Indias Development Report Card vis-a-vis MDG

India has already prepared an interim report that shows mixed progress. According to an analysis by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) the government of Indias budget allocations over the past three years indicate missed opportunities. India is severely lagging in poverty eradication, providing food for all, reduction in child and mother deaths and fighting infectious diseases. Budgetary allocations for these remain highly inadequate as per the CBGA analysis. An example of low spending and misplaced priorities is visible in the effort to meet the 6th MDG stamping out malaria, TB and other infectious diseases and combating AIDS. Spending related to target has stagnated at just 0.2% of the governments total expenditure between 2008-09 and 2010-11. According to the data collected by CBGA shows that in the current year more than half of the total funds are being spent only on fighting AIDS. All other vector-borne diseases such as malaria, TB, Cholera, dengue etc gets a mere Rs 361 crore this year; down from Rs 367 crore last year. For poverty eradication and fighting hunger; the goal was to cut the existing rates in 1990 to half in 2015.But government expenditure on two major schemes that address this target have seen a proportional decline in 2010-11 over the preceding year. These schemes accounted for 10.7% of the total govt spending in 2009-10 but dipped to 10.2% in 2010-11. Parameters Poverty and Hunger Primary Education Gender Parity Under -5 Child Mortality 42 per 1000 live births MDG Targets for 2015 18.5% BPL population, 27% children underweight 100% Current Status 37% BPL, 46% 96% 0.94 in primary, 0.82 in secondary 75 per 1000 live births % Share of Govt Budget (2008-11) 10.4 2.2 3.4 0.2

Highlights of RBI panels guidelines on NBFCs A minimum asset size of more than Rs.50 crore for registering any new nonbanking finance company (NBFC). Transfer of shareholding, direct or indirect, of 25 per cent and above, change in control, merger or acquisition of any registered NBFC will require prior approval of the Reserve Bank. Twin-criterion of assets and income for determining the principal business of an NBFC to be increased to 75 per cent of the total asset and 75 per cent of the total income, Tier-I capital for capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) purposes would be specified at 12 per cent to be achieved in three years NBFCs would be subject to regulations similar to banks while lending to stock brokers and merchant banks and similar to stock brokers, as specified by.

 Risk weights for NBFCs that are not sponsored by banks or that do not have any bank as part of the group would be raised to 150 per cent for capital market exposures & 125 per cent for CRE exposures. NBFCs would be given the benefit under Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002

Annual Report for 2010-11 by RBI highlighted RBIs Response to Challenges to Indian Economy
Current Affairs Category: August 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 22 Aug 2011 To 28 Aug 2011 Share| The Reserve Bank of India in its Annual Report for 2010-11 released on 25 August 2011 included discussion on (i) the assessment of the macroeconomic performance during 2010-11 and the prospects for 2011-12, and (ii) the working and operations of the Reserve Bank and its financial accounts. The central bank presented it great detail an analysis of the challenges faced by the Indian economy. The RBI considered that the immediate challenge to sustaining high growth lay in bringing down inflation, growth sustainability over medium-term depends on addressing the structural bottlenecks. Only by addressing the challenges the potential level of growth could be raised in the Indian economy. The Annual Report for 2010-11 discussed the measures adopted by the RBI to deal with the challenges that threatented to lower the economic growth. Lowering inflation and inflation expectations to acceptable levels was the most crucial challenge that demanded immediate attention. Monetary policy plays an important role in controlling inflation.The monetary can however successfully contain inflation when coupled with complementary policies. Such complementary policies could include, improved supply response for food and tackling food inflation by breaking the inertial element arising from rising real wages and MSP. Rural wage programmes noted the report needed to be linked with productivity. Harnessing technology for agriculture productivity enhancements posed critical challenge to the economic growth. Harnessing technology for agriculture productivity would help tostep up agriculture growth from a trend of around 3 per cent per annum to 4 per cent. Substantial productivity enhancements would be possible through large scale introduction of Precision Farming Techniques, combined with local-specific fertigation practices, better cultivars, optimal use of biochemicals and water. According to the report, price incentives such as fertilizer subsidies have distorted its optimal use and led to suboptimal investments in its production. RBI therefore felt the need for extending the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) scheme. RBI also witnessed a challenge in maintaining right balance between consumption and investment. Aneed to rebalance demand from consumption to investment by stepping up savings in the economy was felt. In order to achieve a 9.0 per cent growth

in Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) the investment rate of 40.5 per cent would be required if ICOR remained unchanged from 4.5 realised during the Eleventh Plan. To achieve the 9.0% growth augmenting saving as well as bringing about technological and institutional improvements was needed to lower ICOR. Facilitating energy security was to be ensured. Indias energy deficit was likely to be doubled by the end of the Twelfth Plan. Demand-supply gaps could be particularly large in coal and crude oil. RBI felt that the price increase would be necessary to incentivise energy conservation, curb demand and support capacity addition. New Exploraton Licensing Policy (NELP) strategy needed to be re-looked into and coal block auctions could be front-loaded. Given that a large amount of bank finance is locked in the infrastructure sector, the viability of new infrastructure projects need to be ensured. Facilitating infrastructure finance was views as another challenge. India needs infrastructure investments of over US$ 1 trillion during the Twelfth Plan. The infrastructure project require to be funded by both, public and private sectors. Fiscal consolidation and reorientation of expenditure towards capital expenditure were needed to meet the target. Further measures were needed to improve the flow of resources to infrastructure sector on a commercial basis. Promoting financial inclusion and inclusive growth presented a critical challenge to the economy. Long-term growth sustainability depended on achieving inclusive growth. Investments in agriculture, infrastructure, human capital formation through education, health and skill formation were needed. About one crore people sought to enter the workforce each year over the next decade thereby posing challenges for employment and skilling. Inclusive finance was deemed to be necessary for supporting the demand for these activities.

The Real Economy The RBI in its Annual Report presented a broader picture of the real economic scenerio in Inida. Following the US sovereign rating downgrade by S&P, oil prices fell. The August price of the Indian basket of crude was 25 per cent higher than its average during 2010-11. Empirical exercise revealed that a 10 percentage point increase in oil price would lead to a reduction in real GDP growth by about 0.3 percentage point. It would also raise WPI inflation by 1.0 percentage point through direct impact and 2.0 percentage points in total impact. Preliminary estimates based on latest available information showed that financial savings of the household sector moderated to 9.7 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 from 12.1 per cent in 2010-11. The decline in the financial savings rate of the household sector reflected the lower growth in their bank deposits and life insurance as well as decline in investment in shares and debentures. Also, the households financial liabilities increased reflecting higher borrowings from commercial bank Promoting financial inclusion and inclusive growth presented a critical challenge to the economy. Long-term growth sustainability depended on achieving inclusive growth. Investments in agriculture, infrastructure, human capital formation through

education, health and skill formation were needed. About one crore people sought to enter the workforce each year over the next decade thereby posing challenges for employment and skilling. Inclusive finance was deemed to be necessary for supporting the demand for these activities.

