Mumbai, May 17

The partially convertible rupee fell to a record low of 54.60 against a dollar in the intra-day, surpassing Wednesday’s low of 54.52.

However, the Indian currency closed marginally higher at 54.47 against a dollar — 0.04 percent higher than the previous day close at 54.49.

The rupee had hit a record intra-day as well as closing low Wednesday.

Analysts said the rupee might soon touch 55 against a dollar due to grim economic outlook and limitation of options left with the central bank to intervene in the market.

“Rupee is driving the markets. Traders and investors are keeping close eye on RBI action, though it seems RBI is running out of options,” said Kishor P Ostwal, chairman and managing director of CNI Research Ltd.

He said the rupee was heading towards 55 against a dollar which would keep the Indian equity markets on edge.

Earlier in the day, the rupee strengthened to 54.20 against a dollar taking cues from rebound in stock markets and RBI intervention. But due to continued risk aversion in the global markets, the rupee slipped to a new low in the late afternoon session.

The benchmark Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange closed 0.25 percent higher at 16,070.48 points after rising to 16,240.18 points level in the intra-day.

The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.25 percent higher at 4,870.20 points.

“The market is ignoring positive news such as drop in oil prices. If rupee slips, the market has to slip further,” said Ostwal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a series of measures in the last few weeks to curb the rupee slide.

The RBI has asked banks to sell half of the foreign currencies in their accounts. In a bid to attract money from overseas, the RBI has raised interest ceiling that local banks can offer to overseas Indians in forex accounts.

The RBI has opened a direct dollar window for oil companies, which are worst hit because of the weakness in the domestic currency as they have to pay higher money for same import.

Now oil companies can buy dollar directly from the RBI instead of going to commercial banks. The central bank had introduced a similar facility in 2008 also.

The RBI last week asked exporters to convert at least 50 percent of their foreign exchange holdings in rupee.

To curb the slide, the RBI is also believed to have sold dollars through public sector banks

President Pratibha Patil releasing a special Postage Stamp to commemorate the Birth Centenary of Karmayogi M.B. Appasaheb Kadadi

New Delhi/Mumbai, May 17

“We are currently operating under the contingency plan, in which we are operating a bare minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations in Europe and the US,” a senior official of Air India’s operations arm told IANS.

“We have lost about Rs.188 crore due to ticket cancellations, unused labour and with a bulk of our Boeing-777 fleet grounded. Our losses per day stand at Rs.13 crore,” the official said.

The airline has deployed the Airbus family of aircraft such as A320, A321 and A330 for international routes.

It is only operating eight of its 17 Boeing-777 aircraft which are normally manned by the striking pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).

The carrier’s low-cost international wing, Air India Express, is also facing the brunt of the agitation. The strike and the subsequent flight cancellations by the airline have disrupted holiday and other travel plans of hundreds of people.

The development comes a day after cracks reportedly appeared among the striking pilots with some of them returning to work and the management saying it expected more to follow.

The IPG, however, denied this and said their strike was on.

The Air India management backed its claims that the pilots’ protest was losing steam after three pilots who had reported sick returned to work.

Another point the management made was that the civil aviation ministry has made it clear that no talks would be held while the protest was on.

“No one is ready to talk to them until they return to work. All options, including that of reinstating the sacked pilots, are on the table. But nothing is certain as of now. If better sense prevails, we can see the end of the strike very soon,” an Air India official had said Wednesday.

But the pilots’ union said the strike would continue and the pilots would remain united over their “genuine and valid demands”.

“The protest is on. I don’t know where is this news coming from,” Jitendra Awadh, IPG president, told IANS from Mumbai.

“The three pilots referred to by Air India are not from our union and they all are under probation,” said another union leader.

The pilots had earlier said they were open to talks. But the government has not yet accepted the offer, saying there will be no negotiations unless the pilots returned to work.

The pilots have made four demands which include exclusive flying right on Boeing 787 aircraft, payment of arrears from 2007 onwards, travel on first class when not working and the right to be promoted as commanders within six years.

“We can discuss these demands. But is it fair to go on a strike, for not being allowed to fly first class? They are well-paid and they have earned this. With great power comes great responsibility and their responsibility right now should be towards the passengers and the nation,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had informed parliament Tuesday.

Trouble started for the airline May 8 when pilot-members of the IPG took mass sick leave protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Agartala, May 17

“With the passing of the necessary amendment bill by parliament, now the crucial and long-expected constitutional hurdles have been resolved before setting up of the separate high courts in three northeastern states of India,” Tripura’s Law Department Secretary Datamohan Jamatia told IANS.

The obligatory modification of the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on May 11 and May 16 respectively, paving the way for creation of separate high courts in the three states.

“Now the amendment bill would go to the president for her assent,” Jamatia said.

“It was expected that the president would give her customary approval to the bill by next month,” said Jamatia.

“Setting up of separate high courts would help in quicker disposal of cases, save litigants’ time and money, and fulfil a long-standing demand of these states. Administrative and developmental works have sometimes been hampered due to timely non-disposal of pending cases,” Jamatia said.

Currently, six northeastern states of Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have benches of the Guwahati High Court. Sikkim has a separate high court.

Under the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya became full-fledged states on Jan 21, 1972.

“In Tripura alone over 52,000 cases had been pending in different lower courts and 5,000 cases are awaiting disposal in the Agartala bench of the Guwahati High Court,” Jamatia added.

He said the necessary infrastructures were ready in all the three states for the functioning of full-fledged high courts.

Lok Sabha member from Tripura Khagen Das, who had moved a private member’s bill earlier for amending the necessary act to set up the high courts, said that he had met Home Minister P. Chidambaram and law minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi a number of times to expedite the process.

“The 30 years long struggle for a separate high court in Tripura has finally yielded expected result,” Rajya Sabha member from Tripura Jharna Das Baidya told IANS by phone from New Delhi.

“Following a series of mass movement, the Tripura assembly had first passed unanimous motion requesting the central government to set up a separate high court in 1987,” Baidya said.

For quick disposal of pending cases, the Guwahati High Court had introduced in May last year video conference systems at its benches spread across six northeastern states.

What was then called Assam High Court was constituted April 5, 1948, and initially had its sittings in Shillong but shifted to Guwahati Aug 14, 1948. Shillong became capital of Meghalaya Jan 21, 1972.

It came to be known as the High Court of Assam and Nagaland on the constitution of the state of Nagaland Dec 1, 1963.

On the re-organisation of the northeastern region by the North-Eastern Area (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, a common high court was established for five northeastern states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura – and the two erstwhile union territories (now full-fledged states) – Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh – and was named as the Guwahati High Court.

Lucknow, May 17 

The long-term agenda of the vision document is aimed at better facilitation in departments where the public interface is maximum, an official told IANS.

The key sectors highlighted in the document include agriculture, industries, power, education, health, social welfare and some 100 points on which state departments have been asked to “react and deliberate upon.”

Officials say the focus of the document is to assimilate the promises made by the SP into governance so that these are implemented in a phased manner.

To ensure that the agenda points of developments are being implemented in true letter and spirit, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav would be holding quarterly review meetings wherein all projects and schemes would be discussed threadbare, according to officials.

The document specifically focuses on achieving revenue targets so that the funds can be utilised for various welfare and developmental projects. For the year 2012-13, the government has set a target of Rs.73,000 crore through revenue mobilisation.

The government is also working on a new and “all-inclusive and fair” agriculture policy, which it says would be on the lines of the 2005 agriculture policy initiated by the previous SP government.

Food processing and potato production are the key focus areas in the new policy, officials pointed out. Besides, issuing Kisan credit cards to farmers and strengthening the cooperative banks system in the state is also high on the agenda of the government, an official said.

The 2004 industrial policy will be reviewed and the government is likely to announce a host of incentives for the industrial sector in the state, the official added.

The government has cleared the way for more public-private partnership projects in the state and construction work would soon be started on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the northern peripheral road in Ghaziabad, a government spokesman said.

According to officials, the power sector will soon be prioritised and projects in Panki, Jawaharpur, Aanpara-D, Harduaganj extension and Obra-C would be completed in a set time frame.

In the health sector, priority would be accorded to vaccination campaigns, besides opening of state medical colleges and intensive care units in many districts across the state, officials said.

Washington, May 17

The new uniform policy announced by Washington DC police Chief Cathy Lanier Wednesday makes it the first major metropolitan police department in the US to permit Sikhs to maintain their articles of faith.

Developed with the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF), the new police policy states that Sikh officers can wear turbans that are the same colour as the uniform that they would otherwise be required to wear, with the department badge that is normally on hats pinned to the front of the turban.

Male Sikh officers will also be able to wear beards that are neatly kept. Other officers are allowed to grow beards if they get a waiver from the department.

Lanier said that it is hard to find qualified police officers, so it is practical to accommodate candidates who would otherwise be fit for the job. “This is a common-sense decision,” she said.

There are no known observant Sikhs among Washington’s roughly 3,800 officers. However, the new policy was motivated in part because a Sikh who will graduate from the Police academy in August and plans to become a reserve officer, has requested the accommodation, Lanier said.

“This first of a kind guidance by one of the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies serves as a model for other agencies across the country.” said Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of SALDEF

In other parts of the country, Sikhs have had to fight for religious accommodations, he said, noting that nine years ago members of the Sikh community sued New York City to become traffic enforcement officers.

In the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, observant Sikhs can serve in the reserves but not as full-time officers.

There are about 700,000 adherents to the Sikh faith in the US, according to SALDEF.

R. N. Nayak, CMD Powergrid getting "Best Performing Transmission Company" award from Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde

]]> http://www.sarkaritel.com/r-n-nayak-cmd-powergrid-getting-best-performing-transmission-company-award-from-power-minister-sushilkumar-shinde/feed 0 http://www.sarkaritel.com/fm-hints-at-austerity-as-rupee-dips-to-record-low http://www.sarkaritel.com/fm-hints-at-austerity-as-rupee-dips-to-record-low#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 18:36:39 +0000 admin http://www.sarkaritel.com/?p=10988 New Delhi, May 16 The government is planning to introduce some austerity to aid fiscal consolidation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Wednesday as the rupee slumped to a record low of 54.50 against the dollar and stock markets tumbled.

Mukherjee said he would take austerity measures to bring more fiscal discipline and send a right signal to the market.

“I am going to put in some austerity measures. It is important to send a right signal,” Mukherjee told lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha.

The Indian rupee took a severe beating and dipped to a record low of 54.50 against a US dollar. Rupee has weakened almost 10 percent since March.

