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Newspaper Analysis and Summary – 25th November 2014

NATIONAL With no CIC, RTI appeals pile up- The Hindu

When a new Chief Information Commissioner is appointed, he or she will find a mammoth

10,000 Right to Information appeals pending. The new government’s delay in appointing a

new chief has led to the pendency shooting up, much of it surrounding new policy

decisions taken by the government.

The Chief Information Commissioner heads the Central Information Commission, the body

that hears appeals from information-seekers who have not been satisfied by the public

authority, and also addresses major issues concerning the RTI Act. Since August 22, when

CIC Rajiv Mathur retired, the government has not appointed a chief. Instead of convening a

meeting and promoting the most senior commissioner, the NDA government in the last

week of October advertised for a new chief. Monday was the last day for applications.

RTI activist Commodore (retd.) Lokesh K. Batra filed a query with the panel, asking how

many cases had been pending before the chief as on August 23 and as on November 22.

The CIC in its reply said it was 10,290 cases.

The Chief Information Commissioner is to be appointed by the President on the

recommendation of a three-member committee headed by the Prime Minister, that includes

the Leader of the Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime

Minister.

“All that it needed was for the meeting to be called and appointment made,” Nikhil Dey of

the National Campaign for the People’s Right To Information said. “The appointment was

not held up by the lack of a Leader of the Opposition, because the RTI Act clearly states

that the leader of the single largest opposition is also acceptable. If transparency had

mattered to the government, they would have made the appointment a priority,” he said.

Former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has long said that rising

pendency is killing the landmark Act. “When I was in the CIC, we decided that we would

dispose of a minimum of 3,200 cases per year. I myself was doing 5,000 cases a year and

6,000 in my last year. Yet this norm is being flouted, and Information Commissioners are

working less and less, and pendency is piling up,” he said.

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Reflecting recent news developments, there has been a big rise in the number of RTI

appeals against the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Human Resource

Development, the University Grants Commission, the Central Board of Secondary

Education and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. Over a third of cases involve appeals

against the Ministry of Defence alone.

Road map for ‘a $10-trillion economy’ – The Hindu

If India wants to build a $ 10-trillion economy by 2034, growing at a rate of 9 per cent a

year, it will have to focus on investments in R&D and undertake radical improvements in

the Human Development Index, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in a report released

on Monday.

The report defined three possible scenarios for India’s economic growth. Of the three, the

“Winning Leap” is the most aggressive growth scenario and the only one that will generate

the 240 million new jobs India’s growing demography needs, said a PwC statement on the

report.

The three scenarios are not growth projections, PwC clarified at the launch of the report

here on Monday. “India can only build shared prosperity for its 1.25 billion people by

transforming the way the economy creates value,” said PwC International chairman Dennis

Nally at the launch. The other two economic growth scenarios in the report are “Pushing

old ways faster” and “Turbocharging investment.”

NSA Doval appointed Special Representative for China talks – The Hindu

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has been appointed Special Representative for

talks with China on the boundary issue, an official release said on Monday.

The post of Special Representative has been vacant since the United Progressive Alliance

(UPA) government demitted office. The last Special Representative was former NSA

Shivshankar Menon.

“This arrangement will be part of NSA’s overall assignment,” the official announced said.

India and China created the role of Special Representatives during Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Beijing in 2003 to explore a solution to the boundary issue from a

political perspective.

So far, 17 rounds of talks have taken place between the Special Representatives of the two

countries. The whole idea behind the mechanism was that trusted representative of the

political leaderships in the two countries would take the process of boundary resolution

forward. However, perceptions of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the boundary in

the eastern and western sectors remain divergent.

During the New Delhi visit of President Xi Jinping in September, the two countries agreed

that “pending a final resolution of the boundary question, the two sides would continue to

make joint efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

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India, Pak. vie to host merged SAARC centre – The Hindu

India and Pakistan are among the five countries that are vying to host a new SAARC centre

that would be created by merging four regional centres, an official from Nepal’s Ministry of

Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Monday.

Besides the two neighbours, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives have staked their

claim to host the new Centre called SAARC Environment and Disaster Management Centre

(SEDMC). Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal have not joined the fray.

The disagreement surfaced during the meeting of the foreign secretary-level Standing

Committee of SAARC in Kathmandu on Monday. The matter will now be discussed by the

foreign ministers of SAARC countries who meet on Tuesday.

The centres that will be merged into SEDMC are SAARC Disaster Management Centre

(SDMC) in India, SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC) in the Maldives,

SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) in Bangladesh and SAARC Forestry

Centre (SFC) in Bhutan.

On the second day of the deliberations, the Standing Committee endorsed a decision by the

Programming Committee to close three SAARC Regional Centres and merge the four

regional centres for setting up SEDMC, according to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

(MoFA). The centres that would be closed are SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) in

New Delhi, SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC) in Islamabad, and

SAARC Information Centre (SIC) in Kathmandu.

The foreign secretaries also agreed to elevate the Programming Committee to the status of a

charter body.

