Education
Sakshar Bharat Mission
Jhajjar’s (Haryana) 49-year-old neo-literate Roshni Devi emerged as the most powerful symbol of female literacy on September 8, 2009—a goal to which India re-dedicated itself under the brand new Sakshar Bharat Mission, which was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion of International Literacy Day.
The mission sets itself the goal of educating 70 million learners, 60 million of them women, by 2012 through an investment of $1billion; it replaces the old adult literacy mission that began in 1988. The final goal is to take national literacy levels from 64 per cent currently to 80 per cent by 2017, and reduce the gender gap from 21 per cent at present to 10 per cent, eventually.
The reconstituted mission will focus on women, who have 54 per cent literacy rate against 75 per cent in males. Terming the mission as UPA’s first step towards fulfilment of the promise (of female literacy) made in the President’s address in 2009, the Prime Minister said resources would not be a constraint in the urge to “educate all”.
The mission, in fact, makes a welcome departure from the past by making PRIs the fulcrum of literacy programmes. The mission seeks to put learners in touch with their surroundings, hone their life skills, tell them of their arts, crafts and culture and impart them continuing education, which was previously absent. The mammoth task would require 10 million teachers (only matriculates and above to be recruited) three million managers, 70 lakh literacy centres and 210 million books.
HEALTH
By 2020, India will have 10m dementia patients
This can come as a shocker for India, which is yet to put in place a health programme for the country’s greying population. The global burden of dementia—disorders of the brain that affect memory and language among the elderly—has been seriously under estimated. The World Alzheimer’s Report 2009, prepared by King’s College, London says that there would be 35 million people worldwide with dementia by 2010. That number is set to almost double every 20 years to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050.
What’s worse, almost 60% of people with dementia in 2010 will be from low and middle income countries like India, rising to 70.5% by 2050. This is a 10% increase over the earlier estimate made in 2005—meaning that the estimates made earlier for India will also increase.
Worldwide, the economic cost of dementia has been estimated at $315 billion annually. The total annual costs per person with dementia have been estimated as $1,521 in a low income country, rising to $4,588 in middle income countries and $17,964 in high income countries.
The report recommended that the WHO declare dementia a health priority, and that countries, including India, develop a plan for dealing with the greater numbers of dementia patients.
JUDICIARY
Gram Nyayalayas Act
The Central government has decided that the provisions of the Gram Nyayalayas Act shall come into force in the areas to which this Act extends on October 2. The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has been enacted to provide for the establishment of the Gram Nyayalayas at the grass roots level for the purpose of providing access to justice to the citizens at their door steps.
The salient features of the Gram Nyayalayas Act are as follows:
* Gram Nyayalayas are aimed at providing inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their doorsteps;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall be court of Judicial Magistrate of the first class and its presiding officer (Nyayadhikari) shall be appointed by the State Government in consultation with the High Court.
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall be established for every Panchayat at intermediate level or a group of contiguous Panchayats at intermediate level in a district or where there is no Panchayat at intermediate level in any State, for a group of contiguous Panchayats;
* the Nyayadhikaris who will preside over these Gram Nyayalayas are strictly judicial officers and will be drawing the same salary, deriving the same powers as First Class Magistrates working under High Courts;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall be a mobile court and shall exercise the powers of both Criminal and Civil Courts;
* the seat of the Gram Nyayalaya will be located at the headquarters of the intermediate Panchayat, they will go to villages, work there and dispose of the cases;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall try criminal cases, civil suits, claims or disputes which are specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to the Act;
* the Central as well as the State Governments have been given power to amend the First Schedule and the Second Schedule of the Act, as per their respective legislative competence;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall follow summary procedure in criminal trial;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall exercise the powers of a Civil Court with certain modifications and shall follow the special procedure as provided in the Act;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall try to settle the disputes as far as possible by bringing about conciliation between the parties and for this purpose, it shall make use of the conciliators to be appointed for this purpose;
* the judgement and order passed by the Gram Nyayalaya shall be deemed to be a decree and to avoid delay in its execution, the Gram Nyayalaya shall follow summary procedure for its execution;
* the Gram Nyayalaya shall not be bound by the rules of evidence provided in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to any rule made by the High Court; Appeal in criminal cases shall lie to the Court of Session, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of such appeal; Appeal in civil cases shall lie to the District Court, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of the appeal; A person accused of an offence may file an application for plea bargaining.
