PEN Open Book Award

Stylish Indian author Siddhartha Deb scooped the prestigious award for his novel “The Beautiful and the Damned”.

Deb was born in Meghalaya and grew up in Shillong. He is the author of two novels, the first a semi-autobiographical account of growing up in that “town…few people can find on a map.” Deb made his way from Shillong to Kolkata, and then to Columbia University. He is now a professor in creative writing at the New School, in New York.

Deb’s “The Beautiful and the Damned” has the feel of a novel as the sweeping India story is told through dents made by modern India in his characters’ lives. Deb follows the lives of teeming call centre workers, traders, businessmen, tycoons, debt-laden farmers and steel factory workers.

His book also has a riveting profile of a young Manipuri woman called Esther who works in Delhi, where her north-eastern features inspire subtle forms of racism.

16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit

The 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, attended by 118 member-States, concluded in the Iranian capital of Tehran on August 31, 2012, after the adoption of the outcome documents which lay emphasis on peace. Iranian President Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad, the rotating chairman of the summit, read part of the final documents at the closing ceremony of the event, and said that the participants unanimously expressed their commitments to the principles and objectives of the NAM.

Leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) rejected any foreign military interference in Syria, by approving the Final Declaration of the 16th Summit.

The 688-paragraph text and attached documents also included a condemnation of the US economic blockade against Cuba, support for Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands, and repudiation of the constitutional coup d’etat in Paraguay.

They also expressed support for Ecuador in its diplomatic argument with Great Britain, following the asylum granted to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and endorsed Venezuela as the venue for the 17th NAM Summit.

The rejection of terrorism and western double standards on that issue, food security, the fight against poverty, and the impact of diseases and natural phenomena in the economy of developing nations, were also included in the closing document.

The text also called for reform of the United Nations system, particularly of the Security Council, the peaceful settlement of disputes and global peace defence and dialogue among civilizations, religions, and cultural diversity.

Decolonization, the fight against terrorism, promotion of democracy, and North-South and South-South cooperation were all clearly discussed, along with the Palestinian cause and other conflicts taking place in Middle Eastern countries, in addition to the aforementioned conflict in Syria.

Threat to Water and Food Security

A new report, released by The Stockholm International Water Institute, “Feeding a thirsty world: Challenges and opportunities for a water and food secure world”, outlines major threats and opportunities for water and food security.

The report provided official input into the discussions that took place at the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm, on August 26-31.

Authored by a dozen experts from SIWI, the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the report provides new evidence that shows how continuing current trends in food production could lead to increased shortages and intense competition for scarce water resources in many regions across the world.

The report notes that 900 million people are hungry and two billion more people are under nourished in spite of the fact that per capita production continues to increase. With 70 per cent of all water withdrawals used in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land.

“Feeding everyone well is a primary challenge for this century. Overeating, under-nourishment and waste are all on the rise and increased food production may face future constraints from water scarcity,” said report editor Dr. Anders Jägerskog. “We will need a new recipe to feed the world in the future.”

The authors spotlight a number of essential and largely overlooked challenges where dedicated action can help ensure food security to a growing global population with available water resources. These include improvements in on-farm water efficiency, reductions in losses and waste in the food supply chain, enhanced response networks to early warning systems for agricultural emergencies, and increased investment to close the gender gap in agricultural production.

The report also investigates the impact of the recent surge in foreign direct investment to lease land in developing countries on local and regional water resources, a phenomenon that requires more stringent regulation to ensure that the water and land rights of local farming communities are upheld.

Apple-Samsung Patents dispute

A US court jury has ordered Samsung to pay USD one billion to Apple Inc. for ripping off Apple technology.

The Silicon Valley jury found that some of Samsung’s products illegally copied features and designs exclusive to Apple’s iPhone and iPad. The verdict was narrowly tailored to only Samsung, which sold more than 22 million smartphones and tablets that Apple claimed used its technology, including the “bounce-back” feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.

According to analysts, the popular zooming and bounce-back functions the jury said Samsung stole from Apple will be hard to replicate.

The companies could opt to pay Apple licensing fees for access to the technology or develop smarter technology to create similar features that don’t violate the patent—at a cost likely to be passed onto consumers.

Apple lawyers are planning to ask that the two dozen Samsung devices found to have infringed its patents be barred from the US market. Most of those devices are “legacy” products with almost non-existent new sales in the United States. Apple lawyers will also ask that the judge triple the damage award to $3 billion since the jury found Samsung “wilfully” copied Apple’s patents.

