LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED

ASIAN AGE

BUSINESS STANDARD

DECCAN HERALD

ECONOMIC TIMES

HINDU

HINDUSTAN TIMES

INDIAN EXPRESS

PIONEER

STATESMAN

TELEGRAPH

TRIBUNE

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CONTENTS

CIVIL SERVICE 3-8

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION 9

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 10-15

EDUCATION 16-20

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 21-22

GOVERNORS 23

HEALTH SERVICES 24-25

HISTORY 26-28

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 29-30

JUDICIARY 31-37

LABOUR 38-39

LIBRARIES 40-44

PARLIAMENT 45-46

POLICE 47-48

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 49-57

PUBLIC FINANCE 58-61

PUBLIC SECTOR 62-63

SOCIAL PROBLEMS 64-65

TAXATION 66

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CIVIL SERVICE

TRIBUNE, AUG 23, 2016Rap for Haryana, UPSC returns list for IAS selectionNaveen S Garewal

The Union Public Service Commission has censured the Haryana government for its move to push the names of relatives of a politician and a bureaucrat for selection to the IAS by concealing a stay on “finalising the selection” by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).

The Chief Secretary’s office has received a communication returning all applications for the selection of state-cadre officers for appointment to the IAS. Earlier, in July, the UPSC had returned three of the five nominations, including those of Cabinet Minister Ram Bilas’ daughter and wife of the CM’s Principal Secretary and a senior town planner, raising queries over lapses, incomplete ACR records, overwriting, use of correcting fluid, etc. But it gave the candidates another chance to make corrections and return the applications.

In the meantime, one Lajpat Rai challenged the state’s selection list in CAT, alleging nepotism and favouritism.

The Chief Secretary’s office, however, sent the list again after removing the discrepancies, but withheld the information that the matter had been stayed on August 3. The UPSC communication received by the Chief Secretary’s office lists how the state government did not mention the court/CAT case and asks for a fresh proposal to be submitted “only after the order of the tribunal is either vacated or any further order is passed in this regard”.

The panel of names sent included the names of Dr Asha Sharma, daughter of Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma; Dr Sonia Trikha, wife of the CM’s Principal Secretary Rajesh Khullar, and Dr Rakesh Talwar, an SMO posted in Raj Bhawan. The other two names are that of Gurmeet Kaur, a senior town planner, and Parmeshwar Mehra, an officer in the Excise & Taxation Dept.

ECONOMIC TIMES, AUG 20, 2016Delhi government notifies implementation of 7th Pay panel recommendations

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has notified implementation of the Seventh Pay

Commission recommendations, which provides 2.5 times hike in basic salaries and pensions of

its employees and pensioners with effect from January 1. The over one lakh employees of the

city administration, will get the increased salaries from next month. The arrears will also be paid

in one go next month, a Delhi government official said. The hike in pensions and salaries will

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cost the exchequer around Rs 2,000 crore annually. The notification was issued after Lt

Governor Najeeb Jung gave his approval for the same, the official said. The move comes nearly

oneandahalf months after the Centre approved the recommendations of the pay panel. "Arrears

as accruing on account of revised pay consequent upon fixation of pay under CCS (RP) Rules

with effect from January 1, 2016 shall be paid in cash in one installment along with the payment

of salary for the month of August, 2016, after making necessary adjustment on account of GPF

and NPS, as applicable, in view of the revised pay," Deputy Secretary Manoj Kumar said in a

written communication to head of all departments. As per the the new scales of pay, the basic

salary at entrylevel is going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level

i.e. secretary, it would go up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For class one officers, the starting

salary will be Rs 56,100.

BUSINESS STANDARD, AUG 17, 2016Govt officials find memo on foreign travel hard to digestMany argue there's a mismatch between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on international exposure and his government's diktat to officials on limiting travelNivedita Mookerji

Tour cos say overseas travel demand remains robust despite terror attacks, military coup India is of strategic importance to us: AAE Travel's Jonathon Neal Prepaid forex cards the best way to carry money abroad Ola teams up with Via to allow travel agents book cabs for customers Travel firms, airlines make merry on long weekend

A four-page circular issued in the first week of January 2016 by the expenditure department in

the finance ministry to regulate foreign visits of government officials looked like another

austerity drive memo. But, seven months later, several key ministries and departments are

struggling to cross what they believe is a difficult hurdle. Many argue there’s a mismatch

between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on international exposure and his government’s

diktat to officials on limiting travel.

Officials spoke to Business Standard on the condition that names of their ministries and their

own identities be kept confidential. While the circular was meant for all government officers

across ministries, the interpretation has varied widely. Even as a prominent economic department

has clamped down on foreign visits like never before, another ministry continues to send officers

out of the country for meetings and conferences whenever there’s a need.

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The January circular was a departure from what has been the practice so far. While earlier

austerity measures meant controlling expenses on foreign visits, the office memo sent in the

beginning of the year went beyond that. It specified that foreign visits will not exceed five

working days. And, that anydelegation for foreign travel (irrespective of the level of officers)

exceeding five working days or five members shall be placed before the screening committee,

headed by the Cabinet secretary, for approval. Also, no officer can undertake more than four

official visits abroad in a year, and for visits exceeding that, proposals must be vetted by the

Prime Minister through the screening committee. Till last year, the screening committee cleared

trips only for officials who were above the level of joint secretary; for joint secretary and below,

a Union minister was the approval authority.

An aggrieved official pointed out that the problem is that certain ministries are going overboard

and putting in restrictions the expenditure department memo did not impose. “Some secretaries

are micro-managing to decide who should go and who should not, what is important and what is

not, leaving the staff frustrated,” he said. Another official said work in many ministries and

government departments is suffering as delegation strength is being curtailed for some critical

meetings related to the country’s economy. In many cases, trips have been cancelled, adversely

impacting business matters and exchange of information on important issues, he added.

But, former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar who held the top job during the United

Progressive Alliance regime, told Business Standard: “I am generally of the view that foreign

travel should be restricted not only as a measure of austerity, but also because a great deal of

work remains to be done in various ministries.” He recalled that when Prabhat Kumar was the

Cabinet secretary and he was joint secretary in commerce ministry, he had once asked why he

was looking at trips of all joint secretaries and above. Kumar had told Chandrasekhar: “I too

thought the same way but later came to realise that without some control, some officers will be

forever in the air.” According to Chandrasekhar, there are always mechanisms in the government

to take care of exigencies.

Another top bureaucrat, who has worked with the previous regime as well, said: “Foreign visits

of government officials have always been a vexed issue.”

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The official spoke about another issue that has cropped up from the January memo - it places

restriction on travel of officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). “In an outgoing

Indian delegation, there need not be any MEA official. Instead, services of the Indian Mission

situated in the destination country could be utilised,” it says. According to an official, this is at

times slowing down the political clearance given to foreign visits of bureaucrats by MEA. “MEA

officials have become unduly stringent in giving political clearance as they themselves are under

severe restriction on foreign travel,” according to a source.

Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), among the rare

departments to have posted officials’ foreign visit data for the current year, shows there were

three trips in 2016 till the end of March. The largest delegation size was nine this year for

DARPG for a trip to Hague, Netherlands, to attend an e-governance programme. The

expenditure for the trip was Rs 30.4 lakh, against Rs 9.78 lakh and Rs 4.12 lakh for the other two

trips during this period. In 2015, the highest spend by this department was Rs 12.19 lakh for a

trip to Singapore, where some 14 officials travelled last November.

The commerce ministry, which has not posted any data for this year, shows 23 foreign trips

between October 2014 and March 2015, the months up for which information is available. The

highest expenditure was Rs 3.56 lakh for a one-member trip to Paris in October 2014, five

months after the Modi government took charge at the Centre. In those six months, expenditure

towards foreign travel was Rs 40.9 lakh in the commerce ministry for trips to Beijing, Paris,

Moscow, among others. Compare that with 2012, when foreign trips by 129 commerce ministry

officials to various destinations were done at a cost of Rs 1.76 crore.

The official website of Department of Economic Affairs, which is yet to post the latest foreign

visit data, shows a total of 67 trips in 2012 by its officials at a total cost of Rs 3.5 crore, of which

the highest expenditure per trip was at more than Rs 10 lakh for a G-20 visit to Mexico.

TRAVEL TROUBLE

A four-page circular was issued in January by the expenditure department in the finance

ministry

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Seven months later, several key ministries and departments argue there’s a mismatch

between PM Narendra Modi’s focus on international exposure and his government’s

diktat to officials on limiting travel

The circular specified that foreign visits will not exceed 5 working days

Any delegation for foreign travel (irrespective of the level of officers) exceeding 5

working days or 5 members shall be placed before the screening committee

No officer can undertake more than four official visits abroad in a year, and for visits

exceeding that, proposals must be vetted by the PM through the screening committee

HINDU, AUG 17, 20167th pay panel benefits to M.P. govt. employees soon

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced to give Seventh Pay Commission benefits to its employees soon and also to form a Cabinet panel on employment to explore job opporutunt6ies.

“The government employees will get the benefit of seventh pay scale and cabinet on employment will be formed to explore job opportunities and facilitate eligible persons to get employment. A campaign also would be launched for this,” Mr. Chouhan said addressing a function here on the occasion of Independence Day.

HINDU, AUG 16, 20166 per cent hike in DA for H.P. govt employees

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday announced release of 6 per cent additional DA to employees and pensioners of the State government with effect from January 1 this year, which would cost Rs.330 crore more to the State exchequer annually.

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Presiding over the State-level function on the occasion of the 70th Independence Day at Solan, he said the government has already released 5 per cent interim relief to employees and pensioners, and 6 per cent additional DA would be paid from October.

Mr. Singh, who unfurled the National Flag and inspected the march past at the function, listed the achievements of his government and claimed that the State has made “remarkable progress” in education, health, construction of roads, and opening and upgradation of over 1,000 schools.

Twenty-four Industrial Training Institutes, two engineering colleges and 41 government degree colleges have been opened, mostly in rural areas in the last three years.

The enrolment of girls in higher education has surpassed that of boys, the Chief Minister claimed.

An IIT, IIM and Fine Arts College are coming up in Una, Sirmaur and Shimla, four medical colleges at Nahan, Chamba, Hamirpur and Mandi and AIIMS at Bilaspur, he said, adding that 135 health institutions have been opened and upgraded and 41,500 youth given jobs during the tenure of the present government.

Asserting that welfare of people is top on the agenda of the government, he said till date 1.27 lakh youth have benefited from Skill Development Allowance Scheme. Contractual employees and daily wagers who have completed five and seven years of service respectively are being regularised. – PTI

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DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION

STATESMAN, AUG 23, 2016Telangana to have 17 new districts

Telangana will have 17 more districts as the government on Monday took the first step for reorganisation of districts.

The state, which came into being in 2014, currently has 10 districts, including state capital Hyderabad.

The government issued a draft notification for formation of new districts.

Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali told the media that 15 new revenue divisions and 46 new 'mandals' were also proposed to be created.

Ali, who holds revenue portfolio, said this will take the total number of revenue divisions to 60 and of 'mandals' to 505.

The government has sought people's views on the draft notification. A special website has been launched to enable people to give their suggestions over next one month.

Ali said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will call an all-party meeting to elicit views of various parties on draft notification before issuing the final notification.

The chief minister has announced that new districts will formally come into existence from Dussehra.

The proposed new districts are Acharya Jayashankar, Hanamkonda, Jagtial, Kamareddy, Komaram Bheem, Kothagudem, Mahabubabad, Malkajgiri, Nagarkurnool, Nirmal, Peddapally, Sangareddy, Shamshabad, Siddipet, Suryapet, Wanaparthy and Yadadri.

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

STATESMAN, AUG 20, 2016Consumption-led growthArunabha Bagchi

On July 24, all newspapers in India commemorated the budget speech of a quarter of a century ago by the then Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh. It had ushered in the era of neoliberal economics to our country. Commentators were euphoric about our post-reform growth rate and dramatic increase in the level of consumption of the urban educated middle class, while mentioning as an afterthought our hapless countrymen and women who have been left behind. There were some vague suggestions on how to tackle that problem in the future. The commentators must have instinctively known that the economic laggards must be left behind in order to have rapid consumption-led growth. Some newspapers were even lyrical in their praise of Manmohan Singh and reported enthusiastically about his quotation from Victor Hugo. It is not surprising that Dr Singh and his bureaucrats, the best and the brightest of Macaulay’s children, could not find any quote appropriate for the occasion from our past or present thinkers.

The Nehru baiters, whose number is increasing by the day, used this anniversary as just another opportunity to denigrate one of our greatest leaders and freedom fighters. Most of them have no inkling about the difficult policy choices faced by Jawaharlal Nehru and some of the brilliant minds of our country advising him right after our Independence. We were under foreign (Anglo-Saxon) rule for almost two centuries that left us darn poor, with hardly any industrial base or technological competence. The only historical evidence our policy makers had of a backward country making rapid industrialisation was that of the Soviet Union. It was the New Economic Policy of Bukharin, despite some drawbacks, that enabled the Soviet Union to withstand incessant western efforts to sabotage the Bolshevik revolution and eventually destroy it by using Adolf Hitler. This economic policy was based on capital accumulation by temporarily squeezing the peasants and using that capital to industrialise an impoverished and mostly illiterate country.

