nuclear power

maps here i have just pasted copying from another website so please dont refer to it for boundary lines..
map here is just informatory for locations of nuclear plants

Encouraging growth data from RBI

The manufacturing and real estate sectors may have never had it as good as the previous fiscal, after emerging from the difficult times of 2009-10. Increased consumer spending and expansion into new markets have both worked positively for many companies.







While a positive public sentiment on India recovering from the global financial crisis unscathed may be one reason the tills kept ringing, a large role was also played by the Government reducing excise duties by four per cent across two stages . The central bank also pitched in , lowering the borrowing cost of money in order spur consumption in the economy.






Data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the period between April 2010 and February 2011 show that lending by the top 47 scheduled commercial banks towards the purchase of consumer durables has grown 20.8 per cent (to Rs 10,023 crore). This is against a decline of 1.1 per cent in the same period the previous year, when the outstanding loans stood at Rs 8,101 crore. Consumer durables are goods that are generally replaced after a long period of use, such as home appliances, furniture, or mobile phones. On an overall basis, the disbursement of personal loans has grown 14.8 per cent , against a modest 2.8 per cent rise in 2009-10. While the consumer durables market was the highest gainer, there was also significant rise in bank borrowings for the purchase of real estate (13.8 per cent), automobiles (23.7 per cent), besides other personal loans (13.3 per cent). Only education loan disbursement posted lower growth at 18.8 per cent, against a 27.8 per cent growth in April-February, 2009-10.






Clearing inventories






Companies working harder to clear inventories of the previous year also helped boost sales. In sectors such as automobiles, many firms expanded their sales network to yet unexplored markets such as small towns and rural areas. They bet on innovative strategies that paid off by initially offsetting the drop in sales in urban India and then increasing the market size altogether. Spurred by cheaper interest rates and growing aspirations, more people bought cars on credit leading to a rise in outstanding loans to Rs 78,894 crore in February 2011, from Rs 61,605 crore in February 2010. Auto sales grew 26 per cent in 2010-11, the second fastest after China.






Other factors also fell in place to support the growth. This includes increased purchasing power due to rising incomes, especially on account of the 6th Pay Commission payouts to those employed in the public sector. Even though the private sector worked hard to reduce costs, sectors such as IT services saw new jobs being created as American and European companies outsourced certain operations to India.






Pay-back time






With the new financial year starting, it is interesting to note that a few believe that the growth bubble could burst soon. Companies have been shy of giving a highly optimistic outlook purely on the basis of the last year. Some feel that the boom can be explained more simply by saying that the increase in purchases in 2010-11 was largely due to the pent-up demand of 2009-10 coming to the market. There is also a fear that the current trend of tightening by the RBI and the resultant increase in lending rates may stop the i good run . On the other hand, rising inflation may not leave the central bank with many other options.






However all may not be lost, with the good practices learnt in hard times now paying off. Besides discovering new markets, companies have also started placing more importance on the optimal usage of resources (often scarce and expensive) and higher process efficiency. In bad or good times, the benefits of these will surely reflect in the balance sheets in the years to come.

Wheat a high

India is growing more wheat than it ever was. While other leading wheat producing countries like China and US are witnessing a decline in output, the country has stood as an exception with an











estimated record production of 84.27 million tonnes of the staple foodgrain this year.










Russia, Canada and Australia, too, are witnessing a downturn.










“India is gaining internationally in the wheat production,” S S Singh, Project Director of Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR) said on Thursday.










DWR is a Karnal-based institute affiliated to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).










Backed by good monsoon, India, the second largest producer of wheat in the world, is tipped to harvest a record 84.27 million tonnes of wheat in 2011, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s third estimates.










The international scenario is not encouraging. China, the leading wheat producer in the world, is tipped to register a 2 per cent fall at 113 million tonnes in wheat production in 2011 as compared to an year ago period. Wheat output of China was 115.1 million tonnes in 2010.


 


Likewise, USA, Russia, Canada, Australia, Argentina and Iran are reported to see a drop in wheat cultivation this year, according to available data.










While USA, the third largest wheat producer of the world is expected to see a 3.5 per cent decline in production of the staple crop in 2011 as compared to last year, Australia is tipped to be 2.3 per cent down during the period, the data suggests.










Singh said reports reveal that drop in wheat production internationally is mainly due to spread of yellow rust disease and harsh climate. Reports reveal that prolonged snowfall season in China damaged the staple food crop in that country, he added.










Amid gloomy world scenario in wheat production, India stands as an exception. Wheat output in India was 80.7 million tonnes in 2009 which rose to 80.8 million tonnes in 2010. The country is set to harvest a record 84.27 million tonnes of chief rabi produce in 2011.










Singh said due to timely measures initiated by the government, the rust disease, which is among oldest disease known to man, had no impact in India. Besides, favourable weather is helping in a bumper harvest of the crop, he added.










Owing to bumper wheat cultivation this year, suggestions are pouring from a section of the government as well traders that the country should lift ban on wheat export imposed in 2007 to cash in on this opportunity.


















BONANZA










2009--80.7 mt










2010--80.8 mt










2011--84.27 mt










(expected yield)


















THE SCENE ABrOaD










Three world producers are tipped to witness a decline in 2011










China: 2 per cent (from 115.1 MT in 2010 to 113 MT this year)










US: 3.5 per cent










Australia: 2.3 per cent


















CALL for EXPORT










Amid inflation worries, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has called for limited exports of wheat, rice and sugar last, saying India had ample stocks, world prices were strong and the harvest looked favourable.










India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer after China, India banned wheat exports in February 2007 to protect domestic supplies after weather damaged output. It briefly lifted the export ban in July 2009, for 10 days, until weather concerns again emerged.










India grows only one wheat crop per year, planted in October with the harvest starting in March. Wheat is grown mainly in UP, Punjab and Haryana.










Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan produce high-protein wheat.

Innovation deficit hurts India Inc

Addressing captains of industry from south India in Chennai recently, Union Home Minister,Mr P. Chidambaram, mentioned three important deficits that India Inc needs to pay attention to — regulatory, governance and ethical deficits — in order to ensure8-10 per cent annual growth in the coming years.







Apart from not defining the Government's role in erasing these deficits, the Minister failed to mention yet another important deficit — namely, the innovation deficit that Indian industries face despite the economic liberalisation that began in 1991.






And yet, this deficit has perhaps the maximum strategic implications for the industrial productivity and global competitiveness essential for economic growth.






That the economic status of a country has a direct bearing on the level of innovation prevailing in it is obvious from the fact that the US, which for several years (until 2007) occupied the No. 1 position, slipped to No. 11 following the economic downturn from 2007 to 2010, according to a report from the international business school INSEAD in Fontainbleu, Paris.






The same is true of Germany and many others affected by the recent collapse in global economy. Innovation deficit has become a buzz word in recent times. Many countries including the US, western European nations, Australia and even emerging economies, notably China and India, have identified innovation capabilities as essential for accelerated economic growth.






The US President, Mr Barack Obama, in his 2011 State Of The Union message specially mentioned the US imperative to once again out-innovate other countries if it is to fully recover from the present crisis.






Innovation is the process of converting (translating) an original concept, discovery or invention into an economically beneficial product.






The capability to continuously innovate can ensure a steady flow of profitable processes and products. While they need to be novel, they can be disruptive, incremental or breakthroughs. They should be easy to replicate and should satisfy a specific human need. While the rate of innovation and its precise impact on the economy cannot be easily quantified, the innovation capabilities and deficits of countries can be assessed through various parameters.






Several exercises have been carried out by the Boston Consultancy Group, INSEAD Paris/ CII India, The Economist, Global Innovation Source Board, The World Bank and others. According to the Economist's Global Innovation ranking, Japan has retained the first place, with Switzerland, Finland, the US, Sweden and Germany following in that order. The Economist, however, relies heavily on the acquisition of patents from the US, European and Japanese patent offices for its innovation ranking.






