SDFCRTH

Contents
GIST OF THE HINDU ........................................................................................ 2

ADMIRABLE SHOW OF RESTRAINT ....................................... 3
ALL IS NOT SMOOTH ON THE SILK ROAD ................................... 4
NO ALTERNATIVE TO TALKS ............................................ 6
THE FRACTIOUS DEMAND FOR ILP IN MANIPUR .............................. 7
1965: RESILIENCE IN WAR, DEFTNESS IN DIPLOMACY ......................... 8
SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION IS NO OGRE ................................... 10
INDIA WILL EMERGE AS THE INVESTORS CHOICE ............................ 12
REFORM ELUDES UN SECURITY COUNCIL ................................... 13
ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY ............................................ 15
1965: A WAR WITH NO WINNERS ........................................ 16
JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS ............................................. 19
REVISIT THE SEDITION LAW ............................................ 19
PUTINS GRAND STRATEGY FOR WEST ASIA ................................ 20
COLLECTIVES HELP RURAL WOMEN LEAN IN ............................... 23
SPACE OBSERVATORY TAKES WING ....................................... 25
DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY .......................................... 26
TOWARDS A SHARED WELTANSCHAUUNG .................................. 27
PREPARING FOR PARIS ................................................ 29
INDIA NEEDS NO MONROE DOCTRINE ..................................... 30
THE POLITICS OF WASTE MANAGEMENT ................................... 32
UNBUNDLING THE COAL-CLIMATE EQUATION ............................... 34
DEALING WITH BLACK MONEY .......................................... 35
SECURITY CONCERNS TRUMP DIPLOMACY .................................. 36
IN THE NORTHEAST, A SENSE OF FOREBODING .............................. 37
THE PATH TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY ...................................... 39
GIST OF THE YOJANA .................................................................................... 4 0
MSMES IN THE INCLUSIVE GROWTH AGENDA: A PERSPECTIVE ................... 40
PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA ............................... 45
SMART CITIES IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT ................................... 46
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA ............................................................................. 5 0
CROP INSURANCE SCHEMES FOR FARMERS NEED FOR FOCUSED ATTENTION ........ 50
PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAYEE YOJANA (PMKSY) ....................... 53
BIO-PESTICIDES: THE REAL NEED FOR ECO-FRIENDLY PEST MANAGEMENT .......... 54
LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION: NEED OF THE HOUR ....................... 56
INNOVATIONS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES NEEDED TO ACCELERATE AGRICULTURE
GROWTH .......................................................... 58
GIST OF THE PIB ............................................................................................ 6 3
WEB-BASED PORTAL VIZ. VIDYA LAKSHMI .................................. 63
GOVERNMENT FORMULATES POLICY TO
PROMOTE E-MARKETING OF HANDLOOM PRODUCTS .......................... 64
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2
VOL34
GIST OF THE YOJANA
DRONACHARYA AWARDS, DHYAN CHAND

AWARDS AND RASHTRIYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR 2015 ................... 65
GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS - 1965 WAR ............................... 65
INDIA AND GERMANY SIGN MOU ON SECURITY COOPERATION .................. 67
REVISION OF PIRACY HIGH RISK AREA (HRA) ................................ 68
RAJASTHAN FIRST STATE TO FIRM UP PRIVATE
INVESTMENTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING .................................. 69
SHYAMA PRASAD MUKHERJI RURBAN MISSION .............................. 69
PRADHAN MANTRI KHANIJ KSHETRA KALYAN YOJANA ........................ 71
SOME FACTS ON ANTI PIRACY PATROL EFFORTS OF INDIAN NAVY ................ 72
GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER .................................................................. 74
DEFEATING CANCER WITH HEALTHY NUTRITION ............................ 74
HEALTH NUTRIENTS FOR HEALTHY EYES ................................... 76
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM A SCIENTISTS SCIENTIST ........................... 78
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM FROM A PERSONAL LENS ........................... 79
APJ ABDUL KALAM INDIAN SCIENTIST WITH GLOBAL TOUCH ................... 81
PLUTOS NEW HORIZONS .............................................. 82
COURTESY:
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Gist of
GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
The Hindu
ADMIRABLE SHOW OF RESTRAINT
In August 2013, exactly two years ago,

40 experts, comprising the most senior former
diplomats, police officials and retired military
officers, wrote a letter to the then Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Pakistan. The
policy of appeasement has failed, they said at
a press conference. A new bipartisan policy is
needed that will impose costs on Pakistan for
terrorism, they added. Their letter urged the
Prime Minister to cancel the planned talks with
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the
sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in
September 2013, and to call off dialogue with
Pakistan altogether. So, it is ironic that one of
the chief signatories to the letter is now the
man who will lead the next round of talks with
Pakistan, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit
Doval. In his memoir Kashmir: The Vajpayee
Years , former advisor to the Prime Minister
on J&K, A.S. Dulat, recounts how in October
2003, Mr. Vajpayee announced that the Centre
would talk to the Hurriyat leadership. As the
former Intelligence Bureau Chief once posted
in Pakistan and later head of Vivekananda
Foundation, the right-wing think-tank, Mr.
Dovals tough views are well known. That both
Mr. Modi and Mr. Doval have moved from
no talks until terror stops to talk about

terror is proof of the inevitability of
engagement in any Indian governments
Pakistan policy.
In his new role, Mr. Doval has been
protecting the talks from multiple challenges.
When Pakistan began mortar shelling just days
after the Ufa summit, it was the NSA who
picked up the phone and called Pakistan High
Commissioner Abdul Basit three times to try
and lower tensions. After the Gurdaspur
attack, it was the NSA and the PMO that
ensured that the narrative pointed to
terrorists from Pakistan as opposed to
terrorists sent by Pakistan. Again, after
Udhampur, the government sent the same
message, with a senior official telling the
media: The Pakistani governments
endorsement is not visible in the Gurdaspur
attack. With every provocation that has
followed, from the deadly shelling at the LoC
that killed several civilians last week to even
the Pakistani High Commissioner s
surprisingly sharp speech on Kashmir on
Independence Day the government has
responded with restraint.
There is no question, however, that
regardless of all that is on the agenda, it is the
LoC that needs attention immediately.
Casualties on both sides of the LoC have been
rising at an alarming rate, and the ceasefire is
practically deceased. A study by the U.S.based Stimson Center finds that that the
Kashmir divide has become far more volatile
since late 2012. According to the study, the
rate of ceasefire violations has more than
doubled in 2014-15 over preceding years. The


4
VOL34
two NSAs would do well to hasten the Ufa

agreement on holding a meet of the Director
Generals of Military Operations, and perhaps
include the MEA and even intelligence
officials. On the main issue of terror, there is
no question that Mr. Doval will have a
stockpile of evidence for Mr. Aziz. However,
India must focus on the ongoing 26/11 trial in
Pakistan, for two reasons. First, because the
trial is under way and represents the hope,
however slim, that some of the perpetrators
may be brought to justice. Second because it
represents a unique case where Pakistani
investigators have independently confirmed
all that India has said about terror groups
inside that country.
None of these issues can be discussed,
however, unless there is a steady channel for
talks between Indian and Pakistani
interlocutors. A key takeaway from the NSAlevel meeting could be an agreement to set up
such a channel, whether a back-channel of
the kind Prime Ministers Vajpayee and
Manmohan Singh set up with Mr. Musharraf,
or regular meetings of the NSAs, Foreign and
Home Secretaries. Prime Ministerial meetings
like the one at Ufa, while helpful for the
atmospherics, cannot substitute for legwork
and hard negotiations. Nor can they
substitute for Indias own national security
considerations, as those opposed to talks
often warn. The government must continue to
carry out its responsibilities, whether at the
border or anti-terror operations. Only then
can India and Pakistan start work on the last
part of the Ufa agenda to construct a basket
of agreements and announcements that would
GIST OF THE HINDU
make Mr. Modis 2016 visit worthwhile. Many

of these, such as a new visa regime, MostFavoured Nation (MFN)-status from Pakistan,
and the Sir Creek settlement, have already
been negotiated and require only political will
to be implemented.
Cynics of Track-1 diplomatic efforts
between the two countries could take heart
from the resilience of the Track-2 process.
The Chaophraya Dialogue that met this
month for the 16th Round (of which this
writer was a part), for example, continues to
draw in diplomats, generals, and other
officials who till recently were inside Indian
and Pakistani establishments. These are men
and women with decades of public experience
and meet regularly to discuss the issues
confronting India-Pakistan relations. Despite
differences, they continue to meet and build a
conversation that is eventually conveyed back
to their respective governments. Interestingly,
they now include some of those who wrote
that letter in August 2013. Ahead of the NSAlevel talks, one of them described the
predicament well. There is so much ice in
India-Pakistan relations, every high-level
meeting is seen as an ice-breaker, he said. Its
time to start chipping away at the ice and
shaping building blocks for a lasting solution
instead.
ALL IS NOT SMOOTH ON THE SILK ROAD
A new deepwater port that is planned in

Myanmar could provide a big boost to the
China-backed Maritime Silk Road (MSR)
initiative. Yet, the problems being
encountered in setting up the port at


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
Kyaukphyu also show that overcoming soft

impediments posed by a downturn in ChinaMyanmar diplomatic ties, issues of human
displacement, and environmental protection
are equally important to reap the full benefits
of this mega project. The Hindu has learnt
that ambitious plans are afoot to develop the
Kyaukphyu, which, once set up, will become
Myanmars sole deepwater port. The port, at
Ramree Island in the Bay of Bengal, will
become operational when the first deep sea
berth is set up in 2020. Five other berths will
be added in the following decade.
The second phase of the project will
commence in 2030 and four additional berths
will be added in the remaining six years. The
Yangon port will become saturated by 2020
and therefore establishment of the
Kyaukphyu port has become urgent, said
Kyaw Hlaing, president and research director
of Myanmar Survey Research, in a
conversation with The Hindu . Mr. Hlaing
pointed out that once the port clocks a
handling capacity of 7 million twenty-foot
equivalent (TEU) containers, it will play very
significant role in Maritime Silk Road and it
will be a game changer for the region,
especially for Southwest Provinces of China.
Inspired by the successes of Shanghai and
Guangzhou, the Chinese have emerged as the
architects of MSR, which will cover coastal
zones that spread from parts of the Pacific and
Indian Ocean rims to stretches along the
Mediterranean coast. The project has the
potential to generate millions of jobs through
development of ports, marine industr y,
industrial parks, smart cities, as well as
tourism and entertainment centres along a

vast Eurasian maritime space.
The location of the Kyaukphyu port in
the Bay of Bengal is of immense strategic
significance, as it can service trade not just
with Chinas Yunnan province in itself a
gateway to Vietnam and Laos besides
Myanmar but also parts of India. In fact,
the natural harbour of Kyaukphyu at one time
aided the rice trade between Kolkata and
Myanmar. The port will indeed help China
avoid the Malacca trap by channelling trade
through networks that would bypass the U.S.
dominated Malacca straits the narrow
passage between Malaysia and Sumatra that
links the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. For
China, avoiding the Malacca straits has
become particularly urgent, as the U.S. has
strengthened its military presence in the
Pacific under its Asia Pivot doctrine.
As Myanmar opens out to the rest of the
world, including the West, the once-thriving
ties between Myanmar and China seem to
have taken a hit, obstructing big infrastructure
projects. It is now obvious that the Myanmar
government has, for the moment, scuttled a
proposed rail project that would have linked
Kyaukphyu port with border town of Muse,
prior to its eventual extension to Kunming.
The MoU for the rail project that was signed
in 2011 expired last year. But with the
development of the port and the SEZ,
connectivity would be required. So, in the
future, we may also consider the construction
of the rail, observes Mr. Hlaing.
The Myanmar governments earlier


6
VOL34
decision in 2011 to suspend work on the

6,000 megawatt China-funded Myitsone
hydropower dam had already signalled the
growing dissonance in Sino-Myanmar ties.
Nevertheless, some green shoots have
emerged, suggesting that diplomatic
relationship between the two countries maybe
on the mend. Last month Myanmar
authorities, in a goodwill gesture,
unexpectedly released 155 Chinese nationals
who had been earlier detained for illegal
logging. Party-to party-relations between the
Communist Party of China (CPC) and
Myanmars influential National League for
Democracy (NLD) party have been activated.
They were in fact on the top of the agenda,
when the NLD leader and Nobel icon Aung
San Suu Kyi visited Beijing in June.
Nevertheless, the Kyaukphyu project may
have to overcome environmental and human
displacement concerns. Complaints abound
about low compensation paid for land
acquired for the SEZ. There are also fears that
without vocational training, outsiders would
benefit more from the jobs that the project
would create. These criticisms once again
underscore the point that the compelling
economic logic of MSR-linked projects,
including Kyaukphyu, can prevail only when
an integrated approach, respectful of local
conditions and premised on a lawful
grassroots-level dialogue, is pursued.
NO ALTERNATIVE TO TALKS
The failure of India and Pakistan to hold

the planned meeting between their National
Security Advisers, as was agreed in Ufa six
GIST OF THE HINDU
weeks ago, is unfortunate, indeed disquieting.

It should give pause to both Islamabad and
New Delhi on what kind of relations they
could possibly expect to have in the
foreseeable future. Arguments to the effect
that there were earlier periods when they had
agreed to disagree are at best disingenuous. At
Ufa there was a limpid agreement on the
agenda for the New Delhi meeting: that the
NSAs would discuss all issues connected to
terrorism. Ufa had also yielded a discernible
road map to bring about a modicum of peace
and tranquillity along the border and the Line
of Control (LoC), which has been witnessing
rounds of wanton firing and unacceptable
casualties. External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj put the number of ceasefire violations
since Ufa at 91. Barely a week after Ufa raised
modest hopes of an upturn in relations, there
was firing in the Akhnoor sector. Foreign
Secretar y S. Jaishankar spoke of four
attempts made by the Director-General of the
Border Security Force to make telephonic
contact with Sector Commander Sialkot as
per laid-down procedures, which met with no
response. He mentioned how this was
unacceptable. Now, with the prospects of even
a limited engagement having receded, the
question that arises is: how will the two
nuclear-capable neighbours deal with each
other?
There is no doubt that through its
grandstanding on Kashmir and Hurriyat,
Islamabad reneged on the understanding
reached in Ufa. It is equally obvious that New
Delhi has recalibrated its Pakistan policy,
willing perhaps to take a calculated risk that


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
the world would be better disposed to its

preferences in the matter of dealing with
Pakistan, almost 14 years after 9/11. Yet, the
new situation may have willy-nilly rendered
India vulnerable to facing gratuitous advice,
possibly worse. To assume that those who
formulate Indias Pakistan policy believed
Islamabad would respect the sudden red line
drawn on the Hurriyat, would stretch
credulity. The Hurriyat certainly does not
have a place in bilateral processes. It is at best
a Pakistani side-show with some nuisance
value and without much consequence. India
had indeed learnt to tolerate that. Now, New
Delhis actions may have the unintended effect
of making the outfit larger-than-life which
is an avoidable prospect. Pakistan has also not
covered itself with glory by overloading the
agenda with issues that the two NSAs meeting
for an hour or two wouldnt have been able to
come to grips with. It is best at this point to
open a discreet back channel that ensures
better bilateral deliverables than has been the
case over the last year and a half. There is
simply no alternative to talks.
THE FRACTIOUS
DEMAND FOR ILP IN MANIPUR
Manipur has witnessed a series of

protests starting in July this year, following
demands for the implementation of the Inner
Line Permit (ILP) system in the State. The
protesters have demanded that the
government introduce the ILP bill in the State
Assembly. The agitation gained momentum
after an 11th grade student from Ananda
Singh Higher Secondary Academy, demanding
the implementation of the ILP system, was

killed when police used teargas to disperse
protesters. If the bill is passed and enacted
into law, it will require outsiders to obtain a
special pass or permit to enter the State. The
system is in force in the neighbouring States
of Nagaland and Mizoram and also in
Arunachal Pradesh.
Initially, the British colonial government
had introduced the system to protect its
commercial interests, particularly in oil and
tea. It was continued to protect the tribal
peoples and their cultures. The ILP, which
remained in force until 1950, was revoked by
the then Commissioner of Assam, whose
jurisdiction also covered Manipur. Since
Manipur, which attained Statehood in 1972,
is not officially a tribal State, there are
constitutional challenges to implementing the
ILP system. Though the majority Meitei
community would have liked to make the
demand an inclusive one, the issue has
become divisive and in some instances has
even taken a communal tone. Among the three
major communities of Manipur Meitei,
Kuki, Naga the ILP system has been
demanded only by the Meiteis. As a result,
following opposition from the local
community, a planned rally in support of the
ILP was cancelled in Churachandpur, a
predominantly Kuki town.
The Kuki population is wary of the
motives of the ILP campaign. The
apprehension has recently been heightened by
the fact that some within the Meitei
community have called the Kukis foreigners.


8
VOL34
Though the Kukis are an indigenous group in

Manipur, there are some who fear that the
Meiteis could use the ILP to advance their
stand of Kukis being foreigners. This seems to
be an important reason why many within the
Kuki community do not support the ILP or the
Meiteis demand for tribal status.
On August 3, the Government of India
and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim
(Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM) signed a peace
accord in the presence of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. Though the details of this
agreement are yet to be disclosed, there is
serious concern that Naga-dominated areas
within Manipur will be integrated with
Nagaland. Given how Telangana was created
in 2014, there is a possibility that the Indian
government may consider redrawing State
boundaries, if it sees potential benefits
outweighing the status quo. There is also a
lingering question of whether the armed Kuki
and Naga groups would reach an agreement
on land disputes in the hill areas. Or, will the
Indian government hold a political dialogue
and sign peace accord with the Kuki groups?
One possible amicable solution for the
government is to implement the Sixth
Schedule in the hill areas. Under such a
political arrangement, the Kukis and Nagas
would enjoy autonomy in their respective
areas but remain within the State of Manipur.
1965: RESILIENCE IN WAR,
DEFTNESS IN DIPLOMACY
The India-Pakistan war of 1965 was one

which altered the fates of both the countries
and began the new Great Game in Asia. One
GIST OF THE HINDU
of its biggest outcomes was the sealing of the

China-Pakistan entente and New Delhis
realisation of a two-front strategic threat,
with a heightened risk of collusion between its
two neighbours. The war of 1965 was a test
for the political leadership of Prime Minister
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was still finding his
feet post his predecessor Jawaharlal Nehrus
death. He was under intense scrutiny from
the international community as India was still
recovering from the scars of 1962, while also
battling an acute food crisis. The National
Conference leader Sheikh Abdullahs mission
to find a solution to the Kashmir crisis was
aborted after Nehrus death and historians
believe Pakistan felt emboldened to strike for
the cause of Kashmir, sensing India was at its
most vulnerable. The blueprint was in the
form of a four-phase plan: a probing
encounter to check the Indian response in the
Rann of Kutch; an engineered uprising in
Kashmir via infiltrators (Operation Gibraltar);
followed by a sophisticated Patton tank
assault in Punjab aimed at cutting of Jammu
and Kashmir; and finally, the, capture of
Amritsar and many parts of the Indian
territor y, to be exchanged for Kashmir.
General Mohammed Musa, the then Pakistani
Army Chief, has recorded in his book My
Version , the Kashmir Cell, a highly secretive
group put together by the Pakistani Army in
early 1964, directly reporting to the President,
had by now concluded that it was time for
Pakistan to take some overt action for
reviving the Kashmir issue and defreezing,
what from Pakistans point of view was a
dishearteningly quiet and stable situation in
Kashmir.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
While surprised at first, India fought

back. In this war, fought between August and
September 1965, India captured 1,920 sq. km
of Pakistani territory while Pakistan captured
550 sq. km of Indian territory, as per the
government records. Officially declared
inconclusive, the war results ultimately did
favour India. Fifty years on, there is still a lot
left to be understood on the intense
diplomatic manoeuvring that New Delhi
undertook to emerge on the right side of
history. Most prominent among this is how
India managed Chinese moves, aimed at
pushing Pakistans case both during the war
and negotiations in the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC), patterns which
ironically are followed till date.
Pakistans strengthened relationship
with China had caught the attention of the
world powers at the height of the Cold War.
After concluding a border agreement with
China in March 1963, through which it handed
over disputed territories in Jammu and
Kashmir to China, Islamabad had openly
began to court Beijing. Gauhars memoirs of
Ayub recount a series of hectic diplomatic
consultations between Pakistan and China in
the lead up to 1965. First, Chinese Premier
Zhou Enlai had made a state visit to Pakistan
in February 1964. He then laid out the red
carpet for Ayub in March 1965. Zhou Enlai
later returned to Pakistan in June 1965 and
there was speculation, writes Gauhar, that it
was the Chinese tactics of guerrilla warfare
that were deployed by Pakistan in the attack on
Kashmir.
The Chinese were only too happy to

come to Pakistans rescue if one looks at the
details that emerge from the records of
Gauhar as also from the war diaries of the
then Indian Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan (
1965 War: The Inside Stor y , by R .D.
Pradhan). They outline that Chinese Foreign
Minister, Marshal Chen Yi, had already met
with Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in
Karachi on September 4, 1965 and assured
Pakistan support against Indias armed
provocation in Kashmir. According to
Chavans war diaries, China had previously, on
August 27, accused the Indian Army of
committing acts of aggression on the border
of Sikkim and Tibet in July and August,
accusations that were rejected by India. By
September 8, it renewed these accusations
claiming, India must bear responsibility of all
consequences arriving therefrom, which
India again rejected and called for a neutral
and independent observer to visit the China
border and look at these complaints.
C.P. Srivastava, author of the biography
Lal Bahadur Shastri: A Life of Truth in Politics
, notes that by now Prime Minister Shastri had
calculated that China was unlikely to launch
an attack like 1962 because they had no
immediate objective of their own to achieve
and would not risk a war with the U.S. or
draw USSR into the South Asia. India had
already sought the offices of the U.S. and
USSR to help tackle an impending attack from
China. So, Srivastava argues that, with these
calculations in mind Shastri reiterated Indias
offer of joint inspection to assuage Chinese
complaints.


10
VOL34
While the Chinese ultimatum was set to

expire at midnight on September 19, Chavans
notes indicate that the Chinese had already
begun moving their troops towards the Sikkim
border on September 18. In a new move, they
extended their deadline of dismantling of
military structures by 72 hours, knowing that
a UNSC resolution demanding a ceasefire
would be tabled by September 20 and that
continuing the pressure on India would
bolster Pakistans case, says Chavan.
It was later revealed that China was
pushing Ayub Khan to continue the Indo-Pak.
war. Gauhar says Ayub, who flew to Beijing
for a secret meeting on September 19-20, was
assured by Zhou Enlai of continued support
for as long as necessary. However, it had
become clear to Ayub and Bhutto that if
Pakistan wanted full Chinese support it had to
be prepared for a long war and the loss of
important cities like Lahore, which they were
not prepared for. It was this realisation that
led to Pakistan accepting the ceasefire
proposed by the UNSC on September 22
1965 ending hostilities and making way for
the Tashkent Agreement. In retrospect, 1965
was a watershed event for the subcontinent.
For India, it banished the ghosts of 1962, and
proved to be a litmus test for its capabilities
both on the battlefront and the diplomatic
chessboard. The war also established that the
China-Pakistan entente was now a reality India
will have to live with and battle, both militarily
and politically, for years to come.
SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION IS NO OGRE
The report of the Seventh Pay
GIST OF THE HINDU
Commission (SPC) is set to be released soon.

