Chronical Analysis

National Health Policy: It is formulated at MDG in global context.

Changing context from the last policy. First, health priorities are changing.
Focused action resulted in attainment of maternal and child mortality.
Other health needs received scant attention. Growing burden of noncommunicable disease. Secondly, growth of health care industry at 15%.
Thirdly, Health expenditure is the major reason for poverty. Fourth,
improvement in fiscal capacity of state due to growth. MDG: india will
reach MDG on maternal(140) and child mortality(42). Population growth:
21 states achieved TFR of 2.1 and rest are also showing decline. Challenge
is declining sex-ratio. Inequalities: across states and urban-rural. Quality of
care: recent incidents of deaths after sterilization in Jharkhand SOPs are
not followed during institutional deliveries. Performance in disease control
programme: complete elimination of polio. Significant reduction in
leprosy. Reduction in HIV. Challenge of TB with the problem of multidrug resistance. There are significant reduction but still efforts are
required. Development under NRHM: It was intended to cover all health
needs and not just national programmes but it remain confined to national
programmes in practice, low public spending, strengthening of health
infrastructure. Ambulances, health workers, equipments, transport
services, cash transfer to pregnant women. Burden of disease: over 75% of
communicable diseases are not part of national programmes. Health
programme for non-communicable disease have very short coverage.
Urban health: no arrangement of primary care in cities and towns. NUHM
in 2013 is set to change these disadvantages. Cost of health: national
programmes cover all drugs and treatment cost with good coverage.
Private market has little role in these areas. No financial protection for vast
other health needs. NRHM extended free care to selected needs. Publically
financed health insurance: like RSBY, low awareness about these schemes,
denial of service by hospitals. Healthcare industry: policy initiatives for
the growth of healthcare industry. Exemption from income tax for health
insurance. Tax rebates, tax exemptions. FDI is made in this sector.
Revenue through medical tourism. Private sector: 80% of outpatient care
and 60% of inpatient care. AYUSH: mainstreamed in NRHM. HRD:

expansion of medical, nursing, pharmacy and technical education. Little

orientation to rural services. Skill problems of these courses. Challenges:
limited R&D. Modest funding. Regulatory role of government: regulation
of drugs through CDSCO, FSSAI for food, National council for clinical
establishment and education through four councils. Regulation of drug
prices under department of pharmaceuticals. Investment in health care: in
2011 4.1%. There is a need to increase this. The government spending is
only 1.04%. Principals: equity, universal access, inclusive partnership with
all stakeholders, pluralism: AYUSH, allopathic, accountability,
affordability. Objective: improve health care setup, reduction in out-ofpocket expenditure, universal affordability to health care and drugs,
secondary and tertiary care with public and private sector, influence
private sector to align with policy goals. Vision: 4-5% GDP but 2.5% of
GDP is achievable, health cess, high public expenditure will lead to more
job opportunities, use of CSR, health to all, preventive and promotive care,
behavioural change. Strengthening village health sanitation and nutrition
committee and their urban equivalent, including in educational curriculum,
occupational health needs attention, comprehensive medical care
approach, strengthening and expanding role of ASHA, promotion of yoga.
Approach: universal and free primary care then secondary and tertiary
with public then not-for-profit then commercial private. Preventive care:
comprehensive from selective and called as health and wellness centre,
health card attached with primary health services, community participation
with VSandNC supervised by panchayats, human resource, primary
facility and a referral system, AYUSH will be included. Telemedicine,
trained staff and doctor and PHC to reduce overcrowding and quality
service, expanded and strengthened role of ASHA, development of urban
infrastructure. Secondary care: expanding services offered, 1000 beds per
million, manpower, support from private sector. Strategic purchasing by
state will give policy direction to private sector. Public hospitals: prepaid
care and not free care. Making right to health a fundamental right and
making denial of health an offence. States may voluntarily adopt the act by
assembly resolution. Free for poor and affordable for rest a universal
health insurance scheme. Public health system as pre-paid service than
social service. Contracting out to private sector.

