INDIA PANEL TO MEET THIS MONTH ON FDI IN MULTI-BRAND RETAIL-SOURCES Reuters - Abhijit Neogy, Neha Singh - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Global retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores , Carrefour , Tesco and Metro AG have long sought greater access to a fast-growing but restrictive Indian retail sector that is dominated by mom-and-pop operators. A ministerial panel has recommended … INDIA THIS EVENING: FDI IN RETAIL LIKELY WITHIN WEEKS Wall Street Journal (blog) - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ By WSJ Staff Here is a roundup of news from Indian newspapers, news wires and Web sites on Friday, July 1, 2011. The Wall Street Journal has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. FDI in RetailLikely Within Weeks: After … FDI IN RETAIL LIKELY WITHIN WEEKS Times of India - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ NEW DELHI: After years of debate, foreign direct investment in retail may soon be a reality with a panel of secretaries expected to approve the framework for allowing global retail chains to set up shop in India later this month. … INDIA MAY OK FDI IN RETAIL IN 2 WEEKS GlobalPost (blog) - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ After years of “will she, won’t she” speculation, reports say that India may finally allow foreign firms to jump into so-called “multi-brand retail.” The plan envisages allowing foreign chains such as Walmart and Tesco to hold up to 51% stake in Indian … FDI IN RETAIL LIKELY TO BE IN THE OFFING Economy News India - Mp Rana - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ A panel of Secretaries of Indian Government are likely to give approval for retail sector FDI in the Indian market by the end of this month. This approval will open up the doors for external investments by companies like Walmart and Tesco, … NOW, CORPORATES CAN MAKE IMPORT PAYMENT VIA SHARES Times of India - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ It does not really open up new sectors for FDI,” said Avinash Gupta, leader, financial advisory, Deloitte in India. According to Gupta, significant relaxations in FDI would require government involvement and policy changes on sectors such as retail or … FOR INVESTORS, PATIENCE IS A NECESSITY The Economist (blog) - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Both of these cases are often used to highlight India’s lamentable performance in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). (India bucked the emerging market trend to record a fall in FDI last year.) For India’s many market fundamentalists, … INDIA CBANK ALLOWS ISSUE OF SHARES UNDER FDI SCHEME Reuters - Swati Bhat, Aradhana Aravindan - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ “Payments should be made directly by the foreign investor to the company. Payments made through third parties citing the absence of a bank account or similar such reasons will not be eligible for issuance of shares towardsFDI,” the notification said. SNAPSHOT-INDIAN POLICY HIGHLIGHTS ON THURSDAY, JUNE 30 Reuters Africa - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ India’s central bank said on Thursday it has decided to permit the issuance of equity, preference shares under the government route of the foreign direct investment (FDI) scheme for some categories. “Payments should be made directly by the foreign … RBI EASES NORMS ON SHARE ISSUE AGAINST CAPITAL GOODS IMPORT Business Standard - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ Foreign direct investment (FDI) in activities not covered under the automatic route requires prior approval of the government. Such proposals are considered by FIPB. The existing norms for issuing equity and preference shares under the government route … GOVT MAY APPROVE FDI IN MULTI-BRAND RETAIL BY AUG: REPORT India Infoline.com - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ The cabinet, is reportedly expected to approve a proposal to open up the multi-brand retail sector in India, and would allow global chains to enter by next March. According to reports, state governments will decide conditions on whether foreign chains … : ALLOW UP TO 49% FDI IN MULTI-BRAND RETAIL: MINISTRY Financial Express - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ However, the department of industrial policy and promotion is in favour of a majority stake (51%) for foreign retailchains, with set-up conditionalities. India slipped one step to become the fourth largest steel producer in the world in 2010 with 68.3 … RBI ALLOWS ISSUING EQUITIES AGAINST CAPITAL GOOD IMPORTS Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ “All such conversions of import payables for capital goods into FDI should be completed within 180 days from the date of shipment of the goods”, RBI said. Earlier, an Indian company was only allowed to issue shares to a foreigner in lieu of technology … RBI INCLUDES TWO NEW CATEGORIES FOR ISSUE OF SHARES UNDER FDI SCHEME VC Circle - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ BY TEAM VCC The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday notified norms related to issue of equity/preference shares under the government route of the FDI scheme for two categories – import of capital goods and pre-operative/pre-incorporation expenses. … CONFUSION PREVAILS OVER WHAT CONSTITUTES ‘REAL ESTATE BUSINESS’ UNDER FDI POLICY Bar & Bench - ‎Jun 29, 2011‎ FDI is allowed in the aforesaid development activities on fulfilment of certain prescribed conditions that includes but not limited to development of minimum area and minimum capitalisation of the Indian entity to be engaged in such activities. … ALLOW UP TO 49% FDI IN MULTI-BRAND RETAIL: GOVT OFFICIAL Business Standard - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ However, the Consumer Affairs Ministry wants a larger share of 75% of multi-brand retail FDI to be invested in back-end supply chains. “As India’s back-end infrastructure is weak, the foreign investor should invest at least 75% of the $100 million in … IMPORT PAYMENT BY CORPORATES CAN NOW BE DONE VIA SHARES Institute of International Trade - Vishal Bagaria - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ However, it does not really open up new sectors for FDI. According to a spokesperson from Deloitte, significant relaxations in FDI require government involvement and policy amendments in sectors such as retail and insurance. The RBI said that companies …

The Supreme Court on Monday appointed a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former apex court judge BP Jeevan Reddy to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks.

On the other hand,FDI inflows saw a whopping 111% increase in May at $4.66 billion, the second highest monthly inflows in 11 years, marking revival of investor confidence in the Indian economy.

With majority of political parties batting for Parliamentary supremacy on the lokpal bill, Government on Monday expressed confidence that a consensus will emerge on the issue and the draft legislation would be introduced in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session.
03/07/2011

Lokpal bill in monsoon session: PM

Govt committed to control corruption, but Lokpal must work within Constitution: PM
Affirming government’s commitment to enact Lokpal Act that will provide for a strong and effective way to tackle corruption in high places, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said such an institution will have to work within the framework of Constitution.
He told the all-party meeting on Lokpal Bill that strong laws to tackle corruption were a necessary but these would not suffice as there was a need to focus on “simplifying procedures, reducing discretion, eliminating arbitrariness and increasing transparency in the way government functions.”
Singh noted that there was a feeling that institutional arrangements in place are not strong enough to ensure that the guilty, especially those occupying high positions, are brought to book swiftly and given deterrent punishment.
“I must make it clear at the outset that we, in government, are committed to the enactment of a Lokpal Act, which provides for a strong, effective and quick institutional arrangement for tackling corruption in high places,” he said in his opening remarks at the meeting.
“We are also committed to bringing the bill before Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session,” he said.
Apparently acknowledging concerns over certain demands by the civil society which are considered to be creating a “parallel structure”, Singh emphasised that “the institution of the Lokpal has to work in harmony with other institutions and laws and it has to function within the framework of the basic structure of our Constitution.”
He said the Lokpal will have “to add to and not detract from the legitimate role and authority of other institutions in our democratic structure.”
Underlining that the Constitution provides for an “intricate system of checks and balances”, he said the new institution of Lokpal has to find an appropriate place in that matrix.”
Source: PTI

“We are very happy With the outcome of the all party meeting yesterday…we are confident we can take the process forward to bring the bill in the Monsoon Session and pass it as soon as possible,” home minister P Chidambaram said in New Delhi.

He pointed out that Sunday’s all party meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasised the primacy of the Parliamentary process and the role of political parties to pilot and approve legislations.
04/07/2011

SIT empowered to further probe cases already investigated

New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court today is empowered to probe those cases relating to black money in which the probe agencies failed to act with “alarcity” in arriving at desirable results.

“That the SIT also be empowered to further investigate even where charge sheets have been previously filed and that the SIT may register further cases and conduct appropriate investigations and initiate proceedings for the purpose of bringing back unaccounted monies unlawfully kept in bank accounts abroad,” a bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said.

The order assumes importance as the Enforcement Directorate had filed a charge sheet against Pune stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan in a case of alleged FEMA violation and money laudering without informing the apex court.

Khan had even succeeded in getting bail from the trial court, which was later cancelled by the apex court which had pulled up the ED for keeping it in the dark as the charge sheet was filed a day after the hearing before it.

Although the Swiss Parliament has ratified a treaty allowing Indian authorities to get information on illegal funds stashed in Swiss banks, the government can’t glean much data as the pact is applicable with prospective effect, a top tax official said on Tuesday.

“As far as I can  remember,  it is prospective… I think it is prospective date, from the date the treaty comes into effect,” Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman Prakash Chandra told reporters when asked about the prospects of getting data from the Swiss banks.This would mean that accounts opened in the secretive Swiss Banks before the ratification of the treaty would not be liable to scrutiny by Indian authorities.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Swiss Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey had in August last year signed a protocol to amend the double taxation agreement (DTA) in the area of taxes, which was ratified by the Swiss Parliament’s upper house on June 17.

Chandra said that although the Swiss Parliament has ratified the treaty, under the Swiss law around 90-100 days are required to make the law take effect.

Once the treaty takes effect, “The understanding is that yes, if we ask specific information with regard to a tax payer giving details as asked for, then they are willing to part with that (information) which earlier was not the case,” Chandra said.

Meanwhile, Chandra said a government-constituted committee on black money has received more than 2,500 suggestions from across the country in the last 10 days to deal with the issue.

When asked about efforts to re-negotiate DTAA with Mauritius, news on which had led to a sharp fall in equity markets earlier this month, Chandra said both the countries have decided to take the negotiations – stuck since 2008 – forward and will be meeting to discuss the modalities.

He, however, refused to give any timeframe for the same. The BSE Sensex had tanked by 550 points in intra-day trade on June 20 on fears that the Government might impose capital gains tax on investments routed via Mauritius once the DTAA is through.

Chandra said the quarterly tax numbers will have to grow at a “sustained” 20-24 per cent in the coming quarters in order to achieve the tax collection target of Rs 5,32,000 crore announced in the Budget.

In order to check the illegal fund flows, the Government had decided to place Indian tax officers abroad and two such officials have already been posted in Singapore and Mauritius.

Plans are afoot to operationalise similar offices in Japan, UAE, Germany, UK, USA, France and Canada, he said.

Chidambaram’s remarks reflected a sense of relief in the government which was so far battling the civil society led by Anna Hazare on the lokpal issue alone while receiving flak from Opposition parties on the issue of corruption.

“We will therefore bring a bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. That bill will be examined. Every effort will be made to pass the bill at the earliest. But that will depend on the members of Parliament and their desire to follow established procedures,” Chidambaram said.

http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/july2011/editorial.htm

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal made it very clear that the government had promised to bring the lokpal bill in the Parliament in the Monsoon Session but there was no commitment on the timeline of passing the same.

“We had said we are committed to bringing the bill in the monsoon session. We never said it will be passed in the monsoon session,” Sibal said.

The Minister also said that two parties which took part in the all party meeting suggested that the bill could be passed in the Winter Session.

Reflecting their eagerness to build a consensus, the union ministers said there was nothing wrong in a number of political parties, including BJP not spelling out their stand on contentious provisions of the bill like bringing Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under lokpal’s ambit.

Chidambaram said it was “legitimate and valid” that most parties reserved their views on the provisions of the bill till it will be brought before Parliament.

Supporting Chidambaram’s statement, Sibal said that BJP may be requiring more time to finalize a view on the provisions.

Chidambaram described as “preliminary views” opinions expressed by some political parties for or against bringing the Prime Minister and the judiciary under Lokpal’s ambit.

“Our impression is that all these views are subject to change when we go through the procedures,” Chidambaram said.

Going a step further Sibal said, “Many of these voices that you hear will merge into the consensus.”

Chidambaram downplayed UPA ally DMK’s strong assertion that both Prime Minister and the judiciary should be brought under Lokpal and refused to see a “divide” in the alliance.

“UPA is not a political party. It’s a coalition of political parties. When you have more than one party, you may have different views on some issues. That does not mean that the UPA is divided,” Chidambaram said.

He said as long as there is a broad consensus on the bill, there is nothing to be alarmed, and suggested the government has no problem even if some allies express different views on some provisions of the bill.

Sibal pointed out that leaders of many political parties wondered at the definition of the civil society and wanted to know whether five members led by Hazare represented the entire civil society of India.
04/07/2011

Lokpal: govt hides behind Constitution

Cannot rewrite Constitution for Lokpal bill, says Chidambaram; bill pushed to Winter session
New Delhi: The government was committed to tabling the anti-corruption Lokpal bill in parliament’s monsoon session beginning Aug 1 but won’t rewrite the constitution for the legislation, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Monday.
Addressing a media conference, a day after an all-party meeting agreed that a “strong and effective” bill should be introduced in the next session of Parliament, Chidambaram was noncommittal on when the legislation would be passed because it would have to be referred to a standing committee for broader consensus.
This means that Lokpal (ombudsman) bill would have to wait for the winter session in mid-November to be passed.
“We will bring (the) bill in the monsoon session of parliament. That bill will be examined according to established procedures… Members of parliament desire to follow the established procedures,” the Home Minister said at the press conference that was also addressed by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal.
Chidambaram was categorical in saying that the final draft bill would be in accordance with the constitution of India as the government didn’t consider it as “an occasion to rewrite the constitution”.
He said an “aspect” established at the all-party meeting was that the bill must be within the constitution.
“We are drafting a bill and the bill will be within the constitution. That point was emphasised more than once (in the meeting),” he said.
Asked whether referring the bill to a standing committee would mean a delay, at least till the winter session, in seeing the measure through, HRD minister Sibal said: “We had said we are committed to bring the bill. We will keep the promise. We never said it would be passed in the monsoon session.”
The all-party meeting was part of the government’s efforts to evolve a consensus on the anti-graft bill after it failed to do so in the meetings of a joint drafting committee comprising five nominees of social reformer Anna Hazare and five central ministers.
The drafting panel was divided on several issues, including inclusion of the prime minister and the judiciary under the purview of the proposed Lokpal. Two drafts of the proposed bill have thus emerged.
Chidambaram clarified that it was not the draft prepared by the ministers on the panel that will be submitted to parliament. He said this draft would be refined to be allowed to follow “established procedures”.
“What was presented (at the all party meeting) is a draft. It will go to departments and ministries concerned. It will be sent to the nodal ministry (before being referred to the cabinet). The cabinet will finalise the draft. The draft approved by the cabinet will be introduced in parliament.”
Chidambaram said that the “government is very happy with the all-party meeting yesterday”.
“It took place in a very cordial atmosphere. And we are confident that we can take the process forward, bring the bill in the monsoon session and try to get it passed as soon as possible,” he said.
Asked about Hazare’s threat to launch a hunger strike from Aug 16, in case the bill was not made into law by then, Chidambaram said it was “premature” to predict what would happen in the future as the government will bring the bill that “will satisfy the vast majority of this country”.
“Why do you consider it (fast) as inevitable? I don’t think we should assume. It is too premature,” he said.
The home minister played down the differences within the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the issue, saying the ruling combine was “not a political party”.
“It is a coalition. There will be some differences. It only means that we should talk and arrive at a consensus.”
Source: IANS

Meanwhile,the Supreme Court on Monday appointed a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former apex court judge BP Jeevan Reddy to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks. Besides Justice Reddy, who will be the
chairman of the SIT, the apex court also appointed its former judge, Justice M B Shah as the vice-chairman of the panel.

A bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar directed that the High-Level Committee (HLC) constituted by the government to look into the issue of black money would “forthwith” be a part of the SIT.

The bench also directed the government to disclose the names of all the persons who have been issued show cause notices by the authorities in connection with the probe into the black money issue.

The court, however, made it clear that the authorities would not disclose the names of those who have not been investigated in connection with deposits made in foreign banks including Liechtenstein bank.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani and others seeking directions to the government to track black money stashed away abroad and bring it back.

The apex court directed the government to issue notification forthwith regarding the appointment of SIT and ordered that government machinery to cooperate with it.

The bench, while passing the order, made some hard-hitting observation against the Centre for its “failure” to take proper action against people who have illegally stashed away money in foreign banks.

Observing the phenomenon of black money as “extremely dangerous to the country”, the court said the quantum of money in foreign banks is a rough measure of “weakness” and “softness” of the nation.

The bench said that it was a serious lapse on the part of the government which will have implications on the country’s external and internal security.

“We must express serious reservation on the steps taken by the government…It’s clear to us that investigation was completely stalled and expedited only after the court’s intervention.

“It was only upon this court’s insistence that proper investigation was conducted,” the bench said while referring to Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan’s case.

“There was much to be desired,” the court said, adding there was a need for it to get involved in the case.

“We hold that continued involvement of the court is necessary,” the bench said, while directing the SIT to take over all the cases relating to the issue of black money and file a status report before it.

The court also asked the SIT to submit a comprehensive action plan to deal with cases relating to the black money issue.

Justifying its decision to constitute the SIT, the bench said that in previous cases also the court has been passing such orders to fulfil its constitutional obligation.

The court also said that it’s not possible for it to be involved in day-to-day investigations in the case as the resources at its disposal were scarce.

The bench said the issue of black money has to be taken with a degree of seriousness and the state is primarily responsible to make all efforts to bring back into the country such wealth and punish people who have stashed away money in foreign banks.

2 JUL, 2011, 07.13AM IST, RAKESH BHARTI MITTAL,
Why postpone agriculture reforms?
In the rapidly transforming Indian economy all the attention has consistently centered on the emerging sectors, almost by default.

Though not by design, agriculture has ended up a much neglected sector despite the fact that more than 60% of the population still depend on it for their livelihood. It’s time we relooked at the sector in the context of new priorities like controlling food inflation, managing food security, improving productivity, reducing wastages and increasing farmers’ income.

Economic reforms have done wonders for various sectors in terms of productivity, income generation and consumer welfare. It does not make any sense to deprive agriculture of similar benefits any longer. Since it’s not possible to go into all the issues facing the sector in this piece, I would rather limit myself to two most critical areas in the sector crying for reforms. While one relates to the marketing and distribution of agricultural produce, particularly for fresh produce; the other relates to the structure of ownership and leasing of land in the country. Laws and regulations governing these areas were created long time back in a different environment, and were probably relevant at that time. Ironically, a large section of these laws were originally created to protect the small farmers from unscrupulous landlords, moneylenders and traders. They have largely turned dysfunctional and counterproductive in the changed environment.

Presently, they are working against the interest of both the farmers and consumers. In fact, agri produce is the only sector where one needs a licence to purchase through the Adhtiyaasin the mandis. First, let’s look at trade in agricultural products in the country. Since farmers are prohibited by regulation to sell directly to aggregators, food processing companies and retailers, they are compelled to sell their produce to the middlemen at the mandis. The worst part of this arrangement is the lack of transparency in the price discovery process. Small farmers invariably fall prey to the middlemen and Adhtiyaasworking in tandem. The plight of the farmers is aggravated particularly in the case of perishable produce like fruits and vegetables.

Distress sale remains a common phenomenon given the farmers’ inability to store or transport products at will. Lack of adequate cold storage network in the country clearly remains a big hurdle. There is a very strong case for amending the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Acts in different states to exempt fruits and vegetables and other perishables like fisheries from the ambit of the law. Exempting them from the restrictions will help streamline the distribution channels of the products, shortening the distance between the producer and consumer. Reducing the number of hands through which the product passes through will have a direct impact on the degree of wastage.

It’s worth mentioning here that about 25-40% of India’s agri produce goes waste due to improper transportation, storage, warehousing and lack of cold chain infrastructure. Eliminating the middlemen’s margins and reduction in wastage can have a twin impact; increasing realisation for farmers and decreasing consumer price. Reforming the APMC Acts to allow big organised retailers to buy directly from farmers, I believe, will lead to bigger investments in the cold chain infrastructure in the country. There is a strong case to give complete freedom to farmers to sell perishable produce directly to wholesalers, aggregators, food processing companies and retailers, in addition to selling in mandis. Fragmentation of landholdings in the country is another serious problem facing the sector today.

The average size of landholding in the country has declined progressively from 2.63 hectares in 1996 to 1.06 hectares in 2004-05. Around 60% of the households today possess less than one hectare of land for cultivation. This has seriously affected the scale of operations, crop diversification and scope of aggregation of farm produce. Subsistence and marginal farming has unfortunately become the norm.

A possible solution to the above problem lies in legalising the leasing of agricultural land on long tenure basis through legislation. Fear of landowners about losing ownership rights while leasing it out to another party remains the biggest obstacle to leasing. Hence, one focal point of any proposed legislation should be to ensure that the landowner is not dispossessed of his land in the process of leasing and that the lessee has no tenancy rights.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments-analysis/Why-postpone-agriculture-reforms/articleshow/9072609.cms

No FDI in Multi-Brand Retail

04/07/2011

Aiyar blames PC for not acting on CWG graft

New Delhi: Former sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has blamed former finance minister P. Chidambaram for not taking cognizance of his letters that warned about alleged embezzlement of funds earmarked for the Commonwealth Games.
Aiyar said that he wrote several letters to Chidambaram, who is now the home minister, but never got any acknowledgement.
“I don’t know that these letters went to the finance minister at all,” Aiyar told CNN-IBN. “But after one meeting of the group of ministers, where my insistence on observing the general financial rules (GFR) was overruled by the finance minister himself, I did write to Chidambaram.”
Aiyar said that in the letter he also asked the finance minister to directly release the funds instead of the sports ministry doing so.
“In that letter, I did say because I was so upset with the situation that instead of the sports ministry being asked to release these grants in violation of the GFR to Suresh Kalmadi-led Organising Committee, why not the finance ministry itself does it?” he said.
“And to the best of my memory, I may be wrong here, that letter was neither acknowledged nor acted upon,” he said, adding he had also expressed his concerns to the ministerial group that was set up to oversee the preparations for the Games.
“I think, you know, we must also remember that there was a group of people who were supervising all this. It was chaired by the late Arjun Singh, it included a number of ministers,” he said.
“My memory is, it was chaired by the human resource development minister and included the information and broadcasting minister, urban development minister, Planning Commission deputy chairman and the finance minister, besides himself.
“So this was the group to which I had taken in detail what my concerns were,” he said, recalling that he was alerted by Prithviraj Chauhan, then minister in Prime Minister’s Office, that he should be careful while releasing funds for the Commonwealth Games.
“Well, in fact I was tipped off to the need to ensure that sanctions of authority were properly given by my immediate predecessor who was Sri Prithviraj Chauhan. He was the one who tipped me off within weeks of my becoming minister that something was rotten and that it was in my own best interest that I should check out what was happening,” he said.
“So I’m grateful to him for that. My secretary was a gentleman who was not in the public eye at that time, but has since gone renowned as one of the most able and honest Chief Election Commissioner we’ve ever had, that was S.Y. Quraishi and he shared all my concerns.”
During last week’ interaction with the media, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had admitted that Aiyar was ideologically opposed to the games. Aiyar said that it was his responsibility to write to the prime minister warning him about the corruption in the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
Earlier, Aiyar had told Headlines Today that the publication of his letters may refresh the prime minister’s memory.
“I brought it to the attention of the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the group of ministers. I was overruled in the GoM by the finance minister. The seriousness of my charges was dismissed by the GoM,” he said.
“I didn’t want to share a cell with Kalmadi in Tihar. It (the CWG fiasco) was entirely avoidable. But I will blame myself. My fault is I didn’t carry the conviction,” he said.
“Everyone thought it was a personality clash,” he said, adding: “My primary concern was ideological. Then I realised there was a great deal of financial impropriety.”
Source: IANS

India not likely to get Hasan Ali’s Swiss bank details
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, June 29, 2011

Getting information on the accounts of Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan in Swiss banks isn’t going to be easy. This is because the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed between India and Switzerland recently, which will allow India to obtain information on specific individuals holding Swiss bank accounts, will be applicable only for prospective accounts.
Prakash Chandra, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) who was in Mumbai on Tuesday said India would soon be able to get information on certain individuals holding account in Swiss banks.

He said that Switzerland’s parliament has ratified the DTAA and after a mandatory waiting period, the agreement would be implemented.

However, he said that as per the DTAA, information of accounts opened in the past would not be given.

Chandra also heads a committee formed recently to look into ways to strengthen the law to curb black money.

The committee had met in the first week of June and decided to invite suggestions from the public before meeting next month.

Chandra said that in the past 10 days, the committee has received more than 2,500 suggestions from people all over the country.

“We have to go through the suggestions and see how many are practical,” he said.

He also said that tax refund issues were a priority for the income-tax department. “We have issued a majority of refunds that were pending,” he said.

When asked if the CBDT was working on a proposal whereby taxpayers would be able to file returns from their mobile phone, he said the department wants more people to file electronic returns.

“Filing returns from mobile phones is a step further than e-returns and will be introduced in due course of time,” he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/mumbai/India-not-likely-to-get-Hasan-Ali-s-Swiss-bank-details/Article1-715022.aspx
04/07/2011

Lokpal: govt hides behind Constitution

Cannot rewrite Constitution for Lokpal bill, says Chidambaram; bill pushed to Winter session
New Delhi: The government was committed to tabling the anti-corruption Lokpal bill in parliament’s monsoon session beginning Aug 1 but won’t rewrite the constitution for the legislation, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Monday.
Addressing a media conference, a day after an all-party meeting agreed that a “strong and effective” bill should be introduced in the next session of Parliament, Chidambaram was noncommittal on when the legislation would be passed because it would have to be referred to a standing committee for broader consensus.
This means that Lokpal (ombudsman) bill would have to wait for the winter session in mid-November to be passed.
“We will bring (the) bill in the monsoon session of parliament. That bill will be examined according to established procedures… Members of parliament desire to follow the established procedures,” the Home Minister said at the press conference that was also addressed by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal.
Chidambaram was categorical in saying that the final draft bill would be in accordance with the constitution of India as the government didn’t consider it as “an occasion to rewrite the constitution”.
He said an “aspect” established at the all-party meeting was that the bill must be within the constitution.
“We are drafting a bill and the bill will be within the constitution. That point was emphasised more than once (in the meeting),” he said.
Asked whether referring the bill to a standing committee would mean a delay, at least till the winter session, in seeing the measure through, HRD minister Sibal said: “We had said we are committed to bring the bill. We will keep the promise. We never said it would be passed in the monsoon session.”
The all-party meeting was part of the government’s efforts to evolve a consensus on the anti-graft bill after it failed to do so in the meetings of a joint drafting committee comprising five nominees of social reformer Anna Hazare and five central ministers.
The drafting panel was divided on several issues, including inclusion of the prime minister and the judiciary under the purview of the proposed Lokpal. Two drafts of the proposed bill have thus emerged.
Chidambaram clarified that it was not the draft prepared by the ministers on the panel that will be submitted to parliament. He said this draft would be refined to be allowed to follow “established procedures”.
“What was presented (at the all party meeting) is a draft. It will go to departments and ministries concerned. It will be sent to the nodal ministry (before being referred to the cabinet). The cabinet will finalise the draft. The draft approved by the cabinet will be introduced in parliament.”
Chidambaram said that the “government is very happy with the all-party meeting yesterday”.
“It took place in a very cordial atmosphere. And we are confident that we can take the process forward, bring the bill in the monsoon session and try to get it passed as soon as possible,” he said.
Asked about Hazare’s threat to launch a hunger strike from Aug 16, in case the bill was not made into law by then, Chidambaram said it was “premature” to predict what would happen in the future as the government will bring the bill that “will satisfy the vast majority of this country”.
“Why do you consider it (fast) as inevitable? I don’t think we should assume. It is too premature,” he said.
The home minister played down the differences within the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the issue, saying the ruling combine was “not a political party”.
“It is a coalition. There will be some differences. It only means that we should talk and arrive at a consensus.”
Source: IANS

Action on black money after studying SC order: Govt

The government on Monday said the future course of action on black money will be decided after studying the Supreme Court order to appoint a high-level team to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring illegal wealth stashed away in foreign banks.

“… we will examine it (the order)…and then we will decide what course of action will be necessary,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters when asked to comment on the Supreme Court’s order on black money.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said, “I do not think one should give off-the-cuff reaction on a Supreme Court order. If Supreme Court has given an order it is final because it is the final court. Let us first read the order.”

The Supreme Court on Monday appointed a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former Supreme Court judge B P Jeevan Reddy to monitor the investigation and the steps being taken to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks.

Besides Justice Reddy, who will be the chairman of the SIT, the apex court appointed former judge M B Shah as the vice-chairman of the panel.

Chidambaram also said that after going through the details a government spokesman will respond to it, if necessary.

A bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar passed the order on a petition filed by eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani and others seeking directions to the government to track black money stashed away abroad and bring it back.

13 MAY, 2011, 03.48AM IST,ET BUREAU
SC raps govt for not informing about Hasan Ali chargesheet

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has castigated the Enforcement Directorate for not telling it that a chargesheet has been filed against Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali in a case related to black money.

“Why is it that we were not informed that investigation is complete against that man (Hasan Ali). In your (ED) status report you had said that investigation was still going on. But two days after we read it in the newspapers, you have filed the chargesheet. We must express our reservation on it,” a bench comprising Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar said on Thursday.

ED on May 6 had filed a chargesheet against Ali in the case before a special court in Mumbai. However, it was not disclosed to the apex court when the black money case was heard on May 4.

The court expressed dismay on why the chargesheet was not placed before the 10-member committee which was appointed by the government to monitor the probe and steps taken by various agencies to retrieve huge amounts of unaccounted money stashed away in foreign banks.

“We thought that someone(retired SC judge) should monitor all such cases but you put in place a mechanism to monitor such cases. We want to see where lies your mechanism and how it has been doing”, the bench said. It expressed reservations over ED filing the chargesheet without placing it before the high-powered committee.

“You (ED) filed the charge sheet without placing it before the committee you have constituted and we are surprised,” the judges remarked.

The court passed such observations after ED counsel and Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium acknowledged it.

“We are surprised to know. You put in the mechanism. Why was the chargesheet not placed before the committee,” the bench asked.

Subramanium said that the chargesheet should have been placed before the committee and assured the bench that corrective measures will be taken.

The Centre on April 25 had constituted a committee to deal with the issue of black money. It consists of the Revenue Secretary, Deputy Director, RBI, Directors of CBI , Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Director General of Revenue Intelligence, Director General of Narcotics Control, Director of Foreign Intelligence Office and Joint Secretary of Foreign Trade.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/SC-raps-govt-for-not-informing-about-Hasan-Ali-chargesheet/articleshow/8283591.cms

13 MAY, 2011, 03.43AM IST,ET BUREAU
SC orders CBI probe into irregularities in Orissa NREGA
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe misappropriation of funds from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 100 villages in Orissa , in 2006-07.

