current affairs newspaper analysis and summarry · 2015-11-02 · newspaper analysis and...

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Newspaper Analysis and Summarry– 01st May 2015

NATIONAL

Jaitley rolls back public debt plan – The Hindu

Following a measured pushback from Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan, the Modi

government on Thursday withdrew its Budget proposals aimed at the most significant

regulatory shake-up in the 80-year history of the central bank — to take away from the

RBI, and give to a new independent agency, the task of managing the Centre‟s borrowings

and to strip it of the authority of regulating government bonds.

Ahead of the vote in the Lok Sabha on the Finance Bill, 2015-16, Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley said the government would make a fresh road map for a new independent

agency to issue, and manage, public debt after consulting the Reserve Bank. He, however,

did not offer reasons for the rollback.

In his Budget speech in February, the Minister had proposed a public debt management

agency, which became a source of friction between the Reserve Bank and the Centre.

Dr. Rajan had told The Hindu earlier this month: “… There have been concerns that a

central bank being the public debt management authority may be lax in some of its

functions … I have always believed those concerns [are] not entirely unwarranted but

perhaps overblown. But let‟s say ... perception of these conflicts exists then may be there is

some rationale to having an independent agency. But if that agency is too close to the

government also, we should be careful ... ”

Govt. rejects U.S. panel’s report on religious freedom – The Hindu

India reacted coldly to the report of the U.S. commission on religious freedom that

criticises the government, and said that it was based on a “limited understanding of India,

its constitution and its society.”

“We take no cognizance of this report,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs

said.

The Congressional body, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom,

released its annual report for 2015 on Thursday, placing India amid more than 30 countries

that meet a “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” standard for failing to protect religious

freedoms.

India has been on the list since 2009 as a country in the “Tier 2” category. Marking concern

over “Hindu nationalist” groups for programmes of forced conversion, “Ghar Wapsi”,

attacks on churches and “hate campaigns” against Muslim minorities, the U.S. commission

has retained India‟s status as a “Tier 2 Country of concern” on religious freedom.

The reaction of the Ministry of External Affairs is a departure from the past, when the

government had made no comment, as it was an internal report of the US legislature.

However, the language used this year is particularly critical of the government, for not

taking on the groups it alleges are carrying out attacks on minorities.

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Community radio stations now face the heat – The Hindu

After the crackdown on NGOs, the government has turned the heat on 179 Community

Radio (CR) stations operational in the country, struggling to remain on air on shoe-string

budgets, by ordering them to throw open their content for scrutiny on a daily basis.

This, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has proposed, should be done on an

email. In an order, dated April 30, the Ministry ordered the radio stations, that broadcast

anywhere between eight and 20 hours to mail their content every day.

The order reads as follows: “You are requested to provide recordings of all programmes

broadcast on daily basis from the date of receipt of this letter along with the logbook and

the Q sheet. Please provide the recordings in MP3 format.”

For most CR operators, this is a logistical nightmare as they try and figure out how to

execute the Government‟s recent diktat.

The last time, the government had directed CRs to share their content was on a three-month

basis which resulted in 30 DVDs being despatched to the ministry for scrutiny from a

single radio station!

Plea in apex court

With the Supreme Court examining a petition filed by NGO Common Cause, which seeks

the court‟s direction to allow news on radio, operators are currently barred from

broadcasting their own news. Many operators believe the government is preparing the

ground for control of content. “If the courts allow news on radio, the government would

retain scrutiny on content with this latest diktat.” In fact, this year‟s budget provides for a

Rs. 10 crore allocation for monitoring of radio content.

As of now, CR operators have no option but to broadcast Prime Minister Narendra Modi‟s

Mann Ki Baat — despite the government‟s own ban on news! Many radio operators fear

that their radio stations are increasingly been viewed as a platform for propagating

government programmes.

Noise pollution again under NGT scanner – The Hindu

To address the woes of residents of South Delhi‟s Panchsheel Park, which is a no honking

zone, and save them from noise pollution created by heavy vehicular traffic, the National

Green Tribunal has convened a meeting of all parties concerned.

The NGT had on March 11 declared Panchsheel Park as „no honking‟ zone on a petition

filed by former Chief Secretary of Delhi, Omesh Saigal, a resident of the area himself.

The Tribunal had also ordered that the speed of the vehicles crossing the area be limited to

30 km per hour.

A Bench headed by Justice U D Salvi directed the Chief Secretary of the Delhi

Government, officers of various departments concerned and members of Panchsheel

Enclave Co-operative House Building Society to be present on May 5 at the NGT.


