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SUNDAY, 2 JULY 2017

12 pages in 1 section WORLD P8 WORLD P9

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MUMBAI
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VOLUME XI NUMBER 17

CURB ‘TINY GROUP’ OF SPAMMERS ON HIS BANK OF AMERICA BET

PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM BENGALURU, KOLKATA, MUMBAI AND NEW DELHI

TVS CAPITAL’S SUNDARAM

APPOINTED INFOSYS
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Infosyshasappointed
GST Day 1: Small businesses struggle
DSundaram(pictured)asan
independentdirectoronthe
Mostorganisedretailchainsmanagetoissueinvoicesinnewregime MODI SEEKS Protests across
CAs’ HELP TO
PHOTO: SANJAY K SHARMA
boardofthecompany.Heis

the nation
goingtobethefourth

SPREAD TAX
independentdirectortojoin
India’ssecond-largestsoftwareexportersince

ChiefExecutiveOfficerVishalSikkatookover
threeyearsago.Sundaram’srolewouldbe
effectivefromJuly14.Heiscurrently
vice-chairmanandmanagingdirectorofTVS
CapitalFunds.“Hebringsextensiveexperience
inthefieldoffinanceandstrategyexecution.
Iamsurethattheboardwillimmenselybenefit
fromhisexpertise,”saidRSeshasayee,
chairmanoftheInfosysboardinastatement. 2 >
BS SPECIALS
Conversion to Buddhism
has brought literacy and
well-being to Dalits
The converts tend to have fewer children and
make a higher contribution to the national
Shoppers take advantage of GST clearance sales at Connaught Place in New Delhi on Saturday
ARNAB DUTTA, VEENA MANI, SHUBHAM
PARASHAR & ANEESH PHADNIS
New Delhi/Mumbai, 1 July
Mumbai, shops across the board,
PRICE RELIEF from stationery to sarees, cosmetics
| Maruti Suzuki | Apple to paints, said they were yet to switch
to the new tax regime. “The picture is
KNOWLEDGE
INDIVJAL DHASMANA
New Delhi, 1 July
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Saturday said days before the roll-
out of the goods and services tax
(GST), the Registrar of Companies
had deregistered about 100,000
firms for irregularities. He also
said data mining of money
deposited in banks following
demonetisation had revealed
irregularities in transactions of
300,000 entities.
He was addressing chartered
accountants after launching a
course introduced by the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of
India (ICAI).
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,
who also addressed the event, said,
“Why are some traders protesting
against the GST when customers,
who have to pay the tax, are not?”
The government had demone-
tised old ~500 and ~1,000 notes on
TE NARASIMHAN, VINAY UMARJI,
SOHINI DAS & AVISHEK RAKSHIT
Chennai/Ahmedabad/Kolkata, 1 July
The goods and services tax
(GST) ran up against strikes,
protests, and apprehensions
across the country on
Saturday. This was reminis-
cent of the resistance the val-
ue-added tax had faced more
than 10 years ago.
Tamil Nadu: Fear of
imports revives
Several industries, mainly
micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) — from
movie theatres, multiplexes,
units making firecrackers
and matchboxes, and weav-
ing and knitting factories —
downed shutters in Tamil
Nadu to protest the GST.
Movie theatres in Tamil
Nadu will remain shut from
Monday to protest the lack of
clarity on the tax that would be
levied even though the state
government has said it will
discuss the issue of the local
levy of 30 per cent over and
above the 28 per cent GST.
Multiplex theatres in Tamil
Nadu have suspended online
booking for the weekend.
Units making matchboxes
and firecrackers in
Virudunagar, Kovilpati,
Sivakasi, and surrounding
areas have decided to remain
closed indefinitely to protest
against the GST rate of 28 per
cent. Their apprehension is
that while small and medium
manufacturers in India will
vanish, the import of Chinese
crackers will increase.
According to the Fireworks
and Amorces Manufacturers
Association (TANFAMA),
there are 821 fireworks facto-
ries in Virudhunagar. Of
those, 51 factories, which com-
prise 10 large groups, pay a
central excise duty of 12.5 per
cent and 14.5 per cent VAT.
Turn to Page 4 >

T
economy than the Scheduled Castes 7> he goods and services tax
reduces slashes still hazy and we are unclear how we November 8, 2016. The GST, which
(GST) proved to be a prices of iPhone get going with this (GST),” said Vinit replaces a slew of state and central
nightmare for small various prices in the R, a paints dealer in Dadar. His shop indirect taxes, was rolled out on
traders and businessmen models by country was also running low on stocks, as Friday midnight.
COMPANIES P3 on its first day. Shops and pharma up to by up to supplies had fallen. On Saturday, Modi said the
Small firms struggle to find distributors in Mumbai, New Delhi,
3%
The picture was similar in south government had zeroed in on

talent in big IT job crunch
SmallITservicesfirms,facingashortageoftalent
forbothentry-levelandmiddlemanagement
jobs,arefindingalackofnewtechnologyskills
amongapplicantsfromlargeITservicesfirms.
Atleastthreecompanieshaveexperiencedthis
whileinterviewingforpositionsatmiddle
levels.ThousandsofemployeesatITservices
companieswith7-15years’experiencestareat
joblossesiftheyfailtoupskillthemselvesin
AYAN PRAMANIK reports
digitaltechnologies.A
ECONOMY P6
States catching up in
transmission tenders
and other cities scrambled to issue
invoices under the new system.
Organised sector players such
as Big Bazaar and DMart were ready
to issue GST invoices from Friday
midnight, the hour at which the
new indirect tax was rolled out. But
not everyone was. At the outlet of
electronics retailer Croma at
Prabhadevi in central Mumbai, cus-
tomers were still being charged val-
ue-added tax (VAT) on Saturday
afternoon. Officials said the store
would switch to the GST-based
billing by the evening, when cus-
tomer footfall increases.
The situation was not too dif-
New formula to protect fuel retailers’ margins
Associationsclaimthey IN THE NET
havelost~400crsince
Total retail outlets
June15whendailyprice 59,591
changeswereintroduced PSUs
7.5%
ferent in local supermarts and
shops in Santacruz and Bandra.
Ram Dhir, an owner of a super-
market in Santacruz (East), said it
would take at least four to five days
for the GST software to be uploaded
on his billing terminal. “We are in
touch with our local trade body and
they are helping us out with this.
Till then, consumers can continue
to buy products at MRP (maximum
retail price) plus VAT,” he said.
In the crowded Dadar area of
Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar central market 37,000 shell companies floated to
and the electronics hub at Nehru hold black money. “We are taking
Place. Both wore a deserted look on strong measures against black
Saturday, which is rather unusual. money holders and corrupt per-
Traders and retailers were unhappy. sons. We will take stronger meas-
Worse, a fifth of the shops had ures against these entities in com-
downed shutters. Turn to Page 4 > ing days.” The PM requested CAs
to not support corrupt practices
GST IMPACT: 5> and to spread awareness among
Minimuminventorysees the people about the GST.
carsalesplummetinJune Citing Swiss National Bank’s
(SNB) figures, Modi said money
Revenuewon’tdipdueto deposited by Indians in Swiss banks
GST,assuresTamilNaduFM fell to a record low in 2016 — there
was a 45 per cent decline, to 676
Gold business to take time Swiss francs (about ~4,500 crore). Kashmiri traders and transporters stage a sit-in protest against
to adjust to GST the implementation of the GST in Srinagar on Saturday PHOTO:PTI
Turn to Page 4 >
value of net fixed assets, including land, outlets. While the three PSUs have some
and evaporation loss,” Ajay Bansal, pres-
ident, All India Petroleum Dealers’
company-owned, company-operated
outlets, the rest are dealer-run.
Association, told Business Standard.
An official in the know confirmed an
According to dealers, despite inter-
vention by Petroleum Minister
idea to revise the formula was mooted
and it was under the consideration of
Dharmendra Pradhan, OMCs were yet
to take a call on the margins.

SHINE JACOB
54,607 the petroleum ministry. “We will soon
take a call on this,” he added, without
“Several associations, including
some in Punjab, Haryana, and Kerala,
New Delhi, 1 July Essar divulging any details. are going to stop purchasing fuel soon.

Oil-marketing companies (OMCs) such

as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),
3,499 Dealers claim that the purchase price
and selling price for them are different
Reliance because of the daily changes. They buy
We are left with no choice but to go on
indefinite strike from August 1, if com-
panies fail to take a call on this.

Powertransmission,dominatedbycentral
utilities,iswitnessingachangewithstate
utilitiesplacinglargerandmorefrequent
orders.“Wehaveseenachangeinawarding
activityfortransmissionandsub-station
projects.Earlier,centralutilitiesdominatedthe
space,nowstatesareplacingmoreordersand
ofhighervalue,”saidVimalKejriwal,managing
directorandchiefexecutiveofficer,KEC
International.A AMRITHA PILLAY reports
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
(HPCL), and Bharat Petroleum
Corporation (BPCL) are considering a
revision in the formula to decide mar-
gins of dealers, to insulate them from
fluctuations because of daily changes
in fuel prices.
Daily pricing changes were intro-
duced on June 15. Associations of fuel
retailers claim about 53,000 outlets of
the public sector OMCs have lost ~400
1,400
Shell:
85
crore since then. Several of these asso-
ciations are threatening to go on indef-
inite strike from August 1.
“We have mooted a new formula
through which inventory will be owned
by the company in petrol and diesel,
similar to the case of compressed natu-
ral gas and liquefied petroleum gas. The
new margin model will take into
account our increased operating cost,
fuel in advance at a certain price, but
have to sell it at another price that might
be lower.
“We have so far suffered a loss of
~400 crore on our margins because of
daily pricing changes; hence, some insu-
lation is required,” Bansal added.
Of the 59,591 retail outlets in the
country, 54,607 are under PSUs, while
Essar (3,499), Reliance Industries
(1,400), and Shell (85) run the remaining
Daily price change is wiping out our
margins,” said B T Ram Kumar, joint sec-
retary of the Consortium of India
Petroleum Dealers.
Bansal said dealers across the coun-
try were facing a daily loss of about
~25-30 crore.
IOC is monitoring the daily price
revision round-the-clock through 87
control rooms to offer quick answers to
queries from the field.

Hacks raise fear over NSA’s hold on cyberweapons

NICOLE PERLROTH & DAVID E SANGER
1 July
Twice in the past month, National
Security Agency (NSA) cyberweapons
stolen from its arsenal have been turned
against two very different partners of the
United States — Britain and Ukraine.
The NSA has kept quiet, not acknowl-
edging its role in developing the weapons.
White House officials have deflected many
questions, and responded to others by
arguing that the focus should be on the
attackers themselves, not the manufac-
turer of their weapons.
But the silence is wearing thin for vic-
tims of the assaults, as a series of escalating
attacks using NSA cyberweapons have hit
hospitals, a nuclear site and American
businesses. Now there is growing concern
that United States intelligence agencies
have rushed to create digital weapons that
they cannot keep safe from adversaries or
disable once they fall into the wrong hands.
On Wednesday, the calls for the agency
to address its role in the latest attacks grew
louder, as victims and technology compa- Beyond that, the government has the NSA was the source of the “vulnerabili-
nies cried foul. Representative Ted Lieu, a blamed others. Two weeks ago, the United ties” now wreaking havoc and called on the
California Democrat and a former Air Force States — through the Department of agency to “consider the damage to civilians
officer who serves on the House Judiciary Homeland Security — said it had evidence that comes from hoarding these vulnera-
and Foreign Affairs North Korea was responsible bilities and the use of these exploits.”
Committees, urged the NSA to for a wave of attacks in May For the American spy agency, which
help stop the attacks and to For the using ransomware called has invested billions of dollars developing
stophoardingknowledgeofthe American spy WannaCry that shut down hos- an arsenal of weapons that have been used
computer vulnerabilities upon agency, what pitals, rail traffic and produc- against the Iranian nuclear programme,
which these weapons rely. is unfolding tion lines. The attacks on North Korea’s missile launches, and
In an email on Wednesday across the Tuesday against targets in Islamic State militants, what is unfolding
evening, Michael Anton, a world amounts Ukraine, which spread world- across the world amounts to a digital
spokesman for the National to a digital wide, appeared more likely to nightmare. It was as if the Air Force lost
Security Council at the White nightmare be the work of Russian hackers, some of its most sophisticated missiles
House, noted that the govern- though no culprit has been for- and discovered an adversary was launch-
ment “employs a disciplined, mally identified. ing them against American allies — yet
high-level interagency decision-making In both cases, the attackers used hack- refused to respond, or even to acknowl-
process for disclosure of known vulnera- ing tools that exploited vulnerabilities in edge that the missiles were built for
bilities” in software, “unlike any other Microsoft software. The tools were stolen American use.
country in the world.” from the NSA, and a group called the Officials fret that the potential damage
Anton said the administration “is com- Shadow Brokers made them public in from the Shadow Brokers leaks could go
mitted to responsibly balancing national April. The group first started offering NSA much further, and the agency’s own
security interests and public safety and weapons for sale in August, and recently Brokers remain a mystery, former intelli- called “Tailored Access Operations.” weaponry could be used to destroy critical
security,” but declined to comment “on even offered to provide NSA exploits to gence officials say there is no question While the government has remained infrastructure in allied nations or in the US.
the origin of any of the code making up paid monthly subscribers. from where the weapons came: A unit deep quiet, private industry has not. Brad Smith, © 2017 The New York Times News Service
this malware.” Though the identities of the Shadow within the agency that was until recently the president of Microsoft, said outright that Turn to Page 4 >
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2 COMPANIES
>
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 1

Essar Shipping bets big on Infosys appoints TVS Capital’s

Sundaram as independent director
captive cargo; fleet renewal AYAN PRAMANIK
Bengaluru, 1 July
THE APPOINTMENT
| Sundaram is the fourth independent
director to join Infosys since chief

I
nfosys has appointed
SOHINI DAS actually widened from ~229 crore in FY14 to Sundaram as an independent executive Vishal Sikka took over the IT firm
Ahmedabad, 1 July ~583 crore in FY17. director on the board of the three years ago
Singh explained that this is due to its company. He is the fourth inde- | He is currently vice-chairman and

E
ssar Shipping Ltd (ESL), the logistics fully owned subsidiary Essar Oilfields pendent director to join India’s
managing director of TVS Capital Funds LTD
arm of Essar Group, is eyeing a 10 per Services Ltd (EOSL), owns and operates 15 second largest software exporter
cent growth in cargo handling during land rigs and one offshore semi-sub- since chief executive Vishal Sikka | Corporate governance experts are
2017-18 at a time when the capacity utilisation mersible rig, was out of business due to took over three years ago. surprised by Infosys decision to announce
levels at shipping lines are low. ESL’s cargo fluctuations in crude prices. “One rig has Sundaram’s role would be appointment of
handling had grown by 22 per cent in FY17, been put with ONGC in June; it was out of effective from July 14. independent
while the company’s 14-vessel fleet also grew business for two years,” Singh informed. EXPANSION PLANS He is currently vice-chairman director a week
its capacity utilisation to 94 per cent from 80 On a standalone basis, ESL has managed to FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 and managing director of TVS after the
per cent in the previous fiscal. reduce its losses from ~198 crore in FY16 to ~119 Capital Funds Limited. Before this, company’s
Ranjit Singh, executive director and CEO, crore in FY17.
Essar Shipping - Consolidated figures in ~ Crore he served in various leadership annual general
ESL said the company expects cargo Vikram Suryavanshi, vice presi- Sales 1859 1911 1720 2188 capacities in Unilever Group since meeting
handling to grow by 10 per cent year Currently, ESL dent, equity, PhillipCapital said that PBIDT 678 470 506 310.64 1975 including director of finance
on year during 2017-18. He admitted is in the process ESL has the buffer of captive cargo, & IT, and vice-chairman of
Adjusted PAT -229 -459 -453 -583
that shipping business was going of replacing primarily from Essar’s steel busi- Hindustan Unilever Limited.
through a volatile cycle and while its old fleet ness. “Around 70-75 per cent of ESL's Market Capitalisation 314 449 518 580 Sundaram is a Fellow of the
new ships are being delivered, the with younger cargo is captive. This puts them in a Essar Shipping - Standalone figures in ~ Crore Institute of Cost and Management pendent investment advisory reason behind inducting a
scrap market is not very high. vessels better position compared to other Sales 874 791 729 658 Accountants, India and a post- and D N Prahlad, a former director one week after the
ESL is in the process of replacing shipping lines who depend on spot graduate in management studies. Infosys employee. AGM. They could have done it
its old fleet with younger vessels. It acquired cargo contracts,” he said. PBIDT 288 352 302 373 “He brings extensive experi- The appointment of Sinha was one month before and put it up
a Panamax vessel of 74,005 deadweight ton- Singh, however, claimed that ESL is con- Interest 323 286 343 353 ence in the field of finance and contentious as she happened to as a proposal during the AGM,”
nage (DWT) in May this year taking its total stantly on the lookout for outiside cargo as Adjusted PAT -215 -83 -198 -119 strategy execution. I am sure that be the wife of Union Minister said Shriram Subramanian,
fleet size to fourteen. Moreover, with the well. “Around 20-25 per cent of our cargo is lift- the Board will immensely benefit Jayant Sinha. Similarly, Prahlad’s founder and managing director
Market Capitalisation 314 449 518 580
acquisition of the 2000-built Panamax bulk ed,” he said. from his expertise,” said R appointment was also contentious of advisory and corporate gov-
Source:Capitaline Compiled by BS Research Bureau
carrier, the company’s average fleet age has The good news for ESL is that the Baltic Seshasayee, chairman of the as he is a former Infosys employee ernance firm InGovern
fallen to 12 years from 13.5 years earlier. Dry Index, a key indicator of freight rates went Essar Shipping Vs Sensex Infosys Board in a statement. and a relative of the company’s Research Services. Analysts say
Interestingly, ESL, a firm that was to be up by four times during FY17 from an all time Date Essar Shipping %Chg Sensex %Chg Since, Sikka became the first founder N R Narayana Murthy. Sundaram’s stints in leadership
delisted in 2014, (but eventually remained low of 290 in February 2016 to a high of 1,300 non-founder chief executive, Corporate governance roles spanning across three
listed on the bourses), has managed to double in March 2017. 31-03-2014 15.30 22386 Infosys board has appointed experts are surprised by Infosys decades at Unilever is an advan-
its market capitalisation from ~313 crore as In FY17, ESL carried 11.5 million tonnes 31-03-2015 21.90 43.1 27957 24.9 Roopa Kudva, partner and man- decision to announce appoint- tage in terms of corporate gov-
on April 1, 2014 to ~605 crore as on June 27, dry bulk cargo as against 9.4 million tonnes in 31-03-2016 25.05 14.4 25342 -9.4 aging director Omidyar India, ment of independent director a ernance at Infosys board. The
2017. In fact, the stock has performed better the previous financial year. More than 80 per Punita Kumar-Sinha, founder week after the annual general IT services firm was questioned
31-03-2017 28.00 11.8 29621 16.9
than the Sensex. (See chart) This came in cent of its fleet carries dry bulk cargo, which and managing partner of Pacific meeting. “The timing seems to by its founders recently over
while its losses (at a consolidated level) have includes products like iron ore, coal, bauxite. 28-06-2017 29.00 3.6 30834 4.1 Paradigm Advisors, an inde- be strange to me. What is the alleged “lapse of governance”.

