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ASIAN AGE

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ECONOMIC TIMES

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

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TELEGRAPH

TIMES OF INDIA

TRIBUNE

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   CONTENTS

AGRICULTURE 3-4

BALCK MONEY 5-14

CIVIL SERVICE 15-17

DEFENCE, NATIONAL 18-20

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION 21

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 22-26

EDUCATION 27-31

EMPLOYMENT 32-34

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 35-37

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 38-43

PUBLIC FINANCE 44-46

RURAL DEVELOPMENT 47-49

SOCIAL PROBLEMS 50-51

TAXATION 52-54

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 55-59

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AGRICULTURE

PIONEER, SEP 5, 2017GOVT TO PREPARE ‘PRACTICAL’ PLAN TO INCREASE FARMERS’ INCOME5

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that a thoughtful practical work plan should be prepared to double the income of farmers. Besides, short term emergency schemes should be prepared for areas being affected by scanty rainfall and no rainfall at all.

Make proper arrangements for water storage assessing the water requirement for irrigation and drinking. All the measures should be taken at war footing to preserve the flowing water. Similarly, in the same context, the other departments linked with the agriculture like power, horticulture, irrigation and PHE etc must ensure necessary action before time. Chouhan issued these directives while chairing the Agriculture Cabinet Meeting held at Mantralaya on Monday.

Chouhan stated that interest should be developed among the farmers towards farmers’ conventions. Complete detail regarding preparations for doubling the income should be provided. Success story of farmers taking alternate crops with detail should be given in effective manner. Inform them about the use of soil health card. Outlets for sale of organic produces should be opened besides its certification. Along with paddy procurement, make concrete arrangements for registration under the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (Price Differnece Payment Scheme).

Chouhan issued instructions for establishing big units of food processing at panchayat level. He also told for encouraging shed net house farming on the occasion. He directed for making efforts to make the state first in wheat production per hectare by setting a target. Furthermore, he laid emphasis for focus on areas situated on the banks of river Narmada under the agro forestry expansion programme.

A unanimous decision was taken in the Agriculture Cabinet that custom hiring centres should be established under the Kisan Santan Udhyami yojana. Farmers’ conventions should be organised from September 30 to October 15.

Also a State-level workshop of scientists and officers taking part in the conventions should be organised. Information regarding intent and importance of conventions should be given to all the concerned. Moreover, farmers should be encouraged to sell straw in areas where farmers used to burn crops remainders. Custom processing centres should be opened at each block head quarters. These should be utilized for encouraging other entrepreneurs and their training. Moreover, training of beekeeping should be encouraged and in addition kisan bazaars should be established in 378 urban bodies. Consent in principle was given for new scheme for establishing custom hiring centres of primary food processing and price stabilisation.

Principal Secretary Rajesh Rajora gave presentation of agriculture department in the meeting.

Information was given on roadmap for doubling the farmers’ income and its implementation status during the last 18 months. He informed that Madhya Pradesh holds first position in organic certification process in the country under grams, soybean, total pulses crops, oil seeds crops, guava and tomatoes.

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Organic cotton, soybean and wheat are being produced in the state. Productivity target fixed for millet, arhar, urad and moong has been achieved in the year 2016-17 itself in comparison to the target of 2022 for productivity of Kharif crops. Similarly, the productivity of rabi crops like barley and brown lentil has become more in the year 2016-17 keeping in view the productivity target of 2022.

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BLACK MONEY

TRIBUNE, SEP 5, 2017Black money: the devil is in politicsSubir Roy

Black money can’t be fought without electoral reforms, which is missing. The couple of electoral reforms announced by the government are inadequate.

Late on November 8, Narendra Modi invited fellow Indians to join a mahayajna against corruption, black money, terrorism and fake notes, even as his government remained dedicated to empowering the poor. In the event, virtually all the banned currency notes came right into the banking system, belying the government’s hope that some of the cash would be nullified for good. 

Finding out what is black and what is white in these new bank deposits will be a herculean task for the income tax department and endless scope for harassment. As for fake currency, the RBI could detect only a minuscule Rs 41 crores. Terrorists, funding for it seems to follow its own path, remained undeterred. 

It is not just that demonetisation did not succeed in achieving its stated goals. It inflicted a heavy price, visible from the endless queues and deaths, hurting mostly those at the bottom of the pyramid. Many small units, dealing mostly in cash, insisted on paying wages in banned currency or simply closed down, taking away jobs and income. Owners, even if they wanted to, could not pay wages into workers’ bank accounts as few operated them. Migrant workers managed for a time and then went back home.

A measure of how the poor were hit can be had from the plight of microfinance institutions (MFIs) which are doing the country proud by successfully lending small amounts to poor women without securities. These women deal only in cash and couldn’t repay their monthly installments. Cut off from repayments, MFIs couldn’t make fresh disbursements. As portfolio growth was hit so were earnings, even as nonperforming assets piled up. Equitas, a leading MFI turned small finance bank, saw its consolidated profit after tax fall by a colossal 74 per cent year on year in the March quarter of financial 2017 and by 4.7 per cent for the whole year. 

The great unexpected was that the poor backed the move. They were willing to pay a price to be rid of the corruption that tormented them and ended up as black money in the hands of their tormentors. This was the second recent manifestation (the earlier was the victory of the Aam

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Admi Party in the Delhi elections) of the popular support for anyone who sought to strike a pose against corruption and black money.

The macro numbers have now come in, quantifying the cost. The worst hit was manufacturing while construction and mining, the deliverer of jobs, have also been badly hit. 

The monumental pity is that a little bit of planning could have avoided a lot of the disruption, hardship and cost.  

Demonetisation was gone through with little planning and consultation with experts. Why? Here we run into the realm of speculation. The most plausible explanation is that demonetisation was undertaken with two objectives in mind. The positive one was to strike at the roots of black money and tap into the resentment of the ordinary voter towards those who have all the money in the world but would not pay taxes. The realpolitik was in striking a crippling blow to the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party by immobilising their presumed stock of black money in the campaign for the UP assembly elections. 

What of the future? The desire to eliminate the stock of black money in currency notes may not have worked but attacking other assets like benami property and money spirited away abroad can produce results. Right now the prospects of increasing the direct tax base seem bright, as also the spread of the digital economy.   

Against these positives, a large question mark hangs over the commitment to fight the flow of black money (not the stock like hoarded currency and benami property) in the future. The roots of corruption and unaccounted income lie in the role of black money in the country’s politics, in the fighting and winning of elections. Unless electoral reform is earnestly pursued, legislators will continue to spend huge amounts of unaccounted money to get elected. They will then have two fundamental objectives– recoup the investment and build a fund for the next elections. Such people can hardly fight a systemic battle against black money. 

Unfortunately, as explained by Yogendra Yadav, the couple of electoral reforms announced by the government are not only inadequate but partly counterproductive. The budget lowered the level of cash donations to political parties from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 but no overall ceiling was imposed for such donations. So a political party has to only declare a ten-fold rise in the number of such donations to continue with business as usual. Plus, there is no change in the rule of not having to disclose the source of cheque or digital donations up to Rs 20,000.

The change proposed in regulating corporate donations is worse. The idea of electoral bonds which are almost like bearer bonds has been introduced. A company can buy these bonds

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with its declared cash but need not disclose its identity while passing them on to a political party. So the shareholders of a firm will not know which party the firm is donating to and the party which receives the donation through electoral bonds can pretend not to know where the bonds came from. If these reforms will the shape the future, then say goodbye to saying goodbye to black money.

 The writer is a senior journalist

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 5, 2017Raghuram Rajan’s book out today: Sneak peek on what he writes about demonetisation, social media and more

Raghuram Rajan’s book -- I do what I do -- will be launched in Chennai on September 5. Read excerpts of what he writes on the Modi government’s demonetisation move and more.

A year after demitting office, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has disclosed he did not favour

the government’s move of scrapping high-value banknotes, saying that the short term

economic costs would outweigh any longer term benefits from the move.

Rajan reveals this in his latest book – I do what I do – which will be launched in Chennai on

Tuesday. The compilation of speeches he delivered on a wide range of issues as the RBI

governor will be released in Delhi on September 7 and Mumbai on September 8.

Here’s what Rajan writes about demonetisation in the new book:

There is one issue, however, on which I have been asked many questions, which I have

resolutely refused to answer until my period of silence is over, and that is the demonetisation that

was announced in India in November 2016. The questions, which have reportedly also been

asked by parliamentary committees, include when I knew about the possibility of demonetisation

and what my view on it was. The press, quoting government sources, have variously reported

that I was against it (in the early days of the demonetisation process) and that I was ‘on board’

(in the most recent reports).

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My only public commentary on the issue of demonetisation was in response to a question in

August 2014 at the Lalit Doshi Memorial Lecture. At that time, the matter had not been broached

by the government. As the HT reported, “... Rajan said, ‘I am not quite sure if what you meant is

demonetise the old notes and introduce new notes instead. In the past, demonetisation has been

thought of as a way of getting black money out of circulation. Because people then have to come

and say ‘how do I have this 10 crores in cash sitting in my safe and they have to explain where

they got the money from. It is often cited as a solution. Unfortunately, my sense is, the clever

find ways around it.’...”

Given that various stances have been attributed to me, including in Parliament, let me clarify. I

was asked by the government in February 2016 for my views on demonetisation, which I gave

orally. Although there might be long-term benefits, I felt the likely short-term economic costs

would outweigh them, and felt there were potentially better alternatives to achieve the main

goals. I made these views known in no uncertain terms. I was then asked to prepare a note, which

the RBI put together and handed to the government. It outlined the potential costs and benefits of

demonetisation, as well as alternatives that could achieve similar aims. If the government, on

weighing the pros and cons, still decided to go ahead with demonetisation, the note outlined the

preparation that would be needed, and the time that preparation would take. The RBI flagged

what would happen if preparation was inadequate.

The government then set up a committee to consider the issues. The deputy governor in charge

of currency attended these meetings. At no point during my term was the RBI asked to make a

decision on demonetisation.

Rajan enjoyed a mass appeal not normally associated with a central banker, a media darling as

much for his intellectual calibre as for his handsome looks. Yet, he was wary of social media,

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often the preferred platform for motivated search for controversy. One of Rajan’s oft-misquoted

lines, ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’, triggered a row, as social media

plucked those words out of context. In the book, Rajan talks about social mediaand why the

‘one-eyed king’ controversy underlined the flippancy of the medium. Here are the excerpts:

Social media does take a life of its own. In its world of alternative truths, the reality can get

grossly distorted. Occasionally, in a game resembling Chinese Whispers, each commentator

opined on what they thought I had said, based on a previous commentator’s garbled version,

without many bothering to find out what I actually said.

Speaking of being misunderstood, perhaps the greatest flak I got was for some comments I made

at the end of a tiring day at the IMF meetings. I was being interviewed for MarketWatch by Greg

Robb, whom I knew well. In the middle of a long interview, the question I was posed was:

MarketWatch: The Indian economy is the bright spot in the global economy. When other

central bankers and finance ministers ask you for your secret sauce, what do you tell them?

My natural caution as a central banker as well as my concern that our recovery was work in

progress suggested I should not boast. So here is what I said.

