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.