Bania Chdambaram and Brahamin Pranab All Set for the REFORMS to KILL the Masses and the Constitution!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 441
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 441
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
India's Economic Reforms
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India's reforms have been piecemeal and incremental, giving the casual observer the impression that nothing has been happening. If one takes the totality of ...
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Lessons from India's Economic Reforms
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Monetary and Financial Sector Reforms in India:
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Monetary and Financial Sector Reforms in India: A Practitioner's Perspective. •. Y.V. Reddy. Reserve Bank of India. The objectives of this paper are to ...
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WB: Seat-sharing talks b/w TC & Congress for civic bodies, post-budgetEconomic Times - 2 hours ago However, the leaders of both opposition parties -- Mamata Banerjee and Pranab Mukherjee -- are key central ministers in the UPA government and are scheduled ... 13th Finance Commission briefs Pranab on its recommendationsThe Hindu - Jan 22, 2010 PTI The Thirteenth Finance Commission on Friday, briefed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on its recommendations on sharing tax receipts between the Centre ... High inflation, a concern: Pranab Hindu Business Line Tough juggling act for FM on fiscal deficit Financial Express RBI Governor meets PranabHindu Business Line - Jan 23, 2010 ... the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Dr D. Subbarao, met the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, at North Block on Saturday. ... GST: Centre opposes states' dual rates planNDTV.com - - 1 hour ago Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will now meet the states on the January 28. Hopefully by then the states will be clear on a new GST dateline. Pranab, Montek to firm up view on GBS tomorrowBusiness Standard - Jan 22, 2010 PTI / New Delhi January 22, 2010, 21:43 IST Amidst demand for massive hikes in Plan allocations in the next Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and ... Industrial Output to Be Much Better in 2009-10: Montek India Journal Plan panel, finmin lock horns over Gross budgetary supportEconomic Times - 17 hours ago In a meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia pointed out hat it was difficult ... Pranab sees signs of turnaroundHindu Business Line - Jan 18, 2010 The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said on Monday that the current macro-economic situation confirms signs of a turnaround in the economy. ... A woman may be RBI top brass soon, hopes Pranab Business Standard Pranab-da, listen to taxpayers, not economists Daily News & Analysis Karat calls Basu 'the greatest communist'Calcutta Telegraph - 20 hours ago Mukherjee said Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee could not come because he was preoccupied with the budget. The CPM's Left allies, who have clashed ... Oil Ministry seeks fund for overseas buysHindu Business Line - - Jan 24, 2010 The Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, has written to the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, to consider setting up a fund that will aid domestic ... Continue tax benefits to SEZs under DTC: AssochamBusiness Standard - 1 hour ago AP to unveil new ICT policy soon In a note to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the chamber has underlined the need for continuation of the tax benefits to ... Stay up to date on these results: |
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The Budget of 2010-11 would be the 20th reform Budget, and, in a telling commentary on the progress made in some key areas, is likely to echo
many of the concerns raised by Manmohan Singh in the first reform Budget of 1991-92.
While the sea change in India's overall economic fortunes is now conventional wisdom — the world's second-fastest growing economy; part of emerging market powerhouses, the BRICs; demographic dividend waiting to be reaped and so on — things that have stayed static would be of interest.
Anyone who revisits the Budget of 1991-92 would be impressed by the wide sweep of reforms enumerated in it and in the accompanying statement on industrial policy, both of which were presented on July 24, 1991.
The industrial policy statement abolished industrial licensing, released industry from the inhibitive control of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission and liberalised foreign investment and foreign technology licensing.
Abolition of industrial licensing was done through an exceptional provision of the Industrial Development and Regulation (IDR) Act, 1951. The main purpose of the Act was to regulate and license industry, and the purpose of the exceptional provision was to exempt some specific sectors from the overall imperative of the Act. Delicensing in this manner raises questions about the legal validity of the exercise: can the overall purpose of an Act be overturned by a clause of the Act that offered selective exemption?
Ad hocism of this kind was understandable in 1991, when the Congress government headed by PV Narasimha Rao lacked a majority in Parliament. However, the failure of subsequent governments to abolish licensing by abolishing IDR Act, 1951, can only be explained as a reflection of the Indian state's penchant for keeping in reserve lots of scope for arbitrary action.
The Budget of 1991 promised return to macroeconomic balance, for which fiscal reform was identified as the key instrument. Mr Singh decried double-digit consumer price inflation arising from the macroeconomic imbalance. Food prices are, of course, at a 13-year high and definitely in double digits at the moment.
The 1991 Budget rued the fact that interest payments were 4% of GDP and argued that this burden could be brought down only by lowering the fiscal deficit. Ironically, the Centre's liabilities as a percentage of GDP at market prices stood at 55% in 1991, and at 62% in 2008-09, according to figures from Indian Public Finance Statistics 2008-09.
Interest payments as a proportion of GDP stood a tad lower in 2008-09, compared to 1990-91, thanks to the sharp fall in interest rates in the interim period. (In his Budget speech freeing interest rates apart from a minimum rate, Mr Singh put the minimum lending rate of term-lending institutions at 15%).
The fiscal deficit of the Centre in 1990-91 was 6.6% of GDP, and that of the Centre and the states combined 9.9%. The fiscal deficit of the Centre, 19 years later, stands at 6.8% of GDP, and the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and the states around 10% of GDP.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Reforms-deficit-stays-even-after-two-decades/articleshow/5496704.cms
NEW DELHI: The government has asked all sick public sector enterprises (PSEs) to prepare an inventory of the real estate in their possession, as
it explores disinvestment possibilities in even the loss-making state-owned companies.
A government-constituted panel for deciding the pay revision of state-owned enterprises had proposed that government should withdraw from all public sector enterprises where profits have fallen below Rs 50 crore.
"The report had suggested that either these firms should be privatised by bringing in a strategic partner or be merged with a profit-making PSU," said a DPE official, who did not wish to be named.
The department of public enterprises (DPE) estimates that there are around 59 PSEs which fall under the sick category . The list of these sick companies includes HMT Bearings, Scooters India, Andrew Yule, Hindustan Photofilms, Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals and Hotel Corporation of India.
"This will help in getting a compiled data on the title deeds or encumbrances of land buildings owned by PSEs. It has been observed that some of these PSEs did not even maintain fixed asset register properly," said an official from ministry of heavy industries, who wished to remain anonymous.
There are 33 loss making companies under ministry of heavy industry itself. Companies such as Huawei, Alcatel Lucent have expressed interest to bid for the three units of Indian Telephones Industry ( ITI).
The PSEs will also need to get these properties valued at the prevailing market rate by an asset valuer. "The process will take time, since some of these properties are not free from the encumbrances and title deeds are not clear," said the DPE official .
The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) had earlier suggested that the government should lease out the sick PSUs under the lease, rehabilitate and operate (LRO) model.
BRPSE had identified PSUs such as ITI Bangalore, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Hindustan Photofilms, National Textile Corporation and Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) in Cochin, where there was surplus land available for disposal.
The government is looking to big bang divestment in PSEs to raise resources to meet the high expenditure on social schemes while simultaneously also keeping the fiscal deficit under control. The fiscal deficit for the current year is pegged at 6.8% of GDP, a 16-year high
NEW DELHI: The government is considering an across-the-board increase in excise duty in Budget 2010-11, as it faces pressure to withdraw fiscal
stimulus measures in the wake of a 16-year high fiscal deficit of 6.8% in the current financial year.
"One option being considered is an increase in Cenvat rate by 2% while leaving the service tax rate unchanged at 10%," a finance ministry official told ET . Cenvat refers to the median excise duty, tax on manufacture of goods, levied on nearly 90% of the goods made in the country.
More services could be brought under the tax net to allow the government to keep service tax rates unchanged, the official said, requesting anonymity. A hike in service tax rate would be an immediate burden on consumers already battling high food prices. The proposal is at a very early stage and could undergo significant changes by the time the Budget is presented.
An alternative proposal is also under consideration which seeks an increase in excise rates in sectors that are doing well such as automobiles, instead of an across-the-board hike.
The economy is recovering from a downturn induced by a global recession that forced the government to cut taxes and increase spending to boost demand. The Reserve Bank of India is keeping policy rates at record low levels to encourage economic activity.
The country's GDP grew 6.7% in 2008-09 after recording 9% plus growth rates in the three preceding years. Three stimulus packages announced by the government in December 2008, January 2009 and February 2009 put the economy back on track, and helped it grow by 7.9% in the second quarter of the current financial year. The Cenvat rate was brought down to 10% from 14% in December 2008 and by another 2 percentage points to 8% in the interim Budget in February 2009. The service tax rate was cut to 10% from 12%.
The government is now looking to unwind these measures to contain the fiscal deficit. A two percentage point increase in the Cenvat could help garner an additional Rs 7,000 crore.
A sectoral strategy could, however, find favour with the government following some recent concerns, making the outlook look a mixed one against a bright one a few weeks ago.
The strong GDP growth in the second quarter had raised expectations of an 8% growth in 2009-10. Industrial output that expanded 11.7% in November and a four-month high 6% growth in core sector in December suggest growth could accelerate further. But the third-quarter growth could be in the range of 6-6.5% because of poor farm sector output, suggesting that overall growth could be in the range of 7%.
Globally too, some concerns have emerged over the economic recovery with countries such as China taking steps to counter the possibility of asset bubbles emerging. The head of International Monetary Fund, or the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn had also recently warned against premature withdrawal of the stimulus.
The country's chief statistician Pronab Sen does not see any urgency for tinkering with rates for a different reason. "If we are going to go in for GST (goods and services tax), does it make sense to take up the excise and then realign it later?" he said.
Even tax experts argue that the duty rejig should be done keeping in mind GST rates. "Given the likely GST rate, the government should either marginally increase the excise duty rate or leave it unchanged while simultaneously reducing the exempted items," said Pratik Jain, executive director KPMG. Mr Jain, however, felt service tax rates could be hiked.
Budget may be more -ve than +ve for mkts: Morgan Stanley
Published on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 10:00 | Updated at Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 16:21 | Source : CNBC-TV18
Sridhar Sivaram, ED, Morgan Stanley Investment Managers, says Q1 will be slightly difficult for markets. "Possibility of a rate hike and paper supply are few of the negatives. We also see inflation closer to 9% by March. Moreover, the markets are going nowhere despite USD 2 billion inflows year-to-date."
He feels the budget, which is expected next month, to be more negative than positive. "The government could impose higher taxes to restrict the fiscal deficit."
According to him, returns in 2010 will be back-ended than front-ended.
Here is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Sridhar Sivaram on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: What is your sense? This kind of range trade might continue for a while longer as the market absorbs the news flow from various fronts.
A: The first quarter is going to be slightly difficult because a lot of the negative news would come in now. We have credit policy coming up end of this month and it's difficult to say what will happen but the stance is going to be more hawkish than anything else. Hence, possibility of a rate hike is always there, which I do not think the markets are going to like it too much.
There is a lot of paper coming in. We have seen almost USD 2 billion coming in the first 15 days and markets gone nowhere also the budget is there. There is a possibility of some reversal in the fiscal stimulus is very much on the card given the fiscal deficit that we are running. So if you add up everything, it looks as if the first quarter is going to be slightly difficult and maybe the returns for the years would be back ended than front ended.
Q: Are you saying there is a greater chance the market actually sees a rather sharp dip rather than it consolidates or end-up the first quarter with gains?
A: Difficult to say how much. I am clearly saying that there could be a dip in the first quarter once all these negative news starts to come into the market and lot of them we do not know. It's just taking some sort of a calculated prediction on what could happen based on data that we have already seen.
So if one add up all this it surely looks like the first quarter may not be such a greater quarter as oppose to the popular belief that first quarter is when market will rally and could see newer highs. We are already getting a sense that USD 2 billion have come in from foreign institutional investors (FII). Mutual funds are putting in money but markets not going anywhere and that's not a positive sign and most of the negative news yet to come in.
The macro negatives are going to play over the markets for the first quarter and maybe if growth comes back, post all these news flow which it could, the broad data for growth is very strong. Therefore, we have seen the GDP number and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) to be very strong. So once the market absorbs the other data, its possible that middle of the year onwards we could see the market again moving up. We could have a positive return or a better return in the second half than in the first half.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fiiview/budget-may-be-moreve-than-+ve-for-mktsmorgan-stanley_436782.html
Let's transform the country in the next 20 years
26 January 2010, 12:10am IST
Six decades ago, many wrote our fledgling republic off as a post-colonial upstart with constitutional pretensions. Yet here we are, as committed to democratic, secular and egalitarian principles as in 1950. Down the years, Indians have not only elected their leaders but, when let down, also kicked them out. And, once so food-insecure that it lived ship to mouth, India's now a growth story drawing global whistles. Yet, on a day that equally recalls the unfinished tasks of hard-won freedom, India can't rest on its laurels.
For one thing, we're yet to defeat divisive forces or eradicate socio-economic disparities. For another, megalopolis or rural hinterland, India's news-hungry, cellphone-wielding citizens are more clued in than ever before. Our very successes the telecom revolution, for instance have created an aspirational society marked by an expanding entrepreneurial middle class. Also, the growing ranks of a young, productive population our famed demographic advantage mandates an enabling environment in which they can flower. Such a society is a tough tiger to ride for those wielding power in its name.
If the tiger isn't to run away with us, inclusive growth must keep lifting living standards. But while NREGS-style affirmative action serves social justice, it's no surrogate for equality of opportunity. That's why the coming years must wean away disadvantaged groups from government largesse. That means delivery on a war footing of education, healthcare and economic opportunities. To alleviate poverty and distress, let's think beyond food subsidy and loan waivers. Let's create manufacturing jobs on a mass scale to stem casualisation of work and absorb rural labour. 21st century India can no longer delay labour reform, modernisation of agriculture or the trimming of wasteful subsidies. Equally, it needs better infrastructure roads, power, communications to sustain high growth.
New India needs government as enabler, not patron. Let government get out of running hotels, airlines and coalmines. Let it focus on attracting investment and facilitating business by, say, creating that common market we keep talking of. Let it think of citizens' rights, not group-specific loyalties wrested by political paternalism. To be fair, with RTI or right to education, this policymaking shift is visible. Also, social schemes driven by economic criteria are weakening a caste-based quota regime that's past its sell-by date. Today, Nitish Kumar talks of empowering the poor across the social board. Mayawati backs promotion of English as key to socio-economic uplift. Impressive growth in many laggard states suggests increasing political responsiveness to public demand for good governance and development.
Let's strengthen these currents by getting tougher on corruption and criminalisation of politics that sap the vitality of our democratic institutions from within. Finally, these institutions themselves need to focus on actual delivery of public services. With its track record of democratic practice and growing economic clout, India can play a leading role on the 21st century global stage. For that, it not only can make the next 20 years or so even more transformative than the past 60, it must do so. Let's get cracking today.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Lets-transform-the-country-in-the-next-20-years/articleshow/5499612.cms
Explained: Why surfeit of fund flows won't power mkts up
Published on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 11:13 | Updated at Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 14:34 | Source : Reuters
Foreign fund flows into India in 2010 could match or exceed a near-record USD 17 billion in 2009 but will not give the Mumbai stock market the same boost this year, as a flood of new share sales soak up cash and cap overall gains.
Initial offerings by the likes of Jindal Power or new shares sales by state-owned firms such as miner NMDC could be magnets for overseas investors, and would put further upward pressure on the rupee.
The long-term case for investing in India, like China, is clear: a billion-plus population driving consumption-led growth. Analysts see 2010 fund inflows easily matching last year's.
ndian firms raised about USD 19 billion in new equity in 2009, and Morgan Stanley figures they could raise USD 70 billion over the next three years. Overseas investors tend to be the biggest buyers of fresh Indian equity.
"Within emerging markets, I would say there is no alternative to India and China," said Vinay Gairola, Managing Director and Portfolio Advisor in Mumbai with Atlantis Investment Advisors, a USD 2.9 billion London-based fund manager.
But India has had a tendency to underperform relative to its potential and to China, and its higher valuations may hamper the appeal.
Michiel van Voorst, who helps manage a 500 million-plus euro (USD 714 million) Asia-Pacific portfolio for Dutch fund manager Robeco in Hong Kong, said India valuations look steep in the context of its high interest rates and is underweight India relative to the MSCI Asia Pacific index.
"We do see the growth, but we also have a couple of risk factors that we keep in the back of our mind," said van Voorst, whose India weighting has been steady at about 4-5%. "For us, the market has gone a long way into discounting the good outlook for India," he said, citing more favourable risk/reward cases in Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Morgan Stanley forecasts the Sensex will reach 19,400 by December, up 10% from current levels. Its preferred sectors include lenders like State Bank of India, which will gain from rising interest rates, but it is avoiding tech firms, which will be squeezed by a rising rupee.
The performance of the BSE index typically has a close correlation with foreign inflows as many overseas investors pick index stocks. That may change in 2010 as the flood of new equity draws funds away from blue chip companies and limits gains in the benchmark index, which jumped 81% last year.
Foreign inflows helped push the rupee up 4.7% in 2009, fuelling talk of government action to stem the flows, but few observers expect it to impose controls soon given India's need for money to build roads, power plants and other major projects.
RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Based on MSCI indexes, the market is already looking pricey relative to the broader Asian market. At 17.5, the one-year forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is about 11% above its five-year average, according to data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
For the broader MSCI Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan, its P/E ratio of 14.8 is about 9% above its five-year average. The same ratio on the South Korea MSCI index is only a fraction above the five-year average.
For foreign investors, much depends on whether the government delivers on expected reforms, such as selldowns of holdings in state firms and speeding up work on badly needed infrastructure.
Last year's sweeping re-election of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party government spurred high hopes for market-friendly reforms but they were delayed or derailed by the global economic slowdown and a summer drought.
"The government not delivering is a big risk, though I think the probability of that is pretty low. I think they know what needs to be done," said Suresh Mahadevan, Head of India Equity Research at UBS, adding that improving economic indicators and corporate earnings will also attract foreign funds.
India has tended to lag the rest of the region because of its deep fiscal deficit, which is on track to reach 6.8% of GDP in the current fiscal year, high interest rates, a sclerotic bureaucracy and political risk in a raucous democracy led by a party whose base of support is largely rural and poor.
Still, India is showing signs of returning to high growth after slowing to 6.7% economic expansion in the year that ended in March following three straight years of growing by 9% or more. Only China is growing faster.
Government stake sales in state firms could fetch USD 6.5-11 billion in the fiscal year starting April 1, and foreign demand for new shares is likely to be strong, analysts estimated. Overseas institutions, for example, bought USD 763 million in stock sold this month by Reliance Industries.
"Large issuances will definitely attract global money," because they allow foreign institutions to take big positions without driving up their cost of entry, said Alroy Lobo, Chief Strategist and Global Head of Equities for the asset management arm of India's Kotak group.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/market-outlook/explainedwhy-surfeit-fund-flows-won%60t-power-mkts-up_436799.html
Bania Chdambaram and Brahamin Pranab All Set for the REFORMS to KILL the Masses and the Constitution!
The government looks all set to introduce the new Direct Taxes Code in the forthcoming budget session , a government official said.
( Watch )
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to discuss the contours of the new code, billed as the major reform of the direct tax structure being undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second tenure.
The finance ministry has also made a detailed presentation to the prime minister on the direct taxes code.
The finance ministry has already held extensive consultations with all the stakeholders on the draft code and has also initiated an exercise to make appropriate changes and prepare the relevant legislation.
The government wants to make this crucial reform politically acceptable to people before taking it to Parliament. Tuesday's meeting is also believed to have taken up the changes that are being proposed in the draft code put out late last year.
The meeting assumes significance as the finance ministry has initiated the annual budgetary exercise and will be finalise new tax proposals.
Way back on Dec 23, 2009, Proposing a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring" of his ministry that includes bifurcation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint to tackle terrorism and said the new National Centre for Counter Terrorism will be set up by next year.Presenting a road map "A New Architecture for India's Security", Chidambaram said given the imperatives and the challenges of the times, "a division of the current functions of the Ministry of Home Affairs is unavoidable."
The NCTC tasks involve preventing a terror strike, containing an attack and effectively responding to it. "Such an organisation does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch," he said noting that the US was able to set up such a counter terrorism unit within 36 months of the 9/11 attacks".
India today said it was making the "building blocks" of the technology to develop anti-satellite capabilities as part of its space security measures. "We are making the building blocks of technology for the space security measures and they are of two types, active and passive.
So, we are developing both these elements in this programme," DRDO chief V K Saraswat told reporters. He was responding to queries on India''s plans to develop capabilities to destroy satellites in space while speaking on the sidelines of a function to sign MoUs between DRDO laboratories and private industries to commercialise technologies developed by the defence research organisation.
Asked about the developments in the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence programme, he said, "the (BMD) test is going to be conducted in February." DRDO is working on the BMD programme, under which it is developing a system to destroy incoming enemy ballistic missiles both in space and in earth''s atmosphere.
