LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED
ASIAN AGE
BUSINESS STANDARD
DECCAN HERALD
ECONOMIC TIMES
HINDU
HINDUSTAN TIMES
INDIAN EXPRESS
STATESMAN
TELEGRAPH
TIMES OF INDIA
TRIBUNE
1
CONTENTS
AGRICULTURE
3-5
CIVIL SERVICE
6-14
CRIME
15
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
16-21
EDUCATION
22-29
FINANCE
30
FINANCIAL MARKETS
31-33
HOUSING
34-35
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS
36-37
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
38-42
JUDICIARY
43
LABOUR
44-47
PARLIAMENT
48-50
POPULATION
51
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
52
RAILWAYS
53-54
TRAINING
55
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
56-61
2
AGRICULTURE
STATESMAN, JUL 08, 2015
Ailing agriculture
Debaki Nandan Mandal
While laying the foundation stone of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Barhi,
Hazaribagh, on 28 June, the Prime Minister called for a second Green Revolution without
delay. The condition of the agricultural sector, he regretted, was far from satisfactory.
While farmers have progressed the world over, they are languishing in this country.
It bears recall that the NDA was strongly criticized for its dismal record in agriculture
during its previous stint in power (1998-2004). It now has an opportunity to perform
better. In the month of May, Narendra Modi launched a 24-hour state-run TV channel for
farmers. But a public discourse on how India could improve its dreadfully backward
agriculture is yet to gather momentum.
Despite decades of industrial development, about 600 million Indians, or roughly half the
population, depend upon growing crops or rearing animals to earn a living. The country
still relies on imports of essential items, such as pulses and cooking oil. Almost half of
the average Indian household’s expenditure is on food, an important factor behind
inflation. Food security at the micro level remains elusive. The global development
experience, especially of the BRICS countries, reveals that one percentage point growth
in agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing poverty than the
same degree of growth emanating from the non-agriculture sector.
On the surface, however, the state of affairs isn’t too bad in the countryside. Rural
poverty appears to have declined in terms of certain indices, notably mobile phones or
motorbikes whose sales have boomed across the country. Increased welfare spending in
the countryside (MGNREGA) might also be another factor. But the productivity of
farming itself has been dismal. Contributing just 13.7 per cent to the GDP , agriculture
has grown by around 3 per cent in recent years, far slower than the other elements of
GDP. The findings of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011, just released, presents
a grim scenario of rural India.
Of late, the woes of the farmer have exacerbated. Untimely rain damaged winter crops in
northern India. The heat wave killed more than 2000 people - mostly working in the
fields. Suicides by farmers, owing to the low price of their produce, is almost a recurrent
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tragedy. There is general concern over the monsoon; patchy or inadequate rainfall can
spell disaster.
Rural incomes are not adequate. Potato-growers get as little as Rs.2 to 3 per kilo of
potatoes. Cotton-farmers, who had prospered through export to China, have recently been
hit by declining demand. The minimum government price for staples, notably wheat and
rice, was cut presumably to help curb inflation. But it was not accompanied by any
transitional support for farmers who were hit by the adjustment.
Low productivity is a chronic problem because of the shrinking size of the cultivated
plots. Two grain harvests a year are fairly routine. But the yields are low by global
standards.
It has been estimated that unless the agri-sector takes off to a 4 percent plus growth
trajectory, the possibility of reducing poverty in a significant manner and within a short
timeframe is slender. China initiated agricultural reform in 1978, and during 1978-84
agri-GDP increased by more than 7 percent per annum and farm incomes by more than
14 percent a year.
The policy message for reforming agriculture is very clear. The areas which merit urgent
and concerted attention to streamline agriculture revolve around investment, incentive
and institutions.
We need to rationalize and prune input subsidies. The savings, thus generated, should be
invested in agricultutre - R&D, rural roads, rural education, irrigation and water works.
Higher levels of investment in agriculture both by the public and private sector can yield
much better results. Policy-makers must be bold to bite the bullet and drastically cut
subsidies which will open the avenue for increasing the size of public investment. One
way to contain the subsidy bill is to provide subsidies directly to farmers. In the manner
of the LPG subsidy, the fertilizer subsidy can be directly transferred to farmers’ accounts
on a per hectare basis. The previous fiscal year witnessed one of the biggest cuts in public
farm investments in recent years to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent.
Private investment is the engine of agricultural growth. Again, it responds to incentives.
Much of the adverse impact on incentives comes from strangulating the domestic market
under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) 1955. This law allows the state to restrict
movement of agri-products across state boundaries.
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Furthermore, the law bans the storage of large quantities of any of the 90 commodities,
including onions and wheat. The intention is to deter ‘hoarding’, but it has adversely
affected investment in cold storages and warehouses. Therefore, a substantial quantity of
crops rot before they reach the dining table.
Agricultural markets are fractured and distorted. The Agricultural Produce Marketing
Committees (APMCs) are in favour of commission agents at the cost of both farmers and
consumers. According to the government’s Chief Economic Advisor, Arvind
Subramanian, India has 3,000 to 4,000 separate agricultural markets. A clean sweep of
both ECA and APMC Acts can ensure free movement of goods across India, without
multiple taxes, and direct buying by organized retailers and processors from the farmer
groups.
Institutional reform should aim at organizing small farmers - a dominant feature of Indian
agriculture - into clusters and cooperatives and link them with processors and organized
retailers. The AMUL model needs to be replicated in high-value perishable commodities
such as fruit and vegetables, poultry and meat products.
Finance is the critical need of the farmers. State-aid is skewed towards providing cheap
inputs - by subsidizing fertilizer, water and power - rather than helping to insure farmers’
crops against inclement weather or a natural disaster.
Agriculture remains under the control of states. The central government has hitherto done
very little except to insert a few high-voltage objectives in the Five-year/Annual Plan
documents. The talk of a second Green Revolution will again remain a distant reality, if
things are not shaken up to alert the state leaders who are obsessed with the conservative
rural vote. It is crucially imperative to reform the ailing Indian agriculture. Reforms must
of necessity benefit farmers... not harm them.
5
CIVIL SERVICE
HINDU, JUL 14, 2015
Better pay cheque for govt. employees
N.J. NAIR
Panel moots more benefits, proposes raising pension age from 56 to 58 years
Fixing the minimum basic pay of State government employees and teachers at Rs.17,000
and the maximum at Rs.1,20,000, the Tenth Pay Revision Commission submitted its
recommendations to the government on Monday.
The present minimum salary, including dearness allowance, is Rs.15,300 and the
maximum, Rs.1,07,712. The revised salary will come into effect from July 1 last. Eighty
per cent DA has been merged with the basic salary and the retirement age has been
proposed to be enhanced from 56 to 58 years.
As in the previous revision, there are 27 scales and 82 stages. The minimum increase in
salary will be Rs.2,750, including basic pay and house rent allowance.
The minimum pension will be Rs.8,500 and the maximum, Rs.60,000. This proposal has
been made against the present Rs.4,500 and Rs.29,920. The service for full pension has
been reduced from 30 years to 25 and the salary revision should be once in 10 years.
The fitment benefit (benefit given on fixing a new scale for an employee) has been
pegged at 12 per cent of the basic pay but the minimum rate has been fixed at Rs.2,000.
The service weightage given for every completed year is 0.5 per cent and the maximum
has been pegged at 15 per cent.
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The combined maximum benefit for fitment and service weightage has been restricted at
Rs.12,000. As the provision for opting to continue in the existing pay scale has been
scrapped, all employees will have to compulsorily accept new scales.
The minimum increment rate is Rs.500 and the maximum, Rs.2,400. The house rent
allowance in rural areas has been enhanced from Rs.250 to a minimum of Rs.1,000 and a
maximum of Rs.1,750. About 55 per cent of the employees will benefit from the hike.
The city compensatory allowance has also been hiked but the special pay has been
scrapped.
Senior teachers with more than 28 years of service will be designated as deputy
headmasters. Station house officers at 100 major police stations will be raised to the level
of circle inspector.
A service selection board has been mooted for selecting SHOs and Deputy
Superintendents of Police to be posted for law and order duty.
The grade of village officer has been proposed to be raised as deputy tahsildar. It has
been proposed to merge the Higher Secondary and the VHSE departments and the
Printing and Stationery departments.
TIMES OF INDIA, JUL 10, 2015
Delhi too hot? 56 IAS officers opt for states, just 4 come to Centre
Pradeep Thakur & Bharti Jain
NEW DELHI: At least 56 IAS officers have left their central postings prematurely for
their respective state cadres since May 2014 when the Narendra Modi-led BJP
government took office.
Most of the officers who have opted for repatriation are senior - in the rank of joint
secretary and above. This 'back-to-the-parent-state' movement is rare. According to
details available on the department of personnel and training (DoPT) website, just three
IAS officers left the Centre prematurely in 2013 and only one between August and
December 2012. The numbers spiked to 13 between January and May 2014, in the leadup to the Lok Sabha polls which resulted in a regime change.
A top DoPT official argued that the "exodus" did not necessarily signal an unwillingness
to serve under the Modi regime which has sought to change the way the government
functions. "It may have been to take up assignments at senior levels, including as chief
secretary, in the state," he said.
7
An examination of DoPT's repatriation orders shows that seven officers went back to take
up chief secretary's position in their respective states.
A source the defence ministry said at least four joint secretary-rank officers had left for
their parent cadre because it had become difficult for them to put in the "hard work"
required under the present dispensation.
Normally, after reaching a certain level of seniority, officers tend to stay in Delhi where
there are more avenues of advancement.
The problem for the government is not about vacancies alone. Few from the states appear
to be eager to take up senior openings being created in Delhi by the increase in
repatriations. As against the 30 vacancies in the joint secretary rank this year, only four
IAS officers have come forward; and of them one has picked Bengaluru as her preferred
choice of posting.
Also, delays in empanelment - the threshold officers of all central services need to cross
to be eligible for the rank of joint secretary and above - has shrunk the available pool.
Non-IAS officers are usually reluctant to take up assignments at the Centre as they often
have to work under IAS officers two to five batches their junior.
8
"Indian Telecom Service is the only significant catchment area left, that too because the
government has been attempting to downsize their service and merge them in BSNL and
MTNL," a non-IAS officer said.
A review of additional secretary rank posts in the central ministries show they are all
occupied by IAS officers, despite the fact that 26 non-IAS officers have been empanelled
in the last two years and have offered their services. It's the same at the joint secretary
level. Out of the 30 slots available, 23 are occupied by IAS officers.
Non-IAS officers often complain about the "hegemony" of the IAS, saying it runs
contrary to the emphasis periodically placed on having specialists helm positions
requiring domain knowledge.
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 11, 2015
CM Mamata Banerjee announces festival bonus for Muslim staff
Mamata Banerjee's government has announced festival bonus for those state government
employees who belong to the minority community.
KOLKATA: In its bid to appease the Muslim population before next year's Assembly
elections, Mamata Banerjee's government has announced festival bonus for those state
government employees who belong to the minority community. These employees whose
monthly salaries are within Rs Rs 24,000 will get Rs 3,200 as festival bonus on July 15,
ahead of the Eid.
State finance minister Amit Mitra told reporters that the government will have to bear an
additional expenditure of Rs 400 crore for the purpose. "The state government will. 400
crore for the payment use of bonus and festival advance to our employees. This is a
gesture on our part before the festival season," Mitra said af ter announcing the scheme.
But the finance minister remained silent about payment of dearness allowances (DA) to
its employees. Presently, state government employees are getting lower DA than those
who are employed with Central government establishments and there has been a very
strong resentment among the state government employees over this discrimination.
A senior official of the finance depart ment said that the government might announce a
significant increase in payment of DA to its employees by the year end or early next year.
Assembly elections in Bengal will take place before May in 2016 and by announcing DA
payment before that Mamata's government might take the opportunity to appease its
employees before the polls.Apart from giving festival bonus, the state government has
also decided to give festival advance to its employees. Employees whose salaries fall
9
between Rs 35,000, are Rs 24,000 and eligible to take festival ad vance worth Rs 3500.
But the employees will have to repay this advance maximum in eight instalments.
State government employees who do not belong to the minority community, will also get
festival bonus which will be paid to them between October 5 and 9.
ASIAN AGE, JUL 08, 2015
Employees cry foul over pay disparities
Facing disparity in salaries of employees, the Delhi government’s information and
publicity department’s employees are accusing the city administration of “grave
discrimination and injustice,” asserting that the situation has become so bad that the
payscale of officers has become equivalent to that of a head clerk in other government
departments. “In the last 30 years the state government has not paid any attention to the
payscale and as a result these government officials have become a bunch of leftouts,” a
information and publicity department official said.
