To download PDF , Click Here
Jan 29, 2015
[Ed] Micromanaging loans
The RBI would do better to empower borrowers rather than regulate the pricing of loans
The Reserve Bank of India’s directive demanding banks spell out their rationale for charging differential spreads to borrowers and to display minimum and maximum lending rates on their websites may be intended to improve transparency in loan pricing. But it is undesirable as it robs the discretion of banks to take loan decisions based on their own perceptions of risk. Such micromanagement is unnecessary given that banks are subject to a base rate mechanism, arrived at on the basis of an RBI formula, and which forms the basis for all their rate decisions. If the RBI monitors individual pricing decisions as well, what leeway will banks have in managing their commercial affairs?
The reluctance of banks to pass on rate cuts to borrowers appears to have prompted the RBI’s move. Banks have generally chosen to reduce their spreads (the mark up over the base rate) rather than lop base rates whenever the RBI undertakes rate cuts. This has resulted in new borrowers benefiting from lower rates, while older ones have remained locked in at higher ones. There is a valid reason for this practice. When the RBI cuts rates, banks can trim rates on incremental term deposits; older depositors continue to earn higher rates. Against this backdrop, if banks reduce their base rates and thus lending rates on all loans, their margins will take a severe hit. To avoid this, banks opt to tinker with spreads on a case-to-case basis. Banks will find the directive asking them to charge the same spread to all borrowers with similar risk profiles difficult to implement. It will require banks to operate detailed credit appraisal systems, which some PSBs are still in the process of evolving. Maintaining and updating individual loan accounts is an expensive proposition. With floating rate home loans, for instance, banks rework the tenure or EMI of the loans whenever the base rate changes. Resetting loan rates frequently may also be unsettling to borrowers, who for this very reason, opt for fixed rate loans. Listing the minimum and maximum limits for lending rates may have borrowers demanding the lowest rate available on a particular loan.
The problem of passing on rate cuts is better addressed by measures such as tweaking the norms for base rate calculations, as the RBI has done. Now, it must be measured on the basis of deposits that have the largest share in the banks’ fund base rather than in the arbitrary fashion they were arrived at. All in all, however, instead of micromanaging pricing decisions, the central bank will do better to empower borrowers by ushering in greater competition in the banking sector. At a time when opinion is consolidating in favour of the phase-out of directed lending and the use of credit control tools, imposing restrictive credit pricing mechanisms on banks seems retrograde.
The Reserve Bank of India’s directive demanding banks spell out their rationale for charging differential spreads to borrowers and to display minimum and maximum lending rates on their websites may be intended to improve transparency in loan pricing. But it is undesirable as it robs the discretion of banks to take loan decisions based on their own perceptions of risk. Such micromanagement is unnecessary given that banks are subject to a base rate mechanism, arrived at on the basis of an RBI formula, and which forms the basis for all their rate decisions. If the RBI monitors individual pricing decisions as well, what leeway will banks have in managing their commercial affairs?
The reluctance of banks to pass on rate cuts to borrowers appears to have prompted the RBI’s move. Banks have generally chosen to reduce their spreads (the mark up over the base rate) rather than lop base rates whenever the RBI undertakes rate cuts. This has resulted in new borrowers benefiting from lower rates, while older ones have remained locked in at higher ones. There is a valid reason for this practice. When the RBI cuts rates, banks can trim rates on incremental term deposits; older depositors continue to earn higher rates. Against this backdrop, if banks reduce their base rates and thus lending rates on all loans, their margins will take a severe hit. To avoid this, banks opt to tinker with spreads on a case-to-case basis. Banks will find the directive asking them to charge the same spread to all borrowers with similar risk profiles difficult to implement. It will require banks to operate detailed credit appraisal systems, which some PSBs are still in the process of evolving. Maintaining and updating individual loan accounts is an expensive proposition. With floating rate home loans, for instance, banks rework the tenure or EMI of the loans whenever the base rate changes. Resetting loan rates frequently may also be unsettling to borrowers, who for this very reason, opt for fixed rate loans. Listing the minimum and maximum limits for lending rates may have borrowers demanding the lowest rate available on a particular loan.
The problem of passing on rate cuts is better addressed by measures such as tweaking the norms for base rate calculations, as the RBI has done. Now, it must be measured on the basis of deposits that have the largest share in the banks’ fund base rather than in the arbitrary fashion they were arrived at. All in all, however, instead of micromanaging pricing decisions, the central bank will do better to empower borrowers by ushering in greater competition in the banking sector. At a time when opinion is consolidating in favour of the phase-out of directed lending and the use of credit control tools, imposing restrictive credit pricing mechanisms on banks seems retrograde.
Source - Business Line
Jugaad globalisation
Piecemeal adoption of IFRS won’t work
In 2009, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) drew up a road map for the transition of Indian Accounting Standards to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). ICAI submitted it to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). The desi equivalents of the standards were christened Ind-AS; three notifications were issued in 2010 in rapid-fire succession and the notified standards were put on the MCA website.
And then nothing happened. The standards were never implemented thanks to issues that could never be fathomed — tax concerns and pressure from certain industries were being talked about as possible reasons.
Circa 2014
In Budget 2014, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivered a four-liner on India having to go the ‘Ind-AS’ way. A month and an half before Jaitley’s next Budget, a press release from the MCA detailed the new roadmap. Listed companies and companies with a net worth in excess of Rs.500 crore and their holding companies, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures would need to transition from April 1, 2016.
Listed companies with a net worth below Rs. 500 crore, or unlisted companies with a net worth of Rs.250-500 crore along with their holding companies, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures would need to transition from April 1, 2017.
Since comparative numbers also have to be restated, the actual dates of transition would be one year prior to the above dates. The MCA release gives an option to move voluntarily to Ind-AS from April 1, 2015 but this may not see many takers. History shows us that unless there is a mandate by law, Indian entities embracing a rule is more an exception than a rule.
The MCA move is a relief after years of inaction. However, it is puzzling why the ministry issued a press release instead of a formal notification. It could have waited till the National Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS) came out with the revised Ind-AS standards.
Patience vs influence
Significantly, banks, insurance companies and non-banking financial companies are not included in the above press release — this could be due to instructions being awaited from the the RBI and insurance regulator Irda.
The Companies Act, 2013, and its amendments have ensured that India is 60 per cent IFRS-compliant — the balance 40 per cent were the Ind-As standards being notified. It would be interesting to note that in 2003, the ICAI had come out with a trilogy of accounting standards on a very critical topic — financial instruments, But even after 11 years, the standards are not mandatory.
Ironically, if a notification follows the press release, India will be moving to IFRS when the utility of those standards itself are being questioned. Critics claim that IFRS, adopted by the EU in 2002, has made accounting less prudent by undermining or even jettisoning the principle that financial statements must be true and fair.
The Accounting Standards Board in the US (FASB) recently left its global counterpart, IASB, in the lurch on a joint insurance contracts project. During the credit crisis, IFRS standards used by banks were scanned closely and many holes were found, which resulted in a new Standard IFRS9 on Financial Instruments. India has not even implemented the old standard!
In all likelihood, the notion of a single global accounting language will remain a myth. IFRS standards are good, bad and ugly in bits. By going for a delayed and juggaad implementation of these standards, India has missed out on the good parts.
And then nothing happened. The standards were never implemented thanks to issues that could never be fathomed — tax concerns and pressure from certain industries were being talked about as possible reasons.
Circa 2014
In Budget 2014, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivered a four-liner on India having to go the ‘Ind-AS’ way. A month and an half before Jaitley’s next Budget, a press release from the MCA detailed the new roadmap. Listed companies and companies with a net worth in excess of Rs.500 crore and their holding companies, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures would need to transition from April 1, 2016.
Listed companies with a net worth below Rs. 500 crore, or unlisted companies with a net worth of Rs.250-500 crore along with their holding companies, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures would need to transition from April 1, 2017.
Since comparative numbers also have to be restated, the actual dates of transition would be one year prior to the above dates. The MCA release gives an option to move voluntarily to Ind-AS from April 1, 2015 but this may not see many takers. History shows us that unless there is a mandate by law, Indian entities embracing a rule is more an exception than a rule.
The MCA move is a relief after years of inaction. However, it is puzzling why the ministry issued a press release instead of a formal notification. It could have waited till the National Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS) came out with the revised Ind-AS standards.