A loss to the Android-based market would represent a big hit for Google as well. Google relies on Android devices to drive mobile traffic to its search engine, which in turn generates increased advertising revenue. Android is becoming increasingly more important to Google’s bottom line because Apple is phasing out reliance on Google services such as YouTube and mapping as built-in features on the iPhone and iPad.

Some experts cautioned that the decision might not be final, noting the California lawsuit is one of nine similar legal actions across the globe between the two leading smartphone makers.

Samsung has vowed to appeal the verdict all the way to the US Supreme Court, arguing that Apple’s patents for such “obvious” things as rounded rectangle were wrongly granted.

The $1 billion represents about 1.5 percent of Samsung’s annual revenue. Jerome Schaufield, a technology professor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute said the verdict wouldn’t upend a multibillion-dollar global industry.

The dispute also centres on Apple’s dissatisfaction with Google’s entry into the phone market when it released Android operating system and announced any company could use it free of cost.

A A Manavalan won Saraswati Samman

AA Manavalan on 19 September 2012 was awarded with the prestigious Saraswati Samman for his work, Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalyum. This is a comparative study of epic Ramayana in 48 different languages. M Veerappa Moily, the Corporate Affairs and Power Minister presented him with a cheque of Rs 7.5 lakh, a memento and a citation plaque at a function organized by K K Birla Foundation.

The characters, plot and individual insertions of the book deals with the changes that happened in the due course of migration. This book has tried to come up with the effect of Ramayana over the South East Asia, its language and culture.

This book is a comparative study of Ramayana written in different languages over a certain period of time and some of the languages include Pali, Tibetan, Prakirt, Tamil, Japanese, Old Javanese, Assamese, Thai, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Sanskrit, Odisi, Hindi, Malay, Persian, Maranao, Burmese, Laotian and Kashmiri.

The samman/award was instituted in the year 1991 by KK Birla Foundation and is a prestigious award in the field of literature.

India and Burundi signed 3 Major Agreements

President of the Republic of Burundi visited India from 17 to 19 September 2012. During this visit, India and Burundi signed three agreements-(i) Exchange Programme for Cooperation in the field of Education, (ii) Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Rural Development and (iii) Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine.  Besides, India also announced a Line of Credit of 42.38 million US dollars for Farm Mechanisation and Integrated Food Processing Complex in Burundi.
India and Burundi issued a joint statement on that occasion. The major highlights of the joint statement are as following:
• India and Burundi agreed to further enhance the bilateral cooperation in view of the considerable untapped potential.
• Burundi thanked India for approval of a concessional line of credit of 80 million US dollars for the Kabu – 16 Hydro-electric project.
• Both nations agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in the areas of economy, trade and investment, finance, human resource development, culture, etc. while striving to expand cooperation into other potential areas such as agriculture, food processing, ICT, science & technology, health, mining etc.
• Burundi conveyed its support for India’s candidature for Permanent Membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council.

FDI in multi-brand retail and aviation

India opened its retail, aviation, broadcasting and power sectors to foreign supermarkets on September 14, a major economic reform that has been stalled for months by political gridlock and came as part of a package of measures aimed at reviving growth.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India's largely unorganised retail sector will help curb inflationary pressure by easing supply side constraints and revive economic growth, analysts said.
However, some experts have the opinion that it could hamper firms hoping to set up shop in the world's second-most populous country.

key aspects of the policy:
States to decide on implementation
Individual state governments will decide whether to allow foreign supermarket chains to enter. The Congress party-led government hopes this will take the sting out of opposition from regional parties who say the policy will destroy jobs.
Opponents of the reform include Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and the most powerful ally in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.
FOR: Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are in support of the UPA government’s move.
AGAINST:  Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Odisha have formally stated their opposition.
Sourcing from small companies
Foreign retailers will have to source almost a third of their manufactured and processed goods from industries with a total plant and machinery investment of less than USD 1 million. Supermarket chains will certify compliance with this themselves.
The government will reserve the first right to procure food produce from farmers before companies do, in order to provide stocks for its food subsidy schemes for poor households.
Minimum investments
Foreign retailers will have to invest a minimum of USD 100 million, and put at least half of their total investment into so-called 'back-end' infrastructure, such as warehousing and cold storage facilities.
This requirement has to be met within three years of a retailer setting up shop.
The aim is to meet one of the key justifications for opening the supermarket sector to foreign players -- revamping the country's crumbling infrastructure and unclogging bottlenecks.
The bottlenecks fan inflation, which has proved a major headache for the government and the Reserve Bank of India.
Policymakers argue opening the sector will help ease prices for a country where hundreds of millions live in dire poverty.
Big cities
Foreign retailers will only be allowed to set up shop in cities with a population of more than 1 million. In states where there are no cities with such a big population, individual state governments can choose where to allow foreign chains to open.
Critics of the new retail policy, including from opposition parties and domestic traders, say opening the doors to the likes of Wal-Mart will wipe out the country's small, family-run neighbourhood stores and trigger mass unemployment.
By restricting foreign firms to cities, the government hopes the supermarkets will become accessible to the country's swelling middle class, while protecting the livelihoods of shopkeepers in smaller towns and rural areas.

