Useful Current Affairs

Court proposes Mudgal panel to probe spot-fixing

The Supreme Court on Monday suggested that a committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mukul Mudgal, be constituted to probe spot-fixing in IPL matches involving BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunathan Meiyappan.

Arundhati , first woman to head SBI

Arundhati Bhattacharya, who took over as the new chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday, is the first woman to be appointed to the top job at the country’s largest lender. She succeeds Pratip Chaudhuri who retired on September 30.

Need to check organised gangs in rhino poaching: WWF

The recent rise in cases of rhinoceros poaching with sophisticated weapons, which suggested involvement of organised crime syndicates, was a serious matter that could have grave implications for the protection of the species, WWF-India said on Monday.

Dr. Dipankar Ghose, Director, Species and Landscapes, WWF-India said a recent meeting of five countries — Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal — was held in Indonesia’s Bandar Lampung. In the meeting, a common action plan was agreed upon to increase the population of the Asian rhino by at least 3 per cent annually by 2020. As per figures till March 2013, there were only 3,500 rhinos in Asia , officials said.

Short end of the stick- MGNREGA, CASE STUDY

Though women outnumber men in MGNREGA work in Rajasthan, working conditions are poor and the pay unequal.

Women outnumber men in the MGNREGA work in Rajasthan, accounting for almost 75 per cent of the workforce. When this correspondent reached the site, the glaring deficiencies in the work environment were striking. There was no shelter from the sun or rain, no place to sit and eat meals, no medical aid in sight. They used their bare hands to plant saplings and a bamboo stick to dig the earth. All they get for planting 25 saplings is Rs. 135.

Usually, a group of women is assigned work to complete a set target. Misgivings among workers arise because of this. Younger members of a group get the same wages as the older ones who are not equally productive. Again, inability to achieve the target leads to penalty for everyone.

Although the Act provides for crèches, drinking water and shade, there was no evidence of such facilities on this worksite. While the government functionary claimed that there was an earthen pot of drinking water and a first-aid kit in the possession of the site supervisor, there was no way to confirm this. What is clear, however, is that women workers have no choice but to relieve themselves in the open behind the bushes.

Taking cognisance of these issues, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh clarified that wage payment under MGNREGA for different works is based on out-turn, as per the Schedule of Rates. He said: “One reason for this could be that since most of the MGNREGA work is done in groups, some workers in the group tend to be free riders or slow workers, resulting in group output being less than the expected outcome.”

Mr. Ramesh also admitted to the delayed payment problem but pointed out that in the programme’s next phase, intensive focus will be made on reducing these delays by timely measurement of works and through the use of information technology.

According to Mr Ramesh, workers’ tools are provided under MGNREGA and sanitation has been a focus area as well. He also believes that some states have been more pro-active than others about putting improvements in place. “Tamil Nadu has developed gender sensitive work tools. Other states have started mobile crèches, the appointment of special groups like elder women or physically challenged persons for providing drinking water and childcare at sites,” he reveals. His ministry has, in fact, documented these good practices for replication and upscaling. 

The minister is satisfied that since the programme was introduced in 2006, the average number of households that have been provided employment is 50 million, which means 25 per cent of all rural households in India.

Take child’s play seriously

After a long and painful period of neglect, India promises to devote attention to the issue of preparing all children for primary schooling. The National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy recently approved by the Union Cabinet aims to end the current laissez faire situation that has led to the mushrooming of expensive crèches, play schools, nursery schools and so on that adhere to no particular standard. On the other hand, there is the major public programme, the Integrated Child Development Services with a national footprint, but patchy outcomes. Policies are only as good as the institutional arrangements they make and the devices that they employ to bring about compliance. The ECCE policy will cover 158.7 million children in the 0 to 6 year age group. The government shall, it says, provide universal access for three sub-stages of childhood between ages 0 and 6 to health, nutrition, age-appropriate care, stimulation and early learning in a protective and enabling environment. There is stated intent to raise funding, set standards and monitor progress. So far, in spite of sustained economic growth, there has been no dramatic change in the proportion of undernourished children. It was the same in 2005-06, as measured by the National Family Health Survey-3, as in 1998-99. It is crucial, therefore, for the new policy to look at the allocation of funds carefully, and prevent profit-seeking actors from skimming off what is meant to create better anganwadi centres, provide standard materials for a play-based curriculum and good nutrition. Reliance on private partners to achieve universal access, equity and inclusion would be misplaced.