The court asked the Centre to tell it within eight weeks the plan it proposes for states to prevent recurrence of irregularities in the scheme.

“It will be useful for concerned authorities in the Central Government to ponder over the entire matter and propose such directions or measures which the state government should take in order to prevent recurrence of the events that have taken place in number of states and particularly in the state of Orissa,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia, Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar in its order on Thursday.

“We also direct the Central Government to consider the entire matter objectively within the framework of the provisions of the statute and place on record of this court, before the next date of hearing, the directions or measures which it proposes to issue to all the states to prevent recurrence of what has happened in the state of Orissa.”

The bench said the Central Government on receipt of complaints is vested with the power to stop release of the funds to NREGA scheme and institute appropriate remedial measures for its proper implementation.

The Central government has full power to refer complaints to CBI for investigation, pointed out Chief Justice Kapadia writing the order for the bench.

The court also expressing concern over the persistent default by a large number of state governments in implementing the provisions of the act and Central government’s NREGA Operational guidelines of 2008. It was issued for the proper implementation of the scheme by the state governments. “We hereby direct all the state governments to file affidavits stating whether they have accepted and are duly implementing the Operational Guidelines issued by the government of India, within six weeks,” the court ordered.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/sc-orders-cbi-probe-into-irregularities-in-orissa-nrega/articleshow/8283528.cms

CII favours decontrolling diesel prices

CHENNAI: Confederation of Indian Industry today favoured decontrolling diesel prices saying the subsidy on fuel would hit the country’s growth in the long term.

“We are not in favour of subsidies…Though it is important temporarily, if it becomes a habit, it will hamper the long term productivity of the country,” CII President B Muthuraman told reporters here.

The prices should be driven by the market conditions so that the competitiveness was increased. “We want competitive scenario and at the same time it should be a level playing field (for industries)”, Muthuraman, also the Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel , said ahead of the CII National Council Meeting.

He also sought modifications in the Land Acquisition Bill currently in the drafting stage.

“It is not practical for industry to acquire large acres of land.. It can be done in a different way. We are trying to discuss the issue with the policy makers.” he said.

It was in this context, the CII was planning to set up a Land Development Corporation which can be a public-private partnership that works on business objective.

“The idea is to buy and develop land for industry purposes,” he said.

On rising interest rates, he said any further hike would kill the growth of industry.

“Any further increase (on interest rates) will kill the industry,” he said adding the supply and demand sides needed to be addressed.

Detailing some of the affirmative actions taken by CII in the recent past, he said so far 276 ITIs had been adopted and 10,900 scholarships distributed since 2007.

27 JUN, 2011, 05.10AM IST,ET BUREAU
The oil sector needs decontrol and competition, not sporadic price changes

The Centre has belatedly raised retail prices marginally of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, after a whole year of inaction even as crude prices kept rising. This, and the cuts in duties on crude and products, helps the oil companies, but fall short of much needed systemic reform. There is no move yet again to decontrol prices of diesel, the most used fuel, never mind the inprinciple okay some time ago for oil companies to revise retail prices on their own. It is sensible that oil marketers now willy-nilly get to revise petrol prices.

However, after the latest revision for diesel, the price differential vis-avis petrol has further risen, which distorts demand, for example, favouring cars that run on diesel. And despite the long-overdue increase in the prices of the trio of petroproducts, the estimated under-recoveries in oil, the difference between the cost price and realised price of petrogoods, would nevertheless reportedly add up to Rs 1,20,000 crore this fiscal alone. The massive imbalance underscores the need for purposeful reform in oil, with real scope for competitive, market-determined prices rather than sporadic, politicised price revisions that leave an inefficient, opaque oil marketing structure intact.

In tandem, the customs duty on crude has been reduced from 5% to nil, and that on petrol and diesel brought down to 2.5% from 7.5%. It would have made more sense to unify the rates for crude and refined products at 1.5-2%. The state governments do need to bring down and rationalise local levies on oil products. After all, in a regime of ad valorem duties on petro-products, runaway prices do tend to disproportionately rev up indirect levies. Additionally, excise on diesel has been almost halved.

But the special excise on petrol remains anomalously in place. Abroad, the relative price differential is minimal. The cooking gas (LPG) price per cylinder goes up by Rs 50, to about Rs 395, and subsidised kerosene (SKO) by Rs 2/litre. But LPG prices are already double ours in the immediate neighbourhood, and SKO is heavily used as adulterant. The express need is for comprehensive subsidy overhaul for both the household fuels.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/The-oil-sector-needs-decontrol-and-competition-not-sporadic-price-changes/articleshow/9007936.cms

27 JUN, 2011, 04.59AM IST,ET BUREAU
Boosting production and rural incomes should be the core of food security

An article by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Pricing chairman Ashok Gulati in this paper (ET, June23) made a telling point that the government and the leadership of the ruling coalition would do well to take on board while finalising their view on food security. Food security is achieved far more by boosting rural output and incomes than by distribution. Agricultural growth dents rural poverty directly and proportionately much more than growth in town-based activities such as industry and services. Fast growth on the farm was precisely the route that China took to bring down its poverty rate.

Boosting farm output would also increase vital supplies and hold the price line. At a time when even the least developed economies of the world are registering sustained growth of 7% a year and more, it is inevitable that food demand would go up around the world. Without a coherent strategy to boost output, any attempt to identify food security with distribution would push up government dominance in the market for grain, jack up the subsidy bill, paying for expensive imports as well, and leave demand squeeze as the only way to contain inflation, leading to higher interest rates and lower investment and growth. This is a recipe for ever-rising food subsidy without materially enhancing welfare.

Another point the article highlights had been articulated by 40 noted economists in an open letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as well: it would be a big mistake to rely on the public distribution system as the sole means of ensuring popular access to food. The procurement, storage and distribution through the Food Corporation of India and state civil supplies departments is riddled with corruption, inefficiency, pilferage, spoilage, special devolution to Punjab and Haryana which corner central funds in the name of mandi tax.

Cash transfers to beneficiaries and an enhanced role for the private trade would cut costs and minimise leakages. Food security is not just distribution of food, but increasing production, and enhancing efficiency across the board: and that would call for organised retail and the supply chains they can bring, as Amul did in the case of milk.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/boosting-production-and-rural-incomes-should-be-the-core-of-food-security/articleshow/9007854.cms

20 JUN, 2011, 01.14PM IST,REUTERS
Indian agricultural infrastructure deperately needs overhauling

SHIVTHAR (Maharashtra): Ajit Govind Sable’s family have owned their farm in western Maharashtra for 10 generations, which even for a region that has been farming for more than 10,000 years is long enough to witness plenty of changes.

Two generations back, they started cultivating sugar cane here in Shivthar, a village in Maharashtra’s highlands near the Krishna river. India’s most industrialised state soon became its largest sugar producer.

Today, it’s not sugar the 35-year-old Sable is talking about as he sips sweet tea in the front yard of the low, two-storey farmhouse where half the ground floor houses his turmeric crop.

He’s discussing peppers, which he is now growing under polythene plastic coverings. Like an increasing number of farmers in the country, Sable is exploiting a shift in taste towards fruits and vegetables among Indians.

“My colleagues grow flowers under poly,” Sable says. “But the investment for that is too much for me, so I’m trying out peppers. You can’t eat flowers if you can’t find buyers for them,” he notes.

While many farmers are eager to adjust to changing diets in one of the world’s fastest growing markets, the government continues to subsidise the cultivation of wheat, sugar and rice crops to ensure basic food needs for the country’s poor.

The result is overflowing stocks of these carbohydrate-heavy staples and a huge subsidy bill that is adding to a ballooning budget deficit.

India, many agricultural experts say, is spending billions to prop up a traditional farm sector at the expense of investment in new crops and agricultural innovation.

But in a country where one out of five goes hungry, the government has had to focus on foods that fuel or fill — carbohydrate-heavy wheat, rice and sugar. About 36 percent of women and 34 percent of men in India are underweight. The costs of that undernourishment is high in terms of healthcare, lost productivity and poor quality of life.

At the same time, a growing urban middle class is consuming more higher-value, high protein foods, which is stoking food price inflation — as well as changing business and farm models in rural India.

The food chain in India is undergoing deep change. “There is a view that this is a structural shift and pulses, milk, meat, eggs, fish, protein items — these are sectors where you need to concentrate,” Abhijit Sen, who sits on the government’s planning committee, said in a speech on June 5.

RISING MIDDLE CLASS

Those shifts have been under way for years but are accelerating with rapid urbanisation and the expansion of middle class. Take Avantika Singh , for example. A consultant in the hotel industry, she lives in an apartment block in Delhi with her husband Sanjay, a television producer, and their 7-year-old daughter, Romsha.

The Singhs are still fond of traditional Indian food such as idlis, southern style rice pancakes served with spicy sauce, and parathas, wheat flatbreads cooked with oil or ghee.

But on this day Avantika, 41, is cooking pasta with fresh peppers.

“As a working person, I look at whatever is easy to do and nothing too elaborate,” she says. “When you make idlis it’s a whole day, day-and-a-half procedure. I don’t have that kind of time.”

She sees her parents’ generation suffering the effects of the sugar-heavy, oily diet they grew up on.

“Even if we make parathas, we don’t put butter and ghee in,” Avantika says.

India is getting wealthier as well as healthier. Its 8 percent annual growth, second only to China among major countries, is boosting incomes rapidly in the trillion dollar economy. Per capita income surged to $1,265 in 2010 from $857 in 2006 — a nearly 50 percent increase — according to the World Bank and IMF .

Middle class households are expected to grow 67 percent in the next five years, bringing over 53 million households into an annual income bracket between 340,000 and 1.7 million rupees ($7,600-38,000).

Bijay Kumar, managing director of the National Horticulture Board , says having more money than your parents is pushing up demand for high-protein foods.

“Rising income levels are allowing people to spend on high value stuff,” he says. “People are more aware of health. They are increasing their intake of fruits in their regular diet.”

In 2009-10, Indians boosted spending on fruit and vegetables by nearly 9 percent over the year earlier. They shelled out almost 31 percent more on meat, eggs and fish. Spending on cereals, on the other hand, was flat.

“A dietary transformation is underway in the country and demand for high value, vitamin and protein rich food such as fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs, poultry, meat and fish is increasing,” the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said in a study this year.

FOOD SECURITY

Years of eating an oil-rich, sugary diet high in carbohydrates have left many with a paunch and a health problem. India has the world’s largest diabetes population at just below 51 million people, while heart disease is the single-largest cause of death.

Yet hunger is endemic among the country’s 500 million poor. The government is drafting a Food Security Act that promises to expand subsidised wheat and rice well beyond the current 30 percent of the population in a country that is home to 40 percent of the world’s malnourished children.

That could mean India spending about $25 billion a year on providing cheap food or about 9 percent of total spending this year — more than four times the expenditure on healthcare.

While the farm sector is slowly diversifying, it is a declining contributor to growth, despite providing a living to more than half the country’s workforce.

About 600 million are dependent on farming — half the population of 1.2 billion — even though agriculture makes up only 14.6 percent of the economy and has been declining from 30 percent a decade ago.

A severe drought meant no growth for the sector in 2009-10 and last year it missed its 4 percent target for expansion, officials said, even as the overall economy powered ahead with 8.5 percent growth.

The average size of farms in India is a mere 1.33 hectares — about the size of two soccer pitches — and that figure has been steadily declining.

Farmers are finding it ever more difficult to make ends meet. The introduction of high-yielding seed varieties and increased use of fertilisers and irrigation spawned the Green Revolution in the 1960s that allowed India to become self-sufficient in grains. But experts say agriculture innovation and efficiency has stalled in recent years and farmers are getting squeezed by rising costs and inefficient agronomy.

Since the mid-1990s, an estimated 150,000 small farmers have committed suicide, according to the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University, most of them over debts.

Increasingly, voices in government and among experts are calling for a different approach, one that curbs subsidy spending, tackles inflation and boosts agricultural production of higher-value foods.

CUT SAFETY NETS

Ashok Gulati is a recent recruit to the government’s inner circle from the world of research. His white hair and beard marked him out at conferences when he worked for IFPRI in New Delhi.

Now as chairman of the government’s commission on farm prices and costs he has moved, as he puts it, from talking a lot with hardly anyone listening to being heard every time he speaks.

Gulati says too much money is going into safety nets such as subsidies and minimum wages when the government should be investing more to boost agricultural growth and innovation.

Agriculture ministry plans to invest about $4.8 billion in 2011-12.

“I would say you should have 70 percent of resources for growth and 30 percent for welfare objectives, but it’s the other way around,” Gulati says.

The World Bank has criticised the subsidies as highly inefficient. But they have powerful political supporters, especially Sonia Gandhi , president of the ruling Congress Party, whose vote bank has long been in rural areas.

Gulati also favours modernising distribution networks. Supply chains should be shortened, by making it easier for retailers and food processors to buy direct from farmers.

Although many states now allow retailers to do this outside the regulated local markets known as mandi, in practice poor infrastructure makes that difficult.

COLD STORAGE

Ganpat Chowdhary, 45, is a trader at a mandi in Pune. Surrounded by piles of rose and pale green mangoes sweating in the fierce summer sun, he has his own problems — the perishable nature of his products.

About 30 percent of fruit and vegetable production goes to waste. Summer temperatures which regularly top 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) also mean fruit stored without chilling can ripen overnight.

Temperature-controlled warehouses are sprouting up across India but are mostly small-scale private enterprises.

“We are also keen to set up a cold storage facility,” Chowdhary says. “It’s essential, as damage levels are very high in fruits.”

The National Horticulture Board’s Kumar says wastage can be trimmed by increasing the amount of cold storage facilities available.

“We need good infrastructure to collect and aggregate farm goods produced in remote areas,” he said. “They need to be delivered to consumers as early as possible.

Chowdhary, who’s been in the fruit business for the past two decades, has a different idea.

“In the last four to five years, sales of fruit have risen by 25-30 percent. The next stage for us is to go back to the farm and process fruits.”

That way he could sell direct to the supermarkets.

SUPERMARKET SUPPLY CHAINS

Devendra Chawla is showing off his display of chutney jars at a branch of a Big Bazaar supermarket in an expensive South Delhi neighbourhood.

People are increasingly heading to air-conditioned stores like this, where aisles are packed with choice instead of the tiny mom-n-pop stores where items are lifted off dusty shelves offering just one or two brands of essential groceries.

Chawla says Big Bazaar’s size and presence across India allows them to buy from both big distributors and local suppliers.

He sees huge potential for those who get it right. “If the country is growing by 8 to 9 percent, incomes will increase and I think food as a category will get developed,” he says.

“The market is so huge that it can absorb many more (retail) brands,” says the clean-shaven Chawla, sporting the intercontinental look of open-necked check shirt and chinos .

“The supply chain and cold storage are also getting developed, so I think for the country and for our company, food is a big bet. It’s huge.”

But the government needs to invest much more in distribution infrastructure, he said.

“If we can develop good infrastructure and then supply chains and cold storage, I think that can make a lot of difference to the country.”

India’s supply chains are fragmented and often involve several layers of middlemen between tractor and table.

Its road system is clogged and underdeveloped, while railway freight turnaround times are slow with limited availability of refrigerated freight vans. Cold storage of about 24 million tonnes is woefully inadequate for the world’s second-biggest producer of fruit and vegetables. All of this means availability of fresh produce is highly regionalised.

It’s not unusual to see wooden flatbed carts loaded with vegetables and fruits right on the doorstep even in big cities — very convenient for shoppers but it does increase the mileage and moves for produce and raising the chance of damage.

Back in Shivthar (Shiva’s ground), transportation is also on Sable’s mind as his daughter takes the evening’s milk from their cow in a metal churn up to the end of the road for collection.

He says he’d like to sell to retail food chains because they offer higher prices, but it’s hard to deal with them directly.

“It’s a headache to arrange transport according to their needs. I prefer to sell to wholesalers. They buy from the farm gate, so I don’t need to worry about the transportation delay and wastage,” he says.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/39sc-appointed-sit-will-lend-credibility-to-govt-panels39_562548.html

Any further hike in interest rate will kill industry: CII

Industry body CII today cautioned against any further hike in interest rates, saying it would further hamper the growth prospects of the country and “kill” the industry.
“Any further increase (in interest rates) will kill the industry.. the supply and demand side should be addressed…”, CII President B Muthuraman told reporters here.
Stating that the solution was not only in changing the monetary policy by the Reserve Bank, he said issues like demand and supply side needed to be addressed first.
Leading industrialist and Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj, who was also in city, echoed similar views saying any further hike in interest rates would affect the fixed income and poorer sections of the society besides the industry.
“In the last 15 months, RBI has increased the basis points by 10 times totalling to 275 basis points. But what happend to inflation”", Bajaj asked referring to the apex bank’s action to contain the price spiral.
He said RBI’s move would only affect the demand which would further lead to decrease in flow of investments into the country.
“If India has to grow like other countries, then demand has to increase and because of that investment will also increase,” he said.
The tightening of interest rates was the whole problem of growth and inflation. “The industry was the worst hit and ultimately crazy inflation will affect the industry’s growth..by increasing the interest rates, we are increasing the cost to the customer which is artificially containing demand,” he said.
On June 16, the Reserve Bank raised the key short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 basis points for the 10th time since March, 2010.
In May, the country’s inflation stood at 9.06% while food inflation as measured by the Wholesale Price Index was at 7.78%.
04/07/2011

I paid for watching Wimbledon, says tennis fan Krishna

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday clarified that he had paid for the two extra days he spent in London last week to watch a Wimbledon match.
“I love watching tennis. What’s wrong with it,” Krishna retorted when asked by reporters whether he overstayed in London to watch the Wimbledon men’s singles semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on July 1.
“I paid for the expenses for the subsequent part of the trip,” Krishna told reporters when asked about a media report that he had stayed at the luxurious Bentley Hotel run by the Waldorf Astoria chain on government expense after the official leg of his five-day visit to Britain, during which he held talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The talks ended on Thursday, but according to some reports, Krishna stayed back for the Wimbledon match.
“There is nothing unusual. I myself have been a tennis player,” said Krishna, adding he is the president of the Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association and the vice president of the All India Tennis Association.
The controversy erupted ahead of a cabinet reshuffle that is expected later this month. Analysts point out that the controversy could not have come at a worse time for Krishna as it may give a handle to his opponents who want him shifted from the external affairs ministry.
Source: IANS
04/07/2011

Telangana cyclone hits AP, Congress

Crisis in Andhra as Telangana MPs, MLAs quit enmasse; 48-hr shutdown from Tuesday
Congress legislators headed by K Jana Reddy address the media after submitting their resignation letters to Dy.Speaker Bhatti Vikramarka in Hyderabad on Monday. PTI

New Delhi/Hyderabad: The movement for separate statehood to Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh entered a crucial phase Monday with the mass resignations of MPs, state ministers and legislators of the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) while the Joint Action Committee (JAC) spearheading the movement called for a 48-hour shutdown beginning Tuesday.
On a day of fast-paced developments, seven MPs of the Congress party from the region submitted their resignations to Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar while Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao gave his resignation to house chairman Hamid Ansari.
In an attempt to build pressure on the party-led United Progressive Alliance government to concede their demand for creation of a separate Telangana state, seven out of 12 Lok Sabha members of Congress submitted their resignations while both members of TDP said they would also put in their papers.
Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar told reporters that two other Lok Sabha members, Madhu Goud Yaskhi and Suresh Shetkar, have faxed their resignations.
Another MP Sarvey Satyanarayana has refused to resign saying he would do so only after Union Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy quits. MP from Secunderabad Anjan Kumar Yadav is also reluctant to resign.
In Hyderabad, 79 members of the assembly including 11 ministers submitted their resignations, plunging the state into a crisis.
Four rebel TDP legislators had quit Sunday.
Suspended TDP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy(fourth from left) along with TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, MP Vijaya Shanty and other party leaders during his 48-hour hunger strike in Hyderabad on Monday. PTI
Those who resigned Monday include all 33 of TDP, 40 of Congress and two of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).
Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha and three other ministers have not resigned. The ministers who submitted their resignations include Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy.
While five ministers personally submitted their resignations to deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, six others including the home minister sent their papers.
In all, 10 legislators of the Congress party from Telangana are yet to submit their resignations.
Speaker N. Manohar, who is in the US, will take a decision on the resignations after his return. The resignations, if accepted, may reduce the Congress government to minority.
In the 294-member assembly, Congress has 174 members, including 18 from the PRP, which merged with the ruling party recently.
Telangana accounts for 119 legislators in the 294-member assembly. The Congress has 52 members (including two of PRP), TDP 37 and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) 11.
Senior Minister K. Jana Reddy told reporters that their resignations were not aimed at creating a constitutional or political crisis but to achieve a separate state in tune with the aspirations of the people.
TDP Telangana Forum members (legislators) staging a Protest after paying tributes to Martyrs demanding introduction of Telengana separate state bill in parliamentat Telengana Memorial at Gun Park in Hyderabad on Monday.PTI
“Today is United States’ Independence Day and we hope today will also become Telangana’s Independence Day,” the minister said outside the assembly building.
Jana Reddy, who later left for Delhi for talks with the central leadership, claimed that their fight was for self-rule and self-respect of the Telangana region.
Twelve Congress members of the legislative council and three of TDP have also submitted their resignations to council chairperson K. Chakrapani.
The legislators said the resignations were aimed at pressurising the central government to carve out a separate Telangana state as promised by it on Dec 9, 2009.
The Congress leaders resigned despite the efforts of the central and state leadership of the party over last three days to dissuade them.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi that a final decision on the “extremely sensitive and complex” issue was yet to be taken.
“The central government’s view will be made known after the consultation process is over. We have to bring everyone on board. There is a strong view of a large number of people. We are yet to take a final decision,” Chidambaram told reporters.
TDP Telangana Forum members (legislators) with TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad on Monday. PTI
“This is an extremely sensitive and complex issue. We will try to expedite… One should have understanding and patience. Especially, the media should have understanding and patience,” Chidambaram said.
Chidambaram said the government would convene an all-party meeting immediately after the views of all parties are known. Two of the parties have not yet finalised their views on the separate statehood issue, he said.
However, his statement evoked sharp reaction not just from TRS but also from his own party ranks. MP Manda Jagannatham termed his remarks incomprehensible.
Alleging that the centre is making light of the mass resignations, the JAC, which is spearheading the Telangana movement, called for a 48-hour Telangana shutdown beginning Tuesday.
TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao criticized Chidambaram for reacting to the resignations in a casual manner. He announced that the protest in the region would continue till the central government agrees to initiate the process for formation of separate state.
JAC also called for rail blockade in Telangana on July 8 and 9 and cook-and-eat protest on roads on July 10.
Source: IANS

04/07/2011

Lokpal meet ends with a one-liner

No consensus on bill, only point of agreement was on the need to have a strong Lokpal
New Delhi: An all-party meet on Lokpal on Sunday evening failed to reach a consensus on any of the crucial aspects of the proposed Bill — neither on how the Lokpal should be appointed, nor on where his writ should run and where it should not.
This means the issue of corruption in high places — and even elsewhere in government, the bureaucracy and the state apparatus — will be the central point of discussion and agitation in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.
The meeting did not even discuss the legislation and its clauses. Its first objection was that the government had brought two sets of proposals — its own and those of civil society — before elected Members of Parliament. This was unacceptable.
“We want a strong Lokpal…bring a government bill, send it to the standing committee so that all parties can give a point of view,” said Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
She was reacting to the fact that two sets of proposals — one from the government and the other from the Anna Hazare-led social activists — had been presented. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was not the Opposition’s job to create a consensus between the government and sundry groups of activists. It wanted the government to put out one comprehensive draft.
The only thing that all parties agreed on was the need to have a strong Lokpal. A terse resolution issued at the end of the meeting said: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following the established procedures.”
The absence of a consensus at Sunday’s meeting means Hazare’s fast, which he plans to resume in the middle of August, will be on course where he will charge the government with attempting to shield and let off those engaged in corruption.
In fact, in his opening remarks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the unusual step for conceding that there was a need to stem corruption in high places and that while there were several laws in place to check corruption, an institutional arrangement was needed.
However, he put in two caveats: That the Lokpal has to work in harmony with other institutions and laws; and it has to function within the framework of basic structure of Constitution.
This continued to be the problem, although today’s meeting did not discuss them, except the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which asserted that both the PM and the Judiciary must come under the purview of the Lokpal).
The stumbling blocks are not just whether the PM or the higher judiciary should be brought under the Lokpal’s supervision (both propositions violative of the constitution and requiring an amendment to the basic structure of the Constitution) but also nitty gritties like bringing the Central Bureau of Investigation’s anti-corruption wing, MPs’ conduct inside Parliament, and the lower bureaucracy across the country within the ambit of Lokpal, besides the mode of financing and the panel for selecting the ombudsman.
The meeting was also attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel (both NCP), and T R Baalu (DMK) were among the UPA constituents to attend the deliberations.
The Opposition was represented by BJP veteran L K Advani, Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha) and Arun Jaitley (Rajya Sabha), NDA Convenor and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (both CPI) and Lalu Prasad (RJD), among others.
Source: Business Standard
03/07/2011

Maid in Strauss-Kahn case working as prostitute: report

The Guinean maid, who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, was also working as a prostitute, a media report has claimed.
‘The New York Post’ reported that the 32-year-old maid at the Sofitel Hotel was doing double duty as a prostitute, collecting cash on the side from male guests.
“There is information… of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean,” a source close to the defence investigation told The Post.
The woman also had “a lot of her expenses — hair braiding, salon expenses — paid for by men not related to her,” the source said.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was accused of forcing the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex. He was taken into custody a few minutes before his Air France flight departed for Paris in May. Strauss-Kahn has claimed that their sexual encounter was consensual.
The source said that immigrants from Guinea had been targeted by the maid. “We have people who have been victimized, who have claimed she ripped them off. Nice working people from her neighborhood,” a source said.
This week the case against Strauss-Kahn unraveled quickly as it emerged the maid, who accused him, has been lying and has criminal connections.
On Friday, Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest and is now allowed to travel inside the US. While the case against him has been weakened, the charges still stand.
Source: PTI

04/07/2011

Govt Inc alone matches India Inc’s top-10 in market wealth

New Delhi: Combined market valuation of all listed government entities grown to close to Rs 20,000,000 crore, according to analysis of data available with BSE, NSE.
Tatas and Ambanis may be known for being among the country’s wealthiest groups, but it takes as many as 10 of them to match the stock market wealth of the conglomerate comprising of various government companies.
The combined market valuation of all listed government entities has grown to close to Rs 20,000,000 crore, according to an analysis of data available with the two bourses, BSE and NSE.
In comparison, all the companies belonging to the country’s 10 most valued private business groups together command a cumulative market valuation of this magnitude.
This makes the group of the government companies the most valued conglomerate in the country with a size over four times of the most valued private business house Tatas.
Among the private corporate groups, the Ratan Tata-led salt-to-software conglomerate is currently the largest with a market wealth of Rs 4,47,351 crore, followed by Mukesh Ambani- led Reliance group at Rs 283,000 crore, Deepak Parekh-led HDFC group (Rs 221,000 crore) and Infosys (Rs 168,500 crore).
These are followed by tobacco-to-FMCG conglomerate ITC (Rs 156,000 crore), retail-to-telecom giant Bharti group (Rs 145,600 crore), Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta group (Rs 141,200 crore), Adani Group (Rs 137,400 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 126,00 crore) and Aditya Birla group (Rs 117,500 crore).
Together, these 10 most valued private business houses command a cumulative stock market valuation of Rs 19,43,000 crore, based on the value of all their 60 listed entities.
In comparison, there are close to 100 listed government entities in the country, including 50 central public sector enterprises and 28 public sector banks, while the rest are state-level public sector companies and the companies promoted by various PSUs.
There are more than 100 other unlisted public sector companies, including behemoths like BSNL and Air India.
The combined market valuation of the 100 listed companies have grown to Rs 19,35,000 crore as on July 1, 2011, which is only a shade below the cumulative figure for 10 largest private sector business houses.
It is the strong investor appetite for public sector companies that makes them such a strong group and this is evident from close to Rs 1,00,000 crore garnered by the government through disinvestment in various PSUs.
The government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore for the current fiscal also, while it aims to garner Rs 95,000 crore in three financial years.
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Experts said that the government companies have always remained a good investment proposition for investors, barring a few exceptions, while the private companies, despite belonging to large groups, generally pass through both good and bad phases.
For example, the experts pointed out, Tatas have been doing good in past few months, but Reliance group of companies, as also some others, have not been able to perform well.
A year ago, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group was the country’s most valued business house, ahead of Tatas, but the scenario has reversed currently.
On the other hand, Anil Ambani group (ADAG), which was third-largest after Mukesh-led Reliance group and Tatas with a market cap of Rs 1,32,600 crore as on June 30, 2010, is not even in top-ten now and is currently ranked 14th with a market valuation of Rs 82,500 crore. Mukesh Ambani group has also lost about Rs 75,000 crore of its market cap in past one year, while Tatas have gained over Rs 1,20,000 crore.
Among other groups, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti group has gained close to Rs 45,000 crore, while that of Vedanta group has grown by only about Rs 10,000 crore.
Vedanta group’s market cap would rise further by about Rs 62,000 crore once it completes the Cairn India acquisition.
Among the government companies, Coal India is the most valued with a stand-alone market cap of Rs 242,600 crore, followed by ONGC (Rs 236,400 crore), SBI (Rs 153,800 crore), NTPC (Rs 153,400 crore), NMDC (Rs 104,500 crore) and BHEL (Rs 100,350 crore).
Other large public sector companies include MMTC, Indian Oil, GAIL, SAIL,
PowerGrid, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Oil India, NHPC and PFC.
All the government companies together account for nearly 30 per cent of the country’s total stock market wealth, while there are four public sector companies (Coal India, ONGC, SBI and NTPC) among the country’s 10 most valued entities.
Source: PTI