National health policy review: recent cuts in health expenditure. Health

importance: demographic dividend, growth and capacity development.
Instead of comprehensively elaborating the centre state relation in health
delivery it only mentions that centres share to be increased to 40 from 30.
Regulating private sector and revamping regulatory institutions are
important before involving private sector in health in big way.
Higher education: fast track and not thought out changes will ruin the
institutions. A common syllabus for all central universities, common
entrance test, faculty, student mobility and credit transfer. Schemes like
gian, kushal and swayam are planned along with e-libraries and other
online platforms. Common entrance test is only feasible for narrowly
defined technical disciplines and will not work for wide ranges of other
disciplines. Common curriculum aimed at eliminating quality problem but
it ignores the root cause of improper implementation and not model
curriculum. Mobility methods is a replica of European union, our
institutions are already overcrowded making little sense of mobility. The
mobility may be used as a token of reward and punishment. Greater
reliance on MOOCs is worrisome. The issue of mostly English as medium
of higher education is not addressed which a major hindrance in access to
higher education. The method of API to access the performance of teachers
is mechanical in nature and highly deficient.
Land bill: rapid urbanisation, high prices are distorting the land
acquisition. The difference between officially notified value and market
value. Stamp duty, registration fee etc. are to be registered at lower
guidance value creating black economy. Poor land record management and
litigation increases costs. Reduction in stamp and registration fee to
discourage their evasion. Minimum guidance value to be increased to
market value in phased manner this will help eliminating the process of
notification of guidance value. Nationwide data of land transaction should
be created for dissemination of price related information. Release of land
from government agencies which is lying un-utilized.
FFC: government has accepted enhanced devolution to states from 32 to
42 %. Though the increase in not much as plan + non-plan together comes

to 39-40%. The 42% is under non-plan and tax devolution. The conditional
component rose high with years controlled by planning commission in the
name of plan expenditure and normal central assistance calculated by
gadgil-mukherjee formula. FFC has enhanced co-operative federalism by
enhancing financial autonomy and independence. The plan expenditure
was used to punish and reward states based on central power. Top-down
and one size fits all approach has failed miserably. States should be seen as
independent contributor in national growth and not appendage of union.
The new guidelines will help centre to concentrate of big infrastructure
projects.
Nuclear Deal: direct nuclear trade will take time but it opened new areas
for co-operation between two countries. Defence cooperation under DTTI.
Ghost of fukushima. It is a leap of faith rather than giving and meaningful
outcomes in near future.
FFC: move away from scheme and grant based support to greater
devolution from centres divisible pool of tax revenue. Useless schemes
like for kerala with high literacy rate the scheme for primary education is
not as much important similarly for a power surplus state like Gujarat
scheme related to the sector are not needed. Some states have raised voices
due to loss in their share with new formula but this is a consequence of
their better health than others. The reduced fund will be given to less
developed states.
Railways: reforms are aimed at adequate investment in infrastructure.
Central pay commission sets the pay of employees. Pension liability from
its own earning. Cross-subsidisation of passenger tariff with freight tariff
has its limits. The shock wave given by pay commission will remain till
railways is a government undertaking. Converting it into government
owned company is a reform measure but highly resisted by employees.
This arrangement will also keep organisation from political interference.
Entry of private in operation needs a fundamental shift where management
and operations are to be separated. Same tracks can be used by different
operators to generate competition.

Ministry paper leak: being ahead of others to get government

information temps corporate to indulge in such acts. Every government
organisation has a habit of making every information as secret. Decision in
this respect are taken at section officer level without putting any mind.
After investigation permission of MHA is required for exection of OSA
1923. If offence is done without the knowledge of head of the company
than he is not liable to punishment.
NFSA: maternity benefit of 6000 to be given to women under act. Scheme
needs to be formulated but did not happen. Reforms have been achieved in
PDS. SECC is best available database for that purpose but still
unavailable. Some state went with old list which is highly defective
making the NFSA useless.
HealthCare: long term financing options are not available. Only 4% have
health insurance. Low penetration is due to its optionalness. Most
insurance are for people with illness leading to more claims and
unviability of business. Government can help to improve the coverage
with policy initiatives. Tax incentives and exemption from service taxes
will increase access to health providers. Long-term capital gain to be
exempted from taxation under REIT. These measures will attract FDI in
this sector. CSR could be exploited.
Health Policy:
efficient and corruption free implementation of
programmes is the key. Absenteeism, private practice and corruption are
the main problems. Health policy 2015 laid inadequate emphasis on the
governance structure to improve service delivery. TN medical corporation
to procure drugs free from interference and accountable to independent
directors. Full of professional people in the corporation. Other states are
following the same model now.
Nuclear liability: NPCIL can claim compensation upto 1500 crore under
right to recourse. Right to recourse exist independent of contract as per law
which government is trying to wrongly interpret. The right to recourse is
for license time which is 5 years while plant life is 60 years. This will
water down the supplier liability by linking it with contract. Government
contended that the amount to supplier cannot be raised in future which is

