Rangarajan panel rejects NAC recommendation

Favours subsidised foodgrains only for poor

NEW DELHI: The C. Rangarajan Committee on the proposed food security bill favours legal entitlement of subsidised
foodgrains to the poor (below the poverty line), but has rejected the National Advisory Council's recommendation that
above the poverty line (APL) households be partially covered, saying it is not feasible at the current levels of grain
production and procurement.

“The assured delivery of subsidised foodgrains be restricted to the really needy, and the rest can be covered through an executive
order with varying quantums, depending upon the availability of foodgrains,” the committee said in its report, officially released on
Thursday.

The NAC, headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, had recommended 75 per cent coverage of the population in two
phases, with 90 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban population included.

The Rangarajan Committee, however, suggested that 46 per cent of the rural population and 28 per cent of the urban population be
entitled to 35 kg of rice at Rs. 3 a kg or wheat at Rs. 2 a kg per household a month. The figures were arrived at by adding 10 per
cent beneficiaries (to cover those on the margins) to the Tendulkar Committee's poverty estimates of 41.8 per cent of the
rural poor and 25.7 per cent of the urban poor. The poverty figures matched the ones provided by the NAC.

“Going by the NAC proposal, the grain requirement would be 74 million tonnes in the final phase in 2014, while the total grain
availability with the government in 2011-12 and 2013-14 is likely to be 56.35 million tonnes and 57.61 million tonnes respectively,
based on the current production and procurement trends.”

“It will not be possible to implement the NAC-recommended food entitlements for either of the phases,” said the
committee, set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “examine” the NAC's recommendations.

The committee said the price of subsidised foodgrains for the poor (BPL) might be linked to inflation and indexed to the Consumer
Price Index in the coming years, and the price at which wheat and rice was to be made available to the non-poor (APL) might be
linked to the minimum support price (MSP).

It estimated the subsidy bill at Rs. 83,000 crore for the entitled groups at 100 per cent lifting. “Since the NAC recommendations
create a legal obligation for the government, it is important to mandate enforceable entitlements, keeping in mind the availability of
grain,” the report said.

Inter-ministerial group set up to review inflation

NEW DELHI: After three days of hectic consultations with Cabinet colleagues and experts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on
Thursday set up an inter-ministerial group under the Chief Economic Adviser to the Finance Ministry to review the
inflation situation with particular reference to primary food articles.

It will also assess international tariff trends and recommend action on the fiscal, monetary, production, marketing, distribution and
infrastructure fronts to prevent “price spikes.”

As an immediate measure to curb inflation, import and export of all essential commodities will be reviewed “on a
regular basis.” It will impose controls on exports and ease restrictions on imports, including tariff reduction wherever
necessary, to improve domestic supplies. The ban on export of edible oils, pulses and non-basmati rice will remain.

Even as food inflation declined to 16.91 per cent for the week ended January 1 from 18.32 per cent in the previous week, official
sources said the government was closely watching the situation and committed to containing the adverse impact of any inflationary
pressure on the common man.

To augment the availability of onions, now selling at Rs. 60 a kg in retail markets, import of 1,000 tonnes has been contracted for,
while export remains banned. The arrival of onions from Pakistan is expected to cool the prices as also the sale of subsidised onions
through official agencies.

The States have been asked to consider waiving mandi tax, octroi and other local levies and to reduce commission agent charges
and exempt horticulture produce from the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act.+
The government will take stringent action against hoarders and black marketeers. The States have been urged to ensure that strict
action is taken under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and the Competition Act, 2002, to prevent cartelisation.

Public sector undertakings shall intensify purchases of essential commodities, especially edible oils and pulses, for distribution
through their retail network as well as the PDS. The help of resident welfare associations and self-help groups will be taken to
ensure that supplies reach households with the least intermediation cost.

India asks China to follow consistent visa policy

NEW DELHI: India has once again urged China to follow a consistent visa policy after it emerged that China issued stapled visas to
two Indians domiciled in Arunachal Pradesh.