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“Parties are eager to find out the real solution. We, therefore, hope that such meeting would

be held on the date mutually agreed date i.e. May 5, 2015... Participation of elected

Managing Committee Members of Panchshila Enclave Co-operative House Building

Society was also permitted in such meeting. We, therefore, direct issuance of notice to the

elected Managing Committee Members of Panchsheel Enclave Co-operative House

Building Society informing them of the scheduled meeting,” the Bench said.

Mr. Saigal had said in his petition that noise pollution, generated due to heavy traffic flow

on the Outer Ring road, was affecting the health of the people living in the area.

Delhi Pollution Control Committee had also informed the Tribunal that roadside noise

levels near Panchsheel Park area in South Delhi were beyond permissible limits.

The Tribunal had earlier also directed installation of speed cameras to monitor speed of the

vehicles and asked the residents of Panchsheel Park to insulate the windows of their houses

so that minimum sound pollution is caused and employ methods like vegetative boundaries.

Jaitley promises ‘extremely simplified’ I-T returns form – The Hindu

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday proposed to bring in an „extremely

simplified‟ income tax returns form in place of the controversial 14-page ITR form that

sought information on bank accounts held overseas and details of all foreign trips made

during the year.

“I am having the entire matter reviewed and very soon you will hear an extremely

simplified procedure coming for us,” the Minister said during the debate in the Lok Sabha

on the finance bill which was passed by a voice vote.

Mr. Jaitley also announced exemption from service tax on life insurance policies under the

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and on

general insurance policies under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, besides some

changes in duty rates applicable to raw silk, iron ore and rubber.

Jibe at Rahul

During the debate, in response to oft-repeated remarks including by Congress vice-

president Rahul Gandhi on Prime Minister Narendra Modi‟s foreign visits he said: “When

PM goes abroad he is performing a national duty…there‟s a difference between performing

a national duty and disappearing for a jaunt.”

He also said that the Modi Government was a soojh-boojh ki sarkar (a thoughtful and

understanding government) rhyming it with Mr. Gandhi‟s remarks last week that it was in

fact a suit-boot ki sarkar .

Purti violations: CAG report names Gadkari – The Hindu

In an audit report tabled in Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on

Thursday named Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as one of the „promoters and/or directors‟ of

Purti Sakhar Karkhana Limited — a company that, it said, was sanctioned a loan of Rs.

84.12 crore by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in violation of

guidelines.


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“…IREDA could recover only Rs.71.35 crore out of Rs.84.12 crore recoverable from the

borrower, resulting in a sacrifice of Rs.12.77 crore,” said the audit report.

It also said the contentions of the management of Purti for doing so were untenable.

Purti Sakhar Karkhana did not comply with the conditions for the interest subsidy, the

report observed, stating, “The borrower violated the terms and conditions for subsidy

schemes.”

The project, which was to be commissioned in February 2004, was finally commissioned in

March 2007 and subsequently switched over (June 2009) to 100 per cent coal-based

operation as against allowance of up to 25 per cent prescribed in the subsidy scheme. The

promoters and/or directors of the borrower company had given their personal guarantee for

the loan. The project was commissioned on March 18, 2007, and the case was classified as

a non-performing asset on March 31, 2007.

Loan turns NPA

Though the loan became NPA in March 2007, actual benefit of the subsidy amounting to

Rs.1.66 crore was passed on till December 2009 and unutilised subsidy of Rs.0.22 crore

was refunded to the Ministry in August 2010.

According to the CAG audit, “Various irregularities in implementation of the Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy‟s subsidy schemes were observed”.

Did Centre, collegium ever differ? – The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to produce statistics of the number of

times the Union Law Minister, in the past, accepted or rejected the previous collegium

system‟s recommendations of persons to be appointed judges.

This may be an effort to show the number of times the executive had interfered with, or

even blocked, the primacy of the judiciary in appointment of judges to the highest courts.

Justice Kurian Joseph, one of the five judges on the Constitution Bench looking into the

National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) law‟s validity, asked Attorney

General Mukul Rohatgi to show in numbers the occasions in which the Law Minister had a

difference of opinion with the collegium on judicial appointments.

The query came even as Justice J.S. Khehar, who heads the Bench explained that the

collegium, when it selects a name for appointment as judge, looks at only the candidate‟s

judicial capability. It is left to the executive to do a profile check on the candidate‟s moral

and professional integrity, Justice Khehar said.

The court‟s posers to the Attorney General came in the light of arguments made by senior

advocate Ram Jethmalani that the collegium system of appointments lacked transparency.

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept that the NJAC is a more evolved process

of appointing judges than the collegium system. But the apex court said it would tread

carefully.


