Iran Nuclear Deal p.26 I Indian Railways: On a wrong track p.39
AUGUST 2015 VOL. - 01 ISSUE - 11 ` 60 RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662 www.governancetoday.co.in
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN INDIAN CONTEXT
Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Anand Mishra Senior Copy Editor Ramesh K Raja Correspondent Praveen Raman, Ritika Bisht, Sagarika Ranjan Guest Writers & Contributors Sonali Patnaik, Dharamsing Teron, Ritwajit Das Graphic Designer Girdhar Chandra Fuloria, Sarvesh Dixit Web Architect Farhan Khan CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar VP Sales Gautam Navin VP Strategic Alliance & Branding Salil Dhar SALES & MARKETING (CORP) Anupam Gupta, Shubham Gupta, Anjana Yadav sales@governancetoday.co.in I 07840086703 GOVERNMENT ALLIANCE Vaibhav Jaiswal I 07840086705 ADVERTISEMENT Stuti Bhushan I 09999371606 Karamjeet Singh I 09990098732 Abhijeet Srivastava I 09990098572 ACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE Yogesh Chikara FOR SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT subscription@governancetoday.co.in ADVISORY BOARD Terry Culver Associate Dean, SIPA, University of Columbia Vinit Goenka National Co-Convener, IT Cell, BJP Amod Kanth General Secretary Prayas JAC Society Pratap Mohanty Former Dy Educational Advisor, MHRD, GOI Ranjit Walia Managing Counsel Walia & Co. Published By Ajit Kumar Sinha 713, 3BA - Tower No. - 4, River Heights, Raj Nagar Extn - Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh-201003 Printed & Published by Ajit Kumar Sinha on behalf of Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Rama Offset Printers A-43, Sector - 10, Noida, UP - 201301 Editor-In-Chief: Ajit Kumar Sinha @ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, and mechanical, including Cover Photograph: www.freetheslaves.net
4 I August 2015
Social Justice Calls for Sensible Deliberations SOCIAL JUSTICE is ideally justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Here, the justice assigns rights and duties in the institutions of society, which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation. The pertinent entitlements can include education, healthcare, social security, labour rights, as well as a broader system of public services, progressive taxation and regulation of markets, etc. which are needed to ensure fair distribution of wealth, equal opportunity, equality of outcome, in short a just society. The concept of social justice, thus has a specific, tangible and dynamic content with an inherent potency to bring about equality in a society of unequals. Fortunately or unfortunately, the definition of social justice seems to have changed colloquially. It is now identified solely with ‘reservation’ in India which incidentally has become a political necessity as well. No political party can afford to initiate any debate on the relevance of reservation policy; leave aside revising the policy. Although the judiciary, in such a scenario, has often been forced to take up a stand against the politicisation of reservations, the castebased reservation policy is a sensitive issue and there are arguments on the both sides. The reservation as a socio political tool and concept is not new in the Indian society. It has been creating ripples ever since the pre-independence days. The Britishers for their colonies initially used this concept in the name of welfare purposes but the main aim behind this was to control the power by dividing the individuals for the personal interest i.e. the policy of “Divide and Rule.” www.governancetoday.co.in
“COLLECTIVE WILL OF THE NATION MUST TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”
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RESERVATION POLICY: TIME FOR RECALIBRATION
Dr Ashok Khosla Founder and Chairman, Development Alternatives
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SOCIAL SECURITY NEEDLE IN HAYSTACK 32
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LBA DONE, NOW BUILD ON IT INDIAN RAILWAYS: ON A WRONG TRACK
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“HEAVY MINERALS MINING NEEDS ENCOURAGEMENT FROM GOVERNMENT”
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V Subramanian Director, VV Mineral (VVM)
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BHARAT LOSES ITS RATNA Dr A P J Abdul Kalam who served as the 11th preisdent of India between 2002 - 2007 dies
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RAILWAYS’ UNUSED PURSE OF GOLD MAKE RAIL AS PRIME GOODS MOVER LOOKING FOR INVESTMENT RURAL INDIA UNDER EXTREME POVERTY WEALTHY AND MORE UNEQUAL INDIA MARKSHEET FEE, EVER HEARD OF? DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: PANCHAYATS ARE ILL EQUIPPED REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT IN SMART CITIES SUFFERING UNDER THE AFSPA LGBTs SEEK A DIGNIFIED LIFE ARTISTS NEED INFRASTRUCTURE
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Editorial
Go back to the idea of social justice THE SUBJECT of social justice evokes strong emotions in India, from all sections of society and political class. But while the issue is of critical importance in a country as big and diverse as India and as disintegrated and divided society as the Indian society, the entire concept has been dealt in an extremely caricatured way that has mostly left out real problems. It must however not be allowed to be that way. The degradation and rigidities of Indian society has left out many communities out of mainstream for being of low caste who have traditionally lived at the periphery of the Indian social order. They were not only not allowed to be part of socio-economic and political mainstream, but also ill-treated at a human level. Needless to say, such subhuman existence of such communities needed radical improvement by active governmental intervention. Caste based reservation which was taken up as a temporary mechanism, was the answer of government to the call of social justice. Unfortunately, job reservations became the single point program of government for upliftment of disadvantaged sections of society. Even today, all calls of social justice for any community are made only for want of reservation in government jobs. Pertinent questions here is, how much have job reservations helped backward communities at large? The structure of job reservation is such that only a tiny number of people benefit at the expense of overwhelming majority of socially disadvantaged society. Unfortunately, reservations have served as an easy way out for successive governments who have shied away from any groundbreaking work to lift the lot of large number of people. The system has become so rigid now that even the question of creamy layer is a strict no go area. Politicians of all hues are too scared to speak anything against this mechanism of social justice. Even after observations of the Supreme Court, reservations have failed to fully incorporate the economic backwardness as the base of job reservations. Result is that the ground situation of most of the disadvantaged communities remains what it was half a century ago. This is because entire focus of governments have gone in offering freebies in form of jobs reservations instead of empowering communities through improved education and healthcare. Even today, every hour, atrocities are committed on Dalit communities and hardly any justice prevails for them, social or legal. Primary reason is that they are not strong enough to resist and fight for their rights. And all the while, political class has only used their plight for garnering votes. But justice is required not just for certain castes; many sections of society are in bad condition and need compassionate governmental attention. Be it LGBTs, street children, or old people with no income, these are all part of our society and need justice which must not be denied to them because they do not belong to certain community and are not large enough a group to be counted as vote banks. The concept of social justice must not be so narrow to leave out such vulnerable sections of society. There is a need for a relook at the way social justice has been perceived and tackled in India if social justice has to prevail in true sense. This past month, India lost its most beloved public personality. APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of the country and one of the most important persons in the nuclear and missile development program of the country, fired the imagination of the country with his lofty ideals, grit, dedication and simplicity. Very few Presidents have had such a fan following among general masses. It is incumbent upon us to incorporate his ideals in our lives to make India a great nation it deserves. That would be real tribute to the Missile Man. Best regards
Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief www.governancetoday.co.in
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THUS THEY SPOKE The terrorists who carried out attack at a police station and killed seven people in Gurdaspur came from Pakistan... Any attempts to attack the unity and integrity of India will get a befitting reply. We are dedicated to stopping all terror activities being done from across the border Rajnath Singh Union Home Minister
I am happy that the long process has come to an end. The convict was given opportunity for 22 years. Yakub Memon’s review petition and mercy petitions were dismissed. He also got the right to have second review plea heard in an open court Mukul Rohatgi Attorney General of India There has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally, nor any idea that led to “earth shaking” invention to “delight global citizens NR Narayana Murthy Co-founder, Infosys
The last Olympic Games (London 2012), India finished 12th. The last World Cup (2014), India finished 9th. Numbers, facts, nothing more, nothing less. Do you believe in two years’ time you can win the gold medal? Answer yourself Roelant Oltmans Chief Coach, Indian Hockey
I can authoritatively say India is the best place for visual effects. In every internationally acclaimed film these days, a major part of the work has been done in India for the past 15 years, including ‘The Life of Pi’ and ‘Avatar’. But we don’t have the supervisors SS Rajamouli Film Maker Nothing will unlock Africa’s economic potential more than ending the cancer of corruption… Only Africans can end corruption in their countries Barack Obama US President
8 I August 2015
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
India a $2-trillion economy: World Bank THE LATEST data released by the World Bank in Washington showed that India’s GDP has crossed the $2-trillion mark in 2014. It took just seven years to reach the $2 trillion against the 60 years it took to reach the $ 1-trillion mark. The Indian economy, presently at $2.06 trillion, has almost doubled in size since the financial crisis hit the country in 2008, and has more than quadrupled from the start of this millennium. The World Bank data also showed that India’s Gross National Income (GNI) per person rose to $1,610 (around Rs 1 lakh) a year during 2014 from $1,560 the previous year. India’s growth rate, at 7.4 per cent in 2014, makes it the fastest growing major economy along with China’s, which is a whopping $10.4 trillion in size. Despite its increase in per capita GNI, India has remained in the ‘lower middle income’ category ($1,046-$4,125). Taking a look at the World Bank’s data, India’s average annual growth rate over the last decade has been 8.9 per cent and it would become an ‘upper middle income’ country ($4,126-$12,735) in 2026, a little more than a decade from now. This will put it in the category China occupies now.
Labor law recast to make maternity leave longer THE NARENDRA Modi-led NDA government is looking to enhance maternity leave for working women from three months to six months, virtually double bonus payments to employees and make gratuity portable between jobs. These proposed changes in employment laws underscore the attempts of the government to push through ambitious reforms in labor rules that are blamed for hampering investment and job creation in the country. The changes in the Payment of Bonus Act would raise the salary limit for getting a bonus from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 19,000. Separately, the government is initiating stakeholder consultations to amend the Maternity Benefits Act of 1961 and the Payment of Gratuity Act of 1972, the official added. Currently, companies are legally required to grant 12 weeks of maternity leave to employees though several leading employers offer additional time off and other benefits.
Govt. to train 40 crore people under ‘Skill India’ initiative TO MAKE India a skilled country, the government of India has launched four initiatives as a part of which over 40 crore people will be trained in various skills by 2022. The initiatives include National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme and the Skill Loan scheme. The initiatives were launched to mark the first-ever World Youth Skills Day, where the government set a target of skilling 40.02 crore people by 2022. The PMKVY will incentivize skill training by providing financial rewards to candidates who successfully complete approved skill training programs. Over the next year, PMKVY will skill 24 lakh youth. Across India, special PMKVY mobilization camps are being organized at 100 locations with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS). A national SMS campaign is being rolled out to build awareness of the program, reaching about 40 crore subscribers. Fresh PMKVY training was also initiated in 1,000 centers across all States and Union Territories, covering 50,000 youth in 100 job roles across 25 sectors.
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
Unwed mother can be child’s guardian without dad’s consent: SC AN UNWED mother must be recognized as the legal guardian of her child and she cannot be forced to name the father, nor does she need his consent, while deciding guardianship rights, the Supreme Court has ruled, in a path breaking verdict on gender equality. A bench of Justices Vikramajit Sen and Abhay Manohar Sapre said it was necessary to protect the child from social stigma. But it was equally important to protect the unmarried mother’s fundamental right by not forcing her to disclose the name and particulars of her child’s father. The bench said the father’s consent was unnecessary as it would mean giving legal recognition to the man who had left the mother and showed no concern for his offspring’s welfare. The order, however, would not affect the child’s right to know the father’s identity.
Bad loans of PSBs swell to Rs 2.67 lakh crore: Jayant Sinha PUBLIC SECTOR banks’ bad loans has increased to Rs. 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015, from Rs. 2.16 lakh crore (March 2014). This was informed by Mr. Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, in Parliament. Gross NPA ratio of the public sector banks (PSBs) increased to 5.43 per cent at the end of March 2015 as compared to 4.72 per cent a year ago. The government, RBI and the PSBs are all concerned with timely recovery of NPAs as it affects profitability and capital adequacy of PSBs. As for recovery, during 2014-15, PSBs recovered Rs 41,236 crore as compared to Rs 33,698 crore in the previous fiscal. The recovery mechanism in the form of debt recovery tribunals (DRTs), Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), Central Registry of Securitization Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI) and Central Repository of Information of Large Credits (CRILC) are already in existence, he said. RBI further released guidelines for early recognition of financial distress, prompt steps for resolution suggesting various steps with specific timelines for implementation of corrective action, as per the minister.
No veto power for RBI governor in deciding interest rates: draft code A PANEL on rewriting of financial laws has revised its suggestions on the proposed monetary policy committee (MPC), suggesting the RBI governor shouldn’t be vested with an overriding veto power in the seven-member committee on deciding the policy rate. This is at odds with its earlier draft, which had proposed entrusting the governor with such powers in case of a conflict with the view of most members of the MPC. The revised draft on the Indian Financial Code (IFC) by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) states that decisions at a meeting of the monetary policy committee must be taken by a majority vote of the members of the committee present and voting. However, in case of a tie, the governor can cast a second vote. At least five members were required for a quorum, said the revised draft, which is available on the finance ministry’s website. The new draft also refers to a different structure of the proposed MPC. It proposes the MPC have seven members, four appointed by the government. The committee is to be chaired by the RBI governor, in line with the recommendations of the first draft. 10 I August 2015
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
Joint venture to boost renewable energy sector SOFTBANK, BHARTI Enterprises and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology recently announced the creation of a joint venture firm called SBG Cleantech to develop alternative energy plants across India. The USD 20 billion joint venture is aimed at Indian renewable energy is the latest sign of fresh investment in the sector to aggressively boost output. The move comes after India’s cabinet approved a drastic increase in capacity targets. By 2022, Modi wants solar capacity at 100 gigawatts (GW), a fivefold increase from the previous target of 20GW. That averages to around 14GW a year, more than the amount of solar power added in the U.S. and China last year. While the government has yet to explain how it plans to achieve such ambitious targets, overseas investment is expected to play an essential role. For an emerging market like India, there’s more risk and transparency issues involved so foreign investors want a partner. The government also prefers JVs so they can expand local presence. Moreover, Indian interest rates are high relative to the rest of the world so companies would rather use foreign bank loans to get low rates, Hu added.
Gearing up for the App economy INTRODUCTION OF smartphones along with deployment of 3G/4G networks has proved to be boon for society as well as government and thus country is poised to become an app economy. With 3-5 million signing up for mobile broadband and 25 million smartphone shipments every quarter, the app economy is here to stay. Witnessing the success stories as a result of mobile devices, latest KPMG report says that e-commerce (through traditional websites on PCs/laptops) will be overtaken by mobile based m-commerce very soon. It is a trend that is gaining traction with all e-tailers providing great user experience on mobile devices. In general, the mobile app market has grown significantly over the past five years. Google’s Play Store and Apple’s iStore, both boast of over 1.4 million apps. The apps market in India is likely to grow by more than four times to USD 626.23 million (around Rs 3,800 crore) by 2016, with paid apps contributing over 50 percent. Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) estimates the total worth of Indian app economy at USD 150 million currently (about Rs 900 crore), with immense potential to grow further.
Govt. plans to empanel 5 consultants for ‘Digital India’ PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi is planning to enlist five consultants to implement his ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme. The consukltants will work on technology and programme management for the initiative at the national level. To meet the growing demand for design, development, implementation and large-scale roll out of e-governance applications under Digital India/e-Kranti, NEGD intends to empanel reputed consultancy organizations to accelerate not only the identification of new areas of use of ICT but to assist in all activities related to e-governance projects,” Tender issued by the National e-Governance Division stated. The technologies that the government wants the consultancies to work on include mobile solutions, collaborative digital platforms, cloud solutions, cyber-security solutions and IT solutions for rural areas. The consultancies will also be asked to help with programme management such as preparing RFPs and templates, e-governance project monitoring, application security audit and bid process management.
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
Sidbi launches Rs 10,000-crore scheme to fund MSMEs SIDBI, AN institution aimed to aid the growth and development of MSMEs, has launched two schemes. It has constituted a Rs 1,000 crore fund for the Make-in-India campaign, while it has launched a quasi-equity scheme of Rs 10,000 crore for long-term financing. This is soft loan with an interest subvention of 2% and moratorium of 2 to 3 years. The move came after bankers and financial institutions called for a refinance package for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which contribute 17% to the GDP and form 50% of the employment. Out of the four crore MSMEs in India, about 10% close down every year for want of bank loans, unwillingness of the promoters to invest in latest technology, and inability to respond to the needs of the market. To finance the SMEs and promote the Make-in-India campaign, Sidbi has launched these schemes. It will take care of both their long- and short-term needs. But the SMEs need to make use of the credit guarantee schemes that will help them become more credit-worthy in the eyes of the creditors.
Gujarat first to make voting in local bodies polls compulsory GUJARAT BECAME the first state to make voting in local body elections compulsory. The state also announced announced the reservation of 50 per cent seats for women in municipal corporations, municipalities, and village panchayats. With the government notifying the Gujarat Local Authorities Act (Amendment) 2009, a voter in the state would now invite punitive action in case he or she fails to vote in the local body elections without any acceptable reason. The local body elections in the state are likely to be held in September and October. However, the notification has not specified what punishment would be meted out to voters who fail to exercise their franchise. An elected member of a local body or an office bearer, according to the ordinance, wound stand disqualified in the event he or she does not vote. The BJP government had to wait for five years for getting the Bill cleared from the Governor’s office. Introduced first in 2009, the Bill was cleared by the Governor only in November 2014.
NTPC, Jharkhand sign JVA for performance improvement NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION (NTPC) & Government of Jharkhand and Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) signed a Joiint Venture Agreement (JVA) for Performance Improvement and Capacity Expansion of Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS) in the presence of Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Jharkhand, CMD, NTPC, Director (Commercial), NTPC and Pr. Secretary (Energy), GoJ Managing Director, JBVNL for optimally utilizing the assets and Performance Improvement and Capacity Expansion of the Station on 29th July, 2015. 12 I August 2015
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GLOBAL WATCH
World’s first Malaria vaccine ready for use AFTER 30 years of research, the world finally has a viable vaccine ready for use to fight malaria. British pharma company GlaxoSmithKline has announced that their vaccine Mosquirix — a vaccine against the vector borne disease has been recommended to be licensed for use in babies in Africa. The vaccine aims to boost the immune system to fight the parasite, specifically to prevent the parasite from infecting the liver. The European Medicines Agency has endorsed the drug which will now need the approval of health officials in sub-Saharan Africa where the disease has traditionally affected a large number of people. The EMA says the vaccine, Mosquirix, is safe for use in children aged 6 weeks to 17 months. The vaccine will also be examined by WHO. The vaccine targets a particular type of malaria (plasmodium falciparum) which is found almost exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa. It has not been shown to be efficacious against the plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, which is predominant in Asia, including India.
US and Cuba open embassies after 50 years FIFTY YEARS after severing ties in 1961, the US and Cuba have reestablished diplomatic ties. On July 20th, the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla traveled to the Cuban Embassy in Washington to raise his country’s flag. A Cuban delegation of diplomats, artists and veterans of the revolution commemorated the breakthrough with about 500 guests. Already frayed ties between Washington and Havana snapped in 1961 when Cuban leader Fidel Castro threatened to expel American diplomats for meddling in Cuban affairs. The failed U.S.-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro’s declaration that his revolution was socialist, repeated CIA plots to assassinate Castro, and the Cuban Missile crisis punctuated the relation between the two countries that had remained frosted till the time the US president Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro showed personal intent to improve ties. After 1961, during a brief period of improved relations in the Carter administration, Cuba and the United States opened Interests Sections in their former embassies.
EU suspends generic drugs from India EUROPEAN UNION nations have been given time till August 20 to suspend the sale of some 700 generic drugs made in India. The European Commission took the action after an Indian firm contracted by drug companies to test the medications was found to have manipulated data. On-site verifications last year at GVK Biosciences showed irregularities in each and every one of the nine trials inspected, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a May report recommending the suspension. The broad scope of the problems, which stretched back years, highlighted critical deficiencies in the quality system in place at GVK Bio’s clinic in Hyderabad according to the EMA. Several European nations - including France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg - did not wait for the EU to act, blocking sales in December or earlier this year. However, a few of the medications covered by the suspension have already been reauthorized based on data from other inspection centers.