The official said the services and finance departments adopted “double standards” in the
case of ex-cadre officers and officials and as a result, the case has “become a glaring
example of red tape babugiri, where no action has been taken at administrative level.”
Anomaly, according to protesters, arose after 5th Pay Commission in the directorate
when the former cadre officials/officers were discriminated against because of reasons
unknown and without any basis. “As a matter of fact, the payscale of cadre posts was
fixed on the higher side in 5th Pay Commission whereas till the 4th Pay Commission the
situation was quite contrary where information officers payscale was equal to that of the
administrative officers and that of publicity assistants was equal to the assistant/head
clerk (Grade II).” The information officers of the Delhi government’s information and
publicity department are selected by the UPSC, as in case of DANICS. The information
officers join the government as gazetted officers through UPSC with essential
qualification of a degree with three years of professional experience of the media whereas
the cadre officials are recruited through DSSSB with a qualification of degree only as a
non-Gazetted official.
The directorate of information and publicity is the nodal department for the government
work of information and publicity and the secretary (PR) is the competent authority as
well as administrative and financial decision regarding post creation and financial matters
of the directorate. The officials noted that the state government increased the pay scale of
DASS cadre without the approval/recommendations of the Central Pay Commission, but
the finance and services departments were playing a delaying tactics in their case.
“The services department never forwarded the case of pay increase of the officers of the
directorate to the Central Pay Commission whereas the payscale of cadre officers and
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officials were increased three times without sending their case to the Central Pay
Commission.”
HINDU, JUL 09, 2015
Pay commission pitches for 13.5 per cent salary hike
N.J. NAIR
The Tenth Pay Revision Commission is likely to recommend 12 to 13.5 per cent increase
in the salary of State government employees and teachers.
Finance Department sources told The Hindu here that the commission headed by former
High Court Judge C.N. Ramachandran Nair and comprising former Director of
Treasuries K.V. Thomas as member-secretary and a lawyer T.V. George as member is
likely to recommend similar benefits for service pensioners too. Pensioners would get an
enhancement at this range, sources said.
The commission is likely to recommend the merger of dearness allowance (DA) with the
basic pay (the DA now is nearly 80 per cent of the basic). That is, an employee with a
basic salary of Rs.10,000 now will get a revised basic of Rs.18,000.
The commission was reported to be in favour of increasing the retirement age from the
present 56 years. Considering the financial constraint of the government, the commission
would recommend to fix the retirement age at 58 years. The recommendation is expected
to give a breather to the government. For, it would relieve the compulsion to disburse
substantial sums as retirement benefits at least for the next two years.
Being a sensitive political issue, the government would have to weigh all options before
accepting the recommendation, sources said. Leave surrender and such other benefits
being enjoyed by the employees would continue without changes. Pensioners’
organisations had been raising a demand for medical insurance scheme.
The commission is likely to recommend an insurance scheme for pensioners as well as
employees and teachers. This would be a comprehensive scheme and would replace the
medical reimbursement scheme now in force, sources said.
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The government, as part of its austerity measures and additional resource mobilisation
efforts, decided to identify excess temporary posts in various departments. It also decided
to do away with about 33,062 posts which a Secretary-level committee had identified as
excess in phases.
The decision had invited public wrath as it had affected the service delivery in many
departments such as Health and Revenue. The commission would recommend a system
for redeploying the excess employees. The report would be submitted on Friday.
DECCAN HERALD, JUL 08, 2015
Bureaucratsmust declare spouse's assets: Govt
A government servant will have to declare the assets of the spouse even if he/she has
procured it by his/her own income under the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has clarified that the government
official will have to do so even if the spouse has his/her own income or property under
the new anti-corruption law.
“Yes. Clauses (a) and (b) of Sub — section (2) of Section 44 of the Lokpal and
Lokayukta Act, 2013 does not make any exception in respect of assets procured by the
spouse of the public servant by his/her own income,” stated the DoPT in a newly
published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
In case, it stated, the spouse is also a public servant, both will have to file separate
documents on their assets and liabilities. The requirement is binding on each public
servant, irrespective of whether the spouse of the public servant is also a public servant or
not, it added.
However, the biggest problem for the bureaucrats is that they will have to file details of
assets and liabilities under the Lokpal Act as well as Conduct Rules as they have not been
harmonised.
It said the requirement of filing of property returns under the existing Conduct Rules is an
“independent requirement” under the applicable rules and the same can be dispensed
with, only by amending those rules.
“In other words, the requirement of filing returns of assets and liabilities under the
applicable Conduct Rules has to continue, till such time as the provisions of those rules
are harmonised with the relevant provisions of the Lokpal Act and the rules framed there
under, by carrying out appropriate amendments in them,” it added. The Centre had set a
October 15 deadline.
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According to the Lokpal Act, a government servant has to declare his assets and
liabilities and that of his spouse and dependent children.
The general requirement in most of the Conduct Rules require the public servant to
submit a return about immovable property owned by him, or inherited or acquired by him
or held by him on lease or mortgage, either in his own name or in the name of any
member of his family or in the name of any other person.
He will also have to declare shares, debentures, postal Cumulative Time Deposits and
cash, besides other movable assets in his name.
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 08, 2015
Government makes it easy for IAS officers to return to Centre
IAS officers being repatriated to their parent cadre for appointment as Chief Secretary
will not have to face "extended cooling off" period, making it easy for them to come back
to central services.
NEW DELHI: IAS officers being repatriated to their parent cadre for appointment as
Chief Secretary will not have to face "extended cooling off" period, making it easy for
them to come back to central services.
The extended cooling off period was mandatory for officers who choose to go back to
their parent cadre for availing their promotion or called by the state government before
completion of their scheduled tenure at the Centre.
According to the rules, a Joint Secretary-level officer has a tenure of five years at the
Centre after which he has to remain compulsorily for three years in state which is called
as a cooling off period.
Similarly, an officer of the rank of Additional Secretary, having a four-year Central
tenure, has to spend two years in the state before being again considered at the Centre.
However, if they went back before the completion of tenure at the Centre, the remaining
term at the Centre was added to cooling off period and known as "extended cooling off"
period.
According to December 24, 1999 order, the cooling off period of the officers going on
premature repatriation was calculated not from the date of actual repatriation from the
date he would have completed normal deputation term.
"...it has been decided that in future in case where any officer is being repatriated to his
cadre to be appointed as Chief Secretary, the condition of imposition of extended
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cooling-off period would not be attracted," latest order from the Department of Personnel
and Training said.
The order will mean that officers joining state government as Chief Secretaries before
completing scheduled central deputation can revert after serving only cooling off period
which is three years for Joint Secretary officers and one year for Additional Secretary at
the Centre.
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CRIME
HINDU, JUL 13, 2015
Defamation should remain a penal offence: Home Ministry
KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL
“Conditions not congenial forcivil liability”
Denying that criminal defamation had a chilling effect on free speech, the Centre told the
Supreme Court on Saturday that defamation should remain a penal offence in India as the
defamer may be too poor to compensate the victim.
The government said that since there was no mechanism to censor the Internet from
within, online defamation could only be adequately countered by retaining defamation as
a criminal offence. A person would be charged with criminal defamation only if his
speech had no social utility or added nothing to the value of public discourse and debate.
Besides, the Centre said, criminalisation of defamation was part of the state’s
“compelling interest” to protect the right to dignity and good reputation of its citizens.
The submission was part of an affidavit filed by the Union Home Ministry in response to
petitions filed by political leaders cutting across party lines urging the court to declare
criminal defamation unconstitutional.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief
Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal are among those who filed the petitions.
Dr. Swamy, who filed the lead petition, said criminalisation of defamation deterred free
speech, was liable to abuse and choked the legitimate criticism of public officials.
If found guilty under Sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal
Code, a person could be jailed up to two years.
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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
TELEGRAPH, JUL 11, 2015
Ideas of public service: The real meaning of second generation reforms
Ramachandra Guha
Shortly after the 2009 general elections, I attended a lecture in Bangalore outlining a
policy road map for the new government. The speaker was Rakesh Mohan, an economist
who had held senior positions in the ministries of industry and finance, and was at the
time a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In his lecture, Mohan argued that
the first wave of reforms had freed businesses from State control and led to impressive
rates of growth. What we needed now was to focus on the quality and capability of public
institutions.
Mohan's lecture struck a chord, for I come from a family of public servants. Although I
chose a career outside government myself, I have, both as a citizen and as a scholar, had
close interactions with public officials of many different states and departments. I have
thus been witness to (and occasionally been a victim of) the rapidly deteriorating quality
of public services and public servants in India.
In 2009, when the United Progressive Alliance government was re-elected, and
Manmohan Singh seemed to be in effective control, there was much talk of the need for a
"second generation of reforms". It was argued that for India to grow more rapidly, it had
to welcome foreign investment in sectors previously closed to it (such as multi-brand
retail and defence production), liberalize labour laws (to make it easier for companies to
hire and fire workers), and create a unified national market (through a goods and services
tax).
As we know, those early hopes were belied. The UPA government did not actively
pursue these policy reforms. However, after the National Democratic Alliance
government came to power last year, the hopes were renewed. With a powerful prime
minister in Narendra Modi, who had cut down red tape in Gujarat and promised to do
likewise at the Centre, the business community hoped - and perhaps still hopes - that the
tasks left unfinished by the UPA government would be quickly taken in hand.
In 2015, as in 2009, "second generation reforms" are taken to mean a greater ease of
doing business. Now, as then, very little attention is being paid to the reform of the public
sector on which so much of India's economic and social well-being still depends. This led
me back to Mohan's prescient and still relevant talk in Bangalore. Fortunately, I was able
to find a printed version, whose main arguments are outlined below.
Rakesh Mohan begins by acknowledging the impressive achievements of the first
generation of reforms. Over a twenty year period, six separate governments have worked
to free State controls on private investment and entrepreneurial action. This has allowed
the Indian economy to move on to a higher growth path, which, in turn, has reduced
poverty, and made our chronic foreign exchange crises a thing of the past.
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Mohan then argues that to keep the growth rate going, and to deepen its reach, we need a
significant improvement in the functioning of the State sector, especially in the
availability and reliability of public services that the private sector cannot or will not
provide. Thus, he writes that "just as the first generation of reforms empowered the
private sector to perform to the limit of its abilities, the second generation of economic
reforms must focus on a similar empowerment of the public sector to deliver public
goods and services for the benefit of all segments of the private sector, corporate entities,
and the public."
Mohan then highlights four sectors where public services are currently below par, and
where their improvement can lead to significant benefits for the economy and society as a
whole. The first area is agriculture. While recognizing the need for poverty alleviation
schemes such as MGNREGA, Rakesh Mohan argues that the rural sector needs a second
Green Revolution, focusing on the rise in productivity and incomes in dairying,
horticulture, poultry and fisheries. Here, scientific research must be combined with easier
access to markets and credit.
The second area is urban development. India will soon have the largest urban population
in the world. Yet, in towns small and large, as well as in the mega-cities of Delhi,
Calcutta and Bombay, the bulk of urban residents do not have access to safe housing,
sanitation, or drinking water. Public transport services (perhaps with the exception of
Delhi) are appalling. In sum, to quote Rakesh Mohan, there has been "a massive failure to
provide for public management of cities in India in all its various manifestations". Mohan
holds that to make our towns and cities more habitable (in all senses),we must have
strong and empowered municipalities, which can raise their own finances, and be directly
responsible to voters rather than (as present) subservient to the politicians and bureaucrats
in the secretariats of state governments.
The third sector is human resource development. The state of primary and secondary
education in India is abysmal, as authoritatively documented in the Aser reports. Our
universities, meanwhile, are underfunded and over-politicized. No one can disagree with
Mohan when he says that "there is no way that we can sustain growth of the kind that we
envisage, 8 per cent plus annual growth, unless the whole education system - primary,
secondary, vocational, and higher - is revamped".
The fourth area is public sector management. The provision of education, transport,
electricity, and law and order (among other subjects) are the primary responsibility of the
State, yet the personnel in electricity boards, bus corporations, airport authorities, railway
boards, and the police and judiciary are largely untrained, incompetent, and
unaccountable. They are unable to cope with the technical and logistical demands of the
complex tasks they have to undertake. As Mohan remarks, with a touch of sadness, so
many of the best and the brightest Indians opt for the private sector (or, one might add, go
abroad). Yet, "we need to make public service prestigious again: not for the exercise of
power and authority, but for tackling challenges for efficient public service delivery".
