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The Indian economy has tradi-
tionally been an agrarian economy,
where 70% of the population is de-
pendent on agriculture as their pri-
mary source of livelihood. Signifi-
cantly, land is also the most essential
asset for the development and
growth of any nation, particularly in
the infrastructure sector. To fulfill this
said objective, the Government has
to acquire land under the Land Ac-
quisition Act, 1894 and 18 other spe-
cial Acts, which are applicable to
various other sectors including High-
ways, Railways and Ports.
Land acquisition and compen-
sation have always been an emotional
and highly contentious issue be-
tween the Government and landown-
ers. Recent agitations and protests
by farmers and land owners against
the Government for unfair compen-
sation and forcible acquisition of land
in Singur and Nandigram (W.Bengal),
Jaitapur (Maharashtra) and Greater
Noida (U.P) have been witnessed by
the world.
After three rounds of vigorous
debate, a Group of Ministers has ap-
proved the controversial Land Acqui-
sition Bill, with few changes from the
version presented to the Union Cabi-
net last month. This paves the way for
the Bill to be introduced in Parliament
in the winter session. Land acquisi-
tion is the process by which the gov-
ernment forcibly acquires private
property for public purpose without
the consent of the land-owner. It is
thus different from a land purchase,
in which the sale is made by a willing
seller. Though land is a state subject,
acquisition and requisitioning of
property is in the concurrent list.
Both Parliament and state legislatures
can make laws on this subject. The
government had introduced a Bill to
amend this Act in 2007. That Bill
lapsed in 2009 at the time of the gen-
eral elections. The government en-
acted a new bill in 2011.
In a history spanning 117 years
of pre and post Independence In-
dia, for the first time an honest at-
tempt has been made by the Gov-
ernment of India to outline an enact-
ment for rehabilitation and resettle-
ment of the landowners and farmers,
whose land is to be acquired under
the new draft bill The Land Acquisi-
tion and Rehabilitation Resettlements
(LARR) Bill 2011. The said bill seeks
to strike a fine balance between the
need for facilitating land acquisition
for various public purposes, includ-
ing infrastructure development, in-
dustrialization and urbanization,
while at the same time eloquently
addressing the apprehensions and
fears of the landowners and farmers
and those whose livelihoods are de-
pendent on the land being acquired,
by providing a transparent and legal
framework aimed at adequately com-
pensating people for the loss of their
land as well as ensuring the suitable
rehabilitation of those who have been
displaced.
The preamble to the Bill says A
Draft Bill to balance the need for fa-
cilitating land acquisition for
industrialisation, development of es-
sential infrastructure facilities and
urbanisation, while at the same time
to meaningfully address the concerns
of farmers and those whose liveli-
hoods are dependent on the land
being acquired. While the ultimate
end of land use here is specified as a
matter of public purpose the present
function of the land as meeting the
public purpose of food security is
diluted to highlight it merely as a so-
cial concern of the farmers. The issue
is dealt as a case that can be solved
through monetary compensation.
Only the social security aspect of the
farmers is focused here, though not
completely, while the ecological and
food security aspects remain in the
dark.
The preamble also claims that
the draft bill aims to mitigate the ad-
verse impacts on habitats and is sen-
sitive to the natural resource base. But
the claim is not reflected in the
clauses that follow. It also speaks
about ensuring a humane, participa-
tory, informed, consultative and trans-
parent process of land acquisition and
the realization of a stage in which the
affected persons become partners in
development. It is true that the draft
policy does have indications of be-
ing more humane, participatory, con-
sultative and transparent compared
to the existing law.
The issues raised here is to high-
light how much more humane, par-
ticipatory, consultative and transpar-
ent it can aspire to be.
While appreciating the concept
of partnership in development, the
note also attempts to highlight the
nature of development envisaged by
the policy makers and the extent of
partnership offered to the stakehold-
ers concerned.
LANDOWNER CONSENT
Despite sharp divisions over the
consent requirements, sources at the
GoM indicated that the final draft says
only two-thirds of landowners will
have to agree before land can be
acquired for private sector projects
as well as joint private-public part-
nerships. The original Bill had called
for 80 per cent consent from both
landowners as well as those who
stood to lose their livelihood. Indus-
try lobbyists had pushed for this re-
quirement to be diluted. It is not clear
what has been decided on the other
controversial issue of retrospective
effect. The original Bill had stipulated
that its compensation and rehabilita-
tion provisions would apply retro-
spectively to ongoing acquisitions
which had not yet completed the
process of land transfer under the old
Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Sources
say this clause has been removed and
instead, a cut-off date to be de-
cided later will be set for the new
Acts provisions to come into force.
The Bill is finalised. We have finalised
the draft, Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar, who chaired the GoM,
told journalists after the meeting. On
each and every issue where there
were different views, we succeeded
in bringing [about] some understand-
ing. The Bill, now named The Right
to Fair Compensation, Resettlement,
Rehabilitation and Transparency in
Land Acquisition Bill, was originally
introduced in Parliament in Septem-
ber 2011. Thereafter, it was referred
to a Standing Committee. The Cabi-
net, which considered a revised draft
last month, referred the Bill to the
GoM after several Ministers objected
to provisions that were seen as
hurdles to infrastructure develop-
ment and investor sentiment.
Some Revolutionary Fea- Some Revolutionary Fea- Some Revolutionary Fea- Some Revolutionary Fea- Some Revolutionary Fea-
tures of this Bill Impacting Ur- tures of this Bill Impacting Ur- tures of this Bill Impacting Ur- tures of this Bill Impacting Ur- tures of this Bill Impacting Ur-
ban and Rural Areas: ban and Rural Areas: ban and Rural Areas: ban and Rural Areas: ban and Rural Areas:
It mandates that the awarded
compensation amount is not less
than twice that of the market
value determined, whereas in
the rural areas it will be not less
than six times the original mar-
ket value.
It also proposes that the con-
sent of 80% of the project-af-
fected families will be manda-
tory, if the Government pro-
poses to acquire land for the
use by private companies for
stated public purpose or PPP
projects other than that for na-
tional highways.
The draft bill further suggests
that under no circumstances
should multi-cropped, irrigated
land be acquired and most of
such land lies in the Indo-Ge-
netic plains covering Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal and Bihar.
The draft bill also gives some
relief to the landowners by cre-
ating a provision that it will not
be acquiring land for private
companies for their private
purpose.
Steering clear of the debate re-
garding the Governments role in land
acquisition, the draft bill offers land
owners a bigger share of the rewards
of industrialization and urbanization
over and above the liberal compen-
sation and huge award package for
land owners that includes a subsis-
tence allowance of INR.3,000/- per
family per month for a year, INR
50,000 for transportation, an annu-
ity of INR.2,000/- per family per
month for 20 years, 20% of the ap-
preciation in value of land during
each transaction for 10 years, and
mandatory employment besides the
payment of 100% solatium against
30% solatium of the existing Act. The
bill also considers the pain of the
homeless (including landless) land-
owners and hence proposes a free
of cost constructed house on 150
square metres of a housing site in ru-
ral areas or 50 sq meters in urban ar-
eas. The bill further provides that
where land is acquired for urbaniza-
tion, 20% of the developed land will
be reserved and offered to land own-
ers, in proportion to their land ac-
quired.
Positive elements of the Positive elements of the Positive elements of the Positive elements of the Positive elements of the
Draft policy at a glance Draft policy at a glance Draft policy at a glance Draft policy at a glance Draft policy at a glance
Drive towards a national law to
provide for the resettlement, re-
habilitation and compensation
towards loss of livelihoods
Combining R&R and Land acqui-
sition laws than treating them
separately as different entities
Public purpose once stated
cannot be changed in the case
of private companies
Urgency clause initiated only for
strategic purposes and cases of
natural calamity and in rarest of
rare instances which is a good
attempt though the term still
appears to be vague
Offer of various resettlement
and rehabilitation benefits and
monetary compensation for the
land lost
The policy advocates that about
25 infrastructural amenities
should be provided in the re-
settlement area which include
Schools and playgrounds,
Health Centres, Roads, electric
connections and drainage, Irri-
gation and transportation facili-
ties, Sanitation facilities, As-
sured sources of safe drinking
water for each family and cattle,
Anganwady, Places of worship
and burial and/or cremation
ground, Fair price shops and
seed-cum-fertilizer storage fa-
cilities, Grazing land, One com-
munity centre for every 100
families etc
Compliance with laws like The
Panchayats (Extension to the
Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996,
The Scheduled Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest Dwell-
ers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act, 2006, Land Trans-
fer Regulations in Schedule V
Areas which ensure that the lo-
cal Panchayat and the Tribal
population have their say in
matters regarding land acquisi-
tion. The only question is
whether the Grama Panchayats
in general areas will have a stake
in the land acquisition process.
Formation of LA&RR Dispute
settlement authority in the Na-
tional and state level; Formation
of State Commissioner for RR
and RR committee at the
project level The institutional
setup highlights the increased
significance of RR
Return of land to original owner
if not used in 5 years for the pur-
pose for which it is acquired
with one-fourth of the award
amount for the land acquired
The questions sought in the SIA
like, whether extent of land
proposed for acquisition is the
absolute bare-minimum extent
needed for the project;
whether less or non-displacing
alternatives not technically or
geographically available signifi-
cant in the process of land
acquisition
Multidisciplinary expert group
to assess the SIA and public
purpose, consisting of two non-
official social scientists, two ex-
perts on rehabilitation and a
technical expert related to the
project
Collector of the district, where
the acquisition of land is pro-
posed, should explore the pos-
sibilities of utilising waste, de-
graded, barren lands and that
the agricultural land, especially
land under assured irrigation is
being acquired only as a last re-
sort
No notification shall be issued
unless the concerned Gram
Sabha at the village level and
equivalent forum in Urban Lo-
cal Bodies, as the case may be,
or Autonomous Councils in the
Sixth Schedule Areas have
been consulted in all cases of
land acquisition
If a Notification is not issued
within six months from the date
of appraisal of the Social Impact
Assessment report by the Ex-
pert Committee then the same
shall be deemed to have lapsed
and a fresh Social Impact As-
sessment will have to be under-
taken
Acquisition would not be done
in part of the house or building
if owner desires that the whole
of the building is acquired.
On the other hand, like every
act or bill there are pros and cons.
Developers and analysts feel the draft
bill will not only make land acquisi-
tion difficult for industrialization and
urbanization, but will also add to the
already high costs of private parties.
The definition of public purpose
which has been provided is obscure
and ambiguous; which might be-
come the focus for future litigations
in court due to its interpretation and
actual meaning during the practical
implementation of the bill. The
leader of the National Alliance of
Peoples Movement, Medha Patkar
showed her disagreement with the
Bill as it is riddled with contradictions
and suggested that the adequate
compensation could be land for
land and not cash as compensation.
For a farmer the land is his livelihood
and no amount of cash can compen-
sate him or her when land is acquired
for any public cause. The Constitu-
tion of India guarantees the Right to
Equality and does not permit in-
equality among its citizens; hence
unless and until every land acquisi-
tion is compensated for in the same
way, the Bill cannot do justice to
those who really need help. The
same issue of inequality may also be
racked up in the land acquisition
made under 18 other special Acts,
wherein the benefits of Rehabilita-
tion & Resettlement is not provided;
the time for passing awards within the
stipulated 2 years could also frustrate
and be contradictory to the very pur-
pose of this bill. Another major draw-
back of this Bill is that the compensa-
tion or value of the land is determined
in excess of estimated market value,
which is totally unfeasible.
The Bill seeks to calculate the
market value as the average costs
quoted over three years in various sale
deeds. In actuality the rates of the
property in India are always under-
written in sale deeds and are totally
unrealizable, hence the deprived
landowner/farmer shall never get the
actual market rate. In respect of 80%
consent for acquisition of land by
Government for private parties to ful-
fill the public purpose, there are
possibilities that the actual land own-
ers may be coerced (by local goons,
touts or by the local leaders) who
force them to give their consent, as
has been evident in various cases
under the Slum Rehabilitation Act in
Mumbai wherein slum-dwellers were
forced to give their consents, so that
builder could construct buildings.
The draft Bill portrays a rosy pic-
ture of public welfare and also guar-
antees a number of benefits to those
who are willing to sell their lands;
however, there is no perfect mecha-
nisms to make certain that the af-
fected people undeniably get their
rightful benefits. With so much of
concern for the poor farmers or small
land owners, the draft Bill is still a
buyers Bill, not a sellers rights docu-
ment. Hence, the bill must provide a
comprehensive and balanced
mechanism, which includes a fair and
transparent procedure for land acqui-
sition and adequate welfare measures
to protect the rights of the deprived
landowners and poor farmers, so that
they could also voluntarily contribute
to the growth of the nation instead of
causing obstructions by agitating and
protesting. Such an objective is only
possible, if the landowners and farm-
ers are adequately compensated,
their livelihood is secured and that
their families are rehabilitated; only
then will this bill fulfill the true objec-
tive of a Welfare Nation built by the
people of India for the people of In-
dia.
However, the ambiguity of the
term public purpose continues to
exist in the present draft policy. Or
rather it is exactly this ambiguity
which is made use of by the State as
a weapon to justify any act of land
acquisition. The following categories
are considered as public purpose
Strategic purposes, Infrastructure
and Industry, Land acquired for R&R
purposes, Development of village or
urban sites for residential, health and
education purposes, Land for private
companies for public purpose and
needs arising from natural calamities.
Out of this, categories like Infrastruc-
ture and Industry and land for private
companies for public purpose can
be really misused. These are often
passed off as public purpose initia-
tives by offering employment oppor-
tunities to the locals and highlighting
regional development. But cases like
Cochin International Airport Ltd with
very low state Government share,
where Golf course and multiplexes
are being built in the agricultural land
acquired in the name of the airport
and the Smart City in Cochin (IT park)
where only 50 % of acquired land
need to be used for industrial pur-
poses show how land acquired in the
name of public purpose and with
public money is exploited for private
interests. In the present ambit any-
thing and everything can be defined
as public purpose and it is very much
possible that private firms would
make undue gain out of the situation.
The draft bill states that the land
acquisition can take place only if 80
% of the project affected families give
consent to the proposed acquisition.
Though it is an appreciable and revo-
lutionary decision if implemented
genuinely, fact is that this is appli-
cable only for those acquisitions
where land is being acquired for pri-
vate companies for immediate use or
end use. The consent of the project
affected families doesnt count when
Government acquires land for its own
use, hold and control. This decision
is in complete negation of the
peoples right to informed consent
when the situation is that majority of
the land acquisitions still take place
for state sponsored projects, espe-
cially in Kerala.
The draft policy mandates that
Social Impact Assessment should be
done by the appropriate Government
in the Pre-notification stage and
should be examined by indepen-
dent multi-disciplinary expert group.
Also the legitimacy of the public
purpose and the SIA have to be ap-
proved by the Government approved
committee. The R&R scheme has to
be finalized within 6 months of the
preliminary notification. But public
hearing comes only in the Notifica-
tion stage after Preliminary notifica-
tion is published. After which the
Draft Declaration and R&R scheme is
published and Awards given.
Though the process do have positive
elements like checking the legitimacy
of the public purpose given and con-
ducting the SIA, it would no less ter-
minate or reduce the issues that is
generated during a land acquisition
process today.
The main flaw in the process is
the reduction of the concept of land
to a social entity devoid of its eco-
logical and productive properties.
Though the draft says that the envi-
ronmental costs, benefits and im-
pacts are to be included in the re-
port the focus of the SIA as detailed
in the policy has its focus on socio-
economic and institutional impacts.
The draft says that the SIA report will
be made available when EIA is con-
ducted in a later stage. What calls for
is a multi-impact assessment, includ-
ing environmental impacts, food se-
curity impacts, livelihood impacts,
institutional impacts and other social
impacts in the context of large scale
acquisition of agricultural lands, wet-
lands and forest lands happening in
the country. The significance of En-
vironment impact assessment before
acquiring a wetland in Kerala is not
negligible considering the aspects of
water conservation, food security and
ecological balance. But as per the
present laws of the state, EIA is not
mandatory before land acquisition
and need to be conducted only once
the land is acquired and reclaimed
and is made fit for industry. The issue
here is of reducing a larger ecologi-
cal concern of wetland destruction
to cases of air and water pollution that
any industry may bring about. The
Pollution Control Board which comes
to the scene in a later stage of the
play acts merely as a licensing agency
for the industry to function.
Manjeet Singh Manjeet Singh Manjeet Singh Manjeet Singh Manjeet Singh
The Union Cabinet on 11 Octo-
ber 2012 approved the introduction
of Amendments to the Indecent
Representation of Women (Prohibi-
tion) Act, 1986 in Parliament under
the chairmanship of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. The amendments
proposed are as:
(a) Broaden the scope of the law
to cover the audio-visual media
and material in electronic form
which includes Internet, satel-
lite-based communication,
multi-media messaging and
cable television, among others.
(b) Penalties to be enhanced to a
maximum of three years of im-
prisonment and fine of between
50000 to 100000 Rupees for
first conviction, and imprison-
ment of not less than two years,
but which may extend to seven
years, and a fine between
100000 Rupees to 500000 Ru-
pees for second conviction.
(c) Police officers not below the
rank of Inspectors authorized to
carry out search and seizure, in
addition to State and Central
Government officers authorized
by the State or Central Govern-
ment.
The Act was enacted in 1986
to prohibit the indecent representa-
tion of women through advertise-
ment, publication, writing, and paint-
ing or in any other manner. With the
increased use of advanced technol-
ogy and communication devices in
everyday life, the Government felt the
scope of the Act should be
amended. The amendments were
introduced after consultations with
stakeholders, including lawyers and
civil society organisations, on the draft
Bill.
Some Facts about Inde- Some Facts about Inde- Some Facts about Inde- Some Facts about Inde- Some Facts about Inde-
cent representation of women cent representation of women cent representation of women cent representation of women cent representation of women
Act : Act : Act : Act : Act :
The act under its ambit covers:
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement whi ch i n-
cludes any notice, circular, label,
wrapper or other document and also
includes any visible representation
made by means of any light, sound,
smoke or gas.
Distribution Distribution Distribution Distribution Distribution which includes
distribution by way of samples
whether free or otherwise.
Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation of
women means the depiction in any
manner of the figure of a woman; her
form or body or any part thereof in
such way as to have the effect of be-
ing indecent, or derogatory to, or
denigrating women, or is likely to
deprave, corrupt or injure the public
morality or morals.
Label Label Label Label Label means any written,
marked, stamped, printed or graphic
matter, affixed to, or appearing upon,
any package. Package includes a
box, a carton, tin or other container.
The Union Cabinet has con-
sented to amend the Indecent Indecent Indecent Indecent Indecent
Representation of Women (Pro- Representation of Women (Pro- Representation of Women (Pro- Representation of Women (Pro- Representation of Women (Pro-
hibition) Act, 1986 hibition) Act, 1986 hibition) Act, 1986 hibition) Act, 1986 hibition) Act, 1986 in Parliament
broadening its scope and imposing
stricter penalties. This law aims at
curbing indecent representation and
increased objectification of women
through advertisement, publication,
writing and painting or in any other
manner.
In view of modern communica-
tion channels development of newer
forms of communication such as
internet and satellite-based commu-
nication, multimedia messaging,
cable television etc. , a need was felt
to address such media such as mms
and internet- based platforms which
indulge in spreading messages, pic-
tures and representations denigrat-
ing the honour of women. By cover-
ing these newer forms of communi-
cations, more effective protection
was sought for.
Some of the major changes Some of the major changes Some of the major changes Some of the major changes Some of the major changes
effected will be: effected will be: effected will be: effected will be: effected will be:
[ 1] [ 1] [ 1] [ 1] [ 1] Audio-video and electronic
media covered
[ 2] [ 2] [ 2] [ 2] [ 2] Enhanced penalties
a. a. a. a. a. First Conviction- First Conviction- First Conviction- First Conviction- First Conviction-three
years of imprisonment
and fine of between
Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,00,000
b. b. b. b. b. Second Conviction- Second Conviction- Second Conviction- Second Conviction- Second Conviction-
imprisonment of not less
than two years, but which
may extend to seven
Rs.1,00,000 to
Rs.5,00,000
[ 3] [ 3] [ 3] [ 3] [ 3] Authorised government officers
and police officers not below
the rank of Inspectors autho-
rized to carry out search and
seizure.
Some relevant Acts which Some relevant Acts which Some relevant Acts which Some relevant Acts which Some relevant Acts which
supplements Indecent Repre- supplements Indecent Repre- supplements Indecent Repre- supplements Indecent Repre- supplements Indecent Repre-
sentation of Women (Prohibi- sentation of Women (Prohibi- sentation of Women (Prohibi- sentation of Women (Prohibi- sentation of Women (Prohibi-
tion) Act, 1986: tion) Act, 1986: tion) Act, 1986: tion) Act, 1986: tion) Act, 1986:
1 11 11. Press and Registration of Press and Registration of Press and Registration of Press and Registration of Press and Registration of
Book Act 1867 Book Act 1867 Book Act 1867 Book Act 1867 Book Act 1867
2 22 22. The Information Technol- The Information Technol- The Information Technol- The Information Technol- The Information Technol-
ogy Act, 2000 ogy Act, 2000 ogy Act, 2000 ogy Act, 2000 ogy Act, 2000: This Act has
made provisions against
indecenet and inappropriate
representation of women.
Section 67 of the IT Act Section 67 of the IT Act Section 67 of the IT Act Section 67 of the IT Act Section 67 of the IT Act
reads as under: reads as under: reads as under: reads as under: reads as under:
Whoever publishes or transmits
or causes to be published in the
electronic form, any material
which is lascivious or appeals to
the prurient interest or if its ef-
fect is such as to tend to de-
prave and corrupt persons who
are likely, having regard to all
relevant circumstances, to read,
see or hear the matter con-
tained or embodied in it, shall
be punished on first conviction
with imprisonment of either
description for a term which
may extend to five years and
with fine which may extend to
one lakh rupees and in the
event of a second or subsequent
conviction with imprisonment of
either description for a term
which may extend to ten years
and also with fine which may
extend to two lakh rupees. The
important ingredients of an of-
fence under section 67 are
publishing, or transmitting, or
causing to be published, por-
nographic material in the elec-
tronic form.
3. 3. 3. 3. 3. The Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code
1960 1960 1960 1960 1960 contains S. 292 which
deals with the sale of obscene
books, pamphlet, inter alia rep-
resentation which shall be
deemed to be lascivious or
appeals to the prurient interest,
which can include obscene
advertisements.
4 44 44. In Young Persons (Harmful In Young Persons (Harmful In Young Persons (Harmful In Young Persons (Harmful In Young Persons (Harmful
Publications ) Act,1956 Publications ) Act,1956 Publications ) Act,1956 Publications ) Act,1956 Publications ) Act,1956 ,
harmful publications pretty
much covers this aspect.
5. 5. 5. 5. 5. Cable Television Networks Cable Television Networks Cable Television Networks Cable Television Networks Cable Television Networks
(Regulation) Act, 1995 (Regulation) Act, 1995 (Regulation) Act, 1995 (Regulation) Act, 1995 (Regulation) Act, 1995: The
Cable Television Networks
(Regulation) Act, 1995 prohib-
its the transmission of advertise-
ments which derides any race,
caste, color, creed and nation-
ality. In Rule 7 (2) (vi) it states
that no advertisement shall be
permitted which, in its depic-
tion of women violates Consti-
tutional guarantee to all citizens.
In particular, no advertisement
shall be permitted which por-
trays a derogatory image of
women. Women must not be
portrayed in a manner that em-
phasizes passive, submissive
qualities and encourages them
to play a subordinate, second-
ary role in family and society.
6. 6. 6. 6. 6. Article 21 of the Constitu- Article 21 of the Constitu- Article 21 of the Constitu- Article 21 of the Constitu- Article 21 of the Constitu-
tion tion tion tion tion -Art.21 makes the en-
forcement of the laws possible
by the initiation of a writ peti-
tion in the Supreme Court or
High Courts under Art.32 and
Art.226 respectively.
7. 7. 7. 7. 7. The Universal Declaration The Universal Declaration The Universal Declaration The Universal Declaration The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights of Human Rights of Human Rights of Human Rights of Human Rights, Interna-
tional Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights has recognized
that human beings have dignity
inseparable from them.
IMPORTANT CASE LAW
[ a] [ a] [ a] [ a] [ a] In the landmark case of Ranjit Ranjit Ranjit Ranjit Ranjit
D. Udeshi Vs. State of D. Udeshi Vs. State of D. Udeshi Vs. State of D. Udeshi Vs. State of D. Udeshi Vs. State of
Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra, a book-seller
was booked under IPC for sell-
ing unedited and unexpur-
gated editions of Lady
Chatterleys Lover. In this case
the court laid down what has
come to be known as test of
obscenity. It says that obscen-
ity must not be judged by a
word, here or a passage there.
The work as a whole must be
http://www.civilservicesmentor.com 10 10 10 10 10 http://upscportal.com
looked into and seen as to how
it impacts the society, readers
as a whole.
In the words of the court,
Where, obscenity and art are
mixed, art must so preponder-
ate as to throw the obscenity
into a shadow or the obscenity
so trivial and insignificant that it
can have no effect and may be
overlooked. It is necessary that
a balance should be maintained
between freedom of speech
and expression and public
decency or morality; but when
the latter is substantially trans-
gressed the former must give
way.
[ b] [ b] [ b] [ b] [ b] In the case of Chadrakant Chadrakant Chadrakant Chadrakant Chadrakant
Kalyandas Kakodar Vs. Kalyandas Kakodar Vs. Kalyandas Kakodar Vs. Kalyandas Kakodar Vs. Kalyandas Kakodar Vs.
State of Maharashtra State of Maharashtra State of Maharashtra State of Maharashtra State of Maharashtra, it held
that there was no fixed rules to
determine obscenity.The con-
cept of obscenity would differ
from country to country de-
pending on the standards of
morals of contemporary soci-
ety.
As per Section 1 of the In- As per Section 1 of the In- As per Section 1 of the In- As per Section 1 of the In- As per Section 1 of the In-
decent Representation of decent Representation of decent Representation of decent Representation of decent Representation of
Women (Prohibition) Act, Women (Prohibition) Act, Women (Prohibition) Act, Women (Prohibition) Act, Women (Prohibition) Act,
1 9 8 6 : 1 9 8 6 : 1 9 8 6 : 1 9 8 6 : 1 9 8 6 :
indecent representation of
morality or morals.
The medium for earlier repre-
sentation were:
notice, circular, label, wrapper
or other document and also in-
cluded any visible representa-
tion made by means of any light,
sound, smoke or gas;
label meaning any written,
marked, stamped, printed or
graphic matter, affixed to, or
appearing upon any package
package including a box, a
carton, tin or other container;
The Amendments have broad-
ened the scope of the audio-visual
media and materials in electronic
form and enhanced penalties. Now
advertisement in any form- mobile
Clip or CD will invite strict punish-
ment. It is pertinent to note that The
National Commission for Women has
the power to initiate actions against
the indecent Representation of
Women.
Md. Israr Md. Israr Md. Israr Md. Israr Md. Israr
INDIAN HISTORY
for
Civil Services
Preliminary Examination
KALINJAR PUBLICATIONS
Buy online at: http://www.upscportal.com/civilservices/books
In our eyes, nose and mouth, we
have sensors for light, odours and
flavours. Within the body, cells have
similar sensors for hormones and sig-
nalling substances, such as adrenalin,
serotonin, histamine and dopamine.
As life evolved, cells have repeatedly
used the same basic mechanism for
reading their environment: G-pro-
teincoupled receptors. But they re-
mained hidden from researchers for
a long time. In a human, tens of thou-
sands of billions of cells interact. Most
of them have developed distinct
roles. Some store fat; others register
visual impressions, produce hor-
mones or build up muscle tissue. In
order for us to function, it is crucial
that our cells work in unison, that they
can sense their environment and
know what is going on around them.
For this, they need sensors. Sensors
on the cell surface are called recep-
tors. Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K.
Kobilka are awarded the 2012 Nobel
Prize in Chemistry for having mapped
how a family of receptors called G-
proteincoupled receptors (GPCRs)
work. In this family, we find recep-
tors for adrenalin (also known as epi-
nephrine), dopamine, serotonin, light,
flavour and odour. Most physiologi-
cal processes depend on GPCRs.
Around half of all medications act
through these receptors, among them
beta blockers, antihistamines and vari-
ous kinds of psychiatric medications.
Knowledge about GPCRs is thus of
the greatest benefit to mankind.
However, these receptors eluded
scientists for a long time.
AN ELUSIVE ENIGMA
At the end of the 19th Century,
scientists began experimenting with
adrenalins effects on the body. They
soon realised that it does not work
via nerves in the body and they con-
cluded that cells must have some kind
of receptor that enables them to
sense chemical substances hor-
mones, poisons and drugs in their
environment. But when researchers
attempted to find these receptors,
they hit a wall. They wanted to un-
derstand what the receptors look like
and how they convey signals to the
cell. The adrenalin was administered
to the outside of the cell, and this
led to changes in its metabolism that
they could measure inside the cell.
Each cell has a wall: a membrane of
fat molecules that separates it from
its environment. How did the signal
get through the wall? How could the
inside of the cell know what was hap-
pening on the outside? The recep-
tors remained unidentified for de-
cades. Despite this, scientists man-
aged to develop drugs that specifi-
cally have their effect through one of
these receptors. In the 1940s, the
American scientist Raymond Ahlquist
examined how different organs re-
act to various adrenalin-like sub-
stances. His work led him to conclude
that there must be two different types
of receptors for adrenalin. He called
the receptors alpha a n d beta.
Such drugs undoubtedly produced
effects in the cells, but how they did
so remained a mystery. We now know
why the receptors were so difficult
to find: they are relatively few in num-
ber and they also are mostly encap-
sulated within the wall of the cell. It
was only at the end of the 1960s that
Robert Lefkowitz enters the history
of these receptors.
LURING RECEPTORS
The young top student has his
mind set on becoming a cardiologist.
However, he graduates at the height
of the Vietnam War, and he does his
military service in the US Public
Health Service at a federal research
institution, the National Institutes of
Health. There he is presented with a
grand challenge: finding the recep-
tors. Lefkowitzs supervisor already
has a plan. He proposes attaching ra-
dioactive iodine to a hormone. Then,
as the hormone binds to the surface
of a cell, the radiation from the io-
dine should make it possible to track
the receptor. Lefkowitz would also
have to show that the hormones cou-
pling to the cells outside actually trig-
gers a process known to take place
on the inside of the cell. Lefkowitz
begins working with adrenocortico-
tropic hormone, which stimulates the
production of adrenalin in the adre-
nal gland. As the project enters its
second year, Lefkowitz finally makes
some progress. In 1970, he publishes
articles in two prestigious journals
where he outlines the discovery of
an active receptor. He is recruited to
Duke University in North Carolina
where he begins working on
adrenalin and noradrenalin, so-called
adrenergic receptors. Using radioac-
tively tagged substances, including
beta blockers, his research group
examines how these receptors work.
And after fine-tuning their toolkits,
they manage with great skill to ex-
tract a series of receptors from bio-
logical tissue. Meanwhile, the knowl-
edge about what happens inside cells
has been growing. Researchers have
found what they call G-proteins
(Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medi-
cine 1994) that are activated by a sig-
nal from the receptor. The G-protein,
in turn, triggers a chain of reactions
that alters the metabolism of the cell.
By the beginning of the 1980s, sci-
entists are starting to gain an under-
standing of the process by which sig-
nals are transmitted from the outside
of the cell to its inside.
NEW INSIGHTS
In the 1980s, Lefkowitz decides
that his research group should try to
find the gene that codes for the beta
receptor. This decision would prove
to be crucial to this years Nobel Prize.
The idea was that if the research
group could isolate the gene and
read the blueprint for the beta recep-
tor, they could get clues as to how
the receptor works. At about the
same time, Lefkowitz hires a young
doctor, Brian Kobilka. Kobilka wanted
to study the power of epinephrine in
its smallest molecular detail. Kobilka
engages in the hunt for the gene.
However, during the 1980s, trying to
find a particular gene in the bodys
enormous genome is a bit like trying
to find a needle in a haystack. How-
ever, Kobilka has an ingenious idea
that makes it possible to isolate the
gene. With great anticipation, the re-
searchers begin to analyze its code;
it reveals that the receptor consists
of seven long and fatty (hydropho-
bic) spiral strings so-called heli-
ces. This tells the scientists that the
receptor probably winds its way back
and forth through the cell wall seven
times. This was the same number of
strings and same spiral shape as a dif-
ferent receptor that already had been
found elsewhere in the body: the
light receptor rhodopsin in the retina
of the eye. An idea is born: could
these two receptors be related, even
though they have completely differ-
ent functions? Robert Lefkowitz later
described this as a real eureka mo-
ment. He knew that both adrener-
gic receptors and rhodopsin interact
with G-proteins on the inside of the
cell. He also knew of about 30 other
receptors that work via G-proteins.
ADRENALIN EFFECTS
After successfully having iso-
lated the gene, Brian Kobilka trans-
ferred to Stanford University School
of Medicine in California. There he
set out to create an image of the re-
ceptor an unattainable goal in the
opinion of most of the scientific com-
munity and for Kobilka, it would
become a long journey. Imaging a
protein is a process involving many
complicated steps. Scientists use a
method called X-ray crystallography.
The first image of a crystal structure
of a protein was produced in the
1950s. Since then, scientists have X-
rayed and imaged thousands of pro-
teins. However, a majority of them
have been water-soluble, which fa-
cilitates the crystallization process.
Fewer researchers have managed to
image proteins located in the fatty
membrane of the cell. In water, such
proteins dissolve just as poorly as oil,
and they are prone to form fatty
lumps. Furthermore, GPCRs are by
nature very mobile (they transmit sig-
nals by moving), but inside a crystal
they have to remain almost com-
pletely still. Getting them to crystal-
lize is therefore a considerable chal-
lenge. It took Kobilka over two de-
cades to find a solution to all these
problems. But thanks to determina-
tion, creativity and molecular biology
sleight of hand, Kobilka and his re-
search group finally achieved their
ultimate goal in 2011: they got an im-
age of the receptor at the very mo-
ment when it transfers the signal from
the hormone on the outside of the
cell to the G-protein on the inside of
the cell.
LIFE NEEDS FLEXIBILITY
The mapping of the over one
hundred human receptors still pre-
sents challenges to scientists, as their
purposes have yet to be figured out.
Researchers have also found that they
are multifunctional; a single receptor
can recognize several different hor-
mones on the outside of the cell. The
receptors number and flexibility en-
able the fine-tuned regulation of cells
that life requires.
THE CONCLUSION
There has to be a complete fam-
ily of receptors that look alike and
function in the same manner! Since
this groundbreaking discovery, the
puzzle has been assembled bit by bit,
and scientists now have detailed
knowledge about GPCRs how
they work and how they are regulated
at the molecular level. Lefkowitz and
Kobilka have been at the forefront of
this entire scientific journey, and last
year, in 2011, Kobilka and his team of
researchers reported a finding that
put the crown atop their work.
Sandeep Dogra Sandeep Dogra Sandeep Dogra Sandeep Dogra Sandeep Dogra
IAS PCS
K.UJJWAL
by
250 Probales a book on G.S. Available
E-mail : info@ujjwalias.in Website : www.ujjwalias.in
National Issues National Issues
National Issues National Issues National Issues
CABINET RESHUFFLE IN INDIA
The Cabinet Reshuffle that took
place on 28 October 2012 witnessed
reshuffling of 5 ministers along with
17 new faces, which were inducted
to take on the charge. All these 22
ministers would take the charge of
their new offices, on 29 October
2012. Few of the most important
names in this cabinet reshuffle was
the lifting of the former Law Minister
Salman Khurshid to External Affairs
Minister of India, and Ajay Maken,
who has been promoted to Cabinet
Rank and got the Ministry of Housing
& Urban Poverty Alleviation. The
President of India, Pranab Mukherjee
appointed and administered the
oaths of the office and its secrecy to
the newly elected members in the
council of ministers following the
advice of the Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh. The President fol-
lowing the advice of the Prime Minis-
ter directed the change of portfolios
of different ministers. There are
seven new faces in the list of cabinet
minister and they include K. Rahman
Khan was given Minority Affairs,
Dinsha J. Patel was given Mines,
whereas Ajay Maken
took the charge of
Housing & Urban
Poverty Alleviation,
M.M. Pallam Raju
took over Human
Resource Develop-
ment, Ashwani
Kumar took over the
Law & Justice,
Harish Rawat got
Water Resources,
and Chandresh Kumari Katoch be-
came got the portfolio of Culture.
Two new members were in-
ducted in the list of Ministers of State
with Independent Charge and they
are Manish Tewari for Information &
Broadcasting and Dr. K. Chiranjeevi
for Tourism. New faces in the list of
Ministers of State to be included were
Shashi Tharoor getting Human Re-
source Development, Kodikunnil
Suresh got the charge of Labour &
Employment, Tariq Anwar became
the incharge of Agriculture & Food
Processing Industries, K. J. Surya
Prakash Reddy got the Railways and
Ranee Narah took over the Tribal Af-
fairs. Few more of the names in this
list for Ministers of State as new faces
to be inducted includes Adhir
Ranjan Chowdhury also got Railways,
A.H. Khan Choudhury took over
Health & Family Welfare, Sarvey
Sathyanarayana would handle the
Road Transport & Highways, Shri
Ninong Ering would take the charge
of Minority Affairs, Deepa Dasmunsi
got the Urban Development, Porika
Balram Naik took charge Social Jus-
tice & Empowerment, Kruparani Killi
became Communications & Informa-
tion Technology and Lalchand Kataria
got Defence.
List of total Ministers in different seg-
ment:
Cabinet Ministers- 17
Ministers of State with Indepen-
dent Charge- 7
Minister of State- 20
Portfolios of the newly-elected
and reshuffled ministers are men-
tioned below:
List with portfolio allotted List with portfolio allotted List with portfolio allotted List with portfolio allotted List with portfolio allotted
of the Cabinet Ministers: of the Cabinet Ministers: of the Cabinet Ministers: of the Cabinet Ministers: of the Cabinet Ministers:
M. Veerappa Moily- Petroleum
& Natural Gas
S. Jaipal Reddy- Science &
Technology and Earth Science
Kamal Nath- Urban Develop-
ment & Parliamentary Affairs
Vayalar Ravi- Overseas Indian
Affairs
Kapil Sibal- Communications &
Information Technology
C.P. Joshi- Road Transport &
Highways
Kumari Selja- Social Justice &
Empowerment
Pawan Kumar Bansal- Railways
Salman Khursheed- External
Affairs
Jairam Ramesh- Rural Develop-
ment
K. Rahman Khan- Minority Affairs
Dinsha J. Patel- Mines
Ajay Maken- Housing & Urban
Poverty Alleviation
M.M. Pallam Raju- Human Re-
source Development
Ashwani Kumar- Law & Justice
Harish Rawat- Water Resources
Chandresh Kumari Katoch- Cul-
ture
List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the
Ministers of State with Indepen- Ministers of State with Indepen- Ministers of State with Indepen- Ministers of State with Indepen- Ministers of State with Indepen-
dent Charge: dent Charge: dent Charge: dent Charge: dent Charge:
Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia-
Power
K.H. Muniappa- Micro, Small &
Medium Enterprises
Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki-
Drinking Water & Sanitation
Sachin Pilot- Corporate Affairs
Jitendra Singh- Youth Affairs &
Sports
Manish Tewari- Information &
Broadcasting
K. Chiranjeevi- Tourism
List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the List with portfolio allotted of the
Ministers of State: Ministers of State: Ministers of State: Ministers of State: Ministers of State:
E. Ahamed- External Affairs
D. Purandeswari- Commerce &
Industry
Jitin Prasada- Defence & Human
Resource Development
S. Jagathrakshakan- New & Re-
newable Energy
R.P.N. Singh- Home
K.C. Venugopal- Civil Aviation
Rajeev Shukla- Parliamentary
Affairs & Planning
Shashi Tharoor- Human Re-
source Development
Kodikunnil Suresh- Labour &
Employment
Tariq Anwar- Agriculture &
Food Processing Industries
K. J. Surya Prakash Reddy- Rail-
ways
Ranee Narah- Tribal Affairs
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury- Rail-
ways
A.H. Khan Choudhury- Health &
Family Welfare
Sarvey Sathyanarayana- Road
Transport & Highways
Ninong Ering- Minority Affairs
Deepa Dasmunsi- Urban Devel-
opment
Porika Balram Naik- Social Jus-
tice & Empowerment
Kruparani Killi- Communica-
tions & Information Technology
Lalchand Kataria- Defence
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
In the Article 74 of the Indian
constitution it is mentioned that their
shall be a Council of Ministers with
the Prime Minister as its head to aid
and advise the President for exercis-
ing his functions. It is mentioned un-
der Article 75 of the Indian constitu-
tion that the President is the person
who can appoint, the Prime Minister
and the other ministers shall be ap-
pointed by the President following
the advice the Prime Minister. In the
91st Amendment of Indian Constitu-
tion, insertion of Article 75 (1 A) took
place and it states that total number
of Ministers in the list of council of
ministers including the Prime Minis-
ter shall not exceed 15 percent of
the total strength of the members of
Lok Sabha (House of People).
NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE BOARD
ber 2012 gave its nod for setting up
of the National Automotive Board
(NAB). The body will be responsible
for promoting the research and de-
velopment activities of the industry
and act as a facilitator in between the
industry and the government.
NAB would also be responsible
as a specialized body to promote sus-
tainable development of the Nations
Auto Sector along with skill develop-
ment for the automobile sector.
SUPREME COURT WORRIED ABOUT
THE STATUS OF GROWING POLLUTION
IN YAMUNA
Supreme Court on 10 October
2012 expressed its serious concerns
over Yamuna and the growing rate of
pollution in its water although a huge
sum of about 1800 crore rupees had
been spent on containing pollution
in the river. The Supreme Court of
India on issues of pollution in River
Yamuna criticized to the Centre and
Governments of Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh and Delhi. The Bench of Jus-
tices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B.
Lokur in its statement said it an unfor-
tunate event that without showing any
improvement in the quality of water
such a huge public fund has been
invested. Investments made by the
Center, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for
cleaning the water of Yamuna till date
was 1062 crore, 219 crore and 200
crore rupees, respectively.
The bench considering the re-
port issued by the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB), which points
out the growing concentration of
pollutants along the stretch of river,
directed the Secretary of Union Ur-
ban Development Minister and chief
secretaries of the three state along
with civic bodies and concerned
ministries to file a report in detail,
about the works undertaken by them
from Hathnikund to Agra, so far. The
report measured coli content to be
17 billion per 100 ml in Delhi, since
March 2012. This Bench of Supreme
Court ordering, the concerned au-
thorities to be present in the court on
the next hearing on 30 October 2012
made it clear that the report should
contain the number of sewage treat-
ment plants installed and functional
on the sewers that join the river, may
it be domestic, industrial or other
waste that joins the river. It also di-
rected the states and the center to
present the names of their represen-
tatives for being included in the ex-
pert committee that would be con-
stituted to suggest the future action
plan to control pollution in Yamuna.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON DIRECT
CASH TRANSFERS
The Union Government on 25
October 2012 constituted
a National Committee on Direct National Committee on Direct National Committee on Direct National Committee on Direct National Committee on Direct
Cash Transfers. Cash Transfers. Cash Transfers. Cash Transfers. Cash Transfers. The committee
would be responsible to coordinate
in development of the process for
making the transfer of the cash di-
rectly to the indi-
viduals, being pro-
vided under differ-
ent types of govern-
ment schemes and
programs. The
Prime Minister of In-
dia, Manmohan
Singh would be the
Chairperson of the
committee and the
group of members
would include
eleven Cabinet Min-
isters, two Ministers of State with in-
dependent charge, the Deputy
Chairman Planning Commission, the
Chairman UIDAI, the Cabinet Secre-
tary with the Principal Secretary to
the PM as the convenor. The Prime
Minister can invite some more offic-
ers, minister or any expert for the
committees meet.
Proposed tasks of the Na- Proposed tasks of the Na- Proposed tasks of the Na- Proposed tasks of the Na- Proposed tasks of the Na-
tional Committee on Direct Cash tional Committee on Direct Cash tional Committee on Direct Cash tional Committee on Direct Cash tional Committee on Direct Cash
Transfers are: Transfers are: Transfers are: Transfers are: Transfers are:
a) With a clear objective of estab-
lishment of transparency, ac-
countability and efficiency in
the process the committee
would guide and provide a vi-
sion and direction for enabling
the cash transfers directly to
ensure that the individuals are
benefitted by the schemes and
programs being run by the Gov-
ernment. They would also con-
trol the investments being made
in the Aadhaar Project that in-
cludes the financial initiatives of
the government.
b) Policy objectives and strategies
would be determined and
framed by the committee for
direct cash transfers
c) Identification of the schemes
and programmes of the Government
in which the process of direct trans-
fer of cash to individuals can be
adopted and formulated for the coun-
try
d) The committee would be re-
sponsible for coordination of
activities of all the departments,
ministries and agencies that are
involved in the process of trans-
ferring cash to make sure that a
coordinated action for ensuring
speedy roll-out of the cash
transfers directly without delay
across the country
e) The committee would be re-
sponsible for specifying the
timeliness on the cash transfers
of the deliverables
f) It would be responsible for re-
viewing the process for imple-
mentation of direct cash trans-
fer as well as guide the mid-term
corrections on it
g) All shots of matter related to it
To assist the National Commit-
tee on the issue of Direct Cash Trans-
fer, an Executive Committee for Executive Committee for Executive Committee for Executive Committee for Executive Committee for
Direct Cash Transfer Direct Cash Transfer Direct Cash Transfer Direct Cash Transfer Direct Cash Transfer under the
chairmanship of Prime Ministers Prin-
cipal Secretary is constituted along
with the Secretaries of the con-
cerned Ministries and the DG UIDAI.
Convenor for this committee would
be the Secretary of the Planning
Commission.
The Executive Committee on
Direct Cash Transfers would be re-
sponsible for:
a) The Executive Committee
would be responsible for devel-
opment of propose after iden-
tification of the programs and
schemes for which the direct
cash transfers to Individuals can
be opted for. These recommen-
dations would be sent for con-
sideration of the National Com-
mittee on Cash Transfers. It is
also responsible for suggesting
the extent and scope of cash
transfer in every case.
b) It would be responsible for
preparation of strategies and its
approval in form of action plans
for speedy transfer of the Direct
Cash on the areas highlighted
and agreed upon, being in line
with the deadlines set by the
National Committee on cash
transfers
c) The Executive Committee
would be responsible for coor-
dination of activities between
the ministries, departments and
agencies, which are involved
direct cash transfers by helping
them in being able to transfer
the cash directly across the
nation
d) Direct cash transfers would be
reviewed by the executive
committee and it is responsible
for offerings suggestions related
to mid-term corrections, when-
ever necessary.
e) It is responsible for handling all
the matters what so ever would
be delegated by the National
Committee or something re-
lated to direct cash transfers
The Chairman of the Committee
can call experts or officers to any
meet of executive committee if re-
quired. Planning Commission, would
be servicing both the National Com-
mittee and the Executive Committee
and it may seek assistance from dif-
ferent ministries, departments and
agencies of the Government, as re-
quired. An officer would be desig-
nated from the planning commission
of the Joint Secretary Rank of the plan-
ning commission for coordinating and
servicing the work of both the Na-
tional and Executive committees.
For finalisation of the operational de-
tails and its implementation in rela-
tion to the designing of the direct cash
transfer system and its smooth imple-
mentation and operations Mission
Mode Committees would be consti-
tuted.
The notifications of the The notifications of the The notifications of the The notifications of the The notifications of the
Mission Mode would be issued Mission Mode would be issued Mission Mode would be issued Mission Mode would be issued Mission Mode would be issued
soon and it may constitute: soon and it may constitute: soon and it may constitute: soon and it may constitute: soon and it may constitute:
a) To concentrate on the payment
architecture, technology and IT
issues a Technology Technology Technology Technology Technology
Committee Committee Committee Committee Committee would be devel-
oped
b) To ensure universal access to
banks and assure a complete fi-
nancial inclusion a Financial Financial Financial Financial Financial
Inclusion Committee Inclusion Committee Inclusion Committee Inclusion Committee Inclusion Committee is be-
ing framed out
c) Implementation Committee Implementation Committee Implementation Committee Implementation Committee Implementation Committee
on Electronic Transfer of on Electronic Transfer of on Electronic Transfer of on Electronic Transfer of on Electronic Transfer of
Benef i t s Benef i t s Benef i t s Benef i t s Benef i t s would be devel-
oped at ministry or department
level for working out on the de-
tails of the transfer of the cash
of every payment in the data
base, this would also control a
cash transfer rule along with the
audit mechanism
The National Committee on The National Committee on The National Committee on The National Committee on The National Committee on
Direct Cash Transfers compo- Direct Cash Transfers compo- Direct Cash Transfers compo- Direct Cash Transfers compo- Direct Cash Transfers compo-
sition is as follows: sition is as follows: sition is as follows: sition is as follows: sition is as follows:
a) Prime Minister will head the
committee as its Chairperson
b) Finance Minister
c) Minister of Communications &
IT
d) Minister of Rural Development
e) Minister of Social Justice &
Empowerment
f) Minister of Human Resource De-
velopment
g) Minister of Tribal Affairs
h) Minister of Minority Affairs
i) Minister of Health & Family Wel-
fare
j) Minister of Labour & Employ-
ment
k) Minister of Petroleum & Natural
Gas
l) Minister of Chemicals & Fertiliz-
ers
m) Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission
n) Minister of State (i/c) of Women
& Child Development
o) Minister of State (i/c) of Food &
Public Distribution
p) Cabinet Secretary
q) Chairman, UIDAI
r) Principal Secretary to PM will be
the Convenor of the committee
IGMRI AND CWC SIGNED MOU
FOR POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT
OF FOODGRAINS
Department of Food & Public
Distribution under Ministry of Con-
sumer Affairs, and Central Warehous-
ing Corporation (CWC) on 25 Octo-
ber 2012 signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for creating a
Centre of Excellence focusing on
capacity building in the areas of post
harvest management of food grain by
providing training on latest develop-
ments to the aspirants internationally.
The MOU was signed by S. Gupta,
Director of Indian Grain Storage Man-
agement and Research Institute
(IGMRI), Hapur on behalf of Depart-
ment of Food & Public Distribution
and G. Mathialagan, Director of CWC.
As per the Memorandum of Under-
standing, CWC is going to take over
the management of training functions
and related facilities of IGMRI, and
develop it as a centre of excellence
for the purpose of training in post
harvest management of foodgrains
and other agricultural commodities.
The MOU was signed for a period of
five years which is effective from 25th
October, 2012. The MOU ideates that
CWC will develop IGMRI, Hapur as
an institution of excellence to attract
overseas participants from SAARC
nations, neighbouring countries for
training on post harvest management
of food grain.
AUTONOMY FOR THE HILLS COUNCIL
IN ASSAM
Tripartite Memorandum of
Settlement (MoS) was signed on 9
October 2012 for providing au-
tonomy for the North Cachar Hills
Autonomous Council in Assam and a
special package for speedier socio-
economic development of the area.
It was signed between Centre, Assam
government and both factions of
Dima Halam Daogah(DHD). DHD
used to be a group with violent ac-
tivities in the state but gave up vio-
lence and resorted to peace for get-
ting into the mainstream of develop-
ment. Under the MoS, a committee
will be constituted to deal with the
matters relating to the 6th schedule
councils. Under the agreement, the
DHD will dissolve as an organization
within a reasonable timeframe as a
precursor to the government initiat-
ing further process to implement the
agreed decisions.
4000 CRORE PLAN TO TACKLE
JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS
The Union Cabinet of India on
18 October 2012 approved a 4038-
crore Rupees comprehensive multi-
pronged plan for prevention and
control of Japanese Encephalitis (JE)
and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome
(AES) in the country. The plan will
implemented in Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Assam
within five years from 2012-13 to
2016-17. The Plan is going to be
jointly implemented by the Ministries
of Health and Family Welfare, Drink-
ing Water and Sanitation, Social Jus-
tice and Empowerment, Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation and
Women and Child Development. The
proposal for Prevention and Control
of Japanese Encephalitis came after
the recommendation of Group of
ministers (GoM) to Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare. For making up a
sum of 4000 crore rupees for Contri-
bution, the biggest component of
2301.57 crore of Rupees is given by
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sani-
tation while the Health ministrys con-
tribution is of 1131.49 crore of ru-
pees. Also, The Ministry of Social Jus-
tice and Empowerment will put in
9.19 crore of rupees with the Minis-
try of Housing and Urban Poverty Al-
leviation contributing 418 crore of
Rupees and Ministry of Women and
Child Development 177.85 crore of
rupees.
What is Japanese Encephalitis?
Japanese Encephalitis is a dis-
ease caused by the mosquito-borne
Japanese encephalitis virus. The En-
cephalitis disease is mainly prevalent
in Southeast Asia and the Far East
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is one of
the main cause of viral encephalitis
in Asia, with 30,00050,000 cases
reported annually. Case-fatality rates
range from 0.3% to 60% which de-
pends on the population and on age.
Japanese Encephalitis and Acute
Encephalitis Syndrome had already
taken almost 1000 lives in India in
2012 .
Also, there is not any specific
treatment for Japanese encephalitis
and treatment is supportive; with as-
sistance given for feeding, breathing
or seizure control as required.
