One in three adults worldwide, according to the report, has raised blood pressure – a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease. One in 10 adults has diabetes.

“This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.”

For the first time, the World Health Organization’s annual statistics report includes information from 194 countries on the percentage of men and women with raised blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

In high-income countries, widespread diagnosis and treatment with low-cost medication have significantly reduced mean blood pressure across populations – and this has contributed to a reduction in deaths from heart disease. In Africa, however, more than 40% (and up to 50%) of adults in many countries are estimated to have high blood pressure. Most of these people remain undiagnosed, although many of these cases could be treated with low-cost medications, which would significantly reduce the risk of death and disability from heart disease and stroke.

Also included for the first time in the World health statistics 2012 are data on people with raised blood glucose levels. While the global average prevalence is around 10%, up to one third of populations in some Pacific Island countries have this condition. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to cardiovascular disease, blindness and kidney failure.

Obesity another major issue

“In every region of the world, obesity doubled between 1980 and 2008,” says Dr Ties Boerma, Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO. “Today, half a billion people (12% of the world’s population) are considered obese.”

The highest obesity levels are in the WHO Region of the Americas (26% of adults) and the lowest in the WHO South-East Asia Region (3% obese). In all parts of the world, women are more likely to be obese than men, and thus at greater risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

Noncommunicable diseases currently cause almost two thirds of all deaths worldwide. Global concern about the rise in numbers of deaths from heart and lung disease, diabetes and cancer prompted the United Nations to hold a high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases in New York in September 2011.

The World Health Assembly, to be held in Geneva from 21 to 26 May 2012, will review progress made since that meeting and agree on next steps. Work is currently under way to develop a global monitoring framework and a set of voluntary targets for prevention and control of these diseases.

Published annually by WHO, the World health statistics is the most comprehensive publication of health-related global statistics available. It contains data from 194 countries on a range of mortality, disease and health system indicators including life expectancy, illnesses and deaths from a range of diseases, health services and treatments, financial investment in health, as well as risk factors and behaviours that affect health.

Some key trends in this year’s report are:

• Maternal mortality: In 20 years, the number of maternal deaths has decreased from more than 540 000 deaths in 1990 to less than 290 000 in 2010 – a decline of 47%. One third of these maternal deaths occur in just two countries – India with 20% of the global total and Nigeria with 14%.
• 10 year trends for causes of child death: Data from the years 2000 to 2010 show how public health advancements have helped save children’s lives in the past decade. The world has made significant progress, having reduced the number of child deaths from almost 10 million children aged less than 5 years in 2000 to 7.6 million annual deaths in 2010. Declines in numbers of deaths from diarrhoeal disease and measles have been particularly striking.
• Death registration: Only 34 countries (representing 15% of the world’s population) produce high-quality cause-of-death data. In low and middle-income countries, less than 10% of deaths are registered.

According to a poll, carried out by mobile phone firm Recombu, once revered for our good manners, Britain has become more ‘Rude Britannia’ since the introduction of smartphones. Almost two third of people — 63 percent — admitted leaving their iPhone or BlackBerry on the table while being out for dinner, Daily Mail reported.

As high as 68 percent would take a call on a dinner date, even if they knew it was not important or work-related, the study found.

The research also suggested that Britons cannot live being separated from their smartphones, with more than a third admitting they would struggle to live without their mobiles.

Around a third — 35 percent — said they couldn’t live without their television, 23 percent without their laptop, three percent would be at a loss if they did not have their iPod, and two percent would struggle without their tablet.

More than half — 59 percent — keep their phones on at all times, 16 percent continuously walking around with their mobile in their hands, one in seven of the 1,000 people polled even take their phone to the toilet.

A new University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose (fruit sugar) slows the brain, hampering memory and learning – and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption.

“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, professor of neurosurgery at the UClA’s David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Journal of Physiology reports.

“Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But ­adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage,” adds Gomez-Pinilla, according to an UCLA statement.

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.

The UCLA team zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, apple sauce and baby food.

Gomez-Pinilla and study co-author Rahul Agrawal, studied two groups of rats that each consumed a fructose solution as drinking water for six weeks.

The second group also received omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which protects against damage to the synapses – the junctions between brain cells that enable memory and learning.

“DHA is essential for synaptic function – brain cells’ ability to transmit signals to one another,” Gomez-Pinilla said. “This is the mechanism that makes learning and memory possible. Our bodies can’t produce enough DHA, so it must be supplemented through our diet.”

Six weeks later, researchers tested the rats’ ability to recall the route and escape the maze. What they saw surprised them. “The second group of rats navigated the maze much faster than the rats that did not receive omega-3 fatty acids,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

“The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signalling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier,” he concludes.

For every European, the social cost of alcohol abuse has been estimated to be 240 pounds a year, with the annual bill for the National Health Service (NHS) alone being 2.7 billion pounds, the Daily Mail reported.

A major conference of addiction specialists from across the world is meeting at Newcastle University. Organisers have called for England to follow Scotland and set a minimum price per unit and also sought a ban on advertising alcohol.

Eileen Kaner, a professor, cited new research which showed one in eight British deaths of people aged 15 to 64 was caused by alcohol.

In Europe, alcohol consumption is more than twice the global average and represents the biggest addiction in Britain, greater than any illegal drug or gambling.

Even 10 years ago, romantic novels spun stories about a man and one woman, whose sacrosanct monogamous love twisted and turned its way to the altar after epic struggles. Brazen romantic love as a subject of mass fiction was considered audacious in the middle-class conservatism of the 1970s-1980s.

However, when the globalised 1990s began to creep into “desi” books, the floodgates of love opened to include more complex themes with “emotional riddles, tangled relationships and even same sex love”. In the decade of 2000, the cast of the tales grew younger in years as dark passionate secrets came tumbling out of cupboards – but with an essentially Indian feel.

Quite a lot of books are reflecting the changing romantic relationship in India, says literary agent Mita Kapur of Siyahi, which promotes contemporary young Indian literature.

“It came to my mind when I was reading ‘Zoya Factor’ by Anuja Chauhan and ‘Piece of Cake’ by Swati Kaushal. It also comes through in the way Advaita Kala (almost single) handles her relationship or Anita Nair addresses relationship. Namita Gokhale also reflected upon the relationships in her book, ‘Priya’,” Kapur told IANS.

“Complex relationships have always been there in society – in a particular class in the urban areas which were developing faster than the rural areas.

“I read a lot of new manuscripts by young writers. Though I do not always approve of their writing, I have noticed a certain openness in the way they talk of relationships in their books,” Kapur added.

Difficult relationships, jealousy and triangular love no longer shock readers; rather they make powerful plots like in cinema and television.

A new book by Nirupama Subramanian, “Intermission”, follows in the footsteps of John Updike to paint the changing face of Gurgaon suburbia, the dazzling face of modern India.

Varun and Gayatri, an NRI couple returns to India after several years abroad. Varun is glad to be his own boss while wife Gayatri finds readjusting in the traditional Indian family difficult. Life changes insidiously for the family when Varun meets Sweety, a single mother of two, in a dream of a nuclear family.

It is a far cry from Rabindranath Tagore’s “Nashto Nir” or “Ghare Baire” or Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s “Devdas” – tales of unconventional and heroic love.

Tracing the history of romance in literature and its assimilation from the society, Dipa Chaudhuri, the chief editor of Om Books International, says 35-40 years ago love stories in books were built in the mould of Mills & Boons and Barbara Cartland romances which began with difficulties in the beginning and resolved in the end.

“For me it was a bit of an illusion because the books were written in a certain time period which played on what love ought to be for women. The presentations were stereotypical. What I find today is a demystification of love in actual life and yet the upholding of the emotion and connecting with realities. It is no longer the ideal emotion that you can reach out to touch. Contemporary romance is a surprise to me because so many things (options) are coming out of Indian contexts,” Chaudhuri told IANS.

Chaudhuri said: “Interestingly, more men are also writing about love now. Everybody needs to evolve. Men are talking about love, loss and longing – difficulties in negotiating relationships,” Chaudhuri said.

Two new best-selling mass-market works, “I Too Have a Love Story” and “Can Love Happen Twice” by Ravinder Singh addresses the progression in Indian love stories through the life of its young protagonist Ravin, who finds love through a matrimonial site and loses it, only to give another shot at it.

Books like “Boy Meets Girl”, “There is No Love on Wall Street”, “The Great Indian Love Story”, “Marrying Anita”, “Nick of Time” and “Scandalous Secret” have been powered by the Indian reader’s undying passion for love stories with a tweak.

On a parallel note, a spate of books have been addressing forbidden love like gay and alternative sexual passion.

According to writer Namita Gokhale, the author of contemporary novels like “Paro: Dreams of Passion”, “Priya: ” and a new anthology of short stories, “The Habit of Love”, modern fiction mirrors the anxieties and aspirations in relationships.

“There can’t be any single Indian reality as societal constraints are changing and opening up. It is the need for love stories – the writers – to understand real kind of love. Writers are projecting different emotional and social situations… After all, literature helps make sense of our lives,” Gokhale told IANS.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)

• About 16 million adolescent girls give birth every year – most in low- and middle-income countries.
• An estimated three million girls aged 15-19 undergo unsafe abortions every year.
• In low- and middle-income countries, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years.
• Stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50% higher among infants of adolescent mothers than among infants of women aged 20-29 years.
• Infants of adolescent mothers are more likely to have low birth weight.

Overview

About 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 give birth every year. Worldwide, one in five girls has given birth by the age of 18. In the poorest regions of the world, this figure rises to over one in three girls.

Almost all adolescent births – about 95% – occur in low- and middle-income countries. Within countries, adolescent births are more likely to occur among poor, less educated and rural populations.

The causes

Several factors contribute to adolescent births.

In many societies, girls may be under pressure to marry and bear children early, or they may have limited educational and employment prospects.

In low- and middle-income countries, over 30% of girls marry before they are 18 years of age; around 14% before the age of 15. Moreover, married adolescents are likely to become pregnant and give birth in accordance with social norms. Education, on the other hand, is a major protective factor for early pregnancy: the more years of schooling, the fewer early pregnancies. Birth rates among women with low education are higher than for those with secondary or tertiary education.

Some adolescents do not know how to avoid becoming pregnant, or are unable to obtain contraceptives. However, even where contraceptives are widely available, sexually active adolescents are less likely to use contraceptives than adults. In Latin America, Europe and Asia only 42-68% of adolescents who are married or in partnerships use contraceptives. In Africa the rate ranges from 3-49%.

There is a lack of sexuality education in many countries. A global coverage measure related to sexuality education estimates that only 36% of young men and 24% of young women aged 15-24 in low- and middle-income countries have comprehensive and correct knowledge of how to prevent HIV.

In some situations, adolescent girls may be unable to refuse sex. Sexual violence is widespread and particularly affects adolescent girls. More than one third of girls in some countries report that their first sexual encounter was coerced.

The consequences

Pregnant adolescents are more likely than adults to have unsafe abortions. An estimated three million unsafe abortions occur globally every year among girls aged 15-19 years. Unsafe abortions contribute substantially to lasting health problems and maternal deaths.

Having babies during adolescence has serious consequences for the health of the girl and her infant, especially in areas with weak health systems. In some countries, adolescents are less likely than adults to obtain skilled care before, during and after childbirth.

Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years in many low- and middle-income countries. Stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50% higher among infants born to adolescent mothers than among those born to mothers aged 20-29 years. Infants of adolescent mothers are also more likely to have low birth weight, which can have a long-term impact on their health and development.

Global context

Adolescent pregnancy is a major contributor to maternal and child mortality, and to the vicious cycle of ill-health and poverty. The Global strategy for women’s and children’s health, launched by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2010, stresses the importance of addressing the health and welfare of adolescent girls in order to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal on maternal mortality reduction.

Preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries

Authors:
World Health Organization

Publication details

Number of pages: 195
Publication date: 2011
Languages: English
ISBN: 978 92 4 150221 4

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Overview

The WHO guidelines, Preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in developing countries, provide both a call to action and directions for future research on:

• preventing early pregnancy: by preventing marriage before 18 years of age; by increasing knowledge and understanding of the importance of pregnancy prevention; by increasing the use of contraception; and by preventing coerced sex; and
• preventing poor reproductive outcomes: by reducing unsafe abortions; and by increasing the use of skilled antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care.

They are primarily intended for policy-makers, planners and programme managers from governments, nongovernmental organizations and development agencies. They are also likely to be of interest to public health researchers and practitioners, professional associations and civil society organizations.

They have been developed through a systematic review of the evidence and through consultation with policy-makers, programme managers and front-line workers from countries around the world, in partnership with many key international organizations working in this field – the Guttmacher Institute, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), FHI 360), the Population Council, and Centro Rosarino de Estudios Perinatales, CREP (Argentina).

Their development has been supported financially by the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. (IPPF) Similar partnerships have been forged to distribute them widely and to support their use.

However, such large-scale feeding will require huge investment in both resources and time. A better alternative is to create conditions by which proper wholesome food is made available to all the rural poor at affordable price. Getting this done will be the biggest charity!

Most of these rural poor are landless labourers. After working the whole day in the fields in scorching sun they come home in the evening and have to cook for the whole family. The cooking is done on the most primitive ‘chulha’ (wood stove), resulting in tremendous indoor air pollution. Many of them also have no electricity and so they use primitive and polluting kerosene lamps.

WHO data has shown that about 300,000 deaths a year in India can be directly attributed to indoor air pollution in such huts. The pollution also results in many respiratory ailments and these people spend close to Rs.200-400/month on medical bills.

Besides the pollution, rural poor also eat very poor diet. They buy whatever is available at Public Distribution System (PDS) shops and most of the time the shops are out of rations. Thus they cook whatever is available. The hard work, together with poor eating, takes a heavy toll on their health. This malnutrition also affects the physical and mental health of their children and may lead to creation of a whole generation of mentally challenged citizens.

Poverty to my mind is not an absence of material goods but not getting enough wholesome food. We are what we eat!

Rural Restaurants

So I feel that the best way to provide adequate food for the rural poor is by setting up rural restaurants on a large scale. These restaurants will be similar to regular ones but they will provide meals at subsidised rates for people below poverty line (BPL). These citizens will pay only Rs.10 per meal and the rest, which is expected to be quite small, will come as a part of government subsidy. Our calculations show that this subsidy will be only Rs.2.50 per person per meal.

The buying of meals could be facilitated by the use of UID (Aadhar) card by rural poor. The total cost should be Rs.30 per day for three vegetarian meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. With an average wage of labourer being Rs.100 a day, the cost of meals will be 30 percent of his wages.

Since the food will not be cooked in huts, this strategy will result in less pollution in rural households, thereby reducing women’s chores. The spare time can be used in gainful activities like teaching children. Besides giving nutrition and tasty food, these restaurants will also provide a meeting place.

Eating in restaurants will also require fewer utensils in the house and hence less expenditure. For other things like hot water for bath, making tea, boiling milk and cooking on holidays some utensils and fuel will be required. Our Institute NARI (Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, Pune) has developed an extremely efficient and environment-friendly lanstove, which provides both light and heat for cooking.

Cooking is a luxury for the rich and upper middle class. For the rural and urban poor, it is a chore and a misery. Hence, subsidised meals in rural restaurants are a necessity for these people.

How can this be done?

Providing reasonably priced wholesome food is the basic aim and programme of the union government. This is the basis of their much touted food security programme. However, in 65 years, they have not been able to do so. Thus I feel a public-private partnership can help in this.

To help restaurant owners, the central or state governments should provide them with soft loans and other lines of credit for setting up such facilities. The corporate world can take this up as part of its corporate social responsibility activity.

More clientele (volumes) will make these restaurants economical. Existing models of dhabas, Udipi-type restaurants and the like can be used in this scheme. These restaurants may also be able to provide midday meals in rural schools. At present, the midday meal programme is faltering due to various reasons.

Cooking food in these restaurants will also result in much more efficient use of energy since energy per kg of food cooked in households is greater than that in restaurants. The main thing, however, will be to reduce drastically the food wastage in these restaurants.

Rural restaurants can also be forced to use clean fuels like LPG or locally produced biomass-based liquid fuels. This strategy is very difficult to enforce for individual households.

Large-scale employment generation in rural areas may result from this activity. With an average norm of 30 people employed per 100-chair restaurant, this programme has the potential of generating about 20 million jobs permanently in rural areas. Besides, the infrastructure development in setting up restaurants and establishing the food chain will help local farmers and will create huge wealth generation in these areas.

In the long run, this strategy may provide better food security for the rural poor than the existing one which is based on cheap food availability in PDS – a system which is prone to corruption and leakage.

In India, huge donations are given in both cash and kind to temples. Thus most of the temples are very rich. It will be better if somehow these donations can be channelled to create rural restaurants. This will help assuage the feelings of the giver and at the same time provide food to the rural poor. The blessings of the rural poor to my mind will be far more powerful than those of the gods in temples!

( Anil K. Rajvanshi is director of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Pune. )

 CARPET

Kashmiri carpets are world renowned for two things – they are handmade and they are always knotted, never tufted. The yarn used normally is silk, wool or silk and wool. Woolen carpets always have a cotton base while silk usually have cotton base. Sometimes however, if the base is also in silk then the cost increases proportionately. Occasionally, carpets are made on a cotton base, mainly of woolen pile with silk yarn used as highlights on certain motifs. The soothing blend of colors makes the Kashmiri carpet a prized possession.

Carpet weaving in Kashmir was not originally indigenous but is thought to have come in by way of Persia. Till today most designs are distinctly Persian with local variations. One example, however, of a typical Kashmiri design is the tree of life. The colors of Kashmiri carpets are more subtle and muted than elsewhere in the country. The knotting of the carpet is the most important aspect, determining its durability and value, in addition to its design. Basically, the more knots per square inch, the greater its value and durability. Also there are single and double-knotted carpets. A single knotted carpet is fluffier and more resistant to touch.

NAMDAS

Far less expensive are these colorful floor coverings made from woolen and cotton fiber, which has been manually pressed into shape. Prices vary with the percentage of wool – a Namda containing 80% wool being more expensive than one containing 20% wool. Chain stitch embroidery in woolen and cotton thread is worked on these rugs.

PAPIER MACHE

Besides at least three different grades of Papier Mache, there are some cheaper versions in cardboard or wood available too. To make Papier Mache, first paper is soaked in water till it disintegrates. It is then pounded, mixed with an adhesive solution, shaped over moulds, and allowed to dry and set before being painted and varnished. Paper that has been pounded to pulp has the smoothest finish in the final product. The designs painted on objects of Papier Mache are brightly colored. They vary in artistry and the choices of colors. Gold is used on most objects, either as the only color, or as the highlight for certain motifs, and besides the finish of the product, it is the quality of the gold used which determines the price.

Pure Gold leaf, which has the unmistakable luster, is far more expensive than bronze dust or gold poster paint but also has much longer life and will never fade or tarnish. Varnish, which is applied to the finished product, imparts a high gloss and smoothness, which increases with every coat. Cardboard, usually indistinguishable from Papier Mache, gives slightly when pressed firmly.

SHAWLS

There are three fibers from which the Kashmiri shawls are made – Wool, Pashmina and Shahtoosh. Woolen shawls are the cheapest while the Shahtoosh are the most expensive ones. Woolen shawls are popular because of the embroidery work on them, which is a specialty to Kashmir.

Many kinds of embroidery are worked on shawls – ‘sozni’ or needlework is generally done in a panel along the sides of the shawl. Motifs, usually abstract designs or stylized paisleys and flowers are worked in one or two, occasionally three colors, all subdued. Another type of needle embroidery is popularly known. This is done in broad panels on either side of the breadth of a shawl, or covering the entire surface of a shawl. Ari or hook embroidery; motifs are well-known flower design finely worked in concentric rings of chain stitch.

Pashmina shawls are unmistakably soft and its yarn is spun from the hair of the ibex found at 14,000 ft above the sea level. Although pure Pashmina is expensive, sometimes blending it with rabbit fur or with wool brings down the cost. Shahtoosh is the legendary ‘ring shawl’, renowned for its lightness, softness and warmth. The astronomical price it commands in the market is due to the scarcity of raw material. High in the plateaux of Tibet and the eastern part of Ladakh, at an altitude of above 5,000 meters, roam Pantholops Hodgosoni or Tibetan antelope. During grazing, a few strands of the downy hair from the throat are shed and it is these, which are painstakingly collected until there are enough for a shawl.

Yarn is spun either from Shahtoosh alone, or with Pashmina to bring down the cost. In the case of pure Shahtoosh too, there are many qualities – the yarn can be spun so skillfully as to resemble a strand of silk. Not only are shawls made from such fine yarn extremely expensive, they can only be loosely woven and are too flimsy for embroidery to be done on them. Unlike woolen or Pashmina shawls, Shahtoosh is seldom dyed. Its natural color is mousy brown, and it is, at the most, sparsely embroidered.

PHERANS

This garment seems to be fusion of a coat and a cloak and is loose enough to admit the inevitable brazier of live coals, which is carried around in much the same way as a hot water bottle. Men’s pherans are always made of tweed or coarse wool while women’s pherans, somewhat more stylized, are most commonly made of raffel with splashes of ari or hook embroidery at the throat, cuffs and edges. The quality of embroidery and thickness of the raffel determines the price.

BASKETS

Willow rushes that grow profusely in marshes and lakes of Kashmir are used to make charmingly attractive objects such as shopping baskets, lampshades, tables and chairs and are generally inexpensive. To increase their life span, unvarnished products should be chiseled and frequently sprayed with water, particularly in hot, dry climates, to prevent them from being brittle.

WALNUTWOOD

Kashmir is the only part of India where the walnut tree grows. Its color, grains and inherent sheen are unique and unmistakable, and the carving and fret work that is done on this wood is of a very superior quality. There are two types of walnut trees – the fruit bearing species whose wood is so well known, and one that bears no fruit and is locally known as ‘zangul’. Zangul has none of the beauty of walnut wood, being much less strong and possessing no grain while the walnut wood is almost black and its grains are much more pronounced than the wood of the trunk, which is lighter in color. The branches have the lightest color, being almost blonde and have no noticeable grain. The intrinsic worth of the wood from each part of the tree differs – that from the root being the most expensive and the branches having the lowest price.

A cheaper product is liable to warp, or in case it is taken to warmer climes, will crack or shrink. Knots are usually concealed skillfully in the sawing, as it is difficult, though not impossible, to mask them while carving. Carving is the demonstration of the carver’s skill, and walnut is eminently suitable for this, being one of the strongest varieties of wood.

There are several varieties of carving-deep carving usually with dragon or lotus flower motifs, two inches deep or more; shallow carving, half an inch deep done all over the flat surface; open or lattice work, usually depicting the Chinar motif; and most popularly, semi carving, which is a thin panel along the rim of a surface, with perhaps a Centre motif. The advantage of the semi-carving is that it allows the grain of wood to be displayed, together with the carver’s skill. Naturally deep carving with all the skill and labor required is the most expensive.

Copper and Silverware

Shops in local market of the old city abound with objects of copper lining the walls, the floor and even the ceiling. One can see craftsmen engraving objects of household utility like samovars, bowls, plates and trays. There are floral, stylized, geometric, leaf and even calligraphic motifs that are engraved or embossed on copper, and occasionally silver, to cover the entire surface with intricate designs which are then oxidized. The work known as ‘naqash’ determines the price of the object, as does the weight. (PIB Features.)

The IAAS provides a very special kind of inputs to the farmer as advisory bulletin. It   has made a tremendous difference to the agriculture production by taking the advantage of benevolent weather and minimizes the adverse impact of malevolent weather. IMD launched the scheme IAAS in the country  in collaboration with different organisations/institutes/stakeholders from 1^st April 2007 for weather wise farm management. Under IAAS, a mechanism was developed to integrate weather forecast, climatic and agro-meteorological information to prepare agro-advisories which contribute significantly to enhance farm productivity and trying to solve the food security in India.

Structure of IAAS

This project is implemented through five tier structure to set up different components of the service spectrum. It includes meteorological (weather observing & forecasting), agricultural (identifying weather sensitive stress & preparing suitable advisory using weather forecast), extension (two way communication with user) and information dissemination (Media, Information Technology, Telecom) agencies.

Weather Forecast –Seven Parametres

From 1 June, 2008 quantitative district level weather forecast up to 5 days is issued. The product comprises of quantitative forecasts for 7 weather parameters viz., rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures, wind speed and direction, relative humidity and cloudiness. In addition, weekly cumulative rainfall forecast is also provided. IMD, New Delhi generates these products using Multi Model Ensemble technique based on forecast products available from number models ofIndia and other countries. The products were disseminated to Regional Meteorological Centres and Meteorological Centres of IMD located in different states. These products after value addition using synoptic interpretation of model output are communicated to 130 Agro Met Field Units (AMFUs) co-located with State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), institutes of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) etc., for preparation of district level agro-met advisories twice a week i.e. Tuesday and Friday.

AAS Bulletins at Different Level

The Agromet Advisory Bulletins are issued at district, state and national levels. The district level bulletins are issued by AMFUs and include crop specific advisories including field crops, horticultural crops and livestock. The State Level bulletin jointly prepared by State Meteorological Centre of IMD and AMFUs is a composite of district bulletins helping to identify the distressed districts of the state as well as plan the supply of appropriate farm inputs such as seeds, irrigation water, fertilizer, pesticides etc. It forms a significant input to the State level weekly Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) meeting and used by state government line function departments viz: Fertilizer industry, Pesticide industry, Irrigation Department, Seed Corporation, Transport and other organizations which provide inputs in agriculture. National Agromet Advisory Bulletins are prepared by National Agromet Advisory Service Centre, Division of Agriculture Meteorology, IMD, Pune, using inputs from various states.  This bulletin helps identify stress on various crops for different regions of the country and suitably incorporate advisories.

Ministry of Agriculture is prime user of these bulletins, as important decisions are taken in weekly Crop Weather Watch Group meetings steered by Ministry of Agriculture at national level. The bulletins are also used by a large number of other agencies including fertilizer, pesticide industries. At present bulletins are being issued twice in a week i.e., Tuesday and Friday and reach 23 state and 560 district level centres.

District-specific medium-term forecast information and advisories help to maximize output and avert crop damage or loss. It also helps growers anticipate and plan for pesticide applications, irrigation scheduling, disease and pest outbreaks and many more weather related agriculture-specific operations. Such operations include cultivar selection, their dates of sowing/planting, dates of intercultural operations, dates of harvesting and also performing post harvest operations. Agromet advisories help increase profits by consistently delivering actionable weather information, analysis and decision support for farming situations such as: to manage pests through forecast of relative humidity, temperature and wind; manage irrigation through rainfall & temperature forecasts; protect crop from thermal stress through forecasting of extreme temperature etc.

A typical Agromet Advisory Bulletin enables farmers to reap benefits of benevolent weather and minimize or mitigate the impacts of adverse weather are:

• District specific weather forecast, in quantitative terms, for next 5 days for weather parameters like rainfall, cloud, maximum/minimum temperature, wind speed/direction and relative humidity, including forewarning of hazardous weather events (cyclone, hailstorm, heat/cold waves, drought and flood etc) likely to cause stress on standing crop and suggestions to protect the crop from them.
• Weather forecast based information on soil moisture status and guidance for application of irrigation, fertilizer and herbicides etc.
• Advisories on dates of sowing/planting and suitability of carrying out intercultural operations covering the entire crop spectrum from pre-sowing to post harvest to guide farmer in his day–to-day cultural operations.
• Weather forecast based forewarning system for major pests and diseases of principal crops and advises on plant protection measures.
• Propagation of techniques for manipulation of crop’s microclimate e.g. shading, mulching, other surface modification, shelter belt, frost protection etc. to protect crops under stressed conditions.
• Reducing contribution of agricultural production system to global warming and environment degradation through judicious management of land, water and farm inputs, particularly pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
• Advisory for livestock on health, shelter and nutrition.

The support on above is rendered through preparing district specific agrometeorological advisory bulletins which are tailored to meet the farmers’ need and are made relevant to his decision making processes. The suggested advisories generally alter actions in a way that improves outcomes as it contains advice on farm management actions aiming to take advantage of good weather and mitigate the stress on crop/livestock. The bulletins are encoded in a format and language which is easy to comprehend by the farmer. The agrometeorologists first interpret the immediate past weather and the forecast for next 5 days and translate it into layman’s terms so that the farmers can understand it. They use state-of-art technology such as crop weather models, climatic risk management tools, GIS generated agromet products etc., for framing the advisory bulletins. Also, interaction between the AMFUs and farmers to identify the weather sensitive decisions is promoted under the service through participatory approach. This step fosters a relationship between the IMD, AMFUs, farmers and other stakeholders so that they can identify or diagnose the gaps in weather information and services available from the IMD. (PIB Feature.)

In this booming metropolis, where thousands struggle for a place to live in, even death offers no solution. Rapid urbanisation, burgeoning population, escalating land prices and shrinking graveyards due to encroachments have virtually left no place to bury the dead.

Some graveyards have already hung “no space available” boards while others are refusing to allow the burial of “outsiders” or those residing in other localities.

The burial in any graveyard costs no less than Rs.10,000. Those attached to dargahs are charged anywhere between Rs.15,000 and Rs.50,000 for two yards. Still, in places such as Yousufain dargah at Nampally in the heart of the city, it comes for a whopping Rs.100,000.

Non-allocation of land for new graveyards, encroachments on existing ones, construction of concrete tombs by people and a high demand for burial grounds attached to dargahs have only compounded the problem.

The issue has religious, social as well as economic aspects. Some people consider it sacred to be buried near the tomb of a saint. It was due to such beliefs that the demand for such spaces increased and some custodians started taking advantage of the situation.

The management officials of some graveyards, however, justify the collection of money.

“We have only rocks left in the graveyard, hence we ask people to pay for the expenses we incur in clearing the rocks. This amount works out to anywhere between Rs.5,000 and Rs.6,000 for each grave. We also accept donations,” Mohammed Jahangir, secretary of the management committee at Jamia Masjid on A Battery Lane, told IANS.

The committee displays a board saying the graveyard is not for the burial of those from other localities. But people from several localities come here with recommendations from MLAs, Wakf board chairman and others. “They even fight with us,” said Jahangir, who has been heading the committee for 42 years.

The management committee has fatwas from Islamic seminaries which say after a grave turns old, one can dig it up to bury another body. However, people don’t allow this and even build concrete structures on graves.

