• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED

BUSINESS STANDARD

DECCAN HERALD

ECONOMIC TIMES

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

HINDU

HINDUSTAN TIMES

INDIAN EXPRESS

PIONEER

STATESMAN

TIMES OF INDIA

TELEGRAPH

TRIBUNE

1 CONTENTS

CIVIL SERVICE 3-11

COMPUTERS 12-14

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 15-17

EDUCATION 18-27

ELECTIONS 28-32

EMINENT PERSONALITIES 33-35

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 36-37

GOVERNORS 38-39

HEALTH SERVICES 40-42

LABOUR 43

PARLIAMENT 44

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 45-47

POVERTY 48-50

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 51

RAILWAYS 52-58

SEXUAL ABUSE 59-61

SOCIAL SCIENCES 62-64

TAXATION 65-66

TRANSPORT 67

WASTE TREATMENT 68-69 CIVIL SERVICE

FINANCIAL EXPRESS, OCT 23, 2017 7th Pay Commission: Minimum pay to be hiked from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000?

7th Pay Commission minimum pay: The minimum pay is expected to go up by 17 per cent. Reportedly, after the hike of 17 per cent, the fitment factor will also be raised from 2.57 to 3 times. And, thus minimum salary may go up to Rs 21,000 from Rs 18,000.

After Tamil Nadu and Gujarat implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and Modi government extended the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission for the teaching faculty of central and state universities and aided colleges, a number of employees of Central government are seeing a fresh ray of hope regarding hike in minimum salary. The minimum pay is expected to go up by 17 per cent, according to a report in OneIndia. Reportedly, after the hike of 17 per cent, the fitment factor will also be raised from 2.57 to 3 times. And, thus minimum salary may go up to Rs 21,000 from Rs 18,000.

Earlier, the Central government on Oct 11 announced that it has extended the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission for the teaching faculty of central and state universities and aided colleges. The move will benefit 7.58 lakh professors, assistant professors and others, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters after a cabinet meeting, where the decision was taken. He said the hike would be anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000.

Also, ahead of Diwali, the Rajasthan government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, a decision that will benefit over 12 lakh employees and pensioners. Government employees will get the revised salary from the month of October, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said today in a statement. Raje said that she had promised to implement the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission in the 2017-18 budget and was happy to implement it from October.

3 TRIBUNE, OCT 23, 2017 Employees on unsanctioned posts may face salary freeze 5 IPS officers among them | Depts told to get clearance till Oct 31 Jupinderjit Singh

This month’s salary of thousands of policemen, besides employees in the civil secretariat and the Health Department is set to be withheld as the Finance Department has found that a substantial number is working against unsanctioned posts.

The unsanctioned posts are the legacy of the SAD-BJP, which posted its favourite officials on plum posts. The Congress regime continued this till the Finance Department pointed out that no salary would be paid against an unsanctioned post.

Besides other ranks, five IPS officers also may not get this month’s salary. It was also found that some employees were working as peons at the residences of government officials, but were drawing salary from elsewhere.

Various departments are carrying out an exercise to adjust these employees against sanctioned posts or get their posts cleared. The Police Department alone has found about 4,000 staff on unsanctioned posts. A senior police officer said the issue was likely to be resolved soon.

The most interesting objection by the Finance Department is on the STF formed by the Chief Minister to check drugs. A number of posts in the STF are not sanctioned by the government, although the process is on.

The Finance Department has found out that many officers are posted in the head office, but they are drawing salary from districts or zones. This is particularly the case with police officers. Also, a number of bureaucrats enjoying proximity to the government are working elsewhere and drawing salary elsewhere.

Sources said the Finance Department had set October 31 as deadline for the departments to sort out the matter, failing which no salary would be paid. The previous deadline was September 30, but was extended with a rider of no more extension.

Officials say the lengthy process in getting a post sanctioned is the main reason behind a high number of unsanctioned posts. “After a department prepares the proposal, the Finance and Legal departments approve it. After a clearance from the CMO, the proposal is cleared by the Cabinet and then the state Assembly. The post is then finally sanctioned by the Governor. “As a via-media, departments use services of an officer who takes salary against the originally sanctioned post. It is not that the government is paying more, but it is illegal,” said an official of the Finance Department.

Most anomalies in Police Dept

While various departments are carrying out an exercise to adjust such employees against sanctioned posts or get their posts cleared, the Police Department has found about 4,000 officials working on unsanctioned posts. Even the STF formed to check drugs has a number of unapproved posts. A senior officer claims that the issue is likely to be resolved soon

STATESMAN, OCT 23, 2017 Red tape woes Devendra Saksena

The change in Government in 2014 has led to a sudden interest in our history. At one level history is being re-written with facts not suiting the current dispensation being airbrushed; thus we have Maharana Pratap getting even with Akbar and Taj Mahal being demoted to a symbol of barbarity.

This is a futile exercise because those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and learning can begin only with an acknowledgement of facts. At another level, the history of post- independence India is being reinterpreted, which is not a bad thing because we should have no totems or taboos in a historical narrative.

However, this raging debate has missed one important thread running through the entire post- independence period. Why does our stupendous progress not reach the last man in the queue? Even after the green revolution, the white revolution, liberalisation, globalisation, antyodaya, garibi hatao, achche din etc. why are our social progress indicators still stuck at the bottom? Why are we at number 100 in the World Hunger Index? The paradox of an India as a wealthy country with poor inhabitants is truly puzzling because beginning with the Mahatma, modern India always had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh who had exceptional vision and ability and who tried their utmost to ameliorate the lot of our poor countrymen.

The failure, obviously, has been one of implementation. Leaders can only suggest a blueprint; it is for the bureaucracy to flesh it out and put it into operation. The failure of our bureaucracy to implement social reforms is really intriguing because our bureaucrats are recruited after clearing one of the world’s toughest examinations and are rigorously trained thereafter.

5 Noticing the lacklustre performance of the bureaucracy in this and many other crucial spheres, the Government constituted two Administrative Reforms Commissions (ARCs). Each ARC gave voluminous recommendations for the bureaucracy’s betterment but there was no change on the ground perhaps because the implementation of the recommendations of the ARCs was left to the bureaucracy. Clearly, it was wrong to expect the bureaucracy to reform itself; as Warren Buffet had famously said after the global meltdown of 2008 “Don’t go to the finance guys to get us out of the crisis.

They are the ones who got us there in the first place.” The bureaucracy has a complete stranglehold over administrative processes which are so convoluted that even a simple decision can be taken only after following a number of rules, subrules, instructions and circulars. Any person who wants the Government to do something has to be on the right side of the bureaucracy otherwise he would have to wait till Armageddon.

The Elphinstone Road mishap was a tragic consequence of this phenomenon. The need for a new foot overbridge was voiced by many citizens, including a couple of MPs. The Railway Minister ~ himself a Mumbaikar ~ was also aware of the problem. Yet, no action was taken for two years because all proposals have to be implemented by the bureaucracy which generally takes its time till a crisis is precipitated or the problem resolves by itself.

In the instant case, to delay matters yet to show action on the file, an allocation of Rs100 was made for construction of the overbridge costing Rs12 crore. The file, the key to the bureaucrat’s power, is initiated by the juniormost officer in the setup, who proposes a particular action in his opening note, which is backed by rhetoric, precedents and rules.

The veracity of the assertions made in the note is never examined; for example the Adarsh Building was proposed as a refuge for Kargil war widows but allottees ~ ranging from Ministers to Army Generals to Secretaries ~ did not include even a single Kargil widow. Almost always seniors dictate the contents of the crucial opening note, which is generally approved by all concerned. If questions are raised afterwards, the standard reply is that proper procedure was followed.

Consider this: under a particular finance minister transfer lists of Income-tax Commissioners travelled from below with officers at each level making their own changes but when the list became final, the earlier notesheets were shredded and a final note-sheet was prepared which was signed by all. This welldesigned scam blew up when the CBI caught one of the persons who was paying a bribe for his transfer. Such scams are possible only because our governance is focused more on form than substance. Anything can be done if the prescribed procedure is followed; conversely even the most urgent task cannot even be started till a proper file is prepared, notes are written and approved.

Since bureaucrats control the life-cycle of a file, work proceeds at the pace ordained by them. A proposal can be brought to a screeching halt by writing “Please discuss” or “Consult such and such ministry.” Since time is of the essence in most important matters, the ability to delay puts enormous power in the hands of bureaucrats. One of the main reasons for delay in decision-making is that our Government operates on a system of checks and balances which in practical terms implies that no one can do anything by himself; a number of consultations and permissions are required for any action which is afterwards scrutinised vengefully by the 4 Cs ~ CAG, CVC, CBI and the Courts. On pain of lifelong infamy, the person taking a decision is obliged to explain any honest mistake or initiative to the satisfaction of these agencies. No wonder, often delaying decisions or not taking a decision appears to be a more attractive proposition to the hapless officer.

Is there a way out of the bureaucratic maze? Yes, if we can tackle the real culprits ~ bureaucratic mindsets, complex rules, bureaucratic hierarchy and irrational deployment of resources. The bureaucratic mindset is primed to maintain status quo and to reject rather than to accept any initiative. Often, long and far-fetched arguments are recorded on note-sheets to negate perfectly sensible proposals. If we want a Government that works, bureaucratic minds would have to be rewired to think on how and why a proposal should be accepted rather than the other way round.

Till a complete change in approach takes place the bureaucracy will continue to be a stumbling block in our progress. The bureaucrat’s stranglehold over administration is perpetuated by the complex rules framed by them; such rules can readily be understood by other bureaucrats but seldom by people who have to follow those rules. Often contradictory and ambiguous, administrative rules give rise to delays, corruption and litigation.

We can consider an alternative; if the plethora of rules is replaced by a set of general guidelines, drafted in simple language, red tape would disappear because there would be no scope for nitpicking. Abolition of rules would also limit the role of the 4 Cs to really bad cases because with fewer rules there would be fewer technical defaults. The underlying cause of delay and corruption ~ the present file system ~ should be done away with.

Files should be maintained digitally; no files would then be lost or tampered with. All proposals should not go from the lowest to the highest; each level of the bureaucracy should deal with cases according to their importance and complexity. Superior officers can verify a small percentage of decisions of their subordinates to ensure that the subordinates act properly. These changes would reduce the time taken for reaching a decision and would also prevent the diffusion of accountability.

Just think of the immediate benefit; if we abolish files and have a paperless office, we would not need the thousands of peons to carry files which would lead to substantial savings because the average emoluments of lower grade Government employees are around Rs 50,000 per month. Presently, we have a vast army of Government employees coupled with a shortage of persons at crucial positions. Only after being in the Government for some time does one realise that very few Government employees are engaged in core operations; some are engaged in servicing other employees and a sizeable number of Government employees have no work at all.

This problem is not unique to India. Theresa May, the British PM, observed: “We’re getting rid of bureaucracy, so that we’re releasing time for police officers to be crime fighters and not form writers.” Our Government has outsourced security, sanitation and transport, leaving chowkidars,

7 drivers and sanitation staff without work. Additionally, each Government department has a sizeable number of support staff; made redundant by technology.

Such posts should have been abolished long ago and such employees should have been redeployed. Rationalising work profiles and work reallocation (which has not been done in generations) would save money, increase efficiency and release staff for core functions. Keeping in mind the results of our earlier half-hearted experiments with administrative reform, only a complete revamp of Government processes would improve decision-making and efficiency in our bureaucracy.

(The writer is a retired Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax)

PIONEER, OCT 19, 2017 PM ASKS BABUS TO BREAK SILOS TO SPEED UP WORK 5 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said silos are a "big bottleneck" in the functioning of the union Government and asked bureaucrats to adopt innovative ways to break these to speed up the processes of Governance, which will benefit the people. He has asked the bureaucrats to work with dedication towards creation of New India by 2022. He conveyed the message during interactions with around 380 Directors and Deputy Secretaries working in various departments and ministries in the government of India, the PMO said in a statement here on Wednesday. The interactions were held in four groups, it added. "Emphasised on innovative methods to break silos & further improve the speed of Governance. This will greatly benefit people," Modi tweeted tonight. The prime minister exhorted the officers to work with full dedication towards creation of New India by 2022, the PMO statement said. "He said that silos are a big bottleneck in the functioning of the Union Government," the statement said. "He urged the officers to adopt innovative ways to break silos, which will result in the speeding up of various processes of Governance," it added. In the same vein, the prime minister said officers at the level of Director and Deputy Secretary must create teams, to achieve better results. Subjects such as Governance, corruption, public enterprises, Government e-marketplace (GeM), health, education, skill development, agriculture, transportation, national integration, water resources, swachh bharat, culture, communication and tourism came up for discussion during the interactions, the statement said. Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and senior officers from PMO and Cabinet Secretariat were present during the interactions held over various days, the last one being yesterday.

PIONEER, OCT 18, 2017 STATE GOVT TO GIVE 7TH PAY COMMISSION ARREAR TO EMPLOYEES Close on heels of awarding a Diwali bonus to its employees, the Uttarakhand Government has decided to release the pending arrear of the Seventh Pay Commission to its employees. The pending arrear would be given to the employees in two instalments. An arrear for the period — January 2016 to December 2016 of the State Government employees — is pending. More than 2 lakh State Government employees would get benefitted from this announcement. Principal Secretary Radha Raturi in an order said that the employees would get the first instalment of the pending arrear from January 2016 to June 2016 in the financial year 2017-18 while the pending arrear of the period — July 2016 to December 2016 — would be provided in the financial year 2018-19. These instalments after necessary income tax deductions would be deposited in the Provident Fund (PF) account of the employees. However, cash payment of the arrear amount would be made to those employees, who don’t have a PF account. For the employees covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS) an amount equal to 10 per cent of the arrear would be deducted and this figure along with an equal amount contributed by the State Government would be deposited in the Tier I pension account of the employees. The employees, who got retired between January 2016 to December 2016, cash payment of the arrear amount would be made. The president of the State Employees Joint Council, Thakur Prahlad Singh welcomed the decision of the State Government to release the VII pay commission arrear of the state government employees. Recently the non gazetted employees of Uttarakhand Government were approved a productivity linked bonus of `7,000 before the festival of Diwali by the State Cabinet.

HINDUSTAN TIMES, OCT 18, 2017 Delhi has ‘some of most efficient’ bureaucrats, Dikshit tweets to Kejriwal At an event yesterday, Kejriwal had alleged that ninety per cent of the IAS officers “do not work” and said at times he feels development was “stuck up at the secretariat”. The three-time chief minister said Delhi’s officers helped her in achieving her goal of transforming the city.

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit said today that Delhi has “some of the most efficient” bureaucrats, a day after her successor Arvind Kejriwal claimed that 90 per cent of the IAS officers do not work.

9 The three-time chief minister said Delhi’s officers helped her in achieving her goal of transforming the city.

“ Kejriwalji, Delhi has some of the most efficient bureaucrats. They helped me tirelessly in achieving my goal of transforming Delhi,” Dikshit tweeted.

Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for 15 years from 1998 to 2013, heading the Congress government in the national capital.

