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Newspaper Analysis and Summary - 9th July 2013

SCIENCE & TECH

IVF baby born using genetic screening - The Hindu, I.E

The first IVF baby to have undergone an embryo selection using a procedure that can read

every letter of the human genome has been born. Connor Levy was born in the United States

on May 18 after a Philadelphia couple had cells from their IVF embryos sent to specialists in

Oxford, southern England, who checked them for gene abnormalities. The process helped

their U.S. fertility clinic select embryos with the right number of chromosomes, which have a

much higher chance of producing a healthy baby.

The birth demonstrates how next-generation sequencing (NGS), which was developed to read

whole genomes quickly and cheaply, is poised to transform the selection of embryos in IVF

clinics. Though on this occasion scientists only looked at chromosomes — the structures that

hold genes — the falling cost of whole-genome sequencing means doctors could soon read all

the DNA of IVF embryos before choosing which to implant. If doctors had a readout of a

genome, they could judge the chances of the child developing certain diseases, such as

cancer, heart disease or Alzheimer’s.

The chances of an embryo having the wrong number of chromosomes rise with the mother’s

age, and potentially with the father’s. Most of the time, embryos with abnormal chromosomes

fail to implant. Those that do are usually miscarried. The portion that survive are born with

genetic disorders, such as Down’s syndrome. Doctors can already screen embryos for

abnormal chromosomes using a technique called Array CGH, but that adds more than £2,000

to the cost of IVF. NGS could bring the cost down by a third.

POLITY & GOVERNANCE

SC notice to Centre, States on mental hospitals - The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and all the States seeking their

response for improving the condition of mental hospitals in the country. A Bench of Justices

K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose sought the response on a petition filed by the

National Human Rights Commission highlighting the problems faced by the mental hospitals.

The NHRC said that the mental health hospitals in the country are facing serious financial

constraints as adequate resources allocation is not being made to meet their requirements. The

Centre and State governments should accord priority in allocation of financial resources both

for the regular maintenance and upgradation of the physical infrastructure of these

institutions. There is a need to undertake a country-wide epidemiological survey to identify

the magnitude of the problem of mental health. It said many of the hospitals were 100 to 150-

years old and they did not receive the same priority as general health. NHRC institutions

should be made completely autonomous in managing their own affairs. Existing State-run

mental health hospitals should be converted into teaching-cum-training institutes with

adequate financial and manpower resources. The Commission further reiterated the need to

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train an integrated team of psychiatrists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical pathologists,

psychiatric social workers and nurses required to manage mental hospitals. Psychiatry and

mental health care should be made a compulsory independent subject in the MBBS

examination so that young medical professionals become capable of identifying the problem

at the initial stage itself. Removal of all deficiencies in the existing mental hospitals with

regard to the living conditions, providing nutritious and balanced food, water supply,

cleanliness and hygiene, environment, sanitation, etc, in a time bound manner must receive

top attention of the State government/Union territory concerned.

Don’t want juvenility age reduced, Centre tells SC – I.E

The Centre on Monday resisted before the Supreme Court a demand to reduce the age of

juvenility from 18 years and also countered that punishment for a crime committed by a

minor should be determined by the gravity of the crime, and not merely by the age of the

perpetrator. While admitting that crimes committed by juveniles between 16-18 years of age

have "slightly gone up", the Centre asserted that lodging juveniles with adult criminals in jail

would render them hardened criminals and was more likely to cause harm to the society.

Defending the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, the

Ministry of Women and Child Development said the law, defining a juvenile as less than 18

years of age and hence according immunity from ordinary rigours of criminal trials, was in

conformity with international standards and ensures their reformation and rehabilitation.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) told a Bench led by Chief Justice that reduction in the

age of juvenility would entail multiple legal problems, besides affecting a large number of

juveniles who get into petty offences due to poverty and other such handicaps.

The Centre's response has come in reply to a bunch of petitions that have challenged

provisions of the juvenile law and demanded lowering the age of juvenility so as to ensure

those involved in heinous offences do not get away under the blanket immunity of 18 years

even though such protection impinged upon the fundamental rights of life and safety of other

citizens. These petitions express agitation by the possibility of the juvenile accused in the

gang rape of the 23-year-old woman on a bus in Delhi getting off lightly because he was a

few months shy of 18 years on December 16, when the crime was committed. He is believed

to have been the most brutal of the six who assaulted the victim, who died in a Singapore

hospital on December 29.

The Juvenile Justice Board, which has concluded its inquiry against this juvenile, is likely to

pronounce its verdict on July 11. On Monday, ASG said although this incident was

"unfortunate", petitioners must also prove that fixation of age was arbitrary and beyond the

constitutional provisions if they wanted quashing of concerned provisions. Luthra also said

Justice J S Verma Committee, set up to recommend amendments in the criminal law after the

gang rape incident, had also not favoured reduction in age of juveniles. Citing the National

Crime Records Bureau data, ASG said juvenile offenders constituted only 1-2 per cent of the

total offenders in the last 10 years and that only 2.9 per cent of heinous crimes were



committed by them in 2011. As the crimes are increasing in general in society, number of

crimes by juveniles between 16-18 years of age has also slightly gone up; adding the

percentage of juvenile crimes to total crimes has increased from 0.9 per cent to 1.1 per cent

between 2001 and 2011.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

South Korea wants to enhance ties - The Hindu

Chairman of Chiefs of Staff and Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal (ACM) N.A.K.

Browne met South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin on a four-day official visit to

Seoul on Monday where he is heading a tri-service delegation of senior Indian military

officers. The South Korean Minister expressed satisfaction at the expanding strategic and

defence engagement between the two countries. He underlined the desire for greater

cooperation and coordination on regional and international security while appreciating India’s

positive role in maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula. Both sides discussed

expanding bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues of interest. They

noted with satisfaction that regular high-level exchanges had enhanced mutual understanding

and agreed to continue the practice. Over the next two days, the Indian delegation will visit

South Korea’s military operations and training establishments, as well as defence industries.