Attack on journalists: Supreme Court intervention for judicial probe

sought – The Hindu

It alleged there was an increasing tendency to “muzzle the press” by the government

authorities and sought “appropriate compensation” for the affected journalists and framing

of guidelines to ensure “free and fair functioning of the media.”

The petition said they were seeking justice for “violation of their fundamental right

guaranteed under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution and freedom of the press which

means absence of interference by the State with the media, except in so far as it is

authorised by the constitution and by enactments which are constitutionally valid,” the plea

said.

Many pacts to be signed today– The Hindu

Three months after they last met in Kathmandu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his

Nepal counterpart Sushil Koirala will, on Tuesday, witness the signing of a slew of

agreements they had discussed to increase road and rail ties between the two countries.

The agreements will include project development agreement and power trading agreement

for the 900MW Upper Karnali hydro electric power project that could not be completed in

time for Mr. Modi’s visit in August. On Monday night, the Nepali Cabinet also cleared the

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agreement for another 900mw hydel project, called Arun-III, to be signed with India’s

Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam

The $1-billion line of credit announced by India in August will also be actualised, with a

full detail of projects that it will be used for in Nepal. India is also likely to announce the

setting up of a police training academy. In addition, the two countries will sign MoUs on

traditional medicine and youth exchanges. The two Prime Ministers will meet a day ahead

of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, and will clear

bilateral versions of the agreements to be signed there, to facilitate motor vehicle access

and for railway links.

The Prime Minister’s plans to distribute bicycles in the temple town of Janakpur have now

been cancelled. But he will be distributing several ‘gifts’ as soon as he lands in Kathmandu.

To begin with, he will inaugurate a trauma care medical centre built by India adjacent to

Kathmandu’s Bir hospital. The event will be followed by the handing over of the keys to a

brand new $6.5-million ‘Dhruv-III’ advanced light helicopter that India has gifted to the

Nepal army. Finally, Mr. Modi will flag off a bus service between Kathmandu and Delhi, on

the lines of the Delhi-Lahore bus service inaugurated in 1999.

Speaking about the Prime Minister’s earlier planned trip to Janakpur, Lumbini and

Muktinath, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it would be wrong to say it had

been “cancelled”, as the Prime Minister was keen to visit them at a later date. “The

Parliament session has begun,” said Ms. Swaraj, who landed ahead of the Prime Minister so

as to attend the SAARC foreign minister’s meeting. “The PM will visit Janakpur on the

next occasion.”

Nepal pushes for Modi-Sharif meeting– The Hindu

Nepal, host of the 18th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit here, is

playing peacemaker, to try and ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan

counterpart Nawaz Sharif have a bilateral “pull-aside” during the summit, even as both

governments kept everyone guessing.

Speaking to a Nepali television channel, Nepal’s Foreign Minister said that officials were

trying “crack the nut “ or break the logjam between both the countries, even as tensions

between the two biggest SAARC member countries threatened to overshadow the summit.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu , Nepal’s Commerce Minister Sunil Thapa said he

was “absolutely sure” the two leaders would hold talks during the summit. “It is the need of

the hour that the region must go forward, especially on economic issues,” Mr. Thapa said.

“And for that, all leaders must speak to each other during the SAARC summit.”

He said that a pull-aside would probably occur during the leader’s retreat on Thursday at

the Dwarika resort in Dhulikhel, outside Kathmandu. “Whether it is over a cup of coffee, or

a mulligatawny soup, Mr. Modi and Mr. Sharif will find many opportunities to speak to

each other, and I am sure they will do that.”

However, Indian officials remained non-committal. External Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj will meet her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz during the Foreign Minister’s

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consultations on Tuesday, and any plans for a bilateral meeting would only follow

discussions between them.

“Wait till tomorrow,” Ms. Swaraj told reporters on Monday when they asked her about the

speculations.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aziz said “Pakistan is ready for talks if India initiates the request.” No

meeting between the two sides had been scheduled as of Monday evening, when he landed

in Kathmandu, he said.

The SAARC summit will mark the first time the Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers will

come together since May 2014, when Mr. Sharif attended Mr. Modi’s swearing-in

ceremony in Delhi. The two leaders failed to meet when they visited New York for the

UNGA, after India called off Foreign Secretary talks. According to one official, it will be

very difficult for the two leaders to avoid each other during the plenary session, and

impossible to do so during the Dhulikhel retreat.

“The difference between 2002 [when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and General

Pervez Musharraf did not have a bilateral] and 2014 is that there will be a retreat where

only the leaders will meet.” In 2002, the Nepali government had to cancel the planned

retreat in Pokhara because of India-Pakistan tensions.

Indo-U.S. Trade Policy Forum revived – The Hindu

Visiting United States Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet Commerce and

Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday for the first Trade Policy Forum between

the two countries in more than four years.

“So it’s another historic moment in what has been an important year for relations between

the United States and India,” Mr. Froman said, speaking at a meeting with businessmen

organized by FICCI here.

Having heard Prime Minister Modi speak eloquently of his “Make in India,” “Digital

India,” and “Smart Cities” initiatives, increasing investment in India will be critical as well,

Mr. Froman said. “Rigid local content requirements are likely to spawn less competitive

industries, increase costs to producers and consumers and lower India’s economic welfare.”