Wakf board chairman Syed Ghulam Afzal Biyabani alias Khusro Pasha, however, says people are not coming forward to complain against ‘mutawallis’ (custodians) charging money. “We will definitely take action in such cases,” he said.

“The mutawallis tell us they have to collect the money to protect and maintain graveyards. We agree that charging Rs.2,000 to Rs.4,000 is fine, but it should not be more than this,” he told IANS.

“We are doing our best to address the space crunch by identifying new lands at a distance from the city,” he said.

“This problem is not of the Muslim community alone. Even Hindus and Christians are finding it difficult to cremate or bury their dead,” said Syed Amin Jafri, legislator of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

He pointed out that the number of graveyards or cemeteries has not increased in proportion to the population over the last four to five decades. From just 1.25 million in 1971, the population has gone up to 7.7 million.

“The problem is reaching an alarming level. Unless the government intervenes and provides land for new burial grounds the issue can’t be solved,” said Jafri.

“The government should allot 100 to 150 acres of land about 40 km away from the city for free burial,” said Syed Vicaruddin, chief editor of Urdu daily Rehnuma-e-Deccan. He blames encroachments on hundreds of acres of land belonging to the Wakf board for the present crisis.

(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)

OIDB loan disbursed to Oil PSUs during the last three years

                                                                        (Rs. inCrore)

Grants released by OIDB to Oil PSUs for Development purposes during the last three years

(Rs. in Crore)

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/loansgrants-released-by-oidb/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/services-on-track-over-two-crore-women-beneficiaries-registered-with-mcts-varun-bhardwaj/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/services-on-track-over-two-crore-women-beneficiaries-registered-with-mcts-varun-bhardwaj/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 09:17:59 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=114794 Motherhood is a divine feeling, a wonderful experience, but it brings with itself tremendous responsibilities which call for proper care for both mother and the child. For a healthy mother and child, it must be ensured that required medical care is provided to pregnant woman and full immunization course is administered to the child. It is with this spirit in the mind that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) in December 2009. The focus in MCTS is on the Beneficiary Based Monitoring of the delivery of services to ensure that all pregnant women and all new born receive ‘full’ maternal and child health services. The MCTS utilizes Information Technology and seeks to capture details of every pregnancy in the country in a centralised data base. It is a generic system which aims to provide information of different health services received at the individual level, by monitoring all service deliveries that an individual benefits from.

MCTS Coverage

The MCTS database primarily comprises of

• All new Pregnancies detected/ registered from 1st December, 2009 at the first point of contact of the pregnant mother with the health facility/health provider.
• All Births occurring from 1st December, 2009.

Unique Identification Number

The record of each mother and child is tracked through a 16 digit unique identification number. The 16 digit unique number  contains  state code, district code, Block PHC/CHC Code, Health Sub-Centre Code, Pregnant Woman code, child code and the serial number given to each mother/child.

Advantages

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare endeavoured to have a central data repository for quick reference of validated data for all pregnancies and births in India. Such a Central Database seeks to facilitate grassroots level health functionaries like ANM, ASHA, Anganwadi workers etc. in performance of their duties by enabling more effective transformation and utilization of information. It is envisaged to implement a Beneficiary Centred Approach so as to ensure delivery of maternal and child health services from conception till 42 days after delivery in the case of pregnant women and up to five years of age in the case of children so as to ensure that all pregnant women and all new born receive full maternal and immunization services.

Further, MCTS would enable roll-out of targeted health programs and schemes, for controlling of external cost and time spill-over and ensure tracking of full immunisation course for all children. It shall also lead to validation of information collected from each block/district/state at the central level, for figuring out authenticated situation at respective functional levels.

Furthermore, efficient need-based planning of allocation and management of health resources can be done at ground-level. For example a fair idea about drug stock and inventory can be made once  number  of pregnancies have been recorded at a particular level. Thus, it leads to improved supply chain management of vaccines and drugs .Also, MCTS can provide vital clues for making improvements in the system for better service delivery. The bottlenecks at the implementation level which hinder effective implementation of Government initiatives can be known and provide valuable inputs for public policy implementation. Not only this, MCTS is expected to facilitate qualitative improvement in the delivery of services to pregnant women and children of the country and thus facilitates an accelerated reduction in maternal, infant and child mortality.

Architecture of MCTS

The operationalization of the MCTS is achieved by clear cut role allocation at different levels viz. village level, Sub Centre level, PHC level, CHC level, District level, State Level and the National Level.

Village Level

Identification of pregnant women and new born is done at the Village level. The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been given the responsibility of informing the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) about the details of the pregnant women and new born in the village every month.

Sub Centre Level

            The delivery of maternal and child health services according to the agreed service delivery protocol is done at the sub centre level. At the Sub Centre level the ANM is responsible for Contacting all pregnant women reported by ASHA and  preparation of the Pregnant Woman Card( One copy to be retained by the ANM and the other given to the pregnant woman).Services are delivered according to the agreed service delivery schedule and the ANM updates the Maternal Health Card.The ANM Contacts parents of all new born and prepares the Child Health Card.

The above data is entered into a Central Database at Primary Health Centre /Community Health Centre where internet facility is available. This registers pregnant women and the details of services due (example ANC or antenatal care) to the woman along with the dates are captured in the database. The name and contact details of associated ASHA worker/ANM are also entered into the database .In fact, two distinct fields in the data base viz. Services administered and Services overdue help in monitoring and tracking service delivery at field level.

Primary Health Centre (PHC)

The Medical Officer at PHC is responsible for organizing training of ASHAs in the identification of pregnant women and children below five years of age; organizing fortnightly/monthly meeting to review the records maintained by ANM with a view to improve the quality of the record; visiting all villages in the PHC at least once in a month to supervise the activities of ASHA and to provide her necessary support; on the spot verification of the data entered in MCTS using a standard sample design.

Finally, the Medical Officer also identifies gaps in the context of providing ‘full’ maternal and child health services to all pregnant women and all new born recorded in MCTS.

Community Health Centre( CHC)

The Block Program Manager at the CHC is responsible uploading the data on pregnant women and new born in the MCTS software and generating reports related to the implementation of MCTS at the PHC level within the CHC. He is also responsible for tabulation and analysis of the verification data available through the cross checking of the records entered in the MCTS system.

District Level

MCTS performance review  is done at the district level to fill up the gaps in the health care delivery institutions within the district in the context of delivering ‘full’ services to all pregnant women and all new born.

State Level

Monthly reports of the implementation of MCTS for all districts within the state are generated and state level monthly meetings are organized to review the implementation of MCTS at the district level and identify and address bottlenecks and constraints in implementing MCTS.

National Level

MCTS cell is responsible for monitoring and analysis of the progress of MCTS in terms of data entry status, identification of low reporting States/districts and identification of districts/facilities not reporting.

The Quality of data reporting is known through data of performance of state and district indicators and cross analysis of data and services provided. This helps in identification of abnormalities and and discrepancies in MCTS data.

Also National level meetings are organized to review the implementation of MCTS at the state/UT level and to identify and address the bottlenecks and constraints in implementing MCTS. Besides, the MCTS Cell also prepares Quarterly Research Note using the data available through MCTS.

Thus, the states can take action at their own end to ensure that services reach those for whom they are meant. This is possible since the contact details of all beneficiaries to whom services are overdue along with the associated ANM/ASHA are available at the click of a mouse. As on 1 May, 2012, a total of 2,07,55,732 women have been registered with the Mother and Child Tracking System.

The Central Government on its part regularly intimates Mission Directors of NRHM in states on the progress made and gaps which remain in provision of services to beneficiaries. In addition, a call centre has been established in the Ministry of H&FW to directly contact pregnant women and parents of the new born registered under the system to verify the services that they have received. A Toll-Free facility which provides information to beneficiaries registered with the MCTS server has also been started. At present the data of MCTS is available only through private login to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and various State Governments. Although, a  full fledged MCTS portal is expected to be launched so that the data is available in Public Domain. In a nut shell, MCTS  not only facilitates closer monitoring and regular check-ups of pregnant women and reduces avoidable complications but aids strategic decision-making and need based allocation of resources also. (PIB Features).

The study conducted at the University of Edinburgh, UK, identifies ways that consumers could also help curb greenhouse gas emissions – by reducing the amount of food they buy, serve and waste. They also suggest the food industry could reduce emissions by seeking more efficient ways to use fertilisers.

For instance, halving the amount of chicken consumed in the UK and other developed countries to levels eaten in Japan could cut greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 10 million cars off the road, the journal Nature Climate Change reports.

“Eating less meat and wasting less food En play a big part in helping to keep a lid on greenhouse gas emissions as the world’s population increases,” said David Reay from Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the study, according to an Edinburgh statement.

Figures show that if average chicken consumption in developed countries fell from the current level of 26 kg each per year to the Japanese average of about 12 kg each by 2020, global emissions from poultry would fall below current levels, despite increased output from the developing world.

This would cut the predicted global output of nitrous oxide, a key greenhouse gas, from this source by almost 20 percent, based on current growth rates. Demand for food, particularly meat, is expected to increase over the next few decades as the world’s population continues to grow and emerging countries consume more.

Agriculture is the biggest source of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas that is emitted by soil and fertilisers. Producing meat produces more emissions than growing crops, as large amounts of cereals are grown to feed livestock.

Researchers arrived at their findings by examining data for global agricultural production of greenhouse gases together with consumption of food in various regions of the world. The study was carried out in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and partners in Europe and the US.

We have arrived at a determining moment in the Syrian crisis.

 THE NATION AND THE NORTH EAST

The historical discrimination of the North Eastern region and its people takes place at two different levels. First there is the discrimination against the region as a whole and this is reflected in the inadequate development of basic infrastructure development as well as the lack of educational and employment opportunities. Therefore the democratic movement has been demanding that such regional discrimination be addressed through a strategy for socially just and balanced development of North Eastern region through the intervention of the central government. It is also hoped that such development will stop the large scale migration from the region. However the problem of the North Eastern region and its relationship with the rest of India is only partly addressed by the problem of uneven economic development.

The second level of discrimination not addressed by this view concerns the way in which people of North Eastern origin are dealt with in the places where they migrate. Historically, the roots of this discrimination lie not only in the processes of uneven economic development but also in the way in which dominant ‘mainstream’ Indian society perceives the region. At the advent of Independence, the partition of the country placed the region in a unique geographical position. The region was politically cut off from East Bengalwith which it was integrated socially and economically in the pre-partition period. The seemingly insurmountable difficulties of communication and geographical location were further translated into a social and cultural distance which articulated itself in uniquely political terms. Movements for separate states and autonomy reflected that the founders of the Indian nation had not incorporated the aspirations of the people of the region within the larger framework of nationhood. Images of the North East as projected in school textbooks and in popular culture also normalised the perception that the people of the region as unique and different. For example who can forget the stark scene from the popular film Chak De India where a Manipur player is welcomed into the hockey training camp saying “You are our guest. Welcome to the training camp”. The player’s reply is obvious “How can one be a guest in one’s own country.

This perception of North Eastern people as ‘foreigners’ is perhaps a result of larger processes that have resulted in the resistance of North Eastern communities to imposition of dominant cultural values of mainstream caste Hindu ruling classes. This situation is in stark contrast to the acceptance of the tribal people of Central and Eastern India whose dominant classes have largely accepted the superiority of dominant culture of caste Hindu societies. The integration of these tribal people as subordinates within the larger system is in sharp contrast to the tribal aristocracy of the North East which has been asserting both its cultural and its legitimate right to the natural resources of the region. Thus the reproduction of the images of the North Eastern cultures as foreign and outside the realm of the mainstream society is part of a larger process to deny the North Eastern people their due place within the power structures of the larger Indian nation.

FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

Given this fact, racial and other forms of discrimination against people of North Eastern origin are seen both in everyday life and the insensitivity of state level institutions. A survey done by the North Eastern Helpline in January and February recorded that 58.33 per cent of the cases of discrimination were crimes against women. According to the recorded cases of the Delhi Police, approximately two-thirds of the crimes against women were targeted against women from the North Eastern region. In other cases it is commonplace to find that North Eastern students find it difficult to find rooms on rent in comparison with students from other places. This has prompted institutions like Delhi University to designate one whole hostel for girls from the North Eastern region. While the initiative to provide space to girls from the region is welcome, one wonders whether such a separate hostel will serve the purpose of forging a spirit of living together and cultural tolerance within the larger student community.

At the same time the indifference and insensitivity of the state administration towards cases of discrimination is glaringly evident. In 2007 the Delhi Police came out with a set of guidelines for people from the North East. These guidelines prescribed dress codes and behaviour rules to North Eastern communities. Though the resultant outrage forced the authorities to withdraw the guidelines they reflected the conservative mindset of the law enforcement agency. Refusal to file FIRs in cases of discrimination is common in at least half of the cases of discrimination. It is therefore not surprising that the home minister is able to state in parliament that only seven cases of discrimination have been recorded in this year. This gross underestimation of the problem arises from the fact that there was no FIR in at least 63 per cent of the cases of discrimination, despite the victim approaching the police.  Reluctance of law enforcing agencies is also seen from the fact that they themselves regard the people of North Eastern region as foreigners. This was reflected in the parliamentary debate in Rajya Sabha when a member from Assam reported that the Delhi Police was asking students and servicemen from the region for their passports and not identity cards or driving licenses during road checking. In this context it is not surprising that a maximum number of cases of discrimination are against people of Nagaland and Manipur: two states that are perceived as both rebellious and remote. Thus the home minister’s claim of zero tolerance of crime against people from the region seem hollow in the wake of the fact that the agencies responsible for dealing with cases of discrimination are themselves guilty of following social practices that target these communities.

In order to combat the problem of social profiling and discrimination, it is not only necessary to fight for the legitimate rights of the North Eastern region, but also have a larger movement to ensure the forging of a democratic and inclusive national culture. The assertion of dominant cultural values that subordinate the rights of ethnic minorities and the carriers of this culture should be combated at every level. While the democratic movement has been at the forefront of fighting for the legitimate economic and political rights of the North Eastern region, it needs to redouble its efforts to bring about a cultural and social movement that will challenge the deep rooted intolerance of culturally different people from this region. In meeting this challenge, the hegemonic role of education, films and media has to be recognised since they have acted as a tool of ruling classes’ embodying conservative cultural values. Hence the progressive movements must initiate a militant campaign to combat such hegemonic influences. This will be the first step towards forging a truly composite and inclusive national culture.

Besides these confrontations between the heavyweights at the national level, there were innumerable relatively minor tiffs lower down the scale as between A.K. Antony and K. Karunakaran in Kerala.

But it is necessary to remember that none of these seriously undermined the Congress. On the contrary, it became an overpowering political presence at the time of independence and for at least two decades afterwards, and also in the 1970s and 1980s. There were two reasons for this remarkable achievement. One was the presence of charismatic leaders at the top, whose popular appeal swept away the cobwebs of groupism, and the other was the articulation of the Big Idea, which represented the party’s vision.

Arguably, it is the absence of these two factors which has led to the party’s present plight and, consequently, allowed the petty groupies to proliferate. It cannot be gainsaid that unless the Congress finds a sense of direction in terms of an idealistic outlook, it will continue to flounder.

However, the Congress’ travails are all the more surprising because it is the only party which has been able to reorient its policies in sync with the changing times. Neither the Left nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its two main opponents, has been able to do so. The comrades, for instance, remain stuck in the days of Soviet hegemony when anti-Americanism was the flavour of the day. They seem to take no cognisance of the fact of communism’s terminal decline.

The BJP, on its part, is unable to break free of its pro-Hindu Jana Sangh past or of its servile relationship with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the head of the Hindu supremacist saffron brotherhood. As a result, it is virtually an untrustworthy alien entity so far as the country’s minorities are concerned – Muslims and Christians – and also for the liberal-minded Hindus.

In contrast, the Congress has undertaken major ideological changes. For a start, it is gingerly sidestepping the Nehruvian concept of socialism even if this Fabian ideal is associated with one of the party’s greatest leaders. Along with socialism, another Nehruvian policy initiative of the 1950s – non-alignment – has been discarded. In their place, the Congress has chosen market-driven economic policies and tilted towards America, the socialists’ bugbear.

It isn’t that there hasn’t been resistance from within the party to these changes. There are sizeable sections which still hanker for a “socialistic pattern of society”, which the Congress’s 1955 resolution envisaged. These groups are also wary of too close a relationship with America, for which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is held responsible. Even then, consensus is gradually emerging that there can be no definitive turning away from economic reforms or from a close friendship with America.

However, it is the continuing half-heartedness about these initiatives which is responsible for the Congress giving the impression of being unsure about its future course of action or being able to convince the people of whatever it has achieved. It is the sense of being stuck in a limbo, as it were, which is hurting the party. Nothing showed the effect of this purposelessness than the recent Delhi municipal election results where the BJP succeeded in retaining its hold despite the achievements of the city’s Congress government in making the national capital one of the country’s most liveable cities.

Yet, although the Congress raised its tally of seats from 67 in 2007 to 78 this time, the electorate was unwilling to repose full faith in it apparently because of its perceived governance deficit at the centre and entanglement in numerous scams that have been played up in the media. It was the same in Uttar Pradesh where the Congress gained the most in terms of a rise in vote share – 14.02 percent in 2012 compared to 8.63 percent in 2007 – a 5.5 percent jump compared to a 4.5 percent increase for the Samajwadi Party. The impressiveness of the gain can be seen from the fact that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lost 4.2 percent of its vote share and the BJP lost two percent. But the Congress still remains very much a marginal player.

The surge in the Congress’ popularity in 2009, which took the party’s Lok Sabha seats to above 200, was the result of the belief that the party was about to implement the Big Idea of economic reforms. Instead, not only is the party dithering, it is even turning to state paternalism redolent of a controlled economy by favouring dole-oriented programmes like the rural employment scheme and the proposed hugely expensive food security bill, which will make a mockery of fiscal discipline. These are ideas which will not impress the new generation.

A lot of other sweeping changes have taken place too.

The first Lok Sabha, formed after the 1952 election, was dominated by the Congress and the towering presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, with the Communists being the main opposition.

Today, while still heading the ruling coalition, the Congress is a much weakened political force, surviving on the support of not so loyal allies. The Communists are a pale shadow of their former self.

The percentage of MPs without secondary education — many gave up schooling for the independence struggle — was almost a quarter in 1952. It is now just three percent.

Most MPs in the first house were lawyers by training. Now most are linked to agriculture.

There is a noticeable shift in the age profile too.

In 1952, only 20 percent of MPs were 56 years or older. In 2009, when the last Lok Sabha election was held, this zoomed to 43 percent, said Devika Malik of PRS Legislative Research, a think tank.

The members of the first Lok Sabha included, in the treasury and opposition benches, besides Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Vallabhai Patel, B.R. Ambedkar, Abul Kalam Azad, A.K. Gopalan, Sucheta Kriplani, Jagjivan Ram, Sardar Hukam Singh, Asoka Mehta and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai.

Speeches, debates and interventions in the house were of a very high order. Even when they differed with their opponents, everyone maintained decorum.

Sixty years later, this has been the biggest casualty.

Senior politicians fondly recall the days when disruptions were infrequent and ruckus, sloganeering and rancour were almost unheard of.

Cabinet minister Virbhadra Singh, who entered the Lok Sabha in 1962, told IANS: “Disruptions on small issues never happened earlier. Members strongly expressed their differences of opinion but there was hardly an occasion when parliament was disrupted. Now this is the rule rather than the exception.”

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sumitra Mahajan said members in earlier decades reflected a national view in their thinking. “They had a pan-India approach to issues. Now state perspective has become more pronounced.”

Mahajan, into her seventh term as a Lok Sabha member, said there was respect for senior leaders in the past. If any of them stood up to speak, members would listen without creating a din.

“In later days, even Atalji had to face disturbances,” she said, referring to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Political analyst S. Nihal Singh agreed the standard of debates earlier was very high. “There is much less real debate now, much more of noise and disturbance.”

Nihal Singh said there was less respect for parliamentary democracy now though everybody swears by it, adding that the frequent disruptions were a waste of public money.

Former Lok Sabha secretary general Subash C. Kashyap said parliament only reflected the larger society.

“They (MPs) are representatives of people that we are… Of our weaknesses, our culture, sense of values, our indiscipline… If there is indiscipline in society, it is bound to be reflected.”

Kashyap said there was more discussion on international affairs when Nehru was the prime minister.

More disorder means less work in parliament.

According to PRS legislative Research, the first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills every year. This has decreased to 40 in the 15th Lok Sabha.

Former Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Najma Heptulla, in her sixth term, said many parliamentarians of the earlier era were freedom fighters. Their values and issues have almost vanished, she lamented.

* First chairman of Rajya Sabha – S. Radhakrishnan.

* First Speaker of Lok Sabha – G.V. Mavalankar.

* First Lok Sabha meeting was on May 13, 1952.

* First Lok Sabha held 677 sittings for about 3,784 hours.

* Around 48.8 percent of time of first Lok Sabha was used for legislative business.

* Percentage of graduates has increased from 58 percent in 1952 to 79 percent in 2009 (includes post-graduate and doctoral degrees).

* Women constitute 11 percent of members in the 15th Lok Sabha. In comparison, only 5 percent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were women.

* In the first Lok Sabha, there was no MP over the age of 70. This number has risen to 7 percent in the current Lok Sabha.

* The first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year. This has decreased to 40 in the 15th Lok Sabha.

* Parliament passed 118 Bills in 1976. This was the highest number of Bills passed by Parliament in a single year.

* The lowest number of Bills was passed in 2004 when only 18 Bills were passed by Parliament.

* Lok Sabha met for an average 127 days in the 1950s and Rajya Sabha for 93 days. This has decreased to 73 days for both houses in 2011.

(with inputs from PRS legislative Research)

The Indian agrochemicals market is currently poised at over Rs 16,000 crore, according to a study titled, ‘Indian Market for Agrochemicals,’ released by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

“Growing awareness about the positive impact and benefits of agrochemicals on the agri-produce and the need for crop protecting and growth augmenting chemicals amid farmers together with growing shortage of farm labour, need for self-sufficiency in food grain production, growth in organized retail segment and thriving domestic horticulture and floriculture industries are fuelling the growth and increased usage of agrochemicals in India,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM while releasing the findings of the study.

“There is a huge growth potential for foreign investments in India’s agrochemicals market and the multinational companies operating in the sector can witness five to ten times more annual growth in India as compared to that in other countries thereby making India a global hub for agrochemicals,” said Mr Rawat. “Rapidly growing population is constantly putting huge pressure on arable land thereby making the use of agrochemicals inevitable to increase farm production in India.”

Besides, lower availability of natural fuels is also a significant reason behind growth of agrochemicals as the usage of the same can help boost agri-production, according to the ASSOCHAM study.

Considering the rampant growth prospects of agrochemicals, there is an urgent need to groom the farmers and inform them about their usage and application in terms of its quantity depending upon the nature of crops.

Indian agrochemical companies should leverage from their wide distribution network, superior abilities in process optimization and low-cost manufacturing skills, said ASSOCHAM. Besides, Indian companies in the sector should also increase their investment in research from current level of about two per cent to at least eight to 10 per cent to spur its exports and be more competitive in the global scenario, said ASSOCHAM.

Abundance of low-cost agrochemical products from China, high inventory owing to Indian farms’ dependence on monsoons, counterfeit products and long credit periods to farmers are certain key problems faced by India’s highly-fragmented agrochemicals market.

In terms of agrochemicals production, India ranks fourth in the world after USA, Japan and China respectively. Besides, the global agrochemicals industry is growing at about 12 per cent CAGR and is likely to cross Rs 13 lakh crore mark from the current level of about Rs 8.5 lakh crore, according to the ASSOCHAM study.

As per an estimate, crops worth about 20 billion dollars is lost due to lower usage of pesticides each year. ASSOCHAM has thus suggested judicious use of pesticides to prevent crop losses, reduce input costs and provide economic benefits to the farmers.

The ASSOCHAM delegation comprising Mr. Ravi Wig, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Punjab Development Council, Mr. Ashok Khanna, Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on Environment & Safety and TQM and Mr. D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM met Mr. Prakash Singh Badal today and suggested setting up of industiral clusters in Punjab   for small and medium enterprises involved in food processing, handicrafts, renewable energy and information technology to generate three lakh direct and indirect jobs over the next three years and help inclusive growth.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to assist in establishing clusters of small and medium enterprises in two districts of potential states across the country.

The strategy paper on all-round Punjab development is a ready-reckoner for investors, the Centre and state governments to make it as one of the most attractive investment destinations in India with double digit SGDP growth, said Mr. Wig.  The chamber has also set up a dedicated Foundation for Development of Micro Industries and Clusterisation to promote micro, small and medium enterprises.

They said Punjab should rejuvenate agriculture, create manufacturing hubs and accelerate growth in services sector to emerge as land of opportunities. The agenda of new state government should be to prioritise building social and physical infrastructure and define role of all stakeholders and cover short-term and long-term goals to ensure speedy development.

The state may not have enough finances to develop infrastructure on its own which builds a good case for public private partnership (PPP) type of initiatives involving multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. “The challenge before state government is to address the issue from a holistic perspective keeping in balance between agriculture and industry,” said Mr Rawat.

To encourage effective distribution of agro-commodities, initiatives should be taken to create hub-and-spoke model under which districts and towns identified act as a hub and villages surrounding them act as spokes. This will ensure efficient distribution, reduce transportation costs, increase competition and real price discovery, benefiting the farmers.

Farmers need technology upgradation, logistic support, market intelligence and should be able to compete in international markets. The industry looks forward to stable, transparent and responsive state government so that more investments can pour in, he said.

“We would also like the state government to promote irrigation, rural connectivity, health, education and non-farm rural activities. With rich natural resources and traditional industries, however, the state holds enormous unrealised growth potential,” said Mr. Khanna.

At the same time, industries clusters can be created for micro, small and medium enterprises to ensure common facilities, thus reducing operating costs and increasing competitiveness and skill development around that sector.

The state government must facilitate contract farming by attracting investments from the private sector. Irrigation systems can be improved by employing modern technologies which are a must to boost productivity.

Special economic zones (SEZs) can be created with organic farms for herbal and medicinal plantation. A definite roadmap needs to be drafted to improve storage facilities, transport infrastructure and marketing network so that food processing industries can develop value-added products for domestic and foreign markets.

Industry-specific SEZs for information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, gems and jewellery besides manufacturing of sports goods also hold potential for growth and employment generation, said ASSOCHAM.

State-level development finance institutes like erstwhile industrial development corporations should be revived to support long-term financial needs of small and medium enterprises. Developing strategic business services like IT, IT-enabled services, finance and insurance can be catalysts of growth and enhance the share of services in gross state domestic product (GSDP).

The private sector can contribute by promoting such projects to provide industry-relevant skills to rural youth. ASSOCHAM also called for creating an enabling policy framework to rejuvenate economic activity in the state.

The state government should spell out a clear land acquisition policy with sufficient room for buyers and sellers to negotiate directly with minimal government role for attracting fresh investments from the private sector.

Women in Mumbai and B’lore more aggressive about career development, Delhi ranks 3rd

Majority of young working women in urban India are putting off plans to start a family as they put career and professional ambitions ahead of motherhood, according to a just released survey by apex industry body ASSOCHAM ahead of International Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 13.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and India (ASSOCHAM) under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF) carried out a random survey of about 1,200 married, young full-time working women without children and about 800 stay-at-home mothers in the age group of 24-30 years at urban centers of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune during March-April.

Over half (650) of married, young working women in the aforesaid urban centres said they have shelved plans to start a family as career advancement and higher-education is their priority and cannot sacrifice the same to raise kids, highlights the ASSOCHAM survey.

 “Ambitious working women in India are not willing to give up their career for the sake of family as they are apprehensive about dealing with stress and emotional distress associated with issues of work/life balance,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM while releasing the findings of the survey.

“Household chores, social commitments and other obligations make raising kids a delicate balancing act for women with successful careers,” said Mr Rawat.

About 10 per cent said they work to lead a better lifestyle and need to accumulate enough wealth before they start a family and cope up with rising costs of childcare.

About 200 respondents from the working women category said they have put off their plans to have a baby as it would disfigure their physical appearance. About 70 of these said they are too young to be a mother.

However, about 20 per cent of these both said they have taken a mutual decision with their spouse that first they want to accomplish their career goals and then would start a family to be able to justify with both the roles effectively.

Many working women said they work primarily because of sheer passion for their career and to hone their organizational skills.

About 220 respondents from this category said they have no qualms in going on the family way and becoming a mother would make them feel happier and fulfilled and are not fearful of the effect motherhood might have on their career.

Nearly 65 out of the total 150 working women interviewed in Delhi said they are deliberately avoiding starting a family and most of these have taken their families into confidence regarding their decision. Of these, about 30 said they are sticking to their decisions from career point of view, while about 25 said they are conscious about their physical appearance that’s why they are delaying this move and about 10 said they are too young to have a baby.

In this category, about 85 respondents in Delhi said they have not taken any such decisions but majority of these (45) said they are fearful as it might end their social life, while remaining 40 said they would be happy to raise kids and feeling of being a mother will make them feel fulfilled.

Though, 100 out of 150 working women in Mumbai and 80 in Bangalore said they are averse to having a baby for the time being as their respective career is primary for them.

Off the 800 stay-at-home moms interviewed, about 35 per cent of respondents said though they do not make any monetary contributions to the family income but looking after and taking care of kids full time consumes most of their time as they carry out plethora of household chores on a daily basis. Besides, many even said they have put their social life on hold and are not able to even take much care of themselves and rest of their family to raise children.

About 25 per cent said they regret not being able to work as they are less educated, have limited job skills and find it hard to make both ends meet due to rising cost of living and feel two incomes are imperative to run the household efficiently. Of these about 80 said they regret motherhood as they have lost their social identity.

Rest of the 40 per cent of these respondents said its better to stay at home and raise their kids rather than paying a bomb at day care units in the neighbourhood. Besides, majority of them said they are proud of choosing motherhood over work as it can lead to comprehensive development of their wards during the pre-school years.

Of this category, about 15 per cent said they used to work initially and quit their successful careers and chose family over job as it was becoming a conflict of priorities as they had to travel extensively and stay away from home and family.

Majority (60 respondents) of stay-at-home moms in Delhi said they are happy staying at home as they can devote ample of time in raising their kids. About 30 of the remaining 40 said they quit their jobs to look after their wards and about 20 of these said they regret their decision. About 10 said they find it hard to raise kids due to rising cost of living.