Commenting on the recent trials of the laser-guided bombs by DRDO, he said, "today is the era of precision guidance and we have to minimise collateral damage. So, DRDO''s effort is to ensure that whatever systems used to be of 100 metres accuracy or 200 metres is brought down to the realm of less than 10 metres.
inance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government won't be bound by conventional wisdom and would adopt creative solutions in policy-making
to bring smiles to the faces of the poor and unleash the entrepreneurial energy of its 100-crore-plus population this new decade.
"Growth in statistical terms is meaningless unless it benefits everyone," he said in his speech at the 11th ET Awards For Corporate Excellence. "Trickle-down is no longer relevant."
The Manmohan Singh government's bumper sticker remains "inclusive growth" after it pulled the country out of a potential recession by taking unprecedented steps in the past 18 months to counter the headwinds of the global financial meltdown. As it pursues the goal of reaching out to more than 600,000 villages, Mr Mukherjee said the government would focus on raising agricultural output, increasing manufacturing output and making life enjoyable for its citizens.
The government's initiatives during last year's crisis period demonstrated that these were unorthodox and original moves, the finance minister said.
"It was not borrowed, it was not taken from text books, nor did we imitate any philosophy blindly," said Mr Mukherjee, addressing a galaxy of more than 400 corporate bosses who included Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, R-ADAG boss Anil Ambani, Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj, bankers Deepak Parekh, OP Bhatt and Chanda Kochhar and L&T CEO AM Naik.
Through the crisis period, the government kept oil prices under control, maintaining subsidies despite pressures on the fisc, liberalised trade, kept interest rates at record lows and slashed excise duties to get the $1.2-trillion economy back on to the 9% growth trajectory. These measures are bearing fruit now — the economy expanded 7.9% in the September quarter, making it the fastestgrowing major economy behind China.
The finance minister said India's relatively closed economy may have saved it from the worst of the global crisis, but it does not mean that policymakers stick to that philosophy "blindly". They must change with the times, he said.
"To me, independence was construction of a good road, which I could cover on a bicycle," said the finance minister, who had to walk 10 kilometres daily through fields in his childhood days to reach school. That has changed and so has the concept of inclusion, he said. Unlike the early 1970s, the ruling establishment no longer believes in social control of economic resources, he added.
"Change the parameters, (the) ingredients of inclusive growth," said Mr Mukherjee. "Inclusive growth is to produce enough, manufacture enough and provide entitlement. If we can implement the programmes we have adopted, with resources and technology, it will be possible to achieve growth which is inclusive."
In India, poverty is estimated to be 37.2% on average — in rural areas, it is estimated to be around 41.8% and in urban areas 25.7%. The government has been implementing various employment programmes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which guarantees a minimum employment of 100 days a year with a minimum wage of Rs 100 a day.
Mr Mukherjee's colleagues in the Cabinet, Kamal Nath, the highways minister, and commerce and industries minister Anand Sharma spoke along similar lines, giving a peek into the policy priorities of the UPA government.
"It is the economic activity in rural India that produces a market for your products," said Mr Nath, who has taken up the target of laying 20 kilometres of road a day in the country to facilitate the Prime Minister's dream.
Hero Honda Motors, the world's largest motorcycle maker , was one of the beneficiaries of the vibrant rural economy, as domestic demand continued to be robust at a time the urban economy linked to the financial markets was losing jobs and cutting costs. It won the company of the year award from the Economic Times.
"We have to ensure that the growth touches all sections of the society," said Mr Nath, adding, "That is what is going to be the challenge."
Mr Sharma, who is leading India's negotiators as it seeks to reach an equitable deal with big powers in the latest round of global trade talks, popularly known as the Doha round, emphasised the need to sail with the world to lift the nation out of the poverty quagmire. "( India) can't live in isolation, can't act in isolation," he said.
Various programmes of the government over the past few years are helping build infrastructure in villages and changing lifestyles, he said.
A silent transformation was taking place in India's villages, but the government needed to do more to raise a large proportion of the population out of misery when cities are producing millionaires through rising economic activity. "We can't have islands of affluence and oceans of poverty." The ET Awards are presented by Raymond, in association with The Oberoi, Mumbai, and the television partners are ET NOW and Times NOW.
India monitoring Pakistan after border tunnel reports: Krishna
India was closely monitoring Pakistan's activities in the wake of media reports suggesting it was digging tunnels along its border in Sargodha district and would analyse its 'implications', External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said here Monday.
'We are closely monitoring whatever has been happening in Pakistan and both our defence ministry as well as our ministry will certainly work together to analyse what it means by way of implications to India,' Krishna said.
He was reacting to media reports about Pakistan building tunnels in the Sargodha district of Pakistani Punjab, not far from the border with India.
'An attempt is being made to establish the purpose of digging up such tunnels which are really big in size,' the report quoted an intelligence official as saying.
'These clearly cannot be meant for transport as is obvious from the images available; unlike ordinary tunnels they don't lead on to roads,' the official added.
Sargodha is said to be the storage hub for Pakistan's missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.
Crooks inside the abattoir of words
In the process, another one of Chidambaram's speeches was completely ignored though perhaps the positions it set forward were even more far-reaching and controversial than the points he had made in his address to the Intelligence Bureau. Given that we are currently in the midst of a debate about the direction and nature of higher education — one symptom is the de-recognition of several deemed universities run by crooks, politicians and businessmen — Chidambaram's intervention represented an unusually strong policy statement.
Chidambaram spoke at the convocation of St Xavier's College, Calcutta, on January 17. He began by demolishing the general view that Indians are fans of higher education. He pointed out that less than 12 per cent of school-going children were able to find place in colleges or universities. The world average is 45 per cent.
Given that there is a shortage of places in higher education institutions, how do we fill the gap? Chidambaram claimed that "Higher education — or what passes as higher education in India — is, save a few shining examples, either a money-spinning business or a moth-eaten system."
He said that higher educational institutions fell into three categories. There were government-run universities. He was scathing about them: "They are no different from any government office. As a matter of tiresome duty, they produce graduates and post-graduates every year, the vast majority of whom are no more 'educated' at the end of their terms than they were when they first enrolled in the college or university."
A second group consists of elitist institutions, run with the support of the government. He conceded that these were often well-run but attacked them on the grounds of elitism.
It was the third set of institutions that drew most of his ire: "For them, education is commerce. Since demand for seats and colleges far exceeded the supply through legitimate sources there was a huge business opportunity that was grabbed with both hands by shrewd business persons. The bulk of these self-financing colleges and self-styled universities are no more than money-spinning businesses that exploit the demand-supply gap."
Given the contempt in Chidambaram's tone, nobody will be surprised by what came next: "I recognise and support the role of the private sector in higher education. But I am absolutely clear in my mind that the private sector in higher education ought not to mean private business in education. No one should be allowed to profit from offering higher education. As far as I am aware, no great university in the world was established for the purpose of profit. I believe some activities in a society must stand outside the world of profit and higher education ranks first amongst such activities."
Chidambaram's conclusion was unambiguous. He hoped that when the higher education policy was formulated "we will be able to ensure that higher education is a domain that will have no place for profiteering".
Though the speech was largely ignored, it was actually one of the most important speeches on the subject of education made by any member of the second UPA government. For the past several months, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has been striving to reform the education sector with, it must be said, very little support from his government.
I do not know if Sibal supports Chidambaram's views in their entirety but I do know that he is concerned by the number of colleges and institutes that cheat students by making false promises and then profit from exploiting the gullibility of the young. Sibal seems to believe that the lust for profit has led many institutions to defraud students and wants to set in place a regulatory mechanism that actually works.
Chidambaram appears to have gone beyond anything Sibal has said in public. His view is that no institution of learning should be run on a profit basis. Presumably, he would require that all such institutions were run by charitable trusts or by non-profit organisations.
In fact, as we know, education (like health) is seen as a growth sector by businessmen who believe that there are huge profits in running nasty elite schools and much-hyped institutes and colleges. Such businessmen believe that a pro-liberalisation government will encourage investment-for-profit in the education sector. So, the words of Chidambaram, the government's key liberaliser, will come as a shock to them.
We have no way of knowing whether Chidambaram cleared the contents of his speech with the Prime Minister or with the leaders of his party. What we do know, however, is that his views are almost certainly shared by Sonia Gandhi and many of his party's leaders who agree with him that Harvard, Oxford, Yale or the Sorbonne would not be what they are today if they were run on a profit-making basis.
All this suggests that Sibal's removal of deemed university status from many profit-making institutions is merely the first step in a new policy initiative. When the government does announce its policy on higher education, there will be no role for institutions that are run on a commercial basis.
Speaking for myself, I share Chidambaram's contempt for those who seek to profit from the education of our children. Even in that bastion of capitalism, the United States, college education is not run on a purely commercial basis by corporations or individuals who make money out of their students. The higher education system of a successful society must be based on something more than the greed of people who set up colleges.
My problem is that, as much as I disapprove of education as a money-making racket, I recognise that the new institutions have plugged a gap in the supply of college places. If we are to drive out the profiteers and we are to raise our percentages of college-going youth, then we cannot do so by depending solely on the government whose institutions Chidambaram so eloquently damned in the same speech.
We need to evolve a new model of higher education that may well use government financing but which functions without governmental corruption and inertia. As of now, no model exists that fits the bill.
So yes, do ban colleges that are run for profit. But let's first make sure that we have something to put in their place.
Exclusive to TNSE. More at www.virsanghvi.com.
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GoM clears two Bills on education reforms
22 Jan 2010, 0509 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The group of ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has cleared the proposed legislation to make accreditation
mandatory for institutes and to set up education tribunals to adjudicate on all education-related disputes.
A third bill to check malpractice in education institutes was not taken up because defence minsiter A K Antony, who is part of the GoM and had evinced interest in the bill, did not attend Thursday's meeting. The three legislation, which were referred to the GoM in December, are key components of HRD minister Kapil Sibal's higher education reform agenda.
Sources indicated that the bills have been passed with "some minor changes". Some ministries had questioned the need for education-specific tribunals, and the proposal to make accreditation 'mandatory' for all institutes. On the proposed bill to set up Education Tribunals, objections had been raised on the need to set up separate tribunals for the higher education segment.
The Educational Tribunal Bill provides for a three-tier system. It would deal with all disputes between students and institutions, teachers and institutions. Interestingly, the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill is still pending before the GoM. The bill will empower the Centre to initiate criminal proceedings against even private institutes that charge capitation fee or cheat students through other 'unfair practices'.
Stiff penalties and fines against errant institutes have been proposed in the legislation. The Bill takes on special importance particularly in light of the deemed university controversy and the reprot submitted by the ministry to the Supreme Court. The government affidavit has made reference to this proposed legisaltion as well.
The GoM members include home minister P Chidambaram, defence minister AKAntony, law minister Veerappa Moily, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal and minister of state (independent charge) science and technology Prithviraj Chavan.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/GoM-clears-two-Bills-on-education-reforms/articleshow/5486478.cms
Bill Gates says US recovery to take years, taxes rise
25 Jan 2010, 2001 hrs IST, REUTERS
WASHINGTON: Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said on Monday the US economy could take years to recover from recession and predicted taxes
Bill Gates
will have to rise to bring the federal budget into balance.
Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America, Gates also warned against too much government intervention and urged President Barack Obama to focus policy on long-term issues such as education to combat the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
"When you have a financial crisis like that, it's years of digging out," said Gates, who co-founded Microsoft Corp and remains its chairman.
"The budget's very, very out of balance. And even as the economy comes back, without changes in tax and entitlement policies, it won't get back into balance. And at some point, financial markets will look at that and it will cause problems," he added.
"Taxes are going to have to go up and entitlements are going to have to be moderated."
Gates spoke two days ahead of Obama's State of the Union speech, which is expected to focus extensively on economic issues including the need for job creation.
"We're having a slow recovery and everybody's frustrated by the pace of the recovery. But I don't think the government could change and magically make it speed up a lot," he said.
"If you try to do too much, it can distort things. The government's role is more of a long term role, investing in education."
Gates also said the United States needs its leaders to level with the American people about the long-term challenges the country faces and the sacrifices needed to overcome them.
Narayanan's exit gives full control of internal security to Chidambaram
RAJEEV DESHPANDE, TNN, 18 January 2010, 11:02pm IST
NEW DELHI: The exit of M K Narayanan as national security advisor has set the stage for a significant re-ordering of UPA-2's power structure with home minister P Chidambaram set to gain fuller control of internal security reducing the role of the next NSA to foreign policy.
Chidambaram's emergence as the sole "boss" of internal security may end a certain duality that saw agencies caught between the home ministry and NSA in taking their cues. It will swiftly complete the process of the home ministry regaining the autonomy that it had lost to NSA before Chidambaram stepped in the home ministry.
There are doubts whether PM will like to take in somebody as internal security advisor -- Narayanan's original brief -- but even if he does, the role would be restricted to coordination rather than that of a policy innovator.
The new NSA -- former foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is the frontrunner -- would be looking at a leaner brief. To what extent PMO would still act as a check on internal security will now depend on PM and the Congress leadership.
Not all see this process as a diminution of PMO's powers, even if some feel the need for an effective oversight for the home ministry. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not too keen on nitty-gritty of internal security, the ball may now clearly lie with Chidambaram on this score. With NSA more engaged with strategic aspects of foreign policy, PMO may drive MEA more intensely than before.
The new order would be a big change. Till last week, before he was named governor of West Bengal, Narayanan presided over an empire encompassing defence, internal security, space, atomic energy, foreign policy and even Jammu and Kashmir affairs. The spread made him the key figure in PMO as the NSA displayed a panache not often associated with career spooks.
He often said he was a cop and lacked the finesse of a diplomat, but this was disingenuous as Narayanan was a skillful power player who could be assertive but knew exactly where the triplines were.
His decisiveness will be missed. Just ahead of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina's visit earlier this month, Narayanan firmly intervened to approve a joint celebration of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, shrewdly realising the importance of stressing cultural connections between the two nations. He saw the merit of a $1 billion helpline to Dhaka.
While Narayanan amazed officers with his ability to trawl through every paper to cross his desk, he may have micro-managed too much. But he did pick up clues others missed like an increase in Chinese firms handling hydro projects near the border.
When he took up his assignment as internal security advisor in UPA-1, Narayanan wasn't sure how much time his job would take up. He felt perhaps a couple of days a week would suffice leaving him free to be based in Chennai. Nor did anyone else anticipate the steady accretion of powers in his office. With the PM not displaying any taste for security, it had been largely Narayanan's say in key IB and RAW appointments.
Secretive by nature, he rarely shared plans and drew criticism for not initiating systemic reform of the security apparatus. His rise had earned him detractors, but a sense of surprise over the exit of this adroit mover is yet to ebb.
Just why he fell out of favour -- his move to the Kolkata Raj Bhawan is not seen as voluntary -- is perhaps best explained as a culmination of a gradual process in the aftermath of 26/11 and Chidambaram's move to home. The turf war intensified when UPA-2 came to power and Chidambaram seemed determined to wrest control of internal security functions.
The NSA's brief saw a huge number of files being routed through him. He perhaps chewed off a little too much. There was some discussion over how space and atomic energy would be handled since MoS in PMO Prithviraj Chavan was to oversee these areas.
While 26/11 dimmed his sun, the political feedback to the Congress leadership over an "over-bureaucratised" PMO also made an impact. Narayanan's lines with Congress got hit by some bad static. His clout with 10, Janpath, seen as his appointing authority in the first place, also declined. Too much power was wielded by someone not accountable to the Cabinet or party, it was said.
The PM was seen to have batted for Narayanan when the calls for accountability were shrill after Mumbai, but could not be the cushion when the move was revived last month.
Some feel that Singh may be having mixed feelings about internal security largely being overseen by home as he is more comfortable with foreign policy. At meetings in PMO, Narayanan did have the confidence to speak his mind frankly and Singh heard him out. But the relationship was not as seamless as is sometimes made out. That said, Singh and the PMO are surely going to miss `Mike' and his tiny, scrawling handwriting.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Narayanans-exit-gives-full-control-of-internal-security-to-Chidambaram/articleshow/5474408.cms
The President's Address to the Nation
Agencies
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 1932 hrs IST
New Delhi The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, addressed the nation on the eve of the 61st Republic Day. Following is the text of the President's address to the nation:
"My fellow citizens,
On the eve of our 61st Republic Day, I extend my warmest greetings to all of you across the country and also to those living abroad. To the members of our Armed Forces and Para-military forces who guard our frontiers and to our internal security forces, I extend my special greetings.
26th January, this year marks the completion of six decades of working, striving and, all along, being guided by the principles and objectives of the Constitution that was framed after careful deliberations and adopted in 1950. I often recall the speech of Mahatma Gandhi at the launch of the Quit India Movement on 8th August, 1942, where he said that power, when it comes, will belong to the people of India.
The wish of the Father of the Nation found expression in the very opening words of the Constitution – We, the people of India. This was a strong affirmation that the impulses of the nation and its future would be guided by its people. They would reflect their aspirations and choices, through democratic means.
They would also enjoy the fundamental rights that guarantee their freedoms and dignity. Today is a reminder that upholding the values, determining the direction and propelling the growth of our nation is a task that must be fulfilled by every citizen of the country.
In the first decade of the 21st century, India witnessed transformational changes. It also emerged as a force driving change in the world. Our achievements and experiences have, indeed, brought the nation to a definitional stage, where the promise of a bright future as a developed and progressive nation is for us to claim, as we all work together with conviction and commitment.
However, as we overcome deficiencies and convert our strengths into an energetic force, we must remain deeply conscious of what we must preserve and what we must change.
Foremost amongst what we must continue with, is our democratic principles and way of life.
We have ably demonstrated that we are a functioning democracy, by time and again, choosing our governments through the ballot and by taking democracy to the grassroots. Also, as we are aware, democracy is very much more demanding. It is the rule of law. It is the rule of reason. And, as India has shown to the world, it is the rule of non-violence.
Democracy involves a pattern of behavior, in which every individual must act responsibly, show respect towards dissimilar opinions and address differences in a constructive and accommodative manner.
This will build harmony and tolerance - values which are intrinsic to our philosophy; these form the bedrock of a society that embraces the diversity of language, religion and culture to create a composite whole. These values must be followed uninterruptedly in a nation that is, as vast and as varied as ours.
Secularism, our constitutionally chosen path, entails respect for all religions. Its place in our national life is unalterable. India is a land where followers of different religions have lived together for centuries. We must maintain social cohesion. Our tradition of living in accord with each other must continue to form an integral part of the rhythm of life of our future generations.
Belonging to a civilization that has deep reverence towards nature, we must also be sensitive inhabitants of the Planet, in which climate change has become a major challenge. We must judiciously use its resources, work to conserve its rich flora and fauna as well as adopt environment friendly approaches. Use of energy efficient technologies and renewable sources of energy, are some steps that can reduce the carbon footprint.
Dear Citizens,
Our nation has made significant strides. We are the fourth largest economy of the world in terms of purchasing power parity. Our target of achieving a double digit growth rate is plausible and realistic, given our impressive performance during the last decade and our resilience during the global economic downturn.
We should continue with policies that promote growth, and also take growth patterns to the bottom of the pyramid and, to those currently outside its purview. Empowering the poor and the disadvantaged, enabling them to move up the economic ladder, to join the ranks of the prosperous, is a task that must be accomplished by all of us. Women need to be made full and equal partners. The inclusive growth strategy, which we have chosen, can make our growth process equitable and sustainable.
The roadmap to inclusive growth requires social justice that can be delivered through an effective social sector infrastructure. It should make quality education and good health facilities available to all citizens, along with social services and job opportunities. This, in turn, will create a human resource base which has the skills, knowledge and capacity to work productively. Hence, our attention must remain focused on this, especially as we have a young population.
They must be nurtured and prepared for taking up their responsibilities. Future growth in all sectors will depend on knowledge workers and skilled workforces. They can make our economy dynamic, our service sector efficient and competitive, our manufacturing industries broad based and our agriculture and allied sectors strong. Furthermore, integrating and developing linkages between sectors, say agriculture and industry, will further reinforce growth.
These linkages can be fortified by having connectivity at various levels. For a nation which is the seventh largest in geographical terms and the second largest in terms of population, our existing physical infrastructure is inadequate. This constrains and limits connectivity. We have to change this situation. The number of bridges, roads, harbours as well as our power generation capacity and transport facilities, among others, require extensive additions.
But, do not forget that along with these structures of cement, steel and mortar, it is also important to bridge our differences, build roads to connect hearts and minds, harbour compassion, generate goodwill towards all and transport these feelings to strengthen the unity of the nation.
We will also have to create an atmosphere for our citizens to exercise their rights and tell them to perform their duties as well. This is important to make the development of a democratic nation of over one billion people, participatory and sustainable. In the next decade, not only must we witness the speedy building up of infrastructure, but also a greater cohesiveness among citizens.
A bottleneck and an impediment in bringing about the desired results, for which policies and schemes have been formulated and huge allocation of funds made, is weak implementation and corruption in the system. The causes of the chronic ailment of tardy implementation have to be treated. There should be accountability for lack of implementation of projects, programmes and schemes. This is critical for bringing about positive change.