Mr. Froman said enforcing a world-class intellectual property rights regime is in India’s

interests. He said dealing directly with piracy, counterfeiting and compulsory licensing will

be critical if India is to play a leadership role in the knowledge economy and becoming

“Digital India.”

“We have great interest in the ongoing review of India’s Intellectual Property Rights

Policy,” said the U.S.T.R.

“Ultimately, the most important factor determining the future evolution of our bilateral

economic relationship is the quality of the business environment based on transparency,

consistency, predictability,” said Mr. Froman.

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All set to put unmanned crew module into orbit – The Hindu

There is frenetic activity at Sriharikota for the maiden lift-off of India’s newest and the

biggest launch vehicle in December, which will put an unmanned crew module into orbit.

The mission is a stepping stone to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

ultimately sending astronauts into space in the module. .

The 3.65-tonne module will get de-mated from the topmost cryogenic stage at an altitude of

125 km and return to the earth. At an altitude of 15 km, there will be an “aerial ballet,”

featuring three huge parachutes which will open up one after the other to slow down the

module’s descent. The module is expected to splash down in the sea near the Andaman

archipelago and will be recovered by the Indian Coast Guard and ISRO personnel. The

entire flight from the lift-off to the splash-down will last about 20 minutes. It is a passive,

experimental and sub-orbital mission.

ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said, “Everything is progressing well” for the GSLV-

MkIII launch in December. The rocket weighs 630 tonnes and is 42.4 metres tall.

“We are ready. Everything is pucca,” said M.C. Dathan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space

Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, which has built both the GSLV-MKIII and the

unmanned crew module. Two gigantic strap-on motors, each of which will use 200 tonnes

of solid propellants, have been strapped around the core stage in the second launch pad.

The core stage will use 110 tonnes of liquid propellants. Above the core stage is the

cryogenic stage. The module will be “encapsulated” with the cryogenic stage on November

26, said Mr. Dathan.

S. Somanath, Project Director, GSLV-MKIII, called it India’s “biggest, heaviest and the

next generation” launch vehicle.

India must ‘play-to-win’ to ensure GDP growth: PwC – The Hindu

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a report released on Monday, defined three possible

scenarios for India’s economic growth. Of the three, the “Winning Leap” is the most

aggressive growth scenario. The other two economic growth scenarios are “Pushing old ways faster” and

“Turbocharging investment”. The former outlines a focus on investment in education,

health and other dimensions related to human capital. Under this scenario India’s GDP,

according to the report, could see a 6.6 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR)

between now and 2034. The scenario ‘Turbocharging investment’ outlines the impact of

rapid and significant investment in physical infrastructure and envisions a 7 per cent CAGR

for GDP leading up to 2034.

For India to undertake the “Winning Leap” says the report, it will also need a concerted

effort from Corporate India, supported by a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and a

constructive partnership with the government. It will need a “play-to-win” mindset shift for

industry leaders and the country overall, says the report.

“The report stresses that linear growth in each sector will not be enough to meet the growth

ambition envisioned for India…Given the scale and complexity of the challenges facing

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India, the resources required, and the urgency of demands for change coming from Indian

citizens, sector players must deploy solutions that deliver non-linear growth,”said PwC

India partner Shashank Tripathi at the launch.

Global groups sign pact to end open defecation in India – The Hindu

Three global organisations on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to

share best practices in the sanitation sector and help millions of Indians gain access to basic

sanitation facilities.

The organisations — the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial

Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH) — share the common goal of making

sanitation accessible and affordable to all citizens.

The objective of the agreement is to support the Central government in making the country

free of open defecation and promoting sustained usage of sanitation systems.

WTO founder, Jack Sim, said the objectives would be achieved through a mix of policy

dialogue, lobbying and advocacy work for sanitation coupled with on-the-ground sanitation

activities. The agreement is for three years.

ECONOMY Microfinance industry lending jumps 61 % – The Hindu

The microfinance industry has recorded a 61 per cent jump in its loan portfolio in the

second quarter ended September 30, 2014, by lending Rs.12,500 crore against Rs.7,500

crore in the corresponding period last year. The industry is represented by 48 non-banking

financial companies-microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), which are members of the

Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN). They constitute over 90 per cent of the total

microfinance industry business, except self-help groups. These NBFC-MFIs had disbursed

loans to 7.9 million customers in the second quarter against 5.8 million customers in the

corresponding period, an increase of 35 per cent. The average size of loan was Rs.15,858

per account. The total number of beneficiaries during this quarter stood at 28 million

against 23 million.

According to the 11the edition of MFIN Micrometer, the aggregate group loan portfolio of

MFIs stood at Rs. 28,800 crore (Rs.25,000 crore). Interestingly, only one per cent of the

portfolio was termed to be under risk.

Top ten MFIs accounted for 77 per cent of disbursals with Bandhan leading the list,

followed by SKS Microfinance, Ujjivan, Janalakshmi and others.