against the law which provide for revision of cap with time as per
inflation. It was also said that law itself takes away the right of people to
claim tort which means that supplier are shielded even from criminal
neglect. In US, suppliers are liable for accident and india is going all out to
accommodate the concerns of suppliers making them above the law.
High level shantaram committee: NFSA be curtailed to 40%. PDS be
replaced by cash transfer to fold up FCI as states will no longer to procure
and distribute food grains. India is today self-sufficient in food production
unlike 1960s. This needs a change in FCI role. People are also moving
away from cereals. The fact ignored is high mal-nutrition, poverty etc. is
still prevalent. Changed production did not lead to food availability to
poor. The food distribution is still important so does FCI. Vast majority of
farmers are not aware of FCI, low collection centres of FCI, centres are
situated in developed region neglecting farmers from weaker regions.
Better procurement in regions with awareness and collecting
infrastructure. States have showed considerable improvement in PDS
leakage and it can be improved further. Excessive storage leading to
rotting and wastage of financial resources is true which can be stopped by
better targeting.
Renewable energy: intermittent, location-specific potential generally
away from grid and higher cost. Peak consumption in night when solar is
not available relying on out storing capacity leading to increasing cost. In
india there is a shortfall in load at the grid and load shedding is used to
keep grid alive.
Reconfiguring the military: ability of a joint operation among different
services is crucial. Indian forces in near future can be employed in
expeditionary roles which makes the flexibility at command level for
quick deployment. Overseas intervention means greater role for navy and
airforce which required their capacity building. Chief of joint staff is
necessary to advice PM and DM. Use of army in non-core activities like
counter-insurgency, riots, natural disaster etc. blunts the armys war
abilities. The size of all services should be brought to parity which reduces

egoness and build co-operation. Converting army corps in marines for this
purpose is an option.
Air safety: 45 flight operations inspectors in place of 75 in india. shortage
or ATC and engineering inspectors. Lack of rest breaks to pilots and air
staff due to financial crunch faced by airlines in violation of regulations.
DGCA is not able to fulfil its mandate. India is among worst in air safety
on rating list.
Renewable: Problem is with that the expansion is driven by subsidy to
both consumers and producers. The RE is high priced as compared to
conventional power. This can erode the competitiveness of domestic
players. The technology is still evolving and committing huge resources
would not be wise. In germany, price of the power has shot up leading to
companies opting out of there.
Carbon capture and store: it captures co2 at its origin of emission,
compress it and store it permanently underground. There are doubts about
the economy because it involves a lot of investment. But the cost involved
is less than the consequences of climate change. CCS, the only technology
that can capture 90% of the co2 from worlds largest producer. In Canada
first CCS system has come up as boundary dam showing it is viable. UAE
has initiated CCS in iron and steel sector. China is collaborating with US
to develop capability in CCS.
Judiciary economic bottleneck: streamlined court process and faster
contract enforcement as paramount factor shaping efficient and effective
business environments. Crores of case are pending regarding tax disputes
in the courts in india. CJI has made mandatory to file verdict that also
reflect qualitative assessment. UPA II had devised a plan to create 5000
supplementary courts to settle cases in order to bring down the litigation
time to 3 from 15 years. Computerization and intelligent case management
are cases in point. Each department can form a team under retired judges
to deliberate on disputes and try to settle them before going to court.
Disposition of cases by consensus is a way forward. Setting up of SC
benches in other cities will also be helpful.

FCI Restructuring: in 1960s, our requirement was to increase production

and become self sufficient. MSP, subsidized input are provided to achieve
this. The objective is now achieved and the whole system needs
restructuring. The recent report proposed: 1) FCI to roll out from grain
surplus states with developed infrastructure giving responsibility to states
to procure the food grains on behalf of FCI and shifting its energy in
eastern states for procurement to usher in 2 nd green revolution and develop
their capabilities. 2) developing warehouse system in PPP where farmer
can store and get 80% return from banks and later sell at market price.
This would reduce cost and wastage. 3) bonus be made uniform at 3%
over MSP because these are to be financed by various levies to be charged
from FCI. 4) Price distortion in fertilizer sector is holding back the
investment. Moving to cash transfer will help reducing this distortion. This
will also help in reducing smuggling of urea to neighbouring states.
APMC Act: most states have amended APMC Act to allow for direct
purchase by contract farming instead of going to mandis. Despite many
licenses given there are no private wholesale market yet. Bihar has
abolished APMC in 2006. There are private unregulated market have came
up in the state where small and big farmers can come and sell directly for
wholesale or retail purpose. The farmers are happy as they have a market
near to their area which saves cost and time then going to regular APMC
market. The individual charges reasonable fee from farmer and buyer.
There are no auctioning here to create competitive pricing. Malprctices can
not be stopped. 2% fee charges is absent in APMC mandis. It is said that
denotification of fruits and vegetable from APMC will benefit farmers.
This is not true as there is no oversight in these private market and also no
auctioning to get competitive prices. There is no guarantee that these
markets will keep working unlike APMC market. The supermarkets buy A
grade produce directly from farmers leaving lower grades into APMC. The
denotification will not help in this sense. Introduction of auction, more
APMC market, liberalising APMC licensing and denotifying agents from
mandis will go a long way. The APMC market are important as they can
not attract large buyers for contract farming.