Kandla Port Trust on Google India eyes SMBs for growth

expansion mode
VINAY UMARJI & SOHINI DAS
Ahmedabad, 1 July
In a bid to consolidate its posi-
tion as one of the largest ports
in the country, Kandla Port
Trust (KPT) is undertaking sev-
eral measures including expan-
sion of jetties, revision of
rentals on storage and achiev-
ing higher discharge rates.
The measures are collec-
tively aimed at taking up KPT's
total handling capacity from
120 million tonnes as on date to
180 million tonnes by 2020. For
this, KPT is enhancing both liq-
uid and dry cargo handling
capacities at the major port.
Among such measures
include the recent revision of
rental rates on storage which
have been rationalized to ~130
per kiloliters per month, down
from ~500 kl per month in
recent past. According to Ravi
Parmar, chairman of KPT, the
revision of rates alone have led
to its profits jump by 100 per
cent in financial year 2016-17
to close at ~700 crore.
Having seen diversion of
traffic and becoming uncom-
petitive as against other com-
peting major ports in liquid and
dry cargo, KPT is undertaking
measures to regain its share.
To begin with, since
February this year, KPT started
handling container cargo as
well. With coastal movement
of cargo, growth in container
cargo would come to KPT, felt
Parmar. “Container is the
future of port business. If we
are not in this crucial segment,
we will lose out,” Parmar told
Business Standard.
Already this year from
Kandla to Chabahar port in
Iran, a 300 containers vessel
has gone with a consignment of
basmati rice. The Chabahar
port is being jointly developed
by KPT (40 per cent equity)
along with JNPT (60 per cent
equity). However, in liquid car-
go, lately Kandla port had
begun witnessing storage
capacity constraints that led to
auctioning of plots for inviting
more tank storage owners. As
far as liquid cargo at KPT goes,
there was a lack of storage facil-
ity and handling capacity. Lack
of storage coupled with
increased rental value, diverted
some traffic to other ports.
“Kandla port is emerging as
a hub for storage vegetable oils
and chemicals. We took a strate-
gic decision of more auction of
plots for purpose of tank stor-
age. Our storage capacity was
limited and import was higher.
So there was no storage avail-
able. So whatever storage was
available was given on a premi-
um. Tank owners began charg-
ing higher rates making Kandla
uncompetitive against other
ports like Mundra and Hazira. ”
The auctioning of plots will
create additional capacity for
1.5 million tonnes, leading to 2.5
million tonnes of liquid storage
capacity. In addition, rentals
have also come down from ~500
kl per month to now ~130 kl per
month, resulting in reversal of
cargo diversion. As a result, in
FY17, KPT handled 12 mt of liq-
uid cargo, becoming a hub for
vegetable oils and chemicals,
which is up from 11.5 mt in
FY16.
For handling capacity con-
straints, KPT is investing fur-
ther in oil jetties. Currently, all
the six oil jetties are almost ful-
ly occupied. However, KPT has
begun planning for four new
oil jetties which were delayed
due to environmental clear-
ance issues for the past two
years or so.
"This year jetty number 8
and 9 are likely to come on-
stream, which will not only de-
congest but also reduce demur-
rage paid by shipping lines,
thus making KPT more com-
petitive vis-a-vis the nearby
ports. KPT is also working on
rationalisation of berths based
on cranes etc to increase the
efficiency parameters. A con-
sultant has suggested rational-
isation of pipeline structure for
increasing efficiency," said
Parmar, while adding that KPT
has also signed an MoU with
Essar Oil for a single berth
mooring (SBM) of 25 million
tonnes at Vadinar.
The discharge rate has
already been improved from
150 tonnes per hour (tph) to 450
tph at present. KPT aims to
improve this to 800 tph by
removing the redundant
pipelines, laying new pipelines
and increasing diameters of
pipelines within one year. At a
450 tph discharge rate, KPT
can handle 12 mt of cargo with
a 99 per cent occupancy.
The increase in discharge
rate will also result in faster
turnaround of cargo at the jet-
ties. At 800 tph, it will only
take six hours of turnaround
time and raise capacity to 18
million tonnes.
For dry cargo, KPT is ratio-
nalising allocation of berths
wherein it is handling less
dense commodities like tim-
ber on older berths and dense
commodities like steel on
newer berths. KPT is also
planning two additional
berths, that would add 9 mt
additional capacity.
GIREESH BABU
Chennai, 1 July
“The traction that we have seen in
the last few years and the one which
we are going to see in the coming few
that has made this journey already.
Quoting a study conducted by the
company along with KPMG, she said
Google India has is expecting to cov- years is going to be much greater than that there are around 51 million SMBs
er more Small and Medium that,” she said. in India, of which around 32 per cent
Businesses (SMBs), with its initiatives On June 13, it has launched a fea- are online, while the rest are offline.
focused on education and new tools ture within Google My Business page, The reasons for the low level of online
to help them create online presence. which can be used to create a web- penetration, while the customers are
The company is GST ready in terms site for the SMB for free under 10 min- already adapting online fast, is that
of its systems tuned in to serve utes, in nine Indian languages. The the lack of understanding related
its SMB customers, added Shalini pilot was launched earlier this year to entering online and lack of techni-
Girish, director — marketing solu- which ran till June 13, in which cal skills.
tions, Google. around 120,000 business created In terms of advantages, the digital
“A little over 10 million SMBs have their website using the tool. presence offers them a 2x growth in
their presence either on Google Google is running three initiatives terms of revenue and profit, as
Search or on Google Map. We are hop- for SMBs, one to educate them on against the offline businesses. Digital
ing with some of these initiatives and how easy to come online, second pro- businesses able to reach consumers
tools, we will grow faster,” she said. going digital and has launched a viding an access to much more sim- well beyond their own cities and they
The company is engaged in creating learning application, which has seen plified tools to start their business are able to offer far greater employ-
awareness among the SMBs on the 1.5 million downloads so far. online and finally, to recognise SMBs ment opportunities, she added.
Spice Mobility forms Orient Green Power to
JV with Chinese
sell loss-making biz
Transsion
T E NARASIMHAN
Chennai, 1 July
ROMITA MAJUMDAR Research (Ind-Ra). Xiaomi, Vivo Orient Green Power Company Limited
Mumbai, 1 July and Oppo Mobiles has helped (OGPL), a renewable energy-based power gen-
Chinese firms to own over 51 per eration company that is part of the Shriram
Spice Mobility will launch smart- cent of the market, while group, plans to sell the bulk of its biomass
phones through a joint venture Samsung continues to be the sin- operations to its promoter company Shriram
with Chinese handset maker gle largest dominant brand with Ventures or its subsidiaries.
Transsion Holdings, targeting 28 per cent share. The enterprise value of the business esti-
customers at a price range of less Transsion says that it is look- mated at around ~275 crore. The development
than ~10,000 that is currently ing to strengthen its brands comes ahead of the company’s plan to merge
dominated by local players such through aggressive marketing its wind energy assets with IL&FS Wind
as Micromax and Lava. offline and online and building Energy.
Spice is looking at selling products for India. The private equity-backed OGPL had 96
these feature and smartphones, “Our engineers are keen on MW of biomass capacity, of which it has
currently to be made in China, getting consumer feedback to already sold 30 MW in Rajasthan and
through its stores Through the improve our offerings Maharashtra and is now planning to sell 68 ance sheet. The reduced interest outgo will
across India. The JV, the two and we will look at offer- MW to Shriram Ventures or its subsidiaries. improve operating performance while
offline strategy would firms aim to ing the best service in T Shivaraman, vice-chairman of OGPL enhancing positive cash flows of the wind
also help it penetrate target sub the industry,” Qin added. and son of Shriram group founder R operations. Further, the sale of the biomass
smaller town markets, ~10,000 He also added that they Thyagarajan, said the decision was taken to operations will result in an increased net
where consumers are smartphones are keen on ‘making for enhance value to shareholders of OGPL. worth of over ~250 crore in the consolidated
price sensitive. India’ and graduate to He said the biomass operations registered balance sheet.
“Our new brand (Spice) is tar- ‘make in India’ after that. revenues of ~78 crore in 2016-17, 24 per cent Venkatachalam added in view of the accu-
geted towards a young and stylish Transsion’s introductory lower than a year ago, due to the shutdown of mulated losses and the reduced size of oper-
consumer with a new tagline brand iTel, which offers a 100- some plants. OGPL’s biomass operations reg- ations, it was felt the demerger of the biomass
‘Make sharing better’ for Spice,” day replacement warranty to istered a loss before tax of ~81 crore in 2016-17. operations into a listed entity with limited
said Lin Qin, VP Transsion consumers, already occupies The operations have around ~193 crore in out- growth potential would not create optimum
Holdings. While the five feature second spot in the Indian hand- standing debt. value for shareholders.
phones in the new range will cost set market with 9 per cent mar- Almost 50 per cent of the company’s loss Shivaraman said OGPL and IL&FS were
between ~850 to ~2,000 while the ket share. Spice mobiles takes it was on account of the biomass business, in the final stage of finalising the merger of
smart phones will cost up to one notch higher with a one added S Venkatachalam, managing director their wind energy assets. “We have exclusivi-
~9,500. The brand expects a pan- year replacement policy. The and chief executive officer of OGPL. The com- ty till July end, hopefully we should be able to
India presence within 18 months. other brands in Transsion’s pany’s loss was ~112.36 crore in 2016-17, against do it before that,” he said. OGPL will merge its
India is witnessing a domi- portfolio are Tecno and Infinix ~168.51 crore in 2015-16 and ~238.63 crore in 425 MW wind energy assets with IL&FS Wind
nance of Chinese smartphone for phones, service based 2014-15. The sale of the biomass operations Energy Ltd, which has around 700 MW capac-
makers, who control over half of Carlcare, Oraimo for mobile will result in a reduction of outstanding debt ity. The merged entity, which will absorb all
the country's market, according accessories and Syinix for home by about ~250 crore and will support efforts of the wind energy assets of both the compa-
to study by India Ratings and appliances. the OGPL management to deleverage its bal- nies, will be listed.

Banks take to hackathons to compete in digital world

ROMITA MAJUMDAR
Mumbai, 1 July
Banks are opening up their platforms
and data to people with ideas in order
to improve their business in a digital-
ly disruptive environment. State Bank
of India, RBL and Axis Bank are organ-
ising hackathons to welcome young-
sters to come up with innovative digi-
tal solutions.
Axis Bank held an event last year
for technical and business roles across
its offices. SBI’s Code For Banks, which
concluded last week, was a month-
long event with over 1,000 participat-
ing teams. Based on the success of this
event, the bank is working towards
conducting quarterly hackathons with
specific themes to increase the speed
of innovation.
“When we had conducted
hackathons earlier for our own
employees we would typically see 25-
30 teams. A public event like this
increases the level of engagement
with young talent and also brings a
host of new ideas from developers
and startups,” said Sudin Baraokar,
head of innovation, SBI.
Baraokar sees hackathons lead-
ing to more practical engagement
with future recruitment candidates
as they can be asked to work on
code directly to judge their compe-
tence. However, banks still look at
hackathons more as a brainstorming
opportunity with hiring being a sec-
ondary outcome. Code For Banks will
announce winners later this month.
HackerEarth, a start-up in
Bengaluru that helps technology firms
and banks conduct hackathons, said
the exercise was a low-cost, high-
impact programme. “Typically, an
organisation would spend millions
to drive innovation internally and
might even end up acquiring a few
companies in the process. Instead,
hackathons provide a bottoms up
approach where developers compete
to come up with such ideas,” said
Sachin Gupta, co-founder of
HackerEarth.
“Banks have figured out that, if
they want to remain relevant, they
need to be part of the entire user expe-
rience rather than just providing bank-
ing facilities,” he added. While it is dif-
ficult for bank employees to think from
a user experience point of view, it
comes easily to a technically sound
generation of developers.
Big data, artificial intelligence,
machine learning and robotics are the
hottest trends at hackathons, although
the events themselves are technology
agnostic. The focus is always on find-
ing the best solutions. French multi-
national finance institution Societe
Generale recently hired a number of
candidates through a hackathon. The
ICICI Bank hackathon earlier this year
generated over 600 innovative ideas
during one event.
“Hackathons help position a brand
like DBS as a highly digital platform to
campus students. Our summer intern-
ships and Ideathon for B-school stu-
dents are designed as hackathons with
a focus on cloud and big data,” said
Kishore Poduri, head of HR at DBS
Bank India.
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.
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 COMPANIES 3 <

Small firms struggle to find Fairfax calls off ~1,000-crore

Catholic Syrian Bank deal
talent in big IT job crunch
AYAN PRAMANIK McKinsey India said, “The big-
T E NARASIMHAN
Chennai, 1 July
ning to commit an invest-
ment of ~1,000 crore.
The bank has submitted
investor will take at least
three to six months to find,
and the bank should protect
Bengaluru, 1 July ger challenge will be to retrain The Prem Watsa-promoted its valuation report to itself during this period,”
50-60 per cent of the work- Fairfax Financial Holdings the RBI. said S Santhanakrishnan,

S
mall information tech-
nology (IT) services firms,
facing a shortage of talent
for both entry-level and mid-
dle management jobs, are find-
ing a lack of new technology
skills among applicants from
large IT services firms.
At least three companies
have experienced this while
interviewing for positions at
middle levels.
Thousands of employees at
IT services companies with 7-15
experience stare at job losses if
they fail to up-skill themselves
in digital technologies.
Bengaluru-based Kreatio
Software looked at 200-odd
resumes for positions such as
quality analysts, project man-
agers and functional analysts
with 5-10 years of experience
and found many of these peo-
ple had stopped coding
because they were busy
attending meetings and man-
aging team members.
“We are a very small but
profitable company. We are
doubling our manpower. This
includes building middle
management and leadership
capabilities. We do not have
enough people, yet our experi-
ence during recruitment was
such,” said Krishna Kumar,
chief executive officer, Kreatio
Software.
He added many small IT
companies echoed similar sen-
timents on social media.
“Besides, there are people I
know who have privately
TALENT WOES
| Bengaluru-based Kreatio
Software looked at 200-
odd resumes for positions
such as quality analysts,
project managers and
functional and found
many of these people had
stopped coding
| Deltaphi, a Mumbai-based
software testing services
firm, had a similar
experience during
recruitment
expressed similar views,” he
added.
Deltaphi, a Mumbai-based
software testing services firm,
had a similar experience dur-
ing recruitment of testing
hands. The majority of the
over 2,000 members of
Nasscom are small and medi-
um IT services firms.
Industry analysts said there
had been a surge in the number
| The majority of the over
2,000 members of Nasscom
are small and medium IT
services firms
| Industry analysts said
there had been a surge in
the number
of resumes of IT
professionals
with seven-15 years of
experience as many large
firms were trimming their
workforce
of resumes of IT professionals
with 7-15 years of experience as
many large firms were trim-
ming their workforce that had
for long been managing large
and long-term projects. With a
significant technology disrup-
tion and automation, projects
for these services players are
becoming smaller, reducing
the need for people managers.
A recent report by
force as there will be a signifi-
cant shift in technologies.” It
added that unless IT profes-
sionals re-trained themselves
they could become irrelevant.
Kris Lakshmikanth, chair-
man and managing director,
The Head Hunters India, esti-
mated if jobs of 10,000 people
were automated in any of the
large IT firms, at least 300
people would have been in
managerial roles who were in
need of re-skilling to be
deployed on projects in digi-
tal technology.
“On the one hand many
mid-level professionals have
suddenly become available in
the market and on the other
they are not the right fit for
small software firms.
Generally, these people are
familiar with working in 500-
1,000 people teams and hence
it is difficult for them to cope
in smaller companies,” said
Lakshmikanth.
Kumar of Kreatio said the
bloated middle management
in large firms was playing
roles of coordinators rather
than value creators.
Some firms have exposed
employees across all levels to
technology to help them stay
relevant. “I can take anyone
from my operations team and
tell that person to work with
the client. It gives people expo-
sure on how the business is
run,” said Sudhir Tiwari, man-
aging director, ThoughtWorks,
a technology consultancy firm.
KILLED DEAL
| With the deal derailed, the
bank might have to find
another investor
| Approval from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to buy up
to 51 per cent in CSB, and it
was planning to commit an
investment of ~1,000 crore
| Sources said Fairfax offered
~95 per share but the bank
was seeking ~180-200 per
share
| It may be difficult for
CSB to find another
investor willing to invest
such a large amount in
one deal
| Catholic Syrian Bank
reported a net profit of
~1.55 cr in FY17 against a loss
of ~149.72 cr a year ago
Capsula.Studio of
Israel ties up
with Pinnace
Industries
Capsula.Studio of Israel’s
Tel Aviv University and
India’s Pinnace
Industries will jointly set
up a start-up accelerator
that would focus initially
on smart mobility and
expand to other areas
has withdrawn its proposal
to invest ~1,000 crore to buy
a 51 per cent stake in the
Kerala-based Catholic
Syrian Bank.
With the deal derailed, the
bank might have to find
another investor, sources said.
Catholic Syrian Bank
would need to seek approval
from regulators and finalise
a valuation, which would
take several months, they
added.
“We have not heard any-
thing specifically from
Fairfax. The valuation has
been a concern between the
parties, but work is in
progress,” Catholic Syrian
Bank Chairman T S
Anantharaman said.
Sources in the bank, howev-
er, confirmed that the deal
had been called off.
Fairfax last year received
approval from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to buy
up to 51 per cent in Catholic
Syrian Bank, and it was plan-
Sources said Fairfax
offered ~95 per share but the
bank was seeking ~180-200
per share. Fairfax also would
not be able sell the stake for
five years, sources said,
adding it would not have
been a viable option at the
price being sought.
Sources said at least two
Catholic Syrian Bank board
members were keen on
pushing the price to ~200
per share.
It may be difficult for CSB
to find another investor will-
ing to invest such a large
amount in one deal. Further,
delays in regulatory clear-
ances will cost the bank
time.
The new investor might
also not agree to the price
the Catholic Syrian Bank
board expected, a person
close to the development
said.
“Fairfax would have been
a great addition to the share-
holders’ list. Any new
former chairman of Catholic
Syrian Bank.
Investment banker
Vallabh Bhanshali, has
bought a 4 per cent stake in
the bank from the Thailand-
based Chansri Chawla fami-
ly at ~160 a share.
Catholic Syrian Bank
reported a net profit of ~1.55
crore in 2016-17 against a
loss of ~149.72 crore a year
ago. The bank has cleaned
up its books through write-
offs, rationalising of branch-
es and other initiatives.
“We will be a high quality
SME (small and medium
enterprises) bank and will
focus on five to six states
even after having a pan-
India presence,” Ananth-
araman had said in May.
Catholic Syrian Bank’s gross
non-performing assets in
the fourth quarter of 2016-
17 rose to 7.25 per cent of
total advances from 5.62 per
cent in the same period a
year ago.

Mitsubishi Electric India bets big Shell seeks gas such as agriculture,
health care and educa-
converts among tion. The Pinnacle Cap-

on transportation systems biz Indian textile,

sula.Studio will be located
at the BHAU Institute,

VINAYUMARJI
Ahmedabad, 28 June
Mitsubishi Electric India is tar-
geting an annual revenue of $170
million (approximately ~1,097
crore) from transportation sys-
tems in India by 2020.
The firm’s plant at Bidadi,
near Bengaluru, opened in
November 2015, will assemble
electrical propulsion equipment
for rolling stock under a plan to
expand Mitsubishi Electric
India’s transportation-systems
business. A technical centre,
aimed at providing support for
Mitsubishi Electric CNC’s busi-
ness in India, was opened in
Peenya, Bengaluru, in May last
year. The facility will have assem-
bly, repair, warehouse, training
and back office functions under
one roof. According to Rajeev
Sharma, head-corporate servic-
es and strategic planning,
Mitsubishi Electric India, the
local assembly and repair cen-
tre will decrease downtime.
The Indian arm of Japanese
electrical and electronic equip-
ment major is also aiming to
increase its contribution to the
parent firm’s global business in
five years, as it expects to dou-
ble its sales to about ~6,000
crore by financial year 2020.
Apart from its facilities in
Bidadi and Peenya, Mitsubishi
Electric India runs a automation
product manufacturing and
assembly unit at Pune, which
Mitsubishi Electric India expects to double its sales to about
~6,000 crore by financial year 2020
develops graphic operation con-
trollers in India.
Mitsubishi’s HVAC (heating,
ventilation and air conditioning)
business in India has also seen
expansion by using the Indian
facilities of Italy-based compa-
ny MELCO Hydronics & IT
Cooling (previously DeLclima),
acquired last year for ^508 mil-
lion by Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation. In addition,
Mitsubishi Elevators, a group
company of Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation, too is commission-
ing a factory at Bengaluru.
Mitsubishi Electric plans to
focus on selling more heating,
ventilation and air conditioning
products as well as electrical
equipment used in train cars.
From a ~930 crore sales generat-
ed from its local unit in FY14,
Mitsubishi Electric India plans
to raise the same by about 140
per cent to ~2,200-2,300 crore by
March 2021.
“The rail-car electrical
equipment and HVAC business-
es, each generating about ~612
crore in sales a year, will drive
the growth. We have, to date,
received orders of rolling stock
equipment for approximately
1,800 railcars from Delhi Metro.
Our market share of rolling stock
equipment in the metro market
is roughly 65 per cent in India,"
Sharma toldBusiness Standard,
while adding that, including
orders received from Indian
Railways, the total rolling stock
equipment order book comes to
roughly 2,000 railcars.
cement plants which is a part of the
College of Engineering,
Pune, and home to an
Royal Dutch Shell is turning innovation incubator
to India’s textile, cement and BS REPORTER
steel factories as it seeks to
expand demand for its natu-
ral gas.
The Hague-based energy
giant has set up a team of
about six executives to iden-
tify small businesses that use
dirtier fuels like coal and
convince them to switch,
according to Ajay Shah, vice-
president with the compa-
ny’s Asia unit. Shell, which
will import the fuel as lique-
fied natural gas, is betting
these users will account for a
significant part of India’s gas
demand growth, which it
estimates will expand five-
fold in 15 years.
“Historically, we have tar-
geted big customers, whole-
sale style,” Shah said in an
interview on June 21 in
New Delhi.
“Now is the time of having
more relations with the end
customer. There is a signifi-
cant market opportunity.”
The push deeper toward
small, industrial users comes
as Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s government pro-
motes gas to curb dirtier
alternatives such as pet coke
and furnace oil and seeks to
slash emissions by a third by
2030.
BLOOMBERG

Tencent
Technology
refused patent
related to
online ads
GIREESH BABU
Chennai, 1 July
Chinese technology major
Tencent Technology
(Shenzhen) Company, one of
the largest internet compa-
nies in the world which owns
instant messenger platforms
QQ and WeChat, has lost a
patent approval for its appli-
cation related to online
advertisement resources
searching in India.
The patent application
was filed in Chennai Patent
Office in 2009, for a method
and apparatus for search-
ing for online advertise-
ment resource.
The claimed invention
was to provide a method
and apparatus for search-
ing for an online advertise-
ment resource, which
increases success ratio for
searching for the resource,
said the company in a
patent filing.
Odisha turns to payments banks,
SFBs to tap unbanked areas
NIRMALYA BEHERA & JAYAJIT DASH
Bhubaneswar, 1 July
Fearing that commercial banks
in Odisha with steep NPAs
(non-performing assets) may
face curbs from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to expand
their network, the state govern-
ment has turned to payments
banks and small finance banks
to set up branches in the
unbanked areas.
Commercial banks in
Odisha, especially the public
sector lenders are battling
alarming NPAs. Average NPAs
of the banks in the state stood at
11.5 per cent (as on March 31,
2017). A clutch of public sector
banks — Andhra Bank, Bank of
Baroda, Central Bank of India,
Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental
Bank of Commerce, Punjab
National Bank, State Bank of
India and UCO Bank— have
gross NPAs exceeding nine per
cent. Such banks are likely to
face prompt corrective action
(PCA) measures from the RBI,
as they are classified as second
category offenders, breaching
Paytm, Airtel Payments Bank,
Aditya Birla Nuvo, India Post
and AU Small Finance Bank
have evinced interest
the prescribed threshold of nine
per cent. “Due to the mounting
NPAs, many banks are coming
under PCA and there are some
restrictions for banks to open
new branches. The gaps will be
filled up by the payment and
small finance banks”, said a
source in RBI. The Odisha gov-
ernment and officials of RBI’s
regional office in Bhubaneswar
met recently which saw the par-
ticipation of six payments
banks and five small finance
banks. The small finance banks
and payments banks from
Rajasthan, Chennai, Bengaluru
and Mumbai attended the
meeting.
Odisha is the first state to
engage such banks in areas
untouched by banking services.
Tuhin K Pandey, principal sec-
retary (finance) with Odisha
government, said, “We had an
initial meeting with the pay-
ments banks and small finance
banks. They have shown inter-
est to set up branches in the
unbanked regions and have
committed to submit detailed
proposals within a month.”
Paytm, Airtel Payments
Bank, Aditya Birla Nuvo, India
Post and AU Small Finance
Bank have evinced interest and
have committed to submitting
detailed plans within a month.
The state government has
handed over the list of 677
unbanked panchayats to be
covered in three years and
invited them to set up branch-
es here.
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS
4 YOUR MONEY
>
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 1

TAX
BS TUTORIAL

File revised tax returns within Jayant Pai

Financial literacy
1. Who issued the world's first blockchain-based insurance

stipulated timeline policy?