The Real Economy The RBI in its Annual Report presented a broader picture of the real economic scenerio in Inida. Following the US sovereign rating downgrade by S&P, oil prices fell. The August price of the Indian basket of crude was 25 per cent higher than its average during 2010-11. Empirical exercise revealed that a 10 percentage point increase in oil price would lead to a reduction in real GDP growth by about 0.3 percentage point. It would also raise WPI inflation by 1.0 percentage point through direct impact and 2.0 percentage points in total impact. Preliminary estimates based on latest available information showed that financial savings of the household sector moderated to 9.7 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 from 12.1 per cent in 2010-11. The decline in the financial savings rate of the household sector reflected the lower growth in their bank deposits and life insurance as well as decline in investment in shares and debentures. Also, the households financial liabilities increased reflecting higher borrowings from commercial bank The report suggested that a holistic review of food management would be helpful in the backdrop of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB). The holistic review should cover procurement and pricing, production and food security, distribution and delivery mechanism. Price Situation Inflation became generalized since December 2010 with significant price pressures in non-food manufacturing commodities. Drivers of inflation were found to have changed during the course of 2010-11. Global commodity prices recovered faster than the global economy as a result of surfeit of liquidity which resulted in creating pressure on headline inflation in India during 2010-11. Empirical estimates of short run and long run elasticities suggest that despite some softening in global commodity prices in recent months, upside risks to Indias inflation could persist. Money and Credit Money growth was moderate during 2010-11, but it had picked up during the last quarter of 2010-11. Currency expansion was strong during 2010-11. The growth in currency demand was explained by high GDP growth, high inflation and low deposit

rates initially. Increase in number of ATMs, higher social expenditures in rural areas, tax evasions were the other factors that led to the growth in currency demands. The relationship of demand for currency with real income and prices was found to be very strong. The RBI had observed that the rate of decline in velocity had accelerated. Accentuated liquidity preference and slack credit demand in the aftermath of the crisis were reflected in sharp fall in velocity. Financial Markets International financial markets witnessed frequent re-pricing of risks during 201011, reflecting persisting uncertainties. Sovereign risk concerns, particularly in the Euro Area, affected the financial markets. Monetary policy transmission across the various segments of the financial markets strengthened during 2010-11 and till mid 2011-12 with liquidity condition shifting to a deficit mode from June 2010. Government Finance Combined GFD/GDP for Centre and States fell from 9.3 per cent in 2009-10 to 7.7 per cent in 2010-11. The budgets of the Central and State governments envisaged further fiscal consolidation during 2011-12. The report reccomended concerted efforts to avoid fiscal slippages in 2011-12, especially arising from higher expenditure on subsidies if global commodity and fuel prices continue at an elevated level. The sustainability of lower deficits required substantial new measures leading to expenditure compression and revenue raising. External Sector-an Overview Indias balance of payments improved to 2.6 per cent of GDP during 2010-11 from 2.8 per cent during 2009-10 led by a pick-up in exports during the second half and a higher invisibles surplus. Capital flows to India improved during 2010-11. However the composition and volatility of capital flows posed concern. Capital flows at the aggregate level were only weakly sensitive to the interest rate differential between India and the rest of the world. Financing of CAD for 2011-12 would not pose a problem unless the public debt fragilities in the Euro Zone and the growth slowdown in the US significantly impact capital flows. Overall, the BoP situation was believed to manageable, though continuous monitoring due to the global uncertainties would be required for the same. Click here To read related articles on Reserve Bank of Indias Annual Report for

Ias Aspirant Dear UPSC Friends & Aspirants: (21.12.11)Wednesday Indian IAS Academy(iiA)s Weekly Magazine "Current cafe" current tit bits 1) National News: 1. The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today called for greater financial inclusion to accelerate growth. Addressing a function to mark the culmination of golden jubilee of Central Bank of India in New Delhi Mukherjee said more efforts are required for financial inclusion of rural population. which will help reduce poverty as well. The Finance Minister asserted that maximum population of rural India is yet to have greater access to banking facility. 2. The government will also table the National Food Security Bill in Parliament tomorrow. This was stated by Food Minister K V Thomas in New Delhi today. The Bill has already been cleared by the Union Cabinet. the subsidised food scheme will cover 75 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent in urban areas. "In the rural areas 75 percent of the people are coverd and in the Urban areas 50 percent of the people are covered. And out of the 75 percent in the rural area, at least 46 percentage come in the priority sector which is equivalent to precept BPL and in the Urban areas out of 50 percentage, at least 28 percentage is covered under the priority sector. 3. The Union Cabinet has approved an historic bill for creation of a Lokpal with Constitutional status. After two days of intense drafting by a group of ministers and officials, the new draft of the Lokpal Bill along with the Constitution (Amendment) Bill was cleared at a special Cabinet

meeting last evening. Top government sources confirmed this after the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. The bill will be introduced in the current session of Parliament. 2)International News: 4. Fukushima reactors could take 40 yrs to dismantle Japan said today that decommissioning the tsunami-wrecked reactors at Fukushima could take as long as 40 years, with melted nuclear fuel possibly stuck where it is for a quarter of a century. 5. NASA finds 2 earth-size planets outside solar system: The planets, named Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet''s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like Sun. 3)Economic news: 6. Indo-Myanmar Kaladan Transport Project will be completed by 2013: The Kadalan Multi-Model Transport Project will connect India and Myanmar through sea, river and roadways. Under the project, the Indian ports on eastern seaboard will be connected with the Sittwe Port in Myanmar . There onwards, the project provides waterways and road transport to Mizoram. The Minister said, the work on inland waterways and the port began last year. The road component of the project from Myanmar to the Indian border in Mizoram is expected to be taken up after the road on the Indian side in Mizoram, is constructed. 4)Sports News 7. IOA writes to IOC on Dow issue: IOA has shot off a stronglyworded letter to International Olympic Committee urging it to talk to the London Olympic organisers and remove Dow Chemicals as sponsor of the 2012 Games. Indian Olympic Association

(IOA) General Body, at its meeting last Thursday, had decided to lodge a strong protest with the IOC over Dow's controversial sponsorship. "It's IOA's considered opinion that Dow Chemical should be removed as sponsors of the Games because the very presence of this company is against the spirit of Olympic ideals," IOA acting President Vijay Kumar Malhotra said in the letter

The Lok Sabha was adjourned over the alleged exclusion of the minorities from the 50 percent quota in the proposed Lokpal bill . The Food Security Bill, which seeks to give legal right to food grains at cheaper rates for a majority of the countrys population (75%rural area, 50%-urban area), was introduced in the Lok Sabha today. The bill seeks to provide 7 kg of rice, wheat and coarse grains per person per month to priority households at 3 rupees, 2 rupees and 1 rupee per kg. General category would get at least 3 kg of grains at a rate not exceeding 50 per cent of the minimum support price. The legislation makes provision for Constitution of food commissions at Centre and the State which will ensure regular supply of food grains to people and conduct periodic social audits and other related works. Parliament adopted modifications in the list of Scheduled Tribes by including 6 communities from Manipur and 16 from Arunachal Pradesh, by passing the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order Amendment Bill, 2011. But govt. said it is not possible to bring a comprehensive list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes across the country at this stage as the process involves a set of

