Telangana triggers demands for more States The decision of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to divide Andhra

Pradesh and create Telangana has sparked protests for statehood across the country. Dormant demands for separate provinces have re-emerged, and reluctant State governments are battling new fires.

In West Bengal, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), fighting for a Gorkhaland state, shut down Darjeeling for the third consecutive day. Additional security personnel had to be deployed. The GJM has said there will be no bandh in the hills for the next two days to enable students and tourists to leave, but there will be an indefinite closure from Saturday. GJM chief Bimal Gurung had resigned as chief executive of the Gorkha Territorial Administration on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ruled out the States division and said: Darjeeling is a part and parcel of West Bengal. There is no question of division. She slammed the UPA government for setting the country ablaze when elections were knocking at the door, for the sake of more seats.

In Assam, violence erupted in support of a Karbi Anglong state, with attacks on the houses of a Congress MP and MLA, a district party office, and vehicles. This led to police firing. Agencies have reported that 20 people were injured, leading the administration to impose a curfew and call in the Army. The demand for Bodoland has also resurfaced forcefully, with Bodoland Territorial Council chief Hagrama Mohilari announcing a rally in Kokrajhar on August 4.

Even as the east flared up, the debate on the size of, and rationale for, a State as big as Uttar Pradesh took centre stage in Delhi and Lucknow. The previous Mayawati government had proposed splitting Uttar Pradesh into Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh, and Paschi Pradesh, and this was ratified by the Assembly. Union Minister Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal revived his partys traditional demand for Harit Pradesh. BJP leader Uma Bharti pressed for Bundelkhand, while Congress MP Jagdambika Pal said eastern Uttar Pradesh deserved to be a separate State. But the ruling Samajwadi Party is opposed to any division. In the west, the movement for Vidarbha got a fillip. Vilas Muttemwar, Congress leader from Nagpur, urged his partys leadership to cede the demand. The BJP has reiterated its support

for Vidarbha on the grounds that it favoured smaller States. The Shiv Sena has however opposed the demand.

Confronting the surge in demands, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that each region has to be dealt with separately. The decision on one State cannot be the reason for giving other regions Statehood. ============================================== ========== Manmohan government to dilute FDI retail norms

Sujay Mehdudia Share print T+ Definition of investment in backend infrastructure and 30 per cent sourcing clause may be changed

Yielding to pressure from multinational retail giants and worried at not a single proposal having come through in the past nine months, the Manmohan Singh-led government is set to dilute various conditions, including effecting a change in the definition of investment in backend infrastructure and the 30 per cent sourcing clause, brushing aside opposition from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry.

Furthermore, with the Commerce and Industry Ministry at the spearhead, the government proposes to increase the number of cities to be covered under the policy for 49 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail trade.

This will be done by amending the clause to permit cities or States with less than 10 lakh population to allow opening frontend stores. According to a Cabinet note, proposed to be put up before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday and accessed by The Hindu , the clause requiring 30 per cent sourcing from small-scale industries will be scrapped. Under a new policy, medium-scale industries, with a total investment not exceeding $2 million, will be made eligible for sourcing of manufactured/processed products.

It is argued that the present condition of making those industries that outgrow this status ineligible for fulfilment of mandatory local sourcing would result in loss of business for small industries and also discourage retailers from developing a supply chain. It proposes that this requirement would be reckoned only at the time of first engagement with the retailer and such industries will continue to qualify even if they outgrow the investment of $2 million during their relationship with the retailer.

However, in its comments on the Cabinet note, the MSME Ministry has said it does not favour an open-ended engagement of MSMEs with their retailers under the provision for 30 per cent procurement even if they outgrow the investment limit. The Ministry is of the view that a three-year period from the day a micro/small/medium enterprise outgrows the investment limit of $2 million would provide the required space to equip itself independently to make supplies to the retailer without being covered under the 30 per cent procurement.