The Central Government has decided to meet the non-recurring expenditure on the establishment of these Gram Nyayalayas subject to a ceiling of Rs. 18.00 lakhs, out of which Rs. 10.00 lakhs is for construction of the court, Rs. 5.00 lakhs for vehicle and Rs. 3.00 lakhs for office equipment. Government has also estimated that the Gram Nyayalayas upon establishment would incur a recurring expenditure of Rs. 6.4 lakhs per annum on salaries etc. and proposes to share such recurring expenditure with the State Government for the first three years within this ceiling.
More than 5000 Gram Nyayalayas are expected to be set up under the Act for which the Central government would provide about Rs.1400 crores by way of assistance to the concerned States/Union Territories.
The setting up of Gram Nyayalayas will be an important measure to reduce arrears. The Gram Nyayalayas are likely to reduce around 50 % of the pendency of cases in subordinate courts and also to take care of the new litigations which will be disposed within six months. This measure will usher in great revolution in disposal of cases and also to take justice to the doorsteps of the common man.
LAW POINT
No new shrines on public land: SC
The Supreme Court has directed all the States and the Union Territories not to allow construction of places of worship, be it gurdwaras, temples, churches or mosques, on government land, particularly roads.
A Bench, comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and M.K. Sharma, passed the order, also asking all the State and UT governments to review case-by-case such structures that had already come up, encroaching upon public land.
Directing the registry to serve notices on all the States and UTs within three days of passing of the judgement, in view of the gravity of the situation which had "far-reaching consequences," the Bench said the heads of each district (collectors, magistrates or deputy commissioners) to file status reports to their respective Chief Secretaries. The Chief Secretaries, in turn, would directly appraise the apex court of the steps taken for keeping government land free from such encroachments, the Bench said.
LEGISLATION
President signs Education Bill into law
Following the Presidential assent (granted on August 26, 2009), the government has issued a gazette notification of the law, which seeks to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged from 6 to 14 years. The State governments will have three years from the date of notification of the law to implement it. During this period, they will have to put in place neighbourhood schools, minimum education infrastructure with notified pupil-teacher ratio and school management societies to ensure proper implementation of the law.
Cost, by far, remains the gravest challenge in the implementation of the law, which would require Rs 2 lakh crore over the next five years for its enforcement. The HRD Ministry has already admitted to an estimated shortfall of Rs 60,000 crore over the period, with minister Kapil Sibal saying additional allocations would have to be made.
All States, meanwhile, have put their foot down on the issue of finances, saying they will require maximum possible funding from the Centre to implement the law. At a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, all State education ministers drove home this point, with hill States like Himachal seeking 90 per cent central share in the funding.
There are also some apprehensions over the definition of the term “free education”. The matter was raised vociferously by Archana Chitnis, Education Minister of Madhya Pradesh, who wanted the HRD Minister to clarify the meaning of term “free”. “Free education would have to be defined by States,” Sibal said, adding that it could mean free books, uniform, school bus travel or anything.
The States, however, feel leaving the definition of “free education” open could lead to confusion. The government feels the model rules under the Act, expected to be formulated soon, would clarify most of the points. Also on the cards is a new Centre-State finance sharing formula, for which National University for Education Planning and Research is developing fresh cost estimates after factoring in the inflationary trend.
PLANNING & ECONOMY
Govt okays one percent subsidy on housing loans
Keeping up with another promise made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech of 2009, the government has approved one per cent interest rate subvention for housing loans up to Rs.10 lakh. The Union Cabinet has also given an approval for allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for the scheme. It will come as a major boost to the housing sector and fuel greater development. The interest subsidy would be provided through the commercial banks and housing finance companies registered with the National Housing Bank.