Discussions between the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the States on the ECCE policy should continue for its success across public, private and voluntary sectors, and to achieve convergence of multiple policies and schemes. That is also vital for the promised regulatory framework to work smoothly. That there are challenges is evident from the finding of the Comptroller and Auditor General: in 13 States, the performance of the ICDS over a five-year period from 2006 in the delivery of supplementary nutrition and pre-school education — two key goals — was depressingly poor. Infrastructure was so weak that 52 per cent of the anganwadi centres had no toilet and 32 per cent no drinking water. The programme has languished in spite of the Supreme Court’s intervention since 2001 to universalise and upgrade the ICDS, showing deplorable lack of commitment across the political spectrum. There are positive elements to the policy, such as prioritising mother tongue or language spoken at home, followed by exposure to oral English and regional languages. It must work to strengthen the national rights-based discourse on child development.

DIRECT BENEFITS TRANSFER

Direct Benefit Transfer or DBT is an anti-poverty program launched by Government of India on 1 January 2013. This program aims to transfer subsidies directly to the people. The primary aim of this Direct Benefit Transfer program is to bring transparency and terminate pilferage from distribution of funds sponsored by Central Government of India. Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), being implemented by the Office of Controller General of Accounts, will act as the common platform for routing DBT. CPSMS can be used for the preparation of beneficiary list, digitally signing the same and processing of payments in the bank accounts of the beneficiary using the Aadhaar Payment Bridge of NPCI.

Union Minister for Rural Development of India Jairam Ramesh and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated the scheme at Gollaprolu in East Godavari district on 6 January 2013.

On June 1st, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, M Veerappa Moily formally launched the scheme direct benefit transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme in 20 high Aadhaar coverage districts. The subsidy on LPG cylinders will be credited directly credited to consumers Aadhaar linked bank account. All Aadhaar linked domestic LPG consumers will get an advance in their bank account as soon as they book the first subsidized cylinder before delivery. On receiving the first subsidized cylinder subsidy for next will again get credited in their bank account, which can then be available for the purchase of the next subsidized cylinder at market rate until the cap of 9 cylinders per year is reached.

DBT IS NOW A PART OF FOLLOWING PROGRAMMES:-

·         National Child Labour Project

·         Student Scholarship

·         LPG subsidy

The DBT is potentially a game-changer but there are certain pre-requisites that need to be in place for it to be a success. One is financial inclusion with each beneficiary to have a bank or post office account; two, each bank and PO in India to have Internet connectivity; three, each beneficiary to have an Aadhaar number; four, each bank/PO account to be seeded with the Aadhaar number.

All this will naturally take time. Managing the transition and ensuring that no one gets deprived of their benefits in the interim is essential, otherwise there can be a backlash. The government has realised this and has recalibrated its plans to make them more realistic without giving up on the ambition. And the great thing is that the DBT push has given unprecedented momentum to progress in this direction, each element of which is a public good in itself.

Sindhu receives Arjuna Award

 World badminton bronze medallist P. V. Sindhu received the Arjuna award from Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Jitendra Singh at the Sports Authority of India office. The award carries an Arjuna statue, Rs. five lakh and a citation.

This year, Sindhu won her maiden Grand Prix title in Malaysia and bagged a World championship medal by knocking out home favourites such as defending champion Wang Yihan and former World No. 1 Wang Shixian.

Govt. panel to promote excellence in research

The Centre has set up a committee to create a framework for evaluation of research and rankings by promoting healthy competition among institutions, departments and individual researchers. The move follows a disappointing performance by India’s higher educational institutions in world rankings this year.

The 18-member committee to improve research performance of academic institutions will be chaired by K. Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, and will submit a report within three months. The committee will review the existing arrangement for funding of research — both core funding of research facilities and infrastructure and project funding in academic institutions.

