2013 September Mentor

Index
PAGE NO.
4
Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?
SEPTEMBER,
2013
AUGUST, 2012
PAGE NO.
Chief Editor:
Sachchida Nand Jha
Editor:
Yagya Nand Jha
Central Monitoring System Vs Civil Rights
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11
Justice Must Reach the Poor
CURRENT AFFAIRS
National Issues
International Issues
India & the World
Economy
Science and Technology
Sports
Awards & Prizes
In the News
15
31
45
51
61
72
80
84
Selected Articles from

Various Newspapers & Journals
Editor and Publisher are not responsible
Disclaimer:
for any view, data, figure etc. expressed

in the articles by the author(s). Maps are
notational .
All Disputes are subject to the exclusive
jurisdiction of competent courts and
fourms in Delhi/New Delhi only.
PAGE NO.
98
131
The Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Bill
PAGE NO.
134
Urbanisation and its Hazards (2008)

Nature has unleashed its wrath
on Uttarakhand. Hundreds of
people have died and thousands are
still stranded. It seems, the land of
God has turned into the town of
ghost. Although official figure of
death toll in the catastrophe, caused
by flash floods followed by
landslides,
is
placed
around 1,000 but in actual, it likely
to cross over 5,000. More than 1000
roads, 90 bridges have been washed
away in the monsoon mayhem in
Dev Bhoomi. Even, the holy shrine
of Kedarnath has barely survived, it
is buried deep in mud. But question
is who is responsible for this
catastrophe?
Uttarakhand tragedy, which
seems to be a natural calamity, in
fact is the man made disaster.
Colossal greed of politicians and
bureaucrats has eaten up the lives
of thousands. The experts say that
unplanned development and
rampant destruction of forests is the
some of the main reasons behind the
natures fury. Then, unabated
construction of hydro-electric
(hydel) power projects, roads,
hotels have also compounded the

problem and made the State prone
to such disaster.
It is one week since
Uttarakhands worst disaster in living
memory. Flash floods resulting from
extremely intense rainfall swept
away mountainsides, villages and
towns, thousands of people,
animals, agricultural fields, irrigation
canals, domestic water sources,
dams, roads, bridges, and buildings
anything that stood in the way.
A week later, media attention
remains riveted on the efforts to
rescue tens of thousands of pilgrims
and tourists visiting the shrines in the
uppermost reaches of Uttarakhands
sacred rivers. But the deluge spread
far beyond the Char Dhams
Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and
Badrinath to cover the entire
State. The catchments of many
smaller rivers also witnessed flash
floods but the media has yet to
report on the destruction there.
Eyewitness accounts being
gathered by official agencies and
voluntary organisations have
reported devastation from more
http://www.civilservicesmentor.com
than 200 villages so far and more

affected villages are being reported
every day. Villagers whose homes,
lands and animals have been swept
away by the floods are in a state of
shock trying to imagine day-to-day
survival without their basic
livelihood assets.
When you change the course
of a river by mining, cutting of trees
indiscriminately and building roads
in a haphazard manner, such a
calamity is bound to take place,
said PP Dayani, director of the GB
Pant Institute of Himalayan
Environment and Development.
According to experts, nature has its
own capacity to recover and
rejuvenate, and humans should not
challenge it. A lesson to be learnt
is Garhwals 1805 earthquake which
is a classic example of that one
should not meddle with nature, said
Ravi Chopra, director of the
Dehradun-based People Science
Institute. CAG had said that State
Disaster Management System has
never met since it was formed in
October, 2007. It is quite obvious,
when they have not met even once
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in six years, then there must have no
polices,
guidelines,
rules,
regulations in place to deal with
such a catastrophe.
Uttarakhand and Himachal
Pradesh, two hill states in the
Himalayan range, are so far the worst
hit by the extreme rains that struck
northern India in the wake of
monsoons that set in early this year.
Media reports say nearly 60 persons
have died in Uttarakhand, and an
estimated 60,000 pilgrims are
stranded. Heavy rainfall has
wreaked havoc on the region
because of the fragile nature of the
Himalayan range and poor soil
stability in its steep slopes. But it is
man-made factors that have
compounded the scale of the
disaster. Unabated expansion of
hydro-power
projects
and
construction of roads to
accommodate ever-increasing
tourism, especially religious tourism,
are also major causes for the
unprecedented scale of devastation,
say experts.
The valleys of the Yamuna, the
Ganga and the Alaknanda witness
heavy traffic of tourists. For this, the
government has to construct new
roads and widen the existing ones,
says Maharaj Pandit, professor with
the Department of Environmental
Sciences in Delhi University. He says
that a study should be conducted
to assess the carrying capacity of the
Himalaya and development should
be planned accordingly.
Last weeks disaster not only
spelt doom for thousands of
household economies but also dealt
a grievous blow to Uttarakhands
lucrative religious tourism industry.
With the media focus almost
exclusively on the fate of pilgrims,
the scenes of the deluge and its
aftermath will linger on in public
memory, making the revival of
tourism doubtful in the foreseeable
future. The abject failure of the State
government, political leaders and

the administration is therefore likely
to impoverish the State coffers too.
It is really surprising that a State like
Uttarakhand, which had witnessed
two earthquakes in 1996 in
Uttarkashi and 1998 in Chamoli
respectively, has no such system in
place to prevent such a calamity.
The news reports also stated there
are around 70 hydel projects
working in three basins, namely,
Alkananda, Mandakini and
Bhagirathi. So many dams and roads
have been built in an unscientific
manner, which really have worsened
the situation.
Reports also say that no prior
sanction is being taken by
concerned authorities for these
hydel projects. Here the question is
why so many illegal constructions
are thriving in the State right under
the nose of authorities? This in a way
tells that there is a big nexus
between
politicians
and
bureaucrats, who do not bother
about the common people.
Moreover, under the name of
development, they are playing with
the lives of common people. They
only care for their own kin, whose
safety is utmost important to them,
that is why they are making
numerous calls to the concerned
authorities to rescue their own
people on priority basis. The impact
of the floods on Uttarakhands
tourism leads to larger questions of
what kind of development
Himalayan States should pursue.
Before delving into that, it is
important to understand the nature
of the rainfall that deluged the State.
Already several voices are arguing
that the deluge is a random, freak
event. Odishas super cyclone in
1999, torrential rains in Mumbai in
2005, and now the Uttarakhand
downpour constitute three clear
weather related events in less than
15 years, each causing massive
5
destruction or dislocation in India.

These can hardly be called freak
events.
Several reports from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) have repeatedly
warned that extreme weather
incidents will become more
frequent with global warming. We
are already riding the global
warming curve. We will have to take
into account the likelihood of more
frequent extreme weather events
when planning for development,
especially in the fragile Himalayan
region where crumbling mountains
become murderous. In the 13 years
after statehood, the leadership of
the State has succumbed to the
conventional model of development
with its familiar and single-minded
goal of creating monetary wealth.
With utter disregard for the States
mountain character and its delicate
ecosystems,
successive
governments have blindly pushed
roads, dams, tunnels, bridges and
unsafe buildings even in the most
fragile regions. In the process,
denuded mountains have remained
deforested, roads designed to
minimise expenditure rather than
enhance safety have endangered
human lives, tunnels blasted into
mountainsides have further
weakened the fragile slopes and
dried up springs, ill-conceived
hydropower projects have
destroyed rivers and their
ecosystems, and hotels and land
developers have encroached on
river banks.
Yes, wealth has been
generated but the beneficiaries are
very few mainly in the towns and
cities of the southern terai plains
and valleys where production
investments have concentrated. In
the mountain villages, agricultural
production has shrivelled, women
still trudge the mountain slopes in
search of fodder, fuel wood and


water, and entire families wait
longingly for an opportunity to
escape to the plains. Last weeks
floods have sounded an alarm bell.
To pursue development without
concern for the fragile Himalayan
environment is to invite disaster.
Eco-sensitive development may
mean a slower monetary growth rate
but a more sustainable and
equitable one.
Indias go-to person for
tourism, the man who branded
Kerala as Gods own country, and
turned the southern state into one
of the busiest tourist destinations in
the country, simply cannot come to
terms with the devastation in
Uttarakhand. Amitabh Kant, who is
credited with pioneering tourism
marketing in India, believes the
tragedy is because of a significant
error of judgement of the state
authorities. Uttarakhand should not
have taken the path of
industrialisation for development
and should have been developed as
the best destination for sustainable
tourism in the world. States must
focus on their core competence; not
every state should industrialise.
This is a very childish
argument that cloudbursts,
earthquakes and tsunamis are
because of human factors. In the
history of hundreds of years
of Kedarnath, no such incident has
taken place. In a Himalayan state,
this catastrophe has come about in
37,000 square miles of area. This
cloudburst, 330 millimetres of rain,
cannot be anticipated, Bahuguna
said in an interview to Times of
India. Sunita Narain, director
general, Centre for Science and
Environment, is one of the many
environmentalists who believe the
total opposite - that the disaster in
Uttarakhand is as much man-made
as it is natural. Any development
strategy that is not environmentally
sound will become more disastrous
and more tragic. All this means that

we cannot afford to get
development wrong.
Kant is the first one to admit
that these ideas do sound utopian
and there may be people who
would still be dismissive about
discouraging industrialisation. But
unless such measures are taken, I am
afraid all our hill destinations are
under threat; we need to start taking
corrective action. Industry is quick
to rubbish Kants growth formula.
ML Gupta, who runs a prefabricated engineering solutions
company in Uttarakhand, says
environmentalists have gone
overboard in blaming industries
located in the region. I dont think
industry has contributed to this
disaster, says Gupta, who also
advises the PHD Chamber, a body
that promotes industry and
entrepreneurship in the 12 northern
states, including Uttarakhand.
He points out that the business
climate in the state started
improving after tax concessions
were given in the late 90s.
According to Gupta, most of the
industrial units in the state were set
up in the plains and therefore do not
pose any ecological threat to the
region. The environmentalists and
the media are unfairly targeting
industry, which has contributed a lot
to the development of the state.
Data with the Uttarakhand
State Transport Department
confirms this. In 2005-06, 83,000odd vehicles were registered in the
state. The figure rose to nearly
180,000 in 2012-13. Out of this,
proportion of cars, jeeps and taxis,
which are the most preferred means
of transport for tourists landing in
the state, increased the most. In
2005-06, 4,000 such vehicles were
registered, which jumped to 40,000
in 2012-13. It is an established fact
that there is a straight co-relation
between tourism increase and
higher incidence of landslides.

The Ganga in the upper
reaches has been an engineers
playground. The Central Electricity
Authority and the Uttarakhand
power department have estimated
the rivers hydroelectric potential at
some 9,000 MW and have planned
70-odd projects on its tributaries. In
building these projects the key
tributaries would be modified
through diversion to tunnels or
reservoirsto such an extent that 80
per cent of the Bhagirathi and 65 per
cent of the Alaknanda could be
affected.
As much as 90 per cent of the
other smaller tributaries could be
affected the same way. Our
mountains were never so fragile. But
these heavy machines plying
everyday on the kutcha roads have
weakened it, and now we suffer
landslides more often, says Harish
Rawat, a BSc student in
Uttarakhands Bhatwari region that
suffered a major landslide in 2010.
Experts say promotion of the
state as a tourist destination is
coming in way of sustainable
development. Entire world now is
in crazy race of economical
progress,
everyone
wants
development which brings more
money (and in turn supposed to
bring more happiness) no matter
what we want development, the
race is too competitive and furious,
it seems there is no time to plan any
strategy they just want to run, run at
any cost and win the race or at a tie
but loosing is not a option. Nothing
wrong in all these ambitions and
aspirations (about progress and
development), they are required to
motivate people to do the good
work, discover new inventions and
in turn bring long term sustainable
progress.
But thats where is the
problem, very few are looking for
long term sustainable progress,


most of us are in race for short term
gains, quicker the better, no one has
time to think about impact of our
actions on environment. I hope
people
demand
better
infrastructure and fight for it (both
in cities and villages), and once they
get it try really hard to maintain it, I
hope they follow the rules and dont
play with their own life, I know its
easy to say this than to follow but
all these disasters should force all
of us to think. It is not logical or even
practical to follow single model of

growth for entire country, India is
such a diverse (geographically,
socially and economically) country
so we need to have some model
which takes into account everything
(not only middle class, skilled
workers or educated class), there
are many intelligent and
experienced people who can come
up with such model and I hope they
come up with something which
suits our diverse country and its
people. I am sure with proper

planning and implementation of
good and practical ideas we can
avoid man made disasters and also
deal with natural calamities in much
better way, so that next time when
something like this happens at least
we are better prepared. I know we
can not control natures behavior
but we can definitely control our
actions and make sure that we dont
make situation more complicated
and worse.
S K Singh

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Central Monitoring System Vs Civil Rights

The
tussle
between
government agencies need for a
better, faster and real-time
interception, surveillance and
monitoring mechanism through the
Central Monitoring System (CMS),
on the one hand, and demands by
privacy, civil rights and free speech
activists, for ensuring higher privacy
for citizens in view of CMS, on the
other, is gaining ground. India today
has nearly 900 million mobile
subscribers, 160 million Internet
users and close to 85 million citizens
on social media. Internet and social
media users are expected to double
by 2015.
The discussions have been
coloured by the startling revelation
relating to the PRISM project which,
if true, may have meant that the
privacy of millions of Indian Internet
users
could
have
been
compromised, in varying degrees.
Meanwhile, closer home, the
CMS project, aimed at improving the
capability of security agencies to
protect national security and fight
crime, including terrorism, has also
raised serious privacy issues.
Shrouded in Secrecy
First, very little real information
is available about the CMS working
procedure, technical capabilities
and privacy safeguards in the public
domain. While governments
worldwide remain reluctant to share
information about their surveillance
and monitoring systems, successive
governments in India have fared no
better.
Key unanswered issues
include the uncontrolled use of
technical capability and intrusive
technologies, which are capable of
instant, real time and deep search
surveillance. There has been no
debate in Parliament or outside
about the level of surveillance
citizens should be put through or
whether there should be red lines
when using intrusive surveillance
mechanisms, even when technology
presents an option.
Further, there is no information
about whether there are additional
safeguards against interception by
political authorities, of potential
targets carrying out sensitive
assignments such as judges,
opposition leaders, editors,

regulators, advocates, vigilance
officials, corporate CEOs, etc.
Should there be? How far should the
spy
agencies
take
lethal
technological capability against
their own citizens? Can all
technological prowesses be used
against any category of citizen,
regardless of the level of security
clearance they are entitled to? Who
decides the correctness and
propriety of such authorisations,
especially since these are approved
by bureaucrats who, in turn, report
to political authorities?
The U.N. Special Rapporteur
on Promotion and Protection of
Right to Freedom, in his report of
April 17, 2013, has concluded that
apart from increasing public
awareness of threats to privacy,
States must regulate the
commercialization of surveillance
technology.
Legal Infirmities
Secondly, while the existing
law primarily relates to interception
of calls, CMS expands surveillance


across Meta-Data which includes
CDRs and SDRs. Access, transfer
and retention of CDRs is weakly
defined under the existing laws.
Provisions for authorisation of
interception are contained in
Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph
Act 1885, Rule 419(A) of the Indian
Telegraph Rules 1951, as well as
Section 69 of the Information
Technology Act 2000, read with
Information Technology (Directions
for Interception or Monitoring or
Decryption of Information) Rules
2009.
The Right to Privacy, on the
other hand, is protected under
Article 21 Right to Life and
Article 19(1)(a) Right to Freedom
of Speech and Expression under
the Constitution of India, unless it
is permitted under procedure
established by law. While the
Supreme Court has upheld the
constitutional
validity
of
interceptions, and monitoring under
Section 5(2) of the Act through its
order dated December 18, 1996, it
subsequently laid down guidelines
narrowing the scope of interception
down to five instances national
sovereignty and integrity, state
security, friendly relations with
foreign states, public order or for
preventing incitement to the
commission of an offence.
With CMS, questions about the
mismatch between the privacy
legislation and the lethal forensic
surveillance capabilities arise. These
border on what is now recognised
as a human rights issue. Are public
order or preventing incitement to
the commission of an offence
sufficiently vague or broad for the
security agencies to practically put
through any authorisation request
for interception, however weak,
under these two heads? Can
prevention of crime leave the door
open to any agency, getting
permission to monitor any citizen
without adequate burden of proof?

Since the authorities giving approval
are not judges, will they have the
judicial expertise to make legally
valid decisions? Worse still if the
surveillance is extra-judicial, how
will it be uncovered?
Further, interception under
CMS can be done instantly and,
since existing laws allow
government agencies to intercept
any phone conversation without the
Home Secretarys mandatory
permission, for seven days, should
this procedure be reviewed under
CMS? Should a lower level officers
approval be sufficient to begin
surveillance? The law also says the
directions for interception shall
remain in force, unless revoked
earlier, for a period not exceeding
60 days, after issue, and may be
renewed, but same shall not remain
in force beyond a total period of 180
days. In effect, monitoring can
continue for half the year. Is this
period too long, without a periodic
review? If there is a review, is it
sufficiently independent and
robust?
Here again, the U.N.
Rapporteur in the recent report on
surveillance, recommended that
surveillance must occur under, the
most exceptional circumstances
and exclusively under the
supervision of an independent
judicial authority. Further that
surveillance techniques and
practices that are applied outside
the rule of law must be brought
under legislative control.
Meanwhile, there is no
consensus on the opposing views
between DoPT, the Home Ministry
and civil rights activists, two-and-ahalf years after a privacy group was
set up under Secretary, DoPT, and
seven months after the Justice A.P.
Shah Committee submitted its
Report on Privacy, suggesting a
privacy legislation which was
9
technologically neutral, interoperable with international

standards, protected multidimensional privacy, ensured
horizontal applicability and
conformity with privacy principles
in a co-regulatory enforcement
regime. Ironically, the latest draft of
the privacy legislation itself remains
a mystery.
Potential misuse
Under CMS, one government
official will authorise interception.
This will be reviewed and executed
by other fellow officers in different
agencies but all within the
government. What is the guarantee
that such permission will be subject
to the rigorous due diligence that it
deserves? Will every government
officer follow the laid down
procedure, especially if he knows
that all authorisations are covered
under absolute secrecy with no
chance of public disclosure or
scrutiny? What happens if the
procedure is violated? Will
violations, when discovered, be
acted upon since everything
remains secret within the
government? The identity of targets
or duration of monitoring cannot be
revealed publicly, even under the
RTI, as it falls under specific
exemptions granted in Section 8 of
the RTI Act. How will mistakes be
corrected and misuse prevented?
There are other questions that
remain unanswered in law. Who all
within the government can have
access to the Intercept Related
Information (IRI), Call Content (CC)
and CDRs?
How long can intercept
information be kept with the
government and what is the
procedure for its safe keeping
especially given a track record of
leaked tapes without a single
official being found guilty in such
instances? Are there any


circumstances under which
targets, especially when found
innocent, will be informed that they
were under surveillance?
The privacy issues are
sufficiently serious both outside

India and within. Hopefully, the
government can present the Privacy
Bill early for Parliament to debate it.
Equally it may be time for the
10
Supreme Court to review its

guidelines which were written at a
time when there were less than a
million mobile subscribers and no
Internet users.
Shalini Singh


When Sir Elijah Impey
enthroned himself on the coveted
position of the Chief Justice of
Supreme Court in 1773; the journey
of the dispensation of justice in
modern India began. Obviously,
this does not imply the nonexistence of justice, more so; propoor justice in pre-modern India.
Who will not reminisce the evolution
of the Indian Judicial system since
the era of the nomadic communities
in the Rig Vedic period to the
individual brilliance of Jehangir in
the form of Janzeer-i-adl. The
Judicial system in India had been
well structured, though at times
reaching the zenith of glory or the
abyss of disgrace during the periods
of individual feudal lords, kings or
emperors.
Nevertheless, till the advent of
the concepts of Western Democracy
and Justice, probably there was no
serious thought regarding Justice
to be just !! Since antiquity, justice
in India (if not in the rest of the world
too) practically was viewed as the
decrees bestowed on the society by
a privileged lot, the lot being the
Brahmins, the Kings, the Ulemas or

the Badshahs, including the regional
variations of these nomenclatures.
Whether it was the Manusmriti or the
Quran, whether it was the Temple
Priest or the Qazi, on the majority
of occasions, Justice in India had
been the prerogative of a coterie.
So, when the Supreme Court
in Calcutta (now Kolkata) was set up
as one of the provisions of the
Regulating Act (1773), it must have
evoked a response of gayness, at
least amongst the progressive
denizens of the city. But soon it was
to falter in its objective of being a
Court of Equity as Nand Kumar
was denied access to just Justice.
With time, Indians overcame the
initial mesmerization regarding the
British system of Justice when the
Ilbert Bill was vehemently opposed
and not put into effect! Hence
historically, Justice was belied, if not
denied, to the native Indians,
probably because of racial
arrogance of the Britishers or due to
the very nature of Justice itself !
Indians at that period, meant Indians
of all variety, whether rich or poor.
11
With
the
dawn
of
independence, the free Indians
dreamt of a different society
altogether, far from the clutches of
foreign oppression and closer to the
Utopia of social integration. But
whether free India has really been
able to cherish her dreams of
pluralism and justice through its
arduous journey in the last six
decades still remains a matter of
debate. Probably the starting point
of the goof up had been the
rampant imposition of the British
system of Justice on a society which
was hardly aware of it, either from
the point of view of the concept, or
from the perspective of language.
Moreover, Indians never did a
Phoenix act in regard to our struggle
for independence which meant that
the masses were in oblivion of the
romantic ideas of Liberty, Equality,
and Fraternity and for that matter,
Justice. Nor were we well
accustomed to Socialism and Social
Justice; the rights of the proletariat
and the farmers being out of
question.
It would be pertinent to put

Corruption in Sports: Money at Any Cost

forward the various dimensions of
Justice as viewed in the modern
sense of the term. The traditional
concept of Justice was the
observance of a lifestyle as of
Yudhisthira, while presently, we
have the idea of Social Justice; in
which Legal, Political and SocioEconomic notions of Justice
comprise a continuum within the
general scheme.
On top of these, the concept
of Human Rights forms the complete
set of Justice. In independent India,
the Fundamental Rights as enshrined
in the Constitution, the Democratic
polity,
along
with
the
implementation of the Directive
Principles, probably in totality usher
in the idea of Social Justice.
Nevertheless, we need to scrutinize
the functioning of the said rights and
principles in order to substantially
fathom the status of Justice in India
at present. This would in turn aid us
to devise suitable mechanisms so as
to reach the teeming millions and
hence invigorate our society.
Theoretically, the term legal
justice can broadly be applied in the
following two contexts :
(a) Justice according to Law, and
(b) Law according to Justice
Presently, in India, we have
legal justice in both these forms.
Article 14 of our Constitution
proclaiming Equality before Law
pertains to context (a) whereas
Article 17 concerned with the
Abolition of Untouchability can be
associated with context (b).
However, the implementation
of these Articles in reality for the
past six decades has been the actual
matter of concern. Has the Indian
Judiciary, with its pyramidal
hierarchy and top heavy status, been
able to reach the ordinary masses,
especially in the countryside? If yes,
then why are there still practically
uncountable number of cases
pending in the lower judiciary, if not
in the State High Courts? Why is

there still umpteen number of
instances of nepotism and
corruption associated with our
Judiciary? And why the common
man on the street has shivers down
his spine if asked to visit the
premises of the local court? These
are some of the queries which paint
the not so august journey of our
esteemed Judiciary over these
years! Now, what could be the
reasons behind this sort of dismal
situation? May be the ever
increasing population, may be the
ever decaying value-system or may
be simply the lack of will of the
Indians to fix the system and blame
everything on the politicoadministrative set up of the country.
Whatever it is, the flaws need to be
plugged soon, if India desires to
stand up against the onslaught of
globalization since its quality
manpower is in great demand in this
era of liberalization. And if the
common masses are uplifted
through a just system of Justice, it
would be a perfect icing on the
cake!
The scheme of rectification,
inter alia, may include the
following:
A transparent and merit based
system of recruitment of Judges,
right from the lowest echelons of the
system. An All India Judicial Service
by invoking Article 312 of the
Constitution may be an apt tool in
this regard. Accountability of the
Higher Judiciary: the inception of
the All India Judicial Council might
be the right step in this direction.
Accessibility of the Judiciary for the
downtrodden: implementing Article
39A (which speaks of Free Legal
Aid) of our Constitution as a
Fundamental Right might be
Utopian at this present juncture but
is probably unavoidable in the long
run for a just and egalitarian society.
At least, the economic
12
criterion for free legal aid could be

made somewhat practicable, in the
light of the scenario of inflation and
rise in the level of the exemption
limit for taxation. Notwithstanding
the innumerable potholes in our
system of dispensation of Justice,
we have achieved a gamut of things;
the movement of the Public Interest
Litigation being the premier part of
it. It has indeed established a holy
connection
between
the
downtrodden and the Nyayalaya.
The institutions of the Fast Track
Courts and Lok Adalats are the other
feathers on the cap of the PolityJudiciary combo. A commendable
work forsooth. Still, we have a long
path to tread, with alacrity but with
caution!
On the other hand, Political
Justice can be conceived as the
transformation of political
institutions, processes and rights so
that the benefits spread across the
whole spectrum of the populace.
This implies the existence of a
Democratic form of polity where the
judiciary is separated from the
executive (in actuality), rule of
law overwhelms the arbitrariness of
the legislature, and universal adult
franchise dictates the selection of
the legislature (more participation of
the electorate).
If we delve into the present
political structure of India, probably
we are forced to affirm that Political
Justice is prevalent in our milieu.
But then, does this conclusion take
into consideration the intricacies
and the inherent bottlenecks of the
implementation of Political Justice
or does this inference take into
account the political history of India
since 1947? If we carefully analyse
the situation in the light of these
perspectives, we are probably
urged to withhold our verdict.
We have had a total of 14 Lok
Sabha elections till date and in all
these elections, hardly more than


55% of the total electorates visited
the polling booths on each
occasion. Though the percentage of
highly educated parliamentarians
have kept on rising steadily with
each Lok Sabha on one hand,
criminalization of politics have also
shot up on the other. Though there
is a constant endeavour to make the
parliament popular by showcasing
it in TV channels on the one hand,
events like cash for query scam, 2G
spectrum scam and hordes of other
scams have denigrated its status on
the other.
Nonetheless, inspite of all the
flaws, India has stood the test of
time. Compared to its not-sofriendly neighbour Pakistan, India
has kept the edifice of Democracy
intact for the past six decades and
continues to improve, though on a
snails pace.
Revolutionary steps like the
enactment of the 73rd Amendment
Act (Panchayati Raj) and the 86th
Amendment Act (Right to Education
as a Fundamental Right) have given
us the hope that Indian Democracy,
if need be, can sustain the tsunami
of Autocracy, Theocracy or
Plutocracy. Further steps like the
reservation of seats in parliament for
women shall be a positive move in
the right direction.
There can also be innovative
steps; for instance, having a
knowledge-based filtration of the
political leaders. The merit of the
political leaders could be judged by
an independent body like the Union
Public Service Commission; on
similar lines that is followed to
recruit bureaucrats. This may
provide a fillip to the modus
operandi of the present democratic
functioning in India and help us
reach asymptotically a modus
vivendi.
The discussion on Political
Justice is automatically linked to the
term socio-economic justice. This
idea is best comprehended by

understanding
the
interrelationships between the workerpeasant combo with the
entrepreneur-landlord nexus,
between the trader and the
consumer and such others. India is
surely focusing on economic growth
with social justice as this is also the
motto in the centralized 5-year
plans. In an era where the French
President Sarkozy is taking the
assistance of stalwarts like Amartya
Sen to redefine economic growth,
a mere increase in the percentage
growth in the economy or the spurt
in the Stock Market hardly speaks of
the development scenario.
Hence, schemes like the
National Rural Employment
Guarantee, Bharat Nirman, National
Urban Renewal Mission, National
Rural Health Mission and Golden
Quadrilateral hold the key towards
an ideal society. Moreover, with the
Red Menace engulfing one-fourth of
our geography, it is high time for us
to wake up and pay heed to the
voice of the masses. Indiscriminate
imposition of industrialization from
above without inspecting its
repercussions would be nugatory.
Importantly, safeguards for the
minorities, the Adivasis and other
deprived sections of the society
should be the foremost agenda of
the politicians.
A skewed society with the
majority of the population in the
countryside starving; even
swallowed by the jaws of death due
to lack of monetary credit, a group
of urban disasters in the name of
cities which comprise a series of
slum-dwellings and improper
infrastructure on the one hand, and
a rising middle class with all its
concomitant consumerism on the
other is not the situation which our
freedom-fighters had envisioned.
Cohesion of the three different
forms of Justice and its ultimate
13
reach to the common man would

indeed create a humanized and
holistic society which not only the
Indians crave for, but also the
humanity as a whole aspires for.
ACCESS
Access to justice has
traditionally been seen as access to
the courts or the availability of legal
assistance, but this is a narrow view.
Most disputes are resolved without
recourse to formal legal institutions
or dispute resolution mechanisms.
Similarly, legal assistance programs
are only one part of a complex
system. Previous waves of reform
to access to justice have been based
around the courts as the central
supplier of justice. The waves of
justice reform have been described
in academic literature as follows:
The approach taken by the
Access to Justice Task force moves
forward from the first four waves of
reform towards a broader concept
of justice.
Courts are not the primary
means by which people resolve
their disputes.
They never have been. Very
few civil disputes reach formal
justice mechanisms such as courts,
and fewer reach final determination.
To improve the quality of
dispute resolution, justice must be
maintained in individuals daily
activities, and dispute resolution
mechanisms situated within a
community and economic context.
Reform should focus on everyday
justice, not simply the mechanics of
legal institutions which people may
not understand or be able to afford.
Improving access to justice
requires a broad examination of
how the system and its various
institutions influence each other and
work together to support or limit
peoples capacity to address legal
problems and resolve disputes.
Reforming one or more of the
individual institutions or programs

Corruption in Sports: Money at Any Cost

might assist current clients or users,
but will not provide sustainable
access to justice benefits or increase
the number or profile of
beneficiaries. A whole of system
examination is needed.
The Access to Justice Principles
Accessibility
Justice initiatives should
reduce the net complexity of the
justice system. For example,
initiatives that create or alter rights,
or give rise to decisions affecting
rights, should include mechanisms
to allow people to understand and
exercise their rights.
Appropriateness
The justice system should be
structured to create incentives to
encourage people to resolve
disputes at the most appropriate
level. Legal issues may be
symptomatic of broader non-legal
issues. The justice system should
have the capacity to direct attention
to the real causes of problems that
may manifest as legal issues.
Equity
The justice system should be
fair and accessible for all, including
those facing financial and other
disadvantage. Access to the system
should not be dependent on the
capacity to afford private legal
representation.
Efficiency
The justice system should
deliver fair outcomes in the most
efficient way possible. Greatest
efficiency can often be achieved
without resort to a formal dispute
resolution process, including
through preventing disputes. In
most cases this will involve early
assistance and support to prevent
disputes from escalating.
The costs of formal dispute
resolution and legal assistance
mechanisms to Government and
to the user should be
proportionate to the issues in

dispute.
Effectiveness
The interaction of the various
elements of the justice system
should be designed to deliver the
best outcomes for users. Justice
initiatives should be considered
from a system-wide perspective
rather than on an institutional basis.
All elements of the justice
system should be directed towards
the prevention and resolution of
disputes, delivering fair and
appropriate outcomes and
maintaining and supporting the rule
of law.
The Access to Justice
Methodology
The Methodology is designed
to assist policy-makers translate the
Principles into Action. The elements
of the Methodology are designed to
have a reinforcing and dynamic
effect.
For example, better
information can lead to earlier action
and better outcomes. Similarly,
inclusion and resilience are
supported by better information
and more appropriate outcomes.
Better access to cost effective
information and early action enables
effective triage; people will be
better able to achieve fair outcomes
through the most appropriate means
at a proportionate cost.
A justice system based upon
the Access to Justice Framework:
promotes
access
to
appropriate mechanisms for
the early resolution of
problems and disputes
establishes a triage function,
enabling matters to be
directed to the most
appropriate destination for
resolution, irrespective of how
people make contact with the
system
provides
capacity
for
resources to be best directed
to reflect where and how
14
people access the justice

system
promotes social inclusion by
targeting the resolution and
identification of broader
issues which may be the cause
of specific legal problems
promotes fair outcomes
empowers individuals to
resolve disputes between
themselves when appropriate,
without recourse to the
institutions of the justice
system
allocates resources more
efficiently, including through
ongoing evaluation, and
enables every individual to
have improved access to
effective
resolution
opportunities, irrespective of
how they make contact with
the system.
The way forward

The Framework is intended to
guide future decisions about the
federal civil justice system. It is
intended
to
encourage
development of innovative policy
solutions and increase the level of
integration within the various
elements of the justice system.
Implementation of the Strategic
Framework will involve continued
consultation and coordination
between Government agencies,
legal assistance and other service
providers, the legal profession,
courts and tribunals, and users of
the justice system. Based on the
conclusions from the analysis of
supply and demand, and the
resulting Strategic Framework for
Access to Justice, the Access to
Justice Taskforce made a number of
recommendations for consideration
by Government. These recommendations will be the subject of further
consultation and consideration by
Government
and
other
stakeholders.
Prem Agnihotri

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Cauvery Water Scheme, 2013
Notified
The Union government notified

Cauvery Water (Implementation of
the Order of 2007) Scheme, 2013 to
implement the final award of the
Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
(CWDT), 2007. Under the scheme, a
supervisory committee will be
formed as notified by the ministry of
Water Resources. The committee will
be headed by the Water Resources
Secretary, while Chief Secretaries of
the Cauvery basin States/Union
Territory (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Puducherry and Kerala) will be the
members. The Central Water
Commission (CWC) chairman will also
be a member and the CWCs chief
engineer will be the MemberSecretary. The headquarters of the
committee will be in New Delhi. The
scheme will be in place till the

Cauvery Management Board is
constituted as mentioned in the
award. The chairman of the
Committee may apply to the
Supreme Court for appropriate
directions with notices to other States
if he thinks it is necessary. As per the
notification of the final award of the
Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
(CWDT), 2007 in February 2013, the
Cauvery River Authority (CRA),
chaired by the Prime Minister, and the
Cauvery Monitoring Committee
(CMC), headed by the Water
Resources Secretary are no longer
functioning.
Both committees were formed
as per the directives of the Supreme
Court to monitor the implementation
of the interim orders of the tribunal.
Supreme Court of India in its interim
order on 10 May 2013 had directed
the union government to constitute a
supervisory committee for
implementation of the final order of
the CWDT dated 5 February 5, 2007
as notified on 19 February 2013. The
Tribunal which included Chairman
Justice N.P. Singh and members N.S.
15
Rao and Sudhir Narain was set up in

1990. It had determined the total
availability of water in the Cauvery
basin at 740 thousand million cubic
(TMC) feet at the Lower Coleroon
Anicut site in a Unanimous award in
February 2007. In the final order the
Tribunal gave Tamil Nadu 419 TMC
of water (as against the demand of
562 TMC); Karnataka 270 TMC (as
against its demand of 465 TMC);
Kerala 30 TMC and Puducherry 7
TMC. It had reserved 10 TMC for
environmental protection.
160 years old Telegraph
Services in India ended
Union Government on 12 June

2013 decided to discontinue the
Telegraph Services in India from 15
July 2013. Telegram in India was also
known as Taar. The decision of

National Issues
ceasing the services of Telegraph
came up after more than 160 years of
its being into operations. The last time
Telegraph would be used to send a
telegram on 14 July 2013. A circular
was issued by Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Ltd (BSNL) Corporate office on 12
June 2013 and sent to different
telegraph circle and district offices
with an order to discontinue the
telegraph services from 15 July 2013
onwards. As per the issued circular,
the telegraph offices under BSNL
have been directed to stop booking
telegraph from 15 July 2013 onwards.
The decision came up in consultation
with the Department of Posts
because the service was not
commercially viable.
To maintain the losses and
declining revenue, the telegram
charges for inland services were
hiked in May 2011. BSNL has suffered
an annual loss of 300 - 400 crore
rupees from telegraph service alone.
Before this, the telegram services for
overseas communication were
withdrawn by BSNL in April 2013.
The telecom offices has been
directed to maintain log books,
service messages, delivery slips for six
months from the date of booking. The
telecom offices will also have to
maintain the press reports, complaints
and other messages from different
consumer forums of one year. The
telegraph staff members will be
deployed to mobile services,
broadband services, landline
telephony.
Difference between
telegraph and telegram
Telegraph is the means via
which a telegram is sent, whereas,
telegram is the message itself.
Telegraph is a communication system
that is used to transmit and receive
the unmodulated electric impulses
via radio or wire. The telegraphs are
the messages send by the telegram
and are transmitted as a series of short
and long electric impulses. Whereas,
telegram can be defined as the

message that is encoded, decoded
or telegraphed in form of the original
message.
Different
Kinds
of
Telegraphy technology in series
of development:
Optical Telegraph: for the
first time, telegraph came in form of
optical telegraph
Electrical Telegraphs: One
of the earliest electromagnetic
telegraph designs was created by
Pavel Schilling in 1832.
Morse
Telegraph: A n
electrical
telegraph
was
independently developed and
patented in the United States in 1837
by Samuel Morse. His assistant, Alfred
Vail, developed the Morse code
signalling alphabet with Morse. The
first telegram in the United States was
sent by Morse on 11 January 1838,
across two miles (3 km) of wire at
Speedwell
Ironworks
near
Morristown, New Jersey.
Oceanic
Telegraph
Cables: The first commercially
successful transatlantic telegraph
cable was successfully completed on
18 July 1866. The lasting connections
were achieved by the ship SS Great
Eastern, captained by Sir James
Anderson. The telegraph across the
Pacific was completed in 1902, finally
encircling the world.
Wireless telegraphy: Nikola
Tesla and other scientists and
inventors showed the usefulness of
wireless telegraphy, radiotelegraphy,
or radio, beginning in the 1890s.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov
demonstrated to the public his
wireless radio receiver, which was
also used as a lightning detector, on
7 May 1895.
T e l e x : In 1935, message
routing was the last great barrier to
full automation. Systems that used
telephone-like rotary dialing to
connect teletypewriters were
developed by many service
16
providers of telegraphy. These

systems (machines) were called
Telex (TELegraph EXchange).
Telex machines first performed
rotary-telephone-style pulse dialing
for circuit switching, and then sent
data by Baudot code.
History of
Telegraph Services in India
Telegraph services was

introduced in India by William O
Shaughnessy, a British doctor and
inventor, who for the first time used
different codes to send a message
on 1850. The first experimental
electric telegraph line was started
between Calcutta and Diamond
Harbour in 1950. In 1851 the services
were opened for the use of British
East India Company and it was
opened to the public in 1854. Since
then the service was prevalent across
India although it faced threats on
many occasions like, after invention
of Radio Transmission by Guglielmo
Marconi, the Italian inventor, than with
the advent of the digital computers
in the 1960s, followed by Fax, email
and SMSs. BSNL (the Indian
telecommunication company), took
over the charge of countrys telegraph
system from the Indian Postal
Services. Telegraph that faced threats
from the new technology prevalent
in the market suffered financial losses
and thus the charges of telegram saw
its first price rise in 60 years from four
rupees for 50 words to 27 rupees for
50 words.
Telegraph and the World
Telegraphs have been into

National Issues
existence in Europe, since 1792.
Initially it was available in form of
semaphore lines also called optical
telegraphs. In this process of
telegraphy, line of sight signals were
sent in form of messages to a distant
observer. The first successful
experiment with electrical recording
of telegraph was done by Samuel F.
B. Morse in 1837.
Terms used in Telegraphy
Telegraph coined by Claude
Chappe the French inventor of
the Semaphore line, who also
coined the word semaphore.
Wireless Telegraphy is also
known as CW (continuous
wave)
First electric telegraph was
invented by Schilling
A telegraph message is sent by
using Morse code
Cablegram was a message sent
by a Submarine Telegraph
Cable
Telex means a message sent by
a Telex network
Three New Aadhaar-Enabled
Services for Online Identity
Authentication
Unique Identification Authority

of India (UIDAI) on 25 May 2013
inaugurated three new Aadhaarenabled services- e-KYC, OTP (one
time pin) authentication and Iris
authentication, which would in turn

help the residents of India in
authenticating their identity
anywhere and anytime via any digital
platform.
Apart from this, the UIDAI also
announced establishing around 300
permanent enrolment centres, also
called Aadhaar Kendras. By
September 2013, number of Aadhaar
Kendras will increase to around 1000.
These centres would help those
residents in enrolling which were left
during the camps being organised by
registrars in past. The centres will also
help in facilitating biometric and
demographic update.
About e-KYC service
Among the three services, eKYC service will help the individuals
in authorizing the service providers
so that they can receive electronic
copy of their identity proof along with
the address.
This particular service can be
installed by various agencies for
verifying the identity as well as
address of the residents. Only the
information such as Name, Address,
Gender, Mobile Number, Date of
Birth and Photograph, which is
accumulated during enrolment of

Aadhar, will be shared and that too
with the permission or request of
Aadhaar number holder.
17
About OTP (one time pin)

Authentication
The OTP service, on the other
hand, allows Aadhaar based
authentication of the residents by
making use of the mobile phone
anytime and anywhere. This can be
done on the self service mode
without making the use of biometric
authentication device. Under this
service, the digital platform of the
authority will not share the
demographic details, unlike e-KYC
service.
About Iris authentication
Iris authentication will help the
residents in authenticating the
identity for availing this Aadhaarenabled service by facilitating the
combination of Aadhaar number as
well as the Iris image. Just like the OTP
(one time pin) authentication, the
authority will also not share the
demographic details of the resident.
Article 21 available Even to
Foreign Nationals
The Supreme Court of India on

19 June 2013 in its decision
established that right to life and
liberty, enshrined under Article 21 of
the Constitution, is available to foreign
nationals also. The Supreme Court
quashed the FIR registered by the
Government of Maharashtra against
three citizens of Uganda including an
Advisor to the President of Uganda,
based on the complaint given by
Videocon. The state government of
Maharashtra filed a criminal case of
cheating against the three Ugandan
citizens based on the complaint by

National Issues
Videocon. The Vacation Bench
of Justice A.K. Patnaik and
Justice Ranjan Gogoi slammed
the State government ordered
Mumbai Police to release the
passports of the trio with immediate
effect. The bench in its direction
stated that the police action of
registering the FIR bought a bad
name for India. Supreme Court
Verdict in Videocon case
against
three
Ugandan
citizens
citizens: Article 21 of the
Constitution [right to life and
liberty]
liberty]applies to all citizens,
whether Indian or foreign nationals.
Their right to liberty could not be
restrained by the police due to a
business dispute. Our country gets a
bad name because of acts of a few
police officers and it is unfortunate
that the Mumbai police, instead of
protecting the rights of these foreign
nationals, filed an FIR against them
and the charges are baseless.
About the Case: Mumbai
Police registered a case of extortion
against Isacc Isanga Musumba,
lawyer and senior Advisor to the
President of Uganda (equivalent to
the post of a Minister), Mawanda
Michael Maranga, Member of
Parliament and Magoola Mathias, a
businessman from Uganda on the
complaint received by Videocon
officials. Following the complaint,
police seized the passports of the
three Ugandans. The Counsel of the
Ugandans informed the Supreme
Court that the petitioners came to
India to settle the business dispute
with Videocon in April 2013.
Content
of
Submitted
Petition: The Ugandan nationals in
their petition submitted that the
police barred them from leaving the
country without any formal order of
arrest on 19 April 2013.
Article 21 of
Constitution of India
As per Constitution of India
Article 21 mentions Right to
Protection of life and personal liberty.

No person shall be deprived of his
life or personal liberty except
according to procedure established
by law.
Procedure established by Law
i n Article 21 (Right to Life and
Personal Liberty) has been
judicially constructed as meaning a
procedure which is reasonable, fair
and just. Article 21, when supported
by Article 39A (Directive Principles
of State Policy) implies legal aid to
be made available to the indigent
accused and a prisoner.
Article
39A
mentions
Equal Justice and Free Legal
Aid. The State shall secure that the
operation of the legal system
promotes justice, on a basis of equal
opportunity, and shall, in particular,
provide free legal aid, by suitable
legislation or schemes or in any other
way, to ensure that opportunities for
securing justice are not denied to any
citizen by reason of economic or
other disabilities.
Doubling of Natural Gas Price
Effective approved from 1
April 2013
The Union government on 27

June 2013 almost doubled the price
at which natural gas is supposed to
be sold to producers of power,
fertilizer, minerals and steel. The
increase, in natural gas price was
decided at a meeting of the Union
cabinet, which is in line with the
recommendations of a committee
headed by C. Rangarajan, chairman
of the Prime Ministers economic
advisory council, which had
18
suggested a system that would price

the fuel at 8-8.5 dollars per mmBtu.
This will be the first revision in gas
prices in three years. C. Rangarajan,
formula uses long-term and spot
liquid gas (LNG) import contracts as
well as international trading
benchmarks to arrive at a competitive
price for India. Now with the
approval, the price of gas could go
up to 8.4 dollars per million metric
British thermal units (mmBtu), which
would be effective from 1 April 2013
from the current domestic prices that
range between 3.5 dollars and 5.73
dollars per mmBtu. The new price will
be valid for 5 years at least. The
important thing is that the price will
still be lower than that of imported
natural gas, which costs around 14.17
dollars per mmBtu.
Effects of the
Increase in Gas Price
The increase in gas prices will
directly
benefit
local
producers such as RIL, ONGC
and Oil India Ltd.
It will likely result in a rise in
power tariffs, the cost of urea
a key farm nutrientand the
price of compressed natural
gas.
The increase in gas price will
encourage more investments in
exploration and make smaller
pools of gas economically
viable to produce.
Higher gas price will also
increase cost of power
generation and fertilizer
production
and
the
government will have to take
care of that.
As per the report by India
Ratings and Research it is
observed that increase to 6.775
dollars per mmBtu would mean
an increase of 9 paisa/kwh
(kilowatt-hour) on the total
Indian power generation of
912 billion kwh, which would
lead to an additional burden of

National Issues
78 billion Rupees towards gas
costs on gas-based power
generation of 65 billion kwh.
43000-cr Rupees Green
Corridor for Renewable
Energy
Union Government plans to roll

out a 43000-crore rupees green
energy corridor project to facilitate
the flow of renewable energy into the
national grid. The blueprint for the
project has already been submitted
to the Power Ministry by Power Grid
Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL). For
implementation, the project would
be split into intra- and inter-State.
About Green Energy Corridor
The green energy corridor is
aimed at synchronising
electricity produced from
renewable sources, such as
solar and wind, with
conventional power stations in
the grid.
Germany has committed
developmental and technical
assistance of 1 billion Pounds
for the project.
The Government is aimed at
strengthening the distribution
network across the country making it
smart to handle fluctuations after
seeing the massive grid failure
happening round the nation. As per
the Central Electricity Authority,
India has 27541.71 MW of installed

renewable capacity excluding hydro
power stations.
The country has a total installed
capacity of 223625.60 MW as on 30
April 2013. India is already in talks
with Germany for making its grid
External Affairs and Nalanda

University. This agreement would
confer on the University and
members of its academic staff
privileges and immunities considered
necessary to provide an overall
framework for the efficient
functioning and operation of the
University, and allow it to obtain talent
from across the globe. The
Agreement will come into force
immediately upon signing and
notification. The signing of the
headquarters agreement will facilitate
hiring of the best academicians from
across the world, well before the
commencement of the first academic
session.
compatible for distributing

renewable energy. Germany has
smart grids that integrate renewable
energy into the national grid.
Tamil Nadus demand for its
Share of Water rejected
The Cauvery Supervisory
Committee on 12 June 2013 rejected
the demand for its share of water by
Tamil Nadu stating deficit inflows and
low storage level in the reservoirs in
Karnataka. The
supervisory
committee met in the chairmanship
of the Union Water Resources
Secretary SK Das and representatives
from both states, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu were also present in the meet.
The committee noted that the water
available was comparatively lesser
than the average water.
MEA and Nalanda University
signed Headquarters
Agreement
The Union Cabinet of India on
28 June 2013 gave its approval to the
proposal of signing of a headquarters
agreement between the Ministry of
19
Recruitment of the Universitys

faculty cannot take place without
fixing their terms and conditions, for
which the conclusion of the
headquarters agreement is essential.
The University will serve as an
international centre of excellence in
higher learning.
It would integrate modern,
scientific and technological
knowledge and skills with basic
human values and promote universal
friendship, peace and prosperity
through the spiritual awakening of the
individual and society. The detailed
Project Report prepared by EdCIL in
July, 2012 has estimated funding
requirements of approximately
3532.62 crore rupees between 201011 and 2021-22. The Government of
India will meet the Universitys
expenditure to the extent required.
Signing of the headquarters
agreement does not involve any
additional expenditure.