Ailing ports: major ports come under ministry of shipping while nonmajor ports come under state maritime boards. Most ports come under
major ports trust act 1963. Only one port is constituted under companies
act. Port trusts have not able to take timely and effective decision leading
to minimum development due to lack of investment because of
bureaucratic hurdles. Kandla port under adani has developed more
carrying capacity than trusts. This make a case for corporatisation of ports.
This will give them more financial autonomy, attract private capital,
management flexibility, take them out of control of tariff authority when
working as public companies creating competition. All ports to be
governed under companies act as it provides autonomy to ports under its
purview.
Indo-US Nuclear Deal: India need nuclear energy to fulfil its growing
energy needs in a low GHG emission way. There is no problem to make
concession to US as with their help we are able to procure technology and
fuel for our reactors. The deal is a moral booster than any substantive
benefit. The act itself keep liability at 300 million SDR or 2600 Crore rs.
The figure is itself small looking at fukushima incident. US had implicated
BP for its oil spill due to faulty well. It is impossible for anybody to go
close to melted core and see what caused it and implicate the supplier.
MEA said that section 17 can hold supplier responsible by operator if
provided in the contract and not automatic. Why would one sign if not
obligatory. Government said that NPCIL will insist on the clause in
contract but if operator is private then what will be the scenario is not
known. Government also said that tort claim in Indian court and class suit
in foreign court is not allowed in the law itself to indemnify suppliers in
the cloak of conforming with CSC 1997. National insurance pool of 1500
crore is minimum required. One tier of the pool is for operator while other
2 tier are for supplier who are already indemnified. The pool will be
maintained by 50% of GIC and 50% by government and other insurance
agencies. The immediate relief will be from this pool. Government would
be liable for another 1100 crore before drawing from CSC fund that too
after ratifying. Supplier will pay nothing except some premium.

Medicine for TB: researchers at delhi have found drug candidate for TB
and malaria. This facility is in place due to funding from international
organizations and DBT. This is the result of push given in 1980s in
biotechnology. This has global implications. It also helped india in
developing processes to develop these kinds of drugs increasing indias
capability. The centre has attracted researchers from around the globe back
to india to work on the project. Robust research atmosphere, adequate
funding and sound regulations to make drug after trials. Inadequate budget
of DBT is a problem.
Contempt of court: CPI(M) leader was sent to 4 weeks jail in kerala by
its HC. For criticising the court judgement on banning rallies on roadside
to help smooth traffic by calling judges as idiots. HC imposed 6 weeks and
Sc reduced it to 4. This will suppress healthy criticism also. The court
relied on the assumption that the statement will make court order in the
eyes of public as court cannot be relied for justice. This is wrong
assumption within a state of high literacy. SC said that due to their position
judges cannot respond to criticism which is true but COC is to protect the
dignity of court and not he judges. The judges inability is fulfilled by
vibrant civil society. It is said that COC is imperial form as at that time
authority of the court is to be maintained by these options on colonised
public. It is also said that COC is good for countries where courts are
trying to gain legitimacy which is not the case in india.
LAAR: ordinance dispensed with consent for 6 categories of projects and
SIA. Without SIA it will be impossible to assess the affected people to
whom compensation is to be given for non-land owners. It dispensed with
the requirement that 5 years no development land can also be kept and
penalties for non-complying officer. It is claimed that removal of SIA and
consent will reduce cost and also windfall gain to land loosers. LARR
takes circle rates to calculate compensation which takes into account the
agricultural value of land and not the industrial value and is always below
than market values. Before 1980, market was dominated by public sector
and when land is acquired it was seen as for public purpose. In neo-liberal
times land is acquired for private players on large scale. The land are