The visit is taking place within the framework of the 40th anniversary of establishment of

bilateral diplomatic relations. It comes on the heels of the visit of the National Security

Advisor Shivshankar Menon, who was in Seoul from June 30 to July 2.

US mulls leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan – T.O.I

The United States is considering leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan after the

planned 2014 withdrawal date, US officials said on Monday, amid ongoing tensions between

the President Barack Obama's administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's

government. Obama is committed to wrapping up US military involvement in Afghanistan by

the end of 2014, but the United States has been talking with officials in Afghanistan about

keeping a small residual force there of perhaps 8,000 troops after next year.

The United States also had considered keeping a small force in Iraq after the broad troop

withdrawal from that country, but talks with Iraqi leaders failed to yield such a deal.

More than a dozen American troops were killed in Afghanistan last month. The number

of US troops in Afghanistan- now around 63,000 - already is set to decline to 34,000 by next

February, the Times noted. The White House has said the great majority of American forces

would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. US troops have been in Afghanistan since

2001. The United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the country's Taliban rulers who had

harboured the al-Qaida network responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States

weeks earlier.



EDITORIALS

Why EU must take a step back - I.E

The European Union inducted its 28th member state, Croatia, on July 1, and earlier,

celebrated the 63rd year of its founding. On May 9, 1950, the launching of the European Coal

and Steel Community set in motion the process of European integration, perhaps the most

inspiring political and social movement in the post-World War II era. The nations of Europe

have since come ever closer to each other through extensive institutional harmonisation and

removal of trade and capital barriers. European citizens are freer to live and work in other

European countries. In the early 2000s, the EU became the home-base from which the ex-

communist nations of Eastern Europe rejoined the global economy. As a world citizen, the

EU representing its 27 member states — has been a voice for peace, moderation and

preservation of the global commons.

And yet, far from celebrating its enlargement, Europe is threatening to implode. At the centre

of the crisis is the eurozone, the monetary union constituted in January 1999, whose 17

present members share the euro as a common currency. The first decade of the euro was

largely uneventful. Indeed, assessments in early 2008, including from the International

Monetary Fund, gave high marks to the euro zone’s conduct of policy and achievements.

Although a global crisis was already unfolding, the eurozone was viewed as likely to escape

with few bruises, not least because it had avoided the profligate ways of the United States.

While the US appears to be on a path of muddled recovery, the eurozone is mired in a

seemingly unending recession, with its economic crisis rapidly turning into a social tragedy.

Youth unemployment is catastrophically high: in Greece and Spain, more than half of those

under 25 are unemployed. And European citizens are increasingly distrustful of European

institutions. The angst has spread throughout the continent, including to countries not in the

eurozone. The United Kingdom, never an enthusiastic member of the EU, is flirting with

creating further distance from Brussels and Frankfurt. The eurozone crisis drags on because

the structural problems are deep-rooted and because the tactical manoeuvres to contain the

crisis have proven insufficient, even counterproductive. By committing to a single currency,

the nations of the eurozone bet on exchange rate stability rather than on flexibility. Stability

induced a colossal flow of capital across borders, an achievement that was celebrated. But the

capital flows fostered oversized banking sectors — as in Cyprus, Ireland, and Spain. The

plentiful credit either financed unsustainable consumption or housing booms. And once the

crisis began, there was no easy way to reverse the excesses. Everywhere, the fragile banks

added to sovereign debt, as governments assumed responsibility for supporting the banks.

And the lack of exchange rate flexibility meant that the distressed countries could not

depreciate their exchange rates to grow their exports and, hence, their GDPs.

At its core, then, the eurozone crisis was a repeat of emerging market crises of the past three

decades. Countries with fixed or quasi-fixed exchange rates are prone to loss of growth

momentum because their exchange rates become overvalued (they lose international

competitiveness); this loss of competitiveness is propped up by international capital, till



suddenly it is not. At that point, as foreign capital begins to withdraw, there is a crisis, which

brings down the overextended domestic banks.

But because of its scale, the eurozone crisis is more perilous than past emerging market

crises. The macroeconomic imbalances within each country are much larger and the crisis has

simultaneously hit several countries. Europe also has no easy route to growing out of its

problems: it has been unable to keep pace with the technological dynamism of the US and

East Asia, and its population is ageing. Being highly trade-intensive, as European economies

slow down, their reduced imports drag down other European countries and weaken growth

prospects everywhere. Europe's internal problems are spilling into the global economy.

A monetary union is expected to adjust to such crises, in part, by the movement of people

from where businesses are shutting down to where jobs are more plentiful. Such migration —

from Spain and Greece to Germany — is finally beginning to happen, but not at a scale

needed to make a material difference. The other response is for the strong economies to pay

for the repair and rehabilitation of the distressed economies. Some of that has also happened.

But the political willingness to open the cheque books has been limited.

Because the European authorities also initially required that private creditors to banks and

sovereigns would all be repaid, the emphasis of the economic adjustment fell heavily on

fiscal austerity — governments tightened their belts to repay their own obligations and also

those of their errant banks. To make these payments, the governments borrowed from newly

created European financing facilities and the IMF. Thus, official debt merely replaced private

debt, without reducing the debt burden. The needed austerity to pay the debt down was

overwhelming and ultimately unproductive, as it further weakened growth prospects in the

already fragile economies.

In recent months, there have been tactical changes. First, the official loans from European

sources are being made increasingly concessional, and that trend is likely to continue. There

has also been an effort to impose losses on private creditors, most dramatically in Cyprus.

After an initially misguided attempt to levy a "tax" on all bank depositors — a move rightly

rejected by the Cypriot parliament — the ultimate burden fell on the large depositors.

Because the Cypriot economy was so heavily dependent on its banks, this, in turn, has caused

the economy to go into a near freefall.