The Ministry supports continuation of engagement of the MSME enterprise with the retailer for three years from the day it outgrows the investment limit as per the current policy. This would pave the way for a larger number of MSMEs being covered under the provision of 30 per cent procurement by retailers in multi-brand retail trade. Centre plans to bring more cities under the policy ============================================== =============== Amendment allows non-Hindu to head Bodh Gaya temple committee 5 Signs of Alzheimer's - Doctor: 5 Warning Signs You're About to Get Alzheimer's Disease www.newsmax.com Ads by Google Staff Reporter Share print T+

The Bihar government has amended the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, allowing for a non-Hindu to head the temple committee.

As per Section 3 (3) of the Act, the district magistrate (DM) is the ex-officio chairman of the temple committee and has to be a Hindu. If the DM is a nonHindu, the Act requires the government to nominate a Hindu as Chairman of the committee for the period during which the DM is a non-Hindu.

However, on Tuesday, the State Assembly passed the Bodh Gaya Temple (Amendment) Bill 2013. A secular State is the hallmark of the Indian Constitution and the said section goes against the spirit of the Constitution, the proposal to amend the act, said.

Championing the Bill in the Assembly, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, the DM is a representative of the governments secular credentials.

The BJP vehemently opposed the Bill as an unnecessary move.

The change invoked mixed responses from the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC). We welcome it since ours is a secular State. A mistake has been corrected, an authoritative source told The Hindu. ============================================== =============== In Zimbabwe, a vote that may redefine the nation ZANU-PF hopes to cash in on the success of its land reforms while MDC is counting on urban disenchantment The day began early for most Zimbabweans as hundreds lined up at dawn to vote in a hastily-called presidential election that could prove as significant as the one that heralded independence in 1980. Since that day, Robert Gabriel Mugabe an 89-year-old liberation hero and his ZANU-PF party have ruled the country with an iron fist. There is no

other party that has conducted a revolution to redeem the country from the colonial grip, Mr. Mugabe said in a press conference a day before polls, Its a peoples party, it is not like other parties. Yet, this time, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mr. Mugabes rival for more than a decade, feels that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) has a real chance to form a government in Harare. In 2008, Mr. Tsvangirai polled more votes than Mr. Mugabe, but refused to participate in a run-off after security forces brutalised his supporters and killed nearly 200 people in the ensuing violence. Zimbabwes neighbours convinced the two sides into an uneasy unity government in which the MDC controlled finance, but the ZANUPF maintained its hold on agriculture, mining and the security sector. Its the delayed run-off from 2008. It is time to complete the change we always fought for, Mr. Tsvangirai remarked wryly as he cast his vote at the Mt. Pleasant polling centre in a relatively affluent part of Harare. After all the conflicts, the stalemates, the suspicion, the hostility, I think there is a sense of calmness that Zimbabwe will be able to move forward again. The run-up to the elections has not been without incident. The MDC was denied fair access to the state-run media, much-needed security sector reforms are still pending, voter rolls are still incomplete and the oppositions election chief was jailed a few days before elections. Zimbabweans acknowledge that the countrys broken economy desperately needs fixing, but are divided over the best candidate for the task. Mr. Tsvangirai has gained great traction amongst the youth and urban centres, while Mr. Mugabe continues to control the countryside. Yet, the nation-wide urge for change is tempered by the success of ZANU-PFs land reforms, making this a difficult election to predict. Ambiguous legacy At polling stations across Harare, voters said they were tired of the bickering that characterised the unity government and hoped that the election would grant one party a clear mandate. Arguments. They have achieved arguments for four years, said Ameena, a 26-year-old from Mbare, a densely populated southern suburb of Harare, when asked to name a major success of the unity government, If they had a passion for the country, they would have sat down and agreed, it is the nation that is suffering. From 1998 to 2008, Zimbabwes economy contracted by 45 per cent even as inflation peaked at a mind-boggling 231 million per cent. Industry collapsed, the national currency was replaced by the U.S. dollar and jobs dried up. While the economy has since rebounded, 75 per cent of the population is self-