The new pay scales will be applicable to
Central government employees with effect
from January 2016. Many commentators ask
whether we need periodic Pay Commissions
that hand out wage increases across the
board. They agonise over the havoc that will
be wrought on government finances. They
want the workforce to be downsized. They
would like pay increases to be linked to
productivity. These propositions deserve
careful scrutiny. The reality is more nuanced.
Critics say we dont need a Pay
Commission every ten years because salaries
in government are indexed to inflation. At the
lower levels, pay in the government is higher
than in the private sector. These criticisms
overlook the fact that, at the top-level or what
is called the A Grade, the government
competes for the same pool of manpower as
the private sector. So do public sector
companies and public institutions banks,
public sector enterprises, Indian Institutes of
Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of
Management (IIMs) and regulatory bodies
where pay levels are derived from pay in
government. The annual increment in the
Central government is 3 per cent. Adding
dearness allowance increases of around 5 per
cent, we get an annual revision of 8 per cent.
This is not good enough, because pay at the
top in the private sector has increased
exponentially in the post-liberalisation
period.
A correct comparison should, of course,
be done on the basis of cost to the


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
organisation. We need to add the market value

of perquisites to salaries and compare them
with packages in the private sector. We cannot
and should not aim for parity with the private
sector. We may settle for a certain fraction of
pay but that fraction must be applied
periodically if the public sector is not to lose
out in the competition for talent. True, pay
scales at the lower levels of government are
higher than those in the private sector. But
that is unavoidable given the norm that the
ratio of the minimum to maximum pay in
government must be within an acceptable
band. (The Sixth Pay Commission had set the
ratio at 1:12). Higher pay at lower levels of
government also reflects shortcomings in the
private sector, such as hiring of contract
labour and the lack of unionisation. They are
not necessarily part of the problem with
government.
Perhaps the strongest criticism of Pay
Commission awards is that they play havoc
with government finances. At the aggregate
level, these concerns are somewhat
exaggerated. Pay Commission awards
typically tend to disrupt government finances
for a couple of years. Thereafter, their impact
is digested by the economy. Thus, pay,
allowances and pension in Central
government climbed from 1.9 per cent of
GDP in 2001-02 to 2.3 per cent in 2009-10,
following the award of the Sixth Pay
Commission. By 2012-13, however, they had
declined to 1.8 per cent of GDP.
The medium-term expenditure
framework recently presented to Parliament
11
looks at an increase in pay of 16 per cent for

2016-17 consequent to the Seventh Pay
Commission award. That would amount to an
increase of 0.8 per cent of GDP. This is a oneoff impact. A more correct way to represent it
would be to amortise it over, say, five years.
Then, the annual impact on wages would be
0.16 per cent of GDP. The medium-term fiscal
policy statement presented along with the last
budget indicates that pensions in 2016-17
would remain at the same level as in 2015-16,
namely, 0.7 per cent of GDP. Thus, the
cumulative impact of any award is hardly
something that should give us insomnia.
The Fourteenth Finance Commission
(FFC) estimated that the share of pay and
allowances in revenue expenditure of the
States varied from 29 per cent to 79 per cent
in 2012-13. The corresponding share at the
Centre was only 13 per cent. The problem
arises because since the time of the Fifth Pay
Commission, there has been a trend towards
convergence in pay scales. The FFC, therefore,
recommended that the Centre should consult
the States in drawing up a policy on
government wages.
It is often argued that periodic pay
revisions would be alright if only the
government could bring itself to downsize its
workforce by at least 10 to 15 per cent.
From 2013 to 2016, the Central government
workforce (excluding defence forces) is
estimated to grow from 33.1 lakh to 35.5 lakh.
Of the increase of 2.4 lakh, the police alone
would account for an increase of 1.2 lakh or
50 per cent. What is required is not so much


12
VOL34
downsizing as right-sizing we need more

doctors, engineers and teachers. Downsizing
of a sort has happened. The Sixth Pay
Commission estimated that the share of pay,
allowances and pension of the Central
government in revenue receipts came down
from 38 per cent in 1998-99 to an average of
24 per cent in 2005-07. Based on the budget
figures for 2015-16, this share appears to
have declined further to 21 per cent.
A better idea would be to conduct
periodic management audits of government
departments on parameters such as cost
effectiveness, timeliness and customer
satisfaction. Improving service delivery in
government is the key issue. Periodic pay
revision and higher pay at lower levels of
government relative to the private sector
could help this cause provided these are
accompanied by other initiatives. The
macroeconomic impact is nowhere as severe
as it is made out to be.
INDIA WILL EMERGE
AS THE INVESTORS CHOICE
Since the beginning of 2015, the global

economy has been fraught with tantrum
episodes. These include events like the shift
towards anticipated monetar y policy
normalisation by the U.S. Federal Reserve in
March; the Greek debt drama in June; further
slide in global commodity prices from July
onwards; and last but not the least, signs of
financial stress in emerging markets triggered
by the unexpected currency devaluation by
China in August. To put things into
perspective, except for the idiosyncratic
GIST OF THE HINDU
Greek debt drama, the other global

crosscurrents are a manifestation of tectonic
shifts in the world order. The realisation that
emerging markets are now slowing down after
enjoying unbridled growth for more than a
decade, along with the expectations of a move
by U.S. central bank towards the first interest
rate hike in nearly a decade, has spooked
global investors. India has not remained
unscathed as investor sentiments here are
generally susceptible to a kneejerk reaction.
Over the last one month, the benchmark Nifty
Index has gone down by 8 per cent while the
rupee has become weaker weaker by 3.1 per
cent. However, I am firmly of the opinion
that, once the dust surrounding negative
global sentiments settles down, investors will
start cherry-picking, with India emerging as a
default choice for almost ever y global
investor. The Indian economy has made
phenomenal macro strides in the last two
years. Economic growth has accelerated by 2.2
per cent even as inflation has declined by 4
per cent. The current account and fiscal
deficits have corrected by 3.3 per cent and 0.5
per cent of GDP respectively. The economy is
better protected than it was in 2013, with the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) augmenting its
reserves by over $80 billion since mid-2013.
The favourable macro outlook is not by
accident. Policymakers over the last two years
have shown the gumption to take tough
decisions. Curtailment in food inflation
through structural and tactical steps like
restrained adjustment to Minimum Support
Prices (MSPs), timely use of buffer stocks, and
efficient alignment of food related Export


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
Import (EXIM) policy has proved to be a

resounding success. It is surprising that not
many commentators highlight this important
macro feat. With private sector still being risk
averse, the government is deploying capital
expenditure for jumpstarting investment and
growth revival despite the fiscal objective of
consolidation. Ministries like Renewable
Energy, Roads, Railways and Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME) seem to be on a
hyper-drive with strong capital expenditure
disbursals.
The direction of reform process has
been laid out with every quarter adding
towards incremental progress. The success in
clearing the policy mess in Indias natural
resources (mines, spectrum, etc.) has infused
transparency and reliability in government
processes. Despite labour being a State
subject, the government is laying the
framework for composite labour reforms.
While the Good and Services Tax (GST) could
not see the light of the day during the recently
concluded Monsoon Session of the
Parliament, the framework seems to be in
place and I am confident that the bill will get
legislative approval sooner than later. These
steps have restored confidence while giving an
immense boost to policy credibility.
In the words of RBI Governor Raghuram
Rajan, there is much to be optimistic about,
including the massive investments that are
starting in infrastructure and the radical
changes in the financial sector. The Indian
economy is full of possibilities, even as much
of the world is mired in pessimism. A country
that is moving structural levers of job
13
creation, skill development, and technological

innovation is bound to uplift productivity in
the longer run. To me, India is a story that has
started to play out. So come countrymen,
Invest in India.
REFORM ELUDES UN SECURITY COUNCIL
The adoption by the UN General

Assembly (UNGA) of a consensus resolution
for beginning discussions at the
Intergovernmental Negotiations Group (ING)
on the basis of a framework document has
been hailed as historic and path-breaking, but,
in actual fact, the UN has not moved
anywhere closer to an agreement on reform.
The proposal should have been routinely
adopted, coming as it did from the president
of the General Assembly. Sam Kutesa, the
outgoing President of the General Assembly
had circulated the framework document at the
end of July 2015 after extensive
consultations, to serve as a sound basis for the
next stage of consultations at the next session.
He claimed that it was developed through an
inclusive and transparent process, which
included written submissions.
Many countries, particularly small and
middle powers, submitted detailed opinions
on each of the specific points on which ideas
were sought, such as categories of
membership, veto, regional representation,
size of the enlarged Council and its working
methods and the relationship between the
Security Council and the General Assembly.
France and the U.K. made their submissions
and their views were ref lected in the
document. The setback to the whole exercise

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14
VOL34
GIST OF THE HINDU
The substance of the positions of China,

Russia and the U.S. came as a shock to India
and others, who had believed that they had
the support of these countries in one form or
another. China declared that the time had not
come for any serious negotiations, but it
would support necessary and reasonable
reform, with greater representation for
developing countries. Russia was equally
vague and supported any reasonable option
of expanding the Council, but without any
change in the veto. The U.S. favoured a
modest expansion, without supporting any
formula under consideration and no
alteration or expansion of the veto. Unlike
France and the U.K., these countries made no
mention of their support to India as a
permanent member. Although the U.S. and
Russia later said that there was no change in
their position of support to India, their
written submissions revealed that their
support had no practical value.
China spread a rumour that it would seek

amendments to the draft and even press for a
vote. But in the end, China decided to join the
consensus to commence text-based
discussions, even though it had made clear
that the time was not ripe for specific
formulations. The latest decision of the 69th
session of the General Assembly did not
amount to any change in the impasse on
reform of the Security Council, but brought
some clarity as to who was on which side. It
also became clear that any plan to introduce a
substantial draft resolution in the 70th
session would be futile. The G-4 or any other
group does not have the votes to get a
resolution adopted by the General Assembly
even to pressurise the Security Council to
consider a concrete proposal. The compiled
views in the framework document did not
show any convergence even within the various
groups outside the P-5. A G-4 diplomat told
me in New York that the framework
document was not likely to add any
momentum to the negotiations. It would only
ensure that the debate would go on for many
more years without any result. The numerous
paragraphs within brackets will remain in the
text for long. The apparent progress in
moving to text based negotiations is illusory.
It is the lack of political will that has inhibited
progress, not the lack of drafting skills.
The positions of China, Russia and the

U.S. cast a gloom on the G-4, which proposed
a draft resolution to remit the framework
document to the ING, under its new chairman,
Ambassador Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica.
G-4 has so far maintained a faade of

unity, but each of them may be amenable to
bilateral deals if any one of them becomes a
liability for the other three. Germany has
already toned down its demand for
came from China, Russia, the U.S. and some

others, including the Uniting for Consensus
Group (opponents of expansion) when they
expressed their opinions in vague, but
negative terms and kept out of the framework
document. This meant that they would prefer
the negotiations to continue in the
Intergovernmental Negotiations Group
without a text at a snails pace.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
permanent membership because of over

representation of Europe. This may well be
the motive for France and U.K. also to support
G-4. They may feel that a limited expansion
by way of some additions now may be better
for Europe than confronting a proposal for a
thorough reorganisation of the Security
Council later. Japan is clearly a liability
because of the open opposition by China.
India and Brazil too have opposition from
their regions, but nothing serious to block
their entry in the event of a settlement.
India has upgraded its claim to right
and remained the leader of G-4. But there is a
section of opinion that Indias position on the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its border
disputes with Pakistan and China might be
impediments to its permanent membership.
The India-U.S. nuclear deal was expected to
give de facto recognition to Indias nuclear
status, but its non-NPT status came in the way
of its entering the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) and the Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR). No amount of extra effort by
India can resolve the NPT, Pakistan and China
issues in a hurry. But the expansion of the
Security Council is not contingent on any
action of omission or commission on the part
of India and so there is no particular pressure
on India to relent on these issues.
More than 34 years of struggle with the
issue of equitable representation in the
Security Council has not brought us any closer
to an expansion of the Council. An Indian
Foreign Secretary had once remarked that
India had the choice of either acquiring real
15
power through the manufacture of nuclear

weapons or pursuing illusor y power by
seeking to become a permanent member of
the Security Council. Having acquired real
power, India could as well give up the pursuit
of illusory power, he had said. But in keeping
with the present Governments power push,
our quest for permanent membership will
continue. But the best we can get, if at all, may
be a semi-permanent status, requiring us to
get elected every few years.
As for the UN itself, reform of the
Security Council is an existential requirement
for the organisation. If it resists all proposals
for change in the years to come, there is a real
risk of the UN being sidelined or rival
organisations taking over its agenda.
Therefore, it is likely that some changes
would be accommodated on the basis of one of
the two alternatives proposed by Kofi Annan
in his report, In Larger Freedom in March
2005. According to this plan, there would be
no new permanent seats, but a new category
of eight four-year renewable term seats and
one new two-year non-permanent (and nonrenewable) seat to be divided among the
various regional groups. The plan would
continue to be unacceptable to India and some
others, but it might well be the lowest
common denominator to be tried out. But
what the UN requires is not a fix like that, but
a fundamental change to reflect the realities
of the present century.
ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
A government that was elected to power

on the promise of ushering in an economic


16
VOL34
revival nationally, will have good reason to

cheer over the latest data showing an increase
in investments in the road and power sectors.
With roads and electricity acknowledged as
significant multipliers of economic activity,
any substantive improvement in these
infrastructure sectors can presage a major
boost to the real, productive economy.
McKinsey & Co. estimates an increase in
infrastructure investment equivalent to 1 per
cent of GDP would generate an additional 3.4
million jobs, directly and indirectly.
Conversely, the low global ranking of Indias
infrastructure the World Economic
Forums Global Competitiveness Index placed
it in the bottom half among 144 countries
is one of the commonly cited impediments to
attracting foreign direct investment. A 2014
study by Dr. Geethanjali Nataraj of the
Observer Research Foundation estimated that
lack of world-class infrastructure shaves off 1
to 2 per cent from GDP growth every year. It
is in this backdrop that the 46 per cent surge
in project announcements, representing an
amount of Rs.1.2 lakh crore, in the first
quarter of the fiscal offers much hope. More
important, the 31 per cent jump in the
completion rate of projects during the period
signals a distinct improvement in the
investment climate, especially in terms of
efforts to reduce red tape and revive stalled
projects. Success in bringing long-mired
projects to fruition also bodes well for the
banking and finance industry, which has
struggled to reduce the levels of nonperforming assets. And with the NDA
governments focus being on encouraging
GIST OF THE HINDU
more private-public partnerships, this is a

promising augury for private investors in the
road and power sectors. The Vajpayee
governments Golden Quadrilateral project,
completed during the UPAs term, has brought
socio-economic change and development to
the hinterland along the more than 5,800
route km of the highway network. That gives
a glimpse of the potential that can be
unlocked through better urban-rural
connectivity.
Still, the data have made only a broad
classification of the road transport sector. Not
offering a breakdown of the real level of
investment in road construction and
maintenance could be partly misleading if the
aggregate investment in the automobile
sector is being included in the overall
numbers. Also, the national road network has
been blighted by an abysmal safety record.
The governments announcement of $93
billion worth of projects in the highways
sector has to be seized as a chance to build
world-class expressways and ensure that
systems are put in place to lift safety levels for
the road transportation network to global
standards.
1965: A WAR WITH NO WINNERS
Fifty years after the event, the Indian

government has decided to celebrate the
India-Pakistan War of 1965. Celebrating a
war, which is never less than tragic, and is at
best a last alternative when a state finds other
avenues of peaceful existence impossible, is a
paradoxical choice of phrase for marking
history. As battles are the building blocks of


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
war, historically wars are milestones in a

nations journey. They offer a viewpoint from
where one can assess the journey made and
those yet to be undertaken in the life of a
nation and its people. The 1965 War is better
viewed as a milestone in Indias strategic
journey in search of lasting peace. Carl von
Clausewitz, the Prussian military theorist of
the 18th century, in his advice to his monarch,
had emphasised that while war must be waged
to gain a states ends, the ultimate purpose of
war is peace and not victory. The 1965 War
neither brought victory to Pakistan, which
initiated the War in the Rann of Kutch and
later in Jammu and Kashmir, nor peace to
India, which fought back tenaciously after
being surprised.
A commemoration of war, a far-better
word than celebration, is a moment for
reflection. It offers an opportunity to be
grateful for the sacrifices of those who died
fighting for the nations values of secularism
and democracy. It is also a moment to take
stock of where India was then and is now on
the global stage. There are meaningful lessons
in such introspection which requires neither
vainglorious jingoism nor a reiteration of
Pakistan as the enemy, a position it has sadly
failed to grow out of. Pakistans military
government of the time could not think
beyond a military solution. Its leadership
assessed that it was a moment of Indian
weakness after its military defeat by China in
1962 and the demise of the iconic Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. It
assessed that its U.S.-lent weapons systems
were enough to defeat the Indian armed
17
forces. Indias military debacle against China

was a reality. It did not fight a war in 1962. A
war involves an overall plan, a strategy and
employment of forces to work that strategy.
India threw troops pell-mell into operations,
and fought a series of unconnected battalionlevel battles. The Chinese fought as brigades
and divisions which bypassed most Indian
defences to reach deep into our territory.
These were uncoordinated battalion-sized
battles in which the ill-equipped and illsupplied Indian troops were worsted. Pakistan
wrongly saw opportunities in the political
uncertainties of the period, with a new
leadership under Lal Bahadur Shastri having
recently taken charge. The Defence Ministry
was under Y.B. Chavan, a seasoned former
Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The armed
forces had begun a command restructuring,
force expansion and doctrinal shift process
which had given its rank and file new
confidence. Indian commanders were new to
handling brigade and division-sized forces in
battles. The 1965 War welded the Indian
defence forces into a cohesive militar y
machine. It threw up a new military leadership
from the crucible of war which, six years later,
led the Army in the 1971 War. It also made the
Indian political leadership more mature in
understanding the reality of the new world, in
which major powers would intervene to end a
war inconvenient to them. The time
dimension and strategic policy preferences of
future wars became apparent in 1965. The
Arab-Israeli War of 1967 and the
management of its outcome by the Soviet-U.S.
leadership was not lost on the Indian
leadership. The role of technology and


18
VOL34
modern armament systems in the outcome of

wars was carefully observed and built into
military doctrines. Above all, the imperative
of joint warfare in which the Army, the Navy
and the Air Force operated to a cohesive plan
towards common objectives became a key
ingredient of war plans. It was a deeplyimbibed lesson that valour and heroism alone
do not win wars against superior weapons and
organisation, a lesson which had been
witnessed throughout Indian history. In an
ironic way, China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1965
both contributed to the coming of age of
Indias politico-military thinking.
The seductive attraction of a military
solution to political problems continued to
beguile the Pakistani military elite. Six years
after the 1965 War, despite massive political
developments in the country, a new military
leader in Pakistan preferred to exercise the
military option in 1971 in what was then East
Pakistan. The Indian response was based on
its 1965 experience. India quickly ensured the
strategic imperative by a Treaty with the
Soviet Union and prepared for a military
conflict to create conditions in East Bengal for
the return of ten million refugees who had
poured into India. Pakistan predictably
initiated the War in western theatre. The 1971
War became a game changer in strategic and
geopolitical terms and reconfigured the power
balance in South Asia. It is sad that the
attraction of a military option still prevails in
Rawalpindi, as was seen in recently Siachen
and Kargil. It acts as a continuing backdrop to
relations between the two countries. The
backdrop is made more complex by the
GIST OF THE HINDU
presence of nuclear weapons and the

continued use of terrorism in Pakistan. While
these have not held back India from its growth
into a better economy and as a stability
provider, they have created substantial socioeconomic and strategic dilemmas for Pakistan.
The three wars of 1962 with China and
1965 and 1971 with Pakistan are better
viewed through the perspective of a strategic
continuum. Each of these wars had its share of
valour but also of tragic loss of lives of its men
and officers. Wars are more than the sum of
the battles, valour and sacrifice. Wars define
the nations which start it, as also those which
fight to defend national values. An important
lesson from this perspective is of outcomes
from these wars, or from any war. The 1971
War was a decisive one. It led to the creation
of a new nation, for a people who wanted to
constitute one. The War of 1962 has left the
legacy of an unsettled and disputed border,
which is prone to frequent militar y
confrontation. There is little prospect in the
foreseeable future of a final settlement.
The War of 1965 has had no decisive
outcome either in Jammu and Kashmir or in
the overall relations between the two
countries. In fact, there has been no decisive
war after 1971, despite massive military
power used by major powers in different parts
of the world. The after-effects of human
migrations and the rise of armed groups
threatening global security have been the
legacy of indecisive wars. Armies can win wars
but the gaining of peace is a different thing
altogether. It is something to ponder over, as
we commemorate the 1965 War.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS
The seven peak-hour serial explosions

on July 11, 2006 in Mumbai came as a blow to
the collective consciousness of Maximum City.
For months after the explosions, daily
commuters entered the compartments of
suburban trains, rightly called the lifelines of
Mumbai, with suspicion in their eyes, and fear
in their hearts, every single day. The task of
securing the lives of 7.5 million daily
commuters against attacks still remains a
challenge. In these nine years, the Railways
spent over Rs. 10 crore to upgrade security on
the Central and Western Railway systems.
From a situation where there were virtually
no CCTV cameras, the suburban train lines
now have over 3,600 cameras. But
Mumbaikars know in their hearts that while
commuting on the train network they are
really on their own in a city that has faced
seven major terror attacks since 1993 three
of them on its trains.
The 2006 train bombings killed 189
people; in terms of numbers it is second only
to 257 victims in the 1993 serial bombings.
The trial of the 1993 serial bombings case
took 14 agonising years, but Judge Y.D. Shinde
has managed to complete this trial in less than
five years. At least two more terror trials
including the Aurangabad arms haul case of
2006 and the Malegaon bombings case of
2008 are still pending in Maharashtra.
Mumbais two worst terror attacks make for a
strong case to expedite terror trials through
fast-track courts. It will not only help bring
quicker closure to the victims and reduce their
helplessness in the face of a tardy justice
19
system, but also aid the rehabilitation of

unfortunate people like Abdul Wahid Shaikh,
a 37-year-old teacher who has now been
acquitted after nine years in jail. The final
verdict in this case will be significant as it will
be the first major terror case after the July 30
hanging of Yakub Memon to bring into focus
the question of the death penalty. The Law
Commission of India in its draft report
recommended speedy abolition of the death
penalty for all crimes except those involving
terrorism. The defence team led by advocate
Yug Mohit Chaudhry, a strong voice against
the death penalty, has made pertinent points
before the court. He submitted that the Law
Commissions August 2015 report points out
that only 4.3 per cent of all death sentences
awarded by trial courts were upheld by the
Supreme Court; the rest either resulted in
acquittals or were commuted. Arguing that
the train blasts case rests merely on the
confessions of the accused, which may be a
basis for conviction, he urged the court to
award the death penalty only if culpability is
absolutely certain. Now, Judge Shinde has the
task of defining the direction of the debate on
capital punishment with his verdict.
REVISIT THE SEDITION LAW
As ironies go, this one is rich. A circular

in Maharashtra containing guidelines aimed
at preventing the misuse of the law relating to
sedition appears to endanger freedom of
speech and expression. The Bombay High
Court has now stayed the August 27 circular,
pending a decision on its constitutional
validity. The controversial aspect of the
circular is that it seems to tell police personnel


20
VOL34
that strong criticism of public servants can

possibly attract the sedition charge if it shows
them as representatives of the Union or State
government. The circular was an offshoot of
a judgment by the High Court in March this
year on the question whether the police were
right in slapping the sedition charge against a
cartoonist in 2012. Though the charge was
dropped subsequently, the court reminded
the authorities that sedition as an offence
requires the element of incitement to violence
and disaffection against a government
established by law, and mere criticism of
government policy or public servants will not
attract the provision. The Advocate General
had said the government would come up with
guidelines as a circular to police personnel on
when and how Section 124A of the Indian
Penal Code may be evoked. It seems a point in
the High Court order that sedition will not be
attracted by words or signs or representations
against politicians or public servants, unless
they were shown to be representative of the
government, was loosely translated in
Marathi to the effect that any criticism against
politicians and public servants representing
the Union or State government would attract
the charge.
The potential for mischief from the
circular has been stalled by the court order
now, but the fact is that police officers
continue to invoke Section 124A
indiscriminately. Flagrant instances in recent
times include the registration of a sedition
case against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, one of
the petitioners against the latest circular, for
cartoons produced in 2012 highlighting
GIST OF THE HINDU
corruption, and the attempt to book some

Kashmiri students in a university in Meerut
last year for cheering for Pakistan in a one-day
cricket match against India, using a preIndependence era provision that was meant to
suppress the freedom movement. While the
possibility of groups and individuals
promoting disaffection against a lawful
government still exists, there is little
justification to invoke the sedition charge
against political movements unless they
promote violence and public disorder. Instead
of ad hoc attempts to put in place loose
safeguards and guidelines, the government
would do well to review such outdated penal
provisions. Legislation exists to deal with
unlawful activities and armed movements.
There is no need to criminalise words spoken
or written, however strong and provocative
they are in their criticism of the state.
PUTINS GRAND STRATEGY FOR WEST ASIA
Syria is not a new theatre for Russia. It

has long been a pillar of Moscows West Asia
policy. The only Russian naval base outside
the former Soviet Union is in Syrias Tartus.
And Russia has been a strong supporter of
President Bashar Al-Assad in the Syrian civil
war. It resisted every Western move at the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to
pass a resolution seeking Mr. Assads removal.
Also, its aggressive diplomacy was
instrumental in thwarting U.S. air strikes on
Syria in 2013 amid allegations that
government forces used chemical weapons
against civilians.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
Over the years, Moscow kept supplying

military and financial aid to Damascus. But
despite these deep ties with the regime,
Russia had tactfully stayed away from joining
combat in the past four years. Even when Iran
and Hizbollah sent troops to Syria, Russia
limited its role to outside support for the
regime. Not any more. Stanly Johny The
Russian involvement in the civil war assumed
greater proportions earlier this month when
reports emerged that Moscow was sending
troops to Syria. U.S. officials said on
September 14 that Russia had sent seven T-90
tanks and artillery to the coastal Syrian city of
Latakia.
Three days later, the Washington-based
Institute for the Study of War, citing satellite
imagery from AllSource Analysis, confirmed
the arrival of Russian battle tanks, armoured
personnel carriers and helicopters at the
Latakia airbase, indicating that Russian troops
are deployed in Syria. Though Moscow has
not confirmed its militar y presence,
authorities have made no secret that Russia is
ramping up its role in Syria. Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov has acknowledged that new
militar y supplies are being sent in,
accompanied by Russian experts. While the
exact details of the Russian military presence
are yet to emerge, a change in Moscows Syria
strategy is already evident. Mr. Putin wants to
move Russia from being an outside supporter
to a combat partner of the Syrian government.
To be sure, this is a risky move. It has come at
a time when Russia is battling a severe
economic crisis at home. It hasnt fought a
major war outside its traditional sphere of
21
influence since its withdrawal from