The aim is to identify gaps and ensure a more coordinated approach in research funding and develop a strategy for selective approach in allocation of research support to academic institutions.

The committee will also develop a framework for excellence in research to ensure that increased funding supports the country’s most talented researchers and most effective research institutions. It also aims at ensuring that some of the institutions reach the global benchmarks in research performance.

Coal block auction policy for private firms gets Govt nod

The Cabinet approved the methodology for auctioning coal blocks, providing for upfront and production-linked payments and benchmarking of coal sale prices.

Coal blocks will be put for auction after the Environment Ministry reviews them, and bidders have to agree to a minimum work programme, according to an official statement. “ The methodology provides for auctioning the fully explored coal blocks, and also provides for fast-tracking the auction by exploration of regionally explored blocks,” the statement said. The policy will ensure greater transparency.

The policy provides for production-linked payment on a rupee per tonne basis, plus a basic upfront payment of 10 per cent of the intrinsic value of the coal block. The intrinsic value would be calculated on the basis of net present value (NPV) of the block arrived at through the discounted cash flow (DCF) method, the statement said.

To benchmark the selling price of coal, the international f.o.b (freight-on-board) price from the public indices like Argus/Platts will be used by adjusting it by 15 per cent to provide for inland transport cost which would give the mine mouth price. To avoid short-term volatility, the average sale price will be calculated by taking prices of the past five years. For the regulated power sector, a 90 per cent discount would be provided on the intrinsic value. This would help rationalise power tariffs, the government said. To ensure firm commitment, there will be an agreement between the Ministry and the bidder to perform minimum work programmes at all stages. There will be development stage obligations in terms of milestones to be achieved such as getting mining leases and obtaining environment/forest clearances, while the bidder will have to give performance guarantees.

The policy also provides for relinquishment of a block without penalty if the bidder has carried out the minimum work programme stipulated in the agreement. According to the statement, the Ministry of Environment and Forests will review details of coal blocks and communicate its findings before the areas are put to auction. 

The Draft National Water Framework Bill, 2013, seeks welcome policy focus for India's stressed water economy, generally characterised by poor governance, inadequate infrastructure and scanty public services. The draft law proposes an explicit system of rights to water — for domestic use, irrigation, industries, etc — and a transparent, participative approach to develop and manage both river basins and groundwater levels. Such an approach makes eminent sense, as reform in the water sector must necessarily be a consultative, consensual process, rather than a mechanical exercise, given the sheer volume of resources, financial and otherwise, required over the medium term and well beyond.

We need to put in place clear entitlements, regulatory and pricing practices to sustainably and equitably augment water availability nationally. The fact is that we are heavily and excessively reliant on groundwater, in over 50% of irrigated area, for example. And, already, our overall water balances are precarious, with about 15% of all aquifers in a critical condition. The draft Bill does call for "community-based institutions" to arrest over-drawl of groundwater.

It specifies a Water Regulatory Authority in every state, along with new mechanism design to avoid inter-state water disputes.

But the fact remains that for decades we have neglected investment in and maintenance of surface water distribution and storage. India has a high seasonal rainfall pattern, yet our water storage capacity amounts to only about 30 days of rainfall, a fraction of that in developed economies. Hence the vital need for water harvesting and check dams. In parallel, we need stepped-up investment in flood control, sewage disposal and water treatment. A sound legal framework will help.

Nuclear extravagance in Washington

Nuclear commerce is likely to feature prominently in the forthcoming discussion between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama in Washington. The U.S. government is keen to clinch some sales for its nuclear industry. The Prime Minister would like to advance the nuclear deal that has, so far, failed to yield a single contract for reactors. However, as we describe here, India’s plans to buy reactors from the U.S. are deeply problematic: they involve the expenditure of thousands of crores of Indian public money on arbitrarily selected American companies. The reactors on offer are commercially untested, and accompanied by unscientific promises about high levels of safety that are belied by the fierce determination of these companies to absolve themselves of responsibility for any accident.