This is the second time in the current year that Bandhan was in the forefront of lending

among the MFIs. West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and five other

States had disbursed 58 per cent of the loan amount. During the period under review, MFIs

received Rs.10,584 crore in debt funding, of which 72 per cent came from the banks and

the balance from financial institutions.

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IRDA chief moots Jan Bima Yojana –The Hindu

Jan Bima Yojana on the lines of Jan Dhan Yojana, which has given a boost to the banking

system, can be introduced to increase awareness of insurance, Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman T. S. Vijayan said here on Monday.

There had to be a concerted effort between industry, regulator and the government to spread

awareness of insurance, said Mr. Vijayan while inaugurating the 16th annual insurance

conference, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“I don't think technology adoption has gone to the level of other institutions,” said Mr.

Vijayan. “If companies want to capture insurance, they should be able to give small ticket

insurance, which can be afforded by 90 per cent of the population.”

He said that opening up of the insurance sector with 26 per cent private participation

showed impressive increase in market penetration, entry of new companies and the number

of agents.

This could be labelled a success, but it had to be seen in the context of the benefit it brought

to the country and the customer. Insurance companies should ensure that every customer

understood the product and benefitted from it.

EDITORIALS A case for SAARC reforms – The Hindu

The organisation of eight South Asian nations, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,

India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with observer nations, Myanmar,

China, Iran, the European Union (EU) and the United States, to name a few, is known as

the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It was established at the

first summit in Dhaka on December 7-8, 1985. The last summit, the 17th, was held in

Addu, in the Maldives, in November 2011. After a gap of three years, the 18th Summit

Meeting is to be held in Nepal on November 26-27, 2014.

These eight nations of South Asia constitute 3 per cent of the world’s area, but house 21 per

cent of the global population. India, significantly, constitutes 70 per cent or more of

SAARC’s area and population.

Seven of them have common borders with India but not each other. All have a shared

culture, ethnicity and experienced long interactive historical events including British

imperialism and its consequences.

South Asian nations together also make an integrated “condominium” of common rivers, a

mountain system, an ocean and a conjoint ecological system. The region’s endowment for

economic production is also more or less the same.

Limitations

Since India constitutes 70 per cent or more of SAARC’s area and population, and has

political conflicts with all its neighbours, India has to redefine its role, from seeking

reciprocity in bilateral relations, to being prepared to go the extra mile in meeting the

aspirations of all other SAARC nations.

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SAARC, regrettably, has yet to develop into a conflict-mediating or conflict-resolving

institution both on multilateral and bilateral issues. It has succeeded however in evolving as

a forum and a framework but which does not have the capacity to devise instruments and

techniques for consultations on bilateral and multilateral political and security problems.

This is because the SAARC Charter mandates that decisions, at all levels in SAARC, are

only of multilateral issues, and only those issues are for inclusion in the agenda in a

SAARC summit meeting on the basis of unanimity. Article X(2) of the Charter, thus

excludes “bilateral and contentious issues” from the ambit of SAARC deliberations.

A shortcoming in the current situation is that unlike Europe, SAARC is not an association

of nearly equally sized countries. India, as stated earlier, is about 70 per cent of the size of

South Asia, and the other SAARC member-nations have a common border bilaterally only

with India, and not with each other. The economic and quality of life disparities among

South Asian nations are also quite wide.

Sri Lankan policy

During the period of 10 years since May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was

pathetically hamstrung by the sectarian, former secessionist and pro-LTTE parties such as

the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for its survival in Parliament and majority.

Hence, India’s policy towards Sri Lanka was driven both bilaterally and in U.N.

organisations by the hyperbole of the parties of the Dravidian Movement, in speech and

dramatics, and which was bolstered by the threat of these parties to withdraw support to the

Manmohan Singh government. These sectarian parties thus exercised a veto over the UPA

government’s Sri Lanka policy.

As a consequence, China, which is not a member of SAARC, gained a strategic advantage

in Sri Lanka by moving into the policy space vacated by India. Hambantota port is an

example of how China filled the vacuum when India decided, based on the DMK’s threat,

to decline Sri Lanka’s offer first to India to assist building the port.

SAARC thereby underwent rigor mortis and the summit failed to take place after 2011 for

three years. Time is at hand now at the Kathmandu summit to rectify this.

Furthermore, with India having declined to help Sri Lanka build the Hambantota port (later

built with China’s assistance), it is unproductive for SAARC’s effectiveness to unilaterally

protest periodic visits by Chinese submarines to Hambantota port, which is on the shores of

the international waters of the Indian Ocean.

Issues before SAARC

The destiny of South Asian nations today is to either swim together or risk sinking

separately in the battle against poverty and unemployment as well as in meeting the

challenges of the environment, national security, and globalisation.

Today, there are five crucial issues on SAARC:

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First, SAARC is off and on in a limbo. Thus the first issue is this: how to grapple with

SAARC’s uncertain future and how to put it back on the rails again, and not permit in the

future, international political changes affecting the functioning of SAARC.

Second, SAARC has to resolve whether essential economic cooperation in an increasingly

globalised world economy can be achieved despite continuing political conflicts.