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COVER STORY
Social justice in Indian context Sensible delibration is required to ensure equality and justice for all
The fight for reservation has become a proxy for struggle for social justice
Ramesh Kumar Raja SOCIAL JUSTICE is ideally justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. Here, the justice assigns rights and duties in the institutions of society, which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation. The pertinent entitlements can include education, healthcare, social security, labour rights, as well as a broader system of public services, progressive taxation and regulation of markets, etc. which are needed to ensure fair distribution of wealth, equal opportunity, equality of outcome, in short a just society. 14 I August 2015
The concept of social justice, thus has a specific, tangible and dynamic content with an inherent potency to bring about equality in a society of unequals. Fortunately or unfortunately, the definition of social justice seems to have changed colloquially. It is now identified solely with ‘reservation’ in India which incidentally has become a political necessity as well. No political party can afford to initiate any debate on the relevance of reservation policy; leave aside revising the policy. Although the judiciary, in such a scenario, has often been forced to take up a stand against the politicisation of reservations, the caste-based reservation policy is a sensitive issue and there
are arguments on the both sides. The reservation as a socio political tool and concept is not new in the Indian society. It has been creating ripples ever since the pre-independence days. The Britishers for their colonies initially used this concept in the name of welfare purposes but the main aim behind this was to control the power by dividing the individuals for the personal interest i.e. the policy of “Divide and Rule.” By the Government of India Act 1909 and 1919, the British Empire allotted some reservation or quota for Muslims and other minority classes in the administration according to the proportion of their population. www.governancetoday.co.in
Also India was a country with a very rigid caste based hierarchal structure where the higher casts enjoyed most of the benefits while the lower casts were looked down upon. The majority of the population was backward socially, economically, educationally, and politically. The backward classes were classified as the Scheduled castes (SC), Scheduled tribes (ST), and other backward classes. When India became an independent nation, the framers of the Constitution took upon themselves the duty of forwarding interests of the backward classes by having Article 46 in the Constitution. Article 46 stated that the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interest of the weaker section of the people, also protecting them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Article 46 was complimented by the inclusion of many other articles for the empowerment of the backward classes. Since they were the oppressed classes this was thought to be the best mechanism to correct the mistake that was being practiced for many hundreds of years. But the implementation of reservation or quota system was not carried out smoothly. The Congress government headed by the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru felt unable to implement the policies of Planning Commission whose one of the objectives at that time (1951-56) was raising the standard of living of people especially those belonging to backward classes because these policies to some extent infringes upon the fundamental rights provided under Article 14, 15, 16, 21 etc. In State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan, a seven Judge Bench of the Supreme Court struck down the classification for allotting seats in the State medical colleges as being based on caste, race and religion for the purpose of admission to educational institutions on the ground that Art. 15 did not contain a clause such as Art 16(4). To overcome this decision, by the 1st Amendment in 1951, the legislature added Clause 4 in Art. 15. Clause 4 says that the state is not prevented from making any special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally www.governancetoday.co.in
Opponents say reservation is akin to reverse discrimination
backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Through this provision, the legislature overcame the judicial decision and made reservation or quota for the backward classes. The reservation was initially provided for the period of 10 years which was later extended from time to time. Till 1980, the reservation was generally provided to SCs and STs. After the Mandal Commission report on reservation, the provision reservation was granted to Other Backward Classes too in jobs as well as in the higher education which has now gone up. The report was implemented in 1990 amid a great deal of controversy; the Mandal Commission was one of the prominent reasons that led to the downfall of the V.P Singh government. Although the reservation policy is an exception to the equality rule, it is still considered an essential element of equality. Equality has many dimensions and one such dimension is the reservation policy for the backward classes. But gradually, there has been bipolarity building up on the issue of reservation which is surely and steadily partitioning the society. The forward class people are feeling pressed and are desperate at the emerging scenario when pie is fast shrinking for them. Nearly half of all government jobs are out of their reach because of the method of social justice adopted by the government. But even after nearly 70 years of independence the
people still are having to fall back on reservation, and that shows the success or otherwise, of governments in delivering social justice.
Reasonable Solutions It may be noted that every individual is like a building – if its foundation is feeble it is unavoidable that the entire structure will collapse. The fundamentals for a successful career is deeply rooted in the primary education the individual receives, as it is this education that will help him attain higher levels of education. So to become a skyscraper one has to start from the bottom. The emphasis should thus be on maximizing the educational infrastructure, more fund allocation and that of reforming the entire teaching and learning process and refurbishing the outdated administrative apparatus that hampers more than it serves. It is not that the backward castes have not progressed but the percentage is less because those who have already availed reservation and progressed keep getting it again. This results in the formation of the creamy layer. So, instead of having a reservation policy the emphasis of the government should be on building good schools so that the poor have an opportunity to study. A person must be given the basic necessities of life – nutrition, clothing, shelter, medical facilities etc. These must be provided at nominal rates through fair price shops catering specifically to the economically August 2015 I
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backward of this country. Benefits, if provided, should be restricted per family to a maximum of two children irrespective of the number of children in a family. This will help in spreading the benefits to a larger number of families. Equality of opportunities could also be achieved where reservation can be extended to one generation only. Offsprings of a family that has availed it once should not be allowed to avail it again. This would make it possible to do away with reservations in a phased manner. The Supreme Court’s observation in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India [12] on the exclusion of creamy layer from the benefits of reservation is crucial if the benefits of reservation are to reach more people. Also, once the given reserved category individual is self-sufficient then transfer him from that category and include him in the general category. Eventually, his coming generations will be termed as general category and this process will result in lessening of the reserved category individuals. Besides, a
review committee should be constituted under a governmental authority which submits an annual report at the end of the year reviewing the execution of allocation of funds at the primary and secondary levels of education.
date (maybe within 10 to 15 years) when the whole setup is brought down. This will not only encourage reserved category people to stand on their own but also go a long way in increasing its suitability for all sections of the society.
It’s worth noting that the source of the problem simply not lies in the segregation of the categories but also in the ever increasing rural and urban divide. In rural India, the suffering of a general category individual is similar to the reserved category persons.
As discussed, there is a requirement of departure from the present “groupcentric” affirmative action to “individual-centric” benefits. At present, benefits are being extended to a “class” (correctly described as “caste”) which has resulted in formation of unholy “caste-based” lobbies and political factions which is not in the interest of the country. At the outset, this groupism has to be disbanded and therefore emphasis on extension of benefits has to shift from “the conditions that a group satisfies” to the conditions that “an individual satisfies” for claiming benefits of state protection. Thus the state thereafter has to lay down secular conditions which apply to all individual irrespective of their caste, religion, sex, place of birth etc. The individuals satisfying these conditions would thereafter be collectively called the “Backward Classes” to muster the constitutional mandate.
So, the solution lies in bridging the gap between rural and urban India which can be done in concentrating on the rural setup and providing them all the basic facilities. This way the concentration of power in few hands can be reduced and sustenance can be provided to the disadvantaged section i.e. the rural society. Furthermore, there should be a time limit for eliminating all kinds of reservation benefits provided to SC/ST and OBCs. The government must determine a final
One must take into account that reservation is for the upliftment of the disadvantaged and continuing it for the lifetime of the nation is not good. People for whom this is meant should recognise the effort the government is putting in for their upliftment and use this opportunity to bring themselves to the mainstream of Indian society. They should understand that reservation is not a good thing to happen for the society as it is an indication of social inequality and social injustice which do exist in our social setup. There is a need to slowly end this and bring to our country a society that is free from inequality, injustice and any form of preferential treatment. But to make this happen, people who fall in the category to be benefited from reservation should come forward and utilize this opportunity to rise and help themselves and the society as a whole to acquire a socially forward, equal and just status. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in Instead of having a reservation policy, the emphesis should be on building good schools so that the poor have an opportunity to study 16 I August 2015
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COVER STORY
Time for recalibration There is need for more nuanced approach towards reservation in govt. jobs and educational institutions
The effectivness of the reservation policy is under scrutiny
Praveen Raman MUCH WATER has flown down the bridges since the reservation policy in the government jobs and educational institutions was institutionalized through the Constitution. Our polity is over 65 years old now, but the battle for the emancipation of the certain communities which began at the turn of 20th century when India was under British rule, has continued. But how much difference has the reservation policy has made to the overwhelming majority of these oppressed communities is a matter of discussion which has not received much attention. The communities, kept at low in the Varna system hierarchy, were aloof to www.governancetoday.co.in
the economic and social status for over centuries. They had limited of no access to education till the British introduced English as medium of instruction in education and opened doors for the every sections of the society. Even after this, the untouchable’s movements remained a purely social movement until B R Ambedkar entered the arena and elevated the issue to the level of political reforms in India. Ambedkar viewed the problems of the depressed class from political point of view. He thought, the problems of the depressed class was “eminently political and must be treated as such”. This unique approach led him to think that, “the problem of the depressed
class will never be solved unless they get political power in their own hands”. Therefore, he demanded separate electorate for the depressed class in the year 1919, which marked the dawn of an era of emergence for the downtrodden communities. Much later, when the making of the Constitution began, the political leadership was clear to make special provisions to safeguard the interests of the depressed class. ‘The objectives of the resolution’ moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on 13th December 1946 said that the adequate safeguard shall be provided for minorities; backward and tribal areas and depressed and other backward classed. August 2015 I
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Objectives of Reservation: The primary objective of reservation was upliftment of the lower strata of society, ensuring proper political representation of minority groups and ensure that minorities are not discriminated in job selections and promotions. The Constitution today grants special powers to states to make provisions for ‘socially and educationally backward communities’. It is reasonably believed that the safeguard provided under the Article 15(4) and Article 16(4) are the Fundamental Rights of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution as such they are mandatory, inviolable and irrevocable. The reservation policy in India has gone many changes after Independence in favor of the SCs, STs and OBCs. The most prominent, the Mandal Commission which was established to assess the situation of the socially and educationally backward classes. The commission classified 1,257 communities as backward and recommended changes to increase the then existing quota 22 per cent to 59 per cent. As of now, castebased reservation system is kept at: SC15 per cent, ST- 7 per cent and OBC 22 per cent. The issue of reservation has been much debated in the political and social arenas. While the policy has undoubtedly benefitted the depressed class, it has, at the same time, fallen short of the desired result after 68 years of Independence. Experts believe that the policy has served a miniscule population and instead of giving reservation, the governments and ministers should on basic issues of improving administration and governance along with strengthening the education system for backward sections. Even if the government provides reservation, the backward section will not benefit from because they are not in a condition to avail it. For example, the present reservation system in educational institutions can benefit only those who can afford cost of education till higher class. And as is well known, while the dropout rate is very high in rural areas for all sections of society, it is much higher among the 18 I August 2015
SC & ST students. A major chunk of students remain trapped in the vicious cycle poverty and illiteracy. Leave aside jobs, they cannot complete their formal education even. Obviously therefore, they are not covered by the present reservation policy. In a case A Balaji v/s State of Mysore (AIR 1963 SC649), it was held that ‘caste of a person cannot be the sole criteria for ascertaining whether a particular the caste is backward or not. Poverty, occupation, place of habitation may all be relevant factors to be taken into consideration before deciding backwardness of a caste. The court further held that it does not mean that if once a caste is considered to be backward it will continue to be backward for all other times. The government should review the test and if a class reaches the state of progress where reservation is not necessary it should delete that class from the list of backward classes.’ However, there has been only addition in the list of backward list. The government lack a module to study the economic and social wellbeing of a community availing over a period of time. Going back to the economic status debate, the government will find it easier to identify the backward communities if their financial status is kept as a determinant. While social stigma attached to any community will never end till our society is prepared to abolish it, but the government can adjust the policy approach by incorporating financial status as one of the determinants so that the outcomes of the welfare policy can be measured. What is surprising is that our constitution clearly is a reservationfriendly constitution but nowhere in the constitution is the term ‘backward classes defined. What actually constitutes a backward class? What are the determinants of a backward class? These questions remain unanswered and it is only with the help of judicial pronouncements that they have been given some meaning. Question arises how can reservations be made for something that has not been defined? If a student applies for an admission in any university, the admissions forms are filled with questions like ‘Are you
SC/ST or OBC or General Category?’ How does it matter which category does he belong to, what matters is his merit. A category cannot decide whether he is eligible for admission or not. There many economically worse off children belonging to the forward classes but they cannot get the fruits of such reservation merely by virtue of belonging to the ‘general’ category. On the other hand, children belonging to the backward classes who do not possess the necessary merit still manage to get a seat because they come from a particular caste for which our government provides reservation. Such warped system not only decreases the quality of system, but also results in reverse discrimination which means that injustice has been meted out to a group in order to provide justice to another group. Furthermore, reservation is only a small part of assistance the backward communities need today. Since a large population belonging to SC & ST communities lives in villages, the social taboo stops them to avail benefits of the welfare schemes of the government. When the policy was envisaged, the population of the SC and ST were kept in mind and reservation was given its basis. As per latest census, their composition has increased. The policy need to cover the increase in population also. What is important to realize is that social and economic upliftment is not a function of how many jobs are reserved for people belonging to a caste. The upliftment comes when an entire community is empowered to benefit from the available opportunities. What socially and economically backward communities actually need is quality schools and hospitals free of cost so that the children of these communities can have best quality education and healthcare. Then they would be smart enough to fight for their right instead of looking for doles from government. When people from backward communities are educated and healthy, nothing would be able to stop them from claiming their worthy position in society. Only then the dream of a truly egalitarian society could be realized. praveen@governancetoday.co.in
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EXPERIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE US What is affirmative action? Affirm ative action is a way of making the workplace more representative and fair. It makes sure that qualified people from designated groups have equal opportunities in the workplace. It makes sure that qualified designated groups (in the US and South Africa, black people, women and people with disabilities) have equal opportunities to get a job. They must also be equally represented in all job categories and levels of the workplace. The affirmative action envisages that an employer must create an action plan which makes sure it has the right proportion of designated people - black, colored, female and disabled people, working in all levels of the organization. This includes the very top levels of management.
Affirmative action in South Africa In South Africa, affirmative action has been provided through The Employment Equality Act which applies to all employers and workers and protects workers and job seekers from unfair discrimination, and also provides a framework for implementing affirmative action. Through this act, the employers are required to make changes to ensure designated www.governancetoday.co.in
groups have equal chances, ensure equal representation of designated groups in all job categories and levels in the workplace, and retain and develop designated groups. Under the Act, employers must draw up a plan to address equity imbalances. Thus, the affirmative action focuses on combating structural racism and racial inequality so as to elevate the status of the perpetual underclass and to restore equal access to the benefits of society.
Affirmative action in the US The concept of affirmative action was introduced in 1961 through an executive order which ordered that federally funded projects “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.� The affirmative action in the US has been devised as a tool to combat racial discrimination in the hiring process as it is considered reverse discrimination. However, there is no racial quotas in the US either at workplace or in education. While there is no single list of policies on affirmative treatment, various court judgments have refined how affirmative action should be interpreted and used. August 2015 I
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COVER STORY
Needle in haystack Social security of India has failed to reach who needed it most
Workers in the unorganized sector have virtually no social security cover and they live under poor conditions
Ritika Bisht SOCIAL SECURITY DEFINES as monetary assistance from the state for people with an inadequate or no income. Sounds pretty simple to understand but when taken in Indian context, the concept gets lost halfway through. The concept of social security was first introduced by US President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 that changed the course of American economy. Social 20 I August 2015
security encouraged Americans to innovate and take entrepreneurial risk that resulted in technology boom and thus excelling its economic powers over the decades. Also, during the crisis, social protection systems in many countries have played an important role as stabilizers to sustain the impact of the economic downturn. Upon witnessing India’s growth story in last two decades, one thing that attracts attention is that even after
rising insecurities there is a divide over whether the gain should be used to ensure social security for all. Social security is supposed to provide financial protection to everyone against vulnerability and deprivation but in India people see it as something linked to job benefit that is provided by the employer. In the Indian Constitution, Article 41 of Directive Principles asks every state to, “within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make www.governancetoday.co.in
effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.” Then Article 42 directs states to make provisions for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity benefits. However, directives mentioned in the Indian Constitution do not appear to hold any significance as India is yet to recognize a national minimum social security cover.
Agony of Unorganized Sector India’s social security schemes cover social insurances namely, pension, health insurance and medical, maternity, gratuity and disability. Where organized sector is already covered through social security legislations (like the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948), the unorganized sector, due to its scattered nature of establishment, could not get the support of Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act. Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act, on its part, formulated especially for unorganized sector fails to provide the necessary benefit also becasue this sector is marred by seasonal and temporary nature of occupations, lack of labor law coverage, labor mobility and lack of organizational support. In 2004, the UPA government appointed the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) to survey the livelihood conditions and social security of those working under organized and unorganized sectors. NCEUS found that while only formal sector reaped the benefits of social security, the sector made up for only eight percent of country’s total workforce. And the remaining that does not have access to social security benefits, make up for over 91 percent of workforce. According to NCEUS findings, 79 percent of workers in the unorganized sector make less than Rs. 20 a day. Following research, NCEUS proposed legislation for a national security package for workers in unorganized sector. This package covered social insurance, health www.governancetoday.co.in
cover, social assistance for life, old age benefits to all workers for a period of five years which could have been financed by the central and state governments, employers and workers at a cost of less than 0.5 percent of GDP after five years. However, UPA rejected this proposal and instead suggested setting up for National and State Social Security Advisory Boards but only 14 states followed it. The fragmented structure and the lack of coordination among the different Ministries running the scheme led to chaos and workers from unorganized sector are still paying the price. As mentioned before, the introduction of successful social security schemes proved to be instrumental in elevating the US economy. The same is possible for India as well if Prime Minister Modi can widen the scope of social security benefits to unorganized sector and bring them at par with organized sector.
Social Security around the Globe World Social Protection Report, 2014, has mentioned that social security has played a key role in responding effectively to the global crisis. Social protection policies foster both economic and social development in the short and the long term. People enjoying income security and effective access to other social services are automatically empowered to take advantage of economic opportunities. Thus, social security is a key element to promote human development, political stability and inclusive growth. Although the need for social protection is widely recognized, the concept of social security remains unfulfilled for the large majority of the world’s population. Only 27 per cent of the global population has access to comprehensive social security systems, whereas 73 per cent are covered partially or not at all. According to a national daily, India spends mere 1.4 percent of its GDP on social protection, among the lowest in Asia, far lower than China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and even Nepal. As per Asian Development Bank report 2013, in East Asia, Republic of South
Korea spends 5 percent of its GDP on social protection, which is highest in the region. Taking example of Europe, the biggest spender on welfare in the developed world is France, at 33 per cent of GDP, according to The Telegraph. It is followed by Denmark, Belgium and Finland (30 per cent), Sweden, Italy and Austria (28 per cent) and Spain (27 per cent). These countries, with effective social security measures, have witnessed positive results during time of recession and slow growth. India needs to bring social protection measures that are available to all communities to counter persistent levels of poverty and economic insecurity. Social protection measures are essential elements of a policy response that can address those challenges.