National Issues
The following are the major
features of the agreement: The host country shall take
necessary steps to protect the
University premises against any
intrusion or damage and
facilitate the work of the
University.
The University, its assets, its
income and other property
shall be exempt from all direct
taxes, customs duties and
prohibitions and restrictions on
imports and exports for articles
imported/exported for its
official use.
The Vice-Chancellor and
academic staff of the University,
who are not from the host
country shall be granted
exemption from taxation in
respect of their salaries,
honoraria, allowances and other
emoluments; the right to get the
appropriate visa; the freedom
to maintain moveable and
immoveable property while in
the employment of the
University in the host country,
and the right to import free of
customs duties, taxes and other
levies.
The Vice-Chancellor and
academic staff of the host
country that is India shall be
granted exemption from
taxation in respect of salaries,
honoraria, allowances and other
emoluments in connection with
the services provided to the
University.
At the 4th East Asia Summit
(EAS) held in Thailand in October,
2009, member States issued a Joint
Press Statement which supported the
establishment of Nalanda University
as a non-State, non-profit, secular and
self-governing
international
institution with a continental focus,
that would bring together the
brightest and most dedicated
students from all countries of Asia.
EPFO launched its e-Passbook

Service for Provident Fund
Subscribers
The Retirement fund body

Employees Provident Fund
Organisation (EPFO) launched its ePassbook service on 21 June 2013. It
will help PF subscribers to access
their accounts online. Active
subscribers, whose electronic
challan-cum-return is already
uploaded, can download their ePassbook every month. The facility
shall
be
available
on
www.epfindia.gov.in. In the case of
members who are not active (left
service) and have not settled their
account or have not become
inoperative, the facility to download
the passbook on request basis shall
be available. Any member of EPFO
can register on the member portal by
using his or her photo identification
number, such as PAN, Aadhaar,
National Population Registry, driving
licence, passport, voter ID, ration card
and use the mobile number as
password.
The major features of ePassbook are as following:
Provident fund details can be
checked on the websitewww.epfindia.gov.in
Any individual can register
himself/herself on the portal by
using ID card
PAN, Aadhaar, driving license,
passport, voter ID and ration
cards can be used for
registration
e-Passbook
contains
transaction details of an
20
individuals account
EPFO has announced to pay
8.5 percent interest on
Provident Fund deposits for
2012-13
The facility, however, will not
be available for members under
exempted establishments under the
EPF Scheme 1952 (as the fund
details are maintained by the Trust)
and inoperative members (i.e. in
accounts where no contribution has
been received in the preceding 36
months). Under the e-Passbook
service, only one registration will be
allowed against one mobile number,
and a member can download the
passbook for only one account
number under one establishment. A
senior EPFO official told that the
exempted PF trust regulated by the
body would also be asked to provide
this service to their members.
Eight new
into Union
Ministers
Ministers Inducted
Council of
The Union Council of Ministers

on 17 June 2013 was expanded with
the induction of four new Cabinet
Ministers and four Ministers of State.
Mallikarjun Kharge was given the
charge of Railways Ministry. The
newly appointed ministers were
administered the oath of office and
secrecy by the President of India,
Pranab Mukherjee at Rastrapati
Bhawan on 17 June 2013.
List of newly appointed
Cabinet Ministers and their
departments
Sisram Ola
- Labour
and Employment Ministry

National Issues
Oscar Fernandes - Road
Transport and Highways
Ministry
Girija Vyas
Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation
Dr K S Rao
- Textiles
Ministry
List of newly appointed
State Ministers and their
departments
Manikrao Gavit
Minister of State for Social
Justice and Empowerment
Santosh Chowdhury
Minister of State for Health
and Family Welfare
Jesudasu Seelam
Minister of State for Finance
and
E M S Natchiappan
Minister of State for
Commerce and Industry
Important Information
I n t h e Article 74 of the
Constitution of India it is
mentioned that their shall be a
Council of Ministers with the Prime
Minister as its head to aid and advise
the President for exercising his
functions. It is mentioned
75
of
the
u n d e r Article
Constitution of India that the
President is the person who can
appoint, the Prime Minister and the
other ministers shall be appointed by
the President following the advice
the Prime Minister. In the 91st
Amendment of Constitution of
India, insertion of Article 75 (1
A ) took place and it states that total
number of Ministers in the list of
council of ministers including the
Prime Minister shall not exceed 15
percent of the total strength of the
members of Lok Sabha (House of
People).
Naveen Jindal and Dasari
Narayana Rao named in
Coalgate FIR
The Central Bureau
of
Investigation (CBI) on 11 June 2013

registered an FIR against the Congress
MP and Director of Jindal Steel and
Power Limited (JSPL) Naveen Jindal
and former Minister of State for Coal
Dasari Narayana Rao (congress leader
from Andhra Pradesh) on charges of
cheating, criminal conspiracy and
misconduct in getting the Amarkonda
Murgadangal coal block in
Jharkhand. CBI also registered the FIR
against five private companies. For
the first time, CBI has named a
Government functionary for his
alleged involvement in the
allocation. As per the investigations
of CBI, the Jindal Steel and Power
Limited and Gagan Sponge Iron
misrepresented facts and provided
wrong information about the land of
the company, its water supply and
the previous allocations made to
them to get the coal blocks, in January
2008. The FIR has also noted that
Naveen Jindal signed the documents,
which were submitted to the Coal
Ministry. Naveen Jindal is also a stake
holder in the Sponge firm.
The allocations were made at
the recommendation of the
screening committee. Narayan Rao as
the Minister of State for Coal was in
the situation to influence the decision
of the screening committee. CBI has
also discovered that the Jindal Group
bought shares of Saubhagya Media
at an inflated rate of 100 rupees per
piece at the time, when the quoted
price of the shares was 28 rupees per
piece. The Saubhagya Media is a
company owned by Narayan Rao.
The agency also discovered money
trail of 2.25 crore rupees received by
Saubhagya Media from Firms of
Jindal group namely - JSPL, Gagan
Sponge, Jindal Realty and New Delhi
Exim in the same year, when the coal
block allocations were made to JSPL
and Gagan Sponge Iron. CBI is now
seeking the permission from the
Government to name members of
screening committee for coal block
21
allocations in its FIR. Such permission

was required from the Government
as the officials of the screening
committee are of secretary rank and
above. CBI has also written a letter
to the corporate affairs ministry for
reconsidering its decision and to
permit the prosecution of HC Gupta,
who was the coal secretary and
currently a member of the
Competition Commission of India.
National Advisory Council reconstituted
Union government in Month of

June 2013 has reconstituted the
National Advisory Council by
including prominent sociologist
Virginius Xaxa into the 12-member
panel chaired by Sonia Gandhi.
Virginius Xaxa was inducted with the
exit of Aruna Roy from the panel, who
had criticised Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh for refusing to pay
the beneficiaries of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme in line with the
Minimum Wages Act. Earlier in first
week of June 2013 Roy had written
to Sonia Gandhi requesting not to
consider her for another term of the
Council and result was that her
request got accepted. It is important
here to note that the term of panel
has been made co-terminus with the
term of the present government. The
work of panel is to give legislative and
policy inputs to the government
which ranges from the seminal rural
jobs scheme to the latest food security
bill. Virginius Xaxa is a Professor at
the Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
Guwahati and has worked

National Issues
extensively on tribal communities of
the country. In addition to
chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the
Council includes Xaxa, Narendra
Jadhav, Pramod Tandon, N C Saxena,
A K Shiv Kumar, Deep Joshi, Anu Aga,
Farah Naqvi, Mirai Chatterjee, Mihir
Shah and Ashis Mondal as members.
About National Advisory
Council
The
NAC
comprises
distinguished professionals drawn
from diverse fields of development
activity who serve in their individual
capacities.
The task of the National
Advisory Council (NAC) is to provide
inputs in the formulation of policy by
the Government and to provide
support to the Government in its
legislative business.
In the discharge of its functions,
the NAC will have a special focus on
social policy and the rights of the
disadvantaged groups.
Government banned Testing
of Cosmetic Products on
Animals
Indian Government in the Month

of June 2013 has banned the testing
of Cosmetic product on animals and
thus became the first country in South
Asia to end such tests. Now, with the
ban on testing and as per the Drug
Controller General of India (DCGI)

any cosmetic product made in India
will be free of animal testing. The
decision of banning the testing was
taken in order to prevent cruelty to
animals, especially after seeing the
available simulation alternatives. The
Final norms on the decision will be
coming out shortly which is being
chaired Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS) sectoral-committee. It has been
decided that the last two animalrelated tests will be dropped from
the regulatory standards and any new
cosmetic ingredient or product will
have to comply with the non-animal
standards of BIS. It is worth
mentioning here that Israel and the
27 countries of the European Union
have implemented both testing and
sales ban to bring an end to cosmetics
animal suffering in their respective
jurisdictions.
Now the government will
examine the Import of animal-testing
free products and labelling of local
products to indicate that they are free
of these tests. Indian Government in
the Month of June 2013 has banned
the testing of Cosmetic product on
animals and thus became the first

country in South Asia to end such
tests. Now, with the ban on testing
and as per the Drug Controller
General of India (DCGI) any cosmetic
product made in India will be free of
22
animal testing. The decision of

banning the testing was taken in
order to prevent cruelty to animals,
especially after seeing the available
simulation alternatives. The Final
norms on the decision will be coming
out shortly which is being chaired
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
sectoral-committee. It has been
decided that the last two animalrelated tests will be dropped from
the regulatory standards and any new
cosmetic ingredient or product will
have to comply with the non-animal
standards of BIS. It is worth
mentioning here that Israel and the
27 countries of the European Union
have implemented both testing and
sales ban to bring an end to cosmetics
animal suffering in their respective
jurisdictions.
Now the government will
examine the Import of animal-testing
free products and labelling of local
products to indicate that they are free
of these tests.
Gas-based Power Plant at
Palatana in Tripura
First gas based Power Plant was

commissioned by Pranab Mukherjee,
the President of Indian Union on 21
June 2013 at Palatana in Tripura. The
Palatana Gas Based Power Project is
developed by ONGC and is the first
such Power Company in India to be
awarded
with
the
Clean
Development Mechanism by the
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The
electricity generation from the first
unit of the 726.6MW Palatana
power plant has already started

National Issues
and has a capacity of 363 MW. The
Palatana Gas Based Power Project will
help in generation of Pollution Free
Electricity due to the Clean
Development Mechanism used in it.
It is also the biggest gas-based
combined cycle power project in the
northeast and largest clean energy
plants of the world.
The project was registered on
15 May 2013 with the United Nations
as the Worlds biggest Project that
Development
u s e d Clean
Mechanism (CDM) following the
guidelines of Kyoto Protocol. The
electricity generated from the power
plant will be distributed among the
seven sisters (northeastern States of
India).
Criteria of distribution of
the electricity produced by
Power Plant
States/Beneficiaries
of Generated
Electricity
Share
Assam
Tripura
Meghalaya
Manipur
Nagaland
Mizoram
Arunachal Pradesh
Infrastructure Leasing
& Financial Services
(IL & FS) and
ONGC Tripura
Power Company
(OTPC)
240
196
79
42
27
22
22
98
MW
MW
MW
MW
MW
MW
MW
MW
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an
international agreement linked to the
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. The
major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is
that it sets binding targets for 37
industrialized countries and the
European community for reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
These reductions amount to an
average of five per cent against 1990
levels over the five-year period
2008-2012.
Government target to achieve

80 percent Literacy Rate by
2017
The Union Government of India
on 12 June 2013 announced that it
has set a target to achieve 80 percent
literacy rate in the country by 2017.
The literacy rate of the country at
present is 74 percent. The
government is aimed to strengthen
the Panchayati Raj Institutions as it
serves as a vital leverage to promote
education in general and literacy in
particular. Government of Indias
Saakshar Bharat Programme that is
operational in 372 districts covering
nearly 1.5 lakh gram panchayats
spread over 25 states will work as an
instrument of literacy and
empowerment as well as the agent
of change to create equal and
inclusive India. The Government has
also stressed on the need to bridge
the gender gap in rural and urban
areas to attain the target.
Saakshar Bharat Programme
The Prime Minister launched

Saakshar Bharat, a centrally
sponsored scheme of Department of
School Education and Literacy
(DSEL), Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD), Government
of India (GOI), on the International
Literacy Day, 8 September 2009. It
aims to further promote and
strengthen adult education, specially
of women, by extending educational
options to those adults who having
lost the opportunity of access to
formal education and crossed the
standard age for receiving such
education, now feel a need for
learning of any type, including,
23
literacy,
basic
education
(equivalency to formal education),
vocational education (skill
development), physical and
emotional development, practical
arts, applied science, sports, and
recreation.
Roshni Scheme launched to
train youth in Naxal-hit areas
The Ministry of Rural

Development on 7 June 2013
launched a new skill development
scheme designed to offer
employment to tribal youth in 24
Naxal affected districts. The
scheme, which is named Roshni is
supposed to provide training and
employment to an anticipated 50000
youth in the 10-35 years age group,
for a period of three years. As per the
Ministry 50 per cent of the
beneficiaries of the scheme will be
women only. The scheme is
designed in light of the Himayat
project model, which was launched
in Jammu and Kashmir has been
implemented in Sukma, Chhattisgarh,
and West Singhbhum, Jharkand, on a
pilot basis over the last 18 months.
Implementation of the
Scheme Roshni
The Scheme Roshni which is
a 100-crore Rupees project that
will be mutually funded by the
Union and State Governments,
with the Centre providing 75
per cent of the funding.
The scheme will be
implemented on a publicprivate basis, with private
agencies providing job training

National Issues
and employment.
It is worth mentioning here that
the scheme has achieved
success in the two districts
where it was implemented on
a pilot basis.
Union Cabinet approved the
Extension of RSYB to Others

4 June 2013 approved the extension
of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
(RSBY) to rikshaw pullers, rag pickers,
mine workers, sanitation workers and
auto rickshaw drivers and taxi drivers.
The total number of unorganized
workers estimated to be covered in
these categories will be as under:
1. Rickshaw drivers/pullers 13.68
lakh
2. Rag pickers 11.63 lakh
3. Mine workers 17.79 lakh
4. Sanitation workers 10.08 lakh
5. Auto rickshaw drivers/taxi
drivers 35.39 lakh
The total financial implications
for extension of RSBY to rikshaw
pullers, rag pickers, mine workers,
sanitation workers and auto rickshaw
drivers and taxi drivers, would be
around 210 crore rupees
approximately for the year 2013-14
and 419.89 crore rupees from the
year 2014-15 onwards. The exact
amount will be determined on the
basis of persons identified and
registered under these categories
during each preceding year and
actual premium rates. The projected
benefit would facilitates health
insurance cover to rickshaw pullers,
rag pickers, mine workers, sanitation
workers and auto rickshaw drivers
and taxi drivers. RSBY is being
implemented in 28 States/Union
Territories and more than 3.44 crore
smart cards have been issued as on

31 March 2013. The target for the year
2013-14 is to cover 3.60 crore Below
Poverty Line (BPL) families.
Background
The Ministry of Labour and
Employment is implementing the
health insurance scheme, RSBY,
which provides for smart card based
cashless health insurance cover of
30000 rupees per annum to BPL
families (a unit of five persons) in the
unorganized sector. The scheme
became operational from 1 April
2008. During the course of
implementation, RSBY was extended
to street vendors, beedi workers,
domestic workers, building and other
construction
workers,
and
MGNREGA workers, who have
worked more than 15 days during the
previous year.
Anti-Diabetes drug
Pioglitazone and Painkiller
Analgin banned
bladder cancer, analgin has been

discarded the world over on grounds
of patient safety.
Deanxit- This Drug is made up
of harmful combination, which has
been long banned even in Denmark,
its country of origin.
Analgin
Analgin- It is known to cause a
steep decrease in the count of white
blood cells, which can lead to a
potentially fatal state. The drug was
thus taken off the shelves in many
countries including Sweden, Japan,
France, Australia, Canada and New
Zealand.
Earlier in year 2010-11 Drug
Controller General had banned
various drugs which include painkiller
Nimesulide, anti-diabetes medicine
Rosiglitazone and antibiotic
Gaifloxacin. As per the Drugs and
Cosmetic Rule 30-B, a drug cannot
be marketed in India unless it is
approved in its country of origin. The
drug is banned in other countries as
well as its user experienced
cardiovascular effects, dizziness,
fatigue, insomnia and vomiting.
SCE to assess Global
Competitiveness Constituted
The Union government on 26

June 2013 has banned three major
medicinesthe widely prescribed
anti-diabetes drug pioglitazone,
painkiller analgin and anti-depressant
deanxit. The decision to ban the drug
was taken in wake of health risks
associated with them. It was taken
after strong stand by the government
on suspending marketing of all drugs
prohibited for sale in other countries
like the US, the UK, EU and Australia.
Ill-Effects of the Drug Banned
Pioglitazone
Pioglitazone- It is widely
believed that pioglitazone can cause
heart failure and increases the risk of
24

on 7 June 2013 constituted
a Standing Council of Experts
(SCE)
to
access
global
competitiveness
of
Indian
Financial
Sector in
the
Department of Economic Affairs,
Ministry of Finance.
The terms of references
that will govern the Council
include:
(a) The constituted council will be
responsible to analyze the
international competitiveness
of the Indian financial sector
(b) It will be responsible to
examine comprehensively
various pecuniary and nonpecuniary costs of doing
business through Indian
capital/financial markets, like
transactions costs including

National Issues
applicable
tax
rates,
documentation requirements
brokerage fee and others vis-avis
other
competing
destinations, and make
recommendations aimed at
achieving competitiveness
(c) To examine related policy/
operating frameworks and the
performance of various
segments of Indian capital/
financial markets and make
recommendations aimed at
improving
their
competitiveness
and
efficiency, as also the
completeness of these markets
in terms of fully meeting client
needs as per global standards
through provision of requisite
services and financial
instruments
(d) To examine possibilities for and
suggest reform measures
aimed
at
enhancing
transparency, promoting
development
of
and
strengthening governance in
the Indian capital markets/
financial sector while ensuring
that risks are contained and
investor interests are protected
(e) To deliberate and advise on any
other matter related to the
above objectives that may be
referred to it with the approval
of the Chairperson
Financial experts from
Government as well as private sectors
will be the member of the panel being
constituted.
Composition of the Council
Secretary, Department of
Economic Affairs-Chairperson
Chief Economic Adviser
(CEA)- Member and Alternate
Chair
Joint Secretary (Capital
Markets), DEA: Convener
Member Secretary to the
Council.
The Chairperson of the council
will reserve the power of inviting any

person of importance (whose
presence is deemed necessary for
achieving the objectives of the
Council) for any of the meetings of
the council. The meetings of the
council will take place at a frequency
required for fulfilling its objectives
following the approval of its
Chairperson. The Union Government
will reserve the right of reconstituting
or discontinuing the Council at any
point of time, without any notice or
attribution of any of the reasons for
its decision.
Political Parties are
Answerable under RTI Act
The Central Information

Commission (CIC) in a landmark
judgement on 3 June 2013 held that
political parties are answerable to
citizens under the Right to
Information Act (RTI Act). The ruling
means that these parties will now
have to disclose sources of funding
as well as details of expenditure if
asked to do so. It also directed the
Presidents and General Secretaries of
the political parties to designate
Central Public Information Officers
and Appellate Authorities at their
headquarters within six weeks. The
bench comprising Chief Information
Commissioner Satyananda Mishra and
Information Commissioners M. L.
25
Sharma and Annapurna Dixit in their

judgement held that political parties
should fulfill the criteria of being
public authorities under the RTI Act.
Since they perform public functions
they have the character of public
authorities and therefore come within
the ambit of RTI Act. The order came
after activists Subhash Chandra
Aggarwal and Anil Bairwal of the
Association of Democratic Reforms
requested CIC to declare political
parties as public authorities. The
political parties, except CPI,
however, refused to disclose
information, arguing that they do not
come under the RTI Act.
Independent Regulatory Body

for Coal Sector
The Union Cabinet on 28 June
2013 has approved the setting up of
a Coal Regulatory Authority meant to
address controversial issues like
supply and quality. The coal authority
would be empowered to specify
methodology for determining coal
prices.
Function of the Coal
Regulatory Body
The Coal Regulatory Body will
help in regulation and
conservation of the coal
resources.

National Issues
It is going to benefits all
stakeholders, including coal
companies, coal consuming
industries, coal barring states as
well as people directly or
indirectly associated with coal
industries.
It is worth mentioning here that

the draft bill on Coal Regulatory
Authority Bill, 2013 was submitted to
the Cabinet for consideration on 10
May 2012. There after the panel
decided to refer it to a Group of
Ministers to sort out issues related to
the powers of the proposed regulator.
The Union Cabinet on 28 June 2013
has approved the setting up of a Coal
Regulatory Authority (CRA) meant to
address controversial issues like
supply and quality. The coal authority
would be empowered to specify
methodology for determining coal
prices.
Coal Regulatory
Authority Bill Approved
A Group of Ministers, GoM on
29 May 2013 approved the Coal
Regulatory Authority Bill which seeks
to set up an independent regulatory
authority for the coal sector in order
to address the issues such as quality,
supply and pricing. The draft Coal
Regulatory Authority Bill will now be
sent to the Cabinet latest by 9 June
2013 for the approval.
Major Features of the Coal
Regulatory Authority Bill
The Coal Regulatory Authority
Bill is aimed at addressing the
issues of coal sector such as
quality, supply and pricing.
Also, the bill will balance the
interest of all stake holders.
It will also facilitate the

judicious
balance
for
Regulatory Authority in order to
supervise supply as well as
demand of coal sector in
India.
The GoM achieved closure on
the pass through mechanism
structure. The pass through
mechanism means implies that the
price charged from the electricity
distribution companies will soak in
the increasing cost instead of crosssubsiding by accumulation of or
absorption by the power-generating
companies. Earlier in May 2013, the
GoM had decided that the fuel rates
will not be determined by the
proposed regulator, but the
producers only. However, the
regulator would have the power to
resolve the disputes which result
because of fuel supply agreements
(FSAs). The Group of Ministers that
approved the Coal Regulatory
Authority Bill included Coal Minister
Sriprakash Jaiswal, Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman Montek
Singh Ahluwalia and Environment
Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.
CCEA cleared the Proposal to
set up Laboratories for
Managing Epidemics
The Cabinet Committee on

Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 28 June
2013 cleared the proposal of
Department of Health Research
under the Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare for the setting up of 10
Regional Labs, 30 State Level Labs
and 120 Medical College Level Labs
under the scheme of Establishment
26
of a network of Laboratories for

Managing Epidemics and Natural
Calamities. The scheme is estimated
to cost 646.83 crore rupees during
the 12th Five Year Plan. Currently only
the national apex institutes like that
NCDC, New Delhi and NIV, Pune are
mandated to undertake the
investigations that results in heavy
burden affecting their real referral
role. The resultant delay in diagnosis/
detection and inadequate/
incomplete data during the outbreaks
significantly impact the response time
for interventions.
The major initiative taken by the
Government for establishment of 3tier network of laboratories across the
country will greatly help in building
capacity for handling viral diseases
in the country in terms of early and
timely diagnosis, development of
tools to predict viral disease
outbreaks beforehand, continuous
monitoring and surveillance of
existing as well as new viral strains
and handling viruses with a potential
to be used as agents of bio-terrorism.
This would also help in smooth data
flow from across the sites of
epidemics, creation of efficient
knowledge management network for
policy interventions like quick
deployment of resources and
measures like introduction of
preventive strategies, new vaccines,
etc. The Regional Labs will be
equipped with state of the art BSL-3
facilities and the State level Labs will
have BSL-2 facilities. The lowest tier
labs at the Medical Colleges will be
equipped with the appropriate
infrastructure to carry out serology for
viruses (ELISA based diagnosis).
In case of any outbreak/
epidemic, these medical college
level labs will carry out the initial
diagnosis/screening at the most
peripheral areas & nearest to the site
of outbreak. Each medical college lab
will cover a cluster of 3-4 districts.
While the medical college labs will

National Issues
be expected to identify all listed
common viruses, the viruses/agents
which cannot be identified by these
labs will be referred to the State/
Regional Labs for identification and/
or characterization. All the
laboratories will work under the
overall guidance of apex institutions
like NIV, NCDC through appropriate
linkages and networking. The Sates/
UTs which do not presently have any
Government Medical College will be
linked with the nearby States
Laboratories.
NSDA for Skilled Work Force
Union government of India set
up a National Skill Development
Agency (NSDA) to meet the growing
need for skilled work force in both
the public and private sectors. The
NSDA will coordinate and harmonize
the efforts of public and private
sector to achieve the targets of the
12th Plan and beyond. Under the
12th plan 82 lakh skilled workforce is
to be created while the National
Policy on Skill Development aims at
producing a 500 million skilled
workforce by the year 2022.
The NSDA will endeavour to
bridge the social, regional, gender
and economic divide by ensuring
that the skilling needs of the
disadvantaged and marginalised
groups like SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities,
women and differently-abled
persons are taken care of through the
various
skill
development
programmes. It will also develop and
monitor an overarching framework for
skill development, anchor the
National Skills Qualifications
Framework (NSQF) and facilitate the
setting-up of professional certifying
bodies in addition to the existing
ones. The NSDA will be an
autonomous body chaired by a
person of the rank and status of a
Cabinet Minister supported by a
Director General and other staff. The
office of the NSDA is located in the
Ministry of Finance.
Bill to prevent Floods, Settle

Inter-State Water Disputes
The government on 25 June

2013 floated a draft Bill demanding
setting up of 12 river basin authorities
in the country to settle discordances
and prevent deluge and pollution in
inter-state rivers. The bill named
River
Basin
a s Draft
Management
Bill, basically
demands to amend the River Boards
Act, 1956. It was put in public domain
by the Water Resources Ministry. A
mechanism for integrated planning,
development and management of
water resources of a river basin is
planned to be created under the
ambit of the bill as the River Boards
do not have such a provision. It has
been found that there is not any single
River Board which has been
constituted under the present Act as
not any request was made by any of
the state of the country under the
provisions of the legislation.
Some Provisions laid under
the Bill
The Bill proposes a two-tier
structure for each of the 12
river basin authorities.
Every river basin authority is
supposed to be consisting of
an upper layer called the
governing council and a lower
layer described as the
executive board charged with
the
technical
and
implementation powers for the
council decisions.
The governing council has
extensive membership and
27
representation including chief

ministers of the co-basin states,
ministers in charge of water
resources, one Lok Sabha
member, one MLA among
others.
The executive board will also
be given a broad base
membership under the Bill.
The governing council will
approve the river basin master
plan to ensure sustainable river
basin
development,
management and regulation. It
will also take steps to enable
the basin states to come to an
agreement for implementation
of river basin master plan.
The council will also settle
inter-state water disputes.
The executive board will
prepare schemes for irrigation,
water supply, hydropower,
flood control, pollution control
and soil erosion.
Rashtriya Uchhtar Shiksha

Abhiyan to be launched
The Union government of India

on 8 June 2013 decided to launch
National Higher education Campaign,
Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan,
to focus on equity based
development, improvement in
teaching-learning quality and
research. Under it, funds will be
provided to public Universities and
Colleges so that higher educational
institutes do not rely heavily on the
affiliation fees. With the
implementation of the scheme, the
Universities can give more emphasize
on life-skill development activities
which would ultimately help in
employment generation.

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National Issues
US Surveillance on top
Internet Servers via PRISM
Programme
content of emails, file transfers, live

chats and other documents.
Existence of the program PRISM was
confirmed by James Clapper, US
Director of National Intelligence. As
per Clapper, the information
accessed under the programme is
among the most valuable intelligence
information collected by the agency
and has been helpful in protecting
US from a wide range of threats.
Year
Top secret documents

obtained by The Guardian claimed
that US National Security Agency
(NSA) has obtained direct access to
the systems of Facebook, Google,
Apple and other US internet giants.
All this was done under the secret
program of US to search the data
potentially linked with terrorism,
espionage or nuclear proliferation.
The US agency tapped into the
central servers of different internet
giants under the six-year old
programme, code-named PRISM.
Under this program, the FBI and NSA
searched for the emails, videos,
photographs, search history, the
Organisation
that Joined
Prism
Programme
11 September 2007
Microsoft
12 March 2008
Yahoo
14 January 2009
Google
3 June 2009
Facebook
7 December 2009
Paltalk
3 June 2009
Skype
24 September 2010
You Tube
31 March 2011
2012
AOL
Apple
The Arms Trade Treaty Signed
The IT companies which were

directly into surveillance of the US
Agency were Microsoft, Yahoo,
Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL,
Skype, YouTube and Apple and all
31
these companies denied the

knowledge of surveillance despite
the of the claims that the programme
was assisted by them.
The program was started in the
George Bush Era in the year 2007,
with Microsoft as the first company
to be involved in the Programme.
President Barack Obama renewed
the changes in surveillance laws in
the year 2012, which were made
under Bush making information
accessible by NSA. US spent 20
million dollar annually on PRISM and
its operations; this is a small
percentage of 8 Billion Dollar annual
budget for NSA. Since its beginning,
the number of intelligence reports
cited by PRISM is 77000. As per the
latest data, the NSA issued about
2000 PRISM-based reports every
month. In the year 2012, NSA issued
a total of 24005 reports.
Over 65 countries of the world
signed the Arms Trade Treaty on 3
June 2013. The United States, in the
meanwhile announced that it will sign
the treaty in near future. The Arms

Trade Treaty regulates the
multibillion-dollar global arms trade.
Signing the treaty will start the first
crucial international campaign in
order to curtail the illicit trade in
weapons which results in fuel
conflicts as well as extremists. The
number of nations to sign the treaty is
likely to increase.
The US Secretary of State John

Kerry announced that US was the
largest dealer of arms in the world and
that it will sign the treaty soon, but
the strength of the treaty was
dependent on support by major arms
importers and exporters. The Arms
Trade Treaty was approved by the
UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013.
Signing of the treaty is first step of its
ratification and it will take only be
effective after ratification by 50
countries. The co-sponsors of the
Arms Trade Treaty- United Kingdom,
Finland, Japan, Argentina, Australia,
Kenya and Costa Rica announced at
a conference on 3 June 2013 that on
first day, the treaty was signed by a
lot of countries.
Objective of
Arms Trade Treaty
Every minute, one person dies
because of armed violence.
Arms Trade Treaty is required
for controlling the unrestrained
flow of the arms as well as
ammunition.
The aim of this Arms Trade
Treaty is to set the standards for
the purpose of cross-border
transfers of weapons ranging
from attack helicopters to
tanks.
The treaty would create

requirements for all the
countries to review the crossborder contracts in order to
make sure that these weapons
would not be used for the
illegal purposes such as
organised crimes, human rights
abuses,
violation
of
humanitarian law as well as
terrorism.
About the Arms Trade Treaty
The Arms Trade Treaty is the
multilateral treaty which regulates
international trade in the
conventional weapons. It is estimated
that the trade of international
weapons has reached 70 billion US
dollar on an annual basis. The treaty
was discussed at the global
conference from 2 July 2012 to 27
July 2012 in New York. No agreement
was reached at that time, and
eventually a new conference was
held on the same from 18 March 2013
to 28 March 2013.Finally, on 2 April
2013, the Arms Trade Treaty was
adopted by the UN General
Assembly.
Provisions of the Arms Trade
Treaty
The Arms Trade Treaty covers
light
weapons,
attack
helicopters, battle tanks, missile
launchers, warships, missiles,
armoured combat vehicles,
small arms and large-calibre
artillery systems.
The treaty proscribes the
countries that ratify the treaty
from transferring conventional
weapons in case these
weapons promote genocide or
violate the arms embargoes.
The treaty additionally forbids
export of these conventional
arms in case these arms could
be used in the attacks on
civilian buildings or civilians.
If a country wants to consider
whether the export of arms
32
should be authorised or not, it

should evaluate the weapons
on grounds of violation of
human rights laws or their
employment for terrorist
activities or organised crimes.
The treaty also requires all the
countries for taking the
measures in order to prevent
diversion of the conventional
weapons to illicit markets.
UNSC Eased
Sanctions against Iraq
The UN Security Council eased

sanctions against Iraq imposed after
Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait
in 1990. Iraq welcomed the move as
a landmark decision and promised to
enhance cooperation with Kuwait for
its support and assistance to get the
sanctions lifted. The Security Council
imposed sanctions on Iraq and asked
it to pay compensation worth 52
billion US dollars and help in finding
more than 600 Kuwaitis who went
missing under chapter VII of UN
Charter. Now it will come under
Chapter VI of the UN Charter, which
calls for a peaceful resolution of
disputes. However, Iraq still has to
pay 11 billion dollars as war
compensation to Kuwait and help
find more than 600 Kuwaitis missing
since the invasion. It has also urged
Iraq to return national treasures and
archives.
Japans L0 Series Maglev
Bullet Train
Japan on 5 June 2013
conducted the first successful test of
new generation L0 Series Trains
(maglev bullet trains) designed
to travel at speeds of 311 mph. These

trains
are
lashed
with
levitation
latest magnetic
technology (maglev) instead of
the conventional wheels. The
commercial services of this series of
trains will start in 2027.
First five cars of the L0 series

train with a distinct aerodynamic Nose
at the front side was displayed in
Yamanashi Prefecture on a test track.
The lack of friction due to the new
maglev technology in these trains
means acceleration and deceleration
are faster and they are unaffected by
weather conditions. The LO Series
Trains are designed by Central
Japan
Railway
Co
(JR
Tokai), and in its first phase will link
central Tokyo with Nagoya station and
cut the current time of journey by
bullet train by more than half, from
90 to 40 minutes. The lines will be
extended up to Osaka by 2045 as
Japan is into the plan of creating a
high-speed mass transit maglev
network across the country. The
train will have 16 carriages and will
carry up to 1000 passengers at a time.
In 1964, Japan unveiled its first bullet
train
named Shinkansen t o
coincide with its hosting of the
Olympic Games. At present, Japan is
the home of Worlds most
sophisticated rail network. The
central line in Japan, Tokaido
Shinkansen is the worlds busiest highspeed rail and it carries about 151
million passengers each year.
UK and China signed
Currency Swap Deal worth
200bn Yuan
UK and China in Month of June
2013 signed a three-year deal to swap

their currencies when needed in
order to boost the Chinese Yuan
outside Asia. UK wishes to become a
centre for the Chinese currency
which known by renminbi.
It is important here to note that
the British banks hold 35bn yuan
worth of deposits in the Chinese
currency. With the signing of
agreement Bank of England could
draw on the line with the PBOC when
there is a sudden shortage of yuan
funds in the U.K. marketand make
the yuan.
Currency-swap agreements
basically allow central banks to swap
currencies which can be used by
firms to settle trade in local currencies
rather than in US dollars.The deal was
signed in its effort to promote the
yuan in global trade and finance. The
Prospective deal was first signed in
February 2013. In year 2012 the UK
Treasury had announced plans to
make London - the worlds largest
currency trading hub and the leading
international centre for trading the
yuan outside mainland China and
Hong Kong. China also has a swap
agreement with Brazil worth 30bn
dollars and has also signed similar
agreements with other trading
partners such as Japan, Australia and
Hong Kong.
Egypts Supreme Court
invalidated the Countrys
Shura Council
Egypts Supreme Court on 2
June 2013 invalidated the Countrys
Shura Council and a panel that drafted
the countrys constitution. However
the court stated that the Shura would
only be dissolved after new elections.
Shura Council is the upper house of
Parliament which was given
legislative powers last year after
Parliament was dissolved. The
Supreme Constitutional Court stated
that the Shura Council is legally invalid
since one third of its elected
33
members should have been

independents; but the parties fielded
their candidates in this category in a
clear violation of the electoral law.
The apex court ruling however made
it clear that the upper house of the
parliament wont be dissolved till the
parliaments lower chamber is
elected later this year or early next
year.
The Islamist dominated Shura
Council was given legislative powers
in 2012 after the dissolution of the
National Assembly. The court ruling
is a major setback for the Islamist
parties hold on the power in Egypt.
Agreement on 1.3 trillion
Dollar Budget for 2014 to
2020 for European Union
European Union leaders on 28

June 2013 have signed a deal of a 1.3
trillion dollar for seven-year budget
from 2014-2020. All 27 member
states of European Union collectively
approved the deal in Brussels after
providing a solution to British
concerns about a rebate that remains
intact.
It is expected that the plan for
2014-2020 period is going to be
approved by the European
Parliament in July 2013. EU leaders
also resolved to spend 8 billion dollar
over the next two years to support
job creation, training and
apprenticeships for young people.
The EU budget deal came in line
with the landmark bank rescue
agreement. It is worth mentioning
here that the European Union has
sent hundreds of billions of dollars in
bailouts to debt-ridden countries
over the last three years.

Chinas First Pilot Carbon
Emission Trading Scheme
The first of seven pilot carbon

emission trading schemes for China
was launched in the city of Shenzhen,
China on 18 June 2013. It is worth
noticing that China is the largest
carbon gas emitter of the world.
Shenzhen which is situated across
border from Hong Kong is among the
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) of
China. It houses 11 million residents.
China committed to bring down the
carbon emission intensity by 21
percent by the year 2015. The
power plant of the Shenzhen Energy
Group sold the emission permit for
10000 tonnes to Guangdong arm of
state oil group PetroChina for Rmb28
per tonne or 5 US dollar a tonne, and
another 10000 tonnes to Hanergy, a
privately owned power generator
and solar-panel maker for a price of
Rmb30 a tonne. This implies that
China has established a carbon
market. Carbon markets are the ones
which enable the companies to buy
permits for emitting carbon dioxide
from those companies which burn
less carbon. This mechanism is aimed
at encouraging the companies for
reducing pollution as well as invest
their money in the cleaner
technologies.
About the Carbon Emission
Trading Scheme
The Carbon Emission Trading
Scheme of Shenzhen covers
635 companies in overall 26
sectors which also include
water supply, natural gas,
manufacturing, industrial and
electricity. These companies

have carbon emissions above
20000 tons of CO2 equivalent.
These 635 companies in the
year 2010 discharged a total of
31.7 million tons of greenhouse
gases, which is equivalent to 38
percent of the Shenzhens
total.
Under this Carbon Emission
Trading Scheme, emission
permits will, at first, be
allocated to the companies
free of cost. The companies
which pollute more than the
permissible limit, will have to
buy the credits from those
companies which reduce the
emissions below targets set by
the Chinese Government.
This means that under this
scheme, all the companies will
be assigned an emission quota.
The companies can then
benefit or make profits by
selling excess permits to the
other companies.
China has six other pilot
emissions trading schemes in the
pipeline which will also begin in 2013
only. These trading schemes will
begin in Tianjin, Shanghai, Hubei,
Guangdong, Chongqing and Beijing.
Together, all these schemes will
regulate around 800 million to 1
billion tons of emissions by 2015.
This would be the second
biggest cap-and-trade program of
the world, only after Europe which
covers 2.1 billion tons of emissions
among 31 countries and also
accounts for over three-quarters of
global carbon trading. In the
meanwhile, the carbon trading
scheme of Australia covers 380
million tons and that of California
covers 165 million tons. In case the
pilot programs launched by China
deliver reductions in the carbon
emissions in a cost-effective manner
and without any negative impact on
the economy, they will indicate the
34
future of Chinas approach towards

climate change as well as attitude to
international agreement in 2015.
China also has the plan of launching
nationwide carbon trading scheme
by 2015. It is also important to note
that China has emerged as the top
producer of carbon emissions, which
are strongly responsible for climate
change. This is because of Chinas
reliance on heavy industry as well as
coal. China, in turn has emerged
ahead of US, even though Chinas Per
Capita Income is much lower than
that of US. China had also declared
that the carbon emissions from the
country would rise until 2030.
However, Beijing planned for a
reduction of 40 percent by 2020.
Draft Law for Protection of
Hindu Religious Property
Approved in Bangladesh
The Government of Bangladesh

on 3 June 2013 approved the draft
law meant for the development of
Hindu religious properties as well as
for protection of these properties
from land grab and encroachment.
The Cabinet gave its final approval to
the draft law. The Government of
Bangladesh decided to prepare a list
of the Hindu charitable endowments
also known as Devottar property. A
management board will also be
constituted once this law will be
passed by the Parliament of
Bangladesh. A Hindu law expert
Advocate Rana Dashgupta explained
that since the British era, there is a
law meant for protection as well as
management of the Muslim Wakf sites.
But no such laws have been

designed for the Hindu sites. Over
the past 10 years, thousands of land
pieces of Hindu religious properties
were encroached. Therefore, there
have been increasing demands of the
Hindus for curtailing the incidents of
grabbing or encroachment of
Devottar property. The draft law has
provisions for making sure that the
proper
management
and
development of these Devottar
properties is done. It also has the
provisions for making transfer of the
property illegal in case that property
has been donated to Hindu Ashrams,
monasteries or temples. The draft law
additionally has provisions for
punishment for the irregularities in
management of these properties.
Punishments will include jail and
heavy fines in case someone is found
misleading the board with wrongful
information of these properties.
Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain
Bhuiyan explained that in order to
regulate the management and
development of these properties, a
central board would also be
constituted.
Japan and South Korea
suspended US Wheat Imports
discovered by the regulators that

were genetically engineered to resist
Monsanto herbicide in an Oregon
field. It was insisted by the US
regulators that the wheat carries no
risks but the outcome of the
investigation could have a huge
impact on world markets, with the US
the biggest global exporter of wheat.
It is evident that Genetically
Engineered wheat is not approved
for commercial sale anywhere in the
world.
But some herbicide-resistant
plants were found in April 2013 on
an Oregon farm, which had actuated
government investigation. The
altered wheat is glyphosate resistant,
which means it contains a transgene
that allows it to survive when a popular
weed killer made by Monsanto,
called Roundup, is sprayed on fields.
The GE wheat was tested at more
than 100 sites in the United States
from 1998 to 2005, but the last
approved field trials in Oregon were
in 2001, according to the USDAs
Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS). It is important here
to note that the genetically altered
corn and soybeans are grown
regularly in United States but mostly
crops is that can increase their

resistance to droughts and pests, but
as per the critics it can introduce
toxins or reduce their nutrients.
US exempted India and 8
Other Countries for Importing
Oil from Iran
The United States of America

on 5 June 2013 exempted India and
eight other countries from sanctions
for importing oil from Iran. India,
China,
Malaysia,
South
Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan have
qualified for an exception to
sanctions under Americas Iran
Sanctions Act. These countries have
significantly reduced their
dependence on Iranian oil in the last
six months. The US is putting
pressure on the Iranian regime until it
fully addresses concerns about its
nuclear programme.
Indians and Pakistanis to pay
4600 US Dollars more for
British Visa
Japan and South Korea in the

last week of May 2013 have
suspended some imports of US
Wheat as rogue wheat was
consumed by animals. No genetically

altered wheat has been approved in
the U.S. for commercial production.
The effect of genetically altered
35
The British government in the

second week of June 2013 planned
to introduce a new scheme requiring
visitors from high risk countries in
Africa and Asia, including India and

Pakistan, to put up a 4600 US dollars
cash bond before entering Britain.
The countries have been picked for
their high number of visa applications
and what the government views as
relatively high levels of immigration
abuse and fraud.
The pilot scheme will target
hundreds of people coming to Britain
on six-month visit visas from India,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh. And the money will
be retained by the government if
visitors do not return home by the time
their visas expire. The bonds, to be
introduced from November, will only
apply to non-EU migrants, otherwise
they would fall foul of European rights
to free movement. The pilot scheme
will later be extended to cover work
permits and student visas. In 2012,
296000 people from India were
granted six-month visas, as were
101000 from Nigeria, 53000 from
Pakistan and 14000 from Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka each.
Malis Presidential Election to
be held on 28 July 2013
responsibility to take Mali out of a

crisis that has crippled the country
since a Tuareg rebellion for
independence of the north in January
2012. France, Malis former colonial
power, sent in troops in January 2013
to block an advance by the AlQaeda-linked rebels on the capital
Bamako. The French-led offensive
has pushed the militants out of the
main cities and into desert and
mountain hideouts from where they
are staging guerrilla attacks. France
meanwhile began withdrawing its
4500 troops deployed in Mali and
handed over the reins to a 6300strong force, the International Mission
for Support to Mali (MISMA).
France stated that about 1000
soldiers will remain in Mali beyond
this year to back up a UN force of
12600 peacekeepers that is to
replace MISMA gradually from July
and will be responsible for stabilising
the north. Deeply divided and
poverty-stricken Mali is badly in need
of help to repair the damage caused
by the war and to offer some hope of
bringing together its disparate
political groups.
UNESCO increased Pressure
on Australia to conserve Great
Barrier Reef
Malis Presidential election will

be held on 28 July 2013, according
to a draft law adopted by the cabinet
as the nation struggles to move on
from war and an 18-month political
crisis. A cabinet communique marked
the first official confirmation of the
date of the poll, seen as essential to
restoring democratic rule after a coup
in 2012 paved the way for Islamist
rebels to seize control of the north.
Acting president Dioncounda Traore
will not contest the polls. The new
elected government will have the
UNESCOs World Heritage

Committee on 18 June 2013
increased pressure on the Australian
government so as to conserve the
Great Barrier Reef. The World
Heritage Committee gave Canberra
one year time to present a plan on
how to protect the reef, listed as a
World Heritage site since 1981, from
increasing coal and gas extraction
and shipping. As per the discussion
in the 37th session in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, If Australia fails to come
up with a satisfactory plan then World
Heritage Committee will place it on
the in danger list. It was also
stressed that by 2014, Australia has
to improve water quality monitoring
and limit port development to
36
existing port areas. It is worth

mentioning here that among the 38
World Heritage sites currently listed
as in danger is the Everglades
National park in Florida and the Old
City of Jerusalem.
North and South Korea held
their First Official Talks after
Years
North and South Korea on 9

June 2013 held their first official talks
after two years, confronting decades
of mutual distrust, in a search for some
positive end to months of soaring
military tensions. The working-level
discussions, which began in the
border truce village of Panmunjom,
were aimed at building a framework
for ministerial-level talks tentatively
scheduled for 10 June 2013 in
Seoul. The ministerial-level talks will
focus on restoring suspended
commercial links, including the
Kaesong joint industrial complex that
the North effectively shut down in
April as tensions between the historic
rivals peaked.
Kevin Rudd sworn in as new
Australian Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd on 27 June 2013

was sworn in as Australias new prime

minister ousting Julia Gillard as Labor
chief in a ballot. He was sworn in at
Government House in Canberra by
Governor General Quentin Bryce.
Kevin Rudd conserved his dramatic
return after a leadership ballot on 26
June 2013 in which Gillard, the
countrys first female premier, was
forced to leave in a party-room vote
and announced her retirement from
politics. 55 years old Kevin Rudd
won the vote of Labor lawmakers 57
to 45 amid mounting unease in the
party over an expected rout by Tony
Abbotts conservative opposition at
the national polls in September 2013.
A Brief Insight into Kevin
Rudds Political Career
Kevin Michael Rudd is the 27th
Prime Minister of Australia, as
well as Leader of the Labor
Party.
Earlier he held the position of
Prime Minister from 2007 to
2010, and Labor Leader from
2006 to 2010; he is the first
former Prime Minister to return
to the office since Robert
Menzies in 1949.
He worked for the Department
of Foreign Affairs from 1981 to
1988, where he became Chief
of Staff to the Labor Premier of
Queensland, Wayne Goss.
Kevin Rudd was first elected to
the House of Representatives
for Griffith at the 1998 federal
election, joining the Shadow
Cabinet in 2001 as Shadow
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
In year 2006, he become the
Leader of the Labor Party by
successfully challenging Kim
Beazley and subsequently
become the Leader of the
Opposition.
In year 2007 Kevin Rudds
Labor Party won the federal
election with a 23-seat swing,
and Rudd was sworn in as the
26th Prime Minister of Australia
on 3 December.
State Duma of Russian

Parliament passed Anti-Gay
Bill
The Lower House of the

Parliament of Russia (State Duma) on
11 June 2013 approved a bill that
stigmatized gay people and banned
providing children any information
about homosexuality in the country.
The State Duma passed the Kremlinbacked Law in a 436-0 Vote, with
one absentee. The Bill that bans the
Propaganda of Nontraditional Sexual
Relations now needs to be passed by
the Upper House of Russia and
signed into Law by Vladimir Putin, the
President of Russia. The Bill came up
as a part of the effort that is directed
towards promotion of the traditional
Russian Values as a replacement of
the western liberalism. The Kremlin
and the Russian Orthodox Church
looks on the western liberalism as if it
is corrupting the countries youth.
Ilya Ponomaryov is the only Member
of Parliament to skip the voting as she
supported the anti-Putin protesters
despite she belongs to the proKremlin Party. If the legislation is
passed and becomes a law, hefty
fines will be imposed on providing
information related to gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
community to minors. The law
breakers will be fined up to 5000
Rubles (about 156 US dollar) if an
individual is involved in case of a
company (including media
organisation) the fine imposed is 1
million Rubles (31000 US dollar). The
foreign citizens who will be arrested
under the Law will be jailed for up to
37
15 days and then deported or can

be
directly
deported.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in
Russia in 1993. The law that punished
homosexuality with up to five years
in Prison was removed from the penal
code of Russia after the Stalinist era.
It was done as part of the democratic
reforms after Soviet Union collapsed
in 1991. Russia is also looking
forward to ban citizens of the
countries that have allowed same-sex
marriage from adopting children from
Russia.
Supreme Constitutional Court
of Kuwait dissolved
Parliament
The Supreme Constitutional

Court of Kuwait has ordered fresh
elections in the country after it
dissolved the Parliament. The Court
ordered to conduct the fresh election
under the new voting system that was
cleared by the Government but
rejected by the opposition. Under
the old system of voting, the
candidates were allowed to vote for
up to four candidates but the new
system of voting will allow selection
of only one candidate.
The constitutional validity of the
new voting rules was challenged by
the opposition in the apex court as it
feels that the formation of alliances
would be difficult under the new rule,
as alliances in the country led to the
absence of political parties in the
nation. The Supreme Constitutional
Court dismissed the challenge of the
opposition. The new rules of voting
were issued by the Kuwaiti Emir that
used emergency powers six weeks

before the elections which was held
in December 2012. Emir Sheikh
Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, the ruler
of Kuwait has asked people to
accept the decision of the apex court
for the change in voting rules. The
elections will be held in Kuwait within
next two months following the
constitutional provision of the
country. This will be the sixth
Parliamentary Election in Kuwait,
since 2006. The December 2012
elections were boycotted by the
opposition but the decision of the
apex court has left no room for them
to boycott the elections again under
the new voting system. In the Gulf
nations, the Kuwaits Parliament is the
most democratic one but the Emirs
decision is the final word in the
legislative affairs of the country.
World Leaders signed
Agreement to tackle
Malnutrition
World leaders on 8 June 2013

signed a global agreement to fight
malnutrition in children and made
commitments of up to 4.15 billion
dollars to tackle under nutrition up to
2020. The agreement, called Global
Nutrition for Growth was signed
during the central London summit.
The summit was participated by two
Presidents and four Prime Ministers
from Africa, philanthropist Bill Gates,
former UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan and Unilever chief executive
Paul Polman. The agreement also aims
to improve saving the lives of at least
1.7 million children by increasing
breastfeeding and better treatment
of severe and acute malnutrition. The
UK committed an additional 375
million pounds of funding from 2013
to 2020. Countries which have
previously increased nutrition

funding, like the US and Canada,
committed themselves to continuing
those high levels of funding while
others, like the European Union, the
World Bank and Ireland, increased
their support substantially.
Stunting affects around 165
million children across the globe and
almost 50 per cent of children in
India.
China commissioned Satellite
Data Receiving Station
China in the month of May 2013
commissioned a satellite data
receiving station meant to monitor the
disputed South China Sea, where
Beijing was involved in maritime
disputes with a number of South East
Asian countries. The satellite data
receiving station was launched in the
Chinas southern island province of
Hainan by the Institute of Remote
Sensing and Digital Earth under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences. With
the commissioning of station China
will now be able to obtain satellite
remote sensing data of the countrys
southern territorial waters for civil use
directly from its ground-based
receiving facility. It is important here
to note that the station has two sets
of data receiving and transmission
systems, getting information from
more than 10 satellites. Also, a
research centre based at the Sanya
station was launched that is going
conduct scientific research in disaster
monitoring, marine sciences and of
the environment.
US Senate passed landmark
Immigration Bill
The United States Senate on 27
June 2013 passed a landmark
comprehensive Immigration Reform
Bill to provide a pathway to
citizenship to some 11 million illegal
immigrants in the country. There are
over 240000 illegal Indian migrants
in the US. The immigration reform
received a bipartisan support in the
38
US Senate; the bill received 88 votes

in favour and 32 votes in against.
The supporters included 52

members from the Democratic Party,
14 Republican members of the senate
and two independent members. For
further approval, the Bill has been sent
to House of Representatives and after
being approved in the house it will
be sent to US President, Barack
Obama to be signed into a law.
Provisions of the new
Legislation
Steps to prevent illegal
migration in future and
checking the legal status of Job
applicants living in US
It offers 13 year path to
citizenship to 11 million illegal
migrants living in the country
Completion of 1226 kilometer
fencing and deployment of
high-tech devices along the
US-Mexico border and to
guard it will require 20000 new
Border Patrol Agents
Expansion of number of Visa
available to highly skilled
workers relying upon the
technology industry
Temporary program for farm
workers and low-skilled
persons
Defence Budget of Pakistan
raised by 15 %
The cash strapped new
Government of Pakistan on 12 June
2013 announced hike of 15 percent
in its defence budget to 627 billion
rupees for the fiscal 2013-14. The
Government of Pakistan made an

allocation of 15.7 percent of the
federal budget of 3.985 trillion
rupees for fiscal year 2013-14 for all
the three defence services of the
nation.
The army got the lions share of

the outlay with 301.54 billion rupees
and the Air Force was allocated
131.18 billion rupees and the Navy
got 62.80 billion rupees. The NawazSharif led Government of Pakistan has
made an allocation of 2300 million
rupees for defence production
division in Public Sector
Development Programme for the
fiscal year of which 2246.30 million
rupees will be invested on installation
of the ship lifts, machinery and
equipment for docking, transfer
system, repair units for all types of
commercial vessels, ships, submarines
at Karachi Port.
G-8 Summit in Lough Erne in
Northern Ireland
39th edition of the G8 Summit
concluded at Lough Erne in

Northern Ireland on 18 June
2013. The two day summit from 17
June 18 June 2013 was presided
over by the David Cameron, the Prime
Minister of United Kingdom. The UK
assumed the one-year Presidency of
the G8 in January 2013 and thus
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of
United Kingdom was the presiding
leader of the 39th Summit. The two
day summit was attended by the
leaders from G8 Nations namely
Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia, the USA and UK. Jose
Manuel Barroso, the President of the
European Commission, and Herman
Van Rompuy, the President of the
European Council also were a part of
the meet. During the 39th Summit
leaders of the G8 Nations reached a
conclusion to achieve the change on
three issues which are critical for the
growth, prosperity and economic
development of the world. The
basic agenda of this summit was Tax,
Trade and Transparency (three Ts).
The EU is a part of the G8 since 1977,
but it doesnt hold a Presidency of
the G8 Summit.
Lough Erne Declaration from
the G8 Summit 2013
Trade deal making history
In context of the trade
discussions, a proposal of setting up

39
of the global and open free trade

system was also discussed. As per the
proposal, EU-US trade deal would
worth up to 100 billion pounds to the
economy of EU, 80 billion to the US
and 85 billion to the rest of the
world. Seven-point Strategy on Syri.
A NEW seven-point strategy to end
the bloodshed in Syria was the
headline-grabber from the G8
summit in Northern Ireland.
The seven point strategy
includes:
Increase commitment to
humanitarian aid
To bring all sides on the table
with immediate effect by
maximizing the diplomatic
pressure
Back a transitional governing
body for Syria
Maintain Syrias public
institutions by learning lessons
of Iraq
a new commitment by the G8
to work together to rid Syria
of terrorists and extremists
Condemn the use of chemical
weapons by anyone in Syria,
and allow for a UN probe
Decision to support a new nonsectarian government in Syria
Apart from these some
other
declarations
and
statements were made
G8 Action Plan Principles to
Prevent the Misuse of
Companies
and
Legal
Arrangements
Global Economy Working
Session
The threat posed by
kidnapping for ransom by
terrorists and the preventive
steps the international
community
About
39th
G8
Summit: The 39th G8 summit was
held from 17 to 18 June 2013 at the
Lough Erne Resort, in Lough Erne in
Northern Ireland. This was the sixth
edition of the G8 summit to be held

in the United Kingdom. The earlier
G8 summits hosted by the United
Kingdom were held at London in
1977, 1984 and 1991, Birmingham in
1998 and Gleneagles in 2005.
What is G8? The head of the
six major industrial democracies
(France, the United States, Britain,
Germany, Japan and Italy) for the first
time met in November 1975 to deal
with the major economic and political
issues facing their domestic societies
and the international community as a
whole. In the year of its constitution
it was termed as G6. In the San Juan
Summit of 1976 in Puerto Rico
Canada became its member followed
by the European Community at the
London Summit of 1977. In 1998
Russia came up with its full
participation, at Birmingham Summit
making it G8. The Presidency of the
G8 rotates each calendar year and the
country holding the G8 Presidency is
responsible
for hosting and
organising the annual summit, with a
number of preparatory meetings
leading up to it.
First NATO and European
Country to Draft Women in
Military Service
The Parliament of Norway,

called the Storting, voted on 14 June
2013 to recruit women in armed
forces. With this, Norway became the
first NATO and also the first European
country to make military services
obligatory for males as well as the
females. It is worth noticing that
Norway has always led the fight for
gender equality and for this, it also
introduced measures like making it
mandatory for all the public limited

companies to fill minimum 40 percent
board seats with female members.
Women in Norway compose half of
the present Government. The
opinion polls in Norway also indicate
that Erna Solberg, the opposition
leader might become the second
female Prime Minister of Norway in
Elections which are scheduled for
late 2013.
UNSC to enhance UNDOF
Strength in Golan
Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary
General has asked the UN Security
Council (UNSC) to enhance the
strength of UN Disengagement
Forces (UNDOF) from 900 to its
authorized strength of 1250 to
maintain the peace along Syria-Israel
borders in the Golan Heights. Ban Ki
Moon also warned that the tensions
in the Golan Heights can due to
violation of Syria-Israel ceasefire may
escalate. 170 Fijian troops will also
be deployed by the end of the
months with a promise from
Philippines for doubling its strength.
He also announced that the UN
Security Council may take a call to
renew the UNDOF Mandate.
UNDOF and its role in Golan
Heights
Nations
T h e United
Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF) was established by
Security Council resolution 350
(1974) of 31 May 1974 to:
Maintain the ceasefire between
Israel and Syria
Supervise the disengagement
of Israeli and Syrian forces
Supervise the areas of
separation and limitation, as
provided in the May 1974
Agreement
on
Disengagement.
UNDOF has been responsible
for peace management in the Golan
Heights since 1974 after Israel
annexed the area from Syria. The
40
UNDOF
comprises
UN
peacekeepers from Austria, India,
Croatia, Japan and Philippines.
WHO Issued New HIV
Treatment Guidelines
The World Health Organization

on 30 June 2013 introduced new
guidelines for the treatment of HIV
could help prevent millions of people
dying of AIDS. The WHO says these
guidelines represent a major shift in
treatment policy. The idea is to give a
single pill combining three drugs to
people who are HIV positive much
earlier while their immune systems are
still strong. Algeria, Argentina and
Brazil are already doing this.
Ultimately, it means the number of
people in developing countries, who
are deemed eligible for drug
treatment, will rise from 16 to 26
million.
New Labour Law regulating
Foreign Workers approved in
Australia
Australian Parliament on 27 June
2013 approved a proposed law with
new rules to clear out wrong use of
the visa scheme for foreign workers
by employers. As per the reports the
law managed to get approval by only
one vote, in a 73-72 vote result, with
the support of crossbench MPs Tony
Windsor, Craig Thomson, Bob Katter
and Andrew Wilkie, in the lower
house. The new rules will now move
to Senate for clearance and as per
which the employers now have to
conduct labour market testing and
prove they searched for Australian
workers before hiring temporary

workers from overseas on 457 visas.
It was found that there was
widespread recruiting at the expense
of Australian jobs. The Australian
government has agreed to some
amendments making clear employers
must advertise in a newspaper for
local workers up to four months
before applying to hire people under
the 457 scheme.
Panja Sahib to be
Declare as a Holy City
The Government of Pakistan on

14 June 2013 decided to declare
Panja Sahib as a holy city. The
government will initiate steps for
sorting out the issues related to the
welfare of the Sikhs, who live at the
pilgrimage site. The decision of
Pakistan Government was disclosed
by Arif Chaudhry, Legal Counsel to
Pakistans Interior Ministry during his
meeting with the Chief Minister of
Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal at
Chandigarh.
About Panja Sahib
It is believed that Panja Sahib is
the house of a rock that has the hand
print of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder
of Sikh religion. This is a popular Sikh
pilgrimage across the world. Panja
Sahib is located near Rawalpindi in
Pakistan.
Japan got its First MOX
Nuclear Shipment since
Fukushima
Japanese got its First MOX
Nuclear Shipment port since
Fukushima on 28 June 2013 which
was arrived from France loaded with

reprocessed nuclear fuel.The
Nuclear Shipment was arrived in
order to restart their atomic reactors.
MOX, (mixed oxide) is a blend of
plutonium and uranium; it was arrived
at the Takahama nuclear plant on the
western coast of central Japan. Mixed
oxide (MOX) fuel basically provides
about 2% of the new nuclear fuel
used today.
MOX fuel is manufactured from
plutonium recovered from used
reactor fuel. It also provides a means
of burning weapons-grade plutonium
(from military sources) to produce
electricity. Uranium reactors produce
a mixture of depleted uranium and
plutonium as a by-product of fission.
These can be re-processed into MOX
fuel, which can then be used in other
reactors to generate more power. It
is known fact that Japan has very less
energy resources of its own and it
relies on nuclear power for nearly
one-third of its domestic electricity
needs until the meltdowns at the
tsunami-crippled plant. It has been
seen that all but two of the countrys
50 nuclear reactors are offline, closed
for routine safety checks in the
consequences of the disaster and
never restarted because of public
resistance and new standards. Japan
on the other hand has built its own
nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, in
northern Aomori prefecture, but its
opening has been delayed by a series
of minor accidents and technical
problems.
As per the Government report
to the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), Japan has about 44.3
tonnes of plutonium, of which 35.0
tonnes are held and being processed
in France and Britain, and the rest,
9.3 tonnes is stored in Japan.
World Bank slashed its Growth
Forecast for China
2013 slashed its growth forecast for