The Mahalanobis model of rapid industrialisation was largely influenced by this success story of the Soviet Union. This meant promotion of heavy industries, at the cost of importing the proverbial Wilkinson Sword blades for smoother shaving. The policy makers were also aware that our businessmen are primarily traders, have mostly feudal mind-set and were unlikely to invest in capital goods with long- term prospects for profit. The only option left to develop the indigenous industrial base was through the public sector. The result was, as the economist Ajit Ghose pointed out, that “many resources went into building of institutions of tertiary education and to subsidisation of students in these institutions, even while primary and secondary education remained neglected. Capital too was subsidised in a variety of ways (cheap credit, low import

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duties, overvalued exchange rate). These policies made both skilled labour and capital relatively cheap.” According to him, this was the secret behind India’s services-led growth from the 1980s.

We are happily pointing out the unsustainability of China’s export-led growth that was preceded by spectacular growth in investment. The question is whether our consumption-led growth is also unsustainable in the long run. This question is very important when our Prime Minister is day-dreaming about 8 per cent growth of our economy on a sustained basis for thirty years. In a report that appeared last year and was entitled India’s Rise: A Strategy for Trade-Led Growth, the author C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute of International Economics in Washington D.C., asserted, “India must sharply increase its exports of both manufactured goods and services to achieve its target growth rate (of 8 to 10 per cent).” The main motive of C. Fred Bergsten was to coax India into joining various transnational trade deals initiated by he United States. Being an economist, he failed to foresee the groundswell of discontent among a vast number of ordinary Americans who suffered from this myopic policy in his country for a generation. This policy did result in job growth in India for the computer savvy better-educated urban middle class till now, but is expected to reach its limit in a not-too distant future.

The absolute necessity to increase our export performance to reach a higher growth path on a sustained basis was also echoed recently by our Chief Economic Adviser, Arvind Subramanian, who worked under C. Fred Bergsten before joining the Modi government. C. Fred Bergsten also rightfully stressed that India lagged way behind in competitiveness and the merchandise trade deficit is at an all-time high. To counter this trend, he advised us to export manufacturing goods on an aggressive basis. But it is easier said than done. Our neglect of primary and secondary education for all Indians after Independence has now come to haunt us, and it will be years before we would have the necessary percentage of our population with adequate skills to manufacture quality products and boost our exports. But even if we were to produce adequate skilled workforce, our small and medium scale enterprises would continue to hire unskilled (contract) workers in order not to disturb their immediate profit margins. Our businessmen would rather buy cheaper products from China for selling with profit in India instead of setting up factories to produce goods that are competitive internationally. No wonder that our business-backed present government is keen to swallow all overt and covert insults from China to keep our import line open with that country. Our shadow fighting with Pakistan does not affect those traders in any case.

Two days after the 25th anniversary of the historic budget speech, on July 26 of this year our country made news in the western media after a while. But that had nothing to do with commemorating our economic liberalisation.

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In a report published by Water Aid on that day that was appropriately entitled, Cut Short, the researchers clamed that India has the largest number of stunted children in the world. In fact, more than half of our citizens are stunted. Relative improvement of nutrition did not have a tangible effect on the percentage of our stunted children. The reason, according to Water Aid, is primarily due to lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).According to the report, half of all cases of malnutrition in India are linked to diarrhoea. In fact, if a child experiences five or more cases of diarrhoea before the age of two, he or she may be stunted, and “the effects are largely irreversible.” In a highly sympathetic article published by The Guardian newspaper on that issue with the title, “India’s Poor Sanitation is damaging Millions of Children. There is No Excuse,” the author Rose George saw the appalling apathy of our middle class through the eyes of a young Indian boy named Ram. Ram’s eyes told what my granddaughter tells whenever she is wrongly accused of something, “That is not fair.” It reminded me of Bengali newspapers reporting on a daily basis about the number of people dying of cholera in Calcutta and surrounding districts in my boyhood days. I was not bothered, let alone feeling outrage, as I did not know of any bhadralok dying of cholera in Kolkata. Not much has changed since then, as I gathered from The Guardian report.

In his first book, The Affluent Society, published in the mid-fifties that changed the whole discourse of political economy, the American economist John Kenneth Galbraith had a memorable quote about his country in the heyday of American capitalism as one of “private wealth and public poverty.” This is the best description of India a quarter century after adopting the neoliberal economic model of growth, as was evident in an incisive article by Harsh Mandir entitled, “Twenty-Five Years of Liberalisation: India must realise that wealth is not development unless it is shared.” Without sharing the wealth generated after economic liberalisation, our consumer-led growth is bound to reach its limit and we must be prepared for the consequences.The writer is former dean and emeritus professor of applied mathematics, University of Twente, The Netherlands.

TELEGRAPH, AUG 16, 2016The Trump effect - The American economy will be changed by technology

Commentarao: S.L. Rao

Many have speculated on what effect a President Trump would have on the world. Americans might well vote for Hillary Clinton who many detest. But she might be preferred over Trump. Whether he gets elected or not, he is certain to have a strong effect on the policies of any American administration and on the world.

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The United States of America today has become weaker economically under every president from Lyndon Johnson. It is more unequal than it was. A good part of its manufacturing has migrated, mainly to China. Chinese products sell at much lower prices than the US's. Immigration from Latin America, with millions of illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico (now overtaken by residents of one year or less from China and India), depresses wages for low skilled white labour. Skilled workers (engineers from India and elsewhere) support information technology in many industries, both remotely from India and by Indians in the US. Trump promises to sharply reduce the number of immigrants.

Trade agreements, especially the North American Free Trade Agreement, and those with China (which Trump terms "the greatest jobs theft in history"), are believed to have acted to the detriment of American manufactures. Trump and others ignore negative impacts of free trade on Mexico and others. Trump will not proceed with the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, and says he will raise tariffs to protect American manufactures. The US government has high debt, deficit balance of payments, and fiscal deficit, all of which could get worse by these actions (but could be cushioned by technological developments). But they could lead to high costs for consumers.

Trump wants to get American companies to desist from manufacturing overseas, abandon or renegotiate all trade agreements, and sharply reduce immigration. He will thus restrict trade and investment globally. Apart from violating international agreements, this will also raise domestic prices. Trump has made rash promises with his superficial plans, but the issues have to be tackled by any candidate. Both Hillary and Sanders proposed similar policies.

In the medium term, the US as the most powerful economy, with enormous technological and scientific capability, will find ways to grow. Immigration is changing the racial colour but making it youthful. America cannot be written off. But relatively, other economies like India are growing faster.

Trump's constituency consists of low income and uneducated whites (his "middle class"). The support he has garnered in the primaries shows that they are disgruntled and many in number. Their real incomes have been relatively static for a decade. They cannot find better paying jobs. They cannot afford the high costs of educating their children, who find borrowing for higher education prohibitively expensive. They resent the immigrants from South America and now the Muslim refugees who compete for jobs and government services.

Hillary Clinton plans to tackle these issues and is more acceptable to the world and the educated elite in the US. She accepts that the main causes for poor lower middle-class incomes compared to that in the period of Bill Clinton's presidency are globalization, technological progress in the US, the overseas reduced demand for labour and improvement in productivity, and poor choices by business leaders and policymakers.

The Washington Post (July 29, an article from which I have used in the next two paragraphs) showed the changes in median incomes under four presidents: 3 per cent under George H.W. Bush, +4 per cent under Bill Clinton, -4 per cent under the second Bush, and -3 per cent under

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Barack Obama. Her priority is to create jobs which pay well.

She accepts that trade agreements have been largely negative in their impact on American production and jobs. But she does not propose to withdraw from them or to ban free trade. She plans to make trade agreements enforceable, to strictly enforce them, and to renegotiate them.

Her plan includes spending more than $1 trillion to rebuild US infrastructure, allow students to attend college without incurring debt and help working families afford daycare for their children and take paid leave to raise them. She thinks such spending would create jobs, improve household net incomes, and accelerate economic growth. They will help low and middle-income students gain skills that are increasingly necessary for high-wage work, and reverse a recent trend of women leaving the US workforce. She would raise taxes on the highest earners and impose a new minimum effective take-home pay to curb inequality. She would clean up the banks (possibly reducing private investment funds). She would add to the Obama administration's wave of new regulations on Wall Street and she would change the tax code to discourage companies from moving operations overseas, while encouraging them to share profits with workers and invest more in providing long-term opportunities. She plans to raise the minimum wage to $15-an-hour federal minimum. States could set higher rates if they choose. It has to be seen if all this expenditure will add to government deficits, raise prices and the exchange value of the dollar. These would have adverse economic effects on the US and the world.

Globalization is causing hostility among countries in the European Union. The decline of the Russian economy happened because it was so dependent on oil exports and its prices collapsed, thus depressing Russian trade. The Middle Eastern countries, especially oil exporters like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya, will also reduce imports. Iran is a bright factor with the removal of sanctions. Overall global trade will not grow as in past years. Particularly the Western countries led by the US will enforce rules of agreements more strongly against China. The Chinese economy is already under pressure because of the vast domestic debts of provinces and State-owned enterprises. Restrictions on imports from China will make things more difficult for the country. Countries might focus more on domestic markets and manufacturing. The US will add to its problems in the longer term if it depends on shale oil and gas which have polluting characteristics. But it will not.

There are dramatic changes which will change industry and the job market. A new industrial revolution is under way. American technologists and scientists have enabled instant communication with the internet and mobile phones, information technology to control and share information, mobile banking, robotics and decentralized 3D printing technologies that could sharply reduce production scales. Also, renewable energy with solar, wind and geothermal sources at declining and increasingly competitive costs, new electricity storage technologies that enable returning power to grids, revolutions in transportation with oil products replaced by electricity, distributed energy and transmission will all lead to many more jobs and control of pollution. Service industries are the new growth area, and not manufacturing.

The next president of the US will move to reform existing structures to benefit American

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workers. Innovative American technologists will change the structure itself.

India is already focused on domestic markets, preparing to smarten up cities for greater urbanization and better living, investing in skills development and education. It will be less dependent for its growth on trade and more on internal domestic markets. Indian skilled labour will find employment in the developing third industrial revolution in the US. The enforcing of trade rules, particularly on China, might increase demand for our products.

Trump is responding (with little details) to genuine concerns. Hillary Clinton will address them. In the medium term, the nature of the American economy will be changed by technology. The policies under Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will also change India and the rest of the global economy. In the long term, the world might be better.

The author is former director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research

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EDUCATION

HINDUSTAN TIMES, AUG 22, 2016DU to give students right to ‘reject’ all candidates in elections this year

Delhi University for the first time this year has decided to give students the NOTA (none of the above) option to select from during the upcoming students union election.The electronic voting machines (EVM) will have the NOTA option for the Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) election that is scheduled for September 9. The decision was taken by the DUSU election advisory committee chaired by the pro-vice chancellor on Saturday.

This year the election committee will also organise an open house meeting with the students to sensitise them about rules pertaining to the elections.

The city, especially areas adjoining north and south campuses, have already been smeared with posters in the run up to the election, with colleges being littered with pamphlets and papers often.

The littering of college campuses has happened despite the National Green Tribunal sternly ordering the university to ask candidates to devise ways to conduct campaigning in an eco-friendly manner without wasting paper.

“Delhi Police has been requested to impound cars that move around in groups with banners and posters of candidates. The green court’s order will be strictly followed,” said DS Rawat, DU’s chief election officer.

The university has also sent a special request to the political parties to adhere to the rules. Though Delhi University officially does not recognise any political party, students who contest the polls are backed by different political parties.

Students from the Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) are likely to file their nominations for the polls this year. The Aam Aadmi Party-backed Chhatra Yuva Sangarsh Sansthan (CYSS), which had contested the polls last year, has decided not to enter the fray this time around.

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In a letter written to all political parties, Rawat said: “Kindly cooperate in directing the candidates not to use printed posters, deface public property and take out processions without explicit permission of the election officers.”

There are 51 colleges which participate in the DUSU polls each year with each college having a separate election monitoring committee that report violations of the code of conduct.

In case of any complaint, candidates are required to respond to notices sent to them on email within 24 hours failing which ex-parte decision are taken.

ASIAN AGE, AUG 16, 2016JNU sets strict rules for events, Ph.D. students

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has introduced a new set of rules for students who want to organise public meetings or events on the campus in order to prevent students from bringing any disrepute to the university.

The new rules have been introduced in the aftermath of the February 9 event where alleged anti-India slogans were raised at a meeting held against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru by some students.

According to the new rules, formulated by the dean of students (DoS), all the events organised in the varsity will be recorded and security would be empowered to check the identity cards of all the participants.

“The university administration has made changes in the rules for public meetings, following which now the organisers would be required to provide the details of the programme. Also, it has been made mandatory for the students that they ensure all participants provide their details, including their name, the institution to which they belong, their mobile number and address. However, the university will have the right to cancel the programme if found inappropriate,” said Jawaharlal Nehru University Studen-ts’ Union joint secretary Saurabh Sharma, the lone ABVP member in the union.

Similarly, if a Ph.D. scholar is not able to submit his research paper in due time, then after taking special permission from the university, hostel facilities for such student will remain for only six months instead of one year. According to a United OBC Forum member, a complete list of these rules were handed out to two members, when they went to seek permission from the DoS office for a public meeting to be organised outside their hostel mess last week.

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STATESMAN, AUG 20, 2016'Quality education focus of New Education Policy'

Asserting that education is fundamental to bringing social change in society, Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said, the government is giving final touches to the New Education Policy, which will lay thrust on quality education for all.