CHILDREN IN INDIA 2012 - A
STATISTICAL APPRAISAL REPORT
The Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation released
on 9 October 2012 a report named
Children in India 2012 - A Statistical
Appraisal, showcased the griming sta-
tus of children in India. The report in
its finding pointed out a growth of
population by 181 million people,
between 1991 to 2011 and at the
same time also a huge reduction of
5.05 million of child in the age group
of 0 to 6 years. And among this the
decline in female population report-
edly was 2.99 million and of male
population was 2.06 million. The re-
port indicates a huge dip in the sex
ratios of child, increased crime and
troubles against the girl child and
continued child labour that is consti-
tutionally believed to be a social
crime. As per the report there was a
24 percent increase in reported crime
against children in the year 2011. In
this list of crime against children Uttar
Pradesh took the first position with
16.6 percent share followed by states
like Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. 47
percent kidnapping cases were re-
ported in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi,
where as 44.5 percent of child rape
cases were reported in the states of
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Uttar Pradesh.
The report also presented a dip
of child sex ratio from 945 to 914 in a
period of two decades in between
1991 to 2011, when the graph of over-
all sex ratio showcasing improvement
climbed from 927 to 940. In this re-
port the identified states with lowest
sex ratio were Haryana (830), Punjab
(846), Jammu and Kashmir (859),
Delhi (866) and Chandigarh (867) in
a chronological order. North-eastern
states, like Meghalaya and Mizoram
remained at top position with maxi-
mum (970). This report is prepared
by making the comparisons on dif-
ferent standards like rural vs urban,
north vs south and northeast vs rest
of India. The findings of the report
presents a shocking data of no North-
ern state except Himachal Pradesh
had its presence in the sex-ration
chart above 900. It also presents an
indicator of the birth-ration of a girl
child as compared to that of the male
births per 1000 to be 832 in Punjab
and 848 in Haryana due to the im-
pacts of female foeticide prevalent
in the region. Uttar Pradesh with
15.22 percent share in the chart of
child labour stood at top position and
is followed by Andhra Pradesh.
Youthful crimes of children have also
been raised as the issue of serious
concern in the report, and Tamil Nadu
with 672 cases per 1000, took the
lead in the chart with its share of 23.7
percent as a whole.
FRESH SURVEYS TO IDENTIFY
BONDED LABOUR PROBLEMS
The Supreme Court of India on
15 October 2012 directed all states
and Union Territories to conduct
fresh surveys to identify bonded
labour problems in the country and
regretted that a large number of chil-
dren continue to work as domestic
help even after the enactment of the
Right to Education Act (RTE act).
A bench of justices K S
Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra ruled
in a judgment that it shall be the duty
of the local bodies and panchayats
to identify such children and ensure
that they get proper education. Re-
ferring to bonded labour practice, the
apex court noted that after the pe-
rusal of the NHRC (National Human
Rights Commission) and other reports
it is clear that the practice is rampant.
The court passed the directions
while dealing with a 1985 PIL filed
by Public Union For Civil Liberties,
highlighting bonded labour practice
in the country.
OPINION POLLS BANNED DURING
ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN GUJARAT
AND HP
The Election Commission on 19
October 2012 issued a complete ban
on broadcast and publication of the
opinion polls during the period of
Assembly Elections in the two states
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, from
4 November 2012 to 17 December
2012. The election commission has
prohibited the publication or pub-
lishing of the polls or any election
matter by means of electronic me-
dium, print or any other medium from
8 am on 4 November 2012 in
Himachal Pradesh and the ban would
continue up to 5:30 pm on 17 De-
cember 2012 the last day of poll in
Gujarat. The Election Commission
also ordered a ban on display of any
matter related to elections on any of
the electronic broadcast platforms
within fixed 48 hours before the con-
clusions of the elections following the
above mentioned election results.
The Representation of the People
Act, 1951 under Section 126 regu-
lates prohibition on display or broad-
cast of any matter related to elections
by any means like television or some-
thing similar to it, within 48 hours and
till the time of conclusion of the polls
in the provided constituency. The
Election matter means any material
that can influence, calculate or intend
to influence the results of election
and violation of the ban as mentioned
under Section 126 of the Represen-
tation of People Act, 1951 is a pun-
ishable offence and the person be-
hind this would be liable to a fine
penalty or a two years imprisonment
or both.
RAILRADAR, WEBSITE LAUNCHED BY
THE RAILWAYS
RailRadar, the new online appli-
cation was launched by the Indian
Railways on 10 October 2012, to find
out the location of 6500 trains on real-
time basis on Google Map. It can be
accessed from the website
trainenquiry.com. To identify the train
running status that whether the train
is running on-time or late from its
schedule, color codes have been
created. Blue color is a code for trains
running on time and red markers are
the symbol of trains running behind
schedule. On clicking upon the name
of the train, the map will show the
route along with stoppages and run-
ning status of the train on real time-
basis. At present, out of 10000 trains
that depart from different stations of
India 6500 trains would be visible on
the map at present. This website is
full of different features and allows
tracking the exact location of the train
across the country apart from provid-
ing its running status. After spotting
the train once, one can also learn the
trains departure time from previous
two crossed stations and the distance
of the next two stations from the
trains location along with the ex-
pected time of its arrival. The initia-
tive is a pilot project and soon it will
be made a permanent feature.
INDIA AND WORLD BANK SIGNED
DEAL FOR SHIKSHA ABHYAN
World bank and the Govern-
ment of India on 5 October 2012
signed a loan agreement of 500 Mil-
lion US Dollar for Secondary Educa-
tion Project named Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
The project is going to help in achiev-
ing increased and good quality sec-
ondary education as directed in the
framework of Rashtriya Madhyamik
Shiksha Abhiyan, the flagship govern-
ment of India program for gradual
Universalisation of secondary
education. The agreeement was
signed by Prabodh Saxena, the
joint secretary, department of
economic affairs and Onno Ruhl,
the country director of World
Bank.
What is Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha
Abhiyan?
Like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(SSA), the Department of School
Education and Literacy of the Minis-
try of Human Resource Development
(MHRD) under Government of India
is launching Rastriya Madhyamic
Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) with an aim
to achieve Universal Access and Qual-
ity Secondary Education. Under
Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan,
the responsibility to develop Sec-
ondary-Education Management In-
formation system (SE-MIS) is given to
the Department of Educational Plan-
ning, National University of Educa-
tional Planning and Administration
(NUEPA), New Delhi.
CCEA LIFTED EXPORT BAN ON
SOME MILK PRODUCTS
The Union Government body,
Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA) on 1 November 2012
lifted the export ban on milk prod-
ucts, especially on whole milk pow-
der (WMP), dairy whitener, infant milk
foods and other milk products till
March 2013. In February 2011 to
meet the domestic supply of Milk
Products the Union government had
imposed ban on export of all kinds of
milk products that is skimmed milk
powder (SMP), whole milk powder
(WMP), dairy whitener, infant milk
foods, casein and casein products.
However the ban was withdrawn in
for Casein in April 2012 and for
Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) in June
2012. The decision of withdrawing
the export ban was taken in to con-
sideration by CCEA after acknowledg-
ing the flush season of milk that
started in October which had im-
proved the supply of milk within the
country. As per the Government Sta-
tistics, there is a stock of 1.12 lakh
tonnes of milk powder in the coun-
try. As much as 300 lakh kilos of milk
per day were procured in the coun-
try in September 2012 while sales
were to the tune of only 260 lakh ki-
los per day.
GLOBAL HUNGER REPORT 2012
The report on Global Hunger
Index for seventh year was released
on 11 October 2012 by the Interna-
tional Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Con-
cern Worldwide. The basic theme of
the report for the 2012 Global Hun-
ger Index The Challenge of Hun-
ger: Ensuring Sustainable Food Se-
curity under Land, Water, and Energy
Stresses. IFPRI that calculated the
global hunger Index analysed the
measures based upon multidimen-
sional angles. The published report
have shown a proportional growth in
hunger reduction of people world-
wide but recorded the progress
speed was tragically slow and alarm-
ing. The report in its findings re-
corded twenty countries across the
world mainly from South Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa to be highly alarm-
ing and have highest level of hunger,
and showcased the sufferings of mil-
lions of poor. As per the report, the
nations that had showcased an abso-
lute progress between 1990 Global
Hunger Index to 2012 Global Hun-
ger Index were Bangladesh, Angola,
Malawi, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Niger,
and Vietnam. Whereas there are 15
countries that have managed to re-
duce it by 50 percent or more. As
per the report, India instead of its fast
paced economic growth in past two
decades has lagged behind in im-
proving its record in Global Hunger
Index chart. In the list of 79 coun-
tries in the global Hunger Index, In-
dia was ranked 65th behind China
that was placed at 2nd place posi-
tion, Pakistan at 57th and Sri Lanka at
37th position.
The report
also points out the
three countries
Bangladesh, India
and Timor-Leste
constitutes to the
highest occurrence
of underweight chil-
dren under the age
group of five years,
which records to
more than 40 per-
cent in each country. India was
ranked second with 43.5 percent of
the children less than five under-
weight in the list of the 129 countries
compared for underweight child, af-
ter Timor-Leste. Countries like Ethio-
pia, Niger, Nepal and Bangladesh fol-
lowed the chart. The report also
complained about the lack and ab-
sence of an up-to-date data and in-
formation in case of India for the in-
effectiveness of Indian Governments
nutrition relevant social programmes.
Indias expenditure on Nutrition-re-
lated schemes for 2012-13 states that
there is not a problem of resources in
this case.
Indias investments in the Indias investments in the Indias investments in the Indias investments in the Indias investments in the
schemes are: schemes are: schemes are: schemes are: schemes are:
Mid Day Meal - 11,937 crore ru-
pees
Food Subsidy - 60, 573 crore
rupees
ICDS (Integrated Child Devel-
opment Services) - 15,850
crore rupees
MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act) - 33,000 crore
rupees
Whereas the surveys done dur-
ing 2005-06 proved the health indi-
cators of India to be poor with 36
percent of Indian women during their
child bearing age were underweight
and 43.5 percent of the children un-
der age of 5 were underweight.
SC ORDERED STATES TO HAVE A
CHECK ON SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACES
19 October 2012 made it mandatory
for every state, union territory and
regulatory bodies to bring in practice/
operations the legal mechanism for
implementation of the guidelines is-
sued in Vishaka Case that requires the
employers to observe and ensure
prevention of sexual harassment of
women at workplaces. The three
Judge Bench of Supreme Court that
included Justices, R.M. Lodha, Anil
R. Dave and Ranjan Gogoi explained
that the implementation of the guide-
lines issued in Vishaka Case was not
only to be followed in a form but was
also a matter of substantiating the
same with an spirit to make sure that
a safe and secured space and envi-
ronment in all aspects was made avail-
able to the woman at her workplace,
which enables them to work with
decency, dignity and respect as a
whole.
The bench also pointed out to-
wards the lack of a legislation and
proper mechanism to address the
complaints of sexual harassment of
women at their work place. The
Bench also explained the position of
women representation to be only 10
to 11 percent of the total seats in Leg-
islative Assemblies and Parliament,
when it comes to gender parity. It also
pointed out the 129th position of In-
dia on the list of United Nations Gen-
der Equality Index out of the 147
countries covered in it, which is lower
than all the South Asian Countries
except Afghanistan. The Bench ex-
plaining the provisions of the Indian
Constitution, also cleared that in case
there exists an issue of revising the
old acts and bring in new laws to pro-
tect women from the indecency, dis-
respect and indignity they suffer from
at their workplaces, homes and other
places. Providing new initiatives to
educate and advance the girls and
women in all spheres and to protect
violence in all forms (like sexual as-
sault, domestic violence, sexual ha-
rassment at the workplace) against
them new laws may be enacted by
the Parliament and the State Legisla-
tures. As the hollow statements, lip
services and inadequate laws with a
careless approach may not be
enough to bring in gender parity and
offer the genuine respect to the most
precious population- the women.
LAND ACQUISITION BILL CLEARED
The Land Acquisition Bill was
cleared on 16 October 2012 by a
Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. It
is going to be presented to the Cabi-
net this month. The bill was cleared
after three rounds of vigorous debate
with few changes from the version
presented to the Union Cabinet in
September 2012. With the clearance
of Bill, the Group of Ministers agreed
with the proposal to seek consent of
two-third of land owners, instead of
the existing 80 per cent of project-
affected families, for acquiring land
for public-private-partnership or
private projects. The
GoM also
agreed
on flexibility in the
validity period for the social
impact assessment (SIA), based on
the assessment of the state chief
secretarys committee which has to
be constituted to review SIAs for ac-
quisitions above 200 crore. The Bill
is now named as, The Right to Fair
Compensation, Resettlement, Reha-
bilitation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition Bill. It was originally in-
troduced in Parliament in September
2011.
SC: REFUSED TO RESTRAIN CENTER
FROM PROVIDING TRAINING TO SRI
LANKAN ARMED FORCES
The Supreme Court on 8 Octo-
ber 2012 denied from restraining the
centre from offering training the
armed forces of Sri Lanka. Supreme
Court Bench headed by Justice
Aftab Alam including Ms. Ranjana
Desai stated that it was the govern-
ment policy and the court cannot in-
terfere in the government policy de-
cisions. The court in its verdict de-
clared the petition as misconceived,
dismissed the petition. The decision
came in response to the petition filed
by N Raja Raman against nine Lankan
defence personnels, who are being
trained in the Indian Air Force base
at Karnataka.
REPORT-THE STATE OF THE GIRL
CHILD IN INDIA-2012 RELEASED
A report named the state of
the girl child in India-2012 released
on 9 October 2012 by a NGO (non-
government organisation) Plan In-
dia, pinpoints the identified rea-
sons for roadblocks in girls edu-
cation. The key determinants
of the roadblocks found within
the educationally backward
families in the three states
namely Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
and Bihar, were the literacy status of
the girls mother, economic condition
of the family and parents willingness
to allow the girl child to continue their
studies and gain secondary educa-
tion.
The other pin-pointed reasons
for this lack of secondary education
and drop-outs of girl child from
higher studies as per the report were-
the societal reasons because of cul-
tural limitations and backwardness,
poor infrastructural facilities (as in lack
of sanitation facilities, drinking water
and space within the classroom),
safety concerns due to the long dis-
tance in between the place or resi-
dence and secondary school (re-
moteness). The report presented
after interviewing the girls by the
NGO Plan India 43 percent of the girls
got married before 18 years of age,
the girls reported to be underweight
reached a mark of fifty percent, thirty
three percent were left undernour-
ished, fifty six percent of them were
anemic, only thirty percent of the girls
were able to afford their deliveries in
hospitals. The report also cleared that
fifty even percent girls dropped the
school even before tenth class.
Govind Nihalani, the chairperson of
Plan Indias governing body informed
that because I am a girl is a global
campaign designed and launched by
the organization to fight against gen-
der inequality to lift millions of girls
out from poverty providing them op-
portunities to reach the level of their
potential and to provide them their
rights.
AMENDMENT OF INDECENT
REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN ACT
ber 2012 approved the introduction
of Amendments to the Indecent
Representation of Women (Prohibi-
tion) Act, 1986 in Parliament under
the chairmanship of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. The amendments
proposed are as:
(a) Broaden the scope of the law
to cover the audio-visual media
and material in electronic form
which includes Internet, satel-
lite-based communication,
multi-media messaging and
cable television, among others.
(b) Penalties to be enhanced to a
maximum of three years of im-
prisonment and fine of between
50000 to 100000 Rupees for
first conviction, and imprison-
ment of not less than two years,
but which may extend to seven
100000 Rupees to 500000 Ru-
pees for second conviction.
(c) Police officers not below the
rank of Inspectors authorized to
carry out search and seizure, in
addition to State and Central
Government officers authorized
by the State or Central Govern-
ment.
The Act was enacted in 1986
to prohibit the indecent representa-
tion of women through advertise-
ment, publication, writing, and paint-
ing or in any other manner. With the
increased use of advanced technol-
ogy and communication devices in
everyday life, the Government felt the
scope of the Act should be
amended. The amendments were in-
troduced after consultations with
stakeholders, including lawyers and civil
society organisations, on the draft Bill.
SOME MORE FACTS ABOUT INDECENT
REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN ACT
The act under its ambit covers:
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement whi ch i n-
cludes any notice, circular, label,
wrapper or other document and also
includes any visible representation
made by means of any light, sound,
smoke or gas.
Distribution Distribution Distribution Distribution Distribution which includes
distribution by way of samples
whether free or otherwise.
Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation Indecent representation of
morality or morals.
Label Label Label Label Label means any written,
marked, stamped, printed or graphic
matter, affixed to, or appearing upon,
any package. Package includes a
box, a carton, tin or other container.
PRESIDENT OF INDIA APPROVED NEW
PROTOCOL
Pranab Mukherjee, the Honble
President of India approved new set
of Protocols for addressing, the dig-
nitaries inside and outside the coun-
try. Mukherjee also asked the authori-
ties to organise government functions
within the premises of Rastrapati
Bhawan, this came out of his concern
to the inconvenience caused to the
public and police during his
movement. Words of colonial era like
his Excellency will be replaced by
Shree or Smt. before the name of the
President or the Governor, in the
functions being organised within the
country and between the Indian dig-
nitaries. His Excellency can only be
used to greet the President during
his interaction with foreign dignitar-
ies. The Hindi word, Mahamahin
would be replaced by Rastrapati
Mahoday. In official notings in Presi-
dent Secretariat, Mahamahim will be
replaced with the word Rastrapati ji.
Honble word would be used before
the names of the President and the
Governor. For further action to be
taken on the protocol, the changed
Protocol was conveyed to the Home
Ministry. The protocol will be imple-
mented and brought in practice with
immediate effect.
DECISION OF CAUVERY RIVER
AUTHORITY RULED OUT
Decision of the Cauvery River
Authority was ruled out by the Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on 8 Octo-
ber 2012. The Prime Minister ordered
Karnataka to release 9000 cusecs of
water to Tamil Nadu every day, till 20
October 2012. The Cauvery River
Authority (CRA) comprises of the
Chief Ministers of basin states namely
Puducherry, Kerela, Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka and is chaired by the Prime
Minister itself. The Prime Minister in
response to his meet with the Con-
gress Union Ministers namely S.M.
Krishna, M. Mallikarjun Kharge and
K.H. Muniyappa along with 16 mem-
bers of Parliament from BJP came to
a conclusion that the decision will be
made following the findings of the
ground reality from the Cauvery Moni-
toring Committee. The committee is
going to meet in the third week of
October. As the decision making lies
in the hands of the CRA, so the Prime
Minister due to lack of mechanism
cannot make any changes in the
award.
BROADBAND NETWORK PACT SIGNED
WITH 16 STATES AND UT
GOVERNMENT
The central government on 26
October 2012 signed a tripartite pact
with 16 state and UT governments for
laying digital highway and also
formed a special purpose vehicle
BBNL for facilitating connection to
every gram Panchayat with broad-
band network. The states which
signed the pact include Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, Madhya
Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and
Tripura. Also, the three union terri-
tories Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman
and Diu and Puducherry also signed
the agreement. The Memorandum of
Understanding was signed for around
140000 gram panchayats. It is Rs
20000 crore projects and entire fund
is going to be provided by central
government. State Governments will
have to provide approvals for laying
of the optic fibre network and facili-
tate other measures for expeditious
rollout of the network. By December
2013, broadband network across the
country will be completed. The states
which signed the pact constitute 60
per cent gram panchayats in the
country. Bharat Broadband Network
Ltd will be unveiling the project,
which will be executed by BSNL,
RailTel and Power Grid.
FRESH GUIDELINES ON TIGER
RESERVES WITHIN A WEEK
Supreme Court of India asked
the center to present fresh guidelines
on tiger conservation within a week.
The court in its verdict also said that
the guidelines issued by the court on
banning all types of tourists activi-
ties in Tiger reserves given on 24 July,
may be modified. The Supreme
Court bench of Justices A K Patnaik
and Swatanter Kumar in its statement
also stated that the court will not al-
low the given directives on tiger-re-
serves to be open ended and in case
the state government is not happy
with the issued guidelines, they can
challenge the decision in the court.
The bench also cleared that ultra
vires will not be declared in case the
states challenged the guidelines is-
sued by the apex court.
AADHAR BASED TRANSFER SYSTEM
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on 20 October 2012 launched
Aadhaar Enabled Service Delivery in
Dudu district of Rajasthan to mark the
2nd anniversary of Aadhaar. Also
marking the second anniversary, the
21st crore Aadhaar number was given
to a local resident of Kurawar, district
of Udaipur. With this launch of deliv-
ery system the government is going
to start out Aadhaar Enabled Service
Delivery initiatives in 51 districts
across the country Now, the services
will be linked to various government
schemes such as MNREGA wage pay-
ments, PDS distribution, payment of
social security benefits such as old-
age payments, distribution of LPG
cylinders, etc. A number of state gov-
ernments are coming ahead to roll
out for these initiatives. Currently 23
crore residents have enrolled for an
Aadhaar number, of which 21 crore
Aadhaar numbers have already is-
sued. Aadhaar, is a 12-digit number,
which serves as a proof of identity
and address anywhere in the coun-
try. It is an online identity platform
that can be accessed in real-time for
authenticating beneficiaries and can
be adapted by various user agencies.
ABHIJEET MUKHERJEE OF
CONGRESS WON FROM JANGIPUR IN
LOK SABHA BYPOLL
Congress candidate Abhijeet
Mukherjee on 13 October 2012 won
a seat from Jangipur District in West
Bengal in Lok Sabha By-Poll. Abhijeet
Mukherjee is the son of President
Pranab Mukherjee. Abhijeet
Mukherjee, won the Jangipur by-
election by a narrow margin of 2536
votes defeating his nearest CPI-M ri-
val Muzaffar Hussain. Abhijit
Mukherjee fought the by-election on
a Congress ticket after resigning as
an MLA. The vote bank of Abhijit
Mukherjee counted with 332919
votes, while the CPI-M candidate
bagged 330383
votes. Abhijeet
Mukherjees father
Pranab Mukerjee
had earlier won the
seat in 2009 by a
huge margin of over
1.28 lakh votes un-
der a poll alliance
with Trinamool Con-
gress. The by-elec-
tion was held on October 10 as the
seat had fallen vacant with the eleva-
tion of Pranab Mukherjee to the high-
est office of the country as President.
Also, In an another By-poll, BJPs Mala
Rajya Laxmi Shah Defeated
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay
Bahugunas son Saket in Tehri con-
stituency with a margin of more than
25000 votes. The seat was vacated
by Vijay Bahuguna to take over as the
states CM earlier in 2012. With the
result the strength of Congress comes
down to 206 in a House of 545 while
that of BJP goes up to 115.
SPEED POST RATE INCREASED BY 56
PERCENT
The postal department of India
had increased the rates of Speed
post deliveries by 42-56% from 1 Oc-
tober 2012. Domestic charges were
increased from Rs 12 to Rs 17, includ-
ing service tax, and the
One India tariff escalated
up from Rs 25 to Rs 39. It
is first time since 2007 that
the rates have been re-
vised. The biggest users of
Speed Post are institu-
tional users, law firms and
corporate entities that
dispatch bulk mails. Many
Banks, uses this service to
send credit card state-
ments and also credit
cards. The difference is
particularly distinctive with respect
to foreign dispatches. A person is sup-
posed to pay Rs 600 to a courier and
merely Rs 150-odd to Speed Post
delivery. On the occasion of World
Post Day on 9 October 2012, the
postal department also announced a
proposal to install ATMs at several
post offices in the state of
Maharashtra. Banking services are al-
ready available at several locations
but this will enable anywhere, any-
time banking.
WORLD POST DAY
World Post day is held every year
on October 9. The date is marked with
the establishment of Universal Postal
Union (UPU) in 1874 in Bern, Swit-
zerland. The Universal Postal Union
was the start of global communica-
tions revolution the result of which
people could write to others all over
the world.
ABOUT SPEED POST
Speed Post links more than
1200 towns in India, with 290 Speed
Post Centres in the national network
and around 1000 Speed Post Cen-
tres in the state network. For regular
users, Speed Post provides delivery
anywhere in India under contractual
service. Speed Post offers money-
back guarantee, under which Speed
Post fee will be refunded if the con-
signment is not delivered within the
published delivery norms.
NEW NON-PERMANENT MEMBER TO
UNSC
The UN General Assembly on
18 October 2012 elected five new
non-permanent members to the Se-
curity Council. The New Members
are South Korea, Luxembourg, Ar-
gentina, Australia and Rwanda. The
newly elected member countries are
going to serve a two-year term in the
powerful UN body that will begin on
1 January 2013. The country of Re-
public of Korea and Luxembourg
were elected to a two-year term in
the UN Security Council in the sec-
ond round of voting.
Whereas, Argentina, Australia
and Rwanda were elected earlier, to
serve as new non-permanent mem-
bers of the powerful UN body. The
five new members are going to re-
place Colombia, Germany, India, Por-
tugal and South Africa, whose term
ends on 31 December 2012. Under
the UN Charter, the 15-member Se-
curity Council has the primary respon-
sibility for the maintenance of inter-
national peace and security. To be
elected to the UN Security Council,
a country must win support from two
thirds of the General Assembly mem-
bers, or 129 votes.
NEW CABINET PROPOSED BY PRIME
MINISTER REJECTED IN LIBYA
The General National Assemly
of Libya rejected the new 10-mem-
ber Crisis Cabinet proposed by the
Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur.
He had submitted his second list of
Cabinet Ministers for approval to the
National Assembly.
There were 125 votes against,
44 in favour while 17 MPs abstained
from voting in the 200 member Na-
tional Assembly. The rejection implies
dismissal of Libyan Prime Minister.
The National Assembly can now
elect a new Prime Minister within the
next four weeks.
The second list of 10 cabinet
ministers was proposed as an emer-
gency response by the Prime Minis-
ter Mustafa Abu Shagur, barely 3 days
after the first list of 29 ministers was
rejected by the General National
Congress on 4 October 2012. The
lawmakers at the 200 member Na-
tional Assembly yet again disap-
proved it saying it was not represen-
tative of all the regions in Libya.
After the release of the first list,
the Parliament in Tripoli was stormed
by the protesters from Zawiya and
Zuwara demanding more represen-
tation and the resignation of the Prime
Minister.
International Issues International Issues
International Issues International Issues International Issues
FRANCE OFFICIALLY RECOGNISED
THE KILLINGS OF 1961 PARIS
MASSACRE
France on 17 October 2012 for
the first time officially acknowledged
the killings of hundreds of unarmed
Algerians in the 1961 Paris Massacre.
In a communiqu (communication)
that was published by the Elysee Pal-
ace, a statement by the President
Francois Hollande stated about the
killing of the Algerians protestors, pro-
testing for their Independence on 17
October 2012 in a bloody repression.
He also paid homage to the victims
after 51 years of the incident.
Algeria, the North African Coun-
try, won its independence in 1962,
after fighting 8 years long brutal war
in which about a million people died.
The official declaration in relation to
the acknowledgement of the killings
came a week before Mr. Hollandes
visit to Algeria.
ABOUT THE INCIDENT
Maurice Papon, the French Nazi
sympathizer and the then Prefect of
Paris imposed a curfew on Algerians
living in France. The Leaders of Alge-
ria tried to challenge the curfew with
a protest that was to be done in a
peaceful manner. The Protestors on
17 October 1961 were rounded up
in Paris on tne order of Papon and
tortured and beaten up brutally. Many
of them were thrown alive in River
Seine with their hands tied at their
back. The 1961 Massacre of Paris
can be compared to Jalianwala Bagh
Masscare in which General Dyer or-
dered killing of unarmed civilians pro-
testing against colonial presence in
the India.
ARABIC MADE ITS DEBUT AS OFFICIAL
LANGUAGE AT VATICAN
Arabic on 10 October 2012
made its official debut among one of
the Languages at Pope Benedicts
weekly general audiences. This is an
exercise and attempt of Vatican to
expand its reach to Christians and
Muslims in Middle East.
This came out of the growing
concerns of the Vatican in relation to
the mass departure of the Christians
from Middle East fearing to their
safety over there. The community that
comprised about 20 percent of the
total population a century ago has
fallen down to a percentage level of
five. Some of the estimates also states
that the 12 million of Christians leav-
ing in Middle East may drop down to
its half by 2020. Speaking Arabic
during the audiences that is broad-
casted across the world on radio and
television may bring down the fear of
Christians in Middle East comforting
them to stay back on the land that is a
home for many of the holy places for
Christians. It is likely that this act of
Popes address to the world in Ara-
bic language would help in improv-
ing the strained relations with the
Muslim world. The relations between
the Christians and the Muslim world
turned sour after Popes speech at
Regensburg in 2006, which made the
Muslim world feel that his message
was an attack on Islam. The Priest,
while addressing thousands of
people at St. Peters Square, read the
summary of popes Italian language
weekly address in Arabic for the very
first time in the history along with other
briefs in different languages includ-
ing English, Polish, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Slovak, German, Czech,
Russian and Hungarian. On occasion
of the 50th anniversary of the second
Vatican Council, Pope for the first
time addressed people in Arabic.
US UPLIFTED TERRORIST
DESIGNATION FROM NEPALI MAOISTS
The title of terrorists assigned
to Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists)
by United States has been uplifted
on 6 September 2012. Maoist part
was Specially Designated with the
title of Terrorist Entity under Execu-
tive Order 13224. US also withdrew
its status as terrorist organisation from
the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) un-
der the Immigration and Nationality
Act. This decision came in favor of
the party after six years long wait,
since the time it signed peace treaty
to make its entry to open politics. US
declared its decision on the day,
when final phase of rehabilitation and
integration process of former Maoists
combatants started. The state depart-
ment stated that the party is no longer
involved in the activities that threaten
the security of U.S. foreign policy
and its nationals and now they are
directly involved in governance of the
Nation.
PAKISTAN SC ORDERED ACTION
AGAINST EX CHIEFS OF PAK ARMY
AND ISI
Supreme Court of Pakistan on
19 October 2012 ordered the gov-
ernment to take legal action against
former army chief General Mirza
Aslam Beg and former Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) chief Asad Durrani
for distributing millions of rupees
among politicians to manipulate the
1990 general election. A three-judge
bench headed by Chief Justice
Iftikhar Chaudhry also asserted on
shutting down immediately of any
political cell operating in the presi-
dency, ISI, Military Intelligence or
Intelligence Bureau. Also the bench
ruled that any notification to create
such a cell would be null and void.
The directives were issued by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan after tak-
ing into consideration the petition
filed in 1996 by former air force chief
Asghar Khan against the distribution
of funds by the ISI among politicians
to prevent the Pakistan Peoples
Partys victory in the 1990 polls. Al-
though the two general are retired
the court directed the government
to take action against them accord-
ing to the Constitution and the law. It
was informed to the Supreme Court
during the case hearing that election
cell in the presidency had received
140 million rupees from a banker to
tampered the poll. Out of which 60
million Rupees was distributed
among politicians while 80 million
rupees was retained in a survey and
construction account maintained by
the Military Intelligence. Keeping it
into consideration, the Supreme
Court of Pakistan directed authorities
to recover the amount paid to politi-
cians with interest and to deposit the
funds with the national exchequer.
THE PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED IN
KUWAIT FOR THE SIXTH TIME IN
FIVE YEARS
In Kuwait, the ruler Emir Sheikh
Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on 7 Oc-
tober 2012 dissolved the parliament
clearing the decks for yet other par-
liamentary elections in the country. It
is for the sixth time in five years that
parliament has been dissolved in Ku-
wait. The opposition had been de-
manding dissolution of the National
Assembly. The Islamist led opposition
had secured a huge victory in the
February elections 2012. But four
months later, the Supreme Constitu-
tional Court annulled the elections,
scrapped parliament and reinstated
the 2009 parliament. The same par-
liament was dissolved by the Emir of
Kuwait in the wake of widespread
protests by the opposition and cor-
ruption charges against some of its
members. The Kuwaiti Cabinet had
recommended on Wednesday that
the parliament be dissolved. Under
Kuwaits constitution, fresh general
elections must be held within two
months or before December 7. The
forthcoming polls will be the second
this year and the fifth since June
2006.
WEBSITE OF NEW YORK TIMES
BLOCKED IN CHINA
China blocked access to the
English as well as Chinese-language
website of the New York Times on 26
October 2012 in the country, after
the website published article on the
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao with a
claim that he and his family has cre-
ated a total asset of at least US dollar
2.7 Million. A spokesperson from
Foreign Ministry of
China announced
that the blocking of
the website was
done in accordance
to the laws available
in the country. The
Chinese Authorities
also blocked the at-
tempts to mention
the names of The Times and the Wen
Jiabao in the posts of its own mini-
blogging site named Sina Weibo,
which functions similar to that of Twit-
ter.
The New York Times is not the
first website to be blocked in the
mainlands of China, before this
Google in the year 2010 moved its
server to Hong Kong the semi-au-
tonomous Chinese territory where
censorship firewalls of the China
couldnt make it a prey. It happened
after the agreement between the
Chinese Authorities and Google
failed to reach any conclusion on
unrestricted search options on
internet.
NEW NUCLEAR SAFETY AGENCY
LAUNCHED IN JAPAN
Japan launched a new Nuclear
Safety Agency on 18 September
2012. The formation of this five-mem-
ber Nuclear Regulation Authority was
done after the country was hit by Tsu-
nami in the year 2011 resulting in
major breakdown and leakage of the
Nuclear Power Plants in the tsunami-
stricken-area of Fukushima Dai-Ichi
Plant. Headed by the nuclear Physi-
cist, Shunichi Tanaka, this agency is
responsible for reviewing of the
nuclear policies of the country. Be-
fore the incident, Japan relied on
nuclear power for at least one-third
of its energy requirements but now
its planning to increase it to a level of
50 percent of its total energy require-
ments. The framed policies framed
aims to phase out the issues related
to nuclear power of the country for
next three decades.
ISRAELI AUTHORITIES RELEASED
RED LINE REPORT
The Israeli Authority on 18 Oc-
tober 2012 released documents de-
scribing the red line for minimum
food needs of people at Gaza Strip
to avoid, the issue of
Malnutrition. Referring to the de-
fence ministry documents dated
2008 obtained under Freedom of
Information, an Israeli NGO, Gisha
that campaigns for the cause of Pal-
estinian Freedom of Movement and
Trade stated that 2279 calorie per
person per day was sufficient to avoid
malnutrition on the Gaza strip. A
blockade was imposed by Israel in
June 2006 after a militant snatched
one of its soldiers and tightened it in
September 2007 after seizure of the
Islamists Hamas Movement and the
soldiers of the Western Backed Presi-
dent Mahmud Abbas were sent on
exile. Gisha report also cleared that
this was an official goal of this barrier
lied behind the economic warfare
policy of creating a paralysis in Gazas
economy to create pressure on the
Hamas Government. It was officially
cleared by the COGAT defence min-
istry department spokesperson that
the report entitling- Food Consump-
tion in the Gaza Strip Red Lines
was never implemented to set the
levels of food that was allowed to
people in Gaza as it was just a
draft. By 2010 restrictions in Gaza
was eased followed by the interna-
tional outcry of killing of nine Turkish
nationals by Israel during a navy raid
on a ship in a trial to break the
blockage. The Red Lines file was
made available to Gisha after fighting
and three-and-a-half year legal battle
and the documents of the file men-
tioned in its recommendations that a
minimum of 106 food trucks per work-
ing day was to be sent in the Gaza
strip, whereas sending of 67 trucks
on an average remained in practice.
SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY MADE
INTRODUCTION TO SOUTH ASIA A
COMPULSORY SUBJECT
South Asian University (SAU)
made Introduction to South Asia a
compulsory course for every student
in the University. The University made
it mandatory to pass this non-credit
course for gaining a degree from the
University. The decision came dur-
ing the second meet of the
Universitys Academic Council in
October 2012. The
taken step will help
the students taking
admissions in the
University from dif-
ferent South Asian
Nations to know
some facts and rel-
evant importance of
the region. A PhD
program will also be
launched by the
University in the next academic year.
The University also declared that it
would also institute Gold Medal by
the name of the University for all the
eight different Post-Graduate
Programmes that it offers at present.
These medals will be awarded to one
student from each section at the end
of the program after reviewing their
academic record and achievement.
UN WARNED OF PRICE HIKE IN
FOOD PRODUCTS
United Nations on 4 October
2012 issued a warning of price rise
for meat and dairy products in re-
sponse to the extreme weather con-
ditions suffered by Europe and asso-
ciated centers of food production.
Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) with its headquarters in Rome
indicated that the global wheat pro-
duction saw an expected fall of 5.2
percent and other crops meant for
feeding the animals could drop down
by 10 percent in the year 2012 to that
on the available data of year 2011.
With rise in density of population
there has been a fall in the produc-
tion to manage the demand of con-
sumption and this is a reason that
products like wheat have seen 25
percent growth in the price in the
year 2012. Whereas, Maize and dairy
products have witnessed a price hike
of 13 and 7 percent within a months
time, respectively. The world at
present is facing tight conditions in
food supply because of decreased
cereal production and decline in
world reserves. This has turned up to
be a reason for hike in prices across
the world. This price hike is the rea-
son for decline in demand of these
products. Maplecroft, the Risk Analy-
sis Company has brought forward the
data of identified countries that are
the suspects of societal unrest and
famine, which may steam up the food
storage and price fluctuations.
These countries have been di-
vided into two categories of Extreme
Risk and High Risk Zones. Countries
listed in the group of High Risk In-
cludes Congo, Afghanistan, Ethiopia,
South Sudan and Somalia. The coun-
tries named in the list of High Risk in-
clude India, Pakistan, Yemen, Sri
Lanka and Bangladesh. US that is the
worlds largest grower and exporter
of grain (includes Wheat, Maize and
Barley) is also expected to be ef-
fected by the harsh weather condi-
tions.
ARREST WARRANT AGAINST
EX-PRESIDENT MOHAMED NASHEED
An arrest warrant was issued by
the Maldivian Court on 7 October
2012 against Mohamed Nasheed,
countrys first democratically elected
President. The warrant was issued in
reference to Nasheeds questioning
the authority of the special court for
initiating a trail against him for the al-
leged charges of power abuse, when
he was in the office.
Ordering the police to produce
the former President in the court, the
Magistrate Court of Hulhumale also
asked the police to keep Nasheed in
Custody to face the charges of arrest-
ing and detaining Abdulla Mohamed,
the Chief Criminal Judge. This is a
case that is related to his order of dis-
patching the military for arresting the
senior judge. This action led to his
resignation after viewing protests.
BERLUSCONI SENTENCED WITH FOUR
YEAR JAIL TERM
Silvio Berlusconi, the former
Prime Minister of Italy was sentenced
a term for four years of imprisonment
for tax fraud, and was also
banned from hold-
ing any
publ i c
office, by the
Court of Italy on 26 October
2012. But this sentence would not
directly lead him to jail as the cases in
Italy needs to pass a minimum of two
levels of appeal before the
finalisation of the verdict takes
place. In total 11 people were on
trial accused of declaring the series
of payments by false means by the
offshore companies to avoid taxes in
the scheme of purchasing the rights
of broadcast of the US movies on the
private networks of Mediaset
Empire. All the previous criminal
cases against the former premier of
the state landed to be acquittal. He
has been convicted in the case with
10 more people as accused and
needs to deposit $13 million in the
fund of appeals for the losses incurred
by the tax authorities, in what they
called large-scale fraud. The trial of
the case started in the July month of
the year 2006, when he was in office
but was put on hold because of the
immunity law that shielded him from
the prosecution being the premier of
the nation. The prosecution could
have not been done until he left from
his office.
RESOLUTION TO PROTECT THE
ONLINE HUMAN RIGHTS OF GLOBAL
CITIZENS
United Nations Human Rights
Council (UNHRC), the Geneva based
human rights wing of UN, adopted a
first ever resolution to protect the
online human rights of global citizens.
The resolution adopted by consen-
sus, stated that citizens of the world
are as much entitled to the human
rights online as they are offline. The
resolution noted that there can be no
double standard with regard to
peoples right of fundamental free-
dom and since internet makes a ma-
jor part of present worlds communi-
cation process, all governments must
endeavour to protect the online rights
of its citizens. The landmark resolu-
tion was sponsored by Sweden and
co-sponsored by over 80 countries,
that includes United States, Brazil,
Turkey, Nigeria, and Tunisia.
COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT AND
FARC LAUNCHED PEACE TALK
Government of Colombia and
Leftist FARC rebels formally launched
peace talks in Norway on 17 Octo-
ber 2012 which aimed at ending
nearly five decades of conflict that
has claimed an estimated 600000
lives. The peace talk was officially
launched by government and the
rebels in a hotel in Hurdal, a small
town north of Oslo.
The core area of discussion fo-
cused on five main areas that is land
reform, the rebels future role in po-
litical life, a definitive end of hostili-
ties, fighting the illegal drug trade and
the situation of the victims. FARC is
Latin Americas largest rebel group,
founded in 1964 with 9,200 armed
fighters is known by Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia. In the
past several years FARC suffered the
capture and killings of some of its top
leaders, and its rank had been de-
pleted to half of Militants what they
were at their peak in the 1990s.
It was also earlier found that
Colombias leftist FARC rebels
smuggle U.S.-bound cocaine via Ven-
ezuela, Panama and the Pacific. The
FARC is on both the U.S. and EU lists
of terrorist groups. Drug trafficking,
extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom
are the FARCs main means of financ-
ing its operations.
REFERENDUM TO BE HOLD ON
SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE
UK and Scotland signed an
agreement on 15 October 2012 to
hold a referendum in 2014 on Scot-
tish independence.
The referendum agreement has
been signed following talks in
Edinburgh between David Cameron,
UK Prime Minister and Alex
Salmond, who leads the pro-inde-
pendence Scottish National Party.
The referendum could lead to the
United Kingdom breaking up after
300 years, leaving only England,
Wales and Northern Ireland in the
Union. The British Government wants
Scotland to stay in its political union
with England. The Scottish Govern-
ment led by Alex Salmond favours
independence.
After months of negotiations,
the deal is expected to give
Scotlands administration the power
to hold a vote in the final quarter of
2014, which will offer Scotland a
choice on leaving the United King-
dom.
INDIA & PAKISTAN
Pakistans Cabinet on 31 Octo-
ber 2012 ratified four recent agree-
ments with India. The major of which
is landmark visa pact aimed at facili-
tating restrictions on several catego-
ries of travellers, including senior citi-
zens and businessmen. The meeting
was chaired by Prime Minister of Pa-
kistan M Raja Pervez Ashraf who also
ratified three other agreements that
is going to promote trade between
the Pakistan and India. The visa
agreement was signed by then ex-
ternal affairs minister S.M. Krishna and
Pakistans interior minister Rehman
Malik in Islamabad on 8 September
2012. The pact was ready for signing
in May 2012 but was held up entirely
due to opposition from Rehman
Malik, who wanted Indian External
Affairs minister to come to Pakistan
for signing it. The agreement intro-
duces new categories for group tour-
ist visas and pilgrim visas and relaxes
restrictions on travel by senior citi-
zens, businessmen and persons of
one country married to a citizen of
the other. The two countries are also
discussing other measures aimed at
boosting bilateral trade and coopera-
tion in new areas like opening of bank
branches and cross-border invest-
ments. Both the countries asserted
they intend to increase bilateral trade
to six billion dollars by 2014.
INDIA AND PAKISTAN DISCUSSED
TAPI GAS PROJECT
Pakistans Minister of Petroleum
and Natural Resources Asim Hussain
met Cabinet Minister of Petroleum
and Natural gas of India, Jaipal Reddy
in New Delhi on 17 October 2012 in
an event PETROTECH 2012 and dis-
cussed avenues for energy coopera-
tion, including the trans-regional
project TAPI. Asim Hussain in his talk
underlined the need of hastening
work on the TAPI and the importance
of demonstrating political will.
He also stressed for setting up
the economic modality by establish-
ing a Special Purpose Vehicle or
consortium duly empowered to take
all necessary decisions.
ABOUT TAPI GAS PROJECT
The TAPI is the Trans-Afghani-
stan Pipeline project which is also
known as TurkmenistanAfghani-
stanPakistanIndia Pipeline, TAP or
TAPI. It is basically a proposed natu-
ral gas pipeline that is developed by
the Asian Development Bank. The
project was started on 15 March 1995
India & The World India & The World
India & The World India & The World India & The World
by signing a memorandum of under-
standing between the governments
of Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a
pipeline project.
Under the Proposed plan, the
pipeline will transport Caspian Sea
natural gas from Turkmenistan
through Afghanistan into Pakistan and
finally to India.
INDIA, US AND JAPAN
India, U.S. and Japan on its third
trilateral meet on 29 October 2012
discussed trilateral cooperation in
maritime security and a route through
middle or north of Myanmar leading
up to Hanoi.
The other major area of discus-
sion was on exchanging of proposals
for doing projects together in Africa
as well as cooperating on the eco-
nomic side in Afghanistan. The three
countries were on cycle of talk which
they completed following this meet.
The talk began with their first meet-
ing in Washington in December 2011
which was followed by next meet-
ing in Tokyo in April 2012. Talking of
maritime security the three countries
discussed some specific areas of co-
operation which will be productive
in the next cycle of talks that is going
to begin after the U.S. Presidential
elections and with the settling down
of next US administration.
Each side gave a strategic over-
view of the Asia Pacific. While Japans
Briefing was primarily focused on dis-
pute with China over the Senkaku is-
lands. India with discussing issues on
Myanmar had taken up a trilateral con-
nectivity initiative with Myanmar and
Thailand that touched on a route
through upper Myanmar that would
lead into Vietnam. Also, US briefing
was about its much-talked about
policy of pivot to Asia, which is a
move driven by the allure of emerg-
ing Asian economies, especially
China and India.
THE 2ND INDIA-JAPAN 2+2
DIALOGUE
The 2nd India-Japan 2+2 Dia-
logue was held in Tokyo on 22 Oc-
tober, 2012. These 2+2 consultations
at Senior Official level are mandated
by the Action Plan to Advance Se-
curity Cooperation concluded be-
tween India and Japan in December
2009. The first India- Japan 2+2 Dia-
logue was held at New Delhi in June
2010. The two countries briefed the
other on their respective defence
and security policies in the back-
ground of each countrys security
environment. In this context, both
nations reviewed bilateral security
and defence cooperation and dis-
cussed ways of further expanding
such ties. The two sides also ex-
changed views on maritime, cyber
and outer space security. They
agreed to an early meeting of the
new India Japan Cyber Security
Dialogue. They also discussed the
regional and international security
situation. The next and the 3rd
round of the India Japan 2+2
Dialogue will be held at New Delhi
at a mutually convenient date. The
Indian delegation was led by Foreign
Secretary Shri Ranjan Mathai and De-
fence Secretary Shri Shashi Kant
Sharma.The Japanese delegation was
led by Deputy Foreign Minister
Akitaka Saiki and Administrative Vice
Defence Minister Hironori Kanazawa.
JAPAN LIFTED TRAVEL ADVISORY ON
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
The country of Japan on 19
October 2012 in a step to testimony
the fact that security situation in
Jammu and Kashmir is improved, re-
laxed the travel restriction to the state
for its nationals. The move to ease re-
strictions is valid for Srinagar and ad-
joining areas like Gulmarg. With lift-
ing of Travel Advisory Japan became
the second country among G8 nations
to take this step. Earlier Germany in
July 2011 had relaxed travel restric-
tion to Jammu and Kashmir for its Na-
tional.
The decision of lifting travel
advisory came after the Japanese
embassy officials met the Jammu and
Kashmir government. Many other
embassies of developed countries of
Australia, Canada, UK and some more
countries are also making enquiries
about the situation in Kashmir and are
expected to lift advisory following
step of two G8 countries of Japan and
Germany.
RESEARCH PROJECT TO STUDY LNG
PRICING
Japan and India on 10 October
2012 launched a joint research
project into pricing structures in LNG
markets. Japans industry minister
Yukio Edano and Deputy chairman
of Planning commission of India
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, signed the
agreement on joint research in Tokyo.
Resource-poor Japan is on the hunt
for cheaper energy, with the situa-
tion further worsened by the shutter-
ing of all but two of its nuclear reac-
tors amid public distrust following
tsunami-sparked meltdowns at
Fukushima. Japan is the worlds top
importer of liquefied natural gas.
Asian buyers pay far more than those
in North America because the price
is index-linked to oil on the continent.
Under the present pricing structures
in LNG markets, the price in North
America is determined on the basis
of supply and demand. Indias ex-
panding economy also demand
more and more energy keeping this
in view both the countries agreed for
a research project to study price
structure.
ABOUT LNG
LNG is gas that is temporarily liq-
uefied for easier storage and trans-
portation. Liquefied natural gas or
LNG is natural gas predominantly in
the form of methane, CH4 that has
been converted to liquid form for ease
of storage or transport. Liquefied natu-
ral gas takes up about 1/600th the
volume of natural gas in the gaseous
state. It is odorless. Colorless, non-
toxic and non- corrosive. Hazards in-
clude flammability, freezing and as-
phyxia.
INDIA AND UK
India and the United Kingdom
on 30 October 2012 signed a proto-
col amending the 1993 bilateral con-
vention on avoidance of double taxa-
tion and prevention of fiscal evasion
related to taxes on income and capi-
tal gains. The Protocol amends the
pact or Convention that was originally
assigned on 25 January 1993 in New
Delhi.
The protocol was signed by
Indias High Commissioner Jaimini
Bhagwati and Exchequer Secretary
to the U.K. Treasury, David Gauke.
The amended protocol is going to
provide tax stability to the residents
of both the countries and also facili-
tate mutual economic cooperation
with stimulating flow of investment,
technology and services. Also, the
withholding taxes on the dividends
would be 10 per cent or 15 per cent
and is equally applicable in the UK
and in India. The Protocol integrates
provisions for effective exchange of
information between tax authorities
of the two countries in line with lat-
est international standards including
exchange of banking information and
supplying of information irrespective
of domestic interest. With the amend-
ment there will now be a new article
in the Convention on assistance in
collection of taxes. It includes provi-
sion for taking measures of conser-
vancy. The Protocol also constitutes
the Convention anti- abuse (limitation
of benefits) provisions which ensure
that the benefits of the Convention
are not misused.
INDIA & AUSTRALIA
India and Australia on 17 Octo-
ber 2012 announced the launch of
nuclear negotiations for a civil nuclear
deal that will enable the sale of ura-
nium from Australian Capital city
Canberra to New Delhi. The deal was
announced by Australian Prime Min-
ister Julia Gillard on her visit to India.
The deal is going to provide stretch
in Indias civilian nuclear ambitions
and will also strengthen bilateral ties
between both the Countries. Earlier
in 2011, the Australian Prime Minister
Julia Gillard, Australian Labour Party
refused to sell uranium to India by
specifying that India had not signed
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The actual Supply of uranium is
going to take couple of years as ne-
gotiations for the safeguards agree-
ment are complex and lengthy. Both
the Countries also signed four memo-
randum, the most important of which
is agreement on Student mobility and
welfare in which they agreed to hold
annual meetings at the summit level
either bilaterally or during multilateral
events.
The other memorandums are:
Memorandum on Military and
Security Initiative committed to
enhance maritime cooperation
Memorandum to develop a
comprehensive economic co-
operation agreement
India and Australia also agreed
to launch a Ministerial-level Dialogue
on Energy Security, establish a Water
Technology Partnership and start ne-
gotiations for an Agreement on Trans-
fer of Sentenced Persons.
INDIA & AUSTRALIA
Australia on 28 October 2012
revealed that the country was plan-
ning to include Hindi and Mandarin
as languages to be taught in its
schools. This was a step forward to
be taken by the county to establish
deeper and strengthened links with
India and other nations with boom-
ing economies, of the world. Prime
Minister of Australia Julia Gillard an-
nounced the plans of the nation at
the release ceremony of the sweep-
ing policy blueprint with its title Asian
Century White Paper. The white pa-
per was released with an aim of link
maximisation with Asia; this would
help Australia to be among the top
10 most powerful economies of the
world by 2025.
INDIA AND NEW ZEALAND
India and New Zealand on 19
October 2012 signed five Memoran-
dum of Understanding, MoU in the
different fields of education. The
MoUs were signed in New Delhi dur-
ing the first meeting of India-New
Zealand Education Council.
The education institutions of
New Zealand specially higher edu-
cation maintain global standards. In-
dia and New Zealand share strong
people to people links through in-
creasing migration, tourism, educa-
tion and sporting ties. The education
can play a vital role in strengthening
links between the two countries.
INDIA AND FRANCE
India and France on 7 October
2012 signed an agreement in the field
of sustainable Urban Development.
The agreement was signed in Paris
between Union Minister of Urban
Development Kamal Nath and Minis-
ter for Foreign Trade of France Nicole
Bricq. Both India and France would
benefit from the agreement as it
would provide an enabling platform
for the officials, professionals, busi-
ness leaders and local self-governing
bodies to meet and share knowledge
and best practices in the urban sec-
tor. It would also lead to enhanced
cooperation and deepen the en-
gagement between the two coun-
tries. India and France also discussed
ways to enhance economic and com-
mercial relations between the coun-
tries.
INDIA AND SPAIN
India and Spain on 26 October
2012 signed a memorandum of un-
derstanding under which they are
going to encourage collaboration
between their defence industries
and exchange of personnel. The MoU
was signed by Indian Defence Minis-
ter A.K. Antony and his Spanish coun-
terpart Pedro Morens Eulate in New
Delhi.
Both the Countries agreed to
exchange defence-related experi-
ence and information, and will en-
courage visits of personnel and col-
laboration in the defence industry and
similar areas of cooperation. Also in
another gesture of Cooperation Span-
ish firm Navantia is planning to offer
its S-80 diesel electric submarine for
the Indian Navys Project 75-India,
under which it plans to procure six
large conventional submarines at a
cost of more than 50000 crore of Ru-
pees. The MoU on defence was
among the five pacts signed after
comprehensive talks between Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and the vis-
iting King Juan Carlos I on bilateral,
regional and international issues.
Other pacts signed are included as
under:
A protocol for amending the
over 19-year-old double taxa-
tion avoidance pact to check
tax evasion,
A MoU in the roads and road
transport sector, aimed at pro-
moting efficient and environ-
mentally sustainable transport
systems.
A pact to promote and facilitate
co-production of films which
includes feature films, docu-
mentary and animation films.