Public-Private Partnerships and SHGs, that is Self-Help Groups, are important mechanisms for outcome-oriented action and for creating a wide network of stakeholders for growth. There have been numerous examples of how women in urban and rural areas have been able to become financially self-reliant through the SHG route.
A movement towards universalisation of SHGs, that brings within its ambit all eligible women, can be a powerful instrument for the economic empowerment of women and for inclusive growth. Facilitation of their formation and functioning will, thus, create a wave of progress and change.
Dear Citizens,
The world over, as also in our country, there is a rising demand for food-grains. This foretells the need for an intense focus on increasing agriculture productivity to ensure food availability, particularly of agricultural produces which are in short supply, to avoid spiraling food prices. To achieve this very important objective, I call for urgent steps towards a Second Green Revolution.
There should be use of new technologies, better seeds, improved farming practices, effective water management techniques, as well as more intense frameworks for connecting the farmer with the scientific community, with lending institutions and with markets. Our farmers are ready and willing to work, earn and learn. We have to respond positively and do some "out of the box thinking".
Higher agriculture incomes will improve the living standards of the over 145 million rural households, in the over six lakh villages of the country. With higher income levels, the rural economy will generate demand and provide impetus for growth in other sectors. Recognizing this reality, we have to involve the agriculture economy more pro-actively into the growth process, both as a centre of production and as a generator of demand for various products and services.
There are many complementarities that exist between farming communities and the corporate world because both are private enterprises. The possibilities of win-win partnerships between industry and agriculture should be explored. For example, the food processing industry when located close to agricultural areas can transform India's rural landscape.
Currently, food processing in India is as low as 10 percent of production, as compared to 65 percent to 80 percent, generally seen in the developed countries. Other agro-based industries would be equally important as propellers of growth.
The question is how to attract farmers into such partnerships, which do not adversely affect, but rather keep the interests of farmers in the forefront and take into account their various sensitivities, particularly about their land-holdings.
This needs to be done in a farmer-friendly manner and by creating awareness in the farming community. Some Indian companies have understood that linking farmers to industrial units would be beneficial to both. They have developed interesting models of engagement with the farming community. We should study these experiences, as we look at viable options that suit Indian conditions for harnessing the potential of village economies.
Dear Citizens,
Today, the optimum use of capital or labour or resources across the entire spectrum of our national activity is dependent on cutting-edge technologies and technological breakthroughs. We need technologies for more efficient and cleaner energy, for our industry and agriculture.
India has to chalk out strategies that will promote research and development resulting in innovative methods and techniques. The quality of research in our country must be upgraded to build knowledge structures. I think the nation should take this up as an urgent calling. A knowledge economy requires an education system that encourages creativity and a capacity to think in a novel fashion.
Also, our research institutions should join global knowledge networks to keep themselves abreast of worldwide advancements in research. Technology should reach a broader section of our society, and also the movement of grassroots innovations should receive encouragement.
A change which is required, and of which I have spoken often is the eradication of social malpractices in particular those related to discrimination against women.
These pose a hindrance on our path to building a more progressive and equitable nation. We should follow a positive agenda for the empowerment of women. A change in our mindsets will be important to remove prejudices and create equal opportunities for all citizens. This is essential for our inclusive growth agenda and for tapping the full potential of our population.
In any mission, particularly one as complex and challenging as nation building, as has been said by our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, "We have to labour, and to work, and to work hard, to give reality to our dreams." For this, motivational levels have to be kept high.
Media can have an important influence on how people see the country. With relentless advances in technology, media is now an integral part of our daily lives. It can create awareness by bringing information to the people, getting them to reflect, and making them realize their responsibilities towards the nation. With a media that plays a constructive role, people would be inspired to take actions that would contribute to building the nation and also to learn about the benefits of positive actions.
For growth, an environment of security is essential. Government is committed to maintain high vigil and take appropriate measures to address internal security challenges. Our country has been a target of terrorism for more than two decades. Government has taken and will continue to take necessary steps to tackle threats emanating from terrorism. It will also continue to work with the international community to combat this menace.
As in the past, in the future also, the voice of India in the world would be a voice for peace, a voice for development, and a voice of hope. In the global arena, we will seek a change in the structure of multilateral institutions, so that they reflect contemporary realities. We will continue to cooperate with the international community to deal with global issues. We will seek to build friendly relations with countries in our region and those across the world.
As 2009 came to a close, there have been many analyses about what are the possible prospects of the next decade for India. Some refer to it as the deciding decade, the decade of reckoning. On reflection, I fully agree that it will be so.
It must, therefore, mean a decade in which all Indians must do their work with a sense of responsibility, discipline, integrity of mind and purpose as well as with a spirit of cooperation. We will have to inspire our young generation so that they are virtuous, with good character and a sense of fellow feeling towards others. We must channelise all our efforts towards the goal of taking the country to a higher level of all round national development and not rest till we achieve our goal.
We can then be proud that we have performed our duty and borne our responsibility well. It is said that, fortune is an outcome of good work and can slip away, if we are lax in our work. I am reminded of a few inspirational lines:-
Courtesy: Press Information Bureau
Nobel laureate Ramakrishnan, A R Rahman, Aamir in Padma list
New Delhi Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Apollo hospital chief Pratap Reddy and former RBI Governor Y V Reddy were chosen on Monday for the second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan while music maestro A R Rahman and Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan have been named for Padma Bhushan.
Eminent theatre personalities Zohra Segal and Ebrahim Alkazi and noted 'mridangam' Carnatic artist Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman are the other three chosen for Padma Vibhushan award by the government which, in all, named 130 people, including 13 in the category of foreigners, NRIs and PIOs. 43 are Padma Bhushan and 83 are Padma Shri.
Complete list of Padma awardees >>
Cricketer Virendra Sehwag, Hockey national Ignace Tirkey, Formula 1 driver Narain Kartikeyan, Badminton star Saina Nehwal, Boxer Vijender Singh and Sachin Tendulkar's 'guru' Ramakant Achrekar have been selected for Padma Shri awards in sports category.
Among the Padma Bhushan awardees this year are noted NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, eminent nurosurgeon Satya Paul Agarwal and eminent cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who performed 'beating heart' on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year.
No one has been chosen for the Bharat Ratna award this year.
Tamil film music composer Ilaiyaraaja, who set music for Hindi films like 'Cheeni Kum' and 'Paa', Hindustan classical vocalist Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, former Cabinet Secretary and now Member in the Planning Commission B K Chaturvedi have been chosen for Padma Bhushan along with former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Moosa Raza and former Vice Chancellor of Goa University P R Dubhashi for civil service.
Noted US-based journalist Farid Zakaria gets Padma
Bhushan in journalism category while Prof Tan Chung and Prof A J Paulraj get the award in literature and education and science and engineering respectively. Both are also from the US.
In the art category, Akbar Padamsee, Kumudini Lakhia, Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Puttaraj Gavai, Ram Kumar, Shrinivas Vinayak Khale and Ustad Sultan Khan are being conferred with the Padma Bhushan awards.
Another Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen and S K Bandyopadhyay have been named in the public affairs category of Padma Bhushan.
Among the Padma Shri award winners are Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, Oscar award winner in sound technician category Resul Pookutty, Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, Nemai Ghosh, who had done camera work for Satyajit Ray, Arundhati Nag and Shobha Raju selected from the field of art.
Former CBI Director D R Karthikeyan, who headed the Special Investigation Team that probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and environment activist Ranjit Bhargava have been chosen for Padma Shri awards. In the trade and industry category Venu Srinivasan of the TVS Group, Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju, B Raveendran Pillai, Deepak Puri, Irshad Mirza and Kapil Mohan have been selected for Padma Shri awards.]
Padma Shri is also being awarded to Anu Aga, Ayekpam Tomba Meetei, J R Ganga Ramani, Deep Joshi, Baba Sewa Singh, Sudha Kaul and Kranti Shah for their social work.
Former Union Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil gets Padma Bhushan for social work while Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Arun Sarma get Padma Shri in public service and literature and education category.
Chidambaram for bold, radical changes in Home Ministry
Agencies
Posted: Dec 23, 2009 at 1252 hrs IST
New Delhi Proposing a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring" of his ministry that includes bifurcation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint to tackle terrorism and said the new National Centre for Counter Terrorism will be set up by next year.
Presenting a road map "A New Architecture for India's Security", Chidambaram said given the imperatives and the challenges of the times, "a division of the current functions of the Ministry of Home Affairs is unavoidable."
The NCTC tasks involve preventing a terror strike, containing an attack and effectively responding to it. "Such an organisation does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch," he said noting that the US was able to set up such a counter terrorism unit within 36 months of the 9/11 attacks".
>>Full text: P Chidambaram's IB Centenary Endowment Lecture
Addressing officers and personnel of the Intelligence Bureau and various para-military forces, he said, "The Home Minister should devote the whole of his/her time and energy to matters relating to security".
The Home Minister said the broad architecture of the new security system was an outcome of last year's Mumbai attacks. "A billion plus people felt they had been humiliated and the country had been brought to its knees by a small band of terrorists," he recalled.
"I, therefore, propose a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring of the security architecture at the national level," the Home Minister said and added that it would consist of political, administrative, intelligence and enforcement elements.
Chidambaram said as far as responding to a terrorist attack is concerned, "we may have enhanced the capacity to contain and repulse an attack, but I think that there is still some distance to go before we can claim to have acquired the capacity to respond swiftly and decisively to a terror attack."
He said it was this assessment which led him to argue that the security architecture at the top must be thoroughly and radically restructured.
NCTC' mandate should be to respond to violence unleashed by any group ¿ be it an insurgent group in the North East or the CPI (Maoist) in the heartland of India or any group of religious fanatics anywhere in the country acting on their own or in concert with terrorists outside.
He said the new organisation would therefore have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations.
While making it clear that some of the organisations may have to be brought under the ambit of NCTC, the Home Minister made a fervent plea that this should not result in turf wars.
"Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under NCTC and what come to my mind readily are NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG.
As far as investigation is concerned, Government has set up the National Investigation Agency, and that agency would have to be brought under the overall control of NCTC.
Give more powers to DGPs; Centre tells states
Agencies
Posted: Sep 28, 2009 at 1642 hrs IST
New Delhi The Centre has asked states to give more operational and financial autonomy to Directors General of Police to acquire logistics and have a larger say in administrative matters, Home Ministry officials said.
The fresh directive comes close on the heels of Home Minister P Chidambaram's remarks that officers of state police forces are kicked around like a football.
In a communique to the Chief Secretaries, the Home Ministry has asked state governments to delegate more power to the DGPs to handle the day-to-day affairs of their respective police force, they said.
The Ministry asked the states to constitute a Police Establishment Board, that would decide on transfers and postings, as early as possible.
It also asked the state Governments to revamp their recruitment procedures and make them quick, time bound and transparent.
The Ministry asked the state governments to allocate funds for police to acquire adequate resources which would help maintain law and order and deal with other challenges.
On September 15, at the conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police, Chidambaram had said state governments continued with old mindset and habits as far as working of police is concerned.
Chidambaram's unfinished agenda at North Block...
Surabhi
Posted: Dec 01, 2008 at 0934 hrs IST
New Delhi Key economic reforms and an overhaul of the country's decades-old tax laws will form the core of finance minister P Chidambaram's unfinished agenda from his four and a half year long tenure in North Block. Even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be handling the portfolio, North Block insiders say a full time finance minister will be required to carry forward this agenda.
The biggest setback from Chidambaram's sudden exit is expected to be to the finalisation of the goods and services tax (GST). Finance ministry officials conceded that with the minister's departure, there will be a great deal of uncertainty over the future of the GST. The empowered committee, headed by West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta, was set to meet him later during the month to finalise a roadmap for the introduction of the tax.
A crucial part of India's taxation reforms, GST aims to absorb service tax, excise duty and all state level duties and taxes into one single levy. A decision to move towards this tax regime was announced by Chidambaram in his Budget speech of 2006.
Similarly, the Direct Tax Code, the minister's pet project, to simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961 too may not see the light of the day. "We do hope that the next government takes up the Code," an income tax department official said.
At the Economic Editor's Conference last week, Chidambaram had said the draft code would be placed in the public domain soon. "I have to read another 19 pages of the discussion paper. The discussion paper and the draft is ready," he had said at that time.
As FM, Chidambaram was also vocal about a blanket tax exemption to Special Economic Zones (SEZs)—an issue which the empowered Group of Ministers led by Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee has been debating for a long time now. It remains to be seen how this debate pans out going forward, although the UPA is likely to busy with more pressing matters in its short pending shelf life.
Meanwhile, other key economic reforms, in banking, disinvestment, pension and insurance too will be hit. Although the UPA government does not have enough time to get these Bills enacted, Chidambaram had been very keen to pursue them, especially after the Left parties withdrew support this July.
In fact, sources pointed out it was only because of his tacit support, that the New Pension Scheme is being rolled out for the unorganised sector, even without the passage of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Chidambarams-unfinished-agenda-at-North-Block/392781/
To cut delays, Centre may procure weapons for states
Express news service
Posted: Aug 18, 2009 at 1140 hrs IST
New Delhi The Centre will soon consider procurement of weapons on behalf of the states in a bid to quicken the procurement process.
The suggestion, among many others, was made at the day-long Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security on Monday, and is now a part of the 14-point agenda the government has set for further deliberation and action.
"States have been complaining about the long drawn out processes involved in procuring weapons and malpractices that creep into such processes causing major delays. The suggestion is that the Centre, instead of providing states with cash, should instead provide the support in kind. There is less room for leakage of resources in such a system," a senior Home Ministry official said.
Another important suggestion to have emerged out of the conference was that the Centre should step in, in a big way, to augment training capacity, especially for counter terrorism and jungle warfare.
Filling up of vacancies in the police forces, too, emerged high on the government's agenda. While 2.3 lakh posts were vacant in all ranks as on January 1, 2008, the number has dropped down to about 1.5 lakh. "Even this is too large, and state governments must make every effort to recruit and begin training of police personnel at least to the extent of 1,50,000 vacancies before 31st March 2010," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said at the conference.
Chidambaram acknowledged insurgency as a "grave threat" in the Northeast and said that at times the Centre had found that some state governments in that region had "allowed themselves to bend before insurgent groups, making the fight against insurgency that much more difficult".
"In the Northeast, insurgency remains a grave threat. In the last few months, we have refined our policy stance: the law will be applied strictly; ceasefire agreements will be enforced in letter and spirit; and we will talk to any group only if that group abjures violence, lays down its arms and offers to surrender. I regret to say that I cannot report much progress in the Northeastern states," Chidambaram said.
He proposed to hold discussions with the concerned state governments to draw up state-specific strategies to deal with the insurgent groups in the three most affected states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
While expressing satisfaction over the fact that eight months had passed since the last terrorist attack, Chidambaram hastened to add that this did not mean that the "threat of terror has vanished". He said it was only because of better intelligence and better preparedness that potential terror attacks could be thwarted. "We have cracked several terror modules and made several significant arrests, but the gravity of the threat is undiminished. We cannot afford to lower our guard, and we shall not," he said.
Stating that the security situation in J&K had shown perceptible improvement, the Home Minister said militancy had declined, even while agitational politics was on the rise.
On the challenge posed by Left-wing extremism, Chidambaram drew attention to a document, titled "Post-Election Situation- Our Task", put out by the CPI (Maoist) on June 12. "Anyone reading that document would have no illusion about the nature and gravity of the threat," Chidambaram said. "Let me make our policy stance clear: We believe in the two-pronged approach of development and police action... Our response therefore will be police action to wrest control of territory that is now dominated by the Naxalities, restoration of civil administration and undertaking developmental activities — in that order."
"Let our message to the Naxalities be this: we will talk; we will act; we will restore order; and we will undertake developmental activities," he added.
Looking back at the past seven months, Chidamabaram said, "Our collective record has been a mixed one." "Our best achievements have been in the reiteration of our determination to fight terror; in the sharing of intelligence; in the unanimous support for new laws and new instruments; and in acknowledging that police reforms have been neglected for too long," he said. "On the other hand, there are still critical deficiencies in budget allocations for the police, recruitment, training, procurement of equipment, introduction of technology, and personnel management."
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/To-cut-delays-Centre-may-procure-weapons-for-states/503307/
Reformer Rao regrets reluctance to recognise his role
Our Economic Bureau
New Delhi, Jan 6: It was the most loaded comment of an evening full of loaded comments, and it came softly into a packed conference room at the India International Centre, with the audience in rapt attention. "I want all the finance ministers (Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Chidambaram) to sit down and analyse the policies implemented by `the government at the time when Chidambaram was a cabinet minister in the early 1990s'" said the former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, without a smile on his face, but with his tongue firmly in cheek. "That is the most indirect way in which I can refer to the policies of my government without refering to myself."
Never before in the last decade has Mr Rao complained publicly for not being given the full credit for the economic reforms initiated by his government.
This was an unexpected opportunity, he tried to clarify, not something he would have liked to seek since he had decided to retreat into oblivion.
"I would not have come to this meeting if it had not been for Arjun and if I had not happened to be in Delhi today," he clarified. Perhaps alluding to the fact that two of the invited speakers, former finance ministers Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee had failed to turn up for different reasons.
"Since I was free and I am here, I came," he said. Mr Rao was the chief guest at a seminar to release and discuss a book on economic reforms written by Dr Arjun Sengupta, former member of the Planning Commission.
"A finance minister is a zero, without that `one' standing next to him. It is only the Prime Minister who can give a finance minister the political clout he needs to push difficult policies through." A second claim.
"No political party has been voted out because of economic reforms. They may have lost elections for other reasons, not due to economic reforms. The economic policies introduced since 1991 have finally made India truly independent. In 1947 India attained political freedom, but real freedom came when we had the courage to do what we felt was right in 1991." A third claim."I am convinced that economic reforms implemented in the early 1990s have served the country well. These policies will make India a great nation." A fourth claim.
Finally, "I urge all the finance ministers from different political parties to come together and analyse what we have done in the last decade, see where we were right and where we were wrong. Political parties will oppose one another, but the finance ministers can take an objective view and ensure that there is a national consensus on economic reforms."
After four years of reticence and wavering, not clear in his own mind whether he should assert ownership of his policies or not, Mr Rao stepped out of the shadows to finally lay claim to providing the political leadership to the launch of the "new economic policies" in 1991, and assert that these policies have and will serve the country well. Mr Rao has shied away from doing this repeatedly. He has consistently refused to grant interviews on his economic policies to the financial media at home and abroad in the last four years. He has refused to write articles for newspapers, journals and edited volumes on economic issues. Save a singular appearance at an Assocham seminar where he actually made some contrarian remarks, he has never been so outspoken on economic policy issues.
His comments gain additional importance at this stage since the Congress Party is in the throes of a major debate on economic reforms. One of the main advocates of a return to a more "left of centre" agenda, Mr Mani Shankar Iyer, sat directly behind Mr Rao and heard the speech out in full.
Barely a month ago Mr Rao had expressed some doubts o e part of Mr Rao. On the contrary, on Friday evening Mr Rao was in top gear, defending his and Dr Singh's policies all the way.
Disagreeing with Dr Sengupta, who had advocated greater public investment in the infrastructure sector, Mr Rao said, "What was the use of all what we did if we can not get more foreign investment into the infrastructure sector? Let the government invest in education and health."
Interestingly, while Mr Sinha and Mr Chidambaram devoted a considerable part of their time to a discussion of questions of equity, poverty reduction and rural development, Mr Rao dismissed these issues as "being with us for a long time". The rich and the poor have been around for a long time, backwardness has been around for a long time, droughts and floods have been around for a long time.
India's problems are old, historic and need to be tackled. But they are not the result of reforms started in 1991. "What we did in 1991 has set the country on the course of real freedom and greatness."
Clearly, Mr Rao had warmed the cockles of all the pro-reformers in the audience. H e himself appeared quite pleased with his performance.
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/20010107/fec07019.html
No silence, please
Shekhar Gupta
Posted: Jan 09, 2010 at 0232 hrs IST
To be honest, we do not exactly have a pressing reason or provocation to assess the performance of UPA-II exactly at this point of time. No first hundred days, no first anniversary, no first budget and so on. In other words, there is nothing that we journalists would call the "news peg". Yet there is something that tells you this is as good a time as any to analyse and evaluate this government's performance at this point, and to check where it is headed. Or even if it is moving, or seeming to stall.
Answers to these questions are never simple or easy, and they have rarely been, except say, in Rajiv Gandhi's first year when things were galloping, and in V.P. Singh's first (and mercifully only year) when we were rapidly sliding backwards. But on balance now you have to admit that large sections of this government give you the impression of stalling. Then, as you dig deeper, you also find that it is stalling not particularly because it encountered any headwinds, but is in the doldrums that are its very own creation. Why it has done so, is an intriguing question. It could be complacence: an easy second term, an economy pretty much reviving by itself, a year of respite from terror. It could be laziness and fatigue: there are still several members in this cabinet who know this is their last real job and if their party still wins in 2014, the best they could hope for is a Raj Bhavan. And not many fancy having the audacity or the hormones to have as much fun there as apparently N.D. Tiwari did. It could also be deliberate: a do-nothing strategy, Mamata Banerjee thinks, can work well for her till 2011, and Sharad Pawar, who has turned out to be such a stunningly clueless agriculture minister, does not know what we can or should do anyway. It is also likely that this is, as we columnists usually love to say, a combination of all three.