employed like Ms. Ameena, who makes fresh chips for a living, selling them for a dollar a plate. Mr. Tsvangirai has blamed the ZANU-PFs 33-year tenure for the implosion of the economy, but Ms. Ameenas faith in Mr. Mugabe is intact. My brother was given a farm in the ZANU-PF land reform, she said, referring to the ruling partys signature policy in which land was seized from a small set of white farmers and distributed among 170,000 black families, First he had five cows, now he has 35 cows. Mr. Mugabes land reform initially sent the economy into a tailspin, but independent studies now confirm that agriculture and livelihoods have been strengthened by the move. Mr. Tsvangirais move to dollarise the economy played a crucial role, and from 2009-2011 agricultural exports grew by 101 per cent according to World Bank. Hoping for change At a primary school in the affluent neighbourhood of Borrowdale, voters queue up outside the polling booth near the tennis court. Tsvangirai won the elections in 2008 and in 2005, said Alice, a young black chartered accountant, pointing to widespread allegations of electoral fraud that were levelled at the ZANU-PF. We are hoping against hope for change. For now, both parties expect to sweep the polls. Mr. Mugabe has said he felt as confident of winning as he did in 1980. Mr. Tsvangirais representatives have invited the press to their inauguration party. Despite the fears of violence, voters have been seized by the pageantry of electoral process. Im cleaning my house, said Molene, a 34-year-old seamstress in Mbare, So I can put on my dress and go vote. ============================================ Interest subsidy hiked to push up exports Faced with sagging exports and rising trade deficit, the government, on Wednesday, raised the rate of interest subsidy for exporters to 3 per cent, and promised to clear pending claims expeditiously, entailing an additional burden of Rs.2,000 crore to the exchequer. A number of steps are under way to augment exports. I have offered him (Commerce Minister Anand Sharma) full support and provided, today, additional funds of Rs.2,000 crore. This will include increasing the interest subvention from 2 per cent to 3 per cent on certain exports, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here.

Mr. Chidambaram said he had provided Rs.450 crore to meet the additional expenses for the remaining part of the current fiscal on account of hiking the interest subsidy. He also said about Rs.1,550 crore was the last years balance, which would be paid under various incentive programmes. At present, the interest subvention for exporters, which is a kind of interest subsidy, is at 2 per cent. Earlier, Mr. Sharma said all efforts would be made to clear claims of exporters. The rate of interest subvention from tomorrow, which would be available to exporters, would be enhanced to 3 per cent, Mr. Sharma said adding that the exercise was on to extend this benefit to more sectors. At present, the benefit is available to sectors such as micro small and medium enterprises, handlooms, handicraft, carpets, toys, sports goods, processed products, besides certain engineering and textiles items. The government is making available the required resources to clear all claims of the exporters from January 1 until now and the provisions are being made to ensure that claims of all the exporters are settled forthwith, he said. The Commerce Ministry, he said, had called a meeting of the Board of Trade on August 27 to consider more steps to give a boost to exports, hit by global slowdown. Indias merchandise exports have declined by 1.4 per cent to $72.46 billion in the quarter ended June 2013 (April-June, 2013). The government is also considering raising the Plan allocation for Market Access Initiative, Market Development Assistance and Central Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and other Allied Activities scheme. PTI ============================================== ===== Bring it back where it belongs Formidable challenges await Sujatha Singh as she takes over as Foreign Secretary. The most difficult of these is to restore to the Foreign Office its place of primacy in the formulation and execution of Indias foreign policy. Since many years the perception has grown stronger by the year in the countrys foreign policy establishment as well as among Indias interlocutors that the foreign offices contribution to critical foreign policy decisions has been substantially eroded.

Many Ministries are seeking to pursue virtually independent external initiatives and, in doing so, are cutting into the foreign offices domain. Other government institutions, especially the office of the National Security Advisor, are coming to occupy a place of pre-eminence on core foreign policy issues. This has affected the morale and lan of the Indian Foreign Service not just at the middle and senior levels, but even among junior officers, who are worried about the future relevance of the foreign office. Time to adapt It can be no ones case that the foreign office is or can ever be the repository of all information, expertise and wisdom through the full range of Indias international interaction. This is especially so as issues have become more complex and multidimensional and as Indias interests have expanded in geographical reach and become more intense on matters of global and regional significance. However, the imperative of coherence in policy formulation, implementation and articulation requires that the foreign office does not remain a bystander to external initiatives and actions of various agencies of state but weaves them into an integrated whole to optimise national interest. Sadly, this is happening less and less. The latest example is the Bhutan subsidy case where the Indian Oil Corporation seems to have informed the Bhutanese side without a final clearance from the foreign office that a change in the oil and gas supplies regime will be made. The India-Bhutan relationship is crucial to Indias national interest, including our security concerns, and such action can cause long-term damage. If the foreign office is to effectively perform its mandated functions, it has to inspire confidence and respect in other organs of state that it has the expertise to do so. For this purpose it has to look within to impart a greater degree of area and issues specialisation to Indian diplomats and also optimise human resource utilisation at its senior-most levels. Some initiatives have been taken in the past few years. The intake of officers has been heavily increased to address manpower shortages. There is a greater emphasis on in-house training. A Public Diplomacy Division has been set up to coordinate the projection of Indias soft power. A Development Partnership Administration (DPA) has been established to coordinate and execute Indias assistance programmes. Pool of experience More has to be done. One priority area is to make maximum use of the pool of experience available at the Secretary level in the foreign office through a