“We have seen media reports on [the] issuance of stapled visas to an athlete Sibi Yukar and his coach Abraham Kaya by the
Chinese embassy in India. Both of them are reportedly domiciled in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, which is an integral part of
India,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

“We have unequivocally conveyed to the Chinese side that a uniform practice of issuance of visas to Indian nationals must be
followed, regardless of the applicant's ethnicity or place of domicile,” it said.

On November 12, 2009, the Ministry issued a travel advisory, cautioning Indian citizens that Chinese visas issued on separate
papers stapled to passports would not be considered valid for travel out of the country.

Sibi Yukar and Abraham Kaya reached the international airport here on Wednesday night and presented their passports with the
visas stapled to the immigration authorities, who denied them further entry.

Policy ready for self-reliance in defence

Large-scale dependence on foreign sources unacceptable, says A.K. Antony

NEW DELHI: Declaring overdependence on imports in defence “unacceptable,” the Centre on Thursday unveiled India's first-ever
policy aimed at achieving self-reliance in design, development and production of defence equipment, weapons systems and
platforms.

“While self-reliance is still a distant dream, over the years we have allowed imports for urgent requirements…large-scale
dependence on foreign sources is unacceptable to a country like India…we don't conceive zero imports but have to substantially
reduce them for economic reasons and based on past experience for strategic reasons…,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony
said after releasing the policy and details of the 2011 Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP).

The policy also aims at creating for private industries, particularly small and medium enterprises, conditions conducive to play an
active role in the endeavour while seeking to broaden the defence research and development base.

For the armed forces, India procures nearly 70 per cent of the requirements through imports, and according to industry
estimates, it will spend up to $50 billion on defence procurement over the next five years.

“Cause for anxiety”

Mr. Antony said the highly volatile scenario around India was a cause for anxiety, and the country had to not only strengthen but
also protect its economic and security needs. This led to the government embarking on the programme to modernise the armed
services.

The policy was prepared after wide consultations with the tri-services, the Coast Guard, the Integrated Defence Staff,
the DRDO and Indian industry associations. Mr. Antony promised to review the production policy every year, as he would the
DPP.

Bill on expansion of Chennai Corporation adopted

Special Correspondent
Number of wards will go up from 155 to 200

AIADMK opposes it; PMK for referring it to Standing Committee

CHENNAI: The Assembly on Thursday adopted a Bill, increasing the number of wards of the Chennai Municipal
Corporation from 155 to 200 in the wake of expansion of the limits of the Corporation.

The Bill replaced an ordinance promulgated on December 20. The government, in its order issued in December 2009, decided to
expand the limits of the Corporation by including 42 local bodies adjoining the city.

Based on the inclusion, the delimitation of wards would be carried out for the next ordinary election scheduled to be held later this
year.

RIM denies access to BlackBerry Enterprise Server

But provides solution to intercept messenger, Internet services

NEW DELHI: The BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) said on Thursday that it had provided a solution for legally
intercepting messenger and Internet and email services, but denied such access on BlackBerry Enterprise Server
(BES) stating the company has no ability to provide its customers encryption key.

‘The company has now delivered a solution that enables India's wireless carriers to address their lawful access requirements or our
consumer messaging services, which includes BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS) e-
mail,” RIM said in a statement here.

However, the enablement of lawful access does not extend to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which is essentially a Virtua l
Private Network (VPN) solution.

“As we have stated on several occasions and as we have set our company's principles for addressing lawful access matters, no
change can be made to the security architecture for BES customers since, contrary to any rumours, the security
architecture is the same around the world and RIM truly has no ability to provide its customers' encryption keys,” it
said.

Encryption keys

The RIM could not access information encrypted through the BES given that neither RIM nor the wireless operators were ever in
possession of the encryption keys, the company said.

Earlier, RIM assured the government that they would provide the final solution for the lawful interception of BlackBerry Messenger
services by January 31, 2011. The company had said that the understanding was that they were to put in place the system by
January 31.

“We are pleased to have delivered a solution well before a mutually agreed milestone date of January 31, 2011. We look forwar d to
continue serving our Indian customers with industry products and services that deliver and unmatched mobile communications
experience,” the company added.