But let me dare to suggest that there is a fourth problem that bedevils this government. It is its very surprising inability, even lack of inclination, to talk to the people, either to explain its actions or, even more significantly, to create public opinion to back policy decisions it intends to take. The second decade of the 21st century can't be compared with 1991 when economic reform could be carried out pretty much by stealth, without any debate in public. Narasimha Rao was clear about what he was doing: he was gambling with change he himself wasn't fully convinced about and he would take the credit if it worked, or dump it along with Manmohan Singh if it did not. And the reformer of 1991 was like somebody harvesting an orchard of low-hanging fruit that he could pluck at will. The equation has completely reversed in 2010.
There is very little low-hanging fruit left when it comes to economic and policy reform. No, UPA-II now has to deliver on big, game-changing reform. Revitalising and massively expanding India's creaky and inadequate infrastructure is just the start. Taking on Naxalites needs a similarly big effort. Reworking how industry acquires rural land will need us to alter attitudes that we've had since independence; without sweeping change in higher education, and fast, another generation will be left out of the India growth story. All of these require a robust national conversation.
The likely scapegoat of 1991 is now the leader and yet, if something were to really go to pieces, his party's chosen scapegoat. So there is very little percentage in his not talking to his people and explaining, selling and commending his own policies to them. All this strange diffidence is resulting in is sending large sections of his government into a shell, some in confusion, some in lazy celebration and some, a very small but significant section of the usual suspects, even licking their chops in anticipation of a mid-term "change" if the government continues to looked stalled.
It is a most curious situation where a prime minister with such high personal credibility and a remarkable track record is shy of creating public opinion in support of his own ideas and policies. We have complained in the past about the silence of the reformer in our political system, both in the NDA and UPA. But we now face an utterly avoidable situation of the silence of our entire leadership. It is not as if people are not talking. At least two of the ministers in the MEA can't say no to cameras no matter what the question is about, even if it is about what some nutcase blogger said in China. Nearly a half dozen secretaries in this government are on their way to becoming media stars, filling in the space left vacant by its ministers. But did the prime minister deliver to us simple folk one speech explaining what he was trying to do in Sharm el-Sheikh and why? Did he, or even Sonia or Rahul Gandhi, make even half a statement before that meeting to prepare public opinion for some change or shift? Remember the way Vajpayee, and in the past even Indira and Nehru, used Parliament or just any other public forum to give the people just the cue they need, particularly when they have a government they trust?
The stepping back over Sharm el-Sheikh was this government's first false step, the cricketing equivalent would be a team losing its first wicket. A little quibble over drafting apart, it was entirely self-inflicted because nobody had prepared the people of India for this change. The failure to get any of the old reform bills — pensions, banking, insurance — passed in two sessions of this Parliament is entirely because of that same diffidence. If leaders of this UPA, unburdened of the Left, were using some of the TV talk time to open up these issues, the benefits these reforms will bring to us, in public debate, the BJP would have found it cheap not to offer support in the Rajya Sabha for bills that were first written by its own government. But none of that has been done. There even seems no urgency to do so as we are so consumed by our joy at "seven per cent-plus" growth, sinking even deeper into that China-minus-four complacence. This is when, instead of celebrating seven and anticipating nine, our leaders should have been setting targets of ten and above.
It's not as if nobody is talking. Some are, and getting results. Chidambaram is turning out to be one of our most transparent, and open, home ministers ever, even thinking aloud on structural changes in his ministry and throwing into public debate an idea that could indeed have been pushed through in secrecy. He has similarly communicated with people at large on Naxalism and terrorism and this government has been rewarded with widespread popular support for its policies on these key issues. Kapil Sibal is talking about his ideas way ahead of implementation and while old-timers initially accused him of being impatient and immature, they should now applaud, because not only is there so little opposition to his ideas of change, there is a great deal of support. Jairam Ramesh has done a good job of explaining his shifts, and has not been shy of joining a very robust debate on climate change, with rewards. Kamal Nath inherited a ministry in suspended animation but one reason he has been able to shake it up, and win many internal bureaucratic battles, is that he is talking and building his own public opinion. Then think of all those who are silent: the food and agriculture minister tops the list. Somebody has to explain to the people why food prices are rising and what is being done about it. The last time we heard him talk in public was about the terrible cricket pitch at Kotla.
In 2010, when people are wise as well as impatient, this is not
going to work. Around the world incumbents are getting elected now because people have both access to facts and the wisdom to analyse them. That is why the UPA won a second term with a greater majority. Its silence and complacence are not doing it much good, in spite of all the tom-tomming of 7.5 per cent growth.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/No-silence-please/565212/
Chidambaram's Home reforms: let Ministry deal only with security
Thu, Dec 24 06:24 AM
Home Minister P Chidambaram today spelt out a "radical restructuring of the security architecture" at the national level, outlining the contours of the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), and stressing the need to hive off subjects with no direct connection to internal security from the Home Ministry.
The "business-as-usual" model and "don't-rock-the-boat" answers to difficult questions relating to the country's security would be "self-defeating", Chidambaram said.
The NCTC's goals, Chidambaram said, "will include preventing a terrorist attack, containing a terrorist attack should one take place, and responding to a terrorist attack by inflicting pain upon the perpetrators".
"Such an organization does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch. I am told that the United States was able to do it within 36 months of September 11, 2001. India cannot afford to wait for 36 months. India must decide now to go forward and India must succeed in setting up the NCTC by the end of 2010," he said.
Sources said the government does not need to bring in legislation to set up the NCTC; it can use an executive order.
While the response to different kinds of terror would be different, the NCTC's mandate, Chidambaram said, should be to respond to violence by any group — insurgents in the North-East, Maoists in the heartland of India, or religious fanatics anywhere in the country, acting either on their own or in concert with terrorists outside India.
Chidambaram was delivering the Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment Lecture in the Capital.
"NCTC would have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations," Chidambaram said. "All intelligence agencies would therefore have to be represented in the NCTC. Consequently, in my proposal, MAC (Multi-Agency Centre) would be subsumed in the NCTC."
The MAC, with expanded authority, would be at the core of the new organization, and would, in fact, transform itself into the NCTC, Chidambaram said. The functions of investigation and operation would be added to MAC's current brief.
"As far as investigation is concerned, Government has set up the National Investigation Agency, and that agency would have to be brought under the overall control of NCTC. The last function — operations — would of course be the most sensitive and difficult part to create and bring under the NCTC. But I am clear in my mind that, without 'operations', NCTC and the security architecture that is needed will be incomplete. It is the proposed 'operations' wing of the NCTC that will give an edge — now absent — to our plans to counter terrorism," Chidambaram said.
The minister acknowledged that the establishment of the NCTC "will indeed result in transferring some oversight responsibilities over existing agencies or bodies to the NCTC". He made a "fervent plea" that this should not result in "turf wars", however.
"Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under NCTC and what come to my mind readily are NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG. The positioning of R&AW, ARC and CBI would have to be re-examined and a way would have to be found to place them under the oversight of NCTC to the extent that they deal with terrorism. The intelligence agencies of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance would, of course, continue to remain under the respective Ministries, but their representatives would have to be deputed mandatorily to the NCTC. NATGRID would obviously come under NCTC. So also, CCTNS would have to be supervised by the NCTC," he said.
Subjects that do not have a direct bearing on internal security should either be dealt with by a separate ministry or a separate department with a minister under MHA, Chidambaram said.
"MHA now handles a wide portfolio of subjects ranging from 'freedom fighters' to 'forensic science'. Is this a functional arrangement to deal with the grave challenges to internal security that we face and that we will face from many more years? I am afraid not."
The words 'Ministry of Home Affairs' have an authoritative ring, Chidambaram said; however, MHA "now performs a number of functions that have no direct relation to internal security".
"For example, it has a division dealing with freedom fighters but it does not have even a desk for dealing exclusively with forensic science. There are other divisions or desks that deal with Centre-State Relations, State Legislation, Human Rights, Union Territories, Disaster Management, Census etc. These are undoubtedly important functions and deserve close attention. However, internal security is an equally, if not more, important function that deserves the highest attention," he said.
"Subjects not directly related to internal security should be dealt with by a separate Ministry or should be brought under a separate Department in the MHA and dealt with by a Minister, more or less independently, without referring every issue to the Home Minister. The Home Minister should devote the whole of his/her time and energy to matters relating to security."
A division of the current functions of the MHA was unavoidable, Chidambaram said, "given the imperatives and the challenges of the times".
Express News Service
Poverty measurement is an unsettled issue, both conceptually and methodologically. Since poverty is a process as well as an outcome; many come
out of it while others may be falling into it. The net effect of these two parallel processes is a proportion commonly identified as the 'headcount ratio' , but these ratios hide the fundamental dynamism that characterises poverty in practice.
The most recent poverty re-estimates by an expert group has also missed this crucial dynamism. Studies carried out by one of the authors of this article in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan have, however, helped bring to light the essence of poverty dynamics: it is simultaneously both created and reduced.
Following up on these insights, we examined , for the first time in India, a nationally-representative panel data set for more than 13,000 households studied in 1993-94 and re-interviewed in 2004-05 . We found that while 18.2% of the rural population moved out of poverty, another 22.1% fell into it over these 12 years.
This net increase of four percentage points was seen to have a considerable variation across states and regions. In states such as Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal, where more people moved out of poverty than fell into poverty, there has been an overall decline in rural poverty. Conversely, rural poverty rose in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, where descents into poverty were more numerous than escapes.
States as well as regions within states differ from one another. Some have high descent rates but low escape rates; in a few other states, both descent and escape rates are low. And, therefore, different combinations of poverty policies will be required for each region. A typology emerging from our analysis is presented in the accompanying chart.
Consider the upper-left cell that lists regions that have most successfully reduced poverty over the 12-year reference period , because a high escape rate went together with a low descent rate. Two small states, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, and another group of states (Assam and the northeast) fall within this high-performing group.
The poor in India are best off living within some region of this cell: the probability is highest that her circumstances will improve over time. For a contrasting situation, consider the bottomright cell, characterised by low escape rates and high descent rates. Compared to other regions, the prospect for the poor in these regions is bleak; chances for further impoverishment are the highest.
Future efforts in these regions will do well to concentrate first on lowering the high rate of descent, and second on ramping up the low escape rate.
A more nuanced prognosis emerges for regions included within the off-diagonal cells. Consider, for example, the two regions belonging to the bottom-left cell (Karnataka-inland southern, and Madhya Pradesh-Vindhya ). A high escape rate within these regions has been compromised by a concurrently high descent rate.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5496832.cms
Subol Mondal, a 55-year-old smalltime farmer, at Dayapur village in the Sunderban forests, West Bengal, is very particular to keep his date with
the local banker every month. He is servicing a 15-year loan, at subsidised interest rates, and paying out an equated monthly instalment (EMI) of Rs 900 in the beginning of the month is not a mean job.
He has had a hard year with natural disasters like the Aila playing havoc on his farm. Not only has he lost his crop but the cyclone has ruined his farmland as the salt water that seeped through has left his piece of land uncultivable for the next few crops.
Living in a thatched mud-house built on a high-rise land, however, saved him from losing his only source of electricity, the solar photovoltaic plate embedded in the thatched roof. The three-point connection, which he and his family of eight use for two hours every evening, is crucial this year as his eldest daughter prepares for her forthcoming board exam.
Subol is anxious to get his farmland (his only source of livelihood) to production at the earliest, but he is happy that his daughter may soon become a new earning member of the family thanks to the three 100-watt bulbs that light up his house and hopes for a better future.
Subol is not the only one. His fellow villagers and he are aware that the sun or solar power is a better bet and it is in their interest to adopt this nature-friendly device. Depending on diesel gensets or firewood, that have adverse impact on the ecosystem, will spell doom for their future as their livelihood is directly proportionate to the natural balance in the Sunderban region.
Can our political netas hear? There are about 18 to 20 solar photovoltaic projects in the Sunderban delta that provide electricity to about one lakh people.
The islands are estimated to have a population of 4.4 million people, most of whom are dependent on forest wood for lighting and cooking. Kerosene, a subsidised fuel by the government, does not reach these poor people and even if it did, they have to buy it at an exorbitant price of Rs 150-200 a litre. The government has set a subsidy price of Rs 9 a litre for this poor man's fuel. So much for the government's justification for doling out subsidies to the poor and needy.
The recent energy security report submitted by Teri has thrown up some interesting numbers and policy solutions to deal with India's energy market. China and India together consume more than what OECD countries do, and the demand will only increase in the years to come.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5496838.cms
blogs.bigadda.com/.../our-claim-that-mumbai-terror-strike-is-a-cia-and-mossad-affair-is-proved-as-headly-turns-out-a-cia-agentus-backs-10... - Cached -
palashbiswas's blog - Palash Speaks
- 4 visits - 07/12/09Troubled Galaxy Detroyed Dreams, Chapter 411 Palash Biswas ... to Address Ethnonationalism, Ethnic Cleansing and Economic Reforms in Free Market Democracy ...
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baesekolkata.ibibo.com/ -
FII View
West heading into a budget deficit crisis: Tyche Group 
2.34 pm | 25 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Martin W Hennecke of Tyche Group spoke about his reading of the global markets and his outlook....
Why is Jonathan Garner shifting from tech to oil stocks?
9.42 am | 25 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley says there is a high chance of the markets setting new highs in the second-half of this year because of the underlyi...
See hike in interest rates, CRR in January: Nomura Int'l
8.41 am | 25 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Rob Subbaraman of Nomura International is bullish on Asia, excluding-Japan. He says Asia is leading the world out of recession and forecasts an 8.4% ...
F&C Investments' must-haves for your portfolio
12.08 pm | 22 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Jeff Chowdhry, Head-Emerging Equities, F&C Investments, expects markets to trade choppy in Q1 CY10. He foresees an earnings growth of 20-25% and expec...
Chinese credit curbs: Impact on commodities, int'l mkts
8.25 am | 22 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Robert Parker, Vice Chairman of Credit Suisse Asset Management spoke about China situation and its impact on the globa...
JPMorgan's banking picks for 2010
11.26 am | 20 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Seshadiri Sen of JP Morgan says 2010 will be a good year for the banking sector. He is bullish on Axis Bank and IDFC. "We expect loan growth to return...
Budget may be more -ve than +ve for mkts: Morgan Stanley
10.00 am | 20 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Sridhar Sivaram of Morgan Stanley Investment Managers says Q1 will be slightly difficult for markets. "Possibility of a rate hike and paper supply are...
Fed's exit strategy may pose problems: BlackRock
9.44 am | 20 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Robert Doll, Vice-Chairman and Global CIO-Equities, BlackRock, says jobs data and earnings will continue to be the focus areas in US markets....
Neutral on market, sideways move may continue: Macquarie
10.14 am | 19 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Being neutral on the markets, Mark Matthews of Macquarie Capital Securities says the sideways trend may continue. "I don't see a breakout in either di...
Aberdeen Asset Management's must haves for your portfolio
10.56 am | 18 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Kwok Chern-Yeh, Investment Manager, Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, says the firm has not participated in any of the recent initial public offerings i...
What is Jim Rogers betting on in 2010?
12.10 pm | 17 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Investment Guru Jim Rogers says the Indian stock market has run up a lot. "I won't buy shares at these levels." He has a similar view on emerging mark...
CLSA sees India, China underperforming US mkt in 2010
12.36 pm | 16 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Russell Napier, Strategist, CLSA, expects the banking system in the west to repair itself and start working this year. He feels the money flow into em...
Jim Walker sees Repo rate hike by Jan-end
10.23 am | 14 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Jim Walker, MD, Asianomics, expects the US, UK economy to weaken in 2010. "US, Europe are stoked by deflation." He says the US is not in a position to...
UBS Securities' stock/sector plays for 2010
9.57 am | 13 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
Suresh Mahadevan, Head of Research, UBS Securities, is not worried about the withdrawal of stimulus and says he would use dips to buy in India....
Infosys headed to normalised 15-20% growth rate: Cowen & Co
10.00 am | 12 Jan 2010 | Source: CNBC-TV18
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Moshe Katri, Managing Director of Cowen & Co spoke about Infosys Q3 performance and his outlook for the company....
Budget 2010-11: Reforms deficit stays even after two decades
The Budget of 2010-11 would be the 20th reform Budget, and, in a telling commentary on the progress made in some key areas, is likely to echo
While the sea change in India's overall economic fortunes is now conventional wisdom — the world's second-fastest growing economy; part of emerging market powerhouses, the BRICs; demographic dividend waiting to be reaped and so on — things that have stayed static would be of interest.
Anyone who revisits the Budget of 1991-92 would be impressed by the wide sweep of reforms enumerated in it and in the accompanying statement on industrial policy, both of which were presented on July 24, 1991.
The industrial policy statement abolished industrial licensing, released industry from the inhibitive control of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission and liberalised foreign investment and foreign technology licensing.
Abolition of industrial licensing was done through an exceptional provision of the Industrial Development and Regulation (IDR) Act, 1951. The main purpose of the Act was to regulate and license industry, and the purpose of the exceptional provision was to exempt some specific sectors from the overall imperative of the Act. Delicensing in this manner raises questions about the legal validity of the exercise: can the overall purpose of an Act be overturned by a clause of the Act that offered selective exemption?
Ad hocism of this kind was understandable in 1991, when the Congress government headed by PV Narasimha Rao lacked a majority in Parliament. However, the failure of subsequent governments to abolish licensing by abolishing IDR Act, 1951, can only be explained as a reflection of the Indian state's penchant for keeping in reserve lots of scope for arbitrary action.
The Budget of 1991 promised return to macroeconomic balance, for which fiscal reform was identified as the key instrument. Mr Singh decried double-digit consumer price inflation arising from the macroeconomic imbalance. Food prices are, of course, at a 13-year high and definitely in double digits at the moment.
The 1991 Budget rued the fact that interest payments were 4% of GDP and argued that this burden could be brought down only by lowering the fiscal deficit. Ironically, the Centre's liabilities as a percentage of GDP at market prices stood at 55% in 1991, and at 62% in 2008-09, according to figures from Indian Public Finance Statistics 2008-09.
Interest payments as a proportion of GDP stood a tad lower in 2008-09, compared to 1990-91, thanks to the sharp fall in interest rates in the interim period. (In his Budget speech freeing interest rates apart from a minimum rate, Mr Singh put the minimum lending rate of term-lending institutions at 15%).
The fiscal deficit of the Centre in 1990-91 was 6.6% of GDP, and that of the Centre and the states combined 9.9%. The fiscal deficit of the Centre, 19 years later, stands at 6.8% of GDP, and the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and the states around 10% of GDP.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Reforms-deficit-stays-even-after-two-decades/articleshow/5496704.cms
Sick PSUs told to list land banks
NEW DELHI: The government has asked all sick public sector enterprises (PSEs) to prepare an inventory of the real estate in their possession, as
A government-constituted panel for deciding the pay revision of state-owned enterprises had proposed that government should withdraw from all public sector enterprises where profits have fallen below Rs 50 crore.
"The report had suggested that either these firms should be privatised by bringing in a strategic partner or be merged with a profit-making PSU," said a DPE official, who did not wish to be named.
The department of public enterprises (DPE) estimates that there are around 59 PSEs which fall under the sick category . The list of these sick companies includes HMT Bearings, Scooters India, Andrew Yule, Hindustan Photofilms, Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals and Hotel Corporation of India.
"This will help in getting a compiled data on the title deeds or encumbrances of land buildings owned by PSEs. It has been observed that some of these PSEs did not even maintain fixed asset register properly," said an official from ministry of heavy industries, who wished to remain anonymous.
There are 33 loss making companies under ministry of heavy industry itself. Companies such as Huawei, Alcatel Lucent have expressed interest to bid for the three units of Indian Telephones Industry ( ITI).
The PSEs will also need to get these properties valued at the prevailing market rate by an asset valuer. "The process will take time, since some of these properties are not free from the encumbrances and title deeds are not clear," said the DPE official .
The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) had earlier suggested that the government should lease out the sick PSUs under the lease, rehabilitate and operate (LRO) model.
BRPSE had identified PSUs such as ITI Bangalore, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Hindustan Photofilms, National Textile Corporation and Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) in Cochin, where there was surplus land available for disposal.
The government is looking to big bang divestment in PSEs to raise resources to meet the high expenditure on social schemes while simultaneously also keeping the fiscal deficit under control. The fiscal deficit for the current year is pegged at 6.8% of GDP, a 16-year high
Budget 2010-11: Excise duty hike on the cards
NEW DELHI: The government is considering an across-the-board increase in excise duty in Budget 2010-11, as it faces pressure to withdraw fiscal
"One option being considered is an increase in Cenvat rate by 2% while leaving the service tax rate unchanged at 10%," a finance ministry official told ET . Cenvat refers to the median excise duty, tax on manufacture of goods, levied on nearly 90% of the goods made in the country.