Indian Economy: FACTBOX
According to the latest Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) data, the Indian economy grew at a sluggish 5.5 percent in the April-June 2012 period as compared to 8 percent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The GDP growth had slumped to a nine-year low of 5.3 percent in the quarter ended March.
The decision to push forward the reform process has come at a time when business sentiments have taken a beating, GDP growth is near decade low, inflation remained stubbornly high and the government was criticised for "policy paralysis".
India an ideal FDI destination
A recent UNCTAD survey projected India as the second most important FDI destination (after China) for transnational corporations during 2010–2012. India has seen an eightfold increase in its FDI in March 2012.
As per the data, the sectors which attracted higher inflows were services, telecommunication, construction activities and computer software and hardware.
Mauritius, Singapore, US and UK were among the leading sources of FDI for India.
According to Ernst and Young, foreign direct investment in India in 2010 was USD 44.8 billion, and in 2011 experienced an increase of 13 percent to USD 50.8 billion.


FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN INDIA

• 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail

• 49 percent FDI in civil aviation 

• FDI cap in broadcasting raised from 49 percent to 74 percent

• Sale of equities in four PSUs including Hindustan Copper Ltd (9.59 percent), Nalco (12.15 percent), Oil India Ltd (10 percent) and MMTC (9 percent) 

• Foreign investment in power exchanges

• Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are in support of the UPA government’s move

• Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Odisha have formally stated their opposition

Justice Kabir to be the new Chief Justice of India

Justice Altamas Kabir will be the new Chief Justice of India. He will assume the new charge on 29th September.

Born on July 19, 1948 at Kolkata, Justice Kabir did his LLB and MA from University of Calcutta. He was enrolled at the Bar on August 1, 1973 and was made a permanent judge of Calcutta High Court on August 6, 1990. Justice Kabir assumed the office of acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on January 11, 2005. He was elevated as Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court on March 01, 2005 and was made a judge of the Supreme Court of India on September 09, 2005.

Justice Kabir was responsible for the computerization of the Calcutta High Court and the City Civil Court and other Courts in Kolkatta. He was appointed as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority on January 14, 2010.

Institute of Hotel Management Pusa Completes Fifty Years

Institute of Hotel Management, Catering & Nutrition, Pusa, New Delhi under the Ministry of Tourism has successfully completed fifty years of its existence. The institute was setup in 1962 as an autonomous registered society under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.The Institute was started in the barracks in the Pusa complex in 1962 and shifted to the existing campus consisting of Teaching Block, Hostels and Staff Flats in 1967-68. The certification was done by Board of Technical Education, Delhi initially. Institute was transferred from Ministry of Agriculture to Ministry of Tourism in 1982..Affiliation from National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology was done in 1986.

                 Diploma in Hotel Management was converted into B.Sc. degree in Hospitality & Hotel Administration awarded jointly by Indira Gandhi National Open University and National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology in 2002.M.Sc. (Hospitality Administration) course was started in 2003. Institute started Certified Hospitality Trainer Programme in 2007.M.Sc. (Dietetics & Food Service Management) was started in 2008.Institute became the first and only HACCP certified Institute in country in 2009. It represented the country in World Skill Competition held at London in 2010.

                Institute started Training Programmes of Hunar Se Rozgar under Capacity Building Service Providers Scheme of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in 2010.Training Programmes of “National Skill Certification” under Capacity Building Service Providers Scheme of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India were started in 2010. Presently the institute is conducting four Training Programmes of “Hunar Se Rozgar” and two Training Programmes of “National Skill Certification” and has trained 944 persons in Hunar Se Rozgar and 3480 persons in National Skill Certification.      

