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JULY 2013
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COURTESY:
The Hindu
Yojana
Kurukshetra
Press Information Bureau
Science Reporter
Contents
THE HINDU.......................................................................................................................... 2
Hindu-Muslim Relations during National Movement & Gandhi .................................................................................................... 2
Serbian Government Approves Kosovo Deal .................................................................................................................................... 3
Green Energy and Beyond ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Russia launches bio-satellite .................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Why Novartis case will help Innovation ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Internet Speed ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
BRIC by Brick ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
ASER Report ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
The Tibetan Plateau and the Indian Monsoon .............................................................................................................................. 10
Vivekanandas Legacy of Universalism ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Keep the Green tax ............................................................................................................................................................................. 13
2014 Uber and Thomas Cup Finals in India ................................................................................................................................... 15
Time to Revisit the Vienna Convention ......................................................................................................................................... 16
U.N. Passes Historic Arms Trade Treaty ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Gene Mutation Linked to Leprosy in Indians ................................................................................................................................ 19
Doublespeak on Electoral Reforms .................................................................................................................................................. 25
H7N9 Silently Spreads in Humans and Birds .................................................................................................................................. 27
Pass to Better Relations with China ................................................................................................................................................ 29
Disability as a Human Rights Issue: IndiasInvisible Minority in the Policy Realm............................................................. 32
YOJANA .............................................................................................................................. 33
Disability in the 12th Five Year Plan .............................................................................................................................................. 33
Education of Children with Disabilities: Need for Greater Reflection ....................................................................................... 35
Social Definition of Psycho-Social Disability ................................................................................................................................ 38
Women with Disabilities: Gendered Impairment ........................................................................................................................... 40
Allocation for Inclusive Growth ....................................................................................................................................................... 44
KURUKSHETRA................................................................................................................ 45
Food Security ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 45
Drinking Water .................................................................................................................................................................................... 46
National Livestok Mission................................................................................................................................................................. 46
National Food Security Mission ........................................................................................................................................................ 47
Swabhimaan-A Significant Beginning ............................................................................................................................................... 48
First Ever Hackathon by the Planning Commission on the 12th Plan ................................................................................... 50
UNWTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development to be Held at Hyderabad from 12th to 14th April ........... 50
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU .................................................................................. 51
Steps Taken for Protection of Endangered Species ..................................................................................................................... 52
Environmental Taxes ......................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Amendment in Money Laundering Act .......................................................................................................................................... 55
E-Biz Portal to Ease G2B Services ................................................................................................................................................... 56
Success in the Skies! ............................................................................................................................................................................ 58
SCIENCE REPORTER ...................................................................................................... 59
Open Source and Open Innovation .................................................................................................................................................. 59
General Public License ........................................................................................................................................................................ 62
hilka Haven for Birds .......................................................................................................................................................................... 63
Microphones ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
Gist of The Hindu 2
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Gist of
THE HINDU
HINDU-MUSLIM RELATIONS DURING
NATIONAL MOVEMENT & GANDHI
T
he Hindu-Muslim relations during the
freedom struggle were not ordered by
individuals only. They were sadly built
into the making and unmaking of our nationalist
idioms as, for example, the Hindi-Urdu controversy
had shown. Although language and religion do not
necessarily converge, the image conjured up was that
they do. The Mahatmas misfortune was that when
the communal passions could be whipped up, his
Ram-Rahim recipe turned distasteful to all but the
sanest. As the author points out, The Christians
disapproved his stand on conversion; the Sikhs did
not think of him as their friend; the RSS brigade
addressed him as Mahmud Gandhi; some others said
that his reading of the Quran defiled a temple.
If the story of our freedom struggle show-
cases phases and examples in which Gandhian moral
power seemed to gain exceptional ascendancy, there
were no fewer instances or indications of it losing
appeal or having impact on the course of things.
After the Non-cooperation-Khilafat phase of the
movement the Gandhian mystique was less evident
among the Muslim masses, and arguments, parleys or
bargains with the Muslim League were not the best
ways to achieve integrative nationalism. When the
League and the Congress were driven by political
interests, Gandhis moral recipe was politely brushed
aside. They placed him on a high pedestal, listened
to him respectfully, but bypassed him on serious
policy matters. On Partition, he was told to retire to
the Himalayas.
Faith and Freedom offers a fine intellectual
menu on Indian freedom movement as well as
Gandhis place in it. Mushirul Hasan draws
extensively from the archival sources, from the best
of the primary and secondary accounts on the
subject, and he sensitively prises out historical
wisdom from the poetry and literature of the period.
Akbar Ilahabadi, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat
Chughtai and others illumine the themes and times.
He is aware that while historical reality cannot be
objectively presented, nor its value determined by
a victory in a plebiscite, its complexities can be
honestly confronted and explained. Freedom
struggle was not all about driving the British out of
the country. It was about constituting the nation in
the context of the colonial rule in which the various
stake-holders struggled to be heard and adopted
ideologies and strategies that did not necessarily
conform to those of the Congress or of the
Mahatma. Colonial modernity provided the site for
nationalist definition and use of both faith and
freedom, with its concomitant clashes, truces and
violence.
Faith and Freedom is a scholarly book which
brings out the richness and complexities of Indias
struggle for freedom and of Gandhian leadership,
without quite equating the two. Instead, it raises the
issues that they grappled over and the people who
were drawn into them, which both enlarges and
enriches the canvas of our understanding.
CROWDSOURCING SCIENCE
Agroup of Russian space enthusiasts has
shown the world how citizen science can contribute
to scientific advancement. They have spotted in an
image four objects that supposedly belong to the
defunct Russian Mars 3 spacecraft that landed on
the Red Planet on December 2, 1971. The four
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objects parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket
and lander that resemble the Mars 3 mission were
identified in an image taken by the HiRISE camera on
board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are
seen in a follow-up image as well. Thanks to the
amateurs, the Mars 3 lander, which transmitted
signals for 14.5 seconds before falling silent, has
come alive in a different way. Since nearly 2,500
computers were required for viewing the high
resolution image, crowdsourcing was resorted to. This
is not the first time that crowdsourcing has been used
for solving complex scientific problems. The concept
was popularised way back in 1999 by the
SETI@home project at the University of California,
Berkeley; the project was to search for alien signals
from radio telescope data. The August 2010 discovery
of a rare pulsar (PSR J2007+2722), the first
astronomical object to be found through volunteer
computing, attracted worldwide attention. Today,
hundreds of citizen science projects have been
completed and many more are in different stages of
completion. In the past few years, citizen science has
evolved tremendously; current projects require active
participation in the form of collecting data from the
field, in much the same way scientists do. The
concept has become acceptable and popular among
scientists of late. In fact, researchers are using citizen
science to justify and improve the possibility of
getting funding. That hundreds of papers based on
citizen science data have been published in reputed
journals, including Science , is proof of how
traditional science has come to accept the model.
SERBIAN GOVERNMENT
APPROVES KOSOVO DEAL
The Serbian government approved a landmark
agreement to normalise relations with breakaway
Kosovo, but thousands of Kosovo Serb
demonstrators, chanting Treason, Treason,
rejected the deal.
Up to 10,000 flag-waving protesters gathered in
the divided northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica,
demanding that the EU-brokered agreement be
annulled and branding the Serbian officials who
endorsed it traitors.
The Serbian government approved the deal
unanimously at an extraordinary session and ordered
ministries to implement it, said government
spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic. The agreement could
end years of tensions and put the Balkan rivals on a
path to EU membership
The Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo
reached a tentative EU-mediated deal in Brussels on
Friday that would give Kosovos ethnic Albanian
leadership authority over rebel Kosovo Serbs. In
return, the minority Serbs would get wide autonomy
within Kosovo.
Kosovo, which is considered by nationalists to
be the medieval cradle of the Serbian state and
religion, declared independence in 2008. Serbia has
vowed never to recognise it, and Serbian officials
insist that the latest agreement does not mean
Belgrade has de-facto recognised Kosovos
statehood.
It is not clear how the deal will be implemented
on the ground in northern Kosovo where hardline
Serb leaders vehemently reject any authority coming
from Pristinas ethnic Albanians and consider the
region a part of Serbia. In Mitrovica, hardline Kosovo
Serbs said they will prevent the implementation of the
agreement and form a self-ruled region in the north.
Kosovos Parliament voted in favour of a
resolution to support the initial agreement. The
Serbian Parliament is expected to do the same later
this week.
Ending the partition of Kosovo between the
Albanian majority and the Serb-controlled north
about a fifth of the country is a key condition of
Serbias further progress toward EU membership.
PROTECTING INDIAS MIGRANTS
Human trafficking for labour exploitation is a
global concern. In West Asia and the Gulf
Cooperation Council region, it is a particular worry
given the scale of labour migration and the
prevalence of opaque and exploitative regulatory
systems. A new report on forced labour and human
trafficking in the Middle East, based on research
sponsored by the International Labour Organisation,
attempts to quantify the scale of the problem. Not
surprisingly, it makes for some disturbing reading.
The report puts the estimated number of victims of
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forced labour in the region at 6,00,000. These
numbers have a huge resonance for India, which
accounts for a significant chunk of the labour force
there. What emerges is the close relationship
between human trafficking and labour migration, and
how failures in labour migration governance systems
are allowing trafficking to persist. In the regions
capital-rich economies, the rapid development of
infrastructure has relied on the use of short-term
labour immigration. An estimated 14 million migrant
workers, originating mostly in Asia and Africa, were
in the GCC states between 1975 and 2010.
In order to manage the influx, many countries
in the region rely on kafala , or the sponsorship
system, that creates an unequal power dynamic
between employer and worker as it determines the
latters terms of residence and employment. Today,
this system governs the lives of most of the migrant
workers, who cannot leave their employers. Thus,
loopholes and deficits in labour law coverage
reinforce underlying vulnerabilities. Even where legal
redress is provided for under national law, and
human trafficking is criminalised and punishable,
there have been few prosecutions. In such a context,
there is first of all a clear case to regulate and control
the role of recruiting agencies that very often
overlook the interests of migrants while pursuing
their own agendas. The Gulf states need to get more
serious about implementing labour protection
measures, and giving all expatriate workers a better
deal in wages, housing, and health. The 2008 Abu
Dhabi Declaration was an acknowledgment of the
issues that had piled up. It outlined a collaborative
action plan to give a fair deal to workers. However,
the recommendations that emerged, including that
effective actions be initiated to root out illegal
recruitment, and that more transparent policies and
practices of recruitment and employment be
promoted, remain largely a mirage. India should
weave in these concerns while firming up the
provisions of its new emigration bill and signing any
new bilateral agreements with countries of the region.
GREEN ENERGY AND BEYOND
India has aggressive renewable energy targets
and industry energy efficiency policies, but faces
significant infrastructure challenges which may derail
the otherwise good policy, according to a new report
by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), a U.S.-based global
policy effectiveness analysis and advisory
organisation.
The report titled The Policy Climate, which
was released recently, says that despite growing
rapidly, India represented eight per cent of the
increase in global energy-related CO2 emissions
between 2000 and 2010, while Chinas percentage in
the same period stands at 68 per cent.
The report finds that in China, closure of
inefficient coal-fired power plants saved the
equivalent of more than 100 million tonnes of coal,
while renewable electricity grew 661 per cent between
2000 and 2010. Still, renewable electricity sources in
China only produced the equivalent of 0.68 per cent
of the electricity from conventional sources by the
end of 2010.
In India, as with China, most new energy
generation since 2000 came from conventional
sources (particularly coal), though the past decade
saw exponential growth in renewable energy
generation (especially wind, which grew 1,250 per
cent from 2000-2010). The report says that
implementation of policy relevant to climate change
and its impact accelerated markedly over the last
decade, despite the slow pace of international climate
negotiations. The study presented three decades of
evidence from five key economies India, China,
Brazil, the European Union (EU) and the U.S. which
together contain slightly more than half of the
worlds population and account for nearly two-thirds
of global greenhouse gas emissions.
In the U.S. and India, renewable energy targets
have been given to the States, even as the national
governments develop policies to incentivise it while
China experiments with special economic zones,
incentives, and regulation for its low carbon cities
and low carbon provinces, according to the report. In
India, both emissions and power generation have
increased dramatically, more than doubling in 15
years, the report points out.
From 2005-2010, Indian States phased in
Renewable Portfolio Obligations for their electricity
markets. As of 2010, these State-wide targets
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translated to an approximate 5.5 per cent nationwide
target for renewable energy.
Since the early 1990s, industrial productivity
has tripled, but emissions have gone up by about 70
per cent and while the Indian industry largely
improved its efficiency, performance at a sectoral level
was mixed. The steel industry emissions intensity
increased due to an increase in primary steel
production v/s scrap, the report notes.
The good news is that in 2012, India was the
worlds fourth-largest market for new wind power
projects, it has ambitious solar energy targets, and it
has significant government programmes focused on
energy efficiency (Global Wind Energy Council 2012).
On the flip side, the report says that because it is also
about improving energy security, reducing energy
imports, improving the nations balance of payments,
creating new and profitable industries, India also
pursues the largest build-out of coal-fired power
plants, coal mining, and related infrastructure
anywhere outside of China.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES BIO-SATELLITE
Russia launched an orbital Noahs Ark to
space a bio-satellite packed with an array of mice
and other small creatures to study the effects of long
flights on living organisms. Russias latest BION-M1
biological research capsule carrying 45 mice, eight
Mongolian gerbils, 15 geckos, snails, fish eggs,
micro-organisms and plants blasted off aboard the
modernised Soyuz 2 rocket from the Baikonur launch
pad in Kazakhstan.
AN INVITATION FROM MYANMAR
A message coming out from our neighbour
Myanmar that is transforming itself after 50 years of
military rule is we are open for business. Are our
commercial establishments listening and are they
ready?
Our bilateral relations with Myanmar have
gathered momentum in recent times. We have agreed
on a wide-ranging development cooperation agenda.
India has made substantial commitments to assist
Myanmar in the areas of capacity building,
connectivity, infrastructure and border region
development. Our trade and economic ties have
however not kept pace. India figures at only the
seventh place in Myanmars total imports and ranks,
even lower at the13th place in terms of foreign
investments into Myanmar. Being a large and
contiguous neighbour, a closer overall engagement
would call for a more robust trade and investment
share that seems definitely possible at a time when
rapid changes are unfolding.
Inclusive Politics
To what extent has Myanmar transformed
itself? President Thein Sein has, in the last two years,
taken the country towards a democratic path that has
made political life more inclusive; it has also enabled
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy to enter Parliament, albeit in a small way.
The government has released a great majority of
political prisoners and launched an ethnic
reconciliation process to build peace with the various
minority groups that have been out of the national
mainstream from before independence.
Some problems have no doubt arisen in taking
forward this process. Hostilities broke out with the
Kachin rebels but the atmosphere has improved since
late January. Tensions have also been building
between the Buddhist and Muslim communities.
Deadly riots erupted last year in Rakhine state in two
spells between the Rohingayas and the Rakhine
Buddhist community, leading to casualties and
displacement of people. Last month there were
attacks against the Muslim community in certain
areas in Central Myanmar.
President Thein Sein has acknowledged that
rioters have harmed the image of the country but he
has also talked about adoption of a different
approach to build trust. In a recent meeting with
Muslim leaders, Ms Suu Kyi told them that the law
has to be just for all and she would want everyone to
feel proud of being a citizen of the country. Building
trust and peace to pave the way for an inclusive
society is a delicate and painstaking process. It is
hoped that the troublemakers are firmly and
effectively dealt with and the supremacy of the rule
of law is maintained.
One can expect that responsible leaders of
Myanmar would not want adverse domestic
developments to affect its hosting of international
events in the coming months for the first time, the
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World Economic Forum East Asia Summit in June and
the South East Asian Games in December 2013. It will
also chair the ASEAN from January 2014.
WHY NOVARTIS CASE WILL HELP INNOVATION
On April 1, 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the
Intellectual Property Appellate Boards decision to
deny patent protection to Novartiss application
covering a beta crystalline form of imatinib the
medicine Novartis brands as Glivec, and which is very
effective against the form of cancer known as chronic
myeloid leukaemia (CML). The judgment marked a
crucial conclusion to a saga that has been several
decades in the making. The story could start in 1972,
if you like, when the Indian Patents Act of 1970
grounded in the findings of the Bakshi Tek Chand
and Ayyangar Committee Reports came into force,
enabling the explosive growth of the Indian generics
industry into the worlds largest exporter of bulk
medicines. Or, it could start in 2005, when India
amended its patent law to comply with the Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPs), a trade rule at the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) that established a new global
regime of intellectual property.
LPG DIRECT CASH
TRANSFER SCHEME LIKELY FROM JULY 1
The government is gearing up for the next big
leap under the Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) scheme to
bring a huge number of nearly 14 crore LPG
consumers under its ambit.The scheme, which is
likely to be launched from July 1, is aimed at directly
putting the subsidy component of the domestic
cylinder into the bank account of the consumers to
eliminate the leakages in the system and address the
problem of diversion of domestic cylinders for
commercial market.
The scheme will be introduced around the
middle of next month in 20 districts and later will be
extended to a bigger chunk of consumers and
practically cover over 14 crore consumers by the year
end.The banks and the oil marketing companies
[OMCs] have already been sounded out by the
Finance Ministry and the Petroleum and Natural Gas
Ministry to gear up for rollout of the scheme in a big
way, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said.
The consumers are likely to get around
Rs.4,000 per annum from the government, and they
will have to then buy LPG at the market price of Rs.
901.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder.
Currently, each consumer is entitled to 9
cylinders of 14.2-kg each at the subsidised price of
Rs.410.50. The government bears a subsidy Rs.435
per cylinder. The Planning Commission is already
gearing up for meetings with 78 District Collectors to
give momentum to the scheme.Under the scheme,
subsidies and other benefits will be transferred
directly into the Aadhaar-linked bank account of
beneficiary. The Finance Ministry is of the view that
keeping in mind the huge number of consumers under
the LPG scheme, the beneficiaries (consumers) would
have to directly approach the banks for seeding of
Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts. Seeding of
Aadhaar number to the bank account is essential for
the government to identify beneficiaries.
On the other hand, the OMCs have been asked
to provide data and details of the consumers to
ensure that the benefits of the scheme percolate to
the beneficiaries. A series of meetings between the
Finance and Petroleum Ministries is planned for the
next fortnight to give a final touch to the details for
the initial launch of the scheme next month.
INTERNET SPEED
Over the next few days, if not weeks, you can
expect to spend more time staring at your download
dialog box, waiting for videos to buffer, or clicking
away impatiently as you wait for your web pages to
reload.
And no, its not the service provider to blame;
at least not entirely. For, communication services
across the country, and many parts of the world, have
taken a hit owing to outages in three submarine
cables that are part of the undersea cable network
that connects India to the global communications
system. A majority of voice and data signals are
transmitted through these cables; in fact, most
communications services companies are entirely
dependent on them.
The current outages that affect three of the
eight communications cables that connect India to
the rest of the world SMW-4, IMEWE and EIG
are likely to impact services provided by Bharti Airtel,
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Tata Telecommunications, Reliance Communications
and public sector service providers BSNL/MTNL.
These cables, which connect land-based
transmission terminal stations across continents, are
laid for tens of thousands of kilometres along the
seabed. These thick optic fibre cables are sometimes
disrupted due to natural phenomena, such as
earthquakes and extreme turbidity current, or by
coming in contact with fishing trawlers or shark bites.
Fixing this is a complex procedure that uses advanced
reflectometry techniques and may take weeks.
BRIC BY BRICK
Long reviled as an artificial grouping of
countries with little in common other than a sense of
exclusion from the command structures of the
international system, the BRICS forum has finally
come up with a decision that has the potential to be
a global game changer: the establishment of a New
Development Bank. The absence of specific details
in the eThekwini Declaration issued at the end of the
fifth summit meeting of the forum in Durban has led
western sceptics to conclude that the bank idea is a
non-starter. They are mistaken. Even though Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa differ with one
another on many aspects of the project, they do agree
that a new bank is needed to take care of the special
aspirations of the group and perhaps of all
developing countries as well. The BRICS five account
for roughly a fourth of the global GDP and 40 per
cent of the worlds population. The proposed bank is
optimistically projected to be an alternative to the
seven-decade-old financial system dominated by the
Bretton Woods twins, the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank. A shift away from the
trans-Atlantic focus that the two global institutions
are rightly criticised for ought to be welcomed. The
global economy and the financial system are not
exactly in the pink of health. Much of the drag on
recent economic growth is due to the unsatisfactory
performance of the advanced economies, which is
itself a result of western financial mismanagement.
And with the Doha round of trade talks still stuck, the
BRICS forums call for the new head of the World
Trade Organisation to be from the developing world,
and for the revitalisation of UNCTAD, assume great
significance.
Apart from doing the best on the growth rate
front, China is the only BRICS country with a huge
current account surplus and has accumulated a
massive amount of foreign exchange reserves. In the
prelude to the creation of the new bank, this
divergence matters and should not be glossed over.
The key determinants for success will be the design
and leadership of the new bank, as well as its lending
policy. In terms of sheer clout, China is likely to
dominate, especially if a system of quotas reflecting
the economic size and contribution of each country
is adopted. These and other cautionary words should
not, however, detract from the merits of the BRICS
bank, especially its development orientation and
stress on infrastructure financing. Channelling
regional savings for infrastructure through a
dedicated bank is a great idea. There is also great
merit in growing step by step, as another related
decision to set up a contingency reserve fund of $100
billion shows.
MUKUNDARA HILLS IS
RAJASTHANS THIRD TIGER RESERVE
After Ranthambhore and Sariska, Rajasthan
will now be home another big cat habitat. The the
Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), located in
Hadoti region, was notified by the State government.
The MHTR will be spread across four districts
Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar covering
an area of 759 sq km. It will boast of a core area of 417
sq km and a buffer zone covering 342.82 sq km.
The reserve, expected to ease the big cat
population pressure in Ranthambhore, will cover the
existing Darrah, Jawahar Sagar and Chambal wildlife
sanctuaries.
Ranthambhore is home to 50 tigers while
Sariska has nine big cats. The State governments are
authorised, on the recommendations of the National
Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), to notify an
area as a tiger reserve under Section 38 V of the
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
ASER REPORT
First we had the Annual Status of Education
Report (ASER) which showed yet again that
learning outcomes in government schools are not just
unacceptably low, but declining, that too in the time
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since the RTE Act was passed. Then came the
budget and allocations to the education sector which
did not budge from 3.5 per cent of GDP despite the 6
per cent recommended by the Kothari Commission
more than five decades ago and reiterated in the
Common Minimum Programme nine years ago. In
fact, the actual State-wise requirements to fully
implement the RTE are still to be estimated! And
finally the RTE deadline itself was accompanied by
reports of how scores of schools across the country
had failed to meet the mandatory norms. And not just
private schools, or unrecognised schools, but regular
government schools under the purview of the very
government that amended the Constitution making
elementary education a Fundamental Right and
passed an Act that stipulated a basic set of norms
that all schools must abide by.
And yet, these failures appear to have made
little difference as far as policy, planning or even
political posturing are concerned.
The ASER findings were unveiled by the
Minister of Human Resource Development himself; a
scheme of 2500 model schools to be implemented
under a Public Private Partnership format in defiance
of RTE was announced and the Central Advisory
Board of Education committee decided to not extend
the RTE deadline two days after the deadline
passed.
While, on the one hand, this brazen defiance of
the law seems completely inexplicable, on the other,
it is completely compatible with the way basic
education has been treated by successive
governments since the very beginning.
Despite the lip service paid to education in
recent years, the ground reality has rarely gone
beyond the rhetoric. Even the legal stipulations do
not seem to have propelled the government to act
with greater responsibility. The passage of the RTE
Act was meant to reinforce the governments primary
obligation towards provision of elementary
education. But neither the political class nor the
bureaucracy appears to be mindful of its
responsibilities or legal obligations.