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“We have to be careful...Don‟t you realise? This is an important crossroad in our history. If

we don‟t decide rightly, the country is going to curse us. This is the most difficult crossroad

in our history,” Justice Khehar observed.

This exchange came after Mr. Rohatgi questioned the insistence on why judges alone

should appoint judges. The AG said that, judging by the large number of vacancies, the

collegium system has hardly worked.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted that what went on in the collegium system was a

“structured bargaining” among judges to get their candidates in. Mr. Bhushan said the

present NJAC would be a throwback to the collegium system. He alleged that even the

appointment of the two eminent persons as NJAC members would become an exercise of

mutual political appeasement between the Prime Minister and the leader of the single

largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

The hearing will continue on Friday.

Mumbai hams dare it in Nepal – The Hindu

As Nepal struggles to cope with the devastation caused by an earthquake on Saturday, a

group of ham radio operators from here has become the key link between government aid

agencies and remote villages cut off by the disaster when all other modes of communication

snapped.

Soon after the temblor struck, the Disaster Amateur Radio Emergency Services (DARES)

sent a team to the Himalayan nation. Another team was summoned by the Disaster

Management Cell of the Maharashtra government to set up a ham radio emergency station

at the Disaster Control Room at the State Secretariat.

When all collapse

“Disasters and calamities cause mobile-phone networks to collapse, and leave victims and

governments stranded and unreachable. Ham radio technology is a century-old technology

that has come to use every time this happens,” Ankur Puranik, chief commanding officer

(engineering & wireless) of DARES, told The Hindu on Thursday.

“We are all professionals of varied backgrounds who use the network for recreation. During

disasters, we unite to respond to the emergency and dedicate all our time to communicate

with the victims.”

India has 20,000 ham radio operators, 400 of them in Maharashtra. Mumbai has 150. Ham

radio operators on a field trip in the Andaman and Nicobar islands were the first to report

the tsunami to the government. They have been of service during the Bhuj earthquake in

2001 and the July 26, 2005, floods in Mumbai.

The team in Nepal has been relaying information on relief-and-rescue requirements,

medical needs, missing people and deaths. Mr. Puranik, an entrepreneur manufacturing

solar-powered devices, said the team had been using a solar-powered ham radio for the

relief operations, and without the constraint of batteries running out, the members had been

able to provide round-the-clock services.


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“Ten to 15 cases of missing people have been solved because of this advantage,” he said.

“We are likely to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Disaster Management Cell

of the Maharashtra government soon to set up permanent ham radio stations in 36 districts

of the State.”

Back safely

Over 400 tourists from Maharashtra stranded in Nepal have returned home safely in the

past four days, official sources said.

Ham radio technology has now been upgraded to exchange not only audio messages but

also images and text messages.

The amateur communication mode uses radio waves, without the use of any mobile

network, SIM card or telephone line. They resemble the walkie-talkies used for intra-city

communication, but are much more powerful in their range of accessibility.

Tiny dinosaur fossil discovered in China – The Hindu

The fossil of a bizarre pigeon-sized dinosaur that had bat-like wings made of skin rather

than feathers has been identified in China, shedding new light on the evolution of flight.

The dinosaur — named Yi qi — the shortest name ever given to a dino, which means

“strange wing.”

At 160-million-years old, the dinosaur is older than the first known birds, such as

Archaeopteryx. It also appears to be the earliest known flying non-avian dinosaur.

Unexpected discovery

“This is the most unexpected discovery I have ever made, even though I have found a few

really bizarre dinosaurs in my career,” paleontologist Xu Xing of the Institute of Vertebrate

Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing said.

“It demonstrates how extreme the experimentation for dinosaurs to get in air is,” said Xu,

the lead author of the study.

Researchers unearthed the remains for Yi qi at Hebei Province in China, Discovery News

reported.

The rod-like bones that extended from each wrist of the tiny dinosaur and weighed about

the same as a modern pigeon puzzled the scientists.

Their real purpose was determined by co-author Corwin Sullivan, a Canadian

paleontologist now based at the IVPP, after he pored over scientific literature on flying and

gliding animals.

Further investigation of Yi qi‟s remains uncovered. While the dinosaur did have feathers,

they were more like hairs, bristles or streamers, and would not have been capable of

forming good aerodynamic surfaces, Sullivan said.


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“Yi qi was mainly gliding, perhaps in combination with a bit of awkward flapping,” he

added.

Researchers believe Yi qi was a scansoriopterygid, referring to a group of dinosaurs only

known from China that were closely related to primitive birds.

The finding was published in the journal Nature . — PTI

INTERNATIONAL China slams new security pact between Japan, U.S. - The Hindu

China has slammed new guidelines defining the security partnership between Japan and the

United States, calling them an attempt to undermine Beijing, as well as the geopolitical

architecture of the Asia-Pacific.

