Daily News Mail - News of 02/06/2015

Names decided for CVC, CIC

• The Government and the Opposition on June 1 agreed on the names of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). Both positions have been lying vacant for several months and the government has faced significant criticism over the delay in making the appointments, with the Opposition accusing it of ‘fearing transparency.’
• The agreement on the appointments came at two meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, in two different committees.
• While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attended the meeting on selection of CIC, Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the other meeting on CVC.
• Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh was also present at the meetings.
• The senior-most Information Commissioner, Vijai Sharma, is tipped to be the new Chief Information Commissioner, while the former Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, K.V. Chowdary, is understood to be in the running for the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner.

Telangana celebrates, but gloom in A.P.

• The newly carved out State of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh present a contrasting picture a year after the momentous split.
• While the Telangana government has lined up a series of programmes to commemorate the first anniversary of the State formed after a decades-long struggle, the mood is certainly not celebratory in Andhra Pradesh.
• Its Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said more than once that the bifurcation was carried out against the wishes of the people of the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, indicating that the formation of the new State was not a cause for celebration.
• The crux of the division being Hyderabad and the maximum revenue generator going to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh is left to fend for itself.
• A bleak financial scenario is what Andhra Pradesh is facing at a time when Telangana State has registered a revenue surplus for the second consecutive year.
• In the 2014-15 and 2015-16 budgets presented by the new governments, Telangana had recorded revenue surplus of Rs. 301 crore and Rs. 531 crore, while Andhra Pradesh reported revenue deficits of Rs. 6,064 crore and Rs. 7,300 crore respectively.
• This apart, Telanagana has a ready-made metropolis as its capital. AP, which has scarce resources at present, has to build the new capital from scratch. The much-awaited Centre’s help in this regard remains a distant dream.
• AP has been repeatedly pressing the Centre to honour the commitment for a liberal financial assistance to help the new State to cope with its needs. Mr. Naidu has been maintaining that the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had declared on the floor of Parliament that the entire budgetary deficit of the State in the first year of its formation would be borne by the Centre.

Bollywood actors land in a soup for endorsing Maggi

• Amid the controversy over the alleged violation of food safety standards by instant noodles brand, Maggi, Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on June 1 said all players, including Bollywood actors who have endorsed the product, are liable for action under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms.
• Three Bollywood actors – Madhuri Dixit, Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta – have endorsed the product in the past few years.
• The FSSAI has decided to test more samples of Maggi, collected from different States, in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration finding excess levels of lead and mono-sodium glutamate, normally used as a flavour enhancer, in the product.
• Mr. Paswan said a report on the alleged violation by the manufacturer is expected in two to three days.
• He said action can be initiated by the government against the manufacturer (Nestle-India), advertising agency, promoters/endorsers if an unfair trade practice complaint is lodged with the National Consumer Court.
• A complaint can also be filed with Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Act for putting out a misleading advertisement.
• Additional Secretary (Consumer Affairs) G. Gurucharan said the manufacturer and promoter are liable to be fined and asked to put out corrective advertisements. “The brand ambassadors are also liable for action, but the decision will be taken by courts,” he added.
• The government is setting up an authority, under the Department of Consumer Affairs, which will suo motu take cognisance of such claims.
• Corporate houses, however, said the government’s move to make brand ambassadors liable for violation by the product would be “stretching it too far”.

Big plans for new capital

Amaravathi, the capital for Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation, is to be a fabulous riverfront city modelled on Singapore. But quite a few hurdles loom ahead