The minister said suggestions on the draft education policy are welcome and a deadline for comments on the draft was extended till September 15 this year.

Speaking at a function organised in Ruia College, Mumbai to facilitate meritorious poor students, Javadekar said that active participation of society was also essential for ensuring education for all.

Javadekar said the education policy should be in sync with contemporary realities and address the aspirations of the new generation.

He called active participation of society essential for ensuring education for all. "You cannot entrust the entire responsibility to government alone," he said.

The minister expressed concern that there were 20 lakh vacancies of teachers at various levels from primary schools to IITs. He urged students to consider teaching as an honourable career option, not confining themselves to engineering and medical fields.

On the occasion Javadekar also handed over financial assistance to meritorious poor students who had scored high marks in SSC examination of Maharashtra Board, fighting against all odds.

TELEGRAPH, AUG 19, 2016

Thinking about teaching- The most important policy issue facing India as a nation

Shubhashis Gangopadhyay

A draft National Education Policy, 2016, has been put up for comments from the general public. Currently, this is, perhaps, the most important policy issue facing us as a country. A good education policy will determine what will happen in India over the next 15-20 years. A botched-up education system will destroy all the good that could come from the goods and services tax, high-speed trains, smart cities and state-of-the-art physical infrastructure. This is because education generates both private and social returns, and it is the latter that determines how productive the other policies will be. In this context, it is worth remembering that private schools that charge a fee from parents for their wards will necessarily be focussed more on

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private returns than social returns. According to the 2011 census the ratio of private to public schooling is close to unity. This makes the need for a good education policy even more compelling in a country where poor children routinely drop out of school.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has gone a long way in ensuring near-universal enrolment. The time has now come, as the draft policy correctly notes, to improve the quality of education. However, much of the focus among all those debating education is restricted to learning outcomes in languages and mathematics, followed by the sciences. But education in general, and school education in particular, has to be more than creating spectacular achievements in reading, writing and arithmetic. These are necessary, but never sufficient. It is also important for the education system to create a generation that will not go about their business while the life of an accident victim bleeds out on a busy thoroughfare. It needs to build up a generation that is sensitive to gender, caste and communal issues. The new generation needs to be better integrated in terms of a common social goal, and this cannot be driven by a few good people, or parents. Institutions in society must generate these social values and the educational institutions form the bulwark of such institutionalization.

We are starting with a handicap. Private schools, because they are paid for by parents, are more quality-conscious than government schools. And, for the same reason, they are more focussed on offering career training. Of course, there are some private schools that do a fantastic job of imparting wholesome education to children. Unfortunately, most, if not all, are outside the ambit of poor parents whose children are forced to go to government schools for lack of money. So, the first order of business has to be an overhaul of the government schools. If our goal is to create a more inclusive and egalitarian society, the poor children cannot be denied high quality schooling simply because their parents cannot afford it.

The draft policy makes a special mention of the Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas as successful schooling models. But then, instead of trying to make all other government schools function like them, they talk about upgrading these schools as a priority. Not everybody has access to these schools. If these schools are made even better, the gap between these students and those in other government schools will increase. That does not bode well for creating an inclusive system. This is not to say that good schools should not be upgraded to make them even better, but priority must be given to upgrading schools that are well below the minimum levels of decent schooling. Any education policy must clearly state a minimum level that must be reached by all schools and all curricula. Then, the policy must come up with a plan to implement this minimum level in all schools, public and private. I may have missed it, but I do not see any attempt to get there.

Instead, the draft policy talks about below-average states in terms of educational achievements and that these states should be encouraged to catch up with the average. What is unclear is the measure of achievement. Is it marks in English and mathematics? Is it the proportion of students who score a minimum grade in a common exam? Or, is it the proportion of a cohort that finishes school without dropping out of it? But, there is an even more disturbing aspect of this thought process. Ideally, an education policy should set a target of what society wants from the education system and then make sure that there is an implementation plan to reach this target. One can then think of the speed at which to reach the target and the resources that are

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needed for it.

Any good policy has a purpose. A national education policy, also, must have a purpose. It may be all right for a below-par state to try and achieve parity with another state. It is odd for a national policy to target the average state when we already know that the average is well below what the nation wants. This reminds me of a project that I once undertook in the mid-1980s for a public-sector concern. The objective was to improve their productivity. When I looked into their planning process, I realized that they set their current productivity targets to what they achieved in previous years. Consequently, their productivity never improved! Here we are trying to build a new India that is no better than the current average state of India. This lack of imagination, or the unwillingness to figure out what we really want, will not make us a great nation.

There is one other issue that I think needs to be carefully considered. There is a dearth of quality teachers. As is evident from many studies, good salaries do not attract the best teachers. Indeed, the remuneration of government school teachers is, more often than not, much better than better performing private schools. Education is a public good, and those who teach in schools are similar to those who join the military. Their productivity is driven by a superior work ethic and the willingness to carry out a public service. What is needed for them is a good work environment and respect from fellow citizens. If people respect the neighbourhood school teacher, more public-service-minded people will be attracted to the job. Mercenaries can be attracted to a high-paying military job; successful armies are made up of soldiers who are loyal and proud of what they do. In India, teachers are drawn from outside the community. A good teacher of community A goes unrecognized by community B, where the teacher resides. So, how do we generate respect for a teacher outside the classroom? It would be much better if teachers are drawn from the community where the schools are situated. This creates a connection between the teacher, parents and the school administration that is lost if the teacher is an outsider.

Unfortunately, the draft policy has no thought on how to attract dedicated teachers; instead, it tries to develop a system wherein those who end up as teachers will be monitored, cajoled, incentivized and trained to become good teachers. Teachers are the most important part of school education and unless good people aspire to become teachers, we will never have good teachers. It is time we think of education seriously and not simply as another administrative chore for a new government in power.

The author is Research Director, India Development Foundation

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FINANCIAL INSTUTUTIONS

HINDUSTAN TIMES, AUG 22, 2016Urjit Patel’s appointment as RBI guv signals change in govt approachMahua VenkateshReserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Urjit Patel attends a news conference after the bi-monthly monetary policy review in Mumbai, India, August 9, 2016. (Reuters File Photo )

Urjit R Patel who takes over as the Reserve Bank of India governor on September 4 is the first central banker to be picked through a search process, which also reiterates government’s commitment to RBI’s autonomy.

The government chose the 52-year-old deputy governor of RBI as Raghuram Rajan’s successor from a list of at least four names sent by the financial sector regulatory appointment search committee (FSRASC), sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in consultation with finance minister Arun Jaitley decided on Patel, signalling the government’s intent to continue with the reforms initiated by Rajan.

Rajan’s bomb-shell decision to not seek a second term took everyone by surprise and there was immense interests in who would take over from the “rock-star” banker. Headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha, FSRASC was set up last year and it drew up an extensive list of candidates after a thorough scrutiny of their work. The final list was sent to the government more than a month ago.

“While the government took the final call on the governor, the committee provided that list, so the process has been much fairer and it is a shift from selection-based approach,” said Rajiv Kumar, senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research. He is one of the three external FSRASC experts.

An official statement said the appointment was made on the basis of FSRASC’s recommendations. “The committee undertook an extensive exercise to suggest a panel of names to the ACC (appointment committee of cabinet),” it said.

The search system provides the government an opportunity to underscore its support for an

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independent process to maintain the autonomy of the central bank.

“It sends a strong message to the outside world that RBI will remain an autonomous body and that there will be no compromise in the selection process, the best person will get the job,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

Patel, an able deputy of Rajan, has authored the monetary-policy framework that aims to contain inflation. He headed a committee that in 2014 recommended targeting retail inflation to tame unstable prices, shifting the focus away from wholesale prices.

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GOVERNORS

TRIBUNE, AUG 18, 2016Badnore Punjab Governor, Najma gets Manipur postPurohit new Assam Guv, Mukhi Andaman-Nicobar LG

Former parliamentarian and Rajasthan minister Vijyendrapal Singh Badnore was today appointed as the Governor of Punjab.

Former Union minister Najma Heptulla, who was dropped from the Narendra Modi Cabinet last month, will be the new Governor of Manipur. Banwari Lal Purohit, a four-term MP from Nagpur and owner of English daily Hitvada, was appointed the Governor of Assam and former Delhi minister Jagdish Mukhi the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in place of Lt Gen AK Singh (retd).

Badnore belongs to the royal Badnore family in Bhilwara. He served as Irrigation Minister in the 1999-2004 Vasundhara Raje government and was elected to the Assembly five times. He is also a three-term MP. This July, he retired from the Rajya Sabha.

“There is ample scope for doing things and I will like to do my bit to promote good relations between the state and the Centre and will attach importance to transparency,” the Governor-designate said.

Badnore, 68, is expected to take charge by Monday. Currently, Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki is holding additional charge since the last incumbent Shivraj Patil completed his tenure in January last year.

The Centre also appointed former IPS officer Farooq Khan, who was associated with J&K Police, as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

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HEALTH SERVICES

ASIAN AGE, AUG 22, 2016Mohalla clinics to also come up at city commercial hubs

The Aam Aadmi Party government plans to set up mohalla clinics in the national capital’s commercial hubs like Nehru Place to make healthcare more accessible to those working in these areas.

Earlier, the Kejriwal government had announced setting up of 1,000 mohalla clinics by the year-end. According to the government, these clinics are meant to take the load off public hospitals. One hundred and five such health facilities have come up in different areas of Delhi so far.

A senior official said the AAP government wants to provide health services to people working in the commercial hubs as they have very little time to spare for their health check-ups. The official added that the city health department is looking for space in commercial hubs like Nehru Place, Subhash Place and Bhikaji Cama Place to launch the mohalla clinics.

The Kejriwal government has also identified 300 schools where such clinics will be set up. Besides treating sick students in the school premises, these clinics will also treat general public.

The Delhi government’s healthcare roadmap works on the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare model. For primary healthcare like basic consultation and medicines, there are mohalla clinics. For specialist care and a wider spectrum of diagnostics, there are polyclinics. The patients requiring surgery or hospitalisation are referred to the final tier — government-run hospitals.

The AAP government has already made a provision of Rs 5,259 crore for the health sector in its 2016-17 budget, a hike of about 10 per cent over the allocation made last fiscal.

Besides 1,000 mohalla clinics, the AAP government has promised to add 10,000 new beds at its hospitals and open 150 polyclinics across the city by the year-end.

According to government officials, the mohalla clinics and polyclinics draw an average of 200-350 patients a day.

ASIAN AGE, AUG 16, 2016Delhi government body to streamline drug distribution

In a bid to streamline the distribution of drugs to institutions and ensure their easy availability, the Aam Aadmi Party government had announced setting up of Delhi Medical Supplies

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Corporation (DMSC). The corporation will be a specialised agency for procurement and supply of drugs, medical equipment and surgical and consumables to the hospitals.

At present, medicines and surgical consumables for all Delhi government institutions are being procured by the Central Procurement Agency (CPA). Officials said that the procurement of medicines at lowest rates could be only done through a centralised bulk purchases.

Centralised drug procurement and making the purchases transparent was part of the Aam Aadmi Party’s 70-point action plan in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections 2015.

The government had said that there will be a dedicated full-time warehouse, which will execute procurement of good quality drugs, medial equipment and surgical consumables at reasonable prices.Officials said that the drugs procured will also undergo quality and inventory checks before being supplied to different government hospitals.

It will also have a buffer stock cell and temperature control within the warehouse. Also, it will have completely IT enabled processes so that there is a dynamic monitoring of stock, supplies and shelf life.

Currently, the CPA does the tendering part on behalf of all the hospitals to decide the different supplies for various types of medicines. Based on rates approved by the CPA, supplies are directly being made to hospitals.

However, the officials said that the CPA did not look into quality-check, warehousing and other aspects of the safety of drugs. Also there are some operational and capacity issues.The government officials had visited Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan where the model is already in place. The model was also recommended by the Government of India and has been successfully implemented by some states.

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HISTORY

TELEGRAPH, AUG 18, 2016A bridge across sand- Why we must question ideas of the nation-state

The thin edge: Ruchir Joshi

Independence Day is always a good time to examine this nugget of an idea which we variously call, 'nation', 'country', 'Republic', ' vatan', 'matrubhumi', ' Bharat', 'Bharat Mata', 'Hindustan', 'mulk', ' desh' and 'India', just to name the top few in a long line-up of suspects.

To start with, I'm reminded of an old PJ-type joke, probably from the 1950s, which probably started off a Sardarji joke but in these PC times can be easily used in tandem with absolutely any desi community: a government auditor came to inspect the accounts in a particular desert district in Rajasthan; the engineer in charge of the public works department (let's say, a Bengali) was asked about money that had been allocated for a bridge; "We've completed it, sir! Look, it's right there!" the engineer proudly pointed out of his office window at a huge, new metal structure arching across a stretch of sand; "What's that?" asked the auditor; "Why, it's the bridge, sir!" "What's it doing here!?! It's supposed to be across the river, which is 30 kilometres away!" The engineer scratched his head, "Sir, we were told to build a bridge. No one said anything about building it across a river." So, the first question to ask - always - is why do we need a country at all? Or, what good is a country to anyone? Do we need a country just for the sake of having a country, or does the whole business of nationhood actually serve a purpose? For all its pomp, pageant and officialdom, is the Republic just a pointless bridge across the sand or does it actually help us, the better to live our lives?