Born May 11, 1912 in Samrala, Punjab, Manto arrived in Mumbai in the 1940s and spent four to five years here. Though not much is officially known about it, his writings provide adequate hints of his sojourn here.

He lived in small, dark buildings spread across the congested Grant Road, Byculla, Nagpada areas of southcentral parts of the city.

A series of events has been lined up now to mark his birth centenary Friday, including one by the Mumbai Press Club, and another by the socio-cultural organisation Urdu Markaz.

Senior film journalist, researcher and writer Rafique Baghdadi said: “Manto’s contribution to Urdu literature is remarkable.”

Zubair Ansari of Urdu Markaz said, “The legendary writer merits a befitting tribute on his birth centenary”.

In his short life spanning barely 43 years, Manto left a legacy of some of the most profound and popular contribution to Urdu literature.

A short story writer, film and radio script writer and journalist, in a professional career of less than two decades, Manto bequeathed 22 collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.

Over the years, he was catapulted to fame with works “Boo”, “Khol Do”, “Thanda Gosht”, and his magnum opus, “Toba Tek Singh”.

And Mumbai figured in his works.

In the biographical sketch of Nur Jehan, Manto writes: “I think I arrived in Bombay on Aug 7, 1940, and my first meeting with Shaukat (Syed Shaukar Hasan Rizvi) took place on 17 Adelphi Chambers, Clare Road, which served both as office and his residence.”

His ever-popular story, “A Question of Honour” described in great detail the places with which he was associated in the city, the places he lived in, ate, visited during his few years here.

In “A Question of Honour”, Manto mentions Mumbai’s famous Arab Gully: “Another street in the area was called Arab Gully, with 20-25 Arabs living there, all apparently in the pearl trade. Others were Punjabis and Rampurias. I was in Arab Gally that I had rented a room, which was so dark that the light has to be kept on at all times. The monthly rent was exactly nine rupees, eight annas….”

Despite an early struggle, Manto was fortunate that the film studios of that era recognised his gift for storytelling and he landed with several scripts which later became movies.

They include “Keechad”, “Apni Nagariya”, “Begum”, “Naukar”, “Chal Chal Re Naujawaan”, “Kisaan Kanya”, “Ghamandi”, “Beli”, “Mujhe Paapi Kaho”, “Doosri Kothi”, “Shikaar”, “Aath Din”, “Aagosh” and “Mirza Ghalib”.

He has also acted in a couple of films – “Eight Days” and “Chal Chal Re Naujawan”.

Considered one of the best Urdu short story writers of the 20th century, Manto also developed a reputation for being the most controversial.

Known for penning topics which were considered social taboo in the Indian and Pakistan society of those days, Manto was reviled and revered in equal measure and often compared with D.H. Lawrence of English literature.

Manto’s focus of writings ranged from the grim socio-economic injustices prevailing in the pre-and-post-colonial subcontinent, to the more controversial topics of love, sex, incest, prostitution and the typical hypocrisy of a traditional subcontinental male.

Long before the renowned artist M.F. Hussain came on the scene, Manto was tried for obscenity half-a-dozen times, thrice in the undivided British-ruled India and thrice after 1947 in the post-Partition Pakistan. However, he escaped being convicted or exiled for his bold thoughts and daring to espouse creative freedom in that conservative era.

He was opposed and deeply pained by the Indian partition. He died Jan 18, 1955, in Lahore, Pakistan. Only 42 years old, Manto was survived by his wife Safiyah and three daughters, but the literary void he left behind was difficult to fill.

Many of the nearly 90 Bangladeshi prisoners lodged in the jail, on the outskirts of Jammu, feel the skill will help them live a dignified life back home after their release.

Poverty is the main factor that drives them to infiltrate into India to either stay put or further cross over to Pakistan in search of work. But many get caught by police or the Border Security Force (BSF).

One such convict, Shamshul Alam, a resident of Chittagong in Bangladesh, told IANS that he belonged to a very poor family, “so I thought of crossing over to India to work as a labourer but police caught our group of 10″.

Alam, aged 25, says he along with nine others worked for a few days as labourers in Arnia village near here before police arrested them. “There are agents in Bangladesh who bring groups of people into India with the promise of getting us small jobs,” he told IANS.

“Bangladesh is a poor country and, on top of that, floods and cyclones spell havoc. This forces many like us to flee illegally,” says Jashimian of Dhaka who along with a group of 25 was arrested by the BSF while trying to cross over to Pakistan from the border near Jammu with the help of an agent. They were later convicted of illegal border crossing.

He says he has a big family, including parents, six brothers and two sisters, to support.

Now while they are in jail they are getting training in Kashmiri aari embroidery on crewal fabric.

“I learnt it in just two weeks, and thereafter I have embroidered a number of curtains, bedcovers, tablecloths and ladies’ suits,” Alam says proudly.

All of them realise that they have learnt a great art which can make earning a living easier.

Expressing gratitude to the jail authorities, another Bangladeshi, Mohammad Johail, says, “Our jail sentence has become a boon, as now we know Kashmiri embroidery which can help us earn our bread back home in Bangladesh. It is like taking a great gift of Kashmir to our country.”

Jashimian gets emotional as he remembers his home. “It is going to be a beautiful blend when we do world famous Kashmiri embroidery on the famous Dhaka cotton.”

Now all of them are much more confident about life. Mohammad Illiyas says, “We can start coaching classes for this embroidery, or can sell embroidered items when we go home… at least we are sure of earnings now.”

When asked what prompted the jail authorities to teach Bangladeshi inmates Kashmiri embroidery, Superintendent of Jammu district jail Rajni Sehgal said, “Our effort is that when these inmates are released they do not feel lost in the world. This is to make them learn an art that can help in earning and surviving and make them skilled workers.”

There are around 90 such Bangladeshi convicts in this jail in the age group of 20 to 30 years. The majority have completed their sentence and their counselling is also over. “We are checking their antecedents and they are now under preventive detention till repatriation,” she said.

About the training, Sehgal said, “Language was somewhat a problem between them and the teacher, but we overcame that in no time with love and affection.”

The Bangladeshi inmates, who have become very fond of Sehgal, say in chorus, “When we go home, we will do embroidery on Dhaka’s malmal (cotton) and bring that gift for our madam (jail superintendent). But this time we will come legally on passport.”

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Born too soon: the global action report on preterm birth provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia.

Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, calling for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015. This report shows that rapid change is possible and identifies priority actions for everyone.

This inspiring report is a joint effort of almost 50 international, regional and national organizations, led by the March of Dimes, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Save the Children and the World Health Organization in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort, led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Born too soon proposes actions for policy, programs and research by all partners – from governments to NGOs to the business community – that if acted upon, will substantially reduce the toll of preterm birth, especially in high-burden countries.

The report contains a foreword by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and is accompanied by more than 30 new and expanded commitments to prevention and care of preterm birth, joining more than 200 existing commitments.

Search and rescue teams were heading to the area just south of the capital, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation. Bad weather, however, forced at least two helicopters to turn back.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 took off from Jakarta’sHalim Perdanakusuma Airport at 2:21 p.m.

It dropped off the radar 21 minutes later near the Salak mountain range, after the crew asked air traffic control for permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet (3,000 meters to 1,800 meters).

No explanation was given for the sudden change of course. Though drizzling at the time, it was not stormy.

“I saw a big plane passing just over my house,” Juanda, a villager who lives near the 7,200-foot- (2,200-meter)- mountain, told the local station TVOne.

“It was veering a bit to one side, the engine roaring,” she said. “It seemed to be heading toward Salak, but I didn’t hear an explosion or anything.”

Rear Marshal Daryatmo, chief of the national search and rescue agency, said several diplomats from the Russian Embassy, potential buyers from major Indonesian airlines and journalists were on board what was supposed to be a 50-minute demonstration flight, the second of the day.

Together with the Russian crew, the plane was carrying 50 people, said Sunaryo, from PT Trimarga Rekatama, the company that was responsible for the guest list. Like many Indonesians, both Sunaryo and Daryatmo use only one name.

Though the air search was called off by early evening, soldiers, police and members of the air force had joined the land-based rescue efforts. They were expected to continue through the night, but the terrain was rough and difficult to navigate after darkness fell.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to reach the location tonight,” Daryatmo said.

Developed by the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners, the plane is the first completely new airliner designed by Russia since the Soviet collapse.

Russia has hoped that the short- to mid-range jet, which made its maiden run in 2008, would help it break into international markets dominated by Boeing and Airbus.

It was on the fourth stop of a six-nation “Welcome Asia!” road show after having already been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. It was supposed to head next to Laos and Vietnam.

 

 Before the law extended its long arm and guilt is decided according to law the file is closed while the spokes person lost that important position in the political party which is leading the ruling front UPAt. Law does not take its course on its own, unless somebody moves it.  Rule of law and criminal procedural is available only for what is moved in court of law, but that which is in public domain or cyber space, perhaps knows no rules and the law. While netizens were aghast with CD revelations, the citizens were informed about it by Delhi High Court’s injunction order on April 13 restraining the driver of Singhvi, Mr Mukesh Kumar Lal and others including media as well as social network sites from “publishing, broadcasting, disseminating or distributing in any form or manner the contents of any alleged CD or any other material in relation to the Rajya Sabha MP Singhvi. The court restrained Aaj Tak, Headlines Today and The India Today Group from disseminating the contents of the CD. The petition stated: “Driver Mukesh Kumar Lal said that he needs a very large amount of money or else he will start spreading false rumours and allegations against Singhvi, including false statement regarding his moral character and will go to the media and distribute a CD which allegedly depicts alleged sexual acts made allegedly by Singhvi and will not hesitate from making other false claim.”

In yet another related litigation the Delhi High Court on 24^th April dismissed a petition seeking direction to the Bar Council of Delhi and the Delhi Bar Association to investigate this CD controversy. The petitioner advocate Sanjay Kumar had moved the court saying that the controversy had been decided without considering the allegations made in the CD and the FIR had been dropped without any further investigation.

Strangely the High Courts are deciding the procedural aspects and trial courts never get opportunity to try the guilt or innocence of VVIPs. While the powerful wield all power through courts the ordinary man is left to the mercy of a sub-inspector at lower rung of police machinery to suffer third degree methods to discover his guilt of stealing a bicycle or selling cinema tickets in black. Thus there appears to be two streams of law enforcement defying basic theme of rule of law and equality.

An organized Media with established identity cannot report rumours and baseless allegations. As there is a fiat from Court, tvs and newspapers cannot write and show the CD, origin of which was not known. But unlike the situation a few years ago, the vibrant presence of technology made it possible to some elements to hide themselves and circulate ‘the news’  widely with great speed. The life of a news story is as short as half day earlier, but with internet, its life is terribly shortened.  The social media persons got three days before the injunction came into operation. The twitter and other media space was filled with various questions about the CD, possibility of manipulating it, personalities involved in, motives behind and the sanctity of the place of happening. A raging debate happened simultaneously about the act between two consenting adults, their identity and reasons for it. There were no answers to these questions.

The firstpost.com reported that the video, recorded in what appears to be a Court Chamber room, is grainy, and not over-the-top explicit – although there is no doubt about the sexual nature of the activity it records. Nor do the conversations between the protagonists contain any reference to an offer of any position as alleged.

The first post.com also reported that this video has gone viral on social media platforms and on the Internet, defeating legal injunctions. The 12 minute, 40 second video was first uploaded around 9 pm on 19^th April on YouTube, but was pulled down within 20 minutes, for violation of YouTube’s terms of service on nudity and sexual content. A Facebook page too was created with links to the video. The creator of the Facebook page suggests s/he has more videos that are more incriminating – and implicating other leading politicians as well. The cat-and-mouse game continued all night with netizens repeatedly posting the video on YouTube and uploading bit torrent files on file sharing platforms, from where they can be downloaded. Next morning too there were websites streaming the video as embeds. Feisty commentators on Twitter have been posting links and mocking the person involved all night.

Though not a crime, several politicians fell down for being caught on camera for sexual involvement, chiefly because of media’s exposure and consequential social reaction.  Media’s response and the grammar of news are changed with technology.  Even as media desires to have freedom, that becomes casualty because of its fear of big powers. On the other hand anonymity gives strength to social media to bring out things in black and white without any fear. This social media with this freedom assumes role of watch dog and supports edifice of democracy as a fourth pillar while some watch dogs compromise to be a lapdogs.

Sexual morality continues to deter politicians though they have escape routes from punishment. If some powerful are beyond law, social media appeared to be beyond them, at least in some instances.

The Criminals and Criminal Law:

Consensual sexual intercourse is not a crime unless the female partner is below the age of consent giving capacity. Now a bill is pending before Parliament to rise the age of girl to 18 years to give consent for sexual acts. Proposed law makes sex with a girl below 18 years a crime of sexual assault, a cognizable offence punishable as rape. The suggestion to fix the age at 16 years and consensual sexual act between girls of 16 to 18 years and man should not be penalized was not widely accepted.

Since consent of woman defeats the charge of rape, and law did not provide enough scope for understanding inducement or veiled threat as reason for consent, the sexual assault law was reformed to add ‘custodial sexual offence’ in 1983. Section 376B of Indian Penal Code made such a crime punishable with five years jail and fine. It is defined: Whoever, being a public servant, takes advantage of his official position and induces or seduces any woman, who is in custody as such public servant or in the custody of public servant subordinate to him, to have sexual intercourse with him, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description (rigorous or simple) for a term which may extend to five years and shall also liable to fine.

If there is a prima facie evidence to show the possibility of occurrence of this crime, it should be investigated and culprit should be booked. Since the offence under 376B is cognizable, though accused cannot be arrested without warrant or without order of a Magistrate and the offence is bailable, police have a duty to investigate without waiting for a formal complaint, only on the information. There is little possibility of complaint from a woman when the sexual act is peaceful and consensual. The law is there, but there are lawyers too. Social media can only talk about it. Social and political fall out apart; legal consequences depend on so many other factors. Realizing that freedom comes with fearlessness, the media, whether print/tv or social networking, should remain a watch dog and retain its status as fourth pillar of democratic society.  Fortunately the technology added eagle’s eye to the watchdog.

Madabhushi Sridhar

Professor and Head, Center for Media Law and Policy, NALSAR University of Law Hyderabad.

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A scheme for setting up 20 new IIITs on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model has been approved by Government at a capital cost of Rs. 128.00 crore for each IIIT to be contributed in the ratio of 50:30:15 by the Central Government, the State Government and the Industry respectively (57.5:35:7.5 in the case of North Eastern region).  The concerned State Government will  provide 50-100 acres of land, free of cost and initially the new IIITs would be registered as Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource  Development, Dr. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question in Lok  Sabha

Overall, through this hike an additional burden of  Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 would fall on the shoulders of every passenger! Per annum the amount thus collected would exceed Rs 3000 crore in Delhi Airport alone! ‘Delhi will be the world’s costliest airport’, most newspapers reported a day after the hike. But, astonishingly, DIAL says that they will ask for another hike in user fee. Even Mumbai International Airport has asked for a 500 per cent hike. This kind of loot, which is a clear example of ‘primitive accumulation of capital’, is happening with the strong support of the government.

In their eagerness to support the corporate houses and big business, the government is violating all accepted principles of democracy and parliamentary procedures! It is misinterpreting the Acts and making Rules that go against the intention of legislature. Even as the Airports Authority of India (Major Airport Development Fee) Rules, 2011was pending scrutiny of parliament, the AERA went ahead and permitted increase of user development fee. Actually, the Rules were framed because the Supreme Court in a judgement banned collection of this fee without proper rules and regulations. This development fee was being collected from 01.03.2009 up to 01.06.2011. As per monthly Audit Report, the total collection of development fee during this period was Rs 1481.72 crore. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court only examined the technicalities of rule making and the administrative competence of the government to collect the fee rather than going into whether there was any genuine necessity of charging development fee or whether the contractual obligations and undertakings of the Airport developer permitted such collection. It may be noted here that when the contract was finalised, there was no provision of collection of development fee. The bidder put his papers without considering the income from development fee and there was no commitment from the part of the government to facilitate collection of such huge sums of money every year.  So it is very clear that the permission to collect development fee is an illegal administrative decision on the part of the government and this was upheld by the Supreme Court. Now, these Rules have been framed to overcome the ‘technicality’ and allow the private firm to reap in huge sums of money.

RULES MUST BE WITHIN

THE MANDATE OF THE ACT

It is a well established law that without proper Rules, no Act can be effectively implemented. The role of the Executive in framing the ‘Rules’ has come under public scrutiny with controversies erupting over framing of Rules pertaining to the Civil Nuclear Liability Act, the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the present Airports Authority of India (Major Airport Development Fee) Rules, 2011, etc. In such cases, the Rules were either not in tune with the Acts that were passed by parliament or against the basic premises of the Constitution of India.

Adopting a rarely used parliamentary tool of amending Rules, the opposition parties moved amendments to many such rules. The power with the Executive to make Rules, regulations, by-laws, schemes or other statutory instruments is delegated by parliament. The Committee on Subordinate Legislation, of both the Houses, examines whether the Rules are in pursuance with the Constitution or Acts passed by parliament. These committees also see whether the Rules contain matters which should be dealt within an Act of parliament or it contains imposition of any tax. The committee also checks whether the rules directly or indirectly bars the jurisdiction of the courts and whether it involves expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India or the Public Revenues.

Even though the concepts of Administrative Law provides for enough safeguards against the arbitrariness by the Executive in running the administration, the practical experience is far from satisfactory. The power to make legislation is always vested with the representatives of the people in all modern democratic systems. But, due to the complexities of modern day administration and because of the growing areas of public life, the law making bodies cannot go into the minute details of law making. Generally, primary law will be made by parliament through Acts and the Rules, the most important instrument in transmitting the intention of the legislature, will be made by the administration i.e. Executive. While drafting the Rules, the Executive has to look into the intention of the parliament and to analyse the practical field realities. They should make the Rules only in consonance with the parent Act. But, unfortunately, the ‘Executive made Law’ in many cases deceives the real intention of the parliament. If the authorities concerned are not properly making the Rules in time or making provisions that run contrary to the Act, the basic intention of the enactment will not succeed.

THE CASE OF AIRPORTS

DEVELOPMENT FEE RULES

The Airport Authority of India (Major Airport Development Fee) Rules, 2011 enables private operators to levy user development charges from all passengers travelling through a particular airport. The Rules, laid in Rajya Sabha, help private airport operators like DIAL and Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) to collect the development fee from the passengers. These Rules help the private airports to overcome the legal laxities pointed out by the Supreme Court, while hearing a case questioning the illegal collection of user development fee.

The Delhi and Mumbai Airports were developed through PPP model by the government. The developers were selected through a process of competitive bidding. After some years of operation, the government has accorded sanction to the airport developers to collect huge amount of user development fee from the passengers using both airports. While tendering the projects and inking the contract, there was neither any provision for the collection of user development fee nor any rules empowering them for it. Later, after many years, the private developers demanded for the introduction of user development fee. The government accepted their demand and allowed a fee collection of Rs1300 per international passenger and Rs 200 per domestic passenger from Delhi airport. Similar amount was allowed to be collected from Mumbai Airport users also. Aggrieved by the decision of the government, some consumer organisations approached the Delhi High Court.

Initially, it upheld the decision of the government.  But, while hearing the appeal, the Supreme Court held the user fee collection as illegal. Without going into the technicalities of the contract and fee collection, the Supreme Court held that the collection itself is ab-initio void because there is no enabling ‘Rules’ to empower fee collection.

Further, the court stated that even if such fee is to be collected, it must be decided by the regulator, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority. So, it was very clear that the government’s arbitrary decision to support the private developer by imposing this fee was patently illegal. During the time of initial order by the government and the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court, the DIAL had collected more than Rs 1481crore. A strong demand was made before the government that this money, which was illegally collected by the airport developers, should be taken back from them. But, instead of rectifying the mistakes done by the administration, the government immediately came out with Rules enabling the collection of user fee. The government tabled the Rules in the parliament.

PROPOSED

AMENDMENTS

Generally, the use of parliamentary tool of giving amendments to Rules is rare. Such amendments to Rules were discussed in Rajya Sabha 11 years ago in May, 2000. After such a long period, a statutory motion to amend the biased Rules relating to Major Airports Development Fee came up before the House recently. But, instead of supporting and promoting the parliamentary procedure, the concerned ministry has tried to avoid the discussion on this statutory motion.

The amendments brought mainly four points before the House. Firstly, they do not accept user fee collection in airports built on PPP model, as there was no such provision to collect user fee at the time of bidding and awarding of contract for upgrading these airports. The lowest bidder would have been finalised without considering this income. If the government allows collection of user fee, it would amount to a major scam involving thousands of crores of rupees.

Secondly, the amendments called for bringing PPP airports and user development fee collection and its spending under the C&AG’s scanner.

Thirdly, they propose to hand over the money illegally collected by two Private Airport Developers to the Airport Authority of India. This money comes around to around Rs 2500 crore from the two airports.

Fourthly, the amendments seek to entrust the Airports Authority of India with the task of collecting and managing the user development fee rather than the private agencies.

Members would have accepted these amendments, if they are placed before the House, because of their legality. But the government is manoeuvring to scuttle this process.

This amount, collected illegally by private airports, is to be considered as Bona-vacantia (ownerless goods) and should be the property of the government. The question about the right of levying tax and its collection raises issues of wider ramification which will deeply affect our system. Article 265 of our Constitution clearly says that private parties are ineligible to collect and levy taxes.

In the case of the Rules notified under the Civil Nuclear Liability Act, the Act was diluted for the benefit of foreign suppliers. It has been pointed out by the opposition parties that the right to recourse for the operator to claim damages from the foreign supplier has been limited to the duration of the initial licence period or the product liability period, whichever is longer. The initial duration of the licence is normally five years and the product liability period will also be limited. Such Rules did not cover a reasonable period of the functioning of the reactor and its equipment. So, the interests of private, foreign manufacturers of nuclear equipment were put above the interests of our people. Once again, the UPA government is displaying the same attitude.

A provision to tax the public cannot be implemented through a Rule made by the Executive without the approval of parliament. The present government seems to be very eager to allow its PPP partners and corporates to levy tax bypassing parliament. The sovereign function of the Legislature has been put under question.

Red Cross Day falls on 8th of May. Back in 1963 the American President John F Kennedy reminded the world of this selfless movement and exhorted men and women to become part of this movement.

“Today as the Red Cross embarks upon its second century of service, each of us has an opportunity and an obligation to become a part of this humanitarian tradition. For only through our help is this important work made possible.” : President John F. Kennedy on the 100th anniversary of the Red Cross Movement, 1963.

Polio and Malaria – Joint Exercises

            Let us recall the significant contribution of   Indian Red Cross towards the Global Polio Eradication Programme in India. The country reached a major milestone in the history of polio eradication on 13 January, 2012, where we witnessed a 12-month period in which no case of polio was recorded. Indian Red Cross volunteers and staff played a noteworthy role in the dissemination of information to the general public, about the importance of preventing, controlling and eliminating the virus that causes paralysis, muscular atrophy and permanent deformity among children, on account of polio. The Indian Red Cross has also implemented Polio Programmes in the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where Polio had high prevalence.

            April 25, is observed as the World Malaria Day, the theme being “Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria”. The Indian Red Cross supported by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 2010-11 had implemented the Malaria Prevention and Control Programme in the two high malaria prevalence states of Andhra Pradesh  and Odisha. The objectives were the distribution of 40,000 LLIN (Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets) in two states and supplemented government efforts and by dissemination of knowledge about malaria and raising awareness especially at the community level.  Among other activities, the volunteers made visits to households, engaged in interactive sessions with the community members about health and hygiene, stressed on early detection signs and symptoms, cautioned on protective measures to be taken and thus educated the community imparting adequate knowledge regarding this killer disease. The Governors of the States of Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands congratulated and lauded the efforts and achievements of the Indian Red Cross Society.

Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Recognition

            The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad speaking on an earlier World Red Cross remembrance day, said volunteers were the backbone and spirit of the Red Cross Movement. He was a great votary of voluntary blood donation and has had an opportunity to notice firsthand, the yeomen service rendered by volunteers in the wake of cloud burst tragedy at Leh that had occurred in August, 2010. People of Leh still cherish the two sanitation units set up by Red Cross volunteers.

Blood Storage Units - Upgradation

            Regarding the upgraded Indian Red Cross Model Blood Bank, Dr. S.P.Agarwal, Secretary General, said that the Society collects 85% blood from voluntary donors and aims to achieve 100% voluntary blood soon. He added, the latest equipments such as automatic Elisa & serology processor, cold-room to store 2000 units of whole blood at 4 degree Celsius, storage of 5000 units of frozen plasma at -40 degree Celsius, equipments for component separation, transfusion transmitted infectious markers are being added. He added with hope that with the procurement of a mobile blood collection van, the society would help in achieving the target of 100% voluntary blood donation.

Functioning in Indian States

            Indian Red Cross Society’s, Nellore District Branch (Andhra Pradesh) renders service to the community through Health activities and Medical Camps. It has an active Vaccination Centre and a Blood Bank,is involved with a Spastics Centre,has undertaken a Cancer Project,runs an Aids clinic, educates men on Disaster Relief and provides opportunity for youth by giving them a chance of joining Junior Red Cross/Youth Red Cross. It also has a Pinakini Gandhi Ashram which stands second only to Gandhiji’sAshram at Sabarmathi at the National Level.

            The Kottayam (Kerala) Red Cross Branch has been involved in multifarious welfare activities in the areas of health and social welfare. Red Cross Nursing and Employment Scheme (RCNES)  is a project aimed at catering to the needs of the nuclear family in modern times, Red Cross Nursing Training Course is given every month for selected men and women. Supplying of free medicines to poor patients as per the prescription of doctors from all over the district is another noble act of this Centre. A well furnished service counter is functional at the Medical College, Kottayam. The Kottayam Red Cross Branch maintains a directory of willing blood donors. They have also conducted numerous eye donation awareness camps all over the district

            Junior Red Cross (JRC) is active in Tamil Nadu. A two day JRC training camp was organized at Melakottaiyur where 172 Juniors and 32 Counsellors from 54 schools participated. Sessions were covered on History of Red Cross, Eye donation, Personality Development and culminated with Cultural activities by Juniors. Officers from Educational Districts like chief Educational Officer & District Educational Officer also participated in this two day camp. A three day Training camp for JRC students was conducted from 1.3.2012 to 3.3.2012 at Usilampatti involving 205 Juniors and 20 counsellors from 23 schools in which sessions were covered on history of Red Cross, Global Warming , Aids Awareness, First Aid & Road Safety.

History of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

            Young Swiss businessman Henri Dunant was the pioneer of the “Red Cross” activity. He was appalled by the condition of the wounded soldiers he happened to see in the battlefield of Solferino in Italy in 1859, during the Franco-Austrian war. He arranged relief services with the help of the local community immediately. What had occupied his thoughts, the aftermath of that war, became a book - A Souvenir of Solferino written in French, published in 1962 and became a passionate appeal against the inhumanity of war. Even today it is one of the most vivid and moving accounts of war, ever written. It suggested that a neutral organization be established to aid the wounded soldiers in times of war. Just a year after the release of this book, an international conference was convened in Geneva to consider the suggestions of Henry Dunant and thus the Red Cross Movement was born. International Red Cross Movement was established by Geneva Convention  Act of 1864. The name and the emblem of the movement are derived from the reversal of the Swiss national flag, to honor the country in which Red Cross was founded.

Indian Red Cross Society  

            During the First World War – 1914 – India had no organization for relief services to the affected soldiers, except a branch of the St. John’s Ambulance Association and a Joint Committee of the British Red Cross. A bill to constitute the Indian Red Cross Society, independent of the British Red Cross, was passed on 17th March 1920 and became an Act in 1920. On 7th June 1920 , fifty members were formally nominated to constitute the Indian Red Cross Society and the first Managing Body was elected from among them. Tamil Nadu Branch has partnership with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies through the National Headquarters and individuals and philanthropists in supporting its activities. In fact, the Indian Red Cross Society is auxiliary to the Government.

The Task Ahead

One word would suffice, participation. In fact, Guru Gobind Singh IndraprasthaUniversity, New Delhi has a comprehensive Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Disaster Preparedness and Rehabilitation, under the aegis of the Red Cross Society which seeks to provide opportunities to obtain specialized qualification which has recognition on a global perspective and also provide a platform to professionals to build up capacity for training. One could become a member of this Society by visiting the urlhttp://www.indianredcross.org/membership.htm.The words of John F Kennedy still keeps ringing in one’s ears and has its relevance even today.

The Red Cross often steps in when nobody else can, performs onerous tasks and plays a unique role based on its international standing. And for this reason it gives us, the entire humanity, a ray of hope.

Scientists at Harvard Medical School, Boston surveyed 4,000 obese adults and found those who followed the common sense advice were much more likely to lose weight than those who adopted fad slimming regimes, went on liquid diets or bought costly weight-loss supplements.

Christina Wee, who helped compile the study at Harvard, said: “There are lots of fad diets out there as well as expensive over-the-counter medications that have not necessarily been proven to be effective. So it’s very encouraging to find that most of the weight-loss methods associated with success are accessible and inexpensive.”

Researchers found 41 percent of those who cut their fat intake were more likely to have shed five percent of their body weight in under a year than those who went on liquid diets, used non-prescription dieting supplements or followed popular slimming regimes, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported.

And if they exercised more than usual, they were almost 30 percent more likely to lose the weight. Although five percent weight loss may not sound significant, experts say it is enough to delay the onset of diabetes in an obese person, according to the Daily Mail.

And the ‘Not Rocket Science’ diet helped many volunteers shed more weight, with 37 percent of those who cut down on fat more likely to lose a tenth of their body weight, while exercising boosted their chances by 6 percent.

The study, the largest scale investigation of its kind, discovered that young men who actively resisted the urge to adopt a “couch-potato” lifestyle in their late twenties seemed to gain the biggest bone benefit.

Load bearing sports are those that involve jumping, including soccer, basketball, volleyball and tennis, that increase the load on the body’s bones.

“Men who increased their load-bearing activity from age 19 to 24 not only developed more bone, but also had larger bones compared to men who were sedentary during the same period,” senior study co-author Mattias Lorentzon, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, was quoted as saying in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Bigger bones with more mass are thought to offer a shield against osteoporosis, a disease that affects men and women alike, in which bones become porous and weak over time and start to fracture by age 50 or later, according to a university statement.