More services could be brought under the tax net to allow the government to keep service tax rates unchanged, the official said, requesting anonymity. A hike in service tax rate would be an immediate burden on consumers already battling high food prices. The proposal is at a very early stage and could undergo significant changes by the time the Budget is presented.
An alternative proposal is also under consideration which seeks an increase in excise rates in sectors that are doing well such as automobiles, instead of an across-the-board hike.
The economy is recovering from a downturn induced by a global recession that forced the government to cut taxes and increase spending to boost demand. The Reserve Bank of India is keeping policy rates at record low levels to encourage economic activity.
The country's GDP grew 6.7% in 2008-09 after recording 9% plus growth rates in the three preceding years. Three stimulus packages announced by the government in December 2008, January 2009 and February 2009 put the economy back on track, and helped it grow by 7.9% in the second quarter of the current financial year. The Cenvat rate was brought down to 10% from 14% in December 2008 and by another 2 percentage points to 8% in the interim Budget in February 2009. The service tax rate was cut to 10% from 12%.
The government is now looking to unwind these measures to contain the fiscal deficit. A two percentage point increase in the Cenvat could help garner an additional Rs 7,000 crore.
A sectoral strategy could, however, find favour with the government following some recent concerns, making the outlook look a mixed one against a bright one a few weeks ago.
The strong GDP growth in the second quarter had raised expectations of an 8% growth in 2009-10. Industrial output that expanded 11.7% in November and a four-month high 6% growth in core sector in December suggest growth could accelerate further. But the third-quarter growth could be in the range of 6-6.5% because of poor farm sector output, suggesting that overall growth could be in the range of 7%.
Globally too, some concerns have emerged over the economic recovery with countries such as China taking steps to counter the possibility of asset bubbles emerging. The head of International Monetary Fund, or the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn had also recently warned against premature withdrawal of the stimulus.
The country's chief statistician Pronab Sen does not see any urgency for tinkering with rates for a different reason. "If we are going to go in for GST (goods and services tax), does it make sense to take up the excise and then realign it later?" he said.
Even tax experts argue that the duty rejig should be done keeping in mind GST rates. "Given the likely GST rate, the government should either marginally increase the excise duty rate or leave it unchanged while simultaneously reducing the exempted items," said Pratik Jain, executive director KPMG. Mr Jain, however, felt service tax rates could be hiked.
National Knowledge network gets Cabinet nod
| NEW DELHI: The government recently approved the implementation of a scheme, which aims at bridging the rural-urban divide by introducing urban The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) scheme, which is aimed at providing better opportunities to rural people and help reduce migration from rural to urban areas. Union Cabinet has approved the restructured PURA scheme with a plan outlay of Rs 248 crore. The scheme will be implemented in public private partnership (PPP) mode, said Union minister for rural development CP Joshi. This fund will be utilised by providing capital grant up to 35% of the pilot project to meet the viability gap for operations and maintenance in PPP mode. Mr Joshi said seven to eight clusters will be identified during the 11th Five Year Plan period, and the pilot project will be implemented and managed by the private sector with the involvement of the respective panchayats. The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) approved a nation-wide ultra high-speed backbone or data-network highway, NKN. Various other networks in the country can take advantage of this ultra-highspeed backbone, with national and international reach to create independent and closed user groups. The network will help about 1,500 institutions across the country to get connected to a high-speed data communication network that would encourage sharing of knowledge, specialised resources and collaborative research. The CCI also approved a Rs 679-crore road project in Karnataka. The project, which involves upgradation, operation and maintenance of the Hyderabad-Bengaluru section of the national highway, will be implemented on a design, build, finance, operate & transfer basis under the National Highways Development Project. The government also approved implementation of the centrally-sponsored scheme under the National Horticulture Mission with an outlay of Rs 10,363.46 crore during the 11th Plan period. |
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Published on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 10:00 | Updated at Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 16:21 | Source : CNBC-TV18
Sridhar Sivaram, ED, Morgan Stanley Investment Managers, says Q1 will be slightly difficult for markets. "Possibility of a rate hike and paper supply are few of the negatives. We also see inflation closer to 9% by March. Moreover, the markets are going nowhere despite USD 2 billion inflows year-to-date."
He feels the budget, which is expected next month, to be more negative than positive. "The government could impose higher taxes to restrict the fiscal deficit."
According to him, returns in 2010 will be back-ended than front-ended.
Here is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Sridhar Sivaram on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: What is your sense? This kind of range trade might continue for a while longer as the market absorbs the news flow from various fronts.
A: The first quarter is going to be slightly difficult because a lot of the negative news would come in now. We have credit policy coming up end of this month and it's difficult to say what will happen but the stance is going to be more hawkish than anything else. Hence, possibility of a rate hike is always there, which I do not think the markets are going to like it too much.
There is a lot of paper coming in. We have seen almost USD 2 billion coming in the first 15 days and markets gone nowhere also the budget is there. There is a possibility of some reversal in the fiscal stimulus is very much on the card given the fiscal deficit that we are running. So if you add up everything, it looks as if the first quarter is going to be slightly difficult and maybe the returns for the years would be back ended than front ended.
Q: Are you saying there is a greater chance the market actually sees a rather sharp dip rather than it consolidates or end-up the first quarter with gains?
A: Difficult to say how much. I am clearly saying that there could be a dip in the first quarter once all these negative news starts to come into the market and lot of them we do not know. It's just taking some sort of a calculated prediction on what could happen based on data that we have already seen.
So if one add up all this it surely looks like the first quarter may not be such a greater quarter as oppose to the popular belief that first quarter is when market will rally and could see newer highs. We are already getting a sense that USD 2 billion have come in from foreign institutional investors (FII). Mutual funds are putting in money but markets not going anywhere and that's not a positive sign and most of the negative news yet to come in.
The macro negatives are going to play over the markets for the first quarter and maybe if growth comes back, post all these news flow which it could, the broad data for growth is very strong. Therefore, we have seen the GDP number and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) to be very strong. So once the market absorbs the other data, its possible that middle of the year onwards we could see the market again moving up. We could have a positive return or a better return in the second half than in the first half.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fiiview/budget-may-be-moreve-than-+ve-for-mktsmorgan-stanley_436782.html
Let's transform the country in the next 20 years
26 January 2010, 12:10am IST
Six decades ago, many wrote our fledgling republic off as a post-colonial upstart with constitutional pretensions. Yet here we are, as committed to democratic, secular and egalitarian principles as in 1950. Down the years, Indians have not only elected their leaders but, when let down, also kicked them out. And, once so food-insecure that it lived ship to mouth, India's now a growth story drawing global whistles. Yet, on a day that equally recalls the unfinished tasks of hard-won freedom, India can't rest on its laurels.
For one thing, we're yet to defeat divisive forces or eradicate socio-economic disparities. For another, megalopolis or rural hinterland, India's news-hungry, cellphone-wielding citizens are more clued in than ever before. Our very successes the telecom revolution, for instance have created an aspirational society marked by an expanding entrepreneurial middle class. Also, the growing ranks of a young, productive population our famed demographic advantage mandates an enabling environment in which they can flower. Such a society is a tough tiger to ride for those wielding power in its name.
If the tiger isn't to run away with us, inclusive growth must keep lifting living standards. But while NREGS-style affirmative action serves social justice, it's no surrogate for equality of opportunity. That's why the coming years must wean away disadvantaged groups from government largesse. That means delivery on a war footing of education, healthcare and economic opportunities. To alleviate poverty and distress, let's think beyond food subsidy and loan waivers. Let's create manufacturing jobs on a mass scale to stem casualisation of work and absorb rural labour. 21st century India can no longer delay labour reform, modernisation of agriculture or the trimming of wasteful subsidies. Equally, it needs better infrastructure roads, power, communications to sustain high growth.
New India needs government as enabler, not patron. Let government get out of running hotels, airlines and coalmines. Let it focus on attracting investment and facilitating business by, say, creating that common market we keep talking of. Let it think of citizens' rights, not group-specific loyalties wrested by political paternalism. To be fair, with RTI or right to education, this policymaking shift is visible. Also, social schemes driven by economic criteria are weakening a caste-based quota regime that's past its sell-by date. Today, Nitish Kumar talks of empowering the poor across the social board. Mayawati backs promotion of English as key to socio-economic uplift. Impressive growth in many laggard states suggests increasing political responsiveness to public demand for good governance and development.
Let's strengthen these currents by getting tougher on corruption and criminalisation of politics that sap the vitality of our democratic institutions from within. Finally, these institutions themselves need to focus on actual delivery of public services. With its track record of democratic practice and growing economic clout, India can play a leading role on the 21st century global stage. For that, it not only can make the next 20 years or so even more transformative than the past 60, it must do so. Let's get cracking today.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Lets-transform-the-country-in-the-next-20-years/articleshow/5499612.cms
Explained: Why surfeit of fund flows won't power mkts up
Published on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 11:13 | Updated at Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 14:34 | Source : Reuters
Foreign fund flows into India in 2010 could match or exceed a near-record USD 17 billion in 2009 but will not give the Mumbai stock market the same boost this year, as a flood of new share sales soak up cash and cap overall gains.
Initial offerings by the likes of Jindal Power or new shares sales by state-owned firms such as miner NMDC could be magnets for overseas investors, and would put further upward pressure on the rupee.
The long-term case for investing in India, like China, is clear: a billion-plus population driving consumption-led growth. Analysts see 2010 fund inflows easily matching last year's.
ndian firms raised about USD 19 billion in new equity in 2009, and Morgan Stanley figures they could raise USD 70 billion over the next three years. Overseas investors tend to be the biggest buyers of fresh Indian equity.
"Within emerging markets, I would say there is no alternative to India and China," said Vinay Gairola, Managing Director and Portfolio Advisor in Mumbai with Atlantis Investment Advisors, a USD 2.9 billion London-based fund manager.
But India has had a tendency to underperform relative to its potential and to China, and its higher valuations may hamper the appeal.
Michiel van Voorst, who helps manage a 500 million-plus euro (USD 714 million) Asia-Pacific portfolio for Dutch fund manager Robeco in Hong Kong, said India valuations look steep in the context of its high interest rates and is underweight India relative to the MSCI Asia Pacific index.
"We do see the growth, but we also have a couple of risk factors that we keep in the back of our mind," said van Voorst, whose India weighting has been steady at about 4-5%. "For us, the market has gone a long way into discounting the good outlook for India," he said, citing more favourable risk/reward cases in Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Morgan Stanley forecasts the Sensex will reach 19,400 by December, up 10% from current levels. Its preferred sectors include lenders like State Bank of India, which will gain from rising interest rates, but it is avoiding tech firms, which will be squeezed by a rising rupee.
The performance of the BSE index typically has a close correlation with foreign inflows as many overseas investors pick index stocks. That may change in 2010 as the flood of new equity draws funds away from blue chip companies and limits gains in the benchmark index, which jumped 81% last year.
Foreign inflows helped push the rupee up 4.7% in 2009, fuelling talk of government action to stem the flows, but few observers expect it to impose controls soon given India's need for money to build roads, power plants and other major projects.
RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Based on MSCI indexes, the market is already looking pricey relative to the broader Asian market. At 17.5, the one-year forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is about 11% above its five-year average, according to data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
For the broader MSCI Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan, its P/E ratio of 14.8 is about 9% above its five-year average. The same ratio on the South Korea MSCI index is only a fraction above the five-year average.
For foreign investors, much depends on whether the government delivers on expected reforms, such as selldowns of holdings in state firms and speeding up work on badly needed infrastructure.
Last year's sweeping re-election of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party government spurred high hopes for market-friendly reforms but they were delayed or derailed by the global economic slowdown and a summer drought.
"The government not delivering is a big risk, though I think the probability of that is pretty low. I think they know what needs to be done," said Suresh Mahadevan, Head of India Equity Research at UBS, adding that improving economic indicators and corporate earnings will also attract foreign funds.
India has tended to lag the rest of the region because of its deep fiscal deficit, which is on track to reach 6.8% of GDP in the current fiscal year, high interest rates, a sclerotic bureaucracy and political risk in a raucous democracy led by a party whose base of support is largely rural and poor.
Still, India is showing signs of returning to high growth after slowing to 6.7% economic expansion in the year that ended in March following three straight years of growing by 9% or more. Only China is growing faster.
Government stake sales in state firms could fetch USD 6.5-11 billion in the fiscal year starting April 1, and foreign demand for new shares is likely to be strong, analysts estimated. Overseas institutions, for example, bought USD 763 million in stock sold this month by Reliance Industries.
"Large issuances will definitely attract global money," because they allow foreign institutions to take big positions without driving up their cost of entry, said Alroy Lobo, Chief Strategist and Global Head of Equities for the asset management arm of India's Kotak group.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/market-outlook/explainedwhy-surfeit-fund-flows-won%60t-power-mkts-up_436799.html
Bania Chdambaram and Brahamin Pranab All Set for the REFORMS to KILL the Masses and the Constitution!
The government looks all set to introduce the new Direct Taxes Code in the forthcoming budget session , a government official said.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to discuss the contours of the new code, billed as the major reform of the direct tax structure being undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second tenure.
The finance ministry has also made a detailed presentation to the prime minister on the direct taxes code.
The finance ministry has already held extensive consultations with all the stakeholders on the draft code and has also initiated an exercise to make appropriate changes and prepare the relevant legislation.
The government wants to make this crucial reform politically acceptable to people before taking it to Parliament. Tuesday's meeting is also believed to have taken up the changes that are being proposed in the draft code put out late last year.
The meeting assumes significance as the finance ministry has initiated the annual budgetary exercise and will be finalise new tax proposals.
Way back on Dec 23, 2009, Proposing a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring" of his ministry that includes bifurcation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint to tackle terrorism and said the new National Centre for Counter Terrorism will be set up by next year.Presenting a road map "A New Architecture for India's Security", Chidambaram said given the imperatives and the challenges of the times, "a division of the current functions of the Ministry of Home Affairs is unavoidable."
The NCTC tasks involve preventing a terror strike, containing an attack and effectively responding to it. "Such an organisation does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch," he said noting that the US was able to set up such a counter terrorism unit within 36 months of the 9/11 attacks".
India today said it was making the "building blocks" of the technology to develop anti-satellite capabilities as part of its space security measures. "We are making the building blocks of technology for the space security measures and they are of two types, active and passive.
So, we are developing both these elements in this programme," DRDO chief V K Saraswat told reporters. He was responding to queries on India''s plans to develop capabilities to destroy satellites in space while speaking on the sidelines of a function to sign MoUs between DRDO laboratories and private industries to commercialise technologies developed by the defence research organisation.
Asked about the developments in the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence programme, he said, "the (BMD) test is going to be conducted in February." DRDO is working on the BMD programme, under which it is developing a system to destroy incoming enemy ballistic missiles both in space and in earth''s atmosphere.
Commenting on the recent trials of the laser-guided bombs by DRDO, he said, "today is the era of precision guidance and we have to minimise collateral damage. So, DRDO''s effort is to ensure that whatever systems used to be of 100 metres accuracy or 200 metres is brought down to the realm of less than 10 metres.
inance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government won't be bound by conventional wisdom and would adopt creative solutions in policy-making
 |
"Growth in statistical terms is meaningless unless it benefits everyone," he said in his speech at the 11th ET Awards For Corporate Excellence. "Trickle-down is no longer relevant."
The Manmohan Singh government's bumper sticker remains "inclusive growth" after it pulled the country out of a potential recession by taking unprecedented steps in the past 18 months to counter the headwinds of the global financial meltdown. As it pursues the goal of reaching out to more than 600,000 villages, Mr Mukherjee said the government would focus on raising agricultural output, increasing manufacturing output and making life enjoyable for its citizens.
The government's initiatives during last year's crisis period demonstrated that these were unorthodox and original moves, the finance minister said.
"It was not borrowed, it was not taken from text books, nor did we imitate any philosophy blindly," said Mr Mukherjee, addressing a galaxy of more than 400 corporate bosses who included Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, R-ADAG boss Anil Ambani, Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj, bankers Deepak Parekh, OP Bhatt and Chanda Kochhar and L&T CEO AM Naik.
Through the crisis period, the government kept oil prices under control, maintaining subsidies despite pressures on the fisc, liberalised trade, kept interest rates at record lows and slashed excise duties to get the $1.2-trillion economy back on to the 9% growth trajectory. These measures are bearing fruit now — the economy expanded 7.9% in the September quarter, making it the fastestgrowing major economy behind China.
The finance minister said India's relatively closed economy may have saved it from the worst of the global crisis, but it does not mean that policymakers stick to that philosophy "blindly". They must change with the times, he said.
"To me, independence was construction of a good road, which I could cover on a bicycle," said the finance minister, who had to walk 10 kilometres daily through fields in his childhood days to reach school. That has changed and so has the concept of inclusion, he said. Unlike the early 1970s, the ruling establishment no longer believes in social control of economic resources, he added.
"Change the parameters, (the) ingredients of inclusive growth," said Mr Mukherjee. "Inclusive growth is to produce enough, manufacture enough and provide entitlement. If we can implement the programmes we have adopted, with resources and technology, it will be possible to achieve growth which is inclusive."
In India, poverty is estimated to be 37.2% on average — in rural areas, it is estimated to be around 41.8% and in urban areas 25.7%. The government has been implementing various employment programmes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which guarantees a minimum employment of 100 days a year with a minimum wage of Rs 100 a day.
Mr Mukherjee's colleagues in the Cabinet, Kamal Nath, the highways minister, and commerce and industries minister Anand Sharma spoke along similar lines, giving a peek into the policy priorities of the UPA government.
"It is the economic activity in rural India that produces a market for your products," said Mr Nath, who has taken up the target of laying 20 kilometres of road a day in the country to facilitate the Prime Minister's dream.
Hero Honda Motors, the world's largest motorcycle maker , was one of the beneficiaries of the vibrant rural economy, as domestic demand continued to be robust at a time the urban economy linked to the financial markets was losing jobs and cutting costs. It won the company of the year award from the Economic Times.
"We have to ensure that the growth touches all sections of the society," said Mr Nath, adding, "That is what is going to be the challenge."
Mr Sharma, who is leading India's negotiators as it seeks to reach an equitable deal with big powers in the latest round of global trade talks, popularly known as the Doha round, emphasised the need to sail with the world to lift the nation out of the poverty quagmire. "( India) can't live in isolation, can't act in isolation," he said.
Various programmes of the government over the past few years are helping build infrastructure in villages and changing lifestyles, he said.
A silent transformation was taking place in India's villages, but the government needed to do more to raise a large proportion of the population out of misery when cities are producing millionaires through rising economic activity. "We can't have islands of affluence and oceans of poverty." The ET Awards are presented by Raymond, in association with The Oberoi, Mumbai, and the television partners are ET NOW and Times NOW.
India monitoring Pakistan after border tunnel reports: Krishna
India was closely monitoring Pakistan's activities in the wake of media reports suggesting it was digging tunnels along its border in Sargodha district and would analyse its 'implications', External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said here Monday.
'We are closely monitoring whatever has been happening in Pakistan and both our defence ministry as well as our ministry will certainly work together to analyse what it means by way of implications to India,' Krishna said.
He was reacting to media reports about Pakistan building tunnels in the Sargodha district of Pakistani Punjab, not far from the border with India.
'An attempt is being made to establish the purpose of digging up such tunnels which are really big in size,' the report quoted an intelligence official as saying.
'These clearly cannot be meant for transport as is obvious from the images available; unlike ordinary tunnels they don't lead on to roads,' the official added.
Sargodha is said to be the storage hub for Pakistan's missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.
Crooks inside the abattoir of words
In the process, another one of Chidambaram's speeches was completely ignored though perhaps the positions it set forward were even more far-reaching and controversial than the points he had made in his address to the Intelligence Bureau. Given that we are currently in the midst of a debate about the direction and nature of higher education — one symptom is the de-recognition of several deemed universities run by crooks, politicians and businessmen — Chidambaram's intervention represented an unusually strong policy statement.
Chidambaram spoke at the convocation of St Xavier's College, Calcutta, on January 17. He began by demolishing the general view that Indians are fans of higher education. He pointed out that less than 12 per cent of school-going children were able to find place in colleges or universities. The world average is 45 per cent.
Given that there is a shortage of places in higher education institutions, how do we fill the gap? Chidambaram claimed that "Higher education — or what passes as higher education in India — is, save a few shining examples, either a money-spinning business or a moth-eaten system."
He said that higher educational institutions fell into three categories. There were government-run universities. He was scathing about them: "They are no different from any government office. As a matter of tiresome duty, they produce graduates and post-graduates every year, the vast majority of whom are no more 'educated' at the end of their terms than they were when they first enrolled in the college or university."
A second group consists of elitist institutions, run with the support of the government. He conceded that these were often well-run but attacked them on the grounds of elitism.
It was the third set of institutions that drew most of his ire: "For them, education is commerce. Since demand for seats and colleges far exceeded the supply through legitimate sources there was a huge business opportunity that was grabbed with both hands by shrewd business persons. The bulk of these self-financing colleges and self-styled universities are no more than money-spinning businesses that exploit the demand-supply gap."