acquired for any private purpose and given to private sector and
culminated into SEZ.
NITI Aayog: It will serve as a state of art resource centre to evaluate and
monitor programmes and provide policy inputs. It also provide platform
for co-operation between researchers and policymakers. The research on
government policies is done by organisation but the finding are not
included in policies due to absence of sound mechanism for this purpose.
NITI can initiate pilot evaluation before letting go the policy full-fledged.
Evidence based institutions are getting limelight around the world. Two
challenges: 1) inviting high quality researchers from different fields to
provide inputs 2) willingness among policy makers to learn and accept.
IT Act 66A: the section mandated that anyone causing annoyance or
inconvenience or offensive can be put to jail for 3 years. The section is
mostly vague to bring everything into its ambit and giving arbitrary
powers to police. School girls in Maharashtra, jadavpur university
professor in Bengal, azam khan case in UP, azim trivedis cartoon are the
cases of arbitrariness.
Banking System: two challenges: 1) number of banks have failed to
sustain. India has good record in this case with very few collapse. 2) india
lack in financial inclusion and financial depth. RBI is cautious in granting
license. First push in 1994 then in 2004. Still small business have very
limited linkage with banks. In 2014 two more banks are allotted licenses.
Previous attempts of co-operative banks, SHG, more commercial banks
have failed because they are replicating same model and were overlapping.
This created NPA and goals were partially met. New banks with
differentiated mandates such as small and payments banks can make
difference. 1) a system which can cover business cost is sustainable in
india due to huge untapped population. 2) mPESA in Kenya is a successful
example in point. Increased depth of mobile, AADHAR and broadband. 3)
in conventional banks with high fixed capital it makes difficult to fund
small business to recover cost. The payment banks apart from banking
operation also helps them to hold their customer base.

66A IT: IT act 2000 provided immunity to platforms like googe, facebook
because monitoring their content is not possible for them. The blocking
rules also mentioned that content can be removed on the request of third
party. SC has read down the content removal guidelines. Nongovernmental parties have to take court permission now to remove a
content. It is a good step as ISPs lack resources and incentives to identify
the request as valid under the law or not. SC accepted that government
blocking has several safeguards and left it mostly untouched but laid some
guidelines before making orders. SC said that written reasons should be
provided by the government before issuing any blocking order. If no
provided ISPs can deny the request. SC also said that before making an
order reasonable opportunity should be provided to the content originator.
This will open the door for litigation if procedure are not followed and is a
well laid safeguard. The originator due to geographical stretch of the globe
may not be able to contact the originator and ISPs may not defend the
content to save their resources makes the government blocking in practice
still a arbitrary task. The blocking process is secret as per rules. The SC
has ignored this part but at least a notice of government blocking be placed
at the site so that originator can know about the issue.
FCI: swaminathan committee report said to fix MSP with input cost +
50% profit. Central government has said the it will not procure food grains
if bonus is given by states. It has also increased the MSP by only 3%.
States have restricted their procurement owing to this leading to distress
sale by farmers.
SDG in place of MDG: eradication of extreme poverty by 2030. In times
of dominance of private sector, environmental challenges previous method
of giving aid to poor countries to feed their population will not work. Fund
to achieve this should not be garnered only with aid but also with raising
funds through own resources like reducing tax evasion etc. participation of
poor countries in global trade is also important to generate revenue.
Providing market access is an important issue.
ASER Report: learning outcomes are declining consistently with 53 to
48% in 2014. Centre launched padhe bharat badhe bharat to inprove

learning, writing and reading skills is I and II. Low student attendance, low
teacher quality, low parental interest and lack of teacher accountability.
When student of V can read II text only then instead of sticking to regular
curricula with expectation to eventually catch up one should change it to
the actual level of child. The policy making is based on data collected by
district information system on education which does not involve any
learning criteria. Decision making is based on inputs rather than outcomes.
Centre has started initiative in this direction by starting state-level learning
assessment.
DTTI: india looks at US to get defence technology that others cannot
provide. Exchange of defence personnel and partnership between Indian
and US players. India should consider subsidiaries of firms in india.
Rajashthan PRI laws: not below class 10. Sarpanch level class 8 and 5 in
tribal areas. In this context with lower literacy rates marginalised will be
kept out of power circles. It will have adverse effects on women
participation. There are people who worked as sarpanch and learned to use
basic IT services and performed well but without any class8 certificate.
Literacy and intelligence has different meaning.
Higher education: IIT delhi director resigned due to pressure of
marginalisation from MHRD. This has little to do with real problems. DU
VC is continuing regardless of cases of misdoings. His presence
demoralises the academic staff. IGNOU faces crisis due to indiscriminate
expansion. Its VC is also under scanner but still continuing. The erosion of
autonomy is generic and not specific. JNU which has high reputation of
research is now facing cases of plagiarism. More students under a
professor against the established norms. The faculty run institutions
outside where they work leaving little time to look into their duties. One
size fits all and standardisation to achieve excellence is wrong. Mechanical
API based promotion and recruitment has degraded the quality as no
emphasis on quality of teachers. Fake journals have came up to provide
more API rating. UGC has ex-officio VCs which are themselves involved
in various wrongdoings. Expansion of institutions without recruitment of
quality faculty. Ad-hoc appointment at low wages is demoralising and