procedure which has to be followed. The Health and Family Welfare Minister introduced the National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill, 2011, to ensure adequate availability of human resources in the health sector in all the states and to regulate professional Councils in various disciplines of the health sector. In Bihar, the Governor approved the Bihar Lokayukta Bill 2011 (1 chairman and 2 member) passed by both the houses of the State Legislature which will bring the Chief Minister, Ministers, Speaker and officers under the purview. In Assam, the continued protest blockade programme launched by several organizations for the last eight days has severely affected the construction work of the 2000-megawatt mega power project on dam over the Subansiri River at Gerukamukh, which is scheduled to be completed on Dec, 2012. Food inflation (measured by Wholesale Price Index ) fell sharply to a near fouryear low of 1.81 per cent for the week ended December due to considerable price fall in onion, potatoes, wheat and vegetables. In Gujarat, hundreds of protesting farmers of Banaskantha District hit by a potato crop glut, dumped huge quantity of potatoes on the roads in Deesa town yesterday where the crops price has fallen to as low as Rupee 1 per kg. The Textile Ministry and Apparel Export Promotion Council ,AEPC launched a new common compliance code of conduct will give the opportunity to negate international claims against child labour promotion in the garment industry and will encourage better social and labour practices. In Madhya Pradesh, the Woman and Child Development Department will install Global Positioning System in the vehicles of their officers to monitor the implementation of the welfare schemes, thus will get information directly through the GPS on the details of tour and inspections conducted by the department. A Management Information System has been also

rennovated to monitor and evaluate the implementation about planning of Department. In Iraq, more than 50 people have been killed and more than 130 injured in a series of bomb attacks in the capital, Baghdad The Arab League has expressed serious concerns over the situation in Syria (as a part of Arab spring ) and asked the Syrian Government to protect the Syrian civilians in view of its commitments under the Arab peace plan. Advance team of Arab League comprising of legal, medical and administrative experts is leaving for Damascus which will prepare the ground for the arrival of a larger observer mission to start implementing the Arab League peace plan to end violence in the country. Meanwhile, in one of its strongest statements on Syria, the United States has said the President Bashar Al-Assad has lost all legitimacy and credibility. Afghanistan is ready to find its place in the railway map of the world with the successful trial run of the first cargoless train between Mazar-e-Sharif and Hairatan (a dry port along the Afghan border near Uzbekistan) which is funded by the Asian Development Bank. Winners of Sahitya Academi Awards 2011 Poets honoured with the award are: (late) Kabin Phukan (Assamese), Manindra Gupta (Bengali), Premananda Mosahari (Bodo), Naseem Shafaie (Kashmiri), Melvyn Rodrigues (Konkani), Harekrishna Satapathy (Sanskrit), Aditya Kumar Mandi (Santali) and Khaleel Mamoon (Urdu). Novelists who won the award are:Gopalakrishna Pai (Kannada), Kashinath Singh (Hindi), Kshetri Bira (Manipuri), Kalpanakumari Devi (Odia), Baldev Singh (Punjabi) and Atul Kanakk (Rajasthani). Lalit Magotra (Dogri), Grace (Marathi) and Samala Sadasiva (Telugu) received the award for their books on essays. Mr. Guha for his narrative history, Mohan Parmar (Gujarati) for his short stories, M.K. Sanu (Malayalam) for his biography and Mohan Gehani (Sindhi) for his book on plays have been honoured. Tamil writer Su. Venkatesan, who captured 600 years of history of Madurai between 1310 and 1920 in his debut novel Kaaval Kottam, has won the Sahitya Akademi award for the year 2011.

The 1048-page novel begins with the pillage of Madurai, known as Koodal Maanagar by Allauddin Khilji's general Malik Kafur, and the killing of Karuppu, a security guard. Subsequently, it fell into the hands of Vijayanagar kings and the descendants of Karuppu returned to Madurai as security guards, offering a unique security system till the British took over. All these have been dealt with in a gripping narrative. Tamil film Aravaan, by director Vasantha Balan, is based on one of the subplots of the novel. Kaaval Kottam is about the security system that prevailed in Madurai Fort. It was unique in the sense that the guards would repay the money or goods if they were not able to prevent the houses from being burgled. In every village there are kaavalans (guards) and kallans (burglars). The question was who was great: kaavalan or kallan. But the kallan would not enter into any territory which was under the control of kaavalan from his village. Kannakol poduthal (breaking into a house or palace by making a hole in the wall) is an art perfected by these kallans and one of them could even enter the palace of Thirumalai Nayakar: he decamped with the ring of the king. In the novel, the people of Thathanoor, a fictitious village, are responsible for the security of Madurai and resist the attempt of the British to demolish the fort for the purpose of expanding the city. After defeating them, the British settle them in camps and declare them as notified communities. They were de-notified only after the country gained independence. Mr. Venkatesan also deals elaborately with the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam in the wake of the Thathu Varucha Pancham (drought) between 1876 and 1877. I AM BIHAR. I am the history of India. I gave India its first President. I gave the world its first Republic. I nourished Buddha to enlightenment. I gave world its best ancient University. Mahavir came out of mywomb to found Jainism. My son Valmiki wrote Ramayan, the greatest Epic. I gave birth to Aryabhatt, the great ancient mathematician. My son Vatsayana wrote Kamasutra, the treatise of love. I gave Ashoka Chakra that adorns India's national flag. Rishi Shushrut, the father of surgery, lived on my soil. My son, Guru Gobind was the tenth guru of sikh. My son Chanakya was the father of Economics and Political Science. My son Ashoka was the greatest ruler of India. My son, Rashtrakavi RamdhariSingh Dinkar is the national poet of India. I gave the world its first University. I am the land of festivals. I am brotherhood. I am the past, I am present, I am the future. I AM BIHAR.

Ten Indians Featured in the Forbes Magazines List of Under 30 Achievers

The Forbes' 30 under 30 list was prepared by selecting young turks from 12 diverse fields including energy, finance, media, law, entertainment, science, design and technology. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, human rights activist Ronan Farrow and pop stars Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are also included in Forbes magazine's list of top-achieving people under age 30. The list released in December 2011 included 10 people of Indian originThe list included 360 young ultra impressive individuals that the companies should either now or would be working for them in the future as they are the young people of today who matter. Among the Indian-origin people on the list is 17 year old Param Jaggi, a student and inventor at Austin College. Jaggi created algae-filled device that fits over a car's tailpipe and turns carbon dioxide into oxygen. Vivek Nair, Chief Executive of Damascus Fortune, who is developing a technology that transforms industrial carbon emissions into carbon nanotubes was also named in the list. Manvir Nijhar, Co-Head of European Equity Derivatives Sales at Citigroup was named as well. Kunal Shah, the youngest Managing Director at Goldman Sachs was also included in the list. Making a mark in the field of science was Raj Krishnan, Chief Executive of Biological Dynamics who is developing blood tests that use electric fields to detect key signals that a patient has cancer from the blood. Sidhant Gupta, a graduate student at the University of Washington who has been listed as well, is developing new sensors and software for the home that conserve electricity, heat and gas. Six novels, five collections of short stories, seven books of poetry and one book of folk tales and plays in 24 Indian languages were on 16 August 2011 selected for the 2011 Kendra Sahitya Akademi Awards for Children's Literature. Five writers have been chosen for the Akademi's Bala Sahitya Puraskar for lifetime contribution to children's literature: Sailen Ghosh (Bengali), Shyam Dutt Parag (Dogri), Ramesh Parekh (Gujarati), Harikrishna Devsare (Hindi) and Maheswar Mohanty (Oriya). Gh. Nabi Aatash (Kashmiri), Snehalata Rai (Nepali), Darshan Singh Asht (Punjabi), Abhiraj Rajendra Mishra (Sanskrit), Nuhum Hembram (Santali), M.L. Thangappa (Tamil) and Aasil Aseer Dehlavi (Urdu) won the award for poetry.

