hold atGoa, Paradip and Karaikal for thewant of clearances from theMinistry of Defence that is under theconsideration of Committee ofSecretaries (COS).

Commissioning of DWR networkcovering the whole country wouldhave to happen in a phasedmanner in view of the variousfactors such as site selection; sitesurvey for height of line of sight oflocating the antenna; available/emerging technology variants fortheir suitability as per terrainvariability based frequency ofoperation over hill states and NEStates etc. Despite the above, theGovernment is committed to set upand enhance gradually itsobservational network of DWRs,AWSs, ARGs, etc. for monitoringabnormal weather patterns andupgrading its forecastingcapabilities, so that advancewarning can be provided toNational Disaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA), Ministry of HomeAffairs, and Ministry of Agriculture totackle the impacts of the adverseand extreme weather phenomena.

Measure to IncreaseAvailability of Pulses

In order to increase the availabilityof pulses, especially for the peopleliving under the low poverty line, thegovernment has resumed import ofpulses through State Governmentsfor distribution under PublicDistribution System. The centre willprovide subsidy for this import tothe states. The thrust of thescheme is to make pulsesavailable to the BPL card holders atleast one kg. per month. Anincrease availability of pulseswould also have a controlling effecton prices.

Imported susidised pulses willalso be provided to youth hostels,homes for poor and other suchinstitutions which house peoplebelonging to low income groups inlarge numbers.

Besides this the centre has taken anumber of steps recently to controlprices of pulses which include-

• Reduced import duties to zerofor pulses.

• Banned export of pulses (exceptKabuli chana and organic pulsesand lentils up to a maximum of10000 tones per annum).

• Imposed stock limits from timeto time in the case of pulses.

• Suspended Futures trading inurad and tur.

Several measures have also beentaken to increase domestic supplyof pulses. The National FoodSecurity Mission (NFSM)-Pulses isunder implementation in 468districts. The Accelerated PulsesProduction Programme (A3P) hasbeen launched under the NFSM-Pulses from Kharif 2012 fordemonstration of production andprotection technologies on villagelevel compact Blocks for enhancedproduction of pulses as well asmotivating farmers. To compensatethe losses of production of Kharifpulses, a programme on additionalarea coverage of pulses duringRabi/Summer 2012-13 has beensanctioned with an allocation of Rs.100 crore to increase production ofRabi/summer pulses through areaexpansion of Rabi pigeon pea,gram, pea and lentil during Rabiand green gram and black gramduring summer. Besides, under theMacro Management of Agriculture(MMA) scheme, assistance is alsoprovided for pulses development inthe states which are not coveredunder NFSM-Pulses.



Initiatives to BoostManufacturing Growth

The Global economic turmoil hasimpacted the overall economy ingeneral and industry in particular.This is quite evident from thedeceleration witnessed in theperformance of industrial sector inthe recent past.

During 2011-12 industrial growth interms of the Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP), released by theCentral Statistics Office (CSO),showed a low growth of 2.9%compared to 8.2% growthregistered in 2010-11. Themoderation in the industrial growth,however had started in 2008-09.The IIP growth rate was 2.5% in2008-09 which improved slightly to5.3% in 2009-10 compared to thepeak growth rate of 15.5% achievedin the year 2007-08.

Manufacturing Growth

During 2011-12, a low growth inmanufacturing (3.0%) was a mainreason for moderation in IIPgrowth. The cumulative growth ofmanufacturing sector was 1.0 percent during April-October, 2012-13compared to its 3.8 per cent growthduring corresponding period of theprevious year. Similar to the overallindustrial growth, the reasons formoderation in the growth ofmanufacturing include globalslowdown, moderation in domesticdemand, hardening of interestrates etc.

Amongst the manufacturing goodsthe moderation in its growth rate islargely accounted by theperformance of capital goods andintermediate goods which hasbeen in the negative trajectory formost part of the year. Capital goodswitnessed a sharp decline ingrowth during 2012-13 (April-October) with growth rate of –11.4%. Items such as Boilers;Grinding Wheels; CementMachinery; Sugar Machinery; TextileMachinery; Plastic Machinery Incl.Moulding Machinery; Transformers(Small); Earth Moving Machinery;Computers has shown aconsistent negative growth.

Measures to Boost Manufacturing

The future trajectory of the index ofindustrial production (IIP) dependslargely on the revival of investment.Low economic activity due to weakinvestment sentiments and globalslowdown is well reflected inNational Accounts Statistics. GrossFixed Capital Formation (GFCF) asa measure of addition in productivecapacity of the economy grew at 5.5

percent in 2011-12 compared to 7.5percent in 2010-11. The GFCF as apercent of GDP at 2004-05 pricesmoderated to 32.0 % in 2011-12compared to 32.5 % in previousyear. Gross Fixed CapitalFormation grew at 4.1 percent inthe second quarter of 2012-13against 0.7 percent in the firstquarter.

The Government has been takingconfidence building measures forimproving the industrial climateand manufacturing in the country.Three important initiatives taken inthis regard are announcement ofNational Manufacturing Policy(NMP), implementation of DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)Project and policy reforms topromote Foreign Direct Investment(FDI).

National Manufacturing Policy(NMP)

The National Manufacturing Policy(NMP) was approved by theGovernment in October, 2011. Themajor objectives of the policy arefor enhancing the share ofmanufacturing in GDP to 25% andcreating additional 100 million overa decade or so. Other quantitativeand qualitative changes that areenvisaged by the policy includecreation of appropriate skill setsamong the rural migrant and urbanpoor to make growth inclusive;increasing domestic value additionand technological depth inmanufacturing; enhancing globalcompetitiveness of Indianmanufacturing through appropriatepolicy support; ensuringsustainability of growth, particularlywith regard to the environmentincluding energy efficiency, optimalutilization of natural resources andrestoration of damaged/ degradedeco-systems etc.

The Policy also provides specialfocus to the industries that areemployment intensive, thoseproducing capital goods, thosehaving strategic significance, smalland medium enterprises, publicsector enterprises besidesindustries where India enjoys acompetitive advantage etc.

In addition, specific instrumentshave been conceptualized underNMP to achieve its statedobjectives. Accordingly the policyenvisages among others -rationalization and simplification ofbusiness regulations; simple andexpeditious exit mechanism forclosure of sick units whileprotecting labour interests;financial and institutionalmechanisms for technology

development, including greentechnologies; industrial trainingand skill up gradation measures;incentives for SMEs, clustering andaggregation support throughNational Investment andManufacturing Zones (NIMZs),trade policy etc.

Promoting clustering andaggregation, especially throughcreation of NIMZs is a major policyinstrument of NMP. NIMZs as keyinstruments to catalyze the growthof manufacturing are envisaged tobe developed in the nature of greenfield industrial townships,benchmarked with the bestmanufacturing hubs in the world.The Zones are expected to help inmeeting the increasing demand forcreating world class urban centresin India, while absorbing surpluslabour by providing them gainfulemployment opportunities. TheseNIMZs will seek to address theinfrastructural bottleneck which hasbeen cited as a constraining factorfor the growth of manufacturing.TenNIMZs have been announced, eightof which are along the DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).

Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor(DMIC) Project

The Delhi – Mumbai IndustrialCorridor (DMIC) Project is beingimplemented on both sides of the1483 km long Western DedicatedRail Freight Corridor between Dadri(UP) and JNPT (Navi Mumbai).The project seeks to create astrong economic base with aglobally competitive environmentand state-of-the-art infrastructure toactivate local commerce, enhanceinvestments and attain sustainabledevelopment. The DMIC Projectcovers the six States of UttarPradesh, Haryana, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat andMaharashtra. The DMICDevelopment Corporation(DMICDC) was incorporated inJanuary 2008 for projectdevelopment, coordination andimplementation of the numerousprojects.

Looking at the magnitude anddiversity of the project, it is plannedto be implemented in phases.Initially, eight industrial cities havebeen taken up for development.

So far the overall perspective planfor the entire DMIC Region hasbeen completed. The MasterPlanning for the InvestmentRegions and Industrial Areas takenup initially to be developed as NewCities in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Haryana, Rajasthan andMaharashtra have been completed



and Master Planning in UttarPradesh has started. The StateGovernments have initiated theprocess of obtaining land for thenew industrial regions/areas aswell as for the Early Bird Projects.Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) Studies have been initiated forfive industrial cities. DMICDC hadinitiated development of SmartCommunities or Eco-Cities thatcan contribute to improving thesustainability of the DMIC region.Japanese technology and expertiseis being made available undercollaboration with METI,Government of Japan for the SmartCommunity projects. Significantprogress has been reported byDMICDC in the development ofSmart Communities or Eco-Cities.Along with the planning of each city,preparation of feasibility studies forEarly Bird Projects has been takenup on the recommendation of theState Governments. These projectsare in the sectors of water supply,transport connectivity, logistic hubs,mega industrial parks, knowledgecities etc.

As the Master Plans progressed, itwas felt necessary and essentialthat new industrial cities must becreated on the back of world classtrunk infrastructure i.e. drainage,sewage, solid waste, water supply,internal roads. Without the trunkinfrastructure the development ofPPP projects in greenfield citieswas not feasible and it was felt thatthis may lead to real estatedevelopment without trunkinfrastructure and a developedbackbone.

Accordingly the project wasrestructured in September, 2011with an Implementation Fund ofRs.17,500 crore to be utilized overa period of five years and anadditional project developmentFund of Rs.1000 crore for projectdevelopment. The land for the newindustrial cities will be thecontribution of the StateGovernment.

The ‘DMIC Project ImplementationFund’, is a revolving fund, and hasbeen set up as a Trust. It will be arepository of Government of Indiafinancial assistance. The funds willflow from the Trust to the SPVs andthe Trust will receive upside frombidding and monetization of landvalues. The Trust will also provideresources to DMICDC for projectdevelopment activities.

The Japanese Government hasalso announced their financialsupport for DMIC project to anextent of US $ 4.5 billion in the firstphase for the projects withJapanese participation.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)Policy

Domestic savings in India have notbeen adequate to meet theinvestment requirement of thecountry. The ratio of domesticsavings to GDP has generally beenlower than the ratio of GCF to GDP.During 2008-11 share of GrossDomestic Capital Formation in theGDP was 35.3% whereas share ofdomestic saving during the periodwas only 32.7%. Capital inflowfrom other countries, particularly ofan investment nature, thereforeadds to the domestic investment. Italso brings in new managementpractices and technologies,besides subsequently contributingto enhancement of the exportpotential/earning of the country.

India’s attractiveness as aninvestment destination has to beseen in the context of majoreconomic reforms embarked uponby the Government of India sincemid-1990s, the objective being theachievement of a greater level ofintegration with the world economyand the emergence of India as asignificant player in theglobalization process. The largerand ultimate goal however is tostep up the scale of development ofthe economy. As a part of thisprocess, the FDI policy is beingliberalized progressively on anongoing basis in order to allow FDIin more industries under theautomatic route.

Some recent changes in the FDIpolicy, besides consolidation of thepolicy into a single documentinclude FDI in Multi-Brand RetailTrading up to 51% subject tospecified conditions; increasingFDI limit to 100% in Single-BrandRetail Trading; FDI up to 49 percentin Civil Aviation and PowerExchanges; FDI up to 49 percent inBroadcasting sector under theautomatic route and FDI beyond 49percent and up to 74 percent underthe Government route both forTeleports and Mobile TV.

The advantages of India as aninvestment destination rest uponstrong fundamentals, whichinclude a large and growingmarket; world-class scientific,technical and managerialmanpower; cost effective and highlyskilled labour; abundant naturalresources; a large Englishspeaking population; independentjudiciary, etc. This is nowrecognized by a number of globalinvestors. Ongoing initiatives, suchas further simplification of rulesand regulations, improvements in

infrastructure are expected toprovide the necessary impetus toincrease FDI inflows in future.

The Government continues tomake efforts to increase economiccooperation with the developing aswell as developed countriesthrough different fora such as JointCommissions/Joint Committees,other bilateral channels likeinteraction with the delegationsvisiting the country and organizingvisits abroad for discussions onissues of mutual interest andbusiness/ investment meetsbetween Indian and foreignentrepreneurs to stimulate foreigninvestment into India. It hasannounced the setting up of ‘InvestIndia’, a joint venture companybetween the Department ofIndustrial Policy & Promotion andFICCI, as a not-for-profit, singlewindow facilitator, for prospectiveoverseas investors and to act as astructured mechanism to attractinvestment.

In addition, the Government hasinitiated implementation of thee-Biz Project, a Mission ModeProject under the Nationale-Governance Plan (NeGP) forpromoting an online single windowat the national level for businessusers. The objectives of setting upof the e-Biz Portal are to provide anumber of services to businessusers, covering the entire life cycleon their operation. The project aimsat enhancing India’s businesscompetitiveness through a serviceoriented, event-driven G2Binteraction.

Indian Railways CoversNew Grounds in 2012

The total approximate earnings ofIndian Railways on originatingbasis during 1st April to 31st

December 2012 were Rs.89906.46 crore compared to Rs.75009.17 crore during the sameperiod last year, registering anincrease of 19.86 percent. The totalgoods earnings have gone up fromRs. 49868.95 crore during 1st April– 31st December 2011 to Rs.62413.41 crore during 1st April –31st December 2012, registeringan increase of 25.15 percent. Thetotal passenger revenue earningsduring 1st April – 31st December2012 were Rs. 23025.34 crorecompared to Rs. 20999.01 croreduring the same period last year,registering an increase of 9.65percent. In the calendar year 2012,Indian Railways has achievedscrap sale of Rs. 3903.84 crore tillNov. 2012. For the correspondingperiod in 2011 sale achieved by



Railway was 3748.68 crore.

The total approximate numbers ofpassengers booked during 1st April– 31st December 2012 were6422.29 million compared to6210.12 million during the sameperiod last year, showing anincrease of 3.42 percent. IndianRailways have carried 735.10million tonnes of revenue earningfreight traffic during April-December2012. The freight carried shows anincrease of 31.33 million tonnesover the freight traffic of 703.77million tonnes actually carriedduring the corresponding periodlast year, registering an increase of4.45 percent.

In a path breaking initiative taken bythe Ministry of Railways, a formalMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed in February2012 for setting up a SpecialPurpose Vehicle (SPV) namely“Indian Railway StationsDevelopment Corporation Limited”(IRSDL) to take up work ofredevelopment of railway stationsalong with station maintenanceacross India in a dedicatedmanner. Under new SPV, it isproposed to provide the identifiedstations with well designedconcourses, high quality waitingspaces, easy access to theplatforms, congestion freeplatforms, modern ‘State of the art’Catering facilities, Hotels and otherfacilities. After conductingpreliminary studies & holdingconsultations with zonal railways,five stations, Bijwasan (Delhi)Habibganj (Bhopal), AnandVihar(Delhi), Chandigarh, Shivaji Nagar(Pune), have been identified forimplementation through IRSDC inthe first phase.

As a major initiative to furtherfacilitate the travel of bonafide andlegitimate passengers and toreduce the scope for misuse ofreserved ticketing system byunscrupulous elements/middlemen, the Ministry ofRailways has now made itcompulsory to carry prescribedoriginal proof of identity cardsduring train travel on all reservedclasses of tickets. Those travellingwithout an original identify proofshall be treated as without ticketand charged accordingly. This newchange of policy is aimed atfacilitating the travel of bonafideand genuine passengers andsimultaneously checking the scopefor travel on transferred tickets. It isalso considered that this policyprovision shall also be useful fromthe security point of view.

The year 2012 saw a big push for

the key infrastructure projects ofRailways. After a review meetingon infrastructure held by the PrimeMinister in the last week ofNovember 2012, deadline hasbeen set for such importantinfrastructure projects like theelevated rail corridor in Mumbai,setting up of locomotive factorieson public private partnership, railtariff authority and DedicatedFreight Corridors. A time boundaction plan has since been initiatedby the Railway Ministry on theseissues.

Mumbai has one of the mostcrowded and overloaded suburbansystems in the world. Concernedabout the capacity constraint on theCorridor, Ministry of Railways hasdecided to augment the systemcapacity and has accordinglyenvisioned a two track elevatedcorridor along Churchgate-Virrasection. This new Elevated RailCorridor (ERC) will be betweenOval Maidan and Virar of WesternRailway in Mumbai area. Theindicative cost of 63.27 km-longERC project is approximatelyRs. 21,000 crore. Under thiscorridor, 26 stations are proposed,out of which 5 stations would beunderground, 19 elevated and 2 atgrade.

The Indian Railway has achievedone more milestone intransportation sector with thecompletion of Banihal-Qazigundsection of ambitious andchallenging Udhampur-Baramullah-Srinagar Rail linkProject. Trials by running trainshave started in the section byRailways with the arrival of firstTrack Tamping machine at Banihalon 24th December 2012 fromQazigund. All the major works havebeen completed and finishingtouch is being given. This sectionwill be ready for opening shortly the17.729 km long section consists ofonly one tunnel of 11.215 km lengthknown as PirPanjal Tunnel, whichis the longest transportation tunnelin India and second longest in Asia.Opening of Banihal-Qazigundrailway section will be a turningpoint not only in the history ofJammu & Kashmir State only, butfor the Indian history.