A. Prudential Financial
B. AXA
C. AIG
D. Chubb
While tax authorities permit you to revise your tax return in case of an error, this task must be completed by a
specific date and can’t be postponed indefinitely 2. Which is the first messenger app in India to facilitate
digital payments?
A. WhatsApp
HOMI MISTRY
TIMELINES FOR FILING REVISED TAX RETURN efit of such relief, especially where
overseas tax returns are not filed or B. Hike

T
axpayers are typically cau-
tious and exercise due care
while filing income tax (I-T)
returns. But very often, in the rush
to meet deadlines, many of them
end up making errors. Some of
these include not claiming deduc-
tions, not reporting losses, incor-
rect or total lack of reporting of
income. These mistakes could
occur due to lack of knowledge of
the provisions of tax laws or due to
lack of accurate information at the
time of filing the original return.
Lawmakers are mindful of such sit-
uations and, hence, have made pro-
visions for an opportunity to file a
revised return, in case an omission
or wrong statement is discovered
after filing of the original tax return.
However, this task must be com-
pleted within a specific time frame.
Timelines are crucial
The first point that the taxpayer
must remember is that if he changes
the income declared, the tax officer
could levy additional tax and inter-
est on it. Any additional tax liability
on account of change in income
reported or change in tax deducted
at source (TDS) would attract penal
interest on account of delay in pay-
ment of such additional taxes. A tax
return can be revised any number of
times, as long as there is no wilful
concealment of income by the tax-
payer and is filed within the pre-
scribed time limit.
The time frame available to an
individual taxpayer for filing revised
tax returns is crucial. The tax law
has been changed in recent times
regarding the timeline for filing
revised returns for assessment year
(AY) 2016-17, which is, financial year
2015-16 (FY) and onwards.
For FY 2015-16 (AY 2016-17) and
FY 2016-17 (AY 2017-18), revised
return can be filed before the end of
one year from the end of the rele-
IMAGE: ISTOCK
vant assessment year or before the
completion of the assessment,
whichever is earlier. In other words,
for FY 2015-16, the deadline is
March 31, 2018, and for FY 2016-17,
it is March 31, 2019. The point of
difference here lies in the revision
of the return filed after the due date
(belated return). For FY 2015-16, a
belated return cannot be revised.
But for FY 2016-17, a belated return
can be revised at any time before
March 31, 2019.
For FY 2017-18 (AY 2018-19),
revised return can be filed before
Financial Assessment
year year
2015-16 2016-17
2016-17 2017-18
2017-18 2018-19
the end of the relevant assessment
year or before the completion of
assessment, whichever is earlier -
the last date to file the revised return
will be March 31, 2019. A belated
return for FY 2017-18 can be revised
at any time before March 31, 2019
(see table for the summary of time-
lines for filing revised tax return for
different years).
As can be seen, for FY 2015-16,
the taxpayer can file a revised return
by March 31, 2018. For FY 2016-17
and FY 2017-18, he will have to file by
March 31, 2019. Revision of belated
Due date for Revision of belated
revision return is permitted
Mar 31, 2018 No
Mar 31, 2019 Yes
Mar 31, 2019 Yes
return is not permissible for FY 2015-
16, whereas the same can be done
from FY 2016-17 onwards.
To illustrate, ‘A’ filed his original
tax return for the FY 2015–16 on July
20, 2016, ie, within the due date (July
31, 2016). Later on, while going
through his banking records he
realised that he had inadvertently
missed reporting interest income
from a fixed deposit. In this scenario,
since his tax return was filed within
the due date, ‘A’ has the option to
rectify the aforesaid error by filing a
revised tax return on or before
March 31, 2018. If he hadn’t filed his
original return within the due date,
he would have lost the right to revise
his return.
For FY 2016-2017, if ‘A’ files his
original tax return on August 10,
2017, which is after the due date (July
31, 2017), he will still be entitled to
revise his tax return on or before
March 31, 2019, since the law has
been amended to allow revision of a
belated return for that year.
Therefore, from FY 2016–17 even if
the tax return is filed after the des-
ignated due date, one has the option
to revise his tax return as per the ear-
lier mentioned timelines for the
respective financial year.
Challenges for expatriate
employees
With the change in the timeline for
revision of tax returns, expatriate
employees will face several chal-
lenges while claiming tax credit for
taxes paid in overseas country. One,
the reduction in time limit for revis-
ing the tax return may deny the ben-
are not available by the end of the
time lines as discussed in the above C. WeChat
D. JioChat
table. Two, filing of Form 67 will also
be a challenge in the absence of doc-
umentation substantiating the claim
3. In 2008, Warren Buffett said that this company was his
of such relief.
worst investment decision.
These challenges are elaborated
with an example. ‘A’, an Indian citi- A. Mainesole
zen, goes on an assignment to the B. Borsheims
US on December 1, 2017 and his res-
idential status for FY 2017–2018 in C. Net Jets
India is Resident and Ordinarily D. Benjamin Moore
Resident. Hence his global income
is chargeable to tax in India for the
4. Donald Trump has co-invested in only one Trump-
aforesaid financial year.
He files his original return on branded property. This is based in __________.
the basis of his income information A. Mumbai
available before the due date, which
B. Vancouver
is July 31, 2018. The return can be
revised up to March 31, 2019. In C. Las Vegas
order to offer his actual US income D. Dubai
and claim the credit of the US taxes
on the same in his India tax return,
he requires his US return for the 5. Which iconic company opened its first store in 1971 at
year 2017 and 2018. Pike Place Market in Seattle?
Since the US follows the calen- A. Costco
dar year and has a due date of April
B. Wal-Mart
15 for filing the return, which can
also be extended, it is unlikely that C. Microsoft
his US return for the year 2018 would D. Starbucks
be available before March 31, 2019.
Therefore, A will be unable to claim
the accurate or complete credit of 5. D. It currently has over 20,000 stores globally.
foreign taxes for the year 2018 by the venture with his long-time friend Phil Ruffin.
due date of March 31, 2019. Given 4. C. The Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, is a 50:50 joint
the above challenge, one will have to
wait and watch if the government
Mainesole enjoyed.
provides any relief for this class of prompting Buffett to state that he overestimated the moat that
individuals. 3. A. The footwear maker was severely affected by Chinese imports,
While it is always better to be Interface.
cautious and have all information peer-to-peer and bank-to-bank payments on Unified Payments
available so that accurate details are 2. B.The mobile wallet service of this app permits users to make both
reported while filing tax returns, one
can still avail the opportunity pro-
claims, etc, in a far more efficient manner.
vided by law to rectify mistakes in involved to secure details of the policy terms, premium payments,
the tax return. 1. C. The policy, sold to Standard Chartered Bank, allows those
Solutions
The writer is partner, Deloitte Haskins
and Sells. The company’s Manager Bhavin The quiz master is head - marketing, PPFAS Mutual Fund
Rajput and Deputy Manager Monish Send your queries and feedback at yourmoney@bsmail.in
Satra contributed to the article

MARKETS
>
> FROM PAGE 1 Protests across the nation Traders and opposition parties said that
the GST would erode the special status
granted under Article 370. The strike call

Hybrid seed companies favour GST Day 1:

Smaller industries paid the 14.5 per cent turnover of less than ~1.5 crore, a duty of was given by the Kashmir Traders and
VAT and were exempt from all taxes. 28 per cent will impact manufacturers Manufacturers Federation (KTMF).
Weaving and knitting factories in severely. In Thangadh, there are rough-

licensing for plant breeders Small Karur also downed shutters, protesting
the move to levy the GST on multiple
ly 200 units manufacturing ceramics
worth ~300 crore.
Madhya Pradesh: Confusion reigns
In Madhya Pradesh, wholesale markets

businesses
production processes of the industry. In addition, the units may also not be wore a deserted look. “Wholesale traders
S Surendhar, secretary, Karur able to avail themselves of 15 per cent and customers in Madhya Pradesh are
DILIP KUMAR JHA Weaving and Knitting Factory Owners’ input tax credit on the natural gas sup- confused over the GST and don't have
Mumbai, 30 June
struggle
Hybrid seed manufacturers have opposed the
Association, said the GST proposals
would badly hit textile units and other
micro, medium and small enterprises.
plied by Gujarat Gas Ltd because the fuel
was removed from GST purview.
On the other hand, diamond traders
any knowledge of the levies on different
goods," Ahilya Chamber of Commerce
and Industry President Ramesh
decision of the Protection of Plant Varieties Some had limited inventory and the While cotton yarn would attract 5 per of Gujarat plan to meet Deputy Chief Khandelwal told PTI. As a result, he said,
and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA) to rest were grappling with price tags. cent GST, 18 per cent would be levied on Minister Nitin Patel on Monday to dis- wholesale markets were empty.
dispense with the requirement of the no-objec- “This is our tryst with destiny,” said synthetic yarn. Besides, the GST has cuss the issue of customs duty on
tion certificate (NoC) from the trait developer Rakesh Bisht, an electronics retailer at been proposed on various processes of imports of rough diamonds. West Bengal: Traders apprehensive
for breeding Bt cotton varieties with genetical- Nehru Place. Faiz Ahmed, a footwear production including dyeing, bleaching, Dinesh Navadia, president of the Traders in West Bengal were back in
ly modified (GM) traits. shop owner at Lajpat Nagar, said, colouring, and packing. Surat Diamond Association, told business after a one-day strike on
Companies such as Monsanto, Mahyco, and “While we are almost ready and charg- Business Standard according to the new Saturday, but with a lot of apprehension.
others engaged in agricultural research fear a ing consumers the additional tax bur- Gujarat: Diamond traders to meet customs duty structure, the duty on "According to rules, we do not come
major hurdle to fresh investment in agricultur- den due to the GST — from about 10 per deputy CM unassorted rough diamonds is 3 per cent under the GST, but inspectors might
al research, especially in India, when the Monsanto, Mahyco and others engaged in agri cent earlier to 18 per cent now — plac- In Gujarat, small-scale ceramic tiles while that on assorted rough diamonds harass us and ask for bills and invoices,”
PPVFRA dispenses with the requirement of research fear a major hurdle to fresh ing orders has become a headache. manufacturers of Thangadh, near the is 0.25 per cent. India imports mainly said Montu Naskar, a trader in Kolkata,
licences from the technology provider. This investment when the PPVFRA dispenses with Manufacturers have told us that no new Morbi cluster, went on strike from unassorted rough diamonds. Traders, with an annual income of less than ~20
means companies engaged in primary research the requirement of licences from the orders can be processed before 4 July. Saturday, protesting against the 28 per thus, plan to open a dialogue with the lakh. The Federation of West Bengal
on patented seed varieties would no longer technology provider So we are sending customers away.” cent GST rate, which, they say, might government on the matter. Trade Association (FWBTA) shares this
require to license to the secondary breeder for Some others were clueless about it. spell the death-knell for the units. apprehension. At least 25 per cent of the
developing follow-on seed varieties. purview, said Bajaj, adding it was consistent with A garment trader at Lajpat Nagar, According to Suresh Songadh, presi- Kashmir: Opposition parties 300,000-odd traders in the state fall
The PPVFRA is the regulatory body that the Act because the PPVFRA required appli- Raju Gupta, continued charging the dent, Thangadh Ceramic Association, support traders under this category.
supervises the rights of seed companies. cants to declare that the variety had been devel- same price as he did before the GST as against an exempted excise duty for Most of the shops and other business
“In the case of varieties incorporating genet- oped using lawfully acquired material. The roll-out. So did Nilesh Pathak, the own- the ceramic units with an annual establishments were shut in Kashmir. (with inputs from agencies)
ically modified (GM) technology, a letter of con- Authority had obtained a legal opinion that indi- er of a curtains shop in the same area.
firmation or no-objection certificate (NoC) from cated that the NoC stipulation was contravening He said, “I do not understand how the
the technology provider will ensure that proper
and accurate information is submitted by the
the legal provisions, giving undue advantages to
trait developers such as Mahyco Monsanto
GST is going to help small businesses
like us. It seems that this will stoke Hacks raise fear over NSA’s... Modi seeks CAs’
seed company to the regulatory authorities at the
time of application. This also ensures a fair and
Biotech (MMBL).
MMBL is a 51:49 per cent joint venture
inflation.”
Many, however, were taking action “Whether it’s North Korea, Russia, computers in Ukrainian hospitals, help to spread tax
transparent mechanism for farmers and regu-
lators to define the critical credentials of the
between American biotech company Monsanto
Inc and Indian company Maharashtra Hybrid
to make the best of the situation.
Pharmaceutical distributors were
China, Iran or ISIS, almost all of the flash
points out there now involve a cyber ele-
supermarkets, and even the systems for
radiation monitoring at the old knowledge
variety. We would like to clarify that the NoC Company Ltd (Mahyco), which licenses the GM working overtime through the week- ment,” Leon E Panetta, the former Chernobyl nuclear plant.
requirement does not in any way undermine insect-resistance trait in cotton. A notification end to update their systems. They will defense secretary and Central The so-called ransomware that “I have launched the Swachh Bharat
the rights of the plant breeder to seek variety reg- in this regard is expected shortly. begin invoicing and selling stocks to Intelligence Agency chief said in a recent gained the most attention in the Abhiyan to clean up the country. I am
istration – rather it ensures that a breeder did not Confirming the development, M Ramasami, retail partners from Monday. interview, before the weapons were Ukraine attack is believed to have been also carrying out operations to clean the
violate third-party rights when seeking such chairman of Coimbatore-based Rasi Seed and In the run-up to the GST roll-out, turned against American interests. a smoke screen for a deeper assault economy,” the prime minister said.
variety registration,” said Shivendra Bajaj, exec- founder president of the Federation of Seed stockists cut down inventory and “I’m not sure we understand the full aimed at destroying victims’ computers He also tugged at the conscience of
utive director of the Association for the Biotech Industry of India (FSII), said: “We have come to industrywide domestic sales in June capability of what can happen, that entirely. And while WannaCry had a kill CAs and appealed to them to not sup-
Led Enterprises – Agriculture Group (Able – Ag), know about this decision through our industry dropped by 50 per cent, according to these sophisticated viruses can sud- switch that was used to contain it, the port generation of black money. “Only
the representative body of leading biotech com- colleagues, but have not seen a notification yet. some estimates. Sales were expected to denly mutate into other areas you did- attackers hitting Ukraine made sure 3.2 million people in the country
panies in India. While this is good for the domestic seed com- pick up over the next few days. n’t intend, more and more,” Panetta there was no such mechanism. They revealed that their income is more than
The NoC does not violate the PPVFRA Act, panies, fresh investment in trait development “Stockists will begin selling to retail said. “That’s the threat we’re going to also ensured that their code could infect ~10 lakh while 20.18 million people trav-
because GM crops do not come under its would get impacted.” partners from Monday. We expect face in the near future.” Using the rem- computers that had received software elled abroad last year. Millions of vehi-
companies to take orders and begin nants of American weapons is not patches intended to protect them. cles are purchased in the country, but
supplies in next 2-3 days,” said entirely new. Elements of Stuxnet, the “You’re seeing a refinement of these they don’t contribute to the exchequer.
Jagannath Shinde, president of All computer worm that disabled the cen- capabilities, and it only heads in one This is a matter of concern,” the prime
Sebi tightens rules for credit rating agencies India Organisation of Chemists and
Druggists.
trifuges used in Iran’s nuclear weapons
programme seven years ago, have been
direction,” said Robert Silvers, the for-
mer assistant secretary of cyber policy
minister said.
He said the Institute of Chartered
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA issuers they rate, even though They would have to monitor Abbott and Cipla had already incorporated in some attacks. at the Department of Homeland Accountants of India conducts
New Delhi, 1 July the information has already the exchange's website for dis- switched over to the new system. In the past two months, attackers Security, now a partner at the law firm enquiries to find who were helping tax
been discounted by the market. closures made by the issuer. According to S V Veeramani, for- have retrofitted the agency’s more Paul Hastings. evaders. “But action was taken against
Tightening norms for credit rat- Besides, Sebi has increased Sebi asked rating agencies mer president of Indian Drug recent weapons to steal credentials from Though the original targets of only 25 CAs. Is it possible that only such
ing agencies (CRAs), the the disclosure requirements. to carry out a review of the rat- Manufacturers Association, around 80 American companies. Cybercriminals Tuesday’s attacks appear to have been a small number have been involved in
Securities and Exchange Board “CRAs are required to ings upon the “occurrence of per cent of stockists in India were have used them to pilfer digital curren- government agencies and businesses in wrong doings?”
of India (Sebi) has asked them track the servicing of debt or announcement/news of already a part the GST Network. cy. North Korean hackers are believed to Ukraine, the attacks inflicted enormous Finance Minister Jaitley said a very
to proactively monitor the obligations for each instru- material events” including National Pharmaceutical Pricing have used them to obtain badly needed collateral damage, taking down some small percentage of traders were object-
financial health, including ment rated by them, ISIN- financial results, any signifi- Authority (NPPA) Chairman currency from easy hacking targets like 2,000 global targets in more than 65 ing to the GST and claiming their infor-
share price movement, of com- wise, and look for potential cant decline in share/bond Bhupendra Singh met distributors in hospitals in England and manufactur- countries, including Merck, the mation technology knowhow was not
panies to provide timely and deterioration in financial prices of the issuer or group Bengaluru on Saturday to get feed- ing plants in Japan. And on Tuesday, on American drug giant, Maersk, the Danish good enough. “It can’t be a logical argu-
accurate ratings on their debts. which might lead to companies if it is not in line back on GST implementation. the eve of Ukraine’s Constitution Day - shipping company, and Rosneft, the ment that since I have not paid taxes in
The decision follows several defaults/delays, particularly with the overall market move- According to the NPPA, prices of which commemorates the country’s Russian state owned energy giant. The the past regime, so I will not pay now as
instances of CRAs not taking before/around the due date(s) ment and any attachment or approximately 78 per cent of all first constitution after breaking away attack so crippled operations at a sub- well. If India is to become a developed
cognisance of delays in servic- for servicing of debt obliga- prohibitory orders against the actively used and traded drugs in the from the Soviet Union - attackers used sidiary of Federal Express that trading nation, the mindset should also be of
ing debt obligations by the tions,” Sebi said in a circular. company. country will remain unaffected. NSA-developed techniques to freeze had to be briefly halted for FedEx stock. the developed nation,” he said.
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

.
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 GST IMPACT 5 <

GST steers car prices downhill as Minimum inventory sees

car sales plummet in June
makers look to pass on benefits AJAY MODI
New Delhi, 1 July

AJAY MODI Its entry-level model, Liva, gets cheap- A reduction in dispatches by
New Delhi, 1 July er by ~10,500 while the Fortuner SUV is carmakers to ensure minimum
cheaper by ~2,17,000. Innova, its best- inventory at dealerships in the