Today, the way ahead remains fuzzy. A painful process of debt restructuring is needed to

clear the ground. Allocating the losses is controversial, and so is being delayed. But these

wounds of the past must be closed before the healing can begin. The European economy will

probably remain weak for longer than currently projected by public and private forecasts, and

that weakness will continue to weigh on the global economy. The euro was a bridge too far.

The nations of Europe were not ready to cede fiscal sovereignty, which was needed to make

the euro work. But the costs of undoing the euro are so large that all efforts must be made to

preserve it. This, paradoxically, may require stepping back from the march towards greater

integration. A step back now, by restoring more fiscal autonomy to member countries, could



reduce the unending tactical manoeuvring and could potentially create space for a more

constructive political dialogue towards the surrender of fiscal sovereignty. The wisdom with

which this course is traversed will determine more than the mood on future EU birthdays.

The judiciary and the executive are ignoring the constitutional mandate to

appoint distinguished jurists to the Supreme Court -The Hindu

The government proposes to come up with a Bill for the appointment of judges to the higher

judiciary replacing the current collegium system. The judiciary evolved the collegium system

in the 1990s replacing the previous system where the executive had a predominant voice in

the appointment of judges. Under the collegium system, the judiciary has complete control

over the appointment of judges. The political executive is of the view that the collegium

system hasn’t worked well; hence a Judicial Appointment Commission, in which the

executive will have a say in the appointment of judges, is necessary to achieve the objective

of appointing the best people as judges in a transparent fashion. Arguably, the government’s

intervention in the appointment of judges strikes at the root of independence of judiciary.

Notwithstanding who appoints judges to the higher judiciary, the debate should also be, inter

alia, on expanding the catchment area to all the three categories given in Article 124 (3).

Article 124 (3) of the Constitution, broadly, provides for three categories of persons who are

“eligible” to be appointed to the Supreme Court — a High Court judge with five years

experience; an advocate in the High Court with 10 years experience; a “distinguished jurist.”

The first two self-explanatory categories, though different, have a high degree of

commonality. It comprises people who work in courts and are involved in litigation either as

judges or as lawyers. However, the third category is not defined in the Constitution. A

“distinguished jurist” refers to academic lawyers or law professors: people who have

challenged and expanded the existing frontiers of legal knowledge through cutting edge

research and teaching. The “distinguished jurist” category was added to the list of “eligible”

candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court in the draft Constitution. This was done in

order to have diversity in professional backgrounds among individuals sitting on the bench of

the Apex Court.

It is important to understand the significance of having law professors on the bench of India’s

apex court. The Supreme Court is a court of appellate jurisdiction that has to decide on

substantial questions of law. It also acts as a court of original jurisdiction in certain cases.

Further, the law declared by the Supreme Court is the law of the land. Consequently, the

Supreme Court is constitutionally bound to develop new legal principles and jurisprudence by

interpreting the Constitution and other statutes. This requires a certain ability to theorise and

conceptualise. Law professors are academically trained to theorise and conceptualise. These

well developed and nuanced theorising and conceptualising abilities have the potential of

raising the bar of legal reasoning up by several notches.

Regrettably, 63 long years after the Constitution was adopted, both the judiciary and the

executive have consistently ignored this clear constitutional mandate. In the history of the



Indian Republic, never ever has a “distinguished jurist,” i.e. a law professor, been appointed

as a judge of the Supreme Court, although India has produced some outstanding law

professors worthy of the “distinguished jurist” tag. In last 63 years, all appointments to the

Court have been made from the first “eligible” category i.e. High Court judges, barring four

instances, where practising lawyers (the second category) were directly appointed as Supreme

Court judges.

Compare this with the U.S. Supreme Court where many law professors have been appointed

as judges. Comparison with the U.S. is in order because the Constituent Assembly debates

referred to the American example where President Roosevelt appointed Felix Frankfurter, a

Professor at Harvard Law School for 25 years, as an Associate Judge of the American

Supreme Court in 1939. Justice Frankfurter went on to become one of the most celebrated

judges of the American Supreme Court and a noted advocate of “judicial restraint” —

something, which our constitutional polity desperately needs. Even among the current judges

of the American Supreme Court, Justice A.M. Kennedy, before being nominated to the

Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1988, was a Professor of Constitutional law for 23

years. Similarly, Justice R.B. Ginsburg, another current Associate Judge of the U.S. Supreme

Court, taught for 17 years including at the Columbia Law School before becoming a judge.

To check the erosion of independence of the judiciary that the ‘Collegium’ system was

evolved, by which the senior-most judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court selected

judges with the executive merely being consulted. But 20 years after the Collegium

experiment, the appointment of judges “by the judges” is being perceived as appointments

“for the judges.” There is growing evidence that the current system of judicial appointments

has resulted in incompetent, inefficient, ethically compromised individuals being appointed

as judges.

Read the above article by linking it with the editorial of 2013 July 5th- ‘The tyranny of

secrecy’

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-costly-tyranny-of-secrecy/article4881975.ece

Food for politics - Indian Express

Malnutrition is back on India's development agenda, and this is a welcome change. However,

words are not enough when millions of Indian children have already lost opportunities for a

successful future because they, and their mothers before them, did not receive proper

nutrition in the critical first 1,000 days of their lives. The time for action was yesterday, and

what needs to be done is clear enough.

The health journal The Lancet recently released its 2013 Maternal and Child Nutrition Series,

and the articles highlight, first, that poor nutrition is the single biggest contributor to child

mortality. The estimates also indicate that poor malnutrition in the womb is a particularly

difficult challenge, contributing to a substantial proportion of both mortality and stunting.

Even as the series offers evidence that scaling up coverage of nutrition-specific actions will

reduce one-fifth of the burden of under-nutrition, it emphasises the need for cross-sectoral


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-costly-tyranny-of-secrecy/article4881975.ece


approaches to create the underlying conditions children need to grow well. This includes

healthy and educated mothers, food-secure and income-secure households and clean

household environments. The series also reminds us that addressing nutrition requires

attention to politics and governance — both significant challenges in India.