Given the contempt in Chidambaram's tone, nobody will be surprised by what came next: "I recognise and support the role of the private sector in higher education. But I am absolutely clear in my mind that the private sector in higher education ought not to mean private business in education. No one should be allowed to profit from offering higher education. As far as I am aware, no great university in the world was established for the purpose of profit. I believe some activities in a society must stand outside the world of profit and higher education ranks first amongst such activities."
Chidambaram's conclusion was unambiguous. He hoped that when the higher education policy was formulated "we will be able to ensure that higher education is a domain that will have no place for profiteering".
Though the speech was largely ignored, it was actually one of the most important speeches on the subject of education made by any member of the second UPA government. For the past several months, HRD minister Kapil Sibal has been striving to reform the education sector with, it must be said, very little support from his government.
I do not know if Sibal supports Chidambaram's views in their entirety but I do know that he is concerned by the number of colleges and institutes that cheat students by making false promises and then profit from exploiting the gullibility of the young. Sibal seems to believe that the lust for profit has led many institutions to defraud students and wants to set in place a regulatory mechanism that actually works.
Chidambaram appears to have gone beyond anything Sibal has said in public. His view is that no institution of learning should be run on a profit basis. Presumably, he would require that all such institutions were run by charitable trusts or by non-profit organisations.
In fact, as we know, education (like health) is seen as a growth sector by businessmen who believe that there are huge profits in running nasty elite schools and much-hyped institutes and colleges. Such businessmen believe that a pro-liberalisation government will encourage investment-for-profit in the education sector. So, the words of Chidambaram, the government's key liberaliser, will come as a shock to them.
We have no way of knowing whether Chidambaram cleared the contents of his speech with the Prime Minister or with the leaders of his party. What we do know, however, is that his views are almost certainly shared by Sonia Gandhi and many of his party's leaders who agree with him that Harvard, Oxford, Yale or the Sorbonne would not be what they are today if they were run on a profit-making basis.
All this suggests that Sibal's removal of deemed university status from many profit-making institutions is merely the first step in a new policy initiative. When the government does announce its policy on higher education, there will be no role for institutions that are run on a commercial basis.
Speaking for myself, I share Chidambaram's contempt for those who seek to profit from the education of our children. Even in that bastion of capitalism, the United States, college education is not run on a purely commercial basis by corporations or individuals who make money out of their students. The higher education system of a successful society must be based on something more than the greed of people who set up colleges.
My problem is that, as much as I disapprove of education as a money-making racket, I recognise that the new institutions have plugged a gap in the supply of college places. If we are to drive out the profiteers and we are to raise our percentages of college-going youth, then we cannot do so by depending solely on the government whose institutions Chidambaram so eloquently damned in the same speech.
We need to evolve a new model of higher education that may well use government financing but which functions without governmental corruption and inertia. As of now, no model exists that fits the bill.
So yes, do ban colleges that are run for profit. But let's first make sure that we have something to put in their place.
Exclusive to TNSE. More at www.virsanghvi.com.
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GoM clears two Bills on education reforms
22 Jan 2010, 0509 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The group of ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has cleared the proposed legislation to make accreditation
mandatory for institutes and to set up education tribunals to adjudicate on all education-related disputes.
A third bill to check malpractice in education institutes was not taken up because defence minsiter A K Antony, who is part of the GoM and had evinced interest in the bill, did not attend Thursday's meeting. The three legislation, which were referred to the GoM in December, are key components of HRD minister Kapil Sibal's higher education reform agenda.
Sources indicated that the bills have been passed with "some minor changes". Some ministries had questioned the need for education-specific tribunals, and the proposal to make accreditation 'mandatory' for all institutes. On the proposed bill to set up Education Tribunals, objections had been raised on the need to set up separate tribunals for the higher education segment.
The Educational Tribunal Bill provides for a three-tier system. It would deal with all disputes between students and institutions, teachers and institutions. Interestingly, the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill is still pending before the GoM. The bill will empower the Centre to initiate criminal proceedings against even private institutes that charge capitation fee or cheat students through other 'unfair practices'.
Stiff penalties and fines against errant institutes have been proposed in the legislation. The Bill takes on special importance particularly in light of the deemed university controversy and the reprot submitted by the ministry to the Supreme Court. The government affidavit has made reference to this proposed legisaltion as well.
The GoM members include home minister P Chidambaram, defence minister AKAntony, law minister Veerappa Moily, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal and minister of state (independent charge) science and technology Prithviraj Chavan.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/GoM-clears-two-Bills-on-education-reforms/articleshow/5486478.cms
Bill Gates says US recovery to take years, taxes rise
25 Jan 2010, 2001 hrs IST, REUTERS
WASHINGTON: Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said on Monday the US economy could take years to recover from recession and predicted taxes
Bill Gates
will have to rise to bring the federal budget into balance.
Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America, Gates also warned against too much government intervention and urged President Barack Obama to focus policy on long-term issues such as education to combat the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
"When you have a financial crisis like that, it's years of digging out," said Gates, who co-founded Microsoft Corp and remains its chairman.
"The budget's very, very out of balance. And even as the economy comes back, without changes in tax and entitlement policies, it won't get back into balance. And at some point, financial markets will look at that and it will cause problems," he added.
"Taxes are going to have to go up and entitlements are going to have to be moderated."
Gates spoke two days ahead of Obama's State of the Union speech, which is expected to focus extensively on economic issues including the need for job creation.
"We're having a slow recovery and everybody's frustrated by the pace of the recovery. But I don't think the government could change and magically make it speed up a lot," he said.
"If you try to do too much, it can distort things. The government's role is more of a long term role, investing in education."
Gates also said the United States needs its leaders to level with the American people about the long-term challenges the country faces and the sacrifices needed to overcome them.
Narayanan's exit gives full control of internal security to Chidambaram
RAJEEV DESHPANDE, TNN, 18 January 2010, 11:02pm IST
NEW DELHI: The exit of M K Narayanan as national security advisor has set the stage for a significant re-ordering of UPA-2's power structure with home minister P Chidambaram set to gain fuller control of internal security reducing the role of the next NSA to foreign policy.
Chidambaram's emergence as the sole "boss" of internal security may end a certain duality that saw agencies caught between the home ministry and NSA in taking their cues. It will swiftly complete the process of the home ministry regaining the autonomy that it had lost to NSA before Chidambaram stepped in the home ministry.
There are doubts whether PM will like to take in somebody as internal security advisor -- Narayanan's original brief -- but even if he does, the role would be restricted to coordination rather than that of a policy innovator.
The new NSA -- former foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is the frontrunner -- would be looking at a leaner brief. To what extent PMO would still act as a check on internal security will now depend on PM and the Congress leadership.
Not all see this process as a diminution of PMO's powers, even if some feel the need for an effective oversight for the home ministry. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not too keen on nitty-gritty of internal security, the ball may now clearly lie with Chidambaram on this score. With NSA more engaged with strategic aspects of foreign policy, PMO may drive MEA more intensely than before.
The new order would be a big change. Till last week, before he was named governor of West Bengal, Narayanan presided over an empire encompassing defence, internal security, space, atomic energy, foreign policy and even Jammu and Kashmir affairs. The spread made him the key figure in PMO as the NSA displayed a panache not often associated with career spooks.
He often said he was a cop and lacked the finesse of a diplomat, but this was disingenuous as Narayanan was a skillful power player who could be assertive but knew exactly where the triplines were.
His decisiveness will be missed. Just ahead of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina's visit earlier this month, Narayanan firmly intervened to approve a joint celebration of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, shrewdly realising the importance of stressing cultural connections between the two nations. He saw the merit of a $1 billion helpline to Dhaka.
While Narayanan amazed officers with his ability to trawl through every paper to cross his desk, he may have micro-managed too much. But he did pick up clues others missed like an increase in Chinese firms handling hydro projects near the border.
When he took up his assignment as internal security advisor in UPA-1, Narayanan wasn't sure how much time his job would take up. He felt perhaps a couple of days a week would suffice leaving him free to be based in Chennai. Nor did anyone else anticipate the steady accretion of powers in his office. With the PM not displaying any taste for security, it had been largely Narayanan's say in key IB and RAW appointments.
Secretive by nature, he rarely shared plans and drew criticism for not initiating systemic reform of the security apparatus. His rise had earned him detractors, but a sense of surprise over the exit of this adroit mover is yet to ebb.
Just why he fell out of favour -- his move to the Kolkata Raj Bhawan is not seen as voluntary -- is perhaps best explained as a culmination of a gradual process in the aftermath of 26/11 and Chidambaram's move to home. The turf war intensified when UPA-2 came to power and Chidambaram seemed determined to wrest control of internal security functions.
The NSA's brief saw a huge number of files being routed through him. He perhaps chewed off a little too much. There was some discussion over how space and atomic energy would be handled since MoS in PMO Prithviraj Chavan was to oversee these areas.
While 26/11 dimmed his sun, the political feedback to the Congress leadership over an "over-bureaucratised" PMO also made an impact. Narayanan's lines with Congress got hit by some bad static. His clout with 10, Janpath, seen as his appointing authority in the first place, also declined. Too much power was wielded by someone not accountable to the Cabinet or party, it was said.
The PM was seen to have batted for Narayanan when the calls for accountability were shrill after Mumbai, but could not be the cushion when the move was revived last month.
Some feel that Singh may be having mixed feelings about internal security largely being overseen by home as he is more comfortable with foreign policy. At meetings in PMO, Narayanan did have the confidence to speak his mind frankly and Singh heard him out. But the relationship was not as seamless as is sometimes made out. That said, Singh and the PMO are surely going to miss `Mike' and his tiny, scrawling handwriting.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Narayanans-exit-gives-full-control-of-internal-security-to-Chidambaram/articleshow/5474408.cms
The President's Address to the Nation
Agencies
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 at 1932 hrs IST
New Delhi The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, addressed the nation on the eve of the 61st Republic Day. Following is the text of the President's address to the nation:
"My fellow citizens,
On the eve of our 61st Republic Day, I extend my warmest greetings to all of you across the country and also to those living abroad. To the members of our Armed Forces and Para-military forces who guard our frontiers and to our internal security forces, I extend my special greetings.
26th January, this year marks the completion of six decades of working, striving and, all along, being guided by the principles and objectives of the Constitution that was framed after careful deliberations and adopted in 1950. I often recall the speech of Mahatma Gandhi at the launch of the Quit India Movement on 8th August, 1942, where he said that power, when it comes, will belong to the people of India.
The wish of the Father of the Nation found expression in the very opening words of the Constitution – We, the people of India. This was a strong affirmation that the impulses of the nation and its future would be guided by its people. They would reflect their aspirations and choices, through democratic means.
They would also enjoy the fundamental rights that guarantee their freedoms and dignity. Today is a reminder that upholding the values, determining the direction and propelling the growth of our nation is a task that must be fulfilled by every citizen of the country.
In the first decade of the 21st century, India witnessed transformational changes. It also emerged as a force driving change in the world. Our achievements and experiences have, indeed, brought the nation to a definitional stage, where the promise of a bright future as a developed and progressive nation is for us to claim, as we all work together with conviction and commitment.
However, as we overcome deficiencies and convert our strengths into an energetic force, we must remain deeply conscious of what we must preserve and what we must change.
Foremost amongst what we must continue with, is our democratic principles and way of life.
We have ably demonstrated that we are a functioning democracy, by time and again, choosing our governments through the ballot and by taking democracy to the grassroots. Also, as we are aware, democracy is very much more demanding. It is the rule of law. It is the rule of reason. And, as India has shown to the world, it is the rule of non-violence.
Democracy involves a pattern of behavior, in which every individual must act responsibly, show respect towards dissimilar opinions and address differences in a constructive and accommodative manner.
This will build harmony and tolerance - values which are intrinsic to our philosophy; these form the bedrock of a society that embraces the diversity of language, religion and culture to create a composite whole. These values must be followed uninterruptedly in a nation that is, as vast and as varied as ours.
Secularism, our constitutionally chosen path, entails respect for all religions. Its place in our national life is unalterable. India is a land where followers of different religions have lived together for centuries. We must maintain social cohesion. Our tradition of living in accord with each other must continue to form an integral part of the rhythm of life of our future generations.
Belonging to a civilization that has deep reverence towards nature, we must also be sensitive inhabitants of the Planet, in which climate change has become a major challenge. We must judiciously use its resources, work to conserve its rich flora and fauna as well as adopt environment friendly approaches. Use of energy efficient technologies and renewable sources of energy, are some steps that can reduce the carbon footprint.
Dear Citizens,
Our nation has made significant strides. We are the fourth largest economy of the world in terms of purchasing power parity. Our target of achieving a double digit growth rate is plausible and realistic, given our impressive performance during the last decade and our resilience during the global economic downturn.
We should continue with policies that promote growth, and also take growth patterns to the bottom of the pyramid and, to those currently outside its purview. Empowering the poor and the disadvantaged, enabling them to move up the economic ladder, to join the ranks of the prosperous, is a task that must be accomplished by all of us. Women need to be made full and equal partners. The inclusive growth strategy, which we have chosen, can make our growth process equitable and sustainable.
The roadmap to inclusive growth requires social justice that can be delivered through an effective social sector infrastructure. It should make quality education and good health facilities available to all citizens, along with social services and job opportunities. This, in turn, will create a human resource base which has the skills, knowledge and capacity to work productively. Hence, our attention must remain focused on this, especially as we have a young population.
They must be nurtured and prepared for taking up their responsibilities. Future growth in all sectors will depend on knowledge workers and skilled workforces. They can make our economy dynamic, our service sector efficient and competitive, our manufacturing industries broad based and our agriculture and allied sectors strong. Furthermore, integrating and developing linkages between sectors, say agriculture and industry, will further reinforce growth.
These linkages can be fortified by having connectivity at various levels. For a nation which is the seventh largest in geographical terms and the second largest in terms of population, our existing physical infrastructure is inadequate. This constrains and limits connectivity. We have to change this situation. The number of bridges, roads, harbours as well as our power generation capacity and transport facilities, among others, require extensive additions.
But, do not forget that along with these structures of cement, steel and mortar, it is also important to bridge our differences, build roads to connect hearts and minds, harbour compassion, generate goodwill towards all and transport these feelings to strengthen the unity of the nation.
We will also have to create an atmosphere for our citizens to exercise their rights and tell them to perform their duties as well. This is important to make the development of a democratic nation of over one billion people, participatory and sustainable. In the next decade, not only must we witness the speedy building up of infrastructure, but also a greater cohesiveness among citizens.
A bottleneck and an impediment in bringing about the desired results, for which policies and schemes have been formulated and huge allocation of funds made, is weak implementation and corruption in the system. The causes of the chronic ailment of tardy implementation have to be treated. There should be accountability for lack of implementation of projects, programmes and schemes. This is critical for bringing about positive change.
Public-Private Partnerships and SHGs, that is Self-Help Groups, are important mechanisms for outcome-oriented action and for creating a wide network of stakeholders for growth. There have been numerous examples of how women in urban and rural areas have been able to become financially self-reliant through the SHG route.
A movement towards universalisation of SHGs, that brings within its ambit all eligible women, can be a powerful instrument for the economic empowerment of women and for inclusive growth. Facilitation of their formation and functioning will, thus, create a wave of progress and change.
Dear Citizens,
The world over, as also in our country, there is a rising demand for food-grains. This foretells the need for an intense focus on increasing agriculture productivity to ensure food availability, particularly of agricultural produces which are in short supply, to avoid spiraling food prices. To achieve this very important objective, I call for urgent steps towards a Second Green Revolution.
There should be use of new technologies, better seeds, improved farming practices, effective water management techniques, as well as more intense frameworks for connecting the farmer with the scientific community, with lending institutions and with markets. Our farmers are ready and willing to work, earn and learn. We have to respond positively and do some "out of the box thinking".
Higher agriculture incomes will improve the living standards of the over 145 million rural households, in the over six lakh villages of the country. With higher income levels, the rural economy will generate demand and provide impetus for growth in other sectors. Recognizing this reality, we have to involve the agriculture economy more pro-actively into the growth process, both as a centre of production and as a generator of demand for various products and services.
There are many complementarities that exist between farming communities and the corporate world because both are private enterprises. The possibilities of win-win partnerships between industry and agriculture should be explored. For example, the food processing industry when located close to agricultural areas can transform India's rural landscape.
Currently, food processing in India is as low as 10 percent of production, as compared to 65 percent to 80 percent, generally seen in the developed countries. Other agro-based industries would be equally important as propellers of growth.
The question is how to attract farmers into such partnerships, which do not adversely affect, but rather keep the interests of farmers in the forefront and take into account their various sensitivities, particularly about their land-holdings.
This needs to be done in a farmer-friendly manner and by creating awareness in the farming community. Some Indian companies have understood that linking farmers to industrial units would be beneficial to both. They have developed interesting models of engagement with the farming community. We should study these experiences, as we look at viable options that suit Indian conditions for harnessing the potential of village economies.
Dear Citizens,
Today, the optimum use of capital or labour or resources across the entire spectrum of our national activity is dependent on cutting-edge technologies and technological breakthroughs. We need technologies for more efficient and cleaner energy, for our industry and agriculture.
India has to chalk out strategies that will promote research and development resulting in innovative methods and techniques. The quality of research in our country must be upgraded to build knowledge structures. I think the nation should take this up as an urgent calling. A knowledge economy requires an education system that encourages creativity and a capacity to think in a novel fashion.
Also, our research institutions should join global knowledge networks to keep themselves abreast of worldwide advancements in research. Technology should reach a broader section of our society, and also the movement of grassroots innovations should receive encouragement.
A change which is required, and of which I have spoken often is the eradication of social malpractices in particular those related to discrimination against women.
These pose a hindrance on our path to building a more progressive and equitable nation. We should follow a positive agenda for the empowerment of women. A change in our mindsets will be important to remove prejudices and create equal opportunities for all citizens. This is essential for our inclusive growth agenda and for tapping the full potential of our population.
In any mission, particularly one as complex and challenging as nation building, as has been said by our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, "We have to labour, and to work, and to work hard, to give reality to our dreams." For this, motivational levels have to be kept high.
Media can have an important influence on how people see the country. With relentless advances in technology, media is now an integral part of our daily lives. It can create awareness by bringing information to the people, getting them to reflect, and making them realize their responsibilities towards the nation. With a media that plays a constructive role, people would be inspired to take actions that would contribute to building the nation and also to learn about the benefits of positive actions.
For growth, an environment of security is essential. Government is committed to maintain high vigil and take appropriate measures to address internal security challenges. Our country has been a target of terrorism for more than two decades. Government has taken and will continue to take necessary steps to tackle threats emanating from terrorism. It will also continue to work with the international community to combat this menace.
As in the past, in the future also, the voice of India in the world would be a voice for peace, a voice for development, and a voice of hope. In the global arena, we will seek a change in the structure of multilateral institutions, so that they reflect contemporary realities. We will continue to cooperate with the international community to deal with global issues. We will seek to build friendly relations with countries in our region and those across the world.
As 2009 came to a close, there have been many analyses about what are the possible prospects of the next decade for India. Some refer to it as the deciding decade, the decade of reckoning. On reflection, I fully agree that it will be so.
It must, therefore, mean a decade in which all Indians must do their work with a sense of responsibility, discipline, integrity of mind and purpose as well as with a spirit of cooperation. We will have to inspire our young generation so that they are virtuous, with good character and a sense of fellow feeling towards others. We must channelise all our efforts towards the goal of taking the country to a higher level of all round national development and not rest till we achieve our goal.
We can then be proud that we have performed our duty and borne our responsibility well. It is said that, fortune is an outcome of good work and can slip away, if we are lax in our work. I am reminded of a few inspirational lines:-
Courtesy: Press Information Bureau
Nobel laureate Ramakrishnan, A R Rahman, Aamir in Padma list
New Delhi Nobel laureate of Indian origin Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Apollo hospital chief Pratap Reddy and former RBI Governor Y V Reddy were chosen on Monday for the second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan while music maestro A R Rahman and Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan have been named for Padma Bhushan.
Eminent theatre personalities Zohra Segal and Ebrahim Alkazi and noted 'mridangam' Carnatic artist Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman are the other three chosen for Padma Vibhushan award by the government which, in all, named 130 people, including 13 in the category of foreigners, NRIs and PIOs. 43 are Padma Bhushan and 83 are Padma Shri.
Complete list of Padma awardees >>
Cricketer Virendra Sehwag, Hockey national Ignace Tirkey, Formula 1 driver Narain Kartikeyan, Badminton star Saina Nehwal, Boxer Vijender Singh and Sachin Tendulkar's 'guru' Ramakant Achrekar have been selected for Padma Shri awards in sports category.
Among the Padma Bhushan awardees this year are noted NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, eminent nurosurgeon Satya Paul Agarwal and eminent cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who performed 'beating heart' on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year.
No one has been chosen for the Bharat Ratna award this year.