deteriorating the quality. Good faculty is reluctant to join new colleges due
to lack of infrastructure. Movability of teachers will be used as
punishment.
Justice Joseph: In united states court work on good Friday but not on
national holidays. Good Friday is not a federal holiday in US. The issue is
thus not about religious holidays but national holidays. The argument that
too many national holidays exist in india can be corrected by pruning the
list of national holidays and adding more restricted holidays. The
suggestion by CJI that judges can bring their family to delhi and fulfil
professional and personal obligations is limiting. The constitution of india
provides individual rights over common rights. This is why ambedkar
rejected the idea of village as basic unit in place of individual. The priority
of institution over individual is a tyrannical one as it impinges on the
freedom of individual. The argument in favour is that this is not the first
time that such a conference is organised on holiday, in past such
conferences are organised on Independence Day also.
Net neutrality
TRAI consultation paper proposes either license to OTT or compromise
net neutrality. Till now what is inside internet packets is not subject to
regulation but bringing the content under OTT will spread regulatory
power of TRAI. Internet has grown due to its open character and
permission less innovation. TRAI argues that the fixed and mobile
telephony is overwhelmed by the traffic. This is true but the reasons are:
ISPs are not upgrading their infrastructure. They say that they are not
generating enough revenue but the truth is that they are not regulated on
tariff rates but still data services are cheap in india. TRAI should crack its
whip and not compromise net neutrality. The issue is that internet
companies are making tonnes of money so they should also get a share of
it. The recent telecom auction show that ISPs have enough money as
government has said even with high prices tariff will not increase much.
The comparison are made by comparing time of skype and voice time but
these are two different services and cannot be compared in this way as it is
assumed that if skype was not to be there everybody use voice call. TRAI

emphasized this as revenue gone. This may be true but the data rates have
benefited ISPs. If net neutrality is compromised then ISPs will not expand
their infrastructure and big companies will pay them to free up bandwidth
for them leading to compromised field. Net neutrality in sense encourages
them to expand infrastructure and restricts monopoly. This is rectified in
FCC decree that puts internet services as public utility. All internet
companies such as google and facebook use their home network to connect
to Indian network. High fee could be imposed to generate extra revenue to
connect external network to ISPs.
Net Nutrality
Apples iOS is anything but neutral. It blocks flash. App developers pay
Apple to be listed on the App Store. Nor do we care about which apps are
promoted by Apple. All we care about as consumers is the experience as it
ought to be. Information Technology Act, 2000 nor any rules and
regulations made thereunder, have any reference to net neutrality. Net
neutrality is a principle that is dedicated to making the Internet a neutral
platform for the proliferation of all kinds of services offered by all
stakeholders. Any enhancement of billing for a lay Internet or mobiles
user is not only going to intrinsically harm the financial interests of the
Indian consumer but could also impact the further penetration of Internet
apart from prejudicially impacting the confidence and trust that users have
in the Internet regulation regime. Internet services were stated by VSNL in
1995. In 1998 government opened the sector for private sector with liberal
conditions with no license fee and free to decide the cost of these services.
98% subscribers are with top 20 ISPs while remaining is either unoperational, stagnated or declining and also misused. Internet telephony
called grey market is causing revenue problems for licensed ISPs. ISP
telephony services are allowed from 2002 and from 2006 6% revenue
share was imposed on ISPs earned from internet telephony. Telephony
service technology under present license is not user friendly and required
prior knowledge of computer causing its limited unpopularity which has
now become popular due to improved devices. Uses of these devices is not
allowed under present ISP license and created grey areas. These
restrictions have now been removed. In 2006, government has provided