reordering of work among Secretaries, including the Foreign Secretary, who is first among equals. In his book, Inside Diplomacy , Kishan S. Rana, a retired IFS officer, who is an authority on the institutions of diplomatic management including foreign office s and Diplomatic Missions, notes: There is an enormous concentration of authority and responsibility, to the point where it becomes almost impossible for him (the Foreign Secretary) to do justice to all the demands of his work. In contrast, the other Secretaries are relatively under-worked... If this was the situation in the year 2000 when Mr. Ranas book was published, it has now become worse. The workload of the Foreign Secretary has increased rather than come down. Some of the work that was earlier with the other Secretaries is now with the Foreign Secretary. Balance workload The Foreign Secretary is the administrator of the foreign office and also handles critical bilateral relationships as well as multilateral work. He is also responsible for media relations, public diplomacy, assistance programmes (a recent addition), consular work and coordination among the Secretaries. All this work leaves him no time to plan and execute a vision for the foreign office or the IFS. Indeed, sometimes senior colleagues are kept waiting for months before they can meet him. The other Secretaries have important but relatively lighter charges. The imbalance of work among the Secretaries, including the Foreign Secretary, can be addressed by studying the Foreign Offices of the major powers, all of whom utilise the experience of their senior personnel better. Once work allotment is rationalised, it should be formalised through the establishment of Departments as in other Ministries, in which the work is distributed among two or more Secretaries. In addition, a formal Committee of Secretaries, chaired by the Foreign Secretary, should be set up for coordination purposes. The current informal arrangement of Secretaries meetings is completely dependent on the inclinations of the Foreign Secretary and does not work. Consequently, the Secretaries retreat into silos and the political leadership does not get the benefit of a consensual view of the Secretaries. A balanced workload among the Secretaries can only be the first step to enhancing the effectiveness of the foreign office . It is, though, an essential measure for it will invigorate its senior management and leave the Foreign Secretary time to undertake long-term planning. Area specialisation will be increasingly required as India has developed important political and commercial stakes in almost all parts of the world. Crosscutting issues

relating to the environment, security, terrorism, trade and intellectual property, among others, will dominate the international discourse and the IFS has to develop specialists, as other Foreign Services are doing. With increased officer strength, this will now be possible. Involve academia An area which requires especial focus is enhanced dialogue with the academia. A process has begun in this regard but has to be carried forward purposefully. Above all, Sujatha Singh has to convince the political leadership that Indias critical dialogues and interface with the international community need to be done through the foreign office. Other parts of government, including the National Security Advisors Office and the National Security Council Secretariat, should not become the instruments of Indias diplomacy or indeed the governments main advisors on foreign policy, which is increasingly happening. It will require Sujatha Singh to show vision, tenacity and confidence to pursue all this to fruition. If she does so, the foreign office will no longer be bypassed or ignored as it is currently perceived to be. (Vivek Katju is a former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar) The Ministry of External Affairs needs to reassert its primacy in coordinating and articulating India's foreign policy decisions ============================================== ============================ New dawn for Telangana The Congress Working Committees historic resolution to create Indias 29th State Telangana by partitioning Andhra Pradesh redeems a pledge the party made to the people of the region on the night of December 9, 2009. Compared to the Congresss flip-flop earlier, its present resolve to fast forward Telangana when the Lok Sabha election is barely 10 months away lays it open to the charge of political expediency. But what matters now is that the people of Telangana are celebrating the decision, which they see as crucial to the fulfilment of their social, economic and political aspirations. As much as the formation of Telangana is a source of joy to its people, the bifurcation is a cause for despondency to those living in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Though a separate Telangana State was first conceived in 1953, the fact that the region spoke the same language as Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra became the basis for the formation of Indias first linguistic