“Osteoporosis actually seems to get its start by age 25 when bones start to lose tissue. So this study sends an important message to young men,” Lorentzon said. “The more you move, the more bone you build.”

Lorentzon and colleagues found that basketball and volleyball seemed the best kinds of activities for building bone mass, followed by soccer and tennis. Such load-bearing sports seem to push the body to form new bone tissue.

Activities that do not put an increased load on the bones, like swimming and bicycling did not seem tied to the building of bigger bones or more bone mass, even though they offer other health benefits.

Osteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide yet many are unaware that they are at risk. The disease has been called the silent epidemic because bone loss occurs without symptoms and the disease often is first diagnosed after a fracture.

Osteoporosis is more common in women, but men also develop it usually after age 65.

“Many neurological and psychiatric conditions are likely to involve problems with signalling in brain networks,” says study co-author Maurizio Corbetta, professor of neurology at Washington University.

“Examining the temporal structure of brain activity from this perspective may be especially helpful in understanding psychiatric conditions like depression and schizophrenia, where structural markers are scarce,” adds Corbetta, the journal Nature Neuroscience reports.

Scientists usually study brain networks – areas of the brain that regularly work together – using magnetic resonance imaging, which tracks blood flow.

They assume that an increase in blood flow to part of the brain indicates increased activity in the brain cells of that region, according to a Washington University statement.

“Magnetic resonance imaging is a useful tool, but it does have limitations,” Corbetta says. “It only allows us to track brain cell activity indirectly, and it is unable to track activity that occurs at frequencies greater than 0.1 hertz, or once every 10 seconds. We know that some signals in the brain can cycle as high as 500 hertz, or 500 times per second.”

For the new study, conducted at the University Medical Centre (UMC) at Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, researchers used a technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG) to analyse brain activity in 43 healthy volunteers.

MEG detects miniscule changes in the brain’s magnetic fields caused by the simultaneous activity of many cells. It can detect these signals at rates up to 100 hertz.

“We found that different brain networks ticked at different frequencies, like clocks ticking at different speeds,” says Joerg Hipp of the UMC at Hamburg-Eppendorf.

For example, networks that included the hippocampus, a brain area critical for memory formation, tended to be active at frequencies around five hertz. Networks constituting areas involved in the senses and movement were active between 32 hertz and 45 hertz.

Many other brain networks were active at frequencies between eight and 2 hertz. These “time-dependent” networks resemble different airline route maps, overlapping but each ticking at a different rate.

“MEG studies provide a window into a much richer ‘temporal’ structure. In the future, this might offer new diagnostic tests or ways to monitor the efficacy of interventions in these debilitating mental conditions,” Corbetta adds.

But is this really enough to supply electronic microsystems? The answer lies in a compact data-logger installed on board, designed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, Germany.

This compact system analyses and characterises usable energy – in this case, the oscillations created during the ride. Data logger includes an acceleration sensor, a GPS module, a micro-controller, an SD card and a WiFi interface.

Experts refer to this underlying technology as “energy harvesting.”

For instance, the vibrations generated by a high speed freight train could deliver enough energy to charge small electronic equipment: this is how the sensors that monitor temperatures in refrigerator cars, or GPS receivers, can receive the current they need to run, according to a Fraunhofer statement.

“We can use the data collected to design vibration converters, such as the piezoelectric generators, to feed the sensors, radio transmission receivers, tracking systems and other low-power-consuming devices with enough energy to power them,” explains the Fraunhofer group manager and engineer Peter Spies.

“The tracking systems in use to date run on just a battery. These batteries need constant replacement, but that involves a lot of effort and expense. Thanks to energy harvesting, we can replace the batteries and wiring,” adds Spies.

The energy “harvested” can be used for a great many other applications as well – to charge heart-rate monitors, sensors in washing machines and production plants, or measurement systems in cars to measure the air pressure in tires. The data logger is already in use in freight cars, trucks and machinery.

The researchers are showcasing a prototype of the data logger at the Sensor+Test 2012 trade fair, May 22-24 in Nuremberg, Germany.

The opposition does not seem to be in a hurry over passage of the bill even as the government is trying to narrow down the differences, said a parliamentary source who has been following the bill’s passage.

The opposition’s attention has now moved away from the bill because of its preoccupation with the presidential elections slated for July. Besides, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare also appears to have lost some of his appeal among the people, the source added.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was backing Hazare wholeheartedly during the winter session last year in order to pressurise the government, the party has criticised Team Anna for abusing parliamentarians at the start of the budget session.

During the March 23 all-party meeting addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, most leaders were in favour of separating state Lokayuktas from the bill.

This amendment had to be approved by the union cabinet before the bill was presented in the Rajya Sabha, where it has been lying stuck since the winter session.

Even if the Rajya Sabha passed an amended bill, it would have to go to the Lok Sabha again for fresh approval, which might not be possible during the budget session, said the source.

As of now, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy is informally speaking to leaders of various parties on how to take the bill forward, said the source.

Last month, Narayanasamy said that differences on the bill had been narrowed down to five or six issues. During the debate on the bill in the winter session in the upper house the total number of amendments moved by members was 149.

“We are engaging with various political leaders and trying to bring consensus on major issues, and trying to bring the bill before parliament,” he had said.

The main votary of separating the Lokayukta and the Lokpal Bill is United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee.

The Lokayukta was made part of the Lokpal Bill, 2011, as there was no uniformity in the various Lokayukta Acts in the states, said an official.

Under its platform, Rural Educational and Economic Development (REED), the organization has not only constructed the buildings of basic multipurpose one-teacher schools but also appointed trained Telugu-speaking teachers.

“We will run these schools for two years and thereafter hand over the management to local Muslims,” Ahsan Syed, a member on IMRC board, told IANS during his recent visit to Hyderabad.

It was three years ago that IMRC got a survey conducted on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in coastal Andhra villages. Appalled by the utter poverty, illiteracy and inequality, it decided to launch the project, but despite its offer for total funding of the project, no organization came forward to undertake the work. It finally launched the project with the help of some individuals.

The mosques-cum-schools with libraries have come up in Srikakulam, East Godavari, Guntur and other districts in coastal Andhra. The organization, which raises donations from individuals in the US, is also providing food and clothes to the poor and conducting medical camps.

“We are spending Rs.5-6 lakh for construction of each school building and spending another Rs.2 lakh on the maintenance,” said Ahsan Syed, a retired engineer with US Army Corps of Engineers, who now delivers sermons at a mosque in Santa Clara.

The organization is at present working only in Andhra Pradesh, but it is receiving requests from other states like Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to undertake similar projects. “We don’t have resources and people who can work in field,” he said.

He believes that Muslims not just in villages in India but across the world face the same problems. “Deprived of education and living in utter poverty, they have moved away from Islam and as a result they are being exploited by Christian missionaries,” he said.

“We are teaching basics to them, creating the fear of God in them. We tell them that this world is temporary, everybody has to die and there is ‘Akhirat’ (hereafter) and everybody will be questioned about his deeds.”

The IMRC also has a proposal to extend micro loans to the poor in Andhra Pradesh villages.

“After ‘Iman Billah’ (belief in Allah), the biggest intellect is serving people. This is built in for us,” explains Ahsan, who had migrated to the US from Hyderabad in 1967.

An expert of ‘Iqbaliyat’ (studies of poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal), Ahsan believes the young generation of Muslim Indian Americans are not aware of the problems of their brethren in India. He attributes this to the problems faced by the youngsters in maintaining their own identity in the US.

“They (the young Muslim Indian Americans) are the best Muslims at the international level. We hope that on world stage they will bring glory to Islam,” said Ahsan, who teaches Iqbaliyat to youth.

Ahsan is also on the board of trustees of the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group which informs the US Congress and the US President about the conditions of Indian Muslims. He claims the biggest achievement of IAMC was the cancellation of diplomatic visa of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

“It is not a pressure group. It is an advocacy group. We work with Hindus and Christians. We tell them we share the same problems. If a man is poor, we don’t see whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Christian.”

Former Intelligence Bureau chief Arun Bhagat is of the opinion that the NCTC doesn’t need police powers because it was designed as a single agency to coordinate counter-terrorism operations across the country,

“Democratic nations don’t give police powers to intelligence agencies. Only oligarchies or monarchical governments do that. It reminds you of the organisations like KGB,” Bhagat told IANS.

He said the purpose of the NCTC was to collate and analyse intelligence inputs with experts from all disciplines, including diplomatic, financial, investigative, judicial and police.

“They were to examine leads because our intelligence agencies were not getting the broader picture that complicated the situation.

“But I don’t know what situation prompted (the government) to come up with the idea to give police powers to search, seize and arrest to the NCTC. You know even the IB doesn’t have the police powers.”

The former Delhi Police commissioner, who also had a stint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), stated that “lack of consultation” with state governments had complicated the matter that ultimately led to a deadlock over the NCTC.

The anti-terror organisation could not be formed despite a government order issued in February 2012 because many non-Congress ruled states feared its perceived misuse and that their policing powers would be clipped.

Commodore (retd) Uday Bhaskar, a noted security expert, said the state governments “had a reason to worry” even as he called the stalling of the NCTC as a “worrisome development” given the nature of threats to the nation’s internal security.

“Their (state government’s) argument is not devoid of reason, especially the states that have had tricky relations with the central government,” he said.

Ajay Sahni, an author and expert on counter-terrorism, questioned the logic to have the NCTC at all, arguing that not having it would “mean nothing for the country’s security”.

“It was a vanity project that would have undermined the existing capabilities,” feels Sahni.

Asked about the existing gaps in India’s anti-terror capacity as pointed out time and again by Chidambaram, Sahni argues that “generalisations cannot be arguments”.

“New structures cannot work. Existing system should be given the capacity to fight terror. Can NCTC do that?”

Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management that focuses on internal security research in India, pointed out that the Intelligence Bureau, India’s premier intelligence agency and nodal counter terrorism body, has less than 5,000 field agents to gather ground information from a population of 1.2 billion.

“Can NCTC do anything about that? In fact the NCTC will draw these field officers for its desk work and further complicate the things. What is the problem with the IB? Why cannot IB do what that you want the NCTC do?”

Sahni said there were already some 20 big and small central intelligence and security agencies – including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) – apart from state police intelligence wings.

“There are gaps that need to be filled. Work on the existing system. Modernise police forces, improve their intelligence gathering, link police stations with centralised intelligence database and improve your police public ratio,” he said.

But former home secretary G.K. Pillai, who is considered to be one of the main architects of the NCTC, is disappointed over the proposed one-stop anti-terror intelligence hub getting stalled.

“You are waiting for another terror attack like the Mumbai 2008 then you will agree that we need the NCTC,” Pillai told IANS.

He said state governments were playing politics over terror. “There should not be any politics when it comes to fighting terror,” he stressed.

Pillai rejected the contention of its being misused. “Anything can be misused. Tell me which law cannot be misused. But that doesn’t mean we should do nothing.”

New global report: 15 million babies born too soon, over 1 million die each year

Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, calling for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015. This report shows that rapid change is possible and identifies priority actions for everyone.

This inspiring report is a joint effort of almost 50 international, regional and national organizations, led by the March of Dimes, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Save the Children and the World Health Organization in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort, led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Born too soon proposes actions for policy, programs and research by all partners – from governments to NGOs to the business community – that if acted upon, will substantially reduce the toll of preterm birth, especially in high-burden countries.

The report contains a foreword by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and is accompanied by more than 30 new and expanded commitments to prevention and care of preterm birth, joining more than 200 existing commitments.

This commitment means that almost 10 million health-care workers are aiming to implement hand hygiene best practices, such as cleansing hands in specific moments during patient care. These steps help to combat the often hidden but persistent public health hazard of health care-associated infections.

Many of the germs causing these infections are transferred by hands when health-care providers or visitors are touching the patient while providing assistance. Using proper hand hygiene to keep hands clean is critical to reducing the risk of health care-associated infections in patients. The most common infections are urinary tract and surgical site infections, pneumonia and infections of the bloodstream.

A worldwide problem

“Health care-associated infection is a major burden around the world and threatens the safety and care for patients,” said Sir Liam Donaldson, WHO Patient Safety Envoy. “I urge the health-care community to take firm and decisive action to save lives from this preventable harm.”

Of every 100 hospitalized patients, at least seven in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire health care-associated infections. In intensive care units, that figure rises to around 30%, according to a recent WHO report¹.

A new WHO survey of more than 2000 healthcare facilities in 69 countries, found that 65% of them are at a good level of progress with regards to hand hygiene promotion, resources and activities, but at least 35% are still at an inadequate or basic level. Promising achievements in promoting hand hygiene through reminders and education of health-care workers have occurred in more than 90% of health-care facilities, but improvement is still needed in areas such as monitoring of hand hygiene practices and establishing optimal hand hygiene behaviour within a strong patient safety culture.

Performing hand hygiene

When working with patients, hand hygiene should be performed in specific moments either by handwashing with soap and water or by handrubbing with an alcohol-based formulation. WHO recommends alcohol-based handrub as the most effective and easiest method for hand hygiene performance during routine health-care delivery.

“But handrubs are not available or not affordable in many countries,” says Dr Benedetta Allegranzi, team lead in the WHO Patient Safety Clean Care is Safer Care programme. “Improving affordability and accessibility to this simple and proven intervention will save lives, and it will require working with both public and private partners.”

To address these issues, the WHO Patient Safety Programme is launching the Private Organizations for Patient Safety (POPS)², a computer-based platform for knowledge sharing to promote compliance with WHO recommendations, share information and enhance hand hygiene product availability and accessibility in all parts of the world.

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Buddha is considered the ninth avatar of Vishnu. The important ritual for all the Buddhist is the Vaisaka Purnima known asWesak or Vesak festival in Sri Lanka. It is also known as Buddha Jayantiin India.

The three most significant events in the life of Gautama Buddha occurred on the same day. His birth, enlightenment and death (nirvana), all happened on a full moon night in April/May. This makes the day – called Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti – all the more sacred for Buddhists.

At Bodh Gaya where Lord Budha attained enlightment, a special prayer was organised under Bodhi tree for world peace Thousands of monks across the world have assembled at the Mahabodhi temple to offer prayer.

The decision to agree to celebrate the Vesākha as the Buddha’s birthday was formalized at the first Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists held in Sri Lanka in 1950, although festivals at this time in the Buddhist world are a centuries-old tradition.

Bringing happiness to others

Celebrating Vesākha also means making special efforts to bring happiness to the unfortunate like the aged, the handicapped and the sick. To this day, Buddhists will distribute gifts in cash and kind to various charitable homes throughout the country. Vesākha is also a time for great joy and happiness, expressed not by pandering to one’s appetites but by concentrating on useful activities such as decorating and illuminating temples, painting and creating exquisite scenes from the life of the Buddha for public dissemination. Devout Buddhists also vie with one another to provide refreshments and vegetarian food to followers who visit the temple to pay homage to the Enlightened One.

history of Buddha in india :

Buddhism began in India and then got populated in the East Asia. Gautam Buddha lived and died in about the fifth century before the Christian era. He attained Nirvana i.e. the complete liberation at the age of 80.

Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama about 2500 years ago (544 BC), to King Shuddhodhana and Queen Mayadevi who ruled the kindowm of Kapilavastu at the Himalayas. When he was born, the royal astrologer prophesized that the young prince would either become a famous emperor or a world-renowned ascetic. Fearing that the prophecy might come true, his anxious father, the King took extraordinary precautions to avoid every situation that could lead Siddhartha to becoming a sage. He was brought up in luxury, every wish was fulfilled and he grew up without ever knowing what misery or sadness was. At an early age he married the beautiful Yashodhara, and led a luxurious life, blissfully ignorant of the ups and downs of life that existed beyond the palace gates.

But fate had something else in store for him. One day the prince expressed his desire to see the city. his charioteer took himoutside the walls of his palace where he was shocked to see an old man, a cripple, and a corpse. It was something he had never ever seen before. He asked his charioteer to explain the concept of old age and death. It was then that he realized the universality of sorrow. Deeply perturbed and disturbed by what he had seen, made him withdraw from his wordly pleasures. He realized that there was more to life than his extravagant lifestyle. The prince gradually grew disenchanted with his life, and the material comforts, and finally left his wife and son to seek enlightenment and the true meaning of life. He was barely 29 years old.

Gautam traveled far and wide, from one religious center to another, studying doctrines, going from one wise man to another and seeking answers to his questions. He finally stopped at a forest at the edge of the river near Gaya, in Bihar to meditate and observe penance for six long years. But this did not lead to a sense of true knowledge or peace, so he gave up the practice of deep meditation and embraced a life of extreme asceticism. Finally in search of truth, Siddhartha discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Path, which is moderate, in between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He found a place near Bodh Gaya, where he found a suitable site for meditation, and vowed not to rise until he had attained perfect enlightenment. It was only after 49 days of intense meditation under the Bodhi tree that he achieved his goal and became the ‘Enlightened One’.

Bodh Gaya where he attained his supreme enlightenment has to this day remained one of the most sanctified places of pilgrimage for the entire Hindu World.

He delivered his first sermon at the Deer Park near Varanasi, in northern India to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They then, together with the Buddha, formed the first ‘sangha’ (company of Buddhist monks).

Teachings of Gautam Buddha :

The teachings of the Buddha are solely to release human beings from the sorrow and sufferings of life. For which he suggested one kind of meditation called as “Vipassana” (Vi – important and Passana – see) which means to see what is happening in your body. According to the Buddhism, sorrow and need are the main cause of all the iniquity and suffering of this world.

Lord Buddha suggested “Arya Ashtangik Marg” to all human beings which consisting of eight principles to gain victory over suffering. By following this marg one can easily reach the position of Nirvana. Nirvana is the state of complete liberation. The great Emperor Ashoka followed the teachings of Buddha and helped in spreading it far and wide.

His ‘Four Noble Truths’, which are the foundation of all Buddhist beliefs, are as follows:

1.All human life is suffering.
2.All suffering is caused by human desire
3.An end of human desire is the end of human sufferings.
4.An end to all the desire can be achieved by following the ‘Eightfold Noble Path’.

The Noble Eightfold Path 

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana.

Three Characteristics of Existence

1. Transiency (anicca)
2. Sorrow (dukkha)
3. Selflessness (anatta)

Hindrances

Unwholesome mental states that impede progress towards enlightenment.
1. Sensuous lust
2. Aversion and ill will
3. Sloth and torpor
4. Restlessness and worry
5. Sceptical doubt

Factors of Enlightenment

1. Mindfulness
2. Investigation
3. Energy
4. Rapture
5. Tranquillity
6. Concentration
7. Equanimity

We don’t have to struggle to survive after all. We have already survived. We survive now; the struggle was just an extra complication that we added to our lives because we had lost our confidence in the way things are. We no longer need to manipulate things as they are into things as we would like them to be. Try to Understand Buddha to reveal yourself and to find real happiness.

Compiled By : Srinivas.Katta

            “I welcome you to this meeting of the Chief Ministers to discuss an important subject.  We met a little over two weeks ago and I deeply appreciate that the Chief Ministers have been able to find the time to meet once again.  I thank the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers for their gracious presence. I also thank my colleagues in the Central Government for kindly accepting our invitation.

            The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was passed by Parliament in 1967.  No one has questioned the validity of the Act.  After the horrific attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, there was an universal demand for strengthening the laws dealing with terrorism.  Since Parliament was in session, it was decided to act without loss of time.  All political parties joined together and unanimously passed two legislations: Act 34 of 2008 which is the National Investigation Agency Act and Act 35 of 2008 to amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

            In amending the UA(P)A, Parliament was mindful of its obligations not only to the people of India but to the international community as well.  The preamble to the UA(P)A was amended and a reference was made to Resolution 1373 and other Resolutions of the Security Council requiring all Member States to take measures against terrorists and terrorist organisations and to the Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007.

            A ‘terrorist act’ was defined more comprehensively.  ‘Court’ was defined to include ‘Special Court’.  New offences were added under Chapter IV.  In Chapter VII, new sections 43A to 43F were inserted.  A Schedule was added listing the 32 terrorist organisations as well as the organisations listed in the Order of 2007.  With respect, I submit each one of these amendments was made after careful consideration, wide consultations and reasoned debate in Parliament.

            In a note circulated earlier – and included in the agenda notes circulated for this meeting at pages 3-7 – we have dealt with the genesis, objectives, structure and powers of the National Counter Terrorism Centre.  The note draws attention to section 2(e) of UA(P)A that provided for a ‘Designated Authority’.  When section 43A was drafted, it was based on section 2(e) that was already part of the Act.  The decision to vest certain powers in the Designated Authority was a conscious decision taken by Parliament.  At the same time, Parliament took care to limit the exercise of powers under section 43A to cases where an offence under UA(P)A had been committed or there was a design to commit such an offence.  Further limitations were placed through sections 43B and 43C.  In fact, section 43B is a clear acknowledgement of the exclusive power of the State Government to register a case and deal with the arrested person or the seized article.

            Although the Amendment Act was brought into force on 31.12.2008, it was only in December, 2009 that I was able to draw the outline of a new security architecture.We took note of the experience of other countries.  In the US, the NCTC has the mandate to conduct CT operations involving all elements of national power.  There are also the FBI and the Secret Service with nationwide jurisdiction.  In Germany, there is the GTAZ (Joint Counter Terrorism Centre) and the GIZ (Joint Internet Surveillance Centre).  In the Indian context, the National Counter Terrorism Centre, that will be an important pillar of the new security architecture, is based on the following premises:

1.         That, under the Constitution of India, countering terrorism is a shared responsibility of the Central Government and the State Governments;

2.         That terrorists do not recognise boundariesbetween countries or boundaries between States belonging to a country;

3.         That many terrorist organisations have foot prints in several countries and have the capacity to commit terrorist acts across borders or boundaries;

4.         That human resources alone are not sufficient to counter terrorism; technology is the key weapon in this conflict.

5.         That we have obligations to the international community under the Resolutions of the Security Council.

6.         That given India’s 7516 km coastline, 15,106 km of international borders with seven countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar) and a number of international gateways, State Anti-Terrorist Forces would have to necessarily work with a number of agencies of the Central Government, especially when there are threats in the domain of sea, air and space.

            I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a new dimension to terrorist threats.  Hitherto, we confronted terrorist threats only in the physical space.  Now, there are terrorist threats in the cyber space, which is the fifth domain after land, sea, air and space.  Much of our critical infrastructure lies in cyber space.  Cyber crimes such as hacking, financial fraud, data theft, espionage etc. would, in certain circumstances, amount to terrorist acts. Our counter terrorism (CT) capacity must be able to meet the threats in cyber space. Since there are no boundaries in cyber space, how will the Central Government and the State Governments share the responsibility to face the threats in cyber space?

            When we last met, I had shared with you the good news that, in 2011 and until March, 2012, 21 terror modules had been neutralised, and that one half of the cases had been cracked through the joint efforts of the Central Agencies and the State Police concerned.  Today, I wish to share with you the other side of the picture.  There are cases where, despite inputs regarding the presence of terrorists, the security agencies concerned did not act either due to lack of capacity or lack of a timely decision. Most of these cases concerned so-called ‘jihadi’ terrorists and cadres of CPI (Maoist).  What should the Central Government do in such cases?

            Two days ago, Central agencies received specific inputs on an imminent terrorist attack.  Several States were notified and specific targets were identified.  Suppose it was a Central agency alone which had the opportunity to interdict the movement of the suspected terrorists, and if action had to be taken within hours or minutes, should the Central agency have the power and the duty to act immediately or not?

            Ladies and Gentlemen, I have tried to place before you – and the people of this country – the rationale behind the NCTC and a Designated Authority.  I am sure you would have noticed that the power to name a Designated Authority under section 2(e) is concurrent.  Hence, we would welcome it if your State Government also designates its Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) as the Designated Authority of your State.

            I would now draw your kind attention to paragraph 6.1 of the Order notifying the NCTC.  That paragraph is the key to understand how the NCTC will discharge its responsibilities.  Paragraph 6.1 stipulates that “The Standing Council shall ensure that NCTC is the single and effective point of control and coordination of all counter terrorism measures.”  Following the usual practice when a new body is created, we have circulated two Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs).   One deals with the functions and powers of the Standing Council and the other deals with the Operations Division of the NCTC.  I sincerely hope that the two SoPs would address all the concerns raised by some Chief Ministers in their letters to the Prime Minister and the issues flagged by the Directors General of Police at the meeting convened by the Home Secretary on March 12, 2012.

            In closing, I wish to assure you and the people of India that counter terrorism is a shared responsibility.  That is what the Constitution says, that is the practical and prudent way forward.  As State Governments build more capacity and inter-State cooperation becomes more effective, I suppose the Central Government can – and will – step back.  Meanwhile, we have to work together. Working together – State Governments and the Central Government working together, the Opposition and the Treasury working together, civil society organisations and Government institutions working together – I am confident we can make the country more safe and more secure.

            I look forward to an illuminating discussion and I seek your support to establish the NCTC.

The complete text of the Introductory Remarks made by the Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee is given below:

I would like to start this Press conference giving a brief preview of the Indian Economy. The unfolding of the euro zone has impacted the Indian economy through lower growth, falling business sentiments, declining capital inflows and exchange rate and stock market volatility with attendant implication for investor confidence. Despite these challenges, India has continued to be a front runner in terms of economic growth in the region, which underlines the resilience of the Indian economy. We have managed to maintain a growth rate of 6.9 per cent in 2011-12 with continued emphasis on inclusive growth. Steps are being taken to meet the fiscal deficit. In Union Budget 2012-13, we have focussed on strengthening domestic growth drivers, encouraging private investments to regain its pre-2008 crisis growth momentum and addressing supply constraints in infrastructure and agriculture sector.

The monetary authority in India has on 17th April 2012 reversed the policy rates for the first time, after a gap of nearly three years. I hope this will help in investment revival and contribute to strengthening of business sentiments. On the fiscal front, we are committed to bring down the subsidy bill below 2% of GDP in 2012-13 and to 1.75% of GDP in next three years.

We have taken several steps to shore up the short and medium term growth prospects which include gradual liberalization of capital market and encouraging capital inflows including through FIIs, FDI and in the area of External Commercial Borrowings, especially for infrastructure financing. The Indian economy is more resilient than many other nations to withstand this fresh round of global economic turmoil, as the bulk of India’s GDP is domestic demand driven. India’s External Commercial Borrowings Policy has been successful in maintaining external debt at sustainable levels. India’s banking sector is robust and our regulatory architecture is mostly in place. I am confident that the strong fundamentals of our economy will help us return to a sustained growth path of pre 2008 crisis level in the coming years.

India is a Founder Member of the ADB and our association with the institution dates back to 1966. The 45th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of ADB here in Manila provided opportunity for meeting intellectuals and policy makers from across Asia and the world. In my intervention at the First Business Session of the Board of Governors yesterday, I highlighted that infrastructure development, dealing with the challenge of urbanization, managing food security, raising agricultural productivity, promoting efficient renewable sources of energy, improving livelihoods through inclusive growth and advancing regional cooperation are some of the key areas which need to be addressed with seriousness for sustaining the growth of Asian region. ADB is uniquely placed to assist in realizing the full potential of the region.

During my stay in Manila, I held bilateral meetings with the Finance Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh and the President of ADB. The new President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also called on me. Issues of mutual interest were discussed. I would also be meeting Secretary of Finance, Republic of Philippines during my stay.

India is honoured to be the host of 46th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the ADB that is scheduled to be held on May 2-5, 2013 in Delhi. We have chosen as theme for the event “Development through Empowerment” . This theme reflects the development strategy of India namely, empowerment backed by legal entitlement and encompasses issues that are critical for sustaining high and inclusive growth in Asia.

I am extremely happy that a Website to publicize the event was formally launched by the President of ADB and myself just now. This website will provide information about the Delhi Annual Meeting and act as a link between the host country and prospective delegates. We hope the Annual Meeting of 2013 will help bring countries of Asia closer to each other and also facilitate the formulation of policies that can lead us towards greater prosperity and well being. I welcome all colleagues from the media to visit India in May, 2013 and make this event a big success.

“I think we have had a useful and productive discussion today on a proposal which I think is extremely important in order to face the threat of terrorism to our country. I came to this meeting with an open mind and I continue to keep an open mind and I assure you that all your suggestions will be carefully considered before a decision is taken by the Government. Ultimately, however, Government would have to take a decision. Taking no decision on a matter of such urgency does not advance the objectives for which we have met today. It is not my intention to sum up the discussion today. However, I would be failing in my duty if I do not highlight the areas of convergence and areas which require more examination.

I think it is broadly agreed that there are two separate issues, one the need for NCTC or a similar organization. The other is what should be the powers and functions of such an organization, should one be created. I think this distinction was brought out in every intervention and I am grateful that all Chief Ministers maintained the distinction as far as support or opposition to the proposal is concerned and I think it will be fair to say that a number of speakers expressed strong support, a number gave qualified support and a few out rightly rejected the proposal. We will give serious attention to both those who strongly supported the proposal and those who suggested that it should be rejected outright.

The third aspect is about the role of agency designed to do counter terrorism, in a sense this is new to our system. We have intelligence agencies, we have investigative agencies. Between intelligence agencies and investigative agencies under the traditional system of administration of law and order, we have the police but my experience in this job for the last three and a half years tells me that what we need is not simply a police organisation; what we need is a counter terrorism organisation. I think one of the Hon’ble Chief ministers brought out borrowing the language of the NCTC in the US, what we need is a counter terrorism organisation that mobilises all elements of national power – diplomatic, financial, investigative, judicial, police. So we need to move beyond looking upon counter terrorism as a police operation and enlarge our scope to make it a truly counter terrorism organisation that will mobilise all elements of national power. That is why we believe that an NCTC or a similar organisation or organisation by any other name is absolutely necessary. While we will continue to have intelligence agencies, and the premier agency is the IB, and we will continue to have investigation agencies, the agencies are the State CIDs and Crime Branches and at the Centre, the CBI and now the NIA, we need and I underline this, we need a counter terrorism agency which is in my view more than a mere police agency.

