Weekly 25 March To 31 March 2013 For WEB

WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BULLETIN
25TH MARCH 2013 TO 31ST MARCH, 2013
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Weekly Current Affairs 25th March to 31st March, 2013
SCHEDULE FOR GS TOPICAL TESTS

2nd December: Infrastructure & Resources 1. Transportation infrastructure: Road and Highway Networks, Mass Transit Systems, Railways, Waterways, Ports.... 2. Energy infrastructure:- Thermal Power Generation, Natural Gas Pipelines & Petroleum Pipelines, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy...... 3. Water management infrastructure:- Drinking water supply, Sewage Collection and Disposal of Waste water, Flood Control, Water Harwesting..... 4. Communications infrastructure:- Television and Radio Transmission, Internet, Social Network, Search Engines, Communications Satellites...... 5. Solid Waste Management 6. Economic Infrastructure: Manufacturing Infrastructure, including Industrial Parks and Special Economic zones, Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Infrastructure.... 7. Resources: Water Resources, Forest Resources, Land Resources, Energy Resources, Minerals, Resource Management..... 9th December: Demography : Population Composition, Density, Literacy, Sex Ratio... 16th December: Environmental Problems & Global Environmental Governance : Deforestation, Pollution: Air, Water, Land, Noise, Desertification, Biodiversity Depletion, Global Warming, SD.......
Production and productivity, Microirrigation, Urbanization, Government Initiatives...... 6th January: Indian Economy Basics, Planning & Trade 1. Industry Services, Agriculture, Energy..... 2. Balance of Payments. Foreign Direct Investment....... 3. Growth, Development and Other Issues......... 4. Poverty Estimates, Impact of Poverty........ 5. Exchange rate. Role of RBI..... 6. Nature of Planning - Five Year Plan, Planning after 1991 (LPG), Inflation..... 13th January: Governance and Contemporary Political Developments : Development Politics, Political and Administrative Institutions, Good Governance, Internal Security....
23rd December: Human Development, Social Sector Initiatives and Programmes & Policies 1. Concept of Human Development, Development vs. Growth, Human Development Index, MPI, Innovation..... 2. Social Inclusion, Child Welfare, Women Welfare.... 30th December: Agriculture, Urbanisation, Health : Agriculture and GDP, Agricultural Regionalization,
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20th January ... 27th January ... 3rd February .. 10th February . 31st March ...... 7th April ......... 21st April ........ 28th April .......
SCHEDULE FOR SECTIONAL TESTS (PAPER I & II)
Ecology and environment Comprehension Polity and Governance English Language Comprehension + Logical Reasoning 17th February . Geography 24th February . Decision Making and Problem Solving 3rd March ....... General Science and Science and Technology 10th March ..... Mental Ability, Basic Numeracy, Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency 17th March ..... History 24th March ..... Indian Economy
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NATIONAL
Centre rejects TN assembly resolution on Sri Lanka Days after the DMK pulled out of the Centre and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa barred Sri Lankan cricketers from playing in Chennai, the Centre has taken a tough stand on politics over Sri Lankan Tamils. The Tamil Nadu assembly had recently adopted a resolution, moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, urging the Centre to take firm steps against Colombo till the "suppression" of Tamils was stopped and those responsible for "genocide and war crimes" faced a credible international probe. The roadmap mandates that all internet connections provided to business organisations should support new version of internet addresses, IPv6, from January 1, 2014 onwards. As per the IPv6 adoption plan, all new IP based services like cloud computing, data centres etc, to be provisioned for and by the government organisations should be on dual stack. This means it should support both IPv6 traffic as well as current version of internet addresses IPv4 with immediate effect. The public interface of all government projects for delivery of citizen centric services should be on dual stack supporting IPv6 traffic latest by January 1, 2015. The government organisations should procure equipments which are also IPv6 Ready (Dual Stack) and go for deployment of IPv6 ready (Dual Stack) networks with end-to-end IPv6 supported applications. Government sermonizes media on 'positive' portrayal of women
The resolution came close on the heels of Jayalalithaa writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying India should boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to be held in Colombo in November this year. The government has rejected the resolution passed by Tamil Nadu assembly that had asked the Centre to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly nation and to slap sanctions on it while demanding a referendum for a separate Tamil Eelam. The National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap Version - II released
The 'National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap Version - II, a document containing policy guidelines for IPv6 transition prepared by NT Cell, Department of Telecom (DoT), was released by Union Minister for Communications & IT, Shri Kapil Sibal. According to it all government organisations have to plan a shift to a network that supports new version of internet addresses, IPv6, by 2017-end. "The plan should be prepared latest by December 2013 and accordingly the required budgetary provisions should be made in their demand for grant. For this purpose, it is recommended that a dedicated transition unit in each organisation should be formed immediately to facilitate entire transition The current version, IPv4, has almost run out of addresses. The explosive growth of number of subscribers and the increasing number of devices has made it necessary to migrate to IPv6. Its adoption is must for secure and sustainable growth of internet.
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The government has stepped in to curb "indecent or stereotypical" portrayal of women in the media. Recent depiction of women in films, television and advertisements has got the I&B ministry so bothered that it has asked the industry bodies to review its guidelines. It has also urged TV broadcasters and the censor board to run gender sensitization workshops. Portrayal of women in media has come under scrutiny in months following the Nirbhaya gang rape on last year. I&B's move comes after the Committee of Secretaries headed by the cabinet secretary showed concern over the "indecent portrayal and commodification of women" in films, advertisements and by other sections of media. Other suggestions include running 30-second spots on "positive portrayal of women" along the lines of anti-smoking spots prior to the screening of films and holding awareness workshops with film industry bodies. The ministry has asked TV broadcasters also to launch a sustained media campaign to project a "positive image" of women. The ministry has directed the board to review its
guidelines on the portrayal of women. In a communication to the board, the ministry pointed out that concerns have been raised at the "highest quarters" of government about films, advertisements and TV shows reinforcing biased and negative perceptions about women. PM-headed panel for CAG selection mooted
by the majority principle on the plea that the rationale of a broad-based selection committee would be negated if the government retained a majority in the committee and the majority view prevailed. Cashless treatment for road accident victims
They have contended that when such a committee procedure had been adopted for the selection of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner and the National Human Rights Commission Chairman, the same procedure should be applied for the selection of the CAG.
The proposed selection committee should comprise the Finance Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the PAC Chairman and, possibly, the Chief Justice of India or other eminent legal luminary to bring "transparent, institutionalised selection mechanism" for the appointment of the next CAG. The signatories to the memorandum included the former deputy CAGs, J.N. Gupta, B.P. Mathur, R. Parameswar; and the former Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, Ramaswmy R. Iyer.
The former bureaucrats did not favour the current criteria, which selected only those who had served as Secretary for the CAG post. They strongly recommended selecting deserving Deputy CAGs who had vast knowledge and experience of government accounts and audit.
According to the Forum, the practice of selecting only those who had served as Secretaries is open to question, as apart from the fact that most Secretaries are unlikely to have the in-depth knowledge needed for the position of CAG, it could be argued that a background as a Secretary to the Government of India is very likely to lead to questions of conflict of interest, as the CAG may find himself or herself having to audit decisions taken by him or her earlier in the capacity of Secretary. It may be recalled that a question of possible conflict of interest did arise recently in the case of the CVC. The former officials further stressed that the selection of the CAG should be unanimous and not
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Eminent retired bureaucrats and members of the Forum of Retired Officers of Indian Audit and Accounts Service have demanded the creation of a selection committee headed by Prime Minister to select the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. The term of current CAG Vinod Rai ends in May.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways C.P. Joshi unveiled a pilot project under which road accident victims would be provided cashless treatment, an initiative that could bring down the high rate of fatalities in the country. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has signed an MoU with ICICI Lombard to jointly launch the pilot project by May on the 225-km Delhi-Gurgaon-Jaipur route that claims about 250 lives annually. The project will be launched with a corpus of Rs. 20 crore to be provided by the Ministry and the private insurance company providing back end support for managing the control room, monitoring ambulances and tying up with hospitals to provide the "golden period" treatment. Under the scheme, cashless treatment of up to Rs. 30,000 would be provided to the victims during the first two days of treatment at 51 hospitals identified on the route at CGHS rates. A maximum of 10 ambulances would be stationed at a distance of about 20 km of each other to respond to an accident within six to seven minutes and take the victims to a nominated hospital. Before launching the project, ICICI Lombard would also collect data on the causes of the accident on the route - whether it was because of the driver, vehicle or manufacturing defect or engineering fault in the construction of the road. The Ministry of Heavy Industries is also cooperating in the exercise to get the automakers correct defects, if any. The objective of the project is to obtain data vital for the insurance companies to assess insurance premium and the cost of offering such a service and by reducing the rate of fatalities scale down third party liabilities. Based on the data of the project, MoRTH will roll out a similar scheme throughout the country. More than 1.4 lakh people are killed in about 5 lakh accidents in a year in the country. Three per cent of the victims suffer permanent disability while 12 per cent suffer serious injuries. The data will help all other insurance companies to be competitive in participating in the scheme where MoRTH will insure all road users for a premium which will be decided on the actual money required to treat them on the first two days.