At an event on Monday, Kejriwal had alleged that ninety per cent of the IAS officers “do not work” and said at times he feels development was “stuck up at the secretariat”.

The Delhi chief minister had also alleged that the IAS officers “obstructed files” of development works.

The AAP government and the bureaucracy, which comes under the Lt Governor, have been at loggerheads on several issues.

In December 2015, Delhi government bureaucrats had gone on mass leave to protest the suspension of two Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) cadre officers.

In May 2015, Kejriwal had accused the then acting Chief Secretary Shakuntala Gamlin of

“favouring” power companies and claimed that she wanted to “trick the government into signing documents which would give Rs 11,000 crore to these firms”.

Earlier this month, the government had issued an order to lock the office of a senior IAS officer after he had issued directives notifying the appointment of the then power secretary Gamlin as the acting chief secretary.

ECONIMIC TIMES, OCT 17, 2017 90 per cent of IAS officers do not work, hold up files: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today alleged that ninety per cent of the IAS officers "do not work" and said at times he feels development was "stuck up at the secretariat". On the bureaucrats' alleged "objection" to the regularisation of contractual workers, Kejriwal said if Delhi had full statehood, his government would regularise all the contractual employees within 24 hours. Kejriwal, while speaking at a function organised to felicitate pensioners of the Power department, alleged that the IAS officers "obstructed files" of development works. "Ninty per cent of them (IAS officers) do not work and hold up the files," he said, citing his proposal for the regularisation of contractual employees, as chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation. "When I proposed regularisation of contractual employees, all the officers opposed me. They said if regularised they won't work. I said, if this is the logic then all the IAS officers should be ad-hoc because they do not work," he said. Referring to the cashless health service for the Power department pensioners, the chief minister said that he has learnt that officers were causing obstacles for the scheme. "I sometimes feel that the development was stuck up at the Secretariat," he said. Kejriwal said the labour department has been asked to prepare a notification for regularising contractual employees. "I have asked the Labour department to sent the draft notification for LG's approval. If he obstructs it, they (contractual employees) will give him a befitting reply (Khaat Khadi Kar denge)," Kejriwal said. Talking about his government's proposal to regularise guest teachers, passed recently in Delhi Assembly, he said that the matter was now in Lieutenant Governor's (LG) hands. "We have sent the file to the LG. Now, it is between the LG and the guest teachers and they can settle it out themselves," he said. Kejriwal also said that his government was working to implement equal pay for equal work. "We are working on it and my request to you is that if he (LG) causes any obstacles in it, you will need to sort it out," the chief minister said.

11 COMPUTERS

BUSINESS STANDARD, OCT 23, 2017 IBM to boost cybersecurity awareness with start-ups Globally, companies noticed a 10% drop in data breach cost Ayan Pramanik

Start-ups can mitigate cyber crime risks with insurance 87% CISOs say CEOs breach protocol: Study Behind the scenes at Indian start-ups: Gauging the toxicity of work culture Start-ups: The good, the bad and the ugly Charticle: IIT-Bombay has seen evolution of start-ups, show survey

IBM plans to step up cybersecurity awareness among small and medium Indian businesses through its different co-innovation activities with start-ups. The IT major — which is working with nearly 1,200 start-ups in the country to get expertise for its enterprise clients and offering them its cognitive, cloud platforms — foresees faster adoption of cybersecurity solutions amongst start-ups since a majority of them are ‘born on cloud’.

The company said start-ups and technology-enabled small businesses would require end-to-end data security solutions as more such firms are developing applications on the cloud from ‘day one’.

Seema Kumar, country leader, developer ecosystem and start-ups, at IBM India and South Asia said IBM would focus on creating more awareness at multiple levels of its start-up collaboration.

“When we work with them as technology partner, security is not an afterthought. It is part of the conversation. Security is inbuilt into a lot of the cloud offerings that we have…We have also built a lot of awareness and that is resulting in a focused discussion on security. There is far more that we can do given the nature of digital business that we are in; it is going to really pick up much better from start-ups looking at IBM as helping them from a security perspective,” said Kumar in an interview.

She said that IBM works with start-ups, both at early stage and with the ones who would like enhance security after having built their products. As start-ups and small businesses deal with customer data of millions, cybersecurity should be considered as a part of their key strategies, said Seema taking reference of Zomato’s data breach.

As many as 17 million users’ information was reportedly ‘leaked’ from Zomato and was up for sale on the dark web in May this year.

“Sometimes you only see the incidents and (but) it ( the damage) can run into millions of dollar. For start-ups dealing with a lot of data the damage could be volatile,” said Seema.

The average cost of a data breach for the Indian companies has grown from Rs 9.73 crore in 2016 to Rs 11 crore in 2017 in India, said a joint study by Ponemon Institute and IBM. The study however does not have specific numbers on the start-ups or small businesses.

IBM claims the efforts of data theft are getting stronger and institutionalised, resulting in the need for advanced security for small firms. The fact that such businesses are building products and intellectual properties (IP) is creating a need for end-to-end security.

“It is not just basic encryption. But data security, application security, security of the cloud you are hosted. Maybe on day one, you may not have the requirement to look at it, but it will eventually come in. When you are dealing with a large amount of customer data which needs to be sensitive, it has to be in your core structure. Today, the way it is going is a large and stronger workforce out there who are collaborating in terms of penetrating the system. You always have to be two steps ahead... Start-ups have better understanding now”.

FINANCIAL EXPRESS, OCT 18, 2017 Digital India: Cybersecurity cess coming? Why this will be a bad idea

At the same time, CERT-In advisories show, the digital payments infrastructure is increasingly coming under attack. Globally, too, the past few weeks have been painful from a cyber security point of view.

The government is mulling over a cyber-security cess to build a moat around Digital India, which includes the sprawling digital economy architecture that has come up post demonetisation. Beefing up cyber-security is a crying need in India. As per RBI data, digital transactions—that

13 leave behind a deep data footprint—grew by over 13% in October over September. At the same time, CERT-In advisories show, the digital payments infrastructure is increasingly coming under attack. Globally, too, the past few weeks have been painful from a cyber security point of view. After the deadly ransomware attacks that temporarily shut down many institutions and firms, the Equifax breach exposed personal information of over 145 million US customers and Yahoo recently acknowledged that 3 billion e-mail accounts had been breached in the 2013 attack on it. That India needs to invest more in cyber-security can’t be stressed hard enough.

But the question is whether a cess is the right way to go about funding it. India has a poor history with spending the collections from imposition of various cesses, even though these are supposed to be collected under very specific expenditure heads. Take the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) cess imposed on telecom service providers, for example. The USOF kitty is meant to be spent on facilitating greater connectivity in rural areas. But, at present, only Rs 37,500 crore of the over Rs 87,500 crore collected under this head since FY03 has been spent, leaving the USOF with a whopping Rs 50,000 crore sitting idle. The secondary and higher education cess collected Rs 64,228 crore during 2006-2015. But neither has a fund been designated to deposit the proceeds, nor have schemes been identified for spending. There are many other examples of cess collections lying unspent even as it is nearly impossible to roll back a cess once it is imposed. Every stakeholder, be it banks, individuals or merchants, must pay to fund stepping up cyber-security. But the government must find ways other than a cess to collect this—perhaps through tax. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

HINDU, OCT 23, 2017 A new vision for a new India Kapil Sibal

While a political party may draw inspiration from the past, it must live in the present

Our Prime Minister has, from time to time, administered to the body politic shock therapies to ostensibly eliminate corruption and the use of black money, deal a fatal blow to terrorism, address the problem of circulation of fake currency notes, and put in place a fiscal regime that promotes the formal economy with extensive use of digital platforms. One may question both the motives and the wisdom of these therapeutic procedures that have failed to realise the outcomes they set out to achieve. But the most fatal blow to the body politic is to let loose in different ways forces, disruptive and destructive, that seek to systematically destabilise established systems of governance.

The imposition of votaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in positions of influence is disconcerting. They provide the pervasive ideological rationale behind this disruption and justify it. The destructive elements, whom the Bharatiya Janata Party seeks to distance itself from, are not averse to the use of violence to silence voices inconsistent with the ideological position of Hindutva. Lynching Dalits; the targeted homicide of Muslims and rationalists; instilling fear amongst minorities by attacking their culinary preferences, culture and traditions; and, above all, attempting to propagate a nationalistic narrative through the assertion of a particular mindset are all intended to transform India.

Opposing disruption

The Congress, a truly national party, needs to stem the dismantling of our cohesiveness, traditions, culture and constitutional polity. Our party must expose through a coalition of like-minded forces the deliberateness with which our Prime Minister is acting to achieve his biased agendas. We need to reach out to people by penning our thoughts and articulating them through all possible channels of communication. We need to highlight that the RSS is occupying the most important offices of this country: the seat of vice chancellor in

15 universities, the office of the Governor, the office of the President of India as well as that of the Vice President. We must inform people how constitutional practices are being subverted and constitutional norms are being violated with impunity; that ordinary legislation termed as Money Bills are being introduced to ensure their success, bypassing the Rajya Sabha; how Raj Bhavans, instead of acting as constitutional facilitators, have become centres of intrigue to bring down Opposition-led governments by openly aligning with and manufacturing majorities for the BJP; how history is being rewritten with icons of the past relegated to oblivion; that statistics are often used to blur the contours between myth and reality, and name change and plagiarism carried out to appropriate schemes launched by the United Progressive Alliance I and II. Added to this is targeting leaders and members of political parties through investigating agencies, offices that are being allowed to be willingly misused for vendetta politics.

Though providing leadership to oppose both the disruption and destruction of our value system is essential, that alone will not do.

Making honest promises

The world has changed radically. The communication revolution has eliminated the concept of distance. Proximity is the order of the day. Our people know about us. Every word we utter is heard with rapt attention. Our persona is an open book. So we can’t fool people any more. Our integrity, commitment to values and our attitudes are etched and stored in digital mode. This applies to individuals, entities, and political parties. So, we must be careful in our utterances lest they come back to haunt us. Our detractors are ever alert to trip us for what we said. We may win elections by words, tall promises and lies; we may also lose them because of betrayal. Narendra Modijiwill be paying a heavy price for his utterances. It is therefore incumbent on leaders of political parties to be upfront and honest about what they can promise and deliver.

Politics must be grounded to solve the problems of today. While a party may draw inspiration from the past, it must live in the present. The laurels of the past will not serve the present. The present is far more dynamic than the past ever was. Millions are influenced by the tsunami of information which has the capacity to misinform and misdirect impressionable minds. Political parties must be alive to this and have an army of digital soldiers to guide and educate. Without it, political discourse might just be one-sided. More important is the ability of a political party to sensitise itself to the most fundamental issues of the people. The two areas of concern to every home are educating children and health-care facilities for the family. We need a transformational education policy and a radically different mechanism for delivery. Those details must be worked out after thoughtful debate.

A similar exercise must be done with reference to the delivery of health care. Existing systems of education and health care suffer from a deep malaise. Lack of resources, inadequacy of quality teachers and doctors and inadequate infrastructure are a few of the causes. Central to any exercise in providing solutions is the abject poverty afflicting our people that diminishes their ability to make choices. Any proposed solution must take that into account.

The road ahead

We need to deregulate both our mindset and governmental procedures. Industry must flourish for economic growth. We must not view business, and through it prosperity, with suspicion. Investigating agencies must not be used to throttle enterprises. Our taxing regime must be far more humane than it is today. Money in the hands of the private sector is often more efficiently used than by government. Yet the state must garner adequate resources for providing infrastructure and public necessities. Digital technologies must be accessible to all to ensure equity. We must quickly bridge the gap between India and Bharat.

Our obsession with a market-oriented distribution of public assets needs a relook. Allocation of land, spectrum, minerals and other natural resources, if allocated through a competitive bidding process, has made our industry globally non-competitive. We need to put in place an alternative resource allocation mechanism in which the government is entitled to a share of the profit that industry garners. Further, high interest rates have debilitated both industry and business. This is the main reason why enterprises cut corners and indulge in malpractices — reasons for the growing spiral of corruption.

Our legal system is poor in quality. Our justice system must be made immune from external pressure. Corruption within our justice delivery system destroys the citizen’s confidence in the state. Our police and enforcement agencies must also be immune from external pressures.

17 We need to embrace a new vision. Let us make a fresh start giving hope to those we serve.

Kapil Sibal is a Congress leader, former Union Minister and lawyer

EDUCATION

INDIAN EXPRESS, OCT 23, 2017 UGC decision may reduce SC/ST, OBC faculty posts

The UGC’s Standing Committee examined 10 court judgments on the subject and recommended that the Allahabad High Court’s verdict should be applied to all universities.

The number of SC, ST and OBC faculty on university campuses could shrink if the HRD Ministry decides to accept the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) new formula for implementing reservation in teaching posts.

In a decision taken last month, the UGC resolved that the number of reserved faculty posts shall be calculated department-wise and not based on the aggregate posts in a university. The proposed change could result in fewer positions for SCs, STs and OBCs, according to P S Krishnan, former secretary to the central government and an expert on the subject.

The new formula is in response to a verdict of the Allahabad High Court in April. While hearing a case on teachers’ recruitment in Banaras Hindu University, the court held that reservation in teaching posts has to be applied department-wise by treating the department as a “unit” and not the university.

The court criticised UGC for applying reservation in a “blanket manner” and advised the regulator to revisit its implementation. “If the University is taken as a ‘Unit’ for every level of teaching and applying the roster, it could result in some departments/subjects having all reserved candidates and some having only unreserved candidates. Such a proposition again would be discriminatory and unreasonable. This again would be violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution,” the Allahadbad High Court had observed in its verdict that cancelled the BHU recruitment and asked it to start afresh. The UGC’s Standing Committee examined 10 court judgments on the subject and recommended that the Allahabad High Court’s verdict should be applied to all universities.

The UGC is learnt to have shared this decision with the HRD Ministry and is waiting for its “concurrence”. The change will be notified through an executive order after the government’s nod, said sources in the Commission.

As per official data, there are 17,106 teaching positions at 41 UGC-funded central universities, of which 5,997 are vacant as of April 1, 2017. This roughly works out to 35 per cent vacant teaching positions. Out of vacant faculty posts, the maximum are at the assistant professor level (2,457), followed by those of associate professor (2,217) and professor (1,098).

The higher education regulator has been writing regularly to all institutions to fill faculty positions on priority. Any change in the implementation of reservation will affect all new recruitment drives taken up by universities in future.

According to Krishnan, the number of reserved teaching posts in universities will be “much fewer” under the formula proposed by UGC.

Currently, the number of SC, ST, OBC faculty positions are calculated by treating the university as a “unit”. In other words, all posts of the same grade, such as assistant professor, across different departments in a university are grouped or clubbed together to calculate the reserved quota.

If the new UGC formula is accepted, reservation would be applied by treating each department in a university as a “unit”. This means the number of reserved posts at the level of, say, assistant professor will be determined separately for each department; calculated based on the total assistant professor posts in each department.