In the last two and a half years, there have been significant successes in our CT operations, (Counter Terrorism operations). I listed them on 16th of April, I listed them today but against the significant successes in the CT operations there have also been the cases of failure. Why did we fail? We failed mainly because of lack of capacity; sometimes we failed because of a lack of timely decision. Each case has been documented; each case has been examined carefully. We document each case of success, we also documented each case of failure. Each case of failure contains within it the potential of another terrorist attack. Therefore, we cannot afford to fail. The adversary can fail ninety nine out of hundred times but the State, the Governments, cannot afford to fail even once out of hundred times. Every case of failure-there will be some terrorist attack somewhere. That is why it is important that we get over these weaknesses, the weaknesses arising out of lack of capacity, the weaknesses arising out of lack of timely decision. We think the NCTC or any other organization or any similar organization with whatever powers will fill this gap.

The fourth point is the misgivings about operations of the NCTC. It is not the NCTC which is being given certain powers, it is the operations wing of the NCTC which is being given powers and I have taken pains to say, both in the draft order that was made available and in the draft SOPs, that it is under exceptional circumstances. Normal operations will be done by the ATS and the State police. It is only in exceptional circumstances. As I said in the morning, suppose in a given situation only an officer of a Central Agency has the opportunity to interdict the terrorist, what should we do? Suppose that action has to be taken within hours or within minutes, what should we do? Suppose there is no real time between gathering intelligence or interdicting a terrorist what should we do? It is in exceptional circumstances that we have said that the operational wing may act, as far as possible by giving advance intimation and certainly by immediately providing information. But I recognise that a number of speakers are not still satisfied and they want more safeguards on this and those who gave qualified support are not satisfied with the safeguards that are built in. So this requires greater reflection.

And finally the other point of misgiving: why is it located in IB. I may recall, when I stood at this very podium in December 2009, I did not propose that the NCTC should be located in the IB. In fact, the new security architecture was certainly more ambitious but did not propose that it should be located in the IB. Finally, the decision was taken to locate to it in the IB because the GoM which made its recommendations in 2001, named the IB as India’s nodal counter terrorism agency. A number of speakers who pointed out that we must have a NCTC, asked why should it be located in the IB? Certainly this matter deserves re-examination and we will certainly re-examine it.

Once again I am deeply grateful to all of you for the useful, productive and illuminating debate on the subject. If we can debate all subjects that come before the Central Government in this manner in a very balanced manner, I think decision-making will be easier. Hard decisions have to be taken. Our decision cannot be based upon our past experience alone, because the past does not contain any indicators. We do not have experience of many matters. Some risks have to be taken, some calibrated steps have to be taken. But given the nature of threats we face, we must take hard decisions. As one of the Chief Ministers pointed out this morning, as we came to this meeting there was a terrorist attack in Russia, 20 people were killed; in a terrorist attack in Pakistan, 24 people were killed; there was a counter terrorist operation which commenced in the early hours in Jammu and Kashmir, the security forces succeeded in neutralising two terrorists. That is the way most days begin for me, but at the end of the day, if there has been no terrorist attack in India or terrorist threat to India, we end the day peacefully. But that is what I face every day. That is precisely why I plead with you to work with us. Working together, Central Government, State Governments working together, we can certainly make India a safer and more secure country for our people. All your suggestions will be carefully examined and when a decision is taken or a process of decision making is initiated, we shall certainly share it with you.

Thank you.”

•      The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2011 was conducted on 12^thJune, 2011.  A record number of 4,72,290 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 2,43,003 candidates have actually appeared.
•   11984 candidates were declared qualified for the Main written examination held in October-November, 2011 out of which 2417 candidates were selected for the Personality Test conducted in March-April, 2012.  Finally, 910 candidates (715 male & 195 female) have been recommended for appointment to the IAS, IFS, IPS and other Central Services against 1001 reported vacancies.  Vacancies unfilled presently are on account of 91 reserved community candidates qualifying on general standards.  Depending on the options exercised by them finally, these vacancies will be filled by candidates recommended for the Reserve List that is maintained by the Commission.
• The First two positions have been taken by female candidates.  The top 25 candidates include 19 male (including 01 visually challenged candidate) and 06 female candidates. In the top 100 candidates, there are 21 female candidates.
•  Ms. Shena Aggarwal (Roll No. 233541) has topped the Examination.  She has done MBBS from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.  This is her 3^rd attempt.
•  The 2^nd ranker is Ms. Rukmani Riar (Roll No. 27895).  She has done Master of Arts (Social Entrepreneurship) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.  The is her 1^st attempt.
•  The 3^rd position is bagged by Shri Prince Dhawan (Roll No. 1804).  He has done M. Tech (Elect. Engg.) from IIT, Delhi.  This is his 1^st attempt.
•  The result also showcases the pan-Indian distribution of successful candidates of this Examination. Amongst the top 25 candidates, there are candidates claiming domicile from as many as 16 States, i.e., Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand & Uttar Pradesh.
•    The top 25 candidates include alumni from some of the premier educational institutions of the country including AIIMS, IIM and IITs.  An alumnus of London School of Economics also figures in the top 25.
•  The family background of top 25 candidates show diverse representation from all walks of the life which include farmer, teacher, businessman, army personnel, low and middle level govt. servants, doctors, advocate, professor & civil servants.
• Amongst top 25 candidates, 6 have made to the merit lift in their 1^st attempt; 07 in 2^nd attempt; 09 in 3^rd attempt; and 01 each in 4^th, 5^th & 6^th attempts. As many as 12 have already been recommended to services other than IAS on the basis of Civil Services Examinations of previous years.
•    Of the top 25 candidates – 13 appeared from Delhi; 3 from Jaipur, 2 each from Mumbai & Chandigarh; and 1 each from Hyderabad, Chennai, Dispur, Patna & Jammu Centres.

G. Richard Scott, associate professor of anthropology at the College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno, obtained samples of dental plaque from 58 skeletons buried in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in northern Spain dating from the 11th to 19th centuries to conduct research on the diet of this ancient population.

After his initial findings met with mixed results, he decided to send five samples to Simon R. Poulson at the Nevada University’s Stable Isotope Lab, in the expectation they might contain enough carbon and nitrogen to allow them to estimate stable isotope ratios, said a university statement.

“It’s chemistry and is pretty complex,” Scott explained. “But basically, since only protein has nitrogen, the more nitrogen that is present, the more animal products were consumed as part of the diet. Carbon provides information on the types of plants consumed.”

Scott said that once at the lab, the material was crushed, and then an instrument called a mass spectrometer was used to obtain stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios.

“It was a long shot,” he said. “No one really thought there would be enough carbon and nitrogen in these tiny, five to 10 mg samples to be measurable, but Dr. Poulson’s work revealed there was,” added Scott.

Researchers at the Emory University have developed a new method to scan the brains of alert dogs and explore the minds of the oldest domesticated species, the journal Public library of Science ONE reports.

The technique relies on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the same tool that is unlocking secrets of the human brain, according to an Emory statement.

“It was amazing to see the first brain images of a fully awake, unrestrained dog. As far as we know, no one has been able to do this previously,” says Gregory Berns, director of the Emory Centre for Neuropolicy and lead researcher of the dog project.

Key members of the team include Andrew Brooks, graduate student at the Între for Neuropolicy and Mark Spivak, professional dog trainer and owner of Comprehensive Pet Therapy in Atlanta.

Two dogs were involved in the project’s first phase. Callie is a two-year-old Feist, or southern squirrel-hunting dog. Berns adopted her from a shelter. McKenzie is a three-year-old Border Collie, who was already well-trained in agility competition by her owner, Melissa Cate.

Both dogs were trained over several months to walk into an fMRI scanner and hold completely still while researchers measured their neural activity.

In the first experiment, the dogs were trained to respond to hand signals. One signal meant the dog would receive a hot dog treat, and another signal meant it would not receive one.

The caudate region of the brain, associated with rewards in humans, showed activation in both dogs when they saw the signal for the treat, but not for the no-treat signal.

“These results indicate that dogs pay very close attention to human signals,” Berns says. “And these signals may have a direct line to the dog’s reward system.”

May 8 is globally celebrated as ‘International Thalassemia Day’. It is an inherited blood disorder in which the red blood cells contain a reduced amount of haemoglobin, or in severe cases, a lack of haemoglobin in the cells. Thalassemia can range from mild to life threatening and therefore should be monitored.

“Earlier, the numbers were limited to some portions of the country but now thalassemia has a pan India presence mainly because of cross marriages between people from different backgrounds,” Deepak Chopra, president of ‘Thalassemics India’ told IANS.

“Sadly, due to lack of awareness especially among couples who have not yet conceived a child, the numbers will rise further,” he added.

Amita Mahajan, Senior Consultant, Pediatric- Hematology at the Indraprastha Apollo hospital told IANS that every pregnant woman should be tested for thalassemia.

“More than 10,000 kids with thalassemia are born in the country every year just because there is not enough awareness among couples who are getting married,” she said.

The disorder which requires regular blood transfusion can be cured if the patient gets the right donor for a bone marrow transplant. However, the success rate remains awfully low at 3 to 5 percent.

“A patient should first get the right match then there should be advance medical equipments available at the medical centre near the patient and then he should be having deep pockets to get the transplant done,” said Mahajan.

“So, regular blood transfusion is the only option left for many,” she added.

However, with several reports of thalassemic patients given blood infected with HIV and Hepatitis, the experts unanimously agreed that the only the Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) could detect infection in a donor’s blood.

“But the present techniques for testing donated blood in the country are old and fail to detect infections properly,” J. S. Arora, General Secretaryof National Thalassemia Welfare Society told IANS.

“The problem of infected blood arises when a person is compelled to donate blood for money. Though it is banned and illegal but it goes on undercover. So, the chances of getting pure blood from a donor who is doing it for money are very low,” he added.

Chopra said that blood donation has to become a common practice and the dearth of blood makes blood donation a business for some.

“We want our water to be 100 percent pure and our gold jewellery to be 24 carat pure as well but strangely providing infected blood to thalassemic patients,” said Chopra.

A thalessemic patient between the age of one to five years needs one unit of blood every month, between the age of five to ten-two units every month are needed, between the age of 10 to 15-three units are needed every month and an adult thalassemic needs four units of blood every month.

The findings from the University of Edinburgh could also help explain why older men are more at risk of developing diabetes, because testosterone levels fall in men as they age.

Kerry McInnes, from the Edinburgh’s endocrinology unit, said: “This study shows that low testosterone is a risk factor for diabetes no matter how much a person weighs,” according to an university statement.

The study showed that mice, which did not have androgen receptors in fat tissue for testosterone to attach to, were more likely to show signs of insulin resistance than other mice and also became fatter than other mice and developed full insulin resistance when fed a high-fat diet.

Researchers found that levels of RBP4, a protein which plays a crucial role in regulating insulin resistance, were higher in mice in which the role of testosterone was impaired.

The Edinburgh team say that its findings could lead to the development of new treatments that regulate production of RBP4 and reduce the risk of diabetes in men with lower levels of testosterone.

The National Solar Mission is a major initiative of the Indian government to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing the country’s energy security challenge. Launched in 2010, it sets a target of 1,100 MW during the phase I by 2013 and 20,000 MW of installed solar generation by 2022.

The picture looks rosy when one looks at the growth of the solar energy market in India in the last two years and the vast potential the sector offers due to an abundance of sun (a good 300 solar days annually).

New solar energy investments in India increased to more than Rs.12,000 croreout (about $2.5 billion) in 2011, according to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

But things have become gloomy for the domestic industry, which is unable to catch up with global players, who get incentives like subsidies for exporting their products. China is dumping solar products in the market the world over at much cheaper rates and many countries are coming up with anti-dumping guidelines to give an edge to their domestic companies.

“There is massive potential for solar energy in India with over 30 percent of population still having no access to electricity. The government came up with the solar mission but unfortunately it remained silent on what role Indian solar companies can play,” Ajay Prakash Srivastava, president of Solar Energy Society of India (SESI), told IANS.

The ministry agrees that the manufacturing in India has suffered.

“I understand the manufacturing industry has suffered quite a bit and it’s a weak area in the mission,” said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy, the nodal agency to run the National Solar Mission. In this direction, he said, the government is planning an integrated approach during the second phase of the mission (2013-2017).

“The government can do something seeing the dramatic change in the sector with the price crashing,” Kapoor told IANS.

The industry got a ray of hope after New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah promised that the government would limit imports and encourage domestic manufacturing. But at the moment, the picture is gloomy.

According to SESI, domestic solar companies are running with only 15-20 percent of their capacity and even big companies likes Moser Baer, TATA BP and Indosolar have either shut down operations or are running into huge loses.

“A lot of companies invested in the solar energy market around the year 2000 when European countries called for clean energy and Indian companies made good profit. But now European markets have reached stagnation and China has taken the lead in providing products like thin films, solar photovoltaic and other products at much cheaper rates,” said Rajinder Kumar Kaura, secretary general of SESI.

SESI feels India has much better technology but there’s need for a level playing field, as China offers subsidies to their companies.

“The government should offer subsidies to domestic companies or put anti-dumping duty on foreign companies. The issue is that crores of rupees from India is going to foreign companies selling their products here and that is generating employment in those countries rather than here,” he said.

India should draft a policy where rather than importing solar products, foreign companies are asked to set up their units in India so that it can help generate jobs and the money stays in the country, said Kaura.

With the European Union and the US already planning anti-dumping guidelines, Indian industries have also approached the Director General of Anti-Dumping to come out with similar guidelines.

“The problem is there is oversupply of solar energy products and countries like China are exporting 95 percent of their manufactured solar products, thus increasing the competition and slashing the cost. There should be anti-dumping guidelines to help the domestic industry grow,” H.R. Gupta of the Solar Energy Manufacturers Association of India told IANS.

Recognising the problems, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy constituted a solar advisory panel headed by Anand Mahindra, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra. The panel was set up in January.

The thrust of the committee’s mandate is ‘manufacture’, so that the Indian solar industry evolves with India-made equipment.

Although there is no timeframe for this panel to come out with solutions, industry people say they need quick solutions.

Known as the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra – or the teachings of the white lotus and sun – the sutra is the basis of the Tiantai and Nichiren schools of Buddhism. Transcribed by monks for over 100 years between the 5th and 6th century AD, they are possibly the only body of Buddhist manuscripts discovered in the Gilgit region and probably compiled there as well, scholars say.

The facsimile was launched Thursday in the capital by secretary of culture Sangita Gairola at the India International Centre.

The facsimile edition of the Gilgit Lotus Sutra is a collaboration between the National Archives of India, Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP) and Japanese Buddhist sect Soka Gakkai.

Unveiling the edition, Gairola said “much work was going on in cultural thought both in India and abroad. It is fitting therefore that in India we take care to preserve, promote and disseminate all forms of culture. We have entered into cultural agreements with several foreign countries”.

Leading Buddhist scholar Lokesh Chandra, who had suggested the publication of a facsimile edition of the sutra to the National Archives, said: “The Gilgit manuscripts found in three stages by cattle grazers in 1931 in a circular chamber within a Buddhist stupa.”

Found in a wooden box, these manuscripts survived for centuries partly because they were written on the bark of the bhoj tree that does not decay or decompose, Chandra said. The icy weather of the Gilgit region also helped it survive. After they were discovered, the manuscripts were taken to Srinagar where archaeologist Aurel Stein announced their discovery.

Chandra, who has grown up with the Lotus Sutra, recalled that an army captain brought the box of Buddhist manuscripts to his father (noted Sanskrit scholar Raghu Vira) in the early 1930s.

“The army officer was posted somewhere in the Gilgit region. He wanted my father to buy the papers but they were very expensive. He asked several institutions, but no one wanted to buy the manuscripts. The manuscripts went different ways – a part of it went to the former Maharaja of Kashmir while the rest went to Germany and Britain. The original manuscripts – small portion which remained in India – are now at the National Archives,” Chandra said, addressing an the audience at the launch.

“The manuscripts are about the beauty of the human mind – purity and light – as expressed by the white lotus. The white lotus sutra has given a value system to Asian nations for the last 1,600 years,” Chandra said.

One of the Lotus sutras, “the Shri Mala Devi Simha Nanda Sutra, was a great feminist text – and probably the earliest one”, he said.

Historian Kapila Vatsyayan, one of the guests of honour, said Indians were losing the power of reading ancient epigraphical inscriptions and one of her studies showed that the country had only 61 inscription scholars.

“It might lead to a generation of Indians who may keep all ancient papers in satin textiles but not be able to read them,” she said, recalling how Lokesh Chandra’s father was sent to China to bring back Buddhist manuscripts during the regime of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

“I was a young education department employee when Raghu Vira promised to bring donkey loads of papers from China,” she said.

Director of National Archives Mushirul Hasan said the extra pennies given to the archives by the government might be useful for preserving more ancient manuscripts and developing the repository.

However, the party itself can hardly be credited with this achievement. Instead, it is really a gift of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and, more particularly, of its leader in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, whose gaffes have landed the principal opposition party in a mess.

Apart from confirming how the BJP’s leadership tangle remains unresolved, what the episode underlined was the party’s warped ideas on the subject of the next president. When Swaraj peremptorily and unilaterally ruled out the question of support for Ansari and Mukherjee, she was acting in accordance with the BJP’s conditioned reflexes of anti-Muslim and anti-Congress postures.

Her charge that the vice president lacked stature was laughable, especially in the context of the lacklustre background of the present president, Pratibha Patil, whose elevation five years ago had surprised and amused the political world since many outside Maharashtra didn’t even know who she was. “Pratibha who?” was the question which was asked. Since then, her tenure – though thankfully devoid of major controversies – has hardly enhanced her stature. India’s first woman president, therefore, will go down in history as something of a disappointment.

Swaraj’s assertion, therefore, that the far more distinguished Ansari lacked stature was odd, to say the least. Her objection appeared to have been based on the fact, therefore, that Ansari was a Muslim and, for the BJP, to straightaway endorse a Muslim candidate would go against the party’s grain.

Since she couldn’t state the obvious, she took a roundabout way of restating the party’s “secularism” by naming former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a nominee. Kalam, of course, has enjoyed the BJP’s support in the past if only because he shares some of the party’s views of Indian history. He is also known for his scientific achievements and personal integrity. But, having already been president, it will be strange to elevate him to the post again, especially when he is now 81. What the suggestion showed, therefore, was the BJP’s bankruptcy of ideas and also how bare was its cupboard of possible Muslim candidates. And this, in the world’s second largest Muslim country.

It will be unfair to deny that the Congress’ calculations in choosing Ansari have nothing to do with the Muslim angle. But it acts with long practised sophistication in these matters, born of years of accommodating Muslim dignitaries inside and outside the organisation. So from the distinguished academic Zakir Hussain to the unprepossessing Mohammed Hidayatullah, to Ansari, the Congress has nurtured individuals of varying potential as followers and admirers.

If Ansari stumbles at the last hurdle, it will be due to the habitually contrarian Mamata Banerjee, who is totting up one by one her unending opposition to the Congress’ initiatives. In Ansari’s case, it is his supposed friendliness towards the Marxists which is unacceptable to the West Bengal chief minister. If there was no other alternative, she would have wondered about the impact of her opposition to Ansari on her Muslim base in the state.

But, fortunately for her, there is an alternative in Mukherjee, who can become the country’s first Bengali president if Mamata plumps for him. And, for Mamata, it will be something for which she can claim credit back home where little is going right for her at the moment.

For the Congress, it is a Hobson’s choice. The party will dearly love to install Ansari with the next general election two years away when his elevation will enable it to mobilise Muslim support. The move will also enable it to keep some parties of the Hindi belt on its side – the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and others who always wear their “secularism” on their sleeves. But the Congress is not sure whether Mukherjee’s wider acceptability – he can expect the BJP’s support as well – makes him a safer bet.

In these turbulent political times, when the Congress’ credibility is low and when it may have to run an even weaker coalition government in 2014, Mukherjee’s sharp political mind, his grasp of constitutional niceties and skills as a mediator will be of as much value inside Rashtrapati Bhavan as outside. It will also be in the fitness of things that when the young prince ascends to the throne, the old family loyalist will be there behind the scenes with his advice and consent.

As part of the mechanism, Government had issued Oil bonds to the OMCs for their under-recoveries up to the year 2008-09. However, since 2009-10, the Government has been providing cash assistance to the OMCs towards the share of the Government for compensating the under-recoveries of the OMCs.

Compensation of under-recoveries depends upon various factors including the price of the commodities in the international market as well as in the domestic market, changes in volume of consumption and ability of the oil companies to share it.  Hence, it is not possible to estimate the under recovery for future years.  It has been, therefore, is difficult to evolve a fixed policy to fund under-recovery as it varies from quarter to quarter even in a particular year.  However, the details of compensation/assistance given to the OMCs by the Government during 2011-12 (actual) and budget estimate for 2012-13 are given below:-

(crore)

*during April-December 2011.

A National Committee (NC) under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister had been constituted on 27^th April, 2010 to consider policies and lay down guidelines for the appropriate commemoration.  It held its first meeting on 20^th May, 2010.  A National Implementation Committee (NIC) had also been constituted on 27^th April, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee for chalking out the programmes and activities and to implement the decisions of the National Committee. The NIC had met twice in 2010 – on 5^th May and 14^th July. The third meeting of the NIC was held on 6^th April, 2011 and the fourth meeting of NIC was held on 24^th March, 2012. Several programmes and projects were approved by the NIC for a befitting commemoration of 150^th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

A delegation led by the then Secretary Culture, Government of India visited Dhakain December, 2010 to chalk out the programmes of Joint Indo-Bangla Celebrations. Subsequently a delegation from Bangladesh also visited India in April, 2011 and further discussions was held on joint commemorations.  The inaugural function of the commemoration in India was held on 7^th May, 2011 in New Delhi to start the year-long joint celebrations. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Planning Minister ofBangladesh, Air Vice Marshal (Retd.), Shri A. K. Khandker, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, National Advisory Council (NAC). Finance Minister Shri PranabMukherjee, Culture Minister Kumari Selja, Information & Broadcasting Minister Smt.Ambika Soni, External Affairs Minister Shri S.M. Krishna, HRD & Communications Minister Shri Kapil Sibal and President, ICCR Dr. Karan Singh participated in the inaugural programme.

Earlier, an inaugural function was also held on 6^th May, 2011 in Dhaka,Bangladesh.

The National Implementation Committee had decided in its fourth meeting held on 24^th March, 2012 that the joint commemoration will culminate with Closing Ceremonies to be organized in Dhaka on 6^th May, 2012, and in New Delhi on 7^th May, 2012. Accordingly, the Closing Ceremonies are being organized in Dhaka and New Delhi. Vice-President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari will be the Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony on 7^th May, 2012 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.  Several cultural programmes will also be organized by Indian and Bangaladeshi groups on 6^th and 7^thMay, 2012 in Delhi as well as Dhaka.

During the year-long joint Indo-Bangla celebrations, several programmes involving various art forms like songs, dramas, recitation, poetry, kantha paintings etc,  were organized in India and Bangladesh. The programmes have been attended by several dignitaries, high officials and top cultural artists of Bangladesh. The performances in packed auditoria have received rave reviews in practically all leading newspapers and electronic media of India and Bangladesh. The same have renewed the bonds of shared cultural heritage of the two countries.

Existing System

Presently, employers make payment of subscription amount for their employees every month by filing a challan without any details of individuals to whom the amount is to be credited. The details of individuals accounts to which these amounts are to be credited are given by the employer at the end of the year by way of Annual Return. In addition, the employer also has to submit 5-6 paper returns every month to the office of the Regional Commissioners for intimating the abstract of payments, changes in employee details, etc. on receipt of the Annual Return, all the accounts of an establishment are updated once a year and annual accounts slips are generated for distribution to the concerned employees. In other words, even though, the payment by the employer is made every month, these amounts are reflected in the individual accounts only at the end of the year.

New Provisions

The launch of the Electronic Challan cum Return brings an opportunity for the employers to file their returns online from anywhere anytime with a click of a mouse. The hassles of preparing various monthly and annual paper returns and visiting the EPFO Offices for submitting them has become things of past. The exempted establishments also enjoy the same facility as they are also free from the shackles of various paper returns. EPFO offices are relieved off from manually entering those returns in the system to update the information and making several communications in case of mistakes or deficiencies in the paper returns. The on line returns are uploaded in the system to update the information automatically.

Benefits

The ECR facility has benefits for subscribers, employers as well as for the organization. These benefits include –

For EPFO Subscribers

• Monthly credit of subscriptions in employee’s account soon after payments by employer
• Online access to statement of PF accounts through the employer soon after receiving the payment.

For Employers

• Online submission of returns along with remittance of the subscription
• Online submission of one single return in place of nearly 5-6 paper returns
• Payment through internet banking of SBI or at any designated branch of SBI.
• Confirmation of payment through SMS instantly.
• Download and print the monthly and annual accounts slips for their own employees.

For EPFO

• Online submission of returns along with payments has helped in doing away with the need of Annual Accounts preparation at the end of the year.
• With updating of new employee and exiting employee details automatically every month the claims settlement process is made quicker.
• Manpower engaged for these old processes can be gainfully utilized for other activities.

(PIB Features)

The Shipping Minister informed the Members that during April-February, 2011-12, Ennore Port recorded highest growth in traffic at 47%. Cochin Port stood second at 13.7% followed by VO Chidambarnar Port at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu at 13.2%. He said, amongst the major Ports, Kandla Port handled the maximum cargo of 75.4 million tones with a share of 14.8% in total cargo handled at major ports followed by Visakhapatnam with a share 12.2% and JNPT with a share of 11.8% which stood second and third respectively.

Shri Vasan informed the meeting that around 95% of India’s foreign trade by volume and 70% by value is transported through sea. He said 12 Major Ports account for 75% of the total cargo by volume handled at Indian Ports. The volume of cargo traffic handled by Ports is mainly shaped by the levels and changes in both global and domestic activities.

Cargo traffic in iron ore (mainly export) in particular was adversely affected during April-February, 2011-12 and dropped by 28.6 per cent. In terms of composition of cargo traffic handled at major ports, the largest commodity group (with share in percent in total cargo handled) was POL (32.0%) followed by Container traffic (21.4%), other cargo (17.8%), Coal (14.0%), Iron ore (11.0%) and Fertilizer & FRM (3.8%). Major ports which recorded negative growth in traffic during April-February 2011-12 were: Mormugao (20.0%), Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) (9.5%), Chennai Port (7.8%), Kolkata Dock System (KDS) (3.8%) and Paradip (1.6%).

The Members of Parliament participating in the discussion while appreciating the efforts of the Ministry of Shipping in the handling of major ports in the country gave various suggestions for improving the working of these ports. There was a suggestion for urgently filling up the Class III and Class IV vacancies in various ports in the country. One Member suggested that various Ports should take adequate pollution control measures. Another Member was of the view that security of Indian shipping personnel in International waters should be of utmost priority. There was a suggestion for proper Disaster Management Policy also. While thanking the Members for their valuable suggestions for the development of the maritime sector, Shri Vasan said that these suggestions would guide the Ministry of Shipping in optimising the cargo mix at our ports

Giving further details in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today the Minister of State in PMO Shri V. Narayansamy said that in the last three years, three nuclear power reactors (3×220 MS) have been commissioned successfully. Construction of 4 indigenously designed Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MW each have been started. Bilateral cooperation agreements have been signed with several countries.

The Minister stated that as per the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 foreign equity investment in nuclear power projects is not permitted. Therefore, foreign funding can only be in the form of debt. Currently, the Kudankulam project is being set up with Russian state credit of Rs. 6416 crore. In respect of future projects, foreign debt either as state credit, banks or multilateral funding agencies is envisaged.

Revealing further on the matter Shri Narayansamy said that the Central Government has signed fuel supply contracts with Russian Federation, Kazakhsthan and France.

He said France has completed supply of the contracted quantity. With Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, there are long term fuel supply agreements. Supplies are being received regularly.

The land acquisition at Fatehabad, Haryana is progressing in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act. It has reached to an advanced stage of conclusion. Of the 1313 acres to be acquired for the plant site, land holders of 1109 acres have already expressed their consent. Currently compensation for land to be acquired is being discussed with the state government. The apprehensions about safety of nuclear power, particularly post Fukushima are being addressed through sustained public outreach programs.

These institutions are meant to enhance the capacity of African countries and to benefit African students.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha

A scheme for setting up 20 new IIITs on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model has been approved by Government at a capital cost of Rs. 128.00 crore for each IIIT to be contributed in the ratio of 50:30:15 by the Central Government, the State Government and the Industry respectively (57.5:35:7.5 in the case of North Eastern region).  The concerned State Government will  provide 50-100 acres of land, free of cost and initially the new IIITs would be registered as Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource  Development, Dr. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question in Lok  Sabha

The star attractions will be a “Missile Interceptor Simulator” and a “3D Virtual Reality Theatre”. In this edition of DEFEXPO, DRDO has given special focus to Autonomous Vehicles. The outdoor exhibits include Muntra – Unmanned Tracked Ground Vehicle, Remotely Operated Vehicle Daksh, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Nishant, Rustom and Netra, Light Weight Sensor Integrated Composite Bridge, the Long Range Solid State Electronically Scanned Active Phased Array Radar LSTAR, Disha EW system, Scorpio Jammer, Heavy Weight Torpedo Varunastra, Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket System, Prahar Tactical range Ballistic Missile System and Arjun Main Battle Tank.

The indoor exhibits and models will cover nearly the entire gamut of R&D in DRDO. Prominent will be models of missiles Nag, Akash, Brahmos, Aerostat System, AEW&C System, BMP Survival Kit (BUSK), Sarvatra and other bridges. Different types of Parachutes, the family of Small Arms, Torpedoes and Decoys, Military Communication Equipment, Electronic Warfare systems, Night Vision Devices, Microwave Devices, NBC protective systems and Soldier Support systems will also be seen.

Product Launch: 

The Explosive Detection Kit (EDK), and the Swine Flu diagnostic kit are among over 70 products and technologies developed for defence applications with potential civilian applications that have been identified for commercialization under the DRDO-FICCI ATAC (Accelerated Technology Assessment Commercialization) programme. These two products will be launched during a function at Hall No 7G, during 1100-1150 hrs on Saturday March 31, 2012. The Explosive Detection Kit (EDK), developed by Pune based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, can quickly detect and identify even traces of explosives. The handy kit is ideally suited to be carried and used everywhere. The Swine Flu diagnostic kit, developed by Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, can detect H1N1 virus within an hour. The kit does not need sophisticated instruments and can even be used in villages where electricity is not available.