Patience vs influence
Significantly, banks, insurance companies and non-banking financial companies are not included in the above press release — this could be due to instructions being awaited from the the RBI and insurance regulator Irda.
The Companies Act, 2013, and its amendments have ensured that India is 60 per cent IFRS-compliant — the balance 40 per cent were the Ind-As standards being notified. It would be interesting to note that in 2003, the ICAI had come out with a trilogy of accounting standards on a very critical topic — financial instruments, But even after 11 years, the standards are not mandatory.
Ironically, if a notification follows the press release, India will be moving to IFRS when the utility of those standards itself are being questioned. Critics claim that IFRS, adopted by the EU in 2002, has made accounting less prudent by undermining or even jettisoning the principle that financial statements must be true and fair.
The Accounting Standards Board in the US (FASB) recently left its global counterpart, IASB, in the lurch on a joint insurance contracts project. During the credit crisis, IFRS standards used by banks were scanned closely and many holes were found, which resulted in a new Standard IFRS9 on Financial Instruments. India has not even implemented the old standard!
In all likelihood, the notion of a single global accounting language will remain a myth. IFRS standards are good, bad and ugly in bits. By going for a delayed and juggaad implementation of these standards, India has missed out on the good parts.
Source - Business Line
Ebola vaccine safe, generates immune response, shows trial
The first trial results of Ebola vaccine at Oxford University suggest the vaccine has an acceptable safety profile and is able to generate an immune response.
“The Ebola vaccine was well tolerated. Its safety profile is pretty much as we had hoped,” said professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University who led the trial.
The results suggest that the vaccine is suitable for further testing in West Africa during the current outbreak.
The Ebola vaccine is being co-developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) against the Zaire strain of Ebola, which is the one circulating in West Africa.
The first doses for use in large scale trials in West Africa have been delivered to Liberia by GSK.
The vaccine uses a single Ebola virus gene in a chimpanzee adenovirus to generate an immune response.
As it does not contain infectious Ebola virus material, it cannot cause a person who is vaccinated to become infected with Ebola.
During the trial, 60 healthy volunteers were vaccinated at the Jenner Institute.
The results showed safety data and immune responses for the volunteers for 28 days after immunisation.
Two people experienced a moderate fever within 24 hours of receiving the vaccine but this passed within a day.
“People typically experienced mild symptoms that lasted for one or maybe two days, such as pain or reddening at the injection site, and occasionally people felt feverish,” professor Hill explained.
The primary goal of the trial was to assess safety. However, the scientists also assessed immune responses to Ebola seen in the volunteers before and after vaccination.
Importantly, the vaccine generated immune responses against Ebola in the volunteers.
Levels of antibodies increased over a period of 28 days after vaccination and there was no significant difference in the levels seen at different doses.
Levels of T cells — cellular immunity is the other arm of the body’s immune system — peaked at 14 days.
“Larger trials in West Africa are needed to tell whether immune responses are large enough to protect against Ebola infection and disease,” the team added.
The Oxford University trial is one of several safety trials of the GSK/NIH vaccine candidate — in the USA, Britain, Mali and Switzerland — that have been fast-tracked in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Oxford University scientists have also begun testing the safety of a candidate booster vaccine against Ebola, to find out whether it could further increase the immune responses.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed over 8,000 people so far.
The initial findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
“The Ebola vaccine was well tolerated. Its safety profile is pretty much as we had hoped,” said professor Adrian Hill of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University who led the trial.
The results suggest that the vaccine is suitable for further testing in West Africa during the current outbreak.
The Ebola vaccine is being co-developed by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) against the Zaire strain of Ebola, which is the one circulating in West Africa.
The first doses for use in large scale trials in West Africa have been delivered to Liberia by GSK.
The vaccine uses a single Ebola virus gene in a chimpanzee adenovirus to generate an immune response.
As it does not contain infectious Ebola virus material, it cannot cause a person who is vaccinated to become infected with Ebola.
During the trial, 60 healthy volunteers were vaccinated at the Jenner Institute.
The results showed safety data and immune responses for the volunteers for 28 days after immunisation.
Two people experienced a moderate fever within 24 hours of receiving the vaccine but this passed within a day.
“People typically experienced mild symptoms that lasted for one or maybe two days, such as pain or reddening at the injection site, and occasionally people felt feverish,” professor Hill explained.
The primary goal of the trial was to assess safety. However, the scientists also assessed immune responses to Ebola seen in the volunteers before and after vaccination.
Importantly, the vaccine generated immune responses against Ebola in the volunteers.
Levels of antibodies increased over a period of 28 days after vaccination and there was no significant difference in the levels seen at different doses.
Levels of T cells — cellular immunity is the other arm of the body’s immune system — peaked at 14 days.
“Larger trials in West Africa are needed to tell whether immune responses are large enough to protect against Ebola infection and disease,” the team added.
The Oxford University trial is one of several safety trials of the GSK/NIH vaccine candidate — in the USA, Britain, Mali and Switzerland — that have been fast-tracked in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The Oxford University scientists have also begun testing the safety of a candidate booster vaccine against Ebola, to find out whether it could further increase the immune responses.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed over 8,000 people so far.
The initial findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Source - The Hindu
[PIB] 18th National Conference on e-Governance
Theme: Digital Governance-New Frontier
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, in association with the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and Government of Gujarat, is organising the 18th National Conference on e-Governance on January 30-31, 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Senior Officers from the Government, Industry, academicians, technical experts and NGOs will participate in the event.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh; will be present during the inaugural session on January 30, 2015. The occasion will also be attended by Secretary, DARPG, Government of India, Shri Alok Rawat; Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Shri R. S. Sharma; Chief Secretary, Gujarat, Shri D. J. Pandian; President NASSCOM, Shri R. Chandrashekhar; Special Secretary, DARPG, Shri Arun Jha; and other Senior Officers from the Government of India and various State/Union Territory Governments.
National e-Governance Awards for the year 2014-15 will be presented in 12 different categories concerning various aspects of e-Governance during the inaugural session by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India and the Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office and Personnel. The Valedictory session will be graced by the Governor of Gujarat, Shri O.P. Kohli and the Minister of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat, Shri Govindbhai Patel. The National e-Governance Awards recognise some of the best Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B) initiatives taken by various government departments and also initiatives of public sector units and Non-Government Institutions. The Conference along with the Exhibition is a forum to showcase best practices, innovative technologies and ICT solutions. The 18th National Conference on e-Governance, with the theme “Digital Governance-New Frontier”, will explore the benefits of the use of ICT, how e-Governance leaders can act as the agents of change, integrated service delivery and use of mobile platform for expanding access rapidly. Focus sector of the year is “Skill Development and Employability”.
The inaugural session will be followed by a session on “Digital India” and plenary session on “Digital Governance-New Frontier”. Other interactive sessions will include discussions on a wide range of topics such as “e-Governance Leaders as Change Agents”; “Accountable Governance through Social Media and Citizen Engagement”; and “Integrated Service Delivery-Standards and Interoperability”; “Use of Mobile Platform for rapidly expanding access”; “Skill Development and Employability”; Partnership with Industry – New Business Model and Service Delivery”; and “Citizen Services in a Smart City – New Paradigm”.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, in association with the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and Government of Gujarat, is organising the 18th National Conference on e-Governance on January 30-31, 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Senior Officers from the Government, Industry, academicians, technical experts and NGOs will participate in the event.
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh; will be present during the inaugural session on January 30, 2015. The occasion will also be attended by Secretary, DARPG, Government of India, Shri Alok Rawat; Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Shri R. S. Sharma; Chief Secretary, Gujarat, Shri D. J. Pandian; President NASSCOM, Shri R. Chandrashekhar; Special Secretary, DARPG, Shri Arun Jha; and other Senior Officers from the Government of India and various State/Union Territory Governments.
National e-Governance Awards for the year 2014-15 will be presented in 12 different categories concerning various aspects of e-Governance during the inaugural session by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Minister of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India and the Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office and Personnel. The Valedictory session will be graced by the Governor of Gujarat, Shri O.P. Kohli and the Minister of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat, Shri Govindbhai Patel. The National e-Governance Awards recognise some of the best Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B) initiatives taken by various government departments and also initiatives of public sector units and Non-Government Institutions. The Conference along with the Exhibition is a forum to showcase best practices, innovative technologies and ICT solutions. The 18th National Conference on e-Governance, with the theme “Digital Governance-New Frontier”, will explore the benefits of the use of ICT, how e-Governance leaders can act as the agents of change, integrated service delivery and use of mobile platform for expanding access rapidly. Focus sector of the year is “Skill Development and Employability”.