Other studies have used, besides patents per million population, yardsticks such as scientific publications, R&D spending in the public and private sectors, nature and numbers of skilled human resources, and so on.






Where does India Stand?


In all the surveys on innovations and outcomes, India ranks low in the pecking order, below even countries such as Brazil, not to speak of China.






In the Standard & Poor and Business Week study of 132 countries, India ranks 82. No Indian company figures among the top 100 innovators, with Apple, Google and Toyota rated the topmost in the 2008 Business Week survey. These rankings are also reflected in the global competitiveness index. It is clear that unless India's innovation deficit is erased, it will be difficult to ensure sustained economic growth in the coming years.






Moving from a protected economy to a relatively free market economy brings additional pressures to remain competitive in the marketplace. In sectors such as pharmaceutical industry, innovation is the lifeline for survival and growth. Today, Indian pharmaceutical industry is globally ranked No 3 in production and 13 in value terms.






India is a major hub for outsourcing and the largest producer of generic drugs outside the US. Despite these achievements, discovery and development of new drugs — the next logical step to ensure sustained growth and market presence — is still in its infancy. The global market does not have a single drug discovered and developed in India. While in the mid-1960s to 1980s, MNCs such as Ciba-Geigy, Hoechst , Smith Kline & French (SKF) and Boots ventured into drug discovery R&D, all of them closed down not for lack of innovation, but due to commercial reasons dictated by their global operations.






With the advent of the Indian Patents Act 2005, new drugs will be available to the Indian market only from their innovators (patent holders), which means domestic companies will have to innovate if they want to maintain and increase their market share.






Over a dozen private sector companies have entered this space in recent years and will hopefully develop, over time, not only an innovation culture but also skills required to translate discoveries into beneficial products.






India spends one per cent of her GDP on R&D and most of it through national laboratories (although there has been a shift to the private sector), which are hardly the cradles of innovation-led enterprises.






The need of the hour is to promote an innovation culture backed by large investments in knowledge-based enterprises through agencies such as the Knowledge Commission, National Innovation Foundation and various Science and Technology departments, as well as the implementation of a National Innovation Legislation. The Global Innovation Index (GII) measures the strengths of countries in the innovation space. It is clear that only through utilisation of human resources, science and technology base, and business and marketing skills can India erase the current innovation deficits and attain global competitiveness and sustained growth even at the current growth rate.

Is China overtaking America?

The 21st century is witnessing Asia's return to what might be considered its historical proportions of the world's population and economy. In 1800, Asia represented more than half of global population and output. By 1900, it represented only 20% of world output - not because something bad happened in Asia, but rather because the Industrial Revolution had transformed Europe and North America into the world's workshop.







Asia's recovery began with Japan, then moved to South Korea and on to Southeast Asia, beginning with Singapore and Malaysia. Now the recovery is focussed on China, and increasingly involves India, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the process.






This change, however, is also creating anxieties about shifting power relations among states. In 2010, China passed Japan to become the world's second largest economy. Indeed, the investment bank Goldman Sachs expects the Chinese economy's total size to surpass that of the United States by 2027.






But, even if overall Chinese GDP reaches parity with that of the US in the 2020s, the two economies will not be equal in composition. China would still have a vast underdeveloped countryside. Assuming 6% Chinese GDP growth and only 2% US growth after 2030, China would not equal the US in terms of per capita income - a better measure of an economy's sophistication - until sometime near the second half of the century.






Moreover, linear projections of economic growth trends can be misleading. Emerging countries tend to benefit from imported technologies in the early stages of economic take-off, but their growth rates generally slow as they reach higher levels of development. And the Chinese economy faces serious obstacles to sustainable rapid growth, owing to inefficient state-owned enterprises, growing inequality, massive internal migration, an inadequate social safety net, corruption and inadequate institutions, all of which could foster political instability.






China's north and east have outpaced its south and west. Almost alone among developing countries, China is ageing extraordinarily fast. By 2030, China will have more elderly dependents than children. Some Chinese demographers worry that the country will get old before getting rich.






During the past decade, China moved from being the world's ninth largest exporter to its leader, displacing Germany at the top. But China's export-led development model will need to be adjusted as global trade and financial balances become more contentious. Indeed, China's 12th five-year plan is aimed at reducing dependence on exports and boosting domestic demand. Will it work?






China's authoritarian political system has thus far shown an impressive capacity to achieve specific targets; for example, staging a successful Olympic Games, building high-speed rail projects, or even stimulating the economy to recover from the global financial crisis. Whether China can maintain this capability over the longer term is a mystery to outsiders and Chinese leaders themselves.






Unlike India, which was born with a democratic Constitution, China has not yet found a way to channel the demands for political participation (if not democracy) that tend to accompany rising per capita income. Communist ideology is long gone, so the legitimacy of the ruling party depends on economic growth and ethnic Han nationalism. Whether China can develop a formula to manage an expanding urban middle class, regional inequality, and resentment among ethnic minorities remains to be seen.






Some analysts argue that China aims to challenge America's position as the world's dominant power. Even if this were an accurate assessment of China's intentions (and even Chinese cannot know the views of future generations), it is doubtful that China will have the military capability to make this possible. To be sure, Chinese military expenditures, up more than 12% this year, have been growing even more rapidly than its economy. But China's leaders will have to contend with other countries' reactions, as well as with the constraints implied by the need for external markets and resources in order to meet their economic-growth objectives.






A Chinese military posture that is too aggressive could produce a countervailing coalition among its neighbours, thereby weakening China's hard and soft power. In 2010, for example, as China became more assertive in its foreign policy towards its neighbours, its relations with India, Japan and South Korea suffered. As a result, China will find it more difficult to exclude the US from Asia's security arrangements.






Even if China suffers no major domestic political setback, many current projections based on GDP growth alone are too one-dimensional: they ignore US military and soft-power advantages, as well as China's geopolitical disadvantages in the internal Asian balance of power. My own estimate is that among the range of possible futures, the more likely scenarios are those in which China gives the US a run for its money, but does not surpass it in overall power in the first half of this century.






Most importantly, the US and China should avoid developing exaggerated fears of each other's capacities and intentions. The expectation of conflict can itself become a cause of conflict. In reality, China and the US do not have deeply rooted conflicting interests. Both countries, along with others, have much more to gain from cooperation.

The Summit in Sanya : Building ‘BRICS’ brick by brick

NEVER before had a new global grouping emerged from the research of an American Investment Banking and Securities Company. But this is what happened when a 2001 Goldman Sachs paper entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs” signalled the forthcoming shift of global power away from the G7 led developed world to the emerging, fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, with the acronym BRIC.







On June 16, 2009, the leaders of the BRIC countries held their first Summit in Yekaterinburg, and issued a declaration calling for the establishment of an equitable, democratic and multipolar world order. As it would have been imprudent to exclude the entire African continent from what is a global grouping, BRIC became BRICS with the participation of South Africa at the April 14 Sanya Summit.






China’s decision to hold the BRICS Summit at Sanya, located on the southern tip of the Hainan Island, was obviously not accidental. Beijing’s mandarins are meticulous in their planning and decision-making for such international events. The visiting delegates were no doubt thrilled by the sumptuous Chinese cuisine, the gracious hospitality of their Chinese hosts and the picturesque tourist attractions like the 108-metre high Guanyin Statue and the Buddhist Nanshan Temple.