04/07/2011

It’s not jobless growth, show official data

New Delhi: Recent government data do not show that the Indian economy has experienced ‘jobless growth’.
Claiming that there has been a ‘gross misrepresentation’ of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, “We need to have a better understanding of statistics to correctly interpret statistical findings like the NSSO employment survey.”
According to principal advisor with the Planning Commission and former chief statistician, Pronob Sen, there were 40-45 million more people in the age group of 15-59 between 2004-05 and 2009-10. The unemployment rate has correspondingly fallen from 2.3 per cent to 2 per cent of the labour force.
“It means the additional people in the working-age population were given jobs and some past unemployed people also got jobs… (They) may not be (getting) remunerative wages,” Sen told Business Standard.
The unemployment rate (‘usual status activity’ in technical jargon) is computed, as the number of people in the age group of 15-59 who are willing to work but did not obtain, paid employment for at least 180 days during the past 365 days. The latest NSSO survey was conducted between July 2009 and June 2010 and included a sample of over 100,000 households.
“The usual status activity is a poor indicator of the employment rate, but is a reliable indicator when it comes to knowing whether workers are finding jobs or not. For example, between 2004-05 and 2009-10, the working-age population grew by an average of two per cent per year, which is about 8-9 million individuals. They all got some jobs, as did few people previously unemployed,” said Sen.
What then explains the decline in the Worker’s Population Ratio (WPR) from 42 per cent to 39.2 per cent during this period? Sen ascribes this decline to the rise in the ratio of enrolment in post-secondary school classes. Staying longer in schools delays the entry into the workforce because students are not really looking for work during this period. Sen’s explanation is enthusiastically corroborated by Chief Statistician T C A Anant, “A declining WPR is a positive indicator as it shows an increase in the number opting for higher education…which means we will have a skilled workforce in the future”.
This decline is also reflected in the declining Labour force Participation Rate (LFPR), a measure of the number of working-age population either employed or willing to work. The three percentage point fall in LFPR between 2004-05 and 2009-10 could have to do with more than mere structural factors. For example, rural women working in agriculture or animal husbandry consider their contributions simply as part of household work and not employment. This probably results in an underestimation of the actual size of the labour market, a problem that can be largely overcome by better training and cultural sensitization of the survey staff to ask the right follow up questions.
Sen recalled that when he was chief statistician and secretary in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, there were 1,200-1,300 vacancies for the survey staff.
“As many as 900 contract investigators were hired. They don’t have enough experience to ask follow up questions.”
Source: Business Standard

04/07/2011

Jairam’s sudden clearance rush on coal

New Delhi: Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, often criticised for his controversial ‘no-go’ policy on mining in foreted areas, has been on a clearance spree of late. The heightened activity on permissions to power and mining projects, which had been stuck for long, coincides with the run-up to a likely reshuffle of the council of ministers this month.
In the past week, the minister has cleared at least nine coal blocks earlier caught in the go/no-go maze since 2009. The blocks were allotted to NTPC, the Oriss Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP), Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) and Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL), among others.
On June 23, Ramesh had given approval to opening the Tara, Parsa East and Kante Basan blocks in the Hasdeo-Arand forest region of Chhattisgarh. The blocks were opened despite the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) recommending against it.
The ministry of coal had awarded the Parsa East and Kente Basan coal blocks to RRVUNL to feed two thermal power projects in Rajasthan. The Adani Group and RRVUNL had formed a joint venture firm, Parsa Kente Collieries Ltd, to develop these mines. Tara was allotted to Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation.
On June 29, the environment ministry gave clearance to another six coal blocks in Orissa, of which five were in the no-go area. Of these, three (Meenakshi-A, Meenakshi-B and Meenakshi Dipside) have been allocated to the 4,000 Mw UMPP. Two blocks (Manoharpur and Manoharpur Dipside) were allocated to the 1,320 Mw power plant of OPGC and one (Dulanga) to NTPC’s 1,600 Mw unit. These six cleared blocks could free generation of 6,000 Mw.
The state governments involved — mainly Rajasthan, Orissa and Chhattisgarh — have been persistently following the issue with the ministry and also the Prime Minister for several months, citing development concerns.
Incidentally, while clearing the coal blocks in Chhattisgarh, minister Ramesh said his decision came from the “imperative to sustain the momentum generated in the 11th Plan in terms of capacity addition…I have necessarily to keep the broader development picture in mind and balance out different objectives and considerations.”
During the 11th Plan (2007-2012), 52,000 Mw is expected to be added, as compared to 21,000 Mw in the previous Plan period. Of this, 42,000 Mw is expected to be coal-based capacity, as compared to 15,000 Mw in the 10th Plan period.
The environment ministry started to classify the country’s forests as ‘Go’ and ‘No-Go’ areas from 2009. The categorisation specifies regions where coal mining could be permitted only after stringent forest clearances were obtained. The decision came under severe criticism from the power ministry, with several projects stuck due to the classification. The outcome was formation of a group of ministers (GoM) this February to sort out the tussles on the issue. The 12-member GoM has met thrice — in February, April and June — but is yet to reach any consensus.
Coal is a critical input for fuelling growth of major infrastructure sectors such as power, steel and cement. Any irreversible slump in coal production, thus, directly affects the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth. In all, 203 blocks were in the no-go areas. The output from these can generate around 130,000 Mw of power per annum, says the coal ministry. The ‘no go’ criterion covers nine coalfields, including Singrauli, North Karanpura, Ib Valley, Mand-Raigarh, Talcher, Sohagpur, Wardha Valley, Hasdeo-Arand and West Bokaro.
Source: Business Standard
04/07/2011

Conditions for Cairn deal to cost govt Rs 5,000 crore

New Delhi: ONGC’s return on investment becomes positive after govt makes Barmer block royalty cost-recoverable.
The government’s income from Cairn India’s Barmer field is estimated to fall 9 per cent to Rs 52,757 crore after the royalty from the block is made cost-recoverable.
This is one of the conditions the government has put to clear Vedanta Resources’ deal to buy a majority stake in Cairn India.
The government’s income from a gas/oil block is known as profit petroleum. “The government’s share of profit petroleum is estimated to fall by about Rs 5,000 crore if the royalty is made cost-recoverable,” said a senior government official.
He, however, added that if the entire royalty was paid by ONGC, Cairn’s partner in the Barmer block, the government would have had to reimburse the full amount, incurring an expenditure of Rs 12,600 crore. “In a way, this is a saving for the government,” he said.
While making a case for approval to the deal, Cairn had time and again impressed upon the government that making the royalty payment cost-recoverable would hit it hard as the amount went to the state government. The Centre got its share in the form of profit petroleum.
While ONGC, as a licensee, was obliged to bear the full royalty burden, the accounting procedure in the production sharing contract said the royalty paid by ONGC was cost-recoverable from the common pool of revenue before profit petroleum was calculated. The issue surfaced after Cairn Energy announced the sale of a majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources.
ONGC insisted that the royalty should be treated as cost-recoverable. In line with ONGC’s suggestion, the government has given conditional clearance to the deal, but has decided that the royalty will be treated as cost-recoverable.
If Cairn and Vedanta accept this condition, ONGC will continue to pay 100 per cent royalty despite holding a mere 30 per cent stake in the block, but will be able to cost-recover the amount. ONGC’s return on Barmer investment would have been negative if it was to bear the full royalty burden. Since royalty has been made cost-recoverable, the net present value of ONGC’s investment in the project has become positive. The royalty is 16.67 per cent, assuming the crude oil price of $70 per barrel. Over the full life cycle of the block, the amount is estimated to be Rs 18,000 crore.
Barmer is the largest onshore oil block in the country. Crude oil production from Mangala, the main field in Barmer, started in August 2009. The field produces 125,000 barrels crude oil per day and is expected to produce 175,000 barrels at its peak.
Source: Business Standard

http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/july2011/articles.htm
Reports

Anna Hazare’s Gandhian  stunts to fool innocent Indians

OUR CORRESPONDENT
Mangalore: Take it from us, “Hindu India” can never eradicate corruption.
Why? Because the very Indian social system is corrupt. We have said it in our report in DV of Oct 16,2010
Neither the anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, nor his opponents in the govt. are above corruption. Because corruption (meaning money corruption).flows from the top. It is the ruling upper castes, as the leaders of society, who taught us corruption. And that is how the whole society is today buried in corruption. There is not a single wing  of the  society  which is  free from corruption.
Hazare defends the corrupt:   If the current “Khatri Sick” PM or future PMs are free from corruption, why are they afraid of including the office of the PM in LokPal Bill?
If Anna Hazare is lily white why did he defend Narendra Modi, the killer, and also the country’s most corrupt CM of Karnataka?  Anna Hazare is said to be a Gandhian-but it is the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs who became victims of Gandhi and his Gandhism
Dr. Ambedkar, the Father of India, called Gandhi a top class fraud in his writing and speeches.
The whole excercise on Lokpal Bill is a waste of time. The frauds on both sides are united while publicly quarreling. But they are secretly trying to take the country on a joy ride, and thereby fool all of us. This is what is happening in the current Anna Hazare’s Gandhian drama.
As our memory is short-lived, we would like to remind our DV family how the whole Indian social system is corrupt by reproducing our DV report of Oct 16, 2010. “The very Indian system is corrupt”.

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THE VERY INDIAN SYSTEM IS CORRUPT

OUR CORRESPONDENTR
The fence is erected to protect the field. Now, we get the high-voltage shock that the fence itself is eating the field. This shocking revelation has come from an ex-Union Law Minister who named eight corrupt former chief justices of the Supreme Court.
That the judiciary, including the highest court, is not above suspicion is well known. Not only the judges, even the Supreme Court top lawyers.

KALMADIS CORRUPTION

Shanti Bhushan has named the corrupt CJS and many of them are Brahmins. Corruption is not the monopoly of any caste but the Bhoodevatas are leaders in this field also.
The whole world is shocked by the Brahmin culprit Kalmadi’s corruption in the Commonwealth Games. But we are not.
Because it is not possible in “Hindu India” to exist without being corrupt.
The problem we face in India is we always have different meaning to every act.

DEFENDING MANU’S LAW

When a person is accused of corruption, what we mean is “money corruption”. But we have said in our book, India’s Intellectual Desert (DSA-1999, Rs. 50) that money corruption is the last and the least dangerous of the four forms of corruption. “Intellectual corruption” is the most dangerous form of the four.
A Supreme Court sitting judge recently delivered in Bangalore three lectures on a working day at Brahminical institutions on different aspects of Brahminical law. And fully defending it. When the country and its SC are governed by the constitution how could this Brahmin judge uphold the hated anti-human law of Manu?
Nobody criticised this judge’s conduct in defending Manu which is more dangerous than crores of corruption.
There is yet another important side to the “corruption stories” which always get front-page publicity. Why the readers love “corruption stories”, like to see corrupt fellows pictures and punished by the law of the land?

BRIBE-GIVER IS ALSO CORRUPT

An official, judge or a minister takes money. And this is called corruption.
But did we ever think that the “corrupt fellow” took the bribe because it was willingly given to him by the interested party? Then why don’t we criticise the bribe-giver? Without the bribe-giver how can there be a bribe-taker? Both are too sides of the same coin.
In this Brahminical India there is no single govt. dept., central or state, which is not corrupt. It is top to bottom. Corruption begins from the top. Not the bottom.

TEMPLE CORRUPTION

It is also wrong to say that corruption is confined to only govt. sector. The private sector is equally corrupt. All private education institutions collect heavy capitation fees — all unaccounted. Private hospitals, loot the patients.
All shops cheat the customers with faulty weighing machines. Drug stores dispense spurious medicines. Taxis and autos cheat people. There is no place without corruption.
What about temple corruption? Yes.  The list of bribe amount is displayed at the very entrance. All auditors bribe income tax officers. Traders avoid paying tax. Liquor stores sell adulterated stuff.
Cricket is top to bottom corrupt.
Newspapers and journals resort to all sorts of corruption. If you give Scotch and chicken tikka you will get a good report.

WORST CORRUPT COUNTRY IN WORLD

Every Press Club in big cities get big money from the powers-to be. “Paid News” is the latest corruption charge against the daily papers. Even the Press Commission is trying to hush up the crime.
In another two years newspapers will have to devote almost every page to report corruption stories.
You will be shocked to hear even village voters have started demanding money for votes. That means our Brahminical system has made even the people corrupt.
The top in every branch of the society is corrupt. Those in the bottom are watching and learning. India will then become the worst corrupt in the world.

HARSHAD MEHTA &BAL THACKERAY

Who is not corrupt in India?
Our very system itself is corrupt. Our entire socio-economic-cultural-political machinery has become totally corrupt.
Harshad Mehta was not a govt. servant. Bal Thackeray, sitting on a mountain of money today, too was never in govt. Our Dalal Street Dagalbajis are not govt. servants.
The Kanchi Shankarachari nogetting any conviction despite his proven scandals and murders is neither a govt. servant nor a politician.
The whole lot is corrupt. Our very system is corrupt.
The Christian church, the Muslim masjid, the Sikh gurdwaras are not above corruption.

ARMY GENERALSENTENCED

The No.2 man in the Army is today facing court martial for corruption,. We saw the army corruption in the purchase of coffins when George Fernandes was the Defence Minister.
To repeat: Our very system itself is corrupt — rotten. The “Khatri Sick” PM himself defended CW Games corruption.
What is this system?

GLORIFYING THE RICH

This system glorifies the rich. Ambanis are praised and paraded. They are always front-paged. Why the people “respect” the Ambanis even when they don’t pay the tax?
Why the papers always front-page news of “India’s richest”? Because we are silently admire the rich and would like to emulate them.
Get-rich-quick is the advice given to every youth by the father and mother.
About 20 years ago the parent wished his son to study well and lead a happy life.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY?

Now, this has changed.
The common talk is: “Do you know so and so is doing very well?” What he means by that “wellness” is the fellow has made pots of money. But nobody asks how he has made that money.
Nobody is interested in knowing it. So when the rich are glamourised, praised and paraded, get front page in Times of India, our value system changes. We aim at making money by hook or crook.
But making money is the easiest. You must have no scruples, no principles. Cheat, rob, bribe or take bribe, resort to any means including murder — you become rich. And once you become rich you become the Ambani. Your past is quickly forgotten. And get all awards, rewards. Front page pictures, TV interviews, Rotary Club honour.
Your wife, mother, father will all love you, run after you only if you are rich.

DESPISED BY FAMILY

This writer is the eldest in the family and yet poorest. The family is not interested in our intellectual attainments. Who is interested in all this useless things? “All his brothers and sisters live in their own bungalows but this fellow lives in a rented house and always clad in a jungle dress”. This how we are ridiculed.
Look at the value system of the society. It honours, loves, adores only the rich. So the natural rush to make money and be known to the society as a crorepati.
Our value system has changed. It does not give any mark to your character, values, intellectual attainments, your work and suffering for social change. Nothing.

CORRUPTION IS KILLING INDIA

In a temple .no poor man is allowed inside. Only the one who comes in a big car with post of money to the “god”(meaning the priest)gets the first preference
The god also respects the rich.
What is the point in blaming the Supreme Court CJs? Poorfellows. They are all victims of the socio-cultural system that governs this Brahminical society.
The whole thing is sickening.
That is why nothing in India is progressing. Nothing in India is moving. Corruption is killing India.
CW Games is the best proof. The whole country has become one vast CW Games village. (See p.3 Edit)
Our entire traffic, railways, police system, banks, education, health system — are all cracking, collapsing.

“KHATRI SICK” PM

The “Khatri Sick” is called India’s most “honest PM”. But just because he is not taking bribes (we do not know it) does not mean he is not corrupt.
Corruption is not “money corruption” alone. We have explained this in our book, India’s Intellectual Desert.
Corrupt thoughts are more dangerous than mere money corruption. The “Khatri Sick’s” thoughts itself are corrupt. A World Bank (Jewish-owned) nominee, he is supporting the “Jews of India” blindly. Is it not corruption?
Over 150 stone-pelting students were fired at and killed in Kashmir. Amnesty International has taken serious objection to this action but the country’s ruling class is fully backing this PM. Our ruling class is itself corrupt to the core and this corruption is spreading deep into villages. Dangerous days are ahead.
As the PM, he is responsible for every action of the govt. All the actions of the govt under him are in favour of the rich who in India are none but the upper castes (15%). It is only after he took over more Indians were pushed below the poverty line.

DALIT CHRISTIANS

Money corruption is the last and the least dangerous part of the over all world of corruption.
The church (both Catholic and Protestant) keeping the Dalit Christians (2.5%) out of power is corruption. Syrian Christians dominating the entire North East Mongoloid church is corruption.
Hindu temples not allowing Dalits to enter is corruption.

MARATHA CASTEM RULE

Kashmiris not being allowed self-determination is corruption.
Upper caste Muslims opposing separate reservation for Pasmanda Muslims is corruption.
Jat Sikhs abandoning the Guru Granth and taking to Dasam Granth is corruption.
Casteist rule of the Marathas in Mahrashtra, Reddi-Khamma rule in Andhra Pradesh, Brahmin-Kayasth, Baidya rule in Bengal, Brahmin-Nair-Syrian Christian rule in Kerala, Brahmin-Lingayat rule in Karnataka all these are part of the overall world of systemic corruption.
Our whole body itself has become corrupt, diseased. The disease has entered all parts of our body through the roots or shoots and freely transported within every tissue.
Nothing can save this country from this systemic disease.  It is sure death.
Eliminating corruption is impossible in “Hindu India”. Because the cancer is too deep, spreading its roots all over.

IMPOSSIBLE TASK

What is needed is not a drive to curb corruption but to destroy the very value system that prompts you to become corrupt. But the value system comes mostly from the religion. Who is ready to touch the religion?
May be the Brahminical India will rot, stink and degenerate — until another foreign invader comes and takes over. China stands a good chance.

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WHO KILLED CONSTITUTION & HOW?

OUR CORRESPONDENT
Mangalore: upper castes less than 15% are playing a very dangerous game of sub vesting the very constitution of India and the fragile democratic structures—using a Hindu party nominee
In the course of the past 64 year, they successfully  Hinduaised, the meaning enslaved, the non-Hindu SC/ST/BCs (65% ,instigated   them against –Muslims/ Christians/ Sikhs(20%), and after making them  unthinking slaves they are  bend upon breaking the constitution itself setting up two phantoms- Anna Hzare and Baba Ramdev who flies in his own jet.
Bogus J.P movement: Earlier, (1970s) another (J.P) messiah came promising heaven and pushed us to hell.
Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) created Hindu terrorists, the Congress the orginal  brahminical Prarty blessed by Gandhian frauds mislead whole  country and finally the Manuvadi Marxists built their upper caste empire  shouting socialist slogans.
DV said  all this:  Every party deceived the people and finally the two unelected extra- constitutional authorities, Hazare and Ramdev had to come to prove the parliament, state legislature, functioning under the constitution have totally failed.
What they are telling is true. DV has been telling the very same thing for the past 32 years.
But none botherd
Now the two unelected fellows- exploiting the blind beliefs of the poor suffering, unemployed, illiterate masses—had to come to announce that the constitution has been killed. Who is telling it?   The very representatives of the ruling class who killed the constitution.
How do you like this?  Is it not clear that India that is Bharat is slowly dying.

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DV PROVE RIGHT ON “KHATRI SICK” PM

OUR CORRESPONDENT
Mangalore: The Ramdev Yadav is a multi-multi-billionaire, a Hindu terrorist party fan and person of doubtful character are all known facts.
Still knowing all these, why “Khatri Sick” PM and his govt. beg before him, allow the Ramlila thamasha.  And then suddenly the crack down?
Does it not prove that the highest level of the country there is utter anarchy? Does is not prove our oft-epeated charge of “Khatri Sick” PM’s soft coroner for the crooks and the corrupt?
Whether it is left, right or the centre, the upper castes (15%) are in full control of India. No govt. will not allow to function if it goes against their interests.
Did we not say India as a failed state (2004-pp-25-Rs.35)

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SAUDI MUST MEND BEFORE IT ENDS

OUR CORRESPONDENT
Mangalore: From the very beginning, DV has been criticizing Saudi Arabia for being the stooge of America and acting as the protector of a monarchy which is not recognized under Islam. Yet Saudi poses as the custodian of Islam.
Today, the Saudi rulers, controlled by the American Jews, are deeply worried as revolutions are sweeping over the whole Arab world and killing its tyrannical   rulers. But Saudi is spending and even sending   troops   to defend the corrupt, anti- people rulers and suppress the people’s revolt.
US double game: US as usual is a playing double game. It is pretending to support the Arab revolution but also friendly with the oil-rich Saudi.
You can take it that neither Saudi’s oil (money) power   nor the Islamic pretensions   will stand before people’s revolution.
Two major revolutionary   countries are fast coming up: Iran and Turkey Muslim Brotherhood influence is   spreading.
Revolutionary Islam will take over with the doomsday of Zionist Israel fast nearing.

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POWERFUL CASTES GET THE CAKE

Our correspondent
Mangalore: “Khatri Sick” PM’s Congress-led UPA Govt. has pleased the ruling upper castes much more than the Hindu terrorist party.  Upper castes are enjoying a heaven on earth.
The PM and his cronies have given a free hand to the corrupt. But inconvenient fellows among Dalits, OBCs and Muslims are thrown into jail.
Dalits deceived: It deceived the Dalits by rejecting their demand for quota within the quota but accepting the same principal in the case of OBCs.  The govt. is likely to split the 27%BCs quota among different OBCs to oblige the influential   OBCs like the Yadavas and Kurmis.
At the same time it rejected the Dalit demand for quota within the quota.
Caste-based census rejected:  In yet another mischief, it rejected the over-whelming demand for caste-based census but the Cabinet has approved a count aimed at segmenting the population economically-below and above the poverty  line—and socially  into numerous caste groups.
The BPL census and the caste census is a mammoth task involving identification of the real poor in the country along with listing of caste affiliation of the entire population .the counting will begin in June. Excellent diversion.  But the OBC communities would not be counted as demanded. The six-month long census for conducting a head count of “poor people”, along with their caste and religious affiliations, will be almost paperless as the enumerators will be armed with low-cost tablet computers.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/july2011/reports.htm
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Countercurrents.org
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An Actionable Plan For 9/11 Truth And Justice
By Senator Mike Gravel

http://www.countercurrents.org/gravel040711.htm

As new evidence and new whistleblowers come forward seemingly every week, the import of the 9/11 truth movement multiplies in historic significance. All of this points to the urgent need for a new, independent investigation with subpoena and other grand jury powers—a citizen’s commission that is truly free of partisan political interference

For July 4, Passengers On U.S. Boat To Gaza
Call ForNew U.S. Declaration Of Independence – From Israel
By Henry Norr

http://www.countercurrents.org/norr040711.htm

Two hundred and thirty-five years after the American colonies declared independence from Britain, the passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza call for a new American Declaration of Independence, this time from Israel

Stop Occupations: Make 4 July
Independence From America Day
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya040711A.htm

Decent people must (a) inform everyone they can about the continuing US or US surrogate occupation, mass murder, mass pedocide, holocaust and genocide in the Occupied Palestinian, Somali, Haitian, Iraqi, and Afghan Territories, (b) demand Sanctions and political sidelining against the genocidal Neocon American and Zionist Imperialists (NAZIs), and (c) make 4 July Independence From America Day around the World

A Question For Reflection On The 4 th Of July:
Is The United States A Representative Democracy
Or A Mirage Democracy?
By Kevin Zeese

http://www.countercurrents.org/zeese040711.htm

It is a shame to have to ask whether democracy is a mirage in the United States, no doubt most Americans would rather be celebrating U.S. democracy than questioning it. But the reality of the disconnect between government and the people has become so stark it is impossible to ignore

Multi-National Corporations, Personified
By David Ruhlen

http://www.countercurrents.org/ruhlen040711.htm

This week we learned that a leading denier of climate change has taken $1 million from the oil and coal industries over the last decade; among his many services on behalf of the skeptic crowd, Dr. Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics has sought to weaken a major assessment of global warming by the UN’s leading climate science body

Climate Censorship And Climate Injustice
By Climate Criminal, Climate Racist Australia
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya040711.htm

Australia leads the First World in annual per capita greenhouse gas pollution, is the world’s leading coal exporter and is among the world’s top liquid natural gas exporters. However Australia, like its fellow major GHG polluters Canada and the US, wants business as usual

Britain Arrests Respected Palestinian Leader
By Jonathan Cook

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook040711.htm

The outcry in Britain against Sheikh Salah has shocked Israel’s 1.3-million Palestinian citizens. For them, he is a spiritual leader and head of a respected party, the Islamic Movement. He is also admired by the wider Palestinian public. The secular Fatah movement, including Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, were among those condemning his arrest

A Defiant African Union
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury040711.htm

African Union’s decision to ignore International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Libyan leader Gaddafi manifests a resistance to imperial NATO’s design being imposed on Africa . The African resistance is getting generated in the background of a changing geopolitical reality with a declining trend of a section of capital. The AU defiance is actually against the world masters, especially NATO, the masters’ military arm

AERB : No, Mera Joota (Nahee) Hai Japanee!
By Sadanand Patwardhan

http://www.countercurrents.org/patwardhan040711.htm

Indian Reactors Can Keep Cool without Power for a Week , claims S K Sharma, former Chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India (AERB), and head of the safety review committee appointed by AERB to study the status of Indian Nuclear plants in the wake of the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant

West Bengal Movement For Release Of
Political Prisoners
By Ranjit Sur

http://www.countercurrents.org/sur040711.htm

Its almost one and half a month since a New Government has sworn in West Bengal under the leadership of Ms Mamata Banerjee. Yet, not a single Political Prisoner is released, as promised

On The Cusp Of Afghan Drawdown
And Reconciling With Taliban
By Rahil Yasin

http://www.countercurrents.org/yasin040711.htm

With the announcement of Afghan drawdown plan by US President Obama, Afghan Taliban are likely to follow ‘wait and watch’ policy in which they are supposed to revitalise their energies, regroup their factions, recruit ‘new blood’ and widen their control in most of the provinces

Where Ignorance Is A Virtue
By Dr. Murali Sivaramakrishnan

http://www.countercurrents.org/siva040711.htm

Let us also allow the Mahatma’s statue in Coimbatore to stand headless—as a reminder of our blighted childishness! All we need to do is only to put a charka by the demolished statue as a remainder of our mindless acts. After all, where ignorance is a virtue it is certainly folly to be wise

Hidden Aspect Of The Ayodhya Dispute
By Yoginder Sikand

http://www.countercurrents.org/sikand040711.htm

A vihar dedicated to the Buddha, the apostle of universal love, instead of a Brahminical Hindu temple or a Muslim mosque, being built on the disputed site might actually be a mutually acceptable and eminently sensible settlement for many Hindus and Muslims themselves, who are fed up of the hate-driven politics of mandir and masjid being played in their name

My ResponseTo Geert Wilders
By Habib Siddiqui

http://www.countercurrents.org/siddiqui040711.htm

In his website, Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician, posted an article – My message to Muslims, which deserve some response. Here below is my response to him

Countercurrents And You !