Indian Railways’ ambitious projectof ‘Dedicated Freight Corridor’(DFC) continued itsimplementation momentum duringthis year. There has been progresson both the corridors namely 1499km long Western DFC fromJawaharLal Nehru Port (JNPT) inMumbai to Dadri/Tughlakabad(Near Delhi) and 1839 km long

Eastern DFC from Ludhiana(Punjab) to Dankuni (Near Kolkata).Land acquisition is progressingwell and as on November 2012, outof total land of 10703 hectares tobe acquired for both corridors,7768 hectares i.e. 73% has beenacquired. Initial fundingagreements for Western DFCthrough JICA and part of EasternDFC (Ludhiana-Khurja-Kanpur-Mughalsarai) through World Bankhave already been formalized whileremaining Dankuni-Sonnagarsection of Eastern DFC isproposed to be implementedthrough PPP and Mughalsarai-Sonnagar section of Eastern DFCis being implemented through theresources of the Ministry ofRailways.

A Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) on ‘Campaign Clean India’was signed between the Ministry ofTourism and the Ministry ofRailways. Under the MOU, the twoMinistries will work togethertowards a sustained sensitizationcampaign to train travelers andservice providers under theCapacity Building for ServiceProviders scheme of Ministry ofTourism and for consultations anddiscussions with the stake holdersincluding the travel trade to evolvestrategies for the up-keep andcleanliness of the stations andcoaches. Meanwhile, the Ministryof Railways has issued anotification containing rules onprohibition of activities affectingcleanliness and hygiene in theRailway premises alongwithpenalties for contravention of theserules. Whosoever contravenes anyof the provisions of these rules orfails to comply with such provisionsshall be punished with a fine whichshall not exceed five hundredrupees.

Indigenously designed, developedand manufactured Air conditioneddouble decker train was introducedfor the first time between Howrahand Dhanbad. This year, animproved design of the train hasbeen developed and its servicesbetween Jaipur and Delhi andAhemdabad and Mumbai havebeen introduced. Such services arealso planned between Habibganj-Indore and Chennai-Bangalore innear future. AC double decker trainwith improved passenger friendlydesign is having capacity of 120passengers per coach and arebecoming popular amongpassengers.

Continued efforts and constantpersuasion by Railway Board andenergy conservation initiatives by



Zonal Railways have resulted intobagging highest ever 11 NationalEnergy Conservation Awards by theIndian Railways out of total awardsof 87 from 773 applications during2012, which were awarded by thePresident of India during NationalEnergy Conservation Day on 14thDecember 2012.

Indian Railways continued its thruston enhancing safety. TrainProtection & Warning System(TPWS) was extended on pilotbasis on main line operations onHazrat Nizamuddin – Agra Sectionof Northern/North Central Railway(200 Route Kilometres) where workis under progress. Based uponexperience gained from ACD &TPWS systems, Indian Railwayshas now taken up development ofTrain Collision Avoidance System(TCAS). TCAS shall be a fusion offunctionalities of TPWS & ACD andshall prevent Signal Passing atDanger as well as Collisions. Afterinvitation of Expression of Interest,six Indian firms have beenshortlisted. One of the firm hasdeveloped the Prototype whichunderwent field trials in Oct’2012over South Central Railway.

To bring further convenience to therail users, Indian Railways throughIndian Railway Catering & TourismCorporation (IRCTC), a PublicSector Undertaking under theMinistry of Railway, is offering theservice of booking e-ticket over themobile phone. After initialregistration and downloading ofsuitable software on the mobilehandset with internet facility, it isquite easy for the mobile users tobook a reserve ticket through theirown mobile. After booking, thepassenger l receives a reservationmessage with full details of theticket including PNR, Train No, dateof journey, class etc. This virtualmessage is treated at par with theprint-out of the e-ticket.

With a commitment to providehygienic environment to itspassengers and staff, IndianRailways, along with DefenceResearch & DevelopmentOrganization (DRDO) havedeveloped Environment FriendlyBio-toilets for its passengercoaches. In these bio-toilets, thehuman waste is treated by bacteria,which is benign to the humans.This bacteria converts humanwaste into water and gases(methane and CO

2). The gases

escape to atmosphere and treatedwaste water is discharged afterchlorination. Human waste thusdoes not fall on the tracks. Eighttrains are running with 436 bio-toilets and in the year 2012-13,

2500 more bio-toilets are plannedto be introduced. A completeswitch-over to bio-toilets in newcoaches has been planned by2016-17 and the Indian Railwayhas targeted elimination of directdischarge passenger coach toiletsystems by the end of theThirteenth Five Year Plan i.e., 2021-22.

The travel distance from l00kilometres has been extended to150 kilometres under IZZATscheme. There is no change inother terms and conditions. Thisextension of travel distance from100 kms to 150 kms is admissibleon IZZAT Monthly Season Tickets(MST) purchased on and after June1, 2012. IZZAT is a scheme ofuniformly priced MST of Rs. 25/-inclusive of all surcharges issuedup to distance of 100 Kms topersons working in unorganisedsector with monthly income notexceeding Rs. 1500/-. Thisdistance has now been increasedfrom 100 km to 150 km.

Supervision and monitoring ofcatering services both in trains andat stations has been strengthened,as a result of this the number ofcomplaint cases has reduced by4.82 % (approx.) during thecalendar year (up to October, 2012)as compared to the correspondingperiod of last year. About 26860inspections have been carried outduring January, 2012 to October, 2012 by Zonal Railways for ensuringquality in catering. In order to makecatering services effective, aStandard Bid Documents (SBDs)have been prepared for award oftenders for various cateringservices over Indian Railways.

To provide accurate train runninginformation to the public, the IndianRailways has expanded the trainrunning information facility. Now theinformation on the running of alltrains is available atwww.trainenquiry.com. Similarlythis facility is available throughSMS on 139. Earlier, train runninginformation of only selected 36important trains (Shatabdi,Rajdhani & Duronto) were availableat website www.simran.in andthrough SMS on 9415139139.

Indian Railways is adopting a multipronged strategy to provide a safer,faster, cleaner, and comfortablepassenger trains. Firstly, sevencorridors have been identified forconducting pre-feasibility studiesfor running high speed trains(popularly referred as) at speedsabove 350 kmph. These corridorswill be set up through PPP route.Initially, Mumbai- Ahemdabad

corridor has been taken up forwhich pre-feasibility has beencompleted. Secondly, a study isalso being done on Delhi-Mumbairoute with Japanese help to raisethe speed of passenger trains from160 kmph to 200 kmph beingreferred to as Semi-High Speed.Thirdly, Indian Railways is workingon the concept of acquiringElectrical Multiple Units (EMU)Train sets for intercity journeys foroperating speed ranging from 130-160 km/hour. With high pick-upand increased acceleration &deceleration characteristic, theseproposed modern distributedpowered EMU train sets willprovide faster and safer movementand will substantially reduce runtime.

Continuing with the IndianRailways and State Governmentpartnership model, a MOU for thedevelopment of rail corridors inChhatisgarh state was signed.The three rail corridors meant forboth passengers and freight wouldbe developed in northern region ofChhatisgarh state, approximately452 kilometres in total length..These are:- 1) East Corridor:Bhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaygarh up to Korba withspur from Gharghoda to DongaMauha to connect mines of Gare-Pelma block, approximately 180kilometres in length, 2) NorthCorridor: Surajpur-Parsa-Katghora-Korba, approximately 150kilometres in length and 3) East-West Corridor: Gevra Raod toPendra Road via Dipka, Katghora,Sindurgarh, approximately 122kilometres in length. Thesecorridors will be implementedthrough specific Special PurposeVehicles (SPVs).

Filling up of vacancies is a matterof priority and is being activelypursued by Railways RecruitmentBoards. In 2012, fourteen writtenexaminations have been held for271 categories, covering 50515vacancies. Panels of about 15,838candidates mainly for safetycategory posts have been suppliedto Zonal Railways/Production Unitsduring the last 11 months periodi.e. 1st January 2012 to 30thNovember 2012. Five centralizednotifications have been issued in2012 covering 27,038 vacancies in138 categories. Examinationsagainst 4 notifications, out of fiveissued in 2012, have already beenheld in this year itself for 26,213vacancies.

Railway sportspersons werefelicitated by the Railway Ministryfor their remarkable performance inthe London Olympics – 2012. They



were presented with a shawl, amemento and the cheque of theaward amount. Sushil Kumar, whowon silver medal in wrestling (66kg. Free Style) event in LondonOlympics was given a cash awardof Rs. 75 lakh. JoydeepKarmakarwho got 4th position in the final inShooting (50m Prone) and Ms.Krishna Punia who got 7th positionin the final in Discuss Throw weregiven Rs. 25 lakh cash award each.In a momentous recognition of therole and contribution of the IndianRailways in promoting sports in thecountry, Railway Sports PromotionBoard (RSPB) of Ministry ofRailways has bagged “RashtriyaKhel Protsahan Puraskar”, for theyear 2012 which is a part ofNational Sports Awards,announced by the Ministry of YouthAffairs and Sports.

Bilateral cooperation in Railwaysector with foreign countries is anongoing process. India and China,among others, signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) on Technical Cooperation inRailway Sector. Under this MoU,both the countries will enhancemutual cooperation across variousareas of rail technology includingHigh Speed Rail, Heavy Haulageand Station Development. A MoUwas also signed between IndianRailways and Belgium on bilateralco-operation for the effectivedevelopment and modernization ofrailway sector of both the countries.Another Memorandum ofUnderstanding was signedbetween the Government of Indiaand Government of Spain ontechnical cooperation in the field ofRailway sector. Delegation leveltalks were held separately withSwitzerland and Germany onbilateral cooperation in the railwaysector.

Indian firms to supplyparts for billion-dollartelescope

1. Several Indian companies aregearing up to play a major role inthe construction of the $1.2 billionThirty Metre Telescope, which willbe the world’s most advancedground-based observatory that willbe operating in optical and mid-infrared wavelengths.

2. The Indian companies will besupplying high-end componentssuch as edge sensors, actuators,segment support assemblies andprovide services such as polishingof the mirror segments, andsoftware to control the operationsof the telescope, the mirror, andtelescope dome, its Project

Manager Gary Sanders toldnewspersons here at the end of ameeting of the Project’s GoverningBoard.

3. Edge sensors and actuators, inparticular, would play a key role inthe working of the telescope. Sincethe primary mirror of the telescopewould be made of an array of 492identical mirror segments, themain challenge in its workingwould be to ensure that thesegments remained alignedproperly all the time. The edgesensors and the actuators wouldhelp in this task.

4. Work on producing prototypes ofthese have already been initiated.While Pondicherry-based GeneralOptics Asia Limited [GOAL] hasbeen asked to produce 25prototype edge sensors, AvasaralaTechnologies of Bangalore, hasbeen engaged to produce 20prototype actuators, Dr. Sanderssaid.

5. Programme Director for the Indiacomponent of the mega scienceproject, Eswar Reddy noted thatIndian companies have beenselected following a very stringentprocess, said the telescope wouldbe 81 times more sensitive andresolve objects by a factor of 3times better than the largestground-based telescopes that areavailable at present across theworld.

6. “The unprecedented lightgathering capability and angularresolution of the telescope isexpected to help shed new light onmany unsolved and challengingproblems in astronomy andastrophysics’’.

7. The telescope is beingconstructed by a consortiumconsisting of US, China, Japan,Canada and India. India is makinga contribution of 10 per cent – 70per cent of it in kind and 30 percentin cash.

8. India presently has a status of anobserver and it is in the process ofbecoming a permanent member. Anote for approval of the UnionCabinet in this regard is currentlyunder preparation. Indian fundingwill be done through theDepartment of Science andTechnology and the Department ofAtomic Energy.

Border States on highalert after bird flu inBhutan

1. The Centre on Wednesdaysounded ‘high alert’ in borderStates against avian influenza after

outbreak of the dreaded poultrydisease in Bhutan.

2. Thousands of birds have beenculled in Bhutan after the outbreak,which is yet to be controlled. Earlierthis month, samples of affectedbirds were sent to India’s HighSecurity Animal Disease Lab inBhopal and they tested positive.

Concept: Avian influenza

Avian influenza is flu infection inbirds. The virus that causes thebird infectin can change (mutate) toinfect humans. Such mutationcould start a deadly worldwideepidemic.

Causes, incidence, and riskfactors

The first avian influenza virus toinfect humans occurred in HongKong in 1997. The epidemic waslinked to chickens and classifiedas avian influenza A (H5N1).

Human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) have since been reportedin Asia, Africa, Europe, Indonesia,Vietnman, the Pacific, and the nearEast. Hundreds of people havebecome sick with this virus. Slightlymore than 60% of those whobecame ill have died.

The more the avian flu virusspreads, the greater the chances ofa worldwide outbreak in humans.There is a tremendous concernthat H5N1 poses an enormouspandemic threat.

The following people have a higherrisk for developing the bird flu:

• Farmers and others who workwith poultry

• Travelers visiting affectedcountries

• Those who touch an infectedbird

• Those who eat raw orundercooked poultry meat, eggs, orblood from infected birds

Health care workers andhousehold contacts of patients withavian influenza may also be at anincreased risk of the bird flu.

The avian flu virus (H5N1) hasbeen shown to survive in theenvironment for long periods oftime. Infection may be spreadsimply by touching contaminatedsurfaces. Birds who were infectedwith this flu can continue to releasethe virus in their feces and salivafor as long as 10 days.

Symptoms

Symptoms of avian flu infection inhumans depend on the strain ofvirus.



Infection with the H5N1 virus inhumans causes typical flu-likesymptoms, which might include:

• Cough (dry or productive)• Diarrhea• Difficulty breathing• Fever greater than

100.4°F (38°C)• Headache• Malaise• Muscle aches• Runny nose

• Sore throat

U.S. calls for due processin 1971 war trial

The U.S. has extended support tothe trial of the people whocommitted crimes againsthumanity during the BangladeshLiberation War in 1971.

Washington, however, stressed theneed for holding the trial in a freeand fair way. Victoria Nuland,spokesperson of the U.S.Department of State, spoke at apress briefing in Washington DCon January 22, a day afterBangladesh’s war crimes tribunalpassed its maiden verdict orderinggiving death sentence to anIslamist leader, Maulana AbulKalam Azad, on charges ofgenocide, killing, rape and arsonas the local cohorts of thePakistani army during the war. Thepress statement was posted on itswebsite.

“As Bangladesh addresses thelegacy of atrocities committedduring the Liberation War and aswe await further verdicts by theInternational Crimes Tribunal, theU.S. urges the government ofBangladesh to adhere to the dueprocess standards that are part ofits treaty obligations, and to fullyrespect the rule of law,” thestatement said. “However, webelieve that any such trials must befree, fair, and transparent, and inaccordance with domesticstandards and internationalstandards Bangladesh has agreedto uphold through its ratification ofinternational agreements,including the InternationalCovenant on Civil and PoliticalRights”.

Concept: Due process

Due process is the legalrequirement that the state mustrespect all of the legal rights thatare owed to a person. Dueprocess balances the power of lawof the land and protects theindividual person from it. When agovernment harms a personwithout following the exact course

of the law, this constitutes a due-process violation, which offendsagainst the rule of law.

Due process has also beenfrequently interpreted as limitinglaws and legal proceedings (seesubstantive due process), so thatjudges - instead of legislators -may define and guaranteefundamental fairness, justice, andliberty. This interpretation hasproven controversial, and isanalogous to the concepts ofnatural justice, and proceduraljustice used in various otherjurisdictions. This interpretation ofdue process is sometimesexpressed as a command that thegovernment must not be unfair tothe people or abuse themphysically.

Due process is not used incontemporary English law, thoughtwo similar concepts are naturaljustice (which generally appliesonly to decisions of administrativeagencies and some types of privatebodies like trade unions) and theBritish constitutional concept of therule of law as articulated by A. V.Dicey and others. However, neitherconcept lines up perfectly with theAmerican theory of due process,which, as explained below,presently contains many impliedrights not found in the ancient ormodern concepts of due process inEngland.

Due process developed fromclause 39 of the Magna Carta inEngland. When English andAmerican law gradually diverged,due process was not upheld inEngland, but did becomeincorporated in the Constitution ofthe United States.

Don’t allow Armymen totake cover under AFSPA,says Verma

The Justice J.S. Verma Committee,set up to suggest amendments tolaws relating to crimes againstwomen, has recommended reviewof the continuance of the ArmedForces (Special Powers) Act(AFSPA) in the context of extendinglegal protection to women in conflictareas.

“There is an imminent need toreview the continuance of the AFSPAand AFSPA-like legal protocols ininternal conflict areas as soon aspossible,” it said. “This isnecessary for determining thepropriety of resorting to thislegislation in the area(s)concerned.”

In its report submitted to the Union

Home Ministry on Wednesday,committee memberGopalSubramaniam said going bythe testimonies of the people fromJammu and Kashmir,Chhattisgarh, Odisha, AndhraPradesh and the North-East, it wasevident that there was a pressingneed to try armed forces personnelguilty of sexual offences in conflictareas under the ordinary criminallaw.

Taking cognisance of thecomplaints and reports of sexualassaults on women by men inuniform and the civil society’sdemand for repeal of the AFSPA,the committee recommend animmediate resolution of“jurisdictional issues.” Simpleprocedural protocols must be put inplace to avoid situations where thepolice refuse to register casesagainst paramilitary personnel.