The short-story writers selected included Maheswar Narzary (Bodo), Mayanath Jha (Maithili), Dileep Prabhavalkar (Marathi), Harish B. Sharma (Rajasthani) and M. Bhoopal Reddy (Telugu). Bandita Phukan (Assamese), Siddhartha Sarma (English), Hundraj Balwani (Sindhi), N. D'souza (Kannada), Gajanan Jog (Konkani) and K. Pappootty (Malayalam) were the novelists selected for the award. Shantibala Devi (Manipuri) was chosen for her book of folk tales and plays.

Union Cabinet approved Agriculture Ministrys Proposal for setting up AGRlNDIA

The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) for setting up of a new company, called AGRlNDIA. The AGRlNDIA will be a registered company under the Companies Act, fully owned by Government of India in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) with a share capital of Rs.100 crore and initial paid up capital of Rs.50 crore. AGRlNDIA would undertake the following major activities: Protection and management of intellectual properties generated in the system and its commercialization / distribution for public benefit. Production, marketing and popularization of ICAR`s products, processes and technologies in agriculture and allied sectors. Providing skilled services from ICAR, such as consultancies, contract research, contract service, customized capacity building, technical support for turnkey project etc. Setting up research and development farms and assist in setting up production units outside India, especially in Africa and in the Asia-Pacific region and perhaps other regions of the world such as Latin America. Foster public-private partnerships in research, education and other capacity building in agriculture and allied sectors. AGRlNDIA would promote spread of R&D outcomes through IPR protection, commercialisation and forging partnerships both in the country and without. The farmers of the country would benefit from the formation of the company because of the following: The company would provide a model for quality seed availability in the country. The company would enable manufacturing and marketing models of good quality vaccines and diagnostic kits etc. It would establish ICAR`s R&D presence in other countries/region, such as in

Africa and the Asia Pacific region. Intellectual Property Rights in ICAR would be efficiently managed for their protection and consequent commercialization Annual Health Survey Bulletin 2010-11 was launched on 10 August 2011 by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The objective of the survey was to yield benchmarks of core vital and health indicators at the district level and to map changes therein on an annual basis. The survey was Indias first-ever district level health survey.

Indias First-ever District Level Health Survey showed Higher Sex Ratio at Birth in Urban Areas
Annual health survey pointed out that sex ratio at birth, defined as the number of female live births per 1000 male live births was higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

The survey findings reported that the sex ratio at birth across nine states ranged between 764 in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand to 1,030 in Moradabad district in UP.

The survey identified 57 districts in the country with worst health indicators, including 34 in UP where it aims to have a special focus. Indias first-ever district level health survey showed 57 districts have the worst health indicators in terms of birth rate, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and sex ratio.

The Annual Health Survey in nine states reported that districts of Uttar Pradesh, particularly Shrawasti, have the worst scenario while Rudraprayag and other districts of Uttarakhand have the best results.

These 9 states - Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam account for about 48% of the total population in the country, are the high focus states in view of their relatively higher fertility and mortality indicators. These states together constitute 48% of countrys population, 59% of total births, 70% of infant deaths, 75% of Under-5 deaths and 62% of maternal deaths.

Bageshwar in Uttarakhand reported Minimum Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of 14.7 while Dhemaji in Assam had the Minimum Crude Death Rate (CDR) of 4.5 in 284 districts of 9 states surveyed.

The CBR, which is measure of live births per 1000 population, was maximum at 40.9 in Shrawasti. The birth and death rates in rural areas of districts was found to be higher than the urban areas. CDR was highest in Shrawasti at 12.6.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was least in Rudraprayag (19) while in Shrawasti it was highest (103). Six districts - Purbi.

Singhbhum and Dhanbad (Jharkhand); Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Almora (Uttarakhand) had already achieved the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing child mortality of 28 by 2015. Another four districts Bokaro and Ranchi (Jharkhand), Bageshwar and Nainital (Uttarakhand) are close to the target. Female infants in districts experienced a higher mortality than male infants and IMR in rural areas was significantly higher than that in urban.

Rudraprayag also reported the minimum Neo-Natal Mortality Rate (NNMR) at 11 while Balangir in Orissa had the maximum (75). NNMR measures the number of infant deaths (age below 29 days) per 1,000 live births. Out of every 10 infant deaths 6 -7 pertain to Neo Natal Deaths.

Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was found to be minimum in Pithoragarh (24) and maximum in Kandhmal of Orissa (145). The minimum Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 183 was from Kumaon in Uttarakhand and the maximum 451 from Faizabad in UP

However, Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) was reported lowest at 764 in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand and maximum 1030 in Moradabad.

The survey highlighted the need to put in place a special health policy as well as the need to concentrate in these areas to ensure that the health schemes are implemented with more focus. RBI NEWS

In a circular issued on 4 August 2011 the Reserve bank of India declared that prepaid payment instruments such as smart cards, magnetic stripe cards, mobile wallets paper vouchers, gift cards and travel cards could be issued by banks only to corporates listed in India. Prepaid payment instruments could be issued only to corporate entities listed in any of the stock exchanges in India. The corporate entities would have to verify the identity of the employee to whom the card would be issued, along with copies of photograph and a proof of identity. Also, the corporate are required to provide details of bank accounts of the employee to the bank. RBI mentioned that the maximum value of an individual prepaid payment instrument should not exceed Rs.50000. The money in the prepaid instruments would be loaded by debit to the bank account after fulfilling all know-your-customer (KYC) norms. The central bank had in 2009 allowed all banks and non-banking financial

Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Report on Economic Growth Estimates

In the backdrop of a grim economic scenario resulting from uncertain global outlook and high domestic inflation, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on 1 August 2011 scaled down its projection for the growth rate of the economy in 2011-12 to 8.2 per cent from 8.5 per cent. The estimates projected in the report are as follows: The report stated that the inflation rate would come down to 6.5 per cent by March 2012. PMEAC estimated the headline WPI inflation rate to continue to be at 9 per cent or higher in the months of July-October 2011. The country's agriculture output was projected to grow at 3 per cent in the current fiscal 2011-12 The 2011 monsoon was projected to be in the range of 90 to 96 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). In 2011-12, the industrial sector is expected to grow by 7.1 per c