India and Austria
India and Austria on 2 October
2012 tied up to develop smart cities
that would include fine planning of
the city including the transport sys-
tem and services of internet. The de-
cision came up after the meeting of
Union Minister for Urban Develop-
ment Kamal Nath with Austrian Fed-
eral Minister for Transport, Innovation
& Technology Doris Bures.
The plans of developing the
new cities will be implemented un-
der the second phase of Jawaharlal
Nehru National Urban Renewal Mis-
sion (JNNURM II).
As per the plans initially two
model smart cities will be developed
in every state of the country that will
include the mid-sized cities with a
minimum population of half a million
to one million.
EVERY STATE TO HAVE TWO SMART-
CITIES
Austrian Institute of Technology
will assist the country in planning and
development of the smart cities that
will include things that it needs to
cover, broadband facilities to its main-
tenance to carbon levels.
As per the plans of the Central
Government under JNNURM II every
state will have two model towns ini-
tially.
70 CITIES WITH OVER A MILLION
POPULATION GRAPH ARE IN PLAN
Plans are on the paper to con-
vert at least 70 cities with million plus
population in India into smart cities.
Austria that has been into different
types of trade-relations for a long time
with India will be offering the poten-
tial technical support.
ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
IN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Austrian Institute of Technology
and the National Institute of Urban
Affairs that is a research, information
and training wing under the Urban
Development Ministry, would be the
partners in the project.
INDIA AND CHINA
India and China agreed to boost
defence ties. The agreement was
made during the visit of Chinese De-
fense Minister Gen Liang Guanglie to
India and his meet with his Indian
Counterpart AK Antony. Last time the
defence minister of China visited In-
dia in the year 2004.
The two nations have agreed on
improving the friendly, strategic and
co-operative partnership and ex-
change of young officers and high
level visits. An inter-collegiate ex-
change that includes non-traditional
security fields is also a part of the
agreement. During the joint Naval
Practice in Shanghai, the two nations
agreed on increasing the process of
military exchange that includes mari-
time operations and navy. Last joint
exercise that took place between the
two nations was at Kunming in the
year 2007 and at Belgaum in the year
2008. The third joint exercise sched-
uled for 2010 was cancelled because
China disagreed to provide VISA to
Lieutenant General BS Jaiswal of the
Northern Command and since then
India cancelled all collateral ties re-
lated to defence activities with
China.
INDIA MALAYSIA
India is going to expand bilat-
eral trade with Malaysia to $15 billion
by 2013 from $13 billion in 2011-12
as per the discussion in India- Malay-
sia CEO Forum.
It was informed by Union Minis-
ter of Commerce, Industry and Tex-
tiles, Anand Shrama that Indias bilat-
eral trade with Malaysia stood at nearly
$13 billion in 2011-12 registering a
growth of 34% over the previous year.
In his visit to Malaysia in July 2010
and February 2011
Anand Sharma
analysed that it was re-
quired an investment
from Khazanah Nasional
Berhad (Government of
Malaysias strategic invest-
ment fund) into Indian infra-
structure sector through a
collaborative venture with
IDFC. The Union minister,
Anand Sharma has identified pri-
ority sectors of engagement includ-
ing Roads & highways, Railways, Air-
ports, IT &ITES, Biotechnology, Tour-
ism, Health Services and JV projects
in third countries. Subsequently, the
two countries have entered into a
Comprehensive Economic Coopera-
tion Agreement which was signed in
February 2011. The signing of this
Agreement has provided consider-
able momentum to trade and invest-
ment on both sides.
INDIA AND TAJIKISTAN
India and Tajikistan signed six
agreements in the field of sports,
health, culture, education, labour,
textiles and energy. India and the
central Asian country of Tajikistan
agreed to advance their ties to a stra-
tegic partnership in order to impart
greater strength to the relationship
through all-round co-operation and
engagement. The President of the
Republic of Tajikistan, Mr. Emomali
Rahmon, was on a State Visit to India
from 1 to 4 September 2012 at the
invitation of the President of the Re-
public of India. This was the fifth visit
to India by President Mr. Emomali
Rahmon. The visiting dignitary also
attended a business meeting orga-
nized jointly by ASSOCHAM, CII and
FICCI. Both the coun-
tries iden-
tified in-
f orma-
t i o n
t ech-
n o l -
ogy,
bio-
t e c hnol -
ogy, mining, tourism,
pharmaceuticals among other sec-
tors as high potential area. After the
agreements it was decided that In-
dia will increase training slots for
Tajikistan from 100 to 150 under In-
dia Technology and Eco Training
Programme.
RBI KEPT REPO RATE UNCHANGED
The RBI on 30 October 2012 left
interest rates unchanged but had cut
the cash reserve ratio for banks and
indicated that it is going to cut mon-
etary policy further in the January-
March 2013 quarter, with inflation
remaining a near-term concern. The
decision of leaving the policy repo
rate unchanged at 8.00 percent,
which is at the same level for the past
six months was in line with forecasts
in a recent review of macroeconomic
and monetary developments by
Reuters. Also, the reverse repo, at
which RBI absorbs excess liquidity
through borrowings from banks, re-
mained at 7 percent. The new rates
will be effective 3 November
2012. The expectations for a rate cut
had grown after Indias finance min-
ister P. Chidambaram on 29 October
2012 outlined a plan to trim the
countrys hefty fiscal deficit. D.
Subbarao mentioned in his quarterly
policy review that with the reduction
in inflation, there is an opportunity for
monetary policy to act in conjunction
with fiscal and other measures to miti-
gate the growth risks and take the
economy to a sus-
tained higher
growth trajectory.
The RBI, however,
cut the Cash Re-
serve Ratio (the
amount parked by
banks with the RBI)
by 25 basis points
from 4.5 per cent to
4.25 per cent. This
measure is ex-
pected to infuse Rs 17,500 crore li-
quidity into the banking system. The
RBI cut its GDP growth forecast for
Asias third-largest economy to 5.8
per cent for the current fiscal year,
from 6.5 per cent previously, and in-
creased its projection for headline
inflation in March to 7.5 per cent,
from 7 per cent earlier.
Repo rate: Repo rate: Repo rate: Repo rate: Repo rate: The rate at which
banks borrow f from RBI. It is an in-
strument of monetary policy. When-
ever banks have any shortage of funds
they can borrow from the RBI.
Reverse Repo rate: Reverse Repo rate: Reverse Repo rate: Reverse Repo rate: Reverse Repo rate: The rate
at which the RBI borrows money from
commercial banks.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR):
the amount of total deposits that
banks are required to keep with the
central bank. If the central bank de-
cides to increase the CRR, the avail-
able amount with the banks comes
down. The RBI uses the CRR to drain
out excessive money from the system.
Highlights of the RBI Quar- Highlights of the RBI Quar- Highlights of the RBI Quar- Highlights of the RBI Quar- Highlights of the RBI Quar-
terly Monetary Policy Review terly Monetary Policy Review terly Monetary Policy Review terly Monetary Policy Review terly Monetary Policy Review:
Economy Economy
Economy Economy Economy
Repo rate remain unchanged at
8 percent
CRR decreased by 0.5 Percent,
coming down to 4.5 to 4.25
percent
Reverse repo rate remain un-
changed at 7 Percent
GDP growth forecast cut down
to 5.8 per cent for the current
fiscal year 2012-13 from 6.5 per-
cent.
IMF SLASHED INDIAS GROWTH
FORECAST TO 4.9 % FOR 2012
The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) 2012 had slashed Indias
growth forecast to 4.9 per cent for
2012 due to low business confidence
and sluggish structural reforms. The
International Monetary Fund earlier
in July projected a growth rate of 6.1
per cent for the year 2012-13. Dur-
ing the first quarter ended in June
2012, Indian economy expanded by
5.5 per cent. In the World Economic
Outlook (WEO) released in Tokyo
ahead of the IMF-World Bank 2012
Annual Meetings, International Mon-
etary Fund stressed that Indias ac-
tivity suffered from waning business
confidence amid slow approvals for
new projects, sluggish structural re-
forms, policy rate hikes designed to
rein in inflation, and flagging exter-
nal demand. The report has pro-
jected 6 per cent growth for the next
year (2013), compared to an earlier
6.5 per cent projection.
The IMF also expressed that the
series of reform measures taken by
the government was expected to
raise Indias gross domestic product
(GDP) growth to six per cent in 2013.
For 2012-13 fiscal, the IMF asserted
that growth is projected to average
5-6 per cent in 2012-13, more than
one percentage point lower than in
the April 2012 WEO. The down-
grade reflects both an expectation
that current drags on business senti-
ment and investment will persist and
a weaker external environment.
14 FDI PROPOSALS WORTH
113.35 CRORE RUPEES APPROVED
The Union Government of India
approved fourteen foreign direct in-
vestment (FDI) proposals, which
would bring in the capital inflow of
113.35 Crore Rupees. The major por-
tion of 81.05 crore Rupees invest-
ments accounts to the three clear-
ances made in the Pharmaceutical
Sector. Approval of these propos-
als was made in accordance to rec-
ommendations made by the For-
eign Investment Pro-
m o t i o n
B o a r d
(FIPB) dur-
ing the meet-
ing held on 18
S e p t e mb e r
2012. The FIPB
is headed by
Arvind Mayaram,
the Secretary of
Department of Eco-
nomic Affairs
(DEA). Proposals of
the companies ap-
proved include Dashtag, Neo Capri-
corn Plaza Ltd., Pipavav Defence and
Offshore Engineering Company Ltd.,
Prime Surgical Centers Private Ltd.,
Calyx Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals
Limited, Egon Software Pvt. Ltd. and
Alburaq Trading LLP. Datsang got an
approval to hike its foreign equity of
value 68.22 crore Rupees with a nod
of carrying out the pharmaceutical
business especially in products re-
lated to antibiotics, anti-histamines,
dermatology and oncology. Prime
Surgical Centers Private Ltd. is al-
lowed for setting-up of the Limited
Liability partnership (LLP) for carry-
ing put and setting up the business
of establishing centers for short stray
surgery in India. The company will
have its flagship center at Pune and
bring in an investment of 14 crore
Rupees. Neo Capricorn Plaza Lim-
ited a Mumbai based company was
allowed with post-facto approvals to
carry out its business of constructing
five-star hotels. Pipavav Defence and
Offshore Engineering Company Lim-
ited is allowed to issue foreign cur-
rency convertible bonds (FCCBs) for
raising its foreign equity
a n d carry-
i n g
out
the
b u s i -
nesses of ship repairs,
ship building and production of
offshore assets.
AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT FEE TO BE
OMITTED
The Civil Aviation Ministry on 16
October 2012 announced to abolish
the airport development fee on Delhi
and Mumbai Airports, from 1 January
2013. The ministry directed the op-
erators of the two airports to stop levy-
ing the charges for Airport Develop-
ment Fee from the travellers from next
year and also asked the Airport Au-
thority of India to infuse equity in form
of joint venture firms that operates
the two largest airports of the nation.
The Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh
asked the DIAL (Dial International
Airport Ltd) and MIAL (Mumbai In-
ternational Airport Ltd) to submit pro-
posals for stopping the Airport De-
velopment Fee to the Airports Eco-
nomic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
Charges paid by domestic fliers in
Delhi and Mumbai are 200 rupees
and 100 rupees and for international
fliers it is 1300 rupees and 600 ru-
pees respectively.
DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE FRIENDLY
ROADS APPROVED
C.P. Joshi, the Union Minister of
Road Transport and Highways on 11
October 2012, approved two pilot
projects for development of People
Friendly Roads. This project will in-
volve construction of National high-
ways on corridor redevelopment and
spot improvement concepts. This will
help in reducing the financial burden
from the government making it pub-
lic friendly. The pilot projects in this
regard will be experimented at the
Hero Honda chowk on the Delhi
Gurgaon Expressway for its spot im-
provement concept and Delhi-Dasna
Section of NH-24 will be used for
implementation of corridor redevel-
opment concept. Additional features
like premium cluster, higher educa-
tion cluster, business cluster, Social
Economic Zone (SEZ) and specialty
cluster will be provided in the corri-
dor redevelopment concept at Delhi-
Dasna section of NH-24. The con-
cept just not focus upon, develop-
ment of the Highways but also have a
prime objective of developing liveli-
hood spaces and residential com-
plexes, for people whose lands will
be acquired.
CHIDAMBARAM FOR RATIONAL
PRICING OF PETRO-GOODS
Worried over rising oil subsidy,
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on
Wednesday, pitched for a rational
energy pricing mechanism and cor-
rection of distortion in petrol and die-
sel prices resulting from unequal taxa-
tion. With less than adequate pass-
through, subsidies on these (petro-
leum) products have burgeoned.
The problem is that these are
clearly not sustainable, and we must
devise ways and means of correcting
price distortions, he said while ad-
dressing the valedictory session of
PetroTech-2012. The Minister also
made a case for introducing a ratio-
nal and transparent energy pricing
mechanism to prevent leakages
while protecting the interest of poor
and vulnerable sections of the soci-
ety. Referring to the impact of high
oil prices on the world economy,
Chidambaram said the relentless rise
in crude oil prices is hurting growth
... In the last few years, all economies
are under pressure. India is no ex-
ception.
India imports about 75 per cent
of its crude oil requirement. This has
resulted in widening of current ac-
count deficit (CAD), while the rising
subsidy bill increased the
governments fiscal deficit. Tighter
product markets, rising prices and
growing demand could slow and in-
deed have slowed economic growth
and has serious implications ... and
consequently a major challenge for
the policy makers, Mr. Chidambaram
said. Indian economy was growing at
9 per cent plus rate before the glo-
bal economic crisis struck in 2008.
The economic growth has slowed to
a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent in
2011-12. Our macro economic out-
come in 2008-09 (the year of global
financial crisis) and 2011-12 (which
witnessed the eurozone crisis) were
significantly impacted by the rise in
global prices of crude oil, he said.
While the government subsidises oil
marketing companies (OMCs) for sell-
ing diesel, kerosene and LPG at be-
low market rates, the price of petrol
is fixed by the OMCs themselves. At
present, petrol price in Delhi hovers
around Rs. 67.90 a a litre, while
subsidised diesel costs Rs.46.95 a li-
tre.
Mr. Chidambaram said the single
most fiscal risk not only to India but
to all developing countries was the
burgeoning subsidy bill. While some
provision is being made under oil
subsidy year after year, we have found
that provision is always way off the
mark as oil prices are globally deter-
mined, he said. Referring to price
disparities on account of unequal
taxation between petroleum prod-
ucts, he said it results due to in-effi-
cient substitution of one fuel with the
other.
RBI EXPANDED THE LENDING
NORMS ON PRIORITY SECTORS
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
on 18 October 2012 extended the
lendings on the Priority sectors like
housing, agriculture, small and me-
dium enterprises, and expanded the
scope of bank loans for these sectors
up to 2 crore Rupees. These amend-
ments would be in effect from 20 July
2012. The decision came after dis-
cussions were held with the CMDs/
CEOs of selected banks as well as the
heads of Priority Sectors of selected
banks and based on the same the
new guidelines and amendments
were made. The banks were permit-
ted by the central bank to offer loans
up to an aggregate limit of 2 crore
Rupees, to corporate that includes
farmers producer companies, co-
operatives and partnership firms of
famers indulged in agricultural and
allied activities including animal hus-
bandry, bee-keeping, dairy, fishery
and sericulture. The Priority loan
would also be made available for pre-
harvest and post-harvest activities like
weeding, spraying, grading, harvest-
ing and sorting. Export Credit loans
for exporting ones own farm pro-
duce would also be made available.
The lending scheme fulfills the crite-
rion mentioned under the MSMED
Act-2006. Bank loans to Micro and
Small Enterprises (MSEs) those are
engaged in providing services would
be eligible for the direct finance of
up to 2 crore Rupees per borrower
per unit under priority sector. In case
the loan amount per borrower in-
creases the limit of 2 crore rupees,
than it can be considered as the indi-
rect finance for agriculture.
Loans under priority sector
would also include loans provided to
Government agencies for develop-
ment of dwelling units or slum clear-
ance and rehabilitation up to 10 lakh
rupees. This provision also spreads for
low income group and the economi-
cally weaker sections of the society
in form of housing finance, construc-
tion and re-construction, purchase
and more up to ceiling. The Central
Bank also guided the banks to keep a
check on the loans, which are offered
for the approved purposes. Thus the
banks engaged in issuing loans would
have to put forward a fine and chan-
neled internal system and control in
this regard. The apex court decision
came to ensure that credit needs of
people who dont have access to in-
stitutional finance.
DOW CHEMICAL TO CLOSE
20 PLANTS
The Dow Chemical Co. will
eliminate about 2,400 jobs and close
roughly 20 manufacturing facilities as
part of a restructuring plan aimed at
coping with slowing economic
growth in Europe and elsewhere.
The manufacturing giant said on Tues-
day that the job cuts amounted to 5
per cent of the companys workforce
worldwide.
Dow expects the strategy will
result in roughly $500 million in an-
nual cost savings by the end of 2014.
The company also plans to slash capi-
tal spending and investments. It ex-
pects that will save an additional $500
million. Dow anticipates it will save
$2.5 billion, including other cost-cut-
ting measures. Dow produces mate-
rials used in nearly every business
sector and region of the world, leav-
ing it exposed to shifts in global eco-
nomic growth. Rival DuPont Co., on
Tuesday, reported a big drop in quar-
terly profit and missed Wall Street
expectations. The company an-
nounced a restructuring that in-
cludes 1,500 layoffs. Over the next
two years, Dow plans to close certain
manufacturing facilities in the U.S.,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the
United Kingdom and Japan.
NORTHERN RAILWAYS INTRODUCED
PINK COLOURED TATKAL FORMS
The Northern Railways on 18
October 2012 introduced Pink
coloured forms for Tatkal reservation.
These forms would be made available
with a printed warning column at the
booking counters itself and would
have enough space to fill in the de-
tails like names, contact number, ad-
dress and others. This step of Rail-
ways would help in getting away from
the menace created by touts and
unauthorized ticket agents. If the
passenger is caught for buying the
tickets from any of these touts or un-
authorized agents, he will be respon-
sible for the consequences that may
be a fine in form of penalty or impris-
onment following the provisions avail-
able in the Railway Act 1989.
In case address or phone num-
ber provided in the ticket is found
false, the passenger would be
deboarded from the train on the very
next station. Tatkal being a special
service offered by the Railways re-
quires special documents to be pre-
sented and hence the form would
serve to the requirements.
EXPORTS IN INDIA WITNESSED 11
PERCENT DIP
The Commerce Ministry on 11
October 2012 released a data that
showcased the dip of 11 percent in
exports and rise of 5.1 percent in
imports. Exports in India for the fifth
consecutive month reported fall in its
percentage. With 11 percent fall to
$23.7 in export, the trade deficit wid-
ened to $18.1 billion in a months
time. The imports of the country
showcased a positive figure in the
month of September saw a rise of 5.1
percent at $41.8 billion to that of
$39.8 percent recorded in the month
of August, 2012. The cumulative re-
corded value of the exports in a pe-
riod of April to September in 2012-
13 down by 6.8 percent at $143.7
billion as compared to the $154.1
billion recorded in the same tenure
in the previous fiscal year 2011-12.
RBI TOLD TO PROBE FDI NORM
VIOLATIONS BY WALMART
Walmart, the American multi-
national retail giant, is being report-
edly investigated by the Commerce
Ministry for allegedly clandestinely
and illegally investing $100 million
in an Indian chain of convenience
stores two years ago in violation of a
ban on foreign direct investment in
the retail sector that existed at the
time. The move could hinder
Walmarts plans to expand in India
following the governments recent
decision to allow foreign direct in-
vestment. The Financial Times said
it had obtained documents showing
that the Commerce Ministry last week
asked the Reserve Bank of India to
launch an investigation into Walmarts
allegedly illegal investment in as many
as 200 convenience stores and
hypermarkets in 2010 when foreign
direct investment was banned. The
Easyday stores in question are osten-
sibly owned by Walmarts partner,
Bharti Enterprises, though Walmart
effectively manages them and
Walmart executives have been sec-
onded to Bharti, it said.
The paper said the investigation
would focus on whether Walmart di-
rectly invested in Bhartis retail op-
erations through a holding company
known as Cedar Support Services
Ltd. Walmart insisted that it was in
complete compliance with FDI
laws. All procedures and processes
have been duly followed and details
filed with relevant Indian government
authorities, including the Reserve
Bank of India, it said. The company
has been previously investigated in
America for allegedly paying bribes
to open stores in Mexico. The Finan-
cial Times said that, according to
company documents and the Com-
munist Party of Indias Rajya Sabha
member M. P. Achuthan who has writ-
ten a letter to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh demanding a ban
on Walmart, Cedar owns Bharti Re-
tail and thus the Easyday chain. Mr.
Achuthan alleged that Walmart used
complex arrangements to circum-
vent FDI rules.
Cedar was originally set up in
2007 as Bharti Retail (Holding) Pri-
vate Ltd, but its name was changed
in 2009. Its articles of association
were amended to make it a real es-
tate and design consultancy service
company, in which foreign direct in-
vestment was allowed, the newspa-
per said. The report said that accord-
ing to the commerce ministry,
Walmart Mauritius (4) Holdings in-
vested Rs.456 crore, equivalent to
about $100 million at the time, in
compulsorily convertible deben-
tures giving Walmart a 49 per cent
stake in the company on conversion.
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES GETS NOD
TO RAISE KG-D6 PRODUCTION
After months of intense stand-
off, the Oil Ministry has given nod to
Reliance Industries plans to raise
natural gas output from the flagging
KG-D6, and agreed that CAG cannot
do a performance audit of the com-
pany. The Ministry, on Tuesday, sent
a letter to RIL stating that all the gov-
ernment nominees on the KG-D6
block oversight committee have al-
ready approved to all the develop-
ment proposals made by RIL, sources
said.
Also, it relented and agreed to
RIL stand that an audit by the Comp-
troller and Auditor General of India
(CAG) of its spending on KG-D6
block has to be a financial audit and
not a performance audit. ...the pro-
posed audit would be under Section
1.9 of the Accounting Procedure of
the Production Sharing Contract, and
not a performance audit of the op-
erator (RIL), the ministry wrote. On
the same day, the ministry also wrote
to Principal Director of Audit (Eco-
nomic & Service Ministries), CAG,
stating that subject to certain con-
ditions, RIL has agreed for an audit
under Section 1.9 of Accounting Pro-
cedure to the PSC by CAG and to co-
operate with such audit without
prejudice to any of their rights and
contentions. Oil Ministry had been
withholding approvals to RILs invest-
ment plans saying the company must
first agree to CAG doing a second
round of audit of KG-D6 field for the
2008-09 to 2011-12 periods. RIL had
stated that it was ready for a CAG audit
if done under the PSC which provides
for checking of the contractors ac-
counts in order to verify the charges
and credits but not questioning effi-
cacies of processes or technology
used in the complex deep-sea op-
erations.
The Ministry finally agreed to RIL
position. Sources said the ministry
wrote to RIL to take necessary ac-
tions on the items approved by the
Management Committee (MC). While
the Management Committee (MC) of
KG-D6 block in August approved
annual capex plans pending for past
three years, the resolution had not
been signed. These capex included
those on well interventions to reverse
the trend of falling gas output. Also,
at least three discoveries RIL has made
in the block had not been declared
commercial, a step necessary to be-
gin production from them. Besides,
the MC had approved the revised
field development plan for MA oil and
gas field in the same block in August
but formal orders had not been is-
sued. All these investments, RIL says,
are necessary to reverse drop in out-
put at the fields. After the ministry
action, RIL can now implement ur-
gent remedial measures at KG-D6
where output has dipped by more
than 55 per cent in past two years to
about 26 million metric standard cu-
bic meters per day. The CAG has
called a kick-off meeting, called the
Entry Conference, with RIL on Octo-
ber 31 to begin the second round of
audit, sources said. RIL had, last
month, stated that CAGs 2009 audit,
which it had agreed to as a one-time
exception, turned out to be a per-
formance audit which was contrary
to the provisions of the PSC. The CAG
had, in its first round of audit, ques-
tioned the reasonableness of costs
incurred in the gas field development
and said the government should re-
visit the profit-sharing mechanism.
CABINET CLEARS 10 PER CENT
DISINVESTMENT IN NMDC
The Cabinet Committee on Eco-
nomic Affairs (CCEA), cleared a 10
per cent stake sale of the Centres
equity holding in NMDC through the
offer for sale route. The transaction
is likely to fetch about Rs.7,000 crore.
The CCEA has approved the disin-
vestment of 10 per cent paid-up eq-
uity capital (39.65 crore shares of face
value of Re.1 each) of NMDC out of
the governments shareholding of 90
per cent through Offer for the sale
of shares through stock exchange
(OFS) method, as per SEBI Rules and
Regulations, an official statement said
here.
STAKE SELL-OFF
Following the stake sell-off, the
governments equity holding in the
iron ore mining Navaratna public
sector undertaking under the admin-
istrative control of the Ministry of Steel
will come down to 80 per cent. Al-
though NMDC with a paid-up equity
capital of Rs.396.47 crore as of March
31 this year is primarily engaged in
the ore mining business, it is also ex-
panding its activities towards produc-
tion of steel and other value-added
products. The countrys largest pro-
ducer of iron ore, it is operating two
mining complexes in Chhattisgarh
and one in Karnataka. The govern-
ment, it may be recalled, had pro-
posed disinvestment in NMDC ear-
lier but the move had to be shelved
on account of poor market conditions.
As and when this transaction comes
through, it would be the first issue
during this fiscal. For, having set a dis-
investment target of Rs.30,000 crore
for 2012-13, the government has not
been able to roll out any public issue
thus far this fiscal, primarily owing to
uncertain market conditions. For the
very same reason, the government
could manage to mop up a paltry
Rs.14,000 crore through disinvest-
ment during the last financial year as
against a budgeted target of
Rs.40,000 crore set for the fiscal.
OFS METHOD
Alongside, at the meeting
chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, the CCEA also approved
authorisation in favour of EGoM (Em-
powered Group of Ministers) to
change the method of disinvestment
from the OFS method, if the same is
required subsequently due to market
conditions or due to change in SEBI
Rules and Regulations. Moreover, the
floor price, the number of tranches,
the basis of allotment and the num-
ber of shares to be allotted in each of
the tranches will also be decided by
the EGoM. According to the official
statement, the EGoM may also accept
or cancel the offer, if there is not
enough demand at or above the floor
price; in case of over-subscription in
one or more tranches, the EGoM can
decide whether the over-subscribed
amount is to be retained subject to
the overall disinvestment of 10 per
cent. Allotment of additional shares
to eligible and willing employees can
be offered at a discount of 5 per cent
to the issue or discovered (lowest
cut-off) price up to a maximum of 0.50
per cent of the paid-up equity capi-
tal subsequent to completion of the
transaction under OFS. The method
and procedure of allotment of shares
to the employees will be worked out
in consultations with merchant bank-
ers or advisors to the issue, the state-
ment said.
U.S. DISCUSSED ECONOMY AND
TRADE BARRIERS WITH INDIA
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy
F. Geithner and Indian Finance Min-
ister P.Chidambaram for the third an-
nual meeting of the India-U.S. Eco-
nomic and Financial Partnership on 9
October 2012 discussed lowering
trade barriers and extending ways to
expand capital markets. Both the
countries agreed to deepen coop-
eration at various multilateral forums,
including the G20 and discussed
ways to remove trade and investment
barriers. Timothy F. Geithner wel-
comed the economic reform mea-
sures announced by the Indian gov-
ernment recently by saying that it
would help in boosting private invest-
ment. He also asserted that India and
US have agreed on the importance
improving coordination on bilateral
tax matters including with respect to
the tax treaty and Implementation of
the Foreign Account tax Compliance
Act (FATCA) to address offshore tax
evasion. Both the countries US and
India recognize the great potential
benefit from working together to
meet the challenges of a shared fu-
ture to generate jobs, sustain growth,
and help ensure macroeconomic sta-
bility. The growing trade and invest-
ment between two countries across
a wide range of products, services,
and technology is a sign of commit-
ment to build relationship on a solid
foundation that utilizes mutual
strengths
TEA BOARD, ETC JOIN HANDS TO
PROTECT DARJEELING TEA
A joint communiqu has been
signed between the Tea Board of
India and the European Tea Commit-
tee (ETC), supporting the Protected
Geographical Indication (PGI) regis-
tration granted to Darjeeling tea
within the European Union (EU). It
also involves evolving a joint working
relationship to implement the PGI
registration for Darjeeling in letter and
spirit. The Tea Board was represented
by M. G. V. K. Bhanu, Chairman, while
the Hamburg-based European Tea
Committee was represented by Will-
iam Gorman, President. The ETC and
the Tea Board have agreed that they
would co-operate and work together
in disseminating information about
the PGI registration and its implica-
tions in the local language in Germany
and other tea-consuming countries
within the EU.
ETC is the Central European
Federation of national associations in-
volved in tea. Its activities focus on
quality control and food laws mainly.
Darjeeling tea from India received the
PGI protection in October 2011. It is
said that more Darjeeling tea is sold
in the international markets than is
produced in Darjeeling as very often
only a small portion of the authentic
product is put in a packet of tea-
blends from other regions. Following
the registration, the teas sold in EU
would have to be 100 per cent
Darjeeling tea.
CHINAS ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS
TO 7.4 %
Chinas economic growth
tumbled to the lowest in more than
three years in the latest quarter but
retail sales and investment improved
in a possible sign a painful slump
might be stabilising. The worlds sec-
ond-largest economy grew 7.4 per
cent in the three months ending in
September, data showed on Thurs-
day. That was down from the previ-
ous quarters 7.6 per cent and the
lowest since the first quarter of 2009.
Retail sales rose 14.4 per cent, a small
acceleration over the first half of the
year, and investment in industrial as-
sets and some other indicators also
showed small improvements. Judg-
ing from the third quarter figures, we
can see a clear sign of steady eco-
nomic growth, said Sheng Laiyun,
spokesman for the National Bureau
of Statistics, at a news conference.
There is a smaller margin of decline
and some major indicators have been
growing faster.
Analysts expect Chinas eco-
nomic growth to rebound late this
year or early next year but say a re-
covery is likely to be too weak to drive
global growth without improvement
in the United States and Europe. The
slowdown is due largely to govern-
ment lending and investment con-
trols imposed to cool an overheated
economy and inflation. But the down-
turn worsened sharply last year after
global demand for Chinese goods
plunged unexpectedly.
The government has cut inter-
est rates twice since early June and is
injecting money into the economy
through high investment by state
companies and spending on build-
ing airports, subways and other pub-
lic works. But authorities have
avoided launching a massive stimu-
lus after huge spending fuelled infla-
tion. Premier Wen Jiabao said growth
appeared to be stabilising and he
expressed confidence the country
could meet its official targets for the
year. Economic growth is stabilizing
and we are confident through our
efforts we can achieve the fullyear
targets for economic and social de-
velopment, the premier said in a
Cabinet statement.
TELENOR FINDS A NEW PARTNER
After ending its telecom joint
venture Uninor with Unitech,
Norways Telenor, on Friday, said it
had signed Lakshdeep Investments
and Finance as the partner for its
newly formed Indian entity
Telewings Communications.
Lakshdeep, controlled by Sudhir
Valia, will contribute an agreed
amount of equity into Telewings. Mr.
Valia is the brother-in-law of Dilip
Shanghvi, the promoter of Sun Phar-
maceutical Industries.
This is a financial investment by
Mr, Valia in his personal capacity,
Telenor said in a statement. Upon
successful participation in the up-
coming spectrum auctions and post
all required government approvals,
the Telenor Group will eventually
own 74 per cent of the joint venture,
the statement said. All assets of
Unitech Wireless will be transferred
to this company after getting the ap-
provals.
OPERATIONAL CONTROL
The Telenor Group will main-
tain operational control and upon
necessary approvals all assets of
Unitech Wireless (Uninor) will be
transferred to this company for seam-
less continuity of operations, the
statement added. Telewings has al-
ready applied for prequalification
procedure to participate in the up-
coming spectrum auction. However,
a final decision on whether to par-
ticipate or not will be made before
the auction starts, it added. Recenlty,
realty major Unitech had said it would
exit from the telecom joint venture
with Telenor by selling its entire 32.75
per cent stake to the Norwegian firm.
Telenor and Unitech had been at log-
gerheads ever since the Supreme
Court in February cancelled Uninors
22 telecom permits. Telenor wanted
to scrap the joint venture and trans-
fer the business to a new firm and get
fresh licence, whereas Unitech was
opposing it. However, earlier this
month, Unitech and Telenor agreed
to transfer the business in Uninor to a
new entity controlled by the latter.
400 CCTV CAMERAS INSTALLED
TO ENHANCE SURVEILLANCE
Northern Railways, Delhi Divi-
sion on 9 October 2012 finished in-
stallation of about 400 CCTVs at 10
different stations of Delhi to enhance
security and surveillance. Sum of
more than 20 crore Rupees was spent
on the project. The stations where
these cameras have been installed
include New Delhi, Old Delhi,
Shahadra, Sarai Rohilla, Hazrat
Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar,
Ghaziabad, Delhi Cantt, Tilak Bridge
and Shivaji Bridge.
As part of the Integrated Secu-
rity System and to enhance quality of
security checks, nine baggage scan-
ners and 152 CCTV cameras were in-
stalled at the New Delhi Railway Sta-
tion. This made the New Delhi Rail-
way station, first and the only station
in India to have more than 100 secu-
rity cameras installed and operational.
Control rooms with monitoring
officers have also been set-up at the
stations and the Railway management
will also keep a check on these offic-
ers. Installation of 12 escalators at dif-
ferent stations is in process to man-
age the crowd on the stations. In-
dian Railways has decided to imple-
ment, the Integrated Security System
(ISS) at 202 different stations across
the country for fine and reliable ac-
cess controls, baggage and personal
screening and security surveillance.
DAHEJ PLANT OF BASF TO GO ON
STREAM IN MARCH 2014
BASF of Germany, announced
that it would invest Rs.1,000 crore to
set up a new chemical plant at Dahej
in Gujarat by March 2014. We have
drawn up plans to invest Rs.1,000
crore to set up a Greenfield special-
ity chemicals manufacturing facility
at Dahej. This will supplement our
existing plant, and also cater to ex-
pand our business, BASF India Chair-
man and Managing Director Prasad
Chandran told reporters at the inau-
guration of the Indo-German Urban
Mela here. The company has already
started the construction in April this
year, and the plant will be operational
by March 2014. The upcoming fa-
cility will help in expanding our busi-
ness in sectors such as automotives,
paints, paper, home care and life
style. It will also supplement our
Mangalore facility, he added.
EXPORTS
Besides catering to the demand
of the domestic market, the plant will
export chemicals to other nations,
including Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, Thailand and some other
ASEAN countries. The company at
present has nine manufacturing
plants in India. BASF also showcased
a concept car jointly developed with
German auto major Daimler with an
advanced technology and energy-
efficient light-weight design. BASF
India had clocked a revenue of
Rs.7,500 crore for 2011, registering a
jump of 20 per cent over the previ-
ous year. The company, which has
2,300 employees in India, also has
research and development (R&D)
centres at Thane and Mangalore.
POLARIS INKS PACT WITH PYXIS
Polaris Financial Technology, on
Wednesday, announced that it had
entered into a business purchase
agreement with Pyxis to strengthen
its consulting capabilities. Pyxis,
which is a specialised player in tech-
nologies for global markets, would
help Polaris with its market solutions,
according to a press release. This
agreement would reinforce our ex-
pertise in the consulting business. We
are happy to have a team of domain
specialists from Pyxis joining us, the
release quoted Kedarnath Udiyavar,
Head of Polaris FT Consulting, as say-
ing. The details of the contract, how-
ever, were not disclosed.
NSE, MCX, BSE AMONG TOP 20
GLOBAL DERIVATIVES BOURSES
Three Indian bourses NSE,
MCX and BSE have made it to the
worlds top 20 derivative exchanges,
ahead of their peers in global finan-
cial centres such as London,
Singapore and Hong Kong. While the
list is topped by the CME Group, as
per a list compiled by the Futures
Industry Association (FIA) for trad-
ing volumes between January and
June 2012, the National Stock Ex-
change is ranked fifth. Among other
Indian bourses, MCX is ranked at 10th
and BSE at the 18th position. After
the CME Group, Korea Exchange is
ranked second, Eurex at third and
NYSE Euronext at fourth. As per FIA
data, the NSE recorded a decline of
7.2 per cent to 971.8 million con-
tracts in the derivative segment dur-
ing the period under review. MCX
saw its volume dip by 13.8 per cent
to 489.3 million, while the BSE re-
corded a sharp rally to 97.4 million
contracts after its renewed focus on
derivatives trading in recent months.
LARGEST F&O EXCHANGE
The CME Group topped as the
largest F&O exchange but recorded
a decline of nearly 9 per cent with
1.55 billion derivative volumes. The
second spot was taken by Korea Ex-
change, which witnessed a slump of
34.4 per cent at 1.39 billion contracts.
The two were followed by Eurex and
NYSE Euronext with 1.26 billion and
1.02 billion contracts been traded
during the first six months, respec-
tively. The exchanges ranked below
the three Indian bourses in the top
20 were: JSE South Africa at 19th and
the London Metal Exchange at the
20th place. Those ranked below the
20th position included Hong Kong
Exchanges and Clearing (23rd), Lon-
don Stock Exchange (24th), China
Financial Futures Exchange (25th),
Singapore Exchange (26th) and To-
kyo Financial Exchange (27th).
SECURITY DEPOSIT ON NEW
CONNECTION OF LPG CYLINDER
INCREASED
The Union Ministry of Petro-
leum and Natural Gas on 9 October
2012 approved the increase in the
onetime security deposit on availing
a new LPG Cylinder connection. The
domestic cylinder weighed 14.2 ki-
lograms saw a rise of 250 Rupees and
turned up to be 1150 Rupees from
the previous one of 900 rupees in the
North Eastern State and in rest of the
country it turned up to be 1450 Ru-
pees witnessing a hike of 200 Ru-
pees.
People seeking new connec-
tion of Indane will have to pay a
amount of 2500 Rupees as security
deposit for the new connection.
Apart from this, the security deposit
for pressure regulator would be 150
Rupees, Blue consumer book will be
charged 45 Rupees each and the
deposit for Suraksha Tube is 170 Ru-
pees. Consumers with stove facility
available at home will have to pay an
extra amount of 250 Rupees for in-
spection.
SCOPE OF PRIORITY SECTOR
LENDING EXTENDED
The Reserve Bank of India, on
Wednesday, eased norms for priority
sector lending by banks and also ex-
panded the scope for distributing
loans to agriculture and weaker sec-
tions of the society. The additions
and amendments will be operational
with effect from July 20, the RBI said
in a notification. The central bank al-
lowed banks to include loans to
corporates, including farmers pro-
ducer companies of individual farm-
ers, partnership firms and co-opera-
tives of farmers directly engaged in
agriculture and allied activities
dairy, fishery, animal husbandry, poul-
try, bee-keeping and sericulture (up
to cocoon stage) up to an aggre-
gate limit of Rs.2 crore per borrower,
to be considered as apriority sector
lending. Further short-term loans for
raising crops, which include tradi-
tional/non-traditional plantations,
horticulture and allied activities,
would be included in the priority sec-
tor.
Loans for pre-harvest and post-
harvest activities, spraying, weeding,
harvesting, grading and sorting will
be included in the priority sector.
Now priority sector lending would
also include export credit for export-
ing own farm produce. During the
interaction the RBI Governor had with
bankers on July 31, 2012 in connec-
tion with the first quarter review of
Monetary Policy 2012-13, certain
concerns were raised by the banks
on the revised priority sector guide-
lines. Discussions were held with
CMD/CEOs of select banks and also
with priority sector heads of select
banks. Based on the feedback re-
ceived, it has been decided to make
certain additions and amendments,
in the guidelines on priority sector
issued on July 20, the RBI added.
Bank loans to Micro and Small Enter-
prises (MSEs) engaged in providing
or rendering of services will be eli-
gible for classification as direct fi-
nance to the MSE sector under the
priority sector up to an aggregate loan
limit of Rs.2 crore per borrower/unit,
provided they satisfy the investment
criteria for equipment as defined un-
der the MSMED Act, 2006.
In the housing sector, bank
loans to any governmental agency for
construction of dwelling units or for
slum clearance and rehabilitation of
slum dwellers subject to a ceiling of
Rs.10 lakh per dwelling unit would
be considered as priority sector lend-
ing. For the purpose of identifying
the economically weaker sections
and low income groups, the family
income limit of Rs.1.120 lakh per an-
num, irrespective of location, is pre-
scribed, it added. Bank loans to hous-
ing finance companies (HFCs)
approved by the NHB for their refi-
nance for on-lending for the pur-
pose of purchase, construction and
reconstruction of individual dwelling
units or for slum clearance and reha-
bilitation of slum dwellers, subject to
an aggregate loan limit of Rs.10 lakh
per borrower, would come under
priority sector lending. However, the
RBI stipulated that all inclusive inter-
est rate charged to the ultimate bor-
rower would not exceed the lowest
lending rate of the lending bank for
housing loans plus 2 per cent per
annum. The eligibility under priority
sector loans to HFCs is restricted to 5
per cent of the individual banks to-
tal priority sector lending, on an on-
going basis. The RBI also asked banks
to ensure that loans extended under
the priority sector are for approved
purposes and the end use is continu-
ously monitored. The banks should
put in place proper internal controls
and systems in this regard, it added.
IOC SIGNS MOU WITH KOREA GAS
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), on
Wednesday, entered into a memoran-
dum of understanding (MoU) with
Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) for
jointly exploring opportunities in ex-
ploration of oil and gas and LNG busi-
ness. IOC and Kogas signed an MoU
for joint participation in exploration
and production of gas and oil at the
global level, and developing natural
gas infrastructure projects and LNG
sourcing, the company said in a
statement.
PETRONET LNG TERMINAL AT
KOCHI TO BE READY BY EARLY
2013
Petronet LNG, on Friday, said its
import terminal at Kochi in Kerala
would be commissioned by the first
quarter of 2013 calendar year. Talk-
ing to reporters here, Petronet LNG
CEO and Managing Director A. K.
Balyan said the Kochi terminal would
operate only to less than a fifth of its 5
million tonnes a year capacity as the
offtake infrastructure was not yet
ready. GAIL (India) is laying pipelines
connecting the Kochi terminal to
consumers in two phases. The first
phase, connecting four consumers
such as Kochi Refinery and FACT
Tranvancore, would be completed
by December-end. Upon this, the
Kochi LNG terminal would be com-
missioned. However, it would oper-
ate at only 0.5-1 million tonnes ca-
pacity for the first year due to limita-
tion of gas offtake, he added. The
second-leg of the pipeline, which
would connect Kochi to Bangalore
and Mangalore, was expected to be
completed by next year-end, he said.
The company reported its highest
quarterly profit at Rs.315 crore in the
July-September period on the back
of better margins and operational ef-
ficiency.
PROFIT UP 21 %
Mr. Balyan said the net profit
rose by 21 per cent to Rs.315 crore
from Rs.260 crore a year ago. We
operated the 10 million tonnes a year
Dahej import terminal at 106 per cent
capacity during the quarter, he
added. Volumes imported remained
flat at 135 trillion British thermal units
but there was a 5 per cent increase
in margin it gets on turning the liquid
gas (LNG) back into its gaseous state.
DAHEJ EXPANSION
The turnover soared 41 per cent
to Rs.7,549 crore. The company had
a forex gain of Rs.114 crore against a
loss of Rs.52.6 crore, year-on-year.
Petronet, which is in expansion
mode, will commission its second
import terminal at Kochi by the first
quarter of 2013 calendar year. The
Dahej facility will be expanded to 15
million tonnes by 2015, and a third
terminal is being planned at
Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh.
APPLE OPENS BIGGEST ASIAN
STORE IN BEIJING
Apple, on Saturday, opened its
biggest Asian store yet in Beijing. The
shop, on the major shopping street
of Wangfujing in the heart of the capi-
tal, covers an area of 2,300 sq. metres,
according to Chinese media reports.
DR.REDDYS TO ACQUIRE
OCTOPLUS PHARMA
Dr.Reddys Laboratories an-
nounced the intended public offer
to acquire Octoplus N.V., a service-
based speciality pharmaceutical
company for 27.39 million euros
(nearly Rs. 192 crore) in cash.
Dr.Reddys offered to acquire 100 per
cent of the issued and outstanding
shares of OctoPlus with a premium of
30 per cent over the closing price of
OctoPlus, as on October 19.
Dr.Reddys already has commitment
from over 50 per cent of sharehold-
ers of OctoPlus, whose executive
board unanimously recommended
the offer to the remaining sharehold-
ers. A release from Dr.Reddys said
that the deal would help expand the
companys expertise and scientific
capabilities. We are looking forward
to build a research base in Leiden
(Netherlands). The acquisition would
help us remap up our technology
capabilities in drug delivery,
G.V.Prasad, CEO and Vice-Charman
of Dr.Reddys, said in a statement.
INDIAN FIRMS REAP BITTER
HARVEST IN AFRICA
Indian companies which in-
vested in controversial deals involv-
ing hundreds of thousands of acres
of land in Ethiopia have found them-
selves out of their depth in a fast-grow-
ing African economy that is still in the
process of building critical transport
and irrigation networks. Documents
related to one such transaction reveal
how Emami Biotech, a subsidiary of
the Rs.2,200-crore Emami Group,
pulled out of a Rs. 400-crore, 40,000-
hectare, bio-fuel plantation only a
year after the project was announced.
Indian companies are the second
largest investors in the Ethiopian
economy with approved investments
worth nearly $5 billion. While a ma-
jority of the businesses are small
manufacturing and trading enter-
prises run by business families long
settled in East Africa, the big money
has come with the recent entry of
large Indian investors. A number of
Indian companies have signed agree-
ments to lease more than 4,40,000
hectares of land across Ethiopia,
1,00,000 hectares of which has been
granted to a single Bangalore-based
company, Karuturi Global Ltd. Inter-
national. Rights organisations and
NGOs have characterised the deals
as instances of land grab and have
accused the government of forcibly
resettling pastoral communities.
The Ethiopian government has
denied these allegations, insisting
that large-scale commercial agricul-
ture is a vital part of an ambitious
project to transform the national
economy. Yet, the failure of Emami
Biotechs plantation and the glacial
progress of Karuturis 1,00,000-hect-
are project in Gambella have led
some to question the ability of these
companies to manage such large
plots of land. We think [that] before
making necessary preparations, they
just express interest, get investment
licences, get land and then prepara-
tions take more time, said Federal
Minister for Industries Mekonnen
Manyazewal. Once they start opera-
tions, obviously there will be chal-
lenges but we are prepared to solve
their problems. A senior Ethiopian
bureaucrat said the government had
taken considerable political risk by
embarking on such sensitive projects
involving the displacement of thou-
sands and felt that the Indian inves-
tors had not done their homework.
Emami Biotechs project in Oromia,
he said, was a case in point.
In August 2009, the company
announced it was investing Rs. 400
crore to acquire 100,000 acres to
plant Jatropha and other oil seeds and
to set up an oil extraction plant. Mott
McDonald, a reputed engineering
and development consultancy, con-
ducted a feasibility study. The Ethio-
pian government welcomed the in-
vestment and even appointed Emami
Director Aditya V. Aggarwal as Hon-
orary Ethiopian Consul at its newly
opened Consular Office in Kolkata.
PULLING OUT
The following year however,
Emami was ready to pull out. On De-
cember 22, 2010, the company wrote
to the Oromia Investment Commis-
sion, claiming that only half the land
initially allotted to Emami was suitable
for agriculture, and even that land
didnt have enough water. As per the
letter, the company invested $1.5
million in the project, dug several
bore wells, and constructed a check
dam. It also tried to grow maize,
pulses, soya bean and sunflower, but
all our hard works becomes in vain
[sic], the letter said. The other parts
of the land, the company claimed, lay
along a disputed border between
Oromia and the neighbouring prov-
ince of Somaliland. The letter lists
seven additional problems, including
crop damage by local villagers and
their cattle and a lack of cooperation
from the local administration. While
Oromia officials said there were no
clashes between the company and
the local villagers, a researcher ac-
quainted with the project said the
company and the villagers had
clashed over scarce water supplies.
The Ethiopian government is scepti-
cal of the companys claims. It is a
matter of due diligence, they must
have known [about the water]. I dont
think that has lead to the withdrawal,
said Mr. Mekonnen, the Minister for
Industries, noting that the company
had conducted a feasibility study.
GLOBAL RECESSION
Analysts said the global reces-
sion could have led to a slump in de-
mand for biofuels, affecting the vi-
ability of Emamis project. Since Ja-
tropha plantation does not require
[much] water, the land allocated was
arid and the lease rental was ex-
tremely low, said an analyst, adding
Emami realised that the Jatropha
plantation was not lucrative and tried
to cultivate other crops, This led
Emami to request the government to
reallocate the land and give them
land that has much better water re-
sources. [In Ethiopia] the cost of
clearing land and making it into a farm
is about $1,500 per hectare, said
Bharat Kulkarni, Director, Stalwart
Management Consultancy Services, a
firm that advises those looking to in-
vest in Africa. Unfortunately, inves-
tors land up in Ethiopia without actu-
ally realising this challenge. Other
factors include the high internal cost
of transport, the absence of trained
labour, government inefficiencies
and the high costs of equipment. We
have returned the 30,000 acres of land
handed over to us but are in talks with
the government for alternative land,
said a spokesperson from Emami
Biotech, but refused to share the rea-
sons for this decision. Asked whether
the Ethiopian government would re-
allocate land to the company, Mr.
Mekonnen was non-committal. We
will think twice, he said.
JINDAL TO BUY EXXONS BUSINESS
Jindal Poly Films has entered
into an agreement with ExxonMobil
Chemical to purchase its biaxially ori-
ented polypropyline (BOPP) global
films business. The agreement cov-
ers five BOPP production locations
in the U.S. and Europe. The transac-
tion also includes a technology cen-
tre and sales office in Rochester, New
York and an office in Luxembourg,
says a company release.
FM UNVEILS ROADMAP FOR FISCAL
CONSOLIDATION
A day ahead of the second quar-
ter monetary policy review by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram, on Monday,
unveiled a five-year roadmap for fis-
cal consolidation in keeping with the
Kelkar Committee recommendations
to contain the twin deficits and high
inflation, spur investments and put the
economy back on a higher growth
track. Making a statement at a press
conference here to mark acceptance
of a number of reform measures in
taxation, disinvestment and expen-
diture recommended by the Kelkar
panel, which had cautioned the gov-
ernment that a business-as-usual
scenario for the current year might
lead to the fiscal deficit rising to 6.1
per cent of GDP [gross domestic
product], Mr. Chidambaram asserted
that efforts would be continued to
restrict the fiscal deficit to 5.3 per
cent of the GDP this fiscal, and re-
duce it to 3 per cent over a five-year
period in 2016-17.
Referring to the lower fiscal
deficit target that was set in the Bud-
get for 2012-13, Mr. Chidambaram
said: 5.1 per cent was very challeng-
ing. After looking at all the factors,
we think 5.3 per cent is doable, and
we intend to work hard and achieve
that. As per the roadmap, the defi-
cit is to be brought down to 4.8 per
cent by 2013-14, to 4.2 per cent in
2014-15 and further to 3.6 per cent
in 2015-16 and finally to 3 per cent
per cent in 2016-17. This plan is nec-
essary, this plan must be implemented
and the government is very serious
about implementing this fiscal con-
solidation planAs fiscal consolida-
tion takes place and investors confi-
dence increases, it is expected that
the economy will return to the path
of high investment, higher growth,
lower inflation and long-term
sustainability, he said.
The timing of the announce-
ment is significant, in that it is quite
evident that the government would
like the RBI to heed India Inc.s de-
mand, and ease its key policy rates to
kick-start the economy by reviving
demand and catalysing investment.
While it remains to be seen whether
the apex bank responds to the
governments fiscal action or waits for
the measures to take effect in view of
the persistently high inflation, Mr.
Chidambaram gave a clear indication
that the government would welcome
reciprocal action in view of the de-
celeration in industrial and overall
economic growth. Without referring
to the RBI, Mr. Chidambaram said:
Well, I am making the statement so
that everybody in India acknowl-
edges the steps which we are taking.
And also acknowledges the govern-
ment is determined to bring about
fiscal consolidation. And I sincerely
hope that everybody will read the
statement and take note of that... In
his statement, Mr. Chidambaram
pointed out that among the reform
measures recommended the Kelkar
panel strongly advocated a transition
to the Goods and Services Tax (GST),
a quick review of the Direct Taxes
Code (DTC) before its introduction
and passing in Parliament and a num-
ber of administrative measures to im-
prove tax collection. On disinvest-
ment, it suggested a number of new
models for disinvestment and has
pitched for disinvestment of the
governments residual stake in some
companies that were privatised ear-
lier. On the expenditure front, it sug-
gested rationalisation of schemes,
and strict control and monitoring of
expenditure. These recommenda-
tions are wholesome and have been
accepted by the government, he
said.
Expressing confidence that the
government would be able to mop
up Rs.30,000 crore from disinvest-
ment and Rs.40,000 crore from sale
of spectrum, Mr. Chidambaram
stressed that every effort would also
be made to realise the revenue bud-
geted under tax receipts. The gov-
ernment also expects to be able to
contain and economise on expendi-
ture, both on Plan and non-Plan side.
While funds will be made available
for essential expenditure, especially
capital expenditure, every effort will
be made to avoid parking or idling of
funds. As regards subsidies, the Gov-
ernment will also increasingly rely on
Aadhaar-enabled direct cash trans-
fers of merit subsidies to eliminate
duplication or falsification, he said.
The Finance Minister also expressed
the governments firm resolve to ad-
dress the challenges posed by the
rising current account deficit (CAD).