Chinas economy for 2013 to 7.7
percent from 8.4 percent. In its
report, the World Bank stated that the
main risk related to China remains the
possibility that high investment rates
prove unsustainable, provoking a
disorderly unwinding and sharp
economic slowdown. The projection
is lower than the 7.8 percent
expansion the country recorded in
2012, which was its weakest in 13
years.
The report also stated that the
Chinese household debt is around
two to three times higher than the
level before 1997, when the Asian
Financial Crisis hit.
It added that, while the

headline inflation rate is mild, price
pressures remain in certain rapidly
growing segments of the economy,
including real estate.
In April 2013, China announced
unexpectedly weak growth of 7.7 per
cent for the first quarter, surprising
analysts who had expected
expansion to accelerate in 2013,
after showing strength at the end of
2012. Other recent indicators have
raised alarm bells, with exports
showing almost no growth in May
2013, while industrial output
expanded at a slightly slower pace
than April 2013 and big ticket
investment growth also eased. The
World Banks forecast cuts followed
a recent lowering by the International
Monetary Fund to 7.75 per cent from
the previous 8.0 per cent.
The World Bank on 14 June
41

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India & The World
India & The World

wheat varieties having greater
tolerance to drought and salinity.
India, the United States and

Australia in the third week of May
2013 came together to develop new
climate-resilient varieties of rice and
wheat, two of the major crops in the
world.The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID)
will work in collaboration with the
Australian Centre for Plant Functional
Genomics (ACPFG) and Indias
Vibha Agrotech.This collaboration
will seek to develop new rice and
environments. The ambitious program

is part of Feed the Future, the US
Governments global hunger and
food security initiative.
India and Germany on 6 June
2013
signed
an umbrella
agreement on financial and
technical cooperation in fields
of energy, environment and
management
of
natural
resources.
This agreement displays the
commitment of both nations towards
strengthening the long-standing
partnership between the two in field
of development co-operation.
Now, farmers can have more stable

production in wake of sudden
drought and salt water intrusion. The
new technology will be first
developed in Australia and India, but
it will be made available to
developing countries in South Asia
and at world level where adverse
climate conditions impact cereal
yields, so that farmers could have a
good harvest, even as climate change
creates more unpredictable growing
45
Earlier, India and Germany had

negotiated about 723 million Euros
worth projects in 2012 as part of a

India & The World

pact on development cooperation
between them. The umbrella
agreement was signed by German
Embassys Deputy Chief of Mission
Cord Meier-Klodt and Joint Secretary
in the Department of Economic
Affairs Rajesh Khullar. Germany also
made a commitment to support the
expansion plans of renewable
energy in India with one billion Euros.
The Agreement on Financial and
Technical Cooperation generally
contains priority areas such as energy,
environmental
issues
and
management of natural resources.
doubling the bilateral trade volume

to the tune of 10 billion US dollars in
the next three years. India is Sri
Lankas leading trade partner and that
bilateral trade between the two
countries has now reached 5 billion
US dollars.
Sri Lanka and India on 24-25

June 2013 held discussion in
Colombo on trade, investment and
economic cooperation. It is aimed at
During the talks, India and Sri

Lanka decided to expand the
bilateral trade in a balanced way by
utilising the opportunities available
between the two neighbouring
Anand Sharma, Minister of

Commerce & Industry, led an official
delegation on 19-22 June, 2013, to
the St. Petersburg International
Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2013. The
fourth India-Russia Business Dialogue
was organized in the framework of
SPIEF 2013 which was co-chaired by
Anand Sharma and Denis Manturov,
Minister of Industry & Trade of the
Russian Federation.
as well as Russian companies. Both

India and Russia expressed
satisfaction in the progress of our
bilateral trade and economic
relations. Presentation on Delhi
Mumbai Industrial Corridor was also
made, highlighting the opportunities
available for Russian companies in the
infrastructure sector and stress
placed on Russian companies availing
of the vast opportunities available in
The Business Dialogue was

attended by many prominent Indian
infrastructure as well as in other

identified areas. On the sidelines of
46
nations. The talks included

economic, trade and development
related issues between the two
countries. The Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) between India and Sri Lanka
was the first ever bilateral trade
agreement for both nations.
It was signed in 1998 and
enforced since 2000. India is
considered as Sri Lankas foremost
development partner in public
investment strategy. India has
provided the assistance and credit
totaling 1.75 billion US dollars to Sri
Lanka.
India is responsible for
construction of 50000 houses in the
north-east area of Sri Lanka. India is
also assisting in public transport
network infrastructure rebuilding.
SPIEF 2013, Comprehensive

Economic Cooperation Agreement
(CECA) was discussed between
India and the Customs Union of
Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian
Federation. India mentioned that
there is significant potential for
cooperation in areas such as
infrastructure development, aviation,
power generation, energy,
information technology, bio and nano
technologies,
fertilizer,
pharmaceuticals and chemicals, etc.
India and Nepal signed a

Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) in the third week of June 2013
to provide assistance for construction
of a three storied school building

India & The World

under India-Nepal Economic
Cooperation Programme. The MoU
was signed between Indian Embassy
in Kathmandu, District Development
Committee, Kapilvastu and Shree
Higher Secondary School. As per the
MoU, India would grant 4.14 crore
Nepali rupees for construction of
School building in Kapilvastu District
under India-Nepal Economic
Cooperation Programme. The
Indian grant will help in creation of
better facilities in the new building
of the Shree Higher Secondary
School is situated at Barkalpur,
Kapilvastu District that was
established in 1979. This building will
accommodate more than 1000
students with fifty percent
population of girls.
counterfeit currency and trade in

illegal substances. The Indian
Delegation was led by Home
secretary RK Singh, while the Nepali
delegation was led by his counterpart
Navin Kumar Ghimere. India also
drew Nepals attention to the
continued trade in banned red
sandalwood from India to Tibet via
Nepali routes.
India-Nepal Economic
Cooperation Programme
India and Myanmar set three

billion dollar trade target by 2015
during the meeting of Indias energy
minister Anand Sharma with his
Myanmar counterpart U Than Htay in
New Delhi held on 6 June 2013. India
conveyed the interest of Indian banks
in setting up their branches in
Myanmar. It also conveyed its interest
in deepening cooperation in the
fields of energy, oil and natural gas.
Improving air, road and water
connectivity between the two
countries was also discussed during
the meeting. Myanmar expressed
keen interest in building linkages with
the textiles sector of India. It has
immense potential for Myanmar. It also
sought Indias help in developing a
full value chain for silk production in
her country. Myanmar is Indias
important neighbor and the relations
between the two countries have
broadened and deepened in the last
two years. India is ready to extend all
necessary assistance to Myanmar in
its development efforts.
The programme of Indiaeconomic

Nepal
cooperation was launched in
1951. The objective of this
programme was and remains to
supplement the efforts of the
Government of Nepal in the national
development of the country. Indias
assistance programme in Nepal is
guided by the vision that alongside
progress in political process in Nepal,
it is equally important to ensure that
economic deliverables, particularly in
the areas of education, health and
infrastructure, must reach the people
without any pre-conditions in a
smooth, quick and unencumbered
manner.
India and Nepal on 1 June 2013
agreed to address each others
security concerns and curb illegal
activities across the open border. The
agreement took place during the
annual Home Secretary-level talks
held in Kathmandu. Both nations
agreed to increase vigilance and
cooperation in border areas against
criminal activities such as human and
drug trafficking, smuggling of Indian
Salman Khurshid, the Union

External Affairs Minister was on a
two-day visit to Iraq from 19 to 20
47
June 2013. The aim of this visit of

Khurshid to Iraq was to enhance
cooperation in oil and hydrocarbon
sector. During this visit Khurshid
held talks on issues of bilateral and
mutual interests including import of
oil for energy security along with the
avenues of partnership, with the top
Iraqi leaders. A decision to take the
relationship to a higher level between
the two countries by enhancing
cooperation in hydro carbon sector
was also made. The two countries
agreed on holding a meet of Joint
Commission in Baghdad before
Ramadan that will begin in second
week of July 2013.
The joint commission meet will

look forward for the revival of the ties
between the two nations and will be
attended by the Union Oil Minister
Veerappa Moily. Government of Iraq
assured Khurshid that supply of oil to
India to fulfill its future requirements
will be continued. At present, Iraq is
the second largest supplier of crude
oil to India despite of the sanctions
on it. Iraq supplies about 12 percent
of crude oil to India and stands next
to Saudi Arabia.
Iraq is looking forward to
increase its overall production
capacity to 9 million barrels per day
by 2017 from 2.6 million barrels per
day, which it exports at present.
During his visit to Iraq, Khurshid met
with the Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri
al-Maliki and handed him over the
letter of invitation to visit India by
Prime Minsiter of India Union, Dr.
Manmohan Singh. He also met with
his counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and
Deputy Prime Minister and Energy
Minister of Iraq Hussein al-Shahristani.

India & The World

This is the first visit of any Minister from
Indian Union to Iraq after 23 years in
the war-raved country. Before
Salman Khurshid, Former Prime
Minister of India, Inder Kumar Gujral
visited Iraq in 1990 during his tenure
as an External Affairs Minister of
Indian Union.
He visited Iraq to check the
procedures of evacuation of Indians
in the wake of Gulf war.
During the five-year period from

2008-09 to 2012-13, India-Oman
bilateral trade increased by 129
percent as per the data released by
Ministry of External affairs of India.
India has been a major exporter to
Oman and emerged as the fourth
largest source of imports into Oman
after Japan, USA and Saudi Arabia in
2012.The balance of trade is in Indias
favour due to increase in export of
mineral fuels, mineral oils and
products of their distillation. Besides
traditional items from India like tea,
coffee, spices, rice and meat
products and seafood are among
other commodities in great demand
in Oman.
India imports urea, Liquefied
Natural Gas through spot purchase,
polypropylene, lubricating oil, dates
and chromites ore from Oman. In
terms of FDI inflows from the GCC
Countries, Oman is the second
biggest investor in India having put
in investments worth 340 million US
dollars in the country.
More than 7.18 lakh expatriate
Indians are living in Oman in various
sectors contributing a lot towards
strong India-Oman ties.
India on 3 June 2013 added

some more items, including gems and
jewellery to its list of items prohibited
for trade with North Korea, directly
or indirectly. The decision was taken
keeping into view UN sanctions
against North Korea because of its
nuclear programme. It is worth
Mentioning here that a UN resolution
against North Korea was adopted on
7 March 2013.
A notification was issued by
Directorate of Foreign Trade (DGFT)
in this regard enlisting the new items
that are barred for trade with North
Korea. The Prohibited items include
a particular kind of lubricant,
corrosionresistant material and
certain chemicals which can be used
for nuclear and missile technology. It
also includes luxury goods like gems,
jewellery, precious stones, yachts,
luxury vehicles, racing cars and
station wagons.
India and Thailand on 30 May

2013 signed a treaty for the
extradition of runaways wanted for
terrorism, transnational crimes,
economic offences and other serious
crimes which will shortly eliminate a
safe refuge for criminals wanted in
India and Thailand. The extradition
48
treaty between India and Thailand

was signed during Prime Minister
Manmohan Singhs first bilateral visit
to Thailand.
With the signing of extradition
treaty, India is supposed to put
forward its requests to Thailand for
the extradition of criminals like
fugitive Syed Musakir Mudassar
Hussain alias Munna Zingada who is
wanted in India for underworld
activities. Actually Munna Zingada is
presently in a Thai prison for his
involvement in the attack on
underworld don Chhota Rajan here
in 2001.
Highlights of the
Extradition Treaty
The Treaty provides the legal
framework for seeking
extradition of fugitive
offenders, including those
involved in terrorism,
transnational crimes, economic
offences etc.
Treaty provides for the
extradition of any person who
is wanted for trial or for the
imposition or enforcement of a
sentence by one Contracting
State and is found in the
territory of the other
Contracting State.
The treaty will help both the
countries in expedited
extradition of fugitives. This
Treaty
would
further
strengthen the relationship
between two law enforcement
agencies by providing a firm
legal basis for their bilateral
cooperation.
The
extradition
treaty
concluded after two decades of
negotiations, and a memorandum of
understanding on cooperation in
anti-money laundering, gives a major
signal of Indias shared commitment
in combating terrorism, organized
crime, drug trafficking and
counterfeiting.

India & The World
Gujarat Info Petro Ltd

(GIPL), the subsidiary of Gujarat
(GIPL)
State Petroleum Corporation signed
an
agreement
with Cason
Engineering Plc
Plc, Hungary, for gas
monitoring system. This agreement
was in accordance with the MoU
signed during the Vibrant Gujarat
Summit-2013. This agreement was
signed between VK Sharma, CEO,
Gujarat Info, and Ferenc Szakcs,
Chairman and CEO of Cason. Gujarat
Info Petro Ltd offers the IT services
to government departments,
corporate houses, corporations as
well as boards. Cason Engineering
Plc, on the other hand, is the Hungarybased technology company which
offers
services
such
as
implementation, manufacturing as
well as development of the systems
which are responsible for gas
distribution network monitoring. It
also developed as well as installed
new solutions that are equipped with
leading technologies. These are
meant for large oil pipeline operators
in various countries as well as
Europe. The aim of the agreement
is providing automation services for
oil as well as gas companies in India.
This will provide joint technical
solutions, which will generate fast
accessibility as well as ease for
development of city gas distributor
industry. Primary advantages of
these joint technical solutions are to
provide the tool in order to control
the sales procedures as well as
procurement procedures of daily
purchased gas volume. Also, these
solutions will provide access for
stakeholders to everyday business

data along with the technology
reports and alarms through the Webbased applications. Apart from this,
the special pipeline monitoring
system as well as leak detection for
leading oil pipeline operators will also
be offered. This would result in less
number of accidents as well as
incidences such as pilferages and
thefts. This will also help in solutions
for disaster management as well as
security issues of cross-country
pipelines. The Prime Minister of
Hungary Viktor Orban will visit India
in October 2013 in order to launch
the product.
India and Saudi Arabia on 26

May 2013 decided to further
strengthen and deepen their
counter-terrorism cooperation. This
was decided during the 4-day visit
of External Affairs Minister Salman
Khurshid to Saudi Arabia. The
counter-terrorism issue is emerging as
a key area of cooperation between
India and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia
deported deported Abu Jundal,
wanted in the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist
attack about a year back. Saudi is
concerned about the rise of
extremism in the region, including in
Pakistan, notwithstanding their close
ties. Both nations discussed the
menace of terrorism the world
continues to face and agreed to
further strengthen our counterterrorism cooperation which is an
essential element of the Riyadh
Declaration signed in 2010. India
held talks with Saudi Arabia on a
number of issues including the
49
controversial Nitaqat law, counterterrorism measures and energy

security. Saudi Arabia also tried to
allay Indias fears over the Nitaqat law
and stated that the procedures are
being taken in the best interest of
Indian workers.The Nitaqat law and
the ongoing drive to identify workers
who are overstaying in the Arab
Kingdom was one of the main area of
focus during the talks held between
the two nations. Khurshids visit is the
first by an Indian External Affairs
Minister in the last five years to Saudi
Arabia, Indias biggest supplier
of oil.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh
on 21 June 2013 appealed the
migrant Indian nationals in Saudi
Arabia to avail concessions granted
by the Saudi authorities and get the
exit passes issued to return to India
or to get their job or visa or residency
status in the country corrected by the
deadline of 3 July 2013. About 60000
Indian nationals have approached to
the embassy to avail the concessions
announced by the Saudi Authorities.
About 30000 out passes were issued
for the Indian nationals who wished
to return back to India. More than
20000 migrated Indian Nationals
have applied for visa or the legal
resident status corrected. About
10000 persons are in a process of
getting their job status corrected.
About 200 companies have
approached to the Embassy with job
opportunities for eligible Indians in
past two months. Earlier on 6 May
2013, Authorities of Saudi Arabia
announced that there would be no
extension over the three month grace
for foreigners staying in the country
illegally. The Interior Ministry has
urged people to take advantage of
the grace period provided to them
for regularization of their situation.
India and Singapore on 3 June
2013 reaffirmed their strong and longstanding defence ties as they

India & The World

renewed a bilateral agreement for
the conduct
of joint army
training and
exercises.
T h e
agreement
was signed
after visiting
Defence
Minister A K Antony held bilateral talks

with his Singapore
counterpart Ng Eng Hen.
The Agreement for the
Conduct of Joint Army
Training and Exercises
was first established on
12 August 2008. Its
renewal allows the
Singapore Army to train
and exercise with the Indian Army in

India for another five years. The
armies of India and Singapore jointly
conducted bilateral armour and
artillery exercises, codenamed Ex
Bold Kurukshetra and Ex Agni
Warrior respectively. The bilateral
exercise was successfully conducted
in March 2013 and a combined
artillery live-firing was carried out in
December 2012.
MCQ Series
50

Economy
Economy
Time for opening up of New
Banks extended by Six
Months
The RBI (Reserve Bank of India)

on 3 June 2013 released certain
clarifications on the guidelines issued
for licensing of new banks. Based on
the feedback received from the
interested entities, the RBI increased
the validity period of the in-principle
approval of setting up of banks from
one year to 18 months. RBI stated that
intending applicants have brought
out several complex issues pertaining
to reorganization of the existing
corporate structure, restructuring of
businesses and meeting the
regulatory requirements. Once the inprinciple approval is given by the RBI
for setting up of a bank, the promoter
group has to set up a non-operative

financial holding company (NOFHC)
and the bank within 18 months from
the date of in-principle approval. The
bank has to start banking business
within this period after getting the
banking licence. The RBI had
released the Guidelines for Licensing
of New Banks in the Private Sector in
February 2013. Accordingly, the RBI
had stated that corporates and public
sector entities with sound
credentials, 500 crore rupees capital
and a minimum track record of 10
years would be allowed to enter the
banking business. The last date to
submit applications is the 1 July 2013.
The RBI had also invited queries from
intending applicants seeking
clarifications on guidelines.
Mechanism for Coal Supply to
Power Producers approved
2013 approved the following
mechanism for supply of coal to
power producers:
Coal India Ltd. (CIL) to sign Fuel
Supply Agreements (FSA) for
51
a total capacity of 78000 MW

including cases of tapering
linkage, which are likely to be
commissioned by 31 March
2015. Actual coal supplies
would however commence
when long term Power
Purchase Agreements (PPAs)
are tied up.
Taking into account the overall

domestic availability and actual
requirements, FSAs to be
signed for domestic coal
quantity of 65 percent, 65
percent, 67 percent and 75
percent of Annual Contracted
Quantity (ACQ) for the
remaining four years of the 12th
Five Year Plan.
To meet its balance FSA
obligations, CIL may import

Economy
coal and supply the same to the
willing Thermal Power Plants
(TPPs) on cost plus basis. TPPs
may also import coal
themselves. MoC to issue
suitable instructions.
Higher cost of imported coal to
be considered for pass through
as per modalities suggested by
CERC. MoC to issue suitable
orders supplementing the New
Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP).
MoP to issue appropriate
advisory to CERC/SERCs
including modifications if any
in the bidding guidelines to
enable the appropriate
Commissions to decide the
pass through of higher cost of
imported coal on case to case
basis.
Mechanism will be explored to
supply coal subject to its
availability to the TPPs with
4660 MW capacity and other
similar cases which are not
having any coal linkage but are
likely to be commissioned by
31 March 2015, having long
term PPAs and a high Bank
exposure and without affecting
the above decisions.
Background
A proposal had earlier been
moved for approval of CCEA for
import of coal by CIL in order to meet
the shortfall in the domestic coal
requirement of the thermal power
plants (TPPs) from time to time. In the
meeting held on 5 February 2013, the
CCEA had laid down certain
guidelines for import of coal on cost
plus basis/pooling of prices and also
directed formation of an InterMinisterial Committee (IMC) to
consider the cases of power plants
with aggregate capacity of about
16000 MW which would be
commissioned by 31 March 2015 but
are not having any linkage for supply
of coal. On the basis of the
recommendations of IMC, the matter
was further considered by CCEA in

the meeting held on 22 April 2013.
The CCEA inter-alia directed to
consider the feasibility of higher cost
of imported coal being allowed as a
pass through in case of PPAs signed
on competitive bid basis. The revised
proposals submitted by Ministry of
Coal (MoC) in pursuance of the above
directions and in consultation with
Ministry of Power and other Ministries
were considered by the CCEA.
Foreign Investment Limit
hiked by 5 Billion Dollar in
Government Securities

on 12 June 2013 enhanced the limit
Investments
in
of Foreign
Government Securities b y 5
Billion US Dollar. This decision of the
Government is an effort to increase
the overseas capital inflows and
strengthen the value of rupee. The
enhancement has raised the total limit
of investments from foreign entities
to 30 billion US dollar from previous
25 billion US dollar. The notification
released by the Union Government
mentioned that the Foreign
Institutional Investors registered to
SEBI are only eligible for investment
in the enhanced limit of 5 billion US
Dollars. The investments can be made
in categories named Sovereign
Wealth Funds, Multilateral Agencies,
Endowment Funds, Insurance
Funds, Pension Funds and Foreign
Central Banks.
Five-Fold Increase in Power
Generation in India
India witnessed a five-fold
increase in the additional power
52
generation capacity during the last

nine years as per the official data
released by the union government on
2 June 2013. It has gone up from over
3900 MW in 2004-05 to 20660 MW in
2012-13.
Over 9 lakh million units of

power was generated in 2012-13 as
against 5.8 lakh Million Units in 200405. The total installed capacity of
electricity generation was more than
two lakh 23 thousand MW as on 31
March 2013 while the demand was
one lakh 35 thousand MW. Power
sector has grown positively over the
11th plan period registering a growth
rate of nearly 4 per cent in 2012-13.
Rice Support
Price raised by 4.8 Percent
Union Government on 27 June

2013 raised the base price it will pay
farmers for common rice to 1310
rupees per 100 kilograms from 1250
rupees as compared to year 2012.
The government has set a minimum
support price (MSP) for key crops to
give farmers an incentive to produce
supplies needed for welfare
programmes that give cheap food to
half a billion poor. The MSP help
protecting the farmers from excessive
price falls. India is one of the worlds
major producers and consumers of
grains. It has built up massive stocks
of rice and wheat because of
abundant harvests encouraged by
these assured prices. The

Economy
government is already making a plan
to expand its food subsidy
programmes which will need some
extra supplies, but the country is still
able to export both wheat and rice
and sell at preferential prices to
domestic bulk buyers.
Cap for Online Repatriation of
Export Proceeds hiked
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
11 June 2013 raised the limit for
online repatriation of export
proceeds by over three-folds to
10000 US dollars. RBI also made it
mandatory to repatriate full value of
exports within 12 months for units
i n Special Economic Zones
(SEZs). The decision from RBI
came up with an aim of arresting the
rupees slide by boosting Forex
inflows. At present the rupee has
touched its life time low of 58.98
against the US dollar and in last two
days it has gone down by 3.5 percent
against dollar. Since April 2013, it has
gone down by 8 percent. At
present, banks can offer the facility
to repatriate export related
remittances via online payment
gateway for export of goods and
services up to 3000 US dollar per
transaction. In case of SEZs also
earlier there existed no time limit for
realization of exports. The new
instructions from RBI came into force
with immediate effect.
notification made it compulsory for

investment advisors to first obtain a
certificate of registration for the same.
SEBI ruled that in terms of Investment
Adviser Regulations, no person shall
act as an investment adviser unless
he has obtained a certificate of
registration from the Board or he is
specifically exempt.
In a move to curb the risks
related to advisory services, the
regulator said the investment adviser
cannot enter into transactions on its
own account contrary to the advice
given to clients for at least 15 days
from the day of such advice. SEBI
further instructed that advisors must
disclose the fee they get for advice
on a particular product, their holdings
in products on which they are
advising, the risks involved and any
conflict of interest arising out of their
association with issuers of the
financial products.
The market regulator stated that
the applicant seeking to act as an
investment adviser should make an
application to SEBI in a prescribed
format along with the necessary
supporting documents. A time
period of one year has been given
for existing investment advisers to
comply with necessary capital
adequacy requirements.
Duty Drawback Rate on Gold
Ornaments hiked
SEBI made Registration

Compulsory for Investment
Advisors
Securities and Exchange Board

of India (SEBI) on 29 May 2013 in its
Government of India on 21 June

2013 increased the duty drawback
rate of gold ornaments by 73 rupees
to 173.7 rupees per gram. The
decision to increase the drawback
rate was taken with an aim to increase
jewellery exports.
53
Duty drawback is the refund of

duties on imported inputs for export
items.
Central Board of Excise and
Customs released a notification in this
respect in New Delhi. The notification
claimed that the drawback or taxrefund rate for articles of jewellery
and parts thereof made of gold is
173.70 per gram of net gold content
(.995 or more purity) in the jewellery.
Earlier, the drawback rate on gold
jewellery was 100.70 rupees per
gram.
The drawback rate has been
increased by the government at the
time when access in imports of gold
has shown an adverse impact on the
Current Account Deficit (CAD) of
the country.
CAD is likely to be at a high level
of around 5 percent of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Earlier, to
curb the imports and manage CAD,
the Government raised the import
duty on Gold to 8 percent from
previous six percent. Apart from this,
restriction on import of gold was
sanctioned on banks by Reserve Bank
of India (RBI).
Customs
Customs (CBEC) is a part of the
Department of Revenue under the
Ministry of Finance, Government of
India. It deals with the tasks of
formulation of policy concerning levy
and collection of Customs & Central
Excise duties and Service Tax,
prevention of smuggling and
administration of matters relating to
Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax
and Narcotics to the extent under
CBECs purview. The Board is the
administrative authority for its
subordinate organizations, including
Custom Houses, Central Excise and
Service Tax Commissionerates and
the Central Revenues Control
Laboratory.

Economy
51 new low-cost
Airports to be set-up
Cost inflation index for 201314 raised

on 28 June 2013 decided to set up
51 new low-cost airports in Tier-II and
Tier-III cities of the nation. The
decision was taken with an aim to the
give a boost to civil aviation sector
and increase air connectivity to TierII and Tier-III cities.
Airport Authority of India (AAI)
will be responsible for setting-up the
airports in 51 different cities across
different states like Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar
Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Maharashtra.
The Union Government also
made a decision to grant international
airport status to the airports of Imphal
and Bhubaneswar at a cost of 20000
crore rupees.
The decisions were taken at a
meeting that was headed by the
Prime Minister to finalise infrastructure
projects for 2013-14. During the same
meet, the Union Government also
decided to award construction of
eight Greenfield Airports in 2013
under public-private-participation
(PPP) mode that includes Navi
Mumbai, Juhu in Mumbai, Goa,
Kannur, Rajguru Nagar Chakan at
Pune, Sriperumbudur, Bellary and
Raigarh. To encourage investors, the
Union Government declared an
investment target of 1.15 lakh crore
rupees under the PPP project in
different sectors of infrastructure like
civil aviation, rail, port and power in
the next six months.
The Central Board of Direct

Taxes (CBDT) in month of June
2013has specified a value for the cost
inflation index for 2013-14.
A brief insight into Cost Inflation
Index as declared by CBDT
In year 2012-13 the index was
852, and this year it is 939 which
signify that there has been a 10.2 per
cent rise in the cost inflation index
for 2013-14.
Use of Cost Inflation Index
A cost inflation index helps in
reducing the inflationary gains,
thereby reducing the long-term
capital gains tax payout for a taxpayer.
The index is useful for income-tax
assesses in the computation of tax on
long-term capital gains (for
indexation purposes). In the previous
year (2011-12), the cost inflation
index increased 8.5 per cent. As per
the income-tax law it is required by
the CBDT to state the cost inflation
index for a financial year after
factoring out 75 per cent of average
rise in consumer price index for urban
non-manual employees for the
immediately preceding financial year.
The model of indexation has been
conserved even under the proposed
direct taxes code, which may come
into force from 1 April 2014.
Indian Money in Swiss Banks
Dropped to Record Low
The official figures by the Swiss
National Bank (SNB) in Zurich on 20
June 2013 unveiled that the Indian
money found in Swiss banks dropped
54
down to record lowest level at 9000

crore Rupees or 1.42 billion Swiss
francs. The official data released by
the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is a
part of annual report of Swiss Banks
released by SNB.
The overall funds held by Indian

entities as well as individuals
included 1.34 billion Swiss francs
being held by entities and individuals
directly while another 77 million
Swiss francs held through wealth
managers or fiduciaries at 2012 end.
The data indicated that Indians
money in Swiss banks dipped down
around 35 percent or 4900 crore
Rupees in 2012. Fiduciaries are the
wealth fund managers that hold
wealth of Indian private families or
holders in numbered accounts. It is
also important to note that this was
steeper than the 9.1 percent dip in
funds held by entities from all over
the world in Swiss Banks. The overall
funds held by the entities from across
the world also hit all-time low of 1.4
trillion Swiss francs at 2012 end. In
the beginning of 2012, the overall
funds of Indians in Swiss banks was
almost 14000 crore Rupees or 2.18
billion Swiss francs. In the meanwhile,
the funds from across the world in
Swiss Banks in the beginning of 2012
were 1.5 trillion Swiss francs or 1.65
trillion US dollar.
These funds from India in the
Swiss banks are described by the
SNB as liabilities of the banks towards
Indian clients. It is also important to
note that these figures are the official
ones released from Swiss authorities
and they are not the indicator of the
black money of Indians held in Swiss
banks.

Economy
The funds held by the Indians
in Swiss banks at the end of 2006 was
at a record height of 6.5 billion Swiss
francs or more than 41000 crore
Rupees, but it declined by more than
5 billion Swiss francs or 32000 crore
Rupees since then. For the clients
from all over the world, the total funds
in the Swiss banks was at record
height of 2.6 trillion US dollar by the
end of 2007 but since then it has
dipped down by more than one
trillion dollars. According to the SNB
data, the funds of Indians held
directly in the Swiss banks decreased
steeply by around 700 million Swiss
francs in 2012 to 1.34 billion Swiss
francs in 2012. In the meanwhile, the
funds held by Indians through
fiduciaries halved to 77.4 million
Swiss francs in the year 2011, which
marked the sixth year of decline in a
row. The direct liabilities of Swiss
banks towards the Indian clients
include funds which are held in the
deposit accounts as well as savings
accounts by the Indian corporate
houses, financial institutions as well
as individuals.
About Neyveli Lignite

Corporation (NLC)
Neyveli Lignite Corporation
(NLC) is the Central Public
Sector Enterprise.
It has Navratna status under the
administrative control of the
Ministry of Coal.
It was incorporated in the year
1956 under the Companies Act,
1956.
The objective of the company
is meeting the electricity
demand of the southern states
of India by excavating lignite
for generation of power.
At present, NLC has the lignite
mines and power stations in
Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
specially minted gold coins sold by

banks, state/central co-operative
banks should ensure that the weight
of the coin(s) does not exceed 50
grams per customer. RBI has also
asserted that the amount of loan to
any customer against gold ornaments,
gold jewellery and gold coins
(weighing up to 50 grams) should be
within the board approved limit. An
advisory has also come up from the
Central Bank in regard to selling of
gold coins. High rise in gold imports
has become a cause for concern for
both the government as well as the
RBI as it is putting pressure on the
current account deficit, which is likely
to be around 5 per cent of the GDP
in 2012-13. If we see the statistics of
gold imports there is surely significant
spurts in first two months of current
fiscal 2013-14, to present an
appropriate figure the average
imports stood at 152 tonnes in April
and May 2013. The monthly average
import in 2012-13 was 70 tonnes. The
increase in gold import is accredited
to the bend in its prices in the
international market.
Disinvestment of 5 Percent
Paid Up Equity in NLC
Approved
Restrictions on Co-Operative
banks for Loans against Gold
coins
Commodities Transaction Tax

Applicable on Non-Farm
Products

Economic Affairs on 21 June 2013
approved disinvestment of 5 percent
equity of Neyveli Lignite Corporation
(NLC). This 5 percent equity was
approved out of its holding of 93.56
percent through an Offer for Sale
(OFS) in the domestic market
according to Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) rules
and regulations. NLC is authorised
the capital of 2000 crore Rupees, out
of which the subscribed as well as
issued equity capital was 1677.71
crore Rupees as on 31 March 2013.
This comprised of 167.771 crore
equity shares of face value of 10
Rupees
each.
After
this
disinvestment, the holding of the
Reserve Bank of India on 7 June

2013 extended the restriction on
advance against gold on cooperative banks set to curb the
demand for gold. The decision taken
by RBI was in the backdrop of
Government raising the import duty
on gold to 8 per cent from 6 per
cent. As per the RBI, while granting
advance against the security of
Central Board of Direct Taxes

(CBDT) on 19 June 2013 announced
that the Commodities Transaction Tax
(CTT) shall be levied on the derivative
contracts of non-agricultural
commodities which are transacted via
recognised commodity bourses. This
rule shall apply with effect from 1 July
2013. It is also important to note that
23
specified
agricultural
commodities are exempted from this
Government of India in NLC would

drop down to 88.56 percent.
55

Economy
tax. All the processed agricultural
items such as guar gum, soya oil and
sugar are subject to the CTT on future
contracts. CTT will not be applicable
to the agri-commodities but it will
apply to energy complex as well as
metals which are traded in the futures
exchanges. Levying CTT at the rate
of 0.01 percent on the contract price
will have an impact on the commodity
bourses. This will happen because
the higher cost of transaction would
grip the margins of the traders. In
the meanwhile, the commodity
markets have factored in CTT already,
which means that the turnover would
not be affected in a huge way. The
agricultural commodities which are
exempted from CTT include wheat,
turmeric, soya bean, red chilli,
mustard seed, potato, pepper,
cotton, cotton seed, coriander,
copra, channa, castor seed,
cardamom, barley and almond. It is
worth noticing that CTT was
proposed for the first time in the
2008-2009 Union Budget. It was not
implemented
because
of
widespread opposition.
Pipavav Port Regained Top
Position in Seafood Exports
Pipavav port, the first private
sector port of India located in
Saurashtra, Gujarat, remained at the
top most position for second year in
a row in FY13 on the basis of quantity.
The Pipavav port registered a jump
of 6 percent in comparison to 201213 financial year. The reason why
Pipavav port remained a forerunner
in terms of quantity was because it
handled lot of pre-processed fish.
The export figures by the Marine
Products Export Development
Authority revealed that Pipavav port
handled 233738 tonnes of marine
exports in 2013-14 in comparison to
219801 tonnes in 2012-13 fiscal year.
In terms of value, nevertheless, Kochi
as well as Vizag ports shared almost
equal share of earning, i.e., 3344.97
crore and Rs 3265.64 crore

respectively in 2013-14 financial
year. Vizag registered 26.12 percent
jump in terms of value, while Kochi
registered 14.22 percent. Pipavav, on
the other hand, registered 3 percent
increase from 2710.34 crore to
2808.25 crore Rupees.
South-east Asia was the largest
buyer of marine products. This was
followed by EU, US, Japan, China and
Middle East.
About the Pipavav port
Pipavav port is the first private
sector port of India on West
Coast.
The lead promoter of this port
is APM Terminals, which is
among the largest container
terminal operators in the world.
This port is meant for the liquid
cargo, bulk cargo as well as
containers.
The services offered by this
port include logistics support,
cargo handling as well as
pilotage and towage. The port
handles bulk, container as well
as liquid cargo.
Pipavav port is situated in
Saurashtra, Gujarat, at a
distance of 90 km South of
Amreli.
In the year 1998, the
concession was given to
Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited by
Gujarat Maritime Board. Then in
the year 2000, this port went
into the Joint Venture with
Indian Railways in order to
initiate Pipavav Rail Corporation
Limited. The commercial
operations of the port kicked
off in the year 2002.
The Pipavav port is situated
along the major trade routes
and is also in proximity with
major Indian Port of Nhava
Sheva.
The Pipavav port is the captive
reefer port.
56
Indian Bank Association to set

up Oversight Mechanism
The Finance ministry on 6 June

2013 has asked the Indian Banks
Association to set up an independent
body to manage the corporate debt
restructuring (CDR) mechanism to
restrict the use of loan restructuring
mechanism only to deserving cases.
The decision was taken in light of
increasing number of debt
restructurings over the past two years.
The effect was that, the banks and
their clients are taking undue
advantage of the CDR mechanism,
giving in the issue of non-performing
assets (NPA) formation. Now, the
banks should have the committee
which will consist of an expert from
the legal field, investigative agencies
and finance professional, and the task
will be to make sure that there will
not be any scope for allegations. The
government will set up an
independent oversight mechanism
which will not have any government
representative or serving banker but
is supposed to have some experts
who inspect from the accuracy point
of view whether the case brought up
is genuine. The oversight mechanism
committee will act as only an advisory
body, will help the bank vet a
particular case going to the
committee which will not be
mandatory for a bank. It is important
to note that Under Corporate debt
Restructuring CDR, there were 106
cases of restructured loans, of 76470
crore rupees in 2012-13, a rise from
50 cases (exposure of 39600 crore
Rupees) in 2011-12. Also, apart from
the CDR platform, lenders had also

Economy
gone for significant recast at the
bilateral level during the period. As
per finance ministry estimate, if all
restructured loans are classified as
NPA, the gross level of these for
public sector banks (PSBs) would
shoot up to 11.6 per cent of gross
advances, from 4.2 per cent at the
end of December 2013. The estimate
suggests reorganized standard
advances formed 7.4 per cent of all
advances for PSBs.
Repo Rate
Unchanged at 7.25 Percent
The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI), in its June mid-quarter
monetary policy on 17 June 2013, left
its key policy, repo rate unchanged
at 7.25 percent in line. Cash reserve
ratio (CRR), remained at 4 percent.
Repo is the rate at which banks
borrow from the Central bank. CRR is
the portion of deposits that banks are
mandated to keep with RBI.
Consequently, the reverse repo rate
will remain unchanged at 6.25 per
cent, and the marginal standing
facility (MSF), rate and the Bank Rate
at 8.25 per cent.
RBI kept the interest rate stable
possibly because despite the fact
that the inflation rate has been
coming down and manufacturing
growth has not been much to speak
of, it realised that the interest rate
difference between Indian markets
and Western market has actually
shrunk, which is why the Foreign
Institutional Investors, who are
playing in our debt market have
pulled off about three billion dollars.
They would not like to aggravate the
situation by reducing interest rate at
this point of time and encouraging

FII to pull out more from the debt
market.
National Mission on Food
Processing to be continued

Economic Affairs on 28 June 2013
approved the continuation of the
National Mission on Food Processing
(NMFP) for the remainder of 12th Five
Year Plan (2013-17) based on
detailed proposals submitted by the
Ministry of Food Processing
Industries (MOFPI). The NMFP outlay
for 2012-17 has been kept at 1600
crore rupees consisting of 1250 crore
rupees provided by the Government
of India (GOI) and corresponding
State share of 350 crore rupees. This
includes 320 crore rupees already
approved for 2012-13, of which 250
crore rupees was the GOI share and
70 crore rupees was the State share.
The following schemes under
the NMFP will be implemented by
State Governments for the remainder
of 12th Five Year Plan in pursuance
of todays approval:
Scheme for technology upgradation / establishment /
modernisation of food
processing industries.
Scheme for cold chain, value
addition and preservation
infrastructure for nonhorticulture products.
Setting up/ modernization/
expansion of abattoirs.
Scheme for Human Resource
Development (HRD).
Scheme for promotional
activities.
Creating primary processing
57
centres / collection centres in

rural areas.
Modernization of meat shops.
Reefer vehicles.
Old Food Parks.
Continuation of NMFP shall help
in the decentralization of the
implementation of the Ministrys
schemes, which will lead to
substantial participation of State
Governments / Union Territories
(UTs). Beneficiaries of MOFPI
schemes will also find it easier to deal
with State Governments.
The continuation of NMFP will
also help States / UTs in maintaining
requisite synergy between
agriculture plans of States and the
development of the food processing
sector. This in turn would help in the
increase in farm productivity, thereby
leading to an increase in farmers
incomes. It would also help in
ensuring an efficient supply chain by
bridging infrastructural / institutional
gaps.
A National Food Processing
Development Council (NFPDC) has
been provided for under the
chairmanship of the Minister for
Agriculture and Food Processing
Industries. The NFPDC will have
representatives
of
State
Governments, industry associations
and related GOI departments. The
council will provide guidance to
MOFPI relating to the food processing
sector, including the NMFP.
The Import Duty on Gold and
Platinum hiked
The government hiked the
import duty on Gold and Platinum
from 6 to 8 per cent on 5 June
2013.The hike is aimed at curbing
import of gold, which is mainly
responsible for the rise in Current
Account Deficit (CAD) impacting on
the countrys foreign exchange
reserves as well as the rupee value.
This is the second hike in the duty in
six months as gold imports touched

Economy
an alarming 162 tonnes in May 2013.
The imports touched a staggering
figure of 15 billion US dollars in the
last two months. The CAD, which is a
difference between inflow and
outflow of foreign currency, touched
a historic high of 6.7 per cent of GDP
in the quarter ending December
2012.
International Pepper
Conclave 2013
Three kinds of International
Pepper Community (IPC) Common
Sales Contracts were launched by
International Pepper Conclave 2013
in order to standardise the contract
terms for export of pepper from
various origins. The International
Pepper Conclave 2013 was organised
with the assistance of Jakarta-based
International Pepper Community
(IPC), which is an inter-governmental
organisation. All these contracts were
earlier approved by member
countries of International Pepper
Community in 2013. IPC explained
that the buyers as well as sellers
would adopt the terms of these
contracts in some time and trading
on these terms would also
begin. The prices of pepper, at
present are a little more than 6 US
dollar per kg or 6000 US dollar per
tonne. There has been area
expansion because of higher prices
since the year 2010. Also, it has led
to better yields through better
agronomy and new origins. This
would eventually lead to an increase
in the production. It is important to
note that the Emirate has become the
hub for commodity trade because
free trade policies exist there.
SEBI notified Norms for
Listing of Preference Shares
Market regulator Sebi in Month
of June 2013 notified a new set of
regulations to regulate issuing and
listing
of
non-convertible
preference. The listing of
preference shares is basically meant

to bring more transparency in raising
of funds through such securities. The
listing of privately placed nonconvertible redeemable preference
shares would require a minimum
application size of 10 lakh Rupees for
each investor which will safeguard
the interest of small investors from
high risk securities. The definite
structure for issuance and listing of
such shares is supposed to make it
easier for banks and infrastructure
companies to gain funds through this
route. There is also a requirement of
minimum three year term for the
instruments of share besides public
issuance of it and also a rating of AAor equivalent investment grade. The
new regulations is applicable to
issuing by banks of non-equity
instruments such as Perpetual NonCumulative Preference Shares and
Innovative Perpetual Debt
Instruments, which are in according
with the specified criteria for
inclusion in Additional Tier I Capital.
What is Preference Shares?
Preference share is an equity
security which has the properties of
both equity and a debt instrument.
Preference share usually carries no
voting rights but sometimes it may
carry a dividend.
There
would
be
a
comprehensive regulatory framework
as per the new norm for the public
issuance of non-convertible
redeemable shares also for listing of
privately placed redeemable
preference shares. It is important
here to note that in the last three years,
Indian companies have raised over
25000 crore rupees through
preference share issuance.
Revival of Nagaland Pulp and
Paper Company Limited
approved
2013 approved the revival of the
58
Nagaland Pulp and Paper Company

Limited (NPPC) with the infusion of
funds of 309.38 crore, Rupees.
The Committee also approved

the regularization of inter se diversion
of fund of 54.60 crore, rupees and
had increased the authorized capital
of NPPC from150 crore rupees to 250
crore Rupees. To avail term loan
from commercial banks against
government guarantee a sum of
around 156.50 crore was also
approved by the committee.
About Revival Plan
The revival plan includes
rebuilding/re-furbishment of paper
machine, pulping mill, new power
plant etc.
The company is supposed to
produce both pulp and paper
in the first phase but after with
the implementation of the
revival plan, the net value of the
company will become positive
and it will start posting profit
from the first year after
implementation.
The company will start making
profit on continuous basis and
its reliance on Government of
India for financial assistance for
disbursement of salary and
wages and statutory dues to
employees shall come to an
end, it will come out of the
purview of the Board of
Industrial and Financial
Restructuring (BIFR).
India 3 rd Most Attractive
Destination for Investment
A survey conducted by United
Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) revealed

Economy
on 26 June 2013 that India was the
third most attractive destination for
investment in the world. The survey
by UNCTAD included transnational
corporations (TNCs) as the
respondents. India was ranked at the
third position after china and the
United States. The survey was based
on the responses given by 159 top
global companies of the world. The
World Investment Report 2013 by
the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
revealed that the ranking of top five
host economies of the world
remained unaltered since 2012. China
was still leading the list of top most
destinations for investment with 46
percent respondents agreeing on it.
This was followed by US, which got
45 percent agreeing votes. Among
other top five investment destinations
as responded by TNCs, were
Indonesia and Brazil. An interesting
fact about the survey was that, among
top five most attractive destinations
for investment in the world, four were
the developing countries. Apart from
this, six out of top 10 prospective
host countries were also from the
developing world. Thailand and
Mexico appeared in this list for the
very first time. As far as the
developed
countries
were
concerned, Japan climbed up three
positions
because
of
its
reconstruction efforts after 2011
tsunami as well as expansionary
monetary policies, which led to
increased attractiveness of the
country for foreign investment in the
medium term. In the meanwhile,
Australia, Russia and United Kingdom
came down the rankings in
comparison to 2012 survey, while
Germany gained two positions.
The Real
Estate Bill 2013 Approved
4 June 2013 approved the Real
Estate
(Regulation
and
Development) Bill 2013 to set up a
regulator for the real estate sector in

the country. This was done with the
objective of protecting home buyers
from dishonest builders. The bill seeks
to make it mandatory for developers
to launch projects only after
acquiring all the statutory clearances
from relevant authorities.
It also has provisions under

which all relevant clearances for real
estate projects would have to be
submitted to the regulator and also
displayed on a website before
starting construction work. A real
estate regulator will be set up in every
state. It will ensure that private
developers get all their projects
registered with it before sale and only
after obtaining all necessary
clearances. The commercial real
estate is not covered under the
purview of the proposed bill.
However, it will apply to residential
buildings. The bill has a provision for
mandatory public disclosure of all
project details such as lay out plan,
land status and credentials of
promoters etc. An adjudicating
officer in the state will be appointed
by the authority for fast tracking
settlement of disputes. There will be
Real Estate Appellate Tribunal as per
the bill. It will hear appeals from
orders, decisions or directions of
regulator and adjudicating officer.
Mineral Production during
April 2013
The index of mineral
production of mining and quarrying
sector in April 2013 was lower by 16.9
percent compared to March 2013 as
per the data released by ministry of
59
mines. The mineral sector has shown

a negative growth of 3.1 percent
during April 2013 as compared to that
of the April 2012. The total value of
mineral production (excluding
atomic & minor minerals) in India
during April 2013 was 17772 crore
rupees. The contribution of coal was
the highest at 5673 crore rupees (32
percent). Next in the order of
importance were: petroleum (crude)
5671 crore rupees, iron ore 2712
crore rupees, natural gas (utilized)
1883 crore rupees, lignite 490 crore
rupees and limestone 382 crore
rupees.
These six minerals together

contributed about 95 percent of the
total value of mineral production in
April 2013. Production level of
important minerals in April 2013
were: coal 435 lakh tonnes, lignite 39
lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilized)
2942 million cu. m., petroleum
(crude) 31 lakh tonnes, bauxite 2035
thousand tonnes, chromite 242
thousand tonnes, copper conc. 10
thousand tonnes, gold 120 kg., iron
ore 119 lakh tonnes, lead conc. 16
thousand tonnes, manganese ore 194
thousand tonnes, zinc conc. 124
thousand tonnes, apatite &
phosphorite 198 thousand tonnes,
dolomite 520 thousand tonnes,
limestone 242 lakh tonnes, magnesite
16 thousand tonnes and diamond
2928 carat. In April 2013, the output
of apatite & phosphorite increased
by 33.6 percent, bauxite 14.7
percent and iron ore 1.3 percent.
However the production of
petroleum (crude) decreased by 3.7
percent, natural gas (utilized) 5.5
percent, limestone 5.9 percent, lead

Economy
conc. 8.9 percent, gold 11.1 percent,
dolomite 15.0 percent, manganese
ore 18.1 percent, copper conc. 18.6
percent, magnesite 20.3 percent,
zinc conc. 23.0 percent, lignite 27.9
percent, chromite 30.3 percent, coal
33.0 percent and diamond 33.6
percent.
Indias Foodgrain Production
registered 30 % Growth
Indias foodgrain production
registered an impressive growth of
over 30 percent in the last nine years.
It went up to 259 million tonnes in
2012-13 from 198.36 million tonnes

in 2004-05. This is result of
government initiatives like National
Food Security Mission, NFSM, and
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.
While NFSM is an area and crop

specific scheme, RKVY is a highly
flexible mega scheme to incentivise

states for investment in agriculture.
The flow of agricultural credit was
raised from 86981 crore rupees in
2003-04 to 5.75 lakh crore in
2012-13.
The Minimum Support Price of
major crops also increased by more
than hundred per cent during the
period. India has now become food
surplus and exports of agriculture and
allied products have increased from
29.8 billion Dollars in 2011-12 to
33.54 billion Dollars in 2012-13.
KALINJAR PUBLICATIONS
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
(Mains) Topic Wise
Question Analysis
Buy online at: http://www.upscportal.com/civilservices/books
60

Science & Technology

Neuron Growth cuts
Memory Space
of new neuron generation impacted

on memory storage. They carried out
their research on younger and older
mice in the lab.
For better Health,
Walk or Cycle
Canadian scientists discovered

that the reason we struggle to recall
memories from our early childhood is
due to high levels of neuron
production during the first years of
life. The formation of new brain cells
increases the capacity for learning
but also clears the mind of old
memories. The findings were
presented to the Canadian
Association of Neuroscience.
Neurogenesis or the formation of new
neurons in the hippocampus, a region
of the brain known to be important
for learning and remembering,
reaches its peak before and after
birth. It then declines steadily during
childhood and adulthood. Scientists
wanted to find out how the process
For the sake of their health,

Indians would do well to leave their
cars, scooters and motorbikes behind
and walk or bicycle instead,
according to research just published
in the journal PLOS Medicine . That
also means that more investments
ought to go into making such physical
activity safe and convenient. In India,
economic prosperity has led to a
boom in motor vehicles, which has
gone hand in hand with less physical
activity and greater consumption of
energy-dense food. The number of
people who are overweight and
61
obese is projected to increase rapidly

in the next two decades. This country
already has more individuals with
diabetes than any other nation and
their number is set to expand. Deaths
from heart disease are also expected
to shoot up. Active travel walking,
cycling or use of public transport
is one of the measures that the World
Health Organisation recommends to
address the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases. To examine
the health benefits from such active
travel in the Indian context,
researchers from Imperial College,
London in the U.K. and the Public
Health Foundation of India
scrutinised close to 4,000 participants
in the Indian Migration Study. About
2,500 of those surveyed were urban
dwellers while the others lived in rural
areas.
More than 60 per cent of the
villagers travelled to work on bicycles
while private vehicles were the
commonest mode of transport among
their urban counterparts. The study
found that those who walked or
bicycled to work were less likely to
be overweight than those who relied


on private vehicles. Those using
bicycles also had a lower likelihood
of diabetes or high blood pressure.
People need to take physical activity
seriously, remarked Sutapa Agrawal
of the Public Health Foundation of
India. The study had also shown that
migrants from villages quickly
adopted an urban lifestyle and had
associated health problems.
New Prospective Biomaterial
for Bone Formation
Scientists at Jadavpur University

in the month of June 2013 discovered
that zinc-doped hydroxyapatite
(HAP) which is a calcium phosphatebased bioceramic material has a
stimulatory effect on bone
formation. Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is
actually one of calcium phosphatebased bioceramic materials which
form most of the inorganic
components of human bones and
teeth. It was also found that the
bonding with bone was better for
zinc-doped bicalcium phosphate
than conventional ceramics. The
benefit of Zinc is that it act to improve
biological properties of synthetic HAP
thus decreasing the inflammatory
response and has an antibacterial
effect. The scientists while
synthesizing zinc doped Hap
powder at Jadavpur Universityhave
also observed that it exhibits high
compressive strength and hardness
than the conventional HAP. The
scientists have witnessed the
pronounced new bone formation in
doped HAP with the implantation on
the tibia of an adult New Zealand
rabbit for two months. The formation
of osteons around zinc-doped HAP
was also confirmed by the

Histopathology. The scientists at
Jadavpur University are also
developing materials (composition of
HAP and beta Tricalcium phosphate)
doped with zinc which can be used
for bone grafting.
How can children of Rh
positive parents be Rh
negative?
Rh typing is one among the 30

different blood grouping system
currently in use. In this grouping
human beings are differentiated as
Rh positive and Rh negative based
on the presence or absence of an
antigen (a type of protein). Here Rh
refers to the fact that it was first found
in Rhesus monkeys. This type of
blood grouping was discovered by
Karl Landsteiner and Alexander
Wiener after 40 years of discovery of
ABO blood grouping. Rh typing is
genetically most complex blood
typing system than others. Like other
traits, Rh factors are under the control
of genes and it follows a common
pattern of genetic inheritance.
Offspring receive a copy of gene from
their parents, so that they are having
a pair of genes for Rh factors. Since
Rh positive (Rh+) gene is dominant
over Rh negative (Rh-), a single Rh
positive gene (i.e. Rh+Rh-) is enough
to express its trait. In the case of Rh
negative which is recessive, to
express the character both genes
must be negative (Rh-Rh-). The
62
genotype of Rh positive person may

be have Rh+Rh+ (homozygous) or
Rh+Rh- (heterozygous) genotype
and it is Rh-Rh- (Homozygous) in
negative persons. Homozygous Rh
positive (Rh+Rh+) parents produce
only one type of gametes with Rh+
gene. Likewise Rh negative parents
(Rh-Rh-) produce games with only
Rh- genotype. Union of these
gametes Rh+ and Rh- produces an
offspring with Rh+Rh- genotype
which is positive. But Rh positive
heterozygous parent (Rh+Rh-)
produces two different types of
gametes i.e. Rh+ and Rh-. Fusion of
these gametes (Rh+ or Rh-) with Rhnegative parent genotype gives two
possible combinations: Rh+Rh- (Rh
positive) and Rh-Rh- (Rh negative).
While both parents are heterozygous
(Rh+Rh-) they produce Rh+ and Rhgametes. The union of Rh- gamete
from father and Rh- gamete from
mother results in Rh negative child.
The other possible combination are
homozygous and heterozygous Rh
positive children.
Cambodian Tailorbird
Scientist in month of June 2013

discovered a complete new species
of bird hiding in plain sight in
Cambodias capital Phnom Penh. The
bird has been named the Cambodian
tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk)
and was first spotted in 2009 during
routine checks for avian flu. The
detailed outline of the discovery has
been mentioned in the Oriental Bird
Club journal, Forktail. Tailorbirds are
in the family of warbler and got their
name of their careful preparation of
their nests, weaving leaves together.