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UGC set to make strict rules for private universities
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is all set to review the Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities Regulations, 2003, to make rules governing private universities more stringent. The regulations on deemed universities were made more stringent on quality by the UGC from the earlier guidelines in 2010 but a similar exercise was not undertaken for private universities. Taking advantage of the lacunae, in some States private deemed universities started converting into private State universities in order to escape the robust deemed universities regulations. The UGC has set up an expert committee to review the existing Regulations under Prof. P. N. Tandon and co-chair M. Anandakrishnan, both of whom were associated with the drafting of the UGC (Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010. However, private universities had been left out of the purview then.
In fact, in the Prof. Yashpal versus Chhattisgarh State case, the private universities set up under the then Chhattisgarh Private Universities Act had challenged that UGC had no control over private universities as they were established under State Acts. The Supreme Court had upheld UGC's competence to regulate private State universities, saying that entry 66 of the Union List in 7th Schedule of the Constitution permitted the Centre to legislate on standards of higher education even if State legislatures had jurisdiction under entry 32 of the State List to establish universities. Forensic laboratory to check corporate fraud planned
The expert committee has been asked to keep in mind the suggestions received from States and stakeholders by the earlier committee that also reviewed the 2003 Regulations. The Human Resource Development was, however, not too satisfied with the draft regulations that, in addition to bringing universities set up under State legislatures under the purview of the UGC Regulations, had also said that reservation policy would be applicable to them also. The private universities would have to be notfor-profit organisations and shall not be engaged in commercialisation of education. The draft Regulations of 2010, prepared by a Ministry-appointed committee, had also said that a higher education institution could be approved as a university only if it had been in existence for 15 years and fulfilled the laid down criteria of land, faculty and other infrastructure and had generated IP Rights and produced enough quality research. Violation of any of the provisions would attract heavy penalty. Private universities were brought in for the first time through the 2003 Regulations under UGC's quality control.
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Amid concern at the rise in corporate fraud cases, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has launched three initiatives to strengthen its investigating mechanism, including one to establish a forensic laboratory attached to its Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The SFIO has signed memoranda of understanding with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), which works under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, and with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) of the Finance Ministry. The NIELIT will set up the laboratory on the SFIO premises on an outlay of Rs. 3.80 crore. The turnkey project will be completed in two phases over the next two years. Similarly, the agreement with the FIU-IND will facilitate exchange of data and information relating to suspicious banking transactions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The FIU-IND was helping the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the SFIO by supplying them with information on suspicious banking transactions. Having access to the banking information available with, and the expertise of, the FIU-IND would help the SFIO conduct comprehensive investigations. The SFIO was developing a framework for prevention of fraud through an 'early warning system.' The Ministry was also revamping the SFIO's Market Research & Analysis Unit to help it function as an intelligence unit.
INTERNATIONAL
EU suspends sanctions against Zimbabwe The European Union (EU) has suspended an assets freeze and visa ban against most Zimbabwean firms and people (around 81 individuals and eight entities) on its sanctions list in reward for a "credible" March referendum. A total 21 Zimbabweans out of 112 on the EU blacklist, and one of 11 firms, had already been removed in February after Harare announced a firm intention to hold the vote. minute $13-billion bailout with promises to sharply cut back its oversized banking sector and make large bank account holders take losses to help pay much of the bill. Without a bailout deal, the tiny Mediterranean nation would have faced the prospect of bankruptcy, which could have forced it to become the first country to abandon the euro currency. The deal has been designed by the 17-nation Euro zone finance ministers. What are the terms of the deal? Cyprus struck a deal with EU officials on a 10 billion aid package to shore up the country's banking sector. The plan will protect all deposits of less than 100,000, but is likely to impose a levy or "haircut" for account holders with more than 100,000 at the two biggest banks -- the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank of Cyprus. Popular Bank will be broken up immediately, and its viable assets will be integrated into the Bank of Cyprus. While the exact percentage of the "haircut" has not yet been determined, the levy on Popular Bank depositors alone will raise about 4.2 billion ($5.5B) towards the bailout deal, while shareholders and bondholders are likely to be wiped out. As part of the program, Cyprus will also have to raise taxes on capital gains and companies, introduce structural reforms and privatize some state assets. It has also agreed to an independent audit of antimoney laundering efforts in the banking system. EU officials had originally proposed a package that would have imposed a levy on all bank accounts in order to raise 5.8 billion ($7.5B) toward the deal. Account holders with more than 100,000 ($130,000) would have paid a 9.9% levy and those with smaller deposits 6.75%. But the Cypriot parliament rejected the bailout offer due to public outrage over the levy, prompting fears of a run on the country's banks, which have been closed since March 16, and officials went back to the drawing board. Syrian opposition takes seat at Arab summit
The sanctions were originally imposed in 2002 on the grounds of political violence, human rights abuses and the failure to hold free and fair elections. However, sanctions will remain in force against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and 10 of his top aides, an EU source told Reuters news agency. Drafting a new constitution was a key condition of reforms agreed in 2008 when Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing deal with arch-rival Tsvangirai after a violence-marred presidential election.
The new constitution - endorsed by both President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai - expands civil liberties in Zimbabwe. Fresh elections are expected to be held sometime this year. Salient features of new Constitution a) Presidents limited to two five-year terms
b) Legislation can no longer be vetoed by the president c) Devolves power to 10 provinces peace and d) Establishes commission e) reconciliation
Creates independent prosecuting authority, anti-corruption commission, and guarantees independent electoral commission Includes bill of rights which stipulates freedom of expression and a free media Allows dual citizenship
f) g)
h) Seizure of farms under the land reform programme can no longer be legally contested; president appoints land commission to carry out national audit Bailout package for Cyprus by EU
Cyprus avoided bankruptcy, and potential turmoil across the Euro zone, by securing a lastWeekly Current Affairs 25th March to 31st March, 2013
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Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit in Qatar, showcasing a significant diplomatic
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boost for the forces fighting President Bashar alAssad's regime. A delegation was led by Mouaz alKhatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance - the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition - at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Besides al-Khatib, the Syrian delegation included Ghassan Hitto, recently elected prime minister of a planned interim government to administer rebel-held areas in Syria, and two prominent opposition figures, George Sabra and Suheir Atassi. The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat was made at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha. The Arab League in 2011 suspended the Syrian government's membership in the organization in punishment for the regime's crackdown on opponents. The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, stated that the Syrian opposition deserves representation because of the popular legitimacy they have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and the historic role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing for building the new Syria." Addressing the gathering, Syrian leader al-Khatib thanked the Arab League for granting the seat to the opposition. "It is part of the restoration of legitimacy that the people of Syria have long been robbed of. He also defended the presence in Syria of foreign jihadis, saying the militants were there to help defend a people under attack but added that those more needed by their families in their own countries should leave. US new Bill to curb H-1 B hiring
Some estimate the recommended wages would be up to 50% higher than the prevailing US wages. Given that Indian IT companies are the biggest users of this visa, the bill if passed, could substantially increase the costs for these companies. In 2010 the US had raised H-1 B visa fees by as much as $2,000 per application and L-1 visas fees by $2,700 to fund its enhanced costs on securing its border with Mexico. India had moved the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the visa fee hike, saying that it discriminates against employees of Indian companies who are on short-term contracts in America. The pitch for protecting American jobs began after unemployment rates neared double-digit levels following 2008 sub-prime crisis. It reached a crescendo in the months leading up to the US elections in November last year. Though the US unemployment rate remains high at 7.7% now, the unemployment rate in the technology sector is said to be significantly lower. On the other hand the Tech companies in the US have been lobbying to significantly increase the number of H-1 B visas. The US government currently has a bill before it seeking to raise the H-1 B cap from 65,000 to 1.15 lakh. North Korea severs last military hotline to South
The rhetoric against outsourcing and immigration in the US was expected die down after the presidential election. However a section of US lawmakers is still trying to place immigration hurdles and the latest bid is from US Senator Charles Grassley, who has introduced a new H-1 B and L1 Visa Reform Act 2013 that would require US companies to pay significantly higher wages to H1 B visa holders over their American peers with similar experience. The bill requires firms to make a good faith effort to hire Americans first over H-1 B visa holders. But the biggest impact of the bill will be to make it cost prohibitive and burdensome to hire a foreign national. The proposed bill prohibits employers from advertising only to H-1 B visa holders and outsourcing them to other companies. It has even increased administrative expenses per violation from $1,000 to $2,000 and from $5,000 to $10,000 for willful misrepresentation.