The CAD, he said, was expected to
come down to $70.3 billion or 3.7 per
cent of GDP in the current fiscal, from
$78.2 billion or 4.2 per cent in 2011-
12. The government is confident that
the CAD will be fully financed by
capital inflows, and expects that a
substantial part of it will be in the form
of foreign direct investments, foreign
institutional investments and external
commercial borrowings , he said.
As for the reforms in direct and
indirect tax laws, Mr. Chidambaram
said the introduction of the amended
Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill was
under review and would be pre-
sented to Parliament after taking the
recommendations of the Standing
Committee into account. A quick
review of the DTC Bill will be done.
We are looking at the Bill that was in-
troduced, at the Standing
Committees recommendations. We
are also looking at current economic
situation and therefore final version
of bill that will be introduced in Par-
liament will reflect all these. By and
large, we will have to abide by Stand-
ing Committee recommendations,
he said. Alongside, work is in progress
on the Goods and Services Tax
(GST).
PENGUIN, RANDOM AGREE TO
MERGE
Penguin and Random House,
two of the worlds top English-lan-
guage publishing houses, have
agreed to merge, it was announced
on Monday, in a move seen as a pre-
cursor to more such mergers as the
publishing industry struggles to over-
come growing competition from digi-
tal publishing, notably Amazon. At
present, Penguin is owned by
Pearson, publishers of The Financial
Times , and Random House by the
German media group Bertelsmann.
The latter will control 53 per cent of
the proposed joint venture, to be
called Penguin Random House, and
Pearson 47 per cent. The deal, which
will create a business with estimated
annual revenues of 2.5 billion ac-
counting for 25 per cent of the Brit-
ish and American book markets, will
be subject to normal regulatory ap-
provals. It is expected to come into
effect in the second half of 2013.
There were calls for competition au-
thorities to look at the deal closely,
given the size of the merged group.
The move came as Rupert
Murdochs News Corp, which owns
Harper Collins, was reported to have
approached Pearson with substan-
tial cash offer, estimated to be about
1 billion. But there was no official
comment either from News Corp or
Pearson. Meanwhile, Pearson said the
merger with Random House would
bring together two of the worlds
leading English language publishers,
with highly complementary skills and
strengths. Random House is the
leading English language publisher
in the U.S. and the U.K., while Pen-
guin is the worlds most famous pub-
lishing brand and has a strong pres-
ence in fast-growing developing mar-
kets. Both companies have a long his-
tory of publishing excellence, and
both have been pioneers in the dra-
matic industry transformation towards
digital publishing and bookselling,
it said.
SHARING COSTS
Marjorie Scardino, Chief Execu-
tive of Pearson, said that together two
publishers would be able to share a
large part of their costs, and invest
more in their authors.
Thomas Rabe, Chairman and
CEO of Bertelsmann, described the
proposed merger as the best course
for new growth for our world-re-
nowned trade-book publishers. It
will build on our publishing tradition,
offering an extraordinary diversity of
publishing opportunities for authors,
agents, booksellers, and readers, to-
gether with unequalled support and
resources, he said.
A HUMANOID ROBOT CALLED
BAXTER
A humanoid robot
with common sense, designed to
work safely alongside its human co-
workers on factory production lines,
was unveiled in the US.
Baxter could apply common
sense, adapt to its environment and
be trained in less than 30 minutes to
complete specific tasks. It is capable
of superhuman speed and precision.
To teach Baxter a new job, a human
guides its arms to simulate the desired
task, and presses a button to program
in the pattern, the report said. The
robot responds with a confused ex-
pression, if it does not understand.
WOODEN HIGH-RISES THAT ARE
ECO-FRIENDLY
Architects and engineers are re-
viving the use of wood as an eco-
friendly replacement for concrete, as
borne out by the completion of an
eight-storey office building in Aus-
tria and residential block in London.
The LCT One building in
Dornbirn, Austria, is a hybrid build-
ing made from both wood and con-
crete and designed by Austrian ar-
chitectural firm Cree. Assembled
from solid panels made from layers of
wood and other materials, the high-
tech building has a central concrete
core housing its lifts and utilities. From
a concrete foundation, vertical posts
of glue-laminated wood (known as
glulam) support hybrid floor panels
made from more glulam beams em-
bedded in reinforced concrete.
Made by sticking together smaller
pieces of wood to create structural
elements, glulam can resist compres-
sion better than concrete but
weighs much less and is more sus-
tainable, the Daily Mailreports. Cree
claims that prefabricating the glulam
elements of the building cuts con-
struction time by half, guarantees
quality and slashes the buildings car-
bon footprint. Concrete emits nearly
its own weight in carbon dioxide as
its produce; the raw material for
wooden skyscrapers, by contrast, lit-
erally grows on trees and absorbs
carbon from the air as it does so.
LAB ON A CHIP MAY MAKE
ANALYTIC DEVICES MORE EFFICIENT
A technique that uses acoustic
waves to sort cells on a chip may help
create miniature medical analytic de-
Science and Technology Science and Technology
Science and Technology Science and Technology Science and Technology
vices and lead to cell phone-sized
medical labs, according to a team of
researchers. The device uses two
beams of acoustic or sound
waves to act as acoustic tweezers and
sort a continuous flow of cells on a
dime-sized chip, said Tony Jun
Huang, associate professor of engi-
neering science and mechanics,
Penn State. By changing the fre-
quency of the acoustic waves, re-
searchers can easily alter the paths of
the cells. Huang said that since the
device can sort cells into five or more
channels, it will allow more cell types
to be analyzed simultaneously, which
paves the way for smaller, more effi-
cient and less expensive analytic
devices. Eventually, you could do
analysis on a device about the size of
a cell phone. Its very doable and
were making in-roads to that right
now, said Huang. Biological, genetic
and medical labs could use the de-
vice for various types of analysis, in-
cluding blood and genetic testing,
Huang said.
CELL-SORTING DEVICES
Most current cell-sorting de-
vices allow the cells to be sorted into
only two channels in one step, ac-
cording to Huang. He said that an-
other drawback of current cellsort-
ing devices is that cells must be en-
capsulated into droplets, which com-
plicates further analysis. Today, cell
sorting is done on bulky and very ex-
pensive devices. We want to mini-
mize them so they are portable, inex-
pensive and can be powered by bat-
teries, said Huang. Using sound
waves for cell sorting is less likely to
damage cells than current tech-
niques, Huang added. In addition to
the inefficiency and the lack of con-
trollability, current methods produce
aerosols, gases that require extra
safety precautions to handle. The re-
searchers created the acoustic wave
cell-sorting chip using a layer of sili-
cone polydimethylsiloxane. Ac-
cording to Huang, two parallel trans-
ducers, which convert alternating
current into acoustic waves, were
placed at the sides of the chip. As
the acoustic waves interfere with
each other, they form pressure nodes
on the chip. As cells cross the chip,
they are channeled toward these
pressure nodes. The transducers are
tunable, which allows researchers to
adjust the frequencies and create
pressure nodes on the chip. The re-
searchers first tested the device by
sorting a stream of fluorescent poly-
styrene beads into three channels.
Prior to turning on the transducer, the
particles flowed across the chip un-
impeded. Once the transducer pro-
duced the acoustic waves, the par-
ticles were separated into the chan-
nels.
LEUKEMIA CELLS
Following this experiment, the
researchers sorted human white
blood cells that were affected by leu-
kemia. The leukemia cells were first
focused into the main channel and
then separated into five channels. The
device is not limited to five channels,
according to Huang. We can do
more. We could do 10 channels if we
want, we just used five because we
thought it was impressive enough to
show that the concept worked,
Huang said. The researchers released
their findings in the current edition
of Lab on a Chip.
AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS UNVEILED
THE COLOSSAL RADIO TELESCOPE
Australian Scientists unveiled a
colossal radio telescope with abilities
of exploring the depths of universe
with unparalleled precision. The tele-
scope will increase the abilities of
astronomers in mapping black holes,
survey the universe, and cracking the
new light across the galaxies to an
exponential level.
At present the Australian SKA
Pathfinder telescope having 36 an-
tennas with diameter of 12 meters
each is placed at the remote
Murchison Radio-Astronomy obser-
vatory in the deserts of West Austra-
lia. Designed and developed by mak-
ing investments of Australian $ 140
million has facilities of surveying the
sky at a much faster speed than any
other telescope available in the
world. The sensitive antennas of the
telescope are quite sensitive to the
faint radiations of Milky Way hence is
able to detect the galaxies far away.
The radio waves generated from this
telescope can provide details of the
cosmos far away and the gases that
resulted in the formation of any par-
ticular star. Pulsars and quasars can
also be identified by the telescope
with an ease pushing forward the
boundaries of knowledge of the man-
kind ahead of the physical laws of
nature. The principle of radio-as-
tronomy can provide the details of
the beginning of the universe. Basi-
cally the antennas of the telescope
spread across the rocky terrain would
be used for collection of the radio
signals of the cosmic phenomenon.
Being 50 times more powerful, when
compared to other radio devices, it
can easily detect the exploding stars.
Hence can be of a great use in estab-
lishing the facts related to the forma-
tion of the universe that happened
about 14 billion years ago.
MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
IBM scientists are reporting
progress in a chip-making technology
that is likely to ensure the shrinking of
the basic digital switch at the heart
of modern microchips for more than
another decade. The advance, first
described in the journal Nature
Nanotechnology on Sunday, is
based on carbon nanotubes, exotic
molecules that have long held out
promise as an alternative material to
silicon from which to create the tiny
logic gates that are now used by the
billions to create microprocessors
and memory chips.
The IBM researchers at the T.J.
Watson Research Centre in Yorktown
Heights, New York, have been able
to pattern an array of carbon
nanotubes on the surface of a silicon
wafer and use them to build chips
that are hybrids of silicon and carbon
nanotubes with more than 10,000
working transistors.
Against all expectations, the sili-
con chip has continued to improve
in both speed and capacity for the
last five decades. In recent decades,
however, there has been growing
uncertainty over whether the tech-
nology will continue to improve. The
end of the microelectronics era
would inevitably stall a growing array
of industries that have fed off the fall-
ing cost and increasing performance
of computer chips. Chip makers have
routinely doubled the number of tran-
sistors that can be etched on the sur-
face of silicon wafers by routinely
shrinking the tiny switches that store
and route the ones and zeros that are
processed by digital computers.
They have long since shrunk the
switches to less than a wavelength of
light
The process has been
characterised as Moores Law, named
after Gordon Moore, the Intel co-
founder, who in 1965 noted that the
industry was doubling the number of
transistors it could build on a single
chip at routine intervals of 12 to 18
months. To continue the process,
semiconductor engineers have had
to consistently perfect an array of re-
lated manufacturing systems and
materials that continue to perform at
an ever tinier scale. In recent years,
while chip makers have continued to
double the number of transistors on
microprocessors and memory chips,
their performance, measured as
clock speed, has largely stalled. This
has forced the computer industry to
change its design and begin build-
ing more parallel computers.
PACKING 10 TERABITS ON A TINY
DEVICE
A new discovery may open the
way for the development of next
generation data storage devices with
capacities of up to 10 terabits (10 tril-
lion bits) per square inch. An ultra-
smooth surface may be the answer,
according to a discovery by the re-
searchers from Agency for Science,
Technology and Researchs (ASTAR)
Institute of Materials Research and
Engineering (IMRE) and the National
University of Singapore (NUS), re-
ports the journal Nature. The self-as-
sembly technique is one of the sim-
plest and cheapest high-volume
methods for creating uniform,
densely-packed nanostructures that
could potentially help store data, ac-
cording to an ASTAR statement. How-
ever, attempts to employ self-assem-
bly on different surface types, such
as magnetic media used for data stor-
age, have shown varying and erratic
results to date.
This phenomenon has contin-
ued to puzzle industry researchers
and scientists globally. The research-
ers have now solved this mystery and
identified that the smoother the sur-
face, the more efficient the self-as-
sembly of nanostructures. The
method can now be used on more
surfaces. A height close to 10 atoms,
or 10 angstroms, is all it takes to make
or break self-assembly, said M.S.M.
Saifullah, one of the key researchers.
WASTE DEGRADATION BY WHITE ROT
FUNGUS
Composting is a natural process
of rotting or decomposition of organic
matter by microorganisms under con-
trolled conditions. Raw organic ma-
terials such as crop residues, animal
wastes, food garbage, some munici-
pal wastes and suitable industrial
wastes after composting enhance
their suitability for application to soil
as a fertilizing resource. In addition
to being a source of plant nutrient,
compost also improves the
physiochemical and biological prop-
erties of the soil.
As a result of these improve-
ments, the soil becomes more resis-
tant to stresses such as drought, dis-
eases and toxicity. Composting helps
the crop in improved uptake of plant
nutrients and possesses an active
nutrient cycling capacity because of
vigorous microbial activity indirectly
leading to pathogen suppression in
soil. These advantages manifest them-
selves in reduced cropping risks,
higher yields and lower outlays on in-
organic fertilizers for farmers. In re-
cent years, decomposition of agricul-
tural wastes such as coir pith, banana
sheath (dried), sugarcane trash, mil-
lets and pulse waste, cotton stubble
with white rot fungus (Pleurotus sp.)
is gaining importance. These wastes
are decomposed with any one of the
white rot fungi P. eous, P. platypus,
P. djamor or P. sajorcaju by layer
system. One layer of agricultural waste
at 100 kg is spread uniformly in an
area of 4 x 3 m2 under shade. Culture
of P. djamor at 200 gms is applied
over the substrate. Another 100 kg of
substrate is spread over the first layer
and urea is applied at rate of one kg
to the substrate. This sandwiching is
repeated to make a heap of 1,000 kg
substrate with such 20 layers. A total
of one kg of the fungus and five kg
urea is required to decompose 1,000
kg waste. Water is sprinkled twice a
day to maintain 50 -60 per cent mois-
ture level. The heap is allowed to
decompose for a month after which
a turning is done. The waste under-
goes degradation within 45 days. It
has a narrow carbon : nitrogen ratio
of 20:1 which can be used as organic
manure.
NEW EARTH SIZED PLANET
DISCOVERED IN NEIGHBORING
SOLAR SYSTEM
Astronomers have discovered a
new earth sized planet in October
2012 which is closest to but outside
our solar system. The planet is said to
be astronomical stones throw away
at four light years. The discovery of
planet was announced in Science
Journal, Nature by Stephane Urdy
and Xavier Dumusque at Geneva
Observatory.
The planet is very close to its
sun that it is difficult to support life
there. The planet is of very low mass
and have a surface temperature of
about 1200 degree Celsius (2192
Farenheit).The Planet orbits one of
the suns in Alpha Centauri, roughly
25 trillion miles away. Also according
to the previous study by different
scientist if one planet is discovered
orbiting a sun there is usually other
planet in the same solar system. Al-
most 800 exoplanets are discovered
in the recent past that is outside our
solar system since early 1990s. But
this Planet is very close to earth. It
was also asserted that getting to the
planet is nearly impossible because
it would take about 40000 years to
travel to new planet even with cur-
rent Propulsion Technology
PROCESS OF FRUIT RIPENING AND
CHANGE OF COLOURS
Several major changes can take
place as fruits ripen. Not all occur in
every type of fruit, but taken collec-
tively they characterize ripening pro-
cesses. They include: (1) a rise in res-
piration rate; (2) production of ethyl-
ene; (3) flesh softening; (4) appear-
ance of colour; (5) formation of
volatiles with associated develop-
ment of flavour.
Among these changes, forma-
tion of bright colour, which evolved
to attract dispersal agents such as
birds, browsing animals and primates,
now becomes a particularly impor-
tant visible indicator of maturity and
ripeness. Pome fruit, stone fruit, to-
matoes, mangoes and straw berries
provide good examples where
colour is a prime indicator of ripeness.
The non-greening of leaves is called
senescence. As in leaf senescence,
ripening in fruits also involves chloro-
phyll loss and an increase in produc-
tion of yellow, orange, red or purple
pigments. Yellow, orange or red pig-
mentation, as seen in oranges and
tomatoes, arise from conversion of
chloroplasts to chromoplasts. In
higher plants, carotenoids which are
found in chromoplasts and anthocya-
nins which are located in the vacu-
oles fulfill an important purpose as
colorants of fruits.
For example the red colour of
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)
fruits is due to the carotenoid pig-
ment lycopene, whose concentration
increases dramatically during the rip-
ening process. The deep yellow
colour of mango fruits is due to the
presence of beta carotene a common
phytochemical within a group of 600
known carotenoids. Similarly the red
colour development in apples and
purple colour development in grapes
are due to the formation of anthocya-
nin pigments in their skin. Sometimes
both types of pigments can occur in
the same fruit.
These pigments are formed as
end products of two separate path-
ways during ripening. The phytoene
pathway, which leads to the accu-
mulation of yellow-orange caro-
tenoids or red lycopene and the an-
thocyanin pathway which leads to
the accumulation of anthocyanins in
the vacuoles are these two pathways.
TWO LABOUR-SAVING FARM
MECHANISATION INNOVATIONS
Compared to human labour, us-
ing machines is always an easier op-
tion for agricultural activities. But the
problem arises when farmers are not
able to locate or source the right ma-
chine on time. Even if they are avail-
able their price is either too costly or
if on hire, one needs to wait to use
them.
A fabricator cum mechanic, Mr.
Gurmail Singh Dhonsi from Rajasthan,
has developed two agricultural ma-
chineries which he claims are easy to
use and light on the pocket. The first
machine is a tree pruner that can be
mounted on a tractor.
The machine can be used for
orchard owners like mango growers
who need to prune their trees every
year.
COMPOST AERATOR
Another machine which he has
devised is called compost aerator. I
got the idea to develop this machine
by closely observing the earthworms
that keep turning the soil, says Mr.
Gurmail Singh. The aerator is also
tractor- mountable and consists of a
rotating shaft on which several steel
blades are fitted to mix the bio wastes
thoroughly. The machine can be at-
tached to any make and model of
tractor of size 50 hp or above. The
rotor, which is 16 inches in diameter,
is nine feet long. The nine-inch
blades break and chop the bio
wastes into very small particles. A
hydraulic jack is provided to facili-
tate the up and down movement of
the main rotor. There is provision for
attaching a 1,500 litre capacity water
tank to the tractor. This water is used
to moisten the compost while the ro-
tor blades turn the heap of biowastes.
A weight box has been provided
next to the water tank to maintain
balance during movement, explains
Mr. Gurmail Singh. While the rotor ro-
tates and the blades cut the biowaste,
water is automatically added to the
mixture from the tank to moisten it.
The tractor is slowly made to run from
one end of the heap to the other.
FUEL CONSUMPTION
This operation needs to be re-
peated four to five times for five days
during summer and seven days dur-
ing winter. As a result the total time
for converting biomass into manure
reduces to 25-40 days, as against 120-
150 days using manual methods. For
the operation the machine consumes
3.5-4.0 litre of diesel per hour, he
says. According to Dr. Nitin Maurya,
National Innovation Foundation,
Ahmedabad, the technologies for
thoroughly mixing compost for rapid
composting are available in many for-
eign countries although no such do-
mestic product is available.
PATENT FILING
Moreover, the provision of pro-
viding moisture while turning biom-
ass is rare and accordingly NIF has
filed a patent for this machine in the
name of Mr. Gurmail Singh. The com-
post made by the aerator has been
tested by soil testing laboratory at the
Agriculture Research Station (ARS)
Durgapura, Jaipur. The percentages
of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and
potash (K) were found to be 1.87,
1.79, 2.26 respectively as compared
to 0.4-1.5, 0.3-0.9, 0.3-1.9 per cent in
the conventional farm yard manure.
This compost was found to be even
better than vermicompost. Similar re-
sults have also been reported by a
private fertilizer company which stud-
ied the aerated compost.
GOLD PRODUCING BACTERIA
DISCOVERED BY SCIENTIST
Scientist and Researchers from
the Michigan State University had
discovered bacteria that can tolerate
immense amount of toxicity and can
also create 24 carat gold. The re-
searchers found that the bacteria
named Cupriavidus metallidurans is
metal tolerant bacteria which can
grow on huge concentration of gold
chloride which itself is a very toxic
chemical compound found in nature.
The researchers fed the bacte-
ria with mismatched amounts of gold
chloride, intimating the process they
believe happens in nature. In about
a week, the bacteria transformed the
toxins and produced a gold
nugget. The researchers used a com-
bination of biotechnology, art and
alchemy to turn liquid gold into 24-
carat gold. It is now being called as
Microbial alchemy - transforming gold
from something that has no value into
a solid, precious metal thats valuable.
CHESHIRE CATS AND WATER
SOLUBLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES
We are all familiar with electronic
devices such as integrated circuits,
chips and tools that do a hundred
useful things. They have become in-
separable from our lives. What do we
do once we are done with them?
Throw them away, causing what has
come to be known as e-waste. It is
estimated that e-waste alone ac-
counts for over 70 per cent of toxic
wastes currently found in landfills,
and we are yet to get a good esti-
mate of how much it is in the seas
and oceans. Again, we use electronic
devices such as pacemakers and
other sensors that are implanted in
our bodies. The trouble with them is
that once they are past their use, we
need to surgically remove them (and
perhaps implant a fresh one). How
nice it would be if only they dissolve
away and get removed from the
body; much the way we discard our
body liquids and solids every day!
Yes, it appears possible to do so with
the development of a prototype elec-
tronic chip that is made to work for a
defined period of time, which is im-
planted into a body and dissolves af-
ter use and gets excreted away from
the body after it has done its intended
job.
Dr. John Rogers of the Material
Sciences department of University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his
group teamed up with Dr. Fiorenzo
Omenetto of the Biomedical Engi-
neering department of Tufts Univer-
sity in Boston, and devised an implant-
able electronic thermal therapy de-
vice which lasts inside a rats body
for a few weeks before dissolving
away. They report this landmark work
in the 28th September 2012 issue
of Science . In order that the device
is water-soluble, every component in
there must be made of molecules and
materials which are water-soluble,
not the conventional aluminium, rare-
earth metal compounds or plastic
stuff that are built to last forever. They
must be built to stay and work for a
stipulated time and then be washed
away. Hence, they used magnesium
or Mg as the electrical conductor,
MgO and Silicon dioxide as dielec-
trics, specially fabricated
nanomembrane silicon semiconduc-
tor and so forth, in order to build the
electrothermal device. The entire
device including all of its inductor,
capacitor, resistor, diode and transis-
tor dissolves away when placed in
deionized water. Next, they packed
this device in a sheet of silk, which is
specially made so as to stay intact for
a set period of time, after which it
dissolves in the body water, expos-
ing the electronic device which too
dissolves away. Here then is the
proof of principle a silicon-based
complementary metal oxide semi-
conductor (CMOS) device that is an
implantable medical device, which
can be custom-made or programmed
to last for a defined period of time,
after which it is resorbed in the body,
so that no second intervention for
retrieval of the device is needed.
The device they made was
meant to be a heater one that can
be placed next to a site where a sur-
gical operation has been done. It is
meant to keep the area warmer so as
to keep it free of infection from germs.
They first implanted it sub-dermally
(under the skin) of some mice. After
the programmed three weeks, the
implant dissolved away. Only a faint
residue was left, which too cleared
away, with no inflammation or any
side effects. Reassured of its safety,
they next implanted this transient
thermal therapy device on rats
through surgery. Weeks later, they
found no traces of infection after the
surgery. Here then is the proof of prin-
ciple. Such biodegradable electronic
devices can have many uses. They
can be sensors placed in fields, re-
porting what they are meant to, and
fade away. One can, in principle, even
make portable consumer devices
(cell phones?) which, after use, can
be dissolved away in water and the
starting material retrieved after evapo-
rating the water. Lewis Carroll used
the term Cheshire Cat, apparently af-
ter the practice of dairy farmers in
Cheshire who would pack and mould
cheese in the form of a smiling cat.
The cheese was cut and eaten from
the tail side of the cat, leaving the
smile for last. In any event, Carroll was
pre-scient; Cheshire Cats are now an
electronic reality.
SCIENTISTS DEVELOPED TEST TO
DETECT SCHIZOPHRENICS
Scientists developed a near to
100 percent accurate test to detect
schizophrenics, by simply checking
their gaze. Apparently
schizophrenics can be checked just
by implying some simple viewing
tests. The tests brought out ninety
eight per cent accuracy in distin-
guishing between those with and
without schizophrenia. This path
breaking research was done by re-
searchers at Aberdeen University.
They found that people with schizo-
phrenia showed well-documented
deficits in the ability to track slow
moving objects smoothly with their
eyes. The study was led by Dr Philip
Benson and Professor David St Clair
which involved a range of eye tests
and the volunteers were asked to
track slow moving objects slowly with
their eyes, inspect a variety of every-
day scenes and given instructions to
keep a steady gaze on a single un-
moving target.
EFFICIENT WAY TO TURN WASTE
INTO RESOURCE
A staggering amount of waste is
generated every day in every town
and city, and the local bodies are
grappling with logistics for its dis-
posal. The problem arises as the gov-
ernment and individuals fail to see
waste as a potential source of energy
and agricultural input in the form of
manure.
The Bangalore Corporation,
which recently made waste segrega-
tion mandatory at the household level,
is showing the way for the rest of In-
dia. It is setting up 12 Nisargruna
biogas plants across the city to con-
vert biodegradable waste into meth-
ane and organic manure. The
Nisargruna biogas plant is based on
technology developed by the
Mumbai-based Bhabha Atomic Re-
search Centre (BARC). Such plants
are being constructed at local levels
too. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
is planning to construct 4 tonnes a
day capacity biodegradable waste
conversion plant at its sprawling cen-
tre at Siruseri IT Park near Chennai. It
already has similar plants operating
at other locations. IIT Madras has al-
ready cleared a project for a plant
with 1 tonne per day capacity. The
Chennai Corporation recently initi-
ated preliminary discussion with
BARC. These are not the first plants
coming up in the country. Such
plants have already been installed at
146 locations, says Dr. S. P. Kale,
Head of Technology Transfer & Col-
laboration Division at BARC. We have
transferred the technology to 100
private entrepreneurs. In a broad
sense, the principle is similar to that
of gobar gas plants, but all compari-
sons end there the technology is
much more advanced and more
methane is produced.
BETTER BET
Conventional gobar gas plants
have a single digester and produce
biogas containing 55-65 per cent of
methane and 45-35 per cent of car-
bon dioxide. But the Nisargruna
plants are biphasic (aerobic followed
by anaerobic phase) and produce
biogas containing 70-80 per cent of
methane and only 30-20 per cent of
carbon dioxide, he says.
More the methane produced,
the better is the fuel value. One tonne
of biodegradable waste contains
only 22-24 per cent of solid matter;
the rest is water. And 30 per cent of
municipal waste is biodegradable
waste. So with one tonne of biode-
gradable waste (containing 220-240
kg of solid material) it will be pos-
sible to produce 25-30 kg of meth-
ane, about 150 kg of carbon dioxide
and 50-60 kg of organic manure. The
methane enriched biogas can be
used directly for heating (instead of
LPG) or for generating electricity. Dr.
Kale underlines the higher levels of
efficiency when it is used directly for
heating and strongly recommends it.
BEST USAGE
One metre cube of biogas has
3,500 kilo calories of heat. When this
is used directly, and the efficiency of
the heater is 70 per cent, about 2,400
Kcal are effectively used. But one
metre cube of biogas can produce
only 1.5 to 1.8 units of electricity, ac-
counting only for 1,200 to 1,400
Kcal, he says. It is two times more
efficient to use methane for heating
than for generating electricity. It may
be used for electricity generation
only where thermal use is not pos-
sible. Constructing a one tonne
waste plant will cost Rs.15 lakh and it
can be installed in two months. If a
plant runs at full efficiency and if you
claim carbon credit, the payback
period is two years, Dr. Kale explains.
HAZARDOUS WASTE
The best part of the technology
is its ability to generate resource even
from hazardous biological sludge.
Waste from textile, food and chemi-
cal plants contain harmful chemicals.
When the waste is treated, the bio-
logical sludge too turns hazardous as
organisms absorb harmful chemicals.
The volume of hazardous solids can
be reduced by 90 per cent, he
stresses. There are seven such plants
already in operation. The first to
come up was in 2010 in Baddi in
Himachal Pradesh at Auro Textiles
belonging to the Vardhman Group.
He rattles off the details of one plant
after another, and it becomes diffi-
cult to understand why this technol-
ogy has not been adopted in a much
bigger way across the country. The
concept of processing biodegrad-
able waste is more talked about but
urban local bodies are not keen to
do it. Nisargruna technology offers a
decentralized way of reducing the
waste reaching dumping yards, he
says. The citizens on their part must
segregate the waste resources and
urban local bodies must make provi-
sion to collect these waste resources
in a segregated manner. It needs a
huge change in perception by the
society. So what makes Nisargruna
biogas plants so very efficient? To
start with, unlike a gobar gas plant,
the Nisargruna plant has two digest-
ers aerobic and anaerobic. Aero-
bic digester has nine species of Ba-
cillus required for breaking down
waste resources.
The waste is first pulverised in a
mixer before it enters the aerobic di-
gester, where it remains for 3 to 4
days. The smaller clumps tend to
aggregate to form lumps [despite
pulverisation]. These lumps of waste
are attacked by aerobic bacteria. Air
and hot water (using solar panels) at
70 degree C are added. Hot water is
added to accelerate the digestion
process, Dr. Kale notes. Though the
temperature of the waste after add-
ing hot water is 32 degree C to 35
degree C in winter and 42 degree C
to 44 degree C in summer, the bacte-
ria survive as they are thermophilic.
They can function in mesophilic
condition as well, he clarifies. The
pulverised water-mixed waste is
passed through many compartments
so that the bacteria have a better
chance to degrade it. What flows out
of the aerobic digester to anaerobic
digester is almost liquefied homog-
enous slurry with a reduced pH of 5-
5.5. The solid content in the slurry has
been reduced from 23 per cent to
10 per cent. The solid is converted
into organic acids and carbon diox-
ide, Dr. Kale explains. Methane bac-
teria are predominant in the anaero-
bic digester. As a rule, methane bac-
teria are slow in their actions, and
hence it takes about 15 days for the
waste to be degraded in the anaero-
bic digester. But it has been re-
duced from 40 days [in the case of
gobar gas] to 19 days, he points out.
This is due to the initial aerobic
phase. All that is left of the waste is
methane, carbon dioxide and ma-
nure a rich resource extracted from
it.
WEBSITE UPDATES ON SPACE
RADIATION HAZARDS
Scientists have developed the
first on-line system for predicting and
forecasting the radiation environment
in near-Earth, lunar and Martian space.
Astrophysicists from the University of
New Hampshires Space Science
Center (SSC) created the new near
real-time tool that will provide criti-
cal information as preparations are
made for potential future manned
missions to the Moon and Mars. If we
send human beings back to the Moon,
and especially if were able to go to
Mars, it will be critical to have a sys-
tem like this in place to protect astro-
nauts from radiation hazards, said
researcher Nathan Schwadron.
Known as PREDICCS, the web-based
tool for the first time integrates nu-
merical models of space radiation, a
host of real-time measurements be-
ing made by satellites currently in
space, and propagation codes that
can accurately project radiation lev-
els out as far as Mars. The tool was
made possible through NASAs Liv-
ing With A Star (LWS) Targeted Re-
search and Technology programme.
ON HOURLY BASIS
The website provides updates
of the radiation environment on an
hourly basis and archives the data
weekly, monthly, and yearly. This his-
torical record provides a clear pic-
ture of when a safe radiation dose
limit is reached for skin or blood-form-
ing organs, for example.
MANAGEMENT OF RICE BLAST
DISEASE
Rice blast is a fungal infestation
known to occur in all the rice grow-
ing areas of the county. The disease
attacks all the parts of the crop grow-
ing above the soil. It is broadly classi-
fied into three types, leaf, collar and
neck blasts.
Initially elliptical or spindle
shaped lesions occurs with brown
borders and grey canters. Under
favourable conditions, lesions enlarge
and coalesce eventually killing the
leaves. Leaf blast usually increases
early in the season and then declines
later as leaves become less suscep-
tible.
BLACK COLOUR
Collar blast occurs when the
pathogen infects the collar that can
ultimately kill the entire leaf blade.
The pathogen also infects the node
of the stem known as node blast that
turns blackish and breaks easily. Neck
blast occurs when the pathogen in-
fects the neck of the panicle. The in-
fected neck is girdled by a greyish
brown lesion and the panicle falls
over if the infection is severe. If neck
blast occurs before the milk stage
(rice forming stage), the entire
panicle may die prematurely, leaving
it white and completely unfilled.
Later infections may cause incom-
plete grain filling and poor milling
quality. Varietal resistant to blast is the
most practical and economical ap-
proach for management. The most
common resistant varieties are Aditya,
CSR27, IR64, KRH2, Krishna, Hamsa,
Naina, Pusa sugandha3, Rasi,
Vasumati, PA6129, DRRH2, Dhan80,
PR113, Swati, Narendra, Sumati,
Swarnadhan, Triguna, Tulasi, IR-36
etc.
DISEASE RESISTANT
Use disease free seeds. Apply
recommended dosage of nitrogen
application in 3 to 4 splits and avoid
final application in infested plots.
Burn previous crop residues if the
crop is found infested. Early sowing
helps prevent this infestation spread
from neighbouring fields. Avoid wa-
ter stagnation. Treat seeds with
Pseudomonas fluorescence 10g/lit of
water for 30 min, dip the seedlings in
Pseudomonas fluorescence 5gm/lit
for 20 minutes before transplanting.
Foliar spray of the Pseudomonas fluo-
rescence 5gm/lit can be done at an
interval of 15-20 days after transplant-
ing.
SCIENTIST DEVELOPED A SUPERHERO
MICE
Scientists of the City University
of New York in month of October had
genetically engineered mice that
have up to 500 times more of nose
cells to detect explosives and TNT-
like chemicals, using the Genetically
Modified technology. The mice are
named as super-hero sniffer mice
and have the ability to smell out land-
mines and explosives. The mice can
be used by armed forces and can be
deployed in future, to countries af-
fected by war for rapidly sniffing out
of landmines. The project was funded
by the US governments health re-
search arm.
Using of rats and mice is not
common phenomenon as it is evident
from the fact that a Belgian charity
already uses giant African rats to sniff
out TNT and has deployed them in
Mozambique and Tanzania and on the
Thai-Burmese border. While in this
research project mice was used be-
cause they are cheaper to manage
and house and easier to breed.
BCG: A VACCINE FOR MORE THAN
JUST TB
In the early years of the last cen-
tury, the director of a newly-estab-
lished branch of the famed Institut
Pasteur in the northern French city of
Lille, Albert Calmette, and his col-
league, Camille Gurin, set out to cre-
ate a vaccine against tuberculosis. In
humans, the disease is caused by the
bacterium, Mycobacterium tubercu-
losis . In their quest for a vaccine,
Calmette and Gurin worked tire-
lessly to weaken a related strain
found in cattle, Mycobacterium
bovis. The idea was that the live but
thoroughly weakened microbe
would, when administered to people,
produce immunity against the TB-
causing germ. The vaccine strain they
created, bacille Calmette-Gurin
(BCG), was first given to a newborn
infant in July 1921. Even today, it is
the only vaccine available against TB.
The BCG vaccine is no longer rou-
tinely given to children in rich coun-
tries where chances of catching the
disease are low. However, the vac-
cine is still widely used in develop-
ing countries where the disease is
rampant. The World Health
Organisation estimates that 100 mil-
lion children receive it each year. The
vaccine provides limited protection
against tuberculosis. It does not stop
the disease-causing bacterium from
establishing an infection, but can help
prevent severe forms of TB in infants
and young children. It does not, how-
ever, provide cover against the dis-
ease becoming active in adolescents
and adults. Curiously, the protective
effects of the vaccine appear to go
beyond tuberculosis. When, for in-
stance, the vaccine was introduced
in a northern Swedish province in
1927, a physician noticed that those
who received it at birth had a death
rate only about one-third of that
among unvaccinated children.
Controlled trials among children
and teenagers in the U.S. and U.K.
during the 1940s and 1950s too
found that BCG reduced non-acci-
dental deaths from causes other than
TB by 25 per cent, noted Peter Aaby
and Christine Stabell Benn of the
Statens Serum Institut in Denmark in
a commentary published in the
journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Trials
carried out in West Africa a few years
back found that the BCG vaccine re-
duced deaths among low-birth-
weight newborns by more than 40
per cent, mainly by preventing sep-
sis and respiratory infections, they
pointed out. Research carried out by
a team of Dutch scientists and pub-
lished recently in PNAS explains
why BCG could be having such a
broad protective effect. Vaccines are
known to stimulate the adaptive arm
of the immune system, thereby estab-
lishing a memory of a specific in-
vader to be recognised and repulsed.
BCG, on the other hand, was working
on the evolutionarily more ancient
innate immune system that is trig-
gered by molecules that commonly
marked out a pathogen, such as com-
ponents of their cell wall. The gen-
eral perception in immunology is that
innate immunity, as opposed to adap-
tive immunity, is static and does not
adapt to an enhanced functional
state, observed Mihai Netea of
Radboud University Nijmegen Medi-
cal Centre and his colleagues in
their PNAS paper. BCG was induc-
ing trained immunity by reprogram-
ming cells known as monocytes that
formed part of innate immune system.
When BCG was administered, the live
bacteria in the vaccine would be
devoured by the monocytes. Inside
the monocytes, muramyl dipeptide,
a constituent of the bacterial cell wall,
was then able to latch on to a recep-
tor known as NOD2. That, in turn, set
off a chain of events that led to mo-
lecular tags being attached to a pro-
tein, called a histone, around which
DNA is wrapped.
Such reprogramming allowed
certain genes to be more active and
thereby produce more protein.
Those monocytes were then capable
of an enhanced response when con-
fronted with a range of different
pathogens, churning out chemicals
known as cytokines that mobilised
the immune system to fight off an in-
vading microbe. The Dutch scientists
showed that monocytes taken from
volunteers who received BCG
showed a considerably increased
cytokine response to unrelated patho-
gens, such as the bacteria Staphylo-
coccus aureus and the yeast Can-
dida albicans. BCG also ensured sig-
nificantly better survival when mice
from a strain that lacked cells of the
adaptive immune system were ex-
posed to lethal doses of C. albicans .
The work of these scientists very likely
explained why BCG has been con-
sistently observed to reduce death
and sickness to a far greater extent
than could be explained by the pre-
vention of TB, remarked Dr. Aaby and
Dr. Benn in their commentary.
Randomised trials had shown that af-
ter BCG and measles vaccination, the
contribution of nonspecific effects to
overall health far outweighed the im-
portance of the specific protection
provided by these vaccines. With two
trials of early BCG vaccination
planned in Denmark and Australia,
perhaps the vaccine would be rein-
troduced in high-income countries
for its training effects rather than for
protection against TB. Disentangling
the mechanisms of the nonspecific
effects may establish a new paradigm
in immunity with a stronger emphasis
on training and innate immunity, they
said. Could the elderly too, with wan-
ing immune function that makes them
vulnerable to a variety of infectious
diseases, benefit from BCG boosting
their innate immunity? Absolutely
yes, I think that this could be a major
potential treatment and we are work-
ing on that, said Dr. Netea in an email.
SOLAR PARTICLES LIKELY SOURCE
OF LUNAR WATER
Charged particles from the sun
or solar winds, bombarding the lunar
surface, could explain the presence
of water locked inside its soil, new
research says. Over the past five
years, spacecraft observations and
new lab measurements of Apollo lu-
nar samples have overturned the
long-held belief that the moon is
bone-dry. In 2009, NASAs Lunar Cra-
ter Observation and Sensing satellite,
known as LCROSS, slammed into a
permanently shadowed lunar crater
and ejected a plume of material that
was surprisingly rich in water ice, the
journal Nature Geoscience reports.
Water and related compounds have
also been detected in the lunar re-
golith, or the layer of fine powder and
rock fragments that coats the lunar
surface. But the origin of lunar sur-
face water has remained unclear, ac-
cording to a Michigan University state-
ment. The findings from University of
Michigan researcher Youxue Zhang
and colleagues from the University of
Tennessee (UT) and the California
Institute of Technology support so-
lar-wind production of water ice on
the moon.
We found that the water com-
ponent, the hydroxyl, in the lunar re-
golith is mostly from solar wind im-
plantation of protons, which locally
combined with oxygen to form hy-
droxyls that moved into the interior
of glasses by impact melting, said
Zhang, professor of geological sci-
ences. Lunar regolith is everywhere
on the lunar surface, and glasses make
up about half of lunar regolith. So our
work shows that the water compo-
nent, the hydroxyl, is widespread in
lunar materials, although not in the
form of ice or liquid water that can
easily be used in a future manned lu-
nar base. The findings imply that ice
inside permanently shadowed polar
craters on the moon, sometimes called
cold traps, could contain hydrogen
atoms ultimately derived from the
solar wind, the researchers report.
The researchers analysed individual
grains from Apollo 11, Apollo 16 and
Apollo 17 missions .
SPOTTING DISEASES FROM BONE
SAMPLES
A new technology can analyse
millions of gene sequences in a mat-
ter of seconds to identify diseases
accurately, according to a new break-
through.
Terry Brown, working with Char-
lotte Roberts, both professors at
Durham University (UK), used a next-
gen sequencing approach, including
hybridization capture technology, to
identify tuberculosis (TB) genes in a
19th century female skeleton found
in a crypt in Leeds. Roberts said:
Were really pleased with the results
of this study and that the technology
works. It will save a lot of time in the
future. We now hope to publish
more of the huge amounts of data we
have acquired from the sequencing.
Their study is part of wider research
into the identification of strains of TB
in skeletons dating from 100 AD to
the late 19th century. Its hoped that
understanding how the disease has
evolved over time will help improve
treatments and vaccines. After HIV it
kills more people than any other in-
fectious disease, according to a
Durham statement. Certain strains of
TB affect the sufferers bones, espe-
cially in the spine. The marks made
by the disease remain evident on the
bones long after the persons death.
Its this evidence that Roberts used
to find suitable skeletons to screen
for tuberculosis genes. She sourced
500 skeletons from across Europe
that showed evidence of TB dating
from the Roman period to the 19th
century. Bone samples from these
skeletons were screened for TB DNA,
and of those 100 were chosen for this
particular study. Roberts explained:
So many skeletons were needed as
its very hard to tell if any DNA will
have survived in the bones. You dont
really know if there will be any
present until you start screening and
in the past that has been a lengthy
process. Brown and team then
searched for TB gene sequences.
Because it is a bacterial disease the
bacterias DNA can remain in the
bones after death.
CHICKOO MOTH MANAGEMENT IN
SAPOTA
Sapota, a native of Mexico, is
grown widely in India for its fruit and
milky latex which is the source of
chicle used to make chewing gum.
Of the several pests infesting the
tree, the sapota leaf webber
( Nephopteryx eugraphella ) com-
monly called as chickoo moth is a
major one.
DAMAGE SYMPTOMS
As the name indicates, the cat-
erpillars of the moth spin web on the
leaves and also feed on tender leaves
and fruits throughout the year. Pres-
ence of dry leaf clusters and dark
brown patches on the leaves are clear
symptoms of the infestation and can
be easily spotted from a long dis-
tance. The infestation leads to with-
ering and drying of tree branches.
The pest activity increases with ap-
pearance of new shoots and buds. A
wide range of sapota varieties are
susceptible to this pest. The moth is
grey in colour measuring around one
centimetre in length. It lays eggs on
leaves and buds of young shoots.
Around 350 eggs are laid by a single
female. The incubation period is
around one week and after hatching
the pink coloured caterpillars start
feeding on green leaves by scrap-
ping the chlorophyll content leaving
behind a fine network of veins. They
also bore inside the flower buds and
tender fruits which wither away and
drop down. The larvae can damage
many fruit buds during its develop-
mental period which lasts from 13 to
60 days according to environmental
conditions. Pupal stage is completed
in 8 to 29 days. There are eight to
nine generations of this pest in a year.
MANAGEMENT
Remove and destroy all the
webbed leaves, shoots, buds
and fruits along with larvae.
Crowded and crossing
branches should be pruned.
Plant resistant varieties such as
PKM 1 Sapota
Erect light trap at one per hect-
are to monitor the activity of
chickoo moth
Spray two rounds of carbaryl
0.1 per cent, chlorpyriphos 0.05
per cent or quinalphos 0.05 per
cent at 20 days interval after new
shoot formation and fruit har-
vest.
SCIENTIST DISCOVERED SOURCE OF
WATER ON MOON
Scientists in third week of Oc-
tober have discovered that the most
likely source of water on Moon is the
constant stream of charged particles
from the Sun known as the solar wind.
The findings came by researchers
from the University of Michigan who
imply that ice inside permanently
shadowed polar craters on the Moon,
sometimes called cold traps, could
contain hydrogen atoms ultimately
derived from the solar wind.
Also, The Theoretical models of
lunar water stability dating to the late
1970s suggest that hydrogen ions
(protons) from the solar wind can
combine with oxygen on the Moons
surface to form water and related
compounds called hydroxyls, which
consist of one atom of hydrogen and
one of oxygen and are known as OH.
The researchers have found that the
water component, the hydroxyl, in
the lunar regolith is mostly from solar
wind implantation of protons, which
locally combined with oxygen to
form hydroxyls that moved into the
interior of glasses by impact melting.
With this research it is also clear that
water likely exists on Mercury and on
asteroids such as Vesta or Eros fur-
ther within our solar system. The study
findings are published in the journal
Nature Geoscience.
WHY AND HOW IS WATER
TRANSPARENT?
Light is a form of an electromag-
netic energy with a wide range of
wavelengths. However, the range
that a human eye can see is very tiny
segment, ranging from about 400
nanometres to about 800
nanometres. This narrow range of
wavelengths which a human eye is
sensible to, is known as the visible
region of the electromagnetic radia-
tion. Two of the most important inter-
actions a material can engage with
radiation are absorption and scatter-
ing. When light is incident on an ob-
ject, the portion that is neither ab-
sorbed nor is scattered is, usually,
transmitted through it to the other
side. If a material absorbs any part of
the visible region then the material
appears coloured to us. The colour,
an object looks, is called comple-
mentary to the portion of light ab-
sorbed.
If a material absorbs all the vis-
ible range of light, then it looks black
to us because there is hardly any vis-
ible light left from the object to reach
our eyes. If a material does not ab-
sorb any part of the visible range of
light, then the object either appears
colourlessly transparent, when the
light is transmitted, or white, when
scattered. Water has H{-2}O mol-
ecules that do not have the kind of
electrons which absorb any portion
of the visible range (but have elec-
trons that absorb only in the invisible
ultraviolet range) of light and their size
is less than 4 angstroms (tenth of a
nanometre) with an average intermo-
lecular space of less than 10 ang-
stroms. That is why water appears
transparent. Several other liquids,
such as benzene, alcohol, chloroform,
coconut oil, etc also look transparent
for this reason. Even when the size of
the non-absorbing constituents is less
or more than the wavelength but if
the inter space among them or the
size of edges made of them is some-
how comparable to the wavelength
of the visible radiation, then the ob-
ject just looks white because much
of the unabsorbed light is scattered.
A piece of chalk, ground glass, smoke,
milk, etc, look white for of this rea-
son.
HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS IN TOTO
WILL MAKE A SWITCH
Till now encouragement or
compulsion to publish papers in
open-access journals came from uni-
versities or funding agencies like the
U.S. National Institutes of Health
(NIH), and Research Councils UK (a
nodal body for seven government-
funded grant agencies), and was re-
stricted to relatively fewer countries.
But the switch to be made in high-
energy physics has the support and
backup both in principle and fund-
ing from many countries involved
in particle physics research. High-
energy physics has been spearhead-
ing Open Access for a long time. Pre-
prints are freely available on the Net.
Today about 90 per cent of HEP pre-
prints are available in repositories,
notes the executive summary of the
Report of the SCOAP3 Working Party.
Though these repositories have be-
come the lifeblood of HEP scientific
information exchange there is a big
difference the papers posted in
the repositories are only the manu-
scripts submitted to the journals and
not the peer-reviewed papers that
appear in journals.
The change to the OA model
will amount to about 10 million euros
a year. The executive summary notes
that annual list-price of a single jour-
nal can be as high as 10,000 Euros.
For 500 institutes worldwide this
represents an annual expenditure of
5 million Euros. The Sponsoring Con-
sortium for Open Access Publishing
in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) has ne-
gotiated contracts with 12 journals
that would make 90 per cent of high-
energy physics papers published
from 2014 onwards free to read,
Salvatore Mele, head of open access
at CERN, was quoted as saying
i n Nature. SCOAP3 Open Access
Initiative was launched at CERN on
October 1. It is gratifying to see how
the model of international collabora-
tion in particle physics has been ap-
plied to addressing the important
societal issue of open access to sci-
entific information, Rolf Heuer, CERN
Director General was quoted as say-
ing in a CERN press release.
ITCHING SENSATION IN OUR MOUTH
WHEN WE EAT TOO MUCH OF
PINEAPPLE
Pineapple is a tropical plant
with botanical name, Ananas
comosus , belonging to
the Bromeliaceaefamily. It is one of
the very popular edible materials
consumed in many formats. It is a rich
dietary source of vitamin C, vitamin B
complex, calcium, manganese, mag-
nesium, phosphorous, potassium, etc
among others.
Pineapple, botanically, is not a
single fruit berry. It is a collection of
individual fruits (each fruit, marked
on the surface by the near-hexago-
nal demarcation) with their stalks im-
pregnated collectively, with bound-
aries gradually becoming undefined,
into the tip that appears asthe grand
stalk. There are two reasons with var-
ied degrees why consumption of
good quantities of pineapple make
our mouth and the tongue itching.
Pineapple contains a proteolytic
(protein hydrolyzing) enzyme,
called, bromelain. It is mostly present
in the inedible stalk (the central axis
part of the fruit or the grand stalk men-
tioned above). When we have eaten
the pineapple, this bromelain tempo-
rarily stays on the tongue and interi-
ors of the mouth and starts attacking
the proteinous muscle parts of the
tongue and the mouth while sensitiz-
ing the nerve endings there. These
neurological signals, when transmit-
ted to the brain, make us feel the
pricking and itching sensation. The
other minor but cognizably effective
reason is due to the presence of
nano-sized spiny fibrils that are either
left there or mixed with the pulp of
the pineapple when we have cut it.
These fibrils are like the eyelashes of
the groves (individual fruits) on the
pineapple. They are cuticle-like ma-
terials composed of glycoproteinous
chitin, wax and collagen. While we
eat the pineapple, these microscopic
fibrils also enter the mouth and find
their way into the interiors of mouth
parts causing their pricks before they
are slowly washed away by the sa-
liva. .. ..
FARMERS PARTICIPATORY
PROGRAMME STEMS COCONUT TREE
INFESTATION
Bud rot is a fatal fungal disease
affecting coconut trees. Young trees
are more susceptible particularly dur-
ing the monsoon. With this infesta-
tion, the spear leaf becomes pale and
breaks at the base and hangs down.
The tender leaf base and soft tissues
of the crown rot into a slimy mass of
decayed material emitting foul smell.
The rotting progresses downwards,
affecting and killing the entire tree.
Lack of awareness about the
disease and its management practice
is also leading to a disease spread.
Individual prevention adoption by
few farmers here and there is inef-
fective as coconut is cultivated almost
throughout Kannur region in Kerala.
SEVERE SPREAD
The spread of the disease is so
severe that 14,350 hectares of coco-
nut growing area is infected by this
lethal menace. Bud rot is a serious
problem throughout Kannur district
and prophylactic chemical treatment
proves to be effective. During 2007-
08 we have successfully demon-
strated this technology in
Ayyankunnu Panchayath. However
the disease was rampant in other
agro- ecological zones also and it was
found necessary as per the demands
of farmers to conduct demonstrations
in different regions to curb the
spread of the disease, says Dr.Abdul
Kareem, Programme Coordinator,
Kerala agricultural University,
Kahirangad. We planned and imple-
mented a frontline demonstration
(FLD) of perforated plastic sachets
containing 2-3 grams Mancozeb, two
sachets per palm tied on the inner
side of the spear leaf, spraying of
bordeaux mixture on affected por-
tion as well as neighbouring trees,
removal and destruction of affected
portions and application of bordeaux
paste for combating the problem for
four consecutive years (from 2007-8
to 2010-11), he explains. For this
demonstration, two regions Koralai
and Kolacherry, were selected; farm-
ers were identified, group discus-
sions, trainings and method demon-
strations were done. A total of 22
hectares, 4,000 trees, and 50 farmers
were covered under this.
CONTROL MEASURES
The Krishi Vigyan Kendra at
Kannur areas has adopted farmer par-
ticipatory extension approach,
named as Compact Area Group Ap-
proach, which is now popularly
known by its acronym, CAGA to con-
trol bud rot disease. CAGA promoted
and sustained group action in a con-
tiguous area for durable adoption of
control measures by solving several
hurdles. Preparation of plastic sa-
chets manually is a cumbersome pro-
cess since a lot of holes have to be
made on the sachets. To overcome
this problem a small machine has
been fabricated to puncture holes
continuously on plastic tubes of 3-
inch width. This tube is cut into re-
quired length and filled with two gms
of mancozeb and tied at ends. Cost
of production of this sachet works out
to only Rs. 2.50 per sachet. The De-
partment of agriculture helped ar-
rangement of climbers in a few
panchayaths at a cost of Rs. 10 per
tree and in the remaining areas KVK
helped farmers to arrange for climb-
ers by themselves. Coconut tree
climbers are the only persons who
see and feel the extent and magni-
tude of the disease incidence in the
tree as they climb. Decision-making
on their part was very important for
application of control measures in an
effective manner.
