{News Notes} Daily News Notes: 9th to 14th Jan, 2013

Close on the heels of the border skirmishes in Kashmir valley, Pakistani troops have crossed the LoC and killed 3 soldiers of the Indian Army and injured two. According to the sources, men of the Pakistani regular contingent wore black combat uniform and the ambush had been laid 600 metres inside Indian territory. “Pak army troops, having taken advantage of thick fog & mist in the forested area, were moving towards our posts when an alert area domination patrol spotted and engaged the intruders. The firefight between Pak and own troops continued for approximately half an hour after which the intruders retreated back towards their side of Line of Control. Two soldiers Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh laid down their lives while fighting the Pak troops” it added. The Pakistani offensive came two days after Islamabad complained about the death of a soldier in the Indian troops’ firing in Poonch-Uri belt. India said the jawans undertook “controlled retaliation” in response to unprovoked Pakistani firing.
Soon after Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar stressed on Thursday that Islamabad had no intentions of escalating tensions with India over recent violations in the Line of Control (LoC) ceasefire agreement, the Pakistan Army claimed another soldier had been killed in cross-border firing by India in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Pakistan has approached the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan to investigate the ceasefire violations. Optimistic about the peace process weathering this storm, the Minister said: “Because of some unnecessary statements, [negative] atmospherics were created which I hope both countries will show their commitment to correct. If we have a mechanism to face such challenges, then as a responsible country we should revert to those mechanisms that exist so that we can continue with our relations as normal neighbours.” As to the inferences being drawn by the Indian media between the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistan army, Ms. Khar said the government of Pakistan would not respond to the unofficial statement that came out of India.
India has rejected Pakistan’s proposal for a United Nations probe into the chain of killings along the Line of Control (LoC) that began on Sunday morning and led to the killing of two Indian soldiers on Tuesday. The Indian response was to a Pakistani suggestion for investigating the incidents by the U.N. Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) which is present on both sides of the LoC.
The Chinese government said that it did not back “all-weather” ally Pakistan’s proposal for a U.N. probe, which India rejected on Thursday. Asked if China agreed with Pakistan’s call, it said: “As a neighbour and friend of both India and Pakistan, we sincerely hope that the two countries properly and calmly resolve the dispute through dialogue and consultation, so as to maintain peace and stability in South Asia.” While China’s close military ties with Pakistan have historically been a source of distrust in India-China relations, officials and analysts here say the Chinese government will continue to adhere to its stated policy in the past two decades of not involving itself in disputes between the countries. However, India has, in the recent years, objected to Chinese investments in infrastructure projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which Beijing has continued — arguing that its interests were “purely commercial” — despite New Delhi’s protests. India has, for its part, responded by stepping up its involvement in exploration projects in the South China Sea.
“Disappointed over the continuing pattern” of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan on Friday increased its scale of protest and “summoned” Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal to the Foreign Office while reiterating its resolve to remain invested in the peace process. Simultaneously, Pakistan has begun contacting other countries through their diplomatic missions in Islamabad to present its case and enlist their help in de-escalating tension along the LoC. And though New Delhi has made clear its position on an enquiry by the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (Unmogip), Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani reiterated that this was the only available mechanism to establish the truth about the ceasefire violations.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony said on Friday that India had enough firepower on the border to take care of any situation and described the beheading of an Indian soldier on Tuesday as a “turning point.” India requested a brigadier-level flag meeting on a day when the Pakistan Foreign Office summoned High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal to complain about the firing purportedly from the Indian side of the LoC that killed a Pakistani soldier on Thursday.
Even as fresh firing was reported along the Line of Control on Sunday evening, Pakistan agreed to attend a flag meeting in Poonch area of Jammu region on Monday. At the flag meeting, the Indian side is expected to strongly protest the Pakistani intrusion and the beheading of a soldier and demand the return of the severed head believed to have been carried by Pakistani army regulars as a trophy.
The Brigade-level flag meeting between Indian and Pakistani authorities at Chakan Da Bagh near the Line of Control in Poonch on Monday afternoon ended without any breakthrough. Brig. Sandhu made it clear to the other side that India reserved the “right to retaliate” until there was publicly an apology besides returning of the severed head of Lance Naik Hemraj and the weapons looted from the two slain soldiers. He also demanded an assurance that there would be no repeat of such an “unprecedented and unprofessional heinous act” and made it clear that the Indian Army would respond to such a violation of the November 2003 ceasefire with “appropriate and quick response”. Sources said that, contrary to expectations, there was no discussion on restoration of cross-LoC trade and travel that remains suspended since January 10. As many as 65 trucks loaded with perishables have been returned to Poonch and Rajouri and over a hundred passengers have been stranded on either side of the LoC in the Jammu-Poonch sector on the Indian side and the Hajeera-Rawalakote area across the border.

An explosive planted inside the stomach of a CRPF personnel killed by the banned CPI (Maoists) in an encounter was defused at Rajinder Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi. Doctors at RIMS alerted the police when they noticed stitches on the abdomen of two of the CRPF jawans air-lifted from Latehar for an autopsy. The Bomb Disposal Squad of the Jharkhand police found an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) stitched into the body of one of the jawans and detonated it after taking it to an open field. In an eight-minute audio clip, CPI (Maoists) special area military commission (Bihar, Jharkhand, North Chhattisgarh) spokesperson Toofan claimed that the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) had killed 17 security personnel. “The Central forces beat local villagers and forced them to act as shields and carry corpses. This is against the norm of any war and we condemn this and express regret for the death of five innocent villagers. The Central forces have put rockets and grenades as booby traps, which are still around villages,” he said.