The inaugural session will be followed by a session on “Digital India” and plenary session on “Digital Governance-New Frontier”. Other interactive sessions will include discussions on a wide range of topics such as “e-Governance Leaders as Change Agents”; “Accountable Governance through Social Media and Citizen Engagement”; and “Integrated Service Delivery-Standards and Interoperability”; “Use of Mobile Platform for rapidly expanding access”; “Skill Development and Employability”; Partnership with Industry – New Business Model and Service Delivery”; and “Citizen Services in a Smart City – New Paradigm”.
Source - PIB
Building a molecular lego to fight malaria and TB
Tuberculosis and malaria are the most prevalent diseases that kill mankind today. Currently available methods and drugs are unable to stem the tide. This is why governments, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and others are investing large sums to find ways to stop or reduce their prevalence and to help develop new methods and molecules as drugs.
The battle between these pathogens and people is a colossal one. We need newer methods and drugs to kill these pathogens mycobacteriumtuberculosis (Mtb) and plasmodium falciparum(and p. vivax ). And the battle is literally mind over mutations. The human mind has continuously attempted to devise novel molecules as drugs such as the fluoroquinolones, rifampicin, and artemisinin. On the other side, even though large numbers are killed by these drugs, an occasional outlier bug which does not succumb to the drug, thanks to a random “error” in its genetic sequence (mutation), survives and reproduces more of itself. Pretty soon, this drug-resistant mutant propagates to become the main strain, and the thoughtfully crafted drug is no longer effective.
It is also a battle of time scale. While we take years to create effective drugs and distribute them for everyday use, microbes take just hours and days to reproduce and propagate to billions in months. While the TB strains of just a few years ago could not survive rifampicin (which blocks the bug’s RNA making machinery, thus stopping its growth), today’s strains have evolved to find alternate paths to carry on. Similarly, with malaria, while artemisinin (the wonder drug of yesteryears) acts on the blood ingested by the parasite, “burns” it through oxidative stress and thus kills the pathogen, today’splasmodium strains have evolved with a mechanism to detoxify this oxidative stress and become artemisinin-resistant. We are thus facing hosts of multi-drug-resistant pathogens infecting us.
It is against this background that some new ideas have come about which could hopefully side-step this resistance issue. Note that the earlier drugs act on the pathogenafterit enters the target cells in the body — be it blood, liver or elsewhere — and use the host machinery to grow and multiply. What if we stop the entry itself? Would that would stop the pathogen on its track and thus stop the infection?
Some minds have been thinking such a thought and carried out research towards this idea. The most recent one, published two weeks ago (on Pongal Day, 14-1-2015) in the journal N ature Communications is by Drs. Anand Ranganathan, Pawan Malhotra and their colleagues at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, both in New Delhi, India (6:6049/DOI:10.1038/ncomms7049/www.nature.com/naurecommunications).
The group has capitalised on the idea that some molecules on the surface of cells, termed intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs, which are part of the immunoglobulin super-family) act as sentries, regulating the entry and adhesion of other cells, native or foreign. The molecule ICAM-1 is seen on various cell types, notably macrophages (a type of white blood cells that ingests foreign material). ICAM-4, on the other hand, is restricted to the surface of red blood cells. One can thus see that while ICAM-1 would regulate the entry and invasion by Mtb into macrophages, ICAM-4 would regulate malaria parasites likewise.
If only we could discover or invent a decoy molecule that sits at this gate, blocking the entry of Mtb, we could overcome infection by this deadly pathogen. Likewise, if we can block the entry and invasion byplasmodium into red blood cells, using a decoy molecule that binds to ICAM-4, we would have a drug against malaria. Note too that these decoys do not work after the event (like the drugs above do), but deny the unwelcome visitor the ‘visa’ to enter and do damage.
Molecular Lego pieces
To this end, the Delhi group decided to work on a novel idea that Dr Anand Ranganathan had come up with a decade ago, which he calls the “codon shuffling method” of making small protein molecules (seeJ. Biol. Chem . 280: 23605, 2005). This involves the use of a series of properly chosen “DNA Bricks”, each 6 bases long (two codons-long, for the cognosenti ), linking them together to various lengths to produce a ‘library’ of peptide/protein molecules of various sizes and predictable shapes. This is an easy and crafty way, using these DNA bricks, to make a whole host of mini-proteins as potential drugs.
They next tested to see which members of the above library interact with ICAM-1 and with ICAM-4. Happily enough, a large peptide named M5 was found to bind strongly to both ICAM-1 and ICAM-4. They next challenged Mtb with macrophages in the presence of M5. While Mtb infects control samples efficiently, the rate dropped by 80 per cent in the M5-added samples. Likewise, when added to red blood cells, infection by the malaria parasite dropped by 80 per cent.
Actually, the codon-shuffling approach is more general and extendable to fight other pathogens too. And this approach is quite akin to Lego , the toy game with interlocking plastic bricks, which can be put together to make models of objects like buildings. While Lego is a game of pleasure, this molecular Lego opens the door for drug discovery.
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN
The battle between these pathogens and people is a colossal one. We need newer methods and drugs to kill these pathogens mycobacteriumtuberculosis (Mtb) and plasmodium falciparum(and p. vivax ). And the battle is literally mind over mutations. The human mind has continuously attempted to devise novel molecules as drugs such as the fluoroquinolones, rifampicin, and artemisinin. On the other side, even though large numbers are killed by these drugs, an occasional outlier bug which does not succumb to the drug, thanks to a random “error” in its genetic sequence (mutation), survives and reproduces more of itself. Pretty soon, this drug-resistant mutant propagates to become the main strain, and the thoughtfully crafted drug is no longer effective.
It is also a battle of time scale. While we take years to create effective drugs and distribute them for everyday use, microbes take just hours and days to reproduce and propagate to billions in months. While the TB strains of just a few years ago could not survive rifampicin (which blocks the bug’s RNA making machinery, thus stopping its growth), today’s strains have evolved to find alternate paths to carry on. Similarly, with malaria, while artemisinin (the wonder drug of yesteryears) acts on the blood ingested by the parasite, “burns” it through oxidative stress and thus kills the pathogen, today’splasmodium strains have evolved with a mechanism to detoxify this oxidative stress and become artemisinin-resistant. We are thus facing hosts of multi-drug-resistant pathogens infecting us.
It is against this background that some new ideas have come about which could hopefully side-step this resistance issue. Note that the earlier drugs act on the pathogenafterit enters the target cells in the body — be it blood, liver or elsewhere — and use the host machinery to grow and multiply. What if we stop the entry itself? Would that would stop the pathogen on its track and thus stop the infection?
Some minds have been thinking such a thought and carried out research towards this idea. The most recent one, published two weeks ago (on Pongal Day, 14-1-2015) in the journal N ature Communications is by Drs. Anand Ranganathan, Pawan Malhotra and their colleagues at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, both in New Delhi, India (6:6049/DOI:10.1038/ncomms7049/www.nature.com/naurecommunications).
The group has capitalised on the idea that some molecules on the surface of cells, termed intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs, which are part of the immunoglobulin super-family) act as sentries, regulating the entry and adhesion of other cells, native or foreign. The molecule ICAM-1 is seen on various cell types, notably macrophages (a type of white blood cells that ingests foreign material). ICAM-4, on the other hand, is restricted to the surface of red blood cells. One can thus see that while ICAM-1 would regulate the entry and invasion by Mtb into macrophages, ICAM-4 would regulate malaria parasites likewise.
If only we could discover or invent a decoy molecule that sits at this gate, blocking the entry of Mtb, we could overcome infection by this deadly pathogen. Likewise, if we can block the entry and invasion byplasmodium into red blood cells, using a decoy molecule that binds to ICAM-4, we would have a drug against malaria. Note too that these decoys do not work after the event (like the drugs above do), but deny the unwelcome visitor the ‘visa’ to enter and do damage.