An Attempt to Bring Change In May 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced three national social security schemes. From age 18 to 40, anyone can apply for these new schemes but they were especially introduced for economically weaker sections. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana will offer Rs 2 lakh cover at Rs 330 premium every year. Bank account holders in the age 18 to 50 years are eligible to take this facility. The life risk cover will get terminated after 55 years. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, will offer a renewable one year accidental death cum disability cover of Rs 2 lakh at Rs 12 premium every year. The insured will get Rs 1 lakh in case of partial permanent disability. Atal Pension Yojana is for the people in the unorganized sector who are outside a formal pension net. These new schemes were introduced by Prime Minister as around 80 percent of the country’s population is still outside the insurance coverage and only 11 percent of the working population is under pension net. Bank account holders can apply for the schemes via any one of the saving accounts. For this, the government has directed banks to sell new policies by maximum 31st August, 2015. The government will co-contribute August 2015 I
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Total public social expenditure and health expenditure as a per cent of GDP
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50 per cent of total contribution or Rs 1,000 per annum whichever is lower, for the first five years. Subscribers without any social security and who don’ pay income tax will get this added benefit. In order to avail the government contribution, people will have to enroll themselves before December 31, 2015. Subscriber will get guaranteed minimum pension from the age of 60. The pension per month could be any amount depending on the contribution. Although, bringing these news schemes by Prime Minister is a positive attempt to get every citizen of this nation under the social security net but how successful and effective they really are on ground level is yet to be seen. Absence of social security and financial necessity still keep almost 50 per cent of workers stuck in the agricultural sector. A robust social safety net is required that is available for every single citizen that can encourage them to migrate towards urban areas and pursue higher education and knowledge-based jobs in order to boost human capital and productivity. However, the current share of GDP contributed towards social security stands nowhere and fails to assist those who need it the most. Thus, government has to refine its current policies if it has to achieve inclusive growth through better social security mechanisms. ritika@governancetoday.co.in
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GOVT POLICY
Now for the hard part Digital India would take more than a set of policies to succeed
The Union government has realised that a lot more thrust is required to ensure e-Governance in the country to promote growth
Praveen Raman GOVERNMENTS USE many administrative tools to ensure that the benefits of the various social schemes reach to the people with minimum lapse of time. Conventionally, it is the government workforce who deliver services and benefits of various welfare schemes to the millions of people living in both urban and rural areas. Serving a big population, like India, is a challenge in which information technology can prove to be a medium to deliver services in prompt and reliable manner. It is in this way the idea of e-Governance emerged as an alternate service and information delivery mechanism. Electronic governance or e-Governance is the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services, www.governancetoday.co.in
exchange of information, communication of transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and services between government-to-customer (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G) as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire government framework. The journey of e-Governance initiatives in India began in mid-90s for wider IT sector applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services. Later on, many States/UTs started various eGovernance projects. In 2006, central government launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Within this broad umbrella, 31 Mission Mode Projects covering various domains were initiated. Despite the successful implementation of many e-Governance projects across the country, e-Governance as a whole has not been able to make the desired
impact and fulfil all its objectives.
Hand held devices are expected to play a big role in information dissemination Of late, the government realized that a lot more thrust is required to ensure e-Governance in the country to promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices and job opportunities. In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology, the government has launched the Digital India program with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The scheme is an initiative to integrate the government departments and the people with an aim to ensure the government services are made available August 2015 I
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to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The initiative includes plan to connect rural areas with high-speed Internet networks. The scheme not only works to ensure that government services are available to all citizens electronically, but also focuses on bringing in public accountability through mandated delivery of services electronically. Thus in a manner of speaking, Digital India is a broader version of the e-Governance programs that were running till now. The umbrella program of the government comprises various projects worth about Rs 1 lakh crore to transform the country into a knowledge economy. The government hopes to complete the project by 2019. A two-way platform will be created where both the service providers and the consumers stand to benefit. The scheme will be monitored and controlled by the Digital India Advisory Group which will be chaired by the Ministry of Communications and IT. It will be an inter-ministerial initiative where all ministries and departments shall offer their own services to the public Healthcare, Education, Judicial services etc. The Public-private-partnership model shall be adopted selectively. In addition, there are plans to restructure the National Informatics Centre. This project is one among the top priority projects of the Modi administration. Digital India has three core components, namely creation of digital infrastructure, delivering services digitally and improving digital literacy. For digital infrastructure, the government will make high-speed Internet available at all Gram Panchayat level. While the modus operandi of it is still not clear, the government will have to mobilize a large resource for it given that the Internet penetration is very low in India. Another focus area is to provide digital identity to an individual that should be unique, lifelong, online and authentic. For this, the government will have to make easy access to Common Service Centre. For the security of this infrastructure, the government will also have to come out with a distinct cyber-security mechanism and legal framework for the same. In line with the vision, the government has already upped the ante on IT spending,
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both on hardware and software. A portal (mygov.nic.in) has been launched and approximately 6 lakh kms of fibre has been laid to create the digital highway.
Success would depend on progress on digital literacy front The project is also highly employment generating. Over five crore jobs are expected to be created once it is complete. “IT gives employment to about 30 lakh people. Once Digital India becomes a reality, we can give jobs to five crore plus people,” Union Minister for IT Ravishankar Prasad said recently. “Once BPOs start opening up in mofussil towns, there will be (requirement of) computer training for which computer centres will come up that too will create jobs. We are running ambitious program of Make-in-India which will have to be supplemented with skilled India. These all will create jobs,” Prasad further added. To deliver citizen services electronically and improve the way citizens and authorities transact with each other, it is imperative to have ubiquitous connectivity. This is why the government has included ‘broadband highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India. But
while connectivity is one criterion, creating institutional and policy structures to facilitate delivery of services to citizens is also critical and for this, some initial works have been done by the government. Initiatives such as e-Kranti framework of DeitY, Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for the GoI, Framework for Adoption of Open Source Software in e-Governance Systems, Policy on Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for GOI, Policy on Collaborative Application Development by Opening the Source Code of Government Applications, Application Development & Re-Engineering Guidelines for Cloud Ready Applications are examples of such institutional framework that are being put to make Digital India a reality. However, the process would not be easy by any means. Besides technical impediments, bureaucratic and administrative lethargy and lack of competence could also throw spanner in the initiative. The first big challenge is the physical infrastructure this project will require. In India, over 40 crore people have no access to electricity. This is the biggest hurdle towards digitally empowered
DIGITAL INDIA PROJECT Digital Locker System aims to minimize the usage of physical documents and enable sharing of e-documents across agencies. The sharing of the e-documents will be done through registered repositories thereby ensuring the authenticity of the documents online. MyGov.in has been implemented as a platform for citizen engagement in governance, through a “Discuss”, “Do” and “Disseminate” approach. The mobile App for MyGov would bring these features to users on a mobile phone. Digital India e-services Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app would be used by people and Government organizations for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission. eSign framework would allow citizens to digitally sign a document online using Aadhaar authentication. The Online Registration System (ORS) under the e-Hospital application has been introduced. This application provides important services such as online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnostic reports, enquiring availability of blood online etc.
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The road to ‘Digital India’ would not be easy by any means. The government may face technical and bureaucratic impediments
society. Secondly, there is a scarcity of spectrum through which the project will take place. As the number of mobile users will increase, more spectrums will be needed. But the speed of Internet is a big and bothersome issue here. While world has gradually moved to 4G, India still totters waiting for its screen to open the page, fat claims of 3G speeds notwithstanding. Around 10 cr net users have broadband connections in India. With National Optic Fiber program running late, it is difficult to procure 20 mbps download speed to Internet users. To be honest, most of the features of the program have any meaning only to high-end Internet consumers and not to the 70 per cent of the rural population in India. But this is not the only problem. Even if Internet reaches the rural India and there is electricity www.governancetoday.co.in
to have the computer running, a large majority still may remain in dark, for they cannot either read and understand, or operate the computer. Improving IT literacy is tougher than laying fiber optic network and will pose a big challenge for the government. This is very important because the entire mass who is using Internet should know how to secure his/ her online data. Another dimension is to create content in a language in which user can comprehend it. It is easier said than done in a counter or over couple dozen languages.
This has financial as well as national security dimensions.
Another issue is that of data security. With increased online interaction between government and citizenry, all the personal details would be prone to hacking if the data security is not fool proof. Details such as bank details, Income tax details, PAN details could be the most sought after by rogue elements.
Without doubt, through the program, the government has raised people’s expectations in terms of getting services, it will be worth watching how does it perform actually in future.
Next, there will be a large number of people required to run the Digital India program. Already, there is lack of trained manpower and as such, a huge investment would be required to churn out adequately trained manpower. Our Telecom Minister only alluded one side of the scenario, which is employment that could be generated from the Digital India program, but the challenge of create such a large workforce is a daunting one indeed.
praveen@governancetoday.co.in
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DIPLOMACY
Iran nuclear deal India could emerge a big winner if it plays its cards well the availability of the fissile material.
Iranians celebrate in hope of better times after the nuclear deal
Anand Mishra AFTER NEARLY two years of intense negotiations that sometimes got derailed on intricate issues, Iran and P5+1 (permanent member of the UN Security Council plus Germany) struck an agreement in July that aims to end the sanction that the West has imposed on Iran, in exchange for verifiable restrictions on the Islamic nation’s nuclear program. Iran is widely assumed to have been building nuclear weapons, a charge that it has vehemently refuted. Experts believe that the agreement pushes the nuclear program of Iran back by at least a decade. While the deal has received praise and support from most countries and stakeholders in the world, some have opposed the deal, saying that it rewards Iran for its irresponsible behavior and that the deal may embolden it to play an even more adventurous role in the Middle East. For India, the deal presents significant opportunities to pursue its interests. The negotiation started in 2013 after Iranians elected Hassan Rouhani as president. In contrast to Ahmadinejad, 26 I August 2015
The urgency with the deal was pursued in Vienna showed the stakes were high for all involved. The deal has been very high on the agenda of the US president Obama. As he enters the final year of his presidency, he wanted to have a significant success in the Middle East which has broadly been his failure. Also, there was a general opinion building in the western block that the longer a deal was pushed in time, the greater was a chance of Iran hardening its position. Surveys showed that even though western sanctions had made life tougher for average Iranian, the government was still popular and the majority of people agreed with the government’s stance on the negotiation table. Another reason for a sense of urgency among P5+1 was that unlike American businesses, Russian and Chinese businesses were suffering because of the sanctions as they have heavy exposure in the Iranian energy sector, either as investors or customers. As for Iran, the stakes were equally high and urgent. The western imposed sanctions were eating away on its economy very hard. Secondly, it was not willing to have nuclear imbroglio continue which could have impacted its larger interests in the Middle East.
Rouhani has a moderate image which suited the negotiations. In April, Iran and P5+1 announced a “framework” deal, which spoke of the broad features of an impending agreement. The present deal works fleshes out the details of the deal. Most arms experts believe that the deal is favorable to the American position and credibly restricts the Iranian nuclear program in such a way that would be hard to cheat, thus limiting the possibility that the fissile material could be diverted by Tehran to build weapons. The deal also allows for a thawing While the deal has been received of the icy relationship between the US well in the western world, it has evoked and Iran; both have been at loggerheads since the 1979 revolution which overthrew the US supported the Shah and installed the Khomeini led Islamist regime. On the other hand, there is widespread belief that the deal leaves the Iranian nuclear techno engineering complex in a shape which can be used for any technical improvement and when the enrichment part of the deal lapses, Iran’s capability to assemble a device India can used Chabahar port to counter balance china in the central area would be dependent only on www.governancetoday.co.in
bitter response in the Middle East. Key American allies in the Arab world, most notably Saudi Arabia, have criticized the deal on the ground that the deal legitimizes the irresponsible nuclear behavior of Iran on the one hand and on the other, does nothing to limit its increasing footprint in the geopolitics of the Middle East. There is rising fear in the Arab world that the Shiite Iranian regime is becoming a regional hegemon. It is an important player in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen either as an interested player in its own right or through its proxies. The bitterest criticism has, however, come from Israel, according to which the agreement rewards Iran’s rogue nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Netahyahu denounced the deal as “mistake of historic proportions” and said that with the agreement, “Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons.” He even tried to block the deal by trying to impress upon the US Congress to not allow the deal go through. Resultantly, for Obama, the Congress has now become the toughest hurdle to pass for the agreement. For India, the agreement has profound implications, both economically and strategically. On the economic front, the biggest impact could be felt on the oil import bill as global crude prices may fall with Iranians pumping oil at fullest. Secondly, the Indian companies having exposure in Iranian oil business such as ONGC could see business improving. It could also mean more Indian companies entering the Iranian market. On the flip side, India would have to pay for oil imports from Iran in Dollars instead of Rupees which was the case during the sanctions. But more crucial is the politico strategic advantages that India could harness by greater cooperation with Iran. A normal and more internationally integrated Iran could be beneficial for India in two crucial ways. First, as US plans a pullout from Afghanistan, India could cooperate with Iran, which is equally disturbed by the Taliban. Together, they can better counter the Pakistan’s influence in the country it exerts through the Taliban. Secondly, India’s investment in Chabahar port in Iran, just about 50 miles west of Gwadar port in Pakistan could be a route for greater economic www.governancetoday.co.in
FINER POINTS Iranian commitments Iran will cut down the number of uranium centrifuges from 19,000 to 5,060, and maintain this level for 10 years Natanz will be the only facility for all enrichment. Fordo enrichment facility will retain an additional 1,044 centrifuges but not for uranium enrichment Iran’s current stockpile of low-enriched uranium, currently estimated at several tons, will be reduced to 300 kilograms and not allowed to increase for 15 years. Only enrichment to low purities is allowed There will be limitations on specific research and development (R&D) activities which would not be allowed to accumulate enriched uranium Arak reactor will be redesigned so that it does not produce weaponsgrade plutonium Iran will apply the Additional Protocol, allowing for closer inspections, including potentially of military bases The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will employ hightech surveillance equipment and have access to facilities such as uranium mines and centrifuge workshops for periods of up to 25 years.
In return A UN Security Council resolution will endorse the deal and terminate all provisions of previous resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue simultaneous with the IAEA verifying Iran has implemented its commitments The US and EU will waive off nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iranian oil exports, Iran’s financial system and other areas Restrictions on arms sales can be lifted after five years or once the IAEA “broadly concludes” that all Iranian nuclear activities are peaceful. For ballistic missiles the time period for lifting sanction is eight years A Joint Commission will be created comprising the six powers, the European Union and Iran to handle any problems, with a majority vote needed to decide whether there has been a violation cooperation between India and Central Asian republics as well as Afghanistan. Recently, India has invested significant political capital in this resource rich region, which China has been eying too for securing cheap oil and gas. Thus, a greater cooperation with Iran could help India better play out Pakistan and China in this crucial region. In short, if India manages to play its cards well, it can emerge as a big winner in the aftermath of the Iran nuclear agreement. It surely would require India
to balance its relation with Saudi Arabia and Israel, both of which are very important for India. While Saudi Arabia is one of India’s largest oil suppliers, Israel has emerged as one of India’s topmost military hardware supplier and tech partners in recent years. The present government has assiduously furthered India’s interests overseas. Hopefully, it would not let the opportunity for greater cooperation with Iran pass. anand@governancetoday.co.in
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INTERVIEW THE ECONOMIC development of a country is incomplete without the sustainable development, as it’s a process for meeting human development goals while maintaining the ability of nature to continue to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depend. Indian economy is definitely no exception where besides government, some social enterprises are playing a pivotal role in bringing the issue of sustainability on agenda. Development Alternatives is one such social enterprise, in fact the world’s first ones, which is dedicated to sustainable development via research and action, and strives to deliver socially equitable, environmentally sound and economically scalable development outcomes. DA’s green technology innovations for habitat, water, energy and waste management, which deliver basic needs and generate sustainable livelihoods, have reduced poverty and rejuvenated natural ecosystems in some of the most backward regions of the country. To discuss the importance of sustainability in India, RAMESH KUMAR RAJA talked to DR ASHOK KHOSLA, founder chairman of Development Alternatives and a globally renowned leader in the field of sustainable development. A Cambridge graduate and Harvard doctorate, Dr Khosla has been on the board of various global environmental organizations - including the Club of Rome, the World Conservation Union and the International Institute for Sustainable Development. He has also served as an adviser to, among others, the World Bank, the UNDP and the Government of India. A former director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), he was awarded the 2002 Sasakawa Environment Prize - “the Nobel Prize of the environment world” - and has been named in the UNEP’s Global 500 Roll of Honour. Edited excerpts:
How do you look at the scenario of sustainable development in India? The quality of lives of those who will inherit the Earth from us will critically depend on the shape and condition in which the present 28 I August 2015
COLLECTIVE WILL OF THE NATION MUST TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT generation would leave the planet. The incredible progress made by humanity over the past two centuries has provided each one of us with opportunities that even kings or emperors could not have dreamt of earlier. More of us live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives than any society in history. But the costs of getting these benefits are now becoming visible and we know that today’s civilization is headed for serious trouble on many fronts: massive unemployment and extreme poverty for half the world, major breakdowns in environmental processes and resource productivity, and catastrophic failures in our economies. What applies to the world as a whole applies to India in starker term. Our country is still home to some 190 million under-nourished people, a quarter of all undernourished
population in the world. The numbers of Indians without toilets, electricity or other basic amenities are much larger, in some case approaching 800 million. Should this continue to be the trend? Not only will there be a collapse of the social and economic systems that make our livelihoods possible, but also of the ecosystem processes that sustain us. Sustainable development requires us to go well beyond the indicators that fill the headlines of our media. GDP growth, FDI, Sensex and other measures that reflect basically how many rich people we have. But how many enterprises, jobs and homes we have created to satisfy the needs of those very large numbers of our fellow citizens who have been left out of the mainstream economy? Environmental systems are the basis of our socio-economic systems. These www.governancetoday.co.in
form the assets provided by nature to enable us to develop our economic and social systems. Natural systems have their own regenerative capacity but the fact that India is already consuming resources at 70 per cent above its bio-capacity means that we have very little time to reorient our lifestyles and development objectives. Clearly, this dismal scenario of our environmental, social and economic systems should serve as a caution to our governments and our people that we now need immediate rational action for preventing further damage.
Has the concept anything to do with class, caste and religion of the country? Sustainability is not simply an environmental issue but also a social and economic one. Caste, class and religion belong to the social dimensions of development. Since the social implications also have profound impact on the economic realities, they determine how fair and socially just a society is. To the extent that caste, class and religion are allowed to stratify and fragment society, no nation can hope to achieve or sustain real prosperity for long. Sustainable development is not just about inclusiveness but it also requires environmental harmony. So, the role played by religious and societal institutions in encouraging citizens to adopt lifestyles that minimize waste and resource consumption and encourage non-material ways of achieving life goals is very important.
What holds India back in achieving the goal of sustainable development? It is the mindset that makes the change or stops it. There are around 300 million people in the country who belong to the middle class. This middle class is able to meet its basic needs, many are doing substantially better than that. But this class is yet to devise a definite sense of purpose. This section of the society will likely define India’s development paradigm. India must not get satisfied with “pockets of prosperity” in small parts of the country and large swathes of poverty. Political will, finance,
capacities and governance support the development, but the driver of all shall be the collective will of the nation.
What can be done to fill the lacuna? Measures that improve people’s standard of living, such as opportunities for employment and growth, labour rights, food security, health, education etc. Rising living standards make people less prone to committing crimes. Further it nurtures creativity, optimum use of the potential of an individual and breeds prosperity for all Economic policies that value ecosystem services and do not regard them as an externality. Economic systems that are inclusive, green and socially driven. Investments in strengthening law and governance institutions. Waste management/Waste reduction must be a basic component of all systems and promote circular economies
based thinking to the practical problems faced by the poor in our country and to find ways to revive the nation’s environmental resource base, which has been massively degraded over the past century.
Could you elaborate on functional areas of Development Alternatives Our choice of topics is easy: we work on those issues that are of direct concern to the poor, particularly the village housewife and her family – such as cookstoves, shelter, drinking water, energy, and any other basic need which is not addressed by the current
How is Development Alternatives contributing to the cause of sustainability? Over the past 32 years, Development Alternatives has tried to go beyond traditional monodimensional analysis to systemic approaches that look at the world as it is rather than as an abstract construct that satisfies academic theories. Our work spans the entire spectrum for hard-core field work, through research and synthesis, to policy formulation and advocacy. We try to bring the best science-
Dr Ashok Khosla
Many farmers have been benefitted by the agriculture initiatives of Development Alternatives
economic system. We do this with full attention to the need to regenerate the local and national resource base, such as the soils, water systems and forest ecosystems. And for both these goals to be met, we work hard to bring about an empowering society where each human being has the self-worth and confidence to be a productive citizen and a fulfilled human being.