A study commissioned by the government last year on quantifying black money generated in the country has estimated that the illicit wealth is likely to exceed 10% of GDP or anywhere above Rs 10 lakh crore, given the size of the economy. The 1,000-page report was submitted to the finance ministry by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in the last week of December. The study was headed by R Kavita Rao, head of NIPFP’s tax policy and research, and included former director general of income tax investigation S S Khan. The report has given sectoral break-up of the scope of black money such as the real estate sector, telecom, mining etc. The last such study carried out at the instance of the finance ministry was by NIPFP in 1984 (see InfoGraphic for more detail).In a white paper on black money tabled in Parliament last year, then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had listed tax evasion through transfer pricing as one of the major areas of generation of black money. The white paper had quoted a private study report saying “developing countries may be losing over $160 billion of tax revenues a year, primarily through transfer pricing strategies”. The white paper had said, “The illicit money transferred outside India may come back to India through various methods such as hawala, mispricing, foreign direct investment (FDI) through beneficial tax jurisdictions, raising of capital by Indian companies through global depository receipts (GDRs) and investment in Indian stock markets through participatory notes.” [InfoGraphic: Click Here]
India was ranked lowest among the world’s major economies for its preparedness to tackle global environmental risks and second-lowest for economic risks. As per the annual Global Risks Report published by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), the biggest global risk in terms of likelihood would be ‘severe income disparity’ for the next 10 years and ‘major systemic financial failure’ will be the top-most risk before the world in terms of impact. The report said that Switzerland is best placed among the world’s 10 major economies for adapting to or recovering from global economic and environmental risks. While India is ranked ninth in terms of its ability to tackle global economic risks and comes last at tenth position for environmental risks. Italy is ranked lowest at tenth position for economic risks. The rankings of the 10 major economic of the world - Brazil, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Russia, the UK and the US - are based on Global Risks Perception Survey of over 1,000 experts from across the world. Among the top-five global risks in terms of likelihood are: severe income disparity, chronic fiscal imbalances, rising greenhouse emissions, water supply crises and mismanagement of ageing population. The WEF report said that the nature of global risks is constantly changing. “Thirty years ago, chlorofluorocarbons were seen as a planetary risk, while threat from a massive cyber attack was treated by many as science fiction. In the same period, the proliferation of nuclear weapons occupied the minds of scientists and politicians, while the proliferation of orbital debris did not. We see a similar story with asbestos then and carbon nanotubes today, and the list goes on.” For India, the report said that within four years (from 2002 to 2006) the antibiotic-resistance bacteria went from 7 drugs to 21 drugs. It further said the “pharmacy sales of strong antibiotics which should be a last line of defence increased nearly six-fold from 2005 to 2010” in India. A national task force in India had recommended ending over-the-counter sales of antibiotics, but the proposal was rejected as it would deny access to antibiotics to patients in rural areas where there are no physicians to prescribe the drug, the WEF report said.
For the first time in a decade, the railways increased passenger fares across all classes to improve its dwindling finances and shore up services on trains and at stations. The raise, ranging between 2 paise and 10 paise per km, depending on the class you travel, will translate into a higher burden for those travelling longer distances and in cheaper classes. Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the increase in passenger fares would help the state-run transporter generate Rs 6,600 crore a year and only partially bridge the gap between income and revenue, which is projected to touch Rs 25,000 crore by the year-end. During the remaining part of the current financial year, railways will be able to earn Rs 1,200 crore. The move comes just a day after ratings agency Fitch once again talked of a possible downgrade in India’s sovereign rating to junk grade, citing poor finances and slow growth. [InfoGraphic: Click Here]
The Central Government has carefully considered the report of the Expert Committee on General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR, Chaired by Dr. Parthasarathi Shome) and accepted the major recommendations of the Expert Committee with some modifications. The Finance Minister said that the following decisions have been taken by Government in this regard: [1.] An arrangement, the main purpose of which is to obtain a tax benefit, would be considered as an impermissible avoidance arrangement; [2.] The assessing officer will be required to issue a show cause notice,containingreasons, to the assessee before invoking the provisions of GAAR. The assessee shall have an opportunity to prove that the arrangement is not an impermissible avoidance arrangement; [3.] The two separate definitions in the current provisions, namely, ‘associated person’ and ‘connected person’ will be combined and there will be only one inclusive provision defining a ‘connected person’; [4.] The Approving Panel shall consist of a Chairperson who is or has been a Judge of a High Court; one Member of the Indian Revenue Service not below the rank of Chief Commissioner of Income-tax; and one Member who shall be an academic or scholar having special knowledge of matters such as direct taxes, business accounts and international trade practices. The current provision that the Approving Panel shall consist of not less than three members being Income-tax authorities or officers of the Indian Legal Service will be substituted; [5.] The Approving Panel may have regard to the period or time for which the arrangement had existed; the fact of payment of taxes by theassessee; and the fact that an exit route was provided by the arrangement; [6.] The directions issued by the Approving Panel shall be binding on the assessee as well as the Income-tax authorities; [7.] Investments made before August 30, 2010, the date of introduction of the Direct Taxes Code, Bill, 2010, will be grandfathered (a grandfather clause is a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations); [8.] GAAR will not apply to such FIIs that choose not to take any benefit under an agreement of the Income-tax Act, 1961. GAAR will also not apply to non-resident investors in FIIs; [9.] A monetary threshold of Rs. 3 crore of tax benefit in the arrangement will be provided in order to attract the provisions of GAAR; [10.] Where GAAR and SAAR are both in force, only one of them will apply to a given case; [11.] Time limits will be provided for action by the various authorities under GAAR.