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North Korea severed its military hotline with South Korea, breaking the last direct communication link between the two countries at a time of heightened military tensions. A few weeks earlier, North Korea suspended two other direct phone lines, one that was connected to the U.S. military command in South Korea and the other a Red Cross humanitarian link. The decision was relayed by a senior North Korean military official to his South Korean counterpart. Severing the military hotline could affect operations in the Seoul-funded Kaesong Industrial Complex, just north of the border, because it was used to organise movements of people and vehicles in and out. Since 2004, the Kaesong factories have operated with South Korean money and knowhow, with North Korean factory workers managed by South Koreans. The factories provide jobs and bring in much-needed hard currency for North Korea, and supply a cheap and efficient labor source for South Korea. Other examples of joint inter-Korean cooperation that blossomed during an earlier era of detente came
and went during the previous administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose tough policies on North Korea angered the Pyongyang regime. North Korea also cut the Kaesong line in 2009, in a protest of that year's South Korean-U.S. military drills. North Korea refused several times to let South Korean workers return home from their jobs, leaving hundreds stranded in North Korea. The country restored the hotline and reopened the border crossing more than a week later, after the drills ended. Aside from the hotlines, there are no landline, cellphone, fax, email or mail connections between North and South Korea. Both Seoul and Pyongyang prohibit from direct contact with citizens from the other Korea without government permission. North Korea's actions have been accompanied by threatening rhetoric, including a vow to launch a nuclear strike against the United States and a repeat of its nearly two-decade-old threat to reduce Seoul to a "sea of fire." However, analysts outside the country have seen no proof that the country has mastered the technology needed to build a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a missile. Brazil and China agree currency swap
Though the agreement is expected to be of little use in day-to-day trade, the deal will guarantee the flow of Brazil's growing soy, iron ore and other exports to China and China's imports of manufactured goods to Brazil regardless of global financial conditions. The central banks of China and Brazil would deposit the money with each other in their respective currencies for a period of three years, with the possibility of extension upon expiry. The central banks would be responsible for extending lines of credit to support companies trading. The move is seen as an important step forward in China's "currency swap diplomacy" - its efforts to promote the renminbi as a global reserve currency amid a number of other such agreements with countries ranging from Australia to Argentina. Brazil represents an attractive prospect for Beijing's efforts to grow trade in renminbi. Its large domestic consumer market and need for infrastructure make it an ideal export destination for Chinese goods. The currency swap agreement, worth R$60bn in Brazilian currency, was first announced by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the Rio+20 environmental summit last year.
Brazil and China sealed a $30bn currency swap agreement that is expected to act as a backstop to growing trade between the two countries.
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ECONOMY
Fiscal deficit touched 97.4 percent of the budget estimates fiscal deficit to come down to 4.8 percent in 2013-14 and to 3 percent of the GDP by 2016-17. Government steps up black money crackdown According to the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) the government's fiscal deficit touched 97.4 percent of the budget estimates (BE) in the April-February period of the current fiscal. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit, or gap between expenditure and revenue receipts, stood at over Rs 5.07 lakh crore at the end of February. The Government has estimated the fiscal deficit for current fiscal at Rs 5,13,590 crore, or 5.1 percent, of GDP in the budget for 2012-13. However, in the revised estimate, it pegged the deficit to be at 5.2 percent for the fiscal ending 31st March. The fiscal deficit rose from the budgeted levels due to the rising subsidy outgo. In monetary terms, CAD widened in the October-December quarter to $32 billion, markedly up from $20 billion (4.4 per cent of GDP) in the same quarter of 2011-12, mainly on account of a significant increase in oil and gold imports at a time when exports have remained particularly subdued in the wake of an uncertain global environment and recessionary conditions prevailing in the U.S. and Europe. During April-December of 2012, CAD stood at $71.7 billion, which worked out to 5.4 per cent of the GDP as compared to $56.5 billion, or 4.1 per cent of the GDP in the like period of 2011. Significantly, gold imports during the AprilDecember period stood at $ 38 billion while in fiscal 2011-12, imports of the commodity was valued at $ 56 billion. Clearly, while gold imports appeared to be on a decline, it was the trade deficit during the third quarter that widened to $ 59.6 billion, up from $ 48.6 billion in the same quarter a year ago, mainly driven by higher imports which were up by 9.4 per cent during the period. To contain it at 5.2 percent, the government has taken a number of steps like rationalisation of expenditure including 10 percent mandatory cut on non-plan expenditure. Besides, steps have been taken to cut the subsidy outgo on petroleum products. The government has rolled out the fiscal deficit road-map for the 12th Five Year Plan. It estimates
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The government has taken a slew of measures in the past few years to ensure that Indian tax authorities have access to information from other countries to tackle black money and tax avoidance. It has renegotiated several tax treaties, including the one with Switzerland, to enable exchange of information. The government has entered into Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with tax havens like Cayman Islands, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands. And, it has tightened domestic tax provisions. The Finance Act 2012 extended the time limit for reopening cases to 16 years where income relates to an asset located outside India. Details of foreign bank accounts, immovable properties and assets outside India are also required to be filed by tax payers. Tax authorities will intensify their efforts further to crack down on unaccounted money stashed overseas by seeking information from their counterparts in other countries. The CBDT points out that such regulatory effort will come to naught if tax officers do not make use of the opportunities for obtaining cross-border information. In January, CBDT had issued an internal manual - 'The Manual on Exchange of Information for tax purposes with foreign jurisdictions' - which provided guidelines on how to obtain information from authorities of other countries under the tax treaties, TIEAs and multinational conventions. CBDT's internal manual points out that tax officers are not making many requests primarily because they are not fully aware of the provisions. For instance, only 39 requests were made during financial year 2008-09 seeking information from India's treaty partners. The number increased to 92 and 386 during FY11 and FY12, respectively. The internal manual not only provides information on the avenues available under which information can be sought from overseas counterparts, but also provides formats which the tax officers must follow while making specific requests to foreign tax authorities, be it treaty or non-treaty countries.
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Even under India's domestic tax laws, a taxpayer, barring certain exceptions, is guaranteed confidentiality of information filed in his return, points out the manual. As tax treaties over-ride domestic tax laws, if information is treated as confidential in the country providing such information, it will also be treated as confidential in India and not made public. Indian Financial Code Bill proposed
the report said that over the coming 25 to 30 years, Indian GDP is likely to become eight times larger than the present level, and is likely to be bigger than the United States GDP as of today. Implementation of the report, however, is not expected to be smooth. Apart from the legislative changes required through Parliamentary approval. IRDA passes credit rating norm for choosing foreign reinsurers
Aiming to reform financial sector regulations for the longer term in keeping with systemic risks involved in financial management, the governmentappointed Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) headed by Justice B. N. Srikrishna has proposed an Indian Financial Code Bill to enable creation of a unified financial regulator while limiting the role of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to monetary management. As per the proposed regulatory architecture recommended by the Commission, the unified financial agency (UFA) - will comprise four existing agencies which will be merged into one. These are the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The RBI will continue to exist, though with modified functions. The Commission has suggested seven agencies and each of them will have distinct functions. The other agencies; apart from RBI and unified financial agency; the Commission has suggested Financial Sector Appellate Tribunal (FSAT), Resolution Corporation, Financial Redressal Agency, Public Debt Management Agency and FSDC (Financial Stability and Development Council). The existing Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) will be subsumed into FSAT and the existing Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (DICGC) will be subsumed into the Resolution Corporation. While the existing FSDC will continue to exist though with modified functions and a statutory framework, the Commission has recommended two new creations - a Financial Redressal Agency (FRA) and a new Debt Management Office. The draft Indian Financial Code Bill containing 450 clauses and six schedules is to give effect to its recommendations. Explaining why the vast changes in the system of financial regulation and management is necessary,
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has tightened the norms for reinsurers. In the reinsurance business, multiple companies share the risk by purchasing policies from other insurers to limit the the original insurer would face in the disaster. insurance insurance total loss case of a
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According to the new IRDA norms, insurers should place their reinsurance business outside India with only those insurers who have a credit rating of at least "BBB" with Standard & Poor's, or an equivalent rating by any other international agency for the past five years. The past claims performance of the reinsurers should also be considered while accepting their participation in the reinsurance programme. The reinsurance programmes would commence from the beginning of every financial year. The details would have to be submitted to the regulator at least 45 days in advance. One of the objectives of reinsurance programme, according to the regulator, is to maximise retention (the portion of risk which an insurer assumes for its own account). The net retention of non-life insurers increased to 91.84 per cent in 2011-12 from 88.24 per cent in the previous year. The reforms in the reinsurance business have been proposed because IRDA was founding it difficult to track the audit trail of many transactions with regard to reinsurance placements and coinsurance. Further, there has been a demand from the general insurers that a level playing field be created for foreign insurance companies and Indian reinsurers because, so far, there have been no restrictions in place for the foreign firms. The regulator also plans to introduce a hi-tech electronic platform for transactions and settlement.