               The Institute has trained faculty and hotel executives from Russia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Maldives, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Republic of Syria under ITEC programme of Ministry of External Affairs. The faculty has had international exposure in USA, UK, France, Italy, Qatar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, South Korea, West Africa and Indonesia. The Institute was bestowed National Award for the Best Institute for Overall Performance for four consecutive years in 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11  by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The Institute was bestowed National Award of the Best Institute in Academics in 2007-08, 2009-10, 2010-11, in Placement in 2007-08, in Implementing Central Schemes in 2008-09, 2009-10 and in Skill Certification Programme in 2008-09.Three faculty members have won “Hall of Fame” awards for winning the National Award of Excellence for the Best Teacher Awards three years in a row. One faculty members was bestowed the “Lady Chef of the Year-2011” for outstanding contribution by Indian Culinary Forum, Indian Federation Culinary Association and Worlds Association of Chef’s Society. Institute has adopted Red Fort, World Heritage Site of Delhi under “Campaign Clean India” of Ministry of Tourism in 2012.One faculty member was bestowed AAD Award by Association for Advancement of the Deprived, New Delhi for her work in Child Nutrition in 2012.Faculty conducted training sessions and demonstrations at International Level of Indian Cuisine in Vatel University, France, Indian Cuisine, Salone del Gusto, Italy, Bakery & Confectionary, Choongwoon University, South Korea,  Indian Cuisine for Southern United State Trade Association, USA. Institute was bestowed the award of Most Preferred Institute 2012 by Franchise India and India Restaurant Congress.

              The institute is governed by a Board of Governors under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (Tourism), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. It offers the following courses: –

                    i.                  M. Sc. in Hospitality Administration

                 ii.                  M. Sc. in Dietetics & Food Service Management

               iii.                  PG Diploma Accommodation Operation & Management

               iv.                  B. Sc. Hospitality & Hotel Administration

                 v.                  Diploma in Food & Beverage Service

               vi.                  Diploma in Bakery & Confectionery

            vii.                  Craftsmanship in Food Production & Patisserie

          viii.                  Craftsmanship in Food & Beverage Service 

               ix.                  Certified Hospitality Trainers (CHT) Programme

              The Institute has organized a number of workshops, seminars and conferences at National and International levels to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Year 2011-12 and the Grand Finale will be on 14^th September, 2012 in which the Distinguished Alumni and Former Principals will be  felicitated by the Union Tourism minister Shri Subodh Kant Sahai.

ISRO 100th mission set for launch

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) blasted off from Sriharikota on September 9 and placed two foreign satellites in orbit, accomplishing the Indian Space Research Organisation’s 100th mission, a milestone in the country’s space journey.

After a 51-hour countdown, the PSLV lifted off at 9.53 a.m., two minutes behind schedule, to avoid any collision with space debris.

In the textbook launch, it carried SPOT-6, a 712-kg French earth observation satellite and injected it into an orbit of 655-km altitude, inclined at 98.23 degrees to the equator. Proiteres, a 15-kg Japanese microsatellite, was put into orbit as an additional payload. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of dignitaries watched the flight path on electronic screens, as the 44-metre tall PSLV accomplished its task, reinforcing the fact that it is the ISRO’s workhorse, with 21 successful missions in a row.

The four-stage ignition and the injection of the satellites into the orbit took 18 minutes and 37 seconds. As Proiteres separated at the final moment, the scientists erupted into joyous applause.

SPOT-6, an optical remote-sensing satellite capable of imaging the earth with a 1.5-metre resolution, is built by Astrium SAS, a European space technology company.

Proiteres is meant to study the powered-flight of a small satellite by an electric thruster and to observe Japan’s Kansai district with a high-resolution camera.

With Sunday’s mission, the ISRO has launched 62 satellites and 38 rockets. It has so far injected 28 foreign satellites into orbit, beginning with Germany’s 45-kg DLR-TUBSAT aboard the PSLV-C2 in 1999. SPOT-6 is the the PSLV’s biggest commercial lift so far. At a press conference, Dr. Radhakrishnan said the financial matters relating to the launch could not be disclosed, but the cost of the vehicle was recovered. The ISRO also sent its own payload, ‘Mini Resins,’ for demonstration of an instrument called Redundant Strap down Inertial Navigation System.
Manmohan Singh watched the historic 100th mission of the Indian space agency and scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) rocket's mission control room kept an eye on the rocket that escaped the earth's gravitational pull.