19 “Take professors, for instance. There are fewer professors in a department compared to assistant professors. If a department has only one professor, there can be no reserved posts there as reservation cannot be applied in case of a single post. But if all posts of professors across different departments are clubbed together, then naturally there is a better chance of positions being set aside for SC, ST and OBC,” said Krishnan, who has worked in the field of social justice for SCs, STs and OBCs for more than six-and-a-half decades.

“If our goal is to strengthen India by giving opportunities to persons belonging to the submerged populations, who have become qualified, then we should interpret rules or make rules to enable them to come in due numbers. If our aim is to weaken India then we can interpret rules in a manner, which defeats the goal of reservation,” he said.

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 23, 2017 Money can't make varsities world-class

The government has been working overtime to saffronise the management, curriculum and activities of universities through direct intervention as well as through regulatory institutions such as the University Grants Commission. Image courtesy Twitter.

Addressing the centenary celebrations of Patna University recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lamented that no Indian university figures among even the top 500 in the world. He urged universities to lay more emphasis on “learning and innovation” and give up old teaching methods that focused on “cramming students’ minds with information”. He announced a grant of Rs 10,000 crore to 20 universities to make them “world-class”. It is a national shame that India, which contributes a significant share of students and faculty to the world’s leading universities, does not itself have any representation among the top-tier of global universities. Each time a reputed international agency releases its ranking of educational institutions, the general reaction is one of dismay at Indian institutions not finding place in the list of top institutions of the world, or even in Asia.

Modi’s promise to fill this gap is not new. He and his colleagues have been harping on the nation’s past glory as a centre of excellence in education and promising to re-invent that past. In his last budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had assured that, “an enabling regulatory architecture” would be provided to 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world-class teaching and research institutions. However, except offering limited autonomy to the IITs and IIMs, not much has been done to improve the standard of higher education in India and to free them from bureaucratic and political control. Instead, the government has been working overtime to saffronise the management, curriculum and activities of universities through direct intervention as well as through regulatory institutions such as the University Grants Commission.

In an age when creating “world-class” universities has become an obsession among aspiring global powers, Modi is simply playing to the gallery. This is clear from the paltry sum of Rs 10,000 crore he is offering to elevate 20 universities to world-class level. According to Times Higher Education, universities figuring in the top 200 list have, on average, an annual income of $751,139 per academic year, hires 20% of its staff from abroad and has a student body made up of 19% international students. Moreover, a university does not attain world class as soon as its buildings are built. It takes decades, if not centuries, of intellectual pursuits, sustained academic rigour and research. Most importantly, universities, students and faculty need freedom of thought and expression to question a society’s deepest and most sacred beliefs and ideas, to be even subversive and “anti-national.” In an environment in which that freedom of thought and expression is being curtailed with the blessings or indifference of the ruling dispensation, no world-class university can ever come up.

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 23, 2017 CBSE warns schools against 'unauthorised candidates'

The CBSE has warned its schools against "sponsoring" students for the board examinations from schools which are not affiliated to the board, threatening them with strict action.

This comes following the board's directive to all of its schools for submission of the list of candidates for the board examinations to be held for Classes X and XII in 2018.

"School should send list of only those students who are bonafide regular candidates of the school," the board's examination controller K K Choudhary said in an advisory to schools.

In case "unauthorised candidates" or students from non-affiliated (non-CBSE) schools are sponsored, strict action will taken as per the affiliation by-laws against the schools.

"The CBSE has a system of surprise inspection of schools, in which infrastructure and candidate strength at classes IX, X, XI and XII are verified," he said.

The CBSE is preparing to hold compulsory board examinations for all students of Class X from 2018, after a gap of seven years.

The Human Resource Development Ministry scrapped the system of holding optional board examinations for Class X students of CBSE schools in view of several reports indicating that the system had turned out to be counter-productive.

The reports claim students ignored their studies in Class X as they knew they would be promoted to Class XI under the optional board exam scheme.

21 The CBSE had introduced optional board examinations for Class X students in 2010 along with grading system.

PIONEER, OCT 16, 2017 SELF-RULE, RS 10K CR FOR VARSITIES ON CARDS Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said it was a “blot” that Indian universities do not figure among the top 500 of the world and noted that the Government has decided to give autonomy and Rs 10,000 crore to top ten Government and private universities over the next five years to make them world-class. The Prime Minister also promised all-round development of Bihar and laid the foundation for various big projects worth Rs 3,769 crore at Mokamah, a sub-division under Patna district some 100 km from the State capital. These projects included four national highways and four sewage treatment plants in Patna under the Namami Gange project. This was Modi’s first public appearance with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who only a couple of months ago rejoined the BJP-led NDA. Modi praised Nitish and said the Bihar CM's commitment for development of Bihar was well known. “Now, the Centre and State are working together for the progress of Bihar and the State will witness people- oriented works it never witnessed in the last 70 years,” he said at a well-attended public meeting. The projects being launched are part of the special package of Rs 1.50 lakh crore for Bihar which Modi had announced just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Addressing the crowd during the centenary celebrations of Patna University here in the presence of Nitish Kumar, Modi said Indian universities such as Nalanda and Takshashila attracted students from all over the world. “We are not among the top 500. Should we remove this blot or not. The situation should change through our determination and hard work,” Modi said. He said the Government has come out with a scheme to make ten private and Government universities world-class by providing them autonomy from the constraints of Government rules and freedom to grow. “They will be given Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years,” Modi said. He said the selection will not be on any recommendation. “The universities will be selected on the basis of a challenge in which they will be required to prove their mettle. The selection will be based on factors such as history, performance and its roadmap to reach global benchmarks. A third party professional agency will be involved in the selection process,” Modi said. Modi made this announcement in response to the demand for elevation of Patna University as a Central University. This was an old demand and Kumar made a passionate appeal to Modi for this status in the presence of many Union Ministers, all of whom had been students of the country's seventh university which was established in 1917. The PM asserted, “Central University status is now an old thing. I want to take this institution a step forward and this move will bring constructive reforms in the education system.” Saying that the perspective of India in the world has changed and Indian students have shown their ability and worth in different sectors particularly information and technology, Modi said, "Earlier India was seen as a country of snake charmers and magicians. Long back during a foreign tour someone asked me this question and I told him that earlier we used to play with snakes but now we play with mouse." Stressing on promotion of innovation instead of cosmetic changes, the PM asked the students to find out user-friendly new technologies to solve human related issues. "Our country has a population of 65 per cent of the people below 35. This generation can bring new innovations for the progress of the country. Today India has fourth position in the world in start up," he added while praising the contributions of PU and said across the country in each State at least five top civil servants had been students of PU. "The PU is the living example of the seeds sown 100 years ago and many generations got education from here and played their role in the progress of the nation," he said while expressing pleasure that he was the first PM to visit this oldest institution. The university function had already generated controversy when the organisers did not invite many famous alumni like former CM Lalu Prasad who was also president of PU students union, former Finance Minister and Modi critic Yashwant Sinha who studied and taught here and Shatrughan Sinha to name a few. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi was the only speaker who mentioned the name of Lalu saying he too was student of this university. The PM said, "The earlier Governments would announce schemes in view of the elections only to forget them but our Government is implementing the promised projects." He said never before so many schemes for infrastructure development came to Bihar and reminded that in the special package Rs 53,000 crore have been ermarked only for connectivity which would open gates for development. Union Minister of Surface Transport, Highways, Shipping, Water Resources and River Development Nitin Gadkari read out an exhaustive list of works underway or in pipeline related to his Ministry and said all the schemes would be completed under the time frame. Thanking Modi and Gadkari for taking interest in the infrastructure development in Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar made some more demands like express highway between Buxar and Benaras and road links with Delhi via Lucknow. He also promised to help in acquisition of land for the purpose. He also stressed on unhindered flow of Ganga in Bihar while keeping the river clean and free from pollution. He suggested that the treated sewerage water should not be released in rivers and rather used for irrigation. Without naming RJD chief Lalu Prasad, the PM said there were people who used to say that poor people did not need road as it was being used for the movement of cars. "The people with such mentality ruined the State. Today the situation is that villagers and poor people everywhere are demanding road connectivity. Roads are for economic growth and not merely to ply the cars," Modi said.

23 Earlier Nitish told the PM about the Tal (riverine) areas of Mokamah where water is logged for four months a year. He said it has an area of 1016 sq km covering 1.07 lakh hactares. Saying that it was part of his Lok Sabha constituency Barh which elected him five times he urged the PM for the solutions of problems public were facing. Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi also spoke on the occasion. A galaxy of Union Ministers from Bihar attended the meeting. He said when the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of Independence Day in 2022, he wants to see Bihar standing among the list of prosperous States. Modi also said that many top level officials of civil services are students of Patna University. "In every State, the top levels of the civil services have people who have studied in Patna University. In Delhi, I interact with so many officials, many of whom belong to Bihar... I consider it my honour to visit Patna University and be among the students. I bow to this land of Bihar. This university has nurtured students who have contributed greatly to the nation." He said that Bihar is blessed with both 'Gyaan' and 'Ganga'. "This land has a legacy that is unique," he said.

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 17, 2017 UGC directive uncalled for

The University Grants Commission’s proposed revision of the psychology syllabus in universities and colleges to reflect the “national ethos” is worrying. There is no rational link between the “national ethos” and psychology, which is the science of behaviour and the mind, including conscious and unconscious experiences and thought. Why is the UGC now creating an artificial link between the two? It is evident that the UGC is seeking to reflect the thinking of the ruling dispensation. Since it came to power in 2014, the BJP government has been saffronising India’s institutions, including educational institutions, by appointing members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or its sympathisers, rather than meritorious individuals with expertise and experience in the field of education, to key posts. It has been seeking to rewrite history in a way that simply erases the period of Muslim rule over India and its symbols.

Such efforts are, of course, aimed at furthering the cause of Hindutva, distorting not just history but also the syncretic culture of India in pursuit of a narrow vision of the nation. A few months ago, Venkaiah Naidu, who was then Minister for Urban Development, sought to ostracise people who speak against the “national ethos, values and culture.” The UGC’s directive on the psychology syllabus seems one of a piece with the agenda of the Sangh Parivar-inspired government rather than effecting any improvement in the psychology syllabus, which would properly be the job of the UGC.

The UGC is a statutory body set up by the government. It is supposed to function autonomously and is entrusted with disbursing funds to universities and maintaining academic standards. Earlier this year, it was relegated to being just an academic regulatory body when the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced that funding would be the responsibility of a new body, the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA), which would function under the ministry. The government thus reduced the scope and influence of the UGC. Now, the UGC is undermining itself. A month ago, it directed all higher education institutions to make their students listen to what it described as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “life changing speech.” It is not the UGC’s job to act as the government’s mouthpiece, much less Modi’s or the BJP’s. That task can be performed by the Press Information Bureau or spokespersons of the BJP. By acting like a cheerleader, the UGC has diminished its own prestige in the eyes of the public. Updating syllabi to include the latest developments and theories in a field is fine. Saffronising the psychology syllabus, instead, will destroy the scientific content in it.

HINDUSTAN TIMES, OCT 17, 2017 Delhi govt-funded DU colleges may not pay salaries in Oct The Delhi government had in July stopped funding to 28 DU colleges as the university had not formed governing bodies for the last 10 months. 12 of the 28 colleges are fully funded and 19 get partial funds. Heena Kausar

Delhi University colleges that get 100% funds from the state government may not be able to pay salaries to its teaching and non-teaching staff for this month. Reason: The government withheld funds over non-formation of governing bodies in these colleges.

The Delhi government had in July stopped funding to 28 DU colleges as the university had not formed governing bodies for the last 10 months. 12 of the 28 colleges are fully funded and 19 get partial funds.

S K Garg, principal of Deen Dayal College, which is among the 12 colleges fully funded by the government, said the college will not be able to pay salaries for October.

“We received funds from the government in July for three months. The funds have been utilized for salaries and electricity bills. But we won’t be able to release salaries for October,” he said.

25 Balaram Pani, principal of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, said: “We can’t give salaries for this month unless the government gives us funds. We have written a letter to the university.”

Poonam Verma, principal of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, said these colleges are entirely dependent on the government for funds.

On Monday, DU teachers’ association (DUTA) members met deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and told him that the colleges are finding it difficult to release salaries to teaching and non-teaching staff. “The DUTA has demanded interim relief to pay salaries,” Rajib Ray, president DUTA, said.

Atishi Marlena, advisor to the education minister, said the government was bound by the terms and conditions on which funds are to be given to the colleges. As long as there is no GB, the government cannot release funds.

“ There has to be an accountability mechanism if they are receiving funds from us. The government nominee in the GB ensures accountability but for one year there is no GB in these colleges. After one year, the university has now sent a fresh panel of names,” she said.

Dean of Colleges, Devesh K Sinha, said the university sent a fresh panel to the government 10 days ago. “The executive council had raised objection to some names so we have sent a new list of names.”

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 16, 2017 Kannada now compulsory in all schools

Kannada will now be taught either as first language or second language between Class I and X in all schools across the state.

The government has issued an order in this regard, covering Kendriya Vidyalayas, CBSE and ICSE schools and schools following the state syllabus in English medium. The order follows the Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015, the guidelines of which the government has finalised.

Kannada syllabus for Class I will be applicable to outside students seeking admission between Classes II and VIII.

In case of students seeking admission to class III and above, teachers should teach Kannada syllabus of Class I for one year.

In the subsequent year, those students will have to study the Kannada syllabus prescribed for their class along with their classmates.

Karnataka Secondary Education Board has been directed to frame syllabus for students from outside the state directly joining Classes IX and X.

The government has constituted competent authorities to take action against managements that fail to implement the government order.

They are also empowered to visit schools for inspection and initiate disciplinary action.

Circulars will be issued to all schools regarding the order.

Block Education Officers have been directed to prepare a report of schools in their limits regarding the implementation of the order. They have been directed to submit the report to competent authorities through deputy director’s offices.

27 ELECTIONS

ECONOMIC TIMES, OCT 18, 2017 Aadhaar can be sole ID proof for voting: Ex-CEC Krishnamurthy

Former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy today favoured doing away with voter ID card and said Aadhaar can be the sole identity proof for voting.

At present, the Election Commission allows a number of documents, including passport, as identity proof in the absence of voter ID card.

"Today, we are having too many cards leading to so many complications. Don't introduce too many complications in the system. Time has come we should think of only one card, whatever be the card," Krishnamurthy said.

"ID proof may be Aadhaar card when you are using it for all other purposes. It can be used for election also," he said.

"Aadhaar itself can be made as an election ID card. Why do you want to have election ID card as well as Aadhaar? If all voters are covered by Aadhaar, then you should eliminate voter ID card and make Aadhaar the only ID for electoral purposes," Krishnamurthy told .

He said till the entire country is covered by Aadhaar, both the cards should be allowed as ID proof for voting.

"You can set a particular cut-off date, may be 2019 or 2020 or whatever, everybody should have Aadhaar card (for voting)", the former CEC said.

He also said there was no need for the Election Commission to "delink" Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat Assembly polls, and termed it an "avoidable controversy". Krishnamurthy argued that Himachal Pradesh election could have been postponed by a few days to club it with that in Gujarat.

"I don't know why they should be delinked because it was an avoidable controversy, I thought. There was no need to delink them," the former CEC said.