It is extremely unusual for
undiscovered bird species to be
found in urban contexts. The modern
discovery of an un-described bird
species within the limits of a large
populous city is veru much
uncommon. The discovery indicates
that new species of birds may still be
found in familiar and unexpected
locations.
NASAs Observatory
discovered Exotic Neutron
Stars
Scientists from the NASA

Obsevatory in the month of May 2013
have found that magnetars the
dense remains of dead stars that
erupt periodically with bursts of highenergy radiation may be more
diverse and common than earlier
considered. It is found that when a
massive star runs out of fuel, its core
collapses to form a neutron star,
which is an ultra-dense object about
16 to 24 kilometres wide. The
gravitational energy released in this
process blows the outer layers away
in a supernova explosion and leaves
the neutron star behind. Most
magnetars have extremely high
magnetic fields on their surface that
are ten to a thousand times stronger
than for the average neutron star. As
per the observations it was show that
the magnetar known as SGR
0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short)
does not fit that pattern. It has a
surface magnetic field similar to that
of mainstream neutron stars. The
researchers monitored SGR 0418 for
over three years using Chandra, ESAs
XMM-Newton as well as NASAs Swift
and RXTE satellites. They were able
to make an accurate estimate of the

strength of the external magnetic
field by measuring how its rotation
speed changes during an X-ray
outburst. These outbursts are likely
caused by fractures in the crust of
the neutron star precipitated by the
buildup of stress in a relatively strong,
wound-up magnetic field lurking just
beneath the surface.
What are Neutron Stars?
A neutron star is a very small and
dense star made up of almost
completely of neutrons. It is a very
large nucleus held together by
gravity. It has a radius of about 10
kilometres (6 mi) and a mass from
about 1.4 to 5 times the mass of the
Sun. They are usually what is left of
very big stars that have exploded
(these are called supernovas). Some
are what happen to white dwarfs
(small stars) that have got a lot of
extra mass.Neutron stars usually turn
very fast, taking from 0.001 second
up to 30 seconds to turn. Most
neutron stars are spinning rapidly
a few times a second but a small
fraction have a relatively low spin rate
of once every few seconds, while
generating occasional large blasts of
X-rays.
Worlds first ultra-high
resolution 3D model of a
HUMAN BRAIN
Scientists in the Month of June

2013 have created the worlds first
high-definition 3D model of a
complete human brain which is
named by Big Brain. The 3D
model of a HUMAN BRAIN was
prepared by mounting thin sliced
63
sections of the whole-brain on slides.

The stained sections were then
scanned and reconstituted by
supercomputers into a 3D model of
an entire brain. The Scientist used a
tool called a microtome by which
they have sliced the postmoterm
brain of a 65 year old woman
preserved in paraffin wax into about
7400 sections each 20 microns thick
and used it to create the most
detailed map yet of a human brain. It
has taken several years for
supercomputers in Germany and
Canada to reconstruct images of the
slide-mounted thin sections into a 3D
volume image of the brain, taking into
account tears and wrinkles in
individual slices of thin and thus
fragile tissue. During the formation of
Brain around 80 billions neurons were
captured. It is conceived that
Scientists from Canada and Germany
spent 1000 years collecting the data
and the total brain reconstruction has
taken 10 years to complete.
Some Facts About Big Brain
The BigBrain is 250000 times
more detailed than a regular
brain scan.
The Big Brain was created using
7400 individual slices from the
brain of a deceased 65-year-old
woman.
Each individual slice is half the
width of a human hair.
The brain can be seen in
microscopic detail at a spatial
resolution of 20 microns.
The Brain shows the anatomy
of a brain in microscopic detail
for the first time ever - at a
spatial resolution of 20 microns
which is smaller than the size
of one fine strand of hair and
250000 times more detailed
than current MRI brain scans.
The Big Brain presents the
analytic details of organization
of cerebral neurons at an
unprecedented resolution of
20 micrometers, about 50 times


higher than the resolution of
previous atlases of the brain
constructed from whole brain
scans.
Bunostegos Discovered
The cow-sized specimen

named Bunostegos, which means
knobby roof roamed isolated desert
about 260 million years ago. New
fossils from northern Niger in Africa
were described in the Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology. Bunostegos
means knobby roof. The distinctive
creature belongs to a new genus of
pareiasaur - plant-eating creatures
that existed during the Permian
period. During Permian times, a single
supercontinent called Pangaea
dominated the Earth. Animal and
plant life was distributed across the
land. There was an isolated desert in
the middle of Pangaea with
distinctive animals according to a
new research. Most pareiasaurs had
bony knobs on their skulls, but
Bunostegos had the largest.
Platelets help
Kill bacteria, too
The clotting of blood, crucial to
wound healing, is carried out by cell
fragments called platelets. This is the
most established function of
platelets, but studies in recent years
have begun to hint that platelets may
have other important roles in our
immune system like fighting
infection. Now, scientists from the
University of Calgary, Canada, seem
to have observed proof of this in a
study published this week in Nature
Immunology . Paul Kubes and his
team have identified a new
surveillance mechanism in the liver

of mice involving platelets. They
noticed that platelets, while sailing
across the blood stream in the liver of
mice, were making frequent shortlived touch-and-go interactions
with specialized immune cells called
Kupffer cells. Kupffer cells are
located in the liver and protect us
from infection by capturing and
eventually killing bacteria that pass
by. It seemed that this touch-and-go
mechanism was how platelets were
scanning for captured bacteria. It is
like a security guard going from door
to door making sure there are no
thieves. If there are none the
security guard leaves, explained
Kubes via email to this
correspondent.
But
when
platelets
encountered a Kupffer cell bound to
bacteria, the platelet-Kupffer cell
interaction lasted much longer. The
scientists found out that two receptor
proteins on the surface of platelets
GpIb, and the GpIIb-GpIIIa
complex have an affinity towards a
protein (von Willebrand factor
(vWF)) found on the surface of
Kupffer cells.
The GpIb receptor binds to the
vWF long enough to scan for any
captured bacteria. If they find
nothing, the platelet detaches and
continues along the bloodstream in a
touch-and-go interaction. However,
when platelets encountered a
Kupffer cell with captured bacteria
( Bacillus cereus , or MRSA) the
second receptor binds to the Kupffer
cell resulting in a more sustained
interaction eventually leading up to
the killing of the bacteria. How
exactly this binding is helping fight
infection is still being examined. But
it is clear that this platelet-mediated
surveillance mechanism is crucial to
the mice because most (80-100 per
cent) mutant mice lacking platelets
or GpIb receptors died within four
hours of infection, whereas more than
64
90 per cent of wild-type mice

survived.
In humans
Though this study was
performed in mice, Kube says there
is good evidence that human
platelets can kill malaria infected red
blood cells and in sepsis platelets
appear to also be involved so they
likely do play a role in immunity.
These findings raise several important
questions regarding the efficiency of
drugs like aspirin, which are known
platelet inhibitors. It is unlikely that
aspirin will necessarily make you more
susceptible to bacteria but if it allows
bacteria to survive longer in blood it
could help bacteria become more
resistant, said Kubes. There may be
a need to reconsider aspirin use in
immune suppressed patients.
The Fastest
Computer of the World
A survey conducted by Top

500, revealed on 17 June 2013 that
the Chinese supercomputer is the
fastest computer of the world. This
Chinese supercomputer is called
Tianhe-2 and it replaced US machine
called Titan, which was earlier said
to be the fastest computer of the
world.
About the fastest computer of the
world, Tianhe-2
Tianhe-2 means Milky Way-2.
Tianhe-2 is a supercomputer
developed by Chinas National


University
of
Defense
Technology.
It achieved the processing
speeds of 33.86 petaflops
(1000 trillion calculations) per
second on a benchmarking test
conducted by Top 500 survey
of supercomputers. It
surpassed the rival, Titan (the
US computer) which achieved
the processing speed of 17.59
petaflops per second.
In November 2010, Tianhe-2s
predecessor- Tianhe-1 was said
to be the fastest computer of
the world.
Almost all the parts of Tianhe-2
are developed in China, apart
from the main processors which
are designed by Intel, the US
firm.
The primary features of Tianhe2 are also developed in China
and these include the
Operating
System,
interconnect, software as well
as the front-end processors.
The cost of this supercomputer
is 100 million US dollar.
The peak performance speed
of this computer, according to
National University of Defence
Technology, is 54.9 quadrillion
operations per second.
It encompasses 16000 nodes,
each with three Xeon Phi
processors and two Intel Xeon
Ivy Bridge processors, which
gives it a combined total of
3120000 computing cores.
However, it is important to note
that US is still leading in overall
supercomputer rankings. 252
systems of US make it to the list of top
500 supercomputers of the world.
The overall number of European
machines is 112, while that of Asian
machines is 119. The Top 500 list is
produced two times in a year. The
supercomputers in this list are rated
on the basis of their speed of
performance in a benchmark test
which is conducted by experts from

US as well as Germany.
UNESCO declared Nicobar
Islands as World Biosphere
Reserve
The
United
Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) in the Month
of May 2013 had declared Indias
Nicobar Islands as a world biosphere
reserve under its Man and the
Biosphere Programme. Such reserves
are established by Member
countries. The UNESCO basically
recognizes them under the
programme to promote sustainable
development based on local
community efforts and sound
science. The World Biosphere
Reserves are considered as sites of
excellence, where new and optimal
practices to manage nature and
human activities are tested and
demonstrated.
About Nicobar Island
The Nicobar Islands are an
archipelagic island chain
located in the eastern Indian
Ocean.
The island chain is home to
1800 animal species and some
of the worlds most
endangered tribes.
It is among 12 new sites added
to the global network of
biosphere reserves in Paris.
The Nicobar Islands are
recognized as a distinct
terrestrial ecoregion, the
Nicobar Islands rain forests,
with many endemic species.
The Nicobar Islands are part of
65
a great island arc created by

the collision of the IndoAustralian Plate with Eurasia.
About World Biosphere Reserve
Biosphere reserves are sites
established by countries and
recognized under UNESCOs Man
and the Biosphere (MAB)
Programme to promote sustainable
development based on local
community efforts and sound
science. It is a tool tools to help
countries implement the results of
the World Summit on Sustainable
Development and, in particular, the
Convention on Biological Diversity
and its Ecosystem Approach.
Such reserves are located in
117 countries and nine of them
are now located in India.
Other sites added to the list
include Pakistans Ziarat
Juniper forest and Chinas
Snake Island.
There are currently 621
biosphere reserves including
12 transboundary sites.
Mimicking
Microbes to Deliver Drugs
Scientists from Chennai have
provided the scheme for building
tiny objects that can propel
themselves in fluids, like the
bloodstream, to deliver drugs. The
scheme is supported by simulations
of how such engines would work.
Their work was recently published
i n Nature Scientific Reports .
Professors P.B. Sunil Kumar of Physics
Department, IIT Madras and Ronojoy
Adhikari of Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, Chennai, senior authors of
the paper, wanted to design a microoar which would beat on its own
and so propel anything that it was
attached to. They wanted their oar to
mimic the motion of cilia and flagella,
the beating parts which propel
bacteria in a fluid. While sperms and
some bacteria moving in fluids with
the help of flagella use cork-screw-


like beats to propel themselves
through the system, some other
protozoans like paramecium use a
flexible oar-like movement. The
researchers came up with a simple
design to mimic these systems, which
uses active beads, strung together in
a chain.
These beads convert chemical
energy to mechanical motion. Such
beads have been synthesised a
decade ago. Simulating the motion
of the filament of active beads on
a supercomputer, the research group
found a remarkably life-like beating.
Depending on how much flow the
active beads could generate, the
filament spontaneously beat like a
cilium or the tail of a sperm cell, or,
rotated like the flagellum of bacteria
such as E. coli . Thus, the same
filament could either be used as an
oar or a propeller by tuning the
degree to which the beads of the
chain
consume
chemical
energy. This new design for
propulsion engines which can both
beat and rotate is simpler than
anything that has been suggested
before says Prof. Adhikari. Remarking
on the significance of the study, Prof.
Kumar, says, You cannot take the
rules for swimming used by a large
animal and apply it to a small object.
That is why a bacterium uses a
corkscrew like motion to propel itself,
instead of strokes that a swimmer
would use. So when people try to
build nanomotors they have to think
about all this.
The group intends to
collaborate with experimental
groups to see if these systems can be
realised in practice and then maybe
even move on to designing drug
delivery systems.
Centuries-Old Frozen Plants
Called Bryophytes from
Teardrop Glacier Revived
Researchers at the University of
Alberta announced that the plants
which were frozen centuries ago

were sprouting with new growth.
Samples of the bryophytes, 400-yearold plants bloomed under certain
laboratory conditions. Researchers
declared that this reflected the
recovery of ecosystems from the
cyclic long periods of ice coverage
of the Earth.
The group of researchers was

making exploration in area around the
Teardrop Glacier which is situated in
Canadian Arctic. This regions glaciers
are receding at a rapid pace (around
3-4 m annually) since 2004. This is
also the place where it is said that the
light of daytime has not reached since
Little Ice Age, the widespread
cooling which took place from 1550
AD to 1850 AD. The lead author of
the study, Catherine La Farge
explained that huge populations of
bryophytes were observed from
beneath the glacier which reflected
a greenish tinge.
Bryophytes are very different
from land plants. These plants do not
have any vascular tissue. This means
that these plants can survive without
drying up even in the long Arctic
winters. Eventually, these plants grow
in warmer times. The researchers
observed new growth of the green
lateral branches on the stems of the
plant. A lot of other species were
observed in the Teardrop Glacier and
almost all these are completely
unknown to science.
ISRO set to establish
Navigation Satellite System
Indian Space Research
Organisations scientists will establish
a navigation satellite system for India
66
like that of Americas Global

Positioning System (GPS). Very much
similar to the GPS, the Indian satellite
is supposed to transmit data
continuously that will allow correctly
equipped receivers to establish their
location with considerable
precision.
The project is set to establish
the IRNSS at a cost about 1420 crores
rupees and was approved by the
Union Government in June 2006. The
first of the IRNSS satellites is
scheduled go into space aboard the
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 1
July 2013. The GPS requires a
constellation of 24 orbiting satellites,
which will be supported by a global
network of ground stations, so that
every part of the world is covered.
ISRO will create a system wholly in
Indias control for providing
navigation signals over this country
and surrounding areas.
After
seeing
many
configurations, the finally chosen
configuration was the Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)
which required just seven satellites.
All seven IRNSS satellites will be at a
height of about 36000 km, which will
take a whole day to circle the Earth.
Three of the satellites will be placed
over the equator, in what is known as
the geostationary orbit, where they
match the Earths rotation and
therefore appear from the ground to
remain at a fixed position in the
sky. The remaining four satellites will
be in pairs in two inclined
geosynchronous orbits. From the
ground, these satellites will appear
to travel in figures of 8 during the
course of a day.


Manned
Submersible in 5 Years
The Chennai-based National

Institute of Ocean Technology
(NIOT), which has earlier cut its teeth
on a remotely-operated ROSUB6000, is pushing the technology
envelope further to develop a deepsea manned submersible that can
dive to depths of up to 6,000 metres.
Shailesh Nayak, secretary at the
Ministry of Earth Sciences, told this
correspondent that scientists have
already begun to develop the
technologies required for building
the diving capsule. The design of the
submersibles pressure hull, to be
made of titanium alloys to withstand
pressures in the range of 600 bars at
such depths, is particularly critical, he
said. Encapsulated in the pressure
hull would be the subs crew
compartment and life support
systems.The project is estimated to
cost about Rs.300 crores to the
exchequer. While NIOT is awaiting
the final go-ahead from the ministry,
the submersible is billed to be ready
for its maiden dive five years from
now. The project is being executed
in collaboration with a consortium of
scientific institutions in the U.S. and
Russia. According to Dr. Nayak, NIOT
has been exchanging notes with
Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO), which is preparing for its
manned lunar mission, on designing
human habitation in an alien
environment. It is just the opposite
of space, though, with pressure
increasing steadily as you descend,
he said. A senior scientist closely
associated with the manned sub
project said the submersible is being

designed for a diving endurance of
12 hours, with emergency support for
72 hours. It will have an integrated
navigation system for redundancy.
The manned sub will catapult India
into the elite league of nations
operating research manned
submersibles like the U.S. (Alvin);
France (Nautile); Russia (MIR 1 and
2); Japan (Shinkai) and China
(Jiaolong).
Devap Air-Cooling System to
be Used First Time in India
Architects building Nalanda

International University at Bihar
decided to make use of the Desiccant
Enhanced Evaporative or the Devap
air-cooling system. It is the first time
that this kind of system will be used
in India. The Devap system functions
by making use of dessicant material
which gets rid of the moisture from
using by making use of heat. The
system also makes use of the
evaporative technologies which bring
cooling by making use of up to 90
percent less energy in comparison to
the older methods. Rajeev Kathpalia,
principal architect of the
Ahmedabad-based company Vastu
Shilpa Consultants explained that
using the Devap system in Nalanda
International University is very useful
because this system easily gels up
with the method of the ancient seat
of learning. Using Devap in Nalanda
will be an experiment because this
system has never been used in India.
Nalanda University will be
constructed at Rajgir, which is
situated around 100 km away from
Patna. The construction of the
67
University will take place on 446-acre

plot, which is situated 12 km away
from the ruins of ancient seat of
learning. Construction would start in
December 2013. The academic
session of this university will begin in
2014. The buildings of Nalanda
University would be designed on net
zero energy consumption concept.
Nalanda University would produce its
energy by making use of the photo
voltaics. The University, additionally
would collect biomass of
neighbouring villages in order to
generate electricity as well as harvest
rainwater. The initiative of Nalanda
University was taken up by former
President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
in the year 2006.
What is Devap air-cooling system?
The Devap air-cooling system
provides solution to AC
necessity. This system provides
dehumidified, cold and clean
air, but with an added
advantage of less electricity
and less energy-usage.
It makes use of the chemical
capabilities of desiccants. A
desiccant is basically the
hygroscopic substance which
sustains or induces the dryness
state in local vicinity in wellsealed container.
The Devap air-cooling system
was designed in order to
replace the standard units of
AC so that there was less
difficulty
regarding
installation.
It has been estimated that by
making use of the Devap aircooling system, the total energy
savings are simulated to be
somewhere between 40-80
percent. But the energy
savings depend upon humidity
level as well as geographical
location.
Devap air-cooling system is a
good solution for curbing the
greenhouse effect because of


its energy efficiency as well as
environmentally respectful
chemicals.
Though, this system has higher
costs for commercial and
residential units, but if
operational costs are included,
it becomes financially
advantageous in the time span
of just 30 years.
Groundwork needed
The Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS) requires
more than just a cluster of satellites.
In order to maintain the navigation
systems accuracy, an elaborate
ground network is needed to
constantly watch over those satellites
and the signals they send out, making
any corrections that may be needed.
The hub of the whole system is the
ISRO Navigation Centre at Byalalu,
near Bangalore. Ranging and integrity
monitoring stations spread across the
country will receive navigation signals
transmitted by the satellites and
promptly relay them to this Centre.
The Centre will also be linked to twoway radio ranging stations as well as
laser ranging stations that will help
establish the satellites orbit
parameters with great accuracy. At
the Centre, all the data will be
collated and analysed using
indigenously developed navigation
software. This complex software will
then generate the updates that must
be beamed to the satellites
periodically. The Centre uses a cluster
of hydrogen maser and caesium
atomic clocks, which keep time even
more accurately than the atomic
clocks on the satellites, to maintain a
standard reference time, the IRNSS
Network Time. The time kept on the
satellites must be closely
synchronised with this network time.
Next-generation batteries
from rice husk
Nano-size silicon particles for
the next-generation Lithium-ion
batteries could be produced from

rice husk, an abundant agricultural
waste, according to research recently
published in Scientific Reports.
Nano silicon had attracted

considerable attention as a promising
anode material for such highperformance batteries, which would
power future electric vehicles and
portable devices, observed Yi Cui, an
associate professor of materials
science and engineering at Stanford
University in the U.S., and his
colleagues in their paper. Although
nano silicon anodes were superior to
graphite ones in terms of
performance, methods to produce
the silicon anodes at a cost and with
scalability comparable to graphite
were needed. Current processes to
form silicon nanomaterials were
usually complex, costly and energyintensive, they pointed out. In rice
husk, silica existed naturally in the
form of nanoparticles and accounted
for as much as 20 per cent of its dry
weight. Using a simple, energyefficient and easily scalable method
, nano silicon could be produced.
The silicon that was recovered
maintained the unique nanostructure
of silica as it existed in the husk,
which made for excellent battery
performance. Apart from its use in
Lithium-ion batteries, there were
many potential large-scale
applications for such nanostructured
silicon, they added.
A Sensor Chip That Can
Detect Disease from Blood
Drop
Scientists at the New Jersey
Institute of Technology (NJIT)
68
engineered a cutting-edge sensor

chip which is capable of detecting
the diseases just from the drop of
blood. The study describes how the
researchers- Reginald Farrow and
Alokik Kanwal along with their team
created a carbon nanotube-based
device in order to rapidly and
noninvasively detect the mobile
single cells with potential of
maintaining high degree of spatial
resolution.
Reginald Farrow, the research

explained that with the help of
sensors, the device was created
which will enable the medical
personnel to measure the electrical
properties of the cells by simply
putting s tiny drop of liquid on active
area of the device. The researcher,
in the meanwhile also explained that
this was not the first time that such
kind of work was brought out, but the
unique property of this device is the
technique with which the electrical
properties or patterns of cells are
measured. Also, the device can
explain how electrical properties
differentiate between the cell types.
New World Record of Top
Speed by Drayson Racing
Electric Car
Drayson
Racing
Technologies established the new
world record on Federation
Internationale de lAutomobiles
(FIA) world electric land speed
record when the lightweight
electric powered car reached the
top speed of 328.6 km per hour. The
British team broke all the world land
speed records for the lightweight
electric car after the car named Lola


B12 69/EV crossed the previous top
speed record of 281.6kph at a Royal
Air Force base in Yorkshire. The Chief
Executive of Drayson Racing
Technologies, Lord Drayson,
who drove the car, explained that
the car was designed to highlight
about the technology potential of
electronic vehicle. The previous
record of top speed was 281.6kph,
which was set up by Battery Box
General electric in 1974. In order to
be eligible for an attempt on
Federation Internationale de
lAutomobiles (FIA) world electric
land speed record, Drayson Racing
Technologies team needed to make
the vehicle less than 1000 kg of
weight without the driver. In order
to achieve this eligibility, the team
adapted Le Mans Series car which
was designed by it earlier and had
bio-ethanol fuel engine originally
fitted into it. This engine was
replaced by lightweight 20 kilowatt
hour battery which offered 850
horsepower. Apart from this, the
chassis of the vehicle was also
adapted. The chassis was made from
recycled carbon fibre, which
enabled the car to minimise air
friction.
shape and arrangement of the

scallops on the edge of the frill, which
are large and triangular toward the
front, and low and blunt toward the
back. As per the researchers it may
be the oldest known link of
Triceratops and Torosaurus the
best-known horned dinosaurs. As of
today, fossil remains of at least 18
closely related dinosaurs from the
region have been identified as
distinct species. These species show
up for just a couple million years, or
even a far shorter time, before another
species replaces it. The Fossil is
linked to be with Judiceratops which
is the earliest known member of the
chasmosaurines, a group of horned
dinosaurs characterised by an
enlarged frill on the back of the skull.
It does not appear to be a direct
ancestor of Triceratops and
Torosaurus. Judiceratops was
basically a large plant-eating dinosaur
which fed on low-growing
vegetation, such as ferns, like other
members of its family. It had two large
horns over the brow and a smaller
horn on its nose.
An Eco-friendly Battery using
Wood, Tin and Sodium
New Three-Horned Dinosaur

Discovered
Scientists while analysing fossil

records in the Month of May 2013
have discovered a new three-horned
dinosaur, which is dated back 66 to
80 million years. The distinctive
feature of the Three Horned Dinosaur
is that it sported a hoodie-like growth
on the back of its head. It differs
from all other horned dinosaurs in the
Researchers from University of

Maryland in third week of June 2013
developed an eco-friendly battery
using wood, tin and sodium as raw
materials. This battery is thousand
times thinner than a paper and can
store large amount of energy to last
longer than a commercial battery.
Use of sodium instead of lithium
makes these batteries eco-friendly.
Limitation of this battery is that it cant
store energy as efficiently as the
69
lithium battery and thus can be used

at a power plant or to store solar
energy, but not in the cell phones.
Present day batteries are developed
on the stiff surfaces to withstand the
changing shape of the battery.
Actually, the swell or shrink of the
battery depends on the movement
of the electrons but the wood fiber
has the capability of supporting the
changes due to the electron
movement in context of the sodium
ion battery. As per the study of the
researchers, the wood-based
batteries can last over 400 charging
cycles. Researchers drew the
inspiration of using the wood fiber
from the trees, as wood fibers that
make up a tree once held mineralrich water, and so are ideal for storing
liquid electrolytes, making them not
only the base but an active part of
the battery. As per the studies, the
charging and discharging of these
batteries several times brought
wrinkles on the wood but it remained
intact. The wrinkles on the wood
supported the battery to survive for
several cycles as it allowed the battery
to relax the stress exerted during
regular charging and discharging
activity. Tins connection with its
base also weakens, while pushing the
Sodium ion tin anodes, but softness
of the wood fiber serves as a
mechanical
buffer
and
accommodates following the
changes of the tin. This phenomenon,
acts a key of behind the longevity of
the sodium-ion batteries. Liangbing
Hu and Teng Li were the head of the
team that worked on the project. This
research was supported by the U.S.
National Science Foundation and the
University of Maryland. The study
details were published in the
American Chemical Society
Publications.
Satellites Launched to Bring
Rural Areas Online
O3b Networks, whose name
represents the other 3 billion in


month of June 2013, launched a series
of satellites which is supposed to
provide fast, cheap Internet and
phone service to remote areas in 180
countries. The idea behind launching
such satellite is to bring people from
remote area online by the end of the
year 2013. Google have already
committed to invest about 1.2 billion
dollars in support. O3b Networks is
planning to supply the bandwidth for
voice and data traffic to mobile
phone operators instead of being
sold directly to customers and
internet service providers who will be
able to track the satellites with ground
stations.
A group of four satellites was

launched on 25 June 2013 in a Soyuz
rocket from French Guiana and it is
going to be followed with similar
satellite launch of four more in
September 2013 and another four
next year. The Outstanding property
of the satellite is that is every satellite
will be able to transfer data at a rate
of 12 gigabits per second. Other
satellites may eventually be launched
to increase the data capacity of the
cohort.
Advantage of the Satellite launched
The launch of satellite will
provide cheap, fast data
transfer to remote areas without
Internet access or phone
service.
The satellite service accessible
and affordable, even in poorer
regions.
New Solar
Water Heater Designed
A new type of Solar Heater was
designed by three young techies
from the North Eastern Regional

Institute of Science and Technology.
These new heaters contain a
parabolic reflector that works in
conjunction with the drum that
contains water.
Mechanism of the Solar Heater:

Sun radiant energy is reflected by the
aluminum dish of the solar heater into
the drum with a lid at top. The radiant
energy of the sun continuously falls
on the earth and on a normal sunny
day, about 1000 watt of energy per
second is received by every square
meter by the earth.
The radiant energy from sun
works on the principle on which the
microwave and the electric oven
functions, i.e. the energy doesnt
rapidly heat the things but spreads,
thus can be used for cooking, grilling,
roasting and other purposes. The
parabolic reflector has the capacity
to raise the temperature of the water
up to 139 degree C the temperature
that is sufficient enough to cook
cereals and vegetables. The three
techies are the students of
mechanical engineering from the
institute namely Vikas Gautam, Suman
Pao and Juwel Tripura. The newly
designed solar heater can be used
both for industrial and domestic
purposes.
First Classroom Lecture from
Space for Students
China, on 20 June 2013
conducted the first classroom lecture
from space which was given by
female Chinese astronaut Wang
Yaping. Wang Yaping, 33, addressed
around 330 primary as well as middle
school students at the High School
70
Affiliated to Renmin University in

Beijing through live video feed from
space module Tiangong-1. Wang
Yaping lectured the students while
orbiting at 340 km above Earth at zero
gravity in space. The lectured
students included those from Taiwan,
Hong Kong, Macau, migrant workers
families as well as of ethnic
minorities.
The CCTV network live

broadcast was showcased to over 60
million students as well as the
teachers at 80000 middle schools in
China. Wang Yaping demonstrated
the calculation of weight by the
astronauts in space. In the meanwhile,
she also answered the questions
related to recycling of water in the
orbiter, view from the orbiter as well
as the space debris. Wang Yaping
along with her crew commander Nie
Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang left
for the space on 11 June 2013
aboard Shenzhou-10 spacecraft.
Plants exposed by retreating
glaciers regrow
Scientists have found that plants
that are 400-600 years old and
entombed during the Little Ice Age
that happened between 1550 and
1850 were not only intact, but also
suggested regrowth.
Finally, how plants grow towards
light proved
Plants have developed a
number of strategies to capture the
maximum amount of sunlight through
their leaves. Swiss scientists have now
proved for the first time that the
hormone auxin is the substance that
drives phototropism.

Sports
Darren Lehmann Appointed
Coach of Australia
43 years old Darren Lehmann in

the Month of June 2013 has been
appointed coach of Australian
Cricket team. He was appointed
replacing Mickey Arthur who was
sacked two weeks before the
Australia Ashes Tour which was set
to start on 10 July 2013. South African
Mickey Arthur, faced criticism
following poor performances and
disciplinary issues within the camp.
He had coached Australia to 10
wins and six defeats in 19 Test
matches.
About Darren Lehmann
He had played 27 Tests and
117 one-day internationals for

Australia between 1996 and
2005.
He retired from playing for
South Australia in 2007, and
was appointed as coach of
Queensland in May 2011.
He had also coached Kings XI
Punjab in the Indian Premier
League 6.
Lehmann played for Yorkshire
in between 1997 to 2006 and
was part of the side that won
the County Championship in
2001, and captained the
county the following season.
Queensland won the Sheffield
Shield as well as two domestic
one-day trophies in Lehmanns
two years coaching the state.
India to host 2016 World T20

and 2023 World Cup
BCCI (Board of Control of
Cricket in India) on 29 June 2013 was
awarded a chance to host two major
events of International Cricket
namely World Twenty20 for the first
72
time in 2016 and its fourth 50-over

World Cup in 2023 by ICC
(International Cricket Council). BCCI
also got the chance to host the
second edition of ICC World Test
Championship scheduled in
February-March 2021.
The inaugural edition of the Test

Championship will be hosted by
England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB) June-July 2017. Apart from
this, the ECB was awarded a chance
to host the 2019 World Cup and
Cricket Australia (CA) got
the hosting rights of the 2020 World
Twenty20. All the three events were
awarded to India during the
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Annual Conference. Jagmohan
Dalmiya the interim Chief of BCCI and

Sports
a former ICC president represented
India in the event. During the
International Cricket Council Annual
Conference, ICC finalized its global
events to be held from 2015 to 2023.
In its decision, ICC decided that full
members of International cricket will
have to play a minimum of 16 tests
over a period of four years to retain
its test status. During the same
conference, Afghanistan was
confirmed as the 37th Associate
Member of the ICC and Romania was
accepted as an Affiliate Member.
ICC ODI Rankings
India clinched the ICC
Champions Trophy 2013 on 23 June
2013 against England at Edgbaston
in Birmingham with a five-run victory.
After this victory, India not just
maintained the top most position in
ICC ODI rankings, but also widened
the gap with its nearest rivals,
England. India has the rating points
of 123 now and its nearest rivals,
England as well as Australia have the
ranking of 113 points. South Africa,
on the other hand has rating of 111.
Players who
Jumped in ICC ODI Rankings
Significant gains were made by
Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan.
It is important to note that Shikhar
Dhawan was also declared as the Man
of the Tournament during the ICC
Champions Trophy 2013. Ravindra
Jadeja climbed to his career best third
ranking among all the bowlers and Allrounders category. R.Ashwin is
placed at ninth position among the
bowlers.
Among the batsmen, Shikhar
Dhawan jumped 21 positions and
reached 29th position with his
performance in Champions trophy.
Shikhar Dhawan was also given the
Golden Bat trophy for scoring
maximum number of runs in the
tournament. Protean Skipper AB
Devilliers is at the top most position
of batsmen, followed by Hashim
Amla. At the third position is Indias

Virat Kohli.
ICC ODI rankings of the Teams
Name of the
Team
India
England
Australia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
New Zealand
West Indies
Bangladesh
ICC ODI Ranking

123
113
113
111
108
102
88
88
75
ICC Champions Trophy 2013
India clinched the ICC

Champions Trophy 2013 on 23 June
2013 against England at Edgbaston
in Birmingham with a five-run victory.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni captained the
Indian Side in the tournament,
whereas, Alastair Cook captained the
English team. India made a total of
129 runs in 20 overs for seven wickets.
It then restricted England to 124 for
eight. Ravindra Jadeja was declared
as the Man of the Match after he took
two wickets and scored an unbeaten
33 runs. He was also awarded with
the Golden Ball for grabbing 12
wickets (maximum) in the series.
Sikhar Dhawan was declared as
the Man of the Series award for
being the highest run-scorer (363
runs) of the tournament. This was the
second Champions Trophy title of
73
India. Earlier, it had won the title

jointly with Sri Lanka in the year 2002.
About the ICC Champions Trophy
The ICC Champions Trophy is
the One Day International (ODI)
cricket tournament which is
organised by International Cricket
Council (ICC). It is considered
important event in cricket, only after
the Cricket World Cup and is also
known as Mini World Cup. The ICC
Champions Trophy was inaugurated
in the year 1998 as ICC Knock out
Tournament. It was later named as
Champions Trophy in 2002. Since

the year 2009, the number of teams
participating in the ICC Champions
Trophy has remained eight. These are
the eight highest-ranked ODI teams.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2013
The ICC Champions Trophy
2013 was held in England and
Wales between 6 June 2013
and 23 June 2013.
Three cities in all hosted the
matches, which were London
(at The Oval), Birmingham (at
Edgbaston) and Cardiff (at the
SWALEC Stadium).
The winners of
the
tournament earned 2 million US
dollar as the prize money. This
is the largest amount since the
beginning of the tournament.
The ICC Champions Trophy

Sports
2013 was the seventh and final
ICC Champions Trophy. This
will be replaced by ICC World
Test Championship in 2017.
Eight teams participated in the
ICC Champions Trophy 2013
and these were- England, Sri
Lanka, New Zealand, Australia,

India, South Africa, West Indies
and Pakistan.
In the seventh edition of the
tournament, Sri Lanka, India,
England and South Africa were
the four teams to make into the
semi-finals.
Winners of the ICC Champions Trophy since 1998
Year
ear of the Tournament
1998 ICC Knock Out tournament
2000 ICC Knock Out tournament
2002 ICC Champions Trophy
Winner
South Africa
New Zealand
India and Sri Lanka jointly
West Indies
Australia
Australia
India
Raj Kundra Suspended for

betting in IPL VI
The Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) on 10 June 2013
suspended Raj Kundra, the co-owner
of Rajasthan Royals for allegedly
betting on IPL matches. He has been
suspended from having any
involvement in cricket till the police
probe in the matter was completed.
The decision on Raj Kundra was taken
by the emergent working committee
of BCCI that met on 10 May 2013. The
committee also said that the twomember panel comprising Justice T
Jayaram Chouta and Justice R
Balasubramanian, who are probing
similar charges leveled against
Chennai Super Kings team official
Gurunath Meiyappan, will investigate
the case of Kundra and his
franchise. The suspension imposed
by the working committee on Raj
Kundra will stay till the pendency of
enquiry.
number-one spot from England

after winning the series 3-2 in
January 2013.
ICC ODI Championship Shield

Indian Skipper MS Dhoni
received the ICC ODI Championship
Shield and a cheque of 175000 US
dollars for leading the number One
ODI team on the annual 1 April cutoff date. Indian team claimed the
India won eight out of 13 ODIs

while losing five in the 12-month
period between 1 April 2012 and 1
April 2013.
This is the first time since the
current ranking system was
introduced in 2002 that India
finished as the No1 ranked One-Day
International (ODI) side. David
Morgan, former President of the
International Cricket Council (ICC),
presented the Shield to Dhoni.
Sachin Tendulkar Retire from
Twenty20
Sachin Tendulkar announced
retirement from Twenty20 cricket
format on 26 May 2013, immediately
after Mumbai Indians beat Chennai
Super Kings to lift the title of Pepsi
Indian Premier League 2013 at Eden
Gardens in Kolkata. This means that
74
IPL Season 6 was the last IPL season

played by Sachin Tendulkar.
Some Important Facts

Sachin Tendulkar was the
captain of Mumbai Indians team
in 2010.
He has represented this
franchise in 86 matches in all
and finished with 2529 runs.
These runs include one century
and 14 half-centuries.
Sachin Tendulkar played the
last game for Mumbai against
Sunrisers Hyderabad at
Wankhede Stadium on 13 May
2013. He was injured
thereafter.
Twenty20 cricket is the second
format from which he
announced his retirement.
Earlier in December 2012, he
had announced retirement
from
the
One-Day
Internationals.
He also has the unbroken
record of 15837 test runs as
well as 18426 ODI runs.
French Open 2013

Mens Singles Title
Rafael Nadal on 9 June 2013
won his 8th Mens Singles Tittle of the
French Open Tennis Tournament. In
the final at Paris, Nadal beat Spanish
compatriot David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 63. With this, he became the first
player to win 8 Singles Titles at the

Sports
same Grand Slam Tournament. It was
his 12th Grand Slam title overall. It
also gave Nadal his 59th win out of
60 matches played in Paris.
Last year, he passed six-time

Roland winner Bjorn Borg with his
seventh title. Only one player of his
generation, Robin Soderling in 2009,
has been able to register a victory
over him at Roland Garros.
Womens Singles Title
Serena Williams on 8 June 2013

won the Womens Singles title of
French Open Tennis tournament. In
the final, she defeated Maria
Sharapova in straight sets by 6-4, 6-4.
This is Serenas second French Open
title and 16th grand slam. It was the
31-year-old Americans 16th Grand
Slam title win.
3rd National Sub-Junior

Hockey
Odisha on 27 May 2013
clinched the boys title while Haryana
won the girls championship at the
third National Sub-Junior Hockey
tournament. Odisha crushed
It was Sharapovas 10th straight

loss to Williams. It was the first French
Open womens final involving the two
top seeds since 1995. At 31 years,
247 days she is the oldest women in
the Open Era to win the French
Open title. She beat the record of
Chris Evert who set the previous mark
in 1986.
Mens Doubles Title
Top-ranked American twins

Bob and Mike Bryan on 8 June 2013
won their record 14th major doubles
title by defeating Michael Llodra and
Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 4-6, 7-6
in the French Open mens doubles
final.
In the tiebreaker, the Bryan
brothers rallied from 4-2 down to
clinch the victory. The Bryans had
won their only other French Open in
2003. They lost in the final in 2005,
2006 and 2012. Llodra and Mahut
were hoping to become the first
Frenchmen to win the doubles
since Yannick Noah and Henri
Leconte in 1984.
Womens Doubles Title
The Russian duo of Elina
Vesnina and caterina Makarova lifted
the Womens Doubles title. They
defeated top seeded Italians Sara
Irrani and Roberta Vinchi by 7-5, 7-2.
Jharkhand, 8-0 while Haryana beat
Madhya Pradesh, 3-2 in the finals
played at Bhopal s Aishbagh
stadium.
The goal scorers for Haryana
were Sonika (3 min), Ritu (35 min)
and Navneet Kaur (49 min) while
Karishma (4 min) and Neelu (24 min)
75
Mixed Doubles Title

Frantisek Cermak and Lucie
Hradecka won mixed doubles title
at the French Open. They defeated
Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic
1-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Halle ATP Title
The Grass Court King, Roger
Federer on 16 June 2013 won Gerry
Weber Open Halle ATP final after
defeating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia
by 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 at the Gerry
Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany.
This is the first title won by Federer in
the year 2013 and sixth Halle Title
and 77th title of the career. The 31
year old Swiss star, broke away the
10 months and 11 tournament
drought without a title.
Halle Opens
Grass Court Swing
The Gerry Weber Open is one

of five grass court events on the ATP
World Tour calendar. The tournament
gives players their first chance to play
on the surface in the lead-up to
Wimbledon. The Gerry Weber Open
has crowned five German winners,
since the inaugural event in 1993:
Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer
(1999), David Prinosil (2000), Tommy
Haas (2009 & 2012) and Philipp
Kohlschreiber (2011). Roger Federer
won his sixth title in 2013.
scored goals for Madhya Pradesh.

Earlier, Jharkhand defeated
Chandigarh 2-1 to claim the third
position in women category. In the
mens category Punjab defeated
Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 10 in a hard-fought match to get the
third position.

Sports
Thailand
Open Badminton 2013
Indias talented youngster

Srikanth K. on 9 June 2013 clinched
the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold
Badminton trophy. In the Mens
Singles title clash played this morning,
13th seed Srikanth defeated top
seed and local favourite Boonsak
Ponsana in straight games, 21-16, 2112, to bag his careers maiden title.
The match lasted for 34 minutes.
Indian shuttler K. Srikanth had
entered the final of the Thailand
Grand Prix Gold badminton
tournament after registering a
comfortably defeating local favourite
Thammasin Sitthikom in the mens
singles event.
None of the other Indian
shuttlers were able to stamp authority
in the competition, which also saw
defending champion Saina Newal
bow out in the quarterfinals. Thailand
Open Badminton 2013 was held in
Bangkok.
FIFA Confederations Cup

Brazil 2013
Brazil
won the FIFA
Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 on
Indian Badminton League,

which was formed recently along
with the commercial partner Sporty
Solutionz launched new programme
called Indian Badminton League
School Programme (IBLSP) for
promotion of badminton all over
India.
Key features of Indian Badminton
League School Programme
(IBLSP)
Under Indian Badminton
League School Programme
(IBLSP), badminton players
such as PV Sindhu, Parupalli
Kashyap, Ashwini Ponnappa,
Jwala Gutta, Pullela Gopichand
and Saina Nehwal will visit 120
schools in six cities of India.
The programme is also known
as Shuttle Express.
The programme will offer a cash
prize of 10 lakh Rupees
to winners in girls as well as
boys single events. These
events will be held in six cities
of India- Pune, Lucknow, Delhi,
Hyderabad, Bangalore and
Mumbai. The finalists of the
event will be given an
opportunity to become trainers
a Pullela Gopichand Academy

in Hyderabad.
Indian Badminton League
School Programme (IBLSP)
said that this programme will be
initiated in three phases in
order to find out new
badminton players through
intra-school competition that
will be held in July 2013. The
national level finals will take
place in August 2013 in
Mumbai.
The Indian Badminton League
partners
include
Jain
International
School
(Bangalore), Genesis Global
School, Expressway (Delhi
NCR), Jamnabai Narsee, Juhu
Parle (Mumbai), La Martiniere
Boys (Lucknow), Indus World
School (Hyderabad) and
Symbiosis Primary & Secondary
School (Pune).
will take place from 14 August
2013 to 31 August 2013. It will
feature some of the top most
badminton players of the
world.
will be shown in more than 100
countries of the world through
live telecast.
30 June 2013 against Spain in the final

match. Brazil won 3-0 against FIFA
World Cup holders Spain. On the
Brazilian side, two goals were scored
by Fred and one was scored by
Neymar. Brazil grabbed the FIFA
Confederations Cup for the third time.
Earlier, it had won the Cup in the year
2005 in South Africa, 2009 in
Germany and 1997 in Saudi Arabia.
Fernando Jos Torres of Spain was
awarded with the Golden Boot
Award, while Fred of Brazil won
the Silver Boot Award. The Bronze

Boot Award was given away to
Neymar. Italy defeated Uruguay on
penalties and secured the third
place.
Facts about the FIFA Confederations
Cup Brazil 2013
The 2013 FIFA Confederations
Cup was the ninth cup, held at
Brazil from 15 June to 30 June
2013.
It was the prelude to 2014 FIFA
World Cup.
IBL Launched School

Programme for Badminton
Talent Hunt
76

Sports
The FIFA Confederations Cup
Brazil 2013 was the first national
team tournament which made
use of the goal-line technology.
This technology will also be
used in 2014 World Cup.
The final positions of the 2013
FIFA Confederations Cup
were: Brazil (Champions),
Spain (Runners-Up), Italy (3rd
Position) and Uruguay (4th
position).
The top scorers of the
tournament were Fred of Brazil
and Fernando Jos Torres of
Spain who scored 5 goals each
during the tournament. Neymar
of Brazil was declared as the
Best Player of the Tournament.
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
participating teams were:
Brazil, Spain, Italy, Uruguay,
Japan, Mexico, Nigeria and
Tahiti.
Prize Money: Brazil won
4.1million US dollar, Spain won
3.6 million US dollar, Italy won
Archery World Cup

Rajat Chouhan and Manjudha
Soy of India won silver medal at the
World Cup (Stage-II) Archery
competition in Turkey on 16 June
2013.
Junior Asian Wrestling
Championship
India topped in the medal tally

in the Junior Asian Wrestling
Championship by winning 17
3 million US dollar, Uruguay

won 2.5 million US dollar. The
teams from Fifth to eighth place
won 1.7 million US dollar.
About FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup
is the international association
football tournament for national
teams.
It is held after every 4 years by
FIFA.
The teams participating in the
tournament belong to each of
the six FIFA confederation
championships, i.e., UEFA,
CONMEBOL, CONCACAF,
CAF, AFC, OFC, apart from the
FIFA World Cup holder and the
host nation.
Total of eight teams participate
in the FIFA Con federations
Cup.
Awards given during 2013 FIFA
Confederations Cup
Name of the Award
Name of the
Country/Player
FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Spain
Golden Ball Winner Neymar (Brazil)

Golden Boot Winner
Fernando
Torres (Spain)
Golden Glove Winner
Jlio Csar
(Brazil)
German Cup 2013

Bayern Munich defeated
Stuttgart in the German cup final in
Berlin on 1 June 2013 to win the
tournament. The final score was 3-2.
It became the first German team to
win the Bundesliga, the European
cup and the German cup in the same
season. Only Celtic in the year 1967,
Ajax in 1972, PSV Eindhoven in 1988,
Manchester United in 1999,
Guardiolas Barcelona in 2009, and
Inter Milan in 2010 had won the
treble. Thomas Mueller scored one
goal for Bayern Munich while Gomez
scored twice in the second half to
put Bayern three ahead. Martin
Harnick on behalf of Stuttgart scored
twice. Bayern Munich finished the
season with 15 wins from their final
16 matches and they have only
suffered one defeat since October
2012.
The Duo lost the Compound

Mixed Team final by 149-150 in a
thrilling contest by the Italian world
champions Sergio Pagni and Marcella
Toniolli. India has never won a gold
medal in the Compound Section of
the event and before this Indias best

performance in this format was in the
Ogden World Cup 2011 (Stage-III)
when the Womens team of
Manjudha, Gagandeep Kaur and
Jhano Hansdah had won silver.
medals in the tournament on 16 June

2013.
India secured three gold, five
silver and nine bronze medals in the
championship. The tournament was
held from 13 June to 16 June 2013 in
Phuket, Thailand. On 16 June 2013
the final day of the tournament,
Indian Grapllers, Pradeep Kumar (60
kilogram) and Sumit (96 kilograms),
won Gold in the Junior Asian
Wrestling Championship in Phuket,
Thailand.
Vikas (66kilogram) and Pradeep
Kumar (74kilogram) captured silver

medals after they lost the final bouts
at the Saphan Hin Indoor Sports
Complex. Mandeep (55 kilogram)
secured bronze medal in the
championship.
77
Team Ranking
Team
India
Iran R.I.
Kazakhstan
Japan
Uzbekistan
Points
68
63
55
41
41

Sports
Canadian Grand Prix

Sebastian
Vettel on 10 June
2013 won the
Canadian Grand
Prix at the Circuit
Gilles Villeneuve in
Montreal. With
this win team, the Red Bulls won its

maiden Canadian Grand
Prix.
Ferraris Fernando
Alonso took the second
position followed by Lewis
Hamilton of Mercedes, who
conquered the third
position. This is the third win of the

Garman F1 driver, before the
Canadian Grand Prix, Vettel won the
Malaysia and Bahrain Grand Prix of
the year.
He is now on 132 points, 36
clear of Alonso on 96 points. Kimi
Raikkonen lies third on 88 points.
3rd China Open Boxing

Tournament
Manjeet Singh
bagged a Silver medal
for India at the 3rd
China Open boxing
tournament on 22 June
2013. In the final of the
super heavy weight
category (+91kg), the 21-year-old

Indian went down to local
lad Akepeer Yusuf.
Although Manjeet lost
in the final, he became the
only Indian boxer to reach
the final of the third China
Open boxing tournament. It
was his first international
tournament.The boxing tournament

was held in Guiyang, China.
The Indian mens team returns
from the event with one silver and
three bronze medals won by Sunil
Kumar (52kg), Ajay Kumar (56kg) and
Jaideep (75kg). The bronze
medal winners had lost in the round
of four.
Lydia Nsekra became the First

Woman to be Elected to FIFA
since 2009. The ExCo comprises a

total of 24 members.
host the event after Tamil Nadu and

later Delhi backed out of hosting it.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra government
felicitated pistol shooter Rahi
Sarnobat. The 22-year-old from
Kolhapur was presented a cheque of
one crore rupees and offered a
Grade-I job in the State government.
Sarnobat had won a gold medal in
the International Shooting Sport
Federation World Cup recently.
Slovak Junior ITTF Open
Table Tennis tournament
Asian
Athletic Championship 2013
Burundis Lydia Nsekera

became the first woman to be
elected to the FIFA Executive
Committee (ExCo) for a full term of
four years at the FIFA Congress in
Mauritius held on 30 May 2013. The
two other women Moya Dodd of
Australia and Sonia Bien-Aime of the
Turks and Caicos Islands, were
coopted on for one year. Nsekera was
also the first woman to be coopted
on for one year at last years congress
in Budapest. Lydia Nsekera is
President of the Fdration de
Football du Burundi since 2004 and
has been a member of the
International Olympic Committee
The Maharashtra government

on 13 June 2013 confirmed that the
Asian Athletic Championship will be
held in Pune from 3 to 7 July 2013.The
decision was finalised at the States
Cabinet meet held in Mumbai. The
State government has said that it
would incur an expenditure of 18
crore rupees for this tournament. To
ensure that the Asian Athletic
Championship goes off smoothly, the
State government has already formed
a few committees to look into the
various
aspects
of
the
tournament. Maharashtra agreed to
78
Indian Girls team won the Gold

medal while the Boys team won the
silver medal in the Slovak Junior ITTF
Open Table Tennis tournament held
in Senec, Slovakia on 31 May 2013.
In the title clash, the Indian Girls, led

Sports
by Sutirtha Mukherjee beat SerbiaA, 3-2. The other members of the team
were Monika Batra and Reath
Tennison.
In the boys section, the Czeck
Republic-A beat India 3-1
to win the gold. The Indian team,
consisting of Shudanshu Grover,
Abhishek Yadav and Rohit Rajshekhar,
had to settle for a silver.
Fifteen-year-old Sutirtha
Mukherjee played an important role
in the final match, winning two crucial
matches. India defeated Turkey 3-0
in the semifinal while Serbia
overcame Italy 3-1.
15th Asian Youth
Weightlifting Championships
Jamjang Deru of Arunachal
Pradesh, India won three medals,
which included two gold and one
silver, on 28 May 2013, the opening
day of 15th Asian Youth Weightlifting
Championships in Doha. He won the
medals in the boys 50kg category.
Jamjang Deru won a silver with 87 kg
and bagged a gold with 113 kg lift.
Finally, he signed off with the gold
with a total of 200 kg. It is worth
noticing that Jamjang Deru had also
secured a fourth position at the IWF
Youth World Championships at
Tashkent in April 2013 with an overall
lift of 195 kilograms. These were the
15th Asian Youth Weightlifting

Championships.
National Cycling Coach killed
in Road Accident in Noida
Ruma Chatterjee, the Cycling
Coach of Indian national team on 18
June 2013 died in a road accident
near Nalgadha village on Noida
Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. She is
now survived by her mother and five
sisters. Ruma Chatterjee died while
training 20 junior team members on
the expressway when she was hit by
a speeding car from behind. She was

attending the national camp ahead
of the Indian teams visit to
International Cycling Union (UCI)
Academy, Switzerland for training.
The four-member squad will
79
participate in the World

Championships in Scotland in August
2013.
World School Chess
Championship
Nine-year-old Mumbai girl
Ananya Gupta claimed a bronze
medal in the World School Chess
championship held at Haldikki in
Greece. She won seven out of nine
games to bag the bronze in the
tournament. It was held from 6 May
to 15 May 2013.
Ananya
created
waves by
beating the
much higher
r a n k e d
Y v o n n e
Beline
of
France on
way
to
finishing third
in
the
competition.
Earlier, she
clinched
gold at the 9th Singapore Chess
Festival. Ananya, had clinched gold
at the 9th Singapore Chess Festival
earlier. Ananya is a product of South
Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA).

Award & Prizes
Award & Prizes

Sangeet Natak Akademi
Fellowships and Akademi
Awards for 2012
The President of India, Pranab

Mukherjee conferred the Sangeet
Natak Akademi Fellowships
(Akademi Ratna) on violinist N Rajam,
Grammy
award-winning
percussionist T H Vikku Vinayakram
and veteran playwright Ratan Thiyam
for the year 2012, on 28 May 2013.
The awards were given away at a
ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in
New Delhi. Apart from these three
personalities, other 34 artists were
given away the Akademi awards
(Akademi Puraskar). These artists

were from different spheres such as
theatre, music, dance and traditional
arts. For the overall contribution to
the performing arts, Nandini Ramani
and Arun Mahadev Kakade were also
given away the awards.
About the Sangeet Natak
Akademi Fellowships
(Akademi Ratna)
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Fellowship and Awards are
given by the Sangeet Natak
Akademi, Indias National
Academy of Music, Dance &
Drama.
It is the highest national
recognition given to practicing
artists.
The Akademi Award, also
known as Akademi Puraskar has
been conferred on people
since 1952 and the Akademi
Fellow honour also called
Akademi Ratna has been
conferred since 1954.
Akademi Fellowship carries a
prize amount of three lakh
rupees and the Akademi
80
Awards carry a prize amount of

one lakh rupees, besides
Tamrapatra and Angavastram.
The Fellowships are restricted
to forty living recipients at any
given time. New Fellows are
elected upon the demise of an
existing Fellow.
Karaikudi Sambasiva Aiyer,
Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar,
Allauddin Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan,
and Prithviraj Kapoor were the
first awardees of Sangeet Natak
Akademi fellowships.
About the Sangeet Natak
Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi was
established by the Government
of India in 1953 and is Indias
National Academy of Music,
Dance and Drama.
It is responsible for promotion
and preservation of the
performing arts of the country.
One of the important activities
of the Akademi is to honour
artists of outstanding individual
achievement in the fields of
music, dance and drama.