“The new guidelines have struck a threatening pose toward China, which is the strongest

driver for East Asia‟s development. They should know that their aggression has sent a

dangerous signal to regional stability,‟‟ said an editorial in the Global Times — a daily

affiliated with the Communist Party of China.

Officials from the United States have been quoted as saying that the latest guidelines —

updated for the first time since1997 — end the geographic limits on the Japanese military

to operate.

Following permission from Parliament, Japanese forces can participate in military

operations across the globe. “The current guidelines are unrestricted with respect to

geography,” U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter has been quoted as saying. “That is a very

big change — from being locally focused to globally focused,” he observed. Analysts point

out that the changes to the U.S.-Japan pact injects more substance to President Barack

Obama‟s “Pivot to Asia” doctrine, which the Chinese say lays the military groundwork for

containing Beijing‟s peaceful rise.

A string of articles in the Chinese official media, have been vocal in rejecting the new

parameters. The Chinese have been incensed by the joint decision taken by Washington and

Tokyo to include the disputed Diyaoyu islands, which the Japanese call Senkaku, in the

ambit of the new agreement. “Since the Cold War‟s end, the U.S.-Japan alliance has never

been so military-oriented as now. They no longer make efforts to hide their intention of

containing China‟s rise. This antagonistic trajectory has dealt another blow to the already

vulnerable China-U.S. and China-Japan relations,” the Global Times said in the editorial.

‘Stepping back’

“The current Asia-Pacific geopolitical structure is on the verge of destruction,” it observed.

The write-up also warned that Japan was stepping back in historical issues and leaning to

the right in internal politics. “Relaxing the restraints on the Japanese military forces will

trigger enormous controversies in Japan‟s neighbourhood.”

A write-up published in the People‟s Daily — China‟s official newspaper — also attributes

the shift in position by Tokyo and Washington to China‟s rising influence, which became

evident when many prominent members of the Atlantic Alliance broke ranks and joined the

Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank.


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BUSINESS Core sector growth at 17-month low - The Hindu

Eight core industries registered a negative growth of 0.1 per cent in March, the lowest

performance in 17 months, due to a steep decline in production of steel, cement and

refinery products. The output had expanded by 4 per cent in March 2014. The previous low

logged by the core industries was in October 2013 at (-) 0.6 per cent. The growth of eight

core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, electricity, steel

and cement — was 1.4 per cent in February 2015.

For the full 2014-15 fiscal, the growth in production of eight sectors also slowed down to

3.5 per cent from 4.2 per cent in the previous financial year ended in March, 2014.

“The stagnation in core sector output and contraction in merchandise trade ... leading us to

expect a moderation in industrial growth,” rating agency ICRA said. The growth rate of

core sector industries has been declining since November last year. It was 6.7 per cent in

November 2014, which fell to 2.4 per cent in December 2014 and then to 1.8 per cent in

January. The eight sectors contribute 38 per cent to the overall industrial production, a

parameter that the Reserve Bank of India takes into account while framing its monetary

policy. In March 2015, steel production declined by 4.4 per cent, cement output by 4.2 per

cent, refinery products by 1.3 per cent and of natural gas by 1.5 per cent, according to the

data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry. However, coal production rose by 6

per cent, crude oil by 1.7 per cent and fertilizer output by 5.2 per cent in the last month of

2014-15 fiscal. Electricity generation grew by 1.7 per cent in March 2015 compared to 5.4

per cent in the same month last year. — PTI

EDITORIALS Growth: the next steps to be taken - The Hindu

The gloom over economic growth appears to have dissipated a bit after the new numbers on

National Income were released at the end of January 2015. However, there is continued

scepticism about the numbers as several analysts feel that they are not in accord with the

ground realities. According to the advanced estimates for 2014-15, the growth rate is

projected at 7.4 per cent. What are the prospects for 2015-16? We do not have the data for

past years reworked on the new base and the new methodology, and without such a time

series it becomes hard to forecast. Perhaps, 2015-16 will be a shade better than 2014-15, if

all the positive factors mentioned later come together. However, it will fall short of the

Budget expectations of eight per cent.

Favourable factors and uncertainty

What are the favourable factors that can contribute to a better performance of the economy

in 2015-16? First and foremost, there is the advantage of low crude oil prices. This will not

only reduce the oil import bill and impact favourably on the current account balance, but

will also moderate the price increase in general because petroleum products are used in the

production of almost every commodity and service. Second, the credit rating agency,

Moody‟s decision to upgrade the outlook to “positive” may facilitate the inflow of capital.