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INDIA AND THE WORLD

Zimbabwe seeks Indian Investment to Revive its Manufacturing Sector New Saudi law related to 'Nitaqat' (naturalisation) may hit Indian jobs The Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Shri Anand Sharma met the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai during his visit to Harare for the India-Zimbabwe Joint Trade Committee (JTC) Meeting. During the JTC meeting India has offered various capacity building programmes, including scholarships and dedicated courses in bamboo craft development and handicrafts. Further Lines of Credit (LOC) proposals worth USD 400 million from the Zimbabwean side will be considered and Zimbabwe could also avail the 'Buyers Credit Scheme' and the 'pilot 2 % Interest subvention scheme' for projects in Zimbabwe. Shri Sharma agreed to the request of Mr. Tsvangirai for providing assistance in revival of its textile industry and in developing its nascent diamond industry. South Asian workers - a majority of whom are from India employed in the small and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia - are likely to be hit hard as the Kingdom goes ahead with its plans to expand employment avenues for its own nationals in the backdrop of the Arab Spring. Saudi Arabia has proposed the policy of reserving 10 per cent jobs for locals. A study by the Saudi Central Department of Statistics and Information, fixed the unemployment rate in the country last year at 12.2 per cent. That meant that more than 588,000 people were without jobs. Other estimates suggest that an alarming 39 per cent of the youth in the 15-25 years old category, are unemployed. Consequently, the Kingdom has adopted the Nitaqat programme - a plan to push its nationals into employment in companies that are colour coded to deter expatriates from monopolising their workforce. Thus, firms falling into the red zone are the worst offenders as they have, according to the Kingdom's grading criteria, failed to employ the minimum quota of Saudi nationals in their workforce. Those in the yellow slot have also fallen short of their targets, but, despite their poor showing, have been recognised for their effort to employ Saudi nationals. Companies in the green zone fall in the blue chip category as they have fully complied with the Kingdom's latest labour laws. As a result they are allowed to expand their workforce by employing a larger number of expatriates. The Saudi Arabia government's decision has caused much worry among the Indian expatriates there, particularly those from Kerala. As many as 5 lakh people from the State were working in Saudi Arabia alone, he said, adding that job losses could cause great social unrest in the State. The issue would get more complicated if other Middle Eastern countries start following the Saudi model.
The India-Zimbabwe Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting was co-chaired by Shri Sharma and the Prof. Welshman Ncube, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Zimbabwe. During the JTC meeting, the two sides reviewed the bilateral trade and investment relations and held discussions on the following areas of cooperation: Textiles Sector, Agro/ food Processing Sector, Gems and Jewellery, industrial cluster initiatives, Lines of Credit, capacity building programmes, establishing of Commodity Exchange in Zimbabwe. During the meeting, both the Ministers emphasized that the present levels of bilateral trade and investment were much below the potential. In the year 2012, the India-Zimbabwe bilateral trade was USD 166 million, with balance of trade heavily in favour of India. The Zimbabwean Minister sought investments and technical assistance from India to enable Zimbabwe in revival of its manufacturing sector, and to achieve greater value addition and beneficiation of natural resources, which will also enable Zimbabwe to increase the value of its exports. The Zimbabwean side also presented to the Indian side the potential joint venture investment projects from the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe for consideration of the Indian industry.
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UN call for boost in efforts to combat drugresistant tuberculosis
On the occasion of World TB Day - United Nations urged countries to strengthen their efforts to respond to drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) and increase funding to eliminate this deadly disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared TB a global health emergency two decades ago, since then new diagnostics, new drugs and the promise of new vaccines have decreased the incidence of disease burden but there are still challenges to be met, mainly stopping the spread of multi-drug resistant TB, also known as MDRTB, which threatens to reverse the gains achieved in past years. According to WHO, an estimated 8.7 million people developed TB and 1.4 million died from the disease in 2011. Worldwide, an estimated 630,000 people are infected with MDR-TB, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose and costs at least 10 times more to treat than drug-sensitive TB.
National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) has developed a plan to scale up the services considerably in order to treat at least 40,000 MDRTB patients annually by 2017, supported by the Global Fund Round Single Stream Funding, Unitaid and domestic funds. Ineffective and delayed diagnosis in both private and public sectors and failure to notify and register patients in the private sector diagnosed with TB, in addition to patients accessing private providers not linked with the RNTCP, have been identified as some of the major challenges faced by India in controlling the dreaded disease that claims 24 lives of every 100,000 people infected. Achieving universal access, including marginalised and high risk groups, while maintaining and continuing to improve the quality of services across the country; introducing newer diagnostics and their positioning at various levels of health care, and ensuring adequate staffing at all levels - through improved human resource development - to reduce reliance on a limited pool of dedicated TB staff are some more issues that need to be tackled, the 'Stop TB in South-East Asia - zero death to zero infection' says. Enforcing regulations for prescription and sale of anti-TB drugs; promoting rational use of first and second line drugs outside the programme to prevent MDR and extensively drug resistant TB (XDR TB), developing and implementing airborne infection control measures in health facilities and effectively promoting operational research to address local challenges are among the issues flagged in the report. India is also planning a national Drug Resistance Survey for 2013. BRICS proposes establishment of development bank
The emergence of MDR-TB, at dramatic levels in some settings, is a signal that care and control measures have failed. When patients are given too little treatment, stop taking their medicines, or are treated with sub-standard medicines, only the weakest TB bacteria are killed. TB in India
India may have achieved a success rate of 88 per cent in treatment of tuberculosis - higher than the global treatment success rate of 85 per cent - but HIV-TB co-infection continues to be a cause of major concern, as the percentage of people infected with the twin infection increased substantially between 2010 and 2011. The percentage of TB patients tested for HIV increased nationally from 32 per cent to 45 per cent.
It is estimated that there are around 2.4 million HIV patients in India. Recent country- level data show that about 6 per cent of TB patients are HIVpositive. National surveillance has shown that the distribution of HIV among TB patients is highly heterogeneous, and is closely correlated with the distribution of HIV infection. Further according to the sub-national surveys conducted in three States between 2006 and 2009 the multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) prevalence is at 2.1 per cent among new cases and 15 per cent among retreatment cases. Despite the low MDR-TB prevalence, India ranks first among the 27 MDR-TB high burden countries. The Revised
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The developing countries mainly face challenges of infrastructure development due to insufficient long-term financing and foreign direct investment, especially investment in capital stock. Thus BRICS nations have decided to establish a new development bank to finance infrastructure projects and to create a USD 100 billion contingency fund to tackle any financial crisis in emerging economies. It is a major achievement for India in its campaign for reforming the international financial architecture. BRICS cooperation towards more productive use of global financial resources can make a positive contribution to addressing this problem.
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The development bank, mooted by India at the last year's Summit in Delhi, was originally proposed to be started with a capital of USD 50 billion with USD 10 billion from each of the members. On the issue of Contingency Reserve Arrangement, India proposes a fund of anything between USD 50 and USD 100. There was agreement that China, which has a huge foreign exchange reserve, will contribute 41 billion while it will be 18 per cent for others except South Africa which will contribute USD five billion. The decision was taken at the BRICS Summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). in Durban which also launched a Business Council to encourage investment and trade in member countries and to expand business cooperation. Both the ideas (BRICS development bank and Contingency Reserved Arrangement) have been recommended by the finance ministers and have been approved by the leaders. India and Liechtenstein inks pact in TIEA
b) Information must be foreseeable relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of the Contracting Parties concerning taxes covered by the agreement. c) There is a specific provision that the requested Party shall use its information gathering measures to obtain the requested information even though that Party may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
d) There is a specific provision for providing banking and ownership information. e) It provides for the representatives of the competent authority of the requesting Party to enter the territory of the requested Party to interview individuals and examine records. f) The Agreement has specific provisions for protecting the confidentiality of the information obtained under the Agreement. Information is to be treated as secret and can be disclosed to only specified person or authorities, which are tax authorities or its oversight body. However, the information may be used for other purposes with the express consent of the Competent Authority of the supplying State.