TRAINING THE CLIMBERS
Therefore the climbers were
made conversant with all aspects of
the technology like understanding
magnitude of disease incidence,
handling of sachets, placement and
tying method of sachets, importance
of cleaning methods, preparation of
mixture and paste, areas and method
to apply it etc, says Dr. Kareem. In-
tegrated disease management fo-
cuses not only on application of
chemical but also on maintaining
health of plant. The health of the plant
is mainly attributed to the proper nu-
trition for the plant. During farmers
meetings conducted in the CAGA
approach, a lacuna in application of
organic matter came up. Recom-
mended dosage of organic manure
(25kg/ tree) cost more than Rs. 50 and
farmers were not applying the ma-
nure. In this context scientists intro-
duced a very cost effective technol-
ogy of insitu green manuring using
cowpea seeds.
ORGANIC MANURE
Only 100 gm of cowpea seeds
are required for one coconut basin
to be sown at the onset of monsoon
to produce 25 kg of biomass within
few months.
Thus cost of organic manure
came down to Rs. 5 from Rs. 50. Ap-
plication of sachets, when clubbed
with harvest before monsoon season,
reduced the cost of application. Co-
conut growers throughout the district
were made aware about the bud rot
management practices through wide
publicity.
Adoption level of farmers in-
creased to 100 per cent due to the
visualised effect of control measures
recording very positive results.
CONTROL OF SIGATOKA DISEASE OF
BANANA
Sigatoka leaf spot is a serious
disease of banana that destroys large
areas of plantations resulting in severe
reduction in fruit yield.
The commercial cultivars
nendran and robusta are highly sus-
ceptible to this infestation whereas
in rasthali and palayankodan variet-
ies the disease severity is less. This
infestation is caused by a fungus and
was first recorded in the Sigatoka val-
ley of Fiji. Economic losses of 50-100
per cent have been incurred due to
the incidence of this disease.
DARK BROWN SPOTS
Symptoms of Sigatoka disease
first appear as small dark brown spots
or lines on the underside of third or
fourth opened leaf. The spots be-
come sunken surrounded by a yel-
low halo. Eventually these spots or
streaks expand and become brown
or black and make a characteristic
black patch on the leaves. The infec-
tion gives a scorched appearance to
the foliage.
Infection on younger leaves is
more severe causing them to dry up
more quickly. Appreciable fruit loss
occurs as there is drastic reduction
of leaf surface area for photosynthe-
sis.
Infected banana plants pro-
duce fruits of inferior quality as the
banana fingers produced do not de-
velop properly and remain small and
thin.
MONSOON SEASON
Spores of the fungal pathogen
form in abundance during tropical
and sub tropical summers along with
intermittent rainfall especially if there
is a film of water on the leaves. The
principal means of spread is through
rain but later with the progressive
development, spores are also dis-
charged through air currents. Spot-
ting of leaves starts to increase dur-
ing June, July, peaks in October-No-
vember and remains at a high level
through December. Management
mainly involves chemical control us-
ing fungicides like copper oxychlo-
ride, mancozeb, chlorothalonil or
carbendazim at the prescribed dos-
age. Fungicide spraying on the foli-
age and pseudostem should be com-
menced with the initial appearance
and repeated at two weeks interval.
Use of the different fungicides in ro-
tation will reduce the risk of resistance
development in the pathogen to the
systemic chemicals.
METHODS TO MEASURE,
MANIPULATE QUANTUM SYSTEMS
Serge Haroche and David
Wineland have opened the door to a
new era of experimentation with
quantum physics by demonstrating
the direct observation of individual
quantum systems without destroying
them.
Through their ingenious labora-
tory methods they have managed to
measure and control very fragile quan-
tum states, enabling their field of re-
search to take the very first steps to-
wards building a new type of super
fast computer, based on quantum
physics. These methods have also led
to the construction of extremely pre-
cise clocks that could become the
future basis for a new standard of
time, with more than hundred-fold
greater precision than present-day
caesium clocks. For single particles
of light or matter, the laws of classical
physics cease to apply and quantum
physics takes over. But single par-
ticles are not easily isolated from their
surrounding environment and they
lose their mysterious quantum prop-
erties as soon as they interact with
the outside world. Both Laureates
work in the field of quantum optics
studying the fundamental interaction
between light and matter. In David
Winelands laboratory in Boulder,
Colorado, electrically charged atoms
or ions are kept inside a trap by sur-
rounding them with electric fields.
One of the secrets behind Winelands
breakthrough is the mastery of the art
of using laser beams and creating la-
ser pulses. A laser is used to put the
ion in its lowest energy state and thus
enabling the study of quantum phe-
nomena with the trapped ion. A care-
fully tuned laser pulse can be used
to put the ion in
a superposition state, which is a si-
multaneous existence of two dis-
tinctly different states. For instance,
the quantum superposition of the
ions energy states can be studied by
using the laser pulse to nudge the ion
halfway between the high- and low-
energy levels.
CONTROLLING SINGLE PHOTONS
Serge Haroche and his research
group employ a different method to
reveal the mysteries of the quantum
world. In their laboratory in Paris mi-
crowave photons bounce back and
forth inside a small cavity between
two mirrors, about three centimetres
apart. The mirrors are made of super-
conducting material and are cooled
to a temperature just above absolute
zero. These superconducting mirrors
are so reflective that a single photon
can bounce back and forth inside the
cavity for almost a tenth of a second
before it is lost or absorbed. During
its long life time, many quantum ma-
nipulations can be performed with
the trapped photon. Haroche uses
specially prepared atoms, so-called
Rydberg atoms to both control and
measure the microwave photon in the
cavity. A Rydberg atom has a radius
of about 125 nanometres which is
roughly 1,000 times larger than typi-
cal atoms. The Rydberg atoms are sent
into the cavity one by one at a care-
fully chosen speed, so that the inter-
action with the microwave photon
occurs in a well-controlled manner.
The Rydberg atom traverses
and exits the cavity, leaving the mi-
crowave photon behind. But the in-
teraction between the photon and
the atom creates a change in the
phase of quantum state of the atom:
if you think of the atoms quantum
state as a wave, the peaks and the
dips of the wave become shifted.
This phase shift can be measured
when the atom exits the cavity,
thereby revealing the presence or
absence of a photon inside the cav-
ity. With no photon there is no phase
shift. Haroche can thus measure a
single photon without destroying it.
Physics in the quantum world has
some inherent uncertainty or random-
ness to it. One example of this con-
trary behaviour is superposition,
where a quantum particle can be in
several different states simulta-
neously.
Why do we never become
aware of these strange facets of our
world? Why can we not observe a
superposition of quantum marble in
our every-day life? The Austrian
physicist and Nobel Laureate (Phys-
ics 1933) Erwin Schrdinger battled
with this question. Like many other
pioneers of quantum theory, he
struggled to understand and inter-
pret its implications. As late as 1952,
he wrote: We never experiment with
just one electron or atom or (small)
molecule. In thought-experiments
we sometimes assume that we do; this
invariably entails ridiculous conse-
quences...
In order to illustrate the absurd
consequences of moving between
the micro-world of quantum physics
and our every-day macro-world,
Erwin Schrdinger described a
thought experiment with a cat:
Schrdingers cat is completely iso-
lated from the outside world inside a
box. The cat must be in a superposi-
tion state of being both dead and
alive. The box also contains a bottle
of deadly cyanide which is released
only after the decay of some radioac-
tive atom, also inside the box. The
radioactive decay is governed by the
laws of quantum mechanics, accord-
ing to which the radioactive material
is in a superposition state of both hav-
ing decayed and not yet decayed.
Therefore the cat must also be in a
superposition state of being both
dead and alive. Now, if you peek in-
side the box, you risk killing the cat
because the quantum superposition
is so sensitive to interaction with the
environment that the slightest at-
tempt to observe the cat would im-
mediately collapse the cat-state to
one of the two possible outcomes
dead or alive.Instead of Schrdingers
cat, Haroche and Wineland trap quan-
tum particles and put them in cat-like
superposition states. These quantum
objects are not really macroscopic as
a cat, but they are still quite large by
quantum standards. Inside Haroches
cavity microwave photons are put in
cat-like states with opposite phases
at the same time, like a stopwatch with
a needle that spins both clockwise
and counterclockwise simulta-
neously. The microwave field inside
the cavity is then probed with
Rydberg atoms. The result is another
unintelligible quantum effect called
entanglement. Entanglement has also
been described by Erwin
Schrdinger and can occur between
two or more quantum particles that
have no direct contact but still can
read and affect the properties of each
other. Entanglement of the micro-
wave field and Rydberg atoms al-
lowed Haroche to map the life and
death of the cat-like state inside his
cavity, following it step by step, atom
by atom, as it underwent a transition
from the quantum superposition of
states to a well defined state of clas-
sical physics.
COMPUTER REVOLUTION
A possible application of ion
traps that many scientists dream of is
the quantum computer. In present-
day classical computers the smallest
unit of information is a bit that takes
the value of either 1 or 0. In a quan-
tum computer, however, the basic
unit of information a quantum bit
or qubit can be 1 and 0 at the same
time. Two quantum bits can simulta-
neously take on four values 00, 01,
10 and 11 and each additional
qubit doubles the amount of possible
states. For n quantum bits there are
2{+n} possible states, and a quantum
computer of only 300 qubits could
hold 2{+3}{+0}{+0}values simulta-
neously. Winelands group was the
first in the world to demonstrate a
quantum operation with two quantum
bits. Since control operations have
already been achieved with a few
qubits, there is no reason to believe
that it should not be possible to
achieve such operations with many
more qubits. However, to build such
a quantum computer one has to sat-
isfy two opposing requirements: the
qubits need to be adequately isolated
from their environment in order not
to destroy their quantum properties,
yet they must also be able to commu-
nicate with the outside world in or-
der to pass on the results of their cal-
culations. David Wineland and his
team of researchers have also used
ions in a trap to build a clock that is a
hundred times more precise than the
caesium-based atomic clocks which
are currently the standard for our
measurement of time. Time is kept by
setting, or synchronizing all clocks
against one standard. Caesium clocks
operate in the microwave range
whereas Winelands ion clocks use
visible light hence their name:
optical clocks.
OPTICAL CLOCKS
An optical clock can consist of
just one ion or two ions in a trap. With
two ions, one is used as the clock and
the other is used to read the clock
without destroying its state, or caus-
ing it to miss a tick. The precision of
an optical clock is better than one
part in 10{+1}{+7} if one had started
to measure time at the beginning of
the universe in the Big Bang about
14 billion years ago, the optical clock
would only have been off by about
five seconds today. With such preci-
sion, some extremely subtle and
beautiful phenomena of nature have
been observed, such as changes in
the flow of time, or minute variations
of gravity, the fabric of space-time.
According to Einsteins theory of rela-
tivity, time is affected by motion and
gravity. The higher the speed and the
Lethal virus disease
prevented in monkeys
By using monoclonal antibodies, a
new ebola virus study resulting
from a widespread scientific col-
laboration has shown promising
preliminary results, preventing dis-
ease in infected nonhuman pri-
mates.
Space launch systems arm
ready
System installation and integra-
tion of a test umbilical arm was re-
cently completed at NASAs
Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Coral migration and
evolution of marine life
A new study in Molecular
Ecology elucidates the historical
patterns of deep-sea coral migra-
tion and gene flow, coincident with
oceanic circulation patterns and
events. Protecting corals requires
this knowledge.
Human brains outpace
chimp brains in womb
Humans superior brain size in
comparison to chimpanzees traces
back to the womb says a study
in Current Biology , the first to
track and compare brain growth in
chimpanzee and human fetuses.
Light shed on Suns
explosive ejections
In a paper in Nature Physics , an
international team of scientists, ex-
plains the mysterious physical
mechanisms underlying the origin
of Suns coronary mass ejections
based on state-of-the-art computer
simulations.
Exercise does body and
mind good
Exercise is not just good for physi-
cal health research shows that
daily physical activity can also
boost our mental health.
Bat study sheds new light
on evolution
Brain size relative to body size has
been used for long as a measure of
intelligence. The evolutionary his-
tory of bats reveals they decreased
body size faster than brain size,
leading to an increase in intelli-
gence.
Active region on Sun emits
another flare
The sun emitted a significant solar
flare on October 22. The flare came
from an active region on the left
side of the sun that has been num-
bered AR 1598, which has already
been the source of a number of
weaker flares.
stronger the gravity, the slower the
passage of time. We may not be
aware of these effects, but they have
in fact become part of our everyday
life. When we navigate with the GPS
we rely on time signals from satellites
with clocks that are routinely cali-
brated, because gravity is somewhat
weaker several hundred kilometres
altitude. With an optical clock it is
possible to measure a difference in
the passage of time when the clocks
speed is changed by less than 10
metres per second, or when gravity
is altered as a consequence of a dif-
ference in height of only 30
centimetres.
Unlocking secrets of
cauliflowers geometry
The laws that govern how intricate
surface patterns, such as those
found in the cauliflower, develop
over time have been described, for
the first time, by a group of Euro-
pean researchers.
No age restriction, says
vaccination study
A study suggests that the addi-
tional childrens lives saved by re-
moving the age restrictions for
rotavirus vaccination would be much
greater than any extra deaths from
vaccine-associated complications.
New water-proof colour
from butterfly study
University of Pennsylvania re-
searchers studying butterflies have
found a way to generate colour
that can repel water based on a
trait of butterfly wings: super-hy-
drophobicity.
Nanoparticle cancer
therapy safe in dogs
Scientists at the University of Mis-
souri have demonstrated that a
new form of prostate cancer treat-
ment that uses radioactive gold
nanoparticles is safe to use in dogs.
It has a chance of being used in hu-
mans.
Fingers do the talking
People can use their fingers with
a new touch-activated system that
projects onto surfaces and allows
users to interact with their environ-
ment and each other.
Reducing cold-induced
sweetening in potato
Preventing activity of a key enzyme
which causes changes in potato
sugars at low temperatures could
boost quality by putting an end to
cold-induced sweetening, say U.S.
Department of Agriculture scien-
tists.
Metabolic syndrome link to
impaired brain
A new study in Pediatrics reveals
that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is
associated with cognitive and
brain impairments in adolescents
and needs to be taken into ac-
count when considering early
treatment of childhood obesity.
Primate study adds to
evidence of BPA harm
A Washington State University re-
searcher has found new evidence
that the plastic additive BPA can
disrupt womens reproductive sys-
tems, causing miscarriages and
birth defects.
New gene for better bug-
resistant plants
Acyl sugars, not found in cultivated
tomatoes, play a key role in allow-
ing wild tomatoes to fend off bugs.
New research at Michigan State
University identifies the first gene
that helps produce acyl sugars.
Adequate sleep cuts
appetite, excess fat
Adequate sleep is an important
part of a weight loss plan and
should be added to the recom-
mended mix of diet and exercise,
states CMAJ ( Canadian Medical
Association Journal ). Less sleep
means more appetite.
Bee behaviour evolved due
to genetic remix
Worker bees have become a highly
skilled work force because the
genes that determine their
behaviour are shuffled frequently,
helping natural selection to build
a better bee, says a York University
study.
Viral alliances overcoming
plant defences
Researchers have found that vi-
ruses will join forces to overcome
a plants defences and cause more
severe infections.
Local wildlifes role in
Central African diet
Animals like antelope and rodents
are tricky to catch, but provide
protein in places where livestock
are scarce. According to a new pa-
per in Animal Frontiers , meat from
wild animals is increasingly impor-
tant in central Africa.
Link between Hawaiis
enigmatic volcanoes
A new Rice University-led study
finds that a deep connection about
50 miles underground can explain
the enigmatic behaviour their
simultaneous inflation, or bulging
upward of Mauna Loa and
Kilauea volcanoes.
Civil Services Exam (Mains)

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Sports Sports
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CRICKET
INDO-PAK CRICKET SERIES
The Union Home Ministry on 30
October 2012 mentioned that it had
cleared the Pakistan cricket teams
India visit later this year after detailed
discussions with the Board of Con-
trol for Cricket in India (BCCI) offi-
cials on issues related to security and
visas for fans who will be visiting for
the limited-overs series.
BCCI senior official and Union
Minister Rajiv Shukla after meeting
with Union Home Secretary RK Singh
asserted that BCCI team had dis-
cussed all security aspects and as-
sured full proof security to the Visi-
tors. The coming series is going to be
of limited-overs and is likely to begin
on December 2012 and continue till
January 2013. Both the teams are go-
ing to play three one-day
internationals and two Twenty-20 in-
ternational matches. The ODI
matches are planned to be played in
Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi. The
liberal visa regime was already signed
by both the countries and is sup-
posed to be on operational mode be-
fore beginning of cricket series on 25
December 2012.
WOMEN T-20 WORLD CUP TITLE
The Australian Women Cricket
team on 7 October 2012 defeated
England by four runs to retain the
Women T-20 world cup title.
It is Australias second win in
women T-20 World cup. Before this
Australia had won T-20 World Cup in
2010. Australia Batted first and made
142 runs in 20 overs with 6 wickets in
hand, In response to that England
women cricket team managed to
make only 138 runs in 20 overs losing
the tournament to Australia.
BCCI POLLY UMRIGAR AWARD
Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli was
chosen for the Board of Control for
Cricket in Indias (BCCI) Polly Umrigar
award for being Indias top interna-
tional cricketer in 2011-12. With this
Virat Kohli is going to be honoured
with a trophy and cheque of 5 lakh
Rupees at the Annual BCCI Awards
Ceremony in Mumbai on 21 Novem-
ber 2012.
The other previous winners of
this prestigious award are Sachin
Tendulkar in year 2006-07 and 2009-
10, Virender Sehwag in year 2007-
08, with Gautam Gambhir and Rahul
Dravid in year 2008-09 and 2010-11
respectively. Virat Kohli in year 2011-
12 had scored:
627 run @ 52.25 from 7 Tests,
which include two centuries.
1539 runs @ 73 from 26 ODIs,
which includes seven centuries.
389 run @ 48 from ten T20
Internationals, which include
four fifties.
VVS Laxman, who announced
his retirement from international
cricket in August 2012, is also going
to be felicitated at the ceremony with
Sachin Tendulkar who is being
honoured for completing a century
of international centuries.
The award Polly Umrigar is un-
der the name of late Indian crick-
eter Polly Umrigar (28 March 1926
7 November 2006) who had played
first-class cricket for Bombay, and
Test cricket in the Indian cricket team,
as a middle-order batsman and had
captained the Indian team in eight
Test matches from 1955 to 1958.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Australian all-Rounder Shane
Watson on 7 October 2012 at the
conclusion of T-20 World Cup in
Premadasa Stadium named player of
the tournament.
It was his outstanding form in T-
20 World cup that helped Australian
Team getting into semi-final before
they were knocked out by West
Indies. Shane Watson batted six in-
nings in the tournament, scoring a
total of 249 runs at an average of
49.80 and took 11 wickets at an aver-
age of 16 and an economy rate of
7.33. Shane Watson is also the only
Player in the tournament who got four
consecutive man-of-the-match
awards.
HYDERABAD IPL FRANCHISE
Chennai based SUN TV Net-
work acquired the Indian Premier
League (IPL) Hyderabad franchise on
25 October 2012 for an enormous
amount of 85.05 crore Rupees per
year.
The Hyderabad franchise of the
Indian Premier League was fell vacant
after the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) dropped Deccan
Chargers in October 2012 for its fail-
ure to give a bank guarantee and
other issues. The deal was made by
owner of Sun TV Network, Kalanithi
Maran who bought the (IPL)
Hyderabad franchise for 425 crore
Rupees (approx $80m) which is pay-
able in the next five years at 85.5 crore
Rupees per year. The bid made by
SUN TV Network was substantially
higher than the second bid of 69.03
crore Rupees made by PVP Ventures
of Hyderabad. For attracting more
bidders, the BCCI had kept the base
price at reasonable 60 crores Rupees
per year. The franchise was earlier
owned by Deccan Chronicle Hold-
ings Ltd. (DCHL) who had bought the
Hyderabad franchise for 428 crores
rupees for a period of 10
years. Chennai-based Sun TV Net-
works Limited is the part of Sun Group
and is one of Indias biggest televi-
sion networks with 32 TV channels
and 45 FM radio stations primarily
catering to an audience in the four
southern languages of India. Their
network includes channels covering
news, entertainment, film, documen-
tary and music.
NEW COACH FOR MAHARASHTRA
RANJI TEAM
Dermot Reeve, the former all-
rounder of England took the charge
of Maharashtra Ranji Team as its Coach
for domestic season of 2012-13 on 9
October 2012. Reeve will take the
charge from the outgoing coach of
the team Shaun Williams, who is go-
ing to take charge of the indoor
Cricket Academy of Maharashtra
Cricket Association. Reeve has also
served Raigad Royals, a franchise of
Maharashtra Premier League as its
Coach in past. Before Reeve, the Ranji
Team of Maharashtra had seen two
more Foreign Coach in its history and
they were Shaun Williams and Darren
Holder.
NEW ZEALAND TOP CRICKET AWARD
Opening batsman of New
Zealand Cricket team Martin Guptill
on 18 October 2012 claimed the top
honour at the New Zealand Cricket
Awards in Auckland, winning the Sir
Richard Hadlee Medal for 2011-12.
Martin Guptill was also named ODI
and Twenty20 player of the year,
based on performances between 1
September 2011 and 31 August
2012. Also, Young fast bowler of New
Zealand cricket team Doug Bracewell
picked up the other big award of
Test Player of the Year.
Bracewell finished the 2011-12
season with taking up of 37 wickets
at an average of 24.05. Martin Guptill
played terrifically in all forms of the
game during the 2011-12 season.
With 490 Test runs he is only second
behind skipper Ross Taylor, while he
top-scored for the New Zealand team
in one-day with 579 and in T20 with
378.
RARE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA FOR
SACHIN
Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard on her visit to India on 16 Oc-
tober 2012 announced that Sachin
Tendulkar would be conferred with
the membership of the Order of Aus-
tralia.
This is the honor that is rarely
bestowed on any non-Australian. The
Prime Minister, while announcing this
special honour for Sachin said that
he deserves the award because he
was a special cricketer. Sachin will
be conferred with this award during
the visit of Australian Minister Simon
Crean to India. Tendulkar will be
honoured with AM award, one of the
six different grades of the Order of
Australia honour.
Sachin is the Second Indian af-
ter Soli Sorabjee, the former Attor-
ney General of India to be conferred
with this award.
Before Sachin Tendulkar, Brain
Lara the cricketer from West Indies
was conferred with this honour in the
year 2009.
ANIL KUMBLE APPOINTED CHAIRMAN
OF ICC CRICKET COMMITTEE
Former India cricketer and cap-
tain Anil Kumble on 11 October 2012
was named the new head of the In-
ternational Cricket Councils (ICC)
cricket committee, replacing former
West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd.
The International Cricket
Councils (ICC) cricket committee is
a 16-member committee which
meets twice a year to consult on play-
ing matters and offer recommenda-
tions to the ICC on technical aspects
and rules of the sport. Also in another
separate reshuffling of members
former West Indies paceman Ian
Bishop was replaced by Englands
Andrew Strauss, who retired from all
forms of cricket at the end of August.
Anil Kumble also heads the Board of
Control for Cricket in Indias boards
technical Committee. Anil Kumble, is
41 years old and has 619 Test and
337 One-Day International wickets to
his name.
ACC T20 ASIA CUP 2012
The Indian womens cricket
team on 31 October 2012 won inau-
gural Asian Cricket Councils (ACC)
Twenty20 Asia Cup, beating Pakistan
by 18 runs in a low-scoring final in
Guangzhou city of Peoples Repub-
lic of China. The team elected to bat
first but did not have a good begin-
ning as they lost both their openers
within the first couple of overs. They
somehow managed to make a low
score of 81runs but the bowlers did
a splendid job to dismiss Pakistan to
63 in 19.1 overs. The women bowlers
showed an impressive disciplined
performance with giving away just a
couple of wides from 19.1 overs.
Harmanpreet Kaur, was stand-in cap-
tain in place of Mithali Raj. The cap-
tain of Indian women cricket team
Mithali Raj and senior player Jhulan
Goswami were not playing the final
match due to ankle injury. Earlier In-
dian women cricket team defeated
Thailand in their opening match of
the tournament by 77 runs, while
Hong Kong was defeated in the sec-
ond match with 142 runs.
WEST INDIES PLAYERS
ASSOCIATION BOARD
West Indies batsman Ramnaresh
Sarwan on 23 October 2012 resigned
from the board of the West Indies Play-
ers Association (WIPA). The resign-
ing of Ramnaresh Sarwan came with
resignation of Dave Kissoon, the di-
rector of West Indies Players Asso-
ciation (WIPA). Dave Kissoon, re-
cently had presided over the court
cases concerning player contracts
and a disputed memorandum of un-
derstanding involving WIPA and the
West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
Ramesh Sarwan, the out-of-favour
West Indies batsman, was a member
of WIPAs executive from 2008, while
Dave Kissoon was appointed a direc-
tor in November 2010. Ramnaresh
sarwan had resigned from WIPA ex-
ecutive to patch up with the West
Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and he
is in way to make is presence back
into the national team. Ramnaresh
Sarwan, last played for West Indies in
June 2011, but has since then de-
clared that he would never represent
the regional side again. He had won
his case against the WICB (West
Indies Cricket Board) in September
2012 over comments made about his
fitness and was awarded $161000 in
damages. The positions made vacant
by both the people are going to be
filled at the next annual general meet-
ing in January 2013.
DECCAN CHARGERS OUT OF INDIAN
PREMIUM LEAGUE
19 October 2012 rejected the plea
of Deccan Chargers to put a stay or-
der on the decision of Mumbai High
Court that supported the decision of
BCCI to terminate the franchise from
being in Indian Premier League
(IPL).
The Bench of Supreme Court
headed by the Chief Justice of India
Altamas Kabir including Justices S.S.
Nijjar and J. Chelameswar after dis-
missal of the plea made by the
Deccan Chronicle Holding Ltd.
cleared that the arbitrator cant over-
rule an order passed by the Court.
With this development by the side of
Supreme Court it is clear that the
Deccan Chargers are completely out
of the League. There remains only
two ways for the franchise to bounce
back into the IPL and they are in case,
Bombay High Court reverses its deci-
sion after hearing the arguments from
both sides once again in detail or CK
Thakkar, the court appointed arbitra-
tor finds any ground of incorrect ter-
mination of the team from the IPL by
29 October 2012.
ICC SUSPENDED SIX UMPIRES
The International Cricket Coun-
cil (ICC) on 10 October 2012 sus-
pended all the six umpires for their
alleged involvement in their willing-
ness to fix the T20 matches by the TV
Sting Operation. The statement re-
leased by the governing body of ICC
after the meet of its full member
board cleared that the umpires
named in the sting would not be ap-
pointed in any format of international
or domestic cricket matches, until the
ongoing investigations doesnt reach
to a conclusion. Due to the matters of
urgency, the board that recruits and
nominates the umpires would di-
rectly look into the matter. Umpires
alleged for their willingness to fix the
match in the TV sting were Nadir Shah
from Bangladesh, Nadeem Ghauri
and Anees Siddiqui from Pakistan
and Maurice Winston, Gamini
Dissanayake and Sagara Gallage from
Sri Lanka.
TENNIS
SHANGHAI MASTERS
Novak Djokovic beated British
Tennis Player Andy Murray, on 14
October 2012 saving five match
points to seal a stunning 5- 7, 7- 6 (
13/ 11), 6- 3 victory in the Shanghai
Rolex Masters final.
With the winning of match
Novak Djokovic became the first
player to win seven of the nine ATP
World Tour 1000 Masters events. Also
in the Doubles Category, Leander
Paes and Radek Stepanek won the
Shanghai Rolex Double title by de-
feating Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan
Bopanna. Novak Djokovic has won
five Grand Slam singles titles: the
2008, 2011, and 2012 Australian
Open; the 2011 Wimbledon Cham-
pionships; and the 2011 US Open.
By winning three Majors in 2011,
Djokovic became the sixth male
player in the open era to win three
Majors in a calendar year. He is the
first male player representing Serbia
to win a Major singles title and the
youngest player in the open era to
have reached the semifinals of all four
Grand Slam events, separately and
consecutively.
ABOUT SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS
The 4th Edition of Shanghai
Rolex Masters, is one of the worlds
biggest tennis tournaments and the
only such tournament to be staged
outside North America and Europe.
The Shanghai Rolex Masters is one of
only nine ATP Masters 1000 tourna-
ments in the world and is the culmi-
nation and feature event of the Asian
Swing. The Shanghai Rolex Masters
was named ATP Masters 1000 Tour-
nament of the Year for 2009, 2010
and 2011. Total prize money for the
Shanghai Rolex Masters is
US$3240000
HIRONMOY CHATTERJEE APPOINTED
AS THE CEO OF AITA
Hironmoy Chatterjee, Secretary
of the Bengal Tennis Association on
1 November 2012 was appointed as
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of The All India Tennis Association
(AITA). The decision of Chatterjees
selection was made by the Execu-
tive Board of AITA that is headed by
President Anil Khanna with consulta-
tion to the honourable Life President,
Yashwant Sinha. Chatterjee in his 36
years experience as a tennis admin-
istrator has been a beneficiary of con-
ducting different types of tourna-
ments that includes the local tourna-
ments to the Davis Cup, a tournament
of world level.
BADMINTON
DENMARK OPEN BADMINTON TITLE
The World No. 4 badminton
player Saina Nehwal on 21 October
2012 won the Denmark Open Super
Series Premier tournament by defeat-
ing the German badminton player
Juliane Schenk by 21-17 21-8.
She was competing in
the womens
single final
category
badminton
match in
O d e n s e ,
Denmark and
was Playing
without the
chief national
coach and her me n t o r
Pullela Gopi Chand. This title is
counted to be her sixth Super Series
title and the first title outside Asia.
Her previous titles came in Indonesia
(2009, 2010, 2012), Singapore
(2010) and Hong Kong (2010). Saina
Nehwal, was competing in her first
tournament after the London Games,
which fetched her $30000 The vic-
tory is another milestone in career his-
tory of the Indian shuttle Saina
Nehwal who had successfully de-
fended her Swiss Open title by de-
feating world number two Wang
Shixian of China in March 2012. In
June 2012, Saina had won the Thai-
land Open Grand Prix Gold title
thereafter she had also won the In-
donesia Open Super Series Premier
by defeating world number three Li
Xuerui of China.
PETER GADE RETIRED
Danish legend Baminton Player,
Peter Gade on 30 October 2012 re-
tired from international badminton
after his three-game defeat against
compatriot Jan . Jrgensen of Den-
mark. Peter Grade is five-time Euro-
pean Champion in Year (1998, 2000,
2004, 2006 and 2010). Peter Dane
had 22 Super series and Grand Prix
titles under his name and took 5 med-
als at World Championships: Silver in
2001, Bronze in 1999, 2005, 2010
and 2011. He had also
won the 1999 All-En-
gland Championships.
He is counted among
most successful Euro-
pean singles player in
Asia of all times by tak-
ing 13 tournaments
titles in the Far
East. Peter Gade
remained professional
ambassador for European badmin-
ton, through major part of his career.
He had inspired thousands of young
players all around the world with his
unique style of playing Badminton
that was fast attacks, smooth footwork
and constant pressure.
SHOOTING/ARCHERY
JASPAL RANA AS JUNIOR PISTOL
CHIEF COACH
National Rifles Association of
India (NRAI) on 15 October 2012
appointed Jaspal Rana as the chief
coach for the Junior Pistol Shooters.
The triple Gold Medallist at Doha
Asian Games, Rana would be entitled
for a salary of 50,000 rupees per
month.
MOTOR RACING/F1
F1 SECOND INDIAN GRAND PRIX
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel
won the Indian Grand Prix 2012 on
28 October 2012 at the Buddh Inter-
national Circuit (BIC) for the second
time in a row extending his Formula
One championship lead.
The rival Fernando Alonso of
Ferrari kept the pressure on with fin-
ishing up for a second-place. The win
put Vettel (240 points) 13 points
clear of his rolling Ferrari rival
Fernando Alonso. It was Sebastian
Vettels fourth straight win for the first
time in his career completing a clean
sweep of the Asian swing -- and now
ABOUT SAUBER TEAM
Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss For-
mula One team. It was founded in the
1970s by Peter Sauber, who pro-
gressed through hillclimbing and the
World Sportscar Championship to
reach Formula One in 1993. The team
was sold to BMW in 2005; the reason
was not winning a Grand Prix as an
independent. The team thereafter
competed as BMW Sauber from 2006
to 2009, achieving one victory. At the
end of the 2009 season, BMW pulled
out of Formula One and the teams
future remained uncertain for several
months, until it was sold back to Pe-
ter Sauber and granted a 2010
entry. However, due to issues with
the Concorde Agreement, the team
remained as BMW Sauber for the
2010 season. In March 2010, Peter
Sauber announced plans to change
the team name during the season, but
the FIA announced that they would
have to wait until the end of the sea-
son to change their name. From the
beginning of the 2011 Formula One
season the team dropped BMW from
their name. Peter Sauber currently
owns a controlling 66.6% stake in the
team, with the remainder belonging
to Monisha Kaltenborn.
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
Sebastin Vettel on 7 October
2012 won the Formulae One title race
of the Japanese Grand Prix for the
season.
He left Ferraris Felipe Massa 20
seconds behind in the race to con-
quer the title. Kamui Kobayashi, the
home favorite of the tournament took
the third position on the podium.
Sebastin Vettel is this year only man
to bag back-to-back victories in the
Grand Prix.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER ANNOUNCED
RETIREMENT
Michael Schumacher, the Ger-
man Formula one driver and the seven
times world Champion on 4 October
2012 announced his retirement from
Formula one Race.
Michael Schumacher will retire
from Formula 1 for the second time
at the end of the 2012 Season. He
first retired in 2006 but made a come-
back with the Mercedes team in
2010. The retirement came after
Mercedes announced that Lewis
Hamilton would replace him in the
side although it was clear that the
Michael Schumacher will join Sauber
for the next Formula one season.
Michael Schumacher dominated the
F1 world at the start of 20th century
when he won five world titles in a
row from 2000-2004. He is popularly
regarded as the greatest F1 driver of
all time. Michael Schumacher made
his debut at the Belgium Grand Prix
in 1991 and won 91 Grand Prixes in
his career.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHERS CAREER
RECORDS-
Debut: 1991 Belgian Grand Prix
Races: 302.
Championships: 7
Race wins: 91
Podiums: 155
Points: 1560 Poles: 68 Poles: 68 Poles: 68 Poles: 68 Poles: 68
leads the drivers championship by
13 points with three races to go, chas-
ing a third successive F1 title.
Sebastian Vettels Red Bull teammate
Mark Webber finished third, the Aus-
tralian fending off a strong late chal-
lenge from Lewis Hamilton of
McLaren who finished fourth ahead
of his teammate and fellow Briton
Jenson Button. Earlier on 26 Octo-
ber 2012 Vettel clocked the fastest
time with 1 minute 25.283 seconds
to grab pole, his teammate Webber fin-
ished second with a timing of 1:25.327.
FIRST WOMAN TEAM PRINCIPAL IN
FORMULA ONE
India-born, Monisha Kaltenborn
Became the First Woman Team Prin-
cipal in Formula one on 11 October
2012 after taking the control of team
Sauber, a Swiss Formula one team
with the stepping down of team
founder Peter Sauber from day to day
management.
The news of Monisha
Kaltenborn appointment came after
Peter Sauber made it clear that he
did not wish to run the team, which
he built more than fourty years ago.
Monisha Kaltenborn joined Sauber in
2000 as head of its legal department
and has been its CEO since January
2010. Monisha secured her
bachelors degree in law from the
University of Vienna in 1995 and also
holds a Masters degree in Interna-
tional Business Law from the London
School of Economics which she did
in 1996.
BILLIARDS/SNOOKER
WORLD BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP
TITLE
Indian Billiards Player Pankaj
Advani on 29 October 2012 won sev-
enth World Billiards Championship
title after comprehensively beating
defending champion and seasoned
Englishman Mike Russell in the finals
of World Billiards Championship
2012.
The event was scheduled at the
Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds,
England where Pankaj scored 1895
points and Russell managed to score
only 1216 points losing to Pankaj
Advani. Pankaj was on steady rhythm
since the beginning of the match and
got on track with first break of 147
points followed by 298 points to ob-
tain a lead of 450 points. Russel, on
the other hand fearlessly replied with
a break of 397 narrowing the deficit
to just 60 points. In session 2, Pankaj
maintained the same rhythm and kept
his attack scoring breaks of 100+ in
almost every visit he played where as
Russell could manage only breaks of
243 and 120 during the second ses-
sion play. The win came after Pankaj
had choosen to play the World Cham-
pionships in Leeds with avoiding
playing International Championship
on the Professional Snooker tour. Prior
to this title Pankaj had also won World
Professional Billiards title in the year
2009 and it was a case of history re-
peating itself because Pankaj had
beaten Mike Russel with 2030-1253
in the finals of the World Professional
Billiards Championship in 2009 at the
same venue. The win also marks the
eighth overall world title for Pankaj
and it is his seventh title in billiards.
FOOTBALL
GOLDEN BOOT AWARD
Lionel Messi, the Barcelonean
forward footballer on 29 October
2012 wonGolden Boot Award. Messi
won the award in recognition to his
record 50 goals scored in the
Europes domestic football league in
the last session.
To win the award he scored 4
more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, the
Spanish league star.
This is the second Golden Boot
award for Messi, as he won his first
Golden Boot Award in the year 2010
after scoring 34 goals during Argen-
tina International to help Barcelona
win the league title. He is also in the
list of the favorites to win the 2012
Ballon dOr for the Worlds best
player.
ABOUT LIONEL MESSI
The Flea is the nickname given
the Messi for his uncanny abilities of
dribbling the ball through defenders.
The 25 year old is an Argentine
Footballer and a captain to the na-
tional team of Argentina and fourth
footballer to win three Ballons dor.
He is also the second player to win
three Ballons dOr consecutively.
Some of the Records by his Some of the Records by his Some of the Records by his Some of the Records by his Some of the Records by his
name name name name name
He scored 73 goals, the highest
number of goals in a season in
all the competitions and broke
the European record of 67 goals
made in the year 1972-73 by
Bayern Munichs Gerd Mueller
By scoring 14 goals he became
the person to score maximum
goals in European Cup season;
this record is jointly shared with
Jose Altafini
With 8 hat-tricks, he became the
person to score maximum La
Liga hat-tricks in one season
With 15 hat-tricks, he became
the person to score maximum
La Liga hat-tricks overall
His triump with 21 hat-tricks
made him the person to score
maximum hat-tricks in all com-
petitions overall
4 awards of as a top scorer in
European Cup and he shares
this position with Gerd Muller
MICHAEL BALLACK RETIRED
The Former Germany captain
Ballack, who had played for Bayern
Munich and Chelsea, had called a halt
to his professional football career on
3 October 2012.
It was the downtime in his ca-
reer which showed him that the time
was right to stop. Ballack became a
free agent at the end of June after
Leverkusen opted not to offer their
former captain a contract extension.
Ballack began his professional career
in 1995 and won the first of four
Bundesliga titles with Kaiserslautern
in 1998. He missed out on a major
trophy with Leverkusen in his first
spell at the club and in 2002 he fin-
ished as a runner-up in the
Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions
League and World Cup. He spent the
last two seasons of his career with
Leverkusen and appeared for the last
time in a 4-1 win over Nurnberg, leav-
ing the field to a standing ovation in
the 51st minute of what turned out to
be his last-ever game as a professional
Footballer. Internationally, Ballack
has played in the European Champi-
onships in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and
the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and
2006. Jurgen Klinsmann appointed
him captain of the national team in
2004. Ballack scored consecutive
game-winning goals in the quarter-fi-
nal and semi-final to help his country
to the 2002 World Cup Final, and led
his team to the semi-finals of the 2006
World Cup and the Euro 2008 Final.
He is among the top goal scorers in
the history of his international team.
He was also selected by Pele as one
of FIFAs 100 Greatest Living Players
and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of
the Year in 2002. He has won the
German Footballer of the Year award
three times in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Ballack is known for his passing range,
scoring ability, ball skills, and com-
manding presence in the midfield.
HOCKEY
THREE DUTCH HOCKEY STARS
ANNOUNCED THEIR RETIREMENT
Floris Evers, Roderick Weusthof
and Teun Floris de Nooijer, the
three Dutch Hockey stars on 10 Oc-
tober 2012 announced their retire-
ment from International Hockey. The
three players were the part of the
Netherlands Hockey Squad in Olym-
pics 2012, where the Dutch team fin-
ished with silver medal after facing
defeat from the hands of Germany.
GOLF
MACAU OPEN
Indian Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar
on 14 October 2012 fired a three-
under 68 to complete a start to-finish
win in the Venetian Macau Open Golf.
Gaganjeet Bhullar finished with 16-
under 268 for a two-shot win and bag
his second title on Asian Tour within
a month.
With this he took over his fourth
title of his career, keeping aside the
inaugural Gujarat Challenge Tour win
in 2011. American Jonathan Moore
finished two shots back in second
place after a 65 and Thai youngster
Thitiphun Chuayprakong closed with
a 70 to share third place with
Bangladeshi Siddikur (66).
ABOUT MACAU OPEN
The Macau Open is a mens pro-
fessional golf tournament on the
Asian Tour which take place in Macau
ever year. It was founded in 1998.
The venue is the Macau Golf & Coun-
try Club at Coloane. The best known
golfer who won the tournament is
eight-time European Tour Order of
Merit champion Colin Montgomerie.
VARIOUS
MASCOT OF 2014 FIFA WORLD
CUP, BRAZIL
A Smiling Armadillo is declared
to be the official mascot for the 2014
FIFA World Cup in Brazil on 12 Sep-
tember 2012. The reports state that
FIFA has registered the patent for this
rare animal with the European Patent
Office as a symbol to this extreme
sporting event.
Officials declared that internet
poll will help in deciding the name
of this mascot. Brazuca the name of
the ball for the world cup 2014 to
was finalized by the opinion poll on
internet. The armadillo in Brazil is
known by the name of tatu-bola and
is known for its abilities of rolling it-
self in form of a ball to with a leathery
shell as a symbol of self defence.
In the previous FIFA World Cup
the mascots were:
FIFA 2010 World Cup in South
Africa- Zakumi the green-haired
leopard
FIFA 2006 World Cup in Ger-
many- Goleo named lion
Taking the Armadillo as an offi-
cial mascot for the mega event was
backed by a NGO named Caatinga
Association engaged in protection of
the biodiversity of North Eastern Bra-
zil.
KAPIL SIBAL LAUNCHED HOCKEY
AND CRICKET LEAGUE
In order to give encouragement
to the talented sportsmen of the Uni-
versity system and promote sports in
Universities, the Union Minister of
Human Resource Development Kapil
Sibal on 5 October 2012 launched
hockey and cricket league under the
Association of Indian Universities
(AIU). Association of Indian Univer-
sities has been organising the
Rohinton Baria Cricket Trophy, the
Inter University Hockey Tournament
and other events for promotion of
sports in the Universities throughout
the country.
It was after an offer made by the
NDTV Group for assisting in sponsor-
ing sports events, it was decided to
organise every year, a National Level
University Cricket League (UCL) and
University Hockey League (UHL). So
For this purpose an Organising Com-
mittee chaired by the Minister of Hu-
man Resource Development, Com-
munication and IT has been consti-
tuted, composed of senior represen-
tatives of University Grants Commis-
sion (UGC), AIU, NDTV, Vice Chan-
cellors of several Universities, NDMC,
DDCA Hockey India and eminent
persons in the field of sports. The Uni-
versity Cricket League would be
played among 8 top University teams
in the T 20 format, from amongst those
who qualify through a zonal compe-
tition. Similarly the University Hockey
League would be played among the
top 8 teams selected through the
zonal competitions.
IJM LAND PENANG OPEN SQUASH
TITLE 2012
Joshna Chinappa, one of the
top squash players of India claimed
the IJM Land Penang Open after de-
feating top most squash player Siti
Munirah Jusoh of Malaysia in straight
games on 30 October 2012. Joshna
Chinappa defeated her Malaysian
opponent Siti Munirah Jusoh with 11-
9 11-7 11-1 in a 34-minute match be-
tween them at the Nicol David Inter-
national Squash Centre.
Both had dropped just one
game to finish for the route to the fi-
nal. Joshna Chinappa is the first In-
dian girl who had won the British
Squash Championship title in 2003 in
the under 19 category, at Sheffield
in U.K and she is also counted among
the youngest Indian womens na-
tional champion.
LANCE ARMSTRONG STRIPPED OF
FROM SEVEN TOUR DE FRANCE
TITLES
Lance Armstrong on 22 Octo-
ber 2012 was stripped of from all the
seven Tour de France Titles and
banned for life from cycling. This
event occurred as a follow up of the
202 page report from the U.S. Anti-
Doping Agency (USADA ) that ac-
cused Armstrong of leading a dop-
ing programme on his team.
President of International Cy-
cling Union (UCI) Pat McQuaid
cleared on 22 October 2012 that the
report from the anti-doping agency,
USADA was accepted and no ap-
peals would be made in the Court of
Arbitration for Sports. Organisers of
Tour de France would now officially
remove the name of Armstrong from
all its record books that will include
omission of his consecutive victories
from 1999 to 2005. Christian
Prudhomme the Tour Director an-
nounced that no official winners of
these years would be declared and
the race would follow the decisions
made by the UCI.
SAHARA INDIA PARIWAR FELICITATED
LONDON OLYMPIC MEDALISTS
Sahara India Pariwar on 31 Oc-
tober 2012 at the Sahara Shaher in
Lucknow felicitated six Indian ath-
letes who won medals at the London
Olympics in July-August 2012. The
function was attended by Chief Min-
ister Akhilesh Yadav and by re-
nowned businessmen, politicians
and officials and was marked with a
cultural programme which included
some memorable performances by
Sonu Nigam and Shiamak Davars
troupe. The silver medalist Sushil
Kumar and Vijay Kumar were pre-
sented with gold weighing three kg
while bronze medalist Gagang
Narang, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom and
Yogeshwar Dutt were presented
with 2 kg of gold by Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav. Sahara India Pariwar
is a major business conglomerate and
the prime promoter& patron of
sports in India. It had been already
declared by Sahara India Pariwar prior
to the commencement of the London
Olympics that it is going to award
medals of pure gold of 5 Kg, 3 Kg
and 2 Kg to every Indian winning
gold, silver and bronze medal re-
spectively in the London Olympics 2012.
VIJAY KUMAR NAMED SERVICES
BEST SPORTSMAN
London Olympic Shooter and
silver medalist Vijay Kumar on 19
October 2012 was honoured with
the Services Best Sportsman award
for 2012 at the Army Headquarters in
New Delhi. The award which include
trophy and cash award of one lakh
rupees is generally given to the best
sportsman from the three defence
forces of Army, Air Force and Navy.
Vijay Kumar is the current world num-
ber and had earlier won three gold
medals and one silver medal at the
Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Vijay Kumar won a silver medal at the
July-August 2012 London Games in
the individual 25 metre rapid fire pis-
tol. Vijay Kumar is from Barsar village
of Hamirpur district of Himachal
Pradesh and is presently a serving
Subedar Major in the Dogra Regiment
(16th Battalion) of the Indian Army.
He was also awarded with Arjuna
Award in 2007 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna Award in 2011-12 by the Gov-
ernment of India.
2013
http://www.civilservicesmentor.com 8 4 8 4 8 4 8 4 8 4 http://upscportal.com
Awards & Prizes Awards & Prizes
Awards & Prizes Awards & Prizes Awards & Prizes
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2012
The European Union (EU) won
Nobel Peace Prize 2012 on 12 Octo-
ber 2012 for its effort to promote
peace and democracy in Europe.
The award was announced by Nor-
wegian Nobel Committee.
The award was given to Euro-
pean Union even though the Union
is struggling with its biggest crisis
since it was created in the 1950s.
Practically, the EU was being hon-
ored for six decades of contributions
to the advancement of peace and
reconciliation, democracy and hu-
man rights in Europe. Different So-
cial media exploded with strong re-
actions both for and against, award-
ing the prize to European Union
worth 8 million Swedish kronor ($1.2
million). The EU grew out of the tre-
mendous devastation created by
World War II, fuelled by the convic-
tion that ever-closer economic ties
would make sure that century-old
enemies never turned on each other
again. The European Union is now
made up of 500 million people in 27
nations, with other nations lined up,
waiting to join.
ABOUT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
The Nobel Peace Prize is
awarded annually by the Norwegian
Nobel Committee to the person who
shall have done the most or the best
work for fraternity between nations,
for the abolition or reduction of stand-
ing armies and for the holding and
promotion of peace congresses. It is
one of the five Nobel Prizes estab-
lished by the 1895 will of Alfred
Nobel (who died in 1896), awarded
for outstanding contributions in
chemistry, physics, literature, peace,
and physiology or medicine. The re-
cipient of Nobel Peace Prize receives
a medal, a diploma, and a monetary
award prize that has varied through-
out the years. The first Nobel Peace
Prize was awarded in 1901 to
Frdric Passy and Henry Dunant.
The 2011 Nobel peace Prize was
awarded to Leymah Gbowee of
Liberia for their non-violent struggle
for the safety of women and for
womens rights to full participation in
peace-building work. And, The 2010
Nobel peace Prize was awarded to
Liu Xiaobo of China for his his long
and non-violent struggle for funda-
mental human rights in China.
NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
2012
Mo Yan, the Chinese writer won
2012 Nobel Prize for Literature on 11
October 2012. The Swedish Acad-
emy of Stockholm praised the Chi-
nese writer for the writer called his
hallucinatory realism. The writer com-
bines the folk stories, modern events
and the history in his works. He is the
first Chinese writer in the 111 years
of Nobel history to become a Nobel
Prize winner. Before him, Gao
Xingjiana a French citizen born in
China won a Nobel in literature in
2000.
The Swedish Academy com-
pared him with two writers of twenti-
eth century namely William Faulkner
from America and Gabriel Garcia
Marquez from Colombia. Mo Yan will
receive the prize medal and the prize
amount of more than 1 million $ on
10 December 2012, the death anni-
versary of the prize founder, Alfred
Nobel. Mo Yan means Dont Speak.
The original name of Mo is Guan
Moye. The writer changed his name
to be Mo Yan, to remind himself of
talking less to avoid the trouble that
follows. Nobel Prize for Peace 2012
would be declared on 12 October
2012.
NOBEL PRIZE FOR
ECONOMICS 2012
Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley of
America were awarded the Nobel
economics prize on 15 October
2012 for their work in market design
and matching theory.
The research work helps in ex-
plaining the market processes at
work, say, when doctors are assigned
to hospitals, students to schools and
human organs for transplant to recipi-
ents. The award was cited to the
economist by The Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences for the theory
of stable allocations and the practice
of market design. The Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, which awards
the 8 million crown ($1.2 million)
prize, called their work an outstand-
ing example of economic engineer-
ing. The two economists were work-
ing independently on the same re-
search project. Lloyd Shapley used
game theory to study matching mod-
els, and Alvin Roth built on them to
make real-world changes to existing
markets, including school choice and
organ transplants, Alvin Roth is a pro-
fessor at Harvard and Lloyd Shapley
teaches at the University of California
in Los Angeles. The Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences was the
last of the 2012 Nobel awards to be
announced. The economics award
is not among the original prizes cre-
ated in 1895 by Swedish industrialist
Alfred Nobel to honor work in phys-
ics, medicine, chemistry, literature
and peace. It was added as a cat-
egory in 1969 by the Swedish cen-
tral bank in memory of the industrial-
ist.
NOBEL PRIZE 2012 FOR PHYSICS
Serge Haroche and David
Wineland of France and US respec-
tively, won the Nobel Physics Prize
on 9 October 2012.
They received Nobel for their
work on quantum physics, which
would open a gate for
supercomputers in future. The two
physics have developed the technol-
ogy for examining the intimate re-
lationship between matter and light.
This research by the duo would help
in development of precise clocks,
which will be hundred-times precise
than the caesium clocks of present-
time. The eight million Swedish
Krona ($1.2 millions) would be di-
vided in between the two and the
award will be received by them on
10 December 2012 on the death cer-
emony of the Prize Founder, Alfred
Nobel. The remaining prizes in Chem-
istry, Literature and Peace would be
announced on Wednesday, Thurs-
day and Friday respectively.
NOBEL PRIZE-2012 FOR MEDICINE
John Gurdon and Shinya
Yamanaka, the British and Japanese
researchers respectively on 8 Octo-
ber 2012 won the Nobel Prize-2012
in Medicine. They were awarded with
the prize for the discovery of repro-
gramming the specialised and ma-
tured cells of the body into blank
slate and this may one day this can
start repairing the damaged organs.
The Prize committee based in
Karnolinska Institute at Stockholm
stated that this discovery has helped
in understanding the theory of cell
and organism development.

The discovery has turned up to
be a tool for the scientists round the
world allowing them to make remark-
able progress in different areas of
medicine and can help in tissue trans-
plantation for treatment of diseases
like Diabetes and Parkinson. The
Nobel Prize in Medicine sector is the
first announcement made for the
year. Awards for physics, Chemistry,
Literature and Peace will be an-
nounced on Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday respectively.
The declared prizes will be handed
out to their respective winners on the
death anniversary of prize founder
Alfred Nobel on 10 December
2012.
Nobel Prize Winner for the Nobel Prize Winner for the Nobel Prize Winner for the Nobel Prize Winner for the Nobel Prize Winner for the
year 2011 in Medicine/ Physi- year 2011 in Medicine/ Physi- year 2011 in Medicine/ Physi- year 2011 in Medicine/ Physi- year 2011 in Medicine/ Physi-
ology segment: ology segment: ology segment: ology segment: ology segment:
Bruce Beutler and Jules
Hoffmann from America and France
respectively won the 2011 Nobel
Prize for the discoveries related to
the activation of innate immunity. The
duo shared the prize with Ralph
Steinman of Canada for discovering
dendritic cell. The Canada born,
Ralph Steinman died few days be-
fore receiving the prize. Although the
Posthumous prizes in case of Nobel
is not allowed but it remained un-
changed just because the decision
was made previously without being
aware of his death.