What facilities does Development Alternatives arrange for stakeholders? Our basic philosophy for both sustained national development and for human empowerment is not to give anything away free. Even subsidies are pernicious and in our opinion hinder progress towards genuine and sustained development. So, we work with technology innovation, institutional design and community empowerment, which we share with all communities and households who wish to work with us. As such we do not “arrange for facilities for stakeholders”. The only benefit they get from us is in the form of access to ideas, knowledge, and the services to which they are entitled under the law of the land. 30 I August 2015
How successful has been your organisation in imparting sustainable development? There are not many examples of truly successful sustainable development, defined as a genuine allround development that benefits all, is in harmony with nature and that will last well into the future. Today’s civilizations are not driven by these values and it is only a few initiatives around the world which have struck out in the somewhat lonely direction of preparing the ground for a scenario when the growing number of catastrophes, natural and man-made, will force the world to look for alternative pathways to develop. We believe that Development Alternatives is among those few organizations that is leading the way in this direction. Specifically, the work of Development Alternatives in demonstrating the importance and value of technology innovation is a major achievement. Another success is the demonstrations of the need for social enterprises in creating new approaches to sustainable businesses. And in specific sectors of the economy, we have made some reasonably solid
contributions in affordable housing technology, weaving and waste utilization.
What should be done to make it a key to economic development? Get the people, particularly the young, who have a greater commitment to the present and the future, to demand that decision makers in government, corporate world and the public choose to do those things that eradicate poverty and conserve resources and the environment for the future. The key to achieving this is, of course, the media, who have now become the sole arbiters of society’s value systems, even though they unfortunately seem to have lost most of their own. Nothing is more important than bringing all of today’s media – the print, the electronic and the social – together in a coherent campaign to create a sense of caring for the future of life on Earth – a phenomenon that is in grave danger of dying altogether because of our one-sided, greedy, consumptive way of living. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in
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INDO-BANGLA RELATIONS
LBA done, now build on it India and Bangladesh solve longstanding issue of enclaves
The complex international border between India and Bangladesh is a grim reminder of the irrationality of the Radcliffe Award
Anand Mishra CAN YOU fathom a life without basic amenities, with no hope for future either for yourself or for your children, no identity and most importantly, surrounded by a different country. To top it up, having to travel though another country, being frisked every time you cross the limit of the village, to enter your own country for buying food or medicine and then coming back to your own village, which is your country, again of course, after passing through another country. If you can decipher the complexity of life, you can feel the inhumanity and the irony of such a life. Yet, many thousands lived just such 32 I August 2015
a life for more than half a century, till the time sane sentiments prevailed in Indian parliament last month. When the Indian Parliament passed the hundredth constitution amendment bill last May to streamline the land boundary between India and Bangladesh, it culminated a process which meant to not only correct a geographical abnormality, but also solve the existential dilemma for thousands. The two countries later signed the landmark Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during PM Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June, and transferred the territories on July 31st. The move brought to a conclusion the process that was started way back in 1974, to exchange the land enclaves
and adverse possessions which were a leftover of gross historical mistake. There were numerous attempts made earlier to solve the issue, most notably in 2011 when a protocol was signed between the two countries. But they never managed to cross the final hurdle of the Indian parliament. The agreement allows India and Bangladesh to exchange the pockets of each country’s land locked in the other country. As per the agreement, India transferred Bangladeshi enclaves, i.e. the land with Bangladeshi citizens encircled by the Indian Territory, to Bangladesh and vice versa. There were 111 such enclaves measuring a little more than 17,000 acres. In return, India got 51 enclaves www.governancetoday.co.in
measuring 7,110 acres. In addition, India acquired 2,777 acres adverse possession areas from Bangladesh and transferred 2,267 acres of adverse possession areas to Bangladesh. These pockets were situated mostly in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal. There were about 51,550 people living in such pockets on both sides of the border, of which a little over 37,000 were Indians living in Bangladesh. Needless to say, there was no actual exchange of territory and the land swap was mostly a procedural issue. People living in these enclaves were given the choice to either stay on their existing land and accept the nationality of the other country, or migrate to their countries and maintain current nationalities. However, the majority of people living in such enclaves preferred to stay put on their land rather than relocate. According to reports, a little more than 15,000 people living in Bangladeshi enclaves in India chose to accept Indian citizenship. Also, about one thousand Indians living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh have decided to migrate to India rather than becoming Bangladeshi citizens. The agreement will be fully operationalized in a phased manner over next 11 months. First of all, on July 31, 2015, which was named the “Appointed Day,” the enclaves on both sides of the border stood “transferred to the other.” Between the 31st of July this year and 30th of June, 2016, physical exchange of enclaves and land parcels in adverse possession along with boundary demarcation, would be undertaken, along with the ground demarcation of the boundary by the respective Survey Departments. The Bangladesh-India Joint Boundary working group will address any dispute that may arise after the transfer for the next five years till June 2020. India and Bangladesh share a 4,100 Km boundary, one of the longest in the world, which was determined by the Radcliffe Award of 1947. The absurdity of the demarcation is shown by the method in which the boundary was drawn and areas allocated to countries. Radcliffe first assigned villages on the www.governancetoday.co.in
Manmohan Singh is the one who started the whole thing. I have merely completed the task - Sushma Swaraj, Foreign Minister, India border areas to countries, then the subdivisions (talukas) were allocated and finally, the border was drawn. In this process, some villages were assigned to India which went to Bangladesh when borderline was drawn on map and vice versa. At some places, villages were allocated to India, but the subdivision in which the village fell was allocated to Bangladesh. The large number of enclaves, counter enclaves and adverse possessions between India and Bangladesh were basically the unfinished agenda of partition of the Indian subcontinent. Rationally, such pockets should have been solved with immediate transfer of land, population and the assets, but the acrimony, mistrust and lack of cooperation did not allow a comprehensive solution to be reached despite broad agreement on what was needed to be done. Sporadically, some steps were taken to address some pockets were taken, though. The Nehru-Noon Agreement of 1958, Indira Mujib Agreement, 1974, Indira Ershad Agreement, 1982 and transfer of the Tin Bigha corridor did make small
attempts at solving the problem. Such enclaves presented unique problems for the inhabitants living in these areas. Most troublesome aspect of their existence was the fact that they were unable to enjoy full benefits of citizenship of either India or Bangladesh. They neither had proper IDs, nor infrastructure facilities such as electricity, schools and health services. Also, because any country hardly ever allowed policing by the other country, the law and order situation and legal enforcement were very poor. Resultantly, many of these enclaves had become hotbeds of criminal and terrorist activities. After the agreement, murmurs were heard about how India ended ceding much more territory than it got in return. But the territory is hardly the point here. Those enclaves that Bangladesh had were never Indian controlled or administered anyway, so the ownership of the land is besides the issue here. What is important is that through the deal, India successfully projected the image of a large neighbor willing to walk the extra mile to solve disputes. August 2015 I
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The LBA has boosted India’s profile in Bangladeshw
The present government of Bangladesh has accommodated Indian interests on the terrorism front by cracking down on anti-Indian elements within its territory and the LBA would be seen as a reciprocal step, especially when seen in tandem with the $2 bn credit facility that India has provided to Bangladesh. The agreement has also generated some significantly positive fallouts for India. First of all, more effective border management could now be undertaken
which would help curb insurgency in India. With this agreement, India has won bipartisan goodwill in Bangladesh which means that even in case of regime change in the future, what India has gained during present government’s tenure, would not be undone, unlike the experience in the past. It would also mean effective actions on illegal migration, human and drug trafficking and smuggling. Second and very important, by securing a transit route
There is a huge potential for co-operation among BBIN countr
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through Bangladesh for travel and trade, India has effectively reduced its extreme dependence on Siligury corridor. This is cost effective as well as strategically important. The positive mood that was generated by the land boundary agreement also had its impact on some other deals that India secured during Modi’s visit to Bangladesh. Most importantly, Bangladesh did not link the MOU on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India with Teesta dispute which had dogged the discussions earlier. In totality, the land boundary agreement has acted as a platform on which other substantive agreements and accords could be built. The greater cooperation between India and Bangladesh is a crucial element in stabilizing India’s Northeastern region on one hand and forging closer ties between nations in the sub-region. For example, a closer people-to-people and international economic engagement between BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) countries will go a long way in improving the lives of people in the region as well as reduce problems of insurgency, crime, drug trafficking etc. Recently, these countries have signed a motor vehicle agreement to regulate the motor movement between these countries. This www.governancetoday.co.in
Enclaves & adverse possessions To better visualize the complex border situation between India and Bangladesh, it is important to understand the concepts of enclaves and adverse possessions which are often mistaken as one but are technically different. Enclave: These are areas of one country but which are surrounded completely by territories of another country. As such, in order for people living under an enclave would have to pass through the other country in order to enter the other part of his own country. For example, a Bangladeshi enclave in India is completely surrounded by Indian territory and for any person living in that enclave needs to technically cross the border to first enter India and then cross the border again to enter Bangladeshi territory again. There are more complex arrangements like counter enclaves which means territory of first country surrounded by the territory of second country, which in turn is surrounded by territory of the first country. Adverse Possession: Unlike enclaves, adverse possessions are contiguous to borders. These areas come into existence when defacto boundary (actual line of control) differs from de-jure border (the border demarcated on map). These areas arise when the land which technically falls under one country is actually controlled by the other country. So, a Bangladeshi area under “adverse possession� of India is the area which is a Bangladeshi territory on the map, but is controlled by Bangladesh and vice versa.
would result in higher trade and tourism through the seamless movement of people and products.
obviously to India’s strategic detriment. India desperately needs to get its act together.
For India, securing a closer relation with Bangladesh also serves a strategic purpose. It fills the vacuum which could otherwise be filled by China. India has long handled its immediate neighborhood with neglect and recklessness. Because of this, smaller countries of the region have seen India as the bully next door having suspect intentions. This suspicion has led them to turn to China, which is
The LBA between India and Bangladesh needs to be carefully built on by the Indian government. For example, India can use the goodwill to make further efforts to sort out the Teesta river issue. Modi has shown alacrity in bringing on board political opponents on a crucial national issue. The spirit needs to be preserved and strengthened for solving Teesta dispute.
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There is huge potential for cooperation on hydro projects as many Himalayan rivers pass through different countries of the region. Such projects can add immense economic value to the hitherto neglected region. The people in the region have long suffered because of unimaginativeness of their leaders. They deserve better and they have seen it can be done. anand@governancetoday.co.in
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ENVIRONMENT
Precursor to Paris India, China & the US will be critical to any global deal Ritwajit Das THE WORLD is gearing up for UNFCCC’s (Conference of Parities, COP21) global climate agreement in Paris this December. After Copenhagen failure, Paris Conference is the next opportunity for leaders of the world’s biggest economies to show real leadership in the slow-motion drama that is anthropogenic climate change. The United States and China, the world’s biggest polluters, began tackling climate change together when they announced an agreement last November to curb carbon emissions. The United States promised to double the speed at which it will reduce carbon emissions, aiming for a 26-28 per cent reduction by 2025 from 2005 levels, while China pledged to peak emissions by around 2030. Meanwhile, India and China issued a joint statement on climate change recently that included a pledge to submit plans on their own carbon targets before the Paris conference. Five
years ago, such joint announcements by the United States, China and India were seen as inconceivable.
Bonn Climate Negotiation 2015 Climate change negotiators meeting in Bonn in June this year came up with a last-minute bargain that observers hope will put the talks on track for a new global agreement on greenhouse gases. The talks in Bonn were a staging post on the way to a crux conference in Paris, at which countries are expected to sign a new global agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, to take effect from 2020 when current emissions commitments run out. A greater concern, however, is the growing gap between what is needed and what is being assured on finance and emissions. While considerable work remains to close that gap, there is hope that governments are finally committed to take more action on emissions prior to 2020.
While all countries have agreed on the need of more ambitious and urgent emissions cuts, actions have been lacking. Work needs to speed up if countries have to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change. In Bonn, strong signals were sent for ambitious climate action from outside the negotiations, but they did not inspire a faster pace. The talks have been stalled over issues like whether rich countries will follow through on their current pledges to provide financial assistance to the poor world, and text of the draft. At one point, the discussion was divided over whether to use the terms “differentiated commitments/ contributions”, referring to targets on cutting emissions, or the term “commitments/ contributions/action”. The former was preferred by China, the latter by the US. The distinction may seem trivial, but it points to some of the entrenched attitudes that have dogged the talks over more than two decades.
Bonn Conference came up with a last minute bargain 36 I August 2015
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But even though there has been bickering over many issues, some delegates have found room for optimism. There has been no drama, no theatrics. UN co-chairs have done a good job of building trust and that’s paying off. All the issues are still on the table, and there’s enormous work to be done, but now, there’s a clear plan for moving forward. A meeting of key ministers, pegged for late July in Paris, must clear the ground for an agreement. The crunch issues that ministers need to work on are ensuring that the Paris deal is funded, that it protects vulnerable communities and that it has a mechanism to increase ambition over time.
How India, China and the US are setting the agenda The arithmetic reality is that these three countries — the United States, China and India — together with the European Union will in large part shape the future of the planet. From 1850 to 2012, the US and Europe emitted 45 per cent of greenhouse gases currently in the atmosphere, compared to 18 per cent from China and India. Based on existing practices, it is estimated that by 2020, China alone will produce 24 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, India 7 per cent, the United States 13 per cent and the European Union 8 per cent. Climate change action by China and India is now analytical and definitely critical. Both China and India speculate that radical action on greenhouse gas emissions will significantly reduce economic growth in a time when poverty reduction remains a national priority. But India and China also acknowledges that they anticipate facing even greater problems if carbon emissions continue to increase. India will be one of the hardest hit countries. With climate change, increased coastal flooding and melting Himalayan glaciers could wreak havoc on the country. Rising global temperatures would make water security an even greater problem in India-Pakistan relations. According to estimates, an ordinary increase in average global temperatures could cut agricultural output in India by as much as 38 per cent.
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Major contributors of the
Greenhouse gases by 2020 CHINA:
24%
US:
13%
EU:
7%
INDIA:
7%
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Delhi is the most polluted city in the world as per WHO
The stakes are as great for China. Ahead of this year, the head of China’s national weather service cautioned that climate change would have “colossal impacts” on the country, including reduced crop yields, ecological harm and unstable river flows. It has anticipated a 5-to-20 per cent drop in grain output resulting from climate change by 2050. The Chinese leadership already faces heat on unsustainable levels of air pollution in the country’s major cities. As for the US, even though its emissions are now considerably less than China’s, per-capita emissions are three times that of China and ten times India’s. If the US wants to persuade China and India to shift to a low-carbon development path, its own economy has to become more energy efficient and switch to low-carbon energy sources. Shale gas is one part of this equation. Success in Paris this December will require a three-part approach. First, the United States and China must rapidly increase collaboration on climate change both within and beyond the 38 I August 2015
framework of the Paris conference. This means concerted action from environmental and energy regulators, and effective pricing for the heaviest polluters to purchase carbon permits and for what consumers pay for energy. The large-scale investments needed in renewable energy, less carbon-intensive energy, energy efficiency and technological innovation will come only if there are significant and sustained price and regulatory signals from government, coupled with market and technical innovations. China’s air pollution crisis should be a core focus of bilateral policy, regulatory and technological effort, because it affects us all. Second, effective trilateral collaboration between the United States, China and India is critical. Although India has been a smaller emitter in relative terms until now, India will pass China’s population in the next decade, and it has barely begun its own industrial revolution. Delhi is already the world’s most polluted city and Indian cities dominate any polluted cities ranking. The same
type of climate change collaboration on regulation, pricing, technology and investment is needed in this triangular relationship. Investment must continue to focus on clean-coal technologies and shale-gas conversion. Third, any climate change agreement in Paris must ensure that countries actually implement the emissions cuts they commit to. The final accord must agree to a regular review mechanism, full transparency of data and an ability to supplement the Paris agreement with further climate-change action, if necessary. Forging an agreement in Paris will take bold leadership. The people of the world, particularly the young, now look increasingly to the leaders of these great powers to protect our planet before it’s too late for us all. (The writer is an international research consultant working in the area of environment, urbanization, climate change and sustainable development.) edit@governancetoday.co.in
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INDIAN RAILWAYS Praveen Raman INDIA HAS one of the largest railway networks in the world, regardless of the indicator used. With 64,460 kilometer long tracks, it has the 4th largest railway network after the United States, China and Russia. In India, each km of rail track covers 45.74 sq. km and caters to 19,133 people. Indian Railways or IR offers a cheap and comfortable means of transportation. The system covers 29 states and 3 Union Territories, across almost 8,500 stations, from Baramulla in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, from Naliya in the west to Ledo in the east. But beyond and behind these staggering numbers, lies an inefficient behemoth which is known for shoddiness and which bleeds the exchequer. With all its tall claims to fame, the IR has been facing troubles, like, shortage of funds, cost overruns in key projects and high operation cost among others. For a common man, getting a reservation is like dream coming true because rail coaches are overburdened, coaches are unclean, food is hazardous, waiting rooms are inhospitable, platforms resemble a public resting ground and worst of all trains running on time is a rare commodity. Goods sent through trains are frequently damaged and there is no guarantee it would reach on time. All of these smack substandard and often inhuman functioning of a transport system that is somehow scraping to survive. Customer satisfaction is an unheard concept for a system which boasts of being the lifeline of the nation. In the last 64 years while the freight loading has grown by over 13 times and passenger kilometers by over 16 times, the route kilometers have grown by only 23 per cent and doubling & multiple route length by only 289 per cent. This growth pattern has resulted in largescale congestion of the system, affecting the speed of movement, something that impacts passenger satisfaction. Although the traffic density on IR is quite high as per world standards, the growth of the network is not commensurate with the growth of the traffic. www.governancetoday.co.in
On a wrong track One of the biggest rail network is in bad state
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There has been a tremendous rise in burden on railways since Independence
WHERE THE RUPEE COMES FROM
What transpires from the data is that the IR has not able to meet the demand for freight as well as passenger traffic, and this constitutes the biggest challenge it faces. Furthermore, there has been a phenomenal rise in the population in suburban areas but railway has failed to reach and serve this population for various reasons including land acquisition and environmental clearance. As it turns out, IR has suffered from chronic and significant underinvestment. Resultantly the network expansion and modernization has not happened at the requisite pace leading to an erosion of the share in national freight and passenger traffic. There is a clear recognition of the fact that for serving as the lifeline of the nation and making a contribution to the country’s growth, the organization needs to become operationally and financially sound. It is important to note here that the both passenger fare and freight fares were hiked only in October last year, first time in ten years. This had bad impact on internal revenue generation of IR. Further, there are constant demands for new lines. From the point of view of remote area connectivity and meeting the demands of all for access to rail travel, construction of new lines also assumes importance. However, all of these demands do not translate into viable projects from the point of view of railways. A large number of socially desirable projects have been sanctioned in the past creating huge throw-forward liability and thin spread of funds. In many cases, IR carries the burden of losses from operations for such projects. While revenue expenditure takes care of the day to day and operational working expenses, including debt servicing and dividend payment, capital expenditures take care of IR’s investments inclusive of repair and renewals. Generally, these expenditures come from three streams, namely, Gross Budgetary Support from the Ministry of Finance, internal generation of resources and leasing from IRFC.
WHERE THE RUPEE GOES
PAISA SPENT TO EARN ONE RUPEE
Baring a substantial improvement in 2007-08, operation efficiency has generally been very low Source: Indian Railway
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India scores poorly on staff productivity TU: Transport Unit (Passenger km + ton km) Source: Civity Management Consultants benchmarking analysis, based on UIC Railway Data 2011 A look at the income and expenditure profiles of railways shows that the payment of its staffs is the largest outgo for railways (around 33 per cent). IR has 13.07 lakh employees on roll. For 201415, the estimated increase in Staff costs over the previous year is 12 per cent. Fuel bill is the next biggest cost head and corners around 23 per cent of the total cost. Fuel bill has witnessed a steady increase on account of tariff, consumption and increase in activity. Decisions such as introduction of stoppages also add to the fuel bill and consumption. The major contributor to the increase in fuel outlays has been the steady increase in prices based on global cues and high domestic prices.
