Researchers claim development of diabetic-friendly rice varieties
Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University has taken up research on developing diabetic-friendly rice varieties in collaboration with private industries, Vice-Chancellor Alluri Padma Raju disclosed here on Saturday.
Mr. Raju was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a meeting of rice millers, peasant representatives and agricultural scientists, conducted by the Agricultural Research Station (ARS) at Maruteru for popularising new paddy varieties.
“Scientists are on the job of building glycemic indices [GIs] with the data on how much carbohydrates in each rice variety raises a person’s blood glucose levels,” he said. As of now, 40 rice varieties were available with the researchers and 14 of them were found to have anti-diabetic properties. Of them, BPT-5204, popularly known as Samba Masuri, was found to be more friendly, Mr. Raju explained.
The research strategies involved collection of anti-diabetic genes from different varieties, and introducing them in select varieties by way of selective breeding through the marker identification method.
Diabetes was fast spreading and people even below 30 were falling prey to the disease, of late. The breakthrough, if achieved in the ongoing research, would be a boon for people prone to diabetes caused by food habits, among others, in a country where rice consumption accounted for more than 80 per cent, Mr. Raju said.
The Samba Masuri was identified as an ideal variety for projection as more diabetic-friendly, given its ‘admirable’ strains. It was easy to cook and preserve, and non-sticky in nature, he said.
The VC said that the gale-resistant paddy varieties, need of the hour in the cyclone-prone Godavari delta region, were likely to be released in April, facilitating sowing for the next kharif . Research had been in progress for about five years, and it was under trial in different stages, he added.
As of now, 14 rice varieties having anti-diabetic properties
14 of them found to have anti-diabetic properties
BPT-5204, popularly known as Sambha Masoori, found to be more diabetic friendly
Treat paid news as electoral offence: CEC
The Election Commission has made a proposal to the government to treat paid news as an electoral offence, and regulate government advertisements in the six-month period before the elections. It has also recommended an audit of political parties’ accounts and a review of the punishment for electoral offences.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V.S. Sampath said here on Saturday that the recommendations were made to ensure a clean, clear, and strong electoral process responsive to the demands of the changing times.
At a seminar organised by the Kerala Legislature Secretariat and the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, he said paid news was causing damage to the electoral process. “It has a corrupting influence on the media, candidates and the people. We have placed a proposal before the Law Ministry to make paid news an electoral offence with all the consequences for those indulging in it,” he said.
‘Quotas for education helped SCs, but boys alone reaped the benefit’
Empirical impact of reservations is yet an un-studied phenomenon
The first evaluation of the impact of reservations on educational attainment has shown that quotas in educational institutions did indeed improve the education indicators of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), but nearly all of the improvement was among boys only. The SC girls experienced next to no improvement in their education levels as a result of reservations.
While there is broad political consensus on the value of affirmative action in educational institutions for children from scheduled castes, the empirical impact of reservations is yet an un-studied phenomenon. What makes it particularly difficult is that no data is available on the educational levels of people before and after reservations came into effect.
Guilhem Cassan, an economist and assistant professor at the University of Namur in Belgium, took advantage of a natural experiment which occurred in 1976, when the lists of SCs were harmonised across States for the first time since Independence, giving fresh SC status to 25 lakh more people. Mr. Cassan was thus able to compare the educational levels of those people who had had the SC status since Independence, and those who were of school-going age when they got the SC status in 1976.
For educational levels, Mr. Cassan turned to the 1998-99 National Family Health Survey-2, the only large-scale official Indian survey that includes both precise caste group names and data on educational outcomes.
Mr. Cassan found that access to the SC status led to an increase of 0.3 years of schooling which may sound small, but is large in statistical terms. “It has to be put in perspective with the average level of education in this population, which is of 4.2 years (for individuals born between 1950 and 1979). Hence, 0.3 years of education is a 7% increase in the number of years of education of this population,” Mr. Cassan told The Hindu .
To broaden the understanding of educational attainment from years of schooling alone to measures of skills, Mr. Cassan also looked at literacy levels and numeracy levels. While literacy is measured in a straightforward way, Mr. Cassan constructed an unusual measure of numeracy, by looking at a respondent’s tendency to round off his or her reported age, something that is associated with a discomfort with numbers.
Access to the SC status led to an improvement in both literacy and numeracy levels, Mr. Cassan found. However, the findings were extremely uneven across gender, to the extent that most of the improvements in SC educational attainment was among boys alone; reservations had next to no impact on educational outcomes for girls, Mr. Cassan found. For males alone, access to the SC status meant an increase of 0.7 years of schooling on average; a 12% increase for boys, and 0% for girls.
“Gender is clearly a dimension that is too often neglected in the reservation debate,” Mr. Cassan said. “However, this issue goes beyond the caste question, as girls in general are discriminated against,” he added.
The Scheduled Caste girls face the combined effect of patriarchy and poverty, Sukhadeo Thorat, chairman of the Indian Council for Social Science Research and an economist who has widely published on the impact of caste, told The Hindu . However the newer generation of scheduled castes have begun to increasingly send girls to school and even on to higher education, Dr. Thorat said. A sharp rural-urban gap in female enrolment in higher education remains, he added.