The lawful access capability, now available to the RIM's carrier partners (the service providers who offer BlackBerry services) meets
the standards required by the government for all consumer messaging services offered in the Indian market place.

The company claimed that it had been assured that all the RIM's competitors must provide lawful access capabilities to this same
standard if they had not done so already. The BlackBerry has over one million subscribers in India, which is one of the fastest
growing markets in the world in terms of new subscriber additions.

Lebanese government falls

After Hizbollah quits over Hariri report

Shia-Sunni tensions may come to the fore

Indictments expected next week

DUBAI: Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman on Thursday asked the outgoing Cabinet to continue in office in a caretaker
capacity after the government collapsed on Wednesday following the resignation of more than one-third of the Ministers.

“Since one-third of the Cabinet members quit, the government is now considered resigned,” said Mr. Suleiman in a statement, “For
this reason, I request the caretaker government to carry out its duties until a new one is formed.”

Eleven Cabinet Ministers belonging to Hizbollah and its allies resigned on Wednesday over the international
investigation on the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri.

They said the Prime Minister had rejected their demand that an urgent Cabinet session be called to discuss the government's
withdrawal from all cooperation with the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). The Hizbollah has for long been
saying the STL would wrongly indict it for Hariri's assassination. The indictments are expected to be released next week, though a
delay in this process cannot be ruled out, observers say.

Analysts point out that indictment of Hizbollah is likely to increase sectarian tensions between the Shia group and Lebanon's Sunni
community to which Hariri belonged, evoking fears of resurrection of the bloody Lebanese civil war.

In Washington, where outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri was present on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama slammed
Hizbollah for causing the government's collapse.

In the U.S.

The White House accused Hizbollah of “demonstrating their own fear and determination to block the government's ability
to conduct its business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people”.

Mr. Hariri later left for Paris for consultations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the region, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday discussed over telephone the developments in Lebanon
with Mr. Hariri, according to Saudi Arabia's state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

On his part, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called Mr. Suleiman on Thursday. An editorial in the Al Quds Al Arabi, a Palestinian
daily in Arabic from London, said that “[a] stage of escalation has started” in Lebanon

Energy management services from Alstom JV

NEW DELHI: Alstom and Bouygues, through their subsidiaries Bouygues Immobilier and ETDE, on Thursday announced
the setting up of a joint venture under the name EMBIX to develop and provide energy management services for eco-
districts.

The initiative opens a new chapter in the fruitful partnership begun by Bouygues and Alstom in 2006, according to an official release
here.

Alstom Grid will offer expertise in micro grid security and management of energy demand.

India's bid for Vietnam field not a closed chapter'

SINGAPORE: India's bid to acquire BP's stake in a Vietnamese offshore gas field is not a closed chapter. On a different
plane, the unsettled issue of Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline calls for a business decision beyond diplomacy.
These two unrelated aspects were spelt out by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora and Secretary S. Sundareshan in
response to questions from the media on the sidelines of the ministry's road show, NELP IX, which began here on Thursday.

Mr. Deora said efforts to solve the issue of mode of payments for Iranian crude, in view of uncertainties over the relevant Asian
clearing channel, were continuing at present. On the domestic front, the Minister said, the government was “trying [its] best” to
ensure that “the prices [of diesel, kerosene, and LPG] are not increased.” The assurance was given in the context of a question
about the current decontrol of petrol. On payments for Iranian crude, it was emphasised that oil from Iran “is still flowing to India
on the basis of guarantees which the companies [concerned] are giving.” India would like to maintain its good relations with Iran,
and “a solution will be found.”

Agreeing with the suggestion that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline idea was becoming a pipedream, the Minister said the
authorities in Islamabad were already informed that the onus of ensuring delivery at their border was entirely theirs. On a related
issue, he expressed optimism about India getting supplies from Turkmenistan in the context of confidence being exuded by
Afghanistan as a potential partner.

A Russian company, TNKBP, was being mentioned, although not officially, as a prospective buyer of BP's stake in the Vietnamese
offshore gas field of interest to India. However, it would be PetroVietnam's call to make, and there was continuing harmony
between New Delhi and Hanoi, said the Minister and the Secretary.