"When the convention (holding elections to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat simultaneously) has been so, it could have been easily followed, or even if there was difficulty, the Himachal elections could have been postponed by four or five days," he said.

The EC had on October 12 announced that the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh would be held in a single phase on November 9 and the results would be declared on December 18.

The poll panel did not announce the dates for Assembly elections in Gujarat, but Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti had said that the elections will be held before December 18. On BJP MP Varun Gandhi reportedly terming the poll panel a "toothless tiger", Krishnamurthy said, "There is no power (with the poll panel) to deregister (derecognise parties), but whether it makes it (EC) toothless animal, I don't know."

Gandhi had reportedly said the Election Commission was a "toothless tiger" as it had never derecognised any political party for not submitting poll expenditure details within the stipulated time. "Yes, there is no power (to derecognise parties), and that power should be available. Law can be amended to say that if you (EC) have power to register, you can deregister a party under certain circumstances," Krishnamurthy added. TRIBUNE, OCT 17, 2017 ECI’s credibility undermined MG Devasahayam

The plenary mandate of the ECI requires it to stay vigilant and autonomous. It must also come down heavily on parties and candidates who are turning our democracy into a farce.

Commenting on the failure of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to declare the election schedule of Gujarat along with that for Himachal Pradesh, The Tribune editorial has this to say: "Whatever be the election commission's calculations, the Nirvachan Sadan's institutional prestige and reputation stand somewhat diminished."

29 According to former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi, this act of the ECI has created a "ground of suspicion" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Gujarat on October 16 to address a rally wherein he is likely to shower 'goodies' on the state's voters.

I would go further to say that this episode has cast a shadow on the very credibility of ECI.

EC’s mandate The Constitution of India mandates the ECI with the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament, state legislatures as well as president and vice-president. In the Mohinder Singh Gill vs Chief Election Commissioner (1978. 2 SCR-272) case, the Supreme Court ruled that Article 324 is a reservoir of power to act for the avowed purpose of pushing forward a free and fair election with expedition…." The commission shall be responsible for the rule of law, act bona fide and be amenable to the norms of natural justice insofor as conformance to such canons can reasonably and realistically be required of it as fair play-in-action in a most important area of constitutional order, viz, elections." In a catena of cases, the apex court has observed that fair and free elections are a basic feature of the Constitution.

In order to perform such an exalted role, the ECI has been given the same status as that of the Supreme Court and the election commissioners are on a par with the apex court judges and the CEC enjoys the same constitutional protection. It is, therefore, imperative on the part of ECI to ensure electoral integrity by all means and not remain tied to the apron strings of the government or succumb to the ruling party wielding the baton.

EC panders to parties

But unfortunately, the ECI has not covered itself with glory on this front and in the conduct of elections it does not consult the people, the real stakeholders and does not implement Article 324 in letter and spirit. Instead, it panders to the political parties, that are only interested in grabbing power by fair or foul means. Elections have become a mere tool to facilitate this.

We saw this glaringly in the Tamil Nadu Election-2016 where money power and freebies were in full flow. The role of money power is described by the ECI in its order rescinding the election in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur assembly constituencies: "Decision is based on the Commission's assessment about the vitiated atmosphere in the constituencies created by the illegal use of money power to allure the electorate by unethical and unlawful means resorted to by the candidates and the parties." This was applicable mutatis mutandis to almost the entire state. The ECI's Model Code of Conduct-2014 (MCC) on freebies directs political parties and candidates to "avoid making those promises which are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue influence on the voters in exercising their franchise." Also, in the interest of transparency, level playing field and credibility of promises, manifestos should "reflect the rationale for the promises and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the financial requirements for it."

The election manifesto released by the AIADMK, then headed by J. Jayalalaithaa, on May 5, 2016, just 10 days before the polling date, was in total violation of the Supreme Court judgment and the MCC. The EC did not take any action on these blatant violations except issuing a belated notice, that too on representation from civil society. No further action was taken and post-poll surveys clearly revealed that the massive freebies in the manifesto were the clincher.

Added to this was the serious matter of the seizure of huge cash of Rs 570 crore at Tiruppur, just two nights before election that had raised suspicion of humungous electoral bribing. A totally unbelievable story was put out that this huge cache of cash moving from Coimbatore to Vizag belonged to the State Bank of India. Grapevine had it that this money belonged to a national party. Since this happened in an election-bound state under the watch of the ECI with severe restrictions on cash movement, it is its responsibility to order investigation and ascertain facts.

But in all this, the action of the ECI has been indifferent and tardy to say the least. Rescinded elections in the Aravakurichi and Thanjavur assembly constituencies were conducted after six months with the very same candidates contesting the elections, with the corrupt ones winning them. On the blatant violation of the MCC in the election manifesto, only mild rebuke was given to the AIADMK whereas the ECI had the powers to suspend or withdraw recognition of that political party under Section 16A of The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 as amended. As for the cash cache, the ECI passed the buck and the matter was hushed up.

Similar other happenings have dented the credibility of the ECI.

No law on appointment of ECs

This is so because though the commission represents "We, the people", in actual practice it is under the thumb of the government of the day and by extension, the politicians of the ruling party. The Constitution provides that appointments of the election commissioners (ECs) will be made subject to the provision of an enabling law made in that behalf by Parliament. But till date, there is no such law and appointments are being done through an arbitrary, non-transparent, executive process, as if rewarding a favourite with a post-retirement sinecure. The Supreme

31 Court has recently pointed this out, adding that leaving the appointment wholly in the hands of the political executive is not a sound basis for preserving the independence of the ECI.

Because the ECs are appointed by the government of the day, it makes the authority feel like a proprietor who expects the appointee to toe the line set by it. While appointments in statutory bodies are made through the collegium system, not doing so for the constitutional posts of EC looks bizarre. The double standards adopted by the ECI vis-à-vis Gujarat elections can be attributed to this severe flaw.

Such a situation cannot be countenanced. The plenary mandate of the ECI requires this constitutional institution to stand independent and autonomous and come down heavily on political parties and candidates who are increasingly turning India's democracy into a farce. The ECI should also regulate the entire funding of political parties and their expenses during elections. Only this will provide a level playing field, which is the essence of free and fair election.

Sooner this is done the better. Only then can the ECI regain is credibility, without which India's democracy would only turn more farcical. The writer is a former IAS officer EMINENT PERSONALITIES

STATESMAN, OCT 16, 2017 Mahatma & Management Jaydev Jana

The name of Mahatma Gandhi evokes the image of a thinker, philosopher, leader, politician, saint, he donned the caps simultaneously. Apart from being the chief architect of the struggle for freedom, he envisioned a world that would evolve towards peace and harmony. Robert K Greenleaf, an eminent management guru, coined a term ‘servant leadership’ in his classic essay, The Servant as Leader. He explained that such leadership ‘begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.’

The servant-first leader is sharply different from one who imagines himself to be first a leader.. The idea of servant leadership is very ancient. The Mahatma applied the paradigm for ethical leadership to ensure utmost efficiency. Its objectives were sharply defined. His inclusive approach was focused on the rejection of untruth, intolerance, and violence; reaching the goals that had to be achieved (as he put it) on a ‘do or die’ basis. Gandhi is now aptly being labelled as the master strategist, an ideal leader, a marketing guru and someone whose ideas and methods are still relevant for the corporate world.

In the modern business enterprise, a leader who grasps the potential of a company and takes it to a new high is recognised as a turnaround specialist. When Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915 at the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the independence struggle in India was not cohesive. It was rather fragmented and aimless. Gandhi’s greatest contribution was in motivating and mobilising the masses regardless of their difference in language, caste, religion, creed and sex. His contribution to the Indian freedom movement can be best described in the wolds of Jawaharlal Nehru: “And then Gandhi came.

He was like a powerful current of fresh air that made us stretch ourselves and take deep breaths; like a beam of light that pierced the darkness and removed the scale from our eyes; like a whirlwind that upset many things, but most of all the working of people’s minds.’

Gandhi enthralled and engaged people like a magician. He was an expert in the art of making people devote everything for the cause. The biggest resource at his disposal was the empty- handed, inspired masses. He consistently worked for India’s freedom, he inspired the people for a common mission (Poorna Swaraj). Employees need to have a common cause, a common goal, a common mission.

33 To fight the British, Gandhi reinvented the rules of the game and adopted flexible management styles that were dependent on circumstances. He never formulated a theory of management; but he wrote extensively and with great clarity about his assumption, his principles, his objectives, his experience, and, above all, his methods. Some of his ideas have been recognised as excellent principles in modern management. CK Prahalad has aptly pointed out that corporate India needs to take a fresh look at Gandhi’s ideas. Gandhi enunciated a socioeconomic philosophy called Trusteeship.

The trusteeship management provides a means by which people could not be masters or owners but instead they could be caretakers and trustees. For example, he considered every shareholder who invested a single rupee to buy a share of Young India magazine. He would not only invest his money but trust as well. He offered his theory of Trusteeship which requires capitalists to consider the wealth they had in Trust for the benefit of the poor. Indeed, the concept of Trusteeship is a middle path between pure capitalism and pure communism.

Gandhi said the rich were the Custodians or Trustees of the wealth they earn and this needed to be used for the welfare of the less fortunate. This is the essence of Corporate Social Responsibility as propounded by western writers. Undoubtedly, the objective of every corporation is to create wealth for its shareholders. But the power of wealth is the power to give it away. Customer service is an integral part of business.

Gandhi was the first to profess today’s ‘customer is king’ policy in business. In a speech in South Africa in 1890, he said: “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him.

He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.” The world of business did not accept this definition of customer. But in today’s competitive mercantile world this appears to be a philosophy that is worthy of emulation and is at the core of all customer interaction.

Indeed, Gandhi was well ahead of his time. The age-old dichotomy between ‘means’ and ‘ends’ that has been sanctioned by Machiavelli’s philosophy and blessed by revolutionary ideologies and practised by utilitarianism, was challenged by the Gandhian assertion that means and ends are intimately integrated, interlinked and inseparable. He accorded primacy to the means for achieving the ends.

Even if the end is right but means are wrong, it will spoil the effort and divert us in a wrong direction. Gandhi had an instinctive ability to communicate across the lines ~ the rich and the poor, the upper and lower castes and with equal facility. His style of communication was an effective tool to shape opinion and mobilise popular support. He took meticulous care of details. He would leave nothing to chance and would give elaborate instructions to his colleagues even in comparatively minor matters. He did not tolerate slipshod or indifferent performance of his co- workers. Punctuality is the soul of business, and the Mahatma was exceptionally punctual. On the day he was assassinated, he was upset for being ten minutes late to a regular prayer meeting. His legendary punctuality had a utilitarian imperative; without it he would not have been able to answer the letters and meet streams of visitors each day. Gandhi lent a new dimension to management.

Contemporary business gurus are talking about Gandhi’s principles. but in the age of globalisation, it is not easy to implement the ethical management code of conduct as propagated by the Mahatma. Formulating and living up to core values is a commitment to truth. As Gandhi observed, ‘Nothing more need be said. truth alone triumphs… Truth always wins.’

(The writer is a former IAS officer)

35 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

ECONOMIC TIMES, OCT 23, 2017 PMLA: Banks to now match original IDs with photocopies

NEW DELHI The Government has made it mandatory for banks and financial institutions to check the original identification documents of individuals dealing in cash above the prescribed threshold, to weed out the use of forged or fake copies. The Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry has issued a gazette notification making an amendment to the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules. The new rule now requires the reporting entity to compare "the copy of officially valid (identification) document so produced by the client with the original and recording the same on the copy". The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) forms the core of the legal framework put in place by India to combat money laundering and generation of black money. The PMLA and its rules impose obligation on reporting entities like banks, financial institutions and intermediaries to verify identity of clients, maintain records and furnish information to Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND). As per Rule 9, every reporting entity shall at the time of commencement of an account-based relationship, identify its clients, verify their identity and obtain information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship. Intermediaries like stock broker, chit fund company, cooperative bank, housing finance institution and non-banking finance companies are also classified as reporting entities. Biometric identification number Aadhaar and other official documents are required to be obtained by the reporting entities from anyone opening a bank account as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above. The same is also required for all cash dealing of more than Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency, cash transactions where forged or counterfeit currency notes have been used and all suspicious transactions. All cross border wire transfers of more than Rs 5 lakh in foreign currency and purchase and sale of immovable property valued at Rs 50 lakh or more also fall under this category, according to the reporting rules. The Gazette notification said in case the officially valid document furnished does not contain updated address, a utility bill like electricity, telephone, post-paid mobile phone, piped gas or water bill which is not more than two months old can be considered as a proof of address. Also, property or municipal tax receipt, pension or family pension payment orders issued to retired employees by Government departments, or letter of allotment of accommodation from employer can be considered for the same purpose.

TRIBUNE, OCT 23, 2017 Now, buy NSC, MIS from banks Govt permits public banks, 3 private lenders to accept small savings deposits

To encourage savings, the government has allowed banks, including top three private sector lenders — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, to accept deposits under various small savings schemes such as National Savings Certificate (NSC), recurring deposits and monthly income scheme (MIS).

Until now, most of the small savings schemes were sold through post offices.

According to a recent government notification, banks can also sell National Savings Time Deposit Scheme 1981, National Savings (Monthly Income Account) Scheme 1987, National Savings Recurring Deposit Scheme 1981 and NSC VIII issue. As per the notification, all public sector banks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank to receive subscription from the expanded portfolios.

So far, these banks were allowed to receive subscription under Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra-2014, Sukanya Samriddhi Account, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme-2004.

Increased outlets for selling small savings schemes would result in higher mobilisation.

Last month, the government kept unchanged interest rates on small savings schemes for the October-December quarter. Since April last year, interest rates on all small saving schemes have been recalibrated on a quarterly basis.

Investments in the public provident fund (PPF) scheme will fetch annual rate of 7.8 per cent while Kisan Vikas Patra investments will yield 7.5 per cent and mature in 115 months.

The one for girl child savings, Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, will offer 8.3 per cent annually. Similarly, the investment on the five-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme will yield 8.3 per cent. The interest rate on the senior citizens scheme is paid quarterly. On the basis of the government decision, interest rates for small savings schemes are to be notified on a quarterly basis since April 1, 2016, the ministry said while notifying the rates for the third quarter of the financial year 2017- 18. — PTI

37 GOVERNORS

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 17, 2017 Governors are not 'political parallel power centres': VP

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said Governors of states are not some "political parallel power centres", adding their duty was to be a "mentor and thought leader" to guide the government and the people. "Today the Governors in India are constitutional representatives. They are not some political parallel power centres. In our democracy, he is a ceremonial head," he said.

In his address at Raj Bhavan here after presiding over a book release event and dedicating a solar power plant, the Vice President said a Governor cannot "interfere" in the regular functioning of a government. "In our democracy he (Governor) is a ceremonial head. Only the ministry has true powers. You have to understand the Governor's powers and limitations." "Without knowing the governor's powers and limitations if you come with your own expectations and then get disappointed, nobody can help you," Naidu said. He was speaking at the event organised to release a book titled "Those Eventful Days" on Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao's stint in Tamil Nadu while holding its additional charge since September 2016 till last month. Naidu said Rao had discharged his responsibilities during his tenure to the 'maximum satisfaction of the Constitution.' "Some people may be happy, some people may be unhappy, but you cannot make everybody happy as you have to act as per the Constitution," Naidu said. During Rao's stint in Tamil Nadu, the state witnessed a spate of political twists and turns following hospitalisation of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016, and her subsequent death in December last.