State when a unified Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956. What followed, unfortunately, was a saga of unkept promises, violation of the Gentlemens Agreement of 1956, and two violent agitations in 1969 and 1972. Slowly, a feeling built up among the people of Telangana that they were being discriminated against in employment and education. These wrongs will hopefully be set right when Telangana begins its tryst with destiny soon. Without much ado, the Congress has cut the Gordian knot that was Hyderabads status by deciding to make it the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, for a period of 10 years. Seemandhra will receive Central assistance for building a new capital, and the classification of Polavaram a massive multipurpose irrigation venture as a national project will help protect the rump Andhra Pradeshs interests. What is a source of worry, however, is that the CWC resolution leaves slightly openended the question of whether Telangana will have 10 districts or 12, with the addition of Kurnool and Anantapur in Rayalaseema. There will be other practical difficulties too but the political and civil society leadership of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh must shun regional chauvinism and violence and grasp with both hands the great future that lies ahead of them. If the Congress has opened a Pandoras box by giving an impetus to similar demands for statehood in Gorkhaland, Bodoland and elsewhere, the party must draw lessons from its chequered handling of the Telangana question. Instead of finding ad hoc solutions to crises as and when they erupt, serious thought must be given to the creation of a second States Reorganisation Commission that will take a structural approach to the problem ============================================== =====================================

Manning verdict could intimidate whistleblowers, feel rights activists Bradley Manning faces a sentence of up to 130 years in prison and civil rights groups accuse the U.S. government of seeking to intimidate future whistleblowers Civil rights groups have accused the United States government of seeking to intimidate future whistleblowers after Army private Bradley Manning was on Tuesday convicted by a military court of most of the charges against him for passing the biggest cache of state secrets in history to WikiLeaks. Although he was found not guilty of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, Manning faces a sentence of up to 130 years in prison for several violations of the Espionage Act.

Col. Lind also accepted Mannings version of several of the key dates in the WikiLeaks disclosures, and took some of the edge from other less serious charges. But the overriding toughness of the verdict remains: the soldier was found guilty in their entirety of 17 out of the 22 counts against him, and of an amended version of four others. That guilty ruling could still have wide ramifications for news organisations working on investigations relating to U.S. national security.Once the counts are added up, the prospects for Manning are bleak. Barring reduction of sentence for mitigation, which becomes the subject of another mini-trial dedicated to sentencing that starts on Wednesday, Manning will face a substantial chunk of his adult life in military custody. Among those who will also be closely analysing the verdict are Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who has disclosed the existence of secret government dragnets of the phone records of millions of Americans, who has indicated that the treatment of Manning was one reason for his decision to seek asylum in another country rather than face similar aggressive prosecution in America. Another party that will be intimately engaged with the verdict is WikiLeaks, and its founder, Julian Assange. They have been the subject of a secret grand jury investigation in Virginia that has been looking into whether to prosecute them for their role in the Manning disclosures. Guardian News & Media 2013 ============================================== =============== FM talks up the market, hints at more steps to contain CAD Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on Wednesday, said that the government would further liberalise the foreign direct investment policy in the coming weeks. Addressing a press conference here , Mr. Chidambaram also said that some more steps were in the offing to contain the widening current account deficit (CAD). We expect that we will be able to fully finance the CAD this year too, and we will not be obliged to draw down on reserves. This year, I promise we will tackle both (fiscal and revenue) deficits. The target for fiscal deficit is 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). It is a red line, and it will not be breached under any circumstances, he added. The other steps being considered by the government to deal with the CAD include relaxing the external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms, attracting investments from sovereign wealth and pension funds, and NRI deposits. Responding to questions on the falling rupee, the Finance Minister said

