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SEPTEMBER 2015 I VOLUME 15 ISSUE 9 I `100
INTERVIEW
IRA SINGHAL,
TOPPER CSE
2014
BY CHANAKYA IAS ACADEMY
WITH WRITE-UPS FROM IANS AND EMINENT WRITERS
SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY
ISRO:
MARS AND
BEYOND
INTERNATIONAL
IRAN NUCLEAR
CRISIS
NATIONAL
OBITUARY:
PEOPLE’S
PRESIDENT
KALAM
ALSO READ
INTERVIEW
SUHARSHA BHAGAT,
5th RANK, CSE 2014
DIGITAL INDIA, SKILL INDIA
SCHEMES LAUNCHED
CROP PATTERN
OF THE COUNTRY
UPSC MOCK
TEST PAPERS
IFC_Layout 1 7/9/2015 6:10 AM Page 1
CONTENTS
eDItoR In cHIeF
AK MISHRA
AssIstAnt eDItoR
MADHVI MISHRA
BUsIness HeAD
DEEPTI SHARMA
PR & MARKetInG
KURANGANAYANI CHETIA
OWAIS ALI BHAT
KnoWLeDGe PARtneR
IANS, RETIRED BUREAUCRATS,
CHANAKYA IAS ACADEMY
Marketing offices
south Delhi
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C All rights reserved
Nothing may be printed in whole or in part without the
written permission of the publisher.
Opinions in the articles are not of the publisher but of the
writers concerned. All disputes are subject to Delhi
Jurisdiction only. Chanakya Civil Services Today is a
publication of Chanakya Publications Pvt. Ltd.; owned and
published by A.K. Mishra from 124, Satya Niketan, New
Delhi - 110021 and printed by him at
Hims printer
87, DSIDC Okhla Phase - 1,
New Delhi - 110020
INTERVIEW WITH CIVIL SERVICES TOPPER
PROPER GUIDANCE VERY IMPORTANT
WHILE PREPARING FOR CSE 2014:
SUHARSHA BHAGAT
P.56
contents
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NATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL
GEOGRAPHY
COVER STORY
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ECONOMY
DEFENCE
SPORTS
HISTORY
APPOINTMENTS
PRACTICE PAPER
SEPTEMBER 2015 I CHANAKYA CIVIL SERVICES TODAY I 1
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
GIVe A DeFInIte GoAL to YoUR MInD!
“When you tend to postpone or extend, speed of your mind
goes! Remember, mind is a goal seeking organism.
Whatever goal you set for it seriously, it works day and night
to accomplish that. But it works better when we give
limitation of time to it.”
Dear Readers,
Please note that decision making is a very crucial issue in human life. Whenever you want to take any
important step in your life this problem may arise and confusion starts. This is where you have to strengthen
your faith on yourself. In fact, whenever any such indecisive condition comes, you should strengthen your
belief system and should be more firm on hitting the target without giving any option to your mind for
extension of time. When you tend to postpone or extend, speed of your mind goes!
Remember, mind is a goal seeking organism. Whatever goal you set for it seriously, it works day and night to
accomplish that. But it works better when we give limitation of time to it. Hence declaration of the date for the
Preliminary Examination 2015 should not be reason for fear but, in fact, it should be a strong reason for
motivation and clarity of target. To clear Civil Services Preliminary Examination you need a serious and
relevant preparation with fully enabled mind which is free from fear, doubt, worry and stress.You do not need
many months and years to clear this examination. In fact, you should not get stretched and give time to your
mind.
In this edition we are publishing the success story and interview experience of Suharsha Bhagat, who secured
All India rank 5th in Civil Services Examination 2014. His story of success is quite inspiring and distinct. We
also have an interview of Ms. Ira Singhal, All India Topper in Civil Services Examination 2014.
Your feedback is very precious for us.
You must spare time to write to us how do you find the change in this magazine and what more do you want
to see in it.
Best wishes!
A K Mishra
Editor-in-Chief, CHANAKYA CIVIL SERVICES TODAY
02 I CHANAKYA CIVIL SERVICES TODAY I SEPTEMBER 2015
03-35-INDIA NEWS_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:28 AM Page 1
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INDIA INC. COMMITS Rs.450,000 CRORE
FOR ‘DIGITAL INDIA’
New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the
"Digital India Week", India Inc. committed an investment of
Rs.450,000 crore (some $75 billion) for the initiative that seeks
to empower citizens by deploying IT and associated tools.
Choosing no less than a sports stadium to launch the initiative
where who's who of India Inc. packed the rows, Prime Minister
Modi said industry captains have committed investments of
Rs.450,000 crore toward "Digital India" and create 1.8 million
new jobs.
The prime minister also unveiled a logo for Digital India —
an umbrella programme that seeks to transform India into a
digitally-empowered, knowledge economy with a host of
initiatives for a synchronized and coordinated engagement of
the government and its agencies.
The prime minister said it was not enough for India to say that
it is an ancient civilization, and a country of 1.25 billion with
favourable demography. "Modern technology needs to be
blended with these strengths," he said.
He laid emphasis on useful technologies and said at one point
India was criticised for launching satellites but today these were
helping the common people. Farmers, for instance, are able to
access weather forecasts.
"Similarly, the Digital India initiative is aimed at improving
the lives of the common people," Modi said, adding while India
may have missed the industrial revolution, it will not miss the IT
revolution that is transforming peoples' lives.
The Prime Minister assured full support to young
entrepreneurs who wished to launch start-ups. He called upon
the youth to innovate and said "Design in India" is as important
as "Make in India".
The event also saw a host of industrialists announce millions
of dollars of investments in their own "digital" programmes. They
included Reliance Group's Anil Ambani, Reliance Industries'
Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Group's Sunil Mittal and Aditya Vikram
Birla Group's Kumaramangalam Birla.
Others at the event included Delta group's Ping Cheng,
Vedanta's Anil Agarwal, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Lava's
Hari Om Rai, Airbus' Peter Gutsmeidl, Hero Group's Pawan
Munjal, and Nidec Corp's Mikio Katayama.
For the "Digital India" scheme, Modi has already been named
the chair of a high-powered panel to monitor and all existing
and ongoing e-governance initiatives. These will be revamped
and aligned with the larger principles of "Digital India",
according to an official statement.
The larger goal of Digital India includes broadband
connectivity in all panchayats, Wi-Fi in all the schools and
universities and public Wi-Fi hotspots in all important cities by
2019. It will be deployed in delivering services in areas like
health, education, agriculture and banking.
The vision is centred on three key areas:
Digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen
● Governance and service on demand
● Digital empowerment of citizens.
●
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said,
Wednesday marked the launch of a host of pro-people products
designed to make life easier and give access in domains like eeducation, e-health, e-agriculture, e-commerce and even
e-entertainment.
"The essence of India's Digital story is not to be told in the
numbers of phones, laptops or the internet use. India's vision of
information technology is not simply IT enabled-services, but ITenabled society," he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "Digital India Week"
was part of a series of programmes intended to give a new
direction to the country in terms of the IT revolution.
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Programmes under 'Digital India'
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching the "Digital India
Week" in New Delhi, following are the projects and products that
have been launched, or are ready for deployment, as part of the
initiative:
● Digital locker system to minimize usage of physical documents
and enable their e-sharing via registered repositories.
● MyGov.in as an an online platform to engage citizens in
governance through a “Discuss, Do and Disseminate” approach.
● Swachh Bharat Mission Mobile app to achieve the goals set by
this mission.
● e-Sign framework to allow citizens to digitally sign documents
online using Aadhaar.
● e-Hospital system for important healthcare services such as
online registration, fee payment, fixing doctors' appointments,
online diagnostics and checking blood availability online.
● National Scholarship Portal for beneficiaries from submission of
application to verification, sanction and disbursal.
● Digitize India Platform for large-scale digitization of records in
the country to facilitate efficient delivery of services to the
citizens.
The other initiatives launched under the "Digital India"
programme included:
● Digital locker system to minimize usage of physical documents
and enable their e-sharing via registered repositories.
● MyGov.in as an an online platform to engage citizens in
governance through a "Discuss, Do and Disseminate"
approach.
● Swachh Bharat Mission Mobile app to achieve the goals set by
this mission.
● e-Sign framework to allow citizens to digitally sign documents
online using Aadhaar.
Bharat Net programe as a high-speed digital highway to
connect all 250,000 gram panchayats of country -- the world’s
largest rural broadband project using optical fibre.
● BSNL's Next Generation Network to replace 30-year old
telephone exchanges to manage all types of services like voice,
data, multimedia and other types of communication services.
● BSNL's large scale deployment of wi-fi hotspots throughout the
country.
● "Broadband Highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India to
address the connectivity issue while enabling and providing
technologies to facilitate delivery of services to citizens.
● Outsourcing Policy to create such centres in different
northeastern states and in smaller towns across the country.
● Electronics Development Fund to promote innovation, research
and product development to create a resource pool within the
country as also a self-sustaining eco-system of venture funds.
● National Centre for Flexible Electronics to promote research and
innovation in the emerging area of flexible electronics.
● Centre of Excellence on Internet on Things (IoT) as a joint
initiative of the government agencies and private institutions such
as Nasscom.
●
e-Hospital system for important healthcare services such as
online registration, fee payment, fixing doctors' appointments,
online diagnostics and checking blood availability online.
● National Scholarship Portal for beneficiaries from submission
of application to verification, sanction and disbursal.
● Digitize India Platform for large-scale digitization of records in
the country to facilitate efficient delivery of services to the
citizens.
● Bharat Net programme as a high-speed digital highway to
connect all 250,000 gram panchayat of country -- the world’s
largest rural broadband project using optical fibre.
●
Gurgaon to have startup warehouse: Haryana CM
Gurgaon: A startup warehouse on 16 acres of land will be set
up in Gurgaon that will help accomplish the Digital India dream,
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said.
Nasscom on Wednesday signed an agreement with the
Haryana State Electronic Development Corporation Limited
(HARTRON) to set up the startup warehouse.
"This partnership is a step towards accomplishing the dream
of Digital India. With this, our aim is to make Gurgaon the IT
hub of the state and solve the problems that Haryana is facing,"
Khattar said. "This will also help generate employment
opportunities and transform Gurgaon into the 'Smartest city',"
he said.
The first of its kind startup warehouse is expected to be
functional in the next three months, accommodating close to 85
workstations initially. The warehouse will provide budding
entrepreneurs facilities like broadband internet and workstations
along with basic facilities to create an environment conducive to
new ideas.
Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services
Companies) president R. Chandrashekhar said the aim of the
10,000 startup programme was to encourage young
entrepreneurs to present their ideas and provide them with
sufficient support to pursue their dream.
"We will be providing infrastructural support to not just ITbased startups but also in the automobile, manufacturing and
the mega data sectors," he said.
Nasscom's 10,000 Startups Programme is supported by
Google, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, AWS and Kotak.
NATIONAL
SKILL INDIA MISSION
WILL BE YOUTH’S WAR
AGAINST POVERTY: MODI
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Skill
India Mission, terming it a war against poverty by training youth
to earn their livelihood with honour and how the young
population could do wonders with proper abilities.
Industry welcomed the endeavour as "need of the hour".
Launching the programme on the first World Youth Skills Day
in presence of union ministers, chief ministers and leaders of
industry, Modi said a large number of India's population is
young and could do wonders if trained well for various works
and trades available in the world.
"A major part of our population is below the age of 35
years. They are young and need to be trained," he said, adding
that India would have to build on its strengths.
The prime minister said that the central government has
launched a "war against poverty" by embarking on the mission
to train Indian youth to earn his livelihood with honour. "We
have begun a war against poverty. Every poor is my soldier in
this war and we have to win this war with their support," Modi
said.
"We have a large number of young people in the world, we
just have to train and prepare them and I can assure you that
India would provide largest workforce to the world in the
decades to come," he said. The last century was of IITs (Indian
Skill India:
The Mission Governing Council at apex level will be
headed by Prime Minister and the constitution of the
Governing Council will be as follows:
● Union Ministers from MoF, MSDE, MHRD, MoRD, MoLE,
MSME, MoA, M/o Overseas Affairs, M/o Information
Technology, M/o HUPA » Deputy Chairman, NITI Aayog
● Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
● Cabinet Secretary » Secretary, SDE (as Member
Secretary)
● 3 members from industry/academia as determined by
Governing Council
● 3 State Chief Ministers as determined by Governing
Council, on rotation basis
Mission:
● Create a demand for skilling across the country;
● Correct and align skilling with required competencies;
● Connect the supply of skilled human resources with
sectoral demands;
● Certify and assess in alignment with global and national
standards; and
● Catalyse an ecosystem wherein productive and
innovative entrepreneurship germinates, sustains and
grows leading to creation of a more dynamic
entrepreneurial economy and more formal wage
employment.
Institutes of Technology) in the country, but his government
would want this century to be of ITIs (Industrial Training
Institutes), he said.
India Inc. expressed support for Modi's
vision to train the youth skillfully.
Terming the Skill India Mission "a renewed effort to capitalize
on India's demographic dividend and create a large pool of
skilled workforce, which "is crucial to support growth across
sectors and the economy at large", Microsoft India chairman
Bhaskar Pramanik said that a skills mission of this scale will
make the training efforts more systematic and will ensure a
workforce which is professionally skilled and meets industry
needs.
The Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association
welcomed the mission to "harness the country's "demographic
dividend" through appropriate and large scale skill
development effort, which in turn should make India a country
of choice to address global skill shortage.
"This initiative in tandem with the 'Make in India' initiative
should result in good diversity in skills and high employment
outcome via a public-private partnership," said its chairman
Vinay Shenoy.
NATIONAL
SIMHASTA KUMB MELA
Nashik (Maharashtra): This bristling city with a population of
around 15 lakh, is accustomed to hordes of Hindu pilgrims,
thanks to Trimbakeshwar, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India and
other holy places. Nasik is brimming over as it prepares for
Simhasta Kumb Mela, one of the world’s largest congregations
of human behings that was flagged of on July 14. The 58-day
lasting mega event will see over 1 crore flock into the city.
The congregation at Nasik marks the 6th Kumbh Mela of this
century and will be followed by a similar even in Ujjain next
year.
The story of Kumbh Mela – held every three years by rotation
at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati
rivers in Allahabad, at Haridwar where Ganga descends on the
vast Indo-Gangetic plains of India from the Himalayan Hills, on
the banks of river Godavari at Nashik and on the bank of river
Shipra at Ujjauin – is the story of the eternal and the ephemeral,
the mundane and the magnificent. It is the story of saints and
moksha-seekers who are joined in their belief that, at a certain
time of year, the holy waters contain the nectar of divinity that
can free them from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Much like the legends about the origin of the Kumbh, the Mela
is not governed by rational logic. Like a microcosm of India, it
bristles with paradoxes. There is no pre-event promotion, no
advertising of propitious days or broadcasting of arrangements,
and yet waves of crowds show up at the right spot on the pre-
Story Behind
It is fitting that bathing in holy waters was, and remains,
integral to the celebration of the Mela, because it is with holy
waters that the main story of the Kumbh is associated. Legend
has it that the Devas, or the Gods, had lost their strength and
were advised by Vishnu to churn the primordial ocean of
milk, or ksheersagar, for a ‘kumbh’ (or pot) of nectar which
would grant them invincibility. The Asuras, or the dark forces,
joined them in the samudramanthan or churning. All went
well till the kumbh containing the nectar made its appearance,
causing a fight for its contents to break out between the Devas
and Asuras. For twelve days and twelve nights (equivalent to
12 human years), the forces fought for the pot, but it was
whisked away by Vishnu (incarnated as Mohini-Mürti). When
he was spotted, the pitcher was handed over to Jayant, the
son of Indira, to take into hiding. As he fled with the kumbh,
drops of amrit fell at four places: Allahabad (Prayag),
Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik. These then became the four holy
spots, where the ‘kumbh’ was henceforth to be honoured with
a great Mela.
ordained dates and settle into hutments on the sandy riverbanks.
Contradictions exist in every labyrinthine lane of the temporal
city that is coming up in Nashik. One has to shout to be heard
over the continuous and conflicting chanting of songs and
mantras over the loudspeakers that blare across the Mela, but
the overall mood is still one of serenity. Given the vast numbers
of people present at the fair, security forces stand on high alert,
ready to quell the wayward and control the unruly. But their
efforts are almost superfluous, as people stand patiently behind
barricades for their turn to enter the sacred river; the pilgrim just
wants to get to his destination and complete his rituals in peace.
It is difficult to pinpoint precisely when the word ‘Kumbh’
came into common parlance, due to lack of historical testimony.
From ancient times, the month of Magh, which is when the
Kumbh Mela is held, was considered auspicious in the Hindu
calendar. The occasion signified the transition of the Sun from
the southern to the northern hemisphere. People rejoiced that the
resultant sunshine would enable them to reap a rich harvest, and
gathered to celebrate the coming of good times by the river.
Meanwhile, ascetics gathered to perform special rites and to
bathe in the river on Makar Sankranti, when the sun entered the
tenth constellation of Capricorn or Makar, and Jupiter the first
sign of Aries or Mesh.
The annual congregation would take on extra significance
every sixth and 12th year, and would be called the Ardh Kumbh
NATIONAL
and the Kumbh, respectively. In the 12th year, quite remarkably,
Jupiter would be posited not in the zodiac sign of Aries, but in
the second sign of Taurus, or Vrish. Maha-Kumbh (The Greatcycle): happens once in every 144 years only at Prayag,
Allahabad.
The rituals associated with the Mela are mentioned in the very
fount of Hinduism, the BhagavataPurana. Some historians say
Vishwamitra, one of the most venerated sages of ancient India,
cited the importance of having a holy bath on ‘MaghPurnima’
in 2382 BC. The first written evidence of the Mela can be found
in the accounts of Chinese traveller
Hiuen-Tsang, who visited India in 629-645 CE, during the
reign of King Harshvardhan. Since then many foreigners have
commented on its scale and significance in Indian culture.
Many foreigners consider it odd that Indians still conduct ageold rituals on river banks while accepting modernity in other
aspects of their life. But the deep religiosity that draws the Hindu
in record-breaking numbers to the Kumbh Mela has nothing
anachronistic about it. Outsiders may not be able to come to
grips with the idea of a holy man with a kalamandal in one
hand and a mobile phone in the other, or understand how hip,
young girls in jeans and tee-shirts can jump into a river with
alacrity for a dip to wash away sins they probably haven’t
committed.
To Indians, however, this ability to dwell simultaneously in
distinct but different worlds is the essence of Hinduism. That’s true
International Connection
The spontaneity that characterises organisation of Kumbh,
has never failed to mystify foreigner . In 1918, when India’s
Viceroy Baron Chelmsford, saw the expanse of the
KumbhMela at Prayag while conducting an aerial survey
of the region with Pundit Madan Mohan Malviya, he
couldn’t help asking how much money the organisers had
spent to gather the sea of humanity. Malviya answered:
“Only two paise.” “Punditji, are you teasing me?” asked
Chelmsford, at which Malviya took out a patra, or the
Hindu almanac, from his pocket and showed it to the
Viceroy. “This costs two paise. People come to know about
the holy period of the Kumbh through this and gather for a
holy bath on their own. Nobody is given or needs a
personal invitation.”
Over a decade later, a team from the Harvard, the
world’s premier Business School, sent a team of researchers
and scientist to the Kumbh Mela in Prayag, Allahabad, for
an in-depth study of a gathering that is not only a
remarkable religious experience, but also a remarkable
exercise in urban planning, public health, government
administration, security, and commerce.
The Naga Sanyasis
The gentlest touch is needed while dealing with the kings of
the Mela, members of the ascetic sects of Shiva-worshiping
Naga sanyasis. The election of their office-bearers,
induction of new ascetics into the fold, and settlement of
disputes, if any, are all done at the Kumbh. Their camps, or
akhadas —in which they train in arms, worship and
perform rituals—are one of the key attractions of the event.
The past has seen frenzied battles over hierarchy
between the Shiva followers and Vaishnava ascetics, when
the akhadas would clash over first right to enter the sacred
waters on the days of the shahisnan. That matter is now
resolved, and there is a very clear order of precedence and
strict time schedule laid out for each akhada. The order
changes from Allahabad to Hardwar to Nashik to Ujjain.
The ceremonial processions have all the trappings of
royalty. The mahant is seated on a silver throne atop a
richly-caparisoned elephant. Below him mill hundreds of
Naga ascetics on foot, wielding flags and trishuls. Their
naked bodies are smeared with ash, their necks are laden
with marigold garlands.
At the appointed time, the sadhus sprint, joyously, into
the freezing waters of the river. Each group gets a fixed
time to bathe, after which the ghat is cleaned for the entry
of the next akhada. Their entry and bathing officially marks
the beginning of the Kumbh.
not just of the ascetic but of all pilgrims at large. Consider the
middle-aged woman who blithely bathes in the river in her thin
cotton saree. She wouldn’t be caught dead in skimpy clothing in
public; but here, her clinging wet garment is of no consequence,
because, in her mind, she is locked in a private space, far away
from the world. The same is the case with the sadhu who
performs agnisadhna, or fire meditation. He sits on a steel swing
of nails, with a fire burning underneath. Bystanders watch aghast
as the seat turns red hot but the ascetic is unmoved. This is his
private penance, which he is performing for the good of the
universe.
To a believer, the Kumbh is a personal place of worship and
communion with God, however public the arena. It is devoid of
thoughts or practices of social exclusion. Paupers perform rites
of immortality in the sacred waters standing next to well-known
IT professionals, tourists tread water with telestars. It is this
inclusiveness that, in times gone by, allowed foreign missionaries
and Mughal kings to attend, what is at the heart of it,
an essentially a Hindu event. But quantifying the event in terms
of religion or volume is futile because what you really take
away from the Mela is the spirit of the event, and that is
measureless.
NATIONAL
RURAL INDIA
FOR A HEALTHY RURAL INDIA
■
By Malladi Rama Rao
Universal health coverage is India’s goal under the National Health
Policy which is being fine tuned by the BJP-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government by updating the National Health Policy
endorsed by Parliament in 1983. This calls for substantial
expansion of the government-run health care facilities across the
country, and strengthening of the rural health care system. Since
health is a State subject under the Indian Constitution, primary
responsibility for improving public health rests with the State
Governments. This does not means that the Union Government has
less responsibility in bridging the huge gap between supply and
demand in rural health care. Cooperative federalism, the new buzz
word with the Narendra Modi government at the Centre
underscores the urgency of the partnership between the States and
Federal Government in health sector like in all other sectors that
have a bearing on public life.
What does rural India need – affordable health care or high
quality health care? While there is no denying that rural incomes
have improved substantially in recent years, a reality check shows
that rural poverty is not on the decline. More over increasing
urbanization and TV penetration have pushed up the aspirational
quotient in rural households as well. Therefore, the demand today
is not only for affordable health care but also for high quality
services in a cost-efficient manner. Honestly, this is a great
challenge for a variety of reasons, most importantly, shortage of
trained doctors not only specialists like gynecologists but also
general physicians. Public-Private Partnership offers a quick fix
solution to an extent by extending the reach of telemedicine, for
instance. But it is no substitute for a strong network of Health
Centres, which take doctors to the door-step of the villagers.
Over the years the government policy envisaged a three tier
structure comprising the primary, secondary and tertiary facilities
to bring health care services within the reach of the people. The
primary tier is designed to have three types of institutions, namely,
a Sub-Centre (SC) for a population of 3000-5000, a Primary
Health Centre (PHC) for 20000 to 30000 people and a Community
Health Centre (CHC) as referral centre for every four PHCs covering
a population of 80,000 to 1.2 lakh. The district hospitals function
as the secondary tier for the rural health care, and as the primary
tier for the urban population. In pursuance of this policy, a vast
network of health care institutions has been created, both in rural
and urban areas, and substantial resources, though inadequate
vis-a-vis requirement, have gone into planning and implementing
the health and family welfare programmes.
There can be no denying that increased availability and utilization
of health care services have resulted in a general improvement of
the health status, as is reflected in the increased life expectancy and
marked decline in birth and mortality rates over the last six-decades.
However, these achievements are uneven, with marked disparities
across states and districts, and between urban and rural people.
These disparities in the health outcome could be attributed to a large
extent, to the differential access to health services by different
segments of the population. While the demand side factors do play
a role in exercising the choice of the modes of delivery of health care
services, for the vast majority of the people, the access to health care
services is determined primarily by the availability (and the quality
of delivery) of public health institutions. This is especially true of the
majority of the rural people, for whom alternatives to the public
health services hardly exist.
Frankly speaking, the government did try to come to grips with
the issue from the Fifth Five Year Plan. Success did not come its way
though. The Fifth Five Year Plan document noted with concern the
disparities in access to health services between urban and rural
areas and the tardy implementation of the schemes in the health
sector. It was this reason that promoted the government to bring
the primary rural health care services under the Minimum Needs
Programme (MNP) during the Fifth Plan (1974-79). It was decided
to integrate and strengthen the rural health care institutions through
suitable organic and functional linkages between the different tiers
of the primary health care system. In this framework, the
Community Health Centre (CHC), the third tier of the network of
rural health care units, was required to act primarily as a referral
centre (for the neighbouring PHCs number) for the patients
requiring specialized treatment in the areas of medicine, surgery,
pediatrics, and gynecology.
The objective was two-fold; to make modern health care services
accessible to the rural people and to ease the overcrowding of the
district hospitals. To enable the CHCs to contribute towards meeting
the intended objectives, these were designed to be equipped with:
four specialists in the areas of medicine, surgery, pediatrics and
NATIONAL
gynecology; 30 beds for indoor patients; operation theatre, labour
room, X-ray machine, pathological laboratory, and standby
generator along with the medical and para medical staff.
By the end of the nineties, the Programme Evaluation
Organisation (PEO) of the then Planning Commission under took
a study of these programmes. Its findings did not bring cheer to
the agencies concerned.
“Inspite of a vast net work of health care institutions in India,
there exists a wide gap between the rural and urban areas in terms
of availability and accessibility of health care infrastructure, as the
urban areas are found better equipped with these facilities.
Moreover, health being a state subject, there are imbalances and
variations in availability and accessibility of these services in the
rural areas across the states. The lopsided emphasis on health
policy in favour of urban areas has led to disparity in the health
status of the rural people, as reflected in the high birth, death and
infant mortality rates”, the study said adding that the available data
showed that health policy and planning have not facilitated the
growth of health infrastructure in the rural areas, given the fact that
about 74 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas.
A 2013 survey on rural India’s access to health care by IMS
Institute for Healthcare Informatics painted bleak scenario. It said
about half the people in India and over three-fifths of those who
live in rural areas have to travel beyond 5 km to reach the nearest
health centre. While urban India, which makes up only 28% of the
country's population, enjoys access to 66% of India's available
hospital beds, the remaining 72%, who live in rural areas, have
access to just one-third of the beds. Look at another finding the
survey has brought out. In 2012, for which data was then
available, 61% of rural patients and 69% of urban patients chose
private in-patient service providers, up from 40% reported in a
1986-87 government survey. Put simply, poor patients are forking
out their savings at private hospitals. The government must put its
act together for an affordable, acceptable and accessible
healthcare delivery service.
Today India has around six lakh doctors according to the Union
Health Ministry. It works to one doctor per 1,700 citizens, and, in
a manner of speaking, this is something to rejoice because at the
start of 11th Plan, the number of doctors per lakh population was
only 45, whereas the desirable number was 85 per lakh
population. There are 387 medical colleges in the country—181
in government and 206 in private sector. India produces 30,000
doctors, 18,000 specialists, 30,000 AYUSH graduates, 54,000
nurses, 15,000 ANMs and 36,000 pharmacists annually. This
number is not adequate.
World Health Organization (WHO) bench mark for health care
is one doctor per one thousand population. To achieve that goal
India will need about four lakh more -50,000 for PHCs; 0.8 lakh
for community health centres (CHC); 1.1 lakh for 5,642 rural health
sub-centres and another 0.5 lakh for medical college hospitals. As
per Rural Health Statistics- 2012, there are 1, 48,366 sub-centres,
24,049 PHCs and 4,833 CHCs functioning in the country. Forget
about sub-centres, doctors are not available even in CHCs. As
many as eight percent of PHCs don’t have doctors or medical staff,
39% do not have lab technicians and 18% PHCs do not even have
a pharmacist. Compounding these limitations is the shortage of
surgeons (74.9 per cent), obstetricians and gynecologists (61.5 per
cent), physicians (79.6 per cent) and pediatricians (79.8 per cent).
Overall, there is a shortfall of 69.7 per cent specialists at the CHCs.
If shortage of doctors is one problem, their unwillingness to work
in the rural hinterland is another, creating artificial scarcity of
doctors in the area. Making rural posting for all new doctors
coming out of medical colleges compulsory is a good idea. It has
many takers in the seminar circuit but it did not click with the
medical fraternity despite incentives and strenuous efforts of the
government. What is the moral? Monetary incentive is not
everything. The way out is creation of health infrastructure that
beckons doctors to rural areas. It is easy to blame a doctor that
he/she has forgotten his/her oath and that medical line is no
longer a service but a profession. Even if a doctor is posted to a
PHC he or she can do precious little when there are no medicines,
equipment and facilities for even minor operations. There are many
rural clinics that do not have electricity. So, it is time the nation
addresses the question in the most comprehensive manner. It is not
a question of who comes first: Doctors or health infrastructure? Nor
it is a question of corporatization of health system because that
would push up health bill. Establishment of more AIIMS like referral
institutions will create small islands but will fail to alleviate the
sufferings of rural people whose health issues range from
malnutrition to iodine deficiency, from filarial to severe malaria,
and from badly infected wounds to cancer.
Diarrhea, amoebiasis, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, worm
infestations, measles, tuberculosis, whooping cough, respiratory
infections, pneumonia and reproductive tract infections are also
very common in rural India. Maternity mortality and child mortality
are high. Almost fifty percent of the rural mothers are said to
experience postpartum illnesses six weeks after delivery.
The situation demands a holistic approach at the Primary Health
Centre (PHC) level. The emphasis should be as much on prevention
as on treatment. The PHCs should provide health education
emphasizing on hygiene, sanitation, prevention of communicable
diseases and family welfare. For early medical intervention and
delivery of expert care, recourse must be taken to information
technology, particularly the cellular phone network, which has
expanded.
In fact, there is a strong case to for integrating the rural health
care programme with the Digital India campaign launched by the
government in recent weeks. Local health data base in computers
run on solar power, and video consulting and examination will
mark a giant leap towards Healthy Rural India more so since Early
Detection & Prevention System (EDPS2000) software is available
to treat a patient as a person as a whole by factoring in the family
and the environment. Put simply, the Primary Health Centre should
reinvent itself as the family doctor.
(The writer, Delhi-based senior journalist, and South Asia
analyst.) The views expressed are personal
NATIONAL
RURAL INDIA
670 MILLION IN RURAL AREAS LIVE ON RS.33 PER DAY
■
By Saumya Tewari
New Delhi: Seventy-five percent of rural households in India
have a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000 ($79), 51 percent
of households make a living from manual labour, 28 percent
(over 50 million) of households do not have mobile phones or
any form of communication.
More than 70 million rural households face some form of
exclusion, either from assets or socio-economic benefits,
according to data released by the Socio-Economic Caste Census
(SECC) survey last week. As many as 833 million Indians, or
69% of the population, live in rural areas.
The SECC report comes at a time when global credit rating
agencies such as Moody’s have warned that slow growth in
rural India may cripple the overall economy. Rating agencies
have laid stress on speeding rural reforms.
Rural Poor and Sources of Income
More than half of rural households depend on manual labour
for livelihood, and 75 percent of the rural population, or 133.5
million families, earn less than Rs.5,000 per month.
“A preliminary analysis reveals a grim picture of rural areas
with three in four rural households earning less than Rs.5,000
per month and almost 90 percent of households have incomes
of less than Rs.10,000 per month,” Himanshu (he uses only one
name), an agricultural economist with Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru
University wrote in Mint, citing the findings of the Arjun
Sengupta committee (2007), which identified 77 percent of
India’s population as poor.
“Overlooked by the media, these numbers are very close to
the estimates of poor and vulnerable derived from other
estimates based on the consumption surveys of the National
Sample Survey Office (NSSO). Rs.5,000 per month per
household with an average household size of five would also
mean an income of Rs.33 per person per day in the rural
areas,” wrote Himanshu.
Although it is not meant to be a comparison of poverty
estimates, the SECC data reveals that about 670 million Indians
in rural areas alone live on Rs 33 per day (75 percent of rural
households is around 134,373,569 households; five members
per household gives us a total of 671,867,845 people).
Poor housing quality
A little less than half of the houses in rural India are kuccha (not
solid). Having a pucca (permanent) house is an indicator of a
higher standard of living.
Poverty and a low standard of living are reflected in asset
ownership. While 71 percent of village households have mobile
phones, refrigerators and motor vehicles are not very common
in rural households.
Education Levels
IndiaSpend recently reported how rural India has more illiterate
people than the population of Indonesia. With 74 percent of
families living on less than Rs.5,000 a month, this will not
change immediately, which in turn will keep economic standards
depressed.
Projects such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Rural
Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna
(PMGSY) and Swachh Bharat Mission are the major schemes
for rural development in India.
Rural India continues to be trapped in a vicious circle of
poverty. A clue to the first step to break out of that cycle comes
from what is called the graduation model, a global experiment
that could become an anti-poverty guide for Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, nonprofit, public interest journalism platform. Saumya Tewari is a
policy analyst with IndiaSpend. Additional research by
Abheet Singh Sethi. The views expressed are personal.)
NATIONAL
VIEWPOINT
6 HURDLES TO BUILDING 44,000 HOMES A DAY
■
By Abhirup Bhunia
New Delhi: Less than seven years are left for Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s ambitious Housing for All scheme aimed at
providing a home to all the urban poor by 2022 - especially as
cities grow and migrants flow in from distressed rural areas.
This means an estimated 44,000 homes will have to be built
every day or 16 million every year.
IndiaSpend has identified six hurdles that the government
must reckon with as it attempts to meet this target:
1. Cities are growing: Two Indian metros, Delhi and Mumbai
were among the 10 largest urban agglomerations in the world,
as on 2014, while another, Kolkata is set to be among the
world’s top fifteen by 2030, according to the UN. There were
0.9 million homeless people in urban India as per the 2011
Census, in addition to a slum population of roughly 65 million.
More than 90 percent of the ensuing housing shortage is
constituted by what are called economically-weaker sections
and low-income groups, according to government data.
2. A migrant flood is coming: People from India’s distressed
rural areas, home to 833 million people, according to the SocioEconomic Caste Census (SECC) released earlier this month, are
likely to flood into cities and towns in growing numbers as
agricultural growth rates flounder. About 670 million people in
rural areas live on less than Rs.33 a day, as IndiaSpend
reported. India’s urban population is estimated to reach 600
million by 2031, up from about 380 million in 2011. Migrants
make up a sizeable chunk of India’s urban population, last
estimated at 35 percent by the National Sample Survey
Organisation in 2007-08.
3. Indian slum populations are high: About 17 percent of
urban India - or about 65 million people - today live in slums.
While this data is reflected in the Census, on a globally
comparable index, the proportion of urban population living in
slums in India is high.
4. Land will be hard to find: An estimated 2 lakh hectares of
land will be required to build homes for the poor and plug
housing shortages. To deal with the land shortage, some experts
have called for vertical expansion by way of floor space index
(FSI) relaxations. Mumbai has recently effected some FSI reform.
However, most Indian cities are densely populated, with
densities running into tens of thousands per square kilometre.
5. Maintaining standards will be a challenge: The sub-
components of the Housing For All scheme include new units;
credit-linked subsidies; beneficiary -led upgradation/
construction; and upgrading/redevelopment of slum
households. In the rush to build, the quality of construction will
be a challenge. A third of existing housing units in India are
already of a poor standard. This, of course, is not unlike several
other emerging economies.
6. Breaking out of the regulatory maze: Among the most
difficult challenges of Modi’s housing scheme would be the
regulatory maze that enmeshes the construction-approval
process in India, which the World Bank ranks as among the
worst globally. In India, the approval process between land
acquisition and commencement of construction can take as long
as two years, real-estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle
estimates.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, nonprofit, public interest journalism platform. The views expressed
are personal)
NATIONAL
FEATURE
MISSION INDRADHANUSH: IMMUNISING KIDS
OF MIGRATORY WORKERS
■
By Ashish Mishra
Patna: Twenty-five-year-old Reena had sacrificed a day's wages
and spent several hours walking in the blazing sun to reach an
immunisation camp in Maner block in Bihar capital Patna. For
the migratory labourer from Nalanda, this was a rare
opportunity to get her one-and-a-half month-old son inoculated.
Reena works at a brick kiln and had reached the
immunisation camp set up under Mission Indradhanush at Sona
Brick Kiln. The entire area, located around the Ganga riverbed,
has a concentration of brick kilns that attract migrant labourers
from districts like Nalanda, Jehanabad and Gaya. This was the
core reason why the health ministry had launched the
immunisation initiative in the area to target itinerant workers
under Mission Indradhanush.
The mission aims to achieve more than 90 percent
immunisation coverage by 2020. This initiative will eventually
close gaps in the immunisaton effort and strengthen its
coverage.
Maner block has 111 brick kilns, of which 97 are spread
along the banks of the Ganga. These kilns employ about
35,000 migratory workers. Nearly 5,000 children aged up to
five live in the target area.
Mobilising people working at brick kilns to bring children or
pregnant women to the immunisation camps has never been a
simple task. Auxiliary Nurses and Midwives (ANMs) and Asha
workers have to toil hard to convince people to immunise their
children.
"It was not easy to convince brick kiln workers to bring their
children to immunisation camps. They used to cite reasons like
after getting a child vaccinated he/she gets fever which requires
proper care and they had to take a day off, resulting in loss of
wages," Nirmala, an ANM at Maner block, told IANS.
However, Reena is smart enough to know the benefits of
immunisation even at the cost of a day's earning. This is
courtesy the continuous awareness drives by UNICEF and the
health department who send mobilisers to the brick kilns to
encourage the workers to immunise their children.
"I had no idea what a vaccination drive meant, but Asha
workers and mobilisers from UNICEF informed me about
vaccine-preventable diseases and the benefits of immunisation.
I took leave from work today just to get my kid immunised,"
Reena told IANS.
The medical officer in-charge at Maner Primary Health
Centre, Dr. R.K. Jamaiyar, said that most of the workers at brick
kilns moved to other locations during the monsoon when the
river was in spate. "Catering to floating populations has always
been a challenge as they neither stay at a single place, nor do
they have any knowledge about vaccine-preventable diseases.
To target this section, we, with the help of UNICEF, sent our
mobilisers, Asha workers and ANMs to brick kilns where they
used to work. They told them about the benefits of
immunisation," Jamaiyar told IANS.
"We use pictorial representations to make them aware of the
benefits of vaccination," Block Health Manager Manoj Kumar
told IANS.
"We also held meetings with the managers at different brick
kilns for inter-personal communication to mobilise child
immunisation," he added.
The government's and UNICEF's efforts seem to yield results
as people from this section are reaching immunisation camps
to get their children vaccinated.
Saraswati, a resident of Nalanda, works at a nearby brick
kiln where she is paid Rs. 450 for every 1,000 bricks she bakes.
She had brought her year-old daughter, Laccho Kumari, to the
immunisation camp.
"Ensuring good health for my kid is top priority for me,"
Saraswati told IANS.
However, according to officials of the health department,
cases of ignorance or refusal still come up which create
hindrances in the immunisation process to an extent.
"Some cases of ignorance are still being reported. A few
families refuse to bring their children or pregnant women to the
immunisation camp because of various reasons. In such cases
of refusal we call the doctors to counsel the family members
regarding immunisation," Manoj Kumar said.
NATIONAL
DRINKING WATER CRISIS
MATHURANPURA AND THE WORLD’S WORST
GROUNDWATER CRISIS
■
By Khabar Lahariya & Saumya Tewari
Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh): Here in Mahoba, one of India’s 250
poorest districts in one of its poorest states, the neighbourhood of
Mathuranpura is considered particularly poor: It is home to 1,000
dalits and where few things are as exclusionary as access to water.
None of the 1,000 dalits who live in mostly mud-and-thatch homes
have regular jobs (the majority are construction workers), there is
no school in the neighbourhood and none of their homes has piped
water.
On June 23, three months after bountiful but unseasonal rains
destroyed crops and imperilled farming - as we reported earlier Mathuranpura’s dalits went to the district magistrate, Vireshwar
Singh, with a petition: Give us a water pipeline.
A year ago, a water pipeline was laid, a group of Mathuranpura
residents told Khabar Lahariya. It stopped at the house of the
panchayat (council) chairman, who, they alleged, did not allow the
pipeline to be extended to their mohalla, or neighbourhood.
So dire is the crisis in this water-starved district that locals
sometimes dig tunnels some distance from their villages to collect
water seeping from the ground, their main source of water, Khabar
Lahariya previously reported. It is a reflection of a quietly, worsening
groundwater situation, not just in Mahoba - 240 km southeast of
the Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow - but across northern India. The
situation has been given little attention by the government or media.
As a column in The Guardian pointed out, when water is overused
or unavailable, it only takes only poor management to plunge a
region into crisis.
Mahoba’s crisis came rapidly, when its once plentiful water
sources were polluted or otherwise devastated (as we shall see
later). Mathuranpura’s water source is a handpump, which yields
little water. The locals said their “arms were exhausted” working it,
and they were tired queuing up day and night. The water reduces,
and the waits get longer. So, they want that pipeline.
District magistrate Singh said he has taken the petition with
“some seriousness” and in the presence of Khabar Lahariya
reporters, ordered the water department to lay a pipeline to
Mathuranpura.
If this happens, Mathuranpura should consider itself lucky. No
more than 7 percent of Mahoba district’s people have a drinkingwater source at home or in their compounds, according to census
data. In rural Mahoba, 95.3 percent of people have no access to
tap water from a treated source; although more than 30 percent of
village households have access to tap water.
Across northern India, a critical situation
Mathuranpura and Mahoba’s situation is not unusual in India,
where 22.2 percent of rural households get their drinking water
from a source that is at least half a kilometre away from home. More
than 116 million Indian households in villages cannot access water
from a tap. Only 7 percent households have drinking water sources
within their compound in the villages of Mahoba district.
It will be ever more difficult to supply those households with water
because more than half of India now faces what is called “high” to
“extremely high” water stress. Across parts of northern India,
skyrocketing demands on water for agriculture and growing
populations have pushed groundwater to levels more critical than
anywhere else on earth.
The situation is as grim on the Gangetic plains, and a variety of
studies reveal a common trend. This drop in groundwater is starkly
evident in Mahoba, unaffected by plentiful, recent rains.
After the deluge, a great scarcity in Mahoba
After the winter deluge, a great water scarcity has fallen across
Mahoba, indicating the vagaries of life without an assured supply
of water.
Despite being known as the land of talaabs, or ponds, the access
to drinking water supply is limited. Most of these large and beautiful
water bodies are now dirty and badly maintained. There has been
no work or special schemes that may make the water potable. In
Charkhari block, which has seven large taalaabs, several homes
are now served by domestic drainage, but the drains empty into a
pond.
The major river in Mahoba, Chandrawal, first showed signs of
drying up a decade ago, but a drought in 2008 was the final blow.
Efforts are being made to revive the river only now.
Even as groundwater levels drop, Mahoba - and northern India
- has no option but to continue with the effort to supply drinking
water, whether piped in from rivers or from groundwater sources,
such as borewells and lakes.
The budget for fiscal 2015-16 has earmarked Rs 11,000 crore
for the centrally-sponsored National Rural Drinking Water
Programme - now a part of the Swachh Bharat (clean India) mission
- launched in 2007 to provide safe drinking water to 116 million
deprived households in India’s villages. Delhi provides financial
assistance to states and union territories for drinking water projects
and water-quality testing.
But no funds have been released this year to Mahoba, so far.
With funding from Delhi declining because of financial
devolution-the process of handing over money to the states to do
their own spending-it is uncertain what lies ahead for Mahoba.
(This story has been produced in partnership with Khabar
Lahariya, a rural, weekly newspaper run by a collective of female
journalists from five districts in Uttar Pradesh and one in Bihar.
The views expressed are personal)
NATIONAL
PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT, MISSILE MAN KALAM LAID TO REST
Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu): Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
was laid to rest here with full military honours in the presence of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other leaders who paid
tributes to the man who strengthened India's missile programme
and played a key role in country's 1998 nuclear test -- making him
a national hero. The body of Kalam - warmly called the people's
president - was draped in the Indian tricolour and brought to the
burial site at Pei Karumbu here in a flower-bedecked gun carriage,
escorted by columns of the three armed services.
People in large numbers lined up along the route to catch a last
glimpse of Kalam, the rocket and missile scientist who was awarded
the country's highest civilian honour - the Bharat Ratna - in 1997
and bid him a tearful final good-bye.
Many had climbed atop an under construction building and
other buildings to see their illustrious son-of-the-soil.
People cutting across political, religious and other lines came in
large numbers to Kalam's native town to participate in his last
journey. Many could scarcely believe that he would no longer return
to his hometown. Kalam had died on July 27, 2015 in Shillong after
suffering a massive heart attack during a lecture he was delivering
to students of Indian Institute of Management.
A 21-gun salute was accorded to the former supreme
commander of the armed forces and a military band played the
haunting 'Last Post'. After Kalam's body was lowered into the earth,
prayers were held following which the grave was closed and then
covered with flower petals. Modi, who arrived here, paid his last
respects to the country's youth icon and popular president by laying
a wreath. he then stood in silence before the casket for a while.
The prime minister also went up to Kalam's eldest brother, 99year old Mohammed Muthu Meeran Lebbai Maraikayar and
offered his condolences. Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, union
Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar Parrikar and Pon
Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu ministers O.Panneerselvam, and
Natham R. Viswanathan and others also paid their last respects to
Kalam. Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam and Kerala Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy were also present, as was Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his Karnataka counterpart
Siddaramaiah. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and other
party leaders also paid their last respects to Kalam.
Earlier the mortal remains of India's eleventh president, who held
office 2002-07, were taken to the family mosque for prayers.
His family members also reached here. "All our relatives have
also arrived to attend the last rites," A.P.J.M.K. Sheik Saleem, the
former president's brother's grandson, told IANS. The Tamil Nadu
government declared a public holiday on Thursday under the
Negotiable Instruments Act. Banks, insurance companies, schools
and colleges were closed throughout the state.
The government has also ordered closure of liquor shops and
bars in the state. Around 30,000 jewellery shops remained closed,
while petrol bunks stopped sales for an hour between 10 a.m. and
11 a.m. as a mark of respect to Kalam.
Movie theatre owners too decided to shut down for the day while
fishermen decided not to venture into the sea.
In Chennai, shops in busy commercial areas like Pondy Bazaar
and T.Nagar remained shut. Shops in other localities were closed
as a mark of respect to Kalam. Political parties like the DMK and
the AIADMK cancelled their functions. Born in Rameswaram on
October 15, 1931, Kalam, as a boy, hawked newspapers to
supplement his family's income. His father owned a boat and his
mother struggled constantly to keep the family fed and clothed. His
sister pawned jewellery with a moneylender so that the studious
Kalam could carry Rs.600 when he left Rameswaram to join the
Madras Institute of Technology. In 1958, Kalam joined the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
He moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),
where he was project director of India's first indigenous Satellite
Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully injected the Rohini
satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India a
member of the exclusive space club.
He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle
programme, particularly the PSLV configuration.
He rejoined DRDO in 1982, and planned the programme that
produced a number of successful missiles, earning him the "Missile
Man" nickname. Kalam took up the responsibility of developing
indigenous weapons as the chief executive of the Integrated Guided
Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was responsible for
the development and operationalisation of Agni and Prithvi missiles.
From 1992 to 1997, Kalam was scientific advisor to the defence
minister, and later served as principal scientific advisor (1999-2001)
to the government with the rank of cabinet minister. Kalam played
a prominent role in the country's 1998 nuclear weapons tests,
Pokhran-II, which made him a national hero.
NATIONAL
OBITUARY
A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM: INDIA’S MISSILE
MAN, AN INDOMITABLE SPIRIT
New Delhi: An enthusiast till the last for sharing ideas with students
and youth, it was not surprising that former president A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam was delivering a lecture at the IIM-Shillong when he
collapsed and died in a hospital shortly afterwards.
His last tweet sounded enthusiastic "Going to Shillong.. to take
course on Livable Planet earth at IIM." His handle
@APJAbdulKalam, described him as "Scientist, teacher, learner and
writer. Served as the 11th President of India (2002-07). Working
for an economically developed nation by 2020."
Popularly known as India's "Missile Man", Avul Pakir
Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam crowned a illustrious acientific career
with a term as india's first citizen after the then Atal Bihari Vajpayeeled National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government put forward
his name as K.R. Narayanan's successor. He was recipient of India's
highest civilian honour - the Bharat Ratna - in 1997.
One of India's best known scientists, Kalam was full of ideas on
how to solve India's problems - on bridging the rural-urban divide
through his pet concept of PURA or "Providing Urban amenities in
Rural Areasa - for empowering villages, and also to use solar power
in a big way to tide over India's energy needs.
PURA, Kalam said, was about giving a cluster of villages
physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity and he had in mind
creating about 7,000 PURAs across the country.
"I believe that connectivity is the key to bridging the rural-urban
divide. The core-competence of the village will enable the production
of competitive products for national and international markets. This
will lead to rural enterprises which will create jobs in villages and
lead to a vibrant economy in India's hinterland. That is how
prosperity will emerge in the rural environment," he said in an
interview to Wharton in 2008.
He enumerated five traits that a leader, especially the president
of India, must have. "The leader must have vision. Without vision,
you cannot be a leader. Second, the leader must be able to travel
into an unexplored path. Normally the tendency is for people to
travel along well-laid out ways. Third, the leader must know how to
manage success, and even more importantly, failure.
"The fourth trait is that the leader should have the courage to
make decisions. Fifth, the leader should have nobility in
management. Every action of the leader should be transparent. And
finally, the leader should work with integrity and succeed with
integrity," he said in the same interview.
Kalam had also drawn up an elaborate plan to power
Rashtrapati Bhavan with solar power, but his term ended before he
could implement it. He believed that besides solar, India should also
go in for nuclear energy and also bio fuels from jatropha plant and
algae. Born on October 15, 1931 at the Hindu pilgrim town of
Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Kalam specialized in aeronautical
engineering from Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958,
joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
He moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),
where he was project director of India's first indigenous Satellite
Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully injected the Rohini
satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India a
member of the exclusive Space Club. In his two-decade stint in the
space agency, he was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch
vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration.
He rejoined DRDO in 1982, and planned the programme that
produced a number of successful missiles, earning him the "Missile
Man" nickname. He took up the responsibility of developing
indigenous weapons as the chief executive of the Integrated Guided
Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was responsible for
the development and operationalisation of Agni and Prithvi missiles.
From 1992 to 1997, Kalam was scientific adviser to the defence
minister, and later served as principal scientific adviser (1999-2001)
to the government with the rank of cabinet minister.
He played a prominent role in the country's 1998 nuclear
weapons tests, Pokhran-II, which established Kalam as a national
hero. He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by
progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such
as Light Combat Aircraft.
In 1998, Kalam put forward a countrywide plan called
Technology Vision 2020, which he described as a road map for
transforming India from a less-developed to a developed society in
20 years, and called for, among other measures, increasing
agricultural productivity, technology as a vehicle for economic
growth, and widening access to health care and education.
From November 2001, Kalam was professor, technology and
societal transformation at Anna University, Chennai.
He wrote four books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision
for the New Millennium", "My Journey" and "Ignited Minds Unleashing the power within India".
One of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique
honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and
institutions, he was was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, and
Padma Vibhushan in 1990 before the Bharat Ratna.
Not many known that he was a poet too. His favourite poem was
"The Vision", which he also recited in parliament.
"I climbed and climbed/Where is the peak, my Lord?
I ploughed and ploughed/Where is the knowledge treasure, my
Lord? I sailed and sailed/Where is the island of peace, my Lord?
Almighty, bless my nation/With vision and sweat resulting into
happiness". On July 22, Kalam tweeted: "An indomitable spirit
stands on two feet.. vision and firm thought". It could serve as an
apt description for him.
NATIONAL
TERROR
PUNJAB ATTACK ENDS AFTER 11 HOURS, THREE
TERRORISTS AMONG 10 KILLED
Dinanagar (Punjab): Three civilians and four security personnel,
including a superintendent of police, were killed when three
heavily-armed terrorists said to be from Pakistan went on a
killing spree, shattering two decades of calm in Punjab and
sparking an 11-hour gun battle that left all three attackers dead.
It took several hours for Punjab Police commandos to
eliminate the terrorists who, in military fatigues, stormed a
police station complex in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district,
once a hotbed of militancy and adjoining Pakistan, taking
security forces by surprise.
Dinanagar is located barely 15 km from the Pakistan border.
Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini told
the media: “We (Punjab Police) engaged them and killed all
three terrorists. We lost four security personnel. The terrorists
were well armed with good firearms and good ammunition and
were carrying GPS sets."
Asked if there was a Pakistani hand in the
mayhem, he said: “It is too early to say from where
they have come.”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: "If we are hit,
we will give a befitting reply. We want peace with
Pakistan but not at the cost of national honour."
This was the first major terror attack in Punjab
after the assassination of then chief minister Beant
Singh on August 31, 1995 in Chandigarh, joint
capital of Punjab and Haryana.
The bloody saga began at 5.30 a.m. and ended
by 4.30 p.m. when the police took back the entire
police complex, which included the police station
and residential quarters which were quickly emptied
once the attack started.
The final assault by the SWAT (Special Weapons
and Tactics) team of Punjab Police on the complex
ended with intermittent firing and grenade attacks
from both sides.
A Home Guard jawan survived the 11-hour ordeal and ran
out of one of the complex when the operation ended.
When journalists and police personnel finally entered the
residential quarters, they were pock-marked with bullets fired
from automatic weapons and light machine guns.
In an emotional outburst, locals raised slogans hailing the
Punjab Police.
Superintendent of Police Baljit Singh succumbed to injuries
suffered in the gun battle between security forces and terrorists
who were holed up in the complex, officials said.
The dead included three civilians, one of whom was shot
dead in a bus stand and two others who were killed in a hospital
near the police complex. Three Home Guards in the complex
were also killed.
Police officials admitted the complex was a soft target.
"We were hit by a burst of gunfire. I was hit on the shoulder,"
said a police sub-inspector in the morning as he was taken to a
hospital. "They are firing indiscriminately every five minutes."
The clearly well-planned attack took the small town of
Dinanagar by surprise. Gurdaspur district borders Pakistan on
one side and Jammu and Kashmir on the other.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon went into
a huddle with senior ministers.
The terrorists first hijacked a passing car on the outskirts of
Dinanagar after shooting its driver.
They then drove into the town, shot dead a man near the bus
stand and then fired at a Punjab Roadways bus packed with
passengers.
But its driver, Nanak Chand, did not panic and instead
scared the terrorists by driving towards them. As the gunmen
moved back, the driver swerved the bus and drove it away.
The gunmen then stormed the police complex.
As panic gripped Dinanagar, police and troops from a
nearby army unit quickly surrounded the complex. But police
officials said that it was the Punjab Police which battled the
terrorists.