Though the recovery of the advanced economies is still tepid, the external environment as

far as India is concerned may be benign. On the domestic front, there are signs of a gradual

improvement in the investment “sentiment”.


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Still, there are several unfavourable or uncertain factors, chief among them being the

uncertainty about the monsoon. We have not yet seen the full impact of the unseasonal rains

of the last few months. The damage to crops has been extensive in several States and the

natural consequence will be some pick up in food prices. Initial reports indicate that rainfall

this time will be below normal. The impact on production will depend not only on the

quantum of rainfall but also on its distribution over time and across States. Even though

agriculture contributes only about 15 per cent to the GDP, any shortfall in agricultural

production has serious implications. It fuels inflation and human distress is high as more

than 50 per cent of the population depends on agriculture. Second, the several initiatives

promised in the Budget will have the desired impact only if they are implemented speedily

and effectively. For example, take the increased allocation of funds for railways and roads.

Are these ministries adequately prepared to utilise these funds? Some of the initiatives such

as the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and Mudra Bank will take time to be set

up and for their impact to be felt.

Role of public investment

The Economic Survey has persuasively argued for larger public investment at a time when

private investment is yet to pick up. The same point was made by the Report of the

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister in September 2013, that said: “The

focused attention that is being given to achieving the production and capacity creation

targets in coal, power, road and railways should generate higher growth. In effect, the

public sector would act as the driver of growth and crowd in private sector activities”. It is

to be noted that capital expenditures of the Central government in the Budget are not

significant. Capital expenditures are also not synonymous with investment. While capital

expenditures in 2015-16 show an increase over the revised estimates of 2014-15, as a

proportion of GDP, they remain the same as in the Budget estimate of 2014-15, i.e. at 1.7

per cent of GDP. In fact, the bulk of the investment has to come from public sector

institutions such as Coal India and the Indian Railways. What is needed is for the

government to come out with a statement regarding the quantum of investment that will be

made by the various public sector institutions. This should be monitored every quarter and

the actual investments made should be made public. Apart from making the government

accountable, this will inspire confidence in investors.

The new initiatives

For raising the growth rate, the government relies on many of the initiatives announced in

the Budget. Several of them need clarification and refinement. For example, how will the

National Investment in Infrastructure Fund operate? Will it take the form of a trust or a

non-banking financial company (NBFC)? The word “trust” was used in the Budget speech.

The sooner the details are spelled out, the better it will be. Take another idea, of the Mudra

Bank. To call the institution a “bank” will be incorrect if it is only to be a refinancing

institution. Which are the last mile finance institutions which will be refinanced by this

institution? Apparently, this institution will have to rely totally on Budget allocation. The

idea of a refinancing institution is good but, once again, the details need to be spelled out.

In fact, in this context, perhaps the best way to promote investment in the large-, medium-

and small-scale sector is to go back to the days when we had development banks which

provided long-term finance to large, medium and small industries. At the national level, the

IDBI (Industrial Development Bank of India of that time) played a major role. At the State

level, State finance corporations operated to provide long-term finance to medium and

small enterprises. The development banks became universal banks and in that process we


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have lost out on long-term finance. Even the new initiative of allowing commercial banks

to raise infrastructure bonds may not be adequate. Very soon, they will reach the limits of

exposure with respect to industries and groups. And, it is also difficult to have firewalls

separating short term from long-term credit. While the new ideas promoted in the Budget

are welcome, it is time to think in terms of creating long-term finance institutions to

provide equity and long-term loans to large and medium industries.

‘Stalled’ projects and consensus

The easiest way to achieve higher growth in the short run is to ensure that the projects that

are under way are completed in time so that output will flow out of them. India‟s

investment rate as a proportion of GDP has come down from the peak it had reached in

2007-08. Nevertheless, it is still around 32 per cent. In normal circumstances, this should

have given us a growth of 7.5 to 8 per cent. But the actual growth rate was below it. The

decline in output growth is sharper than the decline in investment rate. This may be because

of the delay in the completion of projects or a lack of complementary investments. In some

cases, it can also be due to non-availability of critical inputs such as coal and power. The

Economic Survey has examined in detail the causes behind “stalled” projects. The reasons

include not only delay in clearances and permits but also decline in demand and lack of

finance. The analysis also shows that clearing the top 100 projects by value will address 83

per cent of the problem of stalled projects. Focussed attention on removing the bottlenecks

will give one an immediate pay off.