Meanwhile, at the higher levels of administration, we must encourage the lateral entry of
17
domain experts, rather than (as at present) make all top government jobs the preserve of a
generalist civil service.
Like Mohan, I too have long argued for the induction of professionals at the middle and
higher rungs of government. Indeed, among the few good appointments made by the
UPA regime were those of Nandan Nilekani as UIDAI chairman and of Raghuram Rajan
as governor of the RBI (both fiercely resisted by the bureaucracy and even by some
cabinet ministers). Unfortunately, those examples have not been replicated. My own view
is that from the levels of joint secretary upwards, all jobs should be filled through open
competition. IAS officers should be encouraged to apply, but chosen only if it is clear
that they are at least as well suited as the other candidates.
Mohan focused on four sectors, and briefly mentions a fifth. This is health, whose
importance he flags but does not elaborate, since he says he doesn't have the relevant
expertise in the field. I would add a sixth sector, that of environmental sustainability.
India is an environmental basket case - witness our staggeringly high rates of air and
water pollution, the rapid depletion of groundwater aquifers, and the chemical
contamination of the soil. These varied forms of environmental abuse lead to shortages
and conflicts, and to adverse impacts on human health and employment. If not checked or
controlled they could greatly undermine the prosperity, security, and stability of India. It
is well known (as well as widely demonstrated) that the market alone cannot solve
environmental problems. Here, too, a strong and effective public sector is indispensable,
in the form of independent regulatory bodies staffed by qualified experts, who can set
standards and be able to punish those who do not meet them.
Towards the end of his essay, Mohan writes, "it is not easy to develop a clear path for
such public administration reforms, but it is clearly high time that more constructive
thought is given to the subject". Sadly, there was little thought (constructive or otherwise)
devoted to the subject by the UPA government, and from what we know so far, no
thought devoted at all to the subject by the present NDA government. The only reforms
that are talked about are those that will further aid the ease of doing business. No doubt
those are important, but arguably the reforms of the public sector that this column deals
with are more important still.
The lecture that I heard in Bangalore has been printed as the concluding chapter of
Rakesh Mohan, Growth With Financial Stability (Oxford University Press, 2011). The
chapter carries the title, "Economic Reforms in India: Where are We and Where Do We
Go?" I would urge that it be read by senior officials in the ministry of finance and the
prime minister's office, by the members of the Niti Aayog, and by senior cabinet
ministers too. If any of these learned men and women have already read Mohan's essay,
perhaps they should read it again, as the approach of the government as presently
articulated does not incorporate its ideas in any form
18
STATESMAN, JUL 11, 2015
Bloated Behemoth
Arindam Ghosh-Dastidar
West Bengal’s ebullient Chief Minister has reduced the budget to irrelevance. Less than
four moths after that fiscal document for 2015-16 was unveiled and with less than a year
to go for the Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee has engaged in pop economics at its
worst with a spirited expression of facile concern over the state’s torpid economy. Having
failed to steer the economy from the rocks of the financial straits, she has been
calculatedly impervious to the truism that non-Plan expenditure can only enhance the
state’s fiscal liabilities.
The massive expansion in government employment is verily a journey without maps. It is
testament too to the singular option that is available in the job sector, given the lack of
industrialisation and investment. A bitter irony when you reflect that the CPI-M’s
Panglossian agenda had propelled the Trinamul Congress to power. With a stroke of the
chief ministerial pen, 1.9 lakh government jobs are to be created three months after the
start of this fiscal. This would normally have raised no cavil were it not for the fact that
the fundamentals of planning have been left delightfully vague, chiefly the mobilisation
of resources. Of which there was little or no indication when she unveiled the sudden
bout of state-sponsored benevolence. She has made a deeply critical announcement
through a verbal press statement; there is no indication that it is a carefully calibrated
endeavour. A more breathless bout of unproductive public spending would be hard to
imagine.
Unmistakable is the desperate anxiety to recover lost ground between now and the
assembly elections through a quick-fix exercise. Nor for that matter will the
announcement readily inspire optimism as the praxis of recruitment remains ever so
opaque, if the entry tests for teachers is any indication. Small wonder that the
announcement has not been greeted with the jollity as was expected by the party. On the
anvil and without a time-frame is the programme to recruit 70,000 teachers, 60,000
Group C staff, and 60,000 Group D employees. Thus will the behemoth structure of
governance be bloated further still, when a rational approach would have necessitated a
measure of re-deployment, if not downsizing. The Chief Minister might, on the face of
it, have ended the decade-long freeze on mass recruitment, imposed by the CPI-M and
pre-eminently by its MIT-trained finance minister. Truth to tell, the crisis has deepened
under a minister with a background of corporate networking.
19
While the level at which teachers are to be recruited remains an unknown quantity, the
additional expenditure works out to Rs 154 crore a month. It needs to be underlined that
in the primary segment, the Teachers’ Eligibility Test has already been reduced to a
party-sponsored scam with Trinamul loyalists being recommended for appointment.
Leakage of questions has forced the cancellation of the exam for entry to Industrial
Training Institutes; hugely more scandalous is the photograph of a dog, instead of the
candidate, on the admit card. In a word, the system has been scandalised even before the
recruitment drive gets under way.
The additional outgo for the newly-recruited Group C employees will be a whopping Rs
84 crore a month. For the Group D category, the monthly public spending will be hiked
by Rs 66 crore. Altogether, the state’s stuttering economy will be saddled with an
additional expenditure of Rs 304 crore a month. In the net, this will entail a 7.5 per cent
increase in the wage bill... for work that is scarcely tangible. And this will be over and
above the expenditure incurred on private agencies, hired for cleaning and house-keeping
at Nabanna. Which ipso facto renders the additional Group C staff partially redundant
even before the appointment letters have been issued.
In the absence of other sources of revenue, Bengal proposes to utilise the 14th Finance
Commission’s recent largesse for states substantially on the bloated wage bill, if not DA
as well. The government must reflect on the income-expenditure paradigm consequent to
a hugely hiked wage bill for a needlessly broadbased sarkari employment structure.
Regretfully, development economics has been sacrificed at the altar of populism. Indeed,
a judiciously crafted growth-cum-development agenda, buttressed with the Commission’s
pump-priming, would in itself have taken care of the job market. Such prickly issues are
unlikely to be addressed anytime soon. Overall, the economic “philosophy” is so facile as
to have a deleterious impact on finances. Totally ignored in the process is the
development imperative in the aftermath of the recommendation of the Finance
Commission to devolve an unprecedented 42 per cent of the divisible pool to states for
the period 2015-16 to 2019-20. Effectively, the total devolution to states will increase to
47 per cent of the divisible pool in the next five years from 39.5 per cent that was
suggested by the previous commission.
Theoretically, the Centre’s decision in February - four days ahead of the national budget ought to have neutralised Bengal’s carping over a bailout and a waiver of interest on
loans. Of an effort towards resource generation, there is little; of an intent to widen the
tax net even less. A prime example being the waiver on sales-tax on LPG, which in itself
would have generated a fair amount for the exchequer. It would be useful to quote the
20
Prime Minister’s note to the Chief Ministers on the increased devolution of funds - “This
(the recommendations) naturally leaves far less money with the central government.
However, we have taken the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission in a
positive spirit, as they strengthen your hand in designing and implementing schemes
according to your priorities and needs.”
Other states will abide by the Centre’s revised paradigm; West Bengal is free.
Yes, the hand has been strengthened; there is without question more fiscal power to the
elbow of the Chief Minister. Alas, the opportunity has been lost, however. The decision
to expand the government’s already bloated employment base with the fresh tranche this
fiscal could scarcely have been more disingenuous. As with many other segments of
public policy, Miss Banerjee’s formulaic prescription is uniquely Bengal, intended to
benefit an indeterminate group. It is never easy to bridge the gap between wish and
fulfilment. Even as an electoral gambit, there is much to condemn and little to commend
in this contrived fudge, designed to expand public service. In today’s Bengal, voters are
unlikely to punish misgovernance, let alone economic illiteracy. More’s the pity.
The writer is a senior editor, The Statesman
21
EDUCATION
INDIAN EXPRESS, JUL 14, 2015
Provide free books, uniforms or get de-recognised: Govt to private schools
The Education Department has issued strict directions to de-recognise schools which do
not give free books and uniforms to children under the EWS category.
There are 68,951 EWS students in Delhi. According to an affidavit submitted by the
Directorate of Education in the Delhi High Court, 51,000 of them are currently studying
in schools that do not provide books and uniforms for free.
Shikha Sharma
There are 68,951 EWS students in Delhi. According to an affidavit submitted by the
Directorate of Education in the Delhi High Court, 51,000 of them are currently studying
in schools that do not provide books and uniforms for free.
Private schools refusing to provide free books and uniforms to children studying under
the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category will soon face the prospect of derecognition.
The Education Department has issued strict directions to de-recognise schools which do
not give free books and uniforms to children under the EWS category.
Stating that schools “cannot escape from the obligation laid down under the provisions of
the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009”, the order directs schools to either comply or
face the prospect of de-recognition.
“In case of non-compliance with the directions, the process of de-recognition of the
school – on account of violation of relevant provisions under the RTE Act, 2009 (Rule
15) – shall be initiated. The issue will also be brought to the notice of the competent
authority in the DDA for taking necessary action against the defaulting schools,” the
circular sent by the department to all schools states.
There are 68,951 EWS students in Delhi. According to an affidavit submitted by the
Directorate of Education in the Delhi High Court, 51,000 of them are currently studying
in schools that do not provide books and uniforms for free.
The Supreme Court in 2011 had ruled that any barriers, including financial ones, which
prevented children from getting quality education, should be removed. Section 8(1) of the
Delhi RTE Act also states that entitlements — including books, uniforms and writing
material — have to be provided by schools.
Noting that it was “wholly unacceptable” on the government’s part that nearly 51,000
children have to go without books and uniform, the High Court had said last year that “it
was the government’s as well as the schools’ duty to ensure that free textbooks are
provided”.
22
But with the entitlement amount per child — that is given by the government — being
too low to meet all costs, schools said they are under no obligation to adhere to the rule.
“The government pays a little more than Rs 600 for each child’s books and uniform. The
amount is hardly enough to compensate us. We can’t be expected to pay lakhs of rupees
from our own pockets,” R C Jain, president, Delhi State Public Schools’ Management
Association, had said.
TRIBUNE, JUL 09, 2015
Shelley Walia
Commodification of education
Imposition of a uniform curriculum will curtail the liberal mind
Can we allow our syllabus to turn into something ordinary and invisible?
THE hegemonic imposition of a uniform curriculum under the leadership of Smriti Irani
focuses attention on the intent to bureaucratise education that would, no doubt, suffocate
scholars and scholarship across the country. With this new agenda on the cards, it now
appears that any change in the ongoing exercise of shaping a syllabus would sadly and
ridiculously require the endorsement of an unimaginative bureaucracy in the UGC
office.
How many of us academics would like to endorse that? Are we prepared to be
handmaidens to an anti-intellectual ideology? Without participation in reshaping our own
curriculum, we will become guilty of following the colourless lens of oppressive
perspectives without an academic cause.
The recently-floated idea of centralising the drafting of curriculum at all levels of higher
education proposed by Smriti Irani, the HRD Minister, displays blatant contempt for
public voices and ensures the end of autonomy and critical inquiry. Irani’s initiative of
introducing uniformity in curriculum across the nation so all universities follow a
homogeneous syllabus obstructs the free practice of innovation, experimentation and
formulation across disciplines. By upholding a narrowly tailored system, she has initiated
an assault on decentralised democracy and heterogeneity. The MHRD and a compliant
UGC — the very constituents of the government machinery specifically required to
safeguard and sustain higher education and its generation of an engaged citizenry — thus
end up brutalising higher education.
23
Quite on the contrary are Prof Romila Thapar’s views of drafting the syllabus at the JNU:
“We were given substantial time to frame syllabi based on our new concepts of courses
suited to a semester system. In the Centre for Historical Studies members of the faculty
constantly debated and discussed what should be included in our courses. We would
discuss different proposals intensively. There were disagreements, compromises and
agreements, and it was also one of the most intellectually exciting years for me inasmuch
as I was forced to think analytically about many aspects of the discipline of history.”
The rigorous and democratic exercise she outlines would surely and certainly be
overruled under the new dispensation. Since any adjustment in a syllabus would need the
approval of the UGC, education would become merely a wing of neoliberal, right-wing
forces that would impart skills suitable to the state economy and the corporate sector all
right, but also reduce instruction to a technicality.