binet Approved Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011
Current Affairs Category: Hot Topics, September 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 26 Sep 2011 To 02 Oct 2011 Share| The Union Cabinet approved the proposal to introduce the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill (MMDR Bill), 2011, in terms of National Mineral Policy, 2008 in Parliament and to repeal the existing Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The new MMDR Bill, 2011, aims to introduce better legislative environment for attracting investment and technology into the mining sector by the following: States may call for applications in notified areas of known mineralization for prospecting based on technical knowledge, value addition, end-use proposed ore -linkage etc. and to invite financial bid; States may grant of direct mining concessions through bidding based on a prospecting report and feasibility study in notified areas where data of minerals is adequate for the purpose; State Government may set up a minimum floor price for competitive bidding; Special provisions for allowing mining of small deposits in cluster, where cooperatives can apply; National Mining Regulatory Authority for major minerals - State Governments may set up similar Authority at State level for minor minerals; Imposition of a Central cess and a State cess, and setting up of Mineral Funds at National and State Level for capacity creation; For the purpose of sharing the benefits of mining with persons or families having occupation, usufruct or traditional rights in mining areas, and for local area infrastructure, creation an amount equal to royalty in case of mineral other than coal, and 26% of net profits, in the case of coal, has been proposed to be credited each year to district Level Mineral Foundation; Sustainable and scientific mining through provision for a Sustainable Development Framework; Consultation with local community before notifying an area for grant of concession, and for approval of Mine Closure Plans; Enhanced penalties for violation of provisions of the Act, including debarment of person convicted of illegal mining for future grants and termination of all mineral concessions held by such person; and Establishment of Special Courts at the State level for speedier disposal of the cases of illegal mining. The new draft MMDR Act would have financial implications in the creation of an independent National Mining Tribunal and National Mining Regulatory Authority at the Central Level, and the expenditure involved in the capacity building of the Indian Bureau of Mines. The funds for this expenditure are likely to be met from levy of cess at the rate of 2.5% on the basis of Customs/Excise Duty.

The new MMDR Act would be implemented immediately after receiving Parliamentary approval and President`s assent, and a date of commencement would be notified separately. The approval will help in developing the country`s mining sector to its full potential so as to put the nation`s mineral resources to best use for national economic growth, and ensure raw materials security in the long term national interest. Background: The Government constituted a High Level Committee (HLC) in 2006, which suggested for evolving a mining code adapted to the best international practices, streamlining and simplifying procedures for grant of mineral concessions to reduce delays, etc. Based on the HLC recommendations, the Government had announced National Mineral Policy (NMP) on 13 March 2008. To give effect to the policy directions in NMP, the Government has now evolved a new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, after several rounds of consultations with the stakeholders including State Governments, concerned Ministries and Departments of Central Government, Industry and Civil Society. The MMDR Bill, 2011 was referred to a Group of Ministers (GoM) on 14 June 2010 and which has now, after five rounds of discussion, had recommended the draft Bill to the Cabinet. The GoM in its meeting held on 7 July, 2011 has recommended the draft MMDR Bill, 2011 for introduction in Parliament

SIR conferred the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology on 11 Scientists
Current Affairs Category: Awards | Honours, September 2011 Current Affairs, News Capsule, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 26 Sep 2011 To 02 Oct 2011 Share| The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on 26 September 2011 honoured 11 scientists with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for the year 2011. Dr Samir K Brahamachari, Director General, Council of Scientific Research and Industrial development announced the names of scientists at the celebration of CSIR foundation Day. Till 2010, 463 scientists (including 14 women scientists) have been bestowed with the prestigious SSB Prize. The list of the awardees in the different categories are as follows: Biological Sciences

Dr Amit Prakash Sharma (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi) Dr Rajan Sankaranarayanan (CSIR Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad). Chemical Sciences Dr Balasubramanian Sundaram (Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore) Dr Garikapati Narahari Sastry (CSIR Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad). Earth, Atmosapere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences Dr Shanker Doraiswamy (CSIR National Institute of Oceanography, Goa) Engineering Sciences Dr Sirshendu De (Indian Institute of Technology, Dharagpur) Dr Upadrasta Ramamurty (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) Mahtematical Sciences Dr Mahan Mj (Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Howrah) Dr Palash Sarkar (Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata) Medical Sciences Dr Kithiganahalli Narayanaswamy Balaji (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) Physical Sciences

Dr Shiraz Minwalla (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology was first given in 1958. It is regarded as the country's highest award in science is named after the

founder director of CSIR, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar. It is given to a scientist up to 45 years of age and carries a prize of Rs 5 lakh

Nilekani Panels Terms of Reference extended to include Unified Payment Infrastructure

Current Affairs Category: September 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 19 Sep 2011 To 25 Sep 2011 Share| The Union government on 20 September 2011 extended the terms of reference of the Nilekani task force on direct transfer of subsidies. The extended terms of reference is to include an Aadhaar-enabled unified payment infrastructure. Considering the expansion the government enlarged the task force by adding five new members. The new members is to include a representative from the Reserve Bank of India, a representative from the Indian Banks Association (IBA), Director of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Controller-General of Accounts (CGA) in the Finance Ministry or one of his representatives and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Set up by the Union Finance Ministry under the chairmanship of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief Nandan Nilekani in February2011, the task force was asked to recommend and implement a solution for direct transfer of subsidies on kerosene, LPG and fertiliser to the intended beneficiaries. In tune with the decision to expand the terms of reference the panel was asked to recommend an architecture for e-banking through inter-operable business correspondents and examine the alignment of current standards for devices that will be deployed by them. The panel was also asked to suggest one to align the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on a Framework for the Delivery of Basic Financial Services using mobile phones with Aadhaar-enabled payments infrastructure. The panel was directed to: Recommend a solution that incorporates a robust customer support and grievance redress mechanism Recommend the feasibility of extending the solution architecture to include payment instruments apart from bank accounts and post office savings bank accounts to facilitate the fostering of e-commerce oversee and evaluate the implementation of the solution proposed on a pilot basis.

 Suggest a common framework to adopt it for all government welfare schemes involving disbursements to individual beneficiaries. Solutions devised by the panel should ensure that the entire country can leverage the same payments platforms. while recommending an approach to harmonise various exercises related to opening bank accounts for financial inclusion and electronic benefit transfers, the panel should also identify and recommend amendments which it felt was required required to enable direct subsidy transfers. The task force is to submit its final report on the extended Terms of Reference within three months of the extension of the Terms of Reference. The task force had submitted its interim report on 5 July 2011 and the suggestions therein were taken up by Ministries on a pilot basis under its supervision of the task force. The interim report had suggested direct cash transfers through banks, ATMs or even mobile banking to beneficiaries of kerosene, LPG and fertiliser subsidies.

ASA'S Kepler Discovery Confirmed First Planet Orbiting Two Stars

Current Affairs Category: September 2011 Current Affairs, Science | Technology, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 12 Sep 2011 To 18 Sep 2011 Share| NASA's Kepler mission on 15 September 2011 made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting two stars -- 200 light-years from Earth. The planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life, but its discovery demonstrates the diversity of planets in our galaxy. Previous research has hinted at the existence of circumbinary planets, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Kepler detected such a planet by observing transits, where the brightness of a parent star dims from the planet crossing in front of it. A research team led by Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, used data from the Kepler space telescope, which measures dips in the brightness of more than 150000 stars, to search for transiting planets. Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, the region in a planetary system where liquid water can exist on the surface of the orbiting planet. Scientists detected the new planet in the Kepler-16 system, a pair of orbiting stars that eclipse each other from our vantage point on Earth. When the smaller star partially blocks the larger star, a primary eclipse occurs, and a secondary eclipse occurs when the smaller star is occulted, or completely blocked, by the larger star.