Award & Prizes

UIDAI won 21st Century
Achievement Award 2013
The jury of International Data

Group (IDG) Computerworld
Honours Program, Computerworld
Honors Laureate selected UIDAI for
21st Century Achievement Award
2013 under the category Economic
Development for the pivotal role
played by UIDAI in leveraging
technology to change people lives,
streamline delivery of welfare services
and provide opportunity to people
to participate more fully in society.
The Computerworld Honors Program
awards were presented at the Gala
Evening and Awards Ceremony at the
Andrew W.Mellon Auditorioum in
Washington in the second week of
June 2013. The Computerworld
Honors Program, recognizes and
honours visionary application of
Information Technology promoting
positive social, economic and social
change. There were 24 nominees
under this category from different
parts of the World. The initiative of
Government of India was widely
appreciated by the participants at the
function.
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Kevin Barry, the Irish author

w o n 100000 Euro International
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
f or his debut novel, City of

Bohane. The book has described,
Bohane
the Ireland of 2053 a place where
one would not want to be alive. This
is not a future of shiny technology but
one in which history turns in circles
and quirks an eyebrow at the idea of
progress. To win the award, Kevin
Barry managed to beat 153 titles
nominated from 160 libraries of 44
countries. City of Bohane was
nominated by Cork, Dublin and
Limerick City Libraries. Barry is the
third Irish author to win this award.
About the Award
The prize is open for novels in
any language that has been
published in or translated into English
and is organised by Dublin City
Libraries on behalf of Dublin City
Council. The award is sponsored by
IMPAC, an international management
productivity company. Previous
winners of the award include to Colm
Toibin in 2006 for The Master,
Gerbrand Bakker in 2010 for The
Twin, Colum McCann in 2011 for Let
the Great World Spin, Jon McGregor
in 2012for Even the Dogs.
love story based on a graphic novel

by Julie Maroh starring Adele
Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. It
is basically a story about a teenage
girl who falls in love with a slightly
older woman. Overall, the movie is
about sexual awakening, heartbreak,
and self-discovery. With this the
runner-up award, the G r a n d
Prix, went to Inside Llewyn Davis
which is directed by the Coen
brothers. It is important here to note
that the Coen brothers had won the
Palme dOr in 1991. Also, the Jury
Prize went to Japanese director
Hirokazu Kore-Eda for Like Father,
Like Son.
Some other Important Awards
Mexicos Amat Escalante won
the best director prize for his
film Heli.
Hollywood veteran actor Bruce
Dern took the best actor prize
for
his
performance
in Nebraska.
Argentine-born Frenchwoman
Berenice Bejo was awarded
the best actress prize for her
role in The Past.
66th Cannes Film Festival
UN Public Service Award
Blue is the Warmest Colour

(La Vie DAdle Chapitres 1 et 2)
which is directed by French-Tunisian
filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche won
the top honour - the Palme dOr - at
the 66th Cannes Film Festival. The
awards were decided after reviewing
20 films in competition by a ninemember jury led by US filmmaker
Steven Spielberg, joined by
Australian actress Nicole Kidman and
Oscar-winning director Ang Lee
among others. The film is a three-hour
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen

Chandy on 28 June 2013 received
the prestigious United Nations
Public Service Awardfor his mass
contact programme initiative. The
award was presented at a function
held in Bahrain by United Nations
Under Secretary General Wu
Hongbo. Chandy bagged the first
place in the category Preventing and
Combating Corruption in the public.
He received the award for the mass
contact programme conducted by
81

Award & Prizes

him in 2011 after becoming the Chief
Minister for the second time. A total
of 5.5 lakh petitions were received in
2011, of which three lakh were
resolved.
Financial assistance of 22.68
crore rupees was given to the people
during the programme. The highlight
of his mass contact programme was
that the problems of the people could
be directly communicated to the
Chief Minister without any
intermediary.
Knighthood for Services in
Health Sector
The breast cancer gene called

BRCA2 was identified by him
as well as his team in 1994.
About the Knighthood honour
Knight, in general, is the person
who is granted the honourary title of
knighthood by political leader or a
monarch. In early days, Knighthood
was conferred on the mounted
warriors in Europe.
However, since Early Modern
period, this title is considered as
absolutely honorific.
French award for Contribution
to Protection of Human Rights
Prof Michael Stratton, the

scientist who made identification of
the genes causing breast cancer, was
awarded prestigious knighthood in
the Queen Elizabeth II Birthday
Honours. The research conducted by
the Prof Michael Stratton on Cancer
Genome Project at the Sanger
Institute helped considerably in
diagnosis as well as treatment of
cancer. Apart from Michael Stratton,
three more knighthoods were
awarded in healthcare sector. These
included Professor Andrew Hall for
services to public health, Professor
Peng Tee Khaw for research in
glaucoma as well as Stephen
ORahilly for research on the causes
of human obesity.
About Michael Stratton
Michael Stratton is the Director
of Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute in Cambridgeshire.
He was the founder of Cancer
Genome Project, which was
directed towards hunt for the
genes which cause different
kinds of cancers.
Central Himalayan Environment

Association (CHEA), an NGO in
Uttarakhand on 6 June 2013 bagged
a French award for its contribution to
protection of human rights. The
Central Himalayan Environment
Association (CHEA) is a voluntary
organisation based in Nainital. It was
honoured with Special Mention
of the 2012 Human Rights
Prize of the French Republic in
appreciation of its work in the field
of defence of socio-economic rights
and sustainable development of
people.
CHEA was involved in
strengthening community forestry
institution (Van Panchayats) for
womens empowerment and
affirmation of economic and social
rights of rural communities in the
Indian Central Himalayan region. The
award basically consists of a medal
and a diploma and it was presented
to director of Central Himalayan
Environment Association (CHEA) by
the Ambassador of France Frans
Richier at a function in Delhi.
82
Award for God Particle

Discovery
The Asturias Foundation

announced on 29 May 2013 that
Physicist Peter Higgs and Francois
Englert and the European
organization for Nuclear Research
won the 2013 Prince of Asturias
Award for Technical and Scientific
Research in recognition of their work
establishing the existence of the socalled God particle. Higgs and Englert
- along with the late Robert Brout formulated in 1964 the existence of
a subatomic particle that came to be
known as the Higgs boson. But it was
only in 2012 that the European
Organization for Nuclear Research, or
CERN, was able to confirm the
existence of this particle through
experiments conducted with the
Large Hadron Collider.
This finding, which has been
called the greatest discovery in the
history of the understanding of
Nature, enables a glimpse at what
happened immediately after the Big
Bang.
Higgs is a native of Newcastle,
England, who taught for 16 years at
the University of Edinburgh. Englert
is an 80-year-old Belgian, is affiliated
with the Institute for Quantum Studies
at Chapman University in California.
Along with a cash prize of 50000
euros (about 64000 US dollars) and
a sculpture by Joan Miro, each award
recipient gets a diploma and an
insignia bearing the Prince of Asturias
Foundations coat of arms. Spains
Crown Prince Felipe will give the
award at a ceremony in the northern
city of Oviedo. The prize is regarded

Award & Prizes

as the Ibero-American worlds
equivalent of the Nobels.
Golden Goblet at Shanghai
Film Festival
Russian film, The Major won

Golden Goblet on 23 June 2013 for
best feature film at the 16th Shanghai
International Film Festival. The film
talks about how things go out of
control when corrupt police officers
try to cover up a hit-and-run case for
their colleague. The jury headed by
Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper
opined that the film revealed a
complicated Russian society, as well
as great Russian art and storytelling
tradition.
Its director, Yuri Bykov won
awards for best director and
outstanding artistic achievement. The
Jury Grand Prix went to Sweden film
Reliance directed by William Olsson.
The film also won awards for best
screenplay and best cinematography.
Hong Kong actor Nick Cheung won
the Golden Goblet for best actor for
the film Unbeatable. Ten-year-old
Malaysian child star Crystal Lee
became the youngest actress to win
the award for best actress in the
festivals history. Some 1665 films
produced in 112 countries were
screened during the nine-day festival
that ran from 15 June to 23 June 2013.
Indian Healthcare Visionary of
the Decade Award
Harvard
trained
and
internationally acclaimed Indian
American Cardiac Surgeon and
Healthcare Economist Dr Mukesh
Hariawala on 28 June 2013 was
recently conferred the prestigious
Indian Healthcare Visionary of the

Decade award at a glittering
ceremony of the 4th Annual Business
Leadership Conclave at Hotel Leela
in Mumbai.
Also felicitated with other

prestigious awards were industrialists
Ratan Tata , Transformational Leader
of the Decade and Mukesh Ambani
who is the Millennium Business
Leader of the Decade. After the
award ceremony,
Mukesh
convincingly laid out a 100 Billion
Dollar Medical Tourism opportunity
for India as a byproduct of US
President Barack Obamas new
Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act which unofficially is also
termed Obamacare.
Walter Scott Prize 2013
Tan Twan Eng, the Malaysian

author was declared as the winner
o f Walter Scott Prize for his
English fiction novel The Garden
of Evening Mists . He got 25000
pounds for the prize. The ceremony
was held in Melrose, situated at the
Scottish borders. He won the award
during Borders Book Festival which
was held from 13 June 2013 to 16
83
June 2013. The prize was given to

him by Duke of Buccleuch. The
Garden of Evening Mists is first
novel by any overseas writer that has
won 4-year-old Walter Scott Prize.
According to the new rule
introduced in 2012, authors from
Commonwealth were made eligible
for the entry into the competition for
this prize.
The Garden of Evening
Mists won over the strong shortlist
which included Bring up the
Bodies by Hilary Mantel. There
were also other novels by English
writers such as Anthony Quinn, Rose
Tremain and Pat Barker as well as
Australian author Thomas Keneally.
Tan Twan Eng on 14 March 2013 was
also announced as a winner of the
2012 Man Asian Literary Prize. He
became the first Malaysian author to
win the most prestigious literary prize
of Asia for the same novel The Garden
of Evening Mists.
About the Walter Scott Prize
The Walter Scott Prize for the
historical fiction was founded
in the year 2010.
It is a British literary award.
With the prize money of 25000
pounds, Walter Scott Prize is
one among the largest literary
awards in the UK.
Duke and Duchess of
Buccleuch were the creators of
this award.
The winner of the prize is
announced every year in June
in Melrose at Borders Book
Festival.
Eligibility for a book to enter
into competition for Walter
Scott Prize
It is important for a book to be
published first in Ireland, UK or
Commonwealth in order to be
eligible for this prize.
Because the award is given for
historical fiction, therefore a
historical fiction is defined as

Award & Prizes

the one where the primary
events of the book take place
more than 60 years ago.
India Abroad Publishers
Special Award for Excellence
2012
in its war against al-Qaida by hosting

CIA prisons on their territories and
detaining, interrogating and torturing
terror suspects. Congressman Bera
was honoured as the India Abroad
Person of the Year for Political
Achievement 2012. He is only the
third Indian-American to be elected
to the US congress.
World Street Food Congress
Legal Activist and the youngest

daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh Amrit Singh received the India
abroad publishers special award for
excellence 2012. Amrit is senior legal
officer for national security and
counterterrorism at the Open Society
Justice Initiative based at the New
York. Amrit Singh was given the award
at the event organized by India
Abroad on 21 June 2013 for her
report Globalizing Torture: CIA
Secret Torture and Extraordinary
Rendition released in February 2013.
The report stated that 54 nations
comprising Pakistan helped the US
Indian street food vendors

Ashok Sah and Vijay Chaudhary won
the critics award at the World Street
Food Congress in Singapore. The
Congress was held from 31 May 2013
to 9 June 2013. They had gone there
as a part of a team of Indian street
food vendors. Alongside the World
Street Food Congress, a World Street
Food Dialogue was also held. It
discussed the responses of the
national and provincial governments
in India towards promoting street

food vending as well as socialeconomic dynamics of street food
vending.
NTR Literary Award
Manoj Das, the Noted Oriya
writer on 28 May 2013 was presented
the NTR National Literary Award. The
NTR National Literary Award was
chosen by the jury of NTR Vignana
Trust, headed by its chairperson N.
Lakshmi Parvati which carries a cash
prize of 1 lakh Rupees and citation.
The award recognises Dass
contribution to literature, both in
Odiya and English. Manoj Das was
also conferred with Padma Sri award
and had his stories figured in the
compilation of best literary works
released in the US. The award is
instituted in memory of the actorturned-politician who made a mark
for his struggle to protect Telugu
pride. He has penned down his first
novel at the age of 14. The award is
coincidently given to Manoj Das on
the same day which is marked by the
birth anniversary of former Chief
Minister and Telugu Desam founder
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao.
MCQ Series
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Award & Prizes
In The News
P. Sathasivam
P. Sathasivam on 29 June 2013

was appointed as the next Chief
Justice of India after he justified the
Collegiums System of appointment
of Judges. The 64 year old
Sathasivam will succeed the
incumbent Chief Justice of India,
Altamas Kabir, who will
superannuate on 18 July 2013 from
his office. Sathasivam will be the
40th Chief Justice of India (CJI) and
his appointment to the post has
been approved by Pranab
Mukherjee, the President of India.
About P. Sathasivam
He was appointed as a
Supreme Court judge on 21 August
2007. As the 40th CJI, he will serve
the nation till his 26 April 2014. In

January 1996, he joined Madras high
court as a permanent judge. In April
2007, he was transferred to the
Punjab and Haryana high court. He
was born on 27 April 1949. He was
enrolled as an advocate on 25 July
1973 at Madras.
He has practiced in all types of
Writ, Civil and Criminal matters,
Company Petition, Insolvency
Petitions, Habeas Corpus Petitions
both on Original and Appellate sides
of the Madras High Court. He has
served as Government Advocate,
Additional Government Pleader,
Special Government Pleader in the
Madras High Court. He has also
worked as Legal Adviser for several
State owned Transport Corporations,
Municipalities, Nationalized Banks
and more
Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif on 5 June 2013
took oath to the office of the Prime
Minister of Pakistan for his third term
after formally being elected as the
85
Prime Minister by the National

Assembly. Sharif returned back to
power almost after 14 years after he
was forced to leave the office in a
military coup and went into exile. He
was sworn-in by the President Asif
Ali Zardari at a function in an ornate
hall at the Presidency.
During his oath ceremony, he

pointed to work towards
improvement of the falling economy,
electricity blackouts and an end to
American drone Strikes in the tribal
areas.
Nawaz Sharif party PML-N made
a landslide victory in the General
Elections conducted in May 2013 by
receiving 244 votes in favour of the
342 seat Parliament.

In The News
James Comey
Barack Obama, the US President

on 21 June 2013 nominated James
Comey as the next FBI (Federal
Bureau of Investigation) Director.
James Comey is a registered
Republican and former Justice
Department official under President
George W. Bush. His nomination
awaits confirmation from the US
Senate.
On getting this confirmation for
the post, the 52 year old Comey
would succeed Robert Mueller.
Robert Mueller held the post of FBI
Director since 2001 and will retire
after completing 12 years of his
service to FBI as its Director. Comey
is best known for his actions against
White House officials over the legality
of the warrantless-wiretapping
program of the National Security
Agency (NSA) in 2004.
Hassan Rohani
Hassan Rohani, the moderate

cleric of Combatant Clergy
Association party won the
presidential election in Iran on 15
June 2013. He secured a little over
50 percent votes to win the election.
He would succeed Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. He defeated
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf of
Islamic Society of Engineers party.
The presidential elections in Iran
took place on 14 June 2013. Hassan
Rohani had registered for the

prestigious designation of the country
on 7 May 2013. He would take the
office on 3 August 2013. He would
become the seventh different
President of Iran.
About Hassan Rohani
Hassan Rohani was born on 12
November 1948.
He started his political activities
when he followed Ayatollah
Khomeini during beginning of
Iranian Islamic movement.
He has remained a member of
Assembly of Experts since
1999. Assembly of Experts of
Iran is also known as Council of
Experts. It is the deliberative
body of Islamic theologians,
also called Mujtahids. The
Assembly of Experts is the
body that has charge of
electing as well as removing
Supreme Leader of Iran as well
as supervising his activities.
He also remained a member of
Expediency Council since
1991. Expediency Council or
Expediency Discernment
Council of the System is the
administrative assembly which
is appointed by Supreme
Leader of Iran. Originally,
Expediency Council was
established to resolve
differences between Council
of Guardians and the Majlis.
Apart from this, he was the
member of the Supreme
National Security Council since
1989
He was the head of the Center
for Strategic Research since
1992.
Hassan Rohani has remained the
deputy speaker of the 4th and
5th terms of the Islamic
Consultative Assembly (Majlis)
and secretary of the Supreme
National Security Council from
1989 to 2005.
He also remained the head of
86
former nuclear negotiating

team of Iran. He was also the
top negotiator of Iran with the
EU three namely, Germany, UK
and France, on the nuclear
program of Iran.
In the book titled, National
Security
and
Nuclear
Diplomacy, there is an
autobiography of Hassan
Rohani which describes about
his experience as in-charge of
Irans nuclear case as well as
secretary of the Supreme
National Security Council.
Important facts about the
Election of President of Iran,
according to the Constitution
of Ira
According to Article 117 of the
Constitution of Iran, the
President is elected by an
absolute majority of votes
polled by the voters.
President must be elected from
among religious and political
personalities.
President is elected for a fouryear term by the direct vote of
the people. His re-election for
a successive term is permissible
only once.
K R Kamath
The Indian Banks Association
(IBA) announced on 6 June 2013
that K R Kamath, the chairman and
managing director of Punjab National
Bank (PNB) was re-elected as the
Chairman of IBA for 2013-14 tenure.
At the 66th annual general meeting,
IBA also elected Aditya Puri,
managing director and CEO of HDFC
Bank, as its Deputy Chairman. Along
with this, the Chairman of State Bank
of India (SBI), Pratip Chaudhuri was
elected as the Honorary Secretary.

In The News
The Indian Banks Association
(IBA)
Indian Banks Association (IBA)
was formed on 26 September
1946.
It is an association of Indian
banks and financial institutions.
It is based in Mumbai.
IBA at present represents a
total of 173 banking companies
which are operating in India.
The objective of the
association is strengthening,
development and coordination
of the Indian banking. It also
facilitates various member
banks.
Indian Banks Association is
managed by the managing
committee. The current
managing committee of the
IBA consists of a chairman,
three deputy chairmen, one
honorary secretary as well as 26
members.
Susan Elizabeth Rice
Susan Elizabeth Rice, the

American ambassador to the United
Nations was appointed as the National
Security Adviser of US President
Barack Obama on 5 June 2013. She
replaced Tom Donilon. The
announcement of her appointment
was made by Obama in a ceremony
at Rose Garden.
About Susan Elizabeth Rice
She is the second youngest
person to represent US at
United Nations.
She served as staff of National
Security Council and as
Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs during the
second term of President Bill
Clinton.
She is said to be the first
Jamaican-American woman to
hold the office of UN
ambassador.
She was the principal and
Managing
Director
at
Intellibridge from 2001 to
2002.
In the year 2002, she joined
Brookings Institution as the
senior fellow in the foreign
policy program.
She remained the foreign
policy adviser to John Kerry
during 2004 presidential
campaign.
She left Brookings Institution in
the year 2008 to serve as senior
foreign policy adviser to
Senator Barack Obama in the
presidential campaign.
She is said to be the first highprofile foreign policy staffers
that signed onto Obamas
campaign.
She was named in the advisory
board of the ObamaBiden
Transition Project on 5
November 2008.
Susan Elizabeth Rice received
one of the Glamour Magazine
Women of the Year Awards in
the year 2009.
In the year 2002, she was also
indicted into Stanfords Black
Alumni Hall of Fame.
Background
On 27 April 2013, Mahmoud
Abbas, the President had announced
about the commencement of
consultations for forming the unity
government under his leadership.
This had to be done in line with the
reconciliation deal between rival
Islamist movement Hamas and Fatah.
Hamas, the controller of the Gaza strip,
however termed Rami Hamdallahs
appointment as the PM, illegal.
Bimal Julka
Appointment of Bimal Julka as
Secretary of Ministry of Information
& Broadcasting was approved by the
Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet (ACC) on 28 June 2013. Julka
will succeed Uday Kumar Varma, who
will retire from his office on 30 June
2013. Varma is an IAS officer of 1976
batch of Madhya Pradesh Cadre.
Earlier he was serving as the Special
Secretary and Financial Advisor to
Ministry of External Affairs since
January 2013. Bimal Julka is an IAS
officer of 1979 batch of Madhya
Pradesh cadre, with Identity No.
01MP031301. Julka has earlier served
ministries like Civil Aviation, Defence,
Finance and Human Resource
Development . He also served at
different positions in Madhya
Pradesh Government
John Ashe
Rami Hamdallah
The President of Palestine,
Mahmoud Abbas on 2 June 2013
named Rami Hamdallah as his new
Prime Minister. Rami Hamdallah
replaced
Western-favoured
economist Salam Fayyad who had left
the office of Prime Minister in April
2013 and formally quit now.
87
John William Ashe, the

ambassador to the United Nations for
Antigua and Barbuda in the month of
June 2013 selected as the President
of UN General Assembly for its 68th
session. John William Ashe was
chosen as the consensus candidate
by all 33 GRULAC member states to

In The News
be the president of the United
Nations General Assembly thus not
necessitating an election. As per
John William Ashe the UN will soon
launch an agenda for sustainable
development for all, which may very
well be the Strongest and most
ambitious project that the United
Nations has ever had to accomplish.
With his appointment John Ashe
stressed the importance of reflecting
on new and emerging development
challenges, with attention to two
main goals: overcoming poverty and
ensuring sustainable development.
Also the New and revised
partnerships are of vital importance
in integrating economic, social and
environmental dimensions of
sustainability.
Narayan Murthy
In a major top management reshuffle, Infosys on 1 June 2013

appointed N R Narayana Murthy as
executive chairman of the Board. He
would serve as board chairman for 5
years. K V Kamath stepped down from
his position as Chairman of the Board
and took up the position of Lead
Independent Director. In fact,
Narayan Murthy was appointed as the
chairman for the second time. Prior
to this, he was the chairman from 2002
to 2011. The Board has taken this step
keeping in mind the challenges that
the technology industry and the
company faces in the present day.
Infosys increased the age limit for
holding Chairmans post to 75 years
to facilitate the re-appointment of N
R Narayana Murthy at the top position.
Earlier the retirement age for
Executive Chairman- which also
included board members- was 60

years.
VK Duggal
National Commission for Protection of

Child Rights (NCPCR). She was
selected by the Committee which
was headed by Krishna Tirath,
Minister of Women and Child
Development.
Avinash Chander
VK Duggal, the former Union

Home Secretary on 21 June 2013 was
appointed as the nodal officer for
relief and rescue operations in the
rain-ravaged Uttrakhand by the Union
Government of India. Duggal will
operate from Dehradun. Duggal will
help in establishing coordination
between different agencies involved
in relief and rescue operations and
the centre, as lack of coordination
between the agencies was
hampering the mitigation efforts. The
decision of VK Duggals appointment
as nodal officer was taken after a
review meet conducted by the Union
Home Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde
at New Delhi. The review meet was
attended by the representatives of
the Ministries of Home, Defence,
Food, Surface Transport and National
Disaster Management Authority.
Kushal Singh
The Ministry of Women and

Child Development appointed
Kushal Singh as the Chairperson of
88
Avinash Chander, the principal

architect of Indias long-range missile
programmes on 31 May 2013
appointed Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO)
chief and scientific advisor to
defence minister. Avinash Chander,
will succeed V.K. Saraswat. He is an
eminent missile scientist, who is
considered the chief architect of the
long-range Agni ballistic missile
programme. As the Director-General
of DRDO, Chander is supposed to
hold the posts of Scientific Advisor
to the Raksha Mantri (SA to RM); and
Secretary, Defence R&D. He was also
awarded with Padma Shri in 2013.
Avinash Chander is a graduate of IITDelhi, who joined DRDO in 1972 and
obtained MS in Spatial Information
Technology from JNTU, Hyderabad.
Some Important work by
Avinash Chander
He was visionary behind
evolving the strategies for longrange missiles and had led the
design and development of
Agni-1, Agni-2, Agni-3 and
Agni-4
He led to development of the
of 5000 km range Agni-V
missile propelling India to join
the privileged club of five
advanced nations.
Avinash Chander created the

In The News
infrastructure, industry base,
production
lines
and
integration facilities to produce
different classes of Agni missile
systems.
Under him, DRDO laboratories
VC Shukla
Vidya Charan Shukla, a former

Union Minister and Congress veteran
from Chhattisgarh, died on 11 June
2013 of multiple organ failure. 84
years old VC Shukla was battling with
injuries in Gurgaon Hospital after a
Maoist attack on group of Party
leaders on 25 May 2013. He was shot
three times during the Maoist trap of
a convoy of cars carrying top
Congress leaders of the state coming
from a rally in Chhattisgarhs Bastar
district.
A Brief Insight into VC
Shuklas Career
VC Shukla belonged to an old
Congress family and was one of
the famous Shukla brothers of
undivided Madhya Pradesh.
His father, Ravi Shankar Shukla,
was the first Chief Minister of
reorganised Madhya Pradesh.
At 28 years of age he won his
first Lok Sabha election.
He was elected to the Lok
Sabha nine times.
He first became a minister in
1966, when he was 37 years old,
in Prime Minister Indira Gandhis
cabinet.
He held many important
portfolios in his long career
span
which
includes
have carried out extensive

research and indigenously
developed the critical
technologies
such
as
composite rocket motors and
re-entry carbon composite heat
shield.
He has provided expertise

thrust for programmes of
national importance such as
underwater missiles, BrahMos
cruise missiles, Nag and the Air
Defence Systems.
Bollywood industry.
Communications, Home,
Defence, Finance, Planning,
Information & Broadcasting,
Civil Supplies, External Affairs,
Parliamentary Affairs and Water
Resources.
Jiah Khan
Manivannan
Tamil
actor-director
Manivannan passed away on 15 June
2013 at his residence in Chennai after
a cardiac arrest. 59 Years old
Manivannan started his career as an
Jiah Khan, the 25-year old

Bollywood actress died on 3 June
2013 at her Juhu residence in
Mumbai. She allegedly committed
suicide. Jiah Khans real name was
Nafisa Khan. She was born on 20
February 1988 in Chelsea, London.
She debuted in Ram Gopal Varmas
Nishabd, opposite veteran actor
Amitabh Bachchan in the year 2007.
She also got the Filmfare Best
Debutant
Nomination
for
Nishabd. Jiah Khan also appeared
with Aamir Khan in A R Murugadosss
Ghajini. She also starred in Sajid
Khans comedy film Housefull in
2010. Housefull was her last film. Jiah
was raised in England and later
moved to Mumbai to make a mark in
assistant with well known

director Bharathi Raja. In year 1982
he directed his first movie Gopurangal Saivathillai. He is survived by
his wife, a son and a daughter.
A Brief Insight Into
Manivannans Career
He started his showbiz career
as a writer. He penned
dialogues for projects like Tick
Tick Tick and Kathal
Ovium, Nizhalagal, and Alaigai
Oivathillai.
He has acted as a villain
i n Kodi Parakkuthu directed
by Bharathi Raja, which had
superstar Rajnikant playing
hero
89

In The News
His 50th and last directorial
venture was Nagaraja Cholan
MA, MLA,released in May 2013.
The audio launch of the movie
was his last public appearance.
He played major roles in Tamil
films such as Mudhalvan,
Sangamam and Ullathai Allitha.
Some of the films directed by
Manivannan include Pudhu
Manithan, Chinna Thambi
Periya Thambi and Jalli Kattu.
He was a political satirist, both
on and off the screen and was
a member of Naam Tamizhar
(We Tamil) group and fought
for the betterment of Sri Lankan
Tamils.
her hometown Udupi. She was

suffering from cancer. She was only
31 years old. She was the daughter
of Vasanthalakshmi and Aravinda
Hebbar.
She performed at many leading

sabhas which include prize-winning
performances at the Music Academy.
Ranjani was also the recipient of
honours such as the Kalki Award and
Isai Chudar. She is survived by her
husband, Guruprasad who is a
software engineer.
TM Soundararajan
defeating then CM Gurmukh

Singh Musafir. With the win he
became food and civil supply
minister in the coalition
government.
During his term he took some
tough decisions to ensure that
food items reached the poor
through PDS.
Dang faced his first defeat in
1980. Later, his seat was given
to his wife Vimla, who won it
back in 1992.
At the time of terrorism in
Punjab in 1980s, Dang was
vocal and active against the
forces of secession. It was he
who had then given the slogan
Na Hindurashtra, na Khalistan,
jug jug jiye Hindustan (neither
a Hindu state, nor a separate
Khalistan, long live India).
Bahukutumbi Raman
Satya Pal Dang

Tamil playback singer T M
Soundararajan died at his residence
in Chennai on 25 May 2013 after a
brief illness. He was 91 years old. He
is survived by his wife and two sons.
He had been awarded various
honours including the Padmashri and
the state governments Kalaimani. He
hailed from Madurai. He was a
playback singer for nearly four
decades in Tamil cinema. He almost
sang for all the leading actors. He had
rendered over 5000 cinema and
devotional songs. He had last sung in
the theme song of the world classical
tamil conference in 2010, composed
by AR Rahman. TMS also had sung
devotional songs, especially on Lord
Muruga, with his most famous Ullam
uruguthayya (The heart melts)
instantly evoking devotion.
Ranjani Hebber Guruprasad
Carnatic vocalist Ranjani Hebbar
Guruprasad died on 9 June 2013 in
92 years old Veteran CPI leader

Satya Pal Dang passed away in
Amritsar on 15 June 2013. Satya Pal
Dang was Born in 1920 in Gujranwala
in Pakistan and had married to Vimla,
another CPI leader, in 1952. Vimla
died in 2009. The couple was known
for their courage in raising their voices
against terrorism in Punjab.
A Brief Insight into Satya Pal
Dangs Political Career
Satya Pal Dang had contested
his first Vidhan Sabha election
in 1966-67 from Amritsar west
constituency.
He won that election after
90
Bahukutumbi Raman, who was

one of the founders of Indian
intelligence agency called Research
and Analysis Wing (RAW), passed
away on 16 June 2013 in Chennai after
a long fight with cancer. He was 77
years of age.
About Bahukutumbi Raman
Bahukutumbi Raman was a
1961 Madhya Pradesh cadre
IPS officer. He was selected by
Rameshwar Nath Kao for joining
Research and Analysis wing
(RAW) right from the time
when it was separated from
Intelligence Bureau in
September 1968.
He also remained director of

In The News
the Institute for Topical
Studies, Chennai.
B. Raman remained a critic of
the foreign policy of India.
He has authored various books
which covered subjects like

military issues of South Asia and
India, counter-terrorism as well
as security.
He also authored a journal
old Hatsheput Temple in November

1997.
Adel el-Khayat
called Kao-boys of Research

and Analysis Wing: Down
Memory Lane, in which he
wrote about his working
experience with RAW.
Rajeev Shukla
Silvio Berlusconi
A member of an Egyptian
Islamist group, Adel el-Khayat who
was linked to the terrorist massacre
of foreign holidaymakers in Luxor in
1997 had resigned his appointment
on 22 June 2013 as governor of the
city, subsequent to the outcry from
locals and tourist chiefs. The decision
of resignation was taken by Adel elKhayat in order to stop protest and
bloodshed
following
his
appointment in third week of June
2013 which provoked violent clashes
between his supporters and
opponents outside his offices. It was
Egypts new Islamist president,
Mohammed Morsi who had selected
Adel el-Khayat for the post of
Governor and is now facing criticism
of the public.
The appointment attracted
condemnation from secularists, and
outraged businessmen in Luxor, who
feared it is going to threaten the citys
efforts to rebuild itself as a tourist
centre, and lead to bans on selling
alcohol. Adel el-Khayat Khayat
belongs to the Construction and
Development party, the political arm
of Gamaa Islamiya which was blamed
for a spate of attacks in the 1990s
before it renounced violence which
is considered as worst terrorist
atrocities when its members opened
fire on tourists at Luxors 3400-year-
Former Italian Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to
seven years in prisons and a lifetime
ban on holding public office by a
lower court of Milan as he was found
guilty of soliciting sex from a minor
and abusing his powers to cover up
his actions.
Silvio Berlusconi was accused
of paying for sex on several occasions
with Moroccan-born Karima ElMahroug, a then 17-year-old dancer
and glamour girl nicknamed Ruby the
Heart Stealer. The sentence will be
suspended until all appeals process
is going to be exhausted, which itself
is likely to take several years. The
three presiding judges, all women,
handed 76 years old Berlusconi a
seven-year sentence, tougher than
the six years that prosecutors were
demanding. There is a lenient
guideline in Italy for people over the
age of 70 so it is quite evident that
Berlusconi will get some leniency in
his jail term. The trial of Berlusconi
relates to crimes committed in 2010
when Berlusconi was prime minister,
and revolves around what
prosecutors have described as erotic
parties held at his luxury residence
outside Milan.
91
Rajeev Shukla resigned as

Chairman of IPL on 1 June 2013 in
the wake of the raging spot-fixing
scandal. The resignation of Shukla
came on the eve of the emergency
meeting of the BCCI working
committee scheduled to be held in
Chennai . Rajeev Shukla was an Indian
journalist, political commentator,
television host and the Minister of
State for Parliamentary Affairs and
Planning, Government of India. He is
a Member of Parliament since 2000.
He serves as secretary of the All India
Congress Committee. Rajiv Shukla
was first appointed as the chief of IPL
at the BCCI AGM held on 18
September
2011.
Rajivs
appointment came after Chirayu
Amins decision to step down. He
was reappointed as IPL chairman in
2012.
Ajay Maken and C P Joshi

In The News
CP Joshi and Ajay Maken on 15
June 2013 resigned from Union
Cabinet of India. Before resignation,
CP Joshi was handling the portfolio
of Union Ministry of Railways as well

as Transport and Highways Ministry
and Ajay Maken was handling the
portfolio of Union Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation Ministry. Their

resignation was accepted by the
President of India, Pranab Mukherjee
on 16 June 2013.
India has Second Largest

Telephone Network in the
World
average tariff for every outgoing call

per minute for GSM services went
down from 2.89 Rupees in March
2004 to 47 paisa in December 2012.
people are left for humanitarian

assistance. Apart from all this, around
1.5 million people fled to
neighbouring countries for
protection and safety.
The Indian telecom sector

became the second largest
telephone network in the world, after
China by registering exceptional
growth during last nine years. The
reasons for growth of telecom sector
were reform measures by the
Government of India, active
participation of the private sector as
well as wireless technology.
National Telecom Policy-2012 (NTP2012) was announced with an
objective to maximise public good
by facilitating reliable, secure and
affordable telecommunication as well
as broadband services in India. When
NTP 2012 was implemented, a range
of telephonic connections increased
considerably. The telephone
connections in India till January 2013
were 893.14 million. The rural
telephone connections increased by
around 10 million in the year 2012.
Overall, the teledensity was 73.07
percent till January 2013. Rural
teledensity crossed the 40 percent
mark. Comparatively, in March 2004,
the overall teledensity was 7.04
percent while the rural teledensity
was 1.7 percent. In case of mobile
penetration, the preference of the
use of wireless telephony increased
considerably. As on 31 March 2012,
the wireless telephones increased
from 96.62 percent to 96.74 percent
by June end 2012. The share of
landline phones increased from 3.38
percent to 3.44 percent from April
to December 2012. The wireless
subscriber base also increased from
33.6 million in March 2004 to 864.72
million till December 2012. The
Syria
The United Nations committee,

World Heritage Committee placed six
world heritage sites of Syria on
endangered list in light of ongoing
conflicts in the country. These
conflicts are posing threat to the
cultural heritage of Syria.
The six world heritage sites
of Syria placed on the list of
World Heritage in Danger are:
The Ancient City of Damascus
Site of Palmyra
Ancient City of Bosra
Ancient City of Aleppo
Crac des Chevaliers and Qalat
Salah El-Din
Ancient Villages of northern
Syria
The UN Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
in its news release explained that
danger listing aims at mobilising the
support in order to safeguard these
properties which are of universal
value to humanity and are recognised
by international community. The
Syrian conflicts began in March 2011
and since then various cultural sites
in Syria have been destroyed. In
these conflicts over 93000 people
have been killed and 6.8 million
92
Sneha Singh
Sneha Singh a girl of Indian
origin and Graduate from Avon High
School, Connecticut got admission in
the prestigious United States Military
Academy at West Point. Sneha
became the first Indian woman cadet
to get entry to the United States
Military Academy, in the Academys
prestigious 211-year history. She will
join the academy on 1 July 2013 to
begin her 47 months journey that will
help her to gain the Bachelor of
Science degree and will be
commissioned as the second
lieutenant in the United States Army.
A one week, summer programme
offered by West Point to the top high
school juniors of the country was a
turning point for Sneha Singh. During
this one weeks training camp, she got
her first hand experience of Army
Life. Sneha is a naturalized American
Citizen born from parents of Indianorigin who migrated to United States
of America.
Evaluation and selection
process of United States
Military Academy at West Point
Whole Person Concept is used
for evaluating a candidate at West
Point. To avail admissions in the west
point, each candidate need to
receive a nomination from his/her
member of Congress or a Presidential
nomination (for service related
candidates). The process of
nomination involves submissions of an
extensive application package and a
formal panel interview. Even after

In The News
gaining the nominations, the
candidate need to qualify
academically, medically and a
rigorous fitness assessment and
demonstrate leadership skills. At the
end they need to pass the
background investigation through law
enforcement. Sneha Singh received
her nomination from United States
Senator Joseph Lieberman and
Connecticut
5th
District
Congressman Christopher Murphy.
school team in the world to reach the

top of the 8,848 metres (29,029 ft)
mountain range. The team now is
sheltering its aspirations to scale
Seven Summits, which is the highest
mountains of each of the seven
continents,
regarded
as
mountaineering challenge.
Oprah Winfrey
Raghav Joneja
Who is Oprah Winfrey?

Oprah Winfrey is an American
media proprietor, talk show host,
actress, producer, and philanthropist.
She is best known for her multiaward-winning talk show The Oprah
Winfrey Show which was the highestrated program of its kind in history
and was nationally syndicated from
1986 to 2011. She has been ranked
the richest African-American of the
20th century and the greatest black
philanthropist in American history.
She was also considered for a time
the worlds only black billionaire. She
is also, according to some
assessments, the most influential
woman in the world.
Ang Dami Sherpa
Raghav Joneja became the

youngest Indian to scale the Mount
Everest on 21 May 2013 when he
along with his five schoolmates
climbed the fifth highest peak in the
world. Climbing at the age of 15 years
and seven months Raghav Joneja
broke the record set by
Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba of
Manipurs, who climed the everest at
the age 16 years seven months and
11 days. The group of boys who
climbed with Raghav Joneja is all from
Lawrence School, Sanawar. With this
Lawrence became the first school in
the world to send a team to the
highest peak who joined the group
from here to the base camp for 21
days to give them moral support.
Apart from Raghav, Ajay Sohal (17)
Prithvi Chahal (17) Shubham Kaushik
(16), Fateh Brar (16) Guribadat Singh
(17) climbed the peak while one of
their teammate Hakikat Grewal had
to draw back from 27600 ft as he
faced some problems with his oxygen
mask. All through the process, the
team from one of Asias extant
boarding schools, in Kasuali, became
the youngest group and the first
Oprah Winfrey was named the

most powerful celebrity on 26 June
2013 by Forbes, among the six
women and four men who made up
to the top 10. Singer Lady Gaga came
in second, followed by director/
producer Steven Spielberg and
singers Beyonce and Madonna. 59
Years old Oprah Winfrey is said to
have made 77 million earnings
between June 2012 and June 2013.
She was also credited for her
prominence on TV, on social media
and in the press. It is important here
to note that Oprah Winfrey has
topped the list on four previous
occasions, and she is one of three
celebrities who featured on the
prestigious list every year since its
inception in 1999, along with radio
DJ Howard Stern and director Steven
Spielberg. In year 2012 Jennifer
Lopez, topped the list because of her
public profile and earnings of 52
million dollars. Lincoln director
Spielberg, Grown Woman singer
Beyonce and Madonna round out the
top five, and Taylor Swift makes her
debut on the annual list at number
six.
93
44 Years old Ang Dami Sherpa

from Nepal won the Everest Marathon
on 29 May 2013 in womens category
of Year 2013. Ang Dami Sherpa,won
the womens title in 11th TenzingHillary Everest Marathon in a timeline
of 6 hours, 2 minutes and 10
seconds. This win is counted as
Sherpas second title at the 42.2-km
race, as she already won another title
in year 2006. The Everest Marathon is
considered as one of the most
strenuous marathon events, which
starts at the Everest Base Camp at an
altitude of 5364 m, and ends at
Namche Bazaar at 3446 metres. Ang
Damis received 50000 Nepalese
Rupees (31250 Rupees) as the Prize
Money. It is important here to note

In The News
that the race was coincided with the
diamond jubilee celebrations of the
first ascent of Everest by Edmund
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The
oldest runner in the mens section
was Christopher Geiger of
Switzerland and the youngest runner
from the womens section was 18year-old Monyean Foote of Australia.
mountain in Japan. Mount Fuji, which

last erupted around 300 years ago, is
the seventeenth site in Japan to be
included on the list. Mount Fuji is
located on Honshu Island. It lies about
100 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.
It is one of Japans Three Holy
Mountains along with Mount Tate and
Mount Haku.
About Everest Marathon
Nik Wallenda
The Everest Marathon is listed

in the Guinness Book of Records as
the highest marathon in the world.
The start line is at Gorak Shep 5184m
(17000 feet)which is close to
Everest Base Camp in Nepal. The
finish line is at the Sherpa town of
Namche Bazaar at 3446m (11300
feet) and the course is a measured
42 km (26.2 miles) over rough
mountain trails. It is considered as
the worlds most spectacular race
and has been held fourteen times
since 1987. The race is a non-profitmaking venture organised by Bufo
Ventures Ltd with all profits put into
the Everest Marathon Fund, a UK
registered charity.
Mount Fuji
It was given world heritage

status by the UNESCO World
Heritage committee on 20 June 2013.
Japans highest Mountain and famous
landmark Mount Fuji on 20 June 2013
was given world heritage status by
the UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation) World Heritage
committee. The decision was taken
at the annual 10-day UNESCO
conference held in Cambodia. At
3776 metres, Mount Fuji is the highest
replaced Chris Blackhurst. Earlier,

Amol Rajan was the comment editor
of the newspaper.
Kedarnath Temple
Amol Rajan
The Chief Minister of

Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna
announced on 19 June 2013 that the
Kedarnath shrine situated in the
Himalayan ranges will remain shut
down for a minimum period of one
year, following devastation because
of early Monsoon rains. Though the
shrine is safe, but it has suffered heavy
slush. Debris in huge quantity is lying
around the shrine which is dedicated
to Lord Shiva. The debris will take one
year time period to be cleared up
completely. Situated in the hills of
Himalayas, the Kedarnath temple is
one of the holiest shrines of the
Hindus. It is one of the Char Dham of
Hindus. It is situated at a height of
3584 meters near the Chorabari
glacier. It is a popular destination for
Hindu pilgrims from all across the
world and attracts lakhs of tourists. In
the year 2012, 548166 tourists visited
Kedarnath Pilgrimage. In 2013, the
number of tourists was expected to
be somewhere around 6
lakh. Uttarakhand experienced
heavy floods because of incessant
rains in the second week of June 2013
which left more than 150 people
dead, thousands missing and
stranded.
Amol Rajan, the 29-year-yearold Indian origin journalist became

the Editor of UK national paper, The
Independent, on 17 June 2013. He
became the first non-white editor of
The Independent. Amol Rajan
Thanjavur
Union Defence Minister AK
Antony on 27 May 2013 dedicated
to the nation the New Air Force
Station at Thanjavur at a brief function
held to mark the occasion. The
Nik Wallenda, said to be the 7th

generation high-wire artist on 23 June
2013 successfully completed walking
the 2-inch thick cable across Little
Colorado River Gorge near the Grand
Canyon. He finished this walk in
merely 23 minutes. With this, he
became the first man to cross Grand
Canyon on the tightrope. The
tightrope was stretched 1500 feet
above the gorge floor. He completed
the 1400 foot long televised walk
without any safety harness or net. Nik
Wallenda, in the meanwhile, also
declared that his next tightrope walk
would be between the Empire State
building and the Chrysler building in
New York. The location of his
attempt was a site in the Navajo
Nation, which is 10 miles southeast
of the Grand Canyon in northwest
Arizona. Discovery channel
telecasted his gorge walk. In the year
2012, he made this kind of walk
across the Niagara Falls as well.
94

In The News
operationalisation of the Air Force
Station, Thanjavur is directed towards
strengthening the air defence
capabilities of the Indian Air Force in
general and the Southern Command,
in particular.
The Station will play a vital role

in protecting the various sensitive,
strategic, industrial, aerospace and
economic assets coming up in the
Southern Peninsula the Station will
also help protect our island territories
and Sea Lines of Communication in
the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). In
the emerging security scenario, the
presence of Fighter Planes in
Thanjavur helps in guarding our
interests and also giving a feeling of
safety to our neighbours.
Kanji Ram
Kanji Ram became only the
second Hindu to be part of the
Pakistans Punjab assembly after Seth
Bharta Ram who was elected a
lawmaker in 1997. Kanji Ram is
scheduled to take oath on 17 June
2013. Moreover, Saradar Ramesh
Singh Arora on 1 June 2013 became
the first ever Sikh to be elected as
the member of the House since
Pakistans creation in 1947. Ram and
Sikh representative Sardar Ramesh
Singh Arora were both nominated by
the PML-N to seats in the Punjab
Assembly reserved for non-Muslims.
Ram hails from Sadiqabad in Rahim
Yar Khan district, located 450 km
away from Lahore, while Arora
belongs to Narowal, a border district
located 80 km from Lahore. Arora took
oath during the first session of the
assembly on 1 June 2013. A sizeable
number of Hindus reside in Rahim Yar

Khan and Ram believes his elevation
as a legislator will help in addressing
the problems faced by his
community.
Jiroemon Kimura
The oldest person of the

world, Jiroemon Kimura, 116 years
Japanese man became the last male
of the 19th century in the world.
Jiroemon Kimura was given the title
of last male alive to be born in the
19th century after the death of
Barbados in the third week of May
2013 at the age of 113 years and 90
days. Gerontolgy Research Group at
University of California, Los Angeles
found out that as far as female were
concerned, there are in all 21 women
born before 1 January 1901 and they
are still alive. Most of these 19th
century women are in Japan and US,
while others are in Canada and
Europe. But amongst the male,
Jiroemon Kimura is the only alive
person of 19th century. Jiroemon
Kimura was born on 19 April 1897.
He has lived to witness the reigns of
four kings as well as 61 Japanese prime
ministers. In the year 1962, i.e., at the
age of 65 years, he retired from the
Japanese post office after serving 45
years in the office. At present, he
lives in Kyotango. The oldest living
woman of the world, Misao Okawa,
115 years old is also from Japan.
Nyoma
The highest Krishi Vigyan
Kendra (KVK) of India will be setup at Nyoma, Leh district of Jammu
and Kashmir at an altitude of
about 14000 feet. The main aim
95
of the KVK center in the location is to

improve fodder production of the
region and provide fine health care
to roaming animals in the area. It also
aims towards introducing vegetable
production under protected
environment and impart training to
women on animal care. The Nyoma
Krishi Vigyan Kendra is expected
to bring up substantial change in the
lives of the people of nearby areas.
Most of the people living in the region
are nomads and rear pashmina goats.
Promoting stable agriculture in the
region is a challenge because of the
extreme cold and dry weather here.
Harminder Dua
The Scientists from University of

Nottingham in UK, in the second week
of June 2013 discovered a new layer
in the Cornea and named it Duas
Layer after the name of an Indian
Researcher, the person responsible
for the discovery. The new layer has
been named after the name of the
professor Harminder Dua. This
discovery can help the surgeons to
improve the results of treatment of
patients who undergo corneal grafts
and transplants. Earlier scientists
believed that the cornea consists of
five layers namely Descemets
Membrane Corneal Epithelium,
Corneal Stroma, Bowmans Layer and
Corneal Endothelium. The newsly
discovered layer is located between
the Corneal Stroma and Descemets
membrane. Cornea is a protective
lens in the eyes that allows light to
enter into the eyes.
Kochi
The Chief Minister of Kerala

In The News
along with officials of the World
Economic Forum announced on 18
June 2013 that the 29th annual
meeting of the World Economic
Forum (India chapter) scheduled for
8 November 2013 and 9 November
2013 will be hosted by Kochi,
Kerala.
It is important to note that this is

the second time that annual meeting
of World Economic Forum (India
chapter) was being hosted by a state
other than Delhi. Earlier, 27 Meetings
of World Economic Forum were held
in New Delhi and once in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. This is the first time that
World Economic Forum (India
chapter) event was being planned
for South India. The World
Economic Forum (India chapter) is
an international event which will
attract around 300 delegates. The
annual meet would be attended by
96 Chief Executive Officers with
various regional heads of MNCs. Apart
from this; industry leaders, young
global leaders as well as the heads of
NGOs will also attend the meet. First
World Economic Forum (India
chapter) meeting was held in the year
1984.
version of the competition. Arvind

who hails from Bayside Hills, New
York correctly spelled knaidel, a
German-derived Yiddish word for a
small mass of leavened dough to win
the competition.
The bee tested brain power,
composure and, for the first time,
knowledge of vocabulary. Arvind
finished in third place in both 2011
and 2012, and both times, he was
eliminated on German-derived
words.This time, he got two Germanderived words in the finals, including
the winning word, eliciting groans
and laughter from the crowd. He
spelled both with ease. Thirteenyear-old Pranav Sivakumar of Tower
Lakes, Illinois, finished second. The
Scripps National Spelling Bee
(formerly the Scripps Howard
National Spelling Bee and commonly
called the National Spelling Bee) is
an annual spelling bee in the United
States, with participants from the U.S.,
Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, New
Zealand, Ghana and The Bahamas.
The National Spelling Bee was
formed in 1925.
Connaught Place
Arvind Mahankali
Indian-American
Arvind
Mahankali, after years of close calls,
won the Scripps National Spelling
Bee on 30 May 2013. It was the 86th
Connaught
Place,
the
marketplace located in Delhi has
been ranked fifth in the list of worlds
most expensive office market due to
its strong demand amid limited supply
as per the CBRE report. The reason
of Connaught place being one of the
most expensive markets is the Strong
demand coupled with Connaught
Places central location, excellent
access to key regional markets and
limited availability of prime office
space.
96
The top three Expensive

markets are:
1. Hong Kong (Central) with
annual occupancy costs of
235.23 dollars per sq ft topped
the most expensive list for the
third consecutive time.
2. Londons West End, Beijings
Finance Street
3. Beijings Jianguomen.
Connaught Place the Central
Business District (CBD) is placed at
the 5th position with an overall
occupancy cost of 178.96 dollars per
sq ft per annum. Bandra Kurla
Complex (BKC) and Nariman Point
of Mumbai are placed at 11th and
26th positions, respectively. CBRE
came to this result wit tracking of the
occupancy costs for prime office
space in 127 markets around the
globe in its semi-annual Prime Office
Occupancy Costs survey. The most
important thing that came into light is
that despite a softening in the
commercial office space segment in
key cities in India, occupancy costs
continue to remain high in prime
locations. CBRE also concluded that
gap in office occupancy cost
between the Central Business District
CBDs such as Connaught Place and a
suburb such as Gurgaon is massive.
The point is supported from the fact
that while Delhi is placed at 5th place,
Gurgaon is at the 72nd place in the
same list.
The Other Asia-Pacific
markets in the top 10 include:
Hong Kong-West Kowloon
(6th),Moscow (7th), Tokyo
(Marunouchi/Otemachi) (8th)
Londons City (9th).
New Yorks Midtown Manhattan
(10th) returned to the top ten markets
for the first time since early 2012.
Infinity Tower
The worlds tallest twisted
tower, the Infinity Tower w a s
launched in Dubai Marina on 10 June
2013. The Infinity tower features, its

In The News
unique ability of twisting to 90
degrees and the shape of the tower
being aesthetically unique also allows
reduction of the wind forces on the
tower because of its twisted shape.
Every floor of the tower is
designed in the same way and is like
a pile of books with each book
twisted slightly to get the twist and
the rectangular floors of the tower is
surrounded by a cylindrical shaft that

contains lifts.
Built over a period of eight years,

the Infinity tower has 570 residential
units, which includes 495 apartments,
with one to four bedrooms, and
penthouses. It also has retail spaces
and a spa. The 75 storey 307 meter
tall Infinity Tower has been
developed by the makers of the
tallest tower of the world, Burj
Khalifa.
IAS
PCS
by
K.UJJWAL
& Team
250 Probales a book on G.S. Available
Website : www.ujjwalias.in
E-mail : info@ujjwalias.in
97

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Selected Articles from Various Newspapers & Journals

Improper Zoning in Master
Plan Threatens Aravalli Greens
With little protection offered to
the Aravallis on account of improper
zoning in the Gurgaon Manesar
Urban Complex 2031 (GMUC-2031)
Master Plan, which drives
development in the Millennium City
and lack of notification under
protective regimes, the mountain
range now seems to be up for grabs
for builders and the land mafia, and
this has put to risk the very existence
of the city.
The undivided district of
Gurgaon has just eight per cent forest
cover and it further reduces to a
meagre two per cent within city limits.
As such for Gurgaon, the Aravallis
remain a strategic environmental
resource, both on account of their
greens and as an important
groundwater recharge zone.
In fact, there are very few areas
in the city under the forest cover and
most of these falls in the Aravalli belt
bordering New Delhi, stretching from
Nathupur to Ghata. The Aravallis have
also been identified as an excellent
groundwater recharge zone by the
Central Ground Water Board.
Therefore, the Aravallis in and around

Gurgaon are critical to the ecological
security of the city both for their
forest and groundwater recharge role.
But Gurgaon has not notified
the Aravallis under any protective
regime, unlike Delhi, which has
notified most of its Aravalli Hills as
Reserve Forest or Sanctuary such as
the Asola Bhatti Sanctuary. This
provides long term security to the
forest cover of Delhi.
All the erstwhile village
common lands falling within the city
limits have been transferred to the
Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon
[MCG] and some of them are being
privatised. The MCG and the Haryana
Government thus need to make a Plan
to notify the Aravallis under
protective regimes. It could be their
notification as Reserve Forest under
the Indian Forest Act or Wildlife
Sanctuary or National Park under the
Wildlife Protection Act. Another
option can be to notify the hill range
as Conservation Reserve as it would
allow the municipal body a say in its
management and also provide
necessary protection, explained
environmental analyst Chetan
Agarwal.
98
To its credit, the MCG had taken

a little step towards allocating land
for the Aravalli Biodiversity Park a few
years ago, but even this piece of land
is not notified under any protective
regime rendering the mere allocation
inadequate.
In addition to notification under
the protective regimes, there is
another important issue of zoning
categories in the (GMUC-2031)
Master Plan. The record of Haryana
Governments Town and Country
Planning Department is rather poor
with the initial draft GMUC-2031
Master Plan zoning the Aravallis and
other eco-sensitive areas as an
agriculture zone allowing a window
of opportunity for change in land use
later and the blatant misuse of forest
land for real estate activities.
The finally notified Plan,
however, was a slight improvement
in the wake of serious objections filed
by concerned citizens and the parts
of the hill range were zoned
differently as biodiversity park, forest
zone within the agriculture zone,
natural conservation zone and the
special zone.
But there are several problems
with this zoning as well. For instance,


the forest area is part of the
agriculture zone where all kinds of
real estate activities are allowed.
Ideally, it should have been a
standalone open space zone. The
zoning regulations for the forest area
are mentioned in the passing in the
text of the Plan and not in the
annexures and the appendixes
which are binding. Further, the
natural conservation area still allows
some amount of development, said
Mission Gurgaon Development
treasurer Colonel S. Oberoi.
The uncertainty for forests is
exemplified by the text of the final
development plan of the GMUC
2031 which states: It is pertinent to
mention that though the area notified
under Section 4 and/or 5 of the
Punjab Land Preservation Act and
areas under the Aravalli Plantation are
not forest per se but the same have
been considered as forest in terms of
the orders of Supreme Court of
India till the same are modified.
In addition, the Plan states that
it is awaiting the final identification
of forests by the Forest Department
as well as identification of wildlife
corridors. It is anyones guess whether
any of these areas would survive the
delay, said Colonel Oberoi.
These provisions of the GMCU2031 are in serious contravention to
the Aravalli Notification, 1992, and
the environmental chapter of the
Regional Plan 2031 prepared by the
National Capital Region Planning
board, which disallows any
construction in the Aravallis.
Lack of protective zoning and
proper notification of the Aravallis is
the most critical forest issue facing
the Millennium City. It is only when
this mountain range is locked as forest
or conserved areas that we can think
of a safe future for the city. If not, it
may just be a matter of time before
the land sharks grab the last possible
piece of this forest in their quest for
narrow commercial gains at the cost
of the environment, summed up
Latika Thukral of iamgurgaon.
Courtesy-The Hindu
One big step towards peace

Secretary John Kerry has
demonstrated courage and wisdom
in abandoning his predecessors
insistence on President Bashar alAssads departure as a precondition
to talks for a political solution to the
Syrian crisis, thereby bringing the
American position closer to that of
Russia and many others, including
India. He has to go a step further and
drop objection to Irans participation
in the Geneva II conference. Iran has
more than convincingly established
its potential to prolong the conflict; it
should be given an opportunity to
play a constructive role.
When the Arab Spring sprouted
some shoots in Syria in the spring of
2011, it was immediately seized upon
by Israel, the United States and Syrias
Sunni neighbours to get rid of the
Assad regime the first set of
countries to break the TehranDamascus axis and the neighbours to
replace a Shia dispensation in
Damascus by a Sunni one, however
fundamentalist. There was thus
congruence a term much in use
these days of interests among
regional and extra-regional players.
Israel & Iran

For Israel, the ouster of the
regime in Damascus would be of
immense benefit. It would greatly
weaken Irans clout in the region.
Anything that debilitates Iran is of
enormous importance to Israel, given
the portrayal of Iran as posing an
existential threat to the Jewish state.
Hizbullah, with its massive arsenal of
missiles and rockets which can reach
Tel Aviv, will have its lifeline
disrupted, if not irreparably
breached; one of the main reasons
for Israels restraint in dealing with
Irans nuclear threat is the capability
of Hizbullah to inflict considerable
damage to Israel in the event of an
Israeli attack on Iran.
For Syrias neighbours, it was an
opportunity, not to be missed, to tilt
the regional sectarian balance
decisively against the Shias. The loss
99
of the Alawite regime would be a

huge psychological blow to Shias and
an equal boost to Sunnis everywhere.
For that very reason, the two Shia
regimes in the region, Iran and Iraq,
were always expected to do their
utmost to send succour to the Assad
regime. The Hizbullah, which has
everything to lose in the event of Mr.
Assads fall has, unsurprisingly,
decided to jump into the fray. The
Shia-Sunni sectarian divide, ever
present but significantly reignited
since the American invasion of Iraq
in March 2003, has attained a level of
intensity which will be extremely
difficult to contain in the years ahead.
All of Syrias neighbours, including
Israel, have become involved, and
not necessarily against their wishes.
These developments, including
the very real possibility of hard line
Islamist groups gaining power in
Damascus in the post-Assad scenario,
were easily anticipatable, and were
anticipated by this writer and many
others. But the temptation to get rid
of Mr. Assad was so great that any
price was worth it, including the
contingency of having to live with an
Islamist government in Damascus. No
doubt, the West likewise knew how
events would unfold, though now it
would like us to believe that things
have not turned out as per its
calculations. The most inexcusable
mistake the western countries made
was to assume that the Assad regime
would fall within weeks of the
beginning of the protests. Was this
wishful thinking? Or, were they
victims of their own propaganda?
The Russian decision to send
missiles and other military equipment
to Syria should not have surprised
anyone. Several Sunni states have
been openly arming the rebels since
almost the beginning, with the
approval of the international
community; why should the Russian
action to help the other side in the
civil war be treated differently? Civil
wars have always attracted external
players to back opposing sides; why
should Syria be an exception?