Where the Rupee comes from As for operational efficiency, except in the year 2007-08, the IR had to spend around 90 paise to earn a rupee. In 2007-08, the dip was significant on
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account of continuing combined benefit of robust demand in the core sector of economy and Iron-ore export that was compounded by higher axle load and carrying capacity on certain key routes with heavy traffic density. The spike since 2008-09 was due to the 6th Pay Commission; the impact of which was to the tune of Rs one lakh crore up to 2012-13. While pointing towards a major hurdle, the recently released white paper of railways has mentioned that in the recent past i.e. last 3-4 years, the cost of land in most of the states has increased manifold. In addition to this, the process of acquisition has become much lengthier and for the last about 2 years, land acquisition has practically come to a standstill. Some of the projects are suffering due to delay in clearance from forest, wild life, etc. In many projects, the problem of banning of mining and declaration of earth as minor mineral has created severe shortage of quarry products including earth work. All these have resulted in tardy expansion.
Also, the poor situation of law and order have impacted the expansion. Many projects in North Eastern Region, J&K and Naxal affected areas of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra are suffering on account of law & order problems.All of these point towards a systemic malaise exacerbated by external factors. End result is customer dissatisfaction, operational inefficiency, unviable projects and unfulfilled dream of being the lifeline of the nation. What IR needs is optimal investment and financially viable operation through judicious mix of services. Passenger services don’t generate money for any railway in the world; it’s the commercial operation such as freight movement that make them profitable. A loss making railway can never be a good social contributor. Hopefully, the new Minister of Railways would succeed in infusing life the lifeline of the nation. praveen@governancetoday.co.in
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EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE AND BEHOLD WHAT THEY CAN DO!
LET’S TOUCH ONE LIFE Prayas JAC Society is a national level non-profit organization registered in 1988 under Society Registration Act, 1860 is working towards the rights and protection of children, youth and women. Touching million lives through education, nutrition, health services, vocational training, life skill building and social and economic empowerment. Presently, working in Delhi, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Support us to touch many lives to create difference‌Contribution can be made from abroad through FCRA Account. State Bank of India, Jahangirpuri New Delhi-110033, Account No: 10666744245, Swift Code: SBININBB544. All support will be exempt from tax under Section 80 G and Section 35 AC.
Prayas JAC Society, 59 Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110062 Telephone: 011-29956244, 2995505, Website: www.prayaschildren.org Email: prayas@prayaschildren.org, kanth_amod@rediffmail.com.com
INDIAN RAILWAYS
Railway’s unused purse of gold Experts believe it does not utilize the land resource optimally
Experts belive that the railway is now using its land resource optimally
Sagarika Ranjan EVERY DAY thousands of them manage to set their feet on the last stair while half the body relies on the balancing act. While outside the gushing wind makes it difficult to breathe, if inside they battle the threat of being chocked. Some, sadly quite often, lose their balance to be chopped off by the mercilessly sharp wheels in tandem with the stoic tracks. Welcome to the journey of the Indian Railways. This is the plight of the daily passengers. Every year prebudget hopes get inflated with promises and gradually, hopes fade into oblivion because of red-tapism, corruption and delays. “Why were the promises not fulfilled www.governancetoday.co.in
sir?” Question all, almost every year and we get the same old obsolete answer in most of the cases: “Where is the budget to meet the expenses. We need more funds.” Some of the economic analysts, however, do not agree that there is a dearth of resources or money for the Indian Railways. They believe that railways is not poor in resources, it is poor when it comes to innovation and optimization of resources. “It’s like possessing a chest full of gold, just not knowing however how to open it,” said a retired railway official. As per the rail budget 2015-16, the government has aimed at transforming the railways in the next five years. Of the many goals set to achieve this target one is “To expand Bharatiya Rail’s capacity substantially and
modernize infrastructure; to increase the daily passenger carrying capacity from 21 million to 30 million. This apart, increase track length by 20 per cent from 1.14 thousand kilometers to 1.38 thousand kilometers and also increase the freight carrying capacity from one billion to 1.5 billion tonnes. This year, when the rail budget was to be announced people had expected it to be dynamic or at least better but it turned out to be indifferent if not bad as even this year the gold purse remained locked and unused. Nobody talked of it. So what and where is this purse full of gold? It’s right under our nose. It is no precious metal but the vast land reserve that the Indian railways own. As per the policy of the railways, lakhs of acres of land is maintained as reserve. August 2015 I
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certain agricultural lands that are owned by the railways. Here the local farmers are carrying out cultivation but are not paying anything to the railways. This is what needs to be regulated by the Indian Railways.
Railways can use its huge land bank to build goods yards
This is done keeping in mind further expansion. Keeping some amount of land as reserves rules out the problems like land acquisition, negotiating with the owners of the land and other such obstructions. A railway official explains that the Indian railways own huge quantities of land in the form of reserves. These are divided into three categories namely class A, class B and class C. Lands under class A include those lands that have already been occupied by the railways. These areas are used for laying the tracks, establish platforms, godowns, workshops, staff quarters and to carry out other such activities. Class B land includes those land areas where the railways have bought the land and compensated the actual land owners. These are mostly around the railway stations, along the tracks, around the workshops and staff quarters. They are demarcated with the letters IR meaning Indian Railways. Then there are Class C land areas. These are presently owned by the public but they have been notified that their land can be acquired as and when required for the expansion or any other works of the Indian Railways. Of these three classes of lands, it is the Class B land that, as per experts, is the major gold share in the unused purse of our railways. 44 I August 2015
Experts explain that these lands have been there for years. Railways have paid for the purchase but not used them. “There were talks of the land being leased out to private parties to generate revenue for the development, functioning and maintenance of our railways but till date no concrete steps have been taken in this regard,” said a senior official from the Indian Railways. He further explains that for any construction plans or any project work to come up on these lands, there is a time gap of about 10 years between the proposal and execution as these are huge projects spread over large areas. Therefore, using these lands for alternative purposes will not hinder development as there would be enough time to relocate or discontinue the alternate projects. Even though the Indian railways have a right over these lands and can use it to generate revenue, these land areas are not under any productive usage. Most of it either lying unused or some locals have encroached upon it. Most slums that develop alongside the tracks are actually encroachments over railways’ lands and not private lands. Another retired railway official said that on several occasions there have been talks of using these lands to generate revenue. There were proposals of fixing a minimum lease for those who dwell on these lands or have their shops and other business establishments. There are
Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee had taken up this issue and had done some groundwork in this direction however, before this proposal could get approvals, she had to resign due to some political reasons. With her resignation the idea of using these lands also went dormant. Talking to a number of officials across departments of the Indian railways a very sad picture of implementation comes to the fore. The story behind nonmaterialization of these ideas is of greed and lousiness on the part of our officials. On condition of anonymity, a reliable source explains that whenever there have been such talks mostly people step forward to become beneficiaries. If put to proper use the income could go into crores. But at times, the poor locals are instigated to rise against the authorities and oppose the payment for using these lands. He further reveals that at times these villagers even deny accepting that these lands are of the Railways. A villager on the outskirts of Varanasi said, “I have been cultivating this land for over a decade and today they come in and tell me that this is not my land. Where were they all these years?” This is just one farmer, there are many more all over the country. However, experts present an optimistic view. They believe that any new development will certainly invite friction and therefore the railways should go ahead with using the land bank innovatively, like asking for lease rent. This step will eradicate the budget deficit to a great extent as there are lakhs of acres of land and even a nominal lease amount will lead to generation of revenue running into crores. In a scenario when all over everyone is talking about sustainable development through optimum utilization of resources, Indian Railways needs to take to the same tracks and generate money which would reduce its dependency on government largesse and costly external finance. edit@governancetoday.co.in
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INDIAN RAILWAYS
Make rail prime goods mover The network losing business to less efficient road transport
The Railways needs an autonomous governance model, with restricted government intervention
Ramesh Kumar Raja EVEN THOUGH the Indian Railways enjoys supremacy in freight transportation in the world’s second fastest growing economy, it is not the primary goods mover of the country and not keeping up with exploding demand. Incompetence of the railways is at such a high that businesses turn to trucking for transportation, which is far less efficient and, among other things, drives up India’s oil import bill impacting the economy. The railways simply doesn’t have enough wagons to carry all the freight that comes to it for loading. www.governancetoday.co.in
It often turns down business to the disadvantage of its own financial health and the country’s economic growth. For an economy growing at 7.5 per cent per year, freight traffic in India stands at over 3 billion tonnes. And it is growing by more than 10 per cent yearly. This means, an additional carrying capacity of at least 300 million tonnes must be created every year to sustain that growth. Moving goods by rail is less polluting and more economical than road transport. As per a McKinsey report, India loses as much as $45 billion a year due to poor logistics infrastructure. This wastage could be slashed by half and fuel needs reduced by 15-20 per cent if the country
fixes its transport infrastructure and moves more goods by rail, the report suggests. The railways has been losing traffic to the less efficient road transport to the extent that only one third of the country’s freight traffic is carried by rail today. And if McKinsey prediction is to believe, it will drop more to 25 per cent in years to come. Even more absurd is the way IR has been hindering private sector participation in freight movement. Billions in private investment is waiting to come into the sector but the railways, fearful of losing business to private competitors, has been obstructing it with an ever-growing list of constraints. The woeful tale began over three decades August 2015 I
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back when the national rail transporter decided to downsize the loading of ‘piecemeal’ goods like textiles, milk powder, flour, polymer granules and chemicals. It was intended to use its limited wagon capacity to carry more coal, iron and steel, petroleum and other bulk commodities required by heavy industries and energy utilities. With a focus on increasing its market share in bulk commodity transport, the railways began to refuse to carry piecemeal goods. Also, it would have been a disgust in that socialist era to think of allowing private industry to serve the business the IR no longer wanted. Consequently, these smaller customers had to move their freight through road and since then, the Indian Railways has been inept to get them back on track. Almost 10 years ago, the Ministry of Railways had nearly worked out a solution to the shortfall in its capacity in the freight division when it invited the private sector to run container trains. A spate of investment poured in – approximately 16 companies paid over Rs 640 crore as licence fees and invested another Rs 1,250 crore to buy 96 rakes (goods trains minus engines). As per the policy, they would own the trains, while the IR would supply the engine and crew. The contract would last 20 years. It all looked set for a major expansion in carrying capacity. But in a rude shock to the private players, the railways started laying down the ground rules for them. The IR decided to restrict the private partners from carrying coal, coke and other minerals. It also hiked haulage charges over and over again rendering the freight movement business much less attractive for the private companies. Poor infrastructure is another aspect that disinterested them gradually. Many of these companies have since decided to put all their investment plans in the business on hold for the time being, as the railways, on the one hand, wanted the private players to bring more traffic to the rail sector and at the same time, they do not support them. Another instance of how the railways’ indifference is affecting industry is the cement sector. Every year, during January and February, the prices of cement rise across the 46 I August 2015
country even when there is a surplus in production. According to Sanjay Ladiwala, president of Cement Stockists and Dealers Association of Bombay, the railways are unable to send the required number of wagons at the start of the year as there is a massive requirement for transport of food grains and hence only a limited number of wagons are available to carry cement during the two months. Partha Mukhopadhyay, an infrastructure expert, opines that the railways should understand that the worst case situation for them is not losing traffic to these private players but the truckers. It goes without saying that a healthy rail-road network will be important to meet growth-led demand for freight traffic in the years to come. Bearing in mind the scale of investment involved, the government needs to make firm choices in prioritising between the rail and road networks. It may be noted that in 1951, the railways carried the majority of the freight (almost 90 per cent) traffic and the following years witnessed a steady change away from rail to roads. This shift from rail to roads challenges economic or social logic. Low freight and passenger rail fares have done immeasurable public good. The graded freight structure of the railways, which is inversely proportional to distance, has ensured that low-value cargo such as coal, minerals, fertilisers, food grains and cement can be carried at substantially low rates. In general, railway freight charges are about half the road transportation charges for commonly used commodities. Significantly, the economic, social and environmental costs of building and maintaining a rail network is far lower than for roads. Building a rail network requires much less land; reducing land acquisition costs not only in terms of the area to be acquired, but also in time saved in prolonged land acquisition proceedings. The railways are reasonably more energy efficient, less polluting and less of a drain on natural resources, both during the construction and operation phases. The rail offers greater opportunities to execute and administer quality control. Unlike roads which are eventually congested with linear ribbon
development along the road network, the rail network is unaffected by such developments. Although much needs to be done to improve rail safety, the railways are far better than roads. As far as the economic aspect is concerned, the suboptimal distribution of freight traffic between rail and road has measurable implications. “In simple terms, if the railways moved one billion tonne of freight during 2013-14 and earned Rs 950 billion, the carriage of the same amount of freight through roads would cost twice as much. In other words, if the railways handled an additional one billion tonne of freight every year, preventing its diversion to roads, the resultant financial savings to the tune of Rs 950 billion may boost India’s GDP by more than one per cent,” believes Kamlesh Kumar, former Additional Director General, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. However, it’s not going to be that easy. Any spreading out or rejuvenation plan will require diligent design. “To reduce haulage and travel distances and avoid multiple freight handling, production, consumption and storage locations need to be strategically planned. The railways also need to develop a dedicated freight corridor and unlock the value of their land bank and utilise it to improve facilities, particularly for cargo handling. Increasing safe speed limits on existing tracks is another method by which capacity can be enhanced with minimal marginal investment,” suggests Kumar. In fact, the railways calls for an autonomous governance model, with restricted government intervention. Any sort of social obligation needs to be within the limits of economic caution. Besides, the government should adopt a synchronised approach for the development of rail and road networks. While roads should be improved and developed to serve short and medium distance traffic, the railways must be developed as the preferred mode of transport for medium to long distance traffic (500 km and above). Roads ought to be used only where rail is found to be less worthwhile. ramesh@governancetoday.co.in
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INDIAN RAILWAYS
Looking for investment Govt. plans to pump in $120 billion investment in next five years Praveen Raman INDIAN RAILWAYS, like any other commercial enterprise, requires continuous capital investment to achieve the desired results. Historically, the rail projects are largely financed through internal accruals, from budgetary support and not from external financing. Thus, the fact that the IR has steadily gone from bad to worse financial situation testifies that the critical gaze of the financier has largely been absent from the oversight of IR’s operation and financial management. The external finance began only in the Sixth Five Year Plan with the establishment of the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) in 1987. Starting from about 17 per cent in the Seventh Plan period, the share of external finance has increased slowly and gradually. In 2014-15, the share of extra-budgetary resources was 27 per cent, while the government continued to contribute 46 per cent, an increase as compared to 42 per cent in the Seventh Plan. The only change in the mix was the reduction of internal contributions to investment from 43 per cent to 23 per cent. The lack of corporate entities who can borrow on behalf of IR has limited market access for IR investments. Recently, the government has announced an ambitious plan to spend $120 billion in the next five years. This investment in the cash-strapped railways will be used for of up gradation and expansion. While the roadmap for this massive investment has been framed, many specialists believe that attracting such a massive investment will not be easy to make as the railways already has a large number of pending projects. Currently, as of 2014-15, a total of 11,709 projects that have been approved by the Railway Board are in the process of completion, with an estimated cost to completion of Rs 4,94,911 crores. These constitute 98 www.governancetoday.co.in
Finding ways to pool in required investment should be high on Railways’ agenda
August 2015 I
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PRABHU’S FIVE YEAR PLAN
per cent of the cost to complete. Additionally, 14,369 projects have been approved by the zonal general managers of the IR, with an anticipated cost of completion of only Rs 7,140 crore and 15,078 projects of DRMs, adding up to Rs 2,173 crore. The total cost to completion for all these projects is thus Rs. 5,04,224 crore. This essentially means that roughly 2 per cent of the remaining funding is dedicated to 71 per cent of the projects. The big question is where is this money going to come from? Needless to say, there is immediate need to pool in resources for the projects. Broadly, there are five sources from which resources can be generated. These range from internal Resource Generation to external financing (which includes foreign funding) through borrowing and PPP. Lets see how each of these can work for IR.
PROPOSED INVESTMENT (2015-2019) Items
Amount (in Rs crore)
Network de-congestion
1,99,320
Network Expansion
1,93,000
National Projects
39,000
Safety
1,27,000
Information and technology
5,000
Rolling stocks
1,02,000
Passenger amenities
12,500
High speed rail, elevated corridor
65,000
Station development & logistical park
1,00,000
Others
13,200
Total
8,56,020
Internal resource generation The Rakesh Mohan Committee (2001) noted the sharp decline in the share of budgetary support and internal resources leading to increasing market borrowings and financial stress in IR. According to the Committee, there is a need to increase efficiency of railway services by better utilizing of existing capacity and assets through improved operating and scheduling practices. This would generate more internal resources. It is important to ensure that the operational improvements effected get converted into revenues. This can be achieved by accounting reforms, effective project management and MIS systems, which besides operational improvements, would help the management monitor the results better. On the revenue front, primarily tariffs are not in aligned to cover the increased input costs. There has specially been significant under recovery of costs in passenger segment. Even the improvement in IR’s operating ratio, between financial year 2004-05 and 200708 was negated by the 6th Pay Commission award. With another round of wage increases expected from the 7th Pay Commission, though hopefully not as destabilizing as the 6th Pay Commission, revenue growth can be expected to fall quite a bit behind, in a business-as-usual
Source: Indian Railways
48 I August 2015
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fashion. This is why action is needed both on the expenditure side, by improving efficiency and on the revenue side, both of which are more in the control of IR than wage growth.
External financing through borrowing There is a need to tap other extra budgetary sources like the multilateral funding agencies. IR needs to provide for capital investments in critical projects that would increase its revenues. However, owing to the historical baggage of a large shelf of projects riddled with time and cost over runs and continued piece meal allocations, IR needs to change its investment strategy through ring-fenced investments in high yield projects. Some of these can be funded through the multilateral funding agencies (who would also do their own due diligence of the project) with the provison of take-out financing through long-term lower interest rate funds from, say, insurance companies and pension funds. The funds borrowed from the market should be used exclusively for capacity generation and not diverted for any asset replacements.
External financing through use of assets IR can leverage ownership of one of the largest land banks spread across the country, as well as other fixed immovable properties like its housing colonies, etc. Identified immovable properties can be transferred to an SPV, which can be structured as a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), wholly owned by IR or in conjunction with domestic financial institutions. Another method could be the sale of equity. IR has thirteen undertakings in which it holds either the entire or a substantial
stake. Of these, only CONCOR is listed. Today, the market valuation of CONCOR is Rs. 30,000 crores; 62 per cent of which is held by the government. Even a 10 per cent disinvestment would fetch Rs. 3,000 crores. Similarly, there are other corporate entities, including RITES, IRCON, IRCTC, etc., which can be listed. One more way is the sale and lease back of non-land assets. IR has a number of other assets that can be leveraged to raise revenue namely, rolling stock and track. As noted above, rolling stock today is almost entirely leased from the IRFC, which issues bonds to finance their purchase. However, there is an older complement of rolling stock that is not leased. This comprised, as of March 2014, 1,533 diesel locomotives, 2,980 electric locomotives, 13,000 coaches and 93,250 wagons. This rolling stock can be sold to IRFC (or other leasing companies) and leased back from them. This would generate resources for investment which can then generate the revenue to service the lease. Track can also be similarly sold and leased back.
Building capacity through joint ventures Activities station development, can be separated as special purpose vehicles (SPVs) involving joint ventures (JVs) with the respective state / local governments, it will permit greater involvement by the states in the governance and provision of this service and permit it to be priced more appropriately. This will also be in the government’s overall spirit of cooperative federalism. Already, pursuant to the Minister of Railway’s statements on the subject, a cell has been established in the Railway Board to explore possibilities of such JVs.