India and Liechtenstein have signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) at Bern, Switzerland. The Agreement was signed by Ms Chitra Narayanan, Indian Ambassador in Switzerland from Indian side and Madame Doris Frick, Ambassador of Liechtenstein in Switzerland on behalf of Liechtenstein. Salient features of the agreement (TIEA) with Liechtenstein are: a) It is based on international standard of transparency and exchange of information.
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g) The Agreement shall enter into force one month from the later of the notification. On entering into force, information can be exchanged if it pertains to taxable periods beginning on or after 1st April, 2013. h) The Agreement provides for the exchange of documents or information created in or derived from a date preceding 1st April, 2013, that are foresee ably relevant to a request relating to tax years beginning on or after 1st April, 2013.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Kaziranga records net increase of rhinos The Kaziranga National Park has recorded a net increase of 39 rhinos even after losing about 125 rhinos due to poaching, high flood and natural death since January 2012. A census revealed that the total rhino count of the park - famous for one-horned rhinoceros - is 2,329. The census was carried out on March 24 and 25. The 2012 census had put the count at 2,290. The park has the world's largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceros. 'Include vaccine for cervical cancer in public health policy' Famous oncologist and chief scientific advisor to Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute (BIACHRI) Dr. Nori Dattatreyudu has suggested inclusion of cervical cancer vaccine in the public health policy in India. He expressed concern over the increasing incidence of cancer in India at a time when it had been coming down in the western countries. Lack of awareness among people on preventive steps and lack of education on the symptoms of cancer for its early detection was the reason for increasing number of cancer patients, he said. The cases of head & neck and cervical cancer were high in India due to the habits of cigarette smoking, tobacco chewing and lack of personal hygiene. Public education was most important to create awareness on these aspects. Mandatory administration of cervical cancer to all adolescent girls would bring down cases of cervical cancer drastically. The number of such patients was coming down in advanced countries as they had made cancer vaccination part of their public health policy. In the US, about 1.6 lakh cervical cancer cases used to be detected and the deaths were around 25 per cent about 35 years ago, but the number of detections had come down to 10,000 and deaths into just a couple of hundreds in the last five years, he said. He proposed that cervical cancer vaccine should be included in the public health policy here by bringing down its manufacturing cost. WHO-approved TB test, now at a subsidised price
Poachers have been keeping forest personnel on toes in and around the Park of late and have so far killed over ten rhinos since January this year creating public outcry in the state. Meanwhile, Assam forest department is mulling to arm forest guards in the KNP with sophisticated weapons like AK series assault rifles to counter the new brand of rhino poachers who are using assault rifles to kill one-horned rhinos of late. The Assam government has also ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the spurt in cases of rhino poaching in the Kaziranga park after the All Assam Students' Union and various NGOs raised the demand for a probe by the apex investigating agency into such unabated incidents. Assam government recently formed a special forest protection battalion armed with SLRs to protect wildlife in the State. Out of the 300-strong battalion, 100 personnel are being deployed in the KNP.
Kaziranga National Park is spread over an area that forms parts of Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur districts of Assam while Karbi Anglong hill district strikes along the southern border of the Park that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Assam government with permission from the Central government has amended the Wildlife Protection Act to enhance the maximum punishment to convicted rhino poachers to life imprisonment. Wildlife offences have been made non-bailable and cognizable.Under the provisions of Section 197 CrPC, forest officers and staff have been granted immunity from prosecution without prior sanction from the government so that they can go all out against poachers on the prowl.
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Providing accurate diagnosis for TB and thereby enabling earlier initiation of treatment has got a big boost. Currently, around 30 private laboratories across the country have come together to provide the WHO-approved GeneXpert MTB/RIF molecular test to diagnose active TB at a subsidised ceiling price of Rs.1,700 and Hain Genotype test at a ceiling
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price of Rs.1,600. More labs are expected to join the initiative. The market price of the molecular test is more than Rs.3,500. The Hain Genotype and MGIT Liquid Culture will help in deciding which alternative drugs should be given to patients who are resistant to first-line TB drugs. Any private laboratory can become a member of the initiative and offer the test at a subsidised rate provided it is accredited either by the National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL) or College of American Pathologists (CAP) or by the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP). One of the biggest positive outcomes will be that the member labs will be obliged never to provide the inaccurate and unreliable serological (blood) antibody tests for diagnosing active TB. The consequences of relying on blood tests are terrible - patients who are actually not suffering from active TB are put on long-term medication, while
many people who are actually suffering from active TB never end up getting the treatment at the right time. TB patients who are not undergoing treatment can spread the disease to a large number of people. Thus the government banned the serological TB test in June last year. Yet, many private laboratories continue to provide the test. The GeneXpert test, on the other hand, has 98 per cent sensitivity (ability to detect every positive TB case) in smear-positive cases. And specificity (ability to correctly diagnose only the positive cases) is 99 per cent. The molecular test can provide reliable results in just about two hours. But the biggest advantage is its ability to identify rifampicin drug resistance. Rifampicin is one of the first-line drugs given to TB patients. And patients who are resistant to the drug are generally resistant to isoniazid drug (another first-line drug) too. Hence, the molecular test can serve as an excellent marker of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
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2 - MARKERS
Competition Commission of India Nominated for Global Competition Review Awards 2013 Notify TB cases, private hospitals told The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been nominated for 'Global Competition Review (GCR) Awards 2013' under the category of "Agency of the Year-Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa". It is very first time that the CCI has been nominated for this internationally prestigious award. Other agencies nominated in this category are Japan's Fair Trade Commission, Pakistan's Competition Commission and Turkey's Competition Authority. GCR is the world`s leading antitrust and competition law journal and news service. The annual awards by GCR aim to recognise the achievements of teams and individuals from private practice firms, corporate legal departments, economic consultancies, academic organisations and competition authorities in 2012. NTPC Awarded as Most Efficient Maharatna The Principal Secretary of Medical and Health Ajay Sawhney has asked private medical practitioners and nursing homes to see that every case of tuberculosis was notified to the government as it was mandated by law. Bihar Cabinet nod for 50 % quota for women in coops.
NTPC Limited, India's largest power utility has been awarded as the most Efficient Maharatna-in Manufacturing for the year 2012 by a leading Stock Magazine at the 4th DSIJ Award held in New Delhi. The Award was received by Shri I.J. Kapoor, Director (Commercial), NTPC from Shri Ajit Singh, Union Minister of Civil Aviation. Apollo launches nationwide vaccination drive
Apollo Hospitals announced the launch of a nationwide vaccination drive to create awareness and encourage precautionary steps to avoid easily preventable diseases. Many lives can be saved through structured drive on vaccination preventive diseases (VPD) and help avoid both chronic and acute conditions like cervical cancer, pneumococcal, swine flu and cholera.
The campaign titled 'Apollo Protect' will focus on encouraging vaccinations for the adolescent and adult population and it will be driven across the group's integrated healthcare network of 50 hospitals, 1,500 pharmacies, 100 clinics, four Cradle Hospitals and other medical establishments across the country.