The Prime Minister today unveiled the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020. The principal end objectives of the National Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM) are National energy security, mitigation of the adverse impact of vehicles on the environment and growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities. The NEMMP 2020, the mission document for the NMEM that was approved by the National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) on 29th August, 2012, sets the vision, lays the targets and provides the joint Government – industry vision for realizing the huge potential that exists for full range of efficient and environmentally friendly electric vehicle (including hybrids) technologies by 2020. As per these projections, 6-7 million units of new vehicle sales of the full range of electric vehicles, along with resultant liquid fuel savings of 2.2 – 2.5 million tonnes can be achieved in 2020. This will also result in substantial lowering of vehicular emissions and decrease in carbon di-oxide emissions by 1.3% to 1.5% in 2020 as compared to a status quo scenario. It is estimated that the Government will need to provide support to the tune of Rs 13000 – Rs 14000 Crore over the next 5-6 years. The NEMMP 2020 projections also indicate that the savings from the decrease in liquid fossil fuel consumption as a result of shift to electric mobility alone will far exceed the support provided thereby making this a highly economically viable proposition. Therefore on all counts encouraging the faster adoption of hybrid & electric vehicles and their manufacture in India is a wise investment for our future generations.
Union health ministry has okayed a proposal that diabetic, hypersensitive and pregnant women be allowed to join Civil Services, according to a report in a daily newspaper. Only those women who are in strenuous jobs will be declared unfit for a temporary period-- till the time the baby is born. The health ministry recommendation to department of personnel and training (DoPT) however said that diabetics and hypertensi ve be allowed to join government service if there is “no micro-vascular effect”. In fact, some of India’s top policy makers handling strenuous tasks are actually diabetic. For example, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defence minister AK Antony and Leader of Opposition IN Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj are all diabetic. Under the current rules, those who cross the hurdle of UPSC may find themselves "unfit" during medical examination because of diabetes, hypertension and pregnancy. The famous case where a diabetic was rejected even after he had cleared civil services was M Srinivasu. After he had cleared UPSC in 2008, he was declared “unfit” first by a panel of doctors in Safdarjung hospital and then by Ram Manohar Lohia hospital to join the services. Srinivasu also appealed to Prime Minister. Earlier, another candidate Sukhsohit Singh who was ranked 883 in 2008 UPSC examination was rejected by the medical board as he was found to be thalassemic. But he had managed to join the Indian Defence Accounts Services in September 2011 after PM had intervened.
The President of India inaugurated the International Seminar on Global Trends in Judicial Reforms in New Delhi. He said: [1.] Judicial Reforms should be at the centre stage for enhancing the quality of justice that is at the core of human existence and welfare of any society; [2.] The endeavour is timeless with societies borrowing new practices from each other achieving higher standards of justice and more commonality in laws and procedures in the process; [3.] judicial reform is a continuous process and through constant consultation among stakeholders consensus can be reached to engender changes.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation announced the release of the monthly provisional Consumer Price Index (CPI, Base Year is 2010) along with annual inflation rates for December 2012: [1.] All India General (all groups) CPI numbers of December 2012 for rural, urban and combined are 126.8, 124.0 and 125.6 respectively; [2.] Annual inflation rate based on all India general CPI for December 2012 for rural, urban and combined are 10.74 %, 10.42 % and 10.56 % respectively; [3.] Provisional annual inflation rates of December 2012 for rural, urban and combined in respect of ‘food and beverages’ are 13.09%, 13.03% and 13.04% respectively.
President of India launched the National Immunization Day, 2013 by administering polio drops to children on 13th Jan, 2013. On 25th February 2012, the World Health Organization removed India from the list of polio endemic countries, which was a historical achievement since there was a perception among many experts that India would be the last country to eradicate polio. This was more so because, until 2009, India accounted for half of the total polio cases in the world. You would appreciate that overcoming the burden of polio cases was a huge challenge to which the Government of India responded with a strong political will by providing financial resources, vastly improved coverage, quick response times and adoption of technological innovations, including a Bivalent oral polio vaccine, which India was among the first to introduce from January, 2010. India will continue to make further progress in the fight against polio, so that the country and the South East Asia Region are declared Polio free in 2014.
The closing function of Red Ribbon Express – III was held in New Delhi at Safdarjung Railway Station. Health Minister said that many welfare schemes have been launched by the Government of India for the benefit of the people. Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram is one such programme which has been started to guarantee free healthcare to all the pregnant mothers and sick neonates. But due to lack of awareness, this scheme has not reached the pregnant mothers. He felt that some innovative ways are to be found out to spread the message on these welfare schemes across the country. He expressed his view that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of Railways can join hands together in this noble cause. RRE Background: RRE-III was flagged off on January 12, 2012, the National Youth Day. The focus of RRE – III was on adolescents and youth as the future of India belongs to them. In its year-long journey, the RRE - III covered 162 railway stations in 23 states. Over 1.14 crore people have been reached with messages on HIV/AIDS and other health issues as a part of this mass mobilization. The first Red Ribbon Express was flagged off on 1st December, 2007 for disseminating messages on HIV & AIDS. The train traversed over 27,000 km covering 180 stations across 22 states till 1st December, 2008. The second Red Ribbon Express was again flagged off on 1st December, 2009 for disseminating messages on HIV & AIDS, H1N1 and general health issues. The train traversed over 27,000 km covering 152 stations in 22 states. The Red Ribbon Express is one of the global best practices, innovative and effective in reaching out to a large segment of population with awareness messages on HIV/AIDS and related services. It is the world’s largest mass mobilization campaign on HIV/AIDS. It is a special exhibition train which travels across the country disseminating the messages on HIV/AIDS and general health in rural and remote areas of the country. Along with the train, special outreach programmes are organized in the villages through IEC exhibition vans and folk troupes.