For those youngsters who've just recently come in, among the chief reasons for ejecting the British from the sub-continent was that they were here mainly to exploit the people and the land for their own benefit. For over a hundred and fifty years they conducted this exploitation in close partnership with local royalty, landowners and merchants. In order to protect the smooth functioning of this exploitation they expanded the army they had used to capture their territories here, and they instituted various laws and administrative institutions, built the railway network and gave us the basic platform of an education system. Some of these things, in their concept and design, both philosophical and physical, proved immensely useful to us later, but they took not a jot away from the fact that one of the poorest populations in the world was providing the economic fuel to prop up one of the richest countries on the planet. The British needed to go, and along with them needed to go the grotesque exploitation and gross inequality. Their local partners, the rajas and thenawabs, the landowners and business tycoons had every right to remain in their homeland but not to continue the dreadful exploitation of the majority of the people.

Besides the bald economic reasons for forming an independent country, there was (and still is) also the whole concept of a 'people' who would 'unite as a nation' to 'continue their cultural traditions' and 'fulfil their destiny'. Now, here is the first tricky bit. In very few other places in

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the world have so many diverse people united under one Constitution and one flag. So, when someone says 'continue their cultural traditions', on the one hand this means that each and every ethnicity and community, whether linguistic or religious (or a cross-weave of all of the above) has an equal right to continue their traditions; on the other hand, this unavoidably means that there can be no open licence, no blank cheque, so to speak, to continue your traditions if they impose on others' rights, or impede other groups from continuing their traditions; some balance has to be found and maintained between the needs of the different groups; nor can the traditions be continued or mutated in any way that harms the basic, shared common rights of all Indian citizens, which, out of necessity need to be democratic, secular and free of caste and gender bias.

The second tricky bit is this business of 'fulfilling destiny'. Now, this can seem a bit of a weird concept, as if this destiny is like some far away terminus, like Howrah Station or Bombay Central, which some future generations of Indians must reach with our - the current generation's - help. Let's put this idea in the waste bin. We cannot know how long the human race will survive or whether it will ever be able to survive beyond this planet and prosper on other planets. The point, then, is to live in the here and now, without arguing overly much about various ideas of the afterlife or some invisible distant future. In this, the slave-owning American 'founding fathers' who wrote the American Constitution gave us a couple of invaluable turns of phrase: one, of course, is "all men (read humans) are created equal" and the second is "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Neither is a phrase with which one can reasonably quarrel - their logic and fairness are pretty self-evident unless you're some kind of a race or religion supremacist who believes that people different from you are inferior.

Now, if you follow these two ideas - that we are all equal, and that we have the right, within reason, to freely pursue our ideas of happiness - to their logical conclusion, nowhere is the nation or flag or country indispensable to these concepts. Yes, at this current point of history, stable nation-units might provide the most friendly environment for a life of equality and freedom, but one could see these simply as (perhaps) the best organizational vehiclesavailable to humanity at this time. One could argue that there is as much reason to stay wedded to the idea of 'a nation eternal' as there was to stay devoted to sailing ships before steamships, and after them the fuel-engine, were invented. In other words, if humanity's aim is for a maximum number of people to lead a life free of deprivation, where they can freely express themselves and pursue their ideas of fulfilment, then the longevity of nations is not intrinsic to this.

However, since a stable and working nation seems like a good idea for now, it's up to us to see what living form this nation takes. To go back to why people thought up the idea of an independent India and how they brought it about, lets examine the reasons one by one. Exploitation: is it over? Or even much reduced? No. Instead of the British, a tiny minority of wealthy and so-called middle-class Indians are being propped up by the deprivation of millions of other Indians. Racism: is it over? No, it has changed form but it is still very much in place, clarified now into caste-racism and mainstream racism; simultaneously to our collective passion for fair and lovely creams we look down upon all sorts of dark-skinned people, we look down upon adivasis, we look down upon people from the Northeast while insisting they stick within the Indian Union, we look down upon people from Africa who are here to work and study. What about the much celebrated philosophical underpinnings of our great country? Are people

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able to continue their cultural traditions? Well, yes and no, mostly no. Traditions outside those of a narrow neo-Hinduism are under relentless and widespread attack as never before. So, is the nation meant just for a certain slab of people, a certain kind of Hindu, plus some oligarchs who are too rich to be affected by religion? No, that was not the idea of India and shouldn't become the idea now.

A few years ago, an activist NGO in Rajasthan started an innovative campaign against local corruption. If they found, say, that the funds allocated for a small dam in their area had been misappropriated by politicians and bureaucrats, they lodged an FIR claiming their dam had been kidnapped. Likewise, if you find that 'India' or the Indian Constitution has gone missing in your area perhaps you should consider lodging an FIR for the return of your country. The nation we live in may be a bridge to the future, it may be an organizational vehicle, it may be temporary, or far from eternal, but it's ours and it is crucially necessary for us to survive and better our lives. It cannot be the equivalent of a naam-ke-vaastey bridge in the sand. So, just as we would if some gang of politicians and babus had swallowed our bridge, dam or local road, we need to do whatever we can to counter the daily small and big abductions of our India wherever we encounter them.

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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

DECCAN HERALD, AUG 16, 2016Asia's maritime disorderHarsh V Pant

Global maritime order is under stress and China has done little to assuage concerns about its growing assertiveness.

Tensions are rising in Asia as China takes steps to assert its control over the waters of South China Sea after its claims were rejected by an international tribunal at The Hague last month. China’s Defence Minister Chang Wanquan has called for a “people’s war at sea” to push back against threats to Chinese claims. In a speech last week, he warned of maritime security threats and called for increased preparations for what he termed a “people’s war at sea” in order to “safeguard sovereignty.”

More significantly, China is also changing its laws to arrest and jail anyone caught fishing in waters Beijing considers its own, even though many of those waters are precisely the bits that are disputed among China’s neighbours in the South China Sea. Last week, China’s Supreme Court said people caught illegally fishing in Chinese waters could be jailed for up to a year, issuing a judicial interpretation defining those waters as including the country’s exclusive economic zones.

Over the past week, all three Chinese naval fleets have taken to the sea to practice for a “sudden, cruel, and short” conflict. Beijing has also begun to fly bomber and fighter aircraft near disputed islands in the South China Sea. It has also announced that it would hold joint naval drills in the waters with Russia in September, terming the drills “routine” and not directed at any third party. A group of new photographs have revealed the construction of several reinforced aircraft hangars at Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs, all land formations built up by China in recent months, on which the Chinese have also built runways.

China’s neighbours too aren’t keeping quiet. Reports have emerged of Vietnam secretly fortifying several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route.

Japan filed a protest with Beijing over recently discovered radar equipment China secretly installed in a gas exploration platform close to disputed waters in the East China Sea. Japan is concerned that the radar could be a signal that China will begin using gas exploration platforms as military outposts. The protest came on the same day an armada of 13 Chinese Coast Guard ships sailed into waters just outside what Japan considers its territorial waters in the East China Sea.

South Korea is now willing to share the US Terminal High Altitude Air Defence (THAAD) system’s radar data on North Korean missile launches with Japan. The move is a sign of growing

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relations between South Korea and Japan, who have historically tense relations dating back to the Japan's occupation of Korea during the Second World War. It would also be a culmination of some of China's worst fears, as the move would bring South Korea closer into a trilateral alliance involving the US and Japan.

China loudly protested South Korea's decision to welcome THAAD system in the country following repeated ballistic missile threats from North Korea. Beijing has complained that the THAAD radars could reach into Chinese territory.

The US is also responding at both diplomatic and military levels. The USS Benfold, a US Navy guided missile destroyer, docked at the northern Chinese port of Qingdao, becoming the first visit by an American warship since Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea were ripped apart in the Hague.

Ahead of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to India, Chinese state media warned New Delhi to avoid “unnecessary entanglement with China over the South China Sea debate” if India “wishes to create a good atmosphere for economic cooperation”. Terming that India and China are partners, not rivals, state-run Xinhua news agency has also suggested that the door for India's admission into the NSG is "not tightly" closed and New Delhi should "fully comprehend" Beijing's concerns over the disputed South China Sea.

High-level visit

Wang Yi's visit was the first high-level visit between the two countries after China blocked India's Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership bid at the plenary meeting of the 48-nation grouping in June on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). During his visit, Wang said it was up to India to decide on what position it wishes to take vis-a-vis the ongoing issue.

Wang's visit also came just days after Chinese troops "transgressed" the border on land and by air in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand last month. The India-China bilateral trade which totalled around $70 billion last year tilted heavily in favour of Beijing with over $46 billion trade deficit.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in China to attend the G20 summit in Hangzhou next month. Following the ruling by an international tribunal last month which rejected Beijing's claims over much of the disputed sea area, China is campaigning against the issue to be raised in the Summit saying it is a matter to be resolved between parties concerned and outsider has no role. Chinese president Xi Jinping will also visit Goa for the coming BRICS summit scheduled for October.

India will have to carefully assess the implications of the rapidly evolving maritime order in Asia for its own interests and engage with Beijing accordingly. The stakes of what happens in the waters around the South China Sea are as high for India as they are for the regional states.Global maritime order is under stress and China has done little to assuage concerns about its growing assertiveness. Regional states as well as India should now focus on making sure that

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China does not upend he regional balance of power to everyone’s disadvantage.

JUDICIARY

HINDU, AUG 17, 2016An avoidable war of attritionSANJAY HEGDE

Chief Justice T.S. Thakur’s public complaints over executive delay in clearing judicial appointments must be seen not as plaintive cries, but an admonition to the government to respect constitutional redlines

Francis Bacon wrote in 1625, “Let judges also remember, that Solomon’s throne was supported by lions on both sides: let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne; being circumspect that they do not check or oppose any points of sovereignty.” Throughout history, strong rulers facing resistance from an unappreciative judiciary have resorted to all kinds of measures to bring judges to heel.

Global precedents

When components of his New Deal got struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt threatened to increase the number of its judges from nine to 15. He reasoned that packing the court with six new judges would bring about a new majority that would side with the government. Shortly thereafter, ‘a switch in time saved the nine’. In 1937, Justice Owen Roberts switched his vote to side with the government-leaning judges, and FDR thereafter did not need to pursue court packing.

In Pakistan the Army got used to tame judges when Chief Justice Muhammad Munir invented the Doctrine of Necessity to legitimise Governor General Ghulam Muhammad’s dismissal of the Prime Minister. Some years later, the doctrine granted absolution to General Ayub Khan’s coup. Still later, General Zia-ul-Haq got the judges to swear personal allegiance to himself as President. One of the few who refused and resigned his position was the great Justice Dorab Patel. Further down, General Pervez Musharraf tried to bully Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry into resigning. The resultant backlash of a lawyers’ movement ended in the fall of General Musharraf.

India too has had its ‘lionhearts’ striving to keep the throne balanced in the path of dharma. There was a near irretrievable loss of credibility for Peshwa rule over the Maratha empire when the ever-righteous Chief Justice Ramshastri Prabhune resigned after convicting the sitting ruler, Peshwa Raghunathrao, of the murder of his predecessor, Peshwa Narayanrao, in 1773.

From Nehru to Indira

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In the first decades after Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru’s government had its own misgivings with the judiciary’s interpretation of the new Constitution. The initial interpretations of the fundamental right of free speech led to the first amendment of the Constitution. The court’s rulings on property rights led to several constitutional amendments. But, all told, the initial decades showed a healthy institutional respect, with the legislature and judiciary working in tandem.

Indira Gandhi was a different matter. Her relationship with the judiciary was fraught with confrontation and conflict. It did not help that she saw some judges, such as Justice K.S. Hegde, as owing allegiance to the Congress (O) which opposed her. The Supreme Court’s judgments striking down the nationalisation of banks and the abolition of privy purses made it look like an “arena for constitutional quibbling for men with long purses”. Cabinet ministers led by Mohan Kumaramangalam called for a “committed judiciary” which was deferential to the socialistic temper of the times.

When the Supreme Court’s 11-judge ruling in the Golaknath case put property rights on a fundamentally unbreachable pedestal, she promoted to the Supreme Court, judges who publicly vowed to undo the judgment. Things came to a head in 1973 in the Kesavananda Bharati case. All 13 judges of the court sat for months on end to reconsider Golaknath . Though Golaknath was overruled, parliamentary power to amend the Constitution was also restricted to not damaging its basic structure. The government won its basic case, but on a small majority of seven judges against six, it lost the larger argument of unbridled power.

The day after the judgment, three of the seven judges in the majority (including Justice Hegde) were superseded for the office of Chief Justice. The fourth in seniority, Justice A.N. Ray, was appointed Chief Justice, leading to the resignation of the three superseded judges. C.K. Daphtary, India’s first Solicitor General, quipped, “The boy who wrote the best essay won the first prize.”

These events cast their shadow on the declaration of Emergency in 1975, shortly after the Allahabad High Court invalidated Ms. Gandhi’s 1971 election to the Lok Sabha. While her appeal was pending in the Supreme Court, Ms. Gandhi retrospectively amended the Constitution to immunise her election from legal attack. That attempt was invalidated by the court, which nevertheless upheld her election on other grounds.

In those tumultuous times, the Supreme Court’s darkest moment was when by a four-one majority, it upheld the government’s contention that a citizen’s right to life could be suspended during an emergency. The lone dissenter, Justice H.R. Khanna, was thereafter soon superseded for the office of Chief Justice, and he too resigned from the court. The Emergency also saw inconvenient high court judges being transferred to faraway courts. Other less documented measures to render judges docile were also used.