Concept: AFSPA

The Armed Forces (SpecialPowers) Act (AFSPA), was passedon September 11, 1958, by theParliament of India. It grantsspecial powers to the armed forcesin what the act calls “disturbedareas” in the states of ArunachalPradesh, Assam, Manipur,Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagalandand Tripura. It was later extended toJammu and Kashmir as TheArmed Forces (Jammu andKashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990in July 1990. This act has beenregarded as a shameful act, whichperpetuated all the ills in India andhampering the development of thecountry.

According to the Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act (AFSPA), in anarea that is proclaimed as“disturbed”, an officer of the armedforces has powers to

• Fire upon or use other kinds offorce even if it causes death,against the person who is actingagainst law or order in thedisturbed area for the maintenanceof public order, after giving suchdue warning.

• Destroy any arms dump,prepared or fortified position orshelter or training camp from whicharmed attacks are made by thearmed volunteers or armed gangsor absconders wanted for anyoffence

• To arrest without a warrantanyone who has committedcognizable offences or isreasonably suspected of havingdone so and may use force ifneeded for the arrest.

• To enter and search any



premise in order to make sucharrests, or to recover any personwrongfully restrained or any arms,ammunition or explosivesubstances and seize it.

• Stop and search any vehicle orvessel reasonably suspected to becarrying such person or weapons.

• Any person arrested and takeninto custody under this Act shall bemade over to the officer in charge ofthe nearest police station with theleast possible delay, together witha report of the circumstancesoccasioning the arrest.

• Army officers have legalimmunity for their actions. Therecan be no prosecution, suit or anyother legal proceeding againstanyone acting under that law. Nor isthe government’s judgment on whyan area is found to be disturbedsubject to judicial review.

• Protection of persons acting ingood faith under this Act fromprosecution, suit or other legalproceedings, except with thesanction of the CentralGovernment, in exercise of thepowers conferred by this Act.

• For declaring an area as a‘disturbed area’ there must be agrave situation of law and order onthe basis of which Governor/Administrator can form opinion thatan area is in such a disturbed ordangerous condition that use ofArmed Forces in aid of civil poweris necessary

A different kind ofexperiment at CERN

1. At the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) at CERN, near Geneva,Switzerland, experiments areconducted by many scientists whodon’t quite know what they will see,but know how to conduct theexperiments that will yield answersto their questions. They acceleratebeams of particles called protonsto smash into each other, and studythe fallout.

2. There are some other scientistsat CERN who know approximatelywhat they will see in experiments,but don’t know how to do theexperiment itself. These scientistswork with beams of antiparticles.According to the Standard Model,the dominant theoretical frameworkin particle physics, every particlehas a corresponding particle withthe same mass and oppositecharge, called an anti-particle.

3. In fact, at the little-known AEGISexperiment, physicists will attemptto produce an entire beam

composed of not just anti-particlesbut anti-atoms by mid-2014.

4. AEgIS is one of six antimatterexperiments at CERN that createantiparticles and anti-atoms in thelab and then study their propertiesusing special techniques. Thehope, as Dr. Jeffrey Hangst, thespokesperson for the ALPHAexperiment, stated in an email, is“to find out the truth: Do matter andantimatter obey the same laws ofphysics?”

5. Spectroscopic and gravitationaltechniques will be used to makethese measurements. They willimprove upon, “precisionmeasurements of antiprotons andanti-electrons” that “have beencarried out in the past withoutseeing any difference between theparticles and their antiparticles atvery high sensitivity,” as Dr. MichaelDoser, AEgIS spokesperson, toldthis Correspondent via email.

6. The ALPHA and ATRAPexperiments will achieve this bytrapping anti-atoms and studyingthem, while the ASACUSA andAEgIS will form an atomic beam ofanti-atoms. All of them, anyway, willcontinue testing and upgradingthrough 2013.

Working principle

7. Precisely, AEgIS will attempt tomeasure the interaction betweengravity and antimatter by shootingan anti-hydrogen beam horizontallythrough a vacuum tube and thenmeasuring how it much sags dueto the gravitational pull of the Earthto a precision of 1 percent.

8. The experiment is not so simplebecause preparing anti-hydrogenatoms is difficult. As Dr.Doserexplained, “The experimentsconcentrate on anti-hydrogenbecause that should be the mostsensitive system, as it is not muchaffected by magnetic or electricfields, contrary to charged anti-particles.”

9. First, antiprotons are derivedfrom the Antiproton Decelerator(AD), a particle storage ring which“manufactures” the antiparticles ata low energy. At another location, ananoporous plate is bombardedwith anti-electrons, resulting in ahighly unstable mixture of bothelectrons and anti-electrons calledpositronium (Ps).

10. The Ps is then excited to aspecific energy state by exposureto a 205-nanometre laser and thenan even higher energy state calleda Rydberg level using a 1,670-nanometre laser. Last, the excited

Ps traverses a special chambercalled a recombination trap, when itmixes with antiprotons that arecontrolled by precisely tunedmagnetic fields. With someprobability, an antiproton will “trap”an anti-electron to form an anti-hydrogen atom.

Applications

11. Before a beam of such anti-hydrogen atoms is generated,however, there are problems to besolved. They involve large electricand magnetic fields to control thespeed of and collimate the beams,respectively, and powerfulcryogenic systems and ultra-coldvacuums. Thus, Dr.Doser and hiscolleagues will spend manymonths making careful changes tothe apparatus to ensure theserequirements work in tandem by2014.

12. While antiparticles were firstdiscovered in 1959, “until recently, itwas impossible to measureanything about anti-hydrogen,”Dr.Hangst wrote. Thus, the ALPHAand AEgIS experiments at CERNprovide a seminal setting forexploring the world of antimatter.

13. Anti-particles have been usedeffectively in many diagnosticdevices such as PET scanners.Consequently, improvements in ourunderstanding of them feedimmediately into medicine. Toname an application: Antiprotonshold out the potential of treatingtumors more effectively.

14. In fact, the feasibility of thisapplication is being investigated bythe ACE experiment at CERN.In thewords of Dr.Doser: “Without themotivation of attempting thisexperiment, the experts in thecorresponding fields would mostlikely never have collaborated andmight well never have been pushedto solve the related interdisciplinaryproblems.”

China confers top scienceaward on noted scientistDr C N R Rao

1. Noted Indian scientist Dr C N RRao has been conferred withChina’s top science award for hisimportant contributions in boostingSino-India scientificcooperation.Chinese Academy ofSciences (CAS) yesterday gave its2012 Award for InternationalScientific Cooperation to threescientists from India, Germany, andRussia.

2. Rao, 79, founder of JawaharlalNehru Centre for Advanced



Scientific Research (JNCASR),Bangalore, shared the 2012 awardwith Herbert Jaeckle of Germany’sMax Planck Society and Russianspace physicist G AZherebtsov.

3. The awards are given every yearby the CAS, which is China’s topacademic and research institutionfor natural sciences.It has so farhonoured 17 internationalscientists for their contributions inSino-Foreign research cooperation,since the prize was instituted in2007.

4. “Rao is devoted to the researchof solid-state and structuralchemistry. He was awarded for hisimportant contributions in boostingscientific cooperation betweenChina and India, as well as raisingthe scientific capabilitiesofdeveloping countries”, state-runXinhua news agency quoted CASas saying in a statement.Rao haswon various prestigious awards.He is currently the Head of theScientific Advisory Council to theIndian Prime Minister.Germanscientist Jaeckle specialised in thefields of molecular developmentalbiology. He has actively promotedscientific cooperation betweenChina and Germany, CAS said.

5. He has explored and put intopractice approaches thatintegrate aMax Planck management modelwith the CAS’s scientific researchsystem, as well as set up aninternational team of researchers, itsaid.

6. Zherebtsov has activelypromoted the construction of aSino-Russian weather researchcentre and is currently working toget Russia involved in a CAS spacescience programme, the CAS said.

Supergiant star nearest toEarth on its way tospectacular explosion

New image from ESA’s Herschelspace observatory has revealedmultiple arcs around Betelgeuse,the nearest red supergiant star toEarth, and scientists analysing theimage have suggested that the starand its arc-shaped shields couldcollide with an intriguing dusty‘wall’ in 5000 years.

Betelgeuse rides on the shoulderof the constellation Orion theHunter. It can easily be seen withthe naked eye in the northernhemisphere winter night sky as theorange-red star above and to theleft of Orion’s famous three-starbelt.

Roughly 1,000 times the diameterof our Sun and shining 100,000

times more brightly, Betelgeuse’simpressive statistics come with acost.

For this star is likely on its way to aspectacular supernova explosion,having already swelled into a redsupergiant and shed a significantfraction of its outer layers.

The new far-infrared view fromHerschel shows how the star’swinds are crashing against thesurrounding interstellar medium,creating a bow shock as the starmoves through space at speeds ofaround 30 km/s.

A series of broken, dusty arcsahead of the star’s direction ofmotion testify to a turbulent historyof mass loss.

Closer to the star itself, an innerenvelope of material shows apronounced asymmetric structure.Large convective cells in the star’souter atmosphere have likelyresulted in localized, clumpyejections of dusty debris atdifferent stages in the past.

An intriguing linear structure isalso seen further away from thestar, beyond the dusty arcs. Whilesome earlier theories proposedthat this bar was a result ofmaterial ejected during a previousstage of stellar evolution, analysisof the new image suggests that itis either a linear filament linked tothe galaxy’s magnetic field, or theedge of a nearby interstellar cloudthat is being illuminated byBetelgeuse.

If the bar is a completely separateobject, then taking into account themotion of Betelgeuse and its arcsand the separation between themand the bar, the outermost arc willcollide with the bar in just 5,000years, with the red supergiant staritself hitting the bar roughly 12,500years later.

Super-TIGER smashes‘cosmic-ray’ balloonrecord in Antarctica

Super-TIGER, the balloon carryingthe cosmic-ray detector, has set anew record by floating in the air 45days serenely in the Antarctica.

It shattered the previous record of42 days set by Cream I, anothercosmic ray experiment that flewduring the winter of 2004-2005.

The team celebrated by thankingeveryone involved in a long seriesof tweets — including the balloon’smaker, Raven Aerostar, and NASA’sColumbia Scientific Balloon Facility,which tracks and controls theballoon.

The Super-TIGER was launchedfrom the Ross Ice Shelf on Dec. 9,2012, and has circled the SouthPole two and a half times at analtitude of about 130,000 feet, threeor four times higher thanpassenger planes cruise.

The team hopes it will complete thecircuit in another 8 to 10 days,coming back round to McMurdolatitude, or at least close enoughthat it can be retrieved.

New venture ‘to mine asteroids’for metals within two years

A US company plans to mineasteroids for metals, useful oresand minerals as they hurtle pastthe Earth using the first rock-prospecting spacecraft by 2015.

Deep Space Industries says itwants to start sending miniaturescout probes, dubbed “Fireflies,”on one-way missions to near-Earthasteroids as soon as 2015.

Company CEO David Gump saidlarger probes, “Dragonflies”, thatwill bring back 50-to 100-poundsamples from prospective targetscould be on their way by 2016, CNNreported.

The goal is to extract metals, waterand compounds that can be usedto make spacecraft fuel from thechunks of rock that float withinabout 50 million kilometres ofEarth.

Gump said the ability to producefuel in space would be a boon forNASA, as the US space agencyshifts its focus toward exploringdeeper into the solar system.

As much as 90 percent of theweight of a prospective months-long Mars mission could be fuel -and it costs between USD 5,000and USD 10,000 per pound to putanything into space.

“If NASA can launch just thehardware and tank up in orbit,where the fuel is cheap, thatmeans we could get to the RedPlanet a lot sooner than wecurrently expect,” Gump said.

It could also allow commercialsatellite companies to extend thelife of hardware that’s now writtenoff when fuel for manoeuvringthrusters runs out.

“If you give it one more month ofactive work in orbit, it’s worth aboutUSD 5 (million) to USD 8 million tothe owner of that satellite,” Gumpsaid.

The announcement comes ninemonths after the unveiling of asimilar project by Planetary



Resources, a company backed byinvestors such as filmmakerJames Cameron and Googleexecutives Larry Page and EricSchmidt.

The group says it hopes to get itsfirst unmanned probes into spaceby the end of 2013.

Since the retirement of its spaceshuttles, NASA has outsourcedsupply missions to theInternational Space Station to theprivate rocket company Space X.

Deep Space Industries said it canbuild its first class of probes largelywith off-the-shelf parts and bookthem on other launch vehicles,such as the French-built Arianerockets or the Falcon boostersdeveloped by SpaceX.

Its executives said the company isalso developing a foundrydesigned to produce metal partsfrom nickel, an element abundantin asteroids, and operate in space,and a class of “Harvestor” craft toextract valuable material from theasteroids.

24 January 2013

GoM set up to review ureapricing policy

1. The Centre has constituted aGroup of Ministers (GoM), whichwill look into the modified newpricing scheme (NPS) III for ureaas well as consider earlierproposals for de-regulating thesector.

2. The GoM is likely to be headedby Agriculture MinisterSharadPawar. Apart from Mr.Pawar,the GoM is likely to include FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram,Chemical and Fertilizer Minister M.K. Alagiri and Petroleum andNatural Gas MinisterVeerappaMoily.

3. Urea is the only fertilizer thatremains under full price control. Itscurrent retail price is Rs.5,360 atonne. The proposal to hike ureaprices was made to redressimbalanced use of soil nutrientsand reduce government’s subsidyburden.

Nutrient Based Subsidy Schemefor Fertilizers

In the context of Nation’s foodsecurity, the declining response ofagricultural productivity toincreased fertilizer usage in thecountry and to ensure the balancedapplication of fertilizers, theGovernment has introduced the

Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS)Policy with effect from 1.4.2010 fordecontrolled P & K fertilizers (w.e.f.1.5.2010 for SSP). As per thispolicy, the fertilizers namely DAP,MOP, NPKS complexes, MAP, TSP,Ammonium Sulphate (AS) andSingle Super Phosphate (SSP) areprovided to the farmers at thesubsidized rates based on thenutrients (N, P, K & S) contained inthese fertilizers. Additional subsidyis also provided on the fertilizersfortified with secondary andmicronutrients as per the FertilizerControl Order such as Boron andZinc. NBS has been announced for2010-11 on annual basis based onprevailing international prices andprice trends. Since this schemehas just been launched about 3months ago, therefore at present,Government is not considering anychange in the NBS. Subsidy underthe NBS is being released throughthe manufacturers/importers.

Reserve Bank eases rulesfor FII investment in debt

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),on Thursday, notified the enhancedlimit of investing in governmentsecurities (G-Secs) by foreigninstitutional investors (FIIs) andlong-term investors by $5 billion to$25 billion from $20 billion.It alsohiked the investment limit incorporate bonds by these entitiesby $5 billion $50 billion from $45billion.

2. Long-term investors includeSEBI-registered sovereign wealthfunds (SWFs), multilateralagencies, endowment funds,insurance funds, pension fundsand foreign central banks.The RBIalso relaxed some investmentrules by removing the maturityrestrictions for first time foreigninvestors on dated G-Secs. Earlierit was mandated that the first timeforeign investors of G-Secs mustbuy securities with at least three-year residual maturity. “But suchinvestments will not be allowed inshort-term paper like TreasuryBills,” the RBI added.

3. Further, the central bank hasalso restricted foreign investorsfrom buying certificates of depositsand commercial paper.

4. In the total corporate debt limit of$50 billion, the RBI stipulated asub-limit of $25 billion each forinfrastructure and other thaninfrastructure sector bonds. Inaddition, qualified foreign investors(QFIs) would continue to be eligibleto invest in corporate debtsecurities (without any lock-in orresidual maturity clause) and

mutual fund debt schemes, subjectto a total overall ceiling of $1 billion.

5. “This limit of $1 billion shallcontinue to be over and above therevised limit of $50 billion forinvestment in corporate debt,” theRBI added.

6. As a measure of furtherrelaxation, it has been decided todispense with the condition of oneyear lock-in period for the limit of$22 billion (comprising the limits ofinfrastructure bonds of $12 billionand $10 billion for non-residentinvestment in IDFs) within theoverall limit of $25 billion for foreigninvestment in infrastructurecorporate bond.

7. The residual maturity period (atthe time of first purchase)requirement for the entire limit of$22 billion for foreign investment inthe infrastructure sector has beenuniformly kept at 15 months. Thefive-year residual maturityrequirement for investments byQFIs within the $3 billion limit hasbeen modified to three yearsoriginal maturity.Maturityrestrictions for first time foreigninvestors on dated G-Secsremoved. Removal of rulesrequiring FIIs to hold infrastructuredebt for at least one year

Definition of ‘Gilt-Edged Securities’

High-grade bonds that are issuedby a government or firm. This typeof security originally boasted gildededges, thus the name. In the caseof a firm, a gilt-edged security is astock or bond issued by a companythat has a strong record ofconsistent earnings and can berelied on to cover dividends andinterest.

Antibiotic resistance’s‘apocalyptic’ threat

1. Britain’s most senior medicaladviser has warned MPs that therise in drug-resistant diseasescould trigger a national emergencycomparable to a catastrophicterrorist attack, pandemic flu ormajor coastal flooding.

2. Dame Sally Davies, the chiefmedical officer, said the threat frominfections that are resistant tofrontline antibiotics was so seriousthat the issue should be added tothe government’s National RiskRegister of Civil Emergencies.