Access to SC status led to an increase of 0.3 years of schooling
Quotas had next to no impact on educational outcomes for girls
Utilise MNREGA to make villages drought-proof, says H.K. Patil
Works taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, in convergence with other government departments, should be directed at making villages in Karnataka “drought-proof”, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil has said.
Inaugurating a workshop on convergence of MNREGA works with resources of other departmental programmes here on Saturday, the Minister emphasised the need to harness the employment guarantee scheme to revive the sagging agricultural economy and make farming productive.
Farm friendly
While the MNREGA is often cited as the reason for scarcity of farm labour, thus adding to the agricultural crisis, it could be effectively used for works that create an atmosphere conducive to farm activity, Mr. Patil said. Schemes such as planting farm bund trees and reviving farm tanks would serve this purpose, he added.
The Minister said working in convergence with the MNREGA was not only aimed at stopping duplication of work, but also in helping other departments fill their resource gaps. The scheme, Mr. Patil said, was the most important nation-building exercise that goes beyond the mandate of employment generation. He said that many targets that were believed to be too ambitious — for example of building 6 lakh rural toilets — were doing well under the MNREGA. “We received 6.25 lakh applications and 2.7 lakh toilets have already been built within three months,” he said.
Integrated approach
T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, discussed schemes under various departments that could be integrated with the MNREGA, as long as they did not use labour-displacing machinery. Several schemes had been identified for convergence of funds and for technical assistance and management according to the direction of the Union government. G.V. Krishna Rau, Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Development Commissioner, said inculcating transparency in the functioning of other departments, in line with the practice in the MNREGA, would make convergence easier.
U.P. to run job-oriented training for 24 lakh unemployed youths
About 24 lakh unemployed youths would be imparted job-oriented training in the next three years under the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission. The training programmes to be initiated in the State-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) would entail an expenditure of Rs. 4,200 crore from 2014-15 to 2016-17.
The Mission was launched by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav here on Saturday. About 600 trades have been selected under the Mission.
The foundation stone of 34 ITI, costing about Rs. 166 crore, was also laid by Mr. Yadav. Speaking on the occasion, he advocated the entry of private players for imparting better skills to the youth which would enable them to seek better job opportunities. Hinting that the old system of training was not in sync with the changing times, he said if the youths are given the right type of training their skill can be better utilised in a host of jobs.
“Not only would it enable them to improve their financial position, the State and country will also benefit in the economic sphere,” Mr. Yadav said.
Referring to the rapid expansion in the service sector of economy, he said trained workforce would be needed in the retail trade and information technology.
Mr. Yadav stressed on the need of imparting the right type of trade-specific training to the jobless youth.
Mr. Yadav said creation of new job opportunities has been prioritised, adding that about 20,000 youths have been employed under different schemes of the Heath Department. This apart; new medical colleges, the Metro project at Lucknow and the IT City to be developed near here would create more job avenues, he said. He said the Centre had lauded the new poultry policy and the dairy development schemes of the State.
Letters of Invitation were handed over to five training instructors who are among the 42 selected under the Mission. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with fabric marketer and retailer Raymond Limited for setting up five tailoring training centres in the State. Prior to the launch of the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission, the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansathan awards for the year 2008 were handed over to the winners by Mr. Yadav.
About 20,000 youths have been employed under different schemes of the Heath Department: Yadav
“The State’s new poultry policy and dairy development has been lauded by the Centre”
Net direct tax collections up 14 %
Revenue from corporate tax up by 10 per cent
Net direct tax collections from April to 20 December were up 13.7 per cent at Rs.4.13 lakh crore, according to an official release. Of which, corporate tax collections were Rs.2.61 lakh crore or 10.2 per cent higher than in the same period last year. Personal income tax collections, at Rs.1.48 lakh crore, have shown better growth of 20.5 per cent. The government had fixed direct tax collection target of over Rs.6.68 lakh crore in the Union Budget for 2013-14, envisaging a growth of 19 per cent over the collections in 2012-13. The slower-than-target growth will make Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s task of keeping the fiscal deficit, or the excess of the government’s spending over its revenues, within the target of 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) tougher. Mr. Chidambaram has said that the government will not allow the fiscal deficit target to be breached.
Forex reserves drop by $192 m
India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $192.8 million to $295.51 billion for the week ended December 13. The reserves had soared by $4.40 billion to $295.70 billion in the week ended December 6. — PTI
No retroactive immunity for Khobragade: U.S.
The U.S. State Department has clarified that if senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade (39) successfully obtained U.N. credentials and the full diplomatic immunity that comes with the G-1 visa, such immunity would only apply from the day she was officially confirmed to her new post and not retroactively.
If this is the case, the Deputy Consul General would theoretically continue to be liable for the criminal charges pressed against her relating to visa fraud committed against Sangeeta Richard, an Indian national whom she employed at her Manhattan residence as a housekeeper and babysitter.
Spokesperson Marie Harf also appeared to water down suggestions in Indian media that the State Department may consider dropping the charges against Ms. Khobragade and was trying to put “distance” between itself and the strong remarks of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who on earlier this week drew attention to the allegations of visa fraud.