A rebellion by now Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and a patch up in August with Chief Minister K Palaniswami and the former's induction in the cabinet were also witnessed.

Meanwhile, another split in the ruling AIADMK following a revolt by 19 party MLAs owing allegiance to sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran against Palaniswami prompted opposition calls to the Governor for directing a floor test of the incumbent government.

These MLAs had met the Governor and sought removal of Palaniswami, saying they had lost confidence in him. Opposition parties led by DMK and its leader M K Stalin had made a beeline to Rao, urging him to direct a floor test of the Palaniswami government, contending he had lost majority, even as Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal disqualified 18 rebel legislators. One MLA had jumped to the Palaniswami faction. Both DMK and the disqualified MLAs had moved the court on the issues of floor test and against the disqualification, respectively. Without dwelling into the political developments in Tamil Nadu, Naidu however expressed his desire to see a stable government in the state.

The Vice President said he does not want to make any comment directly on the political happenings in Tamil Nadu. "What is required in Tamil Nadu is a stable government. What is required is governance." "What is required is to fulfil the promises made in the last elections when Amma Jayalalithaa was there. Whether you do your responsibility or not, the ultimate judgement has to be given not by the Governor, but by the people at the appropriate time," he said. The Governor "cannot interfere" in the regular functioning of the government because the Constitution mandates the Governor as a "guide and philosopher," he said. "He is a catalyst, facilitator, mentor, motivator and also a thought leader to guide the Chief Minister, council of ministers and the people. That is the duty of the Governor," he said. A Governor has to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and law and devote themselves to the service and the well being of the people, which was their "duty", he said. "To my knowledge, Rao has done that duty as per the Constitution," the Vice President added. Naidu, who inaugurated a Rs 4.5 crore solar power plant to meet Raj Bhavan's power requirements, said the world was now moving towards this renewable energy. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking an initiative in this regard, India was leading from the front on solar power, he said. On the prime minister's policy of "reform, perform and transform," Naidu said a "big" transformation was taking place and urged the Central and state governments to join hands to take the country forward.

He said once elections are over, people should forget politics and focus on development and good governance. For that the central government and state government should work together, he added. The leadership of the country should focus on important issues such as poverty eradication, empowering women, ending untouchability among others, he said and rued instances of members of certain sections still being denied entry into temples.

39 HEALTH SERVICE

HINDU, OCT 16, 2017 The case for a public health cadre Dharmesh Kumar Lal

A service, on the lines of the IAS, will improve India’s health-care delivery

The idea of having dedicated personnel for public health management goes back to 1959 when advocated by the Mudaliar Committee, which observed that “personnel dealing with problems of health and welfare should have a comprehensive and wide outlook and rich experience of administration at the state level”.

It was echoed too, in 1973, by the Kartar Singh Committee, which said that “doctors with no formal training in infectious disease control, surveillance systems, data management, community health related problems, and lacking in leadership and communication skills, with no exposure to rural environments and their social dynamics, nor having been trained to manage a facility or draw up budget estimates, were ill-equipped and misfits to work in public facilities”.

It was also felt that “the medical education that [a doctor] receives has hardly any relevance to the conditions in which he would be required to work, either in the state-run health programme or even in private practice… since medical education is based almost entirely on the western model, and where he is more suitable for the conditions that prevail in western countries than in his own.”

The 12th Five Year Plan and the National Health Policy, 2017 have also strongly advocated establishing a public health management cadre to improve the quality of health services by having dedicated, trained and exclusive personnel to run public health facilities.

Ground zero

Tamil Nadu took the lead in this and there has been a discernible difference in the way health delivery is done there vis-à-vis Uttar Pradesh. For example, in U.P., even in a tertiary hospital, according to media reports, simple record keeping of oxygen cylinders is not followed. Recently, Odisha, with the support of the Public Health Foundation of India, has notified the establishment of a public health cadre in the hope of ensuring vast improvement in the delivery of health care. Despite the creation of a public health cadre finding mention in various reports and Plan documents, such a service at the all-India level has still to translate itself into reality any time soon due to a series of complex factors.

Why have such a cadre? The idea is on the lines of the civil service — of having dedicated, professionally trained personnel to address the specific and complex needs of the Indian health-care delivery system which is grappling with issues such as a lack of standardisation, financial management, appropriate health functionaries and competencies including technical expertise, logistics management, and social determinants of health and leadership. Doctors with clinical qualifications and even with vast experience are unable to address all these challenges, thereby hampering the quality of our public health-care system. Now, doctors recruited by the States and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (through the Union Public Service Commission) are to implement multiple, complex and large public health programmes besides applying fundamental management techniques. In most places, this is neither structured nor of any quality. In the absence of a public health cadre in most States, even an anaesthetist or an ophthalmologist with hardly any public health knowledge and its principles is required to implement reproductive and child health or a malaria control programme. Further, at the Ministry level, the highest post may be held by a person with no formal training in the principles of public health to guide and advise the country on public health issues.

With a public health cadre in place, we will have personnel who can apply the principles of public health management to avoid mistakes such as one that led to the tragedy in Uttar Pradesh as well as deliver quality services. This will definitely improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Indian health system. With quality and a scientific implementation of public health programmes, the poor will also stand to benefit as this will reduce their out-of- pocket expenditure and dependence on prohibitively expensive private health care. In the process, we will also be saving the precious resources of specialists from other branches by deploying them in areas where they are definitely needed.

The way forward

41 Such an exclusive department of public health at both the levels of the Ministry and the States will help in developing the recruitment, training, implementation and monitoring of public health management cadre. Doctors recruited under this cadre may be trained in public health management on the lines of the civil service with compulsory posting for two-three years at public health facilities. Filling the post of director general in the Health Ministry from this cadre with similar arrangements at the State level including the posts of mission directors will go a long way in improving planning and providing much-needed public health leadership. Financial support for establishing the cadre is also to be provisioned by the Central government under the Health Ministry’s budget.

Lastly, another benefit will be the freeing up of bureaucrats and their utilisation in other much needed places.

Dharmesh Kumar Lal is a Senior Public Health Specialist at the Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi. The views expressed are personal LABOUR

ECONOMIC TIMES, OCT 17, 2017 47.5 lakh domestic workers set to get legal status and minimum wages

NEW DELHI: The labour and employment ministry is set to give legal status to domestic workers in the country by formulating a national policy that will ensure minimum wages and equal remuneration for around 47.5 lakh domestic workers in India including 30 lakh women. “The aim is to explicitly and effectively expand the scope of applicable legislations, policies and schemes to grant domestic workers rights that are enshrined in laws for other category of workers,” the ministry said in a notice, seeking comments from the public on the policy. According to the notice, a national policy would facilitate recognition of domestic help as ‘workers,’ with the right to register with the state labour department. “Ministry of labour and employment is considering to formulate a national policy for domestic workers under which part-time, full-time and live-in workers, employers, private placement agencies will be clearly defined,” the ministry said. An institutional mechanism will be set up to provide for social security cover, fair terms of employment, grievance redressal and dispute resolution for domestic workers. Besides, the policy will seek to regulate recruitment and placement agencies to avoid any harassment. Placement agencies charge a certain proportion of domestic workers’ salary every month, over and above one-time fees they charge from the employer for providing such help. The new policy, though, is likely to make it mandatory for placement agencies to charge a one-time 15-day salary from domestic workers and in turn provide them with social security cover, including medical and health insurance. “The policy aims to promote right to fair terms of employment relating to minimum wages, protection from abuse/harassment and violence, access to social security benefits such as health insurance, maternity benefits and old age pensions as provided by existing and upcoming schemes of central and state government, which may include contribution from employer/workers,” the notice said.

43 PARLIAMENT

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 16, 2017 Each lawmaker could get gold biscuit during Soudha fete

Karnataka’s lawmakers will get 13-gram gold biscuits as gifts during the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Vidhana Soudha scheduled for October 25 and 26 if the legislature secretariat gets its way.

The secretariat, which has been severely criticised for drawing up a Rs 26.87-crore plan to organise the celebrations, proposes to give away the expensive gifts to MLAs as well as MLCs. Each gold biscuit will cost about Rs 55,000 and will be embossed with the coat of arms, the state emblem of Karnataka. A miniature model of the Vidhana Soudha will be gifted, too.

“Yes, a proposal has been sent to the government to give away gold biscuits as gifts to legislators. It’s part of the plan to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Vidhana Soudha. If the chief minister (Siddaramaiah) agrees, we will present the gifts,” Legislative Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad said.

It has also been proposed to gift the secretariat staff, from the Upper and Lower Houses, silver plates worth about Rs 6,000 each. The secretariat recently invited President Ramnath Kovind to address a special joint session of the legislature on the occasion. Cultural programmes have been organised on both the days on the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha.

Senior ministers recently expressed displeasure at the legislature secretariat’s “unilateral” decision to organise the celebrations. What irked them the most was that the secretariat started the preparations even before the government approved the plan to spend Rs 26.87 crore.

The Speaker lost his cool recently when journalists asked him why such a huge sum of money is being spent on the celebrations. He curtly refused to give any information. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

TRIBUNE, OCT 16, 2017 Catalonia — not yet independent Pritam Singh

Developments in Spain and Catalonia may be distant, but the manner in which this conflict plays out has a relevance far beyond Europe, specially for their Kashmiri and Kurd compatriots.

Pritam Singh

IN Catalonia's latest stance on its independence move, the political leadership in Catalonia has demonstrated admirable maturity in dealing with the Spanish central government's opposition to Catalonia's demand for independence. Catalonia's parliament in its specially convened session on October 10 put on formal record that the referendum on independence organised by Catalonia's government on October 1 had 93% of voters voting for independence. The President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont declared on that basis that Catalonia was an independent and sovereign state but then displayed remarkable political skill in not opting for immediate implementation of that declaration of independence. Instead, it opted for moving further with dialogue, deescalating tension and building consensus. In making this move, it scored a moral victory over Spain's central leadership which had chosen the path of confrontation by using heavy handed methods in opposing the referendum vote on October 1 and still failing to prevent the vote.

Catalonia morally right

If the Spanish government now retaliates by removing the existing regional autonomy of Catalonia and putting it directly under Spanish central rule, it will further weaken its moral case, even if it is formally right in legal and constitutional terms. Politically, such retaliation would prove even more costly because it will push even the reluctant nationalists among Catalonians in the camp of committed Catalan nationalism.

The sober and dialogue seeking decision by the Catalan leadership to put on hold its independence agenda, even if temporary, may disappoint some impatient elements in the

45 independence movement but it is in tune with the growing global trend of resolving secessionist disputes through democratic means in the current era of democracy.

Conflicts in nations cause of new states

Many of the nation states in the developing world are products of the termination of European colonial empires after the World War II, but the new nation states that are emerging or are struggling to emerge both within the developing world and the developed world are now the products of nationalist conflicts within the existing nation states. In some cases, the boundaries of the existing nation states that were drawn by the retreating colonial powers were extremely unfair to some nationalist identities.

The Kurdish people splintered into four nation states — Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey — constitute perhaps the most unfortunate nation as a result ofthe arbitrary division of the Middle East by colonial powers. The Kurdish people have been waging armed struggle to carve up a unified Kurdish nation state for several decades but they are now moving towards a strategy of making use of democratic methods. The recent independence referendum organised by the administration in the Kurdish controlled region in Iraq is a clear step in that direction of seeking democratic legitimacy for their nationalist aspiration.

Movements for independence The wider politico-economic macro environment that has given push to the movements for independence is paradoxically the result of globalisation which in the context of Europe manifests itself in the widening of the European Union. The economic dimension of globalisation and Europeanisation is the weakening of the geographical barriers of nation states in the unhindered pursuit of the mobility of capital, labour, technology, commodities and life styles. This process of globalisation may be viewed, legitimately to some extent, as leading to internationalisation and weakening of appeal to nationalism.

However, this process also carries within it the threat of global homogenisation which is perceived and experienced as a threat by minority cultures and identities. This threat, in turn, provides impetus to the strengthening of aspirations for national sovereignty to protect minority nationalist identities. The globalisation of economic transactions and the development of information technologyprovidefurther strength to smaller geographical spaces as nations because the economic viability in the global economic arena is no longer dependent on the geographical or population size of a nation state. For example, Scotland by withdrawing from the union with the UK or Catalan by seceding from Spain can still be a part of the European Union and thus remain economically viable. Referendums settling disputes

What has dramatically changed the political landscape for independence movements is the method followed in the French-speaking Quebec province's aspiration for independence from Canada and Scotland's aspiration for independence from England. In both cases, the central government reached an agreement with the regional government to hold a referendum to settle the dispute about whether that region would gain independence or remain a part of the larger union. In both cases, the respective governments agreed to abide by the result of the referendum. In both cases, the vote went by a small margin against secession. The regional governments and political parties accepted the verdict and, in turn, the central governments in both cases did not insist that there could not be future referendum vote which might go in favour of secession. What was remarkable was the consensus that any such dispute need to be resolved through the democratic means of a vote and not either by armed rebellion by the independentists against the central governmentor by armed suppression of the independentists by the centralists.

The Catalan's regional government seems to have realised that there was one serious flaw with their referendum vote on October 1 in spite of massive support in Catalan for the right to vote which was endorsed even by those who were opposed to Catalan's independence from Spain.

This flaw was that this referendum vote was not organised by mutual consultation and agreement with the central government in Madrid. As a result, this did not have legal legitimacy. The Spanishgovernment too erred in not taking a lesson from the Canadian and British experience of following the consensual path and used repressive methods to thwart the vote. Those methods, or even more brutal than those, which are commonly used by most governments in the developing world are not compatible with the developed democratic culture of Europe with higher standards of human rights. That has landed the Spanish government in a weak spot- morally and politically. It will weaken itself further if it now spurns the Catalan offer of dialogue and abrogates the current autonomy Catalan enjoys by imposing central rule there.

Given the present impasse, the mediation by European Union is the only way forward to agree the negotiated path to resolve this dispute. The resolution may turn out to be neither complete independence for Catalan nor more centralised control from Madrid, but converting Spain into a confederation with increased internal economic, political and cultural autonomy to Catalan and perhaps to other regions too such as Basque and Galicia. The manner in which this conflict is resolved or not resolved is likely to be of significance far beyond Spain and Europe. The writer is Professor of Economics at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford

47 POVERTY

STATESMAN, OCT 21, 2017 Insurance for the poor Moin Qazi

Finance is the cementing force that holds all the pieces of our life together. It enables money to be in the right place, at the right time, and for the right situation. To borrow and save is to move money from the future to the present or from the present to the future. To insure is to move money from a “good” situation to a one that is “bad”.