Building capacity through PPP IR did attempt some forays into PPP projects for setting up two new Locomotive factories at Madhepura and Marhowra, station development and some port connectivity projects, but these met with limited success. There is a need to relook at the engagement with the private sector, both foreign and domestic, in the IR. This is not simply a matter of allowing, but of redefining the manner in which business with the private sector will be conducted. They can bring in technology, capital, and productive management practices to help modernize the IR if the relationship is successfully managed. Successfully inviting private sector participation has many dimensions. The procurement process should involve announcing aggregate off-take from IR over the next few years and switch from one year contracts to longer duration contracts. This will facilitate investments by providing predictability and certainty to the private sector and ensure better quality and vendor development. Once the processes and, more importantly, the relationship with the private sector is on a more even keel, there is no reason to believe that far larger investments cannot be attracted to cover a more extensive array of investment in infrastructure, production of goods and delivery of services across the railways eco-system. Indian Railways has a poor record of financial management, both of project management and revenue realization. But unless the behemoth is not financially strong, it can not be a medium to service the society at large to its optimal level. There is therefore, an immediate and urgent requirement of improved way of not only procuring money for the IR, but also of radically improving the way in which it uses its finances. praveen@governancetoday.co.in
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC CENSUS
Rural India under extreme poverty The first SECC in eighty odd years shows massive poverty
The horrendous rural poverty numbers are sure to give headaches to governments
Anand Mishra THE ONLY socio economic and caste census (SECC) of independent India has been launched. The good part is that it was finally released; the bad part is just about everything it says. It has not just confirmed what a large number of economists have been saying so far about the prevalence of poverty, but has painted an even darker picture of rural poverty than was ever thought of. Worse still, it has underscored the worthlessness of all governmental schemes that promised to alleviate poverty. It also indicates towards a massive and increasing chasm between rich and poor. What is even more problematic is how quickly the public discourse has left the issue behind while dedicating time and space to meatier political topics with 50 I August 2015
higher entertainment value. The first SECC in eight decades was released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who said that the document would be essential for policy makers - both at the Centre and at the state-level. He added that “The enormity of schemes and reaches that all governments have, this document will form a basis of helping us target groups for support in terms of policy planning.� Rightly so because what the census reveals that the programs that various governments have been running for many years, were either created without adequate homework, or were implemented pathetically. Either way, they had very limited success. The poverty has endured, and if anything,
has entrenched which is bad news, for government and for society at large.
Stark Poverty The SECC was commissioned by the UPA government in 2011, and was to get the information on the economic status of every Indian family, in rural as well as urban India. Based on the findings of this census, Central and State authorities were to come up with a range of indicators of deprivation, which could be used to identify and target various anti-poverty schemes. It was also meant, for the first time in over eight decades, to get the caste numbers which could allow more suitable social inclusion. The census used fourteen parameters to categorise deprived households which ranged from ownership of land and two wheeler to income of over Rs 10,000 www.governancetoday.co.in
per month. After interviewing 24.39 crore households across the country, the census found that 17.91 crore households were in rural India. Bihar has the highest number of rural households; 90 per cent of households in the state are in rural areas. What is frustrating is the level of poverty that is pervasive, widespread and deeply entrenched. Even on a list of parameters some of which are ludicrous, more than 60 per cent of the rural households were found to be suffering from deprivation. As many as 74 per cent of the households had their highest earners earning a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000. More than 90 per cent of households in Chhattisgarh were in this category. As many as 51 per cent of the households were found to be engaged in casual, manual labor, cultivation supported 30 per cent households. Just about 14 per cent had non-farm jobs, with the government, public or private sector. Underscoring the ineffectiveness of reservation policies of successive governments, the census shows only 3.96 per cent of rural SC households and 4.38 per cent of ST households as having government jobs. The plight of these sections of the population continues in land ownership as well. As many as 70 per cent of SC households are landless against 56 per cent overall landless households. In Tamil Nadu and Bihar, 55.80 per cent and 54.33 per cent of rural landless households depend on manual casual jobs to sustain. Odisha has the highest proportion of destitute households or those that are living on alms.
Council, headed the expert group that was set up in 2009 to design the SECC methodology. This group tried to undo the shortcomings of the 2002 census, which was aimed to determine the socioeconomic characteristics of households. The present criteria are based on those recommended by this group. But some of these criteria were modified by the present government which has led to the exclusion of a large number of households from the social safety programs. For example, it included two-wheeler as a basis for exclusion even though the previous recommendation had only motorized three- or four-wheeler for the purpose. Similarly, against the recommendation of including all female-headed households in the list of deprived households, the government has considered only those female-headed households as deprived which did not have any adult male member between 16 years and 59 years of age. This has resulted only 69 lacs of the 2.23 crore female headed households qualifying for deprived category. As many as 1.81 crore female-headed households, where the highest-earning member’s monthly income is less than Rs 5,000, do not qualify for the deprived category, because there may be a male member in their family in the age group of 16-59 years age group. Obviously, minor modifications can lead to a huge number of people getting excluded from the social safety programs that governments may roll out.
What is ironic is the confusion and irrationality of the interpretation of data that has been gathered through the survey. As per data, as high as 7 out of 17 crore rural households are not deprived because they satisfy at least one of its 14 parameters of exclusion, regardless of the level of poverty. As such, these households will not be entitled to being included in the social safety programs of the government.
The census also throws open some uncomfortable questions about the social security flagship programs that were launched by the previous government. For example, under the Food Security Act (FSA), which was brought in as a game changer social policy with huge potential political gains, 75 percent of rural households, or about 13.4 crore households, were considered poor enough to be eligible for food supplies at low cost. But as per the census, only 8.69 crore households were found out to be deprived or poor enough to qualify for the food security program.
This cruel magic has been created by the definition of deprivation. NC Saxena, a member of the National Advisory
This is because out of the 17.91 crore rural households, 7.05 crore households got eliminated because they
Risk of exclusion
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could not satisfy all the criteria. Of the rest 10.69 crore households, about two crore households reported no sense of deprivation, leaving only about 8.69 crore households which should be targeted under FSA. So either the program was ill conceived, or the poverty criteria do not represent reality.
Message for government The data released presents a depressing picture of poverty in the country and is a telling commentary on the efficacy of the various poverty alleviation schemes that governments have been running since the time of the famous “Garibi Hatao” campaign. The level of poverty that has been reported by the SECC is much grimmer than the previous estimates. It shows that roughly 60 per cent of households were deprived. This is much higher than Tendulkar Committee estimates of 25.7 per cent and Rangrajan Committee estimate of 30.9 per cent for rural BPL population. According to some reports, the urban poverty has been pegged at nearly 35 percent by the SECC which was estimated at 13.7 per cent and 26.4 per cent by Tendulkar and Rangrajan Committees for urban BPL population. Essentially, the SECC says three things about the government’s poverty alleviation programs. First, these programs have been created without proper understanding of the poverty level as well as dynamics of poverty. The example of land acquisition bill is worth taking a look here. There has been much cry about how the last land acquisition bill was good and the present bill is bad. But the SECC shows that just about 30 percent of the total households, i.e. 5.39 crore households depend on cultivation whereas manual, casual labor sustained over 51 percent of the households. The rest were involved in other activities. So, about 70 per cent are more concerned about the non-farm related economy to sustain. However, land bill has become the focal point of painting rural versus industrial India debate. Secondly, the SECC is a damning evidence of how inefficient government can be. Ever since independence, successive governments have used hundreds of poverty reduction programs by using various socialist tools. However, August 2015 I
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WHAT MAKES INDIA KEY FINDINGS FROM RURAL INDIA Total 24.39 crore households (rural plus urban) 1.11 per cent of total households are public sector-employed; 3.57 per cent earn from private sector employment The country has 44.84 lakh domestic helps, 4.08 lakh rag pickers and 6.68 lakh beggars Of the total rural population, landless ownership is 56 per cent with 70 per cent of Scheduled Castes and 50 per cent of Scheduled Tribes being landless owners
SNAPSHOT OF RURAL INDIA
Total Households (Rural plus Urban)
24.39 Crore
Total Rural Households
17.91 Crore
Total Excluded Households (based on fulfilling any of the 14 parameters of exclusion >> Motorized 2/3/4 wheeler/fishing boat. >> Mechanized 3-4 wheeler agricultural equipment. >> Kisan credit card with credit limit of over Rs. 50,000/-. >> Household member government employee. >> Households with non-agricultural enterprises registered with government. >> Any member of household earning more than Rs. 10,000 per month. >> Paying income tax.
In 75 per cent of the households, monthly income of the highestearning member is less than Rs 5,000
>> Paying professional tax.
Only 8.29 per cent of households have a member earning over Rs 10,000 per month
>> owns a refrigerator.
60 per cent (or 10.69 crore) families qualify for “deprivation� 94 per cent own a house 54 per cent have 1-2 room dwellings 25 per cent households still do not own a phone 25 per cent households have no access to irrigation
>> 3 or more rooms with pucca walls and roof.
>> Owns landline phone. >> Owns more than 2.5 acres of irrigated land with 1 irrigation equipment. >> 5 acres or more of irrigated land for two or more crop season. >> Owning at least 7.5 acres of land or more with at least one irrigation equipment. 7.05 Crore(39.39%) Automatically included (based on fulfilling any of the 5 parameters of inclusion - i. Households without shelter. ii. Destitute, living on alms. iii. Manual scavenger families. iv. Primitive tribal groups. v. legally released bonded labour. 16.50 lakh 0.92%
20.69 per cent have either an automobile or a fishing boat
Households considered for deprivation 10.69 Crore
5 per cent earn salary from the government
Households with any one of the 7 deprivation 8.69 Crore
all these programs have not done much on the ground. Not just that, the entire philosophy of trickle-down effect of liberalization has not taken place; if anything, these have only increased the inequality in both rural and urban India. Finally, it says that the social justice and affirmative action programs of the government has failed to pull disadvantaged classes of society out of poverty and wretchedness. These might have improved some lucky ones in the backward sections, but the communities per se have not benefitted from the social justice programs. The message for the government 52 I August 2015
Households not reporting deprivation 2.00 crore
is clear. It needs to deliver on the basic requirements of society. Whether it is urban or rural India, people need an opportunity, not doles. The paradigm of providing freebies is passĂŠ, it has failed miserably in improving the lives of the vast majority of people. The real requirement is of an enabling environment in which people can use available opportunities to improve their lot. It is not rocket science, but it requires strength and determination to eliminate the entrenched structural inefficiencies that do not allow poverty eradication.
mechanism. Not only have various public subsidy programs like PDS have bled the exchequer, they have not reached the poor. As the example of direct transfer of cash benefits shows, there is a way for effective and targeted intervention. Government needs to think out of box to better deliver on anti-poverty programs.
Finally, selective intervention must not be in nature of tweaking the market
anand@governancetoday.co.in
Hopefully, the government would be shaken up by the SECC data and spring into action. The horrendous rural poverty numbers are sure to give headaches to policymakers.
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ECONOMY
Wealthy, and more unequal India becomes a $2 trillion-economy, but inequality grows too Praveen Raman
India’s GDP at current prices ($ trillions)
BUSINESS MAGAZINES and economic newspapers have hailed the capitalist mantra as India enters the $2 trillion GDP club. The World Bank in its recent report has said that India has become a $2 trillion economy and at present it’s GDP, in current prices, stands at $2.067 trillion, against the 2013 GDP size of $1.86 trillion. This comes as a pleasant news as the country had been growing at sub 5 percent growth rate for last two years. Incidentally, it took the country just seven years for adding the second trillion. This makes India tenth on current prices terms. largest economy of the world in Accordingly, India’s gross national income per person has risen to $1,610, which is nearly Rs 1,01,430 at present exchange rate. The report comes close to the IMF’s assessment that by 2019, India could cross the $ 3 trillion milestone with a size of $3.18 trillion, in the process surpassing Russia, Brazil and Italy. This would also make India the world’s seventh largest economy. The IMF had also stated that the post-election recovery of confidence in India had also provided an opportunity for that country to embark on its much-needed structural reforms. The rapid growth of last decade has been underscored by the increasing speed of structural changes that began in nineties and accelerated in 2000s. This change has been characterized by a very fast expansion of services, a rather slow and gradual rise of industry and steel decline of agriculture in the economy. As new information and communication technologies emerged in nineties and later, new businesses emerged in services arena which has facilitated the rise of 54 I August 2015
After two years of stagnant growth, Indian economy grew at a healthy rate to cross the two trillion mark
services segment. Unfortunately, the improvement of technology did not percolate sufficiently to industry and not at all to agriculture, resulting in their relative weakening in the overall economic calculus. The rise of the knowledge economy, which is reflected in the services sector has been the most emphatic feature of transforming nature of the Indian economy. However, now the government of India has embarked on the drive to strengthen the manufacturing sector.
Rise in inequality India is a land of disparity. Some disparities, like culture or religion, make India beautiful while other like economy and income make it ugly. The economy might be doing well as the World Bank report indicates, but that does not mean that all sections of society have equal stake in the rising income and wealth
of the country. In fact, greater wealth is being increasingly cornered by lesser and lesser number of people even as the vast majority sees its lot getting worse. So the all rhetoric around the $2-trillion economy kicks a big debate that where the wealth is going? If India has added one trillion dollar to its economy, why it has had so little impact in economic condition of such a large number of people and why is disparity increasing so fast? An Asian Development Bank study indicates that, the Gini coefficient (a widelyused measure of inequality; the higher the value, higher the income gap) has worsened in India between 1993 and 2009-10, going up from 33 to 37. Data on household consumption expenditure, collected by National Sample survey Office under the Ministry of Programme Implementation, could be used as a proxy to analyse income www.governancetoday.co.in
SECTOR-WISE CONTRIBUTION OF GDP OF INDIA (1950-2014)
BREAKUP OF INDIA’S GDP BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY (2013-14)
inequality. The data captured in the table shows the difference between rural and urban income from 2004-’05 to 2011-’12. It shows that the urban rich are getting the biggest pie of the wealth. Surprisingly, the rise in inequality is not isolated to urban India. There is great economic gap among the rural population too. If we look at the sector-wise contribution to the GDP we will find while the contribution of agriculture has been decreasing since Independence, but that of service is increasing perpetually. This implies that the rural population, that constitutes 70 per cent of the total population, is not as active in economy as it should have been. So they are not getting share in the economic growth too. Inequality remains a key socioeconomic challenge in India as in many other developing countries. The Gini coefficient - a measure of income inequality - between early 1990s and late 2000s increased from 30.8 to 33.9 in India. Weaker labour market institutions, inadequate social protection systems, poor-quality education, inadequate access to credit and land and excessive asset concentration are among the factors for widening income gaps, the report said. The gap between rich and poor is widespread in the region and continuing to grow in many countries...the poorest 20 per cent of the population accounts for less than 10 per cent of national income.
INCOME IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS TOP AND BOTTOM DECILES (Rs)
A wealthier India should be a matter of pride and happiness for all Indians not just a few. And it is incumbent upon the government to take necessary steps to ensure that even the lower strata of society benefit from the economic growth. For this it is important to ensure that the economic opportunities are not isolated in certain pockets and are available to all working class segments, from white collar to blue collar. And wherever markets fail, the government must be ready with intent and capabilities to intervene to make sure that no section of population is living a less than dignified life. Only then can India be a truly wealthy and just country. praveen@governancetoday.co.in
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MONEY MATTERS
Marksheet fee, ever heard of? Several schools are charging money from students
The parents of the student are ignorant of the fact that no such rule exists
Sagarika Ranjan THERE IS no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace. These are the words of former Secretary General of United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan. He talks about the children’s rights and respect for these rights, however, there are many educational institutions in our country who find his words Greek. Here we are talking about some institutions that believe that education is free but 56 I August 2015
marksheets are not. There are schools that are charging as much as Rs 3000 for board exam marksheets from students. “We work for poor kids and provide them free education but marksheets are not free. Our school charges for providing marksheets of board examination and certificates to children. This has been there for years and everyone complains,” said the principal of a school that has been charging money in lieu of the board marksheet. So education is free and a right! Uniforms, mid-day meals and books are free but the basic document that authenticate the educational qualifications, the very essentials of the education system---Marksheets, comes
at a cost. Several schools across the country are charging money to provide board marksheets to the students and the poor parents, ignorant of the fact no such rule exists, are paying money for marksheets that is free and their right. Strangely, this has been a practice for years and no action has been taken so far. The amount ranges from Rs. 400 or lesser to as much as 3000 and above. And there is no receipt for the payment. Talking to media, the principals of these schools have several reasons to justify their “marksheet fee”. One of them includes “This is not for marksheets but for the certificates that are provided along with the marksheets.” So, according to these www.governancetoday.co.in
schools’ administration, these four or five sheets of papers, needed to prove the authenticity of a students’ years of labor, cost from hundreds to thousands of rupees. Where are the laws? Where are the authorities concerned and the worst of all, why are the parents bowing to this? Here are the stories: CASE I: Happy at the score of over 85 per cent, an IIT aspirant goes to collect his marksheet. Along with the copy of admit card and school id, he is asked to pay Rs. 3000 as “marksheet fee”. Here the kid and his parents very polietly try to reason the demand for money. They are told, “this is the rule of our school. All others have paid, why are you so reluctant?” Sheepishly, the father pays the fees for the marksheet thinking that rules differ from school to school and the practice continues.... CASE II: Getting through a very prestigious college, a law aspirant is demanded Rs 1500 in lieu of the marksheets. Going a little bold the student denies to pay and opposes the illegal practice. The result is shameful. The parent is insulted by the principal of the school and threatened that the marksheet will be forfeited. Scared that delay in marksheet may hamper his ward’s future, the parent pays for the marksheet and forgets about it. CASE III: Another student goes to collect the marksheet and simply pays off without any questioning thinking that this is a rule. These were some of the parents we met. Some did not know that this was illegal and willingly paid the amount while some were scared that the marksheets of their kids might be seized by these school and thus, to save their child’s future they made the payments. These schools are openly making a mockery of the laws and the administration while the authorities concerned are passing the buck on to the parents. Officials at the CBSE office admit that they have been receiving some verbal complaints every now and then but as nothing has been received in writing, no concrete action could be taken. Surprisingly, the department has www.governancetoday.co.in
never taken suo-moto cognizance of this widely practiced practice of taking money for marksheets. When confronted by the media, the school authorities deny any such charges and assert that the students are given marksheets and other certificates free of cost. One of the school officials did accept that money is being charged and explained that as they had lost some money in some transaction they were “forced” to take some “nominal amount
students remains insulated from any punitive action. However, till there is no awareness about the fact that whatever is happening is illegal, nothing could be done. Time and again there have been lack of trust in the checks and balancing authorities of our country and this is another glaring example of the kind of security the common people have been provided with. Parents do not trust the authorities concerned much, no one dares to
Talking to media, the principals of such schools gave several reasons to justify their “marksheet fee”. One of them includes “This is not for marksheets but for the certificates that are provided along with the marksheets.” from the students”. Reacting to this, one of the victim parents said: “Who gave them the right to recover their losses from the students. These are all excuses and these are the people who make black money and the result is that the nation suffers.” Activists working in the field of education allege that there is a big nexus in which all these institutions and even government officials are involved. Whatever money they get is shared among all these people involved and thus the entire system that fleeces
complain against these law breakers for law in India does not culminate in deliverance of justice but into a never ending, torturing and cumbersome vicious circle of visits to the courts. As one of the parents says, “When I tried to threaten these school people of complaining against them, they confidently shrug off the threat saying ‘Sir, wo bhii toh khaate hai’!” edit@governancetoday.co.in
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DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Panchayats are ill equipped Local bodies can play crucial role in disaster management
Flood has been the most common natural disaster India faces every year
Sonali Patnaik NATURE GIVES and nature takes. Climate change, dynamic geophysical activities, unprecedented, unaccounted burgeoning cities, industrial belts and setting up of powerhouses and dams without requisite environmental clearances have led to great loss of life and destruction. India has been witness to some large, devastating, heart wrenching natural disasters. The Bengal Famine (1770 and 1943), Calcutta cyclone (1737), Latur Earthquake (1993), Odisha Super Cyclone (1999), Gujarat Earthquake (2001), 58 I August 2015
Tsunami (2004), Maharashtra floods (2005), Kosi floods of Bihar (2008), Drought effecting 10 States/ 252 districts in 2009 whence floods devastated the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra the same year, Cloudburst-Leh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir (2010), Sikkim Earthquake (2011), Uttarakhand floods (2013) and Cyclone Phailin in Odisha 2013 are examples of some of the worst natural disasters to hit the country. Such events of natural disasters have been occurring on a regular basis, impacting large number of people, directly or indirectly. The National Disaster Management
Act, 2005 is a way forward for disaster risk reduction and mitigation, outlining dos and don’ts for all institutions- Government and Non-Government. Also, agencies such as WHO, FAO, United Nations, International Red Cross Society as well as many International NGOs (like ActionAid and Oxfam) have come up with their own standard operating processes on disaster management, mitigation, relief and rescue operations and early warning systems from the community to the national and international level. Further, the Sphere Project was launched in the late 90s to set standards for humanitarian assistance, www.governancetoday.co.in
accountability in the humanitarian system while providing support to those impacted by natural disasters.