In another major decision the government also approved a “Rehabilitation Package” to provide additional relief to the victims of 1984 riots with a financial outlay of Rs.714.76 crore. The package was issued earlier by Ministry of Home Affairs on January 16, 2008 and was for States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab and the NCT of Delhi. The main aim of the proposal is fulfil the assurances given by the government in both the Houses of Parliament on the Report of Justice Nanavati Commission of Inquiry into 1984 riots.
A decision has also been taken to release Interest Subvention to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Cooperative Banks (Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure-STCCS) and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and to NABARD for refinance to RRBs and Cooperative Banks. This has been done to operationalise the announcement made in the Union Budget for ensuring that the farmer receives short term crop loan at seven per cent per annum (six per cent for prompt payers) with an upper limit of Rs.three lakh on the principal amount.
The interest subvention is available to Public Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Cooperative Credit Institutions (CCIs) on disbursements out of their own funds and to NABARD for concessional refinance to RRBs and CCIs. For the year 2009-10, the target for flow of credit to agriculture sector has been revised from Rs.2,80,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs.3,25,000 crore, of which the total short term crop loan disbursements by all banks is likely to be around Rs.2,00,000 crore.
NREGS gets e-transparent
A unique software solution adopted by Andhra Pradesh has brought transparency and accountability in implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the flagship programme of the UPA government. Developed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the web-based software package has helped check corruption, fix loopholes in identification of beneficiaries and the works and resulted in effective implementation of the scheme, covering nearly 11 million people in the State.
From the time a job seeker enrolls with a local panchayat office, to monitoring of assigned work and final wage payment, the entire process is registered and tracked online, using the software solution. The system allows the officials to sift through entire data, including the number of job cards issued across 22 districts and identify the loopholes.
The progress of the NREGS works could be monitored through an automated system and the workers have been paid based on the amount of work they complete, independent of the number of hours they put in.
In fact, Andhra Pradesh has been the first State to introduce social audit system to effectively monitor implementation of the scheme. Social auditing involves a process where teams visit the NREGS work sites in every gram panchayat and physically crosscheck the work done with the records. Each team has been led by district resource person and consists of four to five persons drawn from civil society organisations.
Property as gift to be taxed now
The Income Tax Act has been amended with effect from October 1, 2009, to provide that any gift-in-kind—being an immovable property or any other property—the value of which exceeds Rs 50,000, will become taxable in the hands of the donee. The tax would have to paid by the recipient by including the amount in his taxable income.
Gifts received from local authorities, trusts or entities registered as charitable institutions would not attract the provisions of the new tax norms.
But, the good news is that if the immovable property or property is received from a relative or received under a will as inheritance it will not be taxed. Such a gift received on the occasion of marriage of the individual is also exempt from tax. Prior to this change in the Income Tax Act, cash gifts exceeding Rs 25,000 were subject to tax. Then the Act was amended with effect from April 1, 2006, to tax all cash gifts having aggregate value exceeding Rs 50,000. However, cash gifts continue to enjoy exemptions as is available for gifts-in-kind.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Trade, Tipaimukh dam to top Indo-Bangla talks
The entire gamut of bilateral issues, including the Tipaimukh dam issue, sharing of river waters, trade, border management and combating terrorism, were discussed in a “congenial ambience” during Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni's four-day visit to India in September 2009. This was his first official trip to India since the installation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League to power following the December 29, 2008 general elections in Bangladesh.
The installation of the Awami League and the Congress party to power in the two countries created a congenial ambience to settle the long-standing issues through constructive negotiations because of the historic links between the two parties since the 1971 Bangladesh war.
Trade deficit is one such major issue. Business analysts said Bangladesh looked for stepping up its exports to the landlocked seven north-eastern States and close the trade imbalance if the barriers were removed.
The two countries also share over 50 common rivers and there had not been any progress in distribution of waters of the seven other rivers, including the Teesta.
The proposed Tipaimukh dam on the Barak river in Manipur dominated the centre-stage of Bangladesh-India-relations during the past several months, though New Delhi assured Dhaka nothing would be done under the project that could affect Bangladesh.