This is the weakest level of rupee recorded so far. The earlier record low of 54.30 to a dollar was hit in mid-December last year.

The partially convertible rupee also hit a record closing low of 54.49 to a dollar. The rupee had closed at 53.78 against a dollar Tuesday.

Blaming the eurozone crisis for the economic slowdown, the sharp drop in the stock markets and rupee, Mukherjee asserted that India’s growth story was intact and the government was taking measures to revive growth and attract overseas investments.

“Yes, we are concerned that our GDP growth has come down. It will be 6.9 percent in 2011-12, some are saying that it might be even low,” Mukherjee said.

Replying to a debate on the Union Budget 2012-13 in the Rajya Sabha, Mukherjee said slowdown in economic growth was a matter of concern but there was no need to press the panic button.

“India’s growth story is intact,” he said.

After the debate, the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament, Wednesday returned the Appropriation Bill and Finance Bill, 2012, to the Lok Sabha.

Mukherjee said crisis in the eurozone, especially in Greece, was causing uncertainty in India and other developing countries as well.

“India cannot ignore the global economic situation,” Mukherjee said while referring to the plunge in stock markets.

The finance minister emphasised that he was not trying to pass on the blame to someone else.

“Don’t think that I am trying to pass on the buck elsewhere. The buck stops at me, I agree. I am owning the responsibility… but we shall have to keep in mind that this is a difficult world,” he said.

Continued sell-off by the foreign institutional investors led to almost two percent slump in the country’s benchmark indices.

The benchmark Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange slumped below 16,000-point mark Wednesday. The Sensex closed 1.83 percent down at 16,030.09 points.

The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 1.71 percent down at 4,858.25 points.

Referring to Vodafone tax row, the finance minister said he welcomed foreign investments but would not allow the country to be a tax haven.

“Yes, I want FDI, I have taken a series of measures to FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and FII (Foreign Institutional Investment),” he said.

Later, talking to reporters, Mukherjee said he has directed officials in his ministry to look at what could be done to bring more fiscal discipline.

New Delhi, May 16

The matter came up during discussions that Indian officials held with Carlos Pascual, the US special envoy for international energy affairs, here Tuesday.

“The possibility of export of shale gas in liquefied form from the US to India was also discussed. We understand that it is expected the US will positively respond to it,” India’s external affairs ministry (MEA) officials said Wednesday.

Pascual led a US delegation, which met a composite Indian team led by MEA Joint Secretary (Americas) Jawed Ashraf and which included officials from the petroleum and natural gas, new and renewable energy resources, and power ministries and the Planning Commission.

Pascual was here to discuss alternate sources of crude supplies to India, and his visit came within a week of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip when she had raised the issue of India’s oil imports from Iran and expressed the hope that these would be reduced.

However, India has been regularly reducing its oil imports from Iran over the last few years, keeping its refineries’ technical-commercial considerations in mind.

The Indian request to the US for shale gas supplies came while India’s Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R.P.N. Singh informed the Rajya Sabha Tuesday that India has substantially reduced oil imports from Iran.

R.P.N Singh told parliament that India imported 18.50 million tonnes of crude from Iran in 2010-11, which came down to 17.44 million tonnes in 2011-12. He also said the target has been fixed at 15.5 million tonnes for 2012-13.

An MEA official pointed out that there had been a steady “diminishing” in crude oil imports from Iran. He noted that in 2008-09, India had imported 21.8 million tonnes of crude, which came down to 21.2 million tonnes in 2009-10.

“We could not have anticipated what was going to happen in June 2012 when these reductions in imports were made,” he said, seeking to delink the decision to reduce imports from Iran and the US requests for the same following its sanctions against Iran.

India has made it clear that it adhered to all United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iran regarding its nuclear weapons programme and not to sanctions announced by individual countries.

The US had in March imposed sanctions, which threaten to shut out imports of Iran oil from the US financial system. The US has set a deadline of June-end for nations to significantly cut their oil imports from Iran.

However, it has exempted nations like Japan and 10 European Union members, while India, along with China, continues to remain at the risk of US sanctions.

During their discussions with Pascual, India explained the long-term projections of India’s energy needs, including key suppliers of oil and natural gas and the possible external energy sources in Africa, North America and Southeast Asia, according to the MEA official.

The US official also made a presentation on how the global energy market is likely to emerge in the future.

India is currently importing crude oil from 30 countries. It informed the US delegation about incentives being provided on renewable energy sources.

Pascaul is in Mumbai Wednesday to meet Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) officials and other financial institutions.

Kolkata, May 16

“In a step toward greater transparency, we are trying to introduce the e-auction system,” WBHIDCO chairman and managing director Debashis Sen said here.
West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corp,WBHIDCO
Bids will be invited for setting up restaurants, shops and other utility services. The department will use internal systems to carry out the auction.

Sen also said the state was planning to make land owners participants in the project to avoid the acquisition route.

“We are trying to operate a minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations in Europe and the US,” a senior Air India official with the operations arm told.

“We have clubbed Delhi-Paris flights with those of Delhi-JFK (John F. Kennedy airport at New York). So, the flight has left Delhi and will land in Paris and then go onwards to New York and from there back to Delhi. We are monitoring the situation and informing the passengers in advance.”

The carrier’s low-cost international wing, Air India Express, cancelled four flights. The ongoing strike and subsequent flight cancellations by the airline have disrupted holiday and other travel plans of hundreds of people.

The airline has lost more than Rs.150 crore in the last eight days due to a grounded fleet, ticket cancellations and unused labour.

“The total losses in the week is around Rs.150 crore. We have faced ticket cancellation, unused labour and a bulk of our 777s fleet being grounded,” said the official.

The airline has stopped bookings on some of its ultra long-haul routes till May 15, effectively cancelling more than 15 flights per day to major sectors such as the US, Europe, and some other destinations like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In a related development, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh came under opposition fire in parliament. Singh was served a privilege notice by opposition parties for “making policy statement outside when parliament is in session”.

The notice was given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), and the Left parties.

Basudeb Acharia of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the minister had indicated on a TV channel that Air India would be privatised.

Trouble started for the airline May 8 when pilot-members of the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) took mass sick leave protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The pilots had earlier said they were open to talks. But the government has not till now accepted the offer, saying there would be no negotiations till the pilots returned to work. The airline has also moved petitions in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court.

The apex court will hear the petition along with special leave petition (SLP) filed earlier by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the union of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots. Air India and Indian Airlines were officially merged into a single corporate entity on Feb 27, 2011.

Beijing, May 16 

The country might register a trade surplus in 2012, which will narrow from last year’s trade surplus of $155.14 billion, Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesperson Shen Danyang said at a press conference in Beijing.

“China’s foreign trade will be basically balanced this year with a small surplus,” Xinhua quoted Shen as saying.

As for April’s weak trade data, shrinking external demand, rising labour and raw material costs and increasing trade frictions weighed on export growth, Shen added.

“The external demand was worse than expected. Demand from the European Union [EU], the country’s biggest trade partner, dropped significantly,” he said.

China’s exports to the EU dropped two percent year-on-year in April, according to official data.

Slowing domestic demand, a moderation in the processing trade and falling global commodity prices slowed China’s import growth in April, Shen noted.

China’s exports rose 4.9 percent year-on-year in April, down from the 8.9-percent increase registered in the previous month. Import growth fell to 0.3 percent from 5.3 percent in March.

The country’s trade surplus expanded to $18.4 billion last month.

New Delhi, May 16 

“This is for the first time that Indian planners have decided to engage stakeholders at the state level through a consultation process in a bid to ensure successful implementation of the manufacturing plan,” said FISME president V.K. Agarwal.

The plan has outlined strategies for accelerating growth of manufacturing in India during the 12th Plan period and beyond. As the leading representative of Indian MSMEs, FISME was a member of the Steering Committee that provided overall guidance and strategic direction to the process of development of the plan, a FISME statement said.

“As a member of the steering committee, FISME took a leading role in emphasising that since the success of the Plan to deliver desired outcomes critically depended on implementation at the state level, the consultation process must engage states as well,” Agarwal said.

“The steering committee and the Planning Commission found merit in the view and this stakeholder consultation is an outcome of that,” he added.

The underlying objectives of the 12th Plan are the same as those outlined in the National Manufacturing Plan introduced in 2011 with the key goal being to give a boost to Indian manufacturing and increase its share in the national GDP to 25 percent by 2025 and create 100 million new jobs.

“It was felt that a new approach was needed as the share of Indian manufacturing has continued to languish at a low level of 16 percent of GDP despite the last two decades of high rates of growth following the economic liberalisation of 1991,” Agarwal said.

In fact, the Plan document states: “In line with the new paradigm, a widely consultative and inclusive approach was adopted to prepare the manufacturing industry roadmap under the Twelfth Plan.”

While outlining the immediate next steps for implementing the plan, the document said, among other things, “Take the plan to the States: Much of the implementation of the Manufacturing Plan will be in the States. Therefore, State governments, and stakeholders in the States must be
engaged.”

“The new approach of wider stakeholder consultations to ensure more effective implementation is first being tried out in India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, which is now lagging in industrialisation despite being one of the top industrial states in the past,” the FISME president said.

FISME) traces its origin to 1967 when the National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE) was established to promote small industries. In the post-liberalisation era, NAYE along with eight state level associations formed FISME in 1995 to lead Indian SMEs in the new era of economic liberation and globalisation.

New Delhi, May 16 

“We must put everything to ensure foolproof safety of the nuclear plants and we will not compromise on it.

“But at the same time I would respectfully submit it would be harmful for the country’s interest to pass an ordinance in the self-denial that we shall give up the option of having nuclear power,” the prime minister said during question hour in the Lok Sabha.

He said there was no compromise when it came to the question of safety.

“We have 19 functional reactors and there has never been any accident. After Fukushima, I ordered a complete revisit to all the reactors and those reports are on the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) website.”

He said India must keep the option of nuclear power as an additional source of power.

“We are not in a situation like Japan, where large amount of power comes from nuclear plants … France also has large number of nuclear power plants. We must keep the nuclear power as an additional source,” he added.

Washington, May 16 

India with a Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI) score of 3.08 was ranked 46th in the World Bank’s latest survey on trade logistics with Singapore with a score of 4.12 listed as the top performer among the 155 economies included in the report.

Countries like India, Chile, China, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey and the US all improved their previous performance, according to the study, which is based on a comprehensive world survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers.