C
ars have turned slightly afford-
able, thanks to the roll-out of
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
from Saturday. The country’s biggest
carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, has cut prices
of various models by up to three per
cent. Toyota has reduced prices by up
to 13 per cent. Prices of luxury cars are
down by nine per cent. The cut is
expected to be a trigger for expansion of
sales in the world’s fifth-largest car
market. Hybrid cars, however, have
become expensive by over 10 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki, which sells every
second car in the country, has passed
on the entire benefit of GST rates on
vehicles to its customers, the company
said in a statement. “The rate of reduc-
tion varies across locations depending
on the value added tax (VAT) rates
applicable prior to GST,” it said. In
states where the VAT was 14.5 per cent
(most states had this rate), price of
Maruti’s bestseller, Baleno, will come
down by ~6,600-13,100 while its SUV,
Brezza, will be cheaper by ~10,400 to
~14,700. The minimum price cut would
be on the entry-level Alto (~2,300-
5,400) and the maximum decrease is
on the S Cross (~17,700-21,300).
Owing to the withdrawal of tax con-
cessions on mild hybrid vehicles, the
price of the smart hybrid Ciaz (diesel)
and smart hybrid Ertiga (diesel) has
increased by over 10 per cent — about
~1,00,000. “While GST will directly
improve efficiencies and ease of busi-
ness, its significance goes much
beyond that. It is a powerful example of
India’s commitment to reform,”
Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director
IN REVERSE GEAR
| Maruti Suzuki’s bestseller, the
Baleno (above), will be cheaper by
~6,600-13,100
| Similarly, the Maruti Suzuki Brezza
will be cheaper by ~10,400-~14,700
| The minimum price cut will be on
the entry-level Alto (~2,300-5,400),
and the maximum decrease is on
the S Cross (~17,700-21,300)
| Prices of the Ciaz and the Ertiga,
both smart hybrids, will go up
and chief executive officer at Maruti
Suzuki, said.
by ~1,00,000
| Toyota’s entry-level car,
the Liva, will be cheaper by
~10,500, the Fortuner by
~2,17,000, and the Innova by
~98,500
| Toyota Camry hybrid to become
dearer by ~3,50,000
| Tata Motors-owned luxury
carmaker JLR has also cut prices of
its cars by a minimum five per
cent and a maximum 8.6
per cent
Japanese automaker Toyota has cut
prices of its vehicles by up to ~2,17,000.
seller, is down by up to ~98,500. The
Camry hybrid, however, will be expen-
sive by ~3,50,000.
Meanwhile, Hyundai, India’s sec-
ond-largest carmaker, is working on
the post-GST pricing and an announce-
ment is expected in next couple of days.
Every player will revise price in line
with the new tax to avoid attracting the
anti-profiteering clause. GST, which
subsumes all central and state level tax-
es, has removed the inter-state varia-
tion in taxes. All cars now have a GST of
28 per cent. Besides this, a cess of 1 per
cent on small (less than 1,200cc) petrol
cars and three per cent cess on small
(less than 1,500cc) diesel cars is getting
levied. There is a 15 per cent cess on
larger SUVs and luxury vehicles. This
cess is also applicable to hybrid vehi-
cles. Electric vehicles have the lowest
GST of 12 per cent.
Tata Motors-owned luxury car-
maker JLR has cut prices of its cars by
a minimum five per cent and a maxi-
mum 8.6 per cent. The price of
Discovery Sport (diesel), for instance
is down by ~3,76,446, to ~40,00,000.
German luxury carmaker Mercedes-
Benz has cut prices of its vehicles by a
minimum two per cent and a maxi-
mum nine per cent.
“We are looking forward to this sim-
plified tax structure that will create a
single market across India and benefit
both the buyer and the seller. There
may be initial teething issues but we are
confident that there will be promising
long term gains,” said Roland Folger,
managing director and chief executive
officer at Mercedes-Benz India. .
run-up to Goods and Services
Tax (GST) resulted in a double-
digit decline in wholesale of LEAN SPELL
passenger vehicles (cars, vans
and utility vehicles) in June. Auto sales
The industry volume is esti-
mated to have declined by Company June ’16 June ’17
about 10 per cent. Most compa- Honda 11,407 12,804
nies, including Hyundai, M&M Maruti Suzuki 92,133 93,057
and Tata Motors, have seen a
decline. Based on data from M&M 17,070 16,170
nine companies, the industry Hyundai 39,807 37,562
is estimated to have sold about Tata Motors 12,509 11,176
190,000 vehicles last month, a
decline of over 10 per cent from Nissan 5,212 4,590
the same time last year. Ford 9,469 6,149
Maruti Suzuki reported a
Renault 11,837 6,840
growth of one per cent in June
domestic sales. The company Toyota 13,567 1,973
sold 93,057 units against 92,133 Total 213,011 190,321
units in June last year. The flat
performance after months of
strong growth is on account of expect a positive demand pull
a week-long maintenance post the successful implemen-
shutdown at its two plants last tation of GST in the coming
month and also due to reduc- months,” he added.
tion in dealer inventory. Under SUV maker M&M reported a
GST rules, dealers cannot five per cent decline in June
claim 100 per cent input tax sales to 16,170 vehicles. “Our
credit on the taxes paid on the focus has been to minimise
vehicles that came in their channel stocks to reduce the
inventory till June 30. transition losses, on account of
Hyundai reported domes- GST implementation. We
tic sales of 37,562 units in June, strongly believe that once we
down 5.6 per cent over the cor- tide over the initial uncertain-
responding month last year. ties, GST is set to usher in a new
Rakesh Srivastava, director era for the economy in general
(sales and marketing), said that and the automotive industry in
the month of June was chal- particular,” said Rajan
lenging due to “speculations” Wadhera, president (Autom-
around the GST tax. “We otive Sector) at M&M.
% change
12.25
1.00
-5.27
-5.64
-10.66
-11.93
-35.06
-42.22
-85.46
-10.65
Companies such as Tata
Motors, Renault, Nissan and
Ford did not announce their
numbers on Saturday. But all of
them are learnt of have posted a
double-digit decline in sales as
well. Toyota dispatched only
1,973 vehicles to dealers against
13,567 units in June last year. N
Raja, director and senior vice-
president (sales & marketing) at
Toyota, said a conscious deci-
sion was taken to lower the vol-
umes sold to dealers last month
to ensure minimum burden on
them while allowing them to
focus on clearing the stocks.
More on business-standard.com

Eyeing expansion, Revenue

Apple cuts iPhone
prices by 4-7.5%
RAGHU KRISHNAN
Bengaluru,1 July
Global smartphone maker
Apple has reduced retail prices
of its iPhone models, passing
on the benefits of lower taxes
from the goods and services tax
regime to consumers. The move
comes as the company looks to
become more aggressive on
capturing a bigger slice of
India’s smartphone market.
Apple has reduced retail
prices of its iPhone models
between 4 and 7.5 per cent,
which would translate to lower-
ing costs of its high-end iPhone
7 Plus (256 GB) by as much as
~6,600. The company, which
contributes to less than 3 per
cent of the total smartphone
sales in India, generates higher
percentage of the profits.
India transitioned to the
goods and services tax regime
on Saturday, which is aimed at
having uniform taxation across
the country. Electronic goods
and smartphones have benefit-
ed from the new change. The
government plans to impose a
10 per cent counterveiling duty
on imported smartphones that
is aimed to bring in local man-
ufacturing of these goods.The
push towards local electronics
manufacturing has forced over
38 global companies to produce
goods locally in India.
Apple has also reduced the
price of iPhone SE, the entry-
The iPhone 7 Plus (256 GB)
will now cost ~6,600 less
level phone made by Wistron
Corp in Bengaluru. These
phones have been priced
between ~26,000 for a 32 GB
model to ~35,000 for 128 GB ver-
sion, lower by 4-6 per cent than
previous prices. Experts say that
manufacturers choosing to
assemble devices locally in
India benefit from around 12
per cent in savings. However,
Apple has been known to main-
tain a price parity among
devices it sells globally.
Indian consumers, for
majority of whom a smart-
phone is their first computing
device, have a preference for
larger screens with nearly 85 per
cent of smartphones sold in the
country having screens larger
than 5 inches.
More on business-standard.com
won’t dip
due to GST,
assures Tamil
Nadu FM
GIREESH BABU
Chennai, 1 July
The state of Tamil Nadu said
on Saturday that its revenue
post the implementation of
GST will either be neutral or
may increase, but won’t see a
dip. The state had earlier
objected to GST saying that it
may lead to a fall in revenue.
Tamil Nadu Finance
Minister D Jayakumar told
reporters that manufacturing
will increase and inflation will
be controlled due to GST.
He added that the mid-
dle-class and people living
below the poverty line will
be safeguarded and it will
also help small and medium
enterprises.
“There is absolutely no
need to be afraid. Prices will
come down, manufacturing
will increase,” he said.
Initially, the state had
apprehensions about the
manufacturing state losing
revenue due to the imple-
mentation of GST, which was
likely to favour the consump-
tion states.
“This is consumption-
based tax. If we are a manu-
facturing state, we will lose.
But we are also a consump-
tion state. If you look at both,
there are only chances to get
an increased tax revenue as
against chances of losing. We
will get around 50 per cent of
the service tax, central excise,

Gold business to take etc,” said Jayakumar.

time to adjust to GST
RAJESH BHAYANI
Mumbai, 1 July
Banks importing bullion, gold
refineries and jewellers may
have to adjust their business
models in the new tax regime.
An official notification last
night imposed a 9.35 per cent
basic customs duty on dore
importers, replacing the earli-
er countervailing duty.
Imports will be 0.65 per cent
cheaper, but gold refiners fear
competition from those oper-
ating in excise-free zones.
Gold imports have come
to a standstill and the mar-
ket is quoting a premium of
$4 per oz.
“Restructured import
duties and the IGST rates
have placed gold refineries
and bullion-importing banks
at a disadvantage vis-à-vis
refineries in excise-free zones
like Uttarakhand and Hima-
chal Pradesh,” said James
Jose, secretary of the Assoc-
iation of Gold Refineries
and Mints.
For dore importers, the total
tax outgo will be 12.35 per cent
while refined gold importers
will pay 13 per cent.
Jose said this margin was
enough to cover refiners’ oper-
ational expenses.
However, gold refineries in
excise-free zones are entitled to
an IGST refund of 3 per cent.
“This disparity will affect the
industry and the livelihoods of
hundreds of thousands of peo-
ple,” Jose said.
However, a dore gold refin-
er in an excise-free zone said,
“Units in excise-free zones will
receive a refund of the Centre’s
share of the GST, but the rate
will be considered as 3 per cent
of the value addition and the
refund amount will be
insignificant.”
Banks importing bullion
also expect margin pressure
after paying 10 per cent import
duty and 3 per cent IGST. They
can recover the IGST from buy-
ers, but this will block funds
for a couple of weeks. They are
likely to focus on doing busi-
ness on a consignment basis
and on gold loans.
More on business-standard.com
“Many items that earlier
had exemptions are now
under the tax bracket. Since
there is tax in a complete val-
ue chain, we are expected to
gain more, rather than losing.
There will be some adjust-
ment problems in the initial
period, but once it is sta-
bilised, GDP itself is going to
grow around 1-2 per cent. Over
45 per cent revenue is from
petroleum products and alco-
hol. It has not been subsumed
under GST.”
“We have calculated that
the state will not face any loss
of revenue,”said C
Chandramouli, Additional
Chief Secretary, who has full
additional charge of
Commercial Taxes and
Registration Department.
Besides, there is a com-
pensation fund to compen-
sate states if there are any
losses.
Jayakumar said that if
goods worth ~1 lakh ex-facto-
ry price is transported and
sold in Chennai, under the
GST, there would be a sav-
ings of ~19,927 at the end
price, since the tax duplica-
tion is avoided.
More on business-standard.com
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6 ECONOMY
>
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 1

States catching up with Centre AAP government bats for admission

quota in Delhi University
for transmission tenders There are legal problems and national implications in meeting the Delhi
POWERING UP government’s demand of majority reservation for local students
Sector-wise transmission line additions (in km)

13,668 (58)
SAHIL MAKKAR The marks moderation
| Central Sector | State Sector New Delhi, 1 July policy has already run into
| JV/Private Sector; z Total trouble, with parents peti-

11,545 (16)
11,545 (8)
(% change over previous year The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam tioning the Delhi High Court

10,732 (17)

9,992 (-27)
in brackets) Aadmi Party (AAP) govern- to get the Central Board of

9,279 (-20)
9,179 (32)
ment in this city has revived Secondary Education (CBSE)

8,666 (12)
an age-old demand, asking scrap its policy in this regard

7,601 (134)
7,755 (4)
for reserving 85 per cent of from the next academic year.

6,944 (-2)
seats for local students in The officials predict the

7,442
7,053 Delhi University by passing a same problem is likely to arise
resolution in the legislative in the future, as many states

4,326 (96)

3,252 (-25)
assembly. are reluctant to abolish their

2,205 (-20)

2,262 (-70)
The city government marks moderation policy.
believes students from the However, conducting a
2,765

AMRITHA PILLAY crore or more. national capital should be giv- common entrance exam for
Mumbai, 1 July There has also been an en reservation in at least the all central universities would
improvement in transmission 28 colleges, which are either be difficult, as many affiliated

P
ower transmission,
dominated by central
utilities, is witnessing a
change with state utilities plac-
ing larger and more frequent
orders.
“We have seen a change in
awarding activity for trans-
mission and sub-station proj-
ects. Earlier, central utilities
dominated the space, now
states are placing more orders
and of higher value,” said
Vimal Kejriwal, managing
director and chief executive
officer, KEC International.
He added that transmis-
sion orders from states, which
were earlier in the range of
~300-~500 crore, were turning
into larger orders worth ~700
Niti Aayog keen to develop Paradip-Dhamra as CEZs
JAYAJIT DASH
Bhubaneswar, 1 July
The government plan panel
Niti Aayog has shown interest
to develop the Paradip-Dhamra
cluster as one of the Coastal
Economic Zones (CEZs).
Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti
Aayog and other officials of
the government think tank
line additions at the state level.
“The state sector wit-
nessed a decline in transmis-
sion line additions in 2016-17
after strong growth in the pre-
ceding year, and is expected
to post healthy growth in
2017-2018 (planned addition
of 11,545 circuit kilometre) led
by capacity augmentation
plans to reduce network con-
gestion and accommodate ris-
ing renewable energy,” said
Rahul Prithiani, director,
CRISIL Research.
Industry executives said
Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar
Pradesh were the states where
heightened ordering activity
had been noticed.
held discussions with the
Odisha government on the
potential for developing a CEZ
in the state.
“Both Paradip and Dhamra
are very good ports. Paradip is
one of the fast growing ports
while Dhamra is performing
very well. We have proposed to
develop a maximum of three
CEZs across the country and
17,260 16,904
(-2)
FY13 FY14
(P): FY’18 is as projected by CEA
“In recent times, we have
seen Tamil Nadu issue a
~3,000 crore transmission
tender. Our portfolio was ear-
lier 90 per cent Power Grid,
now it is 50 per cent and the
rest is a mix of states, private
orders and exports,” said
Sharan Bansal, director of
Skipper, which supplies
transmission and distribu-
tion equipment to the power
EPC companies.
Kejriwal attributed the rise
Odisha has very bright possi-
bilities. An industrial zone that
connects Paradip with Dhamra
can help build exports apart
from boosting local manufac-
turing”, said Kant, adding “we
will have talks with chief min-
ister after studying the site”
The master planning for
Paradip port is being done by
Feedback Infra and by
22,171 27,653
(31) (25)
FY15 FY16
in awarding activity by states
to growing awareness of pow-
er supply to all. “States are
required to improve opera-
tions, there is public pressure
for better and reliable supply,”
he said.
Bansal added with the
transmission subsidiaries of
state electricity boards
improving their financial per-
formance, they were better
placed to award larger and
more frequent orders.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) for Dhamra
The Ministry of Shipping
has identified 14 CEZs along
the coastline of the country
under National Perspective
Plan (NPP) of the Sagarmala
Programme. The CEZs are spa-
tial economic regions spread
over multiple coastal districts
with strong port linkage.
fully or partially funded by it.
29,138 23,086 Around 250,000 students
(5) (-21) from Delhi compete for
around 57,000 undergraduate
FY17 FY18 (P) seats in the 110 Delhi
Source: CRISIL
University-affiliated colleges
every year. However, the com-
petition is so tough that Delhi
students are only able to qual-
ify for half the seats. The rest
is filled by students from dif-
ferent states.
This has led to both the
AAP and the Delhi unit of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
asking for reservation for stu-
dents graduating from
schools in the capital.
but experts and officials in
the Union ministry of human
resource development
(MHRD) say this is easier said
than done.
“As far as I know, it is not
possible until the central gov-
ernment passes an amend-
ment to the Delhi University
Act of 1922 and to the statutes
that emanate from the Act,”
said Dinesh Singh, former
vice-chancellor of Delhi
University. Though the AAP
government has passed
another resolution exhorting
the BJP-led central govern-
ment to do this, the MHRD is
unlikely to bring any Bill in
this regard.
Around 250,000 students from Delhi compete for around
57,000 undergraduate seats in the 110 Delhi University-
affiliated colleges every year
For various reasons. One
would be that the BJP gov-
ernment at the Centre would
not want its bête noire, AAP, to
derive political mileage from
the reservation issue and at
the same time upset youth
from different states seeking
admission in Delhi University
a year before the 2019 Lok
Sabha elections. The admis-
sion process for the current
academic year, 2017-18, is
underway and no change can
be introduced before 2018.
The amendment is also
not going to cut much ice with
the various regional parties,
as students from various
states flock to Delhi
University for quality educa-
tion, recognition of their
degree and better job
prospects.
“Introducing the quota in
Delhi University is likely to
increase regionalism.
Imagine a situation where
other states start raising sim-
ilar demands for other central
universities housed in their
respective states,” says a sen-
ior MHRD official. “It would
be better if the matter is
resolved between the Delhi
government and the execu-
tive council of Delhi
University.”
Some say there could be a
middle ground. MHRD, for
instance, could introduce a
common entrance examina-
tion for admission in all the 47
central universities, provided
states don’t ask for a regional
quota.
“This would also take care
of the inflation of marks issue
in various school boards. Only
those students who qualify
the entrance exam would be
admitted into central univer-
sities,” says another official in
MHRD.
colleges have their own
admission policies and pro-
cedures. “In such a scenario, it
would be best if the central
government amends the
Delhi University Act to a lim-
ited extent, allowing univer-
sities in Delhi to give affilia-
tion to colleges, as was done
in the case of the Guru
Gobind Singh Indraprastha
University in 1998,” the offi-
cial said.
Sub-section 2 of Section 5
of the Delhi University Act
prohibits any university,
except Delhi University and
Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University, to
have affiliated colleges.
If such an amendment is
passed, institutions such as
Ambedkar University in Delhi
could give affiliation to more
colleges and meet the grow-
ing demand for quality edu-
cation from students. Many
say some of the three-year
degree courses in Ambedkar
University, which is under the
Delhi government, are better
than those offered by Delhi
University.
With the assembly resolu-
tion, the AAP-led Delhi gov-
ernment has now left the
ball in the court of the
central government.

HEALTH
>
1

FIT & PROPER When anxiety or depression Stomach bug? Don’t

Your weekly health guide
just blame the last
Trapped in smoke masks a medical problem JANE E BRODY
ISTOCK thing you ate ISTOCK
July 1, 2017
numorous diseases.

LUKE COUTINHO
MD, Alternative Medicine and
Founder of Purenutrition.me
“I smoke because it calms me
down and helps me deal with
the erratic work schedules” is a
common revert you get from a
smoker. An important project
has held you back at work or
you are just getting accus-
tomed to the 24/7 work culture,
these episodes come with
excessive stress.
If you have not yet realised,
this becomes your first reason
to light a cigarette, and then
another. If this sounds like
you, your journey towards
being a corporate stress smok-
er has just begun. Smoking
has become a common ritual
in the corporate world.
To help pull yourself out
of this destructive vicious
circle, you should under-
stand the functioning of the
body after it has come in
contact with the risky con-
tents of a cigarette.
Nicotine found in ciga-
rettes is the most dangerous
part of smoking. It is what
reaches the lungs and causes
addiction. Cigarettes also con-
tain tar, a dark gooey sub-
stance, which is very toxic and
performs the function of car-
rying nicotine to your lungs.
Cadmium is a metal that
causes toxicity in the human
body and cigarettes contain a
lot of of it. So the faster we
remove tyhe heavy metal tox-
icity like cadmium from the
body, the better one can deal
with the side effects.
Smoking too many ciga-
rettes, increases the iron
content, which therefore cre-
ates more free radicals. Even
a single puff contains up to a
million different free radi-
cals that contribute to
Smoking cigarettes also
depletes certain vitamins and
minerals from your body,
which are very essential for a
strong immunity. Most of the
diseases are born due to defi-
ciency of vital vitamins.
While there’s no way to
reverse the damage that
smoking can cause to your
lungs, let’s look at a quick
way to fix some of the ill-
effects of smoking. For peo-
ple who smoke less frequent-
ly, a rich plant-based diet
should do, but people who
have been smoking everyday
might need to add supple-
ments to their diet.
So after you have decided
to kick the butt for good, there
are ways you can curb the trig-
gers. For starters, get on a diet
rich in vital vitamins, minerals
and antioxidants. Add a good
quality emulsified vitamin E
or getting it out of natural
foods like seeds, pumpkin
seeds, nuts, almonds or wal-
nuts is good start.
Smoking also damages
and scars your arterial walls
that can cause heart issues.
A vitamin E supplement
helps repair those scars that
therefore keeps the arterial
health in order. The rich
antioxidants in them help
to neutralise free radicals in
the body.
Taking a supplement
high in B5, along with eating
foods that are plentiful in B5
is also necessary, since it pre-
vents aging of skin, wrinkles,
and heart issues. Vitamin C
is vital for people who have
been smoking consistently.
Smoking is an untrue
security blanket for your
body that provides tempo-
rary escape from reality.
The more conscious you are
of your smoke triggers, the
less you’ll smoke and the
less hurdles you’ll face when
quitting. Embrace these
healthy supplements and
drift towards a healthier and
happier life.
Next week: Corporate binging
affects dental care
I
t’s perfectly normal for someone to
feel anxious or depressed after receiv-
ing a diagnosis of a serious illness. But
what if the reverse occurs and symptoms
of anxiety or depression masquerade as
an as-yet undiagnosed physical disorder?
Or what if someone’s physical symp-
toms stem from a psychological problem?
How long might it take before the true
cause of the symptoms is uncovered and
proper treatment begun? Most food-borne illnesses are caused by viruses or bacteria.
Psychiatric Times, a medical publi-
cation seen by some 50,000 psychiatrists KATE MURPHYJUNE menting and being formed
each month, recently published a “par- July 1, 2017 into what ultimately is
tial listing” of 47 medical illnesses, rang- flushed down the toilet. So-
ing from cardiac arrhythmias to pancre- It happens like a bolt out of the called bowel transit time
atic cancer, that may first present as blue. One minute you’re fine, varies significantly from per-
anxiety. Added to that was another “par- and the next you begin to son to person, but gastroen-
tial listing” of 30 categories of medica- sweat as crippling cramps terologists said you can easily
tions that may cause anxiety, including Persistent anxiety can cause symptoms like dizziness, nausea and diarrhoea move wavelike through your find out what’s normal for you
antidepressants like selective serotonin belly. You vomit or have diar- by eating corn and watching
reuptake inhibitors, or S.S.R.I.s. or dizziness really has a physical ailment. people with an anxiety disorder are nev- rhea, or both, fearing you for when the indigestible ker-
These lists were included in an article Indeed, doctors at the Montreal Heart er treated for it. won’t live to see another day. nels appear in your stool.
called “Managing Anxiety in the Institute reported in 1996 that about a The problem affects children as well. And then it goes away. Gross, perhaps, but with
Medically Ill,” meant to alert mental quarter of 441 patients who came to the Anxiety disorders in children may be You’re back to your old self, that baseline, the next time
health practitioners to the emergency room because expressed as recurrent stomachache or maybe after a day or two of you get sick, you’ll be better
possibility that some of chest pain were in fact sleep disorders, including frequent night- binge-watching Netflix and able to estimate when you
patients seeking treatment When people have a suffering from panic disor- mares and teeth grinding. chasing dry crackers with might have eaten the offend-
for anxiety or depression chronic physical der, not a heart ailment. On When people have a chronic physical ginger ale. ing meal. For example, if you
may have an underlying illness, untreated the other hand, a woman I illness, untreated anxiety can make the The Centers for Disease throw up something and don’t
medical condition that must anxiety can make the know who was being treat- symptoms worse and the disorder more Control and Prevention esti- have diarrhea or roiling fur-
be addressed before any symptoms worse and ed for panic attacks turned difficult to treat. Among patients with mates this scenario, known ther down, it could be that
emotional symptoms are the disorder more out to have a cardiac abnor- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as an “acute gastrointestinal what made you ill was some-
likely to resolve. difficult to treat. mality, and once that was for example, untreated anxiety can result in event,” happens to all of us thing you ate within the last
Doctors who treat ail- corrected, her panic attacks more frequent hospitalizations and more at least once a year. The four to six hours. If you wake
ments like cardiac, endocrine or intes- disappeared. severe breathing difficulties. And those bouts, while extremely up in the middle of the night
tinal disorders would do well to read this Furthermore, anxiety is often over- with physical ailments and untreated anx- unpleasant, usually don’t with cramps and diarrhea, it’s
article as well lest they do patients a seri- looked as the source of disorders like sub- iety are also more likely to die sooner. occasion a trip to the doctor more likely something you
ous disservice by not recognising an emo- stance abuse or addiction, or as a con- Anyone with a chronic ailment who or require any medication. consumed a good 18 to 48
tional cause of physical symptoms or tributing factor to symptoms in experiences symptoms common to anxi- But such events tend to hours earlier, depending on
addressing the emotional components conditions like migraine headache or irri- ety might consider being checked out for make us spin our gears trying the results of your corn test.
of a physical disease. table bowel syndrome. this emotional component and getting to pinpoint what made us so Most food-borne illnesses
For example, Dr. Yu Dong, a psychia- The Mayo Clinic lists several factors treatment, if needed. There are several miserably sick. While it’s hard are caused by viruses or bac-
trist at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, that suggest the possibility that anxiety effective therapeutic approaches for anx- to know for sure, there are teria, such as norovirus,
and colleagues pointed out last month may result from an underlying medical iety, including cognitive-behavioural ther- clues that might help you Staphylococcus aureus,
that patients with respiratory conditions disorder: apy and medication, that can result in a determine the source and campylobacter, salmonella, E.
like asthma, sleep apnea or pulmonary ■ None of your blood relatives has an anx- much improved quality of life. reduce your risk in the future. coli and Bacillus cereus.
embolism could present with symptoms iety disorder. Depression, too, can be an early sign of “People tend to blame the So in addition to figuring
of anxiety, or those with cardiac symp- ■ You didn’t have an anxiety disorder as a an underlying medical condition not yet last thing they ate, but it’s out the correct time frame of
toms like chest pain or rapid heartbeat child. recognised. Among conditions in which probably the thing before the consumption, also consider
could have an anxiety disorder. ■ You developed anxiety seemingly out of this has occurred are thyroid disease, heart last thing they ate,” said Dr. what foods are more likely to
The problem of missing the proper the blue. attack, cancers of the lung and pancreas, Deborah Fisher, a gastroen- be contaminated. Items cited
diagnosis grows out of a long-ago sepa- ■ You don’t avoid certain things or situa- and the adrenal disorder Cushing’s disease. terologist and associate pro- by the C.D.C. and frequently
ration of powers within the medical pro- tions because of anxiety. In a report in the journal fessor at Duke University on the Food and Drug
fession that often limits the ability of Persistent anxiety can cause symp- Psychotherapy and Psychodynamics, School of Medicine. It takes Administration’s food recall
practitioners to see the forest for the toms like dizziness, nausea, diarrhoea researchers from Italy and Buffalo, the stomach around four to list include leafy greens, culi-
trees, as it were. Medical doctors like car- and frequent urination. People suffering pointed out that a neurological disorder six hours to empty a full meal, nary herbs, melons with tex-
diologists or gastro-enterologists are from anxiety disorders can develop an like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s dis- and then the small intestine tured surfaces like cantaloupe
often ill-equipped to recognise and treat array of additional physical symptoms as ease may first show up as a psychiatric takes about six to eight hours and fresh tomatoes.
emotional symptoms related to a physi- well, like muscle pain, fatigue, headaches problem years before neurological to squeeze out all the nutri- Finally, what goes on your
cal ailment, and psychiatrists may not and shortness of breath, which can lead to symptoms become apparent that result ents and empty into the colon. mind has an enormous impact
consider the possibility that a patient all manner of costly tests in a futile search in a correct diagnosis. The remains linger there for on your gut and vice versa.
with symptoms like palpitations, fatigue for a physical cause. Yet nearly a third of © 2017 The New York Times News Service another one to three days, fer- © 2017 The New York Times News Service
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