Dispelling doubts
In this regard she sought to dispel doubt on the Department’s position on the felony charges brought against Ms. Khobragade and said, “We’re not in any way walking back from those … charges,” especially as the Department “very clearly… said every year in diplomatic notes to every country that has diplomats here throughout the world that there are obligations they have for their staffs when they bring them to the U.S.”
This week the U.S. government also seemed to push back on the suggestion by the Indian side that multiple attempts to communicate details of the case against Ms. Richard in the Delhi High Court were met with silence.
‘Extensive communications’
Underscoring what she described as “extensive communications” and a “two-way conversation” with the Indian embassy here and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, Ms. Harf said that it was “highly inaccurate” to say that the U.S. ignored any Government of India communiques on this issue.
The U.S. also addressed the question of its “evacuation” of the family of Ms. Richard from India, as stated by Mr. Bharara.
After Washington became “aware of the existence of allegations that the family was intimidated in India,” Ms. Harf said, the U.S. government took “steps to reunite the alleged victim with her family.”
375 services being provided under Sakala scheme
‘There is a need for computers and internet facility in schools and collegeand the government is contemplating providing these’
Officials of the Education Department participating at the Sakala training programme in Dharwad on Friday.
Of the 447 services proposed to be brought under the Sakala scheme by the State government, the process of providing 375 services under the scheme has been completed.
Disclosing this at the two-day training programme organised for Education Department officials at Dharwad Zilla Panchayat, B.S. Shankar, lecturer of Administrative Training Institute, Mysore, said that in all, the government plans to bring 1,008 services under the scheme.
He said although 32 services of the Education Department have been brought under Sakala, only12 were being provided under it now.
He said these 32 services were brought under the scheme with effect from August 15, 2013, and there was a need for having online facility to quickly provide the services. “There is a need for computers and internet facility in schools and colleges and the government is contemplating providing these,” he said.
Principal of District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) Gangappa inaugurated the programme in which principals of colleges and high schools from across the district participated.
‘Government plans to bring 1,008 services under Sakala scheme’
‘Of 32 services of the Education Department, only12 are being provided’
Centre moves apex court for review of Section 377 ruling
Says ruling falls foul of the principles of equality and liberty
Within nine days of the Supreme Court judgment upholding Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, according to which homosexuality or unnatural sex between two consenting adults is illegal and an offence, the Centre moved the apex court seeking a review of its ruling.
In its review petition on Friday, the Centre said: “The judgment suffers from errors apparent on the face of the record, and is contrary to well-established principles of law laid down by the apex court enunciating the width and ambit of Fundamental Rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.” The IPC, when enacted in 1860, was justified; but with the passage of time it became arbitrary and unreasonable, the petition added.
“Section 377 IPC, insofar as it criminalises consensual sexual acts in private, falls foul of the principles of equality and liberty enshrined in our Constitution. Further, Section 377 which criminalises intercourse ‘against the order of nature’ is a reflection of outdated sodomy laws of the United Kingdom which were transplanted into India in 1860.
They do not have any legal sanctity and in any case are unlawful in view of the Constitutional mandate of Articles 14, 15 and 21.”
A Bench had on December 11 set aside the Delhi High Court’s verdict decriminalising homosexuality, stating that Section 377 IPC did not suffer from any constitutional infirmity.
Western Ghats protection draft notification coming
The Environment Ministry on Friday took another step towards implementing the Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats, kick-starting the process of a draft notification for the Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) in six States.
But, keeping protests in Kerala in mind, it made explicitly clear that plantations, agriculture and other routine activities in the ESA, declared under the Environment Protection Act, 1972, would not be restricted or impacted.
The Ministry’s office memorandum said: “As a follow-up to in-principle acceptance of the High Level Working Group report by the Ministry, relevant steps would be initiated to operationalise the recommendations.”
A draft notification declaring an identified region as an ECA along the lines accepted by the Ministry would be issued and put up on its website for inputs to stakeholders.
The High Level working group headed by Planning Commission member K. Kasturirangan had declaring 37% of the area of Western Ghats ESA. Under Act, only activities explicitly mentioned in the formal notification of the ESA are banned, while others are permitted by default.
But several sections in Kerala were up in arms against the decision, fearing an impact on plantations and agriculture.
The Ministry clarified that the ESA regulatory regime would be imposed only after comments were received from the States and other stakeholders. The final ESA boundaries would be modified based on a physical verification the State governments may suggest.
While these conditions were implicit in the earlier order of the Centre, the Ministry took pains to explain that the final declaration of the zones, where certain industrial activities are banned, would only be made over time based on consultations with the stakeholders.
The Ministry reiterated that any expansion of or new mining, quarrying and sand mining would be banned.
New thermal power plants, heavily polluting industries, building and construction projects of an area 20,000 sq. metre and above, and township and area development projects between 50 ha and above or with a built-up area of 1,50,000 sq. metres would also not be allowed.
All other projects that are not expressly banned under the government orders would be permitted only with the consent of gram sabhas.
Only in mining would the existing projects be phased out within the next five years or at the expiry of the lease, whichever is earlier, the Ministry said. In other cases, new projects and expansion of the existing ones and related activities would be banned. The existing projects would continue.
In putting out the final order, the ministry kept in mind Kerala’s political sensitivities. The Working Group’s recommendations “neither put any fresh restrictions on land use in ESA nor do they in any way impact the continued occupation of land in possession of local people and affect their day-to-day activities or normal livelihood,” the order said.