The judicial pushback

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The lifting of the Emergency and the election of a non-Congress government saw the judiciary attempt to salvage its independence. Public Interest Litigation (PIL) became a new mantra for judicial intervention in fields of executive neglect. Soon the judiciary became an active stakeholder in governance. Despite the 1976 judgment in Sankalchand Seth , upholding the Government’s powers of transfer, the 1982 judgment in S.P. Gupta began defining the judiciary and executive’s roles in consultations on the appointment and transfer of judges.

The fall of the Babri Masjid, the agitation over the Mandal report, and an era of fragile coalitions set the stage for the 1993 judgment in the first Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record case. The court ensured that the judges would have the dominant voice in judicial appointments and administration. A collegium consisting of the Chief Justice and senior judges would have the last word on appointments and transfers. Subsequent judgments built on the structure and strengthened the collegium system. Internally, the government and the judiciary worked out a memorandum of procedure, which regulated the process of appointments and transfers.

For two decades, ruling coalitions chafed at judges anointing newer judges as their successors. In the meanwhile, PILs and election disputes ensured that politicians remained ever wary of the courts.

Executive reassertion

The 2014 general election, which threw up a stable single-party majority, saw the political class strike back. One of the first acts of the Narendra Modi government was to shaft the collegium-cleared nomination of Gopal Subramanium to the Supreme Court. Mr. Subramanium’s prosecution of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah and his appearance as the United Progressive Alliance’s Solicitor General in several matters arising out of the Gujarat riots of 2002 rendered him unpalatable to the new rulers.

A constitutional amendment, backed by the Opposition, including the Congress, next followed. It sought to take away the power of appointments and transfers from the collegium and vest it in a new body called National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), where judges would be represented but would not have a dominant say. A constitutional challenge to the amendment was entertained by the Supreme Court. Pending the hearings, the then Chief Justice, H.L. Dattu, announced that he felt inhibited from participating in meetings about the independent members to be appointed to the NJAC. Resultantly, no substantive appointments came to be made through 2015, and many additional unconfirmed judges had to be continued in office by virtue of judicial orders of extension.

The constitutional amendment was struck down in 2015 by the Supreme Court as violative of judicial independence, which is part of the Constitution’s basic structure. The court’s institutional memory, of the Emergency and its aftermath, played a significant role in the decision. A subsequent order also directed the government to finalise a new memorandum of procedure in order to regulate fresh appointments. After the first judgment, the unconfirmed

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judges were confirmed in their posts. Appointments were recommended and processed in many cases, including some appointments to the Supreme Court.

However, the drafting of the memorandum of procedure is as yet not finalised. The government has sought to retain powers to veto candidates recommended by the collegium on grounds of “public interest” or “national security”. The judiciary led by the collegium has refused to let in a Trojan horse into its citadel of independence.

Over 75 appointments to the high courts and some transfers appear to be stuck in the process for over eight months. In a country with around 1,200 judges in the constitutional courts, and nearly 400 vacancies at that level, this is an unacceptable position. Judges retire regularly, and if no fresh appointments are made, it is possible to bring the system to a complete halt.

In this situation, one cannot fault Chief Justice T.S. Thakur who, in April this year, got emotional in the Prime Minister’s presence at a conference of judges. This week, in his Independence Day speech at the Supreme Court, he has again lamented the government’s lack of alacrity in the matter of appointments.

A government which wants to be seen as dedicated to the rule of law can ill-afford a war of attrition. The Chief Justice’s public remonstrances must not be seen as the plaintive cries of the least dangerous branch of government. They must instead be received as an admonition on Rajdharma from the Bhishmapitamaha of the judiciary. An unnecessary Mahabharata must be avoided by addressing institutional distrust. Caesar must render unto the judges what is theirs — a constitutional assurance of independence.

Sanjay Hegde is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court.

Over 75 appointments to the high courts and some transfers appear to be stuck in the process for over eight months. This is an unacceptable position

STATESMAN, AUG 23, 2016Justice jeopardized

It would be an inaccurate exaggeration to dub it another war of words, yet the question must be asked who is the beneficiary of the caustic “exchanges” between the judiciary and the government over the debilitating vacancies in the ranks of judicial officers.

Surely not the common folk, in whose name everyone claims to be functioning. And while claims and counter-claims abound in public “space” some ego hassles are also evident. To be fair, when the issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha recently the law minister was restrained, and appealed to members to desist from customary outspoken ways to avoid further complications. Did the judiciary respond in similar fashion? While the anxiety and frustration of the Chief

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Justice of India is understandable, the maxim of “as sober as a judge” did not lend itself to his slamming the Prime Minister for evading the subject during his Independence Day address: such criticism, normally, falls in the political domain.

The can of worms opened when the apex court struck down the legislation on the setting up of a National Judicial Appointments Commission is now overflowing with ominous “creepy crawlies”; instead of a determined joint effort to uphold the dignity of the judiciary - a dignity that the political establishment has long forfeited.

Now the bone of contention is the nitty-gritty of the memorandum of procedure (MoP) that will pertain to judicial appointments: the bureaucratic exercise is much too complicated to appear “workable”.

It would be an over-simplification to ascribe all judicial delays to a shortage of judges - crippling though that shortage may be. The tardy, often insensitive functioning of the subordinate judiciary is no less a valid cause for people to lose faith in the “system”. Despite tall claims, adjournments remain much too frequent to convince the average litigant that those in authority care for his plight: wasted hours in court, wasted money too. The judicial officers and lawyers seem to have an awful lot of more pressing jobs at hand than to expedite the process for the common man. Why is it that almost every case involves an appeal to a higher court? Are the lower levels of the judiciary so incompetent as to warrant regular review of their orders?

Why are frivolous appeals entertained? Questions of that nature could be limitless - yet “judicial reform” is perceived only in terms of appointments at the higher levels. A clean-up and revamp at the lowest level might be a more desirable first step. And while their Lordships and the law ministry play ping-pong over the MoP, the litigant is not merely reminded that “justice delayed is justice denied”, he cannot help wondering if the concept of justice has been compromised, jeopardised, negated.

TELEGRAPH, AUG 16, 2016Repeat fire on judge posts- CJI rues Modi silence

R. Balaji

ThakurNew Delhi, Aug. 15: Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur today regretted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day address contained not a word on the piling judges' vacancies, bringing to a head months of simmering tensions between the judiciary and the government.

"You make roads, schools, colleges, hospitals and take up various other projects. But you must, please, also say something about justice delivery to people," India's top judge said.

"I heard the speech of our Prime Minister for an hour and just now a speech by the Union law

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minister. I assumed they would say something about the judiciary, justice delivery system and the pending appointments of judges.

"However, they did not. I request the government to pay attention to our judiciary, especially the appointment of judges."

Justice Thakur had on Friday castigated the Centre, saying more than half of high court judges' posts were vacant and any further delay in appointments could "shut down" the courts.

He had threatened to break the "logjam" through a never-before judicial order, exposing members of the government to possible contempt if they continued sitting on an apex court collegium's recommendations for judges' appointments and transfers.

Sources said the Centre had been stalling the collegium's recommendations since the top court quashed a legislation that would have given the government a say in judges' appointments and transfers, which it now virtually has to rubber-stamp.

On Friday, a bench headed by the Chief Justice had given attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi time till September 13 to respond on the government's behalf.

Justice Thakur's comments today came in his own I-Day address to the Supreme Court Bar Association, which he delivered after listening to the Prime Minister's speech.

Earlier, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was on the Supreme Court lawns for the event, had spoken in general terms about filling judges' posts instead of committing the government to a timetable.

"Although this occasion is not to talk about appointments, I would only reiterate that our government is led by senior ministers who fought against the Emergency. Our government feels that effective judicial delivery is integral to good governance and appointments are part of it."

Prasad had added: "Appointments of judges will go ahead irrespective of whether a memorandum of procedure is in place or not."

Justice Thakur said, speaking in Hindi: "Under British rule, it took 10 years to deliver a judgment. Today, even 100 years aren't enough because of a shortage of judges. People's aspirations are increasing and a large number of cases are being filed. But there are no judges."

He added: "We appreciate that the government is doing great work for the people. But it should also think about the judicial system. Please pay attention to this side too."

This was the third time in four months that the Chief Justice was publicly chiding the government for the mounting judges' vacancies at a time the courts were groaning under a backlog of 3 crore cases.

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On April 24, Justice Thakur had fought back tears while telling the Prime Minister, who was in the audience, that the success of his Make-in-India campaign and economic policies hinged on the "efficacy" of the judicial system.

Addressing a conference of chief ministers and high court chief justices, he had accused the Centre and the states of fighting a "tug-of-war" in shifting responsibility when it came to upgrading judicial infrastructure.

He had said that three decades after the Centre had pledged to increase the judges' strength in the country to 40,357, their number today languished at 7,675.

On Friday, Justice Thakur had accused the government of withholding the appointments of 312 high court judges. Sources had said another 40 transfers had been stalled.

It's the judges-only collegium that recommends all appointments and transfers of high court and Supreme Court judges. The government is allowed one request for reconsideration per recommendation, which must be accepted if the collegium reaffirms it.

After the October verdict, the top court had as a concession asked the Centre to redraft the memorandum of procedure for judges' appointments, fixing eligibility criteria such as age and qualifications subject to the collegium's approval.

Since then, the Centre has been bombarding the collegium with queries such as whether it can reject a judge's appointment on grounds of "national security" and whether it can install a mechanism to hear complaints against judges.

"The government may be working on the draft memorandum of procedure but that did not give them the excuse to freeze appointments," the Chief Justice had said on Friday.

Justice Thakur also spoke on larger national issues today. He said that about 10 crore people lived below the poverty line before Independence but the figure had now reached 40 crore.

Real freedom, he said, would be achieved only when the battle against poverty was won.

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LABOUR

ECONOMIC TIMES, AUG 19, 2016Minimum wages hiked in Delhi despite protests

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday cleared a proposal to increase minimum wages

in Delhi, reinforcing its official status as the highest paying city in the country. Once the revised

wages are notified, an unskilled labourer in Delhi will get Rs 14,052a little less than double of

what a labourer in Haryana is entitled to. Trade unions and industrialists have opposed the

decision, saying businesses will move to neighbouring states as cost of manufacturing will rise in

Delhi. While announcing the decision after a cabinet meeting, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

appealed to traders to support the move to improve living standards of the poor. "The minimum

wage of unskilled labour has gone up from Rs 9,568 to Rs 14,052, for semiskilled it has been

revised from Rs 10,582 to Rs 15,471 and for skilled, from Rs 11,622 to Rs 17,033. This is

around a 50% increase. This is also the highest increase in minimum wages across the country

and I would appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement a similar scale across India,"

he said. The revision was recommended by a tripartite committee formed in April with

employers, employees and government officials as its members. The committee submitted its

report on August 4. "The aam aadmi has been struggling to run their households and the most

poor are the worst affected. It is the government's responsibility to look after them. The revision

is a sound economic step as the model of development in place till now has failed. The rich has

become richer but nothing has managed to trickle down to the lowest level of people," Kejriwal

said, adding that the rise would ensure that more money reach the poor directly and, in turn, spur

demand. The CM will also write to the Centre to ask for an increase in eligibility for ESI and PF

to Rs 21,000. "Unless this is done, nobody will benefit from the policy since while their salaries

may go up, they will end up losing on benefits like PF," said Kejriwal. Sources said the last time

minimum wages were revised in Delhi was in 1994. There has been an increase in dearness

allowance twice a year since then, based on the allIndia consumer price index number. Trader

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union representatives, who have threatened a Delhi bandh, will submit a memorandum to the CM

on Friday and try to meet him."We would not have a problem if the increment was 1015% but an

almost 50% increment is too much. Delhi's minimum wages were already 30% higher than those

in the neighbouring states. Now we will end up losing all our business to these states," said

Brijesh Goyal, convener of AAP's Delhi trade wing. However, the government has so far failed

in implementing the norm. There is no mechanism to ensure that employers disburse the basic

salaries and very rarely is action taken against offenders. Acknowledging it, Kejriwal said that

while government employees would benefit immediately, the government will look into

strengthening the monitoring of wages.

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LIBRARIES

INDIAN EXPRESS, AUG 23, 2016Picking Nehru Memorial Museum and Library chief: The controversy and background

Probably India’s most prestigious centre for historical research has frequently been a

battleground for competing ideologies and styles of working.Written by Ashutosh Bhardwaj

The NMML was set up in 1966 after the death of Nehru at his residence. (Archive)

The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) is back in controversy. Political scientist

Pratap Bhanu Mehta resigned from the Executive Council (EC) of NMML earlier this month to

protest the “marginalisation” of academic credibility and scholarly credentials in the selection of

the successor to historian Mahesh Rangarajan, who had resigned as Director last September.

NMML has at various times been the battleground for top scholars, government officials and

political parties who have criticised its functioning. What is the reason for the tussle over an

institute that does not run any academic course, and has no other branch?

The repository of some of the richest archival material on the history of Modern India, NMML is

an unmatched centre for research and scholarship. Though often seen as the home of studies

related to Jawaharlal Nehru and the intellectual cradle of Nehruvian thought, NMML’s

exhaustive archives make it the premier institute of Modern and Contemporary Indian history as

a whole. It has papers of the Communist Party of India, Socialist Party of India, All India

Muslim League, All India Shia Conference (1907-1941), Home Rule League (1916-1921),

Mahar Movement (1835-1906) and the Meerut Conspiracy Case, among others.