• Amaravathi, the capital for Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation, is to be a fabulous riverfront city modelled on Singapore. But quite a few hurdles loom ahead.
• The historical region of Amaravathi, chosen to be the capital city of the new Andhra Pradesh, resembles the terrain of 1960s Singapore. But the attempt is to replicate Amaravati as Singapore in the 21st century, a commercial island city-state on the Krishna riverfront. But this will be a mammoth task, given the innumerable hurdles that lie in wait for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
• The bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime left many scars on Andhra Pradesh. The split State has a Rs. 17,000 crore budget deficit, with no capital city to call its own. Though the State machinery has been allowed to function from Hyderabad for 10 years after bifurcation, several departments have had to suffer step-motherly treatment in the new Telangana regime under its first Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao.
• The bifurcation, which took place ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, deeply hurt Telugu pride, but political parties across the spectrum, in their constant attempts to be politically correct, have not revealed these wounds. The loss of Hyderabad, or Cyberabad as it was fondly called, in which Andhra Pradesh has high stakes, was another blow. It was especially painful for Mr. Naidu, whose efforts to conceive of and build Hyderabad into a world-class cyber city are well known.
• While cash-rich Telangana is in celebratory mode on its first birthday, Mr. Naidu has resolved to have no festivities. Instead, there is going to be a Nava Nirmana Deeksha or focus on the building of a new State.
• Mr. Naidu apparently wants to turn this adversity into an opportunity by planning a world-class capital on the banks of the river Krishna. About 7,068 sq. km have been earmarked for the capital region, of which 225 sq. km have been dedicated to Amaravathi, the capital city. In the words of Mr. Naidu, it will not just be “an administrative capital but an economic driver, a people’s capital, and an affordable city”.
• Amaravathi, meaning ‘abode of the immortal’, is a small town in Guntur district, and was specifically chosen by Mr. Naidu to leverage on its rich 2,000-year-old heritage. It was the capital of the Satavahana kings between the 2nd and 3rd century BCE — they ruled most of the country from here — and also an important region for Buddhism.
• Mr. Naidu wants the new capital to be Andhra Pradesh’s pride. “After the bifurcation, he wanted to develop Amaravathi into a world class city and a huge metropolis near Visakhapatnam, as a fitting counter [to Telangana],” said a leader closely associated with the Chief Minister.
• The people’s response to the government’s intended pooling of around 33,000 acres needed for the capital has been positive, according to ministers and officials. The government was able to successfully convince farmers and pool almost half of the land along with ownership rights. The offer of annuity and developed residential and commercial land has been received well by several land owners.
• “Consent letters [have been given] for 33,000 acres and [there has been] agreement on half of the land. This can be termed as the first achievement, first of its kind in the country. People are excited and showing tremendous interest,” said Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Commissioner, N. Srikanth. That the Singapore government has kept its word in submitting a master plan within the stipulated time, as per the agreement, is another milestone according to the government. The foundation stone will be laid today and several programmes are to follow in the coming days.

Dissenting voices

• However, all is not well — there are dissenting voices as well. The opposition is questioning the logic behind using such a huge stretch of agricultural land for building the capital, as this land is one of the green pastures of the State, and provides three kinds of crops. Questions have been raised on the fate of landless labourers and tenant farmers in the region. The whole exercise, the Opposition has said, is an attempt to marginalise farmers and distribute land to corporate entities. Doubts have been raised on the real intent of the government, with fingers pointed at government attempts to arm-twist farmers on land acquisition.
• Adding to the confusion, people from other regions such as coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, which had capital expectations, are growing impatient with the new government’s excessive focus on the capital while ignoring the rest of the State. The government’s lacklustre approach in demanding special status category to Andhra Pradesh from its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has also surprised many observers. While leaders across party lines are busy making safe statements, the people have launched protests, demanding special status. For instance, Guntur-based Mamillapalli Sanjiva Rao braved the scorching sun and spent nearly 38 hours on a cell phone tower, threatening to commit suicide, to protest the delay in declaring Andhra Pradesh’s special status. In another case, Sai Krishna Kota, an assistant professor in Gudlavalleru Engineering College near Vijayawada, went on hunger strike for the same cause.
• While the government is busy joining the dots to clear key infrastructure projects scheduled for completion by 2019, an appeal has been filed by Vijayawada-based Pandalaneni Srimannarayana that the entire region comes under Seismic Zone category-III and is therefore not fit for a capital. “Not just the seismic activity, the earmarked area is black cotton soil which is not suitable for 70-80 storied skyscrapers. That apart, the area is larger than that of the U.S. capital, New York. Is it necessary to build [the] capital here at the cost of farmers’ livelihood? We have abundant government land available elsewhere,” the appellant reasons.
• Mr. Srimannarayana’s appeal is in the National Green Tribunal, and notices have been issued to the Union of India, Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Ministry of Forests and Environment, and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA). The hearing is scheduled for July 27.

Where’s the money?

• There is also concern over raising the funds to build the vast city. This could be another stumbling block for the government, which is currently struggling to pay employee salaries, a fact that came to light in February. A massive hike has been given to employees recently and is going to add to the salary bill. The investment needed for the capital is about Rs. 4 lakh crore, according to a rough estimate by the Chief Minister, but there is no concrete plan in place thus far about how this amount is going to be raised.
• The government has indicated that most of the projects will be taken up through the public-private partnership mode. “These projects may not be viable. The Central Viability Gap Funding (CVGF) is needed and it is mostly unlikely in the present circumstances,” said a top official.
• But an optimistic Mr. Naidu is pinning his hopes on global giants such as the Japan External Trade Organisation, the Japan Bank for International Co-operation, the Energy and Industrial Technology Development, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Singapore’s Tamasec Holdings, and Chinese entities to fund and build the capital.
• Analysts are commenting about a lack of seriousness and a visible gap between theory and practice in the development of a split Andhra Pradesh. The obsession of the Chief Minister and the State departments with Hyderabad, and the stiff resistance from employees to shift to Vijayawada, the base capital, even a year after the bifurcation, citing a lack of facilities, are only adding to the woes of the new State.