The army's Special Forces and the National Security Guard
provided the second ring of security. Television crews were told
not to provide live footage of the fighting.
That the terror attack was multi-pronged was evident from
the recovery of five bombs on the Amritsar-Pathankot rail track.
The discovery took place minutes before a passenger train was
to cross the section.
NATIONAL
TERROR
MEMON HANGED IN NAGPUR, BURIED IN MUMBAI
Nagpur/Mumbai (Maharashtra): Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon,
the lone death row convict in the March 1993 Mumbai serial
blasts, was hanged in the Nagpur Central Jail on July 30, 2015,
after a prolonged legal battle that continued till barely a couple of
hours before his execution.
The day also saw an unprecedented hearing being held at the
Supreme Court at 3 a.m. when the court rejected Memon's plea
seeking postponement of his hanging by 14 days.
Hours later, Memon climbed on the gallows at 6.35 a.m.,
ironically, on his 54th birthday - and was pronounced dead at
7.01 a.m. by a medical team present there, along with a
magistrate, a top prison official and others.
No family member was allowed inside the temporary hanging
yard, inside the jail premises where he was made to "hang till
death".
Later, the body was sent for an autopsy inside the jail hospital,
performed by a team from a nearby government hospital.
Memon was awarded the death penalty by a TADA court for
13 serial blasts that rocked several parts of Mumbai on March
12, 1993, resulting in the death of 257 persons and injury to 713
others.
The brother of "prime conspirator" Tiger Memon, Yakub
Memon was allegedly arrested by the CBI from New Delhi Railway
Station in August, 1994, though he and his family members
disputed the official contentions and claimed he had
"surrendered" to the Nepal police on July 28, 1994 in
Kathmandu.
Shocked by the execution, Yakub's brother Sulaiman and a
cousin Usman, locked themselves up in a hotel room nearby,
avoiding the media which had assembled in huge numbers there.
Memon's wife Raheen and 21-year daughter Zubeida had also
arrived in the city late and were at an unknown location.
Around 3.30 a.m., Memon was woken up and permitted to
take a bath, offered fresh clothes, breakfast of his choice, as per
laid down standard procedures.
He was given facilities to offer 'namaz' and time to read
religious books like Holy Quran, and then permitted a brief rest
period.
A team of doctors carried out the final medical examination
and found him physically and mentally fit, before he was taken to
the temporary 'phaansi yard' (the hanging area) created in the
Nagpur central jail.
He was hanged at 6.35 am and pronounced dead after 26
minutes at 7.01 hrs.
Initially, the authorities planned to follow the jail manual and
declined to hand over Memon's body to the family.
Later, Sulaiman submitted a letter to the jail demanding that the
body should be handed for performing the last rites in Mumbai.
The body was released with stringent pre-conditions and
brought to Mumbai where, wrapped in a white shroud and
covered under a black cortege, it was taken in an ambulance to
the Bismillah Manzil building in Mahim, near his home in Al
Husseini building, where family members and relatives had
gathered and offered 'namaz'.
Accompanied by family members and a large posse of armed
police, the body was then taken to the Bada Qabrastan near
Marine Lines in south Mumbai and buried with full religious rites
next to the graves of his parents.
A massive crowd gathered for Memon's funeral. A huge media
contingent was also present to cover the funeral although because
of a police gag order, they were barred from either photographing
or videographing the proceedings.
There was tight security all over Nagpur, Mumbai and sensitive
pockets in the state, besides keeping Quick Response Team and
anti-riot squads in full readiness. However, any untoward incident
was reported from any part.
The legal battle was a long one.
In 2007, Special Judge P.D.Kode of the Special TADA Court in
Mumbai had found Memon guilty of criminal conspiracy, aiding
and abetting, facilitating a terrorist act, illegal possession and
transportation of arms and ammunition and possessing explosives
with intent to endanger lives, and awarded him the death
sentence.
Thereafter, Memon attempted all legal options from the Bombay
High Court to the Supreme Court and Maharashtra governor to
the president, but failed to get a reprieve.
The efforts continued till barely a couple of hours before the
hanging on Thursday when a three-judge bench of Justice Dipak
Misra, Justice Prafulla Pant and Justice Amitava Roy, rejected a
final plea, clearing the ground for his execution.
NATIONAL
TERROR
MEMON TIMELINE: A TALE OF TWISTS AND TURNS
Timeline of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon,
who was hanged in a Nagpur prison:
July 30, 2015: Yakub Memon, the brother of Tiger Memon,
hanged at 6.35 a.m.
July 29, 2015: President Pranab Mukherjee and Maharashtra
Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao rehected mercy pleas filed by
Memon after Supreme Court upheld his death penalty.
July 28, 2015: Two-judge SC bench delivers spilt verdict on
Memon's plea and refers it to chief justice for constituting larger
bench.
July 27, 2015: The case faces legal issues in SC regarding
curative plea of Memon.
July 23, 2015: Memon moves SC seeking stay of execution of
his death sentence scheduled for July 30.
July 21, 2015: SC rejects Memon's curative petition, the last
legal remedy to avoid execution of death sentence. Hours later
he filed mercy plea with Maharashtra governor.
June 2, 2014: SC stays Memon's execution on plea seeking
review petitions in death cases to be heard in open court instead
of chambers.
May 2014: President Pranab Mukherjee rejects Memon's mercy
plea.
April 9, 2015: SC dismisses Memon's petition seeking review of
death sentence which was upheld by apex court.
March 21, 2013: SC upholds Memon's death sentence and
commutes death sentence of 10 convicts to life. Life imprisonment
of 16 out of 18 convicts also upheld.
August 29, 2012: SC reserves its order on the appeals.
November 1, 2011: SC begins hearing on appeals filed by the
100 convicts as well as the state.
September 12, 2006: Trial court delivers judgement, pronounces
four members of the Memon family guilty, acquits three. Twelve
convicts awarded death penalty while 20 were given life
sentence.
August 10, 2006: Judge P.D. Kode says judgement will be
pronounced on September 12.
June 13, 2006: Gangster Abu Salem's trial separated.
September 2003: Trial ends. Court reserves judgement.
March 20, 2003: Mustafa Dossa's remand proceedings and trial
separated.
Feb 20, 2003: Dawood gang member Ejaz Pathan produced in
court.
October 2000: Examination of 684 prosecution witnesses ends.
July 1999: Memon writes to Supreme Court seeking relief from
the case. In his letter, he says he voluntarily returned to India.
June 30, 1995: Two accused, Mohammed Jameel and Usman
Jhankanan, turn approvers in the case.
April 10, 1995: Twenty-six accused discharged by the TADA
court. Charges framed against the remaining accused. Supreme
Court discharges two more accused.
April 1994: Yakub Memon arrested from New Delhi Railway
Station though he claimed that he was arrested in Kathmandu.
November 19, 1993: CBI takes over the case.
November 4,1993: Over 10,000-page-long primary
chargesheet filed against 189 accused.
March 12, 1993: A series of bomb blasts rock Mumbai, killing
in 257 people and injuring 713.
DEATH PENALTY: CPI LEADER RAJA MOVES PRIVATE MEMBER'S RESOLUTION
New Delhi: As a debate rages over the hanging of Mumbai blasts
convict Yakub Memon, the Rajya Sabha admitted CPI leader D.
Raja's private member's resolution to abolish the death sentence in
the country.
A private member's resolution is moved by an individual member
and not by the government.
"Snatching away somebody's life for crimes committed is not in
consonance with the evolving jurisprudence, which embraces in its
scope measures to reform the person and transform psychology in
tune with the values of compassion and humanism," the resolution
by the Communist Party of India parliamentarian read.
D. Raja's resolution cites a study by the National Law University
students indicating that 94 percent of those awarded death sentences
for terror-related cases belonged to the Dalit castes or religious
minorities. "The commission of a crime by somebody does not
contract the scope to reform him or her; rather an approach to
address the hidden faculties for realising human worth is now the
accepted proposition in criminal jurisprudence and this is true for all
human beings, including those who have been convicted for heinous
crimes," it said.
Raja, who has been vocal in opposing death sentences in different
cases and was one of the signatories to a plea to the president to
consider Memon's mercy petition, said that "eye for an eye cannot
be part of the Indian jurisprudence".
"India should say no to capital punishment...till the government
and parliament decide upon the death penalty statute, India should
put a moratorium on capital punishment," Raja told IANS.
Raja's resolution, meanwhile, said that "committing a crime is
more a sociological than a legal problem".
"Research demonstrates the disproportionate use of death penalty
against disadvantaged groups. A study by the students of National
Law University, Delhi, has shown there are caste and religious biases
in the imposition of death penalty in India, indicating that 94 percent
persons given death sentences for terror-related cases belonged to
the Dalit castes or religious minorities," the CPI leader's resolution
said.
NATIONAL
DEBATE - DEATH SENTENCE
10 YEARS: 1,303 DEATH SENTENCES, 3 EXECUTIONS
■
By Chaitanya Mallapur & Devanik Saha
New Delhi: A death sentence – such as the one handed to Yakub
Memon, lone convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings – is
common in India, with 1,303 such verdicts between 2004 and
2013, according to this National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB)
prison statistics report.
However, only three convicts were executed over this period,
one each in West Bengal (2004), Maharashtra (2012) and Delhi
(2013). India saw an execution-free period of seven years between
2004 and 2012.
On August 14 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged at
Alipore Central Jail in West Bengal on his 42nd birthday, convicted
for the rape and murder of a teenage girl.
On November 21 2012, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab the
only terrorist to have survived the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was
hanged in Pune’s Yerwada Jail.
On Februrary 9, 2013, Mohammed Afzal Guru, a convict in
the 2001 parliament attack case, was hanged inside Delhi’s Tihar
Jail.
In addition, 3,751 death sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment during this period.
Former chartered accountant Memon is set to be hanged on
July 30 2015, the day he turns 53. A debate has now broken out
over the verdict against him and the death sentence in general.
In July 2007, Yakub and 11 others were convicted and
sentenced to death by a special court for planning or carrying out
the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed nearly 260 people and
injured 700.
In March 2013, the Supreme Court upheld Memon’s death
sentence, while commuting the death sentence of 10 others (one
died later) to life imprisonment.
On social media, a raging debate with dubious data
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy –
reacting to assertions that only Muslims were being hanged –
recently said that 170 people have been hanged in India after
1947 with only 15 of them Muslims, according to Asian News
International (ANI). Since independence, at least 60 Muslim
(according to their surnames) convicts were hanged, according to
the Death Penalty Research Report by National Law University,
Delhi. The report compiled data from central prisons but is not an
exhaustive list because many states did not provide complete
information. Some states provided such reasons: the Kerala and
Andhra Pradesh authorities said termites destroyed records.
The 35th Law Commission report, released in 1967, said more
than 1,400 prisoners were executed from 1953 to 1963 but does
not give religion-wise details of hanged convicts.
2007: Year of death sentences
The most death sentences were awarded in 2007 (186), followed
by 164 in 2005. That year—2005—1,241 death sentences were
commuted to life imprisonment, the most ever.
Uttar Pradesh awarded the most death sentences (318) over the
last 10 years. Maharashtra was second with 108, followed by
Karnataka (107), Bihar (105) and Madhya Pradesh (104).
These top five states comprise almost 57 percent of all capital
punishments awarded in the country between 2004 and 2013.
In Delhi, 2,465 prisoners had death sentences commuted to life
imprisonment (between 2004 and 2013). Jharkhand and Uttar
Pradesh were second with 303 death sentences commuted to life
imprisonment, followed by Bihar (157) and West Bengal (104).
Delhi alone accounted for nearly 66 percent of all prisoners
whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment between
2004 and 2013.
Death sentence abandoned by 160 countries – not India, China,
the US and Japan
About 160 countries have abolished the death penalty in law
or practice while 98 have abolished it altogether, according to a
United Nations report.
In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution towards the abolition of capital punishment and the
protection of human rights when it endorsed a call for a worldwide
moratorium on the death penalty.
Apart from India, other prominent countries that opposed the
resolution included China, Japan and the United States.
In 2013, nearly 778 executions were reported in 22 countries,
a 14 percent growth over 682 executions in 2012.
On Monday, Pakistan executed two murder convicts following
a one-month break during the holy month of Ramadan. This adds
to 176 executions since December 2014, after a six-year
moratorium on the death penalty.
are personal)
NATIONAL
MODI URGES UNITED ACTION AGAINST TERRORISM, SPONSORS
Ufa (Russia): Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch
for united action against terrorism and extremism by countries,
including among BRICS, without discriminating between groups,
or countries, sponsors or targeted nations. He also proposed a slew
of steps, including a film festival and football, to boost cooperation
among the BRICS members. Modi, addressing the BRICS plenary
session, said peace and stability were the bulwarks of progress
and prosperity and it was the responsibility of countries to unitedly
combat terrorism and extremism.
"We should unitedly combat terrorism and extremism, without
any discrimination between groups, or countries, sponsors or
targeted countries," Modi said at the plenary, attended by the
leaders of the other four partners – Chinese President Xi Jinping,
Russia's Vladimir Putin, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and South Africa's
Jacob Zuma.
His remarks came a day after he raised with China's Xi India's
concerns over Beijing blocking New Delhi's move for action in the
UN against Pakistan over the release of 26/11 mastermind and
LeT terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. "We must do this in BRICS as
well as UN Security Council and in other groups of nations," Modi
said in his address in Hindi. Modi also said all major countries
should take decisions based on consensus, collaboration and
cooperation and that international rules and norms should be
upheld. Modi also proposed 10 steps – "Das Kadam" – for the
future of BRICS.
These include a BRICS trade fair, a railway research centre,
cooperation among supreme audit institutions, a digital initiative,
an agricultural research centre, a forum of state/local governments
among the BRICS nations, cooperation among cities in the field of
urbanisation, a sports council and an annual sports meet, the first
major project of New Development Bank to be in the field of clean
energy and a film festival.
Modi, in his address to the BRICS Business Council and the
plenary, proposed India could host the inaugural trade fair next
year as well as the football event.
India will host the summit in 2016.
He also proposed a BRICS film festival and film awards, which
he said would give a boost to film making and people-to-people
contact. He said the Economic Cooperation Strategy, which
includes a number of social initiatives, was a milestone in BRICS
2015 evolution. He also pointed to the urgent need for UN Security
Council reforms.
"Whatever is the nature of challenge - political, social, and
economic - we will be more effective in addressing them if we
complete the reforms of the UN, especially its Security Council,
within a fixed time frame. These reforms are urgently required, if
the global institution is to retain its role and relevance in the 21st
century," he said. Modi also thanked the grouping for making the
International Yoga Day on June 21 a success.
"BRICS can be a pillar of hope in a world facing many
challenges, its initiatives are not just for itself but for the world," he
said.
Addressing the BRICS Business Council earlier, Modi also took
a swipe at "unilateral sanctions" which he said were hurting the
global economy.
His comment was seen as a swipe at the West for its sanctions
on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Sujata Mehta, secretary (MER) in the external affairs ministry,
said it was "India's position that sanctions of any nature should be
approved by the UNSC, and those that are not are not sanctions
that we adhere to or accept".
Modi later held bilateral meetings with Rousseff and Zuma. He
had met Putin and Xi. Modi also held a bilateral meeting with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
NATIONAL
INDIA, TURKMENISTAN PUSH FOR EARLY COMPLETION OF TAPI PIPELINE
Ashgabat: India and Turkmenistan agreed to push for early
implementation of the ambitious TAPI gas pipeline project as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Turkmen President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The two sides inked seven
agreements, including for cooperation in fertilisers and in defence.
Modi, who arrived in the Turkmen capital from Ufa in Russia,
said in his media statement that the Turkmenistan-AfghanistanPakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project was the "most significant
initiative in our relationship".
"This could transform regional economic cooperation and bring
prosperity along the route. We welcomed the agreements between
the four countries for the pipeline. We underlined the need to
implement the project quickly," he said.
Modi said he proposed that both sides should explore multiple
options, including the land-sea route through Iran, for transporting
the gas. The $10 billion TAPI project is expected to bring Turkmen
natural gas from its giant Dauletabad and Galkynysh gas fields
to Pakistan and India. The project is likely to take off in December.
The joint statement said the TAPI project "forms a key pillar of
economic engagement between the two countries" and its
implementation will have "a transformational impact on trade
between the two countries". Both sides decided to "take measures
for early implementation of this important regional project".
Modi also said he conveyed India's interest in long-term
investment in the energy sector in Turkmenistan. ONGC Videsh
Limited is to open an office in Ashgabat.
The Ashgabat Agreement is a transit agreement established in
year 2011 between the countries of Uzbekistan, Iran,
Turkmenistan and Oman. Kazakhstan has also joined the bloc.
Modi said he proposed that Turkmenistan join the International
North South Transport Corridor project, which aims to connect
Mumbai to St. Petersburg. "Together with the Kazakhstan-
Turkmenistan-Iran rail link, and India's proposed investment in
Chahbahar Port in Iran, these initiatives will strengthen connectivity
between our countries," he said.
The two leaders welcomed the signing of an MoU between the
state-led Turkmenhimiya and Indian PSU Rashtriya Chemicals and
Fertilizers Limited to provide a framework for long-term sourcing
of urea from Turkmenistan.
The leaders welcomed the Indian proposal to set up a urea
production facility in Turkmenistan in collaboration with Turkmen
entities, said the joint statement. In the field of terrorism, both sides
agreed to step up efforts against cross-border threats such as
terrorism, organised crime and illegal drug-trafficking.
Both also welcomed the signing of the Defence Cooperation
Agreement, which would provide a framework for intensifying
bilateral defence and security cooperation through exchanges of
high and mid-level visits, training and dialogue between the
defence ministries.
Modi said the defence agreement "is a reflection of our shared
interest in closer security cooperation, including in combating
terrorism". "As India deepens its relations with Central Asia,
Turkmenistan will play an essential part," Modi said. Later, Modi
inaugurated a traditional medicine and yoga centre in the
Turkmenistan capital and unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at
the centre. He praised the local students for a demonstration of
yoga they presented.
"I give you 100 on 100 marks for the yoga demonstration.
Yoga teaches people to be one with nature. Its aim is not just
physical exercise, it also touches the mind and soul," he said.
Modi hoped the yoga centre and the Mahatma Gandhi bust
would spread a positive message across Central Asia.
Modi also laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkmenistan's
first president Saparmurat Niyazov.
INDIA, TAJIKISTAN TO BOOST ANTI-TERROR COOPERATION
Dushanbe (Tajikistan): India and Tajikistan agreed to intensify
cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism as well as in
defence and connectivity as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited
the final stop of his Central Asian tour and asserted that India must
reconnect with the region. Modi, who held talks with President
Emomali Rahmon at the Qasr-e-Millat (Palace of Nations), also
assured India's support to Tajikistan in the field of agriculture. Both
sides inked agreements on culture and human resource
development.
Speaking on terrorism, Modi said both nations were "located
in the proximity of the main source of terrorism. Combating
terrorism and extremism has always been an important and
productive area of cooperation. At a time of growing threat of
terrorism, we have resolved to intensify our cooperation further".
The joint statement said both agreed to re-invigorate official-
level interactions in counter-terror under the Joint Working Group
(JWG) on Counter Terrorism. Modi said both agreed to strengthen
defence cooperation. "It is a strong pillar of our strategic
partnership." The joint statement said Modi reiterated India's
commitment to supporting the development of Tajikistan's defence
capacities to enhance stability and security.
Both sides also stressed boosting trade and connectivity links.
Modi, addressing a workshop on agriculture later, said: "Today
I complete my tour of Central Asia. I return to India convinced that
India and Central Asia must reconnect. It is important for the future
that we seek for our countries and our region.
"So we will improve our surface connectivity, as well as our
digital and air connectivity. We will reach you through Iran and
other Central Asian countries," he said, and hoped India and
Tajikistan can connect directly, "as we once were in history".
NATIONAL
MODI, SHARIF TALK AFTER A YEAR, AGREE TO BATTLE TERROR
Ufa (Russia): Meeting formally for the first time after a year, Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart
Nawaz Sharif agreed to cooperate to eliminate terrorism and
expedite the trial of those accused in the 2008 Mumbai massacre.
The breakthrough meeting, on the sidelines of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) which New Delhi and Islamabad
joined as full members, drew praise from Indian strategic experts
and criticism not only from the opposition but also Shiv Sena.
Modi and Sharif, met informally at a dinner hosted by Russian
President Vladimir Putin. Both leaders had exchanged pleasantries,
setting the stage for dialogue.
But the two leaders steered clear of the contentious Kashmir issue
during the hour-long talks, informed sources said. NSA Ajit Doval
was later quoted by NDTV news channel as saying there was "no
mention" of Kashmir during the talks.
India and Pakistan "agreed to discuss ways and means to
expedite the Mumbai case trial, including additional information
like providing voice samples", a joint statement said.
Foreign secretaries S. Jaishankar of India and Aizaz Ahmed
Chaudhary of Pakistan said the Modi-Sharif meeting was held in
a cordial atmosphere. Both the foreign secretaries refused to take
questions after taking turns to read out the joint statement. "They
(Modi and Sharif) agreed that India and Pakistan have a collective
responsibility to ensure peace and promote development," the joint
statement said."To do so, they are prepared to discuss all
outstanding issues. Both leaders condemned terrorism in all its
forms and agreed to cooperate with each other to eliminate this
menace from South Asia." It said Modi had agreed to visit Pakistan
for the 2016 SAARC Summit.
They agreed that their National Security Advisors would meet
in New Delhi to discuss issues connected to terrorism. The chiefs of
the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers would also meet,
followed by the two Director Generals of Military Operations.
India and Pakistan decided to free fishermen in each other's
custody within 15 days and put in a mechanism to facilitate
religious tourism. Asked if he was happy with his meeting with
Modi, Sharif said: "Yes!"
The US welcomed the meeting, saying the tension between the
two South Asian neighbours was not in anyone's interest.
Former Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh told IANS: "On
the whole, it is a positive development."
But he said the Modi-Sharif talks were "not substantive talks but
talks about talks. So this was not really a dialogue but a discussion
on a dialogue. And even then it is not complete because what they
have decided is that several discussions will take place in some key
sectors and only then will a view be taken on a dialogue".
‘INDIA TO GO BY JOINT STATEMENT, NOT BE BOTHERED BY AZIZ REMARK’
New Delhi: India will work with Pakistan on the points laid down
in the Ufa joint statement after talks between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif, and nothing
that Sharif's key advisor Sartaj Aziz said later will affect it.
According to sources here, Aziz's contrary comments to the
media in Islamabad were possibly made keeping in mind his
"domestic audience", many of whom had criticised the joint
statement, especially at Kashmir not being mentioned in the
document.
Nothing that Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister's advisor on
national security and foreign affairs, has said "affects the
actionable propositions" in the joint statement, the sources said.
"What they say to their people is for them. We have to judge
by what they say to us," a source said, adding that Aziz's statement
was a "mix and match exercise" of "known Pakistani positions with
what he said was said at Ufa".
India is planning to take up with Pakistan the setting up of a
meeting between the National Security Advisors, one of the major
points of the joint statement, at which terrorism will be specifically
discussed.
India is also prepared to discuss all "outstanding issues" and
the "ways and means" to expedite the Mumbai terror attack trial,
as laid down in the July 10 joint statement, the source said.
The India-Pakistan joint statement "is an accurate reflection of
the spirit" of the Modi-Sharif meeting in Ufa and was formulated
by both the foreign secretaries - India's S. Jaishankar and
Pakistan's Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary.
The statement, which was read out by both foreign secretaries
to the media, "captures the main points of the meeting" and
"reasonably, accurately reflects the substance of the meeting," the
sources said. Besides a meeting of the NSAs, both sides would
begin work on a meeting of the director general of the Border
Security Force with the director general of Pakistan Rangers and
between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO).
NATIONAL
MODI VISIT: INDIA, KYRGYZSTAN BOOST DEFENCE COOPERATION
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan): India and Kyrgyzstan inked four agreements,
including in defence cooperation and between their election
commissions, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with
President Almazbek Atambayev.
Visiting Bishkek, the penultimate stop of his tour of Central Asian
countries, Modi in his media statement said his visit to all five
countries in the region "demonstrates the importance that we attach
to a new level of relationship with Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a
key part of that vision".
Modi said resource-rich Central Asia has an important place in
India's future and both sides seek a peaceful and secure
neighbourhood and have a shared interest in combating extremism
and terrorism.
The agreement on defence cooperation was in matters relating
to defence, security, military education and training, conduct of
joint military exercises, exchange of experience and information,
exchange of military instructors and observers.
Modi said their defence ties were strong and the agreement
would help broaden their defence cooperation.
The Special Forces of the armed forces of the two countries held
joint exercise "Khanjar 2015" in Kyrgyzstan in March, "which
reflected continuity in exercises held in India in 2011. It was
decided to hold joint exercises on an annual basis", said the joint
statement.
The Kyrgyz side expressed its appreciation to India for "training
Kyrgyz military officers for conducting various UN Peacekeeping
Courses, including by the Centre for UN Peacekeeping in New
Delhi", the statement said.
Modi said the IT Centre in the Kyrgyz Military Academy "is an
example of innovative cooperation that is important to both
countries" and the new agreement would provide a framework to
broaden engagement.
Modi expressed happiness at the cooperation agreement
between the election commissions and said he looked forward to
the visit of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation to India.
The other two agreements were an MoU between Kyrgyzstan's
economy ministry and the Bureau of Indian Standards on
cooperation in the field of standards, and an agreement on
cooperation in culture.
Modi said both sides discussed at length about boosting trade,
investment, tourism, culture and human resource development and
added that the connectivity initiative between India and Central
Asia will further boost economic ties.
Modi also thanked Kyrgyzstan for its support to India's
candidature for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat.
In the joint statement, India reaffirmed support of the candidacy
of the Kyrgyz Republic for the UN Human Rights Council for 20162018.
Both sides expressed "grave concern at the rising trend of
extremism, radicalism and terrorism in the region and whole
world" and India "highly appreciated the steps taken by the Kyrgyz
government in counteracting terrorism and in retaining the secular
character of Kyrgyz society".
The two sides agreed to expeditiously consider signing an
agreement on "combating international terrorism and other
crimes", the statement said.
They also agreed to boost economic, trade and investment
linkages which were below potential.
Modi also congratulated Atambaev on Kyrgyzstan's joining the
Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union and both Sides agreed to work
together for early conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement between
the Eurasia Economic Union and India, said the joint statement.
Modi said both sides would hold a roundtable in Bishkek in the
field of agriculture to explore possible avenues for cooperation and
identify concrete projects.
India has offered to share its experience in agro-processing,
greenhouse technology, water conservation, and agricultural
research with Kyrgyzstan.
The joint statement also expressed satisfaction over "growing
links in the health sector, including regular visits by doctors from
super-specialty hospitals in India to Kyrgyzstan, visits of patients
from Kyrgyzstan to India for medical treatment and complex
surgery at affordable cost and international standards, and the
gifting of a computed tomography machine to the National Center
for Cardiology and Internal Medicine (NCCIM) by the government
of India in September 2014". It also welcomed the launch of a
project to establish tele-medicine links between highly specialised
hospitals of India and six medical establishments of Kyrgyzstan.
At the lunch banquet, Atambayev said "India has a calling to
become a great economic power like the US and China".
Modi later met Kyrgyz parliament Speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov
and also held talks with Prime Minister Temir Sariyev.
During his meeting with Sariyev, Modi gifted medical equipment
to Kyrgyzstan's Level II Field Hospital. He also visited the KyrgyzIndia Mountain Biomedical Research Centre.
Modi gifted the president a hand-knotted carpet of very fine
grade wool blended with silk.
NATIONAL
NEWS IN BRIEF
Delhi to frame witness protection policy
New Delhi: The Delhi government decided to formulate a
comprehensive policy for protecting witnesses, an official said.
"The policy envisages categorisation of witnesses, creation of
witness protection fund, procedure for processing such requests by
the competent authority and the types of protection," the government
said in a statement.
The Delhi High Court in 2013 had directed the state government
to frame a witness protection policy to provide guidelines and
principles which police, prosecution and executive agencies have
to follow for protection of witness.
The statement said pursuant to the court order, home department
had constituted a sub-committee comprising officers from law
department, home department, directorate of prosecution and Delhi
Police.
After much deliberation, it was decided to have a comprehensive
policy for protecting the witnesses and the Delhi Witness Protection
Scheme, 2015 was drawn.
The Aam Aadmi Party government also claimed that Delhi would
be the first state to have such a comprehensive policy.
"Delhi is the first state to notify witness protection policy today,"
Home Minister Satyendra Jain said in a tweet.
States to be penalised for delay in transfer
of AMRUT funds
New Delhi: The central government said states and union territories
will be penalised for any delay in transfer of funds to the local
bodies under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT).
"States and UTs shall release the central assistance along with
the state and UT share to the urban local bodies within seven
working days of the release of central share failing which penal
interest will be levied," Minister of State for Urban Development
Babul Supriyo said. AMRUT aims to provide basic services like
water supply and sewerage to households and build amenities in
cities. The minister said this provision was made in the mission
guidelines to avoid delays in the execution of projects under the
mission.He said AMRUT was a time bound programme to be
implemented over a period of five years from 2015 with stipulated
reforms to be completed in four years.
"To avoid delays in implementation, the ministry has also left the
task of preparation, appraisal and execution of projects to the states
and UT unlike in the past under JNNURM," the minister told the
Rajya Sabha.
Swachh Bharat: Delhi to get 480 pubic
toilet seats at 80 locations
New Delhi: Stressing the need for speedy action under the Swachh
Bharat Mission, the urban development ministry has decided to
install 480 public toilet seats at 80 locations in Delhi in the next three
months.
The decision was taken at a meeting attended by Madhusudan
Prasad, Urban Development secretary, chief executives of New
Delhi Municipal Corporation, the three Municipal Corporations of
Delhi and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), Delhi
government's special secretary, chairman of Delhi Urban Arts
Commission (DUAC) and other senior officials.
Prasad stressed the need for speedy action under Swachh Bharat
Mission and expressed concern over negative perceptions about
tardy progress in Delhi.
"Various models of public toilets, including hugely popular
'NAMMA' model being implemented in Tamil Nadu and the ones
evolved by DUAC were discussed in detail in the meeting," a
government statement said.
The NAMMA model of public toilets is based on the suggestion
of A.P.J. Adbul Kalam when he was principal scientific advisor to
the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1998 and is now
being used in Tamil Nadu.
The NAMMA toilets were also appreciated by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi when he saw the composite material model at the
exhibition during the launch of three new urban missions last month.
"The four urban local bodies of Delhi will identify 20 locations each
for installing public toilet complex with six seats each. Both the
'NAMMA' and DUAC models will be used for building them," the
statement added.
The National Buildings Construction Corporation will bear part
of the expenditure under Corporate Social Responsibility.
DUSIB will prepare an action plan for installing about 1,000
community toilet seats in slum areas.
For building community toilet seats, 40 percent viability gap
funding will be extended while this support will not be available for
building public toilet seats, for the use of which nominal user
charges will be levied.
Under Swachh Bharat Mission in urban areas, 1,25,398
individual household toilets, 9,156 public toilet seats and 1,982
community toilet seats are to be built by 2019 besides ensuring 100
percent solid waste management. This is estimated to cost Rs.350
crore.
India to extend e-visa facility to more
nations
New Delhi: The government said it has finalised arrangements to
extend and implement e-tourist visa facility to people from China,
Hong Kong and Macau with effect from July 30.
The total number of countries or territories covered under the etourist visa scheme will now go up from 74 to 77, an official release
said on Wednesday. The scheme will be extended to more countries
in a phased manner.
Under this scheme, tourists with e-tourist visas can arrive at nine
designated airports -- Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Goa,
Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Trivandrum.
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Since the launch of the scheme, about two lakh e-toursist visas
have been issued to nationals of different countries, it added.
Guidelines issued for gender champions
New Delhi: Guidelines for the appointment of gender champions,
who will facilitate an enabling environment within academic
institutions for girls to be treated with dignity and tackling crimes
against women, were issued.
The guidelines were issued by the ministry of women and child
development, an official release here said.
Gender champions can be both boys and girls above 16 years
of age enrolled in schools, colleges and academic institutions. They
will strengthen the potential of girls and boys to advocate for gender
equality and monitor progress towards gender justice.
The broad mandate of gender champions is to provide an
integrated and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the
social and cultural constructs of gender that shape the experiences
of women and men in society. "The aim is to make boys and girls
gender sensitive and create positive social norms that value the girls
and their rights," the release said.
Gender champion clubs are also envisaged in educational
institutions. These clubs can organize focused group discussions,
debates, poster competitions, thematic plays and workshops
identifying gaps in the activities of schools and colleges vis-A-vis
gender and make recommendations on how to address these gaps.
The club can organize school's annual function or college fest
on the theme of gender equality and women's empowerment and
Government to identify India’s 100
most influential women
New Delhi: The Women and Child Development (WCD)
ministry has collaborated with Facebook to identify 100
women across the country who have actually made a
difference to their communities, an official release said .
These women would be nominated by the ministry's
Facebook page. Those getting maximum recommendations
will be short listed and then put up before a jury which will
select these 100 women. .
"WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi has written to actor
Amitabh Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone,
Madhuri Dixit, cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli
urging them to support this initiative and help increase the
outreach by nominating someone they know, who have
made a difference in other people's lives," said a senior
WCD ministry official.
"Apart from that she has also requested them if they could
post personalised message or tweet on their own Facebook
encourage students to sign up and express their support for gender
justice and equality. The decision on the gender champions was
taken at a meeting of committee of secretaries held under the
chairmanship of secretary (coordination) on June 5 on the issue of
how to tackle the menace of sexual crimes against women.
Bengal to launch helpline for
transgenders
Kolkata: The West Bengal government is planning to launch a
helpline and start sex reassignment surgery (SRS) facilities in
state-run hospitals for transgenders, a member of the state's
Transgender Development Board said.
The maiden meeting of the board on Friday saw
representatives of the third gender focusing on ideas that will
help them mainstream with society.
"We decided on reservations in public spaces and transport
systems such as buses, Metro as well as opportunities for
employment in addition to medical initiatives such as SRS. Also,
a 24X7 helpline will be launched shortly for members across
the state so that they can seek help on issues like security and
safety," said Ranjita Sinha, a board member.
It was also decided to hold mass workshops in districts to
learn about transgenders' problems in rural Bengal.
State Social Welfare and Women and Child Development
Minister Sashi Panja, who chairs the board, spoke about
construction of special toilets and shelter homes on this
occasion.
account or twitter handle encouraging people to send in their
nomination," the official said.
Speaking about the initiative, Gandhi said: "We all have
had women in our lives who have made a difference, who
have changed the course of our own lives, who have left a
mark on entire community and changed it for the better.
"We do not thank them enough. Here is your chance to
honour the women who have made a difference to your
community," the minister said.
The women will be hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee
on January 22, 2016, the day when Prime Minister had
launched the "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" programme this
year.
Ankhi Das, director of public policy in south and central
Asia at Facebook, said: "Millions of people come on to
FacebooK everyday to talk about things that matter most to
them. This is a great opportunity for us to celebrate women
who have made a difference in our communities."
To submit their nomination, people can visit the ministry's
Facebook page between July 15 and September 30 and fill
up the nomination form.
COVER STORY
NATIONAL
27 HINDU PILGRIMS DIE IN ANDHRA STAMPEDE
Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh): At least 27 pilgrims were killed
and over 60 injured in a horrific stampede here at the start of
the Godavari 'Maha Pushkaralu' -- the Kumbh Mela of the
south, officials and witnesses said.
The condition of some of the injured at the government-run
hospital here was critical, doctors. The dead, all hailing from
coastal Andhra, included 11 women and four children.
The tragedy occurred on the first day of the festival at one of
the bathing ghats in Rajahmundry in East Godavari district on
the banks of the Godavari river.
A large number of pilgrims at the Kotagummam Pushkar
Ghat rushed towards the three gates and tried to scale them,
leading to the stampede, official sources said.
The pilgrims reportedly tried to rush to the river as a holy dip
in the early hours is considered auspicious.
Witnesses said the authorities had failed to anticipate the
huge crowds at the ghat, and complained about lack of proper
arrangements to regulate the pilgrims.
The Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, a once in 144 years event,
began on Tuesday morning in both Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu,
who had a holy dip at a VIP ghat in Rajahmundry minutes
before the stampede, rushed to the control room to monitor the
situation.
He announced that he will stay in the town till the event gets
over. Naidu appealed to pilgrims to move to the other ghats,
saying taking a dip at any ghat and on any day till July 25 was
auspicious.
The incident forced authorities to open the VIP ghats to the
public. Crowds were also diverted from overcrowded ghats.
Naidu, who later visited the hospital to call on the injured,
announced an ex-gratia of Rs.10 lakh each to the families of
the dead. In a voice chocked with emotion, the chief minister
said the incident occurred despite all precautions taken by the
administration. He said a comprehensive probe would be
conducted after completion of the pushkaram.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi condoled the loss of lives in the stampede.
Modi also spoke to Chandrababu Naidu over phone and
discussed the situation.
Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan also expressed shock over the
tragedy. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao
expressed deep condolencese.
Following the stampede incident in Andhra, Rao held a
meeting with officials to review the situation in Telangana. He
directed officials to ensure pilgrims' safety and keep a
contingency plan ready.
Thousands of pilgrims took holy dip in Godavari river on the
Major stampedes in India in last 10
years
July 14, 2015: At least 22 pilgrims, mostly women,
were killed and 20 others injured in a stampede during
Godavari pushkaralu in Rajahmundry in Andhra
Pradesh
October 3, 2014: 32 people died in a stampede after
Ravan-burning at Dushhera festival at Patna's Gandhi
Maidan
January 18, 2014: 18 people died in a stampede
outside the residence of Dawoodi Bohra spiritual leader
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin at Mumbai's
Malabar Hill
October 13, 2013: 89 killed and over 100 injured in
stampede near Ratangarh Hindu temple in Datia,
Madhya Pradesh
February 10, 2013: 36 people killed in a stampede at
the Allahabad railway station during the Kumbh Mela
November 19, 2012: 20 killed in a stampede at a ghat
in Patna during Chhath festival
November 8, 2011: 22 killed in stampede in Haridwar
at Har-ki-Pauri ghat on banks of the Ganga river
January 14, 2011: 106 pilgrims killed in a stampede
at Sabarimala shrine in Kerela; over 100 injured
March 4, 2010: 63 people killed in a stampede at Ram
Janki Temple in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, as people
collected to get free clothes and food from a self-styled
godman
September 30, 2008: Over 120 killed and 200 injured
in a stampede at the hill-top Chamunda Devi temple in
Jodhpur in Rajasthan, during Navratra festival.
August 3, 2006: Nearly 150 devotees killed and over
400 injured in stampede in Himachal Pradesh's Naina
Devi temple.
January 26, 2005: Nearly 350 devotees killed at a
religious fair at Mandher Devi temple near Wai in
Satara district in western Maharashtra. Over 200
injured.
first day of Maha Pushkaralu.
About eight crore people are expected to participate in the
12-day event, termed as Maha Kumbh Mela of the south, in
both the Telugu states.
Though pushkaralu, dedicated to worshipping rivers, take
place once in 12 years, this time it is Maha Pushkaralu, which
takes place once in 144 years.
NATIONAL
Maoists kill four policemen in
Chhattisgarh
Raipur: Four policemen who were kidnapped by Maoists were
found dead in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, a minister said.
State Home Minister Ramsewak Paikra said the Maoists
murdered the four policemen.
He called it a cowardice on the part of the Maoists.
The bodies of Jaydev Yadav, Raju Tela, Mangal Sodhi and
Rama Majji were found near Gudma area of the district.
The four policemen, who were constables posted at Bedre
police station, were abducted on Monday night when they
travelling to Bedre from Kutru village.
Police task force to handle sand mafia:
Mamata
Burdwan: The West Bengal government is setting up a police
task force to handle the menace from sand mafia, Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee said here.
"Police is forming a task force which will address the threat
arising from illegal sand procurement... Such illegal things will
not be tolerated," she said while presiding over her 100th
District Administrative Review Meeting here.
The chief minister said she is considering measures also to
address the problem of illegal coal mining.
Nadda launches Clean and Green
campaign at AIIMS
New Delhi: To upgrade cleanliness in the major tertiary care
hospitals of the country, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda
launched the Clean and Green campaign at AIIMS.
The campaign, launched as part of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India campaign), will
cover the 12 major tertiary care hospitals of India to instil a
sense of urgency and seriousness of purpose for cleanliness
issues in hospitals. As part of the campaign, the health ministry
will award the hospital with the best sanitation and cleanliness
maintenance in the next one year. "The time has come for
COVER STORY
paying heed to sanitation and cleanliness in hospitals. Hospitals
do not need to worry as the government will fully support
financially the hospitals for the implementation of the
campaign," Nadda said on the occasion.
He said one of the reasons why sanitation and cleanliness
were being ignored at major hospitals was the patient load.
However, he assured that the campaign would solve all the
sanitation and cleanliness issues.
"I am sure that the clean and green campaign will provide
the enabling framework wherein both the patients and faculty
can best respond and work in most congenial working
environment," the minister added.
The All India India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) under
the campaign would form several new committees on issues like
sanitation and staff management.
Sanitation staff would be trained in technologies that can
help in upgrading sanitation management.
Health secretary B.P. Sharma said," The need for such a
dedicated campaign was very much necessary. The challenges
in creating patient friendly hospitals have been quite
formidable."
"The rise in patient load, increased workload on doctors and
nursing cadres, timely modernisation of machinery and
equipment have necessitated significant policy responses," he
said.
Gurgaon farmers demand their land
back
Gurgaon: Farmers in this Haryana district bordering Delhi
asked the government to return the hundreds of acres of land
taken from them as it had not been put to any use.
The panchayats of five villages on Tuesday met central
Minister of State for Planning and Defence Rao Inderjeet Singh
and made the demand.
Hundreds of acres of agriculture land were acquired a
decade ago from Khandsa, Garoli, Mohammadpur, Harsaru
and Narsighpur villages to establish a special economic zone.
The farmers complained that since nothing has been done
on their land for the last 10 years, the land should be returned
to them.
Rao Inderjeet Singh promised to take up the issue with
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. He said he would
press Khattar to return the land to the owners.
Coal case: Madhu Koda to be charged
with criminal conspiracy
New Delhi: A court here ordered that former Jharkhand chief
minister Madhu Koda and eight others be charged with criminal
conspiracy and cheating in a coal block allocation case.
The court found prima facie evidence against Koda and
others in the case allegedly involving Vini Iron and Steel Udyog
Ltd. (VISUL).
NATIONAL
The special judge ordered the framing of charges dealing
with criminal conspiracy against the nine accused, including
Koda, former coal secretary H.C. Gupta, Jharkhand's then chief
secretary A.K. Basu and others.
The court was hearing the case related to Jharkhand's
Rajhara North coal block allocation to VISUL.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that Gupta,
Koda and others conspired to favour VISUL in the allocation of
the coal block.
Other accused in the case include VISUL director Vaibhav
Tulsyan, chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan,
government officials Basant Kumar Bhatacharya and Bipin
Bihari Singh and alleged middleman Vijay Joshi.
They have been charge-sheeted for cheating and criminal
conspiracy and under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption
Act.
"...a bare perusal of the facts and circumstances of the case
clearly suggest that though various accused persons acted at
different times, they all were in tandem to favour VISUL in
somehow procuring sole allocation of Rajhara North (central
and eastern) coal block in its favour," the judge said.
"...it is prima facie clear that they all were acting in
pursuance of a criminal conspiracy whose sole objective was to
accommodate VISUL in Rajhara North (central and eastern) coal
block," the court added.
The court observed that the Jharkhand government's
recommendation for the sole allocation of the coal block in
favour of VISUL was not accepted by the coal ministry.
"However, the blatant and brazen manner in which various
public servants acted in conspiracy with the private parties
involved, so as to procure not only allotment of a coal block but
also excess coal is prima facie writ large on the face of the
record," the court remarked.
It said that overall facts and circumstances of the case thus
give rise to grave suspicion against all the accused persons,
warranting framing of charge for various offences.
The court said that criminal conspiracy was prima facie made
out against all the nine accused and criminal misconduct against
Koda, Basu, Singh and Bhattacharya.
The court also prima facie found evidence related to criminal
breach of trust against Gupta as he being the coal secretary
and screening committee chairman was having dominion over
nationalised natural resources of the country but allegedly acted
in violation of the trust imposed in him by law and facilitated
allocation of impugned coal block in favour of VISUL.
It also ordered framing of cheating charges against Vaibhav
Tulsyan, Vijay Joshi and VISUL.
DU approves all courses of study under
CBCS with majority
New Delhi: The Academic Council of Delhi University (DU) on
Monday approved with a "huge majority" (79 members) all
courses of study under the Choice based Credit System (CBCS)
for the ensuing academic session beginning July 20.
In its meeting, the university's academic council "discussed
all aspects of the CBCS that also included the examination and
grading processes and accorded approval to the proposals of
conduct related to these issues as well", a statement from the
university said.
Vice chancellors of all central universities on July 7 had
agreed to implement the CBCS in their institutions, saying their
preparations were complete.
The move comes despite teachers and students protesting
against the implementation of CBCS, saying it was adding to
their distress.
However, the University Grants Commission (UGC) clarified
that the introduction of CBCS would not "in any way" hamper
the academic liberal environment of the universities.
The statement also said: "On matters of implementing the
CBCS, the university does not foresee any major issue or
difficulty at the ground level since admissions have been made
in accordance with the basic and essential features of the CBCS
such as degree nomenclature and specialisations."
It said the other features of the CBCS, like the electives and
skills, "have also been approved and incorporated into the
teaching programme commencing July 20, 2015 in a seamless
manner".
Following the move, the Delhi University Teachers'
Association (DUTA) in a statement said such implementation by
the government showed that "there is no space of autonomy of
the universities or serious engagement with syllabi thrust on
students. This has only forced universities to a state of chaos and
would cause them to go downhill".
The DUTA said that as part of its action programme to
highlight "destruction" of the university, 18 elected Academic
Council members have decided to take part in a sit-in.
It also appealed to the university authorities to defer the
implementation for one year for a wider deliberation on the
subject.
In a dissent note, the DUTA said colleges were "ill prepared"
for yet another change.
Mahadalits face social boycott in Bihar
village
Patna: The poorest of poor Mahadalits are facing a social
boycott in their village in Bihar after one of them refused to
remove a dead ox from an influential person's house, police
said.
Nearly two dozen Mahadalits families of Pindsharif village
in Shekhpura district have been boycotted which means they
are not allowed to purchase from local shops and their children
have been ousted from school.
The trouble started when Sitaram Ravidas, a Mahadalit,
refused to remove and throw a dead ox from the house of
Jitendra Choudhary, an influtential man in the village.
"It has angered some powerful people, who called a
NATIONAL
panchayat (meeting of the village) and ordered a social,
economic and educational boycott of the Mahadalits,"
Sheikhpura Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Kumar said.
"I have ordered to take action against accused in the case
because it is a serious matter," he said.
A group of Mahadalits approached him on Monday and
sought help and justice.
Kumar has asked the sub divisional police officer to
investigate into the matter and submit a report soon.
Tripura bans plastic bags
Agartala: Tripura has imposed a total ban on the use,
manufacture, import, storage and sale of plastic bags in the
state in view of its harmful effect on the environment, official
said.
The decision was taken under the Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986, and the Plastics Waste (Management and Handling)
Rules, 2011, Tripura State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB)
chairman Amitava Debroy told IANS.
A public notification about it was issued in Agartala on
Monday and a fine ranging from Rs.100 to Rs.1,000 has been
fixed.
Another senior official of the TSPCB said: "For repeated
violation of the ban, the authority would impose a fine of Rs.1
lakh or jail for a maximum term of five years or both."
"In case of any violation of the government order by any
institution or by any industry or by any shop, the TSPCB would
issue closure order and also issue order for disconnection of
electricity of that institution or industry or shop," the official
added. TSPCB chairman Debroy, an academician, said: "The
government has been observing that the plastic bags are littered
around and pose a detrimental effect on the environment and
flowing of water through drains and canals."
"The plastic bags also block gutters and sewers, resulting in
unhygienic environment and health-related problems besides
water logging in the city, especially during monsoon," the TSPCB
chief added.
According to him, aquatic and terrestrial animals die after
consuming such bags. He added these bags arrest the
recharging ground water aquifers while harmful chemicals and
plastic colours contaminate the soil and water and choke the
organisms.
An aquifer is a body of permeable rock which can contain
or transmit groundwater.
The state government originally imposed the ban on plastic
bags from January last year, but challenging the state
government's decision, the All India Plastic Industries
Association filed a writ petition in the Tripura High Court, which
upheld the decision of the state government.
Tripura Science and Technology Minister Bijita Nath on
Monday held a meeting with all officials concerned, including
police officials, to enforce the government decision.
"The state government has engaged authorised officers who
would conduct surveillance and raids on the use, manufacture,
import, storage and sale of plastic bags in the state. Districtlevel committees were formed in all eight districts under the
chairmanship of the district magistrates to deal with the issue,"
the TSPCB chairman said.
"We would give priority to massive awareness before
resorting to punitive measures. School students and youths
would be involved in the awareness programmes."
Coal block case: Court notice to CVC
director
New Delhi: A court issued notice to the director of the Central
Vigilance Commission (CVC) while hearing a closure report in
a coal block allocation case allegedly involving Prakash
Industries Ltd.
Observing that the case was registered on the basis of a
reference received from the CVC, Special Judge Bharat
Parashar issued notice to the CVC director seeking his response.
The court was hearing a case related to alleged irregularities
in allocation of Chhattisgarh's Fatehpur coal block.
The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a closure report
requesting the court to close the case on the ground that neither
against the private parties nor against any of the public servants
involved in the coal block allocation process any incriminating
evidence could come on record which may warrant their
prosecution.
"In the overall facts and circumstances of the case, and in
view of the submissions made, before proceeding to pass any
order on the closure report, I deem it appropriate that a notice
be issued to Keshav Rao, director of the CVC under whose
signatures the reference from the CVC was received by CBI,"
the court said. However, the court clarified that in case Rao has
since got transferred from the CVC or has been posted at some
other place, then the officer succeeding him may be called.
The court posted the matter for August 26 for consideration.
According to the CBI, the Fatehpur coal block was allocated
jointly to Prakash Industries and another company by the 35th
Screening Committee and lodged a first information report
against the company, its three officials, some officials of the coal
ministry and others alleging that the firm misrepresented its net
worth while applying for the coal block.
The CBI booked them under various sections dealing with
criminal conspiracy read with cheating and provisions of the
Prevention of Corruption Act.
Only 0.56 percent disabled students in
higher education: Survey
New Delhi: Only 0.56 percent of students with disabilities are
pursuing higher education in the country, a survey has revealed.
The percentage of people with disabilities employed in the
public sector is around 1 percent and in the private sector the
figure is around 0.5 percent, National Centre for Promotion of
NATIONAL
Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) survey data on
employment over the past two decades shows.
The annual survey of NCPEDP was conducted to know the
status of students with disabilities in colleges and universities
across India.
The NCPEDP launched a campaign called 'Equality+20' to
mark 20 years of the Disability Act of 1995, India's first ever
disability rights legislation.
"While these may seem like very dismal figures, and at some
level they are, but we have to be cognizant of the fact that India
started from below zero before the 1995 Act," Javed Abidi,
honorary director, NCPEDP, said.
The campaign will celebrate the journey of the past 20 years,
the successes towards equality, while introspecting on the missed
targets and devising a roadmap for the coming years.
"While it is true that the country still has a long way to go
when it comes to disability rights, it is equally important to
recognise that all the successes we have had so far would not
have been possible had the country not started its journey
towards equality and inclusion 20 years ago," he said.
SOCIAL WORKER ANSHU GUPTA, BUREAUCRAT
SANJIV CHATURVEDI WIN MAGSAYSAY AWARDS
New Delhi: Whistleblower
Sanjiv Chaturvedi and social
worker Anshu Gupta, who
won the prestigious Ramon
Magsaysay award, described
their service an effort to bring
back humanity and community
development which they say
has dwindled over the years in
Indian society.
Chaturvedi was chosen for
exposing corruption in public
office while Gupta was
selected for enterprising
leadership.
They said though the award
is just a recognition of their efforts, they would keep serving society
regardless of what the consequences were.
Chaturdevi told IANS: "One should not think that the award is
an end to my fight against corruption instead I will intensify my
fight further and more aggressively may it be against whoever it
is." Speaking to IANS, Gupta said: "It feels good to be chosen for
such a a prestigious award. It is a recognition for the issues I've
raised over the years. My work towards community development
will continue."
Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia's
highest honour and is widely regarded as the region's equivalent
of the Nobel Prize.
Congratulating the two, the Ramon Magsaysay Award
Foundation said Gupta was being recognised for "his creative
vision in transforming the culture of giving in India through his
enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable
development resource for the poor".
Chaturvedi was recognised
for "his exemplary integrity,
courage and tenacity in
uncompromisingly exposing
and
painstakingly
investigating corruption in
public office", the foundation
said in a statement.
Chaturvedi, a 2002-batch
Indian Forest Service officer,
exposed corruption in the All
India Institute of Medical
Sciences in Delhi as its chief
vigilance officer. The central
government is yet to approve
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal's request to appoint him an Officer on Special Duty in the
Delhi government.
Gupta heads the NGO Goonj, which believes in reusing clothes
and other material to turn them into a valuable resource, to create
"a parallel economy which is not cash-based but trashbased".Other winners announced were Kommaly Chanthavong of
Laos, Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa of the Philippines and Kyaw
Thu from Myanmar. The award celebrates the memory and
leadership of the third Philippines president Ramon Magsaysay
after whom it is named. It is given every year to individuals or
organisations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service and
transformative influence that ruled the life of the late Filipino leader.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Gupta and
Chaturvedi for winning the Magsaysay awards.
Among the other prominent Indians who have won the Ramon
Magsaysay award are former police officer Kiran Bedi in 1994
and journalist P. Sainath in 2007.
NATIONAL
INTERVIEW
NO SWACCH BHARAT WITHOUT CHILDREN’S
RIGHTS: KAILASH SATYARTHI
New Delhi: Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash
Satyarthisaid the Indian laws still do not define child labour in a
definitive way and that 'Swachh Bharat' cannot be attained if
children's rights are not protected.
How can the country be 'Swachh Bharat' (Clean India) if
childhood is not protected and children do not have access to quality
education, Satyarthi asked while lauding Prime Minister Narendra
Modi for his 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' (Save girl child, educate girl
child) campaign.
"Even if our country's Gross Domestic Product is as high as 15
percent, it is still a challenge for India if children remain enslaved,"
Satyarthi added while addressing a session on 'Child rights and
issues' at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"The Right to Education (RTE) Act has increased enrollment in
schools, but drop-out rate has been equally high. This points to the
need for quality education in our schools. The RTE is a fundamental
right which opens the door to all other rights," the Nobel Peace
Prize winner laureate said.
According to a World Bank study, each dollar invested in
education will give 15-fold returns in 20 years, he said, and sought
from, the government, industries and civil societies liberal
investments in children's education.
Satyarthi is the founder of 'Bachpan Bachao Aandolan', an
organisation aimed at protecting child rights.