ISRO officials are hoping that the agency's 100th space mission will turn out to be a grand success.
The PSLV-C21 rocket is expected to deliver SPOT 6 and Proiteres into a 655 km polar orbit.
Remote sensing satellites send back pictures and other data. The SPOT and Indian remote sensing satellites are the two leading earth observation satellite series.
Interestingly SPOT 6 is the heaviest foreign satellite to be carried by a PSLV rocket since 1999 when ISRO started launching satellites owned by foreign agencies.
ISRO has been carrying foreign satellites since 1999 initially as an add-on luggage to its own satellite.
It was with Agile, a 350 kg Italian satellite, that ISRO started flying a full commercial rocket. Till date ISRO has launched 27 foreign satellites successfully and the Sunday mission would take the tally to 29.
The successful launch of SPOT 6 would make ISRO's PSLV rocket a strong contender to carry SPOT 7 planned by French company Astrium SAS soon.
According to ISRO, the satellite launch agreement between Antrix and Astrium is part of the long-term agreement signed between the two agencies in September 2008.
The space agency has also jointly built two heavy satellites - 3,453 kg W2M and 2,541 kg Hylas - for the French agency.
India has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions, from more than a metre ranging up to 500 metres, and is a major player in vending such data in the global market.
With 12 remote sensing/earth observation satellites orbiting in the space, India is a world leader in the remote sensing data market. The 12 satellites are TES, Resourcesat 1, Cartosat 1, 2, 2A and 2B, IMS 1, Risat-2, Oceansat 2, Resourcesat-2, Megha-Tropiques and Risat-1. 

Brochure      Photos      Video      

India ranked to be 59th in the report released by World Economic Forum

India slipped down with 3 ranks to 59th position from its previous year ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 released on 5 September 2012 by the World Economic Forum. The identified reason for this downfall is India’s disappointing performance in satisfying competitiveness for the basic factors.

Previously, India was far ahead to the nations like South Africa and Brazil has trailed down by 10 ranks and is 30 ranks behind the China. As per the details released by the forum, India still is strong in term of competitiveness on many other sections of comparison.

Switzerland managed to be on top of the list for consecutive four years followed by Singapore that ranked second and Finland was placed at third position. Among the members of BRICKS Nations, Russia was placed at 67th Position, South Africa got 52nd position and Brazil remained to be the 48th Nation.

Kaushik Basu appointed as World Bank Chief Economist

On 5 September 2012, The World Bank appointed Kaushik Basu, as its chief economist and senior vice president. Basu, an Indian national and a Cornell University professor most recently served as chief economic adviser of the India's Union Ministry of Finance.

He has to take over as the chief economist at the World Bank on October 1.

Kaushik Basu, 60, holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and has also founded the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics in 1992 is also a founding member of the Madras School of Economics.
He had his wide contributions in the field span development economics, welfare economics, industrial organisation and public economics

He has earlier served as chairman of Cornell's economics department and was a director of its Center for Analytic Economics. He was awarded with one of the country's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan in May 2008.

In his two-and-a-half-year stay in the Union finance ministry, Basu gave some constructive thoughts on food coupons and innovative ways to tackle corruption among other advices.

Social Welfare Schemes

The mandate of the Ministry is to empower its target groups, namely, (i) Scheduled Castes, (ii) Other Backward Classes, (iii) Persons with  Disabilities,  (iv) Senior Citizens and (v) Victims of alcoholism and substance abuse through programmes for educational, economic and social development and rehabilitation, as appropriate.   No specific schemes are being implemented by the Ministry for the Scheduled Tribes and Women. The list of major schemes implemented by the Ministry at present for the welfare of its target groups and their budget allocation for the year 2012-13 is: 

Sl. No.	List of major Schemes being implemented by the Ministry	Budget Provision in 2012-13  (Amount Rs. in Crores)
	Scheduled Castes Development
1.	Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students	1500.00
2.	Pre Matric Scholarship for Children of those Engaged in ‘unclean’ occupations	10.00
3.	Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes Students studying in Classes IX and  X	824.00
4.	Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (Boys and Girls Hostels)	145.00
5.	Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan	1200.00
6.	Implementation of Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989	100.00
7.	Grant-in-aid to Voluntary Organisations working for Scheduled Castes	50.00
8.	Upgradation of merit of SC Students	5.00
9.	Equity support to Scheduled Castes Development Corporations	20.00
10.	Coaching and allied for weaker sections including SCs and OBCs	12.00
	Other Backward Classes Development
1.	Pre Matric Scholarship to Other Backward Class Students	50.00
2.	Post Matric Scholarship to Other Backward Class Students	625.00
3.	Construction of Hostels for OBC Boys and Girls	45.00
4.	Assistance to Voluntary Organisations working for the Welfare of Other Backward Classes	5.00
	Persons with Disabilities
1.	Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances	100.00
2.	Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme	120.00
	Social Defence
1.	Integrated Programme for Older Persons	40.00
2.	Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug)  Abuse	40.00