NOBEL PRIZE 2012 FOR
CHEMISTRY
Robert Lefkowitz (69) and Brian
Kobilka (57), the two Americans won
the Nobel Prize 2012 for Chemistry
on 10 October 2012. They won the
award for their study and research on
Protein Receptors, which allows the
body to respond the signals from out-
side world. The study is a key and
would pave the path for developing
better drugs to different ailments.
Lefkowitz and Kobilka from Duke
University Medical Center in Durham,
North Carolina and Stanford Univer-
sity School of Medicine in Palo Alto,
California respectively will be shar-
ing the prize amount of 8 million-
krona ($1.2 million).
The Nobel Prize 2012 for Litera-
ture and Peace would be announced
on Thursday and Friday respectively.
BOOKER PRIZE 2012
British Writer Hilary Mantel on
16 October 2012 won the prestigious
literary prize, the Booker Prize for her
novel Bring up the Bodies, the sec-
ond in a historical trilogy set during
the reign of King Henry VIII. Hilary
Mantel had earlier won the Booker
prize in 2009 for Wolf Hall, the first
novel in the trilogy.
Hilary Mantel is the third author
to win the prize twice, alongside
South-African-born J.M. Coetzee and
Australian Peter Carey. With this she
also became the first British author,
and the first woman, to achieve a
double Booker Prize. Bring Up the
Bodies is also the first sequel to win
the prize. Bring up the Bodies and
Wolf Hall are parts of a planned tril-
ogy about Thomas Cromwell, the
powerful and ambiguous chief min-
ister to King Henry VIII. Hilary Mantel
beat five other shortlisted books to
take the prize. She was the Bookies
favourite, although Britains Will Self
was also considered a strong con-
tender for the century-spanning
stream of consciousness Umbrella.
Indian poet Jeet Thayil was also nomi-
nated for his first novel, Narcopolis,
set among heroin addicts in 1970s
and 80s Mumbai, and Britains Alison
Moore for The Lighthouse, about a
middle-aged mans life-changing
ferry trip to Germany.
About Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fic-
tion is a literary prize awarded each
year for the best original full-length
novel, written in the English language,
by a citizen of the Commonwealth of
Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The
winner of the Man Booker Prize is
generally assured of international re-
nown and success. The selection pro-
cess for the winner of the prize com-
mences with the formation of an ad-
visory committee which includes an
author, two publishers, a literary
agent, a bookseller, a librarian, and a
chairperson appointed by the Booker
Prize Foundation. The winner of
Booker Prize is usually announced at
a ceremony in Londons Guildhall,
usually.
INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL AWARD
Lyricist and well known poet
Gulzar on 31 October 2012 awarded
with Indira Gandhi National Integra-
tion Award by congress President
Sonia Gandhi.
The award was given on the eve
of 28th death anniversary of the late
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was
assassinated on 31 October 1984.
Marking the event, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh congratulated the
poet for the award and asserted the
fact that Gulzar Sahab is real talent
and a great personality who is spread-
ing the message of peace and broth-
erhood in the country. Gulzar had
written some charismatic lyrics for
songs like Raah pe rehte hain, Do
deewaane shehar mein, Hazaar
raahen mud ke dekhi, Tujhse naraaz
nahin zindagi and Mera kuchh
saamaan. He is a versatile lyricist and
had also shown his magic in new age
songs like Kajra re and Beedi jalaile
and had used his poetic talent for late
filmmaker Yash Chopras FilmJab Tak
Hai Jaan as well. Earlier, Gulzar was
awarded Sahitya Akademi Award in
2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004
for his contribution to the arts.
LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI AWARD
President Pranab Mukherjee on
1 October 2012 conferred the pres-
tigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National
Award 2012 to ISRO scientist Tessy
Thomas at an award function in
Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The award was given on the eve
of Birth anniversary of Former Prime
Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri. Tessy
Thomas 48 years old is the Key Sci-
entist for Agni-V in Defence Research
and Development Organisation
Hyderabad. She is the first woman
scientist to head a missile project in
India. Tessy Thomas was an associate
Project director (mission) for Agni-I,
II and III systems. She was associated
with the Agni Programme since their
developmental stages. She has de-
signed the guidance scheme for long-
range missile systems, which is used
in all Agni missiles. Presently, she is
the Project Director of Agni -IV,
which is a major project with state of
the art technologies. The Agni-IV was
successfully flight tested on 15th
November, 2011.
What is Lal Bahadur Shastri
National Award?
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National
Award, instituted by the Lal Bahadur
Shastri Institute of Management
(LBSIM) is given each year each year
to an Indian, residing either in India
or abroad, who is an exceptionally
outstanding and distinguished busi-
ness leader, management practitio-
ner, public administrator, educator or
institution builder for his/her sus-
tained individual contributions and
achievements of high professional
order and excellence. The honour
carries a cash award of Rupees Five
Lakh plus a Citation and a Plaque. The
Awardees name is inscribed on the
Roll of Honour of LBSIM and he/she
is designated as Lal Bahadur Shastri
Fellow. The Award is presented by
the President of India on October 1
each year which is the eve of the birth
anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
The Award process begins in Janu-
ary each year with the nomination of
a twelve member Jury by the Chair-
man of LBSIM, who is the ex-officio
convenor of the Jury.
INDIA BIODIVERSITY AWARD
The Government of India in col-
laboration with United Nation Devel-
opment Programme (UNDP) an-
nounced Biodiversity award 2012 in
Hyderabad on 17 October 2012. The
winners of the awards were: Pir
Jahania Jungle Suraksha Samiti from
Odisha in the community steward-
ship category, Shankarpur Village
Gram Panchayat from Maharashtra in
the category of decentralised man-
agement, Van Utthan Sansthan from
Rajasthan in the category of co-man-
agement and Periyar Tiger Reserve in
the protected areas category.
The programme was hosted by
the Ministry of Environment and
Forests.The award recognizes the
outstanding models of biodiversity
governance across the country. The
award was actually presented at min-
isterial reception of Eleventh Confer-
ence of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity. With the pre-
sentation of Award, the Minister of
Environment and Forests Jayanthi
Natarajan announced that the India
Biodiversity Awards will now be given
annualy, to mark International
Biodiversity Day on 22 May each year.
The winners of the India Biodiversity
Awards represent innovative ap-
proaches that combine the basic
needs of livelihoods, wellbeing and
dignity while respecting biodiversity
conservation and the earths limits. In-
dia Biodiversity Awards was de-
clared after short listing people from
150 received nominations from
across the country. A six-member jury
for the awards was made which was
headed by eminent agriculture sci-
entist M S Swaminathan.
BEST TV HOST AWARD
Amitabh Bachchan, was re-
warded as the Best Television Host
for the popular game show Kaun
Banega Crorepati by Peoples
Choice Award of Colour Television
channel.
Amitabh is presently hosting
Season 6 of Kaun Banega Crorepati,
which is being aired on Sony chan-
nel. He had earlier hosted 5 seasons
of KBC except for the third one,
which was hosted by Bollywood ac-
tor Shahrukh Khan. The first appear-
ance of Amitabh Bachchan on Indian
television is marked with Kaun Banega
Crorepati,(KBC) which first aired in
the year 2000. Amitabh Bachchan,
the 70-year-old Indian Bollywood
megastar had previously won the In-
dian Telly Awards, BIG Television
Awards, The Global Indian Film and
TV Honours among major award by
television channel.
BRITISH SAFETY COUNCIL AWARD
Reliance Industries Ltds (RIL)
Jamnagar Refinery on 15 October
2012 won the British Safety
Councils Globe of Honor Award for
excellence in Environmental man-
agement. The award would be pre-
sented on 23 November 2012 at
Mansion House in Lon-
don. RILs Jamnagar SEZ
Refinery is the only In-
dian organisation which had made it
to the list and it is for the first time
that a Reliance Industries manufac-
turing site has grabbed this very well
known award.
In all, there were 13 applicants
and 9 received the Globe of Honour.
The eligibility of a organization for the
award which is a five-star environ-
ment audit is that the applicant
organisations should demonstrate a
culture of best practice for health and
safety throughout the business - from
the boardroom to the shop floor. All
applications for the Globe of honour
were marked by an independent
adjudicator and SEZ Refinery re-
ceived 68 marks out of 72.
ABOUT BRITISH SAFETY COUNCIL
The British Safety Council is a
global health, safety and environmen-
tal charity which was founded in
1957. For over 50 years, the British
Safety Council has been a champion
of workplace health and safety. The
British Safety Council over years has
progressed to become one of the larg-
est independent occupational
health, safety and environmental or-
ganizations in the world.
THE KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF
ARTS AND LETTER
The Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on
1 November 2012 was conferred
with the Knight of the Order of Arts
and Letters (Chevalier dans lOrdre
des Arts et des Lettres) by the French
Ambassador to India Franois Richier.
She was awarded on behalf of the
French Authorities. She was con-
ferred with the award for the contri-
butions made by her to Indian and
World Cinema and the developments
in Indo-French cooperation in art,
culture and the most important one,
Cinema.
Late Habib Tanvir, Nandita Das,
Raghu Rai, Shahrukh Khan, and
Upamanyu Chatterjee are few more
Indians who had been conferred with
this prestigious French award.
ABOUT AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN
The youngest Indian Actress to
win Padmashree in 2009.
Padmashree is the fourth high-
est civilian award given by the
Union Government of India
She is the first Indian Actress to
be among the jury members at
Cannes
She made her debut in the In-
dian film industry with Mani
Ratnams Tamilo Film Iruvar in
1997
Has received two Best Actress
Awards at Filmfare for her films
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in
1999 and Devdas in the year
2002
In the year 2012, she was ap-
pointed as the goodwill ambas-
sador for UNAIDS
To promote eye donation in In-
dia, she was appointed as the
brand ambassador for the Eye
Bank Association of Indias na-
tionwide campaign
She became the brand Ambas-
sador for Pulse Polio in 2005 a
mission established by the
Union Government of India for
polio eradication from the coun-
try
To raise awareness about the
main goals and priorities of the
United Nations poverty allevia-
tion efforts, she was appointed
as the spokesperson for the In-
ternational Year of Microcredit
For Smile Train, she was ap-
pointed as its first Goodwill Am-
bassador in the year 2009. It is
an international charity estab-
lished to provide free Cleft lip
and palate surgery to children
across 76 different developing
countries
SINGHAM BRAVERY AWARD
Narendra Kumar the IPS officer
who was brutally killed by illegal min-
ing mafia in Madhya Pradesh and
many other Security Personnel who
had laid down their life for fighting
against Maoists and anti Social ele-
ment on 20 October 2012 were
awarded with Singham Bravery
Awards.
The awards were handed over
to the family members of the police
officers by reel life Singham Ajay
Devgan,who is also the brand ambas-
sador of Maharashtra police ,actor
Sunil Shetty and former CRPF Direc-
tor General K Vijay Kumar. Besides
Narendra Kumar, the award was post-
humously presented to Surinder
Singh, Narinder Singh Ranjeet Singh,
Prakash S Meena, K C Meena, Tanveer
Singh and Sanjeev Kumar.
Marking the occasion, Ajay
Devgn and Rohit Shetty, were also
bestowed with Pride of Nation
awards.
The Singham Bravery Award
was organised by the All India Anti
Terrorist Front (AIATF) and were
held on the occasion of National Po-
lice Day 2012 to felicitate those who
had risked - some had even sacrificed
their lives in the line of duty.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Pakistani Sufi legend Abida
Parveen was honoured with a lifetime
achievement award on 7 October
2012 by Kaladharmi Begum Akhtar
Academy of Ghazal in New Delhi. 58
years old Abida Parveen is the famous
Pakistani singer of Sindhi descent
and one of the foremost exponents
of Sufi music.
She was born in a musical fam-
ily and had received initial training
from her father Ustaad Ghulam
Haider. She sings mainly ghazals, Urdu
love tracks and her forte, Kafis, a clas-
sical form of Sufi poetry. Some of her
hits are Duma Dum Mast Qalandar,
Teray Ishaq Nachaya, Latthe Di
Chadar, Kuch Is Ada Se Aaj and
Kafian Bulleh Shah. She began her
career with Radio Pakistan in 1973
and gained new fans following her
appearance in Coke Studio, a TV
music programme that showcases
collaborations between classical and
rock artists. She was also awarded
with the Pride of Performance and
the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the Govern-
ment of Pakistan.
FRIENDS OF LIBERATION WAR
HONOUR
Former Deputy Prime Minister
and Defence Minister of India, Babu
Jagjivan Ram was Posthumously
awarded with the Friends of Libera-
tion War Honour by the Government
of Bangladesh for his contribution in
the 1971 War. The award was re-
ceived by Babujis grandson, Anshul
Avijit at the Bangabandhu Interna-
tional Conference Centre in Dhaka.
Anshul Avijit, is a journalist and aca-
demician and also the son of Speaker
of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar. Babu
Jagjivan Ram as the Defence Minister
of India in 1971, helped in liberation
of Bangladesh. He assured that the
war for liberation of Bangladesh
ended in the remarkably short time
of 13 days. He was among the remark-
able figure that had helped in cre-
ation of the Joint Command of
Bangladesh and the Indian forces for
the final outrage which led to the vic-
tory.
AN INSIGHT INTO POLITICAL CAREER
OF BABU JAGJIVAN RAM
Babu Jagjivan Ram was born
near Arrah in Bhojpur district of Bihar
in 1908 and had joined the freedom
struggle while student in BHU in
Benares and at Calcutta University.
He as a freedom fighter
founded the All India De-
pressed Classes League.
He was the youngest serving
member of Jawaharlal Nehrus
Interim Government of 1946 as
the Minister of Labour and had
also hold a number of critical
portfolios including Agriculture,
Railways, Communications and
Defence.
He holds the record for having
an uninterrupted Parliamentary
career that spanned almost half
a century with holding the
record for being the longest-
serving cabinet minister in In-
dia for 30 years.
INDO-AMERICAN MALYALEES TO BE
HONOURED AT NEW YORK
The Veteran Indian Diplomat
Vijay K. Nambiar along with five Indo-
American Malayalees would be
honoured at New York by Indian
American Kerala Cultural and Civic
Center. The honour would be con-
ferred for their service to the society
and outstanding contributions in the
respective field of specialization.
These awardees would be honoured
on 3 November 2012 during the an-
nual banquet in the Long Island and
they are Vijay K. Nambiar, Geeta
Menon, Joy Kuttiyani, Viju Menon,
Narayanan Neithalath and Roy Tho-
mas.
Key details of the people Key details of the people Key details of the people Key details of the people Key details of the people
to be honoured: to be honoured: to be honoured: to be honoured: to be honoured:
Vijay K. Nambiar is the Under
Secretary General and Special
Adviser of the UN Secretary
General of Myanmar and would
be honoured for his services to
United Nations. He would be
the Chief Guest to the occa-
sion.
The second person to be
honoured is Geeta Menon who
will be the keynote speaker of
the occasion and is a dean for
Undergraduate College and
Abraham Krasnoff professor of
Global Business, Stern School
of Business, New York Univer-
sity. She would be honoured for
her contributions in the field of
education
Viju Menon, the Vice president
of Supply Chain Management at
Verizon, would be conferred
with this honour for his contri-
butions in the field of supply
chain management. Verizon is
the largest wireless carrier in the
US
Joy Kuttiyani, president of
Kerala Samajam of South Florida
Narayanan Neithalath, the asso-
ciate professor in the School of
Sustainable Engineering and
the Built Environment at Ari-
zona State University, Tempe,
Arizona
Roy Thomas, deputy director at
New York State Mental Health
Department
13TH ANNUAL GREENTECH
ENVIRONMENT AWARD
Indian Oils Mathura Refinery
was awarded the Platinum Award in
the 13th Annual Greentech Environ-
ment Awards. The award was felici-
tated on 31 October 2012.
Mathura Refinery was awarded
in regard to the companys outstand-
ing achievements and contribution
to apt implementation of environmen-
tal friendly technologies and meth-
odologies. Greentech Awards is a key
component that values the need of
environmental management in busi-
ness sustainability.
JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
AGENCY (JICA) PRESIDENT AWARD
FOR 2012
The Delhi Metro Rail Corpora-
tion (DMRC) on 29 September 2012
awarded the Japan International Co-
operation Agency (JICA) President
Award for 2012 for its outstanding
contribution to the development of
human resources, society and
economy of India and also for pro-
moting mutual understanding be-
tween India and Japan.
The award was formally pre-
sented to DMRC Managing Director
Mangu Singh at a function organised
at Metro Bhawan in Delhi for Delhi
Mass Rapid Transport System Project
(I) (VI). Also, a commendation cer-
tificate along with a tribute to this ef-
fect duly signed by Japan Interna-
tional Cooperation Agency (JICA)
President Akihiko Tanaka was pre-
sented to Mangu Singh who asserted
that it will go a long way in strength-
ening bilateral ties between the two
countries.
It is the ninth edition of the JICA
awards which in the past has been
given mostly to Japanese organisation
such as research institutions, non-gov-
ernment organisations and medical
organisations. JICA and DMRC have
been associated since the beginning
of the Delhi Metro construction in
1998 in the National Capital Region.
The award came to DMRC after com-
peting with four other projects across
the globe which was chosen by
JICA.
SHARMILA TAGORE HONOURED WITH
HONORARY DOCTORATE OF ARTS
Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore
on 25 October 2012 was Awarded
with an Honorary Doctorate of
Arts for her outstanding contribution
to Indian cinema by the Edinburgh
Napier University.
The Vice-Chancellor and Prin-
cipal of the University Dame Joan
Stringer called her as an excellent
ambassador for the Indian
Culture. Sharmila Tagore whose films
are appreciated and enjoyed all over
the world is also a strong advocate of
educational rights of Indian children.
At present, she is a Goodwill Ambas-
sador for UNICEF that is working for
literacy, maternal health and AIDS-
related issues and is also an active
spokesperson for Indian Children
Child Rights and YOU (CRY). The
University stressed its strong links with
India and Indian Culture and pointed
out that to promote and establish a
relationship with Indian culture, phi-
losophy, education, art and literature
it has created a Scottish Center for
Tagore Studies (ScoTs), which high-
lights the legacy of Rabindranath
Tagore the first Asian, who won a
Nobel Prize for Literature in the Year
1913. This study center is first of its
kind in United Kingdom. The 67 year
old Indian actress announced that her
recognition and honour from the Uni-
versity proves the role of Indian Cin-
ema and its cultural influence across
the world.
CAREER OF SHARMILA TAGORE IN
THE INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY
Sharmila Tagore started her ca-
reer as an actress in 1959 with Satyajit
Rays Bengali film Apur Sansar (The
World of Apu). Some more films of
Sharmila Tagore includes Kashmir Ki
Kali in 1964, Evening in Paris in 1967,
Aradhana in 1969 and Amar Prem in
1972, Safar in 1970, Daag in 1973,
Maalik in 1972and many more. For
Mausam,a film directed By Gulzar
based on the novel named The Ju-
das Tree by A.J. Conin, she won the
National Film Award for Best Actress
in 1976 and received the Silver Lotus
Award at the 23rd National Film Fes-
tival for this film.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Filmfare Best Actress Award for
Aradhana in 1969
Nominated, Filmfare Best Ac-
tress Award for Safar in the year
1970
National Film Award for Best
Actress in 1976 for her role in
the movie Mausam
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement
Award in 1997
Star Screen Lifetime Achieve-
ment Award in the year 2002
National Film Award for Best
Supporting Actress for Abar
Aranye in the year 2004
Commander of the Order of
Arts and Letters of France in
2004
In the year 2006 was nominated
for Filmfare Best Actress Award
in Viruddh- Family Comes First
Lifetime Achievement National
Award (Actress) in the year
2007 honoured by Journalist
Association of India
In 2011was awarded with Out-
standing Achievement in Indian
cinema at Floriana IIFA Awards,
Toronto
Sharmila Tagore has also served
the Central Board of Film Certifica-
tion in India as its Chairperson.
2012 HOOVER MEDAL
V. Narayan Murthy was
honoured with 2012 Hoover Medal
at the Global Humanitarian Technol-
ogy Conference in Seattle in Wash-
ington on 22 October 2012. Murthy,
who is the 70th recipient since the
medals inception, was recognized
for establishing a foundation that
forges outstanding improvements in
healthcare, social rehabilitation, rural
uplift and education. Previous
awardees include former US presi-
dents Herbert Hoover, Dwight D.
Eisenhower and James Earl Carter.
Narayan Murthy co-founded Infosys
limited in 1981. He contributed sig-
nificantly in Indias success in infor-
mation technology outsourcing. The
Hoover Medal was established in
1930 to recognize great, unselfish,
non-technical services by engineers
to humanity. The Infosys Science
Foundation was established in 2009
to promote science research in In-
dia. The Hoover Medal is administered
by a board representing five engi-
neering organizations: The American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, the
American Society of Civil Engineers,
the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, the American Institute of
Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum
Engineers and the Institute of Elec-
trical and Electronics Engineers.
11TH ECONOMIST CROSSWORD
BOOK AWARD
The 11th Economist Cross-
word Book Award was declared on
18 October 2012 at Mumbai. The
Folded Earth and A Free Man-a non-
fiction book, written by Anuradha Roy
and Aman Sethi respectively were
declared among winners of the 11th
Economist Crossword Book
Award. The Folded Earth was de-
clared winner in English Indian Fic-
tion Category, whereas, A Free
Man won the award in the English
Non-Fiction Category for 2011.
Few more books that won
awards in different categories were:
English Translation by Arunava
Sinha of a book on short
stories, 17 written by Anita
Agni hotri and The Araya
Woman written by Narayan and
Translated by Catherine
Thankamma were declared
joint winners of the award for
Indian Language Translation.
The Incredible Banker written
by Ravi Subramanian fetched
the Popular Award
Overall, there were 330 entries
of the books published in 2011 for
the awards. Renowned writer Sudha
Murthy distributed the Prizes on 18
October 2012.
ABOUT THE CROSSWORD BOOK
AWARD
The Award is among the presti-
gious literary awards in India, which
recognizes the best Indian Writings
and rewards them to make sure that
the merit works reach easily reaches
to wider audience group.
The Awards are given in differ-
ent categories and it includes Cross-
word Fiction Award, Crossword Non-
Fiction Award, Crossword Translation
Award, Crossword Childrens Award
and Crossword Popular Award. The
Prize for Non-Fiction, Fiction, Trans-
lation and Childrens writing carries
an amount of 3 lakh rupees and a ci-
tation and a trophy. The Popular
Award winner author gets a cash prize
of 1 lakh rupees and a certificate.
CSAT
General Studies Manual
IAS Preliminary
Examination Paper I
APPOINTED
AJIT SARAN
Senior IAS officer Ajit M Sharan
was appointed as Member Secretary
in National Commission for Women
(NCW) on 3 October 2012. Ajit
Sharan is a 1979 batch officer of
Haryana cadre. He is going to be in
the rank and pay of Additional Sec-
retary. The Appointments Commit-
tee of the Cabinet has also appointed
Rajiv Mehrishi, an IAS officer of 1978
batch of the Rajasthan cadre, as Sec-
retary, Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs in the vacancy of Parvez
Dewan, a 1977 batch IAS officer of
Jammu and Kashmir cadre. Rajiv
Mehrishi is presently Special Secre-
tary, Department of Agricultural Re-
search and Education, Ministry of
Agriculture.
JUSTICE YATINDRA SINGH
The newly-appointed Chief
Justice of the Chhattisgarh High
Court, Justice Yatindra Singh, took the
oath of office in Chattisgarh on 22 Oc-
tober 2012. Chhattisgarh Governor
Shekhar Dutt administered the oath
to Justice Yatindra Singh at Raj Bhavan
in Bilaspur District of Chattisgarh.
Prior to appointment as Chief
Justice, Justice Yatindra Singh was
posted at the Allahabad High Court.
He was born in 1952 and had gradu-
ated from Allahabad University in
1970. He had also served as Addi-
tional Advocate-General of Uttar
Pradesh Between March 1997 and
February 1999. He had two books
written under his name entitled
Cyberlaws and A Lawyers World
and Childhood dreams.
S.VISHWANATHAN
S. Viswanathan on 8 October
2012 was appointed as a managing
director of State Bank of India. His
appointed came by the Central Gov-
ernment of India. Viswanathan, was
earlier serving as a deputy managing
director of State Bank of India. Prior
to that he was heading the state-run
banks investment banking arm, SBI
Capital Markets Ltd.
The appointment of S.
Viswanathan takes effect from the
date of taking over charge of the post
In the News In the News
In the News In the News In the News
till April 30, 2014 , that isthe date of
his attaining the age of superannua-
tion or until further orders, whichever
is earlier. Following the appointment,
SBI has now four managing directors,
including Diwakar Gupta, who the
chief financial officer, Hemant Con-
tractor, who is in charge of interna-
tional operations and A. Krishna
Kumar, who looks after national bank-
ing.
HUGE CHAVEZ
Huge Chavez re-elected as
President of Venezuela on 9 Octo-
ber 2012 Venezuela.
It his third election victory in
14 years of Office. With this he will
be spending 6 more years in Office.
Huge Chavez had won with 54% of
the vote defeating his challenger
Henrique Capriles who managed to
get only 45% of vote in presidential
election held on 7 October 2012.
Among the 19 million registered vot-
ers the turnout was a record of 80.4%
voters.
BRIEF LOOK AT HUGE CHAVEZ
CAREER
Huge Chavez was formerly the
leader of the Fifth Republic Move-
ment political party from its founda-
tion in 1997 until 2007; thereafter he
became the leader of the United So-
cialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Following his own political ide-
ology of Bolivarianism and Socialism
for the 21st Century, he has focused
on implementing socialist reforms in
the Venezuela as a part of a social
project known as the Bolivarian Revo-
lution, which has seen the implemen-
tation of a new constitution, partici-
patory democratic councils and the
nationalisation of several key indus-
tries.
A.RAJA, KANIMOZHI AND SURESH
KALMADI
The congress on 3 October
2012 nominated the former Union
Minister, A. Raja, Kanimozhi and
Suresh Kalmadi as the members of
the Parliamentary Standing Commit-
tees on Energy, Home Affairs and
External Affairs respectively.
Raja was arrested in the 2G scam
case on February 2 last year and is on
bail since 15 May 2012. Suresh
Kalmadi, who was accused in the
Commonwealth Games scam case,
spent about nine months in jail and
was released on bail on 19 January
2012. DMK MP Kanimozhi, also an
accused in some cases related to the
2G spectrum allocation,was nomi-
nated to the Standing Committee on
Home Affairs. Also,Congress general
secretary Rahul Gandhi was made a
member of the Standing Committee.
The role of the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committees is to inspect the bill
and give their opinion to the planned
legislation associated about the re-
garding ministries.
HASSAN SHEIKH MOHAMUD
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won
the presidential elections of Somalia
on 10 September 2012. He won the
election by gaining 190 votes to 79
in the second round of competition.
Alliances were formed be-
tween the Prime Minister Abdiweli
Ali and Hassan Sheikh.
SHORT DESCRIPTION ABOUT HASSAN
SHEIKH MOHAMUD
1. He was born in Jalalaqsi on the
Shebelle River of central Soma-
lia in the year 1955
2. He completed his education in
India and United States
3. Worked in the United Nations
development program and
World Bank as well as a univer-
sity lecturer
4. In the year 2008, he worked
with Somalia Civil Society
5. In 2009 history of mediation in
Somalia is a book written by him
was published
6. 2011, founded the peace de-
velopment party as its chairman
His election as a President is
welcomed by many of the nations of
the world and there are expectations
that Somalia will soon see a new dawn.
ONNO RUHL
World Bank appointed Onno
Ruhl a Dutch National to be the coun-
try director for India on 10 Septem-
ber 2012.
He will replace the retiring N
Roberto Zagha in October 2012. His
appointment at this post will help the
bank to formulate and implement
developmental programs and steps
in the nation.
ABOUT ONNO RUHL
1. Onno Ruhl holds a post gradu-
ate degree (MSc) in Econom-
ics from University of
Amsterdam
2. He joined World Bank in the
year 1993 and due to his po-
tential leadership skills and
strong experience in finance
and operations; he held several
positions in Asia and Africa.
3. He has served World Bank as its
director for Nigeria and a coun-
try manager for Democratic Re-
public of the Congo (DRC)
4. Prior to his joining to World Bank
in 1993, Ruhl served the Foreign
Affairs Ministry of Netherlands
5. He has served the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency
(MIGA) as an Alternate Execu-
tive Director on the Board
JAIDEEP SARKAR
Jaideep Sarkar on 27 Septem-
ber 2012 was appointed as the new
Indian Ambassador to Israel. The
IITian and diplomat, is a private sec-
retary to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and a joint secretary of exter-
nal affairs ministry, has replaced
Navtej Sarna, the former ministry
spokesperson.
MAR CLEEMIS
Pope Benedict XVI on 24 Oc-
tober 2012 appointed Major Arch-
bishop-Catholicos Baselios Mar
Cleemis as the Cardinal to boost Chris-
tianity in India. Cleemis is the head of
the relatively-young Syro-Malankara
Catholic Church and is the only In-
dian in the list of six senior prelates to
be named as Cardinals in the latest
expansion of the Church of Cardinals
that is elected by the Pope.
Cleemis who is 53 years old,
with this appointment has turned up
to be the youngest Cardinals in the
Catholic Church and is the first cardi-
nal from the Syro-Malankara rite of
Catholic Church and is now the first
Prince of the Church as Cardinals are
known. Mar Cleemis is at Vatican to
attend the proceedings of the
Golden Jubilee of the Vaticans Sec-
ond Council at Rome. His investiture
would be held in Rome on 24 No-
vember 2012 along with five other
Cardinals named by Vatican.
VIVEK RAE
Vivek Rae, on 8 October 2012
took over as Secretary in Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME).
He succeeds Radha Krishna
Mathur who at present is Secretary in
Department of Defence Production
and Ministry of Defence. Vivek Rae
is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Union
Territory cadre. Before joining the
Ministry of Micro Small and Medium
Enterprises he was Director General
(Acquistion) in Ministry of Defence.
ABOUT MSME
With the amendment of, Gov-
ernment of India (Allocation of Busi-
ness) Rules, 1961 by the President
of India, Ministry of Agro and Rural
Industries (Krishi Evam Gramin Udyog
Mantralaya) and Ministry of Small
Scale Industries (Laghu Udyog
Mantralaya) have been merged into
a single Ministry, namely Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(Sukshma Laghu Aur Madhyam
Udyam Mantralaya). The micro small
and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are
accepted as the engine of economic
growth and for promoting equitable
development. The major advantage
of the sector is its employment po-
tential at low capital cost. The labour
intensity of the MSME sector is much
higher than that of the large enter-
prises. The MSMEs constitute over
90% of total enterprises in most of the
economies and are credited with
generating the highest rates of em-
ployment growth and account for a
major share of industrial production
and exports. In India, the MSMEs
play a pivotal role in the overall in-
dustrial economy of the country. In
recent years the MSME sector has
consistently registered higher growth
rate compared to the overall indus-
trial sector.
RAVI NARAIN
National Stock Exchanges
(NSE) chief and Managing Director
Ravi Narain on 17 October 2012 was
elected as chairman of the working
committee of the World Federation
of Exchanges (WFE). The appoint-
ment of Ravi Narain came in the an-
nual meeting of World Federation
Exchange which also elected
elected Deutsche Borse AGs
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) Andreas Preuss as its chair-
man, while Thomas A Kloet, CEO of
TMX Group, as the vice-chairman of
the working committee.
Ravi Narain is also the chairman
of the National Securities Clearing
Corporation and a board member of
the National Commodity and Deriva-
tives Exchange. The World Federa-
tion of Exchanges (WFE) is an inter-
national organization for securities
and derivative markets such as stock
exchanges. It comprises of Group of
more than 50 Bourses or Stock Ex-
changes.
DEATH
YASH CHOPRA
The Indian Filmmaker Yash
Chopra died on 21 October 2012,
nine days after being diagnosed with
Dengue.
He passed away at the age of
80 at Lilavati Hospital at Bandra due
to dengue and multiple organ failure.
Also termed as the King of Romance,
Yash Chopra had by his name Six
National Film Awards, Eleven Filmfare
Awards out of which four was Filmfare
Award for Best Director. Yash Chopra,
in his last interview with Shah Rukh
Khan on television stated about his
latest upcoming film named Jab Tak
Hai Jaan and his retirement along with
the plans of spending his time with
family members. The Titan of Indian
Cinema, Yash Chopra was born on 27
September 1932 Yash Chopra by
profession was an Indian Film Direc-
tor, Screenwriter and Film Producer
in Indian Cinema, Bollywood. Work-
ing as an assistant director to I.S.
Johar and B.R. Chopra his elder
brother, he started his career and
made his debut as a director with
Dhool ka Phool in the year 1959 pro-
ceeded by films like Dharmputra in
1961. He turned up to set his stage as
one of the most successful director
with the commercial and critically
successful drama Waqt in 1965, the
film that set the stage for multi-starrers
in the industry.
Yash Raj Films, yash chopras
own production company stated
with the launch of DAAG: A poem of
love in 1973. Few of his most ac-
claimed films, were Deewar in 1975
that set the angry young man image
of Amitabh Bachchan, Kabhi Kabhi
(a romantic drama) in 1976, Trishul,
Silsila in 1981, Mashaal in 1984 and
Vijay in 1988 and Chandni in 1989.
Some more movies of Yash Chopra
were Lamhe in 1991, Darr in 1993 the
debut movie of Shah Rukh Khan, Dil
To Pagal Hai in 1997, Veer-Zaara in
2004. His latest movie Jab Tak Hai
Jaan is scheduled to be launched
during the week of Diwali in 2012
about a month after his death.
Awards and honours attached
to his name were:
He received Legion of Honour,
Frances highest civilian honour
Remained a Vice President for
10 years with Film Producers
Guild of India
Received Padma Bhushan in
2005
Asian Filmmaker of the Year,
2009 at Pusan International Film
Festival
On behalf of Swiss Government
he received a Special Award by
Ursula Andress and was
honoured for rediscovering
Switzerland
He received the BBC Asia
Awards two times in the year
1998 and 2001 for the kind of con-
tribution he made to the films
In the year 2001 he received Dr.
Dadabhai Naoroji Millennium
Lifetime Achievement award
For promoting tourism in UK via
his films, he was conferred with
a Certificate of Recognition
from the British Tourist Author-
ity and British Film Commission
For his contribution to Indian
Cinema he was conferred with
Priyadarshini Award
The Leeds Metropolitan Univer-
sity in Yorkshire awarded him
with Honorary Doctorate in Art
At the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen
Awards, for his outstanding
achievements to the films he re-
ceived FIAPF Award
In the year 2010 he was
honoured with the Honorary
Doctorate from the School of
Oriental and African Studies
The Government of Madhya
Pradesh awarded him with Na-
tional Kishore Kumar Award
For his contribution via his films
to Brand Switzerland he re-
ceived Swiss Ambassadors
Award 2010
The Asian Awards in October
2010 he was given the Out-
standing Achievement in Cin-
ema award
The Rotary Club awarded him
with Vocational Excellence
Award
In the year 2001 was awarded
Dadasaheb Phalke the topmost
and the highest honour of In-
dian Film Industry
Maharashtra state governments
Raj Kapoor and V. Shantaram
Awards was given to him for his
contributions to Indian Cinema
In the year 2006 he received
4th Pune International Film Fes-
tival Lifetime Achievement
Award
Some more associations of his
life:
Before his death he was on the
Advisory Board of the Informa-
tion and Broadcasting Ministry
of Government of India
Founder Trustee of Film Indus-
try Welfare Trust established in
the year 1996
BAFTA gave him a lifetime
membership for the his contri-
butions to Indian Cinema, in 59
years history of the academy he
was the first Indian to be
honoured with the membership
SUNIL GANGOPADHYAY
President of the Sahitya
Akademi and an eminent writer, Sunil
Gangopadhyay died on 23 October
2012 due to heart attack at his resi-
dence in Kolkata. Gangopadhyay who
died at the age of 78 is now survived
by his wife and a son.
ABOUT SUNIL GANGOPADHYAY
Born on 2 September 1934,
Sunil Gangopadhyay was an ac-
claimed poet and novelist from In-
dia. He provided a platform for the
poets of new generations with
Krittibas a seminal poetry magazine
that he started in 1953 as a founder
editor.
He was successful as a novelist,
short story and travelogue writer as
well as for his writings as children
fiction. He as a poet and novelist has
more than 200 books by his name and
won several awards and honours as
credentials to his name. His pen
names were Sanatan Pathak, Nil
Upadhyay and Nil Lohit.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
He received Ananda Puraskar in
1972 and 1989
He was awarded with Sahitya
Akademi Award in 1985
Gangopadhyay was honoured
as Sheriff of Kolkata in 2002 as a
prominent citizen of the city
He was honoured with Indias
highest literary award Saraswati
Samman in 2004- this award is
also listed under Schedule VII
of Indian Constitution
In the year 2011 he won the
Hindu Literary Prize, shortlist,
The Fakir
In the year 2012 received Sera
Bangali Lifetime Achievement
Award by Star Ananda
JASPAL BHATTY
Actor and Satirist Jaspal Bhatti
died in a road accident on 25 Octo-
ber 2012 near Punjabs Nakodar town
40 km from Jalandhar.
The accident happened in
around 3 am in morning when Jaspal
Bhatti was on his way to Jalandhar from
Bathinda for Promotion of his upcom-
ing Film Power Cut. Jaspal Bhattis son
Jasraj, was also injured in the acci-
dent along with the films heroine
Surili Gautam. Jaspal Bhatti was on a
40-day tour for the promotion of his
latest film .The tour was to end on
25 October 2012 with a media con-
ference in Jalandhar. Bhatti was a very
renowned face on Indian television
and also for Bollywood films with his
comedy shows and appearances. His
TV shows Ulta-Pulta and Flop Show
on Doordarshan had entertained TV
audiences in late 1980s and 1990s.
He had also directed a Punjabi Com-
edy film Mahaul Theek Hai in 1999,
which is a comedy satire set on the
police force, administration and so-
ciety. Jaspal Bhatti was 57 years old
and is Survived by his wife Savita
Bhatti and son Jasraj Bhatti.
KEVIN CURRAN
Former Zimbabwe all-rounder
and Coach Kevin Curran died at age
of 53 on 10 October 2012. His death
news came after he collapsed while
jogging but the actual cause of death
was not clear.
In his career Kevin Curran
played 324 first-class matches and
had made 15,740 runs with taking up
of 605 wickets. He was a right-handed
middle-order batsman and fast-me-
dium bowler and had played 11 one-
day internationals for Zimbabwe.
Kevin Curran was a veteran of two
World Cups for Zimbabwe - prior to
their being given Test status in 1992
and had also five times cleared 1,000
runs in a season in the English league.
Kevin Curran was a part of the Zimba-
bwe team that made its international
debut against Australia at Trent
Bridge in the 1983 World Cup, beat-
ing the opponent side by 13 runs. His
highest international score was 73 in
the famous 1983 World Cup match
against India at Tunbrigde Wells. He
followed that up with 63 against de-
fending champions West Indies in the
next match. He replaced Phil
Simmons as Zimbabwe coach in
2005, retaining the post until 2007
before coaching Zimbabwean fran-
chise Mashonaland Eagles. Kevin
Curran first served as Zimbabwes as-
sistant coach before assuming the
duty full-time from August 2005 to
August 2007, which was a period in
which the team won nine and lost 28
of 42 ODIs.
T. SAMUEL
Veteran Cartoonist and the pio-
neer of pocket cartoons in India, T
Samuel died on 2 October 2012 at
the age of 86. Samuel is now survived
by his wife, two daughters and a son.
ABOUT T. SAMUEL
Samuel started his journey as a
professional cartoonist before Inde-
pendence from Lahore with a Mili-
tary Gazette. After partition he came
to Delhi as a refugee and joined
Shankars weekly, where he contrib-
uted the Kalu and Meena, the silent
strip cartoon and some more related
to social life. As a staff cartoonist, he
served Delhi edition of Times of In-
dia, where he became famous as the
creator of the pocket cartoon named
Babuji. After serving Times of India
for a certain period of time, he joined
Indian Express as a cartoonist and
carried on with his featured cartoon
Babuji and Garib, the next strip car-
toon series. He was back with Times
of India and served it and its Hindi
daily Nav Bharat Times till 1985, the
year of his retirement.
NORODOM SIHANOUK
Former Cambodian king
Norodom Sihanouk died on 15 Oc-
tober 2012 in Beijing.
He was 89 Years old. Norodom
Sihanouk was receiving medical treat-
ment for many years in Beijing for can-
cer and other ailments. Norodom had
dominated politics in Cambodia for
nearly 60 years. He was the King of
Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and
again from 1993 until 2004. He was
the effective ruler of Cambodia from
1953 until 1970. After his second
abdication in 2004, he was known as
The King-Father of Cambodia a posi-
tion in which he retained many of his
former responsibilities as constitu-
tional monarch. Sihanouk held so
many positions since 1941 that the
he was identifies as the politician who
has served the worlds greatest vari-
ety of political offices. These in-
cluded two terms as king, two as sov-
ereign prince, one as president, two
as prime minister, as well as numer-
ous positions as leader of various gov-
ernments-in-exile. He was suc-
ceeded in 2004 by his son, King
Norodom Sihamon
SATYANARAYAN REDDY
Former Governor of UP and
Odisha and a renowned freedom
fighter B Satyanarayan Reddy died on
7 October 2012 folowing age-re-
lated illness in a private Hospital in
Hyderabad.
86 years old Satyanarayan
Reddy, was a bachelor who had dedi-
cated his life for public service. He
was a strong follower of JayPrakash
Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohiya.
Satyanarayan Reddy was a patriot and
freedom Fighter who during quit In-
dia movement in 1942 also faced ar-
rest for leading a procession of pro-
test against the arrest of Mahatma
Gandhi. He began his Political career
as a member of Socialist Party and
thereafter joined Janta Party and be-
came its State General Secretary in
1977. It was during Emergency Pe-
riod that Satyanarayan Reddy on Au-
gust, 1 1975 was detained under
Maintenance of Internal Security Act
(MISA) for 18 months and sent to
Musheerabad Jail. He became the
governor of Uttar Pradesh in 1990 and
served for three years and later he
became the governor of Odisha.
Satyanarayana Reddy as a Telangana
protagonist, served as an inspiration
for many who are in Telangana
movement.
ACCUSED/RESIGNED/
CONTROVERSY
SM KRISHNA
SM Krishna on 26 October 2012
resigned from his post of External
Affairs Minister.
He submitted his resignation to
the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
who accepted it and forwarded to
the President of India. SM Krishna,
before being inducted as the Exter-
nal Affairs Minister in 2009, served
Maharasthtra as its nineteenth Gover-
nor from 2004 to 2008. He served as
a Member of Parliament from the
Mandya district of Karnataka in its in
the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th Lok Sabha
starting from 1968.
ABOUT SM KRISHNA
SM Krishna (Somanahalli
Mallaiah Krishna), who belongs to In-
dian National Congress was the old-
est member of the Union Council of
Ministers at the time of his resigna-
tion remained the External Affairs
Minister from 2009 to October 2012.
Before taking up the responsibility as
External Affairs Minister, Krishna
served Karnataka as its sixteenth
Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004. He
also served as nineteenth Governor
of Maharashtra from 2004 to 2008.
PAWAN VARMA
Indian Diplomat Pavan K. Varma
in October 2012 resigned as Indias
ambassador to Bhutan with an idea
of entering into politics. Ambassador
Pavan Varma is set to join the Janata
Dal-United (JDU). He asserted that
he wants to contribute to clean poli-
tics and good governance in the coun-
try. Pawan Varma, is a 1976 batch IFS
officer and had taken voluntary re-
tirement but is going to demits office
on 31 December 2012. Pawan Varma
is also an author of several well-ac-
claimed books,
including Ghalib andThe Great In-
dian Middle Class. Pawan Varmas res-
ignation sets in process a minor
shuffle which was long overdue,with
increasing in strength of lobbying for
key diplomatic posts.
HONOUR
BRAHMA CHELLANEY
Indias leading strategic thinker
and analyst, Brahma Chellaney on 25
October 2012 won the 2012 Asia
Society Bernard Schwartz Book
Award for his recently published
book Water: Asias New Battle-
ground.
Brahma Chellaney is going to be
honoured with $20,000 prize money
at a special event to be held at Asia
Societys headquarters in New York
City on 23 January 2012. The book
Water: Asias New Battleground by
Brahma Chellaney was selected from
nearly 90 nominations submitted by
US and Asia-based publishers for
books published in 2011. Asia Soci-
ety Bernard Schwartz Book Award
was established in 2009 and is the
only award that recognizes non-fic-
tion books for their outstanding con-
tributions to the understanding of
contemporary Asia or US-Asia rela-
tions.
BOOKS
THE FOLDED EARTH AND A FREE
MAN
The Folded Earth written by
Anuradha Roy and A Free Man by
Aman Sethi won the 11th Economist
Crossword Book Award that was de-
clared on 18 October 2012 at
Mumbai.
The Folded Earth was success-
ful in securing its position in the En-
glish Indian Fiction Category,
whereas, A Free Man by Aman Sethi
was successful in the category of In-
dian Non-Fiction books. A Bengali
short-story collection Bengali written
by Anita Agnihotri named 17 and
translated in English by Arunava Sinha
and a Malyalam Novel, The Araya
Woman that was written by Narayan
and translated in English by Catherine
Thankamma were declared as the
winners of the award for Indian Lan-
guage Translation jointly.
Ravi Subramanians creation The
Incredible Banker fetched the Popu-
lar Award by its name. The Cross-
word Book Award is presented to
writers in different categories with a
certain prize amount and these in-
cludes Non-Fiction, Fiction, Transla-
tion and Childrens Writing carrying
an amount of 3 lakh rupees and a ci-
tation and a trophy. The Popular
Award winner author gets a cash prize
of 1 lakh rupees and a certificate.
EK THHI KUSUM
Ek Thhi Kusum a collection of
short stories written by Prakash Pant,
former State Assembly Speaker of
Uttrakhand was released on Monday
by Aziz Qureshi, Governor of
Uttarakhand. The stories of the book
are a collection of socio-economic
tales of the far-flung areas of hill state.
Ek Thhi Kusum in itself is an explora-
tion of the pains and sufferings of
common man and his trails to fit him-
self in the fast changing social envi-
ronment.
It is a self criticism of the loos-
ing moral and traditional values,
which has been neglected in a blind
pursuit of prospering and achieving
the material satisfaction. He is a se-
nior BJP leader of Uttarakhand and
was the first Speaker to the state As-
sembly of Uttarakhand.
VARIOUS
NEWSWEEK
Newsweek, the eighty year old
print magazine on 18 October 2012
announced that it would shut down
its print operations completely and
go all-digital. The Editor-in-Chief of
the Magazine and founder of the
online Newsweek Daily Beast Com-
pany, Tina Brown posted a statement
on the website that being affected
by the harsh media environment, the
magazine had planned to stop its
print publication and move on the
online platform completely. The
Digital Publication of the magazine
will be a single issue worldwide and
a compilation of world events in a
sophisticated context targeting on
the opinion leading audience.
NEO-NAZI GROUPS ACCOUNT
BLOCKED BY TWITTER
Twitter on 18 October 2012
announced that it had blocked the
account of a neo-Nazi group named
Besseres Hannover on 25 September
2012. This blocking act is the first ever
activity of blocking by the micro-
blogging site in the country follow-
ing the orders of the German Police
to block the neo-Nazi groups. The
company is still visible on its
handle@hannoverticker that is calling
itself as Das Nationale
Informationsportal aus Hannover. But
the messages updated by the group
after 25 September is no more vis-
ible. The Besseres Hannover is
charged for creating criminal
organiations and inciting racial ha-
tred.
BRAHMOS
The Indian Navy on 7 October
2012 successfully test-fired the 290-
km range BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile which is capable of carrying a
conventional warhead of 300 kg,
from a warship off the Goa coast.
The cruise missile was test-fired
from guided missile frigate INS Teg
the Indian Navys latest induction from
Russia off the coast of Goa.
The INS Teg, which has been
built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia,
had fired the missile successfully dur-
ing pre-induction trials in Russiain
2011.
ABOUT BRAHMOS MISSILE
BrahMos is a stealth supersonic
cruise missile that can be launched
from submarines, ships, aircraft or
land. It is a joint venture between
Republic of Indias Defence Re-
search and Development
Organisation (DRDO) and Russian
Federations NPO Mashinostroeyenia
who have together formed BrahMos
Aerospace Private Limited It is the
worlds fastest cruise missile in op-
eration. The missile travels at speeds
of Mach 2.8 to 3.0. and have the ca-
pability of attacking surface targets
by flying as low as 10 metres in alti-
tude.
GLOBAL JAMES BOND DAY
Global James Bond Day was
celebrated on 5 October 2012 to
mark 50 years since the world pre-
miere of Dr.
No which introduced author Ian
Flemings sophisticated secret agent
to the people. The franchise went on
to produce best selling Agent 007
films. It is making legends out of ac-
tors over the last 50 years and the
James Bond movie franchise has
made heart-stopping thrillers.
ANAND KUMAR
Anand Kumar, teacher and
founder of Super 30 institute, which
provides free residential coaching to
students from economically back-
ward families for IIT-JEE exams,
named Peoples Hero by People
magazine of American Time Maga-
zine Group. It is itself an uncommon
occasion where the people magazine
which usually profiles celebrities from
films and other fields onto their maga-
zine had chosen a person who is a
teacher by profession.
The magazine stated that Anand
has done it on his own, which is re-
markable. Earlier Anand was featured
in Different Magazine. Time magazine
earlier had described Super 30 as the
best of Asia, with Newsweek put-
ting it into the category of worlds four
innovative schools. Also, Discovery
Channel made an hour-long docu-
mentary on Kumar and Super 30 and
had described it as a revolutionary
experiment to bring about social
change. Back in April 2011, Anand
Kumar was selected by Europes
magazine Focus as one of the glo-
bal personalities who have the ability
to shape exceptionally talented
people and was also named among
the list of 20 pioneering teachers of
the world by UK based
magazine Monocle.
BRAHMOS AND INVAR MISSILES
The Cabinet Committee on se-
curity on 18 October 2012 approved
proposals worth over 8000 crore
rupees for procuring around 10000
Invar missiles from Russia for the
Armys T-90 tanks and over 200 air-
launched versions of the BrahMos
supersonic cruise missiles for the In-
dian Air Force. Also, the Union Cabi-
net approved the waiver of the out-
standing loan along with interest for
the 370 tsunami affected fishermen
and to reimburse the same to con-
cerned banks. The Union Cabinet
also approved setting up of a National
Automotive Board, NAB a body
which would act as a facilitator be-
tween the government and the indus-
try and promote Research and De-
velopment activities in the sector.
DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM
China on 2 November 2012 in-
vited Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former
President and Missile Man of India to
teach at the Peking University of
China.
The nation also offered him the
lab of his choice to work on with the
students. The invitation came up dur-
ing Dr. Kalams visit to the Beijing Fo-
rum by the Chairperson Zhu Shanlu
of Peking University.
ABOUT BEJING FORUM
Beijing Forum is the intellectual
body backed by the Chinese Gov-
ernment, Chinese Ministry of
Eductaion and the Beijing Municipal
Government. It is co-sponsored by
Beijing Municipal Commission of Edu-
cation, Peking University, and Korea
Foundation for Advanced Studies.
ABOUT DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (Avul Pakir
Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam) served
India as its 11th President and is reck-
oned as an eminent scientist of India.
Also known as the Missile Man of In-
dia for development of Ballistic Mis-
sile and its launch Vehicle. Dr. Kalam
has also worked as an aerospace en-
gineer with the Indian Space Re-
search Organisation (ISRO) and the
Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO). After retiring
as a President of India he has been
sharing the knowledge with the
young people and students of the
nation.
He is a visiting Professor to In-
dian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of
Management Indore. He is also a
Chancellor at the Indian Institute of
Space Science and Technology
Thiruvananthapuram. He serves Aero-
space Engineering at Anna Univer-
sity (Chennai) and JSS University
(Mysore) as its Professor. Apart from
all this he has been visiting different
institutes across India as a visiting fac-
ulty.
AWARDS WON BY KALAM
He has been awarded with
Indias highest Civilian honour,
Bharat Ratna in the year 1997
In 1998 he was awarded
with Veer Savarkar Award by
Government of India
In the year 2012 was awarded
with Doctor of Laws (Honoris
Causa) by Simon Fraser Univer-
sity
He was conferred with Indira
Gandhi Award for National In-
tegration in 1997 by Govern-
ment of India
He was conferred with Padma
Vibhushan in the year 1990 by
Government of India
In the year 1981 he was
awarded Padma Bhushan
Royal Society of U.K. awarded
him King Charles II Medal in
the year 2007.
University of Wolverhampton,
U.K awarded him Honorary
Doctorate of Science in the
year 2007
PRITHVI II
India on 4 October 2012 suc-
cessfully test fired its indigenously
developed, nuclear-capable ballistic
missile Prithvi-II from a test range in
Odisha. The missile was test fired by
the Strategic Forces Command (SFC)
from the Integrated Test Range at
Chandipur, Odisha.
All the radars and electro-opti-
cal systems along the coast have moni-
tored the missile throughout its flight
path. The Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO)
have developed Prithvi-II for the In-
dian Air Force for deep interdiction
and the missile can be armed with a
nuclear warhead weighing 500 kg. In
this flight, it carried conventional
explosives. Prithvi-II is a user-friendly
missile which has a completely
guided trajectory. The SFC had ear-
lier launched it on August 25, 2012
and the flight was successful. The
Indian Army is already armed with the
single-stage Prithvi-II, which uses liq-
uid propellants. From July 2012 on-
wards the Strategic Forces Command
had launched a series of strategic
missiles including Agni-I, Agni-II and
Agni-III. It is one of the five missiles
that were developed under the
countrys Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme.