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It also has the largest collection of private papers in the country, originally belonging to some

1,000 personalities of modern India, encompassing the entire spectrum of its leadership. Its

archives have details of FIRs registered in Delhi from as early as 1861. Many of these papers are

on microfilm, others are paper archives.

NMML has been home to generations of scholars and students of political science and history,

providing them with its facilities, and nourishing outstanding academic talent through a range of

scholarships and fellowships.

Given NMML’s prestige, successive governments have found the temptation to control its affairs

irresistible. For around two decades after it was set up in 1966 after the death of Nehru at his

residence, NMML remained fairly insulated from the central government’s influence. But then,

as with several other institutions, the slide began.

The Congress — and more specifically the Nehru-Gandhi family — have been seen to maintain

a stranglehold over NMML’s affairs. Now, with the NDA government in power, no member of

the family is part of either the NMML Society or the EC. NMML is under the Ministry of

Culture, though as an autonomous institution. Its governing bodies are dominated by the

government. The president of the NMML Society is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home

Minister Rajnath Singh is vice-president.

How are the Director and staff of NMML appointed?

Posts are advertised and applications are invited. A selection committee formed by the EC picks

the candidates. However, since the top posts need approval of the Ministry and, subsequently, the

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the government’s imprint is generally to be seen on

them. In June 2014, days before he left office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved

the permanent absorption of Mahesh Rangarajan as Director, despite objections from the

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Department of Personnel & Training. MoS Culture Mahesh Sharma had criticised the

appointment, saying “rules were thrown out of the window”, and “there has to be some limit to

irregularities”.

On July 22, 2016, the vacancy for the Director’s post was advertised, with August 1 as the last

date for applications. An interview was held on August 11. Ever since, the name of Shakti Sinha,

who was private secretary to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been widely circulated as

the next Director, even though a formal announcement remains awaited. It has been suggested

that the advertisement was modified to favour Sinha: the draft approved by the EC had “scholar

or writer” as the eligibility criteria, but the one that appeared had “scholar or writer or

administrator”. EC members objected, and in his resignation, Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote that

“appointing an administrator, who does not have the requisite track record in the field of

scholarship… sends a very bad signal about the stature of NMML”.

But what is wrong with an administrator heading the NMML?

NMML’s founder-director was civil servant B R Nanda, who, during his 13-year-tenure, made

the institution among the most prestigious places for research on Modern Indian history. During

this phase, NMML gathered some of its most valuable possessions, and papers of all ideologies.

The big difference though, was that Nanda was also a distinguished historian with important

research works to his credit, the biography of Gopal Krishna Gokhale being among the most

significant.

Is there any truth to allegations that the Congress used NMML as its fiefdom?

Minister Sharma’s accusation that the Congress believed the NMML was “only for showcasing

Nehru or his family” is not new. Expressing anguish over the decline of the NMML, historian

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Ramchandra Guha once wrote that its staff were routinely “instructed to serve tea to Youth

Congress workers”.

There were other controversies, involving the academic community itself. In 2008-09, 57 top

historians and scholars including Guha, Rajmohan Gandhi, Sumit Sarkar, Sugata Bose, Shahid

Amin, A R Venkatachalapathy, Joya Chatterji and Sanjay Subrahmanyam wrote to Prime

Minister Singh about alleged deterioration of standards at NMML, saying, “There is no possible

substitute for (NMML)… Its decline is visible for all; its destruction will be a national calamity.”

The scholars attacked the NMML leadership, then headed by historian Mridula Mukherjee: “In

past times, the NMML was open to all ideological currents… (Now) portraits of Congress Prime

Ministers are routinely displayed in the foyer, and meetings of the Youth Congress routinely held

in the auditorium — these artless displays of sycophancy being so utterly at odds with academic

distinction and integrity.”

What happens in the present controversy now?

Shakti Sinha has resigned from the India Foundation, where he was Director, apparently

anticipating his selection for the NMML post. The selection panel has recommended two names

to the Ministry — Sinha and historian Kapil Kumar. Sinha’s appointment was thought to have

been a given, but Mehta’s resignation from the EC has upset plans. The RSS-BJP leadership is

believed to be considering the consequences of being seen as “anti-intellectual” just before the

UP elections. A year ago, writers and poets had ignited an award wapsi campaign to protest

“rising intolerance” in the country, which a section of the RSS believes cost the BJP in the Bihar

elections.

In this stalemate and uncertainty, NMML is suffering. It has seen hardly any major seminar or

scholarly event over the past year. Such is the stagnation that the last date on its web site for

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“application for the current round of fellowship”, among the most prestigious projects of the

NMML, continues to be read “July 24, 2015”.

PIONEER, AUG 18, 2016LIBRARY TO BE SET UP AT HINDI GRANTH ACADEMY, SAYS MIN

Minister for Higher Education Jai Bhan Singh Pawaiya said that a library rich with poetry, books and other literary works of eminent writers of India will be developed at Hindi Granth Academy. This rare collection of books will be available for research scholars. Pawaiyya reviewed activities of Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy and Personality Development Cell on Wednesday.

Pawaiya instructed to make personality development cell more comprehensive and effective. The impact of activities on students should be visible in campus. It should be reflected as moral values and patriotism.

Pawaiya said that a plan should be made to compile dialects in Madhya Pradesh. Also, public customs and traditions, to be followed from birth to marriage, and continuing in different regions should be compiled. Folk songs, to be sung in festival and marriage, which are preserved only by older generation, should be compiled in a book form so that the heritage is not lost.

Pawaiya said that Divyang children should be included in free book scheme under operational at present for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students. This will be implemented for such students first time in the country. He said a dictionary should be published. Books on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Bharat Ratna Pt Madanmohan Malviya should be published.

Pawaiya said that students should be encouraged for participating in symposiums to be held at universities and district level. Principals of colleges at headquarters should be involved in them. Pawaiya released a brochure of personality development centre and conducted inspection at the academy. Principal Secretary Ashish Upadhyay and academy director Prof Surendra Bihari Goswami were present.

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5

PARLIAMENT

ECONOMIC TIMES, AUG 18, 2016Modi government seeks to cut down on new legislations; ministries will now have to explain need for law

NEW DELHI: Seeking to cut down on new legislation that has to be passed through the arduous

parliamentary process, the government has sent instructions to all ministries to justify their

reasons for seeking new laws. In a new directive that has been sent by the Cabinet Secretariat, all

departments have been asked to explain why they are moving a proposal for a new law and why

existing mechanism or executive orders cannot be used to tackle the issue. While all ministries at

present also need to send a justification paragraph whenever they move a proposal for a new law,

the fresh directive sent on Wednesday wants more clarity. It has been decided that the ministry

has to explain the "essentiality of the legislation being proposed and the reasons why the purpose

cannot be served through existing legislation or by framing subordinate legislation or through

executive orders etc," the Cabinet Secretariat's directive reads. The central directives for

preparation of cabinet notes has also been modified by the government to reflect this change. The

instructions are the latest in a series of directives sent to ministries by the cabinet secretariat to

smoothen the legislation process. The government has also been trying to cut down on

unnecessary legislation and has an ongoing program to identify and annul redundant laws. All

ministries have also been asked to send proposals seeking Cabinet approval for new legislation

well before the parliamentary session so that it can be scrutinised properly. In June, Cabinet

Secretary also issued an advisory that divergent positions should not be t

STATESMAN, AUG 19, 2016Only forgetful?

There were chuckles amid embarrassment in the Lok Sabha a few days ago when it became obvious that a member did not recall having tabled a starred question. “Do you remember that you have asked a question” quizzed Sumitra Mahajan. “You don’t even remember you have asked something” observed the Speaker, indicating she did not share the amusement in the

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House. Considerable time and effort is utilised collecting the information required to answer a question, information that is required to be authentic.

A minister can land in trouble for presenting dubious information. That apart, the parliamentary secretariat undertakes a complex exercise to “select” the queries “starred” for oral replies every day -- even though it is seldom that more than six or seven of them are dealt with on a given day -- Question Hour is much too short for in-depth examination of as many as 20 queries. A starred question in their name is thus deemed a matter of pride for members. It is also a cause for some shame if, for any reason, a question goes a-begging; though it must be accepted that “shame” does not overly worry too many MPs today.

There is a more sinister side to queries that are treated casually by those who tabled them. Since every query involves a serious inquiry before a response is prepared, some unscrupulous members use the query as a weapon -- or pressure tactic -- against officials who do not “oblige” them. Another sinister aspect is that some questions are “commercially flavoured”, to secure a certain advantage to one firm over a rival. At times the queries are drafted by an “interested party” -- not the member, who merely completes the formalities for tabling it. This was so very evident a few years ago when such rivalry assumed a political dimension. One former member of the Rajya Sabha kept asking so many questions on the pharmaceutical trade that the then Chairman, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, quipped he had become a “drug addict”. The remark did not go down well, but the Chairman’s message “went home”. There are also some underhand practices involving the secretariat staff: a few years back eyebrows were raised when a particular member sought to project his parliamentary diligence by trumpeting having asked over 100 starred questions.

It would, possibly, be unfair to read dubious motives into what recently “tickled” the Lok Sabha -- a BJP member from UP not recalling having asked a question on tea production. Yet his forgetfulness should serve as a reminder to the Ethics Committees of either House to be alert to the possibility of misuse of one of the legislature’s most powerful correctives to keep the executive in check.

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POLICE

TRIBUNE, AUG 18, 2016MAHILA POLICE DIWASRs 30 lakh ex gratia for those who die in line of dutyEfforts underway to increase strength of women in police force to 33 per cent, says Chief Minister Khattar

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today announced several incentives for the welfare of police personnel, besides giving them more facilities and representation on the panel set up for the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

He was speaking at the state’s first Mahila Police Diwas at Indradhanush Auditorium here. “The day will be celebrated ever year on the eve of Raksha Bandhan to deliberate upon women’s security and other related issues,” he said.

“The ex gratia amount given to police personnel who lay down their lives in the line of duty will be increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and, for those seriously injured, from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh,” Khattar said.

Among other initiatives, he listed out the decision to sanction Rs 4 crore every year for setting up police public schools in 10 districts, centralised seniority for promotion in all ranks, and common cadre for both men and women police personnel.

Earlier, the Chief Minister presented four women police personnel with medals for their outstanding performance in the field of crime against women in one year. Mukhyamantri Mahila Sarvotam Seva Padak was bestowed upon Inspector Garima. The other three were Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Rekha Rani, and Head Constables Sunita Devi and Meenu Khan.

Khattar released a handbook titled “Laws related to Crimes against Women and Children” written by IPS officer Himanshu Garg.

Khattar said police helpdesks set up in sub-divisions would be subsequently converted into women’s police stations, while the recruitment of women in the force would be fast tracked. “Efforts are underway to increase the strength of women in the police force to 33 per cent. At present, women make up 6 per cent of the force. This will be raised to 10 per cent soon.”

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Earlier, Director General of Police (DGP) KP Singh said, “In all, 25,754 complaints of crime against women have been registered at women’s police stations since their inception. About 95 per cent of the complaints have been disposed of.”

On the cards

Mahila Paramarsh Kendras to deal with cases of domestic violence Mahila Groups, comprising five to ten senior most women, to be constituted to resolve

cases through mutual dialogue To ensure that women get legal aid; a proposal to appoint one women advocate in every

police station Separate cells for registration of complaints and investigation of cases to increase

efficiency Women police to perform duties as ‘police mitras’

Cops honoured on Women Police Day

Jind: The administration and the police department on Wednesday honoured cops at the women’s police station to mark the first Women Police Day. Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh and Assistant Superintendent of Police Waseem Akram attended the event. The DC said they were analysing the success of women’s police station and various initiatives were being taken to empower women. ASI Mukesh Rani said the staff at the police station worked with complete dedication to ensure safety of women and generate awareness about their legal rights. — OC

In Rohtak, 96%cases settledRohtak: The women’s police station here set a record of sorts in disposing of 1,460 out of 1,514 complaints received in one year. This means 96.4 per cent of the cases were settled. Sources said FIRs were registered in only 99 cases, while a majority of cases were settled at the primary complaint stage itself. Nearly 1,500 families were saved from imminent breakage. The police record shows 8,363 complaints were lodged on the women helpline 1091 in last year and of these, only 23 are pending. The women’s cell of the district police received 1,192 complaints, out of which 79 are being probed. — TNS

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

STATESMAN, AUG 22, 2016Kashmir on the boil - IVikram Sen

The recent attacks on police stations in Kashmir, the death of several policemen, the killing of the local militant, Burhan Wani, and the general turmoil in the Valley have placed Jammu and Kashmir on the boil after nearly a decade. In recent years, the border districts were vulnerable because of the infiltration of Pakistan-sponsored and trained armed mujahideen from across the border. However, it is the homegrown militants who have acted as the main players in recent incidents. This has often been interpreted as a sign of general frustration, particularly amongst the young Kashmiris, over the present state of affairs. The disenchantment has the potential to blow up into a major crisis. Despite the best intentions, we have failed to completely win over the Kashmiri minds for total integration with the rest of the country. The present generation of young Kashmiris have been brought up facing Indian troops and paramilitary personnel in their daily lives. The unique Kashmiri identity, natural barriers with the rest of the country, a sense of deprivation, real or imagined, rising expectations as a result of education, constant instigation by elements across the border, romance and the lure of militancy and, of late, the attractions of militant Islam have all combined to mould a very complex personality that is the Kashmiri youth today.