At the same time, the series also shows us that India is not without success stories. In 2006,

the state of Maharashtra created a state nutrition mission and used political and bureaucratic

leadership for the mission to bring together actors from two sectors to tackle under-nutrition.

By 2012, the combination of economic growth in Maharashtra and the focused scaling up of

interventions by the state departments of health and women and child development, for the

first 1,000 days, led to a decline in childhood stunting, from 39 per cent to 23 per cent.

While the ministries of health and women and child development must indeed take the lead in

many nutrition initiatives, other sectors must also take up this challenge. Indeed, as the series

notes, the potential for nutrition-sensitive programmes in agriculture and social protection

goes largely untapped. Despite greater availability of food grains, progress in supporting diet

diversity, a key element of adequate nutrition, has slowed. And despite campaigns, sanitation

conditions in much of India remain poor.

Paper 3 in the series shows us that better nutrition can be achieved by raising incomes of rural

families and empowering women. Transfers of both the food and non-food variety could help

improve nutrition and reduce child mortality, but for maximum impact, they need to be more

narrowly targeted to the first 1,000 days, and supported by quality health and sanitation

services. Similarly, improved girls' schooling will go a long way in empowering future

caregivers to make informed choices, keeping them in school and delaying marriage and

childbearing.

The fourth article, however, reminds us that in the end, nutrition is a political issue, and that

ignoring the politics behind nutrition is self-defeating. Nutrition will not advance unless

governments create an enabling environment and take action to tackle malnutrition. The

ingredients for such an enabling environment include marshalling knowledge and evidence,

coordinating diverse stakeholders, strengthening good governance, nurturing nutrition

leaders, and ensuring better capacity and sustained financial resources to translate words into

actions.

India must forge ahead to change the precarious conditions in which too many young children

grow up. The devastating combination of poverty, poor status of girls and women, food

insecurity, especially in vital nutrient-rich foods, poor health services, and abysmal sanitary

conditions simply cannot sustain healthy child growth and nutrition.

Along with continuing to foster economic growth, India now needs to do the following. One,

confront and quantify the problem itself. It needs to collect routine national and subnational

surveillance data, at least every two to three years, and use programme-monitoring data

effectively. Two, strengthen implementation systems and reduce leakages in all programmes



— the Public Distribution System, Integrated Child Development Services, the National

Rural Health Mission and more. Three, layer and focus nutrition-specific and nutrition-

sensitive interventions that already exist in India in the places that need them the most. Four,

address the politics of nutrition head-on by continuing to bring diverse stakeholders together,

being transparent about evidence, and completing the feedback loop from evidence to action.

VVIP power - Indian Express

If "VVIP" is not a dictionary term, can VVIPs exist at all? Are they not merely puffed-up

VIPs? This is one of the questions raised by the Allahabad High Court while responding to a

plea by two cold storage owners from Ghazipur district, who have turned the heat on the

state's VVIPs. They had sought relief from the inequity of the Uttar Pradesh Power

Corporation Ltd, which supplies their facilities for only a few hours a day while the power

never goes off in cold storages located in districts that see a lot of VVIP movement. Etawah,

Mainpuri, Kannauj, Rampur, Sambhal, Rae Bareli and Amethi house the constituencies of

prominent politicians, including the Yadavs and the Gandhis. The court has expanded the

plea in the public interest and ruled that a public resource like electricity must be allocated

even-handedly.

Citizens tired of VVIPs sequestering rights or preferential access to resources held in

common would be cheered by the ruling, since the principle applied is readily extended. The

very, very important, in politics and the administration, have come to assume that they can

rightfully shoulder aside lesser mortals who impede smooth access to the feeding trough. The

resources arrogated in this manner range from housing to everyday right of way — the latter

has caused several outcries about the propriety of using car rooftop lights. Now, the proactive

manner in which the Allahabad HC has upheld equity may encourage similar legal action

against this problem.

However, this case actually stands apart because electricity is a political coin that is leveraged

electorally. Crucial for irrigation, uninterrupted power supply figures prominently in the

assurances that politicians dole out before the polls. It is outrageous that, in an energy-poor

state like UP, some politicians are able to keep that promise to their constituents by virtue of

their mere presence, until the deficits that it spells for people in other areas urges them to

approach the courts. Not only is preferential allocation of electricity to constituents unfair, it

is democratically unethical. A common asset, which those in power are expected to hold in a

fiduciary capacity, should not be distributed differentially to influence poll outcomes.

A path to environmental burnout - The Hindu

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently pledged to double India’s renewable energy

capacity by 2017. Renewable energy sources have a key role to play in the transition towards

a sustainable and low-carbon economy worldwide.

However, within the renewable energy debate there are several shades of green. Some

technologies that are being pitched in the guise of renewable energy have the potential to



cause even more harm than fossil fuel-based energy sources. One such non-solution is Waste-

to-energy (WtE) incineration and its subspecies: gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc. These

technologies are now being touted as “The Answer” to the twin problems of municipal waste

(particularly in disproportionately expanding Indian cities) and climate change. But what

does that mean for our environment, the economy and sustainable growth?

First, the green energy status enjoyed by the WtE incinerator industry is not only misplaced,

but dangerous. Waste incinerators are a major source of toxic emissions that include volatile

organic gases and heavy metals. They are also among the top five sources of dioxin emissions

worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges dioxins as one of the

“dirty dozen” — a group of dangerous chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants

(POPs), where even in low does have the potential to cause cancers. Moreover,

epidemiological investigations in places where residents have been living close to incinerator

facilities since 2009 have provided further evidence linking incidences of cancer and low

birth weight to incinerator emissions.

Second, power generation though mixed waste incineration has so far been a distant and

rather unachievable dream given the nature of our waste. The Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) flagship programme on “energy recovery from urban and

industrial waste” stands testament to this fact. Today, only one of the seven proposed projects

has managed to take off, and without contributing a single unit of power to the grid. This is

primarily due to the failure of these technologies to process unsegregated waste.