though he did not have any fixed target in mind, he would endeavour to check volatility and end speculative trades in the domestic currency. Import duty He said the government was also looking at raising import duty on nonessential luxury items and promoting exports to contain CAD, which had soared to a high of 4.8 per cent of the GDP last fiscal. Finance Ministry officials were preparing a list of non-essential goods with a view to limiting their inward shipments. Electronic hardware can be manufactured in states like Rajasthan and Kerala, he said. Mr. Chidambaram was confident that the economy would record a growth rate of 5.5 to 6 per cent in the current fiscal, up from 5 per cent a year ago. I am confident that we will take the Indian economy one rung higher in 201314. We are looking forward to a growth rate between 5.5-6 per cent, and we will take all measures to achieve that goal, he said. Investor sentiment Underlining the need to revive investor sentiment, he said that the industry must play its part. Industrial houses appear to be confident when they decide to invest abroad. The same confidence must be exhibited in order to invest in India. The price of credit is indeed high, but it is not so dauntingly high that it should hold back investment, he said. He further said that even without the additional measures, inflows would be well above $80 billion, enough to comfortably finance the CAD. Gold imports The government took some strong measures to contain the import of gold. In June, it was down to 31 million tonnes but went up to 45 million tonnes in July. However, gold import in June and July in the current fiscal were less than what was recorded in corresponding months last year. We hope to contain gold imports at a level well below last year's total imports of 845 million tonnes, and save a considerable amount of foreign exchange which will have a positive impact on CAD, he added. Asked if the government had any specific value of rupee in mind, Mr. Chidambaram said: We do not target any specific value of rupee, but we certainly do not countenance speculative transactions on the rupee, especially in the overseas market. Therefore, in last two weeks, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in consultation with the government, had taken a number of measures to stabilise the rupee. We need to stabilise the rupee, and, going forward, take steps to promote growth. The rupee depreciation of June-July was unexpected, he said. ============================================== ==================

Crude storage cavern at Mangalore to be ready by mid-2014 Renuka Phadnis The underground caverns to store crude oil as a strategic reserve, being built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) at Mangalore and Padur (Udupi), will be ready by June next. We are hopeful to commission the projects by the middle of next year, Rajan K. Pillai, Chief Executive Officer, ISPRL, told The Hindu over phone from New Delhi. In Mangalore, out of 22.6 lakh metre cube of cavern, close to 22 lakh metre cube was completed. Within the next two months, the rest will be completed, he said. P. V. B. Rao, Deputy General Manager, (DGM), ISPRL, Padur, said the cavern at Padur is going on well. While it would be ready by the targeted time January, 2014 commissioning would be possible within three months. We will be on track, he said. ISPRL is a special purpose vehicle (SPV), wholly-owned by the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB), constructing three caverns at Mangalore, Padur and Vizag for storage of oil for emergencies and disruption of supplies due to war or uncontrolled prices. A few weeks ago, S. Vijayananda, Chief Manager, ISPRL, Mangalore, had told The Hindu that the completion of the Mangalore cavern project would get postponed by six months from 2013 due to a delay in laying a 36-km pipeline from the New Mangalore Port to the ISPRL crude filling pipe. The pipeline had now been put on the fast track, he said. Mr. Pillai said, We are moving already on fast track. It is expected to be done shortly, within a month. The pipes had been procured, and had to be laid. However, the order for laying the pipeline was yet to be placed, he said. Mr. Vijayanand, however, said, Delay in pipeline is still there as the contract should have been awarded in March, 2013. The work normally should be done in fair season, which ideally is October to December, and can extend to midMay. While the completed work may be commissioned (the crude can be brought into the cavern) any time, the rains do affect pipeline work. If the pipeline work starts in August, no pipeline contractor will work in monsoons as quality welding is not possible. So, the work will be mobilised only in October. It is still a setback, he said. The Mangalore cavern could store the countrys requirement for 15 days, he said. Mr. Pillai said monsoon in the coastal region was a factor to be considered, but the project would not be affected by it. Work prior to laying the pipeline could begin, he said.