Molecular Lego pieces
To this end, the Delhi group decided to work on a novel idea that Dr Anand Ranganathan had come up with a decade ago, which he calls the “codon shuffling method” of making small protein molecules (seeJ. Biol. Chem . 280: 23605, 2005). This involves the use of a series of properly chosen “DNA Bricks”, each 6 bases long (two codons-long, for the cognosenti ), linking them together to various lengths to produce a ‘library’ of peptide/protein molecules of various sizes and predictable shapes. This is an easy and crafty way, using these DNA bricks, to make a whole host of mini-proteins as potential drugs.
They next tested to see which members of the above library interact with ICAM-1 and with ICAM-4. Happily enough, a large peptide named M5 was found to bind strongly to both ICAM-1 and ICAM-4. They next challenged Mtb with macrophages in the presence of M5. While Mtb infects control samples efficiently, the rate dropped by 80 per cent in the M5-added samples. Likewise, when added to red blood cells, infection by the malaria parasite dropped by 80 per cent.
Actually, the codon-shuffling approach is more general and extendable to fight other pathogens too. And this approach is quite akin to Lego , the toy game with interlocking plastic bricks, which can be put together to make models of objects like buildings. While Lego is a game of pleasure, this molecular Lego opens the door for drug discovery.
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN
Source - The Hindu
Jute packaging for sugar, foodgrains made mandatory
In a major boost to the jute sector, the government, on Wednesday, approved mandatory packaging of sugar and foodgrains in jute material to the minimum extent of up to 90 per cent of production.
A proposal for financial support to Jute Corporation of India (JCI) to offset losses incurred by it on account of Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations also approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, an official release said.
The government approved mandatory packaging of foodgrains in jute material with certain exemptions. For sugar, the minimum packaging requirement has been fixed at 20 per cent of production for jute year 2014-15.
The financial assistance to JCI will be provided in the form of subsidy.
A proposal for financial support to Jute Corporation of India (JCI) to offset losses incurred by it on account of Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations also approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, an official release said.
The government approved mandatory packaging of foodgrains in jute material with certain exemptions. For sugar, the minimum packaging requirement has been fixed at 20 per cent of production for jute year 2014-15.
The financial assistance to JCI will be provided in the form of subsidy.
Source - The Hindu
SEBI, exchanges step up surveillance
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and stock exchanges have put their surveillance systems on ‘high alert’ in view of the government’s estimated Rs.24,000-crore mega share sale in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) on Friday.
“The surveillance activities have been stepped up significantly, and all systems are on high alert to thwart any manipulative activities in the market in view of the proposed offer for sale of state-run CIL,” a source said. There are also concerns about manipulative activities following trends witnessed with regard to some other disinvestment share sales. It has also come to the notice of SEBI and the government that media speculations about disinvestment has led to market speculations that have adversely affected the share prices and eventually the divestment programme.
“The surveillance activities have been stepped up significantly, and all systems are on high alert to thwart any manipulative activities in the market in view of the proposed offer for sale of state-run CIL,” a source said. There are also concerns about manipulative activities following trends witnessed with regard to some other disinvestment share sales. It has also come to the notice of SEBI and the government that media speculations about disinvestment has led to market speculations that have adversely affected the share prices and eventually the divestment programme.
Source - The Hindu
U.P. hosting convention of Speakers
Speakers and Deputy Speakers from 30 States and Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of six Legislative Councils are expected for the 77th annual convention of presiding officers and secretaries of legislative bodies beginning here on Friday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will address a conference of presiding officers in the Vidhan Sabha on January 31.
It is after 30 years that Uttar Pradesh is hosting the convention. Lucknow had hosted it in 1961 also.
State Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ambika Chaudhary, who is the convener of the four-day conference, said 400 delegates were expected.
The Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Vice-Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Secretary-Generals of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will be among the participants.
On the opening day, the Secretary-Generals of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the Assemblies and the Legislative Councils will meet. The Principal Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Pradeep Dubey, will preside over the conference.
Discussion on the agenda for the convention will figure on the opening day.
The conference of presiding officers will begin the next day, Mr. Chaudhary said.
While the welcome address will be delivered by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey, the convention will be addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The vote of thanks will be delivered by the Chairman of the State Legislative Council.
The conference will come to a close on February 1 with Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik’s address.
The proceedings of the convention will be held in camera, Mr. Chaudhary said.
Source - The Hindu
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will address a conference of presiding officers in the Vidhan Sabha on January 31.
It is after 30 years that Uttar Pradesh is hosting the convention. Lucknow had hosted it in 1961 also.
State Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ambika Chaudhary, who is the convener of the four-day conference, said 400 delegates were expected.
The Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Vice-Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Secretary-Generals of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will be among the participants.
On the opening day, the Secretary-Generals of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the Assemblies and the Legislative Councils will meet. The Principal Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Pradeep Dubey, will preside over the conference.
Discussion on the agenda for the convention will figure on the opening day.
The conference of presiding officers will begin the next day, Mr. Chaudhary said.
While the welcome address will be delivered by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey, the convention will be addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The vote of thanks will be delivered by the Chairman of the State Legislative Council.
The conference will come to a close on February 1 with Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik’s address.
The proceedings of the convention will be held in camera, Mr. Chaudhary said.
Source - The Hindu
Sewage plants along Ganga planned
The proposal, mooted at a review meeting on Namami Ganga, will take six States on board before installation.
The Centre has proposed the setting up and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the Ganga in a time-bound manner to check pollution of the river.
To be built and maintained through a special purpose vehicle, these STPs will be paid for by the Centre and help plug the gaps in the system and prevent untreated effluents from flowing into the Ganga.
The proposal was mooted at a review meeting on Namami Ganga on Wednesday. Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said all the six States (along the Ganga) would be consulted and taken on board before going ahead with setting up of the STPs.
In the first phase, the focus will be on the 56 cities and towns that account for about 80 per cent of sewage generation. He said the STP capacity would be augmented to meet the 2030 demand.
Also discussed were action plans for treatment of sewage with timelines, rehabilitation of dysfunctional and sub-optimal STPs, plans for bridging mismatch between existing treatment capacity and the demand, capacity building of urban local bodies, modernisation of existing crematoria, and adoption of innovative technologies developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
According to the government, as against the sewage treatment requirement of 3,847 million litres a day (MLD) in all the 118 cities and towns in 2015 and the estimated demand of 4,773 MLD in 2030, the present available capacity is only 879 MLD while another 1,263 MLD capacity is under construction. The gap in demand and supply is 1,852 MLD at current demand and 2,664 MLD at 2030 demand.
As a part of stakeholder consultations, a meeting of representatives of all 195 industrial units located alongside the Ganga will be held next month by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change followed by a meeting of municipal commissioners of all the 118 cities and towns on February 17.
The Centre has proposed the setting up and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the Ganga in a time-bound manner to check pollution of the river.
To be built and maintained through a special purpose vehicle, these STPs will be paid for by the Centre and help plug the gaps in the system and prevent untreated effluents from flowing into the Ganga.
The proposal was mooted at a review meeting on Namami Ganga on Wednesday. Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said all the six States (along the Ganga) would be consulted and taken on board before going ahead with setting up of the STPs.
In the first phase, the focus will be on the 56 cities and towns that account for about 80 per cent of sewage generation. He said the STP capacity would be augmented to meet the 2030 demand.
Also discussed were action plans for treatment of sewage with timelines, rehabilitation of dysfunctional and sub-optimal STPs, plans for bridging mismatch between existing treatment capacity and the demand, capacity building of urban local bodies, modernisation of existing crematoria, and adoption of innovative technologies developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
According to the government, as against the sewage treatment requirement of 3,847 million litres a day (MLD) in all the 118 cities and towns in 2015 and the estimated demand of 4,773 MLD in 2030, the present available capacity is only 879 MLD while another 1,263 MLD capacity is under construction. The gap in demand and supply is 1,852 MLD at current demand and 2,664 MLD at 2030 demand.
As a part of stakeholder consultations, a meeting of representatives of all 195 industrial units located alongside the Ganga will be held next month by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change followed by a meeting of municipal commissioners of all the 118 cities and towns on February 17.
Source - The Hindu
Debates show why Preamble’s original text left out the two words
Even as the omission of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble text in a government advertisement has stoked a controversy, the Constituent Assembly debates clearly show why the words were omitted in the original text. The debates saw Dr. B.R. Ambedkar reason that there was no need to include the term ‘secular’ as the entire Constitution embodied the concept of secular state, which meant non-discrimination on grounds of religion and equal rights and status to all citizens.
On the inclusion of the term ‘socialist,’ he said it is against the very grain of democracy to decide in the Constitution what kind of society the people of India should live in.