According to the LPI report, high income economies dominate the top logistics rankings, while the economies with the worst performance are least developed countries that are also often landlocked, small islands, or post-conflict states. In the upper-middle income country category, top performers include South Africa, China and Turkey.

In the lower middle income category, India, Morocco and the Philippines have above average performance improvements. And among low-income countries, outperformers included Benin, Malawi and Madagascar.

“Infrastructure stands out as the chief driver of progress in top performers, followed by improvements in logistics services, and customs and border management,” said Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank’s international trade department.

“All top performers show strong cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a comprehensive approach in the development of services, infrastructure and efficient logistics.”

Only by fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, and by considering the impact of all agencies on the supply chain can a country create sustainable improvements in its logistical capabilities, the study suggested.

The former President of India, Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam a releasing the NCDC Anthem at the National Conference on Cooperatives for the celebration of International Year of Cooperatives, 2012, in New Delhi on May 15, 2012. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing Industries and Parliamentary Affairs, Harish Rawat and the Secretary, Agriculture & Cooperation, P.K. Basu are also seen.

SAY GOODBYE TO EATING HABITS

By Proloy Bagchi

New Delhi, May 16 : A time seems to have come when people should give up cooking. A recent report warned that a domestic LPG cylinder is soon going to cost Rs. 996, virtually a thousand rupees, for those who have an income of over Rs.6 lakhs per annum. The Standing Committee on matters relating to the Petroleum Ministry has made the recommendation indicating that those who are rich should not be supplied the subsidised LPG.

For all one knows, the recommendation may even get accepted regardless of the fact that identification of those who are in receipt of the specified income is going to be a tough proposition. If implemented, only the salaried class would get trapped while others, who are professionals, traders and self-employed, etc. and have to declare their own incomes (which most don’t do entirely) are likely to continue to get subsidised LPG.

Indeed, the scenario that is unfolding is quite frightful. As the rupee continues to lose value vis-a-vis the dollar one cannot really imagine where all this is going to end up. In another year or two a LPG cylinder could hit Rs. 2000 taking it well beyond the reach of many. With the growing trade gap, rising fiscal deficit, astronomical sums poured into the social sector (mostly siphoned off) and flight of foreign investment from the country things have gone from bad to worse. Dollars have become so scarce in the foreign exchange market that the currency has been constantly appreciating against the rupee – one of the major factors which have made prices of petro-products go through the roof.

For the past few decades, LPG has been the standard domestic fuel and has been instrumental in changing urban lifestyle. Modern Indian kitchens are not made for the kind of fuel that, for example, my mother used to use – soft coke, fire wood and cow-dung cakes. Besides, they have disappeared from most cities and towns. Unfortunately, for an urban household currently there is no alternative to LPG except electricity as energy source. That, too, has been becoming expensive virtually every year.

With the distribution companies unable to check persistent power theft and the prevailing rampant corruption in their ranks power tariffs are hiked annually. Using electrical appliances of high-wattage is, therefore, beyond the reach of many middle-class households. One could perhaps tap solar power but not all houses get enough sunshine. In rural areas women and children forage around for fire wood, dried twigs or whatever, being unable to afford even the subsidised LPG. Only the rural rich now can afford kerosene or LPG. Soon they too may have to give these up as the Government progressively loosens its hold over fuel pricing.

Well, cooking food at home may soon become a thing of the past. That will be a great tragedy. Indians cannot do without food cooked at home. Besides, influenced as they have been over hundreds of years by different cultures, the recipes are such that the food has to be cooked in oil and fried with colourful and aromatic spices. Every meal, from breakfast to lunch and from afternoon snacks to dinner, has to be cooked. If cooking fuel becomes unaffordable, Indians wouldn’t know what to do. Very few Indians can survive on raw vegetables or processed meats. In fact, in many regions of the south and the east none would ever have raw vegetables barring tomatoes and onions. Westerners, perhaps, can manage with their salads and mass-produced cold cuts, but not us Indians.

Then, there is another emerging problem. Even if one is able to somehow manage the fuel the question that remains is what does one cook – prices of everything edible having gone impossibly high? For instance, the cost of edible oil and vegetables haa skyrocketed. Prices seldom come down even in the season when availability peaks. What is more, there are hardly any seasonal vegetables now which, in season, used to be cheap. Every vegetable, whether of summer or winter, is available right through the year. Hence one finds okra in winter and cauliflower in summers – thanks to advancement in horticulture and a little more easy availability of cold-storage facilities.

However, prices always rule high despite the fact that India is one of the top producers of vegetables in the world. According to Ministry of Agriculture figures, India is at the top of the world in production of peas, second in production of aubergines, cabbages, cauliflowers and onions and third in potatoes and tomatoes. Yet, the prices rule high because of middlemen and the evil of cartelisation. While middlemen push up the prices of all food items –vegetables, lentils and food grains – cartels don’t allow the prices to come down. Farmers and consumers are at the receiving end of their intervention.

Some farmers, however, have fortunately become smart. They have taken to injecting chemicals into vegetables to ripen them quickly to get a better turnover. That, in the process, they inject toxins which, on ingestion, could be a health hazard is of no concern to them. This aberration is of recent origin but has continued unchecked for want of effective governance. Likewise, colouring agents and sweeteners are routinely injected in fruits such as papaya, watermelon, melon, pomegranate, etc. Wellness-gurus recommend steady consumption of fruits and vegetables without realising that most of them carry contaminants that could prove to be toxic.

In any case, the prices have shot up to such astronomical heights that they have become unaffordable for a large section of the population. Supplies may not be matching the demand, stimulated as it is by rising incomes but, if one goes by advertisements, fresh vegetables and fruits are also being increasingly used in manufacturing of cosmetics – moisturisers, fairness creams, feeding the craze for a fairer complexion. No wonder, even the lowly banana, once a fruit for penniless sadhus wandering in the wildernesses for moksha, are going for Rs.40 a dozen.

Non-vegetarian food, too, has not remained behind. In a decade-and-a-half mutton prices have shot up five-fold, from Rs.60 a kilo to Rs.300. The same has been the case for fish and poultry. While fish could carry deadly heavy metals, poultry in many parts has been detected with heavy dosage of harmful antibiotics. Nonetheless, once again the rise of the middle classes has fuelled the demand that has further been stoked by television channels showing foodies cooking and hogging non-vegetarian stuff. The way things are going, soon non-vegetarian food may become unaffordable for a vast segment.

The country has certainly witnessed rapid GDP growth. But, so have the prices of fuel and edibles risen exponentially in tandem. Largely a poor country, with widespread hunger and malnourishment, no wonder India is scraping the bottom of several social sector indices. —INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

New Delhi, May 15 

“The target fixed for import of crude oil from Iran for the year 2012-13 is approximately 15.5 million tonnes,” Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R.P.N. Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

Total crude oil imported from Iran by Indian companies during 2010-11 and 2011-12 was 18.50 million tonnes and 17.44 million tonnes, respectively, Singh said in a written reply.

India imports 80 percent of its crude oil requirements of which Iran supplies as much as 12 percent.

Iran is India’s second largest oil supplier. But the US has been rallying for reduction of crude imports to force the Islamic republic to stop its military nuclear programme that Tehran says is only for civilian peaceful usage

The US suspects that under the guise of its peaceful nuclear programme, Iran is building atomic weapons.

Earlier, India had maintained that it was not possible to take any decision on reducing imports from Iran drastically as it was important in meeting India’s growing energy needs.

Earlier this month in an interview to a television channel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also said that the United States will work to help India with technical assistance to reduce its dependence on Iranian oil.

Governor of Maharashtra K. Sankaranarayanan and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan met the President of Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.

“The cabinet has decided to set up a residential school for the SC, ST, OBC and Muslim students in order to provide them adequate opportunities to excel in studies,” Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said here after a cabinet meeting.

An agreement to this effect will be signed by the Department of Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

KISS is running the biggest residential institute for tribal children in South Asia where 10,000 tribal children are provided residential facilities and education from kindergarten (KG) to post-graduate (PG) level.

“After visiting the institute, it was felt that the experiment could be replicated in Delhi in order to bring SC/ST/OBC/Muslim students at par with other students by providing holistic quality education,” Dikshit told reporters.

Experienced teachers from KISS would impart education in an innovative manner. The school will be managed by the KISS.

An existing school premises at Ishapur would be renovated by the Public Works Department (PWD) as per specification provided by KISS.

The government will provide infrastructure and financial assistance for running the school for five years and after that, the school is expected to be self-sustaining.

New Delhi/Mumbai, May 15 

The airline scrapped 14 international flights on the seventh day of the agitation Monday while its low-cost international wing, Air India Express, cancelled four flights. The carrier’s domestic operations have been in disarray.

“The total losses in the week is around Rs.100 crore. We had to face ticket cancellation, unused labour and an entire grounded fleet of our 777s. We also have to cancel 14 flights for the day,” a senior Air India official with the operations arm, told.

He said the contingency plan would be implemented “within two or three days” whereby a guaranteed minimum international operation will be on. “We are monitoring the situation and informing the passengers in advance.”

The airline has stopped bookings on some of its ultra long-haul routes till May 15, effectively cancelling more than 15 flights per day to major sectors such as the US, Europe, and some other destinations like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Air India had grounded the bulk of its 17 Boeing 777 aircraft. Maintaining the grounded aircraft add further to its expenditure.

Meanwhile, the five independent directors of the company met at a meeting here supported the management’s decision to sack pilots and derecognise their union, the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).

Earlier during the day, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh reiterated that the pilots should come back to work after which all their issues will be discussed.

Asked about the IPG pilots coming to meet him, Singh said: “There was no information, no meeting. My PA (personal assistant) told me they had come but there was no plan. I was not aware. I didn’t know they came and went away.”

Singh had Sunday regretted the move by the government to merge the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India and had said there should have been due diligence before that.

Trouble started for the airline May 8 when pilots belonging to IPG took mass sick leave protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The pilots had earlier said they were open to talks. But the government has not till now accepted the offer, saying there would be no negotiations till the pilots returned to work.

The airline has also moved petitions in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. The apex court will hear the petition along with special leave petition (SLP) filed earlier by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the union of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots.

New Delhi, May 15

The monthly inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) was 9.74 percent during the corresponding month of previous year.

In the monthly report, the commerce and industry ministry revised upward the February inflation figure to 7.36 percent as compared to 6.95 percent reported earlier.

Food inflation surged into double-digit. Food inflation rose to 10.49 percent in April as compared to 9.94 percent in the previous month as vegetables, pulses, milk, egg, meat and fish became costlier, pinching the pockets of common people.