Ideal financial societies are those that provide safe and convenient ways of managing these simple monetary affairs. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The declaration by the United Nations had fixed 17 October as the date. We have still a long way to go to make this world poverty-free. One of the key strategies for eliminating poverty is to equip the poor with the right financial tools.

Access to the right options at a critical juncture can determine whether a poor household will be able to exploit an opportunity to move out of poverty or absorb a shock without being pushed deeper into debt. People in the low-income group live on the edge, in constant fear of a catastrophe or tragedy. They live in a risky environment, vulnerable to numerous risks and economic shocks such as loss of jobs, loss of property due to theft or fire, crop failure, the death of a breadwinner, and disasters of both the natural and manmade varieties.

Although poor households often have informal means to manage risks, such strategies provide inadequate protection. Insurance is a major safeguard for the low-income group. They need insurance more than wealthier people because they have no cushion and they are more vulnerable to many of the risks. Studies on the impact of micro and inexpensive insurance policies targeted at the poor have shown they can improve healthcare outcomes, withstand income shocks in vulnerable households, and raise school attendance rates.

In the developed world, insurance is a part of life. However, its coverage has been patchy and woefully inadequate in the developing world. More than 80 per cent of India’s poor are not covered in any way. However, what was a luxury that enabled the poor to secure their gains and plan for the future with confidence has now become a reality on account of several innovative models developed by institutions. The entire micro-insurance segment is growing and is now worth about 15 per cent of the worldwide insurance industry. India is now a major site of a rapidly growing micro-insurance revolution.

Micro insurance is a developed segment in both India and the Philippines, with proper policies and regulations in place. India accounted for 65 per cent of Asia’s micro-insurance market, according to the Munich Re and GIZ report, with some 37 million poor families availing of the benefits provided by the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana or the national health insurance initiative ~ the flagship programme of the government for health insurance.

Micro-insurance, by definition, envisages the protection of low-income people against debt traps that often imperil their livelihood and even their lives. Ordinary life risks could completely wipe out a family’s entire savings .Micro-insurance leverages economies of scale (large volumes of small policies). Because of its affordability, more people can get policies.

And more policies mean greater business for the company and viable coverage for clients. Poverty and vulnerability reinforce each other in a downward spiral. Often, the trigger for poverty is illness. Illnesses are a severe risk and can eat away most of the hard-earned savings in low income communities. The net result is bankruptcy. The poor prefer health insurance to life insurance. As they say, “we die once but go to the doctor many times each year”. According to the Union health ministry, 25 per cent of the people admitted to hospital were driven to penury by hospital costs, not to forget the cost of missed work.

To cope with such emergencies, microinsurance can help families avoid desperate measures such as incurring debts or selling assets or abandoning children or taking them out of school. By managing risks and avoiding debt, those who have micro-insurance policies are in a position to protect the wealth they accumulate, generate more income, and can even get a fair chance to rescue themselves and their families out of the mire of poverty. Insurance can provide the low- income group with a greater protection against health, property, disability and death risk.

The cost of insuring against an unforeseen development is considerably lower than self-insuring through savings, and is small relative to a household budget. Governments, donors, development agencies and others engaged in combating poverty need to have insurance as one of the weapons in their arsenal. The key challenge for microinsurance is the high costs of administering the same. The poor by and large live off the banking grid. Families are scattered across the countryside, making physical access difficult and the transaction costs of issuing millions of small policies through service agents are too high.

The global revolution in mobile communications, along with rapid advances in digital payment systems, is creating opportunities to connect poor households to affordable and reliable financial tools through mobile phones, and other digital interfaces. Micro-insurance can piggyback on the exploding reach of cellphone banking and the infrastructure created by microcredit institutions. They can reach the poor and reduce the cost of servicing remote clients. For the poor to reap the real benefits of micro-insurance, the insurance companies need to function with a sense of responsibility. Because of the lack of proper awareness and failure of institutions to properly guide them, people buy insurance policies without proper planning and give up midway because they don’t have money to pay the premium.

Aggressive selling prevents the agents from properly assessing the consistency in income streams of the buyers for servicing their policies. The customers end up losing heavily as penalties are very harsh. The greatest challenge for micro-insurance schemes is to strike the right balance between adequate protection and affordability to deliver real value to the insured.

49 Micro-insurance is certainly a way to end the cycle of poverty, indeed to provide the safety net that families need. If the poor know that they are covered, they’re more likely to invest in expanding businesses, diversifying their crops, or sending their children to school, without fear of losing their savings if something were to happen. The whole capacity to take risks changes.

Thus from just being a safety net, micro-insurance provides benefits that earlier generations could never imagine ~ hope in the future.

(The writer is the author of Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He can be reached at [email protected]) PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

DECCAN HERALD, OCT 18, 2017 Govt data at click of mouse Subhashish Mohanty Bhubaneswar: Working on chief minister Naveen Patnaik's on 3-Ts formula - transparency, technology and team work - the state government on Tuesday launched a website to help people access government files and other required information. People will now be able to access information without having to take the Right to Information Act route. The website odisha.data.gov.in, developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), has been launched by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi for this. Odisha is the fourth state in India to run such a website. Electronics and IT secretary Ashok Kumar Meena said: "People generally seek various information and have to wait for days even for simple government data. Now all this information will be available in the open data sharing of the state government." Under the RTI, one has to wait 30 days to get information from the government. Meena said: "The government departments gather a lot of data in course of their functioning and implementation of programmes. These data are very useful not only for governance but also for learning, research and awareness. The portal has been launched with the prime objective of sharing data with people." All service delivery departments such as the health and family welfare, education and the women and child development have been asked to upload their data on the platform. "We have asked each department to upload at least 10 data faces within the next seven days on the portal and go on adding to that regularly," he said, adding that within the next six months the portal would have lots of useful data in usable formats. An official said the data uploaded on the portal could be downloaded, transferred digitally and used for developing various apps for further use. "The Centre has developed an open data licensing system for adding value to government data and developing those for commercial use. We can also benefit from it," said a senior official. Head of the open government data system of the central government Alaka Mishra said: "With the launch of the portal odisha.data.gov.in, the state has opened up its database for use by the people, journalists, academia and other information users."

RAILWAYS

TIMES OF INDIA, OCT 23, 2017

51 You could soon opt to fly if Rajdhani ticket’s not confirmed Saurabh Sinha

NEW DELHI: Passengers with unconfirmed AC-I or AC-II tickets for Rajdhani Express may soon be able to fly to their destination instead by paying the difference, if any, in the price of the train and air tickets. Ashwani Lohani had planned the move last summer when he was Air India chairman, but the railways had not reacted to it positively. Now the chairman of the Railway Board, Lohani+ has said he will clear the plan if AI puts it up again.

"If AI approaches us with this proposal, we will accept it," Lohani told TOI.

A large number of people end up with unconfirmed AC-II Rajdhani tickets almost every day due to a severe demand-supply crunch in the railways. In a bid to boost AI's aircraft occupancy, "turnaround man" Lohani had planned that such people's contact details could be automatically shared with AI, which could then offer them seats on flights for the same destination at competitive rates.

"AC-II Rajdhani fares are more or less similar to air fares," Lohani said.

However, with the process to privatise or sell government-owned AI now in its final stages, it remains to be seen if the airline goes for such a proposal.

"A benefit of having a government-owned airline... (is that) railways can transfer its unconfirmed premium passengers to state-owned AI. Lohani's idea is very good. But can railways do the same with a private AI or any other private airline without facing charges of benefitting them?" asked an AI insider.

Senior IAS officer Rajiv Bansal, who was given additional charge as AI chairman for three months in August-end, when Lohani was moved to the Railway Board, said he would not be immediately able to comment on the proposal. "This is the first time I am hearing of such a thing. There is difference in train and air fares..." he said.

TOP COMMENT efficiency and profits both will increase if there is understanding and coordination between railways and AIR India both being controlled by governmentNavin Shah With the proposal, Lohani, a 1980-batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers officer, had used his experience with the railways to rid AI of one of its most vexing problems: low aircraft occupancy. Around the same time that he came up with the train-air switch idea, AI had also decided to match Rajdhani AC-II fares on important metro routes like Delhi to Mumbai.

AI insiders said the airline's focus currently was to safely run its flights on time till a new owner is found.

STATESMAN, OCT 17, 2017 On & off the track~I Raghu Dayal

A series of train accidents have raised considerable public concern The issue needs to be examined from two critical aspects of cardinal importance: one, for the Railways, an organisation engaged in 24X7 operations amidst challenging circumstances, safety is integral to its general efficiency. This necessitates consistent diligence and discipline from the entire workforce.

It must probe why its inspection and monitoring systems have become slack over the years. Second, the creaking infrastructure reflects inevitable retribution ~ accumulated wages of sin perpetrated in varying degrees by political deities reigning in Rail Bhawan during the last three decades. Some of them, brazenly arrogant and narcissistic, had regarded the Railways as their fiefdom while doling out budgetary largesse. The timidity and pusillanimity of top managers by and large didn’t deter myopic political masters from window-dressing the financial aspect, thereby denying even the minimum wherewithal for essential maintenance of assets.

Of late, the Railways had its energy dissipated on a minutiae of routine amenities euphemistically termed ‘projects’, that were inaugurated with fanfare. True, there is no magic bullet. The Indian Railways have been diagnosed and scanned extensively as no other organisation, and cures have been prescribed. As the country’s most important enterprise, it needs to heed how some of the most successful companies were reduced to irrelevance because they were complacent and had failed to adapt their enterprises to market disruptions, trends and technologies. As regards safety, the failure of assets and operational efficiency reinforces each other.

The Railways ought to accord the highest priority to address deficiencies in the maintenance of assets, and simultaneously launch a crusade that is needed for ‘zero defect’/’zero failure’ of assets. At least 10 per cent of the existing network capacity can be unlocked by ensuring a zero- failure of fixed and mobile assets and, more importantly, enhanced safety. It must stringently monitor the performance and quality of work at workshops, depots, sheds, yards, and tracks. The asset-failures that impact train operations indicate a disturbing trend.

53 Rail track fractures and weld failures increased from 3,237 in 2015-16 to 3,546 in 2016- 17; diesel and electric locomotives failures remained at about the level of 4,500 in the same year, and detachment of passenger coaches from trains exceeded 810; failures of overhead electric wires increased from 378 in 2015-16 to 447 in 2016-17; signalling equipment failures were of the order of 130,200 in 2016-17. It is essential to disaggregate the system ~ freight, passenger, infrastructure, other activities ~ supported by changes in organization and upgrading of operational processes. For far too long, the Railways have been stuck at one per cent of the national GDP; its potential and expectations require that it ought to attain at least two per cent of GDP, a tough call in a growing economy.

Its key objectives as the economy’s lifeline are an exponential capacity enhancement for traffic growth; realistic passenger fares; freight tariff reduction. It is essential to reorganize the management structure in terms of business ~ segregating freight from passenger business to improve customer focus, market response, and profitability; ensure quality in investments and project execution; drastically cut costs; corporatize development and manufacture of railway equipment and construction as well as suburban and regional passenger services; reform its accounting and costing systems; emphasise the role of finance as in a corporate enterprise.

Freight is the Railways’ bread and butter and a crucial factor for industry and commerce. Large organizations have a strong tendency to overexploit existing business models instead of exploring opportunities for the future. The dynamics of competitiveness in the marketing of products is now a new theory of development.

High-capacity trucks carry goods door-to-door, and this is convenient and economical. The 96,000 km highways, that carry 40 per cent of India’s road traffic, is being expanded to 200,000 km with a capacity to carry 80 per cent of goods traffic. Trucks will clock much higher mobility, further facilitated by the GST regime. The 2014 National Transport Development Policy Committee had set for the Railways the target of achieving a market-share of no less than 50 per cent by 2031-32.

But to retain its current share of 30-35 per cent, the Railways will have to increase its volume of freight by more than 10 per cent a year.

Long-distance transportation of coal by train will keep declining. Whichmakes it imperative for the Railways to look for life beyond coal, currently accounting for half of its total freight business. The Railways has less than two per centshare in the FMCG segment, and one per cent in auto and textiles. For weaning away high-value non-bulk sector from road transport, the Railways will have to produce wagons/ containers, in partnership with other players. It may well optimise double-stack container train operations, conducive to economies of scale.

The annual loss of more than Rs. 1,100 crore on the parcel and luggage segment should compel it to forge partnerships with established road network operators/integrators to develop a door-to- door multimodal product.

Tectonic changes in the Railways of the US, China and Russia for high velocity, price- competitive overnight inter-city parcel and freight delivery transport systems would be worthy of emulation. The Railways operate a daily average of over 13,300 passenger trains, including about 3,500 long-distance inter-city mail and express services, 4,700 short-distance “regional” trains, besides around 5,100 suburban ‘locals’, mainly in Mumbai and Kolkata.

The “regional” services are at the root of the maximum loss in passenger business and consume a substantial portion of scarce movement capacity, even on high-density routes. An autonomous corporate entity, under the umbrella of the Indian Railways, will coordinate better with respective state government authorities and provide for multimodal transport, involving road services, especially where rail services make no sense, economically and rationally.

The demand for rail travel far outstrips supply, and remains set to grow substantially in view of country’s “continental distances”, its rapidly growing middle class, social and religious mores that keep the foot-loose population on the move.

The steadily growing services sector continues to trigger high mobility and demand for passenger travel, generally among upper classes. Further, regional imbalances in economic growth leading to migration of workers from poorer regions to more promising areas, would perforce generate considerable travel.

The Railways will have to compete with budget airlines and the high-capacity Volvo and Leyland vehicles, that are as fast as they are frequent. The number of air passengers, which constituted just about one per cent of upper class rail passengers in 1950-51, now exceeds 75 per cent, and is poised to surpass the share of the Railways before 2020. The rail network must aim at high-capacity, speedy intercity passenger trains with hasslefree booking and reservation on demand, clean platforms, coaches and toilets, standardised packaged food, trains running on time, along with a concerted programme to reduce travel time.

Some trains can run end-to-end with minimum intermediate halts. The dubious label of “super fast” must be binned. Of late, the Railways have spoken of Tejas, Humsafar, Antyodaya, Uday, et al. as its new pantheon of passenger services.

For instance, Uday (Utkrisht Double Decker Air conditioned Yatri express) should be pursued for popular and dense routes in order to overcome the capacity crunch.

(To be concluded)

(The writer is Senior Fellow, Asian Institute of Transport Development, and former CMD, Container Corporation of India)

STATESMAN, OCT 18, 2017 On & off the track~II Raghu Dayal

55 The Railways have been dithering for the past three years. The resources that were required were in no way forbidding. Pending the introduction of up to 200 km/h ‘semi high speed’ DelhiMumbai and Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhanis immediately on commissioning of the freight corridors, selected routes such as the 500 km Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore route and the 1,400 km DelhiMumbai corridor, recommended by the Japanese, could well have been introduced by now at a speed of up to160 km/h (like the Gatimaan on 200 km DelhiAgra route).