Third, WtE incineration has been labelled as renewable and sustainable, but the technology is

far from climate friendly. It is actually quite ironic that WtE incinerators are subsidised as a

climate change mitigation strategy when they rely on burning high calorific recyclable

materials such as paper and plastic. The United States Environmental Protection Agency

(USEPA), the foremost environmental agency in the U.S., recognises that incinerators emit

2.5 times more carbon dioxide per MW than coal fired power plants.

Fourth, when it comes to generating energy, incinerators are very expensive and inefficient.

Their financial viability relies heavily on various fiscal and financial incentives from

government such as capital subsidies, concessional customs duties on the import of

machinery and components, excise duty exemptions, relief of taxes, etc. It is twice the cost of

coal-fired power and 60 per cent more than advanced nuclear energy. Despite this, the

government is still determined to pursue WtE as a solution and has decided to divert huge

amounts of public money to subsidise the WtE industry. In the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-

2017), what the MNRE envisages includes substantial investments in WtE. Just a fraction of

this money would be needed to set up systems that can efficiently recover valuable resources

from waste, recycle them and create millions of jobs. Cities like Pune and Bangalore are

already charting the way on such an approach.

America’s largest WtE Company, Covanta, recently announced its plan to conclude

operations in the United Kingdom, after local residents strongly protested against their



proposals. This announcement came around the same time that the Municipal Corporation of

Hyderabad announced its plans to construct India’s largest incinerator using Covanta

technology. Clearly, the industry is hoping for a new lease on life through projects in China

and India, where environmental regulations are lax and the populace is less aware of the

negative impacts of waste incineration.

The costs that WtE incinerators impose on public health, local economies, and resource

consumption can hardly be justified. Ultimately, WtE incinerators undermine the truly

sustainable waste management options such as prevention, reuse, and recycling that

correspond much better to the needs of India. This is at a time when Europe has committed to

ending the landfilling and incineration of recyclable waste by 2020, aiming instead to

implement a resource-efficiency strategy that will boost a circular economy — where, all

waste is treated as a resource rather than requiring expensive infrastructure to dispose of it.

Protect, don’t snoop – The Hindu

Much like the space it aims to protect, India’s cyber security policy, launched this week, is

characterised by a striking duality of purpose. On the one hand, it seeks to guard, and thus

strengthen, the country’s strategic assets and online intelligence infrastructure. On the other,

it hopes to secure the transactions of citizens, companies and public services on the web. The

latter, more enabling goal is intended to promote the volume of e-commerce and the

reliability of e-governance in India. This cyber security policy emerges from a government

that has systematically brought its legislative tools (Section 66A of the Information

Technology Act, 2000) and surveillance machinery (the Central Monitoring System) to bear

adversely on privacy. Protecting cyber space, as the policy acknowledges, involves

streamlining best practices in data security, identifying sensitive and vulnerable online

content, and monitoring compliance — aspects that require entrenched collaboration between

various government bodies, telecom and Internet giants, corporate entities, as well as

enforcement agencies. Therefore, it is important to ensure the cyber security policy does not

end up institutionalising the flow of private data to the government’s already vast and

unregulated snooping systems.

Unfortunately, this is precisely the direction the policy takes in its current avatar. The

government has sought to create national nodal agencies to “coordinate all matters relating to

cyber security,” a task that includes spelling out policy guidelines, managing crises, and

performing periodic security audits. The power to propose, implement and monitor India’s

cyber security regulations has been concentrated in the hands of a few agencies without

specifying what participatory role, if any, civil society and industry will play in them. Where

Information and Communication Technology guidelines are prescriptive, the government

plans to offer tax incentives for companies conforming to them, effectively coercing the latter

into obedience. Most importantly, the policy fails to address the scope of oversight,

parliamentary or judicial, that such entities will be subject to. Already, India’s CMS thrives

on telephonic and internet surveillance that is unbridled by law. Where legislation exists, like

in the United States, Britain and France, it has struggled to keep pace with changes in



technology. The cyber security policy is a laudable attempt to stay ahead of this curve. But

the government should now orient its goals towards protecting India’s networked society and

economy, not policing them.

Learning to live in a new Asia – I.E

Three high-level meetings in the past month, between the Prime Ministers of India and China,

of Japan and India, and the summit between the Presidents of the U.S. and China have placed

an intensified focus on the new dynamics of Asian politics.

Before the previous century ended, many scholars rushed to predict that the 21st century

would be “Asia’s century.” This view emerged partly from the theory of Asia’s turn,

considering that the 19th was the “British century” and the 20th was the “American century.”

In part, it was in recognition of the rise of China, India and other Asian powers. A decade

into the present century, however, enthusiasm for Asia stands diminished as realities of

global politics assert themselves.

India is a central player on the Asian stage. “Asia” of strategic literature may not really begin

at the Suez Canal, stretching up to the Sea of Japan, even though many Indian experts prefer

to define Asian space as “the Indo-Pacific Region.” But, unlike in the past, even the narrower

definition now unanimously includes India. To Asian governments and strategic

communities, “Asia” means “Asia-Pacific” and its composition is seen as identical to the

membership of the East Asia Summit (EAS), namely 10 members of ASEAN, six “dialogue

partners” and two “Pacific” powers, viz the U.S. and Russia. How their internal dynamics

work today came through, with remarkable lucidity, at the “Asia-Pacific Roundtable,” the

major Track II conference held in Kuala Lumpur in early June.