A uniform curriculum promoted by the BJP would provide a system that churns out
citizens more immersed in self-growth than in social responsibilities, promoting not a
free development of interests or the substantive growth of the democratic process through
education, but the ideology of a market-driven, capitalistic economy that heeds only to
consumerism and instant profit. As Terry Eagleton has appropriately emphasised:
“Across the globe, that critical distance is now being diminished almost to nothing, as the
institutions that produced Erasmus and John Milton, Einstein and Monty Python,
capitulate to the hard-faced priorities of global capitalism.”
Such an argument must not lead to the impression that an interdisciplinary curriculum is
in favour of jettisoning professional skills altogether. John Dewey, the American
philosopher and educational reformer, recognises the necessity of gainful employment
through education which integrates daily work with “all there is in it of large and human
significance”. Such a system inculcates a culture of openness that allows learning through
“the process of living”. The uniformity that is sought by the reigning ministry is contrary
to such a system though it is fundamental to the bureaucracy’s shenanigans of
straitjacketing the academia that would lead inevitably to the closing of the liberal mind.
What we need to understand is this: the imposition of a uniform curriculum retards
radical imagination, which, in turn, displaces the academy’s broad intellectual
engagement with society that is necessary for local needs as much as for the larger
national concerns. We need to look beyond the campus to a life of continuous learning
24
through enhancing and restructuring the processes of understanding ourselves as well as
the world to which we contribute in our own small way. We would like to rediscover our
own free space in which, no matter how despotic our government may be, we would have
the stamina to fashion our own freedom. Educational activism has to respond to the
hegemonising tendency of established structures of disciplines and curricula, moving into
a new era of post-disciplinarity where research becomes a collective and comparative
enterprise.
The retrogressive politics of the MHRD undermine the very raison d'être of a curriculum
that needs to reflect critical radical thought through engagement with the central aims of
higher education that go beyond mere skill-imparting training. Such an exercise would
have to involve brainstorming sessions among the faculty, the students and the research
scholars who alone can help to retard the gradual demise of the university as a “centre of
humane critique”. Liberal learning must be seen as a priority over specific and narrow
requirements of a job.
The government has to realise that education calls for a diverse participation in a globally
engaged democracy. A curriculum imposed from above in a culturally diverse country
like India will smother the interaction that a student has outside the university. The
educational experience of a student cannot pan out in isolation from its geographical
context and within the constraints of a uniform national syllabus. Education cannot be
imparted at the cost of a decentralised democracy that emphasises self-governance, civic
virtue and individual freedom in institutions of higher learning, supporting engagement
between academic learning and nation-building.
What we need is to introduce some colour into the drab uniformity of the curriculum and
flaunt our insubordination of repressive regimes so as to imaginatively articulate and
shape our vision for the future of higher education in India. What the present government
does to our education system is what we allow it to do. The significant question that is
called for at the moment is: do we, in fact, know what we want? I think many of us would
agree that we cannot negate ourselves under the authority of a system with ideological
limitations. And we cannot allow our syllabus to turn into something ordinary and
invisible because that is what it would become through the very nature of its uniformity.
The writer is a Professor of English at Panjab University, Chandigarh
25
STATESMAN, JUL 09, 2015
Higher learning
Mamta Singh
US Ivy-League Cornell University has launched a specially-designed management
programme in India, in collaboration with global learning company Pearson, aimed at
imparting globally applicable management skills, including insights and perspective, to
help accelerate career growth of Indian professionals.
The Cornell-ILR Experienced Managers Programme (CEMP) is crafted as 12-month
certificate programme and concentrates on core competencies of management, including
Human Resources, Operations, Finance, Marketing and strategy. In addition, the program
focuses on enhancing managerial skills, such as building expertise on leading global
teams, conflict resolution skills, mitigating business risks, developing entrepreneurship
skills and many more.
CEMP’s first learning centre has been set up in Gurgaon, Haryana. The advance learning
centre will hold in country seminars live on line classes, faculty sessions and networking
events. CEMP follows an integrated approach, covering theoretical as well as practical
modes of learning. The programme includes a “Capstone Project” that provides
participants with an opportunity to solve real-world problems faced in industry or
organisations.
Recruitment for the first batch of participants has already begun and the enrolment
process will remain open until 23 September. The programme fee is 15,000 dollars.
inclusive of a five-day programme at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and New
York City.
Speaking at the launch programme in the Capital, Joe Grasso, co-director of the CornellILR Experienced Managers Programme said, “India is one of the fastest emerging
economies today and it is competing with the rest of the world in several industries and
sector. Because of this competition, the need to remain up to date with globally
applicable knowledge and skills sets has become imperative for Indian professionals. We
have designed this programme specifically for Indian professionals, keeping in mind the
emerging trends and local market requirements.”
Deepak Mehrotra, managing director of Pearson India stated, “The concept of executive
MBA is fast gaining popularity among working professionals in India. However the
effectiveness of this learning model is not fully achieved.”
26
STATESMAN, JUL 08, 2015
VCs of central varsities agree to implement CBCS
Vice chancellors of all central universities on Tuesday agreed to implement the Choice
Based Credit System (CBCS) in their institutions, the human resource development
ministry said.
The decision was taken in a review meeting of the vice chancellors here.
"All VCs assured that their preparations are complete and they will be starting CBCS
from this academic session," the ministry said in a statement.
Teachers and students have been protesting against the implementation of CBCS, saying
it was adding to their distress.
However, the University Grants Commission (UGC) clarified that the introduction of
CBCS would not "in any way" hamper the academic liberal environment of the
universities.
Out of 39 central universities, 37 have introduced CBCS at the post-graduate level and 18
introduced the same at the undergraduate level, the statement said.
In the meeting, it was said that the UGC has developed model syllabi for 85 mainline and
18 specialised courses.
The syllabi will give leverage to the universities to modify the same to the extent of 30
percent depending upon their areas of specialisation, the statement added.
TIMES OF INDIA, JUL 09, 2015
Officials dispatched to states to inspect toilets in schools
NEW DELHI: Over 300 senior officials of Central government of the rank of director
and deputy secretary have have been dispatched to states for "spot inspection" of toilets
in schools and they have been asked to submit the report by next week. Sources said the
step has been taken since the Prime Minister is miffed at the slow progress in building
toilets in schools.
Sources said each 'observer' will visit 15 schools in urban areas and 10 in rural areas in
different states to verify whether toilets have actually been built with water supply. The
27
officials will carry out random checks and meet the deputy commissioners of the districts
concerned to take an overall review of the progress made in construction of toilets. They
have to give details of the separate toilets built for boys and girls in the schools they
inspect.
"The teams will come with reports of physical infrastructure, their maintenance and who
is actually using these facilities besides utilization of funds. They will give suggestions
based on their on the spot assessment," said a government official.
Addressing the nation on the Indepedence Day last year, PM Narendra Modi had said,
"There should be separate toilets for girls. Next year, when we stand here, every school
should have toilets for girls and boys." Moreover, he had urged all parliamentarians to
invest from their constituency funds on building toilets in every school.
The observers have also been directed to look at the implementation of mid-day meal
scheme, Sarv Siksha Abhiyaan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyaan.
INDIAN EXPRESS, JUL 08, 2015
Universities to now have a common academic calendar
Vinod Tawde says will form four-member panel to review academic timetables every
three months; Maharashtra Universities Act to be amended.
The education minister Vinod Tawde took a review of the academic timetable of all state
universities and instructed the V-Cs to keep uniformity
Dipti Singh
Universities across the state will now have a common academic calendar. Higher and
Technical Education Minister Vinod Tawde, who met vice-chancellors of all state
universities here Monday, said he would form a committee of four members to work out
a common academic calendar to avoid confusion and disparity in admission season of
different universities in state.
This would however also mean that exams, admissions and various other academic
events in all state universities and their affiliated colleges will be scheduled at the same
time.
Tawde took a review of the academic timetable of all state universities and instructed the
V-Cs to keep uniformity in the timetable. “Dates of admission, first day of college,
examination timetable and various programmes organised by the university should be
announced on the very first day of college. Also, all universities should keep similarity in
28
timetable for uniformity. We found that when results of one university is not announced,
the other university begins its admission process. This leads to students not being able to
take admission in other universities,” Tawde said.
The higher education department will form a four-member committee, which will review
the timetable every three months. The government has also decided to amend the
Maharashtra Universities Act 1994. The proposed amendment will also affect senate
elections.
Meanwhile, Mumbai University is already in the process of conducting its senate
elections. “The amended Act will be tabled in the winter session. Meanwhile, we have
asked MU authorities to defer the upcoming senate elections to avoid any chaos once the
process of formation of university senate is finalised,” said Tawde.
If the senate elections are deferred, it means the term of current senate will be extended
by one year. Universities have also been asked to appoint a nodal officer to look after
work between university and state government departments. According to Tawde, there is
no need for a V-C to come to Mantralaya and wait for hours to meet officials. “Why
should a Vice-Chancellor come to Mantralaya when an official can be appointed to look
into these issues. V-Cs should rather concentrate on academic work,” he said.
29
FINANCE
HINDU, JUL 10, 2015
Fifth Delhi Finance Commission to be constituted shortly, HC told
MOHAMMED IQBAL
The process for constituting the Fifth Finance Commission in Delhi has been initiated
with a proposal sent to the Delhi Government’s Urban Development Department, while
Rs.855.31 crore were released to the three Municipal Corporations of the Capital in
accordance with the Fourth Finance Commission’s recommendations.
Making these submissions before a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on Thursday,
the Aam Aadmi Party Government denied that it was neglecting the civic bodies and
affirmed that the amount released to them till last month was more than what was paid
during the previous year.
In an affidavit filed before the Bench, comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice
Jayant Nath, the Delhi Government said the process for constituting the Fifth Finance
Commission would be completed within four months.
The Urban Development Department had obtained the views of all stakeholders and
would take further steps for implementing the Fourth Finance Commission's
recommendations after receiving appropriate orders from the competent authority, stated
the affidavit. The Court was hearing a PIL filed by a non-government organisation,
Campaign for People's Participation in Development Planning, seeking directions to the
Delhi Government to immediately release adequate funds to municipal bodies to enable
them to perform their functions. The Bench had on June 29 pulled up the AAP
Government for delaying the constitution of the Fifth Finance Commission and not
implementing the Fourth Finance Commission's recommendations.
The Delhi Government said it was considering the steps for increasing the revenue of the
municipalities and would release funds to them from time to time as per the budget
estimates. It denied the petitioner's allegation that it was trying to usurp powers and
functions of the municipal bodies. The Court posted the matter for further hearing on
August 6 after asking the Delhi Government to submit its response to two applications
seeking its removal as a respondent in the case and seeking directions for restraining the
Lieutenant-Governor from utilising the Capital’s consolidated fund till the share of
municipalities was disbursed from it.
The Bench had on June 29 pulled up the AAP Government for delaying the constitution
of the commission
30
FINANCIAL MARKETS
TELEGRAPH, JUL 08, 2015
Play by the rules
Corporate social responsibility is here to stay
S.L. Rao
Corporate social responsibility is a new entry in the Indian Companies Act (under clause
135). Every company with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs 1,000
crore or more or net profit of rupees five crore or more during any financial year is to
have a CSR committee of the board with at least one independent director. These
companies shall aim to spend at least two per cent of the net profit based on three years'
average towards discharging their corporate social responsibility. If the expenditure is not
incurred, the company's annual report to shareholders should give the reasons.
The board committee shall formulate the company policy for CSR. The activities under
CSR shall cover those listed out in Schedule VII of the Bill. The committee will also
recommend the expenditure to be incurred for CSR activities and monitor it. The
activities covered are now known and the ministry has been responsive to requests from
non-governmental organizations to add to them. Unlike donations under Section 80G of
the Income Tax Act, these expenditures are not eligible for any tax concessions. (But
donations to the prime minister's relief fund are so entitled.)
When I wrote on this subject in 2012, at the time it was first proposed, I argued against
imposing philanthropy on companies. Though it was not yet compulsory, shortfalls had to
be explained. The basic duties of a company are to run its operations honestly, follow all
laws and regulations, be fair to employees, customers, suppliers, repay debts on time, and
give a competitive return to shareholders. Charity and philanthropy should be at the
discretion of the company. In fact, many companies in the past years have focused on
employees and the local communities they are with, and on causes which give a good
name to the company. However, the law now exists and companies have to plan on
spending a government-determined part of the profits each year on CSR.