Food inflation has re-entered the double-digit zone after a gap of six months.

Expressing concern over the rise in food prices, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called for institutional reforms in agricultural marketing to address the problem.

“Food inflation is a matter of concern, particularly it has reached the double-digit,” Mukherjee told reporters while reacting on the monthly data.

“Food inflation can be tackled by creating storing facilities and cold chain and also is required the institutional reforms in the agricultural marketing,” the finance minister said.

Prices of vegetables surged by 60.97 percent year-on-year. Potato price more than doubled. Milk became costlier by 15.51 percent. Prices of egg, meat and fish rose by 17.54 percent. Pulses became costlier by 11.29 percent.

Price of manufactured products increased by 5.12 percent year-on-year, while price of fuel and power grew by 11.03 percent.

The recent data showed that India continued to face the problem of high inflationary pressure and low growth.

As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office last week, India’s industrial output shrank by 3.5 percent in March due to poor show of manufacturing and mining sectors. It was is the first contraction in the factory output since October 2011, when it shrank by 4.7 percent.

The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had registered a growth of 4.1 percent in February year-on-year.

Taking cues from the moderation in inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual monetary policy for 2012-13, announced April 17, lowered the key policy rates by 0.50 percent for the first time in three years.

Reacting on the monthly data chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council C. Rangarajan said the rise in inflationary pressure would limit the scope of any further rate cut by the central bank.

The plan was approved at a meeting of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in New Delhi Monday, a state government spokesman said here.

The spokesman said that the approved plan outlay included a one-time additional central assistance of Rs.480 crore for the implementation of priority projects especially in the water sector.

At an earlier officers-level meeting last month, the Planning Commission had decided to fix Punjab’s annual plan at Rs.12,800 crore. Following the intervention of Chief Minister Badal, the plan was finally approved for Rs.14,000 crore, the spokesman said.

On the personal request of the chief minister, the Planning Commission gave in principle approval to creation of industrial infrastructure in the border districts and training youth in specialised skills, a cancer research centre for Malwa region, greater access to central funds in irrigation and rural development and other things, the spokesman said.

Taking part in the deliberations, the chief minister called for drastic recasting of the planning process in the country and said that the unitary form of governance, besides the centralized and top down approach to planning had brought the country to the brink of an explosive situation in which one third of the country was afflicted by conditions of insurgency, Maoism and other forms of violence, said the spokesman, quoting Badal.

Badal pleaded for decentralisation of planning process at the level of the states and sought that states be given greater power ­to adress their respective issues. He said that faulty planning in the last 65 years had led to the country still being one of the poorest in the world.

Badal pointed out that despite the biggest contribution by Punjab in the country’s freedom struggle, various wars fought after independence and being the biggest food grains provider in the country, Punjab had never got its due share from the central government.

He said that despite its contribution, Punjab continued to get funds and support based on its small size and population.

Badal alleged that faulty planning of the central government had pushed Punjab into a debt trap of Rs.77,585 crore. He said that the huge debt of Rs.35,000 crore on Punjab farmers be waived immediately.

Hosted by Fairfax County, a Washington suburb in Virginia and Fairfax-based George Mason University, the summit for US-India Trade & Economics (SUITE 2012) will be the third IACC summit in the US and the first outside New York City.

During SUITE 2012, attendees will meet with senior US government commerce and trade officials and Indian government officials in Washington, DC.

They will also tour Fairfax County facilities and communities and network with Indian-American business leaders whose businesses have invested and created jobs in Fairfax County.

“SUITE 2012 will provide an opportunity for the Indian business community to explore and leverage potential synergies with the US as a strategic business partner,” said R.K. Chopra, secretary general of the IACC.

“Fairfax County-with its vibrant business community focusing on IT, telecom, defence, aerospace and energy efficiency management-has provided us with an excellent platform to develop and expand business relationships with the US”

“I am honoured to welcome the IACC delegation to Fairfax County and Virginia,” said Gerald L. Gordon, president and CEO, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA), a supporting partner for the summit.

“Indian companies develop world-class products and services, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to show off Fairfax County as a great location for them to locate and expand in the US market,” he said.

More than two dozen companies from India have a presence in Fairfax County.

WHAT’S THERE TO CELEBRATE?

By Poonam I Kaushish

New Delhi, May 15 : Politicians are those who can circumvent even God. This truism rang true as the curtain rang down on the day-long celebrations of completing 60 years of Parliament Sunday last. Underscoring, that politics is the last refuge of scoundrels!

Sadly, if one looked forward to some introspection, a little bit of soul searching of how the Parliamentary legacy of our great leaders is today replete with criminals, scams and systems failure, one was mistaken. True, there were a plethora of syrupy speeches and tokenism interspersed with upholding Parliament’s legacy and making the red sandstone building truly the high temple of democracy (sic). Culminating in a chorus of Vande Matram and Jai Hind.

Questionably, none had the time to ponder and ask: What were they celebrating?  That in their ‘collective wisdom’ all had desecrated and vandalized Parliament? Of how the very protectors continue to destroy and denigrate this temple day in and day out? Wherein myopic partisan politics recklessly paralyses both Houses, at a drop of a hat? Or how the aam aadmi’s aspirations have been reduced to perspiration and one-upmanship?  Turning the voice of the masses into an invoice for themselves — money, power and kursi?

Indeed, Parliament has changed greatly since the Nehru era. The first Prime Minister’s respect for Parliament as an institution was as deep-rooted as his faith in the democratic process. Parliament symbolised for him the power of the people and he was zealous in guarding its dignity. In distressing contrast to the approach and outlook of many among the powers that-be at present, as well as during the past three decades.

Gone are the days when the sittings were orderly and members would pour over voluminous files before raising issues. When interventions were meticulously planned and clarifications sought. The fifties, the sixties and the early seventies. Then came Raj Narain in the late 70s and Kalpnath Rai as the Congress-I answer to him, not long thereafter. The shouting brigade in the 80’s zero hour. The era of no-holds barred politics. The practice of rushing to the well of the house and of browbeating the chair— with the party bosses sitting non-challantly and not intervening. A steady downhill.

Today, politically motivated bashing has become the raging cult — the new order. The sound and fury generated is largely for self gain which has replaced law making. Wherein legislative agenda is a luxury to be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Mockery is made of established conventions and procedures. Thus, Parliament has declined sadly and has come to mean less and less in national governance. Remaining sovereign only in name thereby spotlighting the basic contempt that our netagan have for this democratic temple.

The skeptics who harbour doubts have only to witness the ongoing Budget session, replete with lung-power, unabashed dadagiri and adjournments to score brownie points and catch the headlines. Last week, a cartoon on Ambedkar on a snail with Nehru holding a whip reflecting the slow Constituent Assembly deliberations on the Constitution featuring in NCERT school books by India’s renowned cartoonist Shanker along-with Home Minister Chidambaram Aircel Maxis scam led to repeated stalling of both Houses.

Symptomatic of the abysmal depths to which politics has sunk in our country. Nothing illustrates this better that the shenanigans on the Lokpal Bill. After 11 hours of debate at the stroke of midnight just when the Rajya Sabha was ready to vote on the Bill, a RJD MP rushed into the well raising slogans, thumped the Chairman’s table, snatched the Bill tore it into shreds and threw it into the air leading to scuffles and a free for all ending his siege only when the House was adjourned. Why so touchy on being called murderers and thugs?

Sadly drifting seems to be our Right Honourables new style and philosophy. Where principles are discarded like a bitch in heat. Where everything is game for personal gains. Screw the national interest. The popular passwords are “I”, “today”, “grab the opportunity” and “let the others go to hell”. Relegating to the background their primary task — enacting legislation and scrutinising the Government’s expenditure. By thumbing their nose at their greatest power over the treasury, the House simply guillotines demands for grants running into lakhs of crores due to “lack of time” year after year. Even Constitution Amendments are voted in less than a couple of hours! Sic.

The figures speak for themselves. The first Lok Sabha had the maximum number of 677 sittings; the 12th Lok Sabha (1998-99) had the lowest at 88. The fifth Lok Sabha (1971-77) met for the highest duration of 4071 hours while the 12th Lok Sabha (1998-99) for just 575 hours. In the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004), 455 hours were lost in disruptions; in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09) 423 hours were lost

While the first Lok Sabha spent 49.80 per cent of its time on enacting legislation, it came down sharply to 17.38 per cent in the Tenth to a miniscule in the Fifteenth House. Thanks to the maximum time being spent on “other matters” (only four per cent in the first House). The House sittings too have reduced from 100 to 75 every year. The tragedy becomes stark when one realizes that every minute lost in Parliament costs Rs. 2 lakhs.

If truth be told, we have not understood the basic concept of Parliamentary democracy which is Government by discussion in Parliament to serve the best interest of the nation, not any one Party. Whereby, both Government and Opposition have to compromise and accommodate. The Government’s prerogative is to bring legislation but the Opposition has the right to initiate discussions of its choice and forward bills. In UK, this right is conceded fully to the Opposition and exercised by it.

Where do we go from here? Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to rectifying the flaws in our system and urgently overhauling it. Rules have to be drastically changed to put Parliament back on the rails and ensure that none can hold the two Houses to ransom. We should do what was done by Britain almost two decades ago: set up a Select Committee on Procedure to suggest radical reforms to meet the present day needs.

The aam aadmi can no longer mortgage his conscience to unabashed gimmickry and goondaism? Stand as a mute spectator while Parliament gets vandalized by our jan sevaks. No. If the netagan are not willing to remedy matters, the public may feel constrained to take the law into its own hands.

As a Chinese saying goes in every crises lies an opportunity and as our netas celebrate 60 years they need to turn the wheel full circle, back to making Parliament relevant and authoritative. For that our Right Honourables need to answer just one question: Whose Parliament is it?  Theirs or of the people’s? Else reconcile to what former President Giri once described India’s democracy: Of devils and fixers. What gives? —– INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

New Delhi/Mumbai, May 14 

“We have cancelled around 14 flights for the day. The contingency plan will be implemented within two or three days whereby a guaranteed minimum international operations will be operated,” a senior Air India official with the Operations Arm told.

“We are monitoring the situation and informing the passengers in advance.”

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had Sunday regretted the move by the government to merge the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India and had said there should have been due diligence.

Trouble started for the airline May 8 when pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) took mass sick leave protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Kathmandu, May 14

There were differing accounts of the dead and the injured. Xinhua news agency said that 17 bodies have been found and four people have been rescued. However, myrepublica.com said that 15 people were killed and six have been rescued.