PANCHAYAT’S ROLES
Our center has been involved with community based disaster management for long and during our work, we often ask ourselves how prepared are we? How aware are we? How can we minimize risks of loss of life and assets? From our various community based disaster risk management exercises, we have come to believe that involving Gram Panchayats in the process of disaster management is crucial and for this purpose, working with local authorities is important.
Role of Panchayats in Disaster Management The simplest way to address issues around rescue, relief, mitigation, management, rehabilitation and reconstruction is to involve and have dialogues with Gram Panchayat functionaries (closest Government representatives to the community and selected from among them and thus more responsible) and to use the mobile technology for early warning. Often in our work, we initiated joint dialogues between communities and the panchayat members on which areas are most vulnerable to natural disasters, which households are most vulnerable, what safety nets should be in place and who would be responsible for each category of operation, what the mitigation measures are and how to recover from losses. These regular dialogues result in an understanding between the community and the panchayats to work together, be warned off about the approaching cyclone or flood etc. and what precautions be taken so that the loss of human life, livestock and assets minimized. We have also worked with government schemes for restarting livelihoods of affected people. Since 1999, we have come a long way off. The role of panchayats in disaster management has been realized and given due importance. The National Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Chapter VI) states clearly that under the directions of a direct authority, local authorities should ensure that it’s officers and employees are trained for disaster management , make readily available resources relating to disaster management so that www.governancetoday.co.in
Comprehensive disaster management plan preparation within their area covering vulnerability to different disasters, including provision, preparedness, mitigation, responsibility, warning, emergency operations, rescue, evacuation, relief, recovery and rehabilitation; Undertaking measures for provision, mitigation and disaster preparedness; Issuing timely, accurate warning to all concerned; Arranging rescue operations, rehabilitation of effected population, boats, transportation locally Providing prompt and early response to disaster, especially for rescue and relief Procure essential items, raise resources, distribute medicine, food, safe drinking water, other consumables; Establish communication links; Provide health facilities and adopt safety measures; Disseminate information to public on entitlement, benefit packages, any information related to the community; Construct, manage, maintain safe shelter homes and go downs; Ensuring update of Disaster Management Plan and upgradation of skills of disaster management teams.
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they can face natural disasters; ensure all construction projects under it or within its jurisdiction confirm to standards, specifications for preventing impact of disasters and as mitigation measures; Undertake relief rehabilitation, reconstruction in affected areas as per State Plan and District Plan and may take necessary measures as required. Unfortunately, today we stand at a junction where the role of Panchayats in disaster management has not been duly acknowledged by many States and Union Territories. How can there be a State and District level plan without a grassroots plan initiated by a Gram Panchayat? But one would rarely come across Gram Panchayat members being aware of disaster management and their role, exceptions being the State of Gujarat and Odisha where some standard operating procedures for Gram Panchayats in Disaster Management have been drafted and some capacity building and training on the subject done. But there has not been much done in the rest of the country and in the absence of a need based plan coming from the Gram Panchayat and its villages, minimal loss of life and assets could be a far-fetched dream.
Experience of select states How far does this match with what is happening in States (exceptions- Odisha, Gujarat, Sikkim and West Bengal)? Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana in their State Level Panchayat Act have activities for Gram Panchayats limited to relief and rescue measures. No training for Gram Panchayat functionaries on relief, rescue and other operations related to disaster management has been taken up yet. For one district in Bihar there exists a Disaster Risk Reduction Plan. Although it talks of processes, there is no role of panchayats except that the WASH committee will be involved. Similarly, among the Union Territories, Lakshadweep has no roles outlined for disaster management, Dadra Nagar Haveli has limited their panchayat’s role to relief work, while Daman and Diu have gone a step ahead by forming a District Disaster Management Authority headed by the Collector, CEO District Panchayat, President cum Councilor of the District 60 I August 2015
Panchayat are members. Again, although there are recurring floods, their role is limited to providing immediate relief through readily available field staff and assisting district authorities. These facts indicate that the district and state level plans may not be need based and may not minimize loss. In contrast, West Bengal, Gujarat, Sikkim and Odisha have gone ahead with capacity building and training of Panchayat functionaries on disaster management mostly through the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRDs) and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Institute for Public Administration (SPIPA), Gujarat. In West Bengal such training is limited to Zilla Parishad (district level) functionaries. Gujarat and Odisha have extended training from Zilla Parishad to the Gram Panchayat with clearly outlined roles and responsibilities including micro planning. Here there is some hope of disaster risk reduction. However, not all Panchayat functionaries are trained, elections see a change in functionaries, there exists a need for regularized training and ground level plan preparation by panchayats. In Gujarat the Gujarat Institution of Disaster Management (GIDM), which is part of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), has come up with the “Cyclone Mitigation & Management� training program. Information on if and how many panchayat functionaries have been trained is to be seen. A manual on the role of panchayats in disaster management in Gujarati has also been developed. NGO Unnati has been involved in such training programs for panchayats. The Gujarat Government has stressed on the involvement of Taluka Panchayat in disaster management. Schedule II of the Gujarat Panchayat Act 1993 mentions about the establishment and management of relief centres in times of natural calamities such as famine and scarcity, floods, fire and earthquake at the taluka level. For Gram Panchayats it mentions- providing immediate relief in cases of floods, fires, epidemics and other natural calamities. A Taluka Disaster Management Plan, covering data requirements
for socio-economic vulnerability and risk assessment of natural disasters on communities exists at Taluka level. This includes profile, demography, physiography, climate, occupation, disaster analysis, area vulnerability to damages & risks, schemes for response, strategy for disaster management, details of the Taluka Disaster Management Committee ( members include Taluka Panchayat functionaries also), important contact and phone numbers. This plan seems to be a bottoms up plan based on the concept of Community Based Disaster Preparedness. Further, the Taluka plan is a compilation of village level disaster management plans, the consolidation of which is into risk and vulnerability maps to ensure quick response, mitigation measures. This is again done by using an IT system called the State Disaster Response Network (SDRN) launched on the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN). However, how many such plans are actually village level plans and how the Gram Panchayat which is closest to the community is involved in the planning process, is yet to be accounted for. In Sikkim, the role of Zilla Parishad in disaster management is greater than that of gram panchayats. Their Act indicates that the Zilla Parishad could assist in assessment of damages during natural calamity, training on rescue and relief operation; coordination with District Relief Committee and Village Relief Committee; Invest in preventive measures and also preparedness, maintain and take care of minor repairs between Rs10-20 Lakhs, while, the role of Gram Panchayats was limited to control of forest fires. In Odisha, the government has come up with a Department Specific Disaster Management Plan. Accordingly, the Department of Panchayats considers the Disaster Management Plan as a living document needing regular updates. It covers hazard, vulnerability, capacity, risks, profile, nature and frequency of disaster, extent of damage to Panchayat department, existing capacities to deal with such situation, risk analysis, prevention, mitigation and preparedness plans. It asks for disaster specific plans to be www.governancetoday.co.in
The effective disaster management system saved many lives during cyclone Phailin in Odisha
created and its integration into development plans and projects. It also focuses on response plan, forecasting, warning, trigger mechanism, role of response teams, reporting procedures, and standard operating procedures. Interestingly, it also stresses on knowledge management to minimize risks. Further, it is a bottoms up approach in Odisha, wherein village level disaster management committees will come up with village level disaster management plans. These will be consolidated by gram panchayats (GP) in the gram panchayat disaster management committee, then GP level plans consolidated at the block level disaster management committee, followed by compilation at the district level disaster management committee and then the district control room. In Odisha, the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) especially Gram Panchayats has been elaborated in three phases- pre disaster, during disaster, post disaster. The PRIs are mandated to www.governancetoday.co.in
create awareness on the subject, ensure mitigation measures are in place and that all concerns of all people from all communities are integrated based on vulnerability. They also undertake the necessary early warning, opening up of safe buildings, evacuation and rescue, relief work, sanitation, stocking ration, medication, first aid, damage assessment, safe disposal etc. Thus, the role of Gram Panchayats is not limited to just rescue and relief. The reason why the Government of Odisha has been able to deal with floods and cyclones such as cyclone Phailin so effectively and has internationally been recognized is because of its inclusive approach in disaster management and preparedness and bringing together all stakeholders with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Conclusion Given our findings and experience in community based disaster management,
we strongly feel that panchayats can play a much bigger and effective role in minimizing the risks of disasters. For this, policy level changes in the state level panchayat acts of all states and union territories are required so as to give them role beyond rescue and relief. Additionally, there is need to build capacities of gram panchayat functionaries on micro planning, socio-economic vulnerability & risk assessment, participatory rural assessment methods, early warning systems, damage assessment, rescue and relief methods. Integrating panchayats and village level institutions in the planning process would ensure that most vulnerable section of population can be reached in case of any disaster. Optimal use of latest technologies and integrating these at the Panchayat level with easy method and approach can make disaster risk reduction more effective and save more lives when any disaster strikes. (The writer is the director of Arupa Mission Research Foundation, Gurgaon) edit@governancetoday.co.in
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ADVERTORIAL
Revolutionizing Data Management in Smart Cities CEL works out a novel tool for real time data collection and computing for bringing smart city functionality to peri-urban areas
Central Electronics Limited has come up with a novel technology that will revolutionise the data is managed in a smart city
Atul Bhargava GENERATION, COLLECTION and transmission of data in real time is the central and crucial aspect of planning for a smart city. Without such seamless transmission of data, any public service would neither be reliable not efficient. As such, technology and mechanism to assimilate and transmit data is something that all city administrations invariably look for as a backbone to their smart 62 I August 2015
city project. Keeping this requirement in mind, Central Electronics Ltd. (CEL) has come up with a novel technology that aims to revolutionize the way data is managed in a smart city environment. If the smart city is imagined as a vast neural network with multiple inputs, systems and feedback loops, then what types of physical platforms could function as neurons within the network? This is a crucial question and the “smart tree” project aims to answer
it. The “smart tree” would integrate self-generated solar energy for wireless mesh network nodes, CCTV cameras and other security equipment, pollution sensors, dust sensors, and street lighting into a single physical node. This node would be equipped with flexible ports left open for unforeseen future uses. All of the data collected by the smart tree would be routed through the wireless mesh to a central city government control room in real time. In addition, www.governancetoday.co.in
with the advances in cheap and powerful embedded computing devices, it would be able to modulate and act on the collected information in real time. In keeping with government priorities, the smart tree could provide local users high speed wireless internet connectivity through a separate channel from the backhaul frequency, enabling seamless connectivity with uninterrupted data collection.
through another smart tree. • Flexibility: The system is not hardwired. The platform can accommodate current technologies as well as future technologies that might be installed subsequently. • Sustainability: The system is powered through renewable energy. Apart from mitigating CO2 by offering renewable street lighting, such a physical platform would serve as a functional billboard for
Product features CEL is developing the smart tree through rapid iteration. Its goal is to quickly iterate in response to initial feedback to achieve a market-ready product in minimal time. The product offers these basic characteristics: • Modularity: Each node is selfsustaining and independently powered. This means that there is no need for additional data or power wiring. Also, this eliminates reliance on unreliable and disaster-vulnerable power networks. As soon as a new platform is added, it will become part of the mesh network without any need for network configuration. • Robustness through network redundancy: As in the human brain, if a single ‘neuron’ shuts down, the data can be routed
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pollution data, each node would measure temperature and wind speed. Using computational fluid dynamic techniques, these measurements could be used to compute the likely distribution of air pollution in the region. This overlay could be ported to a platform such as Google maps, or to the smart city control room for near real-time mitigative action. Not only this, the compute layer would enable real time application of the data. Examples are using computer
If the smart city is imagined as a vast neural network with multiple inputs, systems and feedback loops, then what types of physical platforms could function as neurons within the network? sustainability efforts undertaken by a city or township. Data collected from a system of smart trees would serve as a discrete sample set on which a model could provide a map-based data overlay of high resolution near real-time spatial data in a city. For example to create an air pollution data overlay, in addition to
vision to prioritize the transmission of CCTV feeds with a higher threat level and having an app which alerts citizen to local allergen levels.
System features • Smart street lighting based on usage patterns.
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• Each node offers a 2.4 GHz wireless hotspot for citizen access. • Each node amalgamates relevant information about the local environment including air pollution, traffic congestion, microclimate, and security camera feeds. This data is relayed over the same 5.8 GHz backhaul channel to a central location for processing, amalgamation and delivery in real time to the end-user (in this case the local government). • Each node could include a “Suraksha” (SOS) button and emergency callbox, both of which would be connected to local police. • The sensors are networked using low cost Arduino microcontrollers, which relay data to an energy efficient, inexpensive intelligence hub such as the Raspberry Pi. The Pi, which has all the functionality of a computer, is connected to the wireless internet access point in each tree, and sends data in real time.
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End-user features • Outdoor, modular, high bandwidth, and reliable wireless internet access. • Solar powered, smart street lighting with automatic dimming. • Easy to upgrade plug and play network topology. New nodes can be added without any manual configuration of the network. • Renewably powered, disaster resilient, electricity grid independent functionality. • Security and CCTV monitoring for decreased police and emergency response times. • Real time, high resolution data collection of environmental variables for the local government. Presentation of this data in an easy to understand, “heat map” format to local governments using computational fluid dynamics techniques. • Aesthetically pleasing, biomimetic platform that acts as a tangible billboard for renewable energy and smart technologies by marrying the
concepts of “smartness” and “sustainability” within a networked data collection-cum-internet access node.
Existing pilots CEL is in talks with various institutions such as IIT Delhi and the University of Chicago to develop a pilot at scale. Sites under consideration include Hauz Khas village in New Delhi as well as the campus of IIT Delhi.
Opportunities The opportunities for a product such as this are boundless. For greenfield smart cities, this product can house all street level infrastructure such as traffic lights and lighting while adding security components, high level environmental sensing and distributed computation. For brownfield smart cities, this product has the opportunity to combine various elements of a smart city and bring it to a peri urban environment. (The writer is the GM Marketing of Central Electronics Limited, New Delhi) edit@governancetoday.co.in
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NORTHEAST DAIRY
Suffering under AFSPA Karbis have been on the receiving end since pre-independence era
The act has been criticised in the past and the demand to repeal it gained momentum in the last decade
Dharamsing Teron IN A shocking manner, the plight of Karbi people have again come to forefront, which is mostly ignored in the larger discourse of national polity. The rape of three Karbi women, including a minor, allegedly by army men last April in an interior Sarthe Tokbi village under Dokmoka Police Station of Assam, is one of the few such cases which have managed to attract the attention of the National Human Rights Commission, which recently had issued notices to the Defense Ministry and Assam Police www.governancetoday.co.in
‘raising serious issue of human rights violation.’ Such cases of human rights abuses taking place in the backwaters of Karbi hills only rarely manage to draw national media attention, thus providing the perpetrators the perfect cover to carry out such heinous crimes. The case of under-aged victims of alleged army rape reported from Dikhlem in June 2002, in West Karbi Anglong, which has remained buried in officialdom is a sad and unfortunate reminder of this trend. Such untold sufferings of the Karbis, hailed till recently as the most peaceful peoples in the Northeast, has a history since the dawn of independence.
Long before even a single insurgent bullet was fired in the Central Assam’s vast hilly region of Karbi Anglong, where the majority of the TibetoBurman speaking Animist Karbis live, the infamous ‘Assam Disturbed Areas Act, 1955’, largely patented out of the colonial ‘Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance of 1942’, was put in place with ‘clockwork regularity,’ along the boundaries shared by both Karbi and Naga Hills, to ‘meet with the exigencies of the Naga insurgency’. This State Act was followed three years later by the ‘Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958’, a piece of August 2015 I
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Irom Sharmila has been the face of anti - AFSPA protests
Central legislation, identical to the State legislation. The Karbis who had nothing to do with insurgency or violence of any form then were forced to suffer by default. Still, no voice of protest raised from anywhere in the Brahmaputra or Barak valleys. Curiously enough, the law did not include in its purview the other hills district of the Dimasa tribesman which together with the Karbi district were inaugurated in 1951 as the ‘United Mikir and North Cachar Hills’. The State of Assam persisted with the proclamation of the ‘Disturbed Areas Act’ in the Karbi Hills along the Naga boundary, renewing it every six months, which effectively restricted the basic democratic and constitutional rights of the Karbis. This meant that the Karbi tribesmen were frequently arrested, detained and released only after paying for their freedom for no fault of theirs whatsoever. There are official data which shows that the Karbi hills reported the lowest rate of conviction in the entire state of Assam in those days. The sufferings of the Karbis are rooted to the colonial administration of ‘Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas’ which combined both judicial and executive powers under a single authority of the British Deputy Commissioner, who could both arrest and also try, thereby killing the law of natural justice. The Karbi areas were included in the ‘Excluded and Partially Excluded Area’ legislation of the Government of India 66 I August 2015
Act of 1937. A Congress Party study of the same year condemned the legislation as ‘a system of administration in all tribal areas…highly authoritative and autocratic.’ It also said that “frontier tracts are kept under a ‘form of military occupation’ by the British and that ‘all executive and judicial powers in those areas are concentrated in the hands of a few government officials, usually headed by a Deputy Commissioner who was vested with almost dictatorial authority in all matters. In most cases he is the District Magistrate as well as the Sessions Judge and the highest Executive Officer. The Provincial High Courts do not exercise any jurisdiction over these tracts. The appeal from the Deputy Commissioner’s Court lies to the Commissioner of the Division in which the area is situated. The Police force is in many cases hardly distinguishable from a military detachment. It is fully armed and enforces law and order ruthlessly. The penalties for the violation of excise and forest laws are no less severe. The administration of justice is crude and speedy. Middlemen between the Magistrate and the accused vakils, mukhtars etc. are usually discouraged by the officials who being all powerful are checked, neither by public opinion nor by administrative control, from acting in an extremely high-handed manner. Severe punishments and repression are defended by the officials on the pretense that the tribal people are warlike who
cannot be kept under control without strong and drastic measures, and the law by concentrating all authority, executive, judicial and to a considerable extent even legislative, in the hands of a few officials provides for such measures’, which is dictatorial, ruthless and autocratic.” The report, thus paints a rather cruel and inhuman rule of British in the area. The colonial law is still intact in the Karbi and Dimasa hills regions as the Assam State legislation of 2009 to separate the judicial and executive arms of the administration is yet to take effect which means that the Karbis and Dimasas continue to be deliberately denied justice and democracy. In essence, therefore, the colonial thought process continues and the once condemned ‘dictatorial, ruthless and autocratic,’ oppression continues to torment not only the Karbis, but many other communities of the Northeast. Often non-combatant civilians are targeted on mere suspicions which instigates many to raise arms. The plight of Karbis is representative of the popular feeling of the Northeast where the brutal AFSPA has been a major source of alienation of people. Even as an analysis of how it has helped maintain law and order is sorely required which may decide its existence and form, successive governments have taken the easy way of just continuing with the law. While the mainstream media devotes some space to Sharmila Irom who has waged a prolonged war against the inhuman AFSPA, not enough time and space has been accorded to the debating the impact of the law on the psyche of the general population of the Northeast. Already there are fears that the popular mindset of the region could permanently change against India because of the ham handed manner in which the region has been governed. It is high time that the government of India and Assam realize that law and order cannot be enforced only with brutal laws, winning hearts and minds of people is equally, perhaps even more important. Unfortunately, the message has so far been lost under the sounds of bullets. (The writer is an author and a freelance writer from Karbi Anglgong, Assam) edit@governancetoday.co.in
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INTERVIEW
HEAVY MINERALS MINING NEEDS ENCOURAGEMENT FROM GOVT
EVER WONDERED where India stands in the world in production of heavy minerals? Although it has nearly 35 per cent of world deposits, the country’s contribution to the global production is only four per cent. The Heavy Minerals Mining (HMM) industry constitutes only two per cent of the entire mining done in India. That cuts a sorry figure considering these minerals are used for critical applications in diverse industries ranging from electronics to defense. To discuss the issues involved and policy paralysis that plagues the sector, RAMESH KUMAR RAJA talked to V SUBRAMANIAN, Director, VV Mineral (VVM), India’s largest producer and exporter of Garnet and Ilmenite. VVM also happens to be the first private Ilmenite exporter in India. Edited excerpts.