Strong economic growth is imperative as growth is the answer to many of our socio-

economic problems. Prospects for a rise in growth rate in the immediate future appear to be

bright. This depends critically on implementing, in a time-bound manner, the various

initiatives announced in the Budget. Public investment is directly in the hands of the

government. A continuous progress report regarding the performance in this area will go a

long way in building up confidence. What is needed is a timetable of action. It is important

that non-economic factors are not allowed to derail the process of economic growth.

Contentious issues must be avoided and consensus building on key economic issues is very

much the need of the hour.

Message loud and clear – The Hindu

With an explicit signal to Pakistan to open up its trade access for Afghan trucks all the way

to the Indian check posts at the Wagah-Attari border, Afghanistan‟s President Ashraf Ghani

is doing more than talking about economic connectivity. His pointed remarks in an

exclusive interview to this newspaper seemed to underscore possibilities of an alternative

reality for South Asia, one in which all countries in the region open up the world for one

another. Thus, while Pakistan could, if it chooses, offer the possibility of trucks moving

from Kabul to Kolkata and Chittagong, it could equally open up opportunities for India to

Central Asia, even as other countries in SAARC follow suit. While this may sound fanciful,

the reality is that the only road blocks to such a vision are political and can easily be

adopted on the ground. If Pakistan joins other SAARC countries to sign the Motor Vehicles

Agreement and fully implements the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement

(APTTA) it signed in 2011, the subcontinent could see a revolution on the roads. The call

from President Ghani during his visit to Delhi comes at a particular „subcontinental

moment‟. Every SAARC nation has pitched in to help with Nepal‟s urgent need for help in

the aftermath of its earthquake. While India has taken the lead, rushing planes with relief

just six hours after the tragedy struck, others have followed. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have


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rushed manpower and supplies with their own relief planes. Nature‟s fury doesn‟t recognise

political borders, and neither should humans. In a welcome move, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi discussed earthquake relief with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the

telephone on Thursday. Mr. Modi did well to suggest a SAARC disaster management team

and joint exercises on mitigating natural disasters.

Significantly, Mr. Ghani also spoke of building a subcontinental network to cooperate on

fighting terror. The new and mutating threat from IS or Da‟esh has „changed the game‟,

according to him. In the past, insurgencies or anti-national terror organisations threatened

the state, but the “prize” now is not in defeating the state but in destruction. The only way

to counter the threat is for these very states to unite in fighting it. The key challenge is to

solve political differences so that all the countries of the region can remove road blocks to

growth and build highways, energy pipelines and fibre optic i-ways which will bring

prosperity to the region. Building connectivity economically and thereby politically will

provide the key to a more integrated economic region, paving the way for better relations in

the larger neighbourhood.

India’s urban challenges – The Hindu

The Union Cabinet‟s nod on Wednesday to the 100 smart cities project and a new urban

renewal mission is an important first step toward dealing with an old problem that has only

got progressively worse over the years: urban liveability. A shade less than a third of India‟s

population now lives in urban areas, overcrowded cities and towns with infrastructure

bursting at the seams. This problem will only worsen with little or no intervention

happening. The proportion of the urban population can only go in one direction — upward

— as more Indians migrate to the cities and towns in search of jobs. Cities are engines of

growth, and as a result attract a lot of people. The country‟s urban population contributes

over 60 per cent of India‟s GDP; in 15 years this will be 70 per cent. On the other hand,

there is little incentive for people to migrate out of cities. Earlier attempts at providing

better urban infrastructure or at creating new townships have not been able to deal with the

issue of liveability satisfactorily. Even successful special economic zones have had to

contend with the issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually means access to

avenues of education, health, arts, sports, and so on. There are numerous definitions of a

smart city but the Modi government‟s idea of one usefully encompasses institutional

infrastructure (governance), physical infrastructure, as also social infrastructure.

The Cabinet approval marks the first of many steps, as also the easiest, that will be required

for the project. The challenges start now. Of course there is no doubt that this has created

tremendous enthusiasm amongst many possible stakeholders, including service providers

who have been part of smart city projects elsewhere in the world. Countries such as Japan,

Singapore and Germany, among many others, have evinced interest to be a part of this. Yet,

in its scale and complexity the project will be second to none. The official estimates of per

capita investment requirement is Rs.43,386 for a 20-year period, or a total investment of

Rs.7 lakh crore. Creating a smart city isn‟t just about creating the physical infrastructure —

roads, clean water, power, transport and so on, things India finds difficult to deliver to its

citizens nearly seven decades after Independence. It is hoped that public private

partnerships (PPP) will deliver but the mechanism seems to need a lot of tweaking in order

for it to work, a fact acknowledged in the recent Budget. The big challenge will be to create

self-sustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources wisely and also train people. This


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also means more autonomy for these cities. Whether that can happen is a moot question

depending heavily on the maturity of the Indian political system.

