The Hindu News - 7 Feb 2015

Collegium system to continue until NJAC is in place

The two-decade old Supreme Court Collegium system for appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts will continue until the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) is put in place, Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda said on Friday.

Mr. Gowda was clearing the air in the wake of media reports that there was a tug-of-war between the government and the highest judiciary, and appointments to the top courts of the country “will be put on hold” until the petitions pending in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the NJAC Act, 2014 are decided.

“This is common sense. I have not said that judicial appointments are put on hold,” Mr. Gowda told The Hindu on Friday over the phone.

He hoped the Chief Justice of India, who is the chairman of the NJAC, would extend his cooperation. Even the nomination of two eminent persons to the Commission had to be decided by a high-level panel led by the Prime Minister and including the Chief Justice of India. “Without the CJI’s cooperation how can we do this?”

Meanwhile, a bunch of petitions seeking to declare the Constitution 99th Amendment Act, 2014, providing Constitutional status to the NJAC, as “invalid, void and unconstitutional,” was yet to be listed in the apex court. The NJAC restores the political class’s role in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Both the Constitution Amendment Bill and the NJAC Bill were passed by Parliament in August 2014.

Economists give investment, infra inputs for Budget

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here on Friday that economists invited to the first NITI Aayog meeting here presented views on the state of the economy and gave specific suggestions for the upcoming Union Budget, including steps that the government should take to boost investments and finance infrastructure projects.

Mr. Jaitley, an ex-officio member of the Aayog, said the Centre had no plans to give the NITI Aayog, planned as a think tank, statutory status.

Modi to meet CMs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the meeting, is scheduled to meet the Chief Ministers on Sunday.

Those who participated in the meeting included former FICCI Director-General Rajiv Kumar, former Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan, former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn and former Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Ashok Gulati.

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and the Aayog’s full- time members Bibek Debroy and V.K. Saraswat, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha and Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh were present.

Jaitley promises more reforms, faster decisions

‘Centre needs cooperation from States that want reforms’

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday hinted at more reforms for faster economic growth and rationalisation of expenditure.

Speaking via video conference at the “ Mumbai Next” conference, organized by the Maharashtra government on ways to convert Mumbai into a global financial, commercial and entertainment hub, Mr Jailtey said: “The government does not believe in living on borrowed money. The whole concept of spending beyond your means and leaving the next generation in debt to repay what we are overspending today is never prudent fiscal policy.”

Mentioning his government’s efforts to liberalise norms for investment, Mr. Jaitley pointed out the various “investor friendly” moves of his government such as opening up the gates of investment in insurance, defence and railways (in the infrastructure sector). “There can be no full stops as far as growth is concerned. We need to attract investment for the various challenges faced by us; providing health care, hygiene, drinking water, scope for industrialisation and housing for all,” Mr. Jaitley said.

“Infrastructure creation in the last few years has admittedly slowed down. Quick decisions need to be taken,” Mr. Jaitley said.

He was responding to a question from Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries Limited. Mr. Ambani asked Mr. Jaitley how the Centre-State coordination would help in fast-tracking the Mumbai infrastructural projects stuck for the past few years.

He said the Centre needed active cooperation from each State that desired reforms. “India is no longer a country governed by cooperative federalism. It has entered the era of competitive federalism.

Greenpeace violated FCRA norms, says official

Close on the heels of its tax dispute with the government, environment watchdog Greenpeace may face action for alleged violation of the law regulating the receipt of foreign contributions.

On Friday, a senior Income Tax official said a matter related to a possible violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by Greenpeace India Society has been referred to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which administers FCRA.

A Greenpeace official confirmed the investigation by the MHA’s FCRA wing, but disputed the charge that the NGO had violated the law.

The Income Tax official said that as per FCRA, only 50 per cent of the funds can be spent on administrative costs. “Greenpeace India Society spent more than 60 per cent of the funds on recruitment, consultancy and office maintenance,” the official claimed.