DefExpo will also provide a platform for the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to identify areas for collaboration and initiate dialogue with DRDO in areas of mutual interest for joint development as partners.

DRDO has amply demonstrated capability to design, develop and realize highly complex multidisciplinary weapon platforms for Army, Navy and Air force. These systems are among the most extensively evaluated systems in harsh environmental conditions, meeting stringent quality requirements of our services. The production value of products inducted / under induction is more than Rupees 1,40,000 crores, effectively translating to creation of about two million jobs in the country. The figures will see a sharp rise in near future once the systems in advanced stages of User acceptance are inducted. Further, DRDO has enabled a number of Small and Medium industries from the private sector in the design, development, manufacture of Defence related products apart from DPSUs and Ordnance Factories. No doubt, the indigenous production of these systems at a fraction of cost of imported systems is significant contribution to Nation’s economy, besides ensuring freedom from possible blockades in the times of need.

Press Conference: 

Dr. Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and DG, DRDO will address a Press Conference at 1200 hrs on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at Hall 7F.

In amending the UA(P)A, Parliament was mindful of its obligations not only to the people of India but to the international community as well. The preamble to the UA(P)A was amended and a reference was made to Resolution 1373 and other Resolutions of the Security Council requiring all 2 Member States to take measures against terrorists and terrorist organisations and to the Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007.

A ‘terrorist act’ was defined more comprehensively. ‘Court’ was defined to include ‘Special Court’. New offences were added under Chapter IV. In Chapter VII, new sections 43A to 43F were inserted. A Schedule was added listing the 32 terrorist organisations as well as the organisations listed in the Order of 2007. Each one of these amendments was made after careful consideration, wide consultations and reasoned debate in Parliament.

Section 2(e) of UA(P)A  provided for a ‘Designated Authority’. When section 43A was drafted, it was based on section 2(e) that was already part of the Act. The decision to vest certain powers in the Designated Authority was a conscious decision taken by Parliament. At the same time, Parliament took care to limit the exercise of powers under section 43A to cases where an offence under UA(P)A had been committed or there was a design to commit such an offence. Further limitations were placed through sections 43B and 43C. In fact, section 43B is a clear acknowledgement of the exclusive power of the State Government to register a case and deal with the arrested person or the seized article.

Although the Amendment Act was brought into force on 31.12.2008, it was only in December, 2009 that The ministry of Home affairs Government of India was able to draw the outline of a new security architecture. It took note of the experience of other countries. In the US, the NCTC has the mandate to conduct CT operations involving all elements of national power. There are also the FBI and the Secret Service with nationwide jurisdiction. In Germany, 3 there is the GTAZ (Joint Counter Terrorism Centre) and the GIZ  (Joint Internet Surveillance Centre).

In the Indian context, the National Counter Terrorism Centre, that will be an important pillar of the new security architecture, is based on the following premises:

1. That, under the Constitution of India, countering terrorism is  a shared responsibility of the Central Government and the  State Governments;

2. That terrorists do not recognise boundaries between  countries or boundaries between States belonging to a  country;

3. That many terrorist organisations have foot prints in several  countries and have the capacity to commit terrorist acts  across borders or boundaries;

4. That human resources alone are not sufficient to counter  terrorism; technology is the key weapon in this conflict.

5. That we have obligations to the international community  under the Resolutions of the Security Council.

6. That given India’s 7516 km coastline, 15,106 km of  international borders with seven countries (Afghanistan,  Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar)  and a number of international gateways, State Anti-Terrorist  Forces would have to necessarily work with a number of  agencies of the Central Government, especially when there  are threats in the domain of sea, air and space.

 A new dimension to terrorist threats Hitherto, we confronted terrorist threats only in the physical space. Now, there are terrorist threats in the cyber space, which is the fifth domain after land, sea, air and space. Much of our critical infrastructure lies in cyber space. Cyber crimes such as hacking, financial fraud, data theft, espionage etc. would, in certain circumstances, amount to terrorist acts.

Our counter terrorism (CT) capacity must be able to meet the threats in cyber space. Since there are no boundaries in cyber space, how will the Central Government and the State Governments share the responsibility to face the threats in cyber space?

In 2011 and until March, 2012, 21 terror modules had been neutralised, and that one half of the cases had been cracked through the joint efforts of the Central Agencies and the State Police concerned.  There are cases where, despite inputs regarding the presence of terrorists, the security agencies concerned did not act either due to lack of capacity or lack of a timely decision. Most of these cases concerned so-called ‘jihadi’ terrorists and cadres of CPI (Maoist). What should the Central Government do in such cases?

Two days ago, Central agencies received specific inputs on an imminent terrorist attack. Several States were notified and specific targets were identified. Suppose it was a Central agency alone which had the opportunity to interdict the movement of the suspected terrorists, and if action had to be taken within hours or minutes, should the Central agency have the power and the duty to act immediately or not?

paragraph 6.1 of the Order notifying the NCTC is the key to understand how the NCTC will discharge its responsibilities. Paragraph 6.1 stipulates that “The Standing Council shall ensure that NCTC is the single and effective point of control and coordination of all counter terrorism measures.”

Following the usual practice when a new body is created, we have circulated two Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs). One deals with 5 the functions and powers of the Standing Council and the other deals with the Operations Division of the NCTC.  the two SoPs would address all the concerns raised by some Chief Ministers in their letters to the Prime Minister and the issues flagged by the Directors General of Police at the meeting convened by the Home Secretary on March 12, 2012.

Counter terrorism is a shared responsibility. That is what the Constitution says, that is the practical and prudent way forward. As State Governments build more capacity and inter-State cooperation becomes more effective, The Central Government can – and will – step back. Meanwhile, The Centre and the States have to work together. Working together – State Governments and the Central Government working together, the Opposition and the Treasury working together, civil society organisations and Government institutions working together –  we can make the country more safe and more secure.

Source : Home Minister P Chidambaram addressed the chief ministers at the National Counter Terrorism Centre meeting on 5th May 2012. in New Delhi.

FULL TEXT OF THE OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HOME MINISTER
SHRI P CHIDAMBARAM
AT THE
MEETING OF CHIEF MINISTERS ON NCTC
ON SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2012 AT NEW DELHI

It is the responsibility of the Centre to give form and shape to a cohesive national approach and strategy based on information gathered globally and from all the states of our Union. On their part, the states should use their expertise, knowledge and machinery to secure their own territories and work in coordination with the Centre and other States.

Since 26/11, we have diligently strengthened our counter terrorism capabilities both in the States and at the Centre. Today the State and Central Police and intelligence agencies are working in harmony and in close coordination. These efforts have resulted in several noteworthy successes. The State Police forces have achieved some excellent results in the recent past. On the whole there is broad agreement on the strategy and measures that we must adopt to counter terrorism in all its multifarious dimensions in India, including cross-border terrorism, Left Wing Extremism, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgency in the North-East and religion based terrorism. However, much remains to be done.

Indian government remains committed to working with the State governments and providing them all possible help in combating terrorism. We have been providing financial assistance to the States and helping them train State police and intelligence agencies. We are also implementing schemes on border management and on coastal security, and the scheme for modernization of state police forces.

The antecedents of the NCTC lie in the recommendations by a Group of Ministers and by the Administrative Reforms Commission, commencing from the lessons learnt in Kargil. It is our belief that the NCTC, in its design and its operational aspects, will supplement the counter-terrorism capabilities of the States and not supplant them. The NCTC mechanism will give each state agency an ability to see the bigger picture of terrorist threats and thus would enhance their counter terrorism capability and access to resources to tackle them.

But for the NCTC to function smoothly and effectively, it is very important that we have a fairly broad consensus on its powers and its functions.

Source :The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) meeting in Delhi .

On-Time Performance (%)

The efforts made by Air India to improve its load factor and also on time performance are: flights are monitored to improve seat Factors and Fares offered in the market to match competition; fares are reviewed constantly; schemes are launched from time to time to target specific market segments; special attention has been given to promote groups travelling to and from India for leisure, corporate, religious movements etc.

As regards improvement on-time performance, the integrated operations Control centre and Hub control centre have been set up to manage and control all movements of the entire airline. Air India has decided to reduce the Business Class seats in its 320 family aircraft to increase its revenues. 14 old A320 aircraft are to be converted to all economy, with 42 additional Y class seats in place of 20 J class seats for optimum utilization.

In order to attract more passengers, Air India came out with special offers, viz. get Upfront-Airport Upgrade-wherein passenger can buy an upgrade coupon at the airport before boarding;  Jaldi-Jaldi  scheme – to publicize the scheme of special rates if passengers buy tickets 7 days and 14 days before travel; Shagun Voucher – to gift wedding couples during the wedding season; Get Lucky – wherein every 100^th ticketed passenger would get special coupons of discount; Silver and Platinum Passes – To popularize the unlimited travel scheme within a deadline; a tie-up has also been developed with the Taj Group’s Gateways Hotels and Resorts to enable Air India passengers get a concessional coupon.

This information was given by Shri Ajit Singh, the Minister of Civil Aviation in Lok Sabha today in a written reply.

He also added that total commercial production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in the country during 2011-12 (up to February, 2012) is 74.833 million standard cubic meter (MMSCM) which is much less as compared to 19,971.253 MMSCM natural gas produced from conventional sources under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime.

The breakup of current gas production in above block is as under:

D1 and D3 fields        :           28.93   MMSCMD

MA field                     :             6.64   MMSCMD

Total                           :           35.57   MMSCMD

The Minister also stated that the issue of falling gas production in KG-D6 block has been deliberated in various Technical Committee Meetings held between Contractor(s) and DGH including the field visit by DGH technical team to ascertain the reasons for less gas production. The Management Committee (comprising of representatives of GoI/DGH and Contractor (s)) has also examined the issue from time to time. The major reasons for fall in gas production are as under:

·         6 out of total 18 gas producers put on production in D1 and D3 fields have ceased to flow due to water loading/and ingress in the wells.

·         1 oil/gas producer in MA field out of 6 oil/gas producers has ceased to flow due to water loading in well.

·         Non-drilling of gas producers in D1 & D3 by the Contractor(s) in line with the approved AIDP. So far, 18 producers have been drilled, completed and connected as against 31 producers by 31.03.2012 as per approved AIDP.

He further said that in order to increase the gas production from KG-D6 block, the Contractor has been advised to drill more gas producers in D1 & D3 gas fields as well as adopt appropriate remedial measures such as wells intervention in D1 & D3 and MA fields to revive the sick wells in order to achieve the gas production in line with approved FDP. The Contractor has drilled 4 more wells in D1 & D3 which are yet to be completed or connected. Further, the Optimized Field Development Plan for 4 other gas discoveries (D-2,6,19 &22) in this block has been approved by the MC in January, 2012.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, Planning Commission in its Mid-Term Appraisal of 11^th Plan and the Ministry of Urban Development have appraised the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) including the Sub-Mission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP)-component of JNNURM. The details of findings of the appraisal are at Annexure-II.

Annexure-I

STATE-WISE DWELLING UNITS SANCTIONED AND COMPLETED UNDER BSUP

Annexure-II

(I)      Major findings by Planning Commission –The Mid-Term Appraisal of 11^th Plan Document of the Planning Commission has revealed the following points on JNNURM:

A) JNNURM has been effective in renewing focus on the urban sector across the country; however the need to raise capacity and investment resources is still substantial. It has been successful in catalysing significant investments into the physical infrastructure of cities. Much of this investment has been directed towards the provision of critical basic services that are essential to inclusiveness. The programme has created renewed focus on cities and allowed states and ULBs to raise their aspirations.

B) JNNRUM has helped to initiate a comprehensive process of urban reforms within States and ULBs. However, the pace and depth of reforms needs to pick up.

C) Capacity building funds can be used more effectively. JNNURM earmarked 5 per cent of the programme funds for capacity building. Assessment and discussions with the states point to opportunities for better use of these funds to support capacity initiatives in the states.

D) Emphasis has to shift even more from ‘projects’ to holistic urban renewal and an integrated view of a city’s development. While cities did submit CDPs as part of their project proposals, the emphasis on urban renewal and long term planning of cities is lagging.

(II)    M/s Grant Thornton, engaged by the Ministry of Urban Development for conducting Appraisal of JNNURM, has revealed the following major findings in its report:

§  JNNURM has been instrumental in rejuvenating the urban space in the country.  Post-independence, JnNURM has been the country’s first National flagship programme of this nature and size for the urban sector.

§  Even though JNNURM give the option of providing the Central Assistance as a soft loan to the Urban Local Body (ULB), the discretion to exercise that option had been left to the State Government.

§  It is for the first time that the Central Government is providing assistance of this kind for what is classified as a State subject as per the Constitution.  This Programme is bringing about a change, not just in the urban governance set up and the mind-set of the states and ULBs but has also created an awareness, raised expectation among the people for a better quality of life.

§  Out of the 65 Mission Cities, category A (Mega cities/Urban Agglomerations) and B (Million plus cities/Urban Agglomerations) may not require the extent of funding under the umbrella of JNNURM as in the present scheme and funding may be scaled down for them to increase the funding for smaller towns.

§  Funding of the Mission Cities was decided on the basis of population based on 2001 census; based on the said criteria, the smaller states with smaller towns had some disadvantage over the large cities.

§  The State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) is headed either by the Secretary of Urban Development or Municipal Administration/Local Self Government without any dedicated staff as the staff already have additional workload.

§  23 reforms to be implemented within a span of five to seven years seem to be a tall order for the States/ULBs.

A bottom up approach should be followed and the States should be asked to furnish the reforms within the acceptable timeframe.

§  Capacity building, perhaps the single most important activity required in the today’s urban sector scenario should be considered to be monitored by an agency similar to appraising and monitoring agencies for reforms and project.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, in the urban areas what is perhaps more required is skill development of the urban poor as well as facilitation of sustainable self-employment opportunities for them instead of focusing on unskilled wage employment as is the case in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The recently revised guidelines of SJSRY lays considerable focus on skill development of the urban poor to enhance their employability, so as to enable them to take advantage of increasing job opportunities in the urban areas.

“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”.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, this definition has been adopted for Rajiv AwasYojana with a special dispensation for North Eastern & special category states, where such settlements of 10 -15 houses would be considered as slums.

She said, the Government of India launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) on 3rd December, 2005 to assist cities and towns in taking up housing and infrastructural facilities for the urban poor including slum dwellers in 65 cities in the country under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) Programme for the urban poor in the country. For other cities/towns, the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) was launched with the objective to strive for holistic slum development, with a healthy and enabling environment by providing shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the slum dwellers. The Mission period is from 2005-2012.

Kumari Selja said, the Ministry is also implementing the Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP), which is meant to provide 5% interest subsidy on loans upto Rs.1.0 lakh for construction and purchase of houses for the EWS and LIG beneficiaries of the urban poor including Slum dwellers. This Scheme has now been dovetailed with Rajiv Awas Yojana.

She said, in pursuance of the Government’s vision of creating a Slum-free India, a new scheme ‘Rajiv Awas Yojana’ (RAY) has been launched on 02.06.2011. The Phase I of Rajiv Awas Yojana is for a period of two years from the date of approval of the scheme with an outlay of Rs.5,000 crores while Phase II will be for the remaining period of the twelfth plan period.

The Minister said, the Scheme will provide financial assistance to States that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers for provision of decent shelter and basic civic and social services for slum redevelopment, and for creation of affordable housing stock. Fifty percent (50 %) of the cost of provision of basic civic and social infrastructure and amenities and of housing, including rental housing, and transit housing for in-situ redevelopment – in slums would be borne by the Centre, including operation & maintenance of assets created under this scheme. For the North Eastern and Special Category States, the share of the Centre would be 90% including the cost of land acquisition, if required.

She said, the Affordable Housing in Partnership Scheme, which encourages public private partnerships for the creation of affordable housing stock, has been dovetailed into RAY. Under this scheme, central support is provided at the rate of Rs.50,000 per unit of affordable dwelling unit or 25% of the cost of civic infrastructure (external and internal), whichever is lower.

Thus, performance as reported by States/UTs has improved.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, under the revised guidelines of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana(SJSRY), funds are released to states with indicative allocation for the following components:-

1)                  Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP).

2)                  Urban Women Self-help Programme (UWSP).

3)                  Skill Training for Employment Promotion amongst Urban Poor (STEP-UP).

4)                  Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP).

5)                  Urban Community Development Network (UCDN).

She said, subject to guidelines for implementation of various components of SJSRY, States have flexibility to undertake wage employment programmes involving construction of social assets, self employment, support to thrift and credit groups, etc. in cities and towns. Data pertaining to these are not maintained at central level.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) have developed following Indian Standards related to earthquake resistant design and construction techniques for various types of construction:

i. IS 1893 (Part-1):2000 – Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures

ii. IS 4326:1993 – Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction of Buildings – Code of Practice

iii. IS 13827:1993 – Improving Earthquake Resistance of Earthen Buildings – Guidelines

iv. IS 13828:1993 – Improving Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings – Guidelines

v. IS 13920:1993 – Ductile Detailing of Reinforced Concrete Structures subjected to Seismic Forces – Code of Practice

vi. IS 13935:2009 – Repair and Seismic Strengthening of Buildings- Guidelines

She said, National Building Code 2005 brought out by BIS 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. There is also a National Policy on Disaster Management 2009 which has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 22nd October, 2009.

Kumari Selja, to facilitate State Governments in making necessary amendments in their Town & Country Planning Acts, Development Control Rules and Bye-laws for safety against earthquake hazards, a Model Town and Country Planning Legislation, Zoning Regulation Development Control and Building Regulation/Bye-laws for safety against natural hazards have been prepared by an Expert Committee constituted by Ministry of Home Affairs. All the States have been advised to amend their respective Acts/Bye-laws/Regulations so that construction activities are regulated with respect to safety against earthquake hazards. Workshops have also been organized to help them in making necessary amendments.

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.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, the Scheme is expected to cover about 250 cities, across the entire country by the end of 12^th Plan (2017). Under the Slum Free City Planning Scheme i.e. the preparatory phase of RAY, an amount of Rs.99.98 crores has been released to 34 States/UTRs during the years 2009-10 & 2010-11 for undertaking preparatory activities.  The list of 162 cities for which these funds are to be utilized for undertaking preparatory activities is at Annexure-I.

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. 8 pilot projects with project cost of Rs.446.2 crores have been sanctioned for construction of 6240 Dwelling Units and 2160 units of rental/transit housing.

****

Click here to see Annexure

According to World Health Statistics 2011 published by World Health Organization (WHO), the total expenditure on health as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008, for India is 4.2% as compared to expenditure on health in respect of some select developing countries, e.g. China 4.3%, Bangladesh 3.3%, Indonesia 2.3%, Malaysia 4.3%, Pakistan 2.6% , Sri Lanka 4.1% and Thailand 4.1%.

The above information was given by the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Rajya Sabha

The data on fish production given below shows a rising trend in seafood production:

(Production in ‘tonnes)

(Source: NFDB)

The assistance released as grant-in aid for development for fish processing under the Scheme for TechnologyUpgradation/Modernization/ Establishment of Food Processing Industries in last three years is as under :

2008-09 – Rs.407.00 lakh

2009-10 – Rs. 396.00 lakh

2010-11 – Rs. 342.00 lakh

2011-12 – Rs.575.75 lakh (as on 23.03.2012)

This information was given by Dr. Charan Das Mahant, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has been set up to lay down science based standards for articles of food and also regulate, inter-alia, its manufactures. The Authority is also mandated to promote consistency between International technical standards and domestic food standards while ensuring that the level of protection adopted in the country is not reduced. Moreover, to ensure compliance of the laid down standards by the food processing companies, inspection of such units at regular interval is done by the enforcement agencies. In case of any violations, penal/legal actions are taken against the defaulters as per relevant provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006.

This information was given by Dr. Charan Das Mahant, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

Ministry of Food Processing Industries under its plan scheme for Technology Upgradation/ Establishment/ Modernization of Food Processing Industries extends financial assistance to food processing units in the form of grant-in-aid @ 25% of the cost of plant & machinery and technical civil works subject to maximum of Rs. 50.00 lakh in general areas and @ 33.33% subject to a maximum of Rs. 75.00 lakh in difficult areas such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and North Eastern States, A&N Islands, Lakshadweep and ITDP areas. The Ministry under the various schemes provides financial assistance to increase the production of packaged food items which are considered to be more safe and hygienic.

This information was given by Dr. Charan Das Mahant, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

FOR MORE READING. . .

http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/HM-IB-Endowment231209.pdf

Rosponse to P. Chidambaram’s views  :

Self-regulation is a norm that has high values and noble objectives. “Yet in the context of independent India – more so in the context of modern-day broadcasting where we witness coming up of many regional and national channels – self-regulation alone may not be sufficient,” said secretary general D.S. Rawat.

ASSOCHAM encourages the government to examine the parameters and significance of broadcasting in the context of internet. Self-regulation has to be the first tier of the pyramid while the second tier has to consist of an autonomous regulator.

“When the entire world is moving in the direction of wireless, mobile and could computing, it is therefore very essential that the present proposed legislation must have a realistic perspective of situations. In this scenario, co-regulation for news content in a holistic and inclusive manner is the real way forward,” said Mr Rawat.

Present provisions in programming and advertising codes under the Cable Act and News Broadcasters Association’s code of ethics are not sufficient and comprehensive. There is need for more clarity through elaborate stakeholder consultations to move forward in an inclusive and balanced manner, said Mr Rawat.

There is distinct need for an independent and autonomous regulator as the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill has various flaws which need to be appropriately addressed.

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) seems to be a mere formality in regulating the media and imposes only small fine upon the defaulters. In today’s time when media is making huge profits out of broadcast rights, such imposition of nominal fine barely regulates any broadcaster, he said.

Powers exercised by the self-governing authority are not enough to maintain media discipline. ASSOCHAM is of the firm opinion that regulation has to be by means of a public body which is accountable to the Right to Information Act.

The relevant interests of consumers also need to be considered. The framework under Content Code / Broadcast Service Regulation Bill does not give appropriate attention to privacy rights and protection of relevant stakeholders.

People with lower incomes are also upgrading from the ‘affordable’ glucose biscuits to mass cream biscuits and mass cookies.

The biscuit industry, which consists of economy, middle, premium and super-premium segments, is likely to grow at 20 percent annually in the next few years.

But the premium and super-premium segments, according to industry experts, are believed to be growing at a much faster rate, probably more than 30 percent on a year-on-year basis.

“Currently, economy and middle segments (mass segment) comprise about 70 percent of the total biscuit market in India. I think in the next five years, the share of the mass segment would come down to 60 percent and the rest would be premium and super-premium segments,” Parle Products group product manager B. Krishna Rao told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

Parle, which is India’s largest biscuit maker with a 45 percent market share, said biscuit companies in the country are coming up with more products in the rapidly growing premium segments to tap the market.

“Competition in the economy segment is extremely difficult as it would put pressure on the bottom line (profit),” Rao said.

Explaining the reasons for the consumers’ growing preferences towards the premium biscuits than the mass products, he said smaller towns were now having modern trade centres with consumers possessing more disposable incomes, which resulted in spreading of mall culture.

“Currently, there are about 40 mini metros across the country. The scenario was different a few years ago. Smaller towns like Durgapur, Asansol, Surat and Rajkot now have modern trade centres like malls. Retail chains like Big Bazaar are coming up also in tier II and tier III cities,” he observed.

He said while the economy segment was likely to grow at a range of 15 percent to 18 percent annually, the premium segment was expected to clock 30 percent growth.

As a result, Rao said, a lot of companies would introduce products in the premium and super-premium biscuit segments in the days ahead.

Parle, which owns brands like Parle-G glucose biscuits and 20-20 in the mass segment, also possesses brands like Hide & Seek and Hide & Seek Milano in the premium segment.

While biscuits priced at Rs.100-150 per kg are categorised as middle segment, biscuits with an MRP of Rs.125-150 per kg fall in the premium category. Priced at below Rs.100 a kg are in the economy segment and above Rs.150 a kg in the super-premium segment.

Another biscuit major Britannia seconded Parle’s observation on the consumers’ preference shifts towards premium products.

“Over the last few years, the biggest shift that has been happening (in the country’s biscuit industry) is the premiumisation shift,” said Anuradha Narasimhan, category director, health and wellness, Britannia Industries.

“And this is best borne out by the reducing contribution of the glucose segment. The glucose segment used to contribute 33 percent by value a couple of years ago and this has dropped to 24 percent,” Narasimhan stated.

According to her, people belonging to the lower income group are upgrading to mass cream biscuits and mass cookies.

She said the current trend would not just continue but grow in magnitude and people would prefer not just ‘affordable delight’ but seek specific benefits in food products, including health needs.

“We see the benefits of health as well as indulgence being played out – these benefits will democratise and not just be the purview of top-end audiences. Health and convenience are primary drivers of food consumption – with the health need being very key,” she pointed out.

Narasimhan said the health wave in India was being fuelled by the high prevalence of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension as well as awareness driven by the media.

“We believe the biscuit market will continue to grow in the range of 20 plus percent – with premium segments growing much faster,” she added.

Britannia, which operates in both the mass and premium segments, has popular brands like Marie Gold, Little Hearts and Time Pass.

 The UPA-2 government needs to be reminded, unfortunately, that the first clause of our constitution defines our country as “India, that is, Bharat is a Union of States”.   The federal structure of our constitution flows from this definition and has been upheld by the apex court  as a basic feature of our constitution.  Over the years, there has been a steady erosion of the rights of the states and the federal character of our constitution is being, slowly but steadily, converted into a unitary state structure.

 As early as in 1977, when the first Left Front government assumed office in West Bengal with Jyoti Basu as the chief minister, a 15-point charter of demands for restructuring centre-state relations in accordance with the spirit and content of our constitution was submitted to the central government.  This initiative was followed by a series of conclaves on centre-state relations with the participation of a host of non-Congress chief ministers in 1983.  The first of these was hosted by the then chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah.  As a result of these efforts, the Sarkaria Commission on centre-state relations was formed in 1983 and submitted its report in 1988.  Much of its recommendations continue to remain gathering dust in the files of the central government.  After the formation of the UPA-I government with the crucial outside support of the Left parties, the M M Punchhi Commission was appointed in April 2007 on this issue.  It has submitted a report in 2010, but neither an informed debate took place on its recommendations nor has anything substantial been implemented.

 In an effort to allay the present genuine concerns over the NCTC, the prime minister intervened and attempted to assure the state governments that this anti-terror body does not infringe on the rights of the states. In a letter to seven chief ministers, the PM said that “In forming  the NCTC, it is not the government’s intent in any way  to affect the basic features of the constitutional provisions and allocation of power between the states and the union.”  Explaining the need to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country, the PM said that “It is for this reason that the NCTC has been located within the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and not as a separate organisation”.

 The prime minister, thus, contradicts himself in his explanation for the setting up of this new agency.  If the IB is already doing this job, why is there a  need for this additional supra body?   This UPA government itself had, in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, constituted the National Investigative Agency (NIA) which was unanimously enacted by the parliament.  Why then a need for an additional body?

 During the discussions on the NIA in the parliament, the Left parties had raised genuine concerns on the rights of the states  with whom the constitution exclusively vests the right of `law and order’, the conduct of criminal investigation and the delivery of criminal justice.  The parliament was assured by the union home minister then, that on the basis of the experience of the first six months, the issue will be revisited by the parliament, on this score.  This, however, has never happened.

 In the light of this, the setting up of the NCTC, therefore, raises genuine doubts and concerns about its real objectives.  The task of the intelligence agencies, throughout their historical evolution and experience of other democracies in the world, is to gather  information that the police can use for criminal investigation and delivery of justice.  It is not the mandate of the intelligence agencies to do the job of policing.  By giving the NCTC the authority  and powers to conduct searches and arrests, this distinction between intelligence gathering and policing  gets blurred to the extent of opening up manifold avenues for abuses. Such has been the experience of many modern democracies including that of the FBI in the USA.  In the Indian context, this has the additional attribute of infringing upon the federal structure of our constitution and the rights of the states.   Further, the track record of the IB in India, its notorious record of political surveillance, strengthens such genuine concerns of the states.

 Once again, the urgency and haste with which this UPA government announced this decision of the formation of the NCTC appears more under the pressure of commitments to the United States of America than the genuine concerns for curbing terrorism in the country.  This is, indeed, most unfortunate.  Following the Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian home minister undertook a visit to the USA  which, according to a  press release of the ministry of home affairs, was “aimed at carrying forward the dialogue with the USA …understanding the counter terrorism institutions and structures in USA …” and meeting senior officials involved in security and intelligence matters.  In July 2010, prime minister Manmohan Singh and US president Obama signed a Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative.  This was followed up by an announcement of a new Homeland Security Dialogue in November 2010.  On May 27, 2011, this Dialogue was launched by the union home minister and the US department homeland security secretary.

 As a result of these initiatives, which is part of the strategic partnership with the USA, which actually began under the Vajpayee led NDA government and carried forward vigorously by the UPA, the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA) has conducted 79 police training courses for over 1500 Indian law enforcement officials, according to an US Embassy release in New Delhi.

 The Indian parliament reflecting the opinion of the Indian people, stood up as one man to support the government on all initiatives to rid the country of this anti-national scourge of terrorism, of all hues and varieties. It unanimously enacted the NIA and other necessary legislations to empower the government agencies to do this job effectively.  This, however, cannot be hijacked by the government as permission to allow the penetration of the US agencies into our security apparatus.  Neither can this be interpreted as the license to reproduce the US institutional structure in India.  Apart from all other major differences in the content and character of the State structure in India and the USA, the emulation of the notorious conduct of US agencies in the name of curbing terrorism (the inhuman experiences of torture of the inmates in the USA’s Guantanamo prison alone is a chilling testimony of this) would be simply disastrous for India, its democracy and the basic features of its constitution.

 On all these counts, it is imperative that this UPA-2 government must be forced to convene a special session of the Inter State Council, that is today lying dormant, to discuss this issue and subject the NCTC to a thorough discussion in the parliament.