But what precisely is the strategic symbolism of Sanya and the Hainan Island? Sanya is located close to the disputed Xisha (Paracel) and Nansha (Spratly) Islands in the South China Sea, which China has recently declared as an area of “core interest” like Tibet and Taiwan. The Hainan submarine base, where five nuclear submarines, each armed 12 nuclear tipped with ICBMs, are deployed in underground caves and will also be the home to China’s first aircraft carrier, is located adjacent to Sanya. Chinese naval power concentrated in Sanya has evoked serious concern in both ASEAN and India. Hosting the BRICS Summit in Sanya was evidently a not-too-subtle message to the world about China’s growing military muscle.






Our worthy leaders and mandarins have few equals in giving a spin to whatever emerges from Summits with China or Pakistan. Our scribes, therefore, breathlessly reported after Dr. Manmohan Singh met President Hu Jintao, that there had been a “breakthrough” with China supporting our candidature for permanent membership of the Security Council.






But alas, all that happened was that the Chinese merely said that they “understand” the “aspiration” of Brazil, India and South Africa to “play a greater role in the UN”. Much has been made of China’s decision to avoid “stapled visas” for journalists from Jammu and Kashmir accompanying the Prime Minister to Sanya. The Chinese “gesture” on stapled visas has been reciprocated by a resumption of military exchanges.






But one would caution against too much optimism on continuing peace and tranquility along the border, merely because we have a new “working mechanism” for this. The much touted “Joint Terror Mechanism” with Pakistan only resulted in terrorist attacks on our Embassy in Kabul and the 26/11 terrorist strike on Mumbai. One should realistically place greater emphasis in maintaining peace on our borders with China, not on a “working mechanism” with the Chinese, but on better communications, enhanced and well-equipped military deployments and adequate air power.






New Delhi has, however, been more realistic recently in responding to Chinese diplomatic provocations by the commencement of ministerial-level visits, together with moves for concluding a Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan and a more proactive approach to ties with Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.






Just before the Sanya Summit, Zhu Xiaochuan, the Governor of China’s Central Bank, called for a “super sovereign currency” to replace the dollar. Moreover, the Chinese had earlier played a key role in the so-called “Chiang Mai initiative” as an alternative to the IMF. The initiative was intended to bail out East Asian economies facing economic downturns. China has consistently sought alternatives to the western dominated Bretton Woods financial institutions.






With reserves of three trillion dollars and its foreign aid of $100 billion exceeding the fund transfers of the World Bank, China obviously intends to flex its economic muscle globally. India, which has legitimate concerns about the lack of market-oriented transparency in the valuation of the Chinese yuan has, however, reiterated its faith in the dollar as the global reserve currency and would prefer strengthening the IMF by expansion of “Special Drawing Rights”. But there was an agreement in principle in Sanya to establish credit lines in local currencies, which will insulate recipients from exchange rate risks. It remains to be seen if BRICS can establish such credit lines for infrastructure and other joint projects. At the same time, BRICS believes that the current domination of the IMF and the World Bank by G7 members should end.






The Sanya Summit did, however, signal that despite differences, there was much the partners shared in common on issues ranging from climate change and the continuing relevance of safe nuclear energy to the transfer of financial resources and technology to developing countries. Moreover, despite Russia and Brazil being resource-rich countries, there was a shared concern about prevalent volatility in the prices of energy and food.






The Summit also sent out a clear message that emerging powers intended to strengthen contacts on security-related issues and would coordinate their positions in forums like the Security Council. National Security Advisers of BRICS are to discuss security issues of common concern in China later this year and their Foreign Ministers are scheduled to meet annually in New York. Further, as all BRICS members are presently members of the Security Council, they have agreed to expand contacts on western intervention in Libya. While a criticism of NATO actions has been avoided, BRICS will support the African high-level initiative, which has been rejected by the Libyan opposition in Benghazi.






While there has been much talk of building a multi-polar world order, it is evident that Russia, Brazil, South Africa and India recognise that in an ultimate analysis, China really seeks a bipolar world order, which it jointly dominates together with the Americans. Moreover, there is no dearth of Americans who feel likewise. The Chinese have after all told the American military that while the US Pacific Fleet should wield power in the Eastern Pacific, it should recognise the western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions as China’s spheres of influence. While one wonders if this is realistically possible, India is realising the importance of multiple-level engagement with all major powers. But, given Chinese global ambitions, one has to proceed with due care on engagement with the “Middle Kingdom”. BRICS has to be built patiently, brick by brick.

Consuming poison : Ban the pesticide endosulfan

A pesticide which is linked to deformities among children, even death, should not be used. Yet, India is the world’s largest user of endosulfan, consuming an estimated 4,500 tonnes every year, and exporting as much. The Centre is resisting a ban on the cheap pesticide, in spite of it being linked to deformities and deaths among the villagers of Kerala who were exposed to it because of aerial spraying of the cashew crop. The fact that the chemical is banned in 87 countries, including the US and the European Union, too, does not seem to have much impact on the government.







Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan’s fast for the ban on using endosulfan is timed with an important meeting of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which is being held in Geneva. The initiative seeks means to protect human health, and global environment from dangerous chemicals.






Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was expected to take a leadership role in sorting out this matter, but the Prime Minister’s Office has just reiterated that endosulfan use has been banned in Kerala, and maintained that imposing a nationwide prohibition would require national consensus, backed by scientific study. It is on the basis of such studies that endosulfan has been banned in most of the developed world. It is considered toxic to humans, and aquatic life, including fish. It can lead to death, disease and birth defects, among human beings and animals, just as it did in the Kasaragod district of Kerala in the 1980. How many more such cases will it take for the government to come to the conclusion that is similar to those on the basis of which other countries have barred endosulfan use? Instead of waiting for the Indian Council of Medical Research to give its report on the subject, the Centre should be proactive in banning a pesticide as the rest of the world has done.

Making money transfers work for migrants

Gopal G., a native of West Bengal, moved to Delhi 14 years ago to find a job to support his 11-member family. In Delhi, he works with a goldsmith, earning Rs 3,600 a month, much of which he sends back home. Like most low-income migrants, Gopal lacks the necessary documents to open a bank account and relies on informal methods, which are very risky, to send money home. The other option is to carry cash when he travels home. So far, Gopal has had nearly Rs. 60,000 stolen while travelling home by train.




After being robbed several times, Gopal decided he would make more frequent trips, carrying smaller amounts of cash each time. Each trip involves missing days of work, which results in loss of income.



In India, approximately, 100 million people who migrate outside their native towns and villages for work face the challenge of sending money home. To remit funds, migrants require access to financial-service-points.



Formal service-points include banks, post offices and mobile-banking-points, while informal channels are friends carrying cash or hawala/tappawala couriers (based on informal agreement between a hawala courier at the sending end, who collects deposit from the sender, and a courier at the receiving location, who disburses the cash, minus a fee, to the recipient).



A 2010 study “Putting Money in Motion: How Much Do Migrants Pay for Domestic Transfers,” by the Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) at IFMR Research, found that 57 per cent of migrants use informal channels.



INFORMAL CHANNELS

The study also found that while over 50 per cent of migrants in the study sample expressed a desire to remit through banks, only 31 per cent actually did so. Despite the existence of formal options such as India Post, which has 150,000 branches across India, why do a majority of migrants use informal channels?



The answer lies largely in the ease of access to informal sources compared to formal ones. Opening a bank account for migrants and their families requires address and identity proof, which are, invariably, difficult to obtain. Further, the transfers are generally slow, especially in remote locations.



The working hours of formal channels overlap with those of the migrants, most of whom are daily wage labourers. Time per transaction is higher in formal channels — clients spent 48 minutes per hawala transaction compared to an average 150 minutes at a bank. Barriers to accessing bank accounts also include softer issues, such as the attitude of bank staff, compared with the hawala couriers, who are easier to deal with. However, while informal channels are easier to access, the biggest disadvantage is the risk they pose.