3. She described what she calledan “apocalyptic scenario” wherepeople going for simple operationsin 20 years’ time die of routineinfections “because we have runout of antibiotics.”



4. The register was established in2008 to advise the public andbusinesses on nationalemergencies that Britain could facein the next five years. The highestpriority risks on the latest registerinclude a deadly flu outbreak,catastrophic terrorist attacks, andmajor flooding on the scale of1953, the last occasion on which anational emergency was declaredin the U.K.

5. Speaking to MPs on theCommons science and technologycommittee, Davies said she wouldask the Cabinet Office to addantibiotic resistance to the NationalRisk Register in the light of anannual report on infectious diseaseshe will publish in March.

6. Davies declined to elaborate onthe report, but said its publicationwould coincide with a governmentstrategy to promote moreresponsible use of antibioticsamong doctors and the clinicalprofessions. “We need to get ouract together in this country,” shetold the committee.

7. The issue of drug resistance isas old as antibiotics themselves,and arises when drugs knock outsusceptible infections, leavinghardier, resilient strains behind.The survivors then multiply, andover time can become unstoppablewith frontline medicines. Some ofthe best known are so-calledhospital superbugs such as MRSA.

8. “In the past, most people haven’tworried because we’ve always hadnew antibiotics to turn to,” said AlanJohnson, consultant clinicalscientist at the Health ProtectionAgency (HPA). “What has changedis that the development pipeline isrunning dry. We don’t have newantibiotics that we can rely on in theimmediate future or in the longerterm.” Changes in modernmedicine have exacerbated theproblem by making patients moresusceptible to infections. Forexample, cancer treatmentsweaken the immune system, andthe use of catheters increases thechances of bugs entering thebloodstream.

9. “We are becoming increasinglyreliant on antibiotics in a wholerange of areas of medicine. If wedon’t have new antibiotics to dealwith the problems of resistance wesee, we are going to be in serioustrouble,” Johnson added. Thesupply of new antibiotics has driedup for several reasons, but a majorone is that drugs companies seegreater profits in medicines thattreat chronic conditions, such as

heart disease, which patients musttake for years or even decades.“There is a broken market modelfor making new antibiotics,” Daviestold the MPs.

10. She has met senior officials atthe World Health Organisation andher counterparts in other countriesto develop a strategy to tackleantibiotic resistance globally.

Powerful drugs losing efficacy

1. Drug resistance is emerging indiseases across the board. Daviessaid 80 per cent of gonorrhea wasnow resistant to the frontlineantibiotic tetracycline, andinfections were rising in young andmiddle-aged people. Multi-drugresistant TB was also a majorthreat, she said.

2. Another worrying trend is the risein infections that are resistant topowerful antibiotics calledcarbapenems, which doctors relyon to tackle the most seriousinfections. Resistant bugs carry agene variant that allows them todestroy the drug. What concernssome scientists is that the genevariant can spread freely betweendifferent kinds of bacteria, saidJohnson.Bacteria resistant tocarbapenems were first detected inthe U.K. in 2003, when three caseswere reported. The numbersremained low until 2007, but havesince leapt to 333 in 2010, with 217cases in the first six months of2011, according to the latest figuresfrom the HPA. — © GuardianNewspapers Limited, 2013

Malaria-causing parasitefound in Andamans

Researchers have located a newmalaria-causing parasite —Plasmodium Knowlesi — for thefirst time in humans in India.

A team of researchers, consistingof Manoj Kumar Das of the NationalInstitute of Malaria Research(NIMR), Shiv S. Singh of G.B. PantHospital, Port Blair, Rupesh K.Tyagi and Yagya D. Sharma of theAll India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS), have made thisdiscovery. They located theplasmodium in tribal people in theAndaman and Nicobar islands.

Mr. Das, during his visit to the city,said monkeys, especially crab-eating ones found in the islands,served as hosts for this parasite.Mr. Das, who has spent 16 years ofresearch as officer-in-charge of thefield unit of the malaria researchcentre in the Car Nicobar island,received the ICMR award for seniorbio-medical scientists for the year

2012-13 for his research.

From the infected monkeys thatserve as its hosts, this parasitegets transmitted to humansthrough the Leucosphyrus group ofAnopheles mosquitoes that serveas vectors, Mr. Das said.Till datethere has been no confirmatoryreport about any PlasmodiumKnowlesi infection in the mainland.

It is likely that the parasite migratedto the islands from neighbouringsouth-east Asian countries, whichhave similar flora andfauna.Poachers from Thailand andIndonesia are said to secretly visitthe islands. “Probably this newmalaria-causing parasite has beenintroduced to Indian islandsthrough poachers,” Mr. Das said.

Verma report forparliamentary panel

The Union government is planningto send the Justice VermaCommittee report to theParliamentary Standing Committeeon Home Affairs for considerationeven as Law Minister AshwaniKumar on Thursday hinted that itwould not be possible toimplement all recommendations,particularly on review of the ArmedForces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)and disqualification of taintedlawmakers.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)was studying the report andwhatever fresh recommendationswere found, would be flagged andforwarded to the parliamentarycommittee, a senior governmentofficial said.

Notably, the committee, headed bythe former Chief Justice of India,J.S. Verma, has recommendedharsher punishment for rapeconvicts besides bringing stalking,marital rape and other womenrelated issues within the purview ofcriminal law.

According to government sources,many of the recommendationsgiven by the three-membercommittee on ‘Amendments toCriminal Law’ had beenincorporated in the Criminal LawAmendment Bill, 2012, which wasintroduced in Parliament during thewinter session. The MHA has setno time frame to introduce theproposed amendments inParliament as suggested by thepanel, they said.

Justice verma reportreccomendations:

1. The equality of women, beingintegral to the Constitution, its



denial is a sacrilege and aconstitutional violation. Sustainedconstitutional violations mean thatgovernance is not in accordancewith the Constitution. A fortiori, alllimbs of the State - the executive,the legislature as well as thejudiciary -must respect women’srights and must treat them in anon-discriminatorymanner.

2. As a primaryrecommendation, all marriages inIndia(irrespective of the personallaws under which such marriagesare solemnised) shouldmandatorily be registered in thepresence of a magistrate, whichmagistrate will ensure that themarriage has been solemnisedwithout any demand for dowryhaving been made and that themarriage has taken place with thefull and free consent of bothpartners.

3. The manner in which the rightsof women can be recognised canonly be manifested when they havefull access to justice and when therule of law can be upheld in theirfavour. The proposed Criminal LawAmendment Act, 2012, should bemodified as suggested, and tosecure public confidence, bepromulgated forthwith. Since thepossibility of sexual assault onmen, as well as homosexual,transgender and transsexual rape,is a reality the provisions have tobe cognizant of the same.

4. In respect of certain categoriesof cases, such as those where thevictim is in custody of persons inauthority including police andarmed personnel, certain statutorypresumptions must apply underSection 114A of the Indian EvidenceAct, 1872. Every complaint of rapemust be registered by the policeand civil society should performits duty to report any case of rapecoming to its knowledge.

5. Any officer, who fails to registera case of rape reported to him, orattempts to abort itsinvestigation, commits an offencewhich shall be punishable asprescribed. We have also takeninto account offences of eveteasing, voyeurism, stalking as wellas sexual assault and unsolicitedsexual contact.

6. A special procedure forprotecting persons withdisabilities from rape, andrequisite procedures for accessto justice for such personsis alsoan urgent need. Amendments tothe Code of Criminal Procedure,which are necessary, have beensuggested.

7. The protocols for medicalexamination of victims of sexualassaulthave also been suggested,which we have prepared on thebasis of the best practices asadvised by global experts in thefields of gynaecology andpsychology. Such protocol based,professional medical examinationis imperative for uniform practiceand implementation.

8. The insensitivity of the police todeal with rape victims is wellknown. The police respect apatriarchal form of society, andhave been unable to deal withextraordinary cases of humiliationand hardship caused by thekhappanchayats, as is evident fromvarious judgments of the SupremeCourt. The police are involved intrafficking of children (includingfemale children) and in drug trade.

To inspire public confidence, it isnecessary that there must notonly be prompt implementation ofthe judgment of the SupremeCourt in Prakash Singh case, butalso police officers withreputations of outstanding abilityand character must be placed atthe higher levels of the policeforce.

In the present context, and in viewof the facts revealed to us, it isnecessary that every policecommissioner and director generalof police of this country must beselected in accordance with thedirections of the Supreme Court inPrakash Singh’s case, who canlead by example. The leadermakes all the difference. Assuch, all existing appointmentsneed to be reviewed to ensurethat the police force has therequisite moral vision.

9. It is settled law that everypoliceman is bound to obey the lawand any order of a superior officer,which is contrary to law, is nodefence for his illegal action, whichmay be a punishable offence.

Accordingly, any politicalinterference or extraneousinfluence in the performance of thestatutory duty by a policemancannot be condoned.This principlehas to be clearly understood byevery member of the police force -their accountability is only to thelaw and to none else in thedischarge of their duty. Derelictionof this duty has to be punishedaccording to the service rules andapplicable law.

10. Authentic figures of missingchildren in India are not availablefor obvious reasons of thecomplicity of law enforcement

agencies. Children have beendriven into forced labour, sexabuse, sexual exploitation as wellas made victims of illegal organtrade. Our report includes thetestimonies of children (whoseidentities have been concealed fortheir safety) to verify facts from theirpersonal experience. As a smallgesture, this Committee has (at itsown cost) taken necessary stepsfor proper rehabilitation andeducation of one of these children,payment of the minimum wagesdue to the said child, her safepassage and reintegration with herfamily, psychotherapeuticintervention, and to fulfil hereducational aspirations.TheCommittee expects similartreatment by the State of all suchdeprived children.

11. Every District Magistrate isresponsible for carrying out acensus of missing childrenwithin his district. Having regard tothe apathy shown by the districtmagistrates and the police in thematter of missing children, evidentfrom advisories issued by theMinistry of Home Affairs as late ason 30th January 2012, this issueneeds immediate attention. This isnecessary also for the credibility ofthe political establishment.

12. The judiciary has the primaryresponsibility of enforcingfundamental rights, throughconstitutional remedies. Thejudiciary can take suomotucognizance of such issues beingdeeply concerned with them both inthe Supreme Court and the HighCourt. An all India strategy to dealwith this issue would be advisable.The Chief Justice of India could beapproached to commenceappropriate proceedings on thejudicial side. The Hon’ble ChiefJustice may consider makingappropriate orders relating to theissue of missing children to curbthe illegal trade of their traffickingetc. Social activists involved incurbing this menace could assistthe court in the performance of thistask. The question of award ofcompensation and rehabilitationcould also be considered in suchcases by the court.

13. Juvenile homes in the country,i.e. child homes, and observationhomes, are not being run in amanner consistent with the spirit ofthe Juvenile Justice Act. To ensurethat the constitution of the ChildWelfare Committee, JuvenileJustice Board, the infrastructuralfacilities in a home, the quality offood, the quality of counselling andpsychotherapy required for a child



to wipe out the scars of abuse anddeprivation in early childhood andto mainstream him/her in societyand to educate him/her fullyrequires a deeper and profoundengagement of the State and civilsociety. This is the primary duty ofthe State, which is found wanting.We are shocked to note that somany of these children have beenforced into bonded labour andbeggary, which is in violation ofArticle 23 of the Constitution. Indiashould not permit cheap childlabour to be an incentive for foreigninvestment to boost our economy.

14. It is time for the judiciary tostep in to discharge theconstitutional mandate ofenforcing fundamental rights andimplementation of the rule of law. Inperformance of this obligation, theChief Justice of the High Court inevery State could devise theappropriate machinery foradministration and supervision ofthese homes in consultation withexperts in the field. For the safetyand physical security of children,women, persons with disabilities,inmates of mental homes andwidows, monitoring by the judiciaryis necessary. The immediate andultimate guardianship of suchpersons has to be with the court,founded on the principle ofparenspatriae.

15. To augment the police force,there is a need to developcommunity policing by involvingthe local gentry, which would alsomotivate them to perform their dutyas citizens. Respectable personsin each locality could also beappointed Special ExecutiveMagistrates under Section 21,Cr.P.C. and invested with powers todeal with the traffic offences andother minor offences. In addition, toassisting the maintenance of lawand order in the locality, theirpresence would inspire greaterconfidence of safety in the locality.

16. Street lightingeverywhere would provide moresafety since dark areas are moreprone to facilitate crimes. There isgreat wisdom in the words of theAmerican Judge Louis Brandeis,that “Sunlight is said to be the bestof disinfectant; electric light themost efficient policeman”.

17. Street vending should beencouraged to make the bus stopsand footpaths safe for communitiesand pedestrians, in addition toproviding street food for thecommon man.

18. We recommend the creation ofa new constitutional authority akin

to the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral for education, non-discrimination, in respect ofwomen and children.

“Coal allocation is noneof your business”

The right vests with States,Supreme Court tells Centre

1. The Supreme Court on Thursdaymade it clear to the Centre that ithad no power to allocate coalblocks to private companies andsought legal explanation fromAttorney-General G.E. Vahanvati formaking the allotments.

2. A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodhaand J. Chelameswar told the AGthat there was absolutely no powergiven to the Centre under the Minesand Minerals (Development andRegulation) Act, 1957. It was vestedonly with the States.

3. The Bench was hearing apetition filed by a group ofprominent citizens and CommonCause, a non-governmentalorganisation, seeking cancellationof the allocation of captive coalblocks made from 1993 and aprobe by a special investigationteam. The petitioners includedT.S.R. Subramanian, formerCabinet Secretary; NGopalaswami, former ChiefElection Commissioner;Ramaswamy R. Iyer, formerSecretary, Government of India;Admiral (retd.) R.H. Tahiliani;SushilTripathi, former Secretary,Government of India; and Admiral(retd.) L. Ramdas.

4. They said that according to theCAG’s conservative estimates, theallocation between 2004 and 2010caused a windfall gain of Rs. 1.86lakh crore to private companies,making it a bigger scandal than the‘2G scam’. There was a relatedloss to the public exchequer.“Various political and commercialvested interests joined forces toblock competitive bidding[auction].”A petition by advocateM.L. Sharma was tagged with thisplea.

5. The Bench wanted to know fromthe AG whether the Centre derivedany power to allocate coal blocks toprivate companies under the CoalMines (Nationalisation) Act. JusticeLodha told Mr.Vahanvati: “You arerequired to give a lot of legalexplanation. The question is: doesthe Centre have power under theMMDR Act and does it have thepower to undermine the entirestatutory mechanism? Can youoverride the statutory provisions of

the Act? It is very doubtful, legallyperhaps.”

6. Mr.Vahanvati said he did not wantto give off-the-cuff answers. “I needtime to go into these issues.”Justice Lodha told the AG: “Fromyour affidavit itself, it appears thatminerals and mining lease has tobe executed by the State and not bythe Centre. It strikes at the root ofall allocations.” Referring tocounsel PrashantBhushan’ssubmission that the Coal Secretaryhad filed an affidavit on how theblocks were decided by aScreening Committee, JusticeLodha observed: “This seems to

be extra legal.”

25 January 2013

Norms revised for offerfor sale mechanism

1. The Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI), on Friday,revised the offer for sale (OFS)mechanism as the deadline isapproaching for the promoters oflisted companies to offload theirstake to meet the minimum publicshareholding norm of 25 per centby June 2013.

2. “Based on past experience ofsale of shares through OFS, themechanism of OFS has beenfound to be useful by marketparticipants and popular foroffloading shares of promoters inlisted companies in order toachieve minimum publicshareholding,” said SEBI in acircular to all sock exchanges.

3. The revised norms would be“more economical, efficient andtransparent,” it added.

4. The cumulative bid quantity willbe made available online to themarket throughout the tradingsession at specific intervals inrespect of orders with 100 per centupfront margin and separately inrespect of orders placed withoutany upfront margin.

5. The indicative price shall bedisclosed to the market throughoutthe trading session. This is alsocalculated based on all valid bid /orders.

6. Institutional investors have anoption to pay either upfront 100 percent margin in cash or withoutmargin. However, non-institutionalinvestors have to pay 100 per centupfront margin in cash.

7. Orders with 100 per cent marginpaid upfront by institutionalinvestors and non-institutionalinvestors can be modified or



cancelled at any time during tradinghours. Orders without payingupfront margin by institutionalinvestors can not be modified orcancelled except make upwardrevision in the price or quantity.Institutional investors who placedorders / bids with 100 per centmargin upfront, custodianconfirmation would be withintrading hours and settlement shalltake place on T+1 (trading plus oneday) and without upfront margin itwill be on T+1 and settlement willbe on T+2 as it is now followed insecondary market transactions.