The aeroplane belonging to Agni Air crashed in Jomsom in western Nepal, known for its splendid mountain views and the starting point for major trekking routes, at about 9.45 a.m. Monday.

Seven bodies of Indians have been found near the crash site, myrepublica.com said in an initial report.

The plane was flying from Pokhara, a major tourist destination, to Jomsom, a distance of about 60 km.

Pramod Pandey, marketing director of Agni Air, said there were 16 Indians on board and that there were six survivors.

The plane had taken off from Pokhara airport at 9.30 a.m. and crashed 15 minutes later on a cliff, while it was about to return to Pokhara following a technical glitch, Yogendra Kunwar, assistant manager at traffic control room in Pokhara airport, was quoted as saying.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Gynanedra Singh Bhandari told Xinhua that the plane crashed behind the army barracks.

He also said that police and army were conducting rescue operations along with stand-by flights to carry the injured.

He added that the quick response operation could be launched as it crashed near the army barracks.

Myrepublica.com quoted Laxmi Raj Sharma, chief district officer of Mustang, as saying that 15 bodies had been recovered, including the bodies of pilot Prabhu Sharan Pathak and co-pilot J.D. Maharjan.

Six passengers, including three children, two foreigners and an air hostess R. Haiju, were rescued.

Those rescued were in a critical condition.

Nepalnews.com said that the passengers were going to Jomsom to pay a visit to Muktinath, a popular pilgrimage site both Hindus and Buddhists.

Monday’s aircrash took place at Jomsom which is the starting point for treks like the Kagbeni, Marpha, Muktinath and Mustang treks.

Jomsom is the capital and administration headquarters of Mustang district, which stretches from the Tibetan border to Ghasa along the Kali Gandaki River. The deepest gorge in the world lies here along the Kali Gandaki as the river passes between two eight thousanders, Mt Annapurna and Mt Dhaulagiri.

The tragedy was a reminder of the Sep 25, 2011 aircrash in which all 19 people, mostly Indian tourists, were killed after a small plane carrying them crashed close to capital city Kathmandu.

The small aircraft, belonging to domestic airline Buddha Air, was flying mostly tourists on a mountain flight in northern Nepal when it crashed in Kotdanda in Lalitpur district, close to Kathmandu.

Agni Air, which began operations March 16, 2006 with one Dornier Do-228 aircraft, is now operating six aircraft, 3 Dornier-228 Aircrafts built in German and 3 Jetstream-41 built in Britain to various domestic sectors, its website said.

It flies to the popular tourist destinations such as Lukla, Tumlingtar, Biratnagar, Bhadrapur, Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Jomsom.

The President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil releasing the coins in denominations of Rs.5/- and Rs.10/-, at the function to mark the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of the Parliament of India, in Central Hall of Parliament House, in New Delhi on May 13, 2012. The Vice President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Mohd. Hamid Ansari, the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh are also seen.

IRAN MUDDIES WATERS

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

 New Delhi, May 14 : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent stopover in India after attending the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing was spadework for the upcoming India-US Strategic Dialogue to be held next month in Washington D.C. An opportunity to inspect the nuts and bolts of ties being sold as ‘one of the defining partnerships of the 21^st century’.

Secretary Clinton true to style used public relations to her advantage, reaching out to a cross section of society at a town hall style inter-active session in Kolkata, besides her political meetings that included one with fiery Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

True, Indo-US relations are on an upswing, reaching a stage of maturity wherein both countries are comfortable enough to air their differences over contentious issues like Iran which seemed to occupy the centre-stage during her visit. Other recurring issues of importance were terrorism, Pakistan, Afghan war, civilian nuclear cooperation and economic matters like outsourcing and protectionism.

Importantly, differences over Iran is one area where the two countries would have to walk a tightrope. Despite comforting each other that both were on the same page vis-à-vis their policies towards Iran, what stood out was that the foreign policy goals and the means to achieve them are definitely divergent.

From New Delhi’s eyes, given India’s increasing need for energy and it’s geo-strategic and economic interests in the Persian Gulf, it is imperative to maintain ties with Iran. At the same time, one can hardly ignore the mounting US pressure to cooperate and join in increasing sanctions against an Iranian Government long suspected of harboring nuclear weapon ambitions.

New Delhi concurs with Washington in opposing Tehran’s nuclear weapon ambition but differs on the means adopted to stop them. As Secretary Clinton underscored, Washington believes that Iran came to the negotiating table because of “unrelenting pressure of international sanctions” which “must stay on” to achieve a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Although, India’s official statements tells Iran to come clean on its non-proliferation treaty’s (NPT) obligations and comply with international standards, it does not believe in tightening the screws too hard against Tehran. During his meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made plain to Secretary Clinton that India would be guided by national interests when it came to securing its energy supplies.

Pertinently, even as India is reducing its oil imports from Iran marginally, it is denying any comfort to the Americans. Asserted Foreign Minister SM Krishna this is more a commercial decision taken by the refineries. Thus, ending any chance of the US assuming that it was a step towards aligning more with it. According to sources, details regarding India’s energy ties with Iran are likely to come up during an upcoming visit by US Special Envoy for global energy issues Carlos Pasqat later this month.

Additionally, continuing western sanctions against Iran especially in banking facilities have made it difficult for energy related transactions between Delhi and Tehran.  Secretary Clinton during her interactions also emphasised on the feasibility of TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) pipeline project which envisions transporting oil and gas from Central Asia to India and beyond. Recall, the much talked about IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) pipeline went in to deep freeze thanks to mounting American pressure against it.

But, New Delhi seems to be in no mood to scale down its ties with this Persian Gulf State which possesses some of the largest reserves of oil and natural gas in the world and occupies a critical geo-political landmass in the Middle East.

Instead, India is well on its way to increase its commercial engagement with Iran through a bilateral preferential trade pact. A high-level trade delegation from Tehran visiting New Delhi simultaneously with Secretary Clinton, commented that India-Iran should work together whether “others like or do not like it…”

Towards that end, a study for a preferential trading agreement with Iran has been officially commissioned which could be seen as an effort to diversify trade ties beyond the more traditional and controversial energy sector. New Delhi is also reportedly considering Iran’s permission to open a branch of Persian Bank in Mumbai. Consequently, the Persian tangle is far from over and Indo-US strategic partnership would be severely tested over this issue as both countries are equally determined on safeguarding their respective national interests.

Besides, the ubiquitous issue of terrorism and Pakistan was another important agenda during the visit. Secretary Clinton sought to clear the confusion on the issue of the so-called “bounty” over Hafiz Saeed.  She highlighted that Washington had authorized a $10 million award but it was not meant as any bounty, but a reward for information that could lead to his arrest or conviction. Notwithstanding, the reward for justice itself is a contradiction.

Significantly, New Delhi again reiterated that that it has given Islamabad all dossiers of information on those involved in the Mumbai attacks, but Pakistani authorities have failed to act. Questionably, by announcing a reward for information on Hafiz Saeed, is Washington hinting that New Delhi’s information is not enough? In that case, does it support Islamabad’s contention that India has not given enough information?

Obviously, there are many grey areas here and there needs to be some sort of consensus between the two Governments against Hafiz Saeed who freely engages in anti-India rhetoric by organising anti-India rallies in Pakistan.

Moreover, the geo-strategic convergences and divergences are just a part of the whole picture. India and the US cooperate and collaborate intensively on a range of areas which do not attract much media attention like New Delhi’s $5 million contribution to a joint initiative with USAID Millenium Alliance, a USAID initiative with FICCI for identification and investment in innovation by Indian civil society and academia which is expected to provide solutions to various developmental challenges.

Clearly, as during the Cold War wherein New Delhi and Washington did not share the best of relationships, there are lingering skeptics on both sides of the fence. For cynics in the US, India will always be a reluctant partner and for those on the Indian side, Washington will always be an unreliable power.

Long held suspicions towards US imperialistic policies and India’s non-aligned tendencies would continue to raise heads. Undeniably, the diversity of ties and both countries’ engagements with other nations on various issues through different perspectives would create more challenges in the future.

Bilateral issue of globalisation like outsourcing and FDI in retail sector would continue to grab sound bites however both India and US have developed habits of cooperation which spans diverse sectors. Both micro and macro that will continue to take ties forward despite differences. In sum, US-India relations should be seen as a marathon, and not a sprint. —– INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Key presentations were made on Subsidy & Cess Impact, Performance Overview & Projections of ONGC and Performance Contract (for FY-12) detailing the key highlights and focus points for the respective areas.

These were aimed at fostering a comprehensive understanding of the company’s performance and its immediate priorities as the CMD, Board of Directors and key executives used the platform to deliberate and finalize upon ONGC’s short-term, mid-term and long-term business goals.

“Perspective Plan 2030 which is focused on exploring sustainable growth initiatives for ONGC demands a leadership drive from all of you and that exactly what the theme ‘Strategising today for sustaining growth beyond 2030′ aims to encapsulate”, CMD said concluding his remarks, and also signifying the need for proactive engagement from all concerned in the coming years.

The two leaders are said to have discussed the situation in the Maldives including possible early elections to end unrest that followed the controversial ouster of his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed in February.

Waheed is in India just three weeks after his political rival and predecessor Nasheed came to New Delhi to drum up support for his call for early presidential polls in the Maldives.

Waheed is on a five-day visit of India at the invitation of Manmohan Singh. He is accompanied by his wife Ilham Hussain and a large delegation. They will be in India till May 15.

Nasheed resigned Feb 7 this year in the wake of a mutiny by a section of the Maldivian police force, resulting in Waheed, the vice president, being given the reins of the country.

Earlier Saturday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna called on Waheed at the Taj Palace Hotel and the two were closeted for about an hour, according to external affairs ministry officials.

Waheed will call on President Pratibha Patil Saturday evening.

New Delhi, May 12 

As the agitation entered the fourth day forcing the airline to cancel six more flights, including one of Air India Express, and reschedule over a dozen, Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the steps initiated to resolve the situation.

“If they want to talk, they should come to work, and all issues can be discussed… We are going to take a long-term view,” Singh told reporters after meeting the prime minister in his Parliament House office.

The pilots earlier had said they were open to talks. But the government did not accept the offer saying there would be no negotiations till the pilots returned to work.

Singh said that he informed the prime minister that all efforts are being made to resolve the crisis. “Whatever we are doing is being done as per policies, by talking to everyone involved,” he said.

The minister further said that apart from the Boeing-787 Dreamliner training issue, other aspects of the strike could be resolved soon as the ministry was planning implementation of the Justice Dharmadhikari report which deals with better integration between Air India and Indian Airlines cadres.