"Child labour has to be defined in a more elaborate way under
the law. Child labour within the family has remained a dicey aspect
and has never been included under the Child Labour Act, which still
has lacuna," he said. In cases where children help their family
members at work, it should not be at the expense of their education,
Satyarthi said.
A child cannot be employed in hazardous conditions, despite
being with family members, he said and added that the law has
failed to include these areas under its ambit. The Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act has a list of 18 hazardous
occupations and 65 processes which, he said, should be retained
in amendments. India has the largest child population in the world
and the government pegs the number of child labourers around 45
lakh, while non-governmental agencies fix this figure at more than
five crore, the child rights activist remarked. "All children up to the
age of 18 are entitled to care and protection and access to
education under the law. Unfortunately, this has not been done in
the past, but we need to make sure it is enforced properly," Satyarthi
added.
On the proposed legislation on juvenile justice, Satyarthi said the
amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act is very important in dealing
with cases where juveniles have committed heinous crimes like rape
or murder. The bill seeks to lower from 18 to 16 years the culpable
age of a juvenile to be tried as an adult for heinous crimes.
Meanwhile, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will set
up a rehabilitation and welfare fund in Assam for children who are
trafficked and engaged as bonded labourers. Initially the fund will
be set up with an amount of Rs.2 crore. Nobel laureate Kailash
Satyarthi said. "Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has assured me
to give the foundation an amount of Rs.1 crore to set up the fund.
The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will collect another Rs.1
crore from corporates and other sources to set up the fund,"
Satyarthi told the media. "I met the chief minister and put forward
some proposals. He agreed to the proposal of setting up a fund to
help trafficked children and also assured an amount of Rs.1 crore,"
Satyarthi said.
"The fund will initially be used in Assam and can be replicated
to other states of the northeastern region later," he said. The fund
will be used for generating awareness on trafficking, and help the
victims in their rehabilitation, he said.
"Assam has all the factors that leads to child trafficking... poverty,
illiteracy, violence, natural calamities like floods... and that is why
the problem is serious for Assam," he said. Satyarthi also asked the
chief minister to appoint a state government officer at Assam
Bhavan in Delhi to handle issues of child trafficking. "Trafficking is
a serious problem in Assam and there should be a senior official in
New Delhi, particularly in Assam Bhavan, to coordinate with the
parents of missing children from the national capital," he said.
Most of the children trafficked from Assam are found in places
like Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan etc., he said.
NATIONAL
FEATURE/ SKILL DEVELOPMENT
LEVERAGING INDIA'S HUMAN CAPABILITY
■
By Amit Kapoor
Till date, India's policymakers have been slow to realize that
the vast number of people it possesses can be a source of
economic growth. This is because the poor population was
always thought to be vulnerable and at the mercy of the rich
and the powerful.
However, international experience of developed nations,
especially democratic America and most recently communist
China, has shown that this proposition may not necessarily be
true. At distinct points in time, their populations have been
instrumental in shaping the destiny of these two countries.
India is on the cusp of such a major economic opportunity
and the policymakers are contemplating how to convert this
demographic dividend into tangible economic growth. The
Indian government has recently unveiled the National Policy on
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (NPSDE) that truly
hopes to leverage the country's potential in terms of its vast
human resource.
The policy has been framed keeping in mind India's present
position and future requirements in regard to skill development
and entrepreneurship. The policy has a distinct focus in five
broad areas.
First, It starts by taking cognizance of the reality facing India.
India as per data computed from (NSSO 66th round) only 2.3
percent of the workforce is formally skilled. This figure pales in
comparison to 52 percent in the US, 68 percent in Britain, 75
percent in Germany, 80 percent in Japan and 96 perccent in
South Korea. Apart from this, over the next seven years it is
estimated that India will add 11.9 crore people to the existing
workforce - estimated to be 48.74 crore, of which 30 crore need
to be skilled, up-skilled and re-skilled. Thus, the challenge is to
skill close to 42 crore people by 2022. In contrast, the capacity
for skilling at present is limited to seven million people annually.
That means we have the capacity to skill only five crore people
by 2022. Thus, the thrust of the policy is rightly on scale, speed
and standards. But even then it will be a monumental challenge.
Second, the policy's broad level objectives remain in line with
the country's overall economic development. The policy seeks
to promote not just skill development but also entrepreneurship
that are both critical for India at this juncture. The vision
statement spells this out clearly. The vision is "to create an
ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale and
speed with high standards so as to ensure sustainable
livelihoods and to place India in the comity of front ranking
entrepreneurial and innovative nations".
Third, the policy lays out distinct frameworks for overall skill
development and entrepreneurship within the country. The
policy lays out 11 major directions and enablers in achieving
the objectives of Skill India. These include enablers and major
directions like aspiration, capacity, synergy, quality,
development of trainers, ICT enablement and promotion of
skilling among women et al. Similarly, the policy also has laid
focus on a framework for entrepreneurship within the country.
The thrust here is on infusing an entrepreneurial culture and
embedding it in the educational sphere. The entrepreneurship
framework also lays stress on grassroots innovations as well as
in promoting inclusivity and the need to foster women
entrepreneurship, access to finance and setting up a National
Commission on Entrepreneurship. All these are notable areas,
and an overarching framework that was earlier a missing
element has found logical coherence in the one that has been
proposed.
Fourth, the policy also clearly lays out the governance
structure and financing mechanism for implementation of the
NPSDE. Under the broad structure, the key role of coordination
and implementation of the policy will lie with the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). A National Mission
for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (NMSDE) will also
be launched in the coming six months to work towards the
objective laid down under the policy. The mission is slated to
have an apex governing council and a mission directorate. The
mission directorate will work with other national institutions like
the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC), and the Sector Skill Councils
(SSC). A new National Skill and Entrepreneurship Research
Institute (NSRI) will also be set up in PPP mode that will have the
primary purpose of research and advisory and will have
horizontal linkages with the mission directorate. The structure
seems to be well thought through and with clearly defined roles
for each institution. For the financing aspect, The National Skill
Development Fund (NSDF) has been set up. It will act as the
focal point for all donations from all contributors including
government, multilateral agencies, corporations and the like.
Finally, the policy is thought of as outcome-oriented and the
government accordingly plans to set up a Project
Implementation Unit to monitor the mission's progress. It is a
welcome step that will make progress easy to map and improve
implementation outcomes.
The policy overall seems robust and has some very novel and
unique ideas. But the challenge is also one that almost no
country has faced in the past. Like all great programs, the policy
must stand the test of implementation if India is to leverage the
creative energy of its immense human resource pool.
(The article is co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior
Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. Amit
Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of
Thinkers. The views expressed are personal.)
IN RETROSPECT
AAP sweeps Delhi Assembly elections; a
landmark in poll history
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trounced the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) in Delhi Assembly Elections held in February. The BJP simply
failed to understand its role in countering this narrative. Sikkim is
the only state that has experienced such sweeps, with one party
having won all seats in the Assembly elections earlier.
The AAP won 67 of the 70 seats — nearly 96 per cent. Its
performance is, by far, the best ever in the state. The massive victory
for the AAP in Delhi indicates the huge faith the people of Delhi
have reposed in it and its relatively new leader, Arvind Kejriwal.
The man who was labelled as a bhagoda for running away without
delivering what he had promised to the people, has led his party to
an emphatic win in Delhi.
After the massive victory of the BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections, the BJP had continued its victory march in all the state
Assembly elections held thereafter. The victory rath of the BJP has
not only been halted by Kejriwal, it has been wrecked by the AAP.
For the BJP it is not merely a defeat; this may be its most humiliating
defeat; it managed to win only three seats and polled only 32 per
cent of votes. Compared to the 2013 Assembly elections, when no
party managed to get a majority, the AAP has managed to improve
its tally by 39 seats, with its vote share going up by nearly 22
percentage points. On the other hand, the vote share of the BJP has
declined marginally by one-and-a-half percentage points when
compared to the 2013 Assembly elections, and by nearly 12
percentage points when compared to the 2014 election. The
projection of Kiran Bedi as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate to
counter the popularity of Kejriwal seems to have backfired as well.
She not only failed to muster additional support for the party but
also lost her own election from the Krishna Nagar Assembly seat.
Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Former Prime Minster of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee was conferred
the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna on March 29.
President Pranab Mukherjee, in a departure from protocol, carried
the honour to his home for the ailing leader. It was a special gesture
for the senior BJP leader who dedicated his life for the service of the
nation. Several past and present leaders from the party lines
congratulated the senior parliamentarian and congratulated him on
his success.
India’s Daughter banned in India, BBC airs
it in the UK
Documentary film India’s Daughter, based on the brutal gang rape
case of a girl in 2012 in New Delhi, and the following public
uprising, was broadcast outside India on March 8. Directed by
Leslee Udwin, the film was a part of BBC’s ongoing Storyville series.
A court stay obtained by the Indian police prohibited the broadcast
in India. An interview of Mukesh Singh, one of the four main
accused, created an uproar in India. He was recorded as saying,
“When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back. She should just be
silent and allow the rape. Then they’d have dropped her off after
‘doing her’, and only hit the boy.” Despite the ban, the film was
uploaded on YouTube and went viral.
Massive Earthquake Hits Nepal; Many
feared dead in India and Nepal
A massive earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale hit
large parts of Nepal on Saturday, April 25 2015. It was strong
enough to be felt all across northern and eastern parts of India,
Bangladesh, China’s region of Tibet and Pakistan. The epicenter of
the mainshock lies approx. 80 km north-west of the city of
Kathmandu and the aftershocks spread south-eastwards over a
distance of 150 km. More than 2,500 people have been feared
killed and another 4,500 people (at the time of going to press)
severely injured. These figures are likely to rise in the coming days.
This was followed by another aftershock of 6.7 magnitude within
24 hours the next day which rattled the people of Kathmandu.
People were seen running into the streets as they saw buildings
sway. This was the worst to hit Nepal in 80 years so much so that it
also touched off a deadly avalanche that hit the base camp of the
climbers bound for Mt. Everest and killed another 24. Sixty one
people have been injured as more bodies are being recovered.
Nepal’s worst recorded earthquake in 1934 measured 8.0 and all
but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.
“As a result of these earthquakes, Nepal Himalaya has lurched
southwards with respect to India. Our understanding is that this
present event will be followed by a sequence of aftershocks over the
next several days to weeks and warrants extreme caution”, warns
Professor Supriyo Mitra, Department of Earth Sciences, IISER
Kolkata. India responded quickly to the disaster with rescue and
relief operations in Nepal following a high-level meeting convened
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he said “Nepal’s pain is
our pain.” The Indian embassy in Kathmandu was also damaged
as the entire complex collapsed.
Indians come home from Yemen
India breathed a sigh of relief as the total number of Indian evacuees
from war-ravaged Yemen touched 4,000. They were rescued in
three air sorties and naval ships before the government decided to
end the air evacuation operation. The smooth opeartion has won
IN RETROSPECT
praise from many for the Modi government. While 600 people
were rescued by state carrier Air India, over 100 others were being
evacuated from Al Hudaydah by INS Turkish.
India initially struggled for days during the rescue effort, with
planes from Air India sitting idle in Muscat as negotiations for a
safe air corridor were on with the Saudis. Things started to look
better with the deployment of MoS for External Affairs General VK
Singh to a forward operations base in Djibouti from where Indian
Air Force C-17 transporters picked up evacuees brought out by Air
India from Aden and flying them home. India later received requests
from 26 countries including the US, Bangladesh and Iraq for
assistance in evacuating their nationals from the strife-torn country.
Although Pakistan did not seek such help, India reached out to it
too for the operation and earned kudos for its initiative. This in turn
earned kudos. Many of the rescued people were nurses and
workers who were trapped in Yemen when the war suddenly broke
out, as Al Qaeda militants broke into Mukalla’s prison to free one
of their local leaders and striking one of the border posts.
Some Indians were reluctant to leave even in the face of danger
because losing their jobs would spell financial crisis back home.
Ramalinga Raju gets 7 years in jail
Former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. B Ramalinga
Raju and nine others, two of them family members, were sentenced
to seven years rigorous imprisonment on April 9 in the country’s
largest-ever corporate fraud. Although Raju cited social service in
plea for leniency, the special court found him guilty for various
offences and sentenced them to imprisonment for different periods
besides imposing fines of Rs 5.5 crore each on Raju and his brother
Rama Raju, ex-managing director of the company. Raju’s meteoric
rise had made him a household name among stock market investors
before he confessed to fudging his company accounts on January
7, 2009. Raju has already spent nearly 29 months in jail.
Farmer kills himself at Delhi AAP rally
An Indian farmer, Gajendra Singh from Dausa, Rajasthan, died
after hanging from a tree before a huge crowd at a rally being
addressed by the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal. He was
rushed to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had staged the rally in Delhi to
protest against Modi’s controversial Land Acquisition Bill. While the
opponents of the bill say it will hurt the interests of farmers, the
government says it will boost the economy. The bill was passed in
the lower house of parliament last month but has not yet been
approved by the upper house, where Modi’s BJP is in minority. Since
1995, more than 300,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves
because of debts.
Actor Salman Khan Gets Bail, 5-Year
Sentence Suspended
Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s bail plea was accepted pending
disposal of his appeal against conviction in the 2002 hit-and-run
case. The Bombay high court suspended Khan’s five-year jail term,
triggering celebrations among his fans. He has been asked to
furnish personal surety within two weeks. The actor was released
on his executing a cash bail bond of Rs 30,000. “It is the normal
rule that if the sentence is below seven years, it can be suspended
after the appeal is admitted,” said Justice Abhay Thipsay, admitting
Khan’s appeal. Justice Thipsay posted the appeal for final hearing
to July. The court will issue directions on the appeal on June 15.
Amma returns, takes charges as cm
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa returned as chief minister of Tamil
Nadu amid celebrations by party cadres and supporters all over
the state, after decks were cleared for her return. After stepping
down in September last year when a trial court in Bengaluru
convicted her and three others in a disproportionate assets case and
acquitted all four of them in the case on May 11. Jayalalithaa took
the oath in the name of God in Tamil in a simple function held at
the University of Madras Centenary Auditorium. Twenty-eight other
ministers also took oath in a brief ceremony. Jayalalithaa was
administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor K Rosaiah.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by BJP leaders and actors
Rajinikanth, Sarathkumar and eminent music composer Ilayaraja
were among the long list of dignitaries who attended the function.
BJP Bleeds as lalitgate row deepens
The BJP battled a deepening row involving two of its top leaders,
Vasundhara Raje and Sushma Swaraj, for helping Lalit Modi,
tainted former IPL Commissioner, “an economic offender and a
fugitive”. Modi moved to London amid an avalanche of corruption
charges and has refused to return to India claiming death threats
from the underworld. His passport had been cancelled by India.
Between 2008 and 2010, Modi, paid just over Rs 96,000 per share
for more than 900 shares in a company owned by Raje’s son, lawmaker Dushyant Singh. The sweetness of the deal is apparent from
the fact that in his income tax returns, Singh has said his shares in
the same firm are worth just Rs 10 each. Modi’s firm also purveyed
a Rs three crore loan without any guarantees to Singh’s company.
Though Raje’s party, the BJP, has defended the deal as one that met
all legal requirements including taxes, sources in the Enforcement
Directorate disagree and said “there is no clean chit to anyone at
this stage.” Earlier in 2011, in a signed statement, Raje described
the expansive investigation against cricket tycoon Lalit Modi as “a
full frontal attack” that was “politically motivated.” The document
also read, “I make this statement with support of any
immigration/application that Lalit Modi makes. But do so on the
strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the
Indian authority.” That affidavit, was presented to a UK court in
2011, for Modi to stay on in the UK. Last year, Foreign Minister
Sushma Swaraj backed another request by him in the UK for urgent
travel documents. The minister, whose husband and daughter have
worked as lawyers for Modi, said her intervention was
humanitarian, because he needed to travel to help his ailing wife.
IN RETROSPECT
The two ministers are in a spot for supporting a man wanted in
corruption cases in India.
‘Maggi’ under regulatory scanner for
lead
The 2-minute noodles brand Maggi has come under the scanner of
food regulatory authorities of India. Although many state
governments have recalled Maggi noodles off the shelves of shops,
Indian food inspectors have ordered Nestle India to recall Maggi
from the market, saying the product contains high levels of lead,
which is one of the leading causes of obesity and hypertension. In
addition, the lead content in Maggi is said to be beyond the
permissible limit set by FSDA. The concerned authorities said excess
levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG) were also found in tests on
two dozen packets that were meant for sale in Uttar Pradesh. They
said they found lead nearly seven times the permissible limit. Nestle
India, a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle SA, has denied that their
noodles are unsafe or unhealthy and clarified it had strict safety and
quality controls in place. Nestle India said so far it has not been
informed about any cancellation of licence or ban on the product.
Arvind Kejriwal Scores Big Win in Court
In an ongoing dispute with the Centre, Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal has received solid vindication in court. The
Delhi High Court directed that Delhi’s anti-corruption branch
must take its orders from Mr Kejriwal’s government and not the
Centre. The differences between the Centre and Mr Kejriwal is
over how their powers are divided in the administration of
Delhi, which is a union territory and not a full state. Earlier, the
Centre said that its officers could not be investigated by the
Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government because it
does not have the right to intervene in matters of land, the Delhi
Police, or the appointments of key bureaucrats. The Centre also
argued that the LG is not obliged to consult Mr Kejriwal on
these issues. The judge said that Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
Najeeb Jung is “bound to act upon the aid and advice of the
Council of Ministers.” “Today’s HC judgement a huge
embarassment for central govt, (sic)” Mr Kejriwal tweeted later.
As per the Delhi chief minsiter the Centre’s stand as a deliberate
breach of faith or trust and a blatant attempt to provide cover
to corrupt officials.
32 Websites Blocked by India; Social
Media Outrage Witnessed
Communications and Information Technology ministry has
confirmed that 32 websites have been blocked in India on
November 15 on specific request by Mumbai’s Anti Terrorism
Squad. As per government’s news release Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate had issued the order on 10 November
2014 and urged blocking of websites urgently.
Some of the websites blocked are DailyMotion, Vimeo, Weebly,
GitHub, Pastebin, archive.org, one project of SourceForge and
others. Social media outrage is witnessed after the ban.
Analysts opine that targeted blocking such as central DNS URL
filtering should be used by government instead of blocking
entire site in cases of problematic content.
Planning Commission to become 'Neeti
Ayog'
The restructured Planning Commission of India will be known
as ‘Neeti Ayog,’ according to media reports. Sources indicate
that the new body will comprise 4 Union Ministers along with
5 Full-time members, who will be experts from different fields.
To give a final shape to the new planning body, PM held
discussion with chief ministers of various states during earlyDecember 2014. Though disagreements surfaced on various
aspects, but consensus was reached on strengthening
federalism as well as more flexibility for states to implement
programs.
India's Mangalyaan completes 100 Days
Indian Space Research Organisation’s officials told press that
Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has completed
100 days on 1 January 2015. Mangalyaan was launched from
earth by ISRO on 5 November 2013 with the help of Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket. Reports confirm that MOM,
which entered orbit of Mars on September 24, 2014, is in
perfect condition.
Virat Kohli to Lead India as Permanent
Test Captain
Virat Kohli is all set to lead Indian cricket team as permanent
test captain for the first time from tomorrow as Sydney gears up
to host the final Test match between Australia and India at
Sydney Cricket Ground, starting on Tuesday. The new test
captain has reportedly said that MS Dhoni’s sudden retirement
had shocked every member of his team. He also said that he is
going to rectify some of his mistakes he made during his ad hoc
captaincy at first Test match of this series, played in Adelaide.
Arvind Panagariya becomes Niti
Aayog's Vice Chairman
Arvind Panagariya, a renowned economist who teaches at US’s
Columbia University, has been appointed Vice Chairman of the
newly constituted planning body - Niti Aayog, which was
formed after replacing 65-year old Planning Commission.
Panagariya is widely known as a free market economist, who
worked as Asian Development Bank’s Chief Economist earlier.
He also worked for WTO, IMF, World Bank, and UNCTAD.
While Indian PM will be the Chairman of Niti Aayog, four
central ministers (Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Radha Mohan
Singh, and Suresh Prabhu) have been appointed as Ex-Officio
members.
36-50-International_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:29 AM Page 1
INTERNATIONAL
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
According to media reports, after arduous talks that spanned 20
months, negotiators have reached a landmark deal aimed at
reining in Iran's nuclear program. Iran and a group of six nations
led by the United States reached a historic accord to significantly
limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for
lifting international oil and financial sanctions. Representatives of
Iran, the United States and the other nations involved in the
marathon talks held a final meeting in Vienna on Tuesday, 16th
July 2015. The essential idea behind the deal is that in exchange
for limits on its nuclear activities, Iran would get relief from sanctions
while being allowed to continue its atomic program for peaceful
purposes.
Iran, meanwhile, has been eager to get rid of international
economic sanctions that have been squeezing its economy.
Diplomats also came up with unusual procedure to “snap back”
the sanctions against Iran if an eight-member panel determines that
Tehran is violating the nuclear provisions. The members of the panel
are Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, the
European Union and Iran itself. A majority vote is required,
meaning that Russia, China and Iran could not collectively block
action.
What's in the deal
The deal reduces the number of Iranian centrifuges by two-thirds.
It places bans on enrichment at key facilities, and limits uranium
research and development to the Natanz facility.The deal caps
uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent and limits the stockpile to 300
kg, all for 15 years.
Iran will be required to ship spent fuel out of the country forever,
as well as allow inspectors from the IAEA inspectors certain access
in perpetuity. Heightened inspections, including tracking uranium
mining and monitoring the production and storage of centrifuges,
will last for up to 20 years.
The U.S. estimates that the new measures take Iran from being
able to assemble its first bomb within 2-3 months, to at least one
year from now.
The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement
that US President Obama had long sought as the biggest
diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a
new relationship between the United States and Iran — after
decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions —
remains a bigger question.
Global reactions
The agreement, a focal point of U.S. President Barack Obama's
foreign policy, appears set to reshape relations between Iran and
the West, with its effects likely to ripple across the volatile Middle
East. Although, the President praised the deal saying the agreement
met the goals he had in place throughout negotiations.
"Today after two years of negotiation the United States together
INTERNATIONAL
A history of Iran’s nuclear ambitions
The International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) traces Iran’s nuclear arms ambitions as far back as 1984, when current supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei was president and Iran was in the middle of the war with Iraq . Fearing that Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein might be developing a nuclear weapon, Iran felt the need to have its own bomb to deter its enemies. At a toplevel meeting at that time, Khamenei endorsed a nuclear weapons programme , saying "a nuclear arsenal would serve Iran as
a deterrent in the hands of God's soldiers" and “at this point, Iran faces “no insurmountable technical barriers to producing a
nuclear weapon,”.
Developing a Nuclear Program
In 1990, China signed a 10-year nuclear cooperation agreement that allowed Iranian nuclear engineers to obtain training in
China. In addition, China had already built a nuclear research reactor in Iran that became operational in 1994.
Israel first received reports about an Iranian nuclear program in May 1992 and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin tried to warn
the Clinton Administration. The CIA, however, maintained that the Iranian program was civilian rather than military, an assessment
the agency did not abandon until 1998 .
In 2003, a man went to visit Olli Heinomen at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna. Heinomen won't reveal his source, but said
that the man told him that Iran was building a replica of its existing uranium-enrichment site near the city of Qom. The informant
also said Iran was replicating its heavy-water plant in Arak, which is capable of producing plutonium. The first claim was verified,
but the second has not been — yet. Heinomen also said that as early as 1993-94, the IAEA had learned that China had secretly
sent two tons of uranium to Iran and that inspectors found suspicious laboratories, but still said everything was okay. The agency,
he said, said nothing for three years .
By 2003 the CIA had few doubts about Iran’s activities: "The United States remains convinced that Tehran has been pursuing
a clandestine nuclear weapons program, in contradiction to its obligations as a party to the Nuclear Non –proliferation Treaty
During 2003, Iran continued to pursue an indigenous nuclear fuel cycle ostensibly for civilian purposes but with clear weapons
potential."
The reference to Iran having a civilian nuclear program refers to the nuclear power plant at Bushehr. Construction of the plant
was started in 1975 by German companies, but abandoned following the Islamic revolution in 1979. Iran subsequently signed
a contract in 1995 with Russia to complete the plant. Financial wrangling between the Russians and Iranians delayed completion
of the project, which was expected to be finished in 2006. Russia informed Tehran in early 2007 that it would withhold nuclear
fuel for Bushehr unless Iran suspended its uranium enrichment , but reversed its position a few months later and delivered the
long-delayed first shipment of nuclear fuel. Still, other delays prevented the plant from coming online until 2011.
The Russian decision came after the release of a U.S. intelligence report that concluded Tehran had stopped its nuclear weapons
program in late 2003. President George W Bush had said, "If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant,
then there’s no need for them to learn how to enrich." But a senior Iranian official said his country would under no circumstances
halt its efforts to enrich uranium (Reuters, December 18, 2007 ).
Iran's Secret Plants
In 2002, two previously unknown nuclear facilities were discovered in Iran by a delegation of the IAEA lead by Mohamed ElBaradei. One in Arak produced heavy water, which could be used to produce weapons. The other plant is in Natanz.
Also in 2002, Iran revealed that it had purchased special gas from China that could be used to enrich uranium for the
production of nuclear weapons. The gas purchase was supposed to be reported to the IAEA, but it was concealed instead. Chinese
experts have also been involved in the supervision of the installation of centrifuge equipment that can be used to enrich uranium.
In February 2003, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami announced the discovery of uranium reserves near the central city
of Yazd and said Iran was setting up production facilities “to make use of advanced nuclear technology for peaceful purposes”
(AP, February 11, 2003). This was an alarming development because it suggested Iran was attempting to obtain the means to
produce and process fuel itself, despite Russia’s offer to provide all the uranium Iran required for civilian purposes.
The Iranian government, confronted in February 2004 with new evidence obtained from the secret network of nuclear suppliers
surrounding Khan, acknowledged it had a design for a far more advanced high-speed centrifuge to enrich uranium than it
previously revealed to the IAEA. This type of centrifuge would allow Iran to produce nuclear fuel far more quickly than the
equipment that it reluctantly revealed to the agency in 2003. This revelation proved that Iran lied when it claimed to have turned
over all the documents relating to their enrichment program.
INTERNATIONAL
with the international community has achieved something that
decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with
Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama
said from the White House, with Vice President Joe Biden at his
side.
"This deal is not built on trust. It's built on verification," Obama
had added.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also praised the deal,
speaking after Obama finished, as televisions in Iran broadcast the
U.S. President's statement live, translated into Farsi. "Negotiators
have reached a good agreement and I announce to our people
that our prayers have come true," Rouhani said in a live address
to the nation following Obama.
After news of the deal emerged, Yukiya Amano, the chief of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, said he had signed a
"roadmap" with the Iranian government "for the clarification of
past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear
program."
Key players celebrate deal
Speaking ahead of the session, Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif called the deal a "historic moment,"
although he cautioned that it was "not perfect." Lead negotiators
on both sides addressed the press in a joint statement from Vienna
as well. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Iran nuclear
deal reached, saying from Vienna that the agreement is a step
toward peace and a step away from conflict.
"This is the good deal that we have sought," Kerry said at a
press conference, adding that "contrary to the assertions of some,"
this deal has "no sunset". Secretary John Kerry ended his statement
in Vienna praising Obama "who had the courage to launch this
process, believe in it, support it, encourage it, when many thought
the objective was impossible, and who led the way from the start
to the finish."
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini added "under no
circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire nuclear
weapons" and promised to release full details of the agreement
soon. There was even a moment of levity that drew some limited
laughter from the press conference. When Zarif announced with a
smile that he was about to read in Persian the same statement
Mogherini had delivered in English, he added "Don't worry, it's
the same thing."
Leaders of the Western nations involved in the talks have backed
a deal as the best way to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
"It's a good day for diplomacy, it's a good day for compromise,
it's a good day for a new beginning between Iran — a pivotal state
in the Middle East — and the United States," said Fawaz Gerges,
professor of Middle East studies at The London School of
Economics.
Far from over
But the deal between Iran and world powers, brokered during
lengthy negotiations in a Vienna hotel, is far from the end of the
story. The accord is expected to face fierce opposition from
Republicans in the U.S. Congress, as well as from Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longstanding critic of the
negotiations.
"From the initial reports we can already conclude that this
agreement is a historic mistake for the world," Netanyahu said on
the same day. "Far-reaching concessions have been made in all
areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons capability."
For his part, Obama followed up Netanyahu to discuss the deal.
According to a White House statement, Obama reassured the
Israeli leader of his administration's "stalwart commitment to Israel's
security."
"The President told the Prime Minister that today's agreement
on the nuclear issue will not diminish our concerns regarding Iran's
support for terrorism and threats toward Israel," the statement said.
Congress has 60 days to review the agreement, giving its
opponents plenty of time to dig into the details and challenge the
Obama administration's position.
Two years of negotiations
It's an agreement roughly two years in the making.Diplomats from
the United States, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany
have been negotiating with the Iranians since 2013.
The official talks began after the election in Iran that year of
Rouhani, widely seen as a reformer. He seemed open to warmer
ties with the West and said he would work to end international
sanctions.
Discussions in November 2013 led to an interim deal called the
Joint Plan of Action that offered some sanctions relief in exchange
for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, pending further talks toward
a permanent solution.Three months ago, negotiators made a
further breakthrough, settling on a framework deal that established
the broad principles for the final agreement.
The talks in recent weeks to reach a comprehensive deal had
stretched way past their original deadline of June 30. Sticking
points remained, including Iran's insistence on the lifting of an
embargo on the sale of conventional weapons and missiles,
multiple sources said.
Mr. Obama, in an early morning appearance at the White
House that was broadcast live in Iran, began what promised to be
an arduous effort to sell the deal to Congress and the American
public, saying the agreement is “not built on trust — it is built on
verification.
”He made it abundantly clear he would fight to preserve the
deal from critics in Congress who are beginning a 60-day review,
declaring, “I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful
implementation of this deal.”
Almost as soon as the agreement was announced, to cheers in
Vienna and on the streets of Tehran, its harshest critics said it would
ultimately empower Iran rather than limit its capability. Israel’s
INTERNATIONAL
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called it a “historic mistake”
that would create a “terrorist nuclear superpower.”
A review of the 109-page text of the agreement, which includes
five annexes, showed that the United States preserved — and in
some cases extended — the nuclear restrictions it sketched out with
Iran in early April in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Yet, it left open areas that are sure to raise fierce objections in
Congress. It preserves Iran’s ability to produce as much nuclear fuel
as it wishes after year 15 of the agreement, and allows it to conduct
research on advanced centrifuges after the eighth year. Moreover,
the Iranians won the eventual lifting of an embargo on the import
and export of conventional arms and ballistic missiles — a step the
departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, had warned against
American officials said the core of the agreement, secured in
18 consecutive days of talks here, lies in the restrictions on the
amount of nuclear fuel that Iran can keep for the next 15 years.
The current stockpile of low enriched uranium will be reduced by
98 percent, most likely by shipping much of it to Russia.
That limit, combined with a two-thirds reduction in the number
of its centrifuges, would extend to a year the amount of time it
would take Iran to make enough material for a single bomb should
it abandon the accord and race for a weapon — what officials call
“breakout time.” By comparison, analysts say Iran now has a
breakout time of two to three months.
But American officials also acknowledged that after the first
decade, the breakout time would begin to shrink. It was unclear
how rapidly, because Iran’s longer-term plans to expand its
enrichment capability will be kept confidential.
The concern that Iran’s breakout time could shrink sharply in the
waning years of the restrictions has already been a contentious
issue in Congress. Obama contributed to that in an interview with
National Public Radio in April, when he said that in “year 13, 14,
15” of the agreement, the breakout time might shrink “almost down
to zero,” as Iran is expected to develop and use advanced
centrifuges then.
Pressed on that point, an American official who briefed
reporters said that Iran’s long-term plans to expand its enrichment
capability would be shared with the International Atomic Energy
Agency and other parties to the accord.
“It is going to be a gradual decline,” the official said. “At the
end of, say, 15 years, we are not going to know what that is.” But
clearly there are intelligence agency estimates, and one diplomat
involved in the talks said that internal estimates suggested Iran’s
breakout time could shrink to about five months in year 14 of the
plan.
Secretary John Kerry , who led the negotiations for the United
States in the final rounds, sought in his remarks to blunt criticism
on this point. “Iran will not produce or acquire highly enriched
uranium” or plutonium for at least 15 years, he said. Verification
measures, he added, will “stay in place permanently.”
He stressed that Tehran and the International Atomic Energy
Agency had “entered into an agreement to address all questions”
about Iran’s past actions within three months, and that completing
this task was “fundamental for sanctions relief.”
Compared with many past efforts to slow a nation’s nuclear
programme — including a deal struck with North Korea 20 years
ago — this agreement is remarkably specific. Nevertheless, some
mysteries remain.
For example, it is not clear whether the inspectors would be able
to interview the scientists and engineers who were believed to have
been at the center of an effort by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps to design a weapon that Iran could manufacture in short
order.
World Leaders React to Nuclear Deal
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry
and other world leaders spoke after an agreement was reached
with Iran on its nuclear program.
In building his argument for the deal, Mr. Obama stressed that
the accord was vastly preferable to the alternate scenario: no
agreement and an unbridled nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
“Put simply, no deal means a greater chance of more war in the
Middle East,” he said. He said his successors in the White House
“will be in a far stronger position” to restrain Iran for decades to
come than they would be without the pact.
In an interview with Thomas L. Friedman, an Op-Ed columnist
with The New York Times, Obama also answered Netanyahu and
other critics who, he said, would prefer that the Iranians “don’t
even have any nuclear capacity.”
Obama said, “But really, what that involves is eliminating the
presence of knowledge inside of Iran.” Since that is not realistic,
the President added, “The question is, Do we have the kind of
inspection regime and safeguards and international consensus
whereby it’s not worth it for them to do it? We have accomplished
that.”
Reactions in Iran
As news of a nuclear deal spread, Iranians reacted with a mix of
jubilation, cautious optimism and disbelief that decades of a
seemingly intractable conflict could be coming to an end.
Delegates from Iran and a group of six nations led by the United
States in Vienna after agreeing to an accord to significantly limit
Tehran’s nuclear ability.
“Have they really reached a deal?” asked Masoud Derakhshani,
a 93-year-old widower who had come down to the lobby of his
apartment building for his daily newspaper. Mr. Derakhshani
remained cautious, even incredulous. “I can’t believe it,” he said.
“They will most probably hit some last-minute snag.”
Across Tehran, many Iranians expressed hope for better
economic times after years in which crippling sanctions have
severely depressed the value of the national currency, the “Rial”.
That in turn caused inflation and shortages of goods, including vital
medicines, and forced Iranians to carry fat wads of bank notes to
pay for everyday items such as meat, rice and beans.
INTERNATIONAL
“I am desperate to feed my three sons,” said Ali, 53, a cleaner.
“This deal should bring investment for jobs so they can start
working for a living.” "Yes we have mistrust, there is mutual
mistrust... If they honor this deal, we of course will do so to, as Iran
has done always." National dignity, a major demand of Iran’s
leader, did not matter to him, he said. “I really do not care if this is
a victory for us or not,” he said. “I want relations with the West. If
we compromised, so be it.” The U.S. has a shameful history with
Iran. Because of the U.S., the Shah came to power in the 1950s
over the will of the Iranian people. What nobody's talking about
is that if Iran fails to abide by the agreement, there's no realistic
way to re-instate the economic sanctions. Finally, we'll get access
to the world's best pistachio nuts.
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, who was elected in 2013
on a platform of ridding the country of the sanctions, said that
the Iranian people’s “prayers have come true.”
WHAT IS IN THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL?
The P5+1 group of world powers led by the US have
announced a "framework agreement" with Iran limiting its
nuclear programme. The agreement outlines major points to
be fleshed out in a final deal, the details of which have to be
worked out by the end of June this year. Negotiators in
Lausanne, Switzerland, twice extended the talks past the March
31 deadline for a framework because of deep differences
between the parties. The P5+1 group comprised the US,
Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany.
So what exactly did they finally agree to on Thursday? Here
are the seven key points, as conveyed by US officials to CNN.
1. Centrifuges
Iran will have to reduce its total of about 19,000 centrifuges - 10,000 of which are still spinning today -- down to 6,104
under the deal, with only 5,060 allowed to enrich uranium
over the next 10 years. Centrifuges are tube-shaped machines
used to enrich uranium, the material necessary for nuclear
power — and nuclear bombs.
2. Uranium enrichment
Iran's centrifuges will only enrich uranium to 3.67 percent -enough for civil use to power parts of the country, but not
enough to build a nuclear bomb. That agreement lasts 15
years. And Tehran has agreed not to build any new uranium
enrichment facilities over that period as well. The 3.67 percent
is a major decline, and it follows Iran's move to water down
its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium last year. In
addition, Iran will reduce its current stockpile of 10,000 kg of
low-enriched uranium to 300 kg for 15 years.
3. Breakout time
The period of time that it will take for Iran to acquire the
material it needs to make one nuclear weapon, currently
assessed at two to three months, would be extended to about
one year under the deal. That year-long breakout period will
be in place for at least 10 years.
4. Fordow facility
Iran's Fordow nuclear reactor will stop enriching uranium for
at least 15 years. It will not have fissile material at the facility,
but it will be able to keep 1,000 centrifuges there. Fordow, one
of the country's biggest reactors, is located more than 200 feet
under the side of a mountain and was hidden from the
international community until the US revealed it in 2009.
5. Research and development
Iran can continue its research and development on enrichment,
but that work will be limited to keeping the country to its
breakout time-frame of one year. Though Iran will be required
to make changes at a number of its facilities -- including
reducing centrifuges and rebuilding a heavy water reactor in
Arak -- the country will get to maintain its current facilities.
6. Inspections
Iran will be required to provide inspectors from the International
Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, access to
all of its declared facilities so that the agency can ensure there
is no potential for military-related developments. That includes
access to Parchin, an Iranian military facility related to its
nuclear programme. Western countries have been seeking
unfettered access throughout Iran, not just declared facilities, as
Iran has previously conducted nuclear work in secret.
7. Lifting of sanctions
The US and the European Union will lift their nuclear-related
sanctions on the Iranian economy — a priority for Iran — after a
UN watchdog verifies it has taken key steps. If there are violations,
the sanctions will snap back into place. UN sanctions will also be
lifted when Iran completes its nuclear-related steps, though some
peripheral restrictions will be contained in a new Security Council
resolution. International reductions in purchases of Iranian oil and
increased isolation of the Middle Eastern country had squeezed
its economy in recent years, and the lifting of those sanctions could
bring the country major financial rewards.
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS IN BRIEF
Over 40 killed in Pakistan floods
Islamabad: At least 43 people were killed, hundreds of others
injured and thousands displaced in flooding and rain-related
incidents in Pakistan's Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
Balochistan provinces, officials said. Chitral district of Khyber
Pakhtunkwa province was the worst-hit, with 30 people being killed
in flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rain, Xinhua reported
citing the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
Torrential rain triggered flash floods that damaged houses,
shops, hospitals, bridges and government installations. Over 300
houses were swept away in floodwater.
Four roads linking other parts to Chitral district were damaged,
while 40 bridges were swept away by the floodwater.
The flood destroyed 11 irrigation channels and over 60 water
supply schemes, cutting off drinking water supply to the district.
Crops in around 1,200 acres of land were also destroyed.
Punjab was also badly hit by heavy rain. Three people were
killed and many rendered homeless, Xinhua said.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said rain
water inundated over 100 villages in Punjab, affecting hundreds
of families. Ten people were killed in Balochistan, where a bus
carrying pilgrims was swept away in flash floods.
Teams from the NDMA and Pakistan Army were carrying out
rescue and relief work. Around 350 villages have been damaged
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 422 in Punjab, an official said. Over
250,000 people have been affected. Heavy monsoon rain started
lashing the country on July 15.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has
announced a $5 million aid package for Chitral, and visited flood
relief camps in Punjab province on Friday.
US saw 204 mass shootings in 2015:
Report
Washington: As yet another mass shooting in the US put the
spotlight back on the contentious issue of gun control, media reports
said that there have been 204 mass shootings in as many days in
2015 so far. Shooting by a white man at a Lafayette, Louisiana,
movie theatre showing the comedy "Trainwreck", that left two
women killed and nine injured was the third deadly mass shooting
in six weeks.
The alleged shooter John Russell "Rusty" Houser, 59, using a
handgun he legally purchased from an Alabama pawn shop
methodically shot 11 people by firing off one 10-round clip,
according to Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craig.
"This was slow and methodical," as the State's Indian-American
Governor Bobby Jindal put it. "This was not a single burst."
The Mass Shooting Tracker, a crowd-sourced project of the antigun folks at the Guns Are Cool subreddit, according to the
Washington Post, had listed 203 mass shooting events so far in
2015 before the Louisiana movie theatre shooting.
This year there were 18 mass shootings in April, 39 in May, 41
in June, and 34 so far in July, the Post said.
The theatre shooting was Louisiana's eighth this year. There have
been 10 in Ohio, 14 in California and 16 in New York.
"Will anything change?" the Post asked and itself answered
"Probably not" noting the reaction to the shooting in Charleston,
South Carolina, where a white young man shot and killed nine
black worshipers at a historic church.
It "did produce a fruitful national conversation -- not on guns,
but on the symbolism of the Confederate flag, which the shooter
adopted as a banner of his racist beliefs," the Post noted.
"The morning after the third deadly mass shooting in six weeks,
the presidential candidates acted as though they hadn't seen the
news," the New York Times suggested looking at their reactions.
Though most denounced the shootings and called for prayers
for the victims, "none of the presidential contenders offered policy
solutions to address gun violence", it noted describing it as a
"reflection of the fact that gun laws are politically radioactive".
Even "Jindal, who is mounting a long-shot candidacy for the
Republican nomination, completely deflected questions on tougher
gun laws, saying he would talk about 'policy and politics' another
time", Times said. The leading Republican presidential candidates
are overwhelmingly opposed to any effort to restrict access to guns,
it noted. The Democratic hopefuls have proposed gun control
measures, but they too have been generally more focused on issues
of economics, race and gender than gun violence, according to
the Times. Although President Barack Obama said this week that
the failure to convince Congress to pass "commonsense gun safety
laws" was one of the great regrets of his presidency, Times said
"Congress is unlikely to close any of the loopholes in federal gun
laws exposed by the recent shootings".
23 killed in Bangladesh stampede
Dhaka: At least 23 people – all women and children – were killed
in a stampede in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district, about 120 km
north of capital Dhaka, as they crowded outside a donor's house
early morning to receive zakat clothes, distributed during the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan, police said.
Dozens more were injured in the crush as thousands of people
packed a narrow side-street in the central Bangladesh district
headquarter town, Xinhua news agency reported.
Poor people gathered near the house of Md Shamim, a local
businessman dealing in chewing tobacco, to collect zakat, residents
of the area and police said.
"Too many people came and they were afraid they wouldn't be
able to get the clothes so they pushed each other. That's why the
stampede occurred," said Kamrul Islam, a Mymensingh police
officer. But one zakat clothes seeker, Zamila Khatun, alleged that
workers of Shamim's factory, where he pays poor wages, had
swooped down on them with batons and triggered the stampede.
INTERNATIONAL
She also alleged that the businessman stages this show every
year in the name of zakat. Eight people, including Shamim, have
been reportedly held in this connection. A three-member probe
body has been formed and asked to submit its findings within three
days. The incident took place at around 5 a.m.
A doctor at the hospital where the dead and injured were taken
said all the victims were women and children.
Farhad Hossain, at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital,
confirmed that 23 bodies were in the hospital and said the cause
of death was suffocation and stampede.
Television images of the incident showed women crying out in
pain and fear as the crowd packed into a fenced area outside the
family's house, with those at the back apparently trying to push
their way to the front. Authorities concerned have expressed
"regret" over the loss of life and blamed the organisers.
The ministry of religious affairs has announced a donation of
10,000 taka (about $129) to each victim's family.
Zakat clothes distributions is a common form of charity favoured
by wealthy Bangladeshis during the holy month.
According to Islam, rich Muslims should give zakat to the poor.
Zakat means a part of wealth whose payment has been made
obligatory for rich Muslims and giving off a precise part to the
eligible people following specified rules and norms.
Every year some poor people die in stampedes in Bangladesh
while collecting zakat clothes or money.
SCO ratifies resolution on India, Pakistan
membership process
Ufa (Russia): The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
ratified a resolution to commence the process of granting India and
Pakistan full membership and passed a comprehensive blueprint
for the bloc's development in the next decade.
The leaders of the SCO states ratified the resolution on starting
the procedures of granting India and Pakistan full membership of
the organization, according to a declaration issued after the 15th
SCO summit held in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan
Republic, Xinhua news agency reported.
VIEWPOINT
PAKISTAN NEEDS TO HARMONISE CONTRADICTORY
COMPULSIONS
■
By C Uday Bhaskar
The fact that the paramilitary forces of Pakistan did not accept
the sweets offered by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at
the Wagah border on the festive occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr on
Saturday (July 18) is illustrative of the mercurial nature of the
troubled bilateral relationship.
The Eid exchange is a practice that has been in place for some
years and has been relatively resilient notwithstanding the
political and security related tension that has an episodic
character to it, though it must be noted that even in 2014, there
was no such goodwill gesture.
However, this year’s ‘bitter’ Eid across the International Border
(IB) comes less than ten days after the cautious optimism triggered
by the Narendra Modi-Nawaz Sharif meeting in Ufa (July 10)
on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
(SCO) summit wherein both nations seemed to be moving
towards a more conciliatory engagement. At the time, the joint
statement read out by the two foreign secretaries exuded a
degree of mutual cordiality that has been rare on such occasions
and the mood in both countries seemed more optimistic than it
had been since Prime Minister Modi assumed office in May
2014.
This nascent hope remained stillborn as the events of the
subsequent post Ufa days revealed. The hardliners in Pakistan
were deeply critical of the concessions ostensibly made by Prime
Minister Sharif, and the Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz made public
statements about Kashmir, the 26/11 Mumbai terror case and
more – all very familiar – but did not help the Ufa aspiration.
On the Indian side, intemperate voices sought to claim ‘victory’
in the audio-visual domain (that is now increasingly becoming a
case of tail-wag-dog) and very soon firing across the border
resulted in the loss of life on both sides.
Exaggerated and misleading reports about an Indian drone
being shot down by Pakistan added to the tension and the
bilateral relationship reverted to its brittle and uneasy texture.
Consequently a high-level meeting of cabinet ministers in Delhi
reviewed the situation and in a departure from normal practice,
the Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar briefed the media (July 16)
and noted:
"India remains committed to steps that contribute to peace on
the border but we won't let our guard down. Indian forces would
give befitting reply to ceasefire violations by Pakistan troops."
Both security forces maintain that the provocation is emerging
from the other side and this is an assertion that can neither be
proved or disproved given the topography, lack of trust and the
latent hostility that has been in place for decades. However, to
Rawalpindi's dismay, it was clarified that the drone allegation
was a bogey as borne out by reports in the Chinese media that
the rudimentary platform was indeed of Chinese origin and could
INTERNATIONAL
The SCO also elevated Belarus to the status of observer from
dialogue partner, and took in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia
and Nepal as new dialogue partners, read the document.
Meanwhile, the leaders approved the SCO Development
Strategy until 2025, which set targets and tasks for the
organisation's development in the upcoming 10 years.
Analysts said that with its expansion, the SCO would provide a
platform for broader economic and security cooperation within the
Eurasian region.
Both India and Pakistan are challenged by terrorism, separatism
and extremism. Their entry into the SCO would be a positive step
for the two countries to improve domestic security situation, as the
rich experience accumulated by the bloc would help them tackle
the "three evil forces", said Chen Yurong, a senior research fellow
at the China Institute of International Studies. India and Pakistan
currently are observers of the SCO. India formally applied for full
SCO membership at the Dushanbe summit in 2014, and Pakistan
was one of the first countries to apply for full membership in 2006.
Nepal still needs humanitarian assistance
be bought off the shelf for less than US$1,500! Where do bilateral
relations go from this bleak post Ufa sequence of events? The
trajectory, alas, is familiar. India has sought a certain degree of
normalization of its relationship with Pakistan since 1972 when
the Simla agreement was signed between then prime minister
Indira Gandhi and her counterpart – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The loss of East Pakistan and the humiliation that the Pakistani
military had to internalize at the time has progressively
transformed into a bitter and almost inflexible anti-India
orientation that is nurtured by various constituencies that are now
referred to as the ‘deep state’ in Pakistan.
A counter-factual narrative of a ‘pure’ Islamic Pakistan that is
guiltless, yet the eternal victim that has to ward off an evil and
hegemonic Hindu India, is now accepted as gospel truth by a large
majority in Pakistan. Predictably, any voices that question this
blatant distortion of history and facts are deemed to be guilty of
either blasphemy or treason - or both!
The failure of the Ufa meeting between the two prime ministers
is not new. From the P.V. Narasimha Rao period of the early
1990’s, through the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh
years to the current experience, Indian prime ministers have
sought to reach out to Islamabad fairly early in their tenure to
improve the bilateral relationship.
Prime Minister Modi’s Ufa meeting is part of this effort and the
disappointment is similar to what Vajpayee had to undergo after
the much- touted Lahore Accord of early 1999. Kargil followed,
but this did not prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National
Democratic Alliance from investing in the Agra Summit of July
2001, that was aborted in the terror attack on the Indian
Parliament in December that year.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh was perhaps wiser and more
cautious after the Vajpayee experience and engaged with
Islamabad, but did not visit that country. The bitter personal attack
mounted on him by his political opponents after the Sharm-elSheikh agreement of July 2009 (which it may be recalled took
place after the enormity of the Mumbai terror attack of November
2008) resulted in a policy of minimum engagement, even as
Pakistan went through its post Musharraf transition to civilian rule.
Prime Minister Modi assumed office in May 2014 with the
promise of bringing greater resolve to India’s Pakistan policy as
pursued by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance
government. The BJP had long accused their political rivals of
pusillanimity and an appeasement approach.
Yet the not-so palatable reality is that over the last 25 years –
since May 1990 – when Pakistan acquired covert nuclear weapon
capability with Chinese assistance, the deep state has become
more and more emboldened and lives in a virtual reality that it
assumes a near-parity with India: a false perception that is
encouraged by its closest allies.
India’s post-Ufa policy may be best described through a rowing
analogy – to hold water on one side and row on the other, so as
to turn the boat around. The deep state in Pakistan has to be
encouraged or compelled to change its flawed security orientation.
India has indicated that the tactical response to provocations
across the border will be firm and disproportionate – if need be –
even while exploring the politico-diplomatic opportunities that may
present themselves.
Hopefully, Pakistan will be able to harmonize the contradictory
compulsions of Islamabad (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif),
Rawalpindi (General Rahil Sharif) and Muridke (HQ of the
Lashkar-e-Taiba) – though on current evidence, this seems a low
probability.
(C Uday Bhaskar is a strategic analyst and Director, Society
for Policy Studies. The views expressed are personal.)
United Nations: Three months after a devastating earthquake hit
Nepal, thousands of survivors continue to rely on urgent
assistance, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) has said. "Shelter, food, livelihood support,
water, sanitation, protection, and medical and psychosocial care
remain top priorities," said Eri Kaneko, the UN associate
spokesperson.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, Jamie
McGoldrick, has urged the international community not to fail the
most vulnerable communities, with the monsoon season underway
and the winter fast-approaching, said Kaneko. UN agencies and
their aid partners have only received 50 percent of the $422 million
in finance appealed for humanitarian aid so far.
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake which struck Nepal on April 25
and ensuing aftershocks have left nearly 9,000 people dead,
limiting access to food and leaving 3.5 million people in need of
food assistance.
INTERNATIONAL
UN awards first Nelson Mandela Prize
United Nations: Helena Ndume of Namibia and Jorge Sampaio
of Portugal received the first-ever Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize
at the UN Headquarters in New York. The prize was established
in June 2014 by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to recognise
the achievements of those who dedicate their lives to the service of
humanity by promoting the UN purposes and principles, Xinhua
reported. Ndume, a female ophthalmologist, has been treating
blindness and eye-related illnesses in Namibia and throughout the
developing world. Sampaio, the former president of Portugal from
1996 to 2006 and also the former mayor of Lisbon from 1989 to
1995, has been awarded for his contribution to his country.
The UNGA set up the Nelson Mandela Prize as a tribute to the
late South African leader, known for his legacy of reconciliation,
political transition and social transformation.
Fresh wreckage most likely from missing
Malaysian plane MH370
Paris/Kuala Lumpur: The discovery of wreckage on the Indian
Ocean island of Reunion has made authorities suspect it might be
a part of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that mysteriously
disappeared in March 2014, media reports said.
MH370, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people
onboard — 227 passengers and 12 crew members — vanished
on March 8, 2014, the first and the only Boeing 777 to have
disappeared over an ocean. According to aviation experts, the
wreckage found on Reunion, a French territory about 600 km east
of Madagascar, on Wednesday does resemble a flaperon — a
moving part of the wing surface — from a Boeing 777. Also found
was the remains of a battered suitcase.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the findings will be
shipped by French authorities to Toulouse for investigation, The
Telegraph reported. "To find out as soon as possible, the debris will
be shipped by French authorities to Toulouse," he said.
"A Malaysian team is on the way to Toulouse now. It includes
senior representatives from the ministry of transport, the department
of civil aviation, the MH370 investigation team, and Malaysia
Airlines," he added. The piece of suitcase that may have been
onboard flight MH370 lay unnoticed on a beach in La Reunion for
nearly a day, a witness said. "The piece of suitcase was here
yesterday (Wednesday) but no one really paid any attention to it,"
the witness was quoted by the French daily, Le Parisien. "You can
see how a zip from the suitcase is still attached to a piece of rigid
fabric," he said, adding "it's just surreal, it makes me shudder".
Earlier, Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz
Kaprawi said the piece of wreckage was "almost certainly" from a
Boeing 777 aircraft. "The flaperon is similar with that on a Boeing
777 aircraft. It's almost certain (that it is from a Boeing 777)," the
minister told The Malaysian Star daily.
According to a CNN report, Australian Deputy Prime Minister
Warren Truss said the discovery of the wreckage was "a very
significant development" in the search to locate the ill-fated flight.
Truss said there was a number — BB670 — on the wreckage
that may help investigators in the identification process. He said it
wasn't a serial or registration number but could be a maintenance
number. Australia is leading the underwater search for the remains
of Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean, some 3,700 km east
of Reunion. Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of the in-flight supervisor
for the missing plane, told BBC that she was "torn" by the news.
"A part of me hopes that it is (MH370) so that I could have some
closure and bury my husband properly but the other part of me
says no because there is still hope," she said.
Afghan Taliban confirm death of Mullah
Omar
Kabul: The Afghan Taliban confirmed the death of their leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar, but did not say when and where he
died. "Leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name
of the ousted Taliban regime) and the family of late Mullah
Mohammad Omar Mujahid... today announced that Amir alMuminin (Commander of the Faithful) Mullah Mohammad Omar
Mujahid has passed away due to illness," the terror group said in
statement. The confirmation came a day after the Afghan
government announced that Omar died in Pakistan's Karachi city
more than two years ago. The statement, according to Xinhua, did
not provide details about the successor of the former Taliban leader
Omar. Omar's brother Mullah Abdul Manan Akhond and elder
son of Omar Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoub urged the Muslims to
pray for the soul of the late Taliban chief. Omar's date of birth and
the exact place of birth are uncertain, but according to sources, he
was born sometime between 1955 and 1962 possibly in Nodeh,
a village in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province.