In a recent PIL, the Supreme Court, taking
cognisance of the deplorable state of basic facilities
in schools, directed all State governments to ensure
that the situation was rectified in accordance with
RTE norms by end-March 2013. Eighteen State
governments filed affidavits claiming they had already
met the norms six months ago! Even a casual visit to
government schools in any of these States will reveal
the falsehood of these claims. Now these States,
along with all others who have not even filed the
affidavits, stand in contempt of court in addition
to a violation of the RTE Act. It puts a huge question
mark on the much-acclaimed, rights-based approach
being adopted.
QUANTUM BIOLOGY MIMICKED IN LAB
For the first time scientists have engineered a
series of molecules that show quantum effects similar
to that observed in the light-harvesting complexes.
Greg Engels group in University of Chicago have
been able to both understand as well as mimic the
efficient mechanism of light transfer happening in
plants.
Aside from other benefits, this would lead to
the production of artificial energy-transfer devices
which could use the mechanism efficiently.
Photosynthetic antennae are arrays of proteins and
chlorophyll which transfer absorbed light energy to
the reaction centres where light energy is converted
to chemical energy. This enhances the efficiency of
light transfer compared to the process when light is
absorbed directly by the reaction centres themselves.
The secret of the efficiency of the transfer process lies
in quantum electronic coherence that stretches over
some femtoseconds (a femtosecond is a millionth of
a billionth of a second). When there is coherence,
energy from the incoming photon can simultaneously
explore every possible cholorophyll route from the
proteins surface to the reaction centre at its core and
then settle for the shortest route. Compare this with
the time and energy wasted if the photon had to
sequentially try out every path before reaching the
reaction centre. Thus the efficiency of the process is
increased manifold.
The researchers have engineered a series of
molecules that show quantum effects similar to that
observed in the light-harvesting complexes.
Biological light-harvesting systems are so complex
that they obscure the design principles involved.
However, the model systems engineered by the group
are simpler yet manage to capture the physics
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involved, according to the report published on April
18 in Science Express.
The main actor in this is a dye-like material
called fluorescein. The researchers modified
fluorescein and linked parts of these together rigidly
to form a series of compounds. The resulting
molecules were able to mimic the behaviour of light-
harvesting centres in plants that use photosynthesis,
especially the coherences which persists for over
tens of femtoseconds. They infer the presence of this
coherence using two-dimensional spectroscopy.
To observe the quantum coherence in the
system, the team shone laser light into the system
and recorded the emitted light by means of a camera
and recorded it in movies.
Every frame of the movie was a two-
dimensional spectrum. The movie showed quantum
beats, or oscillations, in a particular region, which is
evidence of quantum coherence. It is an exciting
thought for the future that discovery of this molecule
series and the mechanism of energy transfer may
initiate the development of synthetic light harvesters
which could lead to highly efficient and green energy
manufacturing units.
THE TIBETAN
PLATEAU AND THE INDIAN MONSOON
To what extent does the Tibetan plateau
influence the south-west monsoon?
Some 130 years ago, Sir H.F. Blanford, Chief
Reporter of the newly-established India
Meteorological Department (IMD), noticed that more
Himalayan snow cover during the preceding winter
presaged a poor monsoon. On that basis, IMD began
issuing the first monsoon forecasts from 1882. But
monsoon prediction was not so easily done and
remains a difficult problem to this day.Years later, the
established view came to be that the Himalayas acted
on the monsoon in two ways. The Tibetan plateau,
heated up during summer and thereby established an
atmospheric circulation that was conducive for the
monsoon.
The vast mountain range also acted as a tall
barrier, preventing cold, dry air in the northern
latitudes from entering the subcontinent and
subduing the warm, moisture-laden winds from the
oceans that drive the monsoon. In a paper published
in the journal Nature in 2010, William Boos and
Zhiming Kuang of Harvard University in the U.S
argued that the Himalayas role as a barrier was the
crucial factor for the monsoon.
Using a general circulation model that
simulated what happened in the atmosphere, they
found that even if the Tibetan plateau did not exist,
the monsoon would be unaffected provided the
Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges were there
to prevent intrusion of northern air.
As the vast Tibetan plateau, high up in the
mountains, warmed during the summer months, it
heated the air above, which then rose and created an
area of low pressure, explained Dr. Rajagopalan. That
belt of low pressure sucked in moisture from the
oceans, thus initiating the monsoon.
The heating of the Tibetan plateau correlated
well with rainfall over India from May 20 to June 15
when the monsoon was setting in. But then the
correlation disappeared only to reappear again for
rainfall between September 1 and October 15 when
the monsoon was tailing off. We dont have a very
good answer yet about how the Tibetan plateau
could be influencing the late stage of the monsoon,
he said. In an earlier paper, he and Dr. Molnar had
noted that swings in the temperature of the tropical
Pacific Oceans surface waters near the international
dateline, known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation
(ENSO), also strongly influenced rainfall over central
India and its west coast during the early and late
phases of the monsoon. With the Tibetan heating
and ENSO acting independently of each other, the
two factors taken together could have predictive
value for rainfall in the monsoons early and late
phases.
Preliminary results looked promising, Dr.
Rajagopalan told this correspondent. Those two
phases of the monsoon accounted for over one-third
of the total rainfall during the entire season and was
nothing to be sneezed at.
LAST DOMINO IN THE BALKANS
The April 19 agreement between Serbia and
Kosovo, reached under the auspices of the European
Union, could be a historic political development for
both the Balkans and the EU. Baroness Catherine
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Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy, brokered the talks
through 10 rounds starting in March 2011, and saw
the deal through to its signing by Serbian Prime
Minister Ivica Dai and Hashim Thai, the Kosovan
Prime Minister. The process was fraught, and as
recently as April 8 Serbia rejected the draft, saying it
did not give ethnic Serbs in Kosovo enough
autonomy. The signed deal means Belgrade cedes
legal authority over Kosovo, but it still does not
recognise Kosovan independence. Pristinas side of
the agreement involves giving the 50,000 or so ethnic
Serbs who live in northern Kosovo their own police
and justice representatives within the Kosovan
system; about another 90,000 Serbs live elsewhere
among Kosovos 1.8 million people. There is no
doubt that the agreement opens the way for Serbia to
start talks on EU membership. Belgrade has already
met several conditions for accession, such as
arresting and handing over the former general Ratko
Mladic and former Bosnian Serb President Radovan
Karadzic, both of whom are now being held by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on charges of war
crimes and crimes against humanity.
The deal will stand or fall on whether or not
Kosovo upholds the Kosovan Serbs new rights. The
genocidal wars of the 1990s have left terrible wounds
among all the regions peoples, and few of the
governments and movements involved including
the erstwhile Kosovo Liberation Army have clean
hands. Secondly, both Serbia and Kosovo will find
EU requirements for probity in public institutions
difficult to achieve. Though the aim of some
European powers is clear, the agreement does not
address Kosovan sovereignty. Five EU countries are
among dozens, including India, which have not
recognised Kosovo, for a range of valid reasons; 99
countries, however, have recognised the autonomous
region, which unilaterally declared its independence
on February 17, 2008, to the fury of the then Serbian
government. The underlying and too often unstated
problem is that the carrot of EU membership may
itself be part of a wider western strategy to force the
eventual de jure secession of Kosovo. The
dismemberment of the former Yugoslavia once one
of the worlds most vibrant multi-ethnic states is
proof that the pursuit of ethnic chauvinism invariably
rebounds on the chauvinists.
EXPERT GROUP CALLS FOR MONITORING
CHINAS RUN-OF-THE-RIVER PROJECTS
The Inter-Ministerial Expert Group (IMEG) on
the Brahmaputra has said China is carrying out a
series of cascading Run-of-the-River (ROR) projects
in the middle reaches of the river and the same may
be replicated in the Great Bend Area as a viable
alternative to a single mega project, and called for
further monitoring.
The IMEG is of the opinion that Jiacha could
be the next power project on the mainstream of the
Brahmaputra. It may be followed by projects at
Lengda, Zhongda, Langzhen, where dam-related
peripheral infrastructural activity, including four new
bridges, has gathered speed.
The ninth report of the IMEG, submitted to the
Committee of Secretaries (COS) in February,
expressed apprehension that Dagu and Jiexu, which
are also in the main course of the Brahmaputra, may
see considerable development activity in future. It
said such activity was discerned at Nangxian, as well
as upgrade of the Bome-Medog Road that passes
through the Great Bend Area.
The report noted that the Five-Year Plan
mentions the establishment of hydro-power bases in
the middle stream of the river to strengthen
exploration and development of domestic resources.
However, it said there was no information about any
change in Chinas position vis--vis the Brahmaputra
over the proposed South-North Water Diversion
Project. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had raised
the dams construction issue, during his first meeting
with the new President Xi Jinping in Durban last
month on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
The three dams Jiexu, Zangmu and Jiacha
are within 25 km of each other and are 550 km from
the Indian border. The one at Jiexu has been
independently confirmed to be an ROR project,
which will not impound water in a large reservoir.
The IMEG said the activities at Jiexu, Dagu,
Lengda, Zhongda, Langzhen and Nangxian may be
taken up with China at the appropriate level. As
decided in the earlier IMEG report, the area on the
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other side of the basin, including Tongia, Changxu,
Qilong, Xierga and Renda, would be monitored once
the Chinese side finished the work on the middle
route of the South-North Diversion Project, it said.
The report took note of the view of the Water
Resources Ministry, which said that it was necessary
to explore and study options to resort to the
provisions of the existing environmental treaties and
conventions.
It said Indian agencies have identified and
reported a total of 39 projects/sites on the
Brahmaputra and its tributaries for construction of
reservoirs/power projects, showing an increase of
three sites over 36 sites reported in the previous
IMEG report. However, these projects are mainly ROR
projects, catering to electricity or irrigational
requirement.
VIVEKANANDAS LEGACY OF UNIVERSALISM
A variety of activities is in the offing to
commemorate Swami Vivekanandas immense
contribution to the making of India as a nation. The
occasion: the 150th birth anniversary of Swamiji.
Seminars, workshops, publications and such other
means to perpetuate his memory and assess the
significance of his contribution form part of the
celebrations. Strangely, at the forefront of this
celebration are the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
and its front organisations. Strange because
Vivekananda hardly had anything in common with the
sangh parivar, except being Hindu by birth.
Devoted Hindu, not Communal
The ideology of the sangh parivar is rooted in
religious hatred and Swamiji stood for social
harmony and inter-faith dialogue. There can be no
meeting point between these two. Yet, the Hindu
fundamentalists trace their lineage to the neo-Hindu
movement of which Vivekananda was the central
figure. None of his observations on Hinduism, unless
taken out of context, seems to give credence to the
proposition that he had a communal outlook. He was
a devoted Hindu, passionately involved in bringing
about cultural and spiritual welfare of the people. He
indeed realised that changes were necessary but he
was unhappy about the course the reform
movements had followed. He decried the primacy
ascribed to caste in concepts and practices of social
reform movement. Any attempt to find a solution, he
believed, was a difficult task, because religion had
become rigid and inflexible, on the one hand, and
obscurantist and superstitious, on the other.
It is only in the light of early reform movements
their success, failures and limitations that
Vivekanandas quest for a resurgent India could be
assessed. By the end of the century, almost all early
movements had lost much of their vigour and
following. The decline in the reform atmosphere
paved the way for the emergence of a powerful
spiritual leader. This void was filled by Swamiji, by
initiating a movement, based on individual worship in
place of collective congregational worship which
Ram Mohan Roy and his contemporaries had
favoured. The organised religious reform movement
was an anathema to him, although he himself started
one, though of a different order, which was based on
compassion, social service and humanitarianism.
Vivekanandas plan of action was not limited to
the religious realm. He was equally sensitive to social
and economic issues. In other words, Hindus should
strive towards a total transformation and inclusive
growth. Caste is omnipotent in Indian society but he
discarded it without any hesitation. He had observed
the working of the Brahmo Samaj and that experience
seems to have coloured his general attitude to all
reform movements. By the time Vivekananda came on
the scene, except in a few pockets like Kerala and
Punjab, reformation had lost its vitality. He believed
that reform had already run its course. By the last
quarter of the 19th century, the religious movements
had almost vanished, even if popular religion was on
the ascendant. To the Indian middle class which
formed the social base of these movements, he had
choicest epithets: cursed by the wheels of
divisions, superstitious, without an iota of charity,
hypocritical, atheistic cowards, etc.
This is not to argue that Vivekananda did not
recognise the importance of the contributions of the
middle class in creating an atmosphere of reform.
Instead, he took great pride in what the Brahmo
Samaj had already accomplished in the social and
religious life of people. Spirituality alone was not the
only concern of Vivekananda. He spent a major part
of his life travelling, which undoubtedly influenced
his world view. He was particularly sensitive about
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poverty and the inhuman caste practices. He
prophesied that, one day, the Shudra would rule. The
stark reality of caste oppression in Kerala made a
lasting impression on his mind.
The process of Indian reformation had three
facets. The first was a liberal modernising phase in
which reformers like Ram Mohan Roy attempted to
change some of the traditional practices. The second
was a rejection of all that was alien to society, and an
attempt at indigenous mode of modernisation. The
third was to build an alternative model of modernity
which would embrace the traditional and the modern.
The path chosen by Vivekananda was the third. The
first group was that of the reformers for whom he had
undisguised contempt, dismissing them as babu
reformers. The conservatives and traditionalists
formed the second group. The members of this group
were mired in superstitions and ritualism. Swamijis
method of reform was not merely advocacy of reform,
but also through constructive social work.
The central idea in the life and teaching of
Vivekananda was religious universalism. In the eyes
of those who believed in universalism, there was no
difference between the followers of different religions.
All religions are universal equal and true.
Vivekananda, however, argued that in Hinduism,
universalism found ideal articulation. And was hence
a leader in spiritual matters. Equally important was his
notion of social service for which he set up the
Ramakrishna Mission. The mission gave an entirely
new ambience to reform.
The popular and academic perceptions of
Vivekanandas role are highly influenced by his
famous speech at the World Congress of Religions
and the religious discourses he delivered during the
extensive tours he undertook in India. In his highly
applauded speech at the Congress, he tried to
highlight the universalism inherent in all religions and
then to demonstrate that it was best exemplified in
Hinduism. Such a position was derived from his
belief in Vedanta which, he argued, transcended the
limits of any particular religion or cultural tradition.
Truth, alone is my god; the entire world is my
country, maintained Vivekananda. Thus he tried to
reconcile his understanding of universalism with the
Hindu philosophical system. His perhaps was the
most creative understanding of universalism. Because
he argued that all religions were universal and that
there was no superiority of one over the other. He
said every religion is an expression, a language to
express the same truth, and we must speak to each
other in his own language.
KEEP THE GREEN TAX
The Centre would be sending out a message
totally incongruous with national development
objectives, if it buckles under lobbying pressure and
withdraws the three per cent excise duty hike on
Sports Utility Vehicles introduced in the Union
budget. SUVs are not the common mans utilitarian
cars and the increase in duty covers only the more
luxurious vehicles that are, at least in the Indian
context, mere Veblen goods. The world over, SUVs do
not win plaudits for fuel efficiency, and a muscular
bigger is better cult has grown around these
vehicles.
These large and heavy space-hogs have a bad
accident profile when it comes to pedestrians.
Pleading the case of wealthy SUV buyers who want
to avoid paying a small extra premium that will fund
social sector investments is plainly indefensible. In a
populous country with scarce resources, even the
choice of an SUV for mobility is unsocial, as Minister
Jairam Ramesh observed a couple of years ago, when
he was in charge of the Environment Ministry.
Moreover, allowing SUVs to access unlimited
subsidised diesel when public buses are asked to pay
bulk prices adds to the iniquity prevailing in
transport. Given all this, it is surprising that Minister
for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful
Patel has sought withdrawal of the hike in subsidy on
these vehicles using the fig leaf of falling automotive
sales.
The emergence of motor car and motorised
two-wheeler sales as prime drivers of growth in the
automotive sector is incompatible with the need for
sustainable mobility. If people must be able to travel
quickly in urban centres and in rural areas, the
backbone must be mass transport. Acknowledging
the falling share of public transport and non-
motorised modes in cities, the Planning Commissions
Expert Group on Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive
Growth headed by Kirit Parikh said in its interim
report that fuel efficiency must be promoted through
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labelling of vehicles, defining minimum efficiency
standards and incentivising bus operations in cities
through capital subsidy and fuel duty
reimbursements.
This is the obvious way to go, but none of this
seems to be on the priority list of policymakers.
Extraordinarily, they are targeting the SUV duty hike
on the ground that there is no separate classification
for such vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act,
ignoring the rules on vehicle length and engine
capacity already available. If Mr. Patel and others like
him indeed want to help villagers who need better
mobility, he should be asking for concessions for the
bus industry. That can lead to robust, low cost
vehicles to serve thousands. After all, the commercial
vehicle industry is in an even more difficult situation
than the passenger car sector.
FENCING IN THE RBI
The final report of the Financial Sector
Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), which was
given a wide mandate to draw a blueprint for new
financial regulatory architecture, has evoked strong
responses. While some have called it a potential
game changer, others find its recommendations out of
touch with Indian reality. The FSLRC had to grapple
with several dissenting views even among its
members.
Besides, any radical overhaul of existing
regulatory infrastructure will naturally take time. The
most discussed proposal is the one to set up a new
regulatory entity, the Unified Financial Regulatory
Agency (UFRA), to be solely responsible for the
oversight of the securities market, insurance,
pensions and commodities, in effect taking over the
functions of existing regulators including the
Securities and Exchange Board of India, the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development
Authority.
That would result in the financial sector having
just two main regulators, the Reserve Bank of India
and the proposed UFRA. Both are expected to
coordinate their activities, preferably through an
MOU. If that is not new after all, regulators have
to work in unison for better results the
recommendation that the principal regulators should
be board driven and not follow the top down
approach that they are used to has caused some
consternation.
A key recommendation to set up a monetary
policy committee which, rather than the RBI
Governor, will decide on policy rates is arguably the
most controversial proposal. This is seen as a not so
subtle attempt to clip the wings of the RBI, also
because of the related move to confer powers on the
government to appoint members of the committee.
However, the RBI Governor will have veto powers on
interest rates under certain circumstances and after
making out a case in writing. The bias towards
government is even more obvious in the
recommendation to appoint the Finance Minister as
head of the Financial Stability and Development
Council. The RBI has for long resisted encroachment
on what it rightly considers to be its jurisdiction.
There is no denying that the FSLRC would like to
vest greater accountability with the government than
with regulators. In its opinion, a major overhaul of
Indias regulatory system for the financial sector is
due and best done on the lines suggested by it. But
there is bound to be serious disagreement over the
validity of a key assumption the report makes on
Indias financial sector. Surely systemic failures are
due more to excessive financialisation of markets
than to failures of regulation, as assumed by the
Commission.
2014 UBER AND
THOMAS CUP FINALS IN INDIA
In a historic first, the World team badminton
championship, for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup,
will be held here from May 18 to 25, 2014.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF)
formally entrusted the hosting of the prestigious
championship to the Badminton Association of India
(BAI), following the signing of an agreement between
the two bodies on Friday. Siri Fort Indoor Complex will
be the venue for the event, to contested every two
years, to decide the worlds strongest mens and
womens teams.
India hosted the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup
preliminary stage matches in 1988, 2000 and 2006. It
will be a big opportunity for BAI to showcase its
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organising skills following the successful hosting of
the 2009 World championship in Hyderabad and the
annual India Open, a Super Series event on the BWF
calendar, since 2011.
Following the signing of the agreement, BWF
deputy president Paisan Rangsikitpoh was confident
of Indias capability to host the event.
HEAVIEST ROCKET LAUNCH IN 2014: ISRO
Indias heaviest rocket ever is expected to take
to the sky next January on an experimental flight
whose later versions could be used to send humans
on space missions. The mainstay of the
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III
(GSLV-Mk III) would be to put in orbit communication
satellites weighing between four and five tonnes,
thus packing more transponders per launch.
We are targeting an experimental flight of
GSLV-Mk III in January 2014, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan told
reporters after a public lecture at the Indian National
Science Academy (INSA) here.
This will also be a first time that ISRO scientists
would undertake an experimental flight of a launch
vehicle which would fall into the sea after reaching a
height of 120 km. We have been simulating the flight
using computers. But there are certain tests that
cannot be carried out on the ground. We will test the
rocket in a cost effective manner, GSLV-Mk IIIs
project director S. Somnath said.
He said ISRO engineers have planned to take
some 2,000 measurements during the experimental
flight of the GSLV-Mk III, which would weigh 640
tonnes at lift-off, making it the heaviest rocket built
in the country.
All the 2000 measurements during the flight
would be telemetred down to the ground station. We
will analyse them. This will enable us to have full
knowledge of the flight, Somnath said. The new
rocket, which can put a four tonne satellite in orbit,
will help Antrix Corporation, ISROs commercial arm,
to offer cheapest space launches in the niche market.
The R&D myth
The night before the apex court verdict,
Novartis threatened to stop investing in research and
development in India, if the verdict went against it.
How serious is the threat and how realistic the
scenario? In Indias drug production of over Rs.
100,000 crore, Novartis turnover is a little over Rs.
1,000 crore, constituting around one per cent. Out of
the total expenditure of over Rs. 800 crores incurred
by Novartis India in 2012, a paltry Rs. 29 lakhs was
for R&D, constituting roughly 0.03 per cent of its
entire expenditure in India. Can such low spending
can be considered R&D investment? In fact, Novartis
R&D expenditure in India for the past five years has
been in a similar range. On the other hand, Novartis
consistently posted a profitability ratio (Profit After
Tax as percentage of Total Income) of over 15 per
cent in the last five years, something to envy for
other sectors.
Big Pharma argues that if global R&D of
innovator companies were to be considered,
transnational drug corporations spend over US $ one
billion to come up with a new drug. This includes
cost of R&D incurred on failed drugs as well, as
pharmaceutical companies take, on an average,
roughly 12-13 years to get patents on new drugs. The
magic one billion dollar figure is a gross overestimate.
Even by conservative calculations, this figure would
be one-fifth or one-fourth of the billion dollar
estimate. But Big Pharma is quick to recoup its R&D
spending from blockbuster drugs. Take the case of
Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate), sold in the US. Novartis
raked in a total turnover of US $ 1.69 billion from the
US alone in 2012 from the drug. The global turnover
on Gleevec is anybodys guess. It is also widely
known that the cost of manufacturing drugs is only
a fraction of the turnover.
Novartis currently sells Glivec (Gleevec) for Rs.
4,115 per tablet, while Resonance, an Indian generic
drug company dispenses it at Rs. 30 per tablet. The
annual cost of treatment per patient on Glivec would
be in the range of Rs. 15 lakhs while Indian generic
companies are offering it at Rs. 10,000. If Novartis
were to get its patent on Glivec, Indian generic
companies would have to stop their production, and
therefore an unaffordable scenario would have
prevailed for the common man in not only India but
in other developing countries. Thankfully, the court
ruled in favour of Section 3 (d) of the Patent Act.
Novartis claims that 95 per cent of cancer
patients in India were provided the medicine free. This
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is patent untruth. Retail market sales in India for
Glivec, sold by Indian generics producers are
currently worth Rs. 20 crores. Novartis sells Glivec
directly to patients and not through the usual retail
chain, a system that is designed to make people
believe that they offer the drug free.
TIME TO REVISIT THE VIENNA CONVENTION
The Italian Ambassadors matter before the
Supreme Court is over but problems with the Vienna
Convention will not go away. This is because the past
three decades have witnessed an increasing effort on
the part of western countries to unilaterally introduce
changes in the application of the Vienna Convention
of Diplomatic Relations to the detriment of diplomats
of developing countries. They say that this
aggressive approach is in keeping with new
standards of humanitarian and labour laws. However,
its selective, self-serving and at times unscrupulous
application belies these tall claims. These countries
are also taking care to ensure that the functioning or
personal situations of diplomats working in their
embassies are not impaired while considerable
difficulties are experienced by those of developing
countries.
Some years ago the domestic help who had
accompanied a senior Indian diplomat to his post in
a Western country sued him for maltreatment in a
local court. Along with the diplomat, the Indian
government was also sued. The country concerned
took the position that its courts had jurisdiction as it
was a civil law matter.