“It (Dreamliner) was the original issue when they went on strike. As far as the issue of career progression is concerned, Dharmadhikari report deals with this and similar issues,” Singh said.

“A discussion is on in the ministry on how to implement it. We will talk to the affected people when we implement the report.”

The standoff between the Air India management and the striking pilots had its impact on both houses of parliament Thursday with members saying the agitation was destroying the national airline and sending wrong signals to the world outside.

Trouble started for the airline on Tuesday when pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) – the pre-merger Air India pilots union – took mass sick leave protesting the move by the airline to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The airline has stopped bookings on some of its ultra long-haul routes till May 15, effectively cancelling more than 15 flights per day to major sectors such as the US, Europe, and some other destinations like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Air India also had to ground the bulk of its Boeing 777 fleet.

“We have almost grounded the fleet of 777s. Some are stationed in Mumbai and the rest are in Delhi. Some are operating to destinations like Hong Kong and Shanghai, but it depends on the availability of pilots,” a senior Air India official in the operations arm told.

Apart from losing an estimated Rs.10 crore per day due to the agitation, the company will also have to incur costs on maintaining the grounded aircraft. The airline has 17 B-777 aircraft.

The airline has also moved petitions in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. The apex court will hear the petition along with special leave petition (SLP) filed earlier by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), which is a union of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots.

The airline has till now sacked around 46 pilots in the last few days and derecognised IPG.

New Delhi, May 12 

The demand will reach to 250 million in volume while in value terms, the same will stand at Rs.54,000 crore, the minister told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply, citing Indian Cellular Association (ICA) projected statistics.

According to the estimates, in the year 2012, the demand will reach to 200 million in volume term at a rate of growth of 11 percent, while in value term, the same will stand at Rs.43,000 crore.

The data also said that the demand for mobile handsets in the country has grown by 20 percent to 180 million in 2011 as compared to 150 million for 2010, while in value term the same stands at Rs.38,200 crore in 2011 as compared to Rs.34,500 crore in 2010.

Chennai, May 12 

Announcing this in the state assembly Jayalalithaa said: “With the gas available through the Kochi-Bangalore pipeline a 500 MW power plant at an outlay of Rs.2,000 crore will be set up in the first phase. Over the next five years the project will be expanded involving an outlay of Rs.10,000 crore.”

Gail is laying LNG pipeline between Kochi in Kerala and Bangalore in Karnataka via Tamil Nadu. Around 310 km of pipeline will traverse through the state and Gail would supply gas for industries, vehicles and houses, she said.

The chief minister said Gail was also planning to set up a floating storage degasification unit along the coast at an outlay of Rs.2,500 crore.

Pointing out that the state is mainly dependent on coal and petroleum products for its energy needs she said the government has realised the importance of LNG in fulfilling its energy requirements.

She said the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Oil Corporation to set up a five million tonne per annum LNG terminal here.

Once the LNG terminal goes on stream in 2016 it would feed around 18 million cubic metre of LNG daily for power generation, industries and houses, Jayalalithaa said.

According to Jayalalithaa, the state government would form special purpose vehicles to promote industrial estates in Tuticorin, Vellore and Krishnagiri districts, besides a hub for heavy engineering industries at Ennore.

Lucknow, May 12 

The labour department has already drafted the rules for the allowance. Class X has been set as the basic minimum qualification for a person in UP to be eligible for the allowance.

Under the scheme, each unemployed youth will get Rs.1,000 a month and this will be paid on a quarterly basis, a government official told.

The cabinet has also approved the terms, conditions and eligibility criterion for the unemployed allowance which is for those in the age of 30-40 and who are still unemployed.

The beneficiaries should also be registered in the employement exchange, should be a resident of Uttar Pradesh and should be residing in the state.

The cabinet also decided that such a person who gets the sop should not have family income exceeding Rs.36,000 per annum. His combined family income (including that of father-mother and in-laws) should not exceed Rs.1.5 lakh rupees per annum.

At district level, employment officials under the district magistrates would be responsible for rolling out the funds.

The moment the unemployed beneficiary gets a job, the allowance will be stopped.

To avoid misuse, the cabinet has directed district magistrates and other officials to randomly check the affidavits of the unemployed, a government spokesman said.

Brasilia, May 12 

Vivo, a unit of Spain’s Telefonica; TIM Brasil, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia; Brazil’s Oi; and Mexico City-based regional giant America Movil’s Claro filed the petitions separately Thursday, an Anatel spokesman told EFE.

Sweden’s Ainmt also has challenged the auction, which is aimed at making available spectrum in the 2.5-gigahertz frequency range for use in fourth-generation wireless networks.

Anatel has until June 5 to rule on their petitions, the spokesman said.

However, Brasilia-based Oi, the country’s fourth-largest wireless operator, said it has not challenged the auction plans but rather presented Anatel with a “suggestion” for improving it.

Oi requested that the regulator provide all the competitors with the names of the companies that are not going to compete for two of the lots, a company spokesman told EFE.

Brazil was questioned by the US and the European Union earlier this month before the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures due to equipment makers’ concerns over the domestic-content demands placed on auction participants.

Brazil is requiring companies interested in participating in the auction to submit a minimum bid of 3.85 billion reais (about $1.97 billion).

According to the selection criteria, the winners of the auction will be determined by the highest bids.

The government wants the winners of the auction to provide 4G wireless technology – whose speeds are up to 10-times higher than current levels – beginning next year in the six host cities of the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for June 2013.

They also must provide 4G wireless coverage in the 12 cities that will host World Cup matches in 2014 and then extend coverage to all cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants by the end of 2016.

New Delhi, May 12 : The States are up in arms against the Centre’s laid-back approach. Recovering from the recent rap over the NCTC row, it has now had to face their ire over a simple thing, jute gunny bags. On Wednesday last, the treasury benches in the Lok Sabha were accosted by a united Opposition over the shortage of these bags to farmers for storage and transportation of wheat.

MPs, particularly from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh shared their anguish saying that a large quantity of the new season wheat procured by Government agencies, in the States has been left unpacked in the open, which may lead to spoilage. While the Centre has admitted to the shortage this year, its reason tragically smacks of sheer callousness. The problem, it sought to justify has arisen because of a “record procurement of wheat in MP and UP”. This, unfortunately will not go down well with the farmers, for instead of congratulating them for the record production, the Government seems to hold them guilty! The problem obviously lies elsewhere– wrong and bad planning. To keep its promise of providing the requisite quantity of bags, the Government has decided to import 400,000 gunny bags from Bangladesh to solve the problem before monsoon. Will it or will the farmers face another crisis?
*                *                *                *

Maoists’ Eye South India

Three southern States are in deep trouble. Reports emanating from Delhi suggest that Maoists are spreading their wings in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday, shared its concern with the States stating that the CPI (Maoists), under their ‘South West Regional Bureau’ were busy planning to link the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats. Going beyond their traditional stronghold, the Maoists want to create a base on the border of Karnataka and Kerala and establish a ‘forest route’ between these two. A worried Centre has swung into action. It has promptly alerted the three States, urging them to take ‘preventive and pre-emptive measures’ to stall the impending onslaught. The Reds are obviously eyeing new territories as security operations in the seven States they have a presence in, including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, are  getting difficult to handle, despite their having a success rate in kidnappings. South should pay heed as a stitch in time saves nine.

*                *                *                *
Jharkhand Crash

Jharkhand has rung warning bells for politicians. They had better think twice before setting afoot on a helicopter. On Wednesday last, Chief Minister Arjun Munda had a miraculous escape when his copter crash-landed at Ranchi airport following a technical problem. Munda, his wife and two pilots are recovering in hospital. The CM has been lucky like some others in the past, including Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan who escaped a crash in 2004 in Gujarat, former Chief Minister of Arunachal P K Thungon, former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh (September 2006) and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot (2001). However, lady luck was not on the side of some others who died in crashes including Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Dorjee Khandu, in September 2009 and May last respectively, Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balyogi, March 2002, Haryana Ministers of Power O P Jindal and Agriculture Surendra Singh, March 2005. While the Director General of Civil Aviation has ordered an inquiry into the Ranchi incident, it will do one better if it has a re-look at its safety guidelines and ensure strict adherence.
*                *                *                *
Bengal On US Map

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a rare political encounter early this week. None other than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit in Kolkata. Notwithstanding the criticism of having a poor governance record, the TMC supremo is elated. She claims to have pocketed “a promise” from America that it was selecting the State as its “partner” for investment. However, her critics would take this with a pinch of salt because while Clinton apprised the media that issues such as FDI in retail and the Teesta treaty were on the agenda, Didi claimed none came up. In fact, she may have over-stretched with her claim that Hillary praised her government’s “passion for work” and was happy at the change the State had witnessed after three decades. While only Clinton can confirm this, Mamata is hoping she has been able to sell Bengal as a “major destination for cultural tourism.” Will Hillary keep her word and speak to Chicago Mayor for joint programmes between the two film industries?

*                *                *                *

Bihar Vs Karnataka

Bihar is gravely upset with Karnataka. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken up cudgels with his counterpart Sadanand Gowda, objecting to the way in which Karnataka police led an operation to arrest Indian Mujahideen operative, a lecturer, Kafeel Akthar. What is worse, Nitish insists that his Government should have been kept in the loop before making the arrest. On its part, the southern State defended itself by saying that this was “an exceptional situation” and the information could be given later. However, this does not cut much ice with Bihar, as there is an unwritten code in such operations that the information should be shared between the departments. The question before Nitish is how far can he take his grouse with Karnataka, as is a principal opponent of NCTC as it would cause friction amongst States. Perhaps, his best option is to lodge a complaint with the Centre. Will it suffice?

*                *                *                *
UP, Delhi Homes Controversy

A ‘retirement home’ in Uttar Pradesh and a ‘memorial’ in Delhi can provide a political version of India’s ‘ghar ghar ki kahani’ (story of every home). Former Chief Minister of UP Mayawati has spent a whopping Rs 86 crore of public money on renovating her bungalow in Lucknow. Entitled to a house in 1996, Mayawati started renovating it in 2007, when she became CM. By 2012, she was able to treat herself at least to a palatial home in five acres of prime land having a six-bedroom main house and a 14-bedroom guest house. In Delhi, Speaker Meira Kumar has got a relief of Rs 1.98 crore from the Centre for “use” of a bungalow, which she claims to have vacated in 2006. However, Ministry records show her as an occupant till June 2011. Besides, the Bungalow in question has a board “Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial”, which the Ministry denies is not. Can we be spared all this controversy?