Regulatory regime under ESA will be imposed only after comments from States
Mining banned;
no curbs on agriculture, plantations and routine activities
Political sensitivities of Kerala kept in mind
Gay ruling “based on flawed perception”
The Centre on Friday asserted before the Supreme Court that laws must reflect social change and society’s aspirations, and should not operate in a vacuum.
In a petition seeking review of its judgment that invalidated a Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising homosexuality, the Centre said the conclusion “that it is not empowered to strike down a law merely because perception of society has changed is patently erroneous. Law does not operate in a vacuum but in a social context.”
Review petitions are normally heard in the chambers of a senior judge. If the petition is accepted for hearing, it will be listed for open hearing and notice will be issued to the parties concerned. If thepetition is dismissed in the chambers, the next option for the Centre is to file a curative petition, which will be heard by a minimum of four seniormost judges and a maximum of five judges.
The review petition said there was a sea change, not just in India, but all over the world, on the law on homosexuality. “A majority of the countries have legalised homosexuality. Even in India, Section 377 IPC was introduced not as a reflection of existing Indian values and traditions, but rather, it was imposed upon Indian society due to the moral values of the colonisers. Indian society prior to enactment of the IPC had a much greater tolerance of homosexuality.” The apex court, the Centre said, failed to consider the dynamic nature of law, particularly with respect to homosexuality. “The view adopted by this court is contrary to the principles enshrined in the law laid down i.e. that the court cannot allow itself to be tied down by and become captive of a view which in the light of subsequent experience has been found to be patently erroneous, manifestly unreasonable or to cause hardship or to result in plain iniquity or public inconvenience.”
On its indictment that the Delhi High Court ought to have exercised self-restraint while decriminalising Section 377, the Centre said: “Self-restraint must be exercised and the court must be guided by the presumption of constitutionality if the provision directly transgresses or substantially and inevitably affects the fundamental right. Secondly, the presumption of constitutionality has no relevance when a violation of constitutional provisions has been demonstrated.”Referring to the court’s observation that Parliament had failed to amend Section 377, the government said: “Whether a law is constitutional or not is certainly not dependent upon whether the legislature has thought it fit to retain a provision in the statute or not. It depends on whether that provision in effect violates the provisions of the Constitution.”
The apex court’s observation that only a miniscule had been penalised so far under the law was “irrelevant when it comes to deciding an issue of constitutionality.”
The review petition “is being filed to avoid a grave miscarriage of justice to thousands of LGBT [lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender] persons, who have been aggrieved by the order and have been put at risk of prosecution and harassment, upon re-criminalisation of their sexual identities. Following the High Court judgment that decriminalised, adult consensual sexual acts in private, including homosexual acts, a considerable number of LGBT persons became open about their sexual orientation and identity in their families, and at workplaces, educational institutions and public spaces. All those people suddenly have become vulnerable to abuse and discrimination and require immediate relief.” The Centre pleaded for an open hearing.
In review plea, Centre says laws must reflect society’s aspirations
In review plea, Centre says laws must reflect society’s aspirations
It has been filed to avoid ‘miscarriage of justice’ to thousands of LGBT
NHRC seeks report from Bihar govt. on mid-day meal
The NHRC on Friday sought reports from the Education Department of Bihar and Sheohar district administration on the issue of 55 children falling sick allegedly after consuming mid-day meal.
The notices were served on the Principal Secretary (Education) of the Bihar government and District Magistrate, Sheohar, according to a statement issued by the National Human Rights Commission.
They have been given four weeks to submit their reports in the case.
The notices were issued after the Commission took suo motu cognisance of media reports that 55 children fell sick after consuming mid-day meal at Sugia Middle School in Sheohar district.
“The forensic report confirmed the presence of toxic insecticide strains in the cooking oil used for making food at the school,” the statement said.
The Commission observed that the contents of the press reports, if true, raised a serious issue of violation of human rights of children. — PTI
Coca Cola asked to return land to gram panchayat within a week
After more than a decade of struggle against beverage giant Coca Cola, villagers in Mehdiganj, 20 km from Varanasi, have something to cheer about.
The local administration has issued the company one week’s ultimatum to return the gram panchayat land it had “illegally” encroached upon for its bottling plant.
Coca Cola has also been fined Rs. 1,24,590, The Hindu has found.
The step was taken by the Varanasi administration after repeated complaints by affected farmers.
Acting upon the orders of District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav, the local tehsildar ordered the company to return 19 bissas (roughly 1 bigha) of land to gram panchayat. The land had been encroached upon in 1999 and 2011. The administration has also written to the revenue officer and local police to ensure the smooth transfer of land.
“This a battle won for us. We have celebrated and distributed sweets. Now we will fight to cancel the company’s licence and uproot it from our land,” said Mr. Nandlal, social activist who has for the past decade organised a local movement against the bottling plant under the NGO Lok Samiti.
The company had earlier proved its occupation by stating that the pradhan had been “paid off” to sign documents that Coca Cola had returned the land, even though they had not.