The issue is whether political differences — beyond vital national interests issues — can be

set aside by each member country while a more harmonious environment is created through

healthy economic cooperation.

Third, is SAARC so fragile that it cannot survive if bilateral controversial political

questions are raised in its deliberations without undermining its utility?

Fourth, given that India is 70 per cent of SAARC, geographically and economically, and

that the other SAARC nations have borders only with India and not with each other, unlike

in the EU, does India have the special responsibility to go the extra mile to make SAARC

work?

Fifth, given the way World Trade Organization (WTO) disciplines are to be enforced, does

SAARC need a “level playing field” regional agreement, modelled on the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), with cross-retaliatory powers and a Regional

Trade Organization (RTO) to enforce it?

A road map for reforms

To address these five issues and overcome the current impasse in SAARC and to make it

work, two preconditions have to be obtained:

1) India has to go the extra mile to make SAARC work because India is 70 per cent of

South Asia, and has common borders with seven SAARC nations.

2) South Asian countries have to work on the common values and shared historical

perceptions of the peoples of the region, consciously addressing essential political

differences.

Transparency in action in bilateral dealings is key to achieving these two preconditions. No

country of the region should either act the big brother or be a dog in the manger.

Hence, mindful of the uphill task of promoting South Asian regional integration, I suggest

the following reforms:

1) No SAARC nation should internationalise any bilateral issue beyond the SAARC

forum.

2) SAARC will do all it can to facilitate the creation of the South Asian Free Trade Area

(SAFTA) immediately, if possible by the end of 2014. Thereafter, SAARC resolves to

make Sri Lanka’s coast the gateway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) by developing the hard infrastructure and freight movement facilitation.

3) SAARC should strive to enhance investment activity between its member states, and

not merely trade. South Asian joint venture promotion schemes should also be

promoted on a priority.

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4) The energy sector should be linked together through a unified South Asian electric

power grid system and countries could pool their technical and financial resources in

collaborative projects.

5) In only the fields of science and technology, universities in SAARC countries should

pool their faculties and teach across borders or engage in online education using the

Internet.

6) Broader popular support at the grass-root level must be vastly improved by encouraging

freer legal movement of people for economic and cultural tourism reasons by

minimising immigration procedures.

7) Effective steps must be undertaken to jointly deter cross-border, illegal migration, terror

attacks and block the narcotics trade and drug trafficking.

It should be remembered that the EU was made possible only due to the conclusion drawn

by the people of Europe, after the experience of two terrible world wars, that a third world

war would destroy Europe totally. Hence, despite a violent history of warfare, European

nations sank their differences and formed the EU. Furthermore, there were a few leaders

like Adenauer, de Gaulle, Schuman and de Gasperi who had a vision of a peaceful

development of the continent and dared to embark towards this goal.

But as the popular saying goes, it takes two to tango. With two of the eight SAARC nations

in possession of deliverable nuclear weapons, it is imperative for the peaceful existence of

SAARC nations that they effectively bind together and develop harmoniously.

Protecting biodiversity with rigour- The Hindu

The Prime Minister recently reorganised his National Council on Climate Change and

called on an indigenous answer, yoga, to alter consciousness and tackle climate change.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is currently working on the National

Democratic Alliance’s position on climate change, with two major United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings coming up. While some say that these

recent developments have rightly raised the profile of climate change in the new

government, others believe that India needs to do more, particularly in the face of a new

U.S.-China agreement on mitigating climate change. Voluntary action on climate change in

India has centered around economic decisions, such as cutting down on carbon intensity

and increasing renewable sources of energy. But what is lacking in the discourse is an

understanding of keeping the natural natural, or conserving biodiversity. Two important

events have taken place in the past few months in the country, which are tied to climate

change and the pressing issue of how we deal with it. First, the Convention on Biological

Diversity, a Convention under the United Nations which seeks to regulate our use of the

natural world, has reached important funding decisions. Second, a high-level committee set

up to propose amendments in environmental laws in India has submitted its

recommendations to the MoEF. Both developments set the tone for changing the character

of growth.

Biodiversity and climate change

Biodiversity and wildlife protection is often termed as a ‘co-benefit’ of mitigating climate

change. Other co-benefits, usually understood as secondary to economic decision-making,

are clean air, potable water, ecosystem services and a stable microclimate. Conservationists

have argued that biodiversity has become a low second fiddle to climate change in

international negotiations, and decisions related to biodiversity are not yet part of the

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‘mainstream’ decisions related to growth, trade and carbon emissions. At the just-concluded

conference of parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Pyeongchang,

Korea, many stressed that biodiversity targets cannot just be ‘stand alone’ targets. “In order

to move the biodiversity agenda forward, approaches and tactics must evolve. In the

framework of the post-2015 development agenda, stand alone targets on biodiversity would

not be useful. The principle of universality and integration must define the nature of

sustainable development goals,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United

Nations Environment Programme, urging that the world could not “continue to be a mere

librarian of extinction, threat and destruction.” At the meeting, an important commitment

for resource mobilisation was made. Parties have agreed to double biodiversity-related

financial flow to developing countries, small island developing states, least developed

countries, and economies in transition. The funding is for average annual biodiversity

funding for the years 2006-2010, and is to be delivered by next year. The way this funding

is utilised when a part of it comes to India needs to be seen as more than just side efforts to

climate change action.