China, the drama’s chief protagonist, is undoubtedly the single most important factor which

has drawn world attention to the region, justifying the perception that power has been shifting

from the west to the east. Until recently, the country was on its “charm offensive” engaged in

developing cooperation with neighbours and sharing the fruits of its growing wealth with

them. But with expanding treasures came the ability and will to spend huge sums on military

hardware and technology, a desire to push old territorial and maritime claims, and consequent

flashes of aggressive behaviour. This was a novel development which ASEAN, the main

grouping of the region’s states — big and small, sought to address through “the ASEAN

way,” i.e. through consultations and consensus, but it failed. Among many reasons for it, two

important ones related to fundamental tensions between China and Japan and the complex

situation in the Korean peninsula where North Korea, an erstwhile puppet of China, continues

to defy everyone and head towards developing a nuclear arsenal of its own. Apart from the

robust U.S. response, these reasons may partially explain China’s insecurity, reflected in

greater aggressiveness.

The U.S., the country which enjoyed unchallenged supremacy, looks at China somewhat

warily. It worries about devising the best strategy on how to grapple with China’s rising



power at a time when economic interdependence between the U.S. and China has assumed

unprecedented proportions. Responding to requests from ASEAN and the others, the U.S.,

under Obama 1.0, sought to stage “the pivot” towards Asia by ensuring to enhance its

military footprint in the region. When Beijing complained that the U.S. was reverting to the

Cold War era policy of “containing” China, the projection from Washington changed. The

preferred vehicle now was a “re-balancing” of U.S. strategic responsibilities in the Indian and

Pacific Oceans, although little substantial difference was detected between the two postures.

At the Kuala Lumpur conference, Ambassador Christopher Hill, a top former U.S. official,

asserted that there would be a further policy “re-calibration.” While hedging its bets, the U.S.

has no option but to devise cooperative arrangements and avoid conflict in Asia. The U.S.

and China are unlikely to advance towards “cold war” or “hot war.” Their future relationship

may be stamped by a blend of “cooperation, competition, rivalry and periodic tensions.”

A realistic assessment shows that India, along with Japan, is a Tier II power, not exactly in

the same upper category as China and the U.S. A frank recognition of the fact should help us

to craft and pursue a dependable policy to handle Asia’s complexities. New Delhi gave a

clear glimpse of how it intended to address the task as it hosted Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

on his first visit to India prior to Dr. Singh’s visit to Japan.

India wants cooperation, not conflict, with China. It aims at a relationship based on genuine

mutual trust, respect and benefit. In essence, it seeks an equal partnership; it would optimally

resist domination of the region by China. These motivations, combined with Tokyo’s own

tortured relationship with Beijing, provide a strong foundation for the Strategic and Global

Partnership between India and Japan that the two Prime Ministers proclaimed recently.

Economic interests bring them closer together, reinforced by the strategic need to establish a

viable balance of power in the region. They look to other democratic countries — Australia,

South Korea, ASEAN — for their contribution to ensure that forces favouring cooperation

prevail over those elements that could drag the region towards conflict. The proposed

“alliance for democracy,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s favourite idea, cannot,

however, work if it is structured in patently anti-China terms. This explains why India strives

for creating a better balance of power, but stays in the forefront advocating an inclusive

regional architecture. We need to strengthen East Asia Summit as the regional mechanism to

resolve inter-state differences through negotiations. Proposals for a new friendship treaty,

advanced by Indonesia and Russia recently, deserve favourable consideration in this context.

Madam Fu Ying, a leading political figure in China today explained that China’s new

leadership simply wanted a better life for every Chinese citizen, stressing that “the Chinese

dream” was part of “the larger Asian dream”.

In short, the chances of an “Asian century” materialising are mixed at present. They may

improve only if Asia’s leading powers begin to do what they are saying and say frankly what

they are doing. They also need to reread Europe’s history. To reconcile conflicting national

interests, war is not the only option. Sustained dialogue, backed by strong political will, can

work. The EAS conference room is where Asian leaders should be spending more time rather



than plotting to send soldiers to remote Ladakh, naval ships to the South China Sea and

fishing vessels to the East China Sea.

Squaring with the coup - I.E

The grassroots Egyptian movement that marshalled millions into Tahrir square on June 30

will call this great amassment of people power a revolution. The formidable bottom-up

collection of signatures on the streets of Egypt was nothing short of an incredible show of

popular will. But, when the dust settles and the euphoria of another night at Tahrir dissipates,

I'm afraid people will wake up to the realisation that they are effectively under a military

regime. A coup d’etat is not to be celebrated, regardless of the populist means Egyptians used

to get to Tahrir.

Military regimes are rarely beacons of liberal values. They come from a cultural mindset to

protect against and to destroy enemies of the state. Historically, in Egypt, the military

identified the Muslim Brotherhood and a number of its more radical offshoots as enemies of

Egypt. This does not bode well for any transition. Understandably, many Egyptian supporters

of the Brotherhood now feel robbed of participating in a free and democratic election. The

impulse of many Islamists may be to lose complete faith in a democratic process. This

occurred in Algeria in 1992, when Islamists who won free elections in the first round, were

denied participation in government after a Western-backed Algerian military annulled the

elections. Algeria saw a devastating civil war that ensued for a decade, with tens of thousands

killed. Throughout Latin America, we witnessed similar coups d'etat with Marxist parties

identified as the enemy du jour of the state. Till today, Latin America is reeling from the

awful wounds of military dictatorship, missing persons of Marxist persuasion, and overturned

democratic elections.

One doesn't need to go into history to know how the military fared as government in Egypt.

For a little over a year, the military ruled Egypt after it overthrew Mubarak in its January 25,

2011 revolution. Under its watch, the military was vilified for its role in a number of

crackdowns on protesters and its use of "virginity tests" on female protesters. There remain

dozens of young people imprisoned by the Egyptian military, which conducts its trials outside

the civilian court system under a guise of great secrecy. These are no liberal democrats, and

the military's so-called roadmap will usher in a decade of instability.