Don’t rush to Nepal to help. Read this first – The Hindu

As someone who has considered Nepal home for many years, the shock on hearing the

news of the earthquake that has devastated the country was extreme. I felt pained at being

away from home — cut off in rural Cambodia — at a time like this, impotent and

powerless.

The quake has left thousands dead, many more injured and even more without shelter. What

we also know from tracking events in natural disasters all over the world is that the

situation only gets worse in the weeks following the event, as hospitals become

overwhelmed, basic supplies become scarce and those living in temporary shelters succumb

to exposure and disease. The example fresh in everyone‟s minds is the 2010 earthquake in

Haiti — a country in a similar economic condition to Nepal and which, despite an

enormous influx of international aid, is still recovering from the disaster five years later.

Something that has been much discussed in the international aid community is the lack of

coordinated response to the Haiti disaster. Ragtag brigades of well-intentioned do-gooders

flooded the country: students, church congregations, individuals who had previously

vacationed in the area, all clambering over one another looking for a way to make their

mark and do good, but lacking either the skills or coordination to have an impact. Indeed,

many ended up slowing down the aid efforts.

There were even reports of teams of doctors who arrived to help but were unable to feed

themselves. This wave of unsolicited and poorly planned shipments of untrained people and

donated goods was dubbed by some humanitarians “the second disaster”.

One of the biggest problems with relief work is that it is a free-for-all. Anyone who wants

to, and who is privileged enough to afford a plane ticket, can pitch up. Unlike doctors or

engineers, who need to train for years to gain qualifications that prove they probably know

what they‟re doing, no such qualification exists for aid workers.

What Nepal needs right now is not another untrained bystander, however much her heart is

hurting. Nepal has one international airport for the entire country, which has itself sustained

damage. That airport needs to be used for emergency supplies, immediate aid for the

victims, and qualified, professional relief workers. My trip back to commiserate with loved

ones can wait a few weeks.

I have been inundated with offers of help and contributions from friends and family.

Everyone is asking: “What do you need? What can I do?” Here are some practical ideas

that will not hamper the aid effort:

Remember that it is not about you . It is not about your love for the country and its people.

Your feelings of guilt and helplessness may be difficult to deal with, but you may not be

what is needed right now. Do not rush to go there, at least for the next couple of weeks

while the country is reeling. The exception to this is if you are a qualified professional with

much-needed skills to offer. If you are, join up with an international relief agency that can

place you in a position where you are needed most.


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Do not donate stuff . Secondhand goods are difficult to distribute in a disaster area and are

hardly ever what is actually needed. It is easier, and often in the long run cheaper, for

organisations to procure goods themselves and distribute based on need. If you want to give

away things you no longer need, sell them and donate the money to the relief fund. Or give

them to a local charity shop, which can convert them into cash on your behalf.

Give money . More than your plane ticket or your collection of old T-shirts, what is most

needed in Nepal right now is money. Donate what you can, to a reputable relief

organisation, and do research to find out where your money will go. If you can, compare a

few organisations with aid appeals and ensure that you agree with their approach.

In the short term, handouts are necessary . I have previously questioned this as a method of

long-term development. However, in the immediate wake of such devastation, handouts are

necessary to give victims the essentials for survival.

In the long term, rebuild sustainably . If in the coming months you want to contribute to the

rebuilding efforts and the longer-term development of the country, consider sustainability

as a factor. There will be many programmes to repair and rebuild destroyed houses. Nepal

is an earthquake-prone country, so the buildings most likely to withstand another quake are

not those that are cheapest, or those made by foreign volunteer labourers for “free”.

And if you do decide to go ... Please look at the resources we have produced on the

Learning Service website before you get on the plane. I am not against volunteering; I am

imploring you to wait a while and think carefully about where to use your skills.

Volunteering can have a wonderful impact on the world, when done mindfully. But it is not

easy or automatically beneficial. Before signing up for a programme, spend time learning

about Nepal and the complex nature of its recovery and development, and continue to be

open to learning during your time there. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015

Building a young nation of character – The Hindu

The world has come around to the view that democracy is essential for full human

development. And only education and skill development can make this possible. The view

of the late Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on the one hand, and Communists on

the other, that economic development must be first achieved before democracy is possible,

has been decisively rejected. But democracy cannot be sustained unless the electorate is

well informed, chooses its leadership wisely, and this leadership is intellectually

empowered by a multi-dimensional intelligence.