As regards speed enhancement, the style of operations has been baffling. The Railways opted for detailed studies for constructing exclusive corridors for up to 350 km/h high speed rail (HSR) for “bullet” trains, on its long-distance arterial routes. The project is prima facie ill-conceived. Seven “bullet train” corridors have been identified and feasibility studies completed. Only one ~ the 500 km Mumbai-Ahmadabad route ~ has been given the go-ahead after Japan agreed to provide a $12 billion loan.

Also to be examined is the severe impact of passenger cross-subsidisation. Newer strategies need to be devised for passenger business. In 2015-16, the Railways incurred a loss of Rs 487 for running a passenger train over a distance of one kilometre. The train, as an iconic symbol, traverses a facile and perilous route ~ often hiking freight charges and upper class, mostly AC, passenger fares. By cross-subsidising passenger business, the Railways have out-priced itself in the freight sector, thus tending to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

With low-cost air carriers flying high, it must refrain from raising AC train fares. As it is, upper class segment aggregates just 145 million journeys in a year, only 1.8 per cent of overall travel, but contributes more than 31 per cent (Rs 13,756 crore, in 2015-16) of total passenger earnings. The ordinary second class segment is largely responsible for the fiscal mess.

The ordinary class II ticket costs 20 paise per km, which is less than one-third of the bus fare. Terminal congestion has emerged as a major constraint towards running a larger number of train services. Many of the freight terminals in the metropolitan areas have been squeezed out by passenger expansion, while those that remain face stringent restrictions on the movement of heavy road vehicles.

Out of the 1,300 terminals managed by the Railways, only 500 handle more than 10 trains per month. These should really be served by at least one train a day. There are also some private sidings which could be better utilised as common facility terminals. In addition to some 15- 18 integrated logistics centres, 10-12 large stations need to put in place modern maintenance facilities, pending which a few existing terminals serving metropolitan towns need to be urgently improvised through the redevelopment of stations.

The Railways need to explore the immense possibilities of identifying stations ideally located near places of pilgrimage and archaeological interest. This can be done in cooperation with the state government. It is imperative to cut costs. Transport charges have declined the world over. The Indian Railways must bring down its freight charges. Competitiveness is low because of high transaction costs. The paradox is striking. The Railway ministry invests in new technologies and persists with old staffing patterns. Several services and activities are outsourced, but there has been little or no reduction in the strength of permanent cadres. Multi-skilling is a mere a slogan. It is headed towards a demographic nightmare ~ its 1.434m pensioners (accounting for 34 per cent of working expenses) now exceed 1.325 working employees. Before long, salaries and pensions will swallow three-fourth of its budget in terms of working expenses.

The Railways must first shed its perceived role of a departmental undertaking with public service obligation and, instead, perform as a corporate entity with inalienable responsibility to carry the nation’s freight and passengers adequately, efficiently and economically. There are ministries and programmes to look after social obligations, for which they have their own budgets. A rigid bureaucratic structure flies in the face of business ethos.

The network in Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain, are now autonomous corporate entities, having shed their garb of government departments. In India, it has rather stubbornly stuck to its departmental character, inevitably perpetrating bureaucratic rigidities and wallowing in competitive frailties of babu culture.

The management structure has been compartmentalised, and this has created departmental fiefs, rendering the system perilously obese and extortionist. Functional requirement must perforce be the overriding consideration in determining the apex management pyramid. The primary function must be production, marketing and operation of transport services.

The top management posts require the incumbents to provide meaningful leadership to thousands of workers and managers in different disciplines. Like general command posts in the armed forces (Brigade, Division, Corps, or Army) held only by specially selected and trained officers mostly from the fighting arms, The general administration posts in the Railways, such as the Divisional and Zonal chiefs, need to be manned only by those who are duly exposed to 24X7 rigours of operations, maintaining interaction with customers.

IR has made a welcome, though as yet a half-hearted beginning, towards functional integration by designating three Members of the Board – for Traction, Rolling Stock and Infrastructure.. For the present, Board’s composition could be a Member each for (i) Freight logistics services, (ii) Passenger business, (iii) Infrastructure (tracks, bridges, land, buildings, signalling, electrification, (iv) Dynamic Assets or Rolling Stock and equipment, (v) HRD, including industrial relations, vigilance, safety and security, (vi) Finance, including accounts and material management, and (vii) Chairman as the CEO for coordination and control, strategic planning, R&D.

Minister Piyush Goyal needs to deftly, and firmly, handle matters in the Kafkaesque Rail Bhawan, then right across the sprawling system ~ its vast web of installations ~ some 45 workshops for POH, 100 loco sheds, 260 repair depots and ‘sick lines’, stations and yards, colonies and offices, its 65,000 strong protection force. It’s not railways’ business to run schools, hospitals, or kitchens, printing presses or garment stitching. Some “empires” contrive to survive, for example, the mammoth 23,325 strong construction organisation, its over-6,000 “work- charged” officers’ posts unduly continuing, not without complicity of Finance.

57 There have been too many routine and mundane functions taken up by the Board/Ministry, with some 140 Joint Secretary-and-above level incumbents crowding in Rail Bhawan. It needs to ruthlessly prune the number of officers and staff in the Board, to begin with, to at least half. The Bibek Debroy Committee noted that “IR’s efficiency was better with 9 zones than with 16”. Today, given the emphasis on ITenabled flat management structures facilitating quick decisionmaking and efficient delivery, it would be prudent to streamline the traditional 4-tiered organisation into a 3-tiered system.

The Railways can thereafter re-draw the geographical areas of the 16 zonal administrations, even increasing their number to, say, 22-25. A small beginning has been made for posting junior administrative officers at some major stations. All large station complexes, major freight depots and centres, maintenance workshops may be endowed with local area managers selected by a special body, if not UPSC, from the general administrative pool with delegated authority over all functionaries and disciplines.

In due course of time, these managers will constitute the bulwark of administrative resource for the organisation. If duly nurtured and wisely led, the Indian Railways will bounce back, like China Rail. The latter had lagged far behind its Indian counterpart. In just 25 years, it has gone far ahead of the laggard and has emerged as the world’s numero uno.

(Concluded)

(The writer is Senior Fellow, Asian Institute of Transport Development, and former CMD, Container Corporation of India)

SEXUAL ABUSE PIONEER, OCT 19, 2017 A LANDMARK LEGAL VERDICT ON CHILD RIGHTS Talish Ray Sunieta Ojha

The apex court has not just delivered a verdict; with its judgement criminalising sex with a minor wife it has removed the anomalies between the IPC and laws enacted to protect children

A landmark judgment on child rights was pronounced earlier this month by the Supreme Court of India, which ruled that a man is guilty of committing rape if he engages in sexual intercourse with his wife who is aged between 15 and 18. In this case the Supreme Court was deciding the challenge to the exception carved in the definition of ‘rape’ under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This exception treated rape of a married girl child by her husband as an exception to the crime of rape. Perplexing as it may sound, that despite having enacted various pro-child legislations such as the Prevention of Child Marriages Act, 2006 or the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (hereinafter referred as POCSO), the legislature sought to legitimise the sexual crime against married girl child by inserting Exception (2) to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. This was rightly challenged by the not-for-profit-organisation, Independent Thought, by way of a writ before the Supreme Court of India in 2013.

This ruling is a giant step towards bringing about a child sensitive criminal justice system in India. The court has not created a ‘new offence’ by way of this judgement as some critics have falsely alleged. It has merely removed the anomaly which was apparent when the IPC and other pro-children laws were juxtaposed. In fact, prior to POCSO, the IPC did not recognise multiple ways and forms in which children would be sexually abused at home or outside. All such cases were treated as offences falling under Section 354 of the IPC as outraging the modesty of a woman or under Section 377 of the IPC as unnatural offences. Then came POCSO — a self-contained code which is comprehensive and seeks to bring about a child sensitive criminal justice system. It recognises that children are most vulnerable segments of society and far more susceptible to violence and abuse in the hands of both ‘known’ and ‘unknown’, regardless of their economic and social circumstances, culture, religion or ethnicity or even their sex. POCSO covers all children below 18 years, irrespective of their sex. Both male and female children could become a victim and law will be set into motion for punishing the perpetrator. It provides the most comprehensive definition of penetrative sexual assault and sexual assault taking into account all kinds of abusive and violent experience children may be subjected to. Pornography and sexual harassment are also made crime and punishable under the law. For instance, penetrative sexual assault would include use of child’s vagina, urethra or mouth for penetration. Similarly, it would include penetration by penis or by any body part like finger or even by an object. The offense is said to have been committed in both cases — when it is done on the child or when child is forced to do such a thing on the perpetrator. Similarly, sexual assault includes all kinds of inappropriate touching of child’s body, including the body part between the legs, behind and the breast. It also includes making the child touch perpetrators body part with sexual intent.

59 POCSO identifies that in certain situations and certain relations, with respect to which children become far more vulnerable and if the offence of penetrative sexual assault and sexual assault occurs in such situations and with respect to these relations, it becomes aggravated penetrative sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault inviting much severe punishment. For instance, if the perpetrator is a relative of the child ( by blood or by marriage) or living in the same house the offence of penetrative sexual assault or sexual assault becomes aggravated penetrative sexual assault aggravated sexual assault. Offences by teachers, trainers, coaches, care takers, neighbours who has been trusted with the care of the child also will be in the aggravated category inviting higher punishment. Offence if committed in relation to a child who suffers from any mental or physical disability will also be covered under the category of aggravated crime and punishable with severe punishment. If we see the crime data collected by NCRB for the year 2015, in 94.8% of rape cases of minors - children were raped by someone they knew and not strangers. These acquaintances include neighbors (3,149 cases) who were the biggest abusers (35.8%). Ten per cent of cases saw children being raped by their own direct family members and relatives. These numbers are just the tip of the ice berg if we consider patriarchal family structure in India. The violence and abuse of the child is seen as a blot/shame on the family and a danger to his/her future marriage prospect if it is brought into public realm. This is responsible for non reporting or under reporting and/or pressurizing the victim for withdrawal of cases in the name of family honour or trying to settle it within the four walls of the family. Law is an effective tool for social reform but in a society which refuses to mend its thinking and calling a spade a spade, the effect of change may not come early or atall.Furthermore, there are serious problems with respect to implementation of the Act. POCSO provides for a very child friendly procedure for reporting of the crime and recording of the statement of the child, investigation and trial of offences by special court. However, in practice such provisions are being adhered to as an exception rather than a norm. The fate of a case is sealed even before it goes to the Court for trial due to half hearted and shoddy investigation. And the remaining gets buried when put to the legal scrutiny at the Appeal stage. While the law makes it mandatory under Section-19 of the POCSO Act, that anyone having knowledge or apprehension of a case of child sexual abuse has to mandatorily report it, there is little effort put to ensure that after receiving the report the police conducts a though investigation and makes a full roof case. While POCSO says that statement of the child will be recorded at the residence of the child or a place of usual residence or choice. In practice this is rarely followed. The provision of Audio-Video recording of the child's statement is rarely followed which would really be very effective especially involving younger children as they tend to be easily pressurized or blackmailed into silence when the trial launches. This in fact should be done mandatorily. The families reporting case of a violence against child have to live through immense anxiety and fear for their safety, security and the most for the emotional and psychological well being of the child. What needs to be really appreciated in the process of recording of the children's statement during the investigation or dealing with it during the trial that children do not have adequate language to describe their experience. The, problem which is further accentuated due to lack of sex education. The statement of the child that someone did "ganda kaam" could mean anything from touching or fingering to a violent penetrative assault. The language that the children have is hardly enough to describe their "lived" experiences causing a deep chasm in the case. This is for child who can speak but there are innumerable cases of children being victim of sexual abuse who are below the age of 5 which inhibits their capacity to speak. Therefore, right questions needs to be put before the child to help her/him describe the experience . Therefore, right questions needs to be put before the child to help her/him describe the experience and such questions cannot be called leading question as was held in Hazari Paswan v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2016) 234 DLT 110 wherein the court also observed that "The Presiding Officer is expected to remain sensitive particularly when a child of tender age is under examination. While conducting trial, Court is not required to sit as a silent spectator but to take active part within the boundaries of law, to bring on record the relevant facts for the purpose of eliciting truth". Children are extremely vulnerable witnesses. They need a voice to speak and a support person to stand by them. Those who are in the care and custody of their parents will be dependent upon them to be able to freely depose. However, if the ability of such parent is inhibited because of social or economic reasons the child will never be able to speak freely before the court. The children who are in foster care or suffer any form of disability would find it even more difficulty. Without proper witness protection during investigation and trial there are a likelihood of child witnesses and/or their care providers turning hostile under pressure or fear. In many cases it has been seen that the bail is granted to the accused on general principal of law that the accused is innocent till guilty without considering the fact that for offences of penetrative sexual assault, Aggravated penetrative sexual assault , sexual assault & aggravated sexual assault, POCSO presumes mens rea. The accused is guilty till proven innocent. The key to successful implementation of POCSO lies in having infrastructure of trained body of investigators, Public Prosecutors and Special Courts which requires investment by state governments and the commitment. The question remains is the government ready and committed to protect our children so that their adulthood is not spent in forgetting their childhood but being a positive force in nation building. (The writers are associated with TRS Law Offices)