For instance, climate change action in India is currently focussed on a lowering of carbon

intensity in growth. But we are also seeking to peak emissions by a certain period, allowing

growth to optimise by then, and then allow a tapering off of emissions. But this carbon

space can also be consistently at odds with biodiversity protection efforts. For example, the

concept of ‘peaking’ emissions holds no value for biodiversity, and may actively threaten it.

A habitat once destroyed takes decades to be restored as we set up man-made infrastructure.

So the question is: are we going to dismantle natural infrastructure and then restore it? If

the answer is no, then this will mean taking hard decisions, such as identifying critical,

inviolate areas in forests which cannot be mined or dammed, and setting thresholds for

environmental regulation and pollution.

On the topic of regulation, a crucial review is currently underway. A high-level committee

chaired by former Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has reviewed all the

environmental laws of India including the Wildlife Protection Act, the Forest Act, the

Forest Conservation Act, and the Environment Protection Act. While decisions related

directly to biodiversity, such as species and habitat protection, are under the ambit of

review, there are also indirect connections which bridge decisions for both climate change

action and biodiversity protection. One of the most pressing questions is that of regulation.

What will be revised thresholds for air and water pollution? The government has made

moves to lift the moratorium for projects (and thus allowing more emissions) in critically

polluted areas, such as Vapi in Gujarat. Further changes in these regulations will set the

tone for levels of industrial effluents in seas, rivers, and the sky, and how much clustering

of infrastructure and projects can be allowed in an area.

The second question is one of environmental and forest clearances for projects. In public

statements, including the one made when Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar

accepted the environmental act review, the government says it wants the environmental

clearance process made “speedier” and “more transparent.” This sentiment is echoed in

States too: for instance, Himachal Pradesh has a committee on ‘Speedy development of

small hydro projects.’

Decision-making on environment should not be a question of time; rather it should be one

of rigour. While developers want to believe that problems in environmental decision-

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making lie in time spent around getting a clearance, the issue really is one of technocratic

discretion. The MoEF needs to have the forthright discretion to say ‘no’ to projects with

deleterious impacts on biodiversity and climate action. While it is a Ministry meant to

appraise projects and clear them, it is also one that is meant to halt projects which denigrate

biodiversity and environmental conservation efforts.

Changing consciousness

The final question then is: in our development efforts, and in climate change mitigation and

adaptation efforts, what rigour will the Indian government put in for capturing our hard-

won climate quota, while simultaneously guarding a healthy environment? While

conventional sources of energy will stay for a while, environmental regulation and post-

project monitoring have to be strengthened and upheld because the country is a

constituency wider than just developers who clamour for hasty clearances. Further, in

creating a different scenario — that is new forms of energy and low carbon development

pathways such as biogas, solar and marine, wind mill energy and energy efficiency — there

is a real chance for new job creation.

Finally, keeping biodiversity and nature protection at the centre of climate action, and thus

our growth strategy, is a pressing requirement. The World Bank estimates that India loses

more than 5 per cent of its GDP each year to environmental degradation. A robust and

growing biodiversity protected area framework will save money spent on pollution-related

illnesses and buoy climate change mitigation work.

On yoga and its role in combating climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “It

is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the

nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with

climate change.” This change in consciousness and ‘oneness with nature’ has to be

rethought now, at the cusp of our new climate and biodiversity action strategies. We cannot

develop now to ask questions later.

For peace in the Garo Hills- The Hindu

The Garo Hills region of Meghalaya has faced turmoil for years with multiple militant

groups fighting what are essentially turf wars, their eyes primarily on the spoils from the

extortion of coal mine operators. Among the 10 groups at work, the Garo National

Liberation Army (GNLA), less than five years old, has been particularly brutal in its

actions. In the third such attack within a year targeting police personnel, GNLA militants

killed two policemen in a blast in the South Garo Hills district last week. The GNLA’s

patently unrealistic demand has been for the creation of a separate state of Garoland. The

claim put forward by the GNLA’s parent outfit, the Achik National Volunteer Council

(ANVC), which was born in 1995, and its splinter group, the ANVC (B), was the creation

of ‘Achik Land’, comprising the Garo Hills region and parts of Assam. Eventually, they

scaled it down to the strengthening of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council

(GHADC). An agreement signed in New Delhi on September 24 in the presence of Home

Minister Rajnath Singh and State Chief Minister Mukul Sangma — that the GNLA opposed

— has now laid the ground for the disbanding by next month of the ANVC and ANVC (B):

the former had signed a tripartite ceasefire agreement with the State and the Centre in 2004.