8. The extended half-an-hour timeafter trading hours given to thecustodians earlier has been doneaway with.

Recycle grey water

1. UN-Habitat has commenced anew global consultation to reiteratethe crucial role of wastewatermanagement in the water cycle andexplore policy options for asustainable future. Theseconsultations have also becomenecessary to set a future goal forwater use, particularly for the yearsfollowing 2015, which is the targetyear for the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. For India — aseverely water-stressed region —this offers an opportunity to reflecton its policies and draw lessonsfrom best practices across theworld. The core challenge facingthe country is the yawning gapbetween demand for water and theseverely constrained supply. From813 billion cubic metres — thefigure for 2010 — demand is set toreach 1,093 BCM by 2025.Conventional resources alonecannot meet this steep increase.There is a pressing need to explorealternative sources. In this context,policymakers have done well topromote water harvesting toimprove supply. But they haveutterly failed when it comes toreusing water. Industrial scalerecycling would help, but it could beexpensive. On the other hand, theoften overlooked building levelreuse of grey water — wastewaterfrom kitchen sinks, showers andlaundry fixtures — is a moreeffective strategy to pursue.

2. According to a Centre for Scienceand Environment estimate in 2011,kitchen use, shower and laundryconsume more than 70 per cent ofthe 920 litres of water supplied perhousehold per day. Buildingsystems seldom trap thiswastewater for non-potable usesuch as toilet flushing, fire fightingand gardening. Instead, they drain

it out along with sewage, burdeningthe system. More important, theprecious water is lost. In contrast,countries such as Japanextensively recycle water andsuccessfully tide over their waterdeficit. Through a combination ofstrategies involving small treatmentplants and closed loop watersupply at building level, Japanreuses more than 53 million litresof water every day. In addition,innovative bathroom fixturesconduct used sink water directly tothe flush tank of the toilet and saveabout 22,000 gallons every year.Recycling needs changes toplumbing arrangements in abuilding, but it is not hard toimplement or monitor. What ismissing is the will and regulatoryframework. Cities such as Nandedhave amended their building rulesto make wastewater treatment inlarge buildings compulsory, butsuch provisions are present moreon paper than in practice. Ifpolicymakers are serious aboutincreasing water use efficiencythrough recycling — a goal set bythe National Water Mission —buildings should be compelled tomeet most of their non-potablewater requirement through greywater reuse.

Immediate priority to pollreforms, says new LawCommission chief Jain

1. Justice D.K. Jain, retired judge ofthe Supreme Court, took charge asChairman of the 20th LawCommission of India at a briefceremony here on Friday.

2. He laid down office as judge onthe evening of Thursday when hewas given a warm farewell bymembers of the Bar and the Benchat a function held on the SupremeCourt lawns.

3. Justice Jain had been a judge ofthe Supreme Court from April 2006and during the over six-year tenurehe had delivered several landmarkjudgments and he endearedhimself to the members of the Bar.

4. Speaking to The Hindu soonafter assuming office as LawCommission Chairman, he saidhis immediate priority would be tolook into electoral reforms, which,the government had asked him todo. In particular, the Commissionwould look into state funding ofelections and preventingcriminalisation of politics etc. Therewere many outdated laws and theCommission, in consultation withother members, would seewhether these could be taken out of

the statute or amended orrepealed.

Cutting down delays

5. Another area that needed urgentattention would be amendments tothe civil procedure code to cut downprocedural delays, viz whetherappeals could be cut down. Hesuggested that instead oflegislation, the Supreme Court,after discussion with variousstakeholders, could come out withguidelines on cutting down delayson account of arguments.

6. Asked about the LawCommission’s earlier report onrape laws and the Justice VermaCommittee’s report, he said hewould look into both reports. A largenumber of issues were pendingwith the Commission and would beexamined.

7. On the government not acting onthe Law Commission’s report, hesaid the Supreme Court had beenusing these reports in judgmentsand “I am sure these reports willget the attention they deserve.”

Godhra cases

8. Justice Jain, heading a three-member Bench, monitored theSpecial Investigation Team probeinto the Godhra and post-Godhracases in Gujarat and the GulbergSociety case in which the courtdirected the Ahmedabadmagistrate to decide on the closurereport. Last week, the magistratewas restrained from pronouncingfinal orders on the report.

9. Justice Jain was heading theBenches on sensitive Mullaperiyarand Cauvery disputes cases.

Election commission of India:

A Constitutional Body

India is a Socialist, Secular,Democratic Republic and thelargest democracy in the World.The modern Indian nation statecame into existence on 15th ofAugust 1947. Since then free andfair elections have been held atregular intervals as per theprinciples enshrined in theConstitution, Electoral Laws andSystem.

The Constitution of India hasvested in the Election Commissionof India the superintendence,direction and control of the entireprocess for conduct of elections toParliament and Legislature of everyState and to the offices of Presidentand Vice-President of India.

Election Commission of India is apermanent Constitutional Body.



The Election Commission wasestablished in accordance with theConstitution on 25th January 1950.The Commission celebrated itsGolden Jubilee in 2001. For details,please click here

Originally the commission had onlya Chief Election Commissioner. Itcurrently consists of Chief ElectionCommissioner and two ElectionCommissioners.

For the first time two additionalCommissioners were appointedon 16th October 1989 but they hada very short tenure till 1st January1990. Later, on 1st October 1993two additional ElectionCommissioners were appointed.The concept of multi-memberCommission has been inoperation since then, with decisionmaking power by majority vote.

Appointment & Tenure ofCommissioners

The President appoints ChiefElection Commissioner andElection Commissioners. Theyhave tenure of six years, or up tothe age of 65 years, whichever isearlier. They enjoy the same statusand receive salary and perks asavailable to Judges of the SupremeCourt of India. The Chief ElectionCommissioner can be removedfrom office only throughimpeachment by Parliament.

Transaction of Business

The Commission transacts itsbusiness by holding regularmeetings and also by circulation ofpapers. All ElectionCommissioners have equal say inthe decision making of theCommission. The Commission,from time to time, delegates someof its executive functions to itsofficers in its Secretariat.

The Setup

The Commission has a separateSecretariat at New Delhi,consisting of about 300 officials, ina hierarchical set up.

Two or three Deputy ElectionCommissioners and DirectorGenerals who are the senior mostofficers in the Secretariat assist theCommission. They are generallyappointed from the national civilservice of the country and areselected and appointed by theCommission with tenure. Directors,Principal Secretaries, andSecretaries, Under Secretaries andDeputy Directors support theDeputy Election Commissionersand Director Generals in turn.There is functional and territorialdistribution of work in the

Commission. The work isorganised in Divisions, Branchesand sections; each of the lastmentioned units is in charge of aSection Officer. The main functionaldivisions are Planning, Judicial,Administration, Systematic Voters’Education and ElectoralParticipation, SVEEP, InformationSystems, Media and SecretariatCo-ordination. The territorial workis distributed among separateunits responsible for differentZones into which the 35 constituentStates and Union Territories of thecountry are grouped forconvenience of management.

At the state level, the election workis supervised, subject to overallsuperintendence, direction andcontrol of the Commission, by theChief Electoral Officer of the State,who is appointed by theCommission from amongst seniorcivil servants proposed by theconcerned state government. He is,in most of the States, a full timeofficer and has a small team ofsupporting staff.

At the district and constituencylevels, the District Election Officers,Electoral Registration Officers andReturning Officers, who areassisted by a large number ofjunior functionaries, performelection work. They all perform theirfunctions relating to elections inaddition to their otherresponsibilities. During electiontime, however, they are available tothe Commission, more or less, ona full time basis.

The gigantic task force forconducting a countrywide generalelection consists of nearly fivemillion polling personnel and civilpolice forces. This huge electionmachinery is deemed to be ondeputation to the ElectionCommission and is subject to itscontrol, superintendence anddiscipline during the electionperiod, extending over a period ofone and half to two months.

Budget & Expenditure

The Secretariat of the Commissionhas an independent budget, whichis finalised directly in consultationbetween the Commission and theFinance Ministry of the UnionGovernment. The latter generallyaccepts the recommendations ofthe Commission for its budgets.The major expenditure on actualconduct of elections is, however,reflected in the budgets of theconcerned constituent units of theUnion - States and UnionTerritories. If elections are beingheld only for the Parliament, the

expenditure is borne entirely by theUnion Government while for theelections being held only for theState Legislature, the expenditureis borne entirely by the concernedState. In case of simultaneouselections to the Parliament andState Legislature, the expenditureis shared equally between theUnion and the State Governments.For Capital equipment, expenditurerelated to preparation for electoralrolls and the scheme for Electors’Identity Cards too, the expenditureis shared equally.

Executive Interference Barred

In the performance of its functions,Election Commission is insulatedfrom executive interference. It is theCommission which decides theelection schedules for the conductof elections, whether generalelections or bye-elections. Again, itis the Commission which decideson the location polling stations,assignment of voters to the pollingstations, location of countingcentres, arrangements to be madein and around polling stations andcounting centres and all alliedmatters.

Political Parties & theCommission

Political parties are registered withthe Election Commission under thelaw. The Commission ensuresinner party democracy in theirfunctioning by insisting upon themto hold their organizationalelections at periodic intervals.Political Parties so registered withit are granted recognition at theState and National levels by theElection Commission on the basisof their poll performance at generalelections according to criteriaprescribed by it. The Commission,as a part of its quasi-judicialjurisdiction, also settles disputesbetween the splinter groups ofsuch recognised parties.

Election Commission ensures alevel playing field for the politicalparties in election fray, throughstrict observance by them of aModel Code of Conduct evolvedwith the consensus of politicalparties.

The Commission holds periodicalconsultations with the politicalparties on matters connected withthe conduct of elections;compliance of Model Code ofConduct and new measuresproposed to be introduced by theCommission on election relatedmatters.

Advisory Jurisdiction & Quasi-Judicial Functions



Under the Constitution, theCommission also has advisoryjurisdiction in the matter of postelection disqualification of sittingmembers of Parliament and StateLegislatures. Further, the cases ofpersons found guilty of corruptpractices at elections which comebefore the Supreme Court andHigh Courts are also referred to theCommission for its opinion on thequestion as to whether suchperson shall be disqualified and, ifso, for what period. The opinion ofthe Commission in all suchmatters is binding on the Presidentor, as the case may be, theGovernor to whom such opinion istendered.

The Commission has the power todisqualify a candidate who hasfailed to lodge an account of hiselection expenses within the timeand in the manner prescribed bylaw. The Commission has also thepower for removing or reducing theperiod of such disqualification asalso other disqualification underthe law.

Judicial Review

The decisions of the Commissioncan be challenged in the HighCourt and the Supreme Court of theIndia by appropriate petitions. Bylong standing convention andseveral judicial pronouncements,once the actual process ofelections has started, the judiciarydoes not intervene in the actualconduct of the polls. Once the pollsare completed and result declared,the Commission cannot review anyresult on its own. This can only bereviewed through the process of anelection petition, which can be filedbefore the High Court, in respect ofelections to the Parliament andState Legislatures. In respect ofelections for the offices of thePresident and Vice President, suchpetitions can only be filed beforethe Supreme Court.

Media Policy

The Commission has acomprehensive policy for themedia. It holds regular briefings forthe mass media-print andelectronic, on a regular basis, atclose intervals during the electionperiod and on specific occasionsas necessary on other occasions.The representatives of the mediaare also provided facilities to reporton actual conduct of poll andcounting. They are allowed entryinto polling stations and countingcentres on the basis of authorityletters issued by the Commission.They include members of bothinternational and national media.

The Commission also publishesstatistical reports and otherdocuments which are available inthe public domain. The library of theCommission is available forresearch and study to members ofthe academic fraternity; mediarepresentatives and anybody elseinterested.

The Commission has, in co-operation with the state ownedmedia - Doordarshan and All IndiaRadio, taken up a major campaignfor awareness of voters. ThePrasar Bharti Corporation whichmanages the national Radio andTelevision networks, has broughtout several innovative and effectiveshort clips for this purpose.

Voter Education

Voters’ Participation in thedemocratic and electoralprocesses is integral to thesuccessful running of anydemocracy and the very basis ofwholesome democratic elections.Recognising this, ElectionCommission of India, in 2009,formally adopted Voter Educationand Electoral participation as anintegral part of its electionmanagement.

‘First past the post’ notreal victory in polls:Ansari

1. Vice-President Hamid Ansari onFriday initiated a fresh debate onelectoral reforms by suggestingintroduction of the “right to reject” inthe voting system, and discussingthe increasing number ofcandidates winning polls (to theLokSabha/Assemblies) with“minority votes” — getting electedby securing less than 50 per cent ofthe total votes polled in theirconstituencies.

2. Addressing a function of theElection Commission, to celebratethe “third voters day” (to enrol newvoters in the country), Mr. Ansari,who is also Chairman of theRajyaSabha, said there was needfor taking corrective steps relatingto the “first-past-the-post system”in which the successful candidatewins on the plurality, rather than themajority, of votes cast.

3. Its limitation was evident fromfactual data. In the first generalelection in 1952, the percentage ofsuccessful candidates whosecured less than 50 per cent ofthe total votes cast in theirconstituencies was 67.28. Thisfigure went down to 58.09 per centin the 1957 election. In the generalelections held in 1999, 2004, and

2009, it was 60.03, 75.87 and82.68 respectively — morecandidates got elected to theLokSabha by securing less than 50per cent of the total votes polled intheir constituencies.

4. “The conclusion is inescapablethat a majority of elected membersof the LokSabha in recent years,and even earlier, won on a minorityof votes cast in theirconstituencies. The situation is nobetter, perhaps worse, in theAssembly Elections with thepercentage of the returnedcandidates on minority of votescast going above 70 in severalcases.”

5. “When this percentage isconsidered alongside the averagevoter turnout, it would suggest thatthe elected representative may notbe, often is not, representative ofhis/her electoral constituency.Furthermore, this systemencourages candidates to focus onsecuring votes of a segment of theelectorate and thereby accentuateor reinforce social divisions basedon narrower considerations thatderogate from inclusiveness andpromote divisive tendencies andsocial conflict,” Mr. Ansari said.

6. The Vice-President also calledfor a fresh debate on the “right toreject” (the candidate during thepolls by voters). It was argued “interms of the democratic theory, thatthe right to vote carries with it anobligation to exercise the franchisein favour of a candidate of choice. Acorollary of this would be the rightto reject if none of the candidateson the list found favour with thevoter. Such a conscious rejectionwould be preferable to abstentionfrom voting. The proceduralmodality for bringing this about canbe worked out on the model ofsome of the democracies where itis in vogue.”

7. Law and Justice MinisterAshwani Kumar said thegovernment remained irrevocablycommitted to electoral reforms in amajor way.

First past the voting system:

A first-past-the-post (abbreviatedFPTP or FPP) election is one that iswon by the candidate with morevotes than any other(s). It is acommon, but not universal, featureof democratic political systems withsingle-member legislative districts,and generally results over time witha two-party competition.

Governor may ask Shettarto prove majority in House

Chief Minister JagadishShettar may



be directed by Governor H.R.Bhardwaj to prove his majority onthe floor of the LegislativeAssembly ahead of the jointsession of the Legislature providedthere is prima facie evidence thatthe government has been reducedto a minority.

Mr. Shettar called on the Governorat the Raj Bhavan on Friday and issaid to have conveyed that hisgovernment enjoys a majority.Should there be a need, he wouldprove his majority on the floor of theHouse. As is customary, the ChiefMinister invited the Governor toaddress the joint session.

No directive

Meanwhile, the Governor has saidthat there appears to be a split inthe BharatiyaJanata Party, and therelative strength, if required, mayhave to be established in theAssembly. There is, however, nodirective issued by the Raj Bhavancalling upon the Chief Minister toface a vote of confidence.

The two Houses of the legislatureare scheduled to meet on February4, and the Chief Minister, who holdsthe Finance portfolio, is scheduledto present the State Budget onFebruary 8. It is evident that theGovernor will wait for Speaker K.G.Bopaiah to accept the resignationsof the 13 legislators in theYeddyurappa camp.

With the expectation of a trust votecoming into play, the politicalatmosphere in the State,particularly in the BJP, issurcharged, and efforts are on toshore up numbers. There is alsothe talk of a Ministry expansion towin over legislators who may betempted to cross over to theKarnataka JanataPaksha led byB.S. Yeddyurappa. The Governor onFriday accepted the resignations oftwo Ministers, ShobhaKarandlajeand C.M. Udasi, which wereforwarded to him by the ChiefMinister.

The KJP, which already enjoys thesupport of 13 legislators, isexpected to receive the support of afew more legislators and two moreMinisters prior to thecommencement of the legislaturesession.

The Congress and the Janata Dal(Secular) have made it clear thatthey will vote against thegovernment if it comes to aconfidence vote. With electionsround the corner, they would notlike to be seen as aligning with theBJP.

Padma Vibhushan:

The Padma Vibhushan is thesecond highest civilian award inthe Republic of India. It consists ofa medal and a citation and isawarded by the President of India. Itwas established on 2 January1954. It ranks behind the BharatRatna and comes before thePadma Bhushan and Padma Shri.It is awarded to recognizeexceptional and distinguishedservice to the nation in any field,including government service.Thefirst recipitants of this award wereSatyendraNath Bose, NandLalBose, Zakir Hussain,BalasahebGangadharKher, JigmeDorji Wangchuk, V. K. KrishnaMenon in the year 1954

Padma Shri:

Padma Shri (also Padmashree) isthe fourth highest civilian award inthe Republic of India, after theBharat Ratna, the PadmaVibhushan and the PadmaBhushan. It is awarded by theGovernment of India.