Many companies resent the compulsion to spend a given amount and on causes that may
not be of their choosing. Obviously, they will try to get mileage out of the spending for
the company. Others aim at building local goodwill in their primary locations. Any
company required to spend its profits in this way will bring the efficiency norms of its
business to get maximum outcome from its outlays.
Companies are expected to adopt the CSR policy drafted by a board committee. In
family-controlled businesses, these committees are likely to represent the views and
interests of the family. Even in other companies, the principal shareholders will aim to
determine the policy. Other board members may play a passive role in determining the
purpose, implementation agency, monitoring and evaluation. The policy has to state who
are the target populations for the proposed CSR activity, and what this activity will be.
31
Some companies might appoint consultants to help define the tasks and monitor the
implementation.
There are many ways of organizing the CSR expenditure. The company might earmark
some of its people for the purpose. In some, CSR activity may be a way of training new
recruits in the Indian reality by exposing them to these causes. Some companies even
attach experienced managers to the activity for a few months or years. Many other
companies might see this activity as a diversion from their basic business and will hire
outside agencies, particularly for implementation.
In many instances, particularly where the company is related to others with common
ownership, all of them might team up to have a single common agency of their own for
the CSR activity, its conduct and supervision of the implementation.
But a well-run company will be loath to allow its hard-earned money to be wasted. It will
decide on its objectives and target beneficiary populations, set up a management
information system to monitor achievements in relation to targets, identify constraints
and conceptualize how its experience could be replicated by others in India.
Company annual reports are now being released for the first year after the CSR provision
was inserted in the Companies Act. Companies have to make the first annual report on
their CSR activity. The CSR expenditure does not stop at the two per cent of profits
specified in the act. Companies have to spend on manpower to ensure that the
implementation by a partner NGO or by its own CSR department is being done well.
Foreign companies have another problem when they engage NGOs to do the job. Present
rules under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act require that the recipient must be
registered under FCRA. This is time-consuming (may take three years). A foreign
company has to wait to engage the implementing agency. This puts constraints on its
CSR expenditure until it sets up its own implementation department.
Tata companies have followed the practice of all their companies pooling their CSR
spending. Many years before the recent legislation, each Tata company was working to a
set target for its CSR expenditure.The money was given to Tata trusts. This has made
Tata the most significant spender on CSR activity in India. Also, these trusts are very
professionally-managed and refer to their past experiences in deciding how to select
partners, beneficiaries, effective ways of execution, monitoring and evaluation of
achievements without interference.
An issue that will hound companies is the question of the ethical soundness of their
associate NGO. For example, can a company's donations be used for rehabilitating retired
terrorists or their families? If a company or an NGO is engaged in activities said to go
against national interests, should it be made a partner?
Some highly-principled NGOs will conduct diligence on potential donor companies.
Thus there are NGOs that do not accept money from aerated soft drinks-producers
32
because of the product's adverse effect on child health. Others will not go near Monsanto
because of its connection with genetically-modified food against which there is a protest
movement in India. NGOs might refuse donations from companies against whom there
are rumours or allegations. Similarly, they might avoid environmentally-polluting
companies.There are, of course, many NGOs which do not care about the funding sources
and their reputations as long as the money is available.
There is also the question of compliance and audits. Well-run companies do not want to
see their money wasted. They will set up a strong internal audit system and help the
NGOs to keep proper record of expenditures. Donor companies must also ensure that
their NGO partners treat their employees in a civilized way, ensure integrity in their
work, and so on. This is another cost that the companies have to bear in addition to CSR
spends.
Rich entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Azim Premji, Warren Buffett among
others, have applied the minds that built their colossal businesses to philanthropy. Many
companies have found (Tata, Wipro, Shiv Nadar, Infosys) that good philanthropy also
improves corporate image and share values.
Compulsory CSR is here to stay. Companies must prepare themselves to do it well.
The author is former director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research
33
HOUSING
HINDUSTAN TIMES, 08, 2015
Delhi rents may be linked to circle rates; hike so
Neelam Pandey
The AAP government has proposed linking rent and lease agreements to circle rates of
properties, a move that may lead to an increase in rents, especially in posh south and
central Delhi neighbourhoods.
According to government sources, stamp duty on a lease deed or rent agreement —
residential or commercial — to be paid by a tenant at the time of registration will be
calculated on the basis of the existing circle rate of an area. A circle rate of 5-7% is likely
to be imposed on the rented properties.
“The move will stop evasion of stamp duty as people often do not disclose the actual rent
amount in the agreement,” said a senior Delhi government official.
Many home owners also don’t disclose the actual rent to avoid paying tax on it.
Therefore, they may hike rent rates further to protect their original earnings after paying
the additional tax.
The hike would hurt tenants most in places like south Delhi, where circle rates are quite
high, and in expensive market places like Khan Market, Connaught Place and Greater
Kailash.
The revenue department has forwarded the proposal to the finance department for its
consideration, after which it is likely to be tabled in the cabinet, the sources said.
Circle rate, introduced in the Capital in 2007, is the minimum valuation of land and
immovable property and an indicator of the ‘market price’ of the property. It is revised
periodically by the state government and differs from area to area: Delhi is divided into
eight categories, A to H, where A stands for the poshest colonies and commands the
highest circle rates.
A high circle rate also acts as a disincentive for the use of cash or undisclosed “black
money” in real estate transactions.
34
The government was recently planning to increase circle rates in group housing society
flats and DDA flats by almost 100%. So far, flats in the city have a uniform circle rate of
Rs 58,000 per square meters. If this plan too goes through, circle rates for flats might go
up by 100% and so would rents.
35
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 10, 2015
Ten Steps for the Future: PM Narendra Modi's 10-point initiative for BRICS
nations
By Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury
The Brics summit formalised the $100 billion New Development Bank and a currency
reserve pool worth another $100 billion.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered to organise the first Brics fair
in India and proposed making clean energy the first major initiative of the Brics bank
while outlining a 10-point programme for future cooperation. Modi's 'Das Kadam,'
proposed during his address of the Brics plenary at the 7th summit in the Russian city of
Ufa, included a trade fair, a railway research centre, cooperation among supreme audit
institutions, a digital initiative, an agricultural research centre, a forum of state/local
governments among the Brics nations, cooperation among cities in urbanisation, a sports
council and an annual sports meet, the first major project of the New Development Bank
to be in the field of clean energy, and a film festival. The Brics summit formalised the
$100 billion New Development Bank and a currency reserve pool worth another $100
billion.
Modi's suggestions were presented amid the adoption of common Economic Cooperation
Strategy adopted at Ufa by the world's five growing economies at this Summit. He said
this strategy, which includes a number of social initiatives, was a milestone in BRICS
2015 evolution. This Strategy was the brainchild of Russia, host for the current BRICS
Summit The BRICS Economic Cooperation Strategy is aimed at creating a framework for
easier trade between the BRICS developing markets. It is the first comprehensive
document of its kind and introduces entirely new areas of cooperation such as physical,
institutional and people-to-people connectivity.
"For the first time our countries managed to negotiate and finalise the comprehensive
document - the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership -that touches upon the
responsibility of different ministers and requires high-level coordination," Modi said,
adding, "The Contingency Reserve Arrangement will soon become a reality, which will
help in stabilising the BRICS economies."
The Contingency Reserve Arrangement to facilitate intra-group trade in members' local
currencies assumes even more importance in the context of the Greek bailout crisis that
along with China's stock market plunge has revived the spectre of weaker economic
growth.
Customs arrangement among the Brics nations would be a major step in boosting trade,
Modi said. At the summit the five countries also signed an agreement on creating a joint
BRICS website, which will act as a virtual secretariat of the group. The Central Banks of
the five countries have also signed cooperation agreements with the New Development
36
Bank. The BRICS deliberations on the current global political and economic situation
were reflected in the Ufa Declaration adopted at the end of the Summit. The BRICS bloc
noted the fragile recovery of global growth and also said they were "concerned about
potential spillover effects from the unconventional monetary policies of the advanced
economies".
The Ufa declaration also asserted that "the NDB (New Development Bank" shall serve as
a powerful instrument for financing infrastructure investment and sustainable
development projects in the BRICS and other developing countries and emerging market
economies".
"We welcome the proposal for the NDB to cooperate closely with existing and new
financing mechanisms including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank," said the
document. In major support for Russian President Putin, his BRICS counterparts
supported Moscow by opposing the Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine
conflict. "We condemn unilateral military interventions and economic sanctions in
violation of international law and universally recognized norms of international relations.
Bearing this in mind, we emphasize the unique importance of the indivisible nature of
security, and that no State should strengthen its security at the expense of the security of
others," noted the Ufa communique.
"We emphasise the need for universal adherence to principles and rules of international
law in their interrelation and integrity, discarding the resort to "double standards" and
avoiding placing interests of some countries above others," said the document in what
many would say indirect reference to US interference in countries like Syria.
Modi, in his address to the BRICS Business Council and the plenary, proposed that the
five countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- should host an annual
trade fair and that India could host the inaugural fair next year. India will host the BRICS
summit in 2016.
The PM also proposed that as part of the sports cooperation, an annual football event,
especially under 15, could be held every year. He suggested that India could host the
football event next year.
Modi further proposed a BRICS film festival and film awards, which he said would give
a boost to film-making and people-to-people contact. Seeking united approach to fight
terror, Modi said: "We should speak in one voice against terrorism, without distinction
and discrimination between groups and countries, sponsors and targets."
He also pointed towards the urgent need for UN Security Council reforms. "Whatever is
the nature of challenge - political, social, and economic - we will be more effective in
addressing them if we complete the reforms of the UN, especially its Security Council,
within a fixed time frame. These reforms are urgently required, if the global institution is
to retain its role and relevance in the 21st century."
37
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
TELEGRAPH, JUL 09, 2015
State of friendliness - Closer ties with the Central Asian states would benefit India
Kanwal Sibal
The July 9-10 meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Ufa in Russia is
expected to approve India's membership of the organization, along with that of Pakistan.
It would have taken India, which got observer status in July 2005, 10 years to obtain full
membership, largely on account of China's resistance to open the doors for India without
letting Pakistan in too. Russia has been politically supportive of India's quest for SCO
membership but has questioned for some years Pakistan's eligibility because of the threat
that its terrorist affiliations and its truck with extremist religious groups presented to the
stability of the Central Asian states. China, on the other hand, because of its solid
geopolitical relationship with Pakistan and the political cover it has consistently given to
it on terrorism-related issues would have opposed giving preferential treatment to India,
even if India's candidature had no negative dimension and was welcomed by the Central
Asian states.
The parity of treatment with India that Pakistan obsessively seeks and China panders to
has not prevented the latter, however, from participating in the Russia-India-China
trilateral dialogue that lifts India's stature to an altogether different level. China is also a
member of BRICS, a group that excludes Pakistan. China could have viewed India's
inclusion in the SCO as a further consolidation of the tripartite equations with Russia
within the RIC and BRICS formats. But, in the case of the SCO, China has wanted to
bracket India with Pakistan. China has forged a close economic relationship with Iran,
which has observer status in the SCO. Iran is an integral part of the Central Asian
geography much more than Pakistan is, as it has a common border with Turkmenistan
(which is not a SCO member) and has close linguistic affinities with Tajikistan. But it is
not being considered for full membership at present. A major reason for excluding it from
the envisaged expansion is the nuclear issue. Both China and Russia are part of the P-5
plus1 dialogue with Iran, and as permanent members of the security council are party to
the imposition of United Nations sanctions on it. They would obviously want the nuclear
issue to be resolved before offering SCO membership to Iran. If for cogent reasons Iran
can be made to wait, even though politically and geo-strategically it is a vital player in
the region, the priority given to Pakistan's inclusion is anomalous and shows the solidity
of China's support to a country that is the epicentre of terrorism and religious extremism
in the region, whose ambitions can throw Afghanistan into serious turmoil once again,
with dangerous consequences for all the Central Asian states and beyond. Whereas
Pakistan had no say in Russia's moves to promote RIC and BRICS, it has used its China
relationship to thwart a higher profile for India in Central Asia. It would have been a
humiliating diplomatic defeat for Pakistan, which considers itself the gateway for India to
Central Asia and intends to keep that gate closed, to have to wait for SCO membership
while India walked in with China's concurrence.