USING TECHNOLOGY

Technology, such as mobile phones, smart cards and biometric authentication, could play a significant role in reducing costs, apart from making transactions faster and safer.



One successful initiative is the SBI Tatkaal, initiated in partnership with EKO, where customers are provided access to formal banking services by opening no-frills accounts with minimum KYC documentation, along with remittance facility.



Banks could do much more to make their services more accessible to the migrant population. New bank branches could be strategically placed along large migrant corridors at both source and destination to make transferring money easier for migrants. Further, banks could appoint business correspondents, a system in which licensed individuals and institutions offer services on behalf of banks.



This can help bring remittance and savings services closer to families who live in rural and hard-to-reach areas. Technology, such as mobile banking, can help in making the services of business correspondents more efficient and accessible.



The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has unveiled an Inter-bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS), under which fund transfer is enabled even if both sender and receiver do not have accounts with the same bank.



The facility can be used with any mobile-phone, including low-end ones that use SMS for fund transfer. However, a constraint in this system is that both remitter and beneficiary need to have bank accounts, albeit not with the same bank.



The present IMPS structure allows cash-in/cash-out through bank branches or ATMs only, and therefore the remitter and receiver have to visit their respective bank branch (or ATM) to transact. SBI Tatkaal, is more customer-friendly, wherein the remitter and beneficiary's banks have linked their networks to their respective BC channels, allowing customers to perform cash-in/cash-out with the local BC.



FOR BETTER SERVICES

Though the India Post has a large network in rural areas, it cannot assure sound and fast service given its current systems and is, in fact, losing clients.



According to the CMF study, post office remains the most expensive remittance option costing nearly 6 per cent of the total amount remitted in fees.



Further, nearly 70 per cent of remittances transferred through post offices are low value — below Rs 500 — increasing cost per transaction. India Post must modernise its electronic transfer system to make its money transfers faster, cheaper and more secure.



The Central Government's Adhaar programme (Unique Identification Authority of India) should expand swiftly to areas that send out a substantial number of migrants. Having unique identifiers would help migrants prove their identity to banks, lowering a key barrier to formal financial access.



If policymakers want to achieve universal financial inclusion in India, they must address the special needs of domestic migrants, who are both socially marginalised and largely unbanked.



Making remittances easier, cheaper and safer is an important step towards including this critical population into the formal financial sector.

BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

North and Central America


California Floristic Province

Caribbean Islands

Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands

Mesoamerica
 
South America


Atlantic Forest

Cerrado

Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena

Tropical Andes




Europe and Central Asia


Caucasus

Irano-Anatolian

Mediterranean Basin

Mountains of Central Asia
 
 
Africa


Cape Floristic Region

Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa

Eastern Afromontane

Guinean Forests of West Africa

Horn of Africa

Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands

Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany

Succulent Karoo

 
 
 
Asia-Pacific


East Melanesian Islands

Himalaya

Indo-Burma

Japan

Mountains of Southwest China

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Philippines

Polynesia-Micronesia

Southwest Australia

Sundaland

Wallacea

Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
 
HOTSPOTS SCIENCE




Life on Earth faces a crisis of historical and planetary proportions. Unsustainable consumption in many northern countries and crushing poverty in the tropics are destroying wild nature. Biodiversity is besieged.





Extinction is the gravest aspect of the biodiversity crisis: it is irreversible. While extinction is a natural process, human impacts have elevated the rate of extinction by at least a thousand, possibly several thousand, times the natural rate. Mass extinctions of this magnitude have only occurred five times in the history of our planet; the last brought the end of the dinosaur age.





In a world where conservation budgets are insufficient given the number of species threatened with extinction, identifying conservation priorities is crucial. British ecologist Norman Myers defined the biodiversity hotspot concept in 1988 to address the dilemma that conservationists face: what areas are the most immediately important for conserving biodiversity?





The biodiversity hotspots hold especially high numbers of endemic species, yet their combined area of remaining habitat covers only 2.3 percent of the Earth's land surface. Each hotspot faces extreme threats and has already lost at least 70 percent of its original natural vegetation. Over 50 percent of the world’s plant species and 42 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate species are endemic to the 34 biodiversity hotspots.

 
 
HOTSPOTS DEFINED




A seminal paper by Norman Myers in 1988 first identified ten tropical forest “hotspots” characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss. In 1990 Myers added a further eight hotspots, including four Mediterranean-type ecosystems. Conservation International adopted Myers’ hotspots as its institutional blueprint in 1989, and in 1996, the organization made the decision to undertake a reassessment of the hotspots concept, including an examination of whether key areas had been overlooked. Three years later an extensive global review was undertaken, which introduced quantitative thresholds for the designation of biodiversity hotspots:





To qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat.





In the 1999 analysis, published in the book Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions, and a year later in the scientific journal Nature (Myers, et al. 2000), 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified. Collectively, these areas held as endemics no less than 44 percent of the world’s plants and 35 percent of terrestrial vertebrates in an area that formerly covered only 11.8 percent of the planet’s land surface. The habitat extent of this land area had been reduced by 87.8 percent of its original extent, such that this wealth of biodiversity was restricted to only 1.4 percent of Earth’s land surface.

CORRUPTION AND ISSUES

What is needed to deal with corruption is a single law that will treat everyone alike whether they are constitutional functionaries or ordinary public servants.

THESE are exciting times for those who are fighting a grim and unequal battle against the scourge of corruption. Anna Hazare, the maverick and a phenomenon, has given these warriors much needed courage and focus, two factors that were missing until recently in the struggle against dishonesty in high places. The doughty Maharashtrian is without doubt responsible for generating the current euphoria that has sent jitters even among those who are brazen about their venality. The sense of victory that is obvious among those around Anna Hazare may, however, seem premature if one considers the enormity of the problem and the craggy path ahead. This is why there is a need for caution, moderation and realism while taking the crusade forward.




There are, however, two developments that are a cause for concern. First is the controversy surrounding the presence of a father-son duo in the civil society segment of the joint panel that has been tasked with producing a draft of the Lok Pal Bill.



Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan are undoubtedly competent and carry an impeccable reputation for steering unpopular causes without being intimidated by their many detractors. They definitely complement each other: the former has an enviable legal brain and the latter the fire in the belly to take up contentious campaigns. This is a formidable combination. By inducting both, the Anna Hazare team has given some fodder to those who are opposed to the group and want it to fail.



If the ridiculous charge of nepotism gains momentum, it will be judicious for the senior to withdraw from the drafting panel and allow the son to carry on with the agenda. Prashant is energetic and current with the nuances of the ambience in which corrupt practices thrive. Shanti Bhushan should always be available to him for any counsel as the Bill meanders along what is expected to be a tortuous process. This would be a clever strategy and certainly not one that could even remotely be looked upon as a surrender to the predators. “Stooping to conquer” should be the watchword.



The other controversy relates to a recent snide remark attributed to Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that smacked of a certain cynicism about the Lok Pal legislation. The Minister pleads that he did no wrong and that he was quoted out of context. I am inclined to believe him although he should know that he has lately shown a penchant for making impolitic remarks, something that is out of character for an otherwise delightful and genial individual. Many believe that his brash utterances are triggered by the fact that he has far too much on his plate as a Minister holding two key portfolios and is fatigued by the demands of his twin responsibilities. While he can do something quickly to mend fences with Anna Hazare and correct wrong impressions about his apparent pessimism over the effectiveness of a Lok Pal Bill, the civil society group should on its part desist from playing up to Sibal's off-the-cuff and unfortunate remarks.



The group should similarly ignore all the well-disguised and provocative words and deeds of those in the establishment and elements close to it who are not exactly happy with the mass support acquired by the Anna Hazare movement. The group should remember that there are many in the wide political spectrum in the country who are not comfortable with attempts to sharpen the anti-graft law.