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

The former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented the National Awards on Technology, at the celebration of the Technology Day 2012, in New Delhi on May 11, 2012. The Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Vilasrao Deshmukh is also seen.

The MoU was signed by E. Balkhuu Bataa, Director (Mining & Heavy Industry), Policy Dept., Govt. of Mongolia, on behalf of MMRE and Rakesh Kulshreshtha, SAIL Executive Director (Corporate Planning), in the presence of SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel U.P. Singh and other delegates from India and Mongolia.

As per the MoU, MMRE will provide information on iron ore and coal deposits in Mongolia to SAIL and will offer options of locations and size of steel manufacturing facility for pre-feasibility study. A joint pre-feasibility study for setting up of mineral processing facility for iron ore and coal, both coking and thermal, in Mongolia, and downstream steel making facilities for domestic consumption and trade, will be taken up by MMRE and SAIL.

The MoU envisages exploration of opportunities for investments to be made by SAIL either individually or in a consortium with other entities to develop mineral processing/ steel manufacturing facility in Mongolia.

The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma with the German Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development, Dr. Peter Ramsauer, in Berlin on May 10, 2012.

FINALLY GET RECOGNITION

By Dr.S.Saraswathi

(Former Director, ICSSR)

New Delhi, May 11 : India’s over 10 million domestic workers are today finally set to get recognition. A first-ever national policy for these ‘Jack of all trades’ is set to go to the Union Cabinet for approval, entitling them to minimum wages, defined work hours, weekly holiday, paid annual and sick leave and maternity benefits.

Significantly, the thrust of the Draft National Policy for Domestic Workers prepared by the Labour Ministry is to bring servants and naukars under the purview of existing labour laws, which would enable them avail all rights and protection available to other workers. Once approved, domestic workers would be covered by eight existing laws. Namely, Minimum Wages Act, Trade Union Act, Payment of Wages Act, Workmen’s Compensation Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Contract Labour and Equal Remuneration Act.

Once implemented, domestic workers including part-time helps who work in many households would have to register with their respective State labour departments. Which would entitle them to a minimum wage. This varies between States, with the current national floor-level being Rs 115 per day roughly Rs 3,400 a month.

Besides this, the servants would be entitled to annual paid and sick leave. In Delhi, a worker gets privilege leave of not less than 15 days annually and sick or casual leave of not less than 12 days. This is not all. They would get compensation for overtime, social security coverage, protection against abuse and violence, sufficient food and a safe and healthy place to stay.

Women workers would get 12 weeks of maternity leave — six weeks prior to delivery and six weeks post delivery. Also they would be entitled to equal remuneration as men for similar work.

Pertinently, with the servants category expanding fast to provide specialised services like infant and child care, care of the sick and the elderly, cooking, driving, gardening, building maintenance, etc the policy would enable them to form their own trade unions or join any other.

Indeed, the new policy is thanks to various servants associations stepping up pressure demanding speedy ratification and implementation of the recommendations of the International Labour Conference (ILO) governing employment and working conditions of domestic workers held at Geneva in June 2011. Supported by 396 member countries including India it now awaits the Central Government’s ratification.

Undeniably, domestic workers significantly contribute to the economy by providing several kinds of care services.  In fact, families practically depend on their domestic helps for anything and every kind of work, freeing them of indulging in their favourite pastimes and hobbies.

Sadly, however till date these workers continue to remain invisible and under-reported in the labour market, unrecognized in public records including economic reports.  They are marginalised though engaged in work which entitles their employers to enjoy their life and comforts.

Interestingly, many countries do not recognise domestic work as “work” and deny them social and legal protection granted to organized   labour. In India, presently domestic work is treated as “unorganized labour” without any legal security, protection and eligibility for welfare measures.

Furthermore, there is no accurate data on the total number of domestic workers in the world.  Estimates vary from 4 per cent to 10 per cent of total employment in developing countries. According to ILO reports a large proportion of women and girls particularly child labourers’ work as domestic helpers. Though conditions differ from country to country, a common feature about these workers sector is their poverty and helplessness.

In addition, according to the 2001 census about 50 per cent of 80 million inter-State migrants are domestic workers.  A steady stream of rural population from deprived sections and backward areas, largely illiterate and semi-literate, migrate to urban areas individually or with their families. While the men folk enter unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, women and girls end up as domestic workers and roughly constitute over 90 per cent of the total workforce in this sector.

Undoubtedly, with the predominance of women and conspicuous children workers employed in homes it underscores that domestic workers are a part of a much bigger problem. Whereby this widespread invisible women labour and persisting child labour force will not vanish notwithstanding all-out efforts to bring these children into the mainstream.

In sum, the need to regulate domestic work has become urgent because of the increasing number of cases of abuse and ill-treatment of domestic workers not only in India but also by those who take them abroad. Be it via unscrupulous middle men or employers.

Shockingly, many cases of sexual harassment, violence, abuse of   women employees, mostly migrants have come to light. Instances of victimisation at the hands of traffickers/placement agencies and forced migration are a plenty. Women workers abroad are also prone to suffer from loneliness.

Add to this a prevailing atmosphere of mutual suspicions and accusations, whereby employers suspect their domestic helpers of turning informers to burglars and thieves.  Towards that end, the policy rightly stresses the need for registration of placement agencies.

All this is very well, but till the National Domestic Workers Policy is implemented things will continue as they are. Clearly, this needs to be urgently rectified as it is linked with other social development measures. As without this silent domestic workforce many a households would come to a standstill. —- INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Indispensable Domestic Workers

FINALLY GET RECOGNITION

By Dr.S.Saraswathi

(Former Director, ICSSR)

India’s over 10 million domestic workers are today finally set to get recognition. A first-ever national policy for these ‘Jack of all trades’ is set to go to the Union Cabinet for approval, entitling them to minimum wages, defined work hours, weekly holiday, paid annual and sick leave and maternity benefits.

Significantly, the thrust of the Draft National Policy for Domestic Workers prepared by the Labour Ministry is to bring servants and naukars under the purview of existing labour laws, which would enable them avail all rights and protection available to other workers. Once approved, domestic workers would be covered by eight existing laws. Namely, Minimum Wages Act, Trade Union Act, Payment of Wages Act, Workmen’s Compensation Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Contract Labour and Equal Remuneration Act.

Once implemented, domestic workers including part-time helps who work in many households would have to register with their respective State labour departments. Which would entitle them to a minimum wage. This varies between States, with the current national floor-level being Rs 115 per day roughly Rs 3,400 a month.

Besides this, the servants would be entitled to annual paid and sick leave. In Delhi, a worker gets privilege leave of not less than 15 days annually and sick or casual leave of not less than 12 days. This is not all. They would get compensation for overtime, social security coverage, protection against abuse and violence, sufficient food and a safe and healthy place to stay.

Women workers would get 12 weeks of maternity leave — six weeks prior to delivery and six weeks post delivery. Also they would be entitled to equal remuneration as men for similar work.

Pertinently, with the servants category expanding fast to provide specialised services like infant and child care, care of the sick and the elderly, cooking, driving, gardening, building maintenance, etc the policy would enable them to form their own trade unions or join any other.

Indeed, the new policy is thanks to various servants associations stepping up pressure demanding speedy ratification and implementation of the recommendations of the International Labour Conference (ILO) governing employment and working conditions of domestic workers held at Geneva in June 2011. Supported by 396 member countries including India it now awaits the Central Government’s ratification.

Undeniably, domestic workers significantly contribute to the economy by providing several kinds of care services.  In fact, families practically depend on their domestic helps for anything and every kind of work, freeing them of indulging in their favourite pastimes and hobbies.

Sadly, however till date these workers continue to remain invisible and under-reported in the labour market, unrecognized in public records including economic reports.  They are marginalised though engaged in work which entitles their employers to enjoy their life and comforts. 

Interestingly, many countries do not recognise domestic work as “work” and deny them social and legal protection granted to organized   labour. In India, presently domestic work is treated as “unorganized labour” without any legal security, protection and eligibility for welfare measures.

Furthermore, there is no accurate data on the total number of domestic workers in the world.  Estimates vary from 4 per cent to 10 per cent of total employment in developing countries. According to ILO reports a large proportion of women and girls particularly child labourers’ work as domestic helpers. Though conditions differ from country to country, a common feature about these workers sector is their poverty and helplessness.

In addition, according to the 2001 census about 50 per cent of 80 million inter-State migrants are domestic workers.  A steady stream of rural population from deprived sections and backward areas, largely illiterate and semi-literate, migrate to urban areas individually or with their families. While the men folk enter unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, women and girls end up as domestic workers and roughly constitute over 90 per cent of the total workforce in this sector. 

Undoubtedly, with the predominance of women and conspicuous children workers employed in homes it underscores that domestic workers are a part of a much bigger problem. Whereby this widespread invisible women labour and persisting child labour force will not vanish notwithstanding all-out efforts to bring these children into the mainstream.

In sum, the need to regulate domestic work has become urgent because of the increasing number of cases of abuse and ill-treatment of domestic workers not only in India but also by those who take them abroad. Be it via unscrupulous middle men or employers.

Shockingly, many cases of sexual harassment, violence, abuse of   women employees, mostly migrants have come to light. Instances of victimisation at the hands of traffickers/placement agencies and forced migration are a plenty. Women workers abroad are also prone to suffer from loneliness.

Add to this a prevailing atmosphere of mutual suspicions and accusations, whereby employers suspect their domestic helpers of turning informers to burglars and thieves.  Towards that end, the policy rightly stresses the need for registration of placement agencies.  

All this is very well, but till the National Domestic Workers Policy is implemented things will continue as they are. Clearly, this needs to be urgently rectified as it is linked with other social development measures. As without this silent domestic workforce many a households would come to a standstill. —- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

New Delhi, May 10 :

The Board of Directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs. 0.50 per equity share, taking the total dividend to Rs. 4.00 per equity share, for the year 2011-12.

NTPC Limited, India’s largest power generating company, having an installed capacity of 37,514 MW held on to its Profit-After-Tax despite facing fuel availability constraints during the year. As per the audited results for the financial year 2011-12, the Profit-After-Tax for the financial year 2011-12 rose to Rs. 9,223.73 crore as compared to Rs. 9,102.59 crore for the previous financial year, registering a growth of 1.33%.

New Delhi, May 10 

The Maitree Express, the direct passenger train between Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, and Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, was introduced in April 2008.