“It is perfectly possible today, for the majority people to hold that the socialist organisation of society is better than the capitalist organisation of society. But it would be perfectly possible for thinking people to devise some other form of social organisation which might be better than the socialist organisation of today or of tomorrow. I do not see therefore why the Constitution should tie down the people to live in a particular form and not leave it to the people themselves to decide it for themselves,” he had said. His words had influenced the final decision to omit the two words.
However, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi re-introduced the two words for political reasons in the 42nd Constitution Amendment of 1976. Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap said: “The word ‘socialist’ was added to send a message politically that she stood for the poor. The word ‘secular’ was obviously meant for the minorities in the context of the birth control programmes of the emergency period. It was not as if the Constitution was not secular or socialist before the words were added. India has been secular before the 42nd Amendment and continues to be secular after it.” “It was merely playing politics,” Mr. Kashyap said.
He said the present controversy over the government advertisement was “innocuous.” “The advertisement only shows the Preamble originally signed by the Constituent Assembly members with the calligraphy of the famous artist, Nandalal Bose.”
It shows the Preamble as on January 26, 1950 when the country became a republic, he said.
On the inclusion of the term ‘socialist,’ he said it is against the very grain of democracy to decide in the Constitution what kind of society the people of India should live in.
“It is perfectly possible today, for the majority people to hold that the socialist organisation of society is better than the capitalist organisation of society. But it would be perfectly possible for thinking people to devise some other form of social organisation which might be better than the socialist organisation of today or of tomorrow. I do not see therefore why the Constitution should tie down the people to live in a particular form and not leave it to the people themselves to decide it for themselves,” he had said. His words had influenced the final decision to omit the two words.
However, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi re-introduced the two words for political reasons in the 42nd Constitution Amendment of 1976. Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap said: “The word ‘socialist’ was added to send a message politically that she stood for the poor. The word ‘secular’ was obviously meant for the minorities in the context of the birth control programmes of the emergency period. It was not as if the Constitution was not secular or socialist before the words were added. India has been secular before the 42nd Amendment and continues to be secular after it.” “It was merely playing politics,” Mr. Kashyap said.
He said the present controversy over the government advertisement was “innocuous.” “The advertisement only shows the Preamble originally signed by the Constituent Assembly members with the calligraphy of the famous artist, Nandalal Bose.”
It shows the Preamble as on January 26, 1950 when the country became a republic, he said.
Source - The Hindu
SC cracks down on search engines
Observing that “India is suffering so much because of its sex ratio,” the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Internet search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (Bing) to neither advertise nor sponsor pre-natal sex determination advertisements.
In an interim order, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant ordered the three search engines to “forthwith” withdraw online advertisements, currently being hosted or published, on pre-natal sex determination facilities, clinics or centres in violation of Section 22 of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) or PC-PNDT Act, 1994.
The court directed the search engines to upload this order on their policy page and on the page containing “terms and conditions of service” to warn persons intending to put up such advertisements.
On March 11, the Bench will consider the government’s suggestion that the three search engines provide it with a list of URLs and IP addresses hosting pre-natal sex determination advertisements, so that they can be blocked or filtered.
Referring to an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar said the government would be able to “stop the presentation of any kind of thing that relates to sex selection and eventual abortion” if the search engines parted with the URLs. Alternatively, he said the search engines could also “effectively or regularly” block key words and advertisement links as they had the “relevant technology and deep-domain knowledge” to do it.
“Either you [search engines] stop it or we will do it ourselves at the gateway if you provide us with the details,” Mr. Kumar submitted in court.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Google, said the Internet was a “censor-free zone” and the government’s stand amounted to “pre-censorship and information blocking.”
To this Justice Misra countered that “censorship and legal prohibition are two different things”.
Mr. Divan replied that Google had technical and contractual filters which already prevented anyone from posting content offensive to the laws of a particular country.
When Justice Misra orally observed that search engines may play a “propagandistic” role by hosting these ads, Mr. Divan countered that a search engine did not advertise and acted only as a source for debate and discussion on a blizzard of topics.
He argued that blocking keywords on their search engine would amount to a gag on free speech and expression on the Internet. It would even result in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on female sex ratio getting blocked. The hearing is based on a PIL filed by Sabu Mathew George in 2008 highlighting the use of Internet and popular search engines to promote sex determination technologies in violation of the 1994 Act.
In an interim order, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant ordered the three search engines to “forthwith” withdraw online advertisements, currently being hosted or published, on pre-natal sex determination facilities, clinics or centres in violation of Section 22 of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) or PC-PNDT Act, 1994.
The court directed the search engines to upload this order on their policy page and on the page containing “terms and conditions of service” to warn persons intending to put up such advertisements.
On March 11, the Bench will consider the government’s suggestion that the three search engines provide it with a list of URLs and IP addresses hosting pre-natal sex determination advertisements, so that they can be blocked or filtered.
Referring to an affidavit filed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar said the government would be able to “stop the presentation of any kind of thing that relates to sex selection and eventual abortion” if the search engines parted with the URLs. Alternatively, he said the search engines could also “effectively or regularly” block key words and advertisement links as they had the “relevant technology and deep-domain knowledge” to do it.
“Either you [search engines] stop it or we will do it ourselves at the gateway if you provide us with the details,” Mr. Kumar submitted in court.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Google, said the Internet was a “censor-free zone” and the government’s stand amounted to “pre-censorship and information blocking.”
To this Justice Misra countered that “censorship and legal prohibition are two different things”.
Mr. Divan replied that Google had technical and contractual filters which already prevented anyone from posting content offensive to the laws of a particular country.
When Justice Misra orally observed that search engines may play a “propagandistic” role by hosting these ads, Mr. Divan countered that a search engine did not advertise and acted only as a source for debate and discussion on a blizzard of topics.
He argued that blocking keywords on their search engine would amount to a gag on free speech and expression on the Internet. It would even result in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on female sex ratio getting blocked. The hearing is based on a PIL filed by Sabu Mathew George in 2008 highlighting the use of Internet and popular search engines to promote sex determination technologies in violation of the 1994 Act.
Source - The Hindu
Sushma’s China visit to smooth ruffled feathers
After the completion of President Obama’s visit, the government is looking east again. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is heading to Beijing on Saturday for a three-day visit.
While the Beijing visit is timed with the 13th Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting of foreign ministers, it will also be seen as an attempt to smooth ruffled feathers with the Chinese leadership, after India and the U.S. announced a joint vision statement on the Asia Pacific.
In a statement seemingly tied to the visit, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that India was keen to resolve the border issue with China, which he called a “perceptional difference” between them. “India wants a peaceful resolution of all disputes. China should come forward [for talks],” he added.
Mr. Singh’s comments, made to ITBP soldiers at a battalion camp in Kanpur on Wednesday, are in stark contrast to his more angry statements and tweets in the past few months over China’s “incursions” and “threats.” Sources confirmed to The Hindu that Ms. Swaraj will call on President Xi Jinping during her visit, and is likely to discuss Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to travel to China later this year. In the past few days, a series of articles in Beijing’s official and other media have criticised President Obama’s visit, calling it a “trap” to promote “India and China rivalry.” The Chinese government also reacted sharply to the vision statement on the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region that included a commitment to “safeguard maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.”
“The Chinese leadership will certainly want to know what happened there when they meet Ms. Swaraj, and to understand the context of the Indo-U.S. statement. Hopefully, they will understand that this is a delicate diplomatic dance that needs to be played by India in a multipolar world,” said Ravi Bhoothalingam of the Institute of Chinese Studies.
Ms. Swaraj may also face a few awkward moments for President Obama’s direct attack on Russia at a press conference in Delhi, when she meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Mr. Obama had referred to Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “bullying,” and both Mr. Putin and Mr. Lavrov have made strong statements against President Obama’s comments over the past week. But government sources dismissed reports of concerns over diplomatic tensions with China or Russia, saying “in the real world there are no such concerns.”
The visit to Beijing by Ms. Swaraj had earlier been scheduled for August 28 last year, and had even been announced. It had to be put off due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan. A few weeks later, relations were hit by Chinese incursions during President Xi’s visit, and they have undergone a tense period since then. After the U.S. President’s visit, however, it is understood that the government is keen to take relations with China forward, especially on the border talks that have made no progress since Mr. Modi and President Xi committed more than four months ago to appointing their special representatives for the next round.