SOCIAL SCIENCES

TELEGRAPH, OCT 17, 2017

61 Finding a way out- The current upsurge of fascism Prabhat Patnaik

There is at present an upsurge of fascism all over the world, though it is often described as 'nationalism' or 'right-wing populism'. Such terms, however, are misleading, and reflect a neo- liberal mindset. The pejorative use of the term, 'nationalism', serves implicitly to laud neo- liberal globalization as its contrast; it is also misleading because it does not distinguish between the 'nationalism' of a Gandhi and the 'nationalism' of a Hitler. Likewise, the term 'populism' is used these days to characterize all redistributive or welfare state measures, contrasting them unfavourably with neo-liberal measures of 'development'; to apply it to the current fascist upsurge is misleading both because it promotes such a tendentious use of the term and also because the implicit suggestion of a transfer to the people does not figure anywhere in the agenda of these movements. The current fascist upsurge, of course, is not a replication of the 1930s. Today's context is different; and even within any particular context each such movement has its own country- specific features. But the term, 'fascism', is apposite because at least four features common to all fascist upsurges can be found in the current upsurge as well. The first is supremacism and the associated repression of the 'other': white supremacism in the West, Hindu supremacism in India and so on. In fact, 'supremacism' describes these movements more accurately than 'nationalism'. When a leader of the fascist German party (AfD) exclaims that while walking down a German street he does not meet a single German, he is obviously identifying German-ness with a white skin, and ruing the citizenship of less 'congenial' people. This is a symptom of supremacism rather than nationalism. A second feature of fascism is the apotheosis of unreason, of which supremacism itself is an expression. Propositions like 'the blacks are inferior' or 'the Dalits are inferior' or 'the Muslims are inferior' are themselves indicative of unreason. But this unreason is sustained by a more pervasive appeal to unreason, a more general assault on reason, of which hostility to the intelligentsia, a complete disregard for evidence in any argumentation, a running down of centres of learning, physical attacks against dissenters, and browbeating the media, are some obvious symptoms. Third, fascism is a movement, as distinct from mere skulduggery by some violent gangs, though fascism may use such gangs and the latter may have fascist mindsets. In Latin America, for instance, murderous gangs have been used against the Left for decades, especially during the years of military rule. But military rule cannot be called fascist for this reason, because fascism, unlike military rule, is sustained by a movement. Fourth, the fascist movement at a certain stage of its career invariably makes a deal with big corporate capital, which alone enables it to acquire centre-stage presence and, if possible, come to power. Fascists knocking on the doors of State power, fascists in State power (which is the case in India), and fascists converting their hold on State power to set up a fascist State (which we have not yet seen anywhere at present), can do so only on the basis of the support of corporate financiers. Behind Narendra Modi's rise too there is the solid support of the Indian corporate-financial oligarchy. This last point also gives a clue to the reasons behind a fascist upsurge. Fascist, semi-fascist, and neo-fascist movements exist as fringe phenomena in most societies. They suddenly erupt into prominence in periods of economic crisis. This happens not because, as is often believed on the Left, the corporate houses get worried about a working class challenge to their hegemony at such times and prop up the fascists, but for precisely the opposite reason, namely the traditional establishment parties are incapable of finding a way out of the crisis and the Left is too weak to assert its agenda. Fascism, which starts out pre-eminently as a middle-class petty bourgeois movement, acquires strength at such times, not because it offers any solution to the economic crisis, but because it changes the discourse altogether, by projecting a 'messiah' who would miraculously cure the ills of society. (The appeal to unreason becomes essential for such projection.) And because of this acquisition of strength it gets 'adopted' by corporate capital to buttress its position. Walter Benjamin, the well-known philosopher and theorist of culture who was himself a victim of fascism, had seen it as arising from a "failed revolution". This had certainly been true of Germany, and of Europe in general, where a series of working class uprisings had occurred in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, whose failure had left the working class divided and debilitated. But the question that arises is: why in the present era, when there has been no revolutionary attempt anywhere for at least four decades, should there be such a weakening of the working class movement, and of the Left as its political expression, that the current capitalist crisis is producing a world-wide fascist upsurge as opposed to a Left upsurge? An obvious reason for this is the weakening of the trade union movement everywhere as a consequence of globalization and the neo-liberal policies associated with it. The globalization of capital, which entails outsourcing of activities from the advanced countries to low-wage third world countries, constrains the trade union movement in the former. In the latter, on the other hand, the undermining of petty production and of peasant agriculture that also occurs under neo-liberalism, ensures that labour reserves swell in spite of such outsourcing from the advanced countries, as displaced peasants and petty producers pour into cities in quest of jobs whose increase is not large enough even to absorb the natural increase in workforce. Such swelling labour reserves obviously cripple trade unions, apart from the ever-present fear that union militancy would drive investment to other destinations. Besides, privatization, a ubiquitous phenomenon under neo-liberalism, weakens the trade union movement everywhere, since trade unions invariably tend to be stronger in the public compared to the private sector. There is a second reason for the weakening of working class politics, which has to do with its not shaking off the ideological hegemony of neo-liberalism. It is not just the likes of Tony Blair of the British Labour Party and Gerhard Schroeder of the German Social Democratic Party, who have been the instruments of such hegemony. Even the Marxist Left, notwithstanding its criticism of neo-liberalism, has not drawn the inevitable conclusion from it, namely the need to put capital controls in place, and hence to delink to an extent from globalization, for pursuing an alternative agenda. And in countries like ours where the Marxist Left has ruled only in some states, it has often pursued conventional policies on the grounds that the Centre alone can effect a shift away from neo-liberalism. But where the Left has broken away from neo-liberalism, it has managed to challenge the fascists. Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, who presented a different, anti-Wall Street, agenda, got substantial support from the people, and may have even beaten Donald Trump

63 had he continued in the presidential contest. Jeremy Corbyn, who has come out with a new Left agenda, including even nationalization, has revived working class politics in Britain to an extent where the vote share of the fascist United Kingdom Independence Party went down from 11 per cent in the previous general election to just 2 per cent in the latest one. In France, where Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Left Party together with trade unions has been spearheading opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of the president, Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen's fascist party's vote share has gone down from 23 to 13 per cent between the presidential and parliamentary elections, reducing it to just eight seats in Parliament. In fact, its votes are marginally less than those of the Communist Party and Mélenchon's party put together. In spite of their not fighting the parliamentary election together, they got 27 seats, which is way above the fascists. The fascist upsurge in short can be reversed if the Left breaks out of neo- liberal hegemony and offers the people an alternative concrete agenda. What does all this mean for India where the Left is divided over whether to have a broad anti- fascist alliance that includes the Congress or whether to shun any alliance with neo-liberal parties? The foregoing would suggest that this debate should be turned upside down. The point is not who is 'touchable' and who is not; the point is to push for an alternative agenda and ally with whoever comes on board. Such an alternative agenda has to be minimal but significant. Even an agenda with just two points, a State-run national health service offering free and quality healthcare to all, and a chain of quality State-run neighbourhood schools providing free education to all children, will go a long way in changing the ethos of this country. The author is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

TAXATION

TELEGRAPH, OCT 18, 2017 Making taxes friendly- Indian tax administration is not popular WRITING ON THE WALL- ASHOK V. DESAI In an earlier column, I wrote about OECD's analysis of our failure to develop industry. It also took a close look at our taxation system, and suggested how it could be improved.

The corporation tax rate is 30 per cent for Indian companies and 40 per cent for foreign companies. There is a further tax of 15 per cent on dividends; if all untaxed profits were distributed, the total tax would come to 40.5 per cent. There are various 'cesses' to complicate matters. Altogether, they bring the taxes to 45.92 per cent for Indian companies and 43.26 per cent for foreign companies. There are various rebates for depreciation, research and development and so on; as a result, the average tax rate varies between 41.9 and 50.3 per cent, and the marginal effective tax rate between 26.2 and 58.1 per cent. In comparison, the BRICS average is 28 per cent, and the OECD average is 25 per cent.

India has the highest corporate tax rate in comparison to similar countries: 46 per cent against 34 per cent in Brazil, 28 per cent in South Africa, 25 per cent in China and Indonesia, and 20 per cent in Russia. In other countries, it generally varies between 20 and 35 per cent. One reason is that India does not levy a dividend distribution tax, which is an easy way of passing on tax to the country of origin of the foreign investor. The high tax rate also provides a higher incentive to foreign companies to shift the tax base - understate profits made in India and transfer them to countries with lower taxes. India still received foreign investment despite high taxes because Indira Gandhi had signed an agreement under which investment channelled through Mauritius was tax free. Now the government has foolishly rescinded the agreement, and even this reason for investing in India has been removed. Apart from this, one of the greatest disincentives to foreign investment in India is its legal practices: court cases take ages in India, and the Indian government keeps appealing every time it loses in court. A foreign investor has no chance, legally, despite a fair judicial system.

The actual tax paid is greatly reduced below the tax rates by rebates. The average tax paid in 2013-14 was only 23.2 per cent. Strangely, it was 26 per cent on companies earning less than Rs 10 million, and went down to 21 per cent on the biggest companies earning over Rs 500 million. It was 19 per cent on public companies, and 24 per cent on private companies. Companies in energy paid 19 per cent; hotels and trading companies, at the other end, paid 31 per cent. Rebates and concessions cost 21.8 per cent of the revenue; 8 per cent was recovered through minimum alternate tax. Of the 21.8 per cent of tax revenue that was lost from rebates, 6.2 per cent was lost on account of accelerated depreciation, which subsidized capital- intensive industries at the expense of everyone else. Another 6.2 per cent was lost from regional concessions, mostly related to special economic zones. Another 5 per cent was lost from concessions given to infrastructure industries - electricity, oil, natural gas, telecommunications and so on. About a third of the revenue was offset by the minimum alternate tax; but it had no other rationale. It was just a disincentive to making profits.

The higher the tax rate, the greater the incentive to evade the tax, for instance by transfer pricing. India is tough with transfer pricing, but is quite oblivious of the fact that it makes transfer pricing lucrative. The high tax rates are accompanied by high rates of depreciation which vary considerably between various assets. The idea is to encourage investment, but that is doubtful; the immediate effect is to create a lot of surplus capacity. Low tax rates, combined with realistic depreciation rates, would have a stronger incentive effect. The effective tax rates are raised by inflation, which is traditionally high, in two ways. First, no

65 allowance is made for the fact that profits lose value over time because of inflation. Second, businesses are allowed to write off only the historical cost of assets in depreciation. When the assets are replaced, they will cost a lot more because of inflation; most of their cost will not be covered by allowed depreciation. In the case of debt, on the other hand, inflation raises the rate of interest, and interest is fully written off against profits. So debt gets better tax treatment. This leads to the chronically high debt-equity ratios of Indian companies which make them more vulnerable to economic ups and downs.

Special economic zones get generous tax incentives. A business located in a SEZ pays no corporate income tax on its profits in the first five years. In the next five, it gets a 50 per cent exemption; in the third five years, its reinvested profits are exempted. Developers of SEZs are exempt from income taxation in ten years of their choice out of the first 15 years of operation.

India used to give tax concessions on export profits; they were removed in 2000. A recent study showed that the profits of beneficiary firms fell to a half after the removal - obviously because of tax evasion. The same economist showed that firms made much better profits in their factories in SEZs than in their units outside; obviously, they were concealing profits in the latter. Similarly, research has shown that tax concessions to investment in backward areas had led to greater investment in only some of those areas, which were better administered. So giving concessions to states without insisting on good administration is a waste of resources.

It makes sense to let off small and medium enterprises lightly, because they deserve to be encouraged, and because they are so many of them that pursuing them would increase the administrative burden without commensurate returns. But it is also a good idea to cover them, so that they are taxed when they grow. SMEs currently pay a presumptive tax of 8 per cent on sales. It should be made to vary with the profit margin. The presumptive tax gives an incentive to keep sales below the taxable limit; this can be reduced by basing the tax on the average of past three years' sales. There is also a case for taxing new entrants at a reduced rate for the first few years, as in Mexico.

Indian tax administration is not popular. But OECD shows that it is not because it is excessive. In fact, it employs fewer people per head of population, India spends a much smaller proportion of GDP on them relatively to comparable countries, and it spends a smaller proportion of expenditure on tax officers. They are too few, poorly educated and trained, and have no capacity for tax policy analysis. The result is poor tax administration. It is evidenced by the number of tax disputes - over 3,50,000 in India, against 2,00,000 in Brazil, and less than 50,000 on the average in both OECD and non-OECD countries. The tax authorities spend too little on themselves; this affects their quality of functioning, and is reflected in public view of them.

TRANSPORT

PIONEER, OCT 18, 2017 RS 500 FINE FOR DRIVERS HONKING INSIDE ISBTS, RS 100 FOR CONDUCTORS SHOUTING DESTINATIONS 4 5 In a bid to bring down the alarming levels of noise pollution at Inter-State Bus Terminuses (ISBTs) in the city, authorities have decided to impose fines on drivers honking inside bus terminals and conductors soliciting passengers by way of shouting. A fine of Rs 500 shall be levied on a bus driver for using horn on the premises of the ISBTs and a fine of Rs 100 shall be charged from the conductors or roadway staff soliciting passengers by way of shouting the destination point of bus, according to the official order. The Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (DTIDC), which maintains inter- State bus terminals in the city, issued the order enforcing the fines, sources said. There are three ISBTs — Kashmeri Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan — in the national Capital and roadways buses of several States — Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir and Rajasthan — operate from all three of them. According to the DTIDC, it has been observed that noise pollution at ISBTs in Delhi has reached an alarming level and immediate steps were required to address this problem. The DTIDC stated it had been observed that frequent usage of horn and soliciting of passengers by roadways staff with loud noise were the major sources of noise pollution at ISBTs.

WASTE TREATMENT

67 STATESMAN, OCT 17, 2017 Scrubbing our way to disaster Pitamber Yadav and Armin Rosencranz

There has been an astonishing increase in the worldwide use of plastic. Because of poor waste management practices, the environmental burden from the use of plastic has continued to grow. Have you realised what are contained in the personal care products you use daily, and how they impact the environment at large?

There is more to plastic than meets the eye.The pollution of oceans and marine life due to plastic is a global environmental concern and it needs urgent attention. Microbeads are synthetic plastic polymers that can be generally found in facial scrubs, soaps, some toothpastes and other household items. The microbeads are usually between 0.0005 to 1.2 mm wide.

They are not only hazardous to marine species in oceans but they also cause water pollution. These tiny beads of plastic are of great concern: they tend to enter oceans, seas and other water bodies in huge quantities. The difficult part is that they are impossible to remove.

Many of the ingredients present in personal care products contain non degradable polymers. These particles might take hundreds of years to completely decompose. They not only pollute the environment but they also make it difficult for marine animals to survive, feed and regenerate. The plastic composition of these beads never dissolve and create enormous debris. Due to the tiny size of microbead particles, they are not susceptible to treatment processes.

The microbeads are mainly discharged via wastewater. In absence of water treatment facilities, they are directly released to surface water. But the fact that they are small contributes to their presence in fish and inland and coastal habitats. Their presence in fish highlights their presence in the food chain which again harms marine animals. Preventive measures taken at the source will eventually lead to decreasing the burden in the end.

The United Nations Environment Project (UNEP) observed that one of the major solutions to counter the issue of microbeads should be aimed at the source. The United Nations has consistently urged to “Turn the tide against Plastic”. The U.N. report “Plastic in cosmetic” states that plastic ingredients in personal care products are poured down the drain, cannot be collected for recycling, and do not decompose in wastewater treatment facilities.

The amount of plastic ingested by fish becomes a part of the food chain. The people consuming fish will also be consuming microbeads. Nations around the world are taking cognizance of the fact that microbeads are a major threat to the environment. There has been a positive effect with nations taking steps to curb the use of microbeads in major household products around the world.

The US has promulgated the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 which will ensure that microbeads are phased out by the end of 2017 in cosmetic goods. Sweden notified the World Trade Organisation that it will prohibit the sale of plastic particles used for exfoliating or other cleaning purposes. The Government of Canada has decided to take strict action against microbeads and will be following a timeline similar to the United States in banning microbeads. The legislations should focus on the microbeads that escape wastewater treatment techniques. These legislations will play a leading role in phasing out the use of microbeads in personal care products. The plastic particles that consist of only naturally occurring polymers and that have not been chemically modified are an exception. It is possible to replace these plastic beads with natural alternatives. These alternatives must biodegrade quickly and not harm marine life.

There should be a shift towards using cleaner techniques of production and ensuring that environmental considerations drive production decisions. This is the perfect time for the nations of the world to take inspiration from those countries that have already taken steps to ban microbeads.

Microbeads have a severe impact on human health, marine biology and the food chain. There should ideally be a complete ban on synthetic plastic microbeads from all cosmetics and all other personal care products. This will not only protect marine biology but will ensure that the water bodies are not stuffed with plastic.

It is of utmost importance for all the stakeholders involved to ensure a response focusing on waste prevention, environmental impact and inhibiting pollution at the source. The aim is to ensure that the least amount of plastic is washed down the drain on a regular basis.

(The writers are, respectively, a recent graduate and a professor of law at the Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat.)

69

Load more

  69

Copy Link