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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's announced 50 per cent of the seats in all cooperatives; primary agricultural cooperative societies will be reserved for women. From the quota, two seats each will be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Economically Backward Classes. DRDO awards for seven from Bangalore
Seven scientists and employees from Bangalorebased labs of the Defence Research and Development Organisation have received the Ministry of Defence annual national awards for 2012. The Young Scientist awards were given to M. Vengadesh Kumar of the Defence Avionics Research Establishment; Vishal Kesari of the Microwave Tube Research & Development Centre; N.N.R. Ranga Suri of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; and Narasimhan R.S. of the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment. Three Best Performance awards in the nonscientist category were given to D.K. Devappa of LRDE; R.N. Rangaswamy of DARE; and Susheela Ganesh of Aeronautical Development Establishment. DRDO Director-General V.K. Saraswat, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, officials of the Defence Ministry, the three Forces, industry captains and scientists were present. IAF goes 'Live Wire' to test battle efficiency
To test battle efficiency in a wartime scenario, the Indian Air Force has been conducting the firstever massive exercise, 'Live Wire,' at all its bases since mid-March. All IAF assets - the legacy systems as well as the latest inductions - are being tested for their
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competence in the third dimension in a simulated battle scenario. Round-the-clock operations are being carried out in a network-centric environment that provides enhanced situational awareness, monitored by the Integrated Air Command and Control Systems and the AWACS. Healthcare Businessman of the Year Award 2013
Currently, he is the chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. Gury Marchuk
Academician Gury Marchuk, the architect of a unique and highly successful programme of IndoRussian cooperation in science and technology, died in Moscow. Marchuk was the moving spirit behind the Integrated Long-Term Programme (ILTP) of Cooperation in Science & Technology set up in 1987 at the initiative of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Over 25 years that Marchuk co-chaired the ILTP Joint Council with Prof. C.N.R. Rao scientists of the two countries carried out hundreds of joint projects in dozens of research fields, from healthcare to information technologies and from biotechnology to lasers and electronics. In recognition of his services to India, Marchuk was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2002. He was also honorary member of India's National Academy of Sciences. In the 1950s Marchuk helped build the Soviet thermonuclear bomb and designed a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor for submarines that remains unrivalled to this day. Later he set up and headed for many years the Institute of Computational Mathematics in Moscow. In 1986 he was elected President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and headed it till the break-up of the Soviet Union in December 1991. HRD Ministry advices State Governments to Promote Gender Sensitization
Amit Bhatia, chief of the Swordfish group of companies and son-in-law of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, was declared the Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. The Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 went to Indian-origin entrepreneur Sudhir Choudhrie. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai has signed a deal reported to be worth nearly 2 million to publish a book which would tell not only her own story but also that of "61 million children who can't get education.''
In I am Malala , to be published in the autumn, the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl will give a detailed account of the day she was shot by a Taliban militant in Swat Valley last October while on her way to school: how a gunman stopped her school bus, asked for her by name and then shot her in the head at point-blank range.
Malala underwent extensive surgery in a Birmingham hospital to rebuild her skull which was badly damaged in the attack. U.R. Rao inducted into Satellite Hall of Fame
U.R. Rao, who led the country's space programme between 1984 and 1994, has become the first Indian to be inducted into the prestigious Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington. He joins the elite company of Arthur C. Clarke and 49 other star space scientists. Dr. Rao was Secretary, Department of Space, and the ISRO chairman for 10 years. He has started his career with the first Indian satellite Aryabhata in 1975, over 20 satellites were designed and launched under his guidance and the rocket technology development was accelerated in India.
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NRI entrepreneur Kartar Lalvani has been conferred with the Healthcare Businessman of the Year Award 2013 at the Asian Business Awards ceremony. He is the founder-chairman of Vitabiotics, UK's largest supplier of minerals and vitamin supplements to the retail trade.
The State Governments have been advised by the HRD Ministry to promote Gender Sensitization. This includes curriculum and textbooks be reexamined and improved for gender positive materials and at least a 2-3 day gender module be conducted with all teachers during the annual inservice training programmes. The Ministry has also advised that school monitoring systems incorporate a checklist of such gender sensitive parameters that promote gender sensitivity in classroom transaction and school extra-curricular activities. It has also proposed that from upper primary classes, physical education classes should include training in selfdefence for girls. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is preparing the gender sensitization modules
to train teachers and help students battle stereotypes against women from a young age. Gender Sensitivity training modules for teachers/trainers will be in the form of advocacy Programmes for sensitization and creating awareness. Also Master Trainer Programme for identified and motivated counsellors and nodal teachers. The programmes will also include Gender Sensitivity teachers/trainers' manual and activity cards for students from classes I-XII. The latest syllabus on Health and Physical Education for classes I - X developed by the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) based on National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 includes topics related to self defence under the
themes included for upper primary classes such as Human Body, Security and Safety, Self Defence and Protection of Others and Social Health. The efforts have also been made to introduce value education and gender studies in school syllabus. The syllabus will include : introduction of value based questions in the Summative AssessmentII in classes IX-X and year end examination of classes XI-XII from the year 2012-13; publication of Teachers' Manual on Environmental Education and Adolescence Education; and the Modules for Adolescence Education Programme include activities related to gender sensitisation.
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EDITORIALS
Five thoughts on China Together, leaders of India and China can craft a Panchsheel for a new time There is something about the number five in India-China relations. As free powers, the two Asian giants defined their relationship in terms of the famous Panchsheel - mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual nonaggression; mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and, peaceful co-existence. China's new leaders have enunciated a Panchsheel for our times. Clearly, the last of the five points raised by Xi requires further elaboration and consideration. Indian anxieties on this score have been enhanced by China's investment in strategic assets like the Gwadar Port in Pakistan. While China cannot be blamed, perhaps not even implicated, in the rising trend of India's South Asian neighbours trying to play the so-called "China card", India cannot remain oblivious to this trend. It would, at some point, impact on India's core interests. Having entered that caveat, India should welcome these five principles for they take cognisance of the new and growing economic relationship between the two and their cooperation at the global level. This in itself would be a good starting point for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's conversation with Xi this week in Durban, South Africa. Over the past nine years, Prime Minister Singh has enunciated his own five principles about IndiaChina relations, though he has never packaged them together into one general statement, as Xi has done. What are the PM's five principles in dealing with China? The first principle he enunciated on India-China relations related to the border issue and was stated by him at his very first meeting with his counterpart, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, in Vientiane in November 2004. Singh told Wen that India was willing to show accommodation on the border question, "but an accommodation that must take into account ground realities." Singh's second principle, which is often reported in the media as Wen's observation but was in fact originally coined by Singh and subsequently repeated on several occasions by Wen, says that "the world has enough space for the growth ambitions of both countries". This at once places in perspective a question that is often asked: is the rise of China followed by India, two-fifths of humanity, a zerosum game that has conflict written into it? Having said this, Singh enunciated his third principle, that the rise of China and India is a global public good. Addressing the China Academy of Social Sciences in January 2008, he saw the possibility
China's President Xi Jinping listed a "five point proposal" for guiding India-China relations. These are: maintain strategic communication and keep bilateral relations on the right track; harness each other's comparative strength and expand win-win cooperation in infrastructure, mutual investment and other areas; strengthen cultural ties and increase mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples; expand coordination and collaboration in multilateral affairs to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and tackle global challenges; accommodate each other's core concerns and properly handle problems and differences existing between the two countries.
India would be happy to be on board with each of these five points. The fifth point is the only tricky one. It leaves undefined what China's "core concerns" are. Traditionally, Tibet and Taiwan were China's "core interests", but more recently, Chinese spokespersons have referred to their claims on the South China Sea as a "core interest". This has already opened a Pandora's box for China, setting the cat among the South-east Asian pigeons and facilitating America's rediscovery of Asia. India, like many other countries that have economic interests in the Pacific, would like freedom of navigation through these seas.
India would, understandably, want to know what exactly China has in mind when it talks of core interests today. For its part, China too must be mindful of India's "core interests", especially because it has grievously hurt at least one Indian core interest by enabling the nuclear weaponisation of Pakistan.
