Daily News Notes: 27th March, 2012

· The Budget session of the Puducherry Assembly begins. However, the budget for the financial year 2012 - 13 will not be presented now, as the plan allocation for the Union Territory has not been finalized by the Planning Commission so far. A vote on accounts to meet the expenses of the Government for the first few months of the next financial year will be passed during this first phase of the session which will last for three days.
· Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology informed that as per the cyber crime data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau, a total 966 Cyber Crime cases were registered under Information Technology Act, 2000 in 2010 ascompared to 420 in 2009. Also, 799 persons were arrested under Information Technology Act 2000 in 2010. He said in order to address the growing threat of Cyber Crimes in the country, the Government has evolved an integrated approach with the following legal, technical and administrative steps : [1.] A major programme has been initiated on development of cyber forensics specifically cyber forensic tools, setting up of infrastructure for investigation and training of the users, particularly police and judicial officers. Cyber Forensic Labs have been se up at Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata; [2.] Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) are involved in providing basic and advanced training of Law Enforcement Agencies, Forensic labs and judiciary on the procedures and methodology of collecting, analysing and presenting digital evidence.
· The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 17 categories of highly polluting industries (HPIs) which include thermal power plants, cement plants, distilleries, etc. A total of 2720 industries have been identified as HPIs by CPCB in the country. Further, CPCB have also established a network of 1085 Water Quality Monitoring Stations along various river stretches. Water quality data in respect of Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) has exceeded the desired water quality criteria (< 3 mg/per litre) in 150 river stretches covering 121 rivers. The major cause of rising organic pollution, particularly BOD, in these rivers is due to discharge of untreated and partially treated domestic effluents by various municipalities across the country. Envirnoment Ministry is supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in pollution abatement in identified river stretches through the centrally sponsored National River Conservation Plan, which presently covers 40 rivers in 190 towns spread over 20 states.
· The Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for afforestation & eco-restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas in participatory mode under Joint Forest Management (JFM). Thus, in order to improve eco-system services and to gear up afforestation & regeneration of degraded forest tracts, an area of about 10 million ha is envisaged to be tackled under Green India Mission (GIM) during 12th and 13th Five Year Plan period. The 12th Plan outlay of NAP has also been proposed as Rs.10,000 crore against the outlay of Rs.2000 crore during 11th Plan. In addition, various State Governments are also implementing schemes for improvement of degraded forest utilizing State funds and externally aided projects.
· As per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2011, the Forest and Tree Cover of the country is 23.81% of the geographical area of the country. The forest cover of the country has registered a marginal decline of 0.05% as compared to the previous assessment published in ISFR 2009. Further, In the India State of Forest Report, the forests are classified into three categories such as Very Dense Forest (VDF is where all lands with tree canopy density of 70% and above), Moderately Dense Forest (MDF is where all lands with tree canopy density between 40% and 70%) & Open Forests (OF is where all land with tree canopy density between 10% - 40%). The area covered VDF (2.54%), that with MDF (9.76%) and OF (8.75%).
· Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests has said that the State Governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Karnataka have informed that they have taken a decision to prohibit environmental release of all Genetically Modified (GM) seeds. She said currently field trials have been allowed only in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Recently Government of Rajasthan has conveyed its decision to withdraw the No Objection Certificate (NOC) which was issued for conduct of second season Biosafety Research Level (BRL-I) trial with GM Mustard in their state.
· The Minister for Culture and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that the Central Government has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres to extend support to folk and traditional arts and artisans of the country. These Centres implement the following schemes: [1.] National Cultural Exchange Programme; [2.] Guru Shishya Parampara Scheme; [3.] Young Talented Artistes Scheme; [4.] Documentation of Vanishing Art Forms; [5.] Theatre Rejuvenation Scheme; [6.] Shilpagram Activities; [7.] Loktarang – National Folk Dance Festival and OCTAVE - Festival of the North East. Futher she said, under the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (in implementation from 1997 has been revamped recently in the year 2009) Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata has taken up a special project for reviving and revitalizing the folk art forms as a means of sustainable livelihoods. She said, the Anthropological Survey of India, has over the years, collected and documented certain folk art and craft forms, like Warli paintings, wall paintings of the Gond, musical instruments of different tribal and other communities etc. as part of its work. Also, she has said that Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) has been approved on 2^nd June 2011. The States would be required to include all the mission cities of JNNURM, preferably cities with more than 3 lakh population as per 2001 Census; and other smaller cities, with due consideration to the pace of growth of the city, of slums, predominance of minority population, and areas where property rights are assigned. Kumari Selja said, under Phase-I of RAY which will extend for two years from the date of approval of the Scheme, States are being supported to develop GIS based Slum Free City Plans with comprehensive household-wise slum surveys as RAY emphasises a whole city, all slums and whole slum strategy. The States/UTs are also being encouraged to prepare innovative pilot projects which would form the basis for replication and upscaling in Phase-II of the Scheme. She said, the Scheme is expected to cover about 250 cities, across the entire country by the end of 12^th Plan (2017).