Omar, who established the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan's
Kandahar province in 1994 and announced his Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan after capturing Kabul in 1996, has been leading a
bloody insurgency since the collapse of Taliban regime in 2001 to
re-establish his Islamic Emirate in the war-torn country.
The statement came amid reports that the second round of peace
talks between Taliban representatives and the Afghanistan
government has been postponed. The first round of talks between
the two sides was held in Pakistan earlier this month and the second
round was expected to be held in Islamabad on July 31.
26 killed in Nepal landslides
Kathmandu: At least 26 people were killed and scores others were
missing after landslides hit western Nepal, a media report said.
The authorities said that 20 people were killed and 36 have gone
missing in Kaski district after landslides triggered by incessant
rainfall on Wednesday night. In a statement, the Nepal Army said
that it has deployed personnel for search and rescue operations in
the district. A total of 27 houses were also buried in the district, a
police official said. The local highway has been blocked and a
bridge collapsed which is making it difficult for search and rescue
teams to reach some parts of the district. In Myagdi district,
landslides have claimed six lives.
INTERNATIONAL
WITH IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL, AN UNDERSEA GAS
PIPELINE TO INDIA HOLDS PROMISE
■
By Ranjana Narayan
New Delhi: The Iran nuclear deal could see not just more imports
of Iranian crude to India, the lifting of Western sanctions now holds
the promise of kick-starting an undersea pipeline project that would
bring Iranian gas to India via the Arabian Sea, bypassing Pakistan.
"The Iran nuclear deal is going to open up more possibilities of
importing crude from Tehran, the quantities can be increased. It
will also help to implement two-three projects we are working on
without any shadow of sanctions," an official source told IANS.
"Among the major projects we are eyeing is the SAGE undersea
pipeline to bring gas from Oman and Iran to India," the official
said, declining to be named.
The gas pipeline project by South Asia Gas Enterprises Pvt Ltd
(SAGE), when implemented, could see over 31 million cubic meters
of gas per day delivered to India. The pipeline project, also known
as Middle East to India Deepwater Pipeline (MEIDP), was
formulated a decade ago, but could not take off due to the Western
sanctions and US opposition as well as technological issues. "All
that has now been sorted out," the official added.
With the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline still stuck and the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipelines yet to
take off, the SAGE project holds promise of seeing gas delivered
to energy-starved India in about five years.
The 1,200-1,300 km pipeline, set to cost around $4.5 billion,
is the best energy option for India, says Subodh Kumar Jain,
director, SAGE. "We are very excited, the development (Iran
nuclear deal) holds a lot of promise for getting the SAGE pipeline
project moving forward," Jain told IANS.
Jain said the pipeline would avoid Pakistan's underwater
continental shelf and is "very much doable".
"India has been struggling to get pipeline projects off the ground
for the past 20 years, while China has several pipeline projects
running. Now things will certainly change, we're getting good
encouragement from the government," Jain told IANS.
According to Jain, the gas tariffs would also be competitive.
Once the project gets the green signal, they would have to draw
up the purchase contract, the route for the deep sea pipeline, the
buyer-seller agreement, among other nitty-gritties to be worked
out. "We are very hopeful," he added.
The SAGE pipeline, called MEIDP project, would start from
Chabahar on the southern coast of Iran and Ras Al-Jafan on the
Oman coast. The pipeline, after traversing deep in the Arabian Sea,
would bring gas to Porbandar in south Gujarat. The maximum
depth of the pipeline is set to be 3,450 metres, and construction
would take two years to complete, according to the website. The
pipeline route can also bring Turkmenistan gas to India through a
swap arrangement with Iranian gas from the South Pars gas field
in the Arabian Sea, said Jain. He said that Turkmenistan / Iran are
building gas pipelines till Chhabahar port. From here the Turkmen
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran
SAGE is working with a consortium of the most reputed
and experienced global and Indian companies for the
development of its Deep-sea Pipeline. It has Principles of
Cooperation & MoU’s with the following companies
worldwide:
● Indian Oil Corporation
● Oman Ministry of Oil and Gas
● GAIL: Gas Authority of India Ltd.
● NIGEC: National Iranian Gas Export Company
● Engineers India Ltd. (EIL)
● Peritus International (UK) Ltd.
● Saipem, spa
● Heerema Marine Contractors
● Corus Steel (Tata Group), UK
● Welspun
● Fugro Geoconsulting Ltd., UK
● INTECSEA Engineering (UK) Ltd.
● Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
gas could be transported, through SAGE pipeline, to India, to the
Gujarat Coast. Turkmenistan, in the past, was agreeable to such
options, for supply of additional gas too, he said. The Chabahar
port, which India is upgrading, is moving ahead at a fast pace, but
the inward connectivity, in the form of roads, has yet to take off.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani, who met in Ufa, in Russia, on the sidelines of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit earlier this month, had
discussed increasing Iranian oil imports, the development of
Chabahar port and the fast-pacing of connectivity projects.
Iran is central to India's access to Central Asia and the
Chabahar port and road connectivity is a priority area for India.
INTERNATIONAL
VIEWPOINT
PAKISTAN’S 11-YEAR TERROR BILL: $100 BN
■
By Abheet Singh Sethi
New Delhi: Terrorism cost the Pakistani economy nearly $100
billion (Rs. 6.4 lakh crore) between 2004-05 and 2014-15,
according to data in the Pakistan Economic Survey 2014-15.
That’s enough to finance Pakistan’s education budget for 134
years (based on the current year).
The losses are direct and indirect. Of the $6.63 billion lost due
to terrorist attacks in 2013-14, 38 percent represented reduced
tax collection and 30 percent reduced foreign investment.
Pakistan contends that the heightened incidence of terrorism
is a reaction to the conflict and instability in Afghanistan after the
9/11 attacks.
The US invasion of Afghanistan led to an increased influx of
refugees into bordering Pakistan, which "witnessed a sudden
spike in the frequency and scale of terrorist attacks", according
to the Economic Survey.
Pakistan's economy is estimated to have grown 4.2 percent
during 2014-15.
How terrorism disrupts business
Terrorism in Pakistan is driven by sectarian and ethnic factors,
and 54,960 people (including terrorists) have died since 2005,
according to data released by South Asia Terrorism Portal(SATP),
a resource from the New Delhi-based Institute of Conflict
Management.
IndiaSpend had earlier reported that Pakistan had seen a 748
percent increase in terrorism-related deaths over the past decade.
Terrorism has disrupted production cycles, delayed exports
and increased business costs.“Pakistani products have gradually
lost their market share to competitors," the Survey said.
Pakistan is ranked 154th out of 162 countries, according to
the 2015 Global Peace Index, a measure of unrest, published by
the Institute for Economics & Peace, a think-tank based in Sydney.
The index judges peacefulness of a country based on 23
indicators under three broad themes: 1) safety and security in
society; 2) domestic and international conflict and; 3) degree of
militarisation.
With a rating of 3.049, Pakistan is ranked 8 places ahead of
last-placed Syria (ranked 162nd) but 11 places behind
neighbouring India (ranked 143rd).
Tribal areas the most violent
The Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Northwestern
Pakistan are the country's most violence-prone region, accounting
for more than half of all terrorism-related deaths in 2014,
according to SATP.
Sindh accounted for 21 percent of total deaths, followed by
Balochistan with nearly 12 percent.
The FATA region is home to the violent Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), founded in 2007 and currently headed by
Maulana Fazlullah.
The TTP is a different organisation from the Afghan Taliban,
originally founded and supported by Pakistan in the 1990s to
exert influence over Afghanistan.
TTP "was founded to fight (the) Pakistani establishment," D.
Suba Chandra, director of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies,
said in a comment in The Hindu.
TTP has claimed responsibility for some of the most serious
attacks in Pakistan, including that on an army school in Peshawar
last year. More than 130 children died in that attack.
"This attack is a response to Zarb-e-Azb (sword of the prophet,
PBUH) military offensive and the killing of Taliban fighters and
the harassment of their familie”," TTP spokesperson Muhammad
Khorasani had said last year.
The Pakistani Army launched Zarb-e-Azb on June 15, 2014
in retaliation for a deadly attack on Karachi airport that left 28
people (including 10 terrorists) dead.
The operation has led to the death of 2,763 militants over the
past year, according to Major General Asim Bajwa, director
general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations.
However, Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts have been selective
as a US State Department report points out.
It says that the Pakistani military moved against domesticallyfocussed groups, such as the TTP, while the Afghan Taliban and
the Haqqani network leadership continued to find safe havens.
While the Pakistani military action only disrupted the activities
of these groups, it did not target them directly, the US report said.
The report further states that Pakistan took no action against
groups such as anti-India Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), which
continues to "operate, train, rally, propagandise and fund-raise
in Pakistan".
Terrorism has been a contentious issue between India and
Pakistan.
Pakistan accuses neighbouring India of supporting separatists
in Balochistan as well as other militant groups. Pakistani Defence
Minister Khwaja Asif recently accused India of helping terrorist
groups in the country to launch "heinous acts" and said that India
"has designs against Pakistan".
India, in turn, accuses Pakistan of being a state sponsor of
terror, responsible for terrorist attacks in Kashmir and the rest of
India - the most serious being the 26/11 attack on Mumbai.
are personal)
INTERNATIONAL
VIEWPOINT
BRICS, DEVELOPMENT AND THE
EMERGING WORLD ORDER
■
By Amit Kapoor
The acronym BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)
is attributed to economist Jim O'Neill of the Goldman Sachs, who
initially coined the term and hypothesized their rise at the turn of
the century.
Today, BRICS together account for 30 percent of global land,
43 percent of global population, 17.3 percent of the world's
merchandise trade, 12 percent of global commercial services and
45 percent of the world's agricultural production. These staggering
statistics suggest a potential to lead from the front in the comity of
nations.
This year’s summit was the seventh meeting of the global club
that sets the precedent for an emerging global order. The theme of
this year’s summit was 'BRICS Partnership - A Powerful Factor for
Global Development'. The summit resulted in the Ufa declaration
that essentially talks about broadening the Intra-BRICS regional
cooperation.
A high point in this year’s summit was further steps for
operationalization of the BRICS bank or 'New Development Bank'
(NDB).
The NDB had taken proper shape during the previous BRICS
summit in Fortaleza in Brazil.
The NDB has at present an equal contribution from the all the
members unlike the Bretton Woods twins (namely the World Bank
and IMF) and other multilateral banks like the Asian Development
Bank. These have varied contributions from different member states.
The first President of the NDB was decided to be from India in
the previous summit and the Indian government was prompt to
name veteran banker KV Kamath as NDB’s first president. Before
the summit in Ufa, Kamath made a statement about
operationalizing the BRICS bank and approving the first loan by
April 1, 2016.
Four points about the recent summit and
the broader trends that it points to are
noteworthy:
First, there is increasing multipolarity and multilateralism in world
affairs. The post-Soviet world is fragmented and at the same time
a lot of negotiations are happening at the bilateral and multilateral
level.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prior to attending the BRICS
and the SCO Summits, visited the five central Asian countries of
Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
These visits point to India’s increasing reliance on talks for
furthering its interests and boosting trade.
Second, geography matters but its influence in global affairs is
reducing. It is reflected in the fact that countries from different
continents are willing to engage and embrace each other. It also
points to a new kind of multilateralism that is not overtly dependent
upon the primary platforms for trade especially the World Trade
Organization and earlier related trade bodies. It is a great force
in international trade and diplomacy especially for countries like
India, which are out of some of the major Mega Regional Trade
Agreements.
Third, the creation of newer multilateral development banks like
the BRICS bank and AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) are
a testimony to the aspirations of the developing world for greater
infrastructure and economic development. It also shows their
enthusiasm as well as their growing power and sphere of influence.
It does not necessarily mean reduction in the role of the other
multilateral banks especially the Bretton Woods twins.
However with these developments, it certainly reduces the
overdependence and overreliance on the earlier multilateral
institutions for financing economic development.
Finally, groupings like the BRICS have found a new amplified voice
in the world affairs. It can be gauged from the response of President
Putin when asked by journalists on his take on EU and Greece: "Of
course, all the blame can be shifted to the Greeks. But if there were
violations in their activity, where was the European Commission?
Why didn’t it make any adjustments to the economic activity of the
previous government of Greece?" Though blunt, it clearly shows
growing assertiveness on the part of leaders from the BRICS in
world affairs.
The next BRICS summit is slated to be held in India. The
changing stature of BRICS suggests that they have now begun to
exert significant influence in world affairs and are shifting the
economic and strategic balance towards the developing country
side. How far will the balance shift over the long time frame
remains to be seen.
(The article is co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior
Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. is Chair,
Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of Thinkers. The views
expressed are personal.)
INTERNATIONAL
FEATURE
MYANMAR: A NEW THEATRE OF RIVALRY IN SOUTH ASIA
■
By Amitava Mukherjee
With the United States shifting the focus of its foreign policy to the
Asia Pacific region, Myanmar has gained a tremendous strategic
importance. This became clear when President Barack Obama had
made Myanmar his first port of call after he assumed office in his
second term. This is also the reason why Chinese President Xi
Jinping had welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar's
National League for Democracy (NLD) to the Great Hall of the
People in Beijing defying all diplomatic protocols.
And, in spite of the latest snub India received from Naypyidaw,
when National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was told in no uncertain
terms last month that there could be no joint military operation
against insurgents from the northeast, there are grounds of hope
for New Delhi as relations between China and Myanmar have
deteriorated to a great extent in recent times.
The immediate reason is the
ongoing fight between the Myanmar
army and the Myanmar National
Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA),
an insurgent body of ethnic Chinese in
the Kokang Special Region which
borders China. Huge numbers of ethnic
Chinese have fled to China's Yunnan
province, where a few civilians also
died of Myanmar army attacks.
Myanmarese President Thein Sein
has been showing signs of a tilt towards
the US and Western Europe in spite of
the fact that China was Myanmar's
principal prop during the time of his
predecessor Than Shwe.
He has suspended the construction
of the Myitsone hydropower dam in
which China has invested a huge amount. He has also temporarily
shut down the Letpadaung copper mine project, a joint venture of
Myanmar and China, in the wake of vociferous protests from
common people.
Why has Thein Sein taken such steps? It is because the
Myanmar junta is livid against China for its alleged help to various
ethnic minority insurgent armies, particularly the United WA State
Army, operating in the country's northern part.
Where does India stand in this jigsaw puzzle? Well, the answer
will not be any music to the ears of Indian policymakers. In spite of
the present ebb in Sino-Myanmar relations, China has always
acted in Myanmar while India has only deliberated and dithered.
The Kaladan Multimodal Transport Project, the showpiece of
Indian initiative in Myanmar, which seeks to connect Indian ports
on the country's eastern seaboard with the Sittwe port of Myanmar
along with river and road connections with Mizoram, has been
running behind schedule.
Similarly, final upgradation of the detailed project report of the
2,000 MW Tamanthi hydropower project took so long that the
Myanmar government ultimately scrapped it.
So far as important road projects are concerned, the Rhi-Tiddim,
Rhi-Falam and the Indian segment of the Moreh (India) to Mae Sot
(Thailand) trilateral highway project are still being "refined", which
actually means that progress is far from satisfactory.
In the strategically important Stillwell Road, a Chinese company
has bagged the contract for constructing the stretch running from
Myitkyina to the Pangsau Pass in Myanmar. This portion is very
close to Arunachal Pradesh. Why didn't Indian companies make
aggressive efforts to bag the contract?
New Delhi needs strategic influence
in Myanmar for keeping the
northeastern states in order. The
insurgent groups operating in these
states get arms supplies from
Myanmar's ethnic minorities like the
Kachins, the Karens, the WA and the
like. These groups also provide corridors
for Indian insurgent bands to Yunnan in
China. The two factions of the NSCN
are also in this arms smuggling
business. At the moment, Suu Kyi holds
many important cards. From an idealist
who fought military dictatorship for
decades, she has been gradually
metamorphosing into a politician. She
chose not to utter a word over the
pathetic plight of the Rohingiyas in spite
of proddings from the Dalai Lama as her NLD would have to face
the Buddhist majority in the coming election. Neither she nor the
military junta is perhaps prepared to give India any strategic depth
lest it should displease China, which has already committed $20
billion investment in Myanmar.
One more interesting bit of information. Under intense pressure
from China, the Myanmar military junta had constituted a
parliamentary commission to go into the pros and cons of the
Letpadaung copper mine project. Stipulating certain conditions, the
Commission gave the project a go-ahead. But it paid no heed to
the massive popular demand to close it down on the expressed
ground that this may disturb the equation with China.
The commission was led by Suu Kyi.
(Amitava Mukherjee is a senior journalist and commentator.
The views expressed are personal.)
Myanmarese President
Thein Sein has been
showing signs of a tilt
towards the US and
Western Europe in spite of
the fact that China was
Myanmar's principal prop
during the time of his
predecessor Than Shwe
INTERNATIONAL
GREECE’S DEBT CRISIS EXPLAINED
How did Greece get to this point?
Greece became the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis after Wall
Street imploded in 2008. With global financial markets still reeling,
Greece announced in October 2009 that it had been understating
its deficit figures for years, raising alarms about the soundness of
Greek finances.
Suddenly, Greece was shut out from borrowing in the financial
markets. By the spring of 2010, it was veering toward bankruptcy,
which threatened to set off a new financial crisis.
To avert calamity, the so-called troika — the International
Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European
Commission — issued the first of two international bailouts for
Greece, which would eventually total more than 240 billion euros,
or about $264 billion at today’s exchange rates.
The bailouts came with conditions. Lenders imposed harsh
austerity terms, requiring deep budget cuts and steep tax increases.
They also required Greece to overhaul its economy by streamlining
the government, ending tax evasion and making Greece an easier
place to do business.
If Greece has received billions in bailouts,
why was there still a crisis?
The money was supposed to buy Greece time to stabilize its
finances and quell market fears that the euro union itself could
break up. While it has helped, Greece’s economic problems
haven’t gone away. The economy has shrunk by a quarter in five
years, and unemployment is above 25 percent.
The bailout money mainly goes toward paying off Greece’s
international loans, rather than making its way into the economy.
And the government still has a staggering debt load that it cannot
begin to pay down unless a recovery takes hold.
Many economists, and many Greeks, blame the austerity
measures for much of the country’s continuing problems. The leftist
Syriza party rode to power this year promising to renegotiate the
bailout; Mr. Tsipras said that austerity had created a “humanitarian
crisis” in Greece.
But the country’s exasperated creditors, especially Germany,
blame Athens for failing to conduct the economic overhauls
required under its bailout agreement. They did not want to change
the rules for Greece.
Greece’s Creditors
Almost two-thirds of Greece’s debt, about 200 billion euros, is
owed to the eurozone bailout fund or other eurozone countries.
Greece does not have to make any payments on that debt until
2023. The International Monetary Fund has proposed extending
the grace period until mid-century.
So while Greece’s total debt is big—as much as double the
country’s annual economic output—it might not matter much if the
government did not need to make payments for decades to come.
By the time the money came due, the Greek economy could have
INTERNATIONAL
grown enough that the sum no longer seemed daunting. In the short
term, though, Greece had a problem making payments due on
loans from the International Monetary Fund and on bonds held by
the European Central Bank. Those obligations amounted to more
than 24 billion euros through the middle of 2018, and it is unlikely
that either institution would agree to long delays in repayment.
What, specifically, were they arguing
about?
Because these are negotiations and the two sides both claim the
other is misrepresenting what's been happening, it was difficult to
tell exactly what's been going on. But by and large, both Greece
and its creditors seem to be mostly haggling over the exact size of
the primary surplus that Greece is going to be required to run.
Greece was, in essence, asking for flexibility to run a less austere
policy, and some of its creditors were reluctant to let the country
do it.
On this level, the whole thing is really pretty simple. Back in
2010, Greece was in the position of supplicant, asking richer and
more creditworthy European countries for money.
But Greece also had a fair amount of leverage. A disorderly
default might have spread financial chaos to countries like Portugal,
Ireland, Spain, and maybe even Italy. Under the circumstances,
other eurozone countries had strong self-interested reasons to help
Greece out.
In the intervening five years, a lot of work has been done to
insulate other European countries and the European banking
system from the risks involved in a Greek default. Greece is asking
for more generous terms, but it has less objective leverage.
What’s the latest?
Greece and its European creditors announced an agreement in
Brussels on July 13,2015 that aims to resolve the country’s debt
crisis and keep it in the eurozone, but that will require further
budgetary belt-tightening.
The International Monetary Fund had threatened to withdraw
support for Greece’s bailout unless European leaders agree to
substantial debt relief.
How does the crisis affect the global
financial system?
In the European Union, most real decision-making power,
particularly on matters involving politically delicate things like
money and migrants, rests with 28 national governments, each one
beholden to its voters and taxpayers. This tension has grown only
more acute since the January 1999 introduction of the euro, which
now binds 19 nations into a single currency zone watched over by
the European Central Bank but leaves budget and tax policy in the
hands of each country, an arrangement that some economists
believe was doomed from the start.
Since Greece’s debt crisis began in 2010, most international
banks and foreign investors have sold their Greek bonds and other
holdings, so they are no longer vulnerable to what happens in
Greece. (Some private investors who subsequently plowed back
into Greek bonds, betting on a comeback, regret that decision.)
And in the meantime, the other crisis countries in the eurozone,
like Portugal, Ireland and Spain, have taken steps to overhaul their
economies and are much less vulnerable to market contagion than
they were a few years ago.
What if Greece left the eurozone?
At the height of the debt crisis a few years ago, many experts
worried that Greece’s problems would spill over to the rest of the
world. If Greece defaulted on its debt and exited the eurozone,
they argued, it might create global financial shocks bigger than
the collapse of Lehman Brothers did.
Now, however, some people believe that if Greece were to leave
the currency union, in what is known as a “Grexit,” it wouldn’t be
such a catastrophe. Europe has put up safeguards to limit the socalled financial contagion, in an effort to keep the problems from
spreading to other countries. Greece, just a tiny part of the
eurozone economy, could regain financial autonomy by leaving,
these people contend — and the eurozone would actually be better
off without a country that seems to constantly need its neighbors’
support.
Others say that’s too simplistic a view. Despite the frustration of
endless negotiations, European political leaders see a united
Europe as an imperative. At the same time, they still haven’t fixed
some of the biggest shortcomings of the eurozone’s structure by
creating a more federal-style system of transferring money as
needed among members — the way the United States does among
its various states.
Exiting the euro currency union and the European Union would
also involve a legal minefield that no country has yet ventured to
cross. There are also no provisions for departure, voluntary or
forced, from the euro currency union.
What is Eurozone
It is the monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union (EU)
member states which have adopted the Euro ( ) as their common
currency and sole legal tender . The other nine members of the
EU continue to use their own national currencies.
The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other EU states (except for
Denmark and the United Kingdom) are obliged to join once they
meet the criteria to do so.[8] No state has left, and there are no
provisions to do so or to be expelled.[9] Andorra, Monaco, San
Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU
to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own
coins. Kosovo and Montenegro have adopted the euro
unilaterally, but these countries do not officially form part of the
eurozone and do not have representation in the European
Central Bank (ECB) or in the Eurogroup.
51-55-GEOGRAPHY_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:27 AM Page 1
GEOGRAPHY
NATURAL RUBBER – PROPERTIES AND USAGE
Natural rubber is the prototype of all elastomers that is extracted
in the form of latex from the bark of the Hevea tree. The rubber is
collected from the latex in a series of steps involving preservation,
concentration, coagulation, dewatering, drying, cleaning, and
blending. Because of its natural derivation, it is sold in a variety of
grades based on purity (color and presence of extraneous matter),
viscosity, viscosity stability, oxidation resistance, and rate of cure.
Modified natural rubbers are also available, with treatment usually
performed at the latex stage.
The treatments include:
• Epoxidized natural rubber (ENR).
• Deproteinized natural rubber (DNR).
• Process oils have been incorporated.
• Heveaplus MG rubber − natural rubber with grafted
poly(methyl methacrylate) side chains.
• Thermoplastic natural rubber (TNR) – blends of natural rubber
and polypropylene.
Elasticity is one of the important properties of naturalrubber. It
is unique in the extent to which it can be distorted, and therapidity
and degree to which it recovers to its original shape
anddimensions. It is, however, not perfectly elastic.
The rapid recovery is not complete,part of the distortion is
recovered more slowly and part isretained. The extent of this
permanent distortion, called permanent set,depends upon the rate
Rice Facts
Rice is the most important food crop in the world, being the staple
food for more than half of the world’s population, predominantly
in Asia and Africa where more than 90 percent of the world’s
rice is grown and consumed. It is a very versatile crop and there
are many varieties of rice adapted to various environment and
cultivation practices.
World production of rice has risen steadily from about 200
million tonnes of paddy rice in 1960 to over 712.53 million metric
tons in 2013-14. China was the leading country with a
production volume of some 203.61 million metric tons. India
followed on rank second with a rice production volume of
approximately 159.2 million metric tons.
A World Bank – FAO study claims 8-26 percent of rice is lost
in developing nations, on average, every year, because of postharvest problems and poor infrastructure. Some sources claim the
post-harvest losses to exceed 40%.Not only do these losses reduce
food security in the world, the study claims that farmers in
developing countries such as China, India and others lose
approximately US$89 billion of income in preventable postharvest farm losses, poor transport, the lack of proper storage
and retail. One study claims that if these post-harvest grain losses
and duration of the applied force. The slower theforce, and the
longer it is maintained, the greater is the permanent set.Because
of rubber’s elasticity, however, the permanent set may not
becomplete even after long periods of applied force. This quality is
ofobvious value in gaskets and seals.
Another important and almost unique quality of uncured natural
rubber compounds is building tack. When two fresh surfaces of
milled rubber are pressed together they bond into a single piece.
This facilitates the building of composite articles from separate
components. In tire manufacture, for example, the separate pieces
of uncured tire are held together solely by building tack. During
cure they fuse into a single unit.
Natural rubber is used in the carcass of passenger car crossply tires for its building tack, ply adhesion, and good tear
resistance. It is also used in the sidewalls of radial ply tires for its
fatigue resistance and low heat buildup. In tires for commercial and
industrial vehicles, natural rubber content increases with tire size.
Almost 100% natural rubber is used in the large truck and
earthmover tires which require low heat buildup and maximum cut
resistance. Natural rubber is also used in industrial goods, such as
hoses, conveyor belts, and rubberized fabrics; engineering
products, for resilient load bearing and shock or vibration
absorption components; and latex products such as gloves, and
adhesives.
could be eliminated with better infrastructure and retail network,
in India alone enough food would be saved every year to feed
70-100 million people over a year.
Paddy is first milled using a rice huller to remove the chaff. At
this point in the process, the product is called brown rice. The
milling may be continued, removing the bran, i.e., the rest of the
husk and the germ, thereby creating white rice. White rice keeps
longer butlacks some important nutrients. However, brown rice
helps to prevent the disease beriberi.
In some countries, a popular form, parboiled rice, is subjected
to a steaming or parboiling process while still a brown rice grain.
This causes nutrients from the outer husk, especially thiamine, to
move into the grain itself. The parboil process causes a
gelatinisation of the starch in the grains. The grains become less
brittle, and the color of the milled grain changes from white to
yellow. The rice is then dried, and can then be milled as usual or
used as brown rice. Milled parboiled rice is nutritionally superior
to standard milled rice. Parboiled rice has an additional benefit
in that it does not stick to the pan during cooking, as happens
when cooking regular white rice. This type of rice is eaten in parts
of India and countries of West Africa are also accustomed to
consuming parboiled rice.
GEOGRAPHY
AGRICULTURE: BACKBONE OF THE NATION
Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. In India around
70% of the population earns its livelihood from agriculture. It still
provides livelihood to the people in our country. As per the land
use statistics 2011-12, the total geographical area of the country
is 328.7 million hectares, of which 140.8 million hectares is the
reported net sown area and 195.2 million hectares is the gross
cropped area with a cropping intensity of 138.7%. The net
irrigated area is 65.3 million hectares.
The Agriculture and Allied Sector contributed approximately
13.9% of India’s GDP (at constant 2004-05 prices) during 201314. There has been a continuous decline in the share of Agriculture
and Allied Sector in the GDP from 14.6 % in 2010-11 to 13.9 %
in 2013-14 at 2004-05 prices. Falling share of Agriculture and
Allied Sectors in GDP is an expected outcome in a fast growing
and structurally changing economy.
Types of farming practiced in India:
• Subsistence and commercial farming
• Intensive and Extensive Farming
• Plantation Farming
• Mixed Farming
Subsistence Farming: Majority of farmers in India practice
subsistence farming i.e. they farm for self-consumption. In this type
of farming, landholdings are small and fragmented. Cultivation
techniques are primitive and simple. In this type of farming, farmers
mostly cultivate cereals along with oil seeds, pulses, vegetables and
sugarcane.
Commercial Farming: In this type of farming most of the produce
is sold in the market for earning money. Farmers use irrigation,
chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and High Yielding
Varieties of seeds. Some of the major commercial crops grown in
different parts of India are cotton, jute, sugarcane, groundnut etc.
Rice farming in Harayana is mainly for commercial purpose as
people of this area are predominantly wheat eaters.
Extensive Farming: When large patches of land is used for
cultivation we call it extensive farming. In this type of farming the
total production may be high due to larger area but per unit are
production is low.
Intensive Farming: This type of farming records high production
per unit of land. Best example of intensive cultivation is in Japan
where availability of land for cultivation is very limited. Similar kind
of situation can be observed in Kerala.
Plantation Farming: In this type of farming a single cash crop is
grown in an estate for sale. Tea, coffee, rubber, banana and spices
are a few examples of plantation crops. The Britishers introduced
most of these crops in India in the 19th century.
Mixed Farming: It is a situation in which animal husbandry is
carried on along with raising crops.
Salient Features of Indian Agriculture
Subsistence Agriculture: In most parts of India subsistence
agriculture is practiced. This type of agriculture has been practiced
in India for several hundreds of years.
Dependence on Agriculture: Despite increase in urbanisation and
industrialization, about 70% of population is still directly or
indirectly dependent on agriculture.
Mechanization of farming: After more than forty years of Green
Revolution and revolution in agricultural machinery and equipment,
complete mechanization is still a distant dream.
Dependence upon monsoon: Since independence, there has been
a rapid expansion of irrigation infrastructure. Despite the large
scale expansion, only about one third of total cropped area is
irrigated today. As a consequence, two third of cropped areas is
still dependent upon monsoon. Monsoon in India is uncertain and
unreliable. This has become even more unreliable due to change
in climate.
Variety of crops: India has diversity of topography, climate and
soil. Since India has both tropical and temperate climate, crops of
both the climate are found in India.
Seasonal patterns: India has three distinct cropping seasons.
Namely, kharif, rabi and zaid. In India there are specific crops
grown in these three seasons.
Major Crops of India
Food grains: Rice, Wheat, Maize, Millets, Pulses and Oil seeds
Commercial Crops: Cotton, Jute, Sugarcane, Tobacco and Oilseeds
Plantation Crops: Tea, Coffee, Coconut and Rubber
Horticulture: Fruits and Vegetables
RICE
Rice is the most important food crop of India. It is predominantly a
Kharif or summer crop. It covers about one third of total cultivated
area of the country and provides food to more than half of the
Indian population. Maximum population of India is of rice
consumers. This is the only crop in India, which is grown in varied
conditions.
Geographical conditions:
Temperature: Rice requires hot and humid conditions. 22°C to
32°C.
Rainfall: Rainfall ranging between 150-300 cm is suitable for its
growth in areas of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh
where rainfall is less than 100 cm, rice is cultivated with the help
of irrigation.
Soil: Rice is grown in varied soil conditions but deep clayey and
loamy soil provides the ideal conditions. Rice is primarily grown in
plain areas. It is also grown below sea level at Kuttinad (Kerala),
hill terraces of north eastern part of India and valleys of Kashmir.
GEOGRAPHY
Distribution: Rice is grown in almost all the states of
India.Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Uttarakhand, Chhatisgarh, Punjab, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh,
Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra. It is also grown in Haryana,
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Gujrat and Kashmir Valley.
WHEAT
Wheat is the second most important food crop of India next to rice.
It is a Rabi or winter crop. Normally (in north India) the sowing of
wheat begins in the month of October-November and harvesting
is done in the month of March-April. This is the staple food of
millions of people particularly in the northern and north-western
regions of India.
Temperature: It is primarily a crop of mid-latitude grassland. It
requires cool climate. The ideal temperature is in the range of 10°C
to 15°C at the time of sowing and 21°C to 26°C at the time of
harvesting.
Rainfall: Wheat requires an annual rainfall of about 75cm. Annual
rainfall of about 100cm is maximum for its cultifation. Wheat can
also be grown by irrigation method in areas where rainfall is less
than 75cm. Frost at the time of flowering and hailstorm at the time
of ripening can cause heavy damage to the wheat crop.
Soil: Wheat can be grown in a variety of soils but well drained
fertile loamy and clayey loamy soil is best suited. Plain areas are
very well suited for wheat production.
Labour: Wheat farming is highly mechanized and requires less
labour.
Distribution: Wheat is grown in UP, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh,
Punjab and Haryana together produce more than 66% of the total
wheat of the country.
MILLETS
Millets are coarse grain crops and are used for both food and
fodder. These are kharif crop are sown in May-August and
harvested in October-November. In India, lots of millet is grown
and these are known by various local names. Some of these are
Jawar, Bajra, Ragi, Korra, Kodon, Kutki, Hraka, Bauti, Rajgira. In
India, Jawar, Bajra and Ragi are grown.on large areas
Temperature: These crops are grown in high temperature zones.
Temperature should be in the range of 27°C to 32°C.
Rainfall: Millets are grown in dry areas. Rainfall ranging from 50
to 100cm is ideal for cultivation.Soil: Millets are less sensitive to
soil deficiencies. They can be grown in inferior alluvial or loamy
soil.
Distribution: Jawar, Bajra, is grown both in north and south India
whereas ragi is generally cultivated in the southern India.
Jawar, Bajra, is grown in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Maharastra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana
and Punjab.
Ragi is generally concentrated in the southern India i.e. Tamil
Agricultural Seasons of India
The Kharif Season:
Crops are sown at the be¬ginning of south-west monsoon
and harvested at the end of the south-west monsoon.
Sowing Season: May to July.
Harvesting Season: September to October.
Important Crops: Jowar, Bajra, Rice, Maize, Cotton,
Groundnut, Jute, Hemp, Tobacco etc.
The Rabi Season:
Crops need cool climate during growth period but warm
climate during the germination of seed and maturation.
Sowing Season: October to December
Harvesting Season: February to April
Important Crops: Wheat, Barley, Gram, Linseed, Mustard,
Masoor and Peas.
The Zaid Season:
These Crops are raised throughout the year due to artificial
irrigation.
Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
PULSES
Pulses include a number of crops, which are mostly leguminous.
Leguminous crops have the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen in
the soil and are normally rotated with other crops to maintain and
restore soil fertility.
A large variety of pulses are found in India, like gram, tur or
arhar (Pigeon Pea or Red Gram), urad (black gram), mung (green
gram), masur (lentil), kulthi (horse gram), matar (peas) etc. Among
these above pulses varieties only gram and tur or arhar are more
important pulses.
GRAM
It is the most important of all the pulses. It accounts for about 37%
of the production and about 30% of the total area of pulses in India.
It is a rabi crop which is sown between September and November
and is harvested in February -April. It is either cultivated as a single
crop or mixed with wheat, barley, linseed or mustard.
Temperature: Grams need Mild cool and comparatively dry
climate. The temperature range is 20°C-25°C.
Rainfall: 40-45 cm rainfall is favourable for cultivation of grams.
Soil: Grams grow well on loamy soils.
Distribution: Although gram is cultivated in several parts of the
country, 90% of the total production of gram comes from five states,
namely, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and
Maharashtra.
GEOGRAPHY
Cash Crops
Cash crops are those crops that are grown for sale either in raw
form or semi-processed form.
SUGARCANE
Sugarcane belongs to bamboo family of plants and is indigenous
to India It is a Kharif crop. It is the main source of sugar, jaggery
and khandsari. It also provides raw material for the manufacturing
of alcohol. Bagasse, the crushed cane residue is used to
manufacturing paper. It is also an efficient substitute for petroleum
products and a host of other chemical products. A part of it is also
used as fodder.
Temperature: Sugarcane requires hot and humid climate with
temperature in the range of 21°C to 27°C.
Rainfall: 75-150 cm rainfall is favourable for sugarcane cultivation.
Irrigation is required areas receiving lesser rainfall.
Soil: Sugarcane can tolerate any kind of soil that can retain
moisture. But deep rich loamy soil is ideal for its growth. The soil
should be rich in nitrogen, calcium and phosphorous but neither it
should be too acidic nor alkaline. Flat, plain and level plateau is
an advantage for sugarcane cultivation because it facilitates
irrigation and transportation of cane to the sugar mills. Sugarcane
cultivation requires heavy manures and fertilizers as the crop
exhausts the fertility of soils quickly and extensively.
Labour: Sugarcane cultivation is labour intensive as it requires
ample hands in every stage. The stages are sowing, hoeing,
weeding, irrigation, cutting and transportation to sugar mills.
Distribution: India has the largest area under sugarcane cultivation
in the world and is the second largest producer after Brazil.
Sugarcane is produced in the following areas:
• The Satluj-Ganga plain from Punjab to Bihar. 51% of the total
area under sugarcane cultivation falls in this zone and produces
60% of the country’s total sugarcane produce.
• The black soil belt from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu along the
eastern slopes of the western Ghats.
• Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Krishna river valley.
COTTON
Cotton is the most important fibre crop as it provides the raw
material for cotton textile industry. Its seed is also used in Vanaspati
oil industry. The cotton seed is also used as fodder for milch cattle..
Cotton is basically a kharif crop and grown in tropical and subtropical areas.
Geographical conditions
Temperature: Cotton is grown in tropical and sub-tropical areas
and requires uniformly high temperature in the range of 21°C 30°C.
Rainfall: It grows mostly in the areas having at least 210 frost free
days every year and requires rainfall in the range of 50 to 100cm.
However, cotton is successfully grown with the help of irrigation in
the areas where rainfall is less than 50 cm. High amount of rainfall
in the beginning and sunny and dry weather at the time of ripening
is ideal for the good crop.
Soil: Cotton cultivation is very closely related to Black soils of
Deccan and Malwa plateau. However, it also grows well in alluvial
soils of the Satluj-Ganga plain and red and laterite soils of the
peninsular region.
Labour: Cotton cultivation is labour intensive as picking of cotton
has not been mechanized yet.
Distribution: India has the largest area under cotton cultivation and
is the third largest producer of cotton next to China and the US.
The main states producing cotton are Punjab, Maharashtra,
Gujarat and Haryana.
OILSEEDS
Oil seeds are one of the important cash crops of India. In fact, India
has the largest area under oilseed cultivation and is largest
producer of oilseeds in the world. Oil is also used as raw material
for the manufacturing of hydrogenated oils, paints, varnishes,
soaps, lubricants etc. Oil-cake (the residue obtained after extraction
of the oil) is used as fodder and manure.
GROUNDNUT
Groundnut is the most important oilseed of India. Groundnut is
grown both as kharif and rabi crop.
Temperature: It thrives best in the tropical climate and requires
temperature in the range of 20°C to 30°C.
Rainfall: 50-75 cm rainfall is favourable for groundnut
cultivation. It is highly susceptible to frost, prolonged drought,
continuous rain and stagnant water. Dry winter is needed at the
time of ripening.
Soil: Well drained light sandy loams, red, yellow and black soils
are well suited for cultivation of groundnuts.
Distribution: India is the largest producer of groundnut in the
world and accounts for about one third of the world’s production.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are three main
producer of groundnut in India. About 60% of the total production
comes from these states. Rest comes from the states like
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha.
PLANTATION CROPS
Tea:
India is famous for its tea gardens. It is said that tea plantation in
India was started by the British in 1923 when wild tea plants were
discovered by them in the hilly and forest areas of Assam. Tea is
made from tender sprouts of tea plants by drying them. At
present, India is the leading tea producing country of the world.
China and Sri Lanka are the second and third largest producers
of tea, respectively.
Temperature: Tea requires hot and wet climate. The ideal
temperature for the growth of tea bushes and leaf varies between
GEOGRAPHY
Temperature: It requires hot and humid climate with temperature
in the range of 15°C-28°C. It is generally grown under shady
trees. Strong sun, high temperature (above 30°C), frost and
snowfall are detrimental for coffee cultivation. Dry weather is
necessary at the time of ripening of the berries.
Rainfall: 150 to 250 cm of rainfall is favourable for coffee
cultivation.
Soil: Well drained, rich friable loamy soil containing good
amount of humus and minerals like iron and calcium are ideal
for coffee cultivation. The soil must be properly manured to retain
and replenish fertility and to increase productivity.
Labour: Like tea, coffee cultivation also requires intensive labour
for purposes like sowing, transplanting, pruning, plucking, dying,
grading and packing of coffee.
Distribution: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the main
states where coffee is produced.
20°C to 30°C. Temperature above 35°C or below 10°C, is
harmful for the growth of tea bushes and leaves.
Rainfall: Tea requires rainfall in the range of 150-300 cm, well
distributed throughout the year. Long dry spell is harmful for tea.
Soil: Tea bushes grow well in well drained, deep, friable loamy
soil. However, virgin forest soil rich in humus and iron content are
considered to be the best for tea plantation. Tea is a shade loving
plant and grows better when planted along with shady trees.
Labour: Intensive
Distribution: More than half of the tea comes from Assam. Tea
producing areas of Assam are the hill slopes bordering the
Brahmaputra and Surma valleys. West Bengal is the second
largest producer of tea where it is mostly grown in the districts of
Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Bihar districts. Tamil
Nadu is the third largest producer whereit growing areas are
mostly restricted to Nilgiri hills.
COFFEE
Coffee is the indigenous crop of Ethiopia (Abysinia Plateau). From
Ethiopia, it was taken to Yemen in 11th Century. From Arabia,
the seeds were brought by Baba Budan in the 17th century and
were raised in Baba Budan hills of Karnataka. It was British
planters who took keen interest in coffee and established large
coffee estates in the hills of Western Ghats.
RUBBER
Rubber is a coherent elastic solid obtained from latex of a number
of tropical trees of which Hevea brasiliensis is the most important.
Rubber is used for a variety of purposes from erasing pencil
marks to manufacturing of tyres, tubes and a large number of
industrial products.
The first rubber plantations in India were set up in 1895 on
the hill slopes of Kerala. However, rubber cultivation on a
commercial scale was introduced in 1902.
Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is a quick growing tall tree
acquiring 20-30 metre height. It begins to yield latex in 5-7 years
after planting.
Temperature: It requires hot and humid climate with temperature
of 25°-35°C. Dry spell and low temperatures are harmful
Rainfall: Annual rainfall of over 200 cm is required. The rainfall
should be well distributed throughout the year. Daily rainfall
followed by strong sun is very useful.
Distribution: India is the third largest natural rubber producing
country of the world, next to Thailand and Indonesia, producing
about 9 per cent of the global output.
Kerala is the largest producer of natural rubber in India.
Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kozhikode districts produce
practically all the rubber. Tamil Nadu is the second largest
producer of rubber. Nilgiri, Madurai, Kanniyakumari,
Coimbatore and Salem are the chief rubber producing districts
of Tamil Nadu. Karnataka produced 14 thousand tonnes or 1.85
per cent of total Indian production in 2002-03. Chikmagalur and
Kodagu are the main producing districts. Tripura and Andaman
& Nicobar Islands also produced small quantities of rubber
respectively in 2002-03.
Soil: Deep well drained loamy soils on the hill slopes at elevation
ranging from 300 to 450 metres above sea level provide best
conditions for its growth.
56-61-COVER STORY_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:31 AM Page 1
COVER STORY
PROPER GUIDANCE VERY IMPORTANT
WHILE PREPARING FOR UPSC:
SUHARSHA BHAGAT
Suharsha Bhagat, who secured all India fifth rank in CSE 2014 with actor and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and AK Mishra, the
founder and director of Chanakya IAS Academy during a felicitation programme in Patna.
The core objective is not to get a degree in that subject but to clear and get a good rank in
CSE exam. For that you will have to understand the nature of question paper... what they are
expecting and what will fetch you good marks. The pattern of questions asked by CSE has
changed from what they asked five years back. Now they are very specific. They demand
analysis of specific areas so you need to have a broad understanding of all the topics... The
clarity of concept is very important; your thinking and reasoning abilities need to be developed. So that when a question is asked you are not confused on the topic itself and you
have to address what is being asked. You can’t afford to be too vague and generalist...
COVER STORY
Suharsha Bhagat, who has secured all India fifth rank in CSE 2014,
hails from Samastipur of Bihar. He studied at Ramkrishna Mission
Vidya Pith, Deoghar till class X and completed his Higher
Secondary from DPS, RK Puram, and then later moved on to pursue
his graduation in chemical engineering from IIT- Bombay. In college
he realized that he had to go for administrative services and started
preparing for the CSE from the fourth year itself. He appeared for
CSE 2014 for the first time in 2010 and got IAAS but resigned
during training period itself to chase his dream of becoming an
IAS officer. He was ultimately successful in 2015.
How do you feel after getting all India fifth rank in the CSE 2014?
It feels very good as I have cracked this exam in fifth attempt. I had
cleared the exams in my previous attempts also but it feels great to
get this rank. I feel like I am floating on cloud nine. The feeling is
yet to sink in. I was expecting to get into top service but this rank I
had never expected.
When you were exposed to the idea of IAS?
When I was a child I had a habit of asking about the profession of
people visiting us. One day one of my fathers’ friends came to our
house and as usual I asked about his profession too. I was very
curious because he had many people accompanying him. My
father said that he was the District Magistrate. I won’t say that I
decided to become an IAS officer then and there. But ofcourse I
was exposed to the profession. It was in IIT- Bombay that my idea
about the profession became clear and concrete. But there I was
the lone man walking on this path.*
What motivated you to join Administrative Services... Power or
service?
It was not that black and white in power or service... There were a
lot of factors that motivated me to go for civil services... particularly
IAS. The prime factor being apart from providing a very good
career it will give me an opportunity to serve my country and
society at large. Along with that, it will give me good career
opportunity and initiate a life-long learning process. It will also give
me an opportunity in nation making. That is why I wanted to join
administrative services. Private sector does not give you this kind
of career opportunity in the beginning of your career.
Can you please tell us about your family and its role in your
success?
I belong to Samastipur district of Bihar. I have two brothers. My
father is a doctor and my mother is a homemaker, but now she
runs a school now. My father’s name is Dr. Shailendra Bhagat. He
is a private practitioner in Samastipur.
My family has definitel played a very important role in my
success. My father exposed me to the idea of becoming an IAS
officer at a very early age. This was my fifth attempt. During the
long course my family was very supportive. When I joined the first
Indian Audit and accounts service I resigned from it during the
training period itself. After that I was not in service for two years
so during that period my family was there by my side. They
provided emotional and mental strength. My brother has played a
very important role in my preparations because he is a doctor in
Delhi so during my stay he was a constant source of support. My
family has a played a really important role without which I would
not have been successful.
Can you tell us something about your friends and their role in
your success?
This is an exam in which you cannot go alone. You need a good
group of friends for preparations. I am very thankful to my friends.
I was very fortunate to have a very nice and close group of friends
with whom I used to have general discussion on various topics. I
am very grateful to a few friends like my school friend Kumar
Satyam. I was In IIT Bombay and he was in IIT Kharagpur. In IIT
Bombay there was not that great culture for preparing for UPSC.
He helped me a lot. I am very grateful to him. There are many other
friends like Agam Goyal, Pitambar and others who helped me a
lot. I designed my studies more with friends as with them learning
becomes fun.
School has a great role in making of a man, can you tell us about
your school:
I was very fortunate that my schooling was from good schools. I
studied in Ramkrishna Mission Vidyapith, Deoghar till class X.
There I got basic values of sincerity and discipline. I am very
thankful for my teachers for inculcating right values and honest
approach towards life. I think it strengthened me and made me
very mentally strong to face the challenges that come to me. During
my higher secondary I was more focused towards IIT-JEE.
Can you tell us about your experience in IIT Bombay and the role
of the institution in your success?
College plays a very important role in development of a person.
These are the most formative years of one’s life. Your personality is
formed in college. In IIT Bombay I got a very good exposure. It
instilled in me the courage and confidence to pursue my dreams.
In India identification of dream is very difficult because of the
system we have. It helped in pursuing my aim.
You have an engineering background still you opted for
geography... Why and can you also tell the readers how one
should chose his/her subjects?
The subject in which I have graduated – chemical engineering is
not offered by UPSC. So, I was bound to look for other options. I
opted for Geography because it has a scientific flavor, it is easy to
understand and comprehend. It is a subject that you can study on
your own without any guidance. Since I was preparing for the
exam from college time, this was a natural option for me.
Why did you resign from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service?
I had decided to take the CSE test to become an IAS. IAAS is a
very good service; however I thought that since I got the service
with a very little dedicated time to the preparation. I thought that I
will clear it in the next attempt. When I was undergoing the training
COVER STORY
it did not appeal to me that much. A thought came to my mind
whether I can continue with this service for next 35 year? I did not
complete my training and resigned within four months.
PREPARATION
Can you share your preparation tips with the UPSC aspirants?
Regularity:
In daily routine there is not any ideal time to study because it has
to be suited with the needs and requirement of the student. But
regularity must be there. Even if you are studying for 5-6 hours
which are the bare minimum then you have to be very regular till
you are finally selected into the service. Because there are long
breaks between the exams (PT-mains, mains-interview, and
interview-PT). That is time where most of the students are very
casual and they don’t devote time to studies. The key is that one
should be very regular in studies until one gets service of his choice.
Daily routine:
The exam being a long process and since at every stage the focus
is different, the routine varies. Generally I am an early riser; I used
to get up at 6-6.30 in the morning. By 7 I used to sit for studies. I
had divided my day in three slots each of three hours. It was a bit
flexible kind of routine. I used to take out 3 hours between 7-12
and then 12-6 and then 6-12. In these three hours two hours were
intensive. On an average 5-6 hours study is must.
I used to give 2-3 hours every day to optional and one subject
of General studies. I would advice candidates to take out 2-3 hours
twice a month to practice essays. The optional subject should be
touched daily. History should not be left for too long. Tests are very
important so one should take them every week. He should complete
the syllabus five-six days ahead of the test. This will improve his
capacity to recall things and he will feel at ease during the exam
because during that time you cannot revise everything.
Objective of study:
The core objective is not to get a degree in that subject but to clear
and get a good rank in the UPSC exam. For that you will have to
understand the nature of the question paper… what they are
expecting and what will get you marks. The pattern of questions
asked by UPSC has changed from what they asked five years back.
Now they are very specific. They demand analysis of specific areas
so you need to have a broad understanding of all the topics. But,
in few areas that are given in the syllabus you need to have an indepth knowledge of the subject. The clarity of concept is very
important; your thinking and reasoning abilities need to be
developed. So that when a question is asked you are not confused
on the topic and you can address what is being asked. You can’t
afford to be too vague and generalist while writing the answers.
Because now they are asking you to answer a ten marks question
within 150-200 words. You have to be very specific in what the
question is how well you understand it. You need to have a very
AK Mishra, the founder and director of Chanakya IAS
Academy with Suharsha Bhagat, who secured all India fifth
rank in CSE 2014 and Nirmal Jain during a felicitation
programme in Patna.
clear concept of what the things are. You have to breakdown
various complex concepts into simple ones and correlate with
various other factors. This will help you enrich the answers.
Notes:
You need to revise the entire syllabus atleast three to four times
before exams. And one cannot go through the books again and
again. When you are reading for the first or the second time you
should make notes, in a simplistic manner based on your
understanding of the subject. It should not be very superfluous or
made in a ritualistic manner. And when you are covering the topic
for the third time one should make mini notes. In this way you might
be able to revise the entire paper in a week. By November you
should have the notes of every subject specially the tougher ones,
so that before exams in a very short period of time you are able to
revise it. Note making should be a very personalized kind of thing
based on your needs and requirements. Borrowed notes might not
be as helpful for you.
Writing pattern
Candidates often have doubts whether they should write answers
in point for or paragraph form. There is no fixed pattern because
UPSC is not asking you to write in any of the forms. You should
write in a manner in which you are most comfortable with. If you
have enough facts then obviously you should write your answers
in points. If the paper is very argumentative you have to develop
arguments. The writing pattern depends on the demand of the
question.
Writing is the most important part of UPSC exams as out of
2025 mark 1750 marks are based on written exams. It has to be
supplemented with clarity of thought. Roughly you get 7 minutes to
answer a question. The level of thinking should be such that within
a minute the answer must be formed in mind and within next six
minutes it should be penned down.
Essay:
When one starts preparing for exams, his preparation for essays
COVER STORY
and interview also starts. You need to clear your thought process,
make things simple, analyse them from different aspects. This will
help you in writing essays. The structure and flow of an essay is
very important. Flow in essay will only come when you have clarity
in your mind and your concepts are clear. In a month one should
practice atleast two essays. UPSC looks for how comprehensive,
concise, clear, innovative and original your essay is.
Essays are not about facts and figures or flowery language…
it’s a myth and needs to be dismantled at the very initial stage.
Simple and easy to read the essays fetch you good marks.
Faith and confidence:
Pigeonhole approach is not a good in this exam. Whatever you
study at the initial stage it helps you in the later stages.
The nature of the exam is subjective. People generally think of
cracking the exam in one go and if not then of not taking it
anymore. UPSC has given you 4-6 attempts. So the commission
itself is not sure that they can select the desired candidate in the
first time. It is not an objective exam. So even if you are ready and
confident there are chances that you won’t be given service of your
choice or make it to the final list. So in that case, don’t get
disheartened, don’t question your abilities, and take the exam
because they are giving you four attempts. Having faith and
confidence in one’s abilities plays a very important role in the
exams.
Stress management:
Taking stress affects your creativity and restricts your thought
process. Try to relax by developing some hobbies. I used to chat
with friends on constructive events. A stress buster hobby also helps
during the interviews.
Interview
Interview is the grand finale of the long years you have prepared
for the exam. So basic things that one should keep in mind while
taking the interview is that you should be honest and sincere in
answering questions , because the job that you are being
considered for is one of the toughest jobs. Casual approach will
not work. They look for sincerity and honesty. Don’t bluff; rather
present your real self. It is not a question answer session. Try to
display positive traits of your personality. It is not the test of
knowledge; rather they see the verbal part of communication. They
test your confidence while you speak. The check your grasping
power, your understanding on a subject. The candidate gets
prepared to take the interview while preparing for the earlier stages
of the exam, only fine-tuning or polishing is required.
Interview is just a way to check what your response is. If you
are asked vague questions it is just to check how you respond to
them. Similarly they might be testing you under stress.
Can you tell us about your experience in the recent attempt?