Afghanistan. Needless to say, the 10-year-long
Afghan war was a disaster, and the chances for
the Russian troops to get swamped in the
complex Syrian civil war are high. Still, what
made Mr. Putin change the Russian strategy?
And whats Russias actual game plan?
Two recent developments in the
battlefield could have influenced the thinking
in the Kremlin. First, theres a growing
concern in Moscow as well as in Tehran about
the recent setbacks suffered by the Assad
regime. The government is facing acute
manpower shortage as its troops are
overstretched in the prolonged war. Also, the
key focus of the regime is to defend its
strongholds the long stretch from the South
along the Lebanese border and the
Mediterranean coast to the outskirts of the
Idlib province in the northwest. Hizbollah has
positioned itself on the Lebanese border
region, while Iran has deployed its troops and
proxies in key city centres such as Damascus,
Homs and Hama. It is in the outskirts of the
regime-held territory where Mr. Assads
troops are under pressure, a clear indication
of their waning strength.
In May, in a major setback to the regime,
the Islamic State (IS) terror group seized the
ancient city of Palmyra from government
troops. Besides its archaeological significance,
Palmyra is a strategically important place
from where IS could march on to both Homs
and Damascus in two directions (The distance
between Palmyra and Damascus is around 250
km, while that between the ancient city and
Homs is hardly around 160 km). In the same


22
VOL34
month, a rebel coalition, largely supported by

Gulf countries and Turkey, captured the Idlib
province, breathing down the neck of the
regimes costal territories. These two defeats
revived the discussion about a rapid collapse
of the Assad regime.
Second, Moscow is wary of the TurkishSaudi Arabian game plan for Syria. These
countries major concern is not the IS, but the
Assad regime itself. Since the outbreak of the
civil war, they have been training and
bankrolling anti-Assad rebels. The rebels
Idlib advances would not have been possible
without greater support from outside powers.
Besides, Turkey has recently allowed the U.S.
warplanes to use its Incirlik and Diyarbakir
airbases for the latter s attacks on IS
positions, and both nations Turkey and the
U.S. have also agreed to create a 60-milelong safe zone strip, free of IS and the regime
troops, along the Turkish border.
This could be part of a larger regime
change game plane. Incirlik is just 15 minutes
flying time from the Syrian border. From the
air base, the U.S. war planes and drones could
easily patrol the Syrian skies. In the name of
fighting the IS, the U.S. could establish a de
facto no-fly zone across northeastern Syria
which would neutralise the regimes air power
advantage vis--vis both the rebels and the
jihadists. Further, the safe zone proposal
also offers a peek into the Turkish game plan.
If Turkey and the U.S. successfully create a
safe zone in the border area, the model
could be repeated elsewhere in Syria. Instead
of finding a national political solution to the
GIST OF THE HINDU
Syrian crisis, many more safe zones within

rebel control would be created. Brookings
Institutions Michael E. OHanlon, a former
national security analyst at the Congressional
Budget Office, strongly advises the West to
follow this ink-spot campaign, which he calls
the deconstruction of Syria.
So, from the Russian point of view, the
survival of the Assad regime is key to its
interests. Russia has interfered in West Asia in
the past to defend its interests. During the
Israeli-Egyptian War of Attrition in the 196970, the Soviet Union sent troops to defend
Egypt. Operation Kavkaz was aimed at
preventing a regime change in Egypt and to
save the Russian interests on the Egyptian soil
the intervention was a success in meeting
the objectives.
In the case of Syria, Russia has short,
medium and long-term goals. The immediate
objective is to prevent a rapid collapse of the
Assad regime after its weakening on the
warfront. Russia might be calculating that
once its forces start joining the war, it would
strengthen the Syrian government troops in
terms of military capabilities and raise their
morale substantially. And even if the regime
collapses, the Russian goal would be to
protect the Tartus naval base.
In the medium term, Russia wants to
build an international coalition, with a U.N.
mandate, to fight terrorism in Syria. There is
already a multilateral coalition led by the
U.S., bombing locations controlled by the IS in
Syria and Iraq. But these bombings, started in
August 2014, have hardly weakened the


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
jihadist group. The Russian idea is to stitch

together a coalition of ground troops to fight
both the IS and the al-Nusra front. President
Putin floated the idea on September 15 in
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, while speaking at a
regional event. For this proposal to gain
traction, Russia would need the Wests
support. Mr. Putin knows that the U.S. is
facing a strategic dilemma over Syria, and
Europe, swamped in a refugee crisis, is
scrambling for practical solutions to the Syrian
conflict.
If a common ground is reached between
Russia and the West over Syria, Mr. Putin can
also re-channelise the resultant goodwill to
settle the Ukraine crisis without its vital
interests compromised. It is a bet, but the
contemporary history of Russian foreign
policy tells us that Mr. Putin is a man who
makes big geopolitical bets. In the long run,
Syria offers Russia an opportunity to reestablish itself as a regional player in West
Asia. Reclaiming the lost glory of Soviet Union
is of high priority to Mr. Putin. He has
recently stepped up ties with Egypts military
dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. West Asia offers
a potential market for Russian products and
weapons as well as a political theatre for
Moscow to expand its influence.
It is far from clear whether Russia would
be able to meet its goals or would face another
Afghanistan-like situation in Syria. What is
certain is that Mr. Putin has opened a new
phase in the Syrian civil war. If in the first four
years, President Assad had to fight his
enemies supported by regional
23
heavyweights with limited resources, he

now has the direct backing of a big global
power. However, unless Russia couples its
military move with an international
diplomatic initiative to dial down the regional
support for rebels and jihadists, the Moscow
plan could backfire. Because otherwise, to
offset the Russian support for Mr. Assad,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and their Western
backers could step up support for anti-Assad
groups, leading to a major escalation of the
conflict. The outcome would be worse than
that of the Afghan civil war.
COLLECTIVES
HELP RURAL WOMEN LEAN IN
In the world of microfinance, womens

collectives have acquired a great deal of
prominence globally and are known by
various names such as Self Help Groups
(SHGs), Joint Liability Groups (JLG), or
Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLA).
There is a strongly held belief that the
formation of these groups has transformed
the lives of women, improving their financial
status due to the direct links between the
microcredit, obtained through the group, and
the livelihood activities financed by this credit.
Nachiket Mor While there is some evidence
that the womens collective movements have
had a broadly positive impact on women,
rigorous research did not find any evidence
that the standardised micro-credit product, at
least in the short-run, produced any
measurable impact on levels of poverty.If
indeed the principal impact is financial wellbeing, then the collective may represent a


24
VOL34
weak solution. Retail financial services in

general, and not just for low-income women,
suffer from being sold in standardised packets
called products which are commoditised.
Financial services offered through groups
also suffer from this productisation with the
added unethical feature that women face
complete denial of services if they do not
approach the provider in groups or are unable
to fit into one or the other standardised group
models. There is also the concern that when a
member defaults, since the entire group faces
a complete denial of credit, she experiences
extreme social ostracism and severe
harassment, sometimes leading to suicide.
A standardised, product-led approach is
completely inconsistent with the power of
finance which, at its core, is a service that is
capable of infinite customisation and reducing
the volatility that is unique to each customers
life. This is exactly the kind of service that
bankers even today offer companies and ultrarich individuals, but for some reason a
product-led Fast Moving Consumer Goods
(FMCG) approach pervades the retail financial
services industr y. Fortunately, there are
challengers to this world view (such as the
Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services [KGFS]
literally, Regional Rural Financial Services)
that are emerging, and expectations are that,
with refinement, they will become the
dominant model of retail financial services.
So then, why collectivise? The real and
sustained benefit of womens collectives and
their impact could instead lie in the
improvement in the status of women that they
could catalyse. The principal benefit of the
GIST OF THE HINDU
association with the microcredit movement

may simply have been to provide an
acceptable, even if high cost, raison dtre and
compulsion for these women to form
collectives and meet regularly. This
phenomenon of regular meetings appears to
be an important enabling force which gives the
woman courage to lean in, in multiple
household and community settings.
Researchers find that womans groups,
practising participatory learning and action
in settings as varied as Bangladesh, India,
Malawi, and Nepal, showed a 49 per cent
reduction in maternal mortality and a 33 per
cent reduction in neonatal mortality. Yet
another randomised control trial found that,
after just two years of an intervention, which
combined a group-based microfinance
programme with participatory training on
understanding HIV infection, gender norms,
domestic violence, and sexuality, the risk of
past-year physical or sexual violence by an
intimate partner was reduced by more than
half. Women who had gone through the
programme were able to challenge the
acceptability of violence, expect and receive
better treatment from partners, leave abusive
relationships, and raise public awareness
about intimate partner violence.
An examination of the factors that
generate this impact finds that women do not
come with a ready-made stock of social capital
but instead build it through the process of
regular group meetings and it is this social
capital that directly results in their change of
status, both within the home and community.
A field experiment in urban India found that


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
groups in which women met more often and

therefore had greater social interaction,
showed persistent improvements in informal
risk-sharing and reductions in default
relative to groups that met less frequently.
Research suggests that groups tend to
generate social capital through the focussed
interactions that occur in encounters, i.e.,
group meetings, which have a number of
features, including: (i) a single focus of
attention; (ii) intense and open discussions
among group members; (iii) the huddle of the
group meeting around the group leader with
frequent eye contact; (iv) peer monitoring;
and (v) the rituals of song and dress that
surround the group meetings, all of which
produce a strong feeling of solidarity and
corresponding flow of emotions. This is a
very different understanding of social capital
and how it is generated among women and
suggests why the manner in which groups
actually operate is far more important than
the original purpose for which they were
formed or even perhaps the manner in which
they are created. This aspect of collectives and
groups merits greater attention and
understanding in our quest to find robust
pathways for empowerment of women.
SPACE OBSERVATORY TAKES WING
With the successful launch of the space

obser vatory, Astrosat, the Indian Space
Research Organisation has put India in a
select group of countries that have a space
telescope to study celestial objects and
processes. The ability to simultaneously study
a wide variety of wavelengths visible light,
ultraviolet and X-ray (both low- and high-
25
energy) bands has tremendous

implications for scientists globally,
particularly those in India. Though stars and
galaxies emit in multiple wavebands,
currently operational satellites have
instruments that are capable of observing
only a narrow range of wavelength band. Since
the Earths atmosphere does not allow X-rays
and ultraviolet energy from distant cosmic
objects to reach ground-based telescopes,
space observatories become important to
unravel celestial mysteries. With Astrosat,
Indian researchers will no longer have to rely
on other space agencies for X-ray data, and
scientists everywhere need no longer source
data from more than one satellite to get a
fuller picture of celestial processes. As in the
case of Chandrayaan-1 and the Mars Orbiter
Mission, Mangalyaan, the Astrosat telescope
will have no immediate commercial or societal
implications. But the instruments have been
carefully chosen to allow scientists to pursue
cutting-edge research. Chandrayaan-1 and
Mangalyaan returned invaluable information,
although they were launched several years
after other countries sent satellites to the
Moon and Mars. Given the uniqueness of
Astrosat, it will enable Indian researchers to
work in the frontier areas of high-energy
astrophysics.
It is for the first time that a majority of
the payloads for an Indian satellite has come
from outside ISRO. In fact, ISRO has built just
one of the five payloads for Astrosat; the rest
comes from scientific institutions based in
India. Two of the payload operation centres
that would validate the data obtained by


26
VOL34
GIST OF THE HINDU
Astrosat will be located in the Mumbai-based

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research that
built three of the payloads, and one each in
the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy
and Astrophysics in Pune, and the Indian
Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru that
built one payload. This is in recognition of
their contribution to the mission. Besides
providing an opportunity to build world-class
instruments, Astrosat will present an ideal
platform for researchers in these institutions.
As is the norm internationally, for a year the
teams that built the payloads would have
exclusive control over what is observed by the
satellite. That singularly will be the biggest
benefit to Indian researchers.
But, coming as it does with heavy deployment

of Central police forces, such infrastructure
development is suspect in the eyes of many
villagers in the tribal regions. The
development is often seen more as an effort
to allow access to tribal areas for security
personnel in pursuit of Maoists rather than as
an attempt to open up the outside world to the
villages. Invariably, the state is seen as an
external agency waiting to wield its authority
and extend its reach without allowing
substantial consequential benefits to the
villages. Any state-sponsored activity, even if
it is in the name of development, is thus met
with hostility, and viewed as no more than an
extension of the security apparatus.
DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY
Better facilities can at best mark the

beginning of a process of addressing the
livelihood concerns and social insecurities of
tribal populations. Without investing in health
and education infrastructure, increasing
employment opportunities, and raising the
quality of life in tribal areas, it would be
difficult to address the socio-economic
grievances that feed into the Maoist agenda.
While the government ought to do everything
in its power to end arbitrary and irrational
violence by the Maoists, development should
not be reduced to building mobile towers,
roads and bridges. Democratic institutions
are yet to take root in many of the villages
where Maoists have their sympathisers. In
many areas Maoists have assumed a
representative character and elections are
boycotted at the instance of leaders of the
Communist Party of India (Maoist). Thus,
merely concentrating on upgrading
Development comes in many forms and

serves multiple purposes. Over the last few
months, the Central government has initiated
a series of steps to upgrade communications
and transport infrastructure in areas affected
by naxalite activity. The larger project is to not
only usher in development in the tribal areas
and improve the living conditions of
populations in hilly and forest terrains, but
also facilitate security operations against
Maoists, who specialise in ambushes and hitand-retreat tactics. Hundreds of mobile
phone towers have been erected along the Red
Corridor, and roads and bridges are being
built to connect naxalite-affected districts.
Ending the isolation of some of the villages in
remote areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand
is, no doubt, part of a strategy to win over
local populations and wean them away from
the influence of armed groups of Maoists.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
infrastructure without addressing longstanding grievances will not meet the

governments objectives. Representative
institutions in the villages must be made party
to decision-making in the development
process, which should go beyond the
infrastructure needs of the security
personnel.
TOWARDS A SHARED WELTANSCHAUUNG
The new warmth between Germany and

India, displayed at the United Nations (UN)
when the two joined hands (along with Brazil
and Japan) to stake their claim for permanent
membership of the UN Security Council,
offers a good backdrop for German
Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkels visit to
India, beginning this Sunday. However, the air
around the summit is likely to be polluted by
Volkswagens admission to cheating on
emission norms, especially since New Delhi
has been such a booming market for VWs
many models. The success of Ms. Merkels
visit will depend on how both countries are
able to balance business, security and peopleto-people issues in defining their
relationship.
Visiting the country after four years,
Chancellor Merkel returns to a very different
India. She also comes from a very different
Germany a nation now shaped by a
prolonged economic and social crisis in its
neighbourhood and the challenge of dealing
with its own growing social and cultural
pluralism. The latter fact was brought into
greater relief recently by the Syrian refugee
crisis when Germany showed more wisdom
27
and compassion than other European nations

in dealing with a human tragedy.
However, the visit will not be just about
what German business can do for India. It will
equally be about what Indian talent can do for
Germany. This, perhaps, explains the decision
to visit Bengaluru. Germany is seeking
students and professionals from India and is
advertising that English-speaking Indians can,
in fact, get along quite easily in contemporary
Germany. By holding hands with India at the
UN, Germany is also signalling its readiness to
deal with India as an equal. Perhaps German
strategists have come to understand that
Germany and India have exactly the same
problem in regional and world affairs. Both
countries are too big for their respective
regions, but not yet big enough for the world
as a whole. This paradox of German and
Indian power, and the consequent frustration
that both nations must feel, offers a good
basis for a meeting of minds between two
equally tough-minded national leaders,
dealing with a difficult global environment.
After years of a weak political leadership, the
German middle class has been celebrating the
no-nonsense personality of its Chancellor,
much like the Indian middle classs admiration
for the leadership style of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. However, just as the middle
classes remain caught between the
protestations of an angry poor section and the
arrogance of a nonchalant, rich one, they are
also forced to deal with the irreverence of
their smaller neighbours, on the one hand,
and the arrogance of bigger powers, on the
other.


28
VOL34
But that is where the similarity between

Germany and India ends. How the two nations
are likely to relate to each other will depend
on how they deal with an important
dissimilarity. Post-World War II Germany, like
post-War Japan, chose to shy away from
geopolitics and rose, instead, as a geoeconomic power. It is only recently that both
Germany and Japan have tried to leverage
their geo-economic power to recover
geopolitical influence in their respective
regions. This is happening precisely at a time
when India is pursuing a more aggressive
developmental agenda, giving greater
importance to geo-economics over
geopolitics. While old-fashioned analysts
bemoan Indias inability to get its neighbours
to behave look at Maldives, Nepal and, till
recently Sri Lanka the more forwardlooking thinkers take the view that for India to
play a larger geopolitical role in Asia and
around the world, it must first become a more
competitive and productive economy. There is
a common strategic view that economic and
social development on the domestic front and
the provision of livelihood security to people
are the only routes to national security and
global influence. Therefore, Indias natural
partners would be countries that, on the one
hand, do not compete with it either in the
marketplace or in power politics, and, on the
other, have something to offer India that it
lacks. By assisting India in the quest for
development and geo-economic growth,
Germany and Japan have the opportunity to
bolster their own rise in geopolitical terms.
Prime Minister Modi would probably
know that Swami Vivekananda met Max
GIST OF THE HINDU
Mller in May 1896. Recording the meeting,

Swami Vivekananda said: It was neither the
philologist nor the scholar that I saw, but a
soul that is every day realising its oneness
with the Brahman, a heart that is every
moment expanding to reach oneness with the
Universal. The India-Germany relationship
is, therefore, not just about business or
power, but about the civilisational bonding
between a great Asian nation and a great
European nation. A meeting of minds
between Mr. Modi and Ms. Merkel ought to
become the basis of a new partnership
between the two. A shared view of the world
will unlock many doors. It can help breathe
new life into the negotiations on an IndiaEuropean Union (EU) free trade agreement
(FTA). Germany should encourage its
European partners to give up their defensive
and narrow approach to an FTA with India
and adopt, instead, a more strategic view
based on an understanding that an
economically stronger India and a competitive
EU can only help realise their shared agenda of
creating a multi-polar global power system.
If Germany adopts such an
accommodative and development-oriented
approach to issues such as multilateral trade
and climate change, it can help strengthen the
foundations of an India-EU strategic
partnership. All this requires is that Germany
continues to assert its leadership role within
Europe. India should welcome it. Chancellor
Merkel is the rare exception to the crisis of
leadership in Europe. The lack of political selfconfidence in Europe manifests itself in
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GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
European leaders to Chinas strongmen.

Britain has been particularly weak-kneed.
Lesser powers in Europe surrendered long
ago. A strong Germany in Europe, like a strong
India in Asia, will facilitate a more balanced
global dispersal of power and prevent the
return of hegemony.
Focusing their attention mainly on
culture, business and issues relating to nuclear
non-proliferation and climate change, German
leaders have often shied away from discussing
grand strategy with their Indian counterparts.
However, the time is ripe for the new
Germany of Chancellor Merkel to begin a new
conversation with India on the changing
balance of power in the 21st century.
PREPARING FOR PARIS
Indias commitment to adopt low-carbon

pathways for development is welcome
reaffirmation that it fully recognises its role in
averting dangerous climate change. In the
statement of climate goals and plans
formally called the Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions, or INDCs
which has been submitted to the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change,
the Narendra Modi government has
emphasised the expansion of clean
technologies to generate power, greater
energy efficiency in infrastructure, and a
significant widening of forestr y as key
measures. There are several other actions
that it will take in the areas of transport,
buildings, agriculture and waste management
in order to balance economic growth with
carbon emissions. With all this, India
29
promises to reduce the emissions intensity of

its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030, from
2005 levels, while not committing itself to any
absolute reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions. What is significant is that the
national plans given in the INDC, ahead of the
Paris Climate Conference in December 2015,
depends on the unencumbered availability of
clean technologies and financial resource
from around the world. Such a position is
consistent with the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities that guides
climate negotiations. Yet, India cannot avoid
addressing the internal contradiction
affluent citizens have access to cheap,
abundant energy and mobility while the poor
and the vulnerable are forced to fend for
themselves in facing the negative effects of
climate change.
On the positive side, since much of
Indias infrastructure is yet to be built, the
Central and State governments can adopt the
greenest technologies to ensure that the longterm impact on emissions is positive. This is
particularly important in the design and
construction of built structures, including
housing and offices, mass transport systems
and lighting, to name a few. New coal-based
power generation facilities have a prolonged
lock-in effect of high emissions, and it is vital
to opt for the cleanest systems. Financing such
a major effort requires massive funding; the
INDC data estimate that between now and
2030, at least $2.5 trillion would be required
for the country to meet climate change action
requirements. Some of the funding could
come from the taxing of fuels. As with the coal


30
VOL34
cess, there could be a climate tax on transport

fuels this would result in a tax-and-share
arrangement where high-volume users would
pay a tax to fund common facilities. Another
area that needs support is in helping citizens
scale up their contribution to renewable
energy. Incentivising citizen-investment in
roof-top solar installations would unlock
private funds and help the country exceed the
100 GW it aims to generate from this source.
That will be a world-leading achievement.
INDIA NEEDS NO MONROE DOCTRINE
Prime Minister Narendra Modis sharp

initial focus on improving relations with
countries in the neighbourhood evoked much
optimism. Inviting the Prime Ministers of our
neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, to
his swearing-in ceremony was rightly billed as
a great move. Mr. Modis visits to Bangladesh,
Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka were seen as
runaway successes because the Prime Minister
effectively stressed the regions shared destiny
and promised that the countries would move
forward together. Indias huge relief effort
after the Nepal earthquake earlier this year
was also welcomed in the Himalayan country,
despite some critical voices alleging that limits
had been crossed. This was India playing a big
brother in a rather positive way taking
responsibility and assisting its neighbours
without expecting reciprocity.
But it is in Nepal now that India has got
itself into a huge tangle. New Delhis efforts at
influencing the Nepali political elite to effect
constitutional amendments that will fulfil
the aspirations of the Madhesis and the
GIST OF THE HINDU
Tharus have provoked a huge backlash in

Nepal, with a Back off India campaign gaining
traction on social media. Some anti-India
groups may be trying to take advantage, as
Indian envoy in Kathmandu, Ranjit Rae,
suggests, but the Indian handling of the issue
has also provided them with necessar y
ammunition. Nepali politicians and media
allege a re-run of the economic blockade of
the late 1980s, since the amendments desired
by India have not been carried out. The
petroleum products crisis in Bhutan and the
way it effected a regime change there after the
erstwhile Prime Minister Jigme Thinley was
seen hobnobbing with China is surely not lost
on its Himalayan neighbour.
India has been involved in the
Constitution-making process in Nepal its
top diplomats and leaders have been in
regular touch with the Nepali leaders. So,
should we believe that the Constitution, which
85 per cent of the 601-member Nepali
Constituent Assembly (CA) voted for in
September, came as a surprise to India despite
the latter having a huge diplomatic and
intelligence presence in that country? When
Mr. Modi dispatched Foreign Secretary S.
Jaishankar post-haste to Kathmandu to seek
some necessary amendments, his visit was
seen as 15 days too late by some Nepali
leaders, and 15 days too early by a few
others. Many leaders said India should have
respected the will of the Nepali people,
reflected in the verdict of the CA. The voting
made clear the broad consensus in Nepal, with
even some representatives of the recalcitrant
Madhesi and Tharu communities voting for


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
the Constitution. It was always possible to get

some amendments done after the
Constitution took effect and New Delhi should
have been patient.
Indias advice to Nepal to resolve
differences through dialogue in an
atmosphere free from violence and
intimidation so as to enable broad-based
ownership and acceptance is seen as a big
shove, not a gentle push and that is
provoking deep resentment among citizens
and the political class alike. This is
interventionism at its worst. It would be
really unfortunate if Indian interests are seen
as being synonymous with those of some
communities of Indian origin, whose
leaderships remain deeply divided, even if not
discredited. India needs to identify with the
larger Nepali aspirations, after all the Modi
talk of sacrifices by the Gorkhas to protect
India. New Delhis reaction to the adoption of
the Constitution merely noting it rather
than greeting it did not go down well with
even the most pro-Indian of Nepali politicians.
Good diplomacy is all about effective,
gentle persuasion minus threats or use of
force. India should have lobbied discreetly on
getting some of its concerns addressed in the
Nepali Constitution, not thrown tantrums
after the statute was adopted by a sweeping
majority. This does not sit well with Indias
image at a time when the Modi administration
is making a determined bid for a permanent
seat in the UN Security Council. Indias failure
to deliver on the Teesta water-sharing treaty
has left trusted ally Bangladesh and its Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina uncertain. The land
31
boundary agreement did help lift her spirits

and Mr. Modi was seen as delivering on
promises made, but unless the Teesta deal
goes through, Ms. Hasina will never be able to
convince her countrymen (and women) that
India is a worthy friend. A fair share of water
from a major river is much more important
for Bangladesh a nation dependent
primarily on agriculture than a few
enclaves.
Mindless chest-thumping over hitting
rebels deep inside Myanmar has already
cost India. Despite the subsequent damage
control that has led to important state visits,
Myanmar has refused to hand over the
National Socialist Council of Nagalim
Khaplang (NSCN-K)s leader, S.S. Khaplang,
and three of his confidantes, who India wants
to put on trial for attacks on its security
forces. Myanmar peacemakers have actually
held formal negotiations with Khaplangs
representatives on a national ceasefire
agreement that the Thein Sein government is
planning to sign with its ethnic rebel armies,
ahead of the November parliament elections.
Both in Nepal and Myanmar, the Modi
administration seems to have displayed a lack
of sensitivity towards the aspirations of
people of these smaller sovereign nations.
Whether this is because the security
establishment has started to overshadow the
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), or
because domestic considerations have started
to shape the Indian response, is a matter of
speculation. However, a muscular
neighbourhood policy, especially with smaller