.
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 IN DEPTH 7 <

Conversion to Buddhism has brought

literacy and well-being to Dalits
The converts tend to have fewer children and a higher contribution to the national economy than the Scheduled Castes

slightly better than for other groups.

The Maharashtra story: How the Mahars

MANU MOUDGIL (INDIASPEND.ORG) “Most Dalits at the senior levels of admin-
istration are Buddhists,” said Satpal Tanwar,
has the highest proportion (5.81 per cent) of
Buddhists in its population than other Indian
found a better life
The development among Maharashtrian
Buddhists can be attributed to Ambedkar’s call
for education and certain social conditions.
FEMALE Ambedkar was from the Mahar communi-
ty which had little agricultural land and no
LITERACY AMONG fixed traditional occupation in a village socie-
BUDDHISTS ty. They often stayed on the periphery of their
IN INDIA IS villages and acted as watchmen, messengers,
CONSIDERABLY wall menders, adjudicators of boundary dis-
HIGHER putes, street sweepers and so on.
This flexibility of profession ensured that
(74.04%) THAN Mahars were more mobile than others. Many
THE TOTAL of them, including Ambedkar’s father, joined
POPULATION the British Army. Even before Ambedkar
AVERAGE embraced Buddhism, he asked the Dalits to
(64.63%) take to education.
“Lack of farm land or traditional occupa-
Scheduled Castes in these two states. tion made it easy for Mahars to take to educa-
In 2011, the sex ratio among Buddhists is tion as the means for gainful employment,”

T
here are more than 8.4 million
Buddhists in India and 87 per cent of
them are converts from other religions,
mostly Dalits who changed religion to escape
Hindu caste oppression. The remaining 13 per
cent of Buddhists belong to traditional com-
munities of the north-east and northern
Himalayan regions.
Today, these converts to Buddhism — also
called neo-Buddhists — enjoy better literacy
rates, greater work participation and sex ratio
than Scheduled Caste Hindus, the group from
which most converts emerge, according to an
IndiaSpend analysis of 2011 Census data.
Given that converts make for 87 per cent of
the Buddhist population in India and most of
them are Dalits, our analysis goes with the
assumption that the benefits of growth in the
community accrue mostly to the Dalits.
Buddhists have a literacy rate of 81.29 per
cent, higher than the national average of 72.98
per cent, according to Census data. The literacy
rate among Hindus is 73.27 per cent while Sched-
uled Castes have a literacy rate of 66.07 per cent.
a leader of Bhim Army, the activist organisa-
tion accused of the Saharanpur violence of
May 5, 2017, and now mulling mass conversion
of Dalits to Buddhism. “This is because
Buddhism lends them self-confidence as com-
pared to the caste system which tends to ratio-
nalise their low social status through vague
concepts like bad karma.”
Northeast falling behind
It is only in the traditional communities
of the northeast, especially in Mizoram
(48.11 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh
(57.89 per cent), that Buddhists have a
lower literacy rate than the population
average.
On the other hand, Chhattisgarh (87.34 per
cent), Maharashtra (83.17 per cent) and
Jharkhand (80.41 per cent) have the most num-
ber of literate Buddhists. The conversion
movement has been the strongest in
Maharashtra, followed by Madhya Pradesh,
Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.
Maharashtra’s story is unique because it
states — more than 6.5 million. It was the home
state of BR Ambedkar where he, along with
600,000 followers, switched to Buddhism in
1956. This form of protest against casteism
continues to this day though, as IndiaSpend
reported on June 17, 2017, the growth rate of
such conversions is declining.
In Uttar Pradesh, 68.59 per
cent Buddhists are literate, higher
than total population average
(67.68 per cent) and nearly eight
AN percentage points higher than the
indiaspend.org figure for other Scheduled Castes
STORY (60.88 per cent).
Better gender parameters
Female literacy among Buddhists in India is
also considerably higher (74.04 per cent) than
the total population average (64.63 per cent),
data show. Among neo-Buddhist states, only
Uttar Pradesh (57.07 per cent) and Karnataka
(64.21 per cent) show female literacy rates
lower than total population averages, but
these are still considerably higher than
965 females per 1,000 males as compared to
945 for total Scheduled Castes. The national
average sex ratio was 943. Buddhists also tend
to have fewer children.
The Census 2011 data shows that there are
11.62 per cent children in 0-6 year age group
among Buddhists compared to 13.59 per cent
national average. This means, for every hun-
dred population, Buddhists have two children
less than the average.
But can it be said that neo-Buddhists are
more inclined towards education than Dalits?
Or is there a greater possibility that Dalits turn
to Buddhism after attaining education?
Around 43 per cent of Buddhists stay in
urban areas as compared to total population
average of 31 per cent, which also increases
their chances of being educated. But the real-
ity is not simple.
Around 80 per cent Buddhists are from
Maharashtra, which has better literacy and
urban ratio than the national average. Within
Maharashtra, the literacy rate, urbanisation
levels and child ratio among Buddhists is
said Nitin Tagade, assistant professor,
Savitribai Phule Pune University, who has
studied the economic condition of
Maharashtra’s neo-Buddhists. “So, they had a
head start as compared to other communities
in attaining education and moving to cities.”
Around 47.76 per cent Buddhists stay in cities
compared to the Maharashtra state average of
45.22 per cent, according to Census 2011. Among
those in rural Maharashtra, most working
Buddhists continue to be agricultural labourers
(67 per cent), which is much higher than the
rural population average of 41.50 per cent.
Their improved social status through edu-
cation has helped neo-Buddhists contribute
more to the national economy than Scheduled
Castes. Their work participation ratio (43.15
per cent) is higher than of total Scheduled
Castes (40.87 per cent) and higher also than the
national average (39.79%).
Reprinted with permission from IndiaSpend.org, a
data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit
organisation

IMO ‘Ransom-payers are also the cause

Government is moving towards selling the national airline, which has floundered
amid stiff competition from newer players
AIR INDIA TO BE PRIVATISED
Aditya Gadre@angry_bard
3 years into this govt, finally some hope for
change — Air India to be privatised
Manish Tewari@ManishTewari
Buzz -Air India deal allegedly sealed.To be sold
to private Indian Aviation player@20,000
crores when AI value is more than 5 lakh
crores???
HindolSengupta@HindolSengupta
For better competition in the market, Air India
should not be sold to Indigo but to a competing
airline. Ind + AI would be a monopoly
Sorabh Pant@hankypanty
IndiGo offers to buy Air India? Should work. The
price of a Chicken Junglee Sandwich on IndiGo
is more than the entire worth of Air India.
Sasidharan Pazhoor@inquestioner
Since the time they uttered "Air India", Indigo
has been having problems. Tyre burst y'day,
near-miss today...
Yatin Mota@YatinMota
Indigo offer for Air India is like a 19 year old girl
planning to marry a 80 year old and everyone
in the family (Indigo staff) is worried
Vasu@vasudevan_k
If Tata wants to buy. And indigo also wants to
buy. Why sell air india?
ATTACKS BY COW VIGILANTES
Suhail Majeed@suhail_dainposh
Gawraksha extremism, killing Muslim in the
name of cow protection is a psychological
warfare, Inhuman acts where cow is superior
than man
Sadanand Dhume@dhume
Normal: Mourn lynching of 16-year-old boy
and deplore his killers. Deranged: Fight about
whether he was killed over beef and attack
media
Mohsen Rashid@mmr_51
@narendramodi Thanks for speaking on killing
of people in the name of cow protection.Your
warning is going to be very useful in saving
lives
Sudipto Halder@Off_Sudipto_H
Killing people in the name of Cow protection is
not acceptable and also organising beef
parties, fests to hurt Hindus is also not
acceptable
Ashutosh Mishra@ashu3page
Finally it comes from PM, hope this will put to
an end of the terrorism and killing in the name
of Cow protection.
GST ROLL-OUT
Ashish@AshishBhojania
Only @narendramodi could have rolled out
GST. Only he has the tenacity & gumption to
manage the scale & complexity of GST.
Kirti Sinha@Kirti_Sinha
Congress boycotted #GSTrolledOut because by
10pm it's kids bed time.
Sukanya Chatterjee@schat95_sukanya
A very proud moment for all Indians. Finally GST
has rolled out. One nation One tax.
of ransomware proliferation’
Operations at a terminal of the country’s largest container port, establishing a cyber security culture
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, came to a standstill earlier this in the company, and a country can
week. The process of loading and unloading containers was halted as be cyber resilient by cultivating a
the port’s computers shut down after a major cyber attack that swept culture of cyber security in society.
across the globe. The aggressiveness of the malware showed that such Government should quadruple its
attacks were capable of bringing both corporate and government budget for digital literacy
networks to a sudden halt. The ransom to retrieve files was reportedly programmes. For the government to
$300, to be paid in virtual currency bitcoins. Cyber law expert be ahead of hackers, we need cyber
PRASHANT MALI, also an advocate at the Bombay High Court, tells spies: our law and enforcement
Nikita Puri how to prevent mass-scale civil disruptions that future agencies should implant cyber spies
cyber attacks can result in. Edited excerpts: among cyber criminals. The chatter
within their group helps the state to
be ready for what is coming: we
First we had individual companies Even if cyber attacks don’t need cyber intelligence.
and high-networth individuals who cause financial damage, they
were targets of ransomware, then definitely throw open defences. Do you think companies should have
WannaCry hit servers across the Identifying fortresses that have ethical hackers on their pay rolls?
globe. Now another malware, which holes in their system can be of I have an issue with the term
some are identifying as Petya, has interest to the state and non- “ethical hackers” because legally
sent corporations into a tizzy. Do state actors. This data of the this isn’t right: those are two
you foresee more such threats? number of loopholes is in contradictory terms put
To date, financial cyber crime has demand and is sold at a together. People who use these
only grown and it is yet to peak, so I premium price. There are terms are either doing it for
would say it’s written on the wall different types of people branding purpose or are
that many more such attacks are involved in the dark world: many a fear they put in Indians, the more students. Companies should opt
expected in the near future. Such time those who look for such holes, they sell security products. The for services by cyber security
threats loom large as the ransom is those who attack, and those who Insurance Regulatory and researchers.
paid in bitcoins, so the criminals intend to get ransoms are all Development Authority of India and
aren’t caught. One thing the police different. insurance companies should make it Are India’s cyber laws equipped to
and the government can do is to compulsory for clients to file a First handle such large-scale attacks?
ensure that citizens make Companies are often wary of Information Report (FIR) before No. Laws can be invoked when
compulsory declarations of making such attacks public. claiming cyber insurance. Once prima facie evidence is found
purchase of bitcoins and other Security firm Symantec has reporting to some government against criminals and investigation
cryptocurrencies (like ethereum) said that India is the worst
Head agency becomes mandatory can be completed if attribution to a
when they file their income tax hit in Asia, but we have
to to claim insurance, criminal is possible. The legal
returns. This can help the confirmation only from
Head companies would be framework to help enforcement
government see who pays and how Mumbai’s Jawaharlal motivated. agencies in India has serious flaws.
much because, I feel, ransom-payers Nehru Port Trust. Do For the government Large-scale cyber attacks need
are also the cause of ransomware you think information to be ahead of What are the security multiple law and enforcement
proliferation. sharing could actually hackers, we need measures that one must agencies to work together
help build a better cyber spies: our law take to avoid such along with CERT-In (Indian
Security experts confirm that the defence against such and enforcement attacks? Computer Emergency Response
malware isn't really a ransomware, attacks? agencies should No one can be immune in Team), but the protocol for this is
but a wiper designed to destroy By not reporting such implant cyber cyber space and that's the yet to be developed.
data. Reportedly, because of “ its attacks, companies are spies among cyber reality. Only cyber In the future, cyber attacks are
aggressive features,” the malware depriving the nation of a criminals awareness in going to affect government facilities
makes it impossible to retrieve knowledge database organisations can bring in meant for citizens: like centres for
certain files leading many to believe that can help other companies cyber resilience. I would advise health, water etcetera. Even
that this attack may not have been develop better defences. Symantec organisations to have multi-prong municipalities should coordinate
for money. Can this be seen as an and other (security) vendors also policies to establish a cyber security with the aforementioned agencies to
attempt to test how far companies cannot be fully relied upon because culture. I feel the highest level of avoid mass scale civil disruption
will go to protect data? fear is what they harp on. The more cyber safety can be achieved by from cyber attacks.
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS
8 WORLD
>
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 1

Xi says Hong Kong should Ukraine blames Russia

N THINGS OF THE INTERNET N

profit from China, not defy it for recent cyber attack

PAVEL POLITYUK
TING SHI, DAVID TWEED &
WAI YI SHAWNA KWAN
Kiev, 1 July Germany gears up to defend
1 July Ukraine said on Saturday that against possible G20 cyber attacks
Russian security services were
Germany is girding itself for preparing for any physical

P
resident Xi Jinping warned a involved in a recent cyber
divided Hong Kong that chal- attack on the country, with the possible cyber attacks on next violence. “We’re preparing
lenges to China’s rule wouldn’t be aim of destroying important week’s G20 summit in intensively for every form of
tolerated and said the city’s leaders must data and spreading panic. Hamburg, by hacker groups or protest,” Schoenbohm said in
find new ways to profit from Chinese The SBU, Ukraine’s state cells linked to foreign an interview.
economic clout. security service, said the attack, governments, its top cyber “As the national cyber
Xi’s stern speech Saturday — at a cer- which started in Ukraine and official told Reuters. security agency ... we’re
emony in which he swore in Carrie Lam, spread around the world on Arne Schoenbohm, presi- concerned about everything
60, as Hong Kong’s first female chief Tuesday, was by the same dent of Germany’s Federal from (persistent threats) to
executive — capped a three-day trip to hackers who attacked the Office for Information Security groups like Anonymous and
mark the 20th anniversary of the for- Ukrainian power grid in (BSI), said authorities had set Lulzsec that could be
mer British colony’s return to China. December 2016. Ukrainian up a 24/7 special command planning political protests
The president said the city’s leaders politicians were quick to blame centre to defend against such using cyber attacks.”
must build political consensus, devise Russia for Tuesday’s attack, but attacks, just as it was REUTERS
new economic drivers and address soar- a Kremlin spokesman dis-
ing home prices. missed “unfounded blanket
“It is imperative to always focus on accusations”. attack in May. But Ukrainian ing those obtained in cooper-
development as the top priority,” Xi told Cyber security firms are try- officials and some security ation with international anti-
the gathering of the city’s political and ing to piece together who was experts say the ransomware fea- virus companies, give us rea-
business leaders, saying that growth held behind the computer worm, ture was likely a smokescreen. son to believe that the same
“the golden key to resolving various dubbed NotPetya by some Relations between Ukraine hacking groups are involved
issues in Hong Kong.” Any attempts to experts, which and Russia went in the attacks, which in
challenge the Chinese government “or conked out com- Relations into freefall after December 2016 attacked the
use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration puters, hit banks, between Ukraine Moscow’s annexa- financial system, transport
and sabotage activities against the main- Pro-democracy protesters carry a banner that reads ‘One Country, Two Systems, a cheating for twenty years. Recapture disrupted shipping and Russia went tion of Crimea in and energy facilities of
land is an act that crosses the red line, Hong Kong with democracy and self-determination’, during a demonstration on the 20th anniversary of the territory’s and shut down a into freefall after 2014 and the sub- Ukraine using TeleBots and
and is absolutely impermissible,” he said. handover from Britain to Chinese rule, in Hong Kong on Saturday REUTERS chocolate factory in Moscow’s sequent outbreak BlackEnergy,” the SBU said.
Since the last Chinese president vis- Australia. annexation of of a Kremlin- “This testifies to the
ited five years ago, Hong Kong has been Joshua Wong, 20, a leader of the mass The attack also Crimea in 2014 backed separatist involvement of the special
racked by doubts about the city’s growth Occupy protests in 2014 who now runs
model, protests for greater democracy his own political party, said he was
Hong Kong’s first female leader a ‘tilted hit major Russian insurgency in east-
firms, leading some cyber secu- ern Ukraine that has killed
services of Russian Federation
in this attack.”
and the emergence of a small inde- detained by police and released. bridge’ over troubled waters rity researchers to suggest that more than 10,000 people. The SBU in an earlier state-
pendence movement. The trip demon- After Xi’s departure Saturday, thou- Moscow was not behind it. Hacking Ukrainian state ment on Friday said it had
strated Xi’s intolerance for challenges sands joined an annual pro-democracy VENUS WU with Lam say she’s intelligent, hard- The malicious code in the institutions is part of what seized equipment it said
to Chinese sovereignty while showcas- march through the streets. Attendees Hong Kong, 1 July working and able to push virus encrypted data on com- Ukraine says is a “hybrid war” belonged to Russian agents in
ing the confidence he has displayed carried banners calling for the downfall controversial government policies, puters, and demanded victims by Russia on Kiev. Russia denies May and June to launch cyber
abroad as growing clout gives his coun- of the Communist Party and the arrest of Carrie Lam, who was sworn in as Hong earning her the trust of Beijing pay a $300 ransom, similar to sending troops or military attacks against Ukraine and
try less reason to hide its strength and city’s former chief executive Leung Kong’s first female leader on Saturday, factions who strongly lobbied for votes the extortion tactic used in a equipment to eastern Ukraine. other countries.
abide international pressure. Chun-ying. is a former student activist who on her behalf when she was chosen in global WannaCry ransomware “The available data, includ- REUTERS
“Xi sent a clear sovereign message: Many were unconvinced by Xi’s climbed the rungs of the civil service March.
‘You belong to us, and your future is promise of prosperity, which they said over 36 years, and a tough, capable But her hardline and pro-Beijing
with us,’” said David Zweig, a political would probably benefit the wealthy and possibly divisive Beijing-backed tendencies, say critics and opposition
science professor at the Hong Kong most. The city, long lauded by econo-
University of Science and Technology. mists for its business freedom, has the
leader.
Lam, most recently Hong Kong’s
democrats, risk sowing further social
divisions in the former British colony Facebook changes US warns
“Maybe it will finally put to sleep the biggest wealth disparity in Asia.
democrats’ unfailing belief that some- Apartments the size of parking spots
number two official, has to unify the
Chinese-ruled city as public
that returned to China 20 years ago
under a “one country, two systems”
algorithm to curb ‘tiny businesses
how Xi is going to offer a package that cost $500,000 and median wage earn- resentment swells at Beijing’s growing formula that guarantees it wide-
of hacking
group’ of spammers
will solve the political problems of Hong ers would have to save for 80 years to interference in its affairs despite being ranging freedoms.
Kong.”
Thousands of police officers were
buy a home.
“Xi always stresses that they bring
promised a high degree of autonomy.
She also has to reinvigorate the
“Carrie Lam ... is a nightmare for
Hong Kong,” said student activist campaign
deployed to keep protesters far away us economic opportunities,” said Ruth economy and address growing social Joshua Wong in March, one of the
from Xi, and those lining nearby streets Wong, a 29-year-old social worker. “But inequalities and high property prices, leaders of the student-led “Umbrella DAVID INGRAM posts per day, effectively spam- JIM FINKLE
during the ceremony appeared largely can you say it benefits most of the Hong issues Chinese President Xi Jinping Movement” protests in 2014 which 1 July ming people’s feeds,” said Toronto, 1 July
supportive of Chinese rule, waving red Kong people? I think those who benefit highlighted at her swearing-in blocked the streets for 79 days Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s vice
national flags. Scuffles broke out when are those who have vested interests, like ceremony. demanding full democracy. Facebook said on Friday it was president for the News Feed, The US government warned
several pro-democracy demonstrators the property developers.” Several sources who have worked REUTERS changing the computer algo- in a blog post. industrial firms this week
tried to carry a mock coffin to venue. BLOOMBERG rithm behind its News Feed to Ahead of the November 8 about a hacking campaign
limit the reach of people known US presidential election, targeting the nuclear and
to frequently blast out links to Facebook users saw false news energy sectors, the latest
clickbait stories, sensationalist reports saying Pope Francis event to highlight the power