· The Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has said that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation set up a Committee to look into various aspects of Slum Statistics / Census and issues regarding conduct of slum census 2011 under the chairmanship of Pranab Sen. The Pranab Sen Committee submitted its report on 30th August, 2010. The Committee has defined Slums as: “A Slum is a compact settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions”. Further she said, there are no mandatory directives issued by Union Government to adopt compulsory earthquake resistant techniques in construction of houses / colonies in the urban areas of the country. However, National Building Code 2005 brought out by Bureau of Indian Standards inter-alia gives provision for planning, design and construction of earthquake resistant construction techniques. Disaster Management Act 2005 is in place and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issues guidelines related to the earthquake safety from time to time. The Minister said, Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) under the aegis of this Ministry has undertaken activities like propagation and demonstration of seismic retrofitting in important schools and hospitals in various regions including Delhi, to bring in greater awareness in this regard. ‘Land’ and ‘Colonisation’ are State subjects and therefore it is the primary responsibility of States to amend their existing regulations to make the requisite provisions for compulsory adoption, she added.
· The Union Government has received proposals from several State Governments for inclusion of more languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. These are: (1) Angika, (2) Banjara, (3) Bazika, (4) Bhojpuri, (5) Bhoti, (6) Bhutia, (7) Bundelkhandi (8) Chhattisgarhi, (9) Dhatki, (10) English, (11) Garhwali (Pahari), (12) Gondi, (13) Gujjar/Gujjari (14) Ho, (15) Kachachhi, (16) Kamtapuri, (17) Karbi, (18) Khasi, (19) Kodava (Coorg), (20) Kok Barak, (21) Kumaoni (Pahari), (22) Kurak, (23) Kurmali, (24) Lepcha, (25) Limbu, (26) Mizo (Lushai), (27) Magahi, (28) Mundari, (29) Nagpuri, (30) Nicobarese, (31) Pahari (Himachali), (32) Pali, (33) Rajasthani, (34) Sambalpuri/Kosali, (35) Shaurseni (Prakrit), (36) Siraiki, (37) Tenyidi and (38) Tulu. There are no criteria laid down in the Constitution for inclusion of languages in the Eighth Schedule.
· Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology informed that, according to NASSCOM ( National Association of Software and Service Companies), India’s IT industry is concerned about US threats to stop outsourcing. The following issues have adversely impacted outsourcing from India: [1.] Steep Hike in Visa fees and its extension ( August 2010); [2.] Ohio State’s executive order banning offshore outsourcing (August 2010); [3.] US Government decision to centralize Blanket L visa at Chennai Consulate (Nov 2011). Futher he said that in the draft National Policy on Electronics, it has been proposed to create an Electronic Development Fund. This fund would promote innovation, IP, R&D, commercialization of products, etc. in the sectors of Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM), nanoelectronics and IT by providing appropriate funding/incentives to Industry/ Academic/ R&D institutions. The Minister said the draft National Policy on Electronics proposes to provide incentives for setting up of over 200 Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) with world class logistics, infrastructure and easy-to-do-business facilities. The support is intended to facilitate setting up of greenfield EMCs and upgradation of brownfield EMCs.
· Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries has informed that the price and market related information in respect of agricultural commodities is being disseminated to the farmers and other market users though AGMARKNET portal (Marketing Research and Information Network). “Digital Mandi for Indian Kisan” a project launched by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur for disseminating AGMARKNET data through SMS/voice messages on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited mobile platform for the States of Punjab and Haryana on pilot basis, presents a unique web and cell phone based multi modal agriculture commodity pricing retrieval system on a GPRS enabled cell phone for the farmer.