32
VOL34
neighbours, will not work for India. It will not

only help drive them into the Chinese fold,
but will also provide traction to Pakistans
sustained campaign against Indian
domination in the region.
Coming as it does after allegations that
Indian agencies helped bring down the
Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka, these
actions will only raise the spectre of an Indian
Monroe Doctrine under which India treats
its neighbourhood as a sphere of influence
a doctrine India cannot afford to enforce; nor
is it capable of enforcing such a principle. If
the sentiments echoed by participants from
neighbouring countries at a recent South
Asian Economic Conclave in Delhi, which I
attended, are any indication, South Asia wants
a friendly and an understanding India to get its
regionalism back on track not a muscular
cowboy, flaunting American attitudes and
helicopters.
THE POLITICS OF WASTE MANAGEMENT
Human society has always produced

waste and always will. Waste materials
substances without value are constantly
generated in all production, all distribution
and all consumption processes. The time
waste spends without any value may be a few
minutes at the minimum and, at a maximum,
eternity. Nature, the key provider of
resources, is not simply a tap. In subjecting
waste to the physical laws of decomposition
and re-composition, it also acts as a sink.
Many bio-physical processes take place at an
extremely slow rate, compared to the rapid
physical cycles of the economy. My 2015
GIST OF THE HINDU
fieldwork on the waste economy of a small

town indicated that about half the waste could
not be recycled and was left to natures sinks.
A 2013 paper in Nature describes Indias
waste production as the fastest growing in the
world and set to peak a century into the
future. In the small town I studied, there is no
proper waste management mechanism
waste is too costly to control, engulfs all open
spaces and is beginning to lead to a public
health catastrophe. Take human waste, since
everyone is talking about it. In the town I
studied, the abolition of manual scavenging in
the early 1990s led to the abolition of jobs
reserved for women scavengers. This means
that these horrible but comparatively wellpaid jobs depend on official patronage and
discretion more than ever. The municipal
labour force is becoming more male than ever
and the disposal of wet waste is now mens
work.
Meanwhile, human waste from the other
50 per cent of the households and almost all
commercial buildings finds its way into the
open drains and urban drainage ditches where
it joins general consumption waste. By all
accounts, this also includes medical waste
leaking from private hospitals. Impossible to
separate from the other waste, its final resting
place is the dangerously toxic dumpyard,
where entire families of indigent scrapgatherers survive by sifting the putrid surface.
Meanwhile, though it is illegal, someone may
try containing the mess by systematically
maybe on a weekly basis setting fire to
portions of it. I dont see the these difficulties
being recognised in the public debates on


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
defecation. Over the last quarter-century

while the volume of waste has increased by a
factor of 8-10 times and shifted decisively
towards being non-biodegradable, the labour
force engaged in sanitation work has shrunk
by 60 per cent.
Tax evasion star ves the local
government of resources. On the other hand,
technologies have hardly changed, leading to
a burgeoning informal economy that has
become indispensable to the waste
management system, and hence, to the rest of
the economy. The compulsions of the new
public management structure and
privatisation have resulted in a replacement of
secure jobs with a guaranteed minimum wage,
as per the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) norms, with jobs which can sometimes
be labelled as bonded labour and are purely
on the basis of verbal contracts. While a
secure job guaranteeing a minimum wage
would fetch the employee anywhere between
Rs.15,000 and Rs. 25,000 a month, with
commensurate rights and benefits, a job
based on contract would hardly give him
Rs.4,000-Rs.7,000 a month with few benefits.
Most work involving waste products is
hard, dangerous and oppressive. A 2014
Human Rights Watch report stated that 90 per
cent of Indias sanitation workers die before
they reach retirement age. This kind of work
is stigmatised throughout the world. Many
people think it is the Dalits who are made to
handle the waste but in the town I studied,
about a third of the municipal workforce was
not Dalit or Adivasi. It was getting
33
cosmopolitan and being labelled as a

municipal labourer did not cause shame.
The entire social structure is experienced
as one filled with violence that consigns
people who have the least choice or mobility
to work in the informal waste management
industry. While few among those we
interviewed complained of discrimination at
work, more instances of abuse were reported
when it comes to their interactions with the
rest of society. For example, passengers
expressed annoyance at the cleaners in trains
if they even touched their seats. Hospital
housekeepers were often abused by patients.
There is a long way to go before
discrimination is eliminated while preparing
for what the governor of the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) recently described as an economy
where people have access to quality housing,
schooling health and transport facilities.
What is to be done? Construction of
toilets and management of air pollution are,
for sure, only a tiny part of the waste
management economy and there is no
shortage of technological solutions on offer.
Human waste can be also detoxified and
recycled. The technologies involved are not
rocket science. However, how to customise
them scaling up for towns and scaling down
for places at the outskirts is a thorny
question. Further, why should it be assumed
that the upgraded technology will be operated
by the same Dalits and Adivasis? And, if not,
will there be plans for compensating and retraining the existing informal labour force
when it is displaced? If not, why not?


34
VOL34
Indias waste management economy is

clearly and uniquely impregnated with caste.
Research suggests that to break this down
modern jobs that are caste-neutral are
needed, along with opportunities for
education and migration. The workers I spoke
to agreed and added that there was a need to
provide opportunities for self-employment,
which they felt gave them some much-desired
independence. They also expressed the need
for greater state intervention. However, while
the state represents progress to the workers,
as a source of both jobs and welfare
provisions like subsidised rice, its role is
complicated. Workers also encounter it as a
bastion of the upper class that discriminates
against them. Achievements such as
establishing bank accounts with nationalised
banks now come with new sites of
discrimination. Stigma can also be addressed
through political activism through trades
unions, political parties and social
movements.
UNBUNDLING THE
COAL-CLIMATE EQUATION
Ahead of the Paris climate summit, India

announced on October 2 its Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions
(INDCs) for climate change mitigation and
adaptation. India intends to reduce its carbon
emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent by
2030, from its 2005 levels. While this
commitment has drawn fulsome praise from
many, the green ayatollahs have predictably
ignored its herculean clean energy ambitions
and focussed on Indian dependence on coal. It
GIST OF THE HINDU
is time to lay bare the coal hypocrisy of these

privileged western greens.
Indias total energy consumption is a
fraction of that of China, the U.S., the
European Union and the OECD. Its position at
the climate change negotiations has continued
to reflect the centrality of access to energy for
human development. And Indias normative
position is supported by data, such as the
positive correlation between energy access
and the Human Development Index (HDI).
While a number of estimates exist on how
much energy is needed to meet development
objectives (we call it lifeline energy), an
interesting benchmark is that of the 2000Watt (W) society, based on a Swiss research
groups findings. The research states that
2000-W per capita is a basic level of energy
which accounts for housing, mobility, food,
consumption (manufactured goods) and
infrastructure. In a forthcoming paper for the
European Council on Foreign Relations, we
argue that if the space allocated to India for
coal consumption towards fulfilling lifeline
energy needs is even nominally equitable,
India does not have to compromise on its
development and growth aspirations.
It is important to note that in 2014, the
average Indian accounted for around 20 per
cent of the average Americans coal
consumption and around 34 per cent of those
from the OECD. What has caused concern in
the developed world is that while they have
reduced per capita coal consumption relative
to pre-financial crisis levels, India has
increased consumption over the same period.


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
In our analysis, we point out that just as

reduced coal consumption of developed
countries following the crisis does not
necessarily reflect a greater degree of
responsibility towards the climate, the
increase in consumption by India does not
reflect irresponsibility.
This is better explained by two key
trends, visible after the crisis. One, while
developed countries have been cutting down
energy consumption as a whole, developing
countries have been increasing consumption,
albeit at a gradually declining pace. Two, while
developed countries have been cutting coal
consumption faster than primary energy
consumption, developing countries have
increased coal consumption faster than
primary energy consumption. Clearly then,
industrial consumption (manufacturing and
jobs) is ver y much part of the lifeline
consumption matrix for developing countries.
Many financial institutions such as the U.S.
Exim Bank have stopped funding coal-based
power generation projects. The World Bank
also seems to be following in this direction
even though coal consumption has been
increasing in developing countries and coalbased energy remains the most practical
option of scale. This tendency isolates
economic growth from lifeline energy and
skirts the central goal of development within
growth.
Developed countries such as those
within the EU want to reduce their emissions
to two tonnes per capita by 2050; which will in
turn reflect the total carbon space available
35
per capita if the world is to limit global

warming to manageable levels. While the road
to Paris is paved with such good intentions, it
is essential that each person on this planet
begins to move towards an equitable carbon
profile. This has two clear implications. First,
large developing countries such as India must
invest in renewable energy benchmarks that
match developed countries. Second,
developed countries must pare down per
capita coal consumptions to levels which
would match Indias lifeline consumption
through coal in the future. Simply put, every
time a new coal plant comes up in India, one
should be shut down in the OECD. If coal use
can be substituted by clean sources, then
millions of tonnes of coal capacity in EU and
the U.S. are low hanging fruits. India uses coal
to satisfy less than a fifth of its potential
lifeline energy needs, while OECD countries
use this nasty fuel to satisfy two-thirds of
theirs. It is time to meet in the middle. No, we
are not suggesting historic responsibility;
only the one we jointly shoulder for
tomorrow.
DEALING WITH BLACK MONEY
The worth of the new, stringent law

against Indians stashing away unaccounted
money in foreign destinations cannot be
judged by the quantum of assets disclosed
within the compliance window that ended on
September 30. Assets worth Rs. 4,147 crore,
yielding tax to the tune of Rs.2,488 crore,
were disclosed within the deadline. If one
believes that fabulous sums lie in safe havens
abroad, untouched by Indian law, the amount
may seem woefully inadequate. On the other


36
VOL34
hand, if one believes that much of the black

money resides comfortably in India, and
undisclosed income in foreign countries
represent only a small fraction of the total, it
may seem a significant disclosure. In any case,
the figure falls short of the Rs. 6,500 crore
cited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his
Independence Day address. The stage is now
set for the provisions of the Black Money
(Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and
Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 to be invoked
against defaulters who failed to make use of
the compliance window. The true test of the
efficacy of the enactment will be two-fold: in
its ability to deter any further flight of money
to offshore destinations in the belief that tax
can be evaded that way, and in the rigour with
which investigation and prosecution are
pursued against those who still hold assets
abroad. Any undisclosed foreign income that
is detected will henceforth attract tax at the
rate of 30 per cent, a penalty of 90 per cent
and a 10-year prison term. With new
arrangements in place to share tax-related
information among many countries, this will
surely have some deterrence value.
However, what ought to be of concern to
the public is a fact that Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has also highlighted: the bulk of the
black money is within India. A confidential
report by the National Institute of Public
Finance and Policy on the true extent of Indias
parallel economy quantified it in 2013 at 75
per cent of GDP. The black economy is
powered mainly by the higher education, real
estate and mining sectors. The report had
spoken of capitation fees contributing Rs.
GIST OF THE HINDU
5,953 crore to the black money component in

a particular year, while real estate
transactions could have generated Rs.
5,68,879 crore. In recent times, letting money
idle in tax havens, which offer safety and
confidentiality but not much by way of
interest income, is no more the norm. Assets
held abroad find their way back to India as
investments in business and participatory
notes in the market. The real challenge is in
having a regulatory regime that promotes tax
compliance and income disclosure. Preventing
black money accumulation may be more
important than even unearthing it.
SECURITY CONCERNS TRUMP DIPLOMACY
New Delhis decision to highlight the

atrocities by Pakistani forces in Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in Balochistan, as
reported by this newspaper, is a clear
departure from past practice. The difference
can be gauged by comparing the strong
reactions six years ago to the previous Indian
governments acceptance of Balochistan in the
Sharm el-Sheikh statement, with how the
Ministry of External Affairs now openly
accepts in the context of Balochistan that India
is home to persecuted people everywhere.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Baloch
Liberation Organisation that faces a
barrage of charges in Pakistan has been
speaking freely at public meetings in Delhi.
Coming as they do a week after India
highlighted suppression of protests and
atrocities in PoK, these meetings make it clear
that the government is on the front-foot, as
officials have indicated, and that it intends to


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
use PoK and Balochistan to counter Pakistans

persistent allegations of human rights
violations in Jammu and Kashmir. These
allegations have been particularly sharp over
the last year, perhaps owing to Islamabads
discomfort over the progress India has made
in pushing for a seat in the UN Security
Council. It remains to be seen whether New
Delhis new tack will help tone down Pakistans
position on J&K. Or will it only serve to
highlight international issues that India has
preferred to keep in the bilateral space so far,
and to flag Pakistans outrageous allegations
that India is responsible for terrorist acts on
its soil? In any case, with this turn of events,
India-Pakistan relations, which have remained
at a low ebb for decades, are worsening.
Diplomacy is the loser.
What is perhaps more significant is that
the governments new policy indicates the
growing space ceded to Indias security
establishment in the external relations
sphere. By engaging in a spy-vs-spy and titfor-tat engagement, and seeking to answer
Pakistans false claims on J&K with a series of
counter-allegations, New Delhi has only
stooped to the level of the neighbour that it
seeks to contain. Indias actions have included
the handing out of videos, and leaking of
details from dossiers of wanted criminals and
terrorists under investigation. More
important, it is unclear how its efforts would
play out on the international stage. There,
Pakistan is already discredited on the issue of
sponsoring and training terror groups, while
India is seen as a powerful and responsible
country waging war against terror. Eventually,
37
diplomacy is a projection of a countrys own

values, and must prevail over all other
instincts. Former U.S. National Security
Adviser Walt Rostow, credited with Americas
original push into South East Asia in the
1960s, once said: We are the greatest power
in the world if we behave like it. That
should hold true for India, too.
IN THE NORTHEAST,
A SENSE OF FOREBODING
Since the new government came to

power last year, there has been a sea change in
the way people engage with each other on
social media. India seems to have come to a
point of rigid political polarisation with no
middle ground in sight. The reactions to the
killing of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri, for
alleged possession of beef, are an example:
they were vicious and strident. Many
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters try
and couch their leanings in eloquent prose,
but make it clear that the minorities in this
country have been pampered enough by the
state and it is high time they learnt to live by
the social and religious mores of the Hindu
majority. This is a frightening scenario not
only for Christians and Muslims, but for many
others who follow their indigenous faiths and
have never faced any impositions on their
food habits by the state.
What is this new normal? It is that Mr.
Modi remains silent on all encroachments on
our fundamental rights, such as the right to
free speech and the right to profess, practise
and propagate any religion. Mr. Modi extols
the virtues of Mahatma Gandhi, but has


38
VOL34
remained decisively mute on the murders of

Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi, rationalist
Narendra Dabholkar, and veteran Communist
Party of India leader Govind Pansare. This
deafening silence indicates that the radical
groups involved in these murders have his
tacit blessings. Mr. Modi, it appears, has
made a pact with the RSS to bring some
homogeneity of thought in India. We may not
be a fascist country, but have we reached a
tipping point? To answer this, well have to ask
ourselves: Do we feel safe to express dissent?
Im afraid not.
So what does all this mean for the
Northeast? How does this region see the new
normal? Elections are now approaching in
Assam. A year ago, the BJP could have claimed
that it would win the largest number of seats
in the 126-member Assembly. Even if this still
happens, it will not be because people will
proactively vote for the party but because
there are simply no good alternatives. The
Congress under Tarun Gogoi has ruled Assam
for 14 years. In this period, the State has seen
the lowest levels of social indicators: maternal
and infant mortality, for instance, spiralled
each time there was a natural calamity. Floods
are an annual feature, but the State continues
to be taken unawares each time. In other
words, this means that there is a huge
governance vacuum and no one really cares
about what happens beyond the State capital.
The Congress is unlikely to return to power
unless it manages to sell itself as the party that
will protect the Muslim population in Assam.
But then this is what the All India United
Democratic Front (AIUDF) is also
GIST OF THE HINDU
propounding. So, which party will the people

choose and why should they be pushed to
make choices on the basis of fear? The Asom
Gana Parishad is almost defunct. Some believe
that Assam will have a coalition government in
2016, which will not last longer than a year.
Others believe that the BJP may even align
with the AIUDF to form a government, a toxic
combine if it ever emerges.
But the BJP is unlikely to have it too
easy. The governments announcement that
Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh will be
given citizenship status has riled the people of
Assam. Obviously, this is a political gimmick
for garnering votes. But by stating upfront
that Hindu immigrants will be embraced by
the Indian state while being completely silent
on the fate of other immigrants, the BJP is
playing the Hindu card in a secular country. All
these issues have distanced a large section of
the moderate and secular constituents in
Assam. But, as stated earlier, the problem in
Assam is that there are no good options for
the electorate as of now. It seems like a loselose situation. And what about the other States
of the Northeast? Surprisingly, they are silent
observers as of now. While people, by and
large, resent the encroachments on their faith
and social mores, there is no united front yet
from the region to counter the BJPs
increasingly oppressive culture. When Mr.
Modi became Prime Minister, this region had
high hopes that development would be fasttracked since he spoke animatedly about
moving beyond the jaded Look East Policy to
the more action-oriented Act East Policy. But
much like the Prime Ministers silence on


GIST OF THE HINDU
VOL34
other issues, we havent heard much on this

front either. Except, of course, when he travels
to the Northeast.
THE PATH TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY
A dividend payment of Rs. 66,000-crore

from the Reserve Bank of India, the highest in
its 80-year history, helped tip Indias fiscal
balance to surplus in August. A combination
of the pick-up in the Centres revenue receipts
and its declining expenditures, especially on
subsidies, helped keep the fiscal deficit during
the first five months of the current financial
year under Rs. 3.7 lakh crore, lower than the
Rs. 3.97 lakh crore during the corresponding
period last year. The Central governments
unfailing commitment to fiscal consolidation
is conducive to macroeconomic stability. But
sticking to the road map for fiscal
consolidation isnt easy: expenditure and tax
reforms can be tricky politically. In its budget
for this year, the Narendra Modi government
had shifted Indias fiscal consolidation road
map by raising the fiscal deficit target for the
year to 3.9 per cent from 3.6 per cent earlier.
By doing so it created fiscal room for Rs.
70,000 crore of public investments, which it
hopes would kick-start the jobs-generating
infrastructure sector. Earlier governments too
postponed targets. The fiscal deficit reduction
targets that were originally a part of the Fiscal
Responsibility and Budget Management
(FRBM) Bill, 2000 were eliminated from the
Act that Parliament passed in 2003; the
annual numerical targets were left to the
39
government to formulate in the FRBM Rules.

Since then, the road map has been halted four
times in 2005-06, 2008-09, 2012-13 and
2015-16. And so the resolve that the Union
Finance Secretary expressed at a media
conference last week that though the
government expects a shortfall in tax revenues
this year it wont deviate from the 3.9 per cent
fiscal deficit target is welcome.
With inflation now under 4 per cent,
interest rate cuts adding up to 125 basis
points in the past 12 months, and the Centre
and the States going all out to revive stalled
projects and improve the ease of doing
business, India remains well-poised on the
path to economic recovery. Fiscal credibility,
important as it is to macroeconomic
management, will make it possible to sustain
Indias current growth rate and to convert
potential into actual growth. The focus will be
on the budget-makers tricks of funding
subsidies through non-transparent, offbudget borrowings or higher taxes on fuel and
so on. The Finance Minister has undertaken to
clean up the clutter of tax incentives for the
corporate sector to plug revenue leakages, in
order to set the stage for lower tax rates. He
is bound to find the business lobbies less
enthusiastic about giving up sops, and must
resist pleas for their retention. He will have to
be insusceptible too to excuses for delaying
even further the urea prices de-control and
other such expenditure-side reforms. On the
road to fiscal correction, Finance Ministers
walk, and are judged, alone.

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Gist of
VOL34
The Yojana
MSMES IN THE INCLUSIVE GROWTH

AGENDA: A PERSPECTIVE
The concept of inclusive growth is an

add-on in the global debate on growth vs
distribution. The consensus of the late- 20th
century, and early 21st century is that, rather
than growth and distribution being treated
separately, there needs to be an approach
where the two aspects meet each other. Thus
comes the discussion on the so -called
inclusive growth. While the global consensus
and the level of polemics has settled down on
the above lines, the practice among countries
tell a different story. Depending upon the
particular situation of countries, the theory,
practice and common understandings of
inclusive growth vary.
The concern with the role of micro,
small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in
India has significant political and social
overtones. It began with the Freedom
Struggle in the country, wherein, the role of
self reliant political units of administration
and a decentralised economy that is based on
local resources, business opportunities, and
markets was articulated. In the model
developed by economist Mahalanobis, the
small enterprise sector in India was
GIST OF THE YOJANA
visualised as an engine of growth; but playing

a subsidiary role to tile core sectors of the
economy, Though. the perception on
inclusive growth! Was there, from the days of
the second Five Year Plan; the word was
coined much later.
lrrespective of the rates, growth and
diversification have significantly taken place
in the Indian economy over the past several
decades. While growth is a hard core
economists concern, it is the challenge of
policy to ensure that the fruits of growth are
made felt to the majority of the people. It is in
this context that social cushions are needed.
Traditionally, this essentially social role has
been visualised in the context of the MSMEs.
While, traditionally, this social role was
perceived to be performed through an
automatic route, the situation has changed
drastically in the recent past. While the
economy changes structurally, there are likely
to be leaders and laggards in such a change.
Strategy becomes all the more important in a
discussion on inclusiveness. Indias strategy of
MSME development has broadly undergone
three generations of strategies: First, there
was the traditional strategy of protection and
reservation. This was followed by a strategy
which was closer to a rights- based approach.
Thirdly, and more recently, the country
follows a capabilities approach. Under this
approach, it is assumed that, given proper
capabilities, the country can take its MSME
sector into the mainstream of the
development agenda.
The more recent policy announcement


GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
of the Government of India provides

indication on this. On one hand, there are the
flag-ship programmes that are meant for
meeting the objectives of national policy. On
the other hand, as a corollary, there is a focus
on skilling and entrepreneurship creation.
The synergy of these two aspects is capable of
ensuring that the creativity and energies of the
people of this country, are channelized into
productive and socially meaningful activities.
The new public policy approach in India
which distinguishes between government and
governance, has much significance against
the debates on the policy process in the
country.
Studies have shown that, public policymaking in India has frequently been
characterized by a failure to anticipate needs,
impacts, or reactions which could have
reasonably been foreseen, thus impeding
economic development.
According to Agarwal and Somanathan
(2005), a good policy-making process would
meet the following criteria:(i) The problems and issues confronting a
sector are subjected to expert analysis;
(ii) Information on overlaps and trade-offs
with other sectors is systematically
gathered and made available to policymakers;
(iii) Opposing points of view within and
between sectors , are properly
articulated, analyzed and considered and
those likely to be benefited or harmed
are identified and their reactions
anticipated.
41
(iv) Those responsible for implementation

are systematically involved in the
process, but are not allowed to take
control of it.
(v) Policy-makers and/or their advisers have
the honesty, independence, intellectual
breadth and depth to properly consider
and integrate multiple perspectives and
help arrive at optimal policy choices
within a reasonable time.
The record of MSME development
initiatives in the country over the last 6 years
demonstrates the presence of varied
programmes, targeting functional areas,
subsectors and social groups. However, there
is a general perception that the benefits of the
programmes did not actually reach the
intended beneficiaries in the manner and time
they were envisage.
While there has been an accepted model
of start-up promotion around the world
today, India, with its significant demographic
dividend, needs to give top priority on
harnessing the motivational skills of the young
people, than equipping them as wage earners.
As indicated by the Union Budget and the
Economic Survey, a beginning has been made
in this direction by putting forward an
integrated approach to start-up.
Thrust on Local Manufacture
Indias backlash on the manufacturing

front ,over the last two decades, has caught
significant policy attention. The National
Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme
(NMCP) and the National Manufacturing
Policy were a response to that. However, an