It did not call for great analytical
skill to recognise that making
diplomatic initiatives conditional on
the prior departure of Mr. Assad was
never going to work. The rebels could
be excused for sticking to this line,
since their strategy was to get the
West more actively engaged on their
side, such as by enforcing a no-fly
zone, sending material and even men
to the war zones, etc. (This was
exactly the strategy of the Bosnian
Muslims during the Bosnian civil war.)
Syrias Sunni neighbours also
were not prepared to countenance
the idea of talks with the Damascus
regime for sectarian reasons. But if the
concern of other external players
with the huge loss of lives in Syria was
genuine, they had every reason not
to insist on the precondition for Mr.
Assads departure, as well as to
persuade the rebels and their
regional supporters not to insist on it.
Use of nerve gas

Carla del Ponte, member of the
U.N. commission of inquiry on Syria,
said a few weeks ago that there was
strong, concrete suspicion that the
rebels had used nerve gas sarin. The
western
countries
were
understandably disappointed by the
statement of Ms del Ponte and largely
ignored it; had she said the same
about the Assad regime, the uproar,
and clamour for strong action against
the regime by the U.S., whose
President had repeatedly said that
the use of this weapon would be a
game changer, can easily be
imagined. This is merely to point out
the obvious and not to criticise
anyone of practising double
standards, since every country is
guilty of it sometime or the other.
There is a civil war within civil
war in Syria. The Grand Coalition,
cobbled together at the command
of the former Secretary of State, was
never going to present a unified and
effective leadership. Various militia
groups are fighting among
themselves. Mr. Assad, who is
enjoying relative military advantage
at present, is making belligerent
statements. He should know that

great powers do not blink for a
moment before deciding to reverse
their positions; they really do not have
permanent friends.
The Lavrov-Kerry call for
Geneva II offers the only realistic
chance to work for a political
settlement, since it leaves open the
possibility for both principal Syrian
parties to participate. The difficulty
is more on the rebel side, since there
are nearly 150 rebel groups involved
in the civil war, the most effective and
disciplined of which are diehard
islamists and al Qaeda-affiliated. The
Syrian national coalition is a house
divided, with different factions
unable to reach a consensus on
whether and who should participate
in Geneva. The hardliners are insisting
on prior departure of Mr. Assad,
which even the U.S. has wisely
decided not to insist on. Secretary
Kerry is making strenuous effort to
persuade the coalition to attend
Geneva. The Damascus regime has
already indicated its willingness to do
so. Refusal by the rebels will give an
enormous political advantage to the
regime as well as to Russia and Iran.
The Bitter Pill

The rebels are hesitating
because as of present, the regime has
gained an upper hand in the fighting;
no one wants to negotiate from a
position of weakness. On balance, the
coalition can be expected to
swallow the bitter pill and decide to
go to Geneva for one simple reason.
If it does not, it will forfeit the
possibility of getting enhanced
military assistance. If it can
demonstrate in Geneva the skill to put
the blame for the likely failure of the
talks on the regime, it will have a far
better prospect of benefiting from
the European decision to lift the arms
embargo and Americans willing to
supply lethal equipment.
Zvi Barel, an Israeli expert on
such matters, wrote recently: the
Syrian civil war is likely to continue
for years and lead to violent spillovers
to neighbouring countries the
100
initiative to determine when and if to

set off the regional powder keg has
fallen into Assads hands. This is the
reason, Barel suggests, the U.S. has
agreed to leave Mr. Assad in power
as long as negotiations will be
conducted with the rebels.
If Geneva II happens, India
should ask to be invited. Our
participation would be in line with
our official line that the solution
should be political and Syrian
owned. We will be in good company
and we would be seen to be active
in a region where we have vital
interests.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A Race Towards
Climate Catastrophe
When Brian Lara scored a
scintillating 400 not out in Antigua in
April 2004, it seemed his score would
remain unchallenged for the
foreseeable future. But we now have
another player on the scene who has
scored 400, and threatens to go past
that number effortlessly carbon
dioxide (CO{-2}); CO{-2}levels in the
atmosphere touched 400 parts per
million (ppm) on May 9. Its symbolic
significance is huge, its actual import
is even bigger, for three reasons.
Impact on life cycles

One, the recent pace at which
CO{-2}levels have been rising to
reach 400 ppm. When Charles
Keeling [the worlds leading authority
on atmospheric greenhouse gas
accumulation and climate science
pioneer]
began
measuring
atmospheric CO{-2}in March 1958,
and through the 1960s, CO{2}emissions were found to be rising
at a little over half a ppm a year. The
world economy was at a much lower
level than today notwithstanding
post-War growth, and carbon
emissions were commensurately
lower. By the late 1990s this had
changed, spurred primarily, but not
exclusively, by the shifting of
manufacturing to China, and
capitalisms desire to cut costs of
energy inputs and labour. CO{-2}rise


in the first decade of this century
made the collective jaw of climate
scientists drop. Despite the world
economic crisis since 2007, annual
carbon dioxide emissions from
burning fossil fuels have been rising
in recent years, to 32 billion tonnes
(plus another four billion tonnes from
deforestation and even more of other
gases). Eight billion tonnes of CO{2}in the atmosphere equals 1 ppm.
So even though the Earth absorbs
is being forced to absorb twice as
much CO{-2}(roughly 17-18 billion
tonnes a year currently) as it used to
50 years ago, atmospheric CO{2}levels have been galloping three
times as fast, at a little over two ppm a
year for the last decade.
This is 20,000 times the longterm natural rate at which carbon
dioxide has gone into and out of the
atmosphere as part of the carbon
cycle. A consequence, usually
rendered invisible as we tend to be
so anthropocentric, is the oceans
getting more acidic, with harmful
effects on corals and some marine
species.
This pace of emissions and
consequent warming is also making it
increasingly difficult for ecosystems
and species to adapt. A metasurvey
by Prof. Camille Parmesan [University
of Texas, Austin] of 866 published
studies reported species across the
world struggling to cope with
disruptions in the life cycles of
predators and prey, of insect
pollinators and flowering plants. Birds
are laying their first eggs earlier. As
their habitat gets warmer, other
species are trying to move away from
the Equator or climb higher.
Consequently, mountaintop and
polar species have suffered
contractions in their range or been
the first groups in which whole
species have gone extinct due to
recent climate change.
Two, as we reach 400 ppm and
beyond, we are going farther away
from safe levels of CO{-2}. Albeit a
minority view, but a growing one, safe
has been deemed as 350 ppm or
lower. In its first articulation in 2008,
[leading climate scientist] James

Hansen and others wrote that if
humanity wishes to preserve a planet
similar to that on which civilization
developed and to which life on Earth
is adapted, CO{-2}will need to be
reduced to at most 350 ppm, but
likely less than that (Target
Atmospheric CO{-2}: Where Should
Open
Humanity
Aim?, The
Atmospheric Science Journal , 2008,
2, pp. 217-31). This paper provides
the intellectual basis for the
worldwide campaign to reduce CO{2}, headed by the organisation,
350.org.
Temperature regulator
Three, the influence of CO{2}levels on the Earths temperatures
and hence climate over the past 50
million years should give us pause.
I n The Long Thaw (Princeton
2009), Professor David Archer, who
works on the global carbon cycle at
the University of Chicago, writes: The
similarity between CO{-2}and
temperature in [the] Antarctica is jawdropping, a causal link he says thats
even stronger than that between
smoking and lung cancer, kind of a
gold standard in the medical world.
Falling CO{-2}levels contributed to
the formation of ice caps on the
Antarctic 34 million years ago. As
CO{-2}levels fell further, to roughly
240 ppm three million years ago,
temperatures fell in their wake
sufficiently for ice to form in the
Arctic. Thats why Arctic ice is now
the first to go. I have not come across
any work on the potential impact of
ice-free Arctic summers on Indias
climate, but you can bet your last
rupee they will be considerable. CO{2}was also one of two big factors in
the Earth moving in and out of Ice
Age glacials over the past 2.5 million
years. It is this regulator of the Earths
temperature that we have been
shortsightedly fiddling with, and
pushed beyond the realms of human
experience.
We dont want to go much
beyond 400 ppm. CO{-2}has one
quality of the other great batsman of
101
the last 25 years longevity. A

significant portion of CO{-2}emitted
remains in the atmosphere for several
millennia. Climate change is also
largely irreversible for a thousand
years after emissions stop.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Bridging the
Soldier-scholar Divide
HARSH V. PANT
Last month, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh laid the foundation
for the nations first defence
university at Binola in Gurgaon which
is expected to be fully operational
by 2018. Dr. Singh expressed his
hope that when completed, the
Indian National Defence University
(INDU) will become [a] world class
institution of higher defence studies
in which we will be able to take
justifiable pride. Given the dismal
state of other institutions of higher
learning in India, this might be a tall
order but at least a first step has been
taken towards establishing INDU, a
project that has been part of the
national discourse for decades now.
Though various committees had
recommended the setting up of a
national defence university, the
government had been dragging its
feet on the project. Things are finally
moving now but it will be quite some
time before INDU is up and running.
Outside templates
The nature of the challenges
facing defence in the 21st century
emphasises the vital requirement of
education in a military officers
career. While a key strength of the
military organisation is its
cohesiveness, underpinned by
doctrine and systems, it is also true
that the challenges posed by the use
of military force in the world today
require officers who can think and act
independently of templates or
formulaic
guidelines.
These
challenges flow from changes in the
strategic environment driven by
social, economic and political factors
which in turn affect the character of
warfare and, by extension, security


as a whole. As a consequence, there
is a need to focus on enhancing the
level of Professional Military
Education (PME) in India.
More art than science

The aims of modern PME should
be to: develop the military officers
knowledge and understanding of
defence in the modern world;
demand critical engagement with
current research and advanced
scholarship on defence and its
relationship with the fields of
international relations, security
studies, military history, war studies
and operational experience;
encourage a systematic and
reflective
understanding
of
contemporary conflicts and the issues
surrounding them; promote initiative,
originality,
creativity
and
independence of thought in
identifying, researching, judging and
solving fundamental intellectual
problems in this area of study, and
develop relevant, transferable skills,
especially communication, use of
information
technology
and
organisation and management of the
learning process. Indian PME lacks
every single one of these dimensions.
A key point to note about the
development and application of
knowledge in the military context is
that it is generally considered an art
rather than a science because
warfare is essentially a human and
social activity. There seems to be a
virtual consensus that there is no
single optimal solution to a particular
military problem. Moreover, the
inherent complexity of warfare makes
it impossible to derive universal laws
of war and, even if they could be
derived, the way they would be
applied and acted on would depend
on the human interpretation of
individual leaders.
Notwithstanding some debate
on the issue, the overwhelming
consensus is that the analytical tools
and assumptions for theory-building
in the military setting should be
derived from the social rather than
the natural sciences. As a military
professional, the quality of abstract

and theoretical analysis will
increasingly underpin the utility and
value of the armed forces to its clients
(government and society). And it is
here that PME in India continues to
lag behind most spectacularly. This
needs to be rectified with some
urgency if India wants to produce
military officers who are capable of
operating in a highly complex
security environment.
Knowledge terrain
It is the task of not only the
soldier but the state and the society
at large as well to study war, to think
about it, to consider it in all its multiple
guises, assessing its different
constituents, its causes and
consequences. After all, if we want
peace, we need to be prepared for
war. And in order to be best prepared
for it, we first need to understand it
well. This will be especially true of
the emerging strategic environment
where understanding the knowledge
terrain will be as important for future
soldiers as knowing the geography or
topology of the battlefield was in the
past.
The Indian military needs to
evolve a culture of independent
strategic thinking on an urgent basis,
one that allows its soldiers to
comprehend national security in all
its various dimensions. The setting up
of INDU is a long-awaited step that
can help it in achieving this goal if it is
led and structured professionally.
Otherwise, there is a danger that
excessive political interference,
bureaucratic inertia and inter-services
rivalry might end up making it another
substandard institution of higher
learning that dot the national
landscape.
And that would be a real
tragedy because as [Greek historian
and Athenian general] Thucydides
once suggested, the nation that
makes great distinction between its
scholars and its warriors will have its
thinking done by cowards and its
fighting done by fools.
Courtesy-The Hindu
102
Beyond the scorecard, the

judicial system needs
mending
Judicial inefficiency takes
several forms and a reluctance in
delivering judgments, as V.
Venkatesan has noted in his article
i n The Hindu(editorial page,
Judges have to watch their
scorecard, May 27, 2013), is one
among them. In Anil Rai v. State of
Bihar (2001), the Supreme Court
prescribed a procedural solution for
delay in pronouncing judgment.
Accordingly, if the High Court
reserves a case for judgment and if it
does not come out, the appearing
counsel can initially file a petition for
early pronouncement of judgment.
Such applications should be posted
before the said bench and if they do
not yield result, a petition to change
the bench could be filed. But even
theAnil Rai formula would be of no
use with a judge who does not
reserve a case for judgment at all.
However, judicial inefficiency
has individual and institutional facets.
Even individual issues are essentially
institutional issues and vice versa. At
the same time, as implied in the
article, the system shows itself out,
through individuals. The correlation
is well explained by Prof. B.O.
Nwabueze in his celebrated
w o r k , Constitutionalism in the
Emergent States :
Experience
has
amply
demonstrated that the greatest
danger to a constitutional
Government in emergent states arises
from the human factor in politics, from
the capacity of politicians to distort
and vitiate whatever Governmental
forms may be devised. Institutional
forms are of course important, since
they can guide for better or for worse
the behavior of the individuals who
operate them. Yet, however carefully
the institutional forms may have been
constructed, in the final analysis,
much more will turn upon the actual
behavior of these individuals upon
their willingness to observe the rules,
upon statesman-like acceptance that


the integrity of the whole
Government framework and the
regularity of its procedures should
transcend
any
personal
aggrandizement.
What is said about political
institutions is all the more true of
judicial institutions. However, the
men at the helm of judicial affairs are
not elected, but selected. This is why
the institutional scheme of selection
and evaluation of performance attains
greater significance in the judiciary
than in other branches of
constitutional democracy.
allegations in the complaint is

generally prohibited and secrecy in
the matter is ensured. The right to
information is discarded and
procedural hurdles are intensified.
Ultimately, other than to recommend
prosecution, or to request the
delinquent judge to resign, no
effective action against the erring
judge is contemplated. True, there is
reiteration of the impeachment
mechanism, but this is a device that
has been proved ineffective and
outdated.
Collegium system
Unless there is a duly

constituted National Judicial
Commission and a Performance
Commission with a participative
character, the institutional solutions
to the present issues will remain
unreal.
As Mr. Venkatesan rightly says,
judges should watch their scorecard.
But who will prepare the scorecard
and what are the parameters to be
adopted? The Indian Courts have
(wrongly) taken the view that
comparison of individual virtues and
deficits on the bench would invite
contempt. However, it is only public
criticism, especially by the media and
intellectuals, which ensures the
probity of the system. As Bentham put
it, In the darkness of secrecy sinister
interest, and evil in every shape, have
full swing... Publicity is the soul of
justice. It is the keenest spur to
exertion and the surest of all guards
against improbity. It keeps the judge
himself while trying, under trial.
A comprehensive and basic

reform is very much due in the justice
delivery system in the country and it
should start from ensuring fairness,
transparency and propriety in judicial
appointments. The fallacy of the
collegium system is widely known
and the question of its propriety is a
matter now referred to a larger
constitutional bench as per the
Supreme Court order of April 2011.
The correctness of the judgments
that invented the collegium system
in the 2nd judges case (AIR 1991 SC
128) and 3rd judges case (AIR 1999
SC 1) will have to be examined by
the larger bench. However, this has
yet to happen. The cabinet decision
to review the collegium system is also
being kept in abeyance for
unknown reasons. Thus, the reform
process has again come to a standstill,
and happening in a country with the
most powerful Supreme Court in the
world.
The legislative delay in
promulgating a statute on judicial
accountability is also equally
disturbing. Though Bill No.136/2010
was placed before the Lok Sabha on
December 1, 2010, it remains in cold
storage. Even the proposed Bill
contemplates judge-dominated
committees, which lack participative
character. There are other problems
with the Bill too. It has provisions to
punish the complainant, if the
complaint is found to be
irresponsible. Publication of
Need for commission
(Quoted in Scott v.Scott (1911) All

ER 1)
Max Boot, a former editor
o n The Wall Street Journal ,
authored a book on the judicial
system in America with an
unambiguous title, Out of Order:
Arrogance,
Corruption
and
Incompetence on the Bench .
Would such a book be possible here?
In India, only a section of the media
shows democratic vigilance and
journalistic courage in issues related
103
to legal reforms. The Hindu h a s

been playing a proactive and positive
role in this regard. But the tragedy is
that, at the decision-making level, we
have failed to formulate and
implement radical reform strategies
and,
therefore,
individual
incompetence has become an
integral part of the system.
Courtesy-The Hindu
When the Ganga descends

Had the elemental fury of flash
floods not rained down on
Uttarakhand last week, June 18 (June
19, according to some almanacs),
would have been a day of festivity
and ritual for Hindu devotes across
north India. They would have relived
the mythology of the Gangas
descent from heaven to earth with a
dip in its waters at various pilgrimage
centres.
Ganga Dussehra celebrated
on the tenth day of the waxing moon
in the third month of the Hindu
almanac usually coincides with the
opening up of ice-bound holy sites
such as Kedarnath, Badrinath, and
Gangotri.
This time, however, the
sweeping devastation along the
banks of the Ganga in Uttarakhand,
with Kedarnath feeling its full force,
swiftly transformed the mood from
celebration to mourning.
In the midst of so much grief,
how do we reflect on the mythology
of Gangas descent in a way that it
enables us to comprehend a tragedy
of this magnitude, and perhaps
relearn a relationship between
human and nature that is lifeaffirming. For that to happen, it is
necessary to look beyond the veil of
ritual surrounding this myth. At its
core, this mythology is made up of
aspects which have been integral to
peoples ways of life in mountains,
lived in full awareness of the towering
presence of nature.
Two narratives
The myth of Gangas descent
contains two very different narratives.
The first part is a narrative of power.


At its simplest, the story of Gangas
descent starts on a note of hubris, with
a proud king called Sagara whose
ambition is to conquer the world. As
it becomes clear that there are few
to rival Sagara, the gods above
intervene. Sagaras 60,000 arrogant
sons (all born of one of his wives) are
reduced to ash by the wrath of sage
Kapila for having disrupted his
meditation. King Sagara dies of grief.
For his sons, now mere heaps of
impure ash, there is no salvation for
generations on end.
Then, Bhagiratha (descended
from the son of Sagaras second wife)
ascends the throne, and from here
the narrative of the myth changes
track. Deeply stirred by the fate of
his ancestors, he leaves his throne to
undergo two long and increasingly
severe penances in the Himalayas.
The gods are pleased. Thus Ganga
descends from heaven to be caught
in the locks of Shiva, who alone can
withstand her tempestuous force.
Bhagiratha performs his third
penance, whereupon Shiva releases
Ganga in several streams. Ganga
follows Bhagiratha across mountains,
forests and plains to the end of the
world where his ancestors remains
lie. Midway, the wilful Ganga scatters
sage Jahnus sacrificial offerings and
he swallows her up in rage. Bhagiratha
performs one more penance to have
her released yet again, showing
enormous reserves of persistence.
Finally, Bhagiratha leads her to
his ancestors ashes at Ganga Sagar.
Having purified their ashes and paved
their way to heaven, Ganga
disappears into the ocean.
Origins of a name
Thats how the originating head
stream of the Ganga gets its name
Bhagirathi, say people, the other
major headstream of the Ganga
being the Alaknanda. These two
headstreams, nourished by several
others (such as the Mandakini, flowing
alongside Kedarnath) come together
as the Ganga, which flows across the
plains until it reaches the Bay of
Bengal.
The myth of Gangas descent

resonates at different levels in the
lives of the people of Uttarakhand.
At one level, the story of Ganga
getting tangled in Shivas locks or
inexplicably disappearing seems
entirely believable in a geological
landscape that has seen rivers
changing course, or getting blocked
swallowed by tectonic
disturbances.
In a wonderfully layered article
written in 1994, well-known writer,
poet and cultural theorist Pria Devi
pointed out an interesting ecological
aspect of Ganga Dussehra: It falls at
the leanest moment in the annual
cycle of the river, at the precise
moment when, before the rains, she
begins to swell with snowmelt at her
source. It is as if the Ganga comes
down from the heavens every year.
At another level, this story
provides the alluvium of cultural
resources for a society to shape its
ecology of existence. That is, if one
stays connected to its core. Thus, in a
land where nature resists all attempts
at domination or subjugation, it is
Bhagiratha, not Sagara with his goal
of world conquest, who emerges as a
heroic figure, articulating a different
narrative of power. The qualities
emblematic of this valorous figure: his
powers of persistence, humility, and
selflessness.
Pria Devi puts it succinctly:
What distinguishes Bhagiratha and
explains his great popularity as a
culture hero, is his non-violence, and
his remarkable patience. He is quite
clear about means and ends. His ends
are selfless. It is not his own moksha
that he seeks. Equally, he will not seek
his ends by applying his will
outwardly as a force.
He turns inwards....By the
integrity of his self-government he
compels outward sanction to his inner
motives. This strand of cultural
memory can be a potent resource for
resistance, for it implies that notions
of conquest of humans or nature
be replaced by the idea of conquest
of the self and its excess appetites,
whether it is an individual, or society.
104
Cultural memory
Like a river this cultural memory
flows through space and time now
a subterranean existence, now a
rapid current over ground. And when
it does surface, it lays bare
civilisational faultlines such as an
exclusionary narrative of power
impervious to the political ecology of
inclusive instincts. In postindependence India, this cultural
memory surfaced in the 1970s to
herald a new phase of protest
environmental resistance that one
might term a Bhagiratha prayas (the
Hindi equivalent for Herculean
effort). This phase was accompanied
by the articulation of a whole new
discourse
of
Constitutional
guarantees such as equality and
citizenship emerging from the
margins of the Republic, from the
Narmada valley to present-day
Niyamgiri hills.
In Uttarakhand, too, the past
four decades have seen noteworthy
movements of environmental
resistance built on this principle, such
as the 1970s Chipko movement
spearheaded by village women like
Gaura Devi, which is considered
Indias first green movement. From
the 1970s to the 1990s, Gandhian
activist and environmentalist
Sunderlal Bahuguna through long
fasts, and many others such as
Professor Vinod K. Gaur and other
experts of Himalayan geology,
questioned the long term impact of
big dams such as Tehri (built on the
Bhagirathi), on the fragile ecological
balance of the Uttarakhand region.
As for the Ganga, listed among the
10 most endangered rivers of the
world by the Worldwide Fund for
Nature, it still awaits the collective
conscience of a Bhagiratha to come
back to life.
Role of greed
The qualities symbolised by
Bhagiratha also exist as part of larger
contemporary discourses, when we
speak of sustainable development,
disparities within nations and
between hemispheres, or limiting


consumption by putting a leash on
gluttony.
The story of Bhagiratha and
Ganga is as relevant today, if not more.
As news filters in of the near totality
of
natures
devastation
in
Uttarakhand, it is becoming clear that
humans have played their part in
exacerbating the sheer scale of the
disaster in terms of lives lost and
property destroyed. Unchecked
construction
and
increasing
encroachment on the flood plains of
the Ganga to accommodate more
and more residential buildings, hotels
and tourist rest houses in the name of
development, have extracted a huge
human cost for a Sagara-like conquest
of the environment.
Similarly, in the aftermath of the
1991 Uttarkashi earthquake, experts
had pointed to the man-made factors
responsible
for
large-scale
destruction: the explosion of
inappropriate building techniques
and materials in the march to modern
progress frequently accompanied
with a disdainful neglect of local
wisdom. Over the years the nature of
protest may have changed, but the
issues of entrenched interests vis-avis forest, mineral and water
resources still remain; on the contrary,
they have become more acute.
Due to a range of factors, the
catastrophe which brought forth a
terrifying side to the Ganga not
witnessed in recent times, occurred
around the time of Ganga Dussehra.
Yet seen in conjunction, the
disaster and the mythology seem to
be pointing to the same truth: ritual
observance on an appointed day may
be important, but is certainly not
enough. It is equally significant to
internalise the essential spirit and
reality of the story of Bhagiratha and
Ganga, and, for that, the pact
between the self-reflexive human
and nature needs to be revived.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Natural Gas Price Hike

The government, on the basis
of a very questionable methodology,
has doubled the price payable to
natural gas producers. Through this

decision as with a similar one in 2009,
the government has compromised
economic reasoning at the altar of
crony capitalism and political
expediency. In the absence of a
homogeneous gas market which
throws up a market price, the only
option should have been for an
independent, professional and quasijudicial regulator to compute effi
ciency-based costs and determine
the price on the basis of a reasonable
return. Instead, a Group of Ministers
has taken a decision which could
transfer up to Rs 26,000 crore a year
to producers, especially one private
company.
The government, on the basis
of a very questionable methodology,
has doubled the price payable to
natural gas producers. Through this
decision as with a similar one in 2009,
the government has compromised
expediency. In the absence of a
homogeneous gas market which
throws up a market price, the only
option should have been for an
independent, professional and quasijudicial regulator to compute
efficiency-based
costs
and
determine the price on the basis of a
reasonable return. Instead, a Group
of Ministers has taken a decision
which could transfer up to Rs 26,000
crore a year to producers, especially
one private company.
April 2014. On 27 June, the
Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA) decided to increase
the price of natural gas from the
Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin and
other areas on the basis of Rangarajan
Committees recommendations from
the existing level of $4.20 per million
British thermal units (MMBTU) to $8.4
per MMBTU, effective from 1
Facing all-round opposition, the
union government defended the
decision by saying that in the absence
of remunerative prices, no investment
had been made in domestic
exploration and production, resulting
in a fall in natural gas production from
105
143 million standard cubic metres

per day (mmscmd) in 2010-11 to
111.44 mmscmd in 2012-13
(Hindu 2013). This, in turn, led to a
sharp rise in expensive liquefied
natural gas (LNG) imports, threatening
Indias energy security. According to
the government, even the new and
higher price would still be below the
international gas price. The
government also hinted that both the
affected consuming sectors, namely,
electricity and fertilisers would be
subsidised. Earlier, the union minister
for petroleum had criticised all those
who opposed the gas price hike as
belonging to an import lobby.
Bonanza for Producers

The gas price hike has given an
unearned bonanza for gas producers,
especially the one private company
in the KG Basin whose persistent
overtures, threats and pressures
pushed the government into taking
such an imprudent decision.
Assuming that the concerned
company will produce 80 mmscmd
as originally promised, the latest price
increase would give it an annual
largesse of Rs 26,000 crore! If the
rupee continues to depreciate in the
coming years, the dent on the public
exchequer would be far more
debilitating.
To understand the dynamics of
decision-making on gas pricing, one
should look at the track record of
implementation of the Production
Sharing Contract (PSC) in the KG
Basin. In 2006, the franchisee
company declared to the regulator
that the franchised area had 11.3
trillion cubic feet (tcf) of probable
gas reserves and the company would
produce 80 mmscmd, on the basis of
an approved development plan
involving drilling of 50 wells and
investing $8.8 billion, which, in terms
of the PSC, would be reimbursed later
by adjustment against the gas sales
revenue as the first charge (CAG
2012, Chapter 4). The gas discovery
had generated an all-round euphoria.
Thousands of small investors invested
their savings in the companys equity.


Several power companies invested
heavily on downstream gas-based
electricity generation facilities. The
companys shares looked up.
After the power plants were set
up, gas production started dipping,
going even below 20 mmscmd,
forcing the power plants to idle. This,
in turn, triggered a serious power
crisis in Andhra Pradesh and
elsewhere. In a way, the fall in the
countrys gas production from 143
mmscmd in 2010-11 to 111.44
mmscmd in 2012-13, as referred to
by the government, was largely
accounted for by the production
shortfall in the KG Basin itself.
In June 2012, the companys
Canadian partner revealed that the
gas resources in the basin would be
only 1.93 tcf (Indian Express 2012)
implying that the originally declared
reserve figure was overstated by a
factor of five! This created a serious
setback to small investors whose
savings were locked up in the
companys equity. In terms of the
PSC, the government should have
penalised the company for the
cutbacks in reserve estimation and
shortfall in production. The
government not only acquiesced in
these contractual infringements but
also allowed the company to violate
Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of the PSC which
required the company to relinquish a
certain proportion of the exploration
area at the end of each phase of
exploration. The government thus
became a willing party to a series of
contractual infringements committed
by the company.
Lobbying for a Higher Gas Price

Instead of being on the
defensive, the company, knowing
well the frailties of the government,
made it appear as if the government
was to be blamed for its own failures.
It continued to place heavy and
sometimes unreasonable demands
on the government, including the
demand for a steep hike in the gas
price. The price of $4.20/MMBTU
applicable to gas from the KG Basin
till the end of March 2014 was in itself
based
on
a
questionable
methodology, as explained below.
The company also placed several
obstacles in the way of the
Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) of India carrying out a
comprehensive
audit
of
implementation of the PSC.
It is interesting to see how the
company had stepped up its
campaign to obfuscate its past failures
and build up a frenzy to prompt a
willing government into deciding on
the next big gas price hike.
Whether it is by coincidence or
otherwise, every time a conscientious
union petroleum minister tried to
discharge his legitimate responsibility
of overseeing enforcement of the
PSC, he would be replaced by
another, making it clear that when it
came to dealing with influential
industrial houses strict compliance
with the contract would never be on
the agenda of the reform friendly
government.
In June 2013, the Canadian
partner of the franchisee company
announced a new discovery in D6
Block in the KG Basin and a
consequential upgrading of the gas
reserve by 160%, which pushed up
the share values of the producer
companies once again (NDTV
Profit.com 2013). It is significant that
this announcement more or less
coincided with the decision of the
Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas
to overrule the Director General of
Hydrocarbons on a proposal that the
producer should relinquish 86% of
the franchise area as per the PSC (PTI
2013). It also coincided with the
latest decision of the government to
consider the Rangarajan Committee
report and increase the price of gas.
The government simultaneously
argued that a higher price of gas
would automatically incentivise the
gas developers to make additional
investments and add to the countrys
capacity to produce gas, which was
a dubious proposition.
According to press reports prior
to the CCEA meeting ( Indian
106
Express, 26 June 2013), it looked as

though the petroleum ministry would
moderate the impact of the
Rangarajan
Committees
recommended price and settle at
$6.77/MMBTU. At the CCEA meeting,
however, apparently, there was an
intense pressure for a higher price.
After all, an increment of $1.63 over
and above $6.77/MMBTU would
yield an unearned bonanza of more
than Rs 10,000 crore! Why deprive
the company of it? That is how the
CCEA seemed to have decided on a
price of $8.40/MMBTU. One should
not be surprised if the actual price
charged with effect from 1 April 2014
works out to be more than $8.40/
MMBTU.
KG Basin Gas Controversies
Gas production in the KG Basin
has remained controversial right from
the inception of the project. Apart
from complaints against gold plating
of the project, overpricing of the gas
and extra-contractual concessions
given to the producer, the local
farmers are agitating against land
subsidence caused by gas
extraction. The matter is presently
under adjudication by the Andhra
Pradesh High Court (WP No 13341/
2008). It is possible that land
subsidence in itself has caused
irreversible damage to the gas field.
It has certainly caused a setback to
agriculture in the fertile KG delta
which contributes significantly to the
states granaries and its sustenance.
The silence on this on the part of the
Union Ministry of Environment and
Forests demonstrates the fragility of
environment governance in the
country.
It is ironic that the gas price hike
should come at a time when the
government had recently allowed
private power producers to pass on
the cost of imported coal to
electricity utilities, throwing to the
winds the tender ethics of an
elaborate competitive bidding
process adopted by the utilities
(Economic Times33,000 crore ( , 22
June 2013). Also, the state electricity


distribution companies are already
reeling under accumulated losses
exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh crore and the
power ministry has proposed to bail
them out with a huge financial relief
package. Taking into account the
existing gas-based capacities in the
electricity and the fertiliser sectors,
the subsidy cost arising from the
latest gas price increase would be
RsThe Hans India, 29 June 2013). It is
the taxpayers money that is in
jeopardy in the hands of the Union
Ministry of Finance, though it will be
the gas producers who will reap the
real benefit. Among them, the private
producer in the KG Basin will be the
primary beneficiary.
International Gas Price?

The high costs of storage,
liquefaction, regasification, pipeline
transportation of gas, etc, have
rendered the global gas markets
opaque and fragmented.
For example, in 2011, 1,025.5
billion cubic metres (BcuM) of gas
was traded globally (BP Statistical
Review 2012). Out of this, 694.6
BcuM was through pipeline transport
and 330.9 BcuM was in the form of
LNG. It is LNG that is traded globally,
whereas piped gas is traded within
each region. Prices of piped gas, and
even LNG, depend on regional
supply-demand pressures and
suppliers and consumers options on
long-term contracts and spot
transactions.
As far as pipeline trade is
concerned, the regions that
contributed largely to net exports
were former Soviet Union (168.4
BcuM) and Africa (36.9 BcuM). The
net importing regions were Europe
(187.8 BcuM) and Asia Pacific (13.3
BcuM). The Russian Federation,
Norway and Canada are the major
exporters of piped gas.
The net major LNG exporting
regions were the Middle East (125.8
BcuM), Africa (57 BcuM) and South
and Central Americas (13.1 BcuM).
The net LNG importing regions were
Asia Pacific (109.5 BcuM), Europe
(71 BcuM) and North America (15.4
BcuM). Qatar, Malaysia and Indonesia

are the major LNG exporters (ibid).
In this scenario, during 2011,
India imported 17.1 BcuM of LNG
from the Middle East, out of which
13 BcuM was from Qatar alone
[BP Statistical Review 2012] against
a long-term contract of Petronet.
There have been complaints that
Petronet has been overcharged for
this. A part of the Qatar LNG is lean
gas, stripped of propanes, butanes,
etc, but is perhaps charged as though
it is rich gas (India Oil and Gas 2012).
From the above, one can see the
futility of referring to any
international gas price. It is
therefore
inappropriate
to
benchmark the domestic gas price
with reference to the prices
applicable to either piped gas in
different regions of the world or LNG
imports by different consuming
countries.
Rangarajan Methodology
Though fully seized of this
aspect, it is ironic that the Rangarajan
Committee should rely heavily on
prices prevailing at regional trading
hubs (the Henry Hub in the US and
the National Balancing Point (NBP)
hub in UK) and net-back well head
prices for LNG imports in India and
Japan. Those familiar with gas trade
patterns know that spot-transacted
prices could be as low as half of the
hub prices in a given region. When
producers vie with each other to sell
their gas, a prudent buyer can
negotiate a price that lies somewhere
between the hub price and the spot
price. The net-back prices, derived
by subtracting the costs of
liquefaction and transportation from
the delivered prices, can be equally
misleading.
The Rangarajan Committee has
recommended a two-step approach
to determine the domestic gas price.
First, it envisaged working out a
weighted average of the previous 12month averages of prices indicated
by the Henry Hub and NBP, and LNG
imports made by Japan. The second
step is to average this (not a weighted
107
average this time) with the previous

12-month average of the price of
LNG imports made by India.
Averaging out prices applicable to
fragmented markets with their own
dissimilar
supply-demand
characteristics does not make much
economic sense. Further, considering
that there have been complaints
against overcharged LNG imports
from Qatar, the Rangarajan formula
would capture whatever distortions
that existed in it in determining the
price of domestic gas. It amounts to
perpetuating a mistake once
committed. Moreover, averaging two
numbers, one derived from a
complex weighted average of three
regional market prices and the
second, a number derived from a few
lines of Indian LNG imports, makes
little statistical sense.
In North America, the price of
gas touched a low of $2/MMBTU in
2012 and temporarily recovered to
$4/MMBTU. Increasing shale gas
availability in the US, Canada and
China has already started exerting a
downward pressure on gas prices all
over the world. In such a scenario, to
rely exclusively on the hub prices and
calling it, as the CCEA has done, the
basis for competitive, arms length
price, to the benefit of parties to the
Contract as envisaged in the PSC,
would be grossly erroneous. While
the global gas markets are looking
downwards, the Indian gas policy
analysts seem to be looking upwards!
The PSC for the KG Basin
mandates that the gas price formula/
basis be approved by the
government. Evidently, whatever
gas pricing formula that the
government approves should reflect
competitiveness and be mutually
beneficial for the parties to the
contract. In a perfectly competitive
market, the producers price will be
no more than an efficiency-based unit
cost plus a reasonable rate return. If
no
competition
exists,
an
independent regulator should
necessarily determine such an
efficiency-based price. There can
be no intermediate solution.


Had the government entrusted
the responsibility of fixing the
contractual competitive, arms
length price to an independent
statutory regulator, the process of
price determination would have
become transparent, affording an
opportunity to the aggrieved parties
to seek judicial remedies. On the
other hand, by arrogating to itself this
onerous
responsibility,
the
government has introduced an
undesirable political dimension to
price fixation.
Gas Development Costs

Knowledgeable persons place
the actual unit cost of exploration and
development of gas in the KG Basin
below $1/MMBTU. The Rangarajan
Committee has admitted that
a proposal of RIL in 2006 to
approve the price of $2.34/MMBTU,
which was the contractual price with
RNRL, was rejected by the
Government on the ground that the
price was not derived on the basis of
competitive arms length sales in the
region for similar sales under similar
conditions.
There cannot be a more
perverted argument than this!
In fact, the National Thermal
Power Corporation (NTPC) did
receive a similar price bid of $2.34/
MMBTU from the same company for
KG Basin gas but, under duress, it was
not allowed to accept it. A Group of
Ministers (GOM) ignored these clear
price signals and, for reasons best
known to them, fixed the price in
2009 at $4.20/MMBTU, ironically, on
the basis of bids obtained by the
producer from a few power
companies which had no incentive
to quote a lower price, as they knew
that whatever price they had quoted
would anyway be allowed to be
passed through in the cost-plus
regime of electricity regulation. As a
result, the government knowingly
passed on a largesse of $1.86/
MMBTU to the producer at the
expense of the electricity and
fertiliser consumers. The latest price
increase doubling this further is a part
of this continuing munificence to the

producer.
Reform vs Crony Capitalism

In the earlier decision in 2009
and once again in 2013, the
government has compromised
expediency.
In the absence of a
homogeneous gas market, the only
alternative open to the government
is to allow an independent,
professional, quasi-judicial regulator
to compute efficiency-based costs
and determine the price on the basis
of a reasonable return. It is improper
to entrust this task to a GoM which is
merely a political entity.
By allowing PSC violations, the
government has conveyed an
inappropriate message to all
prospective investors that they could
mock at the sanctity of contracts and
the law of the land. Such investors
will do more harm than good to the
society. The government has erred by
extending the new gas prices to the
already developed gas fields in the
KG Basin and elsewhere. Finally,
natural gas is a public resource and
the government is merely a trustee
for the people. The Doctrine of
Public Trust obligates the
government to ensure that gas
resources are developed on
scientific lines and that the social
returns maximised. In the case of the
KG Basin, the government has failed
this test.
CourtesyEconomic & Political weekly
Reimagining the Silk Route

The samosa a n d seviyan were
my first introduction to India being a
part of something bigger. Stuffed
ravioli and slippery spaghetti from
Italy to the ubiquitous dumpling and
noodles of a staple Chinese take
away, opened up a wider but familiar
world. In my school in the sixties,
based on intuitive visual response and
little else, my first exhibit compared
the rhythmically paced pirouettes of
108
Kathak to flamenco. The ease with

which we managed to collage
fabulous Indian, Chinese and Persian
flora and fauna into exotic trees of
life helped us question the complex
origins of iconographies.
Twenty years we shared in the
new dialogues between parent
civilisations (note: not countries)
evoking shared cultural memories
and religious moorings through
Unesco, which had launched a
brilliant but sadly unnoticed Silk
Roads initiative.
In 1877, German explorer Baron
Ferdinand von Richtofen used the
name of a treasured cloth as a
seductive metaphor to coin the term
Silk Route for a conjunction of
ancient, though not smooth, caravan
routes scattered over Eurasia along
the Far East, Central Asia, South Asia,
reaching up to Africa. Probably
inspired by wily tales of secrecy
linked to the making and trade of
silk an invention romantically
ascribed to a Chinese princess fishing
out a fibrous cocoon found floating
in her tea cup the route was active,
offering a lot more.
The tangible and the intangible

The first millennium BC through
the middle of the second millennium
AD witnessed seminal give and take
in the areas traversed by the Silk
Route. Buddhism and Islam became
world religions. Sufis and poets
provided enlightenment, spices
pickled foods. Pottery, glass, gold,
tea, indigo, jade and textiles made
merchants rich and crafts people
prospered. The vocabularies of music,
architecture, dance, drama and
design morphed. Values became
more universal as world views
expanded. The flux was intense,
effecting a profound movement,
deeply impacting our thought,
actions and deeds. The impact on
both tangible and intangible heritage
was profound.
The Silk Route in fact became
humanitys first global exchange a
precursor to the Internet not just
opening multiple ways but offering a


web of choices, instrumental to great
innovations that have directly
impacted culture, science and
commerce of today.
As a conduit of transmission of
knowledge and wisdom and as a
perennial source of adventure,
discovery and power, its deep
resonance still evokes fresh
perspectives which are perhaps just
as vital now for the future of our world:
a world fast shrinkingHollywood
celebrities working with Asian teams
and themes, IT with its cyber web of
interdependencies, culinary arts
tickling changing palates, material
goods and games catering to
emerging life styles, medicines and
wellness industries integrating the
ancient with the modern. New
Routes? How does South Asia reach
out to ride the waves?
The peripheries of our
subcontinent can once again
become vital links as dynamic and
lucrative gateways to the rest of Asia.
With strategic interventions to ease
political tensions, fragile Kashmir,
once a vital junction on a great
crossroads and the troubled seven
sisters along the volatile North Eastern
Himalayas, could well have an
indispensible stake in such a plan.
Connectivity of areas that have
become conflict-affected would
symbolise relative prosperity for the
whole region, stimulate migrations
and exchange, stabilise fast
disappearing skills and livelihoods,
re-define securities and modernity
with a purpose.
The efforts to re-establish
ancient routes are tied up with the
pragmatic needs of new nation states
along the routes, such as in the former
Soviet
Union,
for
modern
infrastructure and this millenniums
goals for development. Today,
Unesco is perhaps less persuasive
than the realpolitik of Uncad, UNDP,
Unescap and ADB pooling their
might to develop Trans Asian
Highways and Trans continental
Railways.
Talking about revival of Silk and
spice Routes for intellectual or
ideological cross fertilization of

ancient culture will continue but if
commercial, social and geopolitical
justifications are found, a lot else
follows without much ado.
In 2004 India became signatory
with 30 countries for joint projects
on Trans Asian transportation
networks. Chinas role was to promote
a single axis linking Europe-Central
Asia with its mainland. Bypassing
most of South Asia with exception of
a small opening into north-east
Pakistan, China carries on with much
else for purposes other than trade.
India, though, has done little,
neglecting great economic and
geopolitical dividends for north-west
or north-east India. More than four
decades ago, I crossed the
picturesque Mughal route running
through Rajouri, Poonch and
Thanamandi on mule back. Lately
revived for tourism, other areas such
as Ladakh and north-east, remain
barely accessible. The governments
new road building programmes are
somewhat limited, focusing on
mainland connectivity, giving
negligible attention to border States.
Indias unpreparedness to reach out
to Central and East Asia has resulted
in it confining itself to a South-South
Asia box.
Reviving Kashmir
Independent cross cultural
exchange within an emerging region,
particularly for Kashmir will revive the
States historic role as a veritable and
dynamic crucible of major
transformations witnessed over
centuries. This rare alchemy between
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh has for
too long remained static and
uninspired. Hinged as the region is
to the problematic borders of
Pakistan and China, it is losing its
critical role in a unique network of
cross cutting identities.
What passed through this region
went through a transformative rite of
passage. Not even an institution like
religion emerged untouched. As an
important transit emporium in the
trade between India and Central
109
Asia, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh

represent an unusual co-existence of
three great faiths tempered by living
traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and
Islam. The Trika of the three
continues to influence peoples lives,
giving the call to human conscience
in an increasingly polarised region.
Kashmir embodies Kashmiriyat a
quality the young holding guns can
barely understand.
While in Kashmir recently to
launch the unprecedented art
programme conceived for the new
Air terminal in Mumbai it took place
in an Intach-restored building on the
River Jhelum the much acclaimed
Baroda based artists, Nilima Sheikh
and B.V. Suresh collaborated with an
interdisciplinary team of Kashmiri
craftspeople on a huge mural entitled
conjoining lands. Fayaz Ahmed Jan,
the most reflective papiermache
artist amongst them, has created
evocative and unprecedented
panels depicting life in Seher or
Srinagar.
When asked by the press Why
Srinagar? my reply may have
resonated with the subconscious of
young Fayaz, who I have known over
three decades growing up in
troubled times, Stand anywhere in
the old city or simply float on its lakes
of paradiseone feels the fragrance
of Bokhara, the streetscapes of
Isfahan, the recurring motifs of Xian
and the immeasurable presence of
Sadashiva. Srinagar permeates the
senses, expanding ones notion of
land or being.
I appeal to all right thinking
politicians,
adventurous
entrepreneurs,
hard
nosed
academics
and
imaginative
stakeholders of creative and cultural
industries to help bolster transnational connectivity, by reinventing
the idea of the Silk Route for the South
Asian sub-continent. To begin with,
a sublime riverine festival energising
the decaying ghats and waterways of
Srinagar will help. An international
biennale positioning the best that
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh have to
offer needs to follow not as a


mere mela of arts and crafts but
as a veritable stocktaking of the finest
thinking and creativity the subcontinent has on offer.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Playing
Hardball at the other Davos
On the surface of this years
Shangri-La Dialogue that concluded
in Singapore on Sunday, things were
calm and rational. The various
contending parties put across their
point of view with logic and some
certitude. But it was difficult not to
miss the flash of steel beneath the
velvet gloves. The Asia-Pacific region
has emerged as an engine of
prosperity for the world economy but
it is wracked with conflict and
tension, and the presence of an
irrational state actor, North Korea.
More important, it is witnessing the
emergence of a new world power,
China, a fact that inevitably creates
turbulence.
As Chinas inexorable rise
shakes the balance of power in Asia,
if not the world, a contest is now on
full display. The rise of a new power
inevitably upsets the existing power
balance of a region. So is the case
with China as its economic
development, accompanied by a
massive military modernisation, is
tilting the balance of power in its
favour. But the opaqueness of its
decision-making and its assertiveness
along its borders have pushed
countries of the Asia Pacific region
to bandwagon with the existing
hegemon the United States.
China and U.S.