It is awarded to citizens of India torecognize their distinguishedcontribution in various spheres ofactivity including the Arts,Education, Industry, Literature,Science, Sports, Medicine, SocialService and Public Affairs. Howeverit has also been awarded to somedistinguished individuals who werenot citizens of India and who didcontribute in various ways to India

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is the thirdhighest civilian award in theRepublic of India, after the BharatRatna and the Padma Vibhushan,but comes before the Padma Shri.It is awarded by the Government ofIndia.

26 January 2013

News Analysis - RBI in afix as growth concernsrise

1. While inflation and inflationarypressures are major concerns ofthe Reserve Bank of India (RBI),bankers and the market expect arate cut of 25 basis points tobalance growth and inflation asenvisaged by the government.

2. The RBI had asked thegovernment to cut subsidies andhelp fiscal consolidation butcoalition politics made thedecision-making difficult for thegovernment for some time. Now a

determined government, since thechange of guard at the FinanceMinistry, has taken some bolddecisions. The government expectsthat the measures announced by itand the central bank will stimulatethe economy and reduce fiscal andcurrent account deficits (CAD).

3. Since Mr. Chidambaram tookover the Finance Ministry lastAugust, he was able to cheer upthe stock market substantially. Thebenchmark 30-share sensitiveindex (Sensex) shot up from17257.38 on August 1, 2012, to20103.53 on January 25, 2013. Inthis period, more than $16 billionforeign institutional investor (FII)inflow was recorded. A rate cut bythe RBI would provide an essentialeuphoria in the market. Thedeparture of SubirGokarn, theformer Deputy Governor of RBI,who guided the policy rates, hasraised expectations of a cut muchbefore the end of the fourth quarter.Dr.Gokarn had always maintainedthat inflation was a major worry forthe central bank as he had said“Runaway inflation could be muchworse in the long-run.”

Rate cut hopes

4. Inflation rate, especially thewholesale price index (WPI), is notin the comfortable level of 5-5.5percent which the central bank wasanticipating for a long time. This isat present hovering around a“stubbornly high” level of 7-7.5percent. Retail inflation (based onconsumer price index) is above 10per cent.

5. The recent statement of the RBIGovernor D. Subbarao that“inflation remained too high” hit thehopes of a sharp cut of 50 basispoints in policy rate, after ninemonths.

6. The RBI’s last rate cut was inApril 2012 when it reduced the reporate by 50 basis points from 8.5 percent to 8 percent. Meanwhile, theRBI had brought down the CashReserve Ratio (CRR) from a high of6 per cent to 4.25 percent pumpingliquidity to the banking system.

7. The repo rate is the rate at whichbanks borrow funds from thecentral bank. Cash Reserve Ratiois the portion of deposits banks arerequired to maintain with theReserve Bank of India. The RBI hadforecast — which was unusual andsurprised market participants — inthe second half of monetary policyreview in October that there was a“reasonable likelihood of furtherpolicy easing in the fourth quarterof this fiscal year”.



8. The central bank reiterated thatin its mid-quarter review inDecember “Inflation patterns andprojections provide a basis forreinforcing our October guidanceabout policy easing in the fourthquarter.” The yield of benchmark10-year Government Securities (G-Sec) has fallen below 7.9 per centfrom above 8 per cent prevailed inmid-December in anticipation of arate cut.

9. However, the RBI said risks toinflation remained. Even though itsaid that “the policy emphasisshifts towards growth”, the policystance would remain sensitive totwo risks: falling growth and risinginflation.

NASA joins probe tosolve ‘dark energy’ puzzle

1. NASA has teamed up with theEuropean Space Agency to probeone of the most fundamentalquestions in modern cosmology —the existence of dark matter.

2. ESA’s Euclid mission, a spacetelescope designed to investigatethe cosmological mysteries of darkmatter and dark energy will launchin 2020, NASA said.

3. Euclid will spend six yearsmapping the locations andmeasuring the shapes of as manyas 2 billion galaxies spread overmore than one-third of the sky.

4. It will study the evolution of ouruniverse, and the dark matter anddark energy that influence itsevolution in ways that still arepoorly understood.

5. The telescope will launch to anorbit around the Sun-EarthLagrange point L2 — the locationwhere the gravitational pull of twolarge masses, the Sun and Earth inthis case, precisely equals theforce required for a small object,such as the Euclid spacecraft, tomaintain a relatively stationaryposition behind Earth as seen fromthe Sun.

6. “NASA is very proud to contributeto ESA’s mission to understandone of the greatest sciencemysteries of our time,” said JohnGrunsfeld, associate administratorfor NASA’s Science MissionDirectorate, in a statement.

7. NASA and ESA recently signedan agreement outlining NASA’s rolein the project. The US spaceagency will contribute 16 state-of-the-art infrared detectors and fourspare detectors for one of twoscience instruments planned forEuclid.

8. “ESA’s Euclid mission isdesigned to probe one of the mostfundamental questions in moderncosmology, and we welcomeNASA’s contribution to thisimportant endeavour, the mostrecent in a long history ofcooperation in space sciencebetween our two agencies,” saidAlvaro Gimenez, ESA’s Director ofScience and Robotic Exploration.

9. In addition, NASA has nominatedthree US science teams totalling40 new members for the EuclidConsortium. This is in addition to14 US scientists alreadysupporting the mission.

10. Euclid will map the dark matterin the universe. Matter as we knowit — the atoms that make up thehuman body, for example — is afraction of the total matter in theuniverse.

11. The rest, about 85 per cent, isdark matter consisting of particlesof an unknown type. Dark matterfirst was postulated in 1932, butstill has not been detected directly.

12. It is called dark matter becauseit does not interact with light. Darkmatter interacts with ordinarymatter through gravity and bindsgalaxies together like an invisibleglue.

13. While dark matter pulls mattertogether, dark energy pushes theuniverse apart at ever-increasingspeeds. In terms of the total mass-energy content of the universe, darkenergy dominates. Even less isknown about dark energy than darkmatter.

14. Euclid’s observations will yieldthe best measurements yet of howthe acceleration of the universe haschanged over time, providing newclues about the evolution and fateof the cosmos, researchers said.

India to launch sub-sonicmissile next month

India would flight test sub-sonic,medium range cruise missileNirbhay, next month, a key defenceofficial said on Friday.

Nirbhay is being developed byAeronautical DevelopmentEstablishment (ADE), a DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation lab based here, V KSaraswat, Scientific Advisor toDefence Minister, told a pressconference here.

“This is in the final stage ofintegration and we expect to launchit next month”, Mr.Saraswat, alsoSecretary in the Department of

Defence (R&D) and DRDO DirectorGeneral, said.

He said Nirbhay has good loiteringcapability, good control andguidance, high degree of accuracyin terms of impact and very goodstealth features.

Indo-Pak water talks putoff

Talks between the WaterSecretaries of India and Pakistan,scheduled to begin in Islamabadon January 28, have been put off inthe wake of tensions over ceasefireviolations along the LoC . The twosides were scheduled to discussthe Tulbul navigation project-WullarBarrage issue .

Tulbul project:

The Tulbul Project is a “navigationlock-cum-control structure” at themouth of Wular Lake. According tothe original Indian plan, the barragewas expected to be of 439 feet (134m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide,and would have a maximumstorage capacity of 300,000 acrefeet (370,000,000 m3) of water.One aim was to regulate therelease of water from the naturalstorage in the lake to maintain aminimum draught of 4.5 feet (1.4m) in the river up to Baramulladuring the lean winter months. Theproject was conceived in the early1980s and work began in 1984.

There has been an ongoingdispute between India andPakistan over the Tulbul Projectsince 1987, when Pakistanobjected that the it violated the1960 Indus Waters Treaty. Indiastopped work on the project thatyear, but has since pressed torestart construction. The JhelumRiver through the Kashmir valleybelow Wular Lake provides animportant means of transport forgoods and people. To sustainnavigation throughout the year aminimum depth of water is needed.India contends that this makesdevelopment of the Tulbul Projectpermissible under the treaty, whilePakistan maintains that the projectis a violation of the treaty. Indiasays suspension of work isharming the interests of people ofJammu and Kashmir and alsodepriving the people of Pakistan ofirrigation and power benefits thatmay accrue from regulated waterreleases.

Solar cities

1. Fifty-four cities across India havereceived in-principle approval to bedeveloped as ‘solar cities’ by the



Ministry of New and RenewableEnergy. The draft Master Planshave been prepared for 28 cities, ofwhich eight have been approved bythe Ministry for implementation; thedevelopment of projects is inprogress in Agra and Moradabad(Uttar Pradesh), Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli (Maharashtra), Indore(Madhya Pradesh), Kohima(Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram) andthe Union Territory of Chandigarh.

2. An amount of Rs. 19.23 crorehas been sanctioned forpreparation of Master Plans, solarcity cells and promotional activitiesfor 41 cities, out of which Rs. 4.22crore has been released. Further,an amount of Rs.11.98 crore hasbeen sanctioned for execution ofrenewable energy projects in fivecities, out of which Rs. 3.87 crorehas been released.

3. According to New andRenewable Energy Minister FarooqAbdullah, the criteria set by theMinistry for the identification ofcities include a city populationbetween 50,000 to 50 lakh (withrelaxation given to special categoryStates, including the north-easternStates), initiatives and regulatorymeasures already taken along witha high level of commitment inpromoting energy efficiency andrenewable energy. Dr. Abdullahsaid renewable energy has thepotential to be cost effective withadvancement in technologies andeconomies of scale. Powergeneration from renewable is atpresent generally more expensivethan that from conventionalsources. While cost of powergeneration from wind, biomassand small hydro are comparablewith cost of power fromconventional sources, solar powermay take some more time toachieve grid parity. The totalinstalled capacity of renewableenergy-based power in the countryis 26,267 MW. A capacity addition of30,000 MW is proposed fromrenewable energy during the 12thPlan period. The Ministry issupporting research in variousrenewable energy technologies forimprovement in efficiency, reductionin cost and to develop newapplications. Meanwhile, globalventure capital (VC) investments inthe solar sector have touched afive-year low — down by nearly 50per cent in 2012 to $992 millioninvolving 103 deals compared to$1.9 billion raised from 108 dealsin 2011.

4. “The slowdown in VC fundingcan be attributed to the grimprospects for thin-film,

concentrating solar andconcentrating PV technologies,”Mercom Capital Group managingpartner Raj Prabhu said.

5. The thin-film companies saw thelargest amount of VC funding in2012, although the total fell by 47per cent to $314 million comparedto almost $600 million in 2011.During the past three years, thin-film companies have received themost VC funding, with almost $1.5billion. “The diminished fundingactivity is not a true reflection of thehealth of the solar sector, becausethe demand side of global solarinstallations has continued togrow,” Mr.Prabhu added.

6. Corporate merger andacquisitions (M&A) activity in solarindustry amounted to $6.7 billion in52 transactions compared to $4billion in 65 transactions in 2011. “Itwas a buyer’s market in 2012 —acquirers were targetingdistressed companies with thegoal of buying technology orequipment on the cheap. More thanhalf the 52 M&A deals in 2012involved solar manufacturers andequipment makers,’’ he said.

7. VC funding in Q4 2012 came inat $220 million in 27 dealscompared to just $72 million in 14deals in Q3. Twenty-five investorsparticipated in the 27 deals in Q4,and no investor was involved inmultiple deals. About 35 solarcompanies filed for insolvency orbankruptcy protection over thecourse of 2012. More than 70 percent of these companies wereactive in manufacturing and all buta few were based in Europe andthe U.S. Thin-film manufacturersaccounted for nearly 40 per cent ofthe bankruptcies.The ‘solar cities’project, however, may help to boostinvestment in the sector.

Mercosur to unblocktrade talks, hurdlesremain

EU leaders won a promise fromArgentina and Brazil on Saturday torevive stalled talks on a free-tradedeal that would be a major prize forEurope as it emerges from crisis,but disputes over key issues meana breakthrough appears distant.

At a summit in Santiago, GermanChancellor Angela Merkel led theEuropeans in a new push in thenegotiations with the SouthAmerican trade bloc Mercosur thatis made up of Argentina, Brazil,Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay.

In a region whose economies arein markedly better shape than

Europe’s, Merkel’s persistenceappeared to pay off after she mether Brazilian and Argentinacounterparts and warned them notto revert to the kind of protectionismof the 1930s that deepened theGreat Depression.

“A tremendous effort has beenmade to install new momentuminto the discussions,” the EU’sTrade Commissioner Karel DeGucht told Reuters during thesummit. Asked if there had been abreakthrough, he said: “I think wehave to be careful with that word.It’s moving on the political front.”

Five years after the global financialcrisis and with the euro zone in itssecond recession since 2009, theEuropean Union needs LatinAmerica’s buoyant economies. Butit is frustrated by Brazil andArgentina’s policies to protect localindustry.

Both sides have now agreed toexchange offers by the end of theyear on how far they are willing togo in opening up sectors rangingfrom services to agriculture and DeGucht said the European Union willreciprocate Mercosur’s offers.

“We need to have open markets interms of free trade and notprotectionism,” Merkel told ameeting of business leaders.“History taught us that in the ’20sand ’30s,” she said, flanked by thepro-free trade presidents of Mexicoand Chile.

Negotiations on a trade pact withMercosur began in the 1990s andwere relaunched in 2010. Ifsuccessful, the accord wouldencompass 750 million peopleand $130 billion of annual trade.

But talks have yet to make realprogress due to disputes overEuropean farm subsidies andmoves by Brazil and Argentina toshield local industry from cheaper,foreign-made imports.

In a further complication, Venezuelabecame a member of the bloc lastyear. Its president, Hugo Chavez, isan outspoken critic of free trade.

In the meantime, Brussels hassigned free-trade deals with anumber of Latin Americancountries, including Mexico, Peruand Chile, exposing a splitbetween the free-trade advocateson the Pacific side and the moreclosed economies, such as Brazil,Argentina and Venezuela, on theother side of the continent.

Standing out in orange amongother leaders’ dark suits, Merkelshared a joke with Brazilian



President DilmaRousseff andArgentina’s Cristina Fernandez asabout 60 leaders posed for asummit photo.

“Within Mercosur, those in favor ofthis agreement have won thebattle,” said Gianni Pittella, vicepresident of the EuropeanParliament, which has to approvethe EU’s trade pacts.

‘LATIN AMERICA’S DECADE’

1. Europe wants to retain itsinfluence in a region it conquered500 years ago and where itremains the biggest foreigninvestor as China steps up itsinvestment in mining and energy.

2. After decades of hyperinflationand financial crises, LatinAmerica’s economic fortunes arenow better than Europe’s. LatinAmerica’s economic output isexpected to grow almost 4 percentthis year, while the 17-nation eurozone will probably contract.

3. Latin America’s per capita grossdomestic product could double by2030, according to the InterAmerican Development Bank,meaning Europe will have morepotential buyers of its cars, luxurygoods, banking services andpharmaceuticals.

4. Gathered at a luxury hotel in apart of the Chilean capital dottedwith newly built glass skyscrapers,Colombian President Juan ManuelSantos declared it was “LatinAmerica’s decade.”

5. But differences with Argentinaand Brazil represent a new hurdleto a Mercosur deal, one thatGermany as Europe’s top exporteris especially keen to see resolved.

6. Argentina’s fiery, left-leaningFernandez, slapped sweepingcontrols on imports in February2012 in a bid to prop up the tradesurplus and keep industrycompetitive as labor costs soar.

7. According to Global Trade Alert,an independent body monitoringcommerce, Argentina is the world’sworst offender when it comes toprotectionist measures becausethe policies affect so manyindustries and sectors all over theworld.

8. Neighboring Brazil - LatinAmerica’s largest economy - hasalso raised import barriers ongoods ranging from Europeansteel to powdered milk. In the first10 months of 2012, Brazil opened47 trade defense cases, more thandouble the number in all of 2011.

Voters’ day

25th January is also the foundationday of the Commission, whichcame into being on this day in1950. The Commission’s objectivethrough NVD is to increaseenrolment of voters, especially ofthe newly eligible ones, to makeuniversal adult suffrage a completereality. The National Voters’ Day isalso utilized to spread awarenessamong voters regarding effectiveparticipation in the electoralprocess.

National CommunalHarmony Award 2012

The National Communal HarmonyAwards were instituted in 1996 bythe National Foundation forCommunal Harmony (NFCH), anautonomous organization set up bythe Government of India, Ministry ofHome Affairs, for promotingcommunal harmony and nationalintegration. The ward has beeninstituted with a view todemonstrating due appreciationand recognition of the efforts ofindividuals and organisations forpromotion of communal harmonyand national integration in asustained manner over asufficiently long period of time. Inaddition to a citation, the awardcarries a cash prize of Rupees fivelakh for the Organisation.

27 January 2013

India successfully test-fires underwater missile

India on Sunday successfully test-fired the underwater ballisticmissile, K-15 (code-named B05),off the Visakhapatnam coast,marking en end to a series ofdevelopmental trials.

In its twelfth flight trial, the 10-metretall Submarine-Launched BallisticMissile (SLBM) lifted off from apontoon, rose to an altitude of 20km and reached a distance ofabout 700 km as it splashed downin the waters of the Bay of Bengalnear the pre-designated targetpoint.

According to scientific advisor tothe Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat,the missile was tested for its fullrange of 700 km and the missionmet all its objectives. He said theimpact accuracy of the mediumrange strategic missile was insingle digit.