42
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assertion on positioning the country as the

worlds manufacturing hub, with clear
milestones, is a remarkable development.
A New Understanding on
Skill Development
Even against the major initiatives on

technical and vocational education, the Indian
economy suffers from a serious skill-gap.
However, the dimensions of the problem have
not been holistically understood and
translated into policy interventions. Until
recently, the policy approach was essentially
one of strengthening vocational education
one of strengthening vocational education
infrastructure, and to provide add-ons to it.
A major departure from the above
approach was introduced by the Union
Budget 2014. The Budget has an integrated
view of skill development. Beyond modular
skills, it unravelled an integrated approach by
which modular and motivational skills are
harnessed side by side. The f lagship
programme, Skill India, if properly organised,
can go a long way in triggering a vigorous
start-up movement in the country.
Integrated view of
Manufacture and MSME Niche
As noted already, the National

Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme
and the National Manufacturing Policy, have
undoubtedly highlighted the importance of
boosting manufacture in the country.
However, on translating the Programme into
schemes, the record so far has not been
commendable. More recently, the
identification and thrust given to three focal
GIST OF THE YOJANA
sectors is indicative of the more concerted

effort that is likely to go into these subsectors.
They are: (1) defence production; (2)
electronics; (3) textiles.
Harnessing the Potential
of Socially Marginal Groups
Managing multiculturalism is indeed a

great challenge and opportunity in the MSME
constituency. India, as a country, and more
specifically in the rural setting, the
configurations of caste and language get
ref lected in entrprise clustering and
recruitment strategies. With Indias diverse
groups of communities from different
cultural backgrounds getting empowered and
achieving educational attainments, the
socially marginalised groups are likely to be
increasingly absorbed by the MSMEs. But how
far are MSMEs equipped to manage such
diversity? It is, at the time, a question of social
engineering and public policy.
Critical Areas of Concern
Despite all the changes, as outlined

above, there are critical areas that deserve
special mention:
1. use of knowledge for development;
2. entrepreneurship as a critical resource;
3. a massive capacity building in an
integrated manner;
4. integration of social consciousness with
a business case (eg: promotion of social
enterprises)
The rapid changes in the so called
developed economies, are associated with a
new dynamics, new rules, and new drivers for


GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
success. These countries are changing from an

industrial economy based on steel,
automobiles, and roads to a new economy
built on silicon computers and networks. The
new economy is all about competing for the
future, the capacity to create new products or
serviices, and the ability to transform
businesses into new entities.
There are some important, but
overlapping themes that differentiate the new
economy from the old. They are:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
Knowledge
Digitization
Virtualization
Molecularization
Integration/Interent working
Dis-intermediation
Convergence
Innovation
Prosumption
Globalization
Discordance, and
Boom of self-employment
In a knowledge economy, the
sustainability of MSMEs cannot be expected
on a stand-alone basis. It needs the benefits
of inter-sectoral linkages. Here, the old
concepts of development dependent
essentially on imported technology, have a
lesser role. In the new economy, space and
time are crucial, need they need be best used
through local knowledge systems. Indias track
record relating to knowledge systems specific
to the MSME sector needs much more
improvements. Such a knowledge system
43
needs to be integrated and should touch upon

and nourish the whole value chain that is
applicable to the MSMEs.
The word capacity building, in itself, is
an integrated concept. In any economy, the
prevailing features of labour market
determines the type of capacity that need to
be created. However, approaches to capacity
creation may vary.
The countr y presently faces the
challenge of a significant mismatch in the
labour market. It leads us to the imperative
for skilling Indias young population on a war
footing, so that their absorption into the
productive sectors of the economy can be
enhanced. This solid argument was put
forward by the Prime Minister, in his
Independence Day Speech last year. He
announced the flagship programme called
Skill India, which provides an outline for the
countrys labour market policy. However, the
details of such a policy need to be worked out.
The ministry for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship has been set up in
November 2014 to give fresh impetus to the
Skill India agenda and impart employable
skills to its growing workforce over the next
few decades.
It is estimated that, during the sevenyear period of2005-2012, only 2.7 million net
additional jobs were created in the country.
This indicates that the supply of wage
employment in the country is much shorter, in
relation to the demand. Therefore, at least a
part of the job seekers, given the right
motivation and orientation, can be


44
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channelized into the entrepreneurship

stream. This necessitates provision of proper
business development services (BDS), which
includes training in entrepreneurship and
mentoring as well. Recognizing the imperative
for skill development, the National Skill
Development Policy was formulated in 2009.
The National Policy on Skills and
Entrepreneurship Development 2015
supersedes the Policy of 2009. The objective of
this policy is to provide a framework for
labour market interventions at scale, with
speed, standard (quality) and sustainability. It
aims to provide an umbrella framework to all
skilling activities being carried out within the
country, to standardize them and to ensure
them that they are market-driven. In addition
to laying down the objectives and expected
outcomes, the Policy also identifies the
institutional framework which will be the
vehicles to reach the expected outcomes. Skills
development is the shared responsibility of a
multi stakeholder platform, including
government, employers and individual
workers, with NGOs, community based
organizations, private training organizations
and other stakeholders playing a critical role.
Social enterprises are defined as
enterprises that operate like a business,
produce goods and services for the market,
but manages there operations and redirects
then surpluses in pursuit of social and
environmental goals; They are revenuegenerating businesses with a twist. Whether
operated by a non-profit organization or by a
for-profit company, a social enterprise has
two goals: (1) to achieve social, cultural,
GIST OF THE YOJANA
community; economic or environmental

outcomes; and, (2) to earn revenue. On the
surface, many social enterprises look, feel,
and even operate like traditional businesses.
But looking more deeply, one discovers the
defining characteristics of the social
enterprise: the mission is at the centre of
business, with income generation playing an
important supporting role ignored (or
inadequately fulfilled) by the private or public
sectors. By using solutions to achieve not-forprofit aims, a social economy has a unique
role in creating a strong, sustainable,
prosperous and inclusive society. Defining the
limits of a social-economy sector is difficult
due to shifting politics and economics; at any
time organisations may be partly-in, partlyout, moving among sub-sectors of the social
economy.
Successful social enterprises playa role
in fulfilling governmental policy objectives by:
increasing
productivity
and
competitiveness;
contributing to socially-inclusive wealth
creation;
enabling individuals and communities to
renew local neighbourhoods;
demonstrating new ways to deliver public
services; and
developing an inclusive society and active
citizenship)
Despite Indias remarkable GDP growth
over the last two decades, one-third of the
countrys 1.2 billion population still lives
below the poverty line. Besides, more than 40
per cent of children under five are


GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
malnourished, while the World Health

Organisation says some 620 million people
are forced to defecate in the open. Therefore,
responding to these issues through socially
targeted investments, or impact investments,
is a major challenge. Social enterprises can
play a key role in Indias agenda of inclusive
developments. However, just like in many
other countries, they are not officially or
legally recognised as a sector in India, even
while they play an important part in the fight
against poverty.
While the challenges lie in defining what
a social enterprise is, once defined, it could
pave the way for strong policies to help such
businesses go from idea to innovation. This
could include investments, loans and grants
for start-ups, incentives such as tax-breaks,
subsidies on land, power and water.
Currently, most start-up social enterprises get
their funding from foreign investors.
However, there is enough capital in India,
particularly with the government and big
corporations, to act as important investors.
PRADHAN MANTRI
KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship outcome based
skill training scheme of the Government of
India. This is a skill certification and reward
scheme to enable and mobilise Indian youth
to take up outcome based skill training and
become employable. Monetary reward would
be provided to trainees through DBT after
succesful training, assessment and
certification in skill courses run by affiliated
training providers. PKJVY will impart skill/
45
training to 24 lakh persons. The scheme will

be implemented through the National Skill
Development Corporation(NSDC).AII
training and certification under Recognition of
Prior learning will be specifically oriented for
developing skills in specific growth sectors.
Objectives:
Increase productivity of the existing

workforce and align the training and
certification to the needs of the country
Incentivise youth to take up skill training by
providing monetar y Awards for Skill
Certification. Encourage standardisation in
the certification process and initiate a process
of creating a registry of skills. Candidates
undergoing skill training by authorised
institutions will be given an average monetary
reward of Rs 8,000/- per candidate.
Key Features:
Training to be done as per the

standards (National Occupational Standards NOS and Qualification packs-QPs for specific
job roles) formulated by industry. NSDC
training partners undergo due diligence
before being registered with NSDC.
Government affilliated training centres and
other training partners will be approved by
the SSCs on the basis of guidelines issued by
NSDC. Focus of training would also include
improved curricula, soft skill training,
personal grooming, behavioural change for
cleanliness and good work ethics. Reward
Money: Monetary reward for various job
roles within a sector varies as per job role
levels. Higher incentives for training in
manufacturing, construction and plumbing


46
VOL34
sectors. Awareness building and

mobilisation activities would be carried out
with the involvement of Local, State and
District Government as well as MPs to ensure
greater outreach and ownership. Third party
assessments for skill training will be done
based on national and global standards.
Trainees with prior experience or skills and
competencies will be assessed and given
monetary rewards for underging
assessments. This will be an important step
towards recognising the skills possessed by
workers working in the informal sector and
will also facilitate the process of skill
upgradation and re-skilling of the existing
workforce. Focus of RPL will be on those jobroles/sectors where it is most desired.
Eligible benificiaries:
(a) Candidate undergoing a skill

development training in an eligible sector by
an eligible training provider. (b) is certified
during the span of one year from the date of
launch of the scheme by approved assessment
agencies (c) is availing of this monetary
reward for the first and only time during the
operation of the scheme.
Mentorship programme will be created
in order to support trainees who have
successfully completed the training
programme and are in the process of looking
for employment opportunities.
SMART CITIES IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
India has finally woken up to the fact

that urban India is now growing faster than
rural India in absolute terms. Urban India
added 9.1 crore people to its population base
GIST OF THE YOJANA
during the decade 2001-20 II as compared to

rural Indias 9.0 crores. Till the launch of
JNNURM, the fund allocation for the urban
sector was insignificant as compared to the
rural sector. JNNURM brought a paradigm
shift to Indias thinking. It recognized that
urban areas played a key and central role in
Indias economic growth and development.
Cities drive economic growth in India,
generating at least two-thirds of the countrys
GDP. Unless good quality, efficient
infrastructure and services are provided in
cities, Indias economy will not be able to
achieve the ambitious GDP growth rate of 8
per cent or more.
As per the Census of India, 2011, there
are 4041 Statutory towns and 3894 Census
towns (areas declared as urban as per Census
of India definition) in the country, Nearly 70
per cent of Indias urban population lives in
urban agglomerations and cities with a
population of 100,000 or more. While most of
these cities are growing rapidly, the megacities
(5 million and above) are bursting at their
seams.
Most cities in India do not have master
plans and therefore, unplanned urbanization
is of great concern especially for provision of
infrastructure and services. Most peri-urban
areas are no governance areas as they are
neither rural nor urban. As cities expand, the
peri-urban areas, which are mostly unplanned
areas, are brought into the cities jurisdiction.
There is thus, a need for planning to precede
growth of cities, as retrofitting and
redevelopment is a much more difficult


GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
exercise. The present governments flagship

programmes - 100 Smart Cities 500 Cities
under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and
Urban Transformation (AMRUT), National
Heritage
City
Development
and
Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan, and Housing for All aim at
making cities livable, inclusive, vibrant,
technologically advanced and economically
competitive.
According to the Ministry of Urban
Development (MoUD), Government of India,
the core infrastructure elements in a smart
city would include:
i . Adequate Water Supply; ii. Assured
Electricity Supply; iii. Sanitation, including
Solid Waste Management; iv. Efficient Urban
Mobility and Public Transport; v. Affordable
housing, especially for the poor; vi. Robust IT
connectivity and digitalization; vii. Good
Governance, especially e-Governance and
citizen participation; viii. Sustainable
Environment; ix. Safety and security of
citizens, particularly women, children and the
elderly; and x. Health and Education.
Smart cities conjure up thoughts of cities
that function well and have everything going
right. Cities where all have access to basic
services, the services are efficiently provided,
the cities are clean, there is a well functioning
transport system, cycle lanes, pedestrian
paths, green lungs, water bodies, green
buildings, green energy, e-governance, use of
digital technology in daily life, efficient
information and communication systems and
so on. We need to work on all these fronts to
47
transform our cities. Smart cities must also be

ahead in visioning the future of the city and
making provisions for future expansion.
Smart cities in the Indian context must
include the following aspects: technology,
financing, data access, energy, environment,
climate change resilience, disaster risk
management, reforms, governance, and
citizen.
Technology: Digital technologies can
provide innovative and efficient solutions for
managing cities - be it for mobility (traffic and
transportation), urban planning or provision
of infrastructure and services such as water
supply, sewerage system, solid waste
management, etc. Smart cities should reduce
congestion on roads and consequently air
pollution, with co- benefits of better health
and improved quality of life.
Financing: There are numerous
technology providers, who can provide
solutions for different sectors. However,
these will need funding. Municipal
governments in many cities today are in
financial distress, unable to even maintain
basic services and pay regular salaries.
Data access: Smart cities should offer
open access to information on infrastructure
and ser vices - especially those that are
connected to citizens. This requires
generation and maintenance of standardized
information on ser vices for each city.
Technology will also enable crowd sourcing of
information that under normal circumstances
will be difficult to obtain.


48
VOL34
Energ y: Green and clean energy

(renewables), smart grids, intelligent green
buildings that optimize the use of energy and
natural resources should become the norm for
smart cities. This will also contribute to the
climate mitigation efforts and GHG emission
reduction targets that India has agreed to in
global negotiations.
Environment: Green areas that
promote bio-diversity, green areas (parks,
forests) that act as carbon sinks, open spaces
for citizens to interact with each other, clean
air, creation and preservation of water bodies
that collect rain water, recharge ground water
and also act as sponges during heavy rains
should all become the hallmark of smart cities.
Climate Change Resilience: Smart
cities should be climate resilient. This means
that right at the time of planning for smart
cities, resilience to the impacts of climate
change should be built in. In the water sector,
for instance, this would include rainwater
har vesting, recycling of wastewater,
identifying multiple sources of water supply,
recharge of aquifers, promoting water
conservation, and so on.
Disaster Risk Management: Multiple
types of disasters are striking cities with
regularity and this is likely to increase given
the climate change projections. Smart cities
need to be prepared for disaster management
at all times. The disasters could be floods,
earthquakes, fires, landslides etc.
Reforms: Urban India needs to not only
implement the reforms advocated under
JNNURM, but needs o implement the next
GIST OF THE YOJANA
generation reforms that were put together for

the next phase of JNNURM. Implementing
reforms is the only way to sustain the changes
and maintain infrastructure and services.
Governance is an extremely important
part of managing cities well. The main
difference between the developed and
developing world is not just technology, but
governance. Rules, regulations and their
enforcement play a major role in how cities
function. India has very good laws, rules and
regulations in every sphere, but has had a
very poor enforcement record. Smart cities
will require strong governance, aided by
technology. Our institutions of governance at
local level must coordinate and cooperate
with each other and not work in silos, as they
do today in most cases. There must be
information sharing between agencies and
departments to improve governance.
One of the major problems in bringing
about any change in Indian cities is the
capacity of institutions and individuals is to
adapt to and manage change. New
technologies and new ways of functioning will
require new knowledge and skills. Governance
can be improved only when providing such
knowledge and skills to the city functionaries
becomes a regular and an on-going activity.
Citizens are central to the success of
managing any city. The administration can and
must create avenues for citizen participation
in every sector and every area. Smart cities
must have a governance structure that
encourages citizens participation. This will
make citizens own the city and be a part of its


GIST OF THE YOJANA
VOL34
decision making. However, citizens must also

be made responsible for maintaining the
infrastructure and services. Providing hightech solutions in smart cities will require
information, education and communication
(IEC) to change citizens behavior and
response. The behavior can also be changed
by enforcement of laws and regulations.
Technology should empower citizens
with information that is useful and usable.
Smart cities should make information
accessible to all citizens via mobile phones,
computers, information kiosks, etc.
India is a vast country and diverse in
terms of geography, culture and levels of
development. The diversity of the country
should be taken into account while planning
smart cities. The one size fits all solutions will
not produce the desired results. We also need
49
to give importance to indigenous knowledge

and local solutions.
In Indias quest for Smart cities,
examples have been cited of Singapore,
Vienna (Austria), Songdo (Korea), Barcelona
(Spain), to name a few. While India can look at
the developed nations for inspiration, it must
find its own solutions to make cities
technologically advanced and make them
function well. Sustainable development and
sustainable solutions should be the ultimate
goal of developing smart cities. Unless we can
improve governance and change peoples
mindset and behavior, we may not be able to
achieve our dream of making Indias cities like
the smart cities of the world. We may be able
to create smart cities, but we need to
transform governance so that these cities do
not revert back to the current state. We need
to prepare everyone for the change.

http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/test-series/online-ias-pre

50
Gist of
VOL34
Kurukshetra
CROP INSURANCE SCHEMES FOR

FARMERS NEED FOR FOCUSED ATTENTION
In the context of annual feature of

drought and flood in one or the other parts of
the country, cllmate change and sustainable
food security agricultural insurance has been
a sine qua non. Despite farmers access to
yield-sustaining agricultural technology and
institutional credit unpredictability in crop
output stems from pestilence, price volatility
in markets and natural disasters. In India,
about 90 percent of the variation in
production is caused by changes in rainfall
patterns. Agricultural Insurance Company of
India implements crop insurance scheme to
protect farmers from agricultural variability,
mainly weather-induced. The scheme based
on Area Approach is implemented in 25
states and two union territories. The scheme
is offered to all farmers, loanee and nonloanee, irrespective of their size of holding.
National Crop Insurance Programme
(NCIP): The NCIP launched in 2013 has unit
area of insurance reduced to the village/village
panchayat level. It helps farmers to
compensate losses in crop yield, maintain
credit flow and adopt latest agricultural
technology.
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
It has three components.
(A) Modified National Agricultural Insurance

Scheme (MNAIS).
(B) Weather Based Crop insurance Scheme
(WBCIS).
(C) Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS).
Modified National Agriculture
Insurance Scheme:
Based on the recommendations of the
Joint Group constituted in 2004, to suggest
improvements in the existing crop insurance
scheme, a pilot project on MNAIS was
implemented in 50 districts from 2010-11
Rabi season.
The major improvements of MNAIS
over NAIS include: Reduction in unit area of Insurance to
village/village panchayat.
Charging actuarial premium rates for
insuring crops.
Involving private insurance companies.
Increasing subsidy in premium up to 75
percent.
More realistic calculation of threshold
yield (average yield of last 7 years
excluding up to two years of declared
natural calamity).
Minimum indemnity level of 70 percent
instead of 60 percent in NAIS.
Payment up to 25 percent of likely claims
in advance to provide immediate relief
to farmers during adverse season.
Individual assessment of claims in case
of specified localized calamity like the
hailstorm or landslide.


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
Uniform norms for both loanee and non

loanee farmers.
It covers three types of crops.
(A) Food crops which include cereals, millets
and pulses.
(B) Oilseeds
(C) Annual Commercial/ Horticultural crops.
The state government notifies specified
crops for which data on yield are
available for adequate number of years.
Broadly, the scheme covers three stages
of crop production. They are as follows:[A] Stage 1: Planting or sowing. Whether the
crop was prevented from planting/
sowing due to deficit rainfalls and adverse
seasonal conditions.
[B] Stage 2: Covering standing crops which
got damaged due to unoreventable risks
such as drought, flood, infestation of
pests, landslides, wildfire, storms,
cyclones etc.
[C] Stage 3: The time period of two weeks
after harvesting, when the crops are
allowed to dry in field but get damaged/
destroyed because of cyclonic rains,
hailstorms etc.
Premium is calculated on actuarial basis
implying that there is higher premium for
riskier crops. When a farmer pays actuarial
premium to insure crops, the entire liability of
claim is on insurer. Insurance companies have
to define the premium rates for notified crops
in accordance with the prescribed standard
actuarial methodology of the IRDA .
Government has, however, put a cap on
maximum premium to be collected, viz. [a] 11
51
percent for Kharif sea-son [b] 9 per cent for

Rabi food crops [c] 13 percent for annual
commercial crops and horticultural crops.
The subsidy is as follows:
If premium is less than 2 per cent of sum
assured - No subsidy provided
If Premium is between 2-5 percent,
subsidy provided is 40 per cent
If premium is between 5-10 percent,
subsidy provided is 50 per cent
If premium is between 10-15 percent,
subsidy provided is 60 percent
If premium is above 15 per cent, subsidy
provided is 75 percent
Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme:
For bringing more farmers under crop
insurance and overcoming the shortcomings,
particularly claim- amount and delaying
settlement of claims under NAIS, a pilot
project on WBCIS was implemented in 20
States in 2007-08 and now it is implemented
as full-fledged component of NCIP from Rabi
2013-14 season. WBCIS intends to provide
insurance protection to the farmers against
adverse weather incidence, such as deficient/
excess rainfall, high or low temperature,
humidity etc., which can impact crop
production. WBCIS envisages charging
actuarial rates of premium.
Often weather conditions vary within a
taluka/ sub-district making it difficult to
assess insurance claims and estimate crop
yields. Taking the public- private-partnerships
funding model to help farmers. Maharashtra
government has proposed a network of 2025
automatic weather stations in the state. Each


52
VOL34
weather station would record, weather

parameters like air temperature, relative
humidity wind speed and direction, rainfall
and solar radiation etc. Analysis of weather
data would help settle insurance claims, advice
farmers on crop patterns, develop pest and
disease forewarning models and rainfall
forecast. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
have established state-wide weather stations
to assist farmers and settle insurance claims.
Malawi has demonstrated successful
experiment on weather-based crop insurance.
Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme: There
is a separate insurance scheme for coconut
palm growers because of reasons viz. coconut
is cultivated under rain-fed conditions and is
susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Although it is a perennial crop its cultivation
is subjected to risks because of climatic
changes. natural disasters, pests and diseases
etc. Palm trees are characterized by periodic
system of crop setting and outcomes and
hence resemble seasonal annual crops. CPIS
which was implemented as pilot project from
2009-10, in the selected areas of Andhra
Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengalis is now Implemented by the Coconut
Development Board [COB] as a full-fledged
scheme in all coconut growing states.
Despite of the launch of various crop
insurance schemes, it seems very limited
purpose has been served. The coverage in
terms of area, number of farmers and value of
agricultural output is very small, payment of
indemnity based on area approach miss
affected farmers outside the compensated
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
area, and schemes are not financially

sustainable. Some micro-finance institutes
[MFI] offer micro-insurance to protect life,
health and assets of low-income households in
urban areas, but not in rural areas. Though
micro-insurance has the potential to lift poor
out of poverty and improve quality of human
life it has yet to make a determined
penetration in rural areas on the expected
scale on par with microcredit.
Following are the aspects that need
focused attention.
There should be concern and
commitment to ensure that the scheme
penetrates widely and covers large
number of farmers. A massive campaign
is necessary to create awareness among
farmers, convince them about the utility
of the schemes and the procedure for
settlement of claims. A road map should
be prepared to ensure that progressively
all farmers are covered in a period of five
years.
Insurance products must be farmerfriendly and they need to be designed in
consultation with them taking account of
the current experiences. Research studies
need to be intensified to understand as
to why the schemes have not been
reaching to the intended beneficiaries
despite subsidizing them.
Farmers should be encouraged to share
their experiences among them.
Public and private companies must
devote more resources [money,
manpower and time] to design the


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
insurance products best suited to

farmers according to the distinct agroecological regions rather than one-sizefits -all.
India can share its experiences and learn
from several other developing and
developed countries to improve the
agricultural insurance products and
marketing techniques among farmers.
PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAYEE
YOJANA (PMKSY)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister
Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to
a new scheme the Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). It will have an
outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore over a period of
five years(2015-16 to 2019-20). The
allocation for the current financial year is Rs.
5300 crore. The major objective of the
PMKSY is to achieve convergence of
investments in irrigation at the held level,
expand cultivable area under assured
irrigation (Har Khet ko pani), improve onfarm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of
water, enhance the adoption of precisionirrigation and other water saving technologies
(More crop per drop), enhance recharge of
aquifers and introduce sustainable water
conser vation practices by exploring the
feasibility of reusing treated municipal based
water for peri-urban agriculture and attract
greater private investment in precision
irrigation system. The, programme
architecture of PMKSY aims at a
decentralized State level planning and
execution structure, in order to allow States to
53
draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a

State Irrigation Plan (SIP). DIP will have
holistic developmental perspective of the
district outlining medium to long term
developmental plans integrating three
components namely, water sources,
distribution network and water use
application of the district to be prepared at
two levels - the block and the district. All
structures created under the schemes will be
geotagged.
In the last one year, the Government of
India has taken several farmer friendly
initiatives. These, amongst other things,
include the following:
A new scheme has been introduced to
issue a Soil Health Card to every farmer.
Soil Health Management in the country
is being promoted through setting up of
soil and fertilizer testing laboratories. 34
lakh soil samples has been collected and
analysis is continuing.
A new scheme for promoting organic
farming Pramparagat Krishi Vikas
Yojana has been launched to promote
organic farming.
A dedicated kisan channel has been
started by Doordarshan to address
various issues concerning farmers.
Government is also encouraging
formation of Farmer Producer
organizations.
Assistance to farmers, as input subsidy,
has been increased by 50 percent in case
of natural calamities.
Norms have been relaxed to provide