“Amaravathi was specifically chosen by Mr. Naidu to leverage on 

its rich 2,000-year-old heritage.” Picture shows the 

Dhyana Buddha in Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh

Why are all satellites and missiles launched from the east coast?

A launch near the equator towards the east direction will get an initial boost equal to the velocity of Earth surface.

• Before we discover the reason, let us know about the Earth’s rotation. When seen from the North Pole, the Earth rotates anti-clock wise. It means in general term, from west to east as we see the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
• The surface velocity of rotation varies from point to point on the Earth. It is about 1600 km per hour or about 460 meters in a second near the equator.
• The velocity gradually reduces as we move to the poles and it is practically zero there. A satellite launched from the sites near the equator towards the east direction will get an initial boost equal to the velocity of Earth surface. This is similar to an athlete circling round and round before throwing a discus or a shot put.
• The initial boost helps in cutting down the cost of rockets used to launch the satellites.
• This is the major reason for launching satellites in the east ward direction. But this benefit can be taken only for such satellites which are placed in geo-stationary orbit or which circle the Earth parallel to the equator. Such satellites are usually communication satellites or satellites used for scientific research such as ISS.
• There are other satellites which are placed in polar orbits moving across the equator in north south direction and used mainly for mapping or some times for spying. Such satellites are generally launched in south ward or north ward direction and therefore cannot take advantage of the Earth’s rotation.
• Another characteristic of launching satellites is that the launching stations are generally located near eastern coast line so that, just in case of failure of the launch, the satellite does not fall on built-up hinterland.

Core industries’ output dips 0.4 % in April

• Output of the eight core industries shrunk 0.4 per cent in April against growth of 5.7 per cent during the same month last year. Growth in production has declined every month since November 2014.
• The contraction in April, mainly on account of the poor generation of electricity and declining output of cement, refinery products and fertiliser, came on the back of March’s marginal decline of minus 0.1 per cent.
• Coal and steel were only two sectors in which output grew, showed official data released on June 1, a day ahead of the Reserve Bank’s scheduled monetary policy review.
• Coal production grew 7.9 per cent, steel output grew but at 0.6 per cent in April as against 6.9 per cent in the same month last year.
• The eight sectors contribute 38 per cent to the overall industrial production. 

Daily News Mail - News of 01/06/2015

World No Tobbaco Day - 31 May

Modi to be first Indian PM in Israel

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Israel, making him the first Indian Premier to visit the country, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here on May 31.
• Addressing a press conference to recount the achievements of the External Affairs Ministry in the past year, Ms. Swaraj said the PM’s “dates were not confirmed”, but that they were being “worked out.”
• Sources told The Hindu the visit could happen this year itself, with a high-level Indian team travelling to Tel Aviv in July for discussions on several bilateral issues.
• Ms. Swaraj also said she would visit Israel, Palestine and Jordan later this year, and will travel to Tehran in June for the Non-Aligned Ministerial meet.
• However, officials said there is no decision yet on whether Mr. Modi will attend the NAM summit in Caracas, Venezuela in September this year.

Plan to curb tobacco use coming: Nadda

• The Health Ministry is set to roll out a comprehensive plan to tackle tobacco use, which will incorporate preventive measures, Health Minister J.P. Nadda said here on May 31. May 31 was observed as World No Tobacco Day.
• “The government is committed to reducing the consumption of tobacco. Very soon the Ministry will launch a comprehensive programme using a three-pronged strategy of information, education and communication. This holistic approach will target new tobacco consumers as well as tobacco addicts,” Mr. Nadda told journalists on the sidelines of a function celebrating 25 years of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in India.
• However, the Minister avoided comment on the controversial statements of BJP MPs who said there was no link between tobacco and cancer.
• Recently, BJP MP Dilip Gandhi, Shyama Charan Gupta and Ram Prasad Sharma stirred up controversies over their remarks delinking tobacco and cancer.