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of the rise of China and India having positive externalities for the world as a whole because of the new opportunities for development they could bring to the international community, especially other developing countries. The fourth principle Singh has repeatedly enunciated is that, because of all the above and, equally, despite the above, the relationship between the two would be characterised both by elements of cooperation and competition. In other words, even while there would be space in the world for both countries to rise, and even as that may have beneficial consequences for the world, these processes would both offer opportunities for cooperation, as on climate change and energy security, and generate the potential for competition, for markets, resources and influence.
challenge? Does it serve China's purpose to unnerve the countries of Southeast Asia, playing one ASEAN member off against another? Is a Sino-Japan conflict in the interests of the rest of Asia? Should they not work together to build new regional architectures for sustained economic growth and regional security? Don't Asia's two giants have the responsibility to work with other Asian powers, including the ASEAN, Japan, Russia and the US to ensure peace, prosperity and stability in Asia? Many principles of cooperative engagement can be crafted from these challenges. The writer is Director for Geo-economics and Strategy, International Institute for Strategic Studies and Honourable Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research Source: Indian Express
The fifth principle articulated by Singh is a more general principle of national security, that one country's policy towards another is defined not just by intentions but also capabilities. Intentions can change, capabilities are more enduring. Thus, it is not what one country's political leadership says that ought to guide another's policy but what one is capable of doing. Even as India accepts China's reassurances, it cannot afford to remain indifferent to China's rising capability to create problems for India. On the question of intention vs capability, former US President Ronald Reagan had the last word. When asked if he could trust his Soviet counterparts when they promised to reduce their nuclear and missile capability, Reagan famously said, "trust, but verify". That was precisely Singh's reply when he was asked if he could trust Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, and that should be any Indian leader's response to reassurances offered by China's leaders. All this offers a good framework for a businesslike interaction between the PM and Xi this week. There is, today, another concern that ought to engage both leaders. That is, how would developments in the global economy, especially the Trans-Atlantic economic slowdown and the rise of religious and other extremist politics in Asia, impact on their own rise and of Asia as a whole? Would conflict in Asia, in the South China Seas or in West Asia, serve anyone's interests at all? Can China and India afford to remain reticent observers while the Asia around them burns and remains mired in sectarianism, terrorism, violence and instability? Don't they confront, along with many other Asian economies, a shared energy security
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Upcoming drug-pricing policy suffers a host of anomalies
The proposed drug-pricing policy suffers from a host of anomalies. Extending price control to all "essential" medicines implies massive regulatory overreach, especially given the widespread problem of substandard and spurious drugs in the over Rs 1lakh-crore Indian pharmaceuticals sector (40% of which is exported). Now, as per the last Drugs (Price Control) Order, 1995, the prices of 74 select bulk drugs are to be regulated, but only 47 of them were actually under production as of last year. Evidently, the rigid cost-based approach in the present drug-pricing regime has discouraged output, and the new policy seeks changeover to marketdetermined prices. And the ceiling price envisaged is the simple average of all brands having market share of 1% and above of the total turnover in any particular medicine. But such an approach would also be prone to misuse; it makes sense to work out weighted average prices at the very least. Also, the plan to hike drug prices annually in step with the wholesale price index (WPI) would defeat the very purpose of price control. Regulated prices surely need to take into account a sector-specific efficiency factor X, so that prices rise by no more than WPI minus X. The new policy has no pricing provision for patented drugs. The policy paper simply says a separate committee is looking into it! This is ridiculous. Price control, rather than frequent resort to compulsory licensing, is the way to make key drugs affordable.
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A major reason why the market for drugs is unlike other markets is structural information asymmetry between the consumer and the doctor who determines what the consumer should demand. Modern information technology and telecom must be deployed to remedy this to a large extent, using mobile phone apps and text messaging service. Source: The Economic Times India, Japan must get closer
For some in India, Japan's alliance with the US and efforts to frame the relationship within a Chinachecking diplomatic strategy, have created unease. In addition to this, and in contrast to India-US relations, weak levels of people-to-people and cultural exchange limit understanding. One significant perceptual difference lies in how India and Japan intend to handle China's rise. Both are highly concerned by Beijing's military modernisation and activities around its periphery but differ in how to frame their response. NO ALLIANCES, PLEASE Both depend on trade with China but India, cautious not to be seen to take sides and crucially sharing a controversial border with China, is less willing to be explicit in its suspicion. Whereas Japan has begun to identify China's military as a concern in official documents such as the 2010 defence guidelines, (which was quickly met by angry criticism by Beijing), India's establishment makes greater effort to clarify that security cooperation with Japan is "not at the cost of any third country, least of all China." Second, Japan faces a significant challenge from India's deep aversion to alliance-making. While in Japan, the relationship enjoys broad cross-party support, powerful lobbies in India resist aligning too closely with any one partner, especially one occasionally hyphenated with the US. As tensions rise over sovereignty in the East China Sea and the pro-US-Japan alliance LDP re-establish themselves in government, relations between Tokyo and Washington are set to deepen. This causes problems for those in India who would like to see Japan as a more autonomous actor. Third, in India there exists a belief that due to Japan's constitutional restrictions, India has little to gain from working with Tokyo. Interest has been voiced in India, for example, to engage in joint defence production, especially naval vessels, but has been resisted in Tokyo. This inability or unwillingness to adjust the Constitution, according to some scholars interviewed, feeds the belief that Japan would get a "free ride" from military cooperation with India. JAPAN'S REGARD There are, nonetheless, reasons for optimism. The relationship enjoys the support of political leadership; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has
Bridging the 'psychological gap' will help promote deeper engagement. Despite favourable geopolitical conditions such as concern over the nature of China's rise, the relationship between India and Japan remains one of unfulfilled potential. The persistence of a "perception gap" between the two is preventing deeper engagement. At first glance, India and Japan appear natural partners. Located on the periphery of Asia, both are examples of economic growth developing in line with democratic values. Furthermore, India and Japan share no territorial disputes or historical animosity. Since a nadir following India's nuclear tests in 1998, relations have evolved apace; yet certain sticking points are holding back its promise.
During the Cold War, India and Japan adopted contradictory political and - crucially for Japan as a trading-nation - economic systems. India's economic liberalisation in 1991 encouraged some commercial interest, but this was low, as Japan concentrated efforts on China and South-East Asian markets. South Korean companies, in contrast, who are less risk-averse than Japanese, established an early presence in India and have since proven more aggressive and hence successful. Limited exchange
Progress has been made in attracting Japanese interest, most recently evident in the predicted announcement in May 2012 that Japan will sell India advanced bullet-train technology, but despite momentum in this stream of diplomacy, elevating relations to the strategic level has proved problematic. Decades of non-engagement have created a psychological chasm. Due to India's relatively distant location and humble economic origins, India has only gradually entered Japanese conceptions of Asia.
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continuously supported ties since 1991, when Tokyo's pledge of $300 million helped India avert fiscal calamity. Speaking in 2008, Singh explained, "I consider our bilateral relations with Japan to be one of the most important we have." India also has reason to welcome the election as Prime Minister, on December 16, 2012, of Shinzo Abe. Abe, previously in office during 2006-07, has long endorsed relations with India, once describing them as "the most important bilateral relationship in the world." Prior to his second election victory, in a Project Syndicate article, Abe identified India as a "resident power in East Asia" on whom Japan should give "greater emphasis." On the popular level, as a recent survey demonstrated, Japan is viewed favourably as a highly developed, honest, hard-working and peaceful country. Japanese products, including Maruti-Suzuki and Toyota automobiles, white goods and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) contributions such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) are appreciated, as is the Delhi Metro system. Gradually, strategists on both sides are appreciating the necessity of deeper engagement, particularly regarding maritime security and nuclear technology trade. For example, whereas in 2008, India resisted inviting Japan to join Malabar maritime exercises following China's vocal unease at the creation of an "Asian NATO," in 2012 Japan and India staged their first bilateral initiative.
directly with India. The disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant has thrown Japan's pre-March 2011 nuclear strategy into flux with little immediate prospect of a conclusion to talks, despite rumours they may be re-launched this year. Despite some partial understanding by each of the other's position on nuclear technology, Japan's adherence and India's rejection of the NPT remains an obstacle. Japan remains uncertain as to what extent Delhi will stand up to China and a tough general election for the ruling Congress party in 2014 will likely further harden India's willingness to remain unaligned. But pressure will grow on Delhi to outline its position within the balance of power. However, relations to some extent have been compartmentalised in order to exploit the complementarities in Japan and India's economies. Japan offers India advanced technology, infrastructure investment, and power supply expertise, while India's expanding middle class, accompanied by growing geopolitical stature, provide an enticing alternative to China. The agreement in 2012 for India to provide Japan with rare earth supplies following China's indirect sanction on Tokyo, demonstrated the practical value that working with India can provide. Both countries must challenge the "psychological distance" and deepen the conversation at all levels, including student exchange, foreign visitors, military dialogue, and bureaucratic cooperation in order to enhance relations. Source: Business Line
Similarly, in stark contrast to Japan's condemnation of India's position on nuclear technology following tests in 1998, in June 2010, Japan announced talks to conclude a civil-nuclear trade agreement. Considering India's refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, this move was a remarkable step for Japanese policymakers who have long been one of the treaty's staunchest defenders. Despite some unease by Delhi, the launch in December 2011 of a US-Japan-India trilateral dialogue also suggested a realisation of the importance of exchanging views at the top level of government. Despite the objections of China to this grouping, the annual meeting is set to continue. MILITARY EXERCISES Significant challenges, however, remain. Military exercises are small in scale and despite interest from India; it is uncertain whether Japan will extend its recent relaxation in arms exports controls to trade
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Can India become a great power?