Tamil film music composer Ilaiyaraaja, who set music for Hindi films like 'Cheeni Kum' and 'Paa', Hindustan classical vocalist Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, dancer Mallika Sarabhai, former Cabinet Secretary and now Member in the Planning Commission B K Chaturvedi have been chosen for Padma Bhushan along with former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Moosa Raza and former Vice Chancellor of Goa University P R Dubhashi for civil service.
Noted US-based journalist Farid Zakaria gets Padma
Bhushan in journalism category while Prof Tan Chung and Prof A J Paulraj get the award in literature and education and science and engineering respectively. Both are also from the US.
In the art category, Akbar Padamsee, Kumudini Lakhia, Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Puttaraj Gavai, Ram Kumar, Shrinivas Vinayak Khale and Ustad Sultan Khan are being conferred with the Padma Bhushan awards.
Another Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen and S K Bandyopadhyay have been named in the public affairs category of Padma Bhushan.
Among the Padma Shri award winners are Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, Oscar award winner in sound technician category Resul Pookutty, Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, Nemai Ghosh, who had done camera work for Satyajit Ray, Arundhati Nag and Shobha Raju selected from the field of art.
Former CBI Director D R Karthikeyan, who headed the Special Investigation Team that probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and environment activist Ranjit Bhargava have been chosen for Padma Shri awards. In the trade and industry category Venu Srinivasan of the TVS Group, Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju, B Raveendran Pillai, Deepak Puri, Irshad Mirza and Kapil Mohan have been selected for Padma Shri awards.]
Padma Shri is also being awarded to Anu Aga, Ayekpam Tomba Meetei, J R Ganga Ramani, Deep Joshi, Baba Sewa Singh, Sudha Kaul and Kranti Shah for their social work.
Former Union Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil gets Padma Bhushan for social work while Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Arun Sarma get Padma Shri in public service and literature and education category.
Chidambaram for bold, radical changes in Home Ministry
Agencies
Posted: Dec 23, 2009 at 1252 hrs IST
New Delhi Proposing a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring" of his ministry that includes bifurcation, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday unveiled a blueprint to tackle terrorism and said the new National Centre for Counter Terrorism will be set up by next year.
Presenting a road map "A New Architecture for India's Security", Chidambaram said given the imperatives and the challenges of the times, "a division of the current functions of the Ministry of Home Affairs is unavoidable."
The NCTC tasks involve preventing a terror strike, containing an attack and effectively responding to it. "Such an organisation does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch," he said noting that the US was able to set up such a counter terrorism unit within 36 months of the 9/11 attacks".
>>Full text: P Chidambaram's IB Centenary Endowment Lecture
Addressing officers and personnel of the Intelligence Bureau and various para-military forces, he said, "The Home Minister should devote the whole of his/her time and energy to matters relating to security".
The Home Minister said the broad architecture of the new security system was an outcome of last year's Mumbai attacks. "A billion plus people felt they had been humiliated and the country had been brought to its knees by a small band of terrorists," he recalled.
"I, therefore, propose a "bold, thorough and radical restructuring of the security architecture at the national level," the Home Minister said and added that it would consist of political, administrative, intelligence and enforcement elements.
Chidambaram said as far as responding to a terrorist attack is concerned, "we may have enhanced the capacity to contain and repulse an attack, but I think that there is still some distance to go before we can claim to have acquired the capacity to respond swiftly and decisively to a terror attack."
He said it was this assessment which led him to argue that the security architecture at the top must be thoroughly and radically restructured.
NCTC' mandate should be to respond to violence unleashed by any group ¿ be it an insurgent group in the North East or the CPI (Maoist) in the heartland of India or any group of religious fanatics anywhere in the country acting on their own or in concert with terrorists outside.
He said the new organisation would therefore have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations.
While making it clear that some of the organisations may have to be brought under the ambit of NCTC, the Home Minister made a fervent plea that this should not result in turf wars.
"Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under NCTC and what come to my mind readily are NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG.
As far as investigation is concerned, Government has set up the National Investigation Agency, and that agency would have to be brought under the overall control of NCTC.
Give more powers to DGPs; Centre tells states
Agencies
Posted: Sep 28, 2009 at 1642 hrs IST
New Delhi The Centre has asked states to give more operational and financial autonomy to Directors General of Police to acquire logistics and have a larger say in administrative matters, Home Ministry officials said.
The fresh directive comes close on the heels of Home Minister P Chidambaram's remarks that officers of state police forces are kicked around like a football.
In a communique to the Chief Secretaries, the Home Ministry has asked state governments to delegate more power to the DGPs to handle the day-to-day affairs of their respective police force, they said.
The Ministry asked the states to constitute a Police Establishment Board, that would decide on transfers and postings, as early as possible.
It also asked the state Governments to revamp their recruitment procedures and make them quick, time bound and transparent.
The Ministry asked the state governments to allocate funds for police to acquire adequate resources which would help maintain law and order and deal with other challenges.
On September 15, at the conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police, Chidambaram had said state governments continued with old mindset and habits as far as working of police is concerned.
Chidambaram's unfinished agenda at North Block...
Surabhi
Posted: Dec 01, 2008 at 0934 hrs IST
New Delhi Key economic reforms and an overhaul of the country's decades-old tax laws will form the core of finance minister P Chidambaram's unfinished agenda from his four and a half year long tenure in North Block. Even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be handling the portfolio, North Block insiders say a full time finance minister will be required to carry forward this agenda.
The biggest setback from Chidambaram's sudden exit is expected to be to the finalisation of the goods and services tax (GST). Finance ministry officials conceded that with the minister's departure, there will be a great deal of uncertainty over the future of the GST. The empowered committee, headed by West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta, was set to meet him later during the month to finalise a roadmap for the introduction of the tax.
A crucial part of India's taxation reforms, GST aims to absorb service tax, excise duty and all state level duties and taxes into one single levy. A decision to move towards this tax regime was announced by Chidambaram in his Budget speech of 2006.
Similarly, the Direct Tax Code, the minister's pet project, to simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961 too may not see the light of the day. "We do hope that the next government takes up the Code," an income tax department official said.
At the Economic Editor's Conference last week, Chidambaram had said the draft code would be placed in the public domain soon. "I have to read another 19 pages of the discussion paper. The discussion paper and the draft is ready," he had said at that time.
As FM, Chidambaram was also vocal about a blanket tax exemption to Special Economic Zones (SEZs)—an issue which the empowered Group of Ministers led by Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee has been debating for a long time now. It remains to be seen how this debate pans out going forward, although the UPA is likely to busy with more pressing matters in its short pending shelf life.
Meanwhile, other key economic reforms, in banking, disinvestment, pension and insurance too will be hit. Although the UPA government does not have enough time to get these Bills enacted, Chidambaram had been very keen to pursue them, especially after the Left parties withdrew support this July.
In fact, sources pointed out it was only because of his tacit support, that the New Pension Scheme is being rolled out for the unorganised sector, even without the passage of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Chidambarams-unfinished-agenda-at-North-Block/392781/
To cut delays, Centre may procure weapons for states
Express news service
Posted: Aug 18, 2009 at 1140 hrs IST
New Delhi The Centre will soon consider procurement of weapons on behalf of the states in a bid to quicken the procurement process.
The suggestion, among many others, was made at the day-long Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security on Monday, and is now a part of the 14-point agenda the government has set for further deliberation and action.
"States have been complaining about the long drawn out processes involved in procuring weapons and malpractices that creep into such processes causing major delays. The suggestion is that the Centre, instead of providing states with cash, should instead provide the support in kind. There is less room for leakage of resources in such a system," a senior Home Ministry official said.
Another important suggestion to have emerged out of the conference was that the Centre should step in, in a big way, to augment training capacity, especially for counter terrorism and jungle warfare.
Filling up of vacancies in the police forces, too, emerged high on the government's agenda. While 2.3 lakh posts were vacant in all ranks as on January 1, 2008, the number has dropped down to about 1.5 lakh. "Even this is too large, and state governments must make every effort to recruit and begin training of police personnel at least to the extent of 1,50,000 vacancies before 31st March 2010," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said at the conference.
Chidambaram acknowledged insurgency as a "grave threat" in the Northeast and said that at times the Centre had found that some state governments in that region had "allowed themselves to bend before insurgent groups, making the fight against insurgency that much more difficult".
"In the Northeast, insurgency remains a grave threat. In the last few months, we have refined our policy stance: the law will be applied strictly; ceasefire agreements will be enforced in letter and spirit; and we will talk to any group only if that group abjures violence, lays down its arms and offers to surrender. I regret to say that I cannot report much progress in the Northeastern states," Chidambaram said.
He proposed to hold discussions with the concerned state governments to draw up state-specific strategies to deal with the insurgent groups in the three most affected states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
While expressing satisfaction over the fact that eight months had passed since the last terrorist attack, Chidambaram hastened to add that this did not mean that the "threat of terror has vanished". He said it was only because of better intelligence and better preparedness that potential terror attacks could be thwarted. "We have cracked several terror modules and made several significant arrests, but the gravity of the threat is undiminished. We cannot afford to lower our guard, and we shall not," he said.
Stating that the security situation in J&K had shown perceptible improvement, the Home Minister said militancy had declined, even while agitational politics was on the rise.
On the challenge posed by Left-wing extremism, Chidambaram drew attention to a document, titled "Post-Election Situation- Our Task", put out by the CPI (Maoist) on June 12. "Anyone reading that document would have no illusion about the nature and gravity of the threat," Chidambaram said. "Let me make our policy stance clear: We believe in the two-pronged approach of development and police action... Our response therefore will be police action to wrest control of territory that is now dominated by the Naxalities, restoration of civil administration and undertaking developmental activities — in that order."
"Let our message to the Naxalities be this: we will talk; we will act; we will restore order; and we will undertake developmental activities," he added.
Looking back at the past seven months, Chidamabaram said, "Our collective record has been a mixed one." "Our best achievements have been in the reiteration of our determination to fight terror; in the sharing of intelligence; in the unanimous support for new laws and new instruments; and in acknowledging that police reforms have been neglected for too long," he said. "On the other hand, there are still critical deficiencies in budget allocations for the police, recruitment, training, procurement of equipment, introduction of technology, and personnel management."
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/To-cut-delays-Centre-may-procure-weapons-for-states/503307/
Reformer Rao regrets reluctance to recognise his role
Our Economic Bureau
New Delhi, Jan 6: It was the most loaded comment of an evening full of loaded comments, and it came softly into a packed conference room at the India International Centre, with the audience in rapt attention. "I want all the finance ministers (Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Chidambaram) to sit down and analyse the policies implemented by `the government at the time when Chidambaram was a cabinet minister in the early 1990s'" said the former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, without a smile on his face, but with his tongue firmly in cheek. "That is the most indirect way in which I can refer to the policies of my government without refering to myself."
Never before in the last decade has Mr Rao complained publicly for not being given the full credit for the economic reforms initiated by his government.
This was an unexpected opportunity, he tried to clarify, not something he would have liked to seek since he had decided to retreat into oblivion.
"I would not have come to this meeting if it had not been for Arjun and if I had not happened to be in Delhi today," he clarified. Perhaps alluding to the fact that two of the invited speakers, former finance ministers Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee had failed to turn up for different reasons.
"Since I was free and I am here, I came," he said. Mr Rao was the chief guest at a seminar to release and discuss a book on economic reforms written by Dr Arjun Sengupta, former member of the Planning Commission.
"A finance minister is a zero, without that `one' standing next to him. It is only the Prime Minister who can give a finance minister the political clout he needs to push difficult policies through." A second claim.
"No political party has been voted out because of economic reforms. They may have lost elections for other reasons, not due to economic reforms. The economic policies introduced since 1991 have finally made India truly independent. In 1947 India attained political freedom, but real freedom came when we had the courage to do what we felt was right in 1991." A third claim."I am convinced that economic reforms implemented in the early 1990s have served the country well. These policies will make India a great nation." A fourth claim.
Finally, "I urge all the finance ministers from different political parties to come together and analyse what we have done in the last decade, see where we were right and where we were wrong. Political parties will oppose one another, but the finance ministers can take an objective view and ensure that there is a national consensus on economic reforms."
After four years of reticence and wavering, not clear in his own mind whether he should assert ownership of his policies or not, Mr Rao stepped out of the shadows to finally lay claim to providing the political leadership to the launch of the "new economic policies" in 1991, and assert that these policies have and will serve the country well. Mr Rao has shied away from doing this repeatedly. He has consistently refused to grant interviews on his economic policies to the financial media at home and abroad in the last four years. He has refused to write articles for newspapers, journals and edited volumes on economic issues. Save a singular appearance at an Assocham seminar where he actually made some contrarian remarks, he has never been so outspoken on economic policy issues.
His comments gain additional importance at this stage since the Congress Party is in the throes of a major debate on economic reforms. One of the main advocates of a return to a more "left of centre" agenda, Mr Mani Shankar Iyer, sat directly behind Mr Rao and heard the speech out in full.
Barely a month ago Mr Rao had expressed some doubts o e part of Mr Rao. On the contrary, on Friday evening Mr Rao was in top gear, defending his and Dr Singh's policies all the way.
Disagreeing with Dr Sengupta, who had advocated greater public investment in the infrastructure sector, Mr Rao said, "What was the use of all what we did if we can not get more foreign investment into the infrastructure sector? Let the government invest in education and health."
Interestingly, while Mr Sinha and Mr Chidambaram devoted a considerable part of their time to a discussion of questions of equity, poverty reduction and rural development, Mr Rao dismissed these issues as "being with us for a long time". The rich and the poor have been around for a long time, backwardness has been around for a long time, droughts and floods have been around for a long time.
India's problems are old, historic and need to be tackled. But they are not the result of reforms started in 1991. "What we did in 1991 has set the country on the course of real freedom and greatness."
Clearly, Mr Rao had warmed the cockles of all the pro-reformers in the audience. H e himself appeared quite pleased with his performance.
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fe/daily/20010107/fec07019.html
No silence, please
Shekhar Gupta
Posted: Jan 09, 2010 at 0232 hrs IST
To be honest, we do not exactly have a pressing reason or provocation to assess the performance of UPA-II exactly at this point of time. No first hundred days, no first anniversary, no first budget and so on. In other words, there is nothing that we journalists would call the "news peg". Yet there is something that tells you this is as good a time as any to analyse and evaluate this government's performance at this point, and to check where it is headed. Or even if it is moving, or seeming to stall.
Answers to these questions are never simple or easy, and they have rarely been, except say, in Rajiv Gandhi's first year when things were galloping, and in V.P. Singh's first (and mercifully only year) when we were rapidly sliding backwards. But on balance now you have to admit that large sections of this government give you the impression of stalling. Then, as you dig deeper, you also find that it is stalling not particularly because it encountered any headwinds, but is in the doldrums that are its very own creation. Why it has done so, is an intriguing question. It could be complacence: an easy second term, an economy pretty much reviving by itself, a year of respite from terror. It could be laziness and fatigue: there are still several members in this cabinet who know this is their last real job and if their party still wins in 2014, the best they could hope for is a Raj Bhavan. And not many fancy having the audacity or the hormones to have as much fun there as apparently N.D. Tiwari did. It could also be deliberate: a do-nothing strategy, Mamata Banerjee thinks, can work well for her till 2011, and Sharad Pawar, who has turned out to be such a stunningly clueless agriculture minister, does not know what we can or should do anyway. It is also likely that this is, as we columnists usually love to say, a combination of all three.
But let me dare to suggest that there is a fourth problem that bedevils this government. It is its very surprising inability, even lack of inclination, to talk to the people, either to explain its actions or, even more significantly, to create public opinion to back policy decisions it intends to take. The second decade of the 21st century can't be compared with 1991 when economic reform could be carried out pretty much by stealth, without any debate in public. Narasimha Rao was clear about what he was doing: he was gambling with change he himself wasn't fully convinced about and he would take the credit if it worked, or dump it along with Manmohan Singh if it did not. And the reformer of 1991 was like somebody harvesting an orchard of low-hanging fruit that he could pluck at will. The equation has completely reversed in 2010.
There is very little low-hanging fruit left when it comes to economic and policy reform. No, UPA-II now has to deliver on big, game-changing reform. Revitalising and massively expanding India's creaky and inadequate infrastructure is just the start. Taking on Naxalites needs a similarly big effort. Reworking how industry acquires rural land will need us to alter attitudes that we've had since independence; without sweeping change in higher education, and fast, another generation will be left out of the India growth story. All of these require a robust national conversation.
The likely scapegoat of 1991 is now the leader and yet, if something were to really go to pieces, his party's chosen scapegoat. So there is very little percentage in his not talking to his people and explaining, selling and commending his own policies to them. All this strange diffidence is resulting in is sending large sections of his government into a shell, some in confusion, some in lazy celebration and some, a very small but significant section of the usual suspects, even licking their chops in anticipation of a mid-term "change" if the government continues to looked stalled.
It is a most curious situation where a prime minister with such high personal credibility and a remarkable track record is shy of creating public opinion in support of his own ideas and policies. We have complained in the past about the silence of the reformer in our political system, both in the NDA and UPA. But we now face an utterly avoidable situation of the silence of our entire leadership. It is not as if people are not talking. At least two of the ministers in the MEA can't say no to cameras no matter what the question is about, even if it is about what some nutcase blogger said in China. Nearly a half dozen secretaries in this government are on their way to becoming media stars, filling in the space left vacant by its ministers. But did the prime minister deliver to us simple folk one speech explaining what he was trying to do in Sharm el-Sheikh and why? Did he, or even Sonia or Rahul Gandhi, make even half a statement before that meeting to prepare public opinion for some change or shift? Remember the way Vajpayee, and in the past even Indira and Nehru, used Parliament or just any other public forum to give the people just the cue they need, particularly when they have a government they trust?
The stepping back over Sharm el-Sheikh was this government's first false step, the cricketing equivalent would be a team losing its first wicket. A little quibble over drafting apart, it was entirely self-inflicted because nobody had prepared the people of India for this change. The failure to get any of the old reform bills — pensions, banking, insurance — passed in two sessions of this Parliament is entirely because of that same diffidence. If leaders of this UPA, unburdened of the Left, were using some of the TV talk time to open up these issues, the benefits these reforms will bring to us, in public debate, the BJP would have found it cheap not to offer support in the Rajya Sabha for bills that were first written by its own government. But none of that has been done. There even seems no urgency to do so as we are so consumed by our joy at "seven per cent-plus" growth, sinking even deeper into that China-minus-four complacence. This is when, instead of celebrating seven and anticipating nine, our leaders should have been setting targets of ten and above.
It's not as if nobody is talking. Some are, and getting results. Chidambaram is turning out to be one of our most transparent, and open, home ministers ever, even thinking aloud on structural changes in his ministry and throwing into public debate an idea that could indeed have been pushed through in secrecy. He has similarly communicated with people at large on Naxalism and terrorism and this government has been rewarded with widespread popular support for its policies on these key issues. Kapil Sibal is talking about his ideas way ahead of implementation and while old-timers initially accused him of being impatient and immature, they should now applaud, because not only is there so little opposition to his ideas of change, there is a great deal of support. Jairam Ramesh has done a good job of explaining his shifts, and has not been shy of joining a very robust debate on climate change, with rewards. Kamal Nath inherited a ministry in suspended animation but one reason he has been able to shake it up, and win many internal bureaucratic battles, is that he is talking and building his own public opinion. Then think of all those who are silent: the food and agriculture minister tops the list. Somebody has to explain to the people why food prices are rising and what is being done about it. The last time we heard him talk in public was about the terrible cricket pitch at Kotla.
In 2010, when people are wise as well as impatient, this is not
going to work. Around the world incumbents are getting elected now because people have both access to facts and the wisdom to analyse them. That is why the UPA won a second term with a greater majority. Its silence and complacence are not doing it much good, in spite of all the tom-tomming of 7.5 per cent growth.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/No-silence-please/565212/
Chidambaram's Home reforms: let Ministry deal only with security
Thu, Dec 24 06:24 AM
Home Minister P Chidambaram today spelt out a "radical restructuring of the security architecture" at the national level, outlining the contours of the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), and stressing the need to hive off subjects with no direct connection to internal security from the Home Ministry.
The "business-as-usual" model and "don't-rock-the-boat" answers to difficult questions relating to the country's security would be "self-defeating", Chidambaram said.
The NCTC's goals, Chidambaram said, "will include preventing a terrorist attack, containing a terrorist attack should one take place, and responding to a terrorist attack by inflicting pain upon the perpetrators".
"Such an organization does not exist today. It has to be created from scratch. I am told that the United States was able to do it within 36 months of September 11, 2001. India cannot afford to wait for 36 months. India must decide now to go forward and India must succeed in setting up the NCTC by the end of 2010," he said.
Sources said the government does not need to bring in legislation to set up the NCTC; it can use an executive order.
While the response to different kinds of terror would be different, the NCTC's mandate, Chidambaram said, should be to respond to violence by any group — insurgents in the North-East, Maoists in the heartland of India, or religious fanatics anywhere in the country, acting either on their own or in concert with terrorists outside India.
Chidambaram was delivering the Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment Lecture in the Capital.