As the case was going on, authentic
documentary evidence emerged that established the
involvement of the officials of the host country in a
virtual conspiracy to instigate the domestic help to
leave his employer. They had also created
circumstances that had enabled him to take legal
action. Under sustained pressure from South Block,
the country cleared up the matter within its own
system, including its courts, but requested the Indian
authorities that the issue be kept confidential. That
request was accepted for diplomats prefer to deal with
all matters relating to privileges, immunities and
protocol discreetly, outside the public gaze. They
especially try to avoid entanglements with the courts.
That is one reason why the Italian Ambassadors
affidavit to the Supreme Court was, per se, so
extraordinary.
CENTRE DECONTROLS SUGAR INDUSTRY
In a major decision, the Centre on Thursday
unshackled the Rs. 80,000 crore sugar industry by
abolishing the monthly release mechanism and
abolishing the obligation on mills to supply levy
sugar for subsidised distribution under the Public
Distribution System, allowing market forces to come
into play.
The decision, in line with the suggestions of a
panel headed by C. Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime
Ministers Economic Advisory Council, was cleared
by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the
Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas told
journalists.
Claiming that the decision to decontrol the
industry will not impact sugar prices, Mr. Thomas said
there was enough sugar in the country. The
production last year was 26.5 million tonnes. This
year, about more than 24.5 million tonnes is expected
as against a requirement of 22.2 million tonnes. There
was a huge burden on the government to see that
farmers and consumers interests are protected and
we have managed to balance that, Mr. Thomas said.
The Centre will continue to provide sugar to the poor
under the Public Distribution System (PDS) at the
current issue price of Rs. 13.50 per kg. For this, the
States will be free to purchase through a transparent
system at the current ex-factory price of Rs. 32 per kg
which has been capped for two years. The difference
between the purchase price and the issue price will be
borne by the government.
The subsidy on this score which will double
from the current level of Rs. 2,600 crore to Rs. 5,300
crore will be borne by the Centre, Mr. Thomas said.
Indias internal requirement per year is estimated at
220 lakh tonnes. Of this, the PDS requirement at the
rate of 400 to 800 grams per person, is estimated
between 17 to 20 lakh tonnes per annum.
The regulated release mechanism, wherein the
government fixed the sale quota for each mill every
month, will be dispensed with immediately.
Gist of The Hindu 19
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U.N. PASSES HISTORIC ARMS TRADE TREATY
The U.N. made history on Tuesday when it
passed an unprecedented arms trade treaty (ATT) to
better regulate the international sale in weapons.
It was passed in the General Assembly with 154
members voting Yes; three Iran, Syria and North
Korea voting no; and 23, including India,
abstaining. The treatys passage came after
negotiations failed last July when the U.S. pulled out
abruptly.Its adoption implies a major step forward in
controlling the $70-billion flow of arms across
borders, particularly restricting its movement to and
from areas where groups are suspected of violation
of human rights.
In addition to India, the nations that abstained
included China, Egypt, Myanmar, Russia, Saudi
Arabia and Sri Lanka. Pakistan voted in favour of the
treaty though its representative expressed concerns
over the imbalance in obligations between arms
exporters and importers.
EXPATRIATE WORRIES
Saudi Arabias decision to enforce the
provisions of its Nitaqat labour law has raised
concerns not only in India, but also in the rest of the
subcontinent. The law specifies that one out of 10
employees in every business establishment should
be a Saudi national. The fallout in terms of
displacement could affect many among an estimated
three lakh low- and semi-skilled workers from India.
More specifically, almost a fourth of all Keralites who
work in the Gulf countries are in Saudi Arabia. The
kingdoms drive to expand job avenues for its own
nationals by means of the localisation initiative
that had actually come into effect in November 2012
is unexceptionable in itself. It is also clear that
those expatriate workers who are in Saudi Arabia
through legally compliant processes have nothing
much to fear from the latest crackdown. The issue
then boils down to the need to curb the activities of
unscrupulous recruiting agents who prey on the
anxieties of unskilled or semi-skilled emigrants who
somehow want to get to the Gulf region in search of
work. In spite of awareness drives initiated by the
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, illegal and
irregular migration continues. This has to end. Kerala
has now sought diplomatic intervention to obtain
assurances from Saudi Arabia of a six-month amnesty
for the affected expatriates. It has also requested that
those who are returned are not sent through the
deportation route, that would result in an entry ban
being imposed on them by other Gulf countries.
These appear to be reasonable suggestions. The
State government claims to have extracted a promise
from the Central government to bear the cost of travel
of migrants returning from Saudi Arabia.
Any impression that the Saudi Arabian move
is meant to target Indian workers specifically may be
off the mark and unfair. Among the countries of the
region, Saudi Arabia is the biggest employer of
foreign workers in terms of absolute numbers. These
numbers are accounted for by the big three labour
exporters of South Asia: India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. For the latter two, Saudi Arabia is the
biggest market. Sri Lanka is also a player. Reports
that the enforcement of Nitaqat is part of a larger
Saudi strategy of tightening the screws on the Sheikh
Hasina government in Bangladesh for its secular
policies are certainly far-fetched. If Saudi Arabia has
set its mind to cleaning up the emigration scene and
achieving a better balance in the profile of its labour
force, that is not a bad thing for the expatriate labour
market in the Gulf region as a whole. But Riyadh
should soften the blow now.
IS H. PYLORI A FRIEND OR FOE?
The bacterium Helicobacter pylori that
colonises the human stomach is now usually seen as
a disease-causing organism. Pioneering research
carried out by Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren
established infections by this bacterium as the most
common cause of peptic ulcers. Till their path-
breaking work, for which they received the Nobel
Prize in 2005, it had been believed that stress and
lifestyle were responsible for producing such ulcers.
Once the role played by H. pyloriwas recognised,
eradicating it became the standard of care for ulcers
where it was implicated. The bacterium was also
found to be a major cause of stomach cancer.
However, H. pylori may not simply be a
pathogen that is out to harm its human host.
Helicobacter species may have been part of
the indigenous gastric biota of humans and our
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prehuman ancestors from our earliest times,
remarked Martin Blaser of the New York University
Langone Medical Center in the U.S. Such a long-
standing relationship suggests that benefits of H.
pyloricolonisation exist, he noted in a journal paper
published in 1998.
The Benefits
Large-scale studies had found that people
without the bacterium were more likely to develop
asthma, hay fever or skin allergies in childhood, he
pointed out in a commentary, titled Stop the killing
of beneficial bacteria, published in the
journal Nature in 2011.
And as H. pylori has disappeared from
peoples stomachs, there has been an increase in
gastroesophageal reflux, and its attendant problems
such as Barretts oesophagus and oesophageal
cancer. Could the trends be linked?
Moreover, the bacterium does not always
produce disease. Seven out of 10 Indians will have H.
pyloriinfections, observed B.S. Ramakrishna, a
gastroenterologist at the the SRM Institute of
Medical Sciences in Chennai. But the vast majority
do not have any symptoms of disease and only a
small proportion develop ulcers. A study carried out
on mice suggests that other microbes present in the
stomach could play a significant part in the
inflammation set off by H. pylori .
MICE STUDY
The research, published in the
journal Infection and Immunity , was motivated by
the observation that identical mouse strains procured
from different vendors responded differently when
infected with the bacterium. Exploring further what
caused this difference, Annah S. Rolig of the
University of California at Santa Cruz and her
colleagues found that mice with high levels
of Clostridia bacteria in their stomach displayed low
inflammation when infected with H. pylori .
Clostridia were known to prevent inflammation
in the intestine and thus maybe key to dampening H.
pylori pathology, although that remained to be
determined, said Karen Ottemann, the principal
investigator of the study, in a press release.
Variations in the microbes of the stomach could
have a dramatic effect on H. pylori -associated
disease, and suggest new avenues for curbing H.
pylori inflammation-related diseases such as ulcers
and gastric cancer, the scientists observed in their
paper. However, studies still need to be done in
humans right now, we do not know whether the
findings apply to humans, said Dr. Ottemann in an
email.
NEW LIGHT ON DARK MATTER
An international experiment aboard the
International Space Station (ISS) today reported the
observation of an excess of positrons in the cosmic
ray flux, the source of which could be the elusive
dark matter.
This forms the most important part of the first
results from the experiment, called the Alpha
Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which were reported
by the experiments spokesperson, Nobel Laureate
Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) at the meeting of the American
Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) at
Boston, Massachusetts. The mysterious dark matter,
which is believed to account for a quarter of the
universes mass-energy balance and is distributed
isotropically invariant with respect to direction
in the space, can be observed indirectly through its
gravitational interaction with visible matter but is yet
to be directly detected.
The search for dark matter is one of the
objectives of this space-borne AMS even as it is
being actively searched for in ground-based
experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
and other experiments in deep underground
experiments.
The instrument is basically a giant magnet and
an antimatter detector attached to the outside of the
ISS. It is the most powerful and sensitive particle
spectrometer ever deployed in space. It is designed
to study the cosmic ray particles, which are charged
high-energy particles that permeate space, before
they have a chance to interact with the Earths
atmosphere.
The first AMS results are based on the
analysis of about 25 billion recorded primary cosmic
ray events. The events were recorded between May
19, 2011 and December 10, 2012. Of these, an
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unprecedented 6.8 million were unambiguously
identified as electrons and their antimatter
counterparts, positrons, observed in the energy
range 0.5 Giga electron-Volt (GeV) to 350 GeV. Of
these 6.8 million particles, more than 400,000 were
positrons.
This is the largest number of energetic
GENE MUTATION
LINKED TO LEPROSY IN INDIANS
In a new finding, a mutation in TAP1 gene has
been associated with susceptibility to leprosy in
Indians.
TAP1 gene is one of the several genes that
regulate the immune response and its variations were
earlier implicated in tuberculosis and auto-immune
diseases.
While many people get exposed
to Mycobacterium leprae , not all develop symptoms
for leprosy. Since variations in some genes were
reported to increase the risk, researchers from India
and Germany looked at the role of TAP1 (Transporter
associated with antigen processing) gene for
susceptibility to leprosy.
As many as 222 leprosy patients, who were
carriers of few and multiple bacteria of the same strain
were enrolled for the study. The DNA data bank from
CCMB was utilised for another group of 223
ethnically matched control individuals from the same
socio-economic and geographical region.
In the paper published recently in Human
Immunology , the authors of the study noted: Our
results provide genetic evidence that polymorphism
in the TAP1 gene influences susceptibility to leprosy
in Indian population. According to a scientist
involved in the study, TAP1 gene mutations were
found to be associated in certain other populations
earlier and this was the first time that its variations
were linked to Indian leprosy patients.
He said that screening would help in cases
with family history of leprosy. Precautionary
measures could be taken if anybody was found with
this mutation. Explaining how the mutation affects
immunity, the lead author of the study, Dr. Vijaya
Lakshmi Valluri, Group Leader, Immunology &
Molecular Biology Division, Blue Peter Public Health
and Research Centre, Hyderabad, pointed out that
the bodys immune system responds whenever a
foreign protein, bacteria or virus enters the system.
THE SILENT WAR OVER EDUCATION REFORMS
Two major reports with overlapping concerns
were submitted to the central government during the
last decade. They were drafted by committees
appointed by two different offices of the same
government. One was chaired by Yash Pal, and the
other by Sam Pitroda. The titles of the two
committees indicated both the contours of their
deliberation as well as areas of potential overlap. The
first committee, chaired by Yash Pal, was appointed
by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in
2008, and was called the committee to advise on
rejuvenation and renovation of higher education.
The second, chaired by Sam Pitroda, was appointed
by the Prime Ministers Office in 2005 and carried the
more compact title, the National Knowledge
Commission (NKC).
Both reports talk about expanding the
provision of higher education without sacrificing
quality, and as such, a cursory reading would
suggest that there is not much difference between the
views articulated by the two groups. In the specific
sphere of knowledge, both panels favour imaginative
interface between areas and disciplines as a means of
promoting creativity.
They evince equal amounts of anxiety over the
problems of accreditation and licensing faced by
institutions that impart professional education. And,
on the matter of institutional fragmentation at the
apex level, both recommend establishment of an
umbrella body capable of subsuming the overlapping
functions of existing structures. With so many
apparent similarities, it is not surprising that the Yash
Pal report and Sam Pitrodas NKC are routinely
invoked in the same breath whenever a new policy or
decision comes up for discussion. A careful
decoding, however, reveals that the two reports are
based on contrasting perspectives on the
relationship between knowledge and education, and
between these and social needs. From the point of
view of the political economy embedded in the two
reports, the visions of reform they endorse are
incompatible.
Gist of The Hindu 22
www.upscportal.com
Skill Deficit
Both reports recognise a crisis in higher
education, but their diagnosis of the nature of that
crisis is quite different. While NKC views the narrow
growth of higher education in the context of skills, it
is not quite clear how it relates the current parlance
of skill deficit to higher education. The idea comes
across as an obvious issue or as an assumption:
While higher education enrolment has to increase
markedly, the skill requirement of the growing
economy means that a large proportion of our labour
force needs to be provided vocational education and
be trained in skills.
This skill element has to be integrated with the
higher education system to ensure maximum
mobility. Confusing as these words are, they convey
the shape of things to come if NKCs vision becomes
reality.
The report discusses the paucity of skills in the
vast unorganised sector, but shows little interest in
the context in which this paucity has grown. After all,
the economy must be in a position or evolve towards
one which provides employment prospects attractive
to skilled personnel.
Knowledge and Skills
The fact that Indian manufacturing has
provided slow employment growth called jobless
growth during the 1990s or that the IT-enabled
sector provides less than 0.5 per cent of total
employment, indicates that at least two sectors
commonly linked with skills and the so-called
knowledge economy, respectively, are not in a
position to provide massive additional employment,
or at least not immediately. No doubt the economy
might evolve, and these or other sectors change in
ways that provide additional employment, but the
push for vocational skills, whether or not at the cost
of higher education, cannot ignore a detailed plan of
how industry-training linkages will also be
simultaneously developed. This is precisely what
NKC ignores, harnessing the rhetoric of knowledge
with a variety of suffixes while refraining from relating
it to the actual needs of the economy or higher
education.
A relevant analysis of this kind, i.e. focusing on
working conditions, livelihoods, and economic
opportunities, was presented by a commission
chaired by the late Dr. Arjun Sengupta, which dealt
with the crisis of skill deficit in the larger context of
poverty and working conditions. Ignoring Senguptas
recommendations for comprehensive measures, the
NKC opts for merely rebranding vocational education
and training to increase its value and ability to
command higher incomes. This unusual
phraseology denotes rather transparently what must
happen to the higher education system. NKC is
worried about its size and enrolment capacity
because it wants to use it for skilling. Vocational
education will get rebranded by the transformation of
the bulk of higher education into a skill-imparting
apparatus, all unfortunately in the name of the
knowledge economy.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A LITTER PROBLEM
The change in the orientation and orbit of the
17-cm glass-sphere Russian nano-satellite BLITS that
was noticed in early February was caused by a
January 22 collision with a piece of Chinas Feng Yun
1C weather satellite; Feng Yun 1C was intentionally
blown up in the 2007 anti-satellite weapon test by
China. That irresponsible act led to an overnight
increase in the amount of space debris: pieces larger
than one centimetre went up by 40,000, and the
number of fragments larger than one millimetre by
about two million. The number of trackable objects
shot up by 25 per cent. Worse, the break-up
happened at an altitude of about 860 km, which is
heavily populated by satellites. Due to the low
density of the atmosphere at this altitude, the junk
generated will pose a threat to satellites for a long
time.
The 2008 American experiment when the USA-
193 satellite was destroyed by a missile did not create
much long-lasting debris. Due to the low altitude (250
km) of break-up, most of the fragments were
subjected to air drag and eventually burnt up when
they re-entered the Earths atmosphere. Aside from
these two adventures, the majority of man-made litter
larger than 10 cm is from in-orbit explosions. Objects
of this size can generate catastrophic events even
a centimetre-long fragment can disable a spacecraft.
There are about 600,000 objects in space larger than
one centimetre and about 300 million larger than one
Gist of The Hindu 23
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millimetre. Nearly 5,000 launches have taken place till
date, and nearly half of the catalogued fragments in
space are from man-made objects. According to the
European Space Agency, doubling the number of
objects in space will result in a four-fold increase in
collision risk. As the number of launches keeps
rising, the possibility of collisions between two
satellites, and between satellites and fragments
producing more debris is increasing. In 2009, the
collision of Cosmos 2251, a defunct Russian military
satellite, and the American satellite Iridium resulted in
1,700 pieces. As the Kessler syndrome postulates,
crashes would first be seen between fragments and
larger objects like satellites and would eventually be
between two fragments. Crashes will continue till the
debris becomes very small. This does not augur well
for space science. Expensive manoeuvring of
satellites is currently the only way to avoid crashes.
But this is possible only in the case of catalogued
pieces. Hence it is imperative for space-faring nations
to undertake debris-mitigation measures. One of them
is to reduce the orbital altitude of dying spacecraft
and allow the Earths atmospheric drag to pull them
into the atmosphere. Objects that re-enter the
atmosphere break up at 84-72 km altitude and most of
them get burnt up.
THE SILENT WAR OVER EDUCATION REFORMS
Two major reports with overlapping concerns
were submitted to the central government during the
last decade. They were drafted by committees
appointed by two different offices of the same
government. One was chaired by Yash Pal, and the
other by Sam Pitroda. The titles of the two
committees indicated both the contours of their
deliberation as well as areas of potential overlap. The
first committee, chaired by Yash Pal, was appointed
by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in
2008, and was called the committee to advise on
rejuvenation and renovation of higher education.
The second, chaired by Sam Pitroda, was appointed
by the Prime Ministers Office in 2005 and carried the
more compact title, the National Knowledge
Commission (NKC).
Both reports talk about expanding the
provision of higher education without sacrificing
quality, and as such, a cursory reading would
suggest that there is not much difference between the
views articulated by the two groups. In the specific
sphere of knowledge, both panels favour imaginative
interface between areas and disciplines as a means of
promoting creativity.
They evince equal amounts of anxiety over the
problems of accreditation and licensing faced by
institutions that impart professional education. And,
on the matter of institutional fragmentation at the
apex level, both recommend establishment of an
umbrella body capable of subsuming the overlapping
functions of existing structures. With so many
apparent similarities, it is not surprising that the Yash
Pal report and Sam Pitrodas NKC are routinely
invoked in the same breath whenever a new policy or
decision comes up for discussion. A careful
decoding, however, reveals that the two reports are
based on contrasting perspectives on the
relationship between knowledge and education, and
between these and social needs. From the point of
view of the political economy embedded in the two
reports, the visions of reform they endorse are
incompatible.
Skill Deficit
Both reports recognise a crisis in higher
education, but their diagnosis of the nature of that
crisis is quite different. While NKC views the narrow
growth of higher education in the context of skills, it
is not quite clear how it relates the current parlance
of skill deficit to higher education. The idea comes
across as an obvious issue or as an assumption:
While higher education enrolment has to increase
markedly, the skill requirement of the growing
economy means that a large proportion of our labour
force needs to be provided vocational education and
be trained in skills.
This skill element has to be integrated with the
higher education system to ensure maximum
mobility. Confusing as these words are, they convey
the shape of things to come if NKCs vision becomes
reality. The report discusses the paucity of skills in
the vast unorganised sector, but shows little interest
in the context in which this paucity has grown. After
all, the economy must be in a position or evolve
towards one which provides employment prospects
attractive to skilled personnel.
Gist of The Hindu 24
www.upscportal.com
Knowledge and Skills
The fact that Indian manufacturing has
provided slow employment growth called jobless
growth during the 1990s or that the IT-enabled
sector provides less than 0.5 per cent of total
employment, indicates that at least two sectors
commonly linked with skills and the so-called
knowledge economy, respectively, are not in a
position to provide massive additional employment,
or at least not immediately. No doubt the economy
might evolve, and these or other sectors change in
ways that provide additional employment, but the
push for vocational skills, whether or not at the cost
of higher education, cannot ignore a detailed plan of
how industry-training linkages will also be
simultaneously developed. This is precisely what
NKC ignores, harnessing the rhetoric of knowledge
with a variety of suffixes while refraining from relating
it to the actual needs of the economy or higher
education.
A relevant analysis of this kind, i.e. focusing on
working conditions, livelihoods, and economic
opportunities, was presented by a commission
chaired by the late Dr. Arjun Sengupta, which dealt
with the crisis of skill deficit in the larger context of
poverty and working conditions. Ignoring Senguptas
recommendations for comprehensive measures, the
NKC opts for merely rebranding vocational education
and training to increase its value and ability to
command higher incomes. This unusual
phraseology denotes rather transparently what must
happen to the higher education system. NKC is
worried about its size and enrolment capacity
because it wants to use it for skilling. Vocational
education will get rebranded by the transformation of
the bulk of higher education into a skill-imparting
apparatus, all unfortunately in the name of the
knowledge economy.
ONE RIVER,
TWO COUNTRIES, TOO MANY DAMS
By raising the Brahmaputra dams construction
issue during his first meeting with the new Chinese
President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh was following a two-pronged strategy. On the
one hand, Dr. Singh wanted to bring Indias unease
with Chinese construction on Brahmaputras main
channel to the worlds notice. On the other, by saying
publicly that most Chinese projects might not store
water, he was trying to ensure that any ensuing
debate in the country does not snowball into one
more round of panic-stricken news reports.
The Chinese government has been reticent
about dams being constructed on transborder rivers.
India is not alone in seeking these details. Many
lower riparian South East Asian countries and even
Kazakhstan in Central Asia want China to be more
forthcoming about plans to build dams or divert water
from transborder rivers.
Even though some of the dams India is
concerned about have recently figured in the Chinese
governments plan documents, for a long time open
source literature, satellite reconnaissance and source
reports were unable to confirm their actual impact on
river flows, thus raising anxiety levels here.
During a press conference on his way back
from Durban where he met the Chinese President and
sought a joint mechanism, Dr. Singh was careful to
add a caveat. While confirming that he had asked for
greater transparency from China, the Prime Minister
added that the projects on the main channel of the
Brahmaputra appeared to be run-of-the-river, that is,
they would not have significant storage.
Perhaps he was keen to avoid the alarm of
media reports on Chinas plans to divert 40 billion
cubic metres of water from the Brahmaputra (known
as Yarlong Tsangpo in China) in 2003. The Chinese
have put the brakes on the project or perhaps shelved
it, but Indias apprehensions found another outlet
when, a few years later, a massive landslip blocked
portions of the river at an area known as the Great
Bend. The misgivings were quelled after water cut a
course through the blockade and flows returned to
normal.
In both cases, the Chinese shared little
information about the developments. India kept
hoping that its diplomatic notes and media exposure
of Beijings aversion to sharing details would make
the problem go away. It was only a couple of years
back that China agreed with the Indian request (and
separately to that of some Asean states) to share
hydrological data. But another concern had arisen by
then. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first raised it
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with then Chinese President Hu Jintao in March, 2012.
The Chinese were already aware of Indias concerns
as then Foreign Ministers S.M. Krishna and Yang
Jiechi had discussed it in their preparatory meeting
before Mr. Hus visit.
When Dr. Singh and Mr. Krishna spoke about
dams on the main channel of the Brahmaputra, only
one was at the active-construction stage and
information was still coming in about the others.
Since then, India has got a firmer fix on a series of
three dams on the main channel of the Brahmaputra.
The three dams Jiexu, Zangmu and Jiacha
are within 25 km of each other. More ominously for
strategic experts fixated on the China threat, they are
550 km from the Indian border. But the first one, Jiexu,
has been independently confirmed to be a run-of-the-
river project which will not impound water in a large
reservoir. Construction on the second in the series,
Zangmu, began in 2010 and Indian authorities are not
sure if this will be a pure RoR variety. The third, a 320
MW dam, will be built at Jiacha, about a dozen km
downstream of Zangmu, and even this is more or less
confirmed to be run-of-the-river. These are not the
only ones about which India has not been adequately
informed. A dam near Zhongda and another near
Phudo Zong, as well as 30 other projects were
planned and executed with Beijing disclosing little to
India.