Rajan: Well, I think we’ve still to get to a place where we feel satisfied. We have this saying, ‘in

the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.’ We’re a little bit that way. We feel things are

turning to the point where we could achieve what we believe is our medium-run growth

potential. Because things are falling into place. Investment is starting to pick up strongly. We

have a fair degree of macro-stability. Of course, not immune to every shock, but immune to a fair

number of shocks. The current account deficit is around 1 per cent. The fiscal deficit has come

down and continues to come down and the government is firm on a consolidation path. Inflation

has come down from 11 per cent to less than 5 per cent now. And interest rates therefore can also

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come down. We have an inflation targeting framework in place. So a bunch of good things have

happened. There are still some things to do. Of course, structural reforms are ongoing. The

government is engaged in bringing out a new bankruptcy code. There is goods and services tax

on the anvil. But there is a lot of exciting stuff which is already happening. For example, just last

week, I was fortunate to inaugurate a platform which allows mobile-to-mobile transfers from any

bank account to any other bank account in the country. It is a public platform, so anybody can

participate. It is not owned by any one company, unlike Apple Pay or Android Pay or whatever. I

think it is the first of its kind. So technological developments are happening and making for a

more, hopefully, reasonable life for a lot of people. Let’s see how it goes.

On any fair read of my entire answer, one would conclude that I was optimistic about India, not

downplaying what was going on, even while recognizing we had work to do. But social media

went to town after plucking just the following words out of the answer: ‘We have this saying, “in

the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” We’re a little bit that way.’ A couple of

ministers, fed this quote, commented adversely on what I said. I was finally fed up of the perhaps

motivated search for controversy. So I picked the National Institute of Bank Management

Convocation on 20 April 2016 to say the following, cautioning on euphoria and ending by

emphasizing once again the need for mutual respect and tolerance.

Rajan also forged a reputation of being an outspoken technocrat who articulated his views as

effectively in private as he did in his public speeches. Did that make him an unconstrained critic

of the government or its cheerleader? How did the media view him? Why did he feel a special

responsibility towards the country’s youth? The risk manager par excellence opens up on what

drove him in the new book. Here are the excerpts:

The Governor of the Reserve Bank is much more than just a regulator or a central banker. Since

the RBI is both the lender of last resort, as well as the custodian of the country’s foreign

exchange reserves, the Governor is the primary manager of macroeconomic risk in the country.

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If the Governor takes this role seriously, he (or she) has to warn when he fears the economy is in

danger of going down the wrong path. As an apolitical technocrat, he can neither be a

cheerleader for the government, nor can he be an unconstrained critic. This is a fine line to tread,

and the Governor has to pick both the issues he speaks on, as well as the tone of his commentary,

very carefully.

The mistake on all sides is to treat the RBI Governor as just another bureaucrat. If the Governor

takes this mistaken view, he ends up being subservient to the central and state governments, and

not offering an independent technocratic perspective that could keep the nation from straying

into economic distress. The RBI Governor has to understand his role, and know it occasionally

entails warning of macroeconomic risks from government actions or saying ‘No!’ firmly.

Every government tests what the RBI Governor will acquiesce to, and ideally, it will not push

beyond a point, knowing that the RBI’s cautions are worth heeding. If the government takes the

mistaken view that the RBI Governor is just another bureaucrat, it will be displeased when it sees

the Governor deviating from the usually deferential behaviour of bureaucrats, and it will strive to

cut him down to size. This does not serve the country either.

I was determined not to neglect my responsibilities as national risk manager, even while trying to

explain to the government of the day why this was a necessary role. Where I had direct

responsibility, this meant saying no in private occasionally, even while offering safer alternatives

for what the government intended. Where I had indirect responsibility, this meant advising or

counselling in private, and occasionally, when the issue merited a national debate, speaking in

public. Of course, my past experience as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund,

where my job was to identify macroeconomic risks across a variety of countries, gave me a

unique cross-country perspective, and heightened my sense of responsibility.

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I also felt this responsibility from a different source. Because of the relentless press attention, I

realized that many young people who were looking for a role model now saw the Governor of

the Reserve Bank as one they wanted to learn from and imitate. I felt I had to display the highest

professional integrity, over and above the obviously necessary personal integrity, if I were to

discharge my responsibility to these youth.

While the Governor has to warn about risks where necessary, he is not an agent for the

opposition. He continues to be an essential part of the country’s administration, and his

objectives have to be the broader government objectives of sustainable growth and development.

The danger in a country that is unused to legitimate words of caution, and a press that is

accustomed to deference from bureaucrats, is that it may misinterpret this role. A new narrative

may form around the Governor. He can come to be seen by the press and social media as a critic,

and every speech or comment of his is then scrutinized for evidence that supports the narrative.

Should the Governor disappear from public view and not speak for fear of misinterpretation, or

should he take the risk in order to discharge his responsibilities? I chose the latter, in part

because I thought it was extremely important that our country should steer a stable path when

surrounded by so much global risk, and in part because I thought young people (including my

own younger staff at the RBI) should realize that it is important to speak up when one’s

responsibilities demand it. I did, however, meet regularly with the government to share my views

and listen to its point of view, and always left feeling that there was mutual understanding.

Given my risk manager’s perspective, and given that we were recovering from the currency

turmoil, in my first speech on the economy I tried to talk up what was going on in India.

However, I also had to respect the dharma of the central banker, and not indulge in excessive

hype. Indeed, this swing from excessive euphoria to excessive pessimism and back was the

subject of my speech at Harvard Business School in October 2013.

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Rajan was in the middle of a clean-up of massive bad loans at state-run banks when he demitted

office in September, 2016. Through his tenure, Rajan warned against recklessly exuberant

lending, and finally launched the Asset Quality Review to force banks to square their books.

Critics blamed the move for a slowing of credit from public sector banks. In his new book, Rajan

reveals the key people behind the first major exercise to clean up bank balance sheets and the

challenges he faced. Here are the excerpts:

In the absence of a functioning bankruptcy code, the RBI put together a number of schemes to

facilitate bank resolution of distress. We repeatedly re-examined the schemes to see how they

could be tweaked to facilitate resolution. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few hard-

charging and conscientious bankers, the general mood among the bankers was to continue to

extend and pretend. They feared they would be held accountable for any concession they made,

and constantly (and perhaps understandably) avoided taking decisions. In this environment, the

idea of a bad bank, funded by the government, that would take the loans off their books, kept

cropping up. I just saw this as shifting loans from one government pocket (the public sector

banks) to another (the bad bank) and did not see how it would improve matters. Indeed, if the

bad bank were in the public sector, the reluctance to act would merely be shifted to the bad bank.

Why not instead infuse the capital that would be given to the bad bank directly into the public

sector banks? Alternatively, if the bad bank were to be in the private sector, the reluctance of

public sector banks to sell loans to the bad bank at a significant haircut would still prevail. Once

again, it would solve nothing.

As we found banks reluctant to recognize problems, we decided not just to end forbearance but

also to force them to clean up their balance sheets. The Asset Quality Review, initiated in 2015,

was the first major exercise of this nature in India, ably led by Deputy Governor Mundra. I

would especially highlight the role of two extremely polite and self-effacing but tough-as-nails

ladies, Chief General Manager Parvathy Sundar and Executive Director Meena Hemchandra,

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who really energized their staff and assured them of their support at every turn. The young team

they put together was tireless, and made me aware once again of what we are capable of if we

put our minds to it.

Every situation of banking sector stress I have ever studied was fixed only by recognizing the

problem, resolving the bad loans, and recapitalizing the banks. India was no exception, but once

again there were a bunch of critics who claimed that cleaning up the bad loan problem was what

led to the slowing of credit by the public sector banks. In a speech in June 2016 in Bengaluru, I

made the case for the clean-up once again by asking these critics to actually look at data, which

showed the slowdown started before the clean-up, probably as banks became aware of the

magnitude of the problem.

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CIVIL SERVICE

FINANCIAL EXPRESS, SEP 5, 20177th Pay Commission report: Narendra Modi government to hike minimum salary from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000?

Earlier, in a bonanza to 48 lakh central government employees, the Union Cabinet on June 28

had approved recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission with 34 modifications.

7th Pay Commission report: It seems another good news is coming for government employees.

Reportedly, Narendra Modigovernment is planning to raise the minimum salary of Central

government employees. The government may hike the minimum salary to Rs 21,000, as per a

report in OneIndia. As of now, the minimum salary of Central government employees is Rs

18,000. However, the demand is to hike the minimum pay to Rs 25,000, the One India report

adds.

Earlier, in a bonanza to 48 lakh central government employees, the Union Cabinet on June 28

had approved recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission with 34 modifications. The

increased allowances came into effect from July 1, 2017 and were based on the

recommendations of the Committee on Allowances (CoA).

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the modifications are based on suggestions made by the

CoA in its report submitted to the Finance Minister on April 27, and the Empowered Committee

of Secretaries set up to screen the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.

The 7th Pay Commission suggested the abolition of 53 allowances. Of these, the government

decided not to do away with 12 allowances.

Also, the Pay Commission had recommended the reduction in the HRA rates to 24 per cent for

X, 16 per cent for Y and 8 per cent for Z category of cities.

PIONEER, SEP 1, 20172 IAS OFFICERS BECOME ADDL CHIEF SECYS

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The State Government on Thursday promoted two IAS officers of Jharkhand Cadre to Additional Chief Secretary ranks. Principal Secretary of Forest, Environment and Climate Change department Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi has been made Additional Chief Secretary of the department from the date of assuming charge.

Secondly, Principal Secretary of Water Resources Department Sukhdeo Singh has been promoted to the rank of Additional CS with effect from September 1, 2017. Singh will hold the charge of Additional CS Water Resources department till further orders. Both the IAS officers are of 1987 batch. The promotions came after two cadre posts of the Additional CS rank became vacant in the wake of former Additional CS Rural Development department of State government NN Sinha going on Central deputation and Director General of SKIPA Mridula Sinha retired from service on Thursday.  Jharkhand has four cadre posts and four ex-cadre posts of CS rank out of which one is vacant. 

ECONOMIC TIMES, SEP 1, 2017Former home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi tipped to be next CAG

NEW DELHI: Senior IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi, who retired as the Union home secretaryon Thursday, is likely to be appointed as the next Comptroller and Auditor General of India. He will take over from Shashi Kant Sharma who was appointed CAG in 2013 and was to demit office on turning 65 on September 25. 

The government also appointed Rajiv Kumar, a 1984 batch IAS office as secretary, department of financial services in the finance ministry. Kumar, who has previously worked with the expenditure department of the ministry as both joint secretary and additional secretary will take forward the government’s agenda on bank consolidation. 

Before being appointed as secretary financial services, Kumar was with Department of Personnel and Training.

Mehrishi was chosen as the home secretary by the NDA government just before he was to superannuate as the finance secretary. 

CAG chief gets a sixyear-term or till he turns 65, whichever is earlier. Mehrishi could be the CAG till August 2020, when he turns 65. Three new Deputy Comptrollers and Auditors General have also been appointed by the government in Ashwani Attri, Anita Pattanayak and Ranjan Kumar Ghose, officers of Indian Audit and Accounts Service. 

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Sunil Arora, the retired 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre and former I&B secretary, has been appointed as an Election Commissioner.

CBSE chairman Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi has been replaced with Gujarat-cadre officer Anita Karwal who was serving as an additional secretary in the Ministry of HRD. Appointment of another IAS officer, Ali Raza Rizvi as CMD of National Mineral Development Corporation has been cancelled and IAS officer N Baijendra Kumar has been given this post now.