38
Unlike in the case of the RIC or BRICS which were sponsored by Russia (and it is Russia
that provided the political momentum to these two groupings and set their agenda at their
inception), China is the progenitor of the SCO through its previous incarnation, the
Shanghai Five, that was set up in 1996, initially without Uzbekistan. China has for long
played second fiddle to Russia in the RIC and BRICS, but the equation within the SCO
between the two is different. China is the leading force in the organization and shapes its
agenda, especially economic. The SCO is headquartered in China. The organization has
become a vehicle for extending China's economic interests in Central Asia, especially
access to the region's oil and gas resources. Already oil and gas are being piped from this
region to China. Because of its increasing clout, China has been able to delay
consideration of India's membership of the SCO by securing the desired recognition of its
strategic equities in Pakistan from Russia.
Ironically, the geographical area in which China is making its weight increasingly felt
was for long a part of Tsarist Russia and later the Soviet Union, and hence a legitimate
sphere of influence for the new Russian Federation. Russia has had to yield considerable
economic and, by extension, political influence, to China in this erstwhile Russian space.
This is the inevitable by-product of the political and economic weakening of Russia after
the Soviet collapse and the phenomenal economic rise of China. Today, with China
announcing its One Belt (land based) initiative that would link Eurasia even more with
China, and aiming to invest $40 billion in this and the One Road (maritime), the RussiaChina equation is rapidly changing in favour of the latter. The United States of
America/North Atlantic Treaty Organization's political, military, economic and
ideological pressure on Russia has constrained its room for manoeuvre and compelled it
to move closer to China. This has consolidated the Russia-China equation, but to China's
advantage. China is securing its vast Eurasian hinterland in cooperation with Russia in
order to better challenge US power in the western Pacific.
India has limited ties with Central Asian states, even though bilateral exchange of visits
at the highest levels, especially from the latter, has been significant. For the Central Asian
states, closer ties with India create a better balance in their foreign relations, apart from
the prospect of harnessing India's competence in certain areas for their development. For
India, lack of direct access to these landlocked states is a huge handicap. Energy links
with these states are difficult to forge not only because of lack of contiguity but also
Pakistan's determination to impede our ties with this region for strategic reasons, as well
as continuing instability in Afghanistan. India could potentially obtain access to Central
Asian gas through the TAPI project, if and when it is implemented. With Kazakhstan we
have achieved some success in the energy area, including access to its uranium resources.
India's trade with the region has averaged only $300 million between 2000 and 2011 and
rose to $500 million in 2012. Tajikistan is of particular strategic importance in the
context of the withdrawal of US/Nato from Afghanistan and the resurgence of the
Taliban. India has refurbished air force bases in Ayni and Farkhor in Tajikistan. We have
strategic partnership agreements with Tajikistan and Kazakhstan which, along with
Kyrgyzstan, support India's permanent membership of the UNSC.
39
Our membership of the SCO will not bring about any dramatic change in our ties with the
Central Asian states. It will have no impact on our relations with Russia and China,
which have bilateral strengths or are marred by bilateral problems independent of the
SCO. Our membership is expected to take a couple of years to become operational.
Meanwhile, in a commendable initiative, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, will visit all
these states after the Ufa meetings. Our gains from a heightened attention to these states
may not be great now, but our longer term strategic loss in paying inadequate attention to
them can be costly.
The author is former foreign secretary of India sibalkanwal@gmail.com
STATESMAN, JUL 09, 2015
Diplomacy re-defined
Salman Haidar
As the shadows lengthen over the Obama presidency, there has been an unusual flurry of
activity on Washington’s foreign policy front. Public attention has already begun to shift
to next year’s presidential elections and the list of contenders grows by the day, and while
the domestic agenda can be expected to crowd out all else as the race becomes more
intense, some of the most significant recent US moves have been in the field of foreign
affairs. It would seem that in this final phase Mr. Obama seeks to tie up loose ends and
bring to a conclusion some of the nagging issues that have so far remained unresolved.
Prominent among the new developments at this time is the improvement of ties between
the USA and Cuba. For some time now, these two countries have been inching towards
mutual reconciliation and putting behind them their extended history of strife and
hostility. It’s been so long since they fell out that few will recall quite why these two
countries are still at daggers drawn: the major events that fed their hostility, like the
missile crisis that came close to engulfing them and the rest of the world in a nuclear
holocaust, and also the Bay of Pigs fiasco of a US-backed invasion of Cuba, are now
matters for the history books. But US sanctions against Cuba remain stringent and
unforgiving, and it is only recently, as part of the current thaw, that some chinks have
been permitted in the comprehensive prohibition on contact between the two countries.
All this time, despite the huge differential in their respective strength and capacity, Cuba
has not buckled under and has maintained an international profile out of proportion to its
intrinsic strength. The revolutionary leadership of Fidel Castro weathered several storms
over the decades, and now with the mantle having passed to Raul Castro, Cuba is well
embarked on repairing and renewing the sundered relationship with the USA.
40
The problem today is less to do with the differences between the two countries than with
the impact of the strong lobby in the USA, especially among Cuban refugees, that
actively opposes any sort of rapprochement. It is more a matter of domestic politics than
of foreign relations, and when elections loom, as they do now, candidates tend to hold
tight to familiar positions. If there is room for something fresh, nevertheless, it owes
something to the fact Mr. Obama is not up for election and hence has more leeway on this
issue than others: his initiative to restore ties, which was dramatically expressed in a
handshake between him and President Raul Castro at a recent Latin American Summit,
seems likely to go through notwithstanding the hostility Cuba still evokes in sections of
US opinion. It will be a welcome development for which Mr. Obama will be able to take
legitimate credit.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, a testing negotiation between the USA and
Iran is in progress, in search of agreement on the Iranian civil nuclear programme. At
issue is an inspection regime that would open the various Iranian facilities to inspectors
appointed by the IAEA in order to verify that there is no covert nuclear weapons
programme under a civilian mask. This has long been one of the most contentious issues
before the international community, with the entire P-5 along with Germany (the ‘P-5
plus 1’) engaged in a demanding exchange on an amalgam of political and technical
issues relating to the disputed matter. Iran has held its ground, despite having to deal with
the heavy burden of sanctions, and until recently there was little sign of any break in the
confrontation. But now that has changed: the name-calling and sabre-rattling have given
way to serious engagement and what looks like a promising effort to find a solution is
under way. The talks are still on a knife-edge but the momentum is towards agreement,
not towards another failure and renewed mutual recrimination. An agreed inspection
regime and progressive easing of sanctions now appear attainable.
Should the parties be able to come to terms, this will make a real difference in the entire
area. It would have a calming effect in the Middle East where military hostilities between
Israel and Iran have often threatened, and also permit normal relations elsewhere in the
region. The Iran-US confrontation has come in the way of what was a flourishing
economic partnership between India and Iran, owing to the stringent US sanctions. Now
that there are prospects of the sanctions being lifted, the way is being cleared for much
more extensive economic ties between these two countries which have much to gain from
each other, one being a major purchaser of oil and natural gas and the other an important
supplier. Many projects to strengthen links between the two have been conceived over the
last few years, only to fall foul of the unfavourable political situation. The change in
41
circumstances presently in the making could offer significant benefits to Indian and
Iranian economic interests.
To be noted, too, is the more flexible US approach to climate change issues. Having long
been something of a back marker, the USA has now emerged as an important driver of
more responsible global environmental policies and practices. The series of international
conferences on the environment over the last several decades have dramatized the
inescapable need for global action and have outlined an action programme of common
but differentiated responsibilities between industrialized and developing countries, but
notwithstanding the advancing global consensus the USA, driven in part by strong
domestic lobbies, has been slow to shed its skepticism about the long-term reality of
man-made phenomena threatening to the environment. It has thus questioned the need to
offer special facilities to developing countries like a longer time-frame to meet stricter
emission standards. But that seems to have undergone significant change, as the USA has
become more flexible in this matter and has been able to join other countries, including
China and some others, in agreeing on the outlines of an international programme on the
environment. With that, despite the doubts of the more strongly committed, more
concerted international action should become possible. India needs to note these
developments which may be regarded as a fresh challenge because they cut at the
traditional solidarity among developing countries, including China, in the climate change
negotiations.
Maybe there is more in store of foreign policy initiatives by the USA in this final phase
of Mr. Obama’s presidency. What has been undertaken already has brought about
important change and has opened fresh possibilities in dealing with long congealed
situations that have been awaiting bold solutions.
42
JUDICIARY
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 11, 2015
Haryana to get separate High Court soon; committee to set up separate bench
constituted
By Raghav Ohri
The decision follows a letter written by Union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda on
May 25 to the acting Chief Justice to 'examine the case'.
NEW DELHI: In a major development, what is being seen as the first big step towards
having a separate High Court for Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has
constituted a committee of four senior High Court Judges to consider setting up of a
separate Bench of the High Court for the convenience of litigants.
In an administrative order, the acting Chief Justice of the High Court has constituted the
Committee 'for establishment of a separate Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court at
Southern/Western Haryana'.
The decision follows a letter written by Union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda on
May 25 to the acting Chief Justice to 'examine the case'.
Gowda's letter, a copy of which ET has, is in response to a letter written by the Chief
Minister Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar. In his April 17 letter, Khattar had written to
Gowda raising the demand of creating a "separate" High Court for Haryana.
Khattar had also raised the demand in April at the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief
Ministers of all the States held in Delhi.
Khattar wrote, on April 17, that Haryana had been requesting the Central government for
a separate High Court for Haryana 'for the past one decade and more' to set up a separate
High Court for the State.
Referring to various resolutions passed by Haryana government in 2002 and 2005,
Khattar wrote that it was decided that the Parliament and Indian government would be
requested to "move an appropriate Bill for carrying out suitable amendment in the Punjab
Reorganisation Act,1966 and provide for a separate High Court for Haryana to be located
at Chandigarh".
Khattar had added that creation of a separate Bench is "an easier option" since it does not
require amendment of the said Act.
43
LABOUR
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 08, 2015
Government increases daily minimum wage to Rs 160 per day
Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday said he has written to all chief ministers and lieutenant
governors to take necessary steps to fix minimum rates.
NEW DELHI: The government has increased minimum wage across the country to Rs
160 a day from Rs 137 with effect from this month. It has raised the threshold after two
years on the basis of average increase in the consumer price index for industrial workers
during this period.
Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday said he has written to all chief ministers
and lieutenant governors to take necessary steps to fix minimum rates of wages in respect
of all scheduled employments in states and union territories not below the revised level.
"While reviewing the movement of CPI-IW (consumer price index for industrial workers)
during April 2014 to March 2015 over the period April 2012 to March 2013, it was
observed that the average CPIIW has risen from 215.17 to 250.83. Accordingly, the
NFLMW (national floor level minimum wage) has been revised upwards from existing
Rs 137 to Rs 160 per day with effect from July 1, 2015," Dattatreya said. In order to have
a uniform wage structure and to reduce the disparity in minimum wages across the
country, NFLMW is fixed on the basis of the CPI-IW. The NFLMW was last revised
from Rs 115 to Rs 137 per day in July 2013.
NFLMW is a non-statutory measure and after every revision states are persuaded to fix
minimum wages such that in none of the scheduled employments the minimum wage is
less than NFLMW. The list of scheduled employment under the Minimum Wage Act,
1948, differs from state to state and covers a wide spectrum of employment creating
sectors including industry, construction, agriculture and services sector.
In a separate letter, Dattatreya urged all chief ministers and LGs to ensure compliance
regarding social security coverage of outsourced staff working in the government
departments, public sector undertakings, state cooperatives and other bodies. "The
National Human Rights Commission incidentally is also monitoring the implementation
as the social security is considered as a human right of an individual," the minister said in
his letter written on Tuesday.
He further said, "It has been observed that various departments, PSUs, state cooperatives
and other state-run bodies are increasingly employing a large number of staff on
outsourcing basis."
BUSINESS STANDARD, JUL 08, 2015
Mandatory recognition for trade unions likely
44
Now, a trade union will become the sole bargaining agent in a factory with multiple
unions
Somesh Jha
In a first, factories across the country might soon have to compulsorily recognise a trade
union as a representative of its workers and engage in dialogue with it in case of a
dispute.
Sources said the Union labour ministry had proposed a trade union in a factory be
empowered as the 'principal bargaining agent' for settling a dispute or engaging in a
discussion with employers. The union would be treated as a representative of the workers
in the respective organisation based on membership, after a verification drive, ministry
sources said.
"A trade union that gets a majority support of the workers in a factory will be deemed the
sole bargaining agent. In case there is no majority, those with a prescribed percentage of
support will be recognised. This is to ensure trade unionswith limited support in an
establishment don't become a trouble for employers," a senior labour ministry official
said on condition of anonymity.
This is important in case a factory has multiple trade unions. In many factories in the
country, workers are associated with various trade unions and there have been many
cases in which unions have protested against non-recognition by the management.