Laparoscopic surgery

• Mr. Nadda underscored the need to make laparoscopic surgery available to the common people and widen its reach.
• “We need to popularise the method, and see that a maximum number of doctors are trained in laparoscopy. We will survey medical institutions to find out how many are using laparoscopic procedures and encourage teaching institutions to impart training,” he said.
• Mr. Nadda said the patient-to-bed ratio in India was a problem and laparoscopy was a meaningful intervention as it helped reduce stay in the hospital, post-operative case and was less painful.
• The procedures should be made accessible and affordable without compromising on quality, he said.
• Dr. Tempton Udwadia, Gastroenterologist and General Surgeon at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital, was felicitated for his pioneering efforts in the field of laparoscopy in India.

What is Laproscopic Surgery?

• Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS), bandaid surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a modern surgical technique in which operations are performed far from their location through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) elsewhere in the body.
• There are a number of advantages to the patient with laparoscopic surgery versus the more common, open procedure. Pain and hemorrhaging are reduced due to smaller incisions and recovery times are shorter. The key element in laparoscopic surgery is the use of a laparoscope, a long fiber optic cable system which allows viewing of the affected area by snaking the cable from a more distant, but more easily accessible location.
• There are two types of laparoscope: (1) a telescopic rod lens system, that is usually connected to a video camera (single chip or three chip), or (2) a digital laparoscope where the charge-coupled device is placed at the end of the laparoscope.
• Also attached is a fiber optic cable system connected to a 'cold' light source (halogen or xenon), to illuminate the operative field, which is inserted through a 5 mm or 10 mm cannula or trocar. The abdomen is usually insufflated with carbon dioxide gas. This elevates the abdominal wall above the internal organs to create a working and viewing space. CO2 is used because it is common to the human body and can be absorbed by tissue and removed by the respiratory system. It is also non-flammable, which is important because electrosurgical devices are commonly used in laparoscopic procedures.
• Laparoscopic surgery includes operations within the abdominal or pelvic cavities, whereas keyhole surgery performed on the thoracic or chest cavity is called thoracoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery belong to the broader field of endoscopy.

Solar Impulse begins its toughest stretch

• The revolutionary Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off early on May 31 for a six-day, six-night flight over the Pacific Ocean, the most ambitious leg of its quest to circumnavigate the globe powered only by the sun.
• Pilot Andre Borschberg, 62, left Nanjing, in eastern China, heading for the U.S. island of Hawaii, at about 2:40 a.m. (00:10 India time), after extended delays awaiting a suitable weather window.
• Lit by white lights on its wings, the plane rolled down the runway before climbing into a misty sky with its four whirling propellers nearly silent.

Record flying time

• The 8,500 kilometre flight could set a record for duration by a single pilot, organisers said.
• The current flight plan saw no threat from typhoons, a typical weather threat in Asia.
• It is the seventh and longest section of the maiden solar-powered global circumnavigation, an attempt to promote green energy.
• The journey began in Abu Dhabi in March and is scheduled for 12 legs, with a total flight time of around 25 days.
• Nonetheless, Solar Impulse 2 spent two months in China after arriving at Chongqing airport from Myanmar on March 31, where it had been due to make only a brief stop before continuing to Nanjing but was held up for weeks by weather issues.
• “For the Pacific, I need to be ready for the unknown,” Mr. Borschberg tweeted before takeoff.
• “I'm not sure how Si2 will behave over so many days and nights,” he added.
• Each day on the Pacific voyage, Mr. Borschberg will experience altitudes of 28,000 feet, akin to the world’s highest peak, and temperature changes of 55 degrees Celsius in the unpressurised, unheated Solar Impulse 2 cockpit.
• At the same time he will only be able to catch the shortest of naps — about 20 minutes at a time — given the need to check the autopilot.

Solar Impulse 2

Daily News Mail - News of 31/05/2015

U.P. sues Nestle for excess lead in Maggi

• With the row over Maggi noodles escalating, the Food Safety and Drug Administration of the U.P. government has filed a case against the manufacturing company, Nestle India Ltd., and five others, including the Barabanki store from where samples with excess lead were seized. The case was filed in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Barabanki, under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, on May 30.
• The move comes after tests on the samples of two-minute Maggi noodles of the March 2014 batch found the presence of lead in excess of the permissible limit. Monosodium glutamate too was more.