The nature of exam is very complex and it drains you physically,
mentally, and socially. After the results came out I realized that I
will be getting Indian Revenue Service – Income Tax .After that I
thought I won’t take any more tests. I was lucky that the last date
for filling up the forms was not over when the results came. One
day my brother asked me about the last date of filling up the exam
forms and filled it up without letting me know about it.
My digital signature and photo were there in my computer he used
them. I was not willing to give the exam at all.
I had stopped studying. I had distributed my notes. I was waiting
for my service allocation to come. He was not aware that the admit
cards will come. One day while I was away he called me and
showed me the admit card and said that take it if you want. Then
I decided to take the exam as all my friends were
also in exam mood. After my preliminary tests my brother asked
for my question paper and then tried to check the answers with the
keys. He came to me and said that the answers for all the forty
questions were wrong. I thought how all the forty answers can go
wrong then I went and checked them myself only to find that my
brother was matching the answers with some other exams.
What role did Chanakya play in your preparation?
But when I started studying for UPSC I was constantly in touch with
AK Mishra sir. He understood my nature and the nature of exam
so well that he guided me at various steps. This year I was very
tired and not willing to take up the exam. Before exam he sat with
me for 2-3 hours and seasoned me to face the interview board.
He boosted my confidence. I am very grateful to him for his
constant guidance and support.
Proper guidance is very important while preparing for UPSC.
There are a lot of myths, misunderstandings and rumors regarding
the exams like selection of subjects, preparation for mains what
should be the focus of interview. The comprehensive integrated plan
that Chanakya offers is a hand holding exercise where they guide
you from the first stage. One more important thing that I would like
to mention here is that while filling up the mains form they are not
sure of what it is all about. The interview is based on this form.
Here it is very important to take guidance from seniors, faculty of
coaching institutes or someone who has qualified the exam. The
time is very limited, you have 8-10 months to prepare so here
guidance plays a very important role.
What message you would like to give to the aspirants?
Don’t lose hope in the process, if you are not able to clear it, every
failure in your path will prepare you for the next stage. Try to
develop the mental strength and emotional stability that will prepare
you as an administrator. The exam process is not that difficult when
compared to the actual conditions in which you have to work. Even
if you don’t clear it you will end up being a better human being,
more aware and responsible citizen. You can also contribute to the
nation even without getting into IAS. Enjoy the process and try to
take something out of the examination process.
(With inputs from Deepti Sharma)
COVER STORY
‘THE RESULTS THIS YEAR ARE A
WAKE-UP CALL TO SOCIETY’
The All-India Civil Services Examination held last year, the results of which were announced in early July, attracted as many as 9.45
lakh candidates across the country, of whom 4.51 lakh finally appeared in the exercise. It is with immense pride that Chanakya Civil
Services Today presents for you, dear readers, a personal interview granted exclusively to us by Ira Singhal, who topped the highlycompetitive examination. In the process, she also broke fresh ground in more ways than one and became a household name by dint
of her determination, clear-sighted approach and the sheer courage to take on the heaviest odds. The topper’s accent onhard work
as well as calmness and self-beliefare evident in the replies to questions on a wide range of subjects and would serve as excellent
guiding points for our readers in their quest for excellence.
The Civil Services Examination results this year were a
momentous one in more ways than one. Do you see in this result
a sense of empowerment to go ahead and be a change agent
for the uplift of two most underservedsectionsof our society –
women and the differently abled? What do you see as the
biggest hurdles in this context?
The result this year has come as a wake-up call to society. All those
who judged people’s mental powers with their physical power —
whether in the case of girls or differently-abled people will now
need to think twice. We may not be able to do things the same way
or with same speed as others but that doesn’t mean we are mentally
slower as well. I think the biggest hurdle is getting people to change
their basic thought-process. Making them see others as equals and
not someone to pitied and sympathised with is going to be the
toughest challenge as it always was. Hopefully our results this year
will prove so.
As you are well aware, ours is a country of wide spread
disparity.There is India, which is marching forward at a rapid
pace – be it interms of scientific, technological and infrastructural
development, and there is Bharat that is seen as lagging behind
despite all its inherent strengths. As a person who has been part
of the Civil Services, do you think that it has kept pace with the
huge task of propelling our country to the forefront of the world
in diverse fields?
I think our Civil servants deserve a lot of credit in the progress that
the country has made. Yes, there have been lags and not everything
could be done perfectly but no other country has achieved so much
after just 70 years of Independence as we have considering our
starting point —the state that the British left us in. There are things
that need improvement such as the state of education and healthcare but at least there has been a good beginning and most people
in our cities have access to facilities. All this could only be possible
because the Civil services were doing theirjob.
The world now knows you as Ira Singhal, who came out with
flying colours in one of the toughest examinations in the world –
the CSE. But setting that persona aside for a while, our readers
like to peep into you as a person, which are the things in life that
brings you joy, anger/dissatisfaction, sadness?
One thing that makes me really angry is reading reports on the illtreatment meted out to women across this country. That was one of
the reasons I joined the services. As a girl, Icouldn’t silently stand
by and suffer the injustice and the blame-game. I find it really sad
that 50% of the country’s population is never given the opportunity
to realize its potential.
I find joy in little things. Like riding with the windows down on
a cool breeze day or staying up talking all nightwith my friends or
playing with my baby niece.
What prompted you to try your hand at this examination? Was
there any particular moment in life when you decided that this is
the exactly what you should take the plunge in this direction?
As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a Civil
Servant. Either this or be a doctor. Since I couldn’t be a doctor, this
was what I would do. I had this need to serve the society and my
country and thesewere the only two professions I saw myself doing
in order to do that. It wasn’t ever a moment. The moment was more
in terms of finally deciding to take the plunge and start the
preparation.
Once you had made up your mind about attempting this
examination, how did you begin focusing on this gigantic
challenge? What did you do?
I first discussed with my parents and got a realistic opinion from
my friends on whether I should do it or not. My brother Rohit was
my biggest supporter in trying my hand at all this. Everyone was
in favour so I got more confidence. I had a very cushiony job with
an amazing job profile so quitting it was hard. But since I knew I
wouldn’t ever be satisfied unless I was involved in societal
improvement, I did it. Next I went about searching the information
on the exam process and the syllabus etc. Unfortunately, I couldn’t
find much because back then there was not much available over
the internet and I had no friends or family in the services or who
COVER STORY
had attempted it seriously. So I had to rely on going to coaching
institutes to find things out. I ended up joining whatever seemed
most convenient.
Your favourite place for travel and relaxation?
I love exploring new cultures. So I prefer going to places I have
never seen before. I enjoy mountain side and beaches equally.
Is there is any recipe for success in the Civil Services
examination?
I think it is about not connecting passing the examination with
yourself-respect and ego. When you get too emotionally involved
with the exam that’s when you lose your balance. Handling the
changing pattern or questions and focusing on the intense amount
of study you need to do requires a lot of mental effort and you need
to take things for what they are. It is very sad how students go into
depression over this. I don’t think this is about life or death. Nothing
in life is worth that much. It is just an exam which allows you to go
do a certain job and it should be taken just like that. Not passing
it doesn’t mean you are stupid. It just means that may be your life
path lies elsewhere.
What’s your favourite food?
Chocolates and pickles!
Where there moments when you found the challenge
overwhelming? If yes, how did you overcome those moments?
Whom did you turn to for advice/a boost in confidence?
I didn’t ever really find it overwhelming because I didn’t ever overthink this. I tried to do whatever I could and I
didn’t ever believe I deserve to clear it. I was here
to try doing something for my country and if I
didn’t get this opportunity I would find something
else. Yes,sometimes the amount of study you
need to do can be a bit tiring. I tend to go to
sleep whenever I can’t find a place to start. Once
I wake up I find mysel more ready to face a
challenge. I tended to turn to my best
friendsVibhav, Bhavna and Ana, besides all my
other friends whenever I needed some support.
They were my rocks. My friends Savita, Ankit
and Shikhar were the ones who would find the
material for me to study and would go buy it for
me as well.
As a topper in this extremely demanding
examination, what isyouradvice to tens of
thousands of aspiring candidates?
I just want to say that give your best but don’t
make this your life. Be sincere in your studies and don’t waste time
staring at the books, telling yourself you are doing something while
you aren’t. Be honest with yourself because you are only doing this
for you and not to prove something to the world.
Apart from professional pursuits, what are your favourite
hobbies/pastimes?
I love reading, mainly fiction. I love travelling, dancing, doing
theatre, cooking, watching movies, listening to music and loads of
other stuff. I like learning new things. So I have tried my hands at
almost everything!
Whom do you regard as the biggest source of inspiration when
the chips are down?
I try to learn from the experiences of everyone I meet in my life but
to me the biggest source of inspiration has been my father. He has
seen so many problems in life but he still keeps his fighting spirit
alive and is always up for a new challenge. He is my biggest source
of inspiration.
Name the people who, in your view, were instrumental in
transforming India.
All the people who were part of our freedom struggle, all the people
who were part of framing of important laws and policies like the
Constitution of India and all the people who have been part of
implementing it are instrumental. I think many many people have
contributed in their own fashion so it is the result of a cumulative effort.
Let’s now play the fast forward button and gaze into the crystal
ball. Three decades into the future, roughly at the time when you
would be on the cusp of retiring from service, what is your dream
for our country? Any particular role that you would like to play
in bringing that dream toreality?
I want India to be the happiest, safest and most prosperous nation
in the world, a country which has been instrumental in bringing
the world to amore peaceful and happier moment in time. I would
like to be a part of the process, someone who helped guide its
policies and ensured their successful implementation.
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
HISTORY OF INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH
ORGANIZATION
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is an esteemed
organization responsible for space research, which is controlled by
the government of India and has over the years attained an enviable
position of being one of the most prestigious and leading space
research organizations in the world.
ISRO was established in the year 1969 to focus the talent of
Indian researchers into advancing the space program. There were
several fledgling projects that formed the basis for setting up the
ISRO like the INCOSPAR (Indian Committee for Space Research)
guided by Prof Sarabhai and the Tata Institute of Fundamental
research (TIFR) and the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) program. The
success of the fledgling projects laid the cornerstone and foundation
for the formation of the ISRO in 1969.
As in almost all cases here being no different, the story originates
from the vision of a great visionary and physicist named ‘VIKRAM
SARABHAI’ (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971). In a short life
span of 52 years he saw a vision of India’s space programme and
endeavored for this scientific cause with great interest. Despite the
lack of interest demonstrated by newly independent India, it was
not an easy task for him to convince Indian government about the
relevance of Space programme for a developing nation such as
India. The Sarabhai pursuit embraced the India’s space dream and
as quoted by former Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam “The
dream is not which you see in sleep, dream is which does not let
you sleep”. With all possible efforts he made government of the day
to respond to initiatives and provide funding for India’s space
programme. And thus Sarabhai commenced the process of infusing
life into India’s space dream.
When Vikram Sarabhai was questioned by inquisitive and
curious people about relevance of investment in the field of space
technology, he replied:
“There are some who question the relevance of space activities
in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We
do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically
advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or
manned space-flight.”
“But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role
nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to
none in the application of advanced technologies to the real
problems of man and society.”
Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha had supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting
up the first rocket launching station in India. This center was
established at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the
Arabian Sea, primarily because of its proximity to the equator. From
here only, the inaugural space flight was launched on November
21, 1963. Which ignited the interest of Indian youth and researchers
to work in this area. Which soon made ISRO’s workforce to increase
from a handful of people to hundreds in number, many or almost
none of them worked for monetary interests. The list includes
internationally known scientists and likes of Dr. A.P.J Abdul kalam,
Dr. M.G.K. Menon, Prof. Satish Dhawan, Prof. U.R. Rao, Dr. K.
Kasturirangan, Shri. G.Madhavan Nair, Dr. B.N. Suresh, Dr. S.
Ramakrishnan and Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. Now they all are
recognized as the stalwarts s of Indian Space Technology.
Initially, there were trying times with the Indian government being
unable to focus solely on expanding the space project. The ISRO
however did manage to get active support from the government
when the Indian government started a Space Commission and
handed over the running of the entire space program to the
Department of Space (DoS) in 1972. ISRO came under the DoS
management on 1st June 1972. It is the primary research and
development body of the DoS.
During the initial stages of the formation of ISRO, the sociopolitical conditions from hostile neighbors and the prevailing
economic conditions during 1960-1970, forced India to initiate its
own launch vehicle programs. It successfully developed rocket
programs and by 1980, the first Satelite launch vehicle SLV was
created.
Today ISRO is counted amongst top six government space
agencies in the world and has thousands of scientists and technical
experts of various fields working for future space missions. ISRO has
recorded more than 100 successful space missions. Headed under
the umbrella of department of space, ISRO has to its credit a large
variety of satellite launches and launch vehicles. Starting from launch
of Aryabhata satellite in 1975 from the cosmodrome in Soviet Union
and Rohini as India’s first satellite launched in 1980 from SLV-3,
India now has capability to launch satellites from its own launch pad
at Sriharikota with payload capacities up to 5 tonnes. And it is not
a matter of surprise , today India has established capabilities to cater
the need of space programs of various other countries. Currently
many space agencies seek to partner with ISRO for future space
endeavors and technological exchange.
ISRO till date has successfully conducted different kinds of
operations under the guidance of the Indian scientific community. In
HOW MANY MAN-MADE
SATELLITES ARE CURRENTLY
ORBITING THE EARTH?
Well, that depends on how you define satellite! One
definition of the word satellite is a body that orbits a larger
body. If you take this as the definition of satellite then the
answer to our question is millions! This includes actual
spacecraft, and any man-made debris that has been made
during the past 30 years of space exploration.
The numbers vary depending on perspective.There have
been about 8000 man made objects launched into space only a handful left Earth orbit. Some have decayed and
reentered. There are about 3000 satellites currently in orbit.
Only about 600 of those are active.But there are other
objects, too, such as spent rockets. Some objects have
broken apart because of collisions. There are about
20,000 objects in orbit that are 10 cm in diameter, or
larger.
People call this debris "space junk". "Space junk" orbits
at a speed of roughly 7.5 kilometers/second. That is close
to 17,000 miles/hour! Think of the damage even a small
speck of paint could do to the space shuttle if impact
occurred at such high speeds !
Another definition of satellite is a manufactured vehicle
intended to orbit the Earth. This definition makes our count
much less because it includes only spacecraft and not debris
that orbits the Earth. The Goddard Space Flight Center's
lists 2,271 satellites currently in orbit. Russia has the most
satellites currently in orbit, with 1,324 satellites, followed
by the U.S. with 658.
the last four decades they have been serving Indian and foreign
clients with the help of their launch vehicle fleet. ISRO has over the
years built many field installations and works together with the
international space research community on many important bilateral
and multilateral research agreements. The Indian space research
program set a precedent for the space community in 2008 when it
became the first country to launch ten satellites on a single rocket in
the year 2008.
Space programme of ISRO has contributed to the field of
medicine, education, weather forecasting, telecommunication and
satellite surveillance. And to continue with the space activities ISRO
had in its kitty programmes missions like Chandrayaan -2, Human
space programme, Mars orbiter, Aditya-1 and GAGAN, which
would fulfill INDIA’s extraterrestrial research needs.
Founded by great visionaries and headed by various known
scientists, ISRO definitely has a greater role to play for human kind
and development of India.
Development of Launch Vehicles and
Satellites
The initial projects of ISRO formed the back bone of the
organization and are still well remembered. A quick recap of
what the ISRO was able to achieve over the years in the form of
launch vehicles and satellites are:
1. The Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) was created to launch
multiple rockets and could reach a height of 500 km with a
payload of 40 kgs. It was released in 1979 and the project
was decommissioned in 1983.
2. The INSAT series were launched by the ISRO to reduce
dependence on foreign satellites and to increase local
telecommunication, broadcasting and search and rescue
needs.
3. The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was started
in the year 1987.
4. The IRS series of satellites was ideal for remote sensing and
was expressly created for dealing with civilian use of remote
sensing.
5. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is still in use to launch
satellites into space.
6. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is used
to launch India’s geosynchronous satellites into space for
geostationary orbits. At present, this is one of the ISRO’s
heaviest satellite launch vehicle and probably the favorite too.
It has a payload mass of about 2500 kg capacity.
7. The GSAT series of satellites, the KALPANA-1 were all
launched with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
8. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV
III) was under active research and development to help get
heavy satellites into space and geostationary orbits. Its flight
launched in April 2010 and had a lift capacity of about
5000Kg . But its failure delayed the program, including the
ISRO-developed cryogenic upper stage on the GSLV Mk II.
9. The above problem was seriously overcome when the Indian
Space Research Organisation has launched the first test flight
of its newest rocket – the GSLV Mk.III – on 18 December
2014, conducting a suborbital flight that also demonstrated
a prototype crew capsule (CARE) for India’s proposed
manned missions.
Note – The GSAT-19E is planned to be launched on the GSLV
Mk III in December 2016
Reaching for the Moon
Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to Moon, was launched
successfully on October 22, 2008 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
The spacecraft had orbited around the Moon at a height of 100
km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photogeologic mapping of the Moon. The spacecraft carries 11
scientific instruments built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden
and Bulgaria.
After the successful completion of all the major mission
objectives, the orbit of the craft was raised to 200 km during
May 2009. The Chandrayaan had operated for a period of two
months short of a year as opposed to the intended two years but
the mission had achieved 95% of its planned objectives. Its
greatest achievement was the discovery of the widespread
presence of water molecules in the lunar soil.
India’s second lunar exploration mission – Chandrayaan-2,
to be launched during the next two to three years (likely in 201718) – will be completely indigenous, the country’s top scientist
says.
“There have been significant changes in the planned
configuration for Chandrayaan-2,” says A. S. Kiran Kumar,
chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
“Originally, the lander was supposed to come from Russia. Now
we are developing our own technology. So it will be completely
an indigenous system.”
Chandrayaan-2 was originally envisioned to be a joint
mission between ISRO and ROSCOSMOS , the Russian federal
space agency. But after the failure of the Russian-led
interplanetary mission Phobos-Grant three years ago, the
Russian agency rethought its participation.
Consequently, India conducted a study in May 2012 that
concluded that India could proceed with a homegrown mission
and develop a lander module. At the moment, Chandrayaan-2
preparations “are in full swing” at various ISRO units, says M.
Chandra Dathan, director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center
(VSSC), an ISRO center in Thiruvananthapuram in south India.
“The launch target is sometime in 2017-18,” he says. The launch
will take place with the heavier version of India’s Geosynchronous
Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
Reaching For Mars
The Indian Space Research Organization had begun
preparations for a unique mission to Mars in 2013. It was
launched on 5 November 2013 using a PSLV rocket C25. With
the "Mars-craft" Mangalyaan entering into the orbit of the planet
Mars on 24 September 2014, during India’s deep space Mars
Orbiter Mission (MOM), India emerged as the first country in the
world to successfully send a spacecraft to that planet on its very
first attempt. The ISRO with this achievement thus, became the
fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet Space
Programme , the American NASA and the European Soace
Agency (ESA).
The decision to plan the MOM lift off on 5 November 2013
was crucial because it was going to use the less powerful PSLV
rocket C25. In the original scheme ISRO had planned to launch
the MOM on its new GSLV, but the GSLV has failed twice in two
space missions in 2010 and the planners were uncertain about
its cryogenic engine, and they did not want to wait for the new
batch of rockets since that would have delayed the MOM project
for at least three years. Launch opportunities for a fuel-saving
transfer orbit occur about every 26 months and in this case they
would have come up only in 2016 and in 2018. The choice
therefore, was between delaying the MOM and switching to the
less-powerful PSLV. They had opted for the latter with full
awareness that it would have been impossible to launch on a
direct trajectory to Mars with the PSLV as it did not have the
requisite power. Instead, ISRO launched it into an Earth orbit first
and then slowly boosted it into an interplanetary trajectory using
multiple perigee burns to maximize the Oberth effect. In parlance
of astronautics , the Oberth effect is explained by the scientific
logic that the use of a rocket engine when travelling at high speed
generates more useful energy than one at low speed. This
scientific tactic, calling for great precision , one would believe
was the hall mark of this scientific achievement.
ANTRIX CORPORATION
Antrix Corporation Limited is a wholly owned
Government of India Company under the administrative
control of the Department of Space, Government of India.
Antrix Corporation Limited was incorporated as a private
limited company owned by Government of India, in
September 1992 as a Marketing arm of Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) for promotion and
commercial exploitation of space products, technical
consultancy services and transfer of technologies
developed by ISRO. Another major objective is to
facilitate development of space related industrial
capabilities in India.
● As the commercial & marketing arm of Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO), Antrix is engaged in
providing Space products & services to international
customers worldwide. Antrix, which is an INR 950 Cr.
Company in 2007-08 got the "Miniratna" status by the
Government of India in 2008.
● With fully equipped state-of-the-art facilities, Antrix is a
one-stop-shop for any of the space products, ranging
from supply of hardware and software including simple
subsystems to a complex spacecraft, for varied
applications covering communications, earth observation,
scientific missions; space related service including remote
sensing data series, Transponders lease service; Launch
services through the operational launch vehicles (PSLV
and GSLV); Mission support services; and a host of
consultancy and training services are also offered by
Antrix.
● With the versatility of products and services being
marketed, Antrix caters to a prestigious clientele including
some of the leading space companies across the globe EADS Astrium, Intelsat, Avanti Group, World space,
Inmarsat, World Sat, DLR, KARI, Eutelsat, OHB Systems
and several other Space Institutions in Europe, Middle
East and South East Asian countries.
●
and the United States of America. ISRO carries out joint
operations with foreign space agencies, such as the Indo-French
collaboration called the Megha-Tropiques Mission(MTM) in 2004,
which has brought the two nations closer. It is a mission planned
to study the water cycle in the tropical atmosphere with respect
to the climate change.
ISRO And Other Space Research Agencies
Of The World
Conclusion
ISRO has mutually signed a formal Memoranda of Understanding
with many foreign countries such as Australia, Italy, Brazil, Japan,
China, Kazakhstan, Canada, Netherlands, Egypt, Russia, France,
Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, United Kingdom, Israel
ISRO had always been a globally competent space agency, which
has brought laurels for India in terms of space research
technology. The future of ISRO is bright with its current success of
Chandrayaan and upcoming project of MARS mission.
Indian PSLV launches five British satellites
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV) conducted its thirtieth flight on Friday
evening local time, deploying five British satellites into a SunSynchronous orbit. Liftoff occurred at 21:58 local time (16:28
UTC) on July 10, 2015 from the first launch pad at the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre.
PSLV Launch:
First flown in 1993, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV,
is by far India’s most-used rocket for orbital missions –
accounting for thirty of the country’s 46 launches to date
including the above launch .
The workhorse of India’s space program, the PSLV is on a run
of twenty five consecutive successful launches, having achieved
twenty seven successes overall. Friday’s launch is being
conducted by Antrix Corporation, the commercial branch of the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The primary payload for Friday’s mission was a trio of
satellites which will join the Disaster Monitoring Constellation
(DMC) in orbit.
Forming a new generation of satellites in this series, the three
DMC3 spacecraft were manufactured by Surrey Satellite
Technology Ltd (SSTL) for DMC International Imaging under a
£110 million contract. China’s Twenty First Century Aerospace
Technology Company (21AT) will lease all three spacecraft under
a seven-year arrangement providing finance for the program.
Based around the SSTL-300 S1 satellite bus, each DMC3
satellite has a mass of 447 kilograms (985 lb). Equipped with a
Very High Resolution Imager 100 (VHRI-100) payload the
satellite is able to produce panchromatic images of the Earth at
a resolution of up to one metre in a spectral band of 450 to 650
nanometres. Alternatively the instrument can produce
multispectral images at a resolution of three to four metres.
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation is a British-led
international fleet of small Earth imaging satellites which, while
being used for commercial imaging, can provide data to assist
with monitoring and managing natural and man-made disasters.
All of the satellites in the constellation have been manufactured
by SSTL.
Two technology demonstration satellites joined DMC3 for the
journey into orbit. CBNT-1 is a 91-kilogram (201 lb) spacecraft
which will be used by SSTL to demonstrate earth observation
techniques, while DeorbitSail will investigate the use of a
deployable sail to deorbit a satellite.
The DeorbitSail satellite; developed as part of a multinational
program led by the University of Surrey; is a seven-kilogram (15
lb) three-unit CubeSat which will deploy a 4-metre (13-foot)
square sail once in orbit.
Providing an increased cross-sectional surface area of 16
square metres (172 square feet), the sail will significantly
increase the drag generated as the satellite orbits within the
thermosphere.
All five satellites were manufactured by SSTL for British
operators.
Friday’s launch made use of the PSLV-XL configuration – the
heaviest version of the PSLV currently flying. All of the rocket’s
configurations share the same core vehicle, with the boosters
being configured differently for different payload masses and
target orbits.
The standard PSLV uses six PS0M strap-ons, powered by S-9
solid rocket motors; the smaller CA or Core Alone configuration
flies without boosters and the heavier PSLV-XL makes use of six
PS0M-XL units with S-12 solid motors.
The rocket used for Friday’s launch had the flight number PSLV
C28, and flew from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan
Space Centre.
The first stage of the core PSLV is a PS1, powered by a solidfuelled S-138 motor. Igniting at the zero-second mark in the
countdown, the stage was joined 0.42 seconds later by the first
pair of boosters.
Two more boosters lit two tenths of a second later, with the
vehicle lifting off from its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space
Centre. Twenty five seconds after liftoff the final pair of booster
rockets ignited.
The first pair of boosters burned out and separate from the
rocket 69.9 seconds into the flight, with the second pair of
ground-lit solids following two tenths of a second later. The airlit
motors continued to burn until the 92-second mark in the mission
at which point they too were jettisoned.
Burnout and separation of the first stage occurred one minute
and 50.18 seconds after launch, with the vehicle at an altitude
of 69 kilometres (43 miles) and travelling downrange at 2.1
kilometres per second (4,700 mph).
Two tenths of a second after stage separation, the PS2 second
stage ignited to begin its 150.54-second burn. Powered by a
Vikas engine – derived from France’s Viking which powered the
Ariane family of rockets between 1979 and 2004 – the liquidpropellant second stage burns UH-25 propellant, a mixture of
unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and hydrazine hydrate, and
dinitrogen tetroxide.
Approximately 1.2 seconds after the conclusion of its burn,
the spent second stage was jettisoned and the third stage began
its burn. The solid-fuelled third stage consists of an S-7 motor
which will fired for about 70 seconds. Following its extinction the
third stage remained attached for a brief coast phase, lasting
three minutes and five seconds.
Once the third stage separated the coast continued for a
further ten seconds before fourth stage ignition marked the
resumption of powered flight.
The fourth stage burn – the final powered phase of the
mission, lasted eight minutes, 31.88 seconds, with the liquidpropelled stage burning monomethylhydrazine and mixed
oxides of nitrogen, mixed in its L-2-5 engine.
The burn left PSLV C28 in the planned deployment orbit for
the DMC mission – a circular sun-synchronous orbit at an
altitude of 647 kilometres (402 miles, 349 nautical miles) and
inclination of 98.06 degrees.
Separation of the DMC3 satellites began at seventeen
minutes, 56.58 seconds mission elapsed time; 37.5 seconds
after fourth stage cutoff. The three satellites separated at
intervals of 22-hundredths of a second. The three DMC
spacecraft were mounted on a platform attached to the fourth
stage, with the secondary payloads attached below them on the
platform’s lower deck.
DeorbitSail was the first of the secondary payloads to
separate, 39.06 seconds after the final DMC3 satellite. CNBT
was the final payload to leave the PSLV, forty seconds after
DeorbitSail.
Friday’s mission marked the thirtieth flight of the PSLV in
twenty two years of service. The rocket made its maiden flight
of 20 September 1993, attempting to deliver the IRS-1E remote
sensing satellite into orbit; however the rocket was destroyed by
range safety during its ascent after a malfunction was detected.
A second launch, in October 1994, marked the rocket’s first
success.
Following another successful test flight in 1996 the rocket was
declared operational with its first operational mission to be the
deployment of the IRS-1D satellite. This launch resulted in a
partial failure, with the rocket reaching a lower-than-planned
orbit that impacted upon the IRS-1D spacecraft’s operational
lifespan.
The PSLV returned to flight in 1999 with the launch of
OceanSat-1, and since then all of its launches have been
successful. The PSLV has also formed the basis for the larger –
but less reliable – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
(GSLV) designed to carry larger satellites into geosynchronous
transfer orbit.
THE POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE
India's Space Research Organization (ISRO) introduced the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) series in 1993. PSLV, designed
to lift 1.5 metric ton satellites to sun synchronous polar orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota, India, is
a conglomerate of Indian and European components. PSLV performance was progressively improved during the 1990s. The
operational "C" version, first flown in 1997, stands 44.4 meters tall and weighs 295 metric tons at liftoff. It consists of four
stages that use solid and liquid propellants alternately.
The first stage uses a 2.8 meter diameter, 20 meter long, 472 ton thrust solid motor that burns 138 tons of propellant for 107
seconds. The first stage is augmented by six solid strap-on boosters that produce 67.5 tons of thrust each for 45 seconds. Four
of the strap-on boosters ignite at liftoff. The two air-start strap-ons ignite 25 seconds after liftoff. The strap-on boosters are
jettisonned after burn-out. More powerful "XL" boosters carrying 12 tonnes of propellant and producing up to 73.4 tonnes of
thrust debuted in 2008.
PSLV Second Stage Engine
PSLV's 12.5 x 2.8 m PS-2 (L40) second stage is powered by a 73.9 ton-thrust Viking 4 engine that burns unsymmetrical
dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer for 162 seconds. Viking 4, called "Vikas" by ISRO,
was originally built by Europe's SEP for the Ariane 1 launch vehicle.
The third stage is another 2.8 meter diameter solid motor. It burns 7.6 tons of propellant for 109 seconds, producing 33.5 tons
of thrust.
The fourth and final stage is a twin-engine liquid propulsion system that is housed within the payload fairing below the satellite.
It burns 2.5 tons of mono-methyl hydrazine (MMH) fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer. The 1.43 ton thrust stage can
burn for up to 420 seconds.
The vehicle is controlled by a strap-down inertial navigation/guidance system housed in a vehicle equipment bay that is
mounted on top of the fourth stage. An 8.3 meter tall, 3.2 meter diameter payload fairing protects the payload during ascent
through the atmosphere.
The first PSLV launch, in 1993, failed due to a software guidance error. The second flight one year later successfully boosted
India's IRS-P2 Earth resource monitoring satellite into an 820 km x 98.7 degree sun synchronous orbit. Eight PSLV launches
occurred during the first 10 years of its use, with six successes. In 2002, PSLV-C4 performed the first PSLV geosynchronous
transfer orbit (GTO) mission.
The original PSLV/GSLV launch complex was supplemented in 2005 with a new, mobile launch facility. PSLV-C6 was the first
rocket to use the pad. Whereas the original pad featured a fixed launch stand and a 75 meter tall mobile service tower, the
new "second launch pad" uses rail-mobile launch stands that allow vehicles to be stacked in a vertical integration building
located some distance from the launch pad itself.
The January 10, 2007 PSLV-C7 mission included the first use of a PSLV dual launch adapter, which deployed both Cartosat 2
and the SRE 1 demonstration recovery capsule and carried a small microsatellite.
The PSLV-CA (Core Alone) model premiered on April 23, 2007. The CA model did not include the six strap-on boosters used
by the PSLV-C variant. Two small roll control modules and two first stage motor control injection tanks were still attached to the
side of the first stage. About 400 kg of propellant was offloaded from the fourth stage compared to PSLV-C.
Chandrayaan 1, India's first lunar orbiter, was launched by the first PSLV-XL variant on October 22, 2008. PSLV-XL, boosted
by more powerful, stretched strap-on boosters, weighed 22 tonnes more at liftoff than PSLV-C.
The Mars Orbiting Vehicle (MOM) was launched on 5 November 2013 using a PSLV rocket C25. With the MOM ( Mangalyaan
to Indians ) entering into the orbit of the planet Mars on 24 September 2014, the PSLV re-established its credentials as the
most successful launch vehicle.
NASA’S NEW HORIZON FLIES PAST PLUTO,
BEAMS 'PHONE CALL’
Washington: In what may rewrite science books soon, NASA's
New Horizons mission - launched in 2006 and has travelled over
4.8 billion km so far at the speed of 45,000 km per hour - fly past
the mysterious dwarf planet on July 14, 2015.
Crossing Pluto from a distance of about 12,500 km at around
5 p.m. (Indian standard Time), the mission is expected to beam
back key images of Pluto's surface to Earth in about nine hours the time it takes the communication to reach Earth from Pluto.
The images will also help scientists explore the mysterious Kuiper
Belt. It is a huge band of planetary debris left over from the solar
system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.
The most dangerous hazards for the probe are dust particles
trapped in orbit around Pluto and a strike can hit the spacecraft,
scientists said, but added that such a risk is very low.
The first images will be debut on Facebook-owned photosharing website Instagram, NASA has announced.
“We made an editorial decision to give the world a sneak peek
of the image on Instagram,” NASA social media manager John
Yembrick told wired.com. On board the New Horizons are seven
sophisticated science instruments and the ashes of Clyde
Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930.
NASA was expecting a dark grey icy planet but the probe found
it is red and appeared to be oxidised like Mars. Earlier, the New
Horizons probe settled one of the most basic questions about Pluto
- its size. Mission scientists have found Pluto to be 2,370 km in
diameter, somewhat larger than many prior estimates.
Images acquired with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager
(LORRI) on board the New Horizon probe were used to make this
determination. The result confirms that Pluto is larger than all other
known solar system objects beyond the orbit of Neptune, the US
space agency said in a statement.
“The size of Pluto has been debated since its discovery in 1930.
We are excited to finally lay this question to rest,” said mission
scientist Bill McKinnon from Washington University in St Louis.
Pluto’s newly estimated size means that its density is slightly
lower than previously thought, and the fraction of ice in its interior
is slightly higher. Measuring Pluto’s size has been a decades-long
challenge due to complicating factors from its atmosphere. Its
largest moon Charon lacks a substantial atmosphere, and its
diameter was easier to determine using ground-based telescopes.
New Horizons observations of Charon confirm its previous
estimated size of 1,208 km across.
Two other moons - Nix and Hydra - were discovered using the
Hubble Space Telescope in 2005. Nix is estimated to be about 35
km across while Hydra is roughly 45 km across. These sizes lead
mission scientists to conclude that their surfaces are quite bright,
possibly due to the presence of ice. Pluto’s two smallest moons,
Kerberos and Styx, are smaller and fainter than Nix and Hydra
and are harder to measure, the US space agency said.
After completing the historic fly-by of Pluto, NASA's New
Horizons probe has successfully beamed a pre-programmed
“phone call” -- a 15-minute series of status messages -- to mission
scientists on Earth.
SUNITA WILLIAMS NASA'S COMMERCIAL CREW ASTRONAUT
Washington: Indian American Sunita
Williams is among four astronauts who
have been selected by NASA for
commercial flights to the International
Space Station (ISS) from US soil. They will
work closely with company-led teams to
understand their designs and operations
as they finalise their Boeing CST-100 and
SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and
operational strategies. Williams, Robert
Behnken, Eric Boe and Douglas Hurley will be trained for
commercial spaceflights that will return American launches to US
soil and further open up low-Earth orbit transportation to the
private sector, the US space agency said.
"These distinguished, veteran astronauts are blazing a new trail
-- that will one day land them in the history books and Americans
on the surface of Mars," said NASA administrator Charles Bolden.
Williams, a US Navy captain, received her commission in the
Navy in May 1987 and became a helicopter pilot, logging more
than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.
NASA chose Williams for the astronaut programme in 1998.
Air pollution from wildfires may ignite heart
problems
New York: Air pollution from wildfires may increase the risk of
cardiac arrest and other sudden acute heart problems, a study by
an Indian-origin researcher shows. "While breathing wildfire smoke
was linked to respiratory problems such as asthma - evidence of an
association between wildfire smoke exposure and heart problems
has been inconsistent," said lead author Anjali Haikerwal,
department of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Monash
University. Researchers examined the association between exposure
to tiny particulate pollutants found in wildfire smoke and the risk of
heart-related incidents in the state of Victoria between December
2006 and January 2007. During these two months, smoke reached
cities far from the blazes and on most days the levels of fine
particulate air pollutant exceeded recommended air quality limits,
said the study that appeared in the Journal of the American Heart
Association.
For an increase from the 25th to 75th percentile in particulate
concentration over two days, after adjusting for temperature and
humidity, there was a 6.98 percent increase in out-of-hospital
cardiac arrests, with a stronger association between pollution and
cardiac arrests in men and people 65 and older.
There was also a 2.07-percent increase in emergency department
visits for acute cardiac events and 1.86 percent increase in
hospitalisations for acute cardiac events, with a stronger association
in women and people 65 and older.
"These particles may act as a trigger factor for acute
She spent a total of 322 days in space and currently holds the
record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a female astronaut
(50 hours and 40 minutes).
She now ranks sixth on the all-time US endurance list and
second all-time for a female astronaut.
"Their selection allows NASA to move forward with the training
necessary to deliver on President Barack Obama's ambitious plan
for returning the launch of the US astronauts to US soil," said John
Holdren, assistant to the President for science and technology.
"This is a new and exciting era in the history of US human
spaceflight," said Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap)
contracts with Boeing and SpaceX each require at least one
crewed flight test with at least one NASA astronaut on board.
To meet this requirement, the companies must also provide the
necessary training for the crew to operate their respective vehicles.
NASA is extensively involved with the companies and reviews their
training plans. "Congratulations to Bob, Eric, Doug and Sunita
and welcome to the Commercial Crew team," noted John Elbon,
Boeing vice president.
cardiovascular events, therefore its important to not delay seeking
medical help if you experience symptoms of heart problems during
smoke episodes from wildfires," Haikerwal said. Fine particulate
matter may be the most common and hazardous type of air
pollution. During a fire, precautionary measures should be taken as
advised by public health officials.
Simple test to spot Alzheimer's risk
New York: An affordable non-invasive test that detects electrical
activity in the brain may be used to spot people who are at the risk
of Alzherimer's, say researchers. Electroencephalogram (EEG)
technology can be used to measure cognitive deficits in people with
amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).
Individuals with a MCI are at twice the risk of others in their age
group of progressing to Alzheimer's disease, but currently no
conclusive test exists to predict who will develop the disorder.
While mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the recognised clinical
state between healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease, aMCI is a
specific type characterised by deficits in episodic memory, the ability
to retain new memories such as recent conversations, events, or
upcoming appointments.
"We think this might be more sensitive and more specific in
pointing out certain cognitive deficits — in this case semantic
memory (or long-term memory) — than other non-EEG methods
available, because EEG reflects direct neural activity," said study lead
author Hsueh-Sheng Chiang, post-doctoral fellow at University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the US.
PANEL FAVOURS END TO FREE CALL REGIME
OVER INTERNET
New Delhi: In a move that can end the free regime for domestic calls
made through Internet messenger services such as WhatsApp, Viber
and Skype, an official panel has suggested that they be
benchmarked against regular telecom service providers for tariff and
regulation.
Yet, it has said other communication services offered by them
dealing with messaging should not be interfered with through
regulation. "For these application services, there is no case for
prescribing regulatory oversight similar to conventional
communication services," it said.
"Under existing telecom licensing conditions, Internet telephony
is permitted under restricted conditions. But pricing the arbitrage of
OTT (over-the-top) domestic voice communication services has the
potential of significantly disrupting existing telecom revenue models,"
the panel said. "The existence of a regulatory arbitrage, in addition
to the pricing arbitrage, adds a degree of complexity that requires
a graduated and calibrated public policy response to bring about a
level playing field," said the committee that was asked to look at the
whole gamut of net neutrality.
The panel, headed by technocrat A.K. Bhargava, said the tariff
plans offered by telecom and Internet service providers must conform
to the government's principles of net neutrality, and the the watchdog
asked to examine the tariffs in accordance with the stated objectives.
"Legitimate traffic management practices may be allowed but should
be tested against the core principles of net neutrality," it said, but
wanted a "liberal regime" for voice telephony over the Internet for
international calling services.
Still an evolving concept, net neutrality means governments and
Internet service providers must treat all data and services on the
Net neutrality recommendations spark mixed reactions
The recommendations on net neutrality brought out by the
government panel sparked mixed reaction from the industry
stakeholders.
Kevin Martin, vice-president for Mobile and Global Access
Policy at Facebook:
As recognized in today's report, we introduced the Internet.org
platform to promote an Internet access model that is open and
non-exclusive. We welcome the Department of Telecom's
engagement and consultation process and are committed to
working with all stakeholders to overcome the infrastructure,
affordability and social barriers that exist today and to bring
more people in India online.
Internet and Mobile Association of India:
Zero rating and other pro-access programs have the potential
to dramatically expand Internet access in India and bring more
people online, but the report fails to fully recognize the value
and potential of such programs. Not all zero ratings are
Internet equally, and must not levy differential tariffs for usage,
content, platform, sites, application or mode of commun“cation.
The committee said the primary goals of net neutrality should be
directed towards achievement of developmental aims of the country
by facilitating universal, affordable broadband with a good quality
of service for its citizens.
"Over-the-top application services should be actively encouraged
and any impediments in expansion and growth of OTT application
services should be removed," the report added.
"As recognized in today's report, we introduced the Internet.org
platform to promote an internet access model that is open and nonexclusive," said Kevin Martin, vice-president for Mobile and Global
Access Policy at Facebook.
"We welcome the Department of Telecom's engagement and
consultation process and are committed to working with all
stakeholders to overcome the infrastructure, affordability and social
barriers that exist today and to bring more people in India online,"
Martin added. However, a non-governmental organisation, Telecom
Watchdog, reacting to the report has written to the Prime Minister's
Office, condemning it.
"The report's key recommendations, if implemented, would
impact crores of subscribers. On the face of it, the recommendations
look like as if it supports 'net neutrality', but in fact the details are
contrary. It is anti-consumers and bad for the business of Digital
India," the letter said. The report also said national security is
paramount, regardless of treatment of net neutrality.
"The measures to ensure compliance of security related
requirements from OTT service providers, need to be worked out
through inter-ministerial consultation."
violating the Net Neutrality principles and especially in
countries like India where the Internet penetration is very low,
such services can actually help in faster proliferation of
broadband. So, the net neutrality laws should keep the plan of
zero-rated services open and implement along the lines that is
not anti-competitive and in lines with the principles of net
neutrality.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and advocate of net neutrality:
The DoT report on net neutrality is disappointing in its
vagueness, ambiguity and for failing to clearly define net
neutrality. A clear and unambiguous definition would have
ensured telcos do not violate principles of net neutrality. It is also
surprising that the DoT has blandly accepted level playing field
argument of telcos to justify the regulation of VoIP apps. An
open, fair, accessible Internet is crucial for Digital India, and
unfortunately, the DoT report is not helpful in this regard. I will
challenge DoT's approach to net neutrality in the upcoming
monsoon session of Parliament.
HIGHLIGHTS OF REPORT ON
NET NEUTRALITY
Highlights of the report of the committee
headed by technocrat A.K. Bhargava that was
asked to look at the entire gamut of net
neutrality policies in India and make
recommendations:
Innovation and infrastructure have to be
promoted simultaneously as neither can spread
without the other. The policy should identify and
eliminate actions that inhibit innovation abilities
inherent in an open Internet world and
investments in related infrastructure.
●
User rights need to be ensured that service
providers do not restrict the ability of the user to
send, receive, display, use, post any legal
content, application or service on the Internet, or
restrict any kind of lawful Internet activity or use.
●
OTT application services, available in the
market for some time, enhance consumer
welfare and increase productivity. Such services
should be actively encouraged and any
impediment in its expansion and growth should
be removed.
●
For OTT application services, there is no case
for prescribing regulatory oversight similar to
conventional communication services.
●
Legitimate traffic management practices may
be allowed but should be tested against the core
principles of net neutrality.
●
Traffic management is complex and
specialized field and enough capacity building
is needed before undertaking such an exercise.
●
Content and application providers cannot be
permitted to act as gatekeepers and use network
operations to extract value in violation of core
principles of net neutrality, even if it is for an
ostensible public purpose.
●
New legislations must incorporate principles of
net neutrality. Till such time, interim norms
enforceable through licensing conditions as
suggested by the committee may be the way
forward.
●
All Kerala jail inmates to get email id
Thiruvananthapuram: In a path-breaking move, all those currently
lodged in jails across Kerala will soon get a personal email id.
As on July 1, there were 6,771 men and 193 women prisoners,
including both convicts and under-trials, in the 55 jails in Kerala.
Each inmate would now be given a personal email id by the jail
department, said a press release issued here by department.
It said the new directive comes as part of the state government's eliteracy programme.
Director General of Police Loknath Behra, who is also the head of
the prison department, told IANS that by the end of the month, each
and every inmate will get their own email ids.
"There are certainly rules and guidelines on how it can be operated.
It would be the same as when a jail inmate gets a letter or when he
wishes to post one. We will provide training to those who are not
familiar in using computers," said Behra.
The prison department will ensure that computers are made
available in all jails, and they will be monitored by police officials.
Oracle’s second largest workforce is in India
Bengaluru: Global software major Oracle Corporation has its second
largest workforce in India, with 10 product development centres across
the country, a senior official said. "Of the 120,000 workforce we have
globally, 31,000 are in India, making it the second largest after our
employees' strength in the US," Oracle president Thomas Kurian told
reporters at an event here. Of the total workforce, 30 percent (36,000)
are in product development worldwide and one-third of them (12,000)
work in India.
The database product firm opened its 10th product development
centre in the Gujarat International Finance Tech City (GIFT) at
Ahmedabad recently. "We hired 2,300 engineers during the last fiscal
(FY 2015) for product development functions in India of which 18
percent were graduates," Kurian said on the occasion, marking the IT
multinational's two decades of presence in the sub-continent.
Indian centres are part of the company's global product
development organisation, and teams do cutting edge engineering
work across the product portfolio, including cloud. "Our teams play a
crucial role in propelling product innovation and support its agenda
of developing cloud-ready solutions," Kurian asserted.
Oracle opened its first product development centre in Bengaluru
with four engineers in 1994 and since then grew its footprint across
the country, with more such centres in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida,
Pune, Thiruvananthapuram and Vijayawada.
"As engineering talent is in high demand, we have been recruiting
aggressively to become the world's top cloud provider. Our global
development centers are the lifeline of Oracle's success, and India is
a major part of that," Kurian said. The data base company spent a
whopping $34 billion over a decade in innovation and research and
development (R&D) to roll out best-of-breed products in the industry.
"Though many Indian enterprises want to use our products, some
of them are unable to do so due to lack of infrastructure. Anyone can
run our software with a web-browser and even without data centre or
hardware-software," Kurian claimed.
MOBILE INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTES $1.1 TN TO ASIA
PACIFIC ECONOMY: STUDY
Shanghai: The mobile industry in Asia Pacific contributes more than
$1 trillion per year to the region's economy, fuelled by rising mobile
broadband and smartphone penetration, a new report by GSMA
said. GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association) is an association
of mobile operators and related companies
devoted to supporting the standardising,
deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile
telephone system.
The report also claims that the mobile industry
contributed $1.1 trillion to the Asia Pacific
economy in 2014, equivalent to 4.7 percent of the
region's GDP and an increase of nearly $200
billion compared to the previous year, with over
a quarter of this economic contribution generated
directly by mobile operators.
"The Asia Pacific region features some of the
world's most advanced mobile markets, as well
as fast-growing emerging markets that are using
mobile as a platform to deliver essential services
such as education, healthcare and banking," said
Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA.
"The report demonstrates how mobile is enabling digital inclusion
and building digital societies across Asia, supporting a new era of
innovation in areas such as digital commerce, the Internet of Things
and mobile identity," he added.
It also states that Asia Pacific now accounts for half of the world's
unique mobile subscribers and mobile connections and will continue
to grow at a faster pace than the global average over the next five
years, adding 600 million new unique subscribers by 2020.
According to the report, mobile operators directly contributed
$286 billion to the total in 2014, equivalent to
1.2 percent of regional GDP and predicts that
the Asia Pacific mobile industry will be worth
$1.8 trillion by 2020, accounting for 5.9 percent
of projected regional GDP by this point. As per
the report, in 2014 the mobile ecosystem directly
and indirectly employed 12.5 million people in
Asia Pacific, a figure expected to rise to 15
million by 2020.
"Asia Pacific has a unique opportunity to lead
the global development of the mobile-powered
digital society, putting mobile at the heart of a
new digital ecosystem," said Bouverot. "By
implementing market conditions that encourage
investment and innovation, the Asia Pacific
region will be able to fully realise the positive
transformative social and economic potential of
mobile for the remainder of the decade and beyond," he added.
Also, the report said the industry makes a substantial contribution
to the funding of the public sector, with approximately $130 billion
contributed in 2014 in the form of general taxation. This is set to
grow to over $150 billion by 2020.
INDIAN AMERICAN SURGEON MASTERS ROBOTIC SURGERY FOR ADVANCED KIDNEY CANCER
New York: In pioneering work, a team led by an Indian
American surgeon has successfully performed robotic surgeries in
advanced kidney cancer patients.
The team from USC Institute of Urology in Los Angeles
performed the lengthy procedure using only seven small incisions
and four robotic tools.
Surgery is required when cancer of the kidney causes a level III
thrombi or clot that develops in the major vein leading back to the
heart.
Generally, this complicated procedure - called inferior vena
cava (IVC) thrombectomy - is performed using a large open
incision primarily because the vein is often difficult to reach.
“This complicated procedure for renal cancer is one of the most
challenging open urologic oncologic surgeries,” explained Inderbir
S. Gill from the USC Institute of Urology, part of Keck Medicine of
USC in Los Angeles.
While this complication occurs in only four-10 percent of all
patients with otherwise organ-confined kidney cancer, surgery is
the only cure.
“The ability to do this complicated procedure in a minimally
invasive way represents a major advancement,” Dr Gill noted.
So far, the team has performed the robotic surgery on nine
patients with renal cancer and Level III thrombi treated with robotic
IVC thrombectomy.
After about seven months of follow-up, all have survived and
eight show no evidence of disease.
One patient had a spinal tumor and has since undergone
further surgery.
Because the surgery involves removal of the thrombus as well
as removal of the diseased kidney, the surgeon must remove the
clot first to prevent it from breaking off and causing a potentially
fatal embolism.
“All necessary surgical maneuvers could be performed
completely robotically without open conversion or mortality,” Dr
Gill commented.
“Although our experience is yet initial, we believe that robotic
IVC thrombus surgery has considerable potential for the future,"
he added in a paper published in the Journal of Urology.
INDIA'S E-VAULT TO STORE DOCUMENTS ON
CLOUD DRAWS CROWDS
■
By Sharon Thambala
Bengaluru: A key part of the "Digital India" initiative of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, the free government scheme that
provides a virtual vault in cyberspace for the safe-keep of
documents like birth certificates and property papers has attracted
830,075 people.
As easy as opening an e-mail account, the free Digital Locker
facility on a cloud, or cyberspace, allows any individual with an
Adhaar card and a linked mobile phone to sign up. It's a personal
storage space to securely store e-documents and links of such
official certificates.
"One of the aims of 'Digital India' is that a person should have
private space on a public cloud. It is one of the desirable
deliverables of this initiative," Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary in
the Department of Information Technology, told IANS in an
interview.
"A Digital Locker account is a convenient way of storing
certificates in a digitised format. A person can then conveniently
see his/her certificates online. Various agencies will also be able
to push documents into the locker. These can also be shared
electronically," Sharma said.
A "cloud" in computer jargon can be described as a network
of servers that is hosted on the Internet rather than on the local
server of individuals or organisations, allowing a much larger
space to store data, and higher speeds to manage and process
the same, in a cost-effective manner.
Each Aadhaar-linked digital locker, which is hosted on such a
cloud by the Indian government , comes with 1-GB of free memory
space. The locker has five components: "My Certificates", "My
Profile", "My Issuer", "My Requester" and "Directories".
"A person has a number of certificates issued to him -- for
education, birth, property. When they are digitally stored, it
decreases administrative overheads of the government. There will
also be less fraud. Whatever you submit, you will be held
responsible," Sharma said.
"If a document is found to be forged you cannot deny it,"
added Sharma.
"From a citizen's perspective, it reduces the hassle of carrying
physical documents. Suppose I have a digital locker and there is
an agency which has issued a certificate in my name. There is a
provision to push that certificate into the digital locker of the
individual."
Giving an example, the top official said: "If a Class XII
certificate is issued to a person with a 'Digital Locker' it will have
a link. This link can be shared. So wherever this certificate is
submitted, it can be verified. One knows it is genuine. For the
government, it is a great advantage.
"Since Aadhaar is unambiguous, the first stage of a person's
authentication is already done."
This kind of infrastructure was unique to India and the
government wanted to leverage that, said Sharma, adding that
the potential could be guaged by the fact that more than 850
million unique identification numbers (Aadhaar) had thus far been
issued to people.
So far, the 830,075 people who have signed up for the service
have uploaded 430,324 documents. Maharashtra has the highest
subscribers with Maharashtra 88,091 accounts, Uttar Pradesh is
next with 79,499, followed by West Bengal with 74,453.
"Even the American social security number does not have a
biometric database," he said. "Using the biometric authentication
process, one can also link a mobile number to his/her identity. So
my mobile number effectively becomes my digital identity."
Sharma said to cater to the large unlettered population of India,
the government has also put an assisted mechanism in place to
help open Digital Lockers. "One common service centre in each
Panchayat of the country will be offering all kinds of digital
services."
He explained that through these centres, one can do banking,
get birth certificates and ration cards. "We have got 100,000
common service centres in the country which can basically provide
assistance," said Sharma.
"This is the social inclusion aspect of a 'Digital Locker'."
Highlights of the scheme
Free space of 1 GB to securely store documents and links
of official e-documents;
● eSign service to digitally sign documents online;
● Sharing of e-documents online with any registered
requester;
● Secure access for requesters to documents in digital
lockers;
● Documents will have authenticity to eliminate fakes;
● People will be held liable for veracity of documents
uploaded;
● Options for several documents: Educational certificates,
PAN card, Voter ID card;
● Can eventually be used in a host of domains: Passports,
college admissions, driving licences.
●
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ECONOMY
India’s wholesale inflation falls further to
(-) 2.4 percent
New Delhi: India's annual inflation rate based on wholesale
prices continued in the negative territory in June, falling to ()2.4 percent from (-)2.36 percent in May, official data showed
provoking India Inc. to call in unison for a RBI rate cut. The
annual rate of inflation, as per the official wholesale price index,
stood at 5.66 percent in the corresponding month of the
previous year, according to data released by the commerce and
industry ministry.
Reflecting the dichotomy over retail and wholesale prices in
the country, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
showed that rise in food and fuel prices had propped the
country's consumer price index inflation to 5.40 percent in June
from 5.01 percent in May.
The consumer price index data also showed that rural areas
were relatively impacted more with an annual retail inflation
rate of 6.07 percent, against 4.55 percent for urban areas. The
food and beverage sub-index that has the highest weight rose
by 5.48 percent from 4.80 percent in May.
The commerce ministry data showed that the wholesale
inflation rate rose in June despite marginal increases in the all
the three major sub-indices compared with May. The spikes
were 1.4 percent for primary articles, 0.6 percent for fuels and
0.1 percent for manufactured products. Among articles of
consumption by the masses, the annual inflation for pulses was
whopping 33.67 percent in June, followed by 18.54 percent
for onions, 7.47 percent for fruits and 5.18 percent for milk. But
prices fell 52.40 percent for potatoes and and 2.25 percent for
eggs, meat and fish.