ECONOMIC TIMES, SEP 6, 2017Home Ministry gives financial powers to joint secretaries

NEW DELHI: In an effort to speed-up projects, the Home Ministry has given financial powers

to the joint secretaries who can now spend up to Rs 50 crore for executing works and purchasing

land, an official said. Joint secretaries have also been allowed to make procurement through open

or limited tender up to Rs 20 crore and procurement through negotiated or single tender or

proprietary contract up to Rs 5 crore. This is for the first time that such financial powers have

been given to joint secretaries to bring greater flexibility in operations, reduce delays and

facilitate quick decision on matters involving financial expenditure, a home ministry official

said. The decision has been taken by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who assumed charge

on August 31. The joint secretaries can give expenditure sanction under infrastructure, civil,

electrical works under approved schemes and projects up to Rs 50 crore. They can also approve

purchase of land through state governments, municipal bodies and urban authorities up to Rs 50

crore. The joint secretaries can also give authorisation, expenditure sanction up to Rs 20 crore for

purchase of operational vehicles of central armed police forces, Delhi Police and other security

related organisations. These financial powers were earlier exercised at the level of Union home

secretary, special secretary and additional secretary. There are around 20 joint secretaries in the

home ministry handling different divisions, and the financial powers have been given to them for

the first time.

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DEFENCE, NATIONAL

TRIBUNE, SEP 6, 2017Military & ‘unelected’ defence ministersMG Devasahayam

The principle behind an elected representative controlling the military is that in a democracy, the people are sovereign and being controlled by their elected representatives means that the military is under sovereign control.Much water has flown down the mighty Brahmaputra. Yet, it has not washed away the shame of the 1962 Sino-Indian war when, thanks to political and bureaucratic blundering, India suffered a humiliating defeat and the entire blame was put on the Army. Civil-military relationship was dismal then and continues to be so. Despite this over half-a-century old painful experience, no lessons have been learnt and politicians and bureaucrats are vague and unclear about even defining this relationship.  

Nevertheless, the armed forces have attempted a definition. In his treatise 'The Soldier and the State' (1998), the former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat (retd), lays it down with a fair amount of clarity: "The modern military profession exists as part of the government insofar as the term 'government' includes the executive departments of the nation-state... Modern democracies, therefore, pay great attention to the supremacy of the political class over the military in governance, normally referred to as 'civilian control of the military'. This is clearly how it should be, since all ultimate power and decision-making should be wielded by the elected representatives of the people." Successive Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force have endorsed this definition.

Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places the ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military officers. A lack of civilian control over the military may result in a state within a state. The civilian control ideal is summarised as "the proper subordination of a competent, professional military to the ends of policy as determined by civilian authority."

Civilian control is often seen as a prerequisite feature of a stable liberal democracy. The use of the term in scholarly analyses is in the context of a democracy governed by elected representatives, though the subordination of the military to political control is not unique to only democracies. 

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The role of the military in a democracy is an ever-relevant concern which was raised by Plato 2,500 years ago. The principle of political control of the armed forces as we know it today is rooted in the concept of a representative democracy. It refers to the supremacy of civilian institutions, based on popular sovereignty, over the defence and security policymaking apparatus, including the military leadership.

Democratic control should always be a two-way process between the armed forces and society. In a democracy, firm constitutional guarantees should protect the state, including the armed forces, from two types of potential dangers: politicians, who have military ambitions, and military with political ambitions.

There are a number of shared principles of how to establish the armed forces in a democratic society. They include indispensable prerequisites to organise and guarantee a proper civilian direction and control of the forces. These are essentially the existence of a clear legal and constitutional framework defining the basic relationship between the state and the armed forces and the role of parliament in legislating on defence and security matters. These also include the hierarchical responsibility of the military to the government through a civilian organ of public administration -- Ministry of Defence -- that is charged, as a general rule, with the direction and supervision of its activity.

The integration of the military into state and society also follows strict. Adhering to these principles, our military is under the control of the Government of India, Ministry of Defence. As the representative of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, it is the Defence Minister who wields 'civilian supremacy over the military'. It is imperative, therefore, that the Defence Minister of the country should be an 'elected representative of the people' and not someone nominated by the party chief and voted by some party MLAs. 

This cardinal principle has been repeatedly violated by the Modi government. First it was Arun Jaitley, a defeated Lok Sabha candidate from the Amritsar constituency in Punjab, a state that contributes a large share to India's military. When the Modi government was sworn in, Arun Jaitley was made 'part-time' Defence Minister, though the BJP along with its NDA allies had more than 300 elected representatives in Parliament. Months later, Manohar Parikkar from Goa was brought in as 'full time' Defence Minister through the Rajya Sabha route, only to make his rapid return to the sunny beaches! And the ministry went back to Arun Jaitley as if there was no 'elected representative' in the stables of the BJP or the NDA.

As if to rub it in, for the fourth time now, we have an unelected Nirmala Sitharaman as the Defence Minister. While he brought in several 'super-performers' into his Cabinet as full-fledged

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ministers or ministers of state with independent charge, Prime Minister Modi could not find one elected representative to fill this sensitive position. Is there such dearth of talent?

The underlying principle behind an elected representative controlling the military is that in a democracy like ours, the people are sovereign and being controlled by their elected representatives means that the military is under sovereign control. This sovereignty cannot be usurped by the PM by making a person not elected by the people directly as the Defence Minister. This is particularly so because we know what kind of vested interests are obliged with Rajya Sabha tickets these days.

If this situation is accepted, tomorrow an arms merchant or lobbyist can be brought in through the Rajya Sabha and made Defence Minister who would exercise 'civilian control over military.' Can this be countenanced?

The writer is a former Army and IAS officer

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DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION

PIONEER, SEP, 1, 2017OFFICERS TOLD TO MAINTAIN QUALITY IN DEVELOPMENT WORKS

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State Transport, Social Welfare, Minority Welfare Minister, Yashpal Arya, who is also the district in-charge of Pauri, has instructed concerned officers to conduct physical verification of the development work being initiated in the district to check the quality of works while also ensuring transparency.

The Minister stated this while presiding over a monitoring meeting of the development works being done under the district plan of 2017-18 on Friday.

Arya further said the State Government had released Rs 23 crore for the district plan 2017-18 in the first phase and asked the officers to distribute the released funds to different departments.

District Magistrate Pauri Sushil Kumar informed that while Rs 84 crore has been allotted to the district for the 2017-18 district plan Rs 23 crore has been received as the first installment. While Rs 11.50 crore had been distributed to different departments, Rs 2 crore has been utilised in the development works so far, he said. While PWD has been given Rs 3.3 crore against Rs 14 crore, Social Welfare, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry Departments have received Rs 10 lakh each. Besides, Agriculture Department has been given Rs 15 lakh the figures for sports and Sanskrit departments are Rs 13 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively. 

While the Social Welfare Department has been instructed to focus on Narinekaten and Kishore Naya, the Horticulture Department has taken up a plan to go for plantation over 80 hectare of land. During the meeting, the Power department has been instructed to construct 33kv power sub- station at Chakisain aside from electrifying 339 toks of the district. 

SSP Jagat Ram Joshi and CDO VijayaJogdande were among the officers  present at the meeting.

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

STATESMAN, SEP 6, 2017Expectations from the NITI AayogAshwani Mahajan

Afew weeks ago, the Vice-chairman of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog sent his resignation to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi saying he was not getting an extension of leave from his employer, Columbia University, where he had been serving as a professor. The Government has appointed Prof. Rajiv Kumar, an economist, in his place. In parallel, Dr. Vinod Paul, who is serving at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was also nominated as member NITI Aayog. Media reports suggested that Arvind Panagariya has perhaps resigned due to ‘criticism’ from Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, both organizations affiliated with RSS.

NITI Aayog came into existence in January 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a new system would replace the Planning Commission. While NITI Aayog was being constituted, the Prime Minister had said that while working as Chief Minister of Gujarat, he realised that states always had to approach Planning Commission with a begging bowl.

The Centre makes policies and programmes which states have to follow, whether they want them or not. Therefore there was a need to have cooperative federalism. A ‘One Size Fits All’ approach was no good; therefore programmes had to be tailor made for states. There was need to have a ‘Bottom to Top’ approach in place of a ‘Top to Bottom’ one. Therefore NITI Aayog was seen as an instrument of states’ empowerment. NITI Aayog was devoid of power to allocate funds, which Planning Commission possessed. NITI Aayog was considered not as a power centre, but as a ‘think tank’.

The natural expectation from NITI Aayog was that along with GDP growth it would focus on other challenges faced by the nation namely, poverty, unemployment, deprivation, inflation etc. Programmes would be chalked out to meet these challenges, after consulting the states, based on the principle of co-operative federalism. Since NITI Aayog was envisaged as a think tank, it was naturally expected that it would work with an open mind, and not under any pressure. Policies and programmes would be made according to the needs and conditions of the states.

However, NITI Aayog despite being equipped with huge workforce of statisticians, officers and experts, failed to make a solid policy document, even to make a start in this regard. It could not even make any headway on the long pending issue of finding a suitable definition of poverty.

Instead of finding solutions to the long standing challenges of poverty, unemployment and deprivation, NITI Aayog’s attention was mainly on issues which were connected with interests of the big corporates, including MNCs. Issues ranging from giving permission to GM crops to dismantling of price control mechanism for pharma prices (so that interests of Pharma companies are not hurt), attracted the attention of the NITI Aayog. It even hired international consultancy firms, to take forward this agenda.

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The declared objectives and structure of NITI Aayog are really appreciable. As we understand, we have bid farewell to planning and the role of private sector has increased enormously. Therefore need was being felt that there should be a think-tank guiding the government, free from the responsibility of allocating resources. Even Ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had indicated the need for this shift from Planning Commission. However, the issue of utmost importance is about the choice of people to spearhead this task. After Arvind Pangariya’s resignation, government decided to appoint an Indian economist to lead the NITI Aayog. Minimum expectation from the vice chairman and members of NITI Aayog is that they would understand the problems of this country closely. Need of the hour is to have inclusive development and not just corporate-based GDP growth.

Inclusive development means development where farmers get remunerative prices for their produce, workers get due share in production, health and education are easily and appropriately available to the masses and incomes are more or less equally distributed. Our youth gets employment and farms get irrigation. A criterion of development is not development of big cities only; rural development gets equal attention. For this, minimum requirement is that people sitting in NITI Aayog should be sensitive to the problems of farmers, workers, the unemployed and deprived.

It would be appropriate to state that there are two schools of thought about development in the world. One is represented by the Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati-Arvind Panagariya combine and the other by Prof. Amartya Sen. First approach states that we should merely concentrate on GDP growth. If we have high rate of growth of GDP, its benefits would automatically accrue to the poor and deprived. According to this approach the only way to reach high rate of growth of GDP is globalisation and free trade.

According to the other approach, represented by Prof. Sen, while free trade and globalisation are inevitable, they lead to inequalities and poor are not able to fulfill their basic needs. Therefore, to overcome their problems, the poor must be provided with food security, employment guarantee, and health facilities etc.

If we look deeply, neither of these approaches is appropriate for a country like India. Both approaches have corporate interests in focus. Both do not talk of employment generation and talk about jobless growth. The poor are left in the lurch in the Bhagwati-Panagariya approach and at the government’s mercy in the Amartya Sen approach.

Away from these two approaches, there is the imperative of a third approach. An approach where small scale and cottage industries get attention keeping corporate interests at bay, where farmers get remunerative prices for their produce, where employment generation gets priority along with GDP growth. Everybody has a fair chance to be employed and earn a livelihood, so that he/she is not left to look at the government for fulfillment of basic needs, including food, shelter, education and health.

The writer is Associate Professor, PGDAV College, University of Delhi.