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Retail Sector in India Retail and real estate are the two booming sectors of India in the present times. And if industry experts are to be believed, the prospects of both the sectors are mutually dependent on each other. Retail, one of India’s largest industries, has presently emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries of our times with several players entering the market. Accounting for over 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and around eight per cent of the employment retailing in India is gradually inching its way toward becoming the next boom industry.As the contemporary retail sector in India is reflected in sprawling shopping centers, multiplex- malls and huge complexes offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof, the concept of shopping has altered in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. This has also contributed to large scale investments in the real estate sector with major national and global players investing in developing the infrastructure and construction of the retailing business. The trends that are driving the growth of the retail sector in India are Low share of organized retailing Falling real estate prices Increase in disposable income and customer aspiration Increase in expenditure for luxury items Another credible factor in the prospects of the retail sector in India is the increase in the young working population. In India, hefty pay-packets, nuclear families in urban areas, along with increasing working-women population and emerging opportunities in the services sector. These key factors have been the growth drivers of the organized retail sector in India which now boast of retailing almost all the preferences of life – Apparel & Accessories, Appliances, Electronics, Cosmetics and Toiletries, Home & Office Products, Travel and Leisure and many more. With this the retail sector in India is witnessing a rejuvenation as traditional markets make way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. The retailing configuration in India is fast developing as shopping malls are increasingly becoming familiar in large cities. When it comes to development of retail space specially the malls, the Tier II cities are no longer behind in the race. If development plans till 2007 is studied it shows the projection of 220 shopping malls, with 139 malls in metros and the remaining 81 in the Tier II cities.  The government of states like Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) are very upbeat about permitting the use of land for commercial development thus increasing the availability of land for retail space; thus making NCR render to 50% of the malls in India. India is being seen as a potential goldmine for retail investors from over the world and latest research has rated India as the top destination for retailers for an attractive emerging retail market. India’s vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants wanting to enter newer markets. Even though India has well over 5 million retail outlets, the country sorely lacks anything that can resemble a retailing industry in the modern sense of the term. This presents international retailing specialists with a great opportunity. The organized retail sector is expected to grow stronger than GDP growth in the next five years driven by changing lifestyles, burgeoning income and favorable demographic outline. Another cap to the retailing industry in India is allowing 51% FDI in single brand outlet. The government is now set to initiate a second wave of reforms in the segment by liberalizing investment norms further. This will not only favor the retail sector develop in terms of design concept, construction quality and providing modern amenities but will also help in creating a consumer-friendly environment. Retail industry in India is at the crossroads but the future of the consumer markets is promising as the market is growing, government policies are becoming more favorable and emerging technologies are facilitating operations in India. And this upsurge in the retail industry has made India a promising destination for retail investors and at the same time has impelled investments in the real estate sector. As foreign investors cautiously test the Indian Markets forinvestments in the retail sector, local companies and joint ventures are expected to be more advantageously positioned than the purely foreign ones in the evolving India’s organized retailing industry.  http://www.indianground.com/retail/retail-sector-in-india.aspx

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR – AN ANALYSIS

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Consensus route to retail FDI

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee with US treasury secretary Tim Geithner in Washington on Monday. (Reuters) New Delhi, June 28: India is trying to build a consensus on liberalising foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and defence, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today told a gathering of business leaders and policy makers in Washington. “Discussions are under way to build a consensus on further liberalisation of the FDI policy in retail and defence,” Mukherjee said. Differences exist within the Indian government on the appropriate policies for foreign direct investments in the two sectors. The commerce ministry has proposed majority FDI in defence and retail, but the defence ministry wants a maximum of 49 per cent FDI in its field. Some other ministries are opposed to the freeing up of retail and have asked foreigners to invest heavily in cold chains and retail logistics. Mukherjee will be holding talks on bilateral economic partnership with US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner from tomorrow. The US wish list includes the opening up of Indian industry and the financial sector. “We are just at the very beginning of unlocking the enormous potential of this relationship,” Geithner told the same gathering. “India is at the point now where future growth will depend on the success of the next wave of reforms,” Geithner added. Washington is keenly awaiting New Delhi’s moves on retail. The Indian government allows 51 per cent FDI in single-brand retail and 100 per cent in wholesale cash-and-carry. However, multi-brand retailers such as Walmart and Tesco are barred. An inter-ministry group on inflation under Mukherjee’s chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu has recommended the opening up of the sector. However, the government has sought time to bring on board its allies as well as the Opposition parties, who fear for the future of small retail stores. Research shows a well developed retail chain can eliminate middlemen in the food business — who pocket 60-80 per cent of the price paid by a consumer. Organised retail comprises just 4 per cent of the business. Limits on defence FDI, now at 26 per cent, have become a bone of contention between not only the defence and commerce ministries, but also between foreign investors and Indian corporate houses. Foreign aerospace firms backed by European embassies have been making a case for 74-100 per cent stake; only then can they bring proprietory technology into India, the companies said. Indian corporate houses engaged in defence such as the Tatas, Mahindra and L&T are, however, bitterly opposed to such a blanket relaxation and have instead argued in favour of relaxing FDI to 49 per cent, with Indians remaining in majority control. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110629/jsp/business/story_14173827.jsp Selloff-bound ONGC seeks subsidy clarity R. SURYAMURTHY Awaiting solution New Delhi, July 3: State-owned explorer ONGC, which plans to launch a follow-on public offer later this month, has sought transparency in the subsidy-sharing mechanism. Under the subsidy-sharing mechanism, upstream oil firms — ONGC, Oil India and GAIL — have to share the under-recoveries of PSU oil retailers from selling fuel below cost. “If the formula of passing on one-third of the under-recovery to upstream companies is continued during 2011-12 when crude prices are likely to remain over $100 per barrel, it will have a serious impact on the profitability and cash flow of upstream companies,” ONGC chairman and managing director A.K. Hazarika has written to oil secretary G.C. Chaturvedi. He said the company was ready for the share sale but would like to have “more clarity” on the subsidy sharing formula for the current fiscal. Despite the hike in fuel prices and the duty cuts, the under-recoveries for 2011-12 are estimated at around Rs 1,20,000 crore because of the spike in global crude rates. At $100 per barrel crude, upstream companies will have to contribute Rs 45,150 crore as subsidy, of which ONGC will have to chip in with Rs 37,096 crore. The subsidy burden for upstream firms was increased to 38.5 per cent of the total under-recoveries for 2010-11 against 33 per cent earlier. Analysts said the decision to hike fuel prices and ONGC’s proposed FPO had raised the hopes of the government coming up with “some predictable subsidy sharing mechanism”. The government plans to raise Rs 13,000 crore by selling a 5 per cent stake in ONGC. After the offer, the government’s stake in the PSU will come down to 69.14 per cent from 74.14 per cent. As an alternative to the subsidy sharing formula, Hazarika suggested that the government impose a special oil tax or windfall tax to take 20-80 per cent of the incremental revenues accruing over and above the crude oil price of $60 per barrel. ONGC’s suggestion stems from a recommendation of the Kirit Parikh committee on financing the under-recoveries of oil marketing companies. Tax formula The report had suggested mopping up of a portion of the incremental revenue accruing to ONGC and Oil India from production in the nominated blocks at the rate of 20 per cent (for crude price at $60-70 per barrel), 40 per cent ($70-80 per barrel crude), 60 per cent ($80-90 per barrel crude) and 80 per cent (for crude above $90 per barrel). Upstream firms contributed Rs 30,297 crore of the total revenue loss of Rs 78,189 crore in the 2010-11 fiscal. During the first quarter of the current fiscal, upstream firms may have to provide Rs 14,446 crore to compensate for the retailers’ losses. Of this, ONGC may have to contribute Rs 12,123 crore, Oil India Rs 1,640 crore and GAIL, Rs 683 crore. GAIL (India) had recently said it should be kept out of the subsidy-sharing process as it was a gas transporting firm and did not benefit from a crude price hike.   Assocham in a note to the government has also sought FDI cap to be kept at 49 per cent. Ficci has even said that 49 per cent FDI should be allowed as a special case. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110704/jsp/business/story_14193663.jsp India promotes health tourism KARAN CHOUDHURY New Delhi, July 2: India is promoting health tourism abroad in a big way. The tourism ministry has kicked off road shows abroad to promote the homegrown health industry, which has an annual growth of 35 per cent. According to ministry officials, more people are flocking the country for cheaper and good medical services and the numbers have increased drastically over the years. Official records show more than 63,000 foreign tourists have arrived from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Denmark and the US for surgeries and treatments this year. “In India, medical facilities are far cheaper and way more advanced than in many countries. This has attracted a lot of people. We just want to take this a step further and promote it through our road shows. Health tourism is attracting more people than summer vacationers from all over the world,” said a senior bureaucrat with the tourism ministry. Ministry officials estimate a 35 per cent increase in the number of people coming to India for treatments starting from dental surgeries to knee transplants and neurosurgery. India has also emerged as a major destination for cosmetic surgery. In the past three years, the health sector has faced stiff competition from Singapore and Malaysia, which are offering high-end health solutions at competitive prices. “We plan to reach out to more people through our road shows,” said the official. He added the ministry expected a minimum of 85,000 to 1 lakh people coming to India this year for treatments. The road shows will comprise presentations and one-to one business meetings between trade delegations from India and travel trade representatives in the respective countries. “While road shows were carried out in the US and Caribbean countries in the first week of this month, similar shows were held last month in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam,” said the ministry official. At present, Indian destinations are being showcased in Manchester, Birmingham, Durban and Glasgow in England. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110703/jsp/business/story_14190652.jsp BUSINESS Moneycontrol.com RBI FINES CITIBANK RS 2.5M Times of India - ‎2 hours ago‎ MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India on Monday said it has fined Citibank Rs 2.5 million for violating know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines. RBI fines Citibank Rs 25 lakh in Gurgaon branch fraud case Hindustan Times Gurgaon fraud: Citi fined R25 lakh Financial Express IBNLive.com - AFP - Wall Street Journal - NDTV.com all 21 news articles » Email this story The Hindu SIT EMPOWERED TO FURTHER PROBE CASES ALREADY INVESTIGATED Economic Times - ‎26 minutes ago‎ NEW DELHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court on Monday is empowered to probe those cases relating to black money in which the probe agencies failed to act with “alarcity” in arriving at desirable results. Video: The Mint Report for 4 June 2011 Mint SC sets up special team to investigate black moneymydigitalfc.com Moneycontrol.com - iNewsOne - Express Buzz -Hindustan Times all 154 news articles » Email this story AFP FDI INFLOWS IN MAY DOUBLE FROM 2010 Hindustan Times - ‎19 minutes ago‎ Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows surged by 111% in May this year to $4.7 billion (Rs 20970 crore) – the second-highest monthly equity inflow in 11 years – compared to $2.2 billion (Rs 9945 crore) in the year-ago period. India’s Foreign Direct Investment Picks Up Wall Street Journal FDI inflows into India double in May from yr ago – govtReuters India NDTV.com - Commodity Online - Deccan Herald -Reuters all 28 news articles » Email this story Reuters India RUPEE ENDS 15 PAISE UP, HITS 2-MONTH HIGH OF 44.42/43 AGAINST USD Times of India - ‎2 hours ago‎ PTI | Jul 4, 2011, 08.33pm IST MUMBAI: Extending its gains for the fourth straight session,the rupee gained 15 paise to close at a fresh two-month high of 44.42/43 against the US currency following heavy capital inflows amid sustained sale of dollars. Rupee ends 15 paise up against dollar The Hindu Rupee rallies to 9-week high as market forward sells dollar Moneycontrol.com Economic Times - Wall Street Journal - India Infoline.com all 40 news articles » हिंदी में BOM:500325 Email this story Indian Express INDIAN CALL CENTRES: NOT AS CHEAP AS THE UK Financial Times (blog) - Akanksha Awal -‎7 minutes ago‎ For well over a decade, India has been the destination of choice for western companies looking to outsource their call centre operations and take advantage of the country’s vast and cheap labour pool. UK company reverts outsourced work from costly IndiaEconomic Times Call centre moving from India to UK expressandstar.com The Economic Voice - Lancashire Telegraph -City Journalist Directory - The Sun all 37 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story RISING INCOME SEES HILL STATIONS BOOMING AS REAL ESTATE PICKS Economic Times - ‎3 hours ago‎ BANGALORE: With family income on the rise, hill stations in India are increasingly becoming attractive real estate destinations for more and more Indians, according to a survey. TATA POWER VS R-POWER: SC ADJOURNS FINAL HEARING Moneycontrol.com - ‎1 hour ago‎ Published on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 21:39 | Source : PTI The Supreme Court today adjourned the final hearing on Tata Power ‘s plea challenging the government approval to Anil Ambani group company R-Power to use the excess coal mined from captive mines … Tata Power achieves full-load generation at Maithon project The Hindu Tata Power’s Maithon mega power project-unit 1 achieves full load on coal domain-B Economic Times all 9 news articles » Email this story The Hindu RELIANCE TRENDS AIMS TO DOUBLE SALES IN FY12 Moneycontrol.com - ‎40 minutes ago‎ Published on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 22:38 | Source : PTI Reliance Trends, the apparel, luggage and accessories speciality format of the retail arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) might post 100% growth in sales this fiscal, said a top company executive … Reliance Trends to double number of stores The Hindu Reliance Trends looks to double revenuesmydigitalfc.com Business Standard - Hindu Business Line all 5 news articles » BOM:500325 Email this story ABC News STRAUSS-KAHN FACES NEW ATTEMPTED RAPE CLAIM Financial Times - James Boxell - ‎6 minutes ago‎ A French writer is to file a complaint against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, for attempted rape, the woman’s lawyer said. Video: French journalist accuses Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape euronews Strauss-Kahn effect BBC News New York Times - Telegraph.co.uk - Wall Street Journal -Moneycontrol.com - Wikipedia: Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case all 7,422 news articles » Email this story THE FLOW OF FUNDS IN THE JUNE QUARTER Livemint - Manas Chakravarty - ‎39 minutes ago‎ Data on world fund flows from EPFR Global show some interesting trends. Fund flows returned to emerging market equity funds in the second quarter of calendar year 2011 (quarter ended June), a change from the outflows seen during the first quarter. Emerging-Markets Stock Index Climbs to Two-Month High; Thai Shares Jump Bloomberg China hard landing and Asian inflation are the key issues for emerging markets … Economic Times National Post (registration) - Financial News all 12 news articles » MS Email this story Moneycontrol.com SENSEX GAINS 52 PTS ON FIRM GLOBAL CUES Indian Express - ‎3 hours ago‎ The BSE benchmark Sensex today almost regained the 19000-mark in early trade but lost the steam to end the day only 52 points in choppy trading. Sensex ends 52 points up The Hindu Hold your stocks as we may be in a bull marketEconomic Times Moneycontrol.com - India Infoline.com -Business Standard - NDTV.com all 93 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story Daily Bhaskar TWO-WHEELER SALES STEER CLEAR OF HEADWINDS IN JUNE Livemint - Vatsala Kamat - ‎54 minutes ago‎ The growth rate is down to half of that a year ago. But the drop is not as sharp as that seen in cars, where growth has faltered to single digit 6-7% in the June quarter, despite discounts and freebies that were reportedly offered to push sales in the … Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda margins may rise 50 bpsmydigitalfc.com Bajaj Auto goes for another expansion Business Standard Economic Times - Moneycontrol.com - Reuters -Wheels Unplugged all 30 news articles » Email this story Zee News KALE CONSULTANTS SELLS 49 STAKE IN SYNETAIROS TECHNOLOGIES Moneycontrol.com - ‎5 hours ago‎ Kale Consultants touched an intraday high of Rs 86.50 and an intraday low of Rs 84.90. At 10:10 hrs the share was quoting at Rs 85, up Rs 2.50, or 3.03%. Saksoft Acquires Kale Consutant’s Subsidiary Synetairos Technologies DealCurry Buying Synetairos Tech will add to our group turnover: Niraj Kumar Ganeriwal … Economic Times VC Circle - India Infoline.com - Zee News all 15 news articles » BOM:532268 Email this story Moneycontrol.com TRAI ISSUES DIRECTIVE TO SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR PROVIDING VAS TO USERS Economic Times - ‎5 hours ago‎ NEW DELHI: In a bid to protect the interest of consumers, telecom regulator Trai today issued directives to service providers on the procedure for providing Value-Added-Services ( VAS . Sibal to meet telecom users to look into grievancesMoneycontrol.com TRAI relief on unwanted value-added servicesMangalorean.com MediaMughals - Livemint - India Today -Real Time News, India all 25 news articles » Email this story Rediff TATA MOTORS FILES AMENDMENT TO ORIGINAL PETITION Moneycontrol.com - ‎2 hours ago‎ Published on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 20:42 | Source : PTI A statement by Tata Motors said the original petition was filed “in great hurry as we were dispossessed on the night of June 21. Tatas file amendment to plea in Singur land case Daily Pioneer 1807 farmers in Singur want their land back Business Standard Times of India - Indian Express - Calcutta Telegraph -gulfnews.com all 19 news articles » Email this story Business Standard HOPE OF PARTIAL DECONTROL PUSHES UP SUGAR STOCKS mydigitalfc.com - Prasanna Deshpande -‎27 minutes ago‎ meet in the next 1-2 week to consider partial decontrol of sugar, which will allow companies to sell the commodity at market determined rates. Stocks soar on sugary hopes Business Standard Sugar stocks rally amid decontrol buzz Economic Times India Infoline.com all 17 news articles » BOM:507315 - BOM:500032 - BOM:500038 Email this story Zee News STANCHART EQUITY BUYS 10% IN REDINGTON mydigitalfc.com - ‎27 minutes ago‎ By S Shyamala Jul 04 2011 , Chennai and non-IT products distributor Redington India. The firm’s large shareholders Redington Mauritius and Synnex Technology International offloaded the 10 per cent as requested by Redington India to bring down their … Kewalram Chanrai stake down 23% post block deal: Redington Moneycontrol.com Redington spurts on mega block deal India Infoline.com NDTV.com - Reuters - Bloomberg all 22 news articles » BOM:532805 - LON:STAN - TPE:2347 Email this story NCC BAGS FRESH ORDERS OF RS 815 CR Economic Times - ‎1 hour ago‎ NEW DELHI: Construction firm NCC on Monday said it has secured fresh orders worth Rs 815 crore to be executed over a period of upto 36 months. NCC bags orders worth Rs. 815 cr Hindu Business Line NCC aims Rs 9000 crore fresh order in FY12 Moneycontrol.com India Infoline.com - Equity Bulls - RTT News all 9 news articles » BOM:500294 Email this story Wheels Unplugged M&M TO DOUBLE GIO CAPACITY SOON mydigitalfc.com - Krishna Mohan - ‎31 minutes ago‎ cab from the present 24000 units per annum capacity this year after its national roll- out, according to vice-president (sales) Vijay Nakra. M&M plans more GIO variants, go pan-India soon Hindu Business Line Mahindra launches Gio Compact Cab in HyderabadIBNLive.com Moneycontrol.com all 12 news articles » BOM:500520 Email this story Moneycontrol.com COAL DEFICIT MAY RENDER 80% PLANT DEFAULT: POWER PRODUCERS Moneycontrol.com - ‎5 hours ago‎ The Association of Power Producers has petitioned to Planning Commission and Power Ministry over concerns that 80% of the country’s power plants are likely to default on the back of coal shortage, reports CNBC-TV18. Coal India Seeks Advisors on Expansion Plans Wall Street Journal Power producers seek protection from fuel shocksEconomic Times Business Standard - Financial Express - Indian Express “simplifying procedures, reducing discretion, eliminating arbitrariness and increasing transparency in the way government functions” 14 hours ago Asian Age (54 occurrences) more by Manmohan Singh NDTV.com PM CALLS UP HASINA, AMBITIOUS AGENDA FOR BANGALDESH VISIT Hindustan Times - ‎20 minutes ago‎ Monday and Manmohan Singh spoke to his counterpart Sheikh Hasina , conveying the “highest importance” of its ties with the neighbour, and informing the leader that “he was looking forward to the visit and to renewing contacts with his old friends there … PM to go on ‘charm Dhaka’ trip, India spotlights Bangla ties Times of India PM to visit Bangladesh in Sept Livemint Bangladesh not to make statement on Manmohan Singh’s remark Economic Times NDTV.com - Outlook all 225 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story The Hindu PM CALLS FOR FORMULATING HIV-SENSITIVE POLICIES Outlook - ‎6 minutes ago‎ PTI | New Delhi | Jul 04, 2011 Terming AIDS as the biggest health challenge confronting humanity, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Government was on the verge of devising a strategy for the next phase of national response to it and asked … Manmohan for multi-sectoral approach to HIV prevention The Hindu PM calls for formulating “HIV-sensitive” policies IBNLive.com PM gets emotional as AIDS victim narrates her agony Hindustan Times Economic Times - Mangalorean.com all 51 news articles » Email this story Hindu Business Line HAPPY, CENTRE TO BRING LOKPAL BILL IN NEXT SESSION Hindustan Times - ‎40 minutes ago‎ After three hours, the meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence adopted a one-line resolution which said that the all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal … Video: PM in Lokpal? Parties divided NDTV.com PM Manmohan Singh gets opposition to speak Anna Hazare way Daily News & Analysis Government committed to strong Lokpal Act: PM Indlaw.com Deccan Chronicle - Express Buzz all 134 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story BBC News SLAY THE HYDRA CALLED GRAFT gulfnews.com - Manik Mehta - ‎2 hours ago‎ Although generally admired for his honesty and eruditeness, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s image in the eyes of the financially powerful and influential Indian diaspora in the United States has eroded … India pledges anti-corruption law BBC News PM’s focus needs to change Hindu Business Line India to introduce anti-graft bill in parliament Khaleej Times Express Buzz - Monsters and Critics.com all 21 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story PM TO OPEN NEW TRIPURA ASSEMBLY Economic Times - ‎6 hours ago‎ AGARTALA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to inaugurate the newly-built Tripura assembly and lay the foundation stone for a new Raj Bhavan complex here later this month, officials said on Monday. The 110-year-old current assembly building and … Sydney Morning Herald ON YESTERDAY’S DEADLINE Indian Express - ‎20 hours ago‎ I will do the job the two (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi) decide for me. But yes, a bold call is the need of the day. This cabinet minister belongs to the Congress and is considered close to the high command. … Here comes the man Hindustan Times PM can’t duck it Deccan Herald Is it time for Sonia Gandhi to be prime minister? Churumuri Daily News & Analysis - Rediff all 601 news articles » Email this story HARYANA GETS AWARD FOR WHEAT IBNLive.com - ‎3 hours ago‎ PTI | 07:07 PM,Jul 04,2011 Chandigarh, Jul 4 (PTI) Haryana has been selected for the Best Performing State Award under wheat for the year 2010-11 and the award would be presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion of ICAR Foundation Day … Haryana to get wheat award TwoCircles.net all 5 news articles » Email this story India Today NEW DELHI ‘GOVT IGNORED DUTT’S CONTENTION TO CWG OC’ Hindustan Times - ‎3 hours ago‎ The list mentioned the now-jailed Kalmadi as the chairman of the Organising Committee while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were made chief patrons. According to the list, Arjun himself was mentioned as one of the eight … Video: CWG Scam: Opposition slams PM for ignoring Dutt’s letter NewsX CWG: Sports Ministers warned Manmohan on OC, Kalmadi The Hindu Chidambaram didn’t act to stop CWG scam: Aiyar IBNLive.com Economic Times - Times of India all 62 news articles » Email this story THALASSEMIC MAJOR SUKHSOHIT SINGH TO GET CIVIL SERVICE Hindustan Times - ‎3 hours ago‎ Sukhsohit Singh denied entry into civil service for being Thalassemic major is set to get justice, courtesy Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, three Cabinet ministers and huge public support. The government has decided to induct 25-year-old Singh into the … Daily Bhaskar MANMOHAN’S REMARKS COULD COMPLICATE MATTERS: SHARIF The Hindu - Anita Joshua - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ The former Pakistan Prime Minister and prominent advocate for peace with India, Nawaz Sharif, on Saturday warned that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that Pakistan should leave Kashmir alone could complicate matters between the two countries. … Manmohan Singh’s ’leave Kashmir alone’ remark can harm peace talks: Nawaz Sharif Daily News & Analysis PM Kashmir remarks can harm peace talks: Sharif Indian Express Indian obstinacy on Kashmir Pakistan Observer The Express Tribune - Pakistan Times all 24 news articles » Email this story The Hindu CAG TO GO PUBLIC WITH AUDIT REPORTS ON FLAGSHIP SCHEMES Business Standard - Joe C Mathew, Akshat Kaushal - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not be happy with the way the apex auditor of the country, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, goes public with its findings, but the office of the CAG is bracing up for more public interactions in the … Manmohan ignored ruling on CAG’s rights The Hindu Media is accuser, prosecutor and judge, says Manmohan Singh Times of India PM’s criticism of CAG ‘Unwarranted’ & ‘regrettable’: BJP Economic Times Indian Express - IBNLive.com all 74 news articles » Email this story The Hindu MANMOHAN CALLS ON PRESIDENT The Hindu - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday called on President Pratibha Patil and exchanged views on the current ‘political situation.’ The meeting comes two days ahead of an all-party conference convened by the government to discuss several contentious … Manmohan calls on President Indian Express Manmohan meets President amid talks of cabinet reshuffle gulfnews.com PM meets president, no clarity on reshuffle Economic Times IBNLive.com - indiablooms all 48 news articles » Email this story ‘HAIL ON NATURAL DISASTER LIST’ Times of India - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, asking them to include the losses to crops due to hailstorms in the list of natural disasters so that farmers can get … Capsicum set to pinch your pocket this monsoon Mangalorean.com Dry weather in Himachal, temperature rises iNewsOne Himachal CM urges Centre for inclusion of hail-storm in natural disaster list Northern Voices Online Siliconindia.com all 24 news articles » Email this story Rediff FLAGSHIP SCHEMES: CAG TO GO PUBLIC WITH AUDIT REPORTS Rediff - ‎9 hours ago‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] may not be happy with the way the apex auditor of the country, Comptroller and Auditor General of India [ Images ], goes public with its findings, but the office of the CAG is bracing up for more public … CAG to pursue transparency in public projects despite government flak domain-B all 8 news articles » Email this story Moneycontrol.com MANMOHAN SINGH TO ASK FM TO TAKE EXPEDITIOUS DECISIONS FOR AI REVAMP: REPORT India Infoline.com - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reportedly said that it would ask finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to take “expeditious decisions” to revamp the Air India. The report stated that Air India expects the third tranche of Rs12bn equity in July even as … Am aware of Air India’s woes, solution soon: PM Mangalorean.com Air India asks govt to pay Rs 173 crore in dues The Hindu all 50 news articles » Email this story The Hindu NEW DELHI CABINET RESHUFFLE: MARAN MEETS PM Hindustan Times - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ Textile minister Dayanidhi Maran met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, triggering speculation that he could be dropped from the council of ministers whenever a Cabinet reshuffle takes place. Maran is in trouble over a CBI probe into his tenure … Maran meets PM, may be dropped from Cabinet IBNLive.com Maran visit to PM fuels ouster talks Daily Pioneer Dayanidhi Maran meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gulfnews.com Deccan Chronicle - Daijiworld.com all 60 news articles » Email this story Business Today LAND ACQUISITION, FDI IN RETAIL, INSURANCE TOP PM’S REFORM AGENDA Times of India - ‎Jun 29, 2011‎ NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday flagged amendments to land acquisition law, allowing more foreign investment in retail trading and insurance and introduction of good and services tax (GST) as the key reforms agenda of the … PM blames BJP for delay in GST rollout Economic Times Committed to 9-10% economic growth, says PM Moneycontrol.com Committed to 9-10 per cent economic growth: Manmohan Singh Daily News & Analysis all 16 news articles » Email this story Moneycontrol.com NEW ZEALAND KNOCKS, AND INDIA IS LISTENING New Zealand Herald - Claire Trevett - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, shakes hands with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key, during a ceremonial reception. Photo / AP “In India three things are compulsory,” Hari the taxi driver says as his car weaves its way … India, New Zealand favour free trade agreement The Hindu New Zealand, India FTA likely by March 2012, says John Key Business Standard India, New Zealand talks focus on defence ties Indian Express Stuff.co.nz - IBNLive.com all 369 news articles » Email this story WAGE BOARDS: “I WILL DO MY DUTY,” SAYS MANMOHAN The Hindu - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave a patient hearing to the newspapers and news agency employees’ representatives who urged the government for early implementation of the Wage Boards recommendations. “I will do my duty,” Dr. Singh told the … AGRICULTURE REFORM NEXT ON PM MENU? Hindustan Times - ‎22 minutes ago‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants an annual agriculture survey from next year, similar to the pre-Budget Economic Survey – a move aimed at recasting government priorities that are considered hooked to the industry. Experts say this could actually be … Indian Express LATERAL SHIFTS AMONG TOP FOUR MINISTERS POSSIBLE The Hindu - ‎Jun 27, 2011‎ As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are engaged in an assessment of the performance of Ministers the talk is that lateral shifts among the top four — Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, … My sinister yet brilliant plan for succeeding Manmohan Singh as PM, by … Daily News & Analysis PM Mammohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi likely to reshuffle council of ministers … Economic Times Railways may stay with Trinamool Congress Times of India Daily Pioneer - Hindustan Times all 88 news articles » Email this story MANMOHAN SINGH THE WEAKEST PRIME MINISTER IN INDIA’S HISTORY: SUSHIL MODI Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ Place: Kolkata | Agency: PTI Accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being the weakest prime minister the country ever had, Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Modi today said he did not need to clarify that he was not a lameduck. … PM & A WORLD OF UNCERTAINTIES Deccan Chronicle - Guha Thakurta - ‎23 minutes ago‎ Opinion is divided on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refurbished his image after addressing television editors on February 16 and his session with five senior editors from the print media on June 29. … India Today AIYAR’S OBJECTION TO CWG WAS IDEOLOGICAL: MANMOHAN The Hindu - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ Contrary to the impression that the former Sports Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, had forewarned the government about the Commonwealth Games mess, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that Mr. Aiyar did not bring to his notice any wrongdoing … CWG scam: PM ignored Aiyar’s letters India Today all 2 news articles » Email this story NDTV.com DESPITE CLEAN IMAGE, MANMOHAN SINGH REMAINS SECOND-CHOICE PRIME MINISTER Daily News & Analysis - Nv Subramanian - ‎Jun 23, 2011‎ To quote Manmohan Singh out of context, nobody carries a “magic wand”, least of all Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh’s favourite for the prime ministership. The Thakur leader was busy promoting Rahul Gandhi at the cost of Manmohan Singh till the Congress … Probe Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s complaint: Digvijaya Singh Economic Times Rahul should be PM, Manmohan’s ’Fairly Good’: Digvijaya NDTV.com Fingers crossed in countdown to reshuffle Indian Express Business Standard - indiablooms all 21 news articles » Email this story DR SINGH CRACKS WHIP, FOCUSES ON INFLATION, JOBS Economic Times - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ They have even gone to the extent of calling Dr Manmohan Singh , the head of the government, a lame duck. However, they have failed to notice the small steps that Dr Singh has taken that will bring down food prices, and also create jobs for the youth. … LIFE OF CONTRADICTIONS Hindustan Times - ‎20 minutes ago‎ The universal reassertion by the all-party meeting, convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the lokpal legislation, upheld our republic’s basic constitutional scheme of things where the Parliament and Parliament alone can make laws of the country. … NOT ONE OF MAYA’S 129 LETTERS TO PM ANSWERED Asian Age - Amita Verma - ‎Jul 2, 2011‎ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have spoken of the cordial relations he shares with UP chief minister Mayawati during his recent interaction with editors, but his office certainly does not seem to believe in the basic courtesies. … India Today PMO HEADED FOR OVERHAUL, 8 SENIOR OFFICERS ON WAY OUT Hindustan Times - ‎Jun 30, 2011‎ The prime minister’s office (PMO) will acquire a new look before the year-end with as many as eight senior officials in Manmohan Singh’s team headed for new assignments. The overhaul is triggered by the seven-year-tenure ceiling the PM has mandated for … PMO set for a makeover, Sonia confidante may stage comeback ummid.com PMO set for bureaucratic shake-up India Today all 7 news articles » Email this story 3 MORE HELD FOR KHARE’S CAR THEFT Times of India - ‎22 hours ago‎ Khare is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s media advisor. The police also recovered Khare’s missing laptop from Alam. Alam, a resident of Jahangirpuri, had bought the laptop for Rs 4500 from the mother of the juvenile. The juvenile allegedly gave the … Related sections for Manmohan Singh News From India By   -  - 394 users Create your own custom section for Manmohan Singh NE WANTS INFRA DEVELOPMENT FOR BETTER CONNECTIVITY: AHLUWALIA Economic Times - ‎2 hours ago‎ GUWAHATI: The North Eastern states have stressed on development of infrastructure for improved connectivity and rural transformation for development, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Monday. “Many of the states pointed … The Hindu PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING WITH NE STATES BEGINS IN GUWAHATI The Hindu - ‎8 hours ago‎ The Planning Commission team for the meeting will be headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The meeting is fifth and concluding regional consultation with Northeastern States to take their views in order to prepare the … Regional meet on 12th Plan Calcutta Telegraph Talks on 12th Plan Approach with Northeastern region tomorrow MSN India Plan panel meet with NE States on July 4, 5 Assam Tribune Business Standard all 9 news articles » Email this story The Hindu GOVT NEEDS TO FINALISE FOOD BILL: MONTEK SINGH Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jun 29, 2011‎ Published on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 16:42 | Source : PTI The government should form a clear idea about the proposed National Food Security Bill as the new poverty list may not be available soon, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia … Montek slams govt body for faulty employment data Hindustan Times India should achieve 9-9.5% growth in 12th Plan: Montek Business Standard ‘Fuel price hike will ease inflation in the long run’ The Hindu Indian Express - Hindu Business Line all 57 news articles » Email this story IT’S NOT JOBLESS GROWTH, SHOW OFFICIAL DATA Business Standard - ‎22 hours ago‎ Claiming that there has been a ‘gross misrepresentation’ of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, “We need to have a better understanding of statistics to correctly … Daily Bhaskar GUJARAT’S ANNUAL PLAN SIZE IS RS38,000 CRORE Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jun 25, 2011‎ By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA The Annual Plan for Gujarat for 2011-12 was finalised at Rs38,000 crore at a meeting between chief minister Narendra Modi and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in New Delhi … Gujarat annual plan of Rs 38000 crore approved Hindustan Times Gujarat Annual Plan 2011-12 Finalized Press Information Bureau (press release) Planning Commission okays Gujarat’s annual plan MSN India Deccan Chronicle - Daily Bhaskar all 17 news articles » Email this story Business Standard WATER CRISIS MORE SEVERE THAN ENERGY PROBLEM: MONTEK The Hindu - ‎Jun 10, 2011‎ Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Friday that the 12th Five Year Plan, which commences in 2012, would have to contend with a “severe water crisis.” “The water crisis is even more serious than the energy problem,” … ‘Inflation to reach reasonable levels by Sept-Oct’ Business Standard Food prices to fall by Sep-Oct Ahluwalia Moneycontrol.com Bangalore, June 10, (IANS): Deccan Herald Economic Times - Indian Express all 28 news articles » Email this story <B>SANJAYA BARU:</B> REMEMBERING NARASIMHA RAO Business Standard - Sanjaya Baru - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎ Quite understandably, they will celebrate the role of people like Manmohan Singh, C Rangarajan, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Rakesh Mohan, P Chidambaram and so on. The person who gave them all the required political cover to go ahead, and do what neither an … Globe and Mail MONTEK WARNS ON FAILURE TO PASS HIGH ENERGY PRICES TO USERS Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jun 14, 2011‎ Published on Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 16:26 | Source : PTI Planning Commission Deputy ChairmanMontek Singh Ahluwalia today cautioned that failure to pass on the energy prices to consumers will “effectively kill the energy sector”. … India urged to take ‘hard decisions’ on energy subsidies Globe and Mail all 5 news articles » Email this story GOM MEET ON JULY 7 TO DECIDE ON SHARING OF MINING PROFITS Expressindia.com - Priyadarshi Siddhanta - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎ But Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had raised a red flag, stating it would discourage investments and even prompt similar demands from other sectors. The 10-member GoM on MMDR Bill set up last June has so far met thrice, … Moneycontrol.com POWER PRODUCERS SEEK PROTECTION FROM FUEL SHOCKS Economic Times - ‎17 hours ago‎ Association of Power Producers director general Ashok Khurana told ET, “We have written letters to Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and power secretary P Uma Shankar. Except for the 4000 mw each Sasan and Tilaiya pit-head … Set up EGoM to review bidding laws: Power cos Financial Express Power producers press for EGoM on coal contracts Business Standard all 18 news articles » Email this story Create your own custom section for montek singh ahluwalia “We knew both of them, but we wanted to be part of the consensus, and the consensus emerged …… around Christine Lagarde. So naturally we became a part of it” Jun 28, 2011 Reuters (28 occurrences) more by Pranab Mukherjee The Hindu GOVT HASN’T YET SCALED DOWN GROWTH PROJECTIONS: PRANAB Business Standard - ‎3 hours ago‎ PTI / New Delhi July 04, 2011, 19:22 IST Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government has not taken any decision to scale down the growth projections for the current fiscal despite apprehensions of slowdown expressed by the Reserve Bank … No decision yet on revising GDP growth target: Pranab The Hindu FM says no decision on lowering GDP Franchiseindia.com Rising inflation, sliding credibility Express Buzz Telegraphnepal.com - Rediff all 14 news articles » Email this story PRANAB ATTACKS CPM ON LOKPAL Times of India - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ KOLKATA: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee launched a scathing attack on the CPM for colluding with the BJP and JD (U) to “gain political mileage” on the Lokpal Bill issue by assessing civil society’s outburst as an attack on the Congress. … This is bugging people Hindustan Times Civil society stir against democracy, not Congress, says Pranab Indian Express Pranab criticises BJP, CPM Deccan Chronicle iNewsOne - Daily News & Analysis all 14 news articles » Email this story The Hindu CPIM AND BJP PATRONISING CIVIL SOCIETY AGITATION: PRANAB MUKHERJEE Economic Times - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ KOLKATA: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday criticised both the BJP and CPIM for patronising civil society activists like Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev who have been organising movements against the Centre on corruption issues. … Video: Crucial all party meet on Lokpal today Times Now Anna, Ramdev ‘self appointed messiahs’: Pranab Hindustan Times BJP, CPI(M) leaning on ‘self-appointed messiahs’: Pranab The Hindu Mangalorean.com - IBNLive.com all 570 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story The Hindu PRANAB AND GEITHNER LEAVE POLICY ANNOUNCEMENTS TO JULY DIALOGUE The Hindu - Narayan Lakshman - ‎Jun 29, 2011‎ Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee exchanges pleasantries with USTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after they signed a statementon the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership in Washington DCon Tuesday. Washington: Questions on market access … Video: Fuel price hike was inevitable: Pranab Times Now Mukherjee: Foreign Investment to Pick Up This Year Wall Street Journal Pranab rules out rollback of LPG, diesel price increase Times of India Hindustan Times - Calcutta Telegraph all 155 news articles » Email this story FINANCE MINISTER TO MEET PSU BANK CHIEFS ON JULY 8 Economic Times - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎ NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold a review meeting with the heads of public sector banks and financial institution in the light of rising interest rates and concerns of slowdown. The meeting will take stock of the financial … Indian Express GOM MEET ON JULY 7 TO DECIDE ON SHARING OF MINING PROFITS Expressindia.com - Priyadarshi Siddhanta - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎ New Delhi A Group of Ministers (GoM) chaired by Pranab Mukherjee is expected to finalise a methodology for sharing of mining profits with local residents when it meets on July 7. The meeting, likely to be the last, will decide if miners should part … Profit sharing clause to stay in reworked mining law draft Business Standard all 3 news articles » Email this story INDIA CAN LIVE WITH 6-6.5% INFLATION, SAYS PRANAB Times of India - ‎Jun 28, 2011‎ NEW DELHI: India can live with an inflation of 6-6.5% which should be a tolerable level for the economy, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday but cautioned that inflation would be a little more this year. Mukherjee, who is leading a … Mukherjee Geithner aim for complementary growth Moneycontrol.com After India-US civil nuclear deal, Pranab Mukherjee leads India and US talk … Economic Times Govt trying to build consensus: FM Business Standard Hindustan Times - The Hindu all 899 news articles » Email this story PRANAB: LEFT IS NOW IRRELEVANT Deccan Chronicle - Parwez Hafeez - ‎Jul 1, 2011‎ Launching a scathing attack against the CPI(M), Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said that the people of the country had totally rejected the Left which was now confined to only one state. … Pranab: Cong must share responsibility with Trinamool IBNLive.com Cong rally Calcutta Telegraph all 6 news articles » Email this story The Hindu CONGRESS ATTACKS KARAT ON LOKPAL BILL REMARK Hindustan Times - ‎Jul 3, 2011‎ On Saturday, Karat said that in 2001 a parliamentary standing committee headed by Congress leader and now union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recommended that the prime minister should be within the ambit of Lokpal. “Prakash Karat’s statement on … Congress criticises Karat’s remarks The Hindu Karat attacks Cong of reversing stand on PM under Lokpal Times of India ‘Why should the Prime Minister be immune?’ Rediff iNewsOne - Asian Age all 36 news articles » हिंदी में Email this story India Today LOKPAL MEET MINUTES SHOW GOVT SHIFTING STAND Times of India - ‎Jun 28, 2011‎ During his tour of Kolkata earlier this month, finance minister and joint drafting panel chairmanPranab Mukherjee had gamely announced that audio recordings of the Lokpal meetings would be made public. However, minutes of the last three Lokpal joint … Don’t treat Team Anna draft as dissent note: Shanti Bhushan The Hindu Anna team writes to Pranab, questions comparitive analysis Business Standard Inaccurate version brought before Cabinet: Bhushan Deccan Herald Indian Express - Daily News & Analysis all 26 news articles » Email this story Create your own custom section for pranab mukherjee Create an email alert for pranab mukherjee Add a news gadget for pranab mukherjee to your Google homepage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next             all 18 news articles » NSE:COALINDIA - BOM:500325 - NSE:RELIANCE Email this story FEATURED VIDEO French journalist accuses Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape euronews all 7,422 news articles » FEATURED PHOTO Indian central bank fines Citigroup AFP - ‎2 hours ago‎ MUMBAI – India’s central bank on Monday said it had fined a unit of US banking giant Citigroup $55000 for flouting guidelines on custome… all 21 news articles » IMAGES AFP Reuters India expressandstar…. 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NATO – UID of Items