Indias fears about diversion of waters of the
Brahmaputra have not been completely assuaged. It
deploys high-end technology and spends
considerable money on keeping a keen eye on water
conductor systems and basins adjacent to
Brahmaputra for clues on constructions of canals to
take the water away to Chinas north-western
provinces.
MAKING SPACE FOR THE TIGER A REALITY
The contentious issue of notifying buffer areas
around tiger reserves came under sharp debate when
the Supreme Court issued interim directions to stop
tourism in core or Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs) and
notify buffer areas. However, after the National Tiger
Conservation Authority (NTCA) filed comprehensive
guidelines on tiger conservation and tourism on
October 15, 2012, the Supreme Court permitted the
reopening of tourism strictly in accordance with the
guidelines. Visitation is now permissible in existing
tourism zones subject to a maximum of 20 per cent of
core areas being used. But the important issue of
creating viable buffers around a core area lost focus
even though the NTCA guidelines harp on its
importance to sustain tiger populations.
In most tiger reserves, core areas comprise
notified sanctuaries and/or national parks, which are
to be managed as areas free of incompatible human
activity. Reserved forests, deemed forests and other
unencumbered government land with some
vegetation immediately abutting the CTHs are to be
notified as buffer areas, which can act as shock
absorbers for core areas.
VIABLE BUFFERS
While notifying such contiguous forests as
buffer areas may be relatively easy, the real challenge
is in creating viable buffers wherever private
agricultural lands abut core areas. Merely notifying
such areas as buffer or peripheral areas without any
viable habitat, as is being done now, may not only fail
to deliver the imagined benefits for tiger conservation
but also lead to hostility and loss of support from the
local community.
Yet, acquiring large extent of private land
abutting tiger reserves, to insulate the entire core area
with a complete wrap around buffer that can
support wildlife might be impractical. So is there a
way forward to resolve this important issue?
An innovative mechanism can be created
within the current legal framework with some very
minor modifications to the Forest Conservation Act,
1980 Guidelines.
This could greatly contribute to creating
additional areas as viable forested buffers around
tiger reserves. Presently, most development project
promoters seeking diversion of forest land for a non-
forestry purpose have to identify an equivalent area
of non-forest land. This has to be transferred and
mutated in favour of the forest department for
declaration as reserved forest/Protected Forest (PF).
The project must also deposit funds for taking up
compensatory afforestation in such lands. Stage II
clearance under the Forest Act is to be granted only
after compliance of this important condition. As far as
possible, such areas should be contiguous with
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reserved forests for effective management. This is
mandated under Chapter 3 of the Acts guidelines.
Legal loophole
Unfortunately, in most cases, this important
condition is relaxed based on certification by the
State that sufficient/appropriate non-forest land is not
available. In such cases a simpler condition of
compensatory afforestation in degraded forest land
twice the area diverted is insisted upon. This legal
loophole has meant the loss of an excellent
opportunity to create viable buffer areas as State
governments routinely provide this exemption to
most projects.
To facilitate the creation of viable forested
buffers, the Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF) must first revise the current guidelines
appropriately to plug this loophole. A new
mechanism must then be created whereby the Tiger
Reserve Authority in each tiger reserve State
identifies private (non-forest) land immediately
abutting a reserve, based on scientific and objective
criteria, to be developed as ecologically viable
buffers.
Private enclosures within contiguous reserve
forests can also be identified. This data must be
shared with development project promoters to explore
the possibility of them privately acquiring the lands
to comply with the Forest Act guidelines.
There could be two possible scenarios under
which this idea could be enabled:
1. The owner(s) of such identified farm land
may be willing to sell the land at prevailing
market prices (which the project proponent /
owner mutually agree upon as in any private
land transaction). The project promoter has
to then transfer and mutate the land in favour
of the Forest Department for notification as
a reserve forest/PF, as mandated by existing
guidelines or even as a conservation reserve
under Section 36-A of the Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972 under the proposed
new mechanism or;
2. The owner(s) may not be willing to sell but
may be agreeable with suitable benefits
to develop it as a private/community
reserve based on an appropriate
management plan. There are enabling
provisions in the Wildlife Act, which allow
for any individual/group of individuals or
community volunteering to conserve wildlife
and its habitat to approach the government
for a notification. While the land will
continue to be owned by the individual/
community, the land use will be agreed upon
jointly with the Forest Department based on
a management plan.
PARTICIPATORY PLAN
This will enable appropriate development of
the private/community reserve or the land mutated in
favour of the Forest Department, by creating suitable
vegetation with mixed plantation/bamboo/grassy
patches/salt licks, etc to attract wildlife. The funding
for this can come from money deposited by the
project promoter for compensatory afforestation. The
individual or community could then be encouraged
and assisted to develop a participatory community-
based tourism plan with benefit sharing as envisaged
in the new NTCA guidelines. The tourism pressure on
core areas can thus be reduced progressively.
All that is required are some minor
modifications in the Forest Act Guidelines to include
the terms Core or Critical Tiger Habitat, Protected
Area and Community Reserve to enable
identification and transfer of lands adjacent to these
areas to the Forest Department by the project
promoter. But for this idea to work, the MoEF must
issue a proper clarification to States that, henceforth,
transfer of non-forest land will not ordinarily be
condoned.
This innovative mechanism, which is within the
framework of existing laws, could open up
tremendous opportunities for increasing viable
buffers and creating additional habitats for wildlife
where it is most needed around tiger reserves/
protected areas. It will not only help in achieving the
true objective of compensatory afforestation, but also
deliver benefits to local communities from the
increasing economic opportunities of non-
consumptive tourism outside core areas.The
competitive populism in Tamil Nadu over the
situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka has generated a great
deal of alarm in New Delhi over the manner in which
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political issues relating to a State have begun
impinging on Indias foreign and security policies.
Though somewhat over the top, the Dravidian parties
have a point, but a general one rather than the
specific case they are advocating.
The general point is that in any country, the
people have a right to advocate and push for a
particular foreign and security policy. Given our
linguistic, ethnic, religious and ideological divisions,
these views often come across as those belonging to
this or that section.
That, too, is legitimate. But at the end of the
day, this diverse country must have a single policy
and its execution must be the responsibility of its
federal government.
DOUBLESPEAK ON ELECTORAL REFORMS
Politicians everywhere are known to indulge in
doublespeak and our politicians are no exception. But
some recent pronouncements of our Law Minister
only show that our politicians may have very few
serious rivals in this sport. Not long ago, the Minister
was all praise for the Election Commission of Indias
real time and effective monitoring of election
expenses.
Now the same Minister has told the Supreme
Court that the Election Commission is not concerned
with the correctness or otherwise of the account of
election expenses submitted by a candidate. In other
words, the government wants the Commission to do
an outstanding non-job!
Sound investment
That the candidates in our Assembly and
Parliament elections spend huge amounts, many times
over the prescribed ceiling, on election expenditure is
no secret. They seem to have come to realise that this
is an investment capable of giving phenomenal
returns which no other enterprise could rival and, so,
the best way of getting rich quicker. No wonder,
therefore, that even panchayat elections boast of
huge expenditures incurred by the contestants. That
some unscrupulous sections of the media found
innovative ways to help themselves to some part of
this huge expenditure during election time is too well
documented by now.
It is also common knowledge that the effort has
been raised to a fine art, prescribing different rates, a
base rate for coverage to a paying candidate and
none for his non-paying rival, and a premium rate for
high and sustained praise for the payer, and hell and
damnation for his rival.
The Press Council of India (PCI) gave the first
opening to the Election Commission to take deterrent
action in this new game christened paid news, when
the ECI followed up a PCI finding in respect of a
candidate in the 2007 elections to the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly, and disqualified her by using its powers
under Section 10 A of the Representation Of The
People Act, 1951.
But when the Election Commission was
approached to exercise that very power in the case of
the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok
Chavan, who, contesting the 2009 election to the
Maharashtra Assembly, was alleged to have indulged
in paid news in a big way as found by an intrepid
journalist after meticulous investigation, the Law
Ministry seems to have woken up to the danger of a
determined ECI exercising its power. Wanting to stop
the Election Commission in its tracks, it has filed an
affidavit before the Supreme Court seeking a plain
reading of that section of the law that was examined
and interpreted beyond a shade of doubt by a three-
judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the R.
Shivarama Gowda Vs P.M. Chandrasekhar case
(AIR 1999 SC 252).
The Election Commission seems to have
unwittingly fallen into a trap in answering, through an
interim order, the jurisdictional issue apparently a
red herring raised by Mr. Chavan in the
proceedings initiated before it. In the light of the
unambiguous decision of the three-judge bench of
the Supreme Court which leaves little scope for
any speculation on the issue of the powers of the
ECI under Section 10A of the Act the Election
Commission could have gone ahead without
harbouring any doubt. Nor should it have let
anybody cast doubt and much less allowed him to get
away with it.
But that was not to be. The order of the
Election Commission on the issue of jurisdiction,
rejecting the objection raised by Mr. Chavan, the
respondent, was challenged before the High Court in
Delhi. Having lost the case there, Mr. Chavan has
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gone to the Supreme Court in an LPA (Letters Patent
Appeal). Precious time has been lost in the process
and the case initiated in November 2009 has yet to
cross the first hurdle three years down the line.
The government has joined Mr. Chavan in
challenging the Election Commissions power to
disqualify a candidate under Section 10A of the Act
for his failure to submit a correct and true rendering
of his election expenditure.
The three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court
lucidly brought out the scheme of the Act and the
issues that have to be agitated in an election petition
under Section 100 of the Act before the High Court
where the remedy sought will be the unseating of the
winner on the ground of corrupt practices, one of
which is exceeding the limit on expenditure. No such
election petition lies against any candidate except the
winner.
In contrast, Section 10 A can be invoked
against any candidate on the ground of submitting a
false or incorrect rendering of his election expenses.
If proved, it will result in the disqualification for a
maximum of three years even if he were the winning
candidate.
WIDESPREAD?
But knowing the denominator is the biggest
challenge. This is because, the presence of
asymptomatic and mild cases raises the real
possibility that the virus may be more widespread
than believed and difficult to find. Though people
with mild/asymptomatic infection may not be dying,
such cases are, in fact, very worrying,
notes Nature .
According to WHO, there is no way of
knowing whether the number of cases identified
represents some or all of the cases actually
occurring. The occurrence of some relatively mild
cases raises the possibility that there are other
such cases that have not been identified and
reported.
Reduced virulence may be facilitating further
genetic adaptation of the virus to infection of human
beings and thus greater potential to spread.
According to a paper published on April 11
in The New England Journal of Medicine, genome
sequencing of the first three cases of H7N9 infected
people who died revealed that it is better adapted
than other bird flu viruses to infecting mammals.
But the peculiar feature of the virus is that it
causes only asymptomatic or mild disease even in
birds. This allows the virus to silently spread among
birds. The reason for this is now clear: the NEJM
study indicated that the haemmagglutinin sequence
data is associated with low pathogenicity in birds.
In the case of H5N1, birds falling sick after
infection were clearly seen, and this helped in
knowing the spread of the infection.
Exacerbating this enigma is not knowing which
animals act as viral hosts. This is despite intense
surveillance of animals to find out the reservoirs.
We cant be 100 per cent sure how anyone has
contracted H7N9. Many patients had contact with
poultry, but not all. So [it is] still a puzzle, Hartl of
WHO tweeted on April 13.
According to reports, about 40 per cent of
infected people have had no contact with poultry.
The routes of transmission from animals to
humans are not fully known either. But the NEJM
paper provides certain clues. An amino acid
substitution in H7N9 may facilitate transmission
through respiratory droplets, just the way the highly
pathogenic H5N1 bird flu spread from birds to
humans. Genome sequence of the first three cases
showed that there have been at least two
introductions from animals to humans.
Another peculiar aspect is that the number of
people infected with H7N9 shot up from 24 to 63
within a short span of seven days. A reported
increase of 14 infected cases on April 16 was the
biggest ever for a single day.
Though sustained human-to-human
transmission has not been found, two such
suspicious cases have been found.
We are not near a H7N9 pandemic yet but we
need to understand better how the virus works in
order to control the outbreak, Hartl tweeted. It is
premature to dismiss the possibility of an H7N9
pandemic or to say the outbreak is under control.
Resources below, Turmoil above
Last months coup dtat in the Central African
Republic (CAR), in which the northern-based group
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Slka fought its way into the capital Bangui and
overthrew President Franois Boziz, is yet another
destabilising development in a country which has had
a troubled and violent modern history. The coup
resulted from the collapse of a January 11 agreement,
which was itself meant to end fighting that had
broken out late in 2012 over the alleged failure of a
2007 peace deal.
Mr. Boziz, who had seized power in a coup in
2003 but won elections in 2005 and 2011, has
reportedly escaped to neighbouring Congo. The five-
faction Slka, which means alliance in Songo, is
led by Michel Djotodia, who has suspended the
constitution and announced rule by decree. Though
he has promised that the 2016 elections will occur as
planned, he also says he will review existing deals
with foreign mining firms.
In response, the African Union has suspended
the CAR and imposed travel restrictions on Slka
leaders. Unsurprisingly, the country faces a
humanitarian crisis. Some 40,000 people have fled to
Congo, Chad, and Cameroon; even a fortnight before
the coup, the fighting had displaced 175,000 people
internally, and violent looting continues apparently
unchecked.
Things do not bode well for the countrys 4.5
million people. Though Mr. Djotodia, who heads the
Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) faction
within Slka, claims to be a secularist, some among
the majority Christian population are nervous
because he is a Muslim. However, his earlier record
in getting himself appointed to replace a sheikh as the
CARs consul in Nyala, capital of the Sudanese state
of Darfur, suggests that he puts his own ends first.
A more serious problem, however, is Slkas use of
child soldiers.
Members of a South African force which tried
to defend the Boziz government say they were
sickened to find children among those they had
killed; they themselves lost 13 troops in a serious
foreign policy disaster for President Jacob Zumas
ANC government. A further complication is that the
CARs Muslim minority, which mainly lives in the
northeast, considers that it has long been neglected
by successive governments in Bangui. As if that
were not enough, Joseph Kony, the leader of the
Uganda-based Lords Resistance Army, who is
wanted for war crimes, has disappeared, with some of
his forces, somewhere in the CAR, and U.S. troops
assisting the Boziz government in searching for him
have abandoned the hunt since the coup. Although
rich in resources, the CAR is one of the worlds
poorest countries. But it seems the AU will get little
international help while it tries to create stability and
legitimate authority there.
H7N9 SILENTLY
SPREADS IN HUMANS AND BIRDS
The novel H7N9 avian flu virus that is
currently circulating in certain regions in China has
bewildered public health officials within and outside
the country. To start with, H7N9 is a product of
reassortment of three avian influenza virus strains
that infect only birds. Reassortment happens when
gene swapping takes place between two or more
viruses present at the same time in a host.
The influenza, which was initially restricted to
Shanghai and neighbouring regions, has now
reached Beijing two people have so far been
infected with the virus. Till date, 77 people have been
infected and 16 have died. But this number may be a
gross underestimation of the actual spread of the
infection. Therein begin the many puzzling and
worrying characteristics of the bird flu.
Unlike the initial cases where the infection
proved to be deadly, cases now being detected have
wide ranging virulence. A 4-year-old boy has been
tested positive for the virus on April 15, but shows
no symptoms of infection. This is the first time that
an asymptomatic case has been found. Unlike other
avian flu infections and initial H7N9 infection cases,
people appear to exhibit the entire range of infection
critical, mild and completely asymptomatic.
According to Gregory Hartl, Head of Media for
WHO, the current H7N9 case fatality rate is
approximately 20 per cent, and may end up even
lower if the actual number of infected people is
known.
PONZI SCHEMES:
CENTRE GETS INTO ACTION MODE
In a bid to project the affirmative action taken
over the last few years and in recent days against
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illegal raising of deposits through collective
investment schemes (CIS), the government on
Saturday listed the proactive steps taken by various
financial investigative agencies to convey the sense
of seriousness with which such economic offences
are viewed by the authorities.
A Finance Ministry statement on the issue has
come in the wake of media reports in the past few
days highlighting concerns regarding such alleged
illegal raising of deposits, especially in rural and semi-
urban areas, in Eastern India and duping of the
gullible public.
Promoters of such companies are allegedly
siphoning the monies collected and are using a sales
network comprising local persons who are offered
hefty commissions, in a manner similar to Ponzi
schemes, the statement said. In financial parlance,
Ponzi schemes pertain to activities involving
collection of money from a large number of gullible
public investors who are lured by a promise of huge
returns.
Listing the action taken in the specific case of
Saradha Realty India Ltd., the statement said that
SEBI passed an order on April 23 directing them to
wind-up their existing collective investment schemes
and refund the money collected under the schemes
with returns which are due to the investors as per the
terms of offer, within a period of three months from
the date of the order, failing which prosecution
proceedings would be pursued.
Detailing the steps put in place since last year
to guard against such fraudulent investment
practices, the statement said that SEBI initiated
prosecution cases in CIS-related matters in various
courts in over 59 cases in the eastern region.
As for the MCA, it has ordered inspection of
the books of accounts and other records under the
provisions of Sec.209A of the Companies Act, 1956,
in respect of 31 companies. In some matters,
investigation under Section 235 of the Act to be taken
up by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), has
already been ordered.In the case of 42 companies,
Registrar of Companies, West Bengal, has issued
notices under Section 234 of the Act calling for
information and explanations, the statement said.
A MONSTER
CALLED DRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by the
bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to
the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2011, 87
lakhs people fell ill with TB and 14 lakh died. India
constitutes a major burden country with 20% of all
TB cases in the world. The government has been
implementing the National TB control Programme
since 1962. It was revamped and made the Revised
National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP)
in 1993. Under this new scheme, the DOTS (directly
observed treatment, short course) strategy was
adapted.
Covering the whole of the country, diagnosis
is primarily done by collecting sputum from the
patient and examining it under microscope after
making a smear. This facility is being provided by
specially trained laboratory technicians posted in
peripheral hospitals at the 20-30,000 population level.
If a patient diagnosed with TB, drugs are made
available on the doorstep by a DOTS provider who
keeps track of the patient.
The DOTS provider is a minimally trained
person, who can be either a health staff member or a
responsible villager. This treatment is thus under
direct supervision. Four drugs are commonly used,
Rifampicin, Isoniazid, Ethambutol and Pyrazinamide,
in different combinations for six months. In some
cases, injectible drug Streptomycin is used. The
patient is followed up with sputum examination
periodically to trace the progression of the disease.
All these services, including the drugs, are
provided free of cost. Multidrug resistant TB (MDR
TB) is caused by bacteria that do not respond to at
least Isoniazid and Rifampicin, the most powerful, first
line anti-TB drugs. Drug-resistant TB occurs when
drugs are not properly taken, like incomplete
treatment, wrong dosage, wrong length of treatment,
wrong combination, unavailability of drugs or poor
quality drugs.
MDR TB diagnosis and treatment is difficult.
First of all, the diagnosis needs culture and drug
susceptibility testing entailing extensive laboratory
work. There are only a few laboratories where this test
can be done in India. Once the problem is diagnosed
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as MDR TB, the second line drugs, which are 300
times costlier than the first line drugs, are prescribed.
These are ofloxacin/levofloxacin, ethionamide,
cycloserine, pyrazinamide, ethambutol and
kanamycin.
These drugs are used for 24 months in different
combinations and have severe adverse events. The
government of India started DOTS Plus services (for
diagnosis and treatment of MDR TB) in 2007 from
Gujarat. Till date these services have been extended
to 10 States. There is an underlying fear that if these
second line drugs also develop resistance then we
will be left nowhere. It is difficult to diagnose and
treat MDR TB. So we must make all efforts to prevent
the emergence of resistant TB.
WRONG ROUTE
The Survey of India (SOI) complaint against
Googles Mapathon 2013, a collaborative and
community mapping exercise, on the ground that it
jeopardises national security represents unwarranted
paranoia. In February, Google announced a nation-
wide competition inviting those interested to use its
online tools, add neighbourhood data and create
better maps.
Towards the end of March, when the
competition ended, the SOI, following a shrill BJP
campaign, filed a complaint with the Delhi police. It
objected that this Google venture violated the
National Map Policy and could pose a security risk.
In an age when GPS devices are freely available for
navigation, geographical information flows
unhindered across borderless digital space and
satellite images of every square inch of the earth are
in the public domain, the SOIs notion of restricted
areas and insistence on monopoly over spatial data
appear irrational.
Instead of dismissing this knee-jerk reaction as
untenable, the police have scaled up the complaint to
a CBI level investigation. The irony is that it is not
Google, but the SOI which has failed the National
Map Policy. Foreseeing the challenges of digital
practices, the policy urged the SOI in 2005 to take up
a leadership role in democratising spatial information
through partnerships. But the SOI, despite an early
start and the weight of the state behind it, has till date
offered no people-friendly facilities worth mentioning.
PASS TO BETTER RELATIONS WITH CHINA
The Karakoram Pass played a significant role in
the flourishing trade on the Silk Route between India-
China and Central Asia. The pass was shut down and
trade stopped in 1949 when Xinjiang became a part of
Peoples Republic of China. Leh was a busy
cosmopolitan commercial town, with traders from
Central Asia, Kashgarh, Yarkand, Kabul, Tibet,
Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh who stayed
on for one or two months after their exhausting
journey.
The trade, through the Karakoram, influenced
the dress, food and dance forms of Ladakh. On the
other side of the Pass, Chini Bagh at Kashgarh (the
residence of the British Joint Commissioner of Trade),
Gurdial Sarai and Kashmiri Kucha (street) at
Yarkand, where Indian traders used to stay, still
remind us of the magnitude of commerce that took
place. The Bactrian camel (double hump) of Nubra
valley is a relic from Xinjiang. A generation of people
in Nubra still speaks the Uyghur dialect. Food served
in some of old streets of Leh has a distinctly Central
Asian flavour.
Central and Popular
At 18,250 feet, Karakoram was one of the
highest trade routes. Now, a motorable road exists
through Khardungla (18,680 feet) and Turumputila up
to the base of Saser Kangri. Thereafter, a track moves
over to camp sites of Murgo (in Yarkandi, also known
as the gateway of death), Burtsa, Kazilangar,
Deptsang la, Daulat Beg Oldi (the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police post named after a Xinjiang caravan
leader who was buried here) and finally to the
Karakoram Pass. Notably, the India-China boundary
at the pass is not disputed; it is indicated by two
heaps of stones at a distance of 50 feet, one Indian,
and the other Chinese. It is an eight day-trek from the
picturesque Nubra Valley to the Karakoram Pass. It is
not possible to get lost there the trail of bones and
skeletons of men and animals constantly remind the
weary traveller of the ruggedness of terrain and
weather.
But in spite of those drawbacks, the
Karakoram Pass remained popular due to its
centrality and affinity with Ladakhis.
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The Silk Route, through which passed
Chinese merchandise, notably silk to Rome, is a
primary axis of transportation through the heart of
Asia. A number of auxiliary axes feed into the Silk
Route. An important feeder route from the lower
Himalayas was from Hunza via Sarikol into Xinjiang
via the Mintaka Pass. This route is now a part of the
Northern Areas of Pakistan. Another more important
route was via Karakoram from the Leh-Nubra valley
or Leh-Changla pass-Shyok Valley.
Modern Link
Pakistan has always enhanced its strategic
power much more than its economic and scientific
potential by making full use of its geostrategic
location. It was at the 1955 Bandung Non-Aligned
nations conference that President Ayub Khan and
Premier Chou en Lai met for the first time and later
concluded, in 1963, the historic Sino-Pakistan
Boundary Agreement. Earlier, Pakistan Army
engineers had built a Indus Valley road to Gilgit. Later,
Pakistan concluded an agreement with China to
transform this road into an all-weather dual
carriageway all the way up to the Mintaka Pass.
Completed in 1969, the Karakoram Highway pushes
north through Islamabad, Gilgit and crosses the
Karakoram range through the 16,000ft Khunjerab
Pass.
Cultural bridges
India should negotiate with China to open the
ancient trade route for mutual gain. India enjoys
historic popularity with the people of Central Asia
and Xinjiang. Most of the merchandise sold by
Pakistani traders across the border in China is of
Indian origin.