Meteorological Satellite

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning to launch a meteorological satellite, INSAT-3D to monitor atmospheric characteristics viz. cloud motion winds, vertical profiles of humidity and temperature, total precipitable water, sea surface temperature over Indian Ocean, outgoing radiation etc. The satellite is scheduled for launch during 2013. The data obtained from this satellite along with ground based observations would help to derive information about climatic conditions, including rain.

e-Governance in Panchayats

Under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has formulated a project namely e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) that addresses core aspects of Panchayats’ functioning viz. Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Budgeting, Accounting, Social Audit etc. with the aim to make their functioning more efficient, accountable and transparent. Under the e-Panchayat MMP, 11 Core Common Software Applications (reduced from initial 12 due to merger of two Applications) namely, PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal, Local Governance Directory, Area Profiler, ServicePlus, Asset Directory, ActionSoft, Social Audit, Trainings Management and GIS, collectively constitute the Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES). These PES Applications are based on open source.

State Governments have been regularly advised to adopt these Applications. Four of these Applications namely PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal and Local Governance Directory have been adopted by States and can be accessed at http://accountingonline.gov.in, http://planningonline.gov.in, http://panchayat.gov.in and http://panchayatdirectory.gov.in respectively. Six other Applications (except GIS which is in development stage) were also launched on 24th April, 2012 on the occasion of National Panchayat Day and are in the process of adoption by the States. A Training Plan for six months has been shared with all States/UTs to train officials on PES Application during this year.

PRIASoft (web based Panchayat accounting software) and PlanPlus (web based participatory Planning software) are the two important Applications under e-Panchayat MMP that foster transparency and accountability in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). PRIASoft has been adopted by sixteen States and one Union Territory upto 2011-12. States like Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal and Karnataka having their own accounting softwares, have also been advised to map their respective software Applications with PRIASoft. PlanPlus has been adopted by twenty-three States upto 2011-12.

M/o Panchayati Raj deals only with State Governments and has been regularly advising for increased adoption of these Applications which would enhance transparency, accountability and credibility of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Releases the Annual Report for the Year 2011-12

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has released its Annual Report for the year 2011-2012, which brings out the safety status of the nuclear and radiation facilities regulated by it. The Report highlights the outcome of the post Fukushima-Comprehensive safety review that was carried out to verify the existing safety margins of Indian Nuclear Power Plants and Projects (NPPs) against the extreme external hazards, including special focused inspections. The safety review recognized the inherent strengths of design, operating practices and regulations followed in India, which have resulted in robust systems capable of withstanding challenges arising from external events.

To further augment the existing safety features of NPPs, safety enhancements as recommended by AERB-High Level Committee, have been accepted by AERB for time-bound implementation. These measures include among others, enhancing the reliability of cooling through external hook up points, training and mock-up exercises of operating personnel, strengthening backup power supply, strengthening provision for monitoring of critical parameter under prolonged loss of power, enhancing Severe Accident Management programme, creation of an emergency response facility capable of withstanding severe flood, cyclone & earthquake, etc. AERB will be rigorously monitoring the implementation of all the requirements.

The Annual Report also focuses on the safety status of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), Fuel Cycle Facilities (FCFs) and Radiation Facilities monitored by AERB. The safety statistics of NPPs and FCFs for 2011-12 brings out the following salient information.

• No event in the operating nuclear power plants has been categorized as an ‘accident’ as per International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

• The radiation doses of occupational workers of nuclear facilities were well within the annual dose limit, with an exception of 3 cases of over exposure at KAPS-1&2. These doses are too small to cause any detectable impact on the health of the workers.

• The liquid and gaseous wastes discharged to the environment from the operating units were only a small fraction of the prescribed Technical Specification limits.

• The estimated radiation dose to members of the public near the operating plants is much less than the annual limit of 1mSv as prescribed by AERB, the maximum being less than 4% for old plant sites and less than 0.2% for new plant sites.

• Over the years, with constant efforts from AERB and dedicated commitment from utilities, the industrial safety performance of DAE units has improved appreciably.

AERB adopted several measures for strengthening its regulatory control over radiation facilities, which include computerization of inventory of legacy sources, initiation of steps to implement state of the art e-licensing of radiation applications, establishing regional regulatory centres, conducting awareness programmes, increasing the number of inspections in the radiation facilities etc.

AERB continued its process of development of regulatory documents and issued seven new documents.