International UID of Items provides a basis by which the global supply chain shares in multi-national logistics coordination ensuring delivery of the right and necessary item(s) to the right destination at the right time. International support for UID is rapidly growing and industrial partners are improving their capabilities. Activities surrounding UID Standards in NATO Working Groups and member nations has increased. The NATO Standardization Agreements (STANAG), published by NATO, provides common military or technical procedures for NATO members. The NATO Standardization Agreement for UID, STANAG 2290 (Edition 1) was ratified by 19 NATO nations and promulgated in January 2009 by NATO. It includes the accepted structure for the implementation of UID of Items. In March 2009, the Netherlands published a mandatory UID/AIT clause requiring UID on contracts. Other European nations are close behind with NATO exploring ways to help spread UID adoption. More recently NATO released a guide titled NATO Guidance on Unique Identification (UID) of Items (July 2010). This provides detailed instructions for implementing UID across the independent member countries. This document includes proper marking of items that require UID and the exchange of UID data between organizations. You can find the guide at http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/stanag.htm#auidp Privacy India is inviting individuals to author short papers focused on Unique Identity (UID) and Privacy. Selected candidates will have their papers published on the CIS website, and their transportation and accommodation provided for the “Privacy Matters” conference being heldin Kolkata on 22 January 2010. Topic Privacy and the UID Submission Deadline By 15 January 2010 to admin@privacyindia.org Word Length 3,000-5,000 words Topic Summary The Aadhaar scheme, or Unique Identity (UID) scheme is a plan to provide citizens identity cards that are tied to their unique biometric data – such as their fingerprints or retinal scans. Although the most frequently cited justification for this project is to ensure the secure delivery of relief to beneficiaries of government aid schemes, it is clear that the uses to which it will be put exceed this narrow mandate. As India embarks on one of its most ambitious techno-administrative projects to date, there is surprisingly little clarity or introspection into the implications of having such a concentrated identity locked into a single card. Inparticular it appears that the grave threats to privacy the scheme poses have not received due attention. Although the final draft UID Bill circulated by the UIDAI in October 2010 contains some provisions that reference privacy, there seems to be a tacit assumption that privacy is an expendable or at least a less-desirable privilege that can be attended to fully once the scheme is in fully in place. We invite individuals to author short inter-disciplinary papers that engage various topics on the theme of Privacy and the UID, including but not limited to the following:    Comparative studies on privacy and national identity card schemes in other countries    Privacy and the UID Bill   How will a project such as the UID change the relationship between the state, the individual, and the market? Selected candidates will have their papers published on the CIS website, and their transportation and accommodation  provided for the “Privacy Matters” conference being held in Kolkata on January 22nd 2010. Who We Are Privacy India was set up with the collaboration of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Society in Action Group (SAG), under the auspices of the international organization ‘Privacy International’. Privacy International is a non-profit group that provides assistance to civil society groups, governments, international and regional bodies, the media and the public in a number of countries (see www.privacyinternational.org). Privacy India’s objective is to raise awareness, spark civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. In furtherance of this goal we aim to draft and promote an over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public. http://www.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy_callforpapers

The target of generating 600 mn unique ID cards by 2014 would be achieved, Nandan Nilekani , chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has already claimed. In Karnataka, you may get Paid getting UID to kill your Individual sovereignty and Privacy as well!In Bengal, where most number of Doubtful Illegal Infilterators reside and Refugees belonging to SC OBC communities  countrywide DEPRIVED of Citizenship, it is quite a RUSH for UID. My friends are rushing blind to get the Magic wand. For me, I am NOT interested as yet and my son Excalibur is away from Home.But it seems that there would be NO Way to live without UID. Next Generation Refoms means Deletion of Subsidy and DIRECT Cash Payment of Subsidy. Every Public service is linked to UID henceforth. Thus, you have the UID Number to get the benefit of your citizenship.In return, you have to Mortgage your PRIVACY for Survellience and to be USED by LPG Mafia for Strategic marketing!Andhra Pradesh tops in the project followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. The UID project, when completed, will eliminate the need for multiple identification mechanisms. The permanent ID card will carry a unique number, photograph and biometric data.Registrars are typically government departments and public sector organisations. They in turn appoint the PRIVATE agency to collect data. Currently, over 200 such agencies have been named including Wipro , Comat Technologies, Alankit and Virgo Softech.

We have been writing and speaking on UID since the First day. But Public Awareness is at  the mecry of Brahaminical Media which is controlled by Market Forces and Market dominating Communities. And UID proves to be the BEST Tool of EXCUSION as well as Ethnic Cleansing meant to sustain Zionist Manusmriti LPG Mafia Rule and Brahaminical Hegemony!

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has appealed to citizens not to crowd the civic ward offices to register for the unique identification (UID) number as the drive to collect information will continue till all citizens are registered. The PMC has started the work of collecting information for the UID, where a 12-digit number would be allotted to each individual after the work of collection of information is completed.

For the registration, citizens will need to furnish documents pertaining to identity proof, birth date details and residential address proof. After filling the form, photocopies of the documents should be attached to the form and ask for the date and time for biometric test. Citizens should be present on the given date and time, with original documents.

The document for identity proof can be passport, pan card, ration card, voters identity card, driving licence, any identity card issued by the government or recognised educational institution, arms licence, an ATM card or credit card with photograph, photo card issued for pensioners or freedom fighters, cards issued under CGHS, Kisan photo passbook, identity card issued by the department of posts, or an identity certificate issued by a gazetted group A officer.

For residential address proof, besides any of the above documents, electricity bills, telephone bills, property tax bill (issued in last three months), letters issued by banks or educational institutions, vehicle registration certificate, or registered lease document will be valid. For birth date details, a birth certificate, or the secondary school leaving certificate, or passport will be required.

Each centre will have a verifier who would examine the documents. If any citizen does not have any document to establish his or her identity, the centre will have introducers appointed by the government. The letters issued by the introducers will be accepted as identity proof.

At each centre, a biometric scan will be conducted. The finger prints of hands, as well as the iris and photographs will be scanned. Children above the age of five years will also get their UID number. Children below the age of five years will get UID number in the names of either of their parents.

For the UID number programme, the government has appointed the municipal commissioner as the registrar, while the 14 zonal officers, deputy commissioner (special) and assistant census officers have been appointed as nodal officers.

With over 625,000 villages, rural India still dominates the country’s landscape even as rapid urbanising is throwing up challenges for planners. To train people manage this massive social transformation and fill the critical human resource and knowledge gap, a group of eminent Indians is setting up a university.

One of them, Nandan Nilekani, a co-founder of India’s IT bellwether Infosys who now spearheads the massive exercise of providing billion Indians a unique identification number, and his wife Rohini, have just gifted Rs. 50 crore to the proposed varsity.

Called the Indian Institute of Human Settlement, the institute is coming up near Bangalore and the people behind it are in talks with the government for recognition of its courses.

Besides Nilekani, other leading figures forming the board of directors of the venture are renowned industrialists and academicians like Xerxes Desai, Jamshyd Godrej, Cyrus Guzder, Renana Jhabvala, Vijay Kelkar, Keshub Mahindra, Kishore Mariwala, Rahul Mehrotra, Rakesh Mohan, Nasser Munjee, Deepak Parekh, Shirish Patel, Aromar Revi and Deepak Satwalekar.

The IIHS will offer “globally benchmarked bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in urban practice based on a wide set of disciplines and practice areas central to India’s urban transformation,” Aromar Revi, its director, told IANS in an interview.

The Bachelors in Urban Practice (BUP) programme “will be a four-year course, after the plus-2 level of schooling. The MUP programme will be a two year course,” said Revi, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and the law and management schools of Delhi University .

The IIHS will begin by offering the masters programme first from July next year, provided the government gives regulatory clearances by that time, he said.

“Discussions are active with the government on getting the appropriate regulatory clearances,” Revi said.

The “tentative fee structure for the MUP is in the range of Rs.300,000 and Rs.400,000 per annum,” he said. The IIHS “is planning to offer up to 50 percent of its students’ scholarships and financial assistance of varying degrees depending on need,” he added.

Revi was confident that students passing out of this institute will have job opportunities since the “most serious constraint facing Indian cities today is not capital but the availability of suitably educated professionals, entrepreneurs and change makers who can act in the common good”.

“We anticipate career opportunities across the public and private sectors as well as civil society and universities and knowledge enterprises. There is a large gap in the supply of urban practitioners and inter-disciplinary professionals as India and its urban areas grow,” he said.

On the gift by the Nilekanis, he said “this is in keeping with their vision of building quality transformative institutions for India and a reinforcement of their past philanthropic commitments. Nandan Nilekani has been deeply involved with the IIHS from its conceptualisation”.

Announcing the gift Tuesday, the Nilekanis said: “IIHS is at the convergence of both our interests in education, urbanisation and sustainability.”

The IIHS is coming up on a 54-acre site in Kengeri, on the Bangalore outskirts. “Work on planning the first phase of the 42,000-sq metre campus has started. It will be executed in a phased manner over the next five to seven years,” Revi told IANS.

On what prompted the setting up of this institute, he said there was a need to fill “a critical human resource and knowledge gap in addressing multiple challenges of urbanisation”.

“The IIHS is conceived as an inter-disciplinary university born out of the realisation that a single academic programme within a university would not be able to offer the breadth and depth of inter-disciplinary academics and practice that are urgently required to solve the multiple dimensions of urbanisation challenges that the country is confronted with,” he said.

The IIHS has tie-ups with several well-known institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University College London (UCL), and The African Centre for Cities (ACC) of the University of Cape Town (UCT), Revi said.

WILL DIRECT CASH TRANSFER BE A BETTER REFORM THAN FUEL AND FERTILISER SUBSIDY?

Economic Times – ‎19 hours ago‎
Later this month, Unique ID (UID) chief Nandan Nilekani will finalise a report to the government which could prove a turning point in India’s 20-year, largely-failed attempt, to reform its bloated subsidy bill, currently weighing in at over `1,64000 …

NANDAN AND ROHINI NILEKANI ANNOUNCE A GIFT OF $11 MN TO IIHS

Economic Times – ‎Jun 27, 2011‎
BANGALORE: UIDAI Chairman , Nandan Nilekani and his wife Rohini Nilekani have announced a gift of $11 million to the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) to fund its School of Environment and Sustainability . The institute is the first in the …
Nandan Nilekani donates Rs. 50 crore to Bangalore college Livemint
Nilekanis to give Rs 50 crore to institute Indian Express
Nilekanis donate Rs. 50 crore to IIHS The Hindu
Rediff – IBNLive.com
all 22 news articles »Email this story

The Hindu

BOUQUETS & BRICKBATS: NANDAN NILEKANI DECODES THE UID

Moneycontrol.com – ‎Jun 25, 2011‎

He believes in the power of technology and challenges, which is why Nandan Nilekani was appointed by the Prime Minister to lay the foundation for the world’s largest and most ambitious identification program. Two years into his job as the chairman of …

UIDAI: Nandan Nilekani plans to create an ‘Apple or Google-like’ ecosystem for … Economic Times

UIDAI targets 1 m enrolments a day The Hindu

Aadhar will reach target: Nilekani IBNLive.com

CIOL

all 64 news articles »

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NILEKANI URGES CM TO LINK AADHAAR WITH SERVICES

Times of India – ‎Jun 17, 2011‎
RANCHI: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani asked chief minister Arjun Munda to issue a notification declaring Aadhaar numbers as the basis of identity and residential proof of the Aadhaar number holder, …
Unique ID project set to meet target: Nandan Nilekani Economic Times
UID can reform delivery system Nandan Nilekani Moneycontrol.com
UIDAI ropes in NSDC to train 300000 workers Business Standard
I Government – IBNLive.com
all 18 news articles »Email this story

Chandigarh Tribune

‘WE ARE BUILDING THE ELECTRONIC EQUIVALENT OF ROADS FOR THE COUNTRY — SOFT …

Chandigarh Tribune – Raj Chengappa – ‎9 hours ago‎

Two years ago, Nandan Nilekani, 55, gave up a highly successful career in the private sector and one that made him extraordinarily well-to-do to join the government and serve his country. In July 2009, he took over as the Chairman of the Unique …

ICICI, STATE BANK OF INDIA FIRST TO TAP LARGEST IDENTITY STORE

Bloomberg – Andrew MacAskill, Bibhudatta Pradhan – ‎Jun 29, 2011‎
About 64 banks will open accounts in a few months based on details entered in the government’s burgeoning biometric data store, the project’s leader, billionaire entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani, 56, said. India initially aims to hand identification …
BOM:500112

UID PROGRAMME PROGRESSING WELL, SAYS NILEKANI

Economic Times – ‎Jun 22, 2011‎
BANGALORE: The Unique Identification Number (UID) programme was progressing well and the speed of enrollment was expected to go higher with the software and hardware upgrades, UID Chairman Nandan Nilekani said here today. “I am happy with the progress …

Deccan Herald

12-DIGIT PIN TO NIRVANA, CLAIMS GOVERNMENT

Deccan Herald – ‎22 hours ago‎

“This will prevent non-PDS card holders siphoning off foodgrains in the name of genuine beneficiaries,” said Union Food Minister KV Thomas, who has been holding meetings with UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani to link ration cards with UID numbers. …

UID NUMBER TOUCH ONE CRORE

Hindustan Times – ‎Jun 30, 2011‎
This is yet another milestone, en-route to our goal of issuing 60 crore Aadhaar numbers by 2014″ Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India said. Enrolments are in progress in more than 25 states and Union Territories by …
Third UIDIA’s Conference of Ecosystem Partners held Press Information Bureau (press release)
One crore Indians get their unique ID number iNewsO

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110703/jsp/7days/story_14190879.jsp

1. No UID « AadhaaR | Unique Identification Authority of India | UID …

2. www.myuidcard.com/?tag=no-uid – Cached

3. 9 Jun 2011 – “We have issued a circular to all our 18500 employees that their salary for the month of June will not be deposited unless they get the UID …

4. No UID, no salary for govt staff

5. www.mid-day.com › Pune – Cached

6. 7 Jun 2011 – “We have issued a circular to all our 18500 employees that their salary for the month of June will not be deposited unless they get the UID …

7. [PPT]

8. What is UID

9. www.acq.osd.mil/…/uid/Small_Label_UID_Format_for_Part_Tracking5_1…

10. File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint – Quick View

11. What is UID. Set of Data Elements for tangible assets. Enterprise Identifier, Serial Number; Enterprise Identifier, PartNumber, Serial Number …

12. ” AADHAAR ” RELATED ARTICLES: 1377 – No UID, no salary for govt …

13. aadhararticles.blogspot.com/…/1377-no-uid-no-salary-for-govt-staff… – Cached

14. 8 Jun 2011 – 1377 – No UID, no salary for govt staff – Mid Day. CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE – Posted by Ram Krishna Swamy …

15. UIDAI

16. uidai.gov.in/ – Cached

17. No Iframes. Main Menu. Home · About UIDAI · Aadhaar · Aadhaar Usage · Aadhaar Enrolments · Finance and Budget · Consultations · Legislation and Guidelines …

18. AADHAAR UID number in India, AADHAR Card Form, website, Camps …

19. uidnumber.org/ – Cached

20. AADHAAR Card or UID number -India. Aadhar Enrollment Camps & Centres, Application Form, wiki, website, logo, news & project status. Aadhar Card.

21. UID No will improve national security: Nilekani – Indian Express

22. www.indianexpress.com/news/uid-no-will-improve…/551492/- Cached

23. 8 Dec 2009 – UID No will improve national security: Nilekani – The Unique Identification (UID) number would be useful in improving security in the …

24. Say No to UID

25. www.nouid.in/ – Cached

26. Welcome to “Say no to UID!” campaign website! Please wait patiently as the site gets populated with articles and discussions….

27. UID No polling station « AadhaaR | Unique Identification Authority …

28. www.uidaicards.com/?tag=uid-no-polling-station – Cached

29. 10 Nov 2009 – The persons who are willing to vote using internet can first register using the UID number as their identification, a user defined password …

30. Unique Identification Authority of India – Wikipedia, the free …

31. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_Identification_Authority_of_India- Cached

32. The UID will link a person’s Passport Number, Driving License, PAN card, Bank Accounts, Address, Voter ID, etc. and all this information will be checked …

33. You visited this page on 03/07/11.

34. News for NO UID

    Will Direct cash transfer be a better reform than fuel and … Economic Times – 20 hours ago It’s important to note that what the UID does not do is identify a person as poor or non-poor or large or small farmer. Indeed it collects no socioeconomic … Rush at GPO for UID cards Times of India Get UID number at post office soon Times of India

Huge rush for Aadhaar card speaks of its success

Naveen Kumar, TNN Jun 15, 2011, 10.06pm IST
VARANASI: Waiting patiently for his turn to get registered for unique identification card (UID card), Jamal Akhthar, a resident of Madanpura, appeared a relieved man as he was one of the 50-odd people in the city who got registered for UID card, also known as ‘Aadhaar card’.
To his utter surprise, all the formalities related to registration, including filling up of enrolment form and biometric verification that included finger impressions of all 10 fingers and iris capture, took less than 10 minutes and he was provided with the counterfoil of information details carrying his signature after proper verification. “If all formalities like proof of identity, address and date of birth are established with the help of original documents, it is a simple procedure that does not consume much time,” he said after coming out of the building housing the office of Alankit Assignments Ltd (AAL), the firm that has been authorised by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to start registrations for issuing Aadhaar cards in the city.

PATNA: Patnaites seem to be very keen on getting Unique Identification (UID) cards. The queue outside the UID card counter at the Patna GPO is growing longer with every passing day. Looking at the number of people turning up and to render superior service to them, the postal department on Thursday opened two more UID card counters at the GPO.
UID card registration work in Bihar was inaugurated at the GPO on June 24. “Earlier, we were able to cater to only 60-70 applicants per day, but now with two more counters, this number would increase to 200-225 per day,” said Anil Kumar, marketing director, postal department.
Within a week of its launch, more than 11,000 UID card forms have been distributed, and out of these as many as 800 forms have been submitted at the registration counter.

1. How to Get UID Card | UID Aadhaar

2. www.uidaadhaar.com/how-get-uid-card – Cached
3. Dear mr chandekar,its very simple to get uid card,just need to go any uid registration center n give all the information about urself,u need to take an …

4. Aadhaar UID card

5. aadhar-uid-card.blogspot.com/ – Cached
6. Get information about UID (Unique IDentification) number or Aadhar card of UIDAI Authority,PC,Government of India.all Aadhaar card details.

7. Images for uid card

8. - Report images

9. UID Card in Delhi, India, Format, Design, Details, Apply, Form

10. uidcard.org/ – Cached
11. UIDCard.org provides you information regarding the latest buzzcard called.

One crore register in Maharashtra under UID project

Published on Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 22:08 |  Source : PTI
Updated at Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 22:10
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Maharashtra has registered around one crore of its population under the ambitious Aadhar project to issue Unique Identification Card (UID).
Altogether 4000 registration centres have been started at 1100 places in the state, an official release said.
Aadhar aims to provide a 12-digit number to citizens and is generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
The number will be stored in a centralised database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information – photograph, fingerprints and iris – of each individual.
It is estimated that it would take between 12 and 18 months to complete registration process in the state and the process would continue if needed, the release said.
Tags: Aadhar project, Unique Identification Card, UID, UIDAI, registration process
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/one-crore-registermaharashtra-under-uid-project_560604.html

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/173269/12-digit-pin-nirvana-claims.html

Union Budget 2011: Direct cash subsidy on fuel, fertilizers by Mar ’12

PTI Feb 28, 2011, 12.43pm IST
NEW DELHI: Concerned over the misuse of subsidies provided under various schemes, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the government will provide a direct cash subsidy on kerosene and fertilisers to the poor from March next year.
“… To ensure greater cost efficiency and better delivery for both kerosene and fertilizer, the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people below poverty line (BPL) in a phased manner,” Mukherjee said during his presentation of the Budget 2011-12.
The system will be in place by March, 2012, he said. A task force headed by Nandan Nilekani is working out the modalities for the proposed system of direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilisers, he said.

he Government proposed to provide a direct cash subsidy on fuel and fertilizers to the poor from March, 2012.
“To ensure greater cost efficiency and better delivery of kerosene and fertilizers, the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people below poverty line (BPL) in a phased manner. The system would be in place by March, 2012, he added.
A task force headed by the former chief of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, who is nowUnique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman, is working out the modalities for the proposed system . It comprises Secretaries from the Ministries of Finance, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Agriculture, Food, Petroleum and Rural Development.

At present, the government provides kerosene at subsidised rates to BPL families through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Furthermore, LPG is provided at a subsidised rate to households.

As regards fertilizers, the government provides subsidy to companies so that farm inputs, which include urea and imported fertilizers, can be provided to farmers at cheaper rates.
Besides designing an IT framework, the task force will align the systems with the issuance of the UID numbers and suggest changes in the administration and supply chain management.
A new policy on providing subsidies on fertilizers on the basis of their nutrient composition could soon be extended to urea, one of the most widely used fertilizers. “Nutrient-based fertilizer policy for urea is under consideration.”

The nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime is expected to promote balanced fertilization and consequently increase agriculture productivity in the country through higher usage of secondary and micro-nutrients.