The latest one in the reckoning to extend support, apparently, is Omar Abdullah, whose father ironically is a Union Minister in the UPA Government, cryptically remarking that his State (J&K) has not been consulted on the issue. Mamata Banerjee’s avoidance of attending a meeting in Kolkata with Chidambaram, made the matter appear murkier, as her party is an ally of the Congress-I. As Naveen Patnaik retorted back on Chidambaram’s remark at Kolkata that national security was a joint responsibility of the Centre and the States, saying that if that were so, the Centre need not send hefty bills to poor States like Odisha for deployment of BSF and CRPF troops to tackle the Naxal menace; this added another twist to the vexed issue. It is another matter that the NCTC has certainly added to the worries of Chidambaram who already has the loads of concern on the 2G spectrum issue, Home Ministry versus Finance Ministry issue on the bugging (chewing-gum) case and many others. However, the moot point does not centre around the Home Ministry but on whether there is lack of trust and compatibility between the Centre and States in a system of ‘cooperative federalism’ and whether the cracks within the UPA are widening, signalling the creation of new possibilities in the 2014 general elections.

Together with these issues there are other issues as to whether the NCTC undermines the federal features of the Constitution, whether there was any urgency to set up the NCTC without consulting the States, whether strengthening the counter-terrorism mechanism inescapably the necessitates the Centre’s alleged infringement on State subjects of policing and public order, whether the NCTC should be placed under an agency called the Intelligence Bureau without any legislative control, and whether the formation of the NCTC with the proposed provisions is the only course of action left with the Central Govern-ment to effectively manage the counter-terrorism efforts. Almost an equal number of questions can be posed in regard to the proposed amendment of the RPF Act, 1957. The issues in regard to the Centre-State tiffs are numerous and these two are mere tips of the iceberg.

The genesis of the problem in regard to the NCTC and RPF lies in overlooking the distribution of powers between the Centre and States as stipulated in Schedule VII of the Constitution. The State List contains ‘public order’ and ‘police’ vide Entry 1 and 2 respectively. Entry 2, that is, matters concerning police, is subject to Entry 2a of the Union List which stipulates ‘deployment of armed forces’ to States, understandably, as and when emergency arises. The functioning of the NCTC or RPF has nothing to do with ‘deployment of armed forces’ in the normal situation.

•

AS regards the NCTC, its powers are drawn from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, as it stands amended in 2004 and 2008. The amendments were mooted in view of the terrorist attacks on Parliament and Mumbai in the last decade/recent years, which empowered the Centre to search and arrest suspected persons and seize their property. Therefore, no wonder, senior Ministers in the UPA Government contend that the powers proposed to be entrusted with the NCTC are already vested with the Central Government and contained in the amended UAPA. Their argument, that there was no objection from any quarter at that time when amendments to the UAPA were moved, may have some teeth, but the issue is much more complex and there is much more to it than meets the eye. The States per se were not consulted at that time on the issue, as it was hurried up in an emergent situation without any ‘cool-headed approach’. There are instances when even constitutional amendments have been invalidated by further amendments. The 44th Amendment of the Constitution, for instance, had undone many of the provisions of the 42nd Amendment passed during the Emergency period. Hence, neither mere approval of Parliament nor existence of some provisions under an Act make it sacrosanct forever, least of all justifying its existence under the Intelligence Bureau which is a non-constitutional body and beyond the purview of parliamentary control.

The attempt to confer the Railway Protection Force with the power to ‘arrest’ and ‘investigate’ through an amendment of the RPF Act, 1957 is also facing stiff resistance. Naveen Patnaik, Jayalalitha and Narendra Modi have already asked the Centre to refrain from giving police powers to the RPF as it is not only in gross violation of Article 246 of the Constitution, laying down the area of jurisdiction between the Centre and States, but is also in violation of the Indian Police Act, 1861. The amended version would cut down the powers of the GRP. The allegations made specifically by the Odisha Government that some provisions of Schedule VII of the Constitution like Entries No. 22, 30 and 93 of the Union List and Entry 2 of the Concurrent List are ‘used’ to infringe upon the State’s rights, seem rational and justified. While on this issue many States are up in arms, Mamata Banerjee may not join hands this time, as the Railway Ministry is in the basket of the Trinamul Congress in the UPA conglomeration. However, the RPF issue is likely to have strong backing of many States and Opposition parties, as the State List at Entry 2 clearly entitles the States to have jurisdiction over police matters including ‘railways and village police’. The Centre’s misadventure on this account is there-fore not understandable.

The NCTC in its present proposed form vide section 43(A) will have the power to search and arrest suspected persons and seize their property. Besides the fact that it is debatable whether this is juxtaposed against Articles 19, 21 and 311 of the Constitution, that is, the right to freedom, right to life and liberty, and right to natural justice respectively, it by and large seems to be in gross violation of the basic federal principles and allocation of powers between the Centre and States as enshrined in the Constitution. Let there be no dispute about it. The only area of dispute should normally be on the Concurrent List on which both the Centre and States can legislate or on the residuary power which lies with the Centre. There are constitutional provisions stipulated in Article 131 entitling the Supreme Court to deal with disputes between the Centre and States/State and between States under its ‘original jurisdiction’. In the past, certain landmark judgments on the aspect of jurisdiction have gone in favour of the States. Notable among them are International Tourism Corporation vs State of Haryana (AIR 1981 SC 774) and Prem-chand Jain vs R K Chabra (AIR 1984 2SC 302). The instant issue has all the potentialities to be a landmark if moved to the Court, like the famous Bommai case, whereby the Supreme Court laid down parameters within which the Central Govern-ment has to operate in regard to Article 356, that is, imposition of President’s Rule in a State. Federal principles and fundamental rights are immune from being overridden by legislation or any law. The Supreme Court is the custodian of both. The famous Gopalan vs State of Madras is a glaring example whereby the Supreme Court, as the custodian of these, had invalidated Section 14 of Preventive Detention Act, 1950.

If the Centre wants to enjoy certain powers contained in the State List for some sound reasons, that can only happen with the consent of the States or when the Centre assumes emergency powers contained in Articles 352 to 360 of the Constitution. The Centre probably knows that it has entered into a difficult terrain by hurrying up with the NCTC, thanks to the typical bureaucratic approach of the Home Minister. Realising this, when Naveen Patnaik shot his second letter to the Prime Minister expressing his surprise on the lack of response to his first letter either by the Prime Minister or Home Minister, despite the matter being sensitive as far as federal relations are concerned, the Prime Minister took pains to write to seven Chief Ministers attempting to clear the air on the issue, but the air is far from being clear and the issue is refusing to die down. The RPF case adds to the apprehension that the States’ rights are systema-tically attempted to be curtailed, and that is detrimental to the federal functioning of the nation.

The Prime Minister’s contention through his letter on the NCTC that the Central Government’s ‘intent is not to affect the basic features of the Constitution’ and ‘allocation of powers between the Centre and States’, however genuine he may appear, seems to have few takers, more so after the RPF issue having been raised by a few Chief Ministers, specially Naveen Patnaik, who is spearheading the crusade against the erosion of the States’ rights. Whether the ‘intent’, in these cases, is in question or not, its possible resultant effect definitely is! After opening a hornest’s nest, Chidambaram possibly will not invite further trouble by inviting Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of the States for discussion to look into the feasibility and technical aspects, without having it followed at the political level, that is, at the Chief Ministers’ Conference scheduled in April. For, once the matter has taken a political turn and compelled the Prime Minister to write to several Chief Ministers on the issue, it needs to be finally addressed at the political level.

What probably makes the Home Ministry overconfident on the whole issue is the Supreme Court judgment of 1994 on Kartar Singh vs State of Punjab, a case related to TADA, wherein terrorism is construed to be part of a ‘Defence’ related issue, it being detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation. In case of the NCTC, if that logic is advanced, the matter would come under the purview of the Defence Ministry instead of the Home Ministry. This is also seen in the light of Justice Hidayatullah’s opinion in Jayaprakash Narayan vs State of Bihar, differentiating between ‘law and order’, ‘public order’ and ‘national security’—from lesser gravity to higher gravity and then to still higher gravity, in that order. All these pertain to the technical domain of the issue. Naveen Patnaik’s focus shrewdly is on the ‘conceptual’ and ‘mechanism’ aspects of it and on the issue of ignoring the States, rather than on technicality which can have arguments both ways. His protest is just and substantive, as vindicated by the PM’s assurance that the States will be consulted and the Home Ministry’s indication of possible efforts on this count.

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ALL said and done, terrorism is an important issue. If there is no option but to retain certain pro-visions in question contained in the UAPA, there has to be a place for accommodation of inherent federal constraints. For instance, as the PM categorically stated that the NCTC is to co-ordinate counter-terrorism efforts, so the nomenclature may be changed to “National Counter-terrorism Co-ordination Centre” (NCTCC) instead of “National Counter-terrorism Centre” (NCTC), as it would not sound or appear as an over-brooding institution. In case it is felt inescapable to set up the NCTC, Section 43(A) which empowers it to search, seize and arrest, which are essentially the States’ subjects, should be done away with. If at all it is provided for, a clause should be suffixed to read “with the approval of the designated State authority, as the case may be”, so that States have the discretion to have a veto, if any such proposition is devoid of merit. This will keep the federal features and allocation of powers between the Centre and States intact and provide a mechanism of check on excesses on this account. The federal spirit demands accommodation and consensus on politically sensitive issues. It is also advisable to have the entire matter debated in Parliament as well as in the Chief Ministers’ Conference or the Inter-State Council (ISC), including a re-look at the UAPA provisions, setting up of the NCTC, provisions for minimising or ruling out excesses on this account and placement of it under the Intelligence Bureau—a non-constitutional and non-accountable body. That would be in pursuance of the federal sprit.

What is intriguing in the whole issue is that there are a host of intelligence agencies at the Centre—Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Aviation Research Centre (ARC), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), three services intelligence agencies—each one for the Army, Navy and Air Force—and a number of financial intelligence units. In 2008 the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) was also set up and efforts began to set up a NATGRID to create a data base. With all these, the intelligence system in the country still falters and is not at all in an envious position. Often we need inputs from MOSSAD, KGB, FBI and others on sensitive issues. The NCTC would merely add up to the number of intelligence agencies or bodies. The need is not for mere structural changes, but for enhancing functional efficiency. It calls for modernisation, provision of latest equipment, adequate training, upgradation of technology and methodology, and, on top of it, ensuring accountability.

There can be a host of arguments in favour of setting up the NCTC or amendments to the RPF Act, 1957 or against these. Even in cases where proposals are procedurally and technically correct, in a federal set-up such proposals need to be politically conducive and correct to allow them sail through. What is the use of an Act or law which gets altered with the change of government? A law or an Act must be framed with four princi-ples in view—uniformity, acceptability, utility and capacity for survival. Both the proposals are unlikely to pass this litmus test. Arrogance of ‘majority-ism’ and ‘short-cut processes’ become counter-productive in federal democracy. This is evident in the present-day federal world encom-passing eleven countries. It is imperative to involve States or the constituents of a federation in decision-making processes on sensitive federal issues. Federalism filters democracy. Federal functio-ning must attach due importance to dialogue, consultations and consensus as mecha-nisms to address issues of national and federal importance. Our federal set-up is like a ‘salad bowl’ with varieties of colours and flavour; efforts to put them in a ‘melting pot’ will be counter-productive. Efforts should be on harmonious existence on the basis of ‘shared rule’ and ‘self-rule’. Coupled with these are the twin issues of economic deprivation and regional disparities in terms of development which provide a fertile ground for fissiparous tendencies including terrorism, insurgency and the Naxal menace. The Centre must address these issues. However, whenever reasonable demands have come from poorer States—like the demand for ‘special package’ or ‘special status’ or increase in royalty rates from mineral ores—for the States, the Centre has lent a deaf ear. That is unfortunate. Undoubtedly terrorism is an important issue, but that is not the only important national issue. The Centre must give up its unilateralism, step-motherly attitude and lack of adequate concern for poorer regions. For, the nation cannot progress if all the regions and all sections of people do not develop. As far as terrorism is concerned, the Centre cannot counter this menace alone, as the States are inherently partners in the play, and therefore it would not be wise to thrust anything unilaterally upon the States—be it the formation of the NCTC or the changes in the RPF Act or any other measures.

Dr Hamid Hussain, an Executive Member of the Biju Janata Dal in power in the State of Odisha for long years, is the author of the book Indian Federalism: Emerging Trends.

Courtesy : MAINSTREAM

Middle Income Group (MIG) has curtailed its spendings on such heads by nearly 65% during the last 6 months due to rise in inflation, interest rates and fuel costs. With food and education of children are eating up most of their incomes, the saving is likely to come down heavily, reveals the ASSOCHAM survey.

The survey was conducted in a period of two months beginning March to April 2012 in major places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun etc. A little over 200 employee were selected from each city on an average. Delhi ranks first in curtailing their expenses followed by Mumbai (2nd), Ahmedabad (3rd) Chandigarh (4th), Kolkata (5th), Chennai (6th) and Dehradun (7th), says Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM.

ASSOCHAM nationwide survey reveals that food inflation impacted the most consumers in metros and other major cities Vis-à-vis tier-III and semi urban area due to sudden hike in the fruits, vegetables and milk prices. It also adds that the rise in inflation and per capita income was utterly disproportionate.

Around 55 per cent of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26 per cent), 40-49 years (16 per cent), 50-59 years (2 per cent) and 60-65 years.

The survey was able to target employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from IT/ITes sector (17 per cent). After IT/ITeS sector, contribution of the survey respondents from financial services is 11 per cent. Employees working in engineering and telecom sector contributed 9 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in the questionnaire. Nearly 6 per cent of the employees belonged from market research/KPO and media background each. Management, FMCG and Infrastructure sector employees share is 5 per cent each, in the total survey. Respondents from power and real estate sector contributed 4 per cent each. Employees from education and food& beverages sector provided a share of 3 per cent each.

Consumers’ growing unease is reflected in their saving rate and spending habits, with many middle income and lower income group indicating that they are finding ways to cut back spending now or indicating they will do so in the future. Around 69% of the respondents have cut down in their saving rate.

Nearly half of middle income group either avoid shopping altogether or shop only for those things that are absolutely needed. Moreover, 76% said that their shopping has been restricted to only necessities and splurge in their spending is totally occasional.

About 88% of respondent said that they have cut back on everyday expenses. They save money by cutting everyday expenses, by avoiding outside food, car-pooling, cutting down on gas and use of electricity.

The survey also revealed that the high income groups, particularly the younger lot and working couples with twin salary benefits during every weekend spend more than 25% of their income on clothes, shoes, movies, buying CDs of films and music, eating out, etc.

The Chamber also estimates that inflation has also impacted the urban male and females personal expenses.  The urban male used to spend Rs. 500-2,000 per month on drinks, cigarettes, gutkha, pan etc. which has come down by 20% due to upward inflation. On the other side, urban women now spend around Rs. 500-1000 per month on cosmetics, beauty treatments etc which was earlier Rs. 1500-2,000/-.

Over 87% of the respondent said that monthly grocery bills have jumped to about Rs 7,000/ to 8,000/-, compared to Rs 3,000 in the last two years. Earlier they could buy a bag full of vegetables for Rs 100. Now, even Rs 1,000 isn’t enough to sustain us for a couple of days. The middle class and the lower class are the worst hit.

One in four said they are going to try to increase their income to try to stay financially afloat, such as switching to a better-paid job, taking a second job option or working overtime hours.

The government must look to manage its wasteful expenditure by enforcing austerity drive so as to reduce its borrowing from the markets which ultimately have soothing effect on interest rate there by providing some relief on inflation, said Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM.

Nearly 78% of the respondent said that they have cut back on protein intake like eggs, have switched to a coarser rice that costs less, consumes less cooking oil, uses the less washing powder for utensils and for clothes and also stopped using the cosmetic things.

86% of the respondents said that they cannot predict their monthly household expenses for next month cause prices are unpredictable it is not only the prices of commodities but prices of vegetables, fruits, milk, pulses and other household items also make there presence and importance felt from time to time.

Over 87% of vegetarians said that they face even more problems due to steep increase in prices of vegetables and fruits and worried of lower intake of vegetables and may affect health of their family. The survey also found that low-income groups are increasingly cutting back on the nutrient-rich snacks because they can no longer afford them.

Mr. Rawat further said that all this leads to a spiraling effect as it becomes more difficult for poor people to improve their conditions and lead a life where they are not devoid of basic amenities.

ASSOCHAM findings are as follows

• Average monthly expenditure has increased from Rs. 2,000 to Rs.6,000. More importantly, food expenditure as a percentage of monthly household expenditure has gone up from 40% to 100%.
• Consumption of individual food items show a significant reduction as well, particularly in case of rice, wheat, yellow daal, onion, tomato, butter, milk ,sugar and fruits and vegetables, the number of households consuming milk at least twice a day.
• The growing food budget has invariably led households to cut costs in other areas such as healthcare and transportation. Over 75% of the surveyed households now go to government hospitals or doctors instead of private doctors or hospitals.
• 78% have decreased spending on eating out and rest preferred on occasions.
• 65% decrease in the amount they spend on clothing.
• 77% percent indicated fall in the amount they spend on vacations.
• 49 percent have decreased the amount they spend on home appliances; 44 percent for home and personal electronics; 42 percent for automobiles; and 35 percent for real estate.

Energy-efficient electrical appliances used in household and commercial establishments can save about 20,000 megawatt of power per year, resulting in savings of Rs 1.2 lakh crore in capital investment on new power plants besides transmission and distribution infrastructure.

At the same time, consequent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be to the tune of five crore tonnes annually by 2020, a cross-section of industry experts said today at a conference organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

Mr Ashok Lavasa, additional secretary at the ministry of power, said the government and the industry must collaborate to induct new technologies as widespread use of energy-efficient devices can lead to enormous economic gains.

India spent Rs 23,000 crore in clean energy programmes last year. “While dependence on fossil fuels will continue in coming years, businesses and attitudes should be focused on energy conservation,” he said.

In June 1988, the National Action Plan on Climate Change outlined focal components of a strategy in the form of eight missions representing a multi-pronged, long-term and integrated strategy to achieve twin needs of sustainable development and mitigation of carbon emissions.

Consequently, the star labeling scheme under National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency being implemented by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is mandatory for frost-free refrigerators, room air conditioners, tubular fluorescent lamps and distribution transformers.

A total of 1.15 crore labeled air conditioners have been sold across the country during the past five years, said BEE director general Ajay Mathur. “The latest innovations in air conditioning sector of using inverter or variable refrigerant volume or variable refrigerant flow technology or using the same machine to both cool and heat the rooms can be a game-changer.”

Mr Amit Khare, programme manager at the Collaborative Labelling and  Appliance Standards Programme (CLASP), said under the Montreal Protocol, hydro-chloro-fluoro-carbons will be phased out from 2013 and most likely replaced with hydro-fluoro-carbons as part of stringent environmental regulations.

ASSOCHAM senior advisor for policy Arun Kumar said there is no getting away from more energy-efficient and environmentally-superior products in the long-term interests of India and rest of the world.

Others present were Mr Amit Maheshwari, director for marketing and strategy and Carrier India, Mr Pradeep Bakshi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Voltas Limited,  Mr S.P. Garnaik, energy economist at the BEE, Mr P. Sridhar Chidambaram, fellow at TERI, and Mr Rajeev Ralhan, manager at PwC.

With annual demand for gold set to rise from 933 tonnes last year to 1,200 tonnes by 2020, India has the potential to emerge as the world’s leading trade hub for gems and jewellery, a cross-section of experts said .

“We should establish India as a brand to reckon with and ascertain its leadership position in the global arena,” said Mr Rajiv Jain, chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council while addressing delegates at the 5th International Gold Summit organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The swing in global risk sentiment, prevailing crisis in Eurozone, tension in the Middle East especially in Iran and movement of the dollar will be key factors in determining price of the yellow metal in future. “Gold has universal acceptance and remains a desirable investment option despite prices jumping 120 per cent in the past three years.”

Mr Jain said exports of gems and jewellery were pegged at 42.83 billion dollars in 2011-12 and accounted for 14 per cent of India’s total merchandise exports. Indian households have 18,000 tonnes of gold and the size of domestic physical bullion market is over Rs 3 lakh crore per annum.

Mr S.K. Jindal, chairman of ASSOCHAM investment and investors’ protection committee, said gold is the only commodity whose prices have climbed up steadily after the 2008 global financial meltdown. Its demand will continue to rise due to growing prosperity and high savings rate.

Mr Jindal said India needs to graduate in the bullion trade from a mere price taker to a price maker in the world market. “It is necessary to remove inefficiencies in the Indian bullion market so that the country can become a global gold trading hub.”

ASSOCHAM secretary general D.S. Rawat said the gold loan portfolio is estimated at Rs 1.2 lakh crore with non-banking finance companies commanding more than 32 per cent of share. However, the government should undertake extensive education campaigns and encourage channelising savings in formal financial instruments to increase productive capacity of the economy.

Others present during the summit were Mr S.C. Aggarwal, co-chairman of ASSOCHAM capital markets committee, Mr Jeffrey Rhodes, global head of Precious Metals and chief executive officer of INTL Commodities, DMCC, and Mr Stefanus Botes, minister counselor (economic) at the South Africa High Commission.

According to the ASSOCHAM study titled ‘India: Golden Bird to Global Gold Trading Hub,’ the recent hike in customs duty to four per cent will not be enough to control gold imports. The country’s gold imports bill could total 100 billion dollars by 2015-16.

At these levels, gold imports could be a huge burden on the balance of payments and accentuate the current account deficit. India produces around two tonnes of gold a year against the imports of 933.4 tonnes.

May 3rd was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day by the UN General Assembly also. This happened in 1993, following a recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference.

The day serves to inform citizens about various kinds of violations of press freedom – a grim reminder that publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed and attacked. It is also the apt occasion to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.

In more practical terms, freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and various forms of published material in printed as well as allied forms like photographs, videos etc. While such freedom mostly implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state, its preservation may be sought through constitutional as well as other legal provisions.

The Idea of Press Freedom.

Media freedom entails the right of any person to enjoy freedom of opinion and expression on a public basis. This includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ICT (like text messaging) and social media have enabled the diffusion of vital information to reach the widest number of people in the shortest span of time. Equally importantly, the phenomenon of social media has also enabled protesters to self-organize, and thus engaged the global youth in the fight to be able to freely express themselves and the aspirations of their wider communities.

At the same time, it has to be noted that media freedom is extremely fragile. It is also important to recognize that it is not yet within the reach of everyone. While the enabling environment for true media freedom is improving, the harsh reality is that many in the world still do not have access to basic communication technology. Furthermore, as more reporting is transmitted online, more and more online journalists including bloggers are being harassed and attacked. UNESCO has even dedicated a webpage, UNESCO Remembers Assassinated Journalists.

States and governments too have a responsibility to ensure that national laws on freedom of expression are in accordance with internationally accepted principles as laid out in the Windhoek Declaration (adopted at Windhoek,Namibia) and UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators, which are both documents that they have endorsed.

Hindrances to Press Freedom

Media freedom is hindered mainly by two factors. One is a lack of any organized information system; the other is the lack of basic skills and literacy to access, understand and evaluate information. Many sections of the society not only lack access to express themselves publicly, but they are also deprived of ways of getting information that could educate and empower them. This lack of access has become a persistent paradox against the back ground of increasing spread of the World Wide Web and the consequent ease in accessing information.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), more than 60 percent of the world’s households still do not own a computer and no more than 35 percent of the world population consider themselves as “internet users” with the vast majority of those surveyed belonging to the “developing countries”. (This statistics is taken from a global study sponsored by the UNESCO).

Considering that the right to free speech and press freedom are deeply interconnected with the right to access information, it is a priority to bridge the digital divide both between and within countries. In fact, the participants at the recent 7th UNESCO Youth Forum underlined that democratizing access to ICTs is an urgent challenge. Universal access to information must be pursued especially in remote areas such as rural, remote and insular areas.

The Indian Context

In India, the constitution, while not mentioning the word “press”, provides for ”the right to freedom of speech and expression” (Article 19(1) a). However this right is subject to restrictions under sub clause (2), whereby this freedom can be restricted for reasons of “soverignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, preserving decency, preserving morality, in relation to contempt, court, defamation, or incitement to an offense”.

For a proper functioning of democracy it is essential that citizens are kept informed about news from various parts of the country and even abroad, because only then can they form rational opinions. A citizen surely cannot be expected personally to gather news to enable him or her to form such opinions. Hence, the media play an important role in a democracy and serve as an agency of the people to gather news for them. It is for this reason that freedom of the press has been emphasized in all democratic countries, while it was not permitted in feudal or totalitarian regimes.

In developing countries like India, the media have a great responsibility to fight backward ideas such as casteism and communalism, and help the people in their struggle against poverty and other social evils. “Since a large section of the people is backward and ignorant, it is all the more necessary that modern ideas are brought to them and their backwardness removed so that they become part of enlightened India. The media have a great responsibility in this respect”. (JusticeMarkandey Katju, Justice, Supreme Court).

Right to Information Act

            It is against the background of the quality of access to information that has received world wide concern that the Right to Information Act 2005 passed by the Parliament acquires great significance. The act mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information.

            Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to pro-actively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally. This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June, 2005 and came fully into force on 13 October, 2005.

            In short, the act empowers every citizen to ask any questions from the government or seek any information, take copies of any governmental documents, inspect any governmental documents, inspect any work undertaken by the government and take samples of materials of any governmental work.

Right to Information is a fundamental human right, crucial to human development, and a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.  The experiences of the past seven years since the act has been in place shows that RTI has become a friend in need, making life easier and honorable for common people and empowers them to request and access public services successfully. (PIB Feature.)

1. Equality: Premise of marital law reforms should be the equality for women, which is denied for centuries. Assumption that family is secure place for women and children is unfortunately a privilege of a few. And when the homes are becoming places of criminal activities, intervention of law and justice is inevitable.
2. Financial safety: Liberalization of divorce proceedings is a dire necessity but without assured division of property to give wife equal share in marital property that would prove disaster. Irretrievable breakdown should be an additional ground for divorce, but that should come along with residence and financial safeguards for the wife and children. As inCanada, this ground should be available along with statutory provision of specific equal share in all marital assets to wife.
3. Right to residence: Immediate fall out of marital dispute is loss of shelter for woman and children. Law should take care of this. PWDVA has some provisions for this but not adequate. Wife must have a declared right to live in house whether rented or owned by husband.
4. Status based maintenance: Maintenance, whether interim or final, is more a matter of judicial discretion and less a right of woman and children. Status of woman and child while living with husband should be the standard for fixing the maintenance. Giving equal share to wife should not be the end of matter. There should be adequate means for maintenance of children, which shall be responsibility of both the spouses.
5. Rights of wife: Since financial security offer real security to vulnerable and also protect the family to a great extent from being dismantled, law should declare property rights of wife. Our existing laws give rights to mothers, daughters and sisters but not to wives. Wife has a share in the husband’s share in his ancestral and self acquired property only after his death. She does not have a right to share when husband is alive. Nothing vests in her until marital bond is snapped or husband dies. In many cases the greed is the ground of breaking of marriage or dowry harassment or dowry deaths. If the husband knows in advance that breaking marriage means departing with fifty per cent of the property, the husband’s desire to hold property might protect the bonds of marriage. If not wife will get her due share on separation.
6. Constitutional Provisions for Wife’s share: Constitution should specify in its affirmative action provisions of Article 14 and 15 that husband and wife hold the property accrued upon marriage and after marriage to husband and wife as their joint property with each having equal share.  They should also have right partition for that equal share in the marital property whenever they feel the need for partition. In this context, wife should have a right to otppose husband’s petition to divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage with a condition of giving equal share in the property and in the absence of it, sufficient maintenance to avoid hardship for her and children.
7. Right to information about husband’s property: Wife should have right to information about property, status, designation, salary of husband. Registration of marriage should be made compulsory, with elaborate infrastructure all over the country to do fast electronic registration. It should include declaration of the property held by both husband and wife along with possible shares of inheritance from the ancestral property. The dowry, gifts given to bride (stridhana) should be declared as wife’s property exclusively, and should not form part of joint property.  There should be further deliberations and consultations with various groups for calculating the property of wife especially when she is not an earning person. Non financial contributions of wife to build the home should be properly treated as her property as suggested by Supreme Court in Arun Kumar Aggarwal vs National Insurance Company Manu/SC/0507/2010, saying that the Government should assess the value of the unpaid home maker both in accident claims and in matters of division of matrimonial properties. Standards for economic evaluation of contributions of house wives should be evolved as soon as possible. For Motor Vehicle accidents and Workmen Compensation we have norms but not for the families. The courts have time and again reiterated the principle that maintenance allowances are supposed to allow wives and children to maintain the same standard of living as they had in the marital home. Limit of Rs 500 was removed in Section 125 of CrPC but the sensitization to this among the advocates and judicial officers is not adequate.
8. Statutory Share to Wife: The legislation should unequivocally provide that women should receive at least a half share of the marital property. The court should first decide the maintenance and share in the property before going into the allegations made in marital disputes.
9. Level playing field: In the absence of these safe provisions the wife is always under pressure because of burden of children, absence of financial resources besides social stigma and mental trauma. Husband with finances on hand and support from rich parents and relatives could enhance the trauma of wife with his strong lobbying and financial power. The law is expected to provide a level playing field to vulnerable.
10. Protecting Institution of Marriage: People talk much about protection of the institution of family without making any contribution towards that. Best way of protecting this institution is providing economical status to wife in marital house before and at the time of breaking of marital bonds.

It says the parents with math skills of a third grader or below were five times more likely to dole out the wrong medication to their children than those with skills at the sixth grade level or higher.

“Parents face many challenges as they seek to administer medications to their children in a safe and effective manner,” said study co-author H. Shonna Yin, assistant professor of paediatrics, New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Centre.

“Dosing liquid medications correctly can be especially confusing, as parents may need to understand numerical concepts such as how to convert between different units of measurement, like milliliters, teaspoons and tablespoons,” said Yin.

“Parents also must accurately use dosing cups, droppers and syringes, many of which vary in their measurement markings and the volume they hold,” added Yin, according to a New York University statement.

Researchers looked at the relationship between both reading and math skills and medication dosing errors. Participants included 289 parents of children younger than eight years who were prescribed a short course of liquid medication after being seen in a paediatric emergency department.

Study results revealed that nearly one in three parents had low reading skills, while 83 percent of parents had poor numeracy skills (27 percent had skills at the third grade level or below).

Observations showed that 41 percent of parents made a dosing error. Parents’ math scores, in particular, were tied with measuring mistakes, with parents who scored below the third grade level on the math test having almost a five times increased odds of making a dosing error.