In 2005, the DM of Varanasi dismissed the pradhan of Mehdiganj Ram Jivan Patel on corruption charges related to this incident. Even though the company had provided no compensation or alternative land, no action was taken against the company. The courts then found the company guilty and issued notices to it to return the land. However, administrative action was pending.
Since Coca Cola started its bottling operations in 1999, groundwater in the area has fallen sharply — dropping 7.9 metres (26feet). As reported in The Hindu on April 20, village panchayats had objected to the extension of the plant, holding Coca Cola responsible for the aggravation of the water crisis in the area and called on the government to stop its current groundwater extraction. The area’s groundwater has been declared as critical by the government. A 2012 report by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) labelled Coca Cola’s current groundwater extraction in Mehdiganj as “excess” and found the company’s much touted water conservation measures to be ineffective.
The company is now seeking a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) to extract fives times the current groundwater — from the current 50,000 cubic metres annually to 2,50,000 cubic metres. The company recently received an NOC from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) on condition that it would acquire an NOC from the CGWB within three months. The time has elapsed and the company is yet to get a clearance from the Central authority.
“We have now written to the UPPCB to fully cancel their NOC,” said Mr. Nandlal.
No representative of Coca Cola was available for comment.
The good old way
Obesity is a pressing health problem plaguing Indians and can be tackled properly by reverting to a traditional diet comprising pulses, coarse grains and vegetables, experts said.
“We should go back to a traditional diet and this can be ensured by giving up junk food items and choosing fresh vegetables and fruits,” nutritionist Anjali Mukherjee said.
She said it was up to parents to ensure their children pick up good eating habits and put pressure on schools to ensure junk food is not available in canteens.
Obesity is a pressing health problem for India and there are more and more people who are dying because they are eating excess food, she said.
According to Muffazal Lakdawala, founder, Centre for Obesity and Diabetes Surgery and head of the Department of Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, the number of obese has doubled since the 1980s.
“Today, obesity causes more health issues than we know,” he said.
Arya M. Sharma, professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, Canada, said: “We don’t have a cure for obesity. We are still not able to understand obesity.”
Psychoanalyst and writer Susie Orbach blamed industries dealing with fitness for creating an obsession with thinness, especially among women.
“Obesity can also be seen as an eating disorder. We need to understand more why people eat when they are not hungry,” she said.
Seeking to explore the psychology behind weight issues, Orbach said, “When people are overeating or under-eating, then they are looking for solutions to their problems”. — IANS
BCIM corridor gets push after first official-level talks in China
Four nations have for the first time drawn up a specific timetable on taking forward plan
India and China have taken the first step towards pushing forward an ambitious corridor linking the two countries with Bangladesh and Myanmar, as representatives from the four nations held the first ever official-level discussions about the project this week.
The four nations have for the first time drawn up a specific timetable on taking forward the long discussed plan, emphasising the need to quickly improve physical connectivity in the region, over two days of talks in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming – the provincial capital of Yunnan, which borders Myanmar – on Wednesday and Thursday.
The corridor, it was agreed, will run from Kunming to Kolkata, linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. The plan would “advance multi-modal connectivity, harness the economic complementarities, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts”, the four nations said following Thursday’s Joint Study Group session.
The BCIM project, which has been the subject of discussions and debates for more than a decade among scholars from the four countries, finally received official support earlier this year, highlighted as a key initiative during two meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, in New Delhi in May and in Beijing in October.
The Chinese have appeared to take the lead in pushing forward the corridor, choosing to highlight the proposal as a key outcome of Mr. Li’s visit to India – his first overseas trip as the new Premier.
China, officials say, sees the corridor as a platform to not only boost strategic ties with India, but also as a means to inject vitality into its landlocked southwestern provinces, which have the highest poverty rates in China.
In the months following Mr. Li’s visit to India and in the lead-up to Dr. Singh travelling to Beijing, both India and China held separate consultations with Bangladesh and Myanmar, agreeing to hold a first official meeting in China. India was represented at this week’s talks by Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs Gautam Bambawale, who was joined by the Deputy Planning Minister of Bangladesh, the Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and a senior economic affairs official from Myanmar.
To underline that no country will dominate the initiative, the four nations said the corridor will be taken forward on “the principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual interest, equitable sharing of mutual benefits”.
As a first step, the four countries will identify realistic and achievable infrastructure projects to boost physical connectivity.
Over the next six months, each country will come up with a joint study report proposing concrete projects and financing modalities, before the next meeting of the four nations in June 2014, hosted by Bangladesh.
The hope is that before the holding of the third joint study meeting, in India towards the end of 2014, the four countries will have agreed upon a cooperation framework – including modalities of financing projects – that will pave the way for on-the-ground work to begin.
This week’s talks saw the four countries come up with an ambitious proposal that included developing multi-modal transport, such as road, rail, waterways and airways, joint power projects and telecommunication networks.
Officials suggested that improving the road networks would likely be a first priority. Earlier this year, a first ever BCIM car rally was held between Kolkata and Kunming.
The corridor is likely to follow the rough route of the rally, which served to highlight the inconsistent road conditions, especially in parts of Myanmar. Officials acknowledged that security concerns in parts of Myanmar were one likely obstacle, although representatives from the country also expressed optimism that this issue would, in time, be overcome.