The President of India released a Commemorative Postage Stamp on ‘Silk Letter Movement’. President said that the sacrifices of individuals and groups, such as those associated with the Silk Letter Movement, constitute a glorious chapter of India’s history of Freedom struggle and need to be acknowledged and appreciated. SLM: It refers to a movement by Deobandi leaders to attempt to begin a Pan-Islamic insurrection in the tribal belt of British India during World War I by seeking support from Ottoman Turkey, Imperial Germany, and Afghanistan. For this purpose, Ubaid'Allah was to propose that the Amir of Afghanistan declares war against Britain while Mahmud al Hasan sought German and Turkish help. The plot was uncovered by Punjab CID.
President of India led the nation in paying tribute to late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 47th death anniversary on 11th Jan, 2013. Shastri became the second Prime Minister of India after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 May 1964. Shastri successfully led the nation during the 22-day war with Pakistan in 1965. He gave the slogan of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, which led to a rare display of unity in the country during India-Pakistan war. On January 10, 1966 Shastri signed the historic Joint communique with the President Ayub Khan of Pakistan at Tashkent. Within few hours of the signing of the Declaration, the Lal bahadur Shastri died (murdered) of a heart attack in Tashkent.
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched a new IT/web enabled initiatives (Lakshya) to make distribution of domestic LPG more customer friendly and enhance transparency. He said, currently, the three OMCs together home-deliver over 30 lakh cylinders everyday across the length and breadth of the country. The Government of India has launched new initiatives, Project “Lakshya”, in the LPG business focusing on greater customer empowerment, better subsidy administration, enhanced transparency in the distribution chain; along with a slew of IT-based customer service initiatives. With the launch of “Transparency portal”, the Minister said, customers have already been empowered to know their consumption and enabled civil society activists to look through and flag anomalies in the distribution of LPG cylinders.
The Prime Minister has been monitoring the availability of adequate water from Tehri Dam in river Ganga at Allahabad during the Kumbh Mela 2013. Directions have been given to control the pollution load flowing in river Yamuna during the Kumbh Mela period. At Sangam, Allahabad, the BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) of Yamuna and Ganga is generally less than 6 mg/ltr but the main issue is of the colour of effluents discharged by the pulp and paper industries into the river Ram Ganga and Kali (both tributaries of Ganga). Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand SPCBs have been directed to ensure that all the paper units discharging their effluents into river Ganga or its tributaries comply with the prescribed norms.
The inaugural function of the year-long commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was held on 12th January 2013. Earlier, the Government of India has decided to undertake this commemoration. A National Committee under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was constituted to consider policies and to lay down guidelines for the commemoration. A National Implementation Committee was also constituted in 2010 under the Chairmanship of the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (later replaced by Defence Minister A.K. Antony) to implement the decisions of the National Committee.
The Union Cabinet has approved to provide capital funds to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) during the year 2012-13 to the tune of Rs.12,517 crore to maintain their Tier-l CRAR (Capital to Risk Assets Ratio) at comfortable level, so that they remain compliant with the stricter capital adequacy norms under BASEL-III as well as to support internationally active PSBs for their national and international banking operations undertaken through their subsidiaries and associates. It also gave its 'In principle' approval for need based additional capital infusion in PSBs from the year 2013-14 to 2018-19 for ensuring compliance to Capital Adequacy norms under Basel- III. Background: The Government is committed to keep all the PSBs financially sound and healthy so as to ensure that the growing credit needs of our economy are adequately met. To meet the credit requirement of the economy, banks would require capital funds commensurate to the increase in their Risk Weighted Assets (RWAs). Implementation of Basel III Capital Regulations enhances requirement of core equity capital by banks due to higher capital ratios. The Basel III capital ratios will be fully phased in as on March 31 2018. The requirement of core equity will also increase due to increase in RWAs of banks under Basel III, as risk weights in the areas of credit risk including counterparty credit risk, external credit assessments and market risk are higher than those in present regime of Basel II.
After firing a volley of allegations against Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai and his team, questioning everything from the organisation’s methods to merits, the government has done a sudden U-turn to shower praise on the constitutional body. This is an obvious attempt to ensure that the appointment of the CAG follows the present system rather than go to an independent panel. The government’s new-found admiration for the CAG has been elicited in response to a short question posed by Communist party of India leader and MP Gurudas Dasgupta to the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament that the appointment should be by a committee comprising of the PM (Chairman), Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani had suggested that a “broad-based collegium should be empowered to select the best possible candidate.” Opposing any change in the procedure, the government said: “The present system of appointment of the CAG by the President of India as laid down in the Constitution has stood the test of time ever since the first appointment made after the adoption of the Constitution in 1950.”