The latest agreement, which provides for enhanced autonomy for an expanded GHADC —

elections to its current number of 29 seats are due to take place early in 2015 — goes some

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way in meeting regional aspirations. Among other things, it seeks to ensure enhanced

autonomy and powers for the body. The Centre has agreed to extend a special package for

the socio-economic and educational development of the area and the rehabilitation of

surrendering militants. But this represents only partial progress, and nobody expects the

low-intensity run of militancy to wind down so easily. Yet, with one significant chunk of

militants out of the way, based on a coordinated approach with and active support from the

Centre the State should move vigorously to deal decisively with the remaining terror-

mongers in a time-bound manner. Over the last few weeks, several cadres belonging to

different outfits have either surrendered or been nabbed, following stepped-up operations

by the security forces. Putting down the militancy in Meghalaya — which has a 445-km

boundary with Bangladesh — with a firm yet sensitive hand should serve as a strong

message to all insurgent groups in northeastern India. This message should be that

negotiations over reasonable demands will be their only option. At the same time, any

nexus between politicians and militants to gain political mileage — as has often been

alleged by some leaders — should be rooted out, so militancy gets no leeway in the

sensitive region.

Occupational Health and Safety in India – EPW In light of the focus on the manufacturing sector it is important to scrutinise the existing

occupational health and safety provisions in Indian law and their implementation. This

article argues that the current disregard for workers' health and safety could prove costly in

the long run, and any growth in manufacturing must entail a clear practicable system to

ensure occupational health and safety for workers.

While much of the growth in the Indian economy over the last few decades has been in the

outsourcing of back-office operations from western companies, experts believe that

manufacturing is the next growth sector. Just as one example, India is the world’s largest

small-car market. Chennai is the small-car hub for the region for several automobile

companies and from here it exports cars, engines and components across the world. Suzuki,

BMW, Hyundai and others similarly produce hundreds of thousands of cars and

motorcycles in Chennai. Similar trends are foreseen in the pharmaceutical, other consumer

and capital goods manufacturing sectors in the medium to long term. This rapid industrial

growth is in conjunction with a population shift from rural to urban areas that has severely

strained urban infrastructure. The rise of India as a manufacturing hub with a significant

increase in industrial employment will have implications for occupational health that have

not been considered with any degree of seriousness.

In this commentary, we examine some aspects of the existing infrastructure for

occupational health and safety (OHS) in India – the adequacy of existing legal provisions,

its coverage of the Indian workforce, its implementation, and the availability of trained

personnel. We posit that the existing infrastructure does not meet the needs of an economy

with the projected rates of growth, especially in the manufacturing, chemical,

pharmaceutical, and commercial goods sectors. We propose that the system undergo

substantial change with significant labour law reforms, improved implementation of laws,

investments in developing capacity, including trained personnel in a variety of relevant

disciplines, and development of a culture of OHS consciousness among owners, employers,

labour unions, workers and enforcement agencies.

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Disease and Economic Losses

The workforce faces a range of occupational health problems including diseases of various

kinds – respiratory, circulatory, digestive system, urinary tract, nervous system and other

sensory organs, auditory disability, musculoskeletal disorders, reproductive health issues,

and dermal allergies (Saiyed and Tiwari 2004). The International Labour Organization

(ILO) reported in 2003 that ~4,03,000 people die from work-related causes annually in

India and another 3,56,000 suffer from occupational diseases (ILO 2008). To put this in

context, the number implies that ~1 per thousand working adults die annually from work-

related causes – an astonishingly high number. In contrast, the corresponding numbers for

the United States (US) for 2003 are 55,200 deaths (range 32,200-78,200). These high

estimates are in sharp contrast to the official numbers that significantly underestimate

mortality.

The poor availability and access to occupational health services and the burden of

occupational disease may cause an economic loss of up to 10%-20% of the gross national

product (Zodpey et al 2009). The rapid growth of the Chinese economy over the past few

decades offers useful lessons about the consequences of rapid industrialisation on

occupational health. The lack of attention to environmental and occupational issues during

this period has had severe negative consequences for worker health and safety in China. For

example, there has been a huge increase in respiratory diseases in newly industrialised rural

areas, where hazardous industrial agents are poorly controlled, and occupational health

services and medical care are lacking. Direct and indirect costs due to occupational injuries

and illnesses in China are ~ $38 billion annually, which is 6% of the gross domestic product

(GDP) (Yu 2009). The occupational disease and injury burden for India, though poorly

characterised, is comparable to that of China despite having a much smaller industrial base.

An increase in this sector will only increase the disease and injury burden further, with the

inevitable costs to Indian society and economy.

Regulatory Framework

The Directive Principles of State Policy enjoin the government to regulate all economic

activities for management of safety and health risks at workplaces and to provide measures

so as to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for every working man and woman in

the nation (GOI 2012b). For example, Article 24 prohibits child labour, Article 39 directs

the state to ensure that health and strength of workers including men, women and children

are not abused, and Article 42 directs the state to make provisions for securing just humane

conditions of work and maternity relief.