The data also reflected the lowering of prices in the fuels subindex during the month in review. The rates of inflation were
(-)9.7 percent for petrol, (-)11.86 percent for high-speed diesel
and (-)4.73 percent for cooking gas. Commenting on the data,
Confederation of Indian Industry director general Chandrajit
Banerjee said: "The near static price line and benign inflation
outlook should propel the RBI to continue with its rate easing
cycle in its forthcoming monetary policy to support investment
and consumption demand especially as industrial production
has recorded a muted performance and the consumer goods
sector has moved into the negative terrain in May."
PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alok B.Shriram
said: "Subdued wholesale price inflation will help
manufacturing sector in terms of increased price cost margins
vis-a-vis decreased cost of raw materials."
Regarding pulses and onions that continued to remain costly,
he said the "government needs to check the rising prices of
pulses and take adequate steps in advance so that prices of
pulses are in comfortable trajectory in the coming times".
"We urge the RBI to reduce the repo rate at least by 50 basis
points in the forthcoming credit policy and another 100 points
by end 2015," he added. FICCI president Jyotsna Suri said:
"There is a critical need to firm up industrial growth. We hope
that the Reserve Bank would maintain its accommodative stance
in the third bi-monthly statement for 2015-16 to be announced
next month."
Welcoming the downtrend in WPI, the Associated Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said that a
long term sequential drop in inflation of manufacturing products
does not augur well for manufacturers as it could adversely
impact their pricing power. "With prices seemingly under
control, the central government and the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) should focus more on boosting the economic growth," said
secretary general D.S. Rawat.
FDI up 48 percent in seven months of
'Make in India'
New Delhi: Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has
seen a 48 percent growth in the seven-month period from the
launch of 'Make in India' initiative in September till April 2015,
an official statement said.
"The growth in FDI has been significant after the launch of
'Make in India' initiatives in September 2014, with 48 percent
increase in FDI equity inflows during October 2014 to April
2015 over the corresponding period last year," the commerce
ministry statement said. In 2014-15, the country witnessed
unprecedented growth of 717 percent, to $40.92 billion of
investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), it said.
"The FDI inflow under the approval route saw a growth of
87 percent during 2014-15 with inflow of $2.22 billion despite
more sectors having been liberalized during this period and
with more than 90 percent of FDI being on automatic route,"
the statement added.
Noting that these indicators showcase the remarkable pace
of approvals and investors' confidence in a "resurgent India",
the ministry went on to list the apportioning of FDI as: "Services
sector ($3.2 billion), telecommunication ($2.8 billion), trading
($2.7 billion), automobile industry ($2.5 billion), computer
software and hardware ($2.2 billion), drugs and
pharmaceuticals ($1.5 billion) and infrastructure construction
($0.75 billion)."
India stands committed to an investor-friendly FDI policy and
regime that also promotes investment leading to increased
manufacturing, job creation and overall economic growth of the
country, it said.
Kerala institute to train masons to
become engineers
Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala institute built at a cost of Rs.100
crore will train masons to become engineers, a minister said.
Indian Institute for Infrastructure and Construction will train
masons to upgrade their skills and get a certification of the
Britain-based City and Guilds - a global leader in skills
development - Labour Minister Shibu Baby John told IANS.
ECONOMY
The campus is coming up a nine-acre plot near Kollam and
the institute building is pread across two lakh square ft. The
institute will open in January next year.
The institute will be owned by the state government but would
be operated and managed by the Middle East-based Keralaite
business honcho P.N.C. Menon who heads the Sobha Group,
the minister said. "Its subsidiary will overlook the running of this
institute. The state government has pumped in Rs.55 crore, while
the Shoba Group has put in Rs.15 crore and the rest is the cost
of land that the state government has provided," said the
engineer-turned minister.
"There have been huge developments in the fields of
infrastructure and the construction industry. Unless the skills of
our people are upgraded, our qualified people will lose out in
getting jobs," said John. He said the agreement with the Shoba
Group is that 60 percent of the pass outs will get placements
either in India or abroad, added John.
The institute will offer short and long-term courses with a
duration of one month to two years. In the first year, 2,000
students will be inducted and it will be scaled up to 5,000
students in due course.
Income tax return can now be verified
electronically
New Delhi: In a move to facilitate taxpayers through e-enabled
services, the finance ministry said the income tax return for
assessment year 2015-16 can now be verified electronically. "A
taxpayer may verify his return through internet banking or
through the Aadhar-based authentication process," it said in a
statement. "Persons using this facility will not be required to
submit a signed paper copy of ITR-Verification form (ITR-V) to
CPC Bengaluru," it added.
For the convenience of small taxpayers having total income
of Rs.500,000 or below without any claim of refund, the facility
of generating the electronic verification code (EVC) has also
been provided on the e-filing website of the department.
It also provides for sending the EVC to the registered email
ID and the mobile number to enable the filer to thereafter use
the code to verify the return. In case a taxpayer is unable to
electronically verify the ITR using the EVC for any reason, then,
the signed copy of ITR-V may be sent within the specified time
of 120 days to CPC Bengaluru by ordinary or speed post, the
statement said.
DIPP awarded for 'Make in India'
initiative
New Delhi: US-based growth partnership company, Frost and
Sullivan, presented the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic
Development Innovation: Policy and Program Implementation
Excellence Award in Manufacturing to India's department of
industrial policy and promotion for the 'Make in India' initiative.
The award is in recognition of the outstanding contribution
of the Make in India programme's vision and implementation
excellence to simplify the regulatory framework, reinforce
connectivity and incentivize investments, an official statement
said here. "After a detailed 10-step process the independent
global experts arrived at the GIL-100 Index: Manufacturing
Index for 2015 on Manufacturing Excellence. The Make in India
program has scored the highest in this data driven GIL Index on
vision and implementation, among 100 countries," the
statement said.
Government approves transit oriented
development plan for Delhi
New Delhi: To address the issues of pollution, congestion and
lack of housing for the poor and middle class, the union
government approved the Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
policy for Delhi. "Minister of urban development M.Venkaiah
Naidu has cleared the policy which is expected to recast Delhi's
landscape as part of review of Master Plan for Delhi - 2021,"
said a statement from the urban development ministry. The Delhi
Development Authority will notify the regulations containing the
details for operationalisation of the TOD policy, the statement
added.
The ministry also almost doubled the floor area ratio for
constructions around mass rapid transit systems like the Metro,
albeit with some riders. According to a senior official of the
ministry, a significantly higher floor area ratio (FAR) of 400 per
cent from the earlier up to 250 per cent will now allow more
floors in a building that is required to address lack of land
availability. The TOD policy shall be adopted for development
within the Influence Zone (extending up to 500 metres on both
sides of mass rapid transit system (MRTS corridors), so that the
maximum number of people can live, work and find means of
recreation within walking/ cycling distance of the MRTS
corridors/ stations.
However, TOD will not be applicable in the Lutyens Bungalow
Zone, Civil Lines Bungalows Area, Monument Regulated Zone,
Zone 'O' (around the Yamuna river) and Low Density Residential
Area. The TOD zone would comprise approximately 20 percent
of Delhi's overall area.
India highest recipient of US economic
assistance: USAID
Washington: The US provided $65.1 billion as economic
assistance to India between 1946 and 2012, according to the
US Agency for International Development (USAID) statistics. It
was the highest among the economic assistance provided to
200 countries and regions by the US during the period.
The data, which was inflation adjusted, shows India received
$65.1 billion in economic assistance, followed closely by Israel,
which got $65 billion. Pakistan, which received a total of $44.4
billion from the US, was among the top five countries of the total
ECONOMY
200 nations and regions getting the economic assistance.
Indian economic aid was spread over various sectors and
programmes, including child survival and health, development
assistance, HIV/AIDS initiatives, migration and refugee
assistance, food aid and narcotics control. Some $26 billion of
the total aid was provided for various USAID programmes.
In comparison, of the total economic assistance provided to
Pakistan, $13.8 billion was given for USAID programmes, while
$13.7 billion was attributed to the Economic Support Fund and
Security Support Assistance. USAID is the lead US government
agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable
resilient, democratic societies to realise their potential.
Odisha to hold roads shows in Europe,
Asia to attract investment
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has prepared a road
map to attract fresh domestic and foreign investment of Rs 1.73
lakh crore ($27 billion) by 2019-20. The plan includes holding
road shows in Asian and European nations to attract FDI.
The road shows in China, Japan and Taiwan slated to be
organised in October are aimed at drawing FDI in the steel,
aluminum, plastic and polymers and food processing sectors.
In November, the government would hold road shows in Brtain,
Germany and Israel to tap foreign investment in multiple sectors,
including agriculture and food processing, a senior industry
department official told IANS.
Industry Minister Devi Prasad Mishra said the government
will host a global investment summit in state capital
Bhubaneswar next year to woo entrepreneurs from across the
world. A delegation, headed by Industry Minister Mishra and
Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda has already toured the
US to get businessmen pump in money into the IT,
biotechnology, waste management and tourism sectors. Setting
to clock a gross ICT (information and communication
technology) turnover of Rs. 4,500 crore in the next four years,
as per a project drawn up by the IT department, the state
government is trying hard to attract global investors. The
turnover is currently pegged at around Rs.2,400 crore.
With the government aiming to generate 300,000 jobs by
2019, it has targeted raising manufacturing growth by 60
percent by ushering in an increase of 15 percent per annum.
"While the share of the manufacturing sector to the state's
gross domestic product (GDP) is poised to rise by 60 percent
by 2019, it has targeted a 25 percent increase in the
employment through manufacturing by 2019," said the industry
department roadmap. Mishra said the government has planned
investment and employment generation in three manufacturing
zones - Kalinganagar investment and manufacturing zone,
Dhamra Port-based manufacturing zone and Paradip
manufacturing zone.
Odisha is also banking on its mineral resources as it has
about 28 percent of India's iron ore, 24 percent of coal, 59
percent of bauxite and 98 percent of chromite. Recently the state
government approved the SEZ Policy-2015 aiming to attract
investment - both overseas and domestic. It visualizes Special
Economic Zones to be promoted by both the public and private
sector developers individually or jointly.
Odisha however registered a significant decline in its share
of total investment proposals in 2014, according to data
furnished by industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Even though several
foreign companies evinced interest to invest, implementing the
projects has become a difficult task for the government.
It is clearly visible from the stalled $12 billion Posco steel
making unit at Jagatsinghpur. The South Korean company was
asked to compete in the bidding process on implementation of
the amended MMDR Act 2015, but is yet to make up its mind.
"We are ready to give raw material to the Posco company
through state PSU Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). But it
should make its stand clear over the project," said Steel and
Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick. Opposition leaders and
economic experts are keeping their fingers crossed about the
success of the government's ambitious plans to mop up
investment.
Leader of opposition and senior Congress leader Narasingh
Mishra told IANS: "There is no harm in attracting investment to
the state. The government should attract more investment for
state's financial growth. But it should not sell day dreams."
Noted economist and former Odisha finance minister
Panchanan Kanungo told IANS: "During the last 15 years, the
government has only made announcements with no planning
for implementing the projects." He said while it had proposed
to develop 14 ports, only one - Dhamra Port - had fructified.
"It had signed MoUs with 93 companies to set up mineralbased industries. But only seven are working with full capacity.
Similarly, only three out of 27 companies which had inked
MoUs with the state government are generating power," said
Kanungo.
Cargo handling in Indian ports rises by
5.4 percent: ICRA
Kolkata: Credit rating and investment information company
ICRA on Monday said during the fiscal year ended March 31,
2015, Indian ports have registered a modest increase in
handling cargo by 5.4 percent at 1,043 million tonnes (MT).
During 2014-15, 976 MT of cargo was handled by the ports.
"The growth was pegged down by a relatively weaker cargo
performance at the major ports which registered a modest
growth of 4.7 percent in cargo volumes to 581 MT in fiscal year
2014-15," the rating agency said in a statement. It further said
non-major ports have likely pushed up the overall growth rate
by recording a 10 percent growth to 462 MT during 2014-15.
"The growth at major ports was pegged down due to
continuing mining restrictions in major states like Karnataka,
ECONOMY
Goa and Odisha and other policy measures such as imposition
of export duty. Apart from petroleum oil and lubricants segment,
all other cargo categories including containers, fertilizers, coal
and others showed growth in volumes at major ports," said the
agency's senior vice-president and co-head of corporate
ratings, K. Ravichandran.
He also said that various initiatives and schemes of the
central government rolled out in the last few months are
expected to have a favorable impact on the growth and
investment in the port sector.
"The approach and planning of the centre is holistic and if
implemented, the cumulative impact of these initiatives should
boost the overall development of the sector (ports). The initiatives
are not only aimed at addressing the issues being faced in a
certain facet of port development, but together, they cover a
wide spectrum of issues involving port infrastructure,
connectivity, port services, tariff policy, project financing and
clearances and approvals," he said.
Regarding the migration of old terminal operators at major
ports to deregulated tariff regime, the situation continues to be
in limbo as old terminal operators have rejected the shipping
ministry's rebid offer, the company noted.
India moves to improve intellectual
property regime
New Delhi: India's commerce ministry said on Monday that its
department of industrial policy and planning (DIPP) has taken
several steps for greater efficiency in processing of intellectual
property rights applications to improve the IPR regime towards
attracting foreign investment.
"Several measures have been taken to ensure continuous and
unending improvement of the Indian IP ecosystem in the
country," the ministry said in a statement here.
"To this effect, the DIPP has formulated a multi-pronged
strategy to develop an Intellectual Property regime in the country
to promote creativity and to develop the culture of respect for
innovations and creativity," it said.
The DIPP has taken measures like creation of additional posts
to reduce manpower shortage and providing fee concessions
for small and medium industry to encourage them to innovate.
"An additional 1,033 plan posts have been created,
including 666 posts for Patents and Designs and 367 posts for
Trademarks and GI (geographical indicators) at various levels,"
the statement said. The IP office has been transformed to
enhance efficiency in processing of applications, uniformity and
consistency in scrutinising applications, bilateral cooperation at
the international level, and raising the awareness level of the
public, it said.
Due to these steps, online filing has jumped from under 30
percent to over 80 percent in just a year, it said. It also said
online e-filing facilities for patent and trademark application
were introduced this year, and e-filers are allowed to use debit
and credit cards and internet banking to pay fees.
"This year, e-filers were given the facility of using debit cards,
credit cards and internet banking of over 70 banks for making
payment of fees for all forms," the ministry said. "10 percent
rebate on online filing of applications and documents has been
introduced," it added.
Till June 2015, 13,666 international applications designating
India have been received at the Trademarks Registry, India, the
statement said.
India reiterates commitment to RCEP
trade pact
New Delhi: India reiterated its commitment to work with other
countries to conclude a mutually acceptable Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
This was conveyed by Commerce Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman, who is leading the Indian delegation to the RCEP's
ongoing inter-sessional ministerial and related meetings taking
place in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, India's commerce
ministry said in a statement here. "She reiterated the importance
attached by India to RCEP negotiations and conveyed India's
continued commitment to work with other countries to conclude
a mutually acceptable RCEP agreement," it said.
This meeting of trade ministers is being held prior to the next
round of RCEP negotiations that are scheduled to take place in
the Myanmarese capital of Nay Pyi Taw. The earlier round of
talks took place in Japan in June.
Launched in 2012, RCEP comprises the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - and six of its
free trade partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New
Zealand and South Korea.
Though India is keen on concluding the RCEP, its domestic
industry, particularly the steel sector, is opposed as it entails
giving tariff concessions to China and other competitors.
"Travelling - on my way to Kuala Lumpur for RCEP
negotiations," Sitharaman tweeted earlier. She also met her
Malaysian counterpart Dato' Sri Mustapa Mohamed on
Monday. "The two ministers discussed issues relating to the
ongoing RCEP negotiations as well as ways and means to
enhance bilateral trade and investment," the commerce ministry
statement said.
Rs.5,000 crore project for northeast's
telecom infrastructure
Agartala: The central government has launched a Rs.5,000
crore ambitious project for the development of
telecommunications in the northeastern states, union minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The project will be implemented in the next five years, the
ECONOMY
minister for communications and information technology said
after laying the foundation stone to operationalise the new
international internet gateway linking Cox's Bazar in southeast
Bangladesh.
After the commissioning of the international internet gateway,
northeast India would be at par with the rest of the country in
internet connectivity, thereby boosting the region's economy,
education, tourism, banking and other services, he said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said development of
India will remain incomplete if the northeast region continues to
be underdeveloped." He said the Digital India initiative, that
was launched on July 1 by Modi, will transform the country.
"Currently, India has 98 crore mobile phone subscribers and
30 crore internet connections. We will increase the internet
connections to 50 crore in two years," he said. "After 82 crore
people enrolled their names in Aadhaar, their digital records
are now on the finger tips. Over 250,000 gram panchayats
across the country are being linked by internet," Prasad said.
He said that in the Digital India initiative, over Rs.4.5 lakh
crore worth of investment has been promised, enabling job
opportunities for 18 lakh people. The minister said two crore
more people will also get jobs through electronics goods
manufacturing. Over 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots have been identified
across India for speedy internet connectivity. These include
religious, tourist and important places.
Prasad asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
chairman-cum-managing director Anupam Srivastava to
conduct an audit following Tripura Chief Minister Manik
Sarkar's complaint that poor quality telecom equipment was
being installed in the northeast.
He said that when the previous National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee demitted office,
BSNL was making a profit of Rs.10,000 crore, and when the
NDA returned to power in May last year, the BSNL was
incurring a loss of Rs.8,000 crore.
Manik Sarkar said that when Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina visited Tripura in 2011, he had approached her
to provide a telecom link between northeast India and the rest
of the world through her country, and Hasina readily agreed to
the proposal.
"Lack of adequate infrastructure is taking the northeast
backwards though the region has huge natural and human
resources," Sarkar said.
Government sets up council for export
promotion
New Delhi: In view of continuous decline in exports over a halfyear period, the Indian government has set up a promotion
council to be chaired by the union commerce minister and
comprising state trade and commerce ministers and other
official as members.
The Council for Trade Development and Promotion was
notified by the ministry.
"It has been decided to constitute the Council for Trade
Development and Promotion in order to ensure a continuous
dialogue with state governments and UTs on measures for
providing an international trade enabling environment in the
states and to create a framework for making the states active
partners in boosting India's exports," the notification said.
Besides, 14 union secretaries including those of commerce,
revenue, shipping, civil aviation, agriculture, food processing and
economic affairs will also be members of the council that also aim
at achieving the $900 billion exports target by 2019-20.
The council will provide states a platform to express their
perspective on trade policy to help them develop and pursue
export strategies in line with the national policy and also help
the states to be apprised about international developments
affecting India's trade potential and opportunities and prepare
them to deal with the situation.
The central and state governments would also deliberate in
the council on the relevant infrastructure to promote trade and
identify impediments and infrastructure gaps adversely affecting
exports. The chairman of the Railway Board, Niti Aayog
secretary and CEO, the director generals of Foreign Trade and
the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, representatives
of industry chambers CII and FICCI and the joint secretary,
commerce will also be members.
The council will be recommendatory in nature and will meet
at least once every year. The government had announced it will
soon announce an interest subsidy scheme to aid exporters.
Under the interest subvention scheme, which ended on March
31 last year, exporters got loans at subsidised rates.
India's merchandise exports declined further for the seventh
straight month in June to $22.29 billion, which was 15.82
percent lower than the $26.48 billion worth shipped in the like
month of last year, official data showed .According to the data
furnished by the commerce and industry ministry, imports
during the month under review fell by 13.40 percent at $33.12
billion.
Exports remained almost static compared to May's figure of
$22.34 billion, continuing the declining trend for the sixth
straight month, caused by the global economic slowdown, fall
in crude oil prices and appreciation of the rupee.
Cumulative exports for the period April-June 2015-16 at
$66.69 billion registered a 16.75 percent decline over that in
the corresponding quarter ($80.11 billion).
Earlier this month, the FIEO warned that the continuing
decline in exports would result in layoffs, besides putting
pressure on the current account deficit (CAD).
Karnataka setting up panel on farmers'
welfare
Bengaluru: Rattled by a spate of farmers' suicides across the
state, the Karnataka government is setting up a committee to
ECONOMY
recommend steps for improving their lot, Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah said.
"The committee, headed by eminent agriculture scientist M.S.
Swaminathan, will study problems faced by our farmers and
recommend measures to improve their quality of life,"
Siddaramaiah told reporters at a village in Mandya district,
about 100km from Bengaluru.
As the legislature's monsoon session is underway, the chief
minister said he will announce in the assembly the committee's
details, including names of its other members, terms and
deadline for submitting its report.
"Bailing out distressed farmers and improving their welfare
is our priority, as they contribute to the rural economy and help
in achieving food sufficiency. As a farmer's son, I know the
problems of farming," he said.
A day after addressing farmers through a radio programme
"Dil ke Baat" on Saturday, the chief minister reiterated that there
was no grave cause or reason for them to end their precious
lives.
"We have taken measures to tackle your problems and are
doing our best to ensure remunerative prices for your crops. We
are crediting to your bank accounts dues from sugar mills for
crushing your cane," he noted.
Visiting a few houses in the district, where around 20 debtridden farmers committed suicide since June, to console their
families and assure them fair compensation, the chief minister
said he had directed officials to find out reasons behind spurt
in suicides and identify the distressed among them.
"I have told deputy commissioners of the affected districts like
Belagavi, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Mandya, Mysuru, Shivamogga and
Tumakuru to ascertain causes behind suicides in some districts
and address their woes," Siddaramaiah said.
The state government is also at a loss to understand why
farmers in districts with better infrastructure and irrigation
facilities were taking their life while not a single suicide was
reported till date from backward districts like Bengaluru Rural,
Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts.
Consoling a bereaved family of Shivalinge Gowda, a debtridden farmer, who immolated in his field by setting afire his
cane crop in Pandavapura taluk on June 25, Siddaramaiah
assured his widow of securing a job to her family member and
paying for the education of Gowda.
About 70 farmers had committed suicide across the state for
various reasons spanning from rising debt burden, mounting
arrears from sugar mills, non-remunerative prices and pressure
from unscrupulous moneylenders for paying up loans taken at
higher interest rates.
Himachal vegetable cultivation reaps
over Rs.2,500 crore
Shimla: The vegetable cultivation in Himachal Pradesh,
especially off-season, has increased the state's annual
production to 14.60 lakh tonnes, and taken the state's annual
revenue well over Rs.2,500 crore, an official said here.
In the current kharif (monsoon) season, four lakh hectares
have been covered under food grain and the target of
production has been fixed at 8.85 lakh metric tonnes, an official
of the state agriculture department said.
During this fiscal, Rs.450 crore would be spent under various
schemes to give boost to agriculture production and to increase
the income of farmers, he told IANS.
Top priority is being accorded to crop diversification, for
which Rs.66 crore are being spent during this fiscal, he added.
The state's agriculture and horticulture-based economy is
highly dependent on the monsoon.
The official said it has also been decided to continue coffee
plantation on 10 hectares during this fiscal and to extend
weather-based crop insurance scheme to peas, tomato and
ginger crops.
The state has approached Japan International Cooperation
Agency for the second phase of the crop diversification project
under technical cooperation, he said.
The agriculture department is also implementing four national
programmes for which Rs.90 crore have been earmarked.
The state has launched several schemes to transform
agriculture into agri-business, including the Rs.110-crore Y.S.
Parmar Swarojagar Yojana, Rs.154-crore Rajiv Gandhi Micro
Irrigation Scheme, and the Rs.20 crore Borewell and Lift
Irrigation Scheme.
To provide compensation to the farmers and farm labourers
in case of accidental injury or death, the state government has
launched Mukhya Mantri Kisaan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor
Jeevan Suraksha Yojna.
A compensation of Rs.150,000 will be given in case of death
while working on the farm or machinery, and Rs.50,000 in case
of permanent disability.
Himachal Pradesh annually earns about Rs.2,500 crore from
the cultivation of vegetables, while horticulture generates more
than Rs.3,200 crore annually.
The cultivation of exotic vegetables and flowers in polyhouses and the setting up of controlled atmosphere chains is
expected to add to earnings for growers.
Volvo to export 100 'Made in India'
buses to Europe
Bengaluru: Swedish transport major Volvo will export about 100
buses made in India to Europe a year, a top company official
said. "We will be the first bus company to export to the
European market from India, taking advantage of lower
manpower costs and neutral duty," Volvo Buses Corporation
president Hakan Agnevall told reporters. At a meeting in the
state secretariat here, Agnevall told Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah that the company's Indian subsidiary would
export about 100 buses a year to European countries from its
ECONOMY
manufacturing plant at Hoskote, about 40km from here.
"Volvo India Ltd will invest an additional Rs.974 crore to
expand its Hoskote plant, generating employment to 2,125
more people," the chief minister's office said in a statement.
The Swedish firm had set up a truck and bus production plant
in the then Bangalore Rural district during 1996-98, with an
initial investment of Rs.900 crore and employed 2,076 people
earlier.
Volvo entered India, ostensibly, to foray into high-end truck
segment, but got into the luxury buses with first move advantage
as domestic rivals Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have been
contended rolling out ordinary buses for cities and semi-luxury
coaches for inter-city and inter-state routes.
"Besides lower manpower cost and minimal overheads, we
will avail customs duty exemptions on import of engines,
components and accessories used in making buses for exports,"
said Volvo Buses vice president Akash Passey. Volvo invested in
2012 an additional Rs.400 crore in doubling its installed
capacity to 1,500 units per annum. It employs about 1,000
people in its bus unit.
"As the country's passenger transport market has been down
over the last couple of years due to various factors, including
recession, we could not fully utilise the production capacity as
the demand or order was for 600-800 buses per annum," said
Passey.
Volvo India has been exporting luxury air-conditioned buses
to South Asian countries like Bangaldesh, Maldives and Sri
Lanka since 2003 and to South Africa since 2011, for multiple
services, including inter-city, inter-state, long distance and within
cities.
Besides here, the company has a manufacturing base in
Shanghai, Bangkok and Taiwan in Asia. "It's a milestone for us
to export buses from India to developed markets in Europe
though we are a European company and has a major presence
there with a couple of manufacturing plants in the continent,"
said Agnevall.
The type of luxury buses to be exported will be Euro-6
complaint for mass rapid transportation in European cities,
where demand is about 5,000 units per annum.
"We will use India as export hub overtime for developed
markets like Europe, leveraging our manufacturing presence,
with a strong vendor base," Agnevall added. By focusing on
exports, the Indian subsidiary will also be able to face the
cyclical domestic market demands, which have been linear over
the years due to economic slowdown and lower orders from
state-run corporations and private operators.
Odisha completes 41 PPP projects
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has taken up 77 Public
Private Partnership (PPP) projects involving investment of
Rs.22,142 crore and, of these, 41 projects with investment of
around Rs.5,589 crore are now operational, an official said .
Planning and Coordination (PPP Cell) joint director Jayant
Kumar Mishra said: "A total number of 77 projects involving
investment of around Rs.22,142 crore have been taken up in
the state while 41 projects have been made operational so far."
"Twenty-nine projects involving investment of Rs.15,584
crore are under implementation and seven projects envisaging
investment of Rs.969 crores are in pipeline," he added.
Reviewing the ongoing PPP projects in the empowered
committee meeting on Friday, Odisha's chief secretary G.C. Pati
directed to fast track the projects.
"It has been decided to form a committee under the
chairmanship of Information Technology secretary P.K. Jena to
prepare a road map for carrying forward the Smart City
programme," the chief secretary's office said in a release.
The chief secretary has advised that representatives from the
departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transport,
Police, Energy and other related departments be taken as
members in the committee.
Eight core industries index growth slows
to 3 percent in June
New Delhi: A major index for select factory output slowed to
three percent growth in June from an increase of 4.4 percent in
the previous month due to a fall in crude oil and natural gas
production. The select factory output index rose by 8.7 percent
in June, 2014. The data on the select factory output was
furnished by the commerce and industry ministry for the eight
core industries (ECI).
ECI comprises 38 percent of the total weightage of items
included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). It stood at
171.2 during last month from 178.6 in May and 166.2 in June,
2014. The index's cumulative growth during April to June,
2015-16 stood at 2.4 percent from 2.1 percent during April to
May, 2015-16.
The select factory output index had grown by 6 percent at
April-June, 2014-15.
Electricity generation, commanding the highest weightage at
10.32 percent, inched up by 0.2 percent in June, 2015.
Steel production, the second most important component as
per weightage, increased by 4.9 percent during last month.
Production of refinery products, the third most important
component as per weightage of 5.93 percent, was higher by
7.5 percent last month.
However, crude oil, which has a 5.21 percent weightage in
ECI, inched-lower by 0.7 percent during the month under review
in comparison to the data for June, 2014.
Coal, with a 4.38 percent weightage, gained by 6.3 percent
in June this year in comparison to the like month of last year.
Cement production, having a weightage of 2.41 percent,
was up by 2.6 percent during the last month.
The sub-index for fertilisers which has a weightage of 1.25
percent rose by 5.8 percent. However, production of natural
gas, having a weightage of 1.71 percent, was lower by 5.9
percent in the month under consideration.
ECONOMY
VIEWPOINT
INDIA BUILDING STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES TO MEET
EMERGENCIES
■
Taking advantage of weak global crude prices, down 42.5
percent since July 2014, the government is spending Rs.4,948
crore ($800 million) to shore up strategic oil reserves in the first
phase of such a project, which can be used during emergencies
to power India for around a fortnight.
Two giant, rock-cut caverns will soon be pumped full of crude
oil in the eastern port of Vishakhapatnam, as part of a set of new
underground facilities that will hold India's emergency oil
reserves, reports IndiaSpend. The new storage facilities were
approved in January 2006. Its features:
Concrete tanks being built at Vishakhapatnam port that with
the other underground facility of natural caverns can hold 1.33
metric tonnes of crude, or the equivalent of 129,221 trucktanker loads.
● Money left over after filling the Vishakhapatnam storage will
be used to buy more crude to fill two more facilities -- at
Mangalore and Padur, both in Karnataka on India's western
coast.
● A series of pipes will run from the surface and descend into the
underground rock caverns. Crude oil will be pumped into the
caverns through these pipes.
● Put together, the three facilities, managed by the Indian
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, can hold 5.33 million metric
tonnes of crude oil, or the equivalent of 517,857 truck-tanker
loads of 12 kilolitre capacity each.
● The strategic reserves would hold enough crude oil to power
India for about 13 days, based on the country's demand,
according to data tabled in Rajya Sabha.
India needs these emergency oil reserves since it is a net
importer of oil. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had
estimated that in 2014-2015, the country will import 83 percent
(228.41 million metric tonnes) of its oil requirement.
The domestic production has been somewhat stagnant. It was
37.7 million metric tonnes in 2010-11 and stood at 38.8 million
metric tonnes in 2014-15. Over five years, India has imported
more than 80 percent of its crude-oil requirement.
The erstwhile Planning Commission, and now re-named Niti
Aayog, in its Integrated Energy Policy of 2006, said supply,
market and technical risks were major threats to India's energy
security.
It recommended that India "maintain a reserve equivalent to
90 days of oil imports for strategic-cum-buffer stock purposes".
Thus, the country will require additional crude-oil storage of
approximately 13.32 million metric tonnes by 2019-20,
●
Inside a rock-cut cavern in Vishakhapatnam into which crude
oil will be pumped as part of India's multi-location project to
build strategic reserves to meet exigencies. (Photo: Courtesy,
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd)
according to rough estimates, based on existing storage with oil
companies and the new facilities being built by Indian Strategic
Petroleum Reserves Ltd.
Therefore, the Indian government is planning to build four
more facilities for strategic crude reserves at Chandikhol in
Orissa, Bikaner in Rajasthan, Rajkot in Gujarat and Padur in
Karnataka. These will have a combined storage capacity of 12.5
million metric tonnes of crude oil, as per data with the new
company. But India has to catch up. The global standard for
strategic oil reserves, as set by the International Energy
Association (IEA) for member-countries, is 90 days of net oil
imports. The US holds 95 million metric tonnes of strategic
reserves, the highest by any country in the world. Japan, which
like India is dependent on imported oil, has the second highest
reserves with 44 million metric tonnes.
China, like India, is in the process of shoring up its strategic
oil reserves. As of November 2014, it had acquired 12.4 million
metric tonnes. While India now has made a start, there are
countries that are well ahead.
(In arrangement with Indiaspend.org, a data-driven, nonprofit, public-interest journalism platform)
ECONOMY
CAN MOBILE APPS EMERGE SOLE DRIVER OF INDIA’S
E-COMMERCE?
■
By Aparajita Gupta and Sharon Thambala
New Delhi: With 975 million mobile phone connections in India
and penetration at 140 percent in urban areas, many e-commerce
firms see apps as the way forward to push sales, with some even
planning to make it their exclusive delivery platform. Is it feasible?
Industry stakeholders feel mobile apps are the way forward. But
they cannot be the sole medium.
Recently, homegrown e-commerce major Flipkart, at an internal
meeting, disclosed that the company planned to go the only-mobileapp-way by September. Earlier Myntra, which was acquired by
Flipkart, also went app only.
"India is gradually transitioning from a mobile-first to a mobileonly country," a Flipkart spokesperson told IANS, alluding to the
fact that net addition in fixed-line telephony in India had been in
the negative for a few years now.
"At Flipkart, we have been
following a mobile-first approach
and 70-75 percent of our total traffic
is already coming from our mobile
app," the spokesperson said.
"We
are
constantly
experimenting with various aspects
of our service to create the best
shopping experience for our users
on our app. Meanwhile, we continue
to offer desktop as well as mobile
option for our customers," the
spokesperson added, without going
into the internal plan.
According to a study by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, only 10
percent of the mobile users in 2013
had smartphones and barely five
percent
of
the
ecommerce
transactions were through a mobile
device. This figure has more than doubled to 13 percent of all
ecommerce transactions via mobiles.
"According to some industry players, over 50 percent of the
orders are being placed through mobile apps, which is not only
leading to substantial customer acquisition but also building
customer loyalty for various brands," the study said.
But experts also said the regular computer-based e-commerce
also cannot be ignored. According to Rajan Anandan, managing
director of Google India, some 500 million people will be online in
the country by 2018. The numbers in rural areas will top 210
million. "We think app is the way to go but it shouldn't be the only
medium," said Nasir Jamal, secretary general of eCommerce
Association of India (ECAI), an umbrella organisation for the
industry with over 100 members.
"This is because a considerable number of people still shop on
their desktops. Since 3G, and now 4G, costs of mobile internet is
still high, a large number of customers order through their PCs or
laptops," Jamal told IANS.
Asked whether going app only was a feasible proposition, he
said: "When Myntra went app only in May, it reported a dip of
about 10 percent in sales in the first month. Therefore, I will like to
reiterate that app only platforms would lose out on a major chunk
of revenues."
Another Indian e-commerce player, Snapdeal, said that it would
focus on both platforms.
"At Snapdeal, the customer is at
the centre of all initiatives. Our data
shows there are still many customers
who use PCs to shop online," a
Snapdeal spokesperson told IANS.
"We do not want to force our
customers to use one specific
medium to shop on Snapdeal. We
will continue to offer our services on
both PC and mobile. We do not see
this changing in the near future," the
spokesperson told IANS.
The size of the ecommerce market
in India is around $20 billion and it
is growing at an average growth
rate of about 40-50 percent per
annum, according to ECAI.
According to Ankit Deb, co-founder
of Bizongo, a B2B e-commerce
platform that taps the plastics,
chemicals and packaging markets, the mobile app is a strong and
powerful tool because one is always logged in.
"The kind of people we deal with are suppliers, essentially small
and medium businesses, who are probably not very tech savvy. But
they have accounts in Flipkart, Snapdeal, Indiamart and such
platforms," Deb said.
"Imagine a situation where instead of logging in again and
again you are always online through an app which enables realtime, organic transactions and engagement. But that is missing on
a Web site or a desktop. Organic engagement is a powerful tool,
you can't do away with that."
According to a study by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, only
10 percent of the mobile users in
2013 had smartphones and
barely five percent of the
ecommerce transactions were
through a mobile device. This
figure has more than doubled to
13 percent of all ecommerce
transactions via mobiles.
ECONOMY
VIEWPOINT
HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR SMART CITIES MISSION:
NEED FOR A REFERENCE FRAMEWORK
■
By Sujaya Rathi and Shrimoyee Bhattacharya
With the simultaneous launch of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation
and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Housing for All and the coveted
Smart Cities Mission (SCM) on June 25, 2015, it was a landmark
day in the evolution of India's urban agenda. The message of
convergence emerging from the common launch of all three
programmes will hopefully be sustained in the future while
implementing them. The Smart City guidelines seek the convergence
of different schemes like AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM),
National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana
(HRIDAY), Digital India, Skill Development, Housing for All,
construction of Museums funded by the culture department and other
programmes connected with social infrastructure such as health,
education and culture. SCM, with an outlay of Rs.48,000 crore ($7.5
billion), is expected to enhance the quality of life in 100 cities, which
will be identified over the next few months.
Since the initial declaration of building Smart Cities in the BJP's
election manifesto, the Modi government's plans on this front have
been taking shape slowly, and will need time to evolve. The SCM
guidelines highlight the need for a holistic approach to urban
development. This will require an integration of physical, institutional,
social and economic infrastructure. Thus emerges the need for a
strategically articulated framework to address a city's urban
challenges, which will greatly aid this process of integration. This
framework should focus on a more process-oriented path than a
simple project-oriented path.
The guidelines provided by the government do not mention a
specific definition of Smart City. There are, however, four key
imperatives that emerge from the guidelines along with various other
perspectives on smart cities obtained from both academic literature
and deliberations in India over the last 15 months. The first imperative
is that a city needs to be sustainable in order to be smart. This will
mean that the interventions under the Smart Cities Mission need to
align their goals, objectives and processes to the overarching
principle of sustainability.
The Draft Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) released by the
United Nations can be a useful and handy reference. The key
principles emerging from SDGs include ensuring well-being, equity,
efficiency, and embedding foresight in all plans and actions.
Adhering to these principles at all stages of all programmes will
ensure consistency in the outcomes achieved and thus enable the
much-intended convergence of programmes sought by the Smart
Cities Mission Guidelines.
The second imperative that emerges is the importance of imbibing
the characteristics of good governance for achieving sustainability.
For example, transparency, accountability, participation and
consensus-building are some of the key characteristics of good
governance, which form the foundation for ensuring equity. The third
imperative is to understand the role and use of technology in urban
development. There needs to be a departure in the way technology
is being portrayed as the panacea of all urban ills. It is in fact an
important enabler, which can yield the desired results only when
applied in a context-specific manner. Collective vision, supportive
policy instruments and domestic stability are equally important in
achieving smartness in a city through technology. The fourth and a
frequently discussed imperative is that urban institutions, especially
the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) need the capacity to work towards the
three imperatives mentioned so far. This gains additional significance
as the prime minister himself has said that ULBs will be key instruments
in implementing the Smart Cities Mission. The four imperatives
mentioned above suggest that India needs to formulate concrete
Terms of Reference (ToR) to realise the Mission's objectives, drawing
from the initial ideas proposed in the Guideline. A reference
framework based on a set of guiding principles is needed to enable
state and city governments to implement different schemes,
understand the complementarity of schemes and maintain
consistency. This Smart City Reference Framework (SCRF) for India
can be envisaged to be the point of departure from other urban
development initiatives. The Smart Cities Mission needs to initiate this
to gain both short-term (such as meaningful utilisation of investments
under various schemes) and long-term benefits (such as initiating
important structural reforms in urban planning and management
processes, empowered by technology). The Reference Framework
should be the overarching and all-encompassing umbrella that will
guide all urban development and related schemes. Center for Study
of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a Bengaluru-based Think
Tank, has been working on reconceptualising various notions
associated with smart cities in India. The culmination of this study is
a set of ToR, which is also being referred to as the Smart City
Reference Framework(SCRF). The final report of this study will be
released in mid-July, under the aegis of NITI Aayog.
The positioning of SCM can be seized as an opportunity to
address the challenges discussed in this article and achieve the larger
goals of urbanisation featured in the national development agenda.
The complementarity of the schemes presents the biggest opportunity
in this trajectory of urban development. It could also be the biggest
challenge! Streamlining the efforts of various organisations by
ensuring that various aspects of sustainable urban development are
addressed will be a critical factor in taking this Mission forward
"smartly".
(Sujaya Rathi, Principal Research Scientist, and Shrimoyee
Bhattacharya, Research Scientist, are with the Center for Study of
Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bengaluru.
ECONOMY
VIEWPOINT
LAND LEASING WILL BE A BIG WIN-WIN REFORM
FOR STATES
■
By Arvind Panagariya
Land leasing laws relating to
rural agricultural land in Indian
states were overwhelmingly
enacted
during
decades
immediately following the
independence. At the time, the
abolition of Zamindari and
redistribution of land to the tiller
were the highest policy
priorities.
Top leadership of the day
saw tenancy and sub-tenancy
as integral to the feudal land
exceptions granted to landowners among widows, minors,
disabled and defence personnel. Kerala has for long banned
tenancy, permitting only recently self-help groups to lease land.
Some states including Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Assam do not ban leasing but the tenant
acquires a right to purchase the leased land from the owner after
a specified period of tenancy. This provision too has the effect of
making tenancy agreements oral, leaving the tenant vulnerable.
Only the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan
and West Bengal have liberal tenancy laws with the last one
limiting tenancy to sharecroppers. A large number of states
among them Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which otherwise have
liberal tenancy laws, do not recognize sharecroppers as tenants.
The original intent of the restrictive
arrangements that India had inherited
tenancy laws no longer holds any
Many large states
from the British. Therefore, tenancy
relevance. Today, these restrictions have
reform laws that various states adopted
including Telangana, Bihar, detrimental effects on not only the tenant
sought to not only transfer ownership
for whose protection the laws were
rights to the tenant but also either Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh originally enacted but also on the
prohibited or heavily discouraged leasing
and Uttar Pradesh ban land landowner and implementation of public
and sub-leasing of land.
policy. The tenant lacks the security of
leasing with exceptions
Politically influential landowners were
tenure that she would have if laws
successful in subverting the reform,
permitted her and the landowner to freely
granted to landowners
however. As P.S. Appu documents in his
write transparent contracts.
among widows, minors,
brilliant 1996 book Land Reforms in
In turn, this discourages her from
disabled and defence
India, till as late as 1992, ownership
making long-term investments in land and
rights were transferred to the cultivator on
also leaves her feeling perpetually
personnel. Kerala has for
just 4 percent of the operated land.
insecure about continuing to maintain
long banned tenancy,
Moreover, just seven states, Assam,
cultivation rights. Furthermore, it deprives
Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,
permitting only recently self- her of potential access to credit by virtue
Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal,
of being a cultivator.
help
groups
to
lease
land.
accounted for some 97 percent of this
Landowner also feels a sense of
transfer.
insecurity when leasing land with many
In trying to force the transfer of ownership to the cultivator,
choosing to leave land fallow. The latter practice is becoming
many states abolished tenancy altogether. But while resulting in
increasingly prevalent with landowners and their children
minimal land transfer, the policy had the unintended
seeking non-farm employment.
consequence of ending any protection tenants might have had
Public policy too faces serious challenges today in the absence
and forced future tenants underground.
of transparent land leasing laws. There are calls for expanded
Some states allowed tenancy but imposed a ceiling on land
and more effective crop insurance. Recognizing that such
rent at one-fourth to one-fifth of the produce. But since this rent
insurance is likely to be highly subsidized, as has been the case
fell well below the market rate, contracts became oral in these
with the past programmes, a natural question is how to ensure
states as well, with the tenant paying closer to 50% of the
that the tenant who bears the bulk of the risk of cultivation
produce in rent.
receives this benefit. The same problem arises in the face of a
Many large states including Telangana, Bihar, Karnataka,
natural calamity; if tenancy is informal, how do we ensure that
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh ban land leasing with
the actual cultivator receives disaster relief.
ECONOMY
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs the Team India - the first meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, in New Delhi on
Feb 8, 2015. (Photo: PIB)
In a similar vein, fertilizer subsidy today is subject to vast
leakages and sales of subsidized fertilizer in the black market.
In principle, these leakages could be sharply curtailed by the
introduction of direct benefit transfer (DBT) using Aadhar seeded
bank accounts along the lines of the cooking gas subsidy transfer.
But in face of difficulty in identifying the real cultivator and
therefore intended beneficiary, DBT cannot be satisfactorily
implemented.
In the context of the difficulties in land acquisition under the
2013 land acquisition law, states wishing to facilitate
industrialization can further benefit from liberal land leasing if
they simultaneously liberalize the use of agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes.
Currently, conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural
use requires permission from the appropriate authority, which
can take a long time. State governments can address this barrier
by either an amendment of the law to permit non-agricultural
use or by the introduction of time-bound clearances of
applications for the conversion of agricultural land use in the
implementing regulations.
The reform open up another avenue to the provision of land
for industrialization: long-term land leases that allow the owner
to retain the ownership while earning rent on her land. In
addition, she will have the right to renegotiate the terms of the
lease once the existing lease expires.
Therefore, the introduction of transparent land leasing laws that
allow the potential tenant or sharecropper to engage in written
contracts with the landowner is a win-win reform. The tenant will
have an incentive to make investment in improvement of land,
landowner will be able to lease land without fear of losing it to
the tenant and the government will be able to implement its policies
efficiently. Simultaneous liberalization of land use laws will also
open up an alternative avenue to the provision of land for
industrialization that is fully within the state's jurisdiction and
allows the landowner to retain ownership of her land.
A potential hurdle to the land leasing reform laws is that
landowners may fear that a future populist government may use
the written tenancy contracts as the basis of transfer of land to
the tenant and therefore would oppose the reform. This is a
genuine fear but may be addressed in two alternative ways.
The ideal way would be yet another major reform: giving
landowners indefeasible titles. States such as Karnataka that
have fully digitized land records and the registration system are
indeed in a position to move in this direction. For other states,
such titles are a futuristic solution.
Therefore, in the interim, they can opt for the alternative
solution of recording the contracts at the level of the Panchayat
eschewing acknowledging the tenant in the revenue records.
They may then insert in the relevant implementing regulations
the clause that for purposes of ownership transfer, only the
tenancy status in revenue records would be recognized.
State governments must seriously consider revisiting their
leasing (and land use) laws to determine if they could bring
about these simple but powerful changes to enhance productivity
and welfare all around. We, at the NITI Aayog, stand ready to
assist them in this endeavour.
(Arvind Panagariya is vice chairman of NITI Aayog. The
article has been picked from his blog, which is also available
at www.niti.gov.in)
ECONOMY
DREADNOUGHT OF DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS
SHAPING UP; Rs 81,459 CRORE APPROVAL PERK UP WORK
■
By Neeraj Bajpai
Goods laden rakes running on dedicated corridors, sparing over
burdened tracks for back-to-back swanky passenger trains filing
fast solar energy-lit Swachch stations and smart cities in large
swathes of the populous nation within next four years sounds like
castles in air.
But many people are fairly sanguine that green shoots are
sprouted. Rs 15,500 crore contracts were given in the past few
months by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Limited
(DFCCL), and heavy machineries in large numbers are being
moved on the ground to expedite the gigantic task which, for an
example, is guzzling Rs 100 crore per month on the Khurja –
Kanpur section alone against earlier investment of Rs.30 crore
per month.
As deadlines loom, the fourth floor of five-storey building next
to Pragati Maidan appears peaceful, but massive churning is
underway with pre-bidding conferences notices on display
boards and bureaucrats collating data from ground as the Rail
Bhawan mounts continued surveillance on the progress. The
building and the Corporation logo do not draw attention which
is more focused on attractive stalls of sprawling exhibition
ground but on ground locals say development is palpable.
“An analysis of the ordering progress by DFCCIL in the recent
months reveal that the total value of contracts awarded since
November is a whopping Rs 15,485 crore which is more than
total works awarded by the same organisation in the past six
years, that stands at Rs.13,125 crore” said officials flipping
through piles of data sheets and browsing on computers.
Most of these contracts are for the construction of track and
structures and electrical and signalling installations on the
Western and Eastern Freight corridors. During the past few
months, major contracts issued comprise civil contracts from
Kanpur-Mughalsarai (402 kms) and Vadodara to Vaitarna (320
kms), electrical and signalling contracts on western DFC from
Rewari to Vadodara (950 kms).
Officials feel that the two DFCs would free up 70 per cent of
railways cargo carrying capacity, but land acquisition challenges
face the iconic project.This is despite the fact that 84 per cent of
land acquisitions have been completed in both the corridorsincluding 88 per cent in the Western corridor and 79 per cent
in the eastern corridor. Sixteen per cent is hanging fire, awaiting
the new land laws.
According to DFCCIL sources, there are 1,042 court cases
and 3,391 arbitration disputes pending as land losers have
knocked courts' doors.As a consequence, land is not available
in 144 patches, affecting length of 245 kms in eastern corridor
and 296 stretches impacting 113 kms in the western corridor.
These patches are mainly in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra , Haryana
and Gujarat.
DFCCIL's Adesh Sharma says work is underway in full swing
and now per day 80,000 cubic meter earth work is done against
earlier data of 5000 cubic meter per day. Contractors, he said,
had been directed to deploy two times in volumes the mandatory
machineries ,More than 100 excavators are working in each
corridor. December 2019 is the date line for completion based
on the land acquisition status and contracts position.
Officials feel the Khurja-Kanpur will be ready by March
2018; Durgawati- Sasaram during the current fiscal,
Mughalsarai-Sonnagar by 2017 and Kanpur-Mughalsarai by
December 2018. Likewise in the Western corridor RewariIqbalgar has been planned for June 2018, Iqbalgarh-Vadodara
by March 2019.
The revenue will start trickling due to phased commissioning
of corridors as the access charges will be levied. Mr Sharma has
told media that multi-modal logistic parks and private freight
terminals, to be developed along the DFCs, will impart additional
income track access charges which are being calculated by an
expert committee.
Flagging big ticket procurements finalised by the DFCCIL,
officials claim that after a long period stagnation, riddled with
procurement snags and procedural delays, both the corridors,
being built by the corporation, an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle)
of Railway Ministry have now started gathering momentum.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, last
week, approved the revised cost estimate (RCE) of Rs.81,459
crore for both the corridors and the much awaited sanction has
perked up things in the infra project. Of this amount, construction
cost accounts for Rs.26,674 crores for the EDFC and Rs.46,718
crores for the WDFC and land acquisition cost of Rs.8,067
crore.
The Corporation, recalling previous handicaps, says that the
original estimate prepared by RITES in 2007 had to undergo
many major changes as it had no provision of soft costs (about
Rs.27,381 crore like interest during construction, insurance,
escalation and other contingencies. The estimate, they say, had
no provision even for the basic electrification of WDFC and was
devoid of the latest specifications already in vogue on word
Railways.
Subsequently, during the revision, the standard of construction
was raised from 25 ton axle load to 32.5 ton and a slew of
advanced safety features including Train Protection Warning
System (TPWS) have been incorporated.
Oblivious of these developments, passengers on trains debate
on the corridors. A UNI correspondent, travelling on a Shatabdi
train to Kanpur recently found travellers discussing large tracks
ECONOMY
of blanketing near Tundla. While a few passengers feigned
ignorance, others said parallel highway is being made but other
quipped, ”come what may ,something is happening”.
An informed railway staffer briefed them about the DFC ,but
it evoked interesting comments from sceptics - these
announcements of flagship programmes are all humbug and
”we are being bamboozled for make believe world”.
Twirling his moustache, a passenger commented that these
projects should not be linked with party politics and such iconic
programmes be appreciated – started by the previous United
Progressive Alliance regime and expedited by the NDA
dispensation as finally these will be national assets in a few
years. Every project starts like these and one day dreadnoughts
emerge in skylines.
The Western DFC is being funded by Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). Part of Eastern DFC (MughalsaraiAllahabad-Kanpur- Khurja –Ludhiana ) is being funded by
World Bank. Danduni –Sonnagar section of the Eastern DFC will
be through PPP. East west Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai) 2,330
kms, North–South corridor, 2343 km, East West Corridor
(Kharagpur-Vijayawada) 1,100km and Southern Corridor
(Chennai-Goa) 899 kms are on slate as future corridors.
DFCCIL appears conceived for the development of dedicated
freight line to boost freight transportation in Railways which will
spur Railway share in transportation of goods. The dedicate
Freight corridors were necessitated after saturation of Golden
Quadrilateral (which had linked four metros Delhi, Chennai,
Howarh, Mumbai along with diagonals Delhi-Chennai and
Mumbai–Howrah)-with over 10,000 kms and carrying more
than 55 per cent revenue earning freight traffic. In wake of the
bulging traffic, the Government planned two Corridors— the
Western DFC ( 1,502 kms) and Eastern DFC (1,840 km)—
sparing a total length of about 3,342 route km.
The EDFC, starting from Dankuni in West Bengal, will pass
through the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and
Haryana to terminate at Ludhiana. The Western corridor that will
traverse the distance from Dadri (UP) to Mumbai–Jawaharlal
Nehru) Port (JNPT) will traverse the National Capital Region,
Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Envisioning paradigm shift in the freight operation , the DFCs
envisage long haul operation;trailing loads per train will increase
from 5,000 to 13,000 tonnes. On the ground, works are on, but
the Land Bill passage is all set to play pivotal role as the land
acquisition is caught in legal wrangles. Civil works on BhaupurKhurja section is progressing well.The earth work for 150 kms
formation and blanketing has been completed in 55 kms.
Likewise, civil works in Rewari-Iqbalgarh for 625 kms have
been started. Work on embankments is in progress in about 150
kms and work on 70 minor bridges also got off. In Mughalsari
–Sonnagar section 65 m long bow string girder for new road
overbridge at Bhabua was successfuly launched across three
Indian Railway (IR) tracks a few months ago.
- PIB
88-93-DEFENCE_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:43 AM Page 1
DEFENCE
upgraded system for electronic warfare, which will be replaced in
one of the corps at a cost of Rs.265 crore by BEL.
Microlight aircraft for the National Cadet Corps were also
approved.
India aims for 200-ship fleet by 2027
India clears defence purchases worth over
Rs.29,000 crore
New Delhi: India cleared defence purchases worth over Rs.29,000
crore ($4.5 billion) at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council
(DAC). The DAC, chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar,
approved a deviation in offset clause for acquiring four Boeing P8I
maritime surveillance aircraft. The proposal is worth Rs.4,380
crore, and comes as seven of eight of these surveillance aircraft
have been inducted in the Indian Navy.
The original eight-aircraft deal was signed in 2009. The navy
in November last year decided to go in for the option clause in the
contract under which it can order four more. Also approved was
a Rs.16,900 crore proposal for replacing the 1960s vintage L70
and ZU 23 anti-aircraft guns. Official sources said 428 guns will
be acquired under the 'buy and make in India' clause of the
Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). Other proposals cleared
include upgradation of the weapons and sensor systems of six ships
of the Delhi and Talwar class for Rs.2,900 crore.