Bangalore: Enrolment for Aadhaar Unique Identity (UID) has begun in Bangalore, with the General Post Office (GPO) launching the facility through 35 post offices in the city; one could also enrol for the number through seven post offices in Bangalore Rural.
Ashok Dalwai, deputy director general of the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), Vasumitra, post master general, Karnataka Circle, and P Raghavan, chief general manager of Karnataka Telecom Circle, launched the first enrolment in the city at the GPO on Friday.
Dalwai said that apart from the post offices, the enrolment would also occur through state registration agencies. This facility would be available in a month.
“The state has already floated tenders for finalising the agencies which would assist in the enrolment of people into Aadhaar. People could also walk into the nearest post office for this purpose.
The GPO is one of our main non-state registrars,” Dalwai said, adding that details of 40 lakh people in the state had already been received, ahead of enrolment.
In Tumkur and Mysore districts, 18 lakh UIDs had already been delivered.
“We will next begin enrolment in Belgaum and Gulbarga divisions, and then come to Bangalore. After that, we could move on to complete Mysore,” Dalwai said.
The GPO distributed a list of 236 post offices, spread across different taluks and in different districts, to assist people in enrolling for the UID. There are 35 post offices in the city — six in Bangalore East and South each, and 22 in Bangalore West.
Two agencies have been empanelled in Karnataka Circle for enrolment assistance — Team Life Care Company, Pampa Layout, Hebbal and Comat Technologies, Thimmaiah Road.
They will divide the work gathered by the 236 post offices and process the UIDs for the Karnataka Circle. Dalwai said the enrolling would begin in a phased manner once the state registrar agencies were finalised.
Dalwai said that people should be careful to spell their names correctly and give the correct addresses while giving details for UID enrolment.
“For the UID, we need four basic details — name, date of birth, address and gender. If a person does not have address proof or other government-approved identification details, we have means to go back and check the details, so people ought to provide us these four details correctly,” Dalwai said.
By March 2012, the delivery of a substantial number of UIDs would be completed in Karnataka, as well as the rest of India.
“As our chairman has already announced, from October, we will deliver a million UIDs each day. We will have to push the process of enrolment so that we can achieve the target of covering one million UIDs per day,” Dalwai said.
Asserting that there was no chance of the UID being misused, Dalwai said, “The UID is a dumb, unintelligent, 12-digit number. It does not reveal anything at all about the person, so the question of manipulating the UID card just does not arise.”
Aadhaar can be used to receive welfare programmes of the government, and the number could be used to get the LPG connection or rations through the public distribution system. It can even help people in getting a scholarship to fund higher studies.
The Aadhaar will be based on biometric data. The fingerprints of all 10 fingers and iris mapping of both eyes will be done for each person enrolled.
With Aadhaar, one can also link a bank account, and get a refill of the LPG cylinder. It will also help in getting passport or other government work done.
UIDAI has partnered with 67 institutions and government bodies to collect details necessary for the UID. “So far, we have captured details of three crores of people, and delivered 98 lakh UIDs across the country. The GPO is our logistics partner. This association will go a long way,” said Dalwai.

• Are direct cash subsidies better? – Forbes India News – IBNLive

• ibnlive.in.com/news/are-direct-cash-subsidies…/146717-55.html – Cached

• 22 Mar 2011 – There are multiple options to give direct subsidies — through food coupons, school vouchers and direct transfer of cash to beneficiaries’ …

• model on cash subsidy regime direct transfer ofsubsidies for lpg …

• post.jagran.com/…/model-on-cash-subsidy-regime-direct-transfer-of… – Cached

• Results 1 – 10 of 2823 – model on cash subsidy regime direct transfer of subsidies for lpg and fertilizer and kerosene Find the complete information on model …

• Direct cash subsidy: Challenges for implementation

• www.business-standard.com › Home › Economy & Policy- Cached

• 25 Apr 2011 – … its decision to move towards direct transfer of cash subsidy for … The Government is also hopeful that the system of cash transfer …

• Making cash subsidies work – Views – livemint.com

• www.livemint.com/2011/04/…/Making-cash-subsidies-work.html – Cached

• 5 Apr 2011 – As expected, the decision has generated an intense debate on the merits of replacing subsidies with direct cash transfers. …

• Budget’11: Direct cash subsidy on fuel, fertilisers by 2012 – PTI -

• www.moneycontrol.com › News › Business › Economy – Cached

• 28 Feb 2011 – Budget’11: Direct cash subsidy on fuel, fertilisers by 2012 … the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people …

• The Hindu : News / National : Direct cash subsidyon fuel …

• www.thehindu.com › News › National – Cached

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  “We will achieve the target of generating 600 million unique identity cards (UID) by 2014. Till now we have generated 95 lakh and enrolled around two crore people,” Nilekani said at a press conference in ranchi, jharkhand. He was there in last June to review the progress of the unique ID card process in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. He said the work is currently progressing in 11 states.  6.5 lakh unique cards have been generated and 20 lakh people have been enrolled in Jharkhand, Nilekani said.

  Asked whether any parameters have been set in border areas of the country for generating unique ID cards, he said the cards “are proof of residency of a person and it is not a proof of nationality”.

  One million Indian residents are expected to enroll for unique identity (Aadhaar) number every day from this October, Chairman of Unique Identity and Development Authority of India Nandan M Nilekani , said in Bangalore on 23rd June last.

  “As UIDAI scales up the systems both at the back-end by adding more technologies and at the front by adding more enrollment stations, it’s confident of achieving this goal,” he said.

  Speaking at a conference with the theme “Next Generation Service Delivery – Enabled by Aadhaar”, organised by NASSCOM and UIDAI, Nilakani said as of now 95 lakh (9.5 million) people have been issued with Aadhaar numbers.

  Another UIDAI official said the figure is expected to cross one crore.

  Nilekani said plans are on track to issue Aadhaar numbers to 600 million (60 crore) people in three to three-and-half years. He said the entire enrollment infrastructure would stabilise in the next few months, adding, UIDAI has built a massive biometrics-based capabilities.

  “We are very comfortable that in the next few months, we will have critical mass of people around the country who will have Aadhaar numbers with them,” he said.

  He said UIDAI would create for the first time in the country a national devices’ infrastructure, which is inter-operable.

  Nilekani said devices compliant with Aadhaar standards, — whether they are in bank branches, or kirana stores or post offices or in schools or public health centres or anywhere — would be inter-operable.

  How to get your Unique Identification number ‘Aadhaar’

  With a mammoth exercise on to issue an Aadhar number to each of India’s 1.2 billion citizens and interested residents, here is the process for getting what will become a unique identity for people in India to access all public or private services.

  The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) – under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani – is the nodal agency, which had appointed registrars across the country to facilitate the enrolment process.

  Nilekani was one of the co-founders and previously headed IT bellwether Infosys. He enjoys cabinet rank in his present status.

  Registrars are typically government departments and public sector organisations. They in turn appoint the agency to collect data. Currently, over 200 such agencies have been named including Wipro , Comat Technologies, Alankit and Virgo Softech.

  “Aadhaar guarantees uniqueness and a universal identity. At its core is a centralised online identity verification process,” said Atul P. Anand, director at Virgo Softech , which is one of the enrolment agencies involved in the process.

  “Biometric information like iris and fingerprints ensure this uniqueness. This is also embedded and hence tamper proof. The authority uses data de-duplication process, which also makes sure that only unique data is stored,” Anand told media.

  Officials explained the enrolment is done in four stages — verification of documents including address proof, on-the-spot capture of photos, iris and fingerprint scanning — after which people are given acknowledgment slips at the time of enrolment.

  A 12-digit unique identification number is then delivered in 20-30 days at the person’s address through speed post after verification of biometrics and demographic data. Data verification is done by the authority under a centralised system.

  The system ensures duplicate data is deleted, leaving only one copy to be stored.

  “If you try to enrol yourself for the second time by using some different demographic information or data, you cannot do it. That’s also because you can’t change your iris and fingerprint. So duplicate data automatically gets deleted,” said Anand.

  Bouquets & brickbats: Nandan Nilekani decodes the UID

  Published on Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 13:58 |  Source : CNBC-TV18
  Updated at Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 09:46
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  He believes in the power of technology and challenges, which is why Nandan Nilekani was appointed by the Prime Minister to lay the foundation for the world’s largest and most ambitious identification program. Two years into his job as the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Nilekani delivered on his promise of rolling out the Aadhaar number.
  The unique identification project like most innovations faces admiration and skepticism both alike. On CNBC-TV18′s Young Turks, Nilekani decodes the UID, says with 9.2 million people on board, the critics can keep calm now.
  Below is a transcript of Nandan Nilekani;s interview with CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
  Q: How has life changed for you?
  A: It has changed in many ways. I have left the private sector and joined the government. I went from a situation where I was leading a 100,000 person company to doing a start up all over again but a start up in government. It has been a great experience. I have learnt a lot in the last two years.
  Q: How do you function? How have you been able to reorient yourself?
  A: I have had an absolutely unhindered and unencumbered two years in the government. I was given a job and I also have guidance. We will do 600 million people by 2014. I am going to stick to the guidance. We had another guidance that we will launch within 18 months. We beat that guidance by launching in 14 months.
  Q: What is the current status? How many numbers have you rolled out?
  A: We have enrolled 9.2 million people. We have an online portal that is real time, which tells you the status every morning, therefore as of today it if 9.2 million people across 11 states.
  Q: Confidentiality is one of the apprehensions that are being expressed. The UID is to become compulsory and not voluntary. What is your take?
  A: UID gives an ID, it doesn’t really give anything else and it gives an online ID that you to authenticate that ID in a mobile banking application or online web application. It is a very limited thing and it’s designed for giving benefits to people. 9.2 million people have received a letter from us with a number. Many of them have never had an identity in their lives. Therefore, for the first time they are having an ID that enables them to open a bank account, to get a mobile connection and so on. People are seeing the value of this from the point of view of entitlements and benefits. A lot of the skepticism is therefore tapering off.
  Q: The other apprehension is where or whom will this data eventually go to? Will it go to India or American business houses?
  A: The database we have has your name, your sex, your address and your date of birth and on an optional basis your e-mail and mobile number if you want to be contacted. It’s a black box. All that you can use it for is authentication. There is no question of sharing this data. This data is inside this black box. Only when XYZ comes to a point of service and says I want to confirm I am XYZ – you get some authentication token or a biometric and we will confirm that your are XCYZ —  that’s all.
  Q: Besides the UID — who can access this data or who can the UID authorize to access this data? Can a government agency or individual ministry access this data?
  A: The data base is only used for authentication. In the interest of national security which is there is there in any country — if there is a certain request under a due process which requires the government for reasons of finding a terrorist or whatever — they can access that data with a request which is also audited.
  Q: How do you ensure the security of this data?
  A: This database is behind a perimeter of partners. Therefore this database is not exposed to the world. It’s only talking through trusted partners who in turn may have front end services where the use is only for authentication.

  Tags: Nandan Nilekani, UIDAI, start-up

  http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bouquetsbrickbats-nandan-nilekani-decodesuid_560218.html

  Nandan Nilekani questioned over pitfalls in UID

  TNN Feb 12, 2011, 11.04am IST

  Tags:

  • UID|
  • public accounts committee

  NEW DELHI: The possibility of the voluntary nature of the unique identity number project becoming virtually a compulsion in the light of entitlements being linked to the scheme saw members of a parliamentary panel quiz UID chief Nandan Nilekani about its pitfalls.

  At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Friday , MPs told Nilekani that despite his claims that the UID is merely a number — not indicative of citizenship , caste or religion — it might be vital for beneficiaries of government schemes for the poor.

  BJP MP Yashwant Sinha pointed out that once UID became a part of the PAN card issued by tax authorities or was used to identify beneficiaries of schemes like rural employment or cheap housing, it became a compulsion for users instead of being voluntary. MPs also highlighted concerns over UID being issued to persons who are “residents of India” .
  While the UID rules provide for a UID to be issued on basis of a person being resident of an area for six months and a day, MPs wondered how migrant labour would access the scheme. Many such labour was keen on being recognized as residents of their home towns and villages rather than the cities they worked in.
  It was also the case that migrant labour might be eligible to schemes like food security or urban housing while not wanting to give up their village addresses. Then some parties, not just the BJP, are concerned about the growth of illegal migrants from countries like Bangladesh. Once illegals accessed UID they might tap benefits meant for Indian nationals.
  Members from states like Orissa and Andhra Pradesh were concerned about migrants being left out of the ambit of the UID scheme.
  http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-02-12/news/28539649_1_uid-unique-identity-number-project-migrant-labour
  Unique identity: the boon & the bane

  TAJENDER SINGH LUTHRA 

  If we do not make the UID number mandatory for all residents, a sizable population, especially those who need to be watched to control crime and fight terrorism, would happily like to be left out of its purview.

  FILE PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL
  
  AN ID OF THEIR OWN:Fingerprint impressions being taken at a booth set up by the Unique Identification Authority of India at Patancheru in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. 

  Right thinking tax authorities always crave for tearing apart one body having different names. But unearthing A’s bank account even in a neighbouring city is a difficult job. Discovering B’s immovable properties registered with a slight change of spellings, yet within the same city, is as hard as inventing a new wheel. Similarly, a policeman’s simple need to instantly verify whether C’s name and residence are as good as C claimed them to be is still a dream. Practically and legally, it is complex as well as cumbersome to detain somebody and wait for days to verify his name and address from a distant city.

  Auditors could never unravel the mystery of fudged muster rolls. And, supposedly development funds continue to splurge on digging wells, constructing dirt roads and repairing schools that were never there. Illegal migrants from friendly and unfriendly neighbours enjoy the perks of our liberal democracy without adhering to the minimal requirements of being a good resident but we don’t have a foolproof system to trace and send them back.

  We are making world-class software to create the global-level services but only for export. Software architects long to create similar services for their own country but somehow they could not use their expertise at home. Though these tasks still remain a far cry, a good beginning has been made by ushering in the Unique Identity Number (UID) for every Indian.

  UID would reveal the benami transactions in stocks and commodity exchanges. It would unearth benami holdings of agricultural land and real estate. The Election Commission would finally be able to issue identity-based card to all eligible voters. Banks, with the help of UID, would streamline their policy of “know your customer.” Duplicate PAN cards, ration cards, below the poverty line yellow cards, driving licences and many such cards which are issued to cheat the government would become a thing of the past. Certainly, UID would increase the government’s tax collection, boost enforcement of the law and stop pilferage of development funds.

  In a way, where the Right to Information Act stops after providing just information and falls short of directly delivering anything for the good of common man, UID would act as a weapon to bring about tangible changes in the system whose benefits would be openly felt by the public. The potent but somewhat inactive warhead of the RTI would get an effective and far-reaching UID launcher to hit the offender where it hurts the most.

  However, UID would not solve our problems on its own. Different departments would not only have to create their own infrastructure but also have to make it compatible with the UID software architecture to exchange the desired information in real time. Moreover, they would have to make the use of the UID number mandatory by their customers to detect any misuse. A passport officer would have to make the software in his office compatible with the main UID software architecture to know whether a person is trying to get a second passport on a different name and address.

  Electronic voting machines would have to be tweaked to allow only genuine voters to vote. Banks would have to make it necessary for account holders to quote their UID numbers to detect duplicate accounts. In a rather similar way, the police would have to fine-tune their computers to know whether an accused is concealing his identity or not. Needless to say, the longer we take to prepare for and utilise the benefits of UID, the lesser we would realise its true potential.

  But one of the big questions is who would get UID. Will only Indian citizens get it? Or anybody living on Indian soil can apply for and get a UID number? There is still some ambiguity about the eligibility to get the UID number. Another significant issue is whether getting an UID number would be compulsory or optional for an individual. Will obtaining UID become mandatory for all individuals? Or will it be impossible for a person to function without obtaining UID? For example, if we can’t get our driving licence, PAN card or passport without having a UID number, more than a majority of us would be indirectly spurred to get a UID number.

  But this indirect approach would still leave many illegal migrants, slum dwellers, beggars and poor rural residents uncovered as they hardly need any government issued document to survive. Therefore, the aim of covering all residents of the country would always be a dream. Moreover, illegal migrants and particularly those from unfriendly neighbours and with ulterior motives would have a “legal” option of avoiding the gaze of UID and thus dodge the law of the land. Obviously, law enforcement is one area that would be the most adversely affected, if the UID number is not made mandatory for all residents. Therefore, we should adopt a direct approach to coax all residents to be under the cover of UID. Besides making the network of UID faster, it would make it more pervasive too.

  However, if not utilised with the right intention, the blessing of UID might become a bane. If we do not make the UID number mandatory for all residents, a sizable population, especially those who need to be watched to control crime and fight terrorism, would happily like to be left out of its purview. And if we make UID mandatory for all residents, then the important topic to consider is whether UID number would confer any right on the holders.

  The lurking danger is that on the strength of holding the UID number for a few years (say 10 years), even those who aren’t citizens might claim to be citizens and assert their privileges.

  These people would organise themselves, first, into pressure groups and, later, metamorphose into attractive political constituencies to lure different opinionated parties. It would be very hard for political parties to ignore such a striking section as their prospective constituency and disregard their privileges as citizens, particularly, the right to vote.

  We need to learn from the experience of Assam in 1972. It would be convenient for these pressure groups to force the government of the day to decide a cut-off date of holding a UID number to make illegal migrants legal. Further, on the strength of holding UID, they would fight tooth and nail to stay, be citizens and vote in elections in India. The problem of illegal migrants is as bad for us as for the western world. But heavens will not fall if we also subsume a section of illegal migrants on the strength of possession of UID, provided we have a foolproof system to sift out those who are risk to our country’s security. And even countries like the U.S. have been announcing amnesty schemes to legalise illegal immigrants from time to time. Many of our friends and relatives have been the beneficiaries of such amnesty schemes in the western world. To some extent, the U.S. and other western countries do it for their own benefit as they need illegal migrants as cheap labour.

  At the same time, though not foolproof, the U.S. has a far better system to trace and send back illegal migrants. We would need to have similar, if not a better system, to strain out our risks. If used positively, UID itself would become a forceful weapon to sieve undesirable security risks out of the system. Therefore, right in the beginning, we need to seriously mull over the potential benefits and misuses of UID and be prepared with remedy.

  (The writer is an IPS officer. The views expressed are personal. His email id is: tajendraluthra@rediffmail. com)

   

   

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  http://www.hindu.com/op/2011/03/20/stories/2011032050021400.htm

   

  “Basic procedures not followed before UID project was launched”

  SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

  SHARE  ·   COMMENT (23)   ·   PRINT   ·   T+
  As the Prime Minister hands out the first official AADHAAR numbers in the tribal district of Nandurbar on Wednesday, civil society activists in the capital are questioning the very basis of the ambitious Unique Identification (UID) scheme.

  “Even basic procedures have not been followed before launching such a massive project,” said Usha Ramanathan, an expert in law, poverty and civil rights. “The people of India, as well as Parliamentarians need to be informed, consulted and involved in a debate about a project that could have wide-ranging impacts. It should be halted before it goes any further,” she said, during a meeting here on Tuesday.

  The project, first called the UID Authority of India and then renamed AADHAAR, aims to create a database with a unique identity number for every resident of the country, authenticated by fingerprints and iris scans. Its supporters, led by UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani, claim it will benefit the poor and bring inclusivity and efficiency to government schemes. Its detractors, who are in the nascent stages of forming a campaign against it, warn that the project will allow the government to play Big Brother, and raise concerns of profiling and exclusion.

  “No legal backing”

  In a statement signed by eminent citizens, including retired Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer, historian Romila Thapar and social justice campaigner Aruna Roy, activists questioned the undemocratic process behind the project. UIDAI was set up through a government notification as an attached office of the Planning Commission without any discussion in Parliament or civil society. Despite having no legal backing – a draft Bill was approved by the Cabinet last Friday – the Authority has signed contracts and agreements with States, banks and a large number of technology companies, said the statement.

  “Historically, it has always been dangerous to issue a number or card to a population,” says Ms. Ramanathan.

  She raised issues such as the possibility of profiling, tracking and surveillance which could be increased by the converged information that a UID database would provide.

  Apart from the dangers, activists also questioned the efficacy of the project. “Mr. Nilekani claims that UID will allow better delivery of public schemes such as PDS or NREGA. Yet, he intends to use the existing NREGA and PDS databases to enrol people for UID, so where does the ‘inclusivity’ aspect come in?” asked Reetika Khare, a developmental economist at the Delhi School of Economics.

  “It is a myth that technology will promote inclusivity. All it means is that anyone left out will become disenfranchised for all purposes.”

  She added that while the UID might help prevent duplication of PDS beneficiaries, most of the leakage in the PDS system came from dealer fraud.

  Activists asked why the government seemed to be steamrollering the project through without allowing time for public debate. Even while the pilot studies are still throwing up problems such as poor people without stable fingerprints or with iris scans affected by malnourishment-related cataracts, the Authority is rushing to formally launch the scheme.

  The statement demands that a feasibility study be carried out, to demonstrate the benefits to social welfare schemes, examine the effects on privacy and detail who will have access to the UID database.

  “Without guaranteed security against data theft, the wisdom of holding this in a central registry may need to be reviewed.” With Rs. 45,000 crore planned to be spent on UID over the next four years, activists demanded a cost-benefit analysis to see what the final cost would be for the end user and cardholder.

  Keywords: Unique Identification scheme, UID Authority of India, AADHAAR numbers, UID controversy

  http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article801252.ece

   

   

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  3 JUL, 2011, 06.50AM IST, ULLEKH NP,ET BUREAU
  ‘In India, to do well, don’t talk about the poor’
  Jean Dreze, until recently the intellectual driving force behind the National Advisory Council , is measured but unmistakable in his disenchantment with many current UPA welfare schemes. The economist who quit the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC in late June, won’t comment on whether the UPA government has failed the NAC.

  But, he tells Ullekh NP, there’s not enough empathy in the Indian establishment for the poor. Programmes like NREGA, he says, attract the hostile attention of both employers and government officials.

  Why did you not want Sonia Gandhi to extend your membership at the NAC? Has she replied to your letter?

  I had agreed to join the NAC for a limited period of one year. Having done what I had agreed to do, I felt that the time had come to return to other commitments that are closer to my heart. Ms Gandhi has kindly agreed to release me.

  What are your worries about the proposed Food Security Bill which sets aside a huge sum of money for the purpose of “feeding the poor”?

  My main concern is that the proposed framework for the public distribution system (PDS) is confused, impractical and divisive. The whole framework is based on a division of the population into three groups (excluded, general and priority), without any clarity as to how these groups are to be identified. By default, the “priority group” is likely to be equated with the below the poverty line ( BPL) list. This is a major setback, because the NAC’s work began with an almost unanimous rejection of the BPL approach.

  Is India’s “self-sufficiency” in food production a joke?

  It is not quite a joke, but the apparent self-sufficiency certainly reflects low levels of food intake, in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. For Indians to eat like the Chinese, let alone the Germans or Canadians, there would have to be a lot more food around. For instance, vegetable consumption was recently estimated to be more than twice as high in China as in India , and meat consumption eight times as high. In the age group of 4-6, average nutrient intake as a proportion of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s “recommended daily allowance” is only 16% for Vitamin A, 35% for iron and 45% for calcium.

  The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA; formerly called NREGA) has had many ups and downs in the past five years. What is your assessment of the future prospects?

  NREGA is going through a phase of enhanced vulnerability, when workers’ organisations to defend it are yet to be formed, while hostile forces are gaining strength. Among the hostile forces are employers’ lobbies, concerned with the rising or allegedly rising cost of labour. In many states, the local administration is also turning hostile, because NREGA means extra work, more accountability, and no easy gravy.

  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in-india-to-do-well-dont-talk-about-the-poor/articleshow/9080104.cms

• 
  

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  Can UID help to make card payment systems more secure and future proof?
  June 08, 2011 06:25 PM |
  Yogesh Sapkale
  According to a report published by the RBI, technically this is possible, but the acceptance of biometrics in payment authentication has not been proved anywhere else yet

  Card present transactions at point of sales (POS) and automated teller machines (ATMs) constitute the major proportion of card-based transactions in India. However, the present operating systems using magnetic strip cards (MSDs) and personal identification numbers (PIN) may be replaced in the not too distant future, due to skimming and counterfeit frauds.
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  According to a report of the “Working Group on Securing Card Present Transactions” of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there is a need to put in place a series of measures to strengthen the payments infrastructure and ecosystem in the country. It says, inferences drawn from case studies clearly indicate the need to have a much stronger authentication mechanism and reiterate the need for a second factor (2FA) for cardpresent transactions. (Skimming is the illegal copying of information fromthe magnetic strip of a credit or debit card.)

  The report discusses some systems like Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV), chip cards with PIN that has been adopted in many countries, and enhancing the existing MSD card system with the biometric identification.

  The report says, “Aadhaar (issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India – UIDAI) authentication using biometrics provides a strong ‘who you are’ factor of authentication. This can be combined with a second ‘what you have’ or ‘what you know’ factor to achieve strong customer identification at the point of sale.”

  While technically, the option to use biometrics from the UIDAI database looks good, in practice, due to insufficient feasibility tests, it may not be a viable option.

  “The working committee considered biometric or UID as the second factor in one of the solution sets; however the decision to adopt this would depend on various factors like number of UIDs issued to the population which transacts on cards, the error rates, authentication network capability to handle transaction volumes, network capability to handle enhanced transaction size and acquiring infrastructure,” the report states.

  It has been seen from international experience that EMV chip card and PIN migration typically takes more than five years, depending on the market size. In addition, the migration from MSD and PIN to a more secure EMV chip and PIN is costly, compared with MSD and biometrics, according tothe study.

  solution set comparison

  The RBI report states, “Magnetic Stripe Card and Biometric (Aadhaar finger print) protect against both domestic counterfeit (skimming) and lost and stolen card fraud. Biometric (finger print) captured by UIDAI can be used as authentication for protection against both domestic counterfeit and lost and stolen card fraud, as the cardholder has to be physically present at the POS terminal/ATM to authenticate the transaction. Even if the card is counterfeited, the fraudster will not be able to use the card as biometric of the customer would be required.”
  Bhavin Mody, Senior Product Manager, ElectraCard Services, said, “We need to wait and see how UID program is shaping up. Till such time MSD and PIN is a short term solution which can be implemented. If UID takes off successfully, MSD and biometric should be adopted. Else, the industry will have to shift to EMV chip & PIN mechanism. However, the chip and PINcards would surely be required for the international transactions.”

  However, biometric (fingerprint) identification is not foolproof. Especially in some merchant categories like fuel stations and restaurants, there are execution challenges in adopting PIN or biometric as an additional factor of authentication. In addition, it is well known that finger prints and irises can be faked, and one way to fix that problem could be to use finger-print readers that detect live finger prints, and iris readers that detect live irises.

  According to JT D’Souza, who analysed the pilot study conducted by the UIDAI, given the well-known lacunae in our infrastructure and massive demographics, biometrics as an ID will be a guaranteed failure and result in denial of service. He said, “The sum of false acceptance rate and false rejection rate (EER) reveals only part of the problem, which is rejection or acceptance within a short duration of enrolment. The bigger problem is ageing, including health and environment factors, which causes sufficient change to make biometrics completely unusable and requires very frequent re-enrolment.”

  Therefore, on paper, the use of biometrics as 2FA may sound feasible, but its use would be limited at specific locations. In this situation, EMV chipcards and PIN look like the future proof system, despite the higher costs for the card-based transactions. Nevertheless, this may not be the last in payment transaction systems.

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  http://moneylife.in/article/can-uid-help-to-make-card-payment-systems-more-secure-and-future-proof/17115.html

  3 JUL, 2011, 03.21AM IST, AVINASH CELESTINE,ET BUREAU
  Will Direct cash transfer be a better reform than fuel and fertiliser subsidy?

  Later this month, Unique ID (UID) chief Nandan Nilekani will finalise a report to the government which could prove a turning point in India’s 20-year, largely-failed attempt, to reform its bloated subsidy bill, currently weighing in at over `1,64,000 crore. Nilekani’s report will assess whether fuel and fertiliser subsidies can be replaced by a system where cash is transferred directly to beneficiaries.

  Cash transfer as a reform finds strong support from, notably, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu. Basu has advocated the extension of cash transfers to food as well.

  The reform has two simple yet radical ideas. One, cut out the bureaucracy, the red tape and the middlemen, who currently operate between the government and the ultimate consumer who is supposed to benefit from the subsidy. Two, instead of giving the consumer food, LPG, kerosene or even fertiliser (to farmers), give them cash or special coupons with which to buy what they need directly from the market.

  The key link in this chain is Nilekani’s own project: the Unique ID. It is through the unique ID that each beneficiary will be identified, recorded and finally given the cash. The Nilekani report will emphasise the gains. But it will be tested in terms of how it addresses the challenges.

  Specifically, the incentive problem – the incentive for nonpoor to declare themselves poor may get bigger under the cash transfer system. The challenges are enormous and many are sceptical. “I don’t see it happening,” says former finance minister Yashwant Sinha , who drove a series of subsidy reform attempts in the late 90s. “If I ever get the chance to become FM again, I will not reform subsidies. The last time I tried, we lost the elections.”

  The Cash Transfer System

  The UID project aims to collect the personal and biometric information of a large proportion of the population over a period of time. At the time of enrolment, each person is allotted a unique ID number, and also opens a bank account, to which that unique ID will be linked.

  It’s important to note that what the UID does not do is identify a person as poor or non-poor or large or small farmer. Indeed it collects no socioeconomic data about the person at all. Those tough decisions will be the job of other agencies.

  Once a person has been tagged as poor or as otherwise deserving of a subsidy, the cash amount of the subsidy will be transferred to his/her account.

  A below poverty line (BPL) family wishing to withdraw money will authenticate itself with the bank, and get the funds. Given the limited reach of many banks in rural areas, the aim is to use banking correspondents or agents to disburse funds and authenticate beneficiaries. Using the cash, the poor family can then buy the food (or kerosene) they need from the market – at market prices.

  And since the BPL family can buy grain or kerosene from anywhere with cash, the entire system of fair price shops and the rationale for their existence disappears. Similarly, farmers can use the cash they receive to buy fertiliser from anywhere. The focus shifts from ensuring supply to creating demand.

  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/will-direct-cash-transfer-be-a-better-reform-than-fuel-and-fertiliser-subsidy/articleshow/9082429.cms

  Subsidy

  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  *	This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

  A subsidy (also known as a subvention) is a form of financial assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry (e.g., as a result of continuous unprofitable operations) or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor (as in the case of a wage subsidy). Examples are subsidies to encourage the sale of exports; subsidies on some foods to keep down the cost of living, especially in urban areas; and subsidies to encourage the expansion of farm production and achieve self-reliance in food production.[1]
  Subsidies can be regarded as a form of protectionism or trade barrier by making domestic goods and services artificially competitive against imports. Subsidies may distort markets, and can impose large economic costs.[2]Financial assistance in the form of a subsidy may come from one’s government, but the term subsidy may also refer to assistance granted by others, such as individuals or non-governmental institutions.