Monsoon progress sluggish, says IMD

• The onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala has been delayed from the date forecast by the Met Department due to its “sluggish” pace. The normal date for onset of monsoon over Kerala is June 1. It also marks the official onset of rains in the country.
• This year, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted that it will hit the southern State on May 30.
• According to Skymet, a private forecasting agency, monsoon arrived over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 16, three days prior to the onset date. Since then, the advance has been slow. By May 21, the southwest monsoon advanced over the Bay of Bengal, touching southern parts of Sri Lanka. But here on, the monsoon has stagnated for a week.
• “The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon made very slow advance and is yet to reach the extreme southern tip (Kerala) of India. Cloud build up on either side of the sea looked promising till a few days back for the timely onset over Kerala. However, it slowed down as the cloud pattern became a little diffused and unorganised,” Skymet said.
• However, the IMD has refused to call it a delay, but said that the progress is sluggish. “As per our forecast, there is +/— difference of four days, which is from May 27 to June 3.”
• “At this moment, monsoon has already entered the Arabian Sea, crossed Sri Lanka, and entered the Bay of Bengal. We are closely monitoring its progress. During the progress of monsoon, it is often observed that its pace varies,” said Krishnanand Hosalikar, Deputy Director, IMD.
• But pre-monsoon rain is still being observed in Karnataka and Kerala.
• “In the last 24 hours, Karnataka has observed good rainfall. Kerala too experienced good rain on May 28 with Pampakuda in Ernakulam district recording 55 mm of rainfall. Udayanampuram in Kottayam district received 37 mm of rain while Mundathicode in Thrissur received 30 mm of rainfall. On May 29, the rainfall activity in Kerala became minimal with isolated places receiving very light rain. “However, in the last 24 hours, some rainfall has been observed in the State,” Skymet added.

Daily News Mail - News of 30/05/2015

GDP grows by 7.3%

• India grew 7.3 per cent during 2014-15, the first financial year presided over by the Modi government, failing to overtake China as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. 
• During the January-March quarter, however, India grew 7.5 per cent beating China’s 7 per cent. 
• Capital formation remained lower at 28.7 per cent of the GDP against 29.7 per cent during 2013-14.

P.K. Sinha appointed Cabinet Secretary

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 29 approved the appointment of Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, as the next Cabinet Secretary.
• Mr. Sinha, who has been serving as Power Secretary since July 2013, will succeed Ajit Seth whose term ends on June 13. He will soon be attached to the Cabinet Secretariat as OSD till the commencement of his tenure.

Indian-origin children on top again

• Scripting history, two Indian-Americans children on May 28 won the world’s prestigious spelling bee in a tie the second time in a row, maintaining the community’s complete dominance on the competition.
• Vanya Shivashankar, 13, and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, were declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee as they together lifted the golden trophy amid confetti and applause in a repeat of last year’s surprise tie — a feat achieved by Indian-Americans for the second consecutive year.
• The two winners will each receive over $37,000 in cash and prizes.
• With this year’s success, young Indian-Americans have won as many as 14 of the past 18 contests and the eighth year in a row.

An issue mishandled

• After yet another stand-off with agitating Gujjars the Rajasthan government has caved in, announcing that it would provide the community 5 per cent reservation in jobs. This will be over and above the 50 per cent reservation extended to backward classes and scheduled castes and tribes. And crucially, the provision will be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution so it cannot be challenged in court. 
• Following a series of talks with the community the government’s hand appears to have been forced by the scale of the protests. Road and rail traffic in the State was disrupted after thousands of people blocked commercially significant rail routes and the Jaipur-Agra national highway. The estimated loss to the Railways is about Rs. 200 crore. The eight-day-long stalemate prompted the Rajasthan High Court to come down heavily on the government, asking why not a single arrest had been made. That fact in itself reflects the scale of the problem, but it is one that successive governments in the State have created for themselves.
• Agitations by Gujjars over reservations have been a near-annual event in Rajasthan since 2006. The problem goes back to 2003 when the Rajasthan unit of the BJP promised, in the run-up to the 2003 election, to have Gujjars included in the Scheduled Tribes list. But the violent opposition that the move evoked from the numerically stronger Meena community forced the State government to back down. The anger within the Gujjar community grew to worrying proportions after the Vajpayee government decided to reclassify Jats as ‘Other Backward Class’. Faced with immense pressure, the Vasundhara Raje government passed an Act in 2008 granting 5 per cent reservation to Gujjars and classifying them as a ‘separate backward community’. In 2010 that Act was struck down by the Rajasthan High Court, which held that the total quantum of reservation had exceeded the ceiling of 50 per cent as laid down in the Mandal judgment. Unsurprisingly, this did not go down well with the Gujjar community, which demanded the promised 5 per cent reservation no matter what. This is proof, if any were required, that once caste politics is set in motion it creates a vicious cycle of unsustainable promises. By succumbing to the demands rather than take proactive action to end the agitation, the Rajasthan government has set a dangerous precedent. For, concessions made to one community inevitably trigger concerns in others. The Gujjar agitation may have ended for now, but it is certain to return in other forms.