Corridor will run from Kunming to Kolkata
China sees corridor as a platform to boost ties with India
A cure worse than the malady?
An empowered and high-profile ombudsman for India, a dream for long, is finally a reality. The millions of sceptics, including this writer, who believed that our lawmakers would never get down to vote for it have been proved wrong. This was an exercise that began 46 years ago. It took an eternity because of an obvious lack of political will and a fear of the unknown. Some of those who are powerful in our political firmament have a lot to hide. And they could not take a chance by creating what could perhaps prove to be a monster. Those who are now claiming credit for this heart-warming denouement of a heroic campaign are making a virtue out of necessity. The prospect of facing a knowledgeable and angry electorate in the next few months is what persuaded the two main political parties to sink their differences and ensure the smooth passage of the Lokpal Bill in both Houses of Parliament.
Here, one cannot but acknowledge the stellar role played by Anna Hazare in keeping up the pressure on the executive. You cannot fault him if he sounded unreasonable and stubborn at times. This was not a case of exhibiting ego, but one of conviction that a corruption-ridden nation needed an ombudsman with singular focus on restoring the credibility of a much-abused public service.
However, this is not the time to lose track of the realities and gloat. There is a need to educate the common man on what he can and cannot expect from this new experiment. The chairman and eight members of the essentially anti-graft body will be selected by a collegium comprising the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by the CJI, and an eminent jurist. It will have jurisdiction over all public servants under the Union government, including the Prime Minister. In the case of the Prime Minister, a probe can be initiated only with the approval of two-thirds of the Lokpal’s members. This stipulation is because of the apprehension of frivolous complaints being made mainly to unsettle a government in position.
While it will have its own investigative wing, which will conduct a preliminary inquiry into a complaint received by it, the Lokpal can entrust such an inquiry to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or to any other agency. Significantly, the Lokpal can initiate prosecution through its own team.
On autonomy
Perhaps, the most welcome feature of the legislation is the empowerment of the Lokpal to provisionally attach any property suspected to have been acquired by an accused through illegal means. Such action will not have to wait until the prosecution successfully establishes the charge in a court of law. Strict exercise of this authority will certainly be lauded by the honest citizen, currently dismayed by the sight of corrupt public servants continuing to enjoy the fruits of their misdeeds even after being taken to task.
But the Lokpal Bill comes as a disappointment to many of us who have been asking for greater CBI autonomy. Under the new dispensation, not much will change for the highest investigative agency, except that, with the arrival of the Lokpal, the CBI will have one more master to be bullied by, taking the count to three. The director will no doubt be appointed by a larger collegium. (Now, he or she is chosen by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet comprising the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, after the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) forwards a panel, usually of three names.) Under the CVC Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, the CVC has the authority of superintendence over the CBI in respect of anti-corruption matters. Inductions to the CBI of and above the rank of joint director will still need the CVC’s nod. These are generally free of blame. But in the past, there have been a few questionable inductions and rejections of names suggested by the director, CBI (DCBI). It is strange that the latter has no untrammelled authority over what should be an internal matter. How can a director command respect if a few officers not of his choice are imposed on him and against his will by a CVC acting in concert with the government? There is now the added restraint on him in the form of requiring the Lokpal’s approval for effecting transfers of officers investigating cases entrusted to the CBI by the Lokpal. There could be a conflict here and also the growth of divided loyalties.
The ‘single directive’
An officer whom the director wants to ease out of an investigation or from the organisation itself — of course for valid reasons — can short-circuit the director and seek refuge under a Lokpal. This happens often with the executive (Department of Personnel and the Ministry of Home Affairs) sometimes interfering in matters that involve transfers. In the new order of things, a third player, namely the Lokpal, can indulge in mischief for a variety of reasons.
A matter of anguish is the continued tyranny of the infamous “single directive,” whereby no officer of the Union government can be subjected even to a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) by the CBI without the nod of the Ministry concerned, except in “trap cases,” where an officer is caught red-handed accepting a bribe. There have been instances of injustice being committed to officers of unsullied reputation by the CBI. This is no reason why the CBI should continue to be weighed down by this harsh stipulation, which, incidentally, discriminates between classes of officers. (Those below the rank of joint secretary do not enjoy the benefit of the “single directive.”) The “single directive” has the potential to compromise the confidentiality of information collected by the CBI against an officer. When the officer had engaged in dubious transactions in collusion with or to favour a minister, how can we expect the latter to give the green signal to the CBI to go ahead with a PE? This is the most persuasive argument against the “single directive,” which has been incorporated into the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act and is therefore inviolable. This is why the arrival of a Lokpal may not materially alter the situation in respect of corruption in high places.
A silver lining is the placing of the CBI’s Director of Prosecution wholly under the control of the DCBI. At present, he is an officer from the Law Ministry, who owes his loyalties to the Law Minister rather than to the DCBI. The controversy over a Law Minister’s alleged amendment of a CBI Progress Report to the Supreme Court in the coal block allocations case cannot possibly happen after the new law comes into place. This strengthens an incumbent DCBI who can rightly ignore the overtures of a meddling Law Minister wanting to bail out his government from a difficult situation.