uniform access services to provide unrestricted internet telephony but still

services are not started. Clauses of ISP license needs to be revisited in
present context of new technology and internet services. Cost of laying
broadband infrastructure is high and hence not viable for small ISPs. Dialup is costly than broadband. There is no adequate return on investment
made in extending infrastructure for broadband expansion. ISPs with
limited services under license are losing revenue. Separate license is
needed for providing IP TV, IP VPN etc. The conversion of voice in data
and sending over internet as new technology violates ISPs license
conditions.
Defence production
India is the biggest importer of arms. It has to pay for purchase as well as
maintenance of the equipments. This is due the lack of capability of its
defence PSUs. FDI is defence sector is seen as solution to this problem.
The reasons forwarded are: even after decades defence PSUs are not able
to meet the requirements of forces and situation becomes serious in the
wave of global military developments. Superior management culture of
foreign companies will result in adherence to timeline and budget. Despite
the contracts for TOT, none has come significantly because security forces
are in urgency for modernisation. Hence FDI will bring technology and
also generate jobs. None of the argument will solve the problem of selfreliance in defence production and reduce import dependence. Drawbacks:
FDI means long-term presence and assured contracts to get adequate
return on investment. It will not happen in military purchases and there
will always be a gap of few years. This forced dependence on purchase
will put pressure on government same as it is feeling because of import.
DPP currently mandates 30% local offset, which means money is used in
india but still components with significant technology are always imported
just in case of automobile industry in india. This will not be significantly
different from offset guidelines even if foreign companies come to india.
All foreign companies protested and forced government to dilute the offset
guidelines. So, it is wrong to assume that FDI will bring in technology.
They wary of sharing technology with Indian partners especially with
PSUs as their bargaining power is larger than private sector. The failure of

Rafael deal is over work allocation to HAL. The main aim is technology
transfer. Recipient should ensure that it gets and absorbs technology and
build it indigenously. Offset policy should not be seen in financial and
number of jobs created but in terms of technology absorbed by scientists
and companies. If self-reliance is to be achieved then we have to develop
institutions of excellence with political support and provide financial and
infrastructure to pursue the development of high-end technologies.
Environment dilution
HLC on restructuring of environmental laws. First, speed up the process of
identifying project activities and their impacts. This is to be completed
within 10 days otherwise it should be left with project developers. Second,
this identification should be limited to initial stage only, which means if it
is found that further deep inquiry is needs that cannot be granted. Third,
public hearing not to include settlements which are far from project. Most
of the projects effect far flung areas. Even this public hearing should be
restricted to directly affected people which means in case of dam, the
downstream affected people are not to be included. Fourth, fast track
approval of linear projects which may cause significant damage even after
their narrow area of influence.
NGOs and crackdown
National accreditation agency for NGOs can change the scenario. The
NGOs share diverse purpose, nature and approach. The accreditation is
based on set of standard set of criteria. This approach is not purposeful
because it is difficult to measure diverse NGOs based on standard criteria.
The ratings are helpful to donors because it will cut their transaction cost
based on financial health and adhering to legal rules. This though is not
going to work well with organisations which are making government
accountable. The accreditation though help in improving public
perception, investor confidence and guidance. Credibility alliance which is
a group of NGOs in india has come forward in this field but still this field
in immature.
Naxals

Two prolonged strategy: Enhancing security and improving development.

Reasons for attacks: failure and procedural lapses and lack of coordination between centre and state. The local intelligence is missing. In
most cases standard operating procedure were violated such as informing
SP before troop movement. Security forces are superior but will to wipe
out naxals is lacking. State police leadership is incompetent. Centre-state
discontent is demoralising the security forces. State asks for more
battalions but more troops are not the answer. State police has to take a
lead and security forces can only play a supportive role.
Public Procurement Bill
Benefits: 1) Institutional mechanism of procurement based on rules and
regulations. 2) Fiscal saving from procurement expenditure 3) it will
generate fiscal space 4) it will enhance flexibility to channel expenditure
into growth enhancing areas. The bill will be applicable to all
ministries/departments and companies where government has more than
50% stake. It will not be applicable to state and local governments. Bill in
current from excludes the post-tendering steps from its purview such as
monitoring, contract management, payment etc. These should be included
in the bill. Bill in its current from also dilutes the accountability. Judicial
dispute delays the process and hence non-judicial dispute redressal is
needed. Bill established a central procurement agency but it should be
reconciled with decentralised committees. Bill is not applicable to
procurement less than 5 million rupees and also to emergency procurement
in disaster management and national security. Bill provides to exempt
procurement from certain guidelines and also limit competition to attain
certain objectives in public purpose. But certain other requirements such as
advance contract award notice, risk management techniques should be
incorporated in these cases. For proper implementation of the bill, data
management and standardisation must be enhanced. Data is needed for
both bidders and procurement agencies to enhance transparency.
Professional personnel with enhanced capabilities are needed for proper
implementation. The training programmes should be organised to achieve
this.