Gujjars agitating in Rajasthan

Daily News Mail - News of 29/05/2015

India tops hunger list

• India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world, at 194 million, surpassing China, according to the U.N.
• At the global level, the corresponding figure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15, from 1 billion in 1990-92, with East Asia led by China accounting for most of the reductions, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report titled ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015.’ India too saw a reduction between 1990 and 2015, it added. In 1990-92, those who were starved of food in India numbered 210.1 million, which came down to 194.6 million in 2014-15.
• “A majority — 72 out of 129 — of the countries monitored by FAO have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, with developing regions as a whole missing the target by a small margin,” the report said.

United Nations MDG Target

Christopher appointed head of DRDO

• The government on May 28 appointed distinguished scientist Dr. S. Christopher as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Dr. G.S. Reddy as Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
• The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved appointment of Dr. Christopher as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development-cum-Director General, DRDO for a period of two years from the date of taking over the charge, the Department of Personnel and Training said in a statement.
• While Dr. Christopher is currently Distinguished Scientist and Programme Director (airborne early warning and control system) and Director, Centre for Air-Borne Systems in Bengaluru, Dr. Reddy is Distinguished Scientist and Director, Research Centre Imarat and Programme Director of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) project.
• DRDO has been without a head for the last four months after the contract of Dr. Avinash Chander as Secretary, DoDRD & DG DRDO and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister was terminated with effect from January 31.

Dr. S. Christopher, DRDO Chief

Chairman of ISRO - A.S. Kiran Kumar

Dark flows the Ganga a year since Modi’s famous ‘aarti’‘

• A year ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to serve the Ganga after attending a Ganga “aarti” at the Dashashwamedh Ghat here to celebrate his electoral victory. But as the government completed its first year in office on May 26, Varanasi, Mr. Modi’s constituency, is divided on whether his government can succeed in the mammoth task of cleaning the river, worshipped as a mother goddess in this ancient pilgrim city.

No success yet

• Efforts to clean the river have been on since 1986, when the first Ganga Action Plan was announced by the then Congress government.
• Since then, thousands of crores of rupees has been pumped into river conservation efforts without any success.
• This year, the Centre set aside Rs. 20,000 crore for “Namami Ganga”, a project to fix the river’s long-standing pollution problem.

Enthusiastic support

• “If Modi ji succeeds in making the river aviral [continuous] and nirmal [clean], he will be worshipped by his voters,” says Rama Rauta, a former member of the National Ganga River Basin Authority and prominent figure in the “Save the Ganga” movement. Her statement reinforces the strong emotions evoked by the river.
• In Varanasi, Hindu believers and staunch BJP supporters are enthused by the prospect of a cleaner Ganga. Ordinary citizens and party workers pitched in for a massive clean-up as part of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan on the riverfront on May 3. The usually heavily silted ghats now appear clean.
• But cleaning the river will be a more daunting exercise than cleaning the ghats, river conservation activists says.
• Pointing to the dozens of people bathing and washing clothes by the river side, Dinesh, a boat rower at the Assi Ghat for 30 years now, says: “Nothing has changed so far as pollution of the river is concerned. Isn’t that obvious?”

10 per cent GDP growth is feasible’

• It is necessary and feasible for India to reach 10 per cent GDP growth for the next 10 years, according to new book Resurgent India , authored by Ramgopal Agarwala, Rajiv Kumar and Rajesh Shah.
• Mr. Ramgopal Agarwala, a former executive of World Bank, says India has a wrong concept of fiscal prudence.
• “We have stuck with this idea of fiscal deficit which is basically a flawed concept. If fiscal deficit is for investment and if prudent finance can be mobilised domestically and externally fiscal deficit is not a problem,” he adds.
• Mr. Agarwala also points out that high interest rate policy is counter productive and the rupee is over valued.
• The book also argues that the greater push to services would be important to hit the 10 per cent GDP mark.
• “Construction sector will grow rapidly, communications sector, business services, education and health this has potential to grow at 14 per cent for next 10 years. This is slightly different from Make in India programme, which focuses on manufacturing. We do talk about doubling of manufacturing and agriculture growth. But for 10 per cent GDP we need great push on services sector,” said Mr. Agarwala.