  CONTENTS [hide] 1 Overview 2 Types of subsidies 2.1 Indirect subsidies 2.2 Labor subsidies 2.3 Infrastructure subsidies 2.4 Trade protection (import restrictions) 2.5 Export subsidies (trade promotion) 2.6 Procurement subsidies 2.7 Consumption subsidies 3 Subsidies due to the effect of debt guarantees 4 Controversy 5 Historical meaning 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links

[EDIT]OVERVIEW

A subsidy is money given by a government to help support a business or person the market does not support.[3] In the United States, Congress can tax to provide for the general welfare. It also has the power to coin money and regulate its value.[4] An example of subsidy is from the middle ages. The British Parliament took away their king’s authority to tax and gave him a tax-based subsidy to live on.[5]
In standard supply and demand curve diagrams, a subsidy will shift either the demand curve up or the supply curve down. A subsidy that increases the production will tend to result in a lower price, while a subsidy that increases demand will tend to result in an increase in price. Both cases result in a new economic equilibrium. Therefore it is essential to consider elasticity when estimating the total costs of a planned subsidy: it equals the subsidy per unit (difference between market price and subsidized price) times the new equilibrium quantity. One category of goods suffers less from this effect: Public goods are—once created—in ample supply and the total costs of subsidies remain constant regardless of the number of consumers; depending on the form of the subsidy, however, the number of producers on demanding their share of benefits may still rise and drive costs up.
The recipient of the subsidy may need to be distinguished from the beneficiary of the subsidy, and this analysis will depend on elasticity of supply and demand as well as other factors. For example, a subsidy for consumption of milk by consumers may appear to benefit consumers (or some may benefit and the consumer may derive no gain, as the higher prices for milk offset the subsidy). The net effect and identification of winners and losers is rarely straightforward, but subsidies generally result in a transfer of wealth from one group to another (or transfer between sub-groups).
Subsidy may also be used to refer to government actions which limit competition or raise the prices at which producers could sell their products, for example, by means of tariff protection. Although economics generally holds that subsidies may distort the market and produce inefficiencies, there are a number of recognized cases where subsidies may be the most efficient solution.[citation needed]
In many instances, economics may (somewhat counter-intuitively) suggest that direct subsidies are preferable to other forms of support, such as hidden subsidies or trade barriers; although subsidies may be inefficient, they are often less inefficient than other policy tools used to benefit certain groups. Direct subsidies may also be more transparent, which may allow the political process more opportunity to eliminate wasteful hidden subsidies. This problem—that hidden subsidies are more inefficient, but often favored precisely because they are non-transparent—is central to the political-economy of subsidies.
Examples of industries or sectors where subsidies are often found include utilities, gasoline in the United States, welfare, farm subsidies, and (in some countries) certain aspects of student loans.

[EDIT]TYPES OF SUBSIDIES

There are many different ways to classify subsidies, such as the reason behind them, the recipients of the subsidy, the source of the funds (government, consumer, general tax revenues, etc.). In economics, one of the primary ways to classify subsidies is the means of distributing the subsidy.
In economics, the term subsidy may or may not have a negative connotation: that is, the use of the term may be prescriptive but descriptive. In economics, a subsidy may nonetheless be characterized as inefficient relative to no subsidies; inefficient relative to other means of producing the same results; “second-best”, implying an inefficient but feasible solution (contrasted with an efficient but not feasible ideal), among other possible terminology. In other cases, a subsidy may be an efficient means of correcting a market failure.
For example, economic analysis may suggest that direct subsidies (cash benefits) would be more efficient than indirect subsidies (such as trade barriers); this does not necessarily imply that direct subsidies are bad, but that they may be more efficient or effective than other mechanisms to achieve the same (or better) results.
Insofar as they are inefficient, however, subsidies would generally be considered by economists to be bad, as economics is the study of efficient use of limited resources. Ultimately, however, the choice to enact a subsidy is a political choice. Note that subsidies are linked to the concept of economic transfers from one group to another.
Economics has also explicitly identified a number of areas where subsidies are entirely justified by economics, particularly in the area of provision of public goods.

[edit]Indirect subsidies

Indirect subsidy is a term sufficiently broad that it may cover most other forms of subsidy.[citation needed] The term would cover any form of subsidy that does not involve a direct transfer.

[edit]Labor subsidies

A labor subsidy is any form of subsidy where the recipients receive subsidies to pay for labor costs. Examples may include labor subsidies for workers in certain industries, such as the film and/or television industries. (see: Runaway production).

[edit]Infrastructure subsidies

In some cases, subsidy may refer to favoring one type of production or consumption over another, effectively reducing the competitiveness or retarding the development of potential substitutes. For example, it has been argued that the use of petroleum, and particularly gasoline, has been subsidized or favored by U.S. defense policy, reducing the use of alternative energy sources and delaying their commercial development. However, alternative energy sources have also been subsidized by the federal and state governments.
In other cases, the government may need to improve the public transport to ensure Pareto improvement is attanied and sustained. This can therefore be done by subsidising those transit agencies that provide the public services so that the services can be affordable for everyone. This is the best way of helping different groups of disabled and low income families in the society.

[edit]Trade protection (import restrictions)

Measures used to limit a given good than they would pay without the trade barrier; the protected industry has effectively received a subsidy. Such measures include import quotas, import tariffs, import bans, and others.

[edit]Export subsidies (trade promotion)

Various tax or other measures may be used to promote exports that constitute subsidies to the industries favored. In other cases, tax measures may be used to ensure that exports are treated “fairly” under the tax system. The determination of what constitutes a subsidy (or the size of that subsidy) may be complex. In many cases, export subsidies are justified as a means of compensating for the subsidies or protections provided by a foreign state to its own producers.

[edit]Procurement subsidies

Governments everywhere are relatively small consumers of various goods and services. Subsidies may occur in this process by choice of the products produced, the producer, the nature of the product itself, and by other means, including payment of higher-than-market prices for goods purchased.

[edit]Consumption subsidies

Governments everywhere provide consumption subsidies in a number of ways: by actually giving away a good or service, providing use of government assets, property, or services at lower than the cost of provision, or by providing economic incentives (cash subsidies) to purchase or use such goods. In most countries, consumption of education, health care, and infrastructure (such as roads) are heavily subsidized, and in many cases provided free of charge. In other cases, governments literally purchase or produce a good (such as bread, wheat, gasoline, or electricity) at a higher cost than the sales price to the public (which may require rationing to control the cost).
The provision of true public goods through consumption subsidies is an example of a type of subsidy that economics may recognize asefficient. In other cases, such subsidies may be reasonable second-best solutions; for example, while it may be theoretically efficient to charge for all use of public roads, in practice, the cost of implementing a system to charge for such use may be unworkable or unjustified.[citation needed]
In other cases, consumption subsidies may be targeted at a specific group of users, such as large utilities, residential home-owners, and others.

[EDIT]SUBSIDIES DUE TO THE EFFECT OF DEBT GUARANTEES

Another form of subsidy is due to the practice of a government guaranteeing a lender payment if a particular borrower defaults. This occurs in the United States, for example, in certain airline industry loans, in most student loans, in small business administration loans, in Ginnie Maemortgage-backed bonds, and is alleged to occur in the mortgage-backed bonds issued through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A government guarantee of payment lowers the risk of the loan for a lender, and since interest rates are primarily based on risk, the interest rate for the borrower lowers as well.

[EDIT]CONTROVERSY

One of the most controversial classes of subsidies, especially according to publications such as The Economist, are subsidies benefitingfarmers in first-world countries.
Human-rights based non-governmental organizations like Oxfam describe such subsidies as dumping millions of surplus commodities (like sugar) on world markets, destroying competition from farmers in undeveloped and poor countries, especially in Africa. For example, in the past EU spent €3.30 in subsidies to export sugar worth €1.[6] Another example of trade distorting subsidies is the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. It represents 48% of the entire EU’s budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 (up from €48.5 billion in 2005).[7] These subsidies have remained in place even though many international accords have reduced other forms of subsidies or tariffs.
The Commitment to Development Index, published by the Center for Global Development, measures the effect that subsidies and trade barriers actually have on the undeveloped world. It uses trade along with six other components such as aid or investment to rank and evaluate developed countries on policies that affect the undeveloped world. It finds that the richest countries spend $106 billion per year subsidizing their own farmers – almost exactly as much as they spend on foreign aid.[8]
The Austrian School of economics and other advocates of free trade hold the view that subsidies generally do more harm than good by distorting economic signals.
Sometimes people believe profitable companies to be ‘bullying’ governments for subsidies and rescue packages, an example of rent-seekingbehaviour. For example, in the case with Australian rail operator Pacific National, the company threatened the Tasmanian Government with a pull-out of rail services unless a subsidization was made.[9]
It has been suggested that American government subsidies are contributing to the country’s obesity crisis. So-called junk foods are made cheaper due to the subsidy programs, thus increasing consumption of such foods.[10]

[EDIT]HISTORICAL MEANING

In the 16th century “subsidy” referred to taxation, for example the tax introduced in England by Thomas Wolsey in 1513 based on the ability to pay.[11]

[EDIT]SEE ALSO

• Agricultural policy
• Antidumping
• Copenhagen Consensus
• Cross subsidy
• Cultural subsidy
• Constitutional economics
• Act of Entrustment
• Political economy
• Rule according to higher law

• Direct Subsidy Scheme
• Dirty subsidy
• Capital subsidy
• Information subsidy
• Mixed economy
• Party subsidies
• Pigouvian subsidies
• Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act

[EDIT]NOTES

1. ^ Todaro, Michael P.; Smith, Stephen C. (2009). Economic Development (10th ed.). Addison Wesley. p. 839. ISBN 978-0-321-48573-1.
2. ^ “Economics A-Z – Economist.com”. The Economist.
3. ^ Gove, P.B. & others. 1961. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Company
4. ^ p. 158, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Volume 7. Phillips, R. S. & others. 1983 USA: Funk & Wagnalls.
5. ^ Ansley, C.F. & others. 1940. The Columbia Encyclopedia in One Volume. Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press.
6. ^ Oxfam International. Oxford, UK (2004). “A Sweeter Future? The potential for EU sugar reform to contribute to poverty reduction in southern Africa.” Oxfam Briefing Paper No. 70. November 2004. pp. 39-40.
7. ^ Financial Management in the European Union
8. ^ Roodman Trade Component 2009
9. ^ Pacific National Announces Plans to Dump Tasmanian Intermodal Services
10. ^ Why are Americans so fat? – 7 Reasons
11. ^ p30 – “The English Reformation: crown power and religious change, 1485-1558″, Colin Pendrill, Heinemann, 2000. ISBN 0435327127

[EDIT]EXTERNAL LINKS

• Google – public data: GDP and Personal Income of the U.S. (annual): Subsidies
• Subsidies and (tax) facilities

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Categories: Public finance | Subsidies | Taxation

23 JUN, 2011, 05.00AM IST,ET BUREAU
NAC’s food bill entitles 70% to subsidised grain

NEW DELHI: The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council , or NAC, finalised its draft of the food security bill on Wednesday. The draft bill proposes to give legal entitlement to highly subsidised foodgrain to 70% of the population or nearly 80 million people, with monthly entitlement of 7 kg for every member of families below the poverty line and 3 kg to each individual from “general households”.

The proposed bill is expected to push the food subsidy tab up to Rs 75000 billion, taking the government’s annual subsidy bill up to Rs 1.1 trillion. The draft, which will now be forwarded by Sonia Gandhi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , is likely to be adopted by the government. The NAC’s food security bill classifies the target population eligible for discounted grain as “priority households” (those below the poverty line) and “general households” (consisting of lower middle class families).

Each member of priority households will be entitled to 7 kg of foodgrain and will have to pay Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for millets. Every member of the general households will have the right to 3 kg of foodgrain at a price not exceeding 50% of the minimum support price paid to farmers for each of the three grain. The food ministry estimates that roughly 80 million tonnes of foodgrain will be needed to meet the requirements of the food bill .

At present, the government diverts 52 million tonnes of foodgrain for the public distribution system. However, the projections of a sub-normal monsoon does put into question the government’s ability to put aside more than 50 million tonnes every year for a large-scale food programme.

Till now, the government had been confident of meeting the foodgrain requirements of the Food Security Bill. Its confidence was based on record procurements following last year’s monsoon and the expectations of a normal monsoon this year.

However, the “below normal” monsoon projection has forced economists like Ashok Gulati to suggest that the government should not go in for a food programme that requires a commitment of more than 50 million tonnes every year, as it would not be possible to guarantee. The government is likely to go ahead with this bill despite warnings that the NAC’s version would add to subsidy burden, increase dependency on imports and distort the country’s food economy.

Even projections of a sub-normal monsoon and its impact on farm production are unlikely to make the government reconsider. For the Congress, the monsoon session of Parliament is the most opportune moment to push forward this bill. A series of graft charges and its failure to cap spiraling food prices over the last two years have seriously dented the Congress-led government’s ‘aam aadmi’ image.

The government’s inability to convincingly address the issue of graft and the impasse over the Lokpal bill gives further credence to the perception that the Congress has lost its connect with the people. The crisis is further exacerbated with elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh in early 2012. This makes it prudent for the government to push forward the food security bill.

Studies by organisations like the FAO and ADB suggest that high food prices will ensure that over the next few years at least 40 million people, who could have otherwise have improved their lot, will continue to remain below the poverty line.

Already, the last two years of high food prices have pushed 9 million people back below the poverty line. Though food prices may stabilise over the next decade, the short-term volatility can be expected. This would hurt the Congress even further. A food security law could help the UPA stem the tide of further criticism.

In the past, the UPA’s rightsbased approach for rural employment, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, has yielded rich dividends for the party. Despite glitches in implementation, the NREGA has had a salutary effect on the rural economy. Similarly, the Right to Education, another entitlement-based initiative has laid the groundwork for long-term improvement in the earning potential through basic education.

The proposed food security law could provide the Congress with a way out of the political morass it finds itself in. The proposed bill seeks to increase the reach of current food programmes, which targets just 30% of the population. The food law would provide the government with the much-needed cushion to pursue its economic reforms agenda. The government has been criticised for failing to push through the much-needed reforms.

While the Left’s participation in UPA-I was seen as the main cause for the lack of economic reforms, in UPA-II there is no such ideological impediment. The safety net for the poor would allow the government to carry forward the reform agenda.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/NACs-food-bill-entitles-70-to-subsidised-grain/articleshow/8958122.cms

8 JUN, 2011, 03.05PM IST, M RAJSHEKHAR,ET BUREAU
India’s welfare programmes are not very good at reaching the poorest of the poor: World Bank

DELHI: How effective are India’s innumerable social security programmes at reaching out to the poorest of the poor? If a recent World Bank report is anything to go by, they are woefully inefficient. According to the report, titled “Social Protection for a Changing India”, leakages and exclusion errors are endemic across the country.

For instance, just 27% of the PDS . beenficiaries are the poorest of the poor. The World Bank found that this was the predominant trend across all the welfare programmes it studied.

1. Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana: State-run employment programme that provided food and cash for work: 43.4%
2. Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana: Subsidised loans to groups of BPL people: 32.9%
3. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension: Monthly pension for BPL elderly: 32.8%
4. Annapurna: 10 kilos of food grains for destitutes who are not getting the old age pension: 51.9%
5. Widow pension: Monthly pension for BPL widows: 43.2%
6. Disabled pension: Monthly pension for the disabled: 30.7%
7. Indira Awas Yojana: Subsidy for BPL families for house construction: 28.6%
8. School stipends: Scholarships: 22.6%

This inefficiency is a problem across all Indian states. Take the PDS. Leakages range between 27% (Bengal) and 91.1% (Bihar).

It raises a question. Why does this exclusion take place? Partly because a steady mushrooming of welfare programmes linked to BPL cards has resulted in the village elite competing to get BPL cards. Given that every state has only so many BPL cards it can give out (in line with the Planning Commission’s poverty estimates), this excludes the BPL.

That said, the problem goes well beyond targeting. Take MGNREGA. It is open to anyone willing to work below the market wage. However, the poorest of the poor do not turn to NREGA. The programme takes, in the best case scenario, 1-2 weeks to pay its wages. Stories about NREGA workers getting their wages months after working are legion. And the poorest of the poor, so destitute they need cash to eat, if not today then tomorrow, and so disempowered they cannot protest against the delays, instead turn away from NREGA itself.

That is the lesson here. Targeting on its own will be subverted. What is needed is something that reduces this voicelessness of the ultrapoor.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/Indias-welfare-programmes-are-not-very-good-at-reaching-the-poorest-of-the-poor-World-Bank/articleshow/8773897.cms

10 JUN, 2011, 02.50PM IST, MATHANG SESHAGIRI,TNN
Get paid for getting your UID now

BANGALORE: Get paid for getting your unique ID (UID) now. To push up enrolment in the Aadhaar project, the state government will shell out Rs 100 to every poor pensioner and job-seeker under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The government will directly transfer Rs 100 into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of social security schemes, pensioners, physically disabled and widows, and those of rural employment guarantee scheme who are below poverty line after they produce relevant documents as proof at the time of enrolment.

“The process of registering BPL residents involves cost for both the beneficiaries and the state government. Since the beneficiaries will be forgoing a part of their daily wage by taking time off work to enrol for Aadhaar we want to incentivise them. Social security pension and job guarantee schemes are among the six services we have shortlisted to be Aadhaar-enabled,” M N Vidyashankar, e-governance principal secretary, told TOI.

Centre for e-governance, the nodal agency to implement Aadhaar in Karnataka, will tie up with the departments of revenue and rural development and panchayat raj to work out the modalities. Besides demographic and biometric information, Karnataka will garner additional details from residents on seven services during enrolment.

To integrate UID numbers with various services offered, Karnataka Resident Data Hub will be set up in Bangalore. UID numbers will be seeded into various databases of departments providing welfare schemes to enable efficient delivery, tracking of services and address pilferage.

THE SERVICES TO BE LINKED WITH AADHAAR

Apart from Know Your Resident (KYR) info, Karnataka will collect additional info for KYR+ for select services. Residents seeking UID will have to furnish following KYR+ information.
Social security pension (sanction number and money order number).
Ration card number.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme card number.
Bond number in Bhagyalakshmi scheme (details of children).
IP pump set details.
Passbook number in milk cooperative society.
Customer card number for LPG connection.

A multi-purpose data centre opens

Ahost of e-governance initiatives such as unique ID, registration, transport, municipal administration and eprocurement have been brought under a single umbrella. The Rs 57-crore data centre designed to meet government requirements for the next decade was set up at Vikasa Soudha on Thursday. The centre will offer latest technologies, including virtualization and provide servers on demand to government departments.

Unique Identification Authority of India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) (Hindi: भारतीय विशिष्ट पहचान प्राधिकरण), is an agency of the Government of India responsible for implementing the envisioned AADHAAR aMultipurpose National Identity Card or Unique Identification card (UID Card) project in India. It was established in February 2009, and will own and operate the Unique Identification Number database.[1] The authority will aim at providing a unique number to all Indians, but not smart cards.[2] The authority would provide a database of residents containing very simple data in biometrics.[3]
The agency is headed by a chairman, who holds a cabinet rank. The UIDAI is part of thePlanning Commission of India.[1][4] Nandan Nilekani, a former co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, was appointed as the first Chairman of the authority in June 2009.[5] Ram Sewak Sharma, an IAS Officer of Jharkhand Government cadre has been appointed as the Director General and Mission Director of the Authority. He is known for his best effort in e-Governance project for Jharkhand State and working as an IT secretary he received a number of awards for best Information Technology Trends State in India.The UIDAI no. is a 12 digit number.[6]

[EDIT]LAUNCH

UIDAI launched AADHAAR program in the tribal village, Tembhli, in Shahada,[7][8] Nandurbar,Maharashtra on 29 September 2010. The program was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singhalong with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.[9] The first resident to receive an AADHAAR was Rajana Sonawane of Tembhli village.[10]

[EDIT]COVERAGE, GOALS AND LOGISTICS

It is believed that Unique National IDs will help address the rigged state elections, widespread embezzlement that affects subsidies and poverty alleviation programs such as NREGA.[11] Addressingillegal immigration into India and terrorist threats is another goal of the program.[12]
Most reports suggest that the plan is for each Indian citizen to have a unique identification number with associated identifying biometric data and photographs by 2011.[13] However, other reports claim that obtaining a unique number would be voluntary, but those that opt to stay out of the system “will find it very inconvenient: they will not have access to facilities that require you to cite your ID number.”[2]
Government issued IDs are fragmented by purpose and region in India, which results in widespread bribery, denial of public services and loss of income, especially afflicting poor citizens.[14] As the unique identity database comes into existence, the various identity databases (voter ID, passports, ration cards, licenses, fishing permits, border area id cards) that already exist in India are planned to be linked to it.[2]The Authority is liaising with various national, state and local government entities to begin this process. The Union Labor Ministry has offered its verified Employment Provident Fund (EPFO) database of 42 million citizens as the first database to be integrated into the unique ID system.[15]
Other UID projects implemented on a smaller scale in India can also facilitate in the development of the national project. An example is a project developed by Wolf Frameworks Cloud Computing vendor and Social Education and Development Society (SEDS) for profiling and generating Unique Identification for more than 40,000 members in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.[16]
The UID will link a person’s Passport Number, Driving License, PAN card, Bank Accounts, Address, Voter ID, etc. and all this information will be checked through a database. So, for example, if someone has different addresses on PAN and driving license, is liable to get caught. Those who will opt out of this program will have much inconvenience in doing business, operating bank accounts and other offices which will require a UID.
UIDAI has headquarters in Delhi and a technology centre in Bangalore. It also has 8 regional offices in Chandigarh, Delhi, Lucknow, Ranchi,Guwahati, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.[17]

[EDIT]NAME AND LOGO

UID project is known as AADHAAR meaning ‘support’ or ‘foundation’, and its logo is a yellow sun with a fingerprint embedded in its centre.The logo was designed by Atul Sudhakar Rao Pande.[18]

[EDIT]PROJECTED COSTS AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

One estimate of the cost to completely roll-out National IDs to all Indian residents above the age of 18 has been placed at crore (US$33.45 billion).[19] A different estimate puts it at US$ 6 billion.[20] A sum of crore (US$22.3 million) was approved in the 2009-2010 union budget to fund the agency for its first year of existence.[1] UID has received a huge boost with Dr Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance, allocating Rs 1900 crore to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for 2010-11.
Initial estimates project that the initiative will create 1000 new jobs in the country, and business opportunities worth crore (US$1.45 billion) in the first phase [13] of implementation.

[EDIT]BENEFITS

1. Great potential for not-so-privileged, poor and the marginalised people, mostly living in the rural areas
2. Clear proof of identity
3. Facilitate entry for poor and underprivileged residents into the formal banking system
4. Opportunity to avail services provided by the government and the private sector
5. Giving migrants mobility of identity
6. Financial inclusion with deeper penetration of banks, insurance and easy distribution of benefits of government schemes.
7. Once a person is on the Aadhaar database the person will be able to establish identity easily.
8. Aadhaar will become the single source of identity verification.
9. Residents would be spared the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time they wish to access services such as obtaining a bank account, passport, driving license and so on.
10. By providing a clear proof of identity, Aadhaar will also facilitate entry for poor and underprivileged residents into the formal banking system and the opportunity to avail services provided by the government and the private sector.
11. Aadhaar will also give migrants mobility of identity.

[EDIT]RISKS

According to the UIDAI Model, Aadhaar is dependent on biometrics being reliable enough to guarantee that there is a one-for-one correspondence between real people and electronic identities on the CIDR (central ID repository). UIDAI face a risk. Suppose the biometrics let them down?
In December 2010, UIDAI published the report on their proof of concept trial designed to test, among other things, whether biometrics are reliable enough to guarantee that every entry on the CIDR is unique. UIDAI’s figures published in the report suggest that no, the biometrics are not reliable enough, Aadhaar will drown in a sea of false positives.
Earlier, in March 2010, three academics published a paper, Fundamental issues in biometric performance testing: A modern statistical and philosophical framework for uncertainty assessment arguing that the level of uncertainty in biometrics is so great that tests tell you nothing, they cannot be used to predict how well biometrics technology will perform in the real world, they cannot support a valid argument to invest in biometrics. All three academics advise governments the world over. One of them, Antonio Possolo, is head of the statistical engineering division at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an organisation that has advised UIDAI in the past. On this occasion, UIDAI have not followed NIST’s advice that tests like their proof of concept trial are pointless.
With its academic support now withdrawn, the outlook for the global mass consumer biometrics industry has darkened, Throwing the towel in. At the same time, governments elsewhere are abandoning ship. NSTIC, the US National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace makes no mention of using biometrics. Neither does IdA, the UK plan for digital delivery identity assurance. And Holland has suspended its plan to develop a centralised population register including everyone’s biometrics. India may find itself the last adherent of this receding faith.

[EDIT]CRITICISM

There are many potential privacy fallouts of this project, not the least of which is triggered by the Government’s official plan to link the databases together.
Although there is sometimes a tension between individual privacy rights and national security, international law and India’s domestic law expressly set a standard in tort law and through constitutional law to protect an individual’s privacy from unlawful invasion. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by India, an individual’s right to privacy is protected from arbitrary or unlawful interference by the state.
The Supreme Court also held the right to privacy to be implicit under article 21 of the Indian Constitution in Rajgopal v. State of Tamil Nadu. Moreover, India has enacted a number of laws that provide some protection for privacy. For example the Hindu Marriage Act, the Copyright Act, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and the Code of Criminal Procedure all place restrictions on the release of personal information. Privacy is a key concern with respect to the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) scheme as all of an individual’s personal information will be stored in one database where the possibility of corruption and exploitation of data is far greater than when having the information disbursed.
Risks that arise from this centralization include possible errors in the collection of information, recording of inaccurate data, corruption of data from anonymous sources, and unauthorized access to or disclosure of personal information.Other countries with national identification systems have confronted numerous problems with similar risks such as trading and selling of information, and India, which has no generally established data protection laws such as the U.S. Federal Privacy Statute or the European Directive on Data Protection, is ill-equipped to deal with such problems. The centralized nature of data collection inherent in the MNIC proposal only heightens the risk of misuse of personal information and therefore potentially violates privacy rights. In consideration of the risks involved in the creation of a centralized database of personal information, it is imperative that such a programme not be established without the proper mechanisms to ensure the security of each individual privacy rights. Unfortunately, India’s proposed MNIC programme lacks any provision for judicial review at the present time. Without credible and independent oversight, there is a risk of ‘mission creep’ for MNICs; the government may add features and additional data to the MNIC database bureaucratically and reflexively, without reevaluating the effects on privacy in each instance.

[EDIT]REFERENCES

1. ^ a b c “Rs.100 crore for Unique Identification Project”, The Hindu(Chennai, India), 17 February 2009, retrieved 2009-06-26, “… The Unique Identification Authority of India is being established under the aegis of the Planning Commission for which a notification has been issued in January 2009. A provision of Rs.100 crore has been made in the annual Plan 2009-10 for this …”
2. ^ a b c “Nilekani to give numbers, ministries to issue cards”, The Economic Times, 16 July 2009, retrieved 2009-07-18
3. ^ “Nilekani takes charge, says first set of IDs in 12-18 months”.The Times Of India. 2009-07-24.
4. ^ “India gets Info czar in Nilekani”, The Statesman, 25 June 2009, retrieved 2009-06-25, “… Nandan M Nilekani … will be the chairman of the Unique Identification Database Authority of India under the aegis of the Planning Commission … Mr Nilekani will have the rank and status of a Cabinet minister …”[dead link]
5. ^ “PIB Press Release”. Pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
6. ^ http://www.iaadhaar.com/what-is-aadhaar/
7. ^ http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/sep/29/slide-show-1-tembhalis-open-letter-to-pm-sonia.htm
8. ^ http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_in-time-warp-tembhali-village-leapfrogs-to-present_1444941
9. ^ “Aadhar takes off: PM, Sonia launch UID in tribal village”. Indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
10. ^ “Sonia is my ”Aadhaar”, says first UID recipient – NDTV Profit”. Profit.ndtv.com. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
11. ^ Bajaj, Vikas (25 June 2009), “India Undertakes Ambitious ID Card Plan”, The New York Times, retrieved 2009-06-26, “… Policy makers see a national ID card as critical to improving the delivery of social services, subsidies and other government programs while also strengthening national security … the majority of aid earmarked for the poor does not reach them, and it is hard for the government to detect embezzlement and misuse of funds …”
12. ^ “Nilekani first chief of Unique ‘ID’ project”, The Assam Tribune, 25 June 2009, retrieved 2009-06-26, “… For long, national identity cards have been advocated to enhance national security, prevent potential terrorist attacks and stop illegal immigration, said officials …”
13. ^ a b “National ID card project”, Indiatimes Infotech, 1 July 2009, retrieved 2009-07-01, “… Some estimates suggest that the project will create at least an 100,000 additional jobs in the country in the next three years … According to the plan, govt proposes to issue a unique identification number to all citizens by 2011 …”
14. ^ “ID’ing the masses may solve Indian identity crisis”,Associated Press, 17 July 2009, retrieved 2009-07-18, “… For long, national identity cards have been advocated to enhance national security, prevent potential terrorist attacks and stop illegal immigration, said officials …”[dead link]
15. ^ “Nilekani may get EPFO database for UID project”, Indian Express, 18 July 2009, retrieved 2009-07-18, “… “This is an opportunity for us to get ID cards for the subscribers of EPFO and ESI. We would like the EPFO subscribers to be first beneficiaries of the Unique Identity Card (UID) project,” a senior Labour Ministry official told The Indian Express …”
16. ^ By N Vasudevan. “A miniature UID project in AP”. mydigitalfc.com. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
17. ^ [1][dead link]
18. ^ K. Balchand (2010-04-26). “The Hindu : News / National : UID number gets brand name, logo”. Beta.thehindu.com. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
19. ^ Citizen IDs to cost Rs 10,000 crore Template:GOVT. OF INDIA
20. ^ “इंफोिसस से िवदा लेंगे नंदन नीलेकिण Nilekani will bid adieu to Infosys”, OneIndia Hindi, 25 June 2009, retrieved 2009-06-26, “… इस महत्वाकांक्षी प्रोजेक्ट पर करीब छह अरब डालर का ख़र्च होगा (this ambitious project will cost about $2.5 billion) … नीलेकिण को कैिबनेट मंत्री का दर्ज़ा िमलेगा (Nilekani will receive the rank of a cabinet minister) …”

    [show]v · d · eNational identification numbers

    [show]v · d · eNational identity cards in Asia

    [EDIT]EXTERNAL LINKS

    • Official Website of UIDAI

    Categories: Government of India | Executive branch of the Indian government

    5 APR, 2011, 04.42AM IST,ET BUREAU
    All you need to know about Adhaar-enabled payment systems

    What will be the role of Adhaar-enabled payment systems?