There is a huge lack of clarity on what the proposed Lok Pal should and should not be. I feel this is a deliberate attempt to be foggy on the part of those who are not warm to having a well-empowered watchdog oversee their conduct. It is no fault of those who want an all-powerful functionary if they believe that corruption in high places has become far too serious and endemic to be handled only by those who have either joined in on the loot of the public exchequer or who are indifferent to such dishonesty.



Many in society are happy that the Lok Pal law will be drafted by the joint panel and not by the government alone. This ensures not only a broader platform for consultation but also some clout to those who represent the views of civil society.



The drafting committee should start from scratch and without any baggage in the form of existing legislation. This is because the volume of corruption now is a clear testimony to the fact that existing provisions in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, have proved totally inadequate to meeting the challenges. While the odd politician or senior civil servant has been charge-sheeted and punished, those in the higher echelons have enjoyed an immunity that is totally unacceptable to a majority of the population.



Large numbers of the citizenry are weighed down by the fact that they are required to bribe a government official or Minister to secure a service to which they are entitled as citizens either free or paying only the fee prescribed by government regulations. It is an open secret that in most of the country one will have to pay a bribe to secure a birth certificate or a death certificate, a legal heir certificate or an electricity or water connection, as also to register a case at a police station. Worse is the fact that jobs – including those of vice-chancellors of universities, who are supposed to be appointed directly by Governors – are sold for a premium.



Police appointments and transfers have become a cottage industry, one in which the highest bidder gets the cake. You ask Julio Ribeiro, the undaunted warrior against police corruption, whose voice can hardly be silenced by anyone in authority however mighty they may be. He will graphically describe to you how dishonesty on the part of street-level politicians and Home Ministers has eaten into the vitals of the police organism.



How do we get out of the current morass? I trust that the debate of the drafting committee will start with the premise that, to carry credibility, any new law needs to be ruthless and draconian if it has to make a difference. It should not make a distinction between the high and lowly while investigating an act of corruption. The existing single directive by which a Ministry will have to accord permission to initiate an inquiry or register a case against a Central government official of and above the rank of Joint Secretary is an anachronism that the new law should excise. The constitutionality of this directive is at present under the scanner before the Supreme Court. In the same manner, the requirement of sanction for prosecuting a civil servant is unsustainable.



I strongly believe that we do not need a plethora of laws. What is needed is a single law that will treat everyone alike whether they are constitutional functionaries or public servants in the lower echelons. Eliminating the current artificial distinction based on the status of the holder of public office will be the principal task of the drafting committee. All specious arguments revolving around the necessity to protect civil servants from the caprice of a complainant will be brought in by the government side. Anna Hazare will have to dismiss them curtly. This requires courage and tenacity.



My view is that the Lok Pal organisation should subsume the Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) and bring the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under its direct charge. In the new dispensation, the latter should depend on the executive only for logistic support. It should be accountable for the correctness of its investigation first to the Lok Pal and then to the apex court. The CBI can be a highly professional agency only if it enjoys such total functional autonomy. At present, such independence is not available to it because there is no political will to permit it operational freedom. The opportunity provided by the Lok Pal legislation should be used by Anna Hazare and his supporters to pitch for this basic reform of India's highest investigative agency. A failure to bring about this reform will be fatal to any move to bring about greater transparency in public life. There is then the question how similar changes can be brought about at the State level. A Lok Ayukta built on the same model as the Lok Pal would greatly facilitate a stepped-up campaign against corruption.



An Anna Hazare comes once in a century. He needs all our support. His solutions to the current situation may be unconventional and seem technically flawed if you go by the standards of the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code. That is no ground, however, for rejecting his demand for an independent watchdog.



The executive should not pay lip service to the cause of integrity in public life. It should go far beyond by being accommodative and nationalist-minded. This is certainly not asking for the moon.

CENSUS 2011

The first results of Census 2011 put India's population at 1,210 million, indicating a demographic transition.

CENSUS 2011 is the 15th one undertaken in India since 1872 and the seventh after the country attained Independence. While there have been stray historical references to population counts of one kind or another in earlier periods over much smaller territories within the territory that constitutes present-day India, the consensus view is that the first systematic, though non-synchronous, population census conducted throughout the country was between 1865 and 1872. The first synchronous census was done in 1881. Since then, decennial censuses have been conducted without fail.




It is interesting to learn that the censuses from 1881 up to, and including, 1931 were conducted using “a synchronous de facto method”, meaning that the census was conducted throughout the country on a single night. This was given up from the 1941 census. The method followed from 1941 onwards is described as “an extended de facto canvasser method”. Specifically, we are informed by the Census of India:



“In Census 2011, the canvassing of the questionnaire was done from 9th of February 2011 to 28th of February 2011. A Revision Round was then conducted from 1st to 5th of March 2011 and the count updated to the Reference Moment of 00:00 hours on the 1st of March 2011.”



The census for a country of India's size and territory is, of course, a complex exercise. Census 2011 involved coverage of a human population spread over 35 States/Union Territories, 640 districts, 5,924 sub-district administrative units, 7,936 towns and 6.41 lakh villages. The cost of Census 2011 has been estimated at Rs.22,000 million, which works out to a per person cost of Rs.18.19. A total of 2.7 million functionaries worked in the conduct of the census. The census schedules were canvassed in 16 languages. A total of 340 million schedules were printed. In all, 5.4 million training manuals were printed. The total number of languages in which the training manuals were printed was 18.



In an elaborate ‘Introductory Note', which forms part of Paper No.1 of 2011 Census, the Registrar-General of India and the Census Commissioner, Dr C. Chandramouli, has set out in detail the processes and procedures underlying the census exercise. He has also summarised the important changes in the schedules canvassed in 2011 from those of 2001. He makes the point that a unique feature of Census 2011 was “the innovative use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter”.



Before going into the details of population growth and other demographic data from the first results of Census 2011, it needs to be noted that the data released are “provisional” and there will be some revision after all the schedules are scanned and the necessary checks and cross-checks are carried out. However, the revisions are likely to be minor. The results provide a good basis for a preliminary understanding.









THE PERCENTAGE DECADAL growth rates of population have declined in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Fertility rates have come down across the country, and several States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab have reached replacement levels of fertility.



The provisional population figure for India as per Census 2011 stands at 1,210.2 million, consisting of 623.7 million males and 586.5 million females. This constitutes a growth of 17.64 per cent between 2001 and 2011. Compared with the decennial population growth rates of 23.87 per cent between 1981 and 1991 and 21.54 per cent between 1991 and 2001, this is a significant reduction in population growth rate. In fact, the absolute increase in population between 2001 and 2011, at 181.5 million, is less than the increase of 182.3 million between 1991 and 2001. This makes the decade of 2001-11 the first one in independent India to witness a reduction in both absolute and relative population growth. The number of children in the 0-6 age group has declined between 2001 and 2011 from 163.84 million to 158.79 million. This portends a lower population growth rate in the years to come. A demographic transition is well under way in India, though there are significant differences across States, a matter to which we shall return.



While the population growth rate has slackened significantly between 2001 and 2011 as compared to earlier inter-census periods, it is true that we are still adding massive numbers to the country's population. For instance, the addition to the population at 181.5 million is only slightly less than the entire population of Brazil, which is the fifth most populous country in the world! Similarly, the population of India at 1,210.2 million in 2011 is almost equal to the combined population of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan at 1,214.3 million. Nevertheless, the fact that the percentage decadal growth rates of population have declined between 2001 and 2011 in the six most populous States of the country – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – is a pointer to the continuance of the trend towards population stabilisation over the next five decades. Fertility rates have come down across the country, and several States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab have reached replacement levels of fertility. Kerala will, in fact, have to contend with the problem of an ageing population even while several other States will continue to experience a rising share of population in the working age groups. The problem of ageing populations and rising ratios of dependants to earners will also become a feature of some other States, which are moving rapidly through a process of demographic transition to low birth rates and low death rates.