Daly News Mail - News of 28/05/2015

Relief for Greenpeace, can operate 2 accounts

• In a major relief to Greenpeace India, the Delhi High Court on May 27 allowed the NGO to operate two of its domestic bank accounts and liquidate its existing fixed deposits. It can receive fresh donations or contributions from within the country.
• Additional Solicitor-General Sanjay Jain, representing the Home Affairs Ministry, reiterated his earlier statement that Greenpeace India had violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act by merging its foreign donations with domestic ones.
• He said the NGO had not revealed to the court that there was a statutory remedy available under which around 25 per cent of the non-utilised amount in the FCRA account could be used with government approval. The global NGO had applied for the benefit under this rule, but it did not reveal that to the court in its application.
• Justice Rajiv Shakdher asked the government to decide on the application within four weeks.
• Mr. Jain said the government was unaware that the NGO had fixed deposits, something that had been revealed only through the petition made in the court.
• The judge said the source of the fixed deposits could be traced by the government during its probe. The court pulled up the banks for denying access to Greenpeace despite an earlier order allowing them to use the accounts. “Do you go by orders of the court or that of the government,” asked the judge.

Heat wave deaths cross 1,000 in Andhra Pradesh

• The death toll due to heat wave, sweeping across Andhra Pradesh for the last few days, has crossed the 1,000 mark, with more than 125 deaths reported from various parts of the State on May 27. A majority of the victims are senior citizens.
• Prakasam district remained the worst hit with 277 deaths being officially confirmed with 75 deaths reported from different parts of the district on May 27. With mercury levels hovering around 45 degree Celsius consistently this season, 10 coastal mandals were the worst-affected making infants, pregnant women, lactating mothers and old people most vulnerable, said District Collector Sujatha Sharma.

Tripura withdraws AFSPA, says insurgency on the wane

The Act has been in force in the State since February 1997

• The Tripura government has revoked the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) as insurgency is on the wane(meaning - decline , diminish) in the State. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar announced the decision after a meeting with his Council of Ministers here on May 27.
• The repeal of the Act, which has been in force in the State since February 1997, came less than a month after the election to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. The CPI(M)-led Left Front won the election, though it lost a nine per cent vote share to a tribal party.
• Tribal parties such as the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura and the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura had been demanding the withdrawal of the Act, saying it was aimed at suppressing the State’s 33 per cent tribal population.
• The Chief Minister told presspersons that the Left front government had earlier tried to repeal the AFSPA, but did not get the consent of the security establishment. “The situation has changed to a great extent now,” Mr. Sarkar said.
• He said the State government had reviewed security matters and the Council of Ministers approved the decision to withdraw the AFSPA. The meeting decided to allow movement of traffic on the Assam-Agartala National Highway till midnight.
• Last November, the Act, which confers sweeping powers on the armed forces, was extended for six months in the State.
• The AFSPA had been in force in the State’s 26 police station areas. In four police station limits, the Act was partially enforced.

AFSPA explained: How does it work exactly?
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was enacted in 1958 to bring under control what the government of India considered ‘disturbed’ areas. The Tripura government on May 27 decided to lift the controversial law which according to a Press Trust of India report “was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency.”
The Act has often faced flak from human rights groups as it gave sweeping powers and immunity to the army in conflict-ridden areas.

As of now, according to the home ministry, six more states come under the ambit of this law under various conditions. Here is a simple explainer to make sense of it all:

Which other states are under AFSPA right now?
Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (except the Imphal municipal area), Arunachal Pradesh (only the Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts plus a 20-km belt bordering Assam), Meghalaya (confined to a 20-km belt bordering Assam) and Jammu and Kashmir.

Why is this required?

The government (either the state or centre) considers those areas to be ‘disturbed’ “by reason of differences or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.”

How does one officially declare a region to be ‘disturbed’?

Section (3) of the AFSPA Act empowers the governor of the state or Union territory to issue an official notification on The Gazette of India, following which the centre has the authority to send in armed forces for civilian aid. It is still unclear whether the governor has to prompt the centre to send in the army or whether the centre on its own sends in troops.

Once declared ‘disturbed’, the region has to maintain status quo for a minimum of three months, according to The Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976.

What about the state government’s role?

The state governments, as in Tripura’s case, can suggest whether the Act is required to be enforced or not. But under Section (3) of the Act, their opinion can still be overruled by the governor or the centre.

Is the Act uniform in nature?

No. Originally, it came into being as an ordinance in 1958 and within months was repealed and passed as an Act. But, this was meant only for Assam and Manipur, where there was insurgency by Naga militants. But after the northeastern states were reorganized in 1971, the creation of new states (some of them union territories originally) like Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh paved the way for the AFSPA Act to be amended, so that it could be applied to each of them. They may contain different sections as applicable to the situation in each state.

What about Jammu and Kashmir? There were reports saying that it technically wasn’t a disturbed area after 1998.