RAJAT GUPTA
Rajat Gupta, the former
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) di-
rector and McKinsey & Co. Managing
director on 25 October 2012 was
sentenced to two years in prison for
passing inside tips to his business
partner. Rajat Gupta was convicted
in June 2012 on three counts of se-
curities fraud and one count of con-
spiracy.
It was alleged by the US pros-
ecutors that Rajat Gupta used his po-
sitions on the boards of Goldman and
Procter & Gamble, one of the worlds
largest consumer goods companies,
to pass information to hedge fund
manager Raj Rajaratnam, who then
drew millions of dollars in profit from
trading on it. Rajat Gupta is 63 years
old. He was handed for a two-year
prison term by US District Court Judge
Jed Rakoff and he was also ordered
to pay a USD 5 million fine. Rajat
Gupta, the India-born businessmen
in the US who was considered to be
an icon is now being called decep-
tive and dishonest after his convic-
tion on insider trading charges.
POST CARD CAMPAIGN IN
MAHARASHTRA
Tribal women from
Maharashtras Chandrapur district
have sent 80,000 postcards to Chief
Minister Prithviraj Chavan on 6 Octo-
ber 2012 asking to make the district
liquor-free. Hundreds of women
from rural parts led by president of
Shramik Elgar- Paromita Goswami and
Dr Rani Bang took out protest rally in
town and after the rally the partici-
pating women posted 80,000 letters
to CM Prithviraj Chavan. The demand
to ban liquor is being made since
2010 in Maharashtra. The different
non- governmental organization and
NGOS have been asking a reassess-
ment of the state governments policy
on liquor in the district, including the
sale of country liquor and Indian made
foreign liquor. But the Government
side is showing no results.
A CULTURAL CARNIVAL
The German Ambassador to In-
dia, Michael Steiner on 19 October
2012 announced the event
named Indo-German Urban Mela
scheduled to start from 27 October
2012 at Delhi. The celebrations are
the part of Germany and India 2011-
2012: Infinite Opportunities. The
nine-day cultural extravaganza that is
scheduled to be held at Indraprastha
Millenium Park that is meant for com-
memorating the sixty years of German
and Indian ties. The Carnival that is
named as Indo-German Urban Mela
is partnered by the Federal Ministry
of Education and Research and other
business organizations from Germany
and India and aims towards achiev-
ing a holistic exchange, of culture,
science, entertainment and technol-
ogy. Before this the Mela travelled
through Mumbai, Bangalore and
Chennai and has followed its journey
to the largest show in the capital.
SUPER 30
Super 30, the acclaimed edu-
cational programme by Anand Kumar
and known for training economically
backward section for the IIT-JEE on
24 October 2012 entered into an
agreement with University of Tokyo,
to sponsor its student a chance to
study at Japan. The agreement was
inked between Director of the Uni-
versity of Tokyo, Yoshino Hiroshi and
Anand Kumar founder of Super 30.
Following the pact of this agreement,
University of Tokyo would sponsor the
study of atleast one student from the
Super 30 at the University. This agree-
ment is a follow-up of the Japanese
Government Program named Global
30, of engagement with Super 30 for
increasing the flow of Indian Students
to Japan. The University came to
know about the educational group
named Super 30 by a programme run
by the Japanese Government Broad-
cast Corporation (NHK) about Super
30 with a title Indian Shock, which
highlighted the success story of the
Mathematical Club. The Super 30 is
an initiative of Anand Kumar at Patna,
Bihar to train 30 students from eco-
nomically backward section of the
society, for IIT-JEE and a majority of
its students have succeeded in the
test so far.
FIRST MUSEUM OF INDIAN CINEMA
Films Division Ministry of Infor-
mation & Broadcasting, Government
of India on 16 October 2012 an-
nounced its plan of establishing a
National Museum of Indian Cinema
(NMIC). The Museum would be lo-
cated in the Films Division Complex,
Dr. G. Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai and
is predicted to come up by June
2013. The development of the mu-
seum was planned to mark the occa-
sion of Indian Cinema that will com-
plete its 100 years of journey from the
day of first screening of Raja
Harishchandra in 1913. The Museum
would come up in two different
phases and developed at an initial
budget of 120 crore Rupees. This
museum would be serving as the
monument of Indian cinema and the
first phase of the museum would start
functioning from May 2013, the very
day of release of Indian first film, Raja
Harishchandra. The first phase will be
in a portion of Gulshan Mahal, the
heritage building renovated recently
in a total area of 6000 square feet.
To design the concepts and exhibits
of the museum the ministry of culture
has appointed National Council of
Science Museums (NCSM). The Mu-
seum that is being developed will also
showcase the technical aspects like
screening and production of cinema
and the social aspects covered by the
Indian cinema in 100 years of its jour-
ney. To guide NCSM, an advisory
committee that is being headed by
Shyam Benegal the renowned Indian
filmmaker has been appointed. The
Museum will portray the step-by-
step-development of Indian cinema
in different phases comprising silent
films, studio period and the times
when Indian Cinema show its stars
and mega stars.
OSMAN ALI KHAN
Osman Ali Khan the last Nizam
of Hyderabad on 16 October 2012
was named in list of the 25 richest
people across the world who ever
lived by US website Celebrity
Networth. Osman Ali Khan, the
Nizam, who ruled Hyderabad be-
tween 1886-1967, was ranked sixth
in world and the richest in India with
$236 billion. He died in 1967 at age
of 80. The list declared by US website
Celebrity Networth was compiled
after adjusting the fortunes of people
across history for inflation. For ex-
ample, $100 million in 1913 is equiva-
lent to $2299.63 billion in 2012. As
per the report, The 25 richest who
ever lived had a combined fortune
of $4.317 trillion, of which 14 are
American.
PHASE-II OF COASTAL SECURITY
After the high level meet of
Defence Ministry on 8 October 2012,
the Defence Minister, A.K. Antony
announced that the phase-II of the
coastal security initiatives would be
launched shortly. He also said that its
time to focus on fool-proof marine
security. Phase-II of the security ini-
tiatives would concentrate on devel-
opment of a gap-free and robust Mari-
time Domain Awareness. The an-
nouncement came after the Defence
Minister reviewed different steps
taken for enhancement or the Coastal
Security Network. In his announce-
ment, he emphasised on completion
of the pending tasks in a time-bound
manner. Advising the Coastal States
and different departments acting as
stakeholders towards Coastal Secu-
rity to monitor things closely, he prom-
ised that the Indian Coat Guard and
Navy would complete their actions
in a time-bound manner. He also re-
quested the Cabinet Secretary to fix
timeline for monitoring the perfor-
mance of all. He stressed towards
strengthening of the Department of
Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fish-
eries in Government of India and the
Department of Fisheries of States. The
Defence Minister, laid emphasis on
making the fishermen an integral part
of their planning considering them to
be the eyes and ears of the Coastal
Security.
Appreciating the steps taken
for monitoring the maritime traffic by
installation of 46 coastal static radars,
which includes 10 in the island terri-
tory and 36 in the mainland, he stated
that the navy and the coastal guard
has seen an unparallel growth in its
capabilities.
FELIX BAUMGARTNER
Austrian Felix Baumgartner be-
came the first skydiver on 14 Octo-
ber 2012 to go faster than the speed
of sound, reaching a maximum veloc-
ity of 1,342 kilometers per hour. In
jumping out of a balloon 39 kilome-
ters above New Mexico, the 43-year-
old also smashed the record for the
highest ever freefall. It took just un-
der 10 minutes for him to descend.
Only the last few thousand feet were
negotiated by parachute. The previ-
ous highest, farthest, and longest
freefall was made by Kittinger, who
leapt from a helium envelope in 1960.
His altitude was 31 kilometers.
DHANUSH
India on 5 October 2012 suc-
cessfully test fired nuclear capable
Dhanush Missile, the naval version of
short-range ballistic missile, Prithvi
from a warship off Odisha coast.
Dhanush, The indigenously devel-
oped naval version of the Prithvi short-
range ballistic missile has a strike
range of up to 350 km and can carry
500 kg of conventional or nuclear
warhead. The test was conducted by
the strategic force command (SFC)
of the Indian Navy. The trial was a
complete success.
Dhanush missile is a single stage
missile and was developed by the
DRDO and is about 8.53 metre in
length and 0.9 metre in diameter
which uses liquid propellant. The
Dhanush missile is going to be used
as an anti-ship weapon as well as for
destroying land targets depending
on the range.
KATKTH
Delhi Police Commissioner
Neeraj Kumar under Yuva Scheme
had initiated a programme in the
month of October 2012 for sex
worker of GB Road to train and en-
gage them in handicrafts and other
small-scale businesses. The
programme started is basically meant
for providing alternative livelihood to
sex workers so that they can become
self-defendant. The drive is named
as Katkth of which more than two
dozen sex workers is already a part.
The drive was started by Delhi Police
from Farash Khana area of Kamla Mar-
ket in Second week of October.The
high point of scheme is that it is not
limited for sex workers as Delhi po-
lice is also providing free education
to the children of sex workers so that
they dont get into illegal activities to
earn their livelihood. The children are
educated by private teacher and vol-
unteers first thereafter they will join
government schools. The participants
of the programme are trained in mak-
ing jute bags, mats, pen stands and
different household items. Also, they
are being provided job oriented pro-
fessional course like beauty training,
boutique and cloth designing.
KOSHIK
Koshik, an Asian elephant is to
believe that he can reproduce hu-
man speech. And the words are Ko-
rean in nature. Apparently, the re-
searchers from an Austrian University
seemed to have validated the news.
Koshik can apparently match
both pitch and timbre patterns, he
also imitates human formants as well
as the voice pitch of his trainers ac-
curately. Biologically, elephants have
a trunk instead of lips. While their large
larynx are capable of producing a
very low-pitched sounds, this particu-
lar elephants speech exactly copies
the pitch and other characteristics of
his human trainers voices. The other
reason for Koshiks such development
could be the fact that he was the only
elephant living at the Everland Zoo
in South Korea for about five years,
while humans were his only social
contacts.
ALI ZIDAN
Libyas 200-member General
National Congress on 14 October
2012 elected Ali Zidan as the new
Prime Minister. Ali Zidan, an inde-
pendent, won 93 votes, a majority
among those present. He beat a can-
didate favoured by the Justice and
Construction party which is linked to
the Muslim Brotherhood. Announc-
ing his victory, President of the Na-
tional Assembly asked Mr Zidan to
propose a cabinet within two weeks.
Ali Zidan is a human rights lawyer. The
previous Prime Minister, Mustafa Abu
Shagur, was dismissed a week ago
after failing to form a government.
MUKESH AMBANI
China based Research firm
Hurun in a Report on 10 October
2012 declared Reliance Industries
Chairman Mukesh Ambani, the rich-
est Indian with a Personal Fortune of
$19.3 billion.
Mukesh Ambani is preceded by
Arcelor-Mittal chief L.N. Mittal, whose
wealth is nailed down to be $16.9
billion. The other businessman in-
cluded in the list followed by Mukesh
Ambani and Laxmi Mittal are Azim
Premji of Wipro with a Personal For-
tune of $12.3 billion, Dilip Shanghvi
of Sun Pharmaceuticals with $8.5 bil-
lion, Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji
Pallonji & Co, the largest shareholder
in Tata Group with $7.9 billion, Shashi
and Ravi Ruia of Essar Energy with
personal fortune of $7.2 billion and
Adi Godrej of Godrej Group with $6.9
billion. Four others Entrepreneurs
who are included in the list of top 10
billionaires are Kushal Pal Singh of
DLF with a Personal fortune of $6.3
billion, Kumara Mangalam Birla of
Grasim Industries with $5.8 billion,
Shiv Nadar of HCL Technology with
$5.7 billion and Sunil Mittal of Bharti
Airtel with $5.7 billion of Personal
fortune.
In terms of women Savitri Jindal,
the non-executive chairperson of
O.P. Jindal Group, is the richest In-
dian woman with personal fortune of
$5.6 billion, on the other hand Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw, the chairman and
managing director of Biocon is the
richest self-made woman with a per-
sonal wealth of $600 million. Also, In
the list of people whose wealth was
adversely affected in 2012 were
Mukesh Ambani, L N Mittal, Shashi
Ruia and Ravi Ruia, Kumara Mangalam
Birlas flagship company Hindalco
and telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the
only self-made woman in the list of
top 100 richest Indians. The reports
shows that only five of the top 100
rich Indians are women. Among the
women rich list, Savitri Jindal is fol-
lowed by Indu Jain of Bennett
Coleman with $1.7 billion, Anu Aga
of Thermax with $690 million,
Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon with
$600 million and Shobhana Bhartia
of Hindustan Times with $490 million.
Talking of State, Mumbai is the place
for 36 of Indias richest 100, followed
by Delhi and Bangalore with 22 and
15, respectively. The youngest per-
son put on the list is Shivinder Mohan
Singh at 37 years old while the oldest
one is Keshub Mahindra with 89 years
of age.The average age of the Top
100 is 62 years while the average age
of the Top 10 is 65 years.
HYDERABAD
The City of Hyderabad was
named as World Third best city to visit
in 2013 by Travel guide book Lonely
Planet published on 22 October
2012. Hyderabad the capital city of
Andhra Pradesh was described as
elegant and blossoming by the
Lonely Planet. The top 10 cities ac-
cording to Lonely Planet to visit in
2013 are San Francisco, Amsterdam,
Hyderabad, Derry/Londonderry,
Beijing, Christchurch, Hobart,
Montreal, Addis Ababa and Puerto
Iguazu. Earlier in 2011, New York
Times rated Hyderabad among the
41 top destinations to visit in the
world.
A salary plan that changes nothing A salary plan that changes nothing A salary plan that changes nothing A salary plan that changes nothing A salary plan that changes nothing
Recently during a press conference called by the Minis-
try of Women and Child Development, the Minister of State
(Independent Charge), Krishna Tirath, proposed the formula-
tion of a bill through which a certain percentage of a husbands
salary would be compulsorily transferred to his wifes bank
account to compensate her for all the domestic work she
performs for the family. According to the Minister, this per-
centage of husbands salaries would not be taxed and would
provide women the much needed source of income to run
the household better, and more importantly, to spend on her
own, personal consumption. In a later clarification, the Minis-
ter identified this payment as an honorarium and not a sal-
ary which is to be paid to wives for all the services they
otherwise render for free.
This proposition has not gone down well, especially
with women of higher income brackets who see such pro-
posed action as unnecessary intervention in the realm of the
private, i.e. the realm of familial relations. Many such women
also believe that this government intervention amounts to
reducing wives into glorified maids who need to be paid
every time they walk into the kitchen, wash the baby, sweep
the house, etc. Sadly, what is sidelined amid all the clamour
and jokes about commercialisation of the mia-
biwi relationship is the necessity of recognising the back-
breaking work performed by women to sustain their families.
Of course, what we also lose sight of is the sheer hollowness
of such proposed legislation. For example, such legislation, if
implemented, would not provide women a source of income
which they earn independently of their husbands. Instead,
women would continue to depend on their husbands earn-
ings and employment status, and thus, remain dependent on
the family structure for their individual financial
sustenance. Indeed, the problem with the proposed legisla-
tion is not that it is unnecessary and demeaning, but that it is
informed by a poor understanding of economics surrounding
household work and womens labour in general. Clearly, the
question then is whether the Indian state is even serious about
uplifting the position of the woman within the home and in
recognising her contribution to the national economy.
Historical issue Historical issue Historical issue Historical issue Historical issue
Assigning an economic value to womens domestic
labour is a long-standing debate. The international womens
movement has continuously debated the question and reached
many important conclusions. It is now time for the larger
society to engage with the movements propositions seri-
ously. First, as a society we must learn to accept that there is
sheer drudgery involved in day-to-day household work. The
fact that such work is performed by a woman for her hus-
band and other family members in the name of care and
nurturing cannot be used to conceal that this is a thankless
job which the majority of women feel burdened by. Just
because some women do not have to enter the kitchen every
day since their maid does the needful, we cannot write-off
the helplessness with which the average woman walks to-
wards her kitchen hearth, every day without fail. Here, there
is no retirement age, no holiday, and definitely, no concept
of overtime.
Second, we must realise that the process whereby
womens domestic labour has been rendereduneconomic
activity , is a historical one. It was with the emergence of
industrial society and the resulting separation between the
home and the workplace that womens housework lost value
whereas mens labour outside the home fetched wages.
Third, as a society we must accept that while many are un-
comfortable with providing an economic value to womens
domestic labour, chores such as washing, cleaning, cooking,
child rearing, etc., are already assigned such a value by the
market when need be. After all, many middle-class homes
buy such services through the hiring of maids, paying for
playschool education, crche facilities, etc. Fourth, womens
domestic labour must be accounted for in the economy pre-
cisely because it is one of the contributing forces in the re-
production of labour power expended by this countrys work-
ing masses. In fact, because a womans domestic labour is
devalued by the economy, a mans wage can be kept low. For
example, if all families were to pay every day for services like
washing, cooking, cleaning, etc., because women of the house-
hold did not perform such duties, the breadwinners of each
family would need to be paid higher wages so that they can
afford to buy such services off the market.
The solution The solution The solution The solution The solution
This being the reality surrounding womens unpaid, do-
mestic labour, where does the actual solution lie? Does it lie
in redistributing limited family incomes between husband
and wife, or, in redistributing the national income so as to
enhance individual family incomes, and hence, the womans
share within the improved family consumption? Importantly,
while pressing for valuation of womens domestic labour, the
progressive womens movement has always argued that if
the value of unpaid housework is paid but does not add to or
increase the total household income, such remuneration
amounts to nothing. Hence, one of the most important con-
clusions reached on this question of unpaid domestic labour
is that the state should pay for it, especially by providing
women gainful employment, special funding, subsidised home
appliances, free health care, etc. In this way, women would
earn through an independent source of income and be freed
of an overt dependence on the family structure for their con-
sumption. There would also be a gradual undermining of the
sexual division of labour which has resulted in women being
tied to their homes and unable to do little else.
Of course, what has not won much attention so far is
the fact that the proposed legislation posits wages for house-
work rather than employment for women as a long-term so-
lution. Indeed, questions have been raised whether the pro-
posed legislation is implementable, but not whether it does
the needful. For example, will the government be able to put
in place the required administrative machinery? How exactly
is the value of womens household work to be calculated, or
simply put, how many bais will equal a wife? Will the num-
ber of family members she rears determine whether she is
entitled to greater compensation? And what of widowed
women who do not have a husbands salary to draw on?
Absolves the state Absolves the state Absolves the state Absolves the state Absolves the state
However, implementation is far from the real problem
with such legislation. Mechanisms can always be put in place
if administrative sincerity prevails. The real problem with the
Ministrys endeavour is the rationale by which it is driven. The
proposed legislation should be criticised because it absolves
the Indian state of the responsibility it owes to women who
contribute daily in sustaining the national economy. Indeed,
if the proposed legislation is formulated and implemented, it
will only result in undervaluing and underpaying womens
domestic labour.
To elucidate, if we actually sit down to calculate the
cost of all the different household chores a wife does for
free, the figure would easily touch amounts that in no way
can be compensated by a small percentage of the husbands
wages. Furthermore, with varied family incomes, such legis-
lation would result in women being remunerated differently
for the same kind and same amount of domestic work. In the
case of the average working class or lower-middle class fam-
ily where the total family income is anywhere between
Rs.2,000 to Rs.10,000 per month, such legislation would as-
sign women a pittance as an economic value for their back-
breaking housework. This pittance will not empower the
woman as the total family income remains the same. Without
a growth in the actual family income, neither will such fami-
lies be able to change their consumption pattern, nor will the
nature of household work change so as to enable women to
do other things instead of just labouring at home.
Clearly then, the issue at stake is how to minimise house-
work for women so that they too can step out of the home to
earn, to enhance family incomes and to have greater say in
family as well as public matters. Greater employment gen-
eration for women by the state, and widespread introduction
of facilities like crches at all workplaces, subsidised home
appliances, unhindered promotion post child birth/maternity
leave, etc. are the need of the hour. While direct employment
helps to create women who are financially independent, the
provision of the latter helps women to remain in the labour
market, despite starting a family. If the average woman is to
be freed of the yoke of household drudgery then it is evi-
dently the Indian state which has to pay by creating concrete
conditions for her greater economic participation outside the
home.
Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu
Means greater than ends Means greater than ends Means greater than ends Means greater than ends Means greater than ends
The Supreme Courts recent judgment overturning the
convictions of 11 persons mainly under the Terrorist and Dis-
ruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) cuts through the
clutter to arrive at the essence of justice-delivery in terror-
ism-related cases. There is undoubtedly an element of drama
in the judgment, which makes reference to a recent Hindi
film. Yet the line My name is Khan and Im not a terrorist
succinctly captures the trauma of a community that has
carried the cross of terrorism for far too long and whose
members feel defensive and answerable each time terror
strikes anywhere in the country. Nonetheless, laudable as the
judgments human rights approach is, its greater significance
lies in going beyond and taking an unequivocal position on
the principles of fair investigation and trial, which have some-
how come to be seen as dispensable in terrorism cases. In the
case under question, the prosecution had argued that disre-
garding a key requirement of TADA was a technical error
which, therefore, could not become a ground for setting aside
the convictions. Although the draconian TADA lapsed in 1995,
some safeguards were introduced in the law while it was in
force, and among them was the addition of a section which
made it mandatory for every FIR registered under the Act to
have prior permission from the District Superintendent of
Police.
The prosecution first tried to falsify evidence by pro-
ducing a copy of the DSPs permission. When the Court estab-
lished that no such permission existed, it argued that the
permission was a technical requirement that ought not to
have a bearing on the case. The judges rejected the argument
saying TADA was an extraordinarily harsh law that could not
be interpreted liberally. In the country of the Mahatma the
means are more important than the end, the judges said,
enunciating a truth that the police and the investigating agen-
cies have tended to overlook in their rush to solve terror
cases. Thin or fabricated evidence and shoddy investigation
do not necessarily help the cause of fighting terror. Far from
it, they allow the real terrorists to escape while tarnishing the
reputations of innocents. Case after case of arbitrary deten-
tions made on the flimsiest grounds or on trumped up charges,
have come to light recently via lower court judgments that
have expressed amazement at the state of terror prosecu-
tions in the country.
Disturbingly, police forces across India have tended
not to take the right lessons from this, seeing terror acquittals
as technical verdicts arising out of the difficulty in gathering
evidence, rather than as a sign that their investigative abilities
need serious and urgent improvement.
Courtesy-The Hindu
The feminisation of old age The feminisation of old age The feminisation of old age The feminisation of old age The feminisation of old age
According to the World Population Prospects: The 2010
Revision , the current youth bulge in the country is expected
to last till 2025, after which, the growth rate of the elderly is
likely to take over. It is imperative that the current needs of
the youth and the emerging needs of the elderly are addressed
simultaneously within the diverse demographic fabric of the
country. In 2009, there were 88 million elderly people in India.
By 2050, this figure is expected to soar over 320 million.
Between 2000 and 2050 the overall population of the country
is anticipated to grow by 60 per cent whereas population of
people of age 60 years and above would shoot by 360 per
cent. The ratio of the dependent population to that of the
working population is defined by the dependency ratio. In-
vestment in the elderly population is no longer a question of
choice.
By 2050, women over 60 years would exceed the num-
ber of elderly men by 18.4 million, which would result in a
unique characteristic of feminisation of the elderly popula-
tion in India as is being experienced in many provinces of
China. In fact, the two most populous nations will together
contribute to 38 per cent of the global elderly population.
Ageing differently Ageing differently Ageing differently Ageing differently Ageing differently
The predicament of elderly women is aggravated by a
life time of gender-based discrimination. The gendered na-
ture of ageing is such that universally, women tend to live
longer than men. In the advanced age of 80 years and above,
widowhood dominates the status of women with 71 per cent
of women and only 29 per cent of men having lost their
spouse. Social mores inhibit women from re-marrying, re-
sulting in an increased likelihood of women ending up
alone.The life of a widow is riddled with stringent moral codes,
with integral rights relinquished and liberties circumvented.
Social bias often results in unjust allocation of resources,
neglect, abuse, exploitation, gender-based violence, lack of
access to basic services and prevention of ownership of as-
sets. Ageing women are more likely to get excluded from
social security schemes due to lower literacy and awareness
levels.
Angst of ageing Angst of ageing Angst of ageing Angst of ageing Angst of ageing
While narratives may vary, the stories of ageing women
are those of loss and loneliness. During my interactions with
residents of an old-age home it was evident that many are
forced to either live in a house uncared for or leave their
homes with nowhere to go to. Consumed by isolation, Radha
Sanyal{+*}confided that she decided to walk out with dignity
before her family could actually propose the same. But living
in temple premises, public parks and pavements deprives
her of the dignity that she wrestled to preserve in the first
place.
Although the degree of isolation may vary, with
urbanisation and nuclear families on the rise, elderly women
living in metropolitan cities are more likely to feel socially
alienated than their rural counterparts. Challenges of health
security get aggravated by the fact that elderly women often
tend to underplay their ailments. Pre-occupation with nursing
an ailing spouse, lack of awareness, nutritional deficiencies
or simply neglect are some of the reasons that often take an
adverse toll on their health.
While investing for old age is important it is equally
critical to safeguard ownership of assets. Religious dogmas
on liberation serve to allay the brutal contours of existence.
That explains why widowed destitute elderly women seek
refuge at pilgrim spots. The promise of salvation after death
helps them in embracing the hardship that dominates the last
years of their lives.
Longevity dividend Longevity dividend Longevity dividend Longevity dividend Longevity dividend
Just as all things end, so would the effects of Indias
youth dividend. When people live longer, it offers society a
chance to reap a longevity dividend. This implies that the
elderly continue to contribute significantly for an unprec-
edented period of time.
In order to address this unprecedented demographic
shift it is necessary to to understanding the challenges of an
ageing population. A joint study by the United Nations Popu-
lation Fund and Helpage International called Global Report
on Ageing seeks to fill the knowledge gap. It is to be released
nationwide on October 1, 2012, on the International Day for
Older People.
It has been a decade since the adoption of the Madrid
International Plan of Action on Ageing (Mipaa). Its bold agenda
focused on three priority areas: older persons and develop-
ment; advancing health and well-being into old age; and en-
suring enabling and supportive environments.
As a signatory to Mipaa, India has the responsibility to
formulate and implement public policy on population age-
ing. Issues of poverty, migration, urbanisation, ruralisation
and feminisation compound the complexity of this emerging
phenomenon. Public policy must respond to this bourgeoning
need and mainstream action into developmental planning.
Gender and social concerns of elderly, particularly elderly
women, must be integrated at the policy level. The elderly,
especially women, should be represented in decision mak-
ing. Benefits of social schemes must percolate to the
grassroots. Increasing social/widow pension and its
universalisation is critical for expanding the extent and reach
of benefits. Renewed efforts should be made for raising wide-
spread awareness and access to social security schemes such
as National Old Age Pension and Widow Pension Scheme.
Provisions in terms of special incentives for elderly women,
disabled, widowed should also be considered.
Innumerable reasons add up to make ageing women in
India one of the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Their social and health security can no longer be compro-
mised. In a country of ageing women, India must step up to
the challenge to offer more than just the solace of promises.
No room for haste No room for haste No room for haste No room for haste No room for haste
The past year has witnessed unprecedented official ef-
forts to rein in the growing tuberculosis epidemic. In 2011
alone, 1.2 million new TB cases were reported while 60,000
patients already inflicted died. In reality, the real incidence,
most likely was much higher the number of new cases
diagnosed and treated by private practitioners has not been
factored in. It is to change this that TB was made a notifiable
disease in May this year. The government had to bite the
bullet as effective interventions can be taken only if a system
is in place to capture the true incidence and prevalence of the
disease, including the drug-resistant cases. Herein lies the
biggest challenge ensuring every new case diagnosed by
the private health sector is accounted for. This can be achieved
only if the government engages with the private sector by
first taking it into confidence. The draft versions of the Joint
Monitoring Mission (JMM) and the National Strategic Plan for
TB Control, 2012-2017 have made strong recommendations
to engage the private health sector to stem the spread of TB.
The government, which very recently sent out guidelines on
notification, requires every private health institution, includ-
ing laboratories, to provide the personal details of a patient
name, address, mobile number and unique identification
number (Aadhar or driving licence). The objective is to pro-
vide a support system to patients seeking private healthcare
in terms of treatment initiation, adherence, follow-up and
default retrieval tasks that are beyond the private sectors
capacity.
The goal is laudable but it is quite unlikely that the TB
Control programme can achieve all of its highly ambitious
objectives in the short term. The most significant obstacle
will be the reluctance of patients and some doctors to part
with personal data. This despite the fact that such sharing is
mandatory in the U.S. and many other developed countries,
and that the Medical Council of Indias code of ethics war-
rants such sharing. Hence, consensus and confidence-build-
ing measures have to be undertaken on a massive scale to
bring private healthcare providers on board and make them
open to the idea of sharing details. According to the draft
JMM report, about one million TB cases per year are not
reported. While the National Rural Health Mission has found
some innovative ways of increasing manpower, urban areas
lack the infrastructure to handle additional cases. This needs
fixing. Most importantly, the TB control programme, which
uses the interrupted regimen, has to show flexibility and al-
low the private sector to continue following the WHO recom-
mended daily fixed-dose regimen.
Paralysis is not an option Paralysis is not an option Paralysis is not an option Paralysis is not an option Paralysis is not an option
Deferring a decision on a contentious issue can be a
short-term tactic, but never a long-term strategy. If the Cen-
tre and the Andhra Pradesh government were looking for
further proof of popular support for a separate State of
Telangana in the region, it came in the form of the Sagara
Haaram rally in Hyderabad on Sunday. As tens of thousands
gathered to demand statehood for Telangana, the Congress
government reacted as if it were another law and order chal-
lenge, nothing more than an evenings headache for the po-
lice. Quite astonishingly, even years after the revival of the
Telangana struggle, and evidence of growing support for
statehood demonstrated through by-elections and mass agi-
tations, the Congress and the governments it heads at the
Centre and in the State are still hoping they can eventually
wear down the movement by their inaction. The Congress
tactic is, of course, engendered by the fear that any decision
either for or against Telangana could set off violent reactions,
either in Telangana or in Coastal Andhra, where large sections
of the people are opposed to any division of the State. But
inaction does not guarantee peace; indeed, there is no alter-
native to dealing with this political issue head-on. Instead of
trying to find a consensus on the basis of the B.N. Srikrishna
Committee report, which offered various viable options for
it to consider, the government was happy doing nothing at
all. However, there is a price to pay for being reactive and
defensive. Those on the streets are now the agenda-setters,
with the government constantly in crisis-aversion mode.
The Sagara Haaram must be seen as another opportu-
nity to engage with the advocates of Telangana and explore
the way to a solution on the basis of a structured consensus-
building process started with the help of the Centre. But both
sides need to give up their maximalist positions. For instance,
questions relating to the post-bifurcation status of Hyderabad
which is within the Telangana region but is a cosmopolitan
city with links to the whole of undivided Andhra Pradesh
will have to be sorted out through broad-based consulta-
tions. What the Centre and the AP government ought not to
do is equally clear: make a solution part of a political deal
between the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Irre-
spective of whether the offer of TRS president K.
Chandrasekhara Rao to merge his party with the Congress in
the event of statehood being granted to Telangana is a politi-
cal ploy or not, the dangers in such a barter deal are self-
evident. Political exigencies and electoral compulsions should
not be allowed to decide the future of Andhra Pradesh.
Lets not overrate foreign investment Lets not overrate foreign investment Lets not overrate foreign investment Lets not overrate foreign investment Lets not overrate foreign investment
With the intention of signalling a strong commitment to
reforms, the UPA government has announced a hike in the
price of diesel and liberalisation of foreign direct investment
(FDI) in multi-brand retail, justifying the measures as growth-
enhancing and inflation-dampening. They have been termed
bold by Indias corporate sector and burdensome by an Op-
position united across the ideological spectrum. In his speech
to the nation on September 20, the Prime Minister stated that
the governments move is motivated by concern for the ordi-
nary Indian. Given the conflicting responses, there is room
here for analysis.
Strengthen infrastructure Strengthen infrastructure Strengthen infrastructure Strengthen infrastructure Strengthen infrastructure
The interesting thing about public sector pricing, in this
case of diesel, is that keeping prices steady as input costs rise
would be as political in content as raising them is. As stated
in an editorial in this newspaper some days ago, the govern-
ment need not have waited so long to raise the price. It would
seem that the government had no intention of doing so while
Parliament was in session. Be that as it may, there is a strong
case for eliminating the subsidy on all fossil fuels and trans-
ferring the saving thus made into public infrastructure. Apart
from the symbolism of soaking the SUV-driving rich, the build-
ing and maintenance of public infrastructure are more likely
to help the poor presumably the PMs aam aadmi than
the current regime of subsidies. The creation of infrastructure
employs the poor directly as it is they who build it. Secondly,
the provision of the producer services afforded by the infra-
structure sustains private economic activity which generates
employment. The idea that the poor would benefit more
from public investment than the present subsidy regime, de-
scribed by some as welfare state for the rich, has not really
been sufficiently debated. For Indias political class, subsi-
dies are the easiest path to being seen as benefactors while
being relieved of the task of managing the process of build-
ing and maintaining infrastructure, arguably a non-negotiable
aspect of governance in a democracy. So, even a small hike
in the price of diesel can be the beginning of a realignment of
government expenditure from consumption subsidies to in-
vestment in infrastructure, and the poor may be expected to
gain from this. Finally, the gains from macroeconomic stabil-
ity cannot be legitimately ignored when evaluating the pros-
pects for the poor. Macroeconomic instability spares no-
body, and Indias current account deficit by now exceeds the
figure for 1991. Fuel subsidies have enormous consequences
for the balance of payments, as 80 per cent of our oil con-
sumption is imported.
When it comes to FDI in retail, the beneficial impact on
the aam aadmi is altogether less obvious than in the case of
lowering the diesel subsidy. What FDI in this sector may be
expected to do is to take the shopping experience in India to
the next level. Surely, cavernous supermarkets make it easier
to shop for those with deeper pockets. Precisely because the
supplier caters to this cohort the quality of the groceries may
be expected to rise. In fact, we have already seen this hap-
pening, even without FDI, with organised retail spreading in
India. But those on a daily wage and no ready cash are un-
likely to patronise these suburban behemoths. They may be
expected to prop up the kirana with its infinite capacity for
apportioning their stuff to suit the customers purse and will-
ingness to extend her credit. So the Opposition may well be
crying wolf over the imminent disappearance of the corner
store.
But the governments claim of a win-win with higher
prices for farmers and lower prices for customers with the
advent of FDI may be somewhat exaggerated. For precisely
because the large retailer must cut through the supply chain
to deliver this outcome, there would be some displacement
in the middle. The government counters this reasoning by
pointing to investment at the backend, in cold storage and
such. This is possible of course, but we would want to wait
and see the full combined effect once all effects have worked
their way through the economy. Some part of the corner-
store complex will survive purely because there are too many
poor people in this country yet, generating a substantial de-
mand for low quality food with lower mark-ups. But the po-
sition that a policy is only as good as its direct impact on
employment is surely untenable. To reject outright a move on
the grounds that it does not directly put the poor to work
would be folly. Productivity growth is often first employ-
ment displacing but it also lowers prices and raises demand.
The point is that it not only raises demand for the good in
question but for all other goods in the economy, as real in-
come is higher following the rise in productivity. Overall
employment in the economy may be expected to expand.
Little to offer Little to offer Little to offer Little to offer Little to offer
It is when it comes to inflation though that the present
round of announcements by the government has little or noth-
ing to offer. The suggestion, first made when the proposal
was mooted some months ago, that FDI in retail would
dampen inflation is difficult to fathom. The source of the
current inflation is a veritable excess demand for vegetables
and a manufactured excess demand for the principal
foodgrains. The latter stems from the governments procure-
ment and storage policy. By mopping up almost the entire
marketed surplus of grain as it comes into the wholesale
markets and then allowing it to rot by unaccountable stock
management, the Government of India abets hunger in the
name of supporting the farmer. The entire political class is
united in not calling attention to this travesty.
The RBIs argument that the fiscal deficit is the source
of the inflation may deflect attention from its own incapacity
in the present context, but does not do much to enhance our
understanding of policy options. The Central governments
fiscal deficit is lower today than it was when the present bout
of inflation commenced about two years ago. Thus the hike
in the price of diesel would have to be justified on counts
other than its presumed impact on inflation via a lower fiscal
deficit. The current inflation is rooted less in macroeconomic
imbalances than in structural ones emanating, as explained
above, in the market for food. As a corollary, macroeco-
nomic intervention via fiscal or monetary policy can have
only a limited impact. As an aside, they can only compress
output, a sequence of events playing out in the guise of a
slowing manufacturing sector. It is by now clear that only
microeconomic policy intervention can make a difference to
the food situation and thus inflation. In India the cost of pro-
ducing food is high in relation to per capita income. FDI in
retail can make no difference here. It can at best only deliver
more efficiently what has been produced at cost. The gov-
ernment can hardly be accused of not knowing of the impor-
tance of micro interventions.
For instance, it has been observed that vast sums of
money spent by the government on irrigation were not show-
ing up as increase in irrigated area. This was at least five years
ago. Now there are reports of an irrigation scam involving Rs
20, 000 crore in Maharashtra, a State for all purposes gov-
erned by the UPA. It is quite extraordinary that the current
food-price led inflation has been in existence for over two
years now and the government has not been able to come up
with a single measure addressing it, even if its impact may be
felt only in the medium term. When it is not actually stoking
inflation by raising the procurement price of grain it comes
up with window dressing in the form of FDI in retail.
It would be appropriate to conclude by asking whether
the government makes too much of foreign investment, de-
sirable as it is. With respect to its heroic recent announce-
ment, there is the issue of the suppliers response. Walmarts
Asia President Scott Price is reported to have already stated
we are not in any rush to enter India. But there is a query
more general than the likely response of foreign investors to
the overtures being made presently. In the two decades since
1991, India has not attracted much FDI, giving us an idea of
what may be expected in a future with or without FDI in retail.
Some perspective is to be had from looking at the Chinese
experience. For an idea of the relative roles of FDI and do-
mestic investment in generating growth in that country, note
that FDI as a share on the domestic product had peaked in
1993. It was only 6 per cent even then, and has declined
progressively since to a figure less than half that. This sug-
gests that Chinas double-digit growth cannot be explained
by alluding to the FDI it attracts. Is our own government
overrating the power of foreign investment to transform
Indias economy?
Historian in the Marxist tradition with a Historian in the Marxist tradition with a Historian in the Marxist tradition with a Historian in the Marxist tradition with a Historian in the Marxist tradition with a
global reach global reach global reach global reach global reach
If Eric Hobsbawm (June 9, 1917 October 1, 2012) had
died 25 years ago, the obituaries would have described him
as Britains most distinguished Marxist historian and would
have left it more or less there. Yet by the time of his death at
the age of 95, Hobsbawm had achieved a unique position in
the countrys intellectual life. In his later years Hobsbawm
became arguably Britains most respected historian of any
kind, recognised if not endorsed on the right as well as the
left, and one of a tiny handful of historians of any era to enjoy
genuine national and world renown. Unlike some others,
Hobsbawm achieved this wider recognition without in any
major way revolting against either Marxism or Marx. In his
94th year he published How to Change the World , a vigor-
ous defence of Marxs continuing relevance in the aftermath
of the banking collapse of 2008-10. What is more, he achieved
his culminating reputation at a time when the socialist ideas
and projects that animated so much of his writing for well
over half a century were in historic disarray, and worse, as he
himself was always unflinchingly aware.
In a profession notorious for microscopic preoccupa-
tions, few historians have ever commanded such a wide field
in such detail or with such authority. To the last, Hobsbawm
considered himself to be essentially a 19th-century historian,
but his sense of that and other centuries was both
unprecedentedly broad and unusually cosmopolitan.
The sheer scope of his interest in the past, and his ex-
ceptional command of what he knew, continued to humble
those who talked to him and those who read him, most of all
in the four-volume Age of ... series in which he distilled the
history of the capitalist world from 1789 to 1991. Hobsbawms
capacity to store and retrieve detail has now reached a scale
normally approached only by large archives with big staffs,
wrote Neal Ascherson. Both in his knowledge of historic de-
tail and in his extraordinary powers of synthesis, so well dis-
played in that four-volume project, he was unrivalled.
Reading Marx Reading Marx Reading Marx Reading Marx Reading Marx
Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, a good place for a
historian of empire, in 1917, a good year for a communist. He
was second-generation British, the grandson of a Polish Jew
and cabinet-maker who came to London in the 1870s. Eight
children, who included Leopold, Erics father, were born in
England and all took British citizenship at birth (Hobsbawms
Uncle Harry in due course became the first Labour mayor of
Paddington).
But Eric was British of no ordinary background. An-
other uncle, Sidney, went to Egypt before the First World War
and found a job there in a shipping office for Leopold. There,
in 1914, Leopold Hobsbawm met Nelly Gruen, a young
Viennese from a middle-class family who had been given a
trip to Egypt as a prize for completing her school studies. The
two got engaged, but war broke out and they were sepa-
rated. The couple eventually married in Switzerland in 1916,
returning to Egypt for the birth of Eric, their first child, in June
1917.
Every historian has his or her lifetime, a private perch
from which to survey the world, he said in his 1993 Creighton
lecture, one of several occasions in his later years when he
attempted to relate his own lifetime to his own writing. My
own perch is constructed, among other materials, of a child-
hood in the Vienna of the 1920s, the years of Hitlers rise in
Berlin, which determined my politics and my interest in his-
tory, and the England, and especially the Cambridge of the
1930s, which confirmed both.
In 1919, the young family returned to settle in Vienna,
where Eric went to elementary school, a period he later re-
called in a 1995 television documentary which featured pic-
tures of a recognisably skinny young Viennese Hobsbawm in
shorts and knee socks. Politics made their impact around this
time. Erics first political memory was in Vienna in 1927, when
workers burned down the Palace of Justice. The first political
conversation that he could recall took place in an Alpine
sanatorium in these years, too. Two motherly Jewish women
were discussing Leon Trotsky. Say what you like, said one
to the other, but hes a Jewish boy called Bronstein. In 1929,
his father died suddenly of a heart attack. Two years later his
mother died of TB. Eric was 14, and his Uncle Sidney took
charge once more, taking Eric and his sister Nancy to live in
Berlin. As a teenager in Weimar Republic Berlin, Hobsbawm
inescapably became politicised. He read Marx for the first
time, and became a communist.
Hobsbawm could always remember the winters day in
January 1933 when, emerging from the Halensee S-Bahn sta-
tion on his way home from his school, the celebrated Prinz
Heinrich Gymnasium, he saw a newspaper headline announc-
ing Hitlers election as chancellor. Around this time he joined
the Socialist Schoolboys, which he described as de facto
part of the communist movement and sold its
publication, Schulkampf (School Struggle). He kept the
organisations duplicator under his bed and, if his later facil-
ity for writing was any guide, probably wrote most of the
articles too. The family remained in Berlin until 1933, when
Sidney Hobsbawm was posted by his employers to live in
England.
The gangly teenage boy who settled with his sister in
Edgware in 1934 described himself later as completely con-
tinental and German speaking. School, though, was not a
problem because the English education system was way
behind the German. A cousin in Balham introduced him to
jazz for the first time, the unanswerable sound, he called it.
The moment of conversion, he wrote some 60 years later,
was when he first heard the Duke Ellington band at its most
imperial. Never satisfied to be anything less than the master
of anything that absorbed him, Hobsbawm spent a period in
the 1950s as jazz critic of the New Statesman , and pub-
lished a Penguin Special, The Jazz Scene , on the subject in
1959 under the pen-name Francis Newton (many years later it
was reissued with Hobsbawm identified as the author).
Learning to speak English properly for the first time,
Eric became a pupil at Marylebone grammar school and in
1936 he won a scholarship to Kings College, Cambridge, where
at one point he had rooms on a staircase on which his only
two neighbours were A.E. Housman and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
It was at this time that a saying became common among his
Cambridge communist friends: Is there anything that
Hobsbawm doesnt know? He became a member of the
legendary Cambridge Apostles. All of us thought that the
crisis of the 1930s was the final crisis of capitalism, he wrote
40 years later. But, he added, It was not. When war broke
out, Hobsbawm volunteered, as many communists did, for
intelligence work. But his politics, which were never a secret,
led to rejection. Instead he became an improbable sapper in
560 Field Company, which he later described as a very work-
ing-class unit trying to build some patently inadequate de-
fences against invasion on the coasts of East Anglia. This,
too, was a formative experience for the often aloof young
intellectual prodigy. There was something sublime about
them and about Britain at that time, he wrote. That wartime
experience converted me to the British working class. They
were not very clever, except for the Scots and Welsh, but
they were very, very good people.
Hobsbawm married his first wife, Muriel Seaman, in
1943. After the war, returning to Cambridge, Hobsbawm made
another choice, abandoning a planned doctorate on north
African agrarian reform in favour of research on the Fabians.
It was a move which opened the door to both a lifetime of
study of the 19th century and an equally long-lasting preoc-
cupation with the problems of the left. In 1947, he got his first
tenured job, as a history lecturer at Birkbeck College, Lon-
don, where he was to remain for much of his teaching life.
With the onset of the Cold War, a very British academic
McCarthyism meant that the Cambridge lectureship which
Hobsbawm always coveted never materialised. He shuttled
between Cambridge and London, one of the principal
organisers and driving forces of the Communist Party Histori-
ans Group, a glittering radical academy which brought to-
gether some of the most prominent historians of the post-
war era. Its members also included Christopher Hill, Rodney
Hilton, A.L. Morton, E.P. Thompson, John Saville and, later,
Raphael Samuel. Whatever else it achieved, the CP Historians
Group, about which Hobsbawm wrote an authoritative essay
in 1978, certainly provided a nucleus for many of his first
steps as a major historical writer.
First book First book First book First book First book
Hobsbawms first book, an edited collection of docu-
ments from the Fabian era, Labours Turning Point, published
in 1948, belongs firmly to this CP-dominated era, as does his
engagement in the once celebrated standard of living de-
bate about the economic consequences of the early indus-
trial revolution, in which he and R.M. Hartwell traded argu-
ments in successive numbers of the Economic History Re-
view . The foundation of the Past and Present journal, now
the most lasting, if fully independent, legacy of the Historians
Group, also belongs to this period.
Hobsbawm was never to leave the Communist party
and always thought of himself as part of an international
communist movement. For many, this remained the insuper-
able obstacle to an embrace of his writing. Yet he always
remained very much a licensed freethinker within the partys
ranks. Over Hungary in 1956, an event which split the CP and
drove many intellectuals out of the party, he was a voice of
protest who nevertheless remained.
Yet, as with his contemporary, Christopher Hill, who
left the CP at this time, the political trauma of 1956 and the
start of a lastingly happy second marriage combined in some
way to trigger a sustained and fruitful period of historical
writing which was to establish fame and reputation. In 1959,
he published his first major work, Primitive Rebels , a strik-
ingly original account, particularly for those times, of south-
ern European rural secret societies and millenarian cultures
(he was still writing about the subject as recently as 2011). He
returned to these themes again a decade later, in Captain
Swing , a detailed study of rural protest in early 19th-century
England co-authored with George Rude, andBandits , a more
wide-ranging attempt at synthesis. These works are remind-
ers that Hobsbawm was both a bridge between European
and British historiography and a forerunner of the notable
rise of the study of social history in post-1968 Britain. By this
time, though, Hobsbawm had already published the first of
the works on which both his popular and academic reputa-
tions still rest. A collection of some of his most important
essays, Labouring Men , appeared in 1964 (a second
collection, Worlds of Labour , was to follow 20 years later).
But it was Industry and Empire (1968), a compelling sum-
mation of much of Hobsbawms work on Britain and the
industrial revolution, which achieved the highest esteem. For
more than 30 years, it has rarely been out of print.
The Age of series
Even more influential in the long term was the Age
of series, which he began with The Age of Revolution: 1789-
1848 , first published in 1962. This was followed in 1975
by The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 and in 1987 by The Age of
Empire: 1875-1914 . A fourth volume, The Age of Extremes:
1914-91 , more quirky and speculative but in some respects
the most remarkable and admirable of all, extended the se-
quence in 1994.
The four volumes embodied all of Hobsbawms best
qualities, the sweep combined with the telling anecdote and
statistical grasp, the attention to the nuance and significance
of events and words, and above all, perhaps, the unrivalled
powers of synthesis (nowhere better displayed than in a clas-
sic summary of mid-19th century capitalism on the very first
page of the second volume). The books were not conceived
as a tetralogy, but as they appeared, they acquired individual
and cumulative classic status. They were an example,
Hobsbawm wrote, of what the French call haute
vulgarisation (he did not mean this self-deprecatingly), and
they became, in the words of one reviewer, part of the men-
tal furniture of educated Englishmen.
Hobsbawms first marriage had collapsed in 1951. Dur-
ing the 1950s, he had another relationship which resulted in
the birth of his first son, Joshua Benathan, but the boys mother
did not want to marry. In 1962, he married again, this time to
Marlene Schwarz, of Austrian descent. They moved to
Hampstead, and bought a small second home in Wales. They
had two children, Andrew and Julia.
In the 1970s, Hobsbawms widening fame as a historian
was accompanied by a growing reputation as a writer about
his own times. Though he had a historians respect for the
Communist partys centralist discipline, Hobsbawms intel-
lectual eminence gave him an independence which won the
respect of communisms toughest critics, such as Isaiah Ber-
lin. It also ensured him the considerable accolade that not
one of Hobsbawms books was ever published in the Soviet
Union. Thus armed and protected, Hobsbawm ranged fear-
lessly across the condition of the left, mostly in the pages of
the CPs monthlyMarxism Today , the increasingly hetero-
dox publication of which he became the house deity.
His conversations with the Italian communist, and now
state president, Giorgio Napolitano date from these years,
and were published as The Italian Road to Socialism . But
his most influential political writings centred on his increas-
ing certainty that the European labour movement had ceased
to be capable of bearing the transformational role assigned
to it by earlier Marxists. These uncompromisingly revisionist
articles were collected under the general heading The For-
ward March of Labour Halted .
By 1983, when Neil Kinnock became the leader of the
Labour party at the depth of its electoral fortunes,
Hobsbawms influence had begun to extend far beyond the
CP and deep into Labour itself. Kinnock publicly acknowl-
edged his debt to Hobsbawm and allowed himself to be
interviewed by the man he described as my favourite Marx-
ist. Though he strongly disapproved of much of what later
took shape as New Labour, which he saw, among other
things, as historically cowardly, Hobsbawm was without ques-
tion the single most influential intellectual forerunner of
Labours increasingly iconoclastic 1990s revisionism.
His status was underlined in 1998, when Tony Blair made
him a Companion of Honour, a few months after Hobsbawm
celebrated his 80th birthday. In its citation, Downing Street
said Hobsbawm continued to publish works that address
problems in history and politics that have re-emerged to
disturb the complacency of Europe.
Later years Later years Later years Later years Later years
In his later years, Hobsbawm enjoyed widespread repu-
tation and respect. His 80th and 90th birthday celebrations
were attended by a Whos Who of left wing and liberal intel-
lectual Britain. Throughout the late years, he continued to
publish volumes of essays, including On History (1997)
and Uncommon People (1998), works in which Dizzy
Gillespie and Salvatore Giuliano sat naturally side by side in
the index as testimony to the range of Hobsbawms abiding
curiosity. A highly successful autobiography,Interesting
Times , followed in 2002, and Globalisation, Democracy and
Terrorism in 2007.
More famous in his extreme old age than probably at
any other period of his life, he broadcast regularly, lectured
widely and was a regular performer at the Hay literary festi-
val, of which he became president at the age of 93, following
the death of Lord Bingham of Cornhill. A fall in late 2010
severely reduced his mobility, but his intellect and his will-
power remained unvanquished, as did his social and cultural
life, thanks to Marlenes efforts, love and cooking.
That his writings continued to command such audiences
at a time when his politics were in some ways so eclipsed
was the kind of disjunction which exasperated right-wingers,
but it was a paradox on which the subtle judgment of this
least complacent of intellects feasted. In his later years, he
liked to quote E.M. Forster that he was always standing at a
slight angle to the universe. Whether the remark says more
about Hobsbawm or about the universe was something that
he enjoyed disputing, confident in the knowledge that it was
in some senses a lesson for them both.
Pouring oil over troubled borders Pouring oil over troubled borders Pouring oil over troubled borders Pouring oil over troubled borders Pouring oil over troubled borders
On a cloudy Sunday morning this September, a gaggle
of reporters and photographers walked past a large, stuffed
lion to sit amid a collection of bone china and assorted cu-
rios in a waiting room of the Presidential Palace in the Ethio-
pian capital of Addis Ababa.
Somewhere in the vast palace, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-
Bashir, the President of Sudan, was in conversation with
Ethiopias Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, discussing,
no doubt, the imminent presidential summit with Salva Kiir
Mayardit, the leader of South Sudan.
These are difficult times for the two Sudans. Last year,
when South Sudan seceded from its northern neighbour after
decades of conflict, it did so with two-thirds of the regions
oil, but no oil processing or transport facilities, and barely
100 km of asphalt road. Sudan, by contrast, was bereft of its
principal source of foreign exchange, and saddled with $40
billion of outstanding external debt.
Yet the summit was as much a test of the facilitators as
of the participants. Hailemariam Desalegn was presiding over
his first international summit after taking office after the death
of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia for 21
years and oversaw a muscular and interventionist foreign
policy. Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki, former South African Presi-
dent and pan-African statesman, was determined to illus-
trate that the African Union could contain the fallout of the
division of Sudan, till recently the continents biggest coun-
try, without external supervision.