The Central Government should act quickly to raise diesel rates to bring them in line with global prices in order to reduce its subsidy bill, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Ranagarajan has said. The committee, which was appointed by the Finance Ministry to formulate the fiscal consolidation roadmap, had in its report suggested raising diesel and kerosene rates. Price of diesel, which at present costs Rs.47.15 a litre in Delhi, was last revised on September 14 when it was hiked by a steep Rs.5.63 per litre. State-owned oil companies at present sell diesel at a loss of ~Rs.10 per litre, and the hikes over the next 10 months will eliminate all of the losses and absolve the government from providing any subsidy on the nation’s most consumed fuel. They are likely to end the fiscal with a revenue loss of over Rs.1.6 lakh crore on sale of diesel, LPG and kerosene at government-controlled rates that are way lower than cost.
Eminent economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has said the Union government’s cash transfer scheme can be a useful system to supplement other ways of making India a less unequal society, “but it is not a magic bullet, and its pros and cons have to be assessed and scrutinized with an open mind.” He sounded a note of caution in cash transfer of food subsidies, saying direct access to food often helps reaching nutrition to children and girls. But when the subsidy is given as cash directly it may benefit adults and boys more due to biased social priorities in Indian society.
The Supreme Court has rejected the Sahara group’s plea to review the August 31, 2012 order by a Bench which directed it to deposit Rs.17,400 crore with 15 per cent interest with the Securities and Exchange Board of India within three months. Nor did Sahara adhere to a December 5, 2012 order, a breather given by another Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, asking it to deposit Rs. 5,120 crore immediately and pay investors in two instalments — Rs. 10,000 crore in the first week of January 2013 and the balance including interest in the first week of February. The Bench passed this order when the Sahara group sought more time to repay the amount to the investors — money it had collected through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD). OFCD: Optionally fully convertible debenture is an instrument that does not yield interest in the initial period of say, 6 months. After this period option is given to the holder of FCDs to apply for equity at a "premium" for which no additional amount needs to be paid. The main difference between FCDs and other convertible debentures is that the company can force conversion into equity, whereas in other types of convertible securities, the owner of the debenture may have that option.
The number of girls and candidates from lesser privileged sections of society registering and appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to management institutes showed a considerable uptrend in 2012. A total of 1,91,642 candidates appeared in the 21-day long testing window from October 11 to November 6. Highlights: [1.] Ten students scored 100 percentile marks, and 255 girls and 1,640 boys scored more than 99 percentile; [2.] Of the 10, one is studying science in the Delhi University and remaining are from the engineering discipline. Eight of these students come from the IITs. Five of the 10 are still in their final year of graduation; [3.] Four girls scored 99.99 percentile, the highest score among girls. All are final-year engineering students; [4.] The Mumbai centre had 180 candidates, who scored 99 per cent or more, while 168 candidates from New Delhi, 157 from Bangalore, 105 from Hyderabad, 92 from Kolkata and 85 from Chennai had 99 per cent or more; [5.] Only 1 per cent of those who wrote the test with arts and humanities background scored 95 per cent or more, while 11.8% of those who studied architecture and 6.8 per cent with engineering background touched 95. Among candidates who had studied medicine, 4.1 per cent had 95 or more. Among those with commerce background 1.3 per cent had 95 or more.
Here is an affirmation of one more Indian fact/stereotype — English communication is an urban phenomenon and that local languages are more popular in rural areas. According to the Vernacular Report, 2012, of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), released on Wednesday, a higher percentage of rural people are aware of regional language content than urban users. Highlights of the report: Click Here.
It will be a mini general election next month. The Election Commission on Friday announced elections/by-elections to the Legislative Assemblies of 10 States. These include regular elections to the Meghalaya (23rd Feb), Nagaland (23rd Feb) and Tripura (14th Feb) Assemblies, each having 60 members. While Tripura has an electoral strength of about 23.52 lakh, the electorate in Meghalaya and Nagaland is 14.81 lakh and 11.81 lakh respectively.
Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said that the Election Commission on Friday sought immediate implementation of the proposed electoral reforms relating to criminalisation of politics, particularly banning candidates with criminal background from contesting polls. The proposal, sent by the EC on July 15, 1998, is still pending with the government. The proposal for electoral reforms, which was reiterated by the EC to the government in November, 1999, July, 2004 and October, 2006, reads: “For preventing persons with criminal background from becoming legislators, the EC has made a proposal for disqualifying [from contesting election] a person against whom charges have been framed by a court for an offence punishable by imprisonment of 5 years or more.” “Under the existing law (Section-8, The Representation of the People Act, 51) there is a disqualification once a person is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more [in the case of certain offences mentioned in sub-sections (1) of Section-8, conviction itself leads to disqualification, even without any sentence of imprisonment]. The Commission’s proposal is for disqualification even prior to conviction, provided the court has framed charges.” The proposal further reads: “As a precaution against foisting false cases on the eve of election, it has been suggested that only those cases in which charges are framed six months prior to an election should be taken into account for that election.”
The Centre has maintained in the Supreme Court that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is constitutionally valid. The intent was to curb misuse of the communication service by sending offensive messages or messages having a menacing character using short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), email, etc, which might have the potential to disturb the peace and communal harmony. The contention that Section 66A “curbs freedom of expression and speech and thus violative of Article 19 (1)” was wrong. For, freedom of expression was subject to reasonable restrictions relating to defamation, contempt of court, decency or morality, security of state, friendly relations with foreign states, incitement to an offence, the public order and maintenance of the sovereignty and integrity of India. The Centre said the Department of Electronics and Information Technology had, in its January 9 advisory, asked the States and Union Territories not to arrest any person under this provision until prior approval was obtained from an officer not below the rank of Inspector-General of Police in metropolitan cities or an officer not below the rank of Deputy Commissioner or Superintendent of Police at the district level.