Astronomers further observed that the brightness of the system dipped even when the stars were not eclipsing one another, hinting at a third body. The additional dimming in brightness events, called the tertiary and quaternary eclipses, reappeared at irregular intervals of time, indicating the stars were in different positions in their orbit each time the third body passed. This showed the third body was circling, not just one, but both stars, in a wide circumbinary orbit. This discovery confirms that Kepler-16b is an inhospitable, cold world about the size of Saturn and thought to be made up of about half rock and half gas. The parent stars are smaller than our sun. One is 69 percent the mass of the sun and the other only 20 percent. Kepler-16b orbits around both stars every 229 days, similar to Venus' 225day orbit, but lies outside the system's habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the surface, because the stars are cooler than our sun

Amendments to National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore Bill 2010
Current Affairs Category: September 2011 Current Affairs, National | India, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 12 Sep 2011 To 18 Sep 2011 Share| The Union Cabinet of India on 15 September 2011 approved Amendments to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, Bangalore Bill, 2010. The Amendments are based on the recommendations of the Department --related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health arid Family Welfare. The salient features of the proposed amendments are as follows: (a) No change in Clause 4 (Incorporation of Institute) of the Bill is proposed in view of legal advice obtained from the Department of Legal Affairs. (b) As regards Clause 5 (Composition of the Institute), it is proposed that: (i) The President of the Institute shall be nominated by the Central Government from among the members other than the Director of the Institute. (ii) The Institute shall consist of the Chief Secretary or his nominee, not below the rank of Secretary, to the Government of Karnataka, ex-officio. (iii) The Institute shall consist of the following members namely: (i) Seven persons of whom one shall be non-medical scientist representing the Indian Science Congress Association and one each from biological, behavioural and physical sciences of repute from any university to be nominated by the Central Government in such manner as may be prescribed;

(ii) Four representatives of medical faculty of Indian universities of whom one shall be from NIMHANS to be nominated by the Central Government in such manner as may be prescribed; (c) Under sub-clause 7(1) (Powers and Functions of President), the following may be substituted: There shall be a President of the Institute who shall be nominated by the Central Government from among the members other than the Director of the Institute. In October 2010 the Cabinet approved (i) declaring NIMHANS as an institution of national importance on the lines of AIIMS/ PGIMLR. and (ii) introduction of NIMHANS, Bangalore Bill, 2010 in Parliament with such modifications of drafting nature as may be considered necessary. In pursuance thereof, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences. Bangalore Bill, 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 7 December, 2010 for declaring NIMHANS as an institution of national importance. The Chairman, Rajya Sabha referred the aforesaid Bill to the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare for examination and report within three months. The fifty-third report on NIMHANS, Bangalore Bill. 2010 of the Committee was presented to the Rajya Sabha on 4 March, 2011 and a copy of the report was also laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 4 March 2011.

Guidelines provided by the Approach Paper for the 12th Plan (2012-17)
Current Affairs Category: September 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 12 Sep 2011 To 18 Sep 2011 Share| The Union Government on 15 September 2011 approved the Approach Paper for the 12th Plan (2012-17) which seeks to attain second generation economic reforms, improving governance and raise annual economic growth rate to 9 per cent during impending five-year period. Approach Paper for the 12th Plan (2012-17) The Approach Paper is a document that aims to provide the preliminary guidelines to enable the States/UTs prepare their respective proposals. The basic proposal components will have to include : State Portal including Applications & e-forms State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG)

 Gap Infrastructure - Identification of gaps in connectivity and computing infrastructure and making provision for the same in the Proposal. Training to the officers of the destination office for e-form processing Content provisioning arrangement Manpower Support State Portal including Applications & e-forms The functionality of the State Portal including Applications & e-forms are as follows:

The portal will provide information about government departments, line ministries, and web links to the various departments. It will also provide information about government structure in the state, service offerings, budget, key notifications, government schemes etc to the business and citizen community. The portal would primarily be available in English but in due course itll also need to be available in Hindi and regional language.

The portal will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and accessible from anywhere in the world via the internet.

The portal can be accessed via a variety of established channels, including PCs, CSCs, Government Service delivery counters etc.

The State portal will be single window to the Government to business (G2B) and Government to citizen (G2C) services. The service delivery would happen in integrated fashion using NeGps core infrastructure components SWAN, SDC, CSC and SSDG

The paper suggested that the state proposals shhould include e-forms for respective departments Content personalization and content management should be a part of the proposal component and links to departmental websites should be included.

A complete application for e-receipt of forms by the destination office, MIS, printing, accounting, status reporting, query service and payment handling should be provided. NIC would be responsible for Standardization of the Content Framework, State Portal Framework and Website Design Guidelines and provide technical guidance to the State for State Proposal preparation (State Portal component & application) and its development. State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG)

The functionality of the State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) are as follows:

SSDG will enable audit management & time stamping which would result in better tracking (auditing) and security of each transaction. With Gateway Server, legacy applications can be Internet enabled as Gateway server can act as a Web layer around them so Government Departments need to put least effort for web enabled of their legacy applications.

The gateway as the middleware will facilitate easy inter-departmental data exchange.

The Gateway will also help the Departments backend workflow evolve gradually as the Gateway acts as a middleware de-linking the backends from the front end. Departments, which do not have the complete automation or work, flow at the back can still deliver e-Service to the citizens in a limited manner.

The placement of constellation of Gateway Servers at State Level will facilitate getting information and doing transactions by citizens of one State with Government Department of other States seamlessly.

The positioning of Gateway Server and building portal of all the departments at Central location, i.e., in State Data Centre, will help in better centralized Administration, Monitoring, over all maintenance work and deployment of hardware of Web Site at optimal level.

Gateway has the capability to add additional functionality to support shared common services like Authentication, payment gateway interface, etc CDAC would provide the SSDG executables, centrally version control and provide technical assistance to the States in Proposal preparation (SSDG component), subsequent implementation and necessary. Gap Infrastructure - Identification of gaps in connectivity The functionality of Gap Infrastructure - Identification of gaps in connectivity the are as follows: GoI funding will include funding for minimal gap infrastructure for the departments which would enable interaction to get the printout of service requests from the central infrastructure. The State may need to prioritize the departments and services by taking into account following-

High Volume Services Services having high volumes of transaction so that there is maximum impact. iMMP Services Services already identified under State MMPs where work is yet to start and which are not covered under High Volumes Services. Any other services which the State wants to include because of their high Citizen Relevance. Training The Approached paper talks of training 2 employees of the destination departments for processing of e-Forms, SSDG & Portal. Employees from each department whose service will be deployed on the portal, SSDG and e-form processing would have to be selected. Training would encompass State Portal Framework & website Design Guidelines, SSDG understanding and e-form processing. Manpower The Approach Paper states that provision should be built for technical Advice / Consultation from NIC State Unit as well as CDAC during implementation & Operation phase of the project. This can be built in consultation with State representatives of NIC & CDAC. The states would have to build internal capacities to support the department on ongoing basis for e-Forms, new application integration, Service registration on SSDG and continuity when the Implementing Agency exits. Content Service Provider (CSP) The paper proposed that the States extend the arrangement with the existing CSPs under India Portal for content support under this project. If the contract period was getting over in States where the CSPs are not in place, an Agency can be identified if required to support the State for Contents

Oil Ministry to make functioning of Directorate General of Hydrocarbon more Transparent

Current Affairs Category: August 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 01 Aug 2011 To 07 Aug 2011 Share|