The return of the military to power will not resolve the underlying economic problems facing

the Egyptian people today. Mohammed Morsi inherited an economic, political and social

system in complete disarray after decades of neglect and corruption under Mubarak. After the

revolution, Egyptians had high, arguably unrealistic, expectations that a democratically

elected government would clean up the mess — piling garbage would be removed from the

sewers, the country's infamous traffic problems would be solved, corrupt and inefficient

judges would be replaced by honest, fair-minded ones, and heavy-handed police brutality

would be reined in. Egypt's infrastructure, education, food and agriculture, housing, police,



security, and legal systems (to name only a few) need to be overhauled completely, not

merely reformed.

The coming fiscal meltdown is linked to the Morsi government's continuing political and

security failures, which have greatly affected confidence in the Egyptian economy.

According to some accounts, Egypt lost $20-$30 billion of foreign exchange reserves in the

first two years of its transition and now has only $13.5 bn left in its coffers. Hard currency is

also in short supply as domestic and international investors' trust in government has

plummeted, leading to capital flight.

The fiscal cliff did not appear out of nowhere — wealthy Egyptians and international

investors have been slowly taking their savings out of the Egyptian economy for some time.

From the outset of the revolution, many feared (whether rightly or wrongly remains to be

seen) that the Muslim Brotherhood would soon turn to draconian economic nationalisation

schemes — much like Gamal Abdel Nasser did with the economic elite in the 1950s — and,

consequently, they began transferring their wealth abroad. The result? An Egyptian economic

situation that is anaemic at best. The frustration of the people will continue. What will happen

when the military cannot meet the economic needs of the people? Militaries often resort to

emergency laws to suppress liberties and get "a state house in order". This is the risk

Egyptians have taken with this coup d'etat. It's not a moment to celebrate, but one to take with

great caution

ECONOMY/BUSINESS

SEBI tightens currency derivative norms to curb rupee fall - The Hindu, IE, TOI

With an aim to help government efforts to stem fall in rupee value, Sebi has tightened the

exposure norms for currency derivatives to check large scale speculations in the market.

Currency derivative trading allows traders and investors to take forward views on various

currency pairs, including rupee-dollar, and it was being felt that large-scale speculations on

their future movements might be adding to the downward pressure on the Indian currency,

which fell to a record below 61 levels against the US greenback on Monday.

Sebi said in a circular that it is reducing the exposure that brokers and their clients can take

on currency derivatives and also doubled their margins on dollar-rupee contracts. The

exposure to all currency contracts for a broker has been capped at 15 per cent of their overall

exposure or USD 50 million, whichever is lower.

The fall spells more trouble - The Hindu

The continuing slide in the rupee against dollar has raised many questions. If the ongoing FII

selling in bond markets continues, “we expect the rupee to touch Rs 62-63 levels in near

future. Moreover, a depreciating rupee can stoke inflation further, leaving very less elbow

room for RBI to cut rates in its future policy meets,” said Equentis Capital in a report. The

RBI, which has warned of upward risks to inflation on account of the rupee weakness “We



are afraid it may be forced to hold on to its rates even in the coming policy also if things do

not improve on the rupee front. This, in turn, will further dampen investor sentiment and hurt

stock markets,’’ the report added.

The only positive from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to roll back the stimulus plan will be

a fall in commodity prices, including gold, which could help to bring down India’s high

current account deficit (CAD). As the RBI said in its recently-published Financial Stability

Report, outflows from equity and debt markets raise concerns about financing of the

country’s current account deficit. An estimated $90 billion is required to fund the gap in

India’s balance of payments (BoP) for the current financial year 2013-14.

CAI estimates lower cotton production in 2012-13 - The Hindu

Cotton production is estimated to be lower at 355.25 lakh bales in the 2012-13 season ending

September, compared to 373.25 lakh bales produced in 2011-12, according to industry data.

Cotton season runs from October to September. Total cotton supply during the season is

estimated at 423.46 lakh bales, including opening stock balance of around 53 lakh bales, the

Cotton Association of India (CAI) said in its latest June forecast.

Domestic consumption is estimated at 283 lakh bales, and exports at 95 lakh bales, leaving

the closing stock at 45.46 lakh bales, it said. Timely rains and the fast pace at which sowing

of cotton was taking place bode well for a good crop during the 2013-14 crop years,

according to CAI President Dhiren N. Sheth.

Arrivals as on June 30 were placed at 344.75 lakh bales. Gujarat continued to remain the

largest producer with 85.75 lakh bales in 2012-13 (114 lakh bales in 2011-12). Among other

producers, Andhra Pradesh produced 75 lakh bales, Maharashtra (72 lakh bales), Haryana (24

lakh bales), Punjab (15.5 lakh bales), Karnataka (13 lakh bales) and Madhya Pradesh (18 lakh

bales), the CAI said.

PMO to revisit policy on preferential market access -The Hindu

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), on Monday, announced that the mandatory sourcing

requirement for private companies — also known as the Preferential Market Access (PMA)

policy — will be revisited as well as reviewed, and a new re-calibrated policy would be

brought before the Cabinet for approval.

The entire policy on providing preference to domestically-manufactured electronic goods

(PMA Policy) will be revisited and reviewed. The overall policy on PMA will be recalibrated

and submitted to the Cabinet. No notifications on PMA in the private sector on security-

related products will be issued till the PMA policy is reviewed, and any notifications in the

draft stage will be withheld, a statement by the PMO said here.

The PMO has called for a major change in the new PMA policy of removing the entire clause

regarding preference to domestic manufacturer on security-related products that are to be



used by private sector. “The revised proposal on PMA in the private sector for security-

related products will not have domestic manufacturing requirements, percentage based or

otherwise. The PMO has asked the Department of Electronics and Information Technology to

bring a final note to the Cabinet on the revised policy within four weeks,

Asset financing NBFCs allowed to access ECB market -The Hindu

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a notification on Monday said Non-banking finance

companies (NBFCs) involved in asset financing have been allowed to access the external

commercial borrowing (ECB) market.

The access is subject to certain conditions, including availing of ECB under the automatic

route with minimum average maturity of five years to finance import of infrastructure

equipment for leasing to infrastructure projects, it said.