The world view of economic development has completely changed: it is no longer believed

to be driven by human labour, as Karl Marx said, or by capital, as Alfred Marshall stated,

but is knowledge-driven. For application of knowledge, innovations are required, and for

more original research, we need many more young minds at the frontier. Knowledge is

gender neutral, and hence the 21st century offers a great opportunity to level the gender

inequity of the last thousand years in India.

Educational empowerment

The youth require a a mental faculty endowed with multi-dimensional intelligence. It is not

adequate to foster cognitive intelligence alone — as is being done in India‟s educational

campuses today — but to also develop the other dimensions of intelligence: emotional,


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social, moral, spiritual, environmental, and innovational. India‟s vast youth population is its

demographic potential dividend, but only if equipped and enabled with this seven

dimensional intelligence.

For decades since Independence, it was said that India‟s demography was its main liability;

that the country‟s population was growing too fast, and what it needed most was to control

its population, even if by coercive methods.

I had challenged this view in 1972, arguing that population growth was not India‟s problem,

and that the youth, if empowered by education, would be an asset, and not a liability, to the

country‟s development. (Noted demographer Ashish Bose of the University of Delhi had

published in 1972 my research on this as a chapter in his book India‟s Population.)

Scientific innovations by educated youth can overcome the limitations of land, natural

resources and production.

But the negative view of population prevailed till the „nasbandi‟ (vasectomy) fiasco of the

Emergency in 1975-77 forced Indian politicians to become less vocal about the need for

coercive family planning. Today, India has the world‟s largest youth population between the

ages of 15 to 35 — and this lead will last for another 40 years.

I have written this before in these pages, but this needs reiteration: India should not,

therefore, squander this “natural resource”. It should, instead, through proper policies for

the young, realise and harvest this demographic potential. China is the second largest world

leader today in young population. But this will start shrinking in proportion of its total

population from this year because of lagged negative effect of China‟s one child policy.

The total populations of Japan and Europe are already fast ageing, and have started

declining in absolute numbers. The U.S. will, however, hold a steady trend thanks to a

liberal policy of immigration. But even then it will have a demographic shortage in skilled

personnel. All developed countries will experience a demographic deficit. But India will

not.

Thus, India has now been gifted, through unintended consequences, with a young

population. If the youth are taught to develop their cognitive intelligence to become

original thinkers; imbibe emotional intelligence to develop team spirit and a rational risk-

taking attitude; inculcate moral intelligence to blend their personal ambitions with national

goals; cultivate social intelligence to defend civic rights of the weak, defend gender

equality, and develop the courage to fight injustice; and develop spiritual intelligence, then

India can develop a superior species of human beings — youth who can be relied on to

contribute to making the country a global power within the next two decades.

Parameters of education policy

The nation must, therefore, structure a national education policy for the youth so that the

seven dimensions of intelligence can be manifested in every young man and woman. Only

then will the demographic dividend not be wasted. These seven dimensions constitute the

ability of a person to live a productive life and for the national good. Hence, a policy for

India‟s youth has to be structured within the implied parameters of these dimensions.


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The first parameter of such a policy is ability empowerment — the development of the

seven types of intelligence. The second is a collective mindset about the legacy and future

of the nation, which means knowing the correct de-falsified history of India. The third is

the commitment to a social contract of rights and obligations such as a fundamental right to

quality primary and secondary education, right to work, an obligation to compete for most

positions of employment on merit, practice gender equality and place national interests

above selfish interests.

A national education policy is, therefore, a framework for the comprehensive growth of the

nation‟s young population, to enable them them to be positioned in life for personal

advancement as well as contribute to national greatness. India, however, lacks today a

properly structured policy for development of its youth. As a result, many young people are

led astray by drugs and crime.

What are the objectives that the youth should work towards? These cannot be purely

materialistic because we know from our past history that though India was the world‟s most

economically developed country, it was subject to brutal assault and loot by a handful of

foreigners, and, for a 1000 years, we could not rule from Delhi. Materialistic progress alone

does not guarantee national security. What is essential is the character and integrity of the

country‟s citizens.

In brief, a national policy for integrating spiritual values and organisation leadership can be

achieved through measures by which we can create a modern mindset among the youth.

This will not only motivate them to acquire technical cognitive competence, but also

develop their emotional, moral, social, spiritual, environmental and innovational

intelligence. This will make them patriotic, self-reliant individuals of high character,

possessing a social conscience. Governance, business ethics and organisational leadership

has to be founded on that pool of talent.

Such an army of evolved youth will be the asset of the nation. Hence, a well-structured

national policy for development of multiple intelligences is vital for making India global

power two decades hence. This, then, would be a basis for our national renewal and

renaissance.


current affairs newspaper analysis and summarry · 2015-11-02 · newspaper analysis and...

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