The oil ministry accepted an Ashok Chawla Committee's recommendation to make functioning of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) more transparent to prevent corruption charges. The ministry however firmly rejected the panels suggestion to transfer the government's regulatory powers to an independent body. The ministry did not approve of the panel's demand to carve out DGH's regulatory functions into an independent regulator. The ministry also decided to accept the panels recommendation to adopt disclosure norms related to investment audits and post-bid monitoring in tune with the best practices existing elsewhere in the world. The regulatory and contract management roles of the DGH are under scrutiny amid allegations that it did not safeguard the government's interests while dealing with private energy firms - such as Cairn India, Reliance Industries, and BG. The Comptroller & Auditor General had criticised the DGH's role in its draft report and the CBI registered a case against the former head of DGH, VK Sibal and six others officials of the directorate. The Chawla Committee was constituted to consider measures for tackling corruption in allocation of natural resources after the 2G spectrum scam broke out. The Committee had suggested reconstituting the Directorate into a technical office for contract management under the oil ministry and setting up a separate independent upstream regulator to perform regulatory functions. It was however argued that the DGH does not fix prices and hence its independence from the government was unwarranted. DGH is inseparable from the oil ministry as it manages hundreds of contracts on behalf of the government. Technical regulation of oil and gas blocks is always with the government in all developed nations without any exception. The issue of segregating the DGH's role and entrust its regulatory functions to an independent regulator surfaced in the past as well. The Naresh Narad Committee in 2001 suggested creation of Upstream Hydrocarbon Regulatory Board (UHRB) to regulate country's upstream activities. UHRB could not be implemented amid stiff resistance by the then director general of the Directorate.

Securities and Exchange Board of India proposed Regulations for Alternative Investment Funds
Current Affairs Category: August 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 01 Aug 2011 To 07 Aug 2011

Share| The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) proposed to create regulations for alternative investment funds under the title SEBI (Alternative Investment Fund) Regulations on 1 August 2011. These alternative investment fund (AIF) raise capital from a number of high networth investors (HNIs) with an objective of investing in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of those investors. The funds which would come under the proposed regulation include- Venture Capital Funds, PIPE Funds, Private Equity Fund, Debt Funds, Infrastructure Equity Fund, Real Estate Fund, SME Fund, Social Venture Funds, Strategy Fund. SEBI made it mandatory for all types of private pools of capital or investment funds to seek registration with SEBI. The funds could be formed as companies, trusts or body corporate including LLP structure. The fund manager/ asset management company or trustees of the fund is required to be specified, and change of such entities is to be reported to SEBI. The fund at the time of application would specify the category under which it is sought registration, the targeted size of the proposed fund and its life cycle and the target investor. SEBI proposed that the funds would be close-ended. Fund size can be revised upward up to XX per cent giving SEBI suitable reasons. Minimum investment amount would be specified as 0.1 per cent of fund size subject to a minimum floor of Rs.1 crore. In case of an AIF constituted as company or LLP, the number of shareholders or partners would not be permitted to exceed 50. The size of units issued will not be less than Rs.10 lakh. Funds may be raised only through private placement through information memorandum. For PE funds, investments would be mainly in unlisted companies or companies proposed to be listed. For debt funds, the entire investment would be made in unlisted debt instruments. For infrastructure equity funds, minimum two-thirds of the investment would be in equity of infrastructure projects/companies. For Real Estate Funds, investment could be in real estate projects or shares in the SPVs undertaking real estate projects. The fund for strategy fund would be guided by the strategy it specifies at the time of registration with no other restrictions. Social Venture Funds will be targeted towards social investors willing to accept muted returns. SME funds would be for investing in unlisted entities in the SMEs in manufacturing services sector as also businesses providing infrastructure or other support to SMEs.

PM's Economic Advisory Council scaled down Growth Rate Projection to 8.2 % for 2011-12
Current Affairs Category: August 2011 Current Affairs, Economy, 2011 Current Affairs Current Affairs Week: 01 Aug 2011 To 07 Aug 2011 Share| The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on 1 August 2011 scaled down its projection for the growth rate of the economy in 2011-12 to 8.2 per cent from 8.5 per cent earlier. The estimates were made in the backdrop of a grim economic scenario resulting from uncertain global outlook and high domestic inflation coupled with a subdued trend in investment and factory output. Projections The report stated that the inflation rate would come down to 6.5 per cent by March 2012. In its Economic Outlook for 2011-12, which was submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, the PMEAC had maintained that headline inflation would remain at 9 per cent or higher till October 2011 and thereafter ease to 6.5 per cent by the end of March 2012. The Council estimated the headline WPI inflation rate to continue to be at 9 per cent or higher in the months of July-October 2011. The country's agriculture output was projected to grow at 3 per cent in the current fiscal 2011-12 as against 6.6 per cent in 2010-11. The 2011 monsoon was projected to be in the range of 90 to 96 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). As a result, the farm sector output expected to grow at 3 per cent. The overall uncertain environment India and abroad led to a slowdown in investment as well as inflow of foreign capital and as a result, the industrial performance weakened. In 2011-12, the industrial sector is expected to grow by 7.1 per cent as compared to a higher 7.9 per cent expansion in 2010-11. The services sector, which has a share of over 50 per cent of the GDP was projected to grow at 10 per cent this fiscal, down from 10.3 per cent estimated earlier.

With regard to fiscal deficit, the Council expects the government to achieve its target for 2011-12 at 4.6 per cent but it would be at 4.7 per cent with off-budget liability of 0.1 per cent for the Centre and 2.1 per cent for States. According to the PMEAC report capital inflows in 2011-12 were likely to go up to $72 billion from $61.9 billion in 2010-11. The investment rate was projected at 36.4 per cent in 2010-11 and 36.7 per cent in 2011-12. The domestic savings rate, as a ratio of the gross domestic product (GDP) was projected at 33.8 per cent in 2010-11 and 34 per cent in 2011-12. Suggestions & Analysis It was noted that the revised series (2004-05) for Index of Industrial Production (IIP) showed an output growth pattern that is fairly different from what the old series (1993-94) had indicated. Also, the output growth was grossly underestimated by the old series in 2007-08 and overestimated in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The PMEAC stressed on the urgent need to ensure that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) materialises by 2012-13 as the GST along with the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) would play a key role in the medium-term as it would help in the government's efforts to boost revenue and reduce tax arrears. The report called for increase in efforts to collect larger revenue and resolve cases to reduce tax arrears. It also highlighted that avoidable expenditures must be minimised and wanted measures to be initiated to increase revenues. The council upon analysis of the recent data on growth rates indicated that while most of the lower income states had shown stronger growth rates, several of the higher income states had also shown an increase. Also it was stated that given the country's growth needs, a moderate trade deficit and current account deficit (CAD) were inevitable. To finance the CAD, foreign investment flows were needed to be promoted. However, CAD must be contained below 2.5 per cent of GDP, it said. The PMEAC stressed that the India growth story was inextricably linked to the power sector.