Sex Composition



Over most of the 20th century, the sex ratio in India declined from 972 females per 1,000 males in 1901 to 927 by 1991. It then rose to 933 in 2001. The good news is that it has since risen to 940 as per the provisional figures of Census 2011. In 29 States and Union Territories, the overall sex ratio has risen between 2001 and 2011. However, it has declined in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Bihar. Kerala continues to be the State with the highest sex ratio, at 1084.



How does India's population sex ratio compare with some other major countries? The global sex ratio was 984 in 2011. Among the 10 most populous countries, only China has a lower sex ratio than India, at 926. Bangladesh, Nigeria and Indonesia, with sex ratios of 978, 987 and 988 respectively, are the populous developing countries with a sex ratio much higher than that of India. Even Pakistan has a sex ratio of 943, marginally higher than that of India. The U.S., the Russian Federation, Brazil and Japan have sex ratios well in excess of 1,000. Among India's neighbours, only China, Bhutan (897) and Afghanistan (931) have sex ratios lower than 940. Sex ratios vary significantly across the States. Taking into account the major States with a population exceeding 20 million each in 2011, the sex ratio varies from a high of 1084 in Kerala to a low of 877 in Haryana. Other major States with a low sex ratio include Punjab (893), Uttar Pradesh (908), Bihar (916), Gujarat (918), Maharashtra (925) and Rajasthan (926). The southern States of Kerala (1084), Tamil Nadu (995), Andhra Pradesh (992) and Karnataka (968) fare much better.



Child Sex Ratio



The population sex ratio as an indicator of the well-being of women in a society has a major limitation. When there is sex-selective migration where males emigrate from a region in search of employment or for other reasons but women do so if at all to a much lesser extent, one can get a high sex ratio, but this would not indicate female well-being. Thus, in many of India's more economically backward districts in the countryside, males may migrate in search of employment, resulting in high sex ratios for these districts, reflecting poverty rather than female well-being. A better measure of relative female well-being – or of relative female survival disadvantage – is the sex ratio in the age group of 0 to 6, known as the child sex ratio (CSR). The 2011 census figures for CSR are disturbing. The CSR in India has been falling rapidly for several decades now. It declined from 976 in 1961 to 927 by 2001. It has further fallen to 914 in 2011. The situation in several large northern States is nothing short of alarming. While the CSR in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat have risen from 798 to 846, 819 to 830 and 883 to 886 respectively, these ratios are still low by any standard. Worse still, the CSR has dropped in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh from 916 to 899, 909 to 883, 908 to 883 and 932 to 912 respectively. In 2001, 26 per cent of India's population lived in States with a CSR of 915 or less. In 2011, this proportion has risen to nearly 53 per cent. Only six States and two Union Territories report an increase in the CSR. In all the other cases, the CSR has fallen, in several of them at an alarming rate. This is yet another reminder of the gender-unequal nature of the development processes in India.



Literacy Rates



While the population of India grew by 17.54 per cent between 2001 and 2011, the number of literates in the 7 and above age group grew by 38.82 per cent, with the result that the ratio of literates to the population in the 7 and above age group improved from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011. The number of literate females in this age group grew by 49.10 per cent between 2001 and 2011, while that of males increased by a more modest 31.98 per cent. As a result, the female literacy rate in the seven-plus population increased from 53.67 per cent to 65.46 per cent, while the male literacy rate rose from 75.26 per cent to 82.14 per cent. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of non-literates in India has come down by nearly 3.12 crore, with the number of non-literate females declining by 1.71 crore and that of non-literate males by 1.41 crore.



One major State, Kerala, and nine Union Territories, all with relatively modest population sizes, have literacy rates higher than 85 per cent, the target set by the Planning Commission for 2011-12. This target has not been met in most other parts of the country, and is unlikely to be met by 2011-12. While the gap between male and female literacy rates has declined from 21.59 percentage points in 2001 to 16.68 percentage points in 2011, this is still considerably more than the 11th Plan target of 10 percentage points by 2011-12. Except for Kerala, none of the major States has achieved the target of bridging the gap between male and female literacy rates to less than 10 percentage points. Kerala had achieved this much earlier. It is encouraging, however, that the male-female gap in literacy rates, which has been declining since 1981, has shown a sharper decline between 2001 and 2011. At the same time, the fact that more than a third of females aged seven years or more are non-literate even by the minimalist measure from Census 2011 is indeed a scandal for a country nursing ambitions of becoming a global power.



While there are considerable differences in literacy rates across States, with Kerala at 93.91 per cent and Bihar at 63.82 per cent, it is also true that inter-State differences have narrowed a bit, with the poorer performers in 2001 showing a more rapid increase in the past decade in literacy rates than their more advanced counterparts. For instance, while the number of literates aged seven years and above has grown by nearly 39 per cent for the country as a whole, it has grown by 74.8 per cent in Bihar, 59.2 per cent in Jharkhand and 56.4 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. In terms of overall literacy rates, Kerala is far ahead with 93.91 per cent. It is followed at some distance by Maharashtra (82.91 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (80.33 per cent). Gujarat (79.31) and West Bengal (77.08) follow these two States closely, and three other major States – Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka – have literacy rates above 75 per cent. Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Bihar, in that order, bring up the rear with literacy rates below 70 per cent. The position with respect to female literacy rates again has Kerala way ahead at 91.98 per cent, followed at quite some distance by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat, in that order.











It is interesting that the Left-led States of Kerala and West Bengal figure in the top five major States in respect of literacy, as do, of course, the high-profile States of Gujarat and Maharashtra.



It is important that the literacy rates as calculated from the provisional numbers of Census 2011 do not give rise to complacency. That would be completely unwarranted for several reasons. First, data from a large number of village surveys, such as those carried out by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies recently across several States, typically show the census literacy rate figures to be much higher than the percentage of the population that reports itself as being able to read and write, when asked a nuanced set of questions distinguishing between the ability to read, the ability to write and the ability to do both. Second, literacy rates differ considerably between rural and urban areas, and one must await the release of tables on literacy rates by rural/urban residence. Third, literacy rates differ significantly across social groups, with the Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Castes much more poorly off in this regard. Fourth, we have already noted that more than a third of the female population aged seven years or more is non-literate after more than two decades of high gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, a sad commentary on the degree of inclusiveness in our growth model. Finally, as long as access to good-quality schooling remains scarce for the majority of the people, the reported literacy figures will overstate hugely the extent of non-fragile, effective literacy.



It is too early to celebrate the results of Census 2011. The initial results, in fact, remind us, in the midst of some progress, of huge gender inequalities and persisting levels of mass educational deprivation across different regions after a decade of high GDP growth rates.

ELECTION COMMISSION ON A WAR FOOTING FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

Undeterred by the ruling front's fusillades, the Election Commission goes all out to enforce its code of conduct

WHEN Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi described Tamil Nadu as “a challenging case”, he was not exaggerating.




Apart from its outcome, the April 13 election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly will be remembered for three things – the audacious distribution of money to buy votes and the Election Commission's (E.C.) gallant efforts to block it; Chief Minister and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi's frequent outbursts accusing the E.C. of masterminding an “undeclared emergency” and wondering whether “the Election Commission is running the regime”; and the saga of Madurai District Collector U. Sahayam, who stood up to political pressure to make the Chief Minister fall in line.



If the “Tirumangalam formula” of bribing voters with cash and blandishments has made Tamil Nadu notorious in the eyes of the Election Commission, the State has no one to blame but itself. The art of buying votes with money was fine-tuned in January 2009 when a byelection was held for the Tirumangalam Assembly constituency, near Madurai. The DMK candidate, Latha Athiyaman, defeated the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate by 39,266 voters in the election.