Currently, there is no provision for recognition of trade unions in India's central labour
laws. A provision in this regard would be inserted in the proposed industrial relations
Bill, after discussions with industry and workers' representatives on July 14, sources said.
However, as the law is under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, states will be free to
either frame their own laws or follow the one mandated by Parliament.
To implement mandatory recognition of a trade union, Parliament had passed the Indian
Trade Union (Amendment) Act, 1947, but it wasn't notified. Though there is a
fundamental right to form unions and a statutory right to get it registered, there is no
corresponding legal obligation on employers to recognise a particular trade union, even if
it meets the terms of registration. Typically, managements refuse to recognise small or
regional trade unions.
45
"Recognition is the process through which an employer accepts a particular trade union
as having a representative character and, therefore, will be willing to engage in
discussions with the union with respect to the interests of workers. This process is
important to ensure smooth collective bargaining and stability in industrial relations,"
Nishith Desai Associates had said in a research paper, 'India: Trade Unions and
Collective Bargaining', published in March this year.






MORE POWER TO UNIONS
Now, a trade union will become the sole bargaining agent in a factory with multiple unions
A trade union with support of most workers or with a prescribed percentage of support will be the
bargaining agent
Through recognition, an employer will have to compulsorily accept a particular trade union as the
representative of the workers
No central law lays down the procedure for recognition of trade unions
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Bihar and Odisha have rules to recognise trade unions
Refusal of employers to recognise a trade union has been a trigger for many industrial disputes
such as those in Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant in 2011 and MRF’s Tiruvallur plant in 2009
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and Odisha have enacted
rules for recognition of trade unions. In Maharashtra, a trade union functioning for at
least six months is accorded recognition if its membership exceeds 30 per cent of the
overall employee count.
"Maharashtra was the first state to do so. States such as Bihar and Madhya Pradesh also
follow its model. In Kerala and West Bengal, a secret ballot is held to recognise a trade
union as the sole bargaining agent," said K R Shyam Sundar, professor (human resource
management), XLRI.
"Multiple trade unions fighting for their respective rights are a threat to industrial
relations. Trade unions have been demanding recognition for a long time. The current law
only provides for registration of unions, not recognition, and this lacuna has been in
existence for 90 years," Sundar said. "Legislation in this regard will give strength to
freedom of association and collective bargaining; unions' rights will be consolidated and
this will lead to agreeable solutions and, consequently, fewer disputes."
Sundar said the absence of such a provision had led to employers creating their own
unions, claiming these had the highest membership and engaging with these in case of
46
disputes.
The refusal of employers to recognise trade unions has been a trigger for many industrial
disputes in India. In 2009, there was a long stand-off between the workers and
management of MRF's Tiruvallur plant in Tamil Nadu over recognition of a trade union.
In 2011, Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant had witnessed a 13-day stand-off, with the
workers demanding recognition of a new trade union. The workers complained the trade
union
recognised
by
the
company
wasn't
representative
of
them.
A proposal related to recognition of a trade union was recommended by a sub-committee
formed by the labour ministry to examine the proposed industrial relations Bill. The subcommittee was tasked with drafting a set of recommendations, after trade unions had
protested against certain provisions of the proposed Bill. A tripartite meeting on the
proposed Bill is scheduled for July 14, and these recommendations would be taken up for
discussion, sources said.
47
PARLIAMENT
STATESMAN, JUL 09, 2015
Are MPs trustees of people?
Kuldip Nayar
Over the years I have found the Supreme Court in Pakistan, a country under constant
influence of the military, is far more progressive than ours although India has been
functioning in a free, democratic environment. Not long ago lawyers in Pakistan have
fought and won the battle for supremacy of the Chief Justice, who was sequestered and
suppressed by army chiefs like Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
Once again the Pakistan Supreme Court has made us see our face in the mirror. In an
epoch-making judgment the apex court has held that the “massive expenses” incurred on
the palatial President's house, Prime Minister's house or the various governors' houses as
well as the extravagant lifestyles of their occupants and the perks enjoyed by government
functionaries at public expense were “a matter of government policy” involving “political
questions.”
How radical is the judgment as compared to our functioning? The Pakistan Supreme
Court said: “In a country burdened by foreign debt, where a substantial percentage of the
populace lived under the poverty line with a lack of access to basic healthcare and
education, such extravagant expenditure was not only against the traditions of simplicity
of the Holy Prophet, but also violates the fundamental rights of the citizens.”
This echoes the advice of Mahatma Gandhi to those elected to different offices in
independent India. He said that they should behave like trustees, not masters. He wanted
them to draw salaries so that their emoluments are not very divergent from the average
income of a person. MPs, MLAs and those elected to top positions in municipalities
seldom recognise that. There is no escaping the fact, as the Pakistan Supreme Court's
judgment says, that public property is “a public trust in the hands of public
functionaries.”
I wish the court had commented on the perennial demand of the elected members for
increasing emoluments and perks. But it refrained from doing so on the ground that they
involved political questioning. Technically, the court was correct. But the judges' obiter
dicta would have helped because the judiciary, still respected, would have initiated a
debate on lavish spending by political leaders and their assistants.
48
Their style of living is not matched by politicians' even in the advanced, rich countries in
the West. Who would point out to them that they are already in a higher income bracket?
The media once used to do so. But today the owners, the individuals and those in the
corporate sector supervise and even dictate the headlines given to a story, apart from
what the paper would print. Their personal prejudice or preference has played havoc with
the media. This is, indeed, a sorry state of affairs. But no other better method has been
found, not even in the West, where the press is more developed than in our part of the
world.
The Press Council of India, which was constituted to set higher standards in journalism,
has got lost in its assertion to be the No. 1 in telling journalists and newspapers what to
do or what not to do. I recall as a member of the council how during the days of press
censorship the then chairman, a retired Supreme Court judge, curried favour with the
government by writing to the then Information Minister, V.C. Shukla, that he, as the
Press Council chairman, has been able to manage the Council members not to pass any
resolution to criticise censorship.
The Janata government brought out a white paper to highlight this attitude even at the
highest level during the Emergency. But when Mrs Indira Gandhi repeated the same thing
after coming back to power in 1980, there was none in the media or at the Council to
point a finger at her. Even today, when the Press Council has been reconstituted to give
representation to editors and working journalists, it has hardly made any difference.
Probably, the Press Council of India has to be replaced with some other representative
body as it has happened in the United Kingdom. There, too, it was found that the Press
Council had run out of steam. In the eighties, the Press Council in the UK was replaced
with the Press Complaints Council (PCC). The experience of media there has not been
too happy, but none in the government or in the media has thought of anything
innovative. The matter rests there. In India, I concede, there is no possibility of the reimposition of censorship. Yet, the role of Press Council needs to be redefined to be more
purposeful. Otherwise, it will be just an office on paper.
In the same way, I agree with former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's
suggestion that an independent pay commission should be constituted to look into the
emoluments of parliament members. There is no doubt that they need to be paid more to
meet the rising cost of living. But there should be a proper study undertaken to assess
how much increase would be in order. There is merit in what Mr Chatterjee has said. MPs
themselves cannot decide on the hike.
49
Similarly, there has to be a parity on salaries and perks drawn by the elected members in
different states. At present a legislator in Kerala who is not a minister is said to be
drawing a salary of Rs.21,300 a month while his counterpart in Delhi gets Rs.50,000 and
in Punjab Rs.54,500. The break-up of the Kerala MLA's reported pay packet is Rs.300 as
basic pay, Rs.3,500 as constituency allowance, Rs.4,000 for telephone charges, Rs.6,000
by way of fuel and railway coupons and a permanent travel allowance of Rs.7,500.
Those elected should get one consolidated sum, which should include all expenditures,
including on accommodation, transport, electricity, water, telephone, etc. This will enable
the people to know how much an elected member costs the exchequer. The picture gets
blurred and adds to confusion when emoluments are given under different heads. It would
be better to have one yardstick for states and the Centre. Only then will the nation know
how far Gandhiji's advice on trusteeship has been followed.
The writer is a noted journalist, columnist and commentator.
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POPULATION
DECCAN HERALD, JUL 08, 2015
A grim picture of deprivation
The results of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census conducted in 2011 across the
country present a grim picture of poverty and deprivation in rural India. It was an
exclusionary census which left out about 40 per cent of the country’s 17.91 crore rural
households on the basis of certain parameters like ownership of a motor vehicle or
income above Rs 10,000. Of the remaining households, 8.69 crore, which account for
more than half of the total population, belong to the deprived category. This is much
more than what had been estimated till now with random surveys and poverty line
exercises. The monthly income of the head of three out of four households is less than Rs
5,000. A majority of the households are landless and most depend on casual manual
labour for livelihood. Only a minority called themselves cultivators. Just about 14 per
cent have non-farm jobs in the government or the private sector. In fact, only less than
3.5 per cent of rural households have graduates.
The situation is worse when it comes to traditionally less developed areas of the country,
like the eastern and central states. The figures are also much more grim in the case of
weaker sections like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and households headed
by women. Only about 4 per cent of rural SC and ST households are employed in
government despite decades of reservation. The figures are much lower in the case of the
private sector. While the statistics are depressing, the first and foremost message they
give out is that the development strategies of the last many decades have not had as much
impact on rural India as has been claimed. This had been suspected by many but now
there is proof in terms of figures. What they unflatteringly reveal is that high growth rates
have passed up the poorest regions and sections in the country. There are some
aspirational signs like the fairly high level of mobile phone penetration but that does not
improve the overall picture.
The data revealed by the nationwide survey is not just for information and debate. The
previous government which commissioned the census had said that the results would help
governments at the Centre and in the states to formulate appropriate strategies and tailor
them to the needs revealed by the census. This needs to be done now. This, however,
should be based on the complete picture presented by the census, which is still not
available with the government withholding the caste-wise data collected in the census.
There is no reason to keep the data classified.
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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
ECONOMIC TIMES, JUL 14, 2016
'Top Secret' sections should handle classified documents: Government
Classified papers need to be handled only by specially-designated 'secret' or 'top secret'
sections in every central government department, the Centre has said.
NEW DELHI: Classified papers need to be handled only by specially-designated 'secret'
or 'top secret' sections in every central government department, the Centre has said.
In a fresh set of instructions, the government also restricted its employees from
communicating with the media.
Only ministers, secretaries and other specially-authorised officers can give information or
be accessible to the representatives of the press.
On the classified papers issue, the government said that every file should be reviewed
once in every five years for declassification.
An officer not below the level of Under Secretary can only carry secret papers under
special circumstances with the prior permission of a Joint Secretary-level officer for
attending meeting or discussions outside offices, it said.
Section officers or above will only carry confidential papers with prior permission with
them. "The authorisation will be produced by the officer on demand," the instructions
issued by the Personnel Ministry said.
The move assumes significance as Delhi Police has arrested some government employees
and few executives of big corporate houses for allegedly trading government documents.
On communication with the media, the ministry said, "Official information to the press
and other news media i.e. radio, television, shall normally be communicated through the
Press Information Bureau (PIB)."
Any other official, if approached by a representative of the press, will direct them to the
PIB or shall seek the permission of the Secretary of the department before meeting the
press, the instructions said.
The Personnel Ministry has cited Departmental Security Instructions issued by Home
Ministry which says classified papers are expected to be handled either by officers
themselves or in sections designated as 'secret' or 'top secret'.
52
RAILWAYS
TIMES OF INDIA, JUL 09, 2015
Suvidha trains for catering to festival rush will only offer confirmed seats
Mahendra K Singh
NEW DELHI: In an effort to cater to extra rush during festivals, peak summer and winter
seasons, railways have decided to run 'Suvidha' trains in which passengers will get
confirmed berth or seat. No waitlisted ticket will be issued. The first Suvidha train will be
from Gorakhpur to Anand Vihar.
The transporter has decided to discontinue 'Premium' trains introduced last year, and
replace it with Suvidha train, after changing a few rules that were causing inconvenience
to passengers. The traveler can buy tickets for Suvidha trains from the reservation
counters or book them online from IRCTC website. The reservation period will be a
maximum of 30 days and a minimum of 10 days. Bookings in Premium trains were
allowed only online and the reservation period was only 15 days. There was criticism that
not all passengers had access to internet or online booking facility.
"The service aims at catering to premium passengers and those who want to travel at
short-notice by offering assured berth and better service," said an official, adding that the
transporter will also earn additional revenue.
The anomaly in fares of Premium trains was also a major issue. Premium trains offered
dynamic fares and it was found that in these trains higher demand pushed AC3 fares
higher than AC2 class.