Source - The Hindu
[Ed] The dynamics of inequality
Occupational and geographic mobility across the region are bridging income and consumption-related disparities, says the World Bank report, ‘Addressing Inequality in South Asia’. The findings accordingly underscore the role of urbanisation and private sector participation as being critical to mitigating socio-economic disadvantages. Inequality should be understood in terms of monetary and non-monetary dimensions of well-being, contends the report. The share of the poorest 40 per cent of households in total consumption shows that inequality in South Asia is moderate by international standards. The comparison is valid even though estimates elsewhere are based on income per capita. Significantly, but not surprisingly, economic mobility of the recent decades has proved beneficial to the population at large, cutting across traditional divides and challenging stereotypes. This finding, if anything, underscores the positive effects of legal safeguards for the protection of minorities. Indeed, monetary inequality of enormous significance is manifested in India’s highly disproportionate billionaire wealth, amounting to 12 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012. The ratio is considerably large even compared with other countries at a similar level of economic development, says the report.
Conversely, non-monetary indices of well-being pertain to opportunities available to people in the early years, outcomes during adulthood and support systems through the life-cycle. Thus, although it is not the poorest region, South Asia accounts for some of the worst human development outcomes in basic education and health care. Besides the highest rates of infant and child mortality that prevail in many parts of the region, more than 50 per cent of poor children below five years of age in Bangladesh and Nepal are stunted; the proportion for India is over 60 per cent. Pervasive tax avoidance and regressive fuel and electricity subsidies are primarily responsible for the inadequate provisioning of public services. Of no insignificant value is the non-dogmatic stance the report adopts on a fundamental moral question such as inequality. Drawing upon influential academic debates in economics and philosophy, the study argues that the rewards linked to hard work and entrepreneurship serve as incentives to give one’s best and enhance overall well-being. It would be fair to infer that non-monetary inequalities are arbitrary and potentially more detrimental to economic growth over the long term. To bring such ideas into the public and political mainstream would enhance the quality of the debate, and further consolidate contemporary competitive electoral democracies.
Conversely, non-monetary indices of well-being pertain to opportunities available to people in the early years, outcomes during adulthood and support systems through the life-cycle. Thus, although it is not the poorest region, South Asia accounts for some of the worst human development outcomes in basic education and health care. Besides the highest rates of infant and child mortality that prevail in many parts of the region, more than 50 per cent of poor children below five years of age in Bangladesh and Nepal are stunted; the proportion for India is over 60 per cent. Pervasive tax avoidance and regressive fuel and electricity subsidies are primarily responsible for the inadequate provisioning of public services. Of no insignificant value is the non-dogmatic stance the report adopts on a fundamental moral question such as inequality. Drawing upon influential academic debates in economics and philosophy, the study argues that the rewards linked to hard work and entrepreneurship serve as incentives to give one’s best and enhance overall well-being. It would be fair to infer that non-monetary inequalities are arbitrary and potentially more detrimental to economic growth over the long term. To bring such ideas into the public and political mainstream would enhance the quality of the debate, and further consolidate contemporary competitive electoral democracies.
Source - The Hindu
[Ed] The new entente with the U.S.
The Obama visit is so overwhelming a development that it has hardly evoked dissent. Not since India signed the peace and friendship treaty with the Soviet Union has New Delhi aligned itself so closely with a great power. Anti-Americanism, once the conventional wisdom of the Indian elite, seems almost antediluvian today
Robert Blackwill, former Ambassador of the United States and Harvard academic, used to often recount at his dinner roundtables in New Delhi’s Roosevelt House an intriguing story about how he was persuaded to take up the job. In 2001, President George W. Bush called him to his ranch in Texas and said: “Bob, imagine: India, a billion people, a democracy, 150 million Muslims and no Al Qaeda. Wow!” More than a decade after President Bush’s first exclamation, India-U.S. relations have truly reached their ‘wow’ moment.
President Barack Obama’s visit is so obvious a watershed in India’s foreign policy, and so overwhelming a development, that voices of dissent are mute or feeble. Not since India signed the treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1971 has New Delhi aligned itself so closely with a great power. More important, outside the Left, both within India and in the U.S. the consensus across the mainstream of political opinion favours stronger relations between the two countries. Anti-Americanism, once the conventional wisdom of the Indian elite, seems almost antediluvian today.
Behind the change
The reason for the drastic change in the geostrategic outlook can be summarised quickly. The 1971 treaty was a response to the continuing U.S. tilt towards Pakistan and the beginnings of a Washington-Beijing entente (President Richard Nixon’s then National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, went secretly to Beijing via Islamabad a month before India signed the treaty with the Soviet Union). In contrast, in 2015, it is the prospect of a powerful, belligerent and potentially hegemonic China in the Indo-Pacific region that is helping to cement the relationship. While this may seem like a parsimonious explanation, it is rooted in an understanding of the manner in which great powers, rising powers and emerging powers have responded to changes in the balance of power in the international system since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Clearly, the pièce de résistance of the Obama visit has been removing the final hurdles in the civilian nuclear agreement to pave the way for its commercialisation, almost a decade after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush first issued a joint statement, in July 2005, on civilian nuclear cooperation. As we know, two sticking points were holding up an agreement: differences over liability in case of a nuclear accident, and over administrative arrangements governing the transfer of nuclear materials to India.
Consider first the latter. For more than a year, the U.S. has refused to accept an Indian draft agreement that was based on the sound principle that New Delhi would be accountable only for the totality of nuclear material supplied to it, and under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Given India’s closed fuel cycle, allowing nuclear material from different countries to be tracked and audited separately could be unnecessarily intrusive and could undermine the confidentiality of its nuclear programme. While the Canadians saw reason and accepted India’s draft in 2012, the non-proliferation lobby in Washington seemed to have had the upper hand as the political leadership seemed reluctant to take a call even though it was against the letter and spirit of the 123 agreement: the fundamental basis of the civil nuclear agreement between India and the U.S.
Nuclear liability issue
The deal has been done only because President Obama has now put his personal weight behind it, to marginalise those who still see India’s nuclear programme through the prism of Washington’s non-proliferation policies of the 1990s towards New Delhi. With the U.S. accepting the Canadian model, it will be easier for India to negotiate with Japan and Australia, the other two countries still holding out for tracking and audit of nuclear material based on national flags. Hopefully, the deal will pave the way for GE, Westinghouse and other leading businesses in the nuclear industry to begin commercial operations in India.
Similarly, on the issue of nuclear liability, where American companies were concerned by the unlimited liability they could face in case of a nuclear accident under Sections 17(b) and 46 of the Indian Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010, a compromise seems to have been found.
New Delhi has agreed to create a publicly funded insurance pool and the Attorney General of India is likely to issue an explanatory memorandum on Section 46 which will potentially clarify the limits of tort claims by accident victims against the suppliers of nuclear reactors. The latter, however, as Indian officials have said, is still a work in progress. Given the collective national memory of the Bhopal gas tragedy, this could still stir a public controversy if the limits are in absolute terms. Rather, the claims could be linked to compensations offered contemporaneously to victims of industrial accidents in the U.S.
The vision statement
No less important is the commitment of President Obama and his team to support India’s membership of international export control regimes, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime that will help to further mainstream India’s nuclear programme. Given that similar promises have been made in the past, it is important that India uses the goodwill of the Obama visit to ensure that Washington presses for this to happen as soon as possible — despite the obvious reluctance of some members of these regimes.
The media focus has been on the nuclear issue — yet the U.S.-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region is no less significant. It is a major advance on the early initiatives made during last September’s Obama-Modi summit in Washington. Indeed, given India’s traditional strategic caution, the vision statement could be even seen as radical by its standards. Shorn of the homilies, the vision statement has three significant features.
The first is the clear link between economic prosperity and security, and the critical importance of freedom of the seas in the region. The statement could not be more explicit: “We affirm the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.”
Second is the commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and to “pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.”
Third is the agreement to work with other countries to better respond to diplomatic, economic and security challenges in the region. The five-year vision includes strengthening regional dialogues, making trilateral consultations with third countries in the region more robust, deepening regional integration, strengthening regional forums, and exploring additional multilateral opportunities for engagement.