In the field of International Co-operation, as a Contracting Party to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), India is participating and contributing in the review meetings of CNS. AERB presented the national report of India during the 5th review meeting of the contracting parties of CNS at Vienna. AERB also became a full member of Multi-national Design Evaluation Programme (MDEP) through which participating regulatory bodies of various countries evolve common approaches for harmonization of regulatory and safety practices.

Apart from the mandated activities, AERB was keenly involved in carrying out safety related studies and various safety promotional activities, which have been elaborated in the annual report.

The food crisis and India

The World Bank has joined the chorus warning the world of an impending food crisis with damaging food price inflation. In its late-August edition of its Food Price Watch the Bank reported that global prices for food as reflected by its Food Price Index rose 10 per cent in July 2012 alone. The prices of staples such as corn and soya bean were at an all-time high that month, with the increase in corn prices amounting to 25 per cent and that in soya bean to 17 per cent over a single month. Earlier, the FAO had reported that its Food Price Index (FPI) rose by 6 per cent in July 2012, driven by grain and sugar prices. Cereal prices had risen by 17 per cent in June relative to the previous month, maize prices by close to 23 per cent and wheat prices by around 19 per cent.

While longer-term factors underlie this third food price spike in a five-year span, the immediate and proximate cause of the inflation is a set of weather-induced production shortfalls in the larger producers. Prime among these is the U.S., the central agricultural belts of which are experiencing their worst drought in almost half a century. Reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. are startling. July 2012 was the hottest single month in the country on record, and the first seven months of 2012 were on average the warmest since records began to be kept in 1895.

The two crops whose production has been affected the most by this extreme weather event are maize (corn) and soya bean. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the state of 50 per cent of the maize crop and 37 per cent of the soya bean crop is “poor” or “very poor” condition, which is the worst assessment since 1988. Persistently falling maize yield projections placed it at 123.4 bushels per acre in mid-August, the lowest since 1995-96.

These projections matter and are affecting market sentiment because the U.S. is among the largest producers and exporters of corn and soya bean. It accounts for nearly half of world exports of corn and about one third of the exports of soya bean. It follows that the effects on supply and prices of the shortfall in the US would be quickly transmitted to global markets for these commodities. The problem is made worse by the fact that in a profit-seeking world corn has alternative uses besides directly entering the food chain. Forty per cent of the crop is estimated as being absorbed by the ethanol companies and about a third as entering feed required by the meat and poultry business. So, when output falls, demands from competing sources tend to drive up prices to even higher levels. Finally, even if the worst production shortfalls are in corn and soya bean, other commodities such as wheat would also be affected, since they can substitute for expensive corn. Thus, there are fears that wheat production would be diverted to feed production, affecting supplies available for direct human consumption.

Moreover, when the weather worsens in one part of the world it is likely to be bad elsewhere as well, with parallel consequences. To quote the Bank’s August Food Price Watch report: A “dry summer in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan has contributed to projected wheat production losses in excess of 6 million tons, or 10 per cent of their projected annual production. A drier monsoon in India, with July rainfall 20 per cent below average, is expected to reduce this year’s crop by 2.5 per cent—although that crop is still projected to be the second largest on record. More worrisome, concerns are mounting regarding the emergence of el Niño during the next two months (which the U.S. Climate Prediction Center considers as “likely.”) This could potentially cause devastating effects on wheat harvests in Australia, while boosting maize and soya bean crops in South America.”

Given the myriad ways in which food markets are integrated globally, the impact of the these increases are bound to be felt by net food purchasers everywhere, with the effect being most damaging in countries that are importers of food. India is not a major food-importing nation and is currently sitting on stocks adequate to meet demand even if the current close to 20 per cent deficit in the Southwest monsoon persists. In April 2012, rice and wheat stocks at 333.5 lakh tonnes and 199.5 lakh tonnes respectively were much higher than the prescribed minimum buffer limits of 142 and 70 lakh tonnes for that time of the year. A consequence has been that the Food Corporation of India has run out of appropriate storage for the stocks it has been able to procure and needs to hold.

But despite this evidence of plenty, prices in India too have been rising. What is surprising is that according to the World Bank’s figures, over the year-ending July 20012 India recorded the second largest (after Sudan) increase in wheat prices in July among all countries, and the third largest (after Malawi and Rwanda) increase in rice.