There are far too many grey areas in the new law for us to be able to predict whether the Lokpal will play an effective role. For instance, what will the relationship between the CVC and the Lokpal be like? There is scope for conflict between the two authorities when a CVC and the Lokpal refer the same matter to the CBI for inquiry. Both are statutory authorities, and may not always be expected to shed their egos. Where there is overzealousness on the part of either, the DCBI will be hard-pressed to please two authorities. The picture becomes muddier when you add an intruding Department of Personnel.
I had long pleaded for a Lokpal which would look after personnel matters of the CBI (such as inductions and transfers) and a Department of Personnel which merely took care of budgetary allocations to the CBI. In my view, the CVC is a needless appendage — especially after the creation of the Lokpal — that only stifles the CBI without adding value to the quality of its investigations.
On the whole, the Lokpal cannot be viewed as anything but a cosmetic imposition on a CBI that is craving for autonomy — without any great success. The commendable support to its cause by the Supreme Court is still in the realm of theory, with the Union government uninhibitedly rejecting all suggestions that the CBI be allowed to function unhampered by the executive. Against this backdrop, I am of the view that the Lokpal will have only a marginal impact on corruption in high places.
(R.K. Raghavan is a former CBI director.)
Not much will change under the new Lokpal for the Central Bureau of Investigation except that it will have one more master
Protecting women at workplaces
In recent times, the issue of sexual harassment of women at the workplace has assumed prominence with serious allegations being made against a former Supreme Court judge, whose court pronounced verdict on huge scams, and the editor of a magazine with truth and exposure as its masthead. In the case of the former, a court-appointed committee found that the complainant’s statement prima facie disclosed an act of unwelcome behaviour of sexual nature, but matters went no further as the judge was found to have demitted office prior to the commission of the alleged offence. The second case has followed the traditional process of criminal law, beginning with investigation and arrest.
A Central Act brought into force on December 9, 2013, provides an alternative method of handling complaints of sexual harassment made by working women. The purpose of this article is to highlight some key problems with this well-meaning but inadequately-formulated piece of legislation.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, was a response to the public outrage over what has come to be known as the Nirbhaya case. The redress forum under the Act is an Internal Complaints Committee appointed by the employer to be comprised of a woman senior employee, two other employees, and a social worker; it is mandated that at least half the committee must be constituted of women. Where such a committee is not set up by the employer, or where the complaint is against the employer himself, a provision is made for the setting up, by the District Magistrate, of a panel drawn from social workers and NGOs.
Based upon the complaint of the victim, the Committee is to conduct an inquiry and submit its recommendations to the employer (or District Magistrate), who is required to take action on the same. Where an offence is made out, the punishment for misconduct is as per the service rules of the employer; where no such rules exist, then as per the Rules under the Act. Under the Act, redress ranges from apology and censure to withholding promotion and increments, and stretches to termination. The Act, however, is silent on the situation where the employer’s service rules contain less stringent provisions.
Conciliation process
Section 10 provides the possibility for conciliation between the parties to be undertaken by the Committee prior to inquiry; this can be done only at the request of the victim. Conciliation is the process where a neutral engages with the parties to try and arrive at a settlement of their differences and disputes. The process has been in vogue in our industrial dispute enactments and in matrimonial litigation proceedings.
Under the synonymous term of mediation, it is increasingly a feature of the country’s courts, many of which have set up their own mediation centres, offering the service free of charge in thousands of cases where lawyers trained in the process mediate a range of commercial, property, and divorce disputes. The advantages are several — it enables better communication and understanding, is conducted in a confidential setting, and seeks a solution acceptable to both sides. At first sight, therefore, it seems quite reasonable to contemplate conciliation being used in sexual harassment cases.
However, this is an area where we have to tread warily, and certainly not rush in. Sexual harassment cases usually have a marked power imbalance between the victim and the accused; this is implicit in the nature of the offence. This may well affect the negotiation scenario, with the victim being unable to hold her own, and end with a result advantageous to the other side.
Some acts labelled as harassment are grave violations of a woman’s body and dignity; these ought not to be the subject matter of a compromise. There is need to draw clear markers between negotiation and punitive action and to realise that some offences have the starkness of black and white, without intervening shades of grey. In these cases, there is also the need for co-workers to know the identity and culpability of the transgressor so as to safeguard themselves; such information will remain cloaked in the confidentiality of conciliation agreements. In a wider context, public naming can be a societal need.
All this is not to take away the choice of the victim, who is the central figure of our concern, but to emphasise that there are factors balancing the attractiveness of a quick settlement. The Act gets some basics wrong.
Firstly, it is a central tenet of the conciliation process that the neutral, being privy to confidential information usually obtained in private discussions with each party, cannot, if the conciliation fails, become the adjudicator to determine wrongdoing. The enactment gives both roles to the Committee.
Secondly, good conciliators come from training and experience, and must possess the sensitivity to deal with emotionally distraught parties, apart from deftly maintaining negotiating balance. It is not likely that the panel members taken from the organisation’s employees will possess such skills, besides the fact that they may well think twice before indicting a superior.
Third, compensation is a key punitive and deterrent measure, as cases abroad show. This Act enables the Committee to recommend compensation and preserves the right of the court to do so as well but forbids the award of monetary compensation in conciliation proceedings. The logic is unfathomable, unless the lawmakers thought that there would be a flood of women blackmailing hapless men with deep pockets.