China factor
While India has traditionally favoured a policy of deep engagement with all major powers, the special relationship with the U.S. today, especially the “vision” statement, is rooted in great apprehensions in New Delhi about China’s aggressive “peripheral diplomacy,” particularly after the intrusions in Chumar during President Xi Jinping’s visit to India last year. That the new Chinese leadership had abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s ‘24 Character Strategy’ of biding time, hiding its capacities and not attracting attention has been clear for some time now, but what is intriguing is that Beijing has managed to alienate nearly all its neighbours, except North Korea and Pakistan, by its malevolence. Not surprisingly, a rising China is a cause of trepidation in most capitals of the world today. Will Beijing now introspect and recalibrate? For it must realise that New Delhi’s closeness to Washington is also a function of its strategic distance from Beijing.
In late 2005, amidst the negotiations over the civil nuclear agreement with the U.S., Dr. Singh, appointed a task force on global strategic developments headed by the doyen of India’s strategic thinking, K. Subrahmanyam. As a member of the task force, I remember the meetings essentially became a series of inspiring lectures by Mr. Subrahmanyam on geopolitics. Mr. Subrahmanyam was an architect of many of India’s key strategic decisions, including the policy that led to the creation of Bangladesh, the Indo-Soviet treaty, as well as the nuclear tests of 1998. But throughout the meetings, Mr. Subrahmanyam, with a mind as agile as that of a restless teenage prodigy, would emphasise the importance of arriving at a modus vivendi with the U.S., the overriding importance of the nuclear deal, how it was in Washington’s own interest to support a rising India and how New Delhi should grab that opportunity. As the United States and India finally “recognise” each other and promise to realise each other’s potential, the new entente between the two countries is a fitting tribute to the legacy of India’s modern-day Chanakya, just days after his 86th birthday.
(Amitabh Mattoo is Professor of Disarmament and Diplomacy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.)
Robert Blackwill, former Ambassador of the United States and Harvard academic, used to often recount at his dinner roundtables in New Delhi’s Roosevelt House an intriguing story about how he was persuaded to take up the job. In 2001, President George W. Bush called him to his ranch in Texas and said: “Bob, imagine: India, a billion people, a democracy, 150 million Muslims and no Al Qaeda. Wow!” More than a decade after President Bush’s first exclamation, India-U.S. relations have truly reached their ‘wow’ moment.
President Barack Obama’s visit is so obvious a watershed in India’s foreign policy, and so overwhelming a development, that voices of dissent are mute or feeble. Not since India signed the treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1971 has New Delhi aligned itself so closely with a great power. More important, outside the Left, both within India and in the U.S. the consensus across the mainstream of political opinion favours stronger relations between the two countries. Anti-Americanism, once the conventional wisdom of the Indian elite, seems almost antediluvian today.
Behind the change
The reason for the drastic change in the geostrategic outlook can be summarised quickly. The 1971 treaty was a response to the continuing U.S. tilt towards Pakistan and the beginnings of a Washington-Beijing entente (President Richard Nixon’s then National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, went secretly to Beijing via Islamabad a month before India signed the treaty with the Soviet Union). In contrast, in 2015, it is the prospect of a powerful, belligerent and potentially hegemonic China in the Indo-Pacific region that is helping to cement the relationship. While this may seem like a parsimonious explanation, it is rooted in an understanding of the manner in which great powers, rising powers and emerging powers have responded to changes in the balance of power in the international system since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Clearly, the pièce de résistance of the Obama visit has been removing the final hurdles in the civilian nuclear agreement to pave the way for its commercialisation, almost a decade after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush first issued a joint statement, in July 2005, on civilian nuclear cooperation. As we know, two sticking points were holding up an agreement: differences over liability in case of a nuclear accident, and over administrative arrangements governing the transfer of nuclear materials to India.
Consider first the latter. For more than a year, the U.S. has refused to accept an Indian draft agreement that was based on the sound principle that New Delhi would be accountable only for the totality of nuclear material supplied to it, and under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Given India’s closed fuel cycle, allowing nuclear material from different countries to be tracked and audited separately could be unnecessarily intrusive and could undermine the confidentiality of its nuclear programme. While the Canadians saw reason and accepted India’s draft in 2012, the non-proliferation lobby in Washington seemed to have had the upper hand as the political leadership seemed reluctant to take a call even though it was against the letter and spirit of the 123 agreement: the fundamental basis of the civil nuclear agreement between India and the U.S.
Nuclear liability issue
The deal has been done only because President Obama has now put his personal weight behind it, to marginalise those who still see India’s nuclear programme through the prism of Washington’s non-proliferation policies of the 1990s towards New Delhi. With the U.S. accepting the Canadian model, it will be easier for India to negotiate with Japan and Australia, the other two countries still holding out for tracking and audit of nuclear material based on national flags. Hopefully, the deal will pave the way for GE, Westinghouse and other leading businesses in the nuclear industry to begin commercial operations in India.
Similarly, on the issue of nuclear liability, where American companies were concerned by the unlimited liability they could face in case of a nuclear accident under Sections 17(b) and 46 of the Indian Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010, a compromise seems to have been found.
New Delhi has agreed to create a publicly funded insurance pool and the Attorney General of India is likely to issue an explanatory memorandum on Section 46 which will potentially clarify the limits of tort claims by accident victims against the suppliers of nuclear reactors. The latter, however, as Indian officials have said, is still a work in progress. Given the collective national memory of the Bhopal gas tragedy, this could still stir a public controversy if the limits are in absolute terms. Rather, the claims could be linked to compensations offered contemporaneously to victims of industrial accidents in the U.S.
The vision statement
No less important is the commitment of President Obama and his team to support India’s membership of international export control regimes, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime that will help to further mainstream India’s nuclear programme. Given that similar promises have been made in the past, it is important that India uses the goodwill of the Obama visit to ensure that Washington presses for this to happen as soon as possible — despite the obvious reluctance of some members of these regimes.
The media focus has been on the nuclear issue — yet the U.S.-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region is no less significant. It is a major advance on the early initiatives made during last September’s Obama-Modi summit in Washington. Indeed, given India’s traditional strategic caution, the vision statement could be even seen as radical by its standards. Shorn of the homilies, the vision statement has three significant features.
The first is the clear link between economic prosperity and security, and the critical importance of freedom of the seas in the region. The statement could not be more explicit: “We affirm the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.”
Second is the commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and to “pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.”
Third is the agreement to work with other countries to better respond to diplomatic, economic and security challenges in the region. The five-year vision includes strengthening regional dialogues, making trilateral consultations with third countries in the region more robust, deepening regional integration, strengthening regional forums, and exploring additional multilateral opportunities for engagement.
China factor
While India has traditionally favoured a policy of deep engagement with all major powers, the special relationship with the U.S. today, especially the “vision” statement, is rooted in great apprehensions in New Delhi about China’s aggressive “peripheral diplomacy,” particularly after the intrusions in Chumar during President Xi Jinping’s visit to India last year. That the new Chinese leadership had abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s ‘24 Character Strategy’ of biding time, hiding its capacities and not attracting attention has been clear for some time now, but what is intriguing is that Beijing has managed to alienate nearly all its neighbours, except North Korea and Pakistan, by its malevolence. Not surprisingly, a rising China is a cause of trepidation in most capitals of the world today. Will Beijing now introspect and recalibrate? For it must realise that New Delhi’s closeness to Washington is also a function of its strategic distance from Beijing.
In late 2005, amidst the negotiations over the civil nuclear agreement with the U.S., Dr. Singh, appointed a task force on global strategic developments headed by the doyen of India’s strategic thinking, K. Subrahmanyam. As a member of the task force, I remember the meetings essentially became a series of inspiring lectures by Mr. Subrahmanyam on geopolitics. Mr. Subrahmanyam was an architect of many of India’s key strategic decisions, including the policy that led to the creation of Bangladesh, the Indo-Soviet treaty, as well as the nuclear tests of 1998. But throughout the meetings, Mr. Subrahmanyam, with a mind as agile as that of a restless teenage prodigy, would emphasise the importance of arriving at a modus vivendi with the U.S., the overriding importance of the nuclear deal, how it was in Washington’s own interest to support a rising India and how New Delhi should grab that opportunity. As the United States and India finally “recognise” each other and promise to realise each other’s potential, the new entente between the two countries is a fitting tribute to the legacy of India’s modern-day Chanakya, just days after his 86th birthday.
(Amitabh Mattoo is Professor of Disarmament and Diplomacy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.)