In the run-up to the 2011 Assembly elections, not only was the distribution of cash widespread but ingenious were the ways of reaching it to the voters. If the E.C.'s flying squad checked cars and trucks to seize illegal cash, ambulances and mortuary vans were used to ferry money. When this ruse was found out, trains were used to transport money.



There were curious incidents as well. On running into a checkpost in Nellikuppam town in Cuddalore district, men in a car drove away at break-neck speed and threw out bundles of notes (Rs.2.76 lakh) kept in bags. Out flew voters lists along with them. The policemen gave chase but could not stop the car.



On April 5, an E.C. flying squad seized several thousand banians with images of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on them at Teynampet in Chennai because they were being transported without the necessary permit. The police seized 2,000 liquefied petroleum gas stoves kept in five trucks in a godown in Kodambakkam in Chennai. DMK and AIADMK leaders traded allegations that the other party had planned to distribute the stoves to voters. In some places, tokens were given to voters to be exchanged for goods in select shops.



Astonishing was the discovery on April 5 of Rs.5.11 crore concealed in five bags under a tarpaulin spread on the roof of a private bus in Tiruchi town. The seizure was made after S. Sangeetha, returning officer for Tiruchi West Assembly, received a tip-off on her mobile phone. K.N. Nehru, Transport Minister in the DMK government and a candidate in the Tiruchi West constituency, denied television news reports that the money belonged to his relatives. “There is no connection between the money seized and my relatives,” he said in a statement.



Quraishi asserted that the E.C. would not “close its eyes to the rampant malpractices” in Tamil Nadu and that it would “not dither” in doing its “sacred duty”.



In an interview to the Press Trust of India published in The Hindu on April 9, he rejected the accusation made by the DMK and its ally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), that the E.C. had created an Emergency-like situation in the State. He said he was surprised that “the E.C. is attacked for doing what all the parties want it to do”. “Let this one be clear to one and all,” Quraishi emphasised. “In carrying out the Commission's sacred duty, assigned by the Constitution, we will not dither. It does not matter if there are no accolades; it does not matter [either] if there are brickbats. The E.C. will stay the course.”



The E.C. has been enforcing expenditure control measures to check money power. “Tamil Nadu has been a challenging case. But we are doing our best, and will not allow any let-up,” Quraishi said.



Tamil Nadu's Chief Electoral Officer, Praveen Kumar, warned political parties that the E.C. was “watching the situation closely” and that “it shall be constrained to take stern measures as may become necessary” if cash and gifts were distributed.



Praveen Kumar said that from the day the election process began and until April 12, Rs.33.11 crore in cash and Rs.12.58 crore in kind was seized. About Rs.5.18 crore were returned after sufficient proof was provided.





R. RAVINDRAN



Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, addressing the media in Chennai.



Karunanidhi fired his first fusillade at the E.C. on March 31. “Under the power that is available [to the E.C.], an undeclared and an unpublicised Emergency is prevailing in the State. These Emergency-like atrocities are aimed at breaking the DMK-led alliance and weakening its partners,” he alleged.



The Chief Minister repeated his attack on April 2 and demanded that the E.C. should act impartially. When permission (from the E.C.) had to be obtained for his tours, “I get a doubt whether I am the Chief Minister, whether the DMK headed by me is ruling Tamil Nadu or the Election Commission is running the regime?” he said sarcastically.



He launched another broadside at the E.C. on April 9 at Cuddalore when the E.C. refused to let him stay at a government guest house. The Chief Minister slept at the party office. The E.C. did not allow the Chief Minister to present a cash award of Rs.4 crore announced by his government to the Indian cricket team for winning the ICC World Cup. Karunanidhi insisted that the Centre should take a stand on how to constitute the E.C., who should be its members and how its powers should be exercised.



S. Ramadoss, PMK founder, and K.V. Thangkabalu, president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, joined Karunanidhi in accusing the E.C. of acting in a “biased manner”. “The E.C. has lost its balance and turned one-sided; it does not resort to such acts in West Bengal, Kerala and Assam,” Ramadoss said. He accused the E.C. of having brought the entire State machinery under its control which, he said, was against the basic tenets of democracy.



The Communist Party of India (Marxist) hit out at the DMK, with K. Varadarajan, Polit Bureau member, alleging that Karunanidhi was “intimidating” the E.C.. “The ruling party is angry because the E.C.'s stern measures stood in the way of its implementing the Tirumangalam formula, its serving biriyani and providing liquor to voters,” he said. “The E.C. has imposed similar restrictions in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam, but the parties there have not pounced on it,” Varadarajan pointed out.



G. Ramakrishnan, CPI(M) State secretary, also attacked Karunanidhi. “The Chief Minister, who addressed election meetings at Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Tiruchi, did not speak a single word about people's problems or finding a solution to them. But he alleged that the E.C. was trying to transform the opposition into a ruling party. This allegation was made with ulterior motives,” Ramakrishnan said.



On April 1, the Madras High Court declined to curb the E.C.'s powers to prevent the distribution of money to voters. It ruled that the standard procedure be followed for dealing with cash and valuables that were not accounted for and that these operations should be videographed. “For curbing large-scale crimes, extraordinary security measures should be taken until the election results are announced, and the safety and security of the flying squad shall be taken care of,” the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam said.



The spotlight turned on U. Sahayam, the no-nonsense District Collector and District Election Officer of Madurai, after a series of allegations were made against him not only by the DMK but also by a subordinate of his. In a petition to Praveen Kumar, DMK leaders Pon. Muthuramalingam and K.S. Radhakrishnan said on March 30 that Sahayam “is openly speaking in support of the AIADMK in his speeches and while addressing certain forums”.



Sathiyavani of Munthiri Thoppu, Anna Nagar, Madurai, got into the act next when she filed a petition in the High Court seeking Sahayam's transfer. She alleged that the Collector, while addressing students in colleges during the election awareness campaign, had spoken in favour of a change of governance in the State.



M.K. Alagiri, Karunanidhi's son and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, fired the next salvo at Sahayam when he alleged that the E.C., Sahayam and the District Superintendent of Police, Asra Garg, would be responsible if any harm were to accrue to him. The police protection given to his house was withdrawn with an “ulterior motive” because he had alleged that Sahayam had suggested that a regime change should come about, Alagiri said.





S. JAMES



U. Sahayam, District Collector, releasing the Draft Roll at the Madurai Collectorate on April 1.



Drama and tension broke out on April 1 around 4 p.m. when Alagiri, Deputy Mayor P.M. Mannan and other DMK leaders, including V. Ragupathi and M. Thirugnanam, went to offer worship at a temple at Ambalakaranpatti, a suburb of Madurai. Since more than five people had gathered, the E.C.'s flying squad, including P. Kalimuthu, tahsildar and Assistant Returning Officer for Melur Assembly constituency, and a videographer, reached the temple and started filming the group. This angered Alagiri and others. The videographer was roughed up and his camera was damaged. Kalimuthu gave a complaint to the Keezhavalavu police who registered a case against Alagiri, Mannan, Ragupathi and Thirugnanam under the Indian Penal Code for obstructing government employees from doing their work. Members of the Tamil Nadu Revenue Officers' Association (TNROA), who demonstrated in front of the collectorate, threatened to boycott election-related work if the accused in the case were not arrested on April 2. Their threat looked real.



A few hours later, the Returning Officer of Madurai East Assembly constituency, S. Suhumaran, entered the picture. He faxed a handwritten complaint to Praveen Kumar that Sahayam was “mounting pressure” on him to foist cases against Alagiri and P. Moorthi, the DMK candidate for the constituency.