The economy of Ladakh, which has
traditionally depended on trade, would thrive with the
opening of the Karakoram Pass. Ever suspicious of
links between militant Uyghurs and terrorist outfits in
Pakistan, China would have no such fears regarding
Ladakh. There are immense possibilities for the
revival of an ancient Buddhist connection and for
two-way tourism to ancient Buddhist sites in Central
Asia and India. Ladakh Buddhists long to visit the
Thousand Buddhist caves at Dunhuang in
Xinjiang. The Karakoram Pass has also been a
traditional Haj route from Xinjiang. Pilgrims can take
advantage of direct Haj flights from Srinagar. As
strong cultural bridges already exist, we have to
revive them by resuming trade through the pass.
Energy Gateway
Karakoram can also act as a gateway for
hydrocarbon pipelines from Central Asia. The
planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India
pipeline (TAPI) from the city of Shymkent must pass
through disturbed and insecure areas of Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Another pipeline from Kazakhstan,
which would also pass through the same territory, is
being conceived. The security of the pipeline would
always be in doubt despite local government
guarantees. The route from the Central Asian
countries via Xinjiang and the Karakoram Pass would
be more secure. There is another advantage, most of
the hydrocarbon pipelines in Central Asia are on an
east-west axis. A pipeline through Karakoram, at least
up to the pass, would have an east-west line. It
would be economical and technologically easier.
China is already planning an oil pipeline connecting
Gwadar Port with Xinjiang along with the Karakoram
Highway.
India can make a beginning by proposing a
comparatively secure pipeline through Xinjiang and
Karakoram. It would be a good confidence-building
step by both countries. It may be argued that the
economic viability of the Pass is not great, especially
through the all-weather motorable roads over the
Khunjerab Pass; through here, a truck from Kashgarh
can get to Karachi in five days for seven months in
a year, compared to 12 through the Karakoram Pass.
The author would argue that the opening of
the Karakoram Pass would hugely benefit the people
of Ladakh and Xinjiang. Tibet, as a source of
merchandise, has not been successful as Chinese
goods are available from Nepal.The commercial
potential of central Asian carpets, silk, leather goods,
dry fruits in India and the direct export of Indian
goods to Xinjiang would be very high. The popularity
of Indian and Xinjiang goods and the revival of
ancient cultural links make a good case for opening
the Karakoram Pass for trade. Once done,
development of infrastructure for traffic and energy
pipelines, and other benefits will follow.
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Gist of
YOJANA
UNDERSTANDING DIDSABILITY
S
ometimes a word is understood
differently by people. More so, if the
word is meant to describe an aspect of
human condition. The culture, prejudices and
environment have a great bearing on the meaning of
such words. The words handicapped, disabled,
differently abled, retarded have various meanings
and carry the potential for prejudicial stereotypes,
discrimination and abuse. Disability may relate to
body or mind. Also disability can be of a short term
or long term nature. Some disabilities may be of
permanent nature.
The most acceptable and dynamic definition of
disability is provided in the UN Convention on
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which
states that Persons with Disabilities include those
who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or
sensory impairments which in interaction with
various barriers may hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with
others.
Care and consideration for the sick, elderly
and disabled has always been a part of Indian
culture and tradition. However, in earlier times,
disability was considered as a punishment for acts
committed in earlier lives, and the attitude towards
persons with disabilities (PwDs) has been one of
charity. It is now being accepted that the major cause
for disabilities is deficiencies in the management of
the environment in which we live and that if we
manage the environment better, then disabilities can
be reduced.
Though the Constitution of India guarantees
equality of all citizens, persons with disabilities have
been, in reality, facing stigma, discrimination and
neglect due to socio-psychological and cultural
reasons. Disability w h e n c o m p o u n d e d with
discrimination doubles the quantum of disability.
There is a wide spread underestimation of the
abilities and potential of persons with disabilities due
to general public perception and prejudices, thereby
creating a vicious cycle of under achievement. This
in turn results in inferiority complex among them
which further harms their growth. It has taken a long
period of time to educate ourselves to demystify the
meaning of disability and fight myths and
misconceptions of disability. We need to keep these
new ideas alive everyday so that the old negative
attitudes and perceptions do not assert themselves.
Disability was earlier considered to be a
medical problem to be dealt with by doctors only.
Today, the medical model is being replaced by the
developmental and sociological model. Education,
employment, access to buildings, transport and
information systems have, in the past, been difficult
for persons with disabilities to access. The Persons
with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of
Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PwD Act)
and the UNCRPD have legislated on making these
available to persons with disabilities. It is, however,
the action by activists that have pushed
governments and the societies to guarantee various
rights to ensure equal opportunity to persons with
disabilities in all human endeavours.
DISABILITY AS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE:
INDIASINVISIBLE MINORITY IN THE POLICY REALM
The World Report on Disability published by
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the
World Bank says that 15 percent of the worlds
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population or 1 billion people live with a disability. If
we go by the 15 percent figure, India should be home
to more than 150 million people with disabilities! Even
if we take a conservative 7 -10 percent, India is home
to at least 70-100 million people with disabilities. This
is a huge section of our population. And yet, we
hardly see them in the mainstream. But this doesnt
mean that these millions are not there, among us. It
is just that we as a country have neglected to include
them in the mainstream.
DISABILITY IN THE 12TH FIVE YEAR PLAN
Disability in the 12th Five Year Plan: Though
the 11
th
Plan had a very substantial mention of
disability, its implementation was extremely abysmal.
The primary reason for the poor implementation was
the fact that although disability was mentioned as a
cross-cutting issue with clear mandates for several
Ministries, the concerned section was hidden away
as a part of the larger chapter on Social Justice. The
result was that when NCPEDP filed Right to
Information (RT!) applications with some 20
Ministries in 2010-11, none of the Ministries or
Departments were even aware of the section on
disability in the 11
th
Plan. They did not have any
Disability Policy nor any budget for disability issues.
Learning from this experience, it was essential
that in the 12
th
Plan disability was included in all
relevant chapters of the document. In 2011, when the
Planning Commission was setting up Steering
Committees to formulate the 12th Plan, NCPEDP and
DRG advocated for the inclusion of people with
disabilities and disability experts in all relevant
Committees in addition to the Steering Committee on
disability. And for the first time in the history of the
nation, people with disabilities and experts were made
part of the Steering Committee on Labour, Transport,
Health, Women and Child Rights, Housing &
Poverty Alleviation, Science & Technology, Youth,
Literacy and so on. It was hoped that with this, all
relevant chapters would have adequate mention of
disability. Unfortunately, the 12
th
Plan document that
was unveiled recently did not quite reflect this. In
fact, it seems that the 11th Plan had a much more
rights based approach towards disability and had
more for people with disabilities than the 12
th
Plan.
NATIONAL TRUST ACT
The National Trust Act was e acted on 30
December, 1999 as a Gift of the Millennium for the
welfare of persons with developmental disabilities
such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation
and Multiple Disabilities. The Act was Government
of Indias answer to the perennial and universal
question by parents-What happens to my child
when I am no more? The Act itself is a good
example of effective advocacy by parents and
families of people with developmental disabilities.
The Act and the Question are seemingly based
on the incapacity of the disabled person. They reflect
the thinking, a traditional one, of the requirement
primarily 0f protection and care. However
interestingly, all the Object of the Act revolve around
the understanding of Community Participation and
Inclusion. The National Trust Act can be therefore,
looked upon as an instrument for appointment or in
difficult cases removing Legal Guardians or it can be
use as an effective vehicle for skill development,
capacity building and inclusion of people with
developmental disabilities.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT-2013
Almost half a century ago, the philosopher Thomas Nagel published a famous paper called What Is
It Like to Be a Bat? The question I want to ask is: what is it like to be a human being? As it happens, Tom
Nagels insightful paper in The Philosophical Review was also really about human beings, and only marginally
about bats. Among other points, Nagel expressed deep scepticism about the temptation of observational
scientists to identify the experience of being a bat-or similarly, a human being-with the associated physical
phenomena in the brain and elsewhere in the body that are within easy reach of outside inspection. The
sense of being a bat or a human can hardly be seen as just having certain twitches in the brain and of the
body. The complexity of the former cannot be resolved by the easier tractability of the latter (tempting though
it may be to do just that).
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The cutting edge of the human development approach is also based on a distinction- but of a rather
different kind from Nagels basic epistemological contrast. The approach that Mahbub ul Haq pioneered
through the series of Human Development Reports which began in 1990 is that between, on the one hand,
the difficult problem of assessing the richness of human lives, including the freedoms that human beings
have reason to value, and on the other, the much easier exercise of keeping track of incomes and other external
resources that persons-or nations-bappen to have. Gross domestic product (GDP) is much easier to see and
measure than the quality of human life that people have. But human well-being and freedom, and their
connection with fairness and justice in the world, cannot be reduced simply to the measurement of GDP and
its growth rate, as many people are tempted to do.
The intrinsic complexity of human development is important to acknowledge, partly because we should
not be side-tracked into changing the question: that was the central point that moved Mahbub ul Haqs bold
initiative to supplement-and to some extent supplant-GDP. But along with that came a more difficult point,
which is also an inescapable part of what has come to be called the human development approach. We may,
for the sake of convenience, use many simple indicators of human development, such as the HDI, based on
only three variables with a very simple rule for weighting them-but the quest cannot end there. We should
not spurn workable and useful shortcuts-the HDI may tell us a lot more about human quality of! ife than does
the GDP-but nor should we be entirely satisfied with the immediate gain captured in these shortcuts in a world
of continuous practice. Assessing the quality of life is a much more complex exercise than what can be
captured through only one number, no matter how judicious is the selection of variables to be included, and
the choice of the procedure of weighting.
The recognition of complexity has other important implications as well. The crucial role of public
reasoning, which the present Human Development Report particularly emphasizes, arises partly from the
recognition of this complexity. Only the wearer may know where the shoe pinches, but pinch avoiding
arrangements cannot be effectively undertaken without giving voice to the people and giving them extensive
opportunities for public discussion. The importance of various elements in evaluating well-being and freedom
of people can be adequately appreciated and assessed only through persistent dialogue among the
population, with an impact on the making of public policy. The political significance of such initiatives as the
so-called Arab Spring, and mass movements elsewhere in the world, is matched by the epistemic importance
of people expressing themselves, in dialogue with others, on what ails their lives and what injustices they
want to remove. There is much to discuss-with each other and with the public servants that make policy.
The dialogic responsibilities, when properly appreciated across the lines of governance, must also
include representing the interest ofthe people who are not here to express their concerns in their own voice.
Human development cannot be indifferent to future generations just because they are not here-yet. But
human beings do have the capacity to think about others, and their lives, and the art of responsible and
accountable politics is to broaden dialogues from narrowly self-centred concerns to the broader social
understanding of the importance of the needs and freedoms of people in the future as well as today. This is
not a matter of simply including those concerns within one single indicator-for example, by overcrowding the
already heavily loaded HDI (which stands, in any case, only for current wellbeing and freedom)-but it certainly
is a matter of making sure that the discussions of human development include those other concerns. The
Human Development Reports can continue to contribute to this broadening through explication as well as
presenting tables of relevant information. The human development approach is a major advance in the
difficult exercise of understanding the successes and deprivations of human lives, and in appreciating the
importance of reflection and dialogue, and through that advancing fairness and justice in the world. We may
be much like bats in not being readily accessible to the measuring rod of the impatient observational scientist,
but we are also capable of thinking and talking about the many-sided nature of our lives and those of others-
today and tomorrow- in ways that may not be readily available to bats. Being a human being is both like being
a bat and very unlike it.
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EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH
DISABILITIES: NEED FOR GREATER REFLECTION
In recent years changes in legislation, as
reflected in the Persons with Disabilities Act and the
Right to Education Act, have provided a much
needed focus on the education of children with
disabilities. However, conflicting goals and a lack of
clarity still affect young peoples experiences and
outcomes of education.
While educational enrolment figures for
children with disabilities remain highly contested,
with figures ranging from less than 4 per cent to 67.5
per cent attending school, there exclusion from
education is of concern. NSSO (2003) figures indicate
that only 45 per cent of people with disabilities are
literate in comparison to 65 per cent of the total
population. Progression and retention rates remain
dismal. World Bank (2007) noted that only about 4
per cent of children with disabilities receive more
than 8 years of schooling, and they are five times
more likely to be out of school than children
belonging to scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.
Even in states with good overall educational
indicators, such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu their
situation is far from adequate. This raises the
question about what is amiss in a context where
some commentators have argued has the most
progressive disability policy frameworks.
Over the years, government has funded
special schools through grants-in-aids (under the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) and
integration in mainstream schools through
programmes, such as the Integrated Education for
Disabled Children (under the Ministry of Human
Resource and Development). An important shift was
undertaken in the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyn (2007: 1),
which adopted a zero rejection policy irrespective of
the kind, category and degree of disability. The aim
was to teach a child in an environment suited to
hislher learning needs, which might include special
schools, Education Guarantee Scheme, Alternative
and Innovative Education or even home-based
education. While this multi-option delivery model
could be immensely useful a number of assumptions
underpinning the governments discourse need to be
challenged.
In policies and practice, deterministic
viewpoints about childrens ability remain largely
unchallenged and naive statements about where to
educate children with disabilities exist. For instance,
the MHRD, 2003 document, provides a list of
children who can be taught in the mainstream, and
the important variables for doing so are IQ score and
the nature of impairment. Furthermore, the
overarching emphasis in such a scenario is on
identification, through assessment teams
comprising of a psychologist, a doctor and a special
educator will determine whether the child should be
directly enrolled into a normal school (as noted in
the Tenth Five Year plan). Noticeable here is not only
the absence of the views and preferences of the
child and parents, but there is also a complete
disregard of the fact that such objectification and
medicalization of disability is highly limiting.
PORTRAYAL OF
DISABILITY IN LITERATURE AND CINEMA
Disability is a major concern of our society.
The Governmental and Non-Governmental sectors
have been making efforts to fight it but it still remains
a big challenge. We often hear about the pervasive
presence of disability among people through the
media which is an important source to cultivate right
attitude towards disability and create awareness
about it among people. Film is surely a very important
medium towards this end. It would be interesting and
pertinent to know as to how disability gets portrayed
in cinema. This becomes all the more important
because of the at large wide ranging impact of cinema
on the society and public.
Our mythology and puranas also do contain
examples of differently-abled individuals like
Dhritrashtra, Manthara, Ashtaavakra etc. Disability
can be either inborn or a consequence of some
unfortunate incident in life such as disease or
accident. Films too have given space to
representation of disability in various artistic forms.
Only recently a film by Anurag Basu Barfi was
released. It also became the official entry of India for
Oscars. The protagonist Ranbeer Kapur playing a
deaf and dumb man is simultaneously attracted to
two girls, one of them being a physically challenged
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girl. The boy, Barfi, prefers the physically challenged
girl over the other one. But, why? Its indeed a
thought provoking question. Priyanka Chopra was
much admired for her role as a mentally challenged
girl, world apart from the glitter and glamour. It is
significant that when a star of Bollywood plays such
a character he is thought of displaying an exemplary
courage for an artist. For instance, Sanjeev Kumar
was much appreciated for playing the disabled in the
legendary film Sholay although as we do know that
his disability was incidental rather than being from
birth. Likewise in the film Koi Mil Gaya (2003) Hrithik
Roshan played a mentally challenged whose mental
age was that of a eight year child although his
biological age was twenty years. This movie was
meant for the children and carried little social
message yet, it proved that skillful use of creativity
can make for a commercial hit as well.
The Oscar winning movie The King s Speech
is a classic example of a beautiful portrayal of
disability. The protagonist, the king stammers and
becomes a victim of the jibes of his family. He
gradually loses his confidence and finds it a
mammoth challenge to speak from public platforms.
The care and concern of his wife and the acumen of
his trainer revives his confidence and ultimately he
succeeds in delivering his speech. A similar problem
was portrayed in the movie My Name Is Khan. Mani
Ratnams movie Anjali and Mai Aisa Hee Hoon
reveal the loneliness of those who have been forced
to the periphery. The father in Anjali conceals the
inborn disability of his daughter from his wife to
spare his wife from a possible ordeal. The remake of
I Am Sam by the name Mai Aisa Hee Hoon became
a huge success.
Hindi cinema has perhaps the largest audience
in the world and it also claims to reflect the society.
Deepika Padukone in the 2009 movie Lafangey
Parindey plays the character of a dancer who loses
her eyes prior to an important competition. The
sight-disabled girl loses confidence in her abilities
but the hero Neel Nitin Mukesh trains her in such a
manner that she regains her enthusiasm and
confidence. The movie strongly conveys the
message that no success is too high for the disabled
to achieve.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the acclaimed Director,
has used the medium of cinema to present this
subject in an aesthetic manner. In Khamoshi i(1996)
the protagonist is deaf and dumb. Nana Patekar and
Seema Biswas have played the touching role of a
couple. Sign Language used in the movie becomes all
the more expressive in the context of deep
sensitivities of the disabled people. While Patekar
and Biswas are explicit about their disgust for music
their daughter, on the contrary, is all about music. In
a very touching scene the film shows the physically
challenged being subjected to insult. Another such
movie dwelling on this subject is Black (2005) in
which the protagonist, Rani Mukherjee is deaf, dumb
and blind. She gives voice to the deep void and the
resounding silence of a deaf, dumb and blind person
who becomes violent in the absence of a meaningful
outlet for her feelings. Later on she meets one Debraj
Sahay who helps her out of the dark abyss. The
third such movie was Guzarish (2010) which dwelt
on the extremely sensitive issue of euthanasia
through the story of the protagonist Hrithik Roshan
suffering from quadriplegia that renders him
virtually dead, a total invalid.
Everyone has a right to dream, whether abled
or differently abled. Iqbal (2005) of Nagesh
Kukunoor asserts the victory of such undying spirit.
The dumb boy, Iqbal aspires to be a bowler in the
Indian Cricket Team. He suffers discrimination but
triumphs over all odds under the able guidance of his
coach Naseeruddin Shah to realize his dream. The
best thing about the movie is that it does not view
disability with pity or sympathy rather it views it as
a challenge which leads to victory if faced bravely.
One can hardly forget a similar character of Lagaan
who makes a valuable contribution in the ultimate
victory surmounting formidable challenges. But there
are other movies that portray disability in a
superficial or even derogatory manner in an attempt
to create slapstick humour. Kader Khans Mujhse
Shaadi Karogi is one such example which incites
base humour at the expense of the debilitating
disabilities of differently abled.
Taare Zameen Par(2007) is a child centric
movie but devoid of the fantasy element of Koi Mil
Gaya. It is a sensitive movie based on deep insight
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into the grim realities of our day-to-day life. The
disability that is subject matter of the movie is not
apparent or easily visible. Instead it is buried deep in
human brain. The child, Ishaan Shrivastava suffers
from dyslexia that makes the reading of the alphabets
a paramount difficulty. Although this makes the
progress in academics difficult for the child yet his
love and ability for painting makes him unique and
capable of working wonders in this particular field.
But the typical parents fail to perceive his difficulty
as well as his unique talent and consider him a dull
boy and punish him by putting him in a Boarding
School. This punishment makes a deep scar on the
sensitive mind of the child. But, then comes the
Midas touch of Ramshankar Nikumb (Amir
Khan) who not only fathoms the exact nature
of his problem but discovers his unique talent as
well. He gradually chisels him to bring out the best in
him. This movie has a very serious message to
deliver. Education has to be child specific and it
ought to bring out the best in the child rather than
reducing him to a machine. The much acclaimed film
Pa (2009) brought the disease Progeria into public
consciousness. For a person afflicted with this
disease the brain and the body grow at a differential
rate. Amitabh Bachchan has played the role of a boy,
Auro, suffering from progeria who is loved by his
cohorts and school mates. The primary objective of
the movie is not to popularize Progeria rather than to
evoke the latent love of the father towards his child.
Unlike literature in which we do find characters
like Gandhari who wrapped a cloth round her eyes in
her attempt to completely identify with her blind
husband, Hindi Cinema depicts disability affecting
the marital relationship primarily in two ways. In
movies like Pati Patni (1966), Zameen Asman
(1972), Kasauti (1974), Wakeel Babu (1983), Qat!
(1986), Waada (2006) etc. the marital relationship
crumbles. However, in other films, alternatives are
explored or cure for disability is found. The climax of
a 1972 movie Anurag that shows the cornea
transplant as an answer to blindness is a memorable
one. The love relationship with Vinod Mehra is
sought to be redeemed in this fashion. Similar
remedies have been sought to be projected in other
movies like Jheel Ke Uss Paar (1973), Sunayna
(1979), Neelkamal (1984) and Humko Tumse Pyar
Hai (2006) etc. There are numerous such movies like
Saathi (1968), Khamoshi (1969), Khilauna (1970)
where cooperation and love are shown to smoothen
the relationship in the context of disability.
While talking about movies dwelling upon
disabilities the story would rather be incomplete
without the mention of classic movie Dosti (1964) in
which the two differently abled friends complement
each other with the gift of music which nature has
bestowed upon them. Koshish (1972) stars the
inimitable Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri who are
dumb but they shine with their brilliant acting on
screen. The message too was a forceful one.
Differently abled people can manage to run their
lives on their own without the aid, props and
sympathy of the common lot but simultaneously the
movie becomes heart rending when it shows the deaf
and dumb parents losing their child because they
were unable to hear the groans of their child. In
Kinara (1977) GuIzar once again reveals his
sensitivity towards the disabled in a potent fashion.
Naseeruddin Shah in plays the role of a fiercely
independent differently abled character in Sparsh. In
the same league comes Sadma (1983) with its unique
climax. Kamal Hasan and Sridevi leave an indelible
impression on the viewers. The movie projects the
differently abled as special children of God.
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
ASKING ABOUT DISABILITY IN CENSUS AND SURVEYS
The UN Statistics Division has formed the Washington City Group on Disability Statistics, which is focused
on measurement of disability in national censuses and surveys (website is http://www.cdc.gov/ nchs/
citygroup.htrn). There are broadly four methods of trying to identify disability in surveys, which are:
Diagnostic: An example of this approach would be Is anyone in house deaf?. This method tends to
generate the lowest prevalence estimates among those now available and is the one used in India for both
NSS and census.
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Activities of daily living (ADL): This method relies on a functional approach based on common activities
of individuals. An example of this approach would be Do you have trouble bathing or dressing yourself?.
This yields higher prevalence estimates than the diagnostic approach, but can be very culturally sensitive
for purposes of cross-country comparison (e.g., putting on a sari is a more demanding task than putting
on a skirt).
Instrumental ADL (IADL): This asks about more complex functionings, e.g., Do you have trouble
maintaining the household ?. This tends to yield the highest rates of disability, but can more often include
those with chronic illness who may not otherwise be classified as disabled.
Participatory/social roles - This method is underpinned by a social model of disability. An example would
be Do you have a mental or physical impairment that limits the type/amount of work you can do?. This
would tend to yield prevalence estimates between diagnostic and ADLI IADL approaches.
Source: UN Washing/on City Group
SOCIAL DEFINITION OF
PSYCHO-SOCIAL DISABILITY
The psycho-social health and disability
spectrum, when situated in the context of our
everyday lives, is a variety of individual experiences.
The experienced disability is a measure of the
impairment and the social barriers faced by a person.
This range of experiences could extend from feeling
well, to feeling distress, disturbance, to extreme
states. A person may feel disabled when looping
through this spectrum at different times in their lives.
Many people going through psychological,
psychosocial states may not require medical
interventions, and may well be able to take care of
themselves in their local settings; Though as human
beings, all would need excellent community, family
and social support, and measures for remaining
included in society. Just like the blind or the deaf, not
all would need the full range of disability measures,
and some may not even see themselves as disabled.
Finally, a few, among those with psychosocial
disabilities, may need high support. They mayor may
not experience themselves as disabled depending on
the available support measures and the quality of
their lives.
None of these scenarios, including needing
high support, is peculiar to people living with mental
illness. In every constituency of people with
disabilities, there would be a few who require high
support. The need for high support is a measure not
only of the impairment, but also of the social barriers
as experienced by that person. So for example, a
blind person who is poor and homeless needs a
degree of support much higher than a blind person
who belongs to upper class and other elite cultural
backgrounds. A deaf person who is also speech
impaired or sensory impaired in other ways, and
living in an institution, may require higher degree of
support than a person with multiple disabilities who
is living and cared for at home.