The society got Rs. 5.59 crore funding for the financial year 2010-11; of this Rs. 5.11 crore was from the Netherlands.

The tax department claims it found that the Society spent Rs. 8 lakh on foreign travel/accommodation, visa fees of employees working for the Greenpeace Environment Trust. Similarly, around Rs. 37.47 lakh was spent on travel expenses for volunteers and administrators of the society. This was paid through the Trust money.

“The trust and society are completely different, but money has been used from the trust for the society and vice-versa. The trustees are also members and office-bearers of the society,” the official alleged. The books of both the entities for assessment year 2012-13 are also under scrutiny, he added.

Faced with a hefty tax demand of Rs. 3.79 crore last year, Greenpeace has paid 50 per cent of the amount and appealed against it, the official said.

When contacted, Greenpeace India Executive Director, Samit Aich, in an email response, said, “[The] FCRA wing of MHA has raised some observations seeking our explanation based on an investigation carried out by them which was ordered immediately after GPIS had filed a writ petition in the High Court. We have given satisfactory explanations clarifying that there have been no FCRA violations of any nature.”

BRICS to set up green fund

The BRICS grouping, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is discussing a green fund under the New Development Bank to undertake green projects and develop green technologies for sustainable development.

This will be part of the discussions at the meeting of the BRICS Environmental Ministers in April in Russia to discuss green economy and tackling climate change challenges in the BRICS region, the visiting Russian Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Sergei Donskoi, said on Friday.

“During the BRICS meeting of Environment Ministers, we have chosen specially the topic of development of green economy... resolution of environmental problems and competitiveness of business in the context of green economy,” he said. The New Development Bank will be based in China with assets of $100 billion as a rival to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Russian Minister took part at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit and held discussions with his Indian counterpart Prakash Javadekar. Mr. Donskoi said the Moscow meeting would release a document which would identify future projects and a plan for implementing them. “We discussed the draft of the document and we gave it to the Indian Environment Minister. We are now expecting further discussions on this with our Indian colleagues.”

On the upcoming global climate summit in Paris, he said Russia would underscore the necessity of signing an “all-inclusive agreement” in a differentiated manner.

“The main topic of discussion on our part will be the necessity of signing an all-inclusive agreement which would fix differentiated approaches of different countries and the need for working in accordance with each country’s responsibility for fulfilling these conventions,” he said.

European leaders in MoscowGlobal solution needed: Francois Hollande

In a top—level diplomatic dash, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew to Moscow on Friday to seek a cease-fire and then a lasting peace for war-torn eastern Ukraine.
Their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin comes a day after the two talked with the Ukrainian government in Kiev about how to salvage a peace plan agreed upon last year in Minsk, Belarus.
“Everyone is aware that the first step must be the cease-fire, but that it cannot suffice. We must seek a global solution,” Mr. Hollande told journalists in Paris before heading to the airport.
Even getting the arms to fall silent would be a significant diplomatic breakthrough. Fighting between Russian-backed rebels and the government in Kiev has surged in the last month in eastern Ukraine. That has fueled fears the conflict is threatening Europe’s overall security and prompted the U.S. to consider giving lethal weapons to Ukraine, an option opposed by European nations.
In Berlin, Merkel said she and Hollande would use “all our power with direct visits to Kiev and to Moscow today to stop the bloodshed.” — AP