Source - The Hindu
Now, German help for smart cities
Visiting German Minister offers assistance
Soon after India and the U.S. agreed to develop Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam as smart cities, the Modi government’s “Smart City” initiative got a shot in the arm with Germany too offering its assistance in developing three more smart cities.
The decision was taken when Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu met the visiting German Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Barbara Hendricks, here on Wednesday.
A six-member joint committee will be set up in three months to identify these cities and draw up a plan.
The committee will have two representatives of the Urban Development Ministry, one from the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry and three from the Government of Germany, sources said.
Dr. Hendricks has invited a delegation from India to the Urban Development Conference in Germany in April. After a discussion on the smart cities initiative, the Minister said the German government was keen on associating with it.
Swachh Bharat, Digital India dovetailed
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brief, the Centre has decided to dovetail the scheme with the Swachh Bharat Mission and Digital India. Priorities that have been flagged include the need to have clean air, move towards zero waste zones, involve citizens in policy-making and execution, generation of jobs and expanding economic activities.
“The Ministry has already specified that cities will be selected through a competition -- we are yet to decide the format of it -- but among the criteria will be the city's capacity and potential to implement the policy,” said an official of the UD Ministry.
There will also be an evaluation of how the cities propose to undertake urban projects through retrofitting, refurbishment and new developmentThe details of support and hand-holding to help in the transformation will be discussed as well as the role of private players and citizens.
The Centre will also examine the possibility of executing works through a Special Purpose Vehicle through PPP.
“We have to also look at how to integrate the Smart City project with the National Urban Development Mission for 500 cities ,” pointed out the official.
Soon after India and the U.S. agreed to develop Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam as smart cities, the Modi government’s “Smart City” initiative got a shot in the arm with Germany too offering its assistance in developing three more smart cities.
The decision was taken when Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu met the visiting German Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Barbara Hendricks, here on Wednesday.
A six-member joint committee will be set up in three months to identify these cities and draw up a plan.
The committee will have two representatives of the Urban Development Ministry, one from the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry and three from the Government of Germany, sources said.
Dr. Hendricks has invited a delegation from India to the Urban Development Conference in Germany in April. After a discussion on the smart cities initiative, the Minister said the German government was keen on associating with it.
Swachh Bharat, Digital India dovetailed
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brief, the Centre has decided to dovetail the scheme with the Swachh Bharat Mission and Digital India. Priorities that have been flagged include the need to have clean air, move towards zero waste zones, involve citizens in policy-making and execution, generation of jobs and expanding economic activities.
“The Ministry has already specified that cities will be selected through a competition -- we are yet to decide the format of it -- but among the criteria will be the city's capacity and potential to implement the policy,” said an official of the UD Ministry.
There will also be an evaluation of how the cities propose to undertake urban projects through retrofitting, refurbishment and new developmentThe details of support and hand-holding to help in the transformation will be discussed as well as the role of private players and citizens.
The Centre will also examine the possibility of executing works through a Special Purpose Vehicle through PPP.
“We have to also look at how to integrate the Smart City project with the National Urban Development Mission for 500 cities ,” pointed out the official.
Source - The Hindu
Cabinet goes by HC tax relief for Vodafone
Government not to appeal against similar verdictsin other cases
In a move aimed at improving the investment climate in the country, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided not to challenge a Bombay High Court ruling that said Vodafone was not liable to pay a tax demand of Rs. 3,200 crore in a transfer pricing case.
The Cabinet also decided not to appeal against similar verdicts in other cases against taxpayers.
The decision follows Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi’s advice to the Income Tax Department not to appeal against the High Court judgment.
Briefing presspersons after the meeting, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “It sends out the message to global investors whose confidence in India was shaken in the past. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi wants it to be known that his government will take decisions that will be fair, transparent and within four corners of the law.”
In a move aimed at improving the investment climate in the country, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided not to challenge a Bombay High Court ruling that said Vodafone was not liable to pay a tax demand of Rs. 3,200 crore in a transfer pricing case.
The Cabinet also decided not to appeal against similar verdicts in other cases against taxpayers.
The decision follows Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi’s advice to the Income Tax Department not to appeal against the High Court judgment.
Briefing presspersons after the meeting, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “It sends out the message to global investors whose confidence in India was shaken in the past. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi wants it to be known that his government will take decisions that will be fair, transparent and within four corners of the law.”
Source - The Hindu
Let nation debate Preamble: Ravi Shankar
The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday jumped into the controversy created by the remarks of the Shiv Sena earlier in the day that the words “socialist and secular” should be dropped from the Preamble to the Constitution.
Union Telecommunications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad indicated that the government wanted a debate on whether the words should be in the Preamble.
“We do not need these words to be a secular country; even without them we are a secular country,” Mr. Prasad said.
Introduced in 1976
Pointing out that the two words were introduced in the Preamble in 1976 during the Emergency, Mr. Prasad told presspersons: “What is wrong if there is a debate on these two words. Let us see what the nation wants.”
On whether the government would continue to use the original Preamble for official purposes, he said that was the plan.
Mr. Prasad was responding to questions on the controversy over the Information and Broadcasting Ministry using a watermark of the original Preamble in two Republic Day print advertisements.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore had on Tuesday described the controversy as “uncalled-for,” and pointed out that the same picture had been used in official advertisements earlier also.
Underlining the fact that the founding fathers of the Constitution had not included the words “socialist and secular” in the original Preamble to the Constitution, Mr. Prasad sought to draw a distinction between Jawaharlal Nehru’s understanding of secularism and that of the Congress now.
“Was Pandit Nehru’s understanding of secularism less than that of the present-day Congress leaders,” he asked.
To this, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “No other party has a doubtful integrity clause on secularism like the Bharatiya Janata Party and that is the reason this has become an issue.”
He pointed out that the 42nd Constitution Amendment was with “retrospective” effect.
As for Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s remark that his party welcomed the omission of the two words — even if it was inadvertent — the Congress maintained that this only proved that the 1950 Preamble had been chosen for the advertisement with a clear agenda. “And, to test waters.’’
Describing the omission of the two words from the Preamble used in government advertisements as a “sacrilegious insult” to the ethos of the Constitution, Mr. Surjewala demanded an apology from the government and a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his position and understanding on “secularism and socialism.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Raut had said that India had never been secular.
“Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray and before him Sarvarkar always said that if Pakistan was carved out after Partition for Muslims, then the rest of the country is a Hindu Rashtra. The Shiv Sena has always believed in this,” he said.
Union Telecommunications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad indicated that the government wanted a debate on whether the words should be in the Preamble.
“We do not need these words to be a secular country; even without them we are a secular country,” Mr. Prasad said.
Introduced in 1976
Pointing out that the two words were introduced in the Preamble in 1976 during the Emergency, Mr. Prasad told presspersons: “What is wrong if there is a debate on these two words. Let us see what the nation wants.”
On whether the government would continue to use the original Preamble for official purposes, he said that was the plan.
Mr. Prasad was responding to questions on the controversy over the Information and Broadcasting Ministry using a watermark of the original Preamble in two Republic Day print advertisements.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore had on Tuesday described the controversy as “uncalled-for,” and pointed out that the same picture had been used in official advertisements earlier also.
Underlining the fact that the founding fathers of the Constitution had not included the words “socialist and secular” in the original Preamble to the Constitution, Mr. Prasad sought to draw a distinction between Jawaharlal Nehru’s understanding of secularism and that of the Congress now.
“Was Pandit Nehru’s understanding of secularism less than that of the present-day Congress leaders,” he asked.
To this, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “No other party has a doubtful integrity clause on secularism like the Bharatiya Janata Party and that is the reason this has become an issue.”
He pointed out that the 42nd Constitution Amendment was with “retrospective” effect.
As for Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s remark that his party welcomed the omission of the two words — even if it was inadvertent — the Congress maintained that this only proved that the 1950 Preamble had been chosen for the advertisement with a clear agenda. “And, to test waters.’’
Describing the omission of the two words from the Preamble used in government advertisements as a “sacrilegious insult” to the ethos of the Constitution, Mr. Surjewala demanded an apology from the government and a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his position and understanding on “secularism and socialism.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Raut had said that India had never been secular.
“Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray and before him Sarvarkar always said that if Pakistan was carved out after Partition for Muslims, then the rest of the country is a Hindu Rashtra. The Shiv Sena has always believed in this,” he said.
Source - The Hindu
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)