US beef debuts in Dropbox seeks to hire IPO websites and misinformation. endorsed Donald Trump and
The move is another step that a federal agent who had
by the world’s largest social been investigating Democratic
industry’s vulnerability to
cyber attacks.
Since at least May, hack-
China after 14 years underwriters, sources say network to weed out spam, a candidate Hillary Clinton was
battle Facebook has fought for found dead.
ers used tainted “phishing”
emails to “harvest creden-
years but that gained urgency The algorithm behind the tials” so they could gain acc-
BLOOMBERG place in 2003 that was triggered after hoax news stories spread News Feed determines which ess to networks of their tar-
1 July by a case of mad cow disease in LIANA B BAKER & LAUREN HIRSCH who focus more on prof- widely during last posts people see gets, according to a joint
Washington state. China, the 1 July itability than do private year’s US presiden- The move is from friends, adver- report from the US Depart-
The US aims to export more world’s largest pork producer investors, would assign lower tial campaign. another step by tisers and other ment of Homeland Security
high-quality and safe farm and consumer, has seen beef Data-sharing business Dropbox valuations to them. Facebook said the world’s sources, and the and Federal Bureau of Inves-
products to China to help bal- demand climb as more people is seeking to hire underwriters Snap, owner of the popu- the change would largest social order in which they tigation.
ance trade between the two adopt Western-style eating for an initial public offering lar messaging app Snapchat, reduce the influ- network to appear depending The report provided to the
countries as it marks habits. China’s beef that could come later this year, was forced to lower its IPO val- ence of a “tiny weed out spam on how users industrial firms was reviewed
its first shipment of China banned imports hit $2.5 bil- which would make it the uation expectations earlier group” of people it responded to previ- by Reuters on Friday. While
beef in 14 years. US beef in 2003 lion last year, with biggest US technology compa- this year amid investor con- has identified who share vast ous posts. disclosing attacks, and warn-
“We can provide triggered by a total shipments at ny to go public since Snap, peo- cern over its unproven busi- amounts of low-quality public Facebook, which has 2 bil- ing that in some cases hack-
more safe, high- case of mad 579,836 tons, accord- ple familiar with the matter ness model. Its shares have posts daily. Only about 0.1 per lion monthly active users, fre- ers succeeded in compro-
quality food prod- cow disease in ing to customs data. said on Friday. Drew Houston, CEO and since lingered just above the cent of people who share more quently tweaks the computer mising the networks of their
ucts for the con- Washington The US also hopes The IPO will be a key test founder of Dropbox REUTERS IPO price, with investors trou- than 50 posts a day fall into that code behind the News Feed. targets, it did not identify any
sumers here in that China can of Dropbox’s worth after it bled by widening losses and category, the company said. The latest tweak will have a specific victims.
China, a key part of improving approve more traits of geneti- was valued at almost $10 bil- tions are private. Dropbox missed analyst estimates. It The change would affect negligible effect, said Jennifer “Historically, cyber actors
our relationship and reducing cally modified corn and soy- lion in a private fundraising declined to comment. has a market capitalisation of only links shared by those peo- Grygiel, a Syracuse University have strategically targeted the
our trade deficit,” US beans and finalise an agree- round in 2014. Several big US technology $21 billion. ple, not their photos or other communications professor energy sector with various
Ambassador to China Terry ment on rice, Branstad told Dropbox will begin inter- companies such as Uber Still, for many private com- posts, the company said. who monitors social media, in goals ranging from cyber
Branstad told reporters in China’s Agriculture Minister viewing investment banks in Technologies and Airbnb panies, there is increasing pres- “Our research shows that a telephone interview, adding espionage to the ability to dis-
Beijing on Friday. Han Changfu during a meeting the coming weeks, the have resisted going public in sure to go pubic as investors there is a tiny group of people that Facebook needs to hire rupt energy systems in the
China has re-started impor- with visiting US Agriculture sources said, asking not to be recent months, concerned look to cash out. on Facebook who routinely more content moderators. event of a hostile conflict,” the
ts of US beef, lifting a ban put in Secretary Sonny Perdue. named because the delibera- that stock market investors, REUTERS share vast amounts of public REUTERS report said. REUTERS

Hong Kong or Singapore: Which city is better for expats to live in?
ERIC LAM
1 July
In the race to lure talent for global
firms’ regional headquarters, Hong
Kong and Singapore have long
been neck-and-neck. While many
companies make their managers
locate in one or the other city —
often depending on whether their
duties focus more on Southeast
Asia, or on China — others give top
talent a choice.
Back before Hong Kong’s han-
dover to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong
Kong had an edge due to expecta-
tions of the opening of China’s econ-
omy, the city’s role as the entrepot on
the border, and the banking industry
poised to capitalise on it. Now,
Singapore’s push into innovation
and technology has the Lion City on
an upswing.
The salaries
The top salaries in Hong Kong for
jobs in the financial industry are
about 25 per cent higher than in
Singapore on average, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg
from the 2017 salary survey of
recruitment firm Robert Walters
Plc. That trend carries across most
industries.
Personal income taxes in the two
cities are relatively low. The top rate
in Singapore for income above the
first $230,500 is 22 per cent; in Hong
Kong, the top rate is 17 per cent.
The lifestyle
Those extra dollars don’t necessarily
get you as far in Hong Kong, howev-
er. The city has overtaken Tokyo as
the most expensive in the region and
second overall in the world for expa-
triates. Singapore, by contrast, is 24th
on its list.
The survey tracks the cost of
goods ranging from groceries to beer
and tobacco, while excluding spend-
ing such as rent and school tuition.
Taxes on alcohol mean the price
of imbibing is higher in Singapore. A
pint of beer in a Singaporean pub
goes for about $9, while the same will
set you back $7.70 in Hong Kong,
according to Deutsche Bank’s 2017
report on global consumer prices
using data gathered from
Expatistan.com, which compiles
input from thousands of people
reporting the prices they pay in var-
ious countries.
Paying for housing
For most people, the single biggest
cost, though, is housing — unless
companies still offer housing pack-
ages, which have been increasingly
dwindling.
Expat packages for both cities
have been sliding for the past five
years, down 2 per cent to $265,500 in
Hong Kong and 6 per cent to
$235,500 in Singapore, according to
ECA’s MyExpatriate Market Pay sur-
vey. While salaries have risen in
Singapore in the same period, the
Residential rents in Hong Kong are higher than Singapore’s by a large margin
decline in benefits has reduced the
total package value, according to Lee
Quane, ECA’s regional director for
Asia.
Monthly rent for a 900-square-
foot furnished residence in an expen-
sive area costs about $2,600 in
Singapore, while the equivalent in
Hong Kong costs almost $4,900.
Business and investment
Those looking to park their cash in
local investments have done better in
Hong Kong over the years. Real
estate investors have seen second-
ary home prices soar 400 per cent
since the last property slump in
2003. Hong Kong’s stock market has
beaten Singapore’s over the past five
years, too.
International companies based
in Hong Kong rose 53 per cent since
1997, totaling almost 1,400 as of last
year, according to government data.
Singapore, which tracks total invest-
ment by foreign companies, record-
ed a 12 per cent decline in the 2011-
2015 period, with U.S. companies the
only ones to increase their presence.
Yet Singapore beats Hong Kong
as a more attractive destination
price-wise for companies, according
to a report last year from
DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield. Hong
ISTOCK
Kong suffers from higher costs, while
Singapore boasts cheaper office rent
— about half the price on a per
square meter basis, the report said.
The price of driving
Singapore is possibly the most
expensive place in the world to drive,
due to regulations and fees designed
to keep traffic from turning into the
chaos that befell Jakarta, Manila,
Bangkok and other Southeast Asian
cities as incomes rose and more res-
idents could afford to get behind the
wheel.
Drivers must bid for a limited
number of special permits, as well
as pay a slew of taxes and recurring
fees that can more than double the
cost of car ownership.
An Audi A6 luxury sedan costs,
all-in, about $70,400 in Hong Kong,
based on manufacturers’ suggested
pricing, which includes a First
Registration Tax, annual fees and
insurance. In Singapore, the car
would cost about $168,100 based on
quoted prices from authorised dis-
tributors, according to the govern-
ment’s vehicle registration website.
The air you breathe
Hong Kong became notorious for its
high levels of air pollution, so the gov-
ernment began enacting curbs on
emissions — from vehicles and heavy
cargo ships using its port — as well as
cooperating with officials in
Guangdong province to try to reduce
smog blowing across the border.
These measures have shown
results. Since 1999 Hong Kong has
curbed roadside levels of nitrogen
oxides by 56 per cent, and fine par-
ticulate matter, known as PM2.5, by
52 per cent, according to 2016 gov-
ernment data.
Singapore, despite stringent vehi-
cle emissions standards, is occa-
sionally plagued by trouble from
across its border as well: haze from
Indonesian wildfires. The city suf-
fered from another spike in 2016.
Singapore reported good or mod-
erate air quality for 87.5 per cent of
the year in 2015. That’s lower than
the 97 per cent of the previous year,
due to the wildfires. Hong Kong
reported 67 per cent clean air days.
If you have children
The cost of private school rivals rent
as the biggest cost in each city.
Tuition for a new middle-school stu-
dent at Singapore American School
costs about $36,200 if the student
comes from a non-American family.
At the American School Hong Kong,
a similar new student entering
grades 7 or 8 will need to pay about
$25,200, including the entry fee, plus
either a recurring annual fee of
$2,600 or a refundable debenture of
$77,000. It’s also difficult to get a spot
in a number of Hong Kong schools.
Yet Singapore’s secondary
schools beat Hong Kong’s in the
global Program for International
Student Assessment, or PISA, rat-
ings. Singapore ranks at the top for
math, reading and science. Hong
Kong is No 2 in reading and math,
but fell to No 9 in science in the lat-
est test.
Most young families will also hire
a domestic worker to help out.
Minimum wage for such workers in
Hong Kong is currently about $550 a
month, according to the govern-
ment. In Singapore, wages for
Filipino maids and nannies are man-
dated by the Philippine government.
As of last year, they were the equiva-
lent of $400 a month.
BLOOMBERG
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

.
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 WORLD 9 <

IN BRIEF

HSBCbags firstforeign majority

All well for world economy Buffett about
to make
$12 bn on
owned China securities JV
at mid-year? Up to a point his Bank of
America bet
Policymakers and economists seem to believe that the world is enjoying a broad expansion
JEREMY GAUNT less than expected with slowing sales of
London, 1 July durable goods and clothes.
Britain, facing the huge unknown

S
o strong is the belief in the of leaving the European Union, is a case
growth momentum of the global unto itself, with plummeting consumer
economy as it enters the second confidence.
half of 2017, the point has been reached None of this is to say that the world
in the economic cycle where data not economy is not in good shape, with
meeting expectations is dismissed as (non-British) consumer and business
an aberration. confidence generally rising.
Flash purchasing managers’ index- There are “mixed signals,” David
HSBC Holdings became the first foreign bank to win permission for a es for services in Europe in June, for Folkerts-Landau, group chief econo-
majority-owned securities joint venture in China, a structure some of example, were weaker than anyone in a mist at Deutsche Bank, wrote to clients, NOAH BUHAYAR
its competitors have unsuccessfully lobbied several years for. The Reuters poll had predicted, but the mar- but these reflect “momentum soften- & KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY
London-based firm received approval to own 51 per cent of a venture ket paid scant attention. “Way below ing in the margin, but still robust”. 1 July
with Qianhai Financial Holdings, the China Securities Regulatory expectations, but let’s not worry,” was But enough uncertainties exist for
Commission said in a statement. HSBC Qianhai Securities is expected to the mantra. the Bank of International Settlements Warren Buffett’s bet on
start operations that include trading locally listed securities and Such economic Panglossianism — — the central bankers’ banker — to Bank of America is about to
underwriting initial public offerings by the end of the year, HSBC said in all for the best in the best of all worlds — warn of risks ahead from a turning pay off with a roughly $12
a separate statement. "China's securities industry reform is taking a big is based on what seems to be a majori- financial cycle, unmanageable house- billion windfall.
step forward as it's further opening up the market to foreign firms," ty view among policymakers and econ- hold debt, and weak productivity The billionaire plans to
Richard Cao, a Shenzhen-based analyst at Guotai Junan Securities, said omists that the world is enjoying a A file photo of shipping containers at the Port Newark Container Terminal in growth among others. exercise warrants obtained
by phone. "The regulator's move is paving the way for more foreign broad expansion. Newark, New Jersey REUTERS These are hard to track, but there six years ago in a vote of con-
banks to own a majority stake." The approval may ignite optimism “Faster growth this year reflects a will be a number of data spot-checks in fidence in Bank of America
among other foreign investment banks that have struggled for years to synchronised improvement across both tary stimulus thrown at it. but there are centres of trouble, such as the coming week. while its shares were tum-
challenge local rivals. Regulations limiting them to minority stakes in advanced and emerging market The Citi Economic Surprise Index, in Italy, the bloc’s third largest economy. Full purchasing manager indexes bling amid multibillion-dol-
their joint ventures have reduced their sway over key decisions and economies,” Brian Coulton, Fitch which moves in tandem with data beat- And while deflation may have gone, and equivalents such as Japan’s lar probes tied to the hous-
they've been largely excluded from lucrative businesses such as Ratings’ chief economist, wrote in an ing or underclubbing expectations, has inflation is still below target. Tankan will show whether manufac- ing meltdown. The cash
secondary-market trading in Chinese debt and equities, as well as outlook projecting 2017 would have the plunged for the main industrial nations The jobless rate is lower, but still turing and services growth is keeping infusion helped the bank put
from managing money for wealthy clients. fastest world growth — 2.9 per cent — this year and is at negative levels not above 9 per cent (twice that for the up with expectations or succumbing to rest doubts about whether
BLOOMBERG < since 2010. seen since 2011. young), consumer spending has been to a mild slowdown. it had enough capital, and its
Backing up this view, central banks Real US gross domestic product has easing and wage growth is stubborn- Germany, France and Britain will shares have more than
in the United States, euro zone and been increasing, but the pace has been ly slow. also release their latest industrial out- tripled since then.
Britain are leaning toward tightening, slower in each of the past two quarters China, meanwhile, has avoided the put numbers. In the 2011 deal, Buffett’s
EU antitrust fine to Oil up for 7th day but albeit with a cacophony of mixed sig- up to the fairly slow annualised 1.4 per slowdown some feared. Indeed, facto- Finally, the end of the week brings Berkshire Hathaway invest-
cut profit by $2.74 first-half drop nals about when. cent in January-March. ries grew at their quickest pace in three the US non-farm payrolls data for June. ed $5 billion in Bank of
billion: Alphabet biggest since 1998 Financial markets are now pricing in A report by the Atlanta Fed suggests month in June. The number of new jobs is expected to America in exchange for pre-
a 90 per cent chance of a euro zone rate second quarter growth will bounce back But an official crackdown on exces- rise from May’s release, but still reflect ferred stock and the right to
AlphabetsaidthattheEuropean OilclimbedonFridayforaseventh hike by July next year, for example, to — but as a result of stronger home sales, sive debt and shadow banking has a much lower pace of job creation than buy 700 million common
Commission'srecentantitrustfine straightsessionasadecreasein go with the Federal Reserve’s ongoing a reflection of cheap money, offsetting been enough of a risk to economic sta- at the beginning of the year. shares — a stake now worth
willreducesecond-quarterprofit theUSrigcountandstronger upward tweaks. sluggish equipment and inventory bility to make the central bank cau- In addition to the numbers, there $17 billion. Berkshire said in
byabout$2.74billion.The demanddatafromChinalifted There are, however, some incon- investment. tious about taking further action, par- will be talk. The Group of 20 nations a statement Friday that it
companyplanstoreportthefine depressedpricesthatstillfinished venient trends out there that will need Durable goods orders declined ticularly ahead of this year’s meets in Berlin at the end of the week would convert its preferred
inaseparateoperatingexpense thefirsthalfwiththebiggest consideration in the second half. sharply and jobs growth slowed at their Communist Party Congress. — seeking some kind of unity with US shares into common stock
lineonitsincomestatement.It's declineforthatperiodsince1998. First, there have been some signs of last readings. In Japan, the government has raised President Donald Trump to keep once the Charlotte, North
nottaxdeductible,sothecharge USdrillersdecreasedtheirnumber a dip in economic activity, while infla- In the euro zone, the overall picture its overall view of the economy because things going through the second half Carolina-based bank
willreduceAlphabet'snetincome ofrigsforthefirsttimesince tion remains, in most places, stubborn- is relatively positive with a current 1.9 of growth in private consumption. But and beyond. increases its dividend, now
andearningspersharebythefull January,accordingtoenergy ly nonchalant toward the huge mone- per cent year-on-year growth rate — the latest data showed retail sales rising REUTERS planned for the beginning of
$2.74billionamount,itsaidina servicescompanyBakerHughes. the third quarter.
statement.Analystsexpect Therigcounthadrisenforthe Buffett laid out his think-
Alphabet,theownerofGoogle,to previous23weeks.Earlier,Chinese ing for the conversion, which
reportsecond-quarternet
incomeof$5.78billion,according
todatacompiledbyBloomberg.
datashowedfactoriesgrewatthe
quickestpaceinthreemonths.
RobHaworth,seniorinvestment
Obama takes swipe at Trump Trump demands ‘fair will make him the company’s
biggest shareholder, in a
February letter to investors,
AnalystsdismissedtheEUfineasa
threattoGoogle'sstockposition.
strategistatUSBankWealth
Management,saidtheChinese on Paris climate accord shake’ for US carmakers saying that the decision
would come down to simple
Googlehas90daystodelivera
solutionthatappeasesEU
regulatorsorfacefurtherfines.
data"certainlygivesyouhopethat
demandisgrowingglobally."
REUTERS <
in South Korea math: the preferred invest-
ment pays $300 million a
year in dividends, so it makes
BLOOMBERG < SHANNON PETTYPIECE, JUSTIN SINK differences and formulate a sense to convert that into
‘Brexit chief is & KANGA KONG joint strategy on North Korea common stock if those shares
Cost of getting on UK hamstrung by May's 1 July and alliance issues, particu- began earning more.
property ladder tough stance’ larly trade,” Kim said. After receiving Federal
South Korea must give US Moon said he had a “a can- Reserve approval of its capi-
surges to record UKPrimeMinisterTheresaMay's automakers “a fair shake” to did and lengthy conversa- tal plan, Bank of America
First-timebuyersintheUK inflexiblepositioninnegotiations sell more cars there and stop tion” in which Trump “came said on June 28 that it
propertymarketarepayinga toleavetheEuropeanUnionhas exporting “dumped steel,” across as a man of determi- planned to boost its dividend
recordamounttopurchasea madethetaskmoredifficultfor President Donald Trump nation.” He said threats from 60 per cent to 12 cents a quar-
home,withLondonersshelling BrexitSecretaryDavidDavis,a told his counterpart Moon Pyongyang would be met ter. By converting the pre-
outalmostdoubletheaveragefor formeraidesaidinaBBC Jae-in during talks at the with a “stern response” and ferred stake into common
therestofthecountry.Nationally, interview.JamesChapman,who White House. North Korean leader Kim shares, Berkshire’s payout
theaveragehousepricepaidby wasDavis'schiefofstaffuntillast After meeting with Moon, Jong Un “should by no means will rise to $336 million a
newentrantsroseto£207,693 month,saidMay's"absolutist" Trump emphasised he’ll press underestimate the firm com- year. The $12 billion in gains
($270,000)inthefirsthalf,with stanceonendingthejurisdiction for changes to the current mitment” of the military come on top of more than
purchaserslayingdowna16per oftheEuropeanCourtofJustice free-trade agreement to alliance between the US and $1.5 billion in dividends from
centdeposit,accordingtodata overtheUKisamongissuesthat reduce the US trade deficit South Korea. the preferred stake over the
fromlenderHalifax.InLondon, has"hamstrung"DavisasBrexit with South Korea. He told At the same time, he struck past six years.
gettingafootontheproperty talksbegin,accordingtotheBBC reporters he was encouraged a somewhat softer tone in a Buffett shored up confi-
laddercost£409,975,up66per report."Ifshedoesn't,inmypoint by “Moon’s assurances that he speech later Friday in which dence in Bank of America
centsince2012.Depositson ofview,showmoreflexibility, will work to create a level play- he repeated his hope for talks and its chief executive offi-
propertyaveragedmorethan showmorepragmatismthanshe ing field” for US exporters. with Pyongyang — a stance cer, Brian Moynihan, at a
threetimesthenationallevel,at diddemonstrateintheHome Tensions with North Korea that potentially puts him at critical juncture. With back-
£106,577.That'supfourfoldinthe Office,shewon'tgetthisstuff also figured prominently in odds with Trump. ing from Berkshire’s billion-
pastdecade. throughParliament,"hesaidon the discussions as Trump sig- “Engaging in dialogue aire CEO, Bank of America
BLOOMBERG < theBBC'sTheWeekinWestminster. Barack Obama talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana Joko Widodo at nalled he would press for a with Chairman Kim Jong Un soon rebounded. That gen-
BLOOMBERG < Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java of Indonesia tougher stance after the death is also necessary, for he’s the erated a massive paper prof-
Fyre festival founder of US student Otto Warmbier only one who can decide to it on the warrants. The war-
McFarland arrested Tanker and cargo KARLIS SALNA er around the most ambitious them together,” he said. following his detention in dismantle North Korea’s rants allow Buffett to buy
on fraud charge ship collide in 1 July agreement in history to fight Obama, who has been hol- North Korea. nuclear weapons,” Moon told the stock at a discounted
climate change,” Obama said idaying in Indonesia and on “The era of strategic the Centre for Strategic rate of $7.14 a share, com-
FyreFestivalfounderBilly Channel Former US President Barack Saturday in a speech at the Friday met with President Joko patience with the North and International Studies in pared with the closing price
McFarland,organiserofa Anoiltankerandacargoship Obama has pointed to the opening of the Fourth Widodo, also warned in Korean regime has failed,” Washington. of $24.32 on Thursday.
disastrousmusicfestivalinthe collidedintheChanneleastofthe importance of the Paris cli- Congress of the Indonesian remarks Saturday against ris- Trump said, “and frankly that The South Korean leader The episode highlighted
Bahamas,wasarrestedon BritishportofDoverearlyon mate accord while criticising Diaspora in Jakarta. He said it ing sectarian politics around patience is over.” didn’t directly address Buffett’s role as a financial
federalchargesthathe Saturday,butnoinjuriesor Donald Trump for pulling the was “an agreement that even the world, as well as growing The initial meeting would Trump’s complaints about firefighter and mirrored con-
defraudedinvestorswhobought pollutionwerereported,regional world’s biggest economy out with the temporary absence discrimination based on race probably be seen as a success, trade in his remarks at the fidence-boosting invest-
astakeinthemediacompany. Frenchmaritimeauthoritiessaid. of the pact. of American leadership will and ethnicity. said Duyeon Kim, a visiting White House or in his speech. ments he made in Goldman
McFarland,25,isallegedtohave TheSeafrontiertankerhad27crew Trump said last month he still give our children a fight- He said in Jakarta there senior fellow at the Korean In a statement on the presi- Sachs Group and General
cheatedatleasttwoinvestorsout membersand40,000tonnesof would withdraw from the pact ing chance.” had been “enormous Peninsula Future Forum in dential office website, Moon’s Electric during the 2008 cri-
ofabout$1.2millionbylying hydrocarbonsonboardatthe and seek to negotiate a better “The challenges of our progress” which had occurred Seoul. “On the surface it presidential policy adviser sis. In those cases, he was also
abouttherevenueandincomeof timeoftheaccidentat0100GMTin deal, in a move that attracted times, whether it’s economic “in part because of the stabili- appeared the two presidents Jang Ha-sung said the two able to extract generous
FyreMedia,whichhefounded Britishwaters.TheHuayan widespread criticism from inequality, changing climate, ty that the United States had a fairly positive summit countries did not agree to a terms in exchange for vouch-
lastyear. Hegavethemphony Endeavourwasnotloadedbut counterparts in Europe terrorism, mass migration; helped support here in the without major blunders, but renegotiation of the trade ing for those companies’
documents. wascarryingacrewof22. and elsewhere. these are really challenges and Asia Pacific.” the real work begins now with deal, known as KORUS. long-term prospects.
BLOOMBERG < REUTERS < “In Paris, we came togeth- we’re going to have to confront BLOOMBERG having to iron out their stark BLOOMBERG BLOOMBERG