Roughly 91% of the total workforce and ~95% of the female workforce in India is

employed in the informal economy (Pingle 2012; GOI 2012a; 2012b). The Directorate

General, Factory Advice Services and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) shows that for 2009

there are about 3,24,761 registered factories with a total employment of 1,31,00,129

(DGFASLI 2012). In contrast, there are roughly 400 million workers in the unorganised

sector (Saiyed and Tiwari 2004), of which the vast majority are in the agriculture and

construction sectors. Thus only ~9% of the workforce comes under the purview of

occupational health laws such as the Factories Act of 1948 despite repeated amendments

over the years. Other laws such as the Mines Act (1952), Plantation Labour Act (1951),

Dangerous Machines Act (1983), and Radiological Protection Rules (1971) cover very

small sectors of the workforce. The Workers Compensation Law and the Employees State

Insurance Act have the same limitation. Even the Unorganised Sector Social Security Act of

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2008 does not adequately cover many workers, especially women. There are other

limitations in the laws – no mechanisms for periodic audits, for reporting incidents, lack of

significant penalties for non-compliance, a lack of defined exposure limits for the vast

majority of hazardous pollutants, and a lack of guidance for exposure and hazard

monitoring.

Occupational Health Facilities

Nationally, there is a serious shortage of trained occupational health professionals including

occupational physicians, industrial hygienists, occupational nurses, and safety specialists.

DGFASLI (2012) reports that there were 2,642 safety officers and 938 factory inspectors,

with 26 medical inspectors, 18 chemical inspectors, and one hygiene inspector in the

country in 2009. On top of the shortage of human resources, these inspectors have limited

training to carry out their duties. Factory inspectors in India typically undergo only a three-

month certificate course in industrial health offered by the Central Labour Institute (CLI);

in contrast, an occupational hygienist in Europe, North America or Australia undergoes a

two-year master’s degree in these disciplines. Pingle (2005, 2009) estimates ~100

occupational hygienists in the entire country. There are no competence-based syllabi for

occupational medicine, nursing, or industrial hygiene, accreditation organisations, specialist

certifications such as the Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) designation.

There are several government organisations that carry out research and training in

occupational health including the CLI, the National Institute of Occupational Health, the

Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, and regional occupational health centres. However,

they are underfunded and typically do not have strong collaborative links with each other.

Their output in terms of trained professionals graduating each year is much less than the

need for such professionals. There are no standard-setting bodies that develop occupational

exposure limits as compliance yardsticks in workplaces or guidance on best practices.

Global Competitiveness

The lax laws and their enforcement and lack of expertise in OHS are reflected in the private

sector too where, with the exception of very large Indian and multinational corporations,

most companies view OHS activities as reducing productivity and thus spend the minimum

required to meet existing laws. In fact a strong case can be made that the reverse is true,

and that investment in OHS provides a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

For example, an ISO 14000 certification, with its extensive guidelines regarding the

implementation of OHS management systems, provides a company a competitive

marketing tool, provides a guarantee that the company meets global OHS quality standards,

and facilitates its entry into Western markets. It is all too easy to imagine scenarios such as

the pullout by many Western companies from Bangladesh after the recent garment factory

fires also occurring in India. The controversy over the poor manufacturing conditions at

many Indian pharmaceutical companies and the potential rescinding of Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) approval is a concrete example of economic fallout of lack of

investment in workplace environments and quality control.

Recommendations

Infrastructure investment is a strong determinant of sustained economic growth.

Occupational health is a key component of a nation’s infrastructure, and the safety and

health of workers enhances productivity and has a positive impact on economic and social

development. It is also a source of competitive advantage. Given this growing recognition it

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is imperative that significant reforms be implemented to improve India’s OHS

infrastructure. While we recognise that these may be challenging to achieve, the following

are some of the more immediate needs:

a) Regulatory reforms are needed to ensure that occupational health laws cover all workers

including those in the informal sector, as well as those engaged in agriculture. The laws

should also be updated to encompass the full range of physical, chemical, and

biological hazards to which workers are exposed.

b) Significant investments by the central and state governments are required in developing

trained personnel in occupational medicine, industrial hygiene and safety, occupational

nursing, social workers, and public health researchers. A public-private partnership for

these investments would be ideal. These will be needed to meet the needs of

occupational health management in industry as well as the needs of the central and state

government compliance and enforcement activities. This entails investments in existing

central institutes relevant to OHS and universities to develop interdisciplinary curricula

and training programmes in OHS. A national and state-wise needs assessment should be

carried out to tailor the investments.

c) The research and development activities of these institutes and universities need to be

aligned with national priorities with an emphasis on translating research into practice. A

central government institute needs to be given the mandate to generate systematic and

reliable data on toxicological and epidemiological information relating to various

hazards to guide standards-setting and implementation processes.

d) Administrative reforms are required to enhance coordination between various ministries

with OHS relevance such as labour, health and family welfare, human resource and

development, industry and agriculture, environment and forest, and commerce, and

affiliated institutes, to more effectively utilise resources. The occupational health

infrastructure needs to be integrated with primary health centres to provide timely

available, easily accessible and affordable healthcare services.

e) In the private sector, the larger companies need to take the lead in making OHS a

priority and recognising that it can be a strategic enabler of growth and source of

competitive advantage (e g, ISO certification). The culture of awareness of OHS can

then diffuse the global supply chain if the larger companies insist on it.

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