    The Adhaar-enabled payment systems (AEPS) developed by NPCL is a bank-led model that facilitates financial inclusion by allowing transactions at Point of Sale or PoS (the micro ATM) through the business correspondent (BC) using the Aadhaar authentication number. The AEPS will now allow costumers to avail of banking facilities through banking correspondents across banks.

    What types of banking transactions are facilitated through AEPS?

    The four Aadhaar-enabled basic types of banking transactions are balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, cash deposit and Aadhaar to Aadhaar funds transfer Now all that a customer needs for availing of the AEPS services are an individual identification number (identifying the bank to which the customer is associated), an Aadhaar number and fingerprints captured during his/her enrolment.

    What objectives does AEPS serve?

    The objective is to empower a bank customer to use Aadhaar to access his/her Aadhaar-enabled bank account and perform basic banking transactions that are intra-bank or interbank in nature through a business correspondent. It serves another important goal of RBI in electronification of retail payments. It would enable banks to route the Aadhaar-initiated interbank transactions through a central switching and clearing agency. It would facilitate disbursements of government entitlements like NREGA, social security pension, handicapped old age pension, etc, of any central or state government bodies, using Aadhaar and authentication thereof as supported by UIDAI. Another important goal AEPS serves is to facilitate inter-operability across banks in a safe and secured manner.

    What is the status of the implementation of AEPS?

    The pilot project is being run in districts of Jharkhand (where the first unique identity, or UID, numbers have been issued) in association with three banks, ICICI Bank , Union Bank of India and Bank of India. The UID Authority is also planning to rope in Nabard to include rural account holders in the core banking fold. Successful implementation of AEPS is likely to reduce the dependence on cash and will lower costs for transactions. Once the general purpose of Aadhaar-enabled micropayments system is in place, a variety of other financial instruments such as microcredit , micro-insurance , micro-pensions and micro-mutual funds can also be implemented on top of this payments system.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/newsbyindustry/banking/finance/banking/All-you-need-to-know-about-Adhaar-enabled-payment-systems/articleshow/7870975.cms

    24 JUN, 2011, 04.34AM IST, JAYADEVAN PK & INDU NANDAKUMAR,ET BUREAU
    UIDAI: Nandan Nilekani plans to create an ‘Apple or Google-like’ ecosystem for Aadhaar
    BANGALORE: Nandan Nilekani wants to do an Apple with Aadhaar – the world’s biggest citizen database project that will provide a 12-digit unique identity number to each and every resident Indian.

    Like Google and Apple, who opened up their platforms such as Android and iPhone , wooing developers to write software applications that enhanced user experience; Aadhaar’s Holy Grail is to ensure that the unique numbers given to Indians translate into better citizen services. By opening up the core architecture forming Aadhaar database for third party developers, Nilekani plans to create an ‘Apple or Google-like’ ecosystem, wherein hundreds of user-friendly applications will help citizens and service providers tap into the real potential of a citizen database.

    “People who have received these numbers will look for the benefits of the number. This is where the app ecosystem will come in. Different partners can build apps and provide benefits across different sectors like healthcare and banking,” Nilekani said.

    Nilekani, who co-founded India’s second-biggest tech firm Infosys three decades ago, on Thursday opened the Aadhaar platform for thousands of software developers to build applications linking these unique identity numbers with different services. On its own, an Aadhaar number will be a mere 12-digit identity, but by linking it with services offered by mobile phone companies, ration shops and banks, the government plans to deliver citizen utilities faster and better.

    “It’s really up to the imagination and innovation of the people,” Nilekani told dozens of software developers in Bangalore gathered for the UID conference. “In some sense we believe it will be game changing…we don’t see this project just as giving someone an ID card. This will create a national-level online identity management platform,” he added.

    The government launched an application programming interface (API), which will allow developers write applications that can work with Aadhaar. These developers will earn money for every transaction conducted using their applications.

    For Aadhaar to solve the identity crisis for millions of Indians, hundreds of applications will need to connect it with service providers across government departments and private sector firms. For instance, research firms and experts reckon that nearly 500 million Indians are out of the banking system and more than half of India’s farmers do not have access to credit from formal banks.

    Software applications can link these numbers with a bank’s system and help it establish identity before offering a loan or opening a new savings account. Research firm CLSA estimates that the UID exercise can bring nearly 125 million people into the banking system over the next five years. These folks, according to CLSA, are primarily from poor, below the poverty line (BPL) families who otherwise will have no way to prove their identities.

    Already, the Reserve Bank of India and the ministry of finance have issued guidelines to banks to use Aadhaar as an identifier. The telecommunications department and the oil ministry too have issued similar guidelines.

    “In some way you are opening up all the products and services for people,” said Nilekani.

    Pilot applications are already being tested by companies such as Pune-based Persistent Systems and Feecounter Online Services.

    Feecounter Online Services is a 350 employees start-up based out of Pune. Mitesh Ajmera, a former employee at the Citi Bank , is the company’s CEO. The company offers an online portal for the payment of school fees. “With this initiative, school fees can be directly credited from the individual’s bank account to the school’s account. The idea is to eliminate transaction costs. Also, the whole idea of waiting in a queue for long hours can be skipped,” said Ajmera. One of the potential applications being tested will build an entire payment gateway for Aadhaar-based transactions, said an official at a company writing that application.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/UIDAI-Nandan-Nilekani-plans-to-create-an-Apple-or-Google-like-ecosystem-for-Aadhaar/articleshow/8970580.cms

    2 JUL, 2011, 10.11AM IST, ANANTHAKRISHAN G,TNN
    Rs 50k cr worth treasure in Kerala temple

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The legend of El Dorado was definitely not set on the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple . But the seven-member panel, which is drawing up a list of assets at the famed shrine here, had a feel of the lost city of gold as they set foot in one of the two secret vaults located inside the sprawling granite structure which gives the Kerala capital its name.

    On Thursday, the team assisted by personnel from the fire services and archeology department opened the locks of vault A to find a narrow flight of stairs leading down to an underground granite cellar. Oxygen was pumped frequently into the chamber and artificial lighting provided to enable the observers to work inside.

    What they saw inside was startling, sources said. Gold coins dating back thousands of years, gold necklaces as long as nine feet and weighing about 2.5 kg, about one tonne of the yellow metal in the shape of rice trinkets, sticks made of the yellow metal, sack full of diamonds, gold ropes, thousands of pieces of antique jewellery studded with diamonds and emeralds, crowns and other precious stones lay scattered in the chamber marked ‘A’.

    Friday threw up far more surprises in the form of 17 kg of gold coins dating back to the East India Company period, 18 coins from Napolean’s era, precious stones wrapped in silk bundles besides over 1,000 kg of gold in the form of coins and trinkets and a small elephant made of the yellow metal, sources said.

    There were also sovereigns bearing the 1772 seal indicating they were from the reign of the then native king Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma . There are a total of six vaults marked A to F in the shrine. The A and B cellars have never opened since 1872.

    Reports said the value of the recoveries so far from vault A alone may exceed over Rs 50,000 crore. This doesn’t take into account their antique value. With chamber B, yet to be opened, speculation was rife that the shrine would pip Tirupati Balaji, who too has been assessed at a little more than Rs 50,000 crore to a distant second. No official confirmation has been forthcoming on the value of the recoveries.

    Retired Kerala high court judges – Justice M N Krishnan and Justice C S Rajan – appointed observers by the Supreme Court said, ”It’s difficult to give an exact date about when the stock-taking would be completed. The B and E vaults remain to be opened. We think it may take another week.”

    Asked about the value of the assets, Justice Krishnan said the committee was drawing up the inventory of items and were not determining their price. The panel had set out on the job on June 27 and opened three vaults marked C, D and F till Wednesday. Assets found in these chambers were estimated to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore.

    The wealth discovery has raised questions on the shrine’s security. As of now, the internal security is managed by the temple employees, but this may be inadequate in the light of the events.

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/rs-50k-cr-worth-treasure-in-kerala-temple/articleshow/9073635.cms

    3 JUL, 2011, 06.48AM IST, ANANTHAKRISHNAN G,TNN
    Rs 75,000 cr and counting: More treasure tumbles out of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Treasure continued to tumble out of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple here on Saturday with a Supreme Court-appointed committee finding more gold idols, coins and other assets on the sixth day of inspection in the shrine’s hidden vaults.

    Among the notable discoveries was an ancient gold idol of Lord Vishnu studded with precious diamonds and emeralds. Sources said its value could not be assessed due to its antiquity. There were also human figurines made of pure gold, each weighing 1 kg as well as 18-foot-long jewelery weighing 35 kg used to adorn the deity. Bags of coins and precious stones were also found in the chamber marked A.

    Unconfirmed reports said the total value of all assets recovered from the shrine could be worth Rs 75,000 crore.

    The temple has six vaults marked A to F. On Saturday, the committee completed stock taking in vault A. They had already drawn up the inventory of items in C, D and F. The B chamber, which hasn’t been unsealed after 1872, and the E vault remain to be opened. The inspection will continue on Monday.

    The state police has decided to put in place a three-tier security for the shrine which has emerged as the richest in India. Additional Director General of Police Venugopal K Nair, who is given charge of the temple security, said “We have only begun the process. A detailed plan will be put in place soon.”

    At present, two platoons of special armed police have been deployed for the shrine’s security.

    Acting on a petition, the Kerala high court had in January asked the state government to take over the administration of the temple and also prepare aninvetory of its assets. The shrine is run by a trust constituted by the royal family. On appeal, the SC stayed the take over part but gave nod to stock-taking.

    History has it that the shrine is inextricably linked to the Travancore royal family. The erstwhile ruler of Travancore Marthanda Varma had dedicated the state and all his wealth to the deity and ruled as ‘Padmanabha Dasa (servant of Padmanabha), who consequently gained the status of nominal head or ‘perumal.

    According to legend, the Travancore kings had transferred loads of wealth, meant for use during famines to these secret chambers to protect them from the British.

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Rs-75000-cr-and-counting-More-treasure-tumbles-out-of-Sree-Padmanabha-Swamy-temple/articleshow/9083615.cms

    Last post

    July 23rd, 2009
    As you may have heard, I’ve been appointed as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India. I’m grateful for all your congratulations and best wishes.
    In my new role, I can no longer comment on government policy. So this means the end of this blog. The blogging format was new to me, and I greatly enjoyed writing here and listening to your thoughts these past few months.
    Many people have asked me why I accepted this appointment. I have long been a champion of a reform approach that is inclusive of the poor, and in my book, I described unique identity as one of the key steps for achieving this goal. Giving every individual in India a unique identification number can go a long way in enabling direct benefits, and fixing weak public delivery systems, giving the poor access to better healthcare, education, and welfare safety nets. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered me the opportunity to head the UIDAI, I saw it as a chance to help enable ideas I have supported for a long time.
    Since the UIDAI aims to enable a people-centric approach to governance, I will approach the rollout of the initiative in the same way. I’ve been overwhelmed in the last few weeks by offers of assistance and help from Indians around the world. The UIDAI will be setting up a website soon, which will chart out ways for people to volunteer and engage with the project. I hope that together, we will be able to make this initiative an enormous success.
    Tags: India, UIDAI
    Posted in About the book, UIDAI | 75 Comments »

    Are we recovering?

    June 17th, 2009
    Or is this a temporary upswing in sentiment for much of the world economy?
    Paul Swartz, from the Council of Foreign Relations, recently put up an interesting chart, comparing the recession’s effect on world trade, compared to other downturns.
    Tags: economy, recession, world trade
    Posted in economy | 50 Comments »

    Education reforms – I

    June 5th, 2009
    Are education reforms finally on the anvil? That’s what the latest reports say. The approach, according to those in the corridors of power, will be along the lines of those proposed by the YashPal Committee and the Knowledge Commission.

    I’ll talk about the Knowledge Commission (which I was on) in my next post. The YashPal committee, if I recall, had suggested reforms that brought in more autonomy for institutes, and stopped the process of recognising institutes as ‘deemed universities’. One of the things their report especially bemoaned was the ‘loss of primacy’ for Indian universities. The committee argued that universities ought to be made self-regulatory, and that our regulatory institutions right now – such as the UGC – had taken up too many of the university’s functions.

    It also recommended that courses be restructured so that undergraduate studentshave access to all disciplines. If this comes through – I’d written about it in an earlier post – it would be an enormous step for innovation and quality in our education system.

    Such reforms are not going to be easy. Now that the planned steps have been made public, there will be plenty of lobby groups readying for protest. People and groups in power don’t like to lose control, and these reforms are ambitious – task committees have been recommending similar steps since the Kothari Commission in the 1960s, all of which were quickly gutted by university groups, bureaucrats and politicians.
    Will we be fortunate this time?
    Tags: education reform, YashPal
    Posted in Opinion, education | 35 Comments »

    After the election

    May 28th, 2009
    When the results were out, there were many people around the country who heaved a sigh of relief.
    A few months before the elections, when I asked people I knew who was likely to win – the people I questioned included elected officials, writers, NGO workers, political scientists – a good majority of them were pessimistic about seeing a strong government in power, and especially a Congress or BJP-led one. ‘Our days are numbered’, is how one Congress worker put it. A large number of people suggested (and this was a popular expectation in our media) that caste-based and regional parties would have a bigger clout post-election. ‘The next government will be a hodge-podge, and they’ll move quite sharply to the left,’ one senior policy planner guessed.
    The Congress’ win is forcing a re-evaluation. Were the compelling factors for the victory the Employment Guarantee Program, concern about defense, a desire for a more empowered government, or dynastic appeal? People seemed to have voted for stable, equitable development. Its been pointed out that the Congress and its allies did well in places where the NREG Program and the rural electrification scheme were implemented effectively. The win/loss pattern across states is also telling: the UPA did badly in states where the opposition governments have been effective in bringing about development and growth – this included Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.
    Does this mean that the hand-wringing over voters’ preferences for caste and regional alliances was misplaced? I think so.  The rise of markets means that there is much more at stake for voters today – good governance and better access to the economy can bring about substantial improvements in jobs, income, and education for children. This wasn’t the case pre-1980, when opportunities were much fewer.  Voters are therefore far more demanding of their leaders, and and a failure in governance makes them far less sympathetic to the fact that a certain party is supposed to represent their religion, or caste.
    So what will the government do with its expanded mandate? Will we get to see a smart mix of reforms and welfare policy? Will the government finally, attempt to tackle our broken subsidy systems and education reform? The next few years are going to be very interesting.
    Tags: Congress, Election, Government
    Posted in Opinion, politics | 9 Comments »

    Awaiting Enlightenment – II

    May 21st, 2009

    A few years ago, I visited my alma mater IIT Bombay, my first visit in decades. I walked around the campus and was astonished and saddened by its collapse – the buildings were in disrepair, the hostels grimy and stained, the infrastructure was crumbling: the place, it seemed, was falling apart.

    This began my efforts to get the campus back to the green, beautiful, well-tended place I remembered, and I funded various initiatives, with the help of the incredibly engaged director, Dr. Ashok Misra. I funded the renovation of my old Hostel 8, the setting up of a school for IT and a new IT incubation lab. The IIT management and I also co-funded a brand new pair of hostels to expand the cramped residential spaces, and these were built in record time—in less than two years.

    The result? Annoyance in the HRD Ministry, and questions from the then HRD minister on why such ‘lavish’ buildings were built.  Our top colleges and universities suffer tremendously from this perpetual second-guessing from the government and the bureaucracy, which demand permissions for the most mundane operations. Dr. Nayyar, the former vice-chancellor of Delhi University, often bemoans the complete loss of independence for the faculty, deans and senior management at universities. ‘Their actions hang on the utterances of our politicians. Everything is political.’ And in the midst of all this, the very purpose of the university, educating the student, has been entirely forgotten.

    In recent years, Indian universities have seen a growth of funds from budget allocations, but they need much more than that for things to change. Simply providing our universities with more money is rather like buying new furniture for a condemned building.  Unless the government takes to more serious reforms – appointing a super-regulator to replace the present, confusing array of bodies from the AICTE to the UGC, encouraging more private investment on colleges and loosening the red tape on their entry, bringing in more transparency to standards and college administration, and giving government-aided institutions much more independence – the decay will go on, without pause.

    Tags: Hostel 8, IIT Bombay, IT
    Posted in Opinion, education | 21 Comments »

    Awaiting enlightenment

    May 8th, 2009

    In Cry for Freedom, former Wuhan University President Liu Daoyu is talking about the Chinese education system, but much of what he says about the early education crisis in China could have been said verbatim, for the present challenges in India’s higher education system.

    Particularly, this:

    “we must lift the screws on people’s minds and tap into their initiative and enthusiasm.”

    Most of us have noticed the gradual politicisation of India’s colleges over the last few decades, but we rarely debate how insidious the effects of this are on innovation in higher education. The lack of independence for our vice-chancellors and deans, the politicisation of student unions, the dependence on the government for budget and spending approvals – all these make our universities risk-averse, dogmatic, and finally unable to fulfil their main function: equipping their students to function effectively, and productively, in the economy.

    Consider how rigid our colleges are: in India, we have still not embraced the concept of cross-disciplines. An Indian student from year one in college, can either do an engineering or a commerce degree. In fact, he does not attend a university in the true sense; he has to function within the narrow confines of a specific department. Universities in Europe, US and increasingly in China on the other hand, allow students the flexibility to choose their subjects, even switch between majors if they find that their interests have shifted to say, marine biology rather than medicine by the second year.

    The rigid system that our colleges now use do students a disservice. How for example, can a student be certain that she wants to become a software engineer unless she first takes a few courses? Perhaps, the student might discover a bent for research, or for computer graphics. Its unreasonable to lock someone in at the age of eighteen, right out of school, onto a particular career path.

    (This is the first of some higher education posts. I’ll follow up with more thoughts.)

    Tags: challenges, Cry for freedom, higher education, Liu Daoyu, Wuhan University
    Posted in education | 18 Comments »

    On the road, again

    April 20th, 2009

    

    I spent the last month traveling in the US, promoting the book. I did some TV shows, spoke to newspapers and did so many radio interviews that eventually it felt like one long period of time spent talking. It was interesting to meet so many people, and get the perspective of so many readers. (I am also grateful for the exposure I got – its not easy for writers to get media coverage for their work, and I was very fortunate).

    Used as I am to traveling though, I think this is one of the shorter breaks I’ve had back home in Bangalore before its time for another long trip. This time, I’m off to the UK for three weeks, in part to promote the book, but also on work. But I will keep updating here.

    Tags: Traveling, US
    Posted in Travel | 6 Comments »

    With reservations

    April 17th, 2009

    Reservations for backward castes in our jobs and colleges have become a seemingly indispensable part of our politics, and I think the big reason for this has been the process of inclusion of India’s backward communities into our mainstream. Indian political scientists such as Ashutosh Varshney have pointed out that as the Industrial Revolution took off in the West, backward communities were rapidly absorbed into the growing economy and the expanding factory system. The right to vote and political clout came later, after decades of urbanized living and jobs.
    But in India, our progress has been the other way round. In a country where growth stagnated for decades, and development has only recently begun to make inroads into the rural countryside, backward communities have had access to political power before economic power. Hence the demand for reservations – the Dalit voters who support the Bahujan Samaj party for instance, see political power as ‘the master key’ that will open all doors.
    Had economic access come first, we would have probably followed the pattern of other countries that had  caste hierarchies – Japan for example, had a fairly rigid caste system, and the most backward group, the burakumin, were highly ostracized. Development and urbanization however, helped absorb these caste groups into the general population (although the Japanese burakumin still face some discrimination). The rise of cities in fact, have been particularly powerful in dissolving caste barriers, as it becomes impossible to observe the silly notions of purity and untouchability in the anonymous, crowded city.
    This has made our struggle in India with caste and backwardness fairly unique. And as our politicians balance the questions of better access for all versus more reservations, we are likely to see many more twists and turns on this issue.
    Tags: Caste system, creating access, Reservations
    Posted in Opinion | 16 Comments »

    Seeing the bottom?

    April 10th, 2009
    The meme that the global recession might finally have bottomed out could be a little premature. Markets, including in India, have revived somewhat, but many aresceptical that this rally will last.
    Also, if the steps taken in the US to deal with the financial crisis are not ambitious enough – and it looks increasingly likely that this is the case – we will see the financial crisis deepen a lot more before world markets recover.
    Tags: global financial crisis
    Posted in Opinion | 4 Comments »

    A meeting and its results

    April 6th, 2009

    Observers of the G-20 summit – whose tagline ‘stability, growth, jobs’ acknowledged our ongoing global slowdown – didn’t expect much to come out of the meeting. Since it ended however, a wave of positive press has followed. One good thing that has come out of it is that the IMF is likely to change its composition to reflect the power of emerging countries like India, China and Brazil. There is also some applause surrounding the fact that leaders have pledged around $1.1 trillion towards fighting the recession, but of this, $500 billion is through the IMF, and half of that money was in the works before the meeting.

    Another big question is how exactly will such a money stimulus boost global growth. I’m somewhat sceptical of the ability of state-provided funds to drive extended growth in markets, if they are not accompanied by policy changes. Money flowing into an inefficient, badly regulated market system only strengthens entrenched interests and makes existing lobbying groups stronger and better-funded.

    The Indian government for instance, has already funnelled stimulus money into the economy in 2008-09. without adding in policy corrections, and much of this cash has been aimed at extended  credit through already existing farm schemes (which typically favour farmers who own mid to large landholdings) and financing for existing SMEs and industry groups, while doing nothing to make business easier for new or innovative firms who struggle even more for capital and against red tape in a weaker economy.  Downturns and growth slowdowns cannot be patched with notes of cash alone – these will only drive cycles of boom and bust.

    Tags: G-20 summit, stimulus package
    Posted in Opinion | 6 Comments »
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    Unique chaos for cards

    PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI

    * Applicants queue up in front of the registration counters at GPO in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh Patna, June 27: Get mentally prepared for a long haul while applying for unique identification (UID) card. The process of collecting and submitting its forms at the General Post Office (GPO) can test your nerves and stretch your patience. Residents turning up at the GPO since June 25, when the registration process began, hardly expected this. For, corporate guru Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys Technologies Limited, is the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India — the agency responsible for issuing UID cards. Unlike corporate efficiency, the applicants from across the state at the GPO have to face hurdles and confusion at every step — from collection of the application forms to the verification and the submission of documents. Many have had their application rejected, amid all the chaos. Problems are aplenty. Forms — supposed to be made available free of cost — are being black-marketed. There are only three counters at the GPO for the registration. Long queues at these counters are putting off the applicants. The queues are mismanaged and lead to frequent altercation among the applicants. There is no separate queue for women or senior citizens. The processing of forms is also too slow. “First of all, the forms, which are supposed to be made available free of cost to the citizens, are not available at the counters. The employees at the counters ask the applicants to buy the forms from black-marketers, who sell these at the entrance to the GPO,” Amit Kumar Singh, a student of Patna Science College, said. The youth, who had turned up to pick a form today, added: “There are only three counters at the GPO though this is the only place for submitting UID applications. The long queues are not managed properly and this leads to altercations among the residents. Though there is such a rush at the counters, the processing of the forms is really slow.” Several applicants complained against the absence of separate counters for women and senior citizens. “It is complete anarchy out here. There is no separate counter for women,” Vijay Nagar resident Roshni Sinha said. For many, standing for hours in the queue only results in disappointment. “Even after standing in the queue for hours, my application got rejected as I could not produce an address proof. I had attached the electricity bill of my house, which is in my husband’s name. How can I get a proof of residence when most of the property is in my husband’s name?” asked Sinha. Fathua resident Chandan Kumar, too, returned disappointed. He said: “I left my home at 7am and reached the GPO at 9am. I stood in the queue for three hours, only to get my application rejected on the grounds of absence of birth certificate. This happened even when I had both the original and the photocopy of my Class X registration certificate with my date of birth mentioned on them. The employee at the counter told me that only a marksheet or pass certificate is valid.” A facilitation centre could solve such problems but there is no such facility at the GPO. The authorities, too, accept the problems but they can only offer scant hope. “At present, we only have three counters. We were able to register around 80 applications each day. Thus, around 150 registrations have been completed since Saturday. We only have one biometric station. This is slowing down the process. We plan to start three more biometric stations within a fortnight. We expect to start three more UID registration stations here and 40 new UID registration centres in the state by July 15,” said Anil Kumar, director, business development, technology and marketing, GPO, Patna.

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110628/jsp/bihar/story_14169251.jsp

    Nandan Nilekani

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Nandan Manohar Nilekani नंदन मनोहर नीलेकणी
    Nandan M Nilekani at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2007
    Born	2 June 1955 (age 56) Bangalore, Karnataka, India
    Residence	Bangalore
    Nationality	Indian
    Alma mater	Indian Institute of Technology
    Occupation	Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
    Net worth	$1.8 billion (2011)[1]
    Religion	Hinduism

    Nandan Nilekani (Konkani: नंदन नीलेकणी, Kannada: ನಂದನ್ ನಿಲೇಕಣಿ) born (June 2, 1955) is an Indian entrepreneur. He currently serves as the Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), after a successful career at Infosys Technologies Ltd. He is also now heading Government of India’s technology committee, TAGUP.

    CONTENTS [hide] 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Honours and awards 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

    [EDIT]EARLY LIFE

    Nandan Manohar Nilekani was born in Sirsi town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, as the younger son of Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani in a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family.^[2] His father worked as a General Manager of Mysore and Minerva Mills. His father, who subscribed toFabian Socialist ideals, had an influence on Nandan during his early years. He has an elder brother, Vijay, who works in the Nuclear Energy Institute.^[3]

    He studied at St. Joseph’s High School Dharwad, and later in Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai where he graduated with a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering in 1978.^[4] His early years were marked by his father’s job transfers and re-locations. He spent the first twelve years at Bangalore, and then moved in with his uncle’s family in Dharwad, after his father had been transferred.

    [EDIT]CAREER

    Nandan Nilekani, after graduating from IIT Bombay in 1978, joined Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems where he was interviewed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. Three years later, in 1981, Murthy walked out of Patni following a disagreement with one of the Patni brothers. His entire division walked out with him. The defectors decided to start their own company, Infosys.

    Nilekani became the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys in March 2002, taking over from Murthy. Nilekani served as CEO of the company from March 2002 to April 2007, when he relinquished his position to his colleague Kris Gopalakrishnan, becoming Co-Chairman. He left Infosys on 9 July 2009 to serve as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India, in the rank of a cabinet minister under invitation from the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

    He co-founded India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) as well as the Bangalore Chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE).

    He appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on March 18, 2009^[5] to promote his book “Imagining India.” He has been a speaker at the prestigious TED conference where he talked about his ideas for India’s future.

    He has an estimated net worth of the Indian rupee equivalent of US$1.3 billion.^[6] In 2009, Time magazine placed Nilekani in the Time 100 list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’ ^[7]

    Nilekani has been extensively quoted in Thomas Friedman‘s book The World is Flat.^[8]

    [EDIT]PERSONAL LIFE

    Nandan Nilekani is married to Rohini, whom he met at a quizzing event at IIT.^[9] They have two children Nihar and Janhavi, both studying atYale University.^[10]

    [EDIT]HONOURS AND AWARDS

    • One of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board in January 2006.
    • Member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi
    • Member of the review committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
    • Forbes “Businessman of the Year” for Asia in 2007.
    • He, along with Infosys founder (and currently non-executive chairman) N. R. Narayana Murthy, also received Fortune magazine’s ‘Asia’s Businessmen of the Year 2003′ award.
    • Named among the ‘World’s most respected business leaders’ in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
    • Awarded the Corporate Citizen of the Year award at the Asia Business Leader Awards (2004) organized by CNBC.
    • Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics – 2005.^[11]
    • Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India – 2006.
    • Was presented the ‘Legend in Leadership Award’ by the Yale University in November 2009. He is the first Indian to receive the top honour.
    • Was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto on the 31st of May, 2011.

    [EDIT]BIBLIOGRAPHY

    • Nandan Nilekani. Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation (March 19, 2009 ed.). Penguin Press HC. p. 528. ISBN 1594202044.

    In this book, Nandan discusses topics such as the future of India, its recent history, the ideas and attitudes that evolved with the times and contributed to the country’s progress, India’s early socialist policies, its young population, Information Technology, caste politics, labour reform, infrastructure, higher education, and the English language in India.

    [EDIT]REFERENCES

    1. ^ Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/Nandan-Nilekani.
    2. ^ http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_changing-with-times-and-bangalore_1427399
    3. ^ http://imaginingindia.com/about-nandan/childhood/
    4. ^ Infosys Technologies Limited (2007-06-22). “About Infosys | Management Profiles | Nandan M. Nilekani”. Infosys. Retrieved 2009-06-28.^{[dead link]}
    5. ^ “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Official Website | Current Events & Pop Culture, Comedy & Fake News | Comedy Central”. Thedailyshow.com. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
    6. ^ “#754 Nandan Nilekani – Forbes.com”. Forbes.
    7. ^ The 2009 TIME 100 – Nandan Nilekani TIME.
    8. ^ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/friedman.html
    9. ^ “School and IIT”. Imagining India. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
    10. ^ The Hindu (Chennai, India). 2009-09-06. http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/06/01hdline.htm.
    11. ^ “The story continues”. Imagining India. Retrieved 2009-06-28.

    [EDIT]EXTERNAL LINKS

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nandan Nilekani

    • Govt appointed Nandan Nilekani chairperson of Unique National ID Card Project
    • The Mercury News Interview: Nandan Nilekani: the face of India tech
    • TED: Nandan Nilekani’s ideas for India’s future
    • Nandan Nilekani Video
    • Nandan M. Nilekani-THE ICON; just login to follow

    Categories: Living people | Konkani people | Indian businesspeople | Recipients of the Padma Bhushan | Indian billionaires | People from Bangalore | 1955 births | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay alumni | Old Cottonians’