An Empowered Joint Group formed by the two governments to suggest measures to ease travel by the Maitree Express held its first meeting here and decided that immigration forms of both the countries would be distributed inside the train to save time taken at the border stations Gede (India) and Darsana (Bangladesh).

Officials said possibilities of introducing airlines type baggage booking would be explored by a working group of field officers.

It was also agreed that the passenger amenities at the two border stations would be improved besides efforts to reduce the train running time in both the countries, said officials.

The Indian side of the delegation was led by D.P. Pande, Additional Member (Traffic), Railway Board while the Bangladesh delegation

New Delhi, May 10 

“Under the draft National Policy on Electronics 2011, it has been proposed to create an electronic development fund to promote innovation, R&D, commercialisation of products in the IT sector,” Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot told the Lok Sabha.

The policy also proposes to provide incentives for setting up of over 200 electronic manufacturing clusters (EMCs) with world class logistics and infrastructure and easy to do business facilities.

The support is intended for greenfield EMCs and upgradation of brownfield EMCs.

The draft national policy was announced in October 2011 and put in public domain for consultations. The policy has not yet been finalised.

Rachel Kyte, World Bank vice president for sustainable development, said that over the past 20 years, the world has made enormous progress in reducing poverty and improving people’s livelihood. However, sometimes progress comes “at the expense of the environment”.

In the future, she added, countries need “more inclusive” and “greener” growth in order to sustain economic expansion which would benefit more people, according to a statement issued by the bank.

Kyte noted green growth is not a luxury which can only be afforded by the developed world, but “something which any country can embrace now, and any country can start to factor into their growth patterns going forward”, reported Xinhua.

In a report released in Seoul Wednesday, the World Bank emphasized greening growth, which is critical to achieving sustainable development, must focus on the policies and investments that need to be made within the next five to 10 years, to avoid getting locked into unsustainable paths, damaging policy reversals and costly public health consequences.

New Delhi, May 10

“We respect the UN sanctions against any country,” Reddy told the Lok Sabha, adding that embargoes by other countries were not binding on the nation.

He was asked by Communist Part of India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia if Indian oil companies had reduced crude imports from Iran since 2011.

To this Reddy replied: “We are importing oil from Iran. There could be less oil, more oil depending on requirements. It is for the (oil) company to decide. These things are not monitored by the government.”

He said oil companies decide on the volume of crude imports “keeping in view various developments”.

Iran is India’s second largest oil supplier. But the US has been rallying for reduction of crude imports to force the Islamic republic to stop its military nuclear programme that Tehran says is only for civilian peaceful usage.

The minister said India’s sovereignty was “supreme” and “we will never ever allow it to be affected in any manner”.

Reddy initially took objection to Acharia’s query and asked the “senior parliamentarian, with due deference to him”, that he should have limited his supplementary to the basic question about the rates of cooking gas and petroleum products.

The remarks come days after a US Congressional report said that India had significantly reduced its imports of Iranian oil by volume from 16 percent in 2008 to 10 percent now.

Hyderabad, May 10

“Such a vaccine could carry the beneficial effects of an oral polio vaccine – namely safety, efficacy, ease of manufacture, distribution and administration along with the safety profile of an injectable polio vaccine by eliminating vaccine derived polio virus (VDPV),” said a statement from Ella Foundation.

“Vaccines play a crucial role in the eradication of diseases that affect millions of lives worldwide. The grant will help us accelerate the pace of research programmes and explore new solutions in global health priority areas,” said Krishna Ella, co-founder of the Ella Foundation.

GCE funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that help solve persistent global health and development challenges.

It is a $100 million initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, over 600 people in 45 countries have received GCE grants.

Located in Genome Valley in Hyderabad, Ella Foundation – founded by Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella – is an independent scientific and industrial research organisation. Set up in 2002, its research activities focus on infectious diseases.

RBI’s BIG PROBLEM IN HAND

By Shivaji Sarkar

New Delhi, May 10 : Small change can play havoc with the economy! The Government and the Reserve Bank of India policy is adding to at least three to five per cent inflation. The decision to scrap small coins makes products dearer for the consumers as the sellers, big or small do not return small change.

On an average every individual loses at least Rs 3 a day in such transactions. Sometimes the loss may be even Rs 10 or more if one enters into a multiple transaction. This apart it has led to rounding of most products to Rs 5 or 10. Recently, the Railway Ministry even took this specious argument to raise the train fares (calling it rounding off local train fares). Now even Rs 5 coins are vanishing so should such departments round it off to the next Rs 10 and when Rs 10 coins and currency notes become scarce it would be raised to the next higher amount.

It is a vicious method of depriving the common man, of their precious earnings. Lower availability of small coins leads to a rising price level. Let us assume that of a population of 121 crore only 25 per cent – 30 crore people – are losing Rs 3 a day. It comes to Rs 90 crore a day. It they are losing it for 300 of the 365 days, the loss to the common man, eventually becomes a whopping Rs 27000 crore a year, larger than the budgetary allocations to many ministries.

In cities such as Delhi, the customer demanding small change back is looked down upon by the shopkeepers, the taxi drivers etc. In fact, in many cases, they pocket even Rs 10 or Rs 50. The people who are being cheated grumble but can do little and get no relief.

It is also interesting to note that more affluent a region is, the larger is the loss to the consumers. In some of the remote areas of Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand, the shopkeepers, it is learnt, take it as insult if someone does not take back small change like ten or 20 paisa. Yes, despite the RBI having stopped minting of coins of 5 and 10 paisa, these still remain in circulation in these areas.

Undoubtedly, this calls for a review of the RBI policy to do away with such small denomination coins. In fact, it has a wider social ramification as well. It causes bad blood among the people. In many cases, people avoid shops which gobble up their small change. The shopkeepers are also known to be gruff with people who insist on having their coins back. Some even force on their customers  sweets, toffees or lozenges even when they don’t want these instead of the small change.

Acrimony in retail or vegetable markets is a common phenomenon. In reality, consumers have a grudge that it is adding to the inflation. Businesses crib that people are so small-minded that they demand such small amounts back. The coin shortage is also posing problems for the businesses. In some cases, as in Kolkata, shopkeepers have been purchasing coins from beggars at a premium!

On the national front, India claims to have developed. It, however, still suffers from the psyche of poor developing nations. In the US, a consumer is returned 96 cents in coins if his bill is for say $1 and 4 cents. This in India is simply unthinkable.

If businesses have to grow smoothly, the RBI has to make arrangements for easy supply of small coins. It needs to innovate. Coins worth crores get locked in donation boxes of large temples like Tirupati or Vaishno Devi. The RBI needs to formulate a policy to bring these back into circulation. Some of the temples send these coins into their chambers where with time the value gets appreciated.

The practice of the banks and credit card issuers to round off the change mostly to the nearest higher rupee also makes people lose loads of money. Banks are becoming richer with many unethical practices and surreptitious increase in bank charges. It is affecting the core of the economy.

Many other service industries such as telephone, gas, or petrol pumps also do the similar rounding off – gobbling up consumers’ money. Shortage of coins is having a ruinous effect on the economy.

Thomas J Sargent and Francois R Velde in their recently published book Big Problem of Small Change say that for the last many centuries shortage of small coins has been a phenomenon and governments have been finding it difficult to face the challenge. In a way it has been afflicting nations in different times. But the governments have to innovate to look for new ways to overcome such shortage.

The RBI certainly has a case for deciding the intrinsic value of such coins. It is stated that the razor blade industry melts one-rupee coins to manufacture six blades. In other words, they are earning huge profits as the quality of metal is unmatchable and selling the blades at premium.

Some artificial jewellers also melt the coins as the intrinsic value is more than the face value of the coins. The RBI is not supposed to provide raw material to this kind of industry. But it needs to evolve a system to mint coins with metals which should have a junk value. It calls for RBI to carry out research for minting coins or printing small value currency notes.

Sometime back there was a proposal to print small value plastic tokens with due security marks. Any metallic coin is certain to have the value appreciated. Of late, RBI has decided to change the raw material used for manufacturing of coins from Copper-Nickel to FSS (Ferritic Stainless Steel). But FSS is also a coveted metal for some industries, which would like to melt it to make fancy items and earn larger profits.

The challenge is perennial. The answer is not in giving up small denomination coins or currency notes. It is true that small coins and small denomination currency notes get soiled soon. Their intrinsic value also has to be kept lower than their face value. These call for looking for new methods.

It can be done in two ways. One is to mint plastic tokens with security marks perhaps with a small metal foil type cover and also issue small currency notes with plastic lamination. The other is also to print currency notes of odd denominations like Rs 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 19 and so forth. The problem is often with odd figures. This may solve the problem to a large extent. However, giving up small coins  is no solution. The RBI should think how to handle the small change problem which has a severe economic and social cost. Any remedies? —INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

In his inaugural remarks, CMD Sudhir Vasudeva said that the role of the legal professionals within the organization was undergoing a transformation. He also underscored the need for greater interaction between Legal, Finance, Material Management and other technical sections.

The event was also graced by A K Hazarika, Director (Onshore), S V Rao, Director (Exploration), K S Jamestin, Director (HR) and A K Srivastava ED-Chief Legal Services. They along with Vasudeva spent the whole day in animated discussions and decisions over the entire gamut of legal issues being negotiated by ONGC. Many other senior officers and nearly the entire legal fraternity of ONGC also attended the meet.

There were presentations after the inaugural remarks and these were made on various legal issues mostly by the new blood of the legal stream.

Zhu Jimin, Chairman CISA and Chairman Shougang Group Corp., represented Republic of China, and C.S.Verma, Chairman (Steel Authority of India Limited), a Maharatna PSU signed on behalf of the Indian Delegation.

The MOU was witnessed by U.P.Singh, Joint Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Steel, senior officials of SAIL,Tata Steel, JSW, ESSAR & JSPL from India, while Chinese contingent consisted of representatives from China’s steel companies such as Bao Steel, Wuhan Steel, Government of PR China-MIIT and steel equipment manufacturers.

Speaking on the occasion, SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma asserted that through the MoU, a platform for building a dialogue and cooperation in major steel related areas will be addressed. He also mentioned that it will open new corridors for venturing with the Chinese Steel Industry and also facilitate in addressing emerging issues in the evolving steel markets like technology transfer, joint venture, training for developing expertise in design engineering, operation, construction, research & development, etc.

Joint Secretary, Government of India, on this occasion applauded the untiring and persistent efforts of the Chinese community and which has led to China being recognized as a major force in the Globe.