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TELEGRAPH, SEP 6, 2017A decelerating economy- This year's growth rate may be the worst in the last four years

Bhaskar Dutta

Contentious decisions

Most independent observers have been expressing alarm about the deteriorating state of the economy in recent months. There is now official confirmation that these observations were not arrows shot in the dark. The ministry of finance has recently released the second volume of the Economic Survey. The survey admits that the economy is exhibiting distinct signs of a deceleration in real economic activity. It retains its earlier prediction of an overall growth rate between 6.75 and 7.25 per cent during the financial year, but candidly confesses that "outcomes closer to the upper end" were unlikely to materialize. So, reading between the lines, the economy is almost certain to grow at much less than 7 per cent during 2017-18.

To put this in perspective, this year's overall growth rate promises to be the worst in the last four years. At least one reason for this is the demonetization exercise last November which probably lopped off about one per cent from the overall growth rate. It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that demonetization - surely amongst the worst policy decisions in recent times - has been solely responsible for the rather dismal performance. I write 'tempting' because demonetization is, after all, a one-time event, and the economy will sooner or later recover from its effects. Unfortunately, there are reasons to believe that other factors, possibly arising due to structural causes and with long-term effects, have also played an important role in slowing down the economy.

Some clues about the nature of these effects come from the observation that the economy seems to have entered a relatively low-inflation regime. The survey attributes the low level of inflation to a structural change in the global oil market and transformation of domestic agriculture. The OPEC cartel has been trying hard to shore up crude oil prices by restricting output. However, its efforts have not succeeded since several non-OPEC countries have stepped up crude production. In addition, shale and other alternative sources have become increasingly popular. The result is that oil prices are at their lowest level since 2014. Policy reforms and good monsoons have also lowered agricultural prices.

The reductions in the price of crude oil and agricultural inputs are supply-side factors. These reduce the cost of production. To the extent that producers pass on some of the benefits of the lower cost of production, this will indeed dampen inflationary pressures on the economy. If this was the only reason for a low inflation regime, this should, in fact, be conducive to growth. At any rate, it is difficult to explain why this should result in slowing down real economic activity.

On the other hand, there are clear signs that the problem lies on the demand side of the economy. The credit offtake figures indicate that firms do not seem to want to borrow from banks. This is a sure sign that producer confidence in the future is low and hence they do not want to borrow in order to fund their expansion plans. State governments in particular are also hamstrung by a lack of resources, and, so, are not investing enough in infrastructure. This is clearly borne out by figures of aggregate investment. There was a time not so long ago when

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the ratio of aggregate investment to gross domestic product was not far short of 40 per cent. Today, the corresponding figure is less than 30 per cent. So Indian firms are not buying enough capital goods. The immediate effect is that the lower level of demand for its outputs has caused a slump in the capital goods industry. This also has an adverse impact on future growth rates. Unless firms build new factories, their productive capacity can constrain future output. Similarly, unless there is adequate investment in infrastructure, this sector may act as a bottleneck, preventing a high rate of growth.The Central and state governments need to play a leading role in reviving investment activity in the economy. Unfortunately, the sizeable loan waivers to distressed farmers have absorbed a large fraction of state governments' fiscal resources. The Central government seems to have taken a hit as far as dividend income is concerned, with the Reserve Bank of India in particular paying less than half the dividend that it paid the government last year - this amounts to a shortfall of almost Rs 35,000 crore. The lower growth rate will also mean that other public sector enterprise profits, too, will be below expectations. A similar story is likely as far as tax revenue from the private sector is concerned. These shortfalls may be covered if the government can hive off its holdings in some public sector enterprises. Whether disinvestment revenues fill the hole in the Central exchequer will depend largely on whether the government succeeds in its efforts to privatize Air India. But the prospect of any large scale revival of public investment looks pretty bleak unless this hole is filled.

This makes the role of the RBI particularly important. Unfortunately, the recent policies followed by the RBI have been quite disappointing. Perhaps the most important instrument of monetary policy possessed by the RBI is the repo rate. This is the rate at which commercial banks can borrow from the RBI. The lower the repo rate, the lower is the rate at which banks can lend to its customers. The Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI which decides on the repo rate met a few days ago and agreed to only a small decrease of 0.25 per cent in the repo rate. This decision has come as a big surprise to most economists - they expected the MPC to play a significantly more proactive role by effecting a much larger reduction in interest rates.

This would have increased credit offtake by reducing the cost of borrowing, and hence stimulate growth. However, the RBI has taken a very conservative stance. It justifies its decision by arguing that lower interest rates and greater liquidity would result in a significantly higher level of inflation. This argument does not hold much water at a time when the level of inflation is quite low and real economic activity has slowed down. Surely, the trade-off between stimulating growth and controlling inflation has to go in favour of the first option in times like these.

The RBI can also be faulted for its exchange rate policy. Foreign exchange inflows into India have increased, mainly because foreign investors have been investing in the stock market. The RBI has to 'neutralize' these inflows by buying up dollars and so create an artificial demand for foreign exchange. However, this involves an increase of domestic liquidity. Given its phobia about inflation, the RBI simply has not carried out the neutralization exercise fully. As a result, the real effective exchange rate of the rupee has been appreciating steadily. This has made Indian exports more expensive in foreign markets so that demand for Indian exports has gone down. This, too, has contributed towards slowing down the economy.

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The author is professor of economics, Ashoka University

ASIAN AGE, SEP 1, 2017Rajiv Kumar takes office as Niti Aayog's vice-chairmanNew Delhi: Noted economist Rajiv Kumar todaytook over as the vice-chairman of government think tank Niti Aayog.

Kumar replaced Arvind Panagariya, an Indian-American economist who left the think tank on Thursday to return to academia.

Kumar was a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). He holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a PhD from Lucknow University. Earlier, he had also served as Secretary General of industry association Ficci.

He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board between 2006 and 2008.

Kumar had also served as the chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and held senior positions in the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.

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EDUCATION

DECCAN HERALD, SEP 5, 2017Board exam marks not to be spiked next year

The committee had favoured most of the recommendations made by the school examination boards at a meeting called by the HRD ministry in April. DH file photo

A committee comprising seven school examination boards, including CBSE, said that spiking of scores of students in the board exams must be stopped across the country from 2018.

The committee, which met recently, has also recommended bringing in uniformity in the setting of question papers of all boards in subjects like Science and Mathematics. This is done to bring in uniformity in the evaluation of students' performance in the Class X and XII board examination, official sources said.

"The panel has recommended for stopping the practice of spiking marks, not the entire moderation policy," a source added.

The inter-board working group, set up by the human resource development ministry to look into the issue of the spiking of board marks, comprised the heads of the secondary school examination boards of Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Manipur and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations as members.

The report of the committee, which also has suggestions for the CBSE to use only one set of question paper in the board examinations instead of the three already prepared till this year, is expected to be sent to the HRD ministry soon for scrutiny.

The meeting was presided over by R K Chaturvedi before he was removed from the post of CBSE chairman and shifted to the National Skill Development Agency on August 31. The appointments committee of the cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replaced Chaturvedi with Gujarat-cadre IAS officer, Anita Karwal.

"These are all suggestions. The HRD ministry will decide the next course of action to persuade all the school examination boards to stop spiking students' scores from next year," a source said.

The committee had favoured most of the recommendations made by the school examination boards at a meeting called by the HRD ministry in April. This included a recommendation for framing a common curriculum in Science and Mathematics to bring parity in the evaluation of the papers.

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HINDU, SEP 7, 2017Keep politics out of educationPrashanth Perumal J.

Colleges need to be freed fromthe control of the government

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) has come under huge criticism after the

death of 17-year-old student S. Anitha from Tamil Nadu, who failed to clear the

examination. People against NEET argue that the exam imposes unreasonable demands on

students from rural areas who follow a lighter syllabus. Its supporters, on the other hand, say

that NEET is a welcome push to improve the quality of school education in the State. The

Tamil Nadu government, they believe, will now make efforts to improve the quality of

education. Interestingly, both sides agree that the government has a crucial role to play in

education. It’s just that one group wants the Centre to be in charge, while others prefer the

State government. This consensus among both sides is alarming because the root cause of

the present crisis, which has distressed thousands of students in the State, lies in the

politicisation of education.

Political football

As is evident to any keen observer, both the Centre and the State government have been

more than willing to tweak college admission rules when it suits their political ambitions.

The dumbing down of school education standards in Tamil Nadu under former Chief

Minister M. Karunanidhi was the most notable of the various populist moves to appease

rural voters. The Centre’s behaviour has not been much different either. Its stance on NEET

has fluctuated in tandem with its political equation with the ruling governments in Tamil

Nadu. In fact, some may argue that the uncertainty created among students drew directly

from the political games played around NEET. Such politicisation of education at various

levels of government, however, is hardly surprising. Handing over the job of managing

education to politicians will naturally bring political considerations into it. This will hold

true regardless of whether it is the Centre or the State government that is in charge of

education. So, pinning high hopes on either of them will only lead to disappointments in the

future.

The only real solution in the long run is to keep politicians out of the business of education.

Colleges need to be freed from the control of the government, which will naturally also free

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them from its populist diktats. They should be allowed to choose the tests, or other criteria,

based on which they will admit students. Such a vibrant market for education, marked by

free competition, will improve both the quality and the accessibility of education to the

poor. Many, however, fear that in the absence of a central regulator, colleges will admit

students without sufficient screening, which in turn calls for an all-India exam such as

NEET. This is untrue. Colleges which have their reputation on the line will care more than

the government about the quality of students they admit, which will reflect in their screening

methods. Of course, colleges that employ questionable screening methods too will exist in

such a market, but with commensurate reputation. On the other hand, the failure of

government regulators such as the University Grants Commission to uphold education

standards is already there for everyone to see.

DECCAN HERALD, SEP 7, 2017Frame rules for appointment and service of the teachers as per RTE ACT,' CBSEPrakash Kumar

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its schools to frame the service rules for teachers and ensure that they are recruited as per the provisions of Right to Education (RTE) Act. File photo

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its schools to frame the service rules for teachers and ensure that they are recruited as per the provisions of Right to Education (RTE) Act.

In a circular, the board has noted that the appointment of teachers with prescribed procedures and qualifications and service condition is not adhered to “by some CBSE affiliated schools” despite statutory provisions made for it under the RTE Act.

Many of these schools have also failed to take prescribed measures for professional development of the teachers. They have also not brought in a mechanism for redressal of the teacher's grievance, it underlined.

“A number of complaints have been received against affiliated schools claiming payment of partial salary, delay in disbursement of salary and allowances, promotion and non-availability of welfare measures for teachers, retaining the teachers after schools hours, engaging them in the non-education activities etc,” it said.

As a result, the teachers in such schools feel demotivated in pursuing their career in the teaching profession and taking interest in the classroom teaching, it underlined.

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“This adversely affects the overall quality of education and learning outcomes. It is, therefore, reiterated that all CBSE affiliated schools shall frame the service rules and shall ensure the appointment of the teachers, their service conditions etc. as per the provisions of RTE Act 2009, respective State Act and CBSE affiliation bye-Law in its entirety,” the board sought.The RTE Rules, 2010, makes it mandatory for the schools to “appropriately” prescribe and notify the salary, allowances and service conditions of the teachers. The affiliation bye-laws of the CBSE also prescribes the same for the teachers of the affiliated schools.

“It has been noted that many of the private schools have managed to bypass the rules,” official sources said.