Climate Change and Agriculture

The adaptive capacity of farmers is limited due to subsistence agriculture
and low formal education. Emission of Co2 is more from tilted soil that
undisturbed soil. Decline is soil fertility due to change in temperature
which affects humus content, water scarcity, low yield due to increase in
temperature, with rising temperature insects, pest and weeds become more
abundant. Mitigation: 1) scientific water management 2) improving
organic matter management 3) efficient nutrient management 4) carbon
sequestration by manipulating soil moisture and temperature. Soil
management practices such as reduced tillage, manuring, residue
incorporation, improving soil biodiversity, micro aggregation, and
mulching can play important roles in sequestering carbon in soil. Some
technologies such as intermittent drying, site-specific N management, etc.
can be easily adopted by the farmers without additional investment,
whereas other technologies need economic incentives and policy support.
Adaptation: 1) Developing climate ready crop for draught, flood and
salinity by genetic engineering. 2) Crop diversification: moving to highend farm products will increase income and also result in reduced water
and fertilizer usage. It is capital intensive and a balance between income
and techniques needs to be established. 3) Change in land use pattern:
changing growing, harvesting seasons with the changing climate. 4)
Efficient use of resources: The resource-conserving technologies (RCTs)
encompass practices that enhance resource- or input-use efficiency and
provide benefits. zero-tillage (ZT) can allow farmers to sow wheat sooner
after rice harvest, so the crop heads and fills the grain before the onset of
pre-monsoon hot weather. 5) Relocation of crop in other areas 6) Improved
pest resistance. 7) weather forecasting and crop insurance.
Problems: 1) Due to MSP: shift from low water food crops to water
intensive mono cultivated food crops. This led to loss of good practices
such as mixed cropping, inter-cropping and crop rotation. This led to loss
of soil fertility and poor nutrition to farmers. 2) Farm bunding is useful in
minimising soil erosion and water run-off, improves soil moisture and
raising water table. Use of tractors due to high labour cost led to
destruction of bunds leading to more irrigation. This led to extensive

exploitation of ground water. 3) Moving to high-end crops led to lack of

fodder and decrease in livestock.
Watershed management is crucial to making agriculture climate resilient.
Bankrupcy Law
Stronger bankruptcy law protect interest of borrowers and lenders. It make
the risk and collection procedure explicit. This will help credit flow and
investment. Average time in insolvency proceedings in india is 4.5 years.
Early recognition of financial distress and timely intervention are needed.
Juvenile Law
Three flawed assumption: 1) children are as culpable as adult 2) it is
scientifically possible to determine the mindset maturity beyond doubt 3)
trying them as adult will deter crime. Mind grows between 16 to 18 and
upto 20. At this stage, mind knows what is wrong but there is lack of
foresight and risk assessment capability is low. Their capability to
understand legal norms and make decision is low. Children can be
negatively influenced in this period but they can also be rehabilitated due
to transitional nature of thinking. Scientific assessment of children is not
possible scientifically. Transfer policies instead of reducing crime are
increasing them. Coming out of adult prison will increase risk. This is seen
in US context also which is now closing prison and funding the caring
centres for children. Parliamentary standing committee has pitched for not
treating them as adult.
Smart Cities
Urban transport, e-governance and land tilting. Urban transport: very few
cities have in-place bus transport services. Even those have, lack proper
bus capacity. Loss making, depleting fleet size, inadequate resources, poor
service quality and ignorance about modern technology. Statutory
authority will help planning and initiating transport systems. Efficient
enforcement of traffic rules and real time information regarding bus
location, online fares and ticketing. Finance is critical, advertisement,

congestion tax fund etc. will help. Urban titling: high land prices is leading
to unaffordable housing, tedious clearance process.
IBSA
Influence of china to give more attention to BRICS than IBSA. India
joined too many association with little time available to official to keep
them alive. One reason is that the prime objective of bringing reforms in
UNSC is not more compelling. Other areas of co-operation are maritime
security, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism in south atlantic
and Indian ocean region.