Oil deal Oil deal Oil deal Oil deal Oil deal
The summit was expected to address a number of post-
secession issues, most importantly an oil-agreement that
would give South Sudan access to northern ports and pro-
cessing plants. In January this year, a dispute over transit fees
had lead to the suspension of all oil production in the South
and, as every reporter in the palace had noted, denied South
Sudan 98 per cent of its state revenues. Whats the remaining
two per cent? asked a wondering hack as the crowd rushed
to observe Mr. Bashir, brandishing an elegant walking stick
inlaid with blue enamel, make his way out of the palace and
into an armoured SUV bound for the Sheraton Hotel. The
pattern continued for the next four days as reporters watched
the Presidents get into and out of cars, conference rooms and
hotel elevators even as spokespersons insisted that a deal
was likely to be concluded tomorrow. The crucial oil deal
had been hammered out in August, granting South Sudan the
right to process and transport the oil for between $11 and $9
a barrel depending on the pipeline in use; but the Presidents
struggled to find a consensus on the exact contours of a safe
demilitarised zone between the two armies or the status of
Abyei, an oil-bearing territory claimed by a settled commu-
nity allied to the south and itinerant Arab pastoralists from
the North.
Most evenings, a pianist in the Sheraton lobby played
darkly appropriate tunes like Frank Sinatras My Way and
the Casablanca classic, As Time Goes By, as delegates and
negotiators swapped desultory gossip; in the outdoor Office
Bar, an American diplomat shuffled awkwardly as a singer
with a peroxide-blonde comb-over sang Adeles breakout
hit, Rolling In the Deep, the lyrics ominous for anyone strik-
ing a deal on behalf of a country emerging from war Fi-
nally I can see you crystal clear./Go ahead and sell me out and
Ill lay your ship bare.
And where are you from? a South Sudanese official
asked this correspondent, who replied that his family settled
in New Delhi after the Partition in 1947. Ah, the British, he
replied sagely, Always, they cause the problems. The prob-
lem, in this instance, being the opposite of the subcontinental
experience; in Sudan, the ethnically diverse south and pre-
dominantly Arab north were united into one political and
administrative unit with catastrophic results.
Test for Africa Test for Africa Test for Africa Test for Africa Test for Africa
When the press was finally ushered into the high-ceiling
ballroom on the fifth day, the agreements signed offered an
insight into the sheer complexity involved in separating two
nations. When I arrived here on the 22nd of September, said
President Kiir in his address, I thought I would then proceed
to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. I came to be
surprised that things were really very difficult.
Apart from the expected deal on oil and a demilitarised
zone, the countries hammered out procedures to finalise in-
ternational boundaries, to interconvert currencies, to share
historical and government archives, preserve cultural heri-
tage sites, and pay pensions and retirement benefits to gov-
ernment workers who served one government only to find it
replaced by another.
The South also agreed to pay the North $3.028 billion as
a one-time transitional financial agreement and the two coun-
tries agreed to jointly lobby for a reduction in Sudans $40 bn
external debt, failing which the two countries will resume
negotiations to agree on how best to apportion the sum.
Perhaps the most heartening agreement, for a region
destroyed by civil war, is the Cooperation Agreement that
commits both states to resolving all outstanding issues
through peaceful negotiations; yet, diplomats suggested, both
sides would first have to overcome half a century of mistrust.
In his closing comments, Mr. Mbeki spelt out the stakes
of the past week of negotiations. These two countries are
very critical to the future of our continent, he said, If they
fail, the continent will fail and if they succeed, Africa will
succeed. Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu Courtesy-The Hindu
Understanding the obligations of ruling Understanding the obligations of ruling Understanding the obligations of ruling Understanding the obligations of ruling Understanding the obligations of ruling
India India India India India
The year was 2002. Two days after bloody riots erupted
in Gujarat, I got a call late in the evening from an Ahmedabad-
based officer of the Indian Police Service. The policeman
simply said: Sir, I am embarrassed to make this call. I am
told that a local BJP legislator in Mehsana district is planning
to undertake a massacre of Muslims tonight. And I am
ashamed that there is no one here who will listen. The police
officer gave me the name of the village and taluka where the
BJP leader had invited the village for a feast before the mob
could be worked up to march on to a nearby village with a
large concentration of Muslims.
Overwhelmed by the enormity of the imminent crime, I
rang up my friend Brajesh Mishra. Fortuitously, Mishra picked
up his mobile. I simply narrated to him what I had been told
from Ahmedabad. He heard me out, noting down the sketchy
details, and said: Let me see. Next morning I got another
call from the police officer, who was obviously relieved and
said: Sir, I do not know what you did or to whom you talked;
within two hours, an army posse reached the spot, rowdies
were made to stay put, and their bloody plans sabotaged.
Over 100 lives were saved. Thank you.
A few days later, when I went over to the Prime Ministers
Office to have my weekly tea with Mishra, I thanked him
profusely. With becoming dignity and gravitas he observed:
Those of us who have the good fortune to work in this office
for the Prime Minister of India can never become indifferent
to the obligation of social harmony.
Golden principle Golden principle Golden principle Golden principle Golden principle
Suddenly it was clear that the man who wore two hats
the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and National Se-
curity Adviser was laying down the golden principle for
administering India. The state can never abandon its neutral-
ity nor become ambivalent about social harmony. In that
moment, Brajesh Mishra revealed himself to be a keen stu-
dent of P.N. Haksar, another practitioner of enlightened state-
craft who served another Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, with
great distinction.
Haksar had presciently spelled out a vital link between
internal cohesion and our national security: Secularism or its
failure affects vitally social cohesion in our society, without
which we cannot discuss our security. The fundamental basis
for ensuring security of any state is its inner unity, cohesion
and coherence of the society. A society which is torn be-
tween conflicting religions is bound to be an easy prey to
internal forces of disintegration and external forces of desta-
bilization. Although Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata
Partys mascot, had managed to notch up an impressive vic-
tory in the 2002 Gujarat election by positing a Mian Musharraf-
Madarsas-Muslims linkage, Brajesh Mishra (as well as his boss,
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) was profoundly unhappy.
It was clear to him that if the BJP had any long-term hopes of
ruling the country, surely the Modi prescriptions and slogans
were totally unhelpful. Those were the heady days of the
post-9/11 war on terror. Indian statesmanship demanded that
the polity be spared the debilitating polarisation of a civil
war.
Mishra was convinced that only a Centre able to prac-
tise secular values and respect our countrys plural traditions
could conduct superior diplomacy and pursue a robust strat-
egy, especially vis--vis Pakistan. And, he was equally con-
vinced that an amicable solution to the Kashmir problem
could be attempted only from a higher secular moral ground.
The political discourse would have to be detoxed of its
Gujarat-centric delinquencies.
It is possible to argue that it was only after the Gujarat
carnage that the Vajpayee-Mishra duo embarked on seeking
some kind of reconciliation with Pakistan, an effort that cul-
minated in January 2004 in Islamabad. Mishra was painfully
aware that the Advani-Modi faction had so precipitously
damaged the social fabric throughout the country that our
national security had become vulnerable. Sensible statecraft
demanded engagement with Pakistan.
The second principle that Mishra believed in was that
those who were fortunate enough to get the privilege of gov-
erning or hope to govern this country do not have the
luxury of pettiness. History is witness that whenever a Prime
Minister allowed his pique to get the better of sane impulses,
the outcome has been a morally and politically inferior re-
sponse. On a number of occasions he would hint how Prime
Minister Vajpayee was under pressure from the NDA hot-
heads to use the states coercive instruments against political
rivals; and, how he was able to help the Prime Minister ward
off the sangh parivars efforts at dirty tricks. He once pro-
nounced: A Prime Minister of India has an obligation to de-
cency and decorum.
Like Haksar, Mishra was a great believer in centralisation
of resources and power in pursuit of national ambitions and
purpose. Just as Haksar helped Indira Gandhi accumulate
power of oversight and co-ordination in the Prime Ministers
Office, Mishra helped Vajpayee restore the aura and author-
ity of the PMO. Though Mr. Vajpayees circumstances were
vastly different from those of Indira Gandhi, Mishra was aware
of the toll that two years of the United Front government had
taken of our national will. The wobbliness in the PMO had to
be corrected and that is precisely what he achieved.
In his autobiography, My Country, My Life , L.K. Advani
unwittingly reveals how efforts were made by him and others
to cut Brajesh Mishra to size. The Kargil Review Committee
Report was flaunted to argue that Mishra should not combine
two roles of Principal Secretary and National Security
Adviser. Mr. Advani plaintively notes how Mr. Vajpayee stood
by Mishra: We repeatedly urged the Prime Minister to bifur-
cate the two posts held by Brajesh Mishra. Atalji, however,
had a different view and did not implement this recommen-
dation. It was, of course, the Prime Ministers prerogative to
do so. In my view, the clubbing together of two critical re-
sponsibilities, each requiring focused attention, did not con-
tribute to harmony at the highest levels of governance.
Command structure Command structure Command structure Command structure Command structure
Presumably neither Mr. Advanis suggestion nor Mr.
Vajpayees rejection of it was personal. At issue was a certain
notion of a command and control structure that should be
available to the Prime Minister of India. I remember vividly
that within a few weeks of the UPA government coming to
power in May 2004, Mishra told me crisply and precisely: If
you have any influence with the new crowd of our new rulers,
please tell them to dismantle the disastrous trifurcation in the
PMO. The Manmohan Singh government had experimented
with a three way division of Mr. Mishras responsibilities a
Principal Secretary (T.K.A. Nair), a National Security Adviser
(J.N. Dixit) and a Security Adviser (M.K. Narayanan).
Mishra would have violently disagreed with Mamata
Banejree who recently decreed that India cannot be gov-
erned from New Delhi. Inherent in Ms Banerjees formulation
is an emasculated and enfeebled Centre. Mishras, on the
other hand, hinged on a national mobilisation, not a fragmen-
tation of political power; on a pan-Indian vision, rather than a
region-centric calculus; and, on a summoning of our best
civilisational instincts and traditions, rather than the sangh
parivars shoddy feudal animosities. The Mishra-Vajpayee
duo rescued the exercise of power from the BJPs preference
for pettiness and provincialism. It was a six-year long struggle
between the two approaches and the balance perhaps tilts
slightly against the Vajpayee-Mishra team.
Once the realisation dawned on the country that the
BJP was not inclined to abide by the Vajpayee-Mishra ap-
proach, it was only a matter of time before the NDA was
voted out of power.
Health care is more than access to Health care is more than access to Health care is more than access to Health care is more than access to Health care is more than access to
medical services medical services medical services medical services medical services
Gita Sens article in The Hindu Getting Indias Health
Care System out of the ICU (The Sunday Story, Sept. 2,
2012) does an elegant job of masking the technological fix
that grips the imagination of those who are redrafting the
12th Plans approach to Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Thus, Sen consistently uses the term health care when actu-
ally she means medical care. The latter only addresses ill-
ness, but the former includes the treatment of illness, along
with all national programmes and welfare measures that de-
termine health. This makes it convenient to mislead the reader
into believing that the public health care system is seriously
broken merely because there are no free drugs, lack ad-
equate staff and equipment, and treat patients with scant
respect. The deliberate actions of an elitist state for over 20
years in starving the public sector of resources, subsidising
the private sector, and promoting the growth of the burgeon-
ing corporate sector, (although partially acknowledged by
Sen) have not been linked to the broken state of the public
health care system. Ensuring universal health care is a major
concern of governments the world over, may sound good as
an apologia for state intervention, but the fact is that differ-
ent nations have different visions and contexts. The United
Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico have been men-
tioned approvingly by Sen, but without comparing poverty
levels, the proportion of GDP invested in health, and most
critically the fact that costs of health care in these coun-
tries are sky rocketing. Through this generalisation, therefore,
Sen ignores how the Indian public health system has been
commercialised and medical care opened to commercial
and corporate medical care providers, merely to add to the
revenue of a state driven by a neo-liberal commitment to
economic growth, even though the gap between rich and
poor widens and health indicators stagnate. It is only by con-
cealing these linkages that an appealing argument can be
made that one cannot ignore the reality of the private health
sector and it ought to be made to play its part in the move
towards universal health coverage.
Can UHC be provided without prescribing minimum
standards for food, drinking water, housing and public sani-
tation (a point so vividly made almost 35 years ago by the
Alma Ata Declaration)? What is the process of defining an
adequate package of health care? Will epidemiological pri-
orities and the needs of the marginalised determine health
care, or the cost-efficiency of technologies and the need for
revenue generation? Why is the Health Ministry opposing the
recommendations of the draft chapter on health for the 12th
Plan prepared by the Planning Commission, if its objective
was that, a strengthened public sector must be the bedrock
of reforms? Sen evades these questions by merely highlight-
ing management reforms to back up more investment, regu-
lation of ad-hoc public-private partnerships and land sub-
sidies and tax-breaks to ensure accountability, and indepen-
dent bodies that would ensure standard treatment guide-
lines for high quality clinical services through cash-less
smart cards! This methodology of clinical medical practice
widely known as managed care is the thrust of the 12th Five
Year Plan. Designed by insurance companies to optimise their
profits and control providers, it has failed globally to pro-
vide even good clinical care, what to speak of comprehen-
sive primary health care.
Citizen participation and accountability are the other
buzzwords that Sen uses even though, in this regard, the
failures of the panchayats and the district health commit-
tees in ensuring the rights of the underprivileged are well-
known and the High Level Expert Group (HLEG) report has
nothing on social monitoring mechanisms. The reality is that
if the public sector service is to be made transparent, respon-
sive and responsible, with a focus on the health-care needs of
the most needy, then a relook at its priorities through an
epidemiological and socio-economic lens, a review of its
technological choices, and rejuvenation of its demoralised
and corrupted personnel are the non-negotiables. This ser-
vice may not fully provide the rest of the welfare inputs but it
must prescribe objectively the standards for these and de-
mand that these be provided by other sectors if health for the
people is to be achieved. Health-care planning has to recognise
the complexity of public health and judiciously use clinical
facilities to change the history of disease and not to simply
use them to enhance medical markets and revenues. It has
taken the state over 20 years to undermine what was built in
the first 40. To tackle the complexity of health care and en-
sure peoples right to it will take at least another 10 to 15
years so that a public sector can be rebuilt to act as the most
critical regulatory force for the private sector.
To emphasise only the urgency of UHC based on creat-
ing access to medical care services is to deny the complex-
ity of public health and peoples right to it.
Premium on regulation Premium on regulation Premium on regulation Premium on regulation Premium on regulation
At first blush, the wave of financial sector reforms un-
veiled by the government on Thursday appears to have pulled
off the impossible. The rapturous surge witnessed on the
stock market tells us the investing classes are happy, while
the somewhat muted reaction of Opposition parties sug-
gests the insurance and pension sector initiatives cannot eas-
ily be painted as anti-people. If the entry of multinational
retail behemoths raises fears about the potential loss of jobs
and livelihoods, insurance and pension reforms hold out the
prospect of better social security for the middle class with-
out the immediate danger of a employment displacement
effect. In insurance, at least, the reform being contemplated
is also quite modest: foreign insurance companies will be
allowed to hold 49 per cent equity in their Indian operations
but this still does not make for majority control. The private
insurance sector is starved for capital and the increase in
foreign equity cap will enable foreign partners to pump in
money. Whether they will actually do so is another matter,
given their own financial problems and their inability to crack
the Indian market. For those squeamish about opening the
pension sector to foreign investment, the reform has a silver
lining: the regulator for the sector will finally acquire teeth.
Banks and some mutual funds have already evinced interest
in offering pension fund products and passage of the pension
Bill will facilitate this process.
As junior partners restricted to a 49 per cent equity
share, foreign pension fund companies may not be the threat
some believe them to be. But the pension reforms being
introduced are hardly a remedy to the absence of a viable
and well-funded system of social security in India. On the
positive side, millions of private sector employees and the
self-employed most of whom have no viable pension plans
to subscribe to today may get new options as a result.
Remember, the government is in no mood or position to
offer its services here; some of its own employees are now
governed by the National Pension Scheme. On the negative
side, the Western, especially American, private pension model
has not exactly been an unqualified success on its home turf.
Millions of Americans are unprotected or their retirement
benefits have been compromised because of insufficient regu-
lation and the lack of official oversight.
As for insurance, many of the companies looking to
enhance their positions in India were key players in the 2008
global financial meltdown.
That is why Parliament needs to focus sharply on the
quality of the regulator and regulations that will govern the
pension and insurance business from now on, especially since
it will increasingly be in private hands.
A public-private partnership A public-private partnership A public-private partnership A public-private partnership A public-private partnership
Ever since India Against Corruption cited business in-
formation in the public domain to allege the existence of a
nexus between Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra and
real estate giant DLF, Congress leaders have insisted that no
probe is needed since the impugned transactions were be-
tween private individuals. The argument is an absurd one
for a seasoned political party to make because perception is
everything in politics and the public simply isnt buying it. The
party high command ought to have realised that Mr. Vadra,
who is a part of the Congresss first family, must, like Pompeia,
be well and truly above suspicion. Instead of taking measures
to reassure the public that the business dealings of Mr. Vadra
who has accumulated assets worth hundreds of crores of
rupees in the past five years were indeed above board,
senior ministers and spokespersons said he was a private
citizen who had nothing to answer for. Today, that argument
makes even less sense in the light of what seems like the
punitive transfer of Haryanas top land official shortly after
he initiated an internal probe into Mr. Vadras land dealings.
The official, Ashok Khemka, discovered irregularities in at
least one of the deals struck between Mr. Vadra and DLF. He
also ordered an inquiry into the possible undervaluation of
properties sold or bought by Mr. Vadra in four districts of the
State.
Given the questionable decision to transfer Mr. Khemka,
the suspicion that the DLF-Vadra private partnership has offi-
cial support can no longer be sidestepped or dismissed. Ad-
mittedly, nothing in the documents produced by the IAC so
far establishes or proves wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Vadra
or DLF. But the whiff of impropriety is all around and if the
party high command still believes it can brazen things out it is
making a serious mistake. The more the Congress and the
Central and State governments resist or foreclose the launch-
ing of a probe into his dealings, the greater will be the public
perception that Mr. Vadra used his friendships and relation-
ships with people in high places to further his own business
interests. The Haryana government has offered a most un-
convincing explanation for why Mr. Khemka was removed
from his post as Director General for Land Consolidation and
Inspector General of Registration after serving barely three
months of a tenure that is meant to run for a minimum of two
years as per the rules of the Department of Personnel and
Training. The Haryana government says it will now look into
Mr. Vadras land deals but any probe it launches is unlikely to
have credibility. Instead, Mr. Khemka must be reinstated in
his post and allowed to complete the inquiries he initiated.
Follow the money, find the leader Follow the money, find the leader Follow the money, find the leader Follow the money, find the leader Follow the money, find the leader
The point is not whether Barack Obama wins re-elec-
tion as President. The point is not whether Mitt Romney can
win. The point is that you cant dream of contesting without a
billion dollars. That figure merely ensures you can run, not
win. Especially if the other guy can spend even more. All but
the tiniest sliver of the elite stands priced out of the game. A
democracy neatly labelled in another context, by economist
Joseph Stiglitz, as: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%.
The two main candidates, their parties and outside
money will likely splurge $2.5 billion by the time the cam-
paign fog clears in November. Throw in spending on the Con-
gressional races, says the Centre for Responsive Politics (CRP)
the countrys foremost poll-spending tracker and the
total would close in on $6 billion. (Thats roughly Rs. 32,000
crore. A sum on which you could run the mid-day meal
programme for 120 million Indian school children for three
years).
Less than one per cent Less than one per cent Less than one per cent Less than one per cent Less than one per cent
If we take it that the two presidential campaigns burn
equal sums of money, the campaign that wins will have spent
over $1.25 billion, all sources included. Say Mr. Romney tri-
umphs and hopes to run again in 2016. Just raising the same
war chest means hed have to, on average, secure over
$850,000 every day of his four-year presidency. That leaves
you little time for anything else other than pushing bills your
funders want. Ask Mr. Obama. When it comes to the polls,
then, its a fraction of that 1 per cent that calls the shots.
(Allowing for variances in scale and form, it sounds a lot like
the way Indian elections are or will be going).
Being hostage to money power is no myth. As Dave
Lindorff points out in CounterPunch.org , the biggest con-
tributors to the Obama campaign in 2008 were mostly finan-
cial companies. Apart from other big corporations. These
included Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup,
who gave him close to $2.5 million via Political Action Com-
mittees (PACs).
Another $1.5 million came from two more big banks,
UBS and Morgan Stanley, as well as General Electric, which
less than a year later bought a bank. GE did that in order to
gorge on the governments bailout with billions of rescue
dollars from public money.
Mr. Obama repaid those debts, Mr. Lindorff points out.
Among other things, he made Tim Geithner his Treasury Sec-
retary. Mr. Geithner, as head of the New York Federal Reserve
branch during the Bush era, had ignored the derivatives scan-
dals that brought on the financial crash. Mr. Obama also
made Lawrence Summers his top economic adviser. The same
Summers who as Treasury Secretary under President Bill
Clinton, had pushed for the deregulation of derivatives, and
for allowing banks to merge with investment banks. There
were other such jobs for the boys, too. Yet, this time around,
Mr. Romney has collected more Wall Street money than Mr.
Obama.
It might appear that direct spending in 2012 by both
presidential campaigns is less than it was in 2008 though
not by much. But thats if you look only at what the candi-
dates or parties are doing. Theres also big spending by Su-
per PACs. These are groups that can raise unlimited amounts.
Technically, they are not allowed to coordinate their adver-
tising with the candidates. In truth, they act as de factoadjuncts
to the campaigns. And after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in
2010 that threw out the rules on independent expenditures by
corporations directly, theres a lot more money flowing.
There are no limits on the sums that Super PACs can
raise from corporations or others. Nor on how much they
spend to support or defeat a candidate. (They cannot di-
rectly fund a candidate. And must submit details of their
donors to the Federal Election Commission).
The CRP reckons that as of October 16: 935 groups
organized as Super PACs have reported total receipts of
over $433 million. And total independent expenditures of
close to $375 million in the 2012 cycle.
Most of the millions spent by outside groups went into
television advertising, says the New York Times. In Iowa
alone, the two campaigns and linked independent groups
have run more than 100,000 ads to win the states six elec-
toral votes.
Meanwhile, the pundits are swooning over the energy
of the second Obama-Romney debate. This one was more
spontaneous. Whats more, it had a town hall format. Well,
yes, if town hall audiences can be handpicked by organisers.
And if the town hall audience actually had to have a rehearsal
with the moderators (as they did here). Thats apart from
submitting all their questions for advance scrutiny not
quite a town hall practice.
Once again, neither man mentioned the word inequal-
ity at any point in the debate. That is the issue that sparked
the Occupy movement in countless towns across the coun-
try last year. It is an issue that worries several leading econo-
mists in the U.S. It is one that reflects in recent IRS data. It
shows up in the Census data on poverty out barely a month
ago.
But the word was as taboo as corporate crime. The
only mention of it came from a questioner who wanted to
know why women were paid 72 per cent of what men re-
ceived for the same work. The closest Mr. Obama ever came
near it was when he charged Mr. Romney with wanting folks
at the top to play by a different set of rules. Neither men-
tioned the word even in his replies to the question.
Compensation on Wall Street rose by four per cent last
year to $60 billion, says the New York Times . Higher than in
any year except 2007 and 2008. And the average pay packet
of securities industry employees in New York state was
$362,950, up 16.6 % over the last two years. Meanwhile,
about 25 million people who want full-time jobs cant find
them. The number of those on food stamps is at record lev-
els. And 50 million people suffer food insecurity in a nation
where, as economist Paul Buchheit points out: The 10 richest
Americans made enough money last year to feed every hun-
gry person on earth for a year.
There were a couple of other things in the debate that
should interest Indians. Both candidates agonised over petrol
prices speaking to an audience that clearly felt the need to
regulate those prices. Even more interesting: In the time given
to the energy crisis, Mr. Obama never once mentioned nuclear
energy as an option. He did not even club it under clean
energy. (Though hes happy with India holding to that belief).
Wind, solar and bio-fuels was his mantra. Mr. Romney men-
tioned nuclear once but gave it no special status.
Setting up debates Setting up debates Setting up debates Setting up debates Setting up debates
And now more on who sets up the debates and how
they are run. Last week, we ran Ralph Naders point about
the secret debate contract negotiated by the Obama and
Romney campaigns that controls the Commission on Presi-
dential Debates (CPD), the campaigns corporate offspring.
Their grip on the process is stifling, dishonest and total. It
wasnt always that way. Till 1987, the debates were spon-
sored, for over a decade, by the League of Women Voters.
Why did that change? Why did the League, which ran an
independent show, lose control over the debates? Why did it
feel compelled to walk out, or was it forced out of them, in
1987? I asked the League and received a prompt emailed
reply from Betsy Gardner, its Administrative Coordinator.
The party campaigns were exerting huge pressures and con-
trol. Whether in choosing a debate format, in picking a mod-
erator, or on the questions to be asked. The League also sent
us the 1987 statement of its then President, Nancy M. Neuman.
That was the period of the George H.W. Bush-Michael Dukakis
race.
Ms Neumans statement of the time says, among other
things: Between themselves, the campaigns had determined
what the television cameras could take pictures of. They had
determined how they would select those who would pose
questions to their candidates They had determined that
they would pack the hall with their supporters. And they had
determined the format. The campaigns agreement was a
closed-door masterpiece. The agreement was a done deal,
they told us. We were supposed to sign it and agree to all of
its conditions. If we did not, we were told we would lose the
debate In Winston-Salem, they went so far as to insist on
reviewing the moderators opening comments.
It turned out that the League had two choices. We could
sign their closed-door agreement and hope the event would
rise above their manipulations. Or we could refuse to lend
our trusted name to this charade.
The League of Women Voters is announcing today that
we have no intention of becoming an accessory to the hood-
winking of the American public.
Building deterrence for peace Building deterrence for peace Building deterrence for peace Building deterrence for peace Building deterrence for peace
Recent demonstrations in China over Japanese claims
on the Senkaku Islands indicate a new belligerence and na-
tionalism among the Chinese populace that does not augur
very well for India-China relations. While Japan, Taiwan, Viet-
nam and other contested spaces in Chinas immediate
neighbourhood occupy pole position when it comes to the
dominant nationalistic discourse, a stronger India has started
figuring actively in the academic discourse.
From being seen as a mere irritant on the periphery that
can be tackled anytime, India is now being seen as a com-
petitor and a spoiler in Chinas quest for total dominance in
Asia. Current geopolitical realities offer some space for India
to navigate and manoeuvre in the South East Asian landscape
and convince China that it stands to benefit from a reconcil-
iatory, rather than a confrontationist approach towards In-
dia. On that count, India has been nimble to diplomatically
and militarily engage with a host of countries like Japan,
Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar in
its Look East strategy; not with any aggressive intent, but
with a hedging posture that seeks to revive memories of the
Bandung initiative of 1954 that attempted to build capacities
and propagate peaceful coexistence in the region.
Unfortunately, India has the habit of an either/
or strategy vis--vis China that tends to ignore concurrent
development of deterrent and coercive capabilities when
some success is perceived to have accrued in the diplomatic
space. This is fraught with danger and this time around there
cannot be any let-up in building up military capability on our
northern and eastern frontiers with China while concurrently
seeking diplomatic gains from our hedging strategy in S.E.
Asia. Deterrence for Peacecould be a posture that merits
wide articulation, both within the domestic constituency and
the international community.
Then and now Then and now Then and now Then and now Then and now
The military lessons of the 1962 India-China conflict
have been widely debated and need very little amplification
beyond reiterating some important ones that would allow us
to introspect. At the strategic level, notwithstanding the suc-
cess of the Indian military in the 1947-48 conflict, the post-
independence politico-bureaucratic establishment looked at
the military as a wasteful remnant of Indias colonial past
whose need was only grudgingly acknowledged. Even the
opposition was guilty of pressuring Nehru in the late 1950s to
reduce the defence budget even when there was overwhelm-
ing evidence that despite economic woes, China was main-
taining a defence budget in excess of five per cent of GDP.
There was no attempt to understand war as an extension of
politics hence the ill-fated forward policy that overlooked
imperatives of mountain warfare like clothing, shelter, suit-
able weapons, logistics support and air support plans for
casualty evacuation and resupply. Given the strong WW II
pedigree and battle experience of a number of senior army
and air force officers, particularly in the Burma campaign, it
is perplexing that the senior military leadership failed to ac-
tively participate in a national defence strategy to counter
China. In fact, one of the concerns of Mao was the core fight-
ing ability of the Indian Army, which is why he interestingly
put together an attacking force with a ratio of 5:1 against
existing norms of 3:1, which were considered essential for
success in the mountains. Inadequate firepower and the com-
plete absence of air power meant that India was lacking in
two vital ingredients of modern warfare that have the poten-
tial to cause physical degradation and psychological shock
in what was primarily an attrition battle in the mountains. The
total absence of aerial reconnaissance by the Indian Air Force
meant that field commanders had no real time idea of the
strength of forces that Mao was amassing for his attack.
The Indian Armed Forces have come a long way since
1962 and are in a consolidation phase in the current Five Year
Plan (2012-2017). There has been a slow shift in our politico-
military strategy from a primarily Pak-centric orientation, to
one that seeks to balance two adversaries on multiple fronts;
much more needs to be done to ensure that this strategy is
backed with intent and speedy capability build-up. There is a
perception that alarmist signals regarding the imminence of a
China-India confrontation in the next five years have been
precipitated by vested western interests that seek Indian mili-
tary build-up as part of a hedging strategy to deflect Chi-
nese attention from the Pacific and South China Sea.
While there may be some merit and an element of
realpolitik in this, there is overwhelming evidence of mili-
tary and infrastructure build-up in Tibet including increased
fighter aircraft activity that points at a methodical and typi-
cally Chinese chess-like build-up towards supporting and
sustaining a modern high altitude campaign against a strong
adversary. While there is no way in which India can currently
match the Chinese infrastructure in Tibet, what is the way out
in the short and medium term? A high survivability-high vis-
ibility-high attrition deterrent strategy that revolves around
preserving own forces in the face of a ferocious initial assault
and inflicting unsustainable losses to integrated application
of firepower, whilst continuing to see what the enemy is do-
ing with near 24x7 recce and surveillance, seems to be the
surest way of combating the Chinese threat. India has no
territorial ambitions and hence can ill-afford to work on ma-
noeuvre strategies that look at capturing ground as part of
any trade-off strategy. Lessons from the China-Vietnam war
of 1979 and the subsequent lack of battle-experience of the
Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) makes it vulnerable to attri-
tion warfare, both in the air and on ground.
Whether the Chinese have the stomach to take high ca-
sualties in pursuit of a nationalistic objective on its extreme
peripheries that has few tangible benefits is highly debatable.
The maritime domain too is a space that can be exploited
and contested by India. With both India and China heading
for a two-carrier fleet and blue water capability, strategic
analysts predict that a future China-India conflict may not be
restricted to only a localised high altitude conflict over deso-
late terrain. It may well spillover to vital sea lines of commu-
nication that run through the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal.
Final analysis Final analysis Final analysis Final analysis Final analysis
A militarily strong India that seeks to defend its sover-
eignty with strength and dignity is not an aggressive or bellig-
erent India. It is an India that seeks peace in the region on
respectable terms. China has to be respected as a strong
adversary with an emerging penchant for regional hegemony,
something that has to be contested by India, should it threaten
its national interests. A China strategy, which is short on rheto-
ric and long on capability, is the only way to cope with an
increasingly assertive China. While Mao did pronounce that
power flows from the barrel of a gun, India can well twist it to
say that peace too can flow from the barrel of two matching
guns.
The quest for Naga accord The quest for Naga accord The quest for Naga accord The quest for Naga accord The quest for Naga accord
Aprocess that could lead to an honourable settlement
of the six-decades-old Naga problem seems to be in the
making. With the Prime Minister giving the go-ahead, the Union
Home Ministry has begun discussing with all regional stake-
holders the broad contours of a proposal that was ham-
mered out earlier in negotiations between the Union govern-
ment and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-
Muivah). The NSCN (I-M), the major player among Naga groups,
has accepted at least for the interim the impractical-
ity of demanding the integration of contiguous Naga-inhab-
ited areas including those in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal
Pradesh, and of redrawing State boundaries. More impor-
tantly, it has tempered its demand for Naga sovereignty,
thereby allowing an outcome that can conform to the basic
structure of the Constitution. An agreement being stitched up
before the State Assembly elections that are due by March
2013 will enable former insurgent groups to take part in the
democratic process. The larger political environment appears
conducive for a democratic reconciliation.
But there is still a long way to go, and many minefields
to cross. Several concessions on the governments part, in-
cluding grant of a special brand of autonomy and freedom
for Nagaland, will be required. For the grant of special status,
additions will need to be made to Article 371A, under which
no Act of Parliament applies to Nagaland in respect of the
religious or social practices of the Nagas, administration of
civil and criminal justice involving decisions under custom-
ary Naga law, and ownership and transfer of land and its
resources, unless its Assembly so decides. The creation of a
pan-Naga social body to highlight the identity of the people
appears to be a key element of the formula. Its role, scope
and powers need to be defined with clarity in order to avoid
difficulties. The constitutional amendment that some of these
proposals will entail requires national political consensus.
Even the question of decommissioning weapons held by mili-
tants needs to be resolved. In the short term, a consensus will
be needed to meet a demand that has been raised by Nagaland
legislators for an alternative interim administrative arrange-
ment. There is no time like the present to let the process
reach its logical culmination. But every strand in this complex
tapestry needs to be laid in place carefully. A prudent bal-
ance needs to be struck between what the Centre can con-
cede and what the insurgents can accept. This has to be done
on the basis of a clear understanding of the changing social
and political dynamics of the region as a whole.
Data Interpretation
&
Data Sufficiency
MCQ Series
Democracy in Lincolns famous
words is Government of the people,
for the people, by the people. The
rudiments of democracy are well-
known. It is a form of government
wherein every individual has a say.
Democracy has come a long way
since the classical times when
Aristotle in his classification catego-
rized it as a -perverted form of gov-
ernment. Rousseaus concept of Gen-
eral Will which had entrusted sover-
eign power to the masses paved the
way for the French Revolution with
its cry of liberty, equality and frater-
nity. It marked the turning point for
the rise of modern democracy -ulti-
mate authority of government is
vested in the common people so that
public policy is made to conform to
the will of the people and to serve
the interests of people today we
have indirect democracy where gov-
ernment is conducted by the repre-
sentatives of the people, who are
elected at regular intervals. Have we
ever given heed to the kind of de-
mocracy we have in India and under
what conditions it had been estab-
lished? Well, lets explore this. It is
impossible to define Indian democ-
racy as liberal, participatory or delib-
erative, because it is a blend all of
these at the same time. It is not
enough to only examine the formal
presence of democracy but check-
ing how effective are the institutions
and procedures by relating them to
the conditions that sustain them and
reproduce them is equally important.
So lets check and examine what con-
ditions were present when demo-
cratic values and procedures were
adopted.
According to Sameul Hunting-
ton, Indian democracy as an institu-
tion was facing few crises at the eve
of independence. They were: crises
of national integration, crises of iden-
tity, crises of participation, crises of
penetration and crises of legitimacy.
Thus we see the number of chal-
lenges, which the newly indepen-
dent and decolonized India was fac-
ing while adopting the system of de-
mocracy. The major problems before
India were linguistic problems, caste
system (which further took a new
form of economic class system), pov-
erty and illiteracy. To add to them
malnutrition and poor health condi-
tions, poor housing, poor work capa-
bility, lack of occupational adaptabil-
ity and an inadequate level of savings
reflected the clear picture of India.
Many scholars compare the sta-
tus of development and democracy,
since independence. Does democ-
racy leads to development or devel-
opment leads to democracy? This
dilemma still remains. India had a firm
nationalist base with the strong lead-
ership of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru as the
first Prime Minister. But during that
time, the members of legislative as-
sembly were elitist. The democracy
was functioning smoothly but in their
favor because the masses were illit-
erate. Congress at that time was work-
ing for indigenous bourgeoisie. Thus
congress became a party of social sta-
tus quo. 1967 was the turning point
when the state parties suddenly came
into power. This was a signal of de-
mocratization of Indian politics. Due
to balance of payment problem, in-
ternational financial institutions deval-
ued rupee and India started drifting
into economic crises. Mrs. Indira
Gandhi swept the polls in 1971 elec-
tions with the eradicate poverty slo-
gans. In 1975 with the misuse of ar-
ticle 356 of Indian constitution, Mrs.
Gandhi declared an emergency in
India. Economic crises, formation of
Bangladesh and Authoritarian rule at
the center weakened Indian democ-
racy. The decision-making roles and
powers of the cabinet members and
ministers were consequently dis-
solved and were taken over by Mrs.
Gandhi. Though the Panchayati raj
system was to democratize the coun-
try at the village level but the power
was still concentrated at the top of
the pyramid.
But after all the turbulent years
in India, democracy still exists in its
unique forms. Arguably it is the best
form of government. Democracy
would thus appear differently to dif-
ferent classes of India. To more privi-
lege classes of society it would mean
the freedom of enterprise and to the
lower orders it would mean equality
(at least between communities) and
representation. But whatever the
contradictions democracy may offers,
Indian democracy will continue in
spite of its paradoxical and surpris-
ing history.
Its noteworthy that despite ev-
erything, India has sustained a fairly
stable democracy, while the coun-
tries with comparable (and in some
cases much less serious) problems
have abandoned democracy for au-
thoritarian form of rule. There are
many conflicting views on the suc-
cess and failure of democracy and
they all are associated to some ide-
als. For some an ideal democracy is a
construct where people are truly
equal citizens, politically engaged
with an equal voice, tolerant of each
other and where representatives are
accountable. On the other hand,
scholars have viewed democracy as
an institution, which would mean free
and fair elections, legislative assem-
bly, and under this understanding
India is considered as the largest de-
mocracy in the world. But any evalu-
ation of democracy is of course, a
combination of both.
Indian state has a deep commit-
ment to democratic system and val-
ues as democracy provides impulse
towards change and looks at contem-
porary struggles and movements of
the people as a part of the demo-
cratic process. Democracy centers
certain rights on the people. But more
often than not these rights are abused
in the name of resisting oppression.
Au unbalanced insistence on ones
rights without a corresponding real-
ization of ones duties creates indis-
cipline and disorder and, in reality,
an erosion of the democratic prin-
ciple.
Liberty and equality are both
basic to democracy but are not these
two concepts intrinsically opposed?
Can liberty, which allows a human
being to develop his/her individual-
ity, be reconciled to equality, which
by its very nature puts a check on
such individual aspirations for the
welfare of a group. a community, a
collectivity ? Democracy contains
within it seeds of dissolution and de-
cay as well as of life and progress. In
truth, it calls for a balance between
self-interest and consideration for
others, between rights and duties and
a successful democracy manifests a
reconciliation of opposites.
India today proudly proclaims
its position as one of the foremost
democratic nations of the world. In
terms of the size of the electorate, it
is the largest democracy in the world.
India, on gaining independence from
colonial rule, had forthwith decided
to adopt the parliamentary system of
government of its erstwhile coloniser
- Great Britain. The founding fathers
of the Constitution, truly inspired by
egalitarian zeal, had ensured univer-
sal adult franchise to citizens of the
country, without any discrimination
on the basis of caste, religion. sex,
education or ownership of property.
India had its first general elections in
1952 and the democratic processes
have been vigorously functioning
ever since. Belying all doubts and
apprehensions on account of the
large number of illiterate citizens in
the country; the people have dis-
played an amazing political maturity
and have ensured that democracy
becomes a part of the social ethos of
the country. To express their dissat-
isfaction with the agendas and poli-
cies of a particular government or
with the qualities of governance -in
general, they have skillfully utilised
their democratic privilege to oust the
incumbent from power. Democratic
processes have earned such credibil-
ity that there has not been a single
instance of a coup dtat or mass revo-
lution to destabilise or overthrow the
government. The regular, periodic
elections have almost become a
source of envy to other countries in
South Asia whose experimentations
with democracy are marred by inter-
ference from the army top brass as
well as extremist religious leaders.
One of the biggest achieve-
ments of the Indian Constitution is the
protection of democratic rights since
its inception. The success and failure
of a democracy can be judged by
looking at its track record in the pro-
tection of right to freedom. Any ero-
sion of these rights can ultimately lead
to the breakdown of the very Consti-
tution of the country. We the citizens
need to be vigilant against the assault
to our rights. If we overlook these vio-
lations today, it will be a licence for
the unscrupulous and unethical ele-
ments to subvert our very democratic
system. which we value greatly. Such
admirable achievements notwith-
standing, India is often characterised
by critics as a pseudo-democracy.
The time is ripe enough to look back
at the errors committed, to analyse
the maladies that afflict the present
day political system. In other words,
what ails Indian Democracy?
The reasons are not far to seek.
India had failed in its primary demo-
cratic responsibility of ensuring lib-
erty and equality to the people. Fifty-
six years since independence and
still, every night, one third of the
population goes to bed on an empty
stomach. Thirty percent of the popu-
lation lives below the poverty line,
means to meet their consumption re-
quirements, without access to safe
and clean drinking water, sanitation
or proper health facilities. Govern-
ments have come and one, policies
have been framed and supposedly
implemented. crores of rupees have
been spent, and yet India staggers
into the New Millennium with millions
of disadvantaged people to whom
every day is nothing but a struggle
for existence. Surely it is a grave sin
to talk about democracy and voting
rights to a person lying oil an empty
stomach. The right to freedom is the
most fundamental of the Fundamen-
tal Rights in our Constitution. Without
this right the moral and intellectual
development of a citizen cannot be
achieved. Articles 19 to 22 describe
this vital right in the Constitution,
which is the very backbone of the
Fundamental Rights. Democracy is
meaningful only when these rights are
fulfilled.
Of late, our Fundamental Rights
are under severe stress from certain
elements in the state. In the name of
national interest and protection of
privileges this essence of democracy
is being crucified by vested interests.
Equality has also taken a beat-
ing in a society totally raven by com-
munal considerations. Casteism today
is perhaps more rampant than it ever
was. Untouchability remains abol-
ished only in theory, with frequent
newspaper reports of Dalits being
denied entry to temples or other
public places. Class conflict, too is
on the rise with entire Dalit families
being massacred by upper class land-
lords and the retaliatory violence that
the Dalits indulge in to seek ven-
geance. The dreams of Gandhiji for
an egalitarian casteless society lie
shattered on the ground. It is the po-
litical parties, organized on caste
lines that thrive on such societal ten-
sions and rivalries and perpetuate the
animosity between upper & lower
castes to serve their vested interests.
The liberal, humanistic prin-
ciples which can result in the estab-
lishment of a just and humane soci-
ety have been subjected to criminal
negligence. Indian democracy signi-
fies nothing greater than party poli-
tics and elections. The very process
of election has become suspect,
marred as it is by allegations of rig-
ging, booth capturing and bogus vot-
ing. A large number of police per-
sonnel and paramilitary forces have
to be deployed lust to ensure that
legitimate voters get opportunity to
exercise their right to vote. Serious
distortions are visible in the. demo-
cratic process - a recent example
being the Panchayat elections in one
of the States where there were wide-
spread allegations that candidates
belonging to opposition parties bad
been prevented even from filing their
nomination papers - thus making a
sham of all the rhetoric about demo-
cratic decentralization and grassroots
participation of people in demo-
cratic process.
An unsatisfactory aspect of In-
dian democracy is the practice of
defection from one party to another-
ironically justified on the basis of
democratic considerations of free-
dom of choice. The problem with
Indian democracy is that it has been
transplanted recently and has not
grown from the roots. Government
by the people is not and never can
be a reality; it is only a cry by which
demagogues humbug us into voting
for them said George Bernard Shaw.
All of this is direct fallout of the
criminalization of politics and the
politicization of crime. The visionary
giants who led the country to inde-
pendence and secured its future
through a democratic Constitution
have all departed; the present day
leader is a creature driven greed and
the lust for power; he can resort to
any measure to capture power and
then retain it. His value system is
warped, he is driven by narrow, self-
ish, parochial interest and he does not
hesitate in flexing muscle power to
eliminate his opponents. Multiparty
democracy; so essential for a diverse
country like India, has come more as
a bane titan a boon. Parties have be-
come the vehicle for the leaders and
faithful to amass wealth and shield
themselves from the law of land. Na-
tional interest has been made sub-
servient to parry cause: The motto is
self before party. party before na-
tion. The Peoples Representation
Act, 2002, passed in Parliament re-
cently, exposes the shameless
lengths to which politicians - of all
hues and colours - can go to save their
own skin.
A subversion of almost all demo-
cratic norms and values has led to a
seething wave of intolerance and
hatred, searing and destroying the
bonds of love and harmony that had
held the society together for ages.
Violence assumes many forms - ter-
rorism, insurgency, and communal
tension, violence against women and
through it all, the fabric of the society
gets distorted beyond recognition.
Intolerant, ignorant about the
countrys composite culture and heri-
tage, devoid of any sense of history,
people indulge in relentless, mean-
ingless criticism of all things Indian
and blindly imbibe whatever crumbs
of Western culture come our way,
courtesy globalization. Negative criti-
cism is, however, not an attribute lim-
ited to the uncomprehending masses
- the august body of the parliamen-
tary opposition. forgoing all attempts
at constructive criticism, utilizes ev-
ery single opportunity to humiliate
and embarrass the government.
Quite literally, its function has been
reduced to mere opposition.
The question that naturally arises
is whether the form of British parlia-
mentary democracy, which was to a
large extent imposed upon the na-
tion without making sure whether the
people were ready for it, is actually a
suitable method of governance for a
country like ours. The religious, eth-
nic, racial and caste diversities are
deeply entrenched in the social ethos
as well as the psyche of the people
and they cannot be eradicated by
just wishing them away. Doubtless,
the needs of a country like ours, are
vastly different from Britain, a small
island nation with a largely homoge-
neous population.
The retrograde effect of Indian
democracy has led a section of the
educated masses to clamour for an
end to democratic rule. Instead, they
favour a brief stint of martial law and
military dictatorship and justify their
demand by arguing that such a step
would help to restore discipline and
confidence among the masses and
reverse the process of degeneration
that has set in. In fact, a lack of disci-
pline and absence of national dedi-
cation was one of the six fatal mis-
takes which had brought the country
to its present sorry state, as pointed
out by the great jurist late Nani
Palkhivala. But it would be fallacious
to assume that respect for the rule of
law can be enforced through a mili-
tary government because such obe-
dience based on fear of reprisals
would be transitory. Love for the
country is something that comes from
within, through a proper appreciation
of our unique social, cultural, histori-
cal legacy. No other political setup,
except a democracy permits an indi-
vidual to think freely and reach this
level of realisation.
In India, we are fortunate
enough to possess firmly established
and functioning democratic institu-
tions. Their weakness is their rigidity
and inflexibility, their inability to
adapt themselves to the changing
times. Erosion of values has led to
opacity of vision and this wrong can
be set right only by that section of
the population which constitutes its
majority-the youth. No hurdle is for-
midable enough if people act to re-
move it. Action is important today, as
the liberal educated intelligentsia
turn their faces away in disgust from
the murky world of politics and gov-
ernance. People who plead helpless-
ness in the face of rampant corrup-
tion are the very ones who sustain it
by their silence acceptance of it.
People who do not vote as a sign of
protest are actually instrumental in
perpetuating the lawlessness and
anarchy around them.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is thus clear that with-
out a sense of discipline in all wakes
of life, democracy is likely to turn into
anarchy, chaos and disorder. If we
wish to preserve democracy in India
we will have to practice restraint and
discipline each citizen.
The onus is on the youth of the
country-to create awareness, to
sensitise the illiterate masses, to en-
able the downtrodden to ask for their
rights, to teach them that rights are
always accompanied by correspond-
ing duties, to warn the politicians that
we have borne the assault of the last
straw on our back and will not toler-
ate any more. Democracys defects
do not, however obscure its basic
value. It guarantees freedom to the
individual albeit that freedom is cer-
tainly restrained by virtue of masts
living in a society. The freedom is
certainly accompanied by certain
responsibilities. Self-defence and the
difficulty of judicious choice but a
democratic way of life alone comes
nearest to satisfying the love of free-
dom in man. S. K. Singh S. K. Singh S. K. Singh S. K. Singh S. K. Singh
The essence of democratic
governance is Rule of law. Delayed
justice, poor appreciation of evi-
dence, and incapacity to apply con-
stitutional and legal principles to real
life situations play havoc with
peoples lives. Failure of justice
extracts a heavy toll from the society
and economy. If we examine the
pendency of cases in courts, we
come across two factors. First, cer-
tain judges handle a much larger case
load and yet dispose of cases swiftly
and fairly. Others take interminably
tang, and yet fail to render justice.
The quality of justice administered
depends on the quality of those who
administer it. The judiciary is com-
pletely independent and invulner-
able to the vagaries of politics and
partisan pulls. The High Court has
complete control over the conduct
and functioning of subordinate
courts. And there are established pro-
cedures for elevation to High Court
and Supreme Court. Therefore, once
recruitment practices are sound,
there are incentives for better per-
formance and effective monitoring at
least until a judge is elevated to the
High Court.
THE CENTRE is contemplating
creation of an all India judicial ser-
vice (AIJS) on the pattern of the All
India Civil Services. In its 15th report,
the Parliamentary Standing Commit-
tee on Law and Justice has recom-
mended its creation and directed the
Law Ministry to take immediate steps
for setting up such a service. As of
now, while most government depart-
ments have all India service recruits,
selected after an all India competi-
tive examination conducted by the
Union Public Service Commission
every year, the judiciary is the only
set-up that does not have an all India
selection process. Incidentally, the
proposal for having an AIJS is not new
and draws its support from the re-
ports of the first, eighth and 11th law
commissions. Even the Supreme
Court is not averse to the idea. For, in
two of its judgments in 1991 and
1993, it had recommended setting
up of an all India judicial service. Ar-
ticle 312 of the Constitution also pro-
vides for a national level judicial ser-
vice. In spite of all this, the proposal
did not get far in the process of con-
cretization and has been hanging fire
for over four decades now.
The current procedures to en-
force accountability in higher judi-
ciary are not so effective, but that
problem needs to be dealt with sepa-
rately. If judicial officers are accorded
the prestige and respect that
All India Services enjoy, then the
best talent can be tapped for the ju-
diciary. Then the control exercised
by the High Court, and the prospects
of elevation to High Court ensure high
quality performance in district and
other subordinate courts. At the very
least, formation of an
All India Service for judiciary would
ensure a high level of competence
and skills in our justice administration.
Article 312 of the Indian Con-
stitution provides for the creation of
an all-India Judicial Service common
to the Union and the States. The first
Law Commission headed by M C
Setalwad, had made a strong recom-
mendation for the Constitution of an
All India Judicial Service (AJJS),
like the IAS and IPS. Three Chief Jus-
tices conferences in 1961, 63 and
65 favored this recommendation. In
1972, the Chief Justice
of India suggested the creation of
AJJS. Later, the 8th Law Commission,
in its 77th Report, recommended cre-
ation of such a service. In 1986, Law
Commission again examined the is-
sue in detail, and recommended for-
mation of an All India Judicial Ser-
vice. The Supreme Court considered
this issue in the All India Judges case
in 1992, and endorsed the creation
of AIJS.
Undoubtedly our judge-popu-
lation ratio is too low, and we need
many more trial courts. But as many
jurists have pointed out, mere in-
crease in the number of judges, with-
out improvement in their quality, is of
no avail. The quality of justice admin-
istered critically depends on the qual-
ity of the judges recruited. Clearly,
there is a compelling case to create a
highly competent, meritocratic
All India Judicial Service. Creation
of AJJS is a low-cost, high-impact re-
form long overdue. There are many
other steps required to make our jus-
tice system work for the people. But
improving the quality of judges, en-
hancing the prestige and dignity of
judicial service, and promoting com-
petition for recruitment is a relatively
simple measure around which there
is impressive consensus. The creation
of AUS will surely benefit the judi-
ciary system and it is the need of hour.
If implemented, the scheme will
have its own advantages. Primarily, the
direct recruitment of judges from the
entry level will be handled by an in-
dependent and impartial agency
through an open competition thereby
ensuring fair selection of incumbents.
It would naturally help attract bright
and capable young law graduates to
the judiciary to take over as judges.
For subordinate judicial officers it
would ensure equitable service con-
ditions besides providing them a
wider field to prove their mettle.
In this scheme of things, the
measure of uniformity in the standards
for selection will improve the quality
of personnel in different High Courts,
as one-third of the judges come there
on promotion from the subordinate
courts. Similarly, judges of the Su-
preme Court are drawn from the High
Courts. In this process only persons
of proven competence will preside
over the benches of superior courts.
Simultaneously, the quality of dispen-
sation of justice will also improve con-
siderably right from the bottom to the
top.
In addition, the objective of in-
ducting an outside element in High
Court benches can be achieved bet-
ter and without any problem because
a member of an all India judicial ser-
vice will have no mental block about
interstate transfers.
However, critics of this feature
may say that a district judge coming
from a different linguistic region will
face the problem of language in as-
sessing and tackling the critical legal
and other issues of facts, which will
affect the quality of justice. True, lan-
guage may be a problem but that
should not be an argument for
straightaway rejecting the idea.
Young recruits from outside can eas-
ily learn the local language and adapt
themselves to local conditions unlike
older people.
Nor should the finances in-
volved in the formation of such a ju-
dicial service pose any problem. In
fact, the amounts collected as court
fees, at least, should be spent for this
purpose instead of being utilised as
a source of general revenue of the
States. According to an agency re-
port, figures from the Ministry of Law
and Justice show that the income
generated from court fees is more
than the expenditure incurred on the
administration of justice.
Amit Kumar Amit Kumar Amit Kumar Amit Kumar Amit Kumar
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