Policy interventions were required for ensuring coal availability for the power plants, land acquisition and environmental clearances and revision of power tariff by states to

reduce the high aggregate technical and commercial losses. The report also called for increased focus on non-conventional energy. The council on the question of food security mentioned that there was need to grant the poor a legal entitlement to food through an appropriate legislative enactment. The report also stressed the need for reforms in the public distribution system (PDS) to strengthen distribution. It pointed out that computerization, introduction of smart cards and using unique identification numbers for the beneficiaries are important interventions

Diaspora definition: A diaspora relates the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland. It can also be described as people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location or people settled far from their ancestral homelands.
Orgns-Head RBI-D.Subbarao SEBI-U.K.Sinha IRDA-J.HariNarayan NASSCOM-N.Chandrasekaran Assocham-Dilip Modi FICCI-Harsh Mariwala NABARD-Prakash bak

G. Gourakishore Sharma selected for Tagore Akademi Ratna

Written by Imphal Free Press | December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment and 2 Reactions 5

NEW DELHI, December 16 (MIC): Manipuri martial arts Guru G. Gourakishore Sharma was among 50 prominent performing artistes of the country selected for the Tagore Akademi Ratna which carried the purse money Rs. 3 lakhs. Karam Chaoba Singh in Sankritana (Ariba Pala), Devjani Chaliha in Manipuri dance and Abungbam Kabui in Tribal dance of Manipur were among 50 eminent artistes selected for the Tagore Akademi Puraskar which carried the purse money of Rs 1 lakh. As a part of the ongoing commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the Sangeet Natak Akademi decided to institute a one-time honour of Tagore Samman to be awarded to 100 personalities of the age of 75 years and above who had made significant contribution in the field of performing arts. The proposal of the Akademi was approved by the National Implementation Committee headed by Union Minister of Finance Pranab Mukherjee. The General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi at its meeting held on December 13 and 14 this year held here unanimouslly selected 50 emeinent personalities in the field of performing arts for the Tagore Akademi Ratna and 50 eminent personalities for the Tagore Akademi Puraskar. Fifty selected Tagore Akademi Ratna awardees were Satguru Jagjit Singh Namdhari, Rajanikanta Rao, P V Krishnamurthy, Laxmi Narayan Garg, B N Goswami, Birendranath Datta, M Nagabhushana Sarma, Prabha Atre, Laxman Krishnarao Pandit, Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Ghulam Mustafa Waris Khan, Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Ram Narayan, Sabri Khan, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Sripada Pinakapani, R.K. Sreekanthan, Nedunuri Krishna Murthy, M.S Gopalakrishnan, N Ramani, Vellore G. Ramabhadran, Guruvayur Dorai,Vanraj Bhatia, Vyjayanthimala Bali, Kalanidhi Narayanan, M K Saroja, Kumudini Lakhia, Mankompu sivasankara Pillai, Mayadhar Raut, Pasumarthy Venugopala Krishna, Maya Rao, Amala Shankar, P K Narayanan Nambiar, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Rajender Nath, Rudraprasad Sengupta, Alyque Padamsee, Soumitra Chatterjee, V Ramamurthy, Mohit Chattopadhyaya, R Nagarathnamma, Gurcharan Singh Ragi, Yamunabai Waikar, Kamala Murthy, Lalit Chandra Ojha, Sonam Tshering Lepcha, Arghya Sen, Kartar Singh and G Gourakishore Sharma. Thirteen Tagore Akademi Puraskar selected in the field of music were Shankar Lal Mishra, Sunanda Patnaik, Ganesh Prasad Sharma, Amiya Ranjan Banerjee and Babanrao Haldankar in Hindustani vocal, Faiyaz Khan in Hindustani instrumentaL (Tabla), Tanjavore Shankara Iyer in Carnatic vocal, Mavelikkara R. Velukutty Nair in Carnatic instrumental(Mridanga), S.R.G. Rajanna Carnatic instrumental(Nagaswaram), Thirukokarnam Chelliah Carnatic instrumental (Thavil), Mayavaram Saraswathi in Carnatic instrumental (Flute), R Visweswaran in Carnatic instrumental (Veena) and Karam Chaoba Singh in other major traditions of music-Sankirtan(Ariba Pala). Eleven artistes selected in the field of dance were Pandanallur Swaminathan Pillai, N.S. Jayalakshmi and Rajee Narayan in Bharatanatyam, Chemencerri Kuniraman Nair and Nattuvan Paramasiva Menon in Kathakali, Devjani Chaliha in Manipuri, Bhagavatula Yagna Narayan Sarma in Kuchipudi, Rita Devi in Odissi, Haricharan Saikia in Sattriya, Patrayani Sangeetha Rao and Bhagavatula Seetarama Sarma in Music for dance.

Eight artistes selected in the field of theatre were Bijoy Mishra and K.M. Raghavan Nambiar in Playwriting, Prasad Sawkar, Chatla Sreeramulu, Sushma Seth and Jayamala Jayaram Shiledar in Acting, Madhukar Toradmal and Jalabala Vaidya & Gopal Sharman (Joint Award) in Direction. Thirteen artistes selected in the field of traditional / folk / tribal / dance / music / theatre and puppetry were Jahoor Meer Folk theatre of Haryana, Abungbam Kabui Tribal dance of Manipur, Gambhari Devi Folk music of Himachal Pradesh, Ali Mohamad Bhagat Bhand Pather of Jammu & Kashmir, Gopiram Borgayan Traditional music of Assam, Sumitra SEN Rabindra Sangeet of West Bengal, Bishwa Bandhu Folk dance of Bihar, Hiralal Yadav Birha folk music of Uttar Pradesh, Ramsahai Pande, Folk dance of Madhya Pradesh, Satemmeren Longkumer Folk song of Nagaland, Radha Krishna Kadam Folk theatre of Maharastra, Anusuya Devi Folk music of Andhra Pradesh, Mahipat Kavi contemporary puppetry of Gujarat. Five artistes selected in the field of overall contribution / scholarship in performing arts were M L Varad Pande, B M Sundaram, Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere, Raja Mrigendra Singh and Neelamadhab Panigrahi.

16 Bio - Reserves of India

Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) Nanda Devi (Uttrakhand), Nokrek (Meghalaya) ... Manas (Assma) Dibru-Saikhowa (Assam), Sundarban (West Bengal), Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu), Great Nicobar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Similipal (Orissa), Dehang-Debang (Arunachal Pradesh), Khangchendzonga (Sikkim), Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh), Achanakmar-Amarkantak (Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh), Agasthyamalai (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), Katchchh (Gujarat) and Cold Desert (Himachal Pradesh)

Right to Education Act

Every child between the ages of 6 to 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education. This is stated as per the 86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article 21A. The right to education act seeks to give effect to this amendment The government schools shall provide free education to all the children and the schools will be managed by schoo...l management committees (SMC). Private schools shall admit at least 25% of the children in their schools without any fee. The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality. Why is the act significant and what does it mean for India? The passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. This Act serves as a building block to ensure that every child has his or her right (as an entitlement) to get a quality elementary education, and that the State, with the help of families and communities, fulfils this obligation. Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure both free and child-centred, child-friendly education. What is Free and Compulsory Elementary Education? All children between the ages of 6 and 14 shall have the right to free and compulsory elementary education at a neighborhood school. There is no direct (school fees) or indirect cost (uniforms, textbooks, mid-day meals, transportation) to be borne by the child or the parents to obtain elementary education. The government will provide schooling free-of-cost until a childs elementary education is completed.