There is hardly any scope for a pan-Indian identity. Arguably, the economic difficulties and the sense of frustration are more and less similar to any part of the country. But what differentiates a Kashmiri young man from millions of his brothers and sisters in orher states is his sense of alienation, his feeling -- since childhood -- that he lives in a State dominated by the presence of security forces and that unless the Indian forces are moved out real peace and freedom will not be achieved. At another remove, Pakistan with its strict Shariat- dominated social order has greater emotional appeal for him than a secular India. Hence the frequent incidents of clashes between Kashmiri students and their friends from other parts of the country during any India-Pakistan cricket match.

While this may be a simplified manifestation of a very complex socio-religio-political mindset, it is quite obvious that the policy makers in Delhi have never genuinely tried to feel the pulse of the Kashmiri people, their sensibilities, their hopes and aspirations and above all their sense of pride

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and self-respect. Every agitation and turbulence in the Valley has been promptly branded as the handiwork of militant instigators from across the border or as the conspiracy of pro-Pakistani elements. The indefinite extension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the violent agitation in the early 1990s, is a case in point. While some powers to deal with the incursion of armed militants from across the border is justified, there is hardly any need to empower the armed forces with draconian laws first imposed by the British to deal with the Quit India movement of 1942. In a tense atmosphere, it is virtually impossible to prevent stray incidents of excesses and intimidation by army personnel. But even a single incident can lead to the emergence of a hundred Burhan Wanis.

Apart from the consequences the actual need for such special powers for the armed forces is also debatable. The powers of the army to conduct search and seizure operations or effect arrests without warrant or fire at persons who threaten law and order are available to the law-enforcement authorities under the existing laws. It would be irrational to expect the armed forces to exercise such powers without serious consequences for the civilian population. We are not facing an all-out insurgency in Kashmir; the challenges to normalcy and peace must be countenanced by the law-enforcement agencies. Take for example the movement spearheaded by the Maoists in Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and the peripheral States. The casualties have included both innocent civilians and the security personnel. But there has been no necessity for the imposition of AFSPA in any of these States and the local police force, sometimes with the help of paramilitary personnel, has been dealing with this problem for quite a while. Some of the States have also raised or trained special armed forces to confront the Maoists, but the army has never been called in.

It may of course be argued that the terrorists from across the border and their local militant supporters like the Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen are far better trained and armed with deadlier weapons than the Maoists. But the solution lies in properly training and equipping the State police rather than depending on the army which is always the last resort. Long-term involvement of the army in dealing with what is basically a serious law and order problem is becoming counterproductive.It is direly important, therefore, to withdraw AFSPA from J&K perhaps with a little modification. In order to detect and foil dangers of incursions, it may be necessary to give special powers to the army up to a certain distance, say 5 kilometres from the line of control. Gradually it may be prudent to hand over border patrolling to the BSF, leaving the army free to concentrate on surveillance and intelligence gathering and follow-up action with the help of local police. The second role of the army is to help the civil administration in restoring law and order or in times of natural calamities.

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Drawing the Kashmiri population, especially the youth, into the national mainstream is a difficult and painstaking process, one that requires considerable patience. Self-seeking political parties tend to criticise the Government in power as being soft towards terrorists and anti-nationals. Any move towards reconciliation, therefore, is really difficult to implement in terms of a long-term strategy. It has been often argued that economic development should be the main plank of any policy to draw people away from alienation and strife. But recent experience in Western Europe or the USA demonstrates that economic prosperity alone cannot guard against religious or ethnic intolerance. The bond of nationhood, which was once one of the most potent factors in terms of national integration, is losing its appeal in the age of the internet and the revolution in communication technology.

Unfortunately, the heart of India does not attract the present generation of youth. The petty party politics and lack of idealism of our present set of leaders have left the younger generation thoroughly disillusioned. This is reflected in the open defiance of authority and the anti-national slogans raised. The political process calls for cleansing. This is more urgent than taking punitive action against the student leaders. The triumvirate of the three Bollywood Khans are perhaps our greatest insurance against ISIS propaganda. Unfortunately we are yet to see such national idols coming up from within J&K whom the Kashmiri youth can identify as their own. Hence the romantic attractions for social media savvy home-bred militants like Burhan Wani.(To be concluded)The writer is a retired Principal Secretary, Govt of West Bengal.

STATESMANM AUG 23, 2016Kashmir on the boil-IIVikram Sen

Comprehensive planning is urgently required to address the prevailing atmosphere of anger, despondency and despair among the Kashmiri youth. This is at the root of the animosity towards the Government both at the Centre and in the State, aided and abetted by the Pakistan Government and the media. Withdrawal of the AFSPA with certain modifications may be tried out, but may not help at this stage and may be interpreted as a sign of weakness. A limited but restrained show of force by moving in the army convoys and clearing the roads may have serious and damaging consequences in the long term. The problem must be sorted out at the local level by the duly elected Government in the State with initiatives from local politicians. But as things stand now the State leadership under the new Chief Minister is facing a daunting task to resume talks and start the process of reconciliation.

The visit of the Union Home Minister is a welcome beginning but a Prime Ministerial visit, with a delegation representing both the Government as well as the Opposition, is perhaps the best way

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out of a very difficult situation. The process of normalisation must be initiated. Such meetings are perhaps the best way out of a very difficult situation. Kashmir cannot be made to drift back to the dark days of the early 1990s and peace and development must be achieved with the active participation of the people of Kashmir. While the message against terrorism and militancy needs to be firmly conveyed, Kashmiri susceptibilities and their unique historical and political traditions also need to be respected. Peripheral issues like earmarking a substantial chunk of land for the Amarnath temple, resettlement of Kashmiri Pundits, compulsory singing of the national anthem in schools hardly contribute towards national integration, but are bound to create fresh scars in the minds of Kashmiris.

The Kashmir problem is intrinsically linked to bilateral relations with Pakistan though we argue that terrorist incursion from across the border is now the main issue. For us in India, terrorism and militancy originating in Pakistan has cast a long shadow not only over Kashmir but almost over every part of the country. This coupled with the present geopolitical scenario of an increasingly assertive China under President Xi Jinping may not augur well for India. The reported presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) on the pretext of protecting Chinese workers working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has lent a complex and ominous angle to the whole scenario. The Corridor and the development of the Gwadar Port, that gives direct access to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf, has now become vital for China in view of its problems with other littoral countries and the recent ruling of the International Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea.

Against this backdrop, we need to review our entire Pakistan policy. The scars of Partition, three wars since then, numerous skirmishes and repeated terrorist incursions over the last three decades have projected Pakistan as the enemy No. 1 in the Indian mindset. The situation has also been exploited by the strident Hindutva lobby for political gains to the extent that a rational geo-political appraisal of our relations with Pakistan has generally escaped our foreign policy perceptions or public opinion. If this be the general perception in a democratic, secular and open society like India, one shudders to think what the general impression of India is in a close, religion dominated, and almost feudal society like Pakistan. With either open or concealed military domination of the political process for most of its independent history, the role of the Pakistan military in any dialogue with India can hardly be ignored by any democratically elected leader of Pakistan. By all accounts military solutions to Kashmir and other related issues either by warfare or by slow but determined subversive activities has never been out of the Pakistani military-political thinking. This being the reality of mutual relations, pious hopes of any long-term mutual understanding or agreement to settle the vexed question of Kashmir is a non sequitur. Thus the options before India are fairly limited. Meaningful dialogue with a democratically elected Government in Islamabad is frowned upon by the all powerful military headquarters in Pakistan and it has been argued not without reason that normalization of relations

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with India has the potential to dilute the importance and authority of the army in Pakistani polity and society. Both are accustomed to the perception of evil Indian designs.

It has often been argued in India that the best course towards a solution to the Kashmir problem is through dialogue with a powerful military ruler of Pakistan. That this is a false hope had been amply demonstrated by General Pervez Musharraf when Prime Minister Vajpayee’s invitation for talks in Agra in 2001 was cunningly used by the Pak army chief to end international isolation, but without any meaningful steps towards improvement of bilateral relations. In fact there is hardly much to negotiate as the respective Lakshman Rekhas are well known. Pakistan can never give up its claims over Kashmir; the issue has been at the core of Pakistani psyche since Independence. Similarly no Government worth its salt in India can agree to a plebiscite challenging the instrument of accession signed by the then Maharaja of Kashmir in 1949 following a thinly concealed Pakistani invasion and attempted annexation of his kingdom. Thus a formal acceptance of the division of J&K with the present Line of Control as the de jure border with minor adjustments where required would appear to be the only viable solution.

Freedom of movement without visa formalities for Kashmiris on both sides of the border with required proof of identity may offer some solace to the Kashmiri families with relatives on the other side but would require further screening to ensure that such freedom is not extended to include travel inside the entire country without visa for citizens of the other country.

Pakistan’s acquisition of the atomic bomb in 1998 and its stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction among all nuclear powers have accorded a sinister dimension to the entire scenario. India has been forced to adopt a defensive posture to even the most flagrant of terrorist attacks in its heartland like that in Parliament in 2001, Mumbai in 2008 or Pathankot in 2016 even with conclusive evidence of the hand of Pakistan. No reciprocal action or follow-up is possible in the face of a weak and unstable political leadership and an omnipotent military that is ever so willing to flaunt the nuclear card. That this Indian dilemma is relished by the Pakistani military leadership is all too apparent in the repeated pronouncements of the ability to destroy major Indian cities in case India dares to counter the terrorist attacks from across the border. Even a non military man and scientist like Dr. Abdul Quadeer Khan, credited to be the father of the Pakistani bomb, recently harped on the ability to destroy New Delhi in five minutes. That such a step may lead to certain destruction of Pakistan does not seem to deter the military mind from articulating such reckless threats. Indeed, one often wonders if the Cold War doctrine of nuclear deterrence based on mutually unacceptable destruction has been turned on its head to be used as a licence to undertake any terrorist or subversive activity without the fear of retribution.

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Pakistan can accelerate terrorist activities directly or indirectly at any theatre and time of its choice while harping on Kashmir as the main bone of contention for the benefit of the international audience. India, it seems, is destined to play only a defensive role unable to respond to terrorism by striking at their sources across the border and taking the only available recourse of drawing international attention to such activities to isolate Pakistan. It must also make the point that Kashmir is a bilateral dispute that be resolved only bilaterally. It is perhaps time that we come out of the self-created cocoon that we have turned the Kashmir issue into. Instead of the oft repeated pretence of bilateral negotiations, it is much better to accept the line of least resistance, specifically to accept the status quo as de jure and make an open offer to Pakistan to normalize relations. This would of course be unacceptable to the Pakistani military and the stalemate is likely to continue indefinitely. Had there been a strong civilian Government in Pakistan able to stand up to military pressure, negotiations on such a proposal would have been possible but there is no sign of it in the foreseeable future. (Concluded)

STATESMAN, AUG 19, 2016Towards solving Kashmir imbroglioAfros Alam

Once upon a time it was a land of fairy-tale romance. However as of the past month, Kashmir is a zone of perpetual tension between young Kashmiris and the Indian armed personnel.

Surprisingly, the recent mass uprising has been dealt in an ahistorical context as if the crisis suddenly happened as an ‘accidental disaster’. Though the present crisis appears to be without a ‘road map’, it did not take place in a vacuum. In its background lies ill-treatment, poor governance, alienation and deprivation of the Kashmiri community as compared to other citizens of India.

While perusing Justice A.S. Anand’s book Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir we find the quotes of Sir Albion Banerjee, the Prime Minister of Kashmir who resigned in 1929 on the state of affairs of Kashmir under Maharaja Hari Singh in following terms: “Jammu and Kashmir state is labouring under many disadvantages, with a large Mohammedan population, absolutely illiterate, labouring under poverty and very low economic conditions of living in the villages, practically governed like dumb driven cattle. There is no touch between the government and the people, no suitable opportunity for representing grievances.”

Sadly enough even after decades of Indian integration, both centre and state governments remained failed institutions to deliver on the front of governance, transparency, employment,

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poverty alleviation, education, and law and order that further fuels the already growing frustration. Even, the outreach initiatives recommended by the Rangarajan Committee are of no avail.

Nothing is possible without bribing, be it getting Identity card, social security benefits, contract, licenses, registering an FIR in Police Stations and so on. Employment is based on patron and client relationship rather than merit and fairness. Most of the benefits are appropriated by native party elites and their supporters.

With reports from Transparency International positioning the state among the top corrupt states it could safely be guessed that corruption is being fostered to keep the people bogged down morally and also under the radar lest they change loyalties.

Even Article 370, a major guarantee to check the call for plebiscite appeared meaningless for the Kashmiris as most of the autonomies have already been taken away in the subsequent Constitutional amendments under the garb of gradual integration with Indian Union. Does it not point to some larger game being played at the cost of lives of ordinary people?

On a serious note, the designs of the right-wing groups need to be questioned as they look at the whole crisis in terms of inherent antagonism between minoritarian and majoritarian nationalism to reap electoral dividends by arousing majoritarian sensibilities across India.

Similarly, Pakistan’s strategy to gain Kashmir as a part of unfinished partition plan through the subtle use of ‘Islam in danger’ manoeuvring need urgent attention to check vertical expansion of violent clashes in urban centres of Kashmir valley. We also need to verify the charges against Indian Army as an institution to disturb theuneasy calm of five years (2002 to 2007) by engineering violent clashes in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2016 to justify its existential relevance as well as the inevitability of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA).