In Suvidha trains minimum fare will be Tatkal fare for the class of travel and fares would
increase after booking of every 20% of seats/berths subject to maximum three times of
Tatkal fare. If any berth remains unsold during preparation of the journey chart, they
could be sold through current booking counters for the last sold price. Other applicable
supplementary charges like reservation charge, superfast charge, service tax etc. will be
charged separately. No concession, no free or complimentary pass will be applicable and
also for children full adult fare shall be charged.
The transporter will run three types of Suvidha trains—full AC trains without stops
charging Rajdhani base fare and Tatkal charges, mixed service with no stops charging
Duronto base fare and Tatkal charges and mixed service with some stops charging base
fare of mail and express trains, and Tatkal charges.
53
The passenger has to produce one of the prescribed identity cards during journey for
verification. The onboard facilities on Suvidha trains would be similar to Premium trains.
Along with ensuring punctuality, railways want to ensure top quality linen, better food
and cleanliness on Suvidha trains.
In normal circumstances Suvidha train will not be cancelled. However, in case of
cancellation in exceptional circumstances, full refund of fare shall be granted for counter
PRS ticket across the counter and for e-tickets full refunds of fare shall be directly
credited to the customers account. For any other reason, if berth cannot be given to
passenger by railways, full refund shall be granted to the passenger manually.
54
TRAINING
STATESMAN, JUL 15, 2015
Chidambaram's dig at govt on skill development scheme launch
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday took a jibe at the launching of the
Skill Development Programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday saying
it will be an "Achhe Din" for the NDA government.
"National Skill Development Mission will be relaunched, I repeat, relaunched by the PM
on Wednesday under a new name. It will be Achhe Din for the NDA. Should we
applaud?" he tweeted.
Modi is set to launch on Wednesday the Skill India mission on World Youth Skills Day
that aims to converge and monitor skill development schemes across the country as well
as provide subsidised loans to students for vocational training.
"The mission was originally launched in August 2010. Its flagship scheme 'STAR' was
launched in August 2013. The first certificates were distributed to the trained youth on 5
February 2014.
"National Skill Development Corporation has enrolled 160 training partners & 1722
trainers. 35 lakh persons have already been trained," Chidambaram said in another tweet.
55
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
STATESMAN, JUL 14, 2015
Utopia & Reality-I
Souvanic Roy
The Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 June
with extraordinary fanfare to transform and develop hundred cities to become the engines
of urban growth. The Government has declared a budget provision of Rs. 50,000 crore
for the initiative with the hope of large-scale foreign and private investment over the next
five years. Inspired by the smart city paradigm in European and developed economies,
Indian cities are likely to be built with the objectives of achieving competitive, investorfriendly and world class enclaves.
The distinguishing features of such cities, as promised by the government, are ICT
(Information and Communication Technology) and sensor enabled technological
interventions. This envisages real time monitoring of the state of affairs, service level
benchmarking (24 X 7 water supply with metered connections, 100 per cent coverage of
sewerage, storm water drainage and access to public transport) comparable to cities in
Europe and the developed world, notably Yokahama, Barcelona, Singapore, Shanghai,
Songdo in South Korea or Masdar in the UAE; development driven by the private sector;
transit-oriented growth, and governance by incentives rather than by enforcement.
It would be prudent at this juncture to reflect on the fundamental assumptions of
technocratic approach to governance, entrepreneurial urbanism and leapfrog approach to
development of these cities.
The budget speech of the Finance Minister in July 2014 mentioned that aspirations of the
neo-middle class towards better living standards are to be realized through developing
smart cities as satellite towns for larger cities and by modernizing existing mid-size cities.
Taking the cue from models of the developed world and Dholera Special Investment
Region (SIR) and Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City, the draft concept note
prepared by Ministry of Urban Development indicates competitiveness, quality of life
and sustainability as three cardinal principles for smart cities. In India, a section of the
industry and civil society have welcomed the idea as they rightly consider the Indian
urban scene as anything but smart with obsolete and inconsistent data, crumbling
infrastructure, unaccountable city governance and lack of financial resources. A city with
a mission of quality lifestyle characterized by state-of-the-art infrastructure, high speed
mass transit system, pollution free environment, energy efficiency and transparent
56
governance through application of ICT, can be expected to raise the quality of life to
world-class cities in the west. Private sector investment in ICT and other infrastructure,
real estate, energy, healthcare and education will impart efficiency, intelligence and
quality in the socio-economic, physical and institutional environment in the cities.
On the contrary, the critics raise the issues of diversity of the country across its people,
economies and geographies. ICT applications and cost recovery of service delivery would
increase the cost of living of the urban poor who may be pushed further to the periphery
of cities, marked by renewed onslaught on their lives and livelihood.
The primary aim of the smart city, as envisaged in the draft concept note, is to achieve
competitiveness to attract investment and operational efficiency in service delivery
through the pillars of institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure.
Institutional infrastructure seeks to address the fragmented nature of service delivery
across multiple institutions, achieve e-governance and citizen participation through social
media and other mechanisms. Physical infrastructure emphasizes a high level of urban
mobility, intelligent and ubiquitous availability of urban services including ICT and
digital technology. The social infrastructure encompasses quality education, healthcare
and entertainment facilities to attract entrepreneurs and professionals. The economic
infrastructure will comprise industrial parks, export processing zones, IT/BT parks, trade
centres and financial and logistic hubs.
The Centre’s High Power Expert Committee (HPEC) estimated an annual investment
requirement of Rs. 35,000 crore for 100 smart cities. With the major share of the
investment expected from the private sector, the contributions from the central
government shall be limited to “viability gap funding”. The financing mechanism will
primarily be based on land value-based taxation, user charges, PPP, market borrowing
and debt financing of infrastructure.
The country’s urban scenario is a mix of divergent development patterns, wide-ranging
norms and conflicting priorities of multiple stakeholders inherited from indigenous,
colonial, post-independent and presently liberalized socio-political order. These layers
have interacted with the diversity of physical and cultural landscape inducing complex
heterogeneity in cities. This is reflected in unequal access to infrastructure and
opportunities to marginalized socio-economic groups in megacities like Delhi or Kolkata,
contrasting urban forms and activity patterns of cities in diverse geographies (e.g.
Jaisalmer and Simla), differing management priorities in towns with range of economic
base such as trade and commerce, manufacturing, tourism or administrative functions and
57
dissimilarity in resource disposition in economically vibrant versus stagnant towns. The
smart city initiative with its urge to replicate the developed economy model reflects
neoliberal urbanism and overlooks the range of inequality and diversity in Indian cities.
The major challenges are sustainability and inclusiveness of the initiative.
The obsession with monitoring and managing cities through ubiquitous computing and
digital devices disregards the city as a socio-political phenomenon. It presumes that all its
attributes and problems can be measured and monitored in real time and considered as
technical problems with technical solutions. This form of governance is extremely limited
in scope and fails to capture the heterogeneity of culture, politics, policy and physical
landscape that shapes Indian cities. The deep-rooted problems of cities manifested in
unequal access to opportunities linked to skewed power equation balanced in favour of
the elites leading to inefficiency in resource allocation.
Explicit focus on cities as destinations of skilled professionals serving knowledge
economy, high security enclaves of the neo-rich, the PPP mode of service delivery and
adopting technologies and services developed by big corporates will lead to capital
accumulation by few through dispossessing others. The urge to promote entrepreneurial
urbanism is revealed in the unusual haste of the NDA government in promulgating the
new Land Acquisition Ordinance, 2015, depriving the safeguards against compulsory
acquisition enshrined in the present Act and withdrawal of the regulatory barrier for FDI
in real estate.
(To be concluded)
Utopia & Reality-II
Souvanic Roy
The selection criteria is ambiguous. It does not recognize the imbalance that exists in
urban geography across different states. In tune with the neoliberal ideology and
entrepreneurial agenda, it lays emphasis on performance, presence of a Master Plan,
mandatory involvement of the private sector, commitment to cost recovery in
infrastructure projects and per capita revenue earning. Large cities in developed states
such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat will satisfy these criteria. The
government has not drawn lessons from the shortcomings of the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission and it would be disingenuous to infuse a second
tranche of ambitious investment in urban rejuvenation without conducting a regional
planning exercise. The faux pas will lead to snowballing of regional imbalance and
exclusionary urbanization in the country.
58
The urban reality in India is characterized by gradual improvement contributed through
investment by people in shelter and household level infrastructure complemented by
augmentation of “trunk infrastructure” by Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and state
governments. All that the JnNURM has achieved is gradual transformation through
implementation of infrastructure and housing projects in some of the better governed
cities. The smart city initiative intends to reverse this trend and adopt a big bang approach
to development.
The vision of quick overhauling of existing cities to achieve the unattainable level of
service and development of greenfield cities through large-scale land acquisition are
unlikely to be enduring given the prevailing socio-political climate. A one size-fits all
approach and development of cities in an identical mould is doomed to fail. It ignores the
diversity of physical landscape, culture, history and politics.
The ULBs will be mute spectators as the Smart City Development Plans are to be
formulated by externally hired consultants. Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) will be
created for managing the cities. The initiative belies the provisions of 74th Constitution
Amendment and charts a course of action that is undemocratic and unaccountable to the
citizens. The situation is somewhat similar to the formulation of recent CDPs under
JnNURM and previous IDSMT (Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns)
Program which ignored the participation of citizens and could not yield the desired result
because it downgraded the role of elected ULBs.
The obsession with the technocratic mode of governance is oblivious to the legacy of
cultural, political and ecological dimensions of properly managed cities. For example, the
old cities of Jaipur and Jaisalmer have the wherewithal to address the climatic discomfort
while the colonial hill settlements of Dalhousie and Darjeeling in their early phase
negotiated difficult terrain with remarkable sophistication and finesse. The megacity of
Kolkata boasts its wetlands as sites for sewage fed fisheries contributing to the natural
process of waste recycling and generation of local employment.
The leap-frog approach to development in terms of unattainable service level
benchmarking for existing cities and bulk acquisition of land for new towns is a
confirmed recipe for failure. The argument is particularly valid for the slums and
informal settlements. Contrary to this, the country has successful experience of
community-driven and incremental improvement of shelter and infrastructure in the Slum
Networking Project in Indore and Ahmedabad. The Ban Mankong (Secure Housing)
Program in Thailand is also a model that needs to be examined.
59
The top-down and consultant driven initiative would serve the political agenda of the new
government against the basic spirit of devolution and autonomy in urban planning by the
ULBs envisaged in the 74th Constitution Amendment. In contrast, it is worthwhile to
look into the planning process of Kollam Development Plan in Kerala as an example of
participatory spatial planning undertaken by the District Planning Committee involving
diverse stakeholders including the urban poor.
The smart city initiative and the digital technologies for management and monitoring of
the urban systems are being promoted by the world’s largest hardware and software
companies such as IBM, CISCO and Microsoft to ensure world class living and working
experience for the emerging rich and neo-middle class. To be inclusive, it is necessary to
adopt a democratic approach to city development and explore the potential to connect
information technology with marginalized sections of the society to enhance their access
to employment, market, education, health and building their resilience against natural
disasters.
Some of the radical examples available across the world are Digital Stewards Project in
Redhook, Brooklyn (job listings and support for recovery from Hurricane Sandy),
Community Telecentre in Africa (job opportunities for women) and Random Hacks of
Kindness (RHoK) producing open source software for disaster response. The RHoK
products were used effectively in the wake of the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Bangalurubased Babajob, a digital social network provides information about jobs to millions
working in the informal sector. About a decade ago, a collaboration of NGOs and
networks of women prepared the slum atlas of Pune by mapping them in the GIS
platform to bring slum communities into the ambit of planning so that they could have a
fair share of resources.
Map Kibera project used participatory GPS and Open Street Map to empower
communities of Kenya’s largest slum to monitor and record their experiences on state
initiatives. In the Kosovo Science for Change Project people measure air quality,
temperature, humidity, noise levels in their communities with the help of Arduino based
smart citizen sensors and share the data through internet. The communities use the
information to improve the situation on the basis of environmental principles and
enforcement of standards.
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The growing evidence suggests the possibilities of grass-root action and vision of local
governments across the globe for an inclusive future to create just and humane cities
based on community empowerment and participatory principles of development.
The notion of prosperity and competitiveness in cities should look beyond the confines of
economic growth and strive for equitable distribution of benefits and opportunities
securing economic wellbeing, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. In the
words of Jane Jacobs, the great American urban activist, “Cities have the capability of
providing something for everybody only because and only when they are created by
everybody”.
(Concluded)
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