DO YOU KNOW?
What is the number of persons with disabilities in India?
According to Census 2001, there were 2.19 Crore persons with disabilities in India who constituted 2.13
percent of the total population. Out of the total population of persons with disabilities, 1.26 Crore are male
and 0.93 Cores are female. This includes persons with visual, hearing, speech, locomotor and mental
disabilities. The Census data shows that 75 percent of persons with disabilities lived in rural areas, 49 percent
are literate and only 34 percent are employed. Data collected in 2002 by the National Sample Survey
Organization, indicated that the number of persons with disabilities was 1.85 Crore, with a disability-wise
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break up which was significantly different from the Census 2001 data, as given in the table below, due to
difference in coverage and definitions used for collection of data. The estimated population of persons with
disabilities in 2008, projected on the basis of figures of the last Census, is 2.44 Crore.
There is significant difference in the disability statistics provided by Census 2001 and the sample survey
of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) in 2002. The variation is primarily due to the difference in
the criteria for defining disability adopted by both the organizations. The definitions are also at variance
with those mentioned in the Persons with Disabilities Act (PwD Act) 1995. Further, all the disabilities
mentioned in the PwD Act were not covered in the Census 2001. Therefore, the Census data of 2001 does
not reflect the true picture of disabilities in the country.
With a view to have more credible enumeration of Persons with Disabilities in Census 20 11, the matter was
taken up with the Registrar General of India (RGI). The Ministry of Social Justice and empowerment
proposed to include all the 7 types of disabilities mentioned in the PwD Act for enumeration in the Census,
2011 and also suggested a Household Schedule as well as simple and comprehensive definitions of various
disabilities for canvassing during Census 2011. According to the in Census 2011, the following disabilities
have been covered for enumeration:
(i) In Seeing
(ii) In Speech
(iii) In, Hearing
(iv) In Movement
(v) Mental Retardation
(vi) Mental Illness
(vii) Multiple Disability
(viii) Any other
What is Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) law and proposed amendments in this law?
A meeting to launch the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002, convened by the
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), was held in Beijing in December, 1992. The
Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region
was adopted in this meeting, to which India is a signatory. The Central Government enacted The Persons
with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act), 1995 to implement
this proclamation.
The PwD Act defines disability as blindness, low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, mental
retardation mental illness, and leprosy-cured. It defines persons with disability as those who have a
minimum disability of 40%, as certified by a medical authority. It provides for education, rehabilitation,
employment, non-discrimination and social security for persons with disabilities.
The PwD Act 1995 is now over 15 years old. Keeping in view the developments taking place in disability
sector over the last 15 years and to harmonize the provisions of PwD Act with United Nations Convention
on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and provisions of other legislations on the subject,
it was proposed to amend the present Act.
Extensive consultations with various stakeholders including State Governments, NGOs, disabled persons
organizations and experts have been carried out and deliberations were compiled and placed before the
Central Coordination Committee (CCC), which is a statutory body under Section 3 of the PwD Act and is
chaired by Minister, Social Justice and Empowerment. It was decided. To have wider consultation with the
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stakeholders before finilising the draft for which the Ministry constituted a Committee on 30 April, 2010
under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Sudha Kaul, Vice Chairperson, Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata.
The Committee comprised of experts in disability Sector and representatives of the Stakeholders including
State Governments, Central Ministries, civil society organizations etc. The committee has submitted draft
legislation on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the Ministry.
The Draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2012 has been uploaded on the Ministrys website (http:/
/socialjustice.nic.in) pdf/draftpwd l2.pdf). The Ministry will shortly be consulting States, in whose domain
disability figure under the constitutional scheme, on the proposed Bill.
INEQUALITY HOLDS BACK HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
HDRO research using Human Development Index (HDI) data yields robust findings of an inverse
relationship between inequality and subsequent improvement in human development, driven mostly by
inequality in health and education rather than in income.
Using data on 132 countries for 2012, regression analysis showed the effects of multidimensional inequality
(measured as the loss in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index relative to the HDI) on the HDI
and each of its components (health, education and income) due to four explanatory variables: overall
inequality in human development, inequality in life expectancy, inequality in educational attainment and
inequality in income per capita.
A different regression was used for each explanatory variable, and all regressions included dummy
variables to control for the level of human development (low, medium, high and very high). Overall inequality
in human development, inequality in life expectancy and inequality in educational attainment showed a highly
statistically significant (at the 1 % level) negative correlation, but inequality in income per capita showed no
correlation. Results were robust to different specifications, including grouping countries with low and medium
human development on the one side and countries with high and very high human development on the other.
WOMEN WITH
DISABILITIES: GENDERED IMPAIRMENT
India is a vast country with a population of
more than one billion and nearly 70 million persons
(based on the projections made by various
international agencies such as the United Nations,
WHO and World Bank) with disabilities. About 48
percent of them are women. In India women have
been struggling to get their rights and women with
disability are toiling far behind. This paper attempts
to recount the concerns of women with disabilities. It
is an attempt to demonstrate the dual peril faced by
women with disabilities- one on account of their
disability and other on account of their gender.
The disabled are deprived of all opportunities
for social and economic development. The basic
facilities like health, education and employment are
denied to them. The State infrastructure is grossly
inadequate and ill functioning where disabled are
concerned. It is estimated that 40 million of more than
100 million children out of school have disabilities.
Around 70 percent of the disabled are unemployed.
Millions are in the verge of collapsing due to severe
disabilities. People with physical disabilities at least
get noticed, but the others with mental illness are
just written off. Along with the physical problems
they also bear the brunt of social ostracism and
stigma.
IF NUMBERS MATTER:
ACTUAL VS. ESTIMATED DATA
The NSSO 58
th
round was first endeavor by the
Government of India to bring out data regarding
persons with disability and also a gendered
disaggregation. According to that, out of the 18.49
million disabled people, 10.89 million are males and
7.56 million were females, which constitutes of around
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59 percent males and 49 percent males and females
respectively. Estimates from this round show that on
an average about 21 per thousand populations are
found to be disabled and female disability rate is
around 19. The state wise distribution of total
disability rate indicates that Orissa has the highest
disability rate while Maharashtra has the lowest.
There are more than 9 states where disability rate is
more than national average. In general, sex ratio
among people with disabilities shows that they are
skewed towards men. However, inter disability
analysis reflects that while there are more men with
orthopedic disability and visual impairment, mental
health issues are skewed towards women. The rural-
urban disaggregated data shows that urban sex ratios
are masculine in nature. Though there has been some
progress in recording state specific data on disability,
gender disaggregated data pertaining to each form of
disability and also regional spread is yet to be
achieved. This is a primary requirement for making
any programmatic provisions for addressing the
concerns of women with disability. Also, framing a
national level program for all women with disability,
without taking into account other disparities such as
class, caste and region will fall short of achieving the
desired goal.
Women with Disability and Employment
The reality of economic empowerment of
people in lower and Middle Income countries is
peoples access to employment opportunities.
Women with disability are the most disadvantaged
with regard to their employment status. The labor
market can be conceived of as being divided into two
distinct segments: a primary labor market with low
paid dead- end jobs and secondary labor market
which consists of well paid white collar jobs with
good career prospects. The prerequisite for the first
category is physical strength and the ability to carry
out arduous work and the requirement for the second
category is higher education and professional
qualification. Women with disabilities cannot meet
any of these requirements both on the grounds of
their physical impairment and also on account of their
lack of access to basic education.
The Directive Principles of State Policy of the
Indian Constitution enshrines the following
provisions for people with disability in the Indian
Constitution. While Article 39 deals with principles of
policy to be followed by the State, especially with
regard to securing (a) that the citizens, men and
women equally, have the right to an adequate means
of livelihood, right to shelter, food, education, work
and so on; (b) that the health and strength of
workers, men and women and tender age of children
are not abused and that children are not forced by
economic necessity to avocations unsuited to their
age or strength; and (c) that children are given
opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy
manner and kin conditions of freedom and dignity
and that childhood and youth are protected against
exploitation and against moral and material
abandonment.
The Article 41 prescribes that the State shall,
within the limits of its economic capacity and
development, make effective provision for securing
the right to work, to education and to public
assistance in cases of unemployment, old age,
sickness and disablement, and in another cases of
undeserved want. Article 42 further requires making
provision for securing just and humane conditions of
work. Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995,
three Sections of the PwD Act are intended to
address exclusively the issue of employment of the
persons with disabilities; which requires that: The
appropriate Governments to identify posts in the
establishments which can be reserved for persons
with disabilities; It also prescribes the quota
reservation, not less than 3 percent for persons or
class of persons with disabilities of which 1 percent
each shall be reserved for persons suffering from
certain vision impairment of 40 percent certified by
Medical authority, The reservation of not less than 3
percent for poverty alleviation for the benefits of
persons with disabilities has also been provided in
the schemes. The source of employment is through
special employment exchange. The employment
status of persons with disabilities shows that
disabled adults have far lower employment rates than
the general population. In fact, employment of
persons with disabilities actually fell from 43 percent
in 1991 to 38 percent in 2002, despite the countrys
economic growth.
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SOCIAL COMPETENCIES: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT BEYOND THE INDIVIDUAL
Individuals cannot flourish alone; indeed, they cannot function alone. The human development approach,
however, has been essentially individualistic, assuming that development is the expansion of individuals
capabilities or freedoms. Yet there are aspects of societies that affect individuals but cannot be assessed
at the individual level because they are based on relationships, such as how well families or communities
function, summarized for society as a whole in the ideas of social cohesion and social inclusion.
Individuals are bound up with others. Social institutions affect individuals identities and choices. Being a
member of a healthy society is an essential part of a thriving existence. So one task of the human
development approach is to explore the nature of social institutions that are favourable for human
flourishing. Development then has to be assessed not only for the short-run impact on individual
capabilities, but also for whether society evolves in a way that supports human flourishing. Social conditions
affect not only the outcomes of individuals in a particular society today, but also those of future generations.
Social institutions are all institutions in which people act collectively (that is, they involve more than one
person), other than profit-making market institutions and the state. They include formal nongovernmental
organizations, informal associations, cooperatives, producer associations, neighbourhood associations,
sports clubs, savings associations and many more. They also consist of norms and rules of behaviour
affecting human development outcomes. For example, attitudes towards employment affect material well-
being, and norms of hierarchy and discrimination affect inequality, discrimination, empowerment, political
freedom and so on. To describe what those institutions can be and do, and to understand how they affect
individuals, we can use the term social competencies.
Central to the human development perspective is that societal norms affect peoples choices and behaviours
towards others, thus influencing outcomes in the whole community. Community norms and behaviours can
constrain choice in deleterious ways from a human development perspective-for example, ostracizing, or in
extreme cases killing, those who make choices that contravene social rules. Families trapped in poverty by
informal norms that support early marriage and dowry requirements might reject changes to such entrenched
social norms. Social institutions change over time, and those changes may be accompanied by social tension
if they hamper the interests of some groups while favouring others. Policy change is the outcome of a
political struggle in which different groups (and individuals) support or oppose particular changes. In this
struggle, unorganized individuals are generally powerless, but by joining together they can acquire power
collectively. Social action favouring human development (such as policies to extend education, progressive
taxation and minimum wages) happens not spontaneously, but because of groups that are effective in
supporting change, such as producer groups, worker associations, social movements and political parties.
These organizations are especially crucial for poorer people, as demonstrated by a group of sex workers in
Kolkata, India, and women in a squatter community in Cape Town, South Africa, who improved their
conditions and self-respect by joining together and exerting collective pressure.
Societies vary widely in the number, functions, effectiveness and consequences of their social competencies.
Institutions and norms can be classified as human development-promoting, human development-neutral and
human development-undermining. It is fundamental to identify and encourage those that promote valuable
capabilities and relationships among and between individuals and institutions. Some social institutions
(including norms) can support human development in some respects but not in others: for example, strong
family bonds can provide individuals with support during upheavals, but may constrain individual choices
and opportunities.
Broadly speaking, institutions that promote social cohesion and human development show low levels of
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disparity across groups (for example, ethnic, religious or gender groups) and high levels of interaction and
trust among people and across groups, which results in solidarity and the absence of violent conflict. It is
not a coincidence that 5 of the 10 most peaceful countries in the world in 2012, according to the Global Peace
Index, are also among the most equal societies as measured by loss in Human Development Index value
due to inequality. They are also characterized by the absence of discrimination and low levels of
marginalization. In some instances ant discriminatory measures can ease the burden of marginalization and
partially mitigate the worst effects of exclusion. For instance, US law mandating that hospital emergency
rooms offer treatment to all patients regardless of their ability to pay partly mitigates the impact of an
expensive health care system with limited coverage, while affirmative action in a range of countries (including
Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States) has improved the situation of deprived groups and
contributed to social stability.
The study of social institutions and social competencies must form an essential part of the human
development approach-including the formation of groups; interactions between groups and individuals;
incentives and constraints to collective action; the relationship among groups, politics and policy
outcomes; the role of norms in influencing behaviours; and how norms are formed and changed.
Source: Human Development Report 2013
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Gist of
KURUKSHETRA
ALLOCATION FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH
T
he recently released pre-Budget
Economic Survey (2012-13) has
predicted Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) growth of 6.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent during
the next fiscal 2013-14. This is 1.1 to 1.7 percentage
points higher than this years estimated GDP growth
rate of 5 per cent. The Survey, while reflecting the
impact of the global economic disturbances on Indian
economy, expressed its optimism regarding the
recovery of the world economy during 2013-14.
Accordingly, the Survey outlined a slew of prudent
economic measures with a view to improve the
outlook of the countrys economy during 2013-14.
In the backdrop of uncertainties in the global
economic environment, the inflationary pressure in
India, prevailing weaknesses in the industrial activity,
rising fiscal deficits, growing cost of credit along with
weak domestic business environment and lack of
robust policies to contain constraints in the smooth
investment flow into the country, it was expected that
Budget 2012-13 would strive to ensure the 12th Five
Year Plan (2012-17) objective of an all-inclusive
growth and to bridge the development deficits in the
social sector. In doing so, it was expected that the
Budget would not only step up public expenditure on
the social sector schemes/programmes, but also
ensure the quality of expenditure backed by revamped
governance system at the grass-root level of
implementation.
The Union Budget 2013-14 was presented
amidst expectations of giving a boost to the
agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural non-farm
activities, thereby reviving job opportunities in the
rural areas in addition to laying down a road map
towards effective management of food economy.
Budget 2013-14 has expectedly continued its stress
on the common man and rural India, taking steps for
consolidating efforts on rural development,
employment, food security, education, health and
housing. Some of the important issues concerning
social and physical infrastructure in the rural areas
have been analysed below.
RURAL EMPLOYMENT,
HOUSING AND ROADS AND BRIDGES
The 2013-14 plan outlay for rural employment,
housing, roads and bridges (Table 3) indicates that
allocations to rural employment have not increased.
While the outlay towards housing marked 21.7 per
cent enhancement in allocation over 2012-13, there
was a mere 3.2 per cent increment in the plan
allocation for roads and bridges in 2013-14 over 2012-
13. This indicates the governments continued and
prioritised focus of expenditure in vital social sector
components like employment, housing and road and
bridges during 2013-14.
The 2013-14 plan allocation for Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA)
has been kept unchanged whereas Aajeevika (earlier
National Rural Livelihood Mission) has registered a
mere 2.7 per cent hike in its budget allocation in 2013-
14 against the Budget Estimates of 2012-13. The rural
housing was allocated Rs. 13,665.6 cr. in 2013-14
against Rs. 9,966 cr. in 2012-13, thereby registering a
hefty 37.12 per cent hike.
The enactment and implementation of a right-
based MGNREGA has undoubtedly marked a
paradigm shift from the existing wage employment
programmes. This is primarily to be achieved by
taking up project-oriented activities covering works
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on water conservation/harvesting, drought/flood
control, plantation, land development, rural
connectivity, etc. During 2012-13, the revised estimate
for MGNREGA is pegged at Rs. 29,387 cr. which is Rs.
3,613 cr. less than the B.E. of the year. This indicates
that this wage employment programme has stabilized
in its operation and absorption in rural areas. The
B.E. for 2013-14 in case of MGNREGA is kept at Rs.
33,000 cr. The need of the hour is to improve quality
of assets created and to bring about synergy between
MGNREGA and agriculture and allied rural
livelihoods. This endeavour will not only uplift the
under-privileged and socially and economically
vulnerable, but also support in making the agriculture
a viable occupation.
FOOD SECURITY
The Budget has kept a provision of Rs. 10,000
cr. to share the monetary burden of implementing
National Food Security Act after its acceptance in the
Parliament the next fiscal. While this is a laudable step
taken by the Government in ensuring food security
to the poor, it is expected that to fulfill the intended
objective of access to food at affordable prices, the
government could look into the issues of pilferage in
the supply of foodgrain, inefficient food management,
high transport cost, quality of the food-grains
supplied to the beneficiaries, etc. in the proposed law.
SURPLUS CENTRAL SCHEMES
The Five Year Plans focus on creation of
Social and economic infrastructure for rapid and
inclusive growth has led to a significant increase in
Plan expenditure though a plethora of centrally
sponsored schemes. The Central Ministries/
Departments monitor Centrally Sponsored Plan
Schemes in the respective subject areas. This exercise
starts with releasing funds to the State Governments.
Many schemes/Programmes are in operation for long
and a few are added to the existing pool of schemes
each year. A large amount of investments are made on
this without adequate evaluation on the impact of
these schemes/programmes on the beneficiaries.
Considering the significance of reduction in the
number of centrally sponsored schemes, the Budget
has announced to restrict the existing 173 such
schemes to 70 during 2013-14.
The controlling Union ministries/Departments
should not only confine to their role of provision of
budget and release of the funds to the state
governments but also to effectively monitor the
utilisation of the funds released earlier in accordance
with the guidelines and capacity of the respective
state governments to actually spend the balance from
the previous years and releases during the current
year. This will not only put a check on the leakages
of funds but will also help us in mapping the
appropriate financial absorption capacity of the
States under each of the schemes/programmes.
The Budget has reflected the prioritized social
sector development agenda of the government and
attempted to address issues related to inclusion
without compromising the reform processes unveiled
in the recent past. The budget has also announced
review of schemes once in two years which is a much
desired and welcomed step. Continuous review and
evaluation of all centrally sponsored economic and
social welfare schemes would not only ensure quality
governance of the welfare interventions through
convergence of all resources at ground zero but also
would lead the government in matching the outlays
with the intended outcome.
ALLOCATION FOR
RURAL DEVELOPMENT COULD HAVE BEEN
LARGER IF PAST FUNDS WERE SPENT IN FULL
Mahatma Gandhis words that India lives in its
villages rings true even today. The majority of its 1.2
billion people still live in villages and have
agriculture as their means of livelihood. Any plan for
the country cannot but have its particular focus on
the development of the vast rural areas and the
people inhibiting them. Successive budgets have
taken care of the rural region by allocating liberal
funds to improve the lot of the rural population.
As expected, the rural development has been
given its deserving priority in the union budget .2013-
14 presented by finance minister P Chidambaram on
February 28.
However, the allocation of funds could have
been much larger in real terms had the rural
development ministry had been able to spend the
allocated funds in the last budget substantially, if not
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fully before the budget presentation. The rural
development ministry, which carries out many of the
governments pro-poor programmes, received a 46 per
cent hike in its allocation. The budget has proposed
to allocate to the ministry Rs. 80, 194 crore in 2013-14.
The rural development ministry has failed to
spend the allocated funds on schemes like rural
roads and rural housing. The rural development
minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, who has displayed
passion and devotion in his work, has owned up
responsibility. It is a reality. Rs. 75,000 crore were
allocated and we could only spend Rs. 55,000 crore.
There is collective responsibility but I cannot pass in
the responsibility to states. As minister, I have to be
held accountable, he said post budget. He attributed
the low absorption of funds to serious
administrative weaknesses in the poor states and
complicated financial procedures at the Centre that
delayed fund release. Both are important: I am not
running away from the responsibility.
DRINKING WATER
The allocation for drinking water and sanitation will
be Rs. 15, 260 crore.
The finance minister also proposed to provided Rs.
1,400 crore towards setting up of water purification
plants as there are still 2,000 arsenicand 12,000
fluoride-affected rural habitations in the country.
JNNURM
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission (JNNURM) is being continued in the 12th
Plan. The 14,000 buses sanctioned during to 2012
have made a big contribution to urban transport.
The budget proposes to provide Rs. 14, 873
Bringing the green revolution to eastern India crore
for JNNURM, as against the RE of Rs. 7,383 has
been a remarkable success. Assam, Bihar, crore in
the current year. Out of this, a significant
Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have increased
portion will be used to support the purchase of up
to Rs. 10,000 buses, especially by the hill States.
GREEN REVOLUTION
The original Green Revolution States face the
problem of stagnating yields and over-exploitation of
water resources. The answer lies in crop
diversification. I propose to allocate Rs. 500 crore to
start a programme of crop diversification that would
promote technological innovation and encourage
farmers to choose crop alternatives.
The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is intended
to mobilise higher investment in agriculture and the
National Food Security Mission is intended to bridge
yield gaps. The budget proposes to provide Rs. 9,
954 crore and Rs. 2, 250 crore, respectively, for these
two programmes.
Small and marginal farmers are vulnerable
everywhere, and especially so in drought prone and
ecologically-stressed regions. Watershed
management is crucial to improve productivity of land
and water use. The budget proposes to increase the
allocation for the integrated watershed programme
from RS.3 050 crore in 2012-13 (BE) to Rs.5, 387 crore.
NATIONAL LIVESTOK MISSION
The National Livestock Mission will be launched in
201314 to attract investment and to enhance
productivity, taking into account local agro-climatic
conditions. The budget proposes to provide Rs.
307 crore for the Mission. There will be a sub
Mission for increasing the availability of feed and
fodder.
RASHTRIYA KRISHI VIKASH YOJANA
The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) was
launched in 2007-8 with an outlay of Rs. 25,000 crore
in the Eleventh Plan for incentivizing states to
enhance public investment. States were provided Rs
22,408.79 crore under the RKVY during Eleventh Five
Year Plan. The RKVY format permits taking up
national priorities as sub-schemes, allowing the states
flexibility in project selection and implementation.
Allocation under the RKVY for 2012-13 is Rs 9,217
crore. The RKVY links 50 per cent of central
assistance to those states that have stepped up the
percentage of state plan expenditure on the
agriculture and allied sector. A total of 5,768 projects
were taken up by states in the Eleventh Plan of which
3,343 had been completed till December end 2012.
The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is intended to
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mobilise higher investment in agriculture and for this
programme the Finance Minister proposed to provide
Rs 9,954 crore in the union budget of 2013-14. )
NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION
Go enhance the production of rice, wheat, and
pulses by 10, 8, and 2 million tonnes respectively by
the end of the Eleventh Plan through area expansion
and productivity enhancement; restoring soil fertility
and productivity; creating employment opportunities;
and enhancing farm-level economy to restore the
confidence of farmers of targeted districts, a centrally
sponsored National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
was launched in 2007-8 with three major components,
viz. NFSM-Rice, NFSM-Wheat, and NFSM-Pulses.
During the Eleventh Five Year Plan, NFSM-Rice was
implemented in 144 districts of 16 states, NFSM-
Wheat in 142 districts of 9 states and NFSM-Pulses
in 468 districts of 16 states. In 2012-13, six north-
eastern states, viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim were
included under NFSM-Rice and the hill states of
Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand under NFSM-
Rice and Wheat and J & K under NFSM-wheat.
Specifically, during2012-13 a Special Plan to achieve
19+ million tonnes of pulses production during kharif
2012 was launched with a total allocation of Rs 153.5
crore comprising Rs 107.3 crore for activities to be
undertaken under the NFSM and Rs 46.2 crore for
activities to be undertaken under the Micro Irrigation
Scheme. During 2012-13, Rs. 87.0 crore has been
allocated for additional area coverage of pulses
during rabi/summer 2012-13. Taking into account
the significance of the NFSM, Finance Minister
proposed to provide Rs 2, 250 crore for this
programme in the union budget of 2013-14, which will
a further step forward to achieve the national food
security.