FII inflows push forex reserves to new highIndia’s foreign exchange reserves zoomed to a new high of $327.88 billion, up by a whopping $5.845 billion, in the week to January 30, mainly on account of robust FII (foreign institutional investor) inflows and lower dollar outgo.
In the week to January 16, the forex kitty had jumped by $2.66 billion to reach $322.135 billion, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.
For the first time, the forex kitty had crossed the $320-billion mark ($320.79 billion) for the week ended September 2, 2011.
After the Narendra Modi government came to power in May, 2014, foreign funds pumped dollars into Indian equities on the hopes of big-bang economic reforms.
In 2014, FIIs pumped in $16.15 billion into Indian equities, while they have exhausted the cap of $30 billion in government securities. They have parked $32.5 billion in corporate bonds, which is 64 per cent of their cap of $51 billion.
“We grow more confident of our call that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will continue to buy forex reserves to guard against contagion,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) said in a report on Friday.
The RBI Governor in a post-policy meeting with reporters earlier this week had said the country’s foreign reserve position had improved substantially to sustain any spillover effect arising out of the policies from advanced economies.
“Our reserves are substantially higher even net of forward positions, which today are positive rather than negative last year and therefore I think we are in a much better position,” Dr. Rajan had said.
He said although India could not be immune from volatility, but it was much better than many of its comparative countries.
BoFA-ML said if crude oil price persists at $50 per barrel levels, the RBI should be able to take import cover to 10 months by March 2016, above the critical 8-month import cover needed for the rupee stability.
Market experts believe the rise in the reserves is also due to the buying of dollars by the RBI in the past few months.
“We do not intervene to try and target a particular level for the exchange rate. Where we do intervene is to reduce volatility and we have intervened in both directions in recent months and weeks, so we both buy and we sell,” Dr. Rajan had said.
The RBI has been net purchaser of dollars for the most part of the current fiscal.
So far this fiscal, besides spot purchases, the RBI has bought $39 billion in forwards since April. If it consistently buys forex, the BoP can reach 10 months’ import cover by March, 2016, provided oil at $55 a barrel in 2015-16.
The increase in reserves in the reporting week was on account of higher foreign currency assets (FCAs), which forms a major constituent of overall reserves.
FCAs rose by $5.814 billion to $303.325 billion, the Reserve Bank data showed. — PTI

Power from rooftopThe rooftop solar power plant project being implemented by the Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology has entered its final phase, writes K.A. Martin
The State government’s 10,000 Rooftop Solar Power Plant Programme, being implemented by the Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (Anert), has entered the final phase with 7,000 power plants being already installed.
Sources in Anert said that the agency had received about 14,000 applications for the solar power generation programme for which the government is providing subsidy to the tune of Rs.92,262 per plant.
The cost of setting up a rooftop solar power generation facility varies between Rs.1.75 lakh and Rs.2.05 lakh. The beneficiaries have the choice of selecting the equipment supplier. The subsidy amount will be disbursed once the plants are inspected under the aegis of the district units of the Anert. The district units will take the help of empanelled technical experts. Anert had, at the end of December, invited applications from engineers to be empanelled with the agency for the purpose of carrying out the inspections.
The off-grid solar power generation programme was launched in early February 2013. Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission had issued an order in October last year, said that off-grid solar power generators would be given Rs.1 per unit as incentive by the distribution licensee.
Meanwhile, the Anert has shortlisted 15 from among those who responded to a call for expression of interest from companies for empanelment for the Solar Connect project, which involves distributed power generation through rooftop grid-connected solar power generation facilities. The price bids are expected to be opened this week.
The Anert’s plan is to install rooftop grid-linked solar power generation facilities aggregating 12 MW. The capacity of the power generation facilities will range between 2 kW and 50 kW and their multiples, depending on the choice of beneficiaries who have registered with the agency. The programme has the financial backing of both the State and Union governments.
The State will extend Rs.10,000 per kW to the sanctioned project while the Central assistance is to the tune of Rs.24,000 per kW or 30 per cent of the cost of the facility, whichever is less.
The benchmark cost is roughly Rs.80,000 per kW and it may vary.
The minimum capacity is 2 kW and maximum is 50 kW for a single system. Capacity of up to 5 kW will be single phase and higher capacities will be three phase. Those who wish to install solar generation facilities beyond 5 kW and have single-phase connection must convert the connection to three- phase before the generation facility is installed.