In view of such reports, the board asked all schools to “define and publish” the terms and conditions of service of the teachers. It also directed them to ensure that teachers get timely promotion and the benefit of Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme at par with teachers working in the similar grade in the central or state government schools.

Referring to the existing rules, the board said in its circular that all schools must ensure that the vacancy of a teacher does not exceed 10% of the total sanctioned strength of the teachers as required under Section 28 of the RTE Act.

TIMES OF INDIA, SEP 5, 2017New UGC policy: Research scholar could lose registration for plagiarismManash Pratim Gohain

NEW DELHI: Soon a research scholar could face cancellation of his or her registration if found

to have plagiarised someone else's work and a faculty, if found guilty of the same, could be

debarred from publishing any work, denied annual increments and disqualified from supervising

any student or scholar.

As part of its effort to have zero tolerance towards plagiarism, the University Grants

Commission has drafted a new policy to curb the menace. It says the authorities of higher

education institution (HEI) can also take suo motu notice of an act of plagiarism and initiate

proceedings. As per the draft policy, three types of penalties would be imposed on those found

guilty of lifting someone else's work.

While in case of "Level 1 and 2" offence, the researchers would get a chance to revise their

work, "Level 3" offence, which is "60% similarities" would result in cancellation of the

researcher's registration. That's for plagiarism in non-core areas.

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However, for plagiarism in core areas, there will be 'zero tolerance'.

As per the new policy, "The core work carried out by the student, faculty, staff and researcher

shall be based on original ideas and shall be covered by Zero Tolerance Policy on Plagiarism. In

case plagiarism is established in the core work claimed, then Plagiarism Disciplinary

Authority (PDA) of the HEI shall impose maximum penalty."

Core work shall include abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and

recommendations. The draft calls for setting up of PDA, Academic Misconduct Panel (AMP)

and installation of software to detect plagiarism, among other reforms at universities and colleges

across the country.

As per the new policy, if any member of the academic community has reason to suspect a case of

plagiarism, he or she shall report it to the competent/ designated authority of the university.

Upon receipt of such a complaint or allegation, the university authority shall refer the case to the

AMP, which in turn shall submit a report to the PDA.

All students submitting thesis, dissertation, term papers, reports or any other such documents to

the HEI shall submit an undertaking indicating that the document has been prepared by him or

her and that the document is his/ her original work and free of any plagiarism.

Every faculty, researcher and MPhil/ PhD student should be provided access to plagiarism

detection tools for checking the content of their scripts and the undertaking shall include the fact

that the document has been duly checked through a plagiarism detection tool approved by the

HEI.

It will also be mandatory for the HEIs to submit to INFLIBNET (Information and Library

Network) soft copies of all M Phil., PhD dissertations and theses carried out in its various

departments after the award of degrees for hosting in the digital repository under the "Shodh

Ganga e-repository" programme.

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EMPLOYMENT

PIONEER, SEP 7, 2017

NITI AAYOG SETS UP TASK FORCE ON EMPLOYMENT, EXPORT45

The NITI Aayog on Wednesday constituted an Expert Task Force led by its Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar to boost employment in the country through increased exports. The task force would propose an action plan to create well-paid, formal sector jobs and alleviate underemployment in both goods and services sectors, the planning body said in a statement.  "Given the importance of exports in generating jobs, India needs to create an environment in which globally competitive exporters can emerge and flourish," the National Institution for Transforming India said. It said the task force would also address the issue of low wages by boosting India's exports in key labour-intensive industries. The other responsibilities of the task force include recommending sector-specific policy interventions, identifying key macroeconomic factors constraining exports and suggesting methods to address these constraints, and assessing the effectiveness of existing schemes to promote exports. The task force would also address issues related to logistics, export credits and trade facilitation, recommend measures to enhance trade in services with high employment potential, and suggest ways to enhance the availability of reliable, timely and globally comparable data on trade, the NITI Aayog said. "While the Indian workforce has high aspirations, a majority of the workers are still employed in low-productivity, low-wage jobs in small, micro and own-account enterprises.  "An urgent and sustained expansion of the organised sector is essential to address India's unemployment and under-employment issue," it said. The NITI Aayog also recommended a shift towards more labour-intensive goods and services which are destined for exports.   INDIAN EXPRESS, SEP 1, 2017Central panel says states don’t need to hike NREG pay to match minimum wage

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A report, prepared by a Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) committee states that wages

under the rural employment guarantee scheme were last aligned to minimum wages in 2009, and

that “there is no compelling reason to align MGNREGA and states minimum wages again”.

THE PANEL for revision of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has recommended in its final report that there is no need to ensure

parity with minimum wages paid by various states. The report, prepared by a Ministry of Rural

Development (MoRD) committee, was recently submitted to Union Minister Narendra Singh

Tomar. It states that wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme were last aligned to

minimum wages in 2009, and that “there is no compelling reason to align MGNREGA and states

minimum wages again”.

The panel had earlier found that MGNREGA wages were lower than the minimum agricultural

wages paid in 17 states and Union Territories. On July 10, The Indian Express had reported that

the panel estimated a requirement of an additional Rs 4,500 crore in its budget in case both are

brought on par.

In 2014, a seven-member expert committee, headed by Professor Mahendra Dev, Vice-

Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, had held that MGNREGA

workers should be paid at least the minimum wages paid to agricultural workers in the states, if

not more, to meet basic needs. The report, was accepted by MoRD but rejected by the Finance

Ministry citing the fiscal burden involved.

A new panel, under Additional Secretary Nagesh Singh, was constituted on the

finance ministry’s advice that the MoRD should set up another internal committee to study the

“financial implications” of the Mahendra Dev panel report.

“Since 2009, when MGNREGA wages were aligned with the states’ minimum wages, there has

been a divergence because several states have arbitrarily increased their minimum wages without

following any scientific principles. There is no reason why the Centre should go by that,” said an

official.

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While the Union government had claimed that this year’s MGNREGA budget of Rs 48,000 crore

is the highest ever, the wage revision this year was at a mere 2.7 percent, the lowest in the

scheme’s ten-year legacy leading to a mere Rs 1-3 per day hike in several states.

The ministry panel has agreed to the second recommendation of the Mahendra Dev committee,

that the Consumer Price Index for Rural (CPI-R), which reflects the present consumption pattern,

should be the basis for annual revision of MGNREGA wage rates, and not CPI- Agricultural

Labourers (CPI-AL), which is based on the consumption pattern of 1983. “This, however, would

not amount to any significant difference to the individual wages,” said officials, adding that it

would require only a Rs 624-crore increase in budget.

Activist Nikhil Dey, who was part of the Mahendra Dev panel, said that states decide on

minimum wages based on multiple factors. “The idea that they have increased it to milk the

Centre is misplaced as they are not benefiting from higher minimum wages in any way.

Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that any payment below minimum wages amounts to

forced labour,” he said.

Reetika Khera, a development economist teaching at IIT Delhi, said that merely linking the

annual wage revision to CPI-R without first increasing the overall wages does little to increase

the existing low wages. “MGNREGA wages have not increased in real terms, ie, after taking into

account prices, because the indexation process is inadequate. For instance, in Jharkhand, wages

increased by less than Rs 5 over the last two years,” she said.

The MGNREGA wages are far lower than minimum wages in states such as Karnataka, Punjab,

West Bengal, Haryana, and Jharkhand. After the recent wage hike, the chief secretary of

Jharkhand even wrote to the Centre against the growing divergence between the state’s minimum

wage of Rs 224 per day, and MGNREGA wages of just Rs 168 per day.

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICE RELATIONS

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 7, 2017Brics member states must find common ground to balance Western interests

Each member has a different relationship with the US or EU. Yet, it is important to articulate common positions in areas of convergence to balance the norms emerging from the West based solely on trans-Atlantic interests

Arun K Singh 

The just-concluded ninth Brics summit in Xiamen, China, had attracted more than the usual

attention because of the preceding month-and-a-half tense standoff between India and China at

Doklam, and the sixth nuclear test conducted by North Korea coinciding with its start.

Questions were also raised about continued relevance of Brics since two of its members (India

and China) had serious differences, geopolitical rivalries and intensifying competition in the

Indian Ocean, South Asia and Southeast Asia; two other members (India and Russia) were seen

as somewhat drifting apart with India building closer relations with the United States and

Europe, and Russia getting more linked to China and exploring new opportunities, including

military, in Pakistan; and two (South Africa and Brazil) bedevilled by political and economic

instability. This was a far cry from the beginning of this century when the concept was promoted

as an investment marketing strategy by western financial firms, and taken forward by the five

countries also as a check on post-1990 western unipolar dominance.

Despite its detractors, the summit and its outcomes showed that the Brics process remains

relevant. The five countries--Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa--account for 42% of

the world’s population, 23% of global GDP, 17% of international trade, and nearly 50% of

growth in recent past.

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Despite the shifts in relative global economic and political standing, especially with increase in

China and India’s GDP since 2000, there is still a need to work for “a more just, equitable, fair,

democratic and representative international political and economic order” as the Xiamen

declaration reiterates. Multi-polarity is essential for India to exercise its “strategic autonomy”, a

declared goal of India’s foreign policy.

Support was also expressed for “an open world economy” since both India and China grew in

framework of global growth and rising exports, and both are concerned about the protectionist

sentiments in the West, particularly US. Commitment was reiterated to work for “enhancement

of the voice and representation of BRICS countries… in global economic governance”, including

shares and voting rights in the World Bank and IMF, where progress has been made, but much

remains to be done. A call was made to fully implement the 2015 Paris agreement on climate

change, threatened by the US disavowal, and importance of “green development and low carbon

economy” recognised. Common positions were articulated inter alia on Syria and Afghanistan,

the North Korean test “deplored” with call for “peaceful means and direct dialogue”.

Issues that these summits have deliberated on remain important in the global context. The first

Bric summit (South Africa joined from 2011) was held in 2009, in the wake of the 2008 global

financial crisis. Brics nations usually met and coordinated positions also in the framework of

discussions in G20 (grouping of major world economies, set up at initiative of US and France in

2008, stimulated by the financial crisis) and the UN. The common positions they adopted on

international trade and finance, global financial architecture and governance, quotas and voting

shares in the World Bank and IMF, were important to balance Western perspectives and

interests.

Starting with the 2013 summit in South Africa, the group expressed common positions on

regional and global political issues, and began outreach to regional partners of the host country.

African and Latin American countries, those from the Eurasian Economic Union and Shanghai

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Cooperation Organisation and BIMSTEC were, in turn, invited to post-summit outreach. This

time, China somewhat changed the pattern and broadened the outreach by inviting Thailand,

Tajikistan, Egypt, Guinea, and Mexico, stretching across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The process, aside from developing an infrastructure of institutional and political links, has

concrete outcomes such as operationalising the New Development Bank and Contingency

Reserve Arrangement.

From India’s perspective, the summit declaration has strong language on terrorism and

specifically names some Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Pakistan’s reaction, at such references

from a meeting hosted in China, following the strong language used by US President Donald

Trump on August 21, revealed its anxiety. The summit also provided an opportunity for a post-

Doklam bilateral between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Both sides subsequently described the encounter as forward looking, aimed at strengthening

mechanisms and interactions to try and prevent or manage better recurrence of such incidents.

Each of the five Brics nations now have a different relationship with the US and Europe. Russia

is under sanctions, following developments in Ukraine and Crimea. With China, the West has

deep economic, trade and financial integration, but differences related to South China Sea and

Chinese trade and currency practices. India is developing closer relations, but has continued

strong political and defence partnership with Russia, and a relationship marked by both

cooperation and competition with China.