These findings were presented on Saturday at the Paediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston, US.

The report is the first comparative study of international press councils designed to inform the Leveson Inquiry and stimulate wider debate on UK press reform. It highlights the case of Richard Desmond, co-owner of The Irish Daily Star, who famously pulled his titles out of the Press Complaints Commission, the UK’s self-regulatory body, yet joined the Irish Press Council.

The report suggests that Desmond’s decision stemmed from the fact that membership of the Irish Press Council offered tangible benefits in contrast to the UK’s Press Complaints Commission. Publications that join the Irish Press Council are legally recognised if they maintain a record of compliance. It also highlights the fact that this statutory recognition helps members to defend themselves in any future defamation proceedings, and suggests that this encourages news outlets to comply with the standards set by the Irish Press Council.

Report author Lara Fielden is a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and was formerly a BBC journalist before working for the regulator Ofcom. Her report, ‘Regulating the Press: a comparative study of international press councils’, suggests that more emphasis should be placed on the commercial incentives which encourage greater compliance with a voluntary code of press regulation. She argues that this approach has considerable advantages over what she calls a ‘narrow focus on penalties and enforcement’.

She said: ‘After comparing a range of press regulatory frameworks, I have concluded that the UK would do well to build on the Irish model where voluntary ethical incentives are intertwined with legal and therefore commercial advantages. This could transform those sections of the UK’s newsroom culture which have regarded regulation as a bit of an irrelevance.

‘I believe this historic view of regulation has gone hand in hand with phone-hacking in the UK. We need to move towards a model where there are robust incentives to ensure that ethical compliance is viewed as a commercial selling point.’

The study argues that the ultimate sanction for those newspapers that fail to comply with a voluntary code of press regulation should be suspension or expulsion from the regulatory body. This would also mean that such news outlets would have to give up the advantages and privileges associated with being members.

The study analyses different degrees of press regulation, from mandatory statutory regulation through to voluntary frameworks, across a range of countries. In Denmark, press council membership is required by law and is accompanied by the threat of a fine or prison sentence for editors that fail to publish a press council decision when required. Yet despite this ‘strong-arm approach’, the study points out that a parliamentary scrutiny has just been set up in Denmark to address a lack of active compliance.

At the other end of the regulatory scale, there are codes that are entirely voluntary: the report reveals that where news outlets are able to withdraw their membership of a regulatory body without suffering any consequences, press councils in those countries have experienced a haemorrhaging of members. The study highlights Canada as a country where the voluntary approach is clearly not working. Meanwhile in Germany, publications have been challenging the press council and refusing to publish adjudications.

Lara Fielden said: ‘The merits of an incentivised middle way should not be underestimated. Too often the history of press councils overseas and in the UK reveals cycles of threats of state intervention, followed by expedient industry accommodation, with the public left out of the conversation. The public’s interest must be at the heart of the conversation about better press regulation.’

Overseas, the report notes, press councils have started to launch kite-marking and membership badge requirements. This is so the public can recognise news outlets that are ethically regulated as opposed to those that are unregulated.

Lara Fielden concluded: ‘It is currently impossible for the public to differentiate in any meaningful way between titles that are members of the UK’s Press Complaints Commission and those that are not, whether in print or online.

‘A system that required members to display a standards mark would give consumers a clearer idea about the practices of different news outlets. It would also give members the opportunity to promote their credentials as an ethical operator, which should give them a competitive edge over those outlets that did not carry the standards mark of compliance.’

The most common symptoms that occur during asthma attack among children include tightness in chest, shortness of breath recurring cough and wheezing. Because of narrow opening of the airway, children do have trouble breathing and this causes wheezing.

FOR MORE READING. . .

“Silkworm cocoons have evolved a remarkable range of optimal structures and properties to protect moth pupae from many different natural threats,” Porter and Chen said in their paper. These structures are lightweight, strong and porous and therefore “ideal for the development of bio-inspired composite materials.”

FOR MORE READING. . 

the partners leading efforts to control measles announce a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero.

The announcement comes with the publication of new data using a state-of-the-art methodology showing that accelerated efforts to reduce measles deaths have resulted in a 74% reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535 300 deaths in 2000 to 139 300 in 2010.

Progress in sub-Saharan Africa

Vaccination has been key to this progress. Through increased routine immunization coverage and large-scale immunization campaigns, sub-Saharan Africa made the most progress with an 85% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2010, according to a new study published in today’s Lancet.

Vaccinating over a billion children

Since 2001, the Measles Initiative has supported developing countries to vaccinate over one billion children against measles. Now, in keeping with the new Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan to control and eventually eliminate measles and rubella, the initiative is called the Measles & Rubella Initiative. Measles and rubella elimination naturally go hand-in-hand, as measles and rubella vaccines are routinely combined in a single shot.

“A three-quarters drop in measles deaths worldwide shows just how effective well-run vaccination programmes can be,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization . “Now we need to take the next logical step and vaccinate children against rubella, too.”

Investment and political commitment are critical

The new data underscores that progress in reducing measles deaths was especially strong from 2001 to 2008. However, when investment and political commitment to measles control faltered in 2008 and 2009, many children were not immunized. Measles came roaring back and caused large outbreaks in Africa, Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Europe. In 2010, an estimated 19 million infants – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia – did not receive measles vaccine.

These outbreaks combined with a delayed start in intensifying measles control in India, meant that the goal of 90% reduction in measles mortality by end 2010 compared with 2000 levels was not met. India accounted for about 47% of global measles deaths in 2010. In addition, target dates for measles elimination goals in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean and European regions had to be revised.

“Recent measles outbreaks have affected children in the world unevenly, with the poorest and youngest children the most at risk of death or disability,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “This new Strategic Plan stresses that measles and rubella vaccinations must be delivered to children deep in the poorest and hardest to reach communities.”

Strategic Plan to cut deaths

The new Strategic Plan presents a five-pronged strategy to cut global measles deaths by at least 95% by 2015 compared with 2000 levels and to achieve measles and rubella elimination in at least five WHO regions by 2020. The strategies include:

• high vaccination coverage;
• monitoring spread of disease using laboratory-backed surveillance;
• outbreak preparedness and response and measles case management;
• communication and community engagement; and
• research and development.

“Measles continues to kill children around the world and rubella is the leading infectious cause of congenital malformations in newborn infants; these are avoidable tragedies,” says Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H, CDC Director. “This new plan outlines strategies we know work. It is time to partner with key countries to implement the plan in order to save our children from these terrible diseases.”

Under the new strategy, 62 countries currently not using rubella vaccine are encouraged to use their measles vaccination delivery system to introduce rubella vaccine into their national immunization schedule and protect families against both diseases with one combined shot . Many high-income countries already offer routine immunization for both measles and rubella through the use of combined measles-rubella or measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

Millions of volunteers join the combat

“The American Red Cross leverages the capacity of its partners in the Red Cross and Red Crescent network and their network of millions of volunteers to combat these two diseases,” said David Meltzer, Senior Vice President, International Services of the American Red Cross. “By working closely with these volunteers – trusted neighbors and community members – to literally go door-to-door, explaining the importance of receiving routine immunizations and participating in campaigns, we can continue to fight these deadly diseases.”

The newly-renamed Measles & Rubella Initiative has strong support from GAVI and is welcoming new partners including the American Academy of Pediatrics, International Pediatric Association, Lions Clubs International and Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Financial support for the vaccine

From 2012, developing countries can apply to GAVI for financial support with the combined measles-rubella vaccine, a low-cost and effective vaccine, deliverable through existing immunization structures. GAVI will also continue to offer the measles second dose vaccine.

“We’re delighted to strengthen our partnership with the renamed Measles & Rubella Initiative, which has done great work to reduce measles infections and reduce mortality,” GAVI CEO, Dr Seth Berkley MD, said. “With GAVI’s US$ 605 million investment for both the combined MR and measles second dose vaccines in developing countries, this is an historic moment for the reduction and hopefully eventual elimination of both diseases,” he said.

US$ 112 million still needed

According to Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation, an additional US$ 112 million is needed to achieve the global measles and rubella goals for 2015. “We need significant commitments from governments and the private sector if we are going to stop measles and rubella, as well as the support of individuals worldwide because a small donation from the public can go a long way and help save many lives.”

The release of the new measles mortality data and the Strategic Plan coincides with WHO’s World Immunization Week, with over 180 countries worldwide rolling out various activities to raise awareness and take action on the importance of immunization.

About measles and rubella

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to humankind and an important cause of death and disability among children worldwide. Those unvaccinated against the disease are at risk of severe health complications such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and encephalitis (a dangerous infection of the brain causing inflammation) and blindness. The disease can be fatal. The vast majority of measles deaths occur in developing countries.

Rubella, transmitted through airborne droplets, is generally a mild illness. But when a pregnant woman becomes infected, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy, serious consequences can occur including miscarriages, still births, and infants born with birth defects known as Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS). The most common congenital defects include lifelong heart problems, deafness or blindness (cataracts). An estimated 112 000 cases of CRS occur each year and are preventable through vaccination.

Measles & Rubella Initiative

The Measles & Rubella Initiative is a global partnership committed to ensuring no child dies from measles or is born with congenital rubella syndrome. Founded originally as the Measles Initiative in 2001, it’s led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Since 2001, the Initiative has supported 80 countries to deliver more than one billion doses of measles vaccine, helped to raise measles vaccination coverage to 85% globally, and reduced measles deaths by 74%. These efforts have contributed significantly to reducing child mortality as per Millennium Development Goal 4.

“Trade unions everywhere are losing their revolutionary character and are seen degenerating into litigation committees, striking deals and bargains with managements. Their preoccupation is no longer waging a class struggle or sharpening the political consciousness of their members but winning small mercies from the establishment,” says socialist commentator Paras Nath Choudhary.

Frequent wild cat strikes by trade unions may reflect the disenchantment and alienation of workers with the system and the pauperisation of the masses, but there seems hardly any effort by the working class to wage a relentless struggle for restructuring society according to Marxist thinking.

The Indian working class movement provides an interesting study. In the true mixed economy tradition, our unions have evolved their own operational model which resembles neither the doctrinaire-socialistic nor the capitalistic-industrial democratic model.

Karl Marx visualised that the working class would eventually become the vanguard of socialist revolution, with trade unions acting as the organising centres for uniting the forces of workers competing with one another and for giving them elementary class training.

But experience has shown that these institutions have emerged neither as independent centres of power nor as schools of socialism and solidarity. Of late we have seen a tendency of most unions to appear “apolitical”. Many have refused to make political statements that could lead to change of governance. For instance, how many unions got involved with Anna Hazare’s anti-graft movement?

Union leaders do not realise that the genuine interests of workers lie not so much in the percentage of dearness allowance or gain in salary structures but in the real purchasing power of money which depends on the political and economic policies of a government.

What is the role of a trade union in today’s context? Speculating on what role future trade unions will play, professor John Galbraith had observed that they will have a drastically reduced function in the industrial system and retreat more or less permanently into the shadows.

In practical terms, the main function of union leaders is to “keep the fellows in order” to help keep the industrial wheel running at any cost. It is not surprising therefore that in the industrialised West, trade unions are considered an extremely vital part of the establishment and involved in the decisionmaking process.

Today’s grim reality is that as institutions of labour activism, they cannot challenge the system or even question the existence of a society based on a division of classes. The history of the trade union movement in India proves that the unions can never be a vehicle of advance towards socialism. They are tied to capitalism and therefore cannot transform or rebel against the given system.

Forget what Marx thought and the expectations of the New Left, the trade unions today only promote sectarian interests. What can a union of bank employees or LIC workers or even airlines executives have in common with unions of agricultural workers or small units’ workforce?

“Why should the employees of a Nav Ratna public sector enterprise work for changing the system? Why should they work for revolution? Their interests are well taken care of,” says Choudhary.

The isolated case of a big union’s involvement with the changing of the system was the 18-day long railway strike in 1974 by George Fernandes that hastened or created conditions for imposition of emergency.

Clearly, the trade union movement is at a crossroads. It has to redefine its agenda and its ideological parameters. Organising rallies to promote sectarian interests is one thing, but getting involved with a larger struggle to usher in socialism and leading the working class to dismantle the feudal-capitalism complex is quite another.

Today’s trade union movement has lost interest in Marxism. The lifestyle of senior trade union leaders who sit with the other board members of big enterprises renders them unfit for any meaningful role for the diffusion of prosperity.

“Risat-1 represents another step forward for India. Its synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which enables imaging through bad weather conditions during both day and night, will assist Indian land management, agriculture monitoring and resource observation. The satellite mission is in keeping with India’s traditional use of space assets for social benefit,” David Vaccaro, programme manager at the Futron Corporation, told IANS in an e-mail interview.

He, however, said India cannot be considered a major force in building military satellites at present.

“With the development of SAR imagers and applications, India is increasingly capable of producing satellites that could be used for surveillance and military reconnaissance. However, for it to become a greater player in this regard, it must first increase its capacity to build and launch such satellites quickly, and in larger volumes,” Vaccaro said.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the 1,858 kg indigenously built Risat-1 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on its polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) April 26.

Vaccaro said, “India has moderately strong satellite manufacturing capabilities, but could benefit from greater privatisation and a deeper commercial focus.”

Currently, the centralisation of satellite production in ISRO and Antrix Corporation (ISRO’s commercial arm) is impeding the emergence of commercial satellite manufacturing firms, he remarked.

According to him, India has an advantage in its highly skilled human capital base.

Asked to compare between India and China in the space sector, Vaccaro said, “India’s space strengths include its satellite programmes and applications, including meteorology, remote sensing, environmental imaging and telecommunications.”

“By contrast, the most formidable Chinese space strengths are in its significant launch capacity and its human spaceflight programme. China performed more orbital launches in 2011 than the United States, a key milestone that placed China second only to Russia for the first time in history. China is also now one of only three countries to demonstrate human spaceflight capability, the others being Russia and the US,” he added.

According to him, with effort, India is capable of joining the human space flight club. But this would entail a succession of tests leading up to an eventual manned launch.

“Unless the programme received the highest priority from the Indian government, it would require at least a decade for India to create its own indigenous human spaceflight capability,” Vaccaro said.

India should invest in the infrastructure to perform more frequent orbital launch missions with consistent reliability, he suggested.

“With this infrastructure and track record in place, India will be able to play a larger role in more advanced missions, such as Moon or Mars efforts. And a more frequent launch tempo would also make India more of a player in the commercial launch market,” he remarked.

While President Barack Obama and his Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney traded barbs Monday over his handling of the first anniversary of the May 2 raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, analysts also highlighted the terrorist group’s growth in North Africa and the Middle East.

Rejecting criticism that he was politicising the anniversary, Obama referred to a difference between what Romney said about going after bin Laden during his 2008 presidential campaign as opposed to now.

Asked about Romney’s comments earlier in the day that the decision to go after bin Laden was a clear one and that “even Jimmy Carter would” have made the call, he said at the White House: “I assume that people meant what they said when they said it.”

“That’s been at least my practice. I said that I’d go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did. If there are others who said one thing and now suggest they’d do something else, I’d go ahead and let them explain.”

Romney’s spokesperson, Andrea Saul, responded in a statement that Obama was using the anniversary of bin Laden’s death as “a cheap political ploy” that she said distorted Romney’s policies on fighting terrorism.

The war of words around the bin Laden death anniversary started last week when Obama’s campaign made it an issue in a Web ad that questioned whether Romney would make the same call in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Richard N. Haass, president, Council on Foreign Relations said the killing of Osama bin Laden constitutes a significant victory over global terrorism, but any celebration needs to be tempered by two realities.

First, terrorism is a decentralised phenomenon – in its funding, planning, and execution. Second, Pakistan, home of some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world, is decidedly less than a full partner in the war against terror, he said

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer now at the Brookings Institution, agreed that bin Laden’s death “was a setback to Al Qaeda, but the Islamic terror organization remains a potent threat around the world”.

“It’s on the defensive, but it’s far from defeated,” he said.

Another former CIA official, Reuel Marc Gerecht, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said, “I don’t think his death fundamentally affects the future of jihadist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Author Seth Jones, a senior political scientist at the Rand Corp, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal titled, “Al Qaeda Is Far From Defeated”, made a similar case, highlighting the terrorist group’s growth in North Africa and the Mideast.

While one incident took place in Rohtas district’s Khaira village, the other was in Aurangabad’s Judahi village.

Savita Kumari from Khaira called off the wedding when she found her groom sloshed to the gills minutes before the ceremony Sunday night. Dressed in traditional red finery, the plucky woman, in her 20s, was informed by her friends that the groom was drunk and refused to marry him.

“I decided not to marry a man who is drunk ahead of wedding. That was an indicator that he was not a responsible man and unfit for me,” she said.

She found full backing from her relatives, family sources said.

“She refused to marry the man who was drunk. I did not force her to marry against her wishes,” her father Devender Ram said.

He approached the police but was advised not to do anything about it. “Police have no role if a woman refuses to marry a drunk groom,” a local police official said.

In the second case the same night, Lalan Singh took an equally courageous stand when he took the call not to get his daughter married to a drunk and asked the ‘baraat’ to return.

“The drunk groom was exposed when he came to our house. He was so drunk that he assaulted some people and threw chairs at women during the pre-wedding rituals,” Lalan Singh was quoted as saying.

The groom’s father Balram Singh said his son’s friends had mixed alcohol in his cold drinks, but Lalan Singh would have none of it.

“I was adamant not to marry my daughter to a man who was drunk on his wedding night,” Lalan Singh said, recalling how he asked them to go back.

The families of two brides represent a welcome trend in Bihar, where such stories were virtually unheard of till a few years ago. The pattern in large swathes of the state, particularly in the villages, was, and still is, the bride being spurned for reasons such as insufficient dowry.

Among college-educated women, childlessness peaked in the late 1990s,
when about 30 percent had no children, according to the new analysis of
U.S.
data. But childlessness declined about 5 percentage points between 1998
and 2008.

“We may be seeing the beginning of a new trend,” said Bruce Weinberg,
co-author of the study and professor of economics at Ohio State
University.

“One of the major economic stories of the second half of the 20th
century was that highly educated women were working more and having
fewer children.
It is too early to definitively say that trend is over, but there is no
doubt we have seen fertility rise among older, highly educated women.”

The turnaround in fertility is especially surprising because other
trends – particularly lower rates of marriage – would tend to keep fewer
women from becoming mothers.

The study shows that college-graduate women born in the late 1950s were
the turning point. They were less likely to have children than previous
cohorts up until their late 30s, when they reversed the trend and showed
large increases in fertility.

Highly educated women born since then have continued the trend, being
more likely to have children, and starting to have children at earlier
ages.

It is not clear from this research whether older, highly educated women
are dropping out of the labor market to have children, or are continuing
to work.

“We don’t have the data in this study to say whether they are opting out
of the labor market. But we can say they are increasingly opting for
families,”
Weinberg said.

The first author on the study is Qingyan Shang, an assistant professor
at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Their study
appears online in the Journal of Population Economics, and will be
published in a future print edition.

This study is a considerably more comprehensive analysis of highly
educated women’s fertility than several other recent studies of the
subject that came to contradictory results, according to the authors.

The researchers used two major data sets: the June Current Population
Survey for 1980 to 2008, which is a joint effort between the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau; and the Vital Statistics
Birth Data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Findings on women’s fertility were very different depending on education
level, Weinberg said.

“For the less educated women, it is more a story about the timing of
their fertility. They are having their children earlier now than they
used to, but they are not having any more children overall,” he said.

“For the highly educated women born after the late 50s, they are more
likely to have children than did previous cohorts, and they are having
them near the end of their childbearing years.”

For women with graduate education, cumulative fertility is flat among
25-29 year olds in recent years. It increases somewhat among 30-34 year
olds and considerably more among older women.

The results for women with bachelor’s degrees (and no advanced degrees)
are not as dramatic. There are no discernible trends for women aged 25
to 34, but there are increases at older ages. For women who have some
college, but did not graduate, cumulative fertility increases at all
ages, with the increase starting earlier at younger ages.

The study notes that one possible reason that women in their late 30s
and 40s are now deciding to have children could be that fertility
treatments have become more accessible and affordable in recent years.

With the data available, there is no completely accurate way to
calculate how many older women are using fertility treatments. But one
way to make a rough estimate is to see how many women are having
multiple births – more than one baby at a time. That’s because fertility
treatments are known to be associated with high rates of multiple
births.

In their analysis, the researchers found that multiple birth rates began
increasing around 1990 – especially among highly educated older women,
who would probably be most likely to be using fertility treatments.

Among college-graduate women in their early 40s, the multiple birth rate
more than tripled from 1990 to 2006.

That suggests the use of fertility treatments played a role in the
increasing number of educated older women having children. But it is not
the only cause, according to the researchers.

“Although our estimates are not exact, it is clear that there was an
increase in older women having children even after taking into account
the fact that fertility treatments are more accessible and affordable,”
Weinberg said.

“Fertility treatments contributed, but it isn’t the only factor.”

The existing set-up cannot handle the problems of cities, including even mega cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, noted the Standing Committee on Urban Development.

The panel has asked the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry to take proactive steps for completion of sewerage and drainage projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

“Almost 50 percent of households in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad do not have sewerage connection. Only 21 percent of the waste water is treated,” the panel said.

“Of the 79 sewerage treatment plants under state ownership, 46 were operating under very poor condition and less than 20 percent of road network is covered by storm water drains. In view of this, sewerage system in India is suffering from poor maintenance.

“The existing set up simply cannot handle the problems of cities including mega cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai,” the panel added.

The report, which was tabled in parliament last week, noted that 4,861 of 5,161 cities in the country do not have even a partial sewerage network.

It said the sewerage disposal system in major cities like Delhi was releasing untreated water directly or indirectly into water bodies without removing harmful compounds despite court orders and this was causing severe environmental hazards.

“In view of this, the committee further recommend(s) that time-bound steps should be taken in this direction to stop releasing of polluted water into the river by strictly adhering to the Supreme Court’s orders and by establishing adequate number of sewerage treatment plants,” the report said.

The panel said in its report on the demands for grants (2012-13) for the ministry that sewerage, sanitation and drainage were significant focus factors under JNNURM but only a small portion of sanctioned projects had been completed.

“So far 108 sewerage and 71 drainage (including storm water drainage) projects were sanctioned under JNNURM. The committee is distressed to note that even after completion of the entire mission period (2005-06 to 2011-12), against the above sanctioned projects, only 15 sewerage projects and eight drainage projects have been completed till date,” the report said.

Against this backdrop, the committee strongly recommends that the ministry take proactive steps in completing the remaining projects at the earliest and generate more demands from all of the states about these projects by creating awareness during the 12th plan, it said.

The 108 sewerage projects approved under JNNURM are to the tune of Rs 14,624 crore, and drainage projects to the tune of Rs.8,248 crore. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have maximum sewerage and drainage projects under the mission.

JNNURM was launched on Dec 3, 2005 for seven years beginning 2005-06 with the objective of reform-driven, fast-track development of cities with a focus on bringing efficiency in urban infrastructure, service delivery mechanisms, community participation and accountability of urban local bodies towards citizens.

Based on the 2001 census, 65 cities including state capitals, urban agglomeration of religious, historic or tourism importance have been included in the urban infrastructure and governance sub-mission of JNNURM.

All other cities are admissible for funding under Urban Infrastructure Development of Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).

As Europe sinks deeper into recession, high end lifestyle art brands from across the continent are looking at India as a wide market to sell their products at cheaper prices in a “reverse trend” of pre-independence Indian economy, when Indian goods were sold for a pittance in Europe, says a leading UK-based home arts promoter of Indian origin.

“The Indian economy is growing and so are people’s choices. Indians have become adventurous. We have been exporting haute objects’ d art from England, and they think that India is a big high-end market for art,” Sunil Sethi, one of UK’s leading Indian collectors of designer objects’ d arts and sculptures, told IANS.

He said, “Exporting niche art objects from Europe is easy now because the manufacturers and artists do not impose conditions on sale in developing countries abroad because of the economic slowdown, as was earlier.”

“European buyers are not in a position to buy high end art any more and the countries have to find emerging markets. Indian economy is still strong. It is a reverse trend,” he said.

Sethi, the founder of Interarts, promotes high end accessory art brands like Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, Moorcroft, Arthur Price, Poole Pottery from UK, Costaboda from Scandinavia, Svaja from Eastern Europe, Versace sculptures, Armani from Italy, Rosenthal from Germany, Lladro from Spain, Felix Valez bronze sculptures, Cyan Glass and Franz porcelain from Spain.

An Interarts showcase of home accessory art in the capital this weekend (April 27-28) at the Bikaner House in the capital displayed more than 100 limited edition objects’d art from Europe and the US – featuring the best of contemporary crystal, porcelain, bronze and glass sculptures and cutlery.

The prices range between Rs.2,500 and Rs.14 lakh.

A section dedicated to coloured glass sculptures by Amanda Brisbane, Will Shakespeare and Richard Golding – a few of Britain’s best glass artists – was the centre of attraction.

Brisbane sculpts large forms from nature in single sheets of expensive shaded glass while Shakespeare crafts futuristic shape in crystalline fired glass. Golding, the founder of Okra Glass, fuses metal with glass.

The three, along with hot glass artist Ian MacDonald, cameo glass artist Helen Millard, glass revivalist Andrew Potter, glass designer Rebecca Morgan, the Isle of Wight Glass Studio and veterans like Simon Moore, represent UK’s new face of glass art, a tradition which dates back to the country’s ties with glass capitals Venice and Murano in Italy in the early medieval era.

However, historians say glass as a medium of crafting was used as early as 1500 BC.

“I started collecting in 1992. The first piece of glass that I bought was from Okra Glass. Over the years, my collection has grown and I befriended the artists , glass studios and large glassware chains to set up a export platform,” Sethi said. Sethi with wife Purnima set up Interarts four years ago.

He has exhibited and sold British accessory art in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

When not in India, Interarts conducts business with Indian buyers on the Internet, he said.

May 1^st is International Labour Day.

Raghunath Lohar, an aeronautical student was walking past a construction site when he saw woman carrying bricks on her head lose her balance. A heavy brick fell on her foot and broke her toes. He felt bad for the woman but more than that this incident raised several questions in his mind. What for is he an engineer if he cannot devise an implement that could help lessen the burden of these people. He started thinking of ways on how this could be done. Then he saw an advertisement from the National Innovation Council which called for proposals on models that could reduce the drudgery of the workers. This gave him an incentive to start working on what he had been thinking ever since he saw the womanlabourer break her toes. Finally he was able to design a vessel desk. Bricks and other material could be put in this vessel and the light desk to carry it was so designed that it distributed the burden on the two shoulders instead of the whole weight falling on the head. Also there was no question of losing the balance with this implement. He sent the design to National Innovation Council. His model was selected for the award which carried a cash prize of 50,000 rupees. The vessel desk can be used by both men and women. Raghunathhas also designed different kinds of attachments to go with the model for use separately by farmers or other workers to reduce their drudgery. Also the model suits the Indian conditions. Raghunath says that it cost him between 700 to 800 rupees to make this model. He feels that the model can be improved upon and produced on a large scale for use by construction workers.

We often see women young and old carrying loads of bricks and other construction material on their heads or men carrying huge sacks of food grains and other stuff or these people breaking stones at construction sites in severe weather conditions risking all kinds of injuries. Also we see men with bare bodies getting into manholes to clean sewers without any safe guards or proper implements. While science and technology in our country has advanced by leaps and bounds very little thought has gone into manufacturing simple and low cost implements that could reduce the risks of injury, pain and physical burden and drudgery of the working class.

These questions had bothered him says Sam Pitroda, the Chairman of the National Innovation Council. Mr. Pitroda says that attention has for too long been focused on the problems of the rich and there was a need for Indian model of inclusive innovation that focused on the poor and the common man.

The Council therefore decided to make a beginning by the launch of ‘The Challenge’ last year seeking innovative ideas in the areas of design improvement of work implements, new equipment, techniques for different kind of workers to reduce their drudgery. The challenge was not only to work on implements, processes, and models that could improve work conditions, but these innovations should not lead to labour displacement.

More than 450 proposals and designs of models were received this year. Six of them were selected for the first ever innovation awards of this kind. Among the six winning innovations was a low cost cycle for the physically challenged. Although in the developed countries, the physically challenged are not dependent on others because they have different kinds of aids that help them in coping with their day to day life. In our country unfortunately even simple gadgets have either not been devised or made available to the physically challenged to make their life less dependent on others.

The proposal came from three young men from Chennai. The Cycle is for the disabled without hands. What motivated them to work on this model?

Once when the three young men Mahesh PV, Ajith T Alex and Anand Ganesh were travelling they saw a one-handed person getting into the bus with great difficulty. That time they took the decision that some transportation facility has to be made for reducing the difficulty of a handless person. Then during a brain-storming session they decided to start working on a cycle that could be driven by people who lost their arms and hands. This cycle is not only cost effective but eco-friendly as well.

The three young men are now continuing their talks with the government for further expansion to reach the needy and reducing their difficulty and dependence on others.

Their challenge now is to work on a cycle that could be driven by a physically challenged person who does not have either hands or feet.

Manjunath’s display Unit for small Hawkers and Street Vendors was also selected for the award.

Manjunath was already working on Street vendors in his Master’s thesis Projects. So he could use the case study of his thesis the Post Your Ideas Program by National innovation council.

This model is for Direct and semi-processing retail products. There are some limitations like the size of the products but it is transformable furniture and can be moved quickly and easily. It’s handy and can be moved from one place to another without any difficulty. The material used to make the product can be recyclable plastic. The idea behind his model is also to save the space which is shrinking with increasing population

Jitendra Das, former Asst Engineer with KMC Kolkata says that all his life he had been seeing the workers getting into manholes and cleans sewerages and that is why he created the model of a picking Grab for sanitation workers without exposing hands.

The ideas generated by this first innovation challenge says the Council is just a starting point to involve the wider community to solve the problem of the bottom of the pyramid. What the chairman the National Innovation council wants is a legislation focused on dignity of labour. He says that to start with at least at the construction sites of projects that are funded by the government, the workers should be provided with facilities like portable toilets and implements like wheel barrow.

The council has taken the first step to provide dignity to labour by the launch of the innovative challenge for implements to reduce the drudgery of the workers, the onus is now on the polity of the country to ensure through laws that every worker in the country gets at least minimum basic amenities and are given the dignity they truly deserve. (PIB Feature.)