Friday, July 27, 2012

HEADLINES

• Sporadic violence continues in Kokrajhar
• A baby dies in Jalandhar Govt-run civil hospital after the father cannot pay Rs.200 demanded by hospital staff to keep the incubator running
• The Karnataka Legislative Assembly passes a unanimous resolution opposing UNESCO’s world heritage site tag for 10 bio-diversity spots in the Western Ghats
• London Olympics 2012 opening ceremony to be held today

NATIONAL NEWS

• Elusive monsoon forces a contingency plan
  • The Union Government has rolled out a contingency plan of drought-tolerant crop varieties to cope with deficient rain this monsoon season. An internal note of the Agriculture Ministry, says groundnut, pulses, jowar and bajra may remain unsown in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and western Rajasthan if the southwest monsoon, which is 22% deficient, does not revive;
  • The Ministry has issued an advisory to these States to focus on fodder production, short-duration pulses and conserve moisture in the soil for early cultivation of rabi crops such as toria, sorghum and gram;
  • Available data shows that till July 20, the area sown under rice was lower by 4% over last year and there is a decline of 11% in pulses and 15% in coarse cereals compared to last year;
  • Production of coarse cereals and pulses will be lower as a result. However, loss in groundnut can be offset by soybean and some pulses and coarse cereals can be sown till July 31. The note says that additional power has been made available to Punjab and Haryana for operating water-lifting devices in irrigated areas.
• Anti-ragging web portal launched
  • A new national web portal that will help students follow up on their complaints — part of the Govt’s ragging prevention programme — was inaugurated by the HRD minister in Delhi;
  • The web portal, developed by the University Grants Commission, has been introduced to manage all software used in the programme such as calls received by the anti-ragging helpline (1800-1805522), the e-mail systems of the call centre and the display systems on the web enabling students to see the action on their complaint anytime on the website www.antiragging.in;
  • The web portal will manage complaints, aid follow-up and help unresolved complaints get escalated to regulatory authorities. The data bases, created from affidavits given by students and parents at the time of admission that ragging offenders are liable to get expelled immediately, will be stored electronically and manned by the web portal;
  • The Ragging Prevention Programme was the result of a 2009 Supreme Court order.
• Centre to Supreme Court: Allow use of Endosulfan in approving states
  • The Centre has asked the SC to allow the use of pesticide endosulfan in all States except Kerala and Karnataka, as these States are ready to use it for agricultural pest control;
  • The Supreme Court in May last year banned the production and sale of endolsulfan in the country. In April this year, it asked the Centre to ascertain the quantity of raw material lying with three companies (producers of the banned pesticide endosulfan) and the manner in which the raw material could be disposed of;
  • The centre responded saying the cost of disposal would be very high and that phasing out would be preferable as the stock could be used as a pesticide till then. It said that “24 countries are still using endosulfan. The international conventions and global practices also suggest phasing out. The FAO also recommends disposal of live stock of pesticides through phasing out by its judicious use as per good agricultural practices for crop protection purposes”;
  • The Centre said that “in India too use of several pesticides was banned in the past and the live stocks thereof were allowed to be disposed of by phasing out. Of the 19 States which participated in the meeting convened by the expert committee, except Kerala and Karnataka, other States were in favour of [the] continued use of endosulfan for the reasons being broad spectrum, cheaper, most popular among farmers, safe to pollinations, no reports of resistance/resurgence or ill effects on human beings, animals and environment.Thus, States other than Kerala and Karnataka are ready to use endosulfan for agricultural pest control”;
  • The Centre referred to the Stockholm Convention held last year which had advised the phasing out of the pesticide over a five-year period.” Thus, the use of endosulfan, which has not expired, may be allowed in India so as to exhaust the existing stock of raw materials and finished products. As per international practice, products are phased out by making an advance announcement of the cut off dates for import or manufacture.”

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this good article on the Right to Education Act and its weaknesses
• Read this article on forceful persuasion or coercion in strategic defence relations. Very important for political science students
• If you have time, read this article on the new tactics of the western forces and their allies to hit out at Syria

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Shome panel on GAAR sets into motion the consultation process
  • The expert committee on GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rules), set up at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under the chairmanship of ICRIER chief Parthasarathi Shome, has begun the process of consultations with various stakeholders in a bid to fine-tune what has been hitherto been viewed as controversial provisions and usher in more clarity and transparency in the draft guidelines;
  • Initiated by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the introduction of GAAR was proposed in the Budget for the current fiscal, mainly with the objective of checking tax evasion. However, the provisions of GAAR were viewed as not only opaque and stringent but also draconian in its applicability and following stiff opposition by foreign and domestic investors and bitter criticism by global tax advisory firms, its implementation was deferred till the next fiscal beginning April 1, 2013;
  • Subsequently, just a day after the Finance Ministry unveiled the draft guidelines on GAAR on June 28, the Prime Minister’s Office sought to clarify that the guidelines did not have the approval of Dr. Singh and the final draft would be prepared after consultations with stakeholders;
  • Earlier this month, the Prime Minister constituted the expert panel headed by Dr. Shome. The committee has been asked to review the draft and prepare a set of fresh guidelines on the basis of consultations by August 31 and finalise the norms and prepare its report on a GAAR implementation roadmap by September 30.