54
VOL34
assistance from previous norm of crop

loss of more than 50 percent to 33 percent
to farmers afflicted by natural calamities.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) for
various kharif crops has been increased
Bonus of Rs. 200 per quintal has been
announced for pulses. Area coverage
under pulses has increased over the last
year.
Taking it further, today the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by
the Prime Minister has given its approval to
two new schemes in agriculture sector. These
are the PMKSY and Promotion of National
Agriculture Market.
BIO-PESTICIDES: THE REAL NEED FOR
ECO-FRIENDLY PEST MANAGEMENT
Agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood

and continues to be the backbone of Indian
economy. It is the single largest sector which
provides direct or indirect livelihood to more
than 70 per cent of Indias population.
Besides, it contributes to 1j5th of the total
gross domestic product (GDP), employment
to 69 per cent of total workforce, 10 per cent
of the total export earnings and raw material
to a large number of Industries.
Insect pests and diseases continue to be
one of the major constraints for optimum
crop productivity. More than 30 per cent of
the crops are lost after being affected by
insects and diseases.
According to reports, Indian food
products have 2 per cent more pesticide
residues over tolerance level as compared to
2.5 percent globally, resulting in rejection of
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
agricultural expo to the tune of Rs 4 to 5

thousand crore annually.
Bio-pesticides are the products derived
from biological sources rightly termed as
Crop Health Products and are emerging as
new crop protection strategy. Three broad
groups of biological origin are included under
bio-pesticides viz. Bio-chemical pesticides
(e.g. Plant products like neem, begunia etc.
and pheromones), bio-control agents
(predators, parasites etc and rnicrobials e.g.
bacteria, fungi, viruses etc.), and genetically
modified plants created by incorporation of
gene. These bio-pesticides when used as a
component of IPM for management of pests
in all crops or used singly in organic farming
for management of pests in medicinal crops,
spices and some export oriented crops are
cheaper than chemical pesticides by 40-50per
cent.
Plant bio Pesticides
Plants (either their extracts of parts or

oils or oilcake etc.) which are used as biopesticides are neern, mahaneem, Karanja,
Begunia, Mahua, custard apple, tulsi,
chrysanthemum, rvania, sabadila, Thuja
tobacco piper, onion, garlic, zinger, turmeric
eucalyptus, palma rosa, lemongrass, clove,
ginger, garlic, citronella, castor etc. These
plants contain alkaloids, limonoids
(terpinoids) and isoflavonoids which act as
pesticides.
Bio-chemical pesticides are natural
occurring substances such as insect sex
pheromones that interfere with mating as well
as various scented plant extracts that attract


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
insect pests to traps. Phenomones can manage

insect pest by mass trapping, monitoring
mating disruption and auto confusion
techniques.
Use of Natural Enemies
Use of natural enemies e.g. parasitoids,

predators and pathogens for management of
pests is otherwise known as biological control.
It also refers to the various activities of man
which enhances the efficiency of the natural
enemies already present in the eco-system.
The various techniques of bio-control are
conservation, augmentation and importation.
Conservation refers to actions to preserve
and increase the natural enemies by
environmental manipulation like avoiding
cultural practices and use of selective
insecticides which are harmful to NES, use of
appropriate practices which favours the
survival and multiplication of natural
enemies, providing of alternate hosts, refusia,
food like pollen and nectar for adult stages of
NES, increased environmental opportunities
by increasing bio-diversity etc.
Augmentation refers to the activities
designed to increase the natural enemy
population either by propagation and release
or by environmental manipulation. It is of two
types viz. inoculative release where control is
expected from the progeny and subsequent
generations and not from release itself and
innundative release which involve mass
culture and release of natural enemies to
suppress pests that have only one or a few
generation per year.
Trichogramma is the excellent egg
55
parasite which s been successfully employed

to manage lepidopterous insects in rice,
sugarcane, cotton, pulses vegetables like okra,
brinjal, tomato etc. and bracon and goniozus
has successfully managed coconut black
headed caterpillar predator which is usually
larger and stronger they and they catch and
kill a large number of prey.
Among a wide group of entomogenous
bacteria, the crystalliferous spore forming,
rod shaped, gram positive bacteria Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) proved as potential biopesticide which has gained popularity
worldwide. The most prominent Bt product is
BTK.
The
recently
discovered
cephalogregarine, Gregarina attack nyumphs
and adults of 15 species of grasshoppers.
Sporozoa and cnidospora are the protozoans
which multiply inter/ intracellularly in the
host and kill them. Till date protozoans,
rickett sials and nematodes have not been
exploited properly for management of insect
pests.
Genetically modified plants have created
by incorporating Bt gene into the cells of
cotton, Brinjal, rice, tobacco, tomato etc to
manage bollworm complex, fruit and shoot
borer, yellow stemborer, tobacco caterpillar
and fruit borer respectively. Now GM plants
of Bt cotton are successfully cultivated by
managing bollworm complex in cotton in India
and GM plants of other crops have been
successfully cultivated in USA and European
countries by controlling the lopidopterous
insects of the crops.


56
VOL34
Implementation of Insecticides Act, 19G8
Government of India has already

included as many as 45 bio- pesticides in the
schedule to the insecticides Act, 1968 and 18
bio-pesticides have already been registered by
the registration committee constituted u/s 5
of the Insecticides Act 1968 for use in the
country. However all the producers of Biopesticides, irrespective of private or
Government organization are required to
have registration of their products under the
provisions of the insecticide Act 1968.
But unfortunately it has been brought to
the notice-of the Govt. of India that many
state Agriculture Universities, Krishi Vigyan
Kendra, non-Govt. and other private
organization are producing bio-pesticides
without obtaining registration from the
registration committee constituted u/s 5 of
the Insecticides Act 1968 and manufacturing
licenses from the licensing authority of the
concerned state which is against the law and
the insecticides Act. Hence to produce and
provide quality bio-pesticides (as per the
policy of Govt. of India) to the farmers,
research organization, institution of State
Govt., all the organizations irrespective of
Private and Govt. engaged in production of
bio-pesticides should take necessary and
pertinent steps for registration of biopesticides as per the insecticides Act 1968.
Future thrust and needs
Research on the bio-ecology of pests and

their natural enemies including
pathogens should be intensified and
strengthened.
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
Genetic variability of natural enemies viz.

Predator, parasites and microbial
pathogens need to be identified.
Net work of bio-pesticide industries
should e established and strengthened for
proper availability of microbial
preparations and bio-agents viz.
predators / parasites.
Due to growing concern for the
consequences of Chemical pesticides, biopesticides has a tremendous scope in
environment friendly pest management in
spite of some disadvantages. It is now deemed
necessar y to impart special emphasis at
Institutional level on development of biocontrol agents. (Parasites, predatons,
microbials), plant based pesticides,
pheromones, suitable genetically modified
plants and their use at farmers door step.
Rich diversity of micro-f lora for
standardization and use of plant products and
microfauna for bio-control agents (parasites,
predators, microbials like bacteria, virus and
fungi) in the Indian subcontinent provides
excellent opportunities for development and
use of bio-pesticides for eco-friendly
biointensive based pest-management for
sustainable and organic crop production.
LAND AND WATER
CONSERVATION: NEED OF THE HOUR
Agriculture and allied sectors accounted

for 13.7% of the GDP (Gross Domestic
Product) in 2013 and near about sixty percent
of population depend on this sector.
India exported $39 billion worth of


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
agricultural products in 2013, making it the

seventh largest agricultural exporter
worldwide, but inspite of that economic
contribution of agriculture to Indias GDP it is
steadily declining, which shows there are some
gaps in achieving desired output by agriculture
sector. Agriculture production depends on
land, labour capital availability. Latter factors
are only effective, if land is suitable for
cultivation. To overcome this problem is
urgent need of land and water management.
Real Problem
Land and water management comprises

of two components soil conservation and
water conservation. Both are regarded as
important but soil conservation is of primary
concern because in India, nearly 80 million
hectare area is exposed to the threat of soil
erosion, and 43 million hectares area is
actually affected. In states like Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Punjab,
up to 15 percent of the total land suffers from
soil erosion. It is reported that the annual loss
of fertility by erosion is 20 times faster than
what is lost by growing crops. Each year more
than, 10,000 hectares area is exposed to
erosion. Nearly 147 million hectare area in
India is in need of conservation measures.
Data reveals that130 million hectares of
land, that is, 45 % of total geographical
surface area, is under soil erosion through
gorge and gully, shifting cultivation,
cultivated wastelands, sandy areas, deserts
and water logging, severe landslides and
floods, due to cutting of trees for agricultural
implements, firewood and timber; grazing by
a large number of livestock over and above
57
the carr ying capacity of grass lands,

traditional agricultural practices, construction
of roads, indiscriminate quarrying and other
activities. Wind erosion is important cause for
expansion of deserts, dust, storms,
whirlwinds and destruction of crops.
Soil Erosion in Indian Forests
Soil assessment is done dividing soil into

different zones which reveals that much
erosion is occurring in the central zone and
eastern zone of the country. Some problems
are common ever y where but others are
confined to specific physiographic conditions
or in particular geological formations.
Northern and central zones have almost
identical patterns in the soil eroding and biodegrading forces. Eastern zone suffers from
shifting cultivation and excessive rainfall.
Western zone suffers due to aridity.
Table 1: NBSS&LUP soil degradation classes,
derived from 1 : 250,000 soil map (1985-1995)
Class
Area (in M Ha)
Water Erosion
Loss of top soil
Terrain deformation
Wind Erosion
Loss of top soil
Loss of tap soil/terrain deformation
Terrain deformation/Owerblowing
Chemical Deterioation
Salinization
Loss of nutriend-act soils
Physical Deterioation
Waterlogging
Othes
Ice caps/ Rock Outcrops/Arid Mountains
Total
83.31
10.37
4.35
3.24
1.89
5.89
16.03
14.29
8.38
147.75
Source: NBSS&LUP. 2004


58
VOL34
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
Types of Erosion by Water
1. Splash Erosion: When falling raindrops

splash on the soil, and impact the bare
soil into flowing mud.
2. Sheet Erosion: When soil is removed
uniformly in a thin layer from the entire
surface area, mainly occurs after splash
erosion.
3. Rill Erosion: An intermediate stage
between sheet erosion and gulley erosion
which occurs when the run-off water,
laden with soil flowing along the slopes,
forms fingerlike channels.
4. Gully Erosion: When volume of
concentrated run-off increases and
attains more velocity on slopes, it
converts itself from rill into gullies.
Ravines, is an advanced stage, in India
ravines cover about 10 million hectares.
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh are
famous for this problem.
5. Slip Erosion: Landslides cause slip
erosion-big masses of soil and rock slip
down.
6. Stream Bank Erosion: Streams and
rivers change their courses by cutting one
bank and depositing the silt loads on the
others. Meanders and Ox flow lakes
sometimes formed in this process.
7. Sea Shore Erosion: Caused by striking
action of strong waves.
Factors Influencing Soil Erosion
1. Rainfall: Erosion is dependent on the

amount, duration, intensity and
frequency of rainfall. In short, by action
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
of rain drops on soil, soil granules are

loosened, detached and separated into
fine particles. Short time period rainfall
with high intensity cause more erosion.
Slope: Erosion increases with slope.
Vegetation cover: Vegetative cover
protects the soil from the impact and
dispersing action of the raindrops and
acts as a mechanical obstruction to
flowing water structure, in addition to
absorption and reduction of surface runoff.
Tillage: Infiltration and permeability of
the soil is improved by the practice of
proper tillage but excessive tillage expose
soil to wind erosion.
Nature of the Soil: Erodability of the
soil depends on nature of the soil,
particularly its texture, structure,
organic matter, amounts and
combination of salts present, presence of
hard pan in the soil and presence of high
water table.
Soil Moisture: High water table means
low infiltration and permeability,
resulting in more surface runoff, and
more erosion buton other part deficit
rainfall cause loosening of soil enhancing
rate of erosion by wind.
Wind Velocity: Greater erosive
potential, is due to strong wind with high
velocity.
INNOVATIONS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
NEEDED TO ACCELERATE
AGRICULTURE GROWTH
Agriculture needs continuous infusion of

innovation and technology in ensuring global


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
food security, poverty reduction and

environmental sustainability. Socio-economic
and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, released in
2015 also indicates that out of 24.39 crore
households in the country, 17.91 crore lived in
village and among these, 10.39 crore were
considered as deprived household.
Agriculture is still the backbone of rural India
as the data of SECC indicates that 31.26 per
cent of the total rural households are still
broadly identified as poor where the main
earner has an insecure and uncertain source
of income. Increasing urbanization,
globalization and demand for high-value
products have dramatically changed the global
context for agriculture. Agriculture is critical
for those who live below the poverty line, as
there is an uncertainty from the harvesting
point of view.
According to the world bank, gross
domestic product (GDP) growth originating in
agriculture raises the incomes of the poorest
households by at least 2.5 times as much as
growth in other sectors does. Over the years,
one of the issues in Indian agriculture is the
declining profitability of most of the
agricultural crops and enterprise which is the
main cause of alienation of the people from
this crucial sector. There are number of
factors responsible for the gloom on the faces
of the farming community. The real prices of
agricultural commodities are not increasing in
true with the increasing costs of critical inputs
such as lobur, fertilizers etc. that have been
mianly responsible for the declining
profitability in agricultural. The next
59
challenge is the shortage of quality seeds to

achieve the yield potential in different crops.
On an average, rice and wheat yields will
need to be enhanced by about 40 percent and
pulses, oilseeds, maize, millets, sorghum and
horticultural commodities yields by about 50
to 100 percent. The other challenges are
inefficiency in irrigation, lack of
mechanization, soil erosion, degradation in
soil health, post harvest losses in crops, and
inefficiency in agricultural marketing system
among others.
Irrigation is the most important element
in agricultural process. And judicious use of
available water resource is the need of the
hour. As per official data, around 46.34 per
cent of Indians net sown area of around
140.80 million hectares was under irrigation
till 2011 2012. In crops such as oilseeds,
pulses and coarse, only 26 per cent, 16.2 per
cent and 14.4 per cent respectively, is under
irrigation out of the total area under
cultivation. In food grain such as wheat and
rice, it is slightly better and of the total area
under cultivation around 48 per cent is
irrigated. To achieve the target of total
irrigation, a massive fund infusion would be
needed. Experts estimate it to be in excess of
Rs 50, 000 crore. The NDA Government has
allocated about Rs 5, 300 crore for the
programme in the Union Budget 2015-16,
while in the previous year Rs 1, 000 crore was
allocated. The state-run National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)
has set a target of providing Rs 30, 000 crore
as credit to farmers for irrigation over the


60
VOL34
next three year. Water use efficiency is

presently estimated to be only 38 to 40 per
cent for canal irrigation schemes.
Irrigation efficiency in agriculture can be
improved by adoption of modern methods of
irrigation to achieve the goal of more crop per
drop of water. In our country, the area
covered under micro irrigation is about 5 lakh
hectares. The states which are leading on the
micro-irrigation front are, Maharashtra,
followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu. Micro irrigation is very popular
in 30 different crops especially in wide spaced
horticultural crops. Drip irrigation in an
effective tool for conserving water saving
ranging between 25 and 50 per cent by drip
irrigation compared with surface irrigation,
with yield increases as high as 100 per cent in
some crops under specific locations.
Horticulture has become a key driver
for economic development in many states in
the country. It contributes 30.4 per cent to
GDP of agriculture from nearly 13% of the
total cropped are and support nearly 20% of
the agricultural labour force. India is the
second largest producer of fruits (88.97
million metric tons) and vegetables (162.89
million metric tons) in the world after China
during 2013-14. Horticulture production
(268.9 million metric tons) surpassed food
grain output (257 million metric tons) for the
first time in 2012-13 which continued in 201314, with horticulture production of 277.4
million metric tons in comparison to food
grain production of 265 million metric tones.
During 2014-15, India exported fruits and
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
vegetables worth Rs. 7474.14 crores. One

heartening sign is that the percentage share of
calorie intake form fruits and vegetables has
increased form 6.9 per cent in 2004-05 to 7.0
per cent in 2009-10 in rural areas during the
corresponding period.
Protected cultivation is a high-teach
cultivation which result in 5 to 12 times higher
out put than cultivation in the open field.
Presently, there is nearly 623, 302 hectares of
area under protected cultivation in the world.
In India, protected cultivation under
playhouses is approximately 25, 000 hectares
which is negligible in comparison to some to
the leading countries in the field of protected
cultivation. States link Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab,
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have consistently
expanded the area under protected
cultivation. Maharashtra and Gujarat had a
cumulative area of 5, 730.23 hectares and 4,
720.72 hectares respectively. The major crops
grown in the protected cultivation are tomato,
capsicum, cucumber, melons, rose, gerbera,
carnation and chrysanthemum. Floriculture is
one such venture which needs high tech
protected environment. On the other hand,
there are some crops which can also be grown
in the open field conditions. But, floriculture
is also technology deficient as the farmers are
not able to realize the complete potential of
the acreage under floriculture.
Agro-food processing is very important
for creating value addition in our agricultural
produce which will help in creating higher
value for our agricultural produce and also


GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
VOL34
create enormous job opportunities for the

rural youth.
The total valuation of the food
processing industry is expected to reach US
194 billion by 2015 from a value of US 121
billion in 2012. The net export of processed
food is expected to outreach its present value
of US 43 billion. This sector directly employs
13 million and 35 million people are indirectly
involved. Food processing and value addition
are other major grey areas which can create a
boom in the employment. Our country has
not utililzed this huge untapped potential.
Food processing can reduce the huge losses of
55, 000 crores in food grains, fruits and
vegetables.
Need to focus on Soil Health
Soil health is of paramount importance

to realize the sustainable potential of
productivity of cultivable crops. This can be
achieved by efficient use of nutrients in the
crops and with the right mix of inorganic and
organic sources of nutrition. Generally, NPK
consumption ration of 4:2:1 is considered as
desirable based on recommendation of
120:60:30 NPK kg/ha dose (4:2:1) for wheat/
rice. There is a wide NPK use ration in
Northern Zone (13.5: 4.3:1), while it is
narrower is southern Zone (2.9: 1.6: 1). It is
5.6: 3.3: 1 in Western Zone and 5.0: 2.4: 1 in
the Eastern Zone. The NPK ration also shows
wide variations from state to state. While
impressive strides in agricultural production
have been made, consumption of NPK
fertilizer has increased 28.10 million tons per
year. It is assessed that in the country 10
61
million tons of plant nutrients are removed by

various crops in excess to what is being
applied in the form of fertilizers. There are
about 12 crore farm holding in the country,
soil analyzing capacity of 4 crore samples is
required annually to enable analysis of each
holding one in three years. This requires a
massive expansion in soil testing programme
in all parts of the country. There were 1049
soil testing laboratories in 2010-11 with
annual analyzing capacity of 1.07 crore
samples. As a result, 0.74 crore soil health
cards were issued to farmers during 2010-11.
Keeping this in view, a centrally sponsored
scheme National Project on Management of
Soil Health and Fertility (NPMSHF) was
launched in 2008-09. In addition, states are
availing substantial resources for soil testing
progrmmme under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas
Yojana (RKVY) and Macro Management of
Agriculture (MMA). The present Central
Government plans to equip 14 crore farmers
with the soil health cards in the next three
years.
Our system of marking also needs major
technology and capital inter vention to
modernize and unify the marking network in
different parts of the countr y. Such
interventions will help to raise the income of
the farmers, reduce the post-harvest losses in
the crops and will also help in moderate the
prices of the different commodities. Our
country incurs too much wastage of its farm
produce due to inefficient and antiquated
marketing practices. Markets in the
agriculture products are regulated under the


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Agriculture Products Market Committee Act

enacted by state governments. There is need
to unify the marketing system as different
Agriculture Produce Market Committee have
multiplicity of fees and taxes which had a
cascading impact on the prices of a
commodity when it passes through the supply
chain. These charges could be as high as 14.5
per cent in Andhra Pradesh, excluding state
value-added tax and close to 10 per cent in
Odisha and Punjab.
There are 2,477 principal regulated
markets based on geography, called
agriculture produce market committee and 4,
843 sub-market yards regulated by the
respective APMCs in India. Central
Government has allocated Rs. 200 crore to the
newly created Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund,
which would support online integration of
585 Agricultural Produce Market Committee
(APMC) Marketing yards in the next three
years. Further, Government has cleared last
week with an outlay of Rs 5, 000 crore for the
next five years. Marketing system can be
unified through online agri-trade in which
Karnataka has done exemplary work. The
state has integrated 55 mandis with trade to
the tune of Rs 8, 5000 crore. The Centers
proposed Online National Agriculture Market
(NAM) will adopt many of the best practices
from this model but also look at similar
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
reform initiatives in other states to

incorporate the same into its design. The
Central Governments proposed online agritrade platform will initially integrate 585
marking yards across the country.
Need to Modernize Technology Transfer Tools
Technology transfer in agriculture

should focus on key interventions at different
stages of the crop starting from land
preparation to sowing of the seed, crop
protection, har vesting, post-har vest
management and marketing. Technology
transfer need effective interactive groups at
grass root level in the villages. These groups
should become tool of disseminating
information about various government
sponsored schemes and these entities will
help in liaising with various Govt.
departments for developmental activities. A
comprehensive
Kisan
knowledge
Management System (KKMS) should be
developed to provide and disseminate
information related to the modern
technology, modern farm implements, best
agricultural practices and post-har vest
management including market information.
Dissemination of crucial information related
to weather data and agro climatic conditions,
prices of agriculture produce is needed to the
farmers at regular basis.

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Gist of
GIST OF THE PIB
VOL34
The PIB
WEB-BASED PORTAL VIZ. VIDYA LAKSHMI
A web-based portal viz. Vidya Lakshmi

(www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) was launched on the
occasion of Independence Day i.e. 15th August,
2015 for the benefit of students seeking
Educational Loans. The Portal has been
developed and maintained by NSDL eGovernance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL eGov) under the guidance of Department of
Financial Services, Ministry of Finance,
Department of Higher Education, Ministry of
Human Resource Development and Indian
Banks Association (IBA).
Earlier the Union Finance Minister Shri
Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget for 2015-16
inter-alia had proposed to set-up a fully IT
based Student Financial Aid Authority to
administer and monitor Scholarship as well as
Educational Loan Schemes, through the
Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram
(PMVLK) to ensure that no student misses out
on higher education for lack of funds. The
launch of the aforesaid Portal is a first step
towards achieving this objective,
Vidya Lakshmi Portal is a first of its kind
portal providing single window for Students to
access information and make application for
63
Educational Loans provided by Banks as also

Government Scholarships. The Portal has the
following features:
Information about Educational Loan
Schemes of Banks;
Common Educational Loan Application
Form for Students;
Facility to apply to multiple Banks for
Educational Loans;
Facility for Banks to download Students
Loan Applications;
Facility for Banks to upload loan
processing status;
Facility for Students to email grievances/
queries relating to Educational
Loans to Banks;
Dashboard facility for Students to view
status of their loan application and
Linkage to National Scholarship Portal
for information and application for
Government Scholarships.
So far, 13 Banks have registered 22
Educational Loan Schemes on the Vidya
Lakshmi Portal and 5 Banks viz; SBI, IDBI
Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank & Union
Bank of India have integrated their system
with the Portal for providing loan processing
status to students. This initiative aims to
bring on board all Banks providing
Educational Loans. It is expected that students
throughout the country will be benefited by
this initiative of the Government by making
available a single window for access to
various Educational Loan Schemes of all
Banks.