It can store the countrys requirement of oil for 15 days during emergencies ============================================== ========================= New norms to determine tariffs at major ports G. K. Vasan The long wait to permit competitive market forces to have a larger role in determining tariffs at major ports in India ended on Wednesday, with the government announcing new guidelines for the same. The new guidelines for determining Tariff for Projects at Major Ports (TAMP) comes into force with immediate effect, and will apply prospectively i.e. for all new projects cleared from Wednesday. We hope to attract more investment and cargo traffic. Although there is a healthy competition, there is no level-playing field, G.K. Vasan, Union Minister for Shipping, told a press conference here on Wednesday. TAMP is only required for major ports, while non-major ports can charge market-based tariffs. While TAMP was established in 1997, major ports today account for 58 per cent of the countrys traffic while non-major ports account for the rest . Besides providing for tariffs to be indexed to inflation, the new guidelines set out performance standards for port projects to improve accountability and ensure improved quality of service. The guidelines will be fixed on the basis of market conditions subject to ceilings. The focus on TAMP will now gradually shift to performance monitoring and redressing grievances, Mr. Vasan said. Milind Deora, Minister of State for Shipping, IT and Communications, said, the maritime sector has been going through difficult times and it is an important move to increase investments in such a critical sector. The biggest concern for India has been how to increase port capacity in major ports owned by the government and how to increase throughput. The reform in TAMP was long overdue and it is a win-win for the government and major ports to increase revenues and a win-win for private port operators Indian or foreignto increase port capacity. The first set of TAMP guidelines was issued in 2005, and revised guidelines were announced in 2008. Last year, 32 projects were awarded, which will bring in an investment of Rs. 6,765 crore to add 136 million tonnes per annum (tpa). In the current year, the shipping ministry is targeting the award of 30 port projects to add 288 million tpa at an estimated investment of Rs. 25,000 crore. The guidelines are for projects announced from today, and we will examine retrospective projects cleared under earlier TAMP guidelines at a later date, Mr. Deora said.

============================================== ==================== From the granary to the plate Jean Drze Despite its many flaws, the food security bill is an opportunity to end the leakages from the PDSand prevent wastage of public resources The National Food Security Bill, now an ordinance, has been a target of sustained attacks in the business media in recent weeks. There is nothing wrong, of course, in being critical of the bill, or even opposed to it. Indeed, the bill has many flaws. What is a little troubling, however, is the shrill and illinformed nature of many of these attacks. Statistical hocus-pocus has been deployed with abandon to produce wildly exaggerated estimates of the financial costs of the bill, and no expression seems to be too strong to disparage it. The fact that the food bill could bring some relief in the lives of millions of people who live in conditions of terrifying insecurity seems to count for very little. Findings Meanwhile, recent studies shed some useful light on the state of Indias Public Distribution System (PDS) one of the controversial foundations of the bill. As far as the below poverty line (BPL) quota is concerned, there is a clear trend of steady improvement in many States, including some that had a very poor PDS not so long ago. A recent study of the PDS in Koraput, one of Odishas poorest districts, found that almost all BPL households were receiving their full monthly quota of 25 kg of rice at the stipulated price. Similar findings emerged from a survey of the PDS in two districts of Uttar Pradesh (Lakhimpur Kheri and Chitrakoot), where most BPL households were getting their due 35 kg of rice or wheat per month. The main problem was the restrictive nature of the BPL list, which left many households excluded. These surveys confirm earlier findings of a study by the Indian Institute of Technology in 2011 that BPL households in nine sample States received 84 per cent of their PDS entitlements. It is in the above poverty line (APL) quota that embezzlement continues in many States. In Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), APL households are supposed to get 10 kg of wheat per month, but most of the APL quota goes straight to the black market. The gravy flows all the way to the top: the complicity of the then Food Minister, Raja Bhaiya, in this scam was exposed last year by Tehelka , but the bhaiya retained his post. Recent investigations suggest that leakages in the APL quota are also very high in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh, among other prime offenders. The main reason for this vulnerability is that the APL quota is treated as a dumping ground for excess foodgrain stocks. In recent years, foodgrain procurement has increased by leaps and bounds, but distribution under the BPL and Antyodaya quotas has remained much the same, since allocations are fixed and lifting is close to 100 per cent. To moderate the accumulation of