Suhumaran, who released to reporters copies of his complaint, alleged that Sahayam had “threatened, harassed, intimidated and demeaned” him when he refused to file cases against the DMK leaders. Suhumaran, who claimed that he was “mentally affected” by the Collector's pressure, was admitted to a hospital.



Sahayam called Suhumaran's allegation “utter lies” and pleaded that he should “not be painted with a political brush”.



Subsequently, P. Kalimuthu performed a somersault. He denied Alagiri had heckled him. Kalimuthu said it was Sahayam who asked him to prefer a complaint (against Alagiri and others) with the Keezhavalavu police and that Sahayam said he would speak to Garg about this.



The E.C. ordered the transfer of Suhumaran and later suspended him until disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Commission were over. It also asked the government to begin proceedings for a major penalty against him. The High Court threw out Sathiyavani's petition for Sahayam's transfer with the First Bench holding that the message that he wanted to convey was about free elections

LABOUR LAWS BILL

The UPA-II government introduces with BJP support two anti-labour Bills, the Pension Bill and the Labour Laws Amendment Bill.




ON March 24, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government managed to do what it had not been able to do in its first term – it reintroduced the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill in Parliament with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The objective of the Bill is to undertake promotional, developmental and regulatory functions with respect to pension funds.




The Congress hurriedly mustered the support of the BJP as many Congress members were not present at the time of the Bill's introduction. The UPA, hence, narrowly escaped a loss of face when Left party members demanded a division of votes. The division showed that of the 159 members present in the Lok Sabha, 115 backed the proposed legislation, 43 opposed it, and one abstained.



While the UPA government held that the Left-led opposition had raised objections at the wrong time, the chief whip of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Ramchandra Dome, said that they had every right to press for a division and that the Bill had been circulated only the night before its reintroduction, giving members little time to study it.



Owing to the opposition of the Left, the UPA-I government failed to secure parliamentary approval for the Bill's introduction. The surprise element this time was the support of the BJP, coming as it did in the wake of the WikiLeaks expose. The parties opposed to the Bill included the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal (United), the Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desam Party.



It was almost eight years ago, in 2003, that the National Democratic Alliance government constituted an interim pension sector regulator through a resolution. The PFRDA Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2005, which was then referred to a Standing Committee. In 2009, the UPA-I regime proposed amendments, but they could not be moved; and the 2005 legislation lapsed after the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha. Now the same Bill has been reintroduced with some minor changes.



The changes pertain to the foreign investment policy for the pension sector. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, this policy will now be determined and notified outside the proposed legislation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).



The revised Pension Bill is viewed as giving an opening to private players; it will also help cut government expenditure on pension contributions. The Bill envisages making pension a contribution-based arrangement from being a defined benefit, which it is now. Under the new legislation, all government employees – except those in the armed forces – who joined service on or after January 2004 will be covered under the proposed National Pension Scheme (NPS). Strangely, while it has been made mandatory for government employees, private sector employees have the option of joining it or not. Pension would be disbursed to employees at a rate of return determined by the market, with no implicit or explicit assurance of a guaranteed return.



The NPS was introduced under the PFRDA in 2004 under an executive order by the NDA government. It allows private companies to manage Central and State government pension funds and invest part of them in stocks and corporate bonds. The PFRDA Bill is essentially a step to regulate the pension sector, which has been opened up. It will also provide statutory backing for implementing the NPS.



“The government will contribute as an employer, not as the government. Earlier, employees knew how much pension they would be drawing; now it is going to be determined by the market. Even the contribution is not strictly contributory, it will be market-driven. Even in the United States, in case of vagaries, the government guarantees 75 per cent share of the pension and only 25 per cent is lost by the employee; in this case, there is no government guarantee of any kind,” said Tapan Sen, general secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and CPI(M) member in the Rajya Sabha.



The PFRDA Bill allows part investment of the corpus in the stock market, though at the moment it does not have a foreign investment policy for the pension sector. The ceiling of foreign equity envisaged in the earlier version has been removed though it may be made effective through an executive order. It may be recalled that foreign direct investment in the pension sector was opposed by the Left parties. The Bill empowers the PFRDA to oversee multiple pension funds, which means that all kinds of social security, including provident fund, can come under its ambit.



The government has appointed six fund houses – Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), State Bank of India, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Capital and the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India – to manage pensions. The contributions of both employees and employers will be given to these fund houses and at the time of annuity or retirement, the corpus accumulated will be forwarded to an insurance company so that the pensioner can buy annuity or pension from them and also a lumpsum from the corpus. Instead of a predefined assured sum, pensioners will now have to keep track of the funds with the fund managers and evaluate different fund managers on the basis of their performance and other issues. The fund-selection technique has to be right so as to get substantial returns. Even supporters of the scheme say this is not possible in the present schemes of government pension as employees are not allowed to invest in the market.



Interestingly, the BJP's trade union wing, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), has strongly opposed what it calls the “anti-worker” pension fund Bill. Its national president, C.K. Saji Narayanan, said that the “government has fallen into the hands of the big industrial lobby and is trying to cater to the interests of private investors and the speculative market instead of protecting the interests of millions of employees”. He said that the Bill facilitated the back-door entry of foreign investors and that “the Government of India had not learned lessons from what had happened to lakhs of pensioners in the U.S. and in European countries whose pension funds were invested in private funds and in the stock market. It had ended in social calamity from which their societies have not recovered so far.”



The government, he said, was “trying to snatch away the existing privileges of employees and converting the benefit scheme into a contributory insurance scheme at the expense of the employees, thereby exonerating the liability of employers, including the government. Pension will be virtually converted into a return from private investment. It is fundamentally wrong on the part of the Finance Ministry to trespass into workers' issues; it is for the Ministry of Labour to take care of such matters on the basis of well-established principles and norms.”



The All India Central Government Employees Federation, the All India State Government Employees Federation and the Confederation of Central Government Employees have opposed the introduction of the Bill and planned campaigns.



Labour bill



A day before the introduction of the Pension Bill, on March 23, another contentious Bill titled the Labour Laws (Exemptions from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers for Certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2011, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. This Bill exempts employers of establishments employing up to 40 persons from the obligations of almost all the basic labour laws governing matters such as minimum wages, payment of wages, working hours, contract work, and payment of bonus. The exemption initially was for a larger number of employees but was reduced to 40 following protests from the Left parties, which argued that no unit employing people should be exempt from labour laws. Even with the ceiling coming down to 40, they feel that nearly 78 per cent of the workforce in the manufacturing sector will be out of the purview of the basic labour laws.



Tapan Sen told Frontline that he and his party colleagues in Parliament had opposed the Bill in its earlier avatar too. As a result, the Bill could not be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. He said that even the ceiling of 40 had been apparently calculated on the basis of those factories that submitted regular returns to the government, and that as per the government's own estimates, not more than 30 per cent of factories submitted regular returns. He said private sector employers and even contractors who supplied labour and materials to public sector companies did not maintain proper registers of the workers employed with them.



Tapan Sen said the Bill had been examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, which submitted its unanimous report in December 2005. The committee expressed dismay that the government had not consulted employees' groups or employers' representatives before presenting the Bill in Parliament.



The Bill originally sought to give exemption to employers employing up to 500 persons; the number was brought down to 40. In his speech in the Rajya Sabha last year, Tapan Sen pointed out that hundreds of workers toiled for around 12 hours a day in many industrial areas in Delhi without the benefit of overtime. The names of only a handful of workers were listed in the employment registers while 80 per cent of them continued to be invisible, he said.



Unlike in 2005, the Left parties are not in a position now to defeat anti-labour Bills in Parliament. This makes it easier for the government to push pieces of legislation that were kept on hold owing to pressure from the Left. There is tacit support from the BJP for many of them that pertain to the financial sector. The question of public interest is only secondary.