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VOL34
GOVERNMENT FORMULATES
POLICY TO PROMOTE
E-MARKETING OF HANDLOOM PRODUCTS
The Government of India has launched a

policy framework to promote e-marketing of
handloom products, in order to promote
marketing of handlooms in general and to
reach the younger customers in particular.
The policy framework has been developed by
the Office of Development Commissioner
(Handlooms) under the Ministry of Textiles,
with the key objectives of promoting the
interests of both producers and consumers of
handloom products. Under the policy
framework, the Office of DC (Handlooms)
would collaborate with approved e-commerce
entities in promoting e-marketing of
handloom products, in a transparent,
competitive and effective manner. Any ecommerce entity willing to work for
promotion of online marketing of handloom
products in collaboration with the Office may
apply for the same. The application will be
scrutinized by a specially constituted
Committee. After satisfying itself about the
track record and turnover of the applicant,
the
committee
would
give
its
recommendations, keeping in view the
handloom fabric producing areas proposed to
be covered through e-marketing and the
proposed rollout plan. Decision on the
application will be taken after duly
considering the recommendations of the
committee. Processing of applications will be
completed within three weeks.
An e-commerce entity approved by the
Office would be required to make priority
display of handloom products on its home
GIST OF THE PIB
page, leading to an exclusive section for

certified/branded handloom products
carrying either India Handloom brand or
Handloom mark. The framework specifies a
ceiling for the service charges that can be
levied by the entity. The entity would also be
required to comply with any other guidelines/
conditions notified by the Office of DC
(Handlooms) in the interest of handloom
producers/weavers.
Office of DC (Handlooms) will promote
marketing of handloom products in
collaboration with approved e-commerce
entities through the following interventions:
The name and other details of approved
e-commerce entities will be displayed on
the web site of DC (Handlooms) and will
also be disseminated through its Weavers
Service Centres and State Governments.
Need based awareness generation
activities will be undertaken through
Weavers Service Centres and prominent
handloom clusters for dissemination of
e-commerce facilities available for the
handloom weavers/producers.
Brief details of premium traditional
handloom products would be posted on
the web site of DC (Handlooms) which
can be referred by approved e-commerce
entities in their product catalogues for
disseminating the information to
customers.
Subject to availability, office space and
IT infrastructure would be made
available to approved e-commerce
entities in Weavers Service Centres,


GIST OF THE PIB
VOL34
Common Facility Centres and handloom

clusters for handholding and supporting
the weavers and weaver entrepreneurs
in availing e-commerce facilities.
The policy frame work would be
reviewed from time to time as per field
requirements and the experience gained, for
safeguarding the interest of the primary
producers of handloom products and
consumers. The policy would provide a fillip to
the handloom sector, complementing recent
initiatives of the Government to promote
handlooms of India, such as the observance of
National Handloom Day and launch of India
Handloom brand.
DRONACHARYA AWARDS, DHYAN CHAND
AWARDS AND RASHTRIYA KHEL
PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR 2015
The Dronacharya Award, instituted in

1985, are given to honour eminent Coaches
who have successfully trained sportspersons
or teams and enabled them to achieve
outstanding results in international
competitions. Dhyan Chand Award for
Lifetime Achievements in Sports and Games,
instituted in the year 2002, is given to honour
those sportspersons who have contributed to
sports by their performance and continue to
contribute to the promotion of sports even
after their retirement from active sporting
career.
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar,
introduced in 2009, are given to entities, both
in public sector and private sector and nongovernmental organizations, with a view to
recognizing the contribution made to sports
65
development. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan

Puruskar has four categories, namely,
Identification and nurturing of budding/
young talent, Encouragement to sports
through Corporate Social Responsibility,
Employment of sports persons and sports
welfare measures and Sports for
Development. Based on the recommendations
of the Committee and after due scrutiny, the
Government has approved to confer
Dronacharya Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards
and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar for
2015 upon the following coaches, persons and
entities.
GOLDEN JUBILEE
CELEBRATIONS - 1965 WAR
Indian Navy embarked on four

significant expeditions to commemorate the
50th Anniversary of the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
All the participants were felicitated by the
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Robin
Dhowan today at the Rajpath. The
participants received a warm welcome from a
large crowds gathered at the venue to
celebrate the occasion. Aim of the expeditions
was to spread awareness about the role
played by Indian Navy in the conflict amongst
the local populace across the entire stretch
from the Eastern sea front to the coast of
Gujarat and upto Zanskar region in the North.
An eight member team of Naval
mountaineers led by Lt Commander S
Karthkeyan scaled Mount Kun in the Zanskar
region on the 10th of September. Mt Kun is a
technical peak at a height of 7077 Meters.
Arduous terrain, tough weather conditions


66
VOL34
and ice capes prone to crevasses and other

hazards challenged the mountaineers for the
entire route. This feat incidentally coincides
with the Golden Jubilee year of the first ever
successful mountaineering expedition to
Mount Everest led by Captain M S Kohli of the
Indian Navy.
The second expedition which originated
from Visakhapatnam comprised of three
components. The 1st phase was the ocean
sailing from Visakhapatnam to Kakinada. The
Sailing team charted the wreckage of PNS
Ghazi, the Pakistan Navy submarine which
participated in the 1965 war and was sunk off
the Visakhapatnam coast during the 1971 war.
The 2nd Phase, ie the motorcycle expedition,
covered 2000 kms over a period of nine days
across six States and Union Territories. The
expedition team also met ex-servicemen from
the three Services who had participated or
been in Service during the 1965 war so as to
have a firsthand account and learn from their
experience. The bicycle component in the 3rd
phase was intended to deliver the message
about commitment of the Armed Forces
towards green and renewable sources of
energy.
A Joint Motor Cycle rally was organised
from the coast of Gujarat. The 18 member
team comprising members from all Naval
stations in the Gujarat region was flagged off
from Okha on 12th Sep by Lt Gen Mahipat
Sinjhi, a 1965 war veteran. The team
undertook the expedition from Dwarka to
Delhi passing through Ahmedabad, Udaipur,
Ajmer and Jaipur covering an approximate
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distance of 1500 kms in six days. The team

also interacted with several 1965 war veterans
and ex-servicemen enroute. The adventure
enthusiasts from Delhi Naval Area embarked
on a ten day cycle expedition from Delhi to
Wagah border and back covering a total
distance of about 1000 kms. The 14 member
team led by Surg Cdr G Parthasarathy reached
the Wagah border on 11th Sep and witnessed
the Beating the Retreat ceremony. The team
interacted with the local populace in Haryana
and Punjab spreading the message about the
1965 victory and received a lot of public and
media attention. The team was also felicitated
at CRS University, Jind.
As we commemorate the 1965 war and
the many martyrs who laid down their lives in
the defence of the nation, the Indian Navy
continues to remain as vigilant as ever in
performing its role of maritime defence of the
Western and Eastern Coasts and the countrys
Island territories. The Navy, which had a total
of 36 ships and about 120 aircraft of various
types in 1965, underwent a major
modernisation and the next few years saw the
induction of missile boats, submarines, antisubmarine warfare helicopters, new bases,
indigenous ships construction programme
and the formation of a second Fleet. In the
next war itself, the Navy struck hard in both
theatres, with its two Fleets, in a fully
integrated and joint manner with the Indian
Army and Air Force. The Navy is today potent
force substantially larger than what it had in
1965, coupled with a manifold increase in its
combat capability.


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VOL34
INDIA AND GERMANY SIGN MOU ON

SECURITY COOPERATION
India and Germany have signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
Security Cooperation. The Minister of State
for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju and the
visiting German Parliamentary State
Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Dr.
Gunter Krings signed the MoU. They have also
signed the Joint Declaration of Intent on
Cooperation in the field of Disaster
Management.
On this occasion, Shri Rijiju said that the
MoU on Security Cooperation has created
strategic initiative between India and
Germany in the area of Security Cooperation.
The MoU proposes to intensify the
cooperation in countering terrorism in all its
form, including recruitment, financing,
terrorist propaganda, training and terrorist
movements; countering organized crime,
preventing and combating unlawful
production/extraction of any narcotic and
psychotropic substances.
The MoU also covers areas of border
protection, aviation security, cyber crime,
illegal migration and counterfeit currency.
Under the umbrella of this MoU, there will be
exchange of information, technological
expertise and cooperation on basic and
advanced training of security. The Joint
Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the
field of Disaster Management seeks to deepen
and develop cooperation in the field of
Disaster Management through exchange of
information, processing technologies and
67
other Scientific/Technological expertise in the

field of Disaster Management, as well as
providing training and capacity building of
First Responders in Civil Defence, urban
search and rescue, Fire services and medical
field. Shri Rijiju also expressed hope that
Germany will overcome its reluctance on
inking the bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty (MLAT) which will pave the way for the
deportation of criminals.
We must remain true to our core civilizational
values, says President
The President of India, Shri Pranab

Mukherjee said we must remain true to the
core values of our civilization. He was
speaking after receiving the first copy of a
Coffee Table book The Nationalist President
- Pranab Mukherjee at a function held in
Rashtrapati Bhavan (October 7, 2015). The
President received the copy of the book from
Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari, the Vice President
of India who formally released it.
The President said he felt humbled on
the occasion. He has received much more
from the country than he has given. The
President said he had seen political
developments in the country for a
considerable period of time. He said the
country has made tremendous progress.
There have been many advancements but we
will have to do much more. The President said
we should not allow the core values of our
civilization to wither away. Over the years, our
civilization has celebrated diversity, plurality
and promoted and advocated tolerance.
These values have kept us together over the


68
VOL34
centuries. Many ancient civilizations have

collapsed but the Indian civilization has
survived because of its core civilizational
values and adherence to them. The President
said that if we keep them in mind, nothing can
prevent our nation from forging ahead.
Indian democracy is a marvel and we must
celebrate, preserve and promote its strengths.
REVISION OF
PIRACY HIGH RISK AREA (HRA)
European Union Chair of the Contact

Group of Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
(CGPCS), today 08 Oct 2015, announced the
revision of the limits of the piracy High Risk
Area (HRA) with effect from 01 December 15.
The unanimous agreement by the shipping
industry round-table to now redraw the
eastern limit of the HRA is a welcome move
which is likely to address some of Indias
maritime security concerns, which have been
highlighted by the Government of India
(MoD/ Indian Navy, MEA, DG Shipping) in
various forums since 2012.
Consequent to the spread of piracy to the
East Arabian Sea, the international shipping
industry extended the eastern limit of piracy
HRA in June 2010 to 78oE longitude, thereby
including the west coast of India within the
HRA. The extension of the eastern limit of the
HRA from 65 oE to 78oE led to security
concerns on account of the presence of private
security personnel onboard merchant vessels
transiting the piracy HRA, and the presence of
floating armouries off the Indian coast. The
shipping industry also incurred additional
costs for insurance and implementation of
GIST OF THE PIB
various recommendations for transit through

the piracy HRA.
In addition to deployment of Indian
Naval ships in the Gulf of Aden since Oct 2008
for anti-piracy patrols, robust action by the
Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard (Op
Island Watch) led to the arrest of 120 pirates
from four pirate mother-ships between
January-March 2011. Affirmative action and
increased surveillance contributed towards
the decline of piracy incidents in the East
Arabian Sea and the last reported piratical
activity in the East Arabian Sea was in Mar 12.
The absence of piracy in the Indian maritime
zones and adjacent seas, the security concerns
and financial implications of an extended
HRA led to India seeking a review of the HRA,
with the support of numerous countries.
Although the issue has been under
debate since 2012, on Indias behest ad hoc
meetings of the CGPCS chaired by EU, were
held in October 14(Dubai) and March 15
(Brussels) towards finding a way forward. In
Jun 15, Indian Navy presented Indias threat
assessment at a meeting of the Shared
Awareness and De-confliction (SHADE), a
military forum for coordinating military
effort in the region. Subsequently, in Jul 15 at
the 18th CGPCS meeting, discussion on HRA
held centre-stage with a large number of
countries supporting Indias stand. The
shipping industry made a commitment at the
meeting to review the HRA by Oct 15, which
has now been honoured.
With the revision of the HRA, some of
Indias maritime security concerns viz floating


GIST OF THE PIB
VOL34
armouries and proliferation of private

security are likely to be addressed. In
addition, Indian ship-owners are likely to
benefit significantly on account of savings on
insurance and associated operating costs.
India remains committed to ensuring
freedom of navigation in the global commons
and strengthening maritime security in the
region especially in the East Arabian Sea.
Towards this, Indian Naval ships and aircraft
continue to escort merchant ships of all
nations in the Gulf of Aden.
RAJASTHAN FIRST STATE TO
FIRM UP PRIVATE
INVESTMENTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Rajasthan Government has taken lead in

promoting affordable housing by signing four
Memoranda of Understanding firming up an
investment of Rs.5,400 cr. These four MoUs
were a part of 27 MoUs signed entailing an
investment of Rs.12,478 cr in housing and
urban development projects in Jaipur today
in the presence of Minister of Urban
Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu and
Chief Minister Smt.Vasundhara Raje Scindhia.
These include 14 MoUs for promoting
housing projects with an investment of
Rs.9,273 cr.
Tata Housing Development Company
Ltd has committed to invest Rs.2,000 cr in
affordable and mixed use township over an
area of 10.12 hectares. Mahima Real Estate
Private Ltd has signed MoU with the state
government to invest Rs.1,700cr in affordable
housing and group housing followed by
National Building Construction Corporation
69
(NBCC) and Wish Empire who have

undertaken to invest Rs.500 cr each in
Rajasthan.
The 14 housing related
investment projects are expected to provide
employment to 26,650 persons. Total
employment from the 27 MoUs signed today
is expected to be 38,950.
Other MoUs related to Medical and
Health Care, Education, Industr y and
Tourism in different parts of Rajasthan.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri M.Venkaiah
Naidu complimented Rajasthan for being in
the forefront of implementing new urban
sector initiatives. He said that the MoUs
mobilizing investments in affordable housing
will act as light house to others. Shri Naidu
further said that Rajasthan was the first state
to submit AMRUT action plan to the Ministry
of Urban Development, first to identify 40
cities for taking up housing projects under
Housing for All Mission in urban areas and
the first state to ensure complete convergence
in implementing Smart City Mission, Atal
Mission (AMRUT), Heritage Mission and
Housing Mission.
SHYAMA PRASAD
MUKHERJI RURBAN MISSION
An ambitious bid to transform rural

areas to economically, socially and physically
sustainable spaces, the Union Cabinet chaired
by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today
approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji
Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with an outlay of
Rs. 5142.08 crores. The Mission aims at
development of rural growth clusters which
have latent potential for growth, in all States


70
VOL34
and UTs, which would trigger overall

development in the region. These clusters
would be developed by provisioning of
economic activities, developing skills & local
entrepreneurship
and
providing
infrastructure amenities. The Rurban Mission
will thus develop a cluster of Smart Villages.
These clusters would be well delineated
areas with planned layouts prepared following
the planning norms (as laid down in the State
Town and Country Planning Acts/similar
Central or State statutes as may be
applicable), which would be duly notified by
the State/UTs. These plans would be finally
integrated with the District Plans/Master
Plans as the case may be. The State
Governments would identify the clusters in
accordance with the Framework for
Implementation prepared by the Ministry of
Rural Development. The clusters will be
geographically contiguous Gram Panchayats
with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in
plain and coastal areas and a population of
5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.
There would be a separate approach for
selection of clusters in Tribal and Non-Tribal
Districts. As far as practicable, clusters of
village would follow administrative
convergence units of Gram Panchayats.
For the selection of clusters, the
Ministry of Rural Development is adopting a
scientific process of cluster selection which
involves an objective analysis at the District,
Sub District and Village level, of the
demography, economy, tourism and
pilgrimage significance and transportation
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corridor impact. While the Ministry,

following this analysis, would provide a
suggestive list of sub districts to the State, the
State Governments would then select the
clusters following a set of indicated principles
included in the Framework for
Implementation. The mission aims to create
300 such Rurban growth clusters over the
next 3 years, across the country. The funding
for Rurban Clusters will be through various
schemes of the Government converged into
the cluster. The SPMRM will provide an
additional funding support of upto 30 percent
of the project cost per cluster as Critical Gap
Funding (CGF) as Central Share to enable
development of such Rurban clusters.
To ensure an optimum level of
development, fourteen components have
been suggested as desirable for the cluster,
which would include; Skill development
training linked to economic activities, Agro
Processing/Agri Ser vices/Storage and
Warehousing, Digital Literacy, Sanitation,
Provision of piped water supply, Solid and
liquid waste management, Village streets and
drains, Street lights, Fully equipped mobile
health unit, Upgrading school /higher
education facilities, Inter-village road
connectivity, Citizen Service Centres- for
electronic delivery of citizen centric services/
e-gram connectivity, Public transport., LPG
gas connections. The States would prepare
Integrated Cluster Action Plans for Rurban
Clusters, which would be comprehensive plan
documents detailing out the strategy for the
cluster, desired outcomes for the cluster


GIST OF THE PIB
VOL34
under the mission, along with the resources

to be converged under various Central Sector,
Centrally Sponsored and State Sector
schemes, and the Critical Gap Funding (CGF)
required for the cluster.
In addition to the Critical Gap Funding,
proactive steps have been taken to ensure the
success of the mission with adequate budget
provisions for supporting the State
Government towards project development,
capacity building and other institutional
arrangements at the state level. The Mission
envisages institutional arrangements both at
the State and Center to ensure smooth
implementation of the Mission. The Mission
also has an Innovation budget towards
facilitating research, development and
capacity building. The scheme through
development of rurban growth clusters aimed
at catalyzing overall regional growth, would
thus simultaneously benefit the rural as well
as urban areas of the country, by achieving
twin objectives of strengthening rural areas
and de burdening the urban areas hence
leading to balanced regional development and
growth of the country.
PRADHAN MANTRI
KHANIJ KSHETRA KALYAN YOJANA
The Central Government announced the

launch of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra
Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). This is a new
programme meant to provide for the welfare
of areas and people affected by mining related
operations, using the funds generated by
District Mineral Foundations (DMFs).
Minister of Mines and Steel Shri Narendra
Singh Tomar said, PMKKKY is a revolutionary
71
and unprecedented scheme of its kind, which

will transform the lives of people living in
areas which are affected directly or indirectly
by mining.
The objective of PMKKKY scheme will
be (a) to implement various developmental
and welfare projects/programs in mining
affected areas that complement the existing
ongoing schemes/projects of State and Central
Government; (b) to minimize/mitigate the
adverse impacts, during and after mining, on
the environment, health and socio-economics
of people in mining districts; and (c) to ensure
long-term sustainable livelihoods for the
affected people in mining areas. Care has been
taken to include all aspects of living, to ensure
substantial improvement in the quality of life.
High priority areas like drinking water supply,
health care, sanitation, education, skill
development, women and child care, welfare
of aged and disabled people, skill
development and environment conservation
will get at least 60 % share of the funds. For
creating a supportive and conducive living
environment, balance funds will be spent on
making roads, bridges, railways, waterways
projects, irrigation and alternative energy
sources. This way, government is facilitating
mainstreaming of the people from lower
strata of society, tribals and forest-dwellers
who have no wherewithal and are affected the
most from mining activities.
The Mines and Minerals (Development
& Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015,
mandated the setting up of District Mineral
Foundations (DMFs) in all districts in the


72
VOL34
countr y affected by mining related

operations. The Central Government today
notified the rates of contribution payable by
miners to the DMFs. In case of all mining
leases executed before 12th January, 2015
(the date of coming into force of the
Amendment Act) miners will have to
contribute an amount equal to 30% of the
royalty payable by them to the DMFs. Where
mining leases are granted after 12.01.2015,
the rate of contribution would be 10% of the
royalty payable. Using the funds generated by
this contribution, the DMFs are expected to
implement the PMKKKY. The Central
Government has issued a directive to the State
Governments, under Section 20A of the
MMDR Act, 1957, laying down the guidelines
for implementation of PMKKKY and directing
the States to incorporate the same in the rules
framed by them for the DMFs. The DMFs
have also been directed to maintain the
utmost transparency in their functioning and
provide periodic reports on the various
projects and schemes taken up by them.
SOME FACTS ON ANTI PIRACY PATROL
EFFORTS OF INDIAN NAVY
(a) No of ships deployed till to date for Antipiracy patrol in Gulf of Aden: 51 (52nd
ship on patrol as of now)
(b) More than 3,100 merchant vessels
including foreign flagged ships escorted
till to date
(c) More than 23,000 Indians on board these
merchant ships escorted safely.
BARC transfers key technology for
strategic and non-strategic applications
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to accelerate Make in India mission

Rare Earth (RE) magnets, such as
samarium-cobalt, find use in Atomic Energy,
Space and Defence industries for a variety of
strategic and non-strategic applications.
These exhibit superior quality in terms of
performance ability, device miniaturization
capability and stability at high operating
temperatures. These are becoming
increasingly indispensable components in high
power motors, micro motors, alternators,
couplers, bearings, and actuators etc. that
cater to various non-strategic industries. The
requirement of R are Earth Permanent
Magnets (REPM) in the country is currently
met by imports. Considering the dual uses of
these and the fact that India is a nonsignatory to Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT),
the availability of the magnets has been
scarce to the country. In view of the above,
there is a dire need for making indigenous
effort to produce REPM.
Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) has
set up facilities for producing separated high
pure RE oxides from mixed RE chlorides
produced from its 10000 tons per annum
monazite processing plant. The major REs
used in production of REPM are Neodymium
(Nd) and Samarium (Sm). IREL has facilities to
produce Nd, Praseodymium (Pr) and Sm
oxide. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC) has developed a novel metallurgical
process for making RE alloy powder using
indigenous RE oxides prepared by IREL. The
technology for converting the RE alloys to
magnets is available with Defence


GIST OF THE PIB
VOL34
Metallurgical Research Laborator y,

Hyderabad. The magnets are then machined
at BARC, magnetized and characterized for
the required application.
RE alloys are industrially produced by
melting pure RE metal and the alloying
additions at high temperatures. However,
high melting temperature, very high cost of
pure RE metals and loss of RE at high
temperature due to evaporation make the
alloy product very expensive. Moreover, solid
ingot requires further pulverization to yield
powder, from which the magnets are made. All
these processes are energy intensive. On the
other hand, the process developed by BARC
73
yields the alloy powders directly from

inexpensive oxides at much lower
temperature, thereby resulting in lower cost
magnets made out of samarium available in
Indian ore. RE alloy powders thus prepared
using BARC technology were converted to
magnets by DMRL. Magnets of different
shapes have been prepared and these have
been found at par with imported magnets in
terms of magnetic properties.
Based on the above mentioned
indigenous efforts, IREL is considering to set
up a plant for production of RE permanent
magnets for use in the strategic sectors. BARC
is now transferring the technology to IREL.