Why not get a full workout while you wait and wait at the airport?
JUSTIN BACHMAN
1 July
America’s airports are where long lines, crowds,
and the Transportation Security Administration
combine to make life miserable. But once the
metal detectors, explosives-sniffers, and pat-
downs are behind you, suddenly all is trans-
formed into boutiques, bars, and restaurants.
Why not gyms, too?
The airport terminal has long been lucrative
commercial real estate, thanks to a captive
audience. For those who have hours to wait,
there’s not much else to do except shop, drink,
and eat. So two graduate business students at
the University of Oregon started wondering
whether an airport gym could thrive in such a
setting. After researching the airport and
fitness industries, Cynthia Sandall and Ty
Manegold concluded that the only obstacle is
cost — not because air travellers consider it
ridiculous. Thus, a business model was born.
Its name is Roam Fitness, which opened its
first airport location in January at Baltimore
Washington International, with a goal of adding
two airports this year. Now, to make a terminal
gym remotely feasible, most prospective
customers need to be provided workout clothes
and enough time not to stress over missing a
flight, Roam’s founders said. A $25 day pass
includes rental clothes and shoes, a shower, and
if you bring your own workout gear, vacuum
sealing so it doesn’t stink up the cabin.
Even as massage, spa, and yoga spaces have
become airport staples, the full-service gym has
a very limited history. Five years ago, San
Francisco International Airport led the way
with a yoga space, which proved popular, and
airports including Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas-Fort
Worth and Burlington, Vermont, followed.
“It has been attempted in the past, but in our
minds just not very well-executed,” Manegold,
who serves as Roam’s president, said. “A lot of
people did a copy-and-paste of a street version
of a gym. And that really doesn’t translate that
well because of the economics involved.”
By economics, Manegold is referring to the
unique costs associated with such an
endeavour. There’s the steep outlay for
equipment and facilities, including apparel,
laundry, and shower accoutrements, plus the
various higher expenses associated with
operating in such a highly regulated
environment, which Mangold said is roughly
five times that of, say, a strip mall.
“The cost of building in an airport is
astronomical, compared to street level,” said
Sandall, who is also chief marketing officer. The
two partners of the Eugene, Oregon-based
company nevertheless managed to raise about
$1.5 million, mainly from friends and family,
before the first location opened.
As a commercial enterprise, airport fitness
has a few core requirements, according to Roam.
First, an airport gym needs a sufficient number
of business travellers at major hubs — gateways
that serve at least 1 million passengers annually.
The emphasis is on sky warriors rather than
leisure travellers, since the latter tend to be more
prone to indulgence than sets of squats.
Second, the gym must be be situated beyond
the Transportation Security Administration
checkpoints, since clearing the screening is a
traveller’s highest priority. The allure of products
or services that lay past it is decidedly secondary.
And third, the airport landlord must believe
that the gym is part of a larger whole, helping to
soothe harried travellers and boost spending
elsewhere in the terminal. This is because, on a
revenue-per-square-footage basis, an airport
gym will never compete with a sit-down
restaurant, Sandall said. And this may be the
concept’s biggest problem.
“Our airport has one of the smallest
footprints in the country,” said Brian DeRoy, a
spokesman for Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport, which serves 46 million people
annually. “Since space is at a premium in any
airport, the business side kicks in. ... How many
people would utilise the gym for it to make
money, compared with a restaurant or shop?
That’s likely the biggest reason there aren’t
more gyms at airports.” “That large restaurant
will do more revenue than we can do,” said
Manegold. But “the less stress that people have in
a mall, an airport, any shopping environment,
the more money they spend.”
This fall, another start-up, FlyFit Global,
plans to open what it says is the first airport yoga
and wellness studio — with a shower included in
the fee — at London’s Heathrow Airport, also an
investor in the project. The yoga centre will be in
Terminal 2, which houses most of the Star
Alliance airlines. The space will offer travellers
instructor-led classes, plus interactive strength,
restorative and cardio classes.
Currently, Roam sees about 20 customers per
day, who exercise for about 30 minutes and then
use the shower. A larger number of passengers
drop in to ask questions about the gym, pledging
to return for a workout next time. Roam believes
its service will appeal more to millennial travellers
and Gen-Xers, less to aging baby boomers.
BLOOMBERG
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

10 DEMOCRACY AT WORK
>
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017 1

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT? CHECKLIST

CHATTERBOX

You have promises to keep, Shivpal to Akhilesh

The spat between Akhilesh Yadav and uncle Shivpal just doesn’t seem to end. At an Aam
Daawat (Mango Party) in Kanpur. Shivpal reset the conditions on which he (according to
PRAISE FROM PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI
him, the Samajwadi Party -SP) and Akhilesh could come together again. He said Akhilesh About Sushma Swaraj, Foreign Minister in 2017 years, but after Dharmendra took over, 11 lakh (1.1
could claim till he was blue in the face that he had done a lot of development work in Uttar in Washington: “The way Sushma Swaraj has million) new consumers were added in a year. This
Pradesh. But he humiliated Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav). And you can do all the devel- worked and helped every Indian abroad is is how work is executed.”
opment you like, but if you humiliate people, you should not expect any respect. He remind- commendable. It is now well known in India that About Venkaiah Naidu, Urban Development
ed Akhilesh of his pre-election promise that if the party lost, he would give up control of the when anyone in trouble tweets to Sushmaji, she and Parliamentary Affairs Minister in 2016: “On
party and hand over things to ‘Netaji’. That still hasn’t happened. So that’s the bottom line. promptly replies and the government takes this occasion (passage of GST) I want to
Akhilesh must hand over the reins of the party to Shivpal — and Mulayam — and then the prompt action. Any Indian living abroad now has appreciate the efforts of M Venkaiah Naidu. He
disgruntled faction could consider tying up with him. The ball is now in Akhilesh’s court. faith that their issues will be resolved.” has never touched the feet of anyone in his life...
About Arun Jaitley and his team in 2016: “Arun He has pursued the matter rigorously for the last
Congress interrupts hand holding in Karnataka Jaitley and his team at the Finance Ministry did a two years, his interaction with various political
When Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal, who has charge of Karnataka (which will lot of hard work resulting in the successful parties and various leaders was remarkable.”
go the polls in the next round of assembly elections) took up his new job, everyone was outcome of Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) 2016. About Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister in 2016:
enthused that a new hand was holding the reins of a state that is crucial for the Congress. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, CBDT “No one has given attention to the reforms being
Venugopal announced that he would held extensive consultations with the state par- Chairperson Rani Nair and their teams also put undertaken in railways till now. Those who talk of
ty establishment in Karnataka’s various districts. But he arrived at the party headquarters “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. in tremendous effort on all aspects relating to
We need to remember the things which big reforms can see how much changes have come
late, called party representatives who had spent days getting feedback and collecting harm democracy and move forward in a IDS-2016. Congrats to them.” in the Railways”
data, but spent just under 15 minutes with each of them. As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah positive direction.” About Dharmendra Pradhan, Petroleum
was to come to Delhi on that day to be present at Meira Kumar’s nomination, he came away. About Smriti Irani, then HRD Minister in 2016: “Do
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat programme, Minister, in 2016 in Odisha: “A total of 26 lakh (2.6
Venugopal suspended consultations because the CM was not present. 25 June, 2017 in New Delhi PTI
hear this speech by Smriti Irani” (speech made by
million) people got LPG connections in Odisha in 60 Minister in Parliament on the Rohit Vemula case).

OPINION
LU KANG

China is resolute in
combating human
trafficking
The US State Department will unveil later today the annual
Trafficking in Persons Report, rating China among countries of
the worst record when it comes to human trafficking. What is
your response to this?
This is not a new question, and the Chinese government's posi-
tion on that is clear to all, that is, we are resolute in combating
human trafficking. The progress that we have made is also obvi-
ous. We are firmly opposed to the irresponsible remarks made by
the US based on its domestic law about others' efforts against
human trafficking.
The Chinese side always believes that no country can stay
aloof from the fight against human trafficking as it is a crime
plaguing the whole world. The Chinese side will step up cooper-
ation with other countries to crack down on human trafficking
based on mutual respect.
According to the Foreign Ministry’s statement yesterday, some
Indian border guards crossed into the Chinese territory at the
Sikkim section of the China-India boundary. Has the Indian
side taken any steps to remove China’s concern? What is the
latest on this issue?
Yesterday, spokespersons of both the Defence Ministry and the
Foreign Ministry of China have made statement on Indian bor-
der troops’ trespass and provoking of troubles at the Sikkim sec-
tion of the China-India boundary.
It is the Indian border troops who crossed into the Chinese ter-
ritory and obstructed the Chinese border troops’ normal activities
in Doklam. We have taken proportionate measures in response. As
for the question you asked, the Chinese side has lodged represen-
tations with the Indian side both in Beijing and Delhi, expressing our
solemn position. I must say that China is sincere about developing
friendly relations with India but is also resolute in safeguarding its
own sovereignty and interests. We hope that the Indian side will
work with us, take swift and correct measures to bring those who
crossed into China back to the Indian side of the boundary.
sitise local populations about it? regeneration in Sikkim.
The problem in India is both to do with the tim-
ing of the rains, and where the rain falls — You study conservation. India talks a lot
there is both temporal and spatial unevenness. about it, but as a field of research and study, it
So, in any given year, we will get most of the has no following in India. Indian rivers
rainfall in the three-four months of the mon- continue to be filthy, although leaders
soon; and, in any given year, we will also see a smugly say purity of rivers is a creed with
pattern of scarcity (too little rain in some India and Hinduism….
places) and plenty (too much rain in others). The modern lifestyle has definitely resulted in
We can’t change this pattern — but we can people losing touch with the natural world.
develop ways to cope with it. One key issue is Water comes from a tap now, and most people
storage of water, both above ground (in ponds, have no idea about what the source of their
lakes, tanks, and rivers) and below ground (in water is, and how threatened these critical
terms of aquifer and groundwater recharge). water sources might be. They may be unable to
For example, in Nainital, allowing Sukhatal to connect the loss of nature with the slow trickle
serve as a buffer for the main lake, storing water of water in their municipal supplies, and there
in the monsoon, and then slowly releasing it in is little appreciation of the interconnectedness
subsequent months are a very sensible way to of our lives with the natural world.
manage the problem of too much Religious practice and cultural
monsoon rain. Up and down the traditions in India have a lot to con-
country, we have traditional tanks and tribute, as they tend to reflect a
storage systems that are being built respect for nature in some of their
and encroached upon, with develop- core principles. Unfortunately,
ers unaware and unconcerned about many who practise or preach about
the implications for the associated dis- BHASKAR VIRA religion lack an appreciation of this
ruption to hydrological systems. ancient wisdom, or indeed ecolog-
The encroachment issue is relat- Reader, University of ical wisdom of any kind, as far as
ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA Cambridge
ed. Many of these water storage sys- our rivers and lakes are concerned.
tems are temporary or seasonal, critical for a I am very interested in the implications of the
few months, but then apparently falling into recent court rulings that have given rivers the
BHASKAR VIRA teaches at the department of geography and is fellow of Fitzwilliam College,University of disuse for the rest of the year. This temporary legal standing, as quasi-persons. What is signif-
Cambridge. He is also director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute. He tells availability of space encourages encroachment icant about this is not just that rivers themselves
Aditi Phadnis about the need to incorporate ecological wisdom into our everyday decision making. and the occupation of land. These pressures have rights, but that these rights are associated
can, and must, be resisted. We need to carefully with duties on the part of the government. If a

‘Nature sends us no
demarcate these ‘critical water zones’, and river is polluted, or is dirty, its rights are being
The Foreign Ministry statement said that the situation on the ensure that they are protected. With modern violated, and the new legal entitlement can be
boundary was the reason why the arrangements for Indian technology, and a vigilant civil society, moni- enforced in a court of law, holding the govern-
pilgrims were being delayed. I just want to ask what about the toring compliance should not be too difficult. ment to account. This could have major impli-
remaining 300 pilgrims who are supposed to be undertaking It is important for local populations to realise cations up and down the country.

bill, so we ignore it
this very important pilgrimage in the next few weeks, will that they can address these problems, and to
China make arrangements for them or will they be denied? pressure the authorities to ensure compliance There has been dire warning about water
I have stated China’s solemn position and requirement con- with land use and zoning regulations. wars. Do you believe things will reach that
cerning the Indian border troops’ illegal entry into China. I will point in the South Asian subcontinent?
not repeat it. There’s been a lot of talk about river interlink- All scarce resources can be a potential flash-

As for the trip by Indian officially-organised pilgrims to Xi
Zang via the Nathu-la mountain pass in the Sikkim section of the
China-India boundary, I believe that the Indian public are fully
aware of the enormous efforts made and the convenience pro-
vided by the Chinese government against all odds in the interests
of China-India friendly relations. Recently, the Indian border
troops crossed into the Chinese territory at the Sikkim section of
the China-India boundary, and in response to that, we have tak-
en necessary and emergency measures. In the meantime, we
have to put off arranging for Indian officially-organised pilgrims’
entry into Xi Zang via the Nathu-la pass out of security con-
cerns. We have informed the Indian government through the
diplomatic channel.
As for what is coming next, it is a matter of course that the
Indian side should take necessary measures to alleviate the ten-
sion caused by their border troops’ illegal entry, and create con-
ditions for their pilgrims’ travel to Xi Zang via the Nathu-la pass.
The next round of Syria talks will be held in Astana on July 4 to
5. I wonder if the Chinese special envoy on Syria or any official
from the Foreign Ministry will attend the talks?
It is China’s long-standing position that the Syria issue can only be
resolved through political and diplomatic means. We believe that
both the Astana talks which focus on realising ceasefire and cessa-
in our decisions’
Last week four Tibetan monks held prayers
alongside the Naini lake, where mounds of
dead fish were piled up because the water in the
lake is drying up. But isn’t the matter beyond
prayer? All over India, hills are facing an acute
shortage of water. What is the solution?
I’m always a little wary of suggesting simple
solutions to what are usually complex prob-
lems. But, we need to start with a change in our
attitudes to what nature provides us. We have
tended to take these ‘gifts’ for granted … clean
air, water, forests, and the species that inhabit
these spaces, all of which contribute to improv-
ing our lives. Nature does not send us a bill for
these services, so we ignore them in decision
making, until we hit a moment of crisis, such as
the current shortage of water. We need to incor-
porate ecological wisdom into our everyday
decision making. We need to understand how
water flows, how our decisions impact on these
flows, and to learn to treat nature with the
respect it deserves. We need to reinvest in nature
rather than contributing to its destruction.
India is not a dry country but almost all of the
rain falls during the monsoon. How can we
safely store and transport water so that it’s
available 12 months a year, and distributed
evenly throughout the country? How can we
prevent encroachment in hill towns and sen-
ing. Is that the answer? In any case, apart from
two rivers interlinked in Andhra Pradesh there
has been precious little movement on this…
The river-linking project is high-risk, and
unproven for Indian conditions — both in eco-
logical and administrative terms. Ecologically,
there are risks that such a project might disrupt
existing bio-geophysical systems, and might not
be resilient in the medium term due to changing
patterns of precipitation due to climate change.
I am also inherently cautious about such large-
scale engineering projects, which typically over-
run and are often linked to high levels of cor-
ruption in execution and delivery.
There are other, more local and small-scale
options, and these should be examined.
Investing in source protection and regeneration
at a local level might be a more sustainable
long-term alternative. This is beginning to hap-
pen, in parts of peninsular India, and the stun-
ning work being done on springs and their
point in times of political contestation. Water
cannot be immune to this risk, although I sus-
pect it is unlikely to be an immediate danger, at
least in an international sense. Our relations
with our neighbours are far too complex to allow
the water question to emerge as the key deter-
minant of conflict. However, as we have seen in
the Cauvery dispute, at more local levels, water
wars already begun.
Instead of perceiving these as potential zones
of conflict, it is far better to consider the shared
waters of the sub-continent as drivers of peace
and cooperation. Water flows, between places
and does not respect political boundaries. When
there is too much water, as in the Kashmir floods
a few years ago, it does not matter which side of
the border gets inundated (and, it is often like-
ly to be both sides). Information sharing, data
platforms, and joint emergency response serv-
ices could be a very important bridge between
communities at these critical moments.