UNION BUDGET 2013 14: MAJOR INGREDIENTS FOR RURAL GROWTH AT
A GLANCE
Rs. 80, 194 crore allocation for Ministry of Rural Development in 2013-14
Rs. 33,000 crore for MGNREGA
Drinking water and sanitation receives Rs. 15,260 crore; Rs. 1,400 crore has been allocated towards
setting up of water purification plants as there are still 2,000 arsenic and 12,000 fluoride-affected
rural habitations in the country.
The target for farm credit for 2013-14 has been set at Rs. 7,00,000 crore against Rs. 5,75,000 crore
during the current year
Eastern Indian states to get Rs. 1,000 crore allocation for improving agriculture production
Rs. 500 crore earmarked for programme on crop diversification
Rs. 10,000 crore allotted for National Food Security towards the incremental cost
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme gets Rs. 17,700 crore which is 11.7 percent
more than the current year
Rs. 27,049 crore allocation to the Agriculture Ministry in 2013-14
Rs. 5,000 crore for National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for agricultural
storage facilities; Godowns to be constructed coordinating with the Gram panchayts
Rs. 10,000 crore earmarked for National Food Security towards incremental cost
The UPA governments ambitious project National Urban Health Mission focusing on providing
basic health care services to the urban poor has been grouped with the National Rural Health Mission
under one umbrella named as the New National Health Mission. The budgetary allocation under
this mission has been fixed at Rupees 21,239 crore, which is an increase of 24.3 percent over the
revised expenditure.
An Institute for agriculture biotechnology will be set up in Ranchi, Jharkhand
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UNION BUDGET FOCUSES ON AGRICULTURE
TO BOOST PAN INDIA GREEN REVOLUTION
Agriculture has the responsibility to feed 1,200
million people to feed, which is a huge responsibility.
The farm sector achieved 3.6 per cent growth during
the 11
th
Five Year Plan (2007-12) which was much
higher than growth of 2.5 and 2.4 per cent during 9th
and 10th Plans. Food grains production in India has
shown remarkable improvement in recent years. The
production of food grains in 2011-12 was at a record
high of 259.32 million tones. In the global slowdown
of economy and downturn in overall exports,
agriculture and allied products during 2011-12
accounted for 9.08 per cent of Indias total exports
against 6.9 per cent during 2010-11. India has
achieved this feat by multi-pronged strategies and
technologies such as Green revolution, Blue
revolution, white revolution and of course the latest
yellow revolution and is now poised for Rainbow
revolution. There is need for continues efforts for
infusing of technology, capital and human resource
for the accelerated growth. Food and Agriculture
Organization have indicated that agriculture in
developing countries would need an investment of
around US $ 30 billion to achieve the goal, set by the
World Food Summit in 1996, of reducing the number
of hungry people by half by 2015.The Union Budget
for 2013-14 is focussed on agriculture with 22 per
cent more funds to the agriculture ministry at Rs.
27,049 crore.
Initiative of Bringing Green Revolution to
Eastern India (BGREI) has resulted in increased
production and productivity of paddy. Last year,
allocation for the scheme was pegged at Rs. 1,000
crore and this year also stress has been given to this
important segment by providing same amount of Rs.
1000 crore. This scheme has resulted in impressive
increase in production of food grains with the eastern
region now turning a food surplus region in the
eastern region including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh & West
Bengal. The BGREI is a sub-scheme of the Rashtriya
Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVYJ ) and thus this flagship
schemes has been provided Rs. 9,954 crore. Another
important scheme, National Food Security Mission
has been provide Rs. 2,250 crore. Thus, the Budget
is focused on augmentation of green revolution by
proposing various measures like continuing support
to green revolution in Eastern India, crop
diversification in original green revolution states,
bridging yield gaps between investment in agriculture
and National Food Security Mission, Integrated
Watershed Programme, pilot programme on Nutri-
Farms, establishing National Institute of Biotic Stress
Management and a pilot scheme to replant and
rejuvenate coconut gardens. The budget proposes to
start a pilot programme on Nutri-Farms for
introducing new crop varieties that are rich in micro-
nutrients such as iron-rich bajra, protein-rich maize
and zinc-rich wheat. A sum of upto Rs. 200 crore has
been allocated to start a sufficient number of pilots in
the districts most affected by malnutrition. Ministry
of Agriculture will formulate a scheme in this regard
and this will help to check the malnutrition in the
most affected districts of the country. Crop
diversification is must for the foodgrain bowls of our
country to halt the depleting water table and soil
degradation. The budget has a provision of Rs. 500
crore for crop diversification in states covered during
the green revolution such as Punjab and Haryana
which are facing stagnation in farm yields.
SWABHIMAAN-A SIGNIFICANT BEGINNING
Jamal the protagonist of the film Slumdog
Millionnaire would surely have faced a problem in
en-cashing his cheque that he won from the contest
Who wants to be a millionaire! In all probabilities
he would not have a bank account. And this is a hard
reality!
Despite long and impressive strides of the
Indian banking system during the last forty-four odd
years (bank nationalization was done in 1969)
majority of the Indian people are still outside banks
ambit. The campaign Swabimaan was basically
launched during 2010-11 and extended in 2012-13 to
include these left outs in the banking foray. In his
budget speech in 2012 the union Finance Minister
mentioned that In 2010-11, Swabhimaan
campaign was launched to extend banking facilities
.... to habitations having population in excess of 2000
.... ln 2012-13, I propose to extend the Swabhimaan
campaign to habitations with population of more than
1000 in North Eastern and hilly States and to other
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habitations which have crossed population of 2,000
as per Census 2011.
The Backdrop
Bank nationalization and directed credit
though had weeded out the moneylenders from the
Indian rural scenario to a great extent yet they are
the second most-preferred source of loan (NSSOs
report no.498 published in 2003). Obviously this is
attributable to the rampant financial exclusion of the
rural people involving absence of access to financial
services in general and to formal credit in particular.
Prolonged and persistent Financial Exclusion in
India as well in other developing countries in the
wider perspective is a serious threat to economic
progress, leads to a decline in investment and has the
potential to fuel social tensions causing social
exclusion. Financial exclusion can be conceived as
the lack of access by certain segments of the society
to suitable, low-cost, fair and safe financial products
and services from mainstream financial service
providers. While lack of awareness, low income,
poverty and illiteracy among the people precipitate
exclusion, distance from bank branch, branch timings,
cumbersome documentation and complicated
procedures, unsuitable products, alien language, staff
attitudes, etc only bolster the trend. Consequently
the extreme incompatibility between the service
providers and the recipients make the informal credit
sources more acceptable. In the flipside it results in
compromised standard of living, higher costs, and
increased exposure to unethical and unregulated
standards and vulnerability to uninsured risks.
Financial Inclusion tries to address this
widespread anomaly by providing
(i) no-frills banking account for making and
receiving payments,
(ii) savings product suited to the pattern of cash
flows of a poor household,
(iii) money transfer facilities,
(iv) small loans and overdrafts for productive,
personal and other purposes, & micro-
insurance (life and non-life).
In this structure opening of bank accounts is
considered an immediate and important intervention.
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Gist of Press Information Bureau 51
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Gist of
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
FIRST EVER HACKATHON BY THE
PLANNING COMMISSION ON THE 12TH PLAN
T
he Planning Commission and the
National Innovation Council are
organising the first ever Hackathon on
the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) on 6th 7th April
2013. The Hackathon is being organised
simultaneously in 11 locations across India and
participants can also join virtually.
The event is taking place at University of
Jammu, IIT Delhi, Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim
University, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, TISS Mumbai,
IIIT Hyderabad, IISc Bangalore, IIT Madras and IIM
Shillong.
Thousands of young creative designers,
coders, film-makers along with policy and
development enthusiasts will visualise and narrate
the 12th Plan through infographics, short films, and
support the initiatives proposed in the Plan by
developing software applications.
The Hackathon will last for thirty two hours
during which participants will gather in teams across
India to compete for interesting prizes in three
categories - mobile/web applications, infographics
and short films. More details about the hackathon
are available on www.data.gov.in/hackathon.
The 12th Plan is the product of unprecedented
participation from Indian citizens and civil society to
set out a vision for Indias progress over the next five
years. The Planning Commission and the National
Innovation Council now invite similar participation to
visualise and articulate its rich and insightful content
to India.
UNWTO CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT TO BE HELD AT
HYDERABAD FROM 12TH TO 14TH APRIL
United Nations World Tourism Organisation (
UNWTO) Commissions Conference on Sustainable
Tourism Development and 25th Joint Meeting of the
UNWTO Commission for East Asia, Pacific and
South Asia will be held at Hyderabad from 12th to
14th of this month. Announcing this in New Delhi
today Union Tourism Minister Shri K. Chiranjeevi
said the need of the hour is not the tourism growth
alone but development of tourism in sustainable
manner. He said in this meeting, International experts;
delegates from the member countries of the UNWTO
Commissions for South Asia and East Asia and
Pacific, UNWTO, various state governments of India
and tourism industry will participate. During the
conference exchange of ideas will take place on the
way forward to develop tourism in a sustainable
manner. The Minister said India has been working
with UNWTO closely for the cause of developing
nations. Our initiative at the international level to host
the two events, no doubt, will go a long way in
highlighting Indias role in promoting global and
regional tourism in sustainable manner for the
economic growth, employment generation and social
integration. The Tourism Minister said South Asian
region has rich and varied tourism products to attract
visitors from the world over with heritage and
culture dating back to thousands of years,
architectural and natural marvels, an unmatched bio-
diversity and home to almost all the world religions.
He said In spite of rich heritage, the market share of
South Asia in World Tourist Arrivals is only 1.3% -
which is a cause of concern. On a positive note the
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average annual growth in international tourist arrivals
to the region during the period 2005 to 2011 has been
7.2% as compared to the world annual average
growth of 3.5% during the same period. Shri
Chiranjeevi said the 25th meeting of the UNWTO
Joint Commission will bring together tourism
authorities from 27 member countries and two
associate members and give them an opportunity to
review the tourism performance of the two regions
and deliberate upon measures and policies to be
adopted for future. In this meeting, the best practices
and policies adopted world over will also be shared.
India is currently the chairperson of the UNWTO
Regional Commission for South Asia and considering
the fact that the 25th Joint Meeting is being held in
India, we would be chairing this meeting with
Malaysia as co-chair, the Minister added.
The Union Tourism Minister informed that till
date 21 countries namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei,
Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, LAO
PDR, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar,
Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam have confirmed
their participation. He said the UNWTO will be
represented by Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secetary General and
his team. This meeting will also be attended by the
Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA). The tourism Minister said that
for the first time Ministry of Tourism will be sending
an electronic invitation and itinerary in form of a short
film to all delegates and invitees welcoming them to
the city of Hyderabad. This film shows them in
advance the venues of the meetings, dinners and
tours. The film is being uploaded on the promotional
website of the Ministry www.incredibleindia.org The
Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in
collaboration with the Government of Andhra
Pradesh is hosting the joint meeting and the
conference.
The UNWTO is the United Nations agency
responsible for the promotion of responsible,
sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As
the leading international organisation in the field of
tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of
socio-economic growth and development and
advocates its inclusion as a priority in national and
international policies. India is currently the
chairperson of the UNWTO Regional Commission for
South Asia.
The UNWTO Joint Commission Meeting will
bring together delegates from member countries and
give them an opportunity to review the tourism
performance of the region and deliberate on
measures for further development. India accords
great importance to the issue of Sustainable Tourism.
As a commitment to Safe and Sustainable Tourism
Development, India has developed a code for Safe
& Honorable Tourism and Sustainable Tourism
Criteria for the Accommodation and Tour Operators
sectors. The UNWTO Conference on Sustainable
Tourism Development will include a global review on
sustainable tourism development and sustainable
practices as well an industry and media perspective
on sustainable criteria for tourism. Over 250 delegates
are expected to participate in the Sustainable Tourism
Conference.
National Regulatory Authority of India Meets
International Standards for Vaccine Regulations:
WHO
The National Regulatory Authority of India
(NRA) and affiliated institutions meet WHO
published indicators for a functional vaccine
regulatory system. AWHO-led team of international
experts from eight countries came to this conclusion
at the end of a comprehensive review from 10-14
December 2012. The Central Drugs Standard Control
Organization in collaboration with WHO, has made
exemplary efforts towards this achievement. The
Government of India has decided to further
strengthen the Central as well as the State Drugs
Regulatory Systems during the 12th Five Year Plan
(2012-17) and looks forward to strengthening our
collaboration with WHO towards this end, said
ShriGhulamNabi Azad, Union Minister for Health &
Family Welfare, Government of India. We welcome
this positive development. It reaffirms faith in Indias
regulatory system and also reiterate countrys
strength for pharmaceutical sector. The effective
regulatory oversight of vaccines is especially crucial
for India which is a major vaccine producer and also
supplier across the globe, said Mr KeshavDesiraju,
Secretary, Health& Family Welfare, Government of
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India. India is a major vaccine producer that has 12
major vaccine manufacturing facilities.
These vaccines are used for the national and
international market (150 countries), which makes
India a major vaccine supplier across the globe. In
2012, India had seven vaccine manufacturers
producing 67 prequalified vaccines (dosage forms).
Currently 16 vaccines are prequalified by WHO and
exported through United Nations agencies. More
than 70% of all measles vaccines used globally are
produced in India. This is indeed a great
achievement and we would like to congratulate the
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and its affiliated
institutions- Central Drugs Standards Control
Organization (CDSCO), Central Drugs Laboratory,
Kasauli, Immunization Division of the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, and other relevant
institutions, engaged in the regulation, control and
testing of vaccines, said Dr Lahouari Belgharbi,
WHO Team Leader for the NRA Assessment, Quality,
Safety and Standards Team, Department of
Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals of the World
Health Organization. WHO had scaled up its
technical support to the Indian NRA over the past
several months in the context of this assessment.
The recent success is a culmination of
intensive effort by CDSCO, in collaboration with
WHO, to implement a roadmap to strengthen capacity
for regulation of vaccines. WHO will continue to
support development of the NRA through technical
advice, training and capacity building. We welcome
this positive outcome. It shall go a long way in
reaffirming the joint mutual strategic priority under
the WHOs new Country Cooperation Strategy with
India (2012-17), of supporting an improved role of
India in global health, including strengthening the
pharmaceutical sector and drug regulatory capacity,
said Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to
India. India is one of the largest manufacturers and
exporters of vaccines world-wide, reinstating our
thrust on maintaining highest quality and efficacy of
the products that are manufactured within our
country. I am happy that we have been able to
strengthen and enhance the current regulatory
system as per the spirit of the Mission of CDSCO and
the requirements of the World Health Organization
to ensure safety and efficacy of the products that are
manufactured and exported from India, said Dr G.N
Singh, Drugs Controller General (India). One of the
requirements to become eligible and to retain the
prequalification status is to have a National
Regulatory Authority (NRA) assessed as functional
against the WHO published NRA indicators. The
regulatory functions of the Indian NRA (Central
Drugs Standards Control Organization) and its
affiliated institutions were assessed for compliance
against the revised WHO NRA indicators endorsed
by the international consultation of experts in 2011.
In addition to the general framework for the system,
the following regulatory functions were evaluated:
marketing authorization and licensing; post-
marketing surveillance, including for adverse events
following immunization; lot release by the national
regulatory authority; laboratory access; regulatory
inspections of manufacturing sites and distribution
channels; and authorization and monitoring of
clinical trials.
With a regulatory system for vaccines assessed
as functional by WHO, vaccine manufacturers in
India continue to remain eligible to apply for
prequalification of specific products. WHO
prequalification, which is a guarantee that a specific
vaccine meets international standards of quality,
safety and efficacy, is a prerequisite for
manufacturers to supply to countries through United
Nations procuring agencies. The Government of
India has undertaken committed efforts to ensure that
the regulatory oversight of the NRA for vaccines
continues to meet international standards, said Dr
David Wood, Coordinator of the Quality, Safety and
Standards Team of the Department of Immunization,
Vaccines and Biologicals of the World Health
Organization. As for all NRA assessments,
sustainability of the gains made in regulatory
capacity is critical. For this purpose, the team which
has just completed the assessment in India has
drawn up a detailed Institutional Development Plan.
The plan will outline additional activities to be
undertaken to further strengthen regulatory capacity
in India for the period 2013-2015.
STEPS TAKEN FOR
PROTECTION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES
The Government has taken several steps for
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protection of endangered species of wild animals in
the country, which are as following:-
i. Legal protection has been provided to wild
animals against hunting and commercial
exploitation under the provisions of the Wild
Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
ii. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 has been
amended and made more stringent.
Thepunishment for offences under the Act
have been enhanced. The Act also provides
for forfeiture of any equipment, vehicle or
weapon that is used for committing wildlife
offence(s).
iii. Protected Areas, viz., National Parks,
Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and
Community Reserves covering important
wildlife habitats have been created all over
the country under the provisions of the Wild
Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild
animals and their habitats.
iv. Financial and technical assistance is
provided to the State/ Union Territory
Governments under the Centrally Sponsored
Schemes of Integrated Development of
Wildlife Habitats`, Project Tiger and Project
Elephant for providing better protection to
wildlife, and improvement of its habitat.
v. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
has been empowered under the Wild Life
(Protection) Act, 1972 to apprehend and
prosecute wildlife offenders.
vi. The State/Union Territory Governments have
been requested to strengthen the field
formations and intensify patrolling in and
around the Protected Areas.
vii. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been
set up to strengthen the enforcement of law
for control of poaching and illegal trade in
wildlife and its products.
viii. Strict vigil is maintained by the officials of
State Departments of Forests and
Wildlife.
The periodic assessments carried out in
respect of prioritized species, rhinoceros and lion,
have indicated improvement in their population
status.
The Ministry of Environment & Forests also
provides financial assistance to State Governments
for undertaking Recovery Programmes for saving
critically endangered species as a component of the
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated
Development of Wildlife Habitats. Budget is not
allocated separately for this component. At present,
sixteen species have been prioritized for taking up
such recovery programmes which include Snow
Leopard, Bustards (including Floricans), River
Dolphin, Hangul, Nilgiri Tahr, Marine Turtles,
Dugongs and coral reefs, Edible-nest Swiftlets, Asian
Wild Buffalo, Nicobar Megapode, Manipur Brow-
antlered deer, Vultures, Malabar civet, the great one-
horned rhinoceros, Asiatic Lion, Swamp deer
and Jerdons Courser.
Under the component Recovery Programmes
for Saving Critically Endangered Species of the
Centrally Sponsored Scheme Integrated
Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-
IDWH) financial assistance has been provided for
eight critically endangered species including Snow
Leopard, Hangul, Dugongs, Edible-nest Swiftlets,
Asian Wild Buffalo, Manipur Brow-antlered deer,
Vultures and Asiatic Lion as per the proposals
received from various State/Union Territory
Governments. The details of financial assistance
released to the State/Union Territory Governments for
undertaking Recovery Programmes for saving
critically endangered species under the Centrally
Sponsored Scheme Integrated Development of
Wildlife Habitats during the last three years are as
follows:
Year Amount released(Rs. in lakhs)
2009-10 72.95
2010-11 858.593
2011-12 788.317
THE NATIONAL
POLICY FOR CHILDREN, 2012
The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to
the National Policy for Children, 2012. The Policy
reaffirms the governments commitment to the
realisation of the rights of all children in the country.
It recognizes every person below the age of eighteen
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years as a child and that childhood is an integral part
of life with a value of its own, and a long term,
sustainable, multi-sectoral, integrated and inclusive
approach is necessary for the harmonious
development and protection of children. The policy
lays down the guiding principles that must be
respected by national, state and local governments in
their actions and initiatives affecting children. Some
of the key guiding principles are: the right of every
child to life, survival, development, education,
protection and participation; equal rights for all
children without discrimination; the best interest of
the child as a primary concern in all actions and
decisions affecting children; and family environment
as the most conducive for all-round development of
children.
The policy has identified survival, health,
nutrition, education, development, protection and
participation as the undeniable rights of every child,
and has also declared these as key priority areas. As
childrens needs are multi-sectoral, interconnected
and require collective action, the policy aims at
purposeful convergence and strong coordination
across different sectors and levels of governance;
active engagement and partnerships with all
stakeholders; setting up of a comprehensive and
reliable knowledge base; provision of adequate
resources; and sensitization and capacity
development of all those who work for and with
children. A National Plan of Action will be developed
to give effect to the policy and a National
Coordination and Action Group (NCAG) will be
constituted to monitor the progress of
implementation. Similar plans and coordination and
action groups will be constituted at the state and
district levels.
The National Commission for Protection of
Child Rights and State Commissions for Protection of
Child Rights are to ensure that the principles of the
policy are respected in all sectors at all levels. There
is a provision for review of the policy every five years.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development will
be the nodal ministry for overseeing and
coordinating the implementation of the policy and
will lead the review process.
ENVIRONMENTAL TAXES
There is no proposal to levy environmental
taxes to discourage pollution and boost green
technology. However the Government levy cess
under the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 on the consumption of
water by persons carrying on certain industries and
by local authorities, with a view to augment the
resources of the Central Pollution Control Board and
the State Pollution Control Boards for prevention
and control of water pollution. The Government allow
25% rebate to the industries on the amount of cess
payable by them provided the industries consume
water within the prescribed limits and comply with the
provisions of section 25 of the Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and also the
environmental norms notified under the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 by installing appropriate
pollution treatment technologies. The countries such
as USA, UK, Germany and Japan have adopted the
system of taxation to control emission of hazardous
gasses and also introduced upper limits for disposal
of such gaseous emissions. This was stated by
Shrimati Jayanthi Natarajan Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests,
in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha
today.
NATIONAL ELECTRICITY FUND
Government of India launched the National
Electricity Fund (Interest Subsidy Scheme) in July
2012 to provide interest subsidy on loans raised by
both public and private Distribution Companies
(DISCOMS), for capital works sanctioned by financial
institutions to improve the infrastructure in
distribution sector during the financial year 2012-13
and 2013-14.Projects worth Rs. 10,953.80 Crores have
been sanctioned by the Union Government to various
Utilities/States for consideration of Interest subsidy
benefit under National Electricity Fund.Government
of India has approved setting up of National
Electricity Fund (Interest Subsidy Scheme) to provide
interest subsidy on loans disbursed to the State
Power Utilities, Distribution Companies (DISCOMS)
both in public and private sector for the loans
taken from Private & Public Financial Institutions, to
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improve the infrastructure in distribution sector.Rural
Electrification Corporation (REC), would be the Nodal
Agency to operationalise the scheme.Under NEF
scheme, interest subsidy would be provided on loans
taken by private and public power utilities in
distribution sector for non Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and non Restructured
Accelerated Power Development and Reforms
Programme (R-APDRP) projects.
The preconditions for eligibility are linked to
reform measures taken by the States and the amount
of interest subsidy is linked to the progress achieved
in reforms linked parameters. The preconditions of
eligibility areoperationalisation of State Electricity
Regulatory Commission (SERC), formulation of
business plan for turn around of utilities, re-
organization of State Electricity Boards (SEB), release
of subsidy by State Government to DISCOMs,
submission of audited annual accounts and timely
filing of tariff petition.There will be two categories of
States for working out the interest subsidy Special
category and focused states, and States other than
special category and focused states. Each power
utility eligible for subsidy on interest would be
assigned marks based on reforms measures i.e.
reduction in AT&C losses; reduction in revenue gap
(Average Cost of Supply (ACS) - Average Revenue
Realized on subsidy received basis); return on equity
and multi year tariff (MYT).
Based on the consolidated score achieved on
these parameters, the utilities would be categorized
and will be eligible for subsidy in interest rates from
3% to 5% in States other than Special category and
focused states and 5% to 7% in Special Category and
focused states.National Electricity Fund would
provide interest subsidy aggregating Rs.
8466 crore spread over 14 years for loan disbursement
amounting to Rs. 25,000 crore for distribution
schemes sanctioned during the 2 years viz., 2012-13
and 2013-14.