"NCTC would have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations," Chidambaram said. "All intelligence agencies would therefore have to be represented in the NCTC. Consequently, in my proposal, MAC (Multi-Agency Centre) would be subsumed in the NCTC."
The MAC, with expanded authority, would be at the core of the new organization, and would, in fact, transform itself into the NCTC, Chidambaram said. The functions of investigation and operation would be added to MAC's current brief.
"As far as investigation is concerned, Government has set up the National Investigation Agency, and that agency would have to be brought under the overall control of NCTC. The last function — operations — would of course be the most sensitive and difficult part to create and bring under the NCTC. But I am clear in my mind that, without 'operations', NCTC and the security architecture that is needed will be incomplete. It is the proposed 'operations' wing of the NCTC that will give an edge — now absent — to our plans to counter terrorism," Chidambaram said.
The minister acknowledged that the establishment of the NCTC "will indeed result in transferring some oversight responsibilities over existing agencies or bodies to the NCTC". He made a "fervent plea" that this should not result in "turf wars", however.
"Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under NCTC and what come to my mind readily are NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG. The positioning of R&AW, ARC and CBI would have to be re-examined and a way would have to be found to place them under the oversight of NCTC to the extent that they deal with terrorism. The intelligence agencies of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance would, of course, continue to remain under the respective Ministries, but their representatives would have to be deputed mandatorily to the NCTC. NATGRID would obviously come under NCTC. So also, CCTNS would have to be supervised by the NCTC," he said.
Subjects that do not have a direct bearing on internal security should either be dealt with by a separate ministry or a separate department with a minister under MHA, Chidambaram said.
"MHA now handles a wide portfolio of subjects ranging from 'freedom fighters' to 'forensic science'. Is this a functional arrangement to deal with the grave challenges to internal security that we face and that we will face from many more years? I am afraid not."
The words 'Ministry of Home Affairs' have an authoritative ring, Chidambaram said; however, MHA "now performs a number of functions that have no direct relation to internal security".
"For example, it has a division dealing with freedom fighters but it does not have even a desk for dealing exclusively with forensic science. There are other divisions or desks that deal with Centre-State Relations, State Legislation, Human Rights, Union Territories, Disaster Management, Census etc. These are undoubtedly important functions and deserve close attention. However, internal security is an equally, if not more, important function that deserves the highest attention," he said.
"Subjects not directly related to internal security should be dealt with by a separate Ministry or should be brought under a separate Department in the MHA and dealt with by a Minister, more or less independently, without referring every issue to the Home Minister. The Home Minister should devote the whole of his/her time and energy to matters relating to security."
A division of the current functions of the MHA was unavoidable, Chidambaram said, "given the imperatives and the challenges of the times".
Express News Service
Poverty reduction and creation
Poverty measurement is an unsettled issue, both conceptually and methodologically. Since poverty is a process as well as an outcome; many come
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The most recent poverty re-estimates by an expert group has also missed this crucial dynamism. Studies carried out by one of the authors of this article in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan have, however, helped bring to light the essence of poverty dynamics: it is simultaneously both created and reduced.
Following up on these insights, we examined , for the first time in India, a nationally-representative panel data set for more than 13,000 households studied in 1993-94 and re-interviewed in 2004-05 . We found that while 18.2% of the rural population moved out of poverty, another 22.1% fell into it over these 12 years.
This net increase of four percentage points was seen to have a considerable variation across states and regions. In states such as Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal, where more people moved out of poverty than fell into poverty, there has been an overall decline in rural poverty. Conversely, rural poverty rose in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, where descents into poverty were more numerous than escapes.
States as well as regions within states differ from one another. Some have high descent rates but low escape rates; in a few other states, both descent and escape rates are low. And, therefore, different combinations of poverty policies will be required for each region. A typology emerging from our analysis is presented in the accompanying chart.
Consider the upper-left cell that lists regions that have most successfully reduced poverty over the 12-year reference period , because a high escape rate went together with a low descent rate. Two small states, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, and another group of states (Assam and the northeast) fall within this high-performing group.
The poor in India are best off living within some region of this cell: the probability is highest that her circumstances will improve over time. For a contrasting situation, consider the bottomright cell, characterised by low escape rates and high descent rates. Compared to other regions, the prospect for the poor in these regions is bleak; chances for further impoverishment are the highest.
Future efforts in these regions will do well to concentrate first on lowering the high rate of descent, and second on ramping up the low escape rate.
A more nuanced prognosis emerges for regions included within the off-diagonal cells. Consider, for example, the two regions belonging to the bottom-left cell (Karnataka-inland southern, and Madhya Pradesh-Vindhya ). A high escape rate within these regions has been compromised by a concurrently high descent rate.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5496832.cms
Time to disband populist measures in the energy sector
Subol Mondal, a 55-year-old smalltime farmer, at Dayapur village in the Sunderban forests, West Bengal, is very particular to keep his date with
He has had a hard year with natural disasters like the Aila playing havoc on his farm. Not only has he lost his crop but the cyclone has ruined his farmland as the salt water that seeped through has left his piece of land uncultivable for the next few crops.
Living in a thatched mud-house built on a high-rise land, however, saved him from losing his only source of electricity, the solar photovoltaic plate embedded in the thatched roof. The three-point connection, which he and his family of eight use for two hours every evening, is crucial this year as his eldest daughter prepares for her forthcoming board exam.
Subol is anxious to get his farmland (his only source of livelihood) to production at the earliest, but he is happy that his daughter may soon become a new earning member of the family thanks to the three 100-watt bulbs that light up his house and hopes for a better future.
Subol is not the only one. His fellow villagers and he are aware that the sun or solar power is a better bet and it is in their interest to adopt this nature-friendly device. Depending on diesel gensets or firewood, that have adverse impact on the ecosystem, will spell doom for their future as their livelihood is directly proportionate to the natural balance in the Sunderban region.
Can our political netas hear? There are about 18 to 20 solar photovoltaic projects in the Sunderban delta that provide electricity to about one lakh people.
The islands are estimated to have a population of 4.4 million people, most of whom are dependent on forest wood for lighting and cooking. Kerosene, a subsidised fuel by the government, does not reach these poor people and even if it did, they have to buy it at an exorbitant price of Rs 150-200 a litre. The government has set a subsidy price of Rs 9 a litre for this poor man's fuel. So much for the government's justification for doling out subsidies to the poor and needy.
The recent energy security report submitted by Teri has thrown up some interesting numbers and policy solutions to deal with India's energy market. China and India together consume more than what OECD countries do, and the demand will only increase in the years to come.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5496838.cms
Economic liberalisation in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The economic liberalization in India refers to ongoing reforms in India. After Independence in 1947, India adhered to socialist policies.In the 1980s, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated some reforms. His government was blocked by politics. In 1991, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had bailed out the bankrupt state, the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh started breakthrough reforms. The new policies included opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, initiation of privatization, tax reforms, and inflation-controlling measures. The overall direction of liberalization has since remained the same, irrespective of the ruling party, although no party has yet tried to take on powerful lobbies such as the trade unions and farmers, or contentious issues such as reforming labor laws and reducing agricultural subsidies.[1]
As of 2009, about 300 million people — equivalent to the entire population of the entire United States — has escaped extreme poverty.[2] The fruits of liberalization reached their peak in 2007, with India recording its highest GDP growth rate of 9%.[3] With this, India became the second fastest growing major economy in the world, next only to China.[4] An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report states that the average growth rate 7.5% will double the average income in a decade, and more reforms would speed up the pace.[5]
Indian government coalitions have been advised to continue liberalization. India grows at slower pace than China.[6] McKinsey states that removing main obstacles "would free India's economy to grow as fast as China's, at 10 percent a year".[7]
[edit] Pre-liberalisation policies
Further information: Economic history of India and License Raj
Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience (which was seen by Indian leaders as exploitative in nature) and by those leaders' exposure to Fabian socialism. Policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution, industrialization, state intervention in labor and financial markets, a large public sector, business regulation, and central planning.[8] Five-Year Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Steel, mining, machine tools, water, telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalized in the mid-1950s.[9] Elaborate licences, regulations and the accompanying red tape, commonly referred to as Licence Raj, were required to set up business in India between 1947 and 1990.[10]
Before the process of reform began in 1991, the government attempted to close the Indian economy to the outside world. The Indian currency, the rupee, was inconvertible and high tariffs and import licensing prevented foreign goods reaching the market. India also operated a system of central planning for the economy, in which firms required licenses to invest and develop. The labyrinthine bureaucracy often led to absurd restrictions — up to 80 agencies had to be satisfied before a firm could be granted a licence to produce and the state would decide what was produced, how much, at what price and what sources of capital were used. The government also prevented firms from laying off workers or closing factories. The central pillar of the policy was import substitution, the belief that India needed to rely on internal markets for development, not international trade — a belief generated by a mixture of socialism and the experience of colonial exploitation. Planning and the state, rather than markets, would determine how much investment was needed in which sectors.
[edit] Impact
- The low annual growth rate of the economy of India before 1980, which stagnated around 3.5% from 1950s to 1980s, while per capita income averaged 1.3%.[12] At the same time, Pakistan grew by 5%, Indonesia by 9%, Thailand by 9%, South Korea by 10% and in Taiwan by 12%.[13]
- Only four or five licences would be given for steel, power and communications. License owners built up huge powerful empires.[11]
- A huge public sector emerged. State-owned enterprises made large losses.[11]
- Infrastructure investment was poor because of the public sector monopoly.[11]
- License Raj established the "irresponsible, self-perpetruating bureaucracy that still exists throughout much of the country"[14] and corruption flourished under this system[4].
[edit] Rajiv Gandhi government (1984-1989)
In the 80s, the government led by Rajiv Gandhi started light reforms. The government slightly reduced License Raj and also promoted the growth of the telecommunications and software industries.
The Vishwanath Pratap Singh government (1989-1990) and Chandra Shekhar government (1990-1991) did not add any significant reforms.
[edit] Narasimha Rao government (1991-1996)
[edit] Crisis
Main article: 1991 India economic crisis
The assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, and later of her son Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, crushed international investor confidence on the economy that was eventually pushed to the brink by the early 1990s.
As of 1991, India still had a fixed exchange rate system, where the rupee was pegged to the value of a basket of currencies of major trading partners. India started having balance of payments problems since 1985, and by the end of 1990, it was in a serious economic crisis. The government was close to default[15], its central bank had refused new credit and foreign exchange reserves had reduced to the point that India could barely finance three weeks' worth of imports.
A Balance of Payments crisis in 1991 pushed the country to near bankruptcy. In return for an IMF bailout, gold was transferred to London as collateral, the Rupee devalued and economic reforms were forced upon India. That low point was the catalyst required to transform the economy through badly needed reforms to unshackle the economy. Controls started to be dismantled, tariffs, duties and taxes progressively lowered, state monopolies broken, the economy was opened to trade and investment, private sector enterprise and competition were encouraged and globalisation was slowly embraced. The reforms process continues today and is accepted by all political parties, but the speed is often held hostage by coalition politics and vested interests.
– India Report, Astaire Research[4]
[edit] Reforms
The Government of India headed by Narasimha Rao decided to usher in several reforms that are collectively termed as liberalisation in the Indian media. Narasimha Rao appointed Manmohan Singh as a special economical advisor to implement liberalisation.
The reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Liberalization has done away with the Licence Raj (investment, industrial and import licensing) and ended many public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors.[16] Rao's government's goals were reducing the fiscal deficit, privatization of the public sector, and increasing investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilizing external loans. Rao's finance minister, Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a central role in implementing these reforms. New research suggests that the scope and pattern of these reforms in India's foreign investment and external trade sectors followed the Chinese experience with external economic reforms.[17]
- In the industrial sector, industrial licensing was cut, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing. Industrial regulation was rationalized.[15]
- Abolishing in 1992 the Controller of Capital Issues which decided the prices and number of shares that firms could issue.[15][18]
- Introducing the SEBI Act of 1992 and the Security Laws (Amendment) which gave SEBI the legal authority to register and regulate all security market intermediaries.[15][19]
- Starting in 1994 of the National Stock Exchange as a computer-based trading system which served as an instrument to leverage reforms of India's other stock exchanges. The NSE emerged as India's largest exchange by 1996.[20]
- Reducing tariffs from an average of 85 percent to 25 percent, and rolling back quantitative controls. (The rupee was made convertible on trade account.)[21]
- Encouraging foreign direct investment by increasing the maximum limit on share of foreign capital in joint ventures from 40 to 51 percent with 100 percent foreign equity permitted in priority sectors.[22]
- Streamlining procedures for FDI approvals, and in at least 35 industries, automatically approving projects within the limits for foreign participation.[15][23]
- Opening up in 1992 of India's equity markets to investment by foreign institutional investors and permitting Indian firms to raise capital on international markets by issuing Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).[24]
- Marginal tax rates were reduced.
- Privatization of large, inefficient and loss-inducing government corporations was initiated.
[edit] Other
[edit] Later reforms
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee's administration surprised many by continuing reforms, when it was at the helm of affairs of India for five years.[25]
- The Vajpayee administration continued with privatization, reduction of taxes, a sound fiscal policy aimed at reducing deficits and debts and increased initiatives for public works.
- The UF government attempted a progressive budget that encouraged reforms, but the 1997 Asian financial crisis and political instability created economic stagnation.
- Strategies like forming Special Economic Zones - tax amenities, good communications infrastructure, low regulation — to encourage industries has paid off in many parts of the country.
- The Golden Quadrilateral project aimed to link India's corners with a network of modern highways.
- Right to Information Act (2005)
- Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement (2008)
- Right to Education Bill (2008)
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
[edit] Impact of reforms
The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew from a minuscule US $132 million in 1991-92 to $5.3 billion in 1995-96.[22]
Cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad have risen in prominence and economic importance, became centres of rising industries and destination for foreign investment and firms.
Annual growth in GDP per capita has accelerated from just 1¼ per cent in the three decades after Independence to 7½ per cent currently, a rate of growth that will double average income in a decade. [...] In service sectors where government regulation has been eased significantly or is less burdensome – such as communications, insurance, asset management and information technology – output has grown rapidly, with exports of information technology enabled services particularly strong. In those infrastructure sectors which have been opened to competition, such as telecoms and civil aviation, the private sector has proven to be extremely effective and growth has been phenomenal.
– OECD[5]
[edit] Ongoing economic challenges
Main article: Economy of India
- Problems in the agricultural sector.
- Highly restrictive and complex labour laws.[5][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
- Inadequate infrastructure, which is often government monopoly.[32]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
OECD summarized the key reforms that are needed:
In labour markets, employment growth has been concentrated in firms that operate in sectors not covered by India's highly restrictive labour laws. In the formal sector, where these labour laws apply, employment has been falling and firms are becoming more capital intensive despite abundant low-cost labour. Labour market reform is essential to achieve a broader-based development and provide sufficient and higher productivity jobs for the growing labour force. In product markets, inefficient government procedures, particularly in some of the states, acts as a barrier to entrepreneurship and need to be improved. Public companies are generally less productive than private firms and the privatisation programme should be revitalised. A number of barriers to competition in financial markets and some of the infrastructure sectors, which are other constraints on growth, also need to be addressed. The indirect tax system needs to be simplified to create a true national market, while for direct taxes, the taxable base should be broadened and rates lowered. Public expenditure should be re-oriented towards infrastructure investment by reducing subsidies. Furthermore, social policies should be improved to better reach the poor and – given the importance of human capital – the education system also needs to be made more efficient.
– OECD[5]
[edit] Reforms at the state level
See also: Economic disparities in India
The Economic Survey of India 2007 by OECD concluded:
At the state level, economic performance is much better in states with a relatively liberal regulatory environment than in the relatively more restrictive states".[5]
The analysis of this report suggests that the differences in economic performance across states are associated with the extent to which states have introduced market-oriented reforms. Thus, further reforms on these lines, complemented with measures to improve infrastructure, education and basic services, would increase the potential for growth outside of agriculture and thus boost better-paid employment, which is a key to sharing the fruits of growth and lowering poverty.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "That old Gandhi magic". The Economist. November 27, 1997. http://economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%26%29H%2C%2BPQ%27%25%0A.
- ^ Nick Gillespie (2008). "What Slumdog Millionaire can teach Americans about economic stimulus". Reason. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/131810.html.
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html#Econ
- ^ a b c "The India Report". Astaire Research. http://www.ukibc.com/ukindia2/files/India60.pdf.
- ^ a b c d e f "Economic survey of India 2007: Policy Brief". OECD. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/52/39452196.pdf.
- ^ "India's economy: What's holding India back?". The Economist. March 6th 2008. http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10808493.
- ^ "The McKinsey Quarterly: India—From emerging to surging". The McKinsey Quarterly. http://business.indian-network.de/artikel/The%20McKinsey%20Quarterly-%20India-From%20emerging%20to%20surging.pdf.
- ^ Kelegama, Saman and Parikh, Kirit (2000). Political Economy of Growth and Reforms in South Asia. Second Draft. http://www.eldis.org/static/DOC12473.htm.
- ^ Sam Staley (2006). "The Rise and Fall of Indian Socialism: Why India embraced economic reform". http://www.reason.com/news/show/36682.html.
- ^ Street Hawking Promise Jobs in Future, The Times of India, 2001-11-25
- ^ a b c d "India: the economy". BBC. 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/55427.stm.
- ^ "Redefining The Hindu Rate Of Growth". The Financial Express. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/redefining-the-hindu-rate-of-growth/104268/.
- ^ "Industry passing through phase of transition". The Tribune India. http://www.tribuneindia.com/50yrs/kapur.htm.
- ^ Eugene M. Makar (2007). An American's Guide to Doing Business in India.
- ^ a b c d e India's Pathway through Financial Crisis. Arunabha Ghosh. Global Economic Governance Programme. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ Panagariya, Arvind (2004). India in the 1980s and 1990s: A Triumph of Reforms. http://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpit/0403005.html.
- ^ Jalal Alamgir, India's Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity (London and New York: Routledge, 2008)
- ^ Securities and Exchange Commission Act. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ Securities and Exchange Board of India Act. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ How NSE surpassed BSE. Ajay Shah and Susan Thomas. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ The Indian Growth Miracle. J. Bradford DeLong. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ a b Local industrialists against multinationals. Ajay Singh and Arjuna Ranawana. Asiaweek. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ FDI in India. Kulwindar Singh. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ India's Economic Policies. Indian Investment Centre. Retrieved on 2 March 2007.
- ^ J. Bradford DeLong (2001). "India Since Independence: An Analytic Growth Narrative". http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Econ_Articles/India/India_Rodrik_DeLong.PDF.
- ^ "HSBC GLT frontpage". http://www.hsbcglt.com/. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "IMF calls for urgent reform in Indian labour laws". http://news.indiainfo.com/2006/04/20/2004imf-labour-laws.html.
- ^ Kaushik Basu, Gary S. Fields, and Shub Debgupta. "Retrenchment, Labor Laws and Government Policy: An Analysis with Special Reference to India". The World Bank. http://www.worldbank.org/html/prdph/downsize/docs/india.pdf.
- ^ R. C. Datta / Milly Sil (2007). "Contemporary Issues on Labour Law Reform in India". http://atlmri.googlepages.com/RCD_MILI.pdf.
- ^ Aditya Gupta (2006). "How wrong has the Indian Left been about economic reforms?". http://www.ccsindia.org/interns2006/How%20Wrong%20is%20left%20about%20ecoonimic%20reforms%20in%20India%20-%20Aditya.pdf.
- ^ "Why India needs labour law reform". BBC. 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4103554.stm.
- ^ a b "A special report on India: An elephant, not a tiger". The Economist. 11 December 2008. http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12749735.
- ^ "India Country Overview 2008". The World Bank. 2008. http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20195738~menuPK:295591~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html.
- ^ Gurcharan Das (July/August 2006). "The India Model". The Foreign Affairs. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060701faessay85401-p0/gurcharan-das/the-india-model.html.
[edit] External links
- For a short educational video of the "economic history of India".
- Nick Gillespie (2009). "What Slumdog Millionaire can teach Americans about economic stimulus". Reason. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/131810.html.
- "Economic survey of India 2007: Policy Brief". OECD. 2007. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/52/39452196.pdf.
- Gurcharan Das (2006). "The India Model". The Foreign Affairs. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060701faessay85401-p0/gurcharan-das/the-india-model.html.
- Aditya Gupta (2006). "How wrong has the Indian Left been about economic reforms?". Centre for Civil Society. http://www.ccsindia.org/interns2006/How%20Wrong%20is%20left%20about%20ecoonimic%20reforms%20in%20India%20-%20Aditya.pdf.
- "The India Report". Astaire Research. 2007. http://www.ukibc.com/ukindia2/files/India60.pdf.
- "India's Rising Growth Potential". Goldman Sachs. 2007. http://www.usindiafriendship.net/viewpoints1/Indias_Rising_Growth_Potential.pdf.
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ReplyDeleteHey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
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Hey! Nice post. I liked all the content and videos in this post. A must read blog.
ReplyDeleteAlso Read: Top 10 Perfume Brands in India