If demand-supply imbalances cannot explain the buoyancy in prices in India, two other factors possibly played a role: cost increases and speculative activity. The role and effects of both these factors can intensify in the current global context. The expected spike in global food prices can harden speculative expectations of price increases. And given the relationship between food and oil prices, oil prices could harden too adding to the cost increase that influence the Indian price level. In the circumstances, the Indian government cannot remain complacent on the grounds that India is less integrated with global food markets than are many other countries. Prices could rise here too, adding to the food price inflation the country has already been burdened with.

Hunar Se Rozgar Scheme

The Ministry of Tourism launched a special initiative called Hunar Se Rozgar Tak (HSRT) in the year 2009-10 for creation of employable skills amongst youth. The initiative is fully funded by the Ministry of Tourism. The features common to the training programmes under the HSRT are: the trainees should be in the age group of 18-28 years; each training programme is of short duration – 6 to 8 weeks; and no fees chargeable to the trainee.

The HSRT initiative is being implemented through expert institutions including the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Institutes of Hotel Management, Food Craft Institutes and India Tourism Development Corporation. The State Governments/Union Territory Administrations have also been authorised to implement the initiative through Institutes selected by them for purpose. It is also mandatory for certain star-classified hotels to train a prescribed minimum number of persons.

The HSRT initiative is being implemented as part of the Ministry of Tourism’s Scheme namely Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP).  The budget allocated for the CBSP Scheme is as indicated below:

Year	Budget Allocated
2009-10	12 crore
2010-11	17 crore
2011-12	25 crore
2012-13	50 crore

The HSRT initiative has been well received. Initially it covered only two trades namely Food Production and Food and Beverage Service. Presently it covers 6 more trades/training areas namely Housekeeping Utility, Bakery & Patisserie, Driving, Stone Masonry, Golf Caddies and Tourist Facilitation.

The HSRT initiative has helped upgrade the skills relevant to hospitality and tourism Sector in the country including Odisha.   The number of persons trained in the year 2009-10 was 5610.   It grew to 6981 in the year 2010-11 and to 12191 in the year 2011-12.

Sanitation coverage in rural areas witness high increase

The sanitation coverage in rural areas of the country was 21.9% as per census 2001 that has gone up to 32.7% in rural areas of the country as per census 2011 after accounting for the increase in number of households due to increase in population and fragmentation of households etc. The Minister for Rural Development Shri Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that sanitation and hygiene situation in South Asia remains at a crisis point. He said, the Government administers Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), a comprehensive program to facilitate States to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with the main objective of eradicating the practice of open defecation and ensuring clean environment. The Minister said, to achieve the vision of Nirmal Bharat by 2022 with all Gram Panchayats in the country attaining Nirmal status, the budget provision under NBA for the first year of X11 plan, 2012-13, has been increased to Rs.3500 crore from Rs.1500 crores provided in the last year of the 11th plan 2011-12. Shri Ramesh added that the component of Solid and Liquid Waste Management has been strengthened and conjoint approach with National Rural Drinking Water Programme has been adopted to address the issue of availability of water for sanitation facilities.

Mahatma Gandhi Suraksha Yojana

The Government has launched a scheme called ‘Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana’ (MGPSY) for Indian workers holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports and a valid work permit in an ECR country. This scheme encourages and enables Overseas Indian Workers to save for their return and resettlement and to save for their old age by providing a co-contribution from the Government. This also provides a free Life Insurance Cover against natural death during the period of coverage, under this scheme. However, there is no proposal to introduce a special package for Indian workers returning to India from conflict-ridden countries. There is also no plan to start a “Pravasi Bank” for Overseas Indians by the Ministry.

National Mission on Food Processing

Government has approved the launching of National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) main scheme through States/UTs during 2012-13. The basic objective of NMFP is decentralization of implementation of Ministry’s schemes, which will lead to substantial participation by State Governments/UTs. The NMFP is likely to add significantly to the Ministry’s outreach in terms of planning, supervision and monitoring of assistance through this scheme.

The major Progrmme/Schemes to be covered under NMFP during 2012-13 are:

(i) Scheme for Technology Up-gradation / Establishment /modernisation of Food Processing Industries.

(ii) Scheme for Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure for Non Horticultural Products.

(iii) Scheme for Modernisation of Abattoirs (no targets for 2012-13 & 2013-14)

(iv) Scheme for Human Resource Development (HRD)

a) Creation of Infrastructure Facilities for Running Degree/ Diploma / Certificate Courses in Food Processing Technology.

b) Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP)

c) Food Processing Training Centre (FPTC)

(v) Scheme for Promotional Activities

a. Organizing Seminars/Workshops

b. Conducting Studies/Surveys

c. Support to Exhibitions/Fairs

d. Advertisement & Publicity