Nitish Kumar keeping the grand alliance on tenterhooks

tion of violence and the Geneva talks which aim at promoting polit-
ical settlement are positive efforts for peaceful settlement.
The situation in Syria is at a crucial juncture where all relevant
parties should bear in mind the overall peace and stability of the
region, work for the shared goal, and jointly play a constructive
role for the political settlement of the Syria issue. SATYAVRAT MISHRA Prasad used to personally attend to Kumar was in favour of a united oppo- Congress leaders privately say they are can one predict defeat before an elec-
As for the particular question you asked, the Chinese side always Kumar and even served him. He didn’t sition. In April, he met Congress bewildered by his stand. The Congress tion? We have not fielded our candidate
supports the process of political settlement. We hope positive out- On June 17, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) bother that evening. “It’s all before you. President Sonia Gandhi and expressed rushed Ghulam Nabi Azad to coax him to lose.” And thus began the war of words
comes can be achieved in the Astana talks on July 4. Information supremo Lalu Prasad, along with his What more is there to say?” asked a sen- his desire to form a grand alliance at to reverse his decision. If sources in between the alliance partners: Name call-
about China’s attendance will be released in due course. wife, Rabri Devi, and both his minister ior RJD minister. In less than two years the national level to stop the BJP jug- the Congress are to be believed, Kumar ing, arm-twisting and verbal volleys. The
sons, Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap of coming to power, the grand alliance gernaut. According to many in the par- ignored desperate pleas of its leaders to grand alliance was in tatters. The JD(U)
After the press conference, a journalist asked: Since China Yadav, attended the Iftar party hosted by in Bihar is facing its biggest crisis. The ty, sensing the Congress’s reluctance, at least postpone his announcement issued an ultimatum to the RJD to act
believes that the Sikkim section of the China-India boundary Bihar Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar root cause is the JD(U)’s decision to Kumar started drifting. He skipped a till the time the opposition parties against its leaders who constantly tar-
has been defined, can you tell us how it was defined, based on at the latter’s official residence in Patna. break opposition ranks by backing meeting of opposition parties called could announce their common candi- geted the Bihar CM, saying it would short-
which treaty, when it was confirmed by the Indian government Prasad used the occa- National Democratic by Gandhi on May 26, but agreed to date. “Kumar believes in many ideolo- en the life of the alliance. On Tuesday,
and how? sion to showcase the Alliance (NDA) candi- have lunch with Prime Minister gies. We, on the other hand, will never JD(U) National Spokesperson K C Tyagi
There is solid legal evidence to support the delimitation of the unity of the grand date and former Bihar Narendra Modi the very next day. join hands with the BJP,” told a visibly spelled out the biggest ever threat to the
Sikkim section of the China-India boundary. It is stated in article alliance and dismissed Governor Ramnath However, Kumar was still reluctant hurt Azad at Patna Airport on June 20. alliance by saying that the party had felt
one of the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating any rift between him Kovind for the presi- to be seen against opposition unity in The next day, Prasad asked Kumar “more comfortable” with the BJP than
to Sikkim and Tibet (1890) that “the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet and Kumar. They smiled dential election. An the presidential election. This changed not to make “a historic blunder”. “I with the Congress and the RJD. Finally, a
shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters and posed before the open war of words the minute the BJP announced Kovind appeal to Nitish to avoid a historic blun- truce was called on Wednesday, when all
flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents from the waters cameras and their bon- among the alliance part- would be its candidate. According to der. We always fight for ideology,” said sides issued diktats to hold fire. Both
flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers homie seemed genuine. ners — with the JD(U), JD(U) insiders, the party believes that Prasad. More importantly, when asked if Kumar and Prasad said that the alliance
of Tibet. The line commences at Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan Just a week later the on one side, and the supporting the former Bihar governor, Kumar had betrayed the opposition, he was “rock-solid” and talks of a break-up

STATE
frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the bonhomie was nowhere
point where it meets Nepal territory.” It is without any doubt that to be seen. Kumar did
the spot where the Indian border troops trespassed is on the turn up at an Iftar party
Chinese side of the boundary. Both China and the successive
Indian governments recognise that the Sikkim section has been
hosted by Prasad, but
the atmosphere was SCAN
delimited. It has been confirmed by the Indian leader, the relevant “tense”. The two stal- BIHAR
Indian government document and the Indian delegation at the spe- warts did hug each oth-
cial representatives’ meeting with China on the boundary question er after repeated
that India and China share common view on the 1890 convention’s requests by shutterbugs, but the
stipulation on the boundary alignment at the Sikkim section. To embrace looked forced. They sat near
observe the relevant convention and document is the inescapable each other, but barely smiled or spoke.
international obligation of the Indian side. They were more interested in talking to
others than to each other. In the past, at
Lu Kang is a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman events hosted by the RJD's first family,
RJD and the Congress,
on the other — threat-
ened the very existence
of the alliance.
Most importantly,
the bickering didn’t
stop at the level of low-
er-rung spokespersons.
Top-level leaders of all the three parties
got involved and took pot-shots at each
other. Things deteriorated so much
that the party leaderships had to issue
gag orders to put an end to this.
Until a couple of months ago,
who belongs to one of the most
depressed communities, would help
in the upcoming elections. This, along
with Kumar’s personal camaraderie
with the ex-governor, played a pivotal
role in his decision.
Kovind was one of the very few gov-
ernors with whom the chief minister
enjoyed a cordial relationship. Despite
serious reservations of local BJP lead-
ers, Kovind supported the state gov-
ernment in its mission of prohibition.
However, Kumar’s decision made
JD(U) allies unhappy. Many RJD and
said, “Dhokha hai yaa nahi, ye Nitish
jane.”However, Kumar refused to budge.
“I take pride in Meira Kumar being
Bihar ki beti. But why is she being field-
ed to be defeated?” asked a defiant
Kumar, coming out of Prasad’s Iftar
party in Patna. “If I am making a his-
toric mistake, so be it. The opposition
should actually formulate a strategy
to win the 2019 election and then make
her (Meira Kumar) president in 2022.”
His deputy in the state cabinet,
Tejaswi Yadav, retorted: “Victory or defeat
can only be decided in the election. How
were a media creation.
However, no one, not even their
own leaders, believes this. “There is
deep mistrust among the alliance part-
ners. The Congress is not sure about
Kumar’s intentions. The JD(U) wants
to be seen as independent of the
Congress and wants to keep the BJP
eager. As far as the RJD is concerned,
Prasad doesn’t want to destabilise the
government as his sons' future is tied to
it. This doesn’t mean that Prasad does-
n’t understand Kumar’s plan,” said a
senior politician.
 https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

>
OPINION 11
Volume XI Number 17
MUMBAI | 2 JULY 2017

A wake-up call
ed to have crippled Iran’s nuclear establish-
ment by physically destroying centrifuges.
The Stuxnet attack was believed to be a joint
operation funded and run by the Israeli and
India must build resilience against cyber attacks American security establishments. When
Russia and Georgia had a brief conflict in
2008 over the disputed region of South
tion. What is more, such attacks enjoy plau-
sible deniability. But unlike other weapon
systems, nation-states cannot control and
sequester the tools of cyber warfare. Any
smart hacker can design, modify and release
malware into the wild and it is impossible to
prevent the spread of such malware. Not sur-
cyber terrorism. India is also a soft target -
many so-called smart systems are designed
to be accessed by over a billion people.
Creating a cyber-security network to
protect such assets is a multi-pronged task. It
involves “hardening” key infrastructure ele-
ments such as the Aadhaar and GST data-

T
his week, yet again, the global
economy was hit by cyber attacks
that affected sectors as diverse as
banking, the transportation indus-
try, chocolate factories and oil refineries.
Some attacks seemed designed to just cause
disruption; others were backed by demands
for ransom to be paid in bitcoin, a cryp-
tocurrency. The digital infection is likely to
have started in Ukraine, but it has spread like
a plague across at least 60 countries. Some
affected companies paid up while others
managed to migrate to backups. But the
attacks caused huge financial losses and
physical damage. This is not the first instance
of such malware attacks, yet the worst aspect
is that such invasions are likely to happen
again, thanks to a proliferation of linked com-
puter systems and the increasing depend-
ence on computerised systems in almost all
walks of life. There will also always be
unscrupulous hackers exploiting computer
systems to make a quick buck, or just to cause
chaos for the “Lulz”, as hackers call them.
It is apparent that some of the methods
used were developed, with government
approval, as tools for cyber warfare. Nation-
states have used cyberwarfare extensively
in the past decade. Stuxnet, a sophisticated
and malicious computer worm, was report-
Ossetia, Georgia’s information technology
infrastructure was targeted by hackers who
knocked the country off the Internet. Since
the start of its conflict with Russia, Ukraine
has been hit by several waves of cyber
attacks, targeting its physical infrastructure
such as power grids.
Any 21st-century war is likely to have a
large cyber component since all modern mil-
itary equipment and communication systems
are enabled with information technology (IT).
Cyber attacks are useful weapons, offering a
big bang for the buck. They require relatively
little investment to cause large-scale disrup-
prisingly, the ability to cause actual physical
damage and chaos has obviously multiplied
as civilisation becomes more IT-driven.
In this regard, India is at high risk. Quite
apart from the defence establishment,
Indian Space Research Organisation and big
businesses, there is also the drive towards
Smart Cities, Digital India, Aadhaar, and the
newly unveiled goods and services tax (GST)
regime, among other government pro-
grammes, where information technology
and networking are integral to the structure.
India is also enmeshed in multiple “dirty
wars” and, therefore, an attractive target for
bases so as to render them immune to
attempts by hackers. It also involves educat-
ing private citizens and businesses to imple-
ment safe cyber practices. More important-
ly, it requires creation of backups to be
seamlessly integrated, in case of a disaster.
While this is imperative, yet it is unclear
if the government has embarked on any
such cyber-security initiatives. There have
certainly been no attempts to educate pri-
vate citizens in safe practices, for instance.
India’s cyber establishment, thus, remains
highly vulnerable to disruption. The latest
attacks should be a wake-up call.

Negotiating the seas Aadhaar and multiple

With the United States having recognised India’s role in the Indo-Pacific region, the time is opportune for identity disorder
the two countries to step up maritime security cooperation RAJENDRAN NARAYANAN ers, perhaps paving the way for wages taken
PTI
out in his name. While he was asked to sign

A
PREMVIR DAS gantuk (The Stranger) was Satyajit the consent form during enrolment, there
Ray’s last film. The film revolves has been no education or training on the

I
t must be truly rare in bilateral
discussions between heads of
state or government, and espe-
cially those in which the global super-
power is a party, for a relatively incon-
sequential item like maritime security
to even figure in the agenda, much
less attract any serious attention. Yet,
in the just concluded Modi-Trump
interface, this theme was stressed
thrice, not by our prime minister but
by the US president. First, he spoke of
the forthcoming Malabar exercises at
sea which would, in his words, be the
most elaborate and complex carried
out until now. He then went on to
stress the need to elevate the level of
maritime security cooperation
between the two countries. Finally,
the joint statement acknowledged the
need for both countries to play mean-
ingful and legitimate roles in the
Indo-Pacific and the common imper-
ative for both in ensuring freedom of
movement at sea consistent with
international norms.
There are other elements to this
highest-level engagement too, but the
purpose here is to focus on issues at
sea highlighted at the meeting and
how they impact our own interests
and aspirations.
Starting in the reverse order, some
analysts have commented that by not
referring to our role in the South
China Sea (SCS), which had figured
in the Modi-Obama statement of
2016, our position has been dimin-
ished. This is erroneous. The term
“Indo-Pacific” was first coined by
then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
in 2008. The Americans soon shied
away from it and put out the more
convoluted terminology of “Indo-
Asia-Pacific”. The term chosen by Ms
Clinton is more embracing, covering
as it does waters stretching from the
Suez Canal to the waters of the west-
ern Pacific (which include the SCS).
We should be more than satisfied
that the Trump Administration has
chosen to restore the original descrip-
tion and, even more important, that it
recognises India’s legitimate role in
this vast region. India is, in essence,
an Indian Ocean Region (IOR) player,
but given its size and interests, which
includes growing maritime trade, its
concerns extend beyond it. So, even
though it is not a SCS littoral, it cannot
remain excluded from developments
that are taking place there. Its inclu-
sion as party to the Indo-Pacific pro-
vides exactly that recognition. So, this
is fully consistent with our long-term
interests, and if some of our own for-
eign office mandarins have con-
tributed to it, full marks to them.
As for enhancement of maritime
security cooperation, while this has
increased substantially in the last 15
A productive visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump at the White House
years, we are still constrained by The content of these annual exercises,
bureaucratic hurdles, the main ones conducted alternately in the IOR and
being our inability to conclude two the western Pacific, has been enhanced
important bilateral agreements which over the last 15 years but there is a qual-
would facilitate sharing of classified itative difference this year. For one,
information. These have been discussed India will field its most capable plat-
threadbare in earlier years but there is a form, the aircraft carrier INS
need, on both sides, to take a fresh look, Vikramaditya with its MIG 29K aircraft
given the strategic convergence that has and several frontline ships and sub-
been spoken of by both leaders. marines. The US participation will also
Cooperation at sea involves not just be substantial. Add to this the pres-
ships going out together and carrying ence of the Japanese Navy and the
out exercises over a couple of days, strategic convergence which guides
but understanding the this exercise becomes read-
whys and the wherefores. In the Indian ily apparent. The Malabar
This can come about only if Ocean Region series is clearly an Indo-
there is some degree of syn- especially, India Pacific event and lends
ergy of doctrines, and for has to become a credibility to India’s aspira-
this to happen information net security tions and potential.
sharing is important. So, provider. This To these three elements
while one can be selective will require which figure prominently
and discriminate between joint operations in the Trump-Modi dia-
what can be shared and with the logue, must be added the
what has to be beyond the United States American clearance for the
radar, some compromise supply of nearly two dozen
seems necessary. In the IOR especial- Guardian drones for the Indian Navy.
ly, India has to become a net security While these will, no doubt, enhance
provider and that will often require the surveillance capabilities of our
joint operations with the US. This real- forces at sea, the fallout will come in
isation will facilitate actions needed to what may lie ahead. If these should
foster enhanced maritime security materialise, as one hopes they will, it
cooperation. is almost certain that they will be fol-
The third element is the reference lowed, sooner rather than later, by
to Malabar series of exercises at sea. weapon-fitted versions. The logic of
the strategic relationship, provided it
is taken through, will dictate such a
step for both parties.
The Indian Navy also has an
enquiry ongoing for nearly five dozen
fighter aircraft to operate from air-
craft carriers at sea and while the
choice may, to some extent, be influ-
enced by what the Indian Air Force
selects for itself, the options should be
wide open. Procurement of major mil-
itary hardware must always be seen
through the prism of geopolitical
interests more than just financial cost.
The dialogue just concluded gives
India an opportunity to make the
required course correction.
In sum, we must treat the US focus
on maritime security cooperation,
which treats both parties on par, as
more than just passing remarks. This
is the most positive part of the articu-
lation that has been made, quite dif-
ferent to the rhetoric about friend-
ship and democracy. As the Bard
wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of
men, Which taken at the flood, leads
on to fortune...” That circumstance
may be upon us.
The writer is a former Commander in Chief
of the Eastern Naval Command. He has
also served as member of the National
Security Advisory Board
around the return of an old man, uses, abuses, and privacy of this biometric
Manomohan Mitra, to India after 35 years. authenticated number.
Manmohan had spent all his life with Not so long ago, Nandan Nilekani, the
Adivasis from across the world and has a architect of the Aadhaar project, came up
take on civilisation and progress that is at with a taxonomy of the people opposed to
odds with the popular urban narrative of it. Aadhaar, two of the categories being “rights-
He claims to be the uncle of Anila and wants of-the-poor” advocates and “luddites” (those
to spend a few days at her house in Kolkata. who are opposed to technological change).
Anila’s husband Sudheendra is highly sus- Xavier doesn’t belong to either of the camps.
picious of this stranger’s identity. He got an Aadhaar because he was told that
Manomohan sees through Sudheendra’s once he gets his Aadhaar, all his problems
suspicion and gives his passport to would be solved. However, all that has hap-
Sudheendra to verify his “identity”. pened is Xavier resides in multiple databas-
Sudheendra heaves a sigh of relief as he es with Aadhaar acting as the compass
matches the name, the photograph, and the among his many so-called identities.
distinguishing mark. Manomohan, on the Mr Nilekani’s taxonomy may appear
contrary, debunks Sudheendra’s conviction clever but it indicates he is ill-informed about
by saying “the passport proves nothing” ground realities, and points to his techno-
about “identity”. utopianism. What is primarily required is
India is going through a curious phase political and administrative will for effective
where these questions are being codified and delivery of services and not merely a ran-
mapped through a 12-digit numeric equiva- domly generated unique 12-digit number to
lent called Aadhaar. Let us look at what these tag people. Enrolment in Aadhaar itself is a
mean from the lens of an Adivasi man called shining example of the government’s reach
Xavier Ahir Minj in his forties. when there is political willingness. The sheer
Xavier is a resident of Mahuatoli village in numbers in the Aadhaar database is testi-
Champa panchayat of Mahudand block in mony to that. In Xavier’s context, it is more
Latehar district of Jharkhand. That’s his res- important to have responsive and account-
idential identity. He cannot st- able field staff as opposed to
and straight and uses a sturdy What is primarily more camps to get people into a
stick as support. He is visibly dis- required is database. Is it better to have a
abled and has a certificate issued political and fancy algorithm that solves a
in 2009 with his passport photo- administrative wrong problem or some sub-
graph stuck on it that “proves” will for effective optimal technology that
that he is more than 50 per cent delivery of services attempts to solve more relevant
disabled. He is thus eligible to and not merely problems? What is at stake is
get disability pension from the a randomly not efficiency but democracy
state. Despite numerous visits to generated unique at large.
the block office, an 18-km walk, 12-digit number The proponents of the
he has still not started receiving to tag people UIDAI project may dismiss
his disability pension. Xavier’s situation as anecdotal.
Identity as an NREGA worker: Xavier is They may desire an assessment of the scale
listed as “Jebiyar” Ahir in the NREGA of such travesties. But how many anecdotes
Management Information System (MIS). His are required to make the government pause
job card, bank passbook, and his Aadhaar and reflect? The velocity of Aadhaar imposi-
number have been taken away by a local con- tion has left no time for rigorous studies or
tractor. According to the MIS, he and his wife debate in evaluating the costs and benefits of
have collectively earned ~24,096 from the this coercive project. Aadhaar was supposed
beginning of the last financial year. However, to be a panacea against corruption and leak-
they don't even know their job card number age and a magic wand for financial inclu-
and neither has worked a single day. They sion. But, Xavier stands tall, paradoxically
were angry upon learning that so much mon- so, as a counter-example to the claims made
ey has been siphoned off in their names. On by Aadhaar — he is yet to get his disability
paper though, they are model NREGA work- pension, his PDS entitlements are in peril,
ers because they’ve purportedly done close and cash is being withdrawn by somebody
to 100 days of work in a year. else in his name. Xavier exists as rows and
Identity in the Public Distribution columns in databases and is yet invisible to
System: Xavier has also been struggling to the state. Much like Manomohan’s passport,
get rations under the PDS because he does- Xavier’s Aadhaar seems to prove nothing.
n’t have his “original” ration card and the How has Aadhaar helped Xavier?
dealer refuses to acknowledge the photo- Manomohan Mitra in Agantuk astutely
copy. Xavier’s wife, Indo Devi, was shouted at remarks, “I understand your dilemma. I
by the ration dealer for not producing the know you but you don’t know me.” In the
original, and they have stopped getting same vein, Xavier remains an agantuk — a
rations ever since — although the Jharkhand stranger to the state. He knows the state,
PDS website indicates otherwise. but he has fallen through the cracks and
An Aadhaar enrolment camp was con- continues to live in the blind spot of our
ducted in his village a few years ago. Since democracy.
then Xavier owns an Aadhaar card. Unaware
of privacy concerns, he had given his The writer is on the faculty of Azim Premji
Aadhaar number to a contractor, among oth- University

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Centre should sell entire stake The PM has at last spoken Assault on the media
in Air India, even if in stages But, will he be heeded? Breach of privilege charge misused
Both domestic and foreign buyers must Whether emboldened by or It is a fact that Hindus Trial by the legislature is an legislature have set prece-
compelled by the sense of and Muslims have lived for idea that goes against the prin- dents. The latest instance is
be allowed to bid freely for shares harmony and coexistence hundreds of years in a pro- ciple of separation of powers served by the Karnataka legis-
suffused in the air of ductive coexistence. It is also which forms the backbone of a lature’s privileges committee,
With the Union Cabinet’s “in-principle” approval for the sale Sabarmati Ashram, Prime a fact that they have occa- democratic structure. Yet, the which has ordered a year’s
of Air India and five of its subsidiaries, a long-standing Minister Narendra Modi on sionally crossed swords with Constitution of India grants jail sentence and fine for two
demand on the reform checklist has been ticked. The ration- Thursday was able to enun- disastrous consequences. this rare privilege to the coun- journalists.
ale for the government to shovel in huge sums of money to ciate the long-awaited words: The clash today is between try’s legislators. The idea is to The powers-that-be appear
keep the loss-making airline afloat was weakening by the The killing of people in the two “views” of these “facts”: ensure that no one has the to be taking their right to be
year. Air India has been surviving on a ~30,000-crore bailout name of cow protection is One, the two communities audacity to assail the dignity of offended rather seriously.
package put together by the United Progressive Alliance gov- not acceptable. That done, are united citizens of this the House or impede its work- Throughout the country, this
ernment in 2012 to help its turnaround, and the debt relief pro- he needs to now put his country, who occasionally ing. Unfortunately, as the long has built up a powerful
vided by public sector banks. The airline has a debt load of weight behind what he has get, or are incited to get, on history of the working of state onslaught against press free-
over ~50,000 crore on its books, and it is estimated that even said: Ensure mobs do not the wrong side of each other. and Central legislatures in dom. Media persons who dis-
a well-executed asset sale may not fully cover its present lia- lynch anyone, in anyone’s Two, Hindus and Muslims India shows, breach of privi- please vested interest groups
bilities. name or for any cause. are fundamentally irrecon- lege has become a weapon and influential politicians find
It is not yet clear whether the airline will be fully privatised Irrespective of his politics, cilable enemies, who now commonly used against themselves easy targets of offi-
or how its eventual sale will be executed. A ministerial panel every person with a scrap of and then work together as a media houses, media persons cial investigation or summa-
under Mr Jaitley is expected to begin working on the details humanity in him has been matter of convenience. or individuals who get into the ry trials. If legislators come
soon. But having taken the politically courageous decision to dismayed by the rash of Which view of the facts we bad books of legislators. In the across offensive reportage,
privatise Air India, the government would do well to go for the lynchings, public beatings choose defines what we are. absence of a codified law that they should, by all means,
sale of its entire stake, even if it is done in a gradual manner. this, the government will have to re-tune its FDI policy to and arson in the name of Let us be careful in our clearly defines what consti- counter it, but not by misusing
Eventually, the aim of the sale should be to get the best price allow foreign investors to buy a stake in Air India. protecting the cow across the choice. tutes a breach of privilege, their privilege.
for the airline. One good way to achieve this would be to allow country, especially the BJP- such cases of misuse of the
both domestic and foreign buyers to bid freely for stakes. For The Hindu, June 30 ruled states, since 2014. The Tribune, June 30 special powers granted to the The Telegraph, June 30