The update will be in the air defence missile, and surface to air
missile systems and associated radars, and will be done as these
ships go mid-life upgradation. In the Delhi class ships, a Gigabit
Ethernet Ships Data network will replace optical fibres that are used
to control weapon systems. All critical weapon data would be
stored in this system, which will be fitted in the ships at a cost of
Rs.260 crore. A Brahmos training facility will be established at INS
Valsura, a naval station in Gujarat, for Rs.30 crore for providing
training to the naval engineers.
The DAC also approved a proposal for placing air combat
manoeuvring systems in the Indian Navy's MiG-29Ks and Hawk
AJT aircraft at a cost of Rs.200 crore. This will help in keeping track
of the location of the aircraft while it is flying.
The army will also get 14,000 units of Multi Spectrum
Camouflage Net at the cost of Rs.310 crore, a Bi-Modular Charge
System for 155 mm artillery guns for 3.5 lakh modules, and an
New Delhi: India aims at having a 200-ship fleet by 2027, which
is the end year of its 30-year-perspective plan, Navy vice chief P.
Murugesan said. Vice Admiral Murugesan however admitted that
the navy, which has been leading in domestic production in defence
sector, lags behind in production of fight components.
Noting the navy presently has 137 ships and submarines, he
said: "By 2027, the aspiration is 200 ships... but even for going to
150 from 137, a lot of efficiency is required." The maritime
capability perspective plan of the Indian Navy envisages a 198ship navy by 2027.
As the navy plans a seminar on 'Make in India' with industry
chamber Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), he said India has
achieved 90 percent indigenisation in float component, 60 percent
indigenisation in move component but the fight component is still
just 30 percent indigenised.
"Fight component is still lagging behind," he said.
Vice Admiral Murugesan however said a lot of private industries
are coming forward, and the environment is conducive for them to
grow. Asked about the shortage of helicopters in the navy, the vice
chief said that there are plans for acquisition.
He acknowledged the shortage worried him but quickly added:
"We have plans for acquisition of helicopters. It will go through
several processes".
Anil Ambani announces Rs.5,000 crore
new defence investment
New Delhi: With the recent acquisition of Pipavav Defence,
Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani announced that an
additional investment of Rs.5,000 crore will be made as part of
India's emphasis on "Make in India" for military hardware and cut
imports.
He also underscored the need for larger public-private
partnerships in the defence domain, and called for pooling of
resources so that India becomes self-reliant in protecting its
boundaries and cuts reduces its dependence on the global markets.
Quoting extensively from the experiences he gained from his
late father, the legendary industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani, the
Reliance Group chairman said his father's vision was to meet the
aspirations of generations with self reliance, adding that the Make
in India initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a major step
towards that.
"This initiative of the government redefines the defence
ecosystem in India with our Navy in the lead... For a country with
one of the longest coastlines in the region and vast expanse of
territories over the seas, self reliance in naval capabilities is an ever
challenging imperative," he said.
DEFENCE
The Reliance Group chairman said the acquisition of the
Pipavav Defence Company in Gujarat with assets worth more than
Rs.10,000 crore was his company's contribution towards self
reliance. "Pipavav has the largest dry dock in the country and the
second largest in the world. With more than 30 lakh sq ft of
covered area for fabrication and integration alone, this is perhaps
the largest single location defence manufacturing facility in India,"
he said.
"We will invest an additional Rs.5,000 crore over the next few
years as part of our commitment towards indigenisation efforts."
He said that the Pipavav facility will be capable to deliver "all
requirements of the Indian Navy from frigates to aircraft carriers
to submarines". Russia, meanwhile, has chosen Pipav as a partner
to build three updated versions of Talwar-class frigates, likely to be
the biggest-ever warship-building project for private sector in India
worth around $3-$3.5 crore. Ambani said self reliance in defence
is also needed so that India does not have to compromise on its
foreign policy. "Large part of our Defence inventory have
dependency on global relations. This creates limitations and subserves our foreign policy. Self-reliance gives us the flexibility to
pursue our foreign policy objectives," he said.
He said since the sole consumer for domestic defence hardware
was the government, "specific measures towards ease of doing
business will encourage industry participation". Accordingly, he
suggested an advisory committee with chief executives from public
and private sectors to meet regulary to "align and converge the
understanding and aspirations of all stakeholders".
"There is need to institutionalise private sector participation not
only for indigenisation but the entire spectrum of defence
production through groups comprising Private Sector companies
and PSUs at MoD to pool resources," he said also suggesting a
separate joint secretary in the defence ministry for the private
sector. "Today, in the ministry of Defence we have joint secretaries
responsible for different public sector undertakings. I believe there
is a case for a joint secretary exclusively to engage at the business
level with the private sector," he said.
Ambani also expressed hope that the updated defence
procurement procedure (DPP) will help "in ease of doing business
with MoD... Transparent, fair procedures and processes creates a
favourable climate, encourage competitiveness and eventually
deliver the best overall value for the country," he said.
Another suggestion from the industrialist was to introduce
courses at IITs, IIMs and other higher learning institution related to
the requirements of the defence industry.
Russia chooses Reliance Group for 'Make
in India' frigates
New Delhi: With India close to choosing Grigorivich frigates for
its navy, Russia is partnering Anil Ambani-led Pipavav Defence to
build these ships under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in
India" initiative, official sources said.
They will be upgraded versions of Talwar-class ships, or the
Russian equivalent of Krivak-III. Confirming this to IANS, at least
two senior defence officials said a team from Russia evaluated
three-four private and state-run shipyards as they were keen on an
Indian partner if the ships were to be built in India. This will be a
pre-condition for the order valued at $3-$3.5 billion.
The sites evaluated were Pipavav's yard in Gujarat, Larsen and
Toubro's unit at Ennore, and the state-run Cochin Shipyard in
Kerala. Pipavav, a majority stake in which was acquired by the
Reliance Group a few months ago, emerged the winner.
"The Prime Minister's Office is closely watching the
development," one of the two officials told IANS. "This is likely to
be an order that will be placed on the government of Russia by our
government." Incidentally, the development comes against the
backdrop of the navy vice chief, Vice Admiral P. Murugesan,
stating on Tuesday that India was exploring the possibility of getting
upgraded Talwar-class ships and was in talks with Russia for its
Grigorivich frigates technology.
"As per our maritime perspective plan, we have to build a
certain number of ships in a certain time. We are exploring the
possibility to expedite the acquisition of certain number of ships,"
Murugesan told reporters here. "But this will not be an import. It
has to be made in India." The idea is to have a 198-ship naval
force by 2027, up from the current 137 vessels. Already, 48
warships are under construction at Indian shipyards, including
aircraft carriers, frigates, destroyers, submarines, corvettes and
fast-attack craft. India has been stressing on domestic defence
production under the "Make in India" programme, an important
aspect of which is to get technology transfers and inviting foreign
firms to manufacture in India.
The Grigorivichs are improved variants of the six Talwar-class
frigates the navy obtained between 2003 and 2013. In March, the
Reliance Group had announced its acquisition of a 18-percent
stake from the then promoters of Pipavav Defence, apart from a
26-percent mandatory open offer. Pipavav's facility is at the
location by the same name on the Gujarat coast and claims
modern, versatile engineering and fabrication facilities with
shipbuilding infrastructure that is also suitable for the construction
of a wide range of warships and submarines.
DEFENCE
Human remains recovered from Dornier
wreckage; search ends
Array Chennai: After the recovery of human remains and
personal belongings of the three-member crew along with the
wreckage from the seabed, search operations for the missing
Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft that plunged into the sea
on June 8 have been called off, an official said on Tuesday.
Even as the Coast Guard announced an end to the search
operations, named 'Op Talash', Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar conveyed his condolences to the families of the three
deceased crew members. "Human remains and wrist watches
of the crew have been recovered from the seabed. The human
remains will be sent for DNA analysis for identification
purposes," Coast Guard Inspector General (Eastern Region)
Satya Prakash Sharma told reporters here.
He said the search operations ended as most aircraft parts
have been recovered. He said the human remains would be sent
to the Tamil Nadu Forensic Science Department for DNA tests,
and the flight data recorder or black box and other recovered
items to the board of inquiry to ascertain the cause of the
mishap.
Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said the remains
were recovered from "three different locations at the crash site"
and identified by a doctor on board MV Olympic Canyon –
Reliance Industries' ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) deep sea
operations vessel which was requisitioned for searching the
Dornier wreckage.
"The recovered remains were handed over to the Board of
Enquiry at Coast Guard Air Station in Chennai," Kar said in a
tweet. "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar expresses his
heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families," Kar also
tweeted. According to Sharma, the aircraft seems to have
exploded in mid-air and crashed into the sea.
The human remains and a wrist watch of one of the crew
members were found near the wreckage during Monday night's
search, the Coast Guard IG said.
The Dornier aircraft with deputy commandant Vidyasagar
(pilot), deputy commandant Subash Suresh (co-pilot) and
navigator/observer M.K. Soni went missing on the night of June
8 while returning to its base at Chennai airport after a
surveillance sortie along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay.
The search operations drew a blank for a long time, after
which the Coast Guard requested agencies in the US, Canada,
Australia and Japan to help find the probable location of the
missing aircraft. According to Sharma, the foreign agencies
validated the search area of the Coast Guard.
The aircraft was flying at around 9,000 feet when it dropped
about 5,000 feet in a few seconds on June 8. Sharma earlier
told IANS that it was not possible for the aircraft to come out of
the dive due to the speed at which it came down.
According to him, the black box data was expected to reveal
the cause of the mishap.
More than one shipyard to make six
submarines
New Delhi: More than one shipyard will be chosen to build six
advanced submarines for the Indian Navy, and it may take
around two years for the process to start, the navy vice chief,
Vice Admiral P. Murugesan, said.
Asked about the report of a committee which was looking at
shortlisting shipyards for the submarines, he said the "next level"
will come very soon.
"We are going to make the submarines indigenously... But
we have to follow the DPP (Defence Procurement Procedure),"
he said, adding that the assessment of the report will start "any
time soon".
A tender potentially worth Rs.60,000 crore – to build the six
submarines — is expected to be floated soon.
Asked when the manufacturing process is expected to start,
he said it will take around "two years".
"It will not be only one shipyard... there will be a competitive
process, the (defence) ministry may agree to all of them, or
some of them," he said. Six firms, including Larsen & Toubro,
Pipavav Defence and the state-run Mazagon dockyard, are in
he fray, as per sources.
The government gave its clearance three years ago for six
submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) capability
and subsequently decided last year to build them in Indian yards
as part of the Make in India initiative.
The orginal plan was to import two submarines. But it was
later decided to make all six in India so that the domestic
defence infrastructure is strengthened while allowing Indian
companies to tie up with the best-suited foreign collaborator.
DEFENCE
Army to launch new software to
digitalise personnel records
New Delhi: The Indian Army will launched a new software that
will computerise the records of over 12 lakh serving soldiers,
sources said. The software, ARPAN 3.0, launched by Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar as part of the 'Digital India Week'.
It is an upgraded version of ARPAN 2.0, which has been used
to partially digitise the records.
The software will digitise details of soldiers, including
personal documentation, unit administration, salary, leave,
transfer and postings, besides various reports and returns.
An Army official said the software has been developed jointly
by the Army Software Development Centre (ASDC) and Tech
Mahindra. The software would be used across 45 of the Army's
record offices in the country in a year.
Other long-term plans of the army include developing
automation applications for equipment procurement, storage,
maintenance, logistics management and a geographic
information system (GIS), connectivity for which is provided
through the secure Army Data Network, available to all units of
the Indian Army.
Indigenously-built Akash missile inducted
in IAF
Gwalior: The indigenously-developed supersonic surface-to-air
missile 'Akash' was formally inducted in the Indian Air Force
(IAF) here.
The missile, having a speed three times faster than that of sound,
can hit eight targets at a time, according to defence experts. In
a function held here at the Maharajpur Air Force Station,
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar handed over Akash to IAF
chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
Akash missile system is already with the Indian Army.
Parrikar, who witnessed the live demonstration of the missile,
lauded the efforts of Defence Research and Development
Organisation, Bharat Electronics Limited and public and private
industries and said they had worked together to resolve a
number of challenges that arose in the production of the Akash
missile system.
The IAF chief said that a high success rate had been achieved
during the trials of the missile system. He said plans were afoot
for procurement of additional Akash systems.
Akash is a potent supersonic mobile multi-directional, multitarget air defence system that can simultaneously engage
multiple air targets using sophisticated multi-function phased
array radars.
The advanced ECCM (Electronic Counter Counter Measures)
features provide secure communication links with other air
defence command and control networks to handle counter
electronic warfare scenario.
The surface-to-air missile, prepared using 92 percent of
indigenous machinery, can be transported anywhere via road,
water or air transport, defence experts said.
They said the missile can track a target 100 km away and
hit the enemy's helicopter, plane or drone from a 25-km
distance. The missile's radar, developed by BEL, has been
named "Rajendra Radar".
Officials said indigenous development of Akash system has
given impetus to the defence industrial base of the country and
generated business of more than Rs.20,000 crore.
Boeing, TASL ink manufacturing
agreement
Hyderabad: Giving a boost to 'Make in India' initiative, Boeing
and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) signed a framework
agreement to collaborate in aerospace and defense
manufacturing and potential integrated systems development
opportunities, including unmanned aerial vehicles.
The companies intend to access markets jointly for products
and platforms developed together by Boeing and TASL, said a
statement by TASL.
The agreement was signed by Shelley Lavender, president of
Boeing Military Aircraft and Sukaran Singh, managing director
and chief executive officer of TASL, here at the Aerospace
Special Economic Zone, Adibatla, where TASL has four units.
TASL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, is already on
contract to manufacture aerostructures for Boeing's CH-47
Chinook and AH-6i helicopters.
A significant player in global aerospace market, it has
partners like Boeing, Ruag, Cobham, Pilatus, Lockheed Martin,
Sikorsky and Airbus.
Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading
manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space and
security systems.
"This agreement with TASL is significant because it
demonstrates Boeing's commitment to expanding its aerospace
manufacturing footprint in India," Lavender said.
"As we step into our 100th year in business, a new aerospace
DEFENCE
partnership with India is the perfect milestone to accelerate the
momentum we have generated for making in India," said
Pratyush Kumar, president for Boeing India.
"This framework agreement is the result of the world-class
competencies of TASL as well as the vendor eco-system it has
helped establish in India. It gives us an opportunity to explore
the massive potential in India for aerospace manufacturing and
make the investments required to grow the industry," said S.
Ramadorai, chairman of TASL.
TASL's development and production facilities are spread over
Hyderabad and Delhi. With 450,000 square feet space, the
facilities have 1,800 member strong team.
The capabilities include the assembly and integration of a
complete aircraft. It has India's largest private sector integrated
detailed part manufacturing facility for aircraft and helicopters.
The units at Hyderabad include a joint venture with Sikorsky.
It has so far delivered 95 cabins for Sikorsky S92 helicopters.
TASL also has a joint venture with Lockheed Martin to
manufacture the empennage and centre wing box for the C-130
J aircraft.
A dedicated facility is under construction for the Pilatus PC 12
Green Aircraft. The first delivery is scheduled by mid-2016.
Another dedicated facility is under construction for assembly
of wings and fuselage of Dornier 228 NG Aero structure
components. The first delivery is expected in second quarter of
2015.
RFP for 126 Rafale jets withdrawn,
negotiation on for 36: Parrikar
New Delhi: A Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the defence
ministry for purchase of 126 Rafale jets has been withdrawn
after a government to government deal for buying 36 of the
medium multi role combat aircraft (MMRCA), Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar told parliament.
"The RFP issued earlier for procurement of 126 Medium Multi
Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) has been withdrawn. In this
multi-vendor procurement case, the Rafale aircraft met all the
performance characteristics stipulated in the Request for
Proposal (RFP) during the evaluation conducted by Indian Air
Force," Parrikar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
During his visit to France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced India will acquire 36 Rafale jets in fly-away
condition as quickly as possible.
He and French President Francois Hollande had agreed to
conclude an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) for supply of
the aircraft on terms that would be better than conveyed by
Dassault Aviation as part of a separate process underway, the
delivery would be in time-frame that would be compatible with
the operational requirement of IAF; and that the aircraft and
associated systems and weapons would be delivered on the
same configuration as had been tested and approved by IAF,
and with a longer maintenance responsibility by France.
The minister added that a negotiating team has been
constituted to negotiate the terms and conditions of the
procurement of 36 Rafale jets and recommend a draft
agreement. The meetings with the French side have commenced.
Now, Kaveri engine to power indigenous
UAV
New Delhi: The indigenous Kaveri engine, which has missed the
date to power Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), will now be used to
fly an Indian unmanned combat aircraft.
"So far, total expenditure incurred on development of Kaveri
engine is Rs.2,101 crore. Aero engine developed by DRDO has
not achieved the required thrust to power LCA," Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar said.
"Therefore, it has been decided to use Kaveri derivative
engine without after burner for powering Unmanned Combat
Aircraft," he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The minister said project for development of Kaveri engine
was sanctioned in 1989 with probable date of completion of
1996, which was extended to 2009.
Giving the reasons for non-completion of the project within
the time schedule, he said technological difficulties faced during
development due to complexities of engine system.
He said total of nine Kaveri prototypes and four Kaveri Core
Engine prototypes have been developed and accumulated more
than 2550 hours of engine testing.
The Kaveri engine was also integrated with IL-76 Aircraft and
flight tested.
Myanmar Army chief meets IAF chief
Arup Raha
New Delhi: Visiting Myanmar Army Chief Senior General Min
Aung Hlaing held talks with the Chairman Chiefs of Staff
Committee (COSC), Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
The air force chief is currently the senior-most of the three
services chiefs.
The Myanmar Army chief was also accorded a guard of
honour at the defence ministry. He also paid homage to martyrs
at the India Gate here.
The visit comes as India has stepped up operations along the
Indo-Myanmar border, following the ambush which killed 18
soldiers.
India and Myanmar share 1,643 km of unfenced border and
permits a "free movement" regime up to 16 km on either side.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in a written reply in Lok
Sabha last week, said Myanmar has assured New Delhi that it
will not allow use of its territory for activities inimical to India.
The minister said intelligence grid has been revitalised along the
Indo-Myanmar border and intelligence-based surgical
operations are being conducted to neutralise terrorists.
DEFENCE
VIEWPOINT
82% OF ROADS ALONG CHINA BORDER UNFINISHED
■
New Delhi: In 2006-07, India approved the construction of 73
strategic roads along the Sino-Indian border, but 82 percent of these
- scheduled to be ready by 2012 - are unfinished. The new
deadline: 2018. Despite ambitious plans, India cannot seem to
catch up with China in building infrastructure and militarising the
3,488 km border between the two countries.
The roads are part of a quiet but extensive Indian borderstrengthening plan, which includes a new army corps of 35,000
(down from 90,000) soldiers, specifically to counter China’s
burgeoning conventional forces across the Himalayas, and 14
strategic rail links to deploy troops and supplies. There is little doubt
that India is wary of Chinese abilities and intentions, despite recent
declarations of peace.
“It is not a volatile border. Not a single bullet has been fired for
over a quarter of a century now,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said in an interview with TIME magazine ahead of a visit to China.
Modi and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also agreed to “resolve
outstanding differences” and maintain “peace and tranquillity” but
on the border, “transgressions” - as Chinese posturing and troop
forays along the unmarked Line of Actual Control (LAC) are called
- are common. As many as 1,612 transgressions by Chinese troops
inside Indian territory took place between 2010 and August 2014,
according to data released by the home ministry.
New roads are being built, but progress is slow
“While our neighbouring countries can reach the borders within
two or three hours, our army takes more than a day to reach there.
This is a matter of great concern with regard to our defence
preparedness.” This is the observation of a parliamentary committee
on defence, alluding to the situation in Tawang in Arunachal
Pradesh. No more than 19 of 73 approved roads have been built,
according to the report. Delays on 40 roads have pushed deadlines
by as far as six years, while construction of two roads has not
started. In Assam, India’s longest bridge, 9.15-km long, will be
thrown open later this year. It'll cost Rs.876 crore (nearly $140
million) and is meant to bear the 41.5 tonne T-72 tanks and cut
travel time to the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, which lies along
the LAC.
Rail plans are still only plans, while China nears the border
India envisages urgently building four rail lines in the states of
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu &
Kashmir, stretching 1,352 km, to be built collectively by the ministries
of railways and defence.
While final surveys continue, China is already extending existing
rail lines to the border: ToYatung, a trade centre close to Sikkim,
and Nyingchi, a small town bordering Arunachal Pradesh. Both
Construction of 73 roads along the Sino-Indian border
approved in 2006-07
● 82 percent of these roads are unfinished
● 14 strategic rail links
● 1,612 transgressions by Chinese troops took place
between 2010 and August 2014
projects are expected to be completed by 2020.
China recently completed a railway line connecting the Tibetan
capital of Lhasa to Shigatze, a town close to Nathu La, a strategic
border post connecting Sikkim with the Tibetan Autonomous region.
Besides the contentious border, the Sino-Indian border dispute is
also fuelled by the Chinese claim to nearly 90,000 sq. km of
Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as South Tibet, and the Indian
claim that China illegally occupied nearly 30,000 sq km of the
deserted Aksai Chin region of northern Jammu and Kashmir after
the 1962 war.
Chinese airfields grow stronger
Six key civilian Chinese airfields in Tibet are being expanded to
handle military operations,according to Air Marshal M.
Matheswaran (retd), former Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence
Staff for Policy, Plans and Force Development.
Alongside, he said, China is deploying advanced military aircraft
and support systems such as air-to-air refuelling capabilities,
airborne advance warning systems, sensors, air-defence systems
and missile stocks. By contrast, India recently opened three
advanced landing grounds (ALGs) in J&K’s Ladakh region at Daulat
Beg Oldi, Fuk Che and Nyoma, all close to the LAC. Daulat Beg
Oldi is the world’s highest airfield at 16,614 feet.
It is about 10 km from the Sino-Indian border and has seen
regular landing of heavy transport aircraft. But such landing
grounds are not full-fledged air bases. They are landing strips that
can be used to drop-off troops and supplies.
This is why the Indian Air Force wants to upgrade the Nyoma
landing ground by 2016-17 to station fighter jets and provide
logistical support to the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) and Ladakh Scouts, an Indian Army unit.
In Arunachal Pradesh, advanced landing grounds are being
developed at Tawang, Mechuka, Vijaynagar, Tuting, Passighat,
Walong, Ziro and Along, at a cost of Rs.720 crore.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force has to deploy its frontline Sukhoi
SU-30MKI aircraft at Chabua and Tezpur air bases in Assam, up
to 405 km from the border. The combat jet can cover this distance
in less than 15 minutes.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, nonprofit, public interest journalism platform. The views expressed are
personal)
94-97-SPORTS_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:44 AM Page 1
SPORTS
CSK, ROYALS SUSPENDED FOR 2 YEARS,
MEIYAPPAN, KUNDRA FOR LIFE
New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals were
suspended from the Indian Premier League (IPL) for two years by
the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee in the spot
fixing and betting scandal that rocked the cash-rich Twenty20
tournament in 2013.
Former CSK team official Gurunath Meiyappan and Royals coowner Raj Kundra, both of whom were earlier found guilty of
betting, were suspended for life from any cricketing activity
undertaken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The
guilty duo were also suspended from any cricket related activity for
a maximum period of five years.
"His (Meiyappan) habit of regularly placing bets in IPL matches
renders the argument of his being first offender and unblemished
antecedents in previous IPL tournaments of no worth. That he
suffered loss of Rs.60 lakh in bets shows that he engaged himself
in heavy bets. It is his bad luck that he did not make money out of
these bets," Justice Lodha said at a press briefing.
"Any agony suffered by him because of media coverage or any
hardship that may have been caused to him is too small in comparison
to the huge injury he caused to the reputation and image of the game,
IPL and BCCI," Justice Lodha said. "If the reputation, image and spirit
of the sport are lost, what remains? Being 40 years of age, he is not
young but middle-aged. It is difficult to accept that he has passion for
the game. Any person who has true passion for the game would not
be involved in betting."
Meiyappan is the son-in-law of former BCCI president and
current International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman N. Srinivasan.
When approached by media channels, Srinivasan said: "Don't
want to speak on this issue, associated with CSK. It has nothing to
do with me, why should I step down?"
Kundra is an Indian-origin British businessman who is married
to Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Kundra, who owned 11.74
percent of shares in Rajasthan Royals before giving them away in
March, was also handed the same sanctions as Meiyappan, which
IPL 2013 spot fixing controversy: Timeline
The following timeline traces the IPL scandal.
May 16, 2013: Delhi Police arrest Sreesanth, Ankit Chauhan,
Ajit Chandila, Sreesanth's friend and alleged bookie Jiju
Janardhan and 10 other bookies.
May 17, 2013: BCCI suspends former Rajasthan Royals player
Amit Singh.
May 18, 2013: Ajit Chandila's house searched by Delhi Police
for more information on the spot fixing case.
May 20, 2013: Rajasthan Royals terminate contracts with the
three accused players.
May 21, 2013: Mumbai police arrest actor Vindoo Dara Singh
for his alleged links with bookies.
May 23, 2013: Mumbai police team searches Meiyappan's
residence in Chennai.
May 24, 2013: Mumbai police arrest Meiyappan on charges of
betting, cheating and conspiracy. India Cements executive
president T.S. Raghupathy says Meiyappan was neither the
owner, nor CEO/team principal of Chennai Super Kings, only a
cricket "enthusiast".
May 26, 2013: BCCI appoints a three-man commission
consisting of Justice T. Jayaram Chouta, Justice R.
Balasubramanian and BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale to look
into the betting charges against Meiyappan.
May 28, 2013: Rajasthan Royals trio Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila
and Ankeet Chavan are sent to judicial custody in Tihar. Ankeet
Chavan granted bail until June 6 for his marriage.
May 31, 2013: BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer
Ajay Shirke step down.
June 1, 2013: IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla resigns.
June 2, 2013: BCCI president N. Srinivasan steps aside
temporarily, Jagmohan Dalmiya takes over as interim president.
June 5, 2013: Kundra is questioned by Delhi Police on the
accused players.
June 10, 2013: Kundra suspended by BCCI for indulging in
betting. Sreesanth and two others are granted bail by the court.
July 28, 2013: Two-member probe panel rules there is no
evidence of any wrongdoing against Kundra, Meiyappan, India
Cements and Rajasthan Royals.
July 30, 2013: The Bombay High Court rules the BCCI's twoman probe panel as illegal, and asks how could it declare
everyone innocent without even speaking to police.
August 1, 2013: The Bombay High Court dismisses the findings
of the BCCI-appointed probe panel that gave clean chit to
Meiyappan and Kundra on the PIL filed by Cricket Association of
Bihar secretary Aditya Verma.
August 5, 2013: The BCCI moves the Supreme Court against the
Bombay High Court decision.
August 31, 2013: The Supreme Court issues notice to BCCI, N.
Srinivasan, his company India Cements - which owns Chennai
Super Kings - and Rajasthan Royals on an appeal challenging
the Bombay High Court order for not appointing a fresh
committee to probe the alleged corruption in IPL.
September 13, 2013: Sreesanth and Chavan benned for life by
BCCI while Amit Singh is banned for five years.
September 22, 2013: Mumbai police file charge-sheet against
Meiyappan and umpire Asad Rauf based on incriminating
evidence against them.
October 8, 2013: The Supreme Court appoints a three-member
SPORTS
the committee said commence with immediate effect.
In his initial reaction to the committee verdict, Kundra tweeted:"
Many inaccuracies. Have requested for a copy of the judgment.
Obviously very shocked and disappointed." The verdict, read out
by former Chief Justice of India Justice R.M. Lodha in the presence
of the other committee members, said the cricketers who were part
of the two teams were free to join any other outfit.
The Supreme Court on Jan. 22 set up the committee comprising
Justice Lodha, Justice Ashok Bhan (retired) and Justice R.
Raveendran (retired) to determine the quantum of punishment for
Meiyappan, Kundra and their respective franchises. In March, the
panel had also issued a show cause notice to Meiyappan and
Kundra seeking their response to the committee findings.
In addition, Lodha said the fate of ex-IPL Chief Operating Officer
(COO) Sundar Raman, who is also alleged to have been involved
in wrongdoing, is yet to be ascertained as the investigation against
him is ongoing. The committee was also requested to examine and
make suitable recommendations to the BCCI for reforms in its
practices and procedures and amendments in the memorandum
of association, rules and regulations. Lodha said this would be
done in due course of time.
committee headed by former high court judge Mukul Mudgal.
February 10, 2014: The Mudgal panel finds Meiyappan guilty
of betting and passing on team information during IPL 2013. The
probe also adds that Meiyappan has been proved to be a team
official of Chennai Super Kings.
March 28, 2014: The Supreme Court asks Srinivasan to step
down as the BCCI president and names Sunil Gavaskar as the
interim chief of the board for IPL-7.
April 16, 2014: The Supreme Court rejects Srinivasan's request
to return to the BCCI fold and reveals that his name features in
the inquiry report submitted by the Mudgal Committee.
April 29, 2014: BCCI suggests a three-man committee to the SC
to probe IPL scandal.
April 22, 2014: The SC asks the Mudgal Committee to
investigate the IPL corruption issue.
May 22, 2014: The Supreme Court declines Srinivasan's plea to
be reinstated as the BCCI president for non-IPL affairs.
June 12, 2014: The SC allows Srinivasan to contest for the top
ICC post, decline petition by Cricket Association of Bihar.
July 18, 2014: The Supreme Court relieves Sunil Gavaskar as
interim president of BCCI - IPL affairs and says board vicepresident Shivlal Yadav will continue in the interim capacity as
chief of BCCI for all non-IPL related matters.
November 3, 2014: The Mudgal Committee submits its final
report in the IPL corruption case to the Supreme Court.
November 10, 2014: The SC takes up the multiple reports
submitted by the Mudgal Committee and postpones the hearing
till November 14.
November 11, 2014: The Bombay High Court squashes the
conflict of interest PIL against Srinivasan, filed by the Cricket
Association of Bihar, challenging two amendments in BCCI rules
BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said the Indian cricket board
will honour the verdict. "BCCI is committed to honour and respect
judicial decisions and it would give its observations after the entire
report is read and a collective decision is taken," said Dalmiya.
He added that the BCCI is committed to ensuring transparency,
accountability and cleansing the sport in order to restore the faith
and confidence of millions of cricket loving people in cricket in
general and IPL in particular. BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur
added: "We respect the verdict and would undertake a collective
decision in a transparent manner in the right direction and in the
larger interest of the game after the verdict analysed." Justice Mukul
Mudgal (retired), whose probe panel earlier found Meiyappan and
Kundra guilty, hailed the verdict and said it was a strong step.
"It is a strong punishment. It is an appropriate one. It will go a
long way in cleansing the game of cricket. Public faith will be
restored. It says, however, high a person may be, action will be
taken against him," Mudgal said. Secretary of the unrecognised
Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) Aditya Verma, who is the
petitioner in the IPL spot fixing case, demanded that the BCCI
should withdraw Srinivasan's nomination as its representative in
the ICC.
allegedly to favour Srinivasan.
November 21, 2014: Srinivasan seeks reinstatement as BCCI
chief.
November 27, 2014: The SC drops suggestions whether those
named in the Mudgal Committee report could keep out of BCCI
elections and the CSK franchise could be scrapped.
December 1, 2014: The SC says the onus is on disproving
conflict of interest on Srinivasan.
December 9, 2014: The SC proposes a high-powered committee
to cleanse cricket.
December 10, 2014: Srinivasan agrees to keep away from the
IPL, seeks an SC nod for reinstatement as BCCI president.
December 17, 2014: The SC asks players and administrators
with interests not to run the game and reserves order in the
alleged betting and spot-fixing scam case.
January 22, 2015: The SC bars Srinivasan from standing for
any post in the BCCI.
January 22, 2015: The SC sets up a three-member committee
headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha to determine
appropriate punishments for Meiyappan, Kundra and their
respective franchises.
July 11, 2015: The three-member panel says it will announce the
quantum of punishment on July 14 for Meiyappan, Kundra and
their teams - CSK and Rajasthan Royals respectively - for their
involvement in the scandal.
July 14, 2015: Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals are
suspended for two years by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice
Lodha Committee. Former CSK team official Gurunath
Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra are also
suspended for life from BCCI related activity. .
SPORTS
INDIANS AT WIMBLEDON 2015
The 2015 Wimbledon witnessed three Indians clinching three
different titles to end the country’s one of the most successful runs
at the Championships till date. Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and
Sumit Nagal all did the country proud by clinching the women’s
doubles, mixed doubles and boys’ doubles title respectively.
The 42-year-old Paes once again defied his age to clinch the
mixed doubles crown with Swiss partner Martina Hingis, thereby
claiming his 16th Grand Slam title. The seventh seeds, thrashed the
Austrian-Hungarian duo of Alexander Peya and Timea Babos 61, 6-1 in the final at Centre Court. This was Paes’ fourth mixed
doubles title at the Wimbledon. Earlier in 1999 he had triumphed
with American partner Lisa Raymond by his side and then went
onto win in 2003 with Martina Navratilova and in 2010 with Cara
Black from Zimbabwe.
Adding to the impressive tally is a mixed doubles title which he
had won with his countryman Mahesh Bhupathi way back in 1999.
Overall the man from Calcutta now has eight mixed doubles and
eight men's doubles Grand Slam titles.
In the finals Paes and Hingis broke their fifth seeded opponents
five times in the encounter, twice in the first set and thrice in the
second to register an easy win. The dominance was such of the
Indo-Swiss pair that they gave away just 20 points out of 75 played
in the contest. Earlier, the 17-year-old Nagal had ensured the
Indian tricolor was flying high as he etched his name in the books
by bagging the Wimbledon boys' doubles title with Vietnamese
partner Nam Hoang Ly. Eight seeded Nagal and Ly beat
American-Japanese fourth seeds Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan
7-6(4), 6-4 in the final in just over 60 minutes. Both teams broke
each other showcasing their mental toughness to push the first set
into a tie-breaker where Ly and Nagal edged past their opponents
to go into the lead.
The eighth seeds in the second set grabbed hold of the only
breakpoint they were offered to lap up the break of serve and then
went onto win the set and with it the match. The New Delhi-born,
right-handed player had also entered the boys' singles competition.
However, he was ousted from the category in his opener when he
lost to Argentinean Juan Pablo Ficovich in three sets. A day earlier,
Mirza hogged the limelight with her performance as she clinched
the women’s doubles title with Hingis by her side.
The top seeded duo made a miraculous comeback to defeat
Russian second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 57, 7-6(4), 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes. This was Sania's first
women's doubles title at Grand Slams though the World No.1 has
three mixed doubles trophies at Major events. This was also her
first final at the Wimbledon across all senior formats, though she
had took home the girl’s doubles trophy from here 12 years ago
with Russia's Alisa Kleybanova. It was an even contest in the final
right from the start with both pairs breaking each other’s serve a
couple of times.
The Russian duo took the first set to surge into the lead. But Sania
and Hingis beat them in the second set tie-break to take the
encounter to the decider. The Indo-Swiss pair however, let the
momentum slip as their opponents went 5-2 up in the last set. When
chances of a comeback looked bleak, Sania-Hingis traversed every
corner of the court to answer every ball that was hurled at them.
SPORTS
Their efforts paid off as the won the last set 7-5.
Another Indian star who tried hard at the tournament was
Rohan Bopanna but was eventually lost in the semi finals of the
men’s doubles. The pair lost 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 11-13 to DutchRomanian fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in a
edge-of-the-seat encounter which lasted for three hours and 23
minutes.
Career highlights of Leander Paes, Sania
Mirza and Sumit Nagal
LEANDER PAES
Parents: Vece Paes and Jennifer Paes
Birthplace: Calcutta (now Kolkata), India.
Olympic bronze medallist in 1996
Singles: Career titles: 1
Doubles: Career titles: 55
Mixed Doubles: Career titles: 8
Davis Cup semi-finalist in 1993
Recent victories: Mixed doubles: Australian Open 2015,
Wimbledon 2015
List of mixed doubles wins:
1999: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Lisa Raymond beat Anna
Kournikova and Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
2003: Australian Open/Hard, partner Martina Navratilova beat
Eleni Daniilidou and Todd Woodbridge 6-4, 7-5
2003: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Martina Navratilova beat
Anastassia Rodionova and Andy Ram 6-3, 6-3
2008: US Open/Hard, partner Cara Black beat Liezel Huber and
Jamie Murray 7-6, 6-4
2010: Australian Open/Hard, partner Cara Black beat Ekaterina
Makarova and Jaroslav Levinsky 7-5, 6-3
2010: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Cara Black
beat Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie 6-4, 76
2015: Australian Open/Hard, partner Martina
Hingis beat Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel
Nestor 6-4, 6-3
2015: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Martina
Hingis beat Timea Babos and Alexander Peya
6-1, 6-1
List of men’s doubles win: 8
1999: French Open/Clay, partner Mahesh
Bhupathi beat Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff
Tarango 6-2, 7-5
1999: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Mahesh
Bhupathi beat Paul Haarhuis and Jared Palmer
6-7 (10-12), 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
2001: French Open/Clay, partner Mahesh
Bhupathi beat Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner 7-6,
6-3
2006: US Open/Hard, partner Martin Damm beat Jonas
Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3
2009: French Open/Clay, partner Lukas Dlouhy beat Wesley
Moodie and Dick Norman 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
2009: US Open/Hard, partner Lukas Dlouhy beat Mahesh
Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
2012: Australian Open/Hard, partner Radek Stepanek beat Bob
Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
2013: US Open/Hard, partner Radek Stepanek beat Alexander
Peya and Bruno Soares 6-1, 6-3
SANIA MIRZA
Parents: Imran Mirza and Nasheema
Birthplace: Mumbai, but family later shifted to Hyderabad
Asian Games mixed doubles gold medalist 2006, 2014
Common Wealth Games silver medalist 2010
Afro-Asian Games 2003: Gold medals in women's singles/
doubles, mixed doubles and women's team
Singles: Career titles: 1 WTA
Doubles: Career titles: 27 WTA
Mixed Doubles: Career titles: 3
Recent victories: Women’s doubles Wimbledon 2015
List of women’s doubles win:
2015: Wimbledon/ Grass, partner Martina Hingis beat Ekaterina
Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5–7, 7–6(7–4), 7–5
List of mixed doubles win
2009: Australian Open/ Hard, partner Mahesh Bhupathi beat
Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram 6–3, 6–1
2012: French Open/ Clay, partner Mahesh Bhupathi beat Klaudia
Jans-Ignacik and Santiago González 7–6(7–3), 6–1
2014: US Open/ Hard, partner Bruno Soares
beat Abigail Spears and Santiago González
6–1, 2–6, [11–9]
Girls' Doubles: 1
2003: Wimbledon/Grass, partner Alisa
Kleybanova beat Kate ina Böhmová and
Michaëlla Krajicek 2–6, 6–3, 6–2
SUMIT NAGAL
Name: Sumit Nagal
Birthplace: Jhajjar (Haryana)
Won
Loss
Current Year Singles
13
5
Current Year Doubles
5
3
Career Singles
83
50
Career Doubles
52
41
1 ITF Junior Title, Wimbledon boy's doubles title
in 2015.
98-105-HISTORY_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:50 AM Page 1
HISTORY
VICEROYS OF INDIA
LORD CANNING (1856 –
1862)
• The Indian Councils Act of 1862 was
passed, which proved to be a landmark
in the constitutional history of India as is
authorized an increase in the size of the
various legislative councils in British India.
o It also relaxed restrictions imposed
by the Indian Councils Act 1861,
thus allowing the councils to discuss
each year's annual financial
statement.
o They could also put questions within certain limits to the
government on the matter of public interest after giving six
days' notice, but none of them was given right to ask
supplementary questions.
• The Indian Penal Code of Criminal Procedure (1859) was passed.
• The Indian High Court Act (1861) was enacted. Queen Victoria
created the High Courts in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay by Letters
Patent in 1865.
• Income Tax was introduced for the first time in 1858.
• The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were founded
in 1857.
LORD ELGIN I (1862–63)
Wahabi Movement (Pan-Islamic Movement)
Sir John Lawrence (1864–69):
• Telegraphic communication was opened with Europe.
• High Courts were established at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras
in 1865.
• Canal works and railways works were expanded.
• Lawrence advocated for State-managed railways;
• Indian Forest Department was created.
• Native Judicial service was given recognition.
LORD MAYO (1869–72)
• Financial decentralization was introduced in India.
• Rajkot College at Kathiarwar and
Mayo College at Ajmer were established
for the princes.
• Statistical Survey of India was
organised.
• Department of Agriculture and
Commerce were established.
• He was the only Viceroy to be
murdered in office by a Pathan convict in
Andamans in 1872,
Lucknow Pact
The main clauses of the Lucknow Pact were:
1. There shall be self-government in India.
2. The same method should be adopted for the Executive
Councils of Governors.
3. The India Council must be abolished.
4. The salaries of the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs
should be paid by the British government and not from
Indian funds.
5. The executive should be separated from the judiciary.
6. The number of Muslims in the provincial legislatures
should be laid down province by province.
7. Muslims should be given 1/3 representation in Central
Govt.
8. There should be separate electorates for all communities
until they ask for joint electorate.
9. System of weight-age should be adopted.
10. Term of Legislative Council should be 5 years.
11. Half of the members of Imperial Legislative Council
must be Indians.
• State Railways was introduced.
• First census of India was held in 1871.
LORD NORTHBROOK
(1872-76)
• Kuka Movement of Punjab took
rebellious turn
• In 1871, the Kukas met in conference
at the village Khote in Ferozepur.
• In this conference, two groups of Kukas
began to quarrel among themselves.
• Some Kukas in a fit of rage attacked
and murdered many butchers and others
suspected of kine slaughter.
• Killing of the butchers in many places followed this.
• The Kuka followers succeeded in enforcing civil disobedience as
well as carrying out extreme actions including murder of butchers
against cow slaughter.
LORD LYTTON (1876-80)
• Duties abolished on 29 British manufactured goods, which
accelerated drain of wealth of India
• A monsoon failure in 1876 began a terrible famine that was
especially devastating in Madras and Mysore but also affected
HISTORY
Hyderabad, Bombay, and the United
Provinces.
• The rains failed again in 1877.
• About 36 million people were affected,
and an estimated five and a half million
died of disease and starvation.
• General Strachey, who headed the
Famine Commission, had recommended
in 1880 addition of 5,000 miles of
railways and taking up more irrigation
works, especially in precarious areas.
Six basic principles adopted for famine relief:
1. Employment must be provided for those in need without putting
others out of work.
2. The state should distribute raw grain or money in villages rather
than feed people in poorhouses and temporary camps except in
extreme cases.
3. Government should allow private commerce to supply and
distribute food whenever possible.
4. Loans should be made for purchasing seed grain and bullocks
and to landlords while suspending rents.
5. Local administrators should have responsibility for expenditures
unless extra assistance is needed, especially for water storage.
6. Migration of cattle from drought areas to grassy forests may be
facilitated.
Strachey proposed setting aside £1.5 million annually for famine
relief, and this insurance fund reduced the borrowing for public
works.
• A new Famine Code was promulgated in 1883.
• During the worst part of the famine in 1877 the Parliament
obliviously removed the five-percent import duty on manufactured
cotton goods.
• Lytton made salt a Government monopoly with uniform duties.
The tax on salt was less than three farthings per pound, but it gave
the Government annual revenue of more than £7 million.
• The Viceroy made it even harder for Indians to pass civil service
exams in England by reducing the maximum age to 19 in 1877.
• Two years later he opened one-sixth of the covenanted service
positions to Indians, but they had to be approved by the GovernorGeneral-in-Council.
• Lytton also enacted the Vernacular Press Act against sedition in
native-language newspapers with the argument that they were more
susceptible than English readers, but his liberal successor got this
repealed.
• The Act of 1876 made Queen Victoria sovereign over the Indian
states as of the beginning of 1877.
LORD RIPON (1880-84)
• The famous Bengal tenancy act of 1885, though enacted after
Ripon's departure, got its origin from the Rent Commission which
he established in 1880 in response to widespread peasant unrest
in the country.
• The Rent Commission was asked to study the agrarian problems
Delhi Durbar - Queen’s Proclamation of 1877
• The Delhi Durbar, meaning "Court of Delhi", was a mass assembly at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the coronation
of a King and Queen of the United Kingdom.
• Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was held three times, in 1877, 1903, and 1911, at the height of the British Empire.
• The 1911 Durbar was the only one attended by the sovereign, who was George V.
• The term was derived from common Mughal term durbar.
• The Durbar of 1877 began on 1 January 1877 to designate the coronation and proclaim Queen Victoria as Empress of
India.
• The 1877 Durbar was largely an official event and not a popular occasion with mass appeal like 1903 and 1911.
• The 1st Earl of Lytton - Viceroy of India, maharajas, nawabs and intellectuals, attended it.
• This was the culmination of transfer of control of much of India from the British East India
Company to the The Crown.
• The Durbar was the beginning of a great transformation for India where the campaign for a free India was formally launched.
• A medal to commemorate the Proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India was struck and
distributed to honoured guests.
• Ramanath Tagore was made a Maharaja by Lord Lytton.
• It was at this glittering durbar that a man in "homespun spotless white khadi" rose to read a citation on behalf of the Pune
Sarvajanik Sabha. Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi put forth a demand couched in very polite language:
"We beg of Her Majesty to grant to India the same political and social status as is enjoyed by
her British subjects."
• With this, the campaign for a free India was formally launched.
HISTORY
Hunter Commission
• Hunter Commission officially known as the Indian Education Commission, 1882, was thefirst education commission in the
history of modern India.
• Appointed by the Government ofIndia, it was to review in depth, the state of education in India since wood's education
dispatch of 1854, and to recommend necessary measures for further progress.
• The other consideration,which prompted the Government to launch this enquiry, was the agitation of the
missionaries,particularly in England, accusing lapses of the Government in implementing the provisions ofthe Despatch of
1854.
• Because of the great importance, which the Government attached toprimary education, higher education was excluded from
the Commission's purview and insteadwas directed to concentrate chiefly on primary education.
• The commission was headed by William Wilson Hunter and included Ananda Mohan Bose, AW Croft,
BhudevMukhopadhyay, Maharaja Sir Jatindramohan Tagore, KashinathTrimbakTelang and Syed Ahmad Khan.
• The Commission submitted its report in October 1883 and its 36 recommendationsregarding primary education.
• It recommended that:
o Primary education be regarded as the instruction of themasses through the vernacular in such subjects as will best fit them
for their position in life, andbe not necessarily regarded as a portion of instruction leading up to the University;
o Anattempt should be made to secure the fullest possible provision for an extension of primaryeducation by legislation 85';
o Where indigenous schools exist, the principle of aiding andimproving them be recognised as an important means of extending
elementary education';
o Primary education be declared to be that part of the whole system of public instruction whichpossesses an almost exclusive
claim on local funds set apart for education, and a large claim onprovincial revenues
o Both Municipal and Local Self-Government Boards keep a separateschool-fund.
• There were also recommendations for inspection and supervision, encouragementof night schools wherever possible, elasticity
as regards attending hours to suit the needs of ruralfamilies, religious teaching etc.
• With its conviction that higher education is equally necessary for the balanced progress of acommunity the Hunter Commission
made 23 recommendations regarding secondaryeducation also.
• The Commission, however, recommended that while primary education shouldbe provided without regard to the availability
of local support, English Secondary Schoolsshould ordinarily be supported on the availability of local co-operation.
The Government of Indiaapproved of nearly all the recommendations of the Commission.
and make appropriate recommendations
for legislative actions.
The upshot of the commission report
(1882) was a long debate on the rights
and liabilities of tenants and the eventual
enactment of the Bengal Tenancy Act of
1885 under which the raiyats got
considerable rights in land which they lost
under the permanent settlement.
• As Governor General Ripon gave high
priority on education, particularly
primary education. He set up a committee called Indian Education
Commission (1882) headed by WW Hunter for looking into the
problems of primary and secondary education.
• In pursuance of the recommendations of the hunter commission
as it was commonly known, a new education policy emphasising
primary and collegiate schools was adopted.
• Ripon's administration was particularly marked by the most
controversial Ilbert Bill issue. The ontroversy arose out of the question
of the jurisdiction of native judges over European subjects.
• The Law member, Sir Courtney Ilbert introduced a bill banning
the protected status of the white and seeking equality of all subjects,
native or otherwise, in the eye of law.
• The anglo-indian ommunity put up a strong resistance movement
to the passage of the bill and forced the government to enact the
bill by bringing substantial amendment to its original spirit and letter.
The liberal policy of Ripon met resistance again when he repealed
in 1882 the controversial vrnacular press act (1878). The native
press hailed his action, but the Anglo-Indian press and the
community were against the idea of granting freedom of press to
the natives.
• Ripon’s administration resolved in 1882 to introduce local selfgoverning institutions in phases.
• The Bengal Council passed the Local Self-Government Act, 1885
under which a three-tier system of local government for rural areas
was provided:
1. A District Board in each district,
2. A Local Board in a sub-division of a district,
3. A Union Committee for a group of villages.
The first Factories Act was adopted in 1881.
HISTORY
Ripon left India in December 1884.
Lord Dufferin (1884-88):
• The Third Anglo-Burmese War took place during 7–29 November
1885.
o This was the final of three wars fought in the 19th century
between the Burmese and the British.
o The war saw the loss of sovereignty of an independent Burma
under the Konbaung Dynasty.
o Following the war, Burma came under the rule of the British
Raj as a province of India.
• Establishment of Indian National Congress in 1885.
Lord Lansdowne (1888-94):
The second Factory Act of 1891;
Categorization of Civil Services into imperial, provincial and
subordinate;
Indian Council Act of 1892 (introduced elections which was
indirect);
Durand Commission was appointed to draw between British India
and Afghanistan (1893).
The Civil Services were categorized into imperial, provincial and
subordinate.
The Indian Councils Act 1892 that authorized an increase in the
size of the various legislative councils in British India was introduced.
The Indian National Congress had demanded the expansion of
legislative council.
Lord Elgin II (1894-99)
• The Birsa Munda movement - the last of the heroic tribal
movements of the 19th century in the Chotanagpur plateau.
o The mundas had been living in the Chotanagpur plateau for
more than 2000 years and are one of the most ancient settlers in
this land.
o The revolt essentially started as an economic one like many
other tribal revolts but soon took political colour.
o The introduction of rent for the land, a concept that was
unknown to the tribals until now, infuriated them.
o The British courts, unfamiliar with the tribal language had to
depend upon the local interpreters to act as middlemen. These
people were only too pleased to help their powerful landowners.
o Another important reason for the revolt was of course, the
concept of Beth Begari, or what is known today as bonded labour.
o Though at first the struggle commenced by attacking the landlords, later it was directed against the ruling British authorities and
the Christian missionaries, as the Christian missionaries over
emphasis on conversion irritated the Mundas.
• Convention delimiting the frontier between China and India was
ratified.
• Great famine of 1896-97 began in Bundelkhand, India, early in
1896 and spread to many parts of the country, including the United
Provinces, the Central Provinces and Berar, Bihar, parts of the
Bombay and Madras presidencies, and the Hissar district of the
Punjab; in addition, the princely states of Rajputana, Central India
Agency, and Hyderabad were affected by the famine.
Local Governments during British Raj
• Initially British did not make any changes in the structure of
the existing localgovernment system.
• It was through the permanent settlement that a new type of
localgovernance was introduced replacing the traditional
institutions.
• Pargana and Panchayat systems were abolished.
• The new civil and criminal justiceand its adalat system
became the basis of the local government.
• Zamindars and otherlandholders were made the natural
leaders of the society.
• The end of east India company rule in 1858 and
parliamentary commitment to take the people ofthe country
in partnership in phases led to many reforms leading to
increasing participation of the people in the local
governance.
• Bengal Chowkidari Act
o The government passed the Bengal Chowkidari Act of
1870 as an effort to revive the traditional Panchayat
System.
o The actauthorised the District magistrate to appoint a
panchayat at the village level consisting of five members.
o The primary function of thepanchayet was to appoint
village watch-men called chowkidars for the maintenance
of law andorder.
o The panchayat could also assess and collect taxes from the
villagers to pay the salaries ofthe chowkidars.
The Bengal Council passed the Local Self-Government Act,
1885 under which a three-tier system of local government
for rural areas was provided:
1. A District Board in each district,
2. A Local Board in a sub-division of a district,
3. A UnionCommittee for a group of villages.
The District Board was made the centre-piece in the local
government system and entrusted withextensive powers and
responsibilities.
A Local Board acted as an agent of the District Board
andcould exercise only those powers delegated to it by the
District Board.
The Local Board acted asa supervising body of Union
Committees and could delegate any responsibility to
UnionCommittees which were designed to administer, on an
average, an area of twelve square miles inthe villages.
Union Committees, consisting of not less than five or more
than nine members,were to be elected from among the
residents of the union.
HISTORY
Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909
The Morley-Minto Reforms, named after Morley, the
secretary of state, and Minto, the viceroy at that time, were
preceded by two major events.
In October 1906, a group of Muslim elites met Lord Minto
and demanded separate electorates for the Muslims and
representation in excess of their numerical strength in view
of ‘the value of the contribution’ Muslims were making ‘to
the defence of the empire’.
The same group took over the Muslim League, which was
initially floated by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca along with
Nawabs Mohsin-ul- Mulk and Waqar-ul-Mulk in December
1906. The league intended to preach loyalty to the empire
and to keep the Muslim intelligentsia away from the
Congress.
Reforms
The number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative
Council and the Provincial Legislative Councils was
increased.
In the Provincial Councils, non-official majority was
introduced, but since some of these non-officials were
nominated and not elected, the overall non-elected majority
remained.
In the Imperial Legislative Council, of the total 68 members,
36 were to be the officials and of the 32 non-officials, five
were to be nominated.
Of the 27 elected non-officials, eight seats were reserved for
the Muslims under separate electorates, while six seats were
reserved for the British capitalists, two for the landlords and
13 seats came under general electorate.
The elected members were to be indirectly elected. The local
bodies were to elect an electoral college, which in turn would
elect members of provincial legislatures, who in turn would
elect members of the central legislature.
Muslims were accorded, representation in excess of the
strength of their population
Income qualification for Muslim voters was kept lower than
that for Hindus.
• Although large-scale relief was offered throughout the faminestricken regions in accordance with the Provisional Famine Code of
1883, the mortality, both from starvation and accompanying
epidemics, was very high: approximately 1 million people are
thought to have died as a result of the famine.
• Assassination of two British officials-Rand & Amherst-by
Chapekar Brothers in 1897
o In late 1896, Pune was hit by bubonic plague, a Special Plague
Committee was formed, under the chairmanship of W. C. Rand, an
Indian Civil Services officer, and troops were brought in to deal with
the emergency. The measures employed included forced entry into
private houses, examination of occupants, evacuation to hospitals
and segregation camps, removing and destroying personal
possessions, and preventing plague cases from entering or leaving
the city.
o These measures were considered oppressive by the populace
of Pune and complaints were ignored by Rand.
o On 22 June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of
Queen Victoria, Rand and his military escort Lt. Ayerst were shot
while returning from the celebrations at Government House.
LORD CURZON
(1899-1905)
• Police Commission was appointed in
1902 under Andrew Frazer.
• The Universities Commission was setup and accordingly the Indian
Universities Act of 1904 was passed
• Department of Commerce and Industry
was set up.