Some imp. points from the speech given by the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Kumari Selja on “Remedies to Racial and Ethnic Economic Inequality”:::: [1.] Dalit is a word in Sanskrit and Hindi which means oppressed or underprivileged. This word is frequently used to refer to the Scheduled Castes, who have historically faced discrimination; [2.] Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar has undoubtedly been one of the central figures in the evolution of the dalit philosophy in India. For the dalit masses, he is everything together; a scholar par excellence in the realm of scholarship, a messiah who led his people out of ignominy to the path of pride, and a saint who was not after material things; [3.] Through his movement for Dalits, he made the upper classes to introspect and think about the social inequality; [4.] The experience of more than half a century of the Government policies and schemes on the empowerment of the dalits indicate that there has been improvement in the status of the dalits in the ownership of agricultural land and private enterprise, education, in public employment and other spheres; [5.] Despite these improvements, SCs/STs continue to lag behind and the gap between them and others is still very wide. SCs continue to be landless & asset-less by and large. In 2009-10, only about one third of SC households owned some assets. About 58 % of rural and 25% of SC urban households were wage laborer. Only 11% of SC rural households owned private enterprises, when compared to 54.5% others. The SCs also lag behind in access to civic amenities. In 2012, the housing shortage among SC rural and urban households was 55% and 32% respectively compared with 40% and 21% among others. Similarly 68% in rural and 38% in urban areas, the SC localities did not have proper drinking water facilities, compared with 49% and 20% for others. In 2008-09, about 41 % rural SCs and 7.5% urban SCs were without electricity in their houses, compared with 30% rural and 3% urban for others. Access to higher education is also low; enrolment rate being 10 % compared with 25% for the others, but dropout rate is high. Unemployment rate among SCs is as high as 17%, compared to only 9.50% among others; [6.] Added to this, SCs at many places continue to suffer untouchability, discrimination in public spheres and caste based atrocities; [7.] The private enterprises owned by dalits etc. needs to be made profitable. The government has introduced policy of affirmative action in procurement; [8.] Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) is a critical initiative of the Government in closing the development gap between the Scheduled Castes when compared to others. We are striving to get statutory backing to SCSP through a legislation to ensure its effective implementation; [9.] We need to focus on effective implementation of SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
A decade after the National Board for Wildlife envisaged declaring areas within 10 km of the boundary of national parks and sanctuaries as eco-sensitive zones, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given one last opportunity to all the States to submit site-specific proposals by February 15. As per the guidelines, commercial mining, setting up of industries causing pollution, commercial use of firewood, establishment of all hydroelectric projects, use or production of any hazardous substances, tourism activities like flying over the national park area by any aircraft or hot-air balloons and discharge of effluents and solid waste in natural water bodies or terrestrial area are prohibited.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged the governments in the mineral-rich Naxal-affected States to focus on development of agriculture and implementation of rural development programmes instead of focusing on mining to create employment. Mr. Ramesh, who launched an initiative for distribution of Rs. 75,000 each among 2100 families belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in villages in and around Niyamgiri for building Indira Awas houses, was welcomed with the slogan, “ Jairam Ramesh Zindabaad, Vedanta Murdabaad,” as he reached the venue of the meeting.
Can policy actions by themselves reduce the demand for gold in India? The craving for gold, both as jewellery as well as an investment option, has reached such dimensions that the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are working in tandem to moderate the domestic demand as the present demand has an adverse impact on the macro economy. The widening of the trade deficit and with it the current account deficit (CAD) is one obvious fall-out. CAD occurs when a country's total imports of goods, services and transfers are greater than the country's total export. This situation makes a country a net debtor to the rest of the world. Recently, the CAD seems spinning out of control to touch 5.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) during the second quarter (July-September of 2012-13). Gold and petroleum imports have been behind the high trade imbalance. Both have remained inelastic. Policy-makers have had very limited success in moderating the imports of both. One promising remedy would be “financialisation” of gold, both the imported component as well as the domestic stock. Banks and institutions need to introduce attractive savings packages based on gold. Simultaneously, alternative avenues for investment should be made to provide a real rate of return that is higher than what obtains now. Only then can domestic consumers be weaned away, at least partially, from their craving for gold. Simultaneously, there is a need to monetise the domestic stock of gold. Gold loans are already popular. There is a need to refashion them to safeguard the interests of consumers as well as banks that disburse them directly or through refinancing of NBFCs. Banks can consider accepting gold as collateral for their regular loans. An opposite view is that since the easy availability of gold loans is a principal factor behind the increased demand for gold, policy measures must aim at reining in such loans. Ultimately, it is a question also of breaking the strong emotional and cultural links that owning gold has in this country. Gold in the hands of individual households might not be large but they came in handy during difficult times. It would be good, therefore, if policy-makers recognise the different facets of the current gold craze. From a macro-economic point of view, there is really no permanent solution, except by winning the battle over inflation.