Fourth, there is little justification for the Act to mandate secrecy when the Committee reaches a determination of guilt and recommends punishment.
The person who has poisoned the workplace may well do so again if not identified.
A mindset of empathy
Given that many victims will shy away from the publicity, the procedures, the delay and the harshness in the criminal justice system, the alternative structure and process is welcome, but needs much alteration.
Helping victims to make informed choices about the different resolution avenues, providing trained conciliators, a monetary compensation settlement option, an inquisitorial approach by the Committee when indicated, naming and shaming in grave cases, and in-camera trials are some areas of improvement. We need something else which legislation cannot provide — the mindset to understand the fears, compulsions, and pressures on women victims.
The legal concept and test of the “reasonable man” should give right of gender way to that of the “reasonable woman”.
(The writer is a Senior Advocate and Mediator. His email is srirampanchu@gmail.com)
As many victims will shy away from the publicity and procedures in the criminal justice system, the alternative process under the new Act needs much alteration
A punitive sexual security apparatus
While the definition of rape is now expanded, the new enactment has taken us dangerously in the direction of a sexual security regime than toward more rights
When the Ministry of Environment and Forests assessed the status of tigers, other predators and prey in India in 2006 and 2009, it wanted the exercise to become a robust baseline for future conservation programmes. The results published in 2010 claimed an improvement in estimated tiger numbers, at 1,706 individuals compared to 1,411 in 2006. Yet, there appeared to be a contradiction in this, as the geographical area occupied by the charismatic cat was reported to have decreased in some ranges, notably in some Central Indian States and parts of the Western Ghats. A fresh exercise to count the country’s tigers led by the National Tiger Conservation Authority has now been launched. This is an important project, given that India hosts the most number of tigers in the wild. What is interesting is that a mere 10 per cent of the habitat today hosts 90 per cent of the reproducing populations of the big cat. It is this area that needs rigorous monitoring on an annual basis, and not a general count once in four years. Also, the methods used should be open to independent scientific scrutiny, perhaps by a consortium of scientific institutions. Conservation science has come up with credible ways to estimate the density and occupancy of tigers and needs to be used rigorously. The NTCA already has access to research strategies formulated by leading tiger scientists for a focussed monitoring protocol to track source populations of tigers — those that are crucial for the survival of the species. It should employ them fully.
One of the criticisms of the scheme to sample tiger densities — which cost about Rs.12 crore in 2006 according to published accounts — is that it is likely to ignore sharp and rapid declines in populations. The methodology being used since 2006, including camera traps is, of course, an improvement over the unscientific analysis of pugmarks employed for nearly three decades. But the monitoring should be a targeted annual exercise that yields good data to inform policy. At present, although a lot of information is generated for the entire tiger habitat, it does not yield insight into areas of high density. A scientific consortium approach may therefore prove rewarding. Karnataka, for instance, has benefited from involving top scientists in conservation. Given the limited scientific resources at the disposal of the Environment Ministry, and the large external pool of science-based conservation organisations, there should be no hesitation to broaden the scope of monitoring. It is equally important to involve local communities, choosing volunteers who can be trained and deployed along with scientific personnel.
Justice A.K. Ganguly’s holding on to his position as the Chairperson of the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission after being accused by a law intern of improper sexual advances may indicate a justified concern about his hard-earned reputation. Yet, it is clear he has also displayed a petulant unwillingness to recognise that his continuance does great damage to the institutional integrity of his office. After a three-member committee of the Supreme Court said it was of the considered view that the intern’s statement prima facie disclosed “unwelcome verbal/non-verbal conduct of sexual nature” on his part, the honourable thing for him to do must have been to stay away from public office. Yet, even after the gist of the committee’s report was made public by the Chief Justice of India, and after the intern’s affidavit was out in the public domain, presenting in embarrassing detail what had transpired in a hotel in New Delhi on December 24, 2012, Mr. Ganguly has been refusing to quit. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his removal from the post and the Attorney General is preparing the terms for a reference to the Supreme Court, as is required for the removal of the chairperson of a State human rights commission.
Mr. Ganguly will indeed get an opportunity to contest the allegation, but the process may lead to the appointment of an enquiry committee. He has to ask himself whether he wants to go through a formal inquiry at all. One would have thought he would spare himself such ignominy. It has now come to light that even before the three-member panel, while denying the allegations, he advanced a technical defence, saying the current sexual harassment law had been enacted only after the incident, and his alleged conduct did not constitute an offence at that time. When Chief Justice P. Sathasivam decided that no further follow-up action was required by the Supreme Court on the intern’s allegation, after finding that she was not on its rolls and the Judge concerned had retired before the incident, there was an impression that there would be no resolute action to pursue the case. The Supreme Court committee’s finding was in itself a clear moral indictment of Justice Ganguly and makes his continuation in the post untenable. The Chief Justice also made it clear that Justice Ganguly had no special immunity from normal investigative processes. The Supreme Court’s decision to disclose the preliminary finding, embarrassing as it might have been to Justice Ganguly, was a welcome instance of transparency in its functioning. One hopes that Justice Ganguly will not be so unwise as to invite by his intransigence a formal order dismissing him for proven misconduct.