Give us a brief overview of the heavy minerals market in India? What is its size? HMM industry comprises mainly of Ilmenite, Zircon, Rutile, Garnet, Sillimanite and Leucoxene extracted from beach mineral sands found in tailings along the 7,500 kilometres Indian coastline. These minerals also include ones with high specific gravity, such as titanium and rare earths found only in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Unlike other major minerals that are fully exhausted after mining, heavy mineral sands are replenishable due to constant winds and beach deposits; only 20 per cent is recovered as minerals, while the balance 80 per cent sand is backfilled into the mined area. Used for critical applications in many diverse industries, they are also termed strategic minerals. Given these facts, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board strictly regulates the HMM industry and the sector was opened up to the private players only in 1998. India has nearly 35 per cent of world deposits but contributes only four per cent of global production. The total beach sand resources in India are at 942.58 million tonnes.
V Subramanian, Director, VV Mineral (VVM) www.governancetoday.co.in
How much does heavy minerals constitute in the total mining done in India? August 2015 I
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The Heavy Minerals Mining industry constitutes a paltry two per cent of the entire mining done in India as the major focus is on mining iron ore, coal, bauxite, etc. India imports most of its requirements as far as Heavy Minerals are concerned, which depletes forex reserves. Although India possesses the world’s largest reserves of ‘Heavy Mineral sands’ [~ 25- 28 per cent], yet its exploitation is dismally low [~5- 6 per cent]. USA, Australia and South Africa having only about 11-12 per cent reserves each, have more than 25 per cent share in the exploitation of the beach mineral sands.
What are these heavy minerals, where all they find utility and how are they important for Indian economy? Heavy minerals primarily comprise Ilmenite, Zircon, Rutile, Monazite, Garnet, Sillimanite and Leucoxene. With critical applications in many industries such as electronics, ceramics, pigments, paints, paper, plastics, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defence – they are also called ‘strategic minerals’ and are important for our economy as they finds applications in a large number of industries. For example, Garnet is widely used as an abrasive in oil producing companies for corrosion control. Ilmenite and Rutile are Titanium feedstock used mainly for producing Tio2 pigment and small quantities in production of welding electrodes. Zircon is used in ceramic tiles as an opacifier and in refractory for insulation.
Why is the heavy minerals sector still a nascent industry? What are the major policy bottlenecks that have led this industry to grow at such a lethargic pace despite the presence of rich deposits of heavy minerals in India? Though this is a hundred year old industry, private sector was allowed entry only three decades back. So this budding sector needs government 68 I August 2015
support but in reality, government keeps on imposing more and more restrictions. It is nascent as there is little awareness about this industry and its immense potential to the Indian economy. Some of the following policy bottlenecks responsible for lethargic growth are enumerated below. •
18 agencies are involved in granting permission for mining and processing applications out of which 7 are from the state concerned and 11 are from the Central Government
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There are 30 conditions laid down by the Ministry of Environment & Forest while clearing mining projects, some of which are impracticable
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The CRZ requirements are also not in favour of Beach Mineral industry. For example, processing units cannot be set in the coastal areas coming under the CRZ. This leads to putting up plants far away from the mining areas which increases the transportation expenses as the remnant sand has to be brought back to the mining site for refilling.
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Export licenses are issued for only one year and renewal is a cumbersome process
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10 per cent export duty on Ilmenite makes the Indian industry very uncompetitive in international market. No other country has imposed export duty on Ilmenite
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Lack of port infrastructure. Most of the mineral operations are in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. We don’t have port that’s deeper than 11–13 meters. This makes us ship in small ships, making the freight more expensive.
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Lack of sufficient power, which again makes our own captive generation using diesel generators very expensive, almost thrice the cost of grid power
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Lack of natural gas, forces us to use diesel or furnace oil, which makes us competitive against Chinese Tio2 manufacturers & Cheap imports of pigments from China
What are the opportunities in the heavy minerals mining sector? There is plethora of opportunities in this sector. The Government allowed private participation in this industry in the year 1998, only after realizing its massive potential. The HMM industry could yield nearly Rs 30,000 crore to the exchequer if exploited sustainably. Worldwide, mining is akin to oxygen for the manufacturing industry. Without mining, manufacturing would soon collapse like a pack of loose cards. To boost India’s GDP and make inclusive growth a reality, mining needs to grow in a big way and hurdles cleared in the mineral supply of industry. The situation has definitely improved after private players have been allowed in this industry. We contribute almost close to five per cent of the world’s heavy mineral production. But challenges remain in form of lack of infrastructure, export duty and problems in obtaining mining leases. But given a slight attention from Government, we can easily surpass countries like Australia and South Africa and contribute more than 50 per cent of the world’s production. Our reserves are huge and average percentage of heavy mineral is one of the highest in the world.
Where do you foresee this industry in next five years? This industry, if driven positively with right policy incentives, can be the most promising sector in the next five years. There is very little awareness about the heavy minerals, but given the diverse applications of Rare Earths in sectors such as electronics, aerospace, defence, etc., it is going to raise the bar for countries like Japan who can’t do without these strategic minerals. The growth can be almost 30-50 per cent.
How can future demand be met? In the current scenario, Zircon demand in India is close to 130,000 tonnes. But India produces only 50,000 tonnes; rest is imported. Tio2 pigment’s demand stands at about 300,000 tonnes but only 60,000 tonnes is being produced. As for Rutile, Indian demand is around 40,000 tonnes of www.governancetoday.co.in
VV Mineral has about eight mineral separation plants operating in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu and one in Andhra Pradesh
which, only 18,000 tonnes is produced in the country. Only Ilmenite is being exported, but the infrastructure and policy doesn’t support the value addition of Ilmenite. Globally also, demand for these minerals are going strong and we Indian manufacturers are hardly playing any role other than Garnet. Our domestic market is very young and has a tremendous potential. Current Indian consumption of pigment is only 1.5kg / person, whereas developed countries typically used 4kg / person. The same trend applies for other minerals like Zircon and Rutile as well. Irony is 300 mining applications are pending all over India in this industry. If something is not done by the Government to encourage this industry, we might end up depending on other countries for strategic minerals.
market and who are its close competitors?
We export close to 7,00,000 tonnes of heavy minerals each year which is valued at Rs 850 crores approximately.
VV Mineral has about eight Mineral separation plants operating in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu and one in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh. Each dry plant has own pre-concentration plants near the mine site. We also own a huge fleet of trucks and earth moving equipment, which fully takes care of our logistics requirement. We own 12 warehouses with a whopping storage capacity of 600,000 tonnes just minutes away from Tuticorin port. have full-fledged R&D Department, Exploration team with Drill Rig, Centralised laboratory and first of its kind Ship loader (which can load 21,000 tonnes/ day). All these are prominent infrastructure which is unmatched by any other mineral producer in India. We have few fellow mineral producers in India, namely Indian Rare Earth (Government of India), Trimex Sands, Indian Ocean Garnet Sands, and few other small companies. On Global scale, Rio Tinto, Iluka, Tronox, Kenmare are large corporations indulged in this heavy mineral mining.
What is the infrastructure that you have in place? Where does the VV Mineral stand in Indian
What support do you need from the current dispensation for developing heavy minerals min
What is your annual output of heavy minerals each year in India?
www.governancetoday.co.in
ing in India? •
Single window clearance for the mining industry as it takes a total number of 28 ministries and departments at state and central levels, leading to a total gestation time of more than 2,800 days (nearly eight years) severely impacting the industry.
•
Export Incentives should be provided as the Government last year imposed 10 per cent duty on processed Ilmenite and 5 per cent on unprocessed Ilmenite which make India uncompetitive.
•
Restrictive Import policy i.e., Antidumping duty on TiO2, Rutile and Zircon should be done away with.
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Simplification in process for MoEF as well as CRZ clearances for heavy minerals mining or fix a particular time frame for granting the approval
•
Lastly, there is not a single large scale world class independent mine operating in free market conditions in India. Ironically, the fallout of the restrictions that India has sought to impose on the extraction of natural resources has only resulted in benefiting China which controls 90 per cent of the industry.
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SOCIAL ISSUE
LGBTs seek a dignified life ‘Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard!’ – Harvey Milk (Gay Rights Pioneer) Ritika Bisht “YOU’VE GOT to hide your love away?” Words may seem familiar and so does the artist who wrote and sang them. While the Beatles had dedicated this song to lovers who experience the agony of heartbreak, here it is for LGBT community who for years and years had been in hiding as they fear society (who won’t accept them), as well as the government that has criminalized their sexuality and thus individual choice. India, the largest democracy in the world, announced gay sex as illegal in December 2013 again when the Supreme Court overturned the Delhi High Court’s judgment that decriminalized homosexuality in 2009. India till date retains Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, dating back to 1860 that criminalizes “sex against the order of nature.” Ironically, Britain, who ruled us and imposed this law in the first place,
has now moved on and permits samesex marriage, while we still remains in clutches of the archaic law. One reason behind this seems to be several religious and political groups that were against the 2009 verdict and went to Supreme Court to revoke the judgment which eventually led to prison sentence of up to 10 years for those convicted of homosexual acts. Homophobic nature of our politician can be determined from the fact that earlier this year India, along with 43 other nations, supported the Russian proposal of revoking benefits to samesex partners of UN staff. Although, the resolution was not passed but it did highlight India’s stance when it comes to LGBT community. It is such a shame that our country would join the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq; nations that are notorious when it comes to human rights violations.
The rainbow colored flag not only represents the LGBT community but also signifies that they too belong to the same society as everyone and have the right to choose their companion whether it is male or female. Majority of people still consider them as outcast and consider homosexuality as some sort of disease. The thought of a person being with someone of same sex is inconceivable and abhorrent to them and that is why they would stop anyone who would go beyond the defined boundaries.
Adding Insult to Injury According to Kinsey estimates, there are 50 to 70 million gay people in India living under the fear of being reported. And if bringing Section 377 was not enough then we also have disturbing elements within the society who use the current law not only to benefit their personal interest but also lash out their
The young populaton of India are demanding legal status to LGBTs 70 I August 2015
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The society at large favours the movement
anger on homosexuals. Over the past few years, homosexuals have reported that they have been harassed, raped, abused, blackmailed and they could not report the incident to the police with the fear of being caught and imprisoned. Sonal Giani, an advocacy manager at the Humsafar Trust, which works for LGBT rights, said, “What is becoming increasingly common are gangs whose modus operandi is to befriend victims on gay dating sites, meet them in a hotel room, get them naked and take compromising pictures of them. These gangs threaten to report them to the police if they don’t give them money. They often beat and sexually abuse the victims … but the victims are so scared that they generally don’t tell anyone.” LGBTs have got nowhere to go. They got no choice but to sustain the abuse and keep mum as reporting to police would result in up to 10 years in imprisonment. Home Ministry stats shows, under sections 377, as many as 778 cases were registered from JanuarySeptember 2014, in which 587 people were arrested. However, there is no figure on how many of those charged were LGBT people and heterosexual. Whatever the case, it is disheartening to see the plight of LGBT community as they are www.governancetoday.co.in
punished and imprisoned for what they are and whom they choose to love.
Victims of Discrimination; Affecting Economy Our society is not united; other than LGBT community, there are people present who support them as they feel that choosing a partner is totally an individual choice and thus others should not be affected by it. But not all are welcoming as they find it against nature and thus hold many pre-conceived notions about homosexuals. According to a national daily, certain sections of the society think that gay people are paedophiles and sexual predators. Many of them feel that gay men are feminine and lesbian women are like men. India needs to legalize the rights of LGBT community as a human endeavor because every individual has the right to choose the person who makes them happy, regardless of the gender. An egalitarian society that vouches for equality for all cannot be built on either archaic laws, biased social mindsets and lives under the threat of opinionated groups who work in the guise of ‘maintaining the culture.’ India is known for its tolerance, secularism, diversity and equality; if anything needs to be done for bringing
in the LGBT community in social mainstream, then our government should facilitate this instead of keeping the lid that has suppressed them for so long. They are not criminals or a disease; they are people like us who want to be accepted for who they are. They want to live their life happily and want to contribute to the society and nation instead of living in everyday fear inside the closet. The 153-year old sodomy law instituted by British should be adequately altered to embrace true freedom. Activists, artists, filmmakers and different organizers are playing their part, day-in and day-out, to make people and government reverse their decision and bring in policies that support LGBT rights. But even with the favorable policies we cannot expect to eliminate underlying social apathy towards the community. Social norms are highly entrenched and need more than a change of law to change. They need to change from within and for that, suitable sensitization is required at every level. Section 377 needs to be revisited and discussed threadbare to address the issue not in light of culture, but in light of human reality. That would perhaps make India a genuinely equal society. ritika@governancetoday.co.in
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ART AND CULTURE
Artists need infrastructure
Rajan Shripad Fulari
Could you share with our readers what inspired you to get into the art arena? What ideas and thoughts excite you?
GT Bureau RAJAN FULARI is among the few artists who have also dabbled in film making. His works have been exhibited in National and International Exhibitions held at Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Scotland, London, etc. and many important galleries in India and abroad. He has organized many solo shows including that in Goa, 72 I August 2015
Mumbai, New Delhi & at the Robson Gallery, Halliwells House Museum, Selkirk-Scotland and Gallery TOBIAS KOCKEN, Duisburg, Germany. Winner of more than 15 awards, Fulari is currently the Graphics Studio In-charge at Lalit Kala Akademi, Regional Centre – Chennai. Governance Today spoke to him about his art style and his opinion on the status of art education in the country. Edited excerpts:
Art came as challenge in my early days of childhood. I was in seventh standard when my uncle lured me with a gift, a sketch pens box, if I draw the Ganesh Idol, during the time of Ganesh Chaturthi festival in my native Goa. It’s a major and mostly celebrated festival across cast and religion in Goa. I took the challenge and did draw the Idol but the gift is still awaited as my uncle too passed away. But the challenge engendered in me the love and regards for art field. I was too excited to draw and paint, so I went out of the way to participate in various art events and competitions. I took a lot of interest in Rangoli and I came out to be one of the best Rangoli artist in whole Goa in 80’s and 90’s. This got me close to join the Fine Art College and since then it’s been endless journey. www.governancetoday.co.in
You also went to FTII for film appreciation. What encouraged you to this medium?
portfolios and also some international Print biennale. These have benefited many young and senior artists in India.
After graduation, I joined Goa Doordarshan as a Graphic Artist. This was the time DD was the only channel and used to feature classics in various regional languages. This had deep impact on me as artist. And down the line I developed deep interest in making movies. As I was pursuing Masters degree in printmaking in MS University, I was associated with a film club. As the fascination grew, I took the admission in FTII in 1996.
What according to you are the major challenges that contemporary artists face in the country? What challenges you faced?
What have been the major genres of art that you have worked on and like? And why? As a practicing visual artist I have been practicing various methods and materials. I did my Masters in printmaking and since then I am practicing and promoting printmaking on various aspects of life. But I also do painting and have done a few site specific art installations. But printmaking is closer to my heart. I worked with Lalit Kala Akademi as studio incharge earlier in New Delhi and now in Chennai and during this stint, I have done a number of activities for printmaking. I have coordinated and curated various workshops, camps, print www.governancetoday.co.in
People broadly like and love Art. But art always takes back seat for want of funding. Presently, there is lack of funding for any artist wanting to experiment and practice his or her free expressions. So finance is a major challenge for contemporary artists. Many talented and creative artist across India suffer due to lack of funding and because proper platform to showcase is not yet developed. Although art galleries mushrooming but the fact lies in economics of it.
You have held exhibitions in India and abroad. What difference you see in the way society receives and appreciates art in India and other countries? It’s always encouraging to exhibit in India or abroad. But, surely one really appreciates the organizing and professional touch when it’s done by some of
other countries. We still lack awareness among younger lot. I feel it is a major responsibility for parents and school to make art as part of day-to-day life.
There is a general feeling that institutional structure for promotion of art does not exist in the country which prevents many children from pursuing art as a career. How do you respond to this? Exactly. We lack in our academic structure. I was lucky enough to have a trained artist as an art teacher in my school. Very often, that’s not the case. But having trained teacher is not enough; teacher should motivate and encourage children by understanding the child psychology. Further, our art institutions are becoming mere institution for certificates and degrees. We still follow the pattern set by Britishers. Times have changed and so have the forms of art and its practices and we need to improve accordingly. Merely producing student don’t produce artists. They need to be facilitated with infrastructure and good quality teachers. edit@governancetoday.co.in
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OBITUARY
Bharat loses its ratna Praveen Raman WHEN I was a student, my teachers would often quote APJ Kalam as a role model for me. Today, I think Kalam chose to live a life that will continue to inspire generations to come. He touched the hearts of millions of people and taught us to think big by saying ‘small aim is a crime’. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. His family had limited means and would work hard to earn a living. He started working at an early age to supplement his family’s income by distributing newspapers. In his school years he had average grades but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn and spend hours on his studies, especially mathematics. Kalam graduated with physics from the Madras University, went on to study aerospace engineering, wanted to be a fighter pilot but just missed that bus.
like India 2020 and Wings of Fire and Ignited Minds. Kalam was conferred with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 1997 for his immense and valuable contribution to country’s scientific research and modernisation of defence technology. Kalam did his best in whatever he was signed to. He served as the chief scientific adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period in which he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with Rajagopala Chidambaram, during the testing phase. Media coverage of Kalam during this period made him the country’s best known nuclear scientist. During his term as president, Kalam signed the Office of Profit Bill was the toughest decision he had taken during his tenure. He also
took the controversial decision to impose President’s Rule in Bihar in 2005. In September 2003, in an interactive session in PGI Chandigarh, Kalam supported the need of Uniform Civil Code in India, keeping in view the population of the country. Post retirement, Kalam was actively participating in various assignments and lectures. In his book India 2020, Kalam strongly advocated an action plan to develop India into a “knowledge superpower” and a developed nation by the year 2020. He regarded his work on India’s nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India’s place as a future superpower. Kalam’s life is an example for many of us who want to achieve big through hard work and commitment. With his demise, we have lost a tower of faith who bind together with a responsibility towards our nation. His simplicity and will be remembered always. With his demise, India has lost a real ratna.
But there was no stopping him. The DRDO, ISRO, chief scientific advisor to the prime minister in 1992, the Pokhran 2 nuclear tests... Abdul Kalam straddled them all, till he was elected India’s 11th President in 2002. He redefined the Presidency, crafted a political idiom that spoke to children in a country growing young, whose rise from a lab to the scientific establishment to Rashtrapati Bhavan had earned him the title Missile Man. Kalam remained a bachelor and was a veena player and was deeply interested in Carnatic music. He was vegetarian all his life. Kalam, who was popularly referred as people’s president of India, also wrote 14 books on various topics including bestsellers
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Dr A P J Abdul Kalam (1931 - 2015) www.governancetoday.co.in