It is still important for countries with such different parameters in their relations with the major

world powers, and difference in their relations with each other, to articulate common positions in

areas of convergence to balance the norms emerging from the West based solely on trans-

Atlantic interests. Strong groupings such as Nato, EU and Eurozone also have serious differences

among members, but work to build on areas of common interest and challenge perception.

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Arun K Singh is a former Indian Ambassador to the United States

The views expressed are personal

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

STATESMAN, SEP 5, 2017Multiple messages

The surprise, ever part of the Prime Minister’s script, came courtesy Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman being entrusted with the critical defence portfolio. And while there was no grand plan evident from Mr Narendra Modi’s third ministerial rejig, there were multiple messages: a couple decidedly positive, others moderate, a few rather surprising. As is customary with all governments, such exercises attempt a balance of administrative competence, political stature, electoral strategy, caste and regional considerations etc ~ the result being a mixed bag. Somewhat surprising was new-found ally JD (U) not making it to the ministerial council: that would appear to diminish the clout Nitish Kumar thought he had acquired when ditching his electoral allies. The faction war in the AIADMK probably took its toll, as did the electoral reversal suffered by the Akali Dal, and since the rest of the NDA has little to boast, the rerig turned out to be in-house affair of the BJP, which fuels speculation that another round of tinkering could be undertaken. It must be remembered that such exercises do not bring instant results, so neither praise nor criticism ought to be immediately offered.

It is unfair to Mrs Sitharaman, who has proved her competence in her previous assignment, that her elevation to South Block is being projected from a gender perspective, and confirms that “tokenism” is by default read into so much women-related action. True she has no “defence” experience ~ neither have many male predecessors ~ but she does have the intelligence and energy to tackle the job. Of equal importance to the superintendence of defence is that the PMO and National Security Adviser play major roles. There is a mountain of work pending in the MoD, it is in the interests of national security that Mrs Sitharman be wished success. The “elevation” of the three others to Cabinet status comes as no surprise, Piyush Goyal had done enough in his previous assignment to merit succeeding Suresh Prabhu in Rail Bhawan. The minorities would feel appeased by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi getting a boost in rank, as by the induction of Alphons Kannanthanam as a minister of state. Additional responsibility for Nitin Gadkari was a reward, so too Smriti Irani getting charge of I & B. Much could be expected with Col RS Rathore now handling sport. Uma Bharati is out of favour.

The spin-doctors’ theory of the rejig being efficiency-oriented has not been entirely fleshed out. The much-hyped experience of Hardeep Puri, Alphons, RK Singh and Satya Pal Singh has not been “reflected” in the departments they have been allotted. The other “spin” that two women will now be part of the key Cabinet Committee on Security is negated by all nine new ministers being men. As for efficiency, surely agriculture could do with an injection of expertise. Farm lands are in trouble.

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DECCAN HERALD, SEP 5, 2017Modi's rejig: Eye on polls, mind on governance

Nirmala Sitharaman has emerged as the biggest gainer from Sunday’s reshuffle of the Union council of ministers as she has not only been promoted to cabinet rank but also given the crucial Defence portfolio. In the process, the MP from Karnataka becomes the first woman to independently hold the ministry full time. Since Manohar Parrikar left to take over as chief minister of Goa in March this year, the ministry did not have a full-time minister, and Nirmala will fill this gap. The headline grabbing moment also means that there are two women – Sushma Swaraj being the other – on the key Cabinet Committee on Security now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to relieve Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of the additional charge of defence. This was long overdue, and the economic slowdown post-demonetisation made it necessary that Jaitley concentrated on addressing the economic woes confronting the country.

That the prime minister looked outside career politicians for his team was another highlight of the rejig. He has drafted in former career diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri, and K J Alphons, once widely known as Delhi’s ‘Demolition Man’, Satya Pal Singh, former Mumbai police commissioner, and former home secretary R K Singh. This shows that he badly needed people with administrative experience to be part of his team. Modi has shown the door to six ministers, elevated four ministers of state to cabinet ranks and hand-picked nine new faces in his third reshuffle. He made two major and some minor changes in the portfolio allocations. Besides Nirmala, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have been promoted, reportedly because of their efficiency. But by that logic, if Suresh Prabhu was shifted out of the railways because of a string of train accidents under his watch, how he could still be retained in the cabinet is a matter to ponder.

Among the nine new ministers, there are five from upper castes, one Jat (OBC) and a Dalit. Upgrading Naqvi, bringing in a Sikh (Puri) and a Christian (Alphons) may be an attempt on the part of Modi to project the BJP as an inclusive party which plans to extend its foothold in the East and the South, but not at the cost of jeopardising its hold in the Hindi heartland. However, after the third reshuffle in as many years, the Union ministry, which is now 76-member strong as against the constitutional ceiling of 82, still has six vacancies. This may mean that Modi has kept them open for allies like the Janata Dal (U), and the BJP’s oldest but disgruntled partner Shiv Sena, and perhaps even AIADMK, to be included at a later stage.

TELEGRAPH, SEP 4, 2017The making of a duopoly- Amit Shah is the undisputed number two in the ruling regime

Worm's Eye View-Manini Chatterjee

The much awaited reshuffle in the Narendra Modi government's council of ministers - billed to be the last before the 2019 general elections - has not been a blockbuster, except for the

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elevation of Nirmala Sitharaman as the new defence minister.

The real significance of the reshuffle, arguably, lies not in the changes it brought about in the government but the signal it sent out about the new power dynamics in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The manner in which the reshuffle was executed marked one more step in a process that has been gathering steam for some time now - the replacement of singular supremacy by a formidable duopoly.

Narendra Modi, without doubt, is still the foremost mass leader and principal vote catcher for the BJP. But for the party's rank and file today, Amit Shah is almost equally important - and certainly more fearsome - because it is he who seemingly decides their fortunes and can make or break them.

This was more than evident to anyone seeking a bit of information in the run-up to Sunday's reshuffle. The stock answer was "no one knows anything, no one but the two". In his occasional interviews after taking over as BJP president, Amit Shah used to frown at the media's use of the term "Modi-Shah duo" or "Modi-Shah combine". It may have been premature journalese then; it is now a standard expression uttered - or, rather, whispered - by members of the ruling regime.

Some may argue that duopoly is not new to the BJP and point to the reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani who, for a long time, were the indisputable Big Two. But those were different times and they were different men. The BJP was not the powerful machine it now is; nor did it enjoy the kind of complete political dominance it now does.

But whether it was circumstance or personality, the Vajpayee-Advani duo did not exercise anywhere near the control that Modi and Shah do. For one, there was a host of senior leaders who formed part of the "collective leadership" that the party took great pride in. On the organizational front, there were stalwarts such as Sunder Singh Bhandari and Kushabhau Thakre, Krishan Lal Sharma and Kidar Nath Sahni, and even the likes of J.P. Mathur and Pyarelal Khandelwal who were part of a collegial style of functioning.

While Vajpayee tended to be aloof from the nitty-gritty of party matters, Advani's organizational style was more avuncular than autocratic. Even his bitter ideological adversaries would concede that Advani had the rare gift of spotting and nurturing young talent. He groomed an entire generation of young men and women - Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, K.N. Govindacharya, Ananth Kumar, Uma Bharati, and yes, Narendra Modi - who were to rise to top positions in government and party.

With the advent of Narendra Modi on the centre stage of the BJP in 2013, and following the spectacular victory of the party under his leadership in the summer of 2014, the era of collective leadership came to an abrupt end.

The few surviving elders in the party, including Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, were pensioned off to an old age home called "Margdarshak Mandal", their guidance never sought

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even once since.

And Modi's contemporaries were neither treated nor regarded as his peers anymore. Rajnath Singh is technically Number Two in the cabinet but is hardly the political heavyweight he was considered to be. Sushma Swaraj, once a shining star in the BJP firmament, is today known more for her quick Twitter response to distressed Indians overseas. And Arun Jaitley, who steadfastly backed Modi after the Gujarat riots and remained his friend in Delhi, has not acquired any extra clout - at least none that BJP members can see.

Amit Shah is the exception. He is the one man who has grown - or has been allowed to grow - to a much bigger stature than he enjoyed less than four years ago. The key reason - BJP insiders insist - is the absolute trust Modi reposes in Shah, a trust that has been honed over decades of working together in their home state of Gujarat.

According to party lore, Shah - who attended RSS shakhas as a young boy - first met Modi when he was a teenager. Modi, then an RSS pracharak 14 years his senior, must have seen the boy's potential and took him under his wing. The two of them are credited with decimating the Congress edifice in rural Gujarat and taking over the powerful Congress-controlled cooperatives after the BJP first came to power in the state in 1995.

Modi moved to the party headquarters in Delhi soon after, but he kept his links with Shah. Modi helped him get the ticket to fight a by-election from the Sarkhej constituency in Ahmedabad in 1997. Shah went on to win the seat in the next four elections. Modi became chief minister of Gujarat in 2001. After winning the 2002 elections, he made Shah a minister in his cabinet, giving him choice portfolios, including the coveted home ministry.

Critics within and outside the state BJP regarded Shah as Modi's henchman and his reputation of being menacing and ruthless acquired traction when the Central Bureau of Investigation accused him of playing a role in the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife, Kausar Bi, and his associate, Tulsiram Prajapati. Shah was arrested in 2010 and under court orders was exiled from Gujarat for two years - when he moved to Gujarat Bhavan in Delhi. After getting bail from the Supreme Court in September 2012, he contested and won the Naranpura seat in Ahmedabad later that year.

But it was only after Modi was anointed the BJP's prime ministerial candidate in 2013 that Shah's star began to shine again. The CBI court discharged him in the encounter case in 2014. But in 2013 itself, Rajnath Singh appointed him national general secretary and gave him the charge of Uttar Pradesh.

Shah's reputation as an "election winning machine" got a big boost when the BJP won 73 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP and his meteoric rise began after Modi became prime minister. Unmindful of the convention of not having the prime minister and the party president from the same state, Modi made Shah the BJP chief in July 2014.

Shah sealed his reputation as an ace "election strategist" by winning a string of states, effectively harnessing the continuing popularity of Narendra Modi through the skilful

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deployment of resources, manpower and indefatigable zeal and energy.

The BJP's spectacular victory in the UP assembly elections six months ago seems to have marked a new stage in Shah's growth as a leader. This is evident from the spate of adulatory articles written by the party faithful after Shah completed three years in office in July and crowned it with a Rajya Sabha seat in August. Shah, his new band of admirers claim, is not just a "strategist" but also an ideologue; not just a party builder but a visionary. And whether it is the choice of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister or the president of India or the composition of the Union cabinet, Modi consults and listens to Shah and no one else. Or so is the perception shared widely within the party.

Not everyone is happy with the complete stifling of inner party democracy in the BJP. But so long as the Modi juggernaut, oiled by Shah, keeps winning elections and dominating the Indian polity, no one has the courage - or the inclination - to complain. With Modi focused on becoming a "world statesman" and the "most popular prime minister since Independence", it is Shah they have to deal with on matters more mundane and immediate.

Modi remains the party's supreme leader for now. But Shah has proved that he is no Sancho Panza. He is a don in his own right - even if there is nothing quixotic about him.

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 4, 2017Cabinet reshuffle: Nirmala Sitharaman is India’s new defence minister

Nirmala Sitharaman takes charge of defence ministry from Arun Jaitley.

Nirmala Sitharaman, who was promoted to the cabinet rank on Sunday, would be India’s new

defence minister.