· As per available data, about 1.2 lakh ha has been covered under Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP). Based on response of States, it has been decided to continue these interventions during XII Plan. The programme was launched in 2011-12 as a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) on pilot basis in 10 states, viz., Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The main features of RADP are: [1.] Composite farming to sustain the livelihood and food security at farm level; [2.] Integrated farming system to help farmers in minimizing the impacts of possible crop failures through supplementary production/income from the remaining production approach; [3.] Adoption of cluster approach.
· Minister of State for Finance has informed that the Reserve Bank of India constituted a Committee to re-examine the existing classification and suggest revised guidelines with regard to priority sector lending classification and related issues. The Committee submitted its Report on February 21, 2012. The Committee has reported that as per ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers’ conducted as part of 59th round of National Sample Survey, more than 80 per cent of the farmer household belong to small and marginal farmers. During the last 5 years, bank loans to small and marginal farmers as percent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) has increased from 3.77 per cent in 2007 to 5.71 per cent in 2011. To increase the credit to small and marginal farmers, Government has taken several measures for enhancing the availability of credit to farmers including small and marginal farmers. These inter alia include interest subvention on short term crop loans and simplification of procedures to avail agricultural credit. The Committee has recommended a sub-target for small and marginal farmers within agriculture and allied activities, equivalent to 9 per cent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit equivalent of Off Balance Sheet Exposure (CEOBE), whichever is higher, to be achieved in stages by 2015-16. Further he informed that, RBI has issued guidelines on Base Rate system replacing the Bench Prime Lending Rate system (BPLR) with effect from July 1, 2010. In terms of these guidelines, banks determine their actual lending rate on loans and advances with reference to the Base Rate. All categories of loans are priced only with reference to the Base Rate, which are announced by banks after seeking approval from their respective Boards. Since the Base Rate will be the minimum rate for all loans, banks are not permitted to resort to any lending below the Base Rate. The Base Rate is aimed at enhancing transparency in lending rates of banks and enabling better assessment of transmission of monetary policy.
· Minister of State for Finance has also informed that the share of different countries in world GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2010 is as under: [1.] Advanced Economies: 52.1%, [2.] USA: 19.5%, [3.] Japan: 5.8%, [4.] India: 5.5%, [5.] Germany: 4.0%, [6.] UK: 2.9%. The Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) proposes a faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth with a target of 9 per cent increase in GDP. The key requirements for achieving the goal are better performance in agriculture (at least 4 per cent growth), faster creation of jobs in manufacturing, development of appropriate infrastructural facilities, strong efforts at health, education and skill development, improving the implementation of flagship programmes and focus on backward region and vulnerable groups.
· National Payments Corporation of India—a Reserve Bank of India initiative—is set to replay the ATM revolution in the cards business with the launch of RuPay debit cards, which undercut Visa and Mastercard on processing fees on transactions. Coinciding with the launch, the central bank has also directed banks to cut charges levied on shopkeepers for facilitating debit card payments. On Monday, four large public sector banks State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Union Bank of India launched the first set of RuPay cards in India. The RuPay card is meant to be on the lines of China Union Pay—a Chinese government promoted payments and settlement platform for card transactions that broke the Visa-Mastercard stranglehold. Two years ago, NPCIL cut the charges for facilitating customers use their debit cards in ATMs of other banks. It has now promised the same in the card space. First in debit cards where processing fees will be 40% lower and later in credit cards which will be launched from 2015. Although shops will be the initial beneficiary of lower debit card charges, it will ultimately benefit customers as it will make it viable for shops to accept card payments for even low-value transactions. Also low-margin businesses which refused to accept cards because of charges of around 1.8% at present will be incentivized to accept card payments. G Padmanabhan, ED, RBI, said while RBI did not interfere in pricing the interchange fee debate had become louder after the United States recently intervened to ask banks to bring down interchange fees on debit card transactions. According to A P Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI India will also save hundreds of crores in foreign exchange by having a domestic payment system as Visa and Mastercard are paid in foreign currency.
· Arab Foreign Ministers assemble in Baghdad to discuss the developments in the region over the next two days in the run up to the Arab Summit. After years of war, isolation and American occupation, Iraq prepares to hold the summit of Arab leaders in Baghdad; the first such meeting in Iraq after a gap of two decades. The impact of Arab Spring, developments in Iran, Yemen , Sudan and the economy would be in focus during the summit.