The most problematic dimension is the draconian loyalty test mechanism through the use of anti-national yardstick against those who wish to look at the Kashmir problem from the angle of rationality and secularity. It perpetuates fear psychosis among secular nationalists and also create unbridgeable chasm between Indians and Kashmiris, Kashmiri Muslims and Indian Muslims, between Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims, between Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Buddhists, and Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Sikhs.

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Strangely, attempts have also been made to vitiate the intra-social atmosphere by encouraging the ethnic cleavages between groups like Dogras, Gujjars, Paharis, Pathans as well as between rich landed and poor landless class.

Be that as it may, the recent uprising is different from earlier movements in multiple senses. First, this movement is led by the fourth generation youth who were born after 1989 having first-hand experience of militancy, humiliation, military rule.

Second, most of the youth taking part in processions are those who participated in the 2014 election campaigns for PDP to defeat right-wing forces as well as National Conference who later got frustrated with PDP’s alliance with BJP and thus felt heavily cheated.

Third, the present crisis unlike the past is of uniform civil character spread both vertically and horizontally across the cities, towns and villages and thus most of the areas of the Jammu and Kashmir are radicalised. Fourth, there is an approximate defragmentation and manufactured convergence of separatists, civil society activists, pro-Indian workers including PDP, NCP and Congress, native political and business elites, contractors, liaison agents, Ulema and disgruntled adolescents either because of fear or their conscientious response.

Sixth, unlike the past, there is a greater defiance of curfew with new heroism of ‘do or die, as final situation’ and with a popular chant like ‘there is only one solution, gun solution, gun solution’. The protesters are more violent than previously. There also appears an involvement of secret agencies from across the border which not only provide huge funds to active agents but also recruit young villagers, street children, poorly educated and unemployed youth to the militant ‘club of Burhan’. The objectionable part of this crisis is the conspicuous absence of secular nationalism. The religious symbols are constantly deployed. It can be seen in the use of shrines, mosques and madrasas as mobilisation tools. These platforms are used for freedom-songs and Jihadi speeches by the Ulema, local Imams and youth leaders. Religious sloganeering is very much in use like ‘Naara-e-Takbeer, Allah-o-Akbar’ and jingles like ‘Aazadi ka Matlab, LaIlahaIllalaha’.

Does the solution to the Kashmir lie in Independence? In all probability, the demand for Azadi would be a total disaster. Kashmir as the largest among the 562 princely states that constituted the empire before 1947 would get multiple partitions with Independent Kashmir minus Jammu, Ladakh, Pakistan administered Kashmir and Chinese controlled Kashmir. It will also be left with minimal resources and additional internal conflicts based on demography, religious factionalism, culture, ethnicity, and language.

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The ultimate solution to Kashmir lies in the recognition of “Nehruvian secular nationalism” and holding plebiscite but at a time when India would have performed on all developmental yardsticks in Jammu and Kashmir. There must be an announcement of unconditional dialogue by the Centre with the stakeholders, their proposals taken seriously and accommodated within the framework of ‘greater autonomous’ Kashmir. A serious promise of withdrawal of AFSPA should also be made.

On the development front, Jammu and Kashmir should be given special financial package to accelerate outreach programmes, social security schemes, poverty alleviation programmes, massive industrialisation, better transport and connectivity and better utilisation of natural resources for local benefits without discrimination and with great transparency.

The writer is Associate Professor & Head, Department of Political Science Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad.

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PUBLIC FINANCE

HUINDUSTAN TIMES, AUG 22, 2016Govt favours a January budget, move will allow taxpayers plan betterSuchetana Ray

The government is looking to advance the budget presentation by a month to January from next year, a move that will allow individuals and companies more time to firm up savings and tax payout plans.

The budget is usually presented on the last working day of February, a month before the new financial year begins on April 1.

“No final decision has been taken so far, but the ministry is examining the idea to advance the date of presenting the budget,” said a finance ministry official who did not wish to be named.

The move will need bipartisan political support as it will involve advancing the Parliament’s budget session at least by a month.

The Congress was not in support of the plan.

“What is the logic behind changing a time-tested method? If the budget is presented in January, the finances of the country will not be clear by then,” said Veerappa Moily, the Congress’s Lok Sabha MP and a former law and corporate affairs minister.

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A January budget would leave little time between Parliament’s winter session, which usually ends in the last week of December, and the budget session that begins in the third week of February.

“If the budget is presented in January, there will be overlap of the winter and budget sessions of Parliament. Parliamentary work will be hampered,” Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said.

Tax experts said the new proposal will aid better tax and accounts planning.“Presenting the budget in January will give two months’ time to individuals and corporate to realign their plans,” said Girish Vanvari, national head of tax at KPMG.Though the budget is presented in February, several tax proposals kick-in only from June after Parliament passes the annual finance bill in May.

For instance, service tax was increased to 15% from 14% from June 1 this year, though the finance minister announced the change in the budget presented on February 28.Income tax changes come into force only after the finance bill is passed, but these are retroactively implemented from April 1.

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Parliament passes the budget through a two-stage process. A vote on account is passed in March to meet necessary expenses on employees’ salaries and other costs for two to three months.

The finance bill, which contains tax changes, and the demands and appropriation bill, which spells out full year expenditure details, are passed in May.

Political pressures often force tax changes proposed in February during the finance bill’s passage in May.

The government is keen to conclude the process by March so that the budget spending and tax proposals can start to happen from the beginning of the financial year.Top sources said the finance minister has begun discussions on the proposal with top bureaucrats in his ministry.

Economists are divided on the proposal, though.

“What is the point of a budget in January? Are we transitioning to the calendar year as the fiscal year?” asked a former chief economic adviser to the finance minister.DK Joshi, chief economist at CRISIL, a credit rating firm, backed the move. “It a very positive thing and will bring in certainty once the budget is presented at the beginning of the year.”

The finance ministry official who confirmed the proposal said the government’s pre-budget consultations on taxes and policy changes will likely begin from September, instead of October in the past.

There are several other changes that next year’s budget will likely contain.If the April 1, 2017, deadline for implementing a nationwide goods and services tax (GST) is met, Part B of the budget speech, which contains tax proposals, will mostly contain direct taxes and customs duties as other indirect taxes will be subsumed in the new uniform tax regime.

The government is examining the option of merging the rail and general budgets beginning next year, ending a 92-year-old practice. A common budget will allow a seamless national transportation policy, insulating the railways from political pressures.

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The government will, as finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in his budget speech this year, do away with the “plan” and “non-plan” expenditure distinction, which is the practice, beginning 2017.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

PIONEER, AUG 19, 2016GOVT MAY PUSH PROFIT-MAKING PSUS TO CREATE START-UP FUNDS Madhusudan Sahoo

In a move to boost start-up ventures in the country, the Government is likely to soon push all profit-making public sector units (PSUs) for creating the start-up funds to accelerate productivity and growth, especially in manufacturing and information and technology (IT) space. The Government has directed almost all ministries to prepare a list of such PSUs for this purpose, according to a senior Government official.

The move comes at a time when the Government is making its all-out effort to develop a start-up ecosystem in the country. After launching ‘Start-up India’ this year, the Centre is looking into all possibilities to initiate a healthy business environment for the start-ups in almost all sectors in India, mostly in profit-making ones.

“The Government has shortlisted some profit-making PSUs in power, banking, oil & gas, energy, engineering among others to create funds in order to provide a support chain to the start-ups who are linked with the firms in some way or the other,” said the official.

With digital technology making greater inroads into banking and IT sectors, majority of financial institutions have upped their engagement promote start-ups in their fintech space. “The department of expenditure under Finance Ministry is working on it to encourage the budding entrepreneurs in the country. It will send the suggestions to different ministries for the concerned PSUs and will seek their feedback in this regard. I think both start-ups and concerned firms will share their innovative ideas to grow mutually in a common platform,” he added.

In line with the Government’s ‘Start-up India’ initiative, recently, country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and State-owned ONGC have already created the funding space for start-ups. The SBI has setup Rs 200-crore fund for fintech environment, stating that the capital would be extending upto Rs 3 crore for any India registered companies for promoting their business in India using IT system for banking. While ONGC has announced Rs 100 crore-fund for this purpose and it would provide the entire support chain for start-ups including seed capital, hand-holding, mentoring market linkage and follow-ups.

According to Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, start-ups are the next big economic force in India. “Close to 4,400 technology start-ups exist in India and the number is expected to reach over 12,000 by 2020. The Government will facilitate to ensure that world’s best start-up ecosystem is in India,” she had said recently.

To make this initiative a big success in the country, the department of expenditure has already issued a directive to all ministries that all start-ups, be micro, small or otherwise, may now be allowed relaxation from certain eligibility criteria in the tendering process.

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The move will be the most helpful to start-ups in the manufacturing sector and enable them to participate in such tenders with relaxed eligibility conditions.

In March this year, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Start-up India’ campaign, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry issued an order to all Ministries and central public sector units to relax conditions related to prior experience and turnover for start-ups in all public procurement.

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SOCIAL PROBLEMS

TELEGRAPH, AUG 23, 2016

Full-year freedom for club, hotel bars

Devadeep Purohit

Calcutta, Aug. 22: The Bengal government has given bars in three-star hotels and above and clubs permission to serve liquor all 365 days a year and pruned the list of dry days to four-and-a-half days from 12.

The decision ahead of the festive season has been described as "pragmatic" by some industrialists against the backdrop of a scramble to stock up on the eve of all big holidays and in the middle of a debate about prohibition or restrictions in some states, including neighbouring Bihar.

The excise directorate of the Bengal government, which comes under the finance department, issued a notification on August 16, which means the new tipple rules have already come into effect.

"All categories of retail excise licensed outlets/premises for the sale of country spirit.... foreign liquor or other kind of liquor or intoxicant, except bars attached to hotels graded 3-star or above and clubs, shall be kept closed and during the hours as detailed in the table below," reads the order that lists four-and-a-half days as dry days. (See chart)

The way the order has been drafted suggests the dry days will not apply to three-star hotels and above and clubs.

The revised list of dry days is almost similar to those in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

"Everyone knows that liquor would be available on dry days if one is willing to pay extra. Besides, people stock up for dry days in advance. Then, what's the need for dry days?" asked an industrialist.

According to him, the decision suggests that the Trinamul government in its second innings is willing to stray from the beaten path and experiment with ideas. The revision is expected to push up the government's revenues and give a push to the state's efforts at promoting tourism.

The decision is also expected to help push up sales in restaurants with liquor licences.

Liquor shops have been a politically sensitive issue in the state. Protests over granting of licences to run liquor outlets have been common in Bengal.

A city-based economist termed such protests "prejudiced", which have often affected excise revenues and the state's attractiveness as a tourist destination.

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"Look at states like Maharashtra, where more than 20 per cent of the state's revenues come from excise collection.... Same is the case for most major Indian states. But in case of Bengal, the collection from excise is still languishing below 10 per cent," he said.

In his budget arithmetic for the current financial year, finance minister Amit Mitra has projected an excise earning of Rs 4,698 crore - around 9 per cent of the total tax revenue projection of a little over Rs 50,000 crore.

Over the past few years, the actual excise collection has lagged behind projections, which means the government could not fulfil its targets.

"Fewer dry days would not have much revenue impact.... At most, the state's earning would go up by around Rs 100 crore. But what's important in the announcement is a change in attitude and that's encouraging," said a liquor industry veteran.

According to him, several gram panchayat and police station areas do not have liquor shops, which result in the consumption of illicit liquor.

"Besides, the state doesn't have enough distilleries and 80 per cent of the spirit requirement is sourced from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.... If we have more distilleries, that would result in more revenues and employment," he said.

TAXATION

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HINDUSTAN TIMES, AUG 18, 2016I-T dept to start monthly SMS alert for tax payersTimsy Jaipuria

| You will soon receive a monthly SMS from the income tax department telling you whether the tax deducted from your salary has been received.

The move is aimed at building trust between the taxpayer and the I-T department, by avoiding a repeat of the Kingfisher incident where employees of the now defunct airline were served tax notices when it was the company that had defaulted on payments.“The system should be ready in a month or two,” Central Board of Direct Taxes chairperson Rani Singh Nair told HT on Wednesday.

“A lot of cases were reported where companies were not submitting taxes they had deducted from salaries and notices were going out to the employees. To avoid this, we are working on a system where an SMS will tell you whether the tax deducted has reached the department or not. In case it hasn’t, you can ask your company why it is defaulting on your taxes,” she said.

Among other measures, the department plans to email certificates of appreciation to employees for paying their taxes on time, and issue directives to taxmen to maintain integrity and accountability while adopting zero tolerance for corruption.Nair, who took charge as CBDT chief on August 1, said her agenda was to correct the image of the department — which is often accused of ‘tax terrorism’ in its pursuit of defaulters.

In the case of Kingfisher, employees who were out of jobs and hadn’t been paid for months when the airline went bust alleged they were further harassed by the I-T department when it was the company that had failed to deposit R450 crore of tax deducted at source (TDS).

“Not remitting collected TDS is a serious offence under the Income Tax Act. It can attract a penalty and a possible jail term of anywhere between three months and seven years. There are sufficient instances where this has been imposed,” said Amit Maheshwari, a partner at the accountancy firm Ashok Maheshwary & Associates.

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