The China of today no longer
shies away from a fight, whether it
involves fists or words. It establishes
parity by publishing its own human
rights report on the U.S.; it sends its
spy ships to mirror the American
practice of spying on its coast; and it
is developing military capabilities
which makes it clear that its
competition is with the U.S.
The recent history of the Asia
Pacific region has not been a happy
one. It has known war and massacre

through most of the 20th century and
now that it is on the high road to
prosperity, there are worries that
tensions born out of territorial claims,
mainly maritime, or the actions of
irrational actors like North Korea,
could trigger a new round of conflict
which would have a devastating
effect on the region.
Both China and the U.S. have
been regular participants at the
Shangri-La event which is hosted by
the Institute of Strategic Studies,
headquartered in London. The
dialogue is now seen as the Davos of
the strategic community around the
world. No wonder, it draws in highlevel participation prime ministers,
defence ministers, generals and
admirals from the Asia-Pacific
region, if not the world. Even though
they are in competition, both the U.S.
and China see the Shangri-La
exercise as being useful because they
are too aware that their
interdependence demands that their
competition be moderated. Yet,
there should be no doubt that their
participation is part of a carefully
calibrated exercise whose goal is to
further their respective ends, which
is hegemonic control of the
international system.
China has clear cause for worry.
In response as it were, the U.S. is
rebalancing its presence in the
Asia-Pacific region and shoring up its
alliance system. Beijings somewhat
incredible maritime claims have
revitalised the old American alliance
system in the region and added
important players like Vietnam to the
mix. The theme of the keynote
address of Vietnam Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung at the Shangri-La
meet was the need for strategic trust
in the region. He did not name China
but it was difficult not to see who he
was talking about when said that
somewhere in the region, there have
emerged preferences for unilateral
might, groundless claims, and actions
that run counter to international law
and stem from imposition and power
110
politics.Just what Beijing has

wrought was apparent from the
remarks of Itsunori Onodera, Defence
Minister of Japan, who laid out the
Abe administrations rationale for not
only strengthening Japans economy
but also its military capabilities: a
strong Japan will play a responsible
role in the area of regional security
He spelt out the steps being taken
by the new administration to move
beyond Japans pacifist Constitution,
as well as the steps being taken to
shore up the Asean.
The key American formulation,
the pivot (now termed rebalance
to Asia), had already been declared
in Hillary Clintons October 2011
speech. On Saturday morning, U.S.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel
fleshed out what it meant: a shoring
up of the U.S. and its allies to deal
with threats from North Korea, the
ongoing land and maritime disputes
of the region, natural disasters, drug
trafficking and, importantly, the
growing threat of disruptive
activities in space and cyberspace.
Though he claimed that the
rebalancing was a diplomatic,
economic and cultural strategy, he
bluntly spelled out the manner in
which the American military
capability would grow in the region.
The U.S., he declared, was investing
in promising technologies and
capabilities that will enhance our
decisive military edge well into the
future.
None of this scares the Chinese
who think that history and economics
are on their side. The feisty Chinese
delegation led by Lt General Qi
Jianguo, Deputy Chief of General Staff
of the PLA, was at the forefront of the
debates in the various sessions. The
delegates contested the views they
disagreed with and pushed their own
argument with vigour, and a
considerable amount of selfconfidence. But they cannot but be
aware that they need to break the
coalition that is ranged against them.
General Qis formal remarks were
peppered with phrases like peace,
development, win-win. In


keeping with the Shangri-La style, he
alluded obliquely to the U.S. when
he said that one should take the
legitimate concerns of others into
consideration instead of maximising
ones own interests. But there was
no wavering on the bottom line:
dialogue and consultations for peace
were fine but they could not imply
unconditional compromise, and the
Chinese resolve and commitment to
safeguarding core national interests
always stand steadfast.
All this means that if the region
is unable to come up with a means of
settling its disputes peacefully
through bilateral or multilateral
processes, or through recourse to the
international law, it could be in for an
unsettling ride in the future. As it is,
in recent months, tensions in the
region have spiked. In January, Japan
claimed that a Chinese vessel had
established a weapons radar lock-on
on a Japanese ship near the Senkaku
islands.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on
record saying that his country is
prepared to use force to protect the
islands. Further south, in mid-2012,
the Chinese took control of the
Scarborough Shoals and blocked
Philippines fishing vessels from
accessing the area. Last week, a
Chinese vessel rammed a Vietnamese
fishing vessel, triggering protests in
Vietnam.
Where does India fit in all this?
Considering the importance of the
meeting and Indias declared Look
East policy, the absence of its
Defence Minister A.K. Antony was
inexplicable. This was especially so
because Mr. Antony was scheduled
to be in Singapore a day after the
meet, en route to Australia, and an
Indian flotilla is currently undertaking
a two-month deployment in South
East Asia. Platforms like the ShangriLa Dialogue are important because
not only can you put across your
views to a specialist international
audience, the process can assist in
providing credibility to your ideas
and views by putting them through
an open discussion.
New Delhis misplaced notions

India is not a disinterested actor
in the drama that is being played out
in the Asia-Pacific, as the recent
incident in Ladakh showed. Like all
people with disputes, it also needs
friends and allies, something it should
have learnt from its experience of
1962. Opting out of an event like the
Shangri-La Dialogue brings out the
bankruptcy of Indias security policy
which seems to be based on some
misplaced notions of non-alignment,
or a kind of self-defeating sense of
detachment.
International politics remains a
ruthless and dangerous business.
There was a time when great powers
displayed their might through wars
of conquest and open manifestations
of hegemony. In todays networked
world, great powers bend over
backwards to show that they are
paragons of virtue. But the reality is
that the eternal contest for
dominance and hegemony continues
and, in this, there is no room for
abstention. Indias other shibboleth
strategic autonomy can only
take life if choices are actually
exercised.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Why the
Death Penalty Must end
An eye for an eye makes the
whole world blind, said Mahatma
Gandhi.
The death penalty is unjust and
inhuman. Its continued use is a stain
on a society built on humanitarian
values, and it should be abolished
immediately.
Many think that there could be
nothing wrong with the death penalty
as the Indian Constitution allows for
capital punishment, which means
that the founding fathers of this
country must have also fully approved
of it. In reality, several members of
the Constituent Assembly were firmly
opposed to the death penalty.
The
architect
of
the
Constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar,
admitted in the Constituent Assembly
111
that people may not follow nonviolence in practice but they

certainly adhere to the principle of
non-violence as a moral mandate
which they ought to observe as far as
they possibly can. With this in mind,
he said, the proper thing for this
country to do is to abolish the death
sentence altogether.
On June 3, 1949, Professor
Shibbanlal Saxena, a freedom fighter
who had been on death row for his
involvement in the Quit India
Movement, spoke in the Constituent
Assembly of how he had seen
innocent people being hanged for
murder during his days in prison.
Proposing the abolition of the death
penalty, he said that the avenue of
appealing to the Supreme Court will
be open to people who are wealthy,
who can move heaven and earth, but
the common people who have no
money and who are poor will not be
able to avail themselves of it.
Miscarriage of justice is, in fact,
one of the biggest concerns about
the death penalty. Is it possible that
someone could be wrongly hanged
in 21st century India? The answer,
unfortunately, is yes. Studies
conducted by Amnesty International
and the Peoples Union for Civil
Liberties have shown that the process
of deciding who should be on death
row is arbitrary and biased. The
Supreme Court has itself admitted on
several occasions that there is
confusion and contradiction in the
application of the death penalty.
Instances of innocence
Last year, 14 eminent retired
judges wrote to the President,
pointing out that the Supreme Court
had erroneously given the death
penalty to 15 people since 1996, of
whom two were hanged. The judges
called this the gravest known
miscarriage of justice in the history of
crime
and
punishment
in
independent India.
Some argue that the death
penalty is the only way to deter
heinous crime, especially violence
against women and children. But a


comprehensive study done last year
in the United States found that there
is no credible evidence that the
death penalty has any deterrent
effect on crime.
The Innocence Project in the
United States [a national litigation
and public policy organisation
dedicated to exonerating wrongfully
convicted individuals through DNA
testing and reforming the criminal
justice system] has found, on the
other hand, several cases where
innocent people were given the
death sentence. One such case is that
of Cameron Todd Willingham, who
was executed in 2004 for the deaths
of his three young daughters. In 2009,
reinvestigation of the case raised
serious doubts in the appreciation of
forensic evidence in the case and the
judge concluded that Willingham
was wrongfully convicted. Another
case is that of Carlos DeLuna who was
executed in 1989 for the murder of a
young woman some years before. In
2004, a study by Columbia Law
School students brought to light the
wrongful conviction of Carlos
DeLuna, which turned out to be a case
of mistaken identity of the actual
perpetrator of the murder.
Lawmakers in India find it convenient
to hold up the death penalty as a
symbol of their resolve to tackle
crime, and choose to ignore more
difficult but more effective solutions
like social education and police or
judicial reform. The certainty of
punishment, not severity, is the real
deterrent.
Rajiv Gandhi case

The death penalty is little more
than judicially sanctioned murder.
Justice K.T. Thomas, who headed the
three member bench in the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination case, has said
that executing Perarivalan, Murugan
and Santhan, convicted and
sentenced to death in the case,
would amount to punishing them
twice for the same offence, as they
had already spent 22 years in jail, the
equivalent of life imprisonment.In
recent months, the Government of
India has shown an alarming

tendency to implement the death
penalty. It is a fallacy to think that one
killing can be avenged with another.
For, capital punishment is merely
revenge masquerading as justice.
When the government is trying to
create a just society where there is
less violence and murder, it cannot
be allowed to commit the same crime
against its citizens in the name of
justice.
The DMK president, Kalaignar
Karunanidhi, reiterated the partys
stand last month when he called upon
the Government of India to commute
the death sentences of the 16 men,
including seven from Tamil Nadu,
who are on death row. The DMK
president had made similar pleas to
the Centre in August 2011 and
October 2006. This has been the
partys consistent position against this
inhumane practice.
Rest of the world

The world is moving away from
using the death penalty. The
European Union has made abolition
of death penalty a prerequisite for
membership. The 65th United
Nations General Assembly voted in
December 2010, for the third time,
in favour of abolishing the death
penalty and called for a global
moratorium on executions. Amnesty
International reports that 140
countries more than two-thirds of
the world do not use the death
penalty any more. India needs to
recognise this global trend, and act
in step with it.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Time to
Check the Khemka Syndrome
In April this year, the Haryana
government transferred senior IAS
officer Ashok Khemka for the second
time in six months, or for the 44th time
in his 22-year career. The use of
transfers and postings in States as a
means of harassing officers who are
inconvenient because of their
professional independence or
because they are perceived to be
112
close to an outgoing chief minister is

a well-known phenomenon. In his first
month as the Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav moved more
than 1,000 civil servants to new
positions. Such transfer processes are
essentially an indication of the
politicians will to control policy
implementation and ensure loyalty.
Articles 310 and 311 of the
Constitution make it impossible for
civil servants to be dismissed or
demoted by elected representatives.
However, politicians exert control
over policy outcomes by reshuffling
the bureaucracy across posts of
varying
importance.
The
politicisation of the bureaucracy
has become a major public policy
issue in India.
Demotivating
If Benjamin Franklin once said
nothing in this world can be said to
be certain, except death and taxes,
the former Central Vigilance
Commissioner, N. Vittal, has very aptly
proposed Vittals amendment to the
Franklin Principle: For a civil servant,
nothing is more certain than death,
taxes, transfers and retirement.
Frequent transfers present a
major problem for governance
because civil servants are not allowed
to stay in a position long enough to
acquire adequate knowledge of and
experience in their job. Such a policy
also prevents civil servants from
instituting or sustaining reforms. It is
both demoralising and demotivating
when civil servants are not able to see
the fruits of their efforts. A young
officer cannot retain her idealism for
long if, over a period, she suffers
adverse consequences because of
honesty and integrity.
Further, due to politicians
desire to control the bureaucracy, not
all important posts are filled with the
most skilled officers. This also results
in underinvestment in skill by junior
bureaucrats with career concerns,
since investing in loyalty to specific
politicians provides an alternative
path to career success. Concerned
over such frequent transfers, Prime


Minister Manmohan Singh has said
that no system can deliver if top civil
servants are transferred without
notice, and thus favours a minimum
security of tenure. In State
of Maharashtra v. Omprakash
Ghanshyamdas Mudiraj , the Bombay
High Court showed its concern and
observed that cases of transfer of
employees prior to normal period of
three years on the complaints of
political parties should be looked into
with close scrutiny.
In Maharashtra
Various steps have been taken
by the government as well as the
judiciary to curb this menace. The
Central government introduced the
Indian Administrative Service
(Fixation of Cadre Strength)
Regulations, 1955 (amended in
2010), that provides for a minimum
tenure for postings for civil servants
in all States. So far only 13 States and
Union Territories have issued formal
notices under the regulations
indicating their acceptance.
Maharashtra is the only State to
come out with a specific law the
Maharashtra Government Servants
Regulation of Transfer and Prevention
of Delay in Discharge of Official
Duties Act, 2005. It provides for a
minimum tenure of three years for all
IAS officers and some State
government employees. Any violation
of the Act may be referred to the
Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal
with appeal lying at the Bombay High
Court.
The Administrative Reforms
Commission and Fifth Pay Commission
have also endorsed the idea of a highpowered civil services board both at
the Centre and the States to look into
and regulate cases of premature
transfers of civil servants.
The draft Public Services Bill,
2007 stipulates that the Central
government should fix a minimum
tenure for cadre posts, which may be
filled on the basis of merit, suitability
and experience, with proper norms
and guidelines to enforce transfers
and postings. It proposes explicit
limits on the political executives

ability to transfer bureaucrats before
they complete two years of service.
For a minimum tenure

Unfortunately, even after
several major steps, the frequent
transfer of civil servants remains a
serious problem. This is because
politicians are not interested in
making the situation better.
One of the measures of civil
service reform should be to give every
senior official a minimum tenure of
three to five years in a post through a
new Public Services Act. The senior
officer, who would get a fixed tenure
under the new Act, would be strictly
accountable for performance of
targets set for him in a memorandum
of understanding between him and
the political executive.
Further, a new provision should
be introduced to ensure that no
random transfers are made after 10
years of service and that the civil
servant should be placed in a subject
stream for which s/he has specialised
during training.
There is need to balance the
governments inherent right to
transfer a civil servant against the
need for effectiveness and
independence
in
policy
implementation
and
better
institutional and procedural reforms.
The best way to achieve this is by
granting those in crucial positions
stability of tenure.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A river ran through it

From finding a trail of evidence
supporting the presence of water on
Mars a few billion years ago, Curiositys
discovery of subrounded or rounded
pebbles provides definitive proof
that the red planet once had a river.
According to a May 31 paper
i n Science , multiple exposures of
a sedimentary rock (conglomerate)
containing densely-packed rounded
pebbles, varying in size from 2 mm to
40 mm in diameter, are particularly
significant as they provide
indisputable evidence of a palaeo-
113
river. While other discoveries such as

water-bearing minerals in veins at the
Yellowknife Bay area in Gale crater
and smectite clay in John Klein rock
samples are in themselves
noteworthy, they do not reveal if the
water body was moving. In fact,
water-bearing minerals in veins do not
tell us about surface water flow. On
the other hand, the very presence of
big, rounded pebbles that lie
overlapping along with coarse sand
in the rock tell a completely different
and definitive tale of Marss palaeoenvironment. For one, the pebbles
not only prove the presence of water
but also shed light on the nature and
quantum of moving water. Since only
water transportation can abrade
pebbles as big as 40 mm, and based
on estimates for the riverbeds
gradient at the site of discovery,
scientists have been able to postulate
several characteristics about the
river. First, it should have flowed at a
velocity of up to 0.75 metres per
second, the minimum force required
to move pebbles of that size. Second,
in order to initiate motion, the river
should have had a flow depth of less
than 0.90 m. Hence, the amount of
water flowing in the river was indeed
considerable. Finally, the fact that the
pebbles have been abraded to
produce subrounded or rounded
edges despite having varying
characteristics in terms of
composition and shape strongly
suggest that the river flowed for
several kilometres.
In all, the mere presence of
rounded pebbles indicates that
Marss atmospheric conditions at
some point in the past were so very
different from today that they
permitted liquid water to flow on the
surface. In geology, the possibility of
discovering prized fossils and pieces
of evidence such as this lies in careful
selection of the study area. In the
present case, the final landing site
was decided based on the presence
of Mount Sharp, a layered mound
within the Gale crater and its
proximity to the alluvial fan, the Peace
Vallis fan. The pebble discovery


confirms the March 12 find of a nonacidic, fresh-water environment
based on the finding of smectite clay
from a John Klein rock specimen
drilled by the rover. Discovering the
Holy Grail of space science a
planet capable of supporting life in
the past is no longer a distant
dream.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Repression is no solution
Perhaps no other chain of
events in the recent past has had a
more direct and substantial impact
on the life of human beings across
the world than acts of terror.
Terrorism has not only affected our
lives directly, but has also allowed the
state to intrude in our lives like never
before.
Fundamental obligation
Since the security of the
individual is a basic human right (and
a fundamental condition of the social
contract underpinning society), the
protection of individuals is a
fundamental obligation of the state.
In recent years, however, the
measures adopted by states to
counter terrorism have themselves
sometimes been found wanting in
terms of compliance with human
rights norms. The means and methods
adopted by the state have posed
serious challenges to human rights
and the rule of law, and often this is
on account of the zeal of the lawenforcement agencies to give a
commensurate response to the
terrorist.
The state cannot legitimately
respond by resorting to mechanisms
that overstep the limits of the law.
Thus, a reason why it is important for
the state to ensure that none of its
measures transgresses the limits of the
law is any transgression may have the
effect of eroding both its legitimacy
and the rule of law, thereby
fomenting further unrest and erosion
of faith in the Constitution.
In the name of combating
extremism, repressive measures are
also used to stifle the voice of human
rights activists, advocates, minorities,

indigenous groups, journalists and
civil society. There is another
dimension: by being able to build up
a perception of threat, the state may
be able to get away with channelling
the funds normally allocated to social
programmes towards strengthening
the police force and the army. The
talked-up threat perception of
terrorism (and a few encounters)
may well be used to justify the
acquisition of more weapons. As
Professor Simon Bronitt of Australian
National University has summed up
there is almost a new genus of law:
post 9/11 law. Although 9/11 has
become a significant force in
justifying these laws, the truth is that
there is an element of opportunism
[by some law-enforcement and state
agencies] behind these claims of
necessity for new powers and
offences.
While militarisation and the
strengthening of police forces are
important in their own right, it is
equally necessary to understand the
genuineness of the security reasons
presented by the state as a ground
for abridgment of human rights, many
of which are fundamental. Frisking,
for example, which used to be
considered a grave intrusion upon
ones privacy at one point of time, is
today normalised and we are all fine
with being frisked everywhere.
Existential realities
Little or no attention is paid to
the true causes of resort to violent
methods. It is as if the deafening
sound of explosions and landmines
is used to attract the attention of the
state to existential realities. There are
grim realities of existence as tribals in
this country, and the unfortunate
aspect is that their unheard voices fail
to make a din in the power corridors.
From their perspective, extremism,
violence and terrorism become a
means to attract the attention of the
state.
Governments have been nonresponsive to peaceful protests and
have, in fact, come down heavily on
114
peaceful protesters as they did at

India Gate when they relentlessly
beat up women protesting in the
aftermath of last Decembers gang
rape in Delhi. The state turns a blind
eye to the violence committed by
state actors, and private actors in
connivance with state actors, which
results in irreversible psychological
damage.
It is evident that the state has
misplaced priorities. Since there is
little that the state seems to have
done, one can safely say that it does
not seem to be aware of the abysmal
conditions in which the tribals of
Chhattisgarh live.
The state does not seem to be
aware that tribals in Madhya Pradesh
eat the poisonous kesari dal which
is reported to have a paralytic impact.
The state also does not seem to be
aware that tribal women and other
villagers in Maharashtra have to walk
miles before they can get drinking
water. This feeling of being
parentless makes people vulnerable
to anti-state ideologies. Having said
this, I am not legitimising violence
against innocents by invocation of
oppression; I am only suggesting that
oppression is one of the reasons of
unrest which manifests in the resort
to violence against the state and
insignias of the state.
In the Mahanadi Coal Fields
Case (2010), the Supreme Court
took strong exception to the manner
in which the Central government and
the Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited had
acquired the lands of tribals in the
Sundargarh district of Odisha and not
compensated them even 23 years
later. In fact, 20 years after
dispossessing them, the government
noted that the land was actually not
required!
The Supreme Court observed:
the whole issue of development
appears to be so simple, logical and
commonsensical. And yet, to millions
of Indians, development is a dreadful
and hateful word that is aimed at
denying them even the source of their
sustenance. It is cynically said that on
the path of maldevelopment almost


every step that we take seems to give
rise to insurgency and political
extremism [which along with
terrorism are supposed to be the
three gravest threats to Indias
integrity and sovereignty] The
resistance with which the states well
meaning efforts at development and
economic growth are met makes one
think about the reasons for such
opposition to the states endeavours
for development. Why is the states
perception
and
vision
of
development at such great odds with
the people it purports to develop?
And why are their rights so
dispensable?
Listen to people
The
Supreme
Courts
identification of the issue is not off
the mark, and I believe it is quite
perceptive of the reality. Studies
establish that absolute deprivation by
the state has a psychological impact
on its people. Therefore, any attempt
to combat violence by the state must
have within its fold the measures to
eliminate the conditions conducive
to the spread of extremism, which
must include (a) strengthening the
rule of law; (b) fostering respect for
human rights and provision for
reparation for violations; (c) reversing
ethnic, national and religious
discrimination, political exclusion,
and socio-economic marginalisation;
(d) listening to the people and (e)
becoming more responsive to
society.
The recent events of violence
are tragic without a doubt but they
contain the seeds of rejection of
political structures. Political
structures need to build confidence
by dialogue, working on the ground
for the uplift of the poor, and must
work with an attitude of inclusiveness.
While mourning the loss of
human life, we must devise innovative
systems of engagement, based not on
power or hierarchical administration
but equality. One wishes ardently that
new mechanisms of review with
deep and meaningful engagement
with the local communities suggested
in the Verma Committee on crimes

against women be quickly
operationalised and deployed.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A Syrian
Fire that could Consume All
Under way for over two years,
the Syrian civil war has already
claimed close to 80,000 lives. In and
of itself, this should have been
sufficient to stir the conscience of the
international community to redouble
efforts to persuade the Assad regime
and an assortment of rebels armed to
the teeth, to walk back from the
violence and commence a Syrian-led
negotiating process for an
acceptable outcome. Unfortunately,
maximalist positions of the two sides
President Assads exit demanded
by the West, Turkey and the Gulf
states, and treating the crisis as a
security issue by the Assad regime
has prevented any serious attempt
at reconciliation.
Geneva 2
Despite agreement between
the United States and Russia to
convene Geneva 2, some time in the
second half of June, the facts on the
ground clearly suggest that the
initiative is unlikely to succeed. In fact,
the actions of the international
communitys major stakeholders are
continuing to exacerbate the crisis.
The simplistic fig leaf that this was a
brutal and repressive regime targeting
innocent and helpless civilians,
demanding their democratic rights as
part of the Arab Spring, needs to be
shed in favour of more clinical
assessments.
Drawing inspiration from the
three easy steps for regime change
in Libya a Security Council
Resolution, arming of rebels and
NATO military action, the rebels, who
were armed quite openly by Qatar
and covertly by Saudi Arabia and
clandestinely by others the West
and Gulf states expected the same
in Syria. Given the Libyan experience
and strategic interests of Russia,
however, the Security Council failed
115
to oblige. Russia and China vetoed

three draft resolutions in 2011-12.
Unilateral military action by NATO or
Coalition of the Willing did not
materialise either.
More important still, there are
increasing doubts on whether arming
the rebels was such a good idea given
the proliferation of extremists groups,
one of which, the Al-Nusra Front, had
to be banned by the U.S. How does
one ensure that arms go only to the
good rebels? Even the description
of good is subjective. Turkey and
Qatar, it would appear, have no
hesitation in supporting rebels
drawing inspiration from the Islamic
Brotherhood; Saudi Arabia favours
Salafist groups. Hopefully, they all
agree that al-Qaeda does not qualify
for assistance.
With sectarian fault lines within
Syria now opened threadbare, the
possibility of the present compact
that has ruled Syria comprising 12 per
cent Alawites, 10 per cent Christians
and some Sunni business class
continuing to exercise power in any
post-Assad dispensation, is a nonstarter. Given the brutality of the
violence on both sides, the prevailing
sentiment among the Sunnis backed
by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia
and sections of the political class in
the West not fully educated in the
sectarian tensions of the region, is to
send the Alawites to their graves and
the Christians to Lebanon. Clearly, no
post-Assad dispensation in Syria will
be viable unless effective security
guarantees can be provided for the
safety of nearly 20 per cent of the
population. Who will provide these?
The top down model for a
negotiated settlement on which
Geneva 1 was based last year and on
which Geneva 2, if it has to have
better luck than Geneva 1, has to be
predicated on all parties to the
conflict agreeing to participate. That
is the easiest part. Agreement can also
perhaps be reached that both Saudi
Arabia and Iran, given their stake in
the civil war, should be invited. Now
comes the more difficult part.


Militias
The just concluded battle for
Qusayr shows that this is now a fullfledged war in which the Lebanonbased Shiite group, Hezbollah, is
openly and fully involved. Any
residual doubts were removed when
the Hezbollah leader, Nasrullah,
explicitly so announced on May 25.
With 12,000 Hezbollah fighters
now reportedly fighting along with
Assads troops and paramilitary
militias drawn from his Alawite sect
against an assortment of rebels, mostly
Sunnis with varying degrees of
radicalisation,
a
negotiated
settlement would appear less likely
than at any time in the last two years.
For Hezbollah, established to
fight Israel, this is clearly a gamble.
Apart from fighting the Syrian rebels,
they will have to confront pan-Arab
sentiment. In the process, tensions
between the Shia crescent from Iran,
covering Iraq, Syria and the Hezbollah
in Lebanon and the Gulf states and
their western backers can only
increase. A desire to weaken the Irandominated crescent cannot but
open the sectarian fault lines
throughout the region.
Hezbollahs more direct
involvement, rather the timing of the
announcement coincides with
Russias decision to supply the Assad
regime with more sophisticated
weaponries. The Russian decision
constitutes, in a sense, an insurance
just in case the U.S. is persuaded by
the British and the French to consider
the imposition of a no-fly zone and
aerial action. Israeli strikes in Syria, in
turn, want to prevent the
sophisticated weapons falling in to
the hands of Hezbollah for use against
Israel.
The
European
Union
announced on May 27 that it has
decided not to renew the embargo
on supply of lethal arms to the Syrian
rebels.
Internal divisions
The humanitarian tragedy
unfolding for Syrias 22 million
people, with close to four million
internally displaced and the

increasing brutality of the sectarian
violence would appear to point
towards a prolongation of the civil
war. Even the fall of President Assads
regime is now unlikely to restore
peace and security in Syria. Sectarian
war will not only continue, but result
in the countrys de facto division into
three largely autonomous regions
dominated by the Alawites, Kurds
and Sunnis, the internal boundaries
of which will be determined by the
prevailing military balance on the
ground.
The assessment that while Libya
imploded, Syria will explode with
unimaginable consequences will
prove to be right. The unfolding
scenario constitutes the biggest
threat to international peace and
security in recent times. The
continuing paralysis and helplessness
of the Security Council constitutes,
in a sense, also the most
comprehensive statement of its
irrelevance.
Courtesy-The Hindu
The State of Real Estate

The principle of buyer beware
has never been an adequate
protective measure in real estate. Lack
of transparency, information
asymmetry and a maze of transactions
have put consumers in an unfairly
disadvantageous position. Even the
most vigilant among them find home
buying an agonisingly risky venture.
While many countries have improved
their regulations and climbed up the
global real estate transparency
ladder, India has been sliding steadily.
From a poor 41st position in 2010, it
has slipped further to reach 48th
among the 97 countries reviewed.
Self-regulation has clearly failed.
Realising the urgent need to protect
home buyers, the Union Cabinet has
recently approved the Real Estate
(Regulation and Development) Bill.
This legislation, first conceptualised
in 2011, is applicable only to
residential projects. The full text of
the updated bill has not yet been
released, but the details circulated
116
by the government indicate that it has

largely retained the original
objectives. A State-level regulatory
authority will be set up, and
developers will have to disclose all
the details of their projects and
submit approvals obtained to the
authority, which in turn would make
them public. Developers can
advertise projects only after getting
clearance, and must compulsorily
deposit 70 per cent of the amount
collected from buyers in a separate
bank account. This would help
prevent misuse of funds. Penalties for
non-compliance
include
imprisonment.
The new draft includes the
activities of real estate agents. The
proposed legislation has also
improved on the previous version in
terms of applicability. Now, projects
on plots larger than 1000 square
metres in size will be covered by the
new rules; this reduced threshold will
help bring a greater number of
projects under monitoring. Some may
argue that new regulations would
increase the time and costs of
projects, and burden buyers. This
objection is invalid since the bill is
about presale checking, and projects
cannot
commence
without
clearance. Second, the gains clearly
outweigh the costs. Regulatory
measures are common even in mature
property markets. For instance, the
Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 in
Britain makes it a criminal offence to
provide misleading or false
information. Benami holdings abound
in the real estate sector and clean up
measures must address these.
Perhaps the use of UID numbers
which is insisted upon even in
disbursements of subsidies for the
poor should be made mandatory
for property deals to track the money
trail. The risks involved in property
transactions would further reduce
when land record management,
building approval systems and
enforcement mechanisms are also
improved.
Courtesy-The Hindu


The state of real estate
The principle of buyer beware
has never been an adequate
protective measure in real estate. Lack
of transparency, information
asymmetry and a maze of transactions
have put consumers in an unfairly
disadvantageous position. Even the
most vigilant among them find home
buying an agonisingly risky venture.
While many countries have improved
their regulations and climbed up the
global real estate transparency
ladder, India has been sliding steadily.
From a poor 41st position in 2010, it
has slipped further to reach 48th
among the 97 countries reviewed.
Self-regulation has clearly failed.
Realising the urgent need to protect
home buyers, the Union Cabinet has
recently approved the Real Estate
(Regulation and Development) Bill.
This legislation, first conceptualised
in 2011, is applicable only to
residential projects. The full text of
the updated bill has not yet been
released, but the details circulated
by the government indicate that it has
largely retained the original
objectives. A State-level regulatory
authority will be set up, and
developers will have to disclose all
the details of their projects and
submit approvals obtained to the
authority, which in turn would make
them public. Developers can
advertise projects only after getting
clearance, and must compulsorily
deposit 70 per cent of the amount
collected from buyers in a separate
bank account. This would help
prevent misuse of funds. Penalties for
non-compliance
include
imprisonment.
The new draft includes the
activities of real estate agents. The
proposed legislation has also
improved on the previous version in
terms of applicability. Now, projects
on plots larger than 1000 square
metres in size will be covered by the
new rules; this reduced threshold will
help bring a greater number of
projects under monitoring. Some may
argue that new regulations would
increase the time and costs of

projects, and burden buyers. This
objection is invalid since the bill is
about presale checking, and projects
cannot
commence
without
clearance. Second, the gains clearly
outweigh the costs. Regulatory
measures are common even in mature
property markets. For instance, the
Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 in
Britain makes it a criminal offence to
provide misleading or false
information. Benami holdings abound
in the real estate sector and clean up
measures must address these.
Perhaps the use of UID numbers
which is insisted upon even in
disbursements of subsidies for the
poor should be made mandatory
for property deals to track the money
trail. The risks involved in property
transactions would further reduce
when land record management,
building approval systems and
enforcement mechanisms are also
improved.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A guide to
Afghanistan in four Scenarios
New Delhi will be confronted
by a host of rapidly changing
scenarios in Afghanistan as the
country heads for transition in the
security and political sectors in 2014.
The interplay between different
actors jockeying for power could
either allow India to retain its present
level of engagement, provide
opportunities to expand its influence
or bring an abrupt end to its presence
in that country. If it wishes to remain
relevant and engaged in playing a key
role in the long-term stabilisation of
Afghanistan, India will have to
recalibrate its strategy to deal with a
range of options emerging from the
four most probable scenarios.
Four points
Scenario 1: A new Afghan
president is chosen in 2014 through
a relatively free and fair election
process. The Afghan security forces,
with continuing assistance from the
residual U.S. forces on Afghan soil,
117
thwart the Taliban insurgency.

Violence would continue, but would
not escalate enough to destabilise
the government. This optimal
scenario would mean business as
usual for India. However, to ensure
this, New Delhi would need to work
with the present Afghan government
and other political groups to ensure
free and fair elections. It will also have
to play a more proactive role in
building the capabilities of the
Afghan security sector.
Scenario 2: The presidential
elections scheduled for April 2014
could either be delayed indefinitely
or
marred
by
widespread
malpractices and fraud, thereby
undermining the role and power of
the new Afghan president.
Alternately, Hamid Karzai could
extend his term by amending the
constitution and convening a Loya
Jirgah, or nominate a successor to
assume the presidency, leading the
Opposition political groups as well
as the influential warlords and power
brokers to call for regime change.
Afghan society could fracture along
ethnic and tribal lines with regional
powers supporting their proxies. With
Afghanistan divided into various
spheres of influence, India would be
constrained to choose sides not just
among the present regime and other
political groups, but also among the
warlords and regional commanders.
This would be a case of high risk
involvement with diminishing returns,
with little guarantee of securing
Indias interest in the long term.
Scenario 3: Following a
negotiated political settlement, the
Taliban (Quetta Shura Taliban) could
return to Afghanistan under a powersharing arrangement, allowing it to
administer key provinces as well as
retaining significant influence in the
national government. This would
gradually lead to instability and
fragmentation, with anti-Taliban
political forces, women and civil
society groups opposing such deals,
leading the country to a 1990s-type
civil war situation. In case of the
precipitous
withdrawal
of


international forces, the danger of a
complete Taliban takeover is also
highly probable. This is possibly the
worst case scenario. India will have
little option but to wind-down its
operations, strengthen its homeland
security measures and increase
vigilance along the India-Pakistan
border.
Scenario 4: A political
dispensation backed by Pakistan or
headed by a pro-Pakistan personality
like Muhammad Umar Daudzai, the
current Afghan Ambassador to
Islamabad, or a protg of Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar from the Hezb-e-Islami,
assumes power. This could also lead
to a surge of influence and area
domination by the Peshawar Shura of
the Taliban in the South and East or
the ceding of territory (Paktia, Paktika,
Khost) to the Haqqani network. New
Delhi will have to recalibrate its mode
of engagement by extending
support and building linkages among
tribal networks, refugees, and
nomadic groups in the bordering
areas of Afghanistan-Pakistan and
build on the Kabul Shura as an
effective counterforce.
In the months leading to 2014,
India will have to utilise a range of
diplomatic, military, and economic
tools and set clear policy markers to
sustain the democratic order and
deny the space for the return of the
extremists. The near to medium-term
projects could include training of the
Afghan National Security Forces
(ANSF), particularly its officer corps,
the police, paramilitary, and the air
force, and also helping to build the
justice sector. In the long term,
security sector reform and building
sound civil-military relations would
remain critical in preventing the
disintegration or loss of civil control
of the army.
Development the key

The transition in the political
sector is more challenging. There is
an immediate need for India to push
for a national dialogue in Afghanistan
which addresses the concerns of the
impending
election
and
reconciliation process. In addition to

broad based engagement with the
other political groups, New Delhi
needs to work on strengthening the
electoral reform process.
On the economic sector, in the
near and medium term, India could
help establish small and medium
enterprises, alternate livelihood
programmes and revive the Afghan
indigenous economic base. Indias
aid and assistance programmes
involving high-visibility infrastructure
projects have created national assets
for Afghanistan, shaping Indias
image and generating a measure of
gratitude. However, an enduring
Indian influence would remain
linked to New Delhi designing and
helping implement development
programmes to address poverty,
illiteracy and systemic administrative
dysfunction.
Afghanistan stands at a critical
crossroads in its nation building
exercise. It could either emerge as a
sovereign, stable and prosperous
country or once again disintegrate
into chaos. The stakes are high and
time is running out. New Delhi needs
to act on a range of available options
if it wants to avoid a stalemate or
even the loss of decade-long
investment
and
goodwill.
Afghanistan would be the test case
of New Delhis major power
aspirations in the region.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A case of misplaced euphoria

In a protracted period of gloom
and persistent recession with feeble
signs of recovery in a large part of the
developed world, the World Bank,
Brookings Institution and others can
be forgiven for their euphoria over
the accomplishment of a key
Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) of halving extreme poverty
in the developing world five years
ahead of the 2015 deadline.
Average of 15 poorest countries

Extreme poverty is measured
with reference to a threshold of $1.25
per capita per day (in terms of 2005
118
dollars adjusted for purchasing

power differences). This poverty line
is the average of the 15 poorest
countries. Those below it are
condemned to a wretched, brutish
and short existence.
Yet, 970 million people will
remain poor in 2015, with 84 per cent
of them concentrated in South Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa. The latter is
also the only region that will not
achieve this MDG by 2015.
Global poverty remains a rural
problem with more than three-fourths
of the extremely poor located in rural
areas. However, as global poverty fell,
so did the gap between rural-urban
poverty. It reduced by half in East
Asia and the Pacific by 2008, while
in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America
and the Caribbean, and South Asia,
there was less progress.
Projections differ but various
scenarios suggest that poverty
estimates in 2030 will range between
three and nine per cent. Most
projections, however, pay lip service,
if any, to market and natural
catastrophic risks. Rates of GDP
growth observed in recent years are
extrapolated
with ad
hocassumptions about changes in
income inequality to arrive at poverty
estimates in 2030. As policy buffers
against the food price surge and
financial crisis that followed in quick
succession are far from adequate,
vulnerability to such shocks remains
a major concern. Besides, the havoc
wreaked by natural disasters and
conflicts often wipes out years of
development.
The Kashmir earthquake in
2005, for example, more than offset
the gains from three years of
development assistance. So while
such shocks will continue to occur
with the frequencies observed in the
past, those associated with natural
catastrophes may rise as global
warming rises.
It is indeed odd that while last
years Global Monitoring Report (GMR
2012), prepared by World Bank
researchers, drew pointed attention
to vulnerability to food price and


related shocks specifically the dire
consequences for undernourished
women and children the MDG
projections in GMR 2013 gloss over
this issue and paint a rosy picture of
banishing extreme poverty and other
deprivations in the next two decades
(i.e. 2010 to 2030).
Ad hoc assumptions about
income inequality widen the range
of projected poverty in 2030. With
high growth and low income
inequality, extreme poverty is likely
to be about three per cent while the
combination of low growth and high
inequality yields a much higher
incidence of extreme poverty (nine
per cent). Neither the GMR 2013 nor
studies by Brookings offer a definitive
account of how growth and inequality
interact. In fact, recent estimates
point to a worsening of income
inequality in many countries (China
and India) and improvement in a few
(like Brazil). The important point is
that if growth widens income
inequality, ad hoc assumptions
about inequality undermine the
plausibility of projected poverty in
2030. The actual may well be outside
the range projected.
For poverty reduction, some
forms of inequality matter more than
others. Important ones include
inequality in the distribution of assets,
especially land, human capital,
financial capital and access to public
assets such as rural infrastructure. The
fast growing economies of East and
South-East Asia had the advantage
of low asset inequality compared to
other Asian and Pacific economies.
In some countries, this followed land
reforms and a better distribution of
educational services. So, moderation
of current income inequality while
facilitating access to incomegenerating assets and the promotion
of employment opportunities for the
poor are imperative.
Missing women
Gender inequity is given short
shrift in the MDGs and the focus is
confined to differences in primary
and
secondary
education
enrolments. But gender disparities

continue from birth to adulthood. The
cycle of maternal and child
malnutrition, morbidity and mortality,
tends to perpetuate poverty over
generations: a vicious cycle of low
investment in women and in girls.
Gender discrimination in access to
health facilities, nutrition, education
and security exacerbates this process
further. Arguably, a more appropriate
indicator of gender inequity is
Amartya Sens measure of missing
women. It is intuitive and appealing
as it captures womens multiple
deprivations over a life span.
Comparison of census results for India
in 2001 and 2011 points to a slight
increase in the sex ratio a rise from
933 to 940 females per 1,000 males.
But there is considerable variation in
this ratio across different States.
Haryana has the lowest sex ratio (877
females per 1,000 males) while Kerala
has the highest (1,084). It is one of
the two States (Puducherry being the
second) where the number of women
exceeds that of men while a few
others (Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh) show higher sex ratios in
2011 relative to 2001. Female
foeticide and infanticide are stark
illustrations of discrimination that
begins in the womb and continues
thereafter lowering female/male sex
ratio.
Recent studies have drawn
attention to the important role of
institutions in growth acceleration
and
poverty
reduction.
Unfortunately, none of the recent
studies (including GMR 2013)
examines these links critically despite
easy access to World Banks rich and
up-to-date database on key
governance/institutional quality
indicators (voice and accountability,
political stability and absence of
violence, control of corruption, rule
of law, and an aggregate index of
institutional
quality).
Since
institutional improvements evolve
over time, in complex ways, extensive
experiments were carried out in a
study that one of us did. Even modest
119
improvements in institutional quality

are associated with significant effects
on income and, consequently, on
poverty. For example, with the voice
and accountability index assumed to
take on the average value of this index
among the top 30 performers, and
the historic growth rate of agricultural
income, the poverty head-count
index (or the proportion of poor)
shows marked reductions in China,
Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and
Indonesia, relative to the base line. A
key issue is institutional triggers that
induce
institutional
quality
improvements. A case in point is the
right to information that has had
remarkable effects in terms of
transparency and accountability in
India.
Small cities
The GMR 2013 (as well as a
series of recent papers by World
Bank researchers) make(s) a powerful
case for rapid and well-managed
urbanisation as key to overall poverty
reduction. It rests on efficient ruralurban migration and better utilisation
of agglomeration economies.
Indeed, it is argued that these could
also result in speedier rural poverty
reduction. An important link in the
chain are small cities (somewhat
misleadingly referred to as the
missing middle given their rapid
growth). Their weak infrastructure,
and poor hygiene and sanitation are
likely to turn them into slums with
growing rural-urban migration. So the
refrain is that investment must be
directed to such cities to better
exploit their growth potential.
A premise is that more ruralurban migration will have a substantial
pay-off in terms of higher wages in
rural areas and greater diversification
of rural economies. Fine, except that
if this premise is turned on its head,
more efficient land, labour and credit
markets and better infrastructure in
rural areas would not only help raise
agricultural productivity but also
enable diversification of rural
economies and, consequently,
discourage rural-urban migration. This


dynamic overturns the World Bank
thesis.
In conclusion, neither the
process of poverty reduction nor the
projections for 2030 are plausible. So
the prospects of eliminating extreme
poverty remain fragile, grim and
distant.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Irans Golden Moment

The vibrant elections that have
unexpectedly thrown up Hassan
Rouhani a moderate cleric as
Irans next President have once again
exposed those quick to label Iranian
democracy a sham. Mr. Rouhanis
victory following an electoral
landslide, brushing aside his
supposedly favoured conservative
rivals, has demonstrated that the
expression of popular will and its
capacity to breathe fresh life into the
system is far from extinguished. These
elections are also important for
another reason: they impart a sense
of closure by healing the wounds left
behind by the 2009 presidential
elections, which had triggered
unprecedented street protests after
many Iranians suspected those polls
had been rigged to give Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad a second term. Four
years on, the Islamic Republic
appears more politically unified and
ready to engage with the rest of the
world.
Mr. Rouhanis victory is the
product of the complex, competitive
dynamics that the managed
pluralism of the Iranian political
system sometimes generates. The
Guardian Council overseeing the
elections
disqualified
Mr.
Ahmadinejads nominee, Esfandiar
Mashaei, as well as the former
President, Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. While
Mashaei supporters had no one place
to turn to, the latters centrist
supporters promptly joined the
reformists in rallying behind Mr.
Rouhani as their sole candidate. Mr.
Rafsanjani and another former
President, Mohammad Khatami,
deserve special applause for their
nimble footwork in forming this
unprecedented coalition which, in

the end, unlocked a surge of youthful
energy that energised the polls.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khameneis appeal to the people to
come out and vote irrespective of
their electoral choice seems to have
played a significant part in generating
voter participation on an astounding
scale. Above all, the Iranian people
deserve credit for not allowing their
hopes to extinguish and keeping faith
in the capacity of their political class
to carry out a critically important
course correction. Mr. Rouhanis
emergence as President offers a
unique opportunity for the
establishment of a mutually beneficial
relationship between Iran and the
West, especially the United States.
The U.S. has to understand that the
moderates in Iran can consolidate
themselves only if they deliver on the
economy a question that is
inextricably linked to the lifting of
sanctions and progress on the
nuclear table. The mantra of regime
change will have to be replaced by a
doctrine of pervasive engagement if
meaningful progress is to be
achieved. For India, Mr. Rohanis rise
rekindles hopes of revival of the
Khatami era, when the relationship
between the two countries was at its
peak.
Courtesy-The Hindu
At G-8 meet, the big test for

U.S.-Russia relations
Russian President Vladimir Putin
will meet U.S. President Barack
Obama on the margins of the G-8
summit in Northern Ireland for their
first bilateral since Mr. Obama
embarked on his second term six
months ago.
The meeting may be crucial in
deciding whether they can build a
constructive partnership after the
much-vaunted reset launched
when Mr. Obama entered the White
House in 2009 ran aground towards
the end of his first term.
Moscow struck a hard tone on
U.S. criticism of its crackdown on the
opposition after Mr. Putin reclaimed
120
presidency in May 2012; relations

between the two countries dipped
to a low point at the turn of the year
when they adopted legislation
penalising each other for alleged
human rights abuses.
Missile defence
In the past few months, Moscow
and Washington have since sought to
rebuild ties focussing on strategic
issues. Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin have
recently exchanged confidential
letters formulating their proposals for
enhancing bilateral cooperation.
Experts have identified two key
issues that may help revive the spirit
of the reset. One is U.S. plans for a
global missile shield, which remains
a sticking point in bilateral ties.
If we find common language
[on missile defence], we could speak
of a beginning of new positive
dynamics in U.S.-Russian relations,
said Alexei Pushkov, head of
international affairs at the State Duma,
lower house of the Russian Parliament.
Two years ago, Mr. Obama told
then Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev that he would have
greater flexibility on issues of
discord with Russia, particularly
missile defence, after winning a
second term ticket.
Following Mr. Obamas reelection, the Pentagon announced a
shift in its missile defence plans from
Europe to Asia that would involve
scrapping deployment of more
powerful missile interceptors near
Russias borders from 2018. Mr.
Obama reportedly also offered to
give Moscow political assurances that
the U.S. missile defence would not
target Russia. The pledge would
come in the form of an executive
agreement, which does not require
congressional approval.
The Kremlin however rejected
the offer reiterating its demand for
legally binding security guarantees.
Russias position [on missile
defence] differs in many respects
from the U.S. vision, said Yuri
Ushakov, Mr. Putins foreign policy
aide. I do not think agreement can


be reached on the missile defence
issue in Lough Erne.
Syria
The other key issue where
Russia and the U.S. are struggling to
find common ground is Syria. Moscow
and Washington have backed
opposite sides in the conflict, but last
month they agreed to co-sponsor an
international peace conference to
stop the bloodshed in Syria.
It is for the first time in recent
years that Russia and the U.S. have
come up with a joint initiative that may
have a lasting effect on international
relations globally, said Prof.
Veniamin Popov of the Institute of
International Relations, Russias
premier diplomatic school.
However, the idea of bringing
the warring sides in the Syrian conflict
to the negotiating table has run into
serious disagreements over the list of
participants and the terms of
peaceful settlement in Syria. Moscow
wants all main opposition groups, and
not just the West-backed National
Coalition Council to attend the
proposed forum.
It is also pushing for Irans
participation, which is opposed by
the U.S. Moscow and Washington also
differ on whether Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad can be part of a
peaceful transition in Syria.
Some experts have called these
differences insurmountable, but Mr.
Putin expressed optimism that
positions can be bridged.
I hope very much that our
joint work will give a chance for
settlement in that country [Syria], he
said earlier this week. In an interview
to the Russia Today TV channel, the
Russian leader also set out his
overriding task in dealing with the U.S.
help it climb down from its
grandstanding as the worlds master.
The collapse of the Soviet
Union left America as the worlds
single leader. But there was a catch
associated with it in that it began to
view itself as an empire An empire
cannot afford to display weakness,
and any attempt to strike an
agreement on equitable terms is often

seen domestically as weakness.
I think that the current [U.S.]
administration realises that it cannot
solve the worlds major issues on its
own. But first, they still want to do it,
and second, they can only take steps
that are fit for an empire Otherwise
they would be accused of
weakness It certainly takes time to
change those patterns of thinking,
Mr. Putin went on to say.
I dont think that its impossible.
I think weve almost come to that
point. I very much hope we will reach
it soon.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Defenders of NSA
surveillance omit most of
Mumbai plotters story
Defending a vast program to
sweep up phone and Internet data
under anti terror laws, senior U.S.
officials in recent days have cited the
case of David Coleman Headley, a key
plotter in the deadly 2008 Mumbai
attacks.
James Clapper, the director of
national intelligence, said a data
collection program by the National
Security Agency helped stop an
attack on a Danish newspaper for
which Headley did surveillance. And
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the
Senate intelligence chairwoman, also
called Headleys capture a success.
But a closer examination of the
case, drawn from extensive reporting
by Pro Publica, shows that the
government surveillance only caught
up with Headley after the U.S. had
been tipped by British intelligence.
And even that victory came after
seven years in which U.S. intelligence
failed to stop Headley as he roamed
the globe on missions for Islamic
terror networks and Pakistans spy
agency.
Supporters of the sweeping U.S.
surveillance effort say its needed to
build a haystack of information in
which to find a needle that will stop
a terrorist. In Headleys case,
however, it appears the U.S. was
handed the needle first and then
121
deployed surveillance that led to the

arrest and prosecution of Headley
and other plotters.
Failure to connect
As ProPublica has previously
documented, Headleys case shows
an alarming litany of breakdowns in
the U.S. counterterror system that
allowed him to play a central role in
the massacre of 166 people in
Mumbai, among them six Americans.
A mysterious PakistaniAmerican businessman and ex-drug
informant, Headley avoided arrest
despite a half dozen warnings to
federal agents about extremist
activities from his family and
associates in different locales. If those
leads from human sources had been
investigated more aggressively,
authorities could have prevented the
Mumbai attacks with little need for
high-tech resources, critics say.
The failure here is the failure to
connect systems, said a U.S. law
enforcement official who worked on
the case but is not cleared to discuss
it publicly. Everybody had
information in their silos, and they
didnt share across the silos. Headley
in my mind is not a successful
interdiction of a terrorist. Its not a
great example of how the system
should work.
Officials from Clappers office
reiterated last week that he was
referring to the prevention of
Headleys follow-up role in a Mumbaistyle attack against Denmarks
Jyllands-Posten newspaper, a prime
target because it published cartoons
of the Prophet Muhammad that many
Muslims found offensive. To that
extent, Clappers comment shed a bit
of new light on this aspect of a
labyrinthine case.
Separately last week, NSA
Director Gen. Keith Alexander told a
Senate committee that surveillance
conducted by his agency helped
disrupt dozens of attacks aimed at
the U.S. and elsewhere. According
t o The Washington Post , Alexander
cited the Headley case and promised
to make more information public


about the success of the NSAs phone
surveillance program, which captures
metadata such as number, time and
location of but not the content of
calls.
In January, a federal judge in
Chicago imposed a 35-year prison
sentence on Headley, 51, for his role
in Mumbai and the foiled newspaper
plot. He got a reduced sentence
because he testified at the federal
trial in Chicago of his accomplice,
Tahawurr Rana, who was sentenced
to 15 years in prison.
Headley confessed to doing
undercover surveillance in Mumbai
for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group
and Pakistans Inter-Services
Intelligence Directorate (ISI). U.S.
officials also charged a major in the
ISI with serving as Headleys handler
before the attack in November 2008.
Pakistan denies involvement.
Detected by the British

In early 2009, according to trial
testimony, Lashkar and the ISI sent
Headley on a surveillance mission to
Denmark. After he returned to
Pakistan, his Lashkar and ISI handlers
backed off. But Headley continued
the plot with support from al-Qaida,
whose leaders wanted a team of
gunmen to attack the newspaper
offices in Copenhagen, take hostages
and throw their severed heads out of
the windows.
Headley returned to Europe
from Chicago for a second
reconnaissance mission that July. The
official version has been that he was
detected at this point but not by
U.S. agencies.
Instead, U.S. and European
counter terror officials have told
ProPublica in interviews that British
intelligence learned of Headleys
contact with al-Qaida operatives near
Manchester, England, who were
already under surveillance. Headley
planned to meet with the extremists
in hopes they would supply money,
arms and personnel for the Denmark
attack.
Headley was an unknown until
not long before his arrest, a senior
U.S. counterterrorism official told

ProPublica in 2010.
He came to light because of
the British. They knew him only as
David the American. [The British]
MI5 [security service] detected that
he was in contact with a group in the
U.K. that they were watching ... David
had made direct contact with two of
the main targets of the U.K.
investigation.
Scandinavian visits
On July 23, 2009, the FBI asked
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
analysts in Washington, D.C., for
assistance in identifying a suspect
who would travel shortly from
Chicago via Frankfurt to Manchester,
according to U.S. officials
interviewed in 2011. The tip
described a suspected American
associate of Lashkar or al-Qaida with
only his first name, flight itinerary and
the airline, officials said. The customs
analysts identified Headley through
their databases containing records of
his previous travel and interviews by
U.S. border inspectors.
Headley went on to Sweden
and Denmark. Alerted by U.S.
agencies, Danish intelligence
officers followed him as he scouted
targets in Copenhagen and tried to
find sources for guns, according to
court records and interviews with
counter terror officials. In the United
States,
court-approved
FBI
surveillance continued after his return
in August and until his arrest that
October, according to counter terror
officials and court records.
Officials in Clappers office
declined to comment on accounts of
the British tip. But they said that
information lawfully gathered under
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act was integral to disrupting the
attempted attacks on the Danish
newspaper. This does not rule out
other sources of information at other
points in the investigation, the
officials said.
Separately, the U.S. law
enforcement official familiar with the
case also said last week that a British
122
communications intercept first

detected Headley. Because the NSA
works closely with its British
counterparts, at that point U.S.
intelligence agencies likely became
involved
in
reviewing
communications records to identify
Headley and begin tracking his
movements and associates, the
official said.
It was a communications
intercept involving a bad guy in
England, the law enforcement
official said. It was the Brits who
passed us the info. Without knowing
all the gritty technical details,
[Clappers depiction] definitely fits
with my understanding.
The 30,000-page case file in
Chicago remains wrapped in
secrecy. Prosecutors have not said
how investigators first detected
Headley. Once he was under
investigation by the Chicago field
office of the FBI, agents intercepted
his calls and emails and retrieved NSA
intercepts
of
previous
communications to build the case,
according to court documents and
ProPublica interviews. During
questioning after his arrest, FBI agents
confronted him with information from
NSA intercepts as well as foreign
intelligence agencies, the senior
counter terror official said.
What it may have allowed them
to do is to go back and find emails
and calls and map his movements,
said Charles Swift, a lawyer for Rana,
the Chicago accomplice.
Headley began cooperating
after his arrest, turning over his
computer and giving the FBI access
to his email accounts. Swift said he is
not aware of anything in the case to
suggest that the disputed NSA
programs identified Headley, though
he acknowledged that defense
lawyers were not shown the
government application for a warrant
to monitor Headley under FISA.
Missed Mumbai
Swift called the case a dramatic
example of the limits of the U.S.
counter terror system because both


high-tech and human resources
failed to prevent the Mumbai attacks.
You have to know what you are
looking for and what you are looking
at, Swift said. Headleys the classic
example. They missed Mumbai
completely.
The Headley case is also
problematic because of his murky
past.
The convicted drug smuggler
radicalized and joined Lashkar in
Pakistan in the late 1990s while spying
on Pakistani heroin traffickers as a
paid informant for the Drug
Enforcement Administration. His
associates first warned federal
agencies about his Islamic extremism
days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Investigators questioned him in front
of his DEA handlers in New York, and
he was cleared.
U.S. prosecutors then made the
unusual decision to end Headleys
probation for a drug conviction three
years early. He then hurried to
Pakistan and began training in Lashkar
terror camps. Although the DEA
insists he was deactivated in early
2002, some U.S., European and
Indian officials suspect that he
remained an informant in some
capacity and that the DEA or another
agency sent him to Pakistan to spy on
terrorists. Those officials believe his
status as an operative or former
informant may have deflected
subsequent FBI inquiries.
The FBI received new tips in
2002 and in 2005 when Headleys
wife in New York had him arrested
for domestic violence and told
counter terror investigators about his
radicalism and training in Pakistan.
Inquiries were conducted, but he
was not interviewed or placed on a
watch list, officials have said.
Headley was recruited in 2006
by ISI officers, who with Lashkar
oversaw his missions, according to
Headleys trial testimony and other
court records.
In late 2007 and early 2008,
another wife told U.S. embassy
officials in Islamabad that Headley
was a terrorist and a spy, describing
his frequent trips to Mumbai and his

stay at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. In
fact, Headley was conducting
meticulous surveillance on the Taj and
other targets for an impending attack
by a seaborne squad of gunmen.
Once again, U.S. agencies say
they did not question or monitor him
because the information from the
wife was not specific enough.
Double agent
Senior Indian officials believe
the U.S. government did not need
high-tech resources to spot Headley.
They have alleged publicly that he
was a U.S. double agent all along. U.S.
officials strenuously deny that. They
say Headley simply slipped through
the cracks of a system in which
overwhelmed agencies struggle to
track threats and to communicate
internally and with each other.
The final tip to authorities about
Headley came from a family friend
days after the Mumbai attacks. This
time, FBI agents in Philadelphia
questioned a cousin of Headleys. The
cousin lied, saying Headley was in
Pakistan when he was actually at
home in Chicago, according to trial
testimony and court documents. The
cousin alerted Headley about the FBI
inquiry, but Headley went to
Denmark as planned.
U.S. agencies did not find
Headley or warn foreign counterparts
about him in the first half of 2009
while he conducted surveillance in
Denmark and India and met and
communicated with ISI officers and
known Lashkar and al-Qaida leaders.
Courtesy-The Hindu
The art of managing

differences
The impression is now
widespread that India-America
relations are on a plateau, if not in the
doldrums. This would not matter had
they matured into a mutual
understanding that allows two
countries to be satisfied with nothing
striking happening between them as
welcome normalcy. Since the days
when we hardly knew, and gravely
123
suspected or even mistrusted each

other, so much has developed
between our two countries, and
especially peoples, that we should
not be at all bothered by the present
situation, but for one reason: how well
have we really learned to know each
other, or shed earlier misgivings?
Policymaking and specific measures
of cooperation are still subject to
deep doubts about just how good
they are for either country.
Convincing each other in these
respects will continue to require
periodic boosts by leaders for some
years to come. This is what makes the
coming Strategic Dialogue important.
Need for objectivity

We in India need to approach
international relations with hardheaded, dispassionate objectivity,
concentrating on national interest.
Emotional attitudes and downright
prejudices affect public opinion and
state policies everywhere, but they
affect us excessively. The view that
we are too inclined towards abstract
considerations, unrealistic world
views and outdated thinking is not
unjustified. Particularly damaging has
been our illusion about friendship in
international relations.
States are often enemies but
cannot be friends. Their peoples may
have friendly feelings, but states can
only develop greater or lesser
closeness of views and cooperation.
This is so obvious as to be almost banal,
but we have ignored it to our cost
often going overboard supporting
others to show our friendship,
beyond their expectations or our
benefit. With America it has been the
opposite: leave alone friendship, for
decades, to speak favourably about
America was considered virtually
unpatriotic and, curiously, the legacy
prevails. Respected pollsters may
find that Indians as a whole have the
best feelings toward America. There
may hardly be a politician, bureaucrat
or professional without a sibling or
offspring settled there (or an innate
longing to follow suit) but berating
America remains more than an


intellectual fashion, it spills over into
a lack of cooperation.
Not that America has not done
wrong:
mistakes,
deliberate
misdeeds, behaviour and purposes
that offend all are there to make a
formidable case for criticism and
distancing. But that can be done
against every state, definitely
including some we call friends.
Nobody has criticised America more
sharply than Americans, and
nowhere are there more forces at
work for self-correction. In any case,
international interactions have to be
determined regardless of the virtues
and vices of individual countries: if
you find a state innately harmful to
you, you must of course treat it as
such, but howsoever horrible a
regime, it is what it can do for or
against you, not its nature, that must
determine your handling of it.
India faces no such cruel
choices today, nor any overnight
external threat. There are only two
foreseeable challenges to our
territorial integrity, and two states to
which a strong India is unwelcome,
although one might take it in its stride.
If either difference ever erupted in
violent conflict, nobody would help
us: we would be alone.
But our strength is surely the
best hope of preventing any
eruptions, and some states see their
interests served by a strong India, and
are willing to help us become so.
Nobody does such things for
friendship, much less because we
are so great or good that they ought
to help as, unfortunately, too many
of us fondly imagine. Mutual benefit,
so entrenched in our Panchsheel,
means mutual trade-offs. There are no
lack of advocates for seeking
closeness with other countries,
including those with whom we could
have conflict, but oddly enough such
an approach towards America
remains suspect.
We also have vital interests
beyond
our
immediate
neighbourhood; the security of the
Gulf, stability of Central Asia
(especially after Americas cut-down

in Afghanistan), the power balance
to our East, tranquillity in the Indian
Ocean. Our capabilities being
limited, we surely need partners for
all this. We must consider which
powers have congruence with our
objectives (assuming, perhaps too
hopefully, that we know what our
objectives are).
Commonality of objectives
never precludes disagreements, even
bitter ones, on ways of getting there:
Gulf security, for instance, would
involve obvious differences on how
to deal with Iran, like the role of
Pakistan in Afghanistan apropos
Central Asia; and looming over
everything is the universal
ambivalence about dealing with
China. There are many other issues
on which our interest and views will
differ basically from Americas; but
there are enough issues with manifest
commonalities calling for an
intensified dialogue.
Another important commonality
is hardly noticed. Everyone talks
about the need for a world order with
little idea as to its meaning or content.
Ideas for making sovereign states
abandon the brute dominance of
power which persist in the intrinsic
anarchy of international relations, and
accept common rules of behaviour,
have long been proposed, to little
effect. Two World Wars initiated
idealistic efforts to make states settle
differences
and
develop
cooperation through multilateral
institutions and international law,
based on equity and the sovereign
equality of nations. Nothing of the sort
actually happened; the great powers
continued trying to impose their will,
using the new systems, accordingly.
India was perhaps the leading
sincere believer in the ideal, though
we objected to all the unfair old
dominating machinations which
were so vitiating it, and we continue
to fight hard against them. Other
states, also opposed to western
control of what currently passes for
order, want another one, but really
124
seek to replace the West, recasting

the order with themselves in control.
India remains the one genuine
believer in making the existing system
conform to the ideals that it professed
to embody, with a truly fair deal for
the underprivileged states, truly
based on equity. America might seem
the last country from which to expect
cooperation to that end, as the
leading unilateralist in the multilateral
institutions
(the
Indian
representatives who have had to
endure its arm-twisting in the U.N.,
etc., are perhaps its strongest critics))
but it is also there that the ideas for
betterment are most actively
discussed. Power politics is not going
to give way to the ideal world order
soon, if ever; but the search for it finds
more supporters in either country
than in some one could name. It is a
thought to bear in mind for the future.
Interest in partnership
While we should adopt a more
purposeful approach, the other side
should have a real interest in
partnership.
Much
Indian
dubiousness about better ties flows
from resentment about being
pressurised, and Americas so-called
transactional attitudes: buy our
planes, reform your investment rules,
safeguard intellectual property our
way, enact our climate change
urgings; whereas much of what we
want is perpetually blocked in
Washington. Both sides could
exchange complaints forever.
The Strategic Dialogue will
doubtless avoid that, but the
problem remains: the working
machinery on which delivery
depends is obstructed by such
faultfinding, fuelling doubts and
hesitations on both sides. Top-down
guidance has helped, but how much
of that is to be expected today? Both
countries are so heavily preoccupied
with domestic and other concerns,
developing this relationship is not
exactly a priority for either
leadership. Delhi is heading for
national elections, and Washingtons


focus is elsewhere. Many decisions
badly needed by New Delhi in their
own right are long overdue, but wont
be risked for appearing as bowing
while scepticism what has India
ever done for us-or ever will never
left the beltway.
All this points to marking time
a perfectly normal situation in most
relationships but potentially
retrogressive in this instance because
of the persistent negativisms. There
are major long-term interests to be
served; they will be one day, if both
sides focus on them, and manage
interim differences instead of
throwing them at each other.
Courtesy-The Hindu
After defeating terror,

winning the peace together
On January 23, 2013, in The
Hindu (Op-Ed, United against the
terrorist threat), we had outlined the
strategy of military intervention
against the terrorists in Mali. We had
underscored the coordination
between the military aspect, aimed
at wiping out terrorist groups, and a
development policy for Mali and its
political transition. At a time when the
international community is mobilising
its resources towards these ends, we
found it important to present the
efforts being undertaken to stabilise
Mali durably.
The international community
united to ensure security and
stability. At the request of the Malian
authorities, France, the African forces
of the neighbouring countries and
the Economic Community Of West
African States (ECOWAS) thwarted
the attempt of terrorist groups to
launch an attack on Bamako and
transform Mali into a sanctuary for
crime.
We have paid the price for it,
the highest price: the blood of Malian,
Chadian and French soldiers who
have fallen in combat. Today, Malis
territorial integrity has been restored
and the terrorists have been
defeated. A great number of them
have been neutralised and their
outfits destroyed along with a
significant part of their resources.