India on Wednesday successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal. This is the 34th launch of BrahMos after the successful October launch from INS Teg in the Arabian Sea. The BrahMos missile system was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 when it began arming the Rajput-class guided missile destroyers and inducted subsequently in many warships. BrahMos is capable of acquiring data not only from the American GPS but also from Russian GLONASS satellite systems also, which ensures double redundancy.
Perhaps the biggest religious congregation on earth, the Purna Kumbh, begins in the holy city of Prayag (Allahabad) with the first shahi snan (royal bathing) on Tuesday morning. Over one crore devotees, including countless sants and mahants from India and abroad, will take a dip at the sangam (confluence) of Ganga, Yamuna and the invisible Saraswati. The Purna Kumbh is specially unique this time as it is taking place after a cycle of 144 years. Kumbh melas are held in Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Allahabad (UP), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Nasik (Maharashtra) every 12 years.
Around 20 Kashmiri panchayat members resigned on Sunday, a day after suspected terrorists shot at and critically wounded a 45-year-old woman panch at Hardshiva near north Kashmir’s Sopore town. Six panchayat members have been killed in targeted attacks since rural local bodies polls were held after decades in 2011. The state government says personal rivalry may be behind some killings as panchayat members had often sought security.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, arrested for making a hate speech, was remanded in 14-day judicial custody. Police said Akbaruddin was evasive in his replies and said he claimed his statements were misunderstood by those who lodged the complaints against him. After watching a recording of his speech in Nirmal on December 22, 2012, senior officers decided to file more cases against him. Meanwhile, Adilabad and Nizamabad districts observed a bandh on Wednesday in protest against the arrest, even as MIM workers turned violent in three places.
The 10th meeting of the India-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, Industrial and Cultural was held during 8-9 January 2013 in New Delhi. The two sides reviewed progress with regard to various decisions taken at the 9th Inter-Governmental Commission meeting held in Astana on 12th October 2011.
The Commerce Ministers of India and South Africa reviewed the India- Southern African Custom Union (SACU) Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) negotiations in Johannesburg. Both the Ministers agreed for the need for early finalisation of the India and SACU PTA. Indian Minister requested his SA’s counterpart to use his good offices to expedite SACU’s response to India’s proposal of average Margin of Preference (MOP) in the PTA so that the two sides can accordingly finalise and exchange their respective responses to the tariff request lists and thereby take the negotiations forward. He also expressed India’s concerns at the temporary suspension placed by the South African authorities on frozen boneless buffalo meat imports from India. It is to be noted that after recently granting market access to deboned and deglaned frozen boneless buffalo meat from India by approving one abattoir cum meat processing unit in Maharashtra in January, 2011, same has been temporarily suspended in the month of May 2011. He has requested that the matter may be looked into as the Indian meat conforms to the highest international norms and standards. Mr. Anand Sharma also mentioned that India and South Africa should be able to reach the bilateral trade target of USD 15 billion for 2014, set by us January, 2011, well before 2014. While the total trade between India and South Africa stood at USD 10.53 billion for 2010, it rose to USD 13.65 billion for 2011.
The 3rd India-China Annual Defence Dialogue took place in Beijing today. Both sides agreed to expand and enhance bilateral exchanges covering the Army, Navy and Air Force of both countries. The two sides reviewed the ongoing measures to maintain peace and tranquility on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides agreed upon a plan of bilateral military exchanges for 2013 which includes conduct of the next joint military exercise. During the discussion, Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission called for enhancement of mutual trust between the two countries and he said that consultations need to be held between the two sides to focus on commonalities which are more important than the differences between the two countries. He said good relations between India and China is important for both countries as well as for world peace and security.
India’s bilateral trade with China has fallen by 12% to $ 66 billion in 2012, down from $73.9 billion in 2011 when China became India’s biggest trade partner. Indian exports to China had fallen by as much as 19.6 per cent year-on-year in December. India’s exports in 2012, comprised largely of ores, cotton, chemicals and raw materials, reached $18.8 billion, while imports from China — driven by growing demand for power and telecom equipment and machinery — reached $47.7 billion, which has expanded the trade deficit to $29 billion. China’s exports last year rose by 7.9 per cent despite “a deepening debt crisis in the Eurozone, a sharply slowing world economic recovery, continuously sluggish demand on the global market and big downward pressure on the domestic economy.’’ On the India-China trade front, however, the coming year is expected to be a difficult one. With Supreme Court’s ban on iron ore exports, import duties on power equipment, and likely restrictions in the telecom sector, the outlook for bilateral trade — and the likelihood of meeting the $100 billion target for 2015 — remains uncertain. [InfoGaphic: Click Here]
Indian-origin politician Halimah Yacob (58) is set to become the first woman Speaker of Singapore’s Parliament next week replacing Michael Palmer, who was forced to quit over his extra-marital affair. Ms. Halimah, a former labour lawyer, is a Member of Parliament from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and has extensive experience in the labour movement, social work and pre-school education.
In a message to BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting, WHO congratulated India on recent success in WHO’s assessment of the country’s National Regulatory Authority for Vaccines. Greeting from Geneva, Dr. Margaret Chan, DG, WHO said that this success provides yet another example of how BRICS countries, in their drive to achieve domestic excellence, are contributing to better health throughout the developing world. BRICS countries occupy a unique and inspiring place in the international health community. The following are the Agreed Action Plans of BRICS Health Ministers Meet on strengthening Health Surveillance System: [1.] The Member countries will nominate their respective Nodal officers to jointly form a Technical Working Group (TWG); [2.] Best practices and models will be identified along with the potential areas of mutual benefit and collaboration among member countries; [3.] A plan of collaboration will emerge pursuant to the deliberations. This can include, inter alia, detection and notification mechanisms, standard operating procedures, risk assessment processes, response to public health emergencies and disaster, collaboration on identified areas / diseases.