India's lack of a strategic culture hobbles its ambition to be a force in the world NOBODY doubts that China has joined the ranks of the great powers: the idea of a G2 with America is mooted, albeit prematurely. India is often spoken of in the same breath as China because of its billionplus population, economic promise, value as a trading partner and growing military capabilities. All five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council support-however grudginglyIndia's claim to join them. But whereas China's rise is a given, India is still widely seen as a nearlypower that cannot quite get its act together. That is a pity, for as a great power, India would have much to offer. Although poorer and less economically dynamic than China, India has soft
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Yet India's huge potential to be a force for stability and an upholder of the rules-based international system is far from being realised. One big reason is that the country lacks the culture to pursue an active security policy. Despite a rapidly rising defence budget, forecast to be the world's fourth-largest by 2020, India's politicians and bureaucrats show little interest in grand strategy (see article). The foreign service is ridiculously feebleIndia's 1.2 billion people are represented by about the same number of diplomats as Singapore's 5m. The leadership of the armed forces and the politicalbureaucratic establishment operate in different worlds. The defence ministry is chronically short of military expertise.
These weaknesses partly reflect a pragmatic desire to make economic development at home the priority. India has also wisely kept generals out of politics (a lesson ignored elsewhere in Asia, not least by Pakistan, with usually parlous results). But Nehruvian ideology also plays a role. At home, India mercifully gave up Fabian economics in the 1990s (and reaped the rewards). But diplomatically, 66 years after the British left, it still clings to the postindependence creeds of semi-pacifism and "nonalignment": the West is not to be trusted. India's tradition of strategic restraint has in some ways served the country well. Having little to show for several limited wars with Pakistan and one with China, India tends to respond to provocations with caution. It has long-running territorial disputes with both its big neighbours, but it usually tries not to inflame them (although it censors any maps which accurately depict where the border lies, something
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power in abundance. It is committed to democratic institutions, the rule of law and human rights. As a victim of jihadist violence, it is in the front rank of the fight against terrorism. It has a huge and talented diaspora. It may not want to be co-opted by the West but it shares many Western values. It is confident and culturally rich. If it had a permanent Security Council seat (which it has earned by being one of the most consistent contributors to UN peacekeeping operations) it would not instinctively excuse and defend brutal regimes. Unlike China and Russia, it has few skeletons in its cupboard. With its enormous coastline and respected navy (rated by its American counterpart, with which it often holds exercises, as up to NATO standard) India is wellplaced to provide security in a critical part of the global commons.
its press shamefully tolerates). India does not go looking for trouble, and that has generally been to its advantage. Indispensable India But the lack of a strategic culture comes at a cost. Pakistan is dangerous and unstable, bristling with nuclear weapons, torn apart by jihadist violence and vulnerable to an army command threatened by radical junior officers. Yet India does not think coherently about how to cope. The government hopes that increased trade will improve relations, even as the army plans for a blitzkrieg-style attack across the border. It needs to work harder at healing the running sore of Kashmir and supporting Pakistan's civilian government. Right now, for instance, Pakistan is going through what should be its first transition from one elected civilian government to the next. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, should support this process by arranging to visit the country's next leader. China, which is increasingly willing and able to project military power, including in the Indian Ocean, poses a threat of a different kind. Nobody can be sure how China will use its military and economic clout to further its own interests and, perhaps, put India's at risk. But India, like China's other near neighbours, has every reason to be nervous. The country is particularly vulnerable to any interruption in energy supplies (India has 17% of the world's population but just 0.8% of its known oil and gas reserves). India should start to shape its own destiny and the fate of its region. It needs to take strategy more seriously and build a foreign service that is fitting for a great power-one that is at least three times bigger. It needs a more professional defence ministry and a unified defence staff that can work with the country's political leadership. It needs to let private and foreign firms into its moribund state-run defence industry. And it needs a well-funded navy that can become both a provider of maritime security along some of the world's busiest sea-lanes and an expression of India's willingness to shoulder the responsibilities of a great power. Most of all, though, India needs to give up its outdated philosophy of non-alignment. Since the nuclear deal with America in 2005, it has shifted towards the west-it tends to vote America's way in the UN, it has cut its purchases of Iranian oil, it collaborates with NATO in Afghanistan and coWeekly Current Affairs 25th March to 31st March, 2013
ordinates with the West in dealing with regional problems such as repression in Sri Lanka and transition in Myanmar-but has done so surreptitiously. Making its shift more explicit, by signing up with Western-backed security alliances, would be good for the region, and the world. It would promote democracy in Asia and help bind China into international norms. That might not be in India's short-term interest, for it would risk antagonising China. But looking beyond short-term self-interest is the kind of thing a great power does. That India can become a great power is not in doubt. The real question is whether it wants to. Source: The Economist Aakash is no silver bullet
production will reduce the cost of each laptop below Rs.5,400 ($100), though they weren't sure how. Third, OLPC thought better education was the panacea to all problems irrespective of a country's needs. Despite these issues, OLPC received backing from the United Nations Development Programme in 2006. With this stamp of approval, its largescale implementation began. About eight years after its launch, the results are in and OLPC hasn't done so well. Tested in Peru Peru was the site of the largest experiment. More than 850,000 laptops were given out at a cost of Rs.108 crore ($200 million). In treatment schools where the number of laptops per child was increased from 0.12 to 1.18, a report by the InterAmerican Development Bank found that OLPC failed in its goals. Test scores in languages and maths remain dismal. Enrolment isn't higher than what it was before. A 2010 study in Romania, another middle-income country, found that those children who were given laptops were, not surprisingly, more proficient in its use. But they did not score anymore in exams than those who didn't have computers. Even in a low-income country like Nepal, a small-scale study produced the same results. Furthermore, the price of each laptop, up until 2010, remained at more than Rs.10,000 ($200). More than 20 lakh laptops have been handed out so far. Berk Ozler, senior economist at the World Bank, argues that OLPC is a mess. A report by Mark Warschauer and Morgan Ames of the University of California Irvine, says: "Unlike Negroponte's approach of simply handing computers to children and walking away, there needs to be integrated education improvement efforts." It is not clear how governments all around the world fell for the scheme that is backed by little evidence. OLPC's latest victim is India, even though Aakash is not a laptop. Mr. Sibal, like Negroponte, considers Aakash to be the panacea to all problems. It's not just that. Mr. Sibal also wants Aakash to be the cheapest tablet. This has proved to be a major hurdle. Datawind, a Canadian company, won the tender to provide tablets at a cost of less than $35. Its first version failed miserably because of poor hardware. The newer version seemed more promising, but it looks like Datawind will default on its promise to deliver 1,00,000 units by March 31.
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The government needs to open its eyes and realise that the technological utopia it envisions in the lowcost tablet is no cure for poor education, poverty or inequality
The last few days have brought the Aakash tablet back into the media limelight. Last Friday, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said that troubles with the manufacturer could doom the project. But the next day, former HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who started the project, denied Mr. Raju's comments. He further added: "I want public services to be delivered through Aakash. I want Aakash to be a platform for 1.2 billion people." Before Mr. Sibal sets more ridiculous targets and spends taxpayers' money on them, he needs to be stopped. His fanciful ideas are wrong. First, there is no evidence that a tablet can solve any of the problems that he claims it can. Second, it is not clear how it will ever be able to produce a laptop that costs less than $35. Root of the idea The idea for the Aakash tablet and troubles that the project brings with it have both been inherited from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project launched in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OLPC's hope was that empowering children in the developing world with computers connected to the internet will help them learn faster, develop better skills and reach their full potential. But there were problems with the idea right from the start. First, it hadn't been tested on a large enough population to make a reasonable cost-benefit analysis. Second, the project claimed that scaling up
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Even if the government somehow, however difficult it may seem, is able to get access to cheap tablets, they are not going to help achieve its aims. Can a laptop overcome the negative impact of a bad teacher or poor school? Can it make children smarter despite the lack of electricity, water, toilets or playgrounds? Can it overcome the limitations of stunted growth among the malnourished? Can Aakash increase productivity of the workforce to counterbalance the money invested in it? There is no evidence that it can do any of these things. And yet, the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication
Technology "strongly hinges around a low-cost device through which the content created can reach the learner." This adoption of OLPC's main idea is fraught with problems. Warschauer and Ames rightly argue that handing out laptops, or in India's case, tablets, ignores the local context and thus avoids solving any of the targeted problems. Right now when government officials are themselves confused over the future of Aakash, it is important to step back and analyse the reasons for pressing forward with a hopeless idea. Without concrete evidence, it would be foolish to continue. Source: The Hindu
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