India, Mongolia ink nuke pact
On September 14, 2009, Mongolia became the fifth nation to sign a civil nuclear pact with India as New Delhi extended a 25 million US dollar soft loan to the Central Asian nation to help it mitigate the effects of the global financial meltdown. The two countries also inked agreements for cooperation in the fields of health, cultural exchanges and statistical affairs. The accords were signed after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
In a joint press interaction after the talks, Manmohan Singh said the two countries had reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and discussed issues of mutual concern. He said the two countries had agreed on deeper cooperation in the field of mining and agriculture. The two leaders also stressed on bilateral investment protection and considering ways to avoid double taxation.
Great significance is being attached to the MoU between the two countries on ‘development of cooperation in the field of peaceful use of radioactive minerals and nuclear energy’. Mongolia’s huge uranium reserves are expected to boost and energise India’s starving civil nuclear fuel cycle.
India has already signed nuclear deals with France, Russia, the US and Kazakhstan after it got an exemption from the nuclear suppliers’ group (NSG) in September 2008 to undertake nuclear commerce.
Mongolia, which claims to have 6 per cent of the world’s uranium reserves, is not a member of the NSG. However, it had supported India’s case for a clean waiver at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting prior to the NSG meet. Nuclear experts believe that the supply of uranium is more crucial for India than access to enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology.
Mongolia’s decision could be a big surprise for Australia, which has refused to supply uranium to India as it was not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). India hopes Australia would also give up its reservation sooner rather than later and agree to supply uranium to India.
SCANDALS
Bofors buried as govt drops case
The Bofors case that led to Congress’s defeat in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls has been given an official burial. With the government declaring its intention to drop proceedings against the key accused, Ottavio Quattrocchi, and all other accused either dead or acquitted, the case has reached a dead end. The decision not to pursue Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman accused of taking bribes to facilitate the sale of Bofors howitzers to India in 1986, was announced in the Supreme Court.
The decision to give a burial to the Bofors case, in which the FIR was filed during the V.P. Singh regime in 1990 and the charge-sheet during NDA government’s reign in 1999, was taken by the UPA government on the basis of a fresh opinion given by attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati.
A closure of the case had looked imminent since UPA-I allowed Quattrocchi to take out his money—allegedly his share of the Bofors kickbacks—from accounts with a bank in London. It followed that up by not pressing hard for his extradition from Argentina and by, subsequently, telling Interpol that he was no longer wanted in India.
TERRORISM; LAW & ORDER
New incentives for Maoists to surrender
The Centre, which usually remains tight-lipped about the kind of weapons the Maoists have, has in its new guidelines for surrender-cum-rehabilitation of Naxalites indicated that the Red ultras’ arsenal no longer consists of only looted police weapons. They could, in fact, also have deadlier ones—sniper rifles and surface-to-air missiles—which the ultras might have procured from outside. The Union government, through the new guidelines for the Naxal-affected States, has offered different amounts as “additional” incentives to those ultras who may surrender with such weapons. Sniper rifles, rockets, missiles and light machine guns which can even target low-flying choppers and other long-distance targets attract higher incentives to Naxalites if they surrender with such weapons.
The incentive given for surrender of the arms will be deposited in the form of a fixed deposit in the joint names of the surrenderee and a State government nominee and may be given to the surrenderee at the time of completion of three years after surrender, “subject to good behaviour by the surrenderee”.
Black Widow ultras surrender arms
Responding to September 15, 2009 deadline set by the Union Home Ministry, cadres of proscribed tribal militant outfit, Dima Halam Daogah (J) or Black Widow have surrendered their weapons to set the stage for a peace process with the government of India. Total 374 cadres of Black Widow group have surrendered their weapons including some sophisticated weapons to set the stage for peace negotiation. They have deposited weapons at the headquarter of Fifth Assam Police battalion at Sontila in the hill district.