With the completion ofdevelopmental trials, the process

of integrating K-15 missile with INSArihant, the indigenously-builtnuclear submarine, will beginsoon. As many as 12 nuclear-tipped missiles, each weighing sixtonnes will be integrated withArihant, which will be powered byan 80 MWt (thermal) reactor thatuses enriched uranium as fuel andlight water as coolant andmoderator.

India is only the fifth country to havesuch a missile — the other four arethe United States, Russia, Franceand China.

Meanwhile the reactor has beenintegrated with the submarine andit was expected to go critical in May/June 2013. Once that was done,the harbour trials will begin.

Besides Arihant, three othernuclear-powered submarines werebeing constructed — one atVisakhapatnam and two atVadodara. India is also developingK-4 missile with a range of 3,000km.

Farmers of the forests

Bangalore to Beijing and Baghdadto Bangkok there will be nohusband worth his weight in goldwhen compared to the hornbill. Abird blessed with immensepatience and perseverance in theworld of bird brain — a definitionwith which human beings tend todelight in describing othercreatures. Taking this intocognisance, recently theEnvironment Ministry declined aproposal to set up a RADARinstallation on a secluded Island inthe Andamans — thus saving theremaining 300 wild NarcondamHornbills from extinction.

Hornbills are a group of birdsdistinguished by very large bulkycurved beaks. If that is not enough,most Hornbill species have anextra projection known as casqueon the upper beak and the preciseuse of this outcrop has yet not beendeciphered by scientists. The utilityof such an enormous beak in thesebirds is intriguing because it isalmost half the size of its body.

Watching hornbills in the SilentValley and Periyar Sanctuary ofKerala and in the jungles of Digboi,Kaziranga and Namdapha nationalparks in the north east, I wonderedwhether the birds topple forwardwith their oversized beaks.However, I learnt that the big beakis not as heavy as it looks since itcontains perforated spaces tomake it lightweight. Perfectly builtand suitably streamlined, the beakof the bird is designed to fly like an



airbus with a “nozzle nose” in front.The big beak is, however,dexterously deployed to pluckripened fruits and berries from tree-top canopies.

Scientists at the San Diego SafariPark, USA, explain that hornbillsare the only birds in which the firsttwo neck vertebrae (the axis andatlas) are fused together. Thisprobably provides a stable platformfor carrying big beaks with ampleagility even while airborne.

While most hornbills inhabit thickjungles of the north-east andsouth-west India, Indian GreyHornbill, the smallest, is sightedeven in Allahabad, Chandigarh andDelhi due to availability of treecanopy. Basically arboreal, allhornbills are sighted in pairs asthey tend to be life-long couples. Asthe birds grow older, their feathersturn black and yellow from grey. Thebeaks also obtain grey, yellow toorange and all hues in-between asthey mature.

The most exceptional aspect of allhornbills is that they nest innaturally ‘prefabricated’ cavity oflarge trees that are refurbished withlove and care. A peculiarcharacteristic of this bird duringnesting is that the female staysinside the nest and is literallyimprisoned. The male, assisted bythe female from inside, seals thenest entrance leaving only a smallopening for feeding the female. Bythis clever modus operandi, theeggs and hatchlings are protectedfrom possible predators andvagaries of nature as well. Theentire process takes about three tofour months depending uponspecific species.

Inside the nest, the female uses itsown feathers to line up the nestbottom to cushion the delicateeggs and the chicks as they hatch.All the while, the male feeds thefemale and the fast growing chickseven as it itself becomesemaciated with the toil. The freshgrowth of feathers on the femalehornbill corresponds with maturityof the young chicks at which pointthe nest entrance is broken openand the mother escapes from itscaptive tree hollow. Now bothparents feed the perpetually hungrychicks in the nest until they growbig enough to flutter away tofreedom. As hornbills areomnivorous, they feed on fruits,occasionally crunchy insects,lizards; even rodents and smallsnakes are also relished.

Unfortunately, most of the 10hornbill species in the

subcontinent are now endangereddue to fragmentation of forests,vanishing woodlands andmushrooming concrete jungles.These birds cannot live andprocreate without the help of largetrees. While the tree providesspace to make a home in itswooden lair, the birds provide birdexcreta rejected from the nestserving as manure for the tree.They are also excellent atdispersing seeds from the canopyto various locations propagatingforest growth. A perfect example ofinteraction between two differentorganisms that is beneficial to bothspecies, hence scientists the worldover acknowledge that hornbills asthe farmers of the forests.

In December last year, a HornbillFestival was held in Nagaland toenhance the understanding ofhornbills through tourism and avariety of cultural activities. Theevent used rock concerts, motorraces, trekking, paintingcompetitions, dance and drama tospread the message of natureconservation and to discouragetribal hunters who use hornbillbeaks as decorative headgear fortheir rituals.

Chidambaram to launchRGESS in Mumbai

Aiming to attract first-time stockmarket investors, Finance MinisterP. Chidambaram will launch themuch-awaited Rajiv Gandhi EquitySavings Scheme (RGESS) inMumbai on February 9.

“He (Chidambaram) is going toMumbai next month and willformally launch the Rajiv GandhiEquity Scheme there,” sources toldPTI.

The RGESS, which wasannounced in the Budget for 2012-13, seeks to provide tax benefits tofirst-time investors in stockmarkets.

Under the scheme, an individualwith an income of less than Rs 10lakh would get tax incentives forinvesting up to Rs 50,000 in thestock market.

As per the notification issued by theSecurities and Exchange Board ofIndia (SEBI) on the RGESS, therewould be a lock—in period of oneyear on investments made underthe scheme.

For transactions undertaken byinvestors through their RGESSdesignated Demat account,depositories would be required toseek necessary transactionaldetails from stock exchanges forenforcing lock-in.

The mutual fund houses havealready started lining up mutualfund schemes focused on theRGESS. Two state-owned fundhouses SBI and IDBI and oneprivate fund house DSP Blackrockhave filed draft offer documents forsuch schemes with the marketregulator SEBI, while others maysoon follow suit.

The scheme was notified by theDepartment of Revenue, FinanceMinistry on November 23 last year.

Internet tax, a flawed idea

A levy will not work as 99.5 % oftraffic exchange on the Nethappens for free

“We’ve become the badgatekeepers,” lamented SunilMittal, CEO, BhartiAirtel. “Whensomebody watches YouTube on amobile and ends up [with a] big bill,he curses under his breath attelecom operators. But YouTube isconsuming a massive amount ofresources on our network.Somebody’s got to pay for that.”

What Mittal suggested at the MobileWorld Congress in Barcelona lastyear, and is gaining rapid popularitywith service providers around theworld, was an “inter-connectcharge”, an effective Internet taxthat would force companies suchas Google and Facebook to paynetwork operators a levy similar tothe termination fee that networkspay one another to complete avoice call.

This growing clamour for anInternet tax was obliquely backedby the Government at a U.Nconference, held last month.

The advantages for both telecomoperators such as Airtel, and theGovernment (which too might lookto levy a similar tax) are immediateand obvious. Telcos, which dole outhuge investment for spectrum andnetwork infrastructure, will be ableto get a bigger slice of what goes tocompanies such as Google. Thisis exactly the new source ofrevenue that operators, which aresuffering from shrinking revenueand rising costs, have been waitingfor.

Gated highway

If this is put into practice, serviceproviders would be able toessentially prioritize certain types oftraffic, and the “sending party”—Facebook, YouTube— would haveto pay Airtel and BSNL for theprivilege of reaching consumers.

It’s glaringly obvious to see wherethis idea, where the “sending party



must pay”, originates from however.Data inter-connections in thephone world work this way— whereif Rajesh in America, a customer ofAT&T, wanted to call Lata in India, acustomer of Airtel, Rajesh wouldfirst pay AT&T. AT&T would then payAirtel a little for their efforts inconnecting the call. The principle ofallowing the ‘sending party’ to payis a good, and natural fit for the wayphone networks work.

This will not work on the Internetthough, for the simple reason that99.5 percent (OECD statistics) ofthe exchange of traffic betweenInternet networks typically happensfor free. This method, which isknown as the ‘peering system’, hasbenefited both content providersand telcos.

It is also what has directly led to therapid growth of the Internet over thepast fifteen years — if a telephonyinter-connection model would beimposed on the Internet, it wouldcreate big problems; for contentnetworks and ISPs would have touse massive resources to bill eachother. A customer would also haveto think twice before jumping ontoGoogle to make a quick search,lest he rack up his bill too much.

Other disadvantages would surface– unregulated markets for Internetservice have proved to workexceedingly well. Even in placeswith limited broadbandcompetition, for instance, theamount of bandwidth thatconsumers get for their money hasincreased at rates far beyond thoseof any other industry.

Lowest common denominator

Having an inter-connection pricingmodel for a better quality servicewould also unwittingly createstrong incentives for ISPs to lettheir current service get worse thanwhat it is today. It is similar to howthe less-than-average quality of‘general-compartments’ on trainshas led to the popularity of themore expensive air-conditionedcompartments.

This tiered- Internet, where onemust pay more and more for betterservice, will only result in thelowest denominator reaching rock-bottom—a result that will havedevastating consequences for acountry where its population canhardly afford the basic package.

While most of this talk of anInternet tax was mere wishfulthinking on the part of telcos, therecent InternationalTelecommunication Unionconference in Dubai has shown

that the Indian Government is onlytoo willing to jump on board.

The conference, which sought tobring the Internet under theframework of the U.N agency, sawa proposal from the IndianGovernment which said: “MemberStates are free to levy fiscal taxeslevied on collection charges forinternational telecommunicationservices...in accordance with theirnational laws.”

Another section of the proposalstated: “Member States shouldendeavour to take measures toensure that an adequate return isprovided on investments in networkinfrastructure. If this cannot beachieved through marketmechanisms, then othermechanisms may be used.”

These two statements point to thefact that the Government is indeedeager to cash in on a time whenpublic finances have beenstretched thin. The funds collectedfrom this tax could, ostensibly, beused for the development andlaying of fibre optic throughout thecountry, something the Governmentis planning.

Not that easy

However, a recent study shows thatthe “sending party pays” principlemay not result in the growth ofInternet-related developmentinfrastructure – as it hasn’t workedfor telecommunication networks.

A study from the Mercatus Centre atGeorge Mason University chartedinternational billing rates againstfour statistics that measure thedevelopment of telecommunicationnetworks: fixed telephone lines per1090 people, mobile subscribersper 100 people, Internet users per100 people and broadbandsubscribers per 100 people.

The author, Eli Durado, found littlecorrelation between long distancerates and fixed telephone lineconstruction. For the other threevariables – he found a negativecorrelation.

“My results contradict thehypothesis that the ability to chargemore for international Internet trafficis all that is needed to build outtelecommunications infrastructurein poor countries,” Douradoconcludes.

No chest-thumping

“High international telephonecollection rates have not led togreater build-out and adoption oftelecommunications infrastructurein the past two decades. It seemsunlikely, therefore, that adopting a

sender-pays model for Internettraffic would increase build-out ofInternet infrastructure today.”

Therefore, it becomes clear that thedevelopment of thetelecommunication/fibre opticnetwork depends on the quality ofdomestic institutions, rather thancollection of external funds whichare often misused. The curiouspart, however, is that there aresolutions with far less politicalimplications and make moreeconomic sense. Taxing Internetadvertising, for instance, issomething that can be done easilyand legally.

An additional tariff could be placedon the purchasers of ads beingshown to Indian residents. Thiswould have nearly the same effectas taxing Internet companiesdirectly, minus the political fuss.

Vint Cerf, Vice-President of Google,Special Services and founder of theTCP/IP protocol, feels that the moveto tax Internet firms is strongly anti-competitive, and does not bodewell for the spread of Google’sservices in India.

“I don’t deny that if Governmentsand telcos collect the money, theymight do something with it. But forthat, I might as well go rob a bankand justify myself, saying, I amrobbing the bank and getting thismoney and doing something goodwith it. I see this proposal as a gunto the head,” he said.

“If you are building a piece ofinfrastructure, and we are buildingapplications on top of that – there’snothing wrong with yourGovernment and companiesbuilding applications to competewith us. But when you opposenetwork neutrality and inhibit otherpeople from using that pipe – it isanti-competitive and it is wrong.”

Home-grown GPS ‘Gagan’likely by 2014

India will launch this year the first ofits series of navigation satellitesrequired to provide regionalnavigation service, independent ofthe U.S.-controlled GPS (GlobalPositioning System), said S.Ramakrishnan, Director, VikramSarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

He said that now we rely on theGPS for the navigation service.Europe, Russia and China wereeither having or evolving their ownnavigation services independent ofthe GPS. The Indian SpaceResearch Organisation too wasplanning to evolve indigenousnavigation service to provide



enhanced and more precisenavigation. To provide this service,to be christened ‘Gagan,’ Indianeeded to launch a number ofsatellites and the first of thisseries, the Indian RegionalNavigation Satellite System(IRNSS), would be launched by thePSLV C-22 rocket, probably in thesecond half of this year. After all therequired satellites were launched,India would be in a position toprovide navigation service through‘Gagan’ probably in 2014,Dr.Ramakrishnan added. He wasspeaking to reporters on thesidelines of an internationalconference on “Bio energy,Environment and SustainableTechnologies” (BEST 2013), a four-day event, organised by the ArunaiEngineering College here.

To a question on Chandrayaan-II,he said the moon mission wasgetting delayed since Russia,partner of the programme, wascompletely reviewing the spacecraftdesign after the failure of its ownmars mission.

Earlier, delivering the inauguraladdress at BEST 2013, he saidspace science was playing acrucial role in surveying andassessing environmental damagelike depletion of the ozone layer,shrinking of the polar ice cap andpollution of coastlines.

G-20 and RCEP willredefine contours ofIndian, global economy,says Ansari

Batting for advanced and emergingeconomies working in tandem toprepare a roadmap for globalrecovery, Vice-President HamidAnsari on Sunday saidpartnerships would redefine thecontours of the Indian economy.

Delivering the inaugural address atthe Global Partnership Summit-2013 here, organised by the CII, Mr.Ansari said the emergingeconomies leveraged each other’sstrengths and comparativeadvantages to create a neweconomic world order.

“Partnerships, such as the G-20,whose member countries accountfor two-thirds of the world’spopulation, 90 percent of world’sGDP and 80 per cent of world trade;and the recently launched RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) — a group of16 countries comprising ASEANmember-states and six countrieswith which they have free tradeagreements — will redefine thecontours of the global economy,” he

said. The audience comprisedtrade ministers, diplomats andCEOs who descended here for theannual summit.

The RCEP is an ASEAN-led tradeagreement, linking the economiesof 16 Asia-Pacific countries.

The grouping, which includes morethan 3 billion people, has acombined GDP of about $17 trillionand accounts for about 40 percentof world trade.

Mr. Ansari said the global marketplace would change with theformation of new trading blocksand enlarged markets andcompanies must gear themselvesto meet the new requirements.

“Innovation and creativity will playan important role in reviving growth,especially in emerging economiesthat often struggle with limitedresources and dated technology,”he said.

Restore trajectory

He said the challenge before Indiawas to restore as soon as possiblethe high growth trajectory, alongwith adequate employmentgeneration, in a sustainable andinclusive manner.

This would be the necessarycondition for addressing theprimary challenges of povertyalleviation and socio-economicdevelopment confronting us.

“As the new economic orderemerges and the weight of theglobal economy moves towardsAsia, I invite countries from acrossthe globe to partner with India sothat we move together towards abetter economic future for all ourpeople,” he concluded.

NABARD scrapscontroversial scheme forcorporate warehousing

The National Bank for Agricultureand Rural Development (NABARD),whose funding of corporatewarehousing projects on terms farsofter than those offered to poorand often suicidal farmerswas highlighted by The Hindu lastmonth, has withdrawn itscontroversial scheme withretrospective effect under pressurefrom the Reserve Bank of India.

The minutes of a meeting of thesub-committee of the NABARDBoard held last month confirm thatthe RBI had advised the NABARDon September 27, 2012, to refundthe amount refinanced to banks inthe year 2011-12 with interest atapplicable rates under the Rural

Infrastructure Development Fund(RIDF) to contributing banks “inproportion to their contribution tothe warehousing fund, allegingviolation of RBI Interest RateDirectives and also that fundsunder RIDF could not be used forproviding refinance to banks.”

The RBI reiterated its objections onDecember 17, 2012 — a weekafter The Hindu’s expose — andadvised the NABARD “to eitherrefund the entire amount to banksor treat the deposits used forrefinancing as our own commercialborrowings from the depositingbanks, by paying interest rate atwhich NABARD raises money fromopen market through non-SLR andNon-Priority Sector bonds/debentures for an equivalent tenorof RIDF deposits,” the board’sminutes note.

The RBI’s unrelenting stance hasforced the NABARD managementto change tack. “In view of theabove, the following proposals aremade: NABARD (Warehousing)Refinance Scheme 2011-12 will bewithdrawn with retrospective effectin view of the RBI advice. Bankswhich availed [themselves of]refinance during 2011-12 would beadvised either to refund the entireamount drawn by them at thecontracted rate (i.e. 8% pa) or carrythe entire amount as per therepayment schedule prescribed byus at the prevailing rate of GeneralRefinance (i.e. 10% pa for RRBs/SCBs/PUCBs and 10.25% forCommercial Banks).”