Among others, NBFC-AFCs availing of ECB through foreign currency bonds (FCB) will be

allowed to raise capital only from markets, subject to regulations by the host country

complaint with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines.

Such ECBs can be availed up to 75 per cent of owned funds of NBFC-AFCs, subject to a

maximum of $200 million or its equivalent per financial year. Also, ECBs by AFCs above 75

per cent of their owned funds will be considered under the approval route and currency risk

of such ECBs is required to be fully hedged, RBI said.

Women entrepreneurs may see a future with this bank - IE

For many women entrepreneurs, who are trying to set up their own business — access to

credit and financing can often be the most challenging part at the beginning their own

venture.

To fill this basic requirement of funding by women entrepreneurs and empower women

through financial inclusion, the country's first Women's Bank is getting all set to start

operations over the next few months. The finance ministry is all set to seek Cabinet approval

for the bank, which is aimed at empowering women. Though it will take deposits from both

men and women, the bank is expected to focus on lending largely to women and women-run

businesses.

Not to be confused with the on-going race for new bank licenses by the RBI, the Women's

Bank was proposed by finance minister P Chidambaram as part of the Union Budget 2013-

14. It is aimed at catering to women, women-run businesses and self-help groups.

"Women are at the head of many banks today, including two public sector banks, but there is

no bank that exclusively serves women," Chidambaram had said at the time.

The lack of access to institutional credit facilities by women in India has also been

highlighted by a number of reports. A recent study by PC maker Dell revealed that though



India is the best place for women entrepreneurs to start business based on factors such as

technology, getting funds for the business is very difficult. To be set up with an initial outlay

of Rs 1,000 crore, the proposed bank will open with six branches — one each in the four

metro cities, while a fifth would be in central India and the sixth in the north east. The bank is

likely to be headquartered at New Delhi with a branch in Parliament Street. It would expand

subsequently to 25 branches within a span of one year and scale up to 300 over the next four

to five years.

Significantly, the concept of an all-women’s bank may be new to India but it is not unique to

the country. For instance, to give a boost to women entrepreneurship, Pakistan too had set up

the First Women's Bank way back in 1989. A scheduled commercial bank, it was set up with

a similar goal of giving women economic independence. Tanzania too boasts of the Tanzania

Women's Bank, which was inaugurated in 2009 and aims to promote gender equality.

Jewellers turn to diamonds, NRIs - IE

Jewellers in India are banking on a growing appetite for diamonds in the country and resilient

demand for gold among its non-residents to offset a slowdown caused by a government

clampdown on imports of the precious metal.

Leading jewellers such as Titan Industries and Gitanjali Gems are aggressively promoting

diamond jewellery, which uses less gold, and opening more stores in cities such as Singapore

and Dubai in an effort to spur sales. The moves could help create alternative demand sources

for the battered yellow metal in the medium term and help somewhat cushion price declines.

Following the government's measures, gold imports by the world's top metal importer in June

may be just 37-40 tonnes against a monthly average of 70 tonnes, according to the trade

federation's Soni. And imports in July-December may decline by 20-25 per cent compared to

the first half of this year, he said. Anticipating further restrictions at home, some jewellers

plan to increase their overseas presence to boost sales, especially to non-resident Indians

(NRIs).

Banks to 'name and shame' guarantors for loan defaulters - IE, ET

Tightening their noose on loan defaulters, banks have decided to 'name and shame' the

guarantors of such borrowers as well by publishing their photographs and other details in

newspapers and at notice boards of bank branches and community centres. Banks, mostly

public sector lenders, began publishing pictures of wilful loan defaulters in newspapers and at

other places around the areas of residence of such borrowers earlier this year to induce them

to pay up.

This exercise has now been extended to the guarantors of loan defaulters as well as part of

efforts to build pressure on the borrowers to clear their dues and Allahabad Bank published

one such public notice today. Interestingly, public sector banks are at the forefront of taking

such measures and those already making public the photographs and other details of loan



defaulters include the country's biggest lender SBI and UCO Bank, Allahabad Bank, Indian

Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

According to bankers, the photographs, names and addresses of the guarantors would be

published in newspapers if the dues are not cleared within 15 day of the notice containing

particulars of the original borrowers. Some banks have also decided to prominently display

the photographs and other details of the wilful loan defaulters at the branches in the locality

of such borrowers.

Banks also expect such notices to act as a deterrent for others against any loan defaults. As

per RBI's regulations, wilful defaulters are mostly those who are found to be engaged in

deliberate non-payment of the dues despite adequate cash flow and good net worth.

International Monetary Fund warns eurozone it needs more reforms - TOI

BRUSSELS: The International Monetary Fund says the 17 European Union countries that use

the euro risk being mired in low growth and high unemployment if they don't get their banks

lending again and urgently reform labor markets.

In an assessment published Monday, the IMF identified four areas for action: problem banks

need to be identified and helped so the whole financial sector has the confidence to lend; a

unified set of banking rules need to be drawn up; the European Central Bank should continue

its loose monetary policy; and countries must make their economies competitive, including

by freeing up their labor markets. The report warned that ``centrifugal forces across the euro

area ... are pulling down growth everywhere'' and that without serious reforms, the region

could suffer long-term damage to growth.

RBI, oil companies discuss forex options as rupee slumps - ET

The Reserve Bank of India met oil marketing companies on Monday to discuss options,

including accessing dollars at market rates from a special window, to ease pressure on the

rupee, a company official told Reuters.

The RBI discussed options such as a dollar window against oil bonds or routing dollar sales

through a single bank. "They are suggesting we go to a single bank for our needs, but that's

not workable for all the oil companies. As a PSU it’s better to go for competitive bidding so

no one can question the decision later," the official from an oil company said, referring to

public sector unit (PSU) oil companies. Oil companies are the biggest domestic buyers of

dollars, and removing their demand could ease pressure on a rupee that hit a record low of

61.21 against the dollar on Monday.–


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