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74
Gist of
VOL34
Science
Reporter
DEFEATING CANCER
WITH HEALTHY NUTRITION
Cancer affects people irrespective of

their age, gender or social status. early 35% of
all cancers are related to diet. Other factors
such as genetic mutations, environmental
pollutants, UV rays and emotional stress are
also responsible for causing cancer. It is
important to take steps to prevent cancer but
once cancer strikes, it is a tough road ahead.
Once cancer is diagnosed, coping with the
disease and the harsh cancer treatments
becomes a difficult task. Cancer and its
treatment leave a patient drained both
emotionally as well as physically.
When cancer strikes, it disturbs the
normal physiological and metabolic processes
of the body. The complex interaction between
the host tissue and tumour result in metabolic
aberrations which increase basal energy
expenditure as well as reduce utilization of
nutrients by the host. Cancer cells develop at
the expense of the host tissue, adversely
affecting the normal metabolism of the body
and resulting in loss of lean body mass due to
increased tissue protein breakdown.
The fast-growing cancer cells increase
the bodys energy needs so drastically that
GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER
proteins are broken down to meet the energy

requirements leading to negative nitrogen
balance in the body. This results in muscle
wasting, loss of body weight and muscular
weakness in cancer patients.
Cancer
patients are usually
malnourished at the time of detection which is
quite evident from certain characteristic
features like weight loss, loss of appetite,
muscular weakness and lethargy. It has been
reported that nearly 80% of the patients with
upper gastrointestinal tract cancer and 60%
patients with lung cancer have already
experienced significant weight loss at the time
of diagnosis. Significant weight loss is defined
as at least a 10% loss of body weight in six
months time.
Protein energy malnutrition is a
frequent secondary diagnosis in cancer. The
tumour and its effect on the body along with
altered physiological and metabolic changes
cause significant reduction in the intake of
food. Since cancer cells multiply at an
abnormally rapid rate as compared to normal
cell division, the metabolism of the body
increases significantly thereby increasing the
demand for energy and protein.
There is no standard diet for all cancer
patients, the nutritional goals are highly
individualized and variable. For the same
patient, the nutritional goals maybe different
at different points of time during the course
of the disease. Nutrients are delivered to the
patient by oral, enteral or parenteral route. As
long as the patient can eat orally, the other
methods are best avoided. Enteral feeding is


VOL34
also known as tube feeding in which food is

given in liquid form through a catheter or a
tube. This method is used when the patient
cannot eat orally due to surgery of upper
gastrointestinal tract or difficulty in chewing
or swallowing as in the case of cancer of the
oral cavity or oesophagus. Sometimes the
tube feeding may be initiated along with oral
feeding to prevent malnutrition.
A well-nourished patient is better able to
cope with the side effects of cancer therapy
and may even tolerate higher doses of certain
treatments. Getting enough calories and
proteins in the diet helps one to be better
equipped to withstand the side effects of
cancer treatments as the patient has the
nutrient reserves which will help in keeping
up the strength, prevent body tissue from
breaking down, rebuild tissues and maintain
defenses against infections.
Since the eating habits and eating
pattern change during the course of the
disease and its treatment, adjustments need
to be made to provide food to the patient at
odd times of the day. During cancer therapy,
the patient may develop a dislike for most of
his/her favourite foods which makes it
challenging to feed the patient.
Here are some of the major nutritional
requirements in cancer.
1. Energy: Sufficient energy in the form
of carbohydrates and fats needs to be given to
prevent weight loss and to spare proteins for
tissue synthesis. The energy requirement is
high due to increased metabolic demands as a
result of fast growing cancer cells. A well-
75
nourished patient may require around 2000

kcal/day. A malnourished patient may need
3000-4000 kcal/day depending on the degree
of malnutrition.
2. Protein: Protein requirement is
increased due to breakdown of tissues and for
wound healing especially when healthy tissues
are damaged due to cancer teatment. A high
protein diet supplying 1.5-2.0 gm/kg
bodyweight is prescribed for cancer patients.
Proteins must be of good quality to support
tissue repair and regeneration.
Cancer therapies are known to cause
unpleasant side effects in patients. These
treatments target the fast-growing cancer cells
but also damage healthy cells that normally
grow and divide rapidly such as those in the
mouth, digestive tract and hair. The damage
to healthy cells can produce side effects such
as hair loss which is quite common in patients
receiving chemotherapy.
Other side effects that cause problems
with the food intake such as those in the
mouth and GI tract can actually cause
nutritional problems affecting the nutritional
status of the patients. Patients who are
already malnourished at the time of receiving
these cancer treatments run a high risk of
becoming severely emaciated with a lower life
expectancy and increased chances of getting
infections.
Side effects of cancer therapy such as
radiations, chemotherapy, surgery, hormone
therapy, etc. result in various nutritional
problems which need to be corrected in order
to prevent the patient from becoming


76
VOL34
malnourished. Surgery in the gastrointestinal

tract (GI) can cause difficulties in chewing,
swallowing, and also lead to malabsorption of
nutrients due to impaired digestion and
absorption. Radiations in the head and neck
region can cause chewing and swallowing
difficulty due to dryness of mouth, mouth
sores or pain. Radiations in the lower GI tract
as in the case of colon cancer can cause
diarrhea or constipation as side effects.
Coping with cancer and its treatment can
be highly stressful and enervating but with
good nutritional support right from the
beginning, one is armed with the necessary
strength and stamina required for
overcoming the challenges of cancer. There
are many survivors who have successfully
won the battle against cancer, which shows
that Cancer is curable when detected on time
and treated with a good nutritional support.
HEALTH NUTRIENTS
FOR HEALTHY EYES
The wonders of nature reveal

themselves through the eyes of the beholder.
This essential part of the body, therefore,
demands protection and care throughout
your life. Even a slight blemish to the eye
should not be neglected because over a period
of time minor irritants in the eyes can turn
into chronic troubles.
For instance, one of the cause of damage
to the eye is light-induced lipid peroxidation.
Simply put, when light enters the lens, it
reacts with lipids present in it generating free
radicals that cause damage to the eyes. There
are several other eye disorders that arise due
to the onslaught of free radicals. And there are

several others that are brought on due to the
deficiency of essential nutrients in the diet.
Vitamin A: This acts as antioxidant that
can scavenge the free-radicals formed
within the eyes. It plays a major role in
the cells of the eye that are sensitive to
dim light and is also necessary for the
health of mucous membranes that line
the eyelid. Consumption of vitamin A in
the diet should be 15 mg daily.
Vitamin B2: This vitamin acts as
coenzyme in various redox reactions
including the prevention of free radicals,
thus acting as an antioxidant. The
consumption of vitamin B2 in the diet
should be 0.3-1.0 mg per day.
Vitamin E: It is an antioxidant whose
deficiency leads to inflamed eyelids and
sensitivity to light. The consumption of
this vitamin in the diet should be 400800 IU everyday.
Vitamin C: This also acts as antioxidant
that can scavenge the free-radicals in the
eye. The daily intake of vitamin C in the
diet should be 2000-3000 mg.
-carotene: This pigment acts as an
antioxidant and its consumption in the
diet should be 25,000 IU daily.
Zinc and selenium: Zinc along with the
enzyme retinal dehydrogenase catalyzes
the conversion of inactive retinol into its
active form, thus forming active
antioxidants. Selenium is essential for the
formation of selenoproteins like
glutathione peroxidase within the lens of


VOL34
the eye. Glutathione peroxidase acts as

an antioxidant that also prevents the
formation of free radicals that damage
the eye lens. The daily intake of zinc and
selenium should be 25 mg respectively.
Eggs: Eggs are a good source of vitamins
mainly vitamin A (retinol) and vitamin B2
(riboflavin). They also contain a high
amount of the essential pigments lutein
and zeaxanthin. Vitamin A and pigments
act as antioxidants and prevent the
formation of free radicals that can
damage the eye. Lutein and zeaxanthin
are yellow pigments that provide the
yellow colour to egg yolk. They absorb
the damaging blue wavelengths of light
from sun that enters the eye.
Carrots: Carrot juice is among the
richest sources of vitamin A (thiamine).
It also consists of the pigment -carotene
and retinol. This increases the level of
antioxidants which then prevent the
formation of free radicals.
Spinach: Spinach consists of vitamins
like vitamin A retinol and vitamin C
(ascorbic acid). It has a high amount of
-carotene pigment and also a rich source
of antioxidants (vitamin A, vitamin C,
-carotene and lutein).
Fortified cereals: Cereals like milk
powder fortified with vitamins and
minerals contain vitamins including
vitamin A retinol, vitamin E (tocopherol),
vitamin B2 (riboflavin), minerals like zinc
and lutein pigment. Vitamin A and E are
antioxidants which prevent the formation
of free radicals. Vitamin B2 acts as
77
coenzyme in various redox reactions

including the prevention of free radicals,
thus acting as antioxidant.
Orange: Orange in the form of raw fruit
is rich in the pigment zeaxanthin, vitamin
C (ascorbic acid) and vitamin A. But the
juice of orange has high amounts of
vitamin C as compared to raw orange.
Milk and dairy products: Dair y
products like milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. are
rich sources of vitamin A, vitamin B2,
minerals like zinc and amino acid like
taurine. Among buffalo, cow and goat
milk, goat milk is the highest source of
taurine. Taurine is the free amino acid
found in the retina of the eyes, thus
maintaining the retina and eye health.
Seafoods: Seafoods including oysters
Late rich sources of minerals like
selenium and zinc. Zinc along with the
enzyme retinal dehydrogenase catalyzes
the conversion of inactive retinol into its
active form, thus forming active
antioxidant0 Selenium and zinc, as
antioxidants, help in keeping away
cataract and night blindness.
Guava: Guava is a rich source of vitamin
C (ascorbic acid). Consumption of guava
as raw fruit is better than consuming in
the form of juice. Since vitamin C acts as
an antioxidant, guava balances the level
of antioxidants within the eye, thus
increasing immunity against macular
degeneration.
The right blend of nutrients in the diet
can not only keep your eyes healthy but also
delay the onslaught of eye disorders that


78
VOL34
strike with advancing age. Eyes are an asset take care of them.
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
A SCIENTISTS SCIENTIST
My association with Dr. Kalam extends

to nearly 40 years. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai first
told me about him and said that he was an
exceedingly capable, competent and
concerned professional.
What impressed me with Dr. Kalam from
our very first meeting was his determination
that India should become a developed country.
He didnt like India to be referred to as a
developing nation struggling to feed itself.
Like the great freedom poet, Subramania
Bharati, Kalam wanted that no child, woman
or man should go to bed hungr y in our
country. That was the reason for his interest
in the green revolution and in my own work.
When he was President of India be invariably
mentioned in every lecture how the green
revolution changed our destiny in the field of
agriculture and food security.
To Dr. Kalam, religion, caste, language
and other criteria that divide Indians and
place them in pigeon holes were unacceptable.
He was an Indian first and Indian last.
Therefore, he wanted all parts of India to
progress. The rural-urban divide in access to
basic needs like school, drinking water,
electricity, roads, healthcare facilities, etc. was
a matter of deep concern to him. This is why
when he became President, he started
advocating PURA (Provision of Urban
Amenities in Rural Areas). He actively
encouraged both government and non-
governmental institutions to take to PURA. In

fact when Gen. Musharraf, the then President
of Pakistan, visited him in Rashtrapati Bhavan,
he showed Musharraf on a computer screen
the basic elements of PURA and advised him
strongly that PURA should be taken up in
Pakistan so that the people in rural areas are
able to have access to the minimum needs of
a human being.
Let me cite an example of his approach
to students. In September 2003, Kalam came
to Kottakkal in Kerala to inaugurate the
Centre for Medicinal Plant Research of the
Arya Vaidya Sala, which is the oldest and the
most reputed Ayurveda Centre in the world.
As usual, the security personnel had put
several barricades to keep the audience away
from the President. Students were asked to sit
in one enclosure surrounded by a fence.
Kalam noted it from his seat in the dais. As
soon as the meeting was over, he stepped
down from the dais and rushed towards the
enclosure where the students were seated. He
apologised to them for his inaccessibility due
to reasons of security and distributed his
visiting card containing his email address
among the students. He told them that any
doubt they have, they should write to him and
he will respond immediately. This was not just
an empty promise, since I learnt subsequently
from some of the students that he had replied
to them and that they were very proud to have
a letter from the President of India.
Being an outstanding scientist and the
first scientist to receive the Bharat Ratna,
Kalam placed emphasis on chronicling facts


VOL34
and events accurately. His various books

including Igniting Minds are a testimony to his
desire to record his observations and view
point.
He also got several books prepared by
eminent scientists on the flora and fauna of
the Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
When he was invited to inaugurate the CMPR
at Kottakkal, he requested the Managing
Trustee Dr. P. K. Warrier to help him in
establishing a Medicinal Plant Garden in
Rashtrapati Bhawan. He also established an
Astral Garden. Not only did he establish such
valuable gardens at Rashtrapati Bhawan, he
also advised the Governors of States to
establish similar gardens in their Raj Bhavans.
I have seen a very good medicinal plant
garden established at Raj Bhavan, Kolkatta by
Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi the then Governor
of West Bengal. Thus, he launched a
movement for the conser vation and
sustainable use of agro biodiversity.
His work in the field of missile
technology as well as his contributions to
Pokhran II, jointly with the Department of
Atomic Energy, are well known. Probably due
to his enthusiasm for to the audience. The
security personnel used to wonder what he
was doing. Though a minute-to-minute
programme was insisted upon by his
Secretariat, he was always generous and gave
more time to the organisers than what they
had bargained for.
To sum up, Kalam was an unusual
human being full of love for fellow human
beings and full of concern for the progress and
79
development of India in a secular, democratic

and egalitarian manner. The best tribute we
can pay him is to work for his vision of India
as a developed country where there will be no
one below the poverty line and where there
will be no child malnourished or illiterate.
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
FROM A PERSONAL LENS
The outpouring by the entire nation on

hearing the news that Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
is no more has been absolutely overwhelming.
Indeed it has been unprecedented. I myself
was so overwhelmed that when I was
interviewed by a television channel minutes
after the news broke out I got choked as I
started responding. My views about him have
appeared in the media in a variety of forms,
including in a two part series published by the
news paper DNA.
I am happy to share them with the
readers of Science Reporter. Dr. Kalam is being
referred to as the Missile Man. I will leave
aside the missile part of it and write about the
man part of it, the human part of it,
especially as I saw him from my personal lens.
I saw evidence of his extraordinary
humility and willingness to learn from others
in another instance. I remember the year was
1992. I was then the Director of the CSIRNational Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune.
I got a phone call from Dr. Kalam. He was then
heading the Defence Research and
Development Organization with a chain of
more than 50 laboratories. Dr. Kalam told me
that they were going to have a DRDO
Directors conference in Pune and he wanted


80
VOL34
me to deliver the inaugural address. I happily

accepted the invitation and asked Dr. Kalam
as to what I should speak on.
India had just been liberalized in 1991,
opening up its doors for trade with and
investment from the rest of the world. Dr.
Kalam suggested that I should. speak on
fighting it into the market place in the post
liberalized era. He wanted me to talk about
what Indian Science & Technology could do in
this fight. I remember addressing the
gathering, which was chaired by Dr. Kalam.
While beginning the lecture, I addressed Dr.
Kalam as Mr. Technology of India. I went on
to dwell on the theme of Indias big challenge
in the coming years as we opened up.
Today when I look at CSIR, we find that
there is a major transformation in the CSIR
chain of laboratories. All this transformation
by CSIR was initially triggered due to a major
initiative I took on the suggestion of Dr.
Kalam. In fact, I vividly recollect the day was
1st of July 1995. This was the day when I took
over as the Director General, CSIR. We had a
party in the evening to say farewell to Dr. S.K.
Joshi, who had done such a wonderful job in
steering CSIR in some really difficult times.
This vision statement CSIR 2001: Vision
& Strategy became a major galvanising force
and transformed CSIR. The organizational
transformation progressed to such a level that
in a book World Class in India written on the
subject of managing the radical change, CSIR
was the only institution to find a place along
with the top organizations such as Reliance,
WIPRO, Infosys, etc. who have managed the
radical change best in the post-liberalized era

in India. Professor Jayant Narlikars book
Scientific Edge also lists the CSIR
transformation among the ten best
achievements of Indian science and
technology in the twentieth century. In some
way, we at CSIR should be grateful to Dr.
Kalam for providing that initial trigger!
Dr. Kalam really caught the imagina tion
of the children and the young, like few have
done in India. This became evident when he
came to Pune during the Indian Science
Congress 2000 in January in Pune. I was then
the President of the Science Congress. It was
my dream to get the Trimurty representing
the leadership of space, defence and atomic
energy together. That meant getting Dr.
Kasturirangan, Dr. Chidambaram and Dr.
Kalam on a single dais. I had asked them to
project their dreams on creating a secure
India. We had a memorable afternoon, where
all these three great leaders gave their vision.
I still remember the events after the
discussions. Dr. Kalam was mobbed by
several hundred young people. I had to rescue
him.
In all our conversations, I found Dr
Kalam to be deeply disturbed by the societal
disconnects. Once he told me that his father
and the high priest of Rameswaram temple
could discuss Bhagavad Gita and Holy Quran
in their houses. He mentioned several times
as to how a church was transformed into a
technology laborator y and became the
birthplace of the nations rocket technology.
To him that was the result of the fusion of


VOL34
science and spirituality, and he wished that

such fusion should happen in all fields in
continuum.
To me, in Dr. Kalam, we had a President,
who was the right man, in the right place, at
the right time. Indian youth were desperately
looking for a role model. What better role
model could they have had than someone who
was the son of a boatman and went on to
occupy the position of the President of India?
What better role model could they have had
than this simple and humane individual, who
was a staunch nationalist, and who was a great
dreamer and visionary at the same time? What
better role model could they have had than an
individual who strongly emphasised that
strength respects strength and wanted to see
a Developed India in our life time.
The only fitting tribute we can pay to Dr.
Kalam is not only fulfilling his dream of
Technology Vision 2020, but also setting up a
game changing Vision 2050 in the true spirit
of Dr Kalarn, which always was to think and
act with the belief that impossible can be
made possible.
This will only happen if each Indian in
the true Kalam spirit said: Yes, I can. Yes,
India can. Yes, India will. We owe it to Dr.
Kalam.
APJ ABDUL KALAM
INDIAN SCIENTIST WITH GLOBAL TOUCH
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a complete

human being who had the lifestyle of a
common man, had dreams for the country
that he translated into actions by motivating
81
the Indian youth to enable India become a

global leader.
Dr. Adbul Kalam was a compassionate
professor who had ungrudging attitude for
students vis-a-vis the countrys development,
as he quoted futuristically that students are
the pillars of the nation. Yes, Dr. Kalam
dreamt of a young India - a strong India.
At the same time, Dr. Kalams intent of
farmers to have a long life gave a call for
policies to be farmer-centric, and he always
opined agriculture to play a key role not only
for food security, but also for reducing
poverty in the country.
We, in the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, pledge to realize the dreams of Dr.
Kalam by meticulous efforts and systematic
actions to translate agricultural science for
societal development in letter and spirit. The
ICAR family deeply mourns the sudden
demise of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th
President of India. A scientist, teacher,
philosopher and a true leader of India, Dr.
Kalam would always be remembered for his
endearing personality and his futuristic vision
will always be in our minds.
During our conversation, he was very
particular about how I perform in the august
forum of the Indian parliament. He said I
should never shirk my role of participating in
important discussions where I could
positively contribute. This was very well
proved when I participated in the 123 Nuclear
Deal discussions that took place in Rajya
Sabha where I made my longest speech of 29
minutes. Nearly all the divergent political


82
VOL34
views represented by different parties

appreciated my speech and the observations I
made. The then Honourable Prime Minister
Shri Manmohan Singh himself was very happy
that he specifically expressed his appreciation.
Another point that Dr. Kalam made was
that I should fully use the MP-LAD funds.
Since I had the flexibility of giving the funds to
any place within the country, I should be
generous in supporting schools for children,
hospitals and orphanages. Here too, I virtually
fulfilled his suggestions.
Even at a deeper personal level, when I
had invited Dr. Kalam for the marriage of my
second son, he came all the way from Delhi to
Trichy and spent nearly the whole of the
morning mixing with my relatives and
blessing my son and daughter-in-law.
PLUTOS NEW HORIZONS
Eighty-five years after its discovery,

humankind has for the first time had a close
look at the Solar Systems most distant
member, Pluto, now classified as a dwarf
planet. The NASA space probe New Horizons
flew past Pluto on 14 July, sending back the
clearest images of it tilt date and revealing its
detailed structure showing several features
unknown till now.
Launched in 2006, New Horizons
travelled for more than nine years and
covered a distance of more than 4.8 billion
kilometres only to spend under three minutes
near Pluto as it sped past its target at a speed
of more than 58,000 kilometres per hour. But
it was the most rewarding brief encounter in
space history. Icy mountains on Pluto and a

new, crisp view of its largest moon, Charon,
are among the several discoveries the probe
was able to make during the brief flyby.
The success of the mission is by itself an
unprecedented achievement of human
ingenuity and endeavour, especially if we
remember that the target was so incredibly far
away and that the tiny spacecraft was using
technology which was decades old. Moreover,
because New Horizons hurtled through the
Pluto system at more than 58,000 kilometres
per hour, a collision with a particle as small as
a grain of rice could incapacitate the
spacecraft.
Because New Horizons is so far away, it
takes about 4.5 hours for any data from it
arrives at Earth, the signal is so faint that
NASA has to use 61-metre-wide radio dishes
(one each in Australia, California, and Spain)
to pick it up. This means an extremely low rate
of data transmission; just about 1 kilobit per
second, which makes New Horizons take more
than 42 minutes to fully transmit an image
that is 1024 pixels wide. According to NASA,
at this rate, the entire data collected by New
Horizons will take 16 months to be transferred
to Earth.
Pluto was not discovered till 1930. After
the discovery of Uranus and Neptune beyond
Saturn, American astronomer Percival Lowell
first found hints of the existence of an
unknown, planet beyond Neptune in. 1905
from odd deviations he observed in the orbits
of Neptune and Uranus. The deviations could
be explained only by the gravitational pull of


VOL34
83
a planet beyond Neptune. Lowell could predict

its location in 1915, but died before he could
find it.
smaller moons named ix, Hydra, Styx, and

Kerberos.
However, right from the beginning after

its discovery, there appeared to be something
odd with Pluto. It is extremely small in size with a diameter of only 2,274 kilometres smaller than our Moon and too small for a
planet. Its orbit is the most unusual among
those of the other solar system planets, tilting
at an angle of 17 to the plane of the ecliptic,
while the orbits of the other planets are
almost co-planar. Plutos orbit is also highly
eccentric, which brings it closer to the Sun
than Neptune for part of its orbital period.
One reason why Pluto is of such interest

to scientists is that it is different from every
other planet in the Solar System. It is not a
rocky planet like Earth, nor is it a gas giant like
Jupiter. Instead, it is an ice dwarf; that is, a
dwarf planet that is composed largely of ice.
Being extremely distant and small, not

much could be learnt about Pluto from Earthbased observations. A major discovery about
Pluto was made in 1979, when James Christy
of the United States Naval Observatory
noticed that photographs of Pluto taken
earlier showed a bulge on one side. When he
looked at photographs taken a few days
before, he noticed the bulge was on the other
side. He immediately guessed that Pluto had a
moon. Christy named the new moon Charon
after his wife Charlene.
Charon has a diameter of about 1,200
kilometres; that is, more than half of Plutos.
It is the largest moon in the solar system
compared to the planet it orbits. Because the
two bodies are so close in size, and they orbit
about a centre of mass that is outside Plutos
surface, the Pluto-Charon pair is considered a
double planet the only one in our Solar
System. Besides Charon, Pluto has four
New Horizons Mission
The New Horizons mission to Pluto was

officially selected out of two proposals for
funding as part of NASAs New Frontiers
programme in November 2001. The
estimated cost of the mission (including
spacecraft and instrument development,
launch vehicle, mission operations, data
analysis, and education/public outreach) was
to be approximately $650 million over 15
years (2001-2016). The spacecraft was
originally planned to explore the only
unexplored planet in the Solar System, as Pluto
was still considered a planet when New
Horizons was launched in January 2006. It is
an irony that later in the same year, IAU
relegated Pluto to the status of a dwarf
planet.
New Horizons was indeed in a hurry.
Since 1989, Pluto has been moving farther
away from the Sun along its highly elliptical
orbit. And as it moved farther from the Sun,
Pluto could get so cold that its atmosphere
might freeze for most of its 248-year trip
around the Sun. Its daytime temperature was
already a frigid -223C and was dropping.
New Horizons needed to get there before
2020, when the atmosphere could become a


84
VOL34
giant ice shell, blocking the probe from

studying the dwarf planets surface and the
dynamics of its atmosphere.
But the high speed also meant that it
would be impossible for the spacecraft to slow
down and observe Pluto for a longer time.
That is why it sped past Pluto at a distance of
12,400 kilometres (roughly the distance from
New York to Mumbai) in just under three
minutes, but was close enough to map the
surface in some detail. Earlier, to prepare for
the Pluto encounter, New Horizons was woken
up from hibernation on 6 December last year
as a pre-set alarm clock roused it from its
electronic slumber.
Mountains on Pluto
Close-up images sent back by New

Horizons during the flyby were revealing. So
far, a series of pictures from the spacecraft
have revealed curious surface features, from
a dark shadowy whale figure to a bright heart
shape. But just what these shapes are, or what
kind of terrain they represent, remains
unclear. A close-up image of an equatorial
region near the base of Plutos bright heartshaped feature showed a mount am 3,500
n:etres above the surface of the icy body. The
mountain ranges have been named Norgay
Montes after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first
climbers to summit Mount Everest.
The close-up of Pluto also makes clear
that the dwarf planet has water ice that is as
hard as rock. According to mission scientists,
the mountains on Pluto were likely formed no
more than 100 million years ago, making
them among the youngest mountains younger than the Himalayas - in a 4.56billion-year-old Solar System. This suggests
the region, which covers about one percent of
Plutos surface, may still be geologically active
today.
What surprised the scientists was the
fact that there was no sign of craters, despite
Pluto being part of the Kuiper Belt, the region
beyond Neptune where cosmic debris is
constantly pelting the dwarf planet and its five
moons. The scarcity of craters suggests that
both Charon and Pluto have seen geological
activity in the relatively recent past that
erased the traces of earlier impacts, the
researchers said.
Apart from unravelling the most distant
member of the solar family, New Horizons
flyby of Pluto and its five known moons has
also opened up the Kuiper Belt, an outer
region of the Solar System populated by icy
objects ranging in size from boulders to dwarf
planets, for further exploration. Kuiper Belt
objects, such as Pluto and Eris, preserve
evidence about the early formation of the
Solar System, which New Horizons and other
missions may help unearth in future.
The renowned theoretical physicist and
cosmologist Stephen Hawking has
congratulated the New Horizons team and
NASA following their successful mission to the
dwarf planet Pluto. In a message to the team
he said: Revelations of New Horizons may
help us to understand better how our Solar
System was formed.

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Contents

GIST OF THE HINDU ........................................................................................ 2

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GIST OF THE YOJANA

DRONACHARYA AWARDS, DHYAN CHAND

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GIST OF THE YOJANA

ADMIRABLE SHOW OF RESTRAINT

In August 2013, exactly two years ago,

no talks until terror stops to talk about

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two NSAs would do well to hasten the Ufa

GIST OF THE HINDU

make Mr. Modis 2016 visit worthwhile. Many

A new deepwater port that is planned in

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Kyaukphyu also show that overcoming soft

tourism and entertainment centres along a

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decision in 2011 to suspend work on the

The failure of India and Pakistan to hold

GIST OF THE HINDU

weeks ago, is unfortunate, indeed disquieting.

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the world would be better disposed to its

Manipur has witnessed a series of

the implementation of the ILP system, was

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Though the Kukis are an indigenous group in

The India-Pakistan war of 1965 was one

GIST OF THE HINDU

of its biggest outcomes was the sealing of the

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While surprised at first, India fought

The Chinese were only too happy to

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While the Chinese ultimatum was set to

The report of the Seventh Pay

GIST OF THE HINDU

Commission (SPC) is set to be released soon.

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organisation. We need to add the market value

looks at an increase in pay of 16 per cent for

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downsizing as right-sizing we need more

Since the beginning of 2015, the global

GIST OF THE HINDU

Greek debt drama, the other global

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Import (EXIM) policy has proved to be a

creation, skill development, and technological

The adoption by the UN General