Further, “NABARD would refund theentire amount of Rs. 759.09 croredrawn under RIDF XVII to thecontributing banks with interest asapplicable.” This implies a loss ofRs. 125.86 crore of losses will bebooked by the NABARD in thepresent financial year.

Finally, the management has alsodecided “NABARD (Warehousing)Refinance Scheme 2012-13 wouldbe withdrawn with immediateeffect.”

Chairman, NABARD,PrakashBakshi, did not respond toa detailed questionnaire emailedby The Hinduon January 14,including on whether any enquiryhad been initiated to probe thematter.

Two loans compared

Investigation reveals that under thesame scheme, NABARDrefinanced Federal Bank at 8% foronward finance to a smallentrepreneur Abdul Kareem for asmall Rs. 60-lakh loan as well as



for a Rs.100-crore loan to EmmayLogistics of the over $4.5-billionMiddle East retail giant EMKEGroup (the parent company of thefamous Lulu hypermarket chain).However, Federal Bank lent toEmmay Logistics at 10.65%(effective rate after rebate of 1.5%for prompt repayment is only9.15%), with a grace period of 2years. EMKE has so far claimedonly Rs. 573.30 lakh as refinance.In contrast, Mr. Kareem, the idealtarget group for such welfareschemes, was charged 13.22%interest (eventual interest burden of11.72%) with a grace period of just6 months on a small Rs.60-lakhloan. In effect, the rate of interestcharged is inversely proportional tothe amount of loan sanctionedculminating in the powerful EmkeGroup paying 2.57% less interestthan the aamaadmi. The ManagingDirector, EMKE Group, Yusuf Ali MA,did not respond to questions aboutits funding or whether thewarehouse is used to stockmaterial for the Hypermarket or forsome other purpose.

While active in supporting richcorporates, the NABARD has beenfound to be choking the credit flowto farmers throughout the countryby systematically withdrawingsupport to cooperative banks.

From its inception, the NABARDwas refinancing State Co-operativeAgriculture and Rural DevelopmentBanks (SCARDBs) by way ofcontributions to debentures floatedby them. Following advice from itsfreshly appointed consultant theBoston Consulting Group (BCG), inSeptember 2011, the NABARD,without prior warning to the Stategovernments or SCARDBs,replaced this with a loan system.The NABARD also insisted onexecuting a revised guaranteedeed as a pre-condition forrefinance. According to Chairman,National Cooperative Agriculture &Rural Development Banks’Federation Ltd, K. Sivadasan Nair,the NABARD delayeddisbursement of refinance to mostof the SCARDBs up to 9 months byplacing additional conditionsthroughout the year. Moreover, theNABARD imposed a second auditon the banks to be conducted bychartered accountants empanelledby it in addition to the statutory auditundertaken by the SCARDBs.“NABARD has never at any time inthe past, ever pointed out anyshortcomings in the auditsconducted by the CAs empanelledby the States. This second auditresults in the doubling ofexpenditure — with Rs. 8 lakh

being the lowest rate quoted byCAs empanelled by NABARD —and can only be viewed as adeliberate move to delay release ofrefinance and make theseinstitutions unviable,” Mr. Nairtold The Hindu.

Data bears out this claim. Thoughthe NABARD’s refinance businessgrew 208% over a decade from Rs.7,418.77 crore to Rs. 15,471.20crore in 2011-12, the share ofcommercial banks grew from16.73% to 54.68%, while the shareof SCARDBs declined by from 63%in 2002-3 to 15.86% in 2011-12.

28 January 2013

Genome sequence of 90chickpea lines decoded

1. In a breakthrough that promisesimproved grain yields and quality,greater drought and diseaseresistance and enhanced geneticdiversity, a global research teamhas completed high-qualitysequencing of not one but 90genomes of chickpea.

2. Nature Biotechnology featuredthe reference genome of the CDCFrontier chickpea variety andgenome sequence of 90 cultivatedand wild genotypes from 10different countries as an onlinepublication on January 27.

3. The paper provides a map of thestructure and functions of thegenes that define the chickpeaplant. It also reveals clues on howthe sequence can be useful to cropimprovement for sustainable andresilient food production.

Global partnership

4. The global research partnership,led by the International CropResearch Institute for Semi AridTropics (ICRISAT) based here,succeeded in identifying anestimated 28,269 genes ofchickpea after sequencing CDCFrontier, a kabuli (large-seeded)chickpea variety. This will helpchickpea farmers become moreresilient to emerging challengesbrought about by the threat ofclimate change. The genome mapcan also be used to harnessgenetic diversity by broadening thegenetic base of cultivated chickpeagene pool.

5. Chickpea is the second largestcultivated grain food legume in theworld, grown in about 11.5 millionhectares mostly by resource poorfarmers in the semi-arid tropics. Itcontributes to income generation

and improved livelihoods ofsmallholder farmers in Africancountries such as Ethiopia,Tanzania and Kenya, and is crucialto the food security in India.

6. “ICRISAT and its partners haveonce again demonstrated thepower of productive partnerships byachieving this breakthrough inlegume genomics,” says WilliamDar, Director General of ICRISAT.

7. “In the face of the growing globalhunger and poverty amid the threatof climate change, the chickpeagenome sequence will facilitate thedevelopment of superior varietiesthat will generate more income andhelp extricate vulnerable drylandcommunities out of poverty andhunger for good, particularly thosein the drylands of Asia and sub-Africa for whom ICRISAT and ourpartners are working,” Dr. Dar said.

8. “This study will provide not onlyaccess to ‘good genes’ to speedup breeding, but also to genomicregions that will bring geneticdiversity back from landraces orwild species to breeding lines,”said Dr. Rajeev Varshney,coordinator of ICGSC and Director— Center of Excellence inGenomics, ICRISAT.

9. Renowned agricultural scientistand RajyaSabha member M.S.Swaminathan said chickpeaoccupied a pride of place in thestruggle against protein hunger. “Iam confident that the knowledgeprovided by this study will helpaccelerate the improvement of thiscrop through marker-assistedbreeding.”

AshishBahuguna, Secretary, UnionMinistry of Agriculture, said thedevelopment was of greatimportance to India, the largestproducer and consumer ofchickpea.

Foodgrains outputmay drop

1. After a record run in twoconsecutive years, foodgrainsproduction is likely to decline thisyear owing to the deficientsouthwest monsoon during the2012-13 kharifseason. Thisadversely impacted the output ofpulses, coarse cereals andoilseeds, with a bearing on theirprice levels.

2. But what may bring down theoverall output is the slightly lowerarea sown under rabi wheat, rice,coarse cereals and minoroilseeds. The crops that are understress include minor oilseeds,jowar and bajra, while pulses



remain an area of concern.

3. With rabi sowing complete, thepicture has become clearer nowand it is expected that against anoutput of 257.44 million tonnes lastyear, the country will be lucky if itcan reap a harvest of 250 milliontonnes this year.

4. Kharif production was lower by12.6 million tonnes this year. Rabicrops will be harvested in March-April.

5. The States that have suffered themost due to rain deficit areKarnataka, Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

6. Rice output will be hit in TamilNadu and Andhra Pradeshbecause of water deficiency, whilerabi sowing is down inMaharashtra and parts of AndhraPradesh, official sources said.

7. The good news is that theestimate of the highest everfoodgrains production of last yearat 257.44 million tonnes may bebetter by about one per cent in thefinal estimates that will be releasedshortly. “The loss in kharif outputwill be lower than the initialestimate of nearly 10 per cent,”Agriculture SecretaryAshishBahuguna told journalistshere on Monday.

8. The last rabi wheat output wasan all-time record of 93.9 milliontonnes. “This year, it may be closeto that,” he said, adding that thefine weather available for wheat inJanuary-March of 2012 was the“best ever” in the last 22 years.According to him, the area underrabi wheat this season is 0.4hectares lower than last year, buthigher by 4.1 lakh hectares if theaverage of the last five years istaken into account.

Mullaperiyar dam row: SCfinal hearing from April 9

1. The final hearing on the legalbattle between Tamil Nadu andKerala over the controversialMullaperiyar dam will be held fromApril 9 in the Supreme Court.

2. A five-judge Constitution Bench ofjustices R.M. Lodha, H.L. Dattu,C.K. Prasad, Madan B. Lokur andM.Y. Eqbal directed both the statesto exchange all documents andfindings of the expert committee byMarch 15 and posted the matter forfinal day-to-day hearing fromApril 9.

3. There has been tension betweenthe two states over the safety of thedam. While Tamil Nadu contendsthat the dam is safe and its water

level has to be raised from 132 ft to136 ft, Kerala says the structure isweak and it has to be replaced witha new one.

4. As tension rose between the twostates in December 2011, a two-member technical team of apexcourt-appointed EmpoweredCommittee visited the site andconcluded that recent tremors inthat region did not have any impacton the dam and that it was safe.

5. The committee, set up inFebruary 2010 to look into allaspects of the dam, had submittedits report to the apex court in asealed cover on April 25.

6. The five-member committeeheaded by former Chief Justice ofIndia A.S. Anand, which hadfinalised the report, is understoodto have examined all aspects of the119-year-old dam, including itssafety.

7. Earlier, the apex court haddirected the registry to digitise the50,000-odd page report so as toenable it to examine it.

8. The Bench is hearing a suit filedby Tamil Nadu questioning the lawenacted by Kerala in 2006 torestrict the water level in theMullaperiyar dam at 136 ft thoughthe Supreme Court had permittedTamil Nadu to raise the water levelup to 142 ft.

Concept: The Mullaperiyar Dam isa masonry gravity dam on thePeriyar River in the Kerala state ofIndia. It is located 881 m (2,890 ft)above mean sea level, on theCardamom Hills of the WesternGhats in Thekkady, Idukki District ofKerala, South India. It wasconstructed between 1887 and1895 by the British Government todivert water eastwards to theMadras Presidency area (present-day Tamil Nadu). It has a height of53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation,and a length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft).The Periyar National Park inThekkady is located around thedam’s reservoir. The dam islocated in Kerala on the riverPeriyar, but is controlled andoperated under a period lease byneighboring Tamil Nadu state.Although the Periyarriver has a totalcatchment area of 5398 km2 with114 km2 in Tamil Nadu, thecatchment area of the Mullaperiyardam itself lies entirely in Kerala.The control and safety of the damand the validity and fairness of thelease agreement have been pointsof dispute between Kerala andTamil Nadu states. Supreme courtjudgment came in 27 February2006, allowing Tamil Nadu to raise

the level of the dam to 152 ft (46 m)after strengthening it. Respondingto it, Mullaperiyar dam wasdeclared an ‘endangered’scheduled dam by the KeralaGovernment under the disputedKerala Irrigation and WaterConservation (Amendment) Act,2006.

Consensus over keyissues of GST

1. States have agreed to thecompensation formula suggestedby the Centre for their CST (CentralSales Tax) revenue loss forimplementing the Goods andServices Tax (GST), said SushilKumar Modi, Chairman of theEmpowered Committee of StateFinance Ministers, and DeputyChief Minister of Bihar, here onMonday.

2. “States will be given 100 per centcompensation of their claims for2010-11, 75 percent for 2011-12and 50 percent for 2012-13. Thecompensation formula has beenprepared on the basis of the August22, 2008, guideline,” Mr.Modi said.

3. He said, “States are notresponsible for the delay inintroduction of GST. They have lostheavily on account of gradual cut inthe Central Sales Tax (CST). GSTwas scheduled to be launched onApril 1, 2010. The ParliamentaryStanding Committee has not givenits views on the 115thConstitutional Amendment Bill,2011.”

Payment schedule

4. “According to initial estimates,the total compensation which theStates will receive, comes toaround Rs.34,000 crore. Theprovision for CST compensationcould be reflected in theforthcoming budget,” Mr.Modi said.

5. The Empowered Committee hasasked the Centre to prepare apayment schedule. Some Statesare of the view that they shouldrevert to the earlier 4 per cent CSTto make up for the huge losses incase there is a delay in introductionof GST beyond April 1, 2014.

6. States having manufacturingbase and mineral export are theworst sufferers. States that havelost more than Rs.1000 crore dueto gradual cut in CST includeGujarat, Andhra Pradesh, WestBengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha andHaryana.

Critical finances

7. For the year 2010, States haddemanded a compensation of



Rs.19,000 crore-, but the Centrecould pay only Rs.6,000 croreowing to the critical financialposition.

8. Mr.Modi said States wouldcontinue to lose even after rollingout of GST. “States are afraid ofincurring heavy losses in the initialyears of the GST regime. We haveasked the Centre to evolve amechanism to compensate Statesfor subsequent five years as wasdone in the case of value addedtax.”

9. Mr. Modi said all the States werein favour of introducing GST. TheEmpowered Committee woulddiscuss the GST design onTuesday.

eBiz portal launched

1. As part of the UPA Government’sNational eGovernance Plan, theCommerce and Industry Ministry,on Monday, announced the launchof an eBiz portal aimed at providingGovernment-to-Business (G2B)services for India’s investor andbusiness communities.

2. The portal was launched byCommerce and Industry MinisterAnand Sharma at the CIIPartnership Summit here. Theportal was developed by Infosys ina public-private partnership (PPP)mode. Infosys has been selectedas the concessionaire/ projectimplementation partner, and isresponsible for the design,development, implementation andmaintenance of the eBiz solution.

3. The online single-windowconcept was visualised to enablebusinesses and investors to savetime and costs and improve thebusiness environment. “The projectaims to create a business andinvestor-friendly ecosystem in Indiaby making all business andinvestment-related regulatoryservices across Central, State andlocal governments available on asingle portal, thereby obviating theneed for an investor or a businessto visit multiple offices or a plethoraof websites,” he said.

4. eBiz will create a 24x7 facility forinformation and services, and willalso offer joined-up services wherea single application submitted by acustomer, for a number ofpermissions, clearances,approvals and registrations, will berouted automatically acrossmultiple governmental agencies ina logical manner.

5. An in-built payment gateway willalso add value by allowing allpayments to be collected at one

point and then apportioned, splitand routed to the respective headsof account of Central / State /parastatal (a quasi-governmentalorganisation, corporation,business, or agency) agenciesalong with generation of challansand MIS (management informationsystems) reports.

Forget 3D as 4K TVs arenow the latest must-have

1. With the endless upgrades tohigh definition and screens thatcould show 3D images it seems itcould all have be in vain as thetechnology is already out of datethrough the arrival of the 4K picture.

2. The ultra-high quality definition isfour times as sharp as standardquality high definition and is closeto that viewed only in an Imaxcinema.

3. However, for those wishing toview the latest picture in their ownliving room, they must have plentyof room available for the 84inchscreen and plenty of spare cash,the Daily Mail reported.

4. Sony has brought out a modelthat is more than 7ft wide and canplay the new technology. Costing25,000 pounds, only Harrods incentral London currently sells thetelevision.

5. The giant screen can convertordinary television into 3D, andcomes with five pairs of glasses forviewing the pin-sharp images.

6. Even without 3D, the ultra-highdefinition images are 16 timessharper than those on a normaltelevision.

7. According to experts, thetelevision’s picture is sotechnologically advanced that fewbroadcasters can yet takeadvantage of its full potential.

City heat affectingtemperatures thousandsof kilometres away1. Heat generated by everydayactivities in major cities affectstemperatures across thousands ofkilometres, significantly warmingsome areas and cooling others,according to a new study.

2. The ‘waste heat’ generated frombuildings, cars, and other sourcesin major Northern Hemisphereurban areas causes winterwarming across large areas ofnorthern North America andnorthern Asia, US scientists found.

3. The impact on temperatures mayexplain a climate puzzle of sorts:

why some areas are experiencingwarmer winters than predicted byclimate models, researchers said.

4. The study found thattemperatures in some remoteareas increase by as much as 1degree Celsius. At the same time,the changes to atmosphericcirculation caused by the wasteheat cool areas of Europe by asmuch as 1 degree Celsius.

5. The net effect on global meantemperatures is nearly negligible -an average increase worldwide ofjust 0.01 degrees Celsius. This isbecause the total human-producedwaste heat is only about 0.3 percent of the heat transported acrosshigher latitudes by atmosphericand oceanic circulations.

6. The waste heat is also changingatmospheric circulation,includingjet streams - powerful narrowcurrents of wind that blow fromwest to east and north to south inthe upper atmosphere, LiveSciencereported.

7. In the new study, the researcherslooked at “urban heat”, produceddirectly by transportation, heatingand cooling units, and otherenergy-consuming activities.

8. “The burning of fossil fuel notonly emits greenhouse gases, butalso directly affects temperaturesbecause of heat that escapes fromsources like buildings and cars,”said study researcher Aixue Hu, ofthe National Center for AtmosphericResearch (NCAR).

9. “Although much of this wasteheat is concentrated in large cities,it can change atmospheric patternsin a way that raises or lowerstemperatures across considerabledistances,” Hu said.

10. The team studied the energyeffect using the NCAR model andran it with and without the input ofhuman energy consumption, to seewhether it could account for large-scale regional warming.

11. When man-made energy wasincluded in the model, it led towinter and autumn temperaturechanges of up to 1 degree Celsiusin mid- and high-latitude parts ofNorth America and Eurasia.

12. “The energy consumption inhighly populated areas can causechanges in wind patterns, and thatcauses climate change far awayfrom the heating source,” saidmeteorologist and study authorMing Cai of Florida State University.

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