Sitharaman takes over from finance minister Arun Jaitley who had been doubling up as the

defence minister after Manohar Parrikar left for Goa in March to take over as the chief minister.

The 58-year-old Sitharaman, who was earlier minister of state for the commerce and industry

ministry, is only the second woman defence minister of the country and the first independent

woman minister to hold the charge of the important portfolio.

As Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi also held the defence portfolio.

Sitharaman takes over at a time when world order is changing at a swift pace, with China getting

increasingly assertive in the neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean.

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The recent standoff between the two countries in Doklam along India’s eastern border was one

such example.

With China and India, the world’s economic growth engines and emerging powers, vying for a

larger play on the global stage, such frictions are bound to rise.

Then there is the need for upgrading Indian military’s infrastructure. India is the world’s biggest

arm importer and it need to scale up military capabilities to keep pace with China’s defence

modernisation.

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PUBLIC FINANCE

TELEGRAPH, SEP 5, 2017Worthwhile afterthought- The CEA's enthusiasm for GST knows no bounds

Ashok V. Desai

British ideas about budget making were simple till the 1930s. The task of the finance minister was to ensure that the government lived within its means: it meant that government expenditure should not exceed revenue. It did so during every war; but when peace returned, the finance minister was supposed to spend less than revenue, and use the savings to pay off public debt. It did not always so happen, but that at least was the ideal.

Keynes pointed out in 1936 that the budget balance had an impact on the economy: a surplus took away purchasing power and drove down output and prices, while a deficit stimulated the economy. So budget balance had to vary against the cycle: the government must run a surplus when the economy was booming, and spend more than its revenue when the economy was depressed.

The leaders that took over India's government after Independence wanted the budget to do still more; they wanted to use the budget to "develop" the economy - to make it grow faster, and direct expenditure into nationally useful or ideologically desired activities. Hence the structure of government expenditure changed; and the leaders' enthusiasm for their preferred goals was so strong that they ran enormous deficits. If that led to inflation and payments deficits, so be it. Thus the traditional discipline of budget making was jettisoned. But the ritual remained; the budget continued to be presented on the last day of February, and was discussed for a month before it was passed and controlled government expenditure for the year beginning in March.

By the 1960s, even this discipline crumbled. The government spent more than the budget permitted it well before the financial year ended; it went to Parliament, presented an interim budget and got permission to spend more. The last tradition that survived was the fixed dates for budget presentation and the financial year. Our present finance minister thought of jettisoning it too - of making the financial year coincide with the calendar year. He could not do that this year because of the chaos created by demonetization in November.

He brought in a chief economic advisor from abroad whose loyalty to tradition was even weaker. The finance minister is supposed to lay on the table of Parliament an Economic Survey prepared by his CEA on the day before the budget which is expected to explain the macroeconomic background against which the budget was framed. Arvind Subramanian was new to the Indian economy and fascinated by it. He filled up the Economic Survey with his

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discoveries and brainwaves. Then he realized or was told that his Economic Survey did not survey the economy as it was supposed to do. So he announced that the conventional survey would be a bit delayed. It has just come out.

It begins with a vigorous defence of goods and services tax. It boasts that textiles and clothing will be brought into the tax net. Just why subjection to tax is a virtue is not clear. On that argument, the government is being quite irresponsible since it does not tax agriculture. The survey celebrates the fact that builders will now have to pay GST, but omits to mention that buildings themselves will still not be subject to GST. The government would have faced massive protests if it had taxed buildings; their buyers are too many and too important politically to touch. So it decided to tax contractors. It is time contractors turned themselves into builders, and sold entire buildings instead of services going into construction.

There has always been a clear distinction between imports and domestically produced goods: imports paid import duties, whilst domestic goods paid sales or value added taxes. Some greedy finance minister levied a 4 per cent "special additional duty" on imports; it was really a sales tax, but it was small. Now imports will be subject to import duties, and also pay GST. Some of it will be refunded to the users of imports when they pay GST on their production. Tax authorities are usually very cussed when it comes to giving refunds; the CEA seems to think that they will change their stripes.

Still, if true, one of his claims will have a substantial impact. He says that once the uniform national GST comes in, states will abolish checkposts on their borders used to make sure that goods crossing over have paid state taxes. Apparently, Indian truck drivers spend only two-fifths of their time driving; they spend a quarter of it waiting at checkpoints and being polite to obstructive policemen. Now they will be able to drive six hours more every day and cover an additional 164 kilometres. Their average mileage will still reach only 444 kilometres a day, whereas American truckers cover 800 kilometres a day. I guess the difference is accounted for by the fact that American highways are better, American driving manners are better and more reliable, and American truckers get better food and accommodation on the way.

The CEA's enthusiasm for GST knows no bounds. He would like it to be imposed on schools and hospitals because they are more used by the rich. He would like electricity to be taxed so that those who pay tax on it can claim refunds if it is a production input. He thinks the 3 per cent tax on gold and jewellery is far too low; it should be raised, so that it becomes more attractive to evade it.

The number of GST rates is far too high. There are six rates - 0, 3, 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. The CEA says that the multiplicity is to protect the poor from price rises. That may well be said of the zero per cent rate; but how are they helped by the 3 per cent duty on bullion? The standard rate is supposed to be 28 per cent, but only 229 of the 1,211 items are going to bear it. What happened was that one or other state finance minister would argue for a lower rate on some product of interest to his state, and the Central finance minister would say, "All right, let us have a lower rate for it." He could have settled on 5, 18 and 28 per cent, but he was keen on "safeguarding" revenue, and so he brought in two more compromise rates. If he found later that the revenue with three rates was insufficient, he could have shifted some goods to higher

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brackets. The nice, friendly, reasonable finance minister has thrown away the opportunity of simplifying the indirect tax structure, which was the main point of introducing GST.

There is much more in the second volume of the Economic Survey. For instance, the CEA gives figures to show that both the output and prices of agricultural goods, especially cereals and pulses, have become less unstable in the last dozen years. He attributes it to "reasonably" high support prices. It is difficult to see the connection; I would have looked for an explanation in irrigation on the one hand, and in the behaviour of inventories on the other.

However, further critique of the CEA's hypotheses must wait till next year.

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RURAL DEVELOPMENT

STATESMAN, SEP 7, 2017Structural change needed for community developmentReena Mehta

For several years now community participation has been the buzzword in the development sector. The community was always supposed to be at the centre of all poverty-reduction activities but how many thought of including it as a genuine partner in these activities. However, very soon everybody was reminded of the community.

It started with the dictum of Professor Robert Chambers, ‘Ask them’. During the 1980s and 90s, community participation became popular in all poverty alleviation programmes. The whole approach was based on the assumption that communities themselves know better what their needs are, so ‘ask them’ and as given proper resources they are in a better position to implement programmes and projects concerning them, so ‘involve them’.

Thus participation would lead to empowerment, which in turn would lead to poverty reduction. Direct involvement of the community was assumed to lead to efficiency and effectiveness of the projects and make them much more sustainable. There are genuine examples where participation has led to both empowerment and efficiency.

For example, the inclusion of women in management roles in village water committees and associations is seen to represent a form of female emancipation and also ensuring the sustainability of facilities.

Another assumption is that people know better than experts what their needs are and who among them are not able to fulfill them.

One more argument which is given in favour of community participation is that it can be an effective way of reducing the cost of several anti-poverty interventions.

Local community may know better ways to lower costs than the oursider. Also, communities may be in a better position to verify that activities related to interventions take place.

However, if strong community participation was seen as a way to alleviate poverty, it came with a sobering acknowledgement that there is much to learn about the ways a community is engaged. Community participation is based on the assumption that communities are homogeneous and are well-informed, competent and capable.

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However, in reality communities are not homogeneous or have common interests; instead they compete for the benefits.

When NGO activists and social scientists talk of how ‘a community’ lobbied local government, built a well or decided on a development strategy, who are they talking about? Do they mean everyone in the community, or just the majority, or just the richer ones, or just the men? Is the will of ‘the community’ the same as the will of the community leadership?

In reality, participation is selective and tends to concentrate on people who are not very poor because to the poor, participation is a costly and time-consuming affair.

Therefore those who actually require interventions have little or no time to participate (unless special efforts are made to make it viable for them), as participation comes at the cost of their day’s labour which they can hardly afford.

More so, there is always a danger of elite capture of any community activity.

Since many community organisations are not democratically elected, the involvement of local leaders often represents the voice of a group of self-appointed people. In the process the poor become even more marginalised.

Also, most of the time, the resources distributed are scarce. Under such circumstances, the expectation that poor people should cooperate in the distribution of these scarce resources is too much to ask for.

Such situations mostly promote competition rather than cooperation among community members. Initially community participation created very high expectations.

However, with time their experience with these expectations and low outcomes has discouraged many members from participating further. In reality there are many assumptions related to community which can either promote or hinder participation.

There is need to recognise the fact that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to community participation. Its outcomes always grow out of specific situations and it cannot be replicated in another community.

For poverty alleviation, first we need to acknowledge that there exist no ‘poor communities’ but communities where a majority but not all of the people are poor. Poor are usually marginalised by their fellow community members and their voices are ignored. Poverty reduction is more of a political issue than a technical one.

It is very difficult to consider community as a homogeneous entity. Collective action of the people is an exception, not rule. Participation is not possible in an environment where resources are scarce and benefits limited. Under such circumstances the poor see themselves as competitors and instead of cooperation seek patronage.

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Here comes the role of politicians who work as patrons. Politicians seek clients among the poor to remain in power and instead of taking up the cause of the poor they only do some symbolic service. Thus despite all efforts of the last so many decades, the problem of poverty remains very serious. What is required to be done to tackle poverty is to bring structural change rather than symbolic services.

There is a need for redistribution of resources and this distribution is always demand-driven rather than supply-driven. Thus the effort should be to increase the assertive and empowered role of the poor. Those who remain silent are always ignored. Thus real empowerment for poor is to increase their bargaining power.

(The writer is a freelance contributor and researcher)

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SOCIAL PROBLEMS

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 1, 2017Rape, including within a marriage, is a crime. It must be treated as such

It is not simply a question of social sanction for sexual relations that marriage in conservative societies provides; it is a far more basic question of a person’s right to their own body. Sexual relations with even one’s own spouse without their consent cannot be considered anything other than rape.

The recent submission by the government of India in the Delhi High Court arguing that marital

rape should not be made a criminal offence is a regressive stand, and one that has the potential to

be extremely harmful to victims of sexual abuse in the country. The government has argued that

criminalising rape within a marriage “may destabilise the institution of marriage” and could

become a tool of harassment of husbands. Adding insult to injury was the Twitter statement of

Swaraj Kaushal, Mizoram Governor and husband of the minister of external affairs Sushma

Swaraj that if marital rape were to be criminalised, “there will be more husbands in the jail, than

in the house”

Rape is an act of sexual assault inflicted upon a person against their will. Whether the perpetrator

of such an act is married to the victim or not, the nature of the act, the violence inflicted on the

victim, and the emotional trauma faced by the victim does not change. If anything, the trauma is

worse because the victim must continue to live with the perpetrator even after the assault. To

inflict upon a person the sort of brutal emotional and physical violence that takes away even the

sanctity of their own body in the way that rape does is to deny them their basic humanity. It is

not simply a question of social sanction for sexual relations that marriage in conservative

societies provides; it is a far more basic question of a person’s right to their own body. Sexual

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relations with even one’s own spouse without their consent cannot be considered anything other

than rape.