This action will continue. The
threat of terrorist groups in the Sahel
and North Africa is a long-standing
one. Although diminished, they retain
a limited but real capacity for action
and harm, as the May 23 attacks in
Niger tragically show.
Now that the terrorists have
been held in check, pursued and
defeated in Mali, it is time to ensure
the maintenance of law and order
and prevent the return of jihadists .
This is the mandate that the Security
Council unanimously approved for
the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
(MINUSMA) on April 25, 2013. It will
replace the African-led International
Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA)
forces in July, while the French forces
will be scaled down to 1,000 men by
the end of this year. The United
Nations Force, with over 11,000 men
and a solid mandate, will have the
means to defend itself, with the
support of French forces in the event
of serious, impending threats.
This operation will end once the
Malian army is in a position to secure
Mali s sovereignty and territorial
integrity. To attain this goal, almost
600 European trainers have been
deployed as part of the European
Union Training Mission (EUTM Mali)
to help rebuild the Malian Army.
More generally, this endeavour
concerns the entire region. Useful
frameworks have already been put in
place. The Global Counterterrorism
Forum, co-chaired by Algeria and
Canada, brings together all the
countries of North Africa and the
Sahel. The European Union has
formulated a Strategy for Security
and Development in the Sahel,
which helps reinforce the security
capabilities of the States of the region
as part of a global approach.
Presidential elections
Development,
political
dialogue,
democracy
and
governance are at the core of todays
efforts. However, we must complete
this fight by winning peace in Mali
125
together.
Parallel
to
the
uncompromising fight against terrorist
groups, it is crucial that the
international community and Mali
unite in their efforts to promote
development, political dialogue,
democracy and governance.
To confront the terrorist threat,
there must be an active democracy,
which reins in the ideologies of hate
and intolerance advocated by radical
groups. The President of Mali and the
Malian government have therefore
decided, with the National Assembly,
to hold the presidential elections on
July 28, 2013. A Dialogue and
Reconciliation Commission has also
been set up and commenced its work
to promote the reconciliation of all
the political elements of Mali, which
stood up against terrorist violence
both in the South and the North.
To win peace in Mali, it is also
necessary to promote development
and remedy the problems of the past:
fragile institutions, insufficient
governance and lack of coordination
of international aid.
We would like this to be an
exemplary process. With the aid of
the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, the Malian authorities
have themselves defined their
reconstruction and development
road map 2013-2014 for Malis
sustainable economic recovery. All of
Mali is concerned; not just the North,
but the whole of Mali.
Indias role
At the joint invitation of the
President of Mali, Dioncounda
Traore, the President of France,
Franois Hollande, and the President
of the European Commission, Jos
Manuel Barroso, more than 13 heads
of State and 107 delegations
including Indias spread over all
the continents, participated in the
donor conference, Together for a
New Mali, which was held in Brussels
on May 15, 2013. In all, pledges for a
total of 3.2 billion in aid were
confirmed, with Europeans alone
contributing 1.35 billion. India
pledged 100 million dollars. This is a


good starting point for working in the
long term.
French and European aid will
contribute towards consolidating the
reinstatement of the State, public
services and administration,
especially in the North, so that polls
may take place all across Mali. It will
support the evolution of the political
process that should help foster
national reconciliation, build inclusive
institutions and establish legitimate
democratic authorities.
The EU will extend its technical
and financial assistance to this
process in close coordination with
the United Nations, which will be in
charge.
and 22 per cent of urban households,

still uses biomass for daily cooking.
An estimated 80 per cent of the
residential energy in India comes
from biomass, and much of it is burnt
in traditional cookstoves or chulhas .
Cooking in rural households and in
congested urban slum-dwellings
takes place in extremely constricted
and badly ventilated living spaces.
The toxic smoke and particulates that
are emitted from biomass burning,
have significant and adverse health
and socio-economic consequences.
The worst affected are the already
most vulnerable sections of our
population, especially women and
children.
A global answer
Health impact
Development, democracy and

efforts from all for Malis stability: we
wish to mobilise all energies and
show terrorist groups, no matter
where they are, that the international
community will not take matters lying
down. We must all focus all the more
to counter terrorism together as it is a
scourge with increasing interactions:
interactions between different
regions of the world where terrorism
manifests itself, as this is a
phenomenon without borders;
interactions with other threats, such
as illegal trafficking or piracy, with the
help of which terrorism subsists and
is reinforced.
India, a great democratic nation
that has herself been the victim of
heinous terrorist acts, is on our side
and we thank her once again for her
unflagging support. Counterterrorism
is a goal of prime importance for the
international community and one of
the cornerstones of the strategic
partnership between France and
India. We are conducting this global
fight against terrorism together, in
Mali, in the Sahel, in Africa, and
everywhere where it is necessary.
Courtesy-The Hindu
It is estimated that household

biomass fuel-generated indoor air
pollution (IAP) is responsible for
nearly a half-a-million premature
deaths annually, predominantly
among women and young children.
This figure, however, could be as high
as 2.5 million, as was found in an
extensive study carried out by The
Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
in the mid-1990s, based on exposure
of thousands of users carrying
personal monitors around the clock
and analysis by epidemiologists of
data thus generated. This health
impact is ranked third in India after
malnutrition and poor quality of water
and a lack of sanitation.
The Global Burden of Disease
study 2010 ranked IAP as the leading
cause of death and disabilityadjusted life years in South Asia. The
burden of biomass fuel collection and
processing for cooking also falls
largely upon women and children,
mainly girls, who spend considerable
time gathering agriculture residue,
waste wood or faggots every day.
Providing an affordable, simple-touse, clean cooking energy option for
such households will yield enormous
gains in terms of meeting Indias
energy poverty challenge and
promoting health and socioeconomic welfare of the weakest
and most vulnerable sections of
Time to stop smoking in

kitchens
A large section of our countrys
population, nearly 75 per cent of rural
126
society. It would also ensure a

healthier and more productive
population in the next generation.
Some initiatives
There will be co-benefits in
terms of combating environmental
pollution and climate change
because cleaner combustion of
biomass in fuel efficient, clean
cookstoves will greatly reduce the
toxic products of incomplete
combustion which also emit
greenhouse gases.
There have been several
initiatives undertaken in the past to
develop, produce and distribute
improved cookstoves or chulhas
throughout rural India. There was a
National
Programme
on
Improved Chulhas (NPIC) earlier
which was followed by the launch of
a national mission for clean
cookstoves by the Ministry of New
and Renewable Energy in 2008.
However, these initiatives have so far
been unable to deliver on their
original promise. We believe that a
successful and sustainable national
scale initiative will need to address
the following key issues:
Focus on the user

One, the starting point of the
exercise to develop an efficient and
affordable cookstove must be the
user, that is, the lady of the house,
the mother and wife, who actually
does the cooking for the family in a
typical Indian household. It must
make sense to her in terms of the
limited family budget both the
initial purchase as well as the
subsequent lifetime costs in terms of
maintenance and reduced fuel
consumption. The fuel, whether
unprocessed, semi-processed or fully
processed, must be affordable for her
family. Users of biomass and
traditional chulhas are becoming
conscious of the benefits from
switching to improved cookstoves,
but current policy lacks effective
financing of improved designs and
adequate
capacity
for
implementation at grass-roots level.


Two, staying with the user, the
improved cookstove should be easyto-use and maintain and easily
adapted to local cooking habits
across the country. While cookstove
technology in India and abroad has
improved considerably over the past
few years, further advances are still
possible and necessary. What is
required is cutting-edge advanced
technology, rather than lowtechnology solutions.
The aim should be to achieve
efficiency of combustion in
cookstoves, comparable to that, at a
minimum,
from
LPG-based
household cooking. What is required
is easy and accessible financing, an
extensive distribution network, after
sales service and convenient access
to fuel sources.
We believe that the government
should formulate and implement a
truly national scale mission, bringing
together public and private sectors
as well as non-governmental
organisations, for developing the
next-generation of household
cookstoves, biomass processing
technologies and, most importantly,
deployment models. The aim should
be to evolve a commercially viable
and sustainable mission, which does
not rely on philanthropy or subsidies.
And achieving success is critical to
enabling the country to deal with its
pervasive energy poverty, the
debilitating health consequences for
Indias women and children from IAP,
and the collateral environmental
pollution resulting from the inefficient
burning of raw biomass.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Not that Great being an

Indian Bustard
Have you seen the Big Five?
Thats the question you will invariably
be asked if you visit the East African
states. The Big Five, Africas largest,
and thus most prominent, mammals
the lion, the rhino, the leopard, the
buffalo and the elephant have
dominated camp fire stories, tourist
expectations and the growth of
conservation.
Across the world, big animals

have a lure that is unmatched they
inspire knee-knocking fear, awe and
wonder. The Galapagos tortoise,
weighing over 400 kilograms, is also
called the Galapagos giant, the
Indian Rhino is also called the Great
Indian Rhino, and the elephant is
often called the gentle giant. In
India, much like in Africa, we share
habitat with a range of veritable
giants: the tiger, the largest of all big
cats; the lion, also called the king of
the jungle; and the brown and black
bears, possibly the largest of all
carnivores in this country. Yet, one
giant has missed out, even though its
very name gives away both its
endemism as well as its size: the Great
Indian Bustard.
Rajasthans lead
Found only in India and
Pakistan, the sole viable range and
population of the Great Indian
Bustard is now in India. Here too, the
bird, which weighs between 18-20
kilograms and the size of a terrier, has
lost more than 90 per cent of its
habitat, and is down to a miniscule
population of 200 individuals. Thus,
it is possibly one of the most critical
of all critically endangered bird
species in India. Last year, the Ministry
of Environment and Forests issued
guidelines to start a Centrally
sponsored plan called Project
Bustard in the bustard range States
a much delayed clarion call for
three neglected types of bustards, of
which the Great Indian Bustard is
numerically the closest to extinction.
On the lines of Project Tiger and
Project Elephant, other Great Indian
Bustard States such as Rajasthan,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
have been invited to submit species
recovery plans to the Centre to avail
of funding and start long-term
conservation programmes. Last
month, the Supreme Court called for
the operationalisation of the National
Wildlife Action Plan and specifically
directed the Government of India
and the Union Environment Ministry
127
towards starting species recovery

plans for the bird. This month, on
World Environment Day, Rajasthan
became the first State to declare
Project Great Indian Bustard. This is
the first time that the west Indian
State has announced a landscape
plan for its State bird. While we need
more range States to actively pursue
Project Bustard, we will have to move
away from traditional approaches to
Centrally sponsored conservation
schemes and look at a truly
unorthodox protection regime for this
unorthodox bird.
Ecological and social niche

The Great Indian Bustard is one
of the heaviest flying birds on earth.
With its head turned up at a
characteristic 45 angle, it gives out a
deep hoom call, which can be a
heard up to a kilometre away. Its local
names, Godawan and hoom, are
derived from this booming call, an
indication of the way its presence has
built up in local consciousness. In the
1960s, ornithologist Salim Ali
proposed that to focus interest and
solicitude on a bird that represented
the country, the bird should be
chosen as the national bird. Despite
this consideration and its prominent
size, it has since been relegated to
complete neglect, perhaps because
of the habitat it lives in: semi-arid
grasslands, which to untrained
government eyes, is an epithet for a
wasteland. The only habitat
protection law that India has is the
Forest Conservation Act (1980). And
therefore the question is: are
grasslands forests? Biologists argue
that grasslands should be legally
considered as forests, for the purpose
of conservation of both the habitat
and the unique assemblages of
species they hold. The only species
that went extinct in independent
India was the Cheetah, also a
grassland species. In its report of the
Task Force for Grasslands and Deserts,
the Planning Commission notes that
species closest to extermination are
grassland species, found in dry, wet
and high altitude grasslands, such as


the lesser florican, the pygmy hog, the
Bengal florican and the Nilgiri Tahr.
Forest management has led zealous
forest departments, trained to raise
forests and nothing else, towards
burning grasses, ploughing soil, and
planting trees where grasslands once
swayed.
The Great Indian Bustard, with
most of its habitat range lost, today
poses one of the most pressing
challenges to conservation design
and management. Despite being
such a huge bird, it is a cryptic giant.
It converges before the monsoon at
sites where it displays for breeding,
enlarging its neck and moustaches.
But where it goes in the non-breeding
season is a mystery. With the display
season now on, Gujarat, for the first
time, has granted permission to the
Wildlife Institute of India and others
to satellite track the Great Indian
Bustard (in the way tigers have been
tracked before) to understand its
foraging and dispersing ecology.
Conserving this bird will mean both
legal protection of breeding and
display areas, and joining hands with
communities over a large, legally
unprotected landscape where the
Bustard disappears to. Herein is the
biggest challenge to help create
ownership towards the last few
individuals of this wandering, vagrant
bird, the very last evolutionary dregs
of a species whose habitat is now an
anachronism. It will, in effect, mean
creating a vibrant social niche among
people, for a bird which is near
forgotten.
Community-driven
Where semi-arid grasslands are
not available, the Great Indian
Bustard is found in pseudo-grasslands
traditional cropping areas of
traditional crops, such as millets and
sorghum. Here, it has also been found
to nest. If arid and semi-arid
grasslands both natural as well as
pseudo can escape land-use
change, the other pressing concern
is to allow some areas to retain their
traditional Great Indian Bustard
friendly crops.
Instead of a strictly protectionist

or legally-enforced approach, we will
need a management approach, most
of which will have to be self-enforced
by communities. Conservation
planning will have to involve new
players, like district commissioners,
the revenue department, agricultural
officers and gram sabhas . All of
them have to be roped in to identify
and protect revenue and private
lands that bustards forage on, and to
encourage natural agro-biodiversity.
If we can save the Great Indian
Bustard from extinction, it will mean
a triumph against the fatal end, but
also a template for facing the typical
problems
of
contemporary
conservation today: working with
whatever habitat we have left, using
principles of restoration ecology to
safeguard ecological baselines, and
creating reconciliation with dense
human communities who hold rights
to these areas and are a reality in
wildlife conservation today.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Allowing radicalism to
triumph over democracy
June 18, 2013 was a day of
starkly contradictory events in
Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai
and visiting NATO Secretary-General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced
the fifth and last tranche of the
security transition, with NATO forces
handing over the complete
ownership and leadership of all
military operations across Afghanistan
to their Afghan counterparts.
Ordinary Afghans welcomed this
development as a major step forward
in their quest to consolidate
Afghanistans democratic gains.
On the same day, it was also
expected that an Afghan-led,
Afghan-owned, and Afghanexecuted peace initiative would be
launched with the opening of a
temporary venue in Doha, Qatar,
facilitating peace talks between the
Afghan High Peace Council and
Taliban representatives. It took the
Afghan government almost two years
to reach this critical point and to form
128
a national consensus on the principles

that would govern the peace process.
Many consultations were also held
with regional and international
stakeholders, including the United
States and Pakistan, which as two
members of the Core Group agreed
on the governing principles, clearly
articulated in the Peace Process
Roadmap to 2015.
The Core Group members
agreed that in order for the peace
process to succeed with sustainable
outcomes, the Taliban must accept
the Afghan Constitution and respect
the democratic gains of the Afghan
people,
including
the
constitutionally-protected rights of
women. They must also cut ties with
al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups,
while verifiably renouncing violence.
And it has been emphasised time and
again that any external interference
intended to influence the peace talks
would jeopardise and stall the
process.
As Afghanistans leading
strategic partner, the United States
provided the Afghan government
with specific guarantees against any
possible violation of the above basic
principles. The name of the venue in
Doha was agreed to be the Political
Bureau of the Afghan Taliban,
nothing more than a political address
to be later relocated inside
Afghanistan. But much to the dismay
of the Afghan people and
government, as they were still
cheering the last phase of the security
transition, Al Jazeera enthusiastically
began broadcasting an elaborate
inaugural ceremony for the Office
of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
in Doha as its top news story.
Granting credibility
Qatars Deputy Foreign Minister,
Ali bin Fahad Al-Hajri, and Taliban
representatives unveiled the plaque
that bore that name under which
the Taliban had committed
unspeakable atrocities against the
Afghan people, systematically
destroying their cultural heritage and
economically isolating their country


from the rest of the world. And a
white flag under which the Taliban
and al-Qaeda had masterminded the
9/11 terrorist attacks that killed more
than 3,000 American citizens was
hoisted on a tall pole outside the
venue in an area of Doha that houses
most diplomatic missions.
The premeditated event that
unfolded before the eyes of the
international community betrayed
not only the ongoing sacrifices of the
Afghan people, but also those of their
regional and international allies and
friends for the institutionalisation of
peace
and
democracy
in
Afghanistan. The Afghan people
were shocked by, and continue to
express their outrage against, the way
the event was organised and took
place. To Afghans and most of their
key allies, it seemed as if the forces of
terrorism were being rewarded at the
expense of the democratic gains
made in Afghanistan, a remote
possibility that no one could have
logically predicted would happen.
But it unashamedly did, inviting
a strong international reaction in
support of Afghanistans peace
conditions. The people and
government of Afghanistan are
particularly thankful to India and
Russia for their immediate, principled
reactions against the blatant violation
of their peace conditions. The
government of India has rightly
cautioned
against
creating
equivalence
between
an
internationally
recognised
government of Afghanistan and
insurgent groups, which would
legitimise insurgent groups or convey
the impression of two competing
state authorities for Afghanistan.
Similar statements of support from
Canada, China, Iran, Germany, Italy,
and others have called on the Taliban
to accept the Afghan Constitution,
cut ties with terrorist networks, and
cease violence against civilians, all
while cautioning against any imposed
measures on the Afghan-led peace
process.
In Afghanistan, the unexpected
Doha events have unprecedentedly
unified the Afghan people in support

of their elected governments efforts
to reject any peace deal that infringes
on their sovereignty and the
democratic achievements of the past
12 years.
The Afghan people have not
been losing their children day after
day, year after year, just to return to
the same foreign-installed Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan that violated
the very basic human rights of Afghan
women, and that harboured alQaeda, which first terrorised the
Afghan
people
and
then
masterminded the tragedy of 9/11.
Standing firm
Afghans remain astounded at
the way radicalism has been allowed
to triumph over their new democracy.
But they hold the moral high ground,
and are firmly determined to
consolidate the strategic gains of the
past decade against the terrorism that
continues to find a home and
institutional support in Pakistan. Now
is the time for the international
community to recommit to standing
by the Afghan people and helping
them realise their democratic
aspirations for an Afghanistan free
from the dark forces of extremism and
terrorism.
Afghans deserve moral and
material support and respect for their
decade-long
sacrifices
to
institutionalise
peace
and
democracy in their country. Failure
to deliver on these basic expectations
would surely take Afghanistan back
to the 1990s, a scenario few want to
repeat. The only way forward is to
help sustainable peace take root in
Afghanistan, and to protect it from
any previously tried and failed
shortcuts that cost both democracy
and liberty.
Courtesy-The Hindu
A very reliable formula

In going with the formula
recommended by the Rangarajan
Committee for pricing natural gas
produced in the country even if it
means considerably higher prices
129
the government has chosen the

practical way out of a sticky situation.
Gas producers were lobbying hard
for remunerative prices while users
from the power and fertilizer sectors
were agreeable only to a nominal
increase. With production from the
KG basin fields of Reliance Industries,
the lead gas producer in the country,
falling drastically in the last couple of
years due to what the company
claims are technical problems, power
and fertilizer companies were forced
to either use expensive imported gas
or operate their plants at sub-optimal
capacities. There was thus pressure
on the government to incentivise
investment in the oil and gas sector
by revising prices upwards to meet
the expectations of gas producers.
The Rangarajan formula links the price
of gas in India to world prices. Though
it will be lower than the price of
imported gas, the new price will
nevertheless lead to a sharp rise in
input costs for power and fertilizer
companies. Mindful of this, the
government has already hinted that
it will have to subsidise these two
sectors for a while.
Even as it examines ways of
keeping the burden off consumers,
the government needs to rethink two
elements. First, if there has to be an
international reference point for the
Indian gas price, the well-developed
Henry Hub market is enough.
Gratuitously including Japan and the
U.K. in the pricing formula only serves
to push the Indian price higher than
it ought to be. Second, there must
be a ceiling price under the formula.
It cannot be that gas producers will
reap unlimited gains in the case of an
upswing in global prices; any upside
has to be capped at a level that takes
into account a reasonable return on
investment for the gas producer. The
government must also subject gas
producers to closer regulation,
especially on aspects of cost recovery
and technical parameters related to
production. The ongoing issues with
Reliance which will benefit the
most from the higher prices now
over cost recovery and penalties for


not meeting contracted output levels
need to be taken to their logical
conclusion.
Once
Reliance
overcomes the technical difficulty
of producing gas at the KG-D6 field,
the government must ensure the
company delivers the shortfall it still
owes at the old price of $4.2 rather
than getting the benefit of the new
price. The government should also
consider the other important
recommendation of the Rangarajan
Committee of moving to a revenuesharing arrangement with gas
producers. That will eliminate future
disputes over cost recovery, even as
it discourages gold-plating of project
costs.
Courtesy-The Hindu
Still in the last row

As another election draws near
and political parties machinate to
secure their vote banks, perhaps some
who are far-sighted enough will look
to Indias young Muslims. Those under
19 years of age form over 50 per cent
of the countrys 180 million Muslims,
a number that is growing. Yet,
whether these young Muslims can
play a part in the nations ambition of
becoming a global player or not will
depend on the extent to which they
benefit from the growth process and
broader, social reform initiatives.
That Muslims in India are
disadvantaged was set out
unequivocally in the Sachar
Commission report in 2006. Between
1993-4 and 2007-8, the UNDP also
found that Muslim urban poverty
declined only 1.7 points whereas
urban poverty levels generally fell
from 32.4 per cent to 14.5 per cent.
More significantly, educational
disparities between Muslims and
others, have not been decreasing as
fast as they should have.
Findings
In our research on 246,389
children from 11 States (the full text
is at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp6329.pdf),
we find that, overall, India has made
progress in plugging the school
enrolment gap between upper-caste
Hindu children and other children,

from 1983 to 2004. The enrolment
gap between Scheduled Caste (SC)
children and upper caste Hindu
children declined from 17 per cent
points in 1983 to one per cent point
in 2004.
In contrast, the enrolment gap
between Hindu and Muslim children
continued to persist at four per cent
points in 2004. Importantly, while
most States in our study show a
decrease in Hindu-Muslim enrolment
gaps, the gap remains significant in
States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and Bihar with large Muslim
populations.
However, school enrolment is
only half the story. School completion
rates, which make the real difference
to a childs future show persistently
larger gaps. This is not surprising
because school completion takes
more sustained reform. We find that
for every 10 years of schooling
completed by Hindu children,
Muslim children only completed 8.3
years in 2004. This pattern holds good
for both boys and girls. The gaps in
completion rates are significant in
every State in the study except Tamil
Nadu.
There is a popular perception
that social conservatism is the cause
of the educational disadvantage
among Indian Muslims. However, we
find that this does not seem to be so.
One important signifier is the boy-girl
difference in education. We found
that the education gap between boys
and girls in Muslim families is smaller
than in Hindu families.
Rather than conservatism, this
seems to suggest a gap in public
policy attention to Muslim childrens
education. The gap between Muslim
and SC children also suggests the
same thing. Muslim children had
better school completion rates than
SC/ST children in 1983. However, our
research shows that by 2004, when
the impact of policies targeted at
these groups (first articulated in the
National Policy on Education in 1986
and then reiterated in the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan more recently) starts
130
to be felt, Muslim boys had begun to

lag behind SC boys in grade
completion.
Importantly, underlining the
case that this is problem of public
policy inattention rather than
culture, the comparison of the boygirl difference between communities
remains unchanged. While more SC
boys complete primary (as well as
secondary) school than Muslim boys,
SC girls continue to lag behind Muslim
girls.
Tamil Nadus achievement

Tamil Nadu is the only State in
our study that has successfully closed
the Hindu-Muslim and gender gaps
both in school enrolment and
completion. It is not coincidental that
respective State governments have
given school education greater
attention than many other States.
Tamil Nadu pioneered Indias MidDay Meal school programme in the
1960s, three decades earlier than
most States, and more recently has
made a better job of operationalising
the District Primary Education Project
and its follow-up, the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.
Much of the difference in
Hindu-Muslim educational outcomes
relates to Muslim families being poorer
and larger as well as to parents within
these families being less educated
than those of other groups. Having
said this, even when we compare
children from similar economic and
family backgrounds, the Muslim
schooling disadvantage does not
disappear. Change, it seems, can only
come if future education policy
initiatives explicitly target Muslim
children and address the specificities
of the causes of their disadvantage.
Educational disadvantage
impacts the long-term prospects of
any community, by constraining social
mobility and worsening exclusion,
marginalisation and alienation. As 13
per cent of the population, Muslims
are a significant minority who can help
deliver Indias future growth, if only
they were given an even chance.
Courtesy-The Hindu

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In a society where lobbying is
almost synonymous with bribery
and where lobbyists often creatively
couch themselves as political aides,
public relations officers and
advocates for policy change, the
Disclosure of Lobbying Activities
Bill, 2013 (DLA Bill/Bill) recently
introduced in the Lok Sabha1 by a
Member of Parliament can perhaps
be seen as the first ever
acknowledgement
by
a
parliamentarian of Indias worstkept secret. This private members
bill, introduced in the wake of the
Nira Radia tapes scandal, and more
recently, Walmarts regulatory
disclosure to United States
authorities of having engaged in
lobbying activities to secure
enhanced access to Indian markets,
the bill intends to procure
transparency in the context of
lobbying activity undertaken in
India.
The DLA Bill is a significant
step, as for the first time in the
history of Indian lawmaking, a
potential law recognises that
lobbying is an integral part of
democratic functioning.2 Whilst it

remains to be seen whether or not
the bill will ever translate into a law,
it implicitly indicates lawmakers
willingness to consider a proposal
for a law, which requires them to
shrug off years of denial of the
omnipresent relationship between
lobbying and lawmaking.
This article critically analyses
the DLA Bill, identifies provisions
thereof which will have an impact
on stakeholders and highlights some
conceptual and some not-soconceptual errors therein, which
arouse suspicions about the
genuineness
and
sincerity
underlying its introduction.
Lobbyists Registration Authority
The DLA Bill requires the
central government to set up a
central authority for registration of
lobbyists known as the Lobbyists
Registration Authority (LRA). The
bill, thus, deals with lobbying
activity as an activity to be reported
and disclosed from time to time.
Interestingly, the bill fights shy of
declaring that lobbying activity is
131
legal in India as long as the

requirements prescribed under the
bill have been complied with.
Admittedly, in light of the reporting
provisions, a provision which
expressly declares lobbying activity
to be legal would be redundant.
However, given that lobbying has
been culturally and politically
tabooed in India, it may be
worthwhile considering making an
express provision to this effect. The
absence of such a provision is
indicative of the political inhibitions
and hesitation involved in making a
declaration to this effect.
Prospective Scope
The DLA Bill requires every
entity (including individuals,
companies and all entities of any
form whatsoever) that intends to
engage in lobbying activity to
register itself with the LRA. The bill,
therefore, is not meant to procure
disclosure of those cases wherein
lobbying has already resulted in or
otherwise had an impact on
enacted laws, policies or executive
orders. Thus, for instance, under the


bill as it presently stands, Walmart
will not require to report the
lobbying activity undertaken by it to
the LRA as the law does not apply
retrospectively. Presumably, this
seems to be a safer approach as a
retrospective disclosure of such
cases would only irreparably open
a Pandoras box, can have mammoth
consequences for past governments
and result in a complete breakdown
of state machinery. The DLA Bill
may, therefore, be interpreted as
implicitly sending out a signal that
past instances of lobbying are
waived.
Covered Persons
The DLA Bill covers lobbying
activities intended to be undertaken
by any entity, whether by itself or
on behalf of others. It, therefore,
covers independent lobbying
agencies, India Inc, trade unions,
non-profit groups as well as trade
and business associations such as
the Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),
which presently regularly represent
their respective interests before the
government.
Further, the DLA Bill, if it does
fructify into a law, may translate into
a double-edged sword for legal and
accountancy professionals who
often make representations before
legislative
and
executive
committees for the benefit of their
clients. As in countries where
lobbying is legal and therefore a
service sector in itself, such
professionals could officially take
advantage of this public platform to
expand their practice areas.
However, at the same time, it would
mean being subjected to regulation
in a practice area, which was
hitherto unregulated. Also, if the bill
progresses into a law, it would be
interesting to see whether the
governing bodies of such
professions such as the Bar Council
of India and the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of India

would be amenable to allowing their
members to engage in lobbying
practice.
Further, it is not clear whether
foreign lobbyists engaged by foreign
corporates to lobby in India (the
typical Walmart scenario) or foreign
lobbyists engaged by Indian
corporates to lobby in India or
abroad would be covered under the
potential enactment.
Lobbying Activity
Predictably, the crux of the
issue is the definition of lobbying
activity contained in the DLA Bill.
Concisely put, the expression
lobbying activity has been defined
to mean the act of any
communication (oral, written or
electronic) with a public servant and
payment to a public servant. Such
act and payment must be done or
made with the aim of influencing a
legislative action (such as the
introduction, passing or defeat of a
central or state bill or any
amendment thereto), an executive
action (such as a government policy
or programme, awarding a licence,
contract, grant, permit or funds to
any individual or organisation,
executive decisions to transfer an
asset or business manufacturing
public goods to a private
individual), or the nomination or
promotion of any person for a
position in a public office.
Lobbying activity, as envisaged
under the bill (as presently worded),
includes the act of paying a public
servant with the aim of influencing
a legislative, executive action, etc.
Inclusion of payment to a public
servant in the definition of
permissible lobbying activity is a
gross conceptual error that blurs the
very distinguishing line between
legitimate lobbying and illegitimate
gratification to a public servant.
Now, one would imagine that
payment to a public servant has
132
been included in the definition of

lobbying to ensure disclosure of
such payments to the LRA.
However, such inclusion may
obviously lead to an argument that
so long as a payment made to a
public servant has been disclosed
by a lobbyist to the LRA, it is a
legitimate lobbying activity.
Needless to add, this would run foul
of several Indian laws including the
Indian Penal Code and the
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
(POCA). Moreover, the DLA Bill
contains an overriding provision,
which means that the potential DLA
Act overrides any other law
(including POCA) for the time being
in force.
Further, the DLA Bill excludes
from its purview certain types of
communications with public
servants. These communications
have been excluded on the principle
that they are either, by their very
nature, in the public domain (such
as communications made in public
media) or are in fulfilment of a legal
obligation (such as testimony given
before a government constituted
committee), or are in response to a
request by the government for (a) a
tender or (b) public views on
proposed laws and policies. Whilst
communications of the kind
mentioned in item (b) would
typically be in the public domain, it
may be advisable, by way of
abundant caution, to give the
benefit of such exception only if the
concerned views communicated in
response to a government request
are freely available on a public
forum.
Concept of Public Servant
The
next
contentious
definition under the DLA Bill is that
of a public servant. The DLA Bill
imports the definition of a public
servant from POCA, a law intended
to prevent corruption amongst
public officials. Given the objective


underlying the POCA, the definition
of a public servant under POCA is
intended to cover public servants of
any category whatsoever.
Inclusion of each and every
public servant of any category may
result in inefficiencies as not every
public servant is in a position to
influence legislative or executive
action. For instance, a public servant
under POCA includes any employee
of a statutory corporation such as,
for example, the Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC) of India. Requiring
a person to register with the LRA as
a lobbyist merely because he/she
communicated with an employee of
LIC would be meaningless as such
employee may not even be in a
position to influence any action on
behalf of LIC. Such overstatement in
the concept of a public servant
would not only defeat the legislative
intent of regulating genuine
lobbying activity, but also increase
enforcement costs and reduce the
efficiency of the enforcement
machinery.
Accordingly, simply importing
the definition of a public servant
from POCA is a quick-fix solution
and the concept of a public servant
would require to be revised to
include certain categories of public
servants who are in a position to
influence law or policymaking at any
level. Moreover, the laws in India are
largely the creation of qualified
bureaucrats working within the
government machinery and they
must also be brought within the
purview of the DLA Bill, inasmuch
as these bureaucrats may
themselves be targeted for lobbying
activity.
Reporting and Disclosure
The DLA Bill has fairly
extensive disclosure requirements.
It requires an independent lobbyist
to disclose the names of clients and
persons who have a direct interest
in the outcome of the lobbying

activity or have otherwise funded or
controlled the lobbying activity. All
lobbyists are also obligated to
disclose the area or subject matter
of the lobbying activity, the names
of employees who will lobby with
public servants, the particulars of
the public servants who will be
lobbied with, the purpose and
outcome of lobbying and the details
of payments made by the lobbyist
to a public servant.
Significantly, a public servant
is also required under the DLA Bill
to disclose information regarding
payments received by him/her in the
course of any lobbying activity
conducted with him/her. This
provision again makes one wonder
whether the DLA Bill is intended to
legalise such payments, and
whether disclosure of such
payments absolves the lobbyist or
the public servant from any graft
allegations. Especially so, since the
DLA Bill makes no provision for
disgorgement of the payment so
received by a pubic servant, and the
bill, if it translates into a law in its
present form, has an overriding
effect on all other extant laws as
mentioned above. Ultimately, the
broader aim of transparency is
realised through the obligation
imposed by the DLA Bill legislation
on the LRA to make public all
information submitted to it on a
website to be maintained by the
LRA. The LRA is the administrative
authority under the DLA Bill which
empowers it to conduct
investigations against persons it
suspects of having engaged in
lobbying activity without being
registered with it. However, unlike
most statutes that empower an
investigating authority created
under them with powers of
interrogation, search and seizure, no
such corresponding enabling
powers can be found in the DLA Bill.
133
Penalties
50 lakh, an exceptionally high
amount, the likes of which can be
rarely found in the Indian legal
regime. Further, failure to submit
accurate information when asked to
do so by the LRA attracts suspension
of registration as a lobbyist and is
punishable with imprisonment up to
five years or a fine which may
extend to Rs 75 lakh, or both. A
fundamental technical error in the
legislation lies in the fact that whilst
the DLA Bill penalises submission of
inaccurate information, there is no
corresponding provision penalising
the failure to file the information
prescribed under the bill. Finally,
the DLA Bill criminalises failure by a
person intending to engage in
lobbying activity to register itself
with the LRA, and imposes a penalty
of up to Rs. Notwithstanding the
pitfalls of the bill, supporting the bill
(not in its original but a much more
tightened and improvised form)
may be an effective damage control
measure for the scam-struck ruling
government. Having said that, given
its long-term impact on business
and political circles in India, the DLA
Bill is, itself, surely likely to be the
subject matter of much lobbying
(both for and against) and whether
the bill will ever progress into a law
or be put on the back-burner is
anybodys guess.
To conclude, considering the
traditional stigma attached to the
subject in India, the bill is a laudable
though half-hearted step in the right
direction. If, however, there is any
sincerity involved in pushing the bill
through Parliament, it requires
substantial
polishing
and
robustness, unless, of course, the
elected members simply want to
play to the easily appeasable
audience of the Indian populace.
Courtesy: Economic & Political
Weekly
Bhargavi Zaveri


Urbanization refers to general
increase in population and the
amount of industrialization of a
settlement. It includes increase in
the number and extent of cities. It
symbolizes the movement of people
from rural to urban areas.
Urbanization happens because of
the increase in the extent and
density of urban areas. The density
of population in urban areas
increases because of the migration
of people from less industrialized
regions to more industrialized areas.
The concept Urban Sprawl means
increase in spatial scale or increase
in the peripheral area of cities.
Urban Sprawl has its own
drawbacks.
The city and its infrastructure
may not be adequately
planned.
Traffic is high with increased
time needed for commuting.
Essential services are not
reachable within time.
City administration becomes
extremely difficult.
An excellent example of urban
sprawl within our country is that of
the city of Bangalore. After the

establishment of IT industry in
Bangalore, the population exploded
from 24,76,355 in 1980 to 42,92,223
in 2001 with influx of 18 lakh
immigrants within two decades. The
growing population has increased
pressure on several resources
including civic amenities, residential
availability, cost of living, local
infrastructure, transport, traffic and
administration. Bangalore has lost
many if its water bodies (lakes) and
consequently the fragile ecosystem
has been disturbed due to the everincreasing need for space, to cater
to residences and business
establishments.
The beginning of urbanization
can be traced back to Renaissance
times in 16th century. Turkish
assaults resulted in movement of
Christians from the east to western
European countries. As a result,
trade grew and European cities
along the coasts developed greatly.
A further boost for urbanization was
created with the arrival of the
Industrial Revolution. Populations
of cities in Europe and USA started
134
to increase significantly in the 18th

and 19th centuries. However,
urbanization started in Asia only in
the first half of the 20th century and
in the second half of the 20th
century in Africa, when the
countries obtained independence
from colonial rule. An example for
a dramatic increase in extent and
population of cities is Chicago in
USA. The population increased from
15 people to about 20 million, within
a span of 78 years.
Urbanization in the World Today
World
MEDCs
LEDCs
1950
1990
30%
53%
17%
51%
74%
34%
This table presents the

increase in urbanization in the
World. MEDC refers to Most
Economically Developed Countries
and LEDC to Least Economically
Developed Countries. Today as
compared to Asian and African
countries, countries such as USA
and UK have a higher urbanization
level. Economic forces helped to
locate factories and workers in


cities. In USA 5% of the population
lived in cities in 1800. By 1920 50%
of the population lived in cities. In
comparison only 17.8% of
population of Third world societies
lived in cities in 1950. But by 2000,
the percentage had increased to
40%. By 2030, the percentage is
predicted to increase to 60%.
Australia is the most urbanized
country in the world. Both the rate
and level of urbanization in Australia
are high.
CAUSES OF URBANIZATION
Urbanization usually occurs
when people move from villages to
cities to settle, in hope of a higher
standard of living. This usually takes
place in developing countries. In
rural areas, people become victims
of
unpredictable
weather
conditions such as drought and
floods, which can adversely affect
their livelihood. Consequently many
farmers move to cities in search of a
better life. This can be seen in
Karnataka as well where farmers
from Raichur, Gulbarga districts
which are drought-stricken areas,
migrate to Bangalore to escape
poverty. Cities in contrast, offer
opportunities of high living and are
known to be places where wealth
and money are centralized. Most
industries and educational
institutions are located in cities
whereas there are limited
opportunities within rural areas. This
further contributes to migration to
cities.
Urbanization means the
physical growth of urban areas by
migration of people from rural areas
to urban areas. A more technical
definition is given by the United
Nations as Urbanization means
movement of people from rural area
to urban areas resulting population
growth which is equal to urban
migration. In the above definition
given by UN the key word is
movement. Urbanization may
occur for the following reasons.

Economic reasons: - The urban
areas offer better wage-labor
opportunity than the rural areas due
to the conglomeration of industrial
and service sectors (primary and
secondary economic activities). On
the other hand the rural economic
structure is waning because of a
variety of reasons like: breakdown
of jajmani system (in India),
fragmentation of cultivation land,
erratic monsoon and failure of crops
etc. So the rural people head
towards the urban areas to get
employed as wage laborers in
industries or construction sites or as
maid servants (in case of females).
Educational reasons: - The
premium institutes of higher
educations are mainly located in the
urban areas. So education results in
migration to urban areas. Though on
the surface it seems to be a
temporary one but after education
people dont want to go back to the
villages again and they settle in the
urban areas for the lucrative job
offers they provide. So the
temporary migration becomes a
permanent one.
Spatial mobility: - When the
head of the family is employed in
any organization in the urban area,
it is seen in many cases his family
accompanies him there. So this
results in movement to urban areas.
Reverse urbanization: - When
the cities grow the adjacent rural
areas are gradually embedded in the
urban area and form a urban
agglomerate. In this way though
there is no absolute migration from
rural to urban areas still it is a case
of urbanization. E.g. cities like RioDe-Genera, Mexico City and
Shanghai have spread in the above
manner.
FUTURE OF URBANIZATION
Urbanization is set to stay for
a long time. It may slow but surely
does not show any signs of
135
stopping. In 1985, 45% of the world

population stayed in cities.
Scientists estimate that 60% of the
world population will be citydwellers by 2025.
The main goal of urban
planning is to make all amenities and
comforts available to the public
without imposing many negative
effects on society and environment,
aptly referred to as Sustainable
growth. The cardinal rule is to plan
cities beforehand, rather than let
them grow spontaneously and
haphazardly. During city planning it
should be ensured that adequate
infrastructure is available to support
the population. Residences should
be conveniently located near the
civic bodies. This could improve
effective provision of the necessary
services. Opportunities can be
created within rural areas to reduce
stress on cities. This also results in a
higher standard of living for the
people of the country as a whole.
Some of the villages in South Kanara
district of Karnataka set a good
example for this. They have efficient
transport and communication
system and electricity. Cooperatives have been set up to
provide financial aid to peasants.
The rural people have been
encouraged to engage in cottage
industries and commercial activities
such as making pickles, handicrafts,
sweets and savories. Through
cooperative agencies, marketing of
these goods also has become easy.
This is an efficient method of
curbing urbanization, by creating
opportunities for people in villages.
This reduces the rate of migration.
Currently, planning cities for
sustainable growth, mainly in the
third-world societies, is a major
challenge for humanity. Restricting
the population boom is another
major issue of the third millennium.
All these vital factors would decide
what the future would look like for


humankind and our planet.
Although it is impossible to restrict
urbanization it can be ensured that
the path of the development can
move in the right path.
The current scenario of
urbanization:
The UN-Habitat report of 2008
says ten years down the line majority
of the world population would be
living in urban areas. The report for
the first time used the term Urban
Millennium to describe the
phenomena of rapid urbanization. If
one goes by the trends of
urbanization it is seen that
urbanization is highest in the
developing countries because of the
unstable socio-economic structure.
If one goes by the continent wise
urbanization is highest in Asia and
Africa followed by Latin America. In
regard to future trends, it is
estimated 93% of urban growth will
occur in Asia and Africa, and to a
lesser extent in Latin America and
the Caribbean. By 2050 over 6 billion
people, two thirds of humanity, will
be living in towns and cities. Is
urbanization a recent phenomenon?
The answer will be no. The first
process of urbanization started with
industrial revolution. But it has
become too obvious in the recent
times due to its sheer magnitude.
Hazards associated with
urbanization:
Migration of population Urbanization is now mainly a trend
in Africa and Asia, where only about
40 percent of the population is
urban today. Driven by continued
high population growth and
economic growth in parts of the
regions, the urban population is
expected to double between 2000
and 2030, reaching 54 and 55
percent respectively.
Pressure on infrastructure There is an immense pressure on
land, water and infrastructure like
public transport, places, health care,
law and order etc. The growth of

infrastructure will be unable to cope
with the rapid urbanization.
1. Housing
Problems
Urbanization leads to an
increased demand for land
bank which pushes the
property prices. Its no
wonder that a large
percentage of city-dwellers
are poor, with an estimated 1
billion living in slums. Unable
to find affordable houses
leads to encroachment of
pavements and creation of
slums.
2. Water - Increase in the urban
population increases the
demand and consumption of
water. It becomes a challenge
to supply drinking water for
humans living especially in the
slum areas. In 1985 there were
100 million more people
without water service than in
1975. Limited access to
drinking water poses serious
health hazards and easy
spread of water borne
diseases across the masses.
3. Public Transport & Traffic Cities and towns have
depended heavily on ground
transport for the movement of
people and goods. Thus, the
increase in urbanization
throughout the world has
been accompanied by a sharp
growth in urban traffic and the
public transport system of the
urban cities is choked.
However, such a situation has
generated a large number of
accidents. Some 500,000
people are killed in traffic
accidents each year, twothirds of which occur in urban
or peri-urban areas. In
addition, according to many
studies in different countries,
for every death there are ten
to twenty persons injured.
136
Urbanity and health - Though

urbanization
allows
more
accessibility to health services, it
also creates health hazards. In such
urban areas the air, land and water
are often contaminated, spreading
disease. Health hazards resulting
from urbanization are mainly
connected to air pollution, as well
as crime, traffic and lifestyle. The
burning of fossil fuels from
transportation, industry and energy
production is the main culprit
regarding outdoor urban air
pollution. Another health hazard
common the cities is connected to
lifestyle and consumption patterns,
including dietary changes and
obesity.
Sanitation and Drainage Globally some 2.4 billion people do
not have access to improved
sanitation. Every day as many as
30,000 people die from preventable
water- and hygiene-related diseases
and the children are most prone to
the water bourne disease. The
recent floods and heavy torrential
rain shows how inadequate is the
present urban drainage. Wastewater
collection, ventilated and improved
human pit latrines, shallow piped
sewerage systems, waste water
treatment and re-use of waste water
for agriculture and aquaculture are
some of the steps towards good
sanitation.
Increases in prices - Due to
rising income levels, the disposable
income also increases which drives
the consumption and the
consumption patterns. The
increased consumption trend
pushes the price of essential items
and services.
Pollution - The hazard
generated by the expansion of
urban traffic is air and noise
pollution. Health problems include
acute and chronic respiratory
diseases, malignancies and hearing
deficiencies.


Waste management - 30 to 50%
of solid waste generated within
urban centres are left uncollected.
More than two billion people still
have no sanitary means to dispose
of human waste (Hardoy, Cairncross
and Satterthwaite 1990; WHO
Commission on Health and
Environment 1992b). Due to
environmental considerations
recycling and reuse of wastes are of
utmost importance in the urban
area. Large amount of toxic waste
are also produced in the urban
areas. Spread of Disease - Urban
areas have usually high density of
population, a fact which facilitates
the spread of communicable
diseases like urban malaria, dengue
and yellow fever.
Psychological - Urbanization
has often had psychosocial
consequences such as stress,
alienation, instability and insecurity;
which, in their turn, have led to
problems such as depression and
alcohol and drug abuse. Marital
instability and thus high number of
divorce cases in the urban areas are
common symptoms of the
psychological disturbance of the
urban mass.
Urbanity and food - In most
societies, agriculture is the
backbone of the economic
foundations for development,
whereas urbanization lays the
foundation for the next step in
economic
development,
industrialization. Industrial activities
are mostly located in urban areas,
or the establishment of industrial
enterprises spurs development of
urban centers. Where land and
water are scarce, urban areas
compete with agriculture. Farmers
can suddenly find themselves
outbid for land by industrial firms,
jeopardizing the production of
food. Food security is a major
challenge closely connected to
urbanization. The impact of
urbanization on agriculture is also

connected to the consumption
patterns of city populations. Rising
incomes lead to higher consumption
and increased pressure on natural
resources, especially in developed
countries. Urban consumption may
be a more imminent problem than
the actual urban concentrations,
causing a substantial urban
footprint.
EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION
Urbanization brings with it
several consequences both
adverse and beneficial. They impact
on social and environmental areas.
Adverse effects of Urbanization
There
is
increasing
competition for facilities due to the
high standard of living in urban
areas, which has triggered several
negative effects. Many people
including farmers who move to
cities in search of a better life end
up as casual laborers as they lack
adequate education. This leads to
one of the worst problems of
urbanization - the growth of slums.
Slums
They are urban areas that are
heavily populated with substandard
housing and very poor living
conditions. As a result several
problems arise.
Land insecurity - Slums are
usually located on land, which
are not owned by the slum
dwellers. They can be evicted
at any time by the landowners.
Poor living conditions Crowding and lack of
sanitation are main problems.
This contributes to outbreak
of diseases. Utilities such as
water, electricity and sewage
disposal are also scarce.
Unemployment - Since the
number of people competing
for jobs is more than jobs
available, unemployment is an
137
inevitable problem.
Crime - Slum conditions make
maintenance of law and order
difficult. Patrolling of slums is
not a priority of law enforcing
officers. Unemployment and
poverty force people into antisocial activities. Slums
become a breeding ground for
criminal activities.
Environmental impacts of
urbanization
Temperature - Due to factors
such as paving over formerly
vegetated land, increasing
number of residences and
high-rise apartments and
industries,
temperature
increases drastically.
Air pollution - Factories and
automobiles are symbols of
urbanization. Due to harmful
emissions of gases and smoke
from factories and vehicles, air
pollution occurs. Current
research shows high amount
of suspended particulate
matter in air, particularly in
cities, which contributes to
allergies and respiratory
problems thereby becoming a
huge health hazard.
Water issues - When
urbanization takes place,
water cycle changes as cities
have more precipitation than
surrounding areas. Due to
dumping of sewage from
factories in water bodies,
water pollution occurs which
can lead to outbreaks of
epidemics.
Destruction of Habitats - To
make an area urbanized, a lot
of forested areas are
destroyed. Usually these areas
would have been habitats to
many birds and animals.
Benefits of urbanization
Though urbanization has
drawbacks, it has its benefits.


Efficiency - Cities are
extremely efficient. Less effort
is needed to supply basic
amenities such as fresh water
and electricity. Research and
recycling programs are
possible only in cities. In most
cities flats are in vogue today.
Many people can be
accommodated within a small
land area.
Convenience - Access to
education, health, social
services and cultural activities
is readily available to people
in cities than in villages. Life
in cities is much more
advanced, sophisticated and
comfortable, compared to life
in villages. Cities have
advanced communication and
transport networks.
Concentration of resources Since
major
human
settlements were established
near natural resources from
ancient times, a lot of
resources are available in and
around cities. A lot of facilities
to exploit these resources also
exist only in cities.

Educational facilities Schools, colleges and
universities are established in
cities to develop human
resources. A variety of
educational courses and fields
are available offering students
a wide choice for their future
careers.
Social integration - People of
many castes and religions live
and work together in cities,
which
creates
better
understanding and harmony
and helps breakdown social
and cultural barriers.
Improvements in economy High-tech industries earn
valuable foreign exchange and
lot of money for a country in
the stock markets.
New opportunities and
challenges
1. Urbanization
creates
opportunities and challenges,
not
least
regarding
sustainability.
2. Concentrations of people
138
make it easier to offer basic

infrastructure and public
services such as education
and health services.
3. Urbanization and growth go
together, and no country has
ever reached middle-income
status without a significant
population shift from rural to
urban areas.
4. Urban environments, with
close human interaction, also
tend to spur innovation and
economic development.
5. Urbanization
affects
economic relations and social
structure throughout the
world. It contributes to the
globalization trend, with
increased cross-border trade
and cross-cultural ties
bringing the world closer
together.
Increased urbanization will
also drive the development of megacities with 10 million inhabitants or
more. It is estimated that by 2025
there will be 27 mega-cities, 20 of
these in the developing world.
H K Shah

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Index

Central Monitoring System Vs Civil Rights

Selected Articles from

for any view, data, figure etc. expressed

Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

hotels have also compounded the

than 200 villages so far and more

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Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

government, political leaders and

destruction or dislocation in India.

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Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

and more tragic. All this means that

higher incidence of landslides.

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Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

practical to follow single model of

people. I am sure with proper

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Online IAS Coaching for Public Administration for

For More Information Click Here

Justice Must Reach the Poor

Central Monitoring System Vs Civil Rights

opposition leaders, editors,

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Justice Must Reach the Poor

without adequate burden of proof?

technologically neutral, interoperable with international

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Justice Must Reach the Poor

sufficiently serious both outside

Supreme Court to review its

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Justice Must Reach the Poor

Justice Must Reach the Poor

Brahmins, the Kings, the Ulemas or

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Corruption in Sports: Money at Any Cost

in the State High Courts? Why is

criterion for free legal aid could be

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Justice Must Reach the Poor

idea is best comprehended by

reach to the common man would

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Corruption in Sports: Money at Any Cost

proportionate to the issues in

people access the justice

The way forward

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Also Available at: http://www.flipkart.com

The Union government notified

scheme will be in place till the

Rao and Sudhir Narain was set up in

Union Government on 12 June

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telegram can be defined as the