Sl.No. Name of Utility Name of State Total Project Cost Loan Amount sanctioned for
Interest Subsidy benefit under NEF
1. MSEDCL Maharashtra 7042.61 5657.13
2. APNPDCL Andhra Pradesh 1829.56 1646.60
3. APSPDCL Andhra Pradesh 1291.43 1151.46
4. APEPDCL Andhra Pradesh 157.25 143.57
5. HPSEBL Himachal Pradesh 388.53 330.79
6. MPMKVVCL Madhya Pradesh 488.03 203.56
7. MPPoKVVCL Madhya Pradesh 866.64 196.53
8. UPCL Uttarakhand 179.99 125.99
9. UHBVNL Haryana 68.94 62.05
10. WBSEDCL West Bengal 1249.37 1124.43
11. CSPDCL Chhattisgarh 379.55 311.70
TOTAL 13941.89 10953.80
AMENDMENT IN MONEY LAUNDERING ACT
The Government has recently amended the
Money Laundering Act. The objectives of recent
amendment in Prevention of Money-laundering Act,
2002 is to strengthen the legislative and administrative
framework of the country to prevent money
laundering and countering financing of terrorism and
capabling to handle the new evolving
threats. Bullion traders have expressed that Germs
and jewellery sector be kept out of the purview of
Prevention of Money-laundering Act. The Act
imposes reporting obligations on person carrying
on designated business and profession, which
would include dealer in precious metals, precious
stones and other high value goods as and when
notified by the Central Government. At present they
have not been notified. This was stated by Minister
of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena, in
written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
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NIRBHAYA FUND
The Finance Minister in his budget speech,
2013-14 has announced setting up of a Nirbhaya
Fund with Government contribution of Rs. 1000
Crores for empowerment, safety and security of
women and girl children. Governments efforts at
empowerment and safety of women have been a
continuous process. Ministry of Women and Child
Development provides financial assistance for
empowerment and safety of women through a
number of schemes like Working Womens Hostels,
Shelter Home schemes of Swadhar and Short Stay
Homes, Ujjawala, micro-credit facilities through
RashtriaMahilaKosh, National Mission for
Empowerment of Women etc. Utilization of Nirbhaya
Fund would be preceded by formulation of viable
schemes and necessary approvals from the
competent authority. This was stated by Smt.
Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child
Development, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha
today.
E-BIZ PORTAL TO EASE G2B SERVICES
As part of the Governments initiative to
improve the business environment and the ease of
doing business in the country, the Department of
Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce
& Industry launched the eBiz portal on 28.01.2013
comprising the License and Permits Services
component that will allow business users to obtain a
customized list of licenses, permits, and regulations
that they require or need to comply with across all
levels of government. eBiz will serve as a 24X7 online
single-window system for providing efficient and
convenient Government to business (G2B) services to
business community, by reducing the complexity in
obtaining information and services related to starting
businesses in India, and dealing with licenses and
permits across the business life-cycle. It will function
as one-stop-shop for obtaining information and
forms; submission of forms/applications; online
payment and routing of fees; and routing of forms/
applications and fees to various departments for
licenses, permits, registrations, approvals, clearances,
permissions, periodic filings and compliances
throughout the life-cycle of business entity. During
the pilot phase, 29 services of year -1 and 21
services of year 2&3 i.e. total 50 services are
envisaged to be integrated with the eBiz portal which
include 26 services of Central Government
departments and 24 services in each of the 5 pilot
states i. e. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana,
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
E-BIZ PORTAL TO EASE G2B SERVICES
As part of the Governments initiative to
improve the business environment and the ease of
doing business in the country, the Department of
Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce
& Industry launched the eBiz portal on 28.01.2013
comprising the License and Permits Services
component that will allow business users to obtain a
customized list of licenses, permits, and regulations
that they require or need to comply with across all
levels of government. eBiz will serve as a 24X7 online
single-window system for providing efficient and
convenient Government to business (G2B) services to
business community, by reducing the complexity in
obtaining information and services related to starting
businesses in India, and dealing with licenses and
permits across the business life-cycle.
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Gist of
SCIENCE REPORTER
SUCCESS IN THE SKIES!
T
he years first and the countrys 101
st
space mission successfully put into
orbit seven satellites riding atop ISROs
PSLV rocket. On 25th February, the Indian Space
Research Organisation launched its Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on its twenty-third successful
flight from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Andhra
Pradesh carrying with it the Indo-French satellite
SARAL, The PSLV C20 also carried with it six
foreign mini and micro satellites.
Rising towards the evening skies with a plume
of white fumes, after a flight of 1 7 minutes 55
seconds, the PSLV safely stationed the main payload,
SARAL weighing 407 kg into an orbit very close to
the intended orbit. The six auxiliary satellites were
also successfully injected into their orbits. When
reports last came In, all the six satellites had
established contact with their respective Ground
Stations and were said to be in good health.
SARAL is an Indo-French joint venture. The
satellite has been built by ISRO, while the French
Space Agency CNES has contributed the ARGOS-3
and AltiKa payloads. SARAL is a 410-kg
oceanographic satellite whose data will be useful for
researchers besides having many practical
applications like marine rneteoroloqv forecasting the
state of the oceans, climate monitoring, continental
ice studies, environmental monitoring, protection of
biodiversity and improvement in maritime security.
While AltiKa, which is an innovating Ka-band
altimeter system dedicated to accurate measurement
of ocean surface topography, would help study the
sea surface heights, the ARGOS-3 payload is a
satellite-based data collection platform.
Besides SARAL the other satellites
successfully carried out into orbit by the PSLV are
two micro-satellites UniBRITE and BRITE from
Austria and AAUSAT3 from Denmark and STRaND-
1 from United Kingdom. There is also one micro-
satellite (NEOSSat) and one mini-satellite
(SAPPHIRE) from Canada.
Canadas SAPPHIRE is the Canadian militarys
first satellite in space. It is a space-based electro-
optical sensor that will track man-made space objects
in high Earth orbit. It will try to make sure that none
of the almost 20,000 orbiting pieces, including junk
and orbiting satellites, collide with each other.
UniBRITE and BRITE from Austria have been
developed in collaboration with the Institute of
Communication Networks and Satellite
Communications (IKS) at the Technical University of
Graz (TUG), Institute for Astronomy of the
University of Vienna.
AAUSAT3 is a micro satellite built and
operated by students from Aalborg University in
Denmark. All design, implementation and
manufacturing was carried out by students.
STRaND-1 is a 30 cm 3.5 kg mini satellite. At its
heart is a Google Nexus One Smartphone with an
Android operating system and highly advanced
features that are integral to a satellite such as
cameras, radio links, accelerometers and high
performance computer processors. It is also loaded
with a number of experimental Apps. Designed to
test commercial off-the-shelf technologies in space,
STRaND-l is the first Smartphone-operated satellite
in space.
PSLV, the trusted warhorse of ISRO, has
proved its versatility ever since its first successful
launch in 1994. It has launched 27 Indian satellites
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and 35 foreign satellites. It also launched Indias first
spacecraft mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008.
Next, it is also scheduled to launch Indias first
interplanetary mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission
(MOM) spacecraft, by the end of this year.
OPEN SOURCE AND OPEN INNOVATION
Is it possible that solely by voluntary efforts,
world-class software and products are produced and
distributed with limited conditions and often at
reasonable cost? Can goods and services be
produced and offered for public benefit by
coordinating the efforts of teams spread across the
world without the intervention of state or big
corporations?
If these sound too unbelievable or utopian,
think again. How about Linux? Apache - a widely
used server software - is an open source software
similar to Linux. Both Linux and Apache are products
of open source development. Open Source models
have gone beyond software and are in use in
biotechnology and drug discovery development.
The origins of open source can be traced to
the Free Software movement initiated by hackers, of
whom Richard Stallman became a cult figure. The free
Software movement was for development of Software
and its free distribution for users to develop it
further, modify and distribute as the user wishes. The
Free Software is for freedom of programmers. That
means freedom from restrictions by commercial firms,
no restrictions on account of intellectual property
rights are considered as important goals in the free
Software movement. In general, while open source
projects are based on a project or addressing a
problem, open innovation projects are based in firms
or in consortiums. The firm takes the lead in open
innovation as it feels that need for it while open
source projects are initiated by programmers who
organize themselves as teams and identify
coordinators to facilitate smooth functioning. Most
of the open source programmers do it on a voluntary
basis but some firms employ them for this purpose.
Often Software and products are protected by
intellectual property rights that provide exclusive
rights to the inventor or licensee. In most countries,
Software is protected by copyright while in some it
can be protected by copyright and patent both. In
case of open source approach, the objective is to
enhance the freedom than to restrict it. But
intellectual property rights are needed; if the
innovation is not protected by them anybody can
free ride and appropriate it and also try to obtain
intellectual property rights by making slight changes.
The open source approach to overcome this
problem is to develop a license that enables sharing
without bringing in proprietary norms to restrict
development and Sharing. The General Public
License or the licenses derived from it are used for
this purpose. The basic dictum is share what you
have created with others on the terms with which you
have received the contribution of others; dont
block further innovation by securing rights that
prevent further innovation.
OPEN SOFTWARE VS FREE SOFTWARE
Open Source approach is different from free software approach in many ways. The important one is open
source approach is not averse to commercialization of software. But the objective of the open source
approach is to strike a balance between proprietary software development approach, which severely restricts
users rights, and the free software approach, which is averse to commercialization.
Open Source approach is based on a simple and profound fact that when
thousand brains try to do something or solve a puzzle the outcome would be better than one brain could
do. As Eric Raymond puts it:
While organizations employ thousands of persons and have systems of coordination the incentive there
is monetary and other benefits, where as in open source software it is almost voluntary effort and many
do it for the pleasure in finding solutions to challenges, to prove their talent and thereby gain reputation
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and recognition or for the sheer pleasure in programming. Open Source software development is organized
in terms of teams and the developing an application/software will involve many teams that are spread
across different time zones and continents. These teams achieve unparalleled productivity thanks to
modularity.
But how is this enforced? GPL is a legally
binding license and its validity is upheld by courts.
GPL is based on copyright but as it applies
copyright in a unique way, it is called as copy left!
Open Innovation is based on the simple fact
that however big an organization may be, it may not
have all the skills and capabilities to address all its
problems. Some of the best minds and resources are
outside the organization. Open Innovation was
conceptualized by Chesesbrough, according to
whom, At its root Open Innovation assumes that
useful knowledge. is widely distributed, and that
even most capable R&D organizations must identify,
connect to, and leverage external knowledge sources
as a core process of innovation.
Models of Open Innovation
Advances in production and distribution of
knowledge and collaborative possibilities made
available by developments in informatics and
communication technologies have facilitated open
innovation. For organizations, using Open
Innovation is a pragmatic solution when there is a
need to tap knowledge and resources that are
essential to solve a problem or pursue an objective
are available only outside the organization.
Here too the idea is no problem is big if
sufficient numbers of persons or teams try to solve
it. An organization can announce a prize amount for
anyone who can find a solution by throwing open
the challenge. This is a simple model of open
innovation. There are many examples for this
including the DST sponsored one in India and
Innocentive.
But in most cases open innovation is
organized through networks or consortiums or
through collaborative projects. This is all the more
relevant when the resource or knowledge has to be
shared so that different organizations can pursue
their objectives collaboratively and still benefit from
it. Organizations come together and evolve norms for
sharing knowledge and materials. This entails
joining hands for collaborative knowledge
production in cases where joint benefits outweigh
the costs and no organization can benefit if each
organization tries to block access to others.
For instance, by forming a consortium,
organizations can share knowledge produced by
each other among themselves and also develop rules
regarding seeking intellectual property rights. Access
can be limited to members and rules for sharing can
be enforced. Such collaborative consortiums and
networks have proliferated in the last decade
particularly in health genomics and
biopharmaceuticals. A third party (say government
agency) can bring together the organizations to
develop such collaboration and manage it.
The vexing question of intellectual property
rights is handled in both open source and open
innovation in many ways. While both models of
innovation are not against intellectual property
rights, IPRs are designed with the objectives of
furthering innovation and sharing the products of
collaboration than to use it to block further
development and monopolize rights.
In case of Open Source, GPL or its derivatives
are used for this purpose. In open innovation
approach, organizations allow patenting the
contributions but also ensure that securing
intellectual property rights does not harm the
interests of other organizations in the consortium or
network. Such an arrangement can include a norm
that all organizations will not seek intellectual
property right protection to data per se and/or will
share their data with others on terms that are mutually
beneficial in cases where upstream discovery cannot
result in commercial products or costs upstream
competition are exorbitant.
These approaches have resulted in interesting
arrangements for sharing resources. One such
arrangement is creation of a commons. In regular
parlance, we think that resource in a commons is free
for all with no strings attached. It can thus be
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exploited by all and it will be ruined. This
understanding was made popular by the famous essay
of Hardin on the Tragedy of Commons. But as the
Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom and others have
showed in several cases, communities can
collectively and sustainably manage common
resources and the tragedy of commons is only one of
the possible scenarios.
Collective management and development of
commons makes possible not only drawing upon the
commons but also contributing to it. Today there are
many Commons and methods that facilitate sharing
therein. In 2005, a Patent Commons was created by
Open Source Development Laboratories for
furthering Open Source Software development. This
Commons facilitates access to patents on some
conditions. Not all users need to be contributors or
vice versa.
GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
General Public License (GPL) or its derivatives are
widely used in Free/Open Source Software
development and distribution. The GNU GPL was
originally written by Richard Stallman of the Free
Software Foundation for GNU Project. It assures
end users the freedom to use, share/copy, study
and modify software.
GPL uses CopyLeft so that teh freesoms are
conserved whenever the software is distributed,
irrespective of changes or additions. A copyleft
license mandates that derived software can be
distributed only on the same license terms. The
GPL mandmates that a distributor may not impoe
further restrictions on the rights granted by the
GPL.
Adhering to Copyleft principle ensures that the
work of the programmers who contributed to Linux
Kernel development would not be misappropriated
and would be available freely. Linux Kernel is made
available under GPL. Some software is made
available under multiple license, with GPL or its
derivatives being one oof them. GPL Version 3 was
released in 2007.
The further development of Open Source
Software development benefits companies that use
Open Source Software or develop them. For example,
IBM uses Open Source Software in some of its
products and any further development of that
software benefits IBM as IBM can access that
software without investing on its own. Supporting
Open Source Software and such Commons helps
IBM to further its business objectives.
The World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD) based in Geneva has
promoted Eco-Patent Commons, In this Commons,
access to patented technologies in energy and
environment sector is provided to any firm or
individual under some conditions so that these
technologies can be used for developing
innovations in finding solutions to global climate
change.
In agricultural biotechnology, CAMBIA. an
organization based in Australia, has used the Open
Source model in sharing technology in agricultural
biotechnology. Janet Hope, an Australian researcher,
has examined the relevance of open source in
biotechnology in her book Biobazaar: The Open
Source Revolution and Biotechnology. I have
developed a BioLinux Model as an alternative model
in plant varieties and seeds, based on open source,
and also, in conjunction with participatory plant
breeding.
An open source approach has been discussed
as a suitable model for drug discovery and
development. CSIRs Open Source Drug Discovery
(OSDD) Project is an important initiative in this regard.
OSDD is coordinated by CSIR and the contributors
who can be anywhere in the world, ranging from
students and amateur scientists to top ranking
experts. Web-based sharing of results and data and
mechanisms to facilitate collaboration and help in
problem identification and solving them have made
this project a pioneer in this field. If OSDD succeeds
in finding affordable and effective drugs for TB that
would truly be a remarkable solution to a global
health problem.
Innovations from both Open Source and Open
Innovation can be made more accessible by
licensing mechanisms, patent pools, use of clearing
houses and other mechanisms. Patent pools are
mechanisms to share patents. Product development
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is facilitated by mutual sharing of patents particularly
when the necessary technology is covered by many
patents and are held by multiple firms. These are
used in electronics and health sector.
In some cases governments mandate
development of such pools so that the country can
benefit from technological advancements. The pool
mandated by government of USA to share aircraft
technology is a classic example. In licensing, there
are licenses like Humanitarian Use Licensing that
mandates sharing of further innovations and licenses
derived from GPL. Clearing Houses bring together
technology developers and users and facilitate
exchange of technology and help both to share
technology for mutual benefit. Thus combining Open
Source and Open Innovation models with these
mechanisms can facilitate access, and help in
innovating further.
While there are many merits in both open
source and open innovation approaches, they ore
yet to be proven as viable solutions in many sectors.
Open Source has proved that it is a viable option in
software sector but replicating that in other sectors,
particularly where access to materials is necessary,
remains a challenge. Today some of these problems
are addressed through open access databases, open
source programs and software in different fields and
by developing pools or shared resources.
To sum up, Open Source and Open
Innovation exemplify the power of collaboration and
sharing and provide alternative models for
innovation.
HILKA HAVEN FOR BIRDS
The largest lagoon along the east coast of
India, Chilika is a unique assemblage of marine,
brackish and fresh water ecosystem with estuarine
characters. Fifty-two rivers and rivulets drain into the
Chilika. This lake, which is the largest in the
subcontinent, varies in its extent in the dry and wet
seasons between about 560 and 1100 square
kilometres and is about 32 kilometres wide at its
broadest.
It has been formed due to the silting action of
the Mahanadi River, which drains into the northern
end of the lake, and the northerly currents in the Bay
of Bengal, which have formed a sandbar along the
eastern shore leading to the formation of a shallow
lagoon. Spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam
districts of Odisha, Chilika is the largest coastal
lagoon in Asia.
Chilika Lake is the largest wintering ground for
migratory birds in the Indian subcontinent.
Considered as one of the hotspots of biodiversity,
the Chilika shelters a number of endangered species
listed in the IUCN red list of threatened species, and
is also a designated Ramsar site, that is, a wetland of
International Importance.
Its part freshwater and part saltwater character,
very high productivity and the presence of a variety
of habitats in and around the lake allow the
proliferation of an amazing number of species.
The fauna of this water body includes fishes
and several varieties of prawns, crabs and oysters.
Endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins are the other
attraction. It shelters the largest population of these
dolphins. A few amphibians and reptiles including
water snakes are also seen.
The rich fishery resources of the lagoon
sustain the livelihood of more than 0.15 million fisher
folk who live in and around the lagoon. The total
number of fish species in Chilika is reported to be
225. Along with a variety of phytoplankton, algae
and aquatic plants, the lagoon also supports over
720 species of non-aquatic plants and a rich
diversity of fauna. This list includes a number of
rare, threatened and endangered species, including
the Barakudia limbless skink.
Chilika is also one of the terminuses on the
migratory flyways and some of the largest
congregations of aquatic birds in India can be seen
here, particularly in winter. It is the wintering ground
for more than one million migratory birds. Flocks of
migratory waterfowl arrive from as far as the Caspian
Sea, Lake Baikal, Aral Sea, remote parts of Russia,
Kirghiz steppes of Mongolia, Central and South East
Asia, Ladakh and the Himalayas. The species of
birds that flock to the Chilika include flamingos,
Great- crested grebes, shovellers, pintails, gadwalls,
coots, teals, pochards, geese, Peregrine falcon, Sea
eagle, sandpiper, herons, and many others.
The year 2002 was a landmark year in the
recognition of conservation efforts at the Chilika
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Lake. Chilika was taken out of the Montreux Record,
which was a record of Ramsar sites where changes
in ecological character have occurred, are occurring
or are likely to occur. Due to the improved
conditions of the lake, Chilika Lake is the first
Ramsar site in Asia to be removed from the Montreux
record.
In 2002, the Ramsar Wetland Conservation
Award was presented to the Chilika Development
Authority for outstanding achievements in the field
of restoration and wise use of wetlands and effective
participation of local communities in these activities.
The Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puruskar was also
awarded to the Chilika Development Authority in the
same year for the outstanding contribution of
conservation and restoration of the Chilika lake
ecosystem.
MICROPHONES
The word microphone comes from the Greek
words micro, meaning mall, and phone meaning
voice. This word first appeared in a dictionary in
1683, where it was defined as an instrument by
which small sounds are intensified. Microphones
convert sound waves into electrical voltages. They
were first used with early telephones, and then radio
transmitters.
A variety of mechanical techniques can be
used in building microphones. The two most
commonly encountered in recording studios are the
magneto-dynamic and the variable condenser
designs.
The first microphone was a telephone
transmitter, developed almost simultaneously by
Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This
transmitter had a black funnel-shaped mouthpiece, at
the base of which was a stretched membrane
diaphragm. A metal pin through the center of the
diaphragm extended down into the metal cup below.
The cup contained a dilute acid. An ohmmeter
between the cup and the pin showed a fixed
resistance. Any movement of the diaphragm moved
the pin up and down in the liquid and the resistance
would vary accordingly. If wires from the pin and cup
were connected in series with a battery and
telephone receiver, any talk directed into the
mouthpiece would produce articulate speech in the
receiver.
With the telephone business picking up
around 1877, several other experiments were made
with microphones. After the magneto type, the next
improved transmitter to be put into use was Edisons
lampblack carbon unit, another variable-resistance
design. It was more sensitive and reliable, needing
adjustment only occasionally. The next innovation in
transmitter design was by Henry Hunnings of
England who used granules of coke between the
diaphragm and a metal back plate. This design
originated in 1878 and was patented in 1879. This
transmitter was very efficient and could carry more
current than its competitors at that time.
In 1886, Edison improved this type of
transmitter by designing a small button-type
container and using processed anthracite granules.
In 1892, A.C. White improved upon this button by
using a polished carbon block as a rear plate and a
similar block n front against a mica disc, and with the
carbon granules in between. Due to the flexibility of
the mica disc, it worked like a piston. This button,
mounted firmly in the transmitter housing, gave the
industry its first reliable transmitter. Known as the
Whit solid-back type, it was used from 1892 until
about 1925.
When wireless telegraphy was invented in
1895, in addition to telephony the microphone found
another job-sending speech over radio waves. Back
in 1879 and 1881 respectively, Edison and Dolbear
introduced condenser transmitters. They were not
practical at the time for telephone use but now they
were reintroduced with the search for high-power
microphones. Between 1900 and 1915, J. Berliner
made a high-current carbon microphone that was air-
cooled by a fan mounted under the microphone.
Blondell and Chambers had developed flame
microphones in 1902 and 1910. In this design, spark
rods in an oscillating circuit adjusted just short of
sparking. A flame is adjusted to reach up to the gap.
As one spoke into the mouthpiece, the diaphragm
vibrated and altered the pressure of the gas supply,
causing the flame to change its length. This varied the
resistance between the gap points, and sparking
occurred in response to its movements.
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Around 1915, Western Electric supplied simple
loud speaking outfit, for very small paging
applications and chauffeur-driven cars. After World
War I, the radio industry grew by leaps and bounds.
The populace was introduced to public-address
systems (or sound-reinforcement systems as we
know them today). The early radio station used the
candlestick telephone for a microphone. With the
receiver off-hook, the speaker was on the air. As time
passed, the receiver was removed, along with the
hook switch and contacts, leaving the microphone
on at all times. In this case the volume and on-off
functions were controlled by the engineer. In some
cases the short mouthpiece was replaced with a brass
megaphone six inches long. This allowed the
announcer or performer to work at greater distances
from the microphone.
An unusual microphone produced by
Westinghouse was the Hushaphone for noisy
areas. The radio studio became busy at times with
one or two people preparing for a programme. The
announcer could talk into this microphone and it
would not pick up anything in the background.
Until ribbon types came on the scene,
microphones were omni-directional in their pickup
patterns. This means they picked up sound from all
directions. The ribbon microphones were bi-
directional. They picked up sounds equally from front
and rear, but little from the sides, top or bottom. Next
came the shotgun or rifle microphone, which was
used for long-distance pickups.
Dr. James West received a patent, along with
Gerhard Sessler, for the electro acoustic transducer,
an electrets microphone, which offered greater
reliability, higher precision, lower cost and smaller
size. The electret microphone revolutionized the
microphone industry, with almost one billion
manufactured each year. West and Sessler were
inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in
1999. Today you have tie-clip microphones, ear-cum-
microphones and minute wireless microphones with
a large range that we often fail to even notice.
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