The cadres are coming over ground under the leadership of a deputy commander in chief senior leader of the outfit Daniel Dimasa, while commander in chief Niranjan Hojai, who was believed to be in foreign soil, is still being expected to join the peace process. Those who have handed over their weapons are now being kept under heavy security at a Red Cross hospital at Jatinga in the hill district. They will be shifted to designated camps once the government gives its nod for the peace process after verifying the weapons surrendered by the outfit.
The chairman of the outfit Jewel Garlosa and another senior leader Partha Warisa had been arrested by Assam Police from a Bangalore hideout on June 3, 2008, serving a severe blow to the outfit which has been running amuck in North Cachar Hill district and adjoining areas in Assam since 2004, perpetrating rampant killings and extortions.
Once their chairman fell into the hands of the police, the outfit declared unilateral truce and appealed for peace negotiation with the government of India. However, the Centre set the pre-condition that all cadres would have to surrender arms for a peace process to happen.
Rampaging Black Widow militants jeopardised works on East West Corridor project of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), as well as a gauge conversion project of Indian Railways, causing irreversible delay in implementation of these projects besides causing huge cost escalation.
The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), the main tribal regional party in hill areas has hailed the process of surrender of weapons by Black Widow cadres.
ISI knew of 26/11 plan, say LeT men
Ten months after the attacks on Mumbai, Lashkar-e-Taiba remains largely intact, may have 1.5 lakh members and is determined to strike India again, according to current and former members of the group, and intelligence officials. Despite pledges from Pakistan to dismantle militant groups operating on its soil, and the arrest of a handful of operatives, Lashkar has persisted, even flourished, since the Mumbai carnage in November 2008.
Indian and Pakistani dossiers on the Mumbai investigations offer a detailed picture of the operations of a Lashkar network that spans Pakistan. It includes four houses and two training camps here in Karachi. Among the organizers, the Pakistani document says, was Hammad Amin Sadiq, a homeopathic pharmacist, who arranged bank accounts and secured supplies.
Indeed, Lashkar’s broader network endures, and can be mobilized quickly for elaborate attacks with relatively few resources, according to a dozen current and former Lashkar militants and intelligence officials from the US, Europe, India and Pakistan. In interviews with New York Times, they presented a troubling portrait of Lashkar’s capabilities, its popularity in Pakistan and the support it received from former officials of Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment.
One highly placed Lashkar militant said the Mumbai attackers were part of groups trained by former Pakistani military and intelligence officials. Others had direct knowledge that retired army and ISI officials trained LeT recruits as late as 2008.
Naga rebels reject peace package
The government’s efforts for formation of a Naga Common Platform, to find a political solution to the vexed insurgency problem, have run into trouble with all the three rebel groups—NSCN-IM, NSCN-K(GPRN) and NNC(FGN)—voicing their strong opposition to it. In a joint statement issued to the local media, the groups have declared that they were strongly opposed to any form of conditional package offered to the Nagas by the Centre. The Naga Common Platform was not warranted at this juncture, they added.
Conveners of the joint working group for Naga reconciliation, V.S. Atem of the NSCN (I-M), Zhopra Vero of the NNC (FGN) and Wangtin Naga of NSCN-K (GPRN), in a joint declaration, stated their opposition to the issues was in line with the “Declaration of Commitment” signed by them during the recent reconciliation meet held at Chiangmai in Thailand. The three leaders during the meet affirmed to “work together in the spirit of love, non-violence, peace and respect to resolve outstanding issues.”
The Central government was contemplating to offer a conditional peace package to the State if the Naga rebels factions gave up their struggle. The package, which was still being worked, was to include financial largesse and greater devolution of powers to the State. However, the Centre had made it clear that any solution to the protracted Naga political issue would be within the Constitution of India. The NSCN (I-M) had earlier said such packages were “unacceptable” to it.
The reconciliation process is currently being taken care of by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). The FNR has been holding meetings both within and outside the State with the different Naga political groups and NGOs. However, the FNR has limited its role only to the reconciliation process and has shown no apparent interest in formation of a common platform to facilitate political dialogue with all the rebel groups.
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