excess stocks, the Central government has been pushing larger and larger amounts of foodgrain into the APL quota, which is now almost as large as the BPL quota (close to 20 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2012-13). One consequence of this dumping is that the entitlements of APL households are, by nature, unclear and unstable; in fact, they are not entitlements but ad hoc handouts. This gives middlemen a field day, since APL households are often confused as to what they are supposed to get, or whether and when their quota has arrived. The current situation in U.P., where most of the APL quota goes straight to the black market without anyone raising the alarm, is just an extreme example of this situation. Rectifies PDS defects The food bill is an opportunity to clean up this mess, and to cure two basic defects of the PDS: large exclusion errors, and the leaky nature of the APL quota. In effect, the bill abolishes the APL quota and gives common entitlements to a majority of the population: 75 per cent in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban areas. These are national coverage ratios, to be adjusted State-wise so that the coverage is higher in the poorer States. In this new framework, peoples entitlements will be much clearer, and there will be greater pressure on the system to work. Indeed, wide coverage and clear entitlements are two pillars of the fairly effective PDS reforms that have been carried out in many States in recent years (other aspects of these reforms include de-privatisation of ration shops, computerisation of records and transparency measures). Seen in this light, the bill can be a good move not only for food security, but also from the point of view of ending a massive waste of public resources under the APL quota. Cash transfers The main goal of the PDS is to bring some security in peoples lives, starting with protection from hunger but going well beyond that. A well-functioning PDS liberates people from the constant fear that it might be difficult to make ends meet if crop fails, or if someone falls ill, or if there is no work. The value of this arrangement has been well demonstrated in many States Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, among others. Whether a system of cash transfers could serve the same purpose at lower cost, and how long it would take to put in place, are issues that need further scrutiny and debate. Meanwhile, the PDS is in place, there is a ration shop in every village, and huge food stocks keep piling up. It seems sensible to use these resources without delay. In any case, the food bill does not preclude a cautious transition to cash transfers if and when they prove more effective than the PDS. Three problems Having said this, there are many reasons for concern over the impact of the bill. Three related problems look increasingly serious. First, there is a danger of over-centralisation of the PDS under the bill, at a time when many State governments are making good progress with reforming the PDS on their own. To illustrate, the bill seeks to impose a system of per-capita entitlements

(e.g. 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month) across the country, as opposed to household entitlements (e.g. 25 kg per household). Per capita entitlements are certainly more equitable and logical than household entitlements. But the transition from the latter to the former is not a simple matter, and could be very disruptive if it is imposed overnight from the top. Just think about how an old widow in Rajasthan, who lives alone and survives on her monthly quota of 25 kg of PDS rice, would feel on being told that her entitlement is being slashed to 5 kg per month. Political tool The second danger is excessive haste. As the country gears up for a string of elections, the Central government and some State governments are keen to fast track the roll-out of the bill for electoral purposes. A sense of urgency is certainly appropriate as far as food security is concerned, but undue haste could be very counterproductive. For instance, some State governments apparently propose to use the BPL Census of 2002 to identify eligible households, instead of the more recent and reliable Socio-Economic and Caste Census just to speed things up. This is a disastrous idea. A better way of fast tracking the roll-out of the bill would be to universalise the PDS in the countrys poorest districts or blocks. Last but not least, the promulgation of an ordinance has turned the bill into a political football. The Congress claims that the bill is a non-partisan initiative, but is also trying to use it as an electoral card. The Bharatiya Janata Party says in the same breath that it supports the bill and that it will not allow Parliament to function. The Samajwadi Party is shedding crocodile tears for farmers, but is unable to explain why the bill is anti-farmer. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam claims that the bill is against Tamil Nadus interests, without mentioning that it will enable the Tamil Nadu government to save large amounts of money on rice purchases from the Centre. The real issues are getting lost in these squabbles. It remains to be seen whether the monsoon session of Parliament will provide an opportunity to repair this damage, and also to consider the much-needed amendments to the bill. The silver lining is that food security has finally become a lively focus of democratic politics in India. Whatever happens to the bill, State governments are under great pressure to reform their PDS and make it work for people rather than for corrupt middlemen and their political masters. This was long overdue. (Jean Drze is visiting professor at the Department of Economics, University of Allahabad.)