This is a bit more complex. Jammu and Kashmir (as with a lot of things) has a separate legislation for this—its own Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) which came into existence in 1992. So, as this Indian Express article points out, even if the DAA for J&K lapsed in 1998, the government reasoned that the state can still be declared disturbed under Section(3) of AFSPA.

Is Tripura then the first state to completely do away with AFSPA?

No. It was applied in Punjab and Chandigarh in 1983 due to secessionist movements and lasted for 14 years until there 1997. What is interesting was that while the Punjab government withdrew its DAA in 2008, it continued in Chandigarh till September 2012 when the Punjab and Haryana high court struck it down following a petition filed by a local member of the Janata Dal (United).

There will be no urea price increase in the next four years, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar said .

Daily News Mail - News of 27/05/2015

Sarkaria recommendations

• Sarkaria Commission was set up in June 1983 by the central government of India. The Sarkaria Commission's charter was to examine the relationship and balance of power between state and central governments in the country and suggest changes within the framework of Constitution of India.
• The final report contained 247 specific recommendations. In spite of the large size of its reports - the Commission recommended, by and large, status quo in the Centre-State relations, especially in the areas, relating to legislative matters, role of Governors and use of Article 356 (President's rule).

Recommendations on Appointment of Governor :

• Governor should be person from outside the State.
• He should not have taken part in politics in recent past.
• Appointment should be made from a panel prepared by State Legislature, State Government or Chief Minister.
• Chief Minister should be consulted before appointing the Governor.
• PM should consult the Vice-President and the Lok Sabha Speaker in selection of Governor.

‘Rate of poverty reduction fastest under UPA’

• Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said here on May 26 that the rate of poverty reduction achieved from 2005-06 to 2011-12 was the fastest in the history of the country.
• “In the last few years, our economy has not done as badly in reducing poverty as some people will have us believe … It was due to the fast GDP growth,” Dr. Subramanian said of the five-year period during which the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government was in office.

Poverty in India - Mrunal: http://mrunal.org/2014/08/economic-survey-ch13-poverty-line-tendulkar-rangarajan-engels-law-mnrega-aajeevika-nrum.html

Amaravathi to be elevated by 2 metres to avoid floods

• Amaravathi, the planned capital city of Andhra Pradesh, is most likely to be elevated by 2 metres to protect it from the Krishna river and the flood-prone Kondaveeti Vaagu reservoir.
• The initiative is likely to cost about Rs. 1,500 crore, according to the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA).
• “We can’t have a city with floods. The Kondaveeti Vaagu inundates 13,000 acres with about three TMC water each year. Elevating 10,000 acres of the capital city is one solution on the cards, and the initiative costs around Rs. 1,500 crore. Technically, they felt it’s worth it,” CRDA Commissioner N. Srikanth said. This apart, there are also plans to route water through drainage system, reservoirs, widening of channels and building flood gates, he said.
• Apparently, the Singapore planners were able to identify the problem immediately because of a similar experience they had with the Singapore River, according to a senior engineer of the Irrigation Department, who was part of the capital planning team. Using various strategies, they were able to reduce the area being inundated from 370 acres to 120 acres in Singapore, he said.

China doesn’t recognise ‘illegal’ McMahon Line

• Sticking to its stand that the McMahon Line on the India-China boundary is “illegal”, China said on May 25 that it was ready to work with India to resolve the vexed border issue at an early date through “friendly consultations” to create more favourable conditions for bilateral ties.
• “The Chinese side holds a consistent and clear position on the eastern section of the China-India boundary,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, reaffirming Beijing’s claims on Arunachal Pradesh, which, it says, is a part of “Southern Tibet”.
• “The Chinese government does not recognise ‘the McMahon Line’, which is illegal,” she said, reacting to National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval’s remarks made at the K.F. Rustamji lecture in New Delhi recently.
• “The Chinese side is ready to work with the Indian side to resolve the boundary question through friendly consultation at an early date and create more favourable conditions for the development of the bilateral relations,” she said in a written response to a query.

Calls for ‘larger plan’

• In his address on May 22, Mr. Doval said settlement of the border issue was “critical” for India-China ties, and called for a “larger plan” for “tackling” the issue to resolve all contentious matters.
• Mr. Doval, the Special Representative of China-India boundary talks, said that while ties with Beijing were looking up, “we are particularly concerned about the eastern sector where the claims have been made on Tawang [in Arunachal Pradesh] which is totally in contravention of accepted principles.”
• He expressed surprise that while the McMahon Line was agreed till Burma (Myanmar) by China, it was not accepted beyond it.