Nothing much is written about Chinese bureaucrats thanks to censorship rules. But during the last few days, some bloggers have managed to pass humorous comments on a headline: Chinese bureaucrats complain of “exhausting” wining and dining. It all started when a mid-level government official last month complained that he had to receive guests at a sauna and spa, eight times in a single day! Not just that, he had to eat breakfasts four times in one morning to entertain official guests. But netizens even in Communist China did not waste time in poking fun at the officials airing those bizarre complaints. On micro-blogging site Sina Weibo, one post reads like this: “What a troubled world…while people all over are starving, these public ‘servants’ are eating N number of meals a day and complaining.” In one of the commentaries, South China Morning Post quoted other reports saying: “News reports of corruption and malpractice amongst high-level Chinese bureaucrats are commonplace in the media nowadays but not many people know of the “bitter” difficulties the less endowed “grass-roots leaders” face”.
Journalists from the Chinese newspaper, which recently launched a rare protest against censorship rules, has said that the government’s rules and regulations imposed on the media leaves them ‘dancing in handcuffs,’ according to a report. It became clear, however, that the government would not concede on such a visible and sensitive issue. How the censors’ office will behave now remains unclear, the report said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal have agreed to expedite a stalled reconciliation deal between the rival factions. Fatah and Hamas officials will meet soon to discuss further developments. Both focused on implementing the Egypt-brokered April 2011 unity agreement aimed at ending years of infighting that was signed in May that year, but whose main provisions have yet to be put into practice. The Palestinian national movements' rivalry exploded into violence in June 2007 when Hamas forces seized control of Gaza a year after they won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
The Sri Lankan Parliament impeached Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake on Friday, throwing the judiciary into disarray and signalling a breakdown of the Constitution. Timeline of the issue: Click Here.
Four days into a French-led air offensive in northern and central Mali, a convoy of rebels was spotted on Monday approaching Diabaly, a central Malian town only 400 km from the capital. Monday’s attack on Diabaly in the west-central Mali is the closest the rebels have ever come to the capital city. On Sunday, French jets dropped bombs on a rebel convey 40 km southeast of Diabaly. At least 10 civilians, including three children, have been killed in the operation thus far, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), while news reports have claimed that hundreds of militants have been killed. The Malian army is yet to put a number to the number of soldiers lost to the fighting. Further, a French airforce pilot was killed in airstrikes against Islamist rebels in central Mali, which destroyed several of the rebels vehicles and beat them into retreat. France has 6,000 nationals in Mali, who have been advised by the Foreign Ministry to leave the country. French President Francois Hollande authorised the intervention on Friday after Mali formally requested French help to stop the rebels. Background: Since early 2012, self-identified Islamist rebels have controlled nearly two-thirds of Mali, an area larger than France. In December last year, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorising an African-led military intervention to drive out the rebels, but U.N. officials said troops were likely to arrive only in September 2013. Last Thursday, rebels seized the town of Konna, 40 km from the critical army base and airport at Mopti and Sevare, prompting fears of a march on Bamako. The first French troops arrived later that day and regained control of Konna. NATO said on Monday that it supported French efforts to turn back the terrorist threat in Mali but the alliance had received no request for assistance and had not discussed the conflict. [InfoGraphic: 1, 2]
Amitabha Ghosh, chairman of the science operations working group of NASA Mission Operations at the Exploration Rover Mission, is set to work on a third Mars mission. The Mission Insight 2015, which Ghosh is now working on, will focus on whether organic compounds are present on Mars. If such compounds are detected, the next step would be a biological mission to determine whether the Martian organic compounds are animate or not. Ghosh said it will take around another 10 years to send people to Mars.
Scientists on NASA’s Cassini mission have claimed to have found blocks of hydrocarbon ice decorating the surface of existing lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbon on Saturn’s moon Titan. Titan is the only other body besides Earth in our solar system with stable bodies of liquid on its surface. But while our planet’s cycle of precipitation and evaporation involves water, Titan’s cycle involves hydrocarbons like ethane and methane. Ethane and methane are organic molecules, which scientists think can be building blocks for the more complex chemistry from which life arose.
A Japanese official says a woman in his town near Tokyo who became world's oldest living female (Koto Okubo) just last month has died at 115. Born December 24, 1897, Okubo held her title for less than a month following the death of Dina Manfredini of the United States.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Sunday launched the world’s first atlas on clean energy which will offer open-access information on countries’ renewable energy potential. “It currently charts solar and wind resources, and will expand to other forms of renewable energy over 2013 and 2014.” The online atlas is available on www.irena.org/GlobalAtlas.
Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe - a cluster of galaxies that spans an astonishing four billion light years. The sprawling structure is known as a large quasar group (LQG), in which quasars powered by super-massive black holes clump together.
Scientists have created a polymer film that can generate electricity from water vapour to power micro-and-nano electronic devices, such as environmental sensors. The material developed by engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology changes shape after absorbing tiny amounts of evaporated water, allowing it to repeatedly curl up and down. "With a sensor powered by a battery, you have to replace it periodically. If you have this device, you can harvest energy from the environment so you don't have to replace it very often," said engineers at MIT.