By suggesting that such a law will be misused to persecute men, Mr. Kaushal and the

government are attempting to perpetuate a patriarchal mindset that makes men afraid that

“disgruntled” women would seek revenge upon their husbands by the use of this law. It is an

argument that diminishes the struggle and emotional abuse that thousands of women, stuck in

marriages that they have been forced into and cannot leave for fear of social ostracism, face

every single day. It diminishes also the courage and the perseverance that victims of sexual abuse

– irrespective of gender – show when they admit to having been raped in a society that continues

to blame and shame the victims of such abuse. As for misuse, that is a possibility with almost

every law. It stands to reason that convictions and punishments will be meted out only after

appropriate investigations.

India is a land of glaring inequalities of class, caste, religion, and gender. Arguments against the

criminalisation of marital rape will only add to these inequalities. What we need instead is to

establish mechanisms that will allow victims to not only come forward to report such incidents,

but also to help them cope with the trauma that they endure.

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TAXATION

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 1, 2017Deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar extended till Dec 31

People who do not have Aadhaar can file their Income Tax returns, but their returns will not be processed till they submit their Aadhaar number

The government on Thursday extended by four months, the deadline to link Aadhaar and PAN

till December 31. This move comes at a time when a similar extension has been granted for

furnishing Aadhaar to avail benefits of social welfare schemes.

“To facilitate ease of compliance by the taxpayers, CBDT has extended the date (for) ... linking

Aadhaar with PAN till December 31, 2017,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

Also, the ‘due-date’ for filing Income Tax returns and audit reports has been extended by a

month to October 31 for all taxpayers who were liable to file their returns by September 30,

2017.

The extension has to be read in the backdrop of the fact that Aadhaar is facing a slew of legal

challenges on grounds that it breaches privacy, leaving officials to wonder if the government can

still push ahead with its use in a wide range of services.

These concerns have heightened since the Supreme Court’s privacy judgement on August 24.

Government sources say that reading of the privacy judgement and other SC verdicts on the

biometric-based identity scheme show that Aadhaar could lose its position of eminence against

pre-existing identity proofs.

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Joint readings of the apex court’s judgements since 2015 on Aadhaar reveal the SC has raised

doubts about the legality of making the Aadhaar project the basis of availing

citizens’entitlements.

In its landmark judgement on privacy, SC had referred the challenges to the Aadhaar scheme to

another bench of judges that will begin hearing the matter from November.

But before that, the apex court from September 4 will start hearings into Jairam Ramesh’s

challenge against the validity of Aadhaar Act.

“Aadhaar is a proof of identity of an Indian citizen and not for availing benefits as a citizen or

activities such as opening bank accounts, filing tax returns, passport applications,” said Gopal

Krishna, member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, one of the first petitioners against the

Aadhaar programme.

Top sources in the government said that the tax department has been studying the privacy

judgement to see if it contradicts the mandatory linking of Aadhaar with PAN for income tax

returns (ITR).

“We are reading the judgement to see if it makes mandatory linking of Aadhaar and PAN for

ITR legally untenable. We are in touch with the law ministry,” said a senior officer in the tax

department.

The government had made it must for people to link their Aadhaar with their PAN for income

tax returns (ITR) from this year and warned that those not adhering to the rule could lose their

permanent account numbers.

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Tax payers were also at the risk of facing legal proceedings if their PAN was cancelled, which

could invalidate their ITR. The government said that this linking would stop duplication of PAN

and dubious tax returns.

But this mandate was challenged at the Supreme Court leading to a verdict in June that restrained

the government from initiating criminal proceedings against tax payers who do not link Aadhaar

and PAN. But the verdict did not strike the government’s move to link the two for filing tax

returns or for PAN application.

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URBAN DEVELOPMENT

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 4, 2017Metro Matters: Let’s fix the basics before planning for smart cities

In Delhi, while the officially designated landfills were already experiencing mini-landslides under the weight of city’s garbage when the Ghazipur disaster struck, hundreds of water bodies have been turned into makeshift dumpsites for want of proper waste disposal.

Shivani Singh 

It is ironic that the monsoon, often described as the lifeblood of the Indian economy, can cause its major cities so much misery. In the last one month, we witnessed a string of civic disasters, probably some of the worst recorded in recent times.

Mid-August, residents of Bengaluru were forced indoors when two of the city’s giant lakes

spewed so much toxic froth that it became difficult to breathe. A week later, Chandigarh, India’s

best-planned city, was swamped with such forceful rainwater back-flow that cars floated away.

On August 29, floods in Mumbai killed five and left thousands stranded. Two days later, a 117-

year-old building in south Mumbai’s Bhendi Bazaar collapsed, killing 34 people. Delhi, which

was already anticipating severe waterlogging with the return of the monsoon rain after a brief dry

spell, had a chunk of its biggest landfill come hurtling down on people, killing two.

Although the authorities blamed heavy downpour for these civic tragedies, none of this came

without a warning. Poisoned with city’s sewage and industrial waste, Bengaluru’s lake crisis was

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building up for years, leaving us with unbelievable spectacles of water bodies catching fire.

Chandigarh’s natural storm water channels remain choked for the last two decades.

Evidently, Mumbai learned no lessons from the 2005 floods that killed 500 people. When the

city flooded again 15 years later, the project to upgrade the British-era drainage system was only

half complete. Mumbai’s natural drainage system — the wetlands, lakes and the Mithi river —

remain stuffed with concrete and garbage.

In Delhi, while the officially designated landfills were already experiencing mini-landslides

under the weight of city’s garbage when the Ghazipur disaster struck, hundreds of water bodies

have been turned into makeshift dumpsites for want of proper waste disposal.

The national capital’s gutters and stormwater channels are clogged with plastic, construction

waste, road dust and domestic sewage. Ponds and water bodies are long lost to real estate

development. Unsurprisingly, even minor showers cause waterlogging, sewage back-flow and

traffic jams. We talk about building smart cities even as we can’t stop our biggest urban centres

from falling apart.

Far more obsessed with growth and urbanisation than India, even China has decided to pay more

attention to the basics of civic planning than just executing “vanity” projects. In 2012, when

flooding killed 79 people in Beijing, the authorities, like they do here in India, blamed the

volume of rain and not their city’s mindless concretisation and inadequate drainage for the

tragedy.

But a rethink followed and Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped in to announce the development

of 16 sponge cities. The project, launched in 2015, is about developing storage ponds, filtration

pools, and wetlands in residential areas, and roads and squares built with permeable materials

that allow storm water to soak into the ground more effectively.

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The pilot projects in Beijing, Shanghai and Xinjiang have shown that 85% of the storm water

run-off can be reduced yearly, China Water Risk, a non-profit organisation, reported. The

harvested grey water is meant to be used in toilets and for washing the streets.

While there is anxiety around long-term funding and top-down approach in implementing the

project, there is general consensus among all city administrations that this is their best shot at

achieving flood mitigation and water security at the same time.

As the threat of climate change looms large, cities world over are, in fact, getting bolder in their

initiatives to achieve resilience. Seoul (South Korea) has reclaimed the Cheonggyechon River,

which had been covered by a highway. Inspired, planners in Mexico City are proposing to tear

down the east-west highway, one of the busiest roads in Mexican capital, which encases the

Piedad River. Initially done to control flooding, the cementing reduced the river to a drain,

destroying its ability to absorb storm water.

Delhi has similarly built mega structures such as Barapullah elevated road and Dilli Haat at INA

over the natural channels that used to carry rainwater to the Yamuna. Ideas to demolish them and

free up the nullahs may never gain political currency. But what’s stopping the city administration

from unclogging the rainwater channels that can still be unclogged?

HINDUSTAN TIMES, SEP 6, 2017How Smart Cities Mission can help municipalities to improve governance

Indian cities are primarily governed by municipal commissioners who are frequently transferred. The lack of institutional memory in municipalities further prevents projects from being implemented in a timely manner, even if the leadership changes.

Persis Taraporevala 

A study by the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, demonstrated that the Special Purpose Vehicles and municipalities differed in terms of composition, but overlap greatly in terms of functionality(JoenStock)

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The Smart Cities Mission (SCM) promises to bring India into the 21st century of governance.

This is no mean feat given the negative perception of municipalities as unresponsive and

ineffective. The SCM requires each smart city to create a parallel institution called a ‘Special

Purpose Vehicle’ (SPV), which is then delegated the ‘rights and obligations’ of a local

municipality. The two are interrelated. However, the exact terms of their relationship and

hierarchy are unclear, thus making them liable to conflict. This ambiguity will be detrimental to

collaborative efforts between SPVs and municipalities and to democratic processes. Thus, it is

imperative to ask: How can the SCM create efficiencies in local governance while strengthening

democracy?

A study by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, demonstrated that SPVs and

municipalities differed in terms of composition, but overlap greatly in terms of functionality. The

SPV is registered as a limited company under the Companies Act, 2013, and comprises a small

board, normally under 20 people. The board consists of state and central government bureaucrats

with a smattering of municipal-level bureaucrats and elected representatives. All SPVs are

allowed up to 40% private investment. Municipalities consist of both elected officials and

appointed bureaucrats, whose numbers could run into the hundreds. According to the Mission

guidelines a SPV is formed to, “…plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage,

operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects...” and should have

‘operational independence’ and the right to collect taxes and charge fees towards achieving this

aim.

The SPV structure was created to circumvent the problems associated with municipalities and

ensure greater efficiency in planning and implementing urban development projects in the smart

cities. Unfortunately, the ambiguity surrounding the relationship between the two organisations

has made SPVs vulnerable to failure.

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First, the strongest asset the SPV offers urban governance is stable leadership. Indian cities are

primarily governed by municipal commissioners who are frequently transferred. The lack of

institutional memory in municipalities further prevents projects from being implemented in a

timely manner, even if the leadership changes. The SPV, however, will hire a CEO to implement

the mission and could have more stable leadership and ensure that the plan is implemented

professionally. However, the CEO essentially could govern a geography and budget similar to

the municipality (currently at Rs 1,91,2015 crore for 90 cities and growing) without clear

accountability to citizens.

The second advantage of the SPV is its liberty to develop new processes between people and

departments that could streamline decision-making and ensure better coordination between

departments. Municipalities are often restricted from achieving similar forms of efficiency as

they are encumbered by their size and propensity to work in departmental silos. While SPVs

could implement projects rapidly, their accountability is unclear and without a strong body of

elected representatives, this structure could become opaque.

Third, most municipalities do not have strong finances in India, and one hopes the SPVs will

have higher credit ratings and allow cities to have greater access to funding, through fees and the

debt market.

While the CPR study found that no SPV has currently opted for private investment, it does not

preclude them for utilising this source of finance at a later date. This could bring about financial

and ethical dilemmas as private bodies will seek returns on investments and this could result in

rising costs of services. This could render the projects under SCM unaffordable for low-income

citizens. It is essential that the financial security-public service balance be made clear and

techniques like cross-subsidisation be planned in advance, rather than applied haphazardly later.

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Thus, the SCM could visualise the SPV as a means of bridging departments, providing finance

and stable leadership in the short term for municipalities to understand the importance of goal-

oriented urban development. This will, hopefully, push municipalities to work towards inter-

departmental convergences and for a decentralisation of executive powers to elected leaders from

the city, like a Mayor, who could ensure more sustained city management. In order for the

Mission to affect urban development in the long term, it must revolutionise urban governance

while ensuring that safety nets of accountability and transparency are bolstered.

Persis Taraporevala is a research associate, Centre for Policy Research, New DelhiThe views expressed are personal

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