• Calcutta Corporation Act (1899) was
passed.
• Indian Coinage and Paper Currency Act (in 1899) was passed.
• The gold denominations ceased production in 1891,
• The decision to effect the Partition of Bengal was announced in
July 1905.The partition took place in 16 October 1905 and
separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu
western areas. Curzon stressed that the partition would produce
administrative efficiency.
• NWFP and Archaeological Survey of India were established.
• Expansion of Railways.
LORD MINTO II
(1905–10)
• Swadeshi Movement - an economic
strategy aimed at removing the British
Empire from power and improving
economic conditions in India by
following the principles of swadeshi
started.
• Foundation of the Muslim League
• The adverse comments of the
newspapers against the government led it to follow a repressive
policy and enacted the Newspapers (Incite to Offences) Act,
1908.
• The Newspaper Act, of 1908 laid down several principles,
terms and conditions.
• According to the terms and condition, of the Act the
magistrates were empowered to confiscate printing press,
property connected thereto of newspapers, which published
objectionable materials serving as incitement to murder or acts
of violence.
HISTORY
• The Local government was authorised to terminate any
declaration made by the printer and publisher of the newspaper,
which had been found offender under the Press and Registration
of Books Act of 1867.
• The newspapers editors and the printers were given the option
to appeal to the High Court within fifteen days of the order of
the penalty of the Press.
• The government launched the prosecutions against nine
newspapers and confiscated seven Presses.
• Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909
LORD HARDINGE
(1910–16)
• Annulment of the partition of Bengal
in 1911
• Transfer of Capital from Calcutta to
Delhi in 1911
• Delhi Darbar and Coronation of King
George V and Queen Mary in 1911.
• Madan Mohan Malviya established
Hindu Mahasabha in 1915.
• Annie Besant announced Home Rule Movement.
LORD CHELMSFORD
(1916–21)
• Tilak and Annie Besant launch Home
Rule Movement in 1916
• Congress and Muslim League sign
Lucknow Pact in 1916.
• Gandhi arrived in India
• Champaran Satyagraha
• Montague’s August Declaration
1917.
• 1918 - Kheda Satyagraha and Satyagraha at Ahmedabad
• Government of India Act 1919 was passed to expand
participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act
embodied the reforms recommended in the report of the
Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, and the Viceroy,
Lord Chelmsford.
• Rowlatt Acts or Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act,
1919 was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on
March 18, 1919, indefinitely extending the emergency measures
of preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without trial and
judicial review enacted in the Defence of India Act 1915 during
the First World War. It was enacted in light of a perceived threat
from revolutionary nationalist organisations of re-engaging in
similar conspiracies as during the war.
• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13 April 1919.
A crowd of nonviolent protesters who gathered in the Jallianwala
Bagh to protest against the arrest of two nationalist leaders were
fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army under the
command of Reginald Dyer.According to British death toll was
Saddler Commission
In 1917 the Government of India appointed a Commission to
study and report on the problems being faced by Calcutta
University. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds Dr. M.E.
Sadler was appointed its Chairman. Sir Ashutosh Mukeiji and
Dr. Zia-ud-din Ahmad were members of the commission.
The main objective of the Commission was t`o inquire into the
condition and prospects of the University of Calcutta and to
consider the question of a constructive policy in relation to the
question it presented`. The Commission discussed the main
weaknesses of Higher Education in Bengal and offered the
following recommendations:
• All the teaching resources in the city of Calcutta should be
organized so that the Calcutta University may become
entirely a teaching university. It means that the colleges in
Calcutta should be so grouped together that they may
discharge the functions of a teaching university.
• A separate teaching and residential university should be
established at Dacca.
• Other universities should be established and the older ones
are recognized as teaching and residential. It means that
colleges should be so developed that new centres may
gradually rise to become universities.
• Universities should be freed from excessive official control.
The government interference in the academic matters of
universities should stop. Its control should be less rigid.
• An academic council should be set up in each university to
deal with all academic questions for example, those
connected with the courses of study, examinations, and
conferment of degree and research.
• The senate and the syndicate should be replaced by the Court
and the Executive Council respectively. This step would
improve the administration of the university.
• Teaching work and work connected with research should be
organised under different departments and each department
should have a head.
• A full time and salaried Vice-Chancellor should be appointed
to be the administrative head of the university.
• Faculties, boards of studies, and other statutory bodies should
be formed. Faculties should serve as Departments of
teaching.
• Honours courses should be instituted and they should be
distinctly different from the Pass courses.
• Tutorials and superior kinds of research work should be
organised.
• Provisions should be made for imparting instruction in
engineering education, medicine, law, agriculture and
technology. Thus, university education would cover practical
and vocational studies as well as technical and industrial
courses.
• There was a need for coordinating agency. Hence an interUniversity Board should be set up.
HISTORY
Shift of Capital - Calcutta to Delhi
• The Indian Councils Act of 1909 had allowed Indians for
the first time to stand for legislative council positions.
• The British had so long ruled by fiat from Calcutta, the
commercial hub of India, which the East India Company,
in the eighteenth century, had developed from a small
fishing village.
• Hardinge argued that the rising importance of elected
legislative bodies meant that Britain needed to find a more
centrally located capital.
• The burgeoning opposition to British rule in Calcutta was
making it less than a hospitable home for the British.
• Britain had faced a rising tide of calls to extend a measure
of self-rule to India since the late nineteenth century. That
movement became most violent in Calcutta, the commercial
and literary center of the country.
• The idea of moving to Delhi was first mooted in June 1911
by Sir John Jenkins, a senior member of the government
of India, as part of a plan to assuage these nationalist
forces.
• The plan won approval from senior British officials and
King George V, who only six months later during his visit
to India, the first by a British monarch, announced the
reunification of Bengal and the immediate move of the
capital to Delhi.
• Lord Curzon was among the loudest naysayers to the shift
of capital, in his view, Delhi was far from other important
centers of British India, including Madras and Rangoon.
• Hardinge had chosen Delhi for its geographical position
in the center of northern India and its links with the Mughal
empire and Hindu “sacred legends.”
• British traders, largely located in Calcutta, a trading and
jute-processing center, also were furious over the secrecy.
• The new city was formally inaugurated in 1931. Within
sixteen years British rule in India came to an end.
370 and 1200 protesters were wounded.
• The Khilafat movement (1919-1926) was a pan-Islamic,
political protest campaign launched by Muslims in British India
to influence the British government.
• Mahatma Gandhi started the non-cooperation movement in
1920 after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Lord Reading (1921-26):
• Criminal Law Amendment Act was passed
• Excise on cotton was abolished
• Press Act of 1910 and Rowlatt Act of 1919 were repealed.
• In 1921 Mappila Muslims revolted against the British authority
and Hindu landlords in the Malabar region of Southern India.
This was called Malabar rebellion or Moplah Rebellion.
• On February 4, 1922, people in large numbers gathered to
picket a liquor shop at Chauri Chaura, a town in Uttar Pradesh.
The police that was sent to control the situation fired aerial shots
to disperse the crowd. This led to stone pelting by the protesters.
The police opened fire in which three people were killed. This
further infuriated the protesters and they set the police station on
fire in which 23 police personnel were charred to death.
• Swaraj Party that sought greater self-government was founded
in 1923.
• On 9 August 1925 a train robbery took place between Kakori
and Alamnagar in Uttar Pradesh. The robbery was conceived
by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan who belonged to
the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).One passenger was
killed by an accidental shot, making it a murder case.
• RSS was founded
LORD IRWIN (1926-31)
• Simon Commission - to study
constitutional reform - was announced
in 1927
• Butler Commission was formed to
examine financial and economic
relation between British India and
Indian states
• Nehru Report - a memorandum
outlining a proposed new dominion
status constitution for India was prepared by a committee of the
All Parties Conference chaired by Motilal Nehru with his son
Jawaharlal acting as secretary.
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah proposed fourteen points as a
constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of
Muslims in a self-governing India.
• Lahore session of Congress and ‘Poorna Swaraj’ declaration;
• Mahatma Gandhi started Civil Disobedience Movement in
1930;
• The Dandi March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, began
on 12 March 1930.
• Ist Round Table Conference was organised to discuss
constitutional reforms in India in 1930;
• Mahatma Gandhi and Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5 March
1931 signed a political agreement reffered as Gandhi–Irwin
Pact in London.
Lord Willington (1931-36):
• IInd Round Table Conference (1931)
• On August 16, 1932, the British Prime Minister McDonald
announced the Communal Award, which came to be known as
McDonald Award. The Award was basically a proposal on
minority representation.
• IIIrd Round Table Conference
• Foundation of Congress Socialist Party-CSP (1934);
• Government of India Act, 1935 was passed
• Burma was separated from India in 1935
HISTORY
• All India Kisan Sabha (1936);
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi signed an
agreement on 24 September 1932 at Yerwada Central Jail in
Pune that is reffered to as Poona Pact.
Lord Linlithgow (1936-43):
• General Elections were held in 1936-37;
• Subhash Chandra Bose founded the Forward Block in 1939;
• The Lahore Resolution also known as the Pakistan Resolution a
formal political statement adopted by the All-India Muslim
League on the occasion of its three-day general session in Lahore
on March 22–24, 1940.It called for the creation of 'independent
states' for Muslims in north-western and eastern British India.
• In 1942, the British Government in a bid to secure full Indian
cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II sent
Cripps Mission to India.
• Quit India Movement (1942)
• Outbreak of Second World War in 1939.
• In 1942, the British Government in a bid to secure full Indian
cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II sent
Cripps Mission to India.
LORD WAVELL
(1943-1947)
• C.R. Formula 1944;
• Wavell Plan and Shimla
Conference in 1945;
• End of IInd World War in
1945;
• INA Trials in 1945;
• Naval mutiny in 1946;
• Cabinet Mission, 1946 and
acceptance of its proposals by
Congress;
• Direct Action Day by the
Muslim League on 16th August 1946 and first meeting of the
constituent assembly was held on Dec. 9, 1946.
LORD
MOUNTBATTEN
(MAR-AUG 1947)
• Introduction of Indian
Independence Bill in the
House of Commons and
passed by the British
Parliament on July 4, 1947.
•
Appointment
of
2
boundary
commissions
under Sir Cryil Radicliffe.
The Fourteen Points of Jinnah
1. The form of the future constitution should be federal, with
the residuary powers vested in the provinces.
2. The uniform measure of autonomy shall be guaranteed to
all provinces.
3. All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies
shall be constituted on the definite principle of adequate
and effective representation of minorities in every province
without reducing the majority in any province to a
minority or even equality.
4. In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not
be less than one third.
5. Representation of communal groups shall continue to be
by means of separate electorate as at present, provided
it shall be open to any community at any time to abandon
its separate electorate in favor of a joint electorate.
6. Any territorial distribution that might at any time be
necessary shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority.
7. Full religious liberty, i.e. liberty of belief, worship and
observance, propaganda, association and education,
shall be guaranteed to all communities.
8. No bill or resolution or any part thereof shall be passed
in any legislature or any other elected body if three fourths
of the members of any community in that particular body
oppose it as being injurious to the interests of that
community or in the alternative, such other method is
devised as may be found feasible and practicable to deal
with such cases.
9. Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
10. Reforms should be introduced in the North West Frontier
Province and Balochistan on the same footing as in the
other provinces.
11. Provision should be made in the constitution giving
Muslims an adequate share, along with the other
Indians, in all the services of the state and in local selfgoverning bodies having due regard to the requirements
of efficiency.
12. The constitution should embody adequate safeguards for
the protection of Muslim culture and for the protection
and promotion of Muslim education, language, religion,
personal laws and Muslim charitable institutions and for
their due share in the grants-in-aid given by the state
and by local self-governing bodies.
13. No cabinet, either central or provincial, should be
formed without there being a proportion of at least onethird Muslim ministers.
14. No change shall be made in the constitution by the
Central Legislature except with the concurrence of the
State's contribution of the Indian Federation.
106-108-APPOINTMENTS_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:51 AM Page 1
APPOINTMENTS
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
following appointments:
vice
Rajiv Nayan Choubey, IAS (TN:1981)
• Nikhilesh Jha, IAS (MN:1984), at present in the cadre, as Mission
Director, National Water Mission under the Ministry of Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (newly
created post).
• Kumar Sanjay Krishna, IAS (AM:1985), Joint Secretary,
Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance as Additional
Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas
vice Dr. Subash Chandra Khuntia, IAS (KN:1981).
• Preeti Madan, IES (1981), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Minority
Affairs as Member Secretary, National Commission for Women
under the Ministry of Women and Child Development vice Nandita
Chaterjee, IAS (WB:1980).
• R. Subrahmanyam, IAS (AP:1985), Joint Secretary, Department
of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development as Additional
Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human
Resources Development vice Amarjeet Sinha, IAS (BH:1984).
• J. Rama Krishna Rao, IAS (BH:1985), Joint Secretary Department
of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence as Additional Secretary,
Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence vice
Anup Chandra Pandey, IAS (UP:1984).
• Arun Kumar, IAS (AM:1983), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines
as Additional Secretary, Department of Social Justice and
Empowerment, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment vice
Anoop Kumar Srivastava, IAS (AM:1981).
• Usha Sharma, IAS (RJ:1985), Additional Director General,
Ministry of Tourism as Additional Secretary, Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel,
Public Grievances and Pensions vice Arun Jha, IAS (BH:1981).
• Surina Rajan, IAS (HY:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of
Defence, Ministry of Defence as additional Secretary, Department of
Defence Production, Ministry of Defence vice Ashok Kumar Gupta,
IAS (TN:1981).
• Dr. M.M. Kutty, IAS (UT:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change as Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change vice Shashi
Shekhar, IAS (TN:1981).
• Upendra Prasad Singh, IAS (OR:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry
of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Additional Secretary, Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary
as Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till a vacancy of
Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry or till further orders,
whichever is the earliest.
• Deepak Kumar, IAS (BH:1984), Additional Secretary, Ministry of
Labour and Employment as Director General, Employees’ State
Insurance Corporation under the Ministry of Labour and Employment
vice Anil Kumar Agarwal, IAS (WB:1981).
• Heera Lal Samariya, IAS (TG:1985), Joint Secretary, Department
of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers as Additional
Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment vice Deepak Kumar,
IAS (BH:1984).
• Sailesh, IAS (AM:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs by upgrading the
post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a period of two
years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry
or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• Sunil Kumar Singh, IAS (BH:1983), at present in cadre, as
Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Department of
Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture vice
Pradeep Kumar Pujari, IAS (GJ:1981).
• Sanjeev Ranjan, IAS (TR:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of
Defence, Ministry of Defence as Additional Secretary and Financial
Advisor, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways vice Tuk Tuk
Kumar, IAS (WB:1981) consequent to her superannuation on
31.08.2015.
• Yogendra Tripathy, IAS (KN:1985), Joint Secretary and Financial
Advisor, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of
Human Resources Development as Chairman and Managing
Director, Food Corporation of India under the Department of Food
and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution.
• J. K. Dadoo, IAS (UT:1983), Additional Secretary (in-situ),
Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as
Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Department of
Commerce,
Ministry of Commerce and Industry vice Bhagwati Prasad Pandey,
IAS (UK:1983).
• Bhagwati Prasad Pandey, IAS (UK:1983), Additional Secretary
and Financial Advisor, Department of Commerce, Ministry of
Commerce and Industry as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power
• Sameer Sharma, IAS (AP:1985) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Urban Development as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban
Development by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional
APPOINTMENTS
Secretary for a period of two years or till a vacancy of Additional
Secretary arises in the Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the
earliest.
• P.K. Dash, IRS (IT) (1982), Director General, Election Commission
of India as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change vice S.S.
Mohanty, IDAS (1979).
• Arun Goel, IAS (PB:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue,
Ministry of Finance as Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority
under the Ministry of Urban Development vice Balvender
Kumar, IAS (UP:1981).
• Arvind Mehta, IAS (HP:1984), Joint Secretary, Department of
Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as Additional
Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and
Industry by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional
Secretary for a period of two years or till a vacancy of Additional
Secretary arises in the Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the
earliest.
• Pushpa Subrahmanyam, IAS (TG:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry
of Textiles as Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) under the
Ministry of Textiles vice Samir Kumar Biswas, IAS (MH:1990)
by upgrading the post to the level of Additional Secretary for a
period of two years or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Ajay Kumar, IAS (KL:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of
Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology as Additional Secretary, Department of
Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary
as Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till a vacancy of
Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry or till further orders,
whichever is the earliest.
• Kavita Gupta, IAS (MH:1985), Additional Director General of
Foreign Trade, Mumbai under the Department of Commerce,
Ministry of Commerce and Industry as Additional Secretary,
Department of Atomic Energy vice Dr. C.B. Venkataramana, IAS
(TG:1982) with effect from the date on which the current incumbent
vacates the post.
• Alka Panda, IAS (OR:1983), Additional Director General, Bureau
of Indian Standards under the Department of Consumer Affairs,
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as
Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards under the Department
of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution vice M.J. Joseph, ICAS (1979).
• Ajoy Kumar, IAS (BH:1984), Joint Secretary, National Commission
for Minorities under the Ministry of Minority Affairs as Additional
Secretary, National Commission for Minorities under the Ministry of
Minority Affairs by upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as
Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till further orders,
whichever is earlier.
• Surendra Nath Tripathi, IAS (OR:1985), Joint Secretary, Ministry
of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as Additional Secretary,
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises by upgrading the
years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry
or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• C. Chandramouli, IAS (TN:1985), Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs as
Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (Additional
Secretary level) under the Ministry of Home Affairs by upgrading the
post to the level of Additional Secretary for a period of two years or
till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the Ministry or till
further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• Badri Narain Sharma, IAS (RJ:1985),Joint Secretary, Ministry of
Power as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power vice Devendra
Chaudhary, IAS (UP:1981).
• Krishan Ballabh Agarwal, IAS (JK:1985), Joint Secretary,
Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare as Additional Secretary, Department of Health and
Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by upgrading
the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a period of
two years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the
Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• Girish Chandra Murmu, IAS (GJ:1985), Joint Secretary,
Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance as Additional
Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance by
upgrading the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a
period of two years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises
in the Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• Madhukar Gupta, IAS (RJ:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of
Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
as Additional Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises,
Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises by upgrading the
years or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Kiran Soni Gupta, IAS (RJ:1985),Textile Commissioner under the
Ministry of Textiles as Textile Commissioner (Additional Secretary
level) under the Ministry of Textiles by upgrading the post to the
level of Additional Secretary for a period of two years or till further
orders, whichever is earlier.
• Anup Wadhawan, IAS (UK:1985), Joint Secretary, Department of
APPOINTMENTS
Financial Services, Ministry of Finance as Additional Secretary,
Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance by upgrading
the post of Joint Secretary as Additional Secretary for a period of
two years or till a vacancy of Additional Secretary arises in the
Ministry or till further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• Sudhir Tripathi, IAS (JH:1985), Deputy Election Commissioner,
Election Commission of India as Deputy Election Commissioner
(Additional Secretary level), Election Commission of India by
upgrading the post to the level of Additional Secretary for a period
of two years or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Dr. S.S. Negi, IFoS (HP:80) as Director General (Forests) and
Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate
Change vice S.S. Garbyal, IFoS (UT:77) consequent to his retirement
on 31.07.2015.
• Extension of tenure of Ramesh Abhishek, IAS (BH:82), as
Chairman, Forward Markets Commission for a period of three
months beyond 08.07.2015 or till merger of FMC with SEBI or until
further orders whichever is the earliest.
• Extension of tenure of Preeti Sudan, IAS (AP:1983), Additional
Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development till 30.04.2016.
• Rupak Kumar Dutta, IPS (KTK:81), Additional Director, CBI as
Special Director in the CBI.
• Y.C. Modi, IPS (AM:84) as Additional Director in the CBI.
• Mohanish Verma, IRS (IT:87), as Protector General of Emigrants
(JS Level), Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from the date of
assumption of the charge of the post for a period of five years or
until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice R.Buhril, IAS(TN:84).
• Rajan Shukla, IAS (UP:88) as Joint Secretary, Department of
Consumer Affairs from the date of assumption of the charge of the
post for a period of five years or until further orders whichever is
earlier, vice Manoj Kumar Parida, IAS(UT:86).
• Krishna, IRS (IT:86) as DDG (JS Level), UIDAI from the date of
until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice Sandeep Verma, IAS
(RJ:93).
• Amitabh Gautam, IFS (HP:89), as Joint Secretary, Department of
Agriculture & Cooperation from the date of assumption of the charge
of the post for a period of five years or until further orders, whichever
is earlier, vice Narendra Bhoosan, IAS(UP:92).
• Arabinda K. Padhee, IAS (OR:96) as Joint Secretary, Department
of Fertilizers from the date of assumption of the charge of the post
for a period of five years or until further orders whichever
is earlier, vice Shyam Lal Goyal, IAS (MH:85).
• V. Vidyawathi, IAS (KN:91) as Joint Secretary, Department of
Personnel & Training from the date of assumption of the charge of
the post for the balance period of her five year central deputation
tenure up to 21.05.2019 or until further orders, whichever is earlier
vice Mamta Kundra, IA&AS(85).
• Usha Padhee, IAS (OR:96) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil
Aviation from the date of assumption of Uthe charge of the post for
a period of five years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice
G. Ashok Kumar, IAS(TG:91).
• Smita Kumar, IPostalS (87) as Joint Secretary, Department of
Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances from the date of
until further orders, whichever is earlier, vice Ms.V. Vidyawathi, IAS
(KN:91).
• Parag Gupta, IAS (OR:88) as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Food
Processing Industries from the date of assumption of the charge of
the post for a period of five years or until further orders whichever is
earlier, vice U. Venkateswarlu, IAS(MT:86)
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
continuation of the assignment of additional charge of the post of
Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research to K.Vijay
Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology for a further
period of three months beyond 31.7.2015 or until the appointment
of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is the
earliest.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
appointment of R.Swaminathan, IFS (1980) as Secretary (Consular,
Passport & Visa and Special Assignment) by temporarily upgrading
the post held by him to the level of Secretary up to the date of his
superannuation i.e. 31.8.2015.
• Additional charge of the post of Chairperson, Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India to Bhanu Pratap Sharma, IAS (BH:81),
Secretary, Department of Health & Family Welfare for a period of
three months beyond 03.07.2015 or till the appointment of a regular
incumbent or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.
• The Competent Authority has approved the assignment of
additional charge of the post of Vice Chairman, DDA to Shanker
Mishra, IAS(UP:84) Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban
Development with immediate effect for a period of three months or
till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders,
whichever is earliest.
109-120-Academic q&A_Layout 1 8/7/2015 10:51 AM Page 1
PRACTICE PAPER
PRACTICE PAPER OF GENERAL STUDIES
1. Which of the following canals are connecting the great Lakes
of North America?
1. Soo Canal 2. Welland canal
3. Keel canal 4. Panama canal
Select the correct answer—
(a) Both 1 and 2 (b) Both 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) All of the above
1. The effectiveness of the weathering agents.
2. The ground water level.
3. The action of micro-organism.
4. The humas content of the soil.
(a) 3 and 4
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
2.Temperature Anomaly in climatology is associated with:
(a) The difference between Isotherms.
(b) The intersection point of Isotherms and Isobars.
(c) The difference between the mean temperature of any place
and the mean temperature of its parallel.
(d) None of the above.
7. Consider the following fact about the share of states in total
food grain production in India in 2013-14. Arrange the states in
highest to lower share.
(a) Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.
(b) Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
(c) Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
(d) Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal.
3. Consider the following conditions related to Cloud Formation:
1. Moist air
2. Supporting mechanism of ascendance of air
3. Hygroscopic nuclei
Select the essential conditions from above—
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
4. Consider the following statements:
1. The steep nosed tide crest formed when a tide current enters
the narrow and shallow estuary of a river, is called tidal bore.
2. The phenomena of tidal bore are prominent in Mahanadi
River in India.
3. The narrow channel of water flow connecting a gulf with the
open sea is called surf current.
(a) Only 1
(b) Both 2 and 3
(c) Only 2
(d) Both 1 and 3
5. The phenomena of seasonality of Indian climate is prominent
in the interior of:
1. Northern Region
2. North-western Region
3. Western coastal Region
4. Eastern costal Region
(a) Both 1 and 2 (b) Both 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
6. Which of the following aspects of soil formation are
directly/indirectly controlled by the climate of that region:
8. Consider the following statements regarding Laterite soils:
1. Laterite soils are deficient in iron and aluminum.
2. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between
the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
3. An essential feature for the formation of laterite is the repetition
of wet and dry season.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 2 and 3
9. Which of the following is/are the example(s) of Temperate
grasslands?
1. Pampas
2. Veldts
3. Puszta
4. Steppes
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2 and 4
(c) Only 1
10. Consider the following statements regarding Winter Season
in India:
1. Inflow of cyclonic disturbances from the west and the northwest.
2. North-west trade winds do not prevail over the country.
3. In the northern part of the country, a feeble high-pressure
region develops, with light winds moving outwards from this area.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 3
PRACTICE PAPER
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None of the above
11. Consider the following statements regarding the Earth’s
Crust:
1. Thickness of the Earth’s crust is uniform but the density of the
Earth’s crust is variable.
2. Continental crust is composed mostly of granite whereas
oceanic crust consists of a volcanic lava rock called basalt.
(a) Both 1 and 2 (b) Only 1
(c) Only 2
12. What is Polar Vortex: consider the following statements:
1. It is a large scale cyclone.
2. It is located in the lower part of the troposphere.
3. Its core area is warm but the whirling winds are cold.
4. It rotates because of coriolis force.
(a) Only 1 and 4 (b) Only 1 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
1. Delta formation by rivers is more frequent in the Eastern Costal
Plains than in the Western Costal plains.
2. Western Costal plains of India are an example of submerged
Costal plain while the Eastern Costal Plains are an example of
emerged Costal plain:
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
14. In costal areas, mostly fishermen prefer to go far deep sea
fishing in mid-night and return in noon because:
(a) The fishermen are able to sail further in the ocean with the
help of land-breeze and sea-breeze returning to the home.
(b) During night, high-tide yields their catch; while at the noon,
the catch is low.
(c) The water of the ocean drops in midnight and creates
favaurable conditions for fishing.
(d) The turbines of big vessels, in noon time, creates whirlpools
which damages the small fishes and thus, reducing the catch.
1. The highest point in Andaman Group is Saddle Peak.
2. The largest island in Nicobar Group is Pilo Milow Island.
3. The highest point in Nicobar Group is Mt. Thullier.
4. The Ross Island is the smallest island in the Andaman Group.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) Only 1
(c) Both 2 and 4 (d) 1, 3 and 4
16. Which of the following States and Union territories are
correctly arranged according to their coastline in the decreasing
order?
(a) Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil
Nadu.
(b) Andaman and Nicobar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil
Nadu.
(c) Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Andaman and
Nicobar.
(d) Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Andaman and
Nicobar.
17. Consider the following statements regarding ‘CO2’:
1. It absorbs a part of solar radiation and reflects back some part
of it towards the Earth’s Surface.
2. It is transparent to the incoming solar radiation and to the
outgoing terrestrial radiation, both.
3. CO2 molecules act as hygroscopic nucleus around which water
vapour condenses to produce clouds.
(a) Only 1 (b) Only 2 (c) Both 1 and 3 (d) None of the above
18. Consider the following statements regarding Tropical
Evergreen Forests:
1. Tropical forests usually found in areas receiving more than 200
cm of annual rainfall and having an annual temperature range of
150C to 300C.
2. Tropical Evergreen Forests found in India mainly along the
slopes of the Eastern and Western Ghats.
3. Important trees found in Indian Tropical Evergreen Forests are
Rosewood, Mahogany and Ebony.
Selects the correct answer—
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 3
(c) 2 and 3
19. Consider the following statements regarding the ‘National
Food Grid’:
1. To bring down wastage and stem the rise in food inflation, the
government is planning to create a National Food Grid.
2. The proposed grid will ensure that all types of food are
available in every part of the country all through the year.
3. Government announced that a National Food Map is being
prepared, covering all the food products-raw and processed, live
PRACTICE PAPER
stock, fisheries, poultry, etc.
(a) Only 1
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 2 and 3
20. Consider the following in regard to the ‘Sixth Economic
Census—2013’:
1. The employment in urban areas increased by 37.46% or 6.14
crore, while in rural India, the Growth was 31.59% or 6.62 crore
between 2005 and 2013.
2. Among the states, Maharashtra was on Top of the list with the
maximum number of employees followed by West Bengal and
Tamil Nadu.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
21. Who among the following supported the prisoners of the
Indian National Army?
1. The Justice party
2. The Hindu Mahasabha
3. The Muslim league
4. The Communist Party of India
5. The Sikh League
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1, 2 and 4
(c) 2, 3 and 4
22. Consider the following statements regarding the Charter Act
of 1833:
1. Completed the process of throwing open Indian trade to all the
British subjects.
2. Allow the different presidencies to make laws for themselves.
3. Include a Law-member to the council of the governor-general.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 1 and 3
(d) Only 3
23. The proportion of agricultural labourers to agricultural
population was:
(a) The highest in the zamindari areas and lowest in the ryotwari
areas.
(b) The highest in the mahalwari areas and lowest in the
zamindari areas.
(c) The highest in the ryotwari areas and lowest in the zamindari
areas.
(d) The highest in the ryotwari areas and lowest in the mahalwari
areas.
24. Consider the following statements regarding the religious
ideas of Raja Rammohan Roy:
1. He believed in Monotheism, the doctrine of the unity of
godhead.
2. He considered the Vedas to be eternal and infallible.
3. He laid emphasis on human reason and rationality in all the
religious matters.
4. He opposed idol worship.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 2, 3 and 4
25. Consider the following statements regarding land grants of
the Gupta period:
1. Land grants were made by Gupta emperors, feudatory kings,
royal officials and even individual citizens.
2. Most of the surviving land grants were endowed for secular
purposes.
3. Agrahara grants were those land grants made to all castes and
were meant to be perpetual, heritable and tax free.
4. Devagrahara grants were land grants made for their
administrative and military services.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 3 and 4
(c) 2 and 4
26. Consider the following statements about Chola ‘Local
Administration’:
1. The Sabha or the Mahasabha was an assembly of the Brahmin
village.
2. It enjoyed full powers in all the departments of local
administration.
3. Royal officials exercised paternalistic control over its
functioning.
4. Its members were elected by a draw of lots and held office only
for one year.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 3 and 4
27. With reference to the art and culture of Ancient India,
consider the following statements about Amravati Style of
Sculpture?
1. More importance was given to corporal aestheticism.
2. Idols were made of white marble primarily.
PRACTICE PAPER
3. Pallava dynasty patronized this style of sculpture.
(a) Only 1 and 2 (b) Only 1
(c) Only 2 and 3 (d) All of the above
28. In Ancient India, which of the following was/were
uncommon to both Buddhist and Jain philosophy?
1. Rebirth Theory
2. Denial of Varna Vyavastha
3. Moksha as the ultimate goal of life
4. Soul theory
(a) 1 and 4
(b) 2 and 4
(c) Only 4
(d) 3 and 4
29. Consider the following statements regarding Indian
Working Class Movement during the Independence struggle.
1. Working class did not participate in the Quit India Movement
due to opposition of the QIM by the communists.
2. Most of the nationalist newspapers actively opposed the
Factories Act of 1881 and 1891.
3. Dewan Chaman Lal became the first General Secretary of the
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), in 1920.
Select the incorrect statement(s)—
(a) Only 1
(b) 1 and 3
(c) Only 2
30. Nehru report was formed by a committee having:
1. Tej Bahadur Sapru
2. Subhash Chandra Bose
3. Annie Besant
4. Ali Imam
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1, 2 and 4
(c) 2, 3 and 4
(d) 1, 3 and 4
31. Arrange the following statements in chronological order—
1. Separate electorates were provided under Morley Minto
Reform.
2. ‘Pakistan Resolution’ was passed at Lahore.
3. Agah Khan led a Muslim delegation (Shimla Delegation).
4. Congress accepts separate electorate for Muslims in
Lucknow pact.
(a) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (b) 3, 1, 4 and 2
(c) 2, 3, 4 and 1 (d) 3, 4, 1 and 2
32. Consider the following statements regarding the Partition of
India:
1. During Cripps Mission, the Indian National congress did not
accept the autonomy of Muslim majority provinces.
2. During Gandhi-Jinnah talks, Gandhi ji did not accept the right
of self-determination of the Muslim-majority provinces.
3. After the Cabinet Mission Plan, congress conceded the
possibility of Muslim majority provinces by setting up a separate
constituent assembly for the Muslims.
Select the incorrect statement(s)—
(c) Only 3
33. Consider the following statements regarding Individual
Satyagraha Movement:
1. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the second individual
satyagrahi and Jawaharlal Nehru was the first.
2. ‘Dilli chalo’ slogan was given during this movement.
3. The demand of the satyagrahi would be for the freedom of
speech to preach against Indian participation in the second world
war-II.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 3
1. The Communal Award was declared by the British Prime
Minister, Ramsay Macdonald, granting separate electorates in
British India for the Muslims and depressed classes of the Hindu
Community only.
2. The demand of separate electorates for the untouchables was
raised by B.R. Ambedkar.
3. Mahatma Gandhi began an indefinite hunger strike at
Sabarmati Ashram to protest against the communal award.Select
the correct answer—
(c) Only 1 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3
35. Votes of credit provides for—
(a) Making an exceptional grant which forms no part of current
service of any financial year.
(b) Making a grant meeting an unexpected demand upon the
resources of India.
(c) Making a grant for additional expenditure upon new service
not contemplated in the financial service.
(d) Making any grant in advance in respect of estimated
expenditure for a part of
PRACTICE PAPER
any financial year.
36. As per the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, the state
legislatures have been conferred power to empower
municipalities with which of the given responsibilities?
1. The preparation of plans for economic development and social
justice.
2. Conduct election of municipalities.
3. Management of law and order.
4. Levy, collection and appropriation of taxes, duties, tolls, etc.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
(a) Only 2 and 4 (b) Only 2, 3 and 4
(c) Only 1 and 4 (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
37. Consider the following statements regarding the estimates
committee of the Indian Parliament:
1. It consist of members from Lok Sabha only.
2. A minister cannot be elected as its member.
3. Its functions is to examine the estimates included in the budget
and suggest economies in public expenditure.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None of these
38. With regard to the Union Government, consider the
following statements:
1. The Ministries/Departments of the Government of India are
created by the Prime Minister on the advice of the Council of
Ministers.
2. Each of the ministries is assigned to a minister by the President
on the advice of Prime Minister.
3. The administrative head of the Cabinet Secretariat is also the
ex-offico Chairman of the Civil Services Board.
Which of the statement(s) given above is are correct?
(a) Only 1 and 2 (b) Only 2
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 3
39. Consider the following statements regarding the Election
Commission of India.
1. It appoints election officers to look into the disputes connected
with election arrangements.
2. It notifies the dates and schedules of elections and scrutinizes
the nomination papers.
3. It can request the President or Governor for requesting the staff
necessary for conducting elections.
4. It consists of the Chief Election Commissioner and two other
Election Commissioners as mentioned under article 324 of the
constitution of India.
(a) Only 1 and 2
(b) Only 1, 2 and 3
(c) Only 2, 3 and 4
(d) Only 1, 2 and 4
40. Consider the following statement in regard to special status
of Jammu and Kashmir.
1. Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India which has its own
constitution.
2. The residuary powers are vested in the Union Government and
not in the State Government.
3. The special leave Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and
jurisdiction of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India are
applicable to the state.
4. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir can issue writs for the
enforcement of both the fundamental rights and for other legal
rights.
(a) Only 1, 2 and 3
(b) Only 1 and 3
(c) Only 1, 3 and 4
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
41. Consider the following statements regarding the India
council Act, 1909:
1. It effectively allowed the election of Indians to the various
legislative councils in India for the first time.
2. The right to separate electorate was given to the Muslims.
3. The act provided diarchy system for major provinces.
(c) Only 1 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3
42. Consider the following statements regarding the powers
and functions of the President of India.
1. All legislative proposals of Parliament regarding expenditure
from the consolidated fund of India have to be recommended by
the President of India.
2. He can direct the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to take
over a particular case for disposal.
3. He calls upon the party enjoying majority in the Lok Sabha to
choose its leader, who is then appointed as the Prime Minister.
Which of the statement given above are correct?
(c) Only 1 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3
43. Which of the following schemes aim at fulfillment of the
directive principles of the constitution ?
(a) National Social Assistance Programme
PRACTICE PAPER
(b) Pradhan Mantri Gramodya Yojana
(c) Samagra Awaas Yojana
(d) Sampoorna Rojgar Yojana
44. Consider the following rights:
1. Right to live in healthy environment.
2. Right to marriage and family protection.
3. Right to food.
4. Right to rest and leisure. Which of the rights given above are
included as Human Right(s) in the universal declaration of Human
Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly?
(a) Only 1 and 3
(b) Only 2 and 4
(c) Only 1, 3 and 4
(d) Only 2, 3 and 4
1. President
2. Vice-President
3. All the members of Rajya Sabha Who among the above are
elected in accordance with the system of proportional
representation by means of the single transferable vote and the
voting is by secret ballot?
(a) Only 1 and 2
(b) Only 1 and 3
(c) Only 2 and 3
(d) All are correct
46. Consider the following qualifications with respect to the
Finance Commission:
1. A judge of the High Court or one qualified to be appointed as
one.
2. A person who has specialised knowledge of finance and
accounts of the government.
3. A person who has wide experience in financial matters and in
administration
4. A person who has special knowledge of economics. Who
among the above can appointed as the members of the Finance
Commission?
(a) Only 1 and 2
(b) Only 1, 3 and 4
(c) Only 2, 3 and 4
(d) 1, 2, 3 & 4
47. Which of the following is/are correct in regard to the
‘Special Drawing Right (SDR)’ of IMF?
1. SDRs are set dynamically against a basket of currencies.
2. SDRs can be used as an international currency.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
48. A Laffer curve indicates:
(a) The relationship between money supply and price level in the
different stages of inflation.
(b) That above a certain tax rate, an increase tax rate causes
reduction in tax revenue.
(c) A positive relationship between tax revenue and public
expenditure.
(d) A negative relationship between high rate of income tax and
amount of evasion of tax.
1. Gross National Product (GNP) is the market value of all the
officially recognized final goods and services produced within a
country in a given period of time, while Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) is the market value of all the products and property
supplied by the residents of a country.
2. The Net Domestic Product (NDP) is calculated by deducting
depreciation on a country’s capital goods from the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), while the Net National Product (NNP) is
calculated by deducting depreciation from the Gross
National Product (GNP).
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
50. Consider the following statements regarding ‘Hydrogen
Economy’:
1. The basic principle of hydrogen economy is transportation and
storage of energy in the form of liquid or gaseous hydrogen.
2. Advantage of hydrogen economy is that energy is transmitted
in the form of heavy water and not in the form electric power.
3. Dihydrogen is mixed in CNG for use in four wheelers.
4. Nowadays, dihydrogen is used in fuel cells for generation of
electric power.
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
51. Full employment and balance of payment equilibrium will
be automatically achieved in an optimum currency area—
(a) If exchange rates are flexible.
(b) Foreign capital flows into the country.
(c) If labour and capital move freely.
(d) If trade is liberalized.
52. ‘Terms of Trade’ of developing countries are favourable due
to the fact that whenever income in developed countries
increases, the demand for primary goods reduces because—
PRACTICE PAPER
(a) Income elasticity of demand for primary goods is high.
(b) Income elasticity of demand for primary goods is low.
(c) Income elasticity of demand is neutral towards primary goods.
(b) All the potential investors expect the rate of interest to rise in
future.
(c) Natural rate of interest is above the critical rate of interest.
(d) Demand for money for speculative purpose is interest inelastic.
1. Graphical representation of nutrition structure is shown as
ecological pyramid.
2. Lower, middle and upper hierarchy of ecological pyramid
show parameters of
carnivorous Herbivorous and producers.
3. Energy pyramid in ecological pyramid is always vertical.
4. Vertical flow of energy pyramid shows that flow of energy at
successive nutrition modes always decreases in comparison to
preceding nutrition modes.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(a) 1, 3 and 4
(b)1, 2 and 3
(c) 2, 3 and 4
(d)1 and 4
58. Consider the statements given below regarding
international trade of India—
(A) Indian share in global exports and imports is 1.7% and 2.9%
respectively for 2013.
(B) India’s ranking amongest leading exporter and importer is
19th and 12th respectively in 2013.
Choose the correct statements from below—
(a) Only ‘A’
(b) Only ‘B’
(c) Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
(d) Neither ‘A’ nor ‘B’
54. Which of the following are the characteristics of Progressive
Tax?
1. Marginal tax rate should be increasing.
2. Marginal tax rate should be more than average tax rate.
(a) Only 1 (b) Only 2
55. Which of the following steps can help India to achieve the
Goal of Sustainable Development?
1. Improving urban public transport system.
2. Reducing subsidies on urea.
3. Building ultra super critical power plants.
4. Imposing carbon tax.
(a) Only 1 and 4
(b) Only 1 and 2
(c) Only 1, 2 and 4
(d) Only 1, 2, 3 and 4
56. Core Inflation is a measure of inflation—
(a) That is based only on food and energy prices.
(b) That includes items that face volatile price movements, notably
food and energy.
(c) That excludes items that face volatile price movements, notably
food and energy.
57. Liquidity trap is a situation when—
(a) All the potential investors expect the rate of interest to fall in
future.
59. Which statement is not correct in context to Inflation
Accounting?
(a) It is not acceptable by the tax authority.
(b) It may sometimes result in arbitrary profits.
(c) Financial statements lose their credibility as the objectivity
concept is violated.
(d) Comparison of figures over a period of time cannot be done
easily.
60. Which of the following activity/activities is/are excluded
from calculation of Gross Domestic Product?
1. Sale of a new car.
2. Buying shares of a car company.
3. Profits earned by a foreign-owned car company.
4. Purchase of tyres by a car manufacturer.
(a) 1 and 4
(b) 1, 2 and 3
(c) 3 and 4
61. Which of the following statements are correct?
1. Fiscal deficit is a better measure than budgetary deficit because
it takes into account the borrowings and other liabilities.
2. Fiscal deficit may not always be bad as it may help a country
to break the recession cycle.
3. Revenue deficit is the tax/lag ie difference between revenue
projected and revenue actualized.
4. Primary deficit is equal to difference between fiscal deficit and
interest payments some argue that primary deficit is a better
indicator of the governments fiscal position because it gives a
picture on the debt sustainability.
Code:
(a) 2 and 3
(b) 1 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
PRACTICE PAPER
62. With an increase in remittance money from migrants back
to India:
1. India’s Gross National Product will increase.
2. India’s Gross Domestic Product will increase.
3. India’s National Income will increase.
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 3
(c) Only 2
63. Which of the following has resulted in high food inflation:
1. A shift away from staples like wheat and rice towards superior
food items like vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk and meat.
2. Rising exports of wheat and rice.
3. Large scale hoardings of wheat and rice.
(c) Both 1 and 3 (d) All of the above
64. Which of the following is the most volatile form of foreign
exchange?
(a) Foreign Direct Investment.
(b) External Assistance.
(c) Foreign Institutional Investor’s Investments.
(d) External Commercial Borrowings.
65. Consider the following regarding inflation premium:
1. It is the difference between real interest rate and nominal
interest rate charged by banks.
2. When a firm accounts inflation before it bring forth its profit.
3. The premium accrued by the government when it resorts to
print currency during high inflation.
(c) Both 1 and 2 (d) All of the above
66. Ad-Hoc Treasury Bill refers to:
(a) A temporary stamp paper used for making agreements only.
(b) A temporary instrument used in signing contracts only.
(c) An instrument used by Govt. for raising funds from RBI for
short term.
(d) An instrument issued by RBI to general public.
67. RBI has constituted high level panel on Urban Cooperation
Banks, under the chairmanship of:
(a) Amartya Sen
(b) Bimal Jalan
(c) Narendar Vats
(d) R. Gandhi
68. Match the following List: Nobel Proze Winner Fields
A. Ismo Akasari 1. Physics
B. John o’ Keebe 2. Medicine
C. Stefan W. Itell 3. Chemistry
D. Jean Tirole 4. Economics
A BC D
(a)124 3
(b)123 4
(c)132 4
(d)142 3
69. Apart from India, which of the following South Asian
countries have been declared ‘Polio Free’ by WHO?
1. Bangladesh
2. Nepal
3. Pakistan
4. Bhutan
(a)1, 2 and 4
(b) 1, 2 and 3
(c)1, 3 and 4
70. Consider the following statements regarding ‘Dot Bharat’:
1. Indian Govt. launched a new domain ‘Dot Bharat’ in
Devanagari script, in Delhi, on Aug, 24, 2014.
2. It covers four Indian languages.
3. The domain will provide information to people in their own
regional language which will help in promotion of e-governance.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 3
(c) 2 and 3
71. Consider the following statements regarding ‘TB Mission
2020’:
1. It was announced Oct 28, 2014, at Oslo.
2. It titled “Moving Out of the box to end global TB epidemic; with
post 2015 strategy.”
3. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in multiple drug
resistant tuberculosis infections.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1, 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 2 and 3
72. Consider the following statements regarding the Green
Climate Fund—
1. It is a fund within the framework of UNFCCE. Set-up as a
mechanism to transfer money from the developed nations to the
developing countries.
2. The Green Climate Fund is based in Norway.
3. It intends to be the fulcrum of efforts to increase climate finance
of $100 bn. by year 2020.
PRACTICE PAPER
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1and 3
(c) 1 and 2
(d) 2 and 3
73. Consider the following statements regarding the Judicial
Appointment Commission:
1. The new system being installed is aimed at making judicial
appointments more transparent.
2. Under the new law, the Appointments Commission will
comprise the Chief Justice of India, one senior most judges of the
Supreme Court, 3 eminent people and the Law Minister.
3. The panel will consider the seniority of judges along with their
ability and ‘age’ before considering them for promotion as the
chief justice of Indian will head the commotions.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) Both 1 and 3
74. Which of the following are the most important climatic
factors that regulate Decomposition?
1. Temperature
2. Soil moisture
3. Wind
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 3
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1, 2 and 3
75. Why leaves of plants are of green color?
1. They cannot absorb blue and red colors.
2. They cannot absorb red color.
3. They reflect the green color.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 and 3
(c) Only 2
76. Which one among the following describes a Transitional
Zone between two habitats where different plant associations
are integrated?
(a) In-situ
(b) Ecological niche
(c) Sere
(d) Ecotone
77. Which one of the following terms describes a broad
transition between two different ecosystem comparing mainly
plant community?
(a) Ecoline
(b) Ecological niche
(c) Ecotope
(d) Ecotone
1. Succession that begins in new habitats, uninfluenced by preexisting communities is called primary succession.
2. Shifting cultivation is an example of primary succession.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
79. Consider the following species:
1. Namdapha Flying Squirrel
2. Pygmy Hog
3. Himalayan Tahr
4. Sperm Whale
Which of the above animals are critically endangered in India?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1 and 2
80. Which of the following terms describes the transitional
stages of sequential changes from one vegetation community to
another vegetation community?
(a) Secondary Biotic Succession
(b) Ecological Niche
(c) Ecotone
(d) Sere
1. The phenomenon of nutrient enrichement of a water body is
called Eutrophication.
2. The Biological Demand for Oxygen (BoD) increases in aquatic
organisms.
3. The sudden and explosive growth of phytoplankton and algae
provide important green colour to the water, known as Water
Bloom or Blooms.
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are incorrect?
(a) Only 3
(b) Only 1 and 2
(c) All of the above
82. Consider the following statements regarding the Principles
of Sustainable Development:
1. Renewability
2. Instrumentality
3. Accessibility
(a) 1 and 2 (b) 1, 2 and 3
(c) 2 and 3 (d) None of the above
PRACTICE PAPER
83. Consider the following statements regarding Ecological
Footprint:
1. Ecological footprint analysis compares human demands on
nature with the biospheres ability to regenerate resources and
provide services.
2. The gap between human footprint and bio-capacity increases
because of deforestation only.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
84. Which of the following components of Green Revolution can
lead to dynamic pressure on the ecological setup?
1. Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
2. Intensive and accurate irrigation, mostly made possible by
building of dams
3. Use of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) Which among the above
statements is/ are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2, and 3
85. Various facts for ozone depletion are:
1. CFC gets accumulated in greater amounts at high altitude and
in troposphere these compounds release chlorine.
2. The jet engines of supersonic aircraft flying at high altitude
release sulphur oxides which catalytically destroy ozone.
3. When the concentration of ozone falls below 200 dobson unit,
it is called as ozone depletion.
Which among the above statements is/ are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
86. According to IPCC, which of the following could be affected
both positively and negatively by climate change in different
times?
1. crop yields
2. water resources
3. energy consumption
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only (d) All
87. Which of the following related to Oxybiodegradable plastic
is/are correct:
1. To make these additives mainly metallic salts are used.
2. The degradation process is shortened from hundreds of years
to almost 2 years by the process of oxidation.
3. Exposure to one or more degradation promoters (sunlight, heat
or microorganisms) is needed for these bags to degrade.
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3
88. Consider the following facts regarding e-waste:
1. Rapid changes in technology and falling prices have resulted in
a fast growth of e-waste around the world.
2. Basel Action Network attempts to combat the e-waste trade.
3. Almost all electronic items contain lead and tin (as solder) and
copper.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
89. Consider the following:
1. Eutrophication is a natural process.
2. Major contaminants in Eutrophication are nitrates and
phosphates.
3. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of the oxygen
used by microorganisms to decompose their waste.
4. Biomagnification implies increase in the total biomass at
successive trophic levels.
Which of the following statements are true?
(a) 2 and 3
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 3
90. What is the correct decreasing order of the threat categories
identified by IUCN?
1. Endangered
2. Vulnerable
3. Rare
4. Extinct in the wild
(a) 4-3-1-2
(b) 3-4-1-2
(c) 3-4-2-1
(d) 4-1-2-3
91. Sustainable agriculture can be achieved by:
1. Integrated nutrient management which includes fertilizers,
farmyard manure, green manure, crop residues, compost,
management practices.
2. Using a combination of physical, chemical, and biological
methods to limit the harmful effects of crop pests.
3. crop diversification method such as, crop rotation, mixed
cropping, double cropping, mulching, etc.
4. Use of low cost storage and marketing facilities along with
efficient water management.
Select the right statements:
(a) 2 and 3
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 3
PRACTICE PAPER
92. Cryogenics may be applied in—
1. Preservation of bone marrow cells
2. Surgery without loss of blood
3. Food preservation
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 2
93. Nano-medicine is the medical application of
nanotechnology. Consider these statements about Nanomedicine:
1. Nanotechnology has provided the possibility of delivering
drugs to specific cells using nano-particles but it has severe sideeffects.
2. Nanotechnology may be able to help reproduce or repair
damaged tissues. “Tissue engineering” makes use of artificially
stimulated cell proliferation by using suitable nanomaterial-based
scaffolds and growth factors.
3. Nanoparticles cannot be used in combination therapy for
decreasing antibiotic resistance.
Which among the above is/are correct statements?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 1 & 3
(c) Only 2 & 3
94. Consider the following comparisons of the GSM cell phones
and CDMA Cell Phones:
1. GSM cell phones use SIM cards, while CDMA cell phones
don’t use SIM Cards.
2. GSM is predominantly a standard, while CDMA is
predominantly a technology.
Which of the two comparisons is/are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
95. Government of India has recently introduced the
pentavalent vaccines in few states. Consider the following
statements regarding Pentavalent vaccines:
1. The vaccine protects children from diphtheria, tetanus,
whooping cough, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B.
2. It was introduced as a pilot project in Kerala only. But now it
has been introduced in Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Goa, J&K
and Puducherry.
3. It will be provided along with the current Hepatitis B and DPT
primary vaccination schedule in the immunization programme.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 1 & 3
(c) Only 2 & 3
96. In context with the Digital Versatile Discs, what is / are the
difference / differences between DVD-R and DVD+R
1. DVD-R is a single layer DVD with lesser storage capacity as
compare to DVD+R which is a dual layer DVD .
2. DVD-R employs the Land Pre Pit (LPP) technology , DVD+R
utilizes an advanced Address In Pregroove (ADIP) functionality
Choose the correct option:
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 & 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
97. Consider the following statements related to human brain:
1. The human brain is the fattest organ in the body.
2. The two hemispheres of the brain contribute to the processing
and understanding of language: the left hemisphere processes the
rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech while the right
hemisphere processes the emotions conveyed by it.
3. The Hypothalamus part of the brain regulates body
temperature much like a thermostat.
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 1 & 3
(c) Only 2 & 3
98. Match the following: List-I List-II (Pollutants) (Diseases)
A. Cadmium 1. Black foot
B. Fluoride 2. Dissimilarity of teeth
C. Mercury 3. Etai-Etai
D. Arsenic 4. Minamata
Code:
ABCD
(a) 124 3
(b) 324 1
(c) 243 1
(d) 143 2
99. In regard to the function of kidneys, consider the following
statements—
1. Excretion of nitrogenous waste product
2. Maintenance of ph standard
3. Maintenance of osmotic pressure
Which of the functions given above is/are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 1 and 3
©Only 2 and 3 (d)1, 2 and 3
PRACTICE PAPER
100. Project Glass, a smart pair of glasses with an integrated
heads-up display revealed by Google, is a—
1. Prototype for an “augmented reality” headset that would have
the capabilities of a smartphone and more. It will also use voice
input and output.
2. It will include a camera, GPS functionality, and Internet
connectivity, and voice-activation software.
3. The operating system software used in the glasses will be
Symbian OS.
(a) Only 1
(b) 1 & 2
(c) 1 & 3
(d) None of them
ANSWERS
1. (a)
2. (c)
3. (d)
4. (a)
5. (a)
6. (d)
7. (a)
8. (d)
9. (d)
10. (b)
11. (c)
12. (a)
13. (b)
14. (a)
15. (d)
16. (b)
17. (a)
18. (b)
19. (d)
20. (c)
21. (d)
22. (c)
23. (d)
24. (b)
25. (a)
26. (c)
27. (a)
28. (c)
29. (a)
30. (c)
31. (b)
32. (a)
33. (b)
34. (b)
35. (b)
36. (a)
37. (c)
38. (b)
39. (b)
40. (b)
41. (a)
42. (c)
43. (a)
44. (b)
45. (a)
46. (d)
47. (a)
48. (b)
49. (b)
50. (c)
51. (a)
52. (b)
53. (a)
54. (c)
55. (d)
56. (c)
57. (b)
58. (b)
59. (d)
60. (c)
61. (d)
62. (b)
63. (d)
64. (c)
65. (a)
66. (c)
67. (d)
68. (b)
69. (a)
70. (b)
71. (d)
72. (b)
73. (a)
74. (a)
75. (b)
76. (d)
77. (a)
78. (a)
79. (c)
80. (d)
81. (d)
82. (b)
83. (a)
84. (d)
85. (c)
86. (d)
87. (d)
88. (d)
89. (c)
90. (d)
91. (d)
92. (a)
93. (b)
94. (c)
95. (a)
96. (b)
97. (d)
98. (b)
99. (d)
100. (b)
IBC_Layout 1 7/8/